Hi guys
Call me brand nubian but Im just getting back to gaming after a looonng break. The last console I owned was a saturn and the last time I played fighting games, Mortal Kombat 3 was still in the arcades. I recently came back through mame, which I downloaded mainly for classics like double dragon but then heard the call for street fighter. I found out that third strike was available and I got it to work. This was in late november and have been enjoying it since. I really see my progress in it and my training consists of 2 hrs per day of practicing moves and and hour of playing the cpu (hardest mode with the damage level turned way down, then using a cheat to turn the cpu damage back up and give it unlimited super bar) but this still hasn’t made me competitive on ggpo. I realize I have a lot more time to put in especially when those players may have 10-12 years of experience.
Which brings me to my dilemma. If I have to play for 5-6 more years to get good, is it worth it for a game that would then be almost 20 years old?
I was, just two days ago, given an xbox 360 for free(my brother bought a new one) and after becoming enamored by the custom arcade stick scene (I move fast) I built a dual mod custom stick so my second question is should I just switch to SSF4?
I played SF4 on pc and it seems soooo different from third strike. Can I practice both at the same time? In SSF4, the competition only has a 2 year jump on me vs 12 yrs for third strike. Should I just drop third strike? Im 31 so maybe I dont even have the reflexes for third strike, I just dont know. What would you recommend?
No one can decide if its worth it for you to play a game or not and there is no reason you can’t play multiple games at the same time if you really want to. Also it doesn’t necessarily take 5-6 years to get good at a fighting game.
I hope not on the 5-6 year thing. I do like the saying “nothing is fun until you are good at it” (dont remember where I heard that
Didn’t Tiger mom say that? In any case, I don’t agree with it.
actually, yeah thats where I heard it from : )
well thanks for your input
First, it doesn’t matter how long you practice if you don’t practice the right things. If you really want to get better you need to may be watch videos of others play your character and learn the basics/fundamentals once you learn those it makes playing other fighting games a lot easier to learn atleast for me. Since the game is so old you need to find beginners to play against or play against the better people and figure out what it is that makes you lose. Example you throw too many fireballs in a row and get too predictable or you keep doing the same thing over and over again. If you play against the better people you need to pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t and build on that. Also, to get better faster you need to really pay attention to the other opponents bad habits then punish as hard as you can. Those are just some of the things that helped me transition from one fighintg game to the next. Also, im pretty sure Third Strike is being released for the 360 soon and im sure there will be plenty of beginners to play against then.
third strike online would be a good thing for me, as it would justify me continuing to play it (There seem to be no beginners on GGPO)
I do watch the videos by the way
My best advice would be to find a mentor that can help solidify your basics, starting a fighting game is alot like starting a sport, a good coach can make the difference between a star player and a random scrub. Eventually as you level up your teacher will constantly challenge you as a rival to make you play your best, this combined with just playing as many different people as you can and knowing how to learn from your losses will make you a competitive player in no time.
Im with you Contra on the coach thing, solidifying basics, etc, but my real question was should I, since Im starting fresh, stick with 3s, move on to SSF4, or maybe play both equally hard (though to me they seem very different)
Play em both. There’s more SSFIV tournaments so if your planning on going to alot of tourneys id play SSFIV more that 3s. Also there are a few people who aren’t completely godlike that play on ggpo. (at least last time I played on it). Just have fun with it really though its still just video games.
My advice would be to get involved with your local community and play what they play. Playing with friends locally is infinitely more enjoyable than playing with strangers remotely.
http://shoryuken.com/f19/md-va-players-thread-191/
Xanadu Weeklies are run every Wednesday night in Baltimore. They play mostly SSFIV, MvC3, and sometimes CvS2. There’s probably also some 3S players floating around.
http://shoryuken.com/f7/fate-two-games-wednesday-night-xanbats-2011-balitmore-md-266886/
t37 rampage-
Im definitely gonna check those links out.
i heard the real way to get better is to play against other people.
Breaking out the ancient Japanese secrets I see.
I say play 3S!
Im not speaking from experience here (Since I have none)
But I know what you mean. Im late on the fighting game bandwagon, and I’ve gone and got SSF4. For me it was far better than any fighting game I have experienced before, mainly competitiveness wise.
Since its the newer thing I’d vote it up, and keep 3s as a casual enjoyment thingy on the side 
Also 31 and can understand where you are coming from… Before xbox 360 i use to play SF games on my older systems as a stress reliever. Started playing competitively again after HD remix and learned the joys of Xbox live… I still prefer Alpha and EX Series tho… but to stay on topic it really comes down to which game engine do you prefer… When you play the various versions of SF which series gives you the most enjoyment. That is really the true bottom line… which game is fun for you…
All I can do is chime in with my own personal experience.
I was in grade school with World Warrior came out and I played a lot of that in the arcade and on my older brother’s SNES. I had an almost religous following of MK, even up through MK4 on my PS1. Then I just got out of fighting games and didn’t get back into them until a year ago when Super Street FIghter IV came out.
I was terrible at first. I couldn’t even beat Arcade Mode on Medium. I went something like 18-0 on XBL before I won a fight. All I did to get better was play for an hour, sometimes two a night, looked at YouTube videos of upper level players and worked on my game in Training mode with inputs on. I’ve been seriously playing since around November using those methods since I got my arcade stick and I’ve gotten halfway decent.
Change the game and console here and their and I have a pretty similar story. And also only really been getting into this game this year and more and more these couple of months so my drive for improvement is pushing me on
I defo can see how I have improved from starting by doing the same kinda thing as you so I can recommend it too.