As the title states, I am looking to get into the fighting game scene. I have already looked at stick, assuming that learning the game at first would be better to go ahead and learn it with a stick, but I honestly have no idea what I’m really looking at. I’m mainly looking for advice on which stick(s) would be the best for me to begin with, as well as should I buy the game for PS3 or 360? I have friends that play on both, and I know that a stick can be modded so that it can be used on either platform. Any tips on characters would be nice too, but I’m assuming that choosing a character just comes with practice and experience using them. Any advice is appreciated.
Buy for whatever system. Just pick the system that the majority of your friends have. Since you’re new just buy the Madcatz SE stick. If you fighting games grow on you then you can mod out the crappy buttons for good ones, however if you decide that they’re just not for you then you didn’t really waste that much mula on it.
PS3 or Xbox is fine, theres no difference in the game, do you have xbox live? That might be something to consider as an additional cost to play online. Also personally I would steer towards how many friend I have on that platform. I have Live covered and most of my mates are on the 360 so i went that way.
There is a sticky for help with choosing a stick. I think the Madcatz SFIV sticks are considered to be general all round good sticks, but obviously this site is full veterans that have a lot of experience and preferences as well as awesome custom sticks.
Hope that helps.
Obviously as regards to your main I think you have the right idea, whatever character you like the best and can make work most should be your main. But you have to take into consideration that there are tiers. Unfortunately not all characters are balanced well enough, some are better than others. I love to play Sakura, but she is low tier. So I am at a disadvantage I believe. So I’m trying to pick and get on well with a high tier or middle tier characters like Ryu or Juri. It doesn’t hurt to play a little Sakura for fun though. I mean ultimately it would come down to your skill in the game obviously. But if I were to take 2 players identical in skill, gave one Ryu and one Dan. It’s highly probably Ryu would win.
This is all great, thanks for the help thus far.
Crash, I’m in the same boat as you about being new to the genre and just got the game a few days ago. If you end up getting the 360 version, I’d love to practice with you, if we don’t lag too bad. I’m in the states.
I asked a similar question about starter characters in my thread, and most people seem to agree that a shoto character is best to learn the basics on. Ryu, Ken, etc…
I would say, first off, system-wise, go with what your friends have. It’s gonna be a lot less fun for you if you have to play against the CPU or random asshats online. If that’s a pretty even split, I would then say 360. The online play of the 360 is usually better than the PS3. The whole “free-vs.-paid” argument is gonna be moot soon anyway with the implementation of PSN Premium.
As for characters, choose something that you like, regardless of what anyone or any list says. You’ll get so much more out of the game that way. If you like Makoto’s design, play her, even if she’s third from bottom on the tier list (list of characters from strongest to weakest at the top level). Chances are, unless you’re some kind of prodigy, you won’t make it to the point where tier lists matter for a decent amount of time. If you want to be Ryu #17438, than by all means, but don’t do it because he’s a strong character, do it because you like to play as him.
After you do figure out what character(s) you want to play as, play as the rest. The reasoning behind this is two-fold as 1.) You might be surprised at how much you like playing with a character despite what your initial misgivings were about him/her (Rufus is usually the prime candidate here). and 2.) You’ll learn the capabilities of the other characters for when you fight them.
And above all else, don’t be discouraged if you lose. Because you will. A lot. It’s just how the world works. Instead, take what you learned from the loss and build on that. Don’t forget that (unless your playing in a tournament) it’s just a game. It’s there so you can have fun.
If you really want to learn on a pad, you can do it. The consensus used to be that pad = n00b, but guys have come out and worked their way to respect by just playing on a pad. Just a thought because you don’t want to shell out cash on an expensive stick just in case you get bored of fighters. I will tell you right now though that the xbox360 default pad is not great for fighters. You might want to look at a pad that has a sega saturn type of layout if that’s what you want.
I personally would go with a stick though because that’s how I was raised when I was a young kid playing sf2 in the arcades.
as for system, go with what the majority of your friends have.
As for choosing a character, pick one that’s going to be fun for you. They all take work. Take the time to watch videos of great players playing chracters. There is literally a play style for everyone in this game with all the characters out there. And don’t even worry about what style you play. Use your brain to find ways to win and your style will just develop that way.
Just wanted to say thanks to all that posted, I will be getting the game for 360, had some friend say they would get into it with me, and I will also be purchasing the SE stick to start with. Thanks again for all the help.
Nice. Add me when you get set up!