i have decided to purchase SSF4:AE because im looking for a complete change in games from my typical MMO’s. Im finding the transition very hard and have only been playing for an hour or 2 and have decided to take a short break in order to write this post. Im just wondering if anyone has any tips for me in order to pick up on the game. Im currently really struggling to get the right movement of the stick (360 pad) in order to use a move.
What character should i play in order to learn the game?
Are there different types of fighters?
How should i learn the game? should I vs AI or should i do the training?
Overall im just looking for advice from more experienced players to help me get better in the next few days.
Finally what would i be better playing on, PC or Xbox? which has a larger community?
Just to note, right now there’s a new version of SF4 that was recently released: Ultra Street Fighter IV. You can download it as an upgrade for your copy of AE at a discounted price of $15. It includes 5 new characters (4 ported and reworked from SFxTK, 1 new), new stages, and several new features like Online Training Mode. Ultra hasn’t been released on PC yet, and XBL has the largest community of online players in NA.
If you’re using an X-Box 360 pad, I’d strongly recommend switching to something else. The 360 pad is notoriously terrible for fighting games, because analog sticks aren’t well suited to controlling fighters, and the 360 d-pad sucks.
What characters should you use?
Anyone who feels fun, but the “beginner character” is usually Ryu. He’s the jack of all trades, and by getting good at using him you also learn the fundamentals of Street Fighter. I’d personally say Guile, who’s more defensively oriented, but you still need a strong command of your fundamental skills to use him effectively. Also, Guile can generally be played with only simple combos, and doesn’t rely on combos like some other characters.
Are there different types of fighters?
Yes. There are your mix up characters, who like to get in close and keep you guessing. There are your footsie characters, who stick to the midrange and try to control space while steadily poking you to death. There’re your keep-away characters who want to zone their opponents, keeping them at just the right spots on the screen in order to counter-act their attempts to get in. There are your grapplers, who threaten with their powerful command grabs while using their generally strong normals to approach their opponent. Grapplers are like mix up characters who utilize the threat of their command grab in order to force situations, as opposed to other mix up characters who create difficult high-low, left-right situations. Now, these “types” aren’t locked in stone. Different characters can be played differently depending on who you’re facing. Many characters are hybrids of the different “types.”
Anyway, I’m just going to copy+paste what I told another beginner:
Ensure you get into the social side of things. Fighting games are best played, and you learn the most, when you can regularly play against people who are slightly better or worse than you. Too much worse, and you’ll either have to dumb down your play or stomp them. Too much higher, and you’ll be the one getting stomped before you can even figure out what happened. That means add to your contacts anyone who’s close to your level and not a douche. The absolute fastest (and personally fun) way to get better at fighters is to have a rival you can compete against regularly, assuming you’re both also trying to improve your abilities as well.
When you start out, just get familiar with the controls. Don’t worry about combos very much. Just get used to your character’s normals, their special moves. You’ll have to build up your execution to the point where you can do these moves without much conscious thought, if any at all, if you really want to get into the meat of the game. Take it into some matches against the CPU. It’ll let you get used to playing against a target that’s fighting back. Resist the natural urge to mash in panic that most people seem to get, think about what you’re doing. Things like anti-airing jumps, putting out pokes to maintain spacing, or punishing unsafe attacks. However, be careful not to let playing against the CPU make you develop bad habits like throwing out random super moves. When you play against people, don’t worry about winning too much. You’re still learning, and a lot of people out there have been playing for much, much longer than you. Consider other goals like “successfully anti-air an opponent in a real match” or “successfully tech a throw attempt.” As you get better, the wins will come naturally.
When you feel like you’re past that point of being an absolute beginner (can execute your specials reliably, you know your characters’ moves) then start checking out the character boards, or watching high level matches how your character is used. See what better players are doing, understand why they’re doing it, and work it into your own game. At that point, the only way to get better is to just hone your fundamentals, and get better at utilizing the knowledge you’ve accumulated.
I feel like playing around with the character first and then getting the knowledge is better, since if you get all the knowledge and then jump into the character, you’ll just have too much to think about floating in your head.
You should also the read the FAQs in the board for beginners.
P.S. Fighting games generally aren’t things that people get good at in a few hours, days, weeks or even months. Don’t get frustrated if you feel like you’re not making a lot of progress, as long as you focus your effort on things that’ll actually get you better, you will improve.
For a quickie on understanding why space control in a fighting game works, imagine someone in a moba has an aoe that targets ground. You wouldn’t want to walk through that because you’d take damage, but could still do it right? Now, what if every tic of that aoe had a short stun on it? That’s what every move in a fighter is like. Getting hit interrupts action and pushes you back.
