Execution issues - how did you get over it?

I’m a scrub, plain and simple. I don’t have 15+ years of playing behind me but I’m trying to get better but it’s going really slowly. It doesn’t help that I’m crippled from the P1 side and can’t do the Ultra/Super motion from that side to save my life. How did you folks out there get over these hurdles?

I’m trying to get at least a couple hours in a day of pure practice - using the 30x method and doing something over and over, trying to make it muscle memory. It’s going very slow and I still totally spaz out in games. UGH, I want to be better!

I borrow two simple principles from athletics:

  1. Focus on efficiency and speed will follow
  2. Sometimes it’s more beneficial to take a break

#1 is somewhat self explanatory. Find out what good form is, and focus on getting that down. For the Ultra motion, for example, go to training mode, turn on input display, and try to input two quarter-circles and two quarter circles only. This will require make smaller motions with less force - which, guess what, is also what gets you faster and more consistent when you have to the form committed to muscle memory.
(Caveat: “best form” for you may not always be the exact inputs. If you’d rather do two half-circles, go for it, but still focus on finesse and consistency).

#2 is a simple and proven phenomenon with the human brain - you learn something better after you’ve slept on it. You probably already know this is true intuitively - is it better to practice one hour a day for a week, or to practice 7 hours on Saturday only?

What controller do you use?

And from what I understand, you simply need to do a little everyday and not sweat it. I couldn’t do 3f links when vanilla came out, now I’m cursing whenever I miss a 2f link online. All I did was play whenever I felt like it. If you have the discipline to practice on top of that, you’ll do great in no time.

I’s not all about execution though. A good gameplan will take you very far. When you’re ahead, go with what you’re comfortable with. Try those harder combos when you’re desperate or waaay ahead.

Muscle memory takes longer than we think to train, and it keeps working even if you take a one week break…

Practice, Practice, Practice.

  • bnbs + damaging combos (consult the basic combo thread)
  • anti air reaction. with normals and spike (go to barrel buster, each time use a single normal. cl.lp, cl.mp, cl.hp, hk far and close, cannon spike)
  • FADC out of Spike into Ultra or Spike. FADC out of arrow scenarios
  • buffer motion c.mk -> arrow, far mp -> arrow, far lp -> arrow (on whiff and on hit). and generally learn the spacing and range of her normals
  • TKCS motion (before it gets nerfed :wonder:).

then dive into different matchups and strategies.

please use Q&A thread instead of creating a whole new thread :sweat:

and dont worry you will screw up ALOT. i was a total scrub myself when i started. i was awful/horrible. i still cringe everytime i see an old video of mine :mad: lol

i still screw up my plinks (looking at you clmp into cmk :confused: )

plz play against good players its the best way to learn matchups!

experience + practice= level up

step one to getting over execution issues: post simple questions in the simple questions thread…

OK, trolling aside. if it’s timing your fucking up on, then i would spend 10-20 minutes at a time in training mode doing NOTHING but practicing the timing your having trouble with, if it’s a link combo pick the 1 link out of the thing that’s fucking you up and do JUST that link. if it’s nailing a reversal timing on a particular move on hit/block then record the move, play it back and repeat over and over again.

if it’s stick side execution then you need to do the same only turn on the inputs and practice ONLY the stick movements that your messing up. You can clear the buffer of shown inputs by hitting start 2x. so do that, then try the dp input or QCF or QCF x2. do it over and over for 10-15 minutes at a time or until each and every one of them is perfectly clean (ie for 2x qcf no added inputs at all). don’t bother actually activating the special or super or whatever, just wastes time.

it might be boring, but that’s the whole point, as you get more bored in training mode you become less and less focused on hitting the combo or whatever timing or execution your working on and because of that it will be burned into your muscle memory that way in the match your not thinking “ok, i hit mp… then i plink mp with this button blah blah” you just think “… i see an opening, dial combo 1” or whatever.

Taking a break helps SO MUCH, I completely agree.

It’s just a matter of staying calm, and doing what you practiced. Eventually you’ll get better, and you’ll get used to using what you’ve practiced in real matches. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and take a few days off if you’re getting really frustrated. When you come back you’ll be better.

i do not learn anything at all if i am upset with my execution, taking a break is godlike

Thank you all for your advice. I really do appreciate it :slight_smile:

lol when i was starting off I actually had a movie playing on the TV and training mode on my monitor and i’d actually just watch the movie while trying to get combos down. I think that helps you get it down subconciously and maybe even make it more reliable in a real match where you don’t have to think about how to do it to do it. Plus training mode is kinda boring, I’m not going to lie lol.

just my 2cents. When I mained viper I couldn’t get her FFF down at all. It was very disheartening, but some simple advice changed me from complete lack of doing FFF and links in general. Slow down, Sometime you’re just going too fast. When I was a scrub I always thought things needed to be as fast as possible. idk if this will help but there you go.

yeah people try to get good too fast and leave behind a trail of bad habits that bite them in the ass later. just take your time and probly a break while you’re at. maybe mess around with other fighting games to expand your horizons, both executionally and mentally. i jump back and forth between doujin fighters and super.

other than that it’s really just mass games (hundreds) with friends and sit in training mode for hours until you can execute blind folded (i usually just leave training on while i browse forums / the internet and mess around with obscure character specific setups when sites are loading slow). really look at why you’re flopping a certain combo and break it down motion by motion. a lot of times its just a muscle memory problem that you can change or reset once identified. then once you can execute without thinking, you can focus on the real depth of the game, option sel— i mean strategy.

it goes without saying but if you haven’t already and you’re using a stick you need to learn to plink. relearn your combos and incorporate plinks in them for any link harder than or equal to 2f and you’ll start noticing improvements immediately.

A great way to start imho is to do all of the challenge mode challenges. They will force you up to a certain level of execution.

Learn a combo or technique you want to use.

Go into multi player mode with the intention of busting that combo/tchnique out. Ignore winning or losing just get comfortable throwing the combo out against real people. Like recently I taught myself to use kens kara throw, I spent match after match blocking and throwing, I lost most of em, but now I can kara throw at will and add it to the rest of my game.

I have a question: how do you plink Cammys CR. LK, Cr. LP > Cr. LK xx SA?
Don’t you have to plink with the next lowest attack or whatever? How do you do that with jabs/light kicks?

You don’t plink that one. Since an early input chains instead of linking, plinking a 2nd input won’t do anything.

Plinking cr.mk

Hi everyone, i’m not too gifted with execution and recently i started to learn plinking.

it’s ok to plink cr.mp, quite easy and nothing to add on it.

but when it s about plinking cr.mk…

example combo : j.hp / cr.hp / cr.mk / spiral arrow HK

i don t have problems to plink it, even if i fail sometimes (and when i fail of course, i release a ex spiral arrow, but ok, it s normal as i failed), but when i succeed, the following spiral arow i have is mk spiral arrow…cause when i plink cr.mk, even if i press hk then, in order to do a HK SA, it s the mk one which is released.

can someone explain me why i fail like this ? thx a lot !

Negative edge.

Release the MK button later.

I didn t get too much what you meant, did you mean the timing i m pressing mk isn t good enough ? But as i’m french too, if you don t mind i’m gonna send you a pm. Thank you.

Ok I answered your PM, but since my answer wasn’t clear enough here: I think you do a qcf, release the MK button and press the HK button. Because of the negative edge, the game considers you did an MK SA.

negative edge - use of button release in place of button press within a command sequence; most Capcom fighting games allow special and super moves to be performed by this method

roger that, clear and loud. my thanks.

I had/and still have the same issues as you (as I’m still trying to improve). Luckily I knew how to overcome these hurdles from being a musician and from other fighting games:

There’s a popular saying that goes perfect practice makes perfect. Make sure you complete the combos you are working on as many times as possible (meaning don’t just repeat something and count it if it doesn’t connect right, mentally correct your mistakes and focus on them, that’s how your brain discards improper information).

If you are “crippled” from one side then you clearly need to work on that side the most. Work on your weaknesses the most, and work on being more versatile with the things you are good at (for instance if you have just basic special moves under your belt, try using them more logically by reading your opponents and punishing them, at the end of the day its this thought process and not technical ability that wins games)

Like someone said, its during the period when you rest that you will get better. For some people it helps to keep track of their progress so they don’t lose hope. In music I frequently record myself, when I find myself struggling with improvising over something or am not happy with the work I’m producing I can often look to old recordings of my playing and say “wow I’ve really improved a lot since then”. There is no way with more practice (which is what this ultimately boils down to) that you can get worse.

The last thing is try to play as many people as possible and focus on working your new combos in a match. There’s nothing like playing against someone with the added pressure to help really drill that combo or new tactic properly. You’ll mess it up a bunch at first but after a while when it starts to become second nature you’ll know that your hard work paid off.

I know this is a long post but I feel like I can relate to these frustrations and have had success in dealing with them in the past. It may seem hopeless now but if you practice for a month a little every day I guarantee you’ll be looking back saying “wow I can’t believe it was so hard for me to do (x) before!”