I just got through beating my first full set of trials in SSFIV:AE (Guy’s) and decided to check out how long I’ve been playing altogether. I’ve clocked in a little over 60 hours (obviously not all of that was spent on those trials ;)) and I got to wondering how long everyone else has been playing.
Sub-question: how long do you think someone needs to play before they could be considered “good enough” for tournaments?
You honestly won’t know if you are good enough for tournaments until you actually go to tournaments…
There’s no such thing as “good enough” for tournaments. If you’re talking about accomplishing specific goals in a tournament, such as placing top 8 in your locals, or something, it depends primarily on your local competition.
If you mean “how good do you need to be before you join the first tournament”, it really depends on you. There’s no requirement for joining a tournament, other than an entry fee, so whenever you feel comfortable in your ability to play in a competitive setting, is when you’re ready for a tournament.
But tournaments are a very different animal than playing casuals, the computer, trial mode, or training mode. Tournaments introduce a degree of stress and a pressure to perform, and require that you be able to adapt to your opponent and be willing to change your strategy on the fly, which is a very difficult thing to do.
I played SFIV competitively since the second, ‘Super’ instalment, so what, 2 and a half years now. Wish I never wasted the hours frankly. Played SF in general since around 1992. Seeing double fireballs in the air, and playing as Vega was a really big deal.
To play SFIV:AE @ tourny level, you would need 1 frame input skills, and split second FADC reactions, combined with a overarching and deep understanding of the whole game system, every characters moves, hit-boxes, tiers and wide match-up and match-play experience. Then you would be need to be able to control your nerves in front of the crowd and cameras, and not drip sweat into your joystick (no homo).
not true. there’s no such thing as “tourney level”
Honestly, if you have solid spacing / blocking (esp vortex setups), don’t mash, and can land consistent punishes + hit confirms… you’re fine. At least in SF4.
By watching streams of high level play one should have an idea of most widely encountered matchups in theory.
The rest is just getting comfy with the locals. You won’t know until you try.
There is no ‘tournament level’ to achieve. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The worst thing that can happen is losing. Big deal. Learn from your mistakes.
Now I remember why I’ve not come here in a while. I’m not a fan of the blind leading the blind. >_>
I played fighting games way before Street Fighter 2 (karate champ, 2 sticks and no buttons FTW!) never got serious and stopped playing games all together after the Dreamcast crashed and burned, spent a bunch of years in the music biz, then got back into fighting game when SSF4 came out, got serious about fighters in November last year when I stumbled across the Detroit scene. When to my first Major (the last Seasons Beatings held at MoMo2. Won my first match, lost the next two and my second loss that knocked me out of the tourny was on stream 
GO AND PLAY!!! You will learn more about the game losing to great people in person who will often tell you what you are doing wrong.
In post 2009 Capcom fighters? Probably not. Cole winning back to back ST tournys though, what was that?
“I have no idea who wins this”
“Well Dhalsim wins this”
Oh hey, it’s Zass. Cole seems to be hungry for ST after his experience with ToL at Evo. Glad to see him getting back into the game, and I’m hoping he becomes a serious threat next Evo.
The game has been for what, five or so years? Anyone who goes to tournaments clock in at least 1000 hours into SF4.
You’d be amazed how bad people are at SF4, even tournament players. Hours spent playing is a general indicator of how good they are, but not necessarily. Some guys can play day after day after day, and hardly improve. Only way to know how you measure up against other players in a competitive environment is to show up to local events.
Ah, but bad players, or bad game? The age-old debate rumbles on…! Didn’t some Japanese tourny player bring his girlfriend over, who promptly beat down everyone with Blanka? Cool story SFIV.
Are you talking about Chocoblanka? If so, I don’t think she beat down everybody, but she did do pretty well. Most dudes tend to underestimate girls, which is why my girlfriend fucked up some random scrub during her first match at Evo.
Mike Mixup took Top 8 in MvC2 at Evo 2k3 after playing for only a few months.
I’ve been playing Super Turbo for 18 years. I’m not “good enough” to play in SBO.
It’s not a formula.
To answer your question - I’ve been playing fighting games for 18 years. I was trying to get “good enough” for higher level play from about 1999 through 2007 when I gave up on the dream.
Well in my case… i started playing HD Remix on PS3 in 2008, a couple of years later, i started playing ST, 2010 to be precise, i was on pad, and i was decent enough to take some games vs top players with close games. in 2011 i decided to switch to arcade stick, after a year, i feel confortable to play ST with arcade stick.
So i can tell, i only have one year of experience with Super Turbo.
As for tournament experience, unfortunately, i have none, because in here i/we don’t have a fighting games escene and i can’t participate in online tournaments because i have stage fright so i can’t perform as i want to perform because i know there’s eyes on me(ggpo spects). lol =(
Well that’s just an opinion, I’d say the guy is either capable of being good or is just too stupid and a waste of time and should only play causally. It’s like some jack ass trying to play a guitar with a violin stick you don’t blame others for your failure.
Some students get C grades their entire life while someone else only gets As and Bs.
True. But the point is, there’s a variety of players who enter into tournaments, and not everyone is a hardcore competitor who practices 4 hours a day. People even spend $70 + travel expenditures to get to Evo, just to lose 0-2 to mediocre players.
But I feel that as long as you’re comfortable with your character, execution, matchup knowledge, and game knowledge, you should do decent in a tournament. A big problem that many people have is that they’re not used to having to deal with tournament nerves or stress, but that gets easier with each tournament that you attend.
You didn’t read it well apparently. A smart guy perfects a game in a few seconds. A dumbass will fail till the end of time. It wont be that drastic but hopefully you can now understand with a more clear visual explanation.
Technically every gamer is equal. Their avatars both lift weights, are the same height and train at the same rate. The player on the other hand just presses buttons. “One inch or one mile losing is still losing.”
Of course there’s a point to be made about natural talent vs. hard work. In regards to your “some guys get Cs, others get Bs and As” example, depending on the subject, some people will cruise their way to get good grades just by being naturally adept at that subject, whereas other guys struggle to get Cs. They may have to put in twice the amount of work just to even get a mediocre grade.
But of course, it could be that they’re getting bad grades because they’re both indept at their subject, as well as being too lazy to put the time and effor that’s necessary to improve at it. Hard work is still required, but it needs to be accompanied by a strong ability to self-analyse and motivate, in order to maximize what potential you have.
Well you answered it yourself. At the end of the day someone gets an A and someone else gets a C, every factor revolving around that is irrelevant. That’s pretty much it. I should’ve just said that in the first place.