How to Improve?

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

So, it feels like no matter how much I play, and no matter how much I try to improve I just don’t. It is so frustrating and makes me want to quit this game. I don’t mind losing, and I try to look back at every loss and see what I did wrong. But after all this time with no improvement I just don’t know…

I have been playing SSF4 AE for almost a full year now, and I have been hovering around 700 PP the entire time. It is just so frustrating that I am not improving…

I main E. Ryu and Guy.

I have read all the info in the threads on this forum for both of them. I can do the combos, but I have trouble finding the openings for the combos outside of crumples.

Could someone please give me tips to improve my gameplay?

Also, I play on xbl, so if anyone wants to add me and play a few matches and tell me what I need to work on it would be greatly appreciated. My GT is What The Toast.

2

Use the newbie forum, specifically this thread:

3

Also if you can…get with a local offline scene.

4

I don’t have a way to record my gameplay and I’m not really sure what I am losing to. And I’ve tried finding an offline scene but when I looked on this site everyone said they only play MvC3 here.

5

You don’t have a phone with a camera? Can’t borrow from a friend? It’s hard to help without knowing what the problem is.

Try this forum:
http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?categories/regional-matchmaking.110/

6

No to both. And I have tried that forum, that is where I got the “This is a MvC3 town here, nobody plays street fighter.” from.

7

It’s not really that hard to figure out what you’re losing to, watch your replays and see where you get the most damage from and work on it.

e.g if you get thrown a lot, research about how to tech properly, if you get anti aired often then maybe you should stay more on the ground, if you get crossed up for free then learn how to block such setups by recognizing the spacing patterns…etc

Record feature in training mode is your friend.

8

Thanks for the tips.

9

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. You can play online forever and not improve unless you go to training mode and actually train your combos, your links, your meaties. Train, rinse and repeat. Do it hundreds of times. Try to do it X times in a row and start from zero if you screw one up.

When you reach the limit of your talent, then just playing around won’t make you a pro. You have to train specific things with a specific purpose or you’re stuck.

10

  1. Keep asking yourself that question, always return to it.
    Without asking the question, “How do I improve?” you never will,
    So you’re on the right path.

  2. Assess your gameplay honestly, watch your replays.
    Make notes of your mistakes or what you need to improve upon.

  3. Based upon your assessments set training goals.

  4. Cultivate a strategy to achieve your goals. Do you need to improve
    your execution? Is it match up knowledge that is plaguing you?

  5. Emulate the success of others. Who is an outstanding player that uses your main character also?
    Watch their videos, watch for what they do at the right times, that you may not know is effective, or remember to do yourself
    in the same situations.

  6. Practice, against friends, offline, online, against the computer, in training mode. Stick to your goals you set based upon your self-assessments of what you need to improve upon.

  7. Always be the best player YOU can be! Don’t listen to negativity from others, and above all …

  8. Never give up! :slight_smile:

11

Some great advice for you in this post, ill throw out another one: you need to realize where you had opportunities and didn’t capitalize, and where you make flat out mistakes, and adjust accordingly.

Where did you lose the most life? Sloppy fireballs leading to huge combos? Dumb jumpins that weren’t earned? Too aggressive wakeup when knocked down (poor/unsafe reversals/wakeup ultras)? Not aggressive enough on wakeup and got beat down every knockdown? Poor spacing that led to punishes?

Did you miss any big punishes you could have done more damage? Did you have any mixup opportunities? Poor meter management?

There’s a ton of ways to lose, figure out what your doing wrong and adjust. Ideally you should do this In between rounds (or even during them)!!!

Also judge your risk/reward. I’ve had dudes down to 25% health when I’m at 80% and eat an ultra bc I got too aggressive on a knockdown was that 10% health combo worth risking 70% of my life? Wouldn’t it be smarter to be patient and bet on him to make a mistake I can punish?

Hang in there plateaus come, and 90% of it is mental. Think, practice, and learn!

12

Thank you all very much for the fantastic advice. I know one of my biggest problems with E. Ryu is I miss so many huge damage opportunities and whatnot because I am afraid to try to start the combos. For instance with E. Ryu’s BnB, I can hit it 70% of the time, I just never get to do it outside of crumples and ultra whiffs. I watch Mr. Naps just create huge combos out of nothing and I don’t know how to create those opportunities.

13

You’ve been given plenty of advice already, but, yes, you need to identify your problem areas, and then think of ways to improve them. When I first started out, if I was having problem with Boxer jab pressure, or Bison scissors pressure, I would immediately go look up that character’s frame data after the set. I would figure what is safe, what isn’t, and what my window of opportunity is. If I had problems setting up damage opportunities in a game (which was an issue for me in the beginning, as well,) I would think of all my possible options. Did I have trouble 'cause I got hit by Bison st.mk pokes all the time? What would be a good response to that?

For instance, one thing I came up with to do that was, after I blocked a scissors, he would usually do a st.mk. If I anticipate it correctly, I could focus dash through, and then do a command grab. And that’s my approach to roughly anything I have problems with. I try to gather the technical data, then try to break down my options in the exact situations I have problems, and then simulate the different scenarios in my head.

I’m not gonna say this counts for everyone, but most of my damage comes from conditioning the opponent while trying to retain some form of unpredictability in my offense. Frame traps, baiting, anticipated focusing through pokes/projectiles and throw game kinda work together in creating combo opportunities, I feel. It’s not enough just to learn the combo, BUT, you have to learn the combo before you can apply it, so you’ve got the first steps down, at least.

You are probably afraid because you haven’t broken down the exact options and gamble that’s being made in that time. From my experience this hesitation has to do with lack of knowledge and particularly, match-up knowledge. You need to know your windows of opportunity, what your potential choices are, and the risks/rewards associated with them.

Additionally, if you play online, safejump setups alone usually net you safe combo opportunities half the time, I find. But if you start relying solely on that, you’ll quickly fall into another slump.

Hope some of this wall was useful.