Multiple fighting games.

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
1

I’m new to fighting games in general, sure I played SF2 and others here and there (20-30 minutes at a time once in a blue moon), but I never really wanted to get better, or cared at all. Now I can’t find myself not looking at every fighting game out there, but I find myself stopping before I try playing them in anyway serious because I don’t wanna stunt any growth in SF4… I know many will argue it’s not the best fighting game, and I agree, but it is what I’m focused on.

Well, will playing other fighting games screw me over or will it help me improve in other aspects? and whatever else you could cram into that question, I would hope people understand what I’m asking.

I couldn’t think of how to search for this on the forums, but I did try.

2

If you play something completely different like… maybe Marvel or Tekken I don’t think it’ll hurt. I don’t play any other fighter even remotely seriously aside from SF4 though.

3

I play 3s and SFIV. 3s will teach you footsies and as long as you’re not tapping forward to parry ultras in SFIV, the games work well with eachother.

4

^What he said, and OP I’d suggest you start putting in more time with SF2 as it’ll help you better understand the basic fundamentals of Street Fighter…

5

Well atm I’m playing SF4, 3S and ST (just to get a better understanding of the fundamentals of street fighter) and Alpha 3. Switching between those game hasn’t really made me worse in any other game. I guess when switching between games you just have to remember what works in that game etc. Like someone else said don’t start trying to parry ultras in SF4 after playing some 3S.

6

I think you’ll find that each game you play helps you develop different areas of your skill set as you’re often forced to work on different things to succeed in them. Also, many fighting games feature similar, repeating elements and so your knowledge and practice of those things can be immediately transferred over almost directly and still remain mostly intact.; we call these things “fundamentals.”

You can be developing yourself generally no matter what you’re playing: this would be things like your mindset and nerves, mental toughness and agility, your dexterity, your execution, your reaction speed, etc. In addition, playing multiple games can grant you a unique or broadened perspective for any one of those game; this is useful because the basis of all counter-strategy is creative problem solving.

To top it all off, as you explore a game and work to increase your abilities at it, you are familiarizing yourself with your own learning process and optimizing its efficiency; you’re learning to learn better/faster/better. You will gradually find key ideas more easily, pick up new concepts more quickly, see more depth in situations, produce more accurate analyses, and even have an easier time memorizing and recalling the details.

An extremely common hurdle encountered by people who have just recently started playing multiple games is that playing one game makes them worse at another. Be aware that you will likely feel this at first. It will be quickly and completely overcome as you build up your experience in and understanding of each game.

Here are some threads from last couple of years, listed from newest to oldest, that all contain ideas from which you may find benefit. You may have to
Playing more than 1 fighting game competitively?
Maintaining skill level over multiple games?
Who is considered the better player?
Is it a bad idea to enter many tournaments at once?
(I sound so stupid in all of my older posts, hahaha.)

I should also add that there is absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to one and only one game. I won’t go into any details about it but, in terms of increasing your prowess in one particular game, focusing all of your energies into only that one game obviously carries its advantages. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, it can only be a good thing. They call those players “specialists” for a reason.

Uhh, so basically just play what you want and things will work out for you. The more you play, the better you get. :smile:

7

My experience is that playing one 2d game will actually improve your play in other 2d games. I don’t play 3ds, so I can’t speak towards that, but…yeah.

The only thing is if you’re playing, say, third strike, you’re gonna learn all the matchups in that game and nothing about the 4 matchups or situations, but it will definitely improve your fundamentals, so as long as you keep putting some time into 4 I wouldn’t worry too much about playing other games. Just don’t spread yourself too thin :wink:

8

I think if you are new to fighting games, stick to one game. I don’t know of anyone who is successful at more than 1 fighting game that has been playing for less than 4 years.

9

Played SF4 for a year, played Marvel before hand (never anything serious, but enough to make a dollar last my moms shopping trip to the mall.) Went to an arcade the other day and was playing 3s while waiting for the line at SF4 to die down. Did pretty good against some random people, they weren’t complete scrubs, but they weren’t amazing either. A lot of the same rules apply, though I gotta say I love the UVOH. Makes wake up alot more fun.

Also, TVC is a blast. Just gotta be able to see what information can transfer over and what doesn’t.

10

I’d say that it mostly depends on the game, and the underlying mechanics of them. I find that I can swap between any SF series, or CvS2 and be fine, but if I play BlazBlue then it takes me at least a few hours to transition back and forth.

But, at the same time, if I hadn’t played BB ever, my execution would be worse than it is now. It is easier to do combos in that game than in SF4 (due to repeated inputs), so it served as a nice stepping stone to get my execution up to par.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that in my experience playing a different fighter seriously will mess you up in the extreme short term, but will likely improve your game over the long term.

11

Play more ST, it’ll better your execution. The execution in SF4 is VERY leniant, so if you prace say, QCF or 2xQCF in HDR your execution in SF4 will be even better. It’ll also help you better understand cross ups and footsies. I’ve been playing Garou and TvC lately and I’ve found in ST I keep trying to hyper hop or super jump lol

12

Hey I dont know what works for you but i play SFHDR2 ,3S , blaze blue , TvC, Tekken , all the alphas and none of it has hurt my game any just inproved it some thats all so i dont think it should hurt your game