How does one player obtain a mentality to play fighting games? I’ve been playing all this time and just “going for it”, and hope for the best. However, I realize that’s not the way to approach any fighting game.
So, what’s a good way to get a “mentality”?
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And how does that help me? I came here asking a serious question, and this is what I get!?
He probably gave you the best possible answer. I can’t think of any advice to help someone become mentally tougher. Any advice would sound extremely obvious. Maybe…instead of “just going for it and hoping for the best”, try slowing it down. Don’t treat it like a race to see who can deal damage the fastest. Use all 99 seconds to win if need be.
You need to have the will to win not only over your opponent but mostly over yourself.
If you can’t be assed to go the hard route and look at yourself in a critical way and then actually doing something about it, might as well not pretend to be competitive and just play for the lolz.
What I mean by that is if you get constantly jabbed out of pressure without learning and practicing your meaty timings, or can’t do a specific punish combo without grinding it out, or keep getting throw teched while refusing to level up your shimmy game, or getting constantly jumped on without ever spending games just focusing on doing that anti air, you gotta ask yourself:
“Why the fuck do I do the same shit over and over and expect different results?”
Takes a man to acknowledge your shortcomings, and it takes a winner do actually work them out.
Takes a crybaby to complain about the game and ragequit. Take your pick.
I think for me it starts with commitment. You’re going to have to hold a lot of L’s (losses) before you start to win. That’s why fighting games don’t have as much widespread appeal as League or DOTA, I feel it takes a lot more time and skill to get good and most people have a “win now” mentality causing them to get discouraged and drop fighting games.
As far as mentality before a match…you always hear most top players and even just fighting game veterans say, you need a plan that you can execute during a match. For example, you’re a Nash player fighting Mika, you probably have an initial plan of stay the hell away from the corner and don’t get hit by Mika’s vortex and zone her to death with your better normals and chuck those booms then obviously you gather data about the opponent midmatch. Read your opponent, their tendencies; do they like to press buttons on wakeup? are they rushdown or turtlers? how do they react when I do this? I think that’s the beauty of fighting games, it’s one vs one, a battle of tactics and skill while trying to understand your opponent. Hope this help
Oh, also I’m a huge proponent of studying match footage. I love watching Infiltration, I try to understand why he does certain things and what is his overall plan when facing each opponent. I review my own matches to understand why I lost or why I won, and I try to address those deficiencies.
It would be good if you had a strong local base of players around you as well to learn with. The fastest way for me to level up is play against players my own skill level and we grow together by helping each other out figure out our weakpoints and developing our “fundamentals” (footsies, spacing, execution, etc.).
These are guidelines I personally follow when it comes to playing the game.
Have a game plan before the match.
Observe your opponent and if your game plan isn’t working adapt to what your opponent does.
Learn how to find and correct your mistakes. This is easier to do when watching a replay of your own matches.
Do research on your character and their match-ups (this is arguably optional as in theory you can discover it by yourself but looking it up saves a lot of time).
Practice makes perfect. If you’re struggling performing something specific (hit-confirms, meaties, anti-airs, combos etc.) you can practice all of these.
Don’t make excuses for your losses. If the game is working as intended then your losses and mistakes are entirely your own.
I repeat: NO EXCUSES.
Always look at matches as a learning experience. It is easy to dismiss a loss to shield your ego, we’ve all done it. Saying a person is a ‘scrub’ or has ‘no life’, or any other lame excuse to hide the fact that you just got whomped and you don’t want to know why.
Doing that also blinds yourself from the reasons why you lost: poor read on the opponent, bad execution of combos, perhaps a poorly suited character to your playstyle. You have to always keep your eyes and ears open in every match, win or lose.
In addition to the points other posters have stated, I think this is a key one for players in anything competitive. Learning from losses is the only way you learn, even if you think it doesn’t do your ego any favors. Don’t think of losses as something personal, but an opportunity to grow.
I’m tired but I thought I’d give this a go.
I like to think that there’s two kind of reasons for a loss: Reasons outside the game, and reasons inside the game.
Examples of Reasons outside the game: “I only got 3 hours of sleep,” “Online is laggy,” “My controller is faulty,” “The opponent’s a lame-ass scrub using the same tactic over and over” and perhaps worst of all, "This game is shit."
Examples of Reasons inside the game: “I performed a shoryuken at the wrong time and got punished,” “I jumped in too much and got anti-aired,” and many more.
The thing is the game doesn’t give a shit if your controller is faulty. It ain’t gonna stop dead in its tracks and say “Your controller work yet, sweetie?” Hell no. Your in-game ass is gonna be beat. The only thing the game cares about is if your sorry-ass health bar gets beaten down to zero. No compromises.
You got 3 hours of sleep? Get more sleep. Your online is laggy? Get better internet. Your controller is faulty? Get a better controller. And the last two? Stop being a pussy and grow up. All this has nothing to do with the game.
Now that that’s over with, let’s move on to reasons inside the game. A good way to see reasons inside the game is to watch the replay. The replay tells no lies. It shows every little thing you did wrong. Every mistiming, every whiff, every punish that never was, everything. When you look at the replay it looks back at you. You realize that you suck.
Acknowledging the reasons outside the game seems positive at first, but in the long run it is negative. You *think * that your loss is not your fault and that it was the fault of some outside entity. You finish the match feeling like a million bucks because, hey, you’re perfect. But then you run into the wall of never getting better. You never exit your perfect little world. You keep dropping those combos. You never punish. You stay mediocre.
Acknowledging the reasons inside the game seems negative at first, but in the long run it is positive. You know that your loss is your own fault. This is tough because you need to realize that you’re not perfect. But then you get better. Ever since you realized your flaws, You stopped dropping those combos. You started fully capitalizing off your opponent’s mistakes. Before you know it you’re way better than you ever thought you were gonna be!
Scrubs are likely to acknowledge reasons outside the game. They refuse to see their mistakes and do not change their play. In their mind their play is perfect. They make excuses such as “That strategy is way too OP. Fix it, Capcom!” To them it is never their fault when they lose.
Good players are likely to acknowledge reasons inside the game. They see their mistakes and work to change their play. In their mind their play can always be better. They make no excuses: “I need to find a way to beat that strategy.” To them it is always their fault when they lose.
You see, a common thread in all these replies is “Think about what you did, fuckboy.” …Okay, maybe without the “fuckboy.”
So in short, don’t go around telling the game “You’re a broken piece of shit.” The game probably ain’t gonna listen! On the off-chance it does, it’s gonna say right back “Think about what you did, fuckboy.” =)