“There is nothing but fear reflected in your sword. When you dodge, you’re afraid of getting killed. When you attack, you’re afraid of killing someone. Even when you try to protect someone, you’re afraid of letting them die. Yes, your sword speaks to me only of absurd fear. What’s necessary in a fight isn’t fear. Nothing can be born of that. When you dodge, “I won’t let them cut me.” If you protect someone, “I won’t let them die.” If you attack, “I will kill them.” Well, can’t you see the resolve to kill you in my sword?”
Now, it’s not specifically speaking about SF, but you get the general idea.
Man when I started playing street fighter, I think champion edition had just come out, and I was 9 years old. I would wake up each morning at 5AM and go to the coffee shop across the street from ps201 in Queens and play that shit until I was late for school, every day. I stopped playing fighters in the arcade at around the time marvel 1 came out. I was always pretty bad, I wouldn’t call myself free but I definitely didn’t rank up to the top players in my circle. I had a mental block, family problems and early issues causing a confidence issue so deep rooted that it carried over into everything I did as a kid, including fighting games.
Again like many of you I started playing again when SF4 came out, and I realized that the best way to get better, is not to just tell yourself you suck, but WHY you suck specifically. Do you never win in an AA exchange? Do you get crossed over every single time? Does that ultra never come out in a clutch? Do you still get stuffed by focus attacks? Do you JUMP ALL THE TIME?
It is a lot easier to get better when you break things down into specifics. Don’t just sit in training throwing 1000 fireballs in a row if that has nothing to do with why you lose to every Bison or every Abel you play. Practice your crappy AAs. Practice teching throws and landing punishes. Figure out what YOU need to do to fix the holes in your game. The problem is getting to that point, where you can actually realize what it is that you are lacking in. This may require years of being “free” until you can break that mental block. One day that block will just start to be overcome by all the practice and muscle memory you’ve been working on. It’s not instant. It won’t take a couple of weeks of playing a few hours a day even. Just keep it up though, ask for help, keep practicing for your problem areas. Do this and focus your practice into your deficient areas and I promise you will start winning some of the matchups that are giving you problems. Then someone new will do something you’ve never seen before, and you’ll have to work that out next. Good luck and cheer the fuck up this is Street Fighter!
Yep, I keep on confusing cool swordsmen in different series, since I was this close to saying something about Rurouni Kenshin. Explains why I can’t get above 9 wins in a row online.
I have like 1000 bp and haven’t gone up or down but I bet I could take anyone in this thread in a race to 5. BP don’t mean shit. Especially in this garbage ass game.
I made a similar topic… I had the same exact problems ugh… that wall trust me if there is anyone feeling your pain or anyone who can relate its me you can even go and look at my profile and see my topic I made about a month ago. Some tried to help some gave me flack but after discussing a bit I figureed that topic was bringing me nowhere.I silently retreated and practiced and fought. I still had that wall and no progress it was very depressing but my attitude kept me from giving up. I can fight someone 300 times and lose all 300 and i’m still gonna be mashing on that rematch button! It may seem i’m free but i’m just taking an abnormally unusual time to warm up. ^^; Man…at least you get big names…What I would do for some local competition all I have is online players and they eat me up for lunch. I did the same shit combos,bnb’s,match ups,frame data,link data,counter hit properties all of that. Useless shit…did not help at all I just think you need to change your attitude maybe there is some hidden potential. If worse comes to worse just have fun at what you’re doing or the worst possible option just drop it…
the opponent is doing something that’s netting him wins. changing your state of mind won’t change the fact that you’re losing. what will change that is doing something that upsets what he’s doing.
And to do that you need to change your state of mind. If you’re getting frustrated from what your opponent is doing your judgment will falter and you will play worse and fall into the same traps again and again. The solution would be to change your mental state and observe what the opponent is doing that is causing you issues, what you’re doing that’s causing yourself issues, and adapt. People are saying it again and again in this thread because that’s what it takes. If you stubbornly tell yourself “I can’t do this” or “I can’t adapt” then you’re not ever going to be able to do it and you’ll never be able to win. Assuming no major mental or physical disabilities, with enough time and the right mental state to approach it, anyone can be good at anything. Some people take more time, some people take less time… and some people will never get there, because they are constantly down on themselves.
With fighting games specifically, this comes down to never playing with the focus to win unless money or something major is on the line. Instead, play to the best of your abilities with the focus on learning from your match. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose ranked online matches as long as you learn from them. That’s the mental state difference that matters. It’s not a quick fix that will make you start winning, it’s the solution to getting better at the game. Approach every match with the question “What can I learn from this?” in your mind and you will improve. I guarantee it.
mentality can blind you just as much as it can help you. it can work in a complementary factor like the icing on the cake, but it can’t be the cake. the cake is always, and will forever be, what you do when you play. you can be scared out of your mind and being the most negative human being imaginable. if you do what’s needed to win, then you’ll win; don’t, you lose.