Natural talent is something, that imo, definitely exsists but I would definitely say that experience comes into play far more. Example, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that have played SF for aslong, if not longer than Justin. Somebody could be completely unknown but due to Justins experience, the fact he’s spent his time playing SF in tournaments against the best, practicing in arcades against really good opponents. His experience is far more vast than the other persons who for example, could of just played in his local arcade(s) when he was young in SFII era and just played on consoles with the newer versions. Just my 2c.
This is pretty depressing for me to read :sad:
As someone with a disability (very mild), I’ve always noticed that my motors skills are crap compared to my friends, however I still think that this shouldn’t limit my success at this or in other areas of life.
As an example, when I first picked up FPS games when I was younger, I got destroyed by my friends, however as I played more often over the years, I was able to close the gap between myself and friends through experience and practice, even though I am at a considerable disadvantage compared to them in regards to motor skills. For me this also applies to fighting games, where as I started off in SF4, I couldn’t even get off a reaction anti-air, to where now I’m able to counter my friends with anti-airs due to practice and experience.
Although I am very far from being competitive on a tournament scene I still believe that through practice and growing experience that it is possible for me to be competitive in gaming vs. my peers even with my disadvantages of having lessen motor skills.
so you’re saying justin wong has no talent ? 
haha, don’t let some scrub making excuses bring you down. there are lots of skillful players with no innate abilities in the game.
I think any individual can master SF. But one must master their self first. Mind, body & soul. If you play with anger throughout the game you will not gain any real experience. Video gaming is like any other sport. There are times when an athlete won’t play at their full potential because of stress. Same rules apply, in my opinion though… What people fear, mock argue about… only shows their ignorance.
For people who “don’t got it”, I would suggest just stepping out of reality and really think about what just happen. If you got your ass whooped, I’m pretty sure it’s a reason why. It isn’t Capcom’s fault. Stay focus and practice!
I tell people all the time. Why keep doing the same move if you saw me shatter it the first time you did it? Switch up your style man…
That’s like a football team doing the same play over and over again.
Common Sense.
If you don’t think there is SOME level of talent involved, you are delusional.
At the same time, if you don’t think that hard work and dedication are a HUGE part of it and can even occasionally turn a crappy player into a legend, then you’re also missing out.
Track is actually a great example. I haven’t read the whole thread, but I was a top runner in my state in HS and I was REALLY into track. Talent is a HUGE factor in distance running… Jim Ryun ran under 4:30 in the first mile race of his life as a sophomore in HS back in the 60’s (on a dirt or cinder track with crappy 60’s shoes no less) and ran 4:07 that season. 4:07, as a sophomore, first ever season of track. That was talent. There are plenty of East Africans who run 15:30 (5 minute mile pace) in their first 5ks with little or no prior training… it happens.
On the other hand, there are runners who grind away for years before all of a sudden (or gradually) finding themselves at the top. My school record holder in the800 (1:50, which is ridiculous and would be one of the top times in the nation every year) was only “good” before his senior year. His PR was 1:57 I believe going into one of his last indoor races senior year, and then according to my coach, he all of a sudden “got” the mental side of it and became a super badass and ended up running 1:50 in outdoor. It was years of training and experience and mental toughening that led to that.
It’s both. It also just so happens that most of the people with the most talent end up working REALLY HARD to then maximize that talent. Daigo was a top gamer when he was like 15, and what did he do when SF4 came out? Did he just show up on tournament day and dominate? No, he was playing 6-8 hours per day for months when it first came out.
One final time - it’s both…
this is pretty much what I was gonna post
japs aren’t bionic or something, they just have access to mad comp and mad arcades. If there was a chinatown fair on every other block of your state I’m sure whatever state you were in would be pretty damn gdlk.
paying for each game has the advantage getting people to play at their best. but when you have a bunch of random people playing on a console nobody is never really giving it 100% all the time.
and also I remember someone posting about how they were looking at daigo’s sfiv stats and how he clocked like 7 hours daily of sfiv.
I was going to link Domination forums as well cause it really seems to answer this question.
Just to fan the flames though,
John Choi: 15+ years in the making
Alex Valle: 15+ years in the making
Ricky Ortiz: 15+ years in the making
Afro Cole: 15+ years in the making
Sabin: 15+ years in the making
Watson: 15+ years in the making
Ed: 10+ years in the making
Wolfe: 10+ years in the making
Jwong: 10+ years in the making
Eric Choi: 15+ years in the making
Buktooth: 7+ years at least
Kim: 7+ years at least
Sanford: 7+ years at least
Only big name I know nothing about is Afrolegend. I heard hes been at ST for 5-7 years though so no surprise he won evo/majors.
To fan the flames some more, when daigo was like 15, he was playing VS in an above average comp arcade. He was able to rack up a streak of 150 wins and eventually quit due to attrition. On the way out, he told the management the middle punch was broken. Now iono how that’s possible, but it’s obvious natural talent does help some.
The worlds strongest men are only the strongest because genetically, they can be. Some people can train all their life and never reach competitive levels, particularly, Asians. They can be good olympic lifters, but not strongmen.
Some people in life are just born higher tiered than others. XD
Honestly, anyone that says natural talent means nothing doesn’t understand how our bodies work. It’s not the biggest factor but it’s there.
Shit, man. You have to take what I said with a grain of salt. I mean, it’s obvious that fine motor skills are going to be part of any video game, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make up for certain disadvantages elsewhere.
Pherai, you pretty much nailed it on the head, even though my sentiment toward your post is somewhere along the lines of “fuck you”. :razzy:
both natural talent + experience. experience >>>> natural talent though by faaaar. when you have both, youre godlike status.
sadly i have the experience but my natural talent peaked long time ago. its cause ive been playing…since sf1 came out. so that means i had since sf1 + 10 years after that of pure scrubbery
i dont know… for me it is all about talent… it takes hard work to realize that talent but it shows how far your hard work will go… what your POTENTIAL is… luckily street fighter takes MANY skillsets to be proficient at in order to be an all around good player… there are people out there that just use awesome reaction time to be able to get away with stuff that lesser players couldnt… like having a character thats weak to jumpins chill in a prime jumpin range…
fast reactions can make it so that the player can use aa’s better than other slower players…
another one is pattern recognition talent… that one goes straight to I.Q.
the smarter you are the quicker you will be able to understand patterns in your opponents play, not only that, but you will also be able to figure out patterns that some if not MANY players can ever find out. i know this because it comes up in my own games frequently:
i’ll beat on or play well some really good/ almost top player for a round or 2 maybe even win a couple of matches… but then, depending on how good they are (smart actually) they will multiply by 50 divide by pi, subtract 11 and figure out my game and know 70% of the time EXACTLY what i will do and when i will do it. after that i will eventually start to figure them out and stop getting massacred, but i still wont be winning even when i try my best to stay as far out of pattern as possible…
to put this talent versus hard work in another way: its kind of like comparing sagats potential in the hands of a master versus a guile vega or fuerte… sagat has a higher potential… he of course will go further than the low tier.
generally when i think of talent and hard work it goes like that.
also justin wong said that its mostly about how good your reactions are… i’m inclined to agree with him.
heres a reaction test, it would be cool if we could see where the top players place in this little game:
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php
my median score was 246, which means i’m below average.
what are yalls?
heres another one that measures your ability to differentiate between different things and make a choice based on 2 options… this one is much better than the first one cause it judges your ability to differentiate between something such as how fast you react to the difference on whether or not someone jumps in or fireablls when playing the neutral game… it also is kind of like hitconfirming a jump in attack and going into somethging safe like a safe special on block or doing an unsafe special in case of hit…
my reaction time on this was 1150 after about 6-8 times played… what are your guys?
http://www.lumosity.com/brain-games/speed-games/speed-match
-edit… just got it down to 950ms reaction and and 3370 points… WHO WANTS TO PLAY!!!
LOL
-edit 2… maybe reaction time CAN get better… i got 232 on first test out of 5 clicks right after doing second test a few times.
-dime
LOL - Dime, we should post this in the Fellowship Club for shits and giggles.
My score was 248 btw.
On my second go, I got 266! 
My score was 208.8 after 5 clicks.
well i placed myself on the top 20.
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/allresults.php (AznDreamer)
but that doesn’t mean too much I think. I still suck at SFIV lolz. I’m only ALMOST there at G1
EDIT. This is the second try tho. I’ll try to do at least 5 times and see where I end up at.
232, first go, can you negative edge clicks? lol
219 2nd go.
212, after 3 beers and I’m 33. I think that anywhere under .300 is fast enough reaction time, it’s all about making the right reaction at that particular time. How long does, say, a jump in take? I would think longer then .300
176 on the first try.
163 second.
151 fifth
I have kind of fast but inaccurate and bad reactions. Speed isn’t all there is, have to make the right choice. Like kicking a whiffed DP on reaction while it is still active 
. Test doesn’t prove much tbh.
edit: lol what http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/allresults.php #19
I had one slow one too- 191 or something. this test must’ve not been around long.
Oh those are only the best of the month. gayness
202 on my first time around. 197 second time around. Slightly above average.
904ms, 2870 points (I get semi-hypnotized by the pictures).