We have all seen it somewhere. Be it at a major tournament or some casuals at a friends house. Someone reacting in a split second and sealing a round or avoiding damage. I think probably the most famous is the Daigo Parry. In the instant of Chun’s super flash, Daigo had to make a decision: Either go for the fully parry, jump to avoid it, or choke and die
Are reflexes and quick thinking something you are born with? Or is it a skill you can improve. I was talking about it today at work with some co-workers who also play fighting games. It was about 50/50 between everyone on whether you have it or you don’t, or that you can improve them. What do you guys think?
What about you? Have you had a moment where quick reflexes and steady hands won you the match / round? If so, share it here! I wanna see it
I’m not sure the Daigo parry was so much reflexes as much as he expected Justin to try to chip him to death with SA2. He was ready for it, it was just a matter of when it was coming. Gotta say though, what really impressed me about that moment was him jumping up to parry the one kick so he’d be in position for a combo that would take Wong out.
On topic, I think reflexes are something you can develop, but perhaps some people are more predisposed to them than others. If you get used to having to react at a certain speed, it becomes more natural to do it.
I can see prediction coming into play. For example, I had a feeling this Adon would go for a jaguar kick… lo and behold he did one and I was ready for him
Daigo parry is a bad example for this thread. It doesn’t require reflexes, it just requires that you’ve practiced it before. Jump parry the last hit for max damage punish is also pretty common.
yeah don’t wanna bust balls here but if you try practicing parrying chun sa2 you’ll quickly find that if you don’t press the first parry input before the super it will be too late.
anyway, I don’t believe raw reaction time can be improved, but low amount of experience and skill can make players unsure of their decisions, thus giving the illusion of sluggish reaction time. similarly skilled players learn how to create situations where there opponents have few options, and the fewer options you have to account for, the faster you’ll react to the ones you’re expecting. a lot of people here claim to have improved their reaction time with some goofy internet reaction time game but I’m not convinced that would improve your reaction time in anything but that specific game. besides practice, probably anything that helps your alertness would make the most difference, like good physical fitness, diet, and sufficient rest, or just hella coffee.
some players seem naturally gifted with quick reaction time like Ricky Ortiz
strength with speed = power just like raw reaction time with anticipation = power.
You could be the strongest guy on earth but with no speed you can’t hit that hard.
Same way you could have above average reaction time but if you cannot read or anticipate your opponent then you cannot react to his actions well… even if you do, it will be mentally tiresome to
counter off of just pure reactions with no anticipation because you cannot be ready for every single option at the same degree at all time, you have to expect one more than the other at a certain moment, therefore you are most likely to react to this particular thing.
I’ve been playing fighting games for about 7 years now and my reflexes are still pretty garbage. They have developed over time to a small degree but it’s more a matter of getting a feel for what you should be watching out for at any given moment. The difference between raw reaction to something and reacting to something that you were somewhat expecting or at least thinking about beforehand is huge, and that is definitely something that you can improve with experience, practice, research, and just generally being thoughtful while playing instead of letting yourself autopilot things sometimes.
If your reaction speed is poor, I would not expect it to improve, but there are things you can do to overcome that weakness, at least partially.
Daigo Parry isn’t really reflexes. IMO it’s Execution more than anything. To me, the Daigo Parry is the the shining example of why Execution > Strategy - ALWAYS. Execution is everything - because it determines whether you win or lose. It is literally Execution or die.
Prediction definitely comes into play. A big part of what makes fighting games fighting games is the depth of potential options that can occur. Somebody who’s focused on the ground game will have trouble reacting to jump ins, especially the fast ones like Rog. But if they took focus off the ground they’d definitely find it easier to react to jumps. Being able to manage both is what separates great players from the merely good.
The way I see it: react to the situation first, then the stimulus.
In other words, during a match I’m constantly limiting the number of probable actions my opponent can use against me and then out of those selecting one or two that I want to be able to react to.
For example, if I perform a series of moves that leaves me at a distance where the only way they can touch me is with a projectile or jumping attack, then those are the only two things I prepare myself to react to. I don’t really if they jump/walk back, and if they walk forward and I react in time to their pokes as well. This makes it much easier to react to things, instead of just twitching when you see a particular animation.