Skullgirls is my very first fighting game, advice?

[Dude]

Still practicing combos and branching out into my other moves that help me move around. I went back to Filia and I gotta say, learning how to use hairball without having to think about it helps out a whoooole lot. Despite the initial shock factor of getting my ass thrown around, I’m starting to get the hang of it and the games aren’t completely walk overs now. Also have you guys played against the computer AI? I think it’s a safe bet that beating the arcade on Nightmare would be a good thing to do before really focusing heavily on online play. I’m still having trouble with Ridiculous atm.

The ai seems to be able to pull off long ass combos the same way people do, but people are a bit smarter and pick up on your weaknesses. Played vs a Cerebella today and we were pretty equal, except he was good at throwing and I had no experience preventing it so he just abused that flaw in my game =_=.

Also even though I said I wanted to get an arcade stick, I gotta say, the keyboard doesn’t feel all that bad. Especially a mechanical one. Are there any known veteran players out there who use keyboard or is this completely new territory?

Not any keyboard players I know of, but the Hit Box Arcade Stick is quite similar to the keyboard, and people do use that. What is your keyboard layout? To copy the Hit Box layout just do ASD as left, down, right; use the spacebar as up; and use the normal right handed 6 button layout for the attacks. (The benefit of not using WASD as your directional layout is that superjumps, 360s, and tiger knees are all easier).

Edit: here is a link to a picture of the Hit Box, and what I’d recommend using for a keyboard layout.

http://www.psnstores.com/2011/10/hardware-review-the-hit-box-arcade-stick/

[beesuit]

It’s all preference when it comes to controller choice imo. Keyboard warriors on a PC player-base are hardly uncommon at all. Only trouble I might think of is when you want to go to meet-ups and such where keyboards aren’t readily available for you to use. Hitboxes are also very similar to a keyboard so that could be another option that you could look into.

[HOTJAPGIRL]

@beesuit I did a bit of button mashing before I spent a few hours trying to hammer out my basic combos. I still slip up sometimes when I try to go for my s.HP. Like say c.LK, s.MK. s.HP ends up being a c.LK, c.MK, c.HP =(

@Dude The layout I use is asd for lp, mp, hp zxc for lk, mk, hk. For my directional buttons my set up it’s a bit awkward since my arrow keys were busted. I use 2,4,8,6 on my numpad in the respective directions. I’ve gotten pretty used to them but it’s nearly impossible to get a 360 to register. I wonder how weird it would be if I brought my keyboard to a local lan party and plugged in my keyboard into an xbox if thats even possible lol.

[Nupss]

This is a great thread to read through, as I’m in the same boat as the OP. I’ve always kinda of been intimidated by fighting games and have thus never picked one up, but the extensive tutorial system and cheap price piqued my interest in SkullGirls. I’m getting my ass kicked by people with obviously more experience, but that’s no problem. I just think to myself, my movement must look so awkward for the opponent ^^

I’ve mainly been practising with Cerebella lately, but am not quite feeling her. Gonna check out Filia next To the practise room!

[MajormelisThere]

Still practicing combos and branching out into my other moves that help me move around. I went back to Filia and I gotta say, learning how to use hairball without having to think about it helps out a whoooole lot. Despite the initial shock factor of getting my ass thrown around, I’m starting to get the hang of it and the games aren’t completely walk overs now. Also have you guys played against the computer AI? I think it’s a safe bet that beating the arcade on Nightmare would be a good thing to do before really focusing heavily on online play. I’m still having trouble with Ridiculous atm.

The ai seems to be able to pull off long ass combos the same way people do, but people are a bit smarter and pick up on your weaknesses. Played vs a Cerebella today and we were pretty equal, except he was good at throwing and I had no experience preventing it so he just abused that flaw in my game =_=.

Also even though I said I wanted to get an arcade stick, I gotta say, the keyboard doesn’t feel all that bad. Especially a mechanical one. Are there any known veteran players out there who use keyboard or is this completely new territory?

Not any keyboard players I know of, but the Hit Box Arcade Stick is quite similar to the keyboard, and people do use that. What is your keyboard layout? To copy the Hit Box layout just do ASD as left, down, right; use the spacebar as up; and use the normal right handed 6 button layout for the attacks. (The benefit of not using WASD as your directional layout is that superjumps, 360s, and tiger knees are all easier).

Edit: here is a link to a picture of the Hit Box, and what I’d recommend using for a keyboard layout.

http://www.psnstores.com/2011/10/hardware-review-the-hit-box-arcade-stick/

wouldnt it be best if it was QWE instead of ASD? it’ll feel more comfortable

[TheBlackHombre]

Still practicing combos and branching out into my other moves that help me move around. I went back to Filia and I gotta say, learning how to use hairball without having to think about it helps out a whoooole lot. Despite the initial shock factor of getting my ass thrown around, I’m starting to get the hang of it and the games aren’t completely walk overs now. Also have you guys played against the computer AI? I think it’s a safe bet that beating the arcade on Nightmare would be a good thing to do before really focusing heavily on online play. I’m still having trouble with Ridiculous atm.

The ai seems to be able to pull off long ass combos the same way people do, but people are a bit smarter and pick up on your weaknesses. Played vs a Cerebella today and we were pretty equal, except he was good at throwing and I had no experience preventing it so he just abused that flaw in my game =_=.

Also even though I said I wanted to get an arcade stick, I gotta say, the keyboard doesn’t feel all that bad. Especially a mechanical one. Are there any known veteran players out there who use keyboard or is this completely new territory?

Not any keyboard players I know of, but the Hit Box Arcade Stick is quite similar to the keyboard, and people do use that. What is your keyboard layout? To copy the Hit Box layout just do ASD as left, down, right; use the spacebar as up; and use the normal right handed 6 button layout for the attacks. (The benefit of not using WASD as your directional layout is that superjumps, 360s, and tiger knees are all easier).

Edit: here is a link to a picture of the Hit Box, and what I’d recommend using for a keyboard layout.

http://www.psnstores.com/2011/10/hardware-review-the-hit-box-arcade-stick/

I agree OP, play with the hitbox layout.

I know you’ve been given a lot of advice on here already but this is how I started out when playing and I highly recommend learning the same way I did.
Play solo cerebella and read through this thread.

Beginner's Guide to Cerebella - 'The One and Only'

This guide is for players who are new to the character, or new to fighting games. I aim to explain Cerebella’s main tools, and give some ideas for where to start. For people who are more interested in quick factoids and/or want some bread and butter combos to start off with, I’ve bolded what I think are the most important points. Think of it as a pre-emptive tl;dr. How to do a 360 motion without jumping *-*This slipped my mind at first, but I’m sure some people are wondering how it works. If y…

Then you can switch or add any character you like. You’ll understand the thinking behind fighting games as well by doing this.

Also all the skullgirl players are on www.skullheart.com, it has much more information than srk but it’s currently down at the moment so feel free to check back on it or visit the irc to talk to people live.

[YusukeUrameshi]

Just play peacock

Unless OP has a good knowledge of zoning he’s gonna get blown up for playing Peacock without assists as a GTFO me attack.

[Dude]

Still practicing combos and branching out into my other moves that help me move around. I went back to Filia and I gotta say, learning how to use hairball without having to think about it helps out a whoooole lot. Despite the initial shock factor of getting my ass thrown around, I’m starting to get the hang of it and the games aren’t completely walk overs now. Also have you guys played against the computer AI? I think it’s a safe bet that beating the arcade on Nightmare would be a good thing to do before really focusing heavily on online play. I’m still having trouble with Ridiculous atm.

The ai seems to be able to pull off long ass combos the same way people do, but people are a bit smarter and pick up on your weaknesses. Played vs a Cerebella today and we were pretty equal, except he was good at throwing and I had no experience preventing it so he just abused that flaw in my game =_=.

Also even though I said I wanted to get an arcade stick, I gotta say, the keyboard doesn’t feel all that bad. Especially a mechanical one. Are there any known veteran players out there who use keyboard or is this completely new territory?

Not any keyboard players I know of, but the Hit Box Arcade Stick is quite similar to the keyboard, and people do use that. What is your keyboard layout? To copy the Hit Box layout just do ASD as left, down, right; use the spacebar as up; and use the normal right handed 6 button layout for the attacks. (The benefit of not using WASD as your directional layout is that superjumps, 360s, and tiger knees are all easier).

Edit: here is a link to a picture of the Hit Box, and what I’d recommend using for a keyboard layout.

http://www.psnstores.com/2011/10/hardware-review-the-hit-box-arcade-stick/

wouldnt it be best if it was QWE instead of ASD? it’ll feel more comfortable

Either way. The basic layout is what’s important.

[HOTJAPGIRL]

Well I’ve already decided to learn how to play stick. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do, plus I don’t see how I would benefit any more from playing hitbox seeing how my movement keys are on my numpad which even I think is a bizarre thing.

Thanks for the Cerebella guide link hombre. I do like Filia but I wanna get good at Cerebella because of the way she looks. Them arms be swole man, that’s motivation to keep lifting in the gym!

Also does anyone know of any video guides on advanced Filia combos? Like the ones we saw at Evo, cause those are like completely differently from the basic ones I’m doing right now lol. I like to do c.LK, s.MK, s.HP, j.MP, j.MKxx, j.MP, j.HK, c.LK, s.MK, s.HP, j.LP, j.LK, Hairball, then my super but then I don’t know how to keep the chain going after that, haven’t been able to find a follow up on youtube and whatnot. If I do another hairball it’ll trigger the IPS @_@.

[Dude]

The beta has been changing so much that I might be wrong about this, but last I checked you can’t do two Airball dash cancels in one combo; which means the stuff you saw at EVO is no longer possible.

As for your specific combo, after the second launcher don’t do both j.lp and j.lk. Instead do either one or the other, then do j.MP j.MK xx Airball xx Super. That way you can do another air string later in the combo (which should start with either j.LP or j.LK, depending on whichever you haven’t used yet). You’ve already used up your OTG before the Super (which should be Gregor Samson), so you’ll need to catch them midair with a s.MP (into s.HP, j.LP/LK j.MP j.MK xx HK Airball) after the Samson super, to finish the combo.

OR, if you don’t wanna deal with all that, and don’t mind spending another meter, you can do Airball xx Gregor Samson, then hit them with your DP super on the way down. Still, I’d try and learn the non-metered Samson followup.

Edit: Actually, you haven’t used an Airball cancel in this yet, so you could do the suggested air string after Gregor Samson, then at the end do HK Airball air-dash cancel, s.LP s.LP s.MP s.HP xx DP super (or something like that. Even just a normal DP or Hairball if you wanna save meter)

Edit2: The s.MP after Gregor Samson is a LOT easier if you use LK Hairball before Samson (puts the character higher so they have farther to fall, giving you more time to dash into s.MP range). so your original combo should look like this:
c.LK s.MK s.HP, j.MP j.MKxx j.MP j.HK, c.LK s.MK s.HP, j.LP j.MP j.MK xx LK Airball xx Gregor Samson
And the extension would look like this (depending on the character):
c.LK s.MK s.HP, j.MP j.MKxx j.MP j.HK, c.LK s.MK s.HP, j.LP j.MP j.MK xx LK Airball xx Gregor Samson
Dash s.MP s.HP, j.LK j.MP j.MK xx HK Airball air-dash cancel, s.LP s.LP s.MP s.HP xx some special/super

Final note (I promise): Depending on the character you’re comboing, you may or may not have used up your OTG before the first Gregor Samson. If you’ve used up the OTG you’ll need to do the s.MP catch. If you HAVEN’T used the OTG you can just use c.LP s.MK s.HP and go from there. It’s a lot easier that way.

[ArtVandelay]

I’m new to fighting games and play Street Fighter 4 atm but this is universal advice that helps me a lot at the moment:

Basics: Don’t be too obsessed with combos, special moves, super moves etc., fighting games are all about positioning and your relation to the opponent.
Learn your basic moves in training mode and find out what moves stop jump ins, which one has the most range with medium to fast speed so you can poke at people without endangering yourself, which one is the fastest so you can punish people walking up for a throw or blowing combos into your blocks and learn to defend crossups and overheads.
Find out what your characters optimal range to an opponent is and play with other people to see where they like to be.

When you’re good with your normals and actually land them all the time, that’s when you can worry about combos since those maximize your damage output.
Not saying you shouldn’t try to learn them, just don’t put more focus into that than figuring out how to actually land that first hit that leads into the combo.

I also realized that I’m doing a ton better ever since I hammered into my mind that I should stop pressing buttons for no reason, since I always get stuffed by dragon punches, cr.LP/LK that lead into combos and shit.
Keep blocking be patient and punish their impatience.

A lot is mindgames as well, sometime just throw a random dragon punch when you’ve been defensive all the time or when you crossed him up a lot, next time just go for an empty jump and throw.
Mix it up, read your opponent and try to be more or less random (but not stupid) to your opponent.