Just something I have noticed. Fighting games, by fans of the genre, are often compared to chess. For the purpose of this you can replace chess with Go or Shogi (I think they are equally complex board games). To me fighting games are more like a sport such as boxing. I have been playing chess since I was 5 and fighting games nearly as long, I’m 31 now. The method of practicing and getting better is completely different. High level play is completely different. Boxing however is very similar in many ways to fighting games. Admittedly the most I ever did for boxing was just a for fun tournament held at a military FOB, I am by no means a good boxer. A friend of mine though did explain a lot to me about the sport (he did 4 pro fights before quitting in puerto rico) and in many ways I find it similar to fighting games.
-
Beginner stage: The first thing most people learn in chess is opening lines. These are thoroughly exhausted sequence of moves that have been tested ad nauseum, there is no deviation. You need to memorize them, this is why when two good players go at it they will make the first 4-8 moves very quickly. It is not because they are making fast decisions, they are simply making the moves that have be long proven to be the right moves for whatever opening line they went to. In a fighting game though the beginner stage of a game is very different. Its about learning execution. If you can’t throw the fire ball or do the DP then you can’t play the game well. From there you learn combos, and through repetition you master those. This is similar to boxing. You have to learn how to throw a proper hook or jab. From there you learn how to mix these punches together. All of this, just like with fighting games, is done through repetition.
-
Intermediate stage: In chess this is where you learn concepts of the game. Such as controlling the center of the board, the flow of different opening lines, where certain pieces function the best (such as a rook on an open file), and evaluating weaknesses + strengths of the boards position’s. Fighting games though I would say are much different. At this point in a fighting game you start to learn a lot of offense. How to put all your practiced executional ability into attacking the opponent. Cross overs, pokes, mix ups, wake up games, basically creating opportunities to beat the opponent with the moves you have practiced. Much is the same for boxing. At this point in boxing you learn trapping, feinting, slipping, countering ect. To be a good boxer first you have to know how to put an opponent down. In chess however defense is always equally important to offense. The is no such thing as attacking without defense. You can’t afford a slip and then recover, it means a loss. A ‘combo dropped’ means you lose every single time.
-
Advanced stage: Admittedly I am not at this in any of these 3 competitions so this is all speculation. For chess this is very simple. How many moves can you compute in your head. Gary Kasparov once said he saw 15 moves deep into a game. That is insane. Each move creates a new permutation. To see that deep into a game means that you nor I can ever beat him. Out of 1 million games he will win all of them, there is no luck. In fighting games though this level of playing I think is about your ability to learn your opponent quickly. Justin Wong and FilipinoChamp have played their respective games to have the execution down, their knowledge of situations is almost perfect. The difference becomes what in the very moment of that fight can each read about the other. The decisions are not as thought out, they have to be made much quicker, so even the best make mistakes. That can be capitalized on. Much is the same in boxing. I saw floyd Mayweather get caught by Sugar Shane Mosely in the second round. It almost put floyd down. That being said, Mayweather was clearly the better fighter, but in the quick decision moment he slipped and got caught. And well that is what HYPE is to me
Ok done with my blog, if you read all that good for you 