Which Fighting Game Should a Newbie Focus On?

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
1

I’m currently reading Playing to Win by David Sirlin and while I’m not new to fighting games I have never been focused on becoming good at 1 particular fighting game. I’d like to hear experienced players opinions on which fighting game I (or anyone else) should invest time in if the goal is to eventually enter tournament play. For pure fun I have always enjoyed Soul Calibur for 3D and Mortal Kombat for 2D fighters. That said, I don’t think those 2 games are as highly regarded in the competitive fighting game community as some others (I could be wrong). I enjoy most fighting games to some extent and I would rather invest my time in a game that will be around long term with a viable tournament scene if possible.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

2

I think you should go with whatever game you have the most fun playing.
However, if you want to go with the ones that are pretty much regularly played on the tournament scenes…just observe the lineups on your local fighting game tournaments and majors.

See what games are usually in the main game lineup.

From there…you can decide which one can jump in while they are still hot.

3

It’s rather hard to get really good at anything you don’t really love.

4

The only proper answer is the game you have the most fun playing and/or what is being played in the local community / that you can get local community to play. If you really want to get good, even the easiest games take a lot of time to learn, so there’s no sense in sinking hours after hours on something you hate.

So if you can find people locally playing MK and Calibur, play those. I mean Calibur 2 just got rereleased on modern consoles too, so it’s not like you have to resort to a bad iteration of the series either. Also just try stuff out. You never know if something you dislike for “logical” reasons ends up being really fun.

For example, I used to think character balance was really really important (so ST, 3S etc. are out), long combos are unnecessary and that training mode was boring as hell, fireballs are really important and who knows what else. Then I tried some of those games and, well. See the played games list in the signature. Turns out the feeling from those games was “this is really fun”, and that’s all that’s needed in the end.

5

I agree on you taking a logical look at this and I admire that you’re trying to get help. I hope you can find some insight with my advice. Trusting your love of fighting games enough to go for any one of them is very admirable. But beware, leaning on thoughts like investment and what’s highly regarded is anchoring yourself with strangers in a strange land.

“Defensive”, “Offensive”, and “Niche”-your fighting affinity pretty much decides how you classify fighters.

I see Soul Calibur as a Niche game, where offense and defense can blend pretty well due to a unique system with varied styles and pacing that puts you in an atypical zone to get back and forth.

Based on that, I’d recommend Tekken. You are already used to a similar pace and it can actually be more stable than Soul Calibur, which would give you an advantage in the learning curve. However, the community may be moving to Tekken 7 soon, so be on your guard if you’re trying Tag 2(the latest iteration) for full price or something.

I would recommend Super Smash Bros, most definitely a niche to me, but I don’t know if 4 is as defensive as it’s predecessor was. The online community for any Nintendo game is going to be ridiculous though, this can really help if you’re the type who can learn from advice and want a lot of online support to play against gamers no matter what time of day.

Last suggestion for me is Ultra Street Fighter. Leaning on niche in my humble opinion, but mostly a defensive fighter. You will rarely see no one online since this game is technically new (about 6 years old but an updated version), plenty are playing and talking about it, so you’ve got a community to lean on for advice. But beware, it really is highly defensive, I only named it because Mortal Kombat seemed defensive to me last time I played it. But the last time I played it was on SNES!!

Thank god you aren’t an Offensive, KOF has almost nonexistent community support but it’s a great fighter to learn the basics from, though Blazblue does that extremely well too, especially with their crafty A.I.(and I mean REALLY crafty).

6

since you said you liked MK, have you given Injustice a try?

7

Yep, since I play primarily on a PS4, my fighting game options are severely limited at the moment. Injustice is fun, I read comics so playing the DC roster is pretty cool. Since the game has already been out for quite a while I am getting beaten up pretty good whenever I venture online. The one win I was going to get, the guy disconnected… So I’m currently about 0-10. It’s all good though, having fun and trying to get better.

I’m looking forward to Tekken but it’s still a long way off. Right now on the PS4, Injustice is pretty much my only option, luckily it’s a good game. I’m really surprised Street Fighter isn’t on the PS4, that game is on just about everything in some incarnation.

8

Played MKX on the PS4 at Eurogamer last month, felt like a leap in the right direction from injustice. If you’re a fan I’d give it a shot.

9

Play what you like and Play Street Fighter. You will always have someone to play if you know how to play street fighter.

10

Truth, and… if you like a game, like I sadly like Arcana Heart 3(and the love max update) you can try to find a local scene to invest your time in.

Harrison over at iplaywinner had a google sheet with players and locations and facebook/email contacts for them… cant seem to find it, but finding like minded scrubs to level up with is the best way to spend a friday/saturday night.

11

Wow, I’m just trying that game for the first time and I’ve already run into someone (well duh, this is a fgc site). Wish you were in SC, there’s hardly any tournament scene here. Atlanta’s just too damn far but that tournament in December’s looking real nice right about now…

I hate that the final boss only gives you a few tries. I can beat Sharlachrot after about a dozen tries but I’ve only been to the boss fight like three times. xD

I think we should start something like a gamer fact file with that type of information, since the match-making sub-forum seems to be non-functional…

12

Shouldn’t matter just pick the popular ones which I would assume are USF4 and Killer Instinct.

On the whole newbie thing, people who say they require 10+ or 100+ years to get good at video games, those people are autistic.

13

were kind of in a weird place with gaming being between generations console wise…SF4 is still the most “popular” game, so it will have the biggest fan base/pool of players. and it will probably have a long shelf life of being a ‘tournament viable’ game…but the next gen has fighters coming soon enough…KI is already one, but its kind an niche game (and a console exclusive, which makes it hard for non xbone users to get into)…skullgirls will be hitting ps4 at the beginning of 2015 u may wanna check it out…but honestly, play what’s fun to you…people’s first “serious” fighting game have been an assortment of titles…

14

I enjoy Injustice too. Testyourmight.com might be worth your time as well.

15

the injustice tournament was incredible at Youmacon this year!! twitch.tv/datcornbread

16

Street Fighter 2. If you’re good at SF2 you can be good at any fighting game.

17

If you’re playing on PS4, get ready for the new Guilty Gear. I have a feeling that it will have a good following online and in tourneys.

I don’t have a PS4 yet, but I think you could download one of the older versions of the game on PSN for now to see if you like it.