Many people tell me I have a natural knack for fighting games. Why is this? I think the answer is very simple.
Basic spacing and evasive maneuvers.
It's something that I've always understood more naturally than most people who I know, in any fighting game. The ability to predict certain patterns of movement from my opponent and counter them, a sort of offensive defense, or defensive offense, however you want to look at it. Far too often, people do it backwards, they focus on a particular move, or combo, or character, when what they should be doing is understanding game mechanics and counter-tactics. This mentality prevents them from acquiring the most important skill set, the basic, technical, skill set.
Let's talk fighting games, let's talk Smash Bros.
I'm going to use some of my good friends as examples here, hopefully I'm not being rude by doing so-- I expect a full examination of my own faults in return, so feel free to rip me a new one.
The other day I was playing some Smash with my good friend Kolby, and he said something to me to the effect of, "I can't do the things you do... there's something I'm missing...", in regards to my ability to dodge/evade attacks, and counter against them. What he's missing is a basic understanding of the timing of the games defensive maneuvers.
Let's talk fighting games, let's talk Smash Bros.
We got in a scuffle about how I think his characters are "gay" (I know, I'm so good with words). What I meant by that was, as a Pikachu / Olimar player, he can rely on his character's very spammable moves in order to avoid having to use standard evasive measures that all of the other characters in the game have to use. There's nothing wrong with using Pikachu's down smash, or Olimar's pikmin-chucking moves, they are there for a reason, to give those characters a strength due to how their moveset works. I'm not arguing that it's "cheap", there is no "cheap", only what works. I have said that since day one and I will stand by it, and I make no attempts to label myself as someone who is above being a cheap, annoying asshat. Because that should be your goal in any fighting game.
The problem is that it is easy to rely on certain tactics and miss out on the full range of what can be done--it inhibits your ability to improve, in my opinion.
I tried to explain this to him but I think my over use of phrases like "fucking homofaggot retarded faggot faggot fag fucking cocker fag" may have turned him away from the idea. I'm not sure why, lolololololol.
Ahem. Anyway, with a basic understanding of dodging and spacing, Kolby would be a much better Brawl player, almost certainly better than me-- but he uses the character's defenses as a crutch, and that is frustrating. If I wasn't so certain that I was a better tech'er, dodger, defensive spacer, throw abuser, etc., it wouldn't be as frustrating to play against his down smash defense. Am I making sense?
I'm not saying I'm infinitely better, there are things that Kolby certainly does better than me. Most of those things are character specific, though. A particular strategy with a particular character, a very niche skill, as it were. This is exactly the opposite of what you should be trying to do, in any fighting game, in my opinion. The number one concern should be the general applications of skills that apply to every character. Only after figuring this out will you be able to truly achieve your best potential levels of skill.
For instance, Seth was a proficient Luigi player in SSB Melee. The reason that he liked Luigi was mostly his aerials and down smash, but particularly the amazing wave-dash that Luigi had in that game. He got very good with the wave dash and could do some really sick shit with it, but he was never particularly good at Short Hopping, and his game play suffered greatly because of it, and it limited his ability to use Luigi effectively overall. If he had learned short hopping and fast falling initially, his Luigi skills would have been much better--he would have been able to evade attacks, especially projectiles, to a much better degree; and he would also have had much better luck with other characters, characters that did not have as prominent of a wave dash.
Let's talk fighting games, let's talk Smash Bros.
"OMFG Link is such a piece of shit with his projectiles!" But alas, with proper short hopping, you could move your character out of harm's way easily. Without that skill though, Seth continually wave-dashed right into boomerangs and bombs every match. I can see how that would be frustrating! To be fair, Luigi was not the easiest short hopper (I wouldn't call him difficult but he was certainly a bit harder than the norm). Luckily in Brawl, short hopping seems to be easier to do with all characters.
There's another fault that I find too many people guilty of.
Focus.
I was playing with my friend Justin and he said, "Your timing is as impeccable as ever... whose character do you look at when you're playing?" Far too many people look at their OWN character, while keeping the enemy in their peripheral vision. It should be just the opposite. You should know where your character is, and what he is doing. Your main focus should be the ENEMY, and your character should always be in your peripheral vision. Always. If you focus on your own character, you will never have good timing. It is essential.
This last one should be obvious, but many people are guilty of it as well, and it's something that I've never done, or understood why it is done... mashing buttons. I see people get frustrated in certain situations and mash crap... I just don't get it. Unless you are playing a really crappy fighting game, it does nothing for you. There is no reason to mash buttons and hope that something works out, it will NEVER end up in your favor. Please, consider your actions and execute them. If someone has you in a grab and you are trying to escape, there is NO REASON I should hear your controller smashing on the A button, or the B button... you should be wiggling the joystick to get yourself free because that is what releases you from a grab. Slobbering your face all over every button on the controller does not help you get out of the grab.
Anyway, this little rant was inspired by a great post on smash-boards, it has a lot of what I typed about here, a lot of things that I already do that I think a lot of people miss out on. It's not stuff that I think is specific to me, I just think far too many people pass up on these basic skills and limit themselves from showing the true skill that they posses.
There's a lot more in-depth information in this post.
In order to combine these principles effectively, most people must abandon bad habits which initially will most likely make you perform worse.
This could not be more true, but the pay off is well worth it in the end.
Let me know your thoughts, guys. (P.S. - I wrote this quickly so I apologize for any grammatical errors or typos)
