New Player Looking Tips/Advice

TheHatchetMan

Well short intro, I have previously competed on and finnished high on ladders/tournaments on:

Guild Wars
Battlefield Series
Call of duty series
Ucharted 2


Recently a site that I am a moderator of (not sure if I can say) decided to run a street fighter tournament and I picked the game up for cheap in my local games store to participate.

I have now had street fighter a week and a much prefer the community and the gameplay opposed to previously being a first person shooter fan.

The only character I can really use to any effectiveness at the minute is blanka, after a friend from the website I help on taught me a little on chargers.


I live in Belfast and would love to be able to attend the lan events in the near future although I need a few tips so I can reach a decent level and not be the laughing stock of the tournament.

Firstly should I buy a gaming pad/stick and which?

Secondly, any random advice on characters to use etc.., I am willing to change to a different character.


Please add me on msn smyth_cruesfc[at]hotmail.co.uk or psn TheHatchetMan, I would really appreciate being able to chat to some expereicned players.

Thanks,

mark.

Ramza

Hi Mark, welcome to the community

Great to see you are getting into the game and starting to like it, always great to see more people getting interested and involved in the community

Belfast has a scene of it's own separate to ours, so if you live there it might be handier for you to travel there rather than Dublin for casual games. More info here

http://neoempire.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=71

As a whole, the country of Ireland is all one community, so feel free to post on either forums etc

Skill level does not matter at all and people of all skill levels are welcome! You will not be a laughing stock as people are all very helpful and will have no problem giving you tips or helping you out with anything regarding the game! The more you play and are willing to learn the better you will become

As far as pad or stick goes, it's an age old question. If you are knew to fighting games I suggest you give pad a try and then try out stick, and see whichever you prefer. It's all a matter of preference. I would not buy one until you had a try of other people's arcade sticks at casual meets etc. See which one you prefer and make a decision based off of that

As far as character go, it's all about who you like to play and what character's play style you like the most. If you're happy with Blanka, stick with him. If not, just mess around with other characters or watch match videos to see if any characters tickle your fancy!

Edit : I just added your msn there

Orim

First make sure you understand the basics of the game.

What's a link? What's a cancel?
If you don't know, ask.

Make sure you pick a character you enjoy. Don't spend six months learning a character only to find that you prefer someone else. Do you enjoy Blanka or are you playing because you get wins? Some characters need a lot of learning before you start to win with them but it's better to take those losses rather than play with a character you don't fully enjoy.

So no one can give you real advice on picking a character. My advice is try to get through arcade mode with everyone. That should narrow it down to a couple of characters you enjoy and you can work from there.

I advice doing the trials of your chosen character. Generally somewhere in between 10 and 15 you'll find an easy enough BnB combo that you can use a blockstring or a punish.

Once you've done this you need to learn your normals and punishes. Can you do anything if Ryu does a cr.MK xx Fireball? Training mode is your friend. You can record the computer doing these regular things and see what you can do.

Your normals are very important. Which can be used as an anti-air? Whats good as a mid-screen poke? You know what you can with one button press.


A pad/stick/w\e is pretty much personal preference at this stage. A stick will give you more flexibility if you go to tournaments and it makes some things easier but it's not necessary to reach the highest levels.

And don't be afraid to show up to tournaments and casuals. You will learn so much more at offline meets. Dragonslayers is part of Queens University and they meet twice a week. Some of the countries best players meet there and are more then willing to spend some time helping you to get better.

bush

I think the first thing you will have to realize is if you havent play street fighter before you have a long road ahead of you. Its going to be tough to get into the game now and you shouldnt get discouraged. I dont think you will be winning tournaments any time soon unless you are some kind of street fighter natural genius.
I think you should start off straight away with a stick. Learn the game the way its meant to be played. Pick a charcacter that feels comfortable to use, blanka is easy to pick up.

Azza

Head this url and log into our IRC channel to chat to us.

http://streetfighter.ie/?page_id=116

Just put a nickname on and click connect.

Usually a good lot of us on the channel at any time.

Not sure if IRC works on a PS3 if thats what your browsing online with.

UberPrinny_Baal

This is the best beginner resource topic I've come across online

http://shoryuken.com/f322/basic-video-tutorial-guide-total-beginners-ssf4-234560/

Pad V Stick is really a matter of preference.

Doctor DooM

Mark is here at my recommendation.

Ok man you didn't do anything wrong, you're just new.

I've been playing SF since I was a kid so there's no shame in losing there.

That said, Cobelcog, one of the best players in Ireland has been playing just over a year so it's not impossible to learn quick.

First thing.

If you want to learn stick, learn NOW.

It's not by default the best way to learn but you plan to get involved in tournaments and they make them much easier.

Secondly, you need to familiarise yourself with the basics of fighting games.

This video is still pretty relevant for SSF4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0cFs5mHQC4

Play particular attention to the section on controlling space.

With Blanka, Guile is able to control space by booming.

You weren't putting me under any pressure to stop booming, I could escape at will and zone you from the distance.

You need to work a bit on pressing advantage when you get in on someone and finding ways around projectiles, such as using the slide, jump, and rainbow ball a little more cleverly and unpredictably.

Do you know what a cross up is?

You need to press advantage when you knock someone over. develop a few different things to do as the opponent is "waking up" to try and do more damage.


This'd be a good start for you.

Yreval

Hello and welcome. I'll answer your two main questions first:

1. It seems you're a PS3 owner, so the standard pad shouldn't be too much of a handicap. That said, the arcade stick is The Way It's Meant To Be Played™, and you have quite a few choices in that area. You can even build your own if you feel up to it. When you first come to one of our meet-ups I recommend you try out different people's sticks, as long as they're cool with it. You don't have to get a stick to go far in the fighting game world, though - the winner of HD Remix at Evolution (world's biggest fighting game tournament) played on pad.

2. In SSF4 there's no-one who's completely uncompetitive, so just go for whoever you find most fun to play. That said, if you're looking to learn a second character I recommend that you go for it.

As for the local scene - we have regular meet-ups at Dragonslayers (including this (Tuesday) evening) and our fourth season of Ranking Battles starts this autumn. If you want to get a flavour of the NI FG scene you can try Ramza's link or watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-51I3r9RKuc

Sisko

I've nothing to add to the very helpful posts everyones given the guy cept a link to this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055852587


All the best man and certainly feel free to ask anything. People are encouraging of new players and eager to get them into the swing of things.

Theres no such thing as a laughing stock due to skill in the game.

Maybe if you wave your pad around in the air like a crazy person while playing... but people will find that amusing whether your good at the game or bad

FutureGuy

Sisko wrote: »

Theres no such thing as a laughing stock due to skill in the game.

100% agreed. The Street Fighter community is the best for encouraging new players. The number of times I have been given advice from people here is staggering...not only will people give you advice on how to be better, they even give pointers on how to beat their main characters.

Welcome on board Mark!

ayjayirl

Hi,

I was sitting beside Doom when you were playing him last night. The advice the guys have given so far is good advice. Now my limited 2 cents:

Stick/Pad: I use a pad. Always have from SNES days. It really doesn't make a difference which you use as long as you are comfortable using it. Most in the community play on a stick but there are a number of really good players who use pads. Kirby, Cobel, Foamy (I think)..... There are more. As a point of note, I use a fightpad. I have used both ps3 and xbox 360 standard pads but the fightpad is far superior imho (although the best *cough* player in Ireland uses standard 360 pad). You can get them here
But if you want t try a stick out, by all means. I personally can't use them with any great effect.

Zoning: This is a good starting point imo. It allows you to stay relatively competitive without being a complete expert at the game (sorry Beno ). This basically means you figure out a couple of move for certain common circumstances. This will allow you to become difficult to beat which is a hallmark of a good player. I play with Ryu for example, so I can fireball (within reason) and DP a player until death. This will only work for so long before a good player adapts but it will help you to become familiar without constantly dying (which by the way you have to be willing to do to get better)

Linking/Combos: This is a follow on from zoning. When you get a chance to damage a player (i.e after they do a DP for ex) you can combo and link combo's to max damage. The best way I found to learn combo's is to do the challenges for the character you like. Try out a few there as it will help you decide on who you want to play with as well.

Once these are down (which btw take a while and is also a continuous learning thing) you can look at general strategies and match ups. This basically means that particular characters have strengths and weaknesses against other characters. It also means you have to change how you play for each character matchup. For example: Ryu can fireball chunli until she gets her ultra 1. Then if you do it (and the opponent is farz like in his play) then you are getting an ultra in the face. There are loads of videos online showing different character match ups. Check out our youtube page for SF http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianVonDoom
Here you will see alot of different playing styles and match ups over the past year. Some are good, some are bad and some are just awesome.

Also, dont get too disheartened about losing to Doom. Alot of us do, he's a good player. Not the best at SF4 imo, but one of the best zoners in the Irish game.

Starting advice: The best advice I got when I was learning SF4 was stop jumping in. The moment you jump in you give away advantage. Nearly all characters have anti air and some even have anti air into ultra setups and if you do that with a good player he or she(Farz) will kill you.

Anyway, I hope we can help. Always want new members to grow the community. I am usually on xbl (AyJayirl) but I'm sure we can play on PS3 if I can find the usb dongle I have lost.

Scavenger XIII

Yes it's easier said than done (well, depends on your temperament really) but you really have to weather the storm and take a lot of beatings while you adapt to each of the things that are costing you the game.

I'd consider myself a pretty good intermediate level player and I had a session the other night of about 20 matches without a win. (Many of them were my own fault for sloppy play but it's that special brand of getting shut down and utterly murdered that will throw you off your A game in the first place) :pac:

So uuuuh.... hang in there kitty?

TheHatchetMan

Ok I'm not going to quote you all as it will be messy

Firstly I was on till about 4am last night and in the chatroom, I wasn't being rude by not replying I woke my parents up and they have expressed there anger before about my late night gaming and sleeping all day, so my dad unplugged the router and broke the aerial lols

Don't worry, no domestic violence, first time he has ever taken a "ragee" to be honest but all is good in the hood now.



Anyway, I like using chargers the best as it was the first type of character I learnt how to use and I know how to do most moves for them. I am now using bison and have been playing against friends in real life alot today, when you play the same characters (bison v ryu) for about 30 games, you start to think outside the box

So I have been 'zoning' I would say, I know which moves to use and how close I have to be to get them to hit, aswell as knowing how to counter different attacks.


Hopefully I will continue to get a few games with you guys online and then I will probably attend dragon slayers in a few weeks time and take it from there


Thank you for all the help, and sorry about the messy paragraphs

Sisko

Good luck and you should try and make it to some events some time for sure.