Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Through Losing

The fighting game genre is defined by the process of at least two competing parties fighting each other to determine a winner and loser. As someone who has been playing fighting games seriously for the past few years, I’ve lost thousands of matches in virtually every way imaginable. I almost beat Arturo Sanchez in AE 2012 until I choked at the very end of the final round. I’ve been destroyed by Marlinpie at Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in a tournament. Most recently, I lost a match in Street Fighter X Tekken to an opponent who beat me by pressing only one button. Regardless of the circumstances around any given loss, the feeling that came with losing sucked every time.

In this installment of the Universal Fighting Game Guide, we’re going to focus on the least desirable outcome of any given match. Though the act of losing always spawns some level of anger, sadness and frustration (or in fighting game community terms, ‘salt’), it doesn’t have to end there. Losses today can be leveraged to help you gain wins tomorrow. Instead of simply getting mad, let’s talk about how to use losing as a means of getting better.

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How Capcom Can Fix Street Fighter X Tekken

Street Fighter X Tekken is in trouble. The game has gone through PR hell over the controversial gem system and the on-disc DLC debacle. The game is off to a slow start in terms of sales. The game isn’t very popular in tournaments, as it routinely draws in less competitors and less viewers than Street Fighter IV or Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Maybe the most damning strike against it is the harsh criticism and feedback the game gets from disappointed fighting game players. Personally, I’ve had a hard time taking this game seriously since Capcom introduced the ridiculously overpowered assist gems and the game-breaking Rolento glitch.

The game is losing steam fast on all fronts. While Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have maintained a loyal and steady player base over the last few years, Street Fighter X Tekken is in danger of falling off the map completely in a matter of months. Even though I like the core of the Street Fighter X Tekken experience, I’m on the brink of letting this game go to play other games. What can Capcom do to save this game from oblivion? Here’s a few of my suggestions.

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Check Out My Editorial Piece “May The Lesser Man Win” Now on Splitkick.com

Up now on Splitkick is my first editorial piece for them entitled “May the Lesser Man Win: Parallels Between Boxing’s Latest Debacle and Modern-Day Fighting Game Design“. The idea for the piece has been floating around in my head for awhile, but the recent bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley ultimately was the catalyst for me pulling those ideas into a fully-formed piece. If an op-ed piece about the role of field-leveling mechanics in fighting games is something of interest to you, definitely head over to Splitkick to check it out!

This is also my first piece as a Staff Writer, which Splitkick announced officially in their one-year anniversary celebration post. Thanks to everyone on the Splitkick team for embracing me as one of their own. It’s been a pleasure working with Splitkick and I’m looking forward our future endeavours!

Out Now: Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Historically, I haven’t been one to get to get much out of the 3D fighting game genre. As early as the original Virtua Fighter, it didn’t feel like my style of fighter, and I moved on. However, as I’ve grown more interested in the genre as a whole, I’ve gotten a bit more interested in giving 3D fighters a bit more of an honest try.

I’m currently eying an on sale copy and Soulcalibur V and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, the latter of which is out now as a $15 downloadable game on XBOX Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

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Qanba Q4 RAF Review

Over the last few years, Mad Catz and Hori have done an excellent job of creating high-quality fightsticks. However, as officially licensed peripheral makers, neither company can provide a fightstick that supports all major platforms out of the box. It sucks to be in a situation where you’ve spent a large chunk of change on an XBOX 360 fightstick and your friends bought the latest fighting game on PlayStation 3. Or when you want to play in an XBOX 360 tournament when you only have a PlayStation 3 fightstick. To get around this, you can try your hand at modding your fightstick. Or you can try your out a sketchy adapter which could be obsolete with the next console patch. Or you could do what I’ve done to date, which is buy a high-quality fightstick for each system I play fighting games on. Regardless of the route you choose, the answer usually isn’t cheap or technically stable.

Aiming to address this need, the Qanba Q4 RAF is built to work on the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3 and PC right out of the box. For avid tournament goers or gamers who often play on different systems, having one fightstick that supports all platforms is truly a blessing. But does it work as advertised? And does the rest of this fightstick from an unknown manufacturer stack up with the best from Mad Catz and Hori?

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Unboxing the Qanba Q4 RAF Fightstick

The Qanba Q4 RAF is one of the most sought-after fightsticks on the market for its ability to work with the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3 and PC right out of the box. If you have fighting games across multiple systems or regularly play in tournaments, then having just one fightstick that works with everything sounds a lot better buying multiple fightsticks to do the same thing. However, because of that key feature, this fightstick isn’t licensed by Sony or Microsoft, which means you’ll never be able to buy this at a regular store. Even tracking these down online isn’t necessarily an easy task, as the few online retailers that carry it are often sold out.

Luckily for me, I was able to purchase one at a tournament I was recently at. Let’s open this bad boy up together.

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My Experience at Toryuken

(Me [right] vs. Rikir [left]  on the Toryuken main stage and live stream of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3)

The ability to excel in a high-pressure situation does not come naturally to most. I, for one, have found this to be the case with everything I do in life – especially in my foray into competitive gaming. I’ve suffered from a seemingly unshakable case of tournament nerves, which has plagued my ability to play to my full potential. It’s hard not to let the nerves get to you when playing for your tournament life in front of a large crowd that is judging your every action.

The cure for shaking nerves? Practice. If you put yourself in a high-pressure situation enough times, you body and mind should get accustomed to the situation. Going into Toryuken – my third tournament to date – I was hoping that this would be the tournament where I could shake off my tournament nerves once and for all.

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Thoughts Going into Toryuken, Canada’s Next Big Fighting Game Tournament


In just a few days, Canada’s next big fighting game tournament touches down in Toronto. Toryuken is being run by the team at Toronto Top Tiers and I’m fairly certain it’s going to be hype. They were the same team behind T12 and overall, it was a great tournament and a great experience. I encourage everyone in the area to come down to body fools, support the FGC and get hype. If you can’t come down, make sure to tune into the live stream at www.twitch.tv/torontotoptiers.

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Throwing Down on SRK Live

Ever since Shoryuken.com started running a 24/7 fighting game live stream, it’s been a goal of mine to dominate on the stream at least once. In the past, I’ve won a handful of games at best, and choked really bad at worst. The other day, however, I dished out some punishment. Playing Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Version 2012, I rattled off a 10-game winning streak to take my record to 10-0. Yes, that is me in the picture, capturing photographic evidence of this feat.

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King of Fighters-i 2012 Review


The first King of Fighters outing on iPhone was fantastic. It did an amazing job of translating the game into an iPhone-friendly experience with a simplified control scheme and some nice touches to the feature set. The only thing that put it a place below Street Fighter IV: Volt was its lack of online play.

SNK has addressed its main criticism with the release of The King of Fighters-i 2012, which is a brand new app and not an update to the previous game. If you haven’t played The King of Fighters on your iPhone before or already own The King of Fighters-i, is it worth the extra coin?

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