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Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Through Losing

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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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Universal Fighting Game Guide: 5 Tips to Help You Come Back From a Huge Life Deficit

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EVO moment #37 is to date, the most legendary fighting game moment of all-time. Odds are, even if you don’t actively follow the fighting game scene, you’ve seen the above video of Daigo, playing as Ken, making the most unbelievable comeback against Justin Wong’s Chun-Li, which ended with an unreal example of dexterity.

In this installment of the Universal Fighting Game Guide, let’s talk about the comebacks in fighting games. More specifically, tips to help you come back from a huge life deficit. We’ll use the classic EVO moment #37 video and the full match video to break down some overarching tips that you can use to turn the tides like Daigo did years ago.

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Jett vs. CK0 Phantom, a Top 10 Dhalsim in Super Street Fighter IV: AE 2012

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On today’s edition of Jett vs., I face off against some lofty competition. CK0 Phantom at the time we fought, was the #7 ranked Dhalsim on XBOX Live. Going into the match, I was really nervous, as I was facing someone a few levels above me, and someone who had their mic plugged in and was freely cursing back at me. Hearing the person on the other side always puts me on edge, and sometimes it rattles me to the point where I play worse. Was I able to overcome my nerves to win?

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: The Don’ts (and Do’s) of Flowcharting

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flowchartken

Poor Ken Masters. As a character, his capabilities are fairly standard issue. However, the sight of Ken is enough to induce a groan from even the most casual Street Fighter fans. It has nothing to do with the character himself, but rather the player using him. There’s a good reason why the term “Flowchart Ken” exists.

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: Understanding Combos Systems Part 2 – Putting It All Together

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Welcome back to part 2 of a mini-series of combo systems posts within In Third Person’s Universal Fighting Game Guide. Part 1 dealt with the elements that make up a combo system in most fighting games, which you can find here. This post will take those fundamental elements and try to outline a process you can use to help you establish a knowledge and execution foundation to build your combo abilities on.

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: Understanding Combo Systems Part 1 – The Elements

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If you’ve ever had any sort of interest in fighting games, you’ve probably stumbled across a combo video or two. They’re very cool to watch, and you may have even taken it upon yourself to be as good as the person in the video by going to a guide and learning how to read an execute something like this from BlazBlue:

214D -> B (FC), 623D, dash, 3C xx 236236B, 214D -> C, 5C 2C 4D -> D, [j.C x n] [dj.C x n] xx j.214B – 50% Heat

While you may be tempted to learn the big fancy combos the moment you start playing a new fighting game, it’s not the best way to level yourself up. Mastering the physical execution of big combos is nice, but learning the big combos without knowing the context behind them first is like trying to run without learning how to walk. This is post 1 in a two-part mini-series about understanding combo systems. Part 1 will deal with the elements that make up most combo systems, while part 2 will discuss how to put context to those elements to shape your offensive capabilities. Let’s get moving with part 1!

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In Third Person’s Guide to Scrabble, Words With Friends and other Scrabble-Like Games

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Over the past few weeks, Words With Friends-mania has consumed my office. It never seems to get old having multiple games of Scrabble going with my friends where turns can be taken at your own pace. Through this experience, I’ve learned a lot about my coworkers as people. They’ve also learned one thing in particular about me: I’m a calculated and cold-blooded Words With Friends player.

While I’m far from a Scrabble champion, I’ve played enough Scrabble in my lifetime to understand some of the game’s beneath-the-surface nuances. If you’d like to learn some of the strategies and tactics I use to infuriate my coworkers, read through this guide!

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: The Problem With Only Mastering Combos

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If you’ve ever had any sort of interest in fighting games, you’ve probably stumbled across a combo video or two. They’re very cool to watch, and you may have even taken it upon yourself to be as good as the person in the video by going to a guide and learning how to read an execute something like this from BlazBlue:

214D -> B (FC), 623D, dash, 3C xx 236236B, 214D -> C, 5C 2C 4D -> D, [j.C x n] [dj.C x n] xx j.214B – 50% Heat

While you may be tempted to learn the big fancy combos the moment you start playing a new fighting game, it’s not the best way to level yourself up. Mastering the physical execution of big combos is nice, but learning the big combos without knowing the context behind them first is like trying to run without learning how to walk.

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Deal With Cross-Up Attacks

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With fighting games experiencing an upswing in popularity, there are a lot of new players getting into fighting games and fighting game veterans taking on new games. With any new fighting game you take on, whether that’s a mainstream hit like Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat, or a more niche title like Arcana Heart 3, comes a learning curve that’s usually steeper than that of most other video games on the market. Playing against the computer or playing with your friends of similar skill is fine and dandy, but if your goal is to play these games on a competitive level against anyone is going to take some smart training and elbow grease.

The good news is, a lot of the knowledge you’ll learn in one game is transferable to the next, which makes learning fighting games as a whole a task that’s not as daunting as it seems on the surface. It also makes it possible for someone like me to write a somewhat-one-size-fits-all guide to fighting games that you can apply to any fighting game you play.

I’m not sure how far I’ll go with this series of posts, but for my first attempt at this, let’s talk about fighting games from a defensive perspective. More specifically, how to deal with cross-up/cross-over/cross-under attacks.

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Novril’s MS Paint Guide on How to Beat Phoenix

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YouTube user Novril is back! I loved his first MS Paint video guide on how to beat Sentinel, and this time he’s back with a great guide on how to beat Phoenix. It’s comforting to see that much of the Phoenix knowledge I wrote about a few months ago is in here, but he also has some great strategies I wasn’t aware of until watching this video.

Also, the MS Paint style and charm are pretty funny. I’m looking forward to newer installments of this series, as I think the world needs a guide on how to beat the over-powered Yun and Yang in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Anyway, click through to see the Phoenix video and share your appreciation with Novril if you enjoy this series!

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