street fighter IV

Universal Fighting Game Guide: Day One Tactics

Jett2 Comments

The recent release of Injustice: Gods Among Us has brought forth a new wave of players immediately flocking towards characters and tactics that some may define as ‘cheap’. As of writing, Deathstroke is a wildly popular character because his gun special moves seem to do a great job at keeping others at bay. Sinestro is also a popular choice, as players early on are struggling to get away from his boulder drop. This has sparked a lot of whining and complaining from others whose only defence is to cry foul.

Yes, I’ve lost to my fair share of Deathstroke and Sinestro players, but this edition of the Universal Fighting Game Guide is not here to chastise these supposed cheapskates. Instead, I want to talk about the phenomenon of day one tactics and why players should spend more time playing instead of whining.

Continue reading →

Toryuken 2 Fighting Game Tournament is This Weekend

Jett2 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for Toronto-based fighting game players). Last year’s Toryuken tournament was a big hit and Toronto Top Tiers is back with the sequel! Once again, this is an official Road to EVO stop, which means that the top placing finishers in each game will earn EVO seeding points.

Continue reading →

Universal Fighting Game Guide: Throws 101

Jett3 Comments


Since the hey day of fighting games, the throw as a maneuver has received a lot more heat than it deserves. In the early days of Street Fighter II, I remember going to the arcades and hearing other kids talk about how the throw as a move was ‘cheap’ and that people shouldn’t use it in fights. Even now, I still get hate messages on XBOX Live and PSN about my use of throws in a fighting game, regardless of what game I’m playing.

Particularly around entry-level fighting game players, there’s a weird dichotomy at work where there’s a group of players who think throws are super awesome and will exploit them at every turn, and another group of players who actively handicap themselves by not using throws because of some phony gentleman’s rule that’s reached urban legend status. In this edition of the Universal Fighting Game Guide, we tackle the art of the throw, which is a key element to almost every fighting game ever made.

Continue reading →

Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Through Losing

JettLeave a comment

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.

Continue reading →

Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Your Execution

Jett5 Comments

When it comes to fighting games, your ability to input the right buttons at the right time is critical to success. If you’re an amateur fighting another amateur, the person who can more consistently pull off their special moves is going to have the edge. As you get better, the importance of execution continues to be a factor, as your opponent’s ability to hit you with a big combo in a crucial situation (or any situation for that matter) could put you in a really bad spot.

With that said, I think that execution is generally considered the most boring and tedious aspect of your skill-set to practice and improve upon. Because of how monotonous it may seem, it’s easy to just stick with what you’ve got and never make an honest effort to improve your execution. In this post, we talk about what execution is, different types of execution ‘concepts’ and a few different ways to approach improving your execution without boring yourself to tears.

Continue reading →

The Best of Sako Street Fighter IV Compilation

JettLeave a comment

I have no shortage of idols when it comes to Street Fighter IV. However, when it comes to choosing my favourite Street Fighter IV player, that honour belongs to Sako. Thanks to his creativity, extremely offensive approach and his masterful execution, Sako is arguably the most exciting player to watch. I never get bored of watching Sako destroy his opponents in the most creative and technically challenging ways imaginable. I’d go as far as saying that watching Sako play as Cammy and Rose is the reason why I use them as my two main characters today.

Thanks to YouTube user AnomuraSe, you can now get the Coles notes video of why Sako rocks. This 20-minute Best of Sako video has some of the most incredible displays of offensive firepower ever caught on tape. Click through to watch the video! Also, let me know what you think of it in the comments!

Continue reading →

My Recent Experiences Playing Arcade Fighting Games

JettLeave a comment

Fighting games may have their roots in the arcade, but I almost never play fighting games on an arcade machine. In my part of the world, the arcade scene is very much dead. Within a 60km radius from downtown, I can think of only five actual arcades in existence. There are also movie theatres that have a handful of arcade games, but the vast majority of them don’t have fighting games.

With that said, I was caught off guard the other day when Steff and I went out to see The Ides of March. The movie theatre we went to had a Street Fighter IV machine and a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 machine. I was pretty excited to play both of these games as they were originally designed to be played, but disappointment set in rather quickly when I got my hands on the controls.
Continue reading →

Universal Fighting Game Guide: 11 Tips To Help You Survive a Fighting Game Tournament

JettLeave a comment


When it comes to fighting games, there’s nothing more exciting, intense or as important as the fighting game tournament. This is the place where fighting game players who take their games seriously strut their stuff in hopes of winning the big prize, and more importantly, earning the respect of their fellow fighting game playing peers. You can say what you want about how you scrape your friends all the time at your place, or how you’re a legend at your local arcade, or how you’re one of the top ranked players online, but in the new era of fighting games, it’s all about showing and proving at a tournament, especially one that’s being live streamed for viewers around the world to check out.

Though I’m far from a seasoned tournament veteran, I’m still very much feeling the buzz from my time at T12: Toronto Fighting Game Championships, which is the inspiration for today’s post. I think I’ve had enough tournament experience (and have heard enough second-hand accounts) to give you a few words of wisdom if you plan on going to a tournament, especially if this will be your first one.

Continue reading →

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

JettLeave a comment

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.

Continue reading →