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!

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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Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Your Execution

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.

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Game-Breaking Glitch Discovered in Version 1.04 of Street Fighter X Tekken

In an attempt to fix infinite combos, Capcom has introduced a far worse problem. In version 1.04 of Street Fighter X Tekken, the game will crash if Rolento’s kunai makes contact with any fireball in the game. This impacts both the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 versions of the game.

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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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Game Design Talk: The Broken New Auto Block and Auto Tech Gems in Street Fighter X Tekken

Not too long ago, Capcom released a series of new gems for use with Street Fighter X Tekken. Though I’ve grown into being a gem-hater over the last few months, the original set of gems had little impact on the overall outcome of a match. However, I found out the hard way that the new set of auto block and auto tech gems are a much bigger deal. Why are they such a problem?

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Random Thoughts About the Relatively Early Days of Competitive Street Fighter X Tekken Play

Street Fighter X Tekken is just under two months old, which is not that old in the competitive fighting game scene. I’m still very much enjoying it. Hope you’re enjoying it too if you’ve been playing this game of late. Not really sure where I want to go with this post yet, but I just had a few thoughts about the early days of Street Fighter X Tekken that I wanted to capture somewhere. I’m just going to write off the top of my head and see where this goes.

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The Team Mechanics of Street Fighter X Tekken

In the world of Street Fighter X Tekken, there old addage, “There is no ‘I’ in team,” couldn’t be more true. Your ability to manage both characters is one of the most important factors that will determine the outcome of your matches. If you’re just getting started up in the world of Street Fighter X Tekken and are looking for some tips to help tighten up your team, you’ve come to the right place. While the game is still early in its life cycle, most of these tips should stand the test of time.

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