SEATTLEVERSUS

Recently on SRK, I made a thread in the Northwest section entitled “SF4:  Mentality and core fundamentals.”  In this thread, I wanted to create an area where I could lay down some knowledge concerning specific mentalities and core fundamentals that are important to understand in SF4 to become better players.  More or less, I didn’t want the thread itself to become a discussion point.  There are way to many people who like to chime in and throw in their opinions when in all reality, it’s not what the thread was created for.  In response to that, I have decided to make these updates HERE at SeattleVersus!

With that, these posts will most likely be thrown in the “strategy” section here at SV so if you’re ever looking for the archives of these articles just remember to check back there if you’re interested.  I also hope to have a few guests write articles geared towards mentality and general strategies in SF4 as well such as Seattle’s own “Deezo” and possibly NorCal’s “TanakaForce.”  With that, here was my first post in regards to free damage…

Stop giving up free damage

There have been many times where I see players lose when they shouldn’t have. In most cases, the statment above is the primary reason as to why this happens. The excuse of “he was plain better than me” can only go so far. In fact the correct school of thought should instead be “he out played me.” Skill can always be measured, however the extent of someone’s skill has to be questioned when you realize that YOU are killing yourself . This is a pretty obvious aspect of SF, however it amazes me how often players go off and essentially kill themselves based off of stupid decisions.

In many times these “stupid decisions” are quite obvious. Why did you jump in when he has 2 meters and an ultra stocked? Why did you jump in and give away three things…damage, a knockdown, plus potential mixup options! A lot of players don’t realize the gravity of their decisions. The fact of the matter is that you need to be able to make your opponent work for the damage he puts in instead of giving it away.

It’s surprising to see how much this school of thought transforms a player’s overall “skill.” Essentially they didn’t really change anything, however they started playing smarter rather than trying to play “better.” Players that don’t give away free damage require their opponents to out play them and work with their OWN skill, rather than fight with what their opponent GIVES them.

Try to take this mentality on for yourself and realize just how often you lose without truly putting up a fight. With a touch of “risk to reward” thought mixed with “stop giving away free damage” you’ll find the value in understanding the difference of “he was just better than me” compared to “he out played me.” Though the two are interrelated and some what redundant, you’ll find that often times when you lose, the true culprit is none other than yourself.

The moral of the story is to remain patient! Stop helping your opponent kill you. Before making a questionable decision, weigh out the risks and rewards and go from there. Stop giving up free damage and start making your opponent work for the win. When you stop giving away damage, you challenge your opponent to prove that he is a better playerthan you are. No harm in that. Pack up, lick your wounds and move on to learn how to win next time.

Many of you new Tekken players have likely seen or heard of “the Notebook” that myself and other T6 fanatics have been carrying around. Well, our good friend Jon Frost was kind enough to scan and upload the whole thing to his website. You can find it here.

WARNING: It’s a pretty big .pdf file, around 40 megs, so you might want to right click and “Save As” instead of opening it, depending on your computer.

Not all of the information is up to date, but enough is to make this a great starting point for learning any character. Once you memorize the basics, be sure to visit the Tekken Zaibatsu character forums for more in-depth strategy and combos .

Just last night, Seattle’s very own Josh “Messatsu Orochi” Taton and I had a discussion with me about the world famous samurai, Miyamoto Musashi.  Josh went on to explain that Musashi was most famous for his unrivaled swordsmanship in numerous duels with other Japanese swordsmen.  In his life, he went on to write “The Book of Five Rings” each titled respectively towards elements entitled: “Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Nothing.”  The book goes on to talk about military strategy much like “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.  So why does any of this belong here at SeattleVersus?  As Josh fired off quote after quote from Musashi, I could clearly see relevance from a fighting game perspective…the theory of combat directly correlated to a competitive fighting game player’s mentality.  The Book of Five Rings applied so much more than just martial arts.  Apparently business leaders have gone on to find that Musashi’s discussion of conflict seemed incredibly relevant to their own trials as entrepreneurs.

Musashi talks about the importance of positioning, adaptation, discipline and a variety of aspects concerning combat, all things that we as fighting game players strive to master.  In this column, check out how Josh and I break down quote after quote from Musashi’s “The Book of Five Rings.”  I introduce to you, “Seeing with the Mind’s Eye.”

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With Guy being introduced to Super Street Fighter 4 yesterday, a lot of questions are being asked as to how he’ll play.  I’ve personally been a fan of Guy since the Alpha 2 days and never understood his in’s and out’s to a competitive level. A few years ago community member “XenoZip” made a Street Fighter Alpha 3 tutorial on how to use Guy.  From basics to advanced combo’s, the tutorial does a pretty nice job showing Guy’s in’s and outs with his SF: Alpha 3 carnation.  Obviously the newer Super 4 version of Guy will be sure to be much different than the Alpha 3 version of Guy, what with an entirely different game mechanics system and all.  However to give you a primer and understanding of what to expect from guy, check out the tutorial!

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I’ve personally learned that mobility in Tekken is one of the core aspects to playing at a higher level.  Unlike in Street Fighter 4, there’s no FADC’s to get you out of trouble when momentum isn’t going your way.  If you don’t know how to maneuver in Tekken, you might as well be dead on site.  Fortunately to teach us all about maneuvering in Tekken is SV’s very own Rob Plumber!  Rob has come out with his second installment in his “Tekken Strategies 101” series.  This time around, Rob goes over the importance of mobility and movement in Tekken.

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So we’re back with another strategy article, this time in regards to Tekken!  I’m thrilled to introduce to you our newest contributor at SeattleVersus, Rob Plummer aka Zigmover21!  Rob has been in the community for quite a long time, mainly playing competitively in various Tekken games.  In this particular strategy article Rob goes over Tekken basics!  This is a great read for all of those trying to get into Tekken a bit more in depth, going into a detailed explanation of button and directional buffering.  This is only part one, of a series where Rob will break down the basics to playing Tekken competitively, so you can definitely expect to see more Tekken articles!

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Here I am with the second installment of my “Tournament Mentality” strategy article I’ve been working on.  This article mainly goes over the importance of confidence in a tournament setting.  I also go on to discuss a bit about how the crowd can affect matches as well.  Confidence is always something that’s fascinated me when correlating it with the psychology of competition.  It’s highly underrated and overlooked tons of players.  I look at all the top players of past and present and not once do I question if they bring confidence to every match or not.  All that aside, check it out and tell me what you think!

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Tournament mentality is something that I talk about constantly within the fighting game scene.  Knowing how to survive in the tournament world can get really difficult and it can be very vicious at times.  In the article I talk about tournament anxiety, composure and “pre tournament” rituals.  I plan to come out with the 2^nd part of the article sometime next week.  It’s a fairly long read but I think if you stick through to the very end you’ll find yourself really appreciating it.  Drop me a line and tell me what you think!

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Don’t let this happen to you.

“In this day and age, it’s hard to get to a high level of play without being taught.  Newer players are finding it hard to get to “the next level” in their game.  With the explosion of new players because of Street Fighter 4, I’ve been trying to do my part by making videos and helping the scene over all.  The videos were a huge hit, and before I knew it, people were adding me on Xbox Live all over the place.  Eventually it led me to start having lessons with players who wanted to strengthen their game.  I have a specific lesson plan of how I teach.  Basically we play 2 “first to 3” sessions where we talk about strengths and weaknesses.  I don’t claim to be the best player, but I DO have a passion for teaching people! ” – Mickey D

More information can be found here or on the permanent link under “info” on our sidebar. Don’t sleep.