[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. -- CTZ]
Ever since I can remember, I've been playing videogames. It just came natural to me, and I've worked my way up from my Sega Genesis all the way to the current generation. And in those years of playing, I happen to think I'm pretty damn good at them. I beat Master Ninja mode on Ninja Gaiden Black, Hard on Contra 4, I can one-credit clear the first three Metal Slugs on a good day, and I've made
my bitch. However, after so many years of playing (and a recent thrashing at Marvel vs Capcom 2), I've come to a conclusion. I really suck at fighting games.
Its not like I haven't tried to get better at them. Ever since the early days of my youth, my brother and I would battle it out (read: mast buttons like a spastic monkey) on
Street Fighter II: Championship Edition. I played almost all kinds of fighting games since -- the juggle-happy
Tekkens, the Rock-Paper-Scissors System of
Dead or Alive, the hyper-active craziness of the
Marvel vs Capcom series, the methodical feel of
Samurai Showdown, too plenty more.
I suck at all of them. I was the real life version of Dan Hibiki, desperately trying to be something I wasn't, but my pride wouldn't let me quit.
I practiced. I practiced quite a bit. I would go to Shoryuken.com and look up tips, BnB combos, links, strats, command lists, counters, parries, super cancels; all in vain. Every time I'd think I have a new strategy, somebody half-decent would come and perfect my ass in embarrassing fashion. Usually in front of my friends.
I lay awake at night wondering why my fighting game prowess was on the same level as a domestic house cat. Could this just be one of those things I just couldn't do? Was I not practicing enough? If I can clear
Do DonPachi in one credit, surely I can win two matches in a row just once, right?
And that's when it donned on me. I went and started up
Do DonPachi. I flew through the game, like I always do. I've memorized where all the ships are. I know how every bullet pattern came out. I knew when its time to freak the hell out and bomb everything. And then I proceed to get my ass handed to me on the later half of the second loop, but thats beside the point. Point is, I know this game like the back of my hand.
I then went eonline in
Street Fighter IV. I picked Ken because shotos were the only thing I could ever understand. I enter a game against a Ryu, and, in a little less than two minutes, the Ryu player completely destroys me. He plugs in his mic and talks obscenities about my mom (as if the ass-whooping wasn't enough) and leaves me bad feedback. I didn't care. I had proven my theory. Fighting games are unpredictable.
Battletoads' Turbo Tunnel is challenging at first, but if you play enough you can memorize the whole thing.
Gradius V is pretty hard
at first, but with enough practice you can just as easily keep going for loops and loops.
Donkey Kong Country 2's Animal Antics will slap you silly
at first, but after using the huge stockpile of lives you have on the level, you will know every jump/enemy/thorn/etc Rare designed.
Fighting games don't work like that. You can never predict exactly how the next enemy is gonna fight. He may throw out a Hadouken, he may try a jump-in combo, he may try an empty jump-in and grab you, he may dash back and forward to bait you into mistakes, etc. I've been trying to play as if I knew everyone's strategy, but I really have no idea. And when you practice like that, you're just going nowhere.
That was two years ago. Try as I may, I just can't change the way I play. Give me PS2
Shinobi and I'll burn through it in less than a hour. Give me
Viewtiful Joe and I'll get perfect Rainbow Vs on all sections. Give me
Contra Shattered Soldier and I'll S-rank the entire playthrough. But give me a fighting game and well, you got me.
Fuck you, Ryu.
Contest:
7:00 PM on 08.06.2009
| 
I suck at fighting games.
Also, the only way to get good at fighting games is to play regularly against players better than you, and preferably not online. Unfortunately a lot of people don't have that kind of players around.
Good write-up.
They're still fun though, I mostly play with folks from dtoid. The ps3 guys are pretty good on average but they're laid back and nice about it, I'd guess the 360 guys are the same.
The 360 crowd is pretty much the same.
Man it's gonna be great to look down at people who suck at fighting games this month. :D
Just kidding, just kidding. :P
I hope people don't write off Fighting games, they're just a different fun than most other genres offer.
It's not that there unpredictable but you just have to figure out where they're going to pop out from before they do it. Then again I'm one of those weird people who can beat Megaman stages on their first run through.
The fighting game I'm best at is SFIV and sometimes SSF2THDR.
I'm not goog at fighters either, but it isn't too hard to get the hang of them. It is all about getting comfortable with characters and learning to think on your feat and really finding a way to naturally react to things happening. I hate strategies and over complications in fighting games. Playing them on such a high level isn't very fun.
To sum it up, fighting games are super fun and I hope people don't right them off.
good write up. I feel the same way...except I'm ok at fighting games...not really awful but nowhere near good.
I'm mediocre at MvC2 (Pretty much a 50-50 win-loss ratio.) Decent at BlazBlue. Good at Guilty Gear XX. Soul Calibur Series is where I really shine. I dunno why. My win ratio is 75% online, or around that area. And I've won tournaments....
Side Scrolling, 2-d Fighting Games I tend to do alright in.. but 3d is my best. I'm pretty good at Virtua Fighter and Tekken, but Soul Calibur.. woo.
Now.. platformers.. I SUCK. XD
But anyway, a lot of times with fighting games it's not only finding a character you're comfortable with, but a style. For most Street Fighter games, my main is E. Honda, but depending on which game it is, I'll have a different strategy with him. SF4 I play mostly defensive, whereas HD Remix I play more aggressively. The point I'm trying to make is that it takes time to find where you're comfortable with fighting games.
That's amazingly accurate.
But seriously folks: I really, REALLY suck ass at fighting games unless it called Power Stone or Smash Bros >_>
I got caught up in the hype and actually bought SFIV thinking that I would dedicate myself and be as good as I am in other games...and I just got tired of getting my ass kicked over and over and over again. And the thought that it was probably some 11-year-old whooping my butt over Xbox Live made it even worse.
This might be a weird comparison, but Charles Barkley, one of the best basketball players and athletes of the 80's and 90's, can't hit a golf ball to save his live. Humans just have strengths and weaknesses in different areas.
I think i'm pretty decent in fighting games but now i'm trying not to use the righat analog in BlazBlue , lol.
I still kinda suck at SFIV but i just got that "beat the arcade mode on hardest difficulty" achievement by chance last week , lol.And i shamelessly unlock all the characters by playing on easiest mode.
cuz I always play by myself against the AI and I lose the online all the time
EggmaniMN has a point as well, a large part of fighting games is the ability to adapt to what your opponent is doing, as well as learning your opponent and how they respond to different stimuli. So ultimately, the OP is right in that you can't just memorize the game and plow through it, fighters really are a completely different beast from every other single player game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ120_VMPqM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eeventhubs%2Ecom%2Fnews%2F2009%2Faug%2F07%2Fbutton%2Dmashing%2Dwin%2F&feature=player_embedded#movie_player