---
title: 'What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing Fighting Games |  Fighting Games Beginner Guide'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=BM-Wj09ode4'
video_id: 'BM-Wj09ode4'
date: 2026-06-15
duration_sec: 0
---

# What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing Fighting Games |  Fighting Games Beginner Guide

> Source: [What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing Fighting Games |  Fighting Games Beginner Guide](https://youtube.com/watch?v=BM-Wj09ode4)

## Summary

This video is a beginner's guide to fighting games, sharing lessons learned from personal experience and community advice. The creator emphasizes that controller choice doesn't matter, players should pick a game they find fun with an active community, and focus on fundamentals rather than combos.

### Key Points

- **Controller Choice Doesn't Matter** [0:00] — You don't need an expensive arcade stick; pad or hitbox are fine. Play on what feels comfortable.
- **Choose a Game You Enjoy** [0:54] — Pick a game that is fun and has an active player base. Difficulty is relative; hard games are hard for everyone.
- **Start with Tutorials** [1:17] — Begin with in-game tutorials and YouTube guides to understand the game system.
- **Pick a Character You Like** [1:30] — Choose a character you enjoy, even if they are hard. If frustrated, pick an easier one to learn faster.
- **Don't Focus Solely on Combos** [2:18] — Combos are less important than neutral game and positioning. Learn how to get into position to land combos.
- **Play Online and Lose** [2:52] — Don't be afraid to lose; it's one of the most efficient ways to learn.
- **Understand Number Notation** [3:17] — Fighting games use number notation (e.g., 236 for quarter-circle forward) to describe inputs. Look up a guide if confused.
- **Learn Fighting Game Glossary** [3:57] — Terms like neutral, footsies, meaties, okizeme can be looked up on a glossary website (e.g., glossary.infil.net).
- **Join a Community** [4:48] — Join local or online communities (e.g., New Challenger, WASD Gaming Discord) to find training partners and improve.
- **Understand Frame Data Basics** [5:48] — Fighting games are turn-based; learn which moves are safe to press after blocking. Frame data guides help.
- **Mentality Matters** [6:28] — Avoid salt and scrub quotes. Learn from losses and blame yourself to improve. Persevere and trust your instincts.
- **Use Ethernet, Not Wi-Fi** [8:18] — For online play, use a wired connection to avoid lag.

### Conclusion

Fighting games are rewarding but require patience and a growth mindset. Focus on fundamentals, join a community, and don't let losses discourage you.

## Transcript

hey YouTube this is diaphone today I
want to do a guide for people that are
brand new to fighting games you know
when I first started playing fighting
games I wasn't a guide like this out
there and I made a lot of mistakes along
the way and I want to share the lessons
learned from those mistakes I also pose
the same exact question to Twitter and I
wanted to share some of the results from
this to help you guys as well so I
basically asked would you wish you knew
when you first started fighting games so
for me it was funny enough it's about my
controller so I waited a really long
time to play Funny Games I waited about
almost a year to play funny games
because I had to save up enough money
for a stick turns out this is not very
important and actually people have won
tournaments with a variety of different
controllers including pad which I had
access to and other controllers such as
hitbox right personally I wish I knew
that I could have played on pad honestly
what controller should you play on
doesn't really matter just play on what
feels the most comfortable for you
so first question I see people say a lot
is do I need to play an easy game or
what game should I play or I heard this
game is hard should I play it honestly
it doesn't really matter play what you
want hard games are hard for everyone so
it's an equal disadvantage right how I
choose what funny game to play
personally my criteria are is it fun
that's number one important and then
does have people playing it right
because if you don't have anyone to play
a fun game it's honestly there's no
competition it's not fun okay so you
find your game where do you start well
generally every game is gonna have a
tutorial start there right start the
tutorial understand the game system like
you can go on YouTube watch a guide or
two just understand how the game
generally works then you need to figure
out who to play generally the same kind
of rule applies pick you like if the
character is hard it can't take more
time to learn the game that is the thing
just expect that and as long as you're
okay with that I think it's perfectly
fine but I do suggest that if you think
you might get frustrated or if you do
start to get frustrated and want to win
faster learn an easier character you can
learn two characters at once a lot of
people do this McLean myself so and then
do tearless matter for new players well
not really you're basically as a
beginner you're playing a completely
different game than anyone else
you know when you get to a higher level
you can always just switch a character
that's not a big deal right but if you
do win a quick win pick an easy
character learn what your character can
do and then you want former General game
playing of how the characters should be
played so one of the most stressed
things to new players is don't Focus
solely on condos if you want to win
combos are not what wins you the game
it's getting into the position to land
that combo that's way more important
learn what you do in the neutral game
that's like when you're far away from
the opponent if you're a Sony character
you want to keep them away how do you
keep them away effectively but you can
learn the basics you can learn them
through guides you can learn through the
games tutorial or you can look at
matches that other players have played
that are higher level and just kind of
copy some of the stuff they do that's
one of the most effective ways to learn
a character the other recommendation I
would make is just go in the matches
don't be afraid to play you know if you
play without that much training time
honestly you'll probably lose right but
that's okay one of the most efficient
ways to learn a fighting game is to lose
honestly so don't be afraid to go online
lose and you'll get stronger from that
and so if you do pick up a guide I make
guides on my YouTube so if you're
interested in that consider subscribing
but there's a few things you need to
know so there's this thing called number
notation and the idea being that do a
quarter Circle forward and then a punch
button that takes a lot of time to say
right and people don't rate that kind of
stuff out so the most common thing that
you'll see when you look at a combo
Guide online is I'll use a number system
and the idea being like look down at
your keyboard and so if you see
something like a 236 that means quarter
Circle forward and then you just do the
motion and there are some games like
Tekken or Mortal Kombat that the numbers
are the attacks and they'll do stuff
like down forward but in general you can
understand the notation pretty easily
just don't get discouraged if you don't
understand it right away the other thing
you'll run into you'll hear words like
neutral game
footsies meaties
okizemi oh Kazumi and you'll be like
what the heck does any of this mean so
they actually have a glossary if you've
never heard of any of these terms and
you can literally search like okay what
does Okie mean and it says Okie also
knows okisemi and it's the Mind Games
the mix-up that occur around attacking
and blocking so if you ever hear any of
these terms and like a guide or when
you're communicating to like friends or
looking up stuff for the game just go to
this website it's amazing and it'll
really help you out when you're learning
a game so once you get the basics down
you know you play some online matches
you start to you know train look at some
guides and some matches how do you
improve well just like anything
repetition is the mother learning so
just keep doing those things a few other
tips I would recommend if you want to
get better and then enjoy yourself more
is number one join a community one of
the coolest things about the fighting
game Community is like very accepting
and they want to teach people about
fighting games because well fighting
games are really cool we want to share
our passion right so how do you find a
community well I recommend starting with
your local community so not sure how to
do that so I used to be from Pittsburgh
so if I just Google piss for fighting
game Community it's literally the first
result so try that in Google those
bigger cities have a fine game community
and they're all really cool at least the
ones that I've seen a couple other
discords that I recommend for new
players is a Discord called New
Challenger and then there's also a
Discord called wasd gaming links down in
the description below but there's also
many great streamers that have their own
Discord so find the community that works
best for you I also recommend joining
the Discord for your specific game right
so if you're looking to find people that
play the game especially if it's a less
common game in my experience one of the
best ways to level up is to have someone
that you can communicate and learn with
as you play the fighting game a couple
other things so there's this thing
called Frame data basically the idea is
is that think of fighting games as a
turn-based game
so if you block a jump in for example
generally it's not your turn because the
opponent has an advantage which means
you should not press a button however
there are some moves that are what we
call myosin block which means it is your
turn so when you block a move like that
you can press something so you don't
need to know specifics but you want to
learn the basics that there's some moves
that you don't want to press a button
after and there's some moves that you do
when I press a button after and you'll
pick that up as the game goes on but
just understanding that concept is
really important and if you search for
Frame data guides you can learn more
about the subject a couple things I
would also recommend is your mentality
matters a lot there's a Twitter page
called scrub quotes these are people
that get really salty at the game and
they say things that are not helpful
towards their own progress so whenever
you see things like this if you ever
have this thought in your head that like
someone's spamming d1d1b that's doing
crowd shab over and over and you don't
know how to deal with it and you get
salty the thing you shouldn't do is
everything that's on this page scrub
quotes the thing you should do is try to
learn from it if someone is spamming or
if someone's doing tactics that seem
really cheap the cool thing about
playing games is this is almost always
an answer so take your loss and learn
from it and just recognize that like if
you are losing learn to be okay with
blaming yourself for the losses because
again you're new right so it's okay to
lose and recognize you have the ability
to get better just like anything and
overcome your previous faults so make
sure you persevere because fighting
games are truly a rewarding and fun
genre and the one last thing I'll say is
trust yourself right trust your
instincts you know believe in your ideas
and test them out but also like if you
get advice from other players doesn't
mean it's necessarily right so trust
your instinct and if in your gut you
don't think it's good advice it might
not be good advice right but yeah so
welcome to fighting games I hope this
content was useful I honestly think
playing games aren't as hard as you
think just like anything it takes time
to learn so be patient with yourself if
you like this kind of content consider
like sharing and subscribing really
helps out the channel
um I really like helping people that are
new in the fighting game scene because I
want fighting games to grow so I hope
this helps if you're looking for a
community to engage with I also stream
on Twitch I have a Twitter and a Discord
links down in the description below
consider following me on those platforms
as well and if you have any questions or
anything that you want new players to
also know leave it down in the comments
below thanks everyone and have a great
day
oh and don't forget an ethernet cord
don't play on Wi-Fi new players don't
play on Wi-Fi