The Art of Footsies - Fighting Game Fundamentals

[00:03] welcome back to actionpedia the show

[00:05] where we look at terminology from the

[00:07] gaming world and explain their meaning

[00:10] history and relevance today in this

[00:12] episode we're once again entering the

[00:14] world of fighting games and looking at

[00:15] one of the most fundamental and most

[00:18] complex concepts in the genre the tense

[00:20] moment where both players approach each

[00:22] other and try to figure out how to land

[00:24] a clean hit footsies but first a quick

[00:28] disclaimer this should serve as a

[00:30] satisfactory introduction to footsies

[00:32] and why it's so important to the

[00:33] fighting game genre if you want to get

[00:35] down and dirty pick apart frame data and

[00:37] build flow charts there are plenty of

[00:39] resources online for that that's not

[00:41] what this is about with that out of the

[00:42] way we hope you enjoy our take on the

[00:45] history of footsies

[00:47] first we're going to have to make sure

[00:48] that we're all on the same page of one

[00:51] of fighting games core concepts the

[00:52] neutral game in fighting games the flow

[00:55] of the match is constantly changing

[00:57] sometimes one player has an advantage

[00:59] over their opponent other times neither

[01:01] player has the upper hand this ambiguous

[01:04] state where neither player has the edge

[01:06] is called the neutral game typically

[01:08] players will be a bit farther apart

[01:10] shooting projectiles fainting

[01:12] engagements and jockeying for position

[01:14] as soon as one player makes a mistake

[01:16] they throw out a laggy move on block

[01:18] they whiff something at a bad range or

[01:20] they mess up their movement then we

[01:22] shift into the punish game punishes are

[01:24] making your opponent pay for any

[01:26] mistakes they make a punish can be

[01:28] anything from a single jab to a full

[01:30] combo

[01:32] the objective of pretty much every

[01:33] fighting game is to catch your opponent

[01:35] slipping and punish them as hard as you

[01:37] can

[01:40] so how does one win the neutral game for

[01:42] that we're going to talk about footsies

[01:45] footsies is a term that originated in

[01:47] arcades in the mid-1990s and was used

[01:50] for games like street fighter fatal fury

[01:52] king of fighters and many others in

[01:55] essence footsies is the mid-range

[01:57] neutral game where players are close

[01:59] enough to threaten their opponent's

[02:00] space with normals like punches and

[02:02] kicks but not too close that attacks are

[02:04] actually hitting it's sort of like a

[02:06] dance where each player is testing the

[02:09] waters until the temperature feels just

[02:11] right and they can comfortably jump in

[02:13] infill defines footsies in his fighting

[02:15] game glossary as quote a complicated

[02:18] often nebulous term that refers to the

[02:21] battle for controlling the space in

[02:22] front of you often by using good pokes

[02:25] in essence you are trying to get to a

[02:27] range you like while trying to deny your

[02:29] opponent getting to a range that they

[02:31] like how you do this varies wildly based

[02:33] on the game but it often involves using

[02:35] strong crouching kick attacks to pester

[02:38] your opponent as they are trying to walk

[02:40] around this dance of playing mind games

[02:42] with your feet is the source of the

[02:44] term's name

[02:53] so yeah full disclosure footsies is not

[02:57] an easy thing to nail down but there are

[02:59] certain aspects that we can isolate to

[03:01] make it easier to understand this

[03:03] definition we found on quora sums up

[03:06] footsies pretty nicely footsies is used

[03:08] one to predict where the opponent's hurt

[03:10] boxes are going to be at a given time

[03:13] and control that area with your hitboxes

[03:15] two footsies is used to make your

[03:17] location difficult to predict so the

[03:19] opponent will not be able to do number

[03:21] one to you theoretically that all sounds

[03:24] pretty easy so let's put these concepts

[03:26] into context by looking at street

[03:28] fighter 2 turbo

[03:29] in street fighter 2 turbo low kicks were

[03:32] essential to keeping your opponent

[03:33] honest in their decision making want to

[03:35] walk forward if you're not ready to

[03:37] block you'll eat a kick to the shins

[03:39] want to throw out a move if your hurt

[03:41] box extends too far forward you'll eat a

[03:43] kick to the shins want to shoot a

[03:44] projectile my kick has a faster startup

[03:47] and it's pointed right at your dumb

[03:49] little shins

[03:51] [Music]

[03:52] by being able to throw out a low kick

[03:54] into the space in front of you your

[03:56] opponent has to respect and move around

[03:58] that space to do this you need to know

[04:01] what options are available to you and

[04:04] what options are available to your

[04:05] opponent let's say we've got a match

[04:07] between two ken players since both

[04:09] players are playing the same character

[04:11] it's easy to know what you can and can't

[04:13] do your low kick has the same range as

[04:16] their low kit your hadouken has the same

[04:18] frame data as their hadoken so playing

[04:20] footsies in this kind of setting is

[04:22] simple you know that if they jump at an

[04:24] unsafe angle you can punish with an

[04:26] anti-air or shoryuk but where ftse

[04:28] starts to become more complex is when

[04:30] two players are playing different

[04:32] characters if you are playing ken and

[04:34] your opponent is playing del sim

[04:36] suddenly you have to account for the

[04:38] long range of his stretchy limbs on the

[04:40] flip side if they're playing zangief you

[04:43] can no longer just block when your

[04:45] opponent approaches because you might

[04:46] get grabbed and eat some serious damage

[04:49] suddenly every matchup requires a new

[04:51] set of knowledge and a new game plan of

[04:54] how to play footsies but footsies is

[04:56] more than just knowing options and

[04:58] responding like a robot although there

[05:00] are certain interactions which can be

[05:01] quote unquote played perfectly on paper

[05:04] any fighting game player worth their

[05:06] salt will tell you that there are a lot

[05:08] of situations where you're just not 100

[05:10] sure of what's coming next which brings

[05:13] us to our final core concept the mix-up

[05:16] mix-ups epitomize the mental side of

[05:18] fighting games this is where you take

[05:20] all of your knowledge of the game and

[05:21] combine it with your knowledge of the

[05:23] person next to you it's deception it's

[05:25] confusion it's sun tzu's art of war well

[05:29] not really but it is the art of

[05:31] conditioning a person to expect one

[05:33] thing and catching them off guard by

[05:34] doing something else in the context of

[05:36] footsies mix-ups are how you expose

[05:39] openings are you noticing that every

[05:40] time you throw out a low kick your

[05:42] opponent neutral jumps maybe this time

[05:44] you can approach make it look like

[05:45] you're going to low kick and dp to catch

[05:47] them in the air got a knock down

[05:49] condition them to block by throwing out

[05:51] jabs as they get up and then mix them up

[05:53] by grabbing instead anything to keep

[05:55] your opponent guessing mix-ups are

[05:57] essential to conditioning your opponent

[05:59] to think one thing and then exposing

[06:01] them by doing something else can't

[06:03] really spam the specials anymore but

[06:04] he's got extra range bruh

[06:08] the pressure oh my god yo the pressure

[06:12] the depth of learning and understanding

[06:14] match-ups in fighting games is why

[06:16] they've survived for so long and as

[06:18] players began to master older simpler

[06:21] fighting games developers wanted to make

[06:23] it harder for them to solve their games

[06:25] towards the end of the 1990s and into

[06:27] the early 2000s some fighting games

[06:30] began pushing players to be more

[06:31] aggressive in an effort to speed up

[06:33] gameplay and make things more exciting

[06:36] one game that is a perfect example of

[06:38] this is guilty gear one of the goals of

[06:41] its creator daisuke ishiwatari was to

[06:44] create a more aggressive action-packed

[06:46] game in guilty gear x the tension gauge

[06:49] was introduced which rewarded players

[06:51] for choosing aggressive options like

[06:54] throwing out attacks and walking forward

[06:56] over defensive options like back dashing

[06:58] and blocking the incentive to be more

[07:00] aggressive fundamentally change the risk

[07:02] reward of playing footsies as now you

[07:04] could go in hard eat a couple of hits

[07:07] and be rewarded with meter to make your

[07:09] next combo hit harder the primary

[07:11] objective was no longer to avoid getting

[07:13] hit at all costs on top of this for

[07:16] players and spectators alike

[07:17] rushdown-centric gameplay can be much

[07:20] more exciting than watching two shoto's

[07:22] low-kicking at each other for an entire

[07:24] round while not really a mainstream game

[07:26] at the time guilty gear is an example of

[07:29] games moving away from slow meticulous

[07:31] gameplay in favor of offense and

[07:34] aggression and this idea of overwhelming

[07:37] opponents with brute force is best

[07:39] illustrated by our next title

[07:42] marvel vs capcom 2

[07:45] new age of heroes

[07:50] marvel vs capcom 2 is a game which plays

[07:53] very differently than most traditional

[07:55] fighting games there are a number of

[07:57] reasons for this but one of the most

[07:58] notable is the introduction of

[08:00] directional air dashes in most

[08:02] traditional fighting games jumping is a

[08:04] big commitment if you jump in place you

[08:06] will land in the same place you started

[08:08] if you jump forward you can't alter your

[08:11] trajectory

[08:12] so if you get red you'll be eating an

[08:14] anti-air for breakfast while marvel vs

[08:16] capcom 2 wasn't the first game to have

[08:18] air dashes in it games like dark

[08:20] stalkers had it back in 1994 mvc 2

[08:23] popularized it like no other now jumping

[08:26] wasn't necessarily a dangerous

[08:27] commitment but rather a fundamental part

[08:30] of how some characters worked take storm

[08:32] for example storm is an eight-way air

[08:34] dasher this means that after a jump she

[08:37] can air dash in any of the eight

[08:39] directions you can hold the joystick so

[08:40] rather than a jump being a 100

[08:42] commitment storm can jump and then throw

[08:45] in a mix-up will she do a regular

[08:46] jumping attack jump into a backwards air

[08:48] dash to stay safe a triangle jump to try

[08:51] and cast you off guard with an overhead

[08:53] air dashes open up a lot of

[08:54] possibilities and complicated the game

[08:56] of footsies like no other now an

[08:59] opponent who is in the air has several

[09:01] options and mix-ups to choose from and

[09:03] simply throwing out ashore you when you

[09:04] see them jump won't cut it anymore there

[09:07] are those who lamented its fast pace and

[09:10] offense first gameplay jokes about

[09:12] quote-unquote marvel footsies being

[09:14] mashing jab until something lands or

[09:16] marvel players getting washed in any

[09:18] other fighting games aside mvc 2 is an

[09:20] example of a game which fundamentally

[09:22] changed the way that footsies is played

[09:25] [Music]

[09:30] today oh my god

[09:34] oh my god

[09:37] this trend towards complication was only

[09:39] getting started in the early 2000s as

[09:41] anime fighters began to get more popular

[09:43] mostly for their high speed and

[09:44] notorious difficulty titles like

[09:46] blazblue and guilty gear xrd epitomized

[09:49] speed and aggression on top of that

[09:51] roster sizes skyrocketed across the

[09:53] board with games like ultra street

[09:55] fighter 4 having 44 playable characters

[09:58] tekken 7 having 54 some of whom will

[10:01] have nearly 200 unique moves and smash

[10:03] ultimate having 89 characters that's a

[10:06] lot of matchups to learn but not all

[10:08] games want to be harder or faster or

[10:10] more complicated than whatever came out

[10:12] before it and one game at the forefront

[10:15] of making games simple again is an indie

[10:17] game aptly named footsies the game's

[10:20] description says quote footsies retains

[10:22] the fundamental feeling of the fighting

[10:24] game genre where spacing hit confirms

[10:27] and with punishes are key to achieving

[10:29] victory

[10:30] oh come on i got the i hit the load

[10:34] forward i held forward there there's no

[10:36] air dashing no projectiles no 69 hit

[10:39] combos just two players with the same

[10:41] options and clearly defined rules of how

[10:43] to beat the other person alright spammer

[10:48] me versus spammer alright look spammer

[11:00] all right i see why he's called spammer

[11:02] in order to win in footsies you have to

[11:04] be really good at footsies controlling

[11:06] your own space with hitboxes punishing

[11:08] your opponent for overextending and

[11:10] knowing how to hit confirm are

[11:12] fundamental aspects of all fighting

[11:14] games and ftse strips away all of the

[11:16] excess to give a lesson in fighting game

[11:18] fundamentals

[11:26] and some of the big names in the genre

[11:28] have tried to revert back to a simpler

[11:30] formula as well street fighter 5 and

[11:32] guilty gear strive are two examples of

[11:34] games which are a little bit easier than

[11:37] their predecessors

[11:39] regardless of what fighting game you're

[11:41] playing footsies is gonna be a part of

[11:43] it colin north describes it best in his

[11:45] article for gigi noob where he says

[11:48] quote the concept of footsies is so huge

[11:51] that you can't really pin it down in a

[11:53] specific way it encompasses all of the

[11:55] important fighting game ideas spacing

[11:58] baiting zoning with punishes corner

[12:01] pressure the list goes on and on your

[12:03] understanding of footsies will only grow

[12:05] as you continue to learn and master

[12:07] various aspects of fighting games and if

[12:10] all of this sounds overwhelming then one

[12:12] thing you should take away from this

[12:13] video is that the core of fighting games

[12:15] boils down to one thing and one thing

[12:17] only who amongst your friends is the

[12:20] best at kicking shins

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