The Importance Of Fighting Game Fundamentals | Real Talk

[00:00] [Music]

[00:09] i want to talk about learning the basics

[00:10] in fighting games right and i guess in

[00:12] this case since i played guilty gear

[00:13] let's talk about guilty right when

[00:15] people learn fighting games

[00:17] probably reason why they try to learn is

[00:19] because they see something cool on like

[00:20] youtube

[00:22] you know they see something cool on

[00:22] youtube so you see something cool on

[00:24] twitter or what have you and then

[00:25] they're like man i want to do that right

[00:27] obviously they like go get the game try

[00:29] the game out and then you know they

[00:31] immediately try to learn that thing or

[00:32] let's say they've already been playing

[00:34] and they kind of

[00:35] play the game to some degree and they

[00:38] see the cool thing and they won't do the

[00:39] cool thing

[00:40] and then they tried in matches or

[00:42] whatever and they can't do the cool

[00:43] thing because either eight they don't

[00:44] have the execution or what have you

[00:46] right

[00:47] so

[00:48] this kind of stems into like why you

[00:50] should learn the basics right it doesn't

[00:52] matter what character you pick

[00:54] the basics are important right learning

[00:55] your spacing learning your footsies

[00:57] learning what buttons do what learning

[00:59] your anti-airs where you have

[01:00] situational anti-airs and that's a

[01:03] little bit more nuanced but you know the

[01:04] basics is generally like general poking

[01:06] making sure you have a good anti-air

[01:08] making sure you have reliable bread and

[01:10] butter combos you can go into maybe a

[01:12] counter hit combo or two and that's not

[01:14] really too advanced these are just

[01:15] things that you just should already have

[01:16] kind of like unlock right

[01:18] it's like playing street fighter and not

[01:20] being able to do short short super right

[01:22] not being able to do crotch short short

[01:23] super is really bad you know in the

[01:25] instance that you need it or a simple

[01:27] hit confirm right you need to have those

[01:29] things because you can't maximize your

[01:30] damage

[01:32] so when you're learning fighting games

[01:33] you have to have these things down right

[01:35] so taking it to a point of like

[01:37] anti-airs right

[01:38] you all know if you play like a shoto or

[01:40] a character with a short you can you

[01:41] know you have an easy way to anti-air

[01:43] right

[01:44] but then you take it into a game like

[01:46] guilty gear where like you know

[01:48] you can air block

[01:50] you know i'm saying the

[01:51] entire ep pretty pretty freely because

[01:54] there's no more air unblockables in

[01:55] guilty gear anymore right

[01:57] so

[01:58] you have to be smarter about that and

[02:00] like react to when they're throwing out

[02:01] like a button and using like 6p or 4

[02:04] punch if you will or if you have a

[02:05] situational anti-air like

[02:07] let's say geo crouching heavy slash or

[02:09] close slash you know chip 6h 5h you know

[02:12] 685h2h all those are anti-airs you know

[02:15] some of those require you to be at

[02:17] specific spacings and stuff like that to

[02:18] find some kind of consistency for them

[02:20] so it helps you with like your spacing

[02:22] it helps you make better well-informed

[02:24] decisions about how you want to play

[02:25] your neutral et cetera et cetera right

[02:28] so a lot of people tend to overlook this

[02:30] i think it's bad

[02:32] you know it's not you're not doing

[02:33] yourself any kind of service by like

[02:36] disregarding fundamentals

[02:38] like sometimes some of the best players

[02:40] play super fundamental don't do any like

[02:44] none of the flashy stuff they're just

[02:46] like you know fireballs and uppercuts

[02:47] you know and that's one of the reasons

[02:48] why a lot of people for example

[02:51] back in the street fighter four days you

[02:52] had people on like otaku complaining of

[02:54] how like oh street fighter just a

[02:55] fireball fest they're not even fighting

[02:57] it's like

[02:58] i mean

[02:59] you know these are people that are not

[03:01] even taking into consideration the

[03:02] microspacing around the fireballs where

[03:04] they're reactable where they're not

[03:05] reactable like it's on a surface level

[03:07] they don't get that right but if you're

[03:09] learning the fighting games you have to

[03:10] you do have to learn those nuances of

[03:12] like where it's reactable where you

[03:14] where it's jumpable or it's not jumpable

[03:16] where you have where you have to force

[03:17] yourself to walk and block

[03:19] et cetera et cetera so and this is all

[03:21] fundamental

[03:22] you know

[03:23] and even then you know learning like a

[03:25] basic you know footsies like

[03:27] when i say footsies is input you know

[03:29] like you're

[03:30] learning your poking game right with

[03:31] your character so if you have like say

[03:34] in guilty gear right you know you have

[03:35] kai

[03:36] kai's normals are actually very good

[03:38] they have great hit boxes on them

[03:41] and uh they do hit from afar they are

[03:43] great in combos they are great to poke

[03:45] and annoy the hell out of your character

[03:48] or rather they're good to annoy the

[03:50] opposing character you know that you're

[03:51] playing against and

[03:53] you can create like a wall of just

[03:55] normals without even doing anything you

[03:58] know what i'm saying

[03:59] so

[04:01] these are these are the things that

[04:02] people overlook

[04:04] and you know i if you're watching this

[04:06] and you're listening to me right now i

[04:07] trust you when i say that that's not

[04:08] something you want to do when learning

[04:10] like guilty gear or any other fighting

[04:12] in this case we'll just keep using

[04:13] guilty gear

[04:15] and uh

[04:18] learning how these are special moves

[04:19] also a thing right with kai you know his

[04:21] special moves aren't really the safest

[04:23] right

[04:24] however you do have ways to confirm into

[04:27] your special moves you do have ways that

[04:29] you can delay your strings into your

[04:31] special moves to kind of trick up the

[04:32] opponent

[04:33] and like let's say like his fireball's

[04:34] not really safe on block right but

[04:37] if you do like a delayed string into

[04:39] your fireball then that changes it it

[04:41] doesn't matter that it was unsafe per se

[04:43] it's just the fact that you've opened up

[04:44] another door

[04:46] to

[04:46] essentially

[04:48] use that tool now

[04:50] sure they'll be like oh i should have

[04:52] punished you for it well guess what you

[04:54] didn't

[04:55] and it's not that you shouldn't have not

[04:57] punished me it's just you did it

[04:59] in such a manner that it had like a

[05:02] different rhythm to it you know

[05:03] and that's another thing right

[05:06] when you're when you're learning you

[05:07] learn to build up a rhythm and whatnot

[05:09] and how to change up your string

[05:10] sometimes you'll just auto pod the

[05:12] string because it's like okay to do

[05:13] because it's safe you know

[05:15] but like after a certain point when

[05:17] you're playing against people and of

[05:19] like higher caliber like that starts to

[05:21] slowly like diminish

[05:23] right even myself right now playing

[05:24] jackal like a lot of times i'm using

[05:26] like 5k 2k into a soccer ball kick and

[05:28] then summon

[05:29] honestly doing that all the time is bad

[05:31] because they get a read on my pressure

[05:32] and then they can counter hit me and

[05:34] then i take a lot of damage

[05:36] it's sometimes it's hard to break out

[05:37] the muscle memory because like for

[05:39] example i guess with jackal it's just

[05:40] it's such a good string to like kind of

[05:42] do that it makes sense to just do it a

[05:43] good chunk of the time

[05:45] but you know

[05:46] the underlying theme here is to change

[05:48] up the time

[05:50] like changing the timing and going for

[05:52] the soccer ball kick to like frame trap

[05:53] them

[05:54] into pressing a button and fishing for a

[05:57] counter hit obviously i'm not all there

[05:58] yet with the counter hit combo but you

[06:00] know obviously there is there is

[06:01] something there in that regard maybe at

[06:03] the rc maybe not

[06:04] it just it just depends you know maybe

[06:06] it's screen specific maybe it needs to

[06:08] be in the corner maybe in the mid screen

[06:09] you can do something else maybe they'll

[06:10] go into a setup

[06:12] and then

[06:13] as you can see like the basic parts of

[06:14] the game now turn into more complex and

[06:16] they lead to more complex situations

[06:18] right so having good footsies is

[06:20] important having good ways to confirm is

[06:23] important delaying your strings are

[06:24] important

[06:25] you know it is literally like the entire

[06:28] like anything you can think of in terms

[06:29] of fundamentals it's there and i feel

[06:31] like even like a basic throw game you

[06:33] know take throws like

[06:35] in guilty of strive strike throw is a

[06:36] really strong

[06:38] general set of pressure in the game

[06:40] right

[06:41] and if you're not

[06:42] decent at that

[06:44] then you know that's another part of

[06:45] your pressure game that's not weak now

[06:46] you're lacking in your in like your

[06:48] throws and you don't want to be lacking

[06:49] you don't want you don't basically you

[06:51] don't want to be caught lacking in your

[06:52] fundamentals seriously

[06:54] if you can't even set up a basic tick

[06:56] throw to open up your opponent

[06:58] and you're just pressing the same string

[07:00] over and over with like the same rhythm

[07:03] you're not giving your opponent anything

[07:05] to think about anymore like everything

[07:06] is already made plain plain and simple

[07:08] it's all clear it's clear as day you've

[07:11] you you've officially played yourself i

[07:12] guess the best way to look it you

[07:14] legitimately like played yourself so

[07:17] yeah you think about that

[07:20] how do you start learning fundamentals i

[07:22] mean

[07:23] you start learning fundamentals by

[07:24] asking yourself the basic questions

[07:26] what's my

[07:27] one what's my anti-air

[07:29] two what are my best pokes

[07:31] three what are my good up close pokes

[07:33] aka range zero

[07:35] you know what are your mid-range poke so

[07:37] basically you ask yourself the long

[07:38] range

[07:39] mid-range close range pokes your

[07:42] anti-airs

[07:43] and like regular bread and butter combos

[07:46] you know and there's some things in

[07:47] regards to ant tires you might switch up

[07:49] maybe have to do an air to air like a

[07:50] jump jab or something like that to try

[07:52] to discourage them from jumping at you

[07:54] you know meet them air there and change

[07:55] the situation to something else like

[07:57] there's

[07:59] you know once you get to the

[08:00] fundamentals portion then more questions

[08:02] can be asked and answered like does that

[08:04] make sense like it's it's a lot of give

[08:05] and take

[08:07] right

[08:09] so

[08:10] because you know how to anti-air now now

[08:12] when you're anti-air right so let's say

[08:13] like uh

[08:15] we'll use axel right in strive

[08:18] axel's crotching slash is an amazing

[08:19] attire in this game right really really

[08:22] amazing

[08:23] leads to a lot of damage

[08:24] now if you

[08:26] happen to trade with that you have to

[08:28] know how to combo it right because let's

[08:30] say you practice doing it on a clean hit

[08:32] and the clean hit and tires and like

[08:34] i'll say cleaner than like it's a clean

[08:35] anti-air it doesn't trade or anything

[08:37] like that it hits for a counter hit use

[08:38] the counter to confirm boom you're good

[08:40] to go right

[08:42] but what happens when it trades you also

[08:44] have to be ready for the trade so it now

[08:46] turns into okay i know how to

[08:47] anti-normally oh shoot now i gotta go

[08:50] into the advanced style of ant turning

[08:52] with it where i'm looking for a trade

[08:53] maybe you're looking for it to trade

[08:55] maybe in this matchup it's good that it

[08:57] trades so you can take advantage of the

[08:59] trade and come out on top

[09:01] right because axles 2x low profiles

[09:03] anyway

[09:03] and the angle that it hits is really is

[09:05] really really strong for where he's at

[09:07] sure there's a dead zone but it's very

[09:08] difficult for a lot of cast of those

[09:10] it's difficult for a lot of the cast to

[09:12] get into that dead zone to punish him or

[09:14] like kind of throw off his hand tires

[09:16] so

[09:17] you learn how to reorient yourself you

[09:19] hit the you hit the uh the counter hit

[09:21] trade

[09:22] 2s and 2 anti-air combo and it's like

[09:24] cool you took this much damage your

[09:26] enemy took that much damage you know

[09:28] that's a big difference

[09:30] you know so you have to be ready for

[09:31] those things and that all comes from the

[09:33] fundamentals

[09:35] you know what i'm saying

[09:36] then yeah and the other part of it is

[09:38] also air throwing too right where you

[09:39] want to change up like how you want to

[09:41] anti them because air those are anti

[09:42] errors

[09:43] so let's say you know the sky's jumping

[09:45] very predictably

[09:47] you have a good read on it you react to

[09:49] it and you see it in your air throw it's

[09:50] like boom all right now you can turn

[09:52] that into another situation you know so

[09:54] you see i'm saying

[09:56] like there are

[09:59] everything stems from the fundamentals

[10:01] like everything stems from the

[10:03] fundamentals if you don't

[10:04] practice those things and just have them

[10:05] down

[10:06] like i said it's just it's just going to

[10:08] be a very difficult time down down the

[10:09] road

[10:11] in fighting games no matter which one

[10:12] you play

[10:13] it doesn't matter if you're playing

[10:14] tekken guilty gear street fighter

[10:16] you know world heroes freaking fatal

[10:19] fury it matters not kof there is still a

[10:21] level of fundamentals and each game

[10:23] definitely takes the fundamentals of

[10:25] fighting games on a different level

[10:27] right street fighter is obviously the

[10:28] most basic

[10:30] guilty gear is a little bit actually a

[10:31] little bit it's a lot more advanced

[10:33] because you know you introduce air

[10:34] dashing into the mix double jumps triple

[10:36] jumps you know double air dashes all

[10:38] those things kind of like take those

[10:39] same basic concepts and they're kind of

[10:41] like

[10:42] excelled even further

[10:43] you know because you have more control

[10:45] over your jump arc and having control

[10:46] over your jump mark is very important in

[10:48] fighting games too

[10:49] that's a little bit more of an advanced

[10:51] thing but you know

[10:53] regardless the game does have air dash

[10:54] and stuff like that so on on a per game

[10:57] basis while the fundamentals of fighting

[10:58] games are universal each game has its

[11:00] different set of you know rules and

[11:03] subsystems and stuff like that that you

[11:05] have to get used to to take those same

[11:06] fundamentals to the next level

[11:14] how does someone intermediate to

[11:15] fighting games know they actually have

[11:17] the fundamentals down i might feel like

[11:18] i do but do i really

[11:21] i mean think of it this way right

[11:24] let's say you're playing online

[11:27] and you are playing against an online

[11:29] opponent

[11:31] and

[11:32] you take the most basic things and you

[11:33] start winning take for example you start

[11:35] playing a basic game of like i'm gonna

[11:37] control this one spot

[11:39] and if they jump at me i'm going to

[11:41] anti-them and i'm going to go back to

[11:42] this spot and i'm going to control that

[11:44] spot

[11:45] right

[11:46] if you do that

[11:47] then and you do it well against more

[11:49] than one opponent then i would say that

[11:51] you definitely have a fairly decent

[11:53] grasp of fundamentals because that means

[11:55] you didn't have to do anything special

[11:56] to win you didn't do any oaky situations

[11:58] you do any mix-ups you just beat them

[12:00] with two plus two is four

[12:02] so if you can beat someone with like

[12:03] okay i'm gonna just press this button

[12:04] right here i'm i'm gonna control the

[12:06] space right here i'll anti-you with this

[12:08] right here and this like if like this

[12:10] area is my bubble

[12:11] and you have to respect this bubble i'm

[12:13] gonna force you to respect this bubble

[12:15] then i would say that you

[12:17] probably have fundamentals down but

[12:19] fundamentals are still like a uh

[12:21] it's like an ongoing thing like just

[12:23] because you have fundamentals doesn't

[12:24] mean that like it stops right it's like

[12:26] i understand the basics

[12:28] but like there's other ways to kind of

[12:29] push forward within the basics

[12:31] right there's more advanced things to

[12:33] the basics

[12:34] that make sense

[12:35] it should make

[12:36] sense yeah it's it's never ending it's

[12:39] like

[12:40] it's like art you know like

[12:42] the journey to being a great artist

[12:44] never ends you know and it's the same

[12:46] with this the journey to being a great

[12:48] player it never stops like you always

[12:50] learn more nuanced things to make your

[12:52] fundamental game that much better

[12:55] you know

[12:56] it's uh yeah fundamentals are definitely

[12:58] conditioning

[13:01] okay i feel that once you start doing

[13:02] basic stuff with intention

[13:05] that's meeting your basic fundamentals

[13:06] but there's always more correct

[13:08] absolutely 100

[13:10] there there's always more like once you

[13:12] have things down and you're doing stuff

[13:14] with intent

[13:15] like it makes more sense

[13:17] you know

[13:18] you're gonna stick to eating glue i mean

[13:21] that wins games

[13:22] you know but i guess it also depends on

[13:24] what you want out of your fighting games

[13:25] too right like if you're okay with just

[13:27] going ham

[13:29] nothing wrong with that

[13:31] just know that like in a lot of ways

[13:33] it's kind of like uh

[13:36] it doesn't

[13:37] it doesn't really matter if you do go

[13:38] ham in a sense too because there's

[13:39] there's you know there's some merit and

[13:41] skill to that but like you're also

[13:42] denying yourself being good at like

[13:45] the literally the basics

[13:47] like you don't want to not be good at

[13:49] the basics to some extent

[13:50] if you're just like super unga bunga

[13:53] sure you'll win games you know but you

[13:55] know that's not how tournament players

[13:57] win

[13:58] and everyone's goal is different i'm not

[13:59] going to sit and say everyone here's a

[14:00] tournament player when he's trying to be

[14:02] a tournament player nah i know that's

[14:03] not the case

[14:05] some people just play just to be good

[14:06] because they just want to be good

[14:08] and there ain't nothing wrong with that

[14:10] as long as you understand like why

[14:12] you're playing and what you're playing

[14:14] for and if you're okay not learning

[14:15] those skills that's fine

[14:17] because in some cases some players are

[14:19] actually good like at just strictly

[14:21] rushing people down how are you doing

[14:23] you know i can tell you from experience

[14:26] yo thanks for the follow

[14:27] i can tell you from experience right um

[14:31] i used to be a very i'm still a very

[14:33] aggressive player but at the same time

[14:35] i've also learned that like from playing

[14:37] a multitude of players over the course

[14:39] of time that like sometimes that doesn't

[14:41] always get you to win sometimes you have

[14:42] to play a little bit more past it

[14:43] sometimes you have to do a little bit

[14:44] more reading sometimes you just have to

[14:46] see more out of your opponent sometimes

[14:48] you have to see

[14:49] you have to put things in place to make

[14:50] your opponent give you information

[14:52] because when you get the fundamentals

[14:54] down then there's another layer to it

[14:55] which is gaining information i'll get

[14:57] into that another time because that's a

[14:58] whole other topic in itself but like

[15:01] you know it's

[15:03] there there is merit to every style of

[15:07] play

[15:08] it's just knowing when to bring it out

[15:10] and knowing when to turn like no one

[15:11] want to turn on and no i'm going to turn

[15:12] off

[15:13] if you turn on and it's on too long

[15:16] your opponent might get a read on that

[15:18] and then take it take a chance and do

[15:19] something but wild

[15:20] and it throws off your bunga and you're

[15:22] like man hit me with that there's no way

[15:23] he's gonna do it again and he does and

[15:25] then you start to regress because you

[15:27] don't know whether or not you should be

[15:28] going for that type of stuff

[15:30] i'm saying

[15:31] so i

[15:33] you know

[15:34] play however you like but i'm gonna keep

[15:35] pushing that like having the

[15:37] fundamentals down playing on a

[15:38] fundamental level is always good and it

[15:40] helps you stay

[15:41] in line believe it or not

[15:44] i tend to believe that it keeps you in

[15:45] line because

[15:47] if you don't have to be advanced on

[15:49] something why bother

[15:50] you know if your opponent is not showing

[15:52] you that you have a reason to be more

[15:54] advanced in your approach for the way

[15:56] you punish them it's pointless to try to

[15:58] go past two plus two is four

[16:00] it's like

[16:01] if your opponent is dying to the same

[16:03] mix-up why would you change it

[16:06] like just do it until he blocks it

[16:08] you know that's kind of a fundamental

[16:10] thing too

[16:11] like you do it until they stop blocking

[16:14] until they start blocking your mix up

[16:15] properly

[16:16] otherwise

[16:18] you know mix them up and it's not really

[16:20] a mix-up because you just know you're

[16:21] going to get it

[16:22] if a lot of people you know at the

[16:25] higher levels of play if they recognize

[16:27] that a player is dying to one thing

[16:30] there's no reason to do anything extra

[16:32] literally like sometimes players kill

[16:34] themselves because they want to do more

[16:36] and it's like why do you need to do more

[16:38] when you're when you're the opposing

[16:40] player can't even keep up with your

[16:41] basics and then they do something that

[16:44] throws off you know that cool new thing

[16:46] that you learned or whatever and it's

[16:47] like

[16:48] some people they mentally get thrown off

[16:50] for their game

[16:51] because they're like man i can't believe

[16:52] i did i missed that that was the i

[16:54] practiced that every day huh he just

[16:56] pressed jab on it nah there's no way you

[16:57] try it again he jabs you again and then

[16:58] he kills you that time one time he just

[17:00] jabs you out next time he just jabs you

[17:02] and does like a full-on combo and you

[17:04] die for it like

[17:06] you have to know when to hold them and

[17:07] when to fold them in rust

[17:12] don't need to step up your game until

[17:13] they show you a reason yep pretty much

[17:17] pretty much

[17:20] yeah like you know flare abusing hover

[17:22] yeah hover dash slash yeah yeah you just

[17:23] gotta respect it you have to all right

[17:25] well if you're not gonna mash her out of

[17:27] it and show that you're willing to like

[17:29] get around it

[17:30] that you know player has all the right

[17:32] in the world just keep hover dashing on

[17:33] you all day long just making you look

[17:34] like it's like a chump

[17:36] it is what it is

[17:39] i have an issue of dropping a complex

[17:41] precise input getting punished for it

[17:43] and then mentally needing to do it again

[17:46] even if it's not a good option at that

[17:47] point yep that's exactly what i'm saying

[17:49] that happens to a lot of people they're

[17:50] like there's no way

[17:52] he was that smart and it's like well

[17:54] maybe he hadn't seen the setup and he's

[17:56] taking a chance because he doesn't know

[17:57] what he's you know what he's looking at

[17:59] so

[18:00] does that mean you should try it again

[18:02] yeah

[18:03] just not immediately

[18:06] if you do it immediately you're just

[18:07] giving yourself away you know

[18:09] and there's there's there's more to it

[18:11] than that but

[18:12] yeah

[18:14] yeah i think that probably will just do

[18:16] it here for fundamentals there's more i

[18:18] can say but

[18:20] i think this will

[18:22] this will suffice for now

[18:24] and always talk more about this another

[18:25] time i think it's still like a really

[18:27] good topic because i feel like

[18:28] fundamentals are just like they're just

[18:30] ongoing there's like it never stops with

[18:32] the fundamentals like

[18:33] even that like the basic things even at

[18:35] life you can be really good at those

[18:36] things and then come back and revisit

[18:38] them and you're like man i'm doing this

[18:39] even better more efficiently you know

[18:41] just think of anything in your life that

[18:42] you do on a basic and fundamental level

[18:44] that you do like efficiently and it's

[18:45] because you do it all the time let's see

[18:47] what this is so

[18:50] be sure to practice your fundamentals

[18:51] man

[18:52] be sure to do it because

[18:55] you should

[18:57] you should

[18:59] anyhow that's gonna do it for

[19:00] fundamentals you guys

[19:02] just gonna do it right there

[19:04] [Music]

[19:17] you