[Rokunaya]

...Fuck this thead. :|




I will be busy filling in this thread as time goes on; this thread will take some time to finish.

In a quick summary, Fighting Games are filled to the brim with 'invisible rules' and mechanics that run in the background that most gamers are never attuned to. I hope to make you aware of these through this guide, and make you not only a better player, but be able to appreciate Fighting Games more for the good competitive games they are. This guide will apply to virtually any Capcom or Guilty Gear based fighting game. This includes all the Street Fighters, BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, Melty Blood, and so forth.

I'm going to divide this thread into roughly 6 sections; I might change my mind about this later on, however for now it will be 6. They are as follows:

1. General Fighting Game Notation
2. Defense
3. Wakeup / Okis
4. Pressure
5. Zoning
6. Comboing

Keep in mind that everything from section 3 and on is very hard to generalize; Just take it at face-value, and remember these are GUIDELINES, not law.

First, let's start off with the Fighting Game Notation.

[Rokunaya]

Fighting Game Notation


"Fighting Game Notation" Is a nice, fancy way of saying "A language which can explain combos and moves easily."

The best, most recent notation up to date is the numpad notation, and this is very commonly used in many forums, FAQ's, etc.

The numpad notation is actually quite simple to follow and understand: First, take a look at your number pad, on your keyboard. If you don't have one, take a look at your nearest phone--- The numbers are ordered as followed:

7----8----9

4----5----6

1----2----3

If 5 is considered 'neutral', or 'standing still', and you're facing right, then 2 is down, 6 is forward, 4 is backwards... and so forth. In any notation out there, the assumption is that you're ALWAYS facing right when they give you a combo or something. This covers how the directionals are told, now onto the buttons.

Generally for most new fighting games nowadays, Except for SF, which is a stubborn horse *cough*, Fighting Games use the A,B,C,D notation. What this simply means is that each button gets assigned a letter, so people with custom button-setups won't get screwed up. The general button set-up is as follows:

A = Weak
B = Mid
C = Strong
D = Extra

This button setup varies from game to game, however they all tend to follow this basic pattern; and D, the 'extra' button, is a button used for game specific commands. I.E.: Melty Blood - Shielding, BlazBlue - Character Specials, and so forth.

So, using the directionals and button-layout I described, a combo like:

2ABC 5C

Translates directly into:

Down A , Down B, Down C, Neutral/Standing C.

There are generally 2 types of moves that can be made following this notation: Normals, and Specials.

Normals: Any move which does not require multiple directions in order to use. For Example, 2A, 2B, 3B, and 5C would all be examples of normals.

Specials: Any move which requires multiple directions in order to use. For example, something like 236A[down, down-forward, forward, A] ; or a hadouken movement, would be considered a special.

[Rokunaya]

Defense


In 2D Fighting Games, there are generally 3 types of defense: The Low Block, The High Block, and the Air Block.

In order to block an attack in a 2D fighter, you simply need to press 4, or 1, both of which are backwards directions described in the post above. In short, just hold back when someone attacks you, and you will block their attack.

However, different attacks will have different properties, and will need to be blocked in different ways. The 3 properties an attack can have are: Low, Mid, High.

Low Attacks: An attack that can only be blocked with a low guard. Any attack the opponent makes while they're on the ground is an attack that can be blocked by low guarding, so if the opponent is attacking you on the ground, you better be holding 1. An opponent will only be able to attack low if they're on the ground. No exceptions. Block Low attacks with a Low guard.

Mid Attacks: An attack that can be blocked with either a High Block or a low block. It doesn't matter if you're using 4, a standing guard, or 1, a crouching guard, you will be able to block a mid attack. Mid attacks are almost always ground-based, and so an opponent will only be able to use mid-attacks if they're on the ground as well. I recommend blocking mid-attacks with a low guard, though in reality it doesn't matter how you block them.

High Attacks: An attack that can only be blocked with a standing or high guard [4]. Any attack the opponent makes in the air will be a high attack, and therefore, if your opponent is in the air, you better be holding 4 by default. There are also exceptions called "Overheads", which is a move an opponent can use on the ground in which you have to block high. Overheads will almost always be slow, fairly obvious, and some even come with a special sound or visual to warn the person defending. So if the opponent is in the air, high guard/standing block them, and if they're on the ground, the only time you'll need to high block is if they use an overhead.

Air guarding: Air guards will only be able to block air attacks and a few specials the opponent may do; though a almost universal rule is that an air guard cannot block a ground-based attack. In fact, There is no air guarding in Street Fighter at all.

Throws: An attack the opponent can use that cannot be blocked with any sort of block, however the opponent must be very close to use this, and can be hit as he attempts to grab you.

Simply put:

• 1. If the opponent is on the ground, you need to be blocking low with a crouching guard, or 1.
  
• 2. If the opponent is in the air, you need to be blocking high with a standing guard, or 4. The only time this pattern breaks is when the opponent uses an overhead, which is a ground attack you need to block high. These come with their fair share of warning, though you will need good reaction time to block these.
  
• 3. Any ground based attack the opponent uses cannot be blocked with an aerial guard, and is a good form of anti-air.
  
• 4. You cannot block a throw.
  

[Rokunaya]

Wakeups


In all fighting games, there is a period of time of which a character who's knocked down will take time having to get back up. This is called "Waking up", and with it comes a mechanic that is used in almost every fighting game period, not simply 2D ones.

While waking up, a player is at a complete disadvantage. Since the character is wasting time getting up, your character will not be able to strike first at an opponent waiting for you to 'wakeup'. In short, When getting up from the ground, or "waking up", your attacks will never come out before the opponent's. This puts you at a major disadvantage, as this severely limits your options as to what you can do on a wakeup. However, there are specials most characters have in fighting games known as DPs, or "Dragon Punches", the name being inspired by the Street Fighter franchise; these DPs have either invincibility frames in the beginning or insanely high priority, and allow a player to be able to beat out any normal or special being used by an opponent.

Priority: When two moves collide, the priorities of the moves pretty much decide which move will win out. Unless one of them is a projectile, the priorities will always decide who gets the ultimate hit.

Meaties: A move that has relatively high priority and is fast; used by players waiting for the other player to wake up. Since the move has high priority and comes out fast, they will always beat out a attempt to attack from an enemy since they did not have the time to pull out their meaty that the person on offense did.

Dragon Punches: A move which has invinicibility frames or insanely high priority immediately at the start, and is insanely powerful to use while waking up because of this, as it will always beat out any normal or special the opponent will use. However, this can get predictable, and the Dragon Punch comes with a serious set-back, a long, punishable phase if it is blocked or misses. What this means is that if your opponent calls your Dragon Punch and simply blocks it, you will be punished. Dragon Punches are very powerful, but also very punishable--- Use your judgement on these, and realize that DPing on almost every other wakeup isn't exactly the smartest idea.

Your Options While Waking up:

• 1. Against any smart opponent who knows how to pressure[will be covered in the next passage], the smartest thing to do on your wakeup is probably to simply block.
  
• 2. Use a move that has either invincibility or very high priority immediately[Dragon Punch]: You will always lose on a wakeup if the opponent uses a meaty and you try to do otherwise.
  
• 3. If the opponent is one that throws often, you might want to counter with your own throw or hit him before he can throw you on a wakeup: I do not recommend throwing or mashing on your wakeup unless you're 100% definite of this, as a simple DP or invincible move can get this job done as well.
  
• 4. Jump out of there! Sometimes when the opponent tries a certain setup or attack, you can simply jump and get the hell out of the situation you're in. In most games, jumping will always escape a throw in most situations.
  
• 5. Use your judgement! The opponent, if a good one, will not always use the same options to pressure an opponent while they're waking up. This means that you will have to proceed by your own judgement: Should you throw back? Block? DP? The choice is up to you, and as any player will soon learn, any stupid calls will lead to taking unnecessary damage.

[Rokunaya]

Pressure:

[Rokunaya]

Reserved for Zoning

[Rokunaya]

Reserved for General Combo guidelines

[nishi]

oh this could be intresting, can't wait to see the combo guide, like blazblue has combo scaling, rule of 3 and using BB,s.

[Rokunaya]

Originally Posted by `nishi

oh this could be intresting, can't wait to see the combo guide, like blazblue has combo scaling, rule of 3 and using BB,s.

This is an general, basic guide, so I won't cover anything game-specific. I'm going to cover how they're general prorations and delays for some combos, but other than that I'm not going to delve into game-specific details.

[goozilla]

Bah, deleting argument due to mindless drivel and waste of space.