Why don't fighting games 'click' for me?

[Nidoking's iconNidoking]

Like, there are definitely fighting games I really like and a small handful I'm pretty competent in, but... I never grasped them. I'm absolutely terrible at them and even when I really, really dedicate to learning them it just never clicks. I can't remember the combos, I can't read my opponent's moves and patterns, I never really know what the best answer in a situation is, etc. In general "PvP" has never been my strong-suit in any game, but that would only apply to playing against players... not CPU. Fighting games, though? Even the CPU will usually crush me once it's above "Easy."

I just don't get it. @_@ Maybe they're just not for me, but I'd love to break this barrier if I could.

 

[CargoRoms]

You're either dedicating hundreds or thousands of hours getting good at them or you don't.

The way I see them, is like learning a new language, with alphabet, grammar, conjugation, etc.
But it is devs/companies fault for not introducing a proper single player mode, that isn't vs CPU basically.

 

[MiwaSata]

Fighting games are an interesting genre. Easy to hop in to for a couple of matches, but really hard to master. From my own experience it´s one of the greatest feelings to find THE character that fits you. Maybe they look cool, maybe their playstyle fits you, or... maybe the character just feels right from the start. After you feel a character, then the learning part is easier to get into!

But the learning part... oh man I usually try to learn some of the most used/useful moves on a character first. What are the fastest moves to interrupt attack? What moves are good for counter hits that stagger the opponent? Which moves are safe on block? What moves are launchers?

So yeah, there´s many steps to learning a character, or mechanics of the game as a whole. It takes time and dedication, but at the same time you should not get too pressured by it or be so tough on yourself. If you have a mental block on learning, then you can be 100% certain that learning is not going to happen.

I think if you know even a handful of moves, it´s a good start, and if you can get even a couple of hits in a combo, it´s better than 0! You just can´t always land the "optimal combo", sometimes you whiff, sometimes you drop the combo, and that´s fine. It´s better to have consistent source of smaller damage, than always going for the most damaging option, but that is harder to hit.

I have no idea if these are helpful or just cause more stress

I ain´t a expert myself, but I do enjoy fighting games a lot. Of course everyone gets frustrated at some point, but the more forgiving you are to yourself and if you take losses as learning opportunities, you´re good to go! If you have friends to play with, I recommend that as well!

 

[goregoregoregoregoregore]

The thing most people don't understand is that fighting games are like ArenaFPS: You don't play them to win, you have to see other reasons to keep grinding than winning or being good. I love the sentiment of improving in any aspect while playing hardcore video-games, so it always inspire me to keep playing and learning and losing

 

[DeadVoivod]

Don't like them either, never did. Perhaps Way of the Exploding Fist, Karateka or IK+ (well who didn't love that?)

I like side scrolling beat'em-all though, like Double Dragon, which swallowed a lot of my coins back in the day. Open BOR is really nice.

 

[Lithlad]

The thing most people don't understand is that fighting games are like ArenaFPS: You don't play them to win, you have to see other reasons to keep grinding than winning or being good. I love the sentiment of improving in any aspect while playing hardcore video-games, so it always inspire me to keep playing and learning and losing

Also I'll add that a lot of people stick with them because of the social aspect of going to locals and/or playing with IRL people. It's hard to keep motivation to keep eternally getting your ass beat (even as you get better) if all that get you is getting your ass beat by some slightly stronger people you'll never interact with.

Play third strike tho, it's a good game.

 

[goregoregoregoregoregore]

It's hard to keep motivation to keep eternally getting your ass beat (even as you get better) if all that get you is getting your ass beat by some slightly stronger people you'll never interact with.

No way, are you kidding? That's exactly what motivates me lmao.
But yeah, most people lose motivation because of that. Finding a fighting buddy to play with is always better, more gratifying and you will also improve more. Discord can have a nice role on it, well, unless it's part of the nature of that community's discord to just find games and never interact like Melty Blood is

 

[DeadVoivod]

I just think those games are boring, I don't see any motivation to play the same thing over and over again. If only more of them had a story mode, I played one of the Injustice games story, probably Injustice 2, that kept me busy for a bit, although I used cheats, otherwise not possible.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

I'm just a casual player and I admit that I'm also not that good at it but there's just too many things to love about fighting games! Even just good single player content is enough to get me hooked.

 

[TheWanderer]

Sadly there is no one good in my area to test my fighting game skills so I consider my self bad at them but what make them great is the satisfaction of hitting combos ,out smart your opponents and all that ,to make them click however would be :
1-Chosing a main :
Well this one is easy you just have to chose a character that you like or their playstyle suite you ,grabber ? Zoner ? Whatever it is chose that character and stick with them
2-Learn some combos :
In this one try to do combos in training mode ,just keep on doing them until you're comfortable with them and then when you're in a real game you will find it hard to use them but keep trying ,you will do it eventually maybe even realize some other stuff on the process
3-Just keep playing
While you play you will learn from mistakes your combos become muscle memories and you find your self integrated in the game

 

[jon2]

You're either dedicating hundreds or thousands of hours getting good at them or you don't.

The way I see them, is like learning a new language, with alphabet, grammar, conjugation, etc.
But it is devs/companies fault for not introducing a proper single player mode, that isn't vs CPU basically.

This

I'm not fond of fighting games as well, and only like Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on the SNES

And I'm very good at it, for I spent lots of time over the years playing it (started in '96)

As the famous quote from the sports manga/anime series HAIKYUU! stated: "Only the strong (competent) can have fun (in the competition)", only by reaching a certain level of competency can one start to enjoy an activity (not just games)

If you haven't reached that level yet, then every session tends to feel like a rat race and you're just running yourself ragged just to keep up

 

[PrismRed]

Uhhh.... I play fighting games for different reason, somehow I became good along the way. I never care about winning or losing, in fact I refuse to play against anyone who is only in it to win/lose.
Enjoy your game, or I won't take you seriously.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Didnt click for me neither. As a kid I didn't like them because they relied on diagonals so much on the direction cross. Which is a stupid design, no matter how much praise people sing about the NES or SNES controllers, inputting diagonals always sucked on those gamepads. I still beat SF2Turbo back then with Guile spamming sonic booms anyway IIRC.

As of today, I think it's still the same problem. I don't like diagonal inputs on the DS4 controller. I can manage them for top down shooters switching to the thumbstick. I can 1CC my Super Contra and my R-Type. But I still find them clunky and can't be bothered to get one of those overpriced arcade sticks. Nowadays seems people are crazy enough to preorder some for 500$, gives me a strong vibe of competitiveness and gatekeeping in the end.

VR fighting games are awesome tho. All the boxing games are ridiculously fun.

 

[PrismRed]

This

I'm not fond of fighting games as well, and only like Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on the SNES

And I'm very good at it, for I spent lots of time over the years playing it (started in '96)

As the famous quote from the sports manga/anime series HAIKYUU! stated: "Only the strong (competent) can have fun (in the competition)", only by reaching a certain level of competency can one start to enjoy an activity (not just games)

If you haven't reached that level yet, then every session tends to feel like a rat race and you're just running yourself ragged just to keep up

I say you should make an excuse to enjoy the process, I mean that's how it works for me.

It's extremely stupid in my case, I mentioned earlier I play fighting games for different reason.
I become better on Primal Rage arcade because I like the idea of dinosaurs beating each other to death, and really that's it, I'd be content losing if you manage to pull sick fatality to finish me off. I also got better playing Juri on Street Fighter 'cause to be honest, I'm a huge simp for her VA and just there to listen to her voice, eventually got a better reaction time using the voice as an audio cue, in fact I can pull off some combo blindfolded as long as the game isn't on mute.

So yeah anyway, playing any kind of competitive games simply just to become good at it is not the right mindset to approach the problem in my opinion, let it come to you naturally, sure maybe it will take forever, but if you have fun doing it then it's not a time wasted.

 

[trickybus]

I think that's a pretty normal experience to have in regards to fighting games. Unless you're willing to spend hundreds or thousands of hours memorizing inputs, practicing combos, studying your matches and learning the meta, it's not a genre you're going to enjoy.

Prism_Red's attitude is awesome and I wish more players had it. Unfortunately, that's not the norm. People play to win because losing constantly feels bad. A lot of players put their ego on the line. It makes for a unpleasant environment.

For me personally, it boils down to two things: the characters I like are almost always trash and the most popular fighting games have the most boring rosters imo. I'd rather play something like Under Night In-Birth or BlazBlue because they have interesting, non-human characters as part of their vanilla roster.

 

[Gorse]

You know, if you're not interested in the standard array of fighting games, you might try licensed tie-ins from other franchises. Games like Digimon Battle Spirit and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax made me like the genre a lot more, and served as a gateway into more complex, "series" fighting games. There are loads and loads of fighting game tie-ins for all sorts of Japanese media, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one from a series you know and check it out.

 

[ShanaFlameHaze]

If you don't like them, it's not really worth it to force yourself. The whole point of a video game is to be fun.

I personally like fighting games, even though I am not very good at them. I love duels/PVPs.
I usually learn the basics and don't bother with advanced stuff like guard cancelling and the sort.

I like to just spend time in practice mode and try all sorts of combos and just messing around. They are very easy to pick up if you have a few minutes to spare since there is no real upfront investment time needed.

I recently started playing Advanced V.G. for the PS1, it's very barebones in terms of mechanics but that's why I like it. There is also a lot of character interaction in the form of conversations before and after the matches, I love it. If you want something with simple mechanics, I would recommend it.

 

[Yousef]

Because you’re not a mouse.

 

[Antihero]

Maybe you stopped clicking/pressing buttons.

 

[ShanaFlameHaze]

Uhhh.... I play fighting games for different reason, somehow I became good along the way. I never care about winning or losing, in fact I refuse to play against anyone who is only in it to win/lose.
Enjoy your game, or I won't take you seriously.

Great mentality. I usually intentionally set the CPU to the hardest difficulty. It's not about winning, it's about improving and having fun!

 

[LaserMoose]

The genre is inherently a 2-player endeavor; don't feel discouraged if the CPU beats you. They don't react like humans do. There are many instances of CPUs reading inputs in an unfair manner in which a normal player would never be able to react to normally.

It may feel intimidating to play against someone else online, but most modern games/releases as well as fightcade have ranking systems that will prevent you from playing against someone with much more experience. I personally dislike using discord to find matches, but you can also ask in game-specific discords and ask to play beginner friendly matches with someone at your skill level if that sounds more preferable.

Beginner players especially have a habit of jumping to attack; noticing that and learning to anti-air those jump-in attacks is a major first step to improvement.

Finding a character that resonates with you is paramount. My reason for wanting to play fighting games was from watching a great 3rd Strike player, RX. His level of play as Urien motivated me to try improving at 3rd Strike, beyond button mashing. I wanted to learn how to use Urien's mirror in a combo because I thought it looked cool.

I should also add that you usually don't need to know every move a character has when you are learning a character. It's better to understand the character's most notable good moves, which you can find from character guides or other fighting game resources.

 

[lil_thang]

i think moreso than any other genre, it is explictly a 1 on 1 skill based genre.
on a philosophical note this feels very intimate to me. it is intimately a social genre.
sure, one can play only vs AI, but even with artificial difficulties this becomes boring fast.

it is a mutual display and challenging of masteries. moreso than any other genre, you are completely on your own with your failures and your failure is entirely on you. the other person won because you failed in some regard.

personally i find this very intimidating, but i can understand and see the appeal. given its intimacy, the highs are high and the lows low. beating someone 1 on 1 is the dragon to chase.