Fighting Game Guide

A fighting game in the simplest form is a game about moving boxes while doing basic addition and subtraction. If you can do that you can play any game.

The hardest part of fighting games is the poker aspect. Because there is no hidden information and players can see themselves and their opponent at all times, you find youself reconsidering the sincerity of your opponent's actions. In a real life fight you can pretend to punch then kick instead. You can do similar things in fighting games with feints and baits. I like to pretend to shoot a fireball then uppercut instead.

There are five ways to hit your opponent in fighting games.

Let's go over the first one. Your attacks don't hit because your opponent is correctly blocking your attacks. You need to open up their guard with something called a mixup. If they're blocking high, you attack low and if they're blocking low, you attack high. And if you're close enough you can throw both kinds of blocking. We call this 'mixing up your opponent' or 'opening up your opponent'.

The second way is during movement. This includes hitting your opponent while they are walking, running, dashing, and jumping.

The third, fourth, and fifth ways happen while your opponent is attacking. The third way is hitting your opponent before their attack is active. This is called a counter hit.

The best part of counter hits is they interrupt your opponent and prevent their attack from happening. Counter hits are some of the most powerful attacks but they are some of the most difficult attacks to hit. You usually have to stand close to your opponent to counter hit them. And because counter hits happen before the attack happens, it's a prediction and not a reaction. You often need to be in an favorable situation to counter hit your opponent such as cornering them or after knocking them down.

The fourth way of hitting your opponent happens when two attacks hit at the same time. What happens when a weak attack hits a strong attack? The strong attack beats or out prioritizes the weak attack.

If the attacks are the same strength, they may both hit and both characters take damage. This is called a trade. There aren't obvious winners and losers in a trade. And doing anything when your opponent's attack is out is a risk. Trades are probably the least common way of hitting your opponent.

The fifth way of hitting your opponent is after their attack. This is called a whiff punish. Whiff punishing is the preferred way for most players because you can react to it.

Whiff punishes don't have to be hits from the body because you can whiff punish your opponent's limbs. Whiff punishing can be performed from the most ranges.

Defense

There are two types of defense in fighting games and learning both is necessary. Every player and character is different. Every character is capable of forcing their opponent to defend against both. Dhalsim is the classic keeapway character that defends by keeping his opponent as far from him as possible. T. Hawk is the opposite as he's a mixup character and wants to get in close to force his opponent to guess.

There's positional defense where you position your character at their favorable range and out of your opponent's favorable range. This includes knowing when to walk backwards to create distance, reacting to your opponent's actions, and attacking defensively to keep your opponent away from you. Think of it like chess.

There's rock-paper-scissors style defense when your opponent makes you guess with a mixup. Will they attack high? Will they attack low? Will they throw? It's a three way guess.

You will be learning both types of defense from this guide.

The Goal of Fighting Games

Let's breakdown what fighting games are all about. What is the scariest thing in fighting games that you can do at any time? From the moment the round starts what are you trying to do better than your opponent that your opponent is also trying to do better than you?

Do you know what it is? It's this.

It's walking forward. Every fighting game is a contest about who can walk forward better. Start thinking of them less as fighting games and start thinking of them more as walking simulators with punches and kicks.

Everything in neutral revolves around walking. You walk forward to get in the range of your best attacks. You walk forward into close range to rushdown your opponent. Cornering your opponent is considered favorable because they they can only walk in one direction.

You shoot projectiles to prevent your opponent from walking forward.

Players bait their opponent to walk forward so they're in range to hit them.