Fighting Game Guide

Winning The Neutral

Every round starts in neutral and it's where most of the fighting takes place. The neutral game is when both characters are standing and neither character has a clear advantage in position. Your goal is to win the neutral game for many reasons.

Winning the neutral game puts you at a life lead. If the clock runs out you will win by timeout. If you deplete all of your opponent's health you kill them and win the round.

Winning the neutral game puts you into combo range. Combos are more damaging than single hit attacks and greatly help you take the life lead and/or kill your opponent.

Winning the neutral game puts you into a favorable position on stage. Like forcing your opponent into the corner which limits their movement.

Winning the neutral game lets you get in close and start mixups or rushdown. Rushdown is when you force your opponent to block a string of fast attacks then throw them when they expect to block.

Winning the neutral game puts you in position to knockdown your opponent. In neutral none of your attacks are guaranteed because your opponent can interrupt you. But you can knockdown your opponent and start your attack as they're recovering to force them to block it.

Your character may have dozens (or even hundreds!) of attacks available to them at all times and figuring out which attacks to use can be overwhelming. The attacks you use depend on where you are on the screen and your distance from your opponent.

Which Attacks to Use

Footsies is all about ranges and I try to categorize all my attacks into different ranges. I have close-range attacks, mid-range attacks, and long-range attacks. The closer I am to my opponent, the more attacks become available to me. At long-range I only have long-range attacks available to me. In mid-range I have mid-range attacks and long-range attacks available. And in close-range I have close-range attacks, mid-range attacks, and long-range attacks. Use what's available to you at the moment. It doesn't make sense to use a slow long-range attack in close-range when I could use a fast close-range attack instead.

When do I use an attack of a different range? My opponent is constantly changing the distance between us. I'm in mid-range and my opponent starts walking backwards. By the time my mid-range attack comes out, my opponent will be at long-range and my attack won't reach. I would use a long-range attack in mid-range when I anticipate my opponent creating distance between us. In the opposite direction, I would use a mid-range attack at long-range if I anticipate my opponent walking forward and closing the distance between us.

There are three main types of attacks in fighting games: normal attacks, special attacks, and super attacks. Normal attacks are the most basic attacks that can be performed with the press of a single button. Special attacks are more complicated and usually require a complex motion to perform. Special attacks inflict a little bit of damage on block called chip damage. EX special attacks are enhanced special attacks and cost a little super meter. Super attacks are the most damaging attacks and require the player to spend a lot of super meter to perform.

Most normal attacks are performed with the press of a single button. Command normal attacks are performed with a button and a direction. Proximity normal attacks are normal attacks that only come out at a certain distance. Characters may have proximity normal attacks that only come out when they are close to or far from their opponent.

Special attacks can be performed by releasing an attack button instead of pressing it. This is called Negative Edge and helps beginners perform complex motions.

Walking

Now that we know the attacks to use in the neutral game let's add walking to the mix.

Angela needs to walk forward to enter her optimal range.

Anny sees Angela walking towards her and hits her to keep her away from her. This is called poking.

Angela stops just out of range of the poke to make it whiff. She then hits the extended limb. This is called whiff punishing.

The back and forth walking game where players dance in and out of ranges is called footsies.

There are two footsies triangles:
There's the walking-poking-whiff punishing footsies triangle.
I walk forward to get into my preferred range. You poke me as I'm walking forward. I make your poke whiff and whiff punish it. If I'm too passive waiting for a whiff punish, you can walk forward into your preferred range.

And there's the proactive-preemptive-reactive footsies triangle.
Walking forward and starting a mixup or rushdown is proactive footsies.

Placing a poke in neutral to occupy space because you predict your opponent will walk into it is preemptive footsies.

Waiting then recognizing your opponent's actions and answering with a punish is reactive footsies.

The fun part of fighting games is everyone chooses their own way of playing footsies. A patient and defensive player that likes to turtle can concentrate on reactive footsies. Characters with fireballs play a lot of preemptive footsies. Short-ranged characters need to get in close with proactive footsies.

Here's the secret to poking in footsies: If your opponent is walking forward and you want to hit them with a poke, you ALSO have to be walking forward the same time they're walking forward. Your opponent is smart and they know when to stop walking forward to avoid your poke. You have to surprise them by walking forward and shrinking the distance between the two of you to make your poke hit.