STREET FIGHTER IV 101

BlowMonkey

Shared on Thu, 07/30/2009 - 09:14

IT'S ALL NEW TO ME
Ok take some of this with a grain of salt....or actually take it with a great big bag of ice melting salt because fact is I've only been playing this game for a week. I'm sure we can get lots of people to respond with corrections to my misgivings. Anywho, I just want to a post a "New to Street Fighter IV" blog post. Hopefully this will grow and we can continue to add posts and eventually have a nice little guide for new people playing SFIV. Here is some background just so you know exactly where I'm coming from. I've never played a fighting game (well I've played a couple but I just mashed buttons and got bored of my kids using the same move over and over to kill me lol). I've never taken the time to really dig into one - I come from primarily an FPS background. In the last week or two I picked up Super Street Fighter II Turbo Remix HD, Guilty Gears X2 Reload, and Street Fighter IV. This post will point you to some resources on the net, some videos, some tips and general getting started stuff that I have scoured the interwebs to find and the people in 2old2Fight have pointed me to. This guide is aimed at helping people new to figthing games and Street Fighter IV in particular.

INSTALL THAT SHIT
First. Install SF IV to your Hard Drive. It will run much more quickly - especially when you are online and the match first loads up. On the PS3 the install is about 2.X gigs I believe (takes a couple of minutes to install) and I noticed a big difference right away. You install (on the PS3 at least) from in game, in the options, system settings, install.

PLAY THE GAME YO!
Ok now on to something more fun. Play the game. Fire up ARCADE or VERSUS on Easy. Arcade you will have to play a character, beat a character and continue to beat characters in an order the game determines. Versus allows you to play as any character (except unlockables until you unlock them) against any character (except unlockables until you unlock them). Beating the game in arcade mode using different characters will unlock new characters etc. But we won't worry about that yet - lets just see what characters are available to us and what kind of shit they do. So pick one and play against some others. You are probably going to get worked - but that doesn't matter. Lets just see all the charactes so that you can pick one or two to use. OK go - now! kick ass. Just one little hint - try using the dpad for your movement. The reason is the dpad will be quicker or more accurate when entering in movement commands. It really doesn't take too long to get use to using it - it will be worth it in the long run if you don't have a fight stick!

BUTTON MASHING MONKEY!
Hey you've been gone for 3 hours!? WTF! Saw some pretty cool shit didn't you? Addicted already? wait until you know what you are doing - then it gets ridiculous! So did you find a character or two that you liked? You probably figured out that; square is light punch (lp or jab), triangle is medium punch (mp or strong), r1 is hard punch (hp or fierce), l1 is lp+mp+hp (or punch 3x - it is all 3 punch buttons at once). You probably also noticed that x is light kick (lk or short), square is medium kick (mk or forward), and r2 is hard kick (hk or roundhouse) and l2 is lk+mk+hk (or kick 3x - it is all 3 kick buttons at once). You probably found the dpad a little weird to use and really wanted to use the analog sticks - stick with the dpad is will pay off down the road. Just as a note - you can change your button configuration in the menus if you want. I mapped my r1 to my (3x kick) and l2 to my hk. So now my left hand has triple punch on top and hard punch below and my right hand triggers are triple kick on top and hard kick below...it just makes more sense in my tiny head :)

CHARACTER SELECTION
Ok so you found a character or 2 that you dig. Awesome! You'll hear people talk about tiers (oh that character is top tier or that character isn't top tier) basically characters are ranked on how they perform in tournaments and what record they have against other characters. It is interesting but I wouldn't let it influence your decision. I've seen lots of footage of really good players going far (even winning!) high end tournaments with mid/low tier characters. If everyone played the top 3 or 4 characters only the game would get boring and you know what when you play against other people with a character a little lower on the tier ranking you can shock them a bit - they aren't use to playing a lot of games against some of the more obscure characters. Pick what you like and make it work for you! Some characters are weak but sneaky and have flashy tricks (like my boy Sim), some are tanks that just like to destroy stuff (Zangief, Balrog, Rufus), some are just so well rounded (Ryu, Ken, Sagat). Just a warning about Sagat - in some tournaments this dude is banned (rightly or wrongly) so if you think your goal is to play in tourneys you might not want to make Sagat your main character. If you are playing me - well I don't give a fuck use whatever you want :)

CHALLENGES
So take your character and go into the Challenges section now. I would start with the Normal Trial Challenge. By default it shows you the name of the move you are going to learn - pressing select will show you the exact inputs you need to use to perform the move. Once you finish one set of moves - do it again - do it a couple of times until you know those couple of moves. Now go back into Versus or Arcade and lay the beating on a couple of opponents. Don't worry about winning yet - worry about using your moves. If you go for a fireball and it doesn't work, do it again, do it again, pause and go to the moves list and make sure you are doing it right, then resume and do it again until you get it! Don't resort to button mashing and guessing - learn those moves man. Everytime I fire up SFIV I go to my trial challenges and whip through them (the ones I can do) and make sure I know my moves.

YOU GOT IT!
Now you're balls deep - it's all over. Say goodbye to wife (or husband...or goat) and kids - the hooks have been set. Check some of this shit out.....you are on the road to being a SF master! These are your foundations - we still have more moves to learn, combos, canceling moves, frame advantage, setups, matchups, etc. etc. to learn. But with the basics we are unstoppable. Here are some links to feed your new addiction. This game can be as shallow or as deep as you want it to be.

SOME LINKS!
http://www.eventhubs.com - awesome site. This will give you some great instruction on SFIV and your character. Some tips as to what they do well and what they should avoid etc. Really good. Go look your character up!

http://www.shoryuken.com - very rich site - full of great content. Here is where the SF community hangs out. You'll find videos, threads dedicated to your character - a lifetime worth of learning to be had here.

http://www.gootecks.com - gooteck runs an great blog and even better podcast. If you like podcasts this is the best one for SF that I have found.

http://www.iplaywinner.com - fighting game news, training, tips etc.

http://www.igotnextmovie.com - a free documentary on the fighting game scene - I don't know man - this gets my hyped. Really well done (college students final project for film school).

Go to youtube and just search out SF IV videos (watch your character - watch how pros play that character). Search for players like Justin Wong, Gootecks, Sabin, Iloveyou, Daigo, Iyo, Kinedvu, Mike Ross etc. etc. some really cool people in the SF scene doing some mad shit.

Next blog we'll get even deeper into it!

Comments

Vix_Sundown's picture
Submitted by Vix_Sundown on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 22:53
I bet that game is awesome. I may have to get it. Thanks for the write up!
airtroll7's picture
Submitted by airtroll7 on Thu, 07/30/2009 - 10:28
Good stuff Tukker. I didn't know you could map triple punches. I bought into SF4, basically for the looks and the great reviews of this solid fighter. I had the game, traded back, then picked it up again on the gamestop deal - yes, I am stupid like that. The less the wife knows about my gaming monopoly the better. I've always been a MK kind of guy so the two were always night and day to me. "Finish Him!" Seeing someone pull off a spine ripping move with Subzero was just more appealing then a knock out punch in slow motion in SF. Ultra finishes (or whatever the fuck they're called) are a good trade off for me to enjoy this game. I'm still a definte button masher often saying..."how the fuck did I do that move?" I'm so green at this game, its just pathetic.

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