For Many Players, The Reason Why They Lose Isn’t Because Of The Character

Ryan Collins
Aug 31, 2018 · 5 min read

The blame game.

It’s not Ryu’s fault you refuse to Dragon Punch those jumpy players. Source.

“Man, my character sucks! I’ll never get out of *insert a lower ranked section here*!”

I see this quite a bit. Dozens of players routinely whining about their character’s weaknesses and begging the developers of whatever game they partake in to “fix” their problem by sliding some buffs towards their main choice. This is something I’ve already covered, in length, about Sagat.

But if I venture through the CFN portal and thumb through their replays, I also see some peculiar problems: the wrong Tiger Uppercuts for anti-airs, a mindless flow of Tiger Shots, and rounds that end without V-Trigger bar being spent. Many of the people who prattle on about Sagat needing a complete renovation to his toolset are the same ones who aren’t using what he already has effectively.

Don’t be that person who still thinks Eddy Gordo is cheap. Source.

It’s not just those who gripe about Sagat, either. I’ve watched as players across the character spectrum believe their choice is holding them back from cresting past the hill of Silver.

At a certain level of skill, who you pick on the character select screen will matter. Individual matchups begin to have an impact, and you’ll have to understand your weaknesses and capitalize on theirs to win. To be frank, sticking with a weaker character means you’ll have to work harder to be consistent in some of your matchups. For many players who are still grinding their way in the ranked arena of fighting games, this doesn’t pertain to you yet.

Your character isn’t the reason you are losing. You are.

Your lack of basic fundamentals, your patterned gameplan, and absent-minded usage of unsafe buttons are the primary source of your losses. Whether you select Alex or Guile, whatever the character lacks is secondary to what you can improve on as a player.

Ken has a full bar of meter. He’s knocked down. Do you A. walk up and let him hit you with the above, or B. stand out of range? Source.

You see more experienced players — higher on the rungs of ranked and tournament results — air their grievances on Twitter and ride with that opinion instead of formulating your own. It’s more convenient, after all, to have someone else pull reasons as to why your losses are piling up. So you join in the conversation with a hearty “buff my character!”, unaware, or maybe uncaring, of the overall consequence to the game’s meta.

It wouldn’t matter if they made a button more plus because a few changes aren’t going to stop you from eating a wild Ken player’s Dragon Punches on their wakeup. You can either keep getting hit by the same stuff and call it cheap and unfair, or you can adapt and win.

Instead of always dashing forward and getting hit, try blocking more. Source.

It’s not an easy mindset to leave. I’ve caught myself falling into it when I used to play Zeku. I’d complain about how much more I’d have to do to win compared to Cammy players, and how some matchups were nearly impossible.

“You can either keep getting hit by the same stuff and call it cheap and unfair, or you can adapt and win.”

But then I became cognitive of my faults as a player — my confirms were awful, and because of that, I’d regularly leave damage on the table. Once I worked on the more lackluster aspects of my play style, I began seeing some gains. I began winning more.

This mentality has helped me with Sagat. I’m not spending my time whining about him. I’m ironing out my faults.

One of the keys to being a better, smarter player is eliminating excuses. If you feel like you are hitting a wall in the early stages of playing a fighting game, don’t drop your character out of frustration. Improve yourself first.

“Your character isn’t the reason you are losing. You are.”

If you find yourself getting jumped on, take some time to practice countermeasures in training mode. If you find yourself dropping certain combos — you guessed it — sit in the lab until you can perform without issue.

Look at the defensive measures that the game offers. Maybe spend more time blocking instead of always being aggressive. In the case of Street Fighter V, V-Reversals can save you from pressure (and sometimes get you out of sticky situations), and in Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite, you can relieve the constant rushdown by pushblocking. Use the game’s mechanics to your advantage.

They aren’t perfect, and you’ll have to use them more sparingly as you face stronger opponents, but V-Reversals can save you from pressure. Source.

Most players feel like they’ve approached an unscalable wall, and that’s where the assistance of others comes into play. Venture into a character’s dedicated Discord or forum for advice and critique. The answers you get might not always be correct depending on the populous, but there’s usually at least one player good enough to drop some decent advice. You can also watch other players’ matches who play the same character as you.

If you need a refresher on the fundamentals of fighting games, resources like Gief’s Gym are invaluable.

This book will help you get good fast. Source.

Before quitting a character as a low-level player, analyze yourself and what you lack first. Picking a top tier, waiting for buffs, or throwing a fit on Twitter are insignificant forms of getting better as a fighting game player compared to spending time practicing, seeking out help, and being honest with your inadequacies.

Ryan Collins

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Drink up. https://twitter.com/_saintcola

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