Can someone please explain SF4 from a competitive standpoint to me?
Hello, I'm really interesting in learning about SF4 from a competitive level. However, I really don't know much about it other than the little I've learned while playing way back when. Specifically, I'm interesting in how the moves that players can perform interacts with blocks and counters. I don't have much fighting game experience so I'm open to any information you can give me as well as articles, or videos about the subject. I'm trying to find as many videos from tournaments as possible to learn about the game.
Posted Dec 12, 2012, 7:35 AM UTC · edited
32
You should join us over at r/SF4 , it is a much more active subreddit.. There are also tutorials in the side bar. This is the most beginner guide on youtube it should give you a good starting point.
The video series is a bit long so I'll try and give you the gist of it.
There are three types of moves in all Street Fighter games
Normals- These are the regular actions performed by pushing one of the buttons (occasionally they can be modified by holding a direction, but that is character dependent). They come in the punch and kick variety and each of those come at three levels of strength, light, medium, hard. Normals cause no damage to the opponent when blocked.
Special moves- Special attacks, most famously the Hadouken, are performed by inputting a certain joystick movement followed by a button. These do cause damage on block. There is also a subset of specials called Supers and Ultras(Unique to SF4). These are high damage attacks that can be gained throughout the round. Supers are gained by hitting the opponent which fills a super bar and Ultras are gained when you get hit. The super bar, which is broken into four segments, can be used to power up your special moves turning them into EX special moves. This comes at the cost of one segment of bar.
Throws- Throws are moves that cannot be blocked. This is their major advantage. You cannot combo into a throw or after a throw.
Onto the game.
Characters- have different amounts of Health Points depending on their style of play, though it appears their health bars are the same. So a slow character that finds it hard to catch an opponent would have more health than a very quick character. Also, that slower character would do more damage with their attacks. The whole game is a balancing act between the speed of a character, their health points, and the power of their attacks.
Blocking- Blocking comes in two varieties High and Low. Most moves can be blocked either high or low, some can only be blocked only low, and a few moves, including all moves that are performed by your opponent when they are in the air, can only be blocked high. You cannot block while in the air.
Gameplay- the mechanism of play is simple but deep. Essentially, the game registers each characters sprites as a series of boxes. The object of the game, in simplest terms, is to try to get yourself in the position to hit the other person's boxes without them being able to hit you. This is were the skill of the game comes in. Mixes high and lows, bobbing in and out of each others attack range, keeping opponents away from you or closing the gap to hit them. There is also the psychological game of trying to guess what your opponent will do and trying to get your opponent to do moves that are unsafe when blocked so that you can punish them.
There are other basics I haven't covered here, but this should get you started. Beyond the basics there are many different advanced techniques that you can learn, but aren't necessary for playing the game. The Street Fighter rabbit hole goes as deep as you would like it.
So like said at the beginning, come over to r/sf4, check out the sidebar, and post. The community is very helpful.