So, please explain some things to a Competative Noob.

Demetrius

New member
I have never played a Fighting game "Competatively", to the point where I play them but don't try to get myself better at them. MK9 will be the first fighting game with which I will try to play Competatively (Online, anyway, not tourneys), and I am unfamiliar with Character Archtypes/lingo.

I know there are rushdown characters (Johnny, and Kabal supposedly), and there are keep away characters (Sektor), and even defensive characters (Subby), but other than that, I know no archtypes or anything, and was wondering if anyone could bring me up to speed.

What does it mean to Tech in a fighting game, what is frame advantage, so on, and do these things mean anything in MK9?


Thanks :D
 
I may be wrong with MK9 at least, but I can somewhat go off Tekken. Tech Roll, is just timing it when you are knocked up and land, hit a button and able to get back up or roll back.

Frame advantage, just like one move is 3 frames and another is 5 frames, so guess get an advantage with the 3 frames. Sorry if not the best explanation, or if should be worded better, but I tried. :)
 
It's a little hard to just package a character into just one playstyle in this game. Johnny Cage is the only FULL ON rushdown character in the game. Most other characters seem to have a mix of strategies that other characters might share to a certain extent. Like Kabal has some rushdown qualities, but he is so much more than that.

Instead of thinking of playstyles think of the strategies that the player uses first. Let me give you my explanation on Kabal because I see you like him and it'll better explain what I mean. He has a little taste of a couple of strategies that make his character unique, yet similar to others.

===============================================================
Kabal

Well, Kabal's air fireball comes out in the same speed as Mileena's sai toss in the air so just like Mileena Kabal in good hands in this fighting engine could prevent and discourage the opponent jumping from far away. On reaction you could jump and snipe them out of the air immediately. So basically your forcing your opponent to approach you by dashing or walking forward because the ground fireball isn't nearly as spamable/fast/scary. The reason why this sucks for the opponent though is because that's what Kabal wants you to do, stay on the ground. At any given moment while you are advancing while on the ground Kabal could buzz saw you(which looks like a low) or dash spin you.

Besides this too he looks like he has some rushdown elements from what I've seen from his normals. He could use the air fireball to stall himself for a second in the air too, so this way you could bait the opponent into throwing out their antiair and then punish them when they miss it. This will make the opponent think twice about just throwing out antiairs when Kabal jumps at them and opens alot of opportunities for Kabal to start his pressure.

His dash spin move is a juggle starter that is punishable by launcher if blocked. Very similar to Mileena's roll attack. It shouldn't just be thrown out at random ever and should be used more to punish mistakes or use in combos. Overall his style of play is somewhat similar to what a pro Mileena player would play like but with better options from up close. Mileena is more about closing the distance between her and the enemy between the opponent and her quickly and safely, back dashing and punishing alot throughout. Whereas Kabal is about pressuring from up close but still has alot of Mileena's strategies for controlling the pace of the battle.

His antiair looks like its a command throw without too much range, so I he has to be careful from mid distance because if his opponent has a tricky way of jumping in and baiting an antiair, he might be in danger.

There's probably alot more too him regarding his normal moves to trick his opponent up close, but I can't tell just by the videos. At one point I saw one of the developers backdash after the opponent blocked his move, then he used his dash spin the opponent for missing because he backdashed. He must have a bunch of little strategies like this that other characters share.
===============================================================

There are rushdown elements in the game, there are grappling elements of the game, there are keep away elements, bait-and-punish elements, trickery elements, trap setup elements.... there's alot of different strategies that all characters have a little mix of to make them unique. It's rare to find a character that is just devoted to one strategy(like Johnny Cage), but those are the characters that have a really great rendition of that one strategy they use to the point that they need not much else.

As the days go on I see myself writing more and more of these long ass explanation posts.... -_- I'm f**cking fiending for this game right now....
 
Thanks for that, Circus :D

I am indeed really looking forward to kabal, I just like how a Cripple is one of the most badass looking characters in this game (my opinion, of course).

If I were to write one, Kabal would be high on an "inspirational characters" list because of that.
 
Check out shoryuken.com testyourmight.com iplaywinner.com and eventhubs.com

All websites should have the basic information that you are looking for(zoning, spacing, priority moves..ect.) Even though some site is for other games, all fighting games share a basic mechanics. Controlling your space, knowing your space, knowing your moves frames, active frames, recovery frames...priority of the move, ..ect

Knowing frame data on specific moves will allow you to know if its safe to execute on certain situations.

Just take a day and look through the list I provided and you should have the basic knowledge in competitive gaming.
 
To aid Tapion's explanation.

Frame advantage is like this. :

Frames measure a move.

So like the example. One person uses a three frame move another uses 5 frames. Well the 5 frames is longer thus it loses out to the 3 frame move. Thus 3 frame has advantage on said move, and if the opposition doesn't have a more viable answer to said move they may end up a bad match up. [X Vs. X who will have more advantages/who will have more disadvantages in said match.]
 
Btw, OP, I admire your passion to be competitive at this game. It takes MK(or fighting games in general) to another level and you will see what I mean. It makes the game a lot of fun and very intense. Feel free to message me(im not on TRMK that often, you may find me on SRK) if you need me to elaborate on anything that I posted above (what frame data/priority/zoning/rush down/option selects..ect).

I help all people that tries to help themselves.
 
Check out shoryuken.com testyourmight.com iplaywinner.com and eventhubs.com

All websites should have the basic information that you are looking for(zoning, spacing, priority moves..ect.) Even though some site is for other games, all fighting games share a basic mechanics. Controlling your space, knowing your space, knowing your moves frames, active frames, recovery frames...priority of the move, ..ect

Knowing frame data on specific moves will allow you to know if its safe to execute on certain situations.

Just take a day and look through the list I provided and you should have the basic knowledge in competitive gaming.

Exactly this. Well put.

Seriously take a look at those websites he suggested they will help you out alot. Even though all fighting games are different they all share some of the same attributes that if you learn beforehand you could easily pick up any fighting game with ease.
 
Wilco, providing my local gamestop doesn't happen to lose a copy of the game early at the same time I lose sixty bucks.

It would be a total mystery as to what happened......
 
Top