The stages of a SF player

There are different stages that a SF player passes through, from being a button smasher to actually being a button smasher with a purpose. Anyone can be a great fighter, just that there aren't any shortcuts; you have to put you 1000 hours (like everyone else to become a great fighter).


The noob

Newbie players start by just smashing buttons left and right hoping that something cool or exciting happens. If you watch one, is like watching giving birth at the discovery channel. It's ugly, there's a lot of screaming and nothing pretty comes out of it.

The noob w/fireballs
So what happens is that the noob, in his evolutionary process, goes and gets his butt kicked (usually, a lot of times), and then he goes ahead and starts practicing the "special" moves. You can see these players's characters like they are having an epileptic attack. Half of the time their character will not do nothing more than jittering on the screen. The other half the right move might come out, but it has such a lead "intention time" that is usually easily avoided

The goofy foot noob
So as the noob on his quest for fighting supremacy continues, he realizes that he's terribly unbalanced on the screen. You can see these guys by always preferring a side of the screen over another. They will try anything (everything) in their power to gain a foothold on their favorite side (usually the left). Their tricks include Ryu's strong aerial hurricane kick, or Abel's roll. They can be easily defeated just by keeping them on their "goofy" side.

The begining strategist
So after Mr. noob have at least managed to do the basic movements (with another heaping dose of butt kicking), and have decent management of both sides of the screen, he starts developing strategies. Invariably these include the cross-over attacks, wake-up movements, and some distance control (fireballs, etc). He starts to recognize patterns that usually work (for example aerial strong kick followed by strong sweep), and starts doing two to three movement combos.

The great divide
At this stage we will separate those that play for fun, and those that answer a calling. A beginning strategist is not a bad player anymore, he knows that there are certain things that work well together and knows how to stitch them together. The problem here is that by now people starts developing muscle memory, and once something "works" then they tend to repeat it over and over again.

Everybody goes through this stage. Even the best players went through a muscle memory phase (is just impossible not to go through one as you keep repeating moves and understanding combos). The divide comes from those that can "unlearn" and "relearn" combo moves. Those who can move beyond repeating combos like parrots are the ones that might make it to the bigger leagues.

The predictable intermediary
Essentially a fallout of the beginning strategist. The predictable intermediary just kept "adding on" the beginning combos he learned from the previous stage. While that's fine and dandy it still the same problem of muscle memory. These guys are just wired-up for a set of predictable responses. You can see this guy when he "always" uses a wake-up shoryuken doesn't matter what situation it is. Defeating these guys is very easy:

For those with Wake-Up-Shoryuken

- After knocking down, get close
- block (wait until they do their wake-up-shoryuken)
- throw (or strong standing kick)
- repeat

For those that just "Defend" when Waking up

- After knocking down, get close
- throw (or strong standing kick)
- repeat

These are fun to watch, as you can almost visualize their complete rage, and their inability of defending against a simple throw.

Just for the record, if someone is throwing you repeately when waking up, you have some strategies.
- Wake up shoryuken
- Grab (at worst it would be a cancelled grab for both sides)
- Small crouched punch/kick (these are usually fast enough as to stop grabbing)
- Jump straight up (land with strong kick, kind of risky but easier to execute)
- EX shoruyken, Hurricane Kick

There are probably more but these are the most common for Ryu (and might/can apply to others as well)

Intermediate Strategist
The intermediate strategist starts creating a "collection" of combo/moves that can be used depending on the opponent. He starts to understand that sometimes is not the "best" strategy to wake-up with a Shoryuken, sometimes is better to grab at wakeup, or to exit out completely of the situation.

He starts to see that there are certain patterns that works best for certain kind of opponents. For example
- For a highly aggressive opponent just use counters (wait until they leave themselves open)
- For a highly defensive opponent, poke poke and poke (and chip).

He also recognizes that there are certain characters which certain styles are best suited for:

- Other Ryu's: Counter works best, most people will leave themselves open to counters sooner or later
- Zangief: Stay away, don't grab (or grab judiciously), and zone a lot.
- Dan: His hurricane kick is unstoppable, watch out.
- Gouken: He is built for counters, so grabs are someone unexpected
- Abel: His roll move is an invitation for throwing
- Cammy: Even when her Wake-up kick leaves you away to do a counter, you can actually walk close to her and do a sweep

Intermediate-Advanced strategist
The intermediate advanced strategist starts to see more complexity in the games. Aside from having a specific strategy for each kind of player (and kind of character) he sees patterns in the other player. He's not married to a definite technique until latter down the game. His combos start growing larger (and more difficult), and he can recognize other players at the same level (There is a sort of handshake that happens at the beginning of each game). May be able to change strategies mid-stream of a match.

Myself, I might be around here somewhere


Advanced Strategist
He can quickly change strategies in mid-stream of a game, depending on the opponent. He also have the largest connect-to-energy ratio (where a single connect initiates a combo that takes 1/2 of his life), and understands the different psychological aspects of the game. A lot of opportune "cancels" and "feints" that lead to more confusion from the opponent.

(a digression)
Dome people do cancels and feints, but instead of confusing or having an advantage, it merely delayes the unavoidable contact. My favorite is those who starts a focus attack, and then cancel by dashing forward. My favorite counter for focus attacks is getting closer, and throwing, since I don't waste any EX moves, I am in control of where I am, and you don't have the penalty of the two-punch focus attack knockout. So if you saw me already trying to throw you on focus attacks, then if you cancel and move forward, you're essentially walking towards me undefended, and yes I will grab you and throw you :)

10,000 hours fighters
They say that if you just keep doing the same thing for 10,000 hours you'll become good at it. That's how these guys play. It's interesting to watch, but it's essentially taking an advanced strategist, and playing it at ten times the speed. All the basic knowledge is the same, at this time is just reaction and speed of execution. I don't aspire to be at this level (neither anyone who doesn't want to do this for a living, and even then I would have my reservations).

But is as hell fun to watch.


Ok, so I will take you (if anything) from the great divide to intermediate (and if I keep getting better) advanced.