With 2008 coming to a close, what blog would be complete without a post talking about 2009? Therefore, I’ve created this list half-jokingly to hopefully spark a little interest in really stepping up your game in 2009. Getting good at Street Fighter 4 in 2009 should benefit you for years because as we all know, Capcom is bound to at least make SF4: Champion Edition and SF4: Hyper Fighting and you know you’re going to be playing all of them!
So here we go:
1. Quit whiffing throws
This is probably the number one thing most players can do to improve in Street Fighter 4. Even though whiffing throws doesn’t usually lead to death as it does in 3rd Strike, characters like Balrog can still do a huge chunk of damage for whiffing throws if you’re not careful. Instead, learn to Option Select Throw, which means to input LK + LP while blocking. If they throw, you’ll tech, if they don’t throw, you get a jab. Either way, you’re not going to get whiff, so you’ll save yourself a lot of life over the course of 2009.
2. Learn an alternate character
Simply put, learning an alternate character will not only help you understand the matchup between your main and your alternate better, it will give you a semi-secret weapon to use in a tournament to catch someone by surprise and steal a win or two. Or you can use your alternate character to counter-pick someone else, such as using Vega against Sagat or Dhalsim against Balrog.
3. Do your part to strengthen your local community
What good is being the best at Street Fighter 4 if you’re sitting at home by yourself in training mode? Get out there and help run tournaments, make friends with more people, become better friends with the guys you already play with. By strengthening the community, more people will be playing more frequently which will make everyone level up.
4. Start double-tapping
This might be a new one for most people. For those not familiar, double-tapping is where you hit buttons twice very quickly instead of once. This doubles your chances of the game accepting the input, as well as makes timing links and chains easier. The most common way of doing this is to do a scraping motion with your index and middle finger, then scrape so that your middle finger is a split second ahead of your index finger.
5. Start taking notes
I’m pretty positive that doing this has been one of the best improvements I’ve made to my game in a long time. I feel like I was able to learn the game a lot easier because I wrote down moves I had trouble with, outcomes of situations I hadn’t seen before and what worked/didn’t work against difficult opponents. I started off using a small $.99 pocket-sized notepad, but now I use my iPod Touch because it’s easier to find stuff. Whatever works for you, just try it out!
6. Break bad habits
This ties into the whole “not whiffing throws” thing. You should recognize your bad habits by analyzing why you are losing. Are you doing wakeup uppercuts too much? Whiffing throws? Jumping in and getting anti-aired? Make it a point to go a whole round without doing one of your bad habits and see how your game changes, even if you lose.
7. Improve your weaknesses
Analyze your game and see what your tendencies are. Maybe you primarily play rushdown style or you’re content to turtle out most matches. Make a real effort to learn how to play the opposite style. You never know when you’ll benefit in an important match by being a more versatile player.
8. Stop taking it so seriously/Start taking it more seriously
Remember, it’s just Street Fighter! Or, consider that it’s NOT just Street Fighter. Many players could benefit from taking it less seriously (myself included) because after all, it’s just Street Fighter and it’s supposed to be fun. No sense getting all worked up over nothing.
On the other hand, there are also those who could probably benefit from taking it more seriously. If you’re going to spend several nights a week playing Street Fighter and you’re not seeing gradual improvement, maybe you need to think about what you want to get out of this. If you’re just playing for fun, that’s cool and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you are really trying to get better, maybe you need to start putting in a little extra effort by starting to take notes, watching more videos or analyzing your play by recording your own matches.
9. Create written goals for yourself
This ties in with taking notes on your game. Since you already have a notebook that you’re writing in regularly, you might as well write down some goals to keep yourself focused. If you’re serious enough to take notes, you are serious enough to set written goals.
I set a goal for myself this year that I would go to Japan for SBO and that I would win one match while I was there and I did it. I also set a goal to get 1,000 listeners for The Street Fighter podcast and now even if it takes a few weeks, most episodes get over 1,000 plays.
10. Put in more hours
Maybe you’ve been inches away from getting Top 8 at your local tournament and if you just put a little bit more time and effort into it, you’d be able to do it every time. Set aside a little extra time and see if you were really that close all along. Maybe it only takes one more session a week to get that breakthrough.
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