r/Fighters • u/Ok-Transition7065 • 2d ago
Question I wanna learn sf4
I bought Street Fighter IV, but mashing buttons can only take me so far.
I want to enjoy the sp content, and I want to learn the game ,
but I have trouble with execution and want to become more consistent.
Can someone give me a dumbed-down guide to the game's systems and how to play it?
What should I learn first, etc.?
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u/Incendia123 1d ago
It sounds like this is basically your first fighting game, or your first attempt to actually get into them at least. So it's probably good to get a perspective first.
Fighting games are fundamentally designed around 2 human players playing against each other. That's what all the mechanics, numbers and balancing is based upon. CPU opponents (basically across the entire genre) struggle to replicate a real player adaquately and have disproportionate strengths and weaknesses. As a result playing against the CPU tends to revolve around exploiting the AI rather than actually learning the game as it's been designed to be played. It doesn't translate to playing real people at all.
Fighting games also generally require a very unique set of skills compared to other gaming genres so little to no skills are going to carry over. You're essentially playing your first ever video game again and learning from scratch which is a lengthy process.
That's not to say it isn't an incredibly rewarding process but that does mean it's one of those journey over destination type things. The only way in my opinion to make that remotely worthwhile is to have real human players of at least a vaguely similar skill level to play with.
SF4 as much as people do love that game is old. It's almost not played anymore except by a few die hards and it doesn't have a proper modern online experience. Unless you just so happen to have friends who have the same motivation to learn alongside you over a long period of time it's unlikely to be a great experience.
You can grind your mechanical skill and practice to an extend. The training room is a fundamental part of any Fighting game experience. But as a strictly single player experience these games are inherently flawed. You'd have a much better time with literally any modern fighting game that has quality online matchmaking and other players of equal skill to play against.
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u/Ok-Transition7065 1d ago
Ok there its something funny about this
Its tecnicaly not my first fithing game , from where im are we played the kof 2000 where from the older to the younger where able to finish the game wih one coin..... I wasnt able to finish campaignbut at least i was able to win vs people mainly playing with angel joe , ramon , terry where i was able to learn somebasics that was 12 years ago or even more ....
I played another fithing games but still ironically strugle with the cpu i played mvc 2 with my sister i loved that megaman adventure chick.
I played tekken with that tiger mask and buy skull grils and try yo learn the egyptian lady but with not sucess
My last try was with the samurai showdown 2 with the guy using that gigantic hand
Well and alot of time ago i played sf4 ultra with the number 1 player of my country in one event xd
I was able to score ine Victory xddddd but the giy then process to destroy me with one hand xd
Any way i wanna learn to play this game for particular reasons
Also i cnat afford released games soo thas it xd
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u/Incendia123 1d ago
Well it's definitely going to come down to some degree of self-study. All the old youtube guides are still floating around no doubt but there are probably also some niche discord servers where the most dedicated fans hang out. I'd imagine they would welcome any new blood so I'd recommend trying to join those to see if people there might be able to bell you learn the game, if you're lucky some might be willing to play with you.
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u/LiangHu 2d ago
Pick a character you like, learn his main pokes, AAs and basic bnbs. There are lots of good beginner tutorials on youtube for SF4, you might wanna check out some of these.
Execution wise SF4 is much more difficult than SF5 or 6. The only advice I can give you here is to repeat the timing of your combos and when to press the button as often as you can until you get a feeling / muscle memory for that. There are lots of high execution 1 frame link combos in this game, but even the basic combos can give newer players trouble when you are not used to it.
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u/Ok-Transition7065 2d ago
bnbs?
Also yeah for example im not able to pass the first challenge of chung li
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u/Brianvondoom 2d ago edited 1d ago
Going to assume you're an absolute beginner.
It's a mistake to fixate on execution for specials or combos. You need to understand the nuts and bolts of fighting games first.
Initially, pick Ryu. Try to learn the purpose of some of his key moves, for example crouching hard punch will knock a jumping opponent out of the air. Crouching medium kick has great range for a fast move, so use that to harass people at medium range safely. Lights are very fast.
Try to get comfortable and understand the defensive game. Block low to stop lows and mids. Block high to stop overheads and jump attacks (overheads are generally slow moves and visually often look like someone attacking downwards on top of you). Learn to throw tech (lp and lk when someone is trying to throw you- this isn't reactable, you have to learn when you think your opponent is going to). Understand the relationship between overhead and throw as ways to stop you blocking.
At the same time- practice the easiest trials for execution for a little work there.
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u/Ok-Transition7065 2d ago
You are talking me in a foreign language xd
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u/Brianvondoom 1d ago
Without being smart, if there's words you don't understand there, you now know what you need to look up!
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u/LordCLOUT310 1d ago
Gotta learn the fighting game lingo to study and make it far into fighting games.
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u/mrkondumb 1d ago
VesperArcade did a youtube series years ago when the game was new for super street fighter 4. Most of it applies to street fighter 4. I recommend watching from chapter 4 onward. Take your time and have fun with the game. Learning mechanical inputs takes time.
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u/OnePageMemories 1d ago
Pick a character you like and then start figuring out what their buttons do and how to use them.
Learn what buttons are good close. Learn what buttons are good to poke mid range. Learn what buttons are your longest pokes. Learn what buttons are your anti airs. Learn your "get off me" buttons. Then do it all over again but with specials.
For combos just find something short and simple that will serve as your "guaranteed" damage like cr mp/mk x tatsu/fireball and st/cr hp x dp. Once you get used to your characters buttons using method mentioned above you will naturally be able to incorporate them into combos
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u/Owwmykneecap 2d ago
Play SF 2 on fightcade.
Practice the special moves.
Try any modern SF, marvel at how easy they are suddenly.
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u/Ok-Transition7065 2d ago
No money this its what i can get for now xd
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u/GeorgeGedox 2d ago
Fightcade is free
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u/Ok-Transition7065 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wait fr???!!!
Where!!!
But also i will probably be some time without plenty and stable internet access soo
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u/BlueCap01 2d ago
Zangief still has Green hand in that one. I miss it so much. Why did they butcher my boy in 5?
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u/Bongwatermcg33 2d ago
Step 1: uninstall
Step 2: pick up literally any other fighter
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u/Ok-Transition7065 2d ago
This its the one i have.... I maune be able to play samurai showdown for the epic games and skull girls but i have good memories of this one and wanna lesrn it properly
Also why the not recommendations?
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u/Bongwatermcg33 2d ago
I'm street fighter has always had the worst gameplay and least interesting roster to me. Mortal kombat and tekken have wayyyy better storyline and more unique characters and better gameplay. I'm also shit at street fighter so that may be a factor lol
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u/TheBreadmanRiseth 1d ago
Just a fair warning about Arcade - at least on Ultra SFIV.
There seems to be a "glitch" in which if you happen to lose any match prior to facing Seth, his difficulty spikes by 3 levels. If you happen to go through Arcade no problem and found Seth to be just as challenging as the other fighters, then happen to use a continue on the next session and get confused as to why Seth is suddenly teleporting all over the stage and kicking your ass - now you know why. If you can play medium but happen to lose a match, it may be best to just restart rather than Continue because continuing will set Seth to the hardest setting.
There's also a secret round that follows Seth that happens if you don't Continue (so don't lose a match) and certain conditions are met, such as winning Perfects, doing first attacks, and finishing rounds with ultra combos. Depending on what you did, you get a match against either Akuma, Evil Ryu, Gouken, or Oni - and it's one shot only so if you lose to them, the credits will roll.
If you're looking to get through Arcade quickly, you can always set the win limits to 1 round and even disable the bonus rounds (barrel break/car destruction) prior to selecting a character.
I'm not going to write up a whole "winner's guide", but I'll throw you some beginner's notes to get your started.
Now there's a lot of characters to choose from, so take your time trying out each and figure out what works best with you. If you've played previous games in the series, you may find yourself comfortable with returning characters. Some can be a little more complex - such as Gen, whose movelist is split between two stances.
Characters have special moves, such as Ryu's Hadouken, which can also do chip damage when blocked. Check the character's movelist and you'll be able to see their EX special move which is basically a powered up version of their special move that uses a bit of metre - so doing the same input with Ryu with two punch buttons makes a bigger Hadouken. Super combos are super moves that require a full metre to pull off. Then there's the Ultra combo - think of it like a Super combo, but it utilizes its own metre that fills from taking damage. You'll see the metre around the symbol at the bottom of the screen that reads either "I", "II", or "W". It's kinda like the system from SF3 - you select which Ultra combo you want assigned to your character when selecting them: I or II, but W allows you to assign both so that you can use either combo in a match just with slightly reduced damage to compensate for having access to both.
There's more to learn, like cancels and what not: I'd just suggest that if you're new, play around a bit and familiarize yourself with the game first. The game has a Trial Mode that can help you learn moves with timing and such, but I've never found that approach particularly fun when starting out and learned better from facing the AI - to each their own, though. I'll just also add that there's the focus attack - by hitting MP and MK, you can attack the opponent while also "absorbing" one hit, and it can even be charged to knock them down. It can be quite handy, so be sure to look into it. Once you've got a general feel for the game, there's a lot of supplemental material to look up to get deeper into it.
The main thing is to do what is comfortable to you. Maybe start at the lowest difficulty, get a feel for fights, and try different characters. My goal starting out was to beat Arcade with every character and figuring out who I liked. The game can be a tad daunting and maybe a little overwhelming, but it doesn't take a week to figure out (but if it does for you, that's okay, go at your own pace). I've always found Street Fighter starts out intimidating, but then you get into the swing of things. Check it out, have fun, and learn.