Learning a new fighting game – or picking up the genre for the first time – can be a daunting task. Fighting games are notorious for being among the most difficult games to learn, and this can knock players off their stride when it comes to improving. Street Fighter 6, for all of its innovations, still falls well within this category and comes with all of its trials and tribulations.
That being said, there are many ways to expedite the process of “getting good” in fighting games. This guide is going to walk you through some of the traps new players commonly fall into, and how you can up your game and climb out of Rookie. Fighting games are hard, but they are also supremely satisfying.
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Learn One Very Basic Combo
One of the most daunting aspects of Street Fighter is learning combos. You go online and watch combo videos and you will see experts pulling off some truly mind-boggling stuff. Not only that, they seem to have an infinite well of combos that they pull out at the perfect time – every time.
Here’s the thing though, you don’t need to learn any of it. In fact, as a new player, all you need to know is how to do a single combo. Something very basic. This could be two punches into a special, and that’s all you need to begin with. As you play more, you will not only improve your combo over time but also figure out new simple combos. The trick is to master them one at a time so your execution becomes near-flawless. This all starts with the first step – learning that first combo.
Figure Out Your Best Buttons
Combos are one thing, but the meat of Street Fighter is the neutral game. That time when players aren’t attacking each other and are instead measuring space and trying to find a way in. The best way to win neutral and get an advantage is to learn your best buttons.
What we mean is go into the Training Mode and press your basic attack buttons. From here, learn which buttons are fast, hit low, can be used as anti-airs, and have the longest range. A lot of damage in Street Fighter can come from single well-placed blows.
Get Out Of The Lab
‘The Lab’ refers to the Training Room and it can also apply to Combo Trials. A common trap for new players is that they spend all of their time in Training and grinding Trials because they think it will improve their play.
Of course, this is true to an extent. We’ve even recommended going to the Lab to learn your best buttons. The key is to not stay there for too long when you are starting. You can master the hardest combo for your character in a sterile environment only for it to all fall apart in a real match. The best thing you can do is to actually play the game and take small steps to make little improvements over time. You can’t expedite that process by grinding lab sessions, and in fact, you will slow yourself down.
Rip Off The Online Bandaid
One thing that is very common with new players is online anxiety. Fighting games are rather unique in the fact that your defeats are entirely down to you. Your failures in the game resulted in you getting beaten into the dirt. Not only that, you are new, so surely everyone is more experienced and going online is going to be a painful experience.
This anxiety is very understandable and something we go through with every new fighting game – and we’ve been playing them for decades. The best way to get over this anxiety is to meet it head-on and just play a game of Ranked. You might win, you might lose. But you will also learn an awful lot by interacting with real players. Once you get that first game under your belt – regardless of the outcome – you’ll be far more confident in jumping online in the future. You got this.
Stop Pressing Buttons
We’ve talked a lot about the mindset of Street Fighter, so now it’s time to get to the nitty gritty – what you can do to get better in an actual fight. The most common issue for new players is their inability to stop pressing buttons. The logic behind pressing buttons is of course:
“Things are going wrong, I need to do something.”
Pressing buttons is probably why things are going wrong in the first place. If you find yourself getting hit over, and over again, you need to stop trying to attack and instead Block. Holding back or down-back (crouching Block) lets you take hits without taking damage. Not only that, but it also lets you counterattack once they use attacks that aren’t safe on block. Which attacks are these? Well, that’s something you will learn by hopping online. As a rule of thumb, if the attack looks slow, you can probably block the hit and counter with one of your faster buttons.
Don’t Spam Drive Impact
A new mechanic added to Street Fighter 6 is Drive Impact. This move is all about pressure, stunning, and countering your opponents. It’s basically a reversal tool used to punish people who are a bit too aggressive. Unfortunately, it’s also very slow and has a lot of drawbacks.
New players will often start to spam their Drive Impact because it tends to land against other new players. This is a very bad habit to adopt, however. Very early into the Ranked Ladder, you will find people adapting to this spam and punishing you with Throws, their own Drive Impact, and Supers. Drive Impact is a tool for specific situations, not a catch-all.
We have a full guide on Drive Impact here.
Use Your Resources
Street Fighter 6 might be about clobbering your opponents, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an underlying resource management aspect pivotal to the game’s flow. The biggest resource new players forget about has to be their Super Gauge. If you are losing matches and have a full Super Gauge, you haven’t been effectively using your resources.
How each character plays, and how they want to use their resources differs. However, one thing you can do is expand that one combo you learned in ‘Step One’. Learn how to cancel that combo into a Super so you can increase your damage, use your resources, and look cool. For example, E. Honda can cancel his Hundred Hand Slap into his Level 3 Super. Learning how to do this on your chosen character will drastically increase your efficacy in battle.
That’s all we have on Street Fighter 6 for now. Be sure to check out our other lists and guides for more Street Fighter content.
