Blogpost 8 : The Wake-up game

In some games, standing up from a knockdown can be as dangerous as landing from a very high jump so you need to kep in mind that this part of the game can't be overlooked since you might die trying to stand up in specific games. The wake up game or Okizeme is widely used tactic in fighting games and players should learn how to deal with it.



A very concise article written by the KTA founder himself Rene "Kor" Maistry should definitely be read whether you're a dedicated Tekken player or play fighting games in general. The article entitled "The Ground and Wake up Game- A Comprehensive guide" taks about what the situation looks like and how you can deal with it to get on with your offensive.

"It’s imperative to understand that this part of the game CANNOT be overlooked, and must be learned and strategically implemented into your game.  Essentially, wake up can be thought of free damage, if done right.Most players do not realize the extent of this aspect of the game, and through watching videos of your top players playing your respective characters, you surely can learn a lot from how to react to certain ways an opponent may move on the ground."

As Kor has stated, this aspect of the game cannot be overlooked especially in some games which has an emphasis on the said aspect. Performing the right tool can well be your ticket to a victory in a match or your long awaited comeback from a losing match.

I found an article about Ultimate Street Fighter 4 having delayed wake-ups and Justin Wong, a top player isn't too happy about it in an article by Steven "Dreamking23" Chavez entitled "Justin Wong: Delayed wake up in USF4 is very cheap; it will hurt the current flowchart of knockdown- JWong 
gives his thoughts on new game mechanics". 

"Delayed stand is very cheap. It will hurt the current flowchart of knockdown, whiff a button, jump, 50/50. Many characters rely on this because not every character has good normals. Now this definitely helps charge characters because they are obviously the more defensive characters while the offensive characters strive for a knockdown. It might just turn into a super defensive game and the vortex characters might have to play more footsie based."

 From his reaction right there, you can definitely tell that in some games. Okizeme is very big part of some fighting strategies. If a top players gives big importance in this aspect, it should probably be a very big thing right? Learning and implementing new things in to your arsenal is always very good and even you don't use it, you need to able to learn how to fight against it so that you might not suffer consistently in a match.

Blogpost 7: Controlling the Fighting Space: The Fundamentals of Spacing/Zoning

If you like being in control over the fighting game space, look no further cause what you're looking for is the fundamentals of Spacing and Zoning. Spacing/Zoning is a special fundamental that some fighting game characters can specialize in. It's basically knowing you're character's move ranges so that you'll be able to throw your moves safely and pressure your opponent into making mistakes to be able to of advantage,

Gaming journalist Yannick LeJacq put up an article that expains what these fundamentals are in the game Super Smash Bros.But of course, these also applies to different fighting games. The article is titled "What 'Zoning' Means in Smash Bros., and why is it so important". He explains the basic understanding of Zoning and Spacing into this game and how it affects matches in general.

"Speaking generally, then, the core idea behind both zoning and spacing, and the reason they're so important to competitive Smash players, is to always be evaluating the offensive and defensive options available to yourself and your opponent at any given moment. This allows you to better anticipate what an opponent is going to do next—what Smash players often refer to as "reading."

 By learning how to space and zone effectively. You will be able to get off a better read at your opponents while pressuring them into thinking what options should they use to get ahead of you. Of course if you can do these two effectively, you'll be able to narrow down your opponent's working space and limit his options to a point where you'll be able to constantly land your offensive safely while pressuring your opponent to make risky decisions himself.

Another article i found about the implementation of these fundamentals entitled "SSF4-Ryu-Zoning(part2)" gives a good situation on how a character that specializes in these fundamentals tale advantage of it in a match.Written by Jam Shojiki

" When zoning, depending on the ranges, he uses particular fireball patterns and techniques in order to control the space in front of him and catch his opponent's options.Punishing each of these options consistently forces your opponent to take risks, resulting in his opponent conceding damage through walking into Cr.MK xx Hadoken"

So by learning your character's range and limiting your opponent's working range greatly increases your chance of winning the match. Who doesn't like messing around your opponent's minds? Limiting your opponents options is a huge advantage and will give your opponents a very steep slope to conquer if they want to win.

Blogpost 6: The Fighting Styles

    So now we know about the basic fundamental skills to the more advanced chart tables.Now it's time to learn about certain playstyles that players employ or specific characters specialize with. We will be looking at the most obscene fighting styles to the reckless as this will greatly help in your decision of maining a certain character and effectively employing its fighting style to give your opponents a very hard time.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Labrys vs Yukari match

A player named "FluzWaveZ" came up with an article that explains these playstyles and and what might you want to look for within a certain character in the article entitled "Fighting Games 101: Lesson 3: Character Types". Here he explains the various playstyles that are widely known in any fighting game. Of course not all of them are in every games since some games doesn't allow you to zone effectively and such.


"The problem lies in the fact that I don't know what my "playstyle" is. Oftentimes, I'll try all of the character's game's roster and not really feel any character that I immediately fee good playing as, so I'll pick an antagonist I like and myself that I'll simply adapt to the primary playstyle of that character,which usually ends up being the case."


Knowing a character's fighting style will help you play the character more effectively. There's also that chance that you might like one character because you like how he plays out so knowing these things will be very beneficial to a player starting out on any fighting game.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Yukiko vs Shadow Yukiko

Another article put together by a player in the guise of the name "Agito" also explains further the information presented by the first article entitled "Fighting Game 101: Lesson 3: Character Types". Not only he explained the styles employed by certain characters but he also listed how they are played and played against more extensively.


"In addition to there being many different characters, there are also a few categories that these characters fall into depending on how they're meant to be played"


So there you have it.A very extensive information on character playstyles and how to employ them in a real match. Knowing how a specific character is meant to be played will make your journey of playing your character effectively will be much easier.So what kind of playstyle suits you? Do you like rushing down players like an angry tank? Or do you prefer staying defensive and punish players for their mistakes? Start discovering your own playstyle now.

Blogpost 5: Understanding the Tier list

     So you're in the right track studying your game and you've decided to take the action on the road.You won some matches and lose some. You're just about ready for another round when a new challenger pops out. To your astonishment, you're suddenly in a bout against a player who plays a team almost similar to the other who you've played before and asked yourself, why on earth these people pick the same characters over and over again when there's like a bunch of characters in the character pool. Well they're probably just picking the ones that nets them easier wins. Who are these characters and how does my character do in this game? Well you might be needing the help of Tier lists for that.

Justin Wong's UMVC3 Tier lists

Let's take a look at what are Tier lists and its role in a game in an article titled "Why do Tier list exist?What do they mean? Do they matter?" written by player Diablo Interceptor. He gave an interesting explanation on how tier list came to be and what does it mean in a competitive community. Why some people hate seeing tier lists in their games.

"In any competitive game there are tiers. No really, every game. Most of the time tiers are a way to break down which characters will give you a higher probability of winning."

Tier lists are there so that players will see what characters do exceptionally well in the current meta compared to the rest of the cast. These are mostly data collected from tournaments and competitive level events that are agreed upon by most of the top level players of a certain game making it easier to tell which character has a better chance of taking home the victory in tournament matches.

EventHubs' UMVC3 Tier list (Chart Form)

But as good characters own the current meta, we don't know what the future holds. We don't when a relatively unknown player comes out of the woods rolling a bottom-tier character and starts owning everyone giving way into a new meta. An anonymous writer urges people to reevaluate their thinking when it comes to these lists in an article titled "On Fighting games: Balance is theory,tiers aren't facts"


"They aren't going to quit using a character that they feel an affinity for just because that character is "low tier," just like a good actor isn't going to turn down a script they relate to just because its subject matter isn't necessarily known to make money, or like a Jujitsu expert isn't going to drop their style just because kick boxers have been winning a lot of matches lately. Like any artist, a real athlete sticks with the tools they feel they understand the most, and spends their time and energy attempting to utilize those tools to the fullest. Competitive fighting game players should be no different."

Just like what the writer said, you shouldn't stop playing a character that you have the grooves on just because he isn't a top tier character. Tier lists are there to help you cope up with the current meta and give you an easier time predicting match-ups. These aren't solid facts and maybe changed from time to time following the current meta situations. So with that being said, use these said lists to your advantage but never abuse it and treat it like times will never change.

Blogpost 4: The Frame Data Chart Knowledge

     A person coming in as a new player might scratch their heads when they see mathematics in their fighting video games. But these numbers aren’t there to confuse you or give you a hard time. In fact it’s the exact opposite. Frame data charts exists so that it will be easier to track how fast a move starts, recovers and their unique properties. Every game has this especially 3D ones. So as a rising star in the world of fighting games, the Frame data chart is one thing you should definitely take advantage of and mind you, you’d be surprised how these numbers will affect your decision making during a match.

Almost everyone gets put off when they see math and numbers so let us familiarize ourselves with this so called Frame data charts. A player that goes by the name OmegaRyuji wrote an article entitled “A Guide to Frame Data” that gives us a primer and how to utilize this knowledge to up your game. He carefully explains things in a very “beginner friendly” manner about what you should know first and proved to be an interesting read for a rather complicated topic.

“The bottom line is that frame data is a tool which can guide you in the right direction, but it is not the be-all-end-all of knowledge. Frame data can never tell you something that match experience will not, but it can lead you to the same conclusions much faster and more clearly.”

Indeed. Frame knowledge is a very useful tool to study decision making in a match. But of course, knowledge is only as good the one who holds it cause decisions will come solely from the player. Frame data charts only helps you decide on what you should do faster and more efficient than doing this in practice or trial and errors.

A portion of Sergei Dragunov's TTT2 Frame data

An anonymously written article from Dustloop that goes with the title “Reading and Using Frame Data” talks about the limitations of these chart knowledge. It starts out with an introduction and usage information just like the previous article with portions about what the Frame Data Table can’t do. For example, it can’t tell you help you pinpoint an exact response to a relatively different positioned matches.

“Frame data is information on timings. We can see if there’s enough time to make a move, but you still need to go back to the game to make sure the move is relevant, spacing-wise.”

So there we have it, theirs is no doubt that Frame data knowledge will be a very big help to players playing any fighting game that exists today. It’s an inseparable thing when we talk about video games. But these aren’t too necessary to become a very good player but only speeds the process up. So if you like to spend time reading and thinking instead of testing them the old fashioned way then these tables are made for you.

Blogpost 3: The Use of Flowcharts

      Playing fighting games in a tournament scene could prove to have a very tense atmosphere.People tend to get nervous or succumb to yips that may very well reduce their overall composture when a match starts. Worse you could even freeze in a middle of a match.Literally loosing your groove and forgetting all that hardwork you've put into playing for that trophy. That's possibly the worst thing that could happen when you play in a tournament.So why don't we seek some advice on how to handle this.And the good part is you get to level up your game while dampening the effects of that freezing tournament temperature in the form of utilizing a Flowchart.

In the article "How to build a Tekken Flowchart" by Rami aka Gutsygeek, he shows us how to make and utilize flowcharting to definitely up your game. He explains that devising a pattern beforehand could help you easily recognize the options you have in a certain situation. Since you have made your starters and options beforehand, you can rely on your flowcharts in dire times like when you have no idea what to do next or you simply froze in the middle of a match.


"I always like to say that the player with the most confidence is probably going to win." A statement from the author which i believe to be true most of the time.


He means that your composture in a fight will also play a part in winning a match. So utilizing the concept of flowcharts will help you pick out the best option in a certain condition when you're doubting yourself.

But as what might you conceive in the term "flowchart" it's a series of actions patterned for use.A good player will recognize these patterns and use it against you. Jett introduces you to a phenomenon that will help you understand the negative effects of misusing a flowchart in his article "Universal Game Guides: The Dont's(and Do's) of Flowcharting".


"Let’s take the flowchart idea and simplify it even further. Imagine you’re playing Rock Paper Scissors. If you were playing Rock Paper Scissors against a Flowchart Ken, he would choose rock every single time."


I think that's a very simple and clear way on how to explain it. Relying too much on flowcharting alone will do more bads than the goods.So be smart in the use of this idea. Too much water can also be poisonous you know. Intelligent choices will always save the day and with the smart usage of flowcharting, you'll be able to play more comfortable in picking out the best options for any situation.

Blogpost 2: Punishment, The Fundamental skill of Retribution

      Ever wondered why pro players never throw out those flashy moves anytime they wanted?
 Why competitive players move much often than attack each other? The reason is because they don't want to get punished for making hasty and unplanned decisions or doing something at the wrong time. We will now get into another very important skill when it comes to fighting games, the fundamentals of Punishment.

Mr. Ryan Esler tries to explain what is Punishment and it's advantages when used in conjunction to your gameplan in the article "Levelling Up - Punishment". First up, the article introduces us to the two types of Punishment namely the "Block punishing" which involves defending against an unsafe move and "Whiff punishing" which involves the fundamental skill of movement to force your opponent into missing their moves for a punish. He then reiterates that knowledge is a big part of playing these games.



"Punishment is a big thing in fighting games. It’s a means of showing a player that they should not be playing in such an unsafe manner and that certain combos are unsafe on block.". A statement by Esler which couldn't hope to agree more.



Punishment is present in any fighting game and just like movement, shouldn't be taken lightly. Which means that playing carelessly and ignorantly will only net you a defeat in a competitive environment. So you shouldn't throw moves out of the blue just because you feel like it. Of course, learning how to punish yourself will help you gain the respect of your opponent and force him to re-evaluate his playstyle.

So to back-up the idea on the importance of punishment. I came to Aris' site(Aris is one of the top American fighting game players) Avoiding the Puddle looking for an article which talks about Punishment. In his article "Iron Fist 101: The competitors Guide to playing Tekken". As the articles name suggests, it talks about some of the more important aspects of the game that players who plan to go pro should know.



"Knowledge is a natural byproduct of gaining experience and is also extremely valuable in Tekken. Ducking the second or third hit of a string and punishing correctly can literally change an entire match.".


As what Aris has stated, learning how to punish correctly has a tremendous effect on any fighting game match you're currently playing. Landing a punish and riding the momentum can possibly turn the tables against the opponent.


As a final word, knowing how to punish your opponent's mistakes and capitalize on it will be a huge asset in your journey to the top of the competitive scene.  I for one has seen what learning this skill can do to your game. So if you're itching to give your enemies a taste of their own medicine, there's no better way than punishing them for their mistakes!