Every year or so I try to get into fighting games on my own, and fail miserably. I just bought SSFIV:AE on XBLA, and want to try again. I have the fight stick that came with one of the recent special editions of Tekken (bought that during some clearance sale a couple of years ago).

If anyone would be up to jump on Live sometime and show me some things, I would appreciate it. Would also just be fun to get beat on by people who are not randoms on matchmaking.

Gamertag is Stri26

Thanks!

Play this song before combat, and you'll get PUMPED!!!

@stri26: watch ultrachen tv in youtube ... look at the first attack vids to really learn fighting games´ basics and stuff

@stri26: Also follow James Chen and Ultradavid on Twitter as well and you can ask them questions directly. They also do a livestream every monday and tuesday nights with specific topics as well. And as Aetheldod mentioned, they upload archives of their episodes in their Youtube channel but just pay more attention to the First Attack videos since that is targeted at newcomers.

Here's also a video series that I know of for beginners.

Just learn spacing and how to get in safely. Don't try to be that guy who tries to do super spiffy combos out of the bat and groan when you fail at 'em. Those'll come naturally once you learn how characters work and especially once you learn how to punish off blocks.

Awesome, thanks guys. I appreciate it.

The thing I find kind of frustrating about SF4 is how doggone perfect your timing has to be in order to link (or chain or whatever) something as simple as 2 punches (specifically when trying to do the character combo trials). I don't even mean the long complex "focus attack dash cancel kara throw desperation max wave dash" things, I mean combos like LK and then HP.

And with the trials, I really wish it gave you feedback on what you did wrong, showed you what the combo looked like, or at the very least told you up front how the moves went together. For some parts of certain combos, you need to cancel, other parts you have to NOT cancel (because trying to breaks the combo), some parts you have to wait a certain number of frames before executing the next move... And none of this is told to you.

Sometimes I think I just wasn't meant to play fighting games, because every time I boot up SF4 with the hopes that "maybe I'll get the hang of it this time," I always end the session with the same sentiment of "NOPE, fuck fighting games." (I did play the shit out of Capcom vs SNK 2, though)

@bbalpert: I feel exactly the same way. I can't seem to figure out how to link 2 hits together, but sometimes longer combos are easier. If you really want to get into fighters you should try Injustice. It is really fun, and the combos are so much easier to pull off than SF.

I still do that now because I always try and do the hardest, most damaging Dudley combos. Lol. To be fair I can pretty much do them now, there's only one that gives me trouble. 480 damage in the corner with one meter and no ultra, TOO GODLIKE.

Also, OP: http://insertcredit.com/2013/01/14/the-educated-gentlepersons-fighting-game-primer/