The Way We Learn Games Makes Us Bad At Them

[@maragazh9993]

This is why most of everyone plays better in overtime or when at low health. They suddenly realize "oh, if I get hit again I lose!" and start playing smarter and safer.

[@thegprince93]

This is why I always play like it's my last stock and before I know it, they're rage quitting 😂😂

[@Timmy-mi2ef]

​@thegprince93 tbf that would be annoying although I mostly do smash casual with the bros

[@thechugg4372]

While a bit true this is also the moment where people always do the dumbest moves because they get desperate.

[@kotori6938]

Psychological rubber band mechanic is insane

[@notsuspicious3806]

People in TF2 only do that in low health. In overtime and 30 seconds before time runs out they rush the objective.

[@crSIMBA]

If the Yotube Algorithm sent this to me does it mean Yotube thinks I'm swinging to much in neutral???

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@crSIMBA unfortunately it knows best

[@jeanschyso]

Of course not. Keep living your best live buddy

[@ScrubSuiNoHado]

The algorithm send this to me too and i most definitely swing, jump and di too much in SF6 therefore i'm afraid you are swinging too much in neutral.

[@Cooldad_dpj]

I had the same thoughts 😂

[@affinity601]

Well, are you?

[@Tom-vx7qh]

When playing with people new to fighting games, I've definitely noticed a pattern where they will feel completely helpless in matches, as if the game was completely out of their control. When in reality, they were so focused on playing their own game, while the opponent was focused on not letting them play their game. It's common enough that something I often say to new players is, "Fighting games aren't about playing your own game, they're about not letting the opponent play their game"

[@ED-gw9rg]

Last year, I played PvZ Heroes - that "dead" card game - for a few months, and it's deckbuilding community taught me plenty of similar advice. Noobs will make "Piles" of cards they just like, but not really have synergies. Midlevel players focus lots on synergies, such as Teacher Zombie with Going Viral, or a Peashooter deck with Podfather... ...While High-level players focus the hell out of upping the value in every single Card they put in a deck. The highest tier decks LOVE making situations which force their opponents to answer them, disrupt their opponents' ability to win the game, or both! Fry Em Up Gaming has so many decks which do their best to be competitive, and catch midlevel players off guard by being as unstoppable as possible. Actually, it's funny how much the metas of Fighting Games and PvZH mirror each other: At top level play, both try to maximize value for as little investment as possible, or invest at the right times to make punishes.

[@lanceknightmare]

It takes time to learn which new players literally can't do what you are talking about.

[@antusFireNova]

​@@ED-gw9rg unexpected but pleasing to see pvz heroes mentioned here!

[@bummedmachinist7483]

See I saw this advice all the time and I thought It just meant to put as much pressure as you possibly can on your opponent. But of course it really means you should focus more on punishing that exact mentality instead. If people haven't been understanding what you're telling them, might try wording it different, they might be thinking like I was

[@memshepo]

thanks for this

[@RandomDude647]

nah. the way YOU GUYS learn games makes YOU GUYS bad at them. I'M built different

[@MikeyDLuffy]

😂, you ain't lying, you're a beast

[@the_neto06]

ok RandomDude647

[@kamenstrider9289]

And I'm even better

[@TheBlueArcher]

I'm a pretty high level Street Fighter 2 player. I keep telling people. If you find your right spacing, the life bar and damage almost doesn't even matter... Very few people ever listen. Those who do get really good really fast... Even in modern games where I don't practice. I always make "upsets" because like you say, the mid level players just autopilot It doesn't matter that they know optimal damage combos and I don't. If they can't hit me, and I can hit him, I'm going to win... Just recently at a monthly meetup the entire crowd was laughing as I beat someone just by "pressing one button" .

[@RonnieMyers777]

Lol gonna try this, thanks 🙏🏾

[@liviousgameplay1755]

This reminds me of how I got better at Hades. At some point I decided I wanted as much damage as possible, so I needed to scale with an item that gives a permanent attack buff after clearing a room without taking damage. I became aware of so much more because the win condition wasn't "hit them with big damage," it was "don't get hit," followed closely by "kill them so they can't hit you."

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@liviousgameplay1755 exactly! Applies to most difficult single player games too

[@germanelkapo1]

Yeah, it's why the best weaps are one of the bows (allows to hit extremely safely with good damage), and one of the shields (still very safe, but it's higher DPS allows clearing max heat).

[@NonJohns]

Yeah I remember playing tag in smash Bros and rediscovering ways to run away and dodge things, and then to chase someone down when I got tagged at some point though we realized that if we hit our opponent away or even better keep them in a combo, the other guy couldn't tag us leading to us just playing the game lol

[@madmouse4465]

Pierced Butterfly my beloved 🙏

[@nthlycore2575]

Nice video. How does this apply to FPS? I'd like to see a video about it. IMO so many top player are way more passive than what it looks like at first glance.

[@justintsui2522]

I think the problem is that it’s easier to lab offensive combos in training mode than learning defensive skills especially if theres no recording feature for the cpu in the training mode without having another person helping you lab

[@DoctorCVC]

Replay takeover I think is gonna be one of the biggest tools in this sense. The ability to go to a replay of your match right away and see what you could have done against a blockstring, or learning where the gaps were in your opponent’s offense is an immeasurable boon.

[@justintsui2522]

@ yeah i agree, but my statement goes for fgs that are more rudimentary and lacks replay takeover

[@user-wy1et9dk9w]

@@DoctorCVC replay takeover has helped me so much this needs to be a staple in every fighting game

[@williambudrow9508]

This is why I like tekken 8 more than other fighters. Being able to go into match replays and redo what happened is insanely useful

[@Samplenoob]

The reason its been so hard for me to adopt the "safety first" approach to fighting games is because you actually need to have some knowledge about your opponent's character to some degree to make informed decisions in neutral and defense. Its much easier to run the single player game of mixup heavy offense training mode goblin. But that's usually a very efficient way to stagnate, instead of focusing on the opponent and how to counter the nasty shit they get away doing to you instead.

[@tiedie3995]

That's the problem I have with games with a high character roster Like Tekken or Smash. I've dialed back my aggression but it's equally important to know your opponent and the character they are playing?

[@sEaNoYeAh]

100% this. You first improve by not being full unga bunga, you start being aware of your circumstances, but then you suddenly need to understand your opponent to know what to look for. And for beginners especially in fighting games there will be characters where the particular thing they want to do is harder to read or understand how to react to. I feel like dive kicks are a classic example.

[@kotori6938]

This is why I main random in smash

[@Saskaruto16]

One issue is that you can also overcorrect with this and end up not pushing your advantage when you have the opportunities. Think of it less as "not swinging" or "being safe" and more so as saving the hard reads for when they will give the biggest return, conditioning is incredibly important. You could read someone to land a poke but unless that poke killed now they are thinking about what they were doing to get hit there and will try to change it up. Where as if you press your offense and mixups when they naturally work well without overextending and taking a ton of risk, and save the hard reads for when you know that it will kill or get you massive damage, they won't be ready for it and you get more out of it.

[@melovech6675]

One of the coolest quotes ive heard is "play like you never want the game to end"

[@Kerishko]

Like playing safe? Or what dose that mean

[@melovech6675]

@@Kerishko I think reducing risks is part of it but also it's not forcing anything. Don't try and force that last hit you need against the opponent with a magic pixel. Don't try and force your turn back and wait for the appropriate gap/opportunity. Just let the game come to you.

[@LailorGG]

Honestly it’s a cool quote, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Leads to desperation and anxiety/hesitation in most cases

[@TheMoonPersonTV]

i cant even lie this is a lesson i've learned and re-learned so many times and it ALWAYS works until I get impatient and think "ok i need to start winning games in 2 minutes" and my GSP blows up smh

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@TheMoonPersonTV your offense is always too good in every game so it makes sense you feel the urge to end games in 2 minutes 😅

[@GramdalfFGC]

It’s also why a common complaint with mid level players is that they seem to perform better against higher level players than “random” players. There’s a few reasons for this, but I think fundamentally when you’re playing against someone doing crazy shit to you, it’s hard not to get mentally flustered and try play slower when the person in front of you is doing stuff like whiff button into ex dp and you’re getting caught with it. Your mental goes out the window and you start feeling pressured to force your game plan on them, usually leading to further mistakes

[@Thalia._.X3]

THIS! as a mid level player in smash this is so true, I get flustered easily and hard choke against players that are same level if not worse than me when they throw random shit out, but when my opponent is doing smart options and stuff keeping myself composed is much easier

[@SandorThePuppy]

This is what should be tought first to newcomers in any FGC community, very rapidly directed to spread sheets with combos and setups instead of spacing and defense options.

[@NotLoopine]

Been thinking about this alot lately. Fighting Game pros focusing on neutral rather than grinding slightly more optimal combos, MOBA pros who are genuinely mediocre mechanically but have great macro game sense and anticipation, even souls players who never truly learned HOW to learn a boss and were carried by their reaction speed. I feel like we waste time focusing on all the wrong things, but I needed all this time in-game to realize what the truly important aspects of these games were. More people need to hear messages like this, it would not only save you time, but shape your enjoyment of the game

[@sendo__]

The thing about focusing on neutral is that newer FGs (specifically SF6 as my example,) rewards unga bunga behavior for skipping neutral. If you don't check a raw DR, your opponent just skips neutral and the mixup options are insane and you get punished heavy just for trying to play footsies.

[@ltigre86]

there are no moba pros with bad mechanics

[@フランス人の熊さん]

​@sendo__ Mastering combos is about knowing your main character and the most dmg output possible. Mastering movement and neutral is about refining your fundamentals. We should strive to achieve both, because they're completing each other. You can't do combos if you don't know frames. You can't punish if you don't guard and mash everything you shouldn't press buttons.

[@NotLoopine]

@@ltigre86 Watch PekinWoof CS

[@sEaNoYeAh]

Dark Souls is such a good example. I'd always tell people Dark Souls is not hard. It doesn't require fighter pilot reflexes, it doesn't require incredibly dextrous use of the controller, it's mostly literally just observe and learn the corresponding response. I took a non-gamer med student girl, friend of mine through Dark Souls 2, and I found it so easy to teach her because she didn't have gamer preconceptions about what she felt her character should be able to do or what the enemies should let her do. Her starting point wasn't sprint and then mash attack; so I could tell her, just wait for them to lunge, side step, attack until they look ready to attack again. And with limited game experience and limited free time we went through the whole game and all the DLCs to New Game +6 or something, with me often just sitting back and letting her do everything (which is harder than normal because multiplayer boss health scaling). Whereas a very naturally talented, very experienced gamer friend of mine, always great at everything, struggled to get past the first couple areas because he'd just attack, run out of stamina and chug through healing. And understanding Dark Souls is a good starting point to understanding fighting games.

[@Franko_L_L]

Yo this is a great video. The overwatch example caught me off guard lol. I live telling everyone i teach the game to focus on not dying as much as they can

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@Franko_L_L haha I was the guy dying every 90 seconds on Genji back in the day

[@F0xdash]

you know, now that i see this video, this hits me. when i started Gran Blue vs rising i was just some casual joe, learning to play this game. i faced others at my level, i lost most than i win, but the matches were fun because we were in the same level, i just lack knowledge. then i get better and have a good insight of the matches, so i level up my rank to face more challenging players and i get destroyed... quite stressful. then i learned more of the game mechanics and i still lose hard, but i noticed that some matches i win because i had patience to see what my oponent is doing. i still lack more experience, though, but when i face people on my level i can see clearly that i am too impatient, too careless. i need to ease my mind and make actions more reasonable... this video is a good insight of what i have seen but not noticed yet.

[@TimTam854]

I love these videos where you challenge us to think, re-evaluate and reassess. Thanks for sharing great content, you're one of my favourite creators.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@TimTam854 appreciate the kind words!

[@vetri99tsukuya20]

The replay takeover feature is the most fun/best part of this game. I am CONSTANTLY seeing situations where me walking away/jumping instead of staying in place kept me from capitalizing on my opponent's mistakes

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@vetri99tsukuya20 yea such a game changer. Every FG needs this feature haha

[@Giraffinator]

i feel like some of the advice here can be misconstrued as "never take risks," which is a severe overcorrection and totally not the point of the video. Sometimes, you have to take a (calculated) risk, and sometimes, it's gonna blow up in your face, and that's okay. I spent waaaay too long having the mindset of "always be as safe as possible, never ever open yourself up to damage."

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@Giraffinator yeah great point. I tried to stress that you still will have to hit the opponent and take risks, but the basis of the gameplan, especially in neutral, should revolve around the most low risks, high reward options first.

[@tiedie3995]

I think it depends on the game but I agree. I play a lot of Tekken which is a game that relies heavily on combos instead of special attacks. If I rely too heavily on defense I'll just get combo walled and my opponent will give me very little chances for an opening

[@albi3365]

I doubt anybody is going to read this but this is why I love playing mii swordfighter. He's a low tier since he doesn't actually have that many combos and has trouble killing. But playing him I feel more focused on what the opponent is doing and capitalising off of their mistakes and allowing me to have greater mental space on focusing on what the opponent is going to do. Since he's a low tier without many super good combos its more like trying to read the opponent's intention and punishing them for what they want to do rather than just dashing in.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Hey I read this and I love it! I have many characters like the throughout different games where I feel so sharp playing them because the kit helps me focus more on what my opponent is doing and how I can find a way around it

[@eutimiolongoria4696]

I play Tekken and this resounds with me. Played a Xiayou and was winning for most of the match until I fiended for that final hit. Got whiff punished, Xiayou pops heat and runs mix and I lose. Really helpful video. I’ll consider this when facing certain match ups and what their respective win conditions are.

[@HiHi-vn1eo]

This video really just called me out big time. In every competitive game I play I just go brain dead unga bunga damage the opponent without worrying about my own defense and health. Great video and glad this got recommended to me.

[@RohanKumar-ci9sl]

This applies to a ton of games honestly. Val, League, Deadlock, Tekken, etc etc

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@RohanKumar-ci9sl yea agreed! I can list examples of games that are nothing like fighting games and it can still apply, but I didn't want to bloat the video

[@germanelkapo1]

Even in shooters and racing games... I know it's weird to apply it in those genres, but it fits.

[@wastelandking]

@@germanelkapo1It's not weird to apply such principles to those genres. Shooters often require a good amount of spatial awareness and disciplined aim, for example. Both principles that take time to get consistent with.

[@germanelkapo1]

@@wastelandking yeah, but i mean that it feels weird to say "don't get hit" on a racing game, even though it can apply situationally. Though it's true that it's not weird at all in shooters, my bad.

[@dominiccasts]

Even RTS games. "Don't lose units" is a really hard lesson to learn, but you end up with so many more resources for other things to use to get ahead.

[@gentlekef8653]

Very interesting point my friend, since I play akuma this extra applies lol! Still for me I was a bit too lame, learning to be more pro active was a big game changer for me. Happy to see another mindset video!

[@praetorian9823]

I think part of what makes it so interesting learning stuff like this is also learning to tune out the negative aspects the community might have around a character. It was such a big thing that when I saw Sonic's aggressive potential in Smash, I put absolutely everything into his movement and confirms to show I wasn't a camper, but in the process, obviously, I sacrificed common sense. Side and down B for a minute became this mark of shame almost to avoid instead of being an incredibly useful defensive, but *also* offensive tool to learn and master. Sonic is an absolute *blast* to play offensively, a level of fun I never even came close to having with anyone else besides when I first played Fox. And yeah, Sonic *is* overtuned, he gets way too much reward for camping, there are plenty of complaints about his regular play style, but if you want to be aggressive, a great offense, comes from a great defense. Big difference between spamming side b side to side waiting, and using it to completely mix up and confuse an opponent for a hit they weren't expecting. Even then, this video was as much a revelation as the incredibly stupid, simple point that you should *always* watch your opponent, not yourself. It's such a braindead easy thing to know, but it somehow just passed me by and I never understood how people got so good at reading others. I felt like a total idiot, but it really encapsulates your point that in our desire to get the best of a character, we ignore the small steps in the process. Point is, don't let a negative aspect or feeling towards a character undermine your learning and experience for them, *especially* if you want to use them unconventionally. It's the same philosophy as writing, the best writers know all the rules by heart, so they can know exactly how to break them.

[@ninjagodryu9470]

02:59 bro this is like THE ESSENCE right here

[@evangedeon2194]

3 consecutive seconds without a punch thrown... urgh... must attack! Must make pain happen NOW -- oop, I've been 20-combo'd.

[@ViviBuchlaw]

You play action games to find out who you wish you could be You play fighting games to find out who you really are The more you think of Fighting Games as a martial art and not an excuse to push buttons, the farther you will go

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Bro is talking truths

[@javacloudz]

very well said

[@d-w-b-c]

As a martial arts fan, thinking about inputs this way really changes things.

[@budgetcommander4849]

Couldn't agree more.

[@ShibuNub3305]

this is just straight up true

[@pizzaboy220]

Great vid as usual Mikey. It's interesting that you mention the Overwatch vid because I think the first time I learned this concept was when I was trying to get good at Halo 3 as a kid, and was given this advice regarding BR duels that unless I had the jump on the other guy to just duck my head and run away, and that it was way more important to try to lower the D portion of KDA than to increase the K.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@pizzaboy220 haha for me growing up playing Halo, I was just trying to run at people with the Beam sword. It took me way long to learn to chill in any game haha

[@pizzaboy220]

@@MikeyDLuffy tbf if there's a beam sword in my hand, there will be no chilling lmao

[@321Tdog]

I always play way better when I consciously be more patient (usually when I have a good nights sleep). An additional advantage is that I can when my opponent is being _too_ passive and I know I can push offence a bit more than normal

[@UsingGorillaLogic]

My flaw is I'm lazy. I learn how to get hits and not get hit, then I completely ignore the stuff everyone else learns like combos so ironically I have the reverse issue of others.

[@mc3941]

What an awesome guide! It’s not everyday where you see Smash and traditional FGs come together to explain such an important concept! I think keeping the opponent’s goals in mind is important at the low level, so I’m showing this to my friends who are learning smash! 😁👍

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@mc3941 thank you I appreciate it a lot!

[@cloud99337]

A refresher is great thanks for the reminder

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@cloud99337 no problem! This exact things happen to me too haha. I start slipping up on things I already know and then go to KZbin videos to refresh the mindset

[@JenovaDreamweaver]

Something I noticed is that a lot of the time if I just hold back 99% of players will just keep hitting buttons hoping I’m gonna try something

[@goldenguy7470]

I gotta say, I'm not good at many FG's. But MAN they are fun and I think it's important that if you're playing an FG (or any game in general), and you're having fun even if you're not the best. THAT is what I think is key for anything and I hope others learn that too. (Unless they're in a tournament then you actually gotta be on that grind)

[@jakezepeda1267]

My brain only knows unga bunga and fuck around to throw off my opponent.

[@ReturnoftheMuffin]

awesome video!!! thank you sooo much, i was looking for the answer to my problems and i found it.

[@ChillOut_Gaming]

Another banger, can't wait to try to implement this but end up running at people with my brain off

[@ralphmubs6684]

I've been boxing for years are your advice are pretty valid for real fights

[@MarceloGrisa]

I'm trying to get better at Pokemon Nuzlocking, and this is so true... The hardest part is to learn how to position defensively

[@jessemack4863]

I appreciate your videos so much brother

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@jessemack4863 and I appreciate you watching them!

[@kylb7132]

Man I love fighting games but I don't like combos. I think I needed to see this video.

[@forgottengodsthatliveamong137]

Yo this is such a good video. Very to the point and informative. Honestly, it's crazy to think that this concept is so simple yet a lot of people, especially myself, can miss this and lose themselves in the endless grind for improvement. I'm gonna try my best to keep this vid in mind whenever I'm playing smash in the future and I'll see how much I can improve with this info. Thank you so much! Absolutely earned my sub!

[@blackblade1373]

I did already know defence was importantl, but it’s good to be reminded of that every so often

[@seeminglyindistressed3855]

(1)Ya know funny thing is when i was playing MKX I'd practiced with very hard CPUs to focus on playing defensively and punishing them.(2)That defensive play style changed when i moved to online multiplier matches where i learned about mix ups so to me it's about keeping this balance to accompany player's different plays styles all without learning fighting game lingo i see players use to describe the game play(3)The only thing that sucks is I'm a console player so I'm not really on the brand of getting subscriptions services so I stick to single player game like platformers and hack and slash games to satisfy my thirst for fighting games but it is lonely not being able to play with people and especially with me struggling in college turning me back to a shut in.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Yeah I feel that! Funny enough I actually do the same thing in many fighting games to unrust. I play vs CPUs and just try to play as patient as possible to get back into the groove of just watching the other character and slowly getting used to controlling mine. Nothing wrong with playing platformers and jack and slashers more often! I love single player games just as much, if not more than many fighting games haha. It's also fun just getting really good at the mechanics of a single player game too

[@seeminglyindistressed3855]

@MikeyDLuffy Weird thing is I got into fighting games because I suck at shooting and aiming so I just found fighting games more approachable with it having frame data for each move.

[@affinity601]

channel interaction

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@affinity601 my goat

[@epoc3338]

One of the best videos I’ve ever seen.

[@DKbill]

video quality has gotten lit bro, congrats, ur boutta earn success

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Appreciate you my brother. May we succeed together 🤝

[@DKbill]

@@MikeyDLuffy amen

[@nextos]

Thanks for releasing videos again

[@TempestDacine]

Fantastic points! Earned a sub

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Appreciate it!

[@nathaniel1940]

tbh i never really tried to improve at fighting games because i figured i'd never be good because trying to lab out combos always sounded boring. but i got into rivals 2 with no concern for improving or learning techskill or anything and i could feel myself getting a lot better and i wasn't really sure how. this almost seems to explain that, and makes me feel more confident in my own potential

[@DR9Y]

now that i think about it this vid described exactly why i started losing to my friend in mortal kombat, thanks for the tip

[@Exyzted]

Thanks a lot for this. Its very simple and something everyone learns at the start of the game but not many commit to dedicating time to practice it. This is very effective for fps games as well and is most likely the reason why I'm losing so much ranked matches😅

[@skop3609]

i have never played a fighting game in any way more than super casual idk where this came from youtube algo

[@skop3609]

wait this is so helpful though

[@skop3609]

wait this is so helpful

[@VegaVibing]

Yo shout out to skyline. Man really just said, here's how you get good at overwatch. Made a discord. Then disappeared. Wouldn't have gotten GM without that guy and Jayne.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@VegaVibing yeah I loved his videos. Sucks he disappeared so quickly haha

[@kingofgrunder5494]

There are a lot of lazy, low effort videos about "how to get better" at all these competitive games we love. This isn't one of them, great work!

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@kingofgrunder5494 thank you! Appreciate it

[@Valsorayu]

I think Guilty Gear's Faust is good at teaching you this idea. His most satisfying mechanic has always been the items, they teach a reactive playstyle because they are random but have specific interactions which they force from the opponent. Having the item toss be a bit vulnerable also teaches you that being outside of range of the opponents attacks is best, which synergises with his pokes and teleports to allow you to maintain neutral while still being far away. Though Strive's Faust isn't as strong as XRD-R2's Faust I still think he is a good way to learn that just throwing out attacks and combos is going to get you a loss at high tiers of play.

[@miwky406]

Action is expression, artistry, creation. Players are drawn to action because it's fun to engage in the dance of expression. The disconnect players experience comes from when the most optimal ways to play are analogous to a painter leaving a canvas blank.

[@DunningKrugerSan]

THANK YOU. 👏🏻SSBU player here. I've always had this vague feeling that Smash has a lot of great players and lot of really shitty teachers. Like, just an education problem in general. Obviously it's each player's own responsibility to improve their own game, but damn does it suck to feel like the only people who EVER get good are the ones who naturally figure out stuff like what you pointed out in this video. For example, I could have saved myself MONTHS of pointless practice when first starting out if just one person had bothered to point out the fact that you should generally try to keep your eyes on your opponent. I'm talking about stuff like that. Crucial, really simple, fundamental stuff that might come naturally to some players and not others; stuff that may feel so obvious and manifestly apparent to more naturally skilled players that it wouldn't even occur to them as being worth mentioning. Imho these kinds of completely avoidable gaps in how people talk about and teach each other new things in Smash (and video games in general) are a massive part of why the skill floor of competitive games can feel so maddeningly, artificially high at at times -- at least to me. Anyway I'm completely rambling. I just really really appreciated your attitude and perspective, Mikey. Thanks man. Great stuff. Subbed.

[@ghostismashin]

I think I really needed to hear this. I do think my pressure game in sf6 right now is pretty solid especially if I can catch my opponent by surprise but thinking about it now I do tend to throw out a lot of moves which would lead to me getting whiff punished or jumped in on. Another thing I started to notice especially from the local 2 days ago is when I’m confident, I would just rush the shit out of my opponent which can sometimes work but then once I start getting nervous that’s when I’m more “patient” but even then when I notice that I’m starting to lose I end up going back to my bad habits of wake up supers/ex dp or try to check something with drive impact or driver reversal. I was thinking maybe I just need to find the balance of being aggressive and patient, which I think is still true, but now I realize I just gotta work on my patient side and looking for better neutral options that don’t have a lot of risk to them and start to learn ways of baiting my opponent then from there I can transition to my aggressive side and seal it

[@cajonesalt0191]

This is also advice for fighting, like real fighting. If you're trying to compete and your coach is still drilling basics at you, you have a terrible coach. Instead, you should be working on how to make angles, how to get them off balance, ring control and pressure, how to change up so you don't get on a predictable path. All of it is about how to not let your opponent do what they want to do, because in the real world you *cannot afford to get hit*. A single, half-way solid hit is enough to end the fight 99% of the time, even for professionals. All "chin" really actually is, is the ability to still fight while halfway conscious. That's why undefended body shots fold professional fighters all the time. That's precisely why grappling is so effecitve in mixed martial arts - it removes the entire problem of getting your chimes rung so hard that you can't fight, let alone getting TKOd/KOd on one.

[@yeahey5947]

that baiken clip was so funny i had to rewind the video three times to hear what you said

[@TheTrueFool]

I think temperament also plays a huge role in competitive success. If you start reacting emotionally to things, you will play so much worse. Generally, the best players are very good at maintaining a level head.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

1:25 Yup, the average online warrior has abysmal defence. Aka flowchart players.

[@harrygreen3412]

Outside of game: Okay, I need to focus my defense and make sure my opponent can't play their game. In the game: UNGA BUNGA HIT BUTTONS

[@MC0two]

This video reminds me of fhe process of getting good at DOOM Eternal. You have to be able to avoid all the damage that comes from the demons while carefully dishing out pain yourself. I learned the game on nightmare and got my ass handed to me. But I didnt lower the difficulty. Instead I stuck with it and learned how to avoid damage and deal damage safely. Similarly to how top players are playing fighting games as you described them in this video. DOOM Eternal overall has quite a few similarities to fighting games, which I don't think is a coincidence, considering how you are trying to play smart in both. If you want more comparisons watch Under the Mayo's videos on DOOM Eternal. You'll find some similarities in at least a few of them.

[@dangerouslydubiousdoubleda9821]

Punk's ability to punish you at max range where your button doesn't hit him, but his hits yours, is such an overwhelming ability at a high level of play. Let me cite a key example. There's this Rashid in the US Midwest, named Dual Kevin, and his whole approach as a Rashid main, is playing extremely fundamentally sound neutral, pushing you to the corner, then landing crazy mix ups, setting up Level 2's, OD spinning mixer etc. Dual Kevin enjoys this ability of having stronger footsies to play his game, and he's probably a top 5, if not top 3, Rashid in the world for it. But when he faces Punk, that footsies advantage goes out the window, the roundhouse Rashid uses pretty freely against other pros is practically bait for Punk's crouching medium punch. All these advantages he usually enjoys with other opponents, goes out the window, because at Punk's best ANY over extension can result in a lost round, he becomes damn near a computer in space, in terms of speed, it is freakish, and terrifying to see when he's working in prime form. @Mikey D.

[@CptFitzgerald]

I've had this happen to me in two arcs of my life being rhythm sims when I was a teenager and pinball in my 20s. I always thought it was a class disparity issue because of both of those being arcade oriented pursuits on a competitive level and those with more money could either spend more on location practicing for hours or could even afford having the respective real machines at home. I had been flirting with getting into competition fighting games because it appears all you need is a fight stick in your backpack and a good community spot.

[@RamenHotep]

I drive impact too much, youtube brought me here.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@RamenHotep 🤣

[@spicetea4060]

Trust me they wont expect it this time

[@LewisGeter]

Crazy because I was venting how I kept forcing interactions too much in smash bros. Just for you to basically solve that issue for me. Appreciate it !!!

[@Twisted_Logic]

Thank you Isai

[@MH3Raiser]

It's MOBAs too. I played League of Legends for 9 years, DEVOURED guides and spent thousands of hours trying to improve, and I finally started to understand how to properly macro LAST YEAR. Now maybe I'm just bad, but I can confirm that for at the very least the first 5-6 years I was playing absolutely no guides were focusing on macro. Hell, most champion guides will still talk about whether you should go for early trades, what time your power spikes are, but won't talk about how well your champion can establish early prio, how quickly they can rotate to and from fights without losing tempo. TEMPO ITSELF is not mentioned in these guides. It's not helped that every decent youtuber and guide for a game as popular as League is completely swamped under by 100,000,000,000,000 guides that all say the exact same 5 barnham statements about any given champion. It's enough to drive someone crazy.

[@Flexium_GG]

He’s back guys

[@Dominant_Pant]

Great video and great advice! I know your content is mostly SF focused but as a ssbu player i would really appreciate a video covering how to stop mashers. Roys aerials are + on whiff and it drives me mad

[@senti1917]

Great video 👍, you talk a little fast though, all in all really cool!

[@RivermanGillz]

"defense wins championships" - Mikey D.

[@holdysnausages]

Goooood video. I wish more people would watch their own matches.

[@BeeAVillain]

I think the problem is focusing on getting good. if you have fun you'll get good with time without burning yourself out. if you focus on not being good enough you'll NEVER be good enough.

[@MikeyDLuffy]

Yeah 100%. The problem is once you are focused on improving its hard to shake that off your mind when you start losing. So finding a way to see the small improvements and work at it becomes more fun and healthy

[@chancemitchell4147]

Thank you for the validation and confirmation that I am slowly but steadily understanding Street Fighter 6 a bit more. I try to mimic my game play on what I see the pros doing but not the cool stylish combos but perfecting the two and few things I know how to do and executing. Knowing spacing, pulling off bread and butters, and just understanding the game best to my abilities. I’m not yet confident at pulling off the super stylish stuff with Ryu but who needs that when I can win with a jumping heavy kick, into low-forward into Shin-Sho? Style be damned, I just won. Lmfao.

[@tkienjoyer]

I've played one of these games, that being melee, I find this to not be that true until a certain point. The #1 player of 2023, and the best solo fox, cody schwab got so good at punish he beat really good players like junebug without knowing anything about neutral. Junebug described playing him as "he looked like he didn't know what he was doing, but then I got hit and died.". He didn't know what he was doing, but his punish was so good he could beat a top 100 sheik regardless. Then he learned insanely high level neutral.

[@MuJoNeSs]

1:15. That perfectly sums up.

[@KillerQueen365]

That's why i love mid-long range characters or guns.

[@oddgodzilla225]

Love you bro bro 🙏🏽

[@ConcavePgons]

The other extreme of this is to not know any combos (or how to link a stray hit into one) so when you get a win in neutral, your damage output is way too little and causes you to lose via getting ko'd or getting timeout'd. Based on my experience when I was trying to learn Skull Girls for the first time since I wasn't used to hand-eye coordination that the BNBs needed.

[@so14r3]

Literally i've noticed in the game's I play is that I tend to be too aggressive for the kill or the hit in the case of fighting games

[@elitenoob1]

the Persona 5 ost at the begging hits so hard now that i finished it yesterday...

[@WarpSonic]

I'm gonna try to apply this to fps games, specifically overwatch and Splitgate

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@WarpSonic overwatch was the first game that really made it stick for me! Really recommend the Skyline video I talked about in the video

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

The short version: know the matchups and fundamentals.

[@brocksteele7475]

Know where you're strong and where you're weak. Force engagements where you're strong. Refuse engagements where you're weak.

[@Gilbot9000]

Adding up with the homies in the discord, this video makes you like...the 5th person to tell me to "do less" when playing so I guess it's about time I internalize the advice

[@elfacun550]

I'm master 1600 in Sf6. I would'nt tell a newbie to only think in not get hit. Because then the opposite may be true, he is going to play to passively and then not learn how to apply pressure, and to apply presure you need to be aggressive. In that game everything is about spacing position, and resources. I seen low elo or even masters baiting and playing pasively going to the corner and they put themselves in bad position because of this. Being on the corner is red zone. Depends on the game but in Sf6 i would start learning to be aggresive because is a game that rewards to be aggresive. In brawhalla for example is better to be passive.

[@Eggroll3s]

The most factual thing ever said I'm ngl

[@NyxDiscordia33]

I clicked on this video intrigued what it would be about. I had my suspicions, but I was also curious to see if it was maybe that one key piece I needed to really start improving sadly that's not the case... a lot of what is proposed in this video is kinda what I already do naturally. I play really patiently (too patiently depending on who you ask) and I mostly just try to counter or punish what my opp chooses to do hilariously enough, in my game of choice (Tekken, more specifically Tekken 8), this advice isn't actually all that helpful. In fact, it was actually when I *STARTED* swinging that I started winning more. If you just block and try to play reactively it's really easy to just get streamrolled with constant mixups. In Tekken 8 if you *don't* swing you die; you have to stay on the offensive and that's one thing that I really struggle with because it goes against everything I know and everything I've practised. Tekken 8 is like, the only game where I feel comfortable just randomly throwing out a hopkick and hoping it connects because the alternative is giving them way too much time to formulate their own offense.

[@lordrav4746]

I didn't expect Smash to be compared to competitive king of the hill, but I honestly can't tell you that you're wrong. I need to keep all this in mind!

[@MikeyDLuffy]

@@lordrav4746 it's a bit of an over generalization, but the idea of it hold true in most sets at high level haha

[@DragonHalo3D]

same thing applies to shooters. everyone wants to have good aim and win every duel but the way you win actual games is by never giving your opponents a favorable duel, not by only winning your own. any game with a mechanical aspect will have this because there's a sort of ego attached to your raw mechanics. it's very hard to break because in almost all games, you can get pretty damn far with good enough mechanics.

[@jakebrady880]

Playing god of war 2018 on the haddest difficulty taught me this, particularly the final boss

[@lostporpoise8883]

Kinda funny im on the opposite end of the spectrum, i like playing everyone so i dont actually spend time learning combos and end up having to hit people way more than they have to hit me, i leave too much damage on the table. But damn if my neutral isnt good

[@a1337turtle]

you can try playing games where you dont really need to lab a ton? I like the older SF games for this reason

[@germanelkapo1]

I second playing a neutral heavy game. MKII and Samurai Shodown V Special are good examples.

[@makmakg242]

Tekken pro player AK once admitted to not utilizing frame data to practice at tournaments and instead rely on what is safe and not safe for safe-on-block moves. This was said from a Filipino radio podcast after he defeated Arslan Ash at Combo Breaker 2024

[@krobi26]

Thanks for the video!