Sajam Reads the Footsies Handbook

[@jmcrofts]

I'm convinced that SF4's hard knockdown system is responsible for the "wakeup jab sf5 lol" meme. Suddenly the new street fighter game doesn't let you set up a super robust vortex with 3 option selects built in off of every knockdown and people can't deal

[@SupermanSajam]

It is kind of bizarre, because wakeup buttons is a pretty consistent threat in any game with invincible reversals/other options on wakeup.

[@stolensentience]

Sajam huh?

[@stolensentience]

Are you sure it isn’t because there’s almost no reversal threat in sf5?

[@SupermanSajam]

@@stolensentience Nah, if a game didn't have reversals it would make meaty throw/strike even stronger.

[@stolensentience]

Sajam I’m saying that because there’s no reversal, why wouldn’t you just wake up with the other 3 or 4 frame button that doesn’t have a 30 frame punish window

[@exiaR2x78]

The footsies handbook is actually such a godlike explanation of footsies and strats, the fact that its all applicable 99% of fighting games just in different ways makes it super handy. I do feel though if your new to fighting games you kind of already need to have a decent base understanding of the game for the handbook to help you improve

[@spyderoficeable]

Not really what I'd call an article, but From Masher to Master by Patrick Miller is a really good resource as well.

[@jinjin45]

Pat is a god

[@ThisWorldisCorrupt00]

Put a link dude.

[@spyderoficeable]

@@ThisWorldisCorrupt00 It's a pdf by the way. Just FYI. Really great information though.

[@leaomarinho5023]

look up that one article Seth Killian wrote where he says Tekken is not deep because it doesn't have fireball

[@malcovich_games]

Fireballs were added since then. So Akuma in Tekken 7 is Seth's fault. What a madman.

[@CaptainYesz]

Tekken is diep because every character you fight is a dhalsim like unique matchup with 20 times the moves as Street Fighter

[@audiosmurf]

He actually wrote something that silly? Well, I guess the lesson here is to never have heroes.

[@MalikEmmanuel]

Saad Khalid actually read it. Then come comment again, I’d be interested to hear your informed opinion.

[@audiosmurf]

@@MalikEmmanuel Can I get a link?

[@zakuzakku_]

"If you don't know what battle by the bay is, you probably watch it every year anyways." Lmao.

[@level3xfactor]

I remember when I first entered the competitive scene way back in 09 and I printed out the Footsies Handbook and Domination 101 articles to read as much as I wanted. Learned so much from those. Great times.

[@JusRed48]

Sirlin's playing to win article actually totally changed my attitude and approach to fighting games and anything competitive in general.

[@Bigb671]

I love element 3. It's so satisfying when you're opponent becomes so afraid to press buttons in neutral that you could just walk right up to them.

[@kinginthenorth1437]

If you'd like another MtG article suggestion and haven't read "Who's The Beatdown?" yet it's an an absolute classic that illustrates your point about match ups from a few weeks back really well.

[@BHox01]

Y'all haven't seen mashing until you've played mid-level anime players with a two-button dp

[@Coldasllfe]

It’s called ED in SFV 😂💩

[@thedandynandy]

Blazblue gang

[@the_exxtra1425]

BTFG

[@kingdomofthesaintful]

okay moopoke nice alt you've got there

[@malcovich_games]

@@Coldasllfe nitpicking, Ed's DP is actually 3 buttons...

[@Th3Sh1n1gam1]

Man too good at games for friends but not enough to compete is the realest fucking struggle lmao.

[@Roan_Adams]

Funny how when you start playing fighting games, you think it's all about combos and optimizing, but there's so much enemy conditioning, getting in their heads. It's a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work.

[@VinceOfAllTrades]

I remember when everyone said "Only scrubby SF4 players wakeup short". It's definitely timeless.

[@decksteroussnail]

It's sad the clips keeps going down for the footsie handbook but there's a lot of good information especially chapter10 on changing up your timing and flow to keep from being unpredictable.

[@animeprofilepicture8855]

changing up your timing and even 'timing' your opponent is such a powerful skill but not a lot of people seem to talk about it

[@KingFossilFER]

Enjoyed reading "The "Footsies" Problem: (Mis)understanding Samurai Shodown"

[@austinwarden9148]

When in doubt, mash it out

[@yuurou7927]

Mash X Fuzzy abare 〇 It seems a meme but in fact wake up mashing on certain situations works better than fuzzy abare. I know because I got hit by wake up mashing A LOT and I'm like Oh yeah I probably should be more aggressive.

[@michelemichienzi934]

Looking at the tweet I was like "who's this Stephen Lyon, looks like Sajam doppelganger".

[@baronvonfaust]

The biggest doppelganger of all, he even took Sajam's name on twitter

[@ZeroStrife1396]

That's actually just Majas' cousin's second account

[@conanbdetective]

Coming from the Smash community, they were never lacking in this department. There was PPMD, M2K, Hax$, Cactuar, Armada and Scar just to name a few who took it upon themselves to bridge the gap between the mental and the physical (through Smashboards). It's hard to find those articles/posts nowadays because the links weren't collated iirc, but they are still there. I took it for granted that the "FGC Proper" (as James Chen puts it) would have stuff like this in droves. I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't much pre 2013. All I heard was the Footsies Handbook, Domination 101 and Playing to Win. These are great resources for sure, but it's just somewhat odd that there's very few during that time. Obviously, now, there's quite a bit more now thanks to the popularity of Core A Gaming and HiFight.

[@itsyaboi1245]

LEAN MELEE

[@tkpipo]

I like the fact that we are looking back in fgc history, they should call you Sajam the FGC Historian.

[@simongotborg3866]

There's an excellent KoF guide called "Beginner incomplete guide to KoF" by Dandy J. It's really really REALLY good.

[@johngleeman8347]

I laugh when I think of a world where the jargon was called "punchies" instead. XD

[@stolensentience]

Fight night

[@zaphero5518]

*fisties*

[@pretzels1208]

it's called footsies because it's about movement, it's about moving your feet. In a world where characters moved with their hands while upsidedown it would be called handsies.

[@vegaspony]

​@@pretzels1208 it's called footsies because you touch the other guy's feet with your feet

[@hands-ongaming7180]

@@zaphero5518I love to watch players fisting each other

[@galesturms]

For history and specific events from the FGC “score eSports” is a solid watch, but it is interesting how a lot of articles just lead to videos or something.

[@co81385]

This was awesome!

[@Dahras1]

Not really an article on game strategy, but definitely an interesting article about fighting game metagame and balance is David Sirlin's Balancing Multiplayer Games (www.sirlin.net/articles/balancing-multiplayer-games-part-1-definitions). One of my buddies actually used it in his master's thesis in game design. It really encapsulates the "state of the art" in game balance that designers in the West use.

[@comradesero]

David Sirlin - Playing to Win used to be REQUIRED READING in the FGC

[@olimphus26]

Anti-air sweep LoL, classic.

[@snitchbug]

god yeah the bit about anime players mashing lmao

[@crushorangesoda6956]

Go through the elements

[@hteety]

To me, footsies isn't the entirety of neutral, but rather the spacing and movement game within neutral. We use similar concepts in Mobas, and even FPSs, where by changing our movement patterns, we can bait and force misses. However, neutral conceptually includes so much more, which is why I think for new players, trying to equate footsies to the neutral game is too baseline. Tow is because the neutral game in fighting games are always 1v1 with full animation. However in a game like Starcraft, neutral also includes concepts like scouting which is fully informational and not mechanical at all, and has no footsies vibes. League, Valorant, CS, and Apex neutral involves the same information gathering and resource gathering and scouting, in addition to the footy elements of positioning and playing around weapon selections and their ranges.

[@rouge-ish324]

I agree so much! There are loads of video game general knowledge that fighting game concepts apply to or at least describe well, especially when those communities don't talk about them

[@iceloveanime]

I can only give a smash comparison of footsies. It's dash dancing. I'm not super creative with it but it gets to try something and most of the time i got something for it.

[@Nimrod336]

You should look up cutcc video on frame data...it isn't just about frame data he went into how to play tekken and well just the basics of all fighting ganes its the best most useful video I ever saw on how to play. It's the video that made me understand fighting games

[@ArcaneSmash]

made a lot of jokes to local fgc friends about how sajam will eventually read all the old classic articles as 'super original content' after the MTG one glad to see we got to the best one already

[@SupermanSajam]

Nothing original, but a good classic article to check out and remind people about

[@zokisvasta]

I actually hate this walk into the range and walk out option. More often than not you'll see people trying to do just that and get stuck in proximity guard.

[@MoldMonkey93]

Element 99 happens with bad visibility in general , characters that float, or wearing black in a dark stage.

[@kinginthenorth1437]

As an NRS player I hear so many complaints about wake up jab so it's definitely not just a SFV thing. Maybe people should stop viewing them as a scubby, bad technique at least until they stop getting hit by them.

[@-eea32]

Lmao in melee we have wake up shine and only scrubs complain

[@Hermentotip]

Mt fav article is The Excellent Adventures of something something... Can't remember well

[@DctrBread]

favorite goodass fighting game articles i've read was "inside the esports bubble" alright so not entirely fgc, but if you haven't read that shit...

[@Astraldymensions]

oooooh... this is taking the throw.

[@RosaVitae]

Nice DSP impression

[@nuccidesu]

You ever read "The Inner Game Of Tennis" Sajam?

[@ShotRage]

But if it's a footsies handbook, shouldnt that make it a footbook?

[@hands-ongaming7180]

Foot notes?

[@Soapy_Papoose]

Ken with the beard family

[@clowngirlhonkers]

sajam: "....obama article" me: BARACK???? but i realized after that he probs meant majin

[@El-Burrito]

Barack comes and goes. Majin is forever

[@king5corpion]

I don’t know if you have heard about The Option Select. It’s pretty The Onion but for fighting games. theoptionselect.com/

[@GarethXL]

it's not that anime players mash, it's just that we are better at pushing buttons 😜

[@ttacoguyy]

people say the same stuff abkut wakeup jab in mk11

[@PrinceofFreshia]

Whats wrong with a wake-up jab ?

[@Viviantoga]

Did you not notice that the "Man Too Good at Fighting Games to Enjoy playing With His Friends" article was from a parody news site?

[@Thegearsofwar2268]

Ayee it's me

[@danielmx2408]

tl;dr

[@SupermanSajam]

Keep it down over there dweeb

[@B_Ahmed1234]

FIRST!