The Forever Tech

[@HQRubbish]

P-linking is cool and all, but I'd love hear your take on a much more elusive technique that I don't quite understand yet called Th-inking.

[@Demonstormlord]

Nah, nobody does that bro, it's a myth.

[@StarShadow9009]

This post was made by Unga-Bunga gang ooh ah ah.

[@christopherhammond5142]

You're asking a lot, bro. He's good but no-one's a miracle worker.

[@demiurge2501]

@@StarShadow9009this is the way

[@joshuatye1027]

Love your videos!

[@Micha-Hil]

0:12 The echoing "LIGHT, MEDIUM, LIGHT, HEAVY" in the background gives me hope for fighting games as their whole. If we can keep this meme going for this long, it means a lot.

[@Se7enRemain]

KEEP THE RHYTHM UP! HEAVY PUNCH ULTRA

[@NewGabeOrder]

If you look carefully, the kick after the aerial medium punch is actually an aerial medium kick. Notice the difference in Iron Man's aerial light and medium kick frames.

[@r15835]

I really wish it was SLIGHTLY louder to be clearer. Even after 6 replays, i still can't actually hear the words at all. I only recognized the "scene" and remembered the words after it was pointed out (by OP).

[@strawberrykeiku]

@@Se7enRemainBUT I AIN’T GON DO THAT SHIT! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

[@Zetact_]

It's also that the name of "plink" while it was originally meant to refer to just "priority link" also has this sort of "feel" to the word that it's like a quick flick of the fingers. Some game lingo can be pretty esoteric and nonintuitive but plink was by fortune not one of those.

[@AirLancer]

Outside of fighting games, plink is already a word and the definition that'd probably fit with the fighting game version best is "to make a series of short, light, ringing sounds." Which is kind of what happens when you plink your buttons.

[@ADxTygon]

love seeing the editing/visuals by Rubbish! their vids are always a visual treat so it's cool to see ya collaborate

[@jjh01harmon38]

Plinking made my fingers do things I didn't know were possible.

[@osiahene]

Pianoing is necessary for consistent tech hits (push blocks) in Vampire Savior.

[@TiredCoffeeMug]

Really dig the VHS style representation during the Sakura plinking explanation backed by the doom metal music throughout the video

[@CB66941]

In Tekken and Soul Calibur we have button sliding. If you're playing on controller, you have to slide your thumb from one button to another. There's even some moves where if you slide fast enough you get an enhanced version of that move.

[@Bol.Sadguy]

I might be misremembering but I seem to recall that it was confirmed by devs leading into the release of SFV that how the game interprets plinking (i.e. the same strength button on 2 consecutive frames) was purely a glitch in the SFIV engine and removed for later releases. Obviously we can still physically *piano* the buttons 1 frame apart (and people will still refer to it as a plink), but IIRC the way the games interpret the input is different from SFV onward.

[@Kalulosu]

Isn't that just for Select linking?

[@Spabobin]

not sure about SFV, but I can confirm that in SF6 plinking doesn't duplicate the higher priority input. If you try to input a link like 2MP > 2MP 1 frame too early for the input buffer, then repeat it with 2MP > 2MP~LP, the input buffer will make 2LP come out. The input buffer makes plinking mostly irrelevant, so now it's just there to give leniency for simultaneous button presses like Throw, OD moves, etc

[@PrivateJoker0119]

Good thing links and combos are very easy now

[@koffydnf979]

whats cool is despite the leniency of DNF Duel's buffer windows there are actually times when you have to plink inputs, but for the exact opposite reason that you might in SF4. the block button has such high input priority (only lower than supers and conversion cancels iirc) and everything has SO MUCH recovery on whiff that you plink it on certain parts of your combo as an anti buffer. most commonly you'll see it if someone wants to do an air special right before they land from a jump, since missing the timing will make you whiff something and probably get you killed, so you can plink the input with guard to intentionally shorten the buffer window and prevent that from happening.

[@hiddensanchez9876]

Bro the editing went nuts this vid holy mama. Good shit

[@DanTheMeek]

Back in my SF4 days I spent literal hours practicing plinking, but never could get it to register as multiple inputs more then once out of every 10 tries. I don't know what is wrong with my fingers/brain, or just right with those who say its "not that hard", but its definitely not a universally accessible skill. It was particularly frustrating for me back in the day because I basically bought a 150 dollar fight stick just to get access to plinking, and yet still couldn't do it. I've always been awful at piano'ing as well. I actually bought a special glove specifically designed for sliding your finger across buttons, but my luck was no better. Perhaps interesting, my same friends who say plinking is easy, say "mash" input moves are hard to do consistently with out normals coming out, yet I've been able to do them on command from neutral with near 100% consistently since SF2 hit arcades and still to this day, I'm legitimately more consistent with it then my quarter circle inputs.

[@AuntBibby]

i suck at plinking too. i cant really do mash input moves in sf4 or sf2, but in sf5 i can do them okay (if my right hand isnt tired). i also have a lot of difficulty antiairing with shoryuken-input moves, so i play characters with flashkick-style antiairs or quartercircle antiairs or button macro antiairs.

[@f5673-t1h]

Do what he said in the video: hold one finger slightly higher than the other.

[@DanTheMeek]

@@f5673-t1h Tried it. For hours. And hours. On different days, on different weeks. I don't know what it is, but my fingers just seem to come together as I press. Maybe I could pull it off if I duct taped my fingers together or something, but that would have caused its own issues. Regardless, these days I've just given up on it, the fact I can't do it no longer bothers me. But man, during my SF4 days, it was a point of a lot of unnecessary frustration.

[@jadesherer7493]

ive been looking for a glove like that, do you remember the name of it? im using gloves designed for guitarists right now because i didnt think anyone made them for buttons

[@DanTheMeek]

@@jadesherer7493 I had to do some digging but I actually found it. Alas, it appears to no longer be sold. I looked into the manufacturer, and they appear to be still around, but as far as I can tell, only sells sport watch bands now. I'm not sure if it'll be any better then your guitarist gloves, but you might also look into billard gloves, they were recommended as a comparable item, I did some searches on them and at least some of them look very close to what I had.

[@jamesd4991]

3s players refer to that window on wakeup waiting to catch out a button or after someone would have parried as "delay timing." It also plays into the mechanic in the game that makes you throw invulnerable for 6 frames when waking up, as you can delay timing to catch people jumping away.

[@DSKBR556]

Trying to learn UNIST recently and the game's 5000 throw option selects being piano style inputs was hella weird as someone who's just used to basic delay tech and pray.

[@TanasinnAZ]

Most of them are not piano's. The only ones that are would be ones that involve FF or j.A. Stuff like 2AD and 3CAD can just be mashed all at the same time. I made a short video on the subject.

[@muttiilpomodoro4354]

Oh also, in 3rd strike, Makoto Sa1 relies on plinking to make dash-punch into super viable. probably the most notorious use of plinking in the game since it's a major advantage for the character

[@Just_normal_youtube_channel]

Those frame perfect combos are what made SFIV fun as hell for me to watch at Evo.

[@EdwardoFE]

love that the fightstick shown is the old Dreamcast stick.

[@Vorpalsword138]

The fuzzy CRT & VHS filters, the grimy aliased 3D models, all backed by the sludgy sounds of doom metal, create an aesthetic quality to your videos that is totally unlike any other fighting game channel. Love your style, and love your ideas. Love to see the collab with Rubbish too. Great stuff homie

[@justingoers]

Totally. Love the aesthetic.

[@ObeyaCorpsArmory]

Love your videos, you helped me get good at SF4 and opened my brain to what FGs are

[@MrCactuar13]

The most helpful tech I've learned that's been applicable to so many fighting games is the double tap. I got into the habit for SFV when it (supposedly) took out plinking and with the 3 frame input buffer made links far more reliable than plinking would have. I've gone on to apply it to Xrd combos and noticed an appreciable increase in getting frame perfect timings there as well. It's also been immensely helpful for getting hard combos in old games from Super Turbo, Vampire Savior, and CVS2. Somehow it never occurred to me that doing a fast Raging Demon input required double tapping, but it's been helpful for getting kara demons and also chain comboing into Luminous Illusion in VSav.

[@kaceejones2282]

Seems nice maybe I can apply this method the old KOFs such as 2000. I'm trying to complete challenges on the PS2 version of the game some tips on pad would help too.

[@hyperventalated]

This whole time I had no idea plinking stood for something like priority linking. I thought it was named that because if you do the same motion on a piano, it goes "plink!", and that made total sense to me. I even guessed what it was before it was explained to me just because I thought "haha you go plink! across the buttons!". Priority linking makes more sense lmao.

[@TFGRhinehart]

In Melty Blood Act Cadenza, there was a glitch the community called bara cancelling because you were kara cancelling a bunker cancel (the game's alpha counter/dead angle equivalent). This was typically performed by doing the QCB motion required for the bunker cancel, but plinking D (shield) with C (heavy). This would let characters who had QCB+C EX moves, like Ciel, do them while blocking. I later discovered that you could actually do ANY input so long as you did the QCB motion first and plinked D~# (#=whatever button you want) at the end of the motion for your attack. This allows for guard cancel reversals such as DPs (especially good for V/Akiha, who can combo from it), command grabs, supers, etc. Anything you could technically perform. People were scared to hit me with blockstrings in that game.

[@mousefire777]

I love plinking. Makes combos in sfiv and (to a lesser extent cause the links are less tight) sfxt feel really good

[@justingoers]

I subscribe to over a hundred channels and I'm consistently the most stoked for Theory Fighter vids. Pure gold. Doom metal and fighting game deep drives? YES YES YES

[@r15835]

Ngl, i didnt look at the channel name when looking at the thumbnail. I was not expecting a TheoryFighter vid, but this is even better. Love the colors you (or the artist) used for the 3d model hand's lighting and shadows.

[@mrpinguimninja]

As an anthropologist who researches technique, my mind is spinning with all the possibilites of everyhting you just said. From the different temporalities to the development of bodily skills, I could write at least a paper on all that.

[@nitalukder2108]

If you do, I'd like to read it. Sounds interesting!

[@Guitar-Dog]

I've not thought of FGC as fighting game culture... Seems like it could be an okay comparison, like disease researchers using WoW

[@r1konTheAutomator]

Yooo I got to a theory fighter video randomly within 10 minutes of it coming out?! let's go!

[@2Sor2Fig]

To make you feel better, you don't always mention MVC III dashes, but when you do, it makes sense.

[@carlosvergara4132]

Great video, plinking helped me do karathrows in 3S (besides the 1f links in 4). At 1:40 you talk about how "you leave a 1 frame gap between them", however, the more precise description would simply be "you press them 1 frame apart", as you correctly do so later in the video ("1 frame gap between" implies leaving 1 frame with no input between button presses).

[@AbsoluteSadlad]

2:06 onwards was beautiful seeing a modded Green Goblin in all it's 3D glory.

[@pinkiepurplez]

2:33 "You can tell the difference" Me: theres a difference?!

[@freehatespeech6804]

I used plinking in old KoF that lacked an input buffer for normals. One example: Takuma's heavy tatsu is -4 on block, making it a one frame timing to punish it for most characters. Even though there is no priority linking in those games, you can "plink" crouching B and crouching A to turn the timing into a 2 frame timing. You don't know which move you will get, but either one works.

[@Yakuo]

Love these videos, such masterpieces.

[@THR33_Dizzle]

Tekken this is simply referred to as "tilde" named from the symbol used to notate it, "~" when typing out commands. So if you want to press left kick immediately followed by right kick, it's notated, "3~4" when typed. This input is usually utilized when the regular "3+4" (both buttons simultaneously) is already being used for another move, but can sometimes be used because of the timing of the actual strikes.

[@kumaSOevl]

Love the fight stick animation

[@capt_howdy]

Back in SF4 I thought I was so cool with my select button re-wired to 4P in order to plink with my pinky like in the Japanese arcades.

[@sushisuke]

sick editing Rubbish, great video as usual!

[@bupgaming5150]

I was tired and the thumbnail looked like Alex’s 3rd Strike portrait.

[@user-np4tv2id4y]

phenomenal editing. i love to see the exponential progress: seems like you’re self-actualizing. been a big fan of yours for a while. keep up the good shit, you deserve it. (also, huge thanks for putting me onto Malammar, one of my favorite artists of all time now- i love “i”.)

[@Iqzzy-KO]

As someone who knew what plinking what but never actually understood how it worked I needed this vid, also, as a hardcore 3rd Strike player I didn't know about the tech at 7:12 :)

[@DioDCynic]

I see a new Theory Fighter video and I just click

[@joshuab3199]

Excellent video, the opening bit drives me crazy due to the horribly inaccurate Dreamcast MVC2 case.

[@paulunga]

Great job on the thumbnail, immediately made me think of plinking.

[@Marzimus]

2:07 I had that Dreamcast Arcade Stick! Joystick went bad after too many Proton Cannons.. 😅

[@FrankieGSRK]

Nice video The magneto was me plinking Air dash with mag blasts. Plinking is a lot easier than it seems. Just have to find a spot to apply it

[@belojah2]

I don't think I've stuck with games that plink. But this has made me want to try umvc3 to give it a go

[@ar.temis696]

I would always plink jump into special (for shorthop specials) in Smash Bros when I played that. Didn’t realize that that’s what it was called until now.

[@Swix_FGC]

I also remember when you were rewarded for execution in fighting games.

[@C3lticlord]

I knew from the thumbnail that it would be plinking

[@aesthetichistory9868]

I love that the animation is a Dreamcast stick

[@Dronlothen]

I thought "Plinking" was an onomatopoeia not a shortened version of Priority Linking. God damn it.

[@TanasinnAZ]

The last clip with the 3rd strike parry/mash sounds more like an OS/option select. So you beating that would be an OS Crush.

[@GaduBear]

Rubbish's video production quality really is unmatched

[@Shodan130]

another example of "plinking but not really plinking" was in jojo's. alot of the character combos require turning on stand into a stand normal from stand off. and this is done by plinking the stand button with the button you want to come out when in stand on... this doesn't add anyting to your point but just another game i wanted to mention that has people throwing the term plinking around despite not being a priority link.

[@HQRubbish]

It is actually the opposite way around. You can execute Stand ON attacks by simultaneously pressing the stand and attack button of choice, no plink necessary. To hit a Stand OFF normal from Stand On however requires a plink and not a simultaneous press.

[@Shodan130]

@@HQRubbish ah I just assumed it was for both lol. But yea still another case of plinking but not plinking haha, I’ve just been doing plinks for both as I was used to it coming from sf4 lol.

[@plabcentral630]

I cannot do anything that is faster than 4 frames. That is where my consistency breaks.

[@PapaLobster]

This is such an amazing video and the visuals were INSANELY cool! I love seeing your videos pop up on my feed, I think its interesting developers are even using the word 'Plink' or 'Plinking' in dev notes to help denote the time too!

[@bofaybaykweh]

Arcana heart has an interesting plink system with its dash button and attacks

[@Grinning.Lizard]

And this is how competitive fighting games die, they can use all the plinking data to teach a robot how to be better than you but in a way that it’s not obvious robot reaction but something that is just that much imperceptibly faster than you

[@MorbyLol]

honestly as someone who learned what plinking was with the input first and the origin second i just thought the name was onomatapia

[@harddriveYT]

Fight community should start incorporating drum terms. P(linking) is literally a Double Stop / Flam in drum playing when you hit the snare with both sticks with minor delay. The timing is literally the same as P(linking)

[@nonuvurbeeznus795]

thanks for using the GOAT sakura in the animations hope she gets in season 2 of sf6

[@lirionbelmont]

Cool vid

[@SquallTheBlade]

I actually have been pusning "plinking" to describe hitting buttons back to back. And I see others do it too. Root of the word might have different meaning but the word itself is indeed very useful.

[@SuperErinMan]

The only truly universal tech is actually a combo that has been programmed into every game ever: Taunt > Get bodied

[@omarg2079]

how the fuck do you taunt in pong?

[@SuperErinMan]

@@omarg2079 just flail the knob

[@blazikeaton7478]

the truest combo😂

[@chickrepelant]

i am CONFIDENT You can already body me at 3rd Strike. this was such a great video, and really scary example of lab demons

[@JNAMOTORSPORTS]

I wish they had a program to tech plinking

[@Triniwn]

I just picked up Anre in GBVSR and he has dash attack loop with his super that is way easier if you just plink with the dash button. Forever tech indeed

[@kivaHBRO_04]

0:20 SUPERIOR TECH !!

[@fateful4747]

3:05 - If Alpha 2's priority is reversed, can't you just plink in the other direction? ie. instead of doing MP then MP+LP, you do MP then MP+HP? This allows you to get the same effect of "hitting" MP in 2 frames instead of 1.

[@TheoryFighter]

Oh shit, you're right.

[@kerbonaut2059]

Ahhh Plinks. The curse of Potemkin in Guilty Gear Strive. I knew what you were talking about the moment you put the date lol, plinking in fighting games has gone so far beyond priority linking in SF4.

[@CrossfacePanda]

Holy production values!

[@silentscope88]

Plinking in Super Turbo is used in order to executes cancels to super. Normal canceling a normal to super is impossible in ST. For instance cr mk to Shinku. Just pressing cr mk and then doing 2xQcf+p won't work. What you need to do is buffer the motion then plink the cr mk to the last motion fo super ie... Qcf, D, Df+mk > F+P.

[@Kreozot2D]

Oh, I remember that! Brings back memories. Tried to mash buttons as Vega in SSF4AE/USF4 in spare time Man, if only USF4 had rollback netcode :D I miss SF4 and it's chonky hit sounds.

[@chimericalical]

Okay, so, it took me far to long to realize that the benefit of this is being able to mash the same attack 2 consecutive frames so if you’re 1 frame early or on time you get the 1 frame timing… Or you get +1 frame to buffering.

[@twoshirts1842]

2:27 animation is op

[@NestorTheMindSculptor]

Glad you're getting into third strike, arguably the best fighting game ever made

[@kaiserbts8007]

The future may be leverless

[@djukor]

I am glad they got rid of 1-2 frame links in later games. It made learning to play SFIV extremely stressful and frustrating. And the fact the game used delay based net-code made it even worse. Id spend hours in training mode not practicing setups or situational combos but literally how to press 2 buttons in succession perfectly.

[@raphaelfp]

Never managed to learn plinking consistently. Sometimes I miss the chain combos system, it was much more fun and acessible in my opinion

[@TonyToon]

Am I misremembering or didn’t some people map select/taunt/start/something in SFIV so they could plink light attacks using it?

[@本気狸]

Yeah sako got caught using that

[@TheoryFighter]

Tokdio used select as a plink, so sick (also kinda fucked)

[@Infil]

There's no "mapping" of select, it's just that select is the lowest priority button so you could use it to plink 1 frame links involving jab (which doesn't have a normal lower priority button). Some people rewired their arcade stick to make the 3P button select (within easier reach of the hands, where normally select is on the back of the stick), or they drilled a hole in their stick and stuck in a new button wired to select near the jab so it was very easy to plink. It's possible on all devices, just very inconvenient unless you move the select button somewhere else. I believe several pro players modified their stick in this way.

[@DUBSDADEVILL]

We have been plinking since SF3 by the way .

[@NorthernConnectFilm]

Plinking in battle for the grid is OD

[@MrBroken030]

4:37 Thanks, i have been saying this since that game and tech was a thing :D its kara dahs!

[@FhargaZ]

In the first Tekken we did that for some moves, for Law. 🤔

[@jelaninoel]

I used to always do it in 4 and saw no improvement in my links

[@waifuenthusiast789]

love me some HQRubbish

[@TWKIC]

I adore the faux vhs effect in the video, and of course the subject matter is excellent as well lol

[@lancergt1000]

SF4, Marvel vs Capcom, and SFxTekken uses the same engine, I wonder if thats why the usage of the plinking input keeps persisting between all these games 😂

[@miniyodadude6604]

Would this not just be considered a form of option select?

[@thepaper888]

2:25

[@kawaiiempoleon8721]

"ah yes do 2 inputs exactly 1 frame apart totally an easy technique" this shit is less practical then just learning the 1f link

[@furukawanagisa7935]

I think I only plink in sf4 but I do piano in ssf2 and third strike.

[@Vabryn]

With that Alpha 2 example by the rules you outlined can't you just do M~H so instead of getting MK~LK you'll get MK~MK?

[@scaleitback1055]

Do renda cancels next!

[@keithsimpson2685]

I had better luck doing 1f raw than trying to plink but im buttonstupid

[@danizen]

Today’s a good day

[@bigeoof1804]

The H A N D

[@doctordice2doctordice210]

Great video but scrubs isn't a skill assessment, noob is Scrub is a character assessment, and you're not a scrub my guy lol

[@MrMulaflaga]

Great video

[@Rickenslacker]

Excellent video. I never knew the actual reasoning behind *why* plinking worked in SFIV, just that it did. I also didn't know that plink was short for something, just figured it was coined off the actual word.