You Don't Ever Have To Get Good At Fighting Games 

Nobody ever gets good at fighting games, you only get better.

I don't ask to get good, just ask to fight people as bad as I am

Jiyuna and MajinObama with two videos full of wisdom on the same day, what a treat. It's almost like they would be better off as friends rather than mortal enemies

This goes for most games with a competitive scene, having fun is the most important factor when playing. As Reggie Fils-Aime said, "If the game's not fun, what's the point?" Remember people, they are GAMES! If you have fun competing, and winning then you can do that, all the more power to you, but don't make other people think that's the only way to play.

I think this is why i like Jiyuna. He's got a good mindset. Fighting games are games at the end of the day, you should have some fun.

I think it's because so much of the fun of fighting games is the feeling of getting better. If it doesn't feel like you're improving, pressing random buttons, being confused, and getting smoked they get pretty boring. You can still have fun while you're getting bodied, but at some point your patience is going to run out and you'll want the win.

A Jiyuna/MajinObama podcast would be so entertaining. They both have wisdom but also talk shit to each other.

I remember when I was young I was told, no matter how good you think you are at something, there’s always someone younger than you that’s even better at it and not to worry too much about it.

I didn't get good at fighting games until I stopped being sweaty. But now I wanna go back to tournaments and test myself but it's a completely different energy now, I have achieved zen I can't even make jokes this video was too real 😭

I love how the P4AU shorts are making an appearance almost every video now lmao

I used to think the same way. "You play Fighting games to win" but now as a working adult, I had to settle for being "decent". I know some college kids who grind all day when they aren't studying. Can't beat that with my 3 hours a day 3 times a week lol. So yeah, now I'm a filthy casual.

Nothing worse than letting W/L anxiety ruin a video game for you. Especially fighting games. What I will say is, playing with people around your level as a beginner is infinitely more fun than playing someone who knows the game in and out lol. Great video

That intimidation is definitetly a factor, all the stuff that is going on does stress you out. Losing is fine but it doesn't feel fun to get endlessly washed and thats been my current experience as a beginner with fighting games so far, maybe its cos skullgirls is really reset heavy but when you lose you lose HARD.

And please, stop using competitive games as a measure of your self worth Winning or losing, we're all still worthless

People shouldn't have to be good at their hobby, they should enjoy their hobby. If you aren't part of the less than 1% of the top 1% that actually can make money playing games your skill is only leveraged against your own enjoyment. I think a big part of the problem is how many fighting games have absolute garbage match making. If you don't get good you could be looking at losing approximately 99% of the time instead of approximately 50% of the time. And after a point that much losing gets miserable.

I play FG's to go to parties and stand in the corner while thinking "They don't know that I can do Mech-Hisui's gravity loop on most the cast"

"getting good" is the "goal" but it's like how everyone wants to be a millionaire, not everyone is gonna be able to get to that level but it shouldn't stop you from enjoying whatever you make out of your life.

We need more single player stuff in fighting games to get more people attached to them before trying their luck and get their dreams crushed online. A player who learned to love the game by unlocking 20 characters in single player mode who repeatly loses online will at worst stick to offline play, but a complete rookie losing too much online is far more likely lose interest and never play the game or any other fighting game ever again.

Needed to hear this sentinent from you and Obama today. Thanks I think one of the issues is that there is so much focus on the competitive scene. All of the fgc content creators have invested so much time in to them in general and are generally very skilled. When was the last time some non fgc person casually started playing a fighting game, just pressing buttons for kicks and giggles having a good time? It rarely ever happens. It seems everyone is either all in, or not in at all. There isn't much middle ground being occupied.

jiyuna with the naked tone sweatshirt, made me sit up in my chair for a second

He’s not even giving me time to roll my eyes anymore, he’s just hard-cutting to the shorts now 😂

I really relate to this idea. I get really anxious playing lately but as I sweat it less and less I have more fun.

its not just the nature of the games itself, but the community as well. I've met people that literally have no interest talking to people that are not at least trying to get good. If they don't see the kind of improvement they expect during a time frame, they start disregarding you as a player. I tried arguing with the same points you do, but they are stuck in that mindset and don't want to change it. It puts stress on people, especially if they are simply slower at learning stuff and want to improve, getting disregarded by these other players that say "i don't see any improvement, guess you don't want to get better" doesn't help and is pretty toxic imo.

It's always a good video when Jiyuna brings out the shorts 😳 It's true, though, you don't need to get good. I make a living by being bad at fighting games 🐮👈

“The idea” is exists in fighting games because of the large investment required to pass the initial button mashing phase, and the total crushing defeat you experience in ranked/locals until you do, resulting in a sunk-cost justification in many players’ minds.

Jiyuna stopped stressing about getting good at fighting games only after his hairline. RIP hairline, just try to save what you have left, stay casual.

This is such an important message to share. Fighting games don't need you to be great to have fun.

Really needed to see this today after taking a big losing streak. Thanks for the great reminder Jiyuna!

Because people will treat you like a moron if you don't no matter what you have to say Don't engage with the community. This is one genre where you never have to talk to a teammate or the opponent.

People get stressed over their main game no matter what genre. Which is why “I don’t even play this game” is the biggest dis.

You don't have to get good, but it would be nice to get consistently matched up with people who are at (or around) your skill level. I'm also very intrigued about rumors that Capcom will be using technology that learns and adapts to your skill level in future fighting games, so that even if you just play the CPU, you can still learn something.

Man you are really getting your mileage out of those shorts I can see you taking them with you wherever you go.

This is true. Whenever I see a post about how bad they are at fighting games, there are like 50 people saying you don't have to win but to get better. You don't have to get better either just try to have fun.

We just out here trying to hit the dash up parry 🛡️

I think part of it might be that depending on "how" you lose, you basically might not even get to play and that makes people fucking salty (myself included.) So in a lot of cases you either win, or you dont get to play. also fighting games being 1v1 naturally have that "if i win i am better than you" factor. Nobody wants to hold that L to the chest its natural

I feel like if FGs had a bigger playerbase people wouldn't think they need to get better, but when everyone you go against bodies your shit it seems like getting good is the only option

I remember playing Blazblue CS back when it first came out. I had legit never played a traditional fighting game against another person, except for maybe Mortal Kombat at a birthday party or something. So I picked up Blazblue, went online, no training mode or anything and started mashing buttons. My opponent beats me convincingly but I managed to land some hits so I was cool with it. Then he sends me a message over PSN that reads "maybe you should learn the absolute basics before playing online." This was my first ever interaction with the FGC lol. Now I realize that this was just one guy and he doesn't represent the whole community but I think people are just scared that the person on the other end of the screen will judge them for their skill. Stresses them out in a 1v1 game.

You ever lab the hell out of the game then get hit by not-real anti-airs into even more imaginary setups by someone who doesn't even play this game and realize they're having more fun than you

It's funny watching the new generation of players go through the things we've already answered. Really shows you how far we've come that we damn near hit full circle.

I feel this so hard. It makes me wonder if my reluctance to play these days is due to still holding on to my competitive mindset. I still love fighting games but I think I’m past the point of my life where I can still enjoy that aspect; it feels like work to do that.

I'm sure people already mentioned it but getting better (especially when you have a rival) feels really good. When you hit a certain level I feel like the game feels a lot more fun.

"Mike... Mike... Mike, how many majors you won?" - Kenneth Bradley

I like this mentality. My problem is I want to actually be able to pull off cool stuff against players and enjoy the exchange within the matches. I always worry that I will get rolled over by 90% of a playerbase being sweaty as fuck, and only hit players like 3 times. (Like that Angel main in kof14 @_@ a;slkdfjasd) A lot of players aren't actually like that though. But I think there are many players who think everyone should play that way, and it hurts the perception of fighters.

Getting better is the fun in fighting games.

"you can lose forever" who the hell wants to do that though...

I feel like people that are going through fighting game anxiety need to listen to this. I remember having it really bad until I started playing gbvs online tournaments.

I legit don't even have the time to be a sweat lord anymore. I used to be the guy who would have 16k online matches in ONE version of Blazblue, to being the guy who maybe gets 30 matches online a week in a game lol. We're a community that has tons of diversity, and I wouldn't change that for the world.

Thank you for making this video, long time viewer here, I don't really comment much, one of the rare videos in which I actually felt compelled to reply. Anytime I play fighting games and get into a losing streak, I can literally feel the stress build up. It's difficult because I'm always about "improving" but I've never thought about playing these games for a different purpose. It was always about improvement over enjoyment. Your views, definitely will help me enjoy fighting games more.

"Scrubs" in fighting games are treated with a level of disrespect and disdain that few other communities I've been a part of would find acceptable. In those corners of the community where top players interact publicly, there is an enduring sense that if you aren't the best or at least a competitive tournament player with results, your opinion doesn't matter. Not that it should matter, or that anyone's opinion really matters necessarily, but the community at large treats casuals like "others" in conversations. Just something I've noticed as someone with some technical knowledge who interacts with the community on twitter often.

For whatever reason a few years ago I had this fear of accepting the fact that I was no longer super deep into fighting games. I've played fighting games more than any other genre of games in my life so telling myself that I no longer wanted to play fighting games super seriously made me feel like I was pussying out but honestly I'm glad to have accepted that I am a casual now. I can still love and support fighting games without knowing every single nitty gritty detail about every single mechanic in the game. Sometimes you just wanna pick a cool looking waifu or husbando and press buttons. Thank you based jiyuna xD

I think needed to hear this. I feel like every time someone challenges me in the lobby, who notices my amount of hours and then plays me must think “Shouldn’t you like...know how to like block already?” And the answer is I don’t 🙃

I have accepted this with Tekken 8 and it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

This made me smile. I feel like you listened to our brief conversation in the video from a week ago. This is a step in the right direction. This genre is fun and rewarding and encouraging kids to have fun is how you'll keep them around. We can't keep telling them this is a hard genre else you'll scare them off. Im very happy about this and more positive reinforcement like this or even philosophy on self improvement. We're not all going to get the highest ranks, win our locals but we can have a hell of a time at novice and intermediate levels helping each other get better and making friends along the way. Play to learn and have fun while you do it.

the grand irony of the fgc is that 99% of the players fall into the "casual" category, but many of them still dogmatically defend this idea that to play, enjoy, be knowledgable and be opinionated about fgs you have to be competitive. if that was the case then the fgc would be composed of maybe 5000 ppl total lmfao

I deff had that mindset of needing to get good at fighting games years ago. Now I'm just comfortable doing combos in training mode and netplaying once in a blue moon. Always fun. Fighting games are so great

I feel like this is beyond important... especially for someone like me who isn't that invested in being much better than I am. especially depending on the game. I feel soooo much better about my current stance after watching this.

Too often in all video games, I feel pissed off when I lose and empty when I win.

3 years late ik, people have already mentioned that getting better is one of the best feelings a fighting game can give you. As a new-ish player I can attest to that. Nothing is greater than finally understanding a concept, dealing with an annoying move, optimizing a combo etc. However, tbh my main goal right now is to get good enough at fighting games where I can consistently have fun, no matter the game (so gain solid fundamentals, and learning how to learn). Can't say I won't give sweating a try but getting good enough to put up a decent fight with your average player is the dream rn.

Tbh it’s not just a gaming thing. I joined a local kids football/soccer team when I was 12. Told people I didn’t care about being good and that I just wanted to become more healthy. I knew I wasn’t going to get good enough to challenge for a place in the main team. That kind of attitude gets you shunned and bullied out of those kind of social spaces. Sweats can be found everywhere. As someone who studied in Tokyo on exchange I’ve been told by people I disappointed them because I didn’t come back as a top player. People get anxious about not being good because some sweats will look down on people who aren’t sweaty themselves.

You will always find more than 1 person you can beat, and you will also find your rival, as well as the gods in your group.

Definitely needed to hear this...

Jokes on you Sajam, I love stressing myself out in all games.

I think fighting is like a primal thing. That's why it's so competitive.

Obama's video raised a similar sentiment for me. I think it's hard to see your incremental wins in FGs, so they tend to feel very all or nothing. Win or lose, succeed or fail there's no in between. I think the issue arises because in a MOBA or a Shooter you see stuff like "number of kills, assists, towers destroyed" etc. So even if you're bad you can look at those things and go "I never win but damn atleast I get a kill every game" and that feels like some sorta success. In FG's the smaller successes are all things you don't actually see reflected by a score. You landed a sick ass combo, you AA'd every jump in, you mixed a fool and w.e else. You need to be able to identify those things and as a beginner or an outsider that can be very hard. So instead they focus on "You gotta win to succeed" and the only way to consistently win is to be a sweat.

If i jump into an fps ive never played, i can get some kills. I can run around and chuck grenades. Ill certainly lose, but ill still feel like i got to play. If i jump into a fighting game im not good at, im going to get absolutely smothered. My opponents turn will never end, and i wont feel like i even got to play. I think thats why people feel they have to get good before theyre allowed to have fun

I play maybe 2-3 hours a week of fighting games. I’ll never get good, but I have fun. I think the fact that I have such limited time is why laggy matches and smurfs bug me. I have so little time for games that it bums me out when some of that time gets wasted on lousy games. For me the funnest games are the ones that make me want to play more are the close ones I loose. It makes me want to try again.

Going to events helped me realize this. Back prior to 2014 when I stated going to locals I felt so much pressure to perform and it kept me miserable while I was playing and scared to try games I deemed harder than w/e my current focus was. Then I made some friends at locals and realized that I was having fun playing their games even if I didn't know so much as a BnB for anyone on the roster. Suddenly going 0-2 for games I barely played still felt fun, and I began enjoying fighting games for the communal aspect rather than solely competing (tho competing is still hella fun).

The person that plays for a thousand hours but never wins is having more fun than someone that stresses over their win ratio. You don't spend a ton of time playing a game and losing if you hate it.

I get what you are saying man; some years ago I practiced and practiced and played a lot and even if kept winning most my matches, KOF, SF, Guilty Gear, Garou, even random fighting games, and I felt frustrated while playing when lets say I drop a combo, didnt punish properly, etc. It was like I could not breath at all and felt pressured. But then after letting some years pass I returned to play and I am trying to have fun, to know all the stuff a game can offer, I even started by playing the vanilla Street Fighter 2 and boy it was fun. I think a balance is important: try hard to reach the level of playing that satisfy you but also learn to love experience. As the wise men say, its about the journey, not the destination. Cheers and good video man!

I think part of the problem is that when you're not "good enough" at a fighting game, it can feel like you never actually get to play. Everywhere you look you'll see stuff like "I was just stuck blocking the whole time and every time I pressed a button he comboed me." or "He just kept knocking me down and I could never fight back," or the infamous" it was over in ten seconds and I don't even know what happened." And this will be against other rookies. And it doesn't help that there's a lot of "cheap" stuff in fighting games that work as skill checks or "scrub killers" where it will seem impossible to deal with until you just learn and set up training mode and "git gud." And as you get better your opponents come up with more and more esoteric BS that you have to learn or else you'll feel locked out of playing the game. Fighting games just be like that. So everyone's introduction to the game is this idea that they have to study all this homework and practice an hour every day to feel like they're allowed to play. It's kinda hard to put all that to the side and just be satisfied with where you are and what you're doing.

So are you telling me I can still have fun with my ass being kicked every single time? Don't do that, don't give me hope

Because losing in fighting games means I don't actually get to do anything while I lose

fighting games are like that cuz its 1v1. those shooters and racing games are ALSO social experiences that you described that you can fall back on. fighting games require community like everything else, and yet are 1v1. you said it urself, ull play tekken again cuz u have friends willing to play it casually. most people dont have friends "willing to play a fighting game casually"

"I don't think I've ever mentioned this before..."

Jiyuna's Persona 4 champion pants is his version of the Infinity Gauntlet

Can confirm, Jiyuana was a sweaty hardcore player, now he is a casual sweaty player. Sweaty.

I think a lot of people have big ego even if they don't accept they do. They feel bad about losing because it's only them. That's why the most common fighting games casual thing to do if playing offline between friends where both are just as casual about it.

LMFAO I knew the shorts were coming

Things like this is the reason why I stopped playing games I really liked, like Overwatch. I don't care about getting good, I just wanna queue in casual matches, get in, shoot people and peace out once the match is over back to the queue. I don't want someone to actively make me feel bad just because I don't give a fuck about strats, matchups, corners and shit like that.

I've had the "I'll play everything because it's fun" mindset from the beginning - like up to 7-8 games at a time at a major lol. It was spreading myself thin yeah and I wasn't getting super sweaty in any of them, but it was fun to use my fundamentals in all of them and just have the experience playing. I think that made me a better player today than if I had locked myself into training mode in just one of them for years on end

Definitely needed to hear this. Thanks for the wisdom

If only this video was out 4 years ago. I got into fighting games four years ago and my first fighter was tekken 7. I love the game so much and it was so satisfying to learn but I was so focused on getting good that it stress me out during highschool to the point where I skip school just so I can lab and get better. It was rough but now can just play for fun and enjoy myself. You're the goat for posting this. You leon,sajam,Leon, and Obama are the goats for making these type topic videos. 💯

I can’t be like this I prefer to completely drop the game and watch stream, I wish I could play like that so casually. This video was so refreshing

i half care about getting good at fighting games i feel like i wanna get better but i dont feel like GRINDING these games everyday, and sometimes i dont even feel like playing at all somedays i like playing against decent-good players because that’s where the real fun is and i wanna get better to help so i can have really good matches but again, i dont feel like grinding everyday so im kinda stuck yknow

People just need to be told that its okay.

I feeling someone has a rebuttal against "Just here to press buttons and have a good time" because usually I hear it like people say it's a bad thing idk maybe it's just a different context but I feel like someone would like rebuttal against it saying "Oh so you like being a mindless consoomer? who just accepts shitty games?" that sort of person.

When it comes to being competitive in games, that's usually my default. I'm usually trying to learn the mechanics and tighten up my execution of things not because I want to ever compete at a high level but because getting better is usually where I find the most excitement and enjoyment in competitive games, and I feel its the same for a lot of people. However, I definitely do agree with the point of the video; that isn't the only way to enjoy fighting games. You don't necessarily need to strive to get better at all if that's not what you want or not where you find the most enjoyment. This topic, in particular, is something I've seen getting brought up more in discussions about why so many people find FG's so hard to get into and I think it's a simple but important thing to mention.

Was hoping he was going to say that even if you put in the time you can still suck because some people just cant get good at certain things.

Very important topic. I liked Tekken at PS2 and smash bros at Nintendo Wii U and Switch. I just slightly moved away from button smashing. But now with SF6, MK1 and Guilty Gear strive I really like to understand the mechanics to have a good time against CPU. Maybe I will also try against players. The art styles of these games and characters I really like.

Seeing this recorded during the stream really got me thinking how this problem exists big time in other genres like card games as well: there's a very thin line between casual and competitive, and even casual players that just wanna have fun with their friends playing a couple starter decks get shouted at by competitive players that "you should play this, do this" etc. Feel like the lesson at the end of the day is to just not let others dictate your fun and way of enjoying your hobby. Thanks for another banger lord Jiyuna 🤠

People set the bar to high. Baby steps.

Obama dropped a video where he said "You dont have to get good, you just have to get better". That shit for some reason was a mind blowing for me cause i kinda feel the pressure of being good. Just getting better than yesterday is already enough

I've only ever gotten sweaty enough to know how bad I am

I’m glad to be a casual. I meet so many cool people through casual matches and beginners tournaments just by chillin’. Shit rocks.

I think you hit the reason on the head with the competition part. There's only two outcomes in a fighting game, win or lose. But when you lose it's 100% on you, unlike something like League where you can always blame your team and never get in your own head about it. The fighting game itself doesn't have any real motivators to do anything other than win. You landed a really optimal BnB combo? There's no "oh snap heres 100g for that sweet anti-air follow up", but you'll still get hit with a big "you lose" screen. CoD was a great example too, because even if you don't win you're still constantly getting rewarded for playing. Get a kill, 100exp, came in 10th, it's cool you leveled up check this new gun. I think it just comes down to how reward systems and mental states are massaged in fighting games. It's all on you and if you lose you get that feeling of "well shit it's all on me I can't blame anything else". The extreme feeling of loss makes you want to get better, and the avoidance comes from not wanting to confront that "you're bad". Also before I come off as old man yelling at cloud I do this stuff too. I hate facing people way above my rank because I don't feel I learn anything, just "OK everything I did got stuffed and I got double perfected, awesome". There's nothing to take away from that for me.

Regardless of the game, I don't care if I win or lose but I do care about feeling like I could win. If I play someone who outclasses me so much that I don't feel like I ever stood a chance, that's no fun. If it felt like I could have had it but made a few bad plays and got blown up, that's actually really fun. Plus, having the opponent be a friend rather than a stranger makes it way more fun too. If I play against a total stranger, I don't ever see them again so the wins and losses seem kind of meaningless. I guess I'm Jiyuna-tier competitive. :P BTW: Spell check says "Jiyuna" is wrong but "Brian F" isn't. I know you hate the meme but maybe there's something to it. :P

I wanted to master sfv until I noticed how much fun the game is when I just Yolo the shit

Yup! The point is to have fun!

more people need to have this mindset. Feels like people treat skill in fighting games as a measure of self worth. At the end of the day, fighting games are GAMES. If the game is feeling more like a job than a game, then theres no point in playing at that point

You have to be Jiyuna at fighting games