Mental Stack in Fighting Games - Improving Your Reactions

[Lysamus]

Hello everyone.

As there's probably quite a few new fighting game players checking out this forum right now, I figured it'd be a good idea to introduce concepts to them that they might not know to look for when seeking to improve their play. Not all of us study the FGC dictionary daily to scare suitors away at speed dating events and public drinking venues after all.

To that end, I'd like to introduce you to the Mental Stack. In summary, it's the concept that the more options you attempt to prepare a specific reaction to, the slower all your reactions are going to be.

Example: preparing for a jump-in is fast. Preparing for a jump-in or a dash is slower. Preparing for a jump-in, dash, drive rush, drive impact, fireball or an audacious taunt can grind down your reactions so much that you freeze, leading to you getting opened up to big damage and even more savage taunting.

Luckily you, devilishly handsome fledgling fighter that you are, can now both adapt to and weaponize this knowledge by keeping these concepts in mind.

1.) Preparing simple reactions is faster than complex ones. As an anti-air example, a crouching fierce asks less of your brain than a classic DP.

2.) Keeping your opponent at specific ranges via tools like good neutral play limits their options to open you up, which in turn reduces your mental stack.

3.) Know your limits. Play passively if you need to for a brief time and wait for your opponent to trigger one of your prepared reactions.

4.) Use mental stack against your opponent. The more you vary up your offense, the more they need to mentally prepare for you and the slower they become.

Below is a link to a neat video going into more detail on what I've covered. You can find more like it by plugging the words "Mental Stack" into your preferred search engine or social media player. Even the adult ones. Especially the adult ones.

https://youtu.be/g38r809JRRU

Hope this helps anyone who is currently going through the growing pains of a new fighting game. Have fun!

[Stitch]

This tends to happen to me in both MK11 and SF6. I think of too many posibilities and sometimes it just makes my hands freeze cuz I can't decide what to do. I'll watch the video and try to create a new mindset, thanks.

[Lysamus]

I hope it helps! I'm currently looking for multi-purpose options to help reduce my mental stack a bit. For instance, I found a neutral jump heavy kick for Juri makes a decent anti-air and a good answer to throw.

[Call Sign: Raven]

Everyone on here keeps talking about "good neutral" and whenever I ask about it, nobody can give a clear, concise answer about what neutral is. In Street Fighter 6, what is neutral? Is it when you just stand still and throw an attack without using a stick input (hence leaving the stick in neutral) or is neutral something else?

Also, who is this information for? As I read, it sounds like it's advice for someone who has been playing for a few months or longer. I'm not sure a beginner can make use of these concepts.

[Lysamus]

Originally posted by KungFuAndrewTV:

Everyone on here keeps talking about "good neutral" and whenever I ask about it, nobody can give a clear, concise answer about what neutral is. In Street Fighter 6, what is neutral? Is it when you just stand still and throw an attack without using a stick input (hence leaving the stick in neutral) or is neutral something else?

What is Neutral:

Best textbook answer I can give you - It's when neither you or your opponent have any frame or other mechanical advantage (like oki for example).

Best short human speak answer I can give you - It's that moment when both you and your opponent could just throw out a move. Examples include at the start of the match, when you're dancing just inside and outside of each other's effective range, or when Guile and I are staring at each other from crouch position daring the other to blink (I always blink first though. It's that flat top. Gets my juices flowing).

What is good neutral? - It's complicated, but there are tons of resources out there to help. Pop that "neutral" term into a search engine along with "Street Fighter" and your favorite character and you might find some more specific answers (possibly soonish given the game just came out).

[Call Sign: Raven]

Originally posted by Lysamus:

Originally posted by KungFuAndrewTV:

Everyone on here keeps talking about "good neutral" and whenever I ask about it, nobody can give a clear, concise answer about what neutral is. In Street Fighter 6, what is neutral? Is it when you just stand still and throw an attack without using a stick input (hence leaving the stick in neutral) or is neutral something else?

What is Neutral:

Best textbook answer I can give you - It's when neither you or your opponent have any frame or other mechanical advantage (like oki for example).

Best short human speak answer I can give you - It's that moment when both you and your opponent could just throw out a move. Examples include at the start of the match, when you're dancing just inside and outside of each other's effective range, or when Guile and I are staring at each other from crouch position daring the other to blink (I always blink first though. It's that flat top. Gets my juices flowing).

What is good neutral? - It's complicated, but there are tons of resources out there to help.

So wait, as an ex-professional fighter, this doesn't make sense, so please bear with me while I try to understand what you're saying. In actual fighting, when we are inching out of each other's safe/danger zones, we call it just that: inching. When I was a professional fighter, we referred to neutral as there being zero movement from the opponent or the defender. A neutral stand-still, to be more specific. So maybe I'm not understanding the concept as you are describing it, based on old fighting experience? I think the thing that made the most sense is when you said at the start of the match when nobody is moving.

[Lysamus]

My best was sadly not good enough. This must be why Guile only ever returns my advances with a flash kick.

I edited my original reply to be a little more helpful in finding the answer you're looking for. Good luck on the journey!

[Call Sign: Raven]

So, in a fighting game like SF6, is neutral those moments where nobody is pressuring by comboing or something? Is that what you mean?

[Dark Roast]

Originally posted by MrSaturn69420:

So, in a fighting game like SF6, is neutral those moments where nobody is pressuring by comboing or something? Is that what you mean?

Bit of a necro but I want to answer this in case you haven't gotten an answer yet because as a new player I also found this concept abstract with little definition. Most info out there is presented with the assumption that the audience already knows. So from what I can tell neutral is where the so-called footsies trilemma takes place. This video is what helped me understand the underlying theoretical framework for what neutral actually is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96MKkqOlpKs

In other words, neutral is mid-screen (not at the corner) where neither side has an advantage and the fight favors neither side. It's here where both players probe each other attempting to gain advantage as per the tactics described in the video. Once I understood the concepts I noticed the pattern and it made the information I was seeing online more comprehensible. Honestly this info should be the first thing new players are introduced to since it's central to the genre.

[Samvega]

Originally posted by Full City Roast:

Originally posted by MrSaturn69420:

So, in a fighting game like SF6, is neutral those moments where nobody is pressuring by comboing or something? Is that what you mean?

Bit of a necro but I want to answer this in case you haven't gotten an answer yet because as a new player I also found this concept abstract with little definition. Most info out there is presented with the assumption that the audience already knows. So from what I can tell neutral is where the so-called footsies trilemma takes place. This video is what helped me understand the underlying theoretical framework for what neutral actually is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96MKkqOlpKs

In other words, neutral is mid-screen (not at the corner) where neither side has an advantage and the fight favors neither side. It's here where both players probe each other attempting to gain advantage as per the tactics described in the video. Once I understood the concepts I noticed the pattern and it made the information I was seeing online more comprehensible. Honestly this info should be the first thing new players are introduced to since it's central to the genre.

Here's a visual guide to spacing, distance and whiff punishing for Jamie players: https://youtu.be/yOnyA_YmteE?t=54
The principles it shows will help you think about any character, though. Can you stay out of the range of your opponent's favourite normal (e.g. Ken's crouching MK, which is DR cancellable) and punish it with one of your own?