How Do You Manage to Learn and Remember Multiple Characters?

[Charlie]

I’ve been a fighting game fan since the days of Street Fighter 2. As a kid, I loved the genre, but I was never particularly good at it. Over the years, I dabbled in titles like Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur, and even some Tekken here and there. My all-time favourite is Marvel vs. Street Fighter—I loved the anime-style characters and the chaos of it all.

When Street Fighter 4 came out, I gave it a shot, but trying to learn combos and techniques felt impossible for me. Playing online just made it worse because, well, I sucked, and it was infuriating.

But then I heard about Street Fighter 6’s story mode, and how it helps guide new players step by step, so I decided to give it a go—and I’m loving it so far! I’m playing as Luke, using classic controls. I started with modern controls, but they felt a bit “too magical” for me, like using Ruby on Rails when you’re used to coding in C++.

Anyway, sorry for the long backstory, but here’s my question:

I’m about 25 hours into the game now, and I’ve spent at least 10 hours in training, practicing combos and trying to get the timing right. Even so, I can barely remember some of the combos, let alone use them effectively in a real fight. How do you all manage to switch between characters and keep track of their combos and move sets?

When new DLC characters come out, do you just buy them and take the time to learn them because you already paid for them? I’d love to try out other characters, but I’m worried I’ll mix up their moves or forget everything I’ve learned so far.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

[Grampire]

The truth is that several of the longer combos you might see people use are due to the drive rush cancel and generally have similar inputs across most characters (drive rush, press mp x2, drive rush cancel, press mpx2 and srk to finish, etc.). So for combos like that, once you do it for one character they're very similar for others.

Generally speaking if you can learn a 2-3 hit punish off a hit confirm that knocks your opponent down and scores about 2000-2500 damage you're in good shape to start out. The rest will come later, and learning how to set that up and connect consistently is usually enough.

When you get to higher ranks you'll need to optimize, and there's no way around that other than practice.

[Johnny]

You don't have to worry that you will forget them because you won't. Even if you did, a couple of matches will refresh your muscle memories. This is just an irrational fear trust me, once you realize that and be psychological armed towards that fact, it will have no effect.

It is moreso in SF6 where it is so simplified with most characters having similar framedata and even input. I am not sure if this was the case before, as I only played them very little and casually, I didn't even know what frames are lol.

And yes, when a new character comes I just learn it. I am a quick learner (even though first serious fighting game I play). For example Terry took me a day or two to learn most of his stuff.. Do not worry.

Also big respect for realizing that "M" is a shortcut for the lazy. It's for pretenders who feel ENTITLED to "win" without putting any effort and having no skill. It is a different game and boring to play as and against.

They are not any programming language, they are like those useless "no/low-code" solutions scamming people by slamming AI buzzword on them.

[Castyles]

Modern controls help. By like a lot.

If you don't want to use, it, though, just remember that the mentality of the game is the same for everyone. Every character benefits from pokes, anti-airs, backdashes, rush in, throws... You don't need much to win unless your opponent is beyond your skills. And it works for everyone. That's why people say to learn the fundamentals.

But follow Gramp's advice. Given the aggressive nature of the game it's best to just learn one or two good combos that can be used with Drive Rush Cancel (or not) and spam them. It's what everyone does and it's boring af.

And I learn by playing. I usually just lab with the character that I want to play as and tend to just jump in (almost) blind and say a prayer when it comes to the other ones.

Good luck.

[Doc Holiday]

To me there is no magical recipe, it's about spending some hours with the characters in training, and most importantly, in matches against other players. Until each character's basic game plan and main combos become sort of muscle memory.

What you said about the difference of training combos safely and then using them effectively in a fight is totally true. That's why you should aim to be brave and try the combos in real fights, to get used in doing them under the adrenaline effect.

When Terry came out I think I trained a bit, did some BH matches, and then got him to Ranked. I got my ass kicked specially in mirror matches - other better players were picking him up and they were much faster in learning Terry than I was.

[Charlie]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I really appreciate the advice and encouragement.

I’ll keep training and working on staying calm during online matches. Honestly, I get so angry and frustrated when I lose—it’s something I definitely need to work on! Heh.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

[Peddie]

Losing is an integral part of learning. You only learned how to walk only through falling over dozens of times. You made more grammatical errors than you can even remember before you could speak whatever languages you know fluently.

Mistakes are how you learn. So rather than getting mad, take a deep breath, and consider where you might've gone wrong. Maybe even go over the replay, but Fuudo recommends you should watch replays where you've won too because you'll no doubt have made mistakes there too, but they have a more satisfying ending.

But remember in the good words of E. Honda: "Nobody ever got strong without losing, don't lose hope!"

Edit: Actually I should also stress you should try to find the fun in losing. Sometimes you just gotta be in awe that your opponent went for the worst imaginable gamble and it somehow worked out in their favour. Or admire their skill. And sometimes a good match is a good match no matter which player won. Losing can be fun. And it might as well be because you'll be doing a lot of it in any PvP game.

[GTCv Deimos]

One thing I have to say about fighting games is that I think it's important to be smart about your first main. It may be attractive to go for the cool characters with a diverse kit (see: Akuma, JP), or whoever is proclaimed to be in the current top 3.

And... if that's what you want to do, fine. Like, I can't harsh on anyone for their picks (this may be a little, white lie >.>).

But... I am a big believer in picking an initial main who best represent the core tennants of the game.

For myself, that was Marisa. Not a strong character in the current season, by any stretch (though, I don't think she's as weak as many people believe), but not terribly over complicated. But, the reason I'm grateful to have gone this route is that Marisa is EXTREMELY reliant on the core, universal mechanics of the game, Drive Rush, Drive Impact, Drive Reversals, all of it. She must make regular use of her meter in order to get her famous 2-3 touches. Obviously, Ryu, Chun and a number of others are also fit into this "Best reps for the game" mold.

And I think I'm grateful for this decision, because I've had the luxury of marinating in the systems that make SF6... well.... SF6. Most of which is completely transferable to other characters... and some not, WHICH IS A GOOD THING! Not every character needs to lean on DR cancels like Marisa does, so if your next pick doesn't have that requirement; they can function fairly well without all those extensions.

Also, this may be common knowledge at this point (or maybe it isn't. who knows?), but when labbing a character in training, be sure to make liberal use of the save/load state. Like, if you're working towards a 1-2 DR extension, hit the save state mid-way through, so the save state is loaded, mid-combo, so you can work on that portion of the string in isolation.

Full disclosure, I tend to do things long-form, so I don't actually practice this bit of gospel, but it is absolutely a major time-saver when learning a new character.

[Peddie]

I'm a strong believer in "Just pick whoever looks cool", or cute, or whatever makes you gravitate towards a character, that initial spark of interest is what'll keep you going when you eventually hit a plateau. You'll learn the game no matter who you pick, and I'm not really a proponent of the idea of having to do homework before you even get to your first character select screen. Because someone that buys this game blind really has no idea of who "best represents the core tenets of the game", and all the same, you could probably gather 10 players in a room and get 10 different answers.

So hey, just pick a character, see if it works out, if it doesn't, hey, you probably still learned something you can apply to the next character.

[GTCv Deimos]

Originally posted by Peddie:

I'm a strong believer in "Just pick whoever looks cool", or cute, or whatever makes you gravitate towards a character, that initial spark of interest is what'll keep you going when you eventually hit a plateau. You'll learn the game no matter who you pick, and I'm not really a proponent of the idea of having to do homework before you even get to your first character select screen. Because someone that buys this game blind really has no idea of who "best represents the core tenets of the game", and all the same, you could probably gather 10 players in a room and get 10 different answers.

So hey, just pick a character, see if it works out, if it doesn't, hey, you probably still learned something you can apply to the next character.

why do you think this genre is so niche, and doesn't hold a candle to other competitive genres in terms of player base?

This is def a genre for those who can self-motivate.

[SKiV_]

most of the cast is low forward DR. So you dont actually have to learn different characters unless you wanna play dhalsim or AKI.

[Grampire]

Originally posted by Charlie:

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I really appreciate the advice and encouragement.

I’ll keep training and working on staying calm during online matches. Honestly, I get so angry and frustrated when I lose—it’s something I definitely need to work on! Heh.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

Yeah I think we all get frustrated but setting micro-goals for yourself is a good way to fight through it.

Like just focus on one concept - using drive rush to set up a blockstring more frequently, executing a meaty setup or doing a double light hit confirm into a special cancel 3 times in a match without mashing. If you learn how to do any of those and can perform them during a match that's progress.

You might not win the round but finding ways to squeeze in tech that you've been practicing gives you confidence and understanding of how to apply those concepts, which is more important than just being able to execute.

[Peddie]

Originally posted by GTCv Deimos:

Originally posted by Peddie:

I'm a strong believer in "Just pick whoever looks cool", or cute, or whatever makes you gravitate towards a character, that initial spark of interest is what'll keep you going when you eventually hit a plateau. You'll learn the game no matter who you pick, and I'm not really a proponent of the idea of having to do homework before you even get to your first character select screen. Because someone that buys this game blind really has no idea of who "best represents the core tenets of the game", and all the same, you could probably gather 10 players in a room and get 10 different answers.

So hey, just pick a character, see if it works out, if it doesn't, hey, you probably still learned something you can apply to the next character.

why do you think this genre is so niche, and doesn't hold a candle to other competitive genres in terms of player base?

This is def a genre for those who can self-motivate.

I mean if I have to be frank I'm almost appreciative of the fact that fighting games don't get CoD or League numbers. Because those generally also bring in people with attitudes similar to their respective fandoms. And uh, I'm good, thanks.

The wonderful thing is since fighting games are inherently 1v1 you also only need 20% of the players to get a fun match going of what you need in a 5v5 kind of game.

[GTCv Deimos]

Originally posted by Peddie:

I mean if I have to be frank I'm almost appreciative of the fact that fighting games don't get CoD or League numbers. Because those generally also bring in people with attitudes similar to their respective fandoms. And uh, I'm good, thanks.

The wonderful thing is since fighting games are inherently 1v1 you also only need 20% of the players to get a fun match going of what you need in a 5v5 kind of game.

For sure, there's definitely pros and cons to having a svelt player base. Still, when you get right down to it, there's been too many fighting games that I wanted to but never invested in, because there'd only be a couple hundred of people playing (sometimes way, way less), and the people who are there will just squash you at 99.

[Everchosen]

For me it's more important to learn the properties of the moves a character has and parse combos by their individual components, rather than trying to memorize strings holistically.

To give you an example, a common Akuma combo is 5hk, 5mk, 214lk, 623hp, rather than look at the entire string I just start going piece by piece.

5hk leaves me at +7 frames on hit, this allows me to link into 5mk.

5mk has great damage, a good hitbox, good scaling, and is fully cancellable.

After the 5mk, a lot of things will work, but 214lk happens to offer a juggle allowing for a follow up.

623p is really the only viable meterless option we have here, it also has a level 3 SA cancel window allowing it to act as a second extension into big damage.

I will then groups the combo into the parts that can lead into other parts and look and drill those groups until I am comfortable.

So for instance my groups for that above combo are

Group 1: 5hk, 5mk

Group 2: 214lk, 623p

Once I have the groups down, I just mix everything together and hone timing.

It's a more intensive method of learning combos/characters, but it is effective, and is repeatable.

So yeah while I may only be fully comfortable with Akuma, Chun Li, Juri, and Marissa combos after the 19-20 months the game has been out. I could easily learn routing for other characters applying the same concepts.

And the best part is it's actually easier in most circumstances to learn combos for other characters after you have in depth combo knowledge of a few characters, especially characters within the same archetype.