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Core-A Gaming: Why button mashing doesn't work

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Core-A Gaming has done several videos over the years to break down complicated or unfamiliar "meta" from competitive genres (like Why Fighting Games Are Hard). It approaches the topic from the perspective of fighting games.

The title might make you say "well, duh, of course button mashing doesn't work", but the video is a great summary of all the reasons why a player might button mash. It provides a "way out" for players who feel trapped in the panicked mindset of a button-masher.

On the other side of the spectrum, the video explains how experienced players can handle the typical button-masher. If you are trying to learn how to play a particular game "correctly" but you're getting stomped by button-mashers, this video might also be for you.

Anyway, video below:

EDIT: correct video below:

 
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Shifty

Member
Caught this last night- the intro with button mashing in other genres is the perfect lead-up to the video's core thesis :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 

Nymphae

Banned
I liked the part where the inexperienced masher beat the tournament vet with a scrubby ass Ryu lol. Sometimes an unorthodox style like that can throw a pro off, but in general mashing is not going to win you many tournaments.
 

Orenji Neko

Member
Fantastic video. I always felt that those who fall to and complain about button mashers should turn their attention inwards to figure out why that happened. It's similar to those who complain when their opponents like to "just keep using the same moves and combos" or "flowchart styles".
 

Belmonte

Member
So much information in just one video. I wish I could time travel and show this video to myself when I was a child. Kid Belmonte would wreck everyone in the local arcade!

Core A Gaming videos are brilliant. If you show this one to a button smasher, half of the way to be a decent player is already resolved.
 

wzy

Member
Most people who think they can't play fighting games cite the complex inputs and combo timing as major barriers to enjoyment, but that's almost always the least of their problems. What makes a bad player bad is more typically a complete lack of understanding when it comes to the most basic elements of the game. I tend to think the blame for this falls on the developers, who often structure their tutorials as "challenges" that ask the player to re-create what is essentially a useless combo exhibition, yet make it incredibly difficult to even practice fundamentals like anti-airs in their training mode. There are bad training modes and relatively good ones, but it has never not been a huge pain in the ass to set up the dummy in useful way for drilling the important stuff.

Everyone is paying for it now, of course. The time to really resurrect the genre as an established mainstay was during the beginning of the eSports craze, but that's already on it's way out.
 
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DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Keep the flame alive W wzy

158607804_118207_22637440.candlelight.gif
 

El Sabroso

Member
by far the best video I have watched explaining footsies, the conclusion is really amazing

thats why new DMC just didint worked for me... just empty stuff that not hook me at all...
can explain a little bit more please ? sorry if I don't get the context here
 

scalman

Member
by far the best video I have watched explaining footsies, the conclusion is really amazing


can explain a little bit more please ? sorry if I don't get the context here
in DMC you run and mash one or 2 buttons thats it you move forward .....until you meet boss then you mash those buttons but with some intervals... i just dont feel nothing there.
 

petran79

Banned
Playing offline it is easier to avoid button mashing. But for online I add other factors that can have an influence to the unaware.
Eg input lag, packet data loss, host having less lag than guest etc
It is difficult in this case to know when a move does not happen because of frame traps or because your input is not registered. One reason I tend to avoid online to learn to play the game, except for tips to use offline.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I remember being at the arcade and players would always pick Eddy Gordo or Tiger. It was fun for the player because they didn't have to do much. I'm sure my state has some amazing players and they probably know each other from playing at that level. I've never been part of a group of friends who excelled at fighting games. I was considered "good" because I took more time to learn the moves, not so much to get better at it. I took a lesson from Justin Wong and he destroyed me. He had lessons where he'd do some training. Once it was done, I felt like I was the worst player in the world in SFIV. He was a very friendly person and he had some great tips, but going up against him was incredibly difficult.

I remember getting beat a lot at the arcade, even if I got a couple good matches in. What didn't help me was beating people who button mashed because they didn't teach me to play better. Easy setups into advanced combos are fun, but it gets you destroyed when you play someone who knows what they're doing.
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
Even if you know everything he's talking about all his videos are still is worth watching if only for the production values
 

Shifty

Member
in DMC you run and mash one or 2 buttons thats it you move forward .....until you meet boss then you mash those buttons but with some intervals... i just dont feel nothing there.
Have you considered turning up the difficulty?

Or perhaps learning the deeper combat mechanics, which happens to be the subject of the video in the OP...? 🤔
 
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Tesseract

Banned
button mashing is chaos, there's utility in chaos but it depends on the systems which enable it

something like street fighter, good luck winning any rounds as a masher

something like god of war, yeah you can mash your brains out because the combos can be primed with unbelievably lenient input frames
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
One thing the video touched on but I wanted to add:

When you learn to escape the rush of emotion that leads to button-mashing, you can finally start engaging with the game's nuances and meta. The "fun part" of these high-level, high-speed, high-reflex games is when both players are quickly thinking through whether to anti-air or block, whether to hop back or hop in to attempt a combo, trying to guess the mix up, whether to feint and whiff-punish or not, etc. etc. The thrill of mashing to victory is nothing compared to the thrill of outguessing and outplaying your opponent.

If someone is mashing, they aren't engaging with these mind games and will be a less-interesting opponent because of that. If someone grows out of mashing and learns some of the basics, they will be able to enjoy the game on new plane of existence compared to before.
 
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