snack said:
On behalf of myself, and other fellow VF noobs, I am calling on someone to post a beginner's "guide" to all things VF.
What are the best characters to start with?
What are good strategies with these characters?
What are some good websites that have a lot of info about VF?
If someone can make something like this, I would be very grateful.
Best characters for beginners: Jacky, Lau, Wolf, Jeffry. The first two are obvious choices, the last two more people will disagree with me, but then again, I'm pretty confident in my observations.

Wolf and Jeffry lack speed but for beginners what they offer is the ability to cover up your mistakes a lot, especially with Jeffry. The dude has an absolutely retarded 50% combo that anyone can hit after 5 minutes of practice. If you can land two knees in one round, you've already won. The other advantage with Wolf and Jeffry is that they have very manageable movelists for the beginner. They both have stances/special movement but it's not integral to their gameplan like it is for Lei and Kage.
Good strategies
Mind you I don't play any of these characters other than Wolf, but I know enough about the game to know what makes them good for beginning players.
Jacky:
Learn how to hit check f+P, K. This is your BEST god damn move with Jacky. This move plus d/b+P, K will win you so many damn matches it ain't funny. f+P, K causes knockdown on hit and takes off a stupid amount of damage, but you have to make sure that the f+P hits before hitting the K. Same thing with d/b+P... you'll want to confirm that it hits on counter before hitting the K button. Hit confirming is essential in VF so Jacky will help you build this habit. Other than that he has some great throws and decent combos too...
Lau:
Stupid good elbow (f+P) with a good, damaging followup on hit (hit P again). Lau also has an insanely good jumping kick with u+K, K... if you find that someone is being a bitch with low punches or kicks, screw them over with u+K because it crushes low attacks. Best part about this move is that if you hit an opponent with the follow up kick they'll be staggered and are forced to struggle out. From there you can either launch them or throw them, your choice. other than the PPPx combos which probably work REALLY well online, he also has a great knockdown move with b, f+P which you can use if you block a move that leaves someone at a big disadvantage.
Wolf:
Screwhook (hcb+P) SCREWS people over so much, so abuse that! If someone is trying to evade use it, if they're ducking, use it... if they're tech rolling, USE IT. The followup is great if you can hit confirm (see jacky) too. Low lariat (d/f+P+K) is a great ducking move for people who want to abuse PPP series with Lau, Pai and Aoi.... K+G is a new move with Wolf and it is INSANELY good despite being slow. If someone is trying to evade you, throw this move out and it will OWN them. It turns them sideways, and you can either use PPP (which knocks down in version C/360) or throw them or shoulder them. Finally, f, f+P+K is his charging shoulder and it is so damn good at mid-range. This thing comes out like a damn shotgun and hits hard and fast. It's not safe if someone blocks it but the speed at which it comes out means that someone not familiar with Wolf is gonna eat this a lot. Wolf has a knee that you can use but IMO it's not as good as Jeff's knee because it doesn't launch. Yes, it's safer on block but it doesn't give you a 50% combo.
Other moves to use with Wolf are
- b+K: good damage and range, staggers on crouching opponents
- b+P: See strategy with Jeff's rising hammer for a good setup
- u/f+P+K: jumps over low attacks, can be used in bounce combos and wall combos for monkey damage.
- f+P, P: ... I guess a decent poking move. I only use it in guaranteed situations though.
- d/b, f+PPP: This is GREAT after you block a move with a lot of recovery. I think after a blocked rising attack all three attacks are guaranteed but I forget.
Jeff:
KNEE.:lol If someone tries to evade and fails, screw them over with a knee! KNEE KNEE KNEE. Er other than that he also has a move similar to Wolf's K+G so apply the same strategies. f, f+P is a good move since it's delayable and can really frustrate someone. Jeff's splash mountain (d/f, d/f throw) and his new HCB throw are his most damaging throws so use them whenever possible. Oh yea, abuse the hell out of his rising hammer (b, d/f+P, P). This is like, the one move I wish Wolf had because it's so god damn good. A common strategy with this string is to use it after one of your moves that has little recovery is blocked. So like, if you throw out a low punch and it's blocked, back dash by tapping b, b and then throw out the rising hammer. If people try to low punch you back they'll eat it, and hell, if they try anything other than evading they'll eat it.:lol
What are some good websites that have a lot of info about VF?
There is only one good website for english speakers and that's virtuafighter.com ... go to this thread (
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=203452) for some decent advice but be warned that there is some absolutely stupid advice in here too. :lol
Good Youtube users to look for are highkickradio and shinbashi jeff (absolutely sick Jeffry players), jinkagevf5 (great kage player) and siropai (great pai player). I wish some of the better Jacky/lau players had youtube accounts but I haven't found any recently.
U K Narayan said:
Dude, I wouldn't even worry about the tier organization. As long as you're competent with combining efficient combos and techniques, you'll be fine. It's all about your skill level, and not necessarily your fighter's capabilities.
Oh hooray GAF fighting game fans.:lol