Fighting Game Guide

Mixups are responsible for the rock-paper-scissors guessing game of fighting games. Rushdown is about when to block while mixup is about which direction to block. Attack high? Attack low? Attack in front? Attack from behind? Throw instead of attacking? There are high/low mixups, left/right mixups, and attack/throw mixups.

Low attacks beat stand blocking. Not all crouching attacks are low attacks and standing attacks can be low attacks. Animations can be misleading because there are attacks that look like they should hit low but are mid attacks.

High attacks or overhead attacks hit crouch blocking. Overhead attack sometimes refers to attacks on the ground that hit high. Not every character has a grounded overhead but every character has high attacks with their jumping attacks. Unlike low attacks, overhead attacks tend to be weaker, less advantageous, and are less likely to start combos. Forcing your opponent to guess between stand blocking or crouch blocking is a high/low mixup.

There are a few attacks that hit behind your opponent that have to be blocked the opposite direction. These attacks include cross-ups and cross-unders. Forcing your opponent to guess between backward blocking or forward blocking is a left/right mixup.

And obviously throwing beats all types of blocking. Not every character has a high/low mixup or left/right mixup, but every character has an attack/throw mixup.

Fuzzy Blocking

In 2D fighting games, a character's fastest high attack is much slower than their fastest low attack. With this knowledge, you can block against both attacks with a technique called fuzzy blocking. Fuzzy blocking is blocking against a mixup with precise timing.

Training mode time. Pick any character for Player 1 and Ken for Player 2.
Go to Action Recording Settings and record this:
Recording Slot 1: Dash, crouching medium kick.
Recording Slot 2: Dash, forward heavy kick (hold the button).

Forward heavy kick is a high attack that is much slower than crouching medium kick. For this drill all you'll be doing is crouch blocking then stand blocking. Crouch block to block his fast low attack then stand block to block his slow high attack. If you get hit your timing is off. This is a very simple technique but you will be using it all the time.

Ken's fastest low attack hits on the 4th frame and his fastest high attack hits on the 22nd frame. The optimal fuzzy block timing is to crouch block for 21 frames then stand block on the 22nd frame.

Fuzzy blocking has its weaknesses. If your opponent knows you'll crouch block for 21 frames then stand block on the 22nd frame, they can use a slow or delayed low attack to hit you on the 22nd frame. And blocking for 22 frames is a long time and your opponent can use that time to walk forward to continue their pressure or throw you.

Reset

A reset is intentionally not finishing a combo to attempt a mixup. Players reset for more damage, to knockdown their opponent, or to switch sides. In some games resets are very common and in other games resets are very rare. Frequency of resets depend on the game, character, and player. The more rewarding your character's mixups are, the more likely you are to reset. Resetting is not a necessary skill and you don't need resets to win.

In most games, players simply finish their combo and get rewarded with good damage and a knockdown. Resets are more common in games where knockdowns are less advantageous. For example, in Dragon Ball FighterZ the defender can recover from a knockdown in 3 different directions with 2 different timings. That means the defender has 6 ways to recover from a knockdown. It's difficult for the attacker to cover 6 different recoveries, so resets are preferred by some players in that game.

Strings

A canned string is a string of predetermined attacks. Canned strings are very common in 3D fighting games. They are used for rushdown, mixups, and resets. While the canned string's attacks are predetermined, there are usually multiple options available. After the first two hits of her canned string, Phase 4 can follow up with more punches, a double kick, or a low kick.

Canned strings are not plus on block but they do allow the attacker to continue their turn because the defender has to guess when the string ends and wait their turn. If the attacker predicts when the defender will retaliate, they can beat it with a delayed string. A delayed string makes the defender think the string is over and when they try to take their turn, they get hit by the delayed follow up.

3D fighting games give the player several ways to avoid attacks with movement. Attacks can be ducked under, backdashed away from, and sidestepped around. I set the training dummy to backdash and sidestep after blocking the first hit. When I do an immediate string, the training dummy gets hit but when I do a delayed string the dummy successfully avoids it. Delayed strings beat attacks but lose to movement.

Ending a canned string early to attempt a mixup is called staggering. Catwoman has a canned string that is three hits, with the third hit being an overhead that launches the opponent for a damaging combo. By itself this is not a mixup because all three hits of the canned string can be stand blocked.

Let's stagger this string to make it a mixup on block. After the first two hits, end the string. End the string and recover from it completely. Then perform a low attack after ending the string.

Eventually the opponent will be conditioned to expect a low attack after the second hit of the canned string. If they crouch block expecting the low attack, they get hit by the third hit of the string and get launched for a combo.

Staggered strings leave a gap in pressure and if the defender is prepared they can attack during this gap to interrupt the attacker and take their turn back.