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Know your opponant
Tekken is a deep game. So deep that fighting styles actually emerge
from your opponants. You could play against two people who use the
same character and have two totally differant matches. Maybe they
attacked you with a flurry of attacks, or devistated you with two
life draining combos, thats what I'm talking about. If you can
understand what kind of player you are facing then you can prepare to
fight them.
The Bastard- The bastard will hurt you, bad. They know the most
damaging combo's and are not afraid to wipe up the arcade with you.
When you are on the ground, a bastard won't let you up and will take
every hit he can give. Cheap? Forget about it, a bastard only wants
to win.
The Masher- The masher will hurt the machine, bad. Smashing
the buttons as if they were analog and hitting them harder will
make Eddie kick faster. They generally do more damage to the machine
then their opponants. They have no tekken skill, and rely on luck.
Many people suggest you beat a masher down, I encourage you to
try to give mashers a "leg up" to become better players.
Proximity Players- These people keep you at a distance. Which
distance? Any distance they choose. They might stay just out of throw
range, they may stay in your face, but one thing is for sure... if you
move foreward a step, they move back a step. If you move backwards, they
progress. They will stay some space away from you the whole match
if they can, and they will if you let them.
Patient Players- or "turtles." These players play a viscious
waiting game, calmly blocking your attacks untill they see an opening to
strike. Patient players will let the fight come to them.
Frenzy Players- or "pitbulls" Frenzy players will be on you like stink on
shit. Frenzy's use custom strings, 10 strings, guard breaks, quick hits
low hits... anything they can, and (hopefully for them) faster then
your guard stun will let you recover. They will eat you alive in guard damage
and make you choke when you attack... reducing your game to squat.
Frenzy players can play slow too, but always one step ahead of their
opponant.
Wrestlers- Simple enough, wrestlers like to throw. Their whole
game revolves around throwing. They know that throws can cancell just
about EVERYTHING if you time it right. They will make you stand up
by planting a bunch of popups on you, then they throw you. They know every
chain throw that king ever had. If you don't know how to escape their
throws, you might as well not even bother.
The Technicians- A true technician can qoute you frame data for any
move in the game. They know combo's as mathematical formulas. Expect
nothing but the best from these lunatics. A tech also has the honed
skill of knowing exactly how far they need to be to hit you at any time (like
a Proximity Player, but a tech doesn't need to stay in any range.)
The technician is a bad motherfucker. With the power to "feel you out" with
power strikes, these are the tournament winners.
Scrubs- Don't laugh. We were all scrubs at one point. A scrub
is a beginner. A person who wants to kick ass, but just don't have
the skills to get the job done.
Recruiters- Last, but certainly not least the recruiters
are responsible for bringing in new tekken blood.
They offer
a helpful leg up to the new guys/girls (aka: "recruits")by pushing tekken onto them
and helping them overcome the steep (and intimidating)
first step of playing tekken. If you see a new recruit, it may be
best not to totally decimate him/her. Instead, help them to
enjoy the game and build some skill... then dominate them :)
These are a few of the types of tekken players, it's not often
that a person will stick to one style and never vary his game. More
often then not, people mix up thier games to be unpredictable. Just
try to be aware that a wrestler and a bastard (for instance) are two seperate
styles that will act/react differantly to your game.
And knowing what your up against is key to winning.