A Virtua Fighter 5 Primer

A couple of weeks ago, the editorial staff at IGN Australia hooked up with Australian Virtua Fighter expert Mike Abdow. Now, we don't pretend to be experts at Virtua Fighter 5, but the reality is we were taken back to school. It's time to eat some humble pie and get a lesson from the master. Yes, Mike's back, and he's been kind enough to answer a whole host of our questions, covering everything the average player needs to know to improve their game. Whether you're in the States and have already sunk some time into the game, or you're an Aussie hanging out for launch, this is advice that's going to stand you in good stead.

IGN: After playing VF5 on the PS3, are the core combat mechanics still quite similar to its predecessors? How have they changed?

Mike Abdow: In the history of VF games, each version can be seen as an evolutionary step in the series. As such, no single game is a complete departure from its predecessor. You would do extremely well to pick up VF5 if you have some familiarity with any past VF game. However, for the first timers, each VF game has made it progressively easier for new people to pick up, learn, play and have fun!

Obviously, VF5 has most in common with VF4, but its fundamentals at the core can be seen as a running thread throughout the entire series.

To speak in less abstract terms, the core combat mechanics are essentially the same in VF5. You have a joystick and 3 buttons - Guard, Punch, and Kick. Attacks can hit at three levels, High, Mid or Low.

Basic Offensive Actions: To defeat a standing guard, you can either throw or use a low attack. To defeat a crouching guard, you can use a mid attack, or a low throw if your character has one.

Basic Defensive Actions: To defend against a High attack you can either stand guard, or crouch under to make it miss. To defend against a Mid attack, you can only stand guard. To defend against a Low attack, you must crouch guard. If the attack doesn't have any spinning properties, you may also evade it.

The basic offensive and defensive actions are summarised in the table below, and have held true in every VF game.

IGN: What's the first thing a new player to the series should learn?

Mike Abdow: I would answer this question the same, regardless of the fighting game we were talking about. Along with each topic listed, I will also suggest how a new player can go about learning it.

1. Your Character's Command List The absolute first place to start is learning your character's moves. At first glance, this can seem like a daunting task when you consider the amount of moves for any given character is in the hundreds. So my advice to the beginner is to not be too concerned with memorising every single move. Instead, try to focus on a small number of moves. But you might be wondering, which moves should you focus on? For some guidance, I highly recommend you watch the Exhibition matches included on the game disc. By watching the experts play, you can get a good idea of what moves are more commonly used over others, and in what situations.

How to learn? PS3 VF5 has a Command List training mode. For some harder to perform moves, it also includes a demonstration which may help you with, say, specific timing of input. It's also worth repeating that watching others player, especially skilful players, can help you focus on a smaller set of moves to learn.

2. Attacking and Defending After learning your moves, can you put them to practice in battle? Knowing your moves is one thing, but knowing when to use them is another. Once you've defended your opponent's attack, it's important to know which attack to respond with in the heat of battle. As an example, if you notice your opponent evading a lot when you try to attack, you might try using a spinning attack instead, which cannot be evaded. Also, against attacks that take a long time to recover, some of your faster attacks may even be guaranteed to connect! Learning these guaranteed attacks after guarding certain moves will dramatically improve your game.

How to learn? PS3 VF5 contains exhibition matches of high level players from Japan. Watching and studying these can help you determine what type of attacks to use in different situations. Alternatively, play in Quest mode or against the CPU in Free Training to get a feel for attacking and defending.

3. Movement As obvious as this may sound, knowing the different types of movement possible in the game will help you become a better player. Being able to move around the ring with speed and precision can enable you to create openings that weren't otherwise there. As an example, quickly dashing towards your opponent may entice them to attack, but if you can dash backwards fast enough they'll miss their attack, giving you an opening.

The different movement types include walking, standing dashes, crouching dashes, running, jumping and evading. You can even cancel one type of movement with another to create your own movement style which may be tricky, flashy or even intimidating.

How to learn? PS3 VF5's Free Training mode is ideal if you want to practice your movement techniques without the hassle of someone trying to beat you down! For example, try back dashing, quickly evading, then quickly crouch dashing forward. Once you have this all down as one smooth movement, try repeating it over and over again for some fancy footwork!

4. Combos Knowing combos is critical if you want to inflict the maximum amount of damage to your opponent whenever the opportunity arises. Combos can be quite complex since they can be specific to characters, weight, hit type, and stance. But, there are usually combos that work against all characters under all conditions, so knowing these is a good place to start.

How? PS3 VF5's Free Training mode is your perfect training ground for combo practice! Set the dummy CPU to your liking (standing, crouching, normal or counter hit), and practice away. Use the damage and combo hit meters to gauge how good your combo is, and don't forget to set the CPU to tech roll (instantly recover from knock downs) either! Keep in mind that not all combos occur in a vacuum. Consider the environment around you, and try to develop combos that maximise wall hits, or a combo that travels far across the stage which may be used to Ring Out!