Iron Fist 101: The Competitors Guide to Playing Tekken
Aris ON Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at 1:48PM 
This is the first in a series of articles written to help tournament ready fighting game players compete in Tekken. Though this article is written primarily for newer Tekken players, following the concepts presented here can help even veteran Tekken players who are aspiring to improve on a fundamental level.
I’m not going to sit here and bullshit you about how you can make Tekken fun at a casual level because I couldn’t care less about Tekken at a casual level. I’m also not going to try to convince you that tekken is worth playing, I will assume that you already know this. Tekken is a hard game, and being a competitor is hard work. But with the correct attitude, that work can be extremely fun and satisfying.
That being said...
How to have fun playing Tekken.
Many of today's fighting games are designed from the ground up to entertain players even when they are losing. Tekken however, has yet to adopt this style of game design. Entry level Tekken players often feel completely overwhelmed in the first few phases of the learning process. This is the turning point in which most new players quit, and is much earlier than the point in which the game starts to become fun.
Set Small Goals.
The first step to having fun when playing Tekken is, forget about winning. If your primary goal in Tekken is winning, you will most certainly quit far before that happens. Instead, set small goals for yourself with the purpose of obtaining a win. Be very specific. Focus on players who you have offline access to and make rivalries. Even if you aren’t vocal about them, treat them as your rival. This will let you focus your goals towards your rival’s character.
Good examples of small goals.
- Low parry the second hit of Law’s Junk Yard combo and follow up with the correct low parry combo.
- Break out of a double over stun.
- Block seeable lows like Bryan’s Snake Edge and punish correctly.
- Don’t get thrown by King’s Giant Swing when his back is to the wall for an entire match, or day, or week.
Bad examples of small goals.
- Place top 3 in a local tournament.
- Place top 5 in a local tournament.
- Win a match in a local tournament. (Yes this goal is too big.)
- Be able to beat the asshole that works at Super Arcade. (Way too big).
Every time you accomplish one of your small goals, you should feel like you placed top 3 in a tournament. If you approach the game this way, you will focus more on your own personal improvements. This is where you can begin to have fun playing Tekken. The more small goals you set, the faster you will improve, and this type of improvement will be extremely satisfying because it is literally quantifiable by your own goals. Think of these goals as pieces of a puzzle. When this puzzle nears completion, winning will occur naturally.
With the right mindset, it is very hard to not improve when losing in Tekken, and usually, improving in a game you want to compete in is fun.
Step one accomplished.
Selecting a character.
You may be wondering why I didn’t start with this topic. The reason is that character choice matters far less at the beginners level than the concept of learning the fundamentals. For a fundamentally solid player, switching characters can be very easy once you understand the core defensive concepts of Tekken. Unlike in most fighting games, in Tekken, You don’t have to worry too much about wasting time with a character that doesn’t fit your style.
Though every character in Tekken is very unique, most have similar punishers and launchers. If you get tired of a character you thought you liked, it isn’t hard to switch. Especially if you were able to learn the game system with your initial character. Focus more on learning things like how to get off the ground safely when you get knocked down, how to break throws, or even simply how to punish correctly. That being said, I would personally recommend selecting one character you really like, and another that requires very low execution. If you are an aspiring Mishima player, do not play two Mishima characters. Tekken is hard enough, there is no need to create even more obstacles for yourself. I will list a few characters below which I believe to require minimal left hand execution and are relatively straight forward.
Jack 6
Asuka
Feng
Lars
Miguel
Steve
Which fighting game related skills are most valuable in Tekken?
Experience
It may seem a bit obvious, but in Tekken, experience is extremely valuable. Knowing when your opponent is likely to attempt a low is far more valuable than seeing a low and reacting to it. Especially when it’s a low you have never seen before. This explains how players like Tomhilfiger, Arario, or even Ricky Ortiz can return after not playing for such a long time and still win. They understand the psychology of Tekken.
Knowledge
Knowledge is a natural byproduct of gaining experience and is also extremely valuable in Tekken. Ducking the second or third hit of a string and punishing correctly can literally change an entire match. The best way to gain knowledge is to ask questions. Lot’s of people know how to play Tekken and are dying to talk about it with other smart competitors. Try to find a mentor, or even two. Almost every top level Tekken player was trained by someone.
Reflexes/Reaction time
Reflexes are also a very important part of Tekken. The entire throw breaking system, whiff punishing, block punishing, and just about everything else in Tekken revolves around reaction time. If this is one of your strong points as a player, you will succeed playing Tekken. You will also have a lot of fun in the process because good reaction times allow you to set and accomplish more complex small goals. For example, break five throws in a row. Serious Tekken players should definitely focus on reaction time when practicing. Especially in regards to throw breaking. Not being able to break throws is one of the worst weaknesses a player can have.
Patience
Whatever idea you have, nine times out of ten, it’s a bad idea.Tekken is all about good defense. But I don’t want offense oriented players to think that it’s impossible to be aggressive. You simply have to pick your spots, and at the entry level, those spots are few and far between. When you are presented with a long move list that has tons of cool looking moves, you want to use them as much as possible. This is the first thing a veteran player looks for in a new competitor when testing their level of skill. Remember that no matter what move you do, a strong opponent can turn it into a mistake. Be patient and focus on absorbing and retaining as much defensive knowledge as possible to then use that knowledge to apply offense.
Execution
One of the most interesting and unique parts of Tekken is its depth in movement execution. Tekken grants players with exceptional left hand execution the ability to move faster. Movement is generally the most complex execution related part of the game because it applies to every character. For entry level players, this can seem very intimidating. I’ve heard players say they think it’s unfair that I can move faster than they can just because I’ve practiced moving. Just remember that there are several top players who have relatively weak or limited movement, and there are also players who can move very fast, but can not win. Great movement is simply a bonus. It is not essential to move like a top level Korean player to win. Though it certainly will help.
The good news is, all these fighting game related skills will improve very fast if you focus on setting small goals for yourself, and follow a solid game plan.
Part two of this article will focus on topics like formulating a game plan, dealing with move lists for 50 characters, and overcoming personal obstacles. If there are any specific questions you have that you would like to see covered in future articles, feel free to comment.
Reader Comments (50)
but how do you beat that which has no life? they play tekken like it's their full-time job they're playing all day :(
Love this kind of ish, seeing community input that seems to care about others is always nice.
Nice text, enjoyed reading it,
What about game momentum? I heard a lot in stream commentaries about breaking momentum, gaining it . Cant understand what, how, when.
Nice piece Aris. A good read and I realised I should set more small goals. I was already trying to give up on the 'I always need to win' mentality. Helps me focus better on things I want to learn and see.
I'm waiting for part II.
Good advice on the "need to win" mentality. Abandoning that way of thinking is the first step to learning and becoming a better player.
Aris is a fat bastard :3
aris is the aristocrat of the fighting game world.
Really great article. The small goal mentality is really the way to go. I've gotten a good feeling of accomplishment from just learning how to backdash over the last year and starting to break throws. Feels so good.
Question on the low execution characters. Is Jun going to be be a lower execution character as well? Just wondering how much time in the lab for Asuka in T6 will transfer over to Jun or if she's going to be a whole new beast and higher execution.
Mr.Aris thank you for this wonderful guide! very informative and very good. in you part two can you please include how to predict or block lows that are quick? cuz whenever i ge spammed by laws d/b 4 i always get hit. i try toblock but i cant. i just lose when that happens to me. thank you sir and more power to you!
Why Steve in the "minimal left hand execution ?", he got the ws1,2 B! combo that is really hard for beginners
You should put Alisa instead, or Bruce ?
Great article. I can watch top player videos and practice what they do all day, and never be able to reproduce the results. It's stuff like this that lets you into the mind of a player that is much better than you, that really opens you up for improvement. How you play the game is important, but how you think about the game is more so, because it comes first, and provides the best foundation for your play.
Thanks Aris, that was a nice one.
And you could also add Zafina as a low-execution character as well - she's way easier on the fingers than, say, Steve or Jack. For me, at least. :)
And maybe you could address the situation when newer players get obsessed with complicated stuff like overly complicated juggles or parrying\reversing everything and forget to "aim to win" - that leads to losses and not having fun. Some of my buddies have fallen in this trap and even dropped the game, and I dont't even know what I could have done about that.
Inspiring Article Aris.. :)
Ques: What about Practice time/frequency? For people who have full access to arcades/consoles and those who have limited[to very limited] access..
Thank you, You just Got Thousands of tekkeners into Reading, lol.. Good Job ^_^
This article is too good!!
Also, you need to know that some people wil never be able to break throws. They just aren't born with those kind of reflexes/ reaction time. It's just genetics.
Often these people steer away from fighting games by natural selection. (You don't tend to like or enjoy something you suck at even after playing and practicing for months), so often times the 'lack of reflexes' is not an issue people born with quick reflexes care about or even understand...
But once in a while there will be people that just are stubborn and wanna play fighting games without the reaction time needed to play it well. They will suck for life due to what we call 'lack of natural talent'.. yeah, life's a bitch!
@Bhup, Genetics only give you your starting point. Reaction time is an improvable skill. The only thing separating players is determination. Natural talent exists, but is superseded by determination.
2nd the determination thing.
You can actually sharpen your reflexes and reaction timing if you go and do "out of your league" challenges. I played several very good players in my area which basically meant I was constantly getting bodied.
Just ask what is up with a certain move that you kept eating. Players almost always know the hole in their character's movelist. Good folks will not shy away from telling you. After all, they would have at least 3 options to cover their backsides if you start using this "gap" on them.
set small goals like, dun get launched so nilly willy. stop trying to press buttons when u know better. this will actually help you improve reaction timing since you will be making more educated guesses rather than just depending on your vision to see something that is happening in 15frames.
once you get that down. sooner or later you will start seeing these lows or moves as being slower than they actually were. when you move down the ladder to play with people of similar level, you will see improvement.
Great article. One question you talk about "punish correctly" or "correct punish". What is "correct punish"? And, how do you know if you are punishing correctly? Sorry in advance for asking a stupid question just trying to improve my tekken vocabulary.
Thanks for the guide Aris. I hope you can make some followup ones in the future.
Sometimes I get frustrated when I consistently lose, but I guess it's sometimes just a good idea to forget about winning and just refocus.
@NEXtrPhaze:
punishing correctly is punishing an unsafe move with a move that will lead to the most damage being dealt within the allotted amount frames.
That was really cool Aris. The only point i must disagree with is Steeve beeing a low execution char. Well, his execution/inputs are way harder than average