Learning in the arcade?

DrakeAldan

DrakeAldan

Follow the rules!
I'd ask this on SRK, but I wouldn't know where to put it. or how they'd take it. :|

I grew up on consoles. Arcades were a "once-in-a-while" thing, and I don't think I ever lived near a big one.

Now that I'm older though, I have to wonder.

With the console version, you get practice mode... you just knock yourself out doing whatever stupid stuff you wanna do and explore the game and situations as much as you like.

But... how did the guys back in the day do it? Arcade has, uh... arcade mode, and that's the only mode.

Even now, with arcade machines and new games, or new characters in established franchises. How do you go from not knowing what you're doing to becoming a threat if you don't even have a movelist to glance at?

I guess it costs a lot of money in quarters? is there something I'm missing here?
 
Thats a good question. All I know is I would take my happy ass to 7-11 EVERY GOD DAMN DAY after school and dump my lunch money into street fighter 2. Only to have to older more experienced kids kick my good damn ass. No matter how much money I put into that damn game I never got good, It was all about having your intials on top of that leaderboard. Gues thats why Im not all into sf4 right now.
 
SC2 had practice mode in the arcade. That's how I mastered iCS back in the day before it hit consoles.

There were move lists and combo lists out there, but you had to know where to look or you had to collaborate with other people. You'd look that info up and either print it out or commit to memory the few things you wanted to test. Then you'd either go with a buddy and spend lots of money testing things or, if there was competition, you'd conduct all your tests live and make the best of it.

If your competition sucked in your area, you were pretty much screwed unless you took the time to travel to a stronger area and learn from the people there. I guess that's the same nowadays with the traveling thing, though.
 
As I said, you have to practice against friends. People of your equal skill level, but there's a problem if someone starts out better. If you play at the same bad level, it's very rare for you to improve on your own. You need to get a study-buddy in order to get better. At the arcades, nobody is willing; you have to struggle, and it's about money; they don't want to lose their money. Practicing at the arcade means you need to be willing to spend a ton of money, to get better, or even to let your skills solidify at the bad level, or you'll forget even the basic tricks you learned at the arcade.
 
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