Was Zangief any good?

[Geoff]

Ah, happy days. I never really got into Zangief. But I did quite like the slow but angry Sagat.

 

[pure_mercury]

I did not like Zangief (or "Zanqueef," as the kids liked to call him), but I will give him this: the true slug in that game was Balrog. He was crap. I was a fan of the Ken/Ryu/Chun Li/Guile/M. Bison side of martial artists. I would swarm the noobs with the sweeps, kicks, and jump kicks (I was expert at leaping forward and backward and avoiding aerial attacks). I was so-so on throwing the spinning moves, Sonic Booms, etc. I've actually seen a few amazing players with Dhalsim and Blanka in my day. And one E. Honda fan.

P.S. Dead or Alive 3 was a lot of fun.

 

[Totenkindly]

It's funny, but playing fighting games opened up an interesting little window into the world of cognitive functions in action.

... my INTJ brother ...said that... as he played, he would elaborately plan out a course of action in his head. Of course, in a fighting game, the odds that everything would go as planned for you is extremely low. Secondly, it takes too much mental focus to plan like that, when you need to be paying attention to the present.

...I store in my mind a large compilation of principles and guidelines. Something to the effect of "if he does that, I do this", "if my life is in the red, and the timer is low, I'll change to this tactic", "If I'm using this character against that character, don't bother using this move" etc..
It seems that my little formula system is much, much more effective than my brother's system. Probably because it allows me to react the situation at hand. It makes my style flexible and modular.

Now, is this an example of the INTJ thinking process versus the INTP one? Because it really seems like it is.

Yes, that's how I would have described it.
And that is how I play games too.

You can't easily Te an approach to video games where you are playing a reactive role or you can't lock down all the factors ahead of time.

Lenore Thomson describe Ti (IxTP) in regards to baseball: You have some general principles, but you're scanning the environment and constantly updating your behavior based on what is happening in 3D space.

You can't plan a specific strategy ahead of time because you can't control the environment ahead of time; there are far too many factors out of your control. Instead you reference your tested principles every time new data is received (Ti) and react accordingly. Ne people can project possibilities outside the typical box (although I think this can slow them down a bit, deciding on what is actually happening), while Se secondaries tend to see what is there and do extremely well if they've had lots of experience.

This I think is why xSTPs in particular do extremely well at games like this, although I've seen some xSFPs really rock at arcade games as well. (It's more like xSFPs tend to pick moves they in particular like, personally, rather than necessarily picking the move that might be MOST appropriate from a logical POV, tho.)

INTJs tend to do better in games where they can (1) control and manage resources and (2) have time to think about their moves. This applies to business roles too (like project managing and whatever is similar).

... the true slug in that game was Balrog. He was crap.

I think he was rather hard to play, successfully, against experienced players. Not nearly as much fun as the others.

I was a fan of the Ken/Ryu/Chun Li/Guile/M. Bison side of martial artists. I would swarm the noobs with the sweeps, kicks, and jump kicks (I was expert at leaping forward and backward and avoiding aerial attacks). I was so-so on throwing the spinning moves, Sonic Booms, etc.

Oh, those were my faves: The spinning air kick, the super-uppercut, the sonic boom. I was really good at those parts.

But I did love it when someone could leap in with Ken/Rhu and do that extended jump kick, then bounce/tumble right back out without letting you touch them. That was very cool to watch.

And one E. Honda fan.

I think Honda was one of the first ones I beat the game with. And I wasn't even lame and use that "flurry hands" things all the time. *eye roll* I actually did a lot of belly flops and butt drops and wrestling throws with him. Fun.

 

[swordpath]

I want to play Mortal Kombat 3 right now.

 

[Jeffster]

I want to play Mortal Kombat 3 right now.

Nightwolf owns.

Hatchet to the face! Just when you least expect it!

 

[swordpath]

Nightwolf owns.

Hatchet to the face! Just when you least expect it!

Very much agreed, sir. Very much agreed.

 

[FallsPioneer]

I used to hate Street Fighter II (and all its incarnations) until I learned how to play it, before then it seemed like everyone was a million times better than me. Much like my experience with Counter Strike.

I got into Guile. Guile's damn good. Heh heh heh...I can't really stand using the large characters cause I need to have mobility with the people I use. I used Yun for SF III, and with Street Fighter Alpha 2 (ignore the first one =P) I use Ken or Guy. It's kind of a crapshoot with Guy though because his throws are awesome but he gets whooped so easily at the same time, if you're not aggressive you're going to lose.

Mortal Kombat is alright, though I used to be scared of it when I was younger. I like Kung Lao and Raiden.

Tekken I like a bit more, I'm a huge Lee fan.

Is anyone into Guilty Gear? I bought XX#Reload off of the Xbox Live Arcade and I'm hooked. Ky Kiske totally destroys.

 

[Noel]

Far superior to Street Fighter:

Were you a Sega kid?


I can't believe I missed this thread! I use Street Fighter 2 as the standard in regards to comparing its counterparts. Mortal Combat, especially mk2 & 3, was great but Street Fighter 2 was perfect. Zangief, if you could pull off his ridiculous moves (especially the final atomic buster), was a force to be reckoned with. I wasn't quite as skilled at the game compared to my older brother or his friend, but Ryu was my favourite. My brother could play as any character pretty well but his top two favourites were E. Honda / Blanka.

 

[Rhu]

SNK made far more interesting fighting games. Capcom's stuff was good, but it seemed like their MO was to add polish to and take some of the unnecessary complexity away from SNK's novel attempts to push the envelope of the genre.

I liked some of those wacky mechanics. It made approaching a NeoGeo arcade box feel like a science experiment.


And as a final note: It was Ryu, Jennifer.
Troll!

 

[Atomic Fiend]

My Best fighters in The Street Fighter series were Ryu, Ken and Akuma of course and unlike most people who played with Akuma, I actually knew how to perform his finishers. I was pretty good with Guile, and I used to enjoy using Alex and Ibuki, Sean is also an extremely underated character. I loved playing with Fei Long as well.

In the Dead or Alive series, I was accomplished with Jann Lee, Hitomi and Ein.

I know how to use almost anyone in Tekken. Some of the newer characters I can't seem to get the hang of.

From the SNK series of Games, Fatal Fury and King Of Fighters, I was good with Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusanagi 97', Kyo Kusanagi 01', Kyo Kusanagi 03', Benimaru, Sie Kensou, Yuri, and Richard Mayer.

Yes, I love fighting games. I grew up on them.

 

[htb]

SH-O-O-O-RYU-KIN!

Not a fan of Zangief.

 

[FFF]

Back in the day at the front of the subdivision there was a Chinese restaurant that decided to bring in a SF2 arcade game and then later replace it with SF2 Turbo. The restaurant was not very busy until night time, so during the day the corner of the restaurant served as a mini-arcade. People would ride their bikes to the front of the subdivision to play. I think this family actually lived in the back of the restaurant to save money. So the owners had a few sons that got so good at the game, they were unbeatable. They would use Ryu, and maybe sometimes Ken, and were like a brick wall.

One day my brother asked the mother how much they make off the game in a day, and she said about $50. It was popular enough that they let their kids hang around with pockets full of quarters, ready to give change to anyone who might need it. One day the father was telling his children to stop using Ryu cause they kept beating everybody with him.

 

[FFF]

Zangief's spinning pile driver was so hard to do, it should've taken off 50% of someone's power, but it took off no more than a third. I don't think it was even much better than a regular throwing move.