[Why I didn't post this: This was during my road to my FGC burnout. I've had a question in my Asks for now almost a year inviting me to talk about fighting game theory and just never found the juice again to get going again on this. Also I might have been tipsy, considering all the spelling errors at a glance.]
I was looking for the right subject I want to settle into for this Ask, since it was so broad.
Fighting game likers and non-likers alike have likely come across or been someone who just presses buttons for hopeful, and sometimes expecting positive, results. In my lifetime I've met folks who've:
- Button mashed (idk what/why I'm here)
- Button mashed (lmao this is all fighting games are)
- Button mashed (if I don't know what I'm doing then you don't know what I'm doing)
- Button mashed (buttons per second = actions per second)
If you ask them what they're doing, you'll receive the most obvious answer:
"I dunno I was just hitting buttons."
But once an event horizon is reached, when players have begun to even make a little bit of name for themselves, there will still be a time where they play someone who's had more time and experience. Flummoxed by a perfect counter in a niche or new situation they threw at their opponent, they ask them "Why did you do that?" or "How did you know?" Unaware of the most unsatisfying answer they'll ever receive since Mass Effect 3's ending
"I dunno I was just hitting buttons."
What makes such a huge difference between these answers? Why doesn't just pressing buttons merit more results? Number three holds an almost good point: "if I don't know you don't know," but why does a more skilled player actually know. Why can a higher level player sometimes not know and can get away with just pressing buttons?
This will cover two major pieces:
- Why doesn't mashing mindlessly work.
- Why experienced mashing does.
Mindless mashing
Random isn't random
This may seem like a weird claim, but true randomness is impossible and also limited.
Humans DO have tendencies to follow whatever patterns they know. So if you're doing anything short of trying to press as many buttons as possible, the brain will latch onto some patterns here and there just naturally.
But what if you're just trying to press as many buttons as possible? Random still isn't random. The second key issue here is the limitations of the video game. You can press the A button as many times as you want to in Super Mario Bros to get Mario to jump, but Mario will only jump once. Pressing more buttons does not result in more jumps until Mario is able to do another jump. Fighting games are the same rigamarole: You can press as many buttons as you want, but the game can only execute so many of them at any time. Which button is left more to chance, sure, but it matters little because of the second piece.
Mashing against experienced players loses to fundamentals + pattern recognition.
Another thing about random mashing is that it doesn't embrace the fundamentals or mechanics of fighting games to its fullest. Most notably, it'll seldom beat a good defense.
Fighters are a very direct combat video game. You attack and you defend against those attacks so you can attack back more later, so there's a whole rock paper scissors system to keep things moving.
To keep things simple, 2D fighting games have two main ways to prevent players from blocking all the time. Attacks that hit if the opponent is blocking incorrectly (low attacks while the opponent is standing or overhead attacks while the opponent is crouching) or a throw. Just standing and blocking can deal with most mashers.
For mashers, the "odds" of them doing a crouching attack is near minimum because their stick needs to be in a specific position along with a button along with no other mashed moves coming out at the time those correct buttons are pressed. So one often won't need to block low.
If the controller is being mashed, there's likely going to be a time where the opponent jumps, which is a general free hit if you're waiting for it. So an experienced player can wait for that too.
Ultimately, even if mashing gets a hit or two on an experienced player: it rarely will ever matter. Even if that experienced player loses a round, you still need a match to be considered a win. Of course, this is where the masher player will take whatever win they can and say "well I got close," "I almost won," or "at least I got a hit." Which, honestly, good on them. That's a skill set many folks lose as they become more experienced!
Additionally, there's one option that all the button mashing in the world will not beat: Defense. A way to deal with someone pressing a lot of buttons in your face is... to not be in face-punching range.
It sounds stupidly simple but randomness can only go so far if they don't have access to all their tools. If a Ryu player doesn't have a consistent fireball, then the range of his punches and kicks are all one needs to worry about.
All the reasonable options are funneled down to "wait and see," for an experienced player and to keep your distance until later. You don't need to be experienced to know that you don't want to toss your hand into a blender (I'd hope).
