« IPLAYWINNER TWITTER Q&A: TIME TO OIL UP YOUR MIND! »

For sometime now I've wanted to have a series of strategy articles on iPlayWinner, but to be honest I can never really come up with anything to write about! I know this sounds ridiculous since I go to some form of Street Fighter tournament on a weekly basis, but sometimes it's hard to put your own play style into words.

So instead of just typing away and hoping people read what I write, I figured it would be a better idea to get our community involved and see what's on players minds. If you're following us on Twitter (@iplaywinner) we will now be taking questions about strategy, tournaments and really anything fighting game related. We will be answering those questions here on the site as frequently as possible so send them over and I'll do my best to get them answered.

To send us a question just tweet: @iplaywinner [your question goes here]

A lot of the questions will be answered by me, but I'll also try to bring in other players to help respond to the questions as well. Also, don't be afraid to disagree with us! One of the best ways to learn via text is debating techniques and strategies so we all can possibly learn from each other.

Anyway, enough rambling, here are a couple good questions that were sent over just in the past day or so. If you don't see your question, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you.

Thanks to @SpeedBrkr for the tagline, by the way.

@Man_Griffin

I feel I've hit a plateau,I practice frequently and play constantly yet I dont feel I'm getting better. Any advice?

I think one thing to really look at here is what do do you use as a measurement for improvement? Is it the amount of wins you come away with while playing online or your current rank in Championship Mode? If so, know that online isn't the best way to see if you're getting better because so many variables go into online play. Everything from varied skill levels and lag will have an affect on your perception of current skill level.

Even with local casual play sometimes it can be hard to tell if you're really improving. Sometimes you will get away with stuff because the other guy is testing new strategies or you'll end up losing because maybe they have been playing all day and are just a bit more warmed up than you.

Personally, I don't use online or casual play as a way to measure my own skill -- only tournament matches and results. Tournaments will really put everything you have worked for to the test. So if you see that you continue to do better in tournament each time or keep playing better against stronger opponents each time then you are on the right track.

If you truly want to increase your skill though, you have to be playing stronger opponents more often than not. A lot of players have a hard time taking losses, but if you can get your hands dirty and learn from each loss and understand that you are playing someone who is simply better than you are, you will see the difference in skill when you play a weaker opponent.

Also, it's worth noting that sometimes it can be hard to see improvement on a day to day basis. You might want to consider recording your matches and watching the replays from time to time to see if you are making any sort of improvement. 

It can also help to pinpoint certain problem areas or match ups and drill them as best you can. For instance, if you have a problem playing vs Balrog, you might want to go into training mode and practice countering regular and EX Rush Punches, so the next time you run into a player who abuses those moves you will have a counter for them each time.

At the end of the day though, as I said before, you have to get out there and seek out players who are stronger than you in order to really see a major improvement in your game. 

@AndrewatUCR

When learning a new character, what aspect of their playstyle is most important to learn first; footsies, combos, or?

To be frank, I think it goes without saying that you have to learn the basics of the character from all angles first and foremost before you can even take them into a real battle. Knowing their best normal moves and max damage punishers is pretty essential for any fighting game, not just Street Fighter 4. There are so many tutorials and strategy guides out there now, that you shouldn't have much of a problem learning the basics of any character in about a week tops.

When learning a new character though, after you've gotten the basics out of the way, you'll see that not all these moves and combos work in every situation against every character. So I'd say the thing you should learn as soon as you've gotten a grasp of the characters over all game plan, is match ups.

For example, you decided that C. Viper looks hella sick and you want to see if you can ruin someones day with a Fierce, Feint, Fierce combo. You spend all week getting the timing down and hit XBL or your local meet up. The first opponent you run into is Zangief, you go in for a Jump Roundhouse and eat a lariat to the face. See where this is going?

You'll want to go through the rest of the cast and get a better idea as to what is a good match up and a bad match up for the character you're learning. If it's a good match up, why is it so? What moves or combos that you've picked up makes it a match up that is in your favor? If it's a bad match up, you have to ask yourself the same set of questions.

If you have a strong understanding of the characters match ups and how they do against the rest of the cast, you can sometimes get away with a lot, even if you are not an expert with the character or are just starting out. Knowing what your opponent is capable of and having an answer for them, whether it's a normal move, throw or a combo will put you ahead of a lot of players who simply just go into each fight with pretty much the same gameplan each time.