The art of letting the other guy win in fighting games

T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
So we had some family friends around and one of their kids decided they wanted to play MK vs DCU. I obliged, but the kid sucked, so bad. Since I knew that he'd get bored and/or frustrated if he constantly lost, I decided I'd throw some matches, and even when I decided I'd win this one I'd always let him get a round in. I did my best to dart around and look like I was doing something, and always be sure to land a few blows before I'd let him get his in.

Still, it's easy to fool the youngins, and not so much people your age. But some people take fighting games really personal for some reason, even if they've never played them before. A while back I was playing BlazBlue something or other with a buddy and his girlfriend, and we were kicking her ass at it pretty badly. Normally that would be fine, except neither of us had played it before and it was her favorite game. So she wasn't really too happy. We both kind of silently agreed we'd let her win some of them, but I'm 99% sure she caught on to what happened, and was pretty grumpy the rest of the night.

Does anybody else find themselves doing this a lot? If so, have you got any advice for how you can let the other guy win more convincingly? Are there any rookie mistakes you should make to really sell it?
 
I do it, to make them believe that they actually won in battle and to not outright piss them off risking the game getting banned at that house lol
 
yeah i do it too, cause its very disconcerting to pick up a new game and feel like you're just getting absolutely creamed the whole time.

so i let my friends win a couple of matches, but if we play enough they'll start mashing buttons in a better combination than i actually "knowingly" press my buttons...which then i get sad because i realize how bad i am at games.
 
None of my friends are into games nearly as much as I am, so yeah...I have to let them win from time to time. If I actually tried the match would be over in 5 seconds, and I'm not even that good at fighting games.

I don't even bother playing fighting games with friends anymore. It's not fun for me to hold back, and it's probably not that fun for them either since they suck at the games.
 
fuzzyreactor said:
i used to let my friends beat me in smash bros melee
Click to expand...
I think he was talking about fighting games.

I once let a cholo at an arcade beat me in SF2 because he would have likely kicked my ass if he'd lost.
 
I lose intentionally all the time. After Ive had the controller for a good 10 turns I will lose or give it up and do something else. It is polite!

I do have one giant ex-jock friend who refuses to let me stop playing until he has won, haha.
 
I have to do this with my brother and friends. I don't know why, but they are all horrible at every game they play. Some of the best things to come of this include accidentally winning a match and throwing a match only to then receive a ridiculous amount of trash talk.
 
If it someone who is trying to step up their game, I might hand them a gimme.

-Find flaw in their style
-Inform them
-Give advice
-Proceed to play in a manner which exploits that flaw in the hopes they recognize and react based on my advice.
 
I was brought into the fighting game world by ruthless bastards that would hadouken you and not tell you how to get through fireball bombardment. No quarter is taken.

I might not go at 100%, but I'm not going to lose on purpose.
 
davepoobond said:
yeah i do it too, cause its very disconcerting to pick up a new game and feel like you're just getting absolutely creamed the whole time.

so i let my friends win a couple of matches, but if we play enough they'll start mashing buttons in a better combination than i actually "knowingly" press my buttons...which then i get sad because i realize how bad i am at games.
Click to expand...

When you let someone win a bit, then decide to get real and start winning after they seem to have sorta gotten the hang of it, then start losing despite having put far more time and effort into the game? Yeah, that's pretty much the worst feeling.
 
I wish that you could make the fights last a lot longer.

Usually handicaps I've used let you make damage 50% less effective (or double the amount of health), though sometimes I don't think it's enough.
 
Used to do that with my nephew on soccer games and fighters when he was younger. But now the damn kid is pretty good at these games so now the matches/fights are pretty even and anyone can win.

I still dominate him in possesion and shots though (soccer)
 
I actually just played my brother and had the same issue. The real trick is to win the first round then botch the second and then do something stylin in the third. Havent played rose in forever but i hit my brother with a cr mp. xx soul spiral xx aura soul spark. He mad bro.

Also helps to try unsafe shit.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
So we had some family friends around and one of their kids decided they wanted to play MK vs DCU. I obliged, but the kid sucked, so bad. Since I knew that he'd get bored and/or frustrated if he constantly lost, I decided I'd throw some matches, and even when I decided I'd win this one I'd always let him get a round in. I did my best to dart around and look like I was doing something, and always be sure to land a few blows before I'd let him get his in.

Still, it's easy to fool the youngins, and not so much people your age. But some people take fighting games really personal for some reason, even if they've never played them before. A while back I was playing BlazBlue something or other with a buddy and his girlfriend, and we were kicking her ass at it pretty badly. Normally that would be fine, except neither of us had played it before and it was her favorite game. So she wasn't really too happy. We both kind of silently agreed we'd let her win some of them, but I'm 99% sure she caught on to what happened, and was pretty grumpy the rest of the night.

Does anybody else find themselves doing this a lot? If so, have you got any advice for how you can let the other guy win more convincingly? Are there any rookie mistakes you should make to really sell it?
Click to expand...

Younger cousins? Yeah I'll throw games of Smash Brothers for their benefit. I haven't really played any 1v1 fighters with them though.

Other friends/other games? Not really. The "best" I'll do for them is choose characters I don't main, which is a big deal in Blazblue. Playing Litchi when you have never touched training mode with her before is a one way ticket to a free loss. That's usually advantage enough for them get wins unless they are VERY bad.

So yeah... if you've practiced the game before, try choosing characters you don't normally play with. If you're both new players, then I have no idea what to suggest.

I wouldn't recommend it in either case though, since if they think you're throwing the game they'll probably be more annoyed with you. The fact that the other person is taking the game serious enough to warrant "throwing games" so they don't get mad is the REAL problem here.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
A while back I was playing BlazBlue something or other with a buddy and his girlfriend, and we were kicking her ass at it pretty badly. Normally that would be fine, except neither of us had played it before and it was her favorite game. So she wasn't really too happy. We both kind of silently agreed we'd let her win some of them, but I'm 99% sure she caught on to what happened, and was pretty grumpy the rest of the night.
Click to expand...
As a person who's been in her shoes before, I'll tell you that's a real kick in the nuts. Nothing like putting a few months into a game just to get clowned on by someone picking it up for the first time.

Smh...I used to think I was the fuckin man in Tekken Tag.
 
I will never throw a whole game but to prolong some fights I will definitely lose a round or two, to make it interesting. But I always try my best to win, letting other people win when you weren't giving it your all is decieving them into thinking that they have the potential to beat you.
 
I don't let anyone win but I hold back from using cheap tactics sometimes. No point in making people rage quit in a local match.
 
-Block on the ground for appearances, just not as often. No counters and not in the air unless it's Smash Bros for shield, as again for appearances.
-No air combos.
-Miss a super/hyper/mega move or start it late so only part of it hits them.
-If there are weapons in the game, spam a move a few times, hopefully they can catch on you are going to do it again.
-Picking your worst characters.
-Walk into the second or third attack if it's a basic combo.
-Pick a different control set-up. Sure you still know the game, but if you are attempting to remember which one is the high punch, it slows you down. Even better if you can go from stick to game pad or vice versa if you just focus on one or the other.
- If it's Smash Bros, just barely miss catching that ledge. It's easier to do so without being obvious when playing the right characters that don't have the best returns.

Personally though, I've found when I'm trying to let someone else win, I'm over-thinking how to do it and it can be a bit obvious over time. Instead I try to make it a closer health situation where I want to be at low health. Sometimes they will win because I forget how low I am or they did pull off a combo that surprised me.
 
I'm usually the one getting my ass handed to me haha. But when I do happen to play someone less skilled than I am (esp. if it's the lady), I'll let 'em win a few times.
 
My ex would hold up her controller like she was going to hit me with it whenever she was losing in Tekken 6 or SSF4 so I let her win sometimes to avoid getting abused. :(
 
If you want to give them more of a chance, don't use your main character. If the game has some kind of parry, alpha counter or just defence or whatever, just keep trying to do that rather than going all out. It would probably get boring pretty quickly if they're not interested in learning and still think they should win tho.
 
I do this to my friend with Marvel 3. Now every time I mention Marvel 3 he brags about how much better he is at it than I am. So then I show him up and dominate him, and he gets pissed, saying the game is stupid in the first place, and so to keep playing I have to let him win some.

Thus repeating the cycle
 
I used to do all kinds of things, in fighting games I would make it obvious though, I would spam the other party with the same move, and let them figure out how to counter it.

The sad part is, the first 8 times my buddy lost to the same kick.

Sometimes, I boast so much that I let them get 5x the health if that option is available.

Other times, if it is someone who means very much to me and is sensitive, I let them win as much as they can before I make a comeback, win once, and then we decide to play another game.

I played my nephew who is like 16 on Street Fighter 3DS, I didn't buy the game, and it was the first time playing a fighting game on it, I was waiting for DOA.

I had revisited DOA PSX a week prior, safe to say I kicked his ass, and he is a Capcom fighting game maniac, I let him win a few games, as I was captivated by the 3D effect.

On that note, there wasn't very much depth to Street Fighter 3DS, it's really a defensive game, eh?
 
Your supposed to play shitty at first then play good if they warrant the effort. At least that's how I play everyone :P

and straight up losing on purpose is fail, give them advice and attack their weakpoints and point out what they could do to do better. :P
 
My ex would get really, really upset if she was losing by a lot, so I had to fake losing.

It's difficult, because you have to act surprised, still try to win but not take it far enough, and still be pressing buttons but not the right buttons.
 
I beat the crap out of my girlfriend the other day at SFIV to make myself feel better about the fact that I suck. She was mashing like crazy and beat me once though.
 
No fuck that. It's 100X worse to have someone pity play you, then to lose to them over and over with them not showing mercy.

If they started to get pissed because you are bodying them, stop for a second, look at them, and ask them why they aren't asking you for tips instead of sitting there in a fume. All that energy spent being pissed and mashing could have been put to use to asking things like, "how do I avoid that," "what punishes this," etc.
 
Well, I'd try to teach the other person (if she's open to that) instead of dumbing down. Getting kicked in the face sometimes makes you learn a thing or two. That other person that you "fake loose" with, he/she will therefore continue to suck.
 
I let them win on the first round, give them a beatdown on the second. On the third, anything goes, if i really want to be a dick or not.
 
Also it's hard to pretend you're actually losing when you're using an arcade stick and the other person is using a pad and they don't normally play fighting games. Just the difference in hardware makes it clear that technically you should be winning.

I'm saying this about playing with someone who hasn't played before, I know people can get good on pad, but if some newbie looks over at you with your fancy arcade stick it just seems really hard to sell the fact that they're beating you for real because you have this expensive controller in your lap.
 
InsertNameHere said:
Also it's hard to pretend you're actually losing when you're using an arcade stick and the other person is using a pad and they don't normally play fighting games. Just the difference in hardware makes it clear that technically you should be winning.

I'm saying this about playing with someone who hasn't played before, I know people can get good on pad, but if some newbie looks over at you with your fancy arcade stick it just seems really hard to sell the fact that they're beating you for real because you have this expensive controller in your lap.
Click to expand...
As a counterpoint, I used to play on Tekken 5 cabinets with a Dual Shock.
 
The art is in letting them think they are awesome and then destroying them once they start shit-talking and you inform them that they only won because you willed it so.
 
djplaeskool said:
If it someone who is trying to step up their game, I might hand them a gimme.

-Find flaw in their style
-Inform them
-Give advice
-Proceed to play in a manner which exploits that flaw in the hopes they recognize and react based on my advice.
Click to expand...
That's a good way of going about it.
 
I used to do this, but I don't anymore. For me personally, I hate it when I know someone is going easy on me, that doesn't really help me learn. I don't mind losing 20-30 straight times if I'm really trying to learn the game. When I take it easy on others they might be having fun but then I get very bored, so I just let them play and watch.

I haven't really run into this lately though. Certain Wii games are a godsend for fixing competitive imbalance.
 
fuzzyreactor said:
i used to let my friends beat me in smash bros melee, only way i could get them to continue to play it.
Click to expand...
Yeah I do this all the time in hopes they'll latch on and improve. Never lasts long though, eventually they realize my sudden spike in skill after they win a few games. Smart ass kids these days.
 
Ketchup Boy said:
lmao
Click to expand...


and unless hes around a bunch of hardcore fighting game fans, he plays a lot by himself.

If I played every game like it was my last, no one around me would play :(

AlphaTwo00 said:
Why just shooters? I've thrown games in Mario Kart, Goldeneye back in the day.
Click to expand...

me too. It sucks when you have more "gameplay awareness" than most everyone else in your area.
 
the trick is to pretend to lose the first few matches to build up their false sense of superiority. then win a few (but not continuously) pretending you have an improving, competitive nature. that should set it up so that the other person has fun, whether s/he is winning or losing.
 
One good way to do it is to let them get an overwhelming advantage and then start playing seriously. They only ever think about the climactic ending, not the part where they got the advantage and you got frustrated.

One time this backfired, though, because a friend was really having a hard time with MvC3 and I didn't want him to give up the game completely. So I let him win a few rounds and went "You're getting better! We'll play more later."

What I didn't expect is that he would take this renewed confidence and then go online and get trashed. He came back later angry, saying how the game was shit and he was looking at Amazon prices for trade-ins.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The Official Art In Video Games Thread
|OT| Social Opinion 
24
646
ResetEraVetVIP replied
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game - Official Announcement Trailer
24
87
Lambogenie replied
What are the most popular fighting game franchises as of now?
16
382
Robb replied
ILL Dev Diary #1: The Art of Building Worlds
11
88
bighugeguns replied
In an industry full of copycatting cool game mechanics, how come the concept of portals from the Portal games was never used by a bunch of other devs?
19
284
Angry_Megalodon replied
Top Bottom