If you could only offer FIVE concise, bullet-point style tips/explanations to a new player in MvC3 or SF4, what would they be? (Five for each game, that is). Can be anything. Teach them about links or focus or TACs or OTG or whatever. What's core knowledge? Which game can arguably get away with a simpler breakdown?
SF4:
*Probably the first thing I would explain to them is that you can't cancel moves into specials if you chained into them (like you can't just mash cr.LKs into DP), you have to link before the final normal to cancel it. There is no mention of it in the game whatsoever and you need to know it to do the combo trials. Would also use this opportunity to explain the difference between link, chain and cancel.
*Second thing I would explain to them is how Focus Attack work. What they do at different levels, what are their usage, how to do them and then talk about FADC. Would also explain about armor properties and how to beat Focus Attack with different moves or multi hits.
*Next thing I would explain is how the Super bar works (and EX moves) and how Ultra moves work plus what are the differences between the two (you cancel moves into Super but you can't cancel into Ultra... that type of thing).
*Fourth thing I would tell them is the importance of ground game/anti airing versus jumping in all the time. I would tell them to focus more on using normals to play with as opposed to throwing out specials. I feel like a lot of beginners underestimate the power of simple normals in SF.
*Final set of tips I would give them relate to teching throws, back dash and wake ups/knockdowns (basically the standard defensive options). Probably a lot more important in Ultra with the delay wake up. Would teach them how to properly tech throws, the OS and when to back dash plus some ways to beat them if your opponent is doing one of these options too much.
Marvel 3:
*First thing I would teach them is about assists, assist selection, team order and team synergy. How to call assists, when not to call assists and how to build teams around assists or picking assists around characters. I would briefly touch upon Crossover counter mostly as a warning of what not to press to call assist so you don't get CCs (common mistake among beginners).
*Second thing I would teach them is when to Advance guard vs when not to advance guard. Would teach them about the block stun and how its useful to avoid standard right/left mix ups. Would tell them that advance guarding reduces chip damage but still pushes you away so you don't always want to use it when trying to get in. Would tell them to not advance guard stuff like Berserker Slash as that's a common mistake among beginners.
*Teach them about mobility options. Wave dashing, air dashing, fly/unfly, teleports, double jump/triple jump, "up back" chicken block etc. I would show different methods of dashing. Would also teach them how to beat these options (ie you can't block during dashes, you can punish teleports, you can clip someone low while they are upbacking).
*Teach them about combos, their structure and various mechanics involving combos + resources. This basically includes stuff like LMHS into MMHS magic series, OTGs, wall bounce/ground bounce (one limitation each), hyper combo, DHC, TACs, THCs, assist combos, throw combos. While throwing is generally a different category of tips, I would make sure the person knows how to throw and that they can normally combo off of throws which is a big deal in this game.
*The final thing (well final of the 5, still have more to teach) would of course be X Factor. How it works, what benefits you get out of it, when to use it, when not to use it and how to "beat" it. This would also be the place where I would talk about how Snapback works and how it's useful as a way to beat X factor (directly to negate the XFC or to snap in anchor characters). There's a ton of things you can do with XF but I would try to keep it as basic as possible.
