Just two short days ago, fighting game players who prefer to throw punches through the power of their PCs received some seriously unexpected news: the time has finally come for the biggest airdashers to make their way to Steam. Appropriately, this series of releases begins with Arc System Works’ Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-.
As of this posting, you can pick up a copy of this title and all of its downloadable content through Steam for a discounted price. If you’re feeling lucky, be sure to keep an eye on Twitter, this evening as we’ll be giving away a Steam code there as well.
If you’ve not had a chance to play Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- before and don’t know where to begin once jumping into the game, it can be tough to figure out exactly where to look to find the best information on burst baiting, dust loops, and all the other things that make the franchise what it is. In order to combat that, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best beginner resources out there.
The best place to begin when it comes to this part of the fighting game community is the Dustloop forums. There, you’ll find well-known players from within the scene sharing their thoughts on matchups, setups, combos, you name it. But, as is the nature of forums, things can get a little cluttered as time passes. Luckily, the folks at Dustloop have also compiled a handy wiki page with key information for each member of the cast, broken apart into sections on frame data, move lists, general strategies, combos, and anything else you could possibly want to know about your chosen fighter.
If you prefer to absorb information in the form of video content, Novril and the Chemical Lovers team’s Guilty Gear Crash Course is also a great starting point. These videos break the game into small chunks that can be easily digested, focusing on a single aspect of gameplay and how it can be used as opposed to throwing everything at viewers at once with a heartfelt, “Have fun!” to close things out. In the drop down box below, we’ve included links to all of the current episodes.
Finally, James Chen of UltraChen TV began a series of beginner videos back in May with some help from Henry “Choysauce” Choi. In addition to taking an in-depth look at the mechanics of the game, the duo also provide important introductory information for every character. These details include general strategies, best buttons, basic combos, gimmicks, and more.
We’ve included video links in the spoiler box below, but Henry Choi also prepared a Dropbox with text versions.
It’s a lot to take in, but we hope this helps to get you started on a path to success and, more importantly, have fun learning a new game.
Sources: Steam, Dustloop, Novril, UltraChen TV