When people discuss fundamentals in a fighting game, they often talk about mastering neutral, having good footsies and being able to react quickly to a situation. Very rarely do people cite being able to keep a beat as a part of becoming a good Street Fighter player.
In this video from NeverKnowsBest00, he discusses how by learning to recognize the rhythm of an opponent, like the time at which they may throw a fireball, it can help get through an enemy’s zoning. As he says in the video, rhythm manipulation is a key factor when playing a zoning character, so tapping into an opponent’s rhythm or actively changing up your attack timing to mess up your opponent keeping time is a useful mindgame to be aware of. It also useful to think of with blockstrings, when someone may purposely leave a pause in the “beat” of their string, in order to shimmy you or to catch you mashing a button.
By giving you a metronome to tune your mind to and some exercises to try out for yourself, NeverKnowsBest00 gives players a way of thinking of Street Fighter in terms of competing rhythms, and how to construct drills which will help you recognize and deal with people playing to a certain beat.
Source: NeverKnowsBest00