Part one: Standard gameplay tactics and Strategies

Upon learning a new game, people tend to develop new habits, Comeup with new ideas and strats that may or may not work depending. The same is true for Monster. The more i play this game the more freedom i realize I have to come up with sooo many different things. I am sure that the japanese players and other american plays feel the same way. The ability to customize and develop your OWN style of play to me is priceless and monster gives that to you for free.

This section is going to focus on general things all Monster players should do. The things in this post could apply to all games in general.

1. Blocking

Now this might sound a bit retarded to even bother putting on this list. But Through several experiences I believe people take Blocking for granted or dont block at all. In monster blocking is alot different that other fighting games. In Monster you develop points(will be discussed later) The more points you have in monster you are at a type of advantage on your opponent(If your points are higher then theirs) This puts your opponent in a "powerbreak situation" Powerbreak occurs when 2 moves clash on the same frame. The person with the lower points will be powerbroken and whatever points they had will be added to the person who performed the powerbreak. This is why blocking In monster is important. When you have more points than your opponent you kind of keep them in a confined attacking state. Meaning that They have to be very careful with attacking so much or they are going to lose alot of life thus putting you back in control of the match up. You can be guardbroken of course due to high low mix ups. Ryougen, othello, and Siely have the best "high/low" mix ups in the game. Blocking the "mix ups" is not an easy thing to do especially if your opponent keeps mixing up(I will go into mix ups a bit later) Blocking your opponents attacks puts pressure on you but also puts pressure on your opponenet in Monster. Attacking has to be mindful and intellegent in order for you or your opponent to be successful.

2. Points

This will probably be one of the most important things to remember in regards to monster, The point system. You generate points by doing several things

*Blocking
*Landing hits or combos on your opponent
*Throwing your opponent(only throws with actual"hits" do this)

As explained in the last section, Points are very important with in gameplay. They can net you attacking advantage OR defensive advantage depending on your situation.

*Ex: Attacking advantage
Player One: Monster Othello
Player Two: Tranquility Orju

Othello is known for being the most offensively based character with in the game of Monster. His combos generate alot of points, giving him attack advantage over his opponent. IN this example othello with have generated14 points through a combo. Orju will have generated 4 points through blocking. Now Orju is at a heavy disadvantage because Othello has higher points, Orju Will be risking being powerbroken if one of his moves clash with Othello on the same active frame. So if Orju was to try shifting out of an attack string and othello decides he wants to use a move that will connect on him at the same time that Orju attempts to shift, Orju will be powerbroken for 18 points because his points will be lower than Othello's points.

*Ex: Defensive advantage
Same characters as above

Now we are going to take the above situation and just change the point value and the outcome. Orju has 14 points from blocking now and othello has 4 points from landing a 4 hit combo on Orju. Both of them use an attack on the same active frame(for the sake of arguement we will say the shift at the same time) and Orju breaks othello for 18 points due to his points being higher.

Points are reset through out the round when a new combo is started or a new block string occurs. You can also use the pointsystem as a way of baiting your opponent into resetting their own points hehe. Alot of tricks you can use With the point system. In another post I will go into detail as to how to take advantage of your opponent having higher points.

3. Mixups and Movement

This is EXTREMELY important when attacking your opponenet. Mixups arent really to easy to explain with out going into alot of detail. The best way to discribe a mixup is as an attack pattern that breaks your opponents defensive options. If you are successful you have just"mixed up" your opponent. There are several types of mix ups:

*Throw Mixup
*High/low mixup
*Repetition (aka the same shit) Mixup
*Crossup mixup

Throw mix ups and high/low mix ups are very commonly found in alot of match ups. Throws are great for opponents who love to block all of the time while high/low mix up are good for confusing an opponents gaurd. Repetition mix ups arent really mix ups. Instead they lead your opponent to believe you are going to mix them up and then you continue to do the same thing. Thus setting them up for later potential mixups. Remember that repetition often becomes very predictable and easy to counter( as with all mix ups) so be sure to be careful using mixups. Cross up mixups. Confuse your opponents gaurd by changing the direction in which they block Freedom Orju and Freedom Ryougen are famous for these types of "mixups". Not all characters are going to have the same mix up options. So it is up to you as the player to figure out what options work best for each character in a specific situation.

Movement is also very important. Knowing where to be and how to get there is very important. Using movements such as forward dash(66) and backdash(44) are key components to movement and overall attacking and defense. Movement also allows you to properly space your moves(Spacing will be explained in part 2) Jumping is also very important when you want to escape certain situations however jumping for certain characters isnt as safe as others. So jumping must be used in a very intellegent fashion.

Key things to remember about movement:
* You never want to put yourself in the corner for the most part. some characters who's mix ups involve you to be in the middle of the screen(ex: Freedom maya) Are often very useless in the corner. But The majority of the time you do not want to put yourself in the corner. It makes escaping pressure situations VERY HARD on you and very easy for your opponent to keep you there.

* Backdashing is good to use everyonce in a while. Using backdash on a repetitive basis is now punishable so if you are thinking of doing it over and over, Think again. That will get you nothing but failure and a lot of pain the come with it. Be smart about how and when you backdash.

Part2 will cover more advanced gameplay tactics such as Combos, Spacing, and situation escapes.