Tekken Easy to Learn Impossible to Master

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Most difficult fighter to get into/learn/master Street Fighter V or Tekken 7?

• Thread starter CountAntonius
• Start date Aug 5, 2019

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• #1

I know it tends to be an apples to oranges comparison and this is not about which is better 2D vs 3D but I'm asking as someone who has put enough time into street fighter to understand it on a basic level(I still suck mind you) and who has long watched Tekken from a distance. Watching it competitively is fun but I really have no idea what's going on on a technical level.

Is Tekken considered more technical of the two? Is it harder to play at high levels? What's the timing on combos and how hard is the execution barrier? I never really got good at Street Fighter combos with all the srk motions and somewhat strict timing. Is Tekken similar or a different beast all together?

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst

• #2

Yeah, I'd say Tekken 7 is harder to master since its skill ceiling is higher than SFV's. With that said, it's not hard to get into.

Though as far as easier to get into is concerned, I'd say SFV is the easier one of the two.

• #3

Tekken, every character is a universe of moves and combos.

• #4

Yeah, I'd say Tekken 7 is harder to master since its skill ceiling is higher than SFV's.

In what way? This is what I'm interested in? What's important in high level play in tekken?

Tekken, every character is a universe of moves and combos.

I'm beginning to feel intimated.

• #5

Tekken skill ceiling is higher, but it doesn't take as much to be able to feel like you're actually doing what you want and having fun with it compared to Street Fighter

• #6

Tekken

different beast all together?

Yes

• #7

Nothing against SFV, competitive games are hard no matter what they are (and my Urien is trash and super hard to master), but yeah Tekken 7 could be considered the most technical.

Each character has at least 60 moves going for them, then you have to take into account 3D stages, meaning that you have to adapt your playstyle and combos depending on where you are (close to walls, far from walls, infinite stages, floor break stages). Characters have different heights, meaning you don't get the same result for the moves you do against them and you have to adapt. Characters have different backdash and sidestep speed too, so you have to adapt. The shit you have to learn in this game could net you a degree in an university.

Combos as a whole are easier in Tekken though, but that's mostly just the surface level of a fighting game. It's the easiest to get into, because you could faceroll the buttons on your pad and get results, but one of the hardest to master. No one can claim they have reached the highest ceiling of Tekken today.

• #8

Tekken 7 by a large margin. Mostly due to the movement options and huge command lists available in Tekken.

• #9

Tekken, every character is a universe of moves and combos.

You only have to learn a handful of moves in Tekken, not everything.

• #10

Tekken is way fucking harder. (to be good at) The movelists are almost impossible to parse as a beginner ( ok I have 6 launchers... which do I go to?) and the the neutral game is a super complex nightmare. It took me a pretty insane amount of a time to get to point in tekken where I feel like i'm OK. Not even good. Even then there's so much crazy bullshit in tekken that's hard to understand or react to.

Street Fighter, while the initial QCF and SRK motions might be hard, I think you can get decent a lot faster because it's easier to parse what's happening and what you need and want to do

You only have to learn a handful of moves in Tekken, not everything.

And how is any new player supposed to know which moves to use :p

• #11

Tekken, and it isn't even close.

In what way? This is what I'm interested in? What's important in high level play in tekken?

Movement, game knowledge. Once you get to top tiers of play, movement becomes really execution heavy. Frankly, it's pretty execution heavy even at the bottom levels of play.

You only have to learn a handful of moves in Tekken, not everything.

Not if you don't want to get string spammed to death. Plus, there are plenty of characters that require specific responses depending on who you happen to be playing - like Ling and Eddy.

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst

• #12

In what way? This is what I'm interested in? What's important in high level play in tekken?

Movement is key in a game like Tekken. Obviously being able to pull off your combos is also important, but mastering movement can go a long way. This should help get you started.

• #13

just learning how to move your character in tekken properly is a beginner-hostile mire of tapped inputs and cancels.
so, tekken 7

• #14

If you're totally new and trying to learn, SFV at the very least has a (not great) tutorial and series of brief Demonstrations for each character that explains their unique abilities, and gives you an idea of their playstyle.

Tekken 7 has nothing to help new players.

• #15

Tekken 7 without a doubt. The game is essentially a legacy game that has moves, strats, movement options, etc. that have stuck through multiple iterations. I think learning Tekken is more rewarding and this is coming from somone who primarily played 2d fighters with Tekken/SC kind of a side thing. Be prepared to research a lot online though as there's nothing to really help you in game.

If you were only able to get into one to put time to really learn I'd say Tekken. SFV is hanging on by its last legs IMO and very little will transfer from it to the next game as far as systems and mechanics. Not to say you won't learn anything about SF in general as you say you have some knowledge of already

Plus you can get T7 and all DLC for something like $40 right now which is a bonus too.

• #17

Tekken 7 being a 3-d fighter adds in a whole other layer of complexity. Movement and is probably the most important factor in Tekken as well as frame data and spacing.

• #18

Fundamentals are reeeeaaally important on Tekken way earlier than SF5, where you can fake it with supers and ex moves for a while

• #19

Have you seen a skill list for a character in Tekken 7?

It's insane

• #20

Tekken is definitely harder to get into. I just got into it the other day, it's definitely got a lot more to learn than SFV does.

• #21

Tekken 7 and it's not even close. There's entire galaxies in between these two in terms of skill ceiling.

• #22

Tekken for sure. I just get juggled endlessly until I die when I go online.

• #23

Best fighting game this gen is tekken 7. Find a character you love and just learn and play to your hearts content.

• #24

Wow. Eye opening responses so far. I've honestly always been more of a Street fighter fan than a fighting game fan but even then it was at a very casual level. I never knee Tekken had it like that but the continued growth of the community made me take notice. Thanks for the responses.

• #25

Tekken by far but try not to let it get to you, the game is absolutely amazing.

• #26

Tekken 7

Having played both since their respective series' inception, any time I've left SF its's always been easier to get back into, even though each subseries pays differently. It's more work to get to where you think you know what you're doing and successfully accomplishing what you wanted to accomplish, but you can generally get through it smoothly.

Tekken you have a wall to climb. If you leave, even for a while, you have another to get over. You can definitely get things going with a given character, but the harder part of the game, knowing why you lost, is way, way "worse" than in SF, IMO. Skills gaps are much harder to overcome between any given tier of player and knowing how and why you lost and overcoming that is a much harder proposition and takes a lot more work and dedication.

• #27

Wow. Eye opening responses so far. I've honestly always been more of a Street fighter fan than a fighting game fan but even then it was at a very casual level. I never knee Tekken had it like that but the continued growth of the community made me take notice. Thanks for the responses.

The hardest thing about tekken is the movement because it's a 3D game. Sf5 is really math heavy now how frame data works in the game. Just being 2d makes the game easier by default. Both are great games tho.

• #28

Tekken by a mile. Just moving in Tekken is an entire skill set.

• #29

Wow. Eye opening responses so far. I've honestly always been more of a Street fighter fan than a fighting game fan but even then it was at a very casual level. I never knee Tekken had it like that but the continued growth of the community made me take notice. Thanks for the responses.

You should give it a try, I am a very casual at fighting games these days and I personal found Tekken 7 way more enjoyable to get into than SFV. Like one poster mentioned it doesn't take long to feel like you're actually doing something.

• #30

The hardest thing about tekken is the movement because it's a 3D game. Sf5 is really math heavy now how frame data works in the game. Just being 2d makes the game easier by default. Both are great games tho.

Tekken 7 is also ridiculously math heavy since you will want to eventually know the correct punish on most of the popular moves. At the very least the launch punishable moves. Then there's all the gimmicks in Tekken that can completely stomp new people that you will have to deal with (usually involve some kinda fake pressure that frame data would expose). On top of the movement and depending on the character the execution, Tekken is easily more difficult than SFV.

• #31

Tekken is harder to master because its asking you to be aware of a lot more imo.

Don't be intimidated by Tekken characters movelists. They are somewhat artifically bloated. For example a move list might have press: 1, 2. Next move is press: 1, 2, 3. Next next move is Press: 1, 2, 3, 4. Just because a list has 125 moves on it, does not mean they are 100% unique and many simply lead into the next move on the list. Also not every move is useful/meant to always be used. Even the pros are not busting out all 100+ moves, they have a game plan and are trying to execute it. They are options, not something you need to be memorizing 100%, unless you are just that good.

It seems like a game thats more about knowing how to act in a situation. What buttons can be pressed when and why, how to move and so on. Stuff like attacking in the middle of the stage vs attacking at the wall vs attacking on a pop up vs a knock down and so on. It's why its so fun to watch but so hard to master.

In general though, focus on having fun before winning then mastering as always in fighting games lol.

• #32

Tekken 7 is also ridiculously math heavy since you will want to eventually know the correct punish on most of the popular moves. At the very least the launch punishable moves. Then there's all the gimmicks in Tekken that can completely stomp new people that you will have to deal with (usually involve some kinda fake pressure that frame data would expose). On top of the movement and depending on the character the execution, Tekken is easily more difficult than SFV.

Didn't know that tekken was hella frame data heavy too. While frame data is important. I thought its more of a feeling type of game. That's what I ment

• #33

Good Tekken players make it look super easy, to the point that I cant tell who pulled off something difficult or impressive in a high level Tekken match! It can be VERY intimidating to learn when you start because somebody will just juggle you for 80% of your health and youll feel pretty powerless ... plus it looks silly, to be honest.

SF is a lot easier to learn and its visually simpler to interpret. Basic blocks and punishes will go a long way and will make you feel good, its also easier to see where you went wrong when you fail.

Theyre both so different that I would give each of them a week and see what clicks with you

• #34

Which character is the hardest to master in tekken?

• #35

Which character is the hardest to master in tekken?

I would say imo the mishimas.

• #36

Didn't know that tekken was hella frame data heavy too. While frame data is important. I thought its more of a feeling type of game. That's what I ment

Oh yeah frame data is really important since the difference between a launch punishable move and one with like a standard mishima 112 punish is huge. Most of the time the game will make it obvious like when you block a hellsweep or a snake edge or something. But there are definitely moves that are launch punishable that don't look like it. And of course not all characters might be able to launch punish that or the other way around with only some characters.

Then there's of course jab pressure which is prominent at all stages with new people just completely getting overrun by jabs, like Kazumi just doing jabs and df1 where frame data would perhaps help them immensely on getting out of it.

And not exactly frame data but more overall knowledge is of course knowing which combo strings you can dodge mid combo and the like. And of course for all the lower ranked people, the 10 string of pretty much any character in the game because you already know they're not gonna be afraid to bust out the 10 strings so you better hope you know it or that it doesn't have a random low somewhere.

• #37

Oh yeah frame data is really important since the difference between a launch punishable move and one with like a standard mishima 112 punish is huge. Most of the time the game will make it obvious like when you block a hellsweep or a snake edge or something. But there are definitely moves that are launch punishable that don't look like it. And of course not all characters might be able to launch punish that or the other way around with only some characters.

Then there's of course jab pressure which is prominent at all stages with new people just completely getting overrun by jabs, like Kazumi just doing jabs and df1 where frame data would perhaps help them immensely on getting out of it.

And not exactly frame data but more overall knowledge is of course knowing which combo strings you can dodge mid combo and the like. And of course for all the lower ranked people, the 10 string of pretty much any character in the game because you already know they're not gonna be afraid to bust out the 10 strings so you better hope you know it or that it doesn't have a random low somewhere.

Hmm i learned something today.

• #38

Didn't know that tekken was hella frame data heavy too. While frame data is important. I thought its more of a feeling type of game. That's what I ment

It sort of is and it isn't. There are more variables involved with dealing with individual moves/strings. Usually you have to duck, or step in a specific direction or punish. Some responses are character-specific. Rules aren't always consistent either and you have to consider stuff like pushback.

Frame data is still really important in Tekken. The big differences are that most moves are negative on block rather than positive like in SF and frame data doesn't always tell the whole story because it's a 3D game.

• #39

I would say imo the mishimas.

And out of those I'd single out Kazuya as the hardest.

At least for me and I'm sure many would agree.

• #40

You can't punish on feeling in tekken. so many moves have misleading recovery animations. You need just as much frame data knowledge, perhaps even more so than in SFV, because most of the big moves (IE dps, etc) are pretty obvious and easy to consistantly know you can punish where tekken almost everything is unique.

• #41

It sort of is and it isn't. There are more variables involved with dealing with individual moves/strings. Usually you have to duck, or step in a specific direction or punish. Some responses are character-specific. Rules aren't always consistent either and you have to consider stuff like pushback.

Frame data is still really important in Tekken. The big differences are that most moves are negative on block rather than positive like in SF and frame data doesn't always tell the whole story because it's a 3D game.

Yea that what I was talking bout. Maybe my words were wrong. Sf5 is like a dame math problem. When I was talking about the game being frame data heavy.

• #42

Yea that what I was talking bout. Maybe my words were wrong. Sf5 is like a dame math problem. When I was talking about the game being frame data heavy.

Tekken is the same way if you want it to be, but you can usually boil it down to "safe, punishable, launch punishable" on moves.

There's just a shit ton of moves to remember. The game is so long standing there's people who have had 20 years to memorize what these strings look like.

• #43

Tekken is the same way if you want it to be, but you can usually boil it down to "safe, punishable, launch punishable" on moves.

Yea makes sense

• #44

I think it's a matter of content versus depth. I would say tekken has more content, but it's not any more in-depth, for it. Combo execution can be difficult in either game, and spacing and footsies is ultimately the key to success in either game. Those fundamentals bear a lot of similarities between both titles (which concepts like footsies, whiff punishing, neutral, frame advantage etc meaning the same in both games).

Tekken is just more to get your head around, so there's a bit of information overload there that you have to deal with. It takes time to get through all that, learn all of the match ups, it just takes more time.

• #45

Yea that what I was talking bout. Maybe my words were wrong. Sf5 is like a dame math problem. When I was talking about the game being frame data heavy.

Tekken is the same. You have to memorise more of it in Tekken because more things are punishable that don't look punishable. Frame traps are invariably less of a focus because of the fact that there are so few + on block moves, but they still exist.

And out of those I'd single out Kazuya as the hardest.

At least for me and I'm sure many would agree.

To master, maybe. You can still just Mishima-vortex people at low levels.

The most consistently difficult might be Lee, especially online. He has a ton of potential but the holes in his moveset make him kind of frustrating to play.

• #46

Tekken is the same. You have to memorise more of it in Tekken because more things are punishable that don't look punishable. Frame traps are invariably less of a focus because of the fact that there are so few + on block moves, but they still exist.

To master, maybe. You can still just Mishima-vortex people at low levels.

The most consistently difficult might be Lee, especially online. He has a ton of potential but the holes in his moveset make him kind of frustrating to play.

Yeah the original question was which was hardest to master.

I really wish that Knee could have pulled off the comeback with Kazuya at Evo I would have been so happy. I love watching his Kazuya.

• #47

I think it's a matter of content versus depth. I would say tekken has more content, but it's not any more in-depth, for it. Combo execution can be difficult in either game, and spacing and footsies is ultimately the key to success in either game. Those fundamentals bear a lot of similarities between both titles (which concepts like footsies, whiff punishing, neutral, frame advantage etc meaning the same in both games).

Tekken is just more to get your head around, so there's a bit of information overload there that you have to deal with. It takes time to get through all that, learn all of the match ups, it just takes more time.

Oh bullshit. Look at the wakeup systems in each game if you want to see the depth of Tekken compared to Street Fighter's baby ass version.

• #48

Trekken is and has always been harder than SF to get into. Mastering either is similarly difficult, as both are deep and complex games.

• #49

Oh bullshit. Look at the wakeup systems in each game if you want to see the depth of Tekken compared to Street Fighter's baby ass version.

What, wake up kick, back roll, forward roll, wait or ukemi? You can back roll/neutral wake up, delay wake up or reversal in sfv too... They're functionally not that different.

• #50

Tekken has lax inputs, generous input buffers, and large start-up frames making a lot of moves react-able. I'd say Street Fighter V has a higher skill ceiling just by virtue of having a higher execution requirement. And since it's harder to react in Street Fighter V, there's more metagame involved with regards to player behavior as well.

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Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/most-difficult-fighter-to-get-into-learn-master-street-fighter-v-or-tekken-7.133198/