The Essential Guide for New Skullgirls Players

Overview

This guide is aimed at helping those who find themselves overwhelmed by the mechanics of Skullgirls, and tries to introduce them in a way that is accessible beyond the in-game tutorial. This guide is very much meant for new players who have little to no clue how to play this or any other “Fighting Game”.

Introduction: What exactly, is a Skullgirls?

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of Skullgirls! Skullgirls, you may have guessed, is what is known as a video game, specifically one in the genre known as fighting games. In a fighting game such as Skullgirls, players will face off against each other head to head, putting their skills, and their honor, on the line. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Concepts such as “skill” and “honor” are much too advanced for this introduction. Let’s briefly talk about what makes the world of Skullgirls unique.

The basic story of Skullgirls revolves around the titular item, the Skull Heart. It has the power to grant a young woman’s wishes. However, even if she has a pure soul and good intentions, the Skull Heart will deviously twist her wish into evil.

This dark, misandrist object serves as the centerpeice for the motivations of the characters, and gives them reason to fight. You can learn more about this in the single player story mode, but this guide isn’t about that. Incidentally, you should never ever play the single player story mode. Ever.

A Note about the In-Game Tutorial

It’s a terrible resource. I appreciate the token effort to introduce new players to the game, but unfortunately the in-game tutorial does a terrible job and does nothing but reinforce bad habits. If you have already gone through the tutorial, I would recommend trying your hardest to forget everything you “learned”, or, alternatively, stop playing altogether, because I would suggest without hesitation that learning anything from the tutorial can ruin your entire experience. It’s that bad.

For this reason, I have made this guide to show new players how to play Skullgirls in both a simpler and more effective way than what is demonstrated in the misleading tutorial. It’s hard to unlearn bad habits, which is why I would say this guide is made for players with a fresh mind, or an open slate. Bad habits are hard to break.

Breaking Down the Basics: A simple How-To-Play

Like most fighting games, Skullgirls features a rich and complex depth of gameplay. Combos, Supers, Blocks, it all seems so overwhelming! Worry not, as these varied mechanics are actually quite easily mastered when you put the correct discipline into them. Why, with just a little practice, anyone can reach the peak of their skill! But before we move on to that, let’s look at an overview of the controls in Skullgirls, or “What Button Does What?” (For the purposes of this guide, I would highly recommend a basic Xbox 360 controller. Absent that, a keyboard should be fine in most areas. A joystick is completely out of the question however, and makes the game borderline unplayable.)

Part 1: Movement

Movement is very straightforward. Just use the Left Control Stick. Tap up on the control stick to jump. Very, very simple. (Use WASD to move on a keyboard configuration.) The importance of movement cannot be overstated in Skullgirls, as your positioning is key, You want to be right next to the opponent at all times so all of your moves will hit. Striking from far away will hardly accomplish anything, after all.

Part 2: Attacks

Now we come to the real meat of this guide. Here is a quick look at the button layouts for attacks:

As you can see, the truly incredible and intuitive fact about Skullgirls is that every single button performs an attack! Wow!

“But, guide,” you may be asking, “what kind of attacks does each button do?” That is the beauty of it, my friend! From what I can parse from hours upon hours of studying the game, the attacks are truly random! The game is actually based around the idea of being able to give it a tremendous amount of input in quick succession! The faster and more varied your button presses are translates into more powerful combos and attacks made by your character! If you manage to do this well enough, your character might even unleash a powerful super, which can devastate the opponent.

Part 3: How to Hold the Controller

This may seem weird to mention this, but it’s necessary to point out the different ways that people hold controllers in this game. There are 3 ways, and only 1 of them is ideal.

The first way is what is known as the 2 handed classic. This is how most non-Skullgirls games are played.
As you can see, the controller rests comfortably in your hands, with your thumbs doing the majority of the work on the control sticks and face buttons. While this works for most casual players and most casual games, Skullgirls requires a different sort of finesse to be truly successful. As such, this method of holding the controller is only the least effective, and therefore the rarest to encounter.

The second method of holding the controller, and by far the most common in Skullgirls, is the 1 handed method. The player’s less dominant hand rests atop the controller and attempts to make all the input in the game. This leaves the dominant hand free to uh, do, a second, thing. I don’t believe I need to explain why, but this is by far the most popular way to play Skullgirls. Seriously, about 90% of the playerbase does it this way. However, that does not mean it is the right way. In fact, it’s only about half right. (Not that half.)

The third and final way is a bit more loose and interpretive. I call it the 10-Finger Method. This is where you hold the controller in such a way that you can use all 10 of your fingers at the same time to press different buttons at random. The important thing to remember about this method isn’t the exact way to hold the controller, but how you perform button inputs while playing the game. Ideally, your fingers should be moving as fast as possible spinning control sticks and pressing buttons. This is the method that will get you the most bang for your buck, and will allow you to maximize your skill.

Skillful input: How to Master the Controls

Despite the controls being purposefully incomprehensible and random, there is actually quite a bit of challenge in the game, and plenty of skills to master. In a game like Skullgirls however, where rapid and varied input is key, there is one skill that rises above all others in importance.

Two words.

Finger strength.

Honing and maintaining your finger strength is essential to keep up with the rapid pace of input and variation that you must be able to perform at all stages in a fight. Trying to maximize your input while your finger strength is low can lead to exhaustion, or worse. It is for this reason that the very first thing you should do when attempting to play this game is to try out the “Quick Match” mode. This mode is created for you to test your “quickness” against an opponent. If your button input is not fast enough, the computer opponent will toss you around like nothing. Practice with this mode until your fingers have built up enough strength and endurance so that your input outpaces your opponent, and you win. When you are able to do this, you are ready to go into Lobby Play and Tournaments.

Bear in mind, however, that everyone starts off at different levels of Finger Strength. It could take you quite a while playing in Quick Match before you are good enough. And even if you do manage to pass that, it’s entirely possible you just get bodied in your first real Lobby match. And that’s OK! That doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. All it means is that your opponent has more Finger Strength, and you can always try again until you do succeed.

What is the Ideal, then?

Ideally, you want to try and reach your physical limitations with this game. Many Skullgirls fans have honed their skills in such an extreme way that even the 1-handed controller method is viable (hence why the majority of skilled players can get away with it). Their Finger Strength is at an enormous level, which is what allows them to dominate in matches. Their fingers can move at lighting speed, and makes it impossible for anyone, even the player, to know what buttons are being pressed. Like I said before, however, this does not mean that it is impossible for you, as a new player, to win. It just gives you a goal to strive for, to build up your endurance and Finger Strength, until you reach that upper level. It’s just that simple.

Losing in Skullgirls isn’t an indication that you have failed. It’s only to be used as a measurement for how much farther you need to go and how much Stronger your Fingers need to get. Never get discouraged!

A Quick Look at the Characters and Tiers

As I have already given you all the technical knowledge you need to move forward in your Skullgirls career, I would like to breifly talk about the different characters, and where they fall in a general tier sense. I can’t do this in a perfect numerical order, as none exists, but I can generally group the characters from high-to-low, based on Input Potential. However, don’t let this list completely influence your decision on who you want to play. Any character can win. This list merely shows the potential of each character.

High Tier

Filia
Peacock
Ms. Fortune

Mid Tier

Valentine
Painwheel
Cerebella

Bottom Tier

Parasoul
Double
Squiggly

God Tier

Big Band (because he is male)

(I may update this list at a future date and give additional details to each character.)

Conclusion and a Note about Honor

As a Fighting Game, Skullgirls differentiates itself as a platform for testing the skills of Finger Strength in a contest of Rapid Input and Varation. It is an extremely demanding game, both mentally and physically. This guide has given you all the necessary prerequisite knowledge to ascend the ladder of skill in this game, and I am just about ready to let you go on your own devices. But before I do, I must mention one last thing.

Not everyone who plays this, or any game for that matter, will maximize their skill and potential. Not everyone has that kind of time or commitment to playing this or any other game. On the other hand, there are many players who have realized and honed their skills. Whenever these two different players meet in a game, it’s often a brutal and one-sided affair. This is the gap between what is known as the Casual Player, and the Competitive one. The Casual Player never has this expectation of skill that the Competitive Player maintains, which leaves both parties unsatisfied with the outcome of the match. Arguments based on appropriate behavior in regards to both Casual and Competitive and their relationship to each other have been raging for as long as these kinds of games have existed.

There is a concept that bridges this divide. It’s a fairly nuanced concept that must be learned, and the best word I can come up for it is “Honor”. The concept of Honor in fighting games is a completely unspoken one, and often, unforunately, unpracticed. Honor is the two way street that must be traveled in any setting of Casual and Competitive players. It is the idea that tells the Casual player to try their best despite their lack of knowledge and technical skill, and the idea that tells the Competitive player to respect the Casual’s uneven skill and restrain themselves. It’s a consious effort put forth by both parties in order to maximize the enjoyment and fun for everyone involved. Honor is hard to explain in a definite way. It is a feeling, or a maxim, that one develops on a meta level, beyond the mechanics of any one game. It’s a philosophy of self-awareness and contextual restraint that allows even the most skilled of Competitive players to appreciate and even play on a level of a Casual one. It does not mean to exclude people, or neuter those who have taken the time and effort to maximize their potential. Its purpose is entirely inclusive. It creates an attitude and comfort level that is meant to be easily accessible to everyone.

Thankfully, the concept of Honor is very much alive in Skullgirls. Losing is designed to encourage, not discourage, and the majority of skilled Skullgirl fans understand the concept of restraint.

After all, they only play with one hand on the controller.