So, I'm a fairly hardcore gamer. I've played everything from MOBA's, to RTS games, to WoW arena at a fairly high level, and I generally pride myself on being able to pick up new games quickly. Last night I decided I was going to start playing Killer Instinct, so that I could own some noobs on XBL.... I couldn't even complete the dojo!!!

I felt like I had gone full retard trying to input forward, down, down-forward + any punch! I could not make it work! Does everyone suck at fighting games this bad when they first pick them up? Is the XOne d-pad just not great for fighting games? Is a move like that particularly hard to pull off, or should that be child's play? Am I not just cut out for fighters??????

Any tips that anyone can give to help ease the learning curve for KI would be greatly appreciated!

punch punch kick kick kick, (while enemy in the air) kick kick punch kick punch, (before enemy hit the bottom) grap then punch punch, kick up kick down punch punch kick kick punch;.. Good job you beated the basic combo...

Yeah I don't see myself as a good gamer in something but damned combo's in fighting games make me nuts.

You need to master the combos that's the first step towards learning any fighting game. In my experience the Xbone dpad is pretty good for fighters but if you're going to get serious you need to go get a fight stick.

If you're dedicated and you practice practice practice your combos, you'll be owning noobs in no time. Fighters are not for everyone.

In the arcades of the 90's, I was lost. I'd go in with my magazines and my moves list and I'd suck so bad. It's kinda hard to convey the motions you need to do in text. When I finally got Street Fighter II for the SNES, everything changed. With that as a foundation, I was able to move on to Samurai Sho-Down, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, Art of Fighting, etc.

Once you master the smooth motions required to pull of moves, you'll be fine. In the meantime, you're going to be frustrated quite a bit.

It's probably just a problem with remembering combos. I personally find fighting games that force you to remember arbitrary combos to be stupid.

I jsut don't have the manual dexterity for fighting games.

But I'm a beast at Fruit Ninja!

I think it's more the dexterity/muscle memory required to actually pull the moves off. I know in my head what I need to do, my fingers just aren't translating that knowledge into ownage!

I would consider getting a joystick if you want to get into fighting games. While there are tournament players who do well with gamepads, I think the vast majority prefer joysticks because it gives your right hand complete access to all of the action buttons (in addition to being larger and well-spaced), leaving your left hand responsible solely for movements.  I can play Tekken on pad, although that's because there are only four attack buttons, not to mention that I still prefer using a joystick.

Ultimately, it's probably in your best interest to decide soon, because learning a fighting game on pad, and then switching to a joystick later on requires a bit of time to relearn the game.

I took a look at the Madcatz Fight Stick, and it's like $200! It's hard to justify spending that when there is currently only one fighting game for XOne.

I know, it's an investment, which I was originally conflicted about as well, but I've put it to good use throughout the past generation, and I personally can't go back to gamepads anymore for fighting games.  Again, if you really want to get into fighting games, it's something to consider.