Welcome to Arena Fighters.

By the end of this complete guide, you’ll be a whole lot better than you currently are, and be able to beat whoever may challenge you.

Part 1 of this guide is the shortest, it will cover some very basic mechanics.
If you’re looking for the move list, that will come in Part 2.

Revised for version 0.2 and above.

The first thing you should obviously do is set your controls. Assuming there are controllers connected, then by default the first two controllers connected should be set up automatically, and the keyboard controls by default should be set as arrow keys for movement, and Z,X,C for weak, medium, and heavy attacks respectively (Button 1,2,3.).

Button 4 no longer does anything anymore for now.

In previous versions, Button 4 was used to block. Players hold away from the attacker to block now.

General Stuff

Like stated above, this part of the guide is the shortest. But the stuff listed here should give you a good head start in your matches.

Parrying

Parrying an attack nulls all damage, including block damage, from that one attack. It also ignores block-stun, meaning a successful parry can equal a free hit depending on the attack. To parry, simply tap forward in the direction of the attack as it is about to connect. If you mistime this, you will take the hit or dash instead. In the case of combos, you need to parry each individual hit which requires precise timing!

Combo Breakers

A combo breaker will stop an enemy combo in its tracks and knock the other player back. It requires quite a bit of super meter to use. To break combos, tap Button 3 (0.2 and future updates) while being attacked. Note that it could also be used to break some super moves. You can also break combos in the air, beware that juggles however require precise timing otherwise the breaker will miss.

Super Meter

Your super meter is at the bottom of the screen. It is used to preform super moves, execute certain attacks (some characters), and break combos. It builds up from preforming certain attacks, and getting hit by/hitting with certain attacks. (emphasis on certain)

Combos and Cancels

Combos are preformed by mixing up your button inputs when attacking (covered with each character in Part II.), Some special moves can be cancelled into each other, and some combos can cancel themselves into special or super moves.

Disconnect

A disconnect occurs during a match over the internet or LAN in which one of the player’s internet connections suffered a problem or is too weak to maintain a connection. While Arena Fighters will adjust the game speed of online matches to keep two players connected, if one player has bad/struggling internet for too long, the match will disconnect. You’ll know if you’re dealing with this if you try to play with the same player and it disconnects after the same amount of time passes in a match.

Input Assistance

Occurs when the game assists the user in inputting a certain move after another move, without requiring that the player inputs the entire command for the attack. Covered more with specific characters in Part III.