Pokkén Basics Chapter 7 Part 1 Footsies Primer

Table of Contents (use Ctrl+F to skip to the desired section)

7.1 What does footsies mean?
7.2 Push opponents to the wall and control space
7.3 Avoid mixups
7.4 Get a knockdown or air reset

7.1 Footsies 

is an old term for the ground game and space control mid screen. It is my favorite aspect of fighting games and Pokkén. Mastering it will make you seem untouchable even against characters with much higher damage output or players who might have stronger combos or more advanced tech and setups than you do. None of those things are important if they can't hit you. This chapter will have 4 different sections and it will my essential Pokkén Tournament DX Footsies Guide. In this section I'll talk about the goals of footsies. Part 2 will be about preemptive attacks. Part 3 will focus on reactive attacks, and part 4 will be about armored attacks, an element of footsies unique to Pokkén.

Me attempting to expose Toasty's footsies.

Goals of Footsies

The goals of footsies are simple. I'll go over three of them.

7.2 The first goal is to push the opponent to the wall and avoid the wall yourself. I know I sound like I'm repeating myself, but fighitng games are all about space control, and that's what footsies helps you achieve. Pretty much all attacks do some sort of pushback or the combo you get after it knocks your opponent backwards. This allows you to have control of where your character is on screen and stop yourself from getting shoved around by your opponent. The easiest way to achieve this goal is through the use of preemptive normals and by not walking backwards too long unless you're provoking a whiff or a whiff punish. We'll go over preemptive normals in the next video.

7.3 The second goal is to avoid getting mixed up. The only actual mixup in Pokkén is either grab or don't grab. There aren't cross ups or overheads or things that you have to block a specific way. So all you have to do to avoid ever taking damage, besides chip, is stay out of throw range. But you'll notice, a character's forward walk is almost always faster than a backwards walk. And even if you have a fast back walk, eventually you'll walk yourself into your own corner where you can no longer evade throws by moving back. So you can use pokes or quick attacks to interrupt opponents trying to throw you or walk or dash at you to get into throw range. The side effect of this is actually what most people assume is the point of footsies which is to get damage. Throwing out limbs isn't going to damage anyone if they just block or stay away from your attacks. But people WILL get hit by your pokes when they're trying to close the distance on you. And since people are always trying to avoid the wall themselves and avoid you getting close to them, they'll be striking back at you and it's in these exchanges that you end up getting damage just for defending yourself in neutral. Pretty cool.

7.4 The third goal of footsies is to achieve a hard knockdown or air reset. The emphasis on this is not as heavy as in a game with safer and stronger mixups like Street Fighter 4, but getting a knockdown or air reset allows you to mix up the opponent as they are recovering. Since you have significant frame advantage, many of their retaliation attempts can be nullified. For example, after a knockdown, Lucario's 6[X] becomes a very dangerous tool. It's too slow to just throw out in neutral, but opponents generally have to hold it when they get up because on contact it can be canceled into moves to beat many different types of armored reversals.

Which one of these you emphasize more comes down to your play style and character. But in Pokkén, landing a single stray poke can achieve all 3 of these goals: Push to the wall, avoid mixups, and achieve a knockdown or air reset. Because landing one attack can be so beneficial, and because people just want to hit each other, you'll see a lot of preemptive attacks which is what I'll be covering in part 2. See you there.

While you wait, I suggest reading Maj's Footsies Handbook on Sonic Hurricane.com. It is extremely helpful for understanding the concept of space control and how to effectively bait and punish opponents on the ground (or in the air). Chapter 1 alone covers the essentials of whiff punishing, something I will be talking about in depth but not until part 3.