"It's hard to enjoy yourself if you focus on your losses" - WoolieVersus discusses getting better at fighting games like Street Fighter 6, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and more

Woolie “WoolieVersus” is a long-time content creator on both YouTube and Twitch, and is well-known for his quality fighting game videos. One of my favorite content creators, he produces insightful and often hilarious videos alongside Pat on the Castle Super Beast podcast. He is also often seen with fighting game pro Reggie in various videos on the WoolieVersus channels.

I recently spoke with WoolieVersus about various relevant topics. We discussed the future as it pertains to Street Fighter 6, his bout against Daigo Umehara, advice for fighting game players who want to get better in the upcoming game, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

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WoolieVersus introduces himself to the Sportskeeda audience

Q. First, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. For those who might not be familiar, what sort of content can people find on WoolieVersus?

WoolieVersus: No problem. It’s the premiere spot for learning Guilty Gear Lore or Kirby Lore. It’s a channel where there’s always fighting game videos for both beginners and tournament players. But more recently, we’ve been doing Let’s Plays of beloved classic games that I missed out on growing up, like FF6, Silent Hill 2, and Mass Effect, to find out what makes them iconic, and whether or not they still hold up. Also, there’s now Woolie VS The Algorithm, a second channel for high-effort dumpster content and highlights!

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Q. As a fighting game fan, you've no doubt been keeping up with Street Fighter 6. What are your initial thoughts on what's been presented so far?

WoolieVersus: Street Fighter fans know that fighting games are eternally a steep hill to attract new players in comparison to other genres, so we expect to see some changes to the series that will smartly focus on easing people into what’s fun about the genre while minimizing the bad feelings that come from all the losses you have to take in order to learn the ropes.

My initial fears were that the process of making things more inviting might discard one too many of the things that have become necessary for the longevity of the community supporting the game. But, having seen and played it, they have expertly avoided that issue. It feels fantastic, it drastically improves the onboarding process for new players, and feels sufficiently unique compared to other Street Fighter games.

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Q. Are there any Street Fighter characters that have not been revealed yet, that you'd like to see show up in the game?

WoolieVersus: Short answer, young adult Makoto, still angry but on the inside. Long answer: I’m one of the fans that's always willing to root for more new character designs over returning favorites. We all love to see the cool things we already know, but back before that favorite was introduced, no one would have asked for them if we just stuck to what we already liked. So, yeah, I want to trust the character designers to create new favorites from the unknown.

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Q. Street Fighter 6, on that note, has been very feature-rich so far. Is there anything missing that you think should be in the upcoming fighter?

WoolieVersus: I really hope they allow customized Story Mode avatars to fight each other in a wacky-balanced, RPG level-based, custom move list, all out PvP mode. I want new players to be able to do like in Souls Games, where you take a PvE character you’ve built and leveled into an online environment against others, and I want it to be as far away from standard, balanced ranked matches as possible. Give players the choice to walk the disciplined competitive path, or head to the other side of Metro City to go ham with friends and meme builds.

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Q. In the Street Fighter 6 beta, how did it feel to lose to Pat?

Watch: Woolie vs. Pat in Street Fighter 6

WoolieVersus: It’s a new fighting game loss, I have many more to go. I’m looking forward to many failures, so that I can fix them.

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Q. You've also competed in professional events like EVO 2012 when you played against Daigo Umehara. What was it like to play against one of the best in the world?

WoolieVersus: It was fun to do the post-fight bit for Fighterpedia, but all in reality by that point, I had fought so many Ryus in the FGC as practice, including other really strong players, that I kind of just went in treating it with the same methodology. There's no point getting nervous or intimidated, as it’s not the first famous player I’ve fought. Just play the matchup and keep your head in the game. It didn’t work, of course, but, hey, at least according to the commentary, “I’ve established that I know how to play!”

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Q. Did you two get a chance to talk after the match, about performance, growth, or anything of that nature?

WoolieVersus: Not really, it’s EVO Pools morning. Everyone is 110% focused on the rest of the bracket. It wouldn’t be the time for that.

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Q. #FreeMVC2 was a movement that kicked off in 2022, as a way to draw attention to one of the greatest fighting games of all time. If MvC2 were hypothetically to return, what would it need to be a worthwhile purchase, or would you rather see it presented as it was, without additions?

WoolieVersus: First off, there’d need to be an honest understanding that the 85% of the audience it’s made for would want it to be a faithful classic port of the original version, with none of the bad tweaks made to the various console ports over the years. Then, as a completely separate mode, it’d be fun to implement Justin Wong's ratio system, where high and low tier characters are given a value, and your team can’t exceed a certain total point number that forces you to mix high and low tier picks or only mids together. It would add new life to the game for people that are used to only picking gods.

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Q. What about your downtime, when you aren't making content? What games do you play just to unwind?

WoolieVersus: Currently, I’m playing a lot of Yomi Hustle, a brilliant turn-based fighter in the early beta! Also, Teppen is my go-to for killing time on the phone. And shoutouts to the hours I’m putting into Gundam Evolution because it’s the real Overwatch 2.

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Q. If you had to pick the three best fighting games of all time, which would you select?

WoolieVersus: 3rd Strike, Mark of the Wolves, and Persona 4 Ultimax.

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Q. The fighting game genre is not always an easy thing to get into. Any advice for new players who might be more interested in them, thanks to SF6, GG Strive, and other recent announcements?

WoolieVersus: Yeah! It’s hard to enjoy yourself if you focus on the losses! You’re newer than everyone the moment you start playing something, so it’s normal to lose at first until you start to understand it better! Instead, set little goals for your first matches against others. Try to land a level 3, or see if you can tech one throw. Smaller victories at your own pace are a more accurate measure of growth than just Ws and Ls.

There’s so much growth before winning becomes a regular thing, so do your best to focus on what your own little victories are. To see this in practice, check out my show The Newcomers on the Woolie Versus YouTube channel! Those are the special episodes of “Get Into Fighting Games,” where we sit down with a person who’s never played fighting games and help them get started.

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Q. Perhaps the most important question of all, 'When's Mahvel?'

WoolieVersus: Dead, since Infinite killed it. Fun battle system, bad everything else. I want “When’s Mahvel?” to become “When’s Capcom?” as in “When’s Capcom vs Capcom?”

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You can find WoolieVersus on both the WoolieVersus and Woolie vs. The Algorithm YouTube channels, as well as on his Twitch and Twitter accounts. He actively creates content that helps beginners with fighting games, other Let's Plays and podcasts.