Bruce Lee's style of fighting known as Jeet Kune Do seems to share many of the same traits when it comes to fighting games. One of the biggest things that Bruce Lee wanted to impart on his practitioners was the freedom from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. In the same way fighting games allow for this type of idealism but in a time where access to combo videos and frame data information are available at the click of a button, its easy to loose sight of what makes the mastery of learning your fighting game character more then just being able to execute a 50 hit bread and butter combo.
The biggest complaint that many skilled fighting game players argue about the new generation is the simple lack of fundamentals that it takes to win in a match. I myself believed at one time that the only thing that mattered was how well my execution was with my character but as I've continued to stay engrossed within the fighting game community, I now know that it takes more then just that. The term footsies have become synonymous with high level fighting game competition and for a while it eluded my understanding until I came across a site that gave an incredible amount of information on the meaning.( http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702">sonic hurricanes footies handbook)
Once I came across this idealism for how fighting games should be played, I finally understood that it was more then just attacking your opponent you had to out think them. This idealism is very much in opposition to Bruce Lee's beliefs as he argues that you need to feel and forget about thinking. I don't disagree with what Bruce Lee encourages but I still tend to think you must learn before you can feel.
If you ever played through a video game several times to completion then you know what the feeling of mastery is. Its that point when you are no longer thinking you just know, you just do. Mastering a fighting game character is far beyond the scope of your ordinary video game. Like Bruce Lee to acquire the ability to "feel" you must train continuously to develop your skills it is only then that you can reach a point of reacting to your opponents movements and adapting to their style of play.
The freedom comes in your ability to walk your own path with the character of choice. Whether you can reach a higher ability by taking Bruce's philosophy towards fighting games is definitely something of constant analysis as I continue to learn and play the game. Only time will tell if I'll truly be able to feel and no longer think.
