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Richard Li over at 1up.com sent me this video just yesterday that is not only a very good Ryu tutorial, but does an excellent job of breaking down spacing and zoning in Street Fighter. Knowing when and where to throw out certain moves is crucial when trying to push your opponent into the corner and gain the advantage in each round.
by Coopa | Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 10:38PM | in strategy
"Play for tiles, and you're skillful; play for belt-buckles, and you lose confidence; play for gold, and you're flustered. Your skill is the same as ever, but if you are attaching importance to something you are giving weight to what is outside you, and whoever gives weight to what is outside him is inwardly clumsy" (Chuang-tzu, Chapter 19).
Sometimes you find answers in the weirdest places, and to me, that was twenty minutes before my midterm. I've been going to a couple of Street Fighter 4 tournaments now, and if I've picked up anything, it's that mindsets matter. To illustrate their importance, take this example:
You’re facing Daigo, and you know it’s Daigo. In fact, you’d recognize that face anywhere: that poker face, that charming frown. It’s Daigo all right. And he’s Asian—so he must be a genius. You are nervous because you’re facing a big name, and as result, you play less than your normal worth.
In this scenario, you’ve already lost before you played because you gave one half of the game away. The interesting thing about fighters is that they come in twos. King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, and Street Fighter all come in packages. You buy one and you get the other: the mental game. Thus you should play it for what it’s worth, not give it away. Here’s yet another scenario:
You’ve played this guy before and he’s scrub in every sense of the word. He waits for you to pick as he scrolls the character select screen as he “contemplates”. After you choose, he skips to Ken. Oh, great. It’s another one. I guess it’s time to take another win home, but how about being fancy here and there? Hell, you know you’re going to kick this guy’s ass... but for some reason, not today.
How come? You were too overconfident in your skills and didn’t apply your knowledge. You let your ego get in the way.
With a glimpse of each side, we can now encompass and analyze other mindsets that might appeal to you and improve your game. Remember, it’s not what works for another person, but what works for you. If a poker face makes you play better, then by all means, do.
So, let’s begin; I interviewed three key players that I thought might contribute towards this goal: Crackfiend, Norcal’s best Balrog, PieGuy, Norcal’s best Honda, and Allen Chang, Norcal’s only Cammy. I asked each of these individual’s three questions, and here are their replies.
1) How do you prepare your mindset for a tournament?
Crackfiend:I usually allow myself a lot of rest prior to the tournament.Usually, I'd do mental prep work three days before the tournament, thinking about matchups, strategies, and image training of scenarios I like or dislike the most.The day after would be a complete mental break from games, so I would read, listen to music, or get involved in other hobbies.I find that most effective because when I come into the tournament, I come in fresh without an overindulgence of SF4 and I come in hungry.
Allen: I usually tell myself that I am going to take top 3.Going to a tourney with a winning attitude is probably the best approach. It gives you confidence. The last thing you want to do is to doubt yourself and not play your own style.
PieGuy: Since SF4 is new, I like to go into a tournament thinking that everybody is on equal ground. You never know when a newcomer like YoungLegend is going to be your next match.
I've decided to create a series of articles called "Street Fighter 4 Strategy Concepts" which is a comparison/correlation of concepts between Street Fighter video games and sports. Before I go on, I would like to share a story about myself and the competitive scene.
I had previously hated video games, period. I thought it was a waste of time and you could do nothing productive with it other than kill time. I was also a very big sports guy, and I played basketball throughout most of high school until I suffered some knee injuries which caused me to stop playing. While in my first year of college in fall of 2002, I stumbled upon Marvel vs Capcom 2 and I met some people from SRK (www.shoryuken.com). The competitive nature and diversity of the crowd really drew me in which eliminated most, if not, all stereotypes of video gamers. 7 years later, here I am telling a short story about how a non-video gamer became a video gamer, but not without cause.
The reason I mentioned this is because I use a lot of my basketball fundamentals to my gameplay and style. I also watch and learn other sports in order to use their strategies and concepts in my matches as well. Today's topic will be the battle for distance. Below this paragraph is a video of me and Ricky Ortiz playing at the SFSU arcade. I'm going to break down 3 sections in which spacing is highly involved in top play.
2:05 - I begin getting Ricky to the corner by making him block dash punches and my sweeps. By having the right spacing for my moves, I'm able to cause Ricky to misjudge some of my attacks which allows me to dash punch in and then weave out by dashing back (This is a stategical technique that I like to call in-n-out), then moving forward a little bit to continue to steadily work him in.
The term "Street Fighter Vacation" originated from Fuson (SoCal player) which I learned of from Dann (Prophetical). Some of you may have heard this term, some of you haven't. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it means learning how to take mental breaks.
Now some of you might be pondering... mental breaks from playing video games? But that's just crazy, it's only a video game! In the realm of high level competition, you want to treat your mind as you would your body - very similar to physical fitness. Have any of you ever come across a mental roadblock, suddenly got bored of Street Fighter 4, or you're unable to execute your combo/strategy? You may have had an overindulgence of Street Fighter 4 information, strategy, and/or technical data without allowing your mind to digest it progressively.
Also, while browsing the KOFXII thread on SRK I found this gem of a movie - a training video on KOF basics by Dandy J. Very well done and extremely informative so be sure to study up!
One mistake can ruin a great opportunity. Watching this match redefined it, and also made me realize two things:
1. Never take your eyes away from your match.
2. If it takes a throw to win, throw em. In other words, bring it back to basics.
In a high caliber tournament where your emotions are running high, the matches get personal, or maybe you're there to differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition... it is always important to maintain composure of yourself in order to make the best decision avaiable under the circumstances. Watch this match from the Southeast Major Tournament in Atlanta featuring:
Kensou (TX) vs Liston (NY) in the battle to reach the Top 16!
So this is pretty cool and the applications could be endless depending on how players end up using the technique. This is a glitch that allows you to absorb two hits with Balrog and only use one stock of EX meter in the process.
Fellow Sagat player KenSK pointed out how to actually input the command: it's Charge Down-Back, Down Forward + PP and then Forward on the joystick. You're basically Kara Cancelling the Dash Low into a Dash Straight.
This trick with Sagat popped up yesterday on SRK showing how you can connect Sagat's full Ultra in the corner thanks to "Liston". This is very useful considering that when you connect the Ultra in the corner, only two hits of the uppercut portion will connect and the last part wiffs completely on another Sagat!
This only works after FADCing in or near the corner the corner in that you need to charge the FA to LVL 2 to cross under the other player.
From the SRK thread:
The way to pull this off is to do the Uppercut and FAC and HOLD the FA until it is charged to lv.2. Then dash and to Ultra in the same way you dashed in and that is it. P.S. - if you want a shortcut to do this you can also FAC and qcfx2 to input your dash, and then one more qcf to complete the Ultra. Be careful to release the buttons upon seeing the dash or you run the risk of neg edging into some random special.
Hope this helps cause that glitch is pretty frustrating when u need the damage.
I posted about a week or two ago the link to the 1up.com My Cheats Street Fighter 4 Super Guide and it's now live for everyone to read! I know many of you have just picked up the game over the past day or so and this is a great way to get a heard start on everyone else who is playing right now.
I've been lucky enough to be able to play some really talented players here in California over the past 6 months on arcade, and have had access to the console version for quite sometime as well so this guide is a direct result of all those hours of play. Of course there was a lot of learning along the way so it was a real fun project that helped me up my game on all fronts.
None of this would have been possible without the help of Richard Li (great Bison player, wrote the Bison, Rose, Rufus, Dhalsim and Ken guides) and Mike Nelson over at 1up with both of them being more than accommodating and giving me anything I needed to get the guide out on time.
Keep an eye on the guide over the coming weeks because we have a couple more surprises for it that should show up soon. Any feedback on the guide is obviously more than welcome! Enjoy!
After getting crossed-up and dizzied numerous times at California Reigonals last month I knew I had to up my game from the inside on Street Fighter IV's real wildcard character, El Fuerte. The best way to beat a character is to know what they are fully capable of so I consulted Lil' Shoto and had him break down El Fuertes game for me. Check it out!
If Lil' Shoto's new track has a bit too much Latin flavor for you, maybe you should stick to text and check out our super white, super tight Street Fighter IV Move List and Strategy section for more ways to go buckwild with El Fuerte!
Anyone who has been playing for years and years, attending many tournaments, gatherings and events at the arcade can safely say they have had good days and bad days. Over the years I've talked with a lot of different players about their experiences with fighting games and it seems like one of the hardest things to achieve is that certain level of consistency.
With that being said, I've also seen a lot of people come and go in the scene and this is probably somewhat related to the ability to play consistently or lack there of. There is even a thread on SRK right now labeled "I give up..!" where people are detailing their frustrations with trying to play competitively. Those of us who stick around have a certain "bounce back" factor that allows us to keep playing all these years regardless of how well we are doing.
Lately I've been looking at my own game, studying videos of myself and just taking mental notes in general on why some days I play well and others I lose to things I shouldn't lose to. I've narrowed it down to a handful of factors although I am sure there a lot more. One of the main things is state of mind, but the mind is a tricky thing that can be hard to predict so all I have to say on that is "expect nothing, be ready for anything."
I'm sure there are a ton of articles and threads detailing similar aspects of playing fighting games but I thought I would give my own take on things. I labeled this as "Part One" in that I may extend this sometime down the line, but these are my initial thoughts.
When I first approached Street Fighter 4 some months ago, I passed right over Chun-Li thinking "there is no way she is as good in Street Fighter IV as she is in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, she is way past her prime!" That may be true but that does not mean you can't put the hurt on your opponents with her in this game.
Here in Bay Area we've had a couple Chun-Li players pop up here and there demonstrating how frustrating it can be to play against her and I thought to myself "why not share this knowledge with the rest of the world?" So we're back with another installment of top level "IV" strategy with the only person who can explain Street Fighter in a way that everyone can understand, Lil' Shoto.
Is Lil' Shoto too fresh for you? If that's the case be sure to check out our super white, super tight Street Fighter IV Move List and Strategy section for more ways to beat down with Chun-Li!
We've been playing a lot of Street Fighter IV up here in NorCal and we have some pretty respected Blanka players that frequent the arcade. We know that not everyone has access to the game right now, so we've decided to put together another guide on iPlayWinner that will give you the ultimate insight on how to control this beast so you'll be ready when the game drops!
Blanka can be real tricky in the right hands but there are a couple things you should know when playing against him as well. Whether you are trying to pick up Blanka, or you have a tough time playing in battles, don't worry because Lil' Shoto will give you everything you need to know in this audio clip!
So anyone who has played Street Fighter IV will tell you Sagat is a very deep and technical character with a steep learning curve in this game. With so many people coming up to me and asking "Why is it so hard for me to win with Sagat in Street Fighter IV?" I decided something must be done. I asked fellow Street Fighter IV training partner Lil' Shoto to break down Sagat's game piece by piece for anyone who is looking to pick him up.
Hope this makes your life at the arcade much easier!
Well, probably not but they do allow you to do combos in this game that you are not able to execute on normal hit. I found this Akuma vs Abel video in the SRK SFIV Video Thread earlier today and seemed like a pretty good video to break down when it comes to counter hits in SFIV.
The way counter hits work in this game is certain attacks will give you more frame advantage if they land as counter hit which allows you to link into moves that you normally wouldn't not be able to link into. (According to the Master Guide, light attacks add 1 frame of hit advantage and medium and hard attacks add 3.) For instance, one night at the arcade here I was able to combo c.mp into c.mk with Sagat because the c.mp was counter hit and added 3 frames of hit advantage. You normally are +4 on normal hit with a c.mp and c.mk with Sagat has a 7 frame start up, so if you do the math, you do not have enough of a window to link the two moves together. But since in this situation with the c.mp being +7 ([4 frames of hit advantage for normal hit] + [3 frame advantage for the counter hit] = +7 total frames of hit advantage) because of counter hit, I was able to link into the c.mk with its 7 frame start up.
So if you watch in the video below, Akuma is able to perform a pretty lengthy combo because the initial MP attack is counter hit. The thing to understand about this video is the combo could have been a lot more damaging under the right circumstances. At the end, he goes for c.mk into fireball but he is too far away for it to connect. If he was closer and had more meter, he could have finished that combo with c.mk xx fireball xx FADC -> c.mk xx fireball FADC -> c.lp -> Hurricane Kick combo. The combo would have been somewhere around 15 hits and would have most likely stunned or killed his opponent. This just goes to show how little we have seen of Street Fighter IV and it's combo system.
Ryan over at Gootecks.com posted up his new e-book for players who are transitioning from Street Fighter 3 to Street Fighter IV. The two games play pretty differently over all and the strategy involved in both games is in most cases quite a bit different. I started with Street Fighter III and found it did take some time for me to wrap my mind around the game mechanics of Street Fighter IV.
Also, earlier in the week he posted a new podcast with Rufus player Bobino. This podcast (sort of) goes hand in hand with the e-book in that Bobino is a Tekken player transitioning to SFIV. Check it out!
Updated on Monday, November 3, 2008 at 9:21AM by
haunts
Thanks to Ryan from Gootecks.com for writing this up. We plan to have more of these articles that will help you up your game in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned!
Think about whether you play a rushdown or turtling style. Then think about how much you know about both. Chances are you are much better at one or the other, but there are situations where it would be to your advantage to play the style you are weaker with.
Let's say you play a rushdown style such as Alex Valle or Pyrolee. You probably know all kinds of things such as correct poking distances for the attacks you're using, what their options are in any given situation, how to make them whiff throws/moves, etc. But do you also know similar tactics for turtling such as when to sit on a lead, the mental fortitude to not hit a button for 5-10 seconds at a time and what pokes are best for keeping them out?
By improving your skills at the style you're weaker at, you'll be a more rounded player who is able to adapt to more situations easier, as well as win more because you'll either be able to survive longer or do more damage more effectively.
One thing I see in this video (end of round 3) is how the Sagat player uses his focus attack to absorb the hit of Bison's Devil Reverse and lead right into a combo after the counter hit. I have been wondering for a while how to punish the Devil Reverse since that move tends to give me problems when I play Bison players at the arcade. Also you should notice the Sagat player charges the focus attack each time Bison leaves the ground, and if Bison's move does not hit, he will just cancel the focus attack charge with a dash.
Here we go folks. I did have to look up a couple of fighting game terms I didn't know for this one, but I'm confident in this translation's accuracy for the most part.
Read and discuss!
begin translation -- I'm free today, so here's my 2nd diary update for the day . . .
Tentative character rankings!
Whether it's perfect yet is subjective, but I doubt there are any mistakes.
S: Zangief
He's different. Perfectly different.
When people say he's at a disadvantage to Sagat, I think "what the hell?"
It's one thing to say, "There's a bad matchup when I use Zangief" "All characters have a bad matchup against Zangief" is more like it.
Without taking into consideration the Zangief players who have a life lead and think "I'll SPD them one more time", I'm really talking just about "the Zangief in my head",
But those "I will keep attacking with Zangief until they're dead" people, While I don't think that's the best way to play him, I still think that style is strong enough.
For people who have a different opinion, Against "Zangief with a life lead holding down back", Please clearly show me an attack style that will beat it!
BESIDES a Ryu with a Shinkuu Hadouken or charging up for one.
AA: Sagat
Strong enough, maybe the character for Street Fighter 2 specialists?
That's what I thought, but Tiger Knee destroys everything.
If you watch closely it's almost like a dragon punch, and you can punish whiffed footsies against some characters, but that's not the problem.
The fact that in addition to his natural SF2 effectiveness, he still has Tiger Knee puts him at this rank.
A: M. Bison (Dictator)
The fact that he can hang with Zangief/Sagat is his strong point. There's an overwhelming feeling that he can't do anything to lower ranked characters, But if you just play regular footsies (or even if you're forced to play footsies), he's strong.
A: Ryu
The speed of fierce Shoryuken is a point of Ryu's adaptation to SF4. There's also the perfect backdash counter, his hurricane kick.
The rest doesn't need to be said.
A: Rufus
The only character in SF4 who gets a huge return on on throw motions and holding down back.
I can't say anything flattering about his footsies, but unlike ST and 3rd Strike, Attacks that control the screen (like fireballs that don't disappear) Don't exist in SF4, so it doesn't matter too much.
B: Chun Li
By all rights, she's below Zangief/Sagat, but "she will always lose to any Zangief" Is too strong of an assessment for this spot.
B: Ken
From here on out, Ken's potential is vast. Fierce shoryuken and fierce hurricane kick are the bottlenecks. Bearing Zangief/Sagat in mind, You can assume that he's not the 3rd best character.
B: Balrog (boxer) I thought this when I tried him myself, and he's definitely strong. Because his value is dependent on mind games/readability (besides just headbutt), You can assume this character has his pros and cons.
B: Abel
As I thought, a strong character. This is a simple way of saying it, but he feels a lot like 3rd Strike Makoto.
He's more stylish than Makoto.
B: Blanka
For people who don't understand, his matches probably looks shitty and boring, but actually he's a character that's easy to understand.
Keeping in mind that he can hold his own against Zangief, The next time, there's a good chance he will be higher.
C: Viper
She holds much power, but as I thought, it seems like she doesn't fit the game.
Nonetheless, I haven't used her much myself, so there's a chance she may climb up to B rank.
There's no way she'll become better than Zangief/Sagat.
C: Fuerte
Depends on your ability to link 18 fierces.
Well . . . I usually think of it based on me not missing in tournaments, But I guess this loop is an exception.
That being the case, he goes here.
C: Guile
Even comparing him to the old Guile, I think he really did become more interesting.
The scariness of letting go of a charge isn't as bad in SF4, so I really want more Guiles to focus on that when they play. But I digress.
D: Honda
His basic stats are high, but each of his moves are way too bad.
Nonetheless, in SF4's gameplay, You can't say "this character is weak, therefore they can't win", So I expect character specialists and hard studiers to make an appearance with him.
D: Dhalsim
For people who say he can win against Ryu and Ken, I have no idea what you're seeing.
At least now, There is no Dhalsim that I've lost more than 2 games against. Someone please explain this to me.
With a CVS2 player like Iyo's skill level, He might rise a little higher, but my skill level is lower so he goes here.
F: Vega (claw)
Extremely disadvantaged.
You must be willing to really win with time-ups only. Or should I say, he's just that kind of character.
It's just that he doesn't have the adequate tools to do even that with, so that's basically the reason he gets the lowest rank.
With all the tools, If you concentrate solely on time-up wins . . .
Maybe.
That's the idea.
I am completely riddled by Akuma.
Summary below.
-- S: Zangief AA: Sagat
A: Dictator, Ryu, Rufus B: Chun Li (she's only here because of Zangief), Boxer, Abel, Blanka
C: Viper (for now), El Fuerte, Guile
D: Honda, Dhalsim (Up to now, haven't used them at all)
F: Claw (I expect him to stay here) --
If I were to write the main idea behind these ranks,
"At my skill level, and the current metagame, this is about right".
To the people that say "What?! You're not changing Claw??",
I don't expect you to be saying that much longer. -- end translation
Another great entry from Ino on Street Fighter 4's Abel. Thanks to poonage (love that screen name) from SRK for the translation.
The "Part 2" doesn't have a summary for each character, so I'll slowly be doing all of the text for one character at a time.
First up, Abel:
begin translation -- General:
My first impression of Abel was that at worst, he'd be one of the four best characters.
Perhaps that impression was right.
Strong points:
In addition to his loops and rushdown being an extremely simple 2-way mixup, if you pay close attention to frames, you can construct an extremely low-risk offense.
In other words, think of it like Makoto from 3rd Strike: "Since I can bully you with either a command grab or an attack, I can actually do nothing and then kill you however I want". In this way, you can develop an extremely stylish offense.
A strong point even compared to Zangief is that by choosing the alternative to not attack and "waiting to see what happens", you can go for the best possible combo to punish with.
As far as footsies go, Abel has stuff far scarier than his normals such as command roll, flip kick, and his fast dash. These kinds of moves allow patterns that are difficult to deal with, so in a game like Street Fighter 4 which overall doesn't allow you to rush in, Abel is accompanied with a different play style.
In addition to the amazing ability of Forward+MK -> Dash --> Guard (even frames) or hit (guaranteed combo),
You have a small frame advantage after dashing if they guard a Level 1 Focus Attack, and you're especially dangerous against characters that Standing Fierce will connect while they're crouching.
And if that wasn't enough, there's his Ultra.
It will of course go through command (not charge) projectiles, It's fast enough to punish a backdash on reaction, It's going to do some damage no matter what.
Essentially, when playing footsies against characters with projectiles and high priority moves (like rolling) Abel may not be the strongest character, but saying he's amazing the moment your Ultra is ready wouldn't be an exaggeration either.
Weak points:
The fact that all of Abel's tools for getting around attacks all have openings is probably his main weakness.
A move that avoids throws, a move that avoids hits, a move that avoids lows; at any rate, he's too well-balanced (lol)!
For safe ways to escape, Depending on the situation, you have change it up between backdashes and command grabs, and that's the main thing that raises Abel's difficulty to use. Furthermore, besides a weak punch version Super, anti-air is difficult. If you can dash under every jump, that's a different story, but . . .
In conclusion,
While noting the point of his strong two-way mixup, He has good frame advantage, good ground crossup ability, Even defense needing complex answers with the joystick,
Yeah, Surely, besides being the one character I would recommend to a VF player, I can, with confidence, especially recommend this character to players who want to love the game for a long time.
haunts | ;)
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