Evolution Fighting Tournament 2009

Well, I’m officially registered for the Evolution 2009 Championship Series in Street Fighter 4.  My greatest hope? To not peace out.  I’ll definitely be taking pictures, tweeting and hopefully doing a little blogging during the event, so keep an eye out here, as well as my Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/casperOne

I’ve also been fortunate to reconnect with someone from my past, Damdai.  It’s funny, because we first started playing Street Fighter II together as children, and now he’s come very far in the game (particularly in ST and HDR, and definitely making his way in IV).  It’s been especially great to reconnect with him because of our shared past and our current shared interests.

And of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a known player to spar with to help with leveling up.

Pianoing vs. Double-Tapping

A number of people that are coming from other Street Fighter games are used to the concept of pianoing (i.e. hitting multiple buttons in rapid succession in order to have a greater chance of registering the input of that button type).  However, in SF4, it’s not the best of ideas.  Because SF4 has such a large input window (the amount of time that the game will wait before registering your input), it will actually execute EX moves most of the time when you try to execute them.

Instead, use double-tapping, as Gootecks shows in this X-Play video on G4 TV (it's the second tip in the movie):

Online Play and Autofire

Well, I’ve always had my suspicions about online play, about the nature of disconnects as well as whether or not people were using macros or enhancements.  It’s refreshing, and scary to know at the same time that I was right.  There are videos, but unfortunately, they were taken down (I can’t imagine why, there are tons of other SF4 videos on YouTube).  But to give you an idea, here is the playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4FD00C99444D2FC1

Alex Valle

Alex Valle is on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/AlexValleSF4

And he’s dropping tips for SF4:

From http://twitter.com/AlexValleSF4/statuses/2150147172:

Another SF4 thought, while waiting in line for a comedy show, Ryu can HP Super sim's jump back HP (on hit)

And http://twitter.com/AlexValleSF4/statuses/2148062834:

Being good at Street Fighter 4 requires you to think of strats in the middle of a boring work meeting. Throw/Hit confirm vs Rog EX rushes

Remember, when approaching the next level of anything, it becomes a game of diminishing returns.  However, that slight advantage can mean all the difference in what you do.

General

During my matches with Damdai, some obvious deficiencies in my game were pointed out.

First, I need to learn to incorporate FADC into my game.  I’m not taking advantage of the opportunity to land more damage (especially with Sagat’s F+HK) when landing a first initial move (this goes hand-in-hand with the bread-n-butter combo mentioned later).  This is applicable to all players, all characters.

After my stint at Evo, I’m going to switch to using a stick so I can do moves like this (and others) much more consistently.

Related to using FADC, I need to use Focus Attacks in general much more.  I’m not utilizing the hit-absorption properties nearly as much.  On top of that, it can be quite a surprise to people, often giving you the opportunity to land a free hit (at a price, of course).  Add to that the fact that it can be used to get in on/away from an opponent and it’s obvious there’s a big piece missing in my game.

Second, on whiffed moves, I’m not resorting to using an Ultra Combo to punish often enough.  It needs to be second nature.

This and the FADC improvements will also require greater monitoring of the meters in general, since FADC requires two EX bars.  It’s not that I don’t watch it now, but my awareness has to increase.

Finally, when cornered (or not) and being crossed-up on, dashing is a technique that helps immensely.  If done right, you can avoid damage completely, and more often than not, trade a hit and disrupt what would be a much longer chain of hits.

Ken

Ken is one of the characters that Damdai plays often, and while I knew that Ken had a kara-throw, I’ve never really seen it executed consistently (although we already know Gief can do it), which didn’t give me much of a chance to learn how to counter it.  However, Damdai brought me up to speed very quickly.

It’s just pretty sick, and you can tell when it’s being done by a kind of “glitch” (notice at 0:05 and 0:10) that occurs when you see the regular move cancelled into a throw:

When doing Sagat’s LK->Tiger Knee, it’s not safe on block against Ken if he does the MP SRK.  It will hit cleanly if Ken uses any other button though.

Boxer

Saki XL tells me that Boxer can be thrown out of his EX Dash Punches (and apparently on further research, he can be thrown out of his Ultra as well).  I’ve yet to try this, but I think I might take a shot at it in practice mode today.

Sagat has a typical loop that after hitting an opponent that jumps in and hitting them with a HK, throwing a Tiger Shot Low for additional chip damage.  However, the timing and spacing is such that if Boxer has enough Revenge Meter built up, he can consistently Ultra as a reverse and Sagat will still be in recovery from the Tiger Shot Low, making it a guaranteed hit.

Just like Chun-Li, the reaction now when Boxer has Ultra is to be VERY careful with throwing out a Tiger Shot.  Again, it should only be done if there is forward movement, negating the charge.

Saki XL gets a special mention for being the first person that I’ve played to consistently use the EX cancel trick with Boxer in a match:

His execution and ability to use it effectively in a match is very consistent.

On top of that, he showed me a nifty little bait tactic that Boxer uses, where on knockdown he will do the TAP or the EX Buffalo Headbutt in order to bait a response, and since he finishes it early, will use a move with invulnerability in the beginning to punish (more often than not, an Ultra or Super combo).

Sagat’s Ultra will beat out Boxer’s Ultra if activated after Boxer activates the Ultra Combo.  Better yet, Sagat and Boxer’s frame data supports it.

When being rushed down by Boxer, blocking the Dash Punches can usually be countered by a Tiger Knee on response.  However, if Boxer follows up with a cr.LP, using Sagat’s cr.MP is usually a good response.

Zangief

Thanks to karaleung for pointing out after reading my blog entry on Zangief’s kara-throw that Gief has a short jump which can be used to cause anti-air attacks to whiff (i.e. Sagat’s HK) which set him up perfectly for a grab/Ultra:

Rose

Rose can slide under Sagat’s Tiger Shot Low with her cr.MK (I think it is the MK).  However, on block of the cr.MK (or any of her slides) one can consistently counter with cr.LP->Tiger Shot Low and get chip damage (whereas she doesn’t deliver chip damage with her slide).

Gen

If Sagat activates his Ultra Combo and then Gen activates his Ultra Combo in response, they will both trade one hit, and both Ultra combos will stop.

Sagat

I’ve been getting the cr.LP->Low Tiger Shot much more consistently (as a response to people applying pressure) and it does wonders for getting pressure off, maximizing damage a little more (you get chip damage).

I’m also using the LK->Low Tiger Shot as well, but not as much.  I find it particularly helpful in footsie matchups (Zangief in particular).

Damdai points out that I really need to get Sagat’s BNB (i.e. bread-n-butter) combo down, the cr.LK->cr.LK->cr.LK->Tiger Uppercut, and he’s right.

However, I believe that I still have great use for the cr.LP as a combo starter.  On a whiff, I definitely believe that using cr.LK is a much more effective tool (since it can lead into the BNB), however, it’s startup is too long in order to use it to keep pressure off.  So now, I use the cr.LP to keep people away (comboing into Tiger Shot Low) and will try to use cr.LK on whiffs.

One interesting thing to point out is that it appears to me that Sagat’s defensive hitbox for the cr.LK is much lower to the ground than the cr.LP, which I’ve found works particularly well in defending against Boxer’s pressure game (Dash punches and the like), since it allows Sagat to get under some of Boxer’s attacks.  It’s still risky because of the lengthier startup than the cr.LP, but there is an ample reward for that risk.

I happened across this match on YouTube between Daigo and Mago, and there are a lot of great takeaways from it for a Sagat player:

• 0:23 - In a situation where a Tiger Shot can’t be executed quickly enough to counter an incoming projectile, use a FADC (with a backwards dash to cancel, of course) to absorb damage, but only do it in a situation where you can safely recover life.
• 0:35 – Frame data for Sagat supports a link combo from cr.LK->cr.LK but it doesn’t support cr.LK->cr.MK.  When Mago does cr.LK->cr.LK->cr.MK->Tiger Shot Low, I wonder if he could have been punished on the cr.LK->cr.MK.  If he couldn’t have been punished (if it was a true link), the only explanation I can think of is that the two cr.LK pushed Sagat away/Ryu back far enough so that the second cr.MK was more meaty, and allowed for the extra frames required for the cr.MK.  This is definitely something to research in practice mode.
• 0:39 – Very nice kara Tiger Uppercut FADC (moving back) to Tiger Shot Low.
• 3:13 – I don’t see the LK used too much in a combo, but Mago manages to get out a j.HP->LK->Tiger Shot High EX and have it all connect.
• 3:19 – Daigo (being Daigo of course) when hit out of his Ultra Combo actually capitalizes on the fact that his recovery was erased and did a Hurricane Kick to add an extra hit on top of the hits from the Ultra Combo.

General

So the big news two weeks ago was the Gamestop National Street Fighter 4 tournament.  By now, everyone knows that Justin Wong won and can currently claim the title of U.S. Champion.

Of interest was the exhibition matches between Justin, the Japanese national champion Iyo, the Korean national chapion Poongko, and Daigo.  This is the match between Daigo and Iyo:

Of note:

@0:33 – Daigo uses a focus attack against the outstretched limbs of Dhalsim from across the screen.  This makes  a great deal of sense, since Dhalsim doesn’t have anything that can hit for a second time which would knock someone out of a focus attack at that range and if timed right, you will get a hit on the limbs.  It’s a great counter from that distance for any character.

@2:47 – Daigo jumps back to avoid Dhalsim’s fireball, and then throwing his own so that it comes out right at the point where Dhalsim’s fizzles.  This should be considered against Dhalsim, Chun-Li, and Sakura when using any character with a projectile that doesn’t fade.

@3:01 – Daigo does a “psychic” Hadouken EX.  Seriously folks, don’t try that at home.

@4:27 – Again, a “psychic” SRK to hit Dhalsim’s outstretched limbs cancelled into a Super Combo which hits from across the screen.  Do not even attempt unless your name is “Daigo”.

@7:03 – Daigo does a j.HP –> cr.HP –> Hurricane Kick EX –> Hurricane Kick EX.  Quite nice.  If I played Ryu, I’d try to put that into my corner pressure game, since you aren’t going to get it in the middle of the screen.

Then there is the match between Daigo and Poongko:

To be honest, there doesn’t seem to be much to mention here.  While Poongko is an amazing Ryu player, he lacks a certain finesse.  His style is very aggressive, which is fine in itself, but his aggression leads to some sloppy play, as evidenced by his match above, and with Justin as well.

Finally, there is the match between Justin and Daigio.  Of course, everyone knows about the 2004 Evo semi-final match between Daigo and Justin in Street Fighter III: Third Strike, where Daigo came back from what seemed to be an insurmountable lead by Justin.  Well, this time, Daigo didn’t really give Justin much of a chance, taking four straight rounds from him:

@2:34 – Daigo goes into a sequence of cr.LP –> cr.LK –> cr.LP –> cr.LK.  It’s a small thing, but if the first hit, it means three more hits at least.  He chained them perfectly.

Then there is the new Championship mode that was added to the console versions of SF4.  There isn’t much to be said about them, with two exceptions:

1. On PSN, the voting for the video replay is absolutely broken.  Check out the top video on PSN, and see how there are votes being accumulated for every second of the game, while none of them are “funny”, “awesome” or “beautiful”.
2. While the disconnect detect system is good, it is still flawed.  It would seem that someone can still disconnect at the end of a match and in some instances, the disconnect will be credited against the person disconnected on as well.  I have a 2% disconnect rate and I have never ragequit.

Rufus

When the Messiah Kick is blocked, Sagat can counter with a Tiger Uppercut (all versions) before launching into the follow-up attack.  That means that any move with a startup of five frames or less can be snuck in before the follow-up to the Messiah Kick.

Guile

There are many times (not always) when he crouch blocks a Low Tiger Shot EX and it takes a little bit longer for the second hit to be blocked.  I get the feeling that he can get a reversal between the two hits when they are not one after the other.

Ken

I saw in a video that you can start a focus-attack after the cr.MK in a cr.MK –> Hadouken combo and go through the fireball.  It should work with Ryu, regardless of the frame data difference (Ryu’s Hadouken comes out one or two frames faster, depending if it is an EX or not) because the Hadouken will be absorbed by the focus attack.

Blanka

When crossing up with Blanka, it’s always good to use a cr.LK, as the cr.MP will go right over him if he ducks.

Akuma

There is enough recovery time from the two-hit standing HK (before they go to the cr.HK) to counter with a Tiger Uppercut.

El Fuerte

Man, this character still houses me every time.  Rufus used to be in this class, but not so much anymore.

Gen

See section on El Fuerte.  Consider yourself a pinball when playing a skilled Gen player.

Sagat

I’ve seen a number of videos where Sagat can combo from LK –> Tiger Knee or Tiger Shot, but for some reason, I can’t get the timing down.  It’s not a link, but an actual cancel (frame data supports this as well), but for some reason, the timing seems different.

I can get a stuffed Tiger Uppercut –> F + HK –> Low Tiger Shot EX or Ultra Combo.  To connect with the last move, one just has to wait a little bit after the F + HK before executing the last move.  Against Blanka’s Backstep Rolling Attack, you can replace the Low Tiger Shot EX with a regular Tiger Shot.  I have to explore why this situation allows for a non-EX Tiger Shot, as I don’t always want to waste the Super bar.

General Impressions

• Obvious improvements in aesthetics.
• Much slower than ST.  The characters feel like they are moving in molasses.
• Move input is very forgiving.  It’s much easier to perform special moves now.
• Jump angles are much more acute. 
• Jumps also complete much more quickly, making cross-ups more difficult.
• Blockstun/hitstun is much lower in this game than in ST.  Recovery from connecting moves is much quicker.

Because of the above, it feels like a lot of people are winging it right now.  People are going with all the familiar faces.  The characters I see the most in networked play are Ryu, Ken, and Sagat.  In the seven or eight hours I’ve played so far, I’ve only seen one each of Chun-Li, Vega, Balrog, and M. Bison.  Of the new characters, I’ve only seen one person play Abel.  Over time, this is sure to change.

People are also very unaware of the recovery times for moves.  Punishing people with Super or Ultra moves is very common.

It should be noted that this is currently from the perspective of someone with 1500 battle points.  Currently, the leader on the PS3 boards has ~6000 bp.

Focus (Saving) Attacks

This is the center of advanced gameplay in this installment of the series.  It’s properties are:

• Can be stored.  The more power stored, the more attributes it takes on (unblockable, can absorb one attack, i.e. “armor”).  If it connects when stored, it will cause the character to “crumple”, which allows for a free hit.
• All EX moves can be canceled into a focus attack at the cost of two EX bars for the entire move.
• Focus attacks can be cancelled with a dash in either direction.

Of note are the last two points (commonly referred to as a “Focus Attack Dash Cancel” or FADC).  With the ability to cancel EX moves midway into the move, you can create extended combo chains which would lead to more damage/stun.

The other point that isn’t emphasized as much is that you can use the FADC to get out of situations where you might whiff with an EX move.

FADC is HARD to execute (then again, I’m a bit of a spaz).  The Japanese are definitely using it and it’s going to be an important part of high-level play:

The FADC above manifests itself in the following move chain:

1. Tiger Uppercut
2. FADC
3. HK
4. Ultra Combo

That’s a hell of a lot of damage.  For now, I’m primarily using my EX bar for defensive purposes, in using EX versions of fireballs to overpower other fireballs and hit/chip.

Character-specific Observations

Ryu

As always, very balanced.  Ever since Champion Edition when Capcom made Ken’s Shoryuken sweep forward much more than Ryu’s, it’s been obvious that Ryu is meant to be the most balanced character in the game, and that’s the case here (Daigo plays him, that should mean something).

While I’m trying to main with Sagat as well, I find the hurricane kick to be a much better utility move than the tiger knee.

Claw

This was my main in ST, but now, he really is suffering.  The quickness and reach that he had in ST is gone, and moves seem to start up too slow.  For example, the Rolling Crystal Flash starts off slow, very reminiscent of holding Blanka’s super move in ST and then unleashing.  With the slide, the slow animation combined with easy reversals and forgiving move input to execute those reversals makes it ineffective.

Barcelona drop?  Jump back and HK will pretty much beat it for any character.

Those are his bread-and-butter moves, and with those changed significantly, it makes it difficult to be effective with the character now.

I did have a single match though as claw against a shoto, and there was one round I did well.  Then I played as Ryu against claw, and I got housed.

Guile

I found him to be really underpowered, and just not able to keep up.  Again, his response time just isn’t there.

Sagat

What he lacks in speed he makes up for in power.  I never found the Tiger Knee to be as useful as the hurricane kick with Ryu, but I like the ratio of attack and defense in him.

Against Dictator, neutral jump HK will defeat Devil’s press (or whatever it is called) cleanly.

Jump forward MP is a nice flying elbow which I believe the hitboxes are higher for when in the air than his kick attacks, which is nice for air-to-air.

Dash speed is horrendously slow.

Zangief

Lariat has wicked high priority.  I’ve found that most times, you just have to wait it out and hit the feet at the end.

Finally

I have a LOT of work to do.

One Other Thing

I totally expect the theme song “Indestructable” to be played on America’s Best Dance Crew as part of a throwback challenge highlighting boy band songs.