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.

For those that don’t know “Locals Only” is a series of promotions for a limited number of people where access is granted to a limited number of people each day until a quota is filled.  Typically, the first people to answer a series of questions correctly on topics about NYC (people, landmarks, etc, etc) are granted access.

I was fortunate enough to get access to the Common concert, as well as the latest promotion, David Chang (of Momofuku fame) cooking out of a street cart for about 200 people:

(yes, that’s me in the first 1/2 second of the video, in the green shirt while they are moving down the line)

It would seem a lot of people are making a big dealabout it too, as they should, not just because everyone has their head where the sun doesn’t shine, but because the man makes damn good food.  The fact that he did it out of a street cart and coolers is nothing short of remarkable.

And to top it all off, it came in the fold-up cartons that you would typically get from a street meat vender.

It was tucked away on an empty lot at the corner of Lafayette and Houston.  The size was perfect, and the weathr that day (Friday, April 24th) was just amazing.  Of course, the Changster was on hand to serve food up himself:

And despite his policy of not allowing photos being taken in Ko, he was very gracious, taking pictures with anyone who asked:

And make no mistake, he actually remembered me from a night that I dined at Ko.

When you arrived, you were given a “menu” which was a choice from three options, vegetarian, pork and chicken.  You could also opt for the “dealer’s choice” where you were at the whim of the chef.

I should have known better than to arrive at the event at 12:30, when the event ran from 11 am to 3 pm, as two of the three offerings for the “dealer’s choice” were already gone.  From what I have read and heard from others was that it was lobster with a poached egg and foie gras.

*sigh*  I had to settle for the pork menu, which consisted of one of the Berkshire pork buns (a take on Peking Duck if you have never had it), as well as rice pasta in a spicy sauce.  For those that have had Korean food, yes, it’s dukbokgi:

For something that I had to settle for, it was damn good. =)

I was fortunate to try one of the “dealer’s choice” items, the lamb shawarma:

Along with that were some collared greens, a bit of rice, and some very nice roasted/griddled beets.

I have to say something about this lamb.  This is quite possibly the best lamb I have ever had, and it came from a street cart.  I mean, it was on a rotating spit, just like the gyros you would get on the street, except this was a real leg of lamb, pink on the outside, with a nice crust on the outside.

And being that I haven’t had a chance to go to the Momofuku Bakery yet, I thought it a nice gesture that they bring it to me in the form of their donut soft-serve:

And holy schnike!  It’s a donut, in ice cream form.  There was even a light dusting of cinnamon sugar on the top.  While I still fail to comprehend the nature of this creation, the taste was nothing short of amazing.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what NBC will come up with next…

I feel for the “right” lately.  Given the results of the last election, there was bound to be some pent up frustration over the state of affairs in politics.

And as we all know, when pressure builds in a confined space, it seeks to relieve itself, usually in a violent matter.

Much like Fox News correspondent Shepard Smith did.

Detent18

DB72332

And it goes a little something like this:

Pretty typical gamer-geek fare, but has an endearing moment at around 2:25.

Zangief

Zangief’s Ultra Combo is not like Akuma’s or Abel’s in the sense that the latter two, while appearing to be grab moves, require contact to be made with the opponent in order to inflict damage.

To get out of this situation on reaction, one can just tap (not hold) up during the Ultra Combo animation to avoid the move, as both require the character to be on the ground in order to connect (being in the jump animation counts as not being on the ground).

Zangief’s Ultra Combo, however is a true command throw which is instant, so if you are in range, you’re done on execution.

The frame data supports this (emphasis mine):

That bolded “0” indicates that after the “intro” to the Ultra Combo, there isn’t any window of opportunity to react.

But along comes this video of the Korean National Champion in SF4 (he is playing Zangief):

At ~3:16, you see Zangeif enter into the animation for his Ultra Combo, which Ryu counters after the animation with a SRK.

The consensus over at SRK seems to be that the input for the SRK was put in before the Ultra Combo animation, and because at least the first frame of the SRK is invulnerable (to throws as well) it was able to counter Zangief’s Ultra Combo.

This makes sense, because I would never try to psychic DP if my expectation was that an Ultra Combo was coming out.  However, on knockdown, with a player trying to cross me up, a SRK reversal is natural.

So it goes to show that Zangief’s Ultra Combo can be reversed, but only if you are psychic, and not on reaction.

Fortunately, there is this comment about Sagat’s Tiger Uppercut (all versions) in the frame data (emphasis mine):

1-5f invincible, 6-7f throw invincible, 8f~ airborne, opponent is in jugglable state on counterhit

Which means that in a similar situation (knocked down by Zangief who is trying to jump in/cross-up on wakeup), the Tiger Uppercut will get me out of a situation where Zangief might jump in early and try to Ultra Sagat on wakeup.

General

While not new news anymore, the Bad Losers Wall of Shame is up.

What is interesting is the post by Seth Killian over at Capcom Unity on the subject:

In other news, have faith--SFIV has a sweet new puller-punishing system is on its way...

Now that’s going to be interesting, to say the least.  Hopefully, it will help reduce the activity in my own SF4 Ragequits category.

Zangief

His j.MK will counter Sagat’s standing HK.  It’s a little reminiscent of Sakura’s j.HK except it doesn’t angle down as much, so it still seems stuffable.

However, I’ve seen j.HP stuff standing HK a few times as well.

From a distance, Sagat’s standing HK will hit the lariat clean.

Rose

She can counter the the standing HK from far away with her j.HP.  She can also counter the standing HK close with what seems to be the j.LK or j.MK.

I wish the frame data were available for her, as she seems to have a very short startup time on most of her moves.

Blanka

The better Blanka players are not getting countered consistently with the EX Low Tiger Shot after an EX Rolling Attack.  I can’t tell if it is my reaction time or theirs.

I didn’t realize that how far forward the Backstep Rolling Attack goes is controllable.  This is why it crosses me up so much.

Sagat

Players are consistently jumping in close on Sagat now, and the standing HK’s effectiveness is much less than from a distance.  I also wasn’t using the Tiger Uppercut consistently for fear of trading off.

I believe that moves that are EX-able, but not an EX move at the time, when they trade, they have a shorter recovery time than if they were hit cleanly, enough time to set up another attack.

Sagat’s Tiger Uppercut is an example of this.  If he trades with the uppercut then he can go into the F + HK, which then sets up for the Ultra Combo (if you have meter).

I’ve been practicing this with good results, and I’m probably a little short of spamming the Tiger Uppercut now.  At least I’m more confident in using it now in tight situations.

This applies to all strengths of the Tiger Uppercut.

The next step is to get this combo down in a non-trade situation:

Tiger Uppercut –> FADC –> F + HK –> Ultra Combo

I need to experiment with better combos to use when connecting with F + HK and I don’t have the Revenge meter stocked.  EX Tiger Shot Low or EX Tiger Knee will connect, but I need a solution for when I don’t have EX meter either.

This combo:

j.FP –> cr.FP –> Super Combo

Does almost as much damage as a fully charged Ultra Combo (it might do a little more, actually), but the timing is harder, since it is a link from the cr.FP –> Super Combo.

BOYSTOPPLAYIN77

This is what I envision play time with my future son to be like:

With some notable exceptions:

• “Play time” will consist of eight-hour training sessions on a daily basis
• He’s going to whip this kid’s ass in no time