Calculating risk/reward in Street Fighter 4 is critical to winning against good players.  This is because during the course of the game, we are put in many situations where we have to calculate whether it’s worth taking a risk in order to land more damage to end the round or gain a substantial life lead.  Considering multiple options as well as your opponents options are and what he thinks you will do should lead you to making better decisions during the game.

The most common situation where both players must calculate risk/reward is when a character with a good wakeup Special Move gets knocked down.  These special moves include Uppercuts, Flash Kick, EX Messiah Kick, Headbutt, etc.  When you knock down one of these characters, you put yourself at risk by getting close enough to them for the opponent to consider doing a Wakeup Uppercut.  Calculating the risk/reward payoff is crucial to winning.

Here are some factors to consider when calculating whether to Wakeup Uppercut/Headbutt/etc…

• Are you up one round/one game?
  If you’re up one game or one round, you may be able to afford to take more risks because you are in the lead.  Conversely, your opponent may be playing more cautious so they may not be willing to attack as aggressively because they are already down one game/one round.
• Do you have enough meter to FADC?
  Having two EX Meters is basically a Get Out Of Jail Free card and let’s you take risks with very limited downside.  For example, Ryu can Wakeup Uppercut xx FADC and back dash to safety pretty much anywhere on the screen except the corner.  This means that if you get knocked down with two meters and an Ultra, it is probably in your favor to go for it because you can FADC back dash if they block the Uppercut.
• Do you have a life lead?  If so, will you still be in the life lead if your move whiffs/is blocked and your opponent punishes with the most damaging combo their meters (Super and Ultra) can allow?
  If you have a substantial life lead (maybe 35% or more), you can usually afford to take more risks because if your risk doesn’t pan out, you will still either have the life lead or be at even if they block and punish with their most damaging combo.

  For example, if you’re playing against Balrog and he has one meter, his most damaging combo using that meter would probably be the EX Upper Loop (LP, LP xx EX Upper, LP, LP xx Headbutt), so a wakeup Uppercut when you’re in the lead probably wouldn’t lead to game-ending damage if he blocks.  Conversely, if you’re Balrog against Rufus anywhere near the corner and you do a blocked Wakeup Headbutt, you are probably going to eat way more damage after Rufus lands a combo because you are going to be in the corner where he has the advantage.  Once Rufus gets Balrog in the corner, it’s a tough fight because he has so many ways to land the Ultra and the Dive Kick can be overwhelming.  Before doing a Wakeup Headbutt in this situation, you have to consider your position on the screen and the danger of being in the corner, not just your life lead.

• Is there a safer alternative?
  Wakeup Uppercuts can be great sometimes, but wouldn’t it be safer to throw out a D+LP?  Usually on wakeup, you’re trying to get your opponent off of you so you can regroup and a well-placed low jab can be all you need to back dash to safety or link into something else.  The risks of a low jab are usually pretty small (think of it as a 2 on a risk scale of 10, with 10 being a non-FADCable Uppercut) but buying yourself a split second and an inch of room to breathe can be the difference between winning and losing a round.
• What does your opponent expect you to do?
  If you’ve done a Wakeup Uppercut earlier in the match, maybe he’s looking for it again which may make him more likely to block and punish with a big combo.  It may sound obvious to a lot of players, but some people aren’t considering these things before they do Wakeup Uppercuts.

  Even if you haven’t done a Wakeup Uppercut before, if you’re Sagat and have two EX Meters and an Ultra, he’s probably looking for you to do a Wakeup Tiger Uppercut FADC Ultra, so he probably won’t be likely to attack which means you may want to consider not doing it.  Of course if he knows that you know that he knows that you’re looking for it…well now things just turned into a complicated Rock Paper Scissors game!

  Because going for the Uppercut in this situation isn’t very risky for him because he can FADC out of it, maybe he’ll go for something completely unexpected and just wakeup and throw.

• If it hits, will you win or at least give yourself a lead you can sit on?
  If you take the risk and it connects, will you win the round?  If not, maybe it’s not worth going for unless the life lead you’ll gain will be easy to sit on.  For example, in the Balrog vs. E. Honda matchup, if Balrog gets knocked down, Honda may want to try an Oichio Throw as he gets up.  If Balrog has an Ultra stocked, a life lead and the Headbutt -> Ultra connects, he will be able to reduce his risk by backing away to just outside sweep distance from Honda.  It’s extremely difficult for Honda to get in on Balrog (and vice versa) so he should be able to keep him out relatively easily and slowly whittle away his life with safe, low-risk attacks.

THESE ARE NOT BIG DISCOVERIES! If you’re a Sagat player, I’m sure you know all of these, so this article is not for you.

That’s not really what this post is about though, but one of the things that I did think about in terms of character mastery was that you should at least be able to go through all of said character’s combos in Trial Mode. Not to say that all of the combos that Trial Mode makes you do are good or useful, just that if you have mastered your character’s execution, you should be able to do most of them relatively easily.

So I went through Trial Mode with Sagat (or at least tried to until I got to Stage 4 on Trial Mode Hard lol) and realized that even though I’ve played a million of them, there was still a lot to learn about him and I realized some of it while playingTrial Mode.

More after the jump…

1. Super links into Ultra in the corner
   Who knew? This was one of the Trial Mode combos and in retrospect, it makes perfect sense because the last Uppercut of the Super looks the same as an EX one. Not a very practical combo by any means (and I don’t remember how much damage it did), but I hadn’t seen it done before as far as I know. This is useful because of the second item on this list:
2. D+HP links into Super
   The Trial Mode combo was Jump in HP, D+HP, Super and I tried to cancel the D+HP a few times to no avail. Then I tried linking it and it worked! Not only can you link it, but it’s really easy to do, to the point where it’s a really easy hit confirm (I’m talking 3rd Strike Ken D+MP xx Super easy).

   Again, I don’t know how practical it is, but if you could create some sort of Counterhit setup with D+HP (D+LK, D+LK, hesitate, D+HP), you would be able to link into Super and then Ultra in the corner off of one hit.

3. D+LK links into D+MP
   This one seems way more practical because you can do the Sagat Dream Crusher combo off of it (D+MP xx Low Tiger Shot xx FADC xx D+MP xx HP Tiger Uppercut xx FADC -> Ultra). If you have gdlk execution then one D+LK leads to huge damage. If you don’t, well now you have something to work toward!
4. Close LP links into standing HK
   Not sure how useful it is, but still good to know.
5. You can EX Focus Attack in a combo and it’ll crumple
   Excuse my ignorance of Focus Attacks in combos, but I haven’t seen it used in a match like this. I’m not even sure it’s a good idea, very practical, or a good use of meter, but this post is about things I didn’t know, not useful Sagat things I didn’t know.

   In Hard Trial Mode stage 4, you have to do D+MK xx Low Tiger Shot xx EX Focus Attack, D+MP xx Tiger Knee. I thought I was supposed to FADC the Tiger Shot, but you actually have to hold it long enough to make them crumple. It took me a long time before I gave up and looked up a video on YouTube that showed how it was supposed to look. Then I had to look at a post on SRK for tips on how to make the Focus Attack crumple. I landed it a few times, but it’s still hard. Not sure if or why it would be useful, but all game knowledge is good game knowledge when you’re trying to learn a new character.

The moral of the story (aside from me being a Sagat noob) is that spending a little time in Trial Mode can help your overall game knowledge for characters you’re either struggling against or trying to learn. What have you discovered in Trial Mode recently?

Note: If you are not a beginner, ignore this post, this is not for you. 

Lately I’ve been working with several people who are very new to SF4. One of the biggest issues I’ve found is that they don’t think of the game the same way as veteran players do due to their inexperience. In order to help bring those of you who may be in that category up to speed, I have created a list of questions to ask yourself while you’re playing, pretty much before you do any move on offense or on defense.

Offense

• If this move hits, what will I do after?
• If this move misses, what kind of damage will I take (or where will it leave me on the screen)?
• How can this move be evaded?
• If this move blocks, what can they punish with?  Did they punish it last time or is this the first time I’ve shown it to them?

Defense

• What move are they most likely to throw out right now (taking into consideration their lifebar, the range you are at, the character they’re playing, etc.)?
• What move, if any, can I punish with if I block?
• What are they most likely to follow up with if this move hits me?
• What are they most likely to follow up with afterwards?
• Is it better to block or try to counter?

Wakeup

• What is the risk of blocking?
• What is the risk of doing a wakeup move (such as Shoryuken, Flash Kick, etc.)?
• Did they attack me last time?
• How likely are they to throw?

Hope this helps some of you beginners out there.

I got asked a question recently about what I consider to be “good practice.” Earlier tonight I was playing Ryu in Championship mode and played a Blanka in one of the rounds. I’m trying to learn Ryu to complement Balrog and counterpick certain bad matchups that Balrog has. I was in the corner with my back to the wall and blocked Blanka’s Ultra. I held Up Forward as I blocked so that I would jump as soon as the block stun was over and then cross him up with MK. The only problem was, I didn’t know what to follow up with because:

1. I wasn’t paying attention to my meter because I’m still a Ryu noob
2. I didn’t know if a combo existed that would allow me to end it with an Ultra in the corner

What ended up happening was that I did something to the effect of D+MK xx Fireball and probably ended up losing the match. But afterward, I still wanted to know if I could end the combo with an Ultra so I went into Training Mode to find out. This was the hourlong process:

1. In Training Mode, I set the Action option to Record and then did an Ultra with Blanka.  Then I changed Action back to Playback and then got ready to try out a combo with Ryu.
2. I blocked the Ultra and then started holding Up Forward when Blanka was on the second half of the Ultra (when he’s rolling toward you) so that Ryu would jump as soon as the auto-block finished.  I crossed up with MK and then tried to do D+LK, D+LP, D+LP, D+MK xx EX Fireball -> Ultra.  I tried it a bunch of times and couldn’t get the D+MK to connect.
3. I decided to try it without the D+LK and was then able to get the D+MK to connect.  Unfortunately it was still hard for me to connect the D+MK reliably even after several minutes of trying.  I then decided to look at the Frame Data. I saw that both D+LK and D+LP had the same Start-Up and Hit Stun so I knew that in addition to it being easier to do two D+LPs, it wasn’t making anything more difficult.  Using D+MK, however, was making things more difficult.
4. I looked at the Frame Data for D+MP and saw that it actually starts up in four frames as opposed to D+MK which starts up in five.  One frame may not sound like a lot, but when you think about it, that’s a 25% increase which means that doing D+MK instead of D+MP after two D+LPs is actually harder because you have to be 25% faster.
5. Once I knew that I had a solid cross-up combo on Blanka I worked on getting the EX Fireball attached to the end of the combo.  (It might sound silly to you that I had to figure all of this stuff out but I’m not a Ryu player so combos and I don’t have a lot of really situation-specific knowledge with him such as this Blanka Ultra situation.)  I spent at least 15-2o minutes working on getting the combo down to a rhythm where I wasn’t actually registering the button presses in my head.  I don’t know about you guys, but generally I say the combo in my head as I’m doing it, as weird as that might sound.  But I actually got this combo to the point where I didn’t have to do that anymore, it was just a reflex, similar to playing a short guitar riff.
6. The last step was to just Ultra afterwards which worked.  Whee!

But then after that I wondered what I would do if I was in the middle of the screen or too far away from the corner to just tack on the Ultra at the end.  The obvious choice was to do the same combo with the EX Fireball ender but to Focus Attack Dash Cancel (FADC) into Ultra.  The only catch is (aside from requiring my to step up my execution) that it takes three EX Meters to do so instead of the one you would need if you were closer to the corner.  Here was the process:

1. I started out with the same combo (D+LP, D+LP, D+MP XX EX Fireball) and then hit Focus after.  It took a few tries but then I was able to do it every time.
2. Then I just tried to get the dash in after the Focus by holding MP+MK, dashing, then releasing the buttons.
3. Once I was able to do those additions to the combo, I tacked the Ultra on to the end.  That took a while (maybe between five and ten minutes).
4. After I could get that down most of the time, then I added the crossover jumping MK at the beginning and the whole thing came together

After I felt comfortable with the combo, I went back into Championship Mode and of course my first match is against Blanka.  I tried to do the combo every opening I got.  Before I would always try to do D+MK because it felt more natural but now that I knew I was making my life 25% easier because of the difference in Start-Up, I was landing it a lot more!  Unfortunately, when I finally got the opportunity to do the combo, I messed it up, so that just goes to show that Training Mode is no substitute for a real match.  But now it’s only a matter of time before I’ve had to do it enough times when it counts that I can hit it every time.  Overall, I feel like it was a productive session.

This is part one of an ongoing series that will last as long as I have ideas for it called Understanding Why You Lost.  I’m going to write about reasons why players including myself lose and what we can do about it.  Enjoy!

Part of becoming a better player is understanding why you lost so you can learn from your mistakes.  If you don’t take the time after every lost to really think about why you lost, you’re doomed to continue repeating the same mistakes, probably against the same player, for much longer than you really need to.  Plus, learning from your mistakes will force the other player to change their game, which will force you to repeat the process and come up with another idea, and so on and so on…Here is a short list of reasons you may have lost along with some ways to get past them after the jump…

1. You got baited
   It sure looked as though you could jump over that Fireball safely and combo them, but then you got a Shoryuken to the face.  If this is the case, learn exactly what went wrong.  Did you misjudge the distance?  Did you think he was going to attack on your wakeup?  Well, now you know, so write it down and don’t make the same mistake again!
2. There is an information gap
   This is usually an easy one to fix.  Maybe you didn’t know that Ryu’s LP Shoryuken will trade with a Blanka Ball, but his FP Shoryuken will beat it clean.  That’s okay, now you know!  Or maybe you don’t know what to do about Vega’s Wall Dive; that’s okay too.  Chances are someone you play with regularly knows and if not, for sure someone in your character’s thread or sub-forum on SRK knows.  All you probably have to do is ask and someone will probably know and tell you.
3. You have bad execution
   Having bad execution is sometimes hard to realize.  It’s easy to blame moves not coming out on the controls, but if it’s happening more than every once in a while, chances are your execution could use some work.  If your moves outside a combo aren’t coming out the way you want them to 99.9% of the time, you have bad execution and need to put in the time in training mode until you’re there.
4. You don’t know the match
   This one can definitely take a lot more time to fix.  In your area, there are probably several players that use the same character, a couple that use everyone else and one or two that use a few obscure characters, depending on how large your local community is.  Chances are, though, there are at least a few characters of the cast of any game you’re playing that nobody uses as their main, or at least competently.  Because of this, if any of you guys run into a player that is even halfway decent with one of these locally unplayed characters, you could easily have some serious problems beating him.

   The only thing you can really do is to take inventory and really see what characters are underrepresented and then either:

   • Make an effort to watch videos of that character versus your main character
   • Learn that character yourself so that you will at least have a firsthand understanding of how he works
   • Convince someone else to learn that character so that you won’t have to, but you’ll all benefit
5. Time ran out
   Time running out can definitely be a frustrating way to lose.  But you really have to look at whose “at fault” here.  Did you turtle really hard for most of the match and then make one mistake that your opponent capitalized and then he ran away and turtled?  Did the other guy turtle really hard and by the time you got your opportunity, you didn’t have enough time to do enough damage to get the life lead?  Either way, get to the bottom of it and make it a point to correct it next time.

   A pretty good example of this is a match I had with Mike Ross a few months back.  He was using E. Honda and I was using Balrog.  I won the first round by turtling and staying patient.  At the start of the second round, he decided to sit there and not move or press any buttons.  After walking back and forth for a little bit, I decided to do the same.  So we sat there for the ENTIRE round, up until about 93 seconds had passed, at which point I started walking backwards since I knew that he could chip me with a Headbutt unless I was able to dodge it.  Lucky for me he waited until I was already far enough away so that I would see the Headbutt coming and have enough time to do a Jump Back FP right before timeout.

   In this case, Mike was “at fault” so to speak because he was the one who had to make a move first since he was down one round already and if the round ended in a draw, he would have lost the game because Street Fighter 4 gives both players a round and so I would have won since I was already up a round.  Since then, Mike has never turtled against me again and changed his game and now he’s beaten me the last few times we’ve played in tournament.

Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon…

With 2008 coming to a close, what blog would be complete without a post talking about 2009?  Therefore, I’ve created this list half-jokingly to hopefully spark a little interest in really stepping up your game in 2009.  Getting good at Street Fighter 4 in 2009 should benefit you for years because as we all know, Capcom is bound to at least make SF4: Champion Edition and SF4: Hyper Fighting and you know you’re going to be playing all of them!

So here we go:

1. Quit whiffing throws
   This is probably the number one thing most players can do to improve in Street Fighter 4.  Even though whiffing throws doesn’t usually lead to death as it does in 3rd Strike, characters like Balrog can still do a huge chunk of damage for whiffing throws if you’re not careful.  Instead, learn to Option Select Throw, which means to input LK + LP while blocking.  If they throw, you’ll tech, if they don’t throw, you get a jab.  Either way, you’re not going to get whiff, so you’ll save yourself a lot of life over the course of 2009.
2. Learn an alternate character
   Simply put, learning an alternate character will not only help you understand the matchup between your main and your alternate better, it will give you a semi-secret weapon to use in a tournament to catch someone by surprise and steal a win or two.  Or you can use your alternate character to counter-pick someone else, such as using Vega against Sagat or Dhalsim against Balrog.
3. Do your part to strengthen your local community
   What good is being the best at Street Fighter 4 if you’re sitting at home by yourself in training mode?  Get out there and help run tournaments, make friends with more people, become better friends with the guys you already play with.  By strengthening the community, more people will be playing more frequently which will make everyone level up.
4. Start double-tapping
   This might be a new one for most people.  For those not familiar, double-tapping is where you hit buttons twice very quickly instead of once.  This doubles your chances of the game accepting the input, as well as makes timing links and chains easier.  The most common way of doing this is to do a scraping motion with your index and middle finger, then scrape so that your middle finger is a split second ahead of your index finger.
5. Start taking notes
   I’m pretty positive that doing this has been one of the best improvements I’ve made to my game in a long time.  I feel like I was able to learn the game a lot easier because I wrote down moves I had trouble with, outcomes of situations I hadn’t seen before and what worked/didn’t work against difficult opponents.  I started off using a small $.99 pocket-sized notepad, but now I use my iPod Touch because it’s easier to find stuff.  Whatever works for you, just try it out!
6. Break bad habits
   This ties into the whole “not whiffing throws” thing.  You should recognize your bad habits by analyzing why you are losing.  Are you doing wakeup uppercuts too much?  Whiffing throws?  Jumping in and getting anti-aired?  Make it a point to go a whole round without doing one of your bad habits and see how your game changes, even if you lose.
7. Improve your weaknesses
   Analyze your game and see what your tendencies are.  Maybe you primarily play rushdown style or you’re content to turtle out most matches.  Make a real effort to learn how to play the opposite style.  You never know when you’ll benefit in an important match by being a more versatile player.
8. Stop taking it so seriously/Start taking it more seriously
   Remember, it’s just Street Fighter!  Or, consider that it’s NOT just Street Fighter.  Many players could benefit from taking it less seriously (myself included) because after all, it’s just Street Fighter and it’s supposed to be fun.  No sense getting all worked up over nothing.

   On the other hand, there are also those who could probably benefit from taking it more seriously.  If you’re going to spend several nights a week playing Street Fighter and you’re not seeing gradual improvement, maybe you need to think about what you want to get out of this.  If you’re just playing for fun, that’s cool and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But if you are really trying to get better, maybe you need to start putting in a little extra effort by starting to take notes, watching more videos or analyzing your play by recording your own matches.

9. Create written goals for yourself
   This ties in with taking notes on your game.  Since you already have a notebook that you’re writing in regularly, you might as well write down some goals to keep yourself focused.  If you’re serious enough to take notes, you are serious enough to set written goals.

   I set a goal for myself this year that I would go to Japan for SBO and that I would win one match while I was there and I did it.  I also set a goal to get 1,000 listeners for The Street Fighter podcast and now even if it takes a few weeks, most episodes get over 1,000 plays.

10. Put in more hours
    Maybe you’ve been inches away from getting Top 8 at your local tournament and if you just put a little bit more time and effort into it, you’d be able to do it every time.  Set aside a little extra time and see if you were really that close all along.  Maybe it only takes one more session a week to get that breakthrough.

Phew!  Well there you have it.  There are some potential resolutions for levelling up in Street Fighter 4.  Good luck and Happy New Year!

Both of today’s tweaks have to do with throwing.  They apply both to 3s and Street Fighter 4 so all of you guys should be able to benefit from this.

1. Teching throws while crouching
   I see a lot of Street Fighter 4 players whiffing throws when trying to tech.  Luckily for them, the penalty for whiffing throws in this game is not very high.  In 3rd Strike, it’s very easy to lose half of your life or more whiffing a throw if you’re playing against a character like Chun Li, Urien or Yun.  So because of this, they don’t realize that it’s a big deal to whiff throws.  Sure you probably won’t get killed for it, but you can definitely get hit by a lot of damage.For example, if you whiff a throw against Balrog, he can D + MP xx MP Dash Straight xx Super.  Ryu could D + MK xx EX Fireball XX Ultra in the corner.  Ken can D + MK xx Fireball XX Super.  These are just a few examples of some majorly damaging combos that you could be setting yourself up for if you’re not careful with your throws.

   There is a solution though.  Instead of standing up to press LP + LK to throw, you can actually press LP + LK while holding Down-Back.  This is called an option select throw because what your character does is dependent on what your opponent did.  Timed properly, here are the possible outcomes for an option select throw:

   • If they try and throw, you’ll tech and get out of it
   • If they don’t try and throw, you’ll get a low jab

   If you can make this a habit and stop whiffing throws, you will be decreasing the damage you take over the longrun which will lead to you winning more games simply because you had more life.

2. Using one finger to throw and tech throws
   This is something I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of people do aside from myself and I think it’s paid off so far.  I throw and tech throws a little different from other people in that I only use one finger to press LP + LK.  Other players use their index and middle fingers, but I cross my index finger over my middle finger, raise my ring finger and pinky so that they don’t hit the other buttons and then use only my middle figner to throw and tech.  I believe this is why a lot of players over the years have complained that they are teching my throws but for some reason it’s not working.

   I believe that when you throw with two fingers like most people, not only is there more room for error, but you aren’t pressing the buttons together as fast a I am, therefore my throw comes out first.  The difference is a fraction of a second, but I believe it makes a difference.  This is all 100% speculation on my part, but it makes sense to me.  If you try my way of teching throws, see if you notice a difference in the number of throws you get off as well as tech.

That’s about it for this part of the series.  As I come up with other tweaks, I will be writing more articles in the future, so stay tuned for those.  Until then, try making these small changes and you’ll see that it makes a difference.  Just keep in mind that although the advantages gained are small in short run, over the long haul these tweaks will make you a stronger player overall.

Click here to check it out.

When most players are trying to get better, they often ask other players what they think they need to improve on.  It seems as though most of these players are trying to figure out if there’s a combo they’re not doing, a move they don’t know how to counter properly, or something really specific that they aren’t aware of yet.  The problem is, it’s just usually not that simple.  There are lots of little things that go into your game that if done properly, add up to more wins in the longrun.  It is these small tweaks to your game that are often overlooked that can provide that extra oomph you need sometimes in a close match.

Here are some examples of little things can do:

1. Double-tap your buttons as much as possible
   In 3rd Strike, almost all of the players with the best execution double-tapped their buttons.  This made it easier to do links, as well as pretty much all combos and pokes.  The reason for double-tapping is simple.  Hitting the button twice in quick succession gives you twice the chance for your link or combo to connect.For those of you who haven’t seen this done in person, scrape your index and middle fingers on your desk/leg/table/whatever in a forward to backward motion.  The same motion you’d use if you were at a Blackjack table.  Now when you scrape your fingers, do it so that the middle finger is ahead of your index finger.  You should now be hitting the buttons in quick succession with your middle finger hitting the button a fraction of a second before your index finger.

   In Street Fighter 4, I almost always try to double tap all of my links and block strings.  The only time I don’t is when I’m doing three jabs in quick succession.  This means that I have a higher percentage of hitting my links and combos which means I have a higher percentage of winning.  Let’s say that you were 90% accurate on your combos, but once you started double-tapping, you were now 95% accurate.  Over the course of 20 games, that extra 5% would get you one extra win, in theory.  Of course, in the real world it may end up taking longer or shorter for your extra accuracy to win you a game, but you get the idea.

2. Building the maximum amount of meter possible
   As I got better in 3rd Strike, I started to notice little opportunities for building more meter than I normally would.  Playing a character like Urien, where his entire game is based on him having meter, I started to make sure that I was using each opening to build as much meter as possible.  For example, if you knock someone down in the corner and they don’t roll, how many standing strongs and fierces can you get out before they get up and which one or both builds the most meter?Another situation is after you hit them with D + FP –> Tackle.  Do you just dash across the screen?  Do you do one dash and then a charge partitioned Headbutt?  Or do you do F + MP, Headbutt (credit to Emphy) to get across the screen to be in your opponent’s face right when he gets up.  The last option builds the most meter and that extra meter that you get every time you’re in that situation adds up.

   How many times have you been in a situation where you wished you had just one or two more move’s worth of meter?  How would your game change if you had that meter you needed more frequently?  Once you realize how much meter you’ve been missing out on, you’ll always want to make sure you are taking advantage of each meter-building situation.

   A Street Fighter 4 example is what Balrog does after he hits his Ultra.  The Ultra hits them up so high and Balrog recovers so quickly, that you have time to get a few moves out.  I see a lot of Balrogs just walk or dash forward after hitting the Ultra, instead of thinking of how they can use these few extra seconds to build a little more meter than they otherwise would have.

   Other Balrogs will do one special move to close the distance such as FK Dash Upper.  This builds 20 points of EX meter according to the frame data.  The Turnaround Punch, however, builds 30 points.  This is an increase of 50%.  Credit to Ronstoppable for bringing that to my attention.  The beauty of it is that against a lot of characters, you can do two Turnaround Punches and then a meaty jab Dash Straight.  This is 100 points of EX meter total (30 Turnaround Punch + 30 Turnaround Punch + 40 Blocked Dash Straight), or an increase of 300%.  That’s a huge increase when you think about the total number of games that you’ll win because of the extra meter you built.

Stay tuned for part two of this series coming out on Sunday.  In the meantime, think about this next time you’re playing and see if you can get in the habit of making these small tweaks to your game and coming up with more.

When I was a wee nooblet, 3rd Strike Dudley legend Vic Vance aka Victoly and I would go to Super Arcade and play for an hour or two a few times a week between our classes at Cal Poly Pomona. Even though I was terrible back then and Vic was an established pro, it helped me learn the Dudley vs. Urien matchup because I was forced to get good at it, or be forced to keep losing 20 in a row and hope that Vic didn’t start thinking that he was wasting his time playing me.

Because of the time I put into this two to three years ago, I can say that I am more confident in this match than any other match in the game and it has helped me in my 3rd Strike journey more times than I can count because there are so many solid Dudley players out there that I am able to beat because I trained with the best. It especially helped me when it counted most, which was SBO 2008 in Japan.

My team of Justin Wong and KOfiend had to play a Dudley/Twelve/Chun Li team and when we were coming up with our team order for that particular matchup, in my opinion, it helped a lot that I was so confident in my Dudley/Urien knowledge because it helped to determine our team order. Because I know the match so well, I wanted to make sure that I gave myself the best chance to win for my team by playing against the character I know best. That meant that KOfiend should go up first to see who they put first because Justin was most confident against Chun and I was most confident against Dudley. If I were to go first and they put up Twelve or Chun first, I might have lost because I don’t know the match as well.

What ended up happening is that KOfiend went up first and they ended up putting their Dudley player first. KOfiend won that match, then lost to their Twelve player who I subsequently beat. Had KOfiend lost, though, then I would have gone up against their Dudley player as planned.

Who knows whether I would have won or lost and obviously I’m thrilled with the way things worked out, but I believe that knowing the Dudley/Urien match helped a lot in deciding our team order, which is crucial in any team tournament.

I would write down new situations that I saw and situations where I didn’t know which move would win in a given situation. It helped me a lot to realize just how many new situations I was seeing and that I needed to do a better job of remembering them so I could either use them myself or know what to do if I was in that situation. I thought it might be useful to share some of the things I try to keep track of.

How many seconds a player can go without doing a risky move

This usually applies to turtling. I try and count the number of seconds a player can go without either hitting a button or advancing toward me if we’re in a turtling situation where we’re just sitting there. If you know approximately how long the other player can last, you can be more prepared to counter attack. Most players can’t go more than five seconds, some can go over ten, but either way, it would be useful to know for each player if you play a defensive style.

Writing down how you lost

If you had a page for each player or character you played against, you could keep track of the reasons why you lost every match. Maybe you were jumping in at the wrong time, couldn’t beat a certain poke, got baited by a certain move, etc. Keeping track of these things will help you improve if you look at it right before you play your next match with that player or character.

Writing down the outcome of situations

Oftentimes during a session, you’ll see dozens of situations in the game or when you’re watching other people play that you haven’t seen before. Usually these outcomes are unpredictable if you haven’t seen them before, so writing these down would be good to know.

I use the Notes app on my iPod Touch to keep track now. I have a page for Balrog vs. each character and will probably end up having one for each player I play that gives me trouble so I can keep track of their tendencies. You might think that you can remember all of these things in your head, but my brain just doesn’t work like that. Try it out for a few sessions anyway to see if it doesn’t help level up your game in some way.

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.

Taking Mental Inventory

Figure out which style of player you are.  Are you more of a turtle or do you favor rushdowns.  Watch some videos of yourself if you have them or just ask a few of the guys you play with regularly if you’re not sure.  See which method has been most effective for you so far and then decide to learn the opposite style this week.

Use Your Second Rounds

When you go play this week, practice the style you’re going to pick up during all of your second rounds if you win the first round, no matter who you’re playing against.  This way you get to practice almost risk free because you still have your third round if you lose.  Just make sure to try and get your meter back for third round.

Work On One Tactic Per Session

Think about your character or watch a video to better understand his turtling/rushdown options.  Once you have a mental list of things you need to work on, pick one to work on during your next session.  For example, I really need to learn how to do Balrog’s Headbutt -> Ultra in Street Fighter 4 because I haven’t mastered the timing yet.  So next time I play (tomorrow), that’s what I’m going to work on during all of my second rounds.  I’m going to try to land as many Headbutts as possible as well as Focus as much as possible so that I have Ultra meter when the time comes.

What are some ways you learn new styles and habits?  Post them in the comments!

1. You will be six months behind

Here in SoCal, we’ve had Street Fighter 4 since about mid-August or so. It started with one machine at Super Arcade, but now I believe there are eight locations with SF4. With all of these locations, I believe we have a larger player base than anywhere else in the country and that means that as a whole, I believe that we will have had more collective experience against a wider variety of play styles, characters and players than any other are of the country. That means that if you are starting three months from now, you will be a full six months behind us. Of course, some players will be able to learn the game quickly, but learning the basics and placing high in tournaments are two different things, which brings me to my next point.

2. Experience is key

Just like in all fighting games, experience is a huge factor in whether you are winning or losing. The fact is, those of us with six months of experience will be crushing those of you that are barely getting started in February, because this is a totally new game. That may change later on down the line, but I’m pretty positive that when Evo comes around, Top 8 will consist only of players who have been playing months before the console release.

While new players will still be learning the basics of Focus Attacks, those of us that have been playing for months will probably have already perfected Focus Attack Back Dashes, Kara Focus Dashes, etc.

3. You will be playing matchups you might have never played before

This part is mostly geared toward 3rd Strike players, but it may apply to Marvel players as well, not to mention players of 3D fighters such as Tekken or Soul Calibur. In addition to the four completely new characters, Gouken and Seth, you will probably be playing a whole slew of matchups you’ve never played before. A lot of you guys, myself included, have never played most of these matchups before, such as Balrog vs Dhalsim, Ryu vs. Guile, anybody vs. Zangief, anybody vs. El Fuerte etc.

These matchups take a lot of experience that can’t be learned overnight. The sooner you get started, the less your chances of getting peaced out at Evo by a play style you’ve never seen before.

4. There will be even more characters to learn

In addition to there being an entirely new combo engine, Focus Attacks and the Revenge Meter, there will also be eight new characters added to the roster when the game is released on console. These new characters will add even more depth to the game, which will be a challenge for those of us already playing. For us, we’ll have to learn how to play against eight new characters, but you guys will have to learn 24 (well maybe not quite, depending on how crappy Dan is ). That means 3x the effort and 3x the matchups.

5. You will have missed out on six months of tournament experience

Playing a new game in a tournament can be surprisingly difficult. When you’re playing a game you have years of experience with (such as 3s, CVS2, Marvel, etc.,) you already know every option in every possible situation. But when you’re still learning the game, you’re probably going to do pretty bad in tournaments for a long time because not only do you not know all of the situations, you’re not 100% comfortable playing with your character because you simply haven’t put the hours in.

I remember the first three or four SF4 tournaments I played in, even if I did well, I felt like I got lucky and was still mashing out uppercuts and combos, even though I was playing fine in casuals. I’m sure glad that I got most of the tournament jitters out of my system now before Evo comes around and it really counts.

I believe it is possible for early tournament results to dictate lots of future results because of players’ expectations. For example, a mid-level 3rd Strike player who gets a lot of early SF4 experience now, could easily reap the benefits for years because they did well in early SF4 tourneys. Let’s say that you never managed to consistently get top 8 in 3rd Strike, but now you are always getting top 8 because you jumped onboard SF4 early. Now you expect to get top 8 which will propel you to work harder to maintain your new top 8 status which will help you for as long as you’re playing SF4 and all future revisions.

Hopefully this inspires some of you guys who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for SF4 to come out on console to get started putting in the time and effort that this game requires! What do you guys think?

I wrote this guide for 3rd Strike players such as myself who are trying to learn Street Fighter 4. It wasn’t easy for me (nor was it cheap!), but it was worth the time, effort, frustration and money that I put in. I’m hoping that this guide will help ease the transition and make it quicker, easier and cheaper for you.  It also serves as a good introduction for all new Street Fighter 4 players.

This book is 100% free. All I’m asking is for you to please sign up for my mailing list to download it. After you sign up, you will receive an email with the link to download it.
If you’re feeling generous, please consider making a donation if you find this guide useful. Your generosity fuels future podcasts, videos, guides and innovation!

Please feel free to send this e-book to anybody you think might benefit from it (or print out copies to give to your friends!). But please do not re-publish this anywhere because I would like to keep it on this web site. Enjoy! -gootecks *AT* gootecks *DOT*COM*

0:28 – Ryu does an effective counter against Akuma’s charged FA. A simple jump-in MK or HK xx Shoryuken does the trick.

0:37 – After blocking a string of attacks, Akuma does a FA to get some breathing room. Ryu does his own FA on instinct but Akuma jumps in and combos him during the missed animation.

0:41 – Ryu anti-airs Akuma with jumping LK and then they both land next to each other. Both have the same options: block, attack with Shoryuken, throw, or jump away.

Blocking
Blocking is the safest option at this point because probably the worst case scenario is that you’ll eat a throw. The best case scenario is that the other guy does Shoryuken and doesn’t have enough meter to Focus Attack Dash Cancel (FADC). If that happens, congratulations, you get a free combo. 1 win, 1 loss.

Attack with Shoryuken
Ryu and Akuma’s best attack at this point is a Shoryuken or EX Shoryuken. Best case scenario is that the uppercut hits because they didn’t block and you FADC into more damage. The worst case scenario is that you have no meter and can’t FADC. Then you eat a big combo. The alternate scenario is that they jump away or throw and your Shoryuken hits them. 2 wins, 1 loss.

Throw
Throwing is one of the weaker options in this situation. If they Shoryuken, you get hit, if they jump away, you whiff, if they throw, you tech and if they just sit there and block and don’t try to tech, you win. 1 loss, 2 neutrals and 1 win.

Jump Away
Jumping away is a deceivingly good defensive option. It only loses to one situation, the Shoryuken. If they block, you get away, if they Shoryuken, you get hit, if they throw, you get away and if they jump away, you get away. 3 neutrals, 1 loss.

Play It Safe or Go For It?
This is where it gets really interesting. Which option is the best one? Yes, we know that attacking with Shoryuken is the best offensive option and that jumping away is the best defensive option, but which is right for this situation?

The answer is that it all depends. It can depend many things such as whether the players know all of the situations, whether they are thinking about what their opponent is thinking and whether they take a player’s past tendencies into consideration when making the decision.

Some players don’t care about what their opponent is going to do and are instead going to do whatever has the best chance of dealing the most damage. Other players prefer to play it safe and go with the safest option that has the least chance of them getting hit by a huge combo.

What to do in this situation also depends largely on how far along the match is. In this case, Ryu is up one round and is even in life with Akuma. If he goes for the most damaging option and it hits, Akuma will die because Ryu has enough Revenge Meter to use his Ultra. If he plays it safe and jumps away, Akuma is let off the hook and they are almost even in life, but Akuma gets a chance to regroup.

The best time to take chances and go for it is when you are up one round so the choice is obvious. There is almost no downside to taking this chance because even if Akuma blocks the uppercut, Ryu can FADC and is safe. The only cost is the super meter which is almost inconsequential because he didn’t have a full meter stocked, his super does relatively small damage and he has another round to build it back up anyway.

Ryu decides to go for the best offensive option which is to FADC Shoryuken. He keeps the offense going with D+LK, D+LP, anticipates Akuma thinking that he is going for a throw, then crosses him up with a LK, does another D+LP and THEN goes for the throw which hits this time. Great tick throw setup which leads to the win because Ryu crosses him up in the corner, but Akuma, mentally beaten, scrubs out and does a wakeup EX Shoryuken in the wrong direction.

Hope that sparks some interesting SF4 thoughts.  Please leave a comment if you agree or disagree with anything said!