Akuma

Not sure how often I’ll be doing these, but Poongko from Korea really inspired me. Here are some observations from the following video:

0:06 – Before Ryu throws Akuma into the corner, Akuma had about 80% life. Following that, Ryu gets D+LP -> D+FP xx EX Fireball xx Ultra. Holy crap! One opening that started with a jab gave Ryu the win after possibly being outplayed the whole game. It looks like the opening came because Akuma held his Focus Attack for too long and then cancelled it. Had he released it properly to counter Ryu’s jump-in, I think it would have still lost to the jab because the Focus Attack can only absorb one hit.

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!

Tagged as: Akuma, Ryu, SF4, Strategy, Videos

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