Mickey's SF4 thoughts

Reversal options

2011-03-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Reversals on a scale of 1 – 5 based on damage, invincibility and how safe it is:

· 5: Ryu, Seth, Sagat, Cammy, Rufus, Fei Long, Evil ryu…invincible, safe and damage potential

· 4: Honda, Akuma, Ken, Bison, Balrog, T.Hawk, Adon, Viper… safe and good damage potential

· 3: Ibuki, Gen, Dan, Dee Jay, Guy, Blanka, Dudley, Yun…less safety than above character’s

· 2: Sakura, Juri, Chun, Dhalsim, Abel, Cody, Guile, Rose…unsafe and little gain if successful

· 1: Makoto, Gouken, Hakan, Yang, Fuerte, Vega…very weak options

Back in business! Super SF4 Matchups

2010-08-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, I figured that I would revive this blog and start writing SF thoughts here. First up on the agenda are my match up charts. There are tons of matchups to learn and I figured that I would try to record my current experience with matchups in regards to "comfort." There are matches where I'm extremely comfortable in, match ups where I just have no idea what to do, matches I'm still learning...the bar of comfort can vary greatly. Here's what my current chart looks like:

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- Extremely comfortable...I'm gonna win =P. Unless I did something overly stupid or you showed me something I've never seen before, I'm not losing: Rose, Cody, Dudley, Blanka, Makoto, Sakura, Zangief (7)

- Comfortable but still learning...You might get me even when I'm on point, but you're going to have to be pretty good to get me because I'm pretty comfortable with these match ups: Dhalsim, Balrog, Honda, Chun Li, Ibuki, Juri, Ken, Seth, Vega, Ryu (10)

- Not exactly where I want to be yet...I've built good match up analysis but I need more exposure to figure out what I need to do to win against this set: Abel, Akuma, Cammy, Fei Long, Guile, Bison, Rufus, Sagat, Adon (9)

- Uncomfortable and ignorant...If you're even slightly decent with them you might get me because I haven't built a very strong game plan yet: Fuerte, Dee Jay, Gouken, Guy, T.Hawk (5)

- Undecided...I haven't fought these guys enough to make a strong game plan: Viper, Dan, Gen, Hakan, Sakura (5)

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The "not exactly where I want to be yet" is the most interesting category to me as I feel as if I'm having a hard time learning these matchups because of how good they are (high on tier list to my standard)...Akuma being the only exception.

Hopefully I can come back to this in the future and write how I feel then.

Officially moved to seattleversus.com

2009-11-05T02:03:00.001-08:00

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for not keeping up to date with this blog. I've been currently working a lot on my website (geared towards fighting games) a lot lately. I've been writing all my strategy articles over there at www.seattleversus.com

I just wrote a large article recently concerning tournament mentality. It goes in depth about how composure and confidence can affect how you perform in a tournament setting compared to just playing casually with friends. I'd definitely encourage people to check it out if they get the time! Just head over to the site and click on the "strategy" category on the navigation bar.

I've got a lot of plans to come out with other tutorial videos and other strategy articles as well. Currently I'm working on a "plinking" tutorial that I'll be coming out with next week. I'll also be posting up my Ryu video tutorials over there as well as an Option Select tutorial as well.

But anyways, if your trying to keep up with me, head over to www.seattleversus.com!

- Mickey D'

Anti Airs in depth

2009-10-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

In my last post I made it a pretty big impression that I wanted to learn how to anti air better. While playing today, a thought finally dawned on me on how I can exactly strengthen my anti air game. I realized that there were specific times that my opponent was jumping in on me. I even mentioned this in the post yesterday...I seem to have troubles anti air'ing after throwing a fireball and also during poking battles (using c.mk's and hadou's from closer ranges). Basically I'm finding it hard to control the air AND ground both at the same time. I started looking at anti air's a bit more in depth, and here's what I came up with...

There are 3 different types of anti airs when using Ryu. I'm not talking about different anti air types as far as HOW you can anti air, but instead I'm talking about situations WHEN you anti air...there are 3 of them:

- Idle anti air: this is the easiest to hit as your just waiting for your opponent to jump in on you. Not only are you waiting for the jump, but your expecting the jump, so your looking for the anti air and are prepared to bust it out when you need to. In this situation, no pokes are being thrown out or anything (thus being idle). There are no distractions from the anti air...basically during t

hese "idle anti airs" your ONLY focusing on air control...not on ground control.

- Blocking anti air: This situation is kinda strange...it happens when your opponent has momentum over you, putting you in a defensive mindset. The problem is that the opponent feeds off of this, sees that your clamming up, then BAM jump in city. For me

personally, I find myself walking back (to distance myself from my opponent) and getting jumped in on...in turn giving them free momentum, putting me in a sticky position. It's hard to go from the motion of back (block), to forward (for the shoryuken motion) in time to catch the opponent's jump in. All this is still a tough situation to anti air your opponent, and it's something key to work at in order to have a great all around anti air game.

- Ground game anti air: This situation is MUCH different then an idle anti air or a blocking anti air. In this situation, Ryu's using attacks like c.mk's and fireballs in order to compete with ground zoning. This makes anti air'ing VERY difficult as it's hard to focus on both air AND ground control. A lot of times, I find myself sticking out a c.mk, and BAM my opponent is soaring in the air coming at me with a jumping attack. Now in about 9 times out of 10, I'm ALWAYS able to block, however the point is that I've given my opponent an opening and free momentum that he really didn't earn. Secondarily there's a saying that I try to live by which is "If you could block a jump in, you could have anti air'ed it." All in all, the point of the matter is that I'm giving away an opening when I could have stopped it...and had I better anti air skill, I'd be able to stop this situation from happening.

I would say that against a good player anti air situations look a bit like this: Idle anti airs = 10%, blocking anti airs = 20%, Ground game anti airs = 70%. The key to succesfully anti airing while playing the ground game, is to ALWAYS be on the look out for jump in's PERIOD. Don't limit yourself to only look for jump in's during idle stances. Instead realize the possibility that the opponent could jump in during the footsy/spacing battle, or while they're applying pressure. Hopefully this shines a bit of light on the different types of anti airs, and hopefully I can start strengthen'ing my anti air game after realizing all of this!

- Mickey D'

More things to work on...

2009-09-30T17:10:00.001-07:00

I went to a tournament over the weekend and was a bit disappointed with my placement. I placed 5th out of the 21 participants. I've been playing a whole lot, and I wanted to use the tournament as a test to my hard work and practice. I was having an off day to say the least. I was really sick and battling head aches and breathing issues all day. I also played on my lap where I was sitting on a goofy chair that kinda angles downwards...angling my STICK downwards. Basically sitting in a weird position made inputs weird on my stick...additionally starting in the losers bracket didn't help to much either. All excuses aside I managed to take 5th place, losing to Cole my first match (hence why I say started in losers bracket) then to Bokkin later in the tournament.

When the videos came out, I was able to witness how I played, and I must say I was pretty disappointed. Missed combo's, terrible zoning, uncalculated decisions....I was just off my game and I look like an amateur to say the least. After witnessing the monstrosity that I call my play style, I could see I clearly needed more work. So with that, here's the list of things I'd like to start working on and start using more often:

- Throw hadouken's in 2 instances...outside of jump in range OR during footsie situations.

- Use ex hadouken a bit more often in order to reset momentum.

- Anti air, anti air ANTI AIR (See picture for when to anti air)!!!!! Use s.hp anti air more often in conjunction with shoryu's. Most importantly shoryuken's OUT of c.mk pokes! This is pretty crucial...I find myself 9 times out of 10 getting jumped in on during a footsie battle (c.mk's or hadou's). By uppercutt'ing out of c.mk's and hadou's, I'll tighten up anti air'ing quite a bit.

- Stop jumping in the CORNER! Quit thinking your going to get some fancy crossup! Keep your opponent in the corner and PLAY SMART! Why would you intentionally put yourself in the corner if it wasn't an amazing mixup?! Play smart and stop throwing away great positioning!

- Counter jab and throw attempts with ex tatsu. This is something new, but I want to start delving into getting counter hits off of ex tatsu's.

Aright...lets get to work

- Mickey D'

"That was very calculated!"

2009-09-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

The ability to play "calculated" is something that takes a LOT of time to get a good grasp on. I see a lot of players lose to brash decisions that weren't calculated out. So many players play without thought, and instead of thinking, they just do things unknowingly without calculation or thought put into their attacks. I personally believe that playing "calculated" means...just playing smart. It's not like you have to know every counter in the book to play smart. All in all, playing calculated at it's core, is the ability to analyze the risk/reward aspect of situations. It can be as simple as "should I throw a fireball right now, or not." I've heard from so many players that they're "always getting jumped in on" when they throw fireballs. This is a result of not throwing fireballs smart. The player didn't calculate the risks of throwing the fireball, and they OBVIOUSLY didn't calculate the rewards of throwing the fireball either. By understanding the risk/reward factor, you play knowing all the possibilities of what your opponent has as well as what YOU have.

Here's a quick situation/example: Say that your up one round against a Sagat. Both health bars are on their last legs and can only withstand one hit. Sagat is throwing tiger shots from a distance keeping you on the other side of the screen. Eventually you manage to get a tiny bit of distance covered, and you can see that if you jump in you'll be able to reach a hit. While this thought occurs, Sagat continues throwing his shots, trying to push you back and make you eat some chip damage. With you being up one round, the possibility to land ONE hit to win the entire match is something to be appreciated with much value. Basically, if Sagat throws another shot, you can make one simple jump, and end the match making you the victor. At the same time, if Sagat thinks your going to jump, he's going to be ready for the anti air, making HIM the victor. So what to do?

By quickly analyzing the situation at hand, you begin understanding the risk to reward factor that comes with the given situation. What can you gain? What will you lose? If the gain is higher then the loss, then 9 times out of 10 I would say that it's worth it to go for the riskier option. In the situation above, I personally would play risky if I felt as if the Sagat didn't respect my option to win with one jump. I'm up one round, if I get the jump in attack, I'll win the match. And if it doesn't go my way...the worst thing that happens is that I play out the next round. In a way I see it as risking the opportunity to take the win, however even if you lose, you still have another round to play out.

From an outsider looking in, many spectators would say that the jump in would be something of impatience or stupidity. However the fact of the matter is that I look at the jump as being very calculated. The player obviously thought out the risks and rewards that came with the situation, so how can the jump be considered dumb? This is what is known as playing calculated.

So if you ever find yourself attacking head on without much thought put into the actual sequence of attacks...start thinking about the risks and rewards that come with the situation. Start analyzing attacks from your opponent, as well as your own attacks...start playing with thought instead of just attacking blindly.

- Mickey D'

Training log

2009-09-15T15:00:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be participating in some major tournaments coming up, and I really want to up my game in order to do well in them. Daigo said he played 5 hours a day in order to train for Evo...Justin says he plays 8 hours a day...It's obvious that it takes dedication and time in order to be looked at as one of the best. My personal goal is to play about 2 to 3 hours a day, though I want to play more, work and real life take in priority over SF.

With practicing more, I also decided to couple it up with having a "training log" where I record everything that I've learned from matches and such. I personally only play player matches as I can actually get a complete set in with the person (rather then in championship mode where I only get 1 game). After the session with the person I write about who I played (character), how I tried to win the match, what I learned from the match itself, as well as the estimated time of the session (I want to figure out how many hours a day I can play). The goal is to be able to take something away from EVERY session. I was talking to my buddy and brought up that Daigo had trained 5 hours a day...my buddy brought up a good point. He said that though Daigo was playing for 5 hours a day, he also played great competition, and that he most likely took something from each session EVERY session.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to have this log, but I'll try to record every time I play at home. Obviously I'll take breaks, or have sessions at people's houses, but I'll still record what I learned at other "in person" sessions. It's important to consistently update the log. Without consistency, I won't put myself into the habit.

So that's primarily the goal...to get myself in the habit of trying to take something away from every match/session. By doing this, I'll be able to learn the most from my sessions even though I don't have as much time as the others. I personally suggest that if you feel that you are in a rutt or plateau, you should look into holding a training log as well, as it might help you understand how to better learn from matches.

- Mickey D'

My Ryu: Progress and New things to work on

2009-09-08T17:34:00.001-07:00

August 26th, I made a post regarding what my overall game plan was concerning Ryu. Additionally I jotted down some aspects I needed to improve on as well. With that, this is the follow up towards my progress towards those goals.

- Using c.mk, hadou, sadc, hurricane or sweep in footsie battles. I've been doing fairly well with this. My execution and hit confirming are on point, however I need to start remembering to do this in all my matches. Basically what I need to work on is doing it more often in matches.

- Use more empty jump, crouch short combo's after untechable knockdown's. I've been using this technique a lot more often. It seems very strong however when playing against mashers (on wakeup) it'll lose. At the same time, it's not as if I should throw out the tactic at all...using it can get me a free ultra setup after a throw. Great tactic, and I use it pretty often, however knowing when to use it (not against throw spammer's) is the more important part.

- Make it a goal to hit F+Hp every match. I've found that I often times forget to use this move, and still need to remind myself to use it more often. I also think that against certain opponents, this move is almost never going to be thrown out. Characters like: Gief, Vega, Fuerte, Viper...these characters seem fairly "null" as far as this move is concerned because of their mobility (or in Gief's case his options on block). All in all, I still need to remember to use this move more often.

- Start using: FA, absorb hit, Dash in. This is something that I've been using a lot more often. It's actually vital to certain matchups in my opinion, most notably Dhalsim. I've been using it a lot more often, and I think I'm okay as to the amount I use it. Knowing when to use it is vital as well obviously, and it's best used when trying to punish opponents who are trying to use high priority pokes that beat Ryu's c.mk.

- Start jumping over fireballs on REACTION instead of guessing. This has been the most vital part of my game plan as of recently. I've practically MADE it my play style, to throw fireballs, and see if my opponent reaction jumps or not. Depending on their reaction, I'll know one of 2 things...if I can abuse fireballs from up close, or if they psychic jump. Knowing these options, I also know the benefits and disadvantages to both. All in all, I think I've officially trained myself to jump over fireballs on reaction, however it IS important to sometimes psychic jump as well. I have a specific tactic, where I psychic jump, but don't throw out an aerial attack (in case they didn't throw a fireball...anti air'ing will be harder because of a smaller hit box). By doing this, I gain ground and I can POSSIBLY gain a combo...how? If they throw a fireball during my psychic jump, I simply react by pressing a button to begin an aerial attack (mostly j.hk). In this case, I'll either hit the opponent, or they block, all the while granting me momentum.

- Start using walk forward shoryu when not in distance to anti air normally. I haven't really been using this tactic mainly because I don't throw fireballs where reaction jumpers jump so my anti air will whiff. Basically, I haven't needed to use this tactic much. I'm beginning to think it's not that great essential of a tool to bring out.

Conclusion: The things I'd like to begin working on are: using f+hp more often as well as c.mk, hadou, sadc, sweep/hurricane more often. I also want to hone my fireball zoning. Understanding when an opponent is going to jump at me is vital (free ultra anyone?). Lastly, I want to build my anti-air skills. I don't want my opponents getting free jumps on me any more.

Importance of secondary characters

2009-08-30T13:56:00.001-07:00

Ever since Evo, I've realized that having a secondary character that compliments your main can be a vital asset towards bad matchups that your main character might have. I personally main Ryu, and over the course of time I've found that some of the matchups that I have trouble with are characters like: Blanka, Dhalsim, Sagat, and Viper come to mind. With that, I've decided to pick up Akuma as a secondary. I feel as if he compliments Ryu pretty well as far as specific matchups that might be a bit more difficult for Ryu. Also, Akuma's overall strategy is drastically different then Ryu's in my opinion, setting different goals for different matchups. For instance, Akuma has a lot more tools as far as gaining ground compared to Ryu, through moves like ex demon flip, ex air hadou. In matches that keep Ryu zoned out (Dhalsim and Sagat), Akuma can get in their a bit easier compared to Ryu.

All in all the benefits to having a secondary that compliments your main can be quite useful! There are a few top players who have mains to compliment their secondaries as well...Momochi, Kindevu, Justin Wong all come to mind. Reading the Singaporean SF4 blog, I was reading how Japanese players say that they like to stick to their characters through thick and thin, no matter how high they are on the tier list, they tough it out and try to main their character to the fullest. I think it's a good mentality, and it's not to say that having a secondary would be bad...but I will say that being able to understand the situation you put yourself in is important as well. Valle had a quote that I remember him saying: "If you can't beat a character that you have a disadvantage against, you're going to need to pick up a character that puts the odds at even or in your advantage." The mindset is pretty simple to understand...even if your main can't stand up to your opponent, your going to have to put the odds in your favor in some sort of way...having a secondary character is probably the best way to do so.

- Mickey

My Ryu: Gameplan and improvements

2009-08-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

There are some things in which I've personally been trying to practice on with my Ryu. After Evo I learned a whole lot regarding how to improve, and with that, I made a general gameplan towards my strengths as a player. My strength mainly resides in my opponents mistakes...or to put it simply, I punish hard for mistakes. I realized that if I can play a playstyle of punishing, I'll be able to play towards my strength and have a set goal of what I want in my match. With this play style in mind, I also came to understand that to punish, I would also need to become good at baiting my opponent into mistakes (instead of just hoping that they come to me). All in all, this post is just a quick "status update" as to what my personal game plan is with Ryu, as well as some other aspects I'm trying to work on with my Ryu.

Game Plan: During the first match, try to learn as much about your opponent as you can in order to understand how you can learn his play style. In this first match, play VERY disciplined to learn opponent's habits, patterns, and strengths and weaknesses. After being able to understand the opponent's play style, learn how to counter it, and possibly set up for baiting later in the set.

Ryu improvements:

- Start using: c.mk hadou, sadc, c.mk hurricane/c.hk during footsies to maximize damage and grab momentum from footsie range

- Use more empty jump, crouch short combo's after un'techable knockdown's.

- Make it a goal to try to hit f+hp every match. Figure out how to succesfully hit this attack to execute hard hitting combo's

- Start using "FA, absorb hit, dash in" more often against pokes or attacks with larger recovery in order to possibly get a free combo. For example: Rufus c.hp, Akuma c.hk, Bison s.hk, etc.

- Start jumping over fireballs on REACTION instead of guessing.

- Start using "walk forward, hp shoryuken" as an anti air when not in distance to normally hit the SRK. Air was doing this to me like crazy...it basically took away jumps in which I thought normally to be safe.

What you can learn from a beat down!

2009-08-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I've posted...I wanted to talk about my money match with "Air" (a really strong Ryu player) and discuss what I learned through playing him. After playing Air, I thought about why he won, and it really seemed as if his fundamentals were just plain better then mine were. I think the essential traits that make up fundamentals are: spacing/zoning, execution, momentum, adaptation, and discipline.

= Spacing and zoning is a fairly basic concept...keeping the opponent at bay through controlling space (mainly through using pokes, anti'airs and fireballs). Air made me realize that it's important to realize exactly WHAT pokes your opponent uses, in order to counter them with the proper poke for next time (adapting while spacing). Basically, it's one thing to know what your character's best pokes are, but it's another to realize what your opponent is using and adapt to his pokes with a more high priority poke. Air also showed me that it's VERY important to know your distances to a T, and to NEVER throw out pokes unless I was in range of hitting them. There were to many times where I would throw a hadouken from a wrong distance, where he would react with a jump in to punish...or he would let me whiff a c.hk (by staying out of it's range) and jump in on me for free, leading to immediate momentum for him.

= Execution is fairly easy to explain. Air was crisp on almost all of his combo's and come to think of it, I don't think that he missed a single combo on me at all. He was pulling 1 frame links off like crazy...combo's like f+hp, c.hp, ex tatsu which does 380 damage. Aside from being amazing at combo's, he also understood how to maximize damage with his combo's...such as using 2 meters to use: c.mk, hadou, sadc, c.hk OR hurricane kick (depending on range). Basically not only did he have crisp execution, however he also put importance on maximizing damage when getting even SMALL openings (such as the example given during a footsie battle) instead of just large openings (like a whiff'ed dp).

= Momentum can get a bit lost in translation, but I personally categorize momentum as being able to capitalize off of opportunities in order to pressure your opponent. What people don't understand is that when most players think "capitalize off of opportunities" they immediately think knockdowns. However this wasn't the case when I played Air. For instance, Air didn't get MANY knockdowns on me, however what he DID do was jump at almost the PRECISE ranges in which I couldn't anti air him consistently. Whenever Air jumped at me, it was a jump so close to me that I couldn't react to anti air him...thus, free crossover into momentum, putting me in a block string potentially leading to mixups (throw, frame trap, overhead, etc.).

= Adaptation was Air's weakest of fundamentals (but when I say weak, it only means that the rest were already so high...Air's adaptation was fairly strong compared to the average player). He was a fairly reaction based player in which he did safe (and smart) attacks which made it hard to do damage on him. (For instance, he ONLY jumped on reaction to my poorly thrown hadouken's, OR if he was close enough to get a jump over crossover from being so close to me...safe and smart ways to attack). However I will say that the ONE set that I beat him at was only because of MY adaptation skills. I was able to see some of his habits in which he let out in our first 2 matches...I caught on a bit and was able to punish accordingly (he did some risky dp's at times and also let me f+hp quite a bit, while he was knocked down, letting me pressure him a bit for no real consequence). He eventually caught on to his mistakes and took them away, while at the same time making it harder for me to get damage in on him. All in all, adaptation is a strong fundamental aspect that everyone should work on when they want to strengthen their game. I could go on about adaptation for days, but to keep it basic, I would encourage everyone to begin learning how to adapt to their opponent's. As Bruce Lee said "Be like water!"

= The only real strange "fundamental" there is discipline....which I personally believe that discipline is where a player doesn't make unwise decisions (bad habits or patterns), and instead a player that plays all around solid. For instance, instead of backdashing or uppercutt'ing through strings, a disciplined player just blocks. Basically a player that doesn't put himself into making mistakes in which he could potentially lose damage. By playing disciplined you make it so that your opponent won't get free damage. Instead, you make your opponent truly work for his damage instead of just giving it to him because of a good read...For instance there have been so many times where I exploit mashers on wakeup with frame traps or straight up walk up DP's....Bad habits and predictability lead to impatience and undisciplined players! Don't let that be you!

My personal damage checklist

2009-06-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

So last blog, I talked about the importance of knowing where your damage comes from. I decided (rather quickly as you'll see, I'm writing this right after the last blog) to write down my own personal checklist for other people (slightly different then the example given in the other blog). This blog's short and sweet, and it basically just sums up my checklists I have with Ryu.

- C.mk (70)

- Hadouken (70)

- Shoryuken (160)

- Throw (130)

- F+mp (80)

- F+hp > Combo (280)

This leads to 790 damage if I can get these every match. They are also very ROUGH estimates (for instance "f+hp to combo" is very broad as it can be doing anywhere from 280 - 610 for all i know) in order to play "against" myself in order to prepare myself for the "worst." All in all, if I can hit all these, I'm only leaving about 200 more damage to attain. This can easily be acquired through either: ground game, or another combo.

- Mickey

Where does your damage come from?

2009-06-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

Last week when I was having a "training mode session" with Deezo, I began to realize just how important it is to know how your damaging your opponent. Deezo was doing various combo's on the training dummy, and I was shocked to see exactly how much damage potential she had when hitting these combo's. For those that don't know...Chun also has great mixup's after combo's. We started to look at exactly how much damage she was able to deal out, and the data we found was shocking (at least to me it was).

Chun's throws do 150 damage each, her instant over head (jump back hk) does 100 damage, and if I remember correctly a hazanshu did about 140 damage. Any combo that he'd do was about 250 - 300 damage (with the potential mixup of dealing out another one). Her main poke (c.hk) does 90 damage.

All in all, I came out with this theory...I told Mandel that if he could make a line where he could successfully hit these attacks, he would be dealing out nearly 400 damage. I explained it like this: if you could successfully knockdown with a move during ground game...say c.hk (90 damage), get a throw (150 damage), and hit the instant over head right after (100 damage), you'd be dealing out 340 damage straight out right then and there. When you begin to realize how much 340 damage is based off of 3 minuscule attacks...you start realizing that damage adds up QUICK. More importantly I realized the value of knowing where damage comes from, and how it can add up through specific lines of attack.

In a rough match, Deezo hits at the very least 1 combo a round (say 250 damage), and gets a knockdown about twice a match (totalling up to 180 damage). After every said knockdown, there comes a mixup with potential combo damage...however lets say to play a rough situation, he doesn't try to hit combo's...instead he hits the other attacks such as, throws, hazan shu's, or overheads. If Mandel could hit every one of these moves, including his combo's and knockdowns, he'd be doing nearly 80% damage. You can see how quickly the damage adds up by playing to this checklist.

By making a checklist of attacks you can really understand WHERE your damage is put in...now whys this important? If you know where your damage is coming from, you know where your damage ISN'T coming from. Sounds backwards right? But the logic is very plain...if you can see where your damage ISN'T coming from, you can work towards that, and learn how to fine tune your play style. Lets use Ryu as an example....

My personal check list goes something like this:

- Hp shoryuken (160D)

- Throw (120D)

- Overhead (70D)

- c.mk (70D)

- Hadouken (70D)

Now this is a VERY BASIC checklist, but look at how much damage it does...a total of 490 damage. When your realistically looking at things, by hitting each of these attacks, I'm taking off nearly 50% of my opponent's health. Now look at this....we haven't even got into COMBO'S yet. If I add THAT into my game, I'll be effectively taking of nearly 90% of my opponent's health now (a basic ultra/super combo does about 400 damage).

Now these are very cut and dry checklists. The little monkey wrench of "How are you so sure you'll get all these attacks in a round?" can always be thrown into the equation. More or less, the check list is there so that you know what options you have in EVERY SITUATION during the match...

Playing a ground game? That's where your c.mk and hadouken's come into play. Being pressured? That's why I threw shoryuken into there as it's very valid to be hit by a hp shoryuken reversal when someone is pressuring you....think about if you had ultra too! That 160 damage becomes 400 damage instead! Want to play it safe and not pressure for a combo because your opponent is reversal happy? This is where over head's and throws come into play...because these attacks are very subtle, they aren't abrasive enough to where you look as if your just trying to pressure all day (putting your opponent in the mindset to reversal you).

In other words, every attack here on the check list can be used in situations that happen all throughout the match. There's never ONE specific BEST attack to use in a situation...just remember the check list, and try to run through it, and you'll realize that by running through it, your giving yourself a strong fundamental play style that doesn't revolve around EXECUTION or PRESSURE, or COMBO'S just to win. In all honesty, while looking at the check list, your not even taking into perspective that your opponent might mess up or possibly make a mistake. For each mistake they make, you might as well make an assumption that your going to be hitting with a hard hitting combo...that's going to add more fuel to your fire since the combo's not even really a part of your check list...it's going to help you out and make you become more successfull without you even expecting it.

Realizing where your damage output comes from is really good to know because it'll make you realize how to tighten up and fine tune your play style. For instance, if you realize that you can only deal damage based off of combo's and pressuring, by making the check list, you can start to understand that you won't NEED to pressure all the time during a match just to deal damage...you'll start to see that your damage can come from somewhere different....somewhere that you weren't putting thought into!

- Mickey

Re'evaluation

2009-05-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

Back in early May I decided to make a training regiment that I was going to stick to in order to strengthen my game. And I must say, it has worked tremendously. Recently within the past 3 weeks, I've played SF4 in an entirely new way. I would even be inclined to say that the way that I look at SF4 competitively in general, is completely different then before. I learned that by giving myself time to play to improve and learn, I achieved so much more compared to playing just to win. The game literally started to unfold in ways I never thought...I began to take simple concepts to very technical analysis in which has helped me substantially in my game play. Essentially I reevaluated my entire play style, and in doing so, I've become a stronger player.

In my first week I said that I wanted to stop certain bad habits that I picked up. However I found that after about 3 hours of play, I wouldn't do these bad habits until I started becoming frustrated in my matches. This was a very important lesson learned. I realized that I play completely fine and on point, UNTIL I let my emotions of defeat, or anger shake my focus. This is where I learned the importance of composure. It's crazy to think that in my first week, this small little epiphany dawned on me so quickly. I've always known to a lesser extent that anger led to unfocus and unfocus led to poor play. However I was able to truly value this aspect of competitive play overall, and accept that it was in my nature to be affected by these things, however if I could control them better, my ability to play would be much stronger. However I digress from the main objectives of the first week.

I began to anti air more, and eventually started thinking of the play field divided into 5 sections. I go into this in further detail in my Ryu video tutorial, however the main gist to it was the fact that certain ranges delegate what attacks a player should use. Stumbling upon THIS epiphany, I was able to look at it and be more aware of such ranges in my overall gameplay. These small little basics fell into my lap without me really searching for them. They were all so simplistic too, however so vital to know as a player in order to play great as well.

Over the days, I began to realize that my play style had changed completely from aggressive to defensive. The brash reckless decisions I once made, I wouldn't dare do in my current style of play (unless I was unfocused enough hahahaha). For instance, when I would get rushed down I would look for the quickest possible way to Shoryuken out of the situation. However now, I simply block and wait out my opponent's block string, look for holes in their string, and look at my options and think carefully about them. It's not to say that my previous play style didn't think about these things...it's just that more or less with a defensive mindset, I've learned how to keep composed for a longer period of time, in order to realize all my options and think them through instead of acting quickly.

Now, I realize this blog got a bit technical real quick, however I guess the main point I want to make is that...lately I've been fortunate enough to completely reevaluate my play style. In doing so, the game seemed to unfold to me, showing me basic simplistic aspects that I could think about more detailed and analytically. I've learned the power of playing for improvement instead of playing to win....So I urge you to take a look at your weaknesses...see what you can do to make them stronger. Play to improve, not to win, and I'm sure you'll be just as enlightened as I am.

- Mickey D'

Ryu Numbers

2009-05-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd make a quick blog about Ryu's combos. I want to know the most efficient way to use my meter, and in doing so, I wanted to number crunch a few combos. The combos will be split into multiple groups as I go on...more or less this is for "data" purposes. A side note is that the ultra damage is calculated at LEAST amount of damage (not infinite meter on training dummy) so therefore the numbers are rough to play devil's advocate. The D stands for damage and S for stun. Lastly there are VERY few combos here that deal with using EX meter mainly because as I've said before, this blog is about realizing the most ideal/hard hitting combos, WHILE saving meter. Only if an ex combo is truly worth the damage I'll put it up.

- BnB Combo's: c.lk, c.lp hp shoryuken = 178D, 260S. c.lk c.lp, c.hp, hk hurricane: 214D, 400S.

- Punishment Combo's: c.mk, hp shoryuken = 230D, 300S. c.hp, hp shoryuken: 260D, 400S. c.mp, c.hp, hp shoryuken: 298D, 460S. c.hp, ex tatsu 300D, 450S.

- F+hp Combo's: f+hp, hp shoryuken 280D, 300S. f+hp, c.lp, c.hp, hk hurricane: 314D 450S. f+hp, s.mk, hp shoryuken: 318D, 360S. f+hp, c.hp, hp shoryuken: 348D, 460S. f+hp, c.hp, ex tatsu = 380D, 500S. f+hp, s.mk, ex tatsu: 350D, 400S

Overall notes: As far as punishment combos go, c.mk, shoryu is most applicable due to range. The c.hp, ex tatsu, I don't feel as if should be used ever since you could instead do the c.mp, c.hp shoryu combo instead for same damage over all. The f+hp combos are very difficult to hit without focus 2's, and with focus 2's come damage/stun scaling. The combos with a focus 2 primarily do the same amount of damage as well with a bit more stun. When doing the focus lvl 2 into these, don't even do the ex moves since the damage is scaled so heavily. On top of that the f+hp, c.hp link is really hard, so I don't even count it to be too valid of a combo. All in all the best (most valid during a match) combos to use are in bold.

SADC Combos: FA lvl 2, f+hp, s.mk, hadou, sadc, c.hp, hp shoryuken: 381D 540S. FA lvl 2, c.hp, hadouken, sadc, c.hp, hk hurricane: 329D 600S. J.hk, land, c.hp, hadouken, sadc, c.hp, hk hurricane: 398D 740S.

Notes on SADC combos: A lot of these combos are at times character specific. The only real valid combo I could really suggest that hits every time on every character is the one in bold.

- Super Combo's: c.mk, hp shoryuken, super: 470D (500D if c.hp is used instead). f+hp, hp shoryuken, super: 520D. Jab shoryu, land, super: 430D. c.mk, hadouken, super: 380D (410D if c.hp is substituted.)

Notes on combos with super: Don't ever focus attack into super. The scaling takes away so much percentage that it's not worth using all 4 meters for it. Definitely avoid using the c.mk, hadouken, super combo since it's the worst output. You want to be hitting around that 45% sweet spot. All in all, best combo is high lighted in bold.

- Ultra Combo's: hp shoryuken 381D (at times 291D when anti aired). c.mk, hp shoryuken: 424D (454D if c.hp is used instead). F+hp, hp shoryuken: 474D. c.lk, c.lp, hp shoryuken: 345D. j.hk, land, c.hp, shoryuken: 495D

Notes on ultra combo's: As you can see, the damage to hitting this combo could mean hitting either 29% or even 49%. Thats a 20% difference, so I think it's safe to say that your TRYING to hit about 40%. By trying to hit 40% your not settling for hitting a weak ultra, and your making the most out of it. I also would like to say that FA lvl 2 into ultra is completely fine in my opinion BUT you MUST use the combo: f+hp, hp shoryuken...into it so that you can break about 42% (breaking the 40% mark). So don't be afraid to combo into the ultra with a FA lvl 2. At the same time, if a 29% is gonna hurt an opponent that bad, by all means go for it. Just remember that you could be doing 43% by doing a jab shoryu into super though! All in all, the combos to go for are in bold once again.

After breaking the numbers down, I'm realizing just how important hitting that ultra is. At the same time, you have to wonder wether to save 2 meter, or use for ultra. The deciding factor is exactly HOW you hit it, and if your not getting 40% out of the combo, your not using it as effectively as you should.

- Mickey D'

In a slump, but my plan to get out

2009-05-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

As of recently, I've fallen into a huge slump. In my last 3 or 4 tournament appearances, I have placed the lowest I have in my SF4 career. Throughout the majority of my tournament placements, I've mainly stayed in the 3rd to 5th range. And to be honest, I'm fairly satisfied with my placements when I think about how strong our scene is. But recently, I struggling to say the least.

Last night I had went into a tournament with about 30 heads, and didn't even place top 8, which is incredibly rare for me. The tournament before was at Gameworks where the participants were split up in about 6 pools, with about 10 people in each pool. And as it so happens, I didn't even get out of my pool. To go even further back, 2 weeks ago at a different tournament, I tied for 7th, the beginning of the slump.

After all has been said and done, I'm naturally trying to get out of the the slump at hand. I'm realizing that I need to focus on the basics and fundamentals again. I also have to focus on my emotions during matches as well. Sometimes I bring in pressures that don't need to be added, and at times, it really affects how I play. For instance, I played a really close friend first match, and afterwards in the tournament, I played a guy who I've had personal problems with in the past. With the match with my friend, there was no pressure at all, however with Paullee, I felt as if I had this mindset of "You can't lose to Paul...It's PAUL for crying out loud!" All in all, I'm going to try and focus on a training regiment where I can focus on breaking bad habits, and strengthening over all fundamentals so I can get back to being solid and consistent. At the end of the month, it's been decided that we are going to be holding the round robin tournament very soon to decide who can partake in the 5v5 regional tournament at Evo. All in all, I want to train hard so that I can do well for myself...to show that I can break out of a slump, and that dedication and effort do prove to be worth the time and hard work.

In this first week, I'm really going to try and improve on anti'airing. I want to be able to start anti'airing at all times. On top of that I'm going to try and break my bad habits. Recently I've been having terrible habits such as focus'ing too much, wake up DP'ing sometimes (after focuses too), mashing on throw when someone is close, and jumping at wrong times. And the way that I look at it, is that there are very obvious ways to break these habits. Stop focus'ing as much during matches...use it about very sparingly, and don't ever whiff a focus. As for dp'ing during the wrong times, I just gotta stop doing that period. I gotta also realize that instead of wake up dp'ing, I gotta realize that blocking is most likely the best/ideal defense instead of trying to cheap my way out of it with a reversal. As for mashing throw, I need to tighten up my reactions to when someone does a crouching string, that when they STAND, to throw, not DURING their string. The jump'ins need to stop period. Daigo rarely jumps in on his opponents...he might jump in ONCE during his round. So let me end this just some quick notes and key facts :

Week 1: Make an effort to anti air at all times, and end bad habits such as: reversal dp's, focus attacking excessively, mashing on throw when trying to tech, and jump in's.

In week 2, I want to focus very strongly on my ground game and spacing. This kind of goes hand in hand with the criteria of week 1, as I can still focus on ending my bad habits, as well as increasing the consistency of my anti air'ing (control of space). Footsies and space control are very important and vital to becoming a great player. It causes the opponent to make unnecessary risks where one can take advantage of. With Ryu, it's important to know WHEN to throw a hadouken and also understand why you throw a hadouken. This is what I'll mainly be working on because it's such an important part to his overall game plan. I'll also be working on baiting jump ins (this is where the anti air'ing comes into play) by throwing hadouken's as well as using c.mk's to make the opponent think I'm going to play a ground game (convincing the opponent to think it's the right time to jump). The quick and dirty looks something like this:

Week 2: While still focusing on anti'airing consistently, work on ground game heavily. This means NO rushing down even after knockdowns. Strengthen the fundamental basics of the fire ball game as well as general footsies. Remember, learning how to control space is the key with this regiment.

During the third week, I plan on working on the basic principle of pressing the advantage. At this time, I plan to keep working on Week 2 criteria (strong ground/spacing game) but at the same time I want to work on pressing the advantage more efficiently. What this entails exactly to ME, is that I want to understand when it's the right time to pressure, how to exactly go about pressuring, different types of setups and tricks after a knockdown...things like that. King explained to me the "My Turn" process, and I really want to begin playing with that mindset. King said he learned about "My Turn" when KO and KSK were over at his house when 3s was hot.

From what I understand "My Turn" basically is the idea of realizing who's turn it is to pressure/press advantage. For instance, in the beginning of the match, unless an opportunity such as a knockdown or something happens, the turn is not specific. At this point, this is where ground game comes into play. However when a knockdown, or possibly a nicely timed jump comes into play, it is THAT person's (the aggressors) "turn." This person's turn ENDS when he is pushed out of reach or sometimes the turn is continued after perpetual knockdown's. All in all, it has to do with the mindset of knowing when to press the advantage, and knowing when it's not the right time to press the advantage. I also want to point out real quick that in certain situations where it's not smart to "take your turn" it's okay to play into a ground game situation where the turn is not specific to anyone. I understand and value this mindset, because in SF4, there are so many escape options such as lariat, or DP, SADC, etc. The trick is to understand when to take your turn. But once again, just to write down quick notes again:

Week 3: While still practicing on ground game, focus more heavily on pressing the advantage. Using the "My Turn" system, I can realize exactly when to pressure and how best to pressure my opponent.

The fourth week kind of ties everything all together. Hopefully at the end of it all, I'll have little to no bad habits, a strong ground game as well as a good realization of knowing when and how to pressure well. In the end of it all, it should completely change my playstyle into a much more disciplined style of play, while at the same time still being very explosive. If anything, I'll try to focus (after the 3 weeks) on trying to play matchups a bit differently. I might try to focus on reading my opponent more, or maybe I might try and focus on strengthening up other things that I don't feel as if are strong enough. All in all, I'm leaving this 4th week as a down time to collect all my thoughts, let my new play style settle in, and leave it as time to focus on any left over weaknesses that I might still have.

But all in all, yeah, thats my training regiment, hopefully I can make a blog afterwards and tell people who it all panned out!

- Mickey D'

Becoming a good player from the ground up: Part 2

2009-04-23T01:08:00.001-07:00

A week has passed so I figure I'll end what I started. While writing the first part, I looked back at my start of becoming a fighting game player. I remembered what it was like to start in Cvs2 and learn combos on my first week of having the game. I remember when I was taught about patience and hit confirming, as well as the idea of spacing and footsies. And when I look back, it's pretty amazing to see how far I've evolved as a player. I'm not trying to put myself on some list of legends or hype myself up or anything...but I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's important to realize that everyone had to start from somewhere. It's hard to think of when Daigo or Justin Wong were beginners, but it's also inspiring to believe that they truly WERE at one point beginners at one time. They didn't just pop out of the whom being greats (well maybe they did ^_^ ), they put in hard work, tons of effort and time and true dedication to this. They are the legends of today, but at one point they were just as new as the next guy was. I said in part 1 that I believe that anyone can become top level players. And to be honest, I truly stick by that because I personally believe that if you want it bad enough and are willing to put in the work, you will find that it's only a matter of time before you are great. But honestly, enough with my rambling, lets get into the next step, which is what I call "becoming a solid player."

I left part 1 off basically explaining where a player would have qualities like understanding the game mechanics better, learning how to press the advantage more, a basic understanding of punishment, a semi strong ground game regarding space control with footsies and anti air's, and understanding their character strengths and weakness better. Now as I've said just recently, the next step (in my opinion) is what I like to call becoming a solid player. And what I mean by that is, a fundamentally strong player. One in which has almost all bases covered and is beginning to tap into the more "advanced" parts of fighting games. Let me give a list of what I feel a solid player looks like:

- Strong ground game using various pokes or specials that control space and anti airs. The player knows what it means to control space on the ground as well as in the air.

- Strong combo ability and execution.

- Even more "in touch" with the character(s) he uses, to a point where he understands a strong game plan regarding mixups, spacing, possible tricks, as well as slight matchup knowledge.

- Lacking in BAD HABITS as well as predictability. With that, the player has an actual game plan into which he wants to accomplish (not character specific, I'll explain more in a bit). As well as disciplined and patient when attacking.

- Slight ability to adapt to specific patterns/play styles opponents are throwing at him

This in my opinion narrows down what I mean by a "Solid Player." These players are really good, they're of the top 15% of SRK I'd say. They are players who are down right fundamental as hell, and if your not on top of your game, you WILL lose to them. They hit consistently with combos that hit you hard, they have a strong ground game and can control space well, they know their character tricks and mixups as well as knowledge of matchups...these players are getting to the next level of play here. It's actually quite hard to achieve this level because, aside from skill and understanding, I feel that most players forget to get rid of their bad habits. Habits that are sometimes NOT so obvious.

For instance an obvious bad habit is to wake up shoryuken a lot. However a not so obvious one is say...neutral jumping on their wake up a lot of the time. Or a different example...mashing on throw or jab when being pressured with a block string (in order to stop a throw). Or an even more simple bad habit of jumping in too often. The point of the matter is that bad habits come in a lot of different shapes and forms, predictable play is also another bad habit since players at this level should be able to adapt to patterns (that aren't obvious to most players) and dissect how to beat these certain play styles. On top of everything, these players are also great because of the fact that they come into matches with a specific game plan that at most times are NOT character specific. It can be a game plan that revolves around his opponents character selection (matchup decisions)...it could be a plan to rush his opponent down (or turtle for that matter)...or it could even be a plan to play for a mixup opportunity at all times. The point of the matter is that a game plan is a set course of WHAT you want to do as a player in a match. It doesn't need to be character specific at all, such as with Ryu: throw hadoukens to space, get a knockdown and pressure with strings and combo using.....ramble ramble ramble. Instead, its about having a set game plan on what you want to ACHIEVE in the specific match...THIS (in most cases) is what separates players from being able to get to the next level. We all have game plans, most times for lower level players, it's to simply win. HOWEVER, at this level the player makes a game plan of exactly WHAT to focus on to win. Basically theses players begin to deduce how to win. They see the obstacle that they are presented with, they know they need to get over this obstacle, however knowing HOW to get over this obstacle is what these players begin to focus on. Which brings us to the last and final set of what a "top" player looks like (in my opinion).

I don't think that I can even really tell you a set of "qualities" that a top player has that is different then the previously explained "Solid" player. To be honest they have many of the same qualities, but in my personal opinion, they have completely different mindsets. Most top players have all the qualities I listed above...incredible ground game, incredible combo ability and execution, a great amount of knowledge concerning the cast in the game (this helps greatly in the matchup aspect of fighting games because of understanding character strengths and weaknesses), and lastly they begin to read opponents play styles to where they can learn how to beat the specific style. However I feel that the next level after being solid, is to play to your opponent and not the game, or as I call it "playing instinctually" or "instinctual play." Instincts are defined as a fixed pattern to a certain situation, or in other-words a natural action for any given situation thrown at us. The BEST players are able to play to adapt to any sort of play style and always know how to defeat it. For instance when you watch Daigo play, he doesn't really DO the same shit in every match. The guy seriously plays like a chameleon and adapts to his nature. Not only that, but as we all know and have seen, the guy is a freak of nature in which reads his opponent SO WELL that he's been called psychic at times. He is by far the #1 instinctual play I've ever seen....a player that reacts so well to his opponents, he reads them to a point where he gets inside their head! He reads tendencies and habits like no other player, and for it, he's earned the World Champion title. So now that we got the definition of instinctual play out and open, lets talk about that "next level" that I was getting to.

As I said before, the next level is merely having a mindset of playing the player and not just the game. These players play and react/adapt to their opponents so well that they essentially do 3 things in their matches, read their opponent, limit their options, and condition them to think their strategy isn't working. By reading the player, you begin to realize what this player feels his options are against you, and by reading this you essentially understand what this players play style is. In doing this, you begin to realize how to limit this players options with your move set. After limiting his options, the opponent must now go back to the drawing board and re-plan a different strategy to win. Unfortunately with such little time, it's VERY hard to adapt to someone who is adapting to your own play style...in most cases the player that limits his opponent better and conditions the opponent to second guess his own strategy...they are the victor. It becomes more of a mental game then a skill game. Before to get better, you needed to improve on spacing, combos, knowledge, etc. These are all attained through strengthening up your skill set and putting in time to inform yourself of what you should know to win. However instinctual play does not come naturally. No one says "to get better you should play more to your player instead of to the game." The idea of "reading your opponent" is not as wide spread as it should be. And because of this, THAT is what separates the top player from the solid players. Essentially solid players are learning how to win...the best of the best already KNOW how to win and they apply it in every match. Instinctual play...the next level.

As I said it's broken down essentially to 3 steps: reading/limiting/conditioning. You read your opponent, you limit his options, and in doing so he becomes conditioned to think that what he's doing is wrong, therefore he needs to adapt and change his game plan. Example? Put it this way, there's a REASON as to why Daigo had complete control during his match with Justin Wong. Justin said that the reason why he lost to Daigo was because he was able to uppercut his dive kicks all the time. From there, he knew that he couldn't rush Daigo down and put him in an uncomfortable situation. Daigo took ONE attack away from Justin (the dive kick) and WITH that, he never even got hit by a solid Messiah kick (one in which hits all hits), and look at the outcome! Daigo took Rufus' primary tool out of Justin's hands, and with that, Justin's not able to adapt to the situation at hand. Daigo read that Justin was to reliant on that attack, took it away from him, and wrecked him 4 to 0. That to me is SOLID proof of reading an opponent, limiting his options, and conditioning him to second guess himself and his strategy.

I've beaten to death the "thought process" of a top player (in my eyes at least) with this blog, and hope that you find it informative and helpful. I'm sorry if I rambled to long, and I'm also sorry if I let you down and you were thinking this blog was going to be something different then what you had thought it would be. I just want to say that, my point is that there comes a time where fundamental/solid play becomes so air tight, that it becomes hard to improve. Not many player hit this place, shoot I don't think that I personally have hit that level yet either...however its not to say that I don't play instinctually. And in doing so, my level of skill has risen greatly. It's the idea of "playing smarter, not better." In my opinion, the ability to play instinctually while at the same time play solid as well as analytically (analytical play stems from knowledge of the game)...This is what makes champions.

- Mickey D'

Becoming a good player from the ground up: Part 1

2009-04-15T00:52:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to do a blog now for quite awhile. I've been putting it off constantly, but finally I'm all of a sudden inspired to write. So with that, I wanted to blog about my personal "basis" of separating yourself from a player who is good, and a player who is great. I wanted to write down the steps of becoming better (my personal opinions of course) from beginner to tops. To be honest, in my personal opinion, I believe that just about anyone can become a great player. It all really depends on if they grasp the certain concepts that are needed to be understood to be a great player. I've even personally realized, that at times, it's not enough to even grasp the concept, but instead to value the concept. For instance, I grasped the concept of "attacking for a reason" (better known as "testing") however never valued it until the past 6 months. To expand on that, I understood why you test your opponent, however never really used it much as I was still at the point where I was more focused on "playing solid" (something I'll explain later as well). Finally I gave "testing" a chance...and slowly, it hit me on WHY you test your opponent, and what you GAIN from testing an opponent. To put it simply, I truly appreciated it and valued the concept of testing my opponent, and thus, I now constantly test my opponent in every match! All in all, this blog will be about the steps of becoming a better player, from complete beginner, to top player. By the way, this'll be a 2 parter since I ramble so much.

I could go on and on about the specific "advanced thought process" of a top player, however it wouldn't mean anything to someone who doesn't understand the basics of fighting games. For instance, I'll tell a lot of people that Street Fighter breaks down to 3 aspects...physically, mentally, and emotionally (a blog for another day). Physically speaking, all you really do is press buttons and move a joystick. It's not physically straining at all really. However, tell this to a player who plays on pad, that doesn't understand why they should even play on a stick! There's 2 points here, the first being physically SF only demands that you execute correctly. Wether it be combos, trying to tech a throw, whatever the case, execution is pretty much the only physical aspect of Street Fighter. The 2nd point being that the player playing pad doesn't understand why it would be good to play on a stick, the explanation would be the same if I were to explain to a beginner why you should try to read your opponent each match. In other words, it's just not understood at that level. So we need to talk basics, and put things in perspective at what THEIR level is. The way that I look at it, when a player first begins playing fighting games competitively, they go through certain steps to get to the next level of skill. It looks a bit like this:

- Learns what button does what, how to block, how to dash, how to jump and throw

- Learns special moves/specific character's move set including ultra's/supers

This is the most common foundation of learning a fighting game. And to be honest with you, not many players go past this tiny foundation. These players are quite apparent as well, they're what you call a random Ken who constantly shoryuken's (because it looks so cool!) anywhere he is on the play field. All in all, they have no skill whatsoever, yet most of them think that they can play the game well, or they think they're tight since they can do an SRK. Lets move to the next set of steps to improving...

- Very basic understanding of zoning (footsies, anti airing and space control)

- Begins learning basic combos and basic block strings (when the combos' blocked)

The player that takes the time to delve into learning these steps, is the player that wants to start becoming "serious" or competitive for that matter. The only reason why a player starts learning these aspects is to become above your typical scrub and become BETTER. There are many players at this range. Though this player understands only the basics of how to play, they are on their way to becoming better. The understanding of zoning, and controlling space through pokes, anti airs, fireballs, or whatever the like becomes a bit more apparent. The player has a weak ground game, however understands that it is needed. Basic combos such as: jab, jab, jab, hadouken are used. Maybe even c.mk hadouken. The point is that they begin to realize how to combo a bit. Nothing to serious, however there is a clear effort that the player is trying to combo. I should note that, at this skill level, these players don't anti air much however know that they should be anti air'ing. The block strings are also probably a bit choppy, and the ground game may need a bit of work, however it's only the beginning of strengthening these basic aspects.

- Slight understanding of what to do after a knockdown (crossover, go for another combo)

- Improvement in anti'airing and ground game

- Begins to hit confirm combos as well as learns more technical combos

- Basic understanding of "punishment"

- Understand game mechanics more in depth (SA or SADC, throws beat blocks, etc.)

- Slight understanding of mixups

- Starts to realize character strengths (mixups, or gimmicks, specific pokes to use, anti air, etc.)

The player here is starting to become much stronger. He understands slightly how to press the advantage (after knockdowns) by using crossovers or maybe jump ins with a block string or potential combo. As for his combo's, the player begins to realize how to hit confirm, meaning understand when his combo is blocked and understand when to stop his combo so that his opponent will not punish him for finishing it. Instead, he stops the combo if he sees his opponent block, yet continues with the combo if he sees his opponent is being hit. With that, the player learns more damaging combos and his execution becomes a bit more tight. At this point he's most likely using typical Bnb's fairly well, nothing too flashy or technical, just the basic combos but this time around, they're more tight. On that note, the players block strings becomes a bit stronger, mixing in throws and trying to have tight strings so that the opponent can't jab through or throw him through the string. The player also begins to understand the game mechanics a bit more and starts to try and use these new things (such as SA's and SADC's) to learn more about their uses. More importantly the player begins to learn his character better learning the characters strengths and weaknesses, over all game plan, how to control space, how to press advantage, things like that. By becoming more "in touch" with the character, the player starts learning what his character is capable of. Now it's just a matter of strengthening this overall understanding into becoming what I like to call a "solid player." **Side note** In my opinion, I think that this is where I personally was when SF4 came out in August. I was at the point where I had an okay ground game, fair combo ability as well as hit confirming combos, fair understanding of how to press advantage and pressure, understanding of my character, and also understanding of the new SA and SADC's.

This is going to wrap up part 1, sorry that it's so long. Part 2 will finish it off...and I'd also like to disclaim that these are my PERSONAL OPINIONS of how to climb the ladder to greatness, so with that, don't take my word as law!

Positioning and the dreaded "Stand Off"

2009-03-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a really long time since my last post, sorry for the long hiatus. With the arrival of SF4 on console, I've seemed to have neglected writing. But I'm back at it, with a post regarding "playing chicken" or what I like to call: The stand off.

Street Fighter is a game where control of space is vital. We use our characters tools to take up as much space as safely as possible. The concept is pretty easy actually, you take up more space, you leave as little room for your opponent to move and advance. The more heated of situations is when 2 players are looking at each other dead eye to eye. They idle back and forth, assuming and reading their opponent on what attack they are going to decide to use, and how to counter it. So much thought is put into these mili-seconds that I don't even know how it's possible sometimes for players to react on a whiff, and punish accordingly. What I wanted to talk about today however, is not the mid screen distance of being able to idle back and forth, but the distance of 2 - 3 jabs or so...more or less the up close stage.

The up close range will sometimes break you as a player during matches, yet sometimes make you win in matches. This range is so intricate because as players, we need to know what our opponent is thinking, what he wants, what he wants to bait, and more importantly the best way to stop it. The same goes for you as an attacker...knowing your defender. Does he break throws well? Does he have a nasty habit of trying to throw a lot or possibly jab you out of a throw? Does he jump back often? Maybe he's susceptible to meaties! Once again to reiterate more, you start to realize that Street Fighter becomes more of a thinking game then a "button pressing" game. At close range, what normally happens to me (against better players when I use SF4 Ryu), I'll get my knockdown, and do a few jab strings, then end with a c.mk xx hado to push my opponent further away. I'm starting to realize recently however, that maybe it would be more wise of me to NOT do the c.mk xx hado. For instance, Ryu has a very hard time getting in on his opponent as is already, what favor am I doing for myself in pushing my opponent further away from me? All in all, what if the situation looked like this: Throw, walk back, walk forward at about a crouching strongs distance...crouch block! Simply put...post up right in my opponents face. Thus we have upclose "The Stand Off"

Now by not doing anything, I realize that I'm not "creating" momentum, however the reason why I thought about this situation was mainly because in SF4, there are so many characters who have viable escapes such as DP, SADC....or ex dash punch giving him armor...now these aren't the BEST escape tools, however the point being that a Ryu player must respect them, because any loss of momentum is bad in any circumstance. By looking my opponent dead in the eye, I begin to realize exactly how he feels when put in a situation...his options are to poke back, jump away, maybe ever reversal blindly or ultra blindly. Maybe he likes to back dash, during this situation. All in all, I haven't really used this yet, however would really like to figure out what it would net me. If I can read into my opponents habits more often, maybe I can capitalize in an event down the line in our next match. For instance, if he likes to jump back, I'll decide to shoot off a super/ultra to catch him. Maybe if he likes to pull a poke in that position I'll pull off a psychic DP if I'm feeling extra frisky :), if he back dashes maybe an ex hado will push him back out and give me some more momentum. I'm not sure what the possibilities are, however I feel as if it will put my opponent out of his or her comfort zone...and thats ALL I need to begin to win a match!

- Mickey D'

Things to write in the journal

2009-02-06T02:02:00.001-08:00

Recently, I've had a lot of want to write in my journal. I've been keeping it fairly organized recently, and have been holding myself back and stopping myself from writing things that don't pretain to the actual subject at hand right now (which are character break downs). I'm writing this blog (with the help of a friend, thanks Jacob!) so that I don't forget to include certain topics regarding becoming a better player. All in all, here are the things we came up with:

Limiting options, reading opponents versus playing analytically, what playing analytically means, training room 101, conditioning opponents and the ability to adapt, playing to win versus playing to learn, mental blocks of all the sort and playing without limits, mindset before during and after the match, grudge matches and how they affect your play, upsets and why they happen, how to take a loss, the importance of having multiple characters, nerves during tournament time, explaining the tiers and how top/mid/low are different regarding how good of a player you must be to win with them, sandbagging and its affects on the scene and player, taking a break and getting out of that slump, Apoc's mythical post, the power of playing everyone to your true potential and underestimating an opponent, psyching out the opponent before or during the match :), sitting on a lead,

This will be forever changing so, I'll just leave it here for now!

Training Mode

2009-01-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

After talking to a friend concerning SF4, he said that he would be really interested in seeing what kinds of things I do in training mode. In turn, I told him that I could make a video of doing so, and explanations of what I would be doing...but then I began to think to myself, why not try to make it big and help out the SRK kids? Basically, what I want to do is to show other people that training mode isn't just about the combos, and that the possibilities with training mode are more then what most people see. Anyways, I wanted to write down some things that I do in training mode to prepare for making the video.

In training mode, most people practice combos and practice their execution. However I like to go a bit further. I like to set the computer on "All Guard" and practice strings as well. Even going a step further, I always gauge how far the string puts me, and think about my options after the string. I like to range out where a combo leaves me or where a string leaves me so that I know what my options are afterwards. I suppose what it really gets down to is that I like to know what I can setup in situations that I can control (such as guard strings, or after a knockdown or combo). Some of the first things that I do in training mode is a simple throw. Throws always leave you at the same distance no matter what, meaning that the range is a controlled state. By figuring out the ranges of throws, I can think about how to position myself to gain opportune advantage like safe jump ins or crossovers,

Testing things out against myself is a big thing too. In Cvs2 I would go into the training room, and use my own setups and strats against myself. By doing this, I saw what my opponent's options were and by doing so, learned what my most favorable options would be for the given situation. Similarly, I also like to copy a certain play-style that I'm losing to (or am having trouble with) and learn how to break it. For example say that I play a Dhalsim vs Ryu matchup quite a bit (I play Ryu) and am having a hard time learning how to deal with far zoning and pokes. I'll go into training mode and see what normals of mine beat out his, as well as how often (I don't want to be trading c.lp's for s.hp's!). I find that though this isn't neccesarilly as good as playing an actual person, it can give me a fairly strong foundation of how to go about learning how to beat play-styles that I'm not doing well in.

Training mode's true potential comes out when you begin to realize WHY exactly you are doing things. I think it's stupid for people to train when they don't even know what they're actually training for. Knowing how to do a combo is one thing, but knowing what exactly it will net you in the long run is playing with a much smarter mindset. For example, just as if I were to use a new character, I would like to figure out what all my normals do and what their ranges are so that I know what to use in certain situations such as anti'airing, or in space control/zoning situations. This kind of goes more along the lines of learning a newer character, however being aware of all your tools is key when learning in training mode.

Hopefully I can make a video out of this. But more importantly, I hope that it actually helps people

The journey begins

2008-12-19T02:19:00.000-08:00

Looking back on my journal, I found this written on November 12th, 2008: "Recently I have been feeling stuck as a player I can never play to my standard any more. I think this is because I am realizing the depths to my character Ryu, were not as deep as I would have liked to think." At the time, my confidence to play well was just shot. I started losing to player who I had never lost to in my entire time of playing...records of 12 and 0...would become 12 and 4 after 4 games. It seemed like I lost my eye of the tiger. Obviously over time, I was able to get out of the slump thanks to people like Deezo and Apoc. Apoc made it very apparent to me that coming in with a sour mindset will be a huge deterrent on your actual game play...something I wasn't taking into perspective. I suppose it was at this time, I realized how important it is to remain confident in your own skill.

After the pep talk, I went to the arcade and popped in my credit. I sat down and said to myself "You are not bad at this game. Your not the best, yet your not BAD at this game. As a matter of fact your DAMN GOOD! Now play this game to your standard!" That night I left with something like a 30 win streak. The win streak really doesn't matter, it was just the fact that the lesson was learned...whatever mindset you bring in before the match, is the same mindset you'll have during the match.

However, I want to write about exactly why I felt I had plateaued with Ryu. At the time, I had played Ryu like most of the other players who play Ryu...get the knockdown, try for a combo, and play all around solid through footsies. Now normally I can wreck people with this type of play style. Ryu's crossup is pretty good, and can be fairly ambiguous at times. However when playing better players in my area, such as Deezo or Jason Cole, I started realizing that this style of play gets nowhere. You may be asking "What the heck are you talking about!?" What I mean is that once I get a knockdown on a player who is GOOD, they are content with eating a possible throw, and merely blocking a string. When you get down to it, at low to mid level play, this style of playing is acceptable. However at top level, Ryu can't hang. Better players realize that Ryu does NOT have options after blocked strings. Compare this to the rest of the cast, for example the other 2 shoto's: Ken can use kara grab mixup after strings, and Akuma can use a demon flip or possibly s.hk to keep close. These are just quick examples, but what it really gets down to is the fact that most Ryu's do damage from combo's, and to do combo's you need to have constant pressure up close. All in all, Ryu's mixups and tricks are NOT good enough at top level play, instead a more practical and solid way of dealing out damage is needed.

A few days ago, I watched a few more Daigo videos. I swear to god, this guy is so inspiring to me as a player because I feel as if I truly understand why he does things. I almost feel as if Daigo wastes NO movement or attack at all...everything he does has a purpose. Anyways, let me jump off those nuts real quick and explain what I realized. After watching matches, I was seeing that Daigo NEVER tries to pressure his opponent like most players do. I mean, he likes to be in his opponent's face, and play them up close, however never does he try to go for a combo after a knockdown. I think out of all the videos I've seen, I have witnessed Daigo crossover with j.mk ONCE. So I had to question it "Why doesn't he pursue the knockdown and press the advantage!?" I finally came to the realization that if I were to come to the idea that Ryu isn't good enough from the inside at a certain level of play, he MUST have had this realization as well. However, unlike me, Daigo had already figured a more practical way of dealing damage instead of just combos. Why crossover and have a blocked string, when you have a more consistent way to gain damage, through baiting, setups, and reading an opponent.

The epiphany that I've come across is that: Ryu can only be played at top level ONLY when the player is an instinct player. What it comes down to is exactly what Mandel told me...2 things that I think I'll remember for a very long time: "When you don't play to a particular script or anything, and play to your opponents, Ryu becomes crazy...Thats what great Ryu's do, it feels like everything you do is wrong." Daigo is a player who plays solely off of instincts regarding his opponents. By setting his opponent up to think a certain way, he baits them into playing into his hand so he can deal out damage. At the same time, by reading his opponents, it makes it easier for him to set his opponent up. Like Mandel told me "In the end, it all comes together." By reading a players behaviors, baiting and setups become instinctual to you as a player, with setups and baiting comes damage.

So thats it, that's the huge epiphany...the fact that if I'm going to become a great Ryu player, I need to play to my opponent, not to how I want to play...but to what is best against my opponent. Thus, begins the journey to becoming an instinctual player.

- Mickey

It is a secret to everyone

2008-12-10T17:39:00.000-08:00

So recently there's been a bit of hype concerning the "Umehara Kumite Special!" But seriously, what the hell does that mean to you or me? It means that earlier this month the Japanese held a special event where Daigo Umehara would fight 6 titans of terror in SF4. The players that attended this "Kumite" were: Nemo, Joe, Ino, Fuudo, Itazan, and Mago...All of which are very good players in Japan (some of the best). In the end of it all, Daigo pretty much smashed up on everyone with the exception of Mago who beat Daigo 2-1. Out of the 18 games, The Beast came out on top in 14 of them, while losing the other 4. Luckily, I am one of some very few in the US that have seen some of these matches =D. I'm just here to talk about what I learned from the matches.

Now being a Ryu player, I watched Daigo's matches very intently. Lets be honest, there aren't too many better to learn from then the guy who has the best record in Japan. The first thing to be in awe of is that Daigo has an amazing ability to read his opponent's. From psychic dragon punches, to psychic hurricane kicks, Daigo shows that he can read his opponent's tendencies and habits in a matter of one round. The set of videos were very entertaining, however there was one thing that I took out of this set of videos that has changed the way that I play.

The match that I was very focused on was Nemo vs Daigo, a Chun/Ryu matchup. I watched this match very closely as I personally have troubles with Deezo's Chun every time we play. I figured that maybe by watching Daigo and how he plays the match, I could get an idea of what I am doing wrong. After watching Daigo, it all became clear...I think that not only did the Chun/Ryu match became clear, however matches that I have trouble with in general became clear. It's something so basic and logical that I don't see why I couldn't have come to this realization myself. All in all, it had to do with the simple idea of limiting options.

In every one of Daigo's matches, Daigo limited his opponent's options to a degree that the opponent became dumb founded, and had no other way to play. Against Itazan, Daigo uses hadokens at a very close range to limit Zangief's pokes, lariat's and even ex green hand. Against Joe (Viper), Daigo goes uses neutral jump mp to stop Viper from flame kick'ing around. By doing this Viper has very few options to gain ground as she does this best in the air. Now these may seem like very basic ways to limit an opponent's options, however it brings me to the Fuudo (Ryu) and Nemo (Chun) matches.

Lets look at these 2 characters really quickly. Chun has incredible mixup, it's pretty much where most of her damage comes from. At the same time, by staying at full screen/half screen distance she can use kikoken's and pokes to maintain a good set plan to obtain knockdowns. Simply put, her ground game is solid enough to where it makes the opponent NEED to think of ways to get in on her. At the same time, Chun's anti airs are very lack luster and sometimes unreliable. Now lets look at Ryu. Ryu has devastating combo's at close ranges, however unless he hits them, his options are very limited after a block string. At full screen ranges he has a good hadoken that can zone his opponent's with. His pokes are par at best, meaning that he'll trade (or be beaten) with any other character who has better pokes then him. All in all, his main source of damage comes from his hard hitting combo's.

So now, we are brought back to the Daigo matches. Lets talk about Daigo vs Fuudo (the Ryu player). Now Fuudo makes it apparent that he gets his damage from the inside (just like I said earlier). So therefore, it's safe to say that Fuudo's prime situation would be to be pressuring his opponent. So what does Daigo do? He keeps him out via hadoken's. Fuudo's only option is to throw hadoken's back or take a risk and hurricane kick over them. In the match, Fuudo decides to throw hadoken's back, however Daigo (who plans, baits, and reads his opponent) is able to read some of the time's that Fuudo throws hadoken's and jumps in at just the right time to combo. All in all, Fuudo's goal was to get inside...but was fine with remaining outside, however Daigo made it so that he limited Fuudo's options to get inside, and forced Fuudo to play an outside game in which at times he (Daigo) capitalized on.

So this brings us to the Daigo/Nemo (Chun) match. During this match, Nemo controls a lot of the play field by good pokes and kikoken's. However you'll notice that Daigo wins by playing an up close battle, something that Chun has a very hard time with. Daigo uses a lot of jump ins to close distance since he knows that Chun's anti airs aren't very good. However during the second round the majority of the match is played from half/full screen distance. At this range Daigo has quite a bit of trouble, his hadoken's don't really do much to help him in this situation, and he doesn't jump in much because at a full screen range. Also, at this range Chun's anti airs have a bit more validity. Basically, since Nemo fought more of an outside battle, Daigo loses this 2nd round. Since Ryu can't cope with Chun's pokes or kikoken's, Ryu can't win from outside. In the last round, Daigo turns it into a close up match once again by jumping in more, and eventually takes the match.

After watching these matches, I realized the importance of how to play an opponent based off of their habits mixed with solid matchup knowledge. Take for example Guile, a character who uses sonic booms and zoning as his main tool to deal damage and create opportunity. Now if a player was pressuring Guile during the majority of the match, it's safe to say that this limits the way that Guile needs to play. He needs to figure out a different way of dealing damage and figure out also how to get out of this pressure. At the same time, there are different ways to play Guile...Say that I come across a Guile who likes to pressure and rush down more then he likes to zone. In this case, it would be imperative for me to make a decision to try and out zone the Guile player from rushing me down, or possibly play to this player's rush down style. By knowing the player's tendencies on how he rushes down, and combining it with the knowledge of the matchup that you have as a player, one could build a solid strategy and plan out exactly HOW to fight this type of style of play.

Here's another quick example. Lets talk about matchups for Ryu. Lets look at 5 cast members (out of random): Blanka, Chun, Viper, Abel, Bison. Now, lets look at how these characters do their damage...better yet, not so much how they do their damage, but where do these characters want to be in a match? What is their prime position? With Blanka, he wants to be full/mid screen. With Chun she wants to be up close however can do very well from full/mid screen. Viper wants to fight up close. Abel wants to be up close. Bison can fight from afar, however does best when he pressures, thus saying he wants to be up close can be a pretty good deduction. Now take into where these characters want to be, and fight to their opposite. If Blanka wants to fight from full/mid screen, it would be smart of me to put him out of his comfort zone and fight him up close. If Abel wants in, I have to do my best to keep him out. Chun does well from outside? Fight Chun up close. Bison wants in and does most of his damage from inside? Keep him out.

By playing to your opponent's tendencies AND to the matchup, one can build a strategy for any type of play style.

Throwing in SF4

2008-12-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

I can't stop writing ideas down or thinking up new stuff, thoughts just keep popping up! This blog gets pretty analytical, but hopefully it'll be a good read for others. This piece has to do with throwing and it's importance in the game. Personally, I look at the "throwing game" as a a game of roshambo. Blocking is beat by throws, throws are beat by attacks, and throws can be stalemated by tech'ing. This blog goes over tech'ing, how you can use throws to your advantage to possibly get an opening, and my personal ideas about SF4 and throws. All in all, this blog is about learning how throws can be used to gain advantage.

Why throws are used: Throws are used to break an opponent's guard and gain opportunity for ourselves. When an opponent is sitting there blocking all of your strings, other ways of breaking defenses need to be used. Simply put, you gotta go back to the drawing board, something isn't working. This is why we have throws. Throws beat blocking, thus a person who is blocking all of my strings can be beat by a cleverly set up throw. A throw can be set up in a variety of ways, the most common being "tick throws." This is a very effective way to throw because you are essentially using 2 ways to break a defense, attacking and throwing right after. The opponent expects to block a possible string, yet you are "one step ahead" by throwing instead.

The mentality of throwing: Certain thoughts come with throws. For most players (myself included), teching throws can be very difficult. I find that I don't start tech'ing throws until I've been thrown once or twice. However, good players will be able to read telegraphed throws, and be able to tech on command. Note how I said that I feel as if I start tech'ing throws after I have been thrown once or twice. All in all, I wasn't threatened until my opponent forced me to be scared of it. This is essential to "learning" how to tech throws well. Basically to tech throws you must be looking for the throw at all times, it's not enough to merely react. By tech'ing throws, it limits the opponent's options. By proving that you can tech efficiently, you make it apparent that they must think of different ways to gain advantage. Thus, it becomes a battle of who thinks ahead first.

The risks of tech'ing: When an opponent is constantly tech'ing throw attempts, and is blocking all my strings, options seem exhausted. The alternative becomes attacking during their tech. Say that an attempt to tech is whiffed. This would make my opponent stand (the animation happens), and also give me time to punish during the recovery of the throw. Nonetheless, it hammers the idea that my opponent needs to second guess himself (to tech, or possibly eat a combo). This is a bit of an "advanced" way of thinking, however it is needed at top level play.

Throws come out real quick, in 3 frames meaning jabbing out of a throw attempt is nearly impossible...at times I'll even hear my jab come out and still get thrown. It's even more stupid when I attempt to c.mk out of it and SEE my c.mk animation come out however STILL get thrown. Basically if you don't want to get thrown, you must tech. The main challenge with tech'ing in SF4 has to do with when to tech. Think about it like this, on tick setups it becomes very difficult to realize when to tech after a set amount of blocked hits. Do I tech after the first tick? The second? Or do I tech after the crossover? This becomes important to know because if I choose to tech during the wrong time, I could potentially set myself up for 1 of 2 things: getting thrown after my mistimed tech, or potentially setting myself up to be combo'ed. Basically a mistimed tech can give my opponent options and opportunity.

I think this'll wrap up my thoughts on throws for now. There are still things that I need to test out and learn about however I think this is a pretty good start.

-1, and 0 frame links?

2008-11-29T17:35:00.001-08:00

Recently there has been a lot of attention and hype towards this Akuma video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g53rxCyyeQ8

The reason for all the excitement is due to the buff combo that the Akuma player pulls off in the beginning of the match. The combo is: c.mp, s.hk, s.lp, s.hk, c.mk. The Akuma player also threw a hadoken after the c.mk, however it didn't connect. All in all, the reason for so much excitement has to do with the amazing linking and execution that Akuma has entitled to himself. I mean, look at it, he links 5 normals, 2 being heavy hitting moves (the hk's).

So I took it upon myself to look into this combo a little bit more deeply. I do this with a lot of combos that seem new in the game...calculate the stun and damage the combo does, see how much variation it has, what advantages it gives after the combo, etc. However while trying to "break" this combo, something seemed very odd. It had to do with the amount of frame advantage and startup that these moves have...simply put this combo shouldn't even work.

This is gonna get pretty analytical here with frames and all, but I promise it makes a good point. Akuma's c.mp gives +5 advantage on hit. Akuma's s.hk startup is 7. You following me here? This would be considered a -2 link. In otherwords, the advantage DOES NOT give enough time for the next move to startup...it shouldn't be possible! I then went further with the analyzation. The s.hk move gives +5 and s.lp starts up at 4, meaning this would be a "1 frame" link.

Now in MOST other fighting games (I don't know a fighting game where the idea is NOT like this), a "1 frame" link is actually a VERY difficult link. It literally means that you have 1 frame to link your move. This means NO errors allowed...compare this to a 4 frame link, you have 4 frames to link your move, meaning you get 4x the chances to link. For those that played Cvs2, think this as a Sagat c.lk, c.mk link (a possible link, however pretty tough to do ALL the time). Compare this to his s.lp, s.lp (a 4 frame link), chances are, you'll hit the 4 frame link much more then you would a 1 frame link. Akuma's c.lp, c.lp is a "2 frame" link, which is also the same as Sagat's c.lk, c.lk. The reason why I bring this up, is because 2 frame links in Cvs2 actually took SOME timing...(as good execution always does), however in Akuma's c.lp, c.lp...this takes NO timing what so ever.

I went into more investigation and looked at my own character and his links, Ryu. Ryu's combo c.mp, c.hk is a "0 frame" link, meaning that once again it shouldn't be possible. Ryu can also do c.lp, c.hp (a 1 frame link) with MUCH ease...I can confidently say that I hit it at least 90% of the time. At the same time, I have tons of trouble with Akuma's c.lp, c.hp link (a -1 link)...I remember actually doing it about 1 in every 8 chances.

Until recently I didn't think anything of it, just that the "Master guide" had wrong info regarding it's frame data (which may or may not be the case, it's trivial, the shit still happens). But I started realizing that other players were dumb founded by it as well. http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=5769619&postcount=190 Here Viscant believes it to be a glitchy event, however I don't think it's a glitch at all. I think that this is merely SF4's combo system. So Why does this happen? Naturally I have no idea WHY the system works like this, but let it be known, this IS possible, and I have seen it and experienced it on several accounts.

My opinion is this...look at these crazy links like this: sf4 2 frame link = cvs2 4 frame link. By thinking this, sf4 1 frame link = cvs2 3 frame link, etc. At the same time , a -2, -1 link is possibly on heights with a 1 frame link. Hope this sheds light on things.

EDIT: Viscant did bring to my attention that the c.mp was a counter hit, meaning +3 frame advantage to the hit...so really it would the c.mp would become +8 on hit, therefore c.mp (counter hit), s.hk would be a 1 frame link.

I still stick to this theory though: Cvs2 4 frame link = SF4 2 frame link. Cvs2 3 frame link = SF4 1 frame link. Cvs2 2 frame link = SF4 0 frame link. Cvs2 1 frame link = SF4 -1 frame link

- Mickey

Things to remember during matches

2008-11-25T03:46:00.000-08:00

This being my first post, I feel it's only natural to write about my first thoughts concerning becoming a better player. This blog was created so that I can keep my thoughts (concerning Street Fighter 4) jotted down somewhere so that I could look back and reflect, and hopefully learn from all of these ideas and theories.

Shortly after SF4 came out here in Seattle, I seemed to be having a lot of troubles concerning playing more solid and consistent. I felt as if I was losing to people who I most definitely shouldn't have been losing to. At the same time, I would also realize that against certain friends, I would dumb myself down for them. All in all, there was something that needed to change. I needed a reminder, something to make me focus, something to push me to play more consistently.

So on September 28th, I came up with a small passage of writing titled: "Things to Remember." Anyways, I just thought I'd post this here, because it reminds me of my evolution as a player.

- Play Solid

* footsies

* anti air

* patience

- Stay focused, don't get frustrated

- Play the matchup CORRECTLY

- Read your opponent EVERY match (this one is starred)

- Realize why you lost. Gain something from your loss

- Play less scrubby in every match, no matter who the opponent.