[Counter=Hit]

An Update, but not an article...yet.

2011-10-15T01:36:00.000+01:00

So, it's definitely been quite some time since I've posted.

The main reason is Capcom's inability to make a patch without announcing another two weeks later.
AE2012 is pretty much the reason I haven't continued. There is very little point in doing so until it's out.

So, give it about a week into AE 2012 and we should have something new, however I will be amending articles and am going to be posting the long awaited Frame trap article soon.

Hoping to be helping you guys again soon!

- Francys 'Illustrious Vega' Pai.

Dancing with the claw - For intermediates - Part III

2011-05-15T18:20:00.000+01:00

The art of Kara throwing.

Why it's important.
Kara-throwing, is a giant chunk of Vega's game, therefore important, but it isn't exactly beginner; which is why it's being covered on a more intermediate level. Along with footsies, okizeme and having a pretty solid defense, this is another tool that you need to learn with Vega.

Kara, meaning "Empty", is the art of cancelling a normal into a throw or a special, namely a normal that moves the character forward. Some characters can do it with specials, but not into throws (For example, Sagat's Tiger Uppercut kara is off a f+lk. He can only Kara his specials. Makoto, on the other hand, can do both. Some characters, like Dictator, cannot kara at all.) and vice versa.
Bearing in mind, that a kara throw has more startup frames than a standard throw, as you are accounting for the frames of the normal that you have cancelled too.
Now, you're probably asking "What button do I kara throw off?"
Vega, as it presently stands, has two kara normals. However, only one of them is useful; you want the most maximum range that you can account for.
The first, is st.MK. His standing medium kick will pull him forward only a tiny fraction, so it doesn't make for a great kara, especially when you're accounting for those extra frames. Every little helps.
The second, and most important, and the one that you will be using. Is his standing heavy kick.
Standing heavy kick pulls Vega so far forward, it gains him the second largest range on a kara throw in the game (First being Ken's from a f+mk. You don't want to experience that range being done to you, it isn't pretty).

So, how do I do a kara throw?
A kara throw is performed by tapping your normal, and instantly inputting for a throw after (It must be before the animation starts. If he's doing a st.HK and nothing else. You're inputting for the throw too slow, if you're getting a throw and he's not moving at all, you're inputting too fast).
As a guide. Go into training mode and turn input display ON.

If you're doing it too fast, your inputs will look like this:
LK+LP+HK

Vega will throw, but you won't get the kara cancel, meaning you're just throwing normally. And with a kara setup, if you do this, you're giving your opponent 20 frames to hit you. When put in that perspective, it doesn't look good, does it?

If you're doing it too slow, your inputs will look like this:
LK+LP
HK

Vega will not throw at all, a standing heavy kick will come out. In some instances, this might be beneficial for you; but we're not basing our game on lucky execution mistakes.

Now, if done correctly, your inputs will look like this;
LP+LK+HK
HK

Vega will now move forward (Watch his feet) and a throw will come out. This is your kara throw. Use it and abuse it.

By now, you're thinking "So I know HOW to kara throw...but when do I use it?"
In truth, there is no "time" to use it. It varies by player and how they play. You won't be playing the same for everyone you come across. The important thing to remember, is to try to always always use it at maximum range.

However, to help you along your way, I will go through some setups that you can test out. These, like any "Tick throw" (Interrupting your own links to throw your opponent.), can be interrupted by mashed out normals, reversals, etc. Or quite simply countered if you get predictable as they aren't true links.

Kara setups;
All of these setups are done on block, but some can also be done on hit. You just need to leave a minor gap that is a little bigger than usual to accommodate for the hitstun. Some will even link on counterhit.

clMP, crMK > Kara throw
The nice thing about this setup, is that aswell as having slight frame trap capabilities (which I will be covering in the next article) , it is capable of hit confirming.
If the cr.MK connects, you will have the time to go into cr.lp, cr.mp xx EX FBA.
It is a tough link to get down on reaction, but once you're into the habit, it is a very effective setup.

crLP, crLK, crLK > Kara Throw
This is a very very fast block string that leads to a kara throw. On counterhit, the crLK, crLK will combo, but there is very little that can be done from it. It is merely a setup and nothing more.

crLP, crLP > Kara throw
If you're confident in your links, this would also be another great to consider. If your cr.lp, cr.lp connects, you could then hit into a cr.mp into an EX FBA. It is also one that can get predictable very quickly, so use it with caution.

crLP, crLP > st.LK > Kara throw
My favourite thing about this setup, is that in the midst of putting yourself at a very far range from your opponent is that it contains two hit-confirmable setups.
Obviously, as mentioned before; crlp, crlp can be hit confirmed into another crlp or a crmp and then cancelled into EX FBA.
The other, is if they try to counterpoke after your cr.lps and the st.lk connects, you can cancel that into st.HK or crHP. The cr.HP is a little tougher and quite spacing specific so I would heavily recommend doing st.HK instead.
Obviously, if you have godlike reactions and the confidence to try it, another combo that you could try is;
- st.lk, cr.lp, cr.mp xx EX FBA.

There are several more kara throw setups, but out of the twelve that I could think of, these were the most effective and efficient that I wanted to put out there.
Kara throws in themselves always have been rather situational, but they are a very important aspect of Vega's game.
Learn how to use them alongside your footsies and they will soon become very powerful tools that will make your opponent want to throttle you in the long run when they've fallen for several of them in a row.

And now for a fun fact;
If you attempt to Kara Throw using Cosmic Heel [df.HK], it will infact move Vega backwards. Difficult to pull off, funny to watch, but nonetheless absolutely useless.

As far as these articles have gone, it's been a very long road for me. However, I will be continuing them and I thank everyone for the support along the way.

So next up;
Frame Traps - A method of irking your opponent into walking into counterhits.

Dancing with the claw - For Intermediates; Part II

2011-03-02T22:56:00.004+00:00

Okizeme

And now for something completely different...or not really.

A word you may or may not have heard before and that this article is now covering is "Okizeme"; Which is just a fancy word for "Wake-up game."

An Okizeme is a series of attacks and baits, ranging from meaties to safejumps to whatever your specific character has that can pressure your opponent into making a mistake as they recover from a knockdown, that may lead to another knockdown or a very damaging combo.

I think the first, most important thing that we need to look at when assessing what to use in an Okizeme, is the risk vs. reward factor of what each of your attacks do.

For example, if a Ryu has an ultra stocked, along with two super meters, you most certainly do not use an option that will trade or get stuffed by a wake-up Shoryuken (as this will inevitably lead to FADC into Ultra, and you really don't want to be eating that damage).

Another example, is versus Zangief, once again, with an ultra example. If you cr.MK, he has the opportunity to grab you with Ultra 1, and nine times out of ten, this is going to happen to you. Therefore, to keep yourself safe versus Zangief's ultra, you would stick to a jump-out method of attacking, like Jump-Back HP.

In essence, it is extremely important in the first place, that you keep track of what your opponent likes to do on wake-up. After a knockdown or two, it should be pretty obvious to you what they do. Some people throw out a wake-up reversal, some people try to throw, others backdash and some just block.

At this point, it does become a bit of a game of rock, paper, scissors;

If he wakes up with an attack, you block.
If he wakes up with a throw, at the correct spacing, you can attack and your opponent will be hit.
If they like to wake-up just blocking, you can throw them.

A little further down the line, it becomes more like chess, but this is when your frame-traps and Option Selects begin to come into play. These will not be covered in this article, but rest assured, they will be at a later date. At the moment, you need to learn your okizeme properly before implementing such advanced techniques anyway.

There isn't much more to an explanation other than that;Just like baiting, you're aiming to make your opponent make a mistake, only this time, it's on their wakeup.

So without further ado, let's start with Meaties.

Meaties;

What is a 'Meaty' attack?

A meaty attack, is where you are catching the opponent with your LAST active frame of your attack which will generate the largest amount of frame advantage possible (In the case of Cosmic Heel, it is +3). Or, where you are hitting them on their first frame of an uncontrollable state, say, recovering from a knockdown.

These can become a vital part of Vega's okizeme game and it's important to know when and where to use them; So I'll go over some examples of a wakeup (Read: Using on your opponent's wakeup, not your own) meaty to give you an idea;

cr.mk;
cr.MK is probably a more commonly used meaty on wakeup (Afterall, this is a article about Okizeme). Mostly because it baits out a lot of wakeup reversals and will easily stuff them provided they are not an invincible reversal (IE Shoryuken). As an example, if you meaty cr.MK over Balrog's wakeup and he attempts a Headbutt, the Headbutt will be stopped before it can hit you by your cr.MK.

L.Rolling Crystal Flash² (² = Second hit)
This is an unusual, yet decent meaty and with enough practice and forcing yourself into the habit, it isn't too difficult to land either. The good side about it, is that it has deceptively long range due to the hitbox on his claw at the end of the roll and because of this, you are more prone to catching your opponent offguard.
On block, it is very safe (In that you are at +2, so your opponent would be unable to reversal you.), and if it connects, say, on a backdash or a counterhit, you are then able to link it into a four-frame of your choice. I like to use EX.Scarlet Terror, simple, effective, and is an excellent game ender.

Slide (cr.HK)
This is the easiest meaty to time right due to it's lengthy active frames, however, at a higher level, it is barely worth the risk of being punched by a reversal due to it's recovery if spaced even a little bit wrong (While it's easy to time, it can so easily be mis-spaced and it then becomes incredibly unsafe on block).

EX.FBA
This is another easy meaty to time correctly, due to it being almost exclusively active frames until Vega touches the wall. The downside? It costs meter and is extremely risky if you run it into a block.
However, it is good for the following situations;
- Situation A:
  You have hit your opponent with EX.Sky High Claw (Cross-over, jumping from wall BEHIND your opponent) on their wake-up before. They may expect another one and try to block from that direction. This would mean that they wiill now be walking into your EX FBA. It can play quite a mind trick with your opponent as whenever you have meter, they will be worrying about which way to block.
- Situation B:
  If it is timed properly, it will actually cross the opponent up. However, this is more of an advanced technique and I will be going over it in detail in a later article. Just remember this in the back of your mind for now iin case you want to try it out in training mode.

EX.Sky High Claw
EX.SHC, is more of a gimmick tool than an actual meaty as you are using it for a cross-up (Refer to link in 'Situation A' paragraph). It is very risky if your opponent has played a Vega who does this before, and you can end up in for a world of hurt if they guess right.
But it's just one more mind-game to think about; bear in mind, that like all gimmicks, however, if you use them too often, the risk/reward ratio will be inverted and you will find yourself taking much more damage.
*NOTE* EX.SHC crossup is character specific if they wake up crouching!
Characters of note in this are: Vega (You shouldn't be even considering any method of walldive in a mirror match anyway) and Chun-Li.

Cosmic Heel (df.HK)
Until arcade edition drops on us, Cosmic Heel, right now, is a very good meaty to use long-range. It has 5 active frames, making it easy to time as a meaty and unlike slide (cr.HK) it is safe on block and yields some strong frame advantage.
If it connects, you can the followup with Scarlet Terror (More on this later on in the article) for some pretty impressive damage.
Piece of Mercury (df.MK)
This should only ever be used at maximum range as it is high risk, low reward. You should bear this overhead in mind as a gimmick for when you come across a wake-up Down-back hugger. (Your opponent constantly wakes up in crouch block).
Once you have done this, on your next knockdown, you can then play around with a meaty cr.MK as they will more than likely be expecting another overhead. If you land cr.MK, you can hit confirm into EX FBA for even greater damage and an untechable knockdown to play this over again.

fst.LK (Far-standing light-kick)
This is a nice way to reset into a kara throw mixup (Which will be covered in the next article, stay tuned.). Vega can easily play with this, showing your opponent that you have the tools to play ball with them.
Fst.LK is going to be one of your tools that's going to make your opponent hammer their stick into the screen when you throw them a 5th time in a row. It's an excellent way to frustrate your opponent into making very easy, very punishable mistakes.
If your opponent thinks he can win the match without taking the risk of psychic reversals, it is your job to convince him of the contrary. It also combos into itself for a hit confirm into st.HK or cr.mp . It recovers so fast that it is even safe to some reversal ultras.

Throw
A throw is the main threat for your opponent on wake-up because, as mentioned before, it beats block and leads to another knockdown. To defend from the threat of a throw,your opponent has to take risks and guess right. Vega has excellent walk-speed and this combo'd with a long-range grab (even longer when kara'd) makes him a pretty scary contender on wake-up.
With a little creativity in mind, you can then play around with your opponent's wake-up to your heart's content, but as per usual. DO.NOT.GET.PREDICTABLE!

cls.HP (Close-standing HP, The double slash)
This is useful in a few ways.
First, if your opponent attempts to grab you on wake-up and you have timed this correctly, they are eating the second slash in the face, which then can lead further into cr.MP xx EX FBA. And then you can start your mind-games again.
It allows you to retain a down-back charge due to it's active frame duration so combo-ing out of it is usually not a problem.
It also can turn itself into a far-standing HP should your opponent try to backdash on wake-up. If it's a short backdash, you will either catch them with the second hit of cl.HP, or it will change into a st.HP and it will catch them.
This does not apply to all backdashes as some move differently to others, have different invincibility properties etc.

jb.HP
The instant overhead that will land you somewhere safe (Provided they do not wake-up reversal that has invincibility, IE, Shoryuken) It has range, is safe and lands you pretty far away. It will force your opponent out of db. block on wakeup and opens their guard for more cr.MK and bait traps.
More on the usage of this later in the article, if you're not falling asleep right now with your pen in your hand. In which case;
PAY ATTENTION, I'M DOING THIS FOR YOUR BENEFIT!

And with that, we move onto the dreaded Corpsehopping.

Corpsehopping;

Corpsehopping composes most of Vega's Okizeme game, it incorporates the use, primarily, of Cosmic Heel (However, this can actually be interchanged with Piece of Mercury [df.mk] too).

To be precise, a corpsehop is the act of moving yourself to the otherside of your opponent after you score a knockdown, without the use of a jump. It gives your opponent little time to react to your new placement on the screen and can generally land you in a very good position for another followup.

However, just like everything else it is important to not get predictable, IE: Do not corpsehop after every single knockdown that you gain.

With the brief explanation out of the way, let's start on some followups;

cr.lk xx EX FBA
This followup can become entertaining when done properly, in both 'Did that just happen?' factor and that it's a pretty good way of showing your opponent that they need to think quickly against you.
Usually, I do this one after a Cosmic Heel > Scarlet Terror; If they quickstand, they have even less time than usual to react to it. (Be very wary as some characters like Adon and Guy quick-stand faster than others, making a corpse-hop after a techable knockdown extremely difficult).
To do this, you land your df.HK > Scarlet Terror, Dash forward once, Do another df.HK (So that you're landing on the other side of them; And don't forget to keep a constant down-charge when doing the df.HK or you won't have enough charge for the EX FBA!).
Then, as they stand, input your cr.lk xx EX FBA.
I would only recommend doing this once, maybe twice during a match since your opponent can catch on quickly to what you're doing and punish you accordingly. (Remember when I mentioned a blocked/whiffed EX FBA puts you in a bad position? That.)
Personally, I use it against Dudley's that are a little comfortable attempting Cross Counter and Gouken's attempting to always High Parry on wakeup.
Another instance would be people who attempt to throw instantly on wakeup; The cr.lk, if timed correctly, will stuff the throw attempt and give you some free damage, and of course, the opportunity to set up another trap for them.
You won't get a lot of these at a higher level of play, but if you come across them; you know what to do.

Throw/Backthrow
This creates another knockdown for you to play around with some more corpsehop shenanigans, or even safejumps (Which you will read later on in the article). There is very little more to it than that. For extra mind game fun, learn how to use a kara throw.

jb.HP
The ultimate Anti-Gouken mind game. Ever played a Gouken that likes to hit that command counter on their wakeup? Now you can really make that hurt with a jump-back HP.
When done on Gouken, the attack will be absorbed, however you will not be hit. In the meantime, his recovery leaves him open to being hit by a cr.MP xx EX FBA. The timing is relatively strict, but do-able.
With the situational, character-specific piece out of that way another use is that it stuffs a few reversal wakeup attempts. They must have no invulnerable frames however (So, usually, a shoryuken IS going to hit you and it will hurt...especially if it's Ryu with ultra stocked).

Backdash
Backdashing away from your opponent is a great way to escape throw attempts, due to Vega having invulnerable frames at the start of it. This is not only important over wakeup, but in relatively close combat too. As people will often attempt a tick throw. A tick can be avoided by this backdash as can some low attempts at attacking.
On wakeup, it works in the same manner, it will avoid some reversals too, however it is very limited on this account and you're more likely to take damage this way.

Cosmic Heel > ST followups
If your opponent is not in the corner after an ST, you can followup with a dash forward and a corpsehop (However, due to the wakeup times, this does not work on Guy or Adon). After this, I will refer you back to the corpsehop section of the guide;
Bear in mind, the followups mentioned in corpsehop can also be done after CH > ST without the use of another corpsehop.
Other than that, there are "Safe-jumps". As an example;
Cosmic Heel > Scarlet Terror > Backdash > jf.MP If the opponent doesn't quick-stand, whiff a cr.LP and neutral jump with a late nj.MK.
*Note* This is safe to 4-frame reversals, meaning a Shoryuken WILL hit you.

And with that, we are now at the stage of thinking "...So what exactly is a safe-jump? You haven't explained this yet, Francys!"

So to elaborate;

Safe Jumping;

Safe-jumping is a method of jumping toward your opponent that will land you in a position, that, dependant on what they do, will allow you to avoid getting hit.

Most safe-jumps are performed on an opponents wakeup, which is why I have chosen to include them in the Okizeme section of the guide.

Bear in mind that some safe-jumps are character or attack specific (For example, some are safe to 3 frame reversals, such as Shoryuken, and others are not). As this is a guide about Vega, below are just a few safe-jump setups that can be performed with him;

Backthrow > Instant jump forward > j.MP
This is going to be your most common safe jump. It's safe to most attacks, including MOST 3 frame reversals (All of Ryu's Shoryukens, and all of Ken's aside Heavy...It pretty much punches your dignity right out of your face...kind of like Dudley's Cross-counter).
For a full-indepth article on what exactly this safe-jump works on, refer to Deuy's Backthrow > MP Safejump Results thread.

After CH, ST, whiff a cr.MK and jump in with a late j.HP.
This safe jump is only safe to reversals that are 4-frames and higher, such as Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick. This, unfortunately means that it is not safe to that ever pesky shoryuken and not only that, but your opponent MUST quick-stand.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this one but instead;
After CH, ST. Do ONE Backdash and followup with a late j.MP. This tends to catch people who attempt a throw or backdash on wakeup. It will catch 4-frame and higher reversals clean.

Backthrow opponent out of corner > Instant Wall jump > j.HP
This safe-jump, while decent, is also risky. It will not beat a shoryuken. If it is done against Honda, his Headbutt CAN Auto-correct if done even slightly late, and will anti-air you.

After Izuna Drop, whiff a cr.MK and jump in with a late j.HK.
Safe to all reversals > 4 frames.
Personally not one of my favourites, but it is useful against characters with reversals that are greater than 4 frames.
Out of all the safe-jump that I have mentioned, backthrow to j.MP is probably the safest and quite frankly the easiest to set up considering Vega's fantastic throw game.

PoM Followups

Last up, is the use of Piece of Mercury (df.MK) as a corpsehop.

While Cosmic Heel is always the recommended, once you develop the reactions of a cat, this shouldn't be a huge problem. It's a not-so-recognized method of corpsehopping and is also a little more ambiguous due to the low arc in which Vega moves through the air and over your opponent.

Just like corpsehopping with Cosmic Heel, I'd like to just point out that the following follow-ups are viable after a Piece of Mercury, whether you are doing it corpsehop OR Maximum range (Do not do it anything closer than maximum, point blank will leave you at -4 and Vega sitting in your opponent's face yelling 'Hit me!')

Throw/Backthrow
Backdash
jb.HP

And there we go, there is your Okizeme briefed, done and dusted. You'll always develop your own style as you learn what works for your mindset (every player thinks differently, and therefore will find some techniques more useful than others. Experiment to find which ones work with you.)

Next up is an article that I have long since wanted to write;

The Art of Kara-Throwing - Throw games at their finest.

Dancing with the claw - For Intermediates; Part I

2011-01-22T21:02:00.003+00:00

Before I begin the intermediates sections, I just wanted to take a moment to thank a few people for their help and direction particulary within the Shoryuken Forums Vega community.

So many a shoutout to my guys in Team Vega (You all know who you are!) and a very very big thank you to Ajunta for your input on these articles; there's so much I could have missed if not for you. I can only hope that my intermediate and advanced sections live up to your expectations.

So what does all of this mean? An introduction to Intermediate Vega.

So, you've read all of the beginner's guide, Before we begin, there is a checklist of things that you should now be aware of with your Vega now,

What a hit confirm is and How to hit confirm.
Your preferred normals
How to anti-air on the ground
What you shouldn't do
How to manage your meter
Ultra preference

As for terms, you should know by now, I will go over ones that I used again just to clarify; In case you were finding yourself misunderstanding them;

Hit Confirm;
A Hit confirm is how you ensure that your attack did not whiff or was not blocked before you commit to something that puts you at a disadvantage or at risk of wasting meter (such as cr.MP xx EX FBA, the cr.MP is the hit confirm here to ensure you're not just trying to hit them with a random EX FBA, which can be punished very very easily if blocked and is a large waste of meter).
However another example of a hit confirm (as the former mentioned requires fairly high reflexes and reaction time), is Cosmic Heel > Scarlet Terror; It is a juggle hit confirm, meaning it can be followed up into another attack and also does not waste meter.

Poke;
A poke is often considered a long range normal or command normal (a command normal is a normal move that requires you to hold a directional to do it, such as; df.HK [Cosmic Heel] and df.MK [Piece of Mercury]. The 'Command' is the directional, in these instances being down-forward.)
Pokes are often considered safe and are used in footsies (More on that in this article).

Overhead;
An Overhead is an attack that can only be blocked high (Standing). If you are crouching, you will be hit by it.

Untechable Knockdowns and Wake-ups;
A knockdown is when your character is knocked to the floor; in this state they are invulnerable to attacks but also cannot be controlled. To get back up, is called 'Wake-up', there are varying instances of wakeups and knockdowns.
A 'Techable' knockdown refers to being able to perform a quick-stand upon touching the floor by pressing either down or two buttons simultaneously. A quick-stand allows you to recover faster, characterised by your character rising from the floor instantly from the moment they are knocked down.
An 'Untechable knockdown'; such as what happens when you are thrown or swept (commonly by a characters Down-HK, it can vary in some character's cases such as Makoto and Dudley).
This is where you cannot perform a quick-stand, no matter how many buttons you press. You will remain on the floor for a set amount of time until you recover again and stand back up.
Your wake-up is what happens when you are recovering from these knockdowns; be it a quick-stand or from an untechable. Some characters will use these few moments to play various little tricks to make you fall into another of their combos or into another knockdown. This can be done by Baiting (which I will touch upon briefly in this article) and Okizeme; which will be discussed later on.

Auto-Correct;
Auto-Correct is when you input an attack; commonly a special or an ultra as your opponent is jumping over you or switching sides. The special will come out in the direction opposite to that of which it was inputted. This can often be advantageous in cases of Vega's ultra or his Scarlet Terror.

Anti-Air;
An anti-air, is a move that can be used by a character to defend against a jumping/aerial attack from their opponent by countering with an attack of their own; one that generally out-prioritizes
the opponent. It generally needs to be fast to startup, have very good range and a good hitbox.

Bear in mind, you should also know by now how to interpret basic frame data such as what frame advantage, startup, recover and active frames are.

In intermediate Vega, you will be learning things from footsies to wakeup games to followups from Cosmic Heel and Piece of Mercury. Not everything will come to you at first, you'll probably find yourself reading these articles more than once as you learn; but don't let it sway you, you're not going to learn everything about a character overnight and you're not going to incorporate everything you're reading here into your game overnight either.

So, enough of my prattling, let's get down to business.

First off, a brief explanation of Baiting;

Baiting is a bit of an obscure concept, in that they vary on a character-to-character basis. But the idea behind baiting is always the same. You're aiming to make your opponent do something that is highly punishable by you. In a way, it's the same concept as footsies where you're whiffing safe pokes in hopes to punish them.

Footsies;

What are "footsies"?
[Why they exist and how it relates to the tactical breakdown of your games.]

There are two main situations that you need to think about as a player when you are engaged in a match; They become clearer over time and you'll find yourself picking up on them with more experience;

Situation A -
If you have a guaranteed opportunity to do damage on your enemy, you use it to your advantage and do that damage. This, of course, works in the opposite direction too on the defense; You try to not give your opponent this guarenteed opportunity to do damage.

Situation B -
You have a tactical advantage over your opponent and you try to turn it into even more tactical advantage or into damage, and of course the exact opposite situation. We often refer to that as "Having momentum".

Now what happens when the situation is unclear ?

You can use your attacks, and so can he. But what happens if you whiff your attack or if you throw that move into a block?

It is then that the situation is clear that you have just put your oppoent into situation A or B. However, this in the sense that it is them that has these advantages to play with; and that, is bad for you.

So, how do we solve this problem?

Solving the problem, once recognized, is very very simple.

One example of solving these problems is something called 'Zoning'. This is where you are making sure that your opponent is not going to, or is unable to block and that your own attack is not going to whiff. (An example on top of this is, say, Ryu. He throws a fireball, anticipates the enemy jumping over it and initiates a Shoryuken. He is in range to do this, has put you in that setup and has prevented you from being able to block.)

However, Zoning isn't the main thing I am going to cover in this article and will be done in much further depth later on, so let's move on to the main point of discussion; Footsies.

When you play footsies, you want to avoid getting zoned. You want to avoid yielding tactical advantage, and you want to avoid sustaining heavy damage. At the same time, you are trying to make the opponent fail at at least one of these objectives.

Essentially, Footsies, is a method of players using their main pokes at maximum range in an attempt to make their opponent try to catch their poke with their own for it to be whiff punished.

A whiff punish is the method of punishing an opponent's whiffed attack with an attack of your own.

As a guide, I highly recommend reading through Maj's Footsies Handbook for a very indepth explanation.

Footsies and which ones you will use vary by person. Just bear in mind that the one thing that you are aiming for with them is to either:

Score a knockdown
Corner your Opponent
Make your opponent go to a section of the screen that is most advantageous to you
Keep your opponent away from you
Make your opponent fall into your setups for a combo.

Personally, from a poking perspective, I use;

cr. MK, cr.lp, st.lk, st.mk, cr.lk, Cosmic Heel and I'll give an explanation as to why:

cr.MK;
It's fast and has very decent range; if you hit your opponent with it, you can hit confirm into cr.mp xx EX FBA. Which gives you both an untechable knockdown and positional advantage.

cr.LP;
It's fast and upon hitting your opponent can lead into another cr.lp if they're close enough, or cr.mp, which again hit confirms into EX FBA.
Most of your strategy is going to be around either cornering your opponent (Which you do by poking them out first using your normals like mentioned in the beginner's section of this guide), or knocking them down with a slide (cr.HK) or EX FBA.

st.lk;
St.lk is very fast, on both startup and recovery making it an excellent tool for keeping your opponent pinned in a block string. It has a surprising amount of range, as you can see by the hitbox (click the 'st.lk' header of the section if you haven't already) and can stuff a fair few of your opponent's far attempts at poking.
Another good point is that you can combo from it. If it lands, you can combo another st.lk then into cr.mp, or even just cr.mp by itself off a singular st.lk. OR, if we want to get into difficult combos, provided you are in the correct range (IE, at this point you probably won't be in sufficient range to be using this as a footsie), you can combo cr.lp, cr.mp xx EX FBA from it.

st.MK;
More of a far-ranged poke, really designed for keeping your opponent away from you. It's fairly fast to start up and just as good on recover (at max.range, so that you're essentially hitting the opponent with your toes). It doesn't lead much more into that other than acting as a good keep out tool and setting up some spacing.

Cosmic Heel;
Cosmic Heel, I feel, is more of a whiff punisher and a tool to move yourself closer into your opponent's range. It can punish low pokes at your maximum range with some pretty nasty results (see Cosmic Heel > Scarlet Terror) for some easy damage.
You're not going to find yourself landing a cosmic heel constantly; you're more often than not going to be fishing for a punish with this rather than straight up hitting them out of the blue.
I always recommend this to be used at maximum range, otherwise known to some as using it as a 'Meaty'.
A meaty, is where you are catching the opponent with your LAST active frame of your attack which will generate the largest amount of frame advantage possible (In the case of Cosmic Heel, it is +3).

Air to airs;

An air to air is the act of using an attack while you are jumping versus your opponent who is doing the same. Usually, the attack with the better hitbox and better priority will win and the most common method of air to air is performing an 'Air Reset' where the opponent will be effectively knocked out of the air, but will not be knocked down; characterized by the hit character doing a flip of sorts in the air to recover before landing back on their feet.

So, it is essentially another method of anti-airing; and these are various methods in which Vega can do it;

Jump Back.MP;
This is quite possibly one of Vega's best air to airs. It's the kind you use against far reaching jump-ins such as Dudley's j.HK and Balrog's j.HP. You do have to react early to use it in this way, however; but Vega gains height quickly when he jumps, so it isn't something too difficult to get into the habit of doing.
The reason it's so good is the hitboxes. The attacking box reaches very far forward whereas his vulnerable hitbox is quite far back, making it difficult for your opponent to trade with you. Jump-Forward.MP can also be used as a more psychic anti-air; It does a decent job at keeping people in a corner that have a good answer to your air throw.
Neutral-Jump.MP is also OK for an anti-air, nowhere near his best, but can be thrown out late (with very little leeway, but just bear it in mind).

nj.HK;
It's extremely quick on going up, also arguably one of Vega's best air to airs due to the hitbox spacing and speed of the attack in general (in both startup and recover). While the vulnerable hitbox is fairly close to the active, you'll notice that it changes at the attack begins. You're aiming to hit your opponent about halfway through your own active frame so that your vulnerable hitbox is as far back and away from the opponent as possible.
You can hit people on a late jump-in with the first few frames of your active but you really need to watch out for those pesky reversals that some people will try when you put them into reset, also be aware of throw attempts, as if sometimes another option people choose when you reset them (Watch out for your opponent, they'll do a flip backwards if they're reset meaning they do not get knocked down and gives them chance to attack you).
Nj.HP also has it's uses, however, they aren't as good as nj.HK. Just bear it in the back of your mind and experiment a little.

jf.HP/jb.HP -
Decent and it works if thrown out fairly early (You will not catch many people with it if thrown out late as they will probably already be trying to hit you with their better-ranged, faster air attack). It's a common air-to-air among Vega's due to it being fast and coupled with Vega's quick jump, works on a fair few of the cast.

j.lk -
This is probably one of Vega's more underrated air-to-airs. It's fast, has surprisingly good range and the hitbox on Vega's body itself are small; making him a little difficult to hit.
While I still prefer jb.MP and nj.HK over this, it's not a bad air to air.

Air Throw;
Last but far from least, is Vega's airthrow.
Most people forget about it's existance until they're sitting on the floor on an untechable knockdown. And this is where it's important; It's an untechable knockdown, meaning you now have options and an advantage over your opponent. Which is something the other Air to airs will not give you due to it only making your opponent reset giving very little room for error or to start a new combo.

Intermediate BnBs

After Air to Airs, it's about time we started learning some high damaging bread and butter combos. In the basic articles, I went over simple bread and butters and hit confirms (such as cr.mp xx EX FBA and cr.lp xx L.Roll).

These next few BnBs are a little more complicated, incorporating one and two-frame links; They can seem tricky at first, but the key is figuring out the timing and no matter how tempting it is:

DON'T MASH THEM.

So, first up is cl.HP, cr.MP xx EX FBA (315 Damage / 345 Stun);
Very damaging combo, however requires you to be very close to the opponent (as to not get a far standing HP, which doesn't allow for combo capabilities).
A few people do have problems with the timing from the cl.HP to cr.MP, but it comes in practice; Observe where the cl.HP ends to see where you need to be pressing that cr.MP.

cr.mk, cr.mp xx EX FBA (285 Damage / 345 Stun)
I've always been far more partial to this combo, mostly due to the range.
Cr.MK and cr.MP are very long pokes, and seeing as you're using them in combo, means you don't need to be directly in your opponents face to set it off; It's essentially a longer hit confirm to cr.MP xx EX FBA but you'll find yourself hitting this often if you're using cr.MK as an appropriate footsie tool.

All of these can include a jump-in attack at the start; from j.HP/j.HK to nj.MK/nj.HK to j.MP and are easily interchangable. Note how all of these require the use of meter, meaning proper meter management is very very important for Vega; Conserve it wisely and don't waste it!

Well, this just about wraps up an introduction to Intermediate Vega.

Tune in next time for Intermediate Vega Part II - 'Okizeme, the art of wake-up mind games.'

Vega (Claw) j.HP > Slide Glitch

2011-01-17T23:57:00.000+00:00

Well, no update to the guide this time; I will be continuing as of the end of the week due to work getting in the way of things. But until then, have a video.

The j.HP > Slide is a glitch that has been present since vanilla SFIV, but was only really tested on one character. Turns out it still exists in super and I tested the whole roster.
This just has the characters that it works on.

Is it useful? Doubtful
Funny to watch? You betcha.

Dancing with the claw - For beginners; Part IV

2011-01-06T12:26:00.005+00:00

Welcome to Part IV of a Beginner's guide to using Vega in Super Street Fighter IV. This will be the final article covering the beginners and basics part of using Vega before I go onto intermediate.

If you have any questions regarding any of the information given up until now, please either write in the comments or find me over in (this thread over at SRK).

So, onto the next section; Anti-airs, Super and ultra, Simple BnBs and Meter Management.

Anti-airs

'What is an anti-air?'

An anti-air, is a move that can be used by a character to defend against a jumping/aerial attack from their opponent by countering with an attack of their own; one that generally out-prioritizes the opponent. It generally needs to be fast to startup, have very good range and a good hitbox.

Hitboxes? I've mentioned yet another word important in understanding how these little engines work. In every fighting game, every character has at least one anti-air and they vary by character, their decency, as I just mentioned, is often very reliant on their hitbox properties, which I will explain as I go through anti-airs and air to airs.

An insightful post by TonyLew/SupernovaX explains how to understand them which can be found under the spoiler tag below;

» Understanding Hitboxes «

So, what anti-airs does Vega have?

I'll be honest with you, none that are particulary effective, but you would have known this from Part I with it being listed in his weaknesses. However, there are several that people do use and when spaced well are able to do their job (Click the name of the attack to see its' hitbox);

cr.HP
As you can see, from the attack box that while it is considered an anti-air for Vega, the attacking hitbox is extremely low to the ground and very small. Truth be told, it is fast, and the range itself is decent; however due to the low hitbox you are more than likely going to either trade hits or just get outright stuffed before you anti-air them.

st.HK
The hitbox on st.HK is a fair bit higher than that of cr.HP, it is also larger, has more reach and comes out just as quickly, you'll also notice that his vulnerable hitboxes are positioned differently, making him less viable to be stuffed or to take a trade. Eventhough it only hits once, it is still a far more effective anti-air than cr.HP. On a non-anti-air standpoint, up close it's a great stopper for focus attempts as it hits twice.

lk.ST
This is more for if you're catching the opponent on a far jump-in, it can be followed up with varying strengths of another ST due to it putting them into juggle state. I find myself using hk.ST more and then following up with mk.ST. However, if you want something quick to start then lk.ST is your better suggestion of them all.

st.MP
While I personally have had a lot of success in using this (due to it technically being a taller cr.HP on terms of hitboxes), I wouldn't recommend trying it at a first glance. You need to find your own standpoint with it because you cannot throw it out as an emergency anti-air like st.HK.

Cosmic Heel
I really wouldn't recommend this as an anti-air, however, if you manage to Anti-air your opponent with it, it's a free ST followup and can even lead into Ultra II (See Vega's Trial #24)

Super

Just like I mentioned in Part III about Sky High Claw. Just...don't do it.

Unlike his version in ST, where it activated on grab, in Super Street Fighter IV, it activates upon touching the wall. This is incredibly bad for several reasons.

The most obvious being that it is already hard enough at a competitive level to land izuna drops out of the blue. Your opponent has ample time to react due to Super Freeze (Super freeze being the lightning animation in which everything on the screen slows for a moment when a super move is activated). And it doesn't take much to anti-air Vega from this before he can grab you due to the properties being the same as his walldive.

Avoid using his super wherever possible, it simply isn't worth it (Shoutouts to MoshpitPetey, because you need to learn to stop it!)

Ultra usage:In Super Street Fighter IV, you might find yourself using ultras a lot because they've become a more vital part of the engine than before. However, some character's ultras are better than others, being that some can be combo'd into, other cannot; some are easier to land than others too.

In the Street Fighter IV series, Vega's ultras have some use to them, but you should never find yourself relying on them. Here's a quick run through on both of his ultras and the pros and cons to using one over the other.

Ultra I - Bloody High Claw

Bloody high claw, since it's first incarnation in Street Fighter IV has always had it's various pros about as much as it's cons. The properties since vanilla SFIV have been modified so that it now has a "launcher" on the way up.

I'll lay it out straight with ultras because there's very little explaining to do.

The Pros:

Full screen fireball punisher.
As it stands, on reaction this can be used to punish fireballs mid-full screen. This is, of course, with the exception of projectiles thrown by Guile and Chun-Li as they recover far too fast to hit them even on reaction. However this is without the use of the launcher as the launcher does not have fireball invincibility and so you would have to move to the wall behind you.
If you don't know how to control which wall it goes to, it is dependant on the direction that you end the motion on. For example, the motion itself is listed as;

Down-Back, Down-forward, Down-Back, Up-forward.

This would give you the launcher (Provided it is not full screen, it misses some characters mid-screen too). However, if you wanted to go for the wall behind you (Which is often your best option), you would need to input the ultra like this:

Down-Back, Down-forward, Down-Back, Up-Back.

The control of direction can also be applied to his walldives and sky high claw depending on your motions ending in up-back or up-forward.

As a general punisher;
It isn't the greatest, but should you block a move attempted by your opponent that has a lot of recovery, you can punish, along with the launcher, for a lot of damage. On some moves it an interrupt them using either the launcher or moving to the wall behind you. I will be going into further depth on where you can do this in the matchups section.

It's fast.
I think, for an ultra, this is generally what can make one great when you consider Vega's mobility. I'm not saying to throw it out at random, but it is very easy to catch your opponent off guard with it due to it's speed.

The cons:

Easy to interrupt if done up close.
Unlike in vanilla SFIV where he wouldn't lose his ultra before he touched the wall, he can be easily light punched out of it if you attempt it in close quarters. You shouldn't be throwing ultra out like that regardless, but it is important to know that it will not get you out of a pressure situation.

Using the launcher as an anti-air.
When you consider the properties of the launcher, it might seem like a good idea at first to punish mindless jump-ins. It is not a good idea.
The launcher has a habit of anti-airing, but then the rest of the ultra will whiff. Meaning not only is this free damage for your opponent, but a waste of what could have been 450+ damage.

Now, onto Ultra II.

Ultra II - Splendid Claw

If you're looking for an anti-air ultra, this is it. It travels full-screen, is low to the ground and comes out fairly quick just like it's Ultra I counterpart.

Once again, there isn't much of an introduction about this other than this is what you will find yourself using versus non-projectile characters. Some Vega players even prefer this over Bloody High Claw versus projectiles, but as with most of his playstyle, it's down to preference. So without further ado, here are some pros and cons to using Splendid Claw;

The Pros;

Anti-Air
The great thing about using Ultra II over Ultra I is that it can be used as an anti-air. The timing isn't particulary difficult, though not as simple as something like Hakan's Ultra II to pull off; but it is reliable. You cannot be poked out of it unlike Ultra I because it has invincibility for a few frames of startup (making Vega invulnerable to attacks).

13-frame invincibility on startup
The first 13 frames of Vega's Ultra II are invulnerable to attacks, this also applies for fireballs during that time (but it generally requires the ultra to be activated at around close range to eliminate the chances of your opponent blocking). I personally use it against people who are a little happy at pressing too many buttons in either a block string or over your wakeup.

Has 'Auto-Correct'
Much like the varying versions of Vega's Scarlet Terror, Ultra II has something called 'Auto-Correct'. You might find when playing that your opponent will try to cross you up somehow (A crossup being that they are aiming for the back of your hitbox which means you have to block towards the attack instead of against it; IE, block the other way to avoid being hit), that your move will follow and Vega will start off his attack facing the opposite direction that you inputted for it.
A lot of the time, you are going to catch the opponent offguard with this, especially if they attempt a crossup into a throw or into some other unsafe move that leaves them vulnerable.

The cons:

As a fireall punisher.
As a fireball punisher, Splendid Claw is decent, per se. It is neither a great fireball punisher nor a bad one. If you're solely looking for an ultra that might stop a pesky shoto throwing projectiles, you're probably better off using Bloody High Claw.

Damage
The damage isn't as great as Bloody High Claw, but in itself, it isn't much of a con when you see the pros that really make up for it in comparison.

Simple BnBs

BnBs, or Bread and Butter combos, are just the little strings of moves that lead into specials that you'll find yourself doing often. They are always composed of a set of hit confirms to make sure you get the damage for the special in.

A hit confirm is a sually safe attack that can combo into another which helps the player to determine if they are actually hitting their opponent before committing to an attack that would otherwise be unsafe and punishable if thrown out randomly (IE, Vega's EX Walldive is not only unsafe when thrown out randomly, but is also a waste of meter, should it be blocked).

So, to start with, I will go into some very basic BnBs for Vega which will be looked into in much further detail in the intermediate articles.

cr.lp/cr.mp xx lp.RCF
After some time, you can start making it crlp, crmp xx lp.RCF, but for the time being, just hit confirming with either cr.lp, cr.mp or cr.lk will suffice. It does require you to already have charge though.
The good thing about Vega's claw roll is that when hit confirmed into, it will be relatively safe on both hit and block. It's good for keeping some minor pressure in a corner with but that is about as good as it gets. You'll find yourself using other BnBs instead at a beginner level as it doesn't really lead into any knockdowns.

cr.lk xx lk.ST/cr.mk xx hk.ST
As you might have seen in Vega's trials, he can do a few little tricks to combo into a Scarlet Terror. Scarlet Terror, in my opinion, might be a smarter choice than a claw roll outside of corner as it leads to a knockdown and while the knockdown is techable (They can Quick-stand), it will still give you a positional advantage to start implimenting a small wakeup game which I will talk more about in a later article.
The only problem with using Scarlet Terror, is that it will not hit an opponent if they were crouching when you hit them with the cr.lk/cr.mk, which then leaves you open to a counterattack.

cr.lp/cr.mp/cr.lk/cr.mk xx EX FBAThis is the main hit confirm BnB that you will be using when you have the meter to do so. It is probably Vega's best option with meter usage as it leads to an untechable (they cannot quick stand) knockdown. This is where wakeup games become almost essential to learn and I will be going over some of them in the next article (which is where we start looking at Intermediate techniques), this wakeup game also includes something known as the Izuna Trap (or Izuna Vortex/Walldive loop etc)

Cosmic Heel > Scarlet Terror
Your meterless BnB for easy damage. Of course, it is important that you remember not to throw out Cosmic Heel constantly; It should be used sparingly. As I mentioned before, Scarlet Terror is his best followup after Cosmic Heel but you should know all of this already from reading Part II.

Meter Management:

For the last part, it's just a short note on meter management.

With Vega, you really shouldn't be using your meter for anything else other than EX FBA (this will change in Arcade Edition in that it will also be used for EX Rolls for new BnBs of which this article will then be revised.)

You can build meter generally by doing empty walldives (holding back against the wall you jumped off as to not put yourself at risk of being hit.) There is also whiffing lk.STs.

Both of these, however, work at around full-screen only on account of not being punished (and even then it is character specific; some characters can still hit you from this range with devastating results.)

And now, you can happily sit back and say you're done learning the basics of how to play Vega. All you need now is to learn some more tricks of the trade, be it mind games or frame traps, I'll be going much further into it where we'll be looking at;

Footsies (More on poking), Baiting, Air to Airs and Intermediate BnBs

Dancing with the claw - For beginners; Part III

2010-12-30T21:05:00.004+00:00

There's a few long gaps between entries from here on out seeing as I'm trying to add a little more detail and I really would like to get everything down to make these guides as accurate as possible.

After explaining his cosmic heel, overhead, flips etc. It gets a little more complicated to explain while trying to keep everything still basic.

Regardless, as promised, let's start with getting out of a corner with Vega.

Getting out of a Corner:

For Vega, getting out of a corner can feel daunting at first (Considering his lack of 'Get off me!' Invincibility moves), but it is certainly important to remain completely calm. Pushing buttons, trying to jump up desperately trying to get yourself out and back flipping will only serve to keep you pinned; Right where the opponent wants you.

I personally make a lot of use of Vega's throw for this. Having great range and priority, you will find yourself using it frequently anyway.

"But...When do I throw?" I imagine you'll ask. Be aware that this is something that comes with time and every player is different. You won't be able to pinpoint the same throw time on everyone you come across but you can find ways to stop yourself being stuck there forever at their mercy.

The things you need to look for when cornered:

Patterns
A lot of players, when dealing with a cornered opponent, usually will try a set of attacks called block strings in an attempt to keep you under pressure. What you will find is that after a while, each string of attacks will have similarities. It's these similarities that you need to look for and figure out which of your attacks can counter them.

Throws
A common tactic when keeping someone in a corner is to do a technique called Tick throwing (More on it later), this is where the player interrupts their own blockstring to attempt to throw you. Sometimes you can be caught offguard, but if you know it is coming, tech it with your own throw. Then see how they react upon a tech. This may not initially get you out of the corner, but upon seeing their reaction allows you to plot ways to get out, should you tech another.

You can also be aware of jump-ins that they may attempt and counteract with an anti-air, which I will explain later in this article. Sometimes a jump-in is exactly what you need, especially when you're using Vega, who has a very decent forward dash. This often will allow you to dash under your opponent's jump in attempts (depending on the arc of their jump; meaning, you can forget dashing under Hakan.)

It is difficult to get out of a corner with Vega, but it is not impossible. I find that knowing that they will throw (assuming I am crouch charging), poking out a cr.lk helps immensly. It will stuff most throws and should you have meter, gives you an opening to link into an EX Walldive to get yourself out of there. Even if it is blocked, should you land on the other side of the screen, you will be safe against a few characters (except, for example, with the exception of Dudley, who will machine gun blow you back into a corner for your effort).

I use Vega's wall jump (Not to be confused with walldive) to often pull myself out, but it must be very well timed or you will find yourself back where you started (To do a walljump, just jump back against a wall and instantly hit up-forward, he will jump off the wall behind him).

Vega can gain a good height relatively quickly, and so, timed right, will jump over your opponent and put them in a corner instead where you can then press the advantage.

Another method, that was recently pointed out to me, is the use of Vega's slide (cr.HK) to pull yourself out of a corner when your opponent jumps at you. It's fast, travels far and shrinks his active hitbox (Making him far more difficult to hit). Due to it's speed, your opponent might only be fast enough to poke you once but it will rarely end in you taking a lot of damage if done correctly.

Other than that, the most important mode is block, block and block some more until you can poke out an attack safely (which usually falls hand in hand with the two points that I covered).

If you are finding yourself cornered often with Vega, you're not using his mobility to it's fullest. He has excellent walk speed and an even greater backdash. These keep him moving freely without compromising your spacing, so should you keep finding yourself cornered, you're doing something wrong.

If this keeps happening, try to figure out why you're getting cornered and make adjustments to your game to avoid the situation from happening again.

Pokes to be aware of:

For my next trick, I will be talking upon the subject of pokes that you should be aware of and some that you probably aren't using; perhaps from not realising their potential.

To start with, poking is a very vital part of Vega's game; being that he has some of the best moves to do it out of a lot of the cast due to their range and speed. This coupled with his walk speed makes him pretty dangerous in the right hands.

"What is this 'poking' that you're referring to?" I realize is what you're thinking at this moment, but to answer;

Poking is using various normals/command normals that are considered quick and safe; they can be used at various distances depending on the situation for varying purposes such as:

Keeping a character away
Getting your own character closer
To gauge your distance for moves that require specific spacing to work efficiently (IE Cosmic Heel and your Overhead)
To give you a method of grinding the opponent's health down safely, especially against characters that can hurt when up close such as Zangief.

Now that the description's over with, I will now explain which pokes are best to be used with Vega and why.

cr.lp/cr.mp
These two moves alone, are excellent and essential to Vega's game. Not only does cr.lp link into itself or a cr.mp, depending on your choosing (Leading to both a hit confirm and even into combos), but it makes for a great poking tool in itself due to the range [Obviously this includes the use of his claw] and the startup being fairly quick.
The recover is very quick, especially on the cr.lp and thus makes a whiffed cr.lp/cr.mp difficult to punish (Unless we're talking people mashing a shoryuken/cannon spike/some other 3 frame startup reversal).
It will more than likely be your main crouch poke as it also spaces fairly well and is one of the easiest methods to combo into Vega's EX FBA (Which is generally what you're fishing for when you have meter available to you.)

cr.lk
This, in itself, is pretty decent but only up close. I consider it better for preventing throw attempts than actually poking (seeing as pokes are meant to be distant attempts at attacking rather than deadset infront of you.) As mentioned before in my "Getting out of a corner" section, it can lead into EX.FBA. It can also lead into a L.Scarlet Terror (Bear in mind that this will whiff on a crouching opponent) and a L.Claw Roll (Or Rolling Crystal Flash if you prefer)
Just like before, it's fast, has good recovery and is all around fairly decent.

st.lk -
St.LK is probably one of Vega's more underestimated pokes. The range is good for what it is, it's fast, the recover is exceptional and even better you can combo (Even if it is a little more advanced) into cr.lp/cr.mp which can be used as a trap to your opponent (It's a frame trap, which I'll talk about later on, so just bear this term in mind for now).

st.MK
I always found that people underestimate the range of Vega's st.MK. In this sense, it's a great poking tool as it tends to gather plenty of counterhits (Which often do not trade with you) and in a way, can end up making your opponent a little scared of tapping a button even from mid-screen away.
It serves as an excellent keep-out tool because it can safely keep your opponent at a distance (Being Vega's longest reaching attack) and at the same time set up for other poking and footsie games that you may have in mind.
However, be careful; it's fast, but can be punished if thrown out a tad too much, just like a lot of his other long range pokes.

cr.mk
As was said with st.MK, Vega's cr.mk is quite the bit underestimated on it's range as well as it's startup (which gets even better in Arcade Edition). The greater thing about cr.mk compared with st.mk is that you can combo from this very easily into an EX FBA either by itself or linking into cr.lp/cr.mp. I recommend going for cr.mp if you're using it long-range.
All of these pokes, combined with Vega's walk speed can prove to be dangerous provided that you keep your spacing in tact and be tactical about throwing them out (IE, don't throw out a move for the heck of it. Actually THINK about your poke.).
Think to yourself "Where can I go if this lands? Can I combo? Score a knockdown? Maybe get myself in closer to do even greater damage?" You need to think all of these steps ahead otherwise your pokes become nothing more than random little attacks thrown out there; which may, in turn, get you into a heap of trouble.

When I start going into footsies, you may want to check back on this article to see which ones that you think might fit your play style when put into a different perspective; Not every Vega uses the same pokes nor the same tools to footsie. It varies by preference and is something that you'll come to by yourself. Which brings us to our next section;

Learning to walk before you jump:

Learning to walk at times, especially when you're new to fighters or even just street fighter in general, can be difficult.

You will see it all the time; players will always say "But it gets me across the screen faster =/"

True as this statement is, there's a lot of cons to go with perhaps maybe one or two pros that jumping in place of walking will do.

First, we'll start with the cons that may deter you from the 'pros' that aren't exactly pros when you start excelling beyond beginner...which won't happen if you keep jumping!

The cons:

Vega, as with many other characters, is extremely vulnerable in the air against a lot of the cast (argue airthrow all you want, it's easy to stuff and your opponent's antiairs are NOT your friend).

Vega's walk speed and back dash are far greater options as they allow you to evaluate your options far better as it gives you the option to poke and footsie from various angles other than just a jump-in attack.

Jumping gets very predictable quickly, due to the aforementioned lack of options to attack. At a higher level, this isn't going to get you much more than a punch in the face and even then, more than that.

Pros:

Well, sometimes at a newer level...that is to say, playing against someone who is also new, it might get you one or two free hits. You can't even really call it a pro because once you get past the level of a beginner, this becomes an entirely moot point.

Of course, I'm not saying "Don't ever jump.". But it is a far better option to use Vega's ground mobility before you start taking to the air; HINT: he is far stronger on the ground.

This just about wraps up part three of the beginner's guide to using Vega; Next up we'll be talking about:

Explaining hitboxes and their importance with Anti-airs and Air to airs, Basic BnBs, Ultra and Super and Meter Management.

Dancing with the claw - For beginners; Part II

2010-12-25T18:40:00.004+00:00

Moving on from the previous article, I thought I would cover some more points; including the use of his short flip, overhead and Cosmic Heel. These are merely basic overviews of each move as I consider option selects, corpse hops and other shenanigans as a little more advanced. However, in later articles they will be explained in further detail, so fear not.
But for now, on with the show!

KKK Flip

It goes without saying, that when used smartly that this version of his flips has a little bit of potential. Obviously, just like the PPP flip, you can use it to avoid fireballs, but I believe that this one is a little more catered to baiting.

Again, just like most bait tactics, use this sparingly and do not get predictable with it. It can be used to escape from minimal situations, but bear in mind the use of the word minimal here.

I tend to use it as a bait tool and nothing more (because I prefer fireball hopping [Which I will explain later] as opposed to flipping through projectiles).

Most people tend to use it in line with Vega's cr.mp poke in that you instantly cancel into a KKK flip. This generally baits a fair bit of mashed reversals safely leading to larger punishment opportunities. I personally would go for this when you are out of meter (which you shouldn't be with Vega, but just in case), otherwise, just cancel the cr.mp into an EX FBA.

You will end up far better off with an untechable knockdown and a nice 200 damage.

Df.HK (Cosmic Heel)

The Cosmic Heel; This is probably one of my favourite moves, as well as a lot of other people's (As brain dead as it can honestly get when it turns into your main BnB after a while).

This section of the article covers your basic followups on block and hit. In a later article I will begin to explain option selects and CH > ST quick stand followups. But until then;

There's a few things to note here when using it:

Use it at max-range (Unless obviously you're going for a very open punish on a whiffed/blocked attack.)On the tip, as of Arcade Edition, Vega is at +0 on block [-4 when used point blank]; At +0, This leaves him open to doing a backdash, throw, and in some instances a jump (be it neutral or directional). At +0, aka, Maximum Range, Vega is still safe; he cannot be jabbed, DP'd, Reversalled (Providing that you block) or thrown (Providing you tech, of course).
As of -4, you have a very big problem. Vega can be thrown, reversalled and even put into a combo, so space this move at maximum range. Always.

If being used on a wake-up, make sure it is a meaty; and don't spam it like an idiot!
This allows for time to block or tech, should they try to mash out a wake up reversal or throw. Essentially, you're giving yourself options, which is required to make this move work.

If your opponent likes to throw out a lot of low pokes.
Cosmic Heel can be used as a punish tool as it hops over low normals. Again, use it very carefully and at a safe distance as Vega will be poked out on start up if used up close. (This also includes being DP'd and thrown).

On block, you can do a variety of things, you can stuff crouch techs quite happily with jb.HP should they try to throw tech. It is also recommended that should you go for a throw, that you try to kara (Kara throw is vital to Vega's game) as it will usually beat any attempt of throwing that your opponent tries (Just make sure this is on tip and not point blank).
A neutral jump will also avoid any attempts at a throw and you can retaliate with a neutral jump BnB (More on that later).
A backdash will also bait out a bit of mashing or some panic moves from your opponent, which will often lead to another Cosmic Heel, which will connect and lead to bigger damage and more setups. However be careful as some reversals will catch Vega's backdash, experiment in training mode to figure out your safest options (I'm not doing all the work for you).
You can backflip (Yes, I said before 'Don't flip'), but it must be Kick backflip. This will generally bait out an attack from reversal happy players which you can usually then punish with a Cosmic Heel that will land, leading to a followup.
Another option is of course...just block and react to it. Being at -4 is a serious problem, so if you should ever end up in this, prepare for a punish (and consider yourself lucky, if your opponent doesn't do a huge amount of damage.).
However, at maximum range, and even anything within that, be prepared to tech a throw as is the common reaction of a blocked Cosmic Heel. Pay extra attention to how your opponent reacts to your own pressure; most will get wise and start to reversal you instead (IE, Shoryuken, if they're a shoto) as it beats out any form of pressure that Vega has at the end of one, clean.

On hit, you also have options.

First and foremost, resets. Just don't bother with them; they aren't worth the attempted mind games after when you can set a solid few points of damage that can be done with followups.

To start with, the most common followup from a landed cosmic heel:

Cosmic Heel > H.Scarlet Terror (240 Damage, 300 Stun) [260 damage, 350 Stun on EX]
This is generally considered your wisest option. It deals decent damage, great stun and puts you at some good spacing (You can followup with a safe jump, but you'll learn about those later).

Cosmic Heel > Slide (170 Damage, 300 Stun)
Generally considered the least favourable of your options (aside a reset); While it gains you an untechable knockdown, the damage isn't fantastic. If you've hit them in a corner and fishing for Izuna Vortex, then maybe this could be viable to you. But the vortex is something to not be relied on anyway. So always always always try and go for a H.ST instead.

Cosmic Heel > EX FBA, Izuna Drop (230 Damage, 270 Stun) [202 Damage, 210 Stun on claw strike].
Just like the slide followup, this is only good for fishing that untechable knockdown. There isn't a lot to say about it that aside from that, it isn't a great option and is nothing more than a waste of meter.

As for things that you shouldn't do with Cosmic Heel?

Use it point blank
If you endeavour to use Cosmic Heel point blank, you are placing yourself presently at -4 on block. If I haven't stressed this enough throughout the article and it needs to be said again; MAXIMUM. RANGE. ONLY.

Not mix up each blocked one with something different.
If you go for the same option constantly, such as a throw, things could get messy quickly as you will begin to get very predictable. This then leaves you open to your opponent adapting to the situation and finding various options to punish you; and believe me, it's never fun.
Constantly throw it out there and think you are safe.
Quite simply put, you're not.

Overhead (Otherwise known as Piece of Mercury) [Df.MK]

Unlike its vanilla Street Fighter IV counterpart, this move is now an overhead. However I must encourage you to use this extremely sparingly and always at maximum range otherwise you're going to end up shooting yourself in the foot (I don't think I need to explain further than that inside maximum range and especially point blank, you are going to eat a fair bit of damage for this.) It is very very easy to punish as the block/hit stun isn't brilliant and neither is the start up or recovery.

It does however, go over low normals. So should you find yourself against a crouching low normal happy opponent, you could get away with one or two of these before they catch on.

I tend to find myself using this on opponents adamant on holding down-back until the cows come home. It can also catch some wake up back dash attempts (but, for the love of all things holy, do not try this over a wake up on someone with an invincible reversal).

There are followups to a piece of mercury, however, they generally involve corpse hopping off a knockdown; which is something I will be covering at a later article. But for now, it's best to block or if you can keep them pressured, you can sometimes throw (Of course bearing in mind that guessing wrong will get you into a heap of trouble) and assess your options. You are at 0 frame advantage upon block on tip and -4 on block at point blank, so there isn't a lot you can do with it.

For now, this is the end of Part 2 of Vega for beginners; Hope you enjoyed and hopefully learned something from reading this.

In the next article, I will be covering the following topics:

Getting out of a corner, Pokes to be aware of and Learning to walk before you jump.

Dancing with the claw - For beginners; Part I

2010-12-24T21:05:00.009+00:00

I thought about doing something like this for a while and in the end, threw my hands up and went 'Let's do this.'

So here it is; this will be a multiple part article on the basics and the do's and don't's of how to play Vega and other things that you should consider. For now, we're starting on the don'ts.

I will be using Frame Data in these articles and so I recommend reading up on it first. A pretty decent article on how to read it can be found over here at Eventhubs but the general gist of it is that + is advantage frames and - is putting you at a disadvantage.

[Note: This article is aimed at beginners who are just starting out with Vega; I will go into far more depth and maybe start an intermediate/advanced part later on. But for now, let's start from the top.]

The first things you need to consider before you begin learning Vega is his strengths and weaknesses.
Most players will pick him up first, realise his weaknesses somewhere down the line and then switch to someone else after realising he's not for them. Here's a quick rundown as a 'Here's what you're getting yourself into.'

Strengths:

Excellent walk speed and even better backdash giving him mobility to get around the screen easily.
Great range on most of his attacks.
Isn't an easy target to anti-air due to the speed and trajectory of his jump.
Strong poking/zoning game
Focus attack has good range.

Weaknesses:

Low stun rating, so he dizzies very quickly
Low damage output without having to use EX Meter.
No reliable anti-air.
Hard to get opponent off you, for example, when cornered.
Losing your claw will lose you a lot of range and lowers your damage output.
Trading hits, especially without your mask, is almost always a losing scenario.

Still want to learn to play him? Then read on. Here's what you SHOULDN'T be doing with Vega.

PPP Back flip.

Argue the case all you want, this move is an absolute no-go as a Vega player (with the exception of avoiding chip damage versus Cody's Ultra II). You can be walked after and thrown/hit, slid after if you're against a character with a slide (IE, Dictator) for a knockdown which then leads to further problems, or even hit with ultra if done point blank since all in all, it is a free ultra for most of the cast, and you REALLY don't want that.

Think on it; your opponent has 65 frames to think, 57 of those, you are invincible. But in that time, they'll have caught up to you and you are free to them for 8 frames. That's pretty much enough time to be hit with anything when you consider the start up (which will probably be happening mid-invul frames, so you're getting hit straight on their active and YOUR recover).

You will find if your opponent does not ultra you, they will go for an un-techable knockdown (IE Throw or Sweep); Vega has an extremely weak wake up game and most characters can take advantage of this with a simple Okizeme game (The art of attacking over a character's wakeup) or just general baiting tricks.

All in all, an untechable knockdown is bad for Vega, so avoiding a PPP flip is just one way of keeping away from situations such as these.

Full screen HP RCFs

The topic of full screen H.Roll.

I have seen many a beginner Vega do this, thinking that it's smart to use it to get across the screen in short time, or to just generally think they may hit the opponent off guard.

This honestly, is not the case; It's so slow on both start up and active frames, it's a free hit for your opponent and the same as PPP flip, the outcome can be bad.

Even up close a H.Roll, while possibly may deal decent chip, the start up is so extremely slow, that chances are, you will be hit out of it before your active frames even begin.

He is extremely vulnerable when this move is just thrown out there randomly, just like his Wall Dives (Or Flying Barcelona Attack for people who are clueless), which I will cover in the next point.

In short, Don't do this, ever. It has no invincibility, not even to projectiles; all you are doing is setting yourself up for a free combo.

Random Wall Dives

I can hear you already "But Izuna drops do really good damage!" and true enough, they do. But at a high level, the chances of spamming the move and having your opponent fall for it?

Minimal. Absolutely Minimal.

A few things to note is that despite the damage being pretty good when caught with an izuna and it being fairly easy to hit a button on a nitwit opponent and catching them claw strike or drop; It is still a very bad idea to rely solely on this.

I see it a lot from Vega's online and even at tournaments (and you can bet that they don't make it very far) and you can believe me when I say, "Don't.".

The reasons are quite simple and are as follows;

Recover.

Vega's recover off a wall dive is 31 frames (during that little hop-back that you see when he touches the ground). In these frames you are completely vulnerable to anything that your opponent wants to do to you; just like the PPP flip, this includes and is not limited to taking an ultra or a knockdown.

Easy to hit Vega out of the air.

While you may sit there in some games and realise "This person doesn't have a clue how to anti-air." It is seriously no excuse to keep using the wall dive. You will become predictable and believe it or not, reflexes like a cat aside, you will not always be able to psychic izuna/claw strike someone when they decide to go air to air with you.

All in all, just like most of Vega's moves on their own; using it sparingly is key, see how your opponent reacts. If you can get away with Izuna vortex-ing them all day, then keep doing so. However, be prepared for them to adapt and you to take a lot of damage for your troubles.

Random Sky High Claws.

There isn't a lot to say about this aside from don't do it.

Only the EX version is really viable in a fight and even then it only tends to work once and only once as a cross-over. You can use it versus fireballs, but you must be very on point and will not work versus Guile and Chun, due to their recovery being so fast.

A non-EX version will get you a nice ultra in the face even on hit, so as a rule of thumb, just don't use it. It can be used as an escape tool, but most of the time, this is not at all the case.

You will be lucky if it works and you will eventually find when it will and won't.

I will hear someone out there saying "LP version can antiair..." Yes, and so can st.HK and that does the job better. So just don't.

Spamming back flips in the corner

There should be no arguments here, it's worse than hitting random buttons and hoping for a counter hit in a corner. Be it the kick version or punch, they're as bad as each other for this situation.

This, just like every "DON'T.DO.THAT." in this article, is a free hit for your opponent as the key to being a good Vega is to stay calm and collected and wait for an opportunity.

I will cover the 'Getting out of a corner' part of Vega's game in my next article but it's time to wrap this up.

If anyone has any input on the things that I missed in these points, give me a shout and I'll be sure to add them. This is meant as just a general 'don't's article on people who are new to playing Vega in SSFIV.

Next time:
The shorter backslash, Cosmic Heel and Overhead.

Why Europe is of considered 'Low Tier'.

2010-11-27T23:46:00.000+00:00

Slight...disclaimer if you will. The things said in this entry do not apply to all Europeans (You'll KNOW if it applies to you, believe me), but as of now, it's the general consensus in my head and I promise not to prattle on for hours. So, have my quick opinion.

So, this is something that I've been meaning to step on for a while; Why Europe is often considered low tier. "Get the hell outta here with that noise, Francys" I imagine is the phrase that you're about to spew at me, but before you open your mouth, just take a read.
My first major gripe, primarily in the UK, is the lack of a stable scene, tournament or casual; unless you live in London/Birmingham/Manchester, it quite simply does not exist.
This pretty much sums up that without a stable OFFLINE community, your game is going to suffer pretty terribly. Whether it's street fighter, blazblue, hell any game you can take competitively, without that offline practice, you're going nowhere fast.
For comparisons sake, you don't hear much about arcades or large scale tournaments in Europe...ever.
Whereas we look at the US scene...there's tournaments going on in at least one state every week. Not every state has an arcade, yet they still find the time to organize a meetup just to get those all important casuals in. Now compare it to Europe, chances are there's a tournament once a month, if you're lucky.
Yet most of Europe sits there going "Why are we always considered the lowest of the low?" Well there is your answer, meeting up for tournaments, casuals, just general get togethers. It just doesn't happen.

Now on that note, high end tournaments. Off the top of my head, I can think of three that happen once a year throughout Europe:
Super Versus Battle (UK)
VS Fighting (UK)
World Game Cup (France)
Compare that to the US and Japan, where collectively you have Evo, GodsGarden, Tougeki, Season's beatings, West Coast Warzone. The list goes on and on. The play level is exceedingly high at every single one of those tournaments and the unwillingness of people in Europe to travel is also what puts a huge hindrance on their play.
"But it's too far." I'll hear you say, was it too far for Gootecks to go to Japan? Too far for GamerBee to go to Evo? If you know there's just one of the high end tournaments that you want to go to, make the effort. And if you can't make it to one abroad, then kick your local players up the ass into organizing a regular thing.

I know this seems like a bit of a rant, but honestly, it needed to be said.

TL:DR.
Europe is lazy. If you think you can help your scene grow, take steps about it already!

Vega's (Claw) arcade edition changes...or...

2010-11-16T19:28:00.001+00:00

...Why people need to stop whining about them!

Since the announcement of Arcade Edition, and along with it, a loketest with some "Omg Vega has been chaaaanged!" Things on the Vega boards over at SRK have started to take quite a pissy little turn and I can now see why Alexlkd decided to leave. Granted, If you've ever been to the Bison side, you'll have seen bitching, with the Vega boards, it's quite the same sad story.
Now, no disrespect to the members there, there are plenty who keep their cool and will have a levelheaded respect for one another's opinions. That is something I can appreciate.
What I don't appreciate is "Wah wah wah, Cosmic heel got nerfed and his damage sucks anyway so HE NEEDS A CROSSUP!"
Really? Do we REALLY think Vega needs a crossup? Do we REALLY think his damage is that miniscule?
Why are you whining? You chose a character to play knowing full-well that he has an uphill battle, hell in vanilla, almost every fight was uphill. This was partly due to glitching and mostly to do with hitbox problems. But my point is, you dealt with Vega in his absolutely horribad state then, why is this tiny nerf such a problem for you now?

Okay, the argument I've had thrown here is that Vega loses a lot of mixup options. True enough, he loses the option to have a df.HK blocked and then go in for a throw, a sneaky ST once you've conditioned your opponent into throwing, or neutral jump shenanigans.
However, why should this be a problem? You should be spacing yourself correctly anyway to land infront of the opponent, not sitting in their blockstun and hoping they don't mash out a reversal when you go for that mixup, or you should even be hitting them in the face to nab a free scarlet terror...which wait, leads to your corpsehop shenanigans.
My point is, his corpsehops are unaffected, as it is only "ON BLOCK!" So spacing will now be more essential. And if you haven't spent a lot of time determining your spacing as a Vega player, why do you think you have the stones to complain? It's fundamental that you learn how to space exactly, otherwise you're eating damage from his unsafe moveset.

Now, enough about cosmic heel. The one thing that has really gotten on my nerves lately is the "Vega needs a crossup." Excuse. Before I start, think to yourself; Does Vega REALLY need such a move when it quite simply, does not fit his style.
Let's start off on a little damage comparison shall we?
Crossup MK, c.lk, c.lk, c.lk xx L.Scissors. For M.Bison. This does around 200 damage at the most? Give or take?, and is a standard BnB for him.
Now say...you went for Crossup mk, c.mp, c.mk xx EX SK. It actually doesn't do much more. And this is with the inclusion of an EX attack.
Now Vega on the otherhand, let's take his j.HP, against certain characters on certain spacing, it can crossup. If this were a consistent crossup on all of the cast, with a bar of meter, you are already looking at;
j.HP, cl.HP, cr.MP xx EX FBA...a solid 381 damage and that, just like Bison, is a standard part of his BnB game.
Now when you look at that number...it's a bit scary, isn't it? That is almost super level damage.
It's at this point, I start getting irked by people who say "Vega does no damage wah wah."
Now hop into training mode, stick your attack data on and rinse some bnbs with not just Vega, but a few characters and look at how he would be with a crossup, does this really fit his style or even yours?
If it does, fair play to you, but you'd probably be better off switching to a character with crossup options. If you're content with him not having one, then keep him. Vega isn't as weak as people say and to be honest, I'm quite sick of people saying that he is.

At the end of it, I personally do not see a use for a crossup. In HF he had one, which led into what I've seen called the "Touch of death" combo. If you want something that stupid being in a game, go and play Blazblue and learn how to loop with a character. You'll soon start seeing just how UN-FUN it is.

Online Play - The pros and cons.

2010-11-14T11:53:00.002+00:00

For a while, I've been wanting to write an article on this, but to be honest, wasn't sure where to begin. so I weighed up the pros and cons, sat down with my list and thought; "You know what? I may not be great at this game, but it's sure as hell worth a shot, just posting my opinion here."

So, let's begin; online play.
I guess you could say that it does have as many pros as it does cons, maybe I'm just unlucky to live in Europe where the internet connections are pretty damn crap or just that it seems a common trend that online European players, 8 times out of 10, are just plain trash.
Using turbo, mashing crap out of buttons because under lag, this works an absolute treat, especially with characters who have chainable normals, hell even fireballs.
No disrespect here, because this doesn't apply to ALL European online players, it just seems the higher up you climb the ladders, especially in ranked match, you're going to start coming across your turbo and lag abusers more than you'd care to.
Take Mr_Demon_B as my recent little example. The guy, as you can see from the inputs, is that high up in points...yet look at that turbo. He isn't the first person of that degree of points that I've seen do this, and it certainly won't be the last.
So trailing away from "Why Europe is often considered low tier." because I could ramble all day; let's get back to the online.
The cons of playing online can be listed in a few simple categories:
+ Lag
+ Turbo Users
+ Disconnects/Rage mail.

The last one of the bunch isn't exactly huge news, we get them all the time when people get so incredibly salty and you can just brush them off. But it is a little frustrating when you're trying to learn from your mistakes, you have a really good match, you think,
"I'm going to watch this later, see how I can improve so next time, it won't be so clutch."
Then it gets down to that slither of health...and bam disconnects. You've lost your replay, wasted your time, and your ability to further your learning.
Then comes the rage mail. While you can laugh at it, it doesn't make it any less annoying when they spam your inbox until you have to use the pretty little block button.

My second point. Turbo users. Oh the almighty online warriors that think turbo is the way to go because "Ololol I'm better than j00!" No, quite simply put; if you're planning on going to tournaments in the future, you're going to get knocked out in the first round.
In one night, I fight 22 opponents, almost half of them, had a wonderful stream of inputs to match their absolutely terrible skill.
An example would be recently, seeing my other half fight a Zangief and going "Wow, I outfootsied them, stayed out of range...I think I did well there, Good game!"
Then you watch the replay...
It dawns on you that all you just played, was someone who knows how to hold a button down and spin the stick.
It makes you wonder what the point to online is anymore when you watch replays from the US or Japan, you rarely see this. Yet Europe...it's embarrassing to say that I'm a European player when we have THAT as a representation.

And the lag. This is the bane of pretty much everyone's existance. Doesn't matter if it's a fighting game, shooter, racer. No. Lag screws with your game whether you like to think it does or not.
You can't combo/shoot something/drift around corners in either of those genres mentioned at all smoothly when there's lag.
Especially in fighters, reactions are everything. How can you react when it lags so much that you think they're still in the air...or even mid screen, and it's as though they've just Bison warped in front of you and you're eating a throw or a hugely damaging combo in the face. And for what?
People often will reply to this with "Play offline then."
This isn't the US or Japan; Arcades are not widespread, and the players are spread even further.
Take the UK, for example. If you don't live in London, Birmingham or Manchester, then the chances are, your scene is about as great as about 3 people. In Wales, we, luckily have a combination of three Welsh cities and a close English one (Newport, Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol) that makes our scene somewhat worth playing in.
But the point is, not everyone has this luxury of an offline scene, especially evenmoreso with diversity, so you have to resort to online.

However, taking all of these in mind, there are positive notes.
If you can find a few great connections with people who are very decent at the game and you can learn from, add them. And keep looking for that diversity. Online, when the connections are right, is often a great place to learn how people play, how a character works and what you can do.
True as it is, you can learn how a character works in training mode, but you don't get the experience behind the thought processes of different players. Whereas online, you will play a very diverse range of styles. You'll have people who play a character away from the norm that will surprise you, others who will play conventional, and others that really press your ability to think.
It prepares you for different ways, and if you get enough experience. You will be able to sit in a tournament, or even online with someone and have the knowledge to say "Ah, you're this type of player." merely seconds into a round.
Be aware, of course, that a great player can adapt, so if they see something isn't working, they will change. You also have to adapt your game to accomodate this. But in your experience, you should be able to recognize these changes immediately and know how to counter it.

Another thing. I notice a lot of players saying "I can only do this in training mode." Do you ever attempt your combos outside of training mode? Offline at a tourney? No?
So do it online, there's nothing to lose online, aside maybe your sanity with the lag and turbo users, but it's a great way to pull yourself into the habit of going "Yes, I have this move/combo, I can do it here. I know what to do."
It will start working it's way into your offline game and overall, you will improve. Sticking solely to training mode all day will not condition your reflexes to say "This combo. Now." Only playing and applying it to matches will.

I may have missed a few things here, but this just about wraps up my little...well, I wouldn't consider it an article. More like a rant trying to pass as an article. And with that, I can only hope those that read my blog could give some input here too.

The Welsh/Bristol scene....This BIG one?!

2010-11-12T09:41:00.000+00:00

An announcement of sorts. Nick, the organizer of out ranbats here has made just a slight proposal and to be honest, I'm all for it should we be able to get the numbers and the decent venue. Iirc, V-Sync is a decent as hell venue, and I mean, decent. It's a LAN gaming centre, so already you do have a lot of consoles and tvs at your disposal.
However, the price of hiring it out for a tournament day...you'd need at least 15 players JUST to cover the cost of rent :/ Which is why, I think, it's hard to get a solid 30 players each time for our ranbats because we have to charge to much to cover it before even thinking of a prize pot.

Anyway,
For the announcement:
"We've had a lot of success in the last few months as far as Wales and Bristol has been concerned in the fighting game scene. For years we've been in the shadows of the likes of Manc, London and Birm as the scene here never got time to development. Thanks to emJay we were able to push things forward and now we have a scene. Amongst our players we have some good talent and I feel we have the ability to push it to the next level.

We've had SvB, VSFighting etc so is it time we put into motion a massive event on our front? I'm not talking soon, next year perhaps. It would be good to pull other figherts from around the UK to Wales to test their metal.
Thoughts?"

I think, if we could get this off the ground, it would be brilliant. Having such a large-scale tournament so close to home is always a good thing. Even if it got to just the scale of VSfighting, that would be huge enough considering our local scene as it is. Though the question would be "What games?"
By default because of the already established scenes in each of these games, these are probably some of your best bets;
+ Super Street Fighter IV
+ SF III: Third Strike
+ Tekken 6
+ Blazblue: Continuum Shift.

Whether we add games like Melty Blood or Guilty Gear, hell, we'll probably have MvC3 by the time we do this since it's not too far off now, remains to be seen. I personally hope for SSFIV, 3s, BBCS and MvC3.

I think though, a look at the "So you want to organize a tournament." articles is needeed before any of this lifts off the ground, yup yup!

Third Strike Sessions - A.K.A. The Ultimate Gash...and other news.

2010-11-09T22:51:00.001+00:00

So, as of recent a few guys have been getting together to play Third Strike and I thought I'd join.
Now in all honestly, I suck absolute balls at the game, but watching so many people around here play it and that there's a bigger community in the Wales area for 3s than there is SSFIV makes me want to play it even more.
You can guess by the image for this entry that I main Twelve. I have a fair grasp of him, though it's apparently peculiar to see him being used in a rushdown manner. But hey, I like him in that way because I believe he has potential for rushdown.

Anyway, enough about my escapades in Third Strike. I've picked Blazblue up again (Not that I ever dropped it,...I got lazy) and I think as an alt it's currently a toss-up between Tsubaki and Lambda. They're both as fun as eachother.

However! I'm still trucking on with Vega, I think I just needed a good night's sleep and a break!

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition - Vega [Claw] Changes.

2010-11-03T14:09:00.001+00:00

While I initially thought I was more than likely going to have heart failure and die the day we got Vega's [Claw] arcade edition changes; it turned out being quite the opposite.
Once again, I'll go through the list, just as I did Hazama and you can bitch/whine etc about how wrong I am later. We good? Good.

Changes to Normals
+ cr.MK start up is now 6 frames (2 frames faster)
This, I think this is a very decent buff for Vega. It's now a much better footsie tool and I can see it being used more for spacing that before due to how fast it is.
There isn't really a lot to say on it aside from "This is a pretty awesome buff."

- Less damage on cr.MP and cr.MK
Damage nerfs are always beyond sucky. While we don't have numbers yet, it seems, it might not really be anything major. Though I might just have to go and hurt someone/something if it's a stupidly high nerf.
I imagine the cr.MP nerf came about from the constant whining of people who can't get around the scrubby online Vega's that do nothing but cr.mp all day. Meh, Not their fault, you're dumb. Not much of a need to nerf it.

Changes to Unique Attacks
- More recovery for Cosmic Heel [df.HK] on block
Not very happy with this. However if it's ONLY on block, it's not as bad as you'd think initially looking at it. It means you still have your corpsehop knockdown shenanigans so at least it isn't completely useless. From what I've read, it's only 1F more. So with correct spacing, it will still work, just means you can't be df.HK happy all the time (Not that you should be, anyway!)

Changes to Specials
+ Less recovery on EX roll
This is kinda meh-ish when looked at just at a glance (who the hell uses an EX roll?) Plus it's extra meter and goes completely against Vega using and abusing his meter for BnBs that involve EX FBA. However, taken into perspective and with the buff below....you'll see it's a decent change.

+ You can now combo cr.MP from EX roll
Now this. this is good. This means j.HP, cl.HP xx EX RCF, cMP xx EX FBA may be possible.
However will this equal Big damage or highly scaled? Being the cynic and pessimist that I can be, I would firmly believe the latter, but we'll have to wait and test these out when they arrive on our doorstep.

Ultra Changes
- U2 has slightly more startup.
I'm a bit so-so on this. It could be a buff (If you factor in the PAIN IN THE ASS timing that it requires for Vega to slide under projectiles with it, it might make it a little easier to judge.) OR it could be a nerf because slower startup is never ever ever a good sign.
Eitherway, I'm far from bothered about this change because under any circumstances, I live by the term of "Never rely on your ultra to win you matches.".

Other Changes
+ Is considered to be mid-air right after the invincibility frames of his backdash end.
At first you're going to look at this and go "omfg no." But look at it again and THINK.
This means, you cannot be thrown until 3 frames into recover (previously, it was earlier) and it means you also cannot be OS teched by your opponent and if tagged, will be reset instead of eating a full combo.
Sounds better now doesn't it?

All in all, aside the Cosmic Heel change, I'm quite content with this list.

Blazblue Continuum Shift II Hazama Changes

2010-10-25T13:22:00.001+01:00

As of BBCS: II Loketest IV, the apparent changes to Hazama have quite clearly made him a royal pain, if not, useless to use; Feel free to read below on my opinion about how each change may affect how he plays.

Changes to Ouroboros (Drive):

'Startup and move speed have been slightly slowed.'
Now, the changes to his Ouroboros, while you can look at it and go "Oh...slower startup...and slower movement. Greeeeeaaat!" I've heard that it is barely noticible, and so shouldn't have much of an impact on Hazama's playstyle; of course, this applies only if you can use him correctly.
Whether this changes by the next loketest or by retail has yet to be seen, since these changes have been around since about loketest #2, and we're on #4.

'Gauge takes longer to recover.' - 'Gauge increases by one if guarded.'
His Ouroboros gauge taking longer to recover, in my opinion, is offset by an increase to it by one if guarded because you will generally use his Drive for zoning into your opponent. So there is going to be plenty of instances in which they will block and your gauge will increase. So maybe it taking longer to recover isn't so bad afterall.

I doubt very much that these changes to his drive will change his overall game, unlike the changes to his normals that I will be discussing next.

Changes to normals:

'6A/6C downs on hit.'
This, I can see as being a good change. A knockdown is a knockdown and 80% of the time, it's going to put you in an advantageous position. I like the thought of 6C downing on his because there are instances you will screw up a 3C combo start and it comes out as that. If the 6C connects, I suppose it gives you a second chance, if you will.

'5B > 3C is harder to combo, tighter link is required.'
Now this one, I'm not sure if I see a need in it; the link is fairly tight enough as it is, but then I can never really tell what Aksys are thinking with these changes, honestly. Kind of makes me glad I'm more in favour of using 5C > 3C instead, despite it being seemingly slower.
Considering his other changes, I don't think this will be much of a favourable combo anymore anyway.

'3C floats/knocks opponent upwards.'
Again with the needless changes, though I do wonder if this means you can use 3C > 2C to start off your juggle combos instead. Otherwise, his next change may make it slightly difficult for him to work anymore with his air juggles (A.K.A. MASH DAT C!)

'5B 3C 214D~C doesn't connect anymore.'
Why, Aksys, why? First you make it harder for 5B > 3C to connect...and now you take away his main focus of starting off an air juggle. Allow me to give you a round of applause for your utmost FAILURE of keeping this game balanced *sigh*
Maybe there's hope in the 3C > 2C perspective, but so far; I'm not seeing it.

Throw changes:

'Air throw can be followed up by Zaneiga (214D~C).'
Alright, so this isn't too bad, though, this could mean a slight loop for Hazama if you take into consideration that you start off the combo with 214D~C, and are able to end it with Air throw. And it's a ridiculously easy loop too if that's the case!
I've never really been sure what I think of characters having loops, and I don't think I'm particulary happy with even my own character having one. They just make the game focused around getting your opponent into that single loop and taking it from there...Boring.

'Cannot cancel throws into chain.'
If I mentioned I wasn't too bummed about this, I would be lying. This could possibly mean Forward throw > 6D > 623D No longer works and even worse still, following up a throw with 6D~D, *Insert C mashing here* may no longer be possible.
I'm not too sad about losing the Backthrow > 5D > Serpent's Infernal Rapture, as the chain on that often misses certain characters (ie, Jin) completely.

Other changes:-

'jC: no longer jump cancelable(?)'
While unconfirmed, I think this will ultimately make Hazama completely useless, taking into account his other chains. This means you would only be able to do one half of his usual air juggle. Which would account for absolutely miniscule damage that isn't worth the effort.

But, there is still time for Aksys to change their minds, and I think only us Hazama players can hope that this is indeed the case!

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow REVIEW

2010-10-19T14:07:00.001+01:00

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

This is one game, that I was anticipating the release of, being a fan of the old Castlevania games (Though I still haven't got around to playing the DS games...damn...), though when I saw the trailer at first, I thought "This looks just like Dante's Inferno...urgh..."
True as it is, it has been likened to Dante's Inferno, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus...you get the picture.
I think the difference here, is that unlike Dante's Inferno and God of War, you have to be partly strategic with how you play (That is...until you get the holy water upgrades), once you're in the air, you are highly susceptible to being punched straight back out of it.
To cut things short, you won't get anywhere by simply mashing in this game as enemies can still hit you and retaliate in the middle of an attack.

Now, your magic gauges.
Your magic gauges deplete very rapidly in comparison to what I found with Dante's Inferno, which means you have to use them wisely, you also don't start off the game with a full gauge (You have to continually upgrade), so this is also something that adds an element of a challenge.
They're something you can't really ignore either; Light is your friend here as the fountains that regenerate your health are very very seldom. So your light gauge is needed to keep your stamina in check throughout the levels.
The Shadow gauge, it increases your attack damage and, for some reason, I never really felt it. I don't know if this was just that I was using it at the wrong times, or if it really isn't that brilliant (Unless you are combining it with daggers to give the almighty GTFO to Lycans).

Scrolls. On your journey throughout the game, you will come across various knights who have been stabbed, maimed, shot with arrows etc. Some of them carry scrolls. These could either be a big help or just a shrug to your shoulders, depending on the level. But without collecting them, useless or not, you're not getting that 110% completion.
The good part, is that they don't always do the work for you, especially where puzzles are concerned. They give you hints, a few tips, but you're on your own for figuring everything else out.

Another good point here, is that I found that there was a lot to do with the game. You'd finish a level and think "Oh..." because you would only see 16% completion. After a lot of level ends, you get challenges, that make you go back through the level. The reward? A few extra points to spend on combos and a higher completion. But is it really worth it?
If you're adamant on getting that 110% complete rate or if you missed a few gems or upgrades, then it is, otherwise, probably not. There are also levels that have pieces that can only be unlocked once you've upgraded your weapons 6 or so levels later. I thought it was a bit of a downside, as some of the levels aren't exactly short either.

Now have some cons.
A few levels in, you will come across these beings called "Titans". While they're made out to be undually strong, they're easy and very repetitive. You kill them both in the same manner and they have similar tactics, of stay the hell away until they do something that prompts you to react.
Personally, I expected them to be much harder, though the bosses at later chapters do become a pain in the ass (aside the ever underwhelming Brauner.)

Another con is the camera panning. It quite simply...doesn't. It's a fixed camera, so at points, you will be fighting things and won't even be able to see Gabriel moving. While you do get used to it, it doesn't make it any lesser a pain when you're stuck off the screen somewhere with a knight and skeletons trying to kill you and all you can see is a few flails of Gabriel's weapon.

The music. The great thing about Castlevania games, has always been the music. Now in this game, it felt very much like I was travelling through some Lord of the Rings themed world. You can argue that it fits the theme for the first few chapters, and I'll agree, it does. But there was very little in the soundtrack of this game that stood out and made me go "Wow..."
It was quite offset by the stunning graphics and interesting demons, but nonetheless, it is missing that important element that every Castlevania game has.

And for the final point, it really doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as this type of game goes. From God of War, Dante's Inferno, Shadow of the Colossus, even Bayonetta, we've seen it all by now.
The game only starts to feel like Castlevania (with all of the ghouls, vampires and ghosts) at about four chapters in. But, I'll leave that opinion for others to decide.

While I personally enjoyed it, and the ending does hint at a sequel and overall, stunning graphics, decent gameplay, I'd go through it again personally just to get that 110% completion but until then...
I think I'm going to play those DS games now for the more familiar experience that I know of Castlevania.

Welsh Coast Warzone IV - Tournament Report!

2010-10-18T18:48:00.001+01:00

Welsh coast Warzone IV - Super Street Fighter IV teams.

Well, with this weekend over with, I give you a report for Welsh Coast Warzone IV, unfortunately without photos this time ¬¬.
It was nice seeing friends again, having the chance to laugh it up with my buddies Callum (Ravage C) and Michael (SnowSRK), along with a friend of mine who is still learning Vega.

Now, for the actual report itself. Unfortunately, due to some late arrivals, the tournament started late. Just to warn you all now, my team didn't make it ;)

The format itself, while organized, was a little bothering.
In teams tournaments, you will usually still have 2/3 rounds for 2/3 matches. This, was 2/3 rounds for 1 match. You lose that one match, you're gone to losers, or in losers case, you're out.
It reminded me a lot of Team Battle online, which, for a tournament offline, isn't the best format to have in my opinion.
But, it was up to the organizers, and other people seemed happy with it. Maybe it will change, maybe it won't.

Third strike was played in the same manner and I unfortunately had to forfeit my second match as I had to leave; but, there's always next time!

In casuals, I finally got to play against Callum (Ravage C) at Blazblue. Since we last played, I could tell he had practiced, a lot. He made me realise that Tager can make combos hurt a lot more than I initially thought, especially when I'm playing such a noobish Hazama!

Now, what really impressed me was a player who had come up from London who goes by the name of "Natty." This, is one absolutely stunning Abel player and his team took it (which to some, was unsurprising).

The Results of the tournament are as follows:

SSF4 2v2 Tournament
1st. Team NattyJay (Natty and Jay)
2nd. Team Chinese Fight Money (Brillojoe and Toge)
3rd. Team Ravage Snow Globe (Ravage C and Snowman)

3s Singles
1st. True Might (Hugo)
2nd. Banoffee (Ryu)
3rd. Circle Jerkle (Q)

SSFIV 2v2 Finals: Natty (AB) vs Brillojoe (BA)

SF3: 3s Singles - Finals: True Might (HUGO) vs Banoffee (RYU/URIEN)

Welsh coast Warzone IV - Get hype!

2010-10-13T11:52:00.001+01:00

Welsh Coast Warzone IV (Yes, it is a parody of the US's 'West Coast Warzone') is this Saturday.
There will be two tournaments taking place, a lot of fun happening and I will be reporting and taking pictures on the event.
So expect a report over the weekend.

The Super Street Fighter IV tournament will be a 2v2 Team setup and so far, 12 teams have signed up. We can only hope now, that all 12 turn up. It will be double elimination.
Later on in the day, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike will be played, this is solo and also double elimination (and I'm seriously anticipating myself being the first person out!)

When people are just doing casuals and not playing Third Strike, more than likely there will be some Blazblue Shenanigans afoot, seeing as me and a friend have issued a showdown. Tager vs Hazama style.

Anyway, reports for this will be up over the weekend. My initial thoughts are that this may be a tough ride. A lot of Balrog players means trouble for a team composed of Bison (Dictator) and Vega (Claw).

SSFIV Tier Ranking Update - October 2010

2010-10-12T09:40:00.001+01:00

Well, October has finally come and with it a Super Street Fighter IV Tier Ranking update.
Not a lot has changed since the last tier list aside Honda has now taken the top spot and Chun has been moved from 1st to 4th.

*NOTE*

Tier Lists always are and always will be subject to change, no list is ever final. You may disagree with the rankings you see here, most everyone does because there's always going to be a match that someone else finds easy that others don't. This is about as accurate and pinpoint that can be drawn at the moment, so just bear with it.

An Updated tier list can be found below (Thank you to Eventhubs.com for the information):

S-Tier:
Honda
M. Bison (Dictator)
Guile
Chun Li

A-Tier:
Balrog
Cammy
Ryu
Abel
Dhalsim
Rufus
Sagat
Seth

B-Tier:
Gouki (Akuma)
Fei-Long
Ken
Rose
Blanka
Zangief
Dee Jay
Adon
Ibuki
Vega

C-Tier:
Cody
C.Viper
El Fuerte
Dudley

D-Tier:
Gouken
Juri
T.Hawk
Sakura

E-Tier:
Guy
Gen

F-Tier:
Dan
Hakan
Makoto

Blazblue Continuum Shift II Loketest 2 - Oct 8th 2010.

2010-10-11T12:13:00.001+01:00

Over at Dustloop.com a list of changes and things people have noticed through the current loketest of BBCS2 has been put up.
Credits go to Spirit Juice, Renove and Cirno for the compilation and their time to show all of us who haven't had the chance to go to a loketest what exactly has changed.

A list of changes can be found either by reading this thread here, or by reading the list of changes below:

Ragna:
+ 5B > 6A gattling added back
+ C, 2C > 6A gattling added
+ ground gauntlet hades can be followed up
+ during blood kain 6D > 6D combos
- 6A range reduced
- 2C slower
- 2D doesn't remove primer

Jin:
No other obvious changes
+ 5D start up faster but shorter freeze time, can combo from 5C

Noel:
+ C haida bounces higher, can perform combos from further away
+ optic barrel start up faster
+ 6A hits crouched opponent
+ 5C can jc even on block
+ chain revolver moves have increased speed
+ bloom trigger slides opponents hit on ground
- C haida bounces higher so higher dmg combos require more skill
- 5D slower than first loke test. Pauses a moment before coming out. Distance is longer
- Spring raid launches more horizontally. If not in corner cannot follow up
- no more long haida loops
- overall dmg decreased

Rachel:
+ pumpkin speed increased. can cross the screen in an instant. not sure on this.
+ tempest dahlia start up faster?, needs confirmation
+ 5C>C slide untechable time increased
- Initial wind recovery slow, but after a while it speeds up
- 6A weaker than it was in 1st loketest. back to CS standard?

Taokaka:
+ 6B combos to 5B on crouching opponents (applies to all characters)
+ cat spirit 2 slides
- jB now hits mid instead of high like in 1st loketest. j2B no change.
- jD cannot cancel into cat spirit 2
- 6C slides, cannot pick up unless in corner. (but it seems 2C FC > 6C still wallbounces)
- if different jD aren't inputted Tao drops to the ground straight away
- jDs slightly changed, j2D now better against ground opponents but hard to combo with
- 6C slides, so almost becoming 2 combos are gone

Tager:
voltic charge command now 214D
+ magnetism pull now stronger
+ 6A can now be held to pull in opponent
+ can gadget after 360A
+ sledge hammer much faster
+ 4D pulls more
- 5D only pulls opponent during active frames
- 5C cannot combo into 6A

Arakune:
- Arakune's D Bug now falls faster, less damage

Litchi:
no changes known
maybe tomorrow?

Bang:
still under investigation
- ground dashes during furinkazan are shorter

Carl:
+ anima has super armor. when hit will flash red
+ 3D forces downed opponents to rise. After ground throw 3C can be used to pick up and combo
+ 8D breaks 1 guard primer
- 8D can be blocked in air

Hakumen:
renka is now 236B
5 primers (down from 6)
+ All C moves come out faster
+ Back throw recovery reduced, can follow up in corner
+ 6B damage increased.
+ 623A cancelable during movement.
- 3C > 3C doesn't combo anymore
- renka wall bounces. can follow up with 6C
- hotaru wall bounces. can follow up with 6C
- enma floats higher, harder to follow up
- tsubaki slides, can only follow up in the corner
- Slower magatama recovery.
- MUGEN: after gauge depletes, will not increase for at least 6 seconds.
- Yukikaze: will only show superflash after a successful counter. Gauge depletes on use either way. AH still has superflash. (Was this in the first loketest? Not sure.)

Lambda:
+ 4B faster start up, shorter recovery
+ Sickle might have faster start up, quicker recovery, hits 6 times
- gravity seed now stuns instead of floats. on CH seems to stun longer
- 4D moves her backwards, harder to combo.
- Throw can't combo into 6A, can followup with 2D.
- Calamity damage decreased.

Tsubaki:
+ j236A faster start up, can be used in combos now
+ 5D charges half a gauge in an instant, has fastest recovery of all Ds.
+ 236 -> 214 doesn't combo, but 236 -> 22 does.
- untechable slide time from her throw reduced, even in corner 6C and 214D cannot combo
- charging puts her in CH state

Hazama:
6A->Jayoku works (I don't even know why this is listed, maybe didn't work in loketest 1?)
Air throw can be followed up by Zaneiga (214D~C).
214D~C now makes the opponent spin in the air(?)
- 5B 3C 214D~C doesn't connect anymore
- 3C knocks opponent upwards
- cannot cancel throws into chain
- jC: no longer jump cancelable? (might be first hit only)

Makoto:
Valkenhayn:

both characters exactly like the way they were in the 1st loketest.

Info on Platinum -

Platinum's attack names are from other Magical Girl Anime. Fast dash, long air dash, and a 3300 damage combo was found so far.

5B> 5C> Dolphin fake> 2B> 5B> Aerial> Hopping (5B＞5C＞イルカさんもどき＞2B＞5B＞リアル＞ホッピング)

Surrey - Dream (214AorBorC)
From Sally the Witch

- Suwaromun (J236C)
From Sailor Moon

- Mamisakyura (236B)
From Magical Angel Creamy Mami

- Air Persia (236A (available in air)> add A, B, C (three times))
More Magical Fairy Persia
Stomp the opponent in the middle attack hopping
Changing the location of additional land, adding that such attack occurred in C earns in aerial damage-issue

- Dramatic Sammy (41236D)
From Magical Girl Pretty Sammy
Search frame to throw the opponent to catch the ground while the dash
Confined to the heart to blow out opponents. 1500 Damage
Side of the screen if possible pursuit?

- Mystique Momo (when equipped with weapons 214D)
From Minky Momo

Foreign Melody - (opponent down in the 22C)
From Onegai My Melody
Yet untested technology, so that there is virtually no technology to bring down the first platinum
Rush from the edge of the screen may be able to slide down?

Miracle Jeanne - (236236D)
From Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne
The staff are equipped with enhanced Mahou, Omg! Mahou Get Well (one-time use equipment and off)
Promo array

Kyuadottotaifun - (632146C)
More Pretty Cure

Renove translated the infos regarding Platinum that are listed here: http://generalnantoka.blog35.fc2.com...entry-387.html

NOTE: Only translated any gameplay-related info

Drive
- Pressing the D button will randomly select one among 6 types of equipment/modes for her staff. After selecting, various techniques corresponding to the staff mode can be used (with certain restrictions).
- The following staff mode is notified at the bottom through the symbol next to the word NEXT
- At the beginning of the match she doesn't carry any staff with her (probably meaning that you have to press D to make it appear)
- Everytime you push D with the equipped staff the number of times you can use the associated technique will decrease until the staff disappears becoming unequipped.
- Pressing the D button again once the staff has disappeared will make it appear again with the next type of equipment.

The type of magic equipment are:
- Bomb (6 times)
- Neko (5 times)
- Bin (4 times)
- Hammer (3 times)
- Missiles (3 times)
- Frying Pan (4 times)

Character's Features:
- Good speed, good airdash
- Her airdash covers a lot of range, giving her the possibility of comfortably attacking in the air without falling easily on the ground
- Since her attacks with her staff don't have a long reach, her special projectile moves do the job of covering long range fighting instead.
- Since her special moves are controlled randomly, she is a character that heavily depends on the situation she's in (TLnote: I guess it's referring to what power she has equipped, position, situation etc)

Special Moves
- Dream Sally (214A/B/C)
- Swallow Moon (j.236C)
- Mami Circular (236B)
- Air Persia (236A - also executable in air) - followups A/B/C (up to three times) - tramples down the opponent from above with her pogo stick; the followups change the landing place, while the C followup is an aerial ender that earns more damage and okizeme.
- Dramatic Sammy (41236D) - command grab: searches for the opponent while ground-dashing; grabs and imprisons the opponent inside a "heart" and blows it off. 1500 Damage.
- Mystique Momo (214D, when weapons are equipped)
- Foreign Melody (22C on knocked down opponent); it might be possible to push the opponent towards the corner from the slide down

Distortion Drives
- Miracle Jeanne (236236D)- install super, the staff is equipped with "enhanched magic", can only be used once and when it wears off the staff is unequipped
- Cure Dot Typhoon (632146C)

Astral Heat
- 236236C (looks like Nanoha's Starlight Breaker)

There is also video footage containing gameplay of Platinum - The Trinity that can be found here:

Capcom says "No" to SSFIV Arcade Edition DLC

2010-10-11T11:34:00.002+01:00

As a few of you out there may know (By visiting any site such as Shoryuken.com, Eventhubs.com...you get the picture), the SSFIV Arcade Edition has been under consideration to be released as DLC for quite some time now.

Ono revealed on this Twitter that he had approached his superior (Keiji Inafune) with the idea and he agreed to his proposal, however, the guys over at Capcom did not.
He also mentions that despite it not being approved he is going to keep trying.

My thoughts on the DLC are quite mixed. While I like the idea of Yun and Yang, honestly, I do. However, I do not like some of the Arcade Edition changes.
My main gripe here, is Cammy. While I don't play her, it's obvious to some, if not most people, that a vast majority of her game (Metering, throw setups and just generally keeping your opponent pinned) revolved around being able to do 'Instant Cannon Strike', otherwise known as TK-Cannon Strike.
Capcom decided that to rebalance they game, they would take this out, except for on her EX version.
What does this spell out for Cammy? Not good. Sure they gave her normals better priority. But better normals, I don't think, makes up for the 80% of her game that she just lost.

I can't seem to wrap my head around why they're hitting so many mid-tiers with the nerf-bat (See Cammy's TKCS, Seth's j.HP no longer stretching.), while the higher tiers such as Honda, are having things made easier for them; with so far, no nerfs and a buff to his Ultra II.

The only balance I can see with this is that they're buffing the lower tiers, such as Hakan and Makoto. Things can only get better for them in the current state of the game, so any buffs are a blessing.

Now characters. I've been hearing a lot of talk about people wanting Alex, R.Mika, Rolento, Karin, even Poison has had a lot of votes. I, however, was not surprised that they chose Yun and Yang, considering their cameo appearances in Chun Li's opening in Street Fighter IV.
How this will change the game, I can't really say. Without the parry system in place, they may have a bit of work cut out for them, however, Yun's Genei Jin is still in place and from what I have heard, he is still able to do a good 80% damage when it's activated.
Though considering the success of Juri's Feng Shui Engine, I don't think it will be as useful as it used to be. Hopefully he'll be a little more balanced than Third Strike.
Yang, to be honest, looks the same as he did in Third Strike (you can kind of say the same about Yun too), but considering the differences in engines of SSFIV and Third Strike, again, it might change how they're played entirely.

There is hope yet for this content finally becoming DLC. You can never really know for sure with Capcom's decisions as they said that an Arcade Edition for this game would never see the light of day, and lo and behold. Here we are.

Eurogamer Expo 2010

2010-10-10T22:46:00.001+01:00

Eurogamer Expo 2010 Oct 1-3, Earl's Court - London.

Despite only going for a few games, this year's Eurogamer was actually fun, had a lot of games for people to play and things to do.
So, let's start on the games we went and watched and/or played.

First up, is Marvel vs Capcom 3. (Estimated Release Date: April 2011)
This was the one game I was really excited seeing, luckily enough when we got there, there was only around 6 people waiting to play it, so we had a chance to play very quickly.

On the first round, I had chosen Dante, Chun Li and Chris Redfield.
Dante feels very, well, a mash friendly character, I managed to do so much damage just by simply hitting Quarter Circle forward motion and changing between L, M and occasionally H buttons. Though whether this changes before the final build is something else. Especially because his damage output is fairly high.
Chun Li, needless to say, just feels like her Tatsunoko vs Capcom self, so she was still fairly simple, do a jump-in H, then just a few Light taps and then her spinning bird kick which in this game. All of her other moves, are quarter circle motions (Despite her being a charge character in other Street Fighter games, she retains her crossover game characteristics where things turn into quarter motions).
Then there was Chris Redfield. Just like Trish, I think he is going to be a fairly difficult character to master. His moves feel fairly weak and he feels very hard to actually control, lacking the speed that Dante and Chun had previously, I found it difficult to adjust.

Another player, using Deadpool, said that he felt like an absolute pain to use, but couldn't tell if it was just because no-one knew the moves for him, or if he really is just that difficult.

A lot of other characters were played and it has been mentioned that Doctor Doom has a divekick loop. So unless it is removed before the final rendition of the game, it's going to make things interesting.

From what I got to play of the game, despite Dante being fairly high powered, it otherwise feels very balanced (Which is something that cannot really be said for the previous games in the MvC series).
The design is very nice, there's plenty of action going on in the backgrounds, but not so much that it's distracting. The characters were rendered very well and so be honest, the attention to detail was astounding, for example, when playing Chun Li, I noticed that you can just see her fingers flittering back and fourth while she's in her idle stance. It's a nice touch because the characters don't look so stiff.
The comical effects of the wording on the screen "Such as 'X hit combo', 'Advancing Guard', even the 'KO!', fits in with the theme, and that's something I think the game needed. To make it feel like it's a crossover with comics. Something to show that the comics are still made note of and they're just not using the Marvel name because the characters 'Look cool'.

Anyway, we went to go back to play another game later, however, by then, there was a queue of a good 50+ people standing and waiting to play. So, maybe next time!

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - (Release Date - Oct.5th 2010 [US] / Oct.8th 2010 [Europe])

Now the second game, that I was jittering in my seat about the night before, trying hard not to voice my excitement (and it happened anyway) was Castlevania, Lords of Shadow. (Release date: October 5th 2010 [US], October 8th [Europe])
I have a bit of a mixed impression of this one, as happy as I am with the game.
The guy watching over the games decided to put me on the boss that "No-body that weekend had figured out how to actually beat." So it was up to me to do it.
Oddly enough, it was very very easy, you run away, wait for a rock to be thrown, grab and fling it back at him, run behind it, climb up, hit a few markers out. Then grab a shard to end it.
Sounds easy? It really is.
I'm waiting for when I get the game, for the bosses to be harder, least that's the one thing I remember about Castlevania games (and a friend of mine firmly demonstrated this by doing playthroughs of various Castlevania games this week and streaming them) is that the bosses, were far from easy.
The graphics are nice, the gameplay is smooth. You have plenty of tools at your disposal. Now! The one major complaint I have of this game. Is that is really does feel and at some points look like a ripoff of Shadow of the Colossus, but unfortunately, a lot of platformers seem to have taken this route over the years (God of War, Dante's Inferno. Just to name some). Though on another hand, you could say they were trying to take a few roots from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in how it is set out.
Regardless of that fact, it's still a game I will be buying and I will enjoy and will put a review up when I am done.

Assassin's Creed 2: Brotherhood

The last one that I watched someone play, was Assassin's Creed 2: Brotherhood. I must say, this was something that looked very repetitive and unless you were playing as the girl, you really weren't going to win.
It was simply a case of: Jump up somewhere, look around, find your target, hope you kill them before someone else kills you, rinse repeat.
You can say, the other Assassin's Creed games had this, but you actually had a reason for assassinating the people you were sent after. In this, it just seems like you're just killing randomers just because they looked at you funny.
I'll still give it a go, maybe my opinion will change, maybe not.

The event itself, I found was fairly well organized except maybe one or two booths. I found that people were able to take advantage of the fact that there was nobody there to usher them along at some points and this made it a lot harder for some people to get in a play of a game.
I wish I had time to go to some of the developer sessions, especially Yuji Naka. However the line was absolutely huge! I think we would have been waiting hours, so we shrugged our shoulders and said "Maybe next year."

Well, as short as this report was, there isn't much left I can mention aside going back to Picadilly and kicking a few people's faces in at Street Fighter IV and Capcom vs SNK 2.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Next up, Welsh Coast Warzone IV, Tag Team Super Street Fighter IV!

Back from Eurogamer Expo!

2010-10-05T11:32:00.000+01:00

I'm back from Eurogamer Expo in London. Needless to say, I had a blast.
You can read more about it over in the Event Report section (Be warned, it's a lot!).

I think a main highlight of my day, aside that, was going down to the arcades in London and kicking some ass at Street Fighter IV. (Though it honestly did make me feel really bad for Vega back in vanilla, when you've been playing Super since release, you go back and think 'Wow, was he really this bad? Was every matchup this much of a struggle for me?' because at the time, you just made do with what you had. Wall-dive glitches and all!)

Anyway, I won't bore you for too long, I have a tournament to prepare for anyway~ So go and read the event report!

[Francys Pai]

Here comes a new challenger!

2010-09-23T11:51:00.002+01:00

Well, I figured I would need one of these eventually seeing as my livejournal is the epitome of clutter.
I'll still be using my LJ for my everyday life and my fiction, but for tournament reports, reviews etc, I thought I'd move somewhere else.
I tried wordpress but it's not exactly the most user-friendly of all blogs, so I settled here.