More SFIV Stuff
Well, my EX2 Stick came in last week and I've been abusing the hell out of it, and it shows; the switch on the A button is starting to give on me, but that was to be expected from a cheapy $50 stick that I've been playing on for about 40 hours in the past week or so.
I'm debating getting back into the tourney scene, which means I'd have to invest in a PS3-viable stick, or find a lagless converter for my current Sanwa (which seems to be the better idea). Regardless, I'm left with the situation where I still need a decent stick to play on my 360. I'm considering modding the EX2 since arcade-in-a-box orders are hella backed up due to SFIV's release, but that would leave me without a stick to play on while I fix it up, plus the deal of having to order and wait for the Sanwa-JLF and buttons.
The HRAP EX was recently released for the 360, and it seems like a solid deal, with arcade-quality parts and quick-connects for simple mods or replacements. I really dislike soldering, so that seems like the better option --- except HRAPs are notoriously expensive, and this one is no different. I'd have to shell out some $200+ for it, though I know it would probably be worth it. I think that purchase would depend fully on how available lagless converters are for my current Sanwa to be used on PS3.
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In any case, I had the opportunity to play Fubarduck's Gouki over the past two nights, which soundly crushed me with demonflip mixups. I need to find a way to deal with flip mixups as Chun, because they corner her very easily. Unfortunately, none of her conventional anti-airs seem to work vs. it ... either that, or I time them poorly. Dash-under to c.LK B&B seems like the best option, but the dash usually puts her at extreme c.LK range so that EX Legs cannot be hitconfirmed, and wasting meter vs. Gouki is bad because any opportunity I get for damage I need to take advantage of.
I also was able to play CaliPower's (Alex Valle) Dictator, which was pretty interesting. I honestly didn't learn anything because his level of play is too advanced for my understanding. The first round I ended up winning because he was playing very cautiously and examining my playstyle and patterns. He devastated me the following two rounds with no real trouble at all (though to my credit, I could have taken the set if I had correctly dash-ultra'd -- my hands locked up and I ended up not inputting the dash as he landed from a whiffed Devil's Reverse, causing my Ultra to whiff and get severely punished).
I'm getting a bit better at spacing to anti-air effectively, but still no real dice vs. Blanka. He just jumps too fast and anticipating it is difficult... one wrong guess and I eat electricity or random blanka ball for the knockdown.
My approach on wakeup is a bit more refined now. I noticed that the reason I would always 'guess' wrong about the Shoryukens is because whenever I would approach an opponent on wakeup and was very close, there was a 20% chance I would block, 20% chance I would hasanshu, 20% chance I would c.LK, 20% chance I would throw and 20% chance I would do nothing... If I stood just slightly out of SRK range --- there was a 90% chance I would do nothing. So the opponent always knew that it was safe to block if I was at a certain distance. I think this is an old habit of mine from 3S; I'm used to being able to karathrow from that distance so I feel like I still have offensive options when I don't. Except I do! c.LK has extreme range and will reach from that distance. TOO far is bad, because EX legs will not combo, but JUST out of SRK range you can still confirm two light attacks into EX legs and still be in range. This is very useful near corner for the Ultra juggle.
I'm also trying to incorporate a bit of Nuki's shenanigans with Chun's flipkick (DF + HK) to land on top of the opponent as they rise, creating an ambiguous crossup. The only downside to this is that even *I* don't know which way Chun will be facing, so I have to hold neutral-down rather than crouch-blocking while I c.LK after the flipkick. Any mis-timing on my c.LK and I eat damage. Risky, but it's usually worth the payoff for characters that have no real answer to it (Honda, Blanka, Dic, Claw, anyone without a good reversal Anti-Air).
To Do:
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1. Use more close HK instead of close HP -- HK is faster and has more active frames, but is harder to cancel into Hasanshu.
2. Learn which characters *CANNOT* be juggled with Ultra in the corner. The only ones I can do it reliably on right now are shotos and Sagat. Maybe I should leave it at that.
3. Stop trying to nail people with Ultra when I have it. I keep turtling when I get meter instead of creating opportunities to land it (via corner juggle, or just abusing the threat of Ultra). THREAT OF ULTRA IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN LANDING ULTRA.
I'm debating getting back into the tourney scene, which means I'd have to invest in a PS3-viable stick, or find a lagless converter for my current Sanwa (which seems to be the better idea). Regardless, I'm left with the situation where I still need a decent stick to play on my 360. I'm considering modding the EX2 since arcade-in-a-box orders are hella backed up due to SFIV's release, but that would leave me without a stick to play on while I fix it up, plus the deal of having to order and wait for the Sanwa-JLF and buttons.
The HRAP EX was recently released for the 360, and it seems like a solid deal, with arcade-quality parts and quick-connects for simple mods or replacements. I really dislike soldering, so that seems like the better option --- except HRAPs are notoriously expensive, and this one is no different. I'd have to shell out some $200+ for it, though I know it would probably be worth it. I think that purchase would depend fully on how available lagless converters are for my current Sanwa to be used on PS3.
-----
In any case, I had the opportunity to play Fubarduck's Gouki over the past two nights, which soundly crushed me with demonflip mixups. I need to find a way to deal with flip mixups as Chun, because they corner her very easily. Unfortunately, none of her conventional anti-airs seem to work vs. it ... either that, or I time them poorly. Dash-under to c.LK B&B seems like the best option, but the dash usually puts her at extreme c.LK range so that EX Legs cannot be hitconfirmed, and wasting meter vs. Gouki is bad because any opportunity I get for damage I need to take advantage of.
I also was able to play CaliPower's (Alex Valle) Dictator, which was pretty interesting. I honestly didn't learn anything because his level of play is too advanced for my understanding. The first round I ended up winning because he was playing very cautiously and examining my playstyle and patterns. He devastated me the following two rounds with no real trouble at all (though to my credit, I could have taken the set if I had correctly dash-ultra'd -- my hands locked up and I ended up not inputting the dash as he landed from a whiffed Devil's Reverse, causing my Ultra to whiff and get severely punished).
I'm getting a bit better at spacing to anti-air effectively, but still no real dice vs. Blanka. He just jumps too fast and anticipating it is difficult... one wrong guess and I eat electricity or random blanka ball for the knockdown.
My approach on wakeup is a bit more refined now. I noticed that the reason I would always 'guess' wrong about the Shoryukens is because whenever I would approach an opponent on wakeup and was very close, there was a 20% chance I would block, 20% chance I would hasanshu, 20% chance I would c.LK, 20% chance I would throw and 20% chance I would do nothing... If I stood just slightly out of SRK range --- there was a 90% chance I would do nothing. So the opponent always knew that it was safe to block if I was at a certain distance. I think this is an old habit of mine from 3S; I'm used to being able to karathrow from that distance so I feel like I still have offensive options when I don't. Except I do! c.LK has extreme range and will reach from that distance. TOO far is bad, because EX legs will not combo, but JUST out of SRK range you can still confirm two light attacks into EX legs and still be in range. This is very useful near corner for the Ultra juggle.
I'm also trying to incorporate a bit of Nuki's shenanigans with Chun's flipkick (DF + HK) to land on top of the opponent as they rise, creating an ambiguous crossup. The only downside to this is that even *I* don't know which way Chun will be facing, so I have to hold neutral-down rather than crouch-blocking while I c.LK after the flipkick. Any mis-timing on my c.LK and I eat damage. Risky, but it's usually worth the payoff for characters that have no real answer to it (Honda, Blanka, Dic, Claw, anyone without a good reversal Anti-Air).
To Do:
------
1. Use more close HK instead of close HP -- HK is faster and has more active frames, but is harder to cancel into Hasanshu.
2. Learn which characters *CANNOT* be juggled with Ultra in the corner. The only ones I can do it reliably on right now are shotos and Sagat. Maybe I should leave it at that.
3. Stop trying to nail people with Ultra when I have it. I keep turtling when I get meter instead of creating opportunities to land it (via corner juggle, or just abusing the threat of Ultra). THREAT OF ULTRA IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN LANDING ULTRA.