No, I just have a super busy schedule unfortunately. I jump between versions when I am home, but lately I've only really had time to play the PC version on my laptop. (With the fugly Tekken 6 wireless stick that works but...ug.)
Knocked down: Fierce Dragonpunch, ex Dragonpunch if I have meter
Far away: Hmmm....throw a fireball? I don't know really, I'm usually not far away.
Where I want to be: In the air with my fist, and your body, on fire!
My mixes: Standing Fierce xx Fierce Dragonpunch, crouching Fierce xx Fierce Dragonpunch, EX-Dragonpunch, Super Dragonpunch, Ultra Dragonpunch
What I suck at: Cross-ups, grabs, kick attacks, zoning, mind games, blocking. As you can see, not much really.
Bad Match ups: Ryu. His character basically stole Ken's moveset, so he's used to my tactics. But much like a clone, he forgot to copy the most key aspect: Fire!
How to beat my Ken: Play like a bitch. Wait for me to make a mistake in timing (such as the phone ringing or my little brother distracting me) and punish. Also, games with red bars make my Dragonpunch that much more powerful and tricky to block, so try joining games that have green bars instead.
Me too.
ZANGIEF:
Close: Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER
Knocked down: Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, SOVIET LARIAT if they're jumping in.
Far away: Hmmm....jab SPINNING PILE DRIVER? I don't know really, I'm usually not far away.
Where I want to be: In the air with your body, spinning!
My mixes: Standing short xx Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, crouching Forward xx Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, punch SOVIET LARIAT, kick SOVIET LARIAT, EX-SPINNING PILE DRIVER, Super SPINNING PILE DRIVER, Ultra SPINNING PILE DRIVER
What I suck at: Cross-ups, grabs, kick attacks, zoning, mind games, blocking. As you can see, not much really.
Bad Match ups: Sagat. His character basically stole Ken's moveset, so he also uses the best tactics. But much like a clone, he forgot to copy the most key aspect: Fire!
How to beat my Zangief: Play like a bitch. Wait for me to make a mistake in timing (such as the phone ringing or my big brother distracting me) and punish. Also, games with red bars make my SPINNING PILE DRIVER that much more powerful and tricky to avoid, so try joining games that have green bars instead.
so i was thinking, it would be interesting to hear people describe how they play their characters - their main strategies, tricks, and matchup facts - in the interest of both improving one's own character use and getting better at certain matchups (ie blanka.)
I play Bison, and I play him like this:
When I'm close: lk scissors pressure, of course; it's safe on block and can be cancelled from a low attack like c.lk or c.mk. I will do this any time I'm up close and we're playing footsies. I will also throw out a c.mk or c.lk on wakeup, fishing for hits, if I don't think they'll do a reversal. Sometimes I'll go c.lk > c.lk and, if it's blocked, I'll walk up and throw.
When I'm almost as close: j.mk crossup pressure. bison has a nice crossup, and the options afterward include HK for straight damage, jab jab short SK for pressure/chip, jab jab > throw for mindgames. however, this tends to get me into trouble, when people start catching on and doing DPs or other reverals with good timing.
When I'm knocked down: EX scissors or EX psycho crusher for invincibility and horizontal escape, and possibly for damage; EX devil reverse for escape and confusion when they don't know where i'll land; teleport to get the hell out.
When I'm far away: appropriately spaced scissor kicks that are safe on block but vulnerable to quick DPs. dash or jump in. I have trouble with being spaced by a strong Ryu who's throwing fireballs, especially if I try to jump forward. I don't like to use the meter for it, but EX scissors to advance through fireball zoning works really well, since it has lots of invincibility frames.
c.HK slide to advance quickly while keeping charge, especially after a knockdown; risky, especially if they do a quick rise and a reversal.
HK and MK to zone and anti-air. Excellent kicks, great pokes, but the HK often trades as anti-air, and sometimes flat out loses.
Baiting with Devil Reverse and Headstomps. Anti-air with Headstomps. EX headstomp is a fantastic attack, but all headstomps are punishable by jumping back and attacking, or even a well-timed DP. So I just don't throw them out as a front-line attack - I use them to counter jumps. I will also do EX headstomp on wakeup, especially against Ryus who think they can DP it - it will often trade, but I do more damage.
What I suck at: Using Focus Attacks, and advancing through effective zoning. I have no idea when to use Focus Attacks successfully, except for quick fireball absorption, and that's really risky for me. I never FADC my scissor kicks. I'm pretty sure these two problems are linked. The other day I fought a very good Ryu who zoned me out almost completely, and when I finally got in, he didn't fall for any of my games - he blocked low against every lk > scissors, he teched every tick throw, he blocked every crossup (or just DPed it). On occasion I could win a round by being extremely aggressive, but on the whole he made me feel very predictable and bad. I was psychically demolished. 20 losses in a row.
My bad matchups: Blanka, because I can't fucking hit him. His attacks seem really safe - even when I punish a blanka ball with a scissor kick, the chip damage is greater than my SK damage! Electricity beats crossup, but slide/lk > scissors beats electricity. I jump too much and get anti-air-balled. Most of his jump attacks beat my s.HK. I just don't even know.
Chun-Li, because she zones me out with pokes, constantly, and her air attacks beat mine quite often. Chun Lis like to sit there and mash out LKs and LPs, and there's not much I can do about it; they also counter jump-ins with EX SBK.
Gief, although it swings drastically my way if he can't get in through HK/MK zoning.
How to beat my Bison: Play defensively. Zone me with fireballs and anti-airs and DPs agains crossups, jump back and attack a lot to prevent any headstomps, block low all the time unless I'm jumping over you, be ready to tech throws if you start blocking those crossups, because I'm going to start trying to throw you. Bait EX scissors on wakeup, because it's not safe on block if you're close enough. Don't jump very much, and if you do, make it a crossup. Tick throw me, I suck at teching. Use focus attacks against my jump-ins, it will explode my brain. Focus my follow-up dive attack after a headstomp. Focus my devil reverse. DP either one of them instead. Ultra either one of them instead. I guarantee I'll fall for it. Play Blanka.
Hm i'll do this with my Sakura.
Close: It really depends on the character i'm playing against. If it's a shoto i'll just sit right in DP range while crouching and blocking. If they throw out the DP or go for any jump in i'll hit them with cr.HP and head into combo and mix ups. If they don't fall for that i'll just throw out a few low kick hurricane kicks in an attempt to bait a focus or force them into crouching and then go for the flower kick or a cross up attempt. If they are knocked down i'll just jump on wake up 80% of the time and try to land a neutral fierce kick into combo.
Knocked down: I just try to get away usually. Sometimes i'll use an EX DP if I am confident the opponent will try to attack me or if I know it will whiff and carry me across the screen.
Far away: Turtle until I figure out how to get in. If they don't have a way of punishing my shitty fireballs i'll just throw them and try to use them as bait or chip damage while I build meter. Fortunately a lot of folks will start absorbing the fireball and then i'll do an ex-otoshi timed with their FA so they get hit by the otoshi and fireball and it tends to do a damn nice chunk of damage. If they have a better fireballs I just pretend my Sakura is Guile and slowly work my way into a range where I can get an attack off against the spam and start working for mix ups.
Where I want to be: Just barely outside of poke zone so I can catch people with cr. HP. It links well into a lot of her specials and if I can frustrate by presenting the opponent with an enemy just outside of their range i'll usually be able to lead them into the mix up game with a focus attack or tatsu to break through one of their own.
My mixes: Generally I don't hit the full sakura combo that I should be using as BnB.
HP xx lk tatsu xx cr.HP xx ex tatsu. I'm still at the point where I concentrate on the combo a bit too much and make some mistakes. Usually I'll just go cr. HP xx ex tatsu. . .then from there. . .
my preferred cross under is using her neutral low kick. It comes out very fast just when the opponent is near enough to the ground to expect a cross under to be impossible. But it isn't. Then a quick dash under and i'll go for
cr. lp >> cr. lk >> cr. HP >> ex tatsu
from that I like to go for either a standing punch or kick reset and then neutral jump HK >> cr. HP >> ex tatsu and depending on the character i'll do a sakura otoshi or j. HK/HP. By then a lot of characters have dizzy so if i'm feeling confident i'll jump in with
j. HK >> HP xx lk tatsu xx cr.HP xx ex tatsu.
and by then most folks are in the corner so my only cross up option is the delayed J. HK which again a lot of people don't expect and from there i'll either throw out an EX SRK or go for a grab or if i've gauged the person to be pretty susceptible for the cross up combos i'll finish it up with another BNB into tatsu.
What I suck at: Not using stronger combos or turtling too much and losing my offensive pressure. I have a lot of trouble with characters with high air priority because I still jump in waaaay too much. I also don't poke enough with Sakura because Chuns pokes kind of spoiled me.
Bad Match ups: I can't beat a good Vega. They're just yelling out all flamboyantly and flipping all over the place while I have no idea how to even begin to hit them. I hate it. Plus they just flip out of every mix up attempt and yeah. Good Vegas destroy me.
How to beat my Sakura: Just play keep away. If I can't get close and you won't come near I end up getting terribly frustrated and making mistakes. Once someone realizes they can't get through the mix up game and they end up zoning my out my game falls to pieces. I just don't have too many reliable ways of getting in close. It's awful but such is the cost of Sakura I suppose.[/b]
One thing to note is that you should switch you cr. lp and cr. lk around so that combo could be part of a low mix up.
Everywhere: Play it by instinct. As long as I don't know what I'm doing next, they probably don't either.
Seriously, though, I haven't really thought about it all that much, at least not in any left-hemisphere analytical fashion that I can put on paper as "This is my gameplan. This is my strategy." More like freestyle improv. Sometimes it wins, sometimes it doesn't.
Knocked down: Fierce Dragonpunch, ex Dragonpunch if I have meter
Far away: Hmmm....throw a fireball? I don't know really, I'm usually not far away.
Where I want to be: In the air with my fist, and your body, on fire!
My mixes: Standing Fierce xx Fierce Dragonpunch, crouching Fierce xx Fierce Dragonpunch, EX-Dragonpunch, Super Dragonpunch, Ultra Dragonpunch
What I suck at: Cross-ups, grabs, kick attacks, zoning, mind games, blocking. As you can see, not much really.
Bad Match ups: Ryu. His character basically stole Ken's moveset, so he's used to my tactics. But much like a clone, he forgot to copy the most key aspect: Fire!
How to beat my Ken: Play like a bitch. Wait for me to make a mistake in timing (such as the phone ringing or my little brother distracting me) and punish. Also, games with red bars make my Dragonpunch that much more powerful and tricky to block, so try joining games that have green bars instead.
To improve you skill you should work on:
Jump backwards RH then fireball
In the corner jump backwards RH. Repeat until opponent dies or you can use FIRE SRK
Has then been any word yet on SSFIV about whether they're going to try to make the online aspect not completely god awful, or are they just going to use the same nightmare inducing net code?
Has then been any word yet on SSFIV about whether they're going to try to make the online aspect not completely god awful, or are they just going to use the same nightmare inducing net code?
Has then been any word yet on SSFIV about whether they're going to try to make the online aspect not completely god awful, or are they just going to use the same nightmare inducing net code?
Its all new code...that will make it god awful.
I don't get why the whole world doesn't use GGPO netcode.
Has then been any word yet on SSFIV about whether they're going to try to make the online aspect not completely god awful, or are they just going to use the same nightmare inducing net code?
Its all new code...that will make it god awful.
I don't get why the whole world doesn't use GGPO netcode.
Inventions of the western barbarians will not dishonor our great pastime!
I think they said something in an interview about trying it but it doesn't work in SF4? I'm not sure, but it all sounds like bullshit to me. The online in SF4 was an afterthought, from netcode to features.
Everywhere: Play it by instinct. As long as I don't know what I'm doing next, they probably don't either...
playing solely by instinct is the best way to become predictable, because instincts will often lead you to doing what you're comfortable with, what you default to, instead of figuring out your opponent or figuring out what you're doing wrong.
unless you're already really good, instincts will often lead you astray; instinct is what makes people wake up with a shoryuken half the time, and throw random ultras, and jump in way too often, and etc etc. thinking about your playing style is the best way to improve. there is nothing better than watching a replay of your match and analyzing how you were thinking versus how your opponent was thinking.
If you've played sabremau before you'd know he isn't like that.
I think what he meant by instinct is knowing immediately how to respond to certain situations.
yes i know sabremau is actually really good, but playing by instinct is only good if you've already built good instincts!
mostly it's the "if i don't know then he doesn't", which i know was mostly a joke
but usually i find that if i don't know what i'm going to do next, it's because i'm not thinking, and my opponent will easily assess what i'm going to do.
It's not so much "Don't think. Feel." as it is "I dunno; I'm making this up as I go."
One of the things I like to do with Makoto is stand at a certain distance and then cycle through completely random normal attacks. They (usually) whiff, but the sequence I go through while watching and waiting for their next move is fairly random. I do like to try to keep the match fluid so I can improvise with whatever comes up.
Just read a little SRK guide on footsies and the strategy there-of with a youtube link to the exact moment of tournament matches where the particular footsie strategy was being employed.
Very informative, even if a lot is above my level. The main thing I took away from it that I need to focus on is OH GOD I jump way, WAY more than I should.
main new player advice - and by "new" i mean "not a tournament player." this is stuff i need to work on too.
-block more. consider blocking instead of trying to jump, neutral jump, attack, or throw - sometimes it's way better, and trying to attack or advance will often get you stuffed. blocking and teching are the two most important skills for stopping pressure dead, in my opinion.
-jump less. way less. like the SRK article says, you should never jump unless you have a reason for it - and you know it's safe.
i jump way too much, and often i should be blocking instead of jumping, especially on wakeup.
Out of curiosity I always hear about people having a rough time with Vega but every tier listing I've ever seen has had him near the bottom of the heap? Is it just a case of him being tricky until you figure out how to answer his moves and then he just falls apart or something?
Out of curiosity I always hear about people having a rough time with Vega but every tier listing I've ever seen has had him near the bottom of the heap? Is it just a case of him being tricky until you figure out how to answer his moves and then he just falls apart or something?
pretty much
he bounces around a lot and his special can crossup and force you to guess which way to block, or turn into an air throw
So I brought something new into my training tonight. Each time I lose a game online that results in a loss of more than 50 points, I eat a stalk of uncooked, unflavored celery.
So I brought something new into my training tonight. Each time I lose a game online that results in a loss of more than 50 points, I eat a stalk of uncooked, unflavored celery.
...it will be bitter training from here on out.
you should be playing championship mode instead of ranked. most of the good competition is there.
So I brought something new into my training tonight. Each time I lose a game online that results in a loss of more than 50 points, I eat a stalk of uncooked, unflavored celery.
...it will be bitter training from here on out.
To each their own I guess. I like celery!
...
On an unrelated note, what's the best way to find opponents of a skill level at least moderately similar to mine? Ranked matches are a very mixed bag, and more often then not after getting curb stomped I find the opponent has well over a 1000 points compared to my measly 100.
I don't think I'm good enough yet for Champ mode. I lost some pretty embarrassing matches tonight, one after another. I was on a good streak and got up to 1800 points, then lost to a Dan and I think that broke me mentally. Should have called it a night there but I didn't; lost 3 more after that before I finally forced myself to put down the controller.
Also, good Christ, I hate playing ranked where you'll fight 5 people in a row, getting like 20-40 points per win, then lose once and it costs you like 80-100+. Lame.
I don't think I'm good enough yet for Champ mode. I lost some pretty embarrassing matches tonight, one after another. I was on a good streak and got up to 1800 points, then lost to a Dan and I think that broke me mentally. Should have called it a night there but I didn't; lost 3 more after that before I finally forced myself to put down the controller.
it doesn't matter how good you are; G3 has lots of beginners, and even G2 has a really wide variety of skill levels. and you can't lose points, so it's not like you're risking anything.
most importantly, playing people better than you consistently is very desirable and the best way to improve.
ranked can be frustrating because you can make progress then lose it, and then you get angry and play poorly. Champ mode will just make you mad if you lose in the finals.
Yeah I won my first G3 tournament just by spamming fireballs and punishing jump ins with shoryukens with Ryu.
I just went 8-0 in a player match against a guy with my Blanka. I basically banned myself from jumping for the first 3 or 4 matches, and then only allowed myself to jump when I knew exactly why I wanted to. It's like playing an entirely different game than the Street Fighter I used to play. I am in control, precise control of my character. I can employ quick little mind games because I'm not committed to these huge arcing jumps. And I realized I have so many better answers as Blanka to fireballs than jumping. Between river run and coward crouch and EX straight ball and heck even the hop to avoid air fireballs I don't even know why I ever thought of jumping as an answer to fireballs.
Heck, I could even start working in basic combos and cancels into specials (like c.MK into up-ball) with strategy instead of just mashing them out and hoping they connected.
Yeah, I only really use online to work on small individual things (like not jumping, or blocking on wake-up, or jump-ins into RSF or something) for the most part. I don't really too much about winning, I'm usually not playing all that seriously. Trying to learn to use normals and such more so I've been using Chun lately.
Meter management and positioning is something I'm working on right now. With Bison that means manning up when knocked down and staying there. Pretty much just dealing with pressure rather than escaping most of the time. It's satisfying going into subsequent rounds with 2 or 3 stocks and keeping at st.forward range with the other player.
Oh, and meaties. Meaties are what's up depending on which character you're fighting.
hiryu, i feel like if you got the psychic falling sky down for when they neutral jump, you'd scare the shit out of your opponenets
it's risky but the psychological damage is so worth it
The problem with FS is the angle it goes out at. Normally, when a neutral jump is used properly on me, I end up right up next to them. That close, FS tends to go behind them and gets stuffed/misses.
Hopefully in Super they tweak the properties of FS. Right now it has to be perfectly timed/spaced. It's only guaranteed after a launch, practically.
i have never had that problem; falling sky will always grab them on their way up if you predict their jump, as far as I've seen. the major problem is that if they don't jump, hey, you're gonna eat their biggest combo.
I'm honestly not that great with FS period, and so perhaps I'm just mistiming it. What I have done that's been much safer and more effective when I expect a jump is close hp. It knocks em out of the jump and forces a reset. They HAVE to block it if they don't jump. So even if they block, it's back to a neutral state.
I know it doesn't get a kd, but I'd rather get some damage or be safe if I don't hit, as opposed to eating a free combo.
Do you ever find that the opp lands and recovers while you are still in the animation for a cl.hp. I find that everytime I do this on an opp that jumps they can land and poke / reversal / throw before I have a chance to recover from the cl.hp.
Personally my goto don't jump normal for Abel is cl.rh. It's quick, hits jumpers and people crouch blocking, and recovers quickly so that I'm not still in the animation for the move by the time they land. Plus, if I remember correctly it does more stun and damage than cl.hp.
EM is right about falling sky though. If you do it with almost the same timing with which you would meaty TT, then you will always grab a neutral jumper on wakeup, and they most likely won't neutral jump again. If I'm not mistaken, on some characters it will even catch a backdash. (That last bit might be completely wrong though so training mode is needed when I get home...)
So there was some confusion a little while back about the number of costumes each character would get, here's the final answer:
Seth clarifies how many costumes are available in SSF4
There's been some confusion as to how many alternative costumes will be available to the old and new cast members in Super Street Fighter 4. In the new features trailer, it showed all characters having 3 selectable outfits, but later statements contradicted this.
To clarify the matter, Capcom's Seth Killian stepped up with this comment:
"The current plan is for all returning characters to get a new costume, so they'll have a total of 3.
Characters new to Super Street Fighter IV are currently planned to have just 2 costumes, just like characters new to Street Fighter IV had."
So there was some confusion a little while back about the number of costumes each character would get, here's the final answer:
Seth clarifies how many costumes are available in SSF4
There's been some confusion as to how many alternative costumes will be available to the old and new cast members in Super Street Fighter 4. In the new features trailer, it showed all characters having 3 selectable outfits, but later statements contradicted this.
To clarify the matter, Capcom's Seth Killian stepped up with this comment:
"The current plan is for all returning characters to get a new costume, so they'll have a total of 3.
Characters new to Super Street Fighter IV are currently planned to have just 2 costumes, just like characters new to Street Fighter IV had."
Source: Unity Boards.
The good news is that the new costumes will be included in the game so you wont have to spend extra cash on them.
I'm going to try it tonight in training mode. I thought I read something on SRK a long time ago that said it did, but I could be mistaken.
I almost never do falling skys outside of combos though. Far to risky if the opp doesn't jump, and I would rather use a relatively safe normal like cl.rh or c.lk.
I'm going to try it tonight in training mode. I thought I read something on SRK a long time ago that said it did, but I could be mistaken.
I almost never do falling skys outside of combos though. Far to risky if the opp doesn't jump, and I would rather use a relatively safe normal like cl.rh or c.lk.
Falling Sky destroys Dan. It'll grab him right out of his kick special ... the only good move he has. Abel can completely shut him down that way.
I'm going to try it tonight in training mode. I thought I read something on SRK a long time ago that said it did, but I could be mistaken.
I almost never do falling skys outside of combos though. Far to risky if the opp doesn't jump, and I would rather use a relatively safe normal like cl.rh or c.lk.
Falling Sky destroys Dan. It'll grab him right out of his kick special ... the only good move he has. Abel can completely shut him down that way.
No one has an answer for his jumping, or down taunt.
Posts
Are you off of PSN now? I've had you on my list for a while but haven't had an opportunity to play a game yet.
I can probably hop on in like 10 minutes or so.
Me too.
Close: Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER
Knocked down: Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, SOVIET LARIAT if they're jumping in.
Far away: Hmmm....jab SPINNING PILE DRIVER? I don't know really, I'm usually not far away.
Where I want to be: In the air with your body, spinning!
My mixes: Standing short xx Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, crouching Forward xx Fierce SPINNING PILE DRIVER, punch SOVIET LARIAT, kick SOVIET LARIAT, EX-SPINNING PILE DRIVER, Super SPINNING PILE DRIVER, Ultra SPINNING PILE DRIVER
What I suck at: Cross-ups, grabs, kick attacks, zoning, mind games, blocking. As you can see, not much really.
Bad Match ups: Sagat. His character basically stole Ken's moveset, so he also uses the best tactics. But much like a clone, he forgot to copy the most key aspect: Fire!
How to beat my Zangief: Play like a bitch. Wait for me to make a mistake in timing (such as the phone ringing or my big brother distracting me) and punish. Also, games with red bars make my SPINNING PILE DRIVER that much more powerful and tricky to avoid, so try joining games that have green bars instead.
One thing to note is that you should switch you cr. lp and cr. lk around so that combo could be part of a low mix up.
Everywhere: Play it by instinct. As long as I don't know what I'm doing next, they probably don't either.
Seriously, though, I haven't really thought about it all that much, at least not in any left-hemisphere analytical fashion that I can put on paper as "This is my gameplan. This is my strategy." More like freestyle improv. Sometimes it wins, sometimes it doesn't.
To improve you skill you should work on:
Jump backwards RH then fireball
In the corner jump backwards RH. Repeat until opponent dies or you can use FIRE SRK
Its all new code...that will make it god awful.
I don't get why the whole world doesn't use GGPO netcode.
The Raid
Inventions of the western barbarians will not dishonor our great pastime!
I think they said something in an interview about trying it but it doesn't work in SF4? I'm not sure, but it all sounds like bullshit to me. The online in SF4 was an afterthought, from netcode to features.
playing solely by instinct is the best way to become predictable, because instincts will often lead you to doing what you're comfortable with, what you default to, instead of figuring out your opponent or figuring out what you're doing wrong.
unless you're already really good, instincts will often lead you astray; instinct is what makes people wake up with a shoryuken half the time, and throw random ultras, and jump in way too often, and etc etc. thinking about your playing style is the best way to improve. there is nothing better than watching a replay of your match and analyzing how you were thinking versus how your opponent was thinking.
I think what he meant by instinct is knowing immediately how to respond to certain situations.
yes i know sabremau is actually really good, but playing by instinct is only good if you've already built good instincts!
mostly it's the "if i don't know then he doesn't", which i know was mostly a joke
but usually i find that if i don't know what i'm going to do next, it's because i'm not thinking, and my opponent will easily assess what i'm going to do.
One of the things I like to do with Makoto is stand at a certain distance and then cycle through completely random normal attacks. They (usually) whiff, but the sequence I go through while watching and waiting for their next move is fairly random. I do like to try to keep the match fluid so I can improvise with whatever comes up.
Very informative, even if a lot is above my level. The main thing I took away from it that I need to focus on is OH GOD I jump way, WAY more than I should.
-block more. consider blocking instead of trying to jump, neutral jump, attack, or throw - sometimes it's way better, and trying to attack or advance will often get you stuffed. blocking and teching are the two most important skills for stopping pressure dead, in my opinion.
-jump less. way less. like the SRK article says, you should never jump unless you have a reason for it - and you know it's safe.
i jump way too much, and often i should be blocking instead of jumping, especially on wakeup.
pretty much
he bounces around a lot and his special can crossup and force you to guess which way to block, or turn into an air throw
and he does have good pokes
...it will be bitter training from here on out.
you should be playing championship mode instead of ranked. most of the good competition is there.
To each their own I guess. I like celery!
...
On an unrelated note, what's the best way to find opponents of a skill level at least moderately similar to mine? Ranked matches are a very mixed bag, and more often then not after getting curb stomped I find the opponent has well over a 1000 points compared to my measly 100.
Also, good Christ, I hate playing ranked where you'll fight 5 people in a row, getting like 20-40 points per win, then lose once and it costs you like 80-100+. Lame.
it doesn't matter how good you are; G3 has lots of beginners, and even G2 has a really wide variety of skill levels. and you can't lose points, so it's not like you're risking anything.
most importantly, playing people better than you consistently is very desirable and the best way to improve.
ranked can be frustrating because you can make progress then lose it, and then you get angry and play poorly. Champ mode will just make you mad if you lose in the finals.
I just went 8-0 in a player match against a guy with my Blanka. I basically banned myself from jumping for the first 3 or 4 matches, and then only allowed myself to jump when I knew exactly why I wanted to. It's like playing an entirely different game than the Street Fighter I used to play. I am in control, precise control of my character. I can employ quick little mind games because I'm not committed to these huge arcing jumps. And I realized I have so many better answers as Blanka to fireballs than jumping. Between river run and coward crouch and EX straight ball and heck even the hop to avoid air fireballs I don't even know why I ever thought of jumping as an answer to fireballs.
Heck, I could even start working in basic combos and cancels into specials (like c.MK into up-ball) with strategy instead of just mashing them out and hoping they connected.
Oh, and meaties. Meaties are what's up depending on which character you're fighting.
Do you ever find that the opp lands and recovers while you are still in the animation for a cl.hp. I find that everytime I do this on an opp that jumps they can land and poke / reversal / throw before I have a chance to recover from the cl.hp.
Personally my goto don't jump normal for Abel is cl.rh. It's quick, hits jumpers and people crouch blocking, and recovers quickly so that I'm not still in the animation for the move by the time they land. Plus, if I remember correctly it does more stun and damage than cl.hp.
EM is right about falling sky though. If you do it with almost the same timing with which you would meaty TT, then you will always grab a neutral jumper on wakeup, and they most likely won't neutral jump again. If I'm not mistaken, on some characters it will even catch a backdash. (That last bit might be completely wrong though so training mode is needed when I get home...)
XBL / GFWL: Boceifus
The good news is that the new costumes will be included in the game so you wont have to spend extra cash on them.
I'm going to try it tonight in training mode. I thought I read something on SRK a long time ago that said it did, but I could be mistaken.
I almost never do falling skys outside of combos though. Far to risky if the opp doesn't jump, and I would rather use a relatively safe normal like cl.rh or c.lk.
XBL / GFWL: Boceifus
Falling Sky destroys Dan. It'll grab him right out of his kick special ... the only good move he has. Abel can completely shut him down that way.
No one has an answer for his jumping, or down taunt.
No one.