Street Fighter Questions

[Ziggy]

I played a lot of Street Fighter II Turbo on my SNES back in the day, but I've always been a fan of Mortal Kombat over Street Fighter. I haven't played much of Street Fighter over the years, but recently I've been wanting to change that. I feel like the games would be a lot more fun if I was better at them. Any general tips for a Street Fighter newbie?

What's the best controller (not stick) to use? I have the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection on PC and have been using a retro-bit Genesis 6-button USB controller. I also have a Saturn with access to every Street Fighter game for it, and obviously have been using a Saturn controller for that. I find myself constantly jumping by accident. I've been primarily playing with Ryu, and I do a lot of accidental jumps when I mean to input a Shoryuken or Hadoken. It can be very frustrating! Am I just being a noob? Should I practice more to avoid jumping? Is there a good technique for this? Or are there other controller options for PC that I could use? I was thinking about getting a Saturn controller for PC, I feel like that D-Pad might be a little better than the Genesis D-Pad. If I do get the Saturn PC controller, should I stick with USB? Would the wireless one add too much lag for a fighting game?

So Mortal Kombat has high and low punch and high and low kick, and that was always easier for me to wrap my head around. Street Fighter has low, medium and high punch and kick buttons, and I'm not sure how or when I should be using them. I've already realized that if I'm standing I can counter a jump attack with a high punch. And a high kick does a round house kick or a sweep if you're standing or ducking. But aside from them, I'm clueless as to what I can use the rest of the buttons for! So I end up using the high punch and kick buttons 99% of the time, and only occasionally experimenting with the lower power / faster attacks. Can someone give me a basic rundown of how I should be using these attacks?

[Ack]

Hey Ziggy.

First off, jumping while getting the hang of the command rolls is pretty normal. You're overcompensating on the motion to perform the move, likely because you're actively thinking about it and thus focusing too much on the motion. You might like the Saturn controller more than the Genesis 6-button, though what you really need to focus on is relaxing your thumb for moving on the command. You need to think about it less to where the motion becomes natural without active thinking, but getting there is going to take some frustrating practice. Also, you're probably jumping forward when you do it, so get comfortable with that! Street Fighter doesn't have the extensive hopping mechanics of King of Fighters, but it does offer some versatility in the air with different characters, and most folks have some kind of anti-air defense.

For your attacks, I find it better to think of them as light, medium, and heavy. One key difference over Mortal Kombat is that attacks are unique to characters, so a heavy punch in one may do something totally different from another. Also, different characters will have different ranges, depending on the attack type used, and a few have specials done by rapidly tapping specific types of attacks.

The thing you should probably focus on is how to flow attacks together. Hitting an opponent with a couple of rapid crouching kicks may give you a short, quick combo...or it may throw them off and open them up for a different attack, like moving into a medium or heavy hit. Learn to flow between fast, medium, and heavy, as this will help getting a hold of your combo basics too.

Also, if you're using Ryu, try to get to the point where you can go from a basic attack into a special attack. Hitting an opponent with that same rapid crouching kick may then open them up for a hadouken immediately after.

[Ziggy]

Thanks, Ack!

The Hadouken is a very familiar input for me already. The down-to-forward sweep is the same as, for example, Sub-Zero's freeze input. I'm pretty competent at MK, and I don't have this issue there. And come to think of it, I could never use a Sega controller for MK games because of the D-Pad for the same reason. Too many accidental jumps. I'm use to the more stiff D-Pads of the SNES and Playstation. Do I just need to practice more with the Sega style D-Pads? I almost need a hybrid controller that has the D-Pad of a SNES but the 3x3 button layout of the Genesis LOL.

So you can buffer inputs in SF like you can in MK? For example in MK, you can start an input for a special move (such as down-to-forward sweep, or forward-forward-forward, etc) while you're blocking, in the air, or recovering from getting hit. The input is buffered, so if you time it right on the next available frame you can hit the button to execute the move.

It seems that every one (at least when the computer is playing) has an anti-air counter. So when I try and do a jump attack I get knocked out of the air. But if I approach I usually get taken as well. I don't know if it's the version I'm playing, the 30th Anniversary on PC, I don't remember the console version being this hard. And I turned the difficulty down to 2 to practice.

Throws seem to work just like MK, if I'm next to an opponent I can hit high punch or kick to do a throw. But how do you do holds? The computer can hold me and get in lots of hits. For example, Dhalsim puts your in a head lock and punches you in the head until you can break free. How do you do that?

[Ack]

Yeah, buffering is a part of Street Fighter. Buffers are also how you get into move cancels, where certain attacks can be superseded by specials if you input the command. What basic attacks can be cancelled into what specials is character specific. There are also shorthand ways to get around certain commands because the game isn't that picky about button inputs. For example, a charge attack requiring you hold back for a second does not care if that back is done walking backwards, jumping back, or turtling in crouch, so a Guile player can release a Sonic Boom while evading or during a gap in an offensive barrage.

Now throws are also character specific, so the grabs you're seeing are just for those characters. However, characters may have multiple throws which trigger off of different attack buttons. So Ryu has throws which toss his opponents different distances, depending on the attack button you use to instigate the throw.

For the d-pad, I also find I have an easier time on the SNES cross d-pad than the Genesis and Saturn's rollin circle. But training on different controllers isn't a bad thing; you'll internalize more means of control to improve performance.

[marurun]

Especially for the shoryuken movement, it’s more of a Z motion. You don’t even have to come up level. After a little practice you should never be going into jumps. That last movement should be to just jam it into the diagonal.

[Ziggy]

Can someone give me a basic rundown of the Street Fighter games, and what each variation adds?

I'm very familiar with Street Fighter II up until Turbo. Super Street Fighter II I know added four more character, and I see a super meter but I'm not too sure what it does. After that, I'm kind of clueless with the series. I know there's Alpha 1, 2 and 3. Then there's 3 different Street Fighter 3's. I have no clue what the difference is between them.

I have SF2 HD Remix. Aside from the remixed graphics and sound, any differences worth noting?

I also have SF4 for PS3, the first edition of the game. And I just got Ultra 4 for PC because I noticed it was 75% off on Steam. What did Ultra add?

Now throws are also character specific, so the grabs you're seeing are just for those characters. However, characters may have multiple throws which trigger off of different attack buttons. So Ryu has throws which toss his opponents different distances, depending on the attack button you use to instigate the throw.

Right, I know that holds are character specific. But how are they accomplished? Is it different for each character? I'm asking because I don't see it listed in special moves and I don't see a mention of it in the manual.

Especially for the shoryuken movement, it’s more of a Z motion. You don’t even have to come up level. After a little practice you should never be going into jumps. That last movement should be to just jam it into the diagonal.

So are you saying instead of sweeping from forward to down and then back to forward, I can be less precise and just mash forward then down, then end with a down/forward diagonal? There's a lot of times I end up throwing a hadouken instead.

[MrPopo]

The super meter in SSF2 can be used to bust out a super move; something that does a bunch of damage and is probably an amped up version of a regular move.

Alpha is mostly SSF2 with a different cast and art style. Subsequent releases add to the cast, but at one point (can't remember if it's 2 or 3) there's the addition of ISMs, and I can't remember specifically what they affect, but I know that it makes a given character play a bit different.

SF3's big thing was the introduction of a parry mechanic; if you push toward the opponent at the moment of a blow you completely negate it. This leads to a completely epic moment at an EVO tournament where a guy at a sliver of health parries the entirety of his opponent's super (if he had blocked he would have died to chip damage) and then is able to win by comboing his opponent during the recovery. SF3 includes the biggest cast change of any Street Fighter.

SF4 does two things; it changes throws from being a single button when pushed up against your opponent to hitting both LP+LK. This means I can never pull out throws because I don't have the muscle memory for it. It also replaces parries with a mechanic whose name escapes me; you hold down MP+MK and can absorb a single blow during that period, then release to get in a decently hard hit.

Haven't touched SF5.

As for the grapple vs. throw, it just depends on the character. So for Ryu/Ken, if you use FP you do a forward throw, if you do FK you do a backwards throw. Some characters instead of a throw have a grab; it's executed the same.

[Ziggy]

Can the computer to holds that the player cannot? I could have sworn that Ken put me in a headlock and repeatedly kneed my face.

[marurun]

The computer absolutely cheats. It can't do any grabs you can't, but it can do them longer and for more damage.

And yes, the dragon punch motion is not actually forward then a full quarter circle fireball. It's forward then down to diagonal down-forward. That's the official motion.

Honestly, if you want to learn to get comfy with the Street Fighter series and learn the motions, one of the original SF2 variants isn't a bad way to go, especially since you can use a slower speed if you need to.

[sevin0seven]

Any general tips for a Street Fighter newbie?

Which character in MK do you like piloting? Find an identical fighter in SF.

What's the best controller (not stick) to use?

Sega Saturn Controller at best. Genesis 6 button comes in second.

I find myself constantly jumping by accident.

...your probably still thinking MK moves

Am I just being a noob? Should I practice more to avoid jumping?

yes and yes.

Street Fighter has low, medium and high punch and kick buttons, and I'm not sure how or when I should be using them.

when I started playing SF, I've always use the high punch and kick buttons (knowing it damages your opponent more in their life bar). I played decently pretty well using that method for a while and got comfortable. Gradually I learned how to use the low and medium attacks and it took me to another level. My tip; always start attacking with either low attacks and finish with a high attack (this will always give you a combo move to your opponent).

With special moves (like hadoken) its either slow or fast fireball or (shoryuken) low or high dragon punch for example. Depending the type of opponent your facing, all options can be helpful. One example; if your against e-honda. Since he jumps lower or slower than most; its best to use the slower hadokens. Each opponents requires different tactics to beat them.

I've already realized that if I'm standing I can counter a jump attack with a high punch.

that's called being smart (or thinking defense first); this trick always work no matter how good your opponent.

**one last tip; when I play SF I'm "always" thinking about blocking my opponents attacks then counter (like boxing). In SF you gotta be a good defensive and offensive player equally.

Hope that helps buddy.