Street Fighter 4 Thread

[Wrench]

I don't get this game, I know all of the moves for the character I'm using (Akuma), but I can't come close to beating the game on medium. The computer does the moves so fast it's insane! Oh and Akuma happens to be the one guy I can't do his Ultra, doesn't make any sense. I know the functionality fairly well, throws, the charge attack, ect. I don't understand the canceling though, or what it does for you? Also I don't understand how people do moves so quickly, while doing other moves, it's insane. Is it because of my Xbox 360 controller? The joystick I feel like just doesn't allow me to work that quickly. I don't know i've been playing for a week and I still feel like I still have the same understanding and can't get better. Does anyone have some tips?

From what I've found. The harder the difficulty the more the computer "cheats". Just watch for patterns in your opponant.

As for pulling moves off. I've been playing almost a week now with the contoller only. I had a hell of a time pulling off most moves. Last night my fight stick finally showed up. After 3 hours of finishing up unlocking the rest of the characters. I had just about any move I wanted to pull off down. Best advice find/ buy a stick and spend some time in practice mode, or even challenge mode.

My only initial complaint with the stick was the square gate. Didn't feel "right" to me. After an hour I got back to pulling off moves without thinking about it again. I'm really loving this game.

 

[Domingo]

I've never really noticed the CPU "cheating" with the one exception of Seth. The CPU Seth is kind of like a "Shin Seth." His teleport recovery is quicker and the damage he takes has been reduced. It's probably just to make him tougher. The player controlled Seth takes damage like crazy, and his teleport isn't so quick.
I think what makes him hard is that the computer seems to make him react with certain attacks based upon what you're doing in real time.
Still, he does tend to follow patterns. You're almost always guaranteed to hit a jump-in combo on him to start a round. When you get a certain distance he does 1 of 3 different things every time. One of the biggest keys is to never play him like a person. At long range (Seth's best range), the CPU is actually pretty stupid...while in-close it's almost overkill.

 

[refraxion]

The majority of SF4 players are on XboxLive, so thats could be something you can look into.
Im thinking about buying an Xbox360 again and the Madcatz gamepad. Then again, I dont really have that much time to play as I like and I may hate the Madcatz. I definetly HATE the 360's controller for fighting games.

I wouldn't say the majority is on the 360. It's because 360 has a larger customer base. I find that PS3 copies are harder to find than 360 (for SFIV).

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

The PS3 isn't too bad. I looked the other day and I have almost as many PS3 games as 360 games now. I prefer the 360 overall, but the PS3 has gotten better. Too bad the PSN is still a bit of a joke.

I have a standalone BD player, and can't justify 400 USD to play MGS4 and play EVERYONE online.

Anyway, went to the game night on UMBC campus last night, got beat up. Someone was letting everyone use his TE stick, WOW that thing was good. Unfortunately, my execution was sloppy, so I didn't win, and the lines were long on the TV with the good players...I had people beat on several occasions, but wasn't firing on all cylinders. I think it was a mix of nerves/crowd and using the new stick. I know as soon as the next batch come out I'm getting one.

Only match i felt bad in was my Zangief vs. Fuerte. It was against the best guy there, It came down to the last match, but I couldn't beat that damn crossup splash. Every time he knocked me down, he crossup splashed, and I know how to block crossups, but he got me almost every time unless he was loose on the timing. I read on SRK I should have been doing wakeup FA, I wish I had a clue last night, I was killing him pretty much as long as I was on my feet. Sakura, I almost won several good matches, but I screwed up my links over and over.

@refraxion: multiplatform games are probably printed more on Wii and 360 since there are millions more people to buy them. I'm sure no smart game company is printing equal copies for say, Wii and PS3, that's just bad business lol

 

[Domingo]

Fuerte can actually give Zangief a hard time. Adonay's best character is Fuerte and that's always a brawl. A lot of those cross-up splash/fajita slam mix-ups are tough to stop. Plus, Fuerte's fast enough to get out of dodge when you do finally corner him. I like Fuerte, but I just haven't played enough people using him or taken the time to learn him...and Killzone is now occupying more of my time since my friends pretty much ordered me to buy it

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

Fuerte can actually give Zangief a hard time. Adonay's best character is Fuerte and that's always a brawl. A lot of those cross-up splash/fajita slam mix-ups are tough to stop. Plus, Fuerte's fast enough to get out of dodge when you do finally corner him. I like Fuerte, but I just haven't played enough people using him or taken the time to learn him...and Killzone is now occupying more of my time since my friends pretty much ordered me to buy it

That's how HDR and SF4 have done me, my copies of Halo 3 and GOW2 are collecting dust...

 

[XamediX]

That's how HDR and SF4 have done me, my copies of Halo 3 and GOW2 are collecting dust...

I was crack addicted to Horde mode on GOW2 and Thought SC4 was the best fighter hands down. Then I got SF4....

I hate Zangief. I can never get out of his grabs quick enough unless I jump as soon as I get up, because he grabs out of anything I use to wake up with. I can't dash for shit because its difficult with the analog stick. I can dash perfectly with the dpad, but the dpad sucks for everything else.

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

I was crack addicted to Horde mode on GOW2 and Thought SC4 was the best fighter hands down. Then I got SF4....

I hate Zangief. I can never get out of his grabs quick enough unless I jump as soon as I get up, because he grabs out of anything I use to wake up with. I can't dash for shit because its difficult with the analog stick. I can dash perfectly with the dpad, but the dpad sucks for everything else.

[broken record] You really need a joystick for this type of game [\broken record]

Beating Zangief is a test of patience, as well as skill. Completing linked combos to push him out of SPD range is essential to not losing to spam SPD. As far as wakeups, I would suggest moves that travel, like Ken\Ryu\Akuma's spin kick, it also takes you off the ground, so you can't be thrown. If you tell us what characters you use, we can give more specific examples.

 

[XamediX]

Yea I know... But i grew up with the SNES version of SF2 and I was terrible at the arcades due to the joystick. But I'm glad I at least made it halfway by moving from the dpad to the analog stick. That itself took 2 days to get good enough to pull off moves on command. I can never pull off Vega's ultra with a dpad, but I can on command with the analog stick. I know if I want to do stuff like EX cancels I will need a joystick because well, my fingers will cramp up trying those combos.

I typically use Akuma, Vega, Sagat, and a little bit of C Viper.

Funny thing about Akuma, anyone notice its like 30x easier to pull off his raging demon now? I think out of all the super/ultra moves, his is the easiest for me.

 

[mekkanic]

akuma's ultra is easy to avoid...I just jump out of the way.

 

[Stereophile]

I wouldn't say the majority is on the 360. It's because 360 has a larger customer base. I find that PS3 copies are harder to find than 360 (for SFIV).

That guy is reaching, the difference is trivial.

I've got over 200 ranked matches and only had a handful of "rematches" against the same opponent. At night during the week and all day Fri/Sat/Sun, my arcade game barely lasts 1-5 seconds before a new challenger appears. During off peak hours, I can't get past more than one or two arcade rounds before getting challenged to a new fight.

I leave my preference to more skilled with no language selected. I love fighting the high level Japanese players. A 4000bp Gen almost perfected me twice.

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

Yea I know... But i grew up with the SNES version of SF2 and I was terrible at the arcades due to the joystick. But I'm glad I at least made it halfway by moving from the dpad to the analog stick. That itself took 2 days to get good enough to pull off moves on command. I can never pull off Vega's ultra with a dpad, but I can on command with the analog stick. I know if I want to do stuff like EX cancels I will need a joystick because well, my fingers will cramp up trying those combos.

I typically use Akuma, Vega, Sagat, and a little bit of C Viper.

Funny thing about Akuma, anyone notice its like 30x easier to pull off his raging demon now? I think out of all the super/ultra moves, his is the easiest for me.

Okay, Akuma, run and air fireball, then teleport out of danger.
Vega, stay moving, try to stay in the air. Stick and move
Sagat, standing Rounhouse and Tiger Knee mixups
C. Viper I'm not familiar with, learn her links and don't jump in unless you're confident in your combos.

 

[Domingo]

A running Akuma can be frustrating as hell...also, you can't always just "jump out of his super." If the player is properly using it, he can grab you out of an existing attack, do it after a missed/blocked attack, or even do it while you're in the air to grab you the instant you land. It's not like the Akuma super of old - it has a lot of speed and priority this time around.

You can jump out of it if he's just doing it randomly, but if he's using it as a counter attack, it's a strong move.

Ditto with Zangief's grabs. He can grab you as a wake up, after a block attack, after a jump in, as a tic, or even as a combo. If he lands a low medium kick from close range I don't think the piledriver or either super can be avoided.

 

[Slade]

Akuma's ultra is best used as a counter-attack, if someone knows it is used like that, they will be scared to jump in as due to its speed and priority, pretty much anything you use from a jump in will result in you grabbed.

His array of moves is pretty much solid with all the other versions and his combos can punish a player badly. I do know abel's grab has an even higher priority though on that as if timed right (and its pretty tough), you can toss Akuma out of his ultra.

His ex jump to air throw is ridiculous. It tracks you where you are on the screen AND its a throw... like he isn't cheap enough. The only saving grace is if you have an Akuma player mixed up, you can finish him quickly, but make any mistakes and that same amount of damage comes right back at you.

 

[Domingo]

Yup - Akuma's a sumbitch. In general, he's got a lot of Ryu and Ken's strengths and then some...but luckily he takes damage like crazy. I think he and Seth are interesting in that regard. They didn't dumb down the uber-characters, they just made them take a ton of extra damage.

For anyone else that still cares, they're patching some of the problems in HD Remix next week.

 

[Master Blaster]

Anyone else having a hell of a time pulling off the Level 4 and Level 5 combos in the trial challenge? I can do the first 2 combo sets in Level 4 with most characters but after that it's too hard - when it shouldn't be!?!

 

[Domingo]

I still can't get Zangief's last trial combo. It's a knee-drop, 4 low shorts, and an EX banishing fist. Those short kicks are weird because you have to rapid-tap the first two, and after that they're links.
I haven't messed with all that many others, but I didn't have much trouble with Ryu's or Dan's. I think it's because I'm used to their link timing.
The tough ones are the multiple focus cancel combos. Those don't give you much room for error when it comes to inputting a dash cancel, plus your next move.

 

[contrivance]

Argh does anyone know where to get a decent fighting stick? The TE's are impossible to get right now and the Hori Arcade Pro 3 is sold out everywhere, either that or it's double or triple the price. I can't play with the damn controller. I know I can build one, but I don't have time for that right now. Any ideas?

 

[Stereophile]

Not really. The TE is impossible to find unless you want to spend $300 on ebay. Even the crappy normal madcatz fightpads are getting severely price gouged.

I've heard good things about the controllers with 6 face buttons. I think you can get one for "only" $60-70.

I'm holding out for the next TE shipment. Even if it takes a few months.

 

[phobic]

Not really. The TE is impossible to find unless you want to spend $300 on ebay. Even the crappy normal madcatz fightpads are getting severely price gouged.

That's funny. I got my fightpad for $20 (pricing error at BestBuy) and had no idea they are selling for $90 on ebay. I shouldv'e got another!!!

 

[Rehevkor]

You can get the Hori Fighting Stick 3 on ebay for around $52-$55 with free shipping. I've been using one on my PS3 and it works great. The stick has the Japanese standard square gate, which I find works really well for the circular movements. Fans of charge characters may not like it as much though.

 

[magnetik]

FWIW, I connected my Hanaho Hotrod SE to a xfps sniper plus and it worked great for one player. No probs pulling off moves. (but then again pulling off moves compared to the old SFII seemed almost too easy in SFIV) I am thinking for 2 player I would need another xfps because when I hook up the second 360 controller up they both light up as controller 1. (not really designed for this use) Seems kinda steep but I get to use a REAL 2 player arcade controller for about $300 + a couple wired 360 controllers I had lying around. That's if adding a second xfps and 360 controller would work. I don't see why not. Might take the plunge instead of buying a new controller because I already had this stuff lying around. It would cost me $100 to find out if I can have 2 player fully functioning arcade controller for the 360. tempting.

 

[XLeezardx]

Anyone reach 3000 BP yet?

 

[Domingo]

I'm at 2500'ish and I can't see myself getting much higher without a ton of hours. It seems like 90% of the people I play against only give me 1-30 points for a win...and those are 2-straight rounds, too.
I don't want to bother. I'm just sticking to player matches.

I'm noticing lots of 'Gief spazzes out there now. Their answer to everything is just keep doing the lariat and hopefully piledrive someone when they get close. I've pretty much switched from 'Gief to Bison just to avoid being lumped in with that. Looks like everyone has seen the tier lists as I'm now seeing 'Gief and Sagat every other match. Luckily Bison's not bad against either of them.

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

I still can't get Zangief's last trial combo. It's a knee-drop, 4 low shorts, and an EX banishing fist. Those short kicks are weird because you have to rapid-tap the first two, and after that they're links.
I haven't messed with all that many others, but I didn't have much trouble with Ryu's or Dan's. I think it's because I'm used to their link timing.
The tough ones are the multiple focus cancel combos. Those don't give you much room for error when it comes to inputting a dash cancel, plus your next move.

That took me a half hour. The secret was doing the knees super deep so I was close enough to get all the c. LKs in. The rest was trial and error.

 

[Wrench]

Argh does anyone know where to get a decent fighting stick? The TE's are impossible to get right now and the Hori Arcade Pro 3 is sold out everywhere, either that or it's double or triple the price. I can't play with the damn controller. I know I can build one, but I don't have time for that right now. Any ideas?

Could try shoryuken forums in the tech section. There are a few folks that build them there. Could also try www.slagcoin.com he has a section with links to builders as well.

 

[Stereophile]

Anyone reach 3000 BP yet?

Hell no. I'm trying to stay consistent above 1000.

I'm at 2500'ish and I can't see myself getting much higher without a ton of hours. It seems like 90% of the people I play against only give me 1-30 points for a win...and those are 2-straight rounds, too.
I don't want to bother. I'm just sticking to player matches.

I still like ranked matches even though I'm not good. I was looking at the tables and it's amazing how many higher level players there are. Must be thousands of people with more than 3000bp. I still have problems with 500-1000bp people, although I get lucky and beat someone of your skill once in a while.

I know I'm severely held back by the controller. Looking at my stats I don't have a single medal for finishing someone with a super or ultra combo. Normal charge combos are difficult enough for me to pull off. During a match, I can probably only do Blanka's normal and ex charge moves with a 50% success ratio. In training mode, it takes me 20-30 tries to pull off an ultra against a dummy opponent.

I wonder how many of the people I'm losing to are using sticks ? Probably tons.

 

[simon741]

In SF4 if Im playing with a controller, am I going to be constantly matched up against leet players with sticks? I want to buy a stick but I have a 360 and the only options under $100 are the HORI Ex2 sticks which I heard were crap. Even $80 on the fight stick seems too much. If I built a basic stick with good parts how much do you think it would run me? I would have to buy a solder kit too.

 

[Sixthsense]

Anyone reach 3000 BP yet?

Not even close 2,200BP here, I get alot of matches against players with 1000bp and 3000bp-4000bp every now and then. Although none of these player's gave me the ass whopping I took against a chun li player that whopped me 12 times straight in player match

 

[refraxion]

I'm steadily rising in BP. My C. Viper can finally do every move/combo -- on a pad! Now I gotta adjust once I get my TE stick.

 

[Domingo]

How many PS3 players are in serious need of a stick? I can understand the 360 players, but we've had SF games on the Sony systems dating back to Alpha 1 in 1995. I've been using their controller for 14 years, so I've never thought of it as a big deal.
The only supers/ultras I've really had trouble with are Bison's (the teleport command tends to come out) and Abel's (I get that damned EX air grab showing up instead).
I've all but dropped Zangief unless the other person is playing him, too. I'll be a fan forever, but he's just too much of a trainwreck in this one. He can embarass 1/2 the cast just doing the lariat over and over. I'm pretty much swapped over to Bison and only play 'Gief against friends.

 

[0mega9401]

bison is i think a little over powered but whatever... i usally pla ken but im having a eally hard time geting his ultra down

 

[Domingo]

Bison's a good character, no doubt about it - but compared to 'Gief, Ryu, and Sagat he's not that great. The main thing I like about him is that he absolutely humiliates most of the uppercut posse. EX headstomp FTW.
Still, unlike most of the other strong characters, Bison can't just recklessly throw out moves. You've really got to have some EX moves ready to go at all times.

 

[lt_shiro]

Anyone else in love with Dan?

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

I started playing ranked, and I suck...I am no good at Online Fighter, lol. I'm stuck aroun 600 BP. I'm still not accustomed to being thrown as soon as I get up, Capcom fixed that in Champion Edition ffs. I WAS playing Sakura, but it was my fault also, as I made execution errors trying to do fancy links and her broken LP spin kick links. I got frustrated and played with other characters, but I went like 5-15 until I said screw it and quit, it was hard waitiong, then I NEVER get a 5 bar connection. I was crushing people left and right in HDR...why 3D, damn it?!? *shakes fist*

The really sad part is that I know for a fact if I was playing them live(no pun intended), I would kill 75% of these scrubs without thinking...

 

[Kabob]

I know I'm the odd man out, but I just got the game and I gotta say I straight up don't like it. I know it's not for everyone but...I dunno, guess I just had higher expectations (I was addicted to Marvel vs. Capcom, this just isn't quite the same). Good graphics, decent fighting, it just isn't my cup of tea.

Selling it off in the FS forums if anyone's looking for a copy.

 

[Domingo]

Yeah, there are lots of weird adjustments with latency. I've really had to start being really defensive with Ken. With even the smallest bit of lag, Ken can start ripping off those flaming dragon punches and supers over and over again and do insane damage in a hurry. Normally you'd wait for him to land and then bust him up, but if your timing is off with any lag - you can get absolutely lit up when he does another one.
I've started just going for hits while they're falling or a throw when they land. Throws seem to have a "safe" animation against supers and ultras. If your character hasn't full-on started the throw animation when someone supers or ultras - you're totally safe.

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

I know I'm the odd man out, but I just got the game and I gotta say I straight up don't like it. I know it's not for everyone but...I dunno, guess I just had higher expectations (I was addicted to Marvel vs. Capcom, this just isn't quite the same). Good graphics, decent fighting, it just isn't my cup of tea.

Selling it off in the FS forums if anyone's looking for a copy.

I agree, I like MVC2 better than this, but it's new and will be the popular game in tournaments for the forseeable future, so I'm rolling with it. I do like it, but the graphics have made the game way different in some ways. Sometimes I have to unlearn 15 or so years of SF convention. And some of the hitbox properties are ass, they need training with visible hitboxes like HDR.

@Domingo: I got caught with that a ton, trying precise punishes got me killed more times than I care to remember.

 

[Domingo]

I've had to unlearn wake up attacks completely. Cross-ups are safe and a few special moves have crazy priority on quick risers (the jab psycho crusher for one) but doing a normal attack on someone getting up = death. It's one of the many reasons Vega is so bad now. You can no longer do the low medium kick x 2 + low medium punch combo. The roll gets beaten by any rising attack someone does, too. Even the long-distance slide gets EX'd and then blasted.

Lots of characters (Vega, Honda, Cammy, etc.) have really kept their moves and styles from previous games - they were just nerfed by the mechanics of the game.

I'll continue to play it casually, but I don't think I'll ever really get to tournament-level or anything.

With Killzone getting more of my attention and RE5 due on Friday, I figure my SF4 time will probably dwindle a bit until it's time to visit my friends back home. There's still a lot of pride on the line with my college friends, so I'll practice up a lot in the fall.

 

[NSCTripleAgent]

I've had to unlearn wake up attacks completely. Cross-ups are safe and a few special moves have crazy priority on quick risers (the jab psycho crusher for one) but doing a normal attack on someone getting up = death. It's one of the many reasons Vega is so bad now. You can no longer do the low medium kick x 2 + low medium punch combo. The roll gets beaten by any rising attack someone does, too. Even the long-distance slide gets EX'd and then blasted.

Lots of characters (Vega, Honda, Cammy, etc.) have really kept their moves and styles from previous games - they were just nerfed by the mechanics of the game.

I'll continue to play it casually, but I don't think I'll ever really get to tournament-level or anything.

With Killzone getting more of my attention and RE5 due on Friday, I figure my SF4 time will probably dwindle a bit until it's time to visit my friends back home. There's still a lot of pride on the line with my college friends, so I'll practice up a lot in the fall.

I would disagree on the "crossups are safe" comment...on some characters at least. Sakura's godlike MK is gone, and any one that isn't deep enough to at least blaock stun enough frames to link give away a free throw, and the trip guard in this game is weird too. I hate this aspect, as I have been using them to win since I took SF serious. I really wish this shit wasn't 3D...there is a rumor AGAIN that MVC3 may happen, I pray they either make it 2D or don't at all...