Ultra Street Fighter IV

[Choo]

I'd love it if they removed the ultra freeze/showy animation startup from counter ultras. Imagine not showing a big flashing warning going 'STOP PRESSING BUTTONS NOW' as the counter starts. They'd probably be useful.

[mayor_mike_haggar]

Fei would be utterly ludicrous with a useful ultra, though.

[Qazimod]

Also I require someone to do multiplayer with me.

I had been putting off getting Portal 2 because I was busy with other games, and then by the time I had some spare time I figured that everyone who wanted to play multiplayer had already done so, so I didn't bother getting it.

Oh, but I can't buy new games right now due to my hideous backlog and my plan to not spend too much cash money on children's computer games. Except Divekick. And Persona 4 Arena.

[mayor_mike_haggar]

So does that mean you're free to play it tonight?

[Qazimod]

Portal 2? No, I don't own it.

Street Fighter? Perhaps.

[mayor_mike_haggar]

I bet someone you know could lend you it. Joffo? Nate? Ali*?

[Lyrical Donut]

I would love to play some Portal 2 co-op. But I had it on PS3. I claimed my free Steam version but this Mac Mini would probably commit suicide if I made an attempt to run it. And you're playing it on 360 anyway - so just ignore this post.

[Yasawas]

I have almost exactly the same Portal 2 tale but with an elderly MacBook in place of the Mini. I wish I hadn't sold that game now.

Co-op is surprisingly fun even with other people who may not play Street FIghter. I did about half of it with strange men and it was a good laugh, it's so charming when you work out a wee puzzle and you both celebrate by forcing your cute wee robot avatars to dance. It's like Little Big Planet in that even if you're a total deadweight and they're raging they can't really express it via gameplay which I like.

[mayor_mike_haggar]

I bet there's fuck all people online who are new to it though I just want to solve puzzles with some of my firmest friends on the internet! Is that too much to ask!

[ah]

I got the PS3 Portal 2 and sold it because it turned out it worked nicely on my laptop. It's a fun game.

The best anti-Rufus tech is basically to get better at playing midrange footsies, or to pick a top-tier character because he loses to all of them.

My favourite Rufus ting at the moment is divekick, st.LK, st.MP, cr.LP xx EX GT FADC target combo, ULTRA! I'll get it in a game at some point, but the only street fighter I've played recently is twenty minutes or so in training mode trying to do FADC loops with Sagat and Oni, which didn't go particularly well.

[Nate Dogg III]

Portal 2! I have it on steam but have never played it, which is my new catchphrase. I started the first one again last week, actually, and fully intend to play Portal 2 once it's done.

[strawdonkey]

Haggar! How dare you fatly try to play games tonight that are not Street Fighter.

(I have Portal 2 and haven't played the co-op yet - so let's play some after our set, if you can make tonight?)

[wretcherd]

There is an excellent bit in SCR 2011 when Justin Wong and Ricky Ortiz have a Rufus mirror as Yellow Marshmallow Rufus and Leather Biker Rufus; one of them gets knocked into Losers and when they meet again for the rematch they switch costumes, to much confusion.

[Lyrical Donut]

I think I might just be happy playing the MGR:R demo until the end of time. Or at least until the game comes out, perhaps. Its so lovely

Also, yesterday's Nintendo Direct has got me quite excited about the Wii U again and reminded me that I don't have one yet. What's happened over in that thread? Ninten-damned-if-they-do/don't

Street Fighter.

[routeburn]

I seem to be having real problems getting the "charge" in any charge character. I've followed the instruction, I've watched a few videos, I've taken to the practice room.. still can't seem to get the actual "charge" bit working. It sometimes works by accident.

Any tips or pointers to good tutorials?

[Lyrical Donut]

You want to be pressing the attack button at the same time / slightly after as you press the direction for the special move, but not before. You may not be charging for long enough too (2 seconds).

[routeburn]

Yeah, I seem to have to scuttle away to get space so that I can stand still long enough to "get my charge on". It's a complete "stop-start" way of fighting for me. I've tended to play the lightweight zippy jab-jab-jab-kick-kick-kick types before - Fei Long etc.

[Lyrical Donut]

Oh, hold down-back to keep yourself grounded too. Also get into the habit of charging as soon as you jump toward (ideally down-back). It definitely feels odd if you've been used to quarter circle characters, but you'll get it with enough practice.

[routeburn]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

[ah]

Yeah, you really need to get out of that mindset that charging is something you're going to do because you've just decided you could really use a sonic boom at this point in the match - you need to be holding charge as often as possible just in case you end up needing that sonic boom.

It's why so many Bison combos start with a few jabs or cr.LKs - you can move up to your opponent and then start holding down-back while you do cr.LKs, and while the kicks are comboing your charge is building up so you can cancel the last kick into the scissors special move.

Basically, like LD says, as soon as you've entered the up-forward motion for a forward jump, your character is jumping forward no matter what you do, so get the stick immediately into the down-back position as soon as you leave the floor. If you're crouching there doing jabs, you might as well be holding down-back while you do it in case you get the chance to combo into a charge special. If you're doing Balrog's headbutt, you can do it by charging down-back and moving to up-back when you press the punch button, so that you only lose your "down" charge, and can maintain your "back" charge while the headbutt's happening (this is how Balrog can connect an ultra while the opponent's falling from a headbutt). Etc, etc. Whenever you're not actively moving forward, blocking high or looking to do a standing attack, practise holding down-back.

Some good training mode things to help you practice holding charge in different situations:

- throwing sonic booms without walking backwards will help you go from down-back to forward reliably

- Bison's 3 cr.LKs xx scissors will help you think about charging while doing other stuff

- Balrog's headbutt into ultra will help you think about holding one charge even when you're using another

[joffocakes]

I've just been going through the trials on 3DS again. Shamelessly switched to "lite" controls for Honda's trials. The dpad on 3DS is still giving me grief with quarter circles backward. FADC into chicken wing is infuriating as well. I do love going through the trials again though. Sometimes I'm reminded of odd links. I wish they'd re-do them for the AE 2012 changes with a few new trials that wouldn't have been possible before.

I want to play the Metal Gear Rising demo some more; I hardly played it. Apparently if you hang around in training long enough cutting stuff up a giant watermelon the size of a car will appear.

[Plopboy]

Also if you get knocked down make sure you are holding down back so that you can wake up with a charge move like Spinning Bird Kick, Flash Kick, etc

Who are you playing out of interrest?

[andygt]

[mayor_mike_haggar]

Haggar! How dare you fatly try to play games tonight that are not Street Fighter.

(I have Portal 2 and haven't played the co-op yet - so let's play some after our set, if you can make tonight?)

Aaaaargh. I got beasted at kickboxing last night, so didn't turn on the xbox until 11.20, and then when I did I just blankly stared at all my games for 15 minutes, paralysed with a mixture of exhaustion and indecision, before I turned it off again and slouched off to my shit bed. I'm at a wild "Burns night" thing tonight, which presumably is some kind of Simpsons themed evening or something, and then tomorrow I'm seeing jango unchained, so might not be on til late/at all.

Maybe tomorrow afternoon when I'll be cooking delicious ribs in my increasingly-rickety-sounding oven.

[Lyrical Donut]

I'm at a wild "Burns night" thing tonight, which presumably is some kind of Simpsons themed evening or something

eeexcellent

[jiroczech]

Our oven's fucked too - the fan hit the element which blew up and went on fire. We replaced the element but the fan now makes a loud noisey death-rattle. I can't face spending money on new cookers when I've not even got a Wii U yet and there's the Durango and Optimus Prime coming out this year. If money was no object I'd buy a sous vide or hire a cook or something.

I played some Street Fighter last night, but it was the lonely training and vs CPU kind. CPU Ken on hardest isn't bad for practicing punishes cos he just wilds on dragon punch, mashes it out through all your blockstrings.

[geldra]

Any lob ons happening tonight or tomorrow day?

My cooker is fine, but the missus keeps hanging the oven gloves on the cooker door handle and not the grill handle. Does my tits in.

[joffocakes]

That sounds like a terrifying kitchen event. I remember one time as a wean I was on a particularly grim caravan holiday and I tried to turn on the gas oven for too long; it was hissing away and the wee igniter button was just going clickclickclick before eventually it lit in a big roaring whoosh and a big sheet of fire flashed out like a dragon's breath. It was pretty quick though, so all I felt was a wee bit warm and a big bit terrified.

Super Dramatic Cooking time.

Also something about 1st degree Burns night.

[Plopboy]

I used to have Blanka living in my oven as it kept giving me electric shocks, but then a nice man came and made him to move back to the jungle and now it doesn't.

[Camel]

Eventhobs

Seth Grillian