Ultra Street Fighter IV

[joffocakes]

The demos for those AM2 games are all just the full game, but with a time limit so that you can barely complete a couple of fights. It's good in that you can try the full roster, but bad in that it's completely frustrating. Fighting Vipers is actually a lot of fun. I once bought Fighters Megamix for the saturn for about two pounds but I never did get to play it. I'd wanted it ever since I read in a yellow-paged C&VG cheat book that you could play as the car from Daytona.

I also bought Fighters Destiny on the N64 because I read you could fight as a cow. It was actually a lot of fun, too. War Gods, Mace the Dark Age, Clayfighter 63 1/3, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S, Dark Rift and G.A.S.P: Fighters Nextream weren't though.

[IgTerminals]

I won the Mortal Kombat 3 arcade machine in Gamesmaster, but it wouldn't fit through the door of my parents house. So I got alternative prize of PS1 and Saturn with a year's supply of Acclaim software.

Sounds good until you find out I had copies on each machine of SF The Movie: The Game and Rise of the Robots.

Also that shit version of Mortal Kombat 2 on the Saturn where every time you changed form with Shang Tsung it had to load the character.

Yay shit fighters.

[joffocakes]

Ha, excellent. That's a good alternative prize. I always wanted an arcade cab.

[IgTerminals]

Hmmm. Anyone know where I can get archived copies of Gamesmaster magazine from 1995? My copy went missing during a move years ago.

Had to invent a Mortal Kombat character. I invented Bu'Raal. A half dragon, and an agent of hell sent to retrieve the erent Scorpion. I spent weeks drawing out everyone of his moves, Fatalities, etc. Also had to invent a new 'Ality'. I did Cussality, where you use playground insult to finish off your opponent.

God my A levels suffered.

[geldra]

That's ace, arcades were proper holy grail level technology as a kid back then.

[Lyrical Donut]

I won a Quick Shot II joystick in ST Format once. Hated it.

[Lyrical Donut]

GGs tonight chaps!

I got Qazimodded by T. Hawk, got all cocky and asked Alistarr to use Rufus against my Seth then almost got perfected. Goemon did a 'Sim LK slide into Super. I did not know that was a thing.

Also, this:

[joeplus]

I won a cuddly raccoon from Superted magazine as a prize for designing an alien. I still have him at my folks' house. He's called Mischief.

[Qazimod]

(GGs!)

[Camel]

In Strekken, c.mp, c.mp, lk slide, super is a thing

[JLM]

I have most of the '95 Gamesmaster issues in my attic at home. I remember that competition vividly, and I also remember Gamesmaster giving Mortal Kombat 3 a 99% review score. lol.

[ah]

got all cocky and asked Alistarr to use Rufus against my Seth then almost got perfected.

Then you almost perfected me in the next fight. Stupid rushdown characters. I'll have to stay up late one night so we can get a decent run of games in, rather than me runnning away at 9.15 all the time. I want to play against Goemon's Guy for several hours as well.

[joffocakes]

GGs tonight chaps!

I got Qazimodded by T. Hawk, got all cocky and asked Alistarr to use Rufus against my Seth then almost got perfected. Goemon did a 'Sim LK slide into Super. I did not know that was a thing.

Also, this:

That's is excellent.

I am forever trying to catch that Dhalsim HP with some buffered nonsense ever since that match where Diago was fishing for full screen Ryu cr.hp into Super. That was lovely. Every time I try Ibuki's cr.mp with a neckbreaker buffered I mess it up.

[Lyrical Donut]

I beat Goemon's 'Sim almost exclusively with Makoto's st.MP once. From about half a screen away. For the record, he kicked the shit out of my Yun after that first round win.

Ig Terminals! I only just saw the message you sent last night. I'll probably be on soon if you're about though.

[IgTerminals]

Ah poo only just come on rllmuk to see your message about my message.

I may be on later.

Struggling to get back into SF at mo. Wanna get good session in.

Hope to fight you soon Lyrical.

[geldra]

Can anyone give me some basic of basic tips on how to make the most of a knock down situation? I'm pretty sure there's a fundamental I'm not getting as the amount of times I try to make the knock down count and end up eating a delicious mouth full of dragon punch.

Also, whats the deal with Oni?! He appears to have unreal hit recovery (if thats actually a thing).

[JLM]

Not quite sure what you mean about Oni. His dragon punches recover quite fast and are more difficult to punish than you'd expect, so if that's the issue it's worth hitting him on his way down or leaving an attack out for him to land on.

The post knockdown game is one of my very favourtie things about Streetfighter, and it's why I find it a bit disappointing when opponents dumb it down by just firing out a reversal or back dashing every single time without thinking.

With the dragon punch example there are various ways of approaching it, but the main thing above all else is to make sure you get some information from each knockdown you score.

I tend to break matches down into a series of individual flashpoints:

- We both jump, there's an air to air situation and I win it, we end up reset standing next to each other. What did the opponent do? Did they block, did they land and do a reversal, did they land and throw out a button, did they land and backdash, did they jump again, neutral jump, focus attack, back off and fire a projectile etc. What they do in that instance the first time is something I'll bear in mind when it happens again, and just as importantly it gives me a bit of information as to what kind of player they are generally.

- I jump in with a normal that doesn't do much block stun and the opponent blocks it. What did they do? Press buttons, go for a throw, tech my throw, throw out an invincible reversal, try to back dash away?

- I throw a fireball at full screen. How do they react? Neutral jump, forward jump, focus back dash, focus forward dash, use their anti-projectile move, return fire with their own projectile? Are they going to let me control space and start pushing them backwards with my fireballs, are they going to get into a war of attrition with me or are they desperate to close the distance immediately/?

- If I apply some pressure for a bit and keep them in block stun, are they mashing a reversal, are they pressing a lot of buttons, are they back dashing, how do they respond to a few tick grab attempts etc?

- The opponent has just blocked my lv.2 focus attack, are they back dashing, throwing out a reversal, going for a throw/tech, continuing to block?

There are countless situations like this in every match, some unique to specific match ups, but others that will occur over and over again and can give you knowledge that will transfer into other matches.

Once you have some information, there are a variety of things you can do. If you spot a bad habit you can try to bait them into doing it and punish accordingly. If you want them to stop doing something you can try showing them that you're wise to it and convince them to do something else. If that doesn't work and they continue to play stupid, just let them keep playing stupid and make sure to punish as hard as you can. One of my biggest weaknesses as a player is failing to do the latter, but I feel like I'm otherwise quite good at the reading, downloading and conditioning aspects and can beat players who outclass me in other areas by doing this effectively.

What that long ramble is leading to is that a knockdown is often the most important and telling of the above flashpoints. This tells you what the opponent likes/wants to do when you have the initiative and his back is against the wall. If you can get inside the opponent's head in this situation then you can win the match in short order.

A simple approach against an unknown opponent might be to walk up and block after the first time you knock him down. If he uppercuts, punish it hard. Next time you get a knockdown, again walk up and block. See what happens. If he uppercuts again, punish him again. Third time, walk up and block again. If he uppercuts again and gets punished he's probably dead. If he does nothing then it's reasonable to assume that he's learned his lesson after the first two and you can now apply a bit more pressure on his wake up. In future rounds/matches, he may wait until he has two bars before doing wake up uppercut, for instance, or he might try a back dash next time. Bear in mind what you've learned about him, what you've shown him about yourself and what resources/counstraints you're both working with/under.

This is an over simplified example of course. It doesn't take into account stubbornness, gut instincts and all manner of other layers of yomi based fun that can throw in countless variables, but hopefully it gives you an idea. There are times when you can earn the right to pressure an opponent on their wake up, there are times when you can convince them to let you, there are players who refuse to be convinced, there are players who are just smashing their face against the buttons and there are many variables on top of that. All of the rules can change dramatically based on the life/meter situation, then you have to bear in mind what options a particular character has and what users of that character often like to do in set situations. There's also an intangible thing that Alex Valle and other top players excel at where reading the mood of the opponent is key. Those times where the pace and flow of the match makes you think "this guy wants to jump so badly" etc.

I have a fun Dudley round I haven't uploaded yet where I can identify why I made certain decisions at key moments that give me the win:

So in the first round I mauled him quite badly while he didn't have any meter. I went in, pressed loads of buttons and showed him no respect whatsoever. In this round he starts of playing the match up correctly as Rose: frustrating Dudley with pokes and making life a nuisance. The first thing he does in the round that makes me make a mental note is when I charge up a focus attack, dash out and go for a cr. lk and he jumps backwards. In mid screen he doesn't need to do this at all, but he wants out of there fast and doesn't even have the composure to go for a back dash, which is what all Rose players like to do all of the time.

Although he's otherwise in control and has a decent life lead, I'm already confident that if I can get in once I can make him crack. At this point I'm also conscious of the fact that he has meter this round and he didn't when I was bullying him in the first, so if I do get in and give him an opportunity, I expect an EX Soul Spiral both to keep him in control and to stop me getting any momentum.

At 12 seconds I focus through his slide and go for a quick block string ending in jab machine gun blow. The situation after this is, for me, what settles the round and dictates all of my decisions after it. After jab machine gun blow we're essentially at neutral. I could continue applying pressure, I could go a for a throw, but based on his meter and what's happened in the match up to this point, I reckon he's going for EX Soul Spiral. Even if I didn't have him down as an antsy player, the meter situation still makes it worth waiting during this neutral situation. It's his first opportunity to go for an invincible reversal, and my personal approach is to always give them an opportunity to do it just to see if they will.

So I block, he does the soul spiral and I take off 40% of his life for it. After this knockdown I dash in, press loads of buttons and try my best to look like I'm, as the Americans say, feeling myself, then block at the last second. His general fidgetiness leads me to believe that my beefy punish won't convince him NOT to EX spiral again, but rather that, with prompting , I can make him panic and do another one. This situation differs from player to player and match to match, and you have to gather experience and read these yourself. Dudley is particularly strong at forcing bad decisions rather than encouraging good ones. He does such rapid, explosive damage and makes the opponent make a handful of massive decisions during the round that will cause swift death if they get it wrong. He's all about getting the opponent to either crack completely and throw it away, or end up too scared to do anything at all. There's very little middle ground with him. Makoto's the same; she wants you to panic and start getting hit trying to jump out/press buttons etc, or be reduced to a quivering wreck so she can grab you with karakusa.

Further to my feeling that he's going to soul spiral again if I give him a nudge, I'm also thinking that his next move after the NEXT knockdown will be a back dash, because he doesn't like to sit still, because EX soul spirals have got him in so much trouble already and because, as above, it's what all Rose players like to do all of the time. As such, when I bait the second spiral, I neutral jump it and go for a tick forward throw. This is specifically because I know a forward throw is the easiest and most reliable way for me to set up my anti-back dash option select, and because he's less likely to back dash if I put him back in the corner. This is all because, at this point, I actually AM feeling myself. What I *should* do is block the spiral and punish for the dizzy, then go for raw ultra or try a reset for the kill. I only do the other thing in this instance because I'm absolutely confident in what I think he'll do.

Anyway, I do the set up, he back dashes and eats the ultra, ending in another knockdown. At this point I'm convinced he's done EX spiralling and just go for some meaty pressure. I end up tagging another back dash, then he cracks completely and tries to jump away and gets hit for the dizzy. Then I taunt because he'd previously been Ibuki vortexing me and taunting incessantly then switched to Rose, his main, when I started beating his Ibuki. I am a bad person.

So on the last knockdown there, I was completely confident in pressing buttons and knowing I wouldn't eat a reversal for it. Not only because I had enough life to take it and he was nearly dead, but because everything that had happened up to that point was enough to convince me he wouldn't do it again. If you have a first round where you do nothing but wait for the reversal and punish accordingly, it might earn you the right to apply more pressure in round two. Not always, but it can do. I can't stress enough that this is completely different for every player and every match, but it's the sort of thing you want to bear in mind if you find yourself not getting the most out of your post knockdown game, particularly with Dudley who thrives so much on reading those situations.

[geldra]

Holy wow J! Take all my +1s for the day!

I think it's clear that I'm several (understatement) leagues below in terms of general capability, execution and all round knowledge of the game. Which, is part of the amazingness of Street Fighter, that is has that depth.

I'll see if I can digest your post, I think I need to understand more about my situational play (best punishes, defence on knock down etc). Also, I think like all bad comedy it's all about..... timing and mine is as wonky as.

I have noticed as well that , frustratingly, at my level, I can read a game fairly well however I do not adapt to it at all and fall for stupid shit and do stupid shit all the damn time!

edit: part of my problem i think is that I'm playing most of my games in ranked so i dont really get much opportunity to work people out, and if i do its game over before that happens. So, what I'm basically saying is that I need to crack on with NEFGC, mission 1 happens today, going to drop a few flyers and posters around town:

(flyer courtesy of Philly)

[joffocakes]

Oh my, Jellum. That's excellent. When I fight Jellum I like to do anti-reads (when I have the presence of mind for it); repeat situations them just mash out something completely different from normal with absolutely no care for the consequences. JLM plays with too much respect.

I still lose.

I played a bunch of Wii U games yesterday at SxSW, including The Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3 and Luigi's Mansion 2. They are all excellent and Nintendo are saved. The 3DS version of Lego City Undercover was terrible though. Also there was no Street Fighter. I did get my photo taken with a man dresses as Ness from Earthbound though. He even had Mr Saturn on his shoulder!

Also, that grumpy cat, of grumpy cat on the internet fame, is actually at SxSW. You can go and meet him and get your photo taken and stuff. This is the world as it exists today.

Also also, It's my birthday! I am 30. Happy Birthday Plopboy!

[jiroczech]

Happy Birthday Joffo!

[Nate Dogg III]

Happy birthday Joffo! Tell me everything about Wonderful 101, please.

[Plopboy]

Happy Birthday Joffo and yes is Wonderful 101 any good ?

[geldra]

Many Happy Returns to Joffo and Plopboy!

And yes, more W101 info please!

[joffocakes]

It was beautiful, but just the same old demo that's been doing the rounds for a while. At one point I did find it awkward switching from the sword form to the fist; one is created by making a straight line on the right stick while the other is a circle, but it was hard to hear the demo and I might not have cancelled out of the sword form properly. Other than that it was fun; a sort of Pikmin May Cry. Jumping all around men and slashing them up. You can turn into a jelly mould weight thing and deflect heavy tank shots back too. One guy went into a menu that let you choose who the leader of your Wonderfuls is, which I didn't know about before, though the wee PR guy didn't know what purpose it served. I'd assumed before that you were always that main one who isn't quite Viewtiful Joe.

It looks so great when the world is all cracking underneath you and your wee Wonderfuls are leaping across the gaps.

[geldra]

Nice, did Pikmin 3 look amazing too? So much good stuff coming out that I'll not get time to play, I think they should delay next gen until I have got through my pile of shame.

[IgTerminals]

Happy Birthday Joffo!

[Lyrical Donut]

Happy Birthday Joffles!

I'm jealous that you got to play The Wonderful 101 and I'm a bit disappointed to hear about Lego City. But the fact that someone I've actually met has been in the vicinity of grumpy cat kind of takes the edge off it.

[imp]

Happy Birthday Joffboy!

[joffocakes]

I loved Pikmin 3. My favourite thing was the whistle-blow Pikmin call isn't restricted to the short space in front of you like it was on the Gamecube, you can point the Wii Remote a fair distance away and press B to shepherd idle Pikmin back to your side. The controls feel very natural. When it comes to the type-specific tasks (there were crystal walls that could be smashed by Rock Pikmin) you can tap one of the nunchuck buttons to switch which type of Pikmin will be thrown when you next tap A. Stops you accidentally throwing Red Pikmin into a lake. Your main guy (I don't think it was Olimar) has a dodge move too, by pressing a direction on the Wii Remote's dpad. It's quite a speedy roll and travels a fair wee distance. Didn't use it much since the enemies were pretty tame.

The collectables being lovely looking fruits is better than the old coloured, numbered pellets from the first game too. Plus there's a lovely, subtle depth of field blurring effect which helps the bottom-of-the-garden aesthetic. I want it the most.

Really loved the look of Lego City Undercover as well, slightly surprised by the Edge score. The 3DS version they were showing was horrible though; if the handling in that is how the Wii U version feels that I can see how that would effect reviews, but there were also Body Harvest levels of fog going on, and a stuttery frame rate even then.

I didn't play any Street Fighter, though I did see a lot of people who look like Seth Killian. SxSW is full of them.

EDIT: PIKMIN!

[Qazimod]

HB Joffo