Category Archives: Combos

SF? Balrog Exhibition (WNF:AE Edition)

This brief, tool-assisted combo video starring Balrog was presented live on stream today – at the inaugural Wednesday Night Fights: Arcade Edition tournament held at Super Arcade. The idea to make a Balrog combovid came up during Balrog: Behind the Glory filming. I couldn’t say no, but i didn’t have much time to work on it, so it’s missing a few of his appearances.

0:04 / SF2CE Dhalsim’s non-knockdown air recovery animation has a vulnerable period exclusive to Champion Edition, leading to inescapable juggle combos. Normally that weak spot rises with every hit, but the corner changes everything. Touching the wall makes him descend with each hit, so the entire combo revolves around precise corner spacing. Balrog’s F+HP hold allows him to set up another juggle situation after the dizzy, which most characters can’t do.

0:15 / HSF2 Balrog’s c.HP, close s.MP, and Dash Upper originally shared the same exact active sprite. All three are showcased in the first combo, starting with backwards c.HP against ST N.Dhalsim’s whiff far s.MK, followed by his c.LK -> s.MP CPS1 chain, linked into HK Dash Upper for the dizzy. Unfortunately the only reason this combo requires CE Balrog is because HF Balrog’s fully-extended backwards c.HP refuses to hit Dhalsim’s s.MK cleanly. They always trade. CE Balrog is better than HF Balrog in the most subtle ways, which is surprising because he wasn’t even considered good in Champion Edition.

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ComboVid.com DAMAGE exhibition v.one

The sequel to last year’s sh/f style exhibition v.one focuses on the opposite end of the combo spectrum – pure unfiltered damage! It features contributions from twenty-five talented combo makers, with excellent editing by Snoooootch. Since every clip ends in sudden death, there are tons of different games highlighted within the span of five short minutes.

The complete transcript is provided on ComboVid.com with background notes and breakdowns for each clip. Now which do you prefer – style or damage?

SF4 Biweekly TACV 17: Sagat

Sagat may not seem like an exciting combo video candidate at first glance, but how could the consensus strongest character in the game not to have at least a few interesting tricks? Between his overall damage output, generous juggle potential, frame advantage across the board, and kara-cancel movement capabilities, there’s plenty to work with.

0:11 Sagat’s whiff F+HK xx HP Tiger Uppercut catches Zangief’s rotating feet from maximum range without sacrificing damage. In fact, every regular Tiger Uppercut in this video registers full first-phase damage. There’s a slight delay before the F+HK juggle to avoid slipping under Gief, but the rest is airtight. Although he doesn’t bounce higher than average, Zangief is a useful combo dummy because his falling hitbox is bulky enough to reach up into the fourth phase of Sagat’s EX Tiger Uppercut.

0:20 Dhalsim’s c.LP extends into Sagat’s LK Low Tiger Shot roughly 17 frames after its first active frame, generating a counterhit in the process. Sagat pushes some buttons and finds himself at the perfect distance to cross over crouching Sim with two-hit EX Tiger Knee. At this point, Dhalsim is the only character who floats high enough to get hit by EX High Tiger Shot, which allows Sagat to follow up with a few bonus hits of Tiger Destruction. Note that the spacing for the EX Tiger Knee crossup was actually established via the starting point of the combo, because projectile pushback doesn’t reflect off the corner. Furthermore, this combo only works in the right corner. EX Tiger Knee strictly refuses to cross into the left corner, and the downward portion always whiffs midscreen.

0:32 All three of Sagat’s command normal attacks are contained in this combo, along with a pair of Fake Kicks for good measure. Although Sagat’s j.HK hurts less than j.HP does, only j.HK strikes low enough to make Seth lean forward into F+HK. Otherwise it simply whiffs over his head. Normally Sagat’s close s.HP grants +4 frame advantage while his far s.LK connects on the 6th frame. However, Seth’s crumple animation visibly dips under Sagat’s fist, then rises into s.HP as a meaty setup to round out those 2 missing frames. Everything else is fairly straightforward. This combo tallies exactly 750 stun to dizzy Seth, amounting to 518 damage.

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SF4 Biweekly TACV 16: Dan

Dan’s limitations are as difficult to overcome as they are obvious. Despite gaining significant frame advantage from his fireball, his normal move arrangement denies him any natural Gadoken loop flexibility. Nearly every deviation requires meticulous character-specific setups. In a nutshell, Dan sucks at combos – adjust your expectations accordingly.

0:11 After trading a lvl3 Focus Attack with Rufus’ j.DF+MK divekick, Dan’s HK Airborne Dankukyaku connects once to send Rufus into knockdown state and again to raise the juggle count to one. Dan’s Hissho Buraiken super has zero juggle potential for the first hit, one for the second hit, two for the third hit, and onward incrementally with each successive hit. Fortunately he manages to reach the third hit before Rufus falls through.

0:23 Dan’s close s.MP causes abnormally lengthy hit stun at 26 frames, which outlasts hard attack hit stun of 21-22 frames. From certain ranges, Dan’s s.MP xx MK Dankukyaku crosses over crouching C.Viper, Sakura, and Vega – and connects despite whiffing the first kick, due to extended s.MP hit stun. The hard part is finding that range during a midscreen combo, since it looks much cooler outside the corner. The trick is to delay the FADC slightly, allowing Sakura to start reeling backward before trying to catch up to her. Otherwise the first few frames of Dan’s dash go to waste, and his walk speed is too slow to make up that lost ground.

0:30 Dan’s EX Gadoken generates +6 frame advantage and his close s.MP connects on the 6th frame, making them a perfect match. Few characters permit two s.MP xx EX Gadoken loops in a row, and even fewer after a point-blank EX Gadoken starter. Dan’s c.MK becomes active on the 7th frame, so it calls for additional frame advantage from the preceding EX Gadoken. The dummy character must lean back far enough during s.MP hit stun to delay EX Gadoken impact by at least 1 frame to yield +7 frame advantage. Only Vega and Sakura satisfy all of these conditions. This combo causes 495 damage and 660 stun.

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Worst Combo of All Time?

SF4 Dan TACV coming soon. (Lower your expectations! Dan is profoundly awful at everything.)

This has to be the most pitiful combo ever recorded, right? Zero damage, zero hits registered. Of course the juggle only works in SSF4 and i’m still working on SF4-exclusive material for Dan. Hopefully his episode will be ready toward the end of this weekend.