Monthly Archives: August 2010

CV Spotlight: KYSG’s 3S Yang Exhibition

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After nearly four years of silence following his ninth amazing SF3:3S combo video, 538 (of the group KYSG) is back with this long-awaited Yang episode.

SF3 3rd Strike Yang Combo Exhibition (Rough Sketch)

The description states that it’s not to be perceived as the tenth volume of his 3S video series. Apparently all this footage was recorded from 2004 to 2006 in preparation for Yang’s chapter, but he didn’t get a chance to finish it. I guess KYSG’s 10th anniversary finally convinced 538 to release whatever he had recorded.

I don’t care if it’s incomplete; it’s still good enough to be highlighted as far as i’m concerned. Honestly i’m just happy that i finally get to spotlight a new KYSG release. 538 is easily one of my favorite combo makers of all time. I don’t know what to expect from this, but i subscribed to his u2b channel the minute i was sure it was the real deal.

Fundamental Wakeup Defense

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the SF4 generation through two years, it’s that they love their wakeup uppercuts. The goal of this article is simple: to convince you to stop.

Think about who has the advantage in knockdown situations. The character on his feet can move around, establish his desired spacing freely, then attack at will. He can choose from his entire arsenal of moves, because he can perform slow attacks such as overheads without worrying about being interrupted during startup. He even gets to decide whether to hover inside or outside throw range. Simply put, he single-handedly controls the initiative.

By contrast, the character on his back can’t move and can’t attack until a specific, predictable moment. The only advantage he has is that he remains invincible before that instant, which isn’t a real advantage because it’s only passive invincibility. As soon as it ends, he has to deal with whatever attack the opponent has prepared.

The key here is realizing that your goal isn’t to punish your opponent for knocking you down. Your goal is survive the wakeup game so you can regain all your options. Don’t get suckered into playing the majority of the match from an unfavorable position.

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Weekly Screenshot: Shadows of Flame

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Whoever comes up with the best title picks the game highlighted in the next few screenshots. As always, the rules are one entry per person and i’ll choose my favorite on Monday.

xmcota-wolverine-samurai-01

COTA Wolverine activates Berserker Charge as Silver Samurai initiates Bunsin and Touki (Fire). Wolverine wall jumps and whiffs j.HP, then trades s.HP with Silver Samurai’s s.HP -> HP chain. Silver Samurai’s elemental fire damage takes effect one frame before Wolverine enters hit stun animation, covering his shadows as well as his portrait.

Sonic Hurricane Combo DVD Status

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With Evo2k10 wrapped up and my post-Evo responsibilities mostly taken care of, my primary goal now is completing this DVD. It’s the first thing on my mind and i’m eager to get it done.

The first order of business is finishing up the SF4 TACV series. The thirteenth installment was released last week, which leaves six characters. The next chapter should be finished this week, leaving four characters. You can monitor where the whole project stands by following the progress of those remaining episodes.

When i’ve covered the entire SF4 cast, i’ll go back and spend an extra week or two recording updated combos and extras. Then it’s on to compiling the DVD contents and menus. I’m not sure how long that process will take, so let’s allocate a month for that step.

Once the DVD ISO is finalized, i’ll announce the expected shipping date for the first batch of orders. If you’re worried about missing it, i’ll also change the banner on the right sidebar, so just keep an eye out for that.

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How to Use MacroLua

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After the premieres of Super Fireball Battle and style exhibition v.one at Evo2k10, quite a few people asked me about the tool-assistance methods used to capture oldschool game clips. With a new version (1.08) of MacroLua released yesterday, i thought now would be a good opportunity to introduce the program.

Here’s the basic concept. You create a save state using any supported emulator, then you write down a sequence of inputs frame by frame in a text file. MacroLua loads that state and tells the emulator to begin running your commands from that fixed point. If you tell it to execute R.D.L.U1. then Zangief will perform an LP Spinning Piledriver in 4 frames.

There are many advantages to this method, but the most obvious one is consistency. Let’s look at a game like SF2HF where damage and dizzies are randomized. If you script a fireball on the 10th frame followed by another fireball on the 80th frame and it dizzies the opponent, then it’ll always dizzy every time you run that state/script. On the other hand, if you try the same thing using a programmable controller with two fireballs set 70 frames apart, the outcome will be random because your starting point would be random.

To begin, simply download the latest version of MacroLua and follow the installation directions. I don’t want to get into details because those steps might change in the future, but if you run into any problems that you can’t solve in ten minutes, please feel free to ask here.

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