SSF4 Combo Challenge 01: 700 Class

By request, here’s an SSF4 challenge heading into Evo2k10. It’s a remake of one of the more popular SF4 challenges. In fact, a few people have already tried submitting SSF4 solutions, so it seems like a good starting point. I considered overhauling the rules to avoid the recurring maskless Vega questions, but decided against sacrificing the flexibility of the original wording.

SSF4 introduced a multitude of new characters and new moves, making way for countless fresh combos.

Challenge: Get within 50 points of killing any dummy character using a combo that wasn’t possible in SF4. (Character vitality values can be found on the Shoryuken Wiki.)

Rule #1: Start the opponent with 100% vitality and 0 stun.

Rule #2: Obey gauge limits. (Set S.C. Gauge to Refill but use only 4 stocks. If you plan on building enough meter to use 5 or more bars, set S.C. Gauge to Normal or Max Start so we can verify your method. Keep in mind that super meter charges slower during combos.)

Rule #3: No duplicates. (Look through all existing submissions to make sure your idea hasn’t already been recorded. Don’t worry, if two people independently upload the same combo within hours of each other, i’ll accept both.)

30 thoughts on “SSF4 Combo Challenge 01: 700 Class

  1. N00b_Saib0t

    how different does a combo have to be in order to not be considered possible in vanilla SF4? like if you use ryu and sub a juggle EX SRK for the new 2 hit fierce SRK, it it considered a new combo? IE near a corner short tatsumaki->EX SRK in vanilla can be done short tatsumaki->fierce SRK in SSF4.

  2. Maj Post author

    That definitely counts. In fact, almost any combo involving Ryu’s new two-hit MP/HP SRK would have to count. But i don’t think i have to be too strict here. Most people will probably head toward the new characters anyway, and the “no duplicates” rule will take care of the rest.

  3. yungxcve

    Second combo was dope. Bonus combo was just plain ridiculous. Nice work, cant wait till some combo videos for super.

  4. Maj Post author

    taofeld: No, starting with an armor-absorbed hit doesn’t count, because they can backdash out of Focus Attack and avoid your next hit. Plus it doesn’t register on the combo counter, which means it doesn’t trigger damage reduction, which takes all the challenge out of it.

    Btw i’m not sure that Gen’s PPP ultra2 counts either, because it’s not true damage. It’s weird that it registers on the combo counter at all, but it’s clearly not capable of killing opponents at face value.

  5. ShadowXSnake

    But it would totally count if we used Gen’s PPP U2 to ACTUALLY bring the dummy within 50 points right? Since it does take away from gray damage if the opponent has less health than the attack and all.

    Might be a little difficult to gauge though.

  6. Maj Post author

    Looks like Gouken is the new Balrog. All four solutions posted so far involve Denjin ultra. I’ve got nothing against him, but it’d be nice to see some variety going forward.

    Quick clarification: If a character has 950 listed vitality, it actually takes 951 damage to kill her. However we’re gonna ignore that for simplicity’s sake, so scoring 700/750, 800/850, 900/950, etc. damage will be good enough. Although it probably won’t even matter because i don’t remember seeing any exact 700-damage solutions submitted last time around.

  7. jamheald

    Dee jay has nothing, I’m betting I think the hardest hitting short combo is ch j.hk, cl.mp xx ex slasher, cr.lk xx ex mg, ultra and that’s only like 605 on seth, and he has poor stun.

  8. Maj Post author

    He can get more than that if you keep it simple. For example counterhit j.HK, c.HP xx EX MGU (four hits), ultra2 does 624 damage on Seth. If you upgrade MGU to five hits, the total goes down to 577 because the ultra drops to a lower reduction percentage. He has some damaging normals but he probably can’t get over 700 without an interrupt setup, if at all.

    But i’d be really surprised if none of the new characters could get over the bar, especially the 3S kids.

  9. Maj Post author

    Nah i’m almost certain that all three of them have valid solutions. Dudley might have to rely on his LP Machinegun Blow infinite though, which is pretty tough to keep going manually.

  10. Maj Post author

    Mienaikage: I’m pretty sure it is an infinite, but you have to add an extra jab at some point when Dudley wanders too close to the opponent. So the infinitely looped piece isn’t just s.LP xx LP MGB. Trying to kill someone with the infinite alone probably isn’t reasonable, but he can do loads of damage before he has to resort to it.

    nick2193: Haha nice, i wasn’t expecting any SF4 solutions. But there’s no time limit on these things, so i’m always down to review submissions to older challenges.

  11. Maj Post author

    Always good to see new people giving these a shot. But you shouldn’t shortchange yourself, saying you’re “not clever enough to figure out a good one with anyone else.” It just takes time to develop familiarity, that’s all.

    I mean, that’s the case when you’re trying to exploit any sophisticated damage scaling system. With SF4, a lot of it comes down to finding the character’s top 3-5 most damaging moves and stringing them together with as little filler as possible.

    If your combo ends in an ultra, then you figure that its damage is going to decrease by 10% for every move that you put in front of it. If an ultra does 500 base damage, then 10% of that is 50, so as long as the attack you’re putting in front of it does more than 50 points, you’ll benefit from including it.

    You certainly wouldn’t want to put a 40-damage attack in front of the ultra because you’d lose 10 points in the process. Of course the obvious exception is if you have a long combo which already has your ultra doing minimum damage, in which case it doesn’t matter what you put in front of it.

    Also you can “test” a lot of this with only a calculator and a damage sheet. Your numbers will only be estimates, because lifebar-based scaling is too difficult to account for, but you’ll still save a lot of time in the long-run.

  12. error1

    so would any combo that used Dudleys rose to trade be considered a combo new to ssf4 or would it only be new if that combo didn’t work with a trade jab in sf4? I’d give you an example but capcom hasn’t let me buy the game yet, so lets just say I’m talking about a max charge turn punch

  13. Maj Post author

    No, you’d have to do something new and different with the comboer. Otherwise you could just as easily replace that SF4 Ryu jab trade with an SSF4 Cody jab trade and call it a new combo.

  14. error1

    let’s say with guile F+MK trade jab trade cl.hp isn’t possible. You’re saying f+mk, rose trade, cl.hp wouldn’t be a new combo even tho f+mk, cl.hp couldn’t be done in sf4?

  15. jamheald

    I’d be interested to hear what everybody’s top dudley ones are without infinite, so far I have 634 ch j.hp, f.mk, hk xx ex mgb, duck upper fadc, duck upper, stun, j.hp, f.mk, hk xx ex mgb, c.hk, c.hk, ultra. Amazingly I got that combo down first time without being a dudley player.

  16. Maj Post author

    Dude, thanks for recording/uploading/sharing that. Obviously i can’t accept it but i really appreciate it all the same. The end part looks really cool.

  17. Maj Post author

    I’m still getting a lot of submissions involving Gen’s PPP ultra2. The problem with those combos is that Gen’s PPP ultra2 doesn’t cause real damage. Even if you get that number to 800, it won’t kill Seth.

    You’d have to get all the way up to like 900-1000 to kill Seth with that ultra. We don’t have an exact number so you’d almost have to do it in Versus Mode.

    I think it’s better to look elsewhere. The only advantage to PPP ultra2 over PPP ultra1 is that it comes out faster, but PPP ultra1 does waaay more true damage.

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