SF4 Biweekly TACV 14: Chun Li

Obviously Chun Li has an abundance of combo tools within the SF4 engine. She has plenty of juggle potential, she gets frame advantage in important places, she can do interesting things in the air, she gains vast forward movement from canceling c.HP, and having a slow fireball helps too. It’s no surprise that she ends up with such a dynamic assortment of combos.

0:11 With Chun Li’s back to the corner, the pushback from C.Viper’s s.HK gets added to the pushback from Chun’s s.HK, swiftly propelling Viper backward into the LP Kikoken. Chun Li has just enough time to dash forward and connect her Hosenka ultra – which has ridiculous range. Whiffing DF+LK was completely superfluous, but there’s too much idle time to kill while waiting for the fireball to travel as far as possible.

0:25 This is another take on my Fun With SF4 vol.1 Chun Li combo; except replacing the initial LP Kikoken with an HP Kikoken tightens up the timing substantially. It’s now performed by combining two charge tricks: returning to DB before pressing HP and maximizing the reversal window. Evidently the SF4 reversal window is around 5 frames, so instead of the first fireball coming out when i press HP, it comes out 4-5 frames later – thereby reducing the interval between the two fireballs appearing on screen. In other words, the second fireball would’ve come out at the same time no matter what, but the reversal delays the first one by 5 frames.

0:33 With proper spacing, Chun Li’s DF+HK can connect very low to the ground – providing extra frame advantage. Inching forward before linking the first c.MK prevents the second one from whiffing. Crouching Honda seems to be the only dummy who can avoid all but one hit of EX Lightning Legs following a medium attack, which then enables both hits of EX Kikoken to juggle. However, several other characters allow two-hit EX Lightning Legs, which would’ve actually made the rest of the combo easier by launching the opponent higher. Unfortunately, the problem with Honda is that he always seems to slip through at least one hit of EX Spinning Bird Kick, which only connects four times in this combo instead of the expected five.

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0:50 Sagat’s s.HK avoids Chun Li’s LP Kikoken long enough to provide a convenient target for her first j.D+MK stomp, and the rest is just a matter of precision. The optimal Lightning Legs arrangement is HK Hyakuretsukyaku -> MK Hyakuretsukyaku, which provides +7 frame advantage with the least combined pushback. Those two c.HP xx Hyakuretsukyaku reps are necessary to build meter for the EX Kikoken xx lvl2 EX Focus Attack to set up more stomps, since regular Kikoken is insufficient against standing Sagat. Also, Chun Li has to take a quick step forward after the Lightning Legs in order to get within c.MK range. Luckily, she doesn’t have any charge B, F+K specials. This combo deals 378 damage and 509 stun.

1:07 It’s hard to say whether Chun’s c.HP xx HK -> MK Lightning Legs loop against crouching Abel is a true infinite, because each rep seems to concede a tiny amount of pushback. If you look at the next-to-last rep, the Lightning Legs only registers two hits, which helps her make up some ground. In fact i meant to use a different dizzy ender, but i thought it was interesting how she reverts back to three hits. The loop probably could’ve lasted longer with a weaker starter, but i figured everyone would get bored of another ten repetitions or whatever. Plus that FADC double-dash starter looks dope, and burns a ton of meter up-front. The ending is pretty much straightforward – basically xcopied from desk’s recent video. This combo inflicts 885 damage and registers 181 hits by my count: 160 hits prior to the 21-hit ultra.

2:04 The goal here was to land as many Hazanshus as possible, so the version order had to be HK, MK, LK, and EX. Chun Li’s s.LP normally provides +6 frame advantage and her c.HP hits on the 7th frame, so her s.LP must connect on its 2nd active frame. Sagat’s crouching hit stun hitbox leans away from the HP Kikoken, giving Chun’s EX lvl2 Focus Attack enough time to connect. The last Hazanshu input is performed as F, DF, B, F, LP, KKK and is completed before the KO. This combo causes 425 damage and 595 stun without the last EX Hazanshu.

This is a tool-assisted combo video recorded with two ASCII PAD V Pro programmable controllers. Absolutely no cheats, hacks, or game-altering devices were used in the making of.

38 thoughts on “SF4 Biweekly TACV 14: Chun Li

  1. Maj Post author

    Well, i’m a full episode behind schedule, so obviously this isn’t getting done tonight. Hopefully i’ll be caught up by the end of the week though.

    Episode thirteen should be ready tomorrow – only a few more ideas to test out with Honda. Then if all goes well, i should have Chun/Rog done sometime this weekend. I doubt Balrog will have too many crazy combos, but i’m kind of looking forward to messing around with him.

  2. harejordan

    Rog super to ultra! Could only get it to work headbutt’ng Sim’s j.hp limbs, 3 hits of super thn ultra. You can probably find another way easily.

  3. Maj Post author

    Okay, i can include super to ultra and ultra to super, along with a combo with lots of dash uppers, and obviously a kill combo based on Final TAP. What else do you guys want to see for Rog?

  4. Zerodemise

    There was a combo I found out , accidentally, in the original SF4 where Balrog lands a counterhit TAP (i’m not sure which level), and I was able to combo into a cr.mp xx dash punch xx super. I would like to see what else can be done after that counterhit TAP, it seems like there could be a lot of possibilities regarding that counterhit TAP :)

  5. Maj Post author

    Okay, i’ll try it out, but he’ll probably lose a lot of damage adding two extra hits inbetween Final TAP and super/ultra.

    Speaking of counterhits, we already knew that trading with Rose’s far s.LK creates a counterhit setup. Well, i just went through and tested trading everyone’s standing far, standing close, and crouching light attacks. Unfortunately nothing else worked. It seems Rose is unique in this regard.

    The only other one i’ve seen is Sagat’s s.LK in SSF4 but that doesn’t work in SF4. That move changed a lot from SF4 to SSF4, becoming two hits instead of one. They probably screwed it up in the process.

  6. harejordan

    Find any kill combos not involving Final TAP? Something interesting I thought was you can combo a lp dash straight after ex upper given enough charge time, but normally there isn’t enough when next to the character.

  7. Maj Post author

    Not yet, but it doesn’t seem too promising. His only exceptional damage options are high-level Turn Punch and connecting super after ultra. He’s got those EX Dash Upper combos but those involve jabs so you’re screwed right off the bat. Plus you can’t do super if you waste meter on those.

    In retrospect, strictly speaking, it probably wasn’t necessary to watch Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li before starting to work on this episode. Okay i’ll be honest, it was a massive waste of time. But it had Street Fighter in the title and starred both Chun Li and Balrog. I had to get around to it sooner or later, right? (Wrong.)

    Let’s just say my favorite part of the movie was when Chun Li bumped into Gen in the street, then they flashed back to that scene in the very next scene! Literally three minutes later, no joke.

    And fuck whoever turned Gen into a fireball character and cast Liu Kang to play him. Then that fool says “Rye-you” at the end of the film like we’re supposed to be hyped about seeing these amateurs fuck up another Street Fighter movie? Even ’90s backwards cap guy knew how to say “Ryu.”

  8. supersonic1453

    @Maj

    Haha, sounds like a good thing I didn’t pay money to see it because I was considering it when it came out.

    Also, ’90s backwards cap guy isn’t totally right on his pronunciation, but whatever; better than Rye-you.

  9. Pokey86

    that was a terrible movie… nearly as bad as the original.

    I don’t know how they get the funding for these, they must do no research whatsoever & just rely on fan appeal to sell.

  10. Maj Post author

    It would’ve been about fifty times better had they included Tuesday in the script. Hollywood had to go out of their way to drop the ball that hard.

  11. fenris

    Street fighter the movie is my favorite video game movie ever, it failed on every level and managed be totally awesome. You san hof a beech bison!

  12. N00b_Saib0t

    hey maj, can balrog be interrupted from final TAP and have enough time to go straight to ultra? i saw a vid where final TAP was interrupted to EX upper, what about that, to s.lp->ultra? in theory it should work and do a fair amount of damage even with that jab in there.

  13. Maj Post author

    Here’s some random Hazanshu trivia that probably won’t make it into this video. When it connects against an airborne opponent, it causes instant hard knockdown like a sweep. That means you can’t juggle afterwards; not even using it against Dhalsim’s air limbs.

    If you land a lvl2/lvl3 Focus Attack and wait for the opponent to crumple all the way to the ground before connecting Hazanshu, it’ll flip the opponent horizontally. They’ll wake up facing the other direction, like they do after Chun’s back throw.

    Hazanshu is actually super-cancelable, which means she can cancel it into EX Focus Attack. Unfortunately it doesn’t create enough hit stun to connect a lvl2 Focus Attack, not even on counterhit.

    However, using it to kill a grounded opponent knocks them back in a free juggle state instead of slamming them down – based on the fact that it’s a non-knockdown against grounded opponents. That means you can cancel it into lvl1 EX Focus Attack and it’ll juggle. You can even do s.LP (KO) xx MK Hazanshu xx EX Focus Attack and it’ll all connect.

    Lastly, you can actually trade with Hazanshu using a c.LK or whatever. This shortens her recovery by a lot – like 10 frames. Unfortunately you also get the combined pushback of the Hazanshu and the opponent’s attack, so she has to waste most of that gain walking forward.

  14. Maj Post author

    Part 1 of a potentially neverending list of Banes of My Existence:

    1) HK/EX Hazanshu just barely misses Seth after s.MP kills him.

    2) LK Hazanshu whiffs over crouching Fei Long after lvl2 Focus Attack.

    3) Chun’s far s.MP refuses to connect after meaty s.LP against Abel.

    Whatever though, at least i finally got this combo out of the way – although it looks slightly less impressive than i would’ve wanted.

  15. Maj Post author

    Alright, slight change of plans. It’s looking like i’ll have enough Chun Li material for a solo video; probably around six or seven combos – four of which are already recorded.

    Instead of postponing it again for Balrog’s sake, i’ll just give Chun her own episode and then figure out what to do with Rog later. With any luck, this should be done on the 31st.

  16. Maj Post author

    4) For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, Abel can block Chun’s Hosenka ultra after HK Lightning Legs -> MK Lightning Legs – despite her being able to link c.HP after that every time. Kinda lame.

  17. Maj Post author

    5) That Chun vs Abel combo uses up 373 individual commands and the uncompressed / deinterlaced file is 3.45 GB in size. In fact, this is the first time i’ve had to use a Command Pack (ppad expansion card) for an SF4 combo. Talk about payback!

    Anyway it’s encoding now so it should be available in under an hour.

  18. Maj Post author

    Okay, it’s uploaded and fully processed. Hopefully it was worth the wait. I’ll have the customary transcript written up within the next few days, but please feel free to discuss or ask questions in the meantime.

    Damn, i just noticed how close Chun gets to building another bar vs Abel. I’ll have to remember to modify that ender for the DVD. Maybe add another Lightning Legs rep, then finish with s.MP xx EX SBK, ultra or something.

  19. Doopliss

    @Maj
    Heh, I was thinking “surely he could squeeze in an EX legs or something?” when I saw that. Great video though. Can’t wait until you get to Seth.

  20. Maj Post author

    Yeah i probably didn’t need to whiff those two LK Hazanshus, but i had no idea her Lightning Legs routine builds meter so fast even at the end of the reduction scale. And then the LP fireball spacing was based on where she ends up after those Hazanshus, so i left them in because i didn’t feel like recalibrating it.

    It’s too bad i didn’t see the end result until the combo was recorded, but the meaty jab version is still interesting as an alternate, right?

  21. onreload

    I kinda like the vs. Abel with more hits, using the ground Ultra. Amazing, overall, as usual, but I feel like I forgot how crazy this series is.

  22. Maj Post author

    I just watched 538/KYSG’s Chun Li video to see if maybe i missed out on any cool combo setups, and man, SF4 is really different from 3S. Literally everything that makes Chun Li unique combo-wise was drastically altered.

    Going from 3S to SF4, she lost the jump-cancel at the end of her super and it became a charge move. Her extremely slow (versatile) EX Kikoken was replaced with a fast (less useful) juggling EX Kikoken. She lost close j.HK jump-cancel. Her EX SBK knocks down on the first hit instead of the last.

    Everything in 3S is potentially a juggle starter, but nothing has inherent juggle potential. In SF4, Chun has no juggle starters whatsoever (aside from generic Focus Attack) and everything works via inherent juggle potential.

    It’s crazy how almost everything about her could be flipped upside-down so thoroughly. Totally feels like a whole different character wearing the same outfit. Of course i’m only talking about combovids though. The contrast is much less pronounced in matchvids.

  23. Maj Post author

    Alright, the transcript is fully written up. I think i covered everything, but let me know if anything’s missing.

  24. onreload

    @Maj
    What about SF4 Chun’s ground “unique attack” (target combo) of B+MK, MK? that’s a juggle starter, no? You can also FADC/SC the launcher kick.

  25. Maj Post author

    You mean why didn’t i use it in a combo? It’s just a simple low-damage knockdown that doesn’t create a juggle state and has painfully slow startup/recovery unless you throw away two bars of meter to get out of it.

    It’s more interesting for practical purposes than elaborate combos. Or maybe it’d be more interesting for a more poorly equipped character, but Chun has too much better stuff.

  26. Maj Post author

    Hm, i’m pretty sure if i use a different opponent for the third combo, it’ll still work with two-hit EX Lightning Legs and one-hit EX Kikoken. Then i can get one more hit out of that EX Spinning Bird Kick against someone like Blanka, plus a couple more hits out of the ultra.

    But i don’t think it’s worth it just for more hits out of the same moves, because it won’t be as unusual without one-hit EX Lightning Legs. Not to mention, i’ll probably have to delay the ultra – which means no hitsparks during ultrafreeze. Fuck it, i’m over it.

  27. onreload

    @Maj
    You can juggle after the upkick of that target combo/unique attack. You can EX legs with no FADC, but it’s also FADC/supercancelable (you can do B+MK -> MK, EX Hyakuretsukyaku, Ultra, all with the KKK macro button actually). I’m always surprised I never see it used just for variety

  28. Maj Post author

    Not sure what you mean by variety …

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Foe5f55Ho#t=4m28s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OsfyPPrZI#t=58s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-jL4hiKC7g#t=25s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM4Pcp5s9Tk#t=55s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXM4CDrzMtI#t=2m49s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszPCfYxP7Y#t=2m57s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjuSHPx0Lrk#t=2m27s

    There’s like three things you can do with that move and they’ve been done.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgRnnprtyA
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ENdAuRmPg#t=30s
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLOnNbxKIC4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg5YaRD7p5s#t=18s

  29. onreload

    Jesus, I don’t know how you pulled all that out. I kinda feel bad now, I was only responding to “In SF4, Chun has no juggle starters whatsoever” and then when you said it doesn’t create a juggle state, I figured you meant you couldn’t juggle off it, so I mentioned the FADC. There’s only like one or two things I’ve done that aren’t in that list, but probably for good reasons – supercanceling the upkick, FADC to ultra, different stomp pattern, etc. I wasn’t saying “hey, where was this move?” ’cause i obviously loved the variety you already had (check my srk comment for more on that).

  30. Maj Post author

    Oh i see what you meant now. Nah it’s not a juggle starter; it’s just a plain knockdown. She has plenty of those in SF4, and luckily she has plenty of juggle potential on other moves to follow up.

    But for example, how would you make something with no inherent juggle potential (like regular Kikoken or Hazanshu) juggle in SF4? There’s only like one way and that’s anti-air lvl2/lvl3 Focus Attack. In 3S she has a whole bunch of ways to accomplish that.

  31. onreload

    yeah nearly everything will hit an airborne opponent in 3s if they haven’t been hit at least once. and yeah chun feels totally different in 3s, but i think they did a nice mix of both movesets (classic, 3s) in sf4.

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