Happy Halloween! After many unexpected delays, here is the last remaining episode of my Street Fighter IV Biweekly Tool-Assisted Combo Video series. It’s hard to believe that i actually made it through the entire cast, but Guile was the only character left undone. I’m pretty happy with how his combos turned out, so this is a good way to close out the project.

The strangest thing about working on vanilla SF4 Guile combos in 2012 was knowing that his capabilities are vastly inferior to every other version from SSF4 onward. Reducing Sonic Boom charge time from 55 frames in SF4 down to 50 frames in SSF4 made a world of difference! Moreover, DF+HK was upgraded from a simple knockdown to a free juggle setup, F+HK frame advantage was boosted from +4 to +5, and he was given a combo-friendly secondary ultra in Sonic Hurricane. Many clips in this video would’ve turned out quite differently with those changes. Yet i still found SF4 Guile to be an interesting combo subject, despite his drawbacks.

0:11 Both hits of Guile’s EX Sonic Boom carry a juggle potential of two – making it possible to follow up a regular Sonic Boom knockdown with two EX Sonic Booms, provided the first EX Sonic Boom only hits once. Cammy’s vertical j.LK trades with Guile’s lvl3 Focus Attack, creating a free juggle setup for the LP Sonic Boom and allowing just enough time to charge the first EX Sonic Boom and buffer the motion to begin pre-charging the second EX Sonic Boom.

0:18 Guile’s close s.HK has 3 active frames and normally yields only +1 frame advantage. Seth’s HP Tanden Storm avoids the first active frame and provides a counterhit bonus; both necessary to link into far s.HP, which is cancelable into Guile’s MK Double Flash super because Seth’s superfreeze provides ample charge time. Interestingly enough, the airplane wing on the Small Airfield level can’t be broken until the plane comes to a complete stop and finishes bobbling. This combo deals 696 damage and 450 stun, which may be Guile’s maximum.

0:31 Guile’s HK Flash Kick is interrupted by Akuma’s LP Zanku Hadoken, followed immediately by EX Flash Kick with a juggle potential of one, and capped off by Guile’s Flash Explosion ultra. The main trick is completing Guile’s c.LP xx HK Flash Kick input before Akuma’s Raging Demon superfreeze occurs. That’s possible because the SF4 engine only allows kara-cancels on the first frame of a normal move. If a special move command is received any later than that, it gets stored until the normal move connects and then comes out automatically. In this case, Guile is able to recharge for EX Flash Kick before his c.LP even connects, by performing the HK Flash Kick input before Akuma’s superfreeze. Optimal spacing takes care of the rest.

0:44 Guile’s F+MP misses Dhalsim’s Yoga Tower until Dhalsim cancels into s.HK, creating a convenient counterhit meaty setup for c.MP xx HP Sonic Boom, which requires near-perfect charging as well. More importantly, Dhalsim’s hitbox shape is perfect for the rest of this quirky sequence. Almost every other character can block the HP Sonic Boom after the s.HP, c.MP link. Furthermore, Guile’s s.HP becomes active on the 5th frame whereas F+HK only provides +4 frame advantage. Dhalsim’s crumple stun animation actually allows F+HK land meaty, enabling that link. Lastly, Guile’s s.LP connects on its second active frame after the LP Sonic Boom, increasing its frame advantage from +5 to +6, thus making it possible to link into c.HK which connects on the 6th frame. This combo inflicts 440 damage and 625 stun.

0:54 Honda whiffs c.HK to create a meaty setup for LP Sonic Boom, giving Guile’s j.HP a little extra time to catch up. Normally Guile’s EX Sonic Boom produces only +4 frame advantage, but Honda’s extremely wide crouching hitbox creates a gap between those two hits, increasing Guile’s frame advantage by varying amounts. The difference isn’t much at close range, but it’s enough to link far s.MP, which connects on the 5th frame and moves Guile forward a sizable distance every time it’s canceled into Sonic Boom. Obviously the separation between EX Sonic Boom hits becomes huge at long range, providing a great deal of extra charge time on top of the existing extension gained by using EX Sonic Booms instead of normal Sonic Booms. Yet all five charge windows are essentially airtight. This combo yields 464 damage and 630 stun.

1:04 Much like the combo against Akuma, the input for c.MP xx LP Sonic Boom is completed before Sagat’s HK Tiger Genocide superfreeze, letting Guile recharge before c.MP connects. Guile’s normal Sonic Booms connect on the 9th frame and his LP Sonic Boom generates +10 frame advantage. That extra frame is used to kara-cancel far s.MP into HP Sonic Boom for a movement boost. The spacing for this combo is perfectly aligned to bring out Guile’s far s.MP instead of close s.MP before the third Sonic Boom, because canceling close s.MP doesn’t provide any forward movement at all. The fourth Sonic Boom requires near-perfect charging from the beginning. The command for HK Flash Kick xx FADC, Flash Explosion is as follows: charge D, c.LP, tap U, charge DB, DB+MP, DB+HK, DB+MP+MK, F, F, DF, DB, U+KKK. The trick is buffering the Flash Kick input before pressing c.MP to buy a little extra charge time for the ultra, which means the Flash Kick must be fully charged by the time c.LP connects. Adding any extra hits would deny the cross-under dash. This combo inflicts 398 damage and 450 stun.

1:21 Counterhit s.HP provides just enough hit stun to FADC into s.LP, and burning super meter so early allows Guile to rebuild a fifth bar by the end of the combo. It’s fairly easy to combo s.HP into lvl2 Focus Attack using a trailing LP Sonic Boom, but unfortunately there isn’t enough combined hit stun for a jump attack instead. The triple Sonic Boom sequence at the end of the combo requires perfect charging, and obviously it’s more impressive than the prior double Sonic Boom sequence, but it seemed boring to repeat the same string twice. Balrog might be the only character wide enough for three Sonic Booms and tall enough for DF+HK. This combo deals 503 damage and 810 stun.

1:40 This combo is all about spacing, based on my favorite part of error1’s SSF4AE Guile vid. Sakura’s HP Hadoken extends her hitbox into Guile’s j.HK and establishes the perfect distance for Guile’s j.HP to lead into close s.HP at maximum range. That creates the longest possible gap between s.HP xx LP Sonic Boom, giving Guile just enough time to recover and manually dash into s.LP without requiring a counterhit boost. Sakura’s distance from the corner is also optimized to delay the LP Sonic Boom hit while minimizing its pushback, so Guile can follow up with s.LP, s.HP xx LP Sonic Boom. The rest of the combo is relatively straightforward, although it’s interesting that Guile can use close s.MP after c.LK -> c.LP against Sakura. This combo inflicts 519 damage and 800 stun.

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.