Monthly Archives: November 2009

Weekly Screenshot: Ejection Seat Fighter Alpha

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Birdie told Adon and Sodom that snow is made of water so they’ve decided to test that theory by diving head-first into it.

sfa-adon-sodom-01

SFA Adon’s LK Jaguar Kick startup opposite Sodom’s HK Tengu Walking, which was set up by jumping into Adon’s LK Rising Jaguar.

Whoever comes up with the best title wins random Capcom promotional materials i’ve picked up over the years, including an Okami Buddha Board and E3 booklets from three different years. (Not too exciting, but they might be interesting to flip through.) As always, the rules are one entry per person and i’ll choose my favorite on Monday.

SF4 Combo System Exploration, Part 1

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Based on what we’ve witnessed so far, it seems like SF4’s combo engine contains more arbitrary restrictions than universal rules. It might be a while before anyone understands it completely. If we work together, hopefully we can solve some of these mysteries.

Right off the bat, one of the most important rules in the game is that hitting an airborne opponent with any non-knockdown attack renders them completely invincible. Therefore Akuma can’t do anti-air s.HP xx HP DP like he’s been able to do in every appearance since Street Fighter Alpha. Juggling any non-knockdown attack has the same lockout effect too.

Landing a lvl2 or lvl3 Focus Attack against a grounded opponent puts them into crumple stun. They wobble on their feet (considered grounded) for a second and then fall over (considered airborne). During this period they can be thrown or even air thrown, because crumple stun doesn’t count as conventional hit stun. As with all Street Fighter games, it’s impossible to throw someone during conventional hit stun or knockdown reel.

The easiest way to judge the charge level of Focus Attacks is by counting the number of times the character flashes white. If they flash white once, the Focus Attack has reached lvl2. If they flash twice, the Focus Attack has reached lvl3. The second flash actually happens during the attack portion of a fully charged Focus Attack so there’s no way of delaying it or speeding it up.

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CV Spotlight: Planet Collision

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Featuring contributions from seven different groups as well as numerous special guests, this collaborative combo video covers roughly two dozen fighting games ranging from popular titles such as SNK’s King of Fighters ’98 to obscure forgotten ones like Capcom’s Saturday Night Slam Masters.

Planet Collision

Content-wise, there are countless amazing combos to be seen in this video. Highlights include an absurd K’ throw escape combo at 2:15, Terry Crack Shooting backwards at 7:02, and the NGBC Kyo/Iori two-character combo at 10:20, which looks like it took a ton of work to arrange. Then there’s that awesome Haggar combo at 11:00 and an unbelievable Joe multi-tornado glitch setup at 13:11!

Overall it’s an excellent production; definitely worth watching. Check out the streaming version above or pick up the downloadable version at Ultracombos.

Offensive vs Defensive Play

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When players start venturing into the competitive side of fighting games, most people want to be like Alex Valle and “rush that shit down!” It’s no surprise; everyone wants to be the crowd-favorite daredevil destroying opponents in twenty seconds or less.

That plan works like a charm as long as you’re battling other risk-takers. Then you face your first seasoned defensive rival and it’s like running into a concrete wall. They’ll gradually slow down your game and eventually take away most of what you enjoy doing. When that begins happening on a regular basis, it’s easy to get discouraged.

To make matters worse, the reality is that some fighting games are defensive in nature. If you ever see a tier list with Vega, Honda, and Dhalsim at the top, it’s going to mean an uphill battle for aggressive specialists. Along with Guile and Sagat, these characters tend to have a strong influence in slowing down match pace.

However, the real problem is that many players are guilty of romanticizing the ideal. Let me tell you, nobody gets a clear path to becoming a top player. You will have to face a number of forks in the road where you have to decide if you’re willing to do what it takes to get to the next level. Street Fighter IV in particular seems to have evolved into a more zoning-oriented defensive game. Still, there are no realities in SF4 that are remotely as harsh as CvS2 or SFA3 or MvC2 any other bullshit-filled tournament title.

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SF4 Combo Challenge 02: Gief / Fuerte

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Ready for round two?

Normally Zangief’s Ultimate Atomic Buster ultra inflicts 600 points of damage at full power. However, comboing Gief’s ultra often yields less total damage than it does alone.

Challenge: Record a Zangief or El Fuerte combo worth more damage than Gief’s fully charged ultra alone.

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

Rule #2: Don’t use Gief’s ultra.