Monthly Archives: April 2010

SF4 Combo Challenge 08: Variance

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Adhering to the precise rules of this challenge may take a bit more work than usual, but i think they’ll lead to some interesting results. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.

Most characters have a relatively small subset of combo-friendly attacks.

Challenge: Using any character, combo ten or more different moves without dizzying inbetween.

Rule #1: 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 #2: 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.)

Hard Mode: Combo fifteen or more different moves. (Again, do not dizzy the dummy inbetween hits.) Fifty imaginary bonus points to anyone who achieves this without repeating any moves!

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Weekly Screenshot: Trapped Mime! I Will Rescue You!

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Ah what the hell, one more SFIV screenshot for the road. Whoever comes up with the best title gets to choose the next featured SF4 Biweekly TACV character after Akuma’s installment! As always, the rules are one entry per person and i’ll choose my favorite on Monday.

sf4-elfuerte-rufus-01

SF4 El Fuerte’s El Fuerte Flying Giga Buster ultra startles Rufus’ vertical j.HP descent. These two were the only unused characters remaining on my select screen, but i couldn’t think of anything cool to show so i went with goofy instead.

Thoughts on Fighting Game AI

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It’s no secret that computer opponents in fighting games tend to have easily manipulatable artificial intelligence. Considering that single-player mode is rarely a priority in fighting game design, it comes as no surprise that CPU AI would be so underdeveloped.

In fairness, constructing gameplan flowcharts that are both compelling and reasonably challenging is no easy task. Part of it is because optimized AI can be nearly impossible to beat in any primarily reaction-based game. SFA3 Akuma had this ridiculously dominant bully tactic where he’d tick with c.LK and then walk forward. If you do nothing, you get thrown. If you do anything, you get uppercutted.

It was the scariest throw mixup ever. He’d use this whimsically on every difficulty level without warning. Basically your only options were to reversal his throw attempt within the 4-frame window after he initiates his throw but before it connects. Or to press a button to bait his DP then kara-cancel into super. Not every character has a super that beats Shoto DP.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the tactic itself. Tick throw mixups are perfectly valid in competitive play. The problem is, Capcom replaced human anticipation and pattern recognition with sheer mechanical reaction speed. This removes the mental aspect from the equation, emphasizing execution alone.

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CV Spotlight: SF4 Combo Video Roll

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Those unblockable setups seem to have taken SF4 by storm, so a few recent combo videos have gone under the radar. They certainly deserve some attention as well.

Some (SF4) Juggle Properties

There aren’t enough videos like this. Doopliss came up with inventive experiments to test juggle properties of some of the most confusing moves in the game. His efforts definitely paid off. Anyone interested in the details of SF4’s combo engine will enjoy watching this. I hope more videos follow this format in the future, because there’s still quite a bit left to explore.

SF4: All Challenges Must Be Accepted

Think you’ve gotten good at those Hard Trial combos? Check out desk‘s take on them. He’s compiled a series of ‘Hard Trial Plus’ combos where the goal was add as many different moves into the existing Hard Trial requirements as possible. It’s a very cool idea because he’s still limited by a single immobile dummy character and has to operate within the strict confines of the trail requirements. He even adheres to meter limits!

-SFIV Combo Lab- Subject: Akuma

Having covered Gouken and Seth in previous installments, Tigre III and Krusan focus on the last remaining boss character in SF4. This video’s a lot more varied and a lot less repetitive than your typical Akuma combovid. In fact, that combo against Abel at 0:49 is my current favorite SF4 Akuma combo ever!

Effective Rushdown Methodology

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When most people hear the word “rushdown,” they visualize reckless offense. Believe it or not, that attitude actually works more often than it should, but not always and not against everyone. Of course, the more reliable approach is building a sophisticated offense on the fundamentals of footsies, but both methods share a lot of common ground.

There’s some vague threshold of aggression which varies with each individual you face, but crossing it overwhelms them. It fries their circuits and they start playing markedly sloppier or letting you get away with openings they clearly ought to punish. If you can make it past that line and maintain that aggressive pace, the risks you take will be counterbalanced by the mistakes they start making under pressure.

On the other hand, the closer you get to this threshold without crossing it, the more likely it is that you’ll get punished at every opportunity. What this means is, if you’re going to throw caution to the wind and go all in, you’d better be ready to run at full speed until somebody stops getting up. You can’t take your foot off the pedal, not even for a moment.

Rushdown is risky. That’s the nature of the game. There’s no way around it. Your success hinges on your ability to accelerate the match to the point where your opponent can’t think clearly anymore. This is going to sound obvious, but if whatever you’re doing isn’t working, then either speed it up or slow it down. (Who says you can’t have slow offense?)

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