Roujin wrote:

It makes sense if you want to attract all the pro fifa blads to top up attendance and get dat paypuh.

dynamiteReady wrote:

Fifa though... I'm a Pro Evo loyalist. 

dynamiteReady wrote:

 I have this on Dreamcast... I main Terry Bocat.

hylian_elf wrote:

Also. SFIV or SSFIV(AE)?

I’ll just talk a bit about learning to get to a competitive level at SFIV. It’s the one I recommend of the games you’re up for trying. I’m not sure of your knowledge and skill level, so I apologise if I’m over explaining things. I’ll briefly explain some terminology as there are inconspicuous words in the SF lexicon that have a very specific meaning.

Normals – any attack button or attack that isn’t a special move, super, ultra, throw or command normal.

Command Normal - a direction and attack button that creates a new move. An example is > + medium punch with Ryu which hits overhead.

Overhead – an attack that must be blocked standing up.

Combo – a string of attacks that the opponent is unable to block if the first hit connected.

Link – a strict timing combo. One that you can’t dial in like a tekken chain (punch punch kick you can press as quickly as you like, for an example in that game, and it will all connect).Links exist because when some moves connect, your opponent is a reeling animation of ‘recovery’, during which time your move ends and there is a very strict window of opportunity to input the next one.

Cancel – interrupting the animation of one move to combo a second. Normals cancel into special moves, special moves cancel into supers. It’s not a quirk of the game system like links, it’s a deliberate mechanic that allows you to pile on damage, and for new player it’s one of the first things to master. An example is cancelling Ryu’s standing fierce (hp) into a shoryuken. Whilst the fierce connects, input the shoryuken.

Lp/mp/hp lk/mk/hk – low punch, medium punch, hard punch, light kick, medium kick, hard kick

QCF - quarter circle forward motion used for hadouken, and inputted twice before many ultras

Crossup – jumping deliberately over someone’s head, and inputting a normal in the air that designed to hit them in the back. They face one way, and get hit from the other. It’s hard to block the right way, can even be as bad as 50% likely that they can block it, with no risk for you. This is called gambling in your favour, and it’s my whole playstyle.

- That’s as much terminology as you need to start deliberately practicing stuff that will help you win.

There are two ways you can get better at SFIV. One player things (1p) and two player things. The former requires more patience, but both lead to progression of skill.

1p

It’s about execution. Let’s take an easy example with Ryu, then something a bit harder.

Cancel combo

Let’s put a crossup in here so you practice two techniques at once. In training, jump over the dummy, and at the last possible moment in the air hit mk. You should hit their back shoulder and land next to them, automatically forcing them to switch direction. When it connects, hit hp, and immediately do a mp shoryuken for a 4 hit combo. If your struggling with the shoryuken, try activating it with down forward tapped twice rather than the traditional towards, down, down forward and punch. This is an input shortcut, SFIV is full of them.

When you can do this combo consistently, try it after you get a throw in a match. They can’t stand quickly, so it’s hard to block the air mk, therefore the rest will connect.

Another fun cancel combo. > +hp command normal, cancel into shoryuken.

Link Combo

Ryu has a silly little combo, where you can link his low medium punch into itself, and then link a low roundhouse for a knockdown (one which you can’t rise quickly from, giving you more advantage to plan your next move). To do this combo you hold down and press mp, mp, hk. Sounds easy? Well links like have a window of one or two sixtieths of a second in which you can input the next move. So how to practice this. Go into training mode, and when you press the mp, press lp at the same time both times. This doubles that window but letting the computer read it as two inputs. Then when you can get a two hit combo from low mp, low mp consistently try adding the hk. But press hk and mk at the same time to increase the chance of that one too. Whole combo:

Lp + mp > lp +mp > mk +hk

Cheap ass combo.

Set the dummy to jump. Do a lp shoryuken whilst he’s in the air. When he’s falling input two qcfs and all three punches. You’ll do an ultra fireball that he can’t avoid. Do this in every match where the opponent jumps a lot.

2p things.

Blocking. It’s underrated. Some games, just see how much pressure you can soak up before you’re hit. A bad to intermediate player can’t get free hits off you if you’re careful.

Everything above requires some patience, and doing that stuff alone is not fun in my opinion. So this is where it counts. Your progression here will live and die by how much you enjoy the game, so if there’s any way you can find someone of similar skill level for regular matches, that’s the best way possible to improve. But something I have been taought recently has really helped me, it’s about how you lose.

It’s fine- for your sanity as well as progression - to play and lose over and over on one condition. That you learned something. If the guy keeps jumping on you, and you had ultra lit, you could have some the cheap ass combo. If you got a throw and didn’t try a crossup combo, remember to next time. Just watch what the opponent does. Much of my play now is about seeing how much rope I need to hand the opponent for them to hang themselves. If they throw two fireballs in a row, move back and forward so you know you’re in jump in range to land a jumping hk into combo. If they jump all the time and you’re struggling to get the shoryuken out, just do down + hp over and over – half the life will disappear and you’re doing almost nothing.

Lastly, just cos I have to give a presentation in a minute, ask ask ask! If you’re really getting into it you’ll find the community is one of the best in gaming for sharing info. Shoryuken.com and mordor-mashup.com are you friends.

Happy fightans