Match Up – El Fuerte

Air Ryu has kindly allowed me to re-publish match up posts from his blog.

Air Ryu is a Canadian Ryu player who has slowly become one of my favourite Ryu’s out there (other favourites are of course Mr Umehara, Alex Valle and John Choi). I’ve become such a fan that if you’ve played against me as of the last couple of months, I’ve been representing with his colours – colour #3, except I use alternate 1, not the normal costume

He has recently started a new blog http://airryu.blogspot.com/ which will become valuable information for Ryu players as he’ll give his insight on match ups and general things Ryu, basically what I’ve been trying to do with my blog, only he is a pro and I’m not, so his word will be much better then mine

Anyway, here’s his first post regarding El  Fuerte. It’ll be a direct cut and paste which he has given me permission to do, so don’t be alarmed.

Matchup:

In my opinion, when Ryu’s fireball is useless, that matchup is never in Ryu’s flavour. Therefore when it comes to Ryu vs Fuerte i would say 4:6 and when it comes to TKD’s fuerte…2:8. ( I am not the only player in Japan who rated this matchup when it comes to TKD’s by the way.) However, since i played TKD countless times i do have alot of experiences against Fuerte and handling against certain situations. So here it goes..

Anti Air:

All the attacks that Fuerte can land on you is mainly off the ground so with good AA would allow you to shut down all his attacks. In this matchup, jab srk (even if you miss your jab srk, Fuerte does not have enough time or enough range to land the *Loop), and *instant* jump strong would be the best tools to use to stop his moves and off the wall jump in attacks.

Ground Game:

Far Range:

This is actually the only time you can throw safe fireballs and there’s not much u can do in this range. Therefore it is a good chance  to build meters with jab SRK.

Mid Range:

Use low strong instead of low forward (because low forward has a longer recovery time) and don’t throw any fireballs as long as he’s runnning. Any of his moves off running ( except slide kick ) shuts down fireball. On top of that, this is Fuerte’s best range, so be patience and wait for him to make his moves.

Close Range:

When it comes to close range, Fuerte doesn’t have much to hit you with and this is the best chance ( like Dhalsim, you have to get close inorder to win) for you to beat him. Once you get close, try to land untechable wakeups moves such as throw or combo into a sweep. Don’t fear to use more low jab to lock him on the ground and hit him out of the air if he tries to backdash and jump back.

Mind games and Option Selects:

Since Fuerte has few good escape moves on wake up such as Ex run back, the Guacamole Leg Throw and he has a pretty good backdash. So how to deal with each of his escapes?

EX run:

A(n) *ex* tatsu works perfectly since Fuerte’s Ex run has 2 armor hits, therefore *ex*tatsu would break his guard before he can run back. Another option is throw.

Guacamole Leg Throw:

Against this move, a jump in OPTION SELECT jab srk would work perfectly. Timing is a bit strict but with practice it will auto correct wherever he flies.

Backdash:

Jump in OPTION SELECT jab srk, tatsu, sweep. On ground you can guess and use tatsu or be safe and use OPTION SELECT sweep.

On my wakeup:

Though El Fuerte has a lot of scary mind games he can do on your wakeup, mashing on backdash is the best escape for Ryu. Ryu is able to backdash out of most of his running moves except the slide and sometimes the splash ( sometimes i get hit, i don’t know why )

Against Ultra 1:

Good El Fuerte’s with perfect timed Ultra 1 can be deadly. They would try to bait you with a jump to land the ultra. In this case, Ryu should always have one gauge so that you can empty jump without being scared of Fuerte’s Ultra. As long as it’s an emtpy jump, if Fuerte’s releases his ultra, you can escape with Ex tatsu. Also, throwing fireballs when Fuerte has ultra meter is totally not recommended.

Against Ultra 2:

Basically the same one you fight against Ultra 1, in my opinion i think this ultra is not as scary because you can throw fireballs against this ultra. Ex tatsu works well against ultra 2 since the ultra would whiff and Ryu would have enough time to punish with a big combo.

Things to be aware of:

El Fuerte can never land big damage except the loop. Fuerte can only land this loop on Ryu unless Ryu whiffs a move with long recovery (eg. Fierce SRK) or gets crumpled by a Saving level 2/3 attack.
El Fuerte can do a safe jump on Ryu *ONLY* if you get hit by the running tornado grab. So beware, if you happen to get grabbed by that move, the next timed jump in is a safe jump. In other words, you would not want to do anything since it will whiff or gets beaten, so blocking or saving dash out of the attack would be you best and only choices.

Well there you have it, Air Ryu’s first match up post and I’m sure there will be plenty more, I have requested Adon as his next one and he said that he’ll write up what he knows, so have a look out for it shortly.

Hope you guys enjoy.

Solar Plexus!!

As the title says, this post will be all about the Solar Plexus!

Ryu’s most damaging normal move – I decided to go through the cast and see what solar plexus combo can be done on who and which one did the most damage and stun.

I chose the following 7 solar plexus combos, I know there are plenty of other solar plexus combos, however the following are the ones that offered either the best damage, the best stun or the one that provided the untechable knockdown  :

1. Solar Plexus, cr.hp, hp dp (330 damage, 460 stun)
2. Solar Plexus, cr.hp, hk tatsu (306 damage, 460 stun)
3. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.hk (252 damage, 280 stun)
4. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mk, hk tatsu (312 damage, 420 stun)
5. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.hp, hk tatsu (336 damage, 500 stun)
6. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.hk (291 damage, 350 stun)
7. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.mk, hk tatsu (342 damage, 470 stun)

Now lets break down the combo’s one by one.

1. Solar Plexus, cr.hp, hp dp (330 damage, 460 stun) , ,

Description: Daigo’s BnB solar plexus combo!! This combo is not the most damaging solar plexus combo, nor does it do the most stun, however this is one of three solar plexus combos of the seven I tested that can be on the whole cast! Of the three that can be done on the whole cast, this is the most damaging. After doing these solar plexus combos, I can now understand why Daigo opts for this combo most of the time. THIS IS A MUST

Combo works on? EVERYONE!

2. Solar Plexus, cr.hp, hk tatsu (306 damage, 460 stun) , ,

Description:  This combo does okay damage, and great stun (it’s the same as the stun from the above combo). I would generally do this combo mid screen to push my opponent to the edge of the screen. The decision to do this combo will depend on exactly what you want to do, do you go for that extra damage, or do you push your opponent to the corner?

Combo works on? EVERYONE!

3. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.hk (252 damage, 280 stun) , ,

Description:  This combo is the weakest out of the three that work on everyone in terms of damage and stun, however,the biggest changer for this is you end with an untechable knockdown at the end. This will allow you to mix it up with safe jump option selects or just reset.  I personally don’t use this combo as I always opt for the damage or pushing my opponent to the corner?

Combo works on? EVERYONE!

4. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mk, hk tatsu (312 damage, 420 stun) , , ,

Description:  This combo has two one frame links and doesn’t do the same damage/stun as combo number 1 and I cannot see why anyone would opt for this combo then combo one. The degree of difficulty is increased with the extra one frame link and there really is no reward for it.

Combo works on? Everyone EXCEPT Sakura

5. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.hp, hk tatsu (336 damage, 500 stun), , ,

Description:  This is a great combo!! It’s the second highest damaging combo and the best stun, it’s definitely worth learning who it can be done on, not only is it high in damage and stun, but it also pushes your opponent to the corner, best of all, there is only one one frame link. THIS IS A MUST.

Combo works on? Makoto, Dudley, Seth, Gouken, Juri, Dhalsim, Sagat, Cammy, Zangief, Rufus, El Fuerte & T Hawk

6. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.hk (291 damage, 350 stun) , , ,

Description:  This is another one of those combo’s like combo 4, it has two one frame links and doesn’t do the same damage/stun as combo number 1, the only reason I can see why this would be done is for that untechable knockdown, which gives you the safe jump mix ups.  The degree of difficulty is increased with the extra one frame link and for me, I don’t really see a reward.

Combo works on? E Honda, Makoto, Dudley, Seth, Gouken, Akuma, Chun Li, Dhalsim, Dictator, Sagat, Cammy, Cody, Blanka, Rufus, El Fuerte, Claw, Fei Long, T Hawk, Adon & Rose.

7. Solar Plexus, cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.mk, hk tatsu (342 damage, 470 stun), , , ,

Description: This is the combo made famous by man himself Mr. Umehara. This is the most damaging of all the seven solar plexus combo’s, second highest in stun, however, it can only be done on four people. The degree of difficulty is increased with the extra one frame link, but the reward is high damage and pushing your opponent to the corner. I think it’s a must to learn which characters it can be used on.

Combo works on? Gouken, Chun Li, Blanka & El Fuerte

So there you have it, seven different solar plexus combos to choose from and to use depending on the situation, for me, I mainly use combo’s one and two, I will use combo seven if I am fighting Chun Li (not so much the other characters due to the lack of knowledge), now I will also incorporate combo five into my gameplay for maximum stun damage.

Hope this helps you Ryu players out there.

In to the training room for execution practise!!

Recording Gameplay Footage via HDMI

First things first, recording gameplay footage via HDMI is not cheap, I’ve probably chosen one of the cheaper options (provided you don’t already have a high spec’d PC), but it definitely isn’t on the cheap side.

These days, more and more people are curious on how to record HDMI gameplay footage, I will outline what I use and what can be used to capture  gameplay footage for reviewing/sharing.

I will be mostly talking about my setup that I use for all my captures.

My setup consists of the following:

• Hauppauge HD PVR
• HDFury2
• HDMI Splitter (random 1×4 splitter from eBay)

The above setup allows for direct capturing via HDMI, the HD PVR only captures analog signals, however the HDFury2 converts the HDMI signal to analog component (while also stripping HDCP), which then can be used as an input for the HD PVR.

I went for this option because of the following:

• it’ll allow me to record any HDMI source, so I can record PS3 gameplay content, as well as Xbox 360 and even PC
• can be used with a relatively low powered PC/laptop as all the encoding is done on the fly on the HD PVR
• being that its an analog recorder, you can quite easily add a sound mixer to allow for mic input
• actually one of the cheaper options for HD recording

Where to buy:

I purchased all of my equipment from overseas due to the price difference, like with most things, its usually cheaper to import

• HD PVR from B&H Photo
• HDFury2 from the Curt Palme
• HDMI splitter from Electronic Pro Shop eBay store

There are also other ways of recording HD gameplay via HDMI, this includes:

• The ever so popular Blackmagic Intensity Pro. I know of a couple of whirlpool users (Bugsimus and Killbox) who use this device. I personally didn’t opt for this device due to the fact that I didn’t have a powerful computer to use it on, while “cheaper” then my setup, I still do believe the option I went for is a little more flexible for my needs.
• There is also the Matrox MXO2 Mini which is used by another whirlpool user TheMuso.

Any questions about the Hauppauge HD PVR setup, feel free to ask.

 

Daigo @ Gods Garden Online 2 Qualifiers

Gods Garden Online 2 qualifiers happened almost two weeks ago, and I’ve now just only started to watch most of Daigo’s matches.

What can I say? It seems like he’s come back with something to prove considering he didn’t make the finals of the first Online Gods Garden.

While these are only qualifiers, he certainly put the competition on notice.

Time to study all these matches

Daigo (Ryu) vs Kindevu (Cammy) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 1)

Daigo (Ryu) vs Mago (FeiLong) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 1) (Part 1)

Daigo (Ryu) vs Mago (FeiLong) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 1) (Part 2)

Uryo (C.Viper) vs Daigo (Ryu) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2)

Daigo (Ryu) vs ACQUA (Ibuki) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2)

Daigo (Ryu) vs Nemo (Chun-Li) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2)

Daigo (Ryu) vs Sakomoto (Cammy) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2)

Daigo (Ryu) vs YHCmochi (Dhalsim) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2) (Part 1)

Daigo (Ryu) vs YHCmochi (Dhalsim) – GodsGarden 2 (Day 2)

I can’t seem to find all of Daigo’s matches from Day 1 & 2, but all the results and ustream archive is located here.

Execution & Training Room

From my recent matches, I’ve noticed that my execution has been lacking during the most critical times of the match, there have been matches that I’ve lost because I failed at doing the ultra after a DP>FADC, instead of dashing forward and then doing the ultra, I just end up with a level 1 FA.

This is extremely frustrating, especially if you would have won the match/round with the ultra.

The most common execution errors currently affecting my game are:

• Failed FADC from DP>FADC, only a FA
• A DP from a walk up cr.mk > FB
• Super coming out instead of a DP
• Failed auto correct DP attempts
• A DP comes out when focus absorbing a projectile (mainly on the P1 side)

While I know I’ll never be like Daigo or any high level player in terms of execution, it’s definitely something that can be practiced in the training room. I can’t imagine how many free throw shots Michael Jordan would have shot in the training room, the end result of the hard work and persistence is a career average of 83.5% from the free throw line. Imagine being able to hit 83.5% of everything your mind is thinking of doing… let’s bring on the challenge!!

This now brings me to training room drills that can be done over and over to try and help with my execution errors.

If 30 minutes can be spent on different components daily, I’m sure it’d help extremely with my execution errors.

I guess to be efficient with these drills, there needs to be a strict guideline that you start small with and build over time.

For example, each drill needs to be done three times on both P1 and P2 sides without any errors, if there is an error, I will then need to repeat the drill on that particular side until I’ve completed the drill. As time goes by and my execution starts getting better, I will then have to increase the number of times I do it without errors, from three to five for example.

I’ve divided up my drills into different groups where I see fit. We all know there are numerous amounts of combos and there are so many different combinations, so the combos I have chosen are the ones that I use and the ones that fit my style, if you have other combos that you use, then add/subtract the drills to suit you.

Like all characters, they all start with their bread and butter, Ryu is no exception, my BnB drills are the following:

BnBs

• walking back and forth into cr.mk, FB
• cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.hp, tatsu/FB/DP (my personal choice is the tatsu, to help push your opponent to the corner, but I do practice the FB for a block string or the DP for damage)
• cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.hk (this combo is my personal favourite, its not the most damaging combo, but you get an untechable knockdown with this combo)
• crossup mk, cr.lk, cr.lp, DP (this is the combo that gives me a super instead of the DP)
• cr.lk, cr.lp, DP, FADC, ultra (crucial to be able to land with a high percentage rate at tournament levels)

The next lot of drills are Ryu’s harder links, but are also the hard hitting links, hard hitting = more damage and more stun. Along with practicing the harder links, I’m also practicing my plinking technique. If you are unfamiliar with plinking, there is a massive thread on SRK forums regarding Plinking (linkage here), but the easiest way to understand it IMO is by watching this video:

Harder Links

• cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.hk (this is a great BnB once you have it down pat)
• cr.mp, cr.hp, DP/Tatsu (great whiff punisher, end with a tatsu if you want to push the opponent into the corner, or end with a DP for damage and possible ultra setup)
• cr.mp, cr.mp, cr.mk, Tatsu (will only work against some characters)
• f.hp, cr.hp , DP (the bees knees of Ryu’s arsenal, and probably one of the hardest to land, Daigo makes this link look like a BnB)
• cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.lp, st. lp, cr.hk (not necessary, but I do practice it here and there, we all want to be like our idol I guess )

Plinks

• f.hp, cr.hp~cr.mp,
• cr.mp~cr.lp, cr.mp~cr.lp,  cr.mk~cr.lk
• cr.mp~cr.lp, cr.hp~cr.mp
• cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.hk~cr.mk
• cr.mp~cr.lp, cr.mp~cr.lp, cr.mk~cr.lk

As much as I love Ryu’s Ultra 2, there’s just no possible reason why I would choose it over the versatility of Ultra 1.

Ultra Set ups

• DP, FADC, ultra (the most common way of landing the ultra, yet I struggle so much to land it during the important times)
• cr.mk, EX FB, FADC, ultra (while this uses three stocks of your meter, it should become an important way of landing the ultra and this needs to be incorporated into my game)
• EX tatsu/FB, ultra in the corner only (for whatever reason, I struggle to land the ultra from the ex tatsu – guess that’s where these drills come into place – but the ex fireball, I have a high percentage hit rate)

The following drills are just drills so I can get into the habit of doing these combos and to train my muscle memory. I currently don’t use these combos in game, however, in time, I do wish to implement it into my game.

FADC Combos

• cr.mk, FB, FADC, cr.mk, tatsu
• cr.mk, FB, FADC, cr.hk
• cr.mk , FB, FADC, cr.hp, DP (range dependant)
• cr.mk, FB, FADC, cr.hp xx EX tatsu, ultra in the corner only

Solar Plexus links are by far Ryu’s hardest links, but most damaging.

Solar Plexus Links

• f.hp, s.mk, FB (this is a Poongko special, I would normally add a FADC>cr.hp, DP with this combo)
• f.hp, cr.mp , cr.mk, tatsu (great for pushing the opponent into the corner, add an extra cr.mp against Chun-Li – f.hp, cr.mp, cr.mp , cr.mk, tatsu for me IS Ryu’s hardest link in the game)
• f.hp, cr.hp , DP (we’ve already talked about this link)
• f.hp, cr.hp, tatsu (I tend to use this with an EX on the corner)

Option selects alone can take up a whole post and I won’t go into too much detail about it here, but I do tend to practice the jump in OS, just so I can learn the timing and I can follow up properly. I will create another post where I talk about option selects.

Option Selects

• j.hp > DP (follow up with the normal block string)
• j.hp > tatsu (follow up with the normal block string)

Finally, there are three more things that I’m currently practicing in the training room, auto correct DP drills, focus absorb dash in punish drills and kara throwing.

For auto correct DP drills, I set the computer to record the following: throw, j.mk cross up, cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.hk or throw, cross up tatsu. Once recorded, I’ll just set it to playback and try auto correct DP’s, I have no “proper” method of doing it, but I start from , , , , + (that motion normally gets the auto correct DP to come out – if you know the exact motion I should be doing, please feel free to post a comment ).

For focus absorb drills, I set the computer to record the following: the ever popular block string, cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.lp, cr.mk, fb. Once recorded, I’ll just set it playback and do the focus absorb dash in, then punish with cr.hp, dp. While not everyone uses a projectile character, its all about training my muscles, with muscle memory.

For kara throwing, it’s basically a three button plink, f.hk~lp+lk. I’ll just set the computer to all block and just do the normal block string, cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.lp, kara throw, you’ll know you’ve done it correctly as it has a different animation as to a normal throw, you can also tell  the throw was successful as the inputs look like this:

Ryu’s kara throw range is nowhere near Ken’s kara throw, however, I have noticed since I’ve implemented it into my game, I’ve been catching a few people that would normally tech the throw. Every little bit of extra range counts!!

That’s about everything I can think of in terms of execution training drills that I would use, I currently don’t do this daily like it was my bible, even though I should if I want to get my execution down pat, however, time constraints usually take the better of me, and also patience . I normally find that I will go into the training room and do a couple of drills, then shortly after, I’ll jump online for a match or two, or three then it becomes 20

If you can be dedicated, and patient, I’m 100% sure that your execution will improve 10 fold if these drills (or your set of drills) are practiced on a regular basis, it’s just like everything we do, we only get better and better the more times we do something.

Ryu – latest member for G Unit?

Well the new alternate costume has showed up for Ryu and I must say, he looks like he’s ready to pop out of a gansta rap music video…

G, G, G, G Unit!!!

While I’m not a fan of this costume, I’ll still obviously buy all the new DLC pack that comes out this Spring..

Casuals vs Sildenafl

After a special request from me to play Sildenfl’s Ryu, he gladly accepted, unfortunately it was only for a few matches.

WOW, what can I say, I’ve said it before on forums, and I’ll say it again, he is down right the best Ryu I’ve ever played (not including Daigo, cos he’s just daigo and Humanbomb, cos I’ve never actually played HB )

Sildenfl’s knowledge of footsies and spacing are on a different level to what I’m used to in Oz, it’s like this guy is japanese or something hahaha

Execution is perfect, he is just down right awesome, maybe one day I can get my Ryu to that level (it’ll take a very long time, if its even possible).

I saved the replays of all the Ryu matches I had with him, so it’ll be a matter of studying over the next couple of the days and see where I did wrong.

I was so happy though, I managed to get a win in the last game.

Hopefully I get to play him again, because he’s an absolute freak and it’s always great to play players that make you want to be like them

Sorry about the first 15 or so seconds in this match, Sildenafl wasn’t doing anything so naturally I just had to wait

I think this match was totally a fluke on my part, but nevertheless, it was a win

I know my bad habits are still there, the focusing, the jumping, the random DP’s, but they are definitely no where near as much as they used to be, I’m not starting to see a lot of flaws with my cr.mk>fb game which I really need to work much more on, I’m also seeing a lot of flaws within my defense, I need to learn how to walk back and forth and to block on reaction. I also need to stop pressing buttons during block strings, I almost always get hit with a counter hit poke

My immediate focus on my game are the following:

• NOT JUMP
• No random DP’s
• Move back and forth with solid defense
• Not press buttons during a block string
• Not stupidly throw cr.mk>fb’s (especially when cr.mk is blocked)
• FA smartly, not FA a jump in

It seems soooo easy to iron out those habits when put in point form like that, but it’s just sooo fricken hard for me

As always, comments are always welcome, no matter how harsh, I know I’m no super high level player, so I’m always looking at ways to improve.

It was a great learning curve for me. Sildenafl, thank you for the opportunity to show me the flaws of my game, I really do hope to play you soon again.