Author: Lance "Tarnot" Hood

After a break from the world of YouTube, Sakura player Michael Galardi has made a triumphant return to begin his Street Fighter IV uploads anew. He currently intends to bring viewers two Street Fighter videos per week–on Monday and Friday–with his Monday uploads having a great deal of editing time put in. This dedication to quality is quite clear in his first upload, as everything from the music to the way that the information is displayed fits together to form a wonderfully cohesive unit.

This first episode covers how Sakura handles the most important matchup that can be learned: Ryu. While Galardi does include some basic combos, that isn’t the video’s focus (god knows there certainly isn’t a shortage of Sakura combo videos floating around the internet). He centers instead on how to handle footsies through proper counter-poking as well as how to open Ryu up. Many of these setups, which are built to poke holes in the fighter’s defenses, involve tricky Tatsu crossups that could catch even the most well-prepared opponents off guard.

If you feel as though you’ve plateaued with Sakura, or if you’re simply looking for a better understanding of how to tackle a common matchup, this video isn’t to be missed.

Source: Michael Galardi

Jumps in fighting games require a level of calculation that newcomers don’t often consider. To those fresh out of the lab from learning their first combo–which almost certainly begins with a jump-in–leaping forward is a way of life. It just makes sense. We quickly learn that not only should we not anticipate landing many jump-ins, but in many cases just sticking to the ground is a better option in general.

Of all the characters not to jump in on, shotos top the list, especially when they have easy follow-up options like Ryu, who can knock an opponent out of the air with a Shoryuken and time an EX Hadouken so they’ll land right on top of it–or worse, a Super or Ultra combo. Thanks to the short video below from Bafael, there’s now even more reason to keep your feet on the ground when facing off against the wandering warrior.

Since Ryu’s kit received some juggle modifications in the Ultra update, his jumping strong has several more applications than it had in previous iterations of the game. As you’ll see in the video, you can use this jumping normal to set up some big damage or even offer Ryu himself a safe jump.

If you enjoy this style of tutorial video, Bafael has released tons of other content ranging from character tutorials to mechanics breakdowns. Follow this link to check them out!

Source: Bafael

Much like its handheld counterpart, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U offers up a wealth of unlockable content that will provide completionists with hours of fun. Finding all the unique moves for character customization, hundreds of trophies, characters, and stages, however, can be taxing for those of us who don’t find joy in jumping through the hoops associated with the unlocking process. Luckily, when it comes to playing the game competitively, all you need to unlock to have a tournament-ready setup for the new title are the characters and the stages.

The entire unlocking process, then, only takes about an hour total. While this can still be a bit of a hassle if you have to unlock all of the content on multiple consoles for an upcoming tournament, the folks at CLASH Tournaments say that this is the fastest Smash game in this area. They also state that this process can likely be sped up to take less than an hour since this was their first speed running attempt.

For all the steps in this process, you can watch the following demonstration or check out the spoiler box below the video, which we’ve taken from the video’s description.

Source: CLASH Tournaments

Akuma is capable of dishing out some seriously high stun numbers in Ultra Street Fighter IV while chucking plasma and delivering blows with his unique far standing roundhouse and other tools. NintenCore2000 took the Demon to the lab and figured out some ways to deliver enough stun to an opponent to result in a dizzy. Oddly enough, the first combo demonstrated only works against Akuma himself thanks to his low stun threshold.

The following option, however, works on a handful of cast members, though they are unlucky enough to share a still quite low 900 stun. After the defender has started seeing stars, Akuma can, of course, open up with a Raging Demon to push those damage numbers through the roof.

Source: NintenCore2000

With Super Smash Bros. for Wii U now firmly in the hands and consoles of fans of the series, Did You Know Gaming setting its sights on the Smash series couldn’t have come at a better time. Instead of doling out trivia tied to the franchise as their videos normally do, the team turned their attention toward high-level tactics that have appeared in previous iterations of the games, how these tactics evolved, and how some of them were eventually removed for one reason or another.

The video starts way back in the 90s with the original Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 to explore L-Canceling, more specifically how it was performed and what it brought to matches at a competitive level. It also covers tactics like spending more time crouching to reduce knockback, which can be especially helpful at low damage percentages and can sometimes even allow for a punish.

There’s plenty more to learn here as well, so if you’re new to the Smash series or just want to take a nostalgic trip back to the techniques of old, you’ll not want to miss this history lesson.

Source: Did You Know Gaming

Poison has been striking fear into her opponents through the sheer power of her fireball game in Ultra Street Fighter IV for months. They’re great for pressure, they’re great at all distances, they’re just so good. About the only thing that they can’t do is offer a reliable combo option when used as an anti-air. Until now, that is.

Thanks to this technique from Mono, Poison’s fireballs are now scarier than ever. Before the application of this strategy, if Poison were to block a jump-in after letting loose a fireball, her opponent would land on the projectile and she would recover from blockstun just in time to whiff a host of options. There are some situations where Poison can score some follow-up hits after blocking in such a fashion, but they’re inconsistent at best.

Mono has discovered that if Poison can block after chucking some plasma, she can just as easily focus attack. This leads to an interesting option that can turn a simple anti-air fireball into a highly damaging, match-changing moment.

Source: Mono