Category: Fighting Games

Elite Tournament Chile’s Mcfly has been hard at work figuring out everything that is Kung Lao since the launch of Mortal Kombat X. His most recent bit of uncovered technology sees the wielder of the balded hat making use of five interactions in a single combo, which is honestly pretty impressive.

But the perfect timing required to make this possible may be the craziest part, not the number of stage interactions alone. Since using an interactive object takes half of your stamina meter, Mcfly can’t just spam interactions forever. If you watch the stamina bar throughout the combo, you’ll note there’s just enough time between sets of interactions to keep everything going.

It’s also worth noting that the final two uses don’t result in hits to actually extend the combo counter itself, but do provide additional chip damage and pressure.

Source: ETCChile

Hi everyone!

If you’ve followed me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been posting long reads on Tuesdays about fighting games. They’ve ranged from how-to guides to strategy and philosophy. This column is a continuation of that.

I want to share my experiences with both new and intermediate players who might be stuck. If you read one of these and think, “Well, that was obvious,” then good! If you take something away from these articles, then that’s good too.

For those of you who have been following these, I’ve added a section called action items at the end of the article. These are a bit like homework – it’s something you can try immediately. Let me know what you think in the comments!

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics, feel free to ask me on Twitter at @LordKnightBB.

Conditioning is a basic part of fighters, but it applies to many factors of the game.

To get started, I’d like to start with the importance of establishment. Seeing that word might seem strange, but this is an extremely important factor in a match. Establishment is about letting your opponent know what is guaranteed, and determining the basic amount of knowledge your opponent has. In a game with ambiguous situations, understanding that you can set limits with guaranteed situations is crucial. Consider the following points:

• Neutral
• Offense and Defense
• Punishes

Each of these points have guarantees associated with them. Understanding what situations are constant in matchups will give you a big edge in your play.

Neutral

In neutral, your character may have the ability to always be in control of certain situations depending on spacing, positioning, meter, etc. Establishing these moments as situations where you are in complete control limit your opponent’s options and can potentially make them avoid the situation altogether.

The classic example is anti-airs. Once you’re able to react to a jump-in and anti-air consistently, a competent opponent will either stop or try to do something to change their aerial momentum. The main point here is to have certain situations go from neutral – as in you versus the opponent vying for positioning, with no one having a clear advantage – to you gaining the upper-hand in guaranteed situations.

Offense and Defense

Offense and defense tend to split into two different types of situations – blockstrings and knockdowns.

I want to discuss standard offense first. You may already know this, but frame traps are a great example of establishing constants. You can structure blockstrings to be absolutes against the opponent’s defensive toolset – things like backdashes, reversals, alpha counters/counter assaults, etc.

A good example is Jin’s C dragon punch in BlazBlue – it’s common knowledge among more experienced players that you can set up offense while baiting his DP by inputting [2A > 5B > 44]. If Jin blocks, you do your string, but if he does his special, you’ll backdash. The end result is that, at higher levels, you won’t often see Jin players gamble waking up with this move, as it’s already established that this option exists and has low risk attached to it.

Knockdowns are quite similar; the main difference is that the amount of advantage you have to work with is usually more than a pressure string. A safe jump can cover the same reversal options I described above, but the danger is that you can also set up mixups simultaneously. If you can find ways to let your opponent know that you can handle their defensive options while getting different types of mixups, not only will you have a strong situation in your favor, but you can potentially open up more offensive options depending on your character.

Important note: Some people cannot be conditioned.

I noticed that a lot of mid-level players have a problem realizing that there are some people who just don’t understand what you’re doing or refuse to give up the situation, and that’s fine. I have heard people complain or mention, “I keep baiting his DP, but he keeps on doing it, so I can’t do other things. What do I do?” The answer is to keep doing the established thing that has been working the whole time.

The difficult point is realizing that your opponent can not be conditioned. Recognizing this takes judgement and experience. If you haven’t already, I think you should take a quick peek at my previous article from last Tuesday about establishing player assumptions, because you can judge whether or not someone can be conditioned based on their skill level. An advanced player will already understand established points in the matchup, and probably won’t test you. As far as beginner and intermediate level players, I find that you often have to test the waters. I’ve ran into players who make decisions that aren’t optimal “because they work,” which isn’t wrong, per se, but can be filtered through easily. 

Punishes

I think this last point is an obvious one, but often gets overlooked. Taking a guaranteed punish is a big deal, for a similar reason as taking a guaranteed situation in neutral. The only difference is you get guaranteed damage, which leads into a guaranteed situation.

When developing punishes, you’re trying to optimize damage, positioning, and the following situation. This, of course, is dependent on your character.

Punishes matter because it’s another way for you to discourage your opponent from certain actions. Going back to knockdowns, if you safe jump your opponent’s reversal and land a fat punish into the same safe jump, your opponent should be greatly discouraged from gambling with a reversal again.

I have to add, while you can get away with a few sloppy and/or non-optimized punishes in some games, you should really know your punishes in Street Fighter and Guilty Gear. In the end, it’s always best to go for the strongest punish available.

Conclusion

In a game with ambiguous situations, take things that are guaranteed! This is the first step in getting your opponent to act the way you want them to.

I also want to reiterate that some people can’t be conditioned, but that’s all right.

Action Steps

Normally, I’d ask questions and ask for you to post in the comments, but you should definitely be hitting the lab with this one…especially if you punish DPs with throws in Street Fighter!

(Featured image courtesy of FGC: Rise of the Fighting Game Community)

As many of you may already be aware, the Street Fighter V beta opened up early last night, allowing folks to try it out despite an apparent lack of online functionality.

Fortunately, the fact that they weren’t abruptly taken from training mode to netplay gave a number of players the chance to mess around with Vega, R. Mika, and Necalli before the next testing period launches in earnest later today. We’ve taken this opportunity to compile a ton of their videos below.

Starting off, Honzo Gonzo (who, full disclosure, I personally back on Patreon) shared a handful of his findings for the aforementioned trio. Similar to past videos, these are quick and to the point, highlighting early, basic combos for the three playable characters.

Dezmu, for their part, worked towards finding a 100% stun combo for R. Mika. They weren’t able to reach that goal due to time on the server being cut short, but this 75% stun combo is still pretty impressive. One more mixup and the wrestler will be well on her way to securing another victory.

Frequent combo video contributor Hurtbox TV couldn’t pass up the opportunity to jump into the Street Fighter V beta and experiment, and that’s exactly what they did. Below, you’ll find contributions in the form of longer exhibitions dedicated to Vega and R. Mika.

Taking a break from his excellent Fighting Fuerte series, east coast competitor SpabRog recently shifted his focus from Street Fighter IV to Street Fighter V with the early beta opening, coming up with his own collection of combos for R. Mika.

Spab also provided an interesting video comparing Necalli’s ground pound, with and without Torrent of Power activated. While it certainly looks funny, it does give us some insight into the area the attack covers after the newcomer’s V-Trigger is unleashed.

In perhaps the longest combo video we’ve seen so far, Pandora House’s LPN explores Vega’s capabilities in the upcoming game. Many of these push the limits of what we’ve thought possible when it comes to the high-flying fighter, and some even incorporate Crush Counter to squeeze out just a bit more damage.

As we’ve all seen before, R. Mika is capable of busting out a one-hit knockout should she complete her wrestling promo, but how can this move be used practically? Burnout Fighter has taken the time to record how much damage she’s capable of at each individual stage. This video also seems to indicate that, while more levels have been added to the speech, they appear to accrue at a much faster rate.

To close things out, we have a couple of quickies from Twitter. First up, DSG took some time to work out a powerful Vega combo off Crush Counter. Don’t let the dancing in the beginning fool you, this Spanish ninja is looking monstrous.

vega crush counter combo pic.twitter.com/DdOGQDmilk

— •̀ｄｓｇ•́ (@dodonpahchi) October 21, 2015

And finally, Javits Arias has discovered that Street Fighter V may not feature tripguard, the ability to block attacks immediately upon landing from a jump. As the video below shows, this gives players the ability to anti-air with sweeps, similar to Street Fighter II. While this is far from conclusive, it’s certainly something to think about moving forward.

As I suspected, it seems you cannot empty jump and block low in SF5. Lows seem to hit high enough to AA @ultradavid pic.twitter.com/wlk0xX6QuX

— Javits Arias (@jav1ts) October 21, 2015

Did we miss anything important? The community is sure to be beset by videos as soon as everyone is able to get into the beta and the playable cast expands, so stay tuned for more!

Sources: Honzo Gonzo, Dezmu, Hurtbox TV, SpabRog, Pandora House, Burnout Fighter, DSG, Javits Arias

While we’ve seen a decent amount of footage of Laura in action, some folks may still be a bit confused about what this Street Fighter V newcomer brings to the table. With strikes that lead into throws and a V-Skill that changes into a command run, her moveset may not be the easiest to wrap one’s head around.

To address this, AXETB put together a short video that breaks down everything Laura has at her disposal. Using footage from a recent WinnerStaysOn session, they have painstakingly compiled slow motion footage of her moves, right down to her normal attacks.

All of you technicians out there will be happy to know that the demonstration below also goes over some early combos found by the WinnerStaysOn crew, with the same slow motion treatment given to Laura’s individual attacks.

Please note that all notation is written from the first player’s side, and that everything shown here is liable to change between now and Street Fighter V’s release next year.

Source: AXETB, tip via John K.

UltraChen TV is back with yet another broadcast of their Tuesday show. Tonight, UltraDavid and James Chen will be touching on a variety of topics, including recent discussion surrounding tournament commentary and the responsibilities of Evo champions, the Street Fighter V beta, KAKUTOP League III, and more.

The stream will be live in this article, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from ultrachentv on www.twitch.tv

Source: UltraChen TV, featured image courtesy of Kara “Karaface” Leung

The folks over at VGBootCamp recently went live with another installment of Smash @ Xanadu from Xanadu Games in Baltimore, Maryland. These weekly broadcasts provide a great look at the region’s Smash community, with tonight’s stream focusing entirely on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and its recent patch.

The stream is live below, but you can also head on over to Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from VGBootCamp on www.twitch.tv

Source: VGBootCamp

During their visit to KAKUTOP League III this past weekend, the folks at Figaro Gaming House were able to put together quick interviews with three competitors: Team YP’s Valmaster, Luffy of MeltDown, and Falcon Arena’s Ryan Hart. Their discussion centered around the competition itself as well as each player’s thoughts on Street Fighter V.

While the feedback concerning Street Fighter V has generally been pretty positive, Valmaster provided a unique take from his time with the upcoming title. “Street Fighter V is more [laidback], there is not much madness,” the French player explained. “That’s what bothers me a bit: too easy to learn, too rigid. I hope we’re not going to get bored four months after the game’s release.”

Luffy and Hart were a little more magnanimous, the former in particular saying that we should give Capcom some time and see what they come up with in Street Fighter V. For what it’s worth, Valmaster acknowledges that he hasn’t spent a ton of time with the game, and still likes what he’s seen so far.

Be sure to check out the full interview below for more of their conversation with Figaro Gaming House.

Source: Figaro Gaming House, tip via Tubick