USF4 Endless: VS SFF I Yasuhiro (Chun-Li)

Hey guys, quick note but the state of the site is a bit messy at the moment. This is because I can’t dedicate too much time to this because of the new college year starting. I can only apologise, and I will be doing what I can in the meantime around weekends if my time allows for it.

On that morbid note; I’ve had a set uploaded on my YouTube channel for a while now that I have failed to mention on the blog, so it’s likely that few have seen it. Regardless, I played a set a while back when I was warming back into this game as Ryu. Since then, I’ve worn off of the rust, but this set was a nice demonstration of learning against another’s style and adapting over a set.

[USF4] Jam Shojiki (Ryu) VS SFF I Yasuhiro (Chun-Li)

For reference, the playlist above contains all 7 matches and will automatically skip through them on this embed, OR you can click the YouTube button in the bottom right of the playlist’s UI and watch it on YouTube. Your call.

Like most sets, I couldn’t justify most of the decisions now that I made in the set watching it back. I might do a later analysis if time allows because I quite like this set, and so did my opponent. I will say however that my understanding of the Chun-Li match-up as Ryu is somewhat lacking. It’s kinda present here.

Shoutouts to SFF I Yasuhiro for solid set. I’ll hopefully be working through some more over the weekend. May have more match footage, but I should have by then a little surprise for the guides section. Got a little more in store.

Thanks for reading.

SSF4:AEv2012 and UMvC3 – Outplayed

Friday evening, I went with Madara Uchihar round Kenwood Elric’s house for shenanigans and gaming affairs. Unfortunately, I didn’t walk away from it the happiest dude on the planet. Gave this a few days before uploading – didn’t want a post filled with salty talk, so I gathered my thoughts first. Cheers Kenwood for hosting, but you’ll likely understand my frustrations and I hope you can forgive my conduct.

SSF4:AEv2012 (VS Kenwood Elric)

I will say this much for myself, I am not prepared for TEESPORTS. Not by a long shot. I guess “ready” can be defined by my mental and physical state when approaching Street Fighter and that ain’t looking too rosy at the moment. Suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Kenwood Elric in local VS. After not playing the game for a substantial amount of time, I kinda brought it upon myself and I underestimated the improvements that not only offline play would make to his game, but general improvements made to his gameplan.

Immediately reminded of this scene from SF3.

I started off strong, but once again, fell to conditioning and the unholy whiff-punishing and footsies game. Extremely impressive show from Kenwood, and I was in no position to compete after about 8 games (no stamina) – we are much further apart in skill that we ever really have been for a long time. His experience, composure, reactions and ability vastly extends beyond my own. Obviously, that makes things difficult to fight if your opponent is better at utilising your own character’s options against you, both mentally and in gameplay. The mental guard break occurred very early on and I was shaken. Hugely disappointed, not because I lost horrifically – but because I stopped performing the basics because I was conditioned extremely well by my opponent and both he and I knew it. I couldn’t break free and I lost. The contents of the game was much more disappointing than the results of each. The game itself was far out of my control, which is hugely aggravating. There are a few things I took from this though:

1) I am not nearly making enough progress as I should be with Ryu
2) My consistency lowers over the extended duration of a set, and I become more susceptible to conditioning.
3) My footsies are lacking: Whiff-Punishing, knowing my ranges exactly.
4) Conserving meter is very important, and implementing Super stops opponents from throwing Fireballs from Mid-Screen.
5) My Close Quarters Frame-Traps and pressure are both predictable and repetitive – I need more variety in my approach.
6) Adapting from  match-up to match-up doesn’t happen particularly quickly for me unless the match-up is EXTREMELY different. For example I’ll try and play the Guile match in a similar respect to the way I play the  Ryu mirror, which is not a good idea.

Regardless – very well played, I was bested again. I’ll come back stronger as usual but this kind of stuff is still extremely demotivating for me. There are few times that I just outright lose – “Bodied” I believe is the “correct” term. But I don’t often just get destroyed. I need to maintain composure in these games because I crack very easily in games where I feel there is a lot on the line. Even in casual games I feel there is a lot riding on the result or the progression of a match – because everything goes to show something about myself or my opponent. In local games – especially VS Kenwood, I’ll often vocalise self criticism: “That should have been ‘x'”, “Could have punished that”, “F***ed that up” etc. It’s always negative – but because I vocalise it, it sticks with me. I need to shut up, and reflect constructively. I don’t recall ever complementing my own performance – simply because I don’t want to come off as arrogant, and that it doesn’t suit me at all – I find no value in it personally. It’s embedded deep in my personality that I take ALL, literally all complements with a grain of salt. I either immediately assume they are being sarcastic, or just assume that it’s just pleasantries for the sake of – no sincerity. That’s an issue with me personally, but that probably translates pretty strongly in SF.

I must admit, even in supposed casual sets VS friends – including SF Chris Strife of the XBL, it is extremely difficult not to just eat my self up with criticism. This process for me is invaluable in the moment because I can look back – and I already have identified the weaknesses in my gameplan to move forward from. However, doing this in the moment is absolutely crushing mentally. Especially if it’s something that is or should be happening as standard that I’m missing – usually for me it’s consistently dropped combos or missed Anti-Air.  I get wound up with these the most simply because I have already mastered this in my execution, and I can Anti-Air and perform the combos that I want, so being unable to perform them feels like a step back in my progress. This set VS Kenwood was no different in this regard – and I think it was this that always ultimately defeats me – the fact that I was missing my basics and that in itself was giving my critical side ammunition to break myself down.

I’m so eager to prove myself to other people. An “inferiority” complex kinda thing – wanting to prove to myself that this isn’t beyond me. Spent most of my time fighting Kenwood – who was undoubtedly the better Ryu, but I still refuse to admit that I will always be second to him. When presented with that situation, someone demonstrating Ryu’s potential beyond what you have tapped into, the only thing I’d wanted to do was prove to myself that that wasn’t beyond me, that I am no worse, but with this, I wanted to prove to Kenwood that I wasn’t that far behind, and to my Fighting Game-based friendship group that I was still a threat to Kenwood in the Ryu mirror match. Most of the time, I’d get destroyed. I spent so much time trying to perfect my knowledge and implementation in the Ryu match, that I am now 3-4years into playing SF and I barely know how to approach other match-ups. It’s brutal to feel that the match-up you know best, is the one that you get mauled in the most.

Now, as opposed to then, I accept defeat much easier, whether that makes me better as a player I’m not experienced enough to judge but. I am still not entirely content with being just a worse version of Kenwood’s Ryu. I am accepting of that for now until I can make time for Street Fighter. I’m not happy with where I am at the moment because I am not as good as Kenwood – but that is unrealistic as a criticism and not constructive. There is no way I get get that good with every at College going on now. I need this qualification and the last thing I need to happen is my intense interest to improve at Street Fighter stop me from doing that. I will improve and become stronger with time, but that will take very serious dedication. When I can give time for that, I will look to set my sights on competitive play. My reactions need to improve, my identification of situations need to happen faster and my auto-correct Shoryukens need to happen.

For the too long; didn’t read guys: basically, crushing defeats to Kenwood Elric serve to reinforce that I’m not where I want to be yet. This is what this set served and I’m annoyed that it played out like that. Kenwood is by far the better player as we stand at the moment, but I have a desire to catch him up. To do this, I’m going to need to dedicate a lot of time, and that’s time that I can only really commit very loosely too at the moment with other commitments like college.

Very well played sir, I hope to give you an extended set in the future, with a solid performance from myself.

As for the rest of the matches I played that day on Kenwood Elric’s account – I embarrassed myself. I was still in the mindset for the set with Kenwood and I refused to perform the basics and lost. Very powerful thing conditioning.

UMvC3 (VS Madara Uchihar)

“What? Marvel? The hell, dude?”
– Nameless Person, 2013

Well it turns out I’ve been playing Marvel. Been playing a lot of Dante and I only went and showed myself up in a set against Madara Uchihar. I must have failed a Shoryuken input for “Volcano” around… maybe in excess of 20 times? Absolutely embarrassing. Hadn’t dropped that combo since I learnt to do it consistently and then I go and screw it up all but ONE time. I hit that combo ONCE in a set of around 40 games.

Sorry dude, I screwed up pretty bad. Not dropping Dante that easily though – the good damage will take more than what I’ve invested to learn, but I’m willing to learn a bit more.

I swear, I vaguely know what I’m doing in regards to spacing in the Neutral Game with Dante, but I just got crushed by Zero. Hadn’t actually ever played in a match of UMvC3 in about… 2-3months? So… yeah, didn’t stand a chance once I got caught in blockstun. Straight 50/50 followed by 50/50 was brutal to be on the receiving end of. Madara Uchihar is beyond me in Marvel – but I can accept that. He puts the time in and I haven’t, so he is the deserving victor.

The most frustrating part of that fact is that I wouldn’t consider myself a worthy utility for allowing Madara to practise for the Marvel tournament at TEESPORTS. I’d never be good enough to prepare him fully for it obviously, but I would like to feel that I could be his opponent and truly test him, but this is never really the case. I may take an unprecedented amount of games on him, but it’s through X Factor “Level 4” Wesker, and the incoming mix-up usually. Nothing special. Because my Wesker is OK, and I understand the implications of the incoming mix-up, I can abuse the crap out of it and sometimes win.

Well played sir, I don’t know what came over me but I hope to actually play the game next time – as screwing up my punishes every time I got the opportunity… I don’t care if I don’t main it, that shit is embarrassing.

Closing Comments:

I need to sort my act out for TEESPORTS. For the number of “heavy hitters” there, I need to be playing my literal best. I hope to do well, but I’m not fussed. I want to show that I can compete with the best in the region. Ideally, I want to play for the experience that I’ll gain from playing these guys. I’m eagerly anticipating the event, but if I’m not on form, I will not only not enjoy it, but I won’t perform to my standards. In regards to the games I’ve played over the last few days – GGs guys.

Need to relax. Regardless – thanks for reading another riveting personality exploration.
I can see these manically depressing character reforming posts getting repetitive.

Endless Endeavours – Madara Uchihar (Juri)

“Whe-hey! Endless Endeavours, I remember that, that was that thing where he would just rant about how salty he is after fighting his friends after the “umpteenth” time! I love that stuff, I wish he’d bring it back…”
– Sir Nameless and Perhaps Non Existent Fan #1 – 2013

Wish no longer, extremely enthusiastic hypothetical reader dude, I maybe returning to this format to deliver a little more content that is just breakdowns of matches that I have played, and writing my thoughts while they are still fresh and can remember what the hell happened. “Endless Endeavours” may once again become a regular thing, depending how much time I can dedicate to playing Endless. A lot… I can dedicate a lot of time to Endless.

Moving swiftly on Just played a set of casuals VS Madara Uchihar (tHis R sParta of previous posts). A good friend that to be honest, I don’t speak with or play with too often online. We do play offline when someone arranges, but very rarely get any games in online. As of recently, he has taken interest in Juri as a character and potential main. He’d just been on Ranked match to nab some of dat PP and BP with Juri and I was asked to join him. After a full day of me performing unimpressive drawings of various characters and what-not, it was time for the fighting in the streets and I do love me some Streetest Fighter, so how could I refuse. Eitherway, connection was good and we played 18 games. I played Ryu throughout. Locally I often dabble around the character select screen, but apparently things get hyper serious for me when playing Endless. Don’t ask. Aside, pumped myself up with an Anime-Friendly music playlist and we were off.

When’s Mahvel? – 7 Minutes…

Well, I’m back I guess – and straight into UMvC3. Who’da guessed? Anyways…

WESKER

Wesker… demonstrating the 8th Degree of Badass.

QUICK BREAKDOWN:

Wesker – a versatile character who appears to generally be pretty good in any location on a team. Strong offence, Good Damage output, legitimate mix-up game in combination with assists, a projectile, teleport and decent comeback capability in X-Factor. Another character that makes me look vaguely competent at Marvel when *spoiler alert* …I actually have very little clue what I am striving for in both offence and defence. He converts damage extremely well and easily and can self OTG (DF+H = Low Samurai Edge) to an extent. With this ability to OTG – he can extend combos past teleport-cancellable hit-confirms off of Cobra Strike – resulting in fairly straight forward damage off the back of fairly safe situations. The OTG can also be called in as an assist – extending combos for characters like Spencer, Ryu etc or causing reset situations. I generally find trouble doing some of his stuff when the connection is struggling but that probably stems from unfamiliarity more than anything.

TELEPORTING:

I’ll shed some light on his teleport too because I was too stubborn to just look this up when I first started:

NOTE: Teleport can be used as a cancel out of both Ghost Butterfly, Cobra Strike and Samurai Edge Shots. Pressing the button during Cobra Strike or Ghost Butterfly will teleport accordingly:
L – Teleports Forwards and Behind your opponent
M – Teleports Backwards and Away from your opponent.
H – Teleports Up and Behind your opponent.
Mix them up – and your approach can become fairly ambiguous. Doing this also reduces the execution requirement for each of the upcoming combos pretty significantly.

Not forgetting that you can teleport in the same manner as a standalone – using a Shoryuken input and each ATK button. It will teleport you in the same manner as listed above depending on the ATK button pressed. These can be done in the air too – only difference is that the H version teleports straight down to the ground. Using the L+M air teleports can allow for absolutely cheesy stalling tactics for X-Factored opponents, but its kinda justified. X-Factor Level 3 is scary.

Again – combos won’t be too… hype… so brace for mediocrity 🙂
Some of the damage may be a little off two due to a unique trait of Wesker involving shades. I elaborate on it later – likely you know what it is, but if you don’t it’s there.

When’s Mahvel? – Doctor Doom and the Giant Blender

DOCTOR DOOM

“It was… IS… and will ALWAYS be… DOOM who pulls the strings.”
– Doctor Von Doom

Team staple. Great synergy with pretty much everyone and is very capable alone. Huge damage in the corner with extremely straight forward combos that for the first time make me look like I know what I’m doing – midscreen is a little more difficult, but it can be worked on. Decent solo zoning potential and great assists including a Beam Assist and Hidden Missiles. In Spencer’s case – these would both be useful – both helping to lock-down the opponent while Spencer dances around the screen using zipwires, but these assists are great for supporting pretty much every character’s offence… or defence… *ahem* Morrigan *ahem”. That aside, great character who works pretty much where ever you place him. Likely not on point mind – his assists are too good to pass up.

Few combos…
Doom can self OTG for christ sake, with both St.M and St.H. Jesus. You’re likely gonna be starting combos from Air S (footdive) or Air F+H (footdive) dashcancelled into AirM/Cr.Ms so this is like assumed. The damage output would vary pretty significantly if I started from there though so… let jump on the bandwagon and normalise the crap out of it.

After Footdive connects or a throw connects, Doom will want to connect with St.H S or St.H F+H as this will launch the opponent. Basically substitute this little bit for most of what you’ll be doing below, and suddenly it should all look practical all of a sudden:

When’s Mahvel? – Bionic AARRRRMMM!!!

Well, I decided to put in some training in Marvel, testing out some characters – number crunching and “mathy” (Trademarked) things and trying to replicate some sick crap that I saw at every Marvel tournament. Still no idea who I could dub my most competent characters as I’m pretty much at the same level with about 8, but none of them are worthy of competition yet so… hopefully the stuff below is easy on the eyes to those who play Marvel – wouldn’t want to “dazzle” too many people with my sick ABC tech. -_- Must be noted, I can barely play this game, so don’t expect Fanatiq to come in with any Magneto shenanigans or whatever. And also, because I am unfamiliar with the vast majority of execution, most of this will be pretty straight forward stuff. No super jazzy X-Factor cancel-only combos. Starting off with Spencer anyway…

– Spencer – Excellent mobility w/assists and damage. Spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out how to zipwire round the screen, but thanks to a movelist check-up, I can begin experimenting with situations involving it. He seems to have pretty godlike synergy with pretty much everyone and can reset for free after most basic corner combos as a wire grapple assist. Maybe on point or as an anchor so I get the crazy potential resets and comeback factor. He seems reliant on assists to move safely around the screen. My understanding and ability to perform his kill combos and lethal stuff is beyond me so… yeah.

Re-Evaluation

UMvC3… an interesting creature.

Everytime I leave it alone, I want to come back to it. A lot. I see all the sick stuff on LiveStreams and tournament footage and I’m just sat there going “My… GOD that looks awesome.” This was kind of a thing for a while but its blossoming into a bit of a desire as of now.

As I’ve been playing a lot of Devil May Cry HD Collection – the natural desire would be to go team Trench-Coat and go nuts. Obviously Vergil and Dante are an amazing combination to behold and synergise well with many other characters in the roster. My only desire really for this game though is to literally understand it. I feel I get it, but I can never really get over all the stupidity and nature of mix-ups in Marvel – I guess understanding comes with time with the game but I can just never bring myself to pick it up as a fighting game. So… I’m literally going to learn it. From Training Mode. I may venture into the online world every blue moon if people still play – but I’m going to be… “Labbing it up” real good. Attempting to find out a little more with the characters that interest me – Akuma, Vergil, Doom, Dante, Firebrand, Strider, Nova etc etc.

We’ll see anyway…

UPDATE: Upcoming Content – SSF4:AE2012

With the announcement and bookings for TEESPORTS 2 – I think I’m due some actual training on Street Fighter again. This may be difficult as now I’m wrapping up College – I’ll be looking for work pretty much the entire time between now and then and or working so… time allocated for video games may have to come second for a while.

Even then however, I promised myself I would do my own breakdown of Match-ups in Super Street Fighter 4 AE 2012. Unfortunately – the update will be coming out – rendering it almost null and void – but I’m doing it anyway. I think it will help me in my ability to breakdown situations and look for weaknesses within characters and how to exploit them most. Working as Ryu, I work with very limited gimmicks but I can at least lay down the most effective ways to beat each character in an ideal world and try to push myself to do that. There are too many match-ups in this game that if someone were to approach me with an extremely competent Guile – I probably would lose – badly. This is the same for too many match-ups and I needed to be learning these a long time ago.

Anyway – I’m going to try and work through everyone – including the mirror match. Expect this to begin within the Week. Likely starting from Ryu VS Ryu and ending on Ryu VS Rose. Gives me time to this about how the hell to fight Adon if you can’t uppercut JK on reaction cleanly.

Current Match-up Status

Match-ups I’m still uncomfortable with include:

– E.Honda
Fairly Clueless here. Need to learn to respect EX Headbutt but also play heavy footsies and zoning here. To my knowledge, Honda doesn’t have a reliable counter to fireballs, making the match a fair bit easier.

– Chun-Li
Pokes, pokes and more pokes. This match-up is quite rough for me. I struggle to tell the difference between Hazanshu and Jump’s opening frames so I can never DP in time for Hazanshu. Footsies are close to redundant here against Chun-li but if I can land a sweep, progress can be made. OS DP is useful here for destroying her EX Spinning Bird wake-up option.

– Dhalsim
This is the match-up that is famed to be one of the harder ones for Ryu and is considered a direct counterpick to Ryu. It’s that for a reason. Back + HK is a godlike anti-air and Dhalsim can just play lame from full screen and Ryu isn’t really a threat without taking some fairly diabolical risks with Dhalsim’s limb hitboxes. Jab DP to catch something, trade into Ultra is a nice conversion but you really have to be looking for it to react in time. Dhalsim’s ST.HP can be counter poked with Cr.MP from just outside Max-Distance. it can also be swept for a knockdown. Very useful to get in and begin OS Tatsu to maintain pressure.

– Guile
This one is hard. Sonic Boom recovers so fast there is a heavy reliance on reads almost in equal part to reactions. His jump arc is short and pretty easy to Anti-Air – but he shouldn’t be jumping. His 5 or so frame reversal Flash Kick can be safe-jumped for close to free pressure. Delayed tech with OS Cr.MP to beat most options apart from non reversal Flash Kick and a few others. Backfist can be punished on reaction and usually follows an approach via Sonic Boom. Guile’s H attacks are awesome. Cr.HP, St.HP, St.HK are all very dangerous. Cr.HP is an awesome Anti-Air and due to his lack of recovery – he can perform a suitable normal almost immediately after throwing one. Very hard to get in.

– Blanka
No idea. Gimmicks. An extremely safe wake-up, don’t even try to compete – just go for Solar Plexus punish to EX Up Ball on his wake-up. Cr.Jab beats Blanka Ball. Watch for his slide – it has deceptive range and can whiff punish very well. Will practice this match against Shaun of the Teeside Fight Club.

– Zangief
I have an idea of what I should be doing here but I don’t run into them enough to practice this. Stand RH is a nice Anti-Air here. Keep Gief out at all cost. EX-Green Hand is very unsafe on block – bait and punish. Jab SPD is very ranged, don’t underestimate it. Siberian Blizzard can force a straight 50:50 and beats DP on Ryu’s wake-up – Likely he will instant air this so you won’t know until you have committed to your option. Be on guard for it.

– Abel
Mix-ups. Thankfully that is all he has. OS Throw beats his wake-up Marseilles Roll. You can generall throw him out of it so Tick throws are useful. His St.LK is awesome so be careful during footsies because there is always the the threat of him using his retardedly fast dash and then throwing you. Aside from that I know very little. His Ultra 1 punishes fireballs hard. Check his meter for an indication of what he might do.

– Rufus
Divekicks. I know I’m supposed to Anti-Air this son of a bitch but its so damn hard. I feel like I need to be reacting in a split second against the Divekick but it simply cannot be done. Reads over reactions here. Crouch Tech with Cr.MP here. I need to practice the positioning on my Pad because it is simply awkward trying to press A, X and Y all at the same time with frame perfect accuracy. Keep him out. This is difficult, but if he gets in – free pressure, mix-ups and frame-traps lead in to corner carry into billions of different Ultra set-ups.

– El Fuerte
Sweet mother of God. Hate this match so much… Its just that situation but its so easy to set up off the back of a knockdown and that is all any El Fuerte player I’ve ever VS’d has had. I don’t know whether thats normal but I find it retarded. I lose all the time, because of the six-or-something way mix-up on wake-up and its just impossible to do anything online. Unplayable with minor input delay. Such a departure from normal Street Fighter when you throw a character like this into the fray.

– C.Viper
From one to another. I hate this match too. Props to Viper players but she is so damn good its ridiculous. The jump arc is pretty much freely altered throughout so Anti-Airing is just out of the question. 50:50 mix-ups on wake-up because her wake-up game is one of the best in the game, if not the best. Her Aerial Burning Kick is awesome and the primary offensive tool. Her Thunder Knuckle is safe on block but has a slow start-up. I get destroyed by Viper’s fairly regularly due to the excessive corner pressure and wake-up game near enough unmatched by any other character in the game.

– Makoto
Fairly straight-forward. Karakusa converts into Ultra for a free ultra that is off the back of her command grab which is core to her mix-up game. In all honesty, I think that’s fairly excessive. People say Gouken’s Ultra 1 set-up off his back throw is cheap – at least you can tech that. EX Oroshi is difficult to react to without a seamless connection. Again, she doesn’t have a reliable reversal so she can be pressured fairly easily.

– M.Bison (Dictator)
I know and am very familiar with OS options with Bison’s wake-up. Issues stem from his footsies and Short Scissor Kicks. I can deal with everything else – but his normals and his very fast dash and using very accurate throw-techs.

– Vega (Claw)
Cr.MP is my issue. I get wrecked by this move because I try and play footsies and zone Vega for an Anti Air – but he’s dancing all over the screen with Flying Barcelona. A frustrating match, but far from unwinnable. His jumping normals are very good too – so Anti-Airs, when the time arrives to do so, need to be perfect.

– Balrog (Boxer)
Difficult. No fireball is safe, but is essential to winning the match. Low forward xx fireball and variations on this keep Balrog on his toes and force him to burn meter to get through it. Accept Balrog’s normals are good, cannot jump for free and his sweep is very good. Anti-Airs are fairly straight forward but the ground game is where the match will be played. Needs playing more often.

– Seth
The Seth needs to make a mistake. Maybe even two. Its difficult to show that you are on the front foot and applying pressure – but he can reversal that pressure very easily once he gets 2 meters (which is very quickly). The situation is reset after HP DP from Seth – FADC backdash. Suddenly you need to work your way back in. Shoryu or SPD is pretty much the name of the game in this match. However, this view, often clouds my judgement of the fundamentals of the match-up which are there. Seth needs to be anti-aired, but his Jump Arc is alterable and tricky – can set up for awkward 50:50’s.

– Cammy
Very difficult. Spiral Arrow is the bane of my life. After the HK version she can go into a situation for a conversion into 300+ damage combo into the same set-up. It results in either: Jump forward short (cross-up), Cannon Strike (Infront or Cross-up), EX Cannon Strike (Cross up or Infront). Each of which can convert into high damage and the same set-up again. Not to mention she has argueably the bet Anti-Air in the game with Cannon Spike – and extremely fast and solid pokes and footsies. Very hard. She cannot be allowed to jump-in successfully.

– Fei Long
Jab Rekka pressure. I have basically found that Far St HP with Ryu is a decent counter to EX Chicken wing providing you bait it first. After that, you have a reset situation and they wasted meter. There should be minimal jumping in this match from both sides. Ryu can neutral jump to catch Rekka. Whiff punishing Rekkas is hard – but I know which versions are unsafe and where the unsafe sections are in the Rekka strings. His corner carry potential with Rekka is crazy, avoid this at all cost. Low forward xx Hadouken to try and keep him wary of your footsies and keep him guessing with EX Chicken Wing. Bait properly and you can land damage.

– T-Hawk
Unsure of this one. Like really unsure. I know nothing of this match apart from Condor Dive is annoying while he has an SPD and uppercut. That is literally all I know in terms of a match-up. He has answers to fireballs and has options when he gets in. Thats about it. I have little to no experience.

– Akuma
If I was ever to drop Ryu, this is the character I’d go for. I enjoy VSing him and its one of the only matches I actually feel like I play decently. I’ve put it on the list because I’m still unfamilar with his options from his Vortex and his options from Demon Flip and distinguishing Demon Flip from a normal jump on reaction because that’s pretty hard. I look for the soundfile but by the time I’ve realised… shit happened.

– Gen
No idea. I’ll move on before I embarrass myself with how little I actually know.

– Guy
Again, I just don’t know what to do about this match. I know I can Low-Forward under his elbow-drop. That is about it. Hozanto is safe on block – and don’t bother jumping without knowing for sure of your safe-jump timing because his EX Tatsu wake-up is very fast.

– Adon
Know this match a little better than I did a few weeks back. Its rough. I need to make Shoryuken automatic in reaction to Jaguar Kick because it is such a good tool with Adon. Its free pressure and chip that is unnessacery if I wasn’t so conservative with Shoryukens. Its a tricky match because of this, but I will persevere.

– Juri
Arguably the most versatile character in the game. OS Jab Shoryuken beats the majority of wake-up options aside from EX Counter. The transition from rush-down to heavy zoning. I find this match hard, but I actually enjoy it a fair bit. I think that helps. I’m comfortable with the match as I know it. She’s on the list because I’m not entirely sure I’m aware of all the gimmicks or that I’m playing the match-up correctly.

– Hakan
No idea. I saw some tech on Youtube of Hakan’s reset potential, and I’m now aware of it – but its tricky still. A competent Hakan can destroy me due to my inexperience. I need to learn this match. Its not of immediate priority because Hakan – while threatening, he is still manageable.

– Yun
Since his nerfs – its understandable that this match would become a lot easier. It has, but in all honesty it was practically impossible before and its pretty hard still. I don’t know the match at all apart from Anti-Air his Dive-kick, and recognising a few of his frame traps into St.MP.

Fairly long list.. I can’t get my head around solid ways to counter gimmicks and shenanigans without resorting to the “This may aswell be a straight 50:50 mix-up!” mindset. Because with that, I might aswell have lost before I start.
I need to realise that sometimes characters only actually have gimmicks and can outright avoid fundamental gameplay strategies – and exploit that. Anyway, its different for each match-up obviously – hence the time and effort dedicated.