Abel is by far the hardest CPU character, even more than Seth. Dude rolls around and then grabs you before you know what direction is up.

Zangief can eat a dick too. Fucker grabs you before you even know you're off the ground.

2/21/2009 2:10:24 AM

I haven't had that much trouble with CPU Abel. Just can't leave yourself open... it's more a fight of counters than blocks since blocks leave you open to a grab. I was playing as him and from the looks of things a few of his grapples actually have to be chained into with a series of other strikes.

CPU Zangeif is a bitch, just like always (grabbing me as I stand even though it registered as a tech + reversal attack = bullshit), but overall I've had the hardest time with Seth... which is intended, since he's a boss equipped with plenty of cheap shit.

[Edited on February 21, 2009 at 2:43 AM. Reason : yay, unlocked Akuma!]

2/21/2009 2:20:39 AM

Note: Seth, once unlocked, is not nearly as easy to own with as the computer makes him look. Still a very strong character, though...

Also, Gouken seems to be at least somewhat balanced with the other characters in the game... and Akuma is just a wrecking ball. A pretty fast wrecking ball with good priority and an outstanding ultra move, so I'd say it's not a stretch to call him overpowered.

2/21/2009 7:49:05 AM

lol i won the tournament at gamestop


next round in smithfield next saturday

2/21/2009 4:02:50 PM

^^You're not going to get anything done this week, are you?

2/21/2009 4:10:43 PM

^I have three test this coming week... so... I probably will get enough done, but probably not as much as I should.

Also, it's not QUITE as engrossing after you spend the entire night unlocking all the characters. Lack of objectives I guess... Mainly I want to play some human people but unfortunately I don't have live. I suppose I should get some work done today while there's not really anyone to play against.

2/21/2009 4:36:38 PM

Finally got this in the mail today, since my sister-in-law got it for me. Got my joystick working with it in grand fashion - it has truly exceeded my expectations in a huge way. I sat down on the first playthrough and mowed through it with Guile. I've been playing online with only him since then. Let me tell you, this Guile makes me REALLY miss Street Fighter EX Guile. He is superior in almost every conceivable way. It also doesn't help that having the double somersault is completely worthless to me since I can't reliably do the fucking motion even with a joystick. I'm highly irritated by the fact that you can't immediately throw someone if they jump into you with a late blocked kick. Still, though, I'm holding about a 50% win/loss ratio, so maybe there's hope for this Guile yet... (What I wouldn't give to have Charlie as a downloadable character.)

I've been surprised by the repeatable spread of characters I see people using online. I have not once seen Rufus, Crimson Viper, Gen, Dhalsim, Fei Long, Honda, El Fuerte, Bison, Rose, or Gouken, but I certainly do keep seeing Abel, Cammy, and Balrog over and over and over. When in the FUCK did Balrog get to be a good character?! I think out of the maybe dozen or so times I've played people using Balrog, I've only won two of those. That headbutt move seems completely overpowered, as the range and priority on it are just ridiculous. Akuma is interesting in that people just keep spamming the flaming fireball over and over and over, but at least he still can't take a hit worth a damn.

2/21/2009 6:21:35 PM

And after I finish saying all that, I went on a 22-win streak with Guile. I think stopping to learn what this Guile CAN'T do helped a lot.

Did finally see someone play as Rose and Fei Long. Cammy could potentially be a serious combo machine. And Sakura as well! Someone did this insane 14 hit combo to me and I had no clue how to stop it once it got started.

2/22/2009 1:05:43 AM

balrog has been good for awhile since atleast super street fighter II turbo, he was good in CvS. But honestly if you can play balrog well, you can play any charge character well, be it Bison, Honda, Blanka, etc..

2/22/2009 1:56:17 AM

I've been trying to get good with El Fuerte... He's basically a mix-up character with lots of aerial grabs, not very hard-hitting and has a low defense, but he's extremely fast. The biggest part of learning him is keeping up with his dashes. Also, the cpu has virtually no clue how to play him unless you put it on hardest. Even then he's only semi-competent. CPU El Fuerte is basically just insane reflexes but no mindgame at all, as could be expected of a cpu.

As for why so many people use Balrog... it may be partly because he's not complicated. Except for a select few moves, pretty much everything he does is straightforward and makes sense when learning him. As for Abel and Cammy, I'm surprised that many people are playing them. Cammy can get ridiculous but I wouldn't expect many people to use her much. Abel is kinda odd, but still very good and powerful. Also a bit surprised that so many people would use him.


Also, Vega is pretty much the worst character in the game. SF4 is one of the most balanced fighters I've seen, so he can still win decently, but compared to everyone else he's just mediocre. Okay priority, Medium speed (great movement speed though), Okay health, Good range with the claw on but horrible range without it, Good damage with the claw on but mediocre without it, loses his claw or mask extremely easily. Add to that the hard-to-execute aspect of his Super and Ultra and the lack of good options in certain situations, and he's just kinda lame overall. I'm sure a very good Vega player would still wreck shit, but such a very good player could wreck shit with just about anyone.

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 8:15 AM. Reason : Also, go into Training or Trial mode and watch Dan just stand there for a bit. It's amusing.]

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 8:26 AM. Reason : even more amusing: CPU vs CPU Versus Mode, Hardest, El Fuerte vs El Fuerte.]

2/22/2009 8:13:44 AM

2/22/2009 10:05:38 AM

I give up trying to find the fightpads. Anyone know of a place to get them locally?

2/22/2009 12:03:54 PM

odd. i picked up a copy of sf4 on launch and best buy had 2-3 pads. i live in madison which is about the same size as raleigh and has a huge college, so not sure why it was so easy for me.

doesnt surprise me though. ps3 and 360 controllers are both pretty terrible for the game.

2/22/2009 1:04:58 PM

If you can pick one up for me, I'll give you MSRP+shipping+$10

2/22/2009 8:07:39 PM

In my quest for controllers, I've had to bear in mind a Japanese proverb: "There is no price too high to pay for personal satisfaction."

Step 1: For this game, I'm still using my good ol' MAS Systems Super Pro stick which I bought way back in 1999. I could probably back over this with my car and it'd still work just like new. (I also have one of the X-Arcade sticks, but I actually prefer this one since I've rewired most of the contacts on this stick.)



I had it built with an adapter for the Dreamcast and the PC (via PS/2 connector, not USB) , and that PC adapter has come in so handy it's unbelievable.

Step 2: I can plug the PS/2 connection into P.I. Engineering's Y-Mouse Adapter, which is just a brilliant little piece of technology for gaming. I doubt they intended for it to be used in this way, but nothing else will do since nothing else can process as many simultaneous and repetitive keystrokes.



Step 3: And then finally, to join it all together for the purpose of playing on the 360, I have the XIM 360.



I use this for keyboard and mouse with the 360, but now I'm taking it a bit further (well, actually, simpler) by using it as a bridge for the keyboard and joystick.

So, all 3 devices work in conjunction with each other such that the joystick thinks it's acting as a keyboard, the Y-Mouse serves to maintain the constant keystrokes from the joystick, and the XIM translates all of the keyboard input into digital joypad and button input for the 360. All of this happens at a rate of about 60 updates per second, so control in SFIV is absolutely flawless. I can't believe how well these things work together - I had worried that there would be noticeable update lag with 3 devices chained together. The best part is that even though these things weren't cheap individually, I've had the first 2 parts for years now and I had already built the XIM 2 years ago. (I got the new one because it's all built into a controller.) Any one part can also be taken out of the loop and used in any number of other different ways (which I do often with my MAME setup), so it's all extremely versatile.

My next trick is going to be to see if I can program a keystroke macro for that fucking Double Somersault...

2/22/2009 8:18:03 PM

I want a fight pad, too, but... why on earth would you want to play the game using macros? Half the point is being able to perform the button inputs.

2/22/2009 11:15:47 PM

^

I agree. My gamertag is jchill2 if you guys want to boost your self esteem.

2/23/2009 12:25:10 AM

I wish they'd made all the supers double-quarter-circle motions like in SF III. I end up teleporting everywhere with Bison.

2/23/2009 9:18:47 AM

Isn't his teleport a dragon uppercut motion? His super is charge back, forward, back, forward. How in the hell are you inputting dragon uppercut? Besides, his super sucks.

2/23/2009 9:33:01 AM

sooo ummm.

I'm a huge SF fanboy. and I loved loved loved SF3 Third Strike.
I was super excited about this game since it was announced.

I played this game at a friends on Saturday night. Thought it was meh.
I decided maybe I just need to get into it more. Learn what focus attacks are, play around with new characters.
So I bought the game last night. Played it last night for about 3 hours.
Tried new characters, unlocked some through arcade, had a few random online matches.
I still think it's average, maybe less so?

Anyone else feel this way?
My complaints:
-It feels kind of sluggish. Feels slow, feel like the stages are too small compared to the size of the models. Just feels cramped in general.
-Arcade mode is not enjoyable whatsover. Seth is a bitch and the anime cutscenes are HORRIBLE. They made me hate characters I already liked (blanka, balrog) and hate characters I didn't know yet (el fuerte, abel)
- there is no customization at all, other than colors. Since fighting games have hit the online scene, I feel like having a custom looking character should be required for fighting games now. It adds a lot to your online persona and it makes unlocking stuff fun!!
- they disguised boring shit like time attack and survival into a "Challenge mode" and you have to go through that shit to get the colors (which again is the only customization option)
- I was hoping they would add a few more moves to some of the main characters.
- The game feels like it's more about super moves, super moves and more super moves. Oh and if it wasn't enough, then there are ultra combos on top of super combos.
- Can you do multiple focus attacks in a row? like parrying a hurricane kick was possible or blocking after the first parry was possible in SF3. can you multiple focus attack?

I don't know. maybe I'll love it tonight.

2/23/2009 10:51:47 AM

Quote :

"I wish they'd made all the supers double-quarter-circle motions like in SF III."

Couldn't agree any more. This is precisely why I want to attempt to make a macro for the Double Somersault - even with a joystick I still can't always pull it off when I need to. I can do double fireball motions all day long, though. Someone explained that the computer will allow you to charge DB, D, DF, D, DB, B, UB, and it'll register the command. I may have to try that, as that motion is similar to quite a few super moves in the King of Fighters games.

Quote :

"-Arcade mode is not enjoyable whatsover. Seth is a bitch and the anime cutscenes are HORRIBLE. They made me hate characters I already liked (blanka, balrog) and hate characters I didn't know yet (el fuerte, abel)"

Thus far I've only played arcade mode once. The anime scenes seem grossly out of place, as their quality is... well, bad.

Quote :

"- they disguised boring shit like time attack and survival into a "Challenge mode" and you have to go through that shit to get the colors (which again is the only customization option)"

Yeah, I don't feel so motivated to go through that either. I unlocked 2 colors, and that's about as many as I feel like working for.

Quote :

"- I was hoping they would add a few more moves to some of the main characters."

This is no joke. What I wouldn't give to have Guile's Opening Gambit back.

Speaking of, does anyone else get a major EX vibe from this game? This really feels like they took the EX combat model, slowed it down a little bit, modernized the graphics, and then repackaged it. I can't help but feel like someone at Capcom is laughing about it. The funny thing is that I really, really loved EX (although I resisted it adamantly at first) but I am not so sure about this game yet. I certainly like the new characters in EX Plus Alpha a lot better than I like these new SFIV ones. Give me Dark, Blair, and Pullum over Rufus, El Fuerte, and Seth every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

2/23/2009 11:09:15 AM

Oh shit. I've figured out how to make the script work.

2/23/2009 12:54:36 PM

First Street Fighter game I've ever owned/purchased (yea, I know)

This is quite possibly the most difficult game I've ever played. The tutorial and manual are fucking terrible. Any tips on how not to get my ass kicked on super easy mode?

2/23/2009 7:16:26 PM

1. Concentrate on one fighter (Ryu/Ken are pretty easy to learn, Chun-Li is a good second choice)
2. Learn the normal attacks. Figure out which ones come out the fastest, do the most damage, have the most range, etc. That way you know which specials are best for what situations. You can win most matches without a special move (especially against the CPU on easiest).
3. Learn to perform the special moves. Be able to do them from both sides.
4. After you've really gotten the hang of specials, try out supers (since you're a n00b, this is WAY down the line).

There are a ton of rules that Street Fighter and fighting game players take for granted that you need to learn. Off the top of my head:

1. Jumping attacks must be blocked standing up.
2. Even if you're blocking, you can still be thrown.
3. You can't block in the air.
4. Specials and supers do a very small amount of damage if blocked.

Once you done all and learned how to fight the other fighters (learn their normals and how to punish their mistakes), you can delve even deeper.

2/23/2009 10:51:49 PM

Just kidding. I think i love this game now. Chun Li is the heat!

can't decide who else i want to learn properly. seeing that i was a huge ken player in 3, i want to avoid him this time around.

my choices:
top priority
chun li
guile
balrog
blanka

maybe want to dive deeper
ryu
zangief
abel
vega

intriguing but not interesting
bison
fei long
cammy

avoid like the plague
ehonda
dhalsiam
rufus
el fuerte
gen
dan
gouken

neutral
sagat
ken
c viper
sakura
rose
akuma

2/24/2009 3:21:23 AM

I find it funny that most of my wins online has been with Zangief. I didn't think I would win some matches with all the Ryu, Ken, and Akuma fans out there. I also like playing with the usual Ken, Akuma, M. Bison, and Sakura. I'll probably play with Fei Long later b/c I liked his character back in the earlier games.

2/24/2009 9:16:26 AM

Quote :

"Isn't his teleport a dragon uppercut motion? His super is charge back, forward, back, forward. How in the hell are you inputting dragon uppercut? Besides, his super sucks."

I guess in doing the back and forth motions I input enough of the directions for the teleport for the game to misread it. FWIW, several high-level players have the same complaint.

2/25/2009 9:17:05 AM

Have any of you downloaded Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix yet? I was wondering if it was actually worth the supposed $14.99 download cost and the time for me to hook my PS3 to the internet?

2/25/2009 1:56:59 PM

Quote :

"1. Concentrate on one fighter (Ryu/Ken are pretty easy to learn, Chun-Li is a good second choice) 2. Learn the normal attacks. Figure out which ones come out the fastest, do the most damage, have the most range, etc. That way you know which specials are best for what situations. You can win most matches without a special move (especially against the CPU on easiest). 3. Learn to perform the special moves. Be able to do them from both sides. 4. After you've really gotten the hang of specials, try out supers (since you're a n00b, this is WAY down the line). There are a ton of rules that Street Fighter and fighting game players take for granted that you need to learn. Off the top of my head: 1. Jumping attacks must be blocked standing up. 2. Even if you're blocking, you can still be thrown. 3. You can't block in the air. 4. Specials and supers do a very small amount of damage if blocked. Once you done all and learned how to fight the other fighters (learn their normals and how to punish their mistakes), you can delve even deeper."

This is all extremely sound advice. If I may, let me add a few more advanced points to it.

- Each character has at least 1 of what could be best described as an "overhead" attack. This is an attack designed to be blocked high, but it will hit crouching opponents. Most of these attacks can look visually deceptive if you're not sure what you're watching for. For example, Ryu's forward + strong (middle) punch causes him to lunge slightly forward and with a downward fist, strike low twice. These moves are GREAT against defensive players, as it can cause them to break their guard or switch to a high guard so that you can follow up with a quick low knockdown attack. Try to learn what these moves look like so that you can defend against them (and also use them).

- Abuse the hell out of throw moves if you see your opponent sit there turtling. Literally, walk up to them and throw them on their face.

- Try not to get stuck in patterns of doing the same moves over and over and over (unless, of course, your opponent keeps falling for them). If you land a jumping attack on your opponent and then follow it up with a low knockdown kick, next time you land a jumping attack, try walking in and throwing them to follow up instead of going for the knockdown kick.

- Do not hover over a fallen opponent! The quick recovery in this game (all 3 punches + down immediately once you go down) makes it so that they can retaliate while you're standing there waiting for them to get back up.

- Each fighter has a varying range of "keepaway" (or zoning) moves. Some fighters are much better at this than others. (I highly recommend Sagat for this purpose. Guile isn't too bad at it, but he takes a lot more work than others.) Once you learn how to fight defensively using these "keepaway" moves, then you can focus more on your offense because you'll know how to better prevent being attacked.

- If you have access to a joystick, USE IT. You won't believe how much of a difference it can make as far as control. I will never, ever, EVER play another fighting game with a control pad ever again.

- Watch out for crossup attacks. This is when your opponent jumps over your head and lands an attack on you from behind. This can be very frustrating. Almost all fighters have some kind of anti-air defense which can prevent this, but the best way to stop this from happening is to not let your opponent get close enough to be able to jump all the way over you.

2/25/2009 3:25:43 PM

ShinAntonio, I am interested in which "high-level players" are having a hard time inputting moves.
Go into practice mode, set the button inputs to display and practice. It will show you exactly what you are pushing. If you really are pushing D or DF when the only directional inputs are B and F, then practice a lot with button inputs on so you can figure out the right motion.

If you're using the control pad, then I somewhat understand, but you should be able to easily train yourself not to hit D when doing a B,F,B,F move.

2/25/2009 4:51:13 PM

Best Buy in Knightdale has one of the Blanka fight pads. It's actually the first one of these that I've seen anywhere.

2/25/2009 6:03:07 PM

If anyone finds good youtube clips please post, I'm enjoying watching this game in action.

2/25/2009 7:21:52 PM

^^^David Sirlin, the guy who led development of SSFIIT HD Remix and someone who placed in the top 5 at national tournaments, complains about exactly that on his blog.

http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/2/24/some-positives-about-street-fighter-4.html

Oh and I am using a pad, but I didn't have this problem with similar motions on Alpha 3

2/25/2009 7:41:24 PM

^^Pretty much all the japanese tournament videos submitted by This Guy:
http://www.youtube.com/user/xeromos

2/26/2009 2:26:33 AM

Did you turn on button inputs to see if you're ever hitting D or DF? I mean it's not like he's going to magically teleport when you correctly input his Ultra. I just think it's weird because I have never had this happen to me. Maybe it's because I never played 3s so I didn't pick up some secret buffer way of doing this move. Also using a stick.

2/26/2009 7:22:55 AM

eh I probably am. Using the PS3 pad, it's easy to do. I think the game should register the ultra combo before the teleport though.

I think Dan (and his ultra) is pretty funny in this game. He reminds me of the bad guy from Beauty and the Beast.

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 9:46 AM. Reason : .]

2/26/2009 9:25:32 AM

^He can actually cancel out of his super-taunt into an ultra. Which is even funnier.

2/26/2009 7:50:00 PM

I've been trying to combat-test my macro for the Double Somersault, and I'll be damned if I can actually land it on anyone. Even with a one-press hotkey set up for it, its startup is so slow and its range is so strange that I have yet to land it a single time. It's almost like Guile doesn't even have a super move.

I am also seeing a SERIOUS problem with crossup prevention with Guile. I am so sick and tired of Ken's faggoty crossup bullshit. Once he gets over and behind you, you might as well just roll over and take it. Even the short flash kick travels too far forward to kick someone directly overhead out of it. I can't even uppercut straight up and knock someone out of it without at least trading the hit, and that doesn't help at all.

I am already finding myself hoping that Capcom will eventually do some kind of Championship Edition with this game where they tweak some things. Guile needs help in a bad way.

2/27/2009 11:41:17 AM

Maybe try canceling into it instead of using punk macros. FADC into super/ultra moves is how to play this game. Maybe your controller can pull off that move.

Oh and reading the rest of your post, you should maybe read some Guile strategery at SRK. Watch some videos. Flash kicks are rarely used. The best Guiles use zoning and throw a shit ton of Sonic Booms. Flash Kicks are typically part of combos or to punish people for jumping your SBs. I'm going to try to pickup Guile myself and I have a feeling I will at all times be buffering a downback charge for SB and the very occasional Flash Kick.


http://forums.shoryuken.com/forumdisplay.php?f=258

[Edited on February 27, 2009 at 12:35 PM. Reason : SRK]

2/27/2009 12:32:06 PM

Abel is amazing. He is sooooo fun to play. His roll is really good for getting through fireballs and he has a really nice launcher. I also love his grabs and also his super and ultra are easy to pull off.

Also Balrog is the ultimate ken, ryu, sagat, akuma, sakura, killer. His EX punches take the fireball and he keeps going.

I played a guy last night about 9 matches. We picked a different character every single time. It was such a nice break from all the kens and ryus.

I also tried (honestly tried) to learn El Fuerte, but he is soooooo garbage. If you play against someone that sucks he's amazing because they have no idea what is going on. If you play someone good he gets destroyed.

current favs:

Chun Li
Abel
Balrog
Blanka
Guile
Cammy

HATE playing against:
Sagat

Will never play with:
E.Honda
Zangief
C.Viper
Rufus
Gen
Gouken
Fei Long
Rose
Dhalshim
Seth

Thus I wish they would add:
Dudley
Alex
Hugo
Q

sorry for the very vertical post

2/27/2009 1:16:04 PM

BTW: almost everyone's EX moves go through fireballs. Balrog isn't special, though he is pretty badass nonetheless.

2/27/2009 2:00:59 PM

He just has such a nice and quick follow through with his EX because he goes all the way across the screen, and a really good way to get close without being punished on block. I swear I can see all the faces of the people getting hit by it because their character is just frozen there, knowing there isn't any consequence in throwing a fireball from across the screen only to find big bad balrog on top of them.

2/27/2009 4:02:00 PM

^yea i know what you mean, one of my bestfriends plays balrog. I personally love spamming green hands and then nailing someone spamming projectiles with an EX green hand at the end, or focus attack since gief lunges halfway across the screen with it and grabbing them with a full circle punch or kick before they hit the ground.

2/27/2009 5:30:44 PM

wtb fightpad

3/2/2009 4:40:25 AM

^same

What happened with them? Were only a limited number made? Is the demand seriously that high? I wish I had known about either the pad or the sticks well beforehand. I didn't even think to look at best buy before the game's street date.

3/2/2009 7:23:32 AM

ive seen more pads at least, you just have to look around because it isnt going to be something the store is going to get a lot of at any given time. after the initial rush they likely wont sell many so they arent going to order 50 pads or something.

3/2/2009 9:27:55 AM

So should I just go to ebay if I want one of those fightsticks? Seems like a lost cause trying to find one locally

3/2/2009 5:27:20 PM

Best bet for finding a controller locally is going to be one of the smaller game stores like Play and Trade. There's also a store in Knightdale which I think is called Gamer's Connection (but I'm not 100% sure about this?) which I'd try. Sometimes the out-of-the-way places offer a better shot of finding what you want.

Also, let's see some records, eh? Put your money where your mouth is. Y'all feel free to challenge Silent Scope EX if you see me online. I could stand to learn a thing or two.



This is all 98% Guile. I played 4 rounds with Ryu (won 2, lost 2), 1 round with Ken (lost), and 1 round with Bison (lost). I just don't have much interest in playing with anyone else. I haven't even bothered to unlock any characters yet. I went so far as to get the blue camouflage, and that's about all I need. (I don't even know if there's white/gray camo yet.)

3/3/2009 11:04:50 AM

Funny story.

Axelay I was looking through your profile and saw your pictures and was wondering to myself where the hell I knew you from. It hit me today but I used to see you at the Crabtree arcade all the time! Old school! I've actually played you on Street Fighter 3 Third Strike machine back when there were lines for who got to play and you used tokens to claim you're next on the arcade cabinet. I also remember playing you when the arcade was dying and the SF3 machine was only one token and facing the entrance. I wasn't good, and I was still a wee boy back then but I remember you were REALLY good. For some reason I remember you playing Hugo? but I could be mistaken?

3/3/2009 12:40:26 PM

i dropped an orange soda on my fightpad controller. dpad is sticky now

first controller in the history of gaming ive ever done this to.

3/3/2009 12:46:53 PM