The IGN guide is very helpful IMO
I dont think ill be placing top 5 in tournaments when im 40. ill still play and host tourneys but i think it will be 90% casual 10% for real
I have a question about cancelling focus attack. I read somewhere before that you can cancel focus attack by doing the following inputs: forward + mk+mp, forward or back+mk+mp, back. And i remember doing this and it worked. But now, I don’t know if a new patch changed it or not but , this way of cancelling a FA doesn’t work anymore. Can anyone confirm?
You can cancel a focus attack by dashing or backdashing during the charge animation. Once the attack starts, you can not cancel until you connect the attack. Only FA’s that hit or are blocked can be canceled out of at that point. If you launch the attack and it whiffs, you can’t cancel at all.
Here’s a total nub question - what do the x’s in combos mean?
An example would be Rufus’s - Close HP xx HP Tornado - combo
quick question. looking for the difference between link and cancel. there’s a difference right?
i’m playing sakura and i’m trying to do the
stand hp. lk tatsu. cr. hp. ex tatsu, jump RH
i’m having trouble linking lk tatsu with cr. hp. 
A cancel is when you interrupt the animation of one move to perform another.
For example, if you’re using a shoto you can do a c. mk, and then input a fireball. If done properly, the c. mk’s recovery frames will get interrupted and the shoto will immediately go into his fireball animation without finishing his c. mk animation.
A link is when you wait until one attack animation is finished before doing another. For example, if you hit somebody with Sakura’s lk. tatsu, you’ll finish your attack animation a few frames before your opponent will get out of hit stun, so if you time your attack just right, you can score another hit before your opponent recovers, thus continuing the combo.
If you’re having trouble doing cr. hp after lk tatsu, just go to training mode and practice it. If the cr. hp comes out but doesn’t combo, that means you’re hitting it too late. If it doesn’t come out at all you’re pressing it too early.
Since rainscape already gave you a good overview of the difference between a cancel and a link, here’s my 2c:
It’s a 1 frame link. That means you have 1/60th of a second to input the c.HP to get it to combo. It takes a lot of practice to get this down, so don’t get discouraged. Even high tier players mess these.
Maybe try watching a combo video to help you with the timing, or just dive right into the good ol’ training mode for an hour or two.
so is it common (or good) practice to mash the cr. hp after the lk tatsu or is that gonna disrupt me getting a link? cause even though im mashing right after the tatsu, its always too late. :[ haha sorry this should be in the sakura thread but i might as well ask while im here 
Best thing to do would be to practice the link timing until you can get it right most of the time, and use plinking to boost your chances of success when it applies. (There’s a thread on plinking in the main section.)
Mashing does work to a degree, but it’ll never give you the same level of combo consistency that in-grained muscle memory from hours of practice will.
Mashing won’t help with tight links because you’ll hit the button too soon and it won’t register as a link and won’t come out. Just gotta find that rythm.
The x’s refer to a cancel, as opposed to a link. The last few posts detail the difference between the two.
When you cancel (xx) you input the second move immediately after the first. If you listen to the buttons, c.lk, c.lk, c.mk xx headbutt will sound like" tap, tap ta-tap."
when i go for a fadc, and my character flashes yellow but i still hit them with the focus attack, what does that mean?
Means you’re not dashing before letting go of focus.
how can i CONTINUE?!
total noob here.
after i lose a fight. how can i continue?!?!
what should i push?
I will be sure to read this over and over again til I have it memorized. I know how to FADC, but that is about it. I can beat the CPU on Very Hard/ Hardest most of the time, but that isn’t saying much, obviously.
you press start. haha
What platform?
On the PS3 and X-Box 360, you press start.
On the PC, well you press whatever you have mapped to the start button.
In the arcade, you drop quarter(s)/token(s) or swipe a card for the required number of credits, and hit the start button.
i agree. its helping me a lot. it explains FADC very clearly (even if it still seems like it will be hard to pull off).
this is a very helpfull topic. thanks Bento!