Akuma challenge mode - MuKen edition

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

It rather bothers me that they went through the trouble of creating a challenge mode, but it’s completely non-helpful in practicing match-related skills. So I went and drew up my own list of challenges that would actually help people get better at playing Akuma. Especially for all you players that primarily get your practice online, this can supplement your practice for real-time applications. These are all drills I have used at some point in the past (or similar, I can’t remember exactly how I set things up at the time) to sharpen my game.

The last two whiff drills are what I am currently attempting to pass consistently, but am not quite there yet. I may continue to update this list as I continue to find new drills.

COMBOS 1- Set dummy to autoblock, execute all combos successfully. Not all combos I list will be intended for use, they are chosen to teach you important timing windows, in order of some arbitrary combination of difficulty and usefulness. This challenge should be repeated often as a warmup.

demon flip dive, cl.HP -> LK tatsu, FP srk
FA, dash, ultra
walk forward, to immediate cr.MK -> HP hado
crossup j.MK, cr.LP, cr.LP, LP srk
cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.MP->HP hado
f.HK, cr.LK -> LK tatsu, FP srk
FA, dash, cr.MP, cr.MP, cr.MK -> FP hado (last hit does not have to combo)

HIT CONFIRMS 1 - Set dummy to random block, pass each test by repeating successfully until both outcomes have occured at least twice. Once in awhile, change up the “on block” option to make sure you are able to mix things up in a combat situation (e.g. instead of cr.LP, cr.LP, do throw/backdash/cr.MP->hado etc. etc.)

FA, dash (on hit: ultra) (on block: cr.LP, cr.LP)
f.HK (on hit: cr.LK -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: backdash)
demon flip dive (on hit: cl.HP -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: cr.MP, cr.MP -> LK demon flip dive and repeat)
crossup j.MK, cr.LP, cr.LP (on hit: LP srk) (on block: cr.MP -> LP hado)
crossup j.MK, cr.LP (on hit: cr.LP -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: EX tatsu)
cr.LP, cr.LP (on hit: LP srk) (on block: throw)

COMBOS 2 - Dummy on autoblock.

j.HP, cr.HP -> LP hado, FADC, cr.MP -> LK tatsu, FP srk
HK tatsu (at distance hit once or twice) -> HP srk
cl.HP -> LP hado, FADC (repeat 5 times with infinite meter)
MP srk (2 hit), FADC, HP red fb
LP srk, FADC, MP srk (1 hit), FADC, HP srk
cl.HP -> LK tatsu, LP srk, FADC, HP red fb
cl.HP -> LK tatsu, cl.HP -> demon flip
crossup tatsu, cr.HK
crossup tatsu, HP srk

HIT CONFIRMS 2 - Dummy on random block.

Set up a wakeup with (cr.HK, f+LP+LK, demon flip throw, super, ultra). Do this test with every single one.
— crossup tatsu (on hit: combo with delayed cr.HK) (on block: cr.MK -> hado)
— meaty j.HP, cr.HP -> LP hado (on hit: FADC, cr.MP -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: do nothing)
Neutral jump point blank ex hado (on hit: f.HK, cr.LK -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: throw)
Neutral jump MP fb, opp in corner (on hit: f.HK, cr.LK -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: cr.LP, cr.LP)
f.HK, whiff first kick (on hit: cr.LK -> LK tatsu, FP srk) (on block: cr.MK -> FP hado)

AA DRILLS

  • Record dummy walking forward for a few secs, then backing up to jump-in range and jump attacking. AA FP srk with all 3 hits (some moves can only be hit twice by srk, be aware of this).
  • Record Ryu walking forward for a few secs, then backing up to jump-in range and j. MK. Anti-air using cr. MK -> LK tatsu, FP srk.
  • Record Blanka walking forward for a few secs, then backing up to jump-in range and j. HK, then holding up for 2-3 jumps. AA demon buffered from cr. MK
  • Repeat above drills with dummy using a random time interval of moving back and forth before jumping.

FOCUS DRILLS

  • Record dummy walking back and forth for a full 10 seconds with 2-3 random sweeps interspersed. Maneuver position in front of him and repeatedly focus charge, back dash cancelling every time. But if he sweeps your FA, release and combo. Re-record with different timings occasionally.
  • Record dummy walking back and forth for a full 10 seconds with 2-3 random FA backdash cancels. Maneuver position in front of him and repeatedly attempt to sweep him. If the sweep is focus absorbed, cancel to ultra.

DEMON PUNISHMENT DRILLS

  • Record Blanka crouching for a random amount of time, then Blanka balling, then jumping for 2-3 jumps. Reverse with ultra.
  • Record Zangief walking back and forth for a random amount of time, then EX glove, then jumping for 2-3 jumps. Reverse with ultra.
  • Record Ken walking back and forth for a random amount of time, then f.MK, then jumping for 2-3 jumps. Reverse with super.

WHIFF DRILLS

  • Record Ryu holding d/b and jabbing at predictable intervals for 10 seconds. Insert 2 sweeps after random jabs in the sequence, with blocking afterwards. Sit outside both of your sweep ranges and punish his sweep with yours. Re-record occasionally with new timings.
  • Record Ryu holding d/b for 10 seconds. Insert 2-3 sweeps randomly. Move around and periodically park yourself just outside both sweep ranges, if he happens to sweep during this interval, punish it.
  • Record Ryu holding d/b and jabbing at predictable intervals for 10 seconds. Insert 2 cr. MK after random jabs in the sequence, with blocking afterwards. Sit outside his range, but within your sweep range. Punish his poke.
  • Record Ryu holding d/b for 10 seconds. Insert 2-3 cr.MK randomly. Sit outside his range, but within your sweep range. Punish his poke.
2

This is a pretty cool idea. Good job, MuKen. Will try these in a few minutes.

3

i’ve been doing this for a while and it has really upped my game. nice post.

4

Would be interested to know why you recommend LP HADO before some FADC combos, Will the slower moving of the HADO (for that short distance) provide a wider frame window for heavy follow ups?

Why not using cr.LK, cr.LP as starter for hitconfirm combos? Though 10damage less, I noticed i often open up hit confirm combos as the OP was blocking high. cr.LP would have been blocked then…

I miss far.HK, cr.MP, HADO, FADC, … and HADO, FADC, far.HK combos. Did I overlook them or do you consider them to risky?

Thx in advance and good post.

5

Keep in mind as I mentioned in the post, these aren’t supposed to be all the combos you use in combat, nor are each of the combos listed supposed to be practical (i.e. cl.HP->hado->FADC->cl.HP->hado->FADC five times in a row isn’t even possible for example). They’re just chosen to cover all the timing windows you need to get down as rigorously as possible. I generally either only covered each window once, or covered it with a series of combos that make it increasingly harder to hit. For example hit confirms after a cr.LP, there are three variants each giving you less time to confirm than the last.

Yes, as long as the specific combo assures that they’ll be in range for it to combo, you might as well use the slowest FB, since if it takes longer to hit them, that gives you more time to follow it up.

Unless you are in a specific situation where you’ve done something to make them block high, a good player will block low by default. Hence the fact that cr.LP is 1 frame faster is generally more valuable (it can be the difference between you comboing them, or them counterhitting you).

No, not that it’s too risky. Simply that all those windows have already been covered (hado fadc, f.HK link, etc.) As I said, the combos are simply chosen to drill all the windows you need, not to be every single combo you need in a match.

Not sure what you mean… can you phrase that as a training mode challenge? What exactly is it you are recommending people practice?

6

Good work MuKen, I’ll be using this.

7

A note on the last set, because I think people might misunderstand: in the first exercise you are not replacing a random jab with a sweep. You are doing the sweep after a random one of the jabs.

The point being that the jabs are supposed to mentally key you to “watch out and see if a sweep is coming right after this”. Because in real play, you are not going to sit there waiting for an arbitrary long period of time looking for a sweep, the skill you are developing is to sit still for a small period of time being ready to punish a sweep if it happens to occur during that time.

Then in the second exercise, you put this into practice by pretending you are playing footsies, and repeatedly move and sit yourself down at whiff punishment range (part of the exercise is to learn this range) for a half second and look for a whiff to punish. Do not worry about failing to punish sweeps that occur when you are not there, just aim to punish 100% of the sweeps that do happen to occur when you are in position. This will happen rarely, as the chances the sweep occurs during the exact moment you are in punishment range is low. That too simulates battle conditions, most of the time you look for a whiff there will not be one, you have to be ready to punish it when there is despite it being infrequent.

8

Would be a good idead to record this. I’d do it, but I’m not sure I can tackle everything :tdown:

9

High quality post, good sir.

I’ll be using this.

A video of all these exercises would be fucking awesome. Just putting it out there.

10

after blocked full HK with certain characters backdash is an awful option you might wanna throw in teleport/cMK-FB/cMK-demonflip mix-up or at certain distances jump cross up MK/LK.

11

The point of these exercises is not to drill these specific options into you, it’s to develop the awareness of the hit so you can confirm and still mixup your options afterwards. That’s why I put in a variety of followups, to get you used to using a lot of different things.

None of the “on block” options is something you should do consistently, and all are unsafe. For example, you think cr.MP is safe after a blocked cr.LP? It won’t be when you run into a hurt Ryu ready to FADC a DP into ultra. As it so happens, that’s also the exact situation you’d try to punish by following up a blocked hit with a backdash.

I sure am hearing that a lot :stuck_out_tongue: What equipment do people use to make match vids anyhow? If it’s not too expensive I may go get some.

12

Yea, if the other guy has 2 bars and a srk, no blockstring other than jabjabjab is actually 100% safe.

These drills are pretty good ideas, I do something similar with fuerte since doing things like this actually help you more than practicing online if there’s no local people to play at the moment. Practicing against a training dummy on record is arguably better than practicing in input lag, if you already have a solid grasp of the actual strategy of the matchup and just need to tighten up execution.

13

Most simple ways to capture footage are either with a Digital Camcorder (modern ones don’t tend to have as much trouble with TVs, especially LCD/Plasma screens) or using a capture card.

Capture card is my suggestion if it’s just for recording footage clean. But you’d want a microphone on top of that if you wante to do commentary, for a tutorial, say. Capture cards record like a direct stream from what’s displayed on your screen, to a video file on your computer, which you can put through an editing process in a video studio program or just send to youtube raw.

You can get the cheaper ones pretty easily at a local hardware or computer store. I didn’t have to look far to get mine for about 30. They’re built for multiple uses with streaming to your computer things like TV programs and getting TV stations through your computer (somehow, I think) and stuff so they aren’t exclusive to places where you’d find console related hardware.

Cheaper ones like mine are very common and simple; they just take the 3 red, white and yellow cables from your TV or SCART port and those go into a small bay that plugs to your computer via USB. You then use included software to install on your PC for the appropriate programs to convert what’s showing on your TV screen in real time.

In those cases of cheap capture cards, you’re only looking at capturing footage in SD and at a 50 Hz speed. So if I want to cap something, I have to downgrade to SD and play through SCART on a comparitively very blurry (at first) and lagged picture which hampers the actual experience and your own play a bit in order to capture what’s actually happening. Going onto computer files and stuff, the picture itself isn’t too bad, though I tend to question my play under SD when watching it back.

You can get much better ones that Capture in HD and don’t compromise, used by some like, say LordofUltima for their lavish HD Combo Tutorials. Those are harder to find locally, and at a much higher price, from what I found when I went looking for a capture card.

When recording via Digital Camcorder, how you can place it to get the best view of your screen comes into play. You get the usual ambience from your room captured also; your occassional cough, the constant clicking of your stick while playing, and any commentary or curses you add while playing. These can work either really well or quite poor. They’re usually most expensive, but may make up better value against advanced capture cards in terms of the additional outside use you can get out of them.

Choice is yours.

14

It all depends on what sort of setup you have/are looking for. If you play on an HDTV then you’re going to need to drop a pretty penny on a recording box that accepts component/hdmi. If you play on a full-screen, SDTV, you’re in luck with a device called the Dazzle. Super inexpensive, not hardware intensive on your PC. Plugs in via USB, you use whatever program is included or your own video program to capture.

Camcorder setups in front of the tv are both distracting and annoying to watch personally. Capture direct feed if at all possible.

15

Props to OP. I’ll give this a shot as I delve a bit deeper into the character.

16

Nice work man, the video’ll be great.

17

Awesome write up, been practicing and getting a lot more crisper with timings, importance of double taps and hit confirms.

Looking forward to the video

18

I practiced it for about 10 minutes, but I’m having a lot of difficulty nailing the hit confirm demon flip early on. My mind is either focused on finishing the combo or attempting a reset, but not both at the same time (which is the whole point of the hit confirm).

Also, I would like to say thanks for this great contribution. This thread is exactly what I’ve been looking for these past few months: ways to practice the shit pros do. I was gonna ask you to do a video on tatsu crossups, but then I found this:

[media=youtube]1TWlIml7ri8[/media]

19

I’m having trouble with the tatsu that hits form behind… I’m sure this whole trhead is about it, but is it light tatsu?
any tips on timing and positionin?

20

Read the post above ^^^ Use rh :smiley: