If you’re playing against Chun, her c. jab basically takes out Mak’s karakusa on reaction, especially if you’re getting parried alot already. Make sure you mix it up obviously, and by that I mean do moves that force the opponent to choose high/low. Abuse her only low combo twice in a row on wakeup. Make it a pattern that they’ll recognize. Next time they wake up, since you’ve telegraphed the low lk so much, just straight up go for standing HP. If they went for low parry, they get smacked, otherwise it’ll just whiff, that’s not a good thing…but you gotta keep em guessing. I try not to use c.mp/c.mk as straight up pokes because they can be parried either way. Use them to stuff pokes/set up Kara/Kara-Kara mind games. Also, I’ve found that EX Hayate isn’t something to mess around with, despite the range(or because of it), people expect it coming when you hang out back. It’s vulnerable to lots of things low, and is still only one lucky parry away from punishment. Your long range options aren’t very good to begin with, let them come to you. C.mp done close up sets up a perfectly spaced UOH>LK>LP Hayate against shotos, btw(might work against others, haven’t tested it yet).
close range is not an issues because u have s.mp which is an excellent fast poke that is a great high option not to mention its fram advantage as well
from makoto’s maximum range there are only to reasonable moves which are only high or low parriable. s.mk, and c.fp
the biggest problem is that s.mk will not hit certain characters when they are ducking, henceforth rendering the move futile to mixup. while f.hp is a good options its has heavy startup, not to mention that from the ideal c.mp/mk range it can be hit out of before it comes out.
perhaps the best high option is the f.mp. it works alot better than i’ve thought lately. give it a shot it catches people off-guard. it’s also +2 on block.
dashing back then forward is not that good of an option. what alot of makoto users dont realize(and i still dont). is that it gives away the fact that u want to dash. When you backdash your giving the mentality that “ok ive got safe distance now i want to get in there.” so by the time ur ready to dash in they know this and will snuff it out with a throw or a low move.
probably the ideal time to dash is in between a whiffed move. for instance if a shoto does a c.mk in front of u and whiffs. you are guaranteed a dash in karakusa if you’re fast enough to react.
c. mk is overrated.
I’m debating two SAII follow-ups that I’m currently using.
SAII xx dash xx mp. fukiage xx sjc xx fp (as listed by haunts in the 2nd post)
or
SAII xx dash xx fp. fukiage xx sjc xx rk
I can’t do the karakusa xx fp cancel into super yet, so I just throw these out in punishment situations. Neither can I do the kara-karakusa xx lp. karakusa, so the 100% stun combo is definately not possible.
The reason I ask this is because I aim to stun (like all good Makoto players should), and the first follow-up lets me do as much stun damage asap. The 2nd follow-up gets me right next to them as they land and deals more damage, so I can do a karakusa/c.lk/ex oroshi mix up to keep the pressure going.
I can do either option consistantly, but I can’t tell if the answer depends on the character/situation. Is either one always better? Or should I maximize stun on small stunbar peeps (Akuma, Remy, twins), and maximize damage against heavyweights (Hugo, Urien, Alex)?
Thanks in advance.
For the twins/Remy/Akuma, you can usually tell when you’re going to stun them with an SA2 combo, if the twins and Remy had just about ANY stun before the combo, do the most stun combo you can do(do the first one). Akuma will get stunned. Personally, I recommend you learn Kara-Kara, it’s not as difficult as other kara’d moves in the game, and once you learn the timing, you can add different enders to the juggle to maximize stun potential.
1.Karakusa–>HP–>SA2–>Dash–>mp. fukiage–>jumping mp/crouching roundhouse/jumping MK
The reason you end with these instead is because they leave you in perfect Kara-Kara range after the reset, guaranteeing the stun. Dash up once as soon as you are able, and Kara-Kara. I’m still trying to find the timing so I can safely whiff a meaty lk and then block, which would make this that much more sick. I’ll post results as soon as I can.
I would hold off on using SAII until you are able to combo it off the Karakusa >> FP. The FP after Karakusa will tack on the extra bit of stun you need for any stun combo you try to preform.
When to use which combo depends. I use the stun set ups when I feel I can stun them, I use the damage combo when I need the extra damage. In casual I have been trying for the 100% stun every time just to get better at it and eventually I’ll probably move onto that in tournament play. So just use what set up makes sense for each particular situation.
thought u had that shit down
i gave up on SA2 in tournament play too much pressure :sad:
dude, im like 30% on that shit. not solid enough to use in a tourney. 
the reason i switched to SAII is the pressure helps me focus. I get real sloppy with SAI and start to rely on it too much and guess WAY too much when using it…
Whoops, some typos. I meant Kara-fukiage xx dash xx lp. fukiage, but I’m sure you guys all knew that.
Thanks for the advice, but I really like using SA2… I’m pretty scrubby, and I play against other scrubby players, so I can usually land it (I know, missing it = half bar gone).
How safe is this?
f+hk cancel xx short karakusa
I seem to land it more often than not, but is this something I should keep in my regular game play, mixed with F+hk and ex oroshi?
It’s pretty safe as far as I know.
Brings up a question though…
Anyone know which recovers faster: her dash or the f+hk cancel?
Should put BillyKanes vast knowledge about 3s to the test :karate:
Are there any resets for Makoto to get someone with a Karakusa?
look in the strategy section in the beginning of the forum it should help you out…
Alright, so I just began playing fighters and Makoto on 3S was my first choice for a character to learn; so I had a few questions about her.
Do all of her kara moves cancel at the same time (dont know if thats worded correctly)? I can pull off a Kara’d Oroshi about 90%-95% of the time, but I cant seem to ever pull off a kara’d karakusa when I use the same rhythm pattern. Any tips on how to pull it off easier?
Another one; is the timing for HP -> EX Hayate different when a its coming off a karakusa? Im only about 20% accurate getting the HP -> Hayate off after a karakusa, but 100% when I do without it.
For the Kara:
I think they do, it just seems like you may be able to cancel the lk a little earlier than when the tip of it comes out, but never before the hit. My statement makes no sense, it just seems this way to me. 
You’re probably having an easier time cancelling into Oroshi since it’s just d,db,b and thus execute it quicker. This was my problem at first, I wasn’t getting the whole hcb quick enough, and when I tried, I was missing some points. My advice would be to not look for the lk (or whatever cancel point), and just treat it as one move by just tapping lk before your hcb+k.
yeeeeeeehhhaaaawwwwww! =) i just landed my FIRST SA2->double fukiage stun combo yesterday!! :encore: and DAMN does it feel good! 
Got a PERFECT on a dudley player cuz of it :karate:
anyways, got a few things playin in the back of my mind lately:
1.) Neutral throw glitch - i read sumwhere that mak’s neutral throw has some form of invincibility, (on recovery iirc) but to what extent? could it be used to dodge stuff? any ways to use this to our advantage?
2.) SJC’d Command Grab - in one of the twins’ thread, there was a mention of SuperJump-Cancelling a command grab, can mak also do that shit (Imagine a SJC’d karakusa… sweet… :badboy:)
thnx =)
edit: typo’s
The frames are recycled in her Tanden Renki and that is what gives her the invincviblity after the activation of taden renki. Arlieth wrote up a whole thing on it somewhere.
as far as SJC karakusa, I dont know what that would accomplish. maybe i should go read that yun + yang thrad.
Congrats on the Stun Combo… I look forward to landing that someday myself :).
As for the Neutral throw thingy, it’s not a glitch. She has invincibility for a few frames (not sure the exact number) as long as the joystick is left in the neutral position. As soon as you push a button or move the stick, she becomes vulnerable to attack.
This is a neat trick to have… if your playing someone who’s unfamiliar w/ her, you can neutral grab --> do nothing --> counter. For example, if you grab a shoto and he tries to sweep you after you let go, it’ll completely miss you (it’ll actually go through you). You can follow it up with a free dash punch to punish.
Funny story… I was playing against the comp (I have no one else to play against :sad:) and I neutral grabbed Chun Li. As soon as I let go, the comp reversal SA2’d be, but it actually passed completely through me.
Mak’s Karakusa has the same properties… but you’ll never use them since you’ll always follow it up w/ fp xx Hayate, right? :karate:
kewl info =) seems like an impractical version of the dodge thingie that V-Cody has in SFA3.
anyways, about the SJC’d grab, going into SJC would make throws wiff right? perhaps SJC’ing the grab would give an edge when dealing with grapplers 
I’ve done some messing around with this. Doing the SJC does make throws whiff, but the timing is so damn tight. For example, you can make Hugo whiff a 360 in your face and Karakusa immediately after. From what I can tell, what makes it so hard is that Mak (or anyone) has to be in the super jump frames during the one frame when the grab would “hit”, and then you have to cancel the super jump frames before you leave the ground to get your SJC’d move.
Therefore, if you cancel the sj too late, Mak flies away. If you cancel if too early (ie before the frame the grab “grabs” you), you get grabbed.
Too damn hard for me to mess with. I tried for about a half hour and got it maybe 10 times on a Hugo 360 - and this is knowing exactly when the dummy would start the grab. Even making a habit of learning to consistently sjc the grab just-incase, may get you killed since it takes longer to activate and gives more time for you to get hit when you could’ve grabbed something.
I may be wrong on the frame-grab-hit thing (please correct me if I’m wrong, because I’d like to know specifics myself), but that’s what it seems to me. Try it out in parry training, it’s cool to see at least. :karate: