Alpha 3: Q & A

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
1761

I may be the only one here… but I always hold down. I can’t help it really. It’s instinct now because of charge characters and airblock.

I find it’s much easier than tapping d,u. I can hardly do the tap stuff at all actually, but I can get 99 hits by holding. >shrug< You also get to charge, as well as not superjump… wee.

I find it makes it easier to catch reversals so you can go into crouch cancel->walk. You don’t have the muscle-memory of “d,u” so maybe you won’t be as likely to jump.

I dunno about frames, but as long as you jump again before you go into full crouch, you’ll be ok…

…about Charlie:

Is it just me, or does the sonic break super lick balls? Shitty damage, shitty startup, shitty this, shitty that. Maybe I’m spoiled by the good A2 sonic break?

as for VC stoppage… If he’s blowing through your shit, that’s your fault. What else can I say? If you’re caught with your pants down (ie: attacking) Try to cancel it into a flash kick or flash kick super or something if you can (if it is a normal attack). You might as well. You’re gonna get rocked anyhow.

If you’re blocking, you can still try to pop him with super or flash kick after he activates… it’s a good idea sometimes, especially if the Ryu likes to VC, then throw you into the corner. However, it’s a good idea to just block sometimes and not risk it. Alpha counter.

Like, say he activates midscreen. Just block the damn thing. Alpha Counter. If not, there WILL be a hole anyhow. Jump back, airblock a FB and try to roll or something. Just get away from him. If he’s just throwing FBs, it’s no big deal since they do shit damage, just wait for him to run dry.

Do NOT let him FB-and-Hopkick you into the corner. If you’re in the corner, you’re in hard shape. I think it’s worth the risk sometimes to try and pop his VC activation with flashkick/super. If not, block then Alpha counter. other than that, you’re kinda at his mercy… hopefully you can block the overhead (if he does it).

Watch out when using air-recovery near the corner… since you’re ACharlie, you’re going to have to use invincible nuetral flips to try and escape VCs. If you flip early, and he catches it, you’re DEAD. (You could fix this by joining the dark side and using V-ism :))

1762

Thanks for the Charlie help.

For the vryu vs acharlie problem… If ryu is getting near you, you are doing something wrong. Watch out for a tatsumaki over your sonicboom, and watch out for a jump hk over one. I like to keep my range a little further then normal, unless I get him locked down in the corner. Alls it takes is 2 good block strings to crush his guard. Then you can jump in hp > 2lp > 2lk > sommersault justice or flash kick for meter

After that in the corner, keep him there. Keep him blocking with a sonic boom, if he tries to jump out, anti air him back in or alpha counter it to knock him back down. Try to no let up. If you keep him busy he can’t tatsumaki over the sonic boom. If he does get away on you, stay the hell out of the corner, space yourself back out and get ready to range him… before he gets out. That means, if you feel you are losing the corner, let him out, space yourself before he jumps you and corner vc’s you.

That’s just my 2 cent.

1763

I only use it if i see someone jumping in, and I cant get out a s.Justice, or if i have an opponent whos showing a pattern on v-ism, ive used it to lure them into activating, then hitting them with the second or third boom after theyve blown through the first. Works for me, though im sure God tier players would wipe me off the map for such tactics, but it works at the mid level im playing at, as long as its sparingly used. Otherwise yea it sucks monkey nuts.

This is exactly what happened. Probably happened because im not used to playing actually GOOD v-ryu players, so i got careless enough to jump in near the corner/ let him get me in the corner in the first damn place. Ive learned my lesson now lol

IS v-charlie worth trying? I’ve never played v-charlie before so i have no clue as to what his advantages, disadvantages would be. My problem with v-ism useage is this - im not at a level where my execution is perfect yet. Im getting there, but i still ocassionally whiff shit/ do certain moves when im trying something else etc. vcs require expert timing and execution, so i figure until i get to the point where im 100% confident in my technique at xor a level, then ill be ready to move up to v.

1764

Heck, I saw TOMA’s V-Charlie reverse an unblockable by akuma and it was perfectly time: Charlie blocks low forward, jumps back into the corner vc through the fireball and vc the deamon flipping akuma. You have MUCH more freedom in terms of charging

1765

Good stuff man. Thats exactly where i went wrong, i had him cornered and let him get out, being afraid of him blowing through my corner rush and vc’ing me into oblivion. I need to practice my b-n-b charlie combos too to maximize damage when i do get oppurtunities. What are charlies best combos? Thanks for the tips. Off to practice :cool: …

1766

Charlie BnBs…

d.jab x2. If they connect, go into flash kick if close - or Super if you’ve got the meter… If the jabs are blocked DON’T flashkick or super (obbiously). If blocked, you go into stepkick, or d.MP (into boom maybe), or throw, or walk up more d.jab, or nothing! :slight_smile: Just not the flashkick or super that leaves you horridly open when blocked.

d.MP into flash kick or super is another good, easy one. Nice after a jump-in. Also good anti-air… also kind of anti-VC, if he tries to jump and VC through the d.MP, go for the flash kick/super anyhow right after the screen “freeze”. There’s no reason not to.

V-ism owns, easily better than A-Charlie IMO. But like you said… you need to be able to execute it. If you can’t use your meter, there’s no point in picking it.

Do you have a console to practice on? It’s not perfect, but at least you’ll get an idea of what moves to do. You also don’t have to do the “hard” VCs right away… there are usually “easy” and “hard” VCs for each character. Try the easy ones first, & see how it works out.

good luck!

1767

Yea i have DC SFA3, which i hear is the “worst” version lol, but it gives me something to do. I also play on MAME to practice general stuff (cant do serious comp. on MAME…timing is crazy different when frames and lag are factored in). Thanks for the tips! They’ve helped plenty, and given me an idea of what i need to work on to step my game up to top level play. Just need more damn competition around here…

Thanks again!

1768

RUNAWAY DHALSIM CAN LICK MY ASS!

On a further note, I cannot play the “stupider” characters in any game. I have trouble playing characters such as A-Chun, A-Sim, etc. V-Gief I can play a little bit though. I guess I’m not used to pressing certain buttons mindlessly

1769

any tips on playing Alpha 3 M.Bison?

1770

mb

Don’t… =P

lol j/k

If you like him, play vism and learn the uber easy full screen VCs like

(Anti air) Execute VC1 > rh > [hk scissor kick]*n

I don’t play him but I know shit like that is mad easy half life damage. He has no combos that due much more then half life, but I bet if you learned some nice resets he may be better. I am willing to bet he has some unblockables no one has exploited to the max yet, I got some ideas but I don’t want to say anything in case I am wrong. If you understand how VC unblockables are done, just use your imagination.

1771

why pick v bison when u could pick z bison O_0!?!

1772

Obviously for the costume colors. :cool:

1773

V-Bison’s blue teeth > Z-Bison’s > X-Bison’s dental nightmare.

1774

is he a good character (M.Bison) or just SUCKS?

be honest so i dont have to waste more time with him…

1775

In my opinion Bison is pretty so-so, people say he’s best in A-ism, but after playing him for a while you realise his special moves slow his game down too much vs the top tiers and his supers are average at best. He has a few cool looking counterhit juggle setups and stuff, but his overall game is too weak for him to utilise it in a serious tourney environment.

I’m starting to think that just playing a pure poking V-Bison might be the only way for him to be competitive. And since V-Bison has a choice of close or far normal moves, you can’t utilise his long range pokes while charging. But I think it might make Bison’s game better since his fireball is slow, and keeps him in place for too long, his scissor kick is airblockable, and even if you space it perfectly and its blocked, its no advantage for you anyway, and if it accidentally only gets 1 hit, the opponent still has time to hit you during the recovery.

So not sitting around charging his crap special moves might help Bison get some much needed mobility which would make him more threatening, especially with his high priority long ranged pokes, long jump, teleport, and fast footspeed.

Also in V-ism Bison gets his only decent fast anti-air with the b+RK, in A-ism, you need to either air-throw or teleport against any decent jump-in, or throw out a RK before they start the jump. Also his AC is a more reliable ‘hit’ than the teleport version that A-ism recieves (which doesn’t work well against corner crush VC’s involving fireballs).

Plus I think V-Bison has a bit of potential with confusion VC’s and crouch cancels that I don’t think anyone has been bothered to explore. Probably because you could just pick V-Sakura and do it with far less effort.

1776

thanks that helped a lot… i really noticed now how slow is his psycho crusher super combo and mind games with devil reverse and the foot stomp aren’t that great either… so i think i’m going for V-Bison…

tell me… (i’m very dumb about this) how do you land CC’s?

1777

Most Crouch Cancels start from an air to air counter hit, followed by a crouch cancel into a jump, then repeat.

Some crouch cancels can also occur during a VC when an opponent is launched using a normal/special move that gives the player enough time to start a crouch cancel series with jumping hit.

1778

Yeah, you gotta learn how to crouch-cancel off an air-to-air counterhit… Meter or not, it should be instinctive. Even if you can’t VC or infinite off of it, you should ALWAYS crouch-cancel something because you get fat combos and almost ALWAYS a chance to land your super combo (which is what these new games are all about right?)

I’m interested in hearing about V-Bison tho. :slight_smile: I don’t know many VCs, but the ones I do know aren’t nearly as good as Aism’s lvl3s. It’s ineteresting how you speak of the Vism as more of a positioning poker, not concerned with charging… But I don’t know of any VCs that would make it worthwhile.

I think it’s the fact he doesn’t have an intsant hitting knockdown that makes me not want to play him that way… Or the fact that I I don’t know a VC that I can readily stuff ANYTHING with. :stuck_out_tongue:

I think that with a LOT of hard work, and an extreme player, he could be right though.

Hell, V is naturally better than A though right? :slight_smile: It does give more options in a lot of situations.

1779

well… i want to know how to crouch cancel but want to know the CONDITIONS i mean… can i CC infinite with all characters jumping straight up in a corner? i don’t know if i have chrouch canceled… i tried to launch my opponent with Cody’s QCB+p in V-ism then begun to hit in the air with jumping straight jabs… but after a time the VC’s finishes i either miss the hit or not get able to keep hitting the opponent at all…

what i am doing wrong?

1780

Have you read the A3 JChen Systems FAQ at www.gamefaqs.com ???

It explains in depth the juggle system and why crouch cancelling works.

If you want to practice the timing for crouch cancelling, just use a launching move, like Codys Criminal Upper. You don’t have to have VC activated, thats only required for infinites since hitting an opponent with VC activated automatically causes them to get knocked higher as if they were hit with a counter hit. Then after launching the opponent jump up and hit the opponent with a light attack, and as you land, tap down and then up, kind of as if you were performing a super jump.

If you don’t hit them again, you’ve timed the crouch cancel too fast or too slow. You should just barely see you character begin crouching before you jump again, but its more of a timing thing than visual. Just keep practicing the rhythm and you should get it.

If you were successful in performing the crouch cancel, you should be able to hit the opponent in the air again. If you repeat this you should be able to do it again and again until the opponent falls too low to be hit properly anymore and falls to the ground. This is why the VC counter hit property is needed, to keep them bouncing high enough for you to get to them for the next crouching cancelled hit.

So as you can see crouch cancelling can be used by most characters in any ism. All’s you need is a launcher or an air to air counterhit to get the opponent high enough to begin the crouch cancel series.

I hope this has been enlightening for you. :karate: