Attempt at an Option Select guide

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

Guess I can attempt some kind of guide… Though I don’t have everything 100% yet. Other people have done a lot of leg work on this already. Gonna include some ranix examples below for instance. (Let me know if you mind the use of your vids, ranix. I can take them off if you want.)

OS tends to be more about timing, rather than a very unique or complicated input. Even though they all rely on very similar mechanics, they can be split into 3 types: Jump-in OS, ground OS, and unique OS.

  1. Jump-in OS

You should only be attempting these against characters that can be safe jumped on with an attack. Unless you have good reason to believe that they can’t reversal you in time.

Safe jumps work off the following:

Characters you just can’t safe jump OS have: An invincible move that hits in 3 frames. Or, a grab special/super/ultra that’s invincible from the first frame until they grab you. This can vary based on if they have meter. ie. Abel with EX TT.

There is a subset of the rest that have a move which could cut into your jump-in OS, but may not be able to stop you from landing safely. They have invincible specials that hit on the 4th or 5th frames. The trick with these is just to block when you attempt the OS. This should result in a triple OS: 1. Don’t do anything -> hit by jumpin. 2. Use that special move -> you will block. 3. Do anything else with invincibility (backdash, or another special) -> the move you attempted to OS will come out.

So, as ryu, it is very important that you learn how to do safe jumps before you attempt OS jump-ins. Usually, you can only safe jump after untechable knockdowns. You get these from sweeps, throws, supers, and ultras. Timing is as follows:

Sweeps: Just hold the joystick up/up-forward while recovering to jump. Ryu is fortunate and unfortunate in his sweep recovery timing. Unfortunate in that you are EXTREMELY punishable on a whiff or block. But fortunate that it makes this safe jump almost brainless against the majority of the cast.

Forward Throw: Walk back about a step, then jump forward. Just have to get a feel for this…

Back Throw: I believe that you can just whiff a c.mp right when you recover. And then jump right after you whiff.

Supers/Ultras: Don’t really have a feel for this yet. Would appreciate some input if anybody knows. I think you just have to practice your timing starting from the point where they hit the ground.

A couple caveats:

First, 3 characters get up later than other characters on untechable knockdown. Sagat and Cammy get up one frame later. Blanka gets up 2 frames later.

Second, COUNTER HITS INCREASE WAKE UP TIME!!! Beware.

Ok, but how do you DO the jump-in OS you may ask… It’s actually pretty simple. After you hit the button for the jump-in, if timed right you can do ANYTHING to come out if that jump-in whiffs.

You can do dp, tatsu, hado, throw, back dash, forward dash, super, ultra, and even NORMALS… It’s just a question of timing. For instance, to jump-in OS dp, this could be the input: UF jump hk ~ dpm lp. (dpm = dp motion) The lp should be timed to be hit at the point where you’d touch the ground if your jump in whiffed. (If you’re overly visual, this may be a detriment. The freeze of the connected jump-in will delay when you land. And if you do it at that point, you’ll just do the dp every time.) Every jump-in OS works this way. But if you haven’t practiced timing, you may never get it. And the feel for timing you need might change from OS to OS. And it’s actually looser for many OS than you might think.

There’s no point in listing the inputs for every single one. Go to the training room. Pick an OS. Do it when your jump arc won’t hit your opponent. Then do it when it does. Keep doing this until you get the OS down perfect. You hit them, you don’t do anything when you land. You don’t hit them, you do something. Then make the training dummy do it on you using safe jump timing. (Making them sweep first is the easiest way.) And try to get out of the safe jump. As ryu, you can just dp reversal every time. So try to back dash instead. Or see how super/ultra affects it. Get a feel for what it looks like. Then switch characters. See what other characters can or can’t do against it.

  1. Ground OS

This is very similar to jump-ins, but without the safe jump. I can further subdivide this one into 3 more subcategories.

First, there’s the simplest example of OS in c.mk XX hado. Yes, that counts as an OS. You connect, you cancel. You don’t, then nothing. Easy. Extends to other specials/super/FADC from anything special/super cancelable.

Second, is the basic whiff punish. Best way to think of this is that an attack that connects has freeze frames which increases the length of time until the move finished. Through timing, you are able to make one action happen when the move connects (hit or block) and another when it doesn’t. Examples:

c.mp ~ late dpm lp ~ c.mk – On connect, c.mk. On whiff, lp dp. You hit the lp AFTER you could cancel it from the c.mp. Then c.mk a little after that to continue the combo/tick string.

From ranix: c.lp ~ sps ~ c.hp – On connect, c.hp to follow up. On whiff, solar plexus. Vid [media=youtube]hu4vUveQch8"[/media].

Also ranix: cr.lp ~ dash ~ cr.mk XX qcf lp+lk – A little overly elaborate. But shows how to combine both 1st and 2nd types. On connect, follow up with c.mk XX lp hado. On whiff, dash forward and throw. Though I think that by just before the qcf lp+lk you can tell what’s going on enough to decide what to do next, since you’ve seen the lp whiff or connect. Vid [media=youtube]eErqtYqvRvU"[/media].

Third, the chain cancel OS. This builds off the second type with the additional quirk that chain cancellable moves tend to override other, normally higher priority, moves.

First a technicallity: All of ryu’s lp and lk (c. cl. far…) are chain cancellable INTO. Only the following are chain cancellable themselves: cl. lp, far lp, c.lp, c.lk

You can override all other higher priority normals, throws, focus, and specials. I don’t know about supers or ultras yet. Examples:

c.lp XX c.lp + c.mp + c.mk – On hit, another c.lp. On whiff, a focus. Example in ranix vid [media=youtube]_2_7TmQ3vGA"[/media].

c.lk XX dpm c.hp + c.lk – On hit, another c.lk. On whiff, a dp. Example in ranix vid [media=youtube]ZGXGJAx0u80"]here and [URL=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ITy-mN0R2w”[/media].

This vid [media=youtube]H_oMxzPlmF0"[/media] shows another facet of chain cancelled moves. The move chained into can not be cancelled by a special or super. Inputs:

c.lk XX c.lk + c.mk XX super – On hit, another c.lk. On whiff, c.mk, followed by super if it connects.

  1. Unique OS

This is just a catch-all category for everything else. Some characters have some weird properties on their moves, and the inputs for them, that result in unique OS. All characters have at least one:

c.lp + c.lk - Normally, c.lk. When being thrown, throw tech.

This can be expanded by adding more buttons:

c.lp + c.lk + c.mp - Normally, c.mp. When being thrown, throw tech.

Another one, for characters with a dp:

I’m sure there are at least a couple glaring flaws in this. But hopefully it helps.

2

so if you want to do the ex dp OS. you jump in,dpm and hit 2 punches when you land? and it will ex dp if they backdash?
And if they don’t backdash…how do you attack with your c.lk. Just keep mashing clk + clp after you land?

3

You gotta hit the lk when you normally would when they block/get hit by the jumpin. Timing doesn’t change just because you put in other commands after the initial attack. Given the jump-in you used, you should have enough time to do it visually. If you used something light, then you just gotta know to time it on landing after your dp input…

EX doesn’t change anything other than adding the extra button.

4

Thanks Theli! you need to teach me more of you skills.

5

Just knowledge so far. Still working on decent skills. Much harder. But I’m getting there.

I’d be interested to hear any feedback on how this helped or didn’t help with the various OS.

6

I’ll be practicing on it, I am having a regional event held here at my place on feb 13. I will let you know how it turns out with these new techniques. I will also be streaming it live hopefully if I can get my blitzbox hd warranty in time.

7

Hey Theli. thanks for writing up this guide. Ive been using all the different OSs for quite a while now but it is helpful to have tem all concsiely written out like this.

Also, just to clarify timing for those who are new to OSs… On the Ground OS Normals (say you want to OS c.mp to C.MK / SRK ) the timing is bascially the exact same for comboing c.mp > c.mk - if you take that combo and insert tje SRK motion inbetween, pressing the punch button immediately before you press c.mk , youll get the OS. Also note that you can quite literally OS ANYTHING, including movement, jumps etc…

I think we need to start using this thread as a guide to OS application too, so Im gonna put just a couple of my favourites in here.

Balrog : OSs for this match are : c.mk X tatsu (or SRK)
on knockdown - cross-up OS c.mk ( he cant do anything about it)
once theyre conditioned to not reverse jump-ins at all : jump-in OS sweep or SLS (Rog, in my experience, will often attempt to dash out of wake-up situations once you have proved he cant reverse you.)

SIM : just always put a tatsu OS into whatever move you do incase he tries to teleport out.
also, if youre going to be throwing normals at long range to try and catch his pokes, theres no harm in OSing either a tatsu ( to close the distance) or a hadoken, which then puts the pressure on his as you follow him.

Abel : … hmmm… Abel can be tricky because of the roll. Naturally you want to throw him out, but if he doesnt roll and instead backdashes, youll end up at negative frames. I generally jump-in OS throw when he hasnt got metre anyway, and then if they start to dashback on later wake-ups, stick a sweep or SLS into the OS. Of course, when he has metre, you really just want to get him to waste it, so dont OS here and instead use a bait.

     Question : is it worth using the OS c.mp > SRK  on pokes in case he does EX CoD?   someone answer this else ill ave to go look at frame data and i cant be bothered.... THANKS!

alright im out… ill put some more of the OSs I use in here later. Im not saying they are the absolute best ones BTW and if peeps have better ideas please say so… these are just the ones im playing with at the moment.

8

DarthPaul I’m not following you on the c.mp OS to c.mk/SRK.

If you do c.mp and then the srk motion and hit P won’t the srk come out either way?

Also on Boxer OS. If you cross up and do c.mk xx tatsu if he back dashes won’t c.mk come out and not the tatsu? And if he blocks won’t the c.mk be canceled into the tatsu and you will be punished? Meaning it will only work if he tries to do an ex dash punch of some sort.

9

man this is so hard to do, i tried ot practice last night and no success. I guess you have to be fast right? or my timing is way off. too bad we don’t have vids of hitting inputs. I am so lost on this.

10

Bojador_pt:

You can perform the dp after the freeze frame of a connected c.mp (without it cancelling or coming out afterwards). But a little after the recovery of a whiffed c.mp. That’s what you need to shoot for. The c.mk would just be an attempt to link after the c.mp.

PlayNTradeHarvey:

Try this. With ryu, jump. Stay away from the training dummy. When you land, do dp. Jump again, but try to do dp earlier. Just keep trying to do this dp as early as possible over and over. Now throw out an attack in the air and try that dp. Try to do the dp as soon as possible so that it will come out, while still getting that unrelated air attack in. The next step after that would be to time the air attack to hit a crouch opponent, while still having a dp come out if you do not connect that air attack.

This is the kind of timing you need for jump-in OS. If you practice the dp motion, and hitting the button at the right time, you should get a feel for how you need to input an OS.

11

Ok but if you do c.mp and it whiffes won’t you still be in recovery and because of that the srk won’t come out? Are you saying that the window for the inputs extends on a whiffed normal on the ground just as it does for a jump in attack?

12

For your second question, I’m really not sure. I think special moves may have some leeway with whiffed attacks. But that just may be perceptions resulting from negative edge.

For the 1st, as I said… “But a little after the recovery of a whiffed c.mp.” The whiffed c.mp will recover sooner than the connected c.mp. I believe this difference, resulting from freeze frames, is by around 11 frames for medium attacks. (light around 9 frames, hard around 13, and specials might be around 12…but it probably varies by special. Thank you, Maj.)

As long as you time to hit within the last 11 frames of a connected c.mp, you should have a valid OS.

13

My appologies, I guess I didnt explain myself clearly…

The first OS you mention is the c.mp OS SRK… the way that this works is that you have two windows of time in which you can enter a motion to combo from the c.mp . The first window is the cancel window , the one normally used when you combo c.mp to a special move. The second window is the LINK window - this is the amount of time you have once the c.mp is completed to enter the next move (for instance, c.mp > c.mk is 1 frame). The objective with OS-ing c.mp to SRK is to input the SRK BETWEEN the cancel frames and the link frames. The most obvious way to do this is to just hit the SRK 1 frame before the link window. So, in effect we have (C.MP - WAIT UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE TO CANCEL - SRK - WAIT FOR LINK FRAME - C.MK). By doing this, you are ensuring that your SRK CANNOT be combod if the c.mp is blocked or hits. This means your next move, the c.mk, will be free to come out in the LINK frames.

The way that the option select works here is because, if the C.MP whiffs, there are no freeze frames, so Ryu will be able to hit the SRK. If it does connect, so long as you avoid hitting te SRK at the cancellable frames or the link frame, the SRK cannot come out, meaning the next move will be the normal you hit after the C.MP has completed its animation.

THEREFORE : C.MP - CANCEL FRAMES (DO NOT HIT SRK HERE) - SRK - OPTION 1 ) Ryu connected with C.MP, he is in freeze frames and cannot atack again - LINK FRAME - C.MK
OPTION 2) Ryu WHIFFED, he is free to attack - SRK comes out

so thats how it works, but all you need to know is that if you hit the SRK 1 frame before the frame at which you would hit c.mk (in c.mp > c.mk combo) you will achieve a successfull OS.

NOTE : That’s te easy way, but not the best way. The best way involves frame counting so you can hit the SRK the moment the whifed C.MP would have completed its animation. This is very advanced though - I don really do it myself yet. The method I gave above is, IMO, the best way in which to begin to incorporate this OS.

The OSs listed for Balrog were meant to all be seperate… therefore

  1. The most obvious OS for BOxer is to use c.mk X tatsu (OR SRK INSTEAD OD TATSU) to stuff his dashes.

  2. Totally seperate OS. When he’s knocked down, cross-up and hit c.mk before landing. The C.mk will cause any reversal move he uses to whiff, meaning you are safe to continue your attack.
    NOTE : you seemed confused about a C.MK to Tatsu issue… there is no tatsu involved in this OS, that was a different OS for stuffing dashes.

  3. If the Rog is good he may realse that you are using the above OS. At this point he will stop reversalng and attempt to dash out (or, his best option, he’ll just block). In order to cover for this, once you have successfully conditioned him with the c.mk OS, switch it to the cross-up OS Sweep OR cross-up OS SLS. This will either score knockdown or the SLS will follow im and put you at 0 frames - - meaning you are really still in control (they are still reacting to what you are doing)

NOTE : Because Boxer has a bizarre hitbox, the OS Sweep will only ever conneect if you land touching him. Be aware of this, else youll have a massive whifing sweep that is super punishable.

14

Ok I didn’t know that. It makes sense now. Thx Theli

Edit: Thx DarthPaul, it does makes sense.

One more question regarding the cross up c.mk OS: if I do c.mk and he reversal ex dash punch I will get hit, no?

15

THIRD EDIT TO THIS POST - minor confusion! lol

If he EX dashes he’ll be absorbing your jump in, meaning that your follow up jab (on landing) will score a hit (it will enter hit frames before his dash does). The C.MK only comes out if he headbutts - the C.Mk is to make the headbutt whiff.

16

I’m sorry DarthPaul but I fail to see where that cross up c.mk OS will come in handy. Why not just cross up and block? If he HB you will be able to punish. Unless you are trying to hit him from his back dash I don’t see why you would want to use that OS.

17

Bojador : The purpose in jump-in OSs, for the most part, isnt to get a punish. Bear in mind that if you can SRK, you can block. Instead, the purpose of the OS is to allow you to continue your atack without pause and so keep the momentum. By using OS C.MK VS Balrog you are guaranteeing that he cannot reverse you. This means that you can go straight into your blockstring without pause, knowing that you are not in danger. This is the case for 90% of option selects. They arent really attackng moves, they are more defensive moves - youre guaranteeing you cant be punished whilst continuing your attack.

This is the same with many, many characters. Chun - you OS the SRK for EX SBK, but you could just block then sweep (though I, actually, OS C.MK VSCShun, lots of peeps use FP SRK). Rose (and a lot of others) you OS a sweep cause they can only backdash, once that’s covered you enter the blockstring, knowing you havent got to worry about them trying to escape. Rufus - you could SRK after the EX Messiah, but then you have to watch for it… etc.

So yeah… the purpose to the OSs, in most instances, is to elliminate any chance of the opponent escaping or reversalling,so that you can then just concerntrate entirely on your blockstring / mix-up… . With Rog, if you waited to see if he headbutted, youd have already given him a chance to escape .

18

Ok I see your point and agree to some extend. But either you blocked and punish or c.mk OS and punish he would still get the picture that he can’t HB reversal. Most Boxer don’t Reversal HB to be honest.

But ok, I get what you mean about having some advantage on the starting of your block string. It’s just that Boxer tend to dash back or ex dash punch and that specific OS doesn’t seem very useful against this kind of wake up options becasue it doesn’t really eliminate them.

19

[media=youtube]Sc3RO5NBLcA&feature=related[/media]

@ 0:39

Is that an OS? Sagat player TU fadc back and Ryu did an almost instant solar to punish his back dash.

20

No. Just reactions or he expected this and was planning to do it after baiting the TU.