Couple of short things about Sim are that you should practice hitting sim out of instant air teleport to you. This is important because you get a turn to get damage on him. Even a lp is good here.
I feel like good use of fwd + hp is a key to this matchup. Often times I try and fish with it from just outside his far mp range. This is a very difficult normal for Birdie to deal with. Another alternative is to stand further out and jab it.
If you know a Sim player can IA Gale well, do not hesitate to V-reversal. This is another place where you could have a turn to get damage. Also look to V-reversal Gales from IA teleport or from float situations from him laying his V-trigger. Reason you want to reversal these is because they have a good advantage on block.
Characters that can alter their jump arc pose a problem for Birdie I think. I"m not saying they’re instantly a bad matchup, but you do have to take it into account when discussing it.
Cammy (cannon strike), Ken (air ex tatsu), Chun (IA lightning legs), Bison (Devil Reverse), Necalli (divekick), Mika (body splash).
Against Bison mixing up stomp or devil reverse, I haven’t found a neato clearcut answer yet when I see it coming. Usually when I try to AA the stomp, Bison does a late minute devil reverse and catches my fHK, cHP or cMP on recovery. If I hesitate to anti air, then devil reverse gets blocked and he’s positive. Luckily it’s not as fast as all other jump altering attacks, so the best thing so far that works when you see it coming is to air to air it with jHP.
Cammy is a problem if she doesn’t solely rely on the hooligan mixup and mixes up her ground game with well spaced sMK, and her jumps with divekicks and normal jumps. I haven’t tried cHP vs her or Necalli though, maybe that will be the main anti air against her if she doesn’t EX strike.
I really refrain myself of even doing anything if Ken has meter and just jumps at me. If you try to AA him, he’ll bait the life out of you and get a free launcher, it can also cross-up and is positive on block. IN VT, it gains amazingly buffed hitboxes and will stuff everything you have free. His EX Tatsu is also incredibly versatile since it can even anti air you if you even think about jumping over his fireball. Not sure what the best course of action is after saying all this though, but I’ve heard his tatsu flames when in VT can destroy fireballs, so could be they’re projectile hitboxes. Maybe bullhorn might work?
Chun IA legs, I have no idea what to do against this. Besides randomly throwing out anti air normals in her blockstrings or not anti airing too early if she jumps normally
I did a bit of testing in regards to Chun’s IA legs a few days back. From what I concluded, if it is a wake up situation where the Chun is choosing between cross up mk and IA legs, I’ve found it just better to not deal with it and V-reversal out. The reason I say this is that all the armor moves get beaten by the legs, and also, you can dash up and meaty hk on a normal quick rise.
If it is something like the Chun is on offense and she does something like cr. lp, IA legs, then you could try to challenge it with st. lp or cr. mp. Most people don’t get the legs at the lowest height, and even then with cr. mp, you can at least trade in some cases and angles. I also tried doing jump back normals but they got beat.
I also co sign about Ken’s EX Tatsu. That thing is nuts. This is another move that I personally in some areas in a round will V-Reversal
I had a long session vs a friend’s sim the other night and thought it felt quite even. Admittedly he’s still learning him so maybe I’ll change my mind once a I face a good one. Like CoosCoos pointed out, fwd+hp is key here. I was occasionally CCd using it but it was successful more times than not. Once sim is reluctant to throw out limp and starts fireballing, I was able to chain grab him fairly consistently or bullslide under to close the distance and start pressuring with fwd+hp again. I also found bullhorn really useful for when sim wants to do his fireball/teleport setups. I found in a lot of matches I was losing until I got VT where I think birdie can really pressure sim and react to a lot of what he does with ex headbutt
EX Hanging Chain is huge when dealing with F.A.N.G keepaway in that it destroys poison cloud. Most players will lay a cloud then shoot projectiles after. I do believe that you can straight up bullhead him if he does hp projectile without cloud cover to get in, but I wouldn’t try it unless you have a good read on his timing.
Try not to panic when fullscreen. Walk forward and block, and try to get to this range of EX Hanging Chain and play for a knockdown. This is a match I feel that you want to take any opportunity to eat donuts and get in v-trigger as soon as possible. The reason is that multi armor helps a ton vs his keepaway.
Keep in mind you need one time in and you can win from that in. Other things you could try are laying a can while he lays a cloud and you are standing, and don’t worry about being poisoned as much because Birdie has good health. V-Trigger makes it tougher to keep you out so be sure to keep that in mind.
If you use EX Chain, the hitstop of destroying the poison carpet will make him using it safe, instead it’s actually faster and easier to use regular chain if the poison carpet is there. If it’s not, EX Chain all day.
Also Birdie doesn’t have multi armor, 1 hit is the most he has iirc.
Spinning mixer is at best -1 (when meaty or spaced), but usually it’s -2. You can normal throw him yourself to create some distance and beat most of his options minus EX spinning mixer.
If he isn’t running and he does the mashed version of spinning mixer, then he’s really punishable (-10), I’m pretty sure you can sMP xx mp bullhead that.
I had to play against annoying rashid who just ran into mixer, normal and throw. After multiple games I just released bullhorn on reaction if I saw him run at me. I instantly gained more room to maneuver after. Although LP/cLP is also good for checking your horizontal space.
As I was reading this, I was actually in a set with my local F A.N.G player. As mentioned, EX Bullhorn has two hits of armor which can help when dealing with poison balls or lp balls + cloud in some occasions if you have the right spacing.
With the cloud I’ve found it a lot more easier with EX Hanging chain than with regular. Because EX Chain nullifies all poison clouds, this can be used in some situations such as near the corner or to close a round out.
I feel like that if Birdie gets him knocked down, he has an okay enough throw/counter hit game to end the round. I also feel that it is important to be able to throw him out of command dashes too. Also, with F.A.N.G, something else to practice is that if you are fullscreen and he is doing hp projectile, there is a sweet spot where you can Bullhorn in between both projectiles and not get hit. This aids big time in closing space, and saves you from some chip damage from having to walk forward and block.
I play lame against Nash. I focus mostly on counter poking. At Max range I neutral jump hp. That way I stuff out random moonsaults. And of course I anti air him anytime he jumps. The only issue is that sometimes frustrated Nash players will dash in and throw. I need to learn how to reaction command grab which should beat that option.
If Nash isn’t being aggressive and just hanging back, even better. I just walk him down and then do bulk revenged if I feel I have a good read. And of course eat donuts ID across the screen as well.
I I am stocked with meter and V skill I go YOLO on him. But generally I just beat him sigh patience. Focus on countering. Only issue is Nash J.mk. it seems to beat all of Birdie air to airs clean. So I just feel it’s better to just eat the crossup.
As Birdie you’re just going to have to deal such the fact that you’re going to have to block at times.
his moonsoults are unsave and can be punished in the air at least with c.mk BETTER with counterhitting HK + MP-Bullhead
charge a button and advance on him the startuptim for his sonic booms is crazy long you can react to them and hit him in the right range and if faar you can short the distance
when a moonsoult get blocked by you SHAME ON YOUI but now he has a turn the moonsoult is save and advantage for him on block so block and look for your turn
if they always go for the same combo try to get the last hit armorabsorbed with F+HP and punish him big time
if you are short bevore stun SNEZE the hell out of your opponent (this is universal for all matchups) it recovers 200 stundamage
that should do the trick Nash is one of the more easy matchups in my opinion
Karin doesnt have a good way to punish ex bullhead, only st.mk
You can punish her overhead by doing c.lk st.lk - confirm into bullhead , best way because if she tries to follow up with the low - it will beat it
maybe not so useful, but if she does c.mk rekka, you can interupt in between with c.lk
I like to v-reversal a lot in this matchup