I’m still not joking… I think Cammy is the 11th best character in the game – best of the upper-mid tier characters. She’s not bad at all.
The trick with Cammy and Street Fighter in general is that, given any situation, you have to have at least, on average, 3 different choices to make. And then mix up between them based on the “mood” of the moment. For example, after a Forward Throw with Cammy, here are my four tricks:
- Strong Hooligan Throw shenanigan.
- Dash Forward, Meaty TKCS
- Dash Forward, jump high up and Short TKCS so I drop on their head.
- Dash Forward, Dash Back.
#1 catches a lot of people off guard. Against some characters, like Balrog, there is NO REASON not to do it (his Headbutt goes under Cammy). #2 is a way to apply pressure and is best against defensive players. #3 is a trick and catches a lot of people off guard and starts a lot of panic and confusion in opponents. It also avoids a LOT of wake-up DPs. And #4 is for baiting wake-ups against DP happy opponents. It’s the optimal way to punish opponents who like to DP on get up a lot, 'cause it leaves you in range for Low Forward into Roundhouse Drill.
Now, that’s the logic behind the four choices. But, the best way to use them all is NOT logically. It’s better to do it very emotionally. I said you should always do the #1 option on Balrog, but that’s a lie… I’ll switch it up sometimes just to switch it up… if you are consistent, then that’s exactly what you are: consistent. And nothing will get you killed faster than being consistent.
So after a Forward Throw, I will do a quick process of previous things (this guy likes to DP a lot, this person is in the corner, this person has no DP move, etc.), and then immediately choose one and just go for it, result be damned. But the important part is that I have FOUR options, and I will mix between them as much as possible. This keeps you inconsistent, and if you throw logic out the window (do one option even though it’s not the best option, necessarily, according to logic), you’ll be much stronger.
In terms of problems with trying to get in and jumping at Sagat’s and watching yourself die to Tiger Uppercuts alllll day, here is one tip:
Don’t stand still.
Experts DO hide their intentions very well. And it’s a weird thing to say because this is Street Fighter, since it’s a game. How do you really “hide” shit?
Well, in general, hitting Jab a lot while walking around, Low Short while walking around, etc. is a good way of doing it. Just hitting a random light attack button from time to time is always good. If every Normal Move you go for always has a purpose and always has the intention of landing on the opponent, you are not hiding your intentions. Watch some top pros play, like Valle and Ed Ma and shit. See how many superfluous moves they throw out. During footsie games, they’ll just throw out a Random Jab from time to time. It doesn’t look like anything, but it’s doing exactly what they want: hiding their intentions.
For Cammy, specifically, I mentioned this somewhere else, but she can mask her intentions better than any other character because of the Cannon Strike. TKCS in the middle of nowhere works great, as does Jumping with Short Cannon Strikes at the height of your Jump. You can’t imagine how well this works against Ryus and Sagats. You get away with so many regular Jump Ins because of this.
I mean, just picture this. You’re Sagat, staring at a Cammy. You are trying to bait her to Jump at you, and she hits Jab. Okay. And then she walks backwards. you walk up to her to keep her in YOUR Jump range so you can DP her, and then she TKCS twice really fast, Jumps at you, and then Short Cannon Strikes so she drops early but ends up a bit closer to you. You weren’t baited by the whiffed Cannon Strike so you start to walk backwards to get into optimal DP range again. And then Cammy Cannon Drills you. You were standing, so you got hit.
That’s just one example. You could also go for the regular Jump, you could go for a Dash Forward and Focus (and from there, you can branch to another 3 options), Dash Forward, Jump Straight up, EX Cannon Strike at the height of your Jump, Dash Forward and poke, etc. etc. Again, multiple options you can choose from. But the best thing is, by throwing out those random moves, you’ll really hide what you are gonna choose.
YES, you will end up Cannon Striking into Fireballs. No big deal. It’s a Fireball. I’ll eat it any day of the week to feed false information to my opponent. YES you ill get baited and eat a ton of damage from making the wrong choice. That’s fine, it’s like Poker: you’ll get hit by bad beats, but overall, in the long run, you should be winning if you go in with the best hand. YES, some opponents will be super patient and not fall for ANYTHING, but that’s just information for you to read and to always remember that it’s your OPPONENT, not the character he is playing. So don’t sweat it, and remember that next time you play HIM, not that character.
Anyhow, I hope this helps a bit. Don’t give up, Stein. Cammy’s good in this game. She’s ACTUALLY good!
- James
