Close standing medium Kick, tracking property

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1

cl.st.mk medicine

  • Effects : safe on block / special cancelable / Freacking small pushback

  • Side effect : cancelled into a Ball, moves Akuma a damn big square forward !

  • Can make 1st hit of HK tatsu connect when other normals would make it whiff (too far) ex: cr :mp: cr :mp: xx hk tatsu on crouching Abel, cr :mp: st :mk: xx HK tatsu work and open the FADC followup on a standing Abel :slight_smile:

  • Bad news : cl :mk: xx ball isn’t block string, Akuma ony ball block string is HP x ball
    1 frame link unless linked from close :lp: but as easy as Guile 1 frame cr :mp: , not so bad.

  • Good news : On those chars where you get far mk after 2x crouched lights, usually standing close lp hits do less pushback and then give you the close :mk:
    So use cr :lk: st :lp: to hitconfirm on these guyz and cl :mk: xx ball fadc cr :hp: , BNB or cl :mk: xx HK tatsu FADC cl :hp: , BNB.

Picture please…

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: cr :lp:

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/6558/72oo.png

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: cr :mp:

http://imageshack.us/a/img543/908/q1cg.png

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: st :mk:

http://imageshack.us/a/img19/5720/j76m.png

Hmmm, not so good…

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: cr :mp: xx Ball

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/1097/dwm0.png

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: cr :mk: xx Ball

http://imageshack.us/a/img836/5588/gl75.png

Spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: st :mk: xx Ball

http://imageshack.us/a/img706/5206/uhwn.png

WHAT ?? Hell yeah !!!

In corner, spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: st :mp: xx Ball

http://imageshack.us/a/img203/7597/py92.png

In corner, spacing after : cr :lk: cr :lp: st. :mk: xx ball

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/1408/w926.png

After 2 years playing this game as Akuma, I never saw cl st Mk used, and I never did myself.
I already did my research like everyone around close :mp: and close :mk: but never really noticed this mk gave different results if cancelled to ball. That’s the key here.

But I for sure find very unfair to have to burn meter after an hit confirm to have decent follow up only because cl or cr :hp: can’t reach by a few pixels or other things don’t hit crouchers.

Close Mk solve this very well on standing opponent and on some crouchers. Jump in training room to check yourself.
New hitconfirm can be a raw cr :mp: , cl :mk: xx fireball, instead of lights, with almost granted cl :hp: or cr :hp: if you confirm an FADC off of it.
And you can switch this : cr :lk: cr :lp: cr :mp: xx fireball FADC sweep with cr :lk: cr :lp: st :mk: xx fireball FADC cr :hp: xx tatsu sweep on some chars SRK on others.
This can turn the round instead of an fadc sweep you fadc to :hp: .

Still char spec, still need to check the outcome for every char and both stand and crouch, still need caution with the normals you put ahead of it. But I really think top level players should use this. You know, they can, not like us…

2

i presume this isnt a true blockstring?

3

It’s not a blockstring like all medium into ball.
It’s a very nice frame trap though, that will position you point blank after the cancel to fireball fadc.
The only limit is the char specific ones. cl mk turn into far mk on some crouchers and some big hitboxes.
Do your homework before the match :slight_smile:

Adding another application on first post.

4

I prefer st.:mp: over st.:mk: and ill tell you why.

First lets begin with some frame data. St.:mk: has 5 start up frames while st.:mp: has 3 but that’s only the beginning. Both on counter-hit get +3 more advantage frames. For st.:mk: that’s +4, however st.:mp: is +7! That’s ripe for sweep territory. Now st.:mk: is -2 on block and has more push-back (if not canceled) but st.:mp: is -1 with less push-block. Now no matter what range you do st.:mk: at you don’t have many options afterwards outside of your far reaching normals and no combo-ability. While st.:mp: isn’t that great in this regard either you do have follow ups but mostly on crouching characters, whether on block or hit but because there’s still a fair amount of push-back you can still place yourself with the right sequence of normals to put you where you want to be. Remember though the key here is you have a 3 frame normal that can lead to counter-hit sweep.

Now lets talk about canceling. Fireball canceling with either from mid-screen is perfectly safe from any distance and as a reference point, puts you at the tip range of Ryus cr.:mk:. Even though fireball is -4 you still have time to walk back out of that range as you can see in your images. The problem with these strategies arise in the corner. If you cancel with a regular fireball you can be punished with most 4 frame moves (srks included), if you used either normal, whether you spaced them at max distance or not.

The only way to make either of these safe are by using ex-fireball, :hp: shaku, ex shaku or ex tatsu.

Well begin with st.:mk:. I will say its the go-to option in the corner because how it moves Akuma forward. St.:mk: xx ex-fireball/:hp: shaku put him in a range where he can throw where as st.:mp: puts him out of that range and in no real offensive position. Now that that’s out of the way I can tell you canceling either with ex-shaku is a great option for both because of the fact ex-shaku is +12 on block. This gives you ample time to walk up and do something. However the sad thing about all of these options are that they’re not true blockstrings. Do not fret however because there is always ex-tatsu. Its completely safe on block (even from Ryus :hp: super) and is a block string when canceled from either normal. Even better because of the how st.:mp: and st.:mk: move you forward they both allow all hits of ex-tatsu to land and toss your opponent back into the corner. In the case of any of these specials landing they create a soft knockdown corner mixup (like you see Tokido do) or can be ended with a DP.

Now while I can see st.:mk: has usages in the corner I still feel like st.:mp: is the better option overall but mostly because of it starting up in 3 frames and leading to an easy counter-hit sweep setup.

5

Yes, but I am not comparing 2 normals with numbers, but for the effect they do in positioning AND only canceled to fireball as this is a trigger for the push forward effect, AND while hitting the opponent. You jumped way too far of the subject there :slight_smile:
I’m not poking with it. I would never use this as hitconfirm.

After hitconfirm thought, cl MK gives something no other normals can provide. Correct me if I’m wrong.
On crouchers, connecting a cr HP after the first FADC is pretty much impossible mid screen. (not talking about punish of course)
Using cl MK xx fireball instead of any other mediums xx fireball brings you almost point blank range.
And yes cl.MK comes with a lot of drawback, very char spec range, turn into far MK very easy. Training specific situation is how you handle this.

And that’s it.

I’m not asking people to use cl.MK instead of cl.MP elsewhere.
All I’m saying is recheck your FADC BnB against crouchers because this normal could give you a cr.HP tatsu sweep or SRK for the round, instead of a single sweep. (if you use the right combo I listed earlier). That would probably only benefits top players japan style, those that can choose the right combo in every situations, but hey, if I can’t fight, I can still think :slight_smile:
This normal could be digged in more no ?
Maybe USFIV will bring an hidden hitbox buff to this cl.MK and open a world of cl.MK xx HK tatsu FADC madness to deal with the crouch bullshit we have to eat for so long…

6

So then why show all the different distances after a blockstring, if you whole goal was to show how to setup a force stand move into a combo? I understand youre trying to show the benefits of the st.mk and to a degree its utility but im just trying to tell you that outside of that hit-confirm its not so good.

7

Well I though it would be better to show the other distances so people can really understand the gain. But I should have added the distance after fireball cancel also.
I’m aware of what you tried to say, I was on another level, and didn’t wan’t to point the obvious of the basics and utility of those normals out of this particular use. That’s all :slight_smile:

8

Very nice post, Shabrout. I’m gonna give it more of a chance in casuals and see how it goes.

9

Thank you Zid, I’m not at the level required to give it more credit though. Still a long way before this would make any difference in my win/lose ratio.
But maybe someone will !

10

Before I upload my video about Akuma vs Dictator mu, I’ll just say this :
Against Dictators that abuse ex Stomp on wake up.
jumping attak, cr:(lk-lp), cr:(lk-lp-HK) “confirm ex stomp in the air”, whiff st:mk

The best answer to head stomp is walk under and punish. But proxi block make this hazardous so you usually have to use dashes to be sure to move out of reach before you punish. Dashes can be hard to input in the heat of the game but pushing a button is easy enough. st.Mk animation make Akuma hurtbox shift A LOT forward. Guaranteed stomp whiff point blank ready for the max punish in this precise situation.