Critique my Sakura? :)

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
101

[quote=“LegendarTyran, post:100, topic:151091”]

Here’s one of my Sakura replays if anyone would like to take the time and critique it.

[/quote]

Get more familiar with the dhalsim matchup, there were many instances that you could have beat dhalsim in the air with a jumping tatsu instead of a jumping HK that you used as a means to get in (primarily in the second round). You did too many focuses with no apparent reason at close range which didn’t allow you to punish dhalsim’s teleports with a cr. Hp or dp. You can also throw dhalsim out of the startup of his ultra 1, so this is a good option if you empty jump after a dp which you can react to if he does his ultra 1.

You have a good foundation with sakura but you give up your offensive momentum by taunting or jumping back. Every time you land a dp, you should always go for the safe jump setup (slight walk forward j. HK, if they don’t quick rise, whiff St. Lp, neutral jump HK. Press the HK on the way down). From there you have the options to mix them up with a high/low, throw, or LK tatsu. The opponent should be scared everything they get knocked down.

Incorporate footsies with sakura, she has great walk speed and good normals. The tip of her cr. MK has no hurt box so you can use it as a great poke at max range hitconfirmed into hp dp. Far St. HK serves as a great counter poke and poke in the neutral range. Even though sakura is offensive based, don’t be afraid to block or backdash to bait reversals when playing footsies or after knockdowns. Make a read based on your opponents tendencies.

Do more advanced combos, you don’t have to do the extended tatsu loops but at a minimum your punish combo should be St. Hp xx LK tatsu, cr. Hp/St. LK xx hp dp. (cr. Hp is a 1 frame link, St. LK is a 2 frame link)

102

Here’s some matches I had from a bad day:


What I got out of it is I need to:
Improve execution drastically
Keep up on character specif stuff (that Balrog got hit with too many accidental fr.hp instead of cl.hp)
Calm down, stop with so much jumping and EX Shouken
Punish moves that are more than -3 on block if possible
Get some real setups after knockdown
Stop using random air tatsu (It’s gone once I upgrade to Ultra anyways)
Anything else I’m missing?

103

I think your footsies in general could improve a lot. Practice whiff punishing and buffer hp shouken into cr.mk more. Particularly in the second round of the rose match, you were just standing nearly full screen away, posing absolutely no threat and wasting meter on random ex otoshis that you had seen had already failed against this opponent multiple times. I highly suggest watching juicebox’s videos on footsies. He also plays ft7s with players to help them improve that so check out his stream some time and play a ft7.
You could maximize both your damage on stun a lot more. Sure when ryu whiffs a dp you can do cr.hp xx EX shunpuu, otoshi like you did but something like cl.mk, shunpuu, st.lp, cr.hp, shunpuu, cr.mk xx hp shouken costs no meters and does WAY more stun and isnt even difficult to hit.
Another thing ive noticed, you have no clue what to do when you have them in the corner, this is a situation where sakura really shines, and you were sometimes even jumping back?! I’d recommend watching top players on youtube, see how they pressure the opponent in the corner and what ranges they stand at, what moves they throw out. If you have no corner game, matches like guile will just be straight up unwinnable

104

Submitted for the approval of the Sakura Society, I call this video "Escaping by the frames of her shorts."

105

0:24 if you’re planning to jump there I would at least use jump hp or hk, it does more damage and stun, unless your goal was to cross him up.

0:35 wasnt really a good time to jump, I would just approach him from the ground, and you jumped in with mk again, so I assume that’s your default jump in

0:37 waking up with lp shouoken isn’t really a good idea, the move has no invincibility, also there was really no need for it in this point in the match anyway since you have the lifelead.

0:42 You decide to go for this setup that puts you in the corner, it works out in the end, but imo it wasn’t really necessary to do. At this point in the round I would just try and keep him in the corner, if he would’ve blocked that, you could have been in a lot of trouble.

Round 2 was more of the same

In general I’d say learn how to approach people from the ground, your main way of starting offense is to jump in, even at point blank range. Cr. mk buffered into shouoken is a really good button to stick out, I don’t think I’ve seen you use it once unless it was in a combo.

Then there’s way you play, you don’t seem to weigh out the risk and rewards of the things you do. For example, you jump in even when you have a huge lifelead and the guy has at least one meter stocked to anti air you. Another thing you do is that you wake up with lp shouoken a lot, this is a terrible option, the move has no invincibility and will trade or get beaten clean almost always. Most of the time the best thing to do on wake up as Sakura is to just block.

Then finally I saw you drop some combos where you could’ve converted into more damage and a knockdown. I think you need to practice your hit confirming a bit. A good way to do this is to set the dummy in training mode to random block and only continue your combo when you see a hit. In game you can improve this by always being ready to continue your combo once you get a hit.

So in short:

  • Work on your footsies, neutral game, don’t always try to jump in
  • Always weigh out the risk and reward ratio of your options
  • Practice your execution and hit confirming
106

Yeah that sounds about right. I’ve watched alot of my replays lately and noticed I tend to play by ear alot, especially with the lp shouoken. But at least I’m having fun again.

107

That cr.mkxxshouken is winning me a lot more games =D. Can’t wait to try it offline.

108

It’s been a while since I post stuff here. Here’re some footage of my match against Abel, Poison, Rolento and Ryu. I’m still having problems with Sakura despite maining her for over 2 years now. I’m willing to learn, so don’t hold back on the comments. lol.

Thanks in advance.

youtu.be/tDUa5spPJ_A

youtu.be/U5tsTGlVfrk

youtu.be/38hNm6bFHFg

youtu.be/1BMjPeH3L54

109

Hey there, couple of things after watching most of the Ryu video:

You’re doing the throw setup wrong. Notice how 90% of the time the opponent is able to wake up, walk forwards, and make your attack whiff? The only reason it worked for you is because that Ryu for some reason failed to block subsequent hits, or kept doing HP shoryu even when it had whiffed 30 times before.

The amount you walk back is much, much less than that. The point is to connect with your aerial attack on the first frame of their wakeup - there is not enough time to do this if you walk back that far, as you can see in the video. Also, if you walk back too far, you no longer have a 50/50 and the opponent can just block - there’s no way you’re hitting a crossup from that far out. If you take just a mm step back or so, HP will hit front very ambiguously, and MK will crossup - that’s the true nastiness of the setup.

You could have been predicting late wakeup I suppose, but I don’t get that impression.

A couple of points regarding meter management and resets. I noticed at around 8:30 you had a sliver of life left compared to Ryu’s 75%+, while he had no bars and you had full bars, and it was round 2 with you having won the previous round. You decided to EX shoryu fadc into setup etc. You should have just accepted the loss and started the final round with full meter - that should be gg to you. Instead you had no meter for the final round - you won in the end, but the Ryu was quite poor.

You also do resets when it’s not necessary (i.e. no desperate need for comeback) - I do this too, because it’s fun and that’s why I play Sakura, but it’s not the best way to play.

It’s hard to be disciplined about these things in the heat of the moment, but it makes such a difference to my game when I do manage my meter. Against Ryu especially, since you can do that awesome tatsu loop (Cl Mk xx L tatsu, St LP, Cr HP xx L Tatsu, Cr Mk xx Hp Shoryu) for no meter. Having at least three meter in the final round means you can get out of tight situations, and potentially turn them into huge comebacks.

110

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I really need to manage my meter properly. I see your point on the throw setup. I’ll try to get the timing done right. Do you have anything on post h.dp setup?

I keep doing h.dp walk a bit jf.hp. But some constantly dp’d. Or AA.

111

I’ve never found the post HP setup to work quite as well as this forum suggests (basically, it’s not an instant win in all cases). That said, you have to walk forward enough so that the same ambiguity applies as with the throw setup. It is possible to make reversal srk from shotos whiff, but some are harder to beat than others (Oni comes to mind). Autocorrect will always win, I think.

The post HP sho safejump setup is different - in that case, you need to walk forward only a small amount, and aim to hit front. It helped me when I realised that these two setups are not the same.

I watched some of the Poison video as well, and it looks like you had the throw setup correct there. Of course, Poison’s srk is vertical, so the setup doesn’t work with her (better off with jf late lk safejump? I know that works vs Chun and Cammy).

112

I see. I’m gonna look on jf late lk. Never heard of it.

Also, if you’ve notice, I have problems with keeping pressure after getting a knockdowns. I should really improve on those.