I think we should get a list of which characters to use which ultra on. Just based off of how that character is played, which would most benefit you in the match. It seems like U2 is just a good tool to keep in stock to counter rush downs, but sometimes you don’t get the chance to use it or may need to attack someone higher than U2 can go. I’d say the following:
U1
Viper
Dhalsim
Gen?
Seth
Vega
U2
Everyone else?
So the characters that are in the air a lot def deserve U1. Sometimes your opponent plays unorthodox and you may need to switch Ultras. I know I’ve fought a few Kens where I would have completely destroyed them if I had selected U1 instead of U2. Anyone want to put their input on this? That “list” I just made is just a rough idea since there are a few matches I prefer to use U1 on that I’m sure most people would prefer U2
The way I play against Guile or Dee Jay is by looking at their stance. If they’re crouching, they don’t like losing their charge, so you can advance carefully getting in range for pokes or overhead. If they’re charging back, they’re most likely to throw a fireball since it’s their primary way of setting up an offense or defense, so I usually just jump over since they recover so fast and FADC doesn’t help much. Once you get them in the corner, it should be just about game. If they try to jump out of the corner, just jumpback fierce kick or punch and dash forward immediately so they can’t zone you out with FB. Just abuse your normals there and you should be good. Btw, sorry if this looks bad, it’s my first time posting here >.<
Something that has helped me in both Vanilla and Super against Sakura:
Throw random neutral jumps out when she’s advancing towards you. Sakura players ALWAYS try to weasel their way into cross up range then cross you up to begin their infinite block string shenanigans. I have learned the range that they like to jump at and I throw in random neutral jumps. If they leave the ground hit ROUNDHOUSE. I hit Sakura players with a neutral jumping roundhouse almost every time I play one.
Thanks Sodapop, hopefully I can shed in some light on Vega match-ups.
-M. Bison
I’ve noticed a lot of former online Ryu users are using M. Bison now which is troublesome since his normals are fast and his scissor kick game is really good. I was thinking that to take away his pressure game is to cross over as much as I can, by FBA or d.fr. roundhouse on knock down to take away his charge. But I dunno, what do you guys think?
Good advice. Using neutral jumps on anticipation is a very good idea because of Claws fast jumpspeed. It’s not easy to react to and thus relatively safe.
Backdash is also strong against sak unless you are completely and totally predictable. Her lk tatsu puts her at +0, which is bad for vega, but if she lands in throw range, put out that throw! At 3f it will beat her strike attempt, or force a break, which is good for vega.
Mostly been playing new characters right now. Some notes on Makoto, mostly from her perspective.
Don’t underestimate her pokes. Makoto’s normals are pretty good. She’s not gonna beat you in straight footsies, but she can counter-poke pretty well and move in somewhat while doing it. Mak doesn’t like jabs, and she doesn’t like being zoned… but don’t just sit there and mash on c.MP, because if she sniffs it out, a low Tsurugi can lead to a lot of damage. Mix up your pokes well, keep her out, and watch her get frustrated. It’s not very hard… but be very careful about EX Chop and her sweep.
Mak wants to knock you down. Her okizeme is actually pretty good, and Claw has no easy answer to meaty MP or meaty chop, both of which are easy to time from her main setups. Backdashing or flipping after you block a meaty can work, but if she sniffs it out and dashes with you, you may find yourself on the floor again. Also, if Makoto has meter, pretty much every okizeme mix-up (high/low/throw) can lead to another untechable KD, and she racks up LOTS of stun. Don’t get knocked down.
Do not wall-dive at her while she’s standing up. I know this is SF4 Vega 101, but people are still doing this shit for some reason. If you wall-dive in on a Makoto, she’s going to hit you with Fukiage (the upward punch-thing), it’s going to beat whatever you were coming in with, and it’s going to lead to about 300 damage and you in the corner.
Karakusa’s very slow. EX starts up Abel-fast, but the rest are slower… and EX has no range. Like, no range. Its hitbox is inside her. Since you probably should never really be in her face, it’s not something to really worry about, but if for whatever reason she’s point-blank, be aware that an EX Karakusa will eat up an attempt to jab her out and then probably grab you unless the spacing fucks her over. Most of the karakusas you’ll eat will be from frame traps (blocked level 2 focus, normal>hayate cancel, ticks, but ticking into it is actually pretty hard). If she’s not point-blank, chances are you can just shut her out with jabs. If you’re going to jump out of an attempt, note that neutral jumps are worse than jumping back. If you nj and she didn’t karakusa, she can Fukiage you into big damage. In this respect, the match-up is like Abel, but karakusa is much worse than Tornado Throw.
I mostly use U1 in this match-up. U1 will land from Karakusa, meaty MP Chop (easiest setup for this is Sweep>dash>MP Chop; be aware that with the fastest timing, she can actually whiff an LP Chop and Karakusa you while you’re blocking), connected MK Tsurugi, and Hayate>Super>Ultra (which most Maks won’t do unless it’ll kill you, because a) they’re not likely to have meter; b) even if they do have meter, they probably have better things to do with it).
U2 is basically a more damaging BHC, and is used for more or less the same things BHC dealt with in vanilla (i.e. fireballs, tagging bad jump-ins). It’s a bit flaky at dealing with jump-ins, though - there are times when Abare will connect with the first hit but not combo into the rest. I think Abare might be able to punish flips, but it’s probably not fast enough to tag 3K or a backdash and I suck at option selects. I’ll try to play with this more to see if it’ll hit 3P backflips. But the tl;dr is that it’s basically vanilla BHC, so you should know what to do and not do.
And some notes on Guy:
There’s nothing Guy can do to you while you’re crouching that’s as scary as what he can do to you if you stand up or jump at the wrong time. You’ll probably eat some damage from his f+MP overhead here and there, but the Bushin Flip slam will not come out if you’re crouching, neither his d+MP elbow nor the elbow from Bushin Flip are overheads, and run HK is an overhead, but it’s one you can block on reaction.
Obviously, watch out for tick throws and the like. His pressure is good. LP Hozanto (shoulder thing, which he’ll typically get into from MP-HP target combo) is safe on block, but MP-HP xx Hozanto is not a true block-string, so I suppose you could EX ST him in between HP and the shoulder. I don’t think this is true of EX Hozanto.
Guy has a good ambiguous cross-up with the right spacing - he can cross you up with j.MK into big damage, or he can d+MP at the last moment to hit you from the front (for big damage). It’s hard to space, though, because his jump is so floaty. Look out for this if he throws you into a corner, because if he crosses you up he can Bushin chain you back into the corner into big damage or resets (cross under / don’t cross under or re-cross-up/oh-actually-that-was-a-bushin-flip-slam).
Guy can punish hard. d+HP>MP>EX Hozanto does big damage and ungodly stun, and pretty much every combo Guy can do will corner carry you. And you don’t want to be in the corner with him. Watch out for run-stops or short elbows, which are his main baiting tools. Up close, blocked MP-HP xx instant Run Stop is -2 (which can really hurt you if you think he’s going for a Hozanto and want to bust out of it instead of blocking). Don’t get too twitchy.
Ultra 1 is comboable, but needs the corner… but he can hit it from a little over half-way from the corner with a Bushin Chain FADC or an EX Shoulder FADC. Ultra 2 is a non-instant grab used mostly for punishment or in bait scenarios. If you see the animation and you’re not doing anything, hold up. If you were trying to jab him or something, lose half your life.
Guy CAN do big damage while you are ducking, that is the first hurdle you learn to jump as a guy player. Anything into ex shoulder, crouch lk into stand hp forces stand, target does as well, combo into stand mp mk tatsu for meterless fun. If you ex shoulder, fadc into ultra is big damage and it often pushes to the corner. Its not as bad, and like against most characters, i would suggest mostly blocking low, but it certainly is not the end all of his damage. One problem with ducking is if he elbows early from bushin flip he gets many plus frames on a blocker, but not many on a stander. I will use this as guy if i seem someone wants to keep holding back, lets me keep offense going when i didn’t earn it. Backdashing, as always, is fairly strong. Guy has big punishment but vega doesn’t really have moves that get punished often unless you throw out random ST. I could see him having trouble anti airing vega as well, that would be interesting.
As guy versus vega, like most of vega’s matches, his pokes really dominate the pace of the match. Guy, with his floaty jump, has trouble starting any sort of offense with his jump ins, which is how most characters get in on vega. his air elbow non bushin flip has a poor hitbox if you can get your character low, slide, crouch mk, or crouch lk might beat it, needs testing.
Just my thoughts, I personally don’t find guy to be terribly strong in this game, and not a trouble match by any means for vega.
Yeah, but it’s even slower and prone to getting poked out. Kara EX Karakusa can be really useful, but for some reason it’s even harder to get than regular kara-kara. (And the range still isn’t great, but there will be good setups for this in time once people learn to tick into it).
Ok I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to tackle the Abel matchup since i’ve been running into a really good french guy on live recently. I do fine when i manage to keep him at a distance, but if he manages to land a single poke and gets in it’s byebye healthbar. His mixups are freaking insane and it doesn’t help not having a move with inv frames either (yeye ultra 2 but its one time only). Abels ultra 2 is also a bitch to get around, if i’m too far away to jump over him he usually gets me with it.
I haven’t played a whole lot of Really good abel’s, so take this with a gain of salt.
1.Jb.Hp is good for getting some distance.
2.If you predict a throw exST Could be helpful.
3.It’s alot harder to punish Abel COD you can still punish it with C.Mp(I think).
4.Backdash
