I was messing around in training mode with Laura and happened to stumble across some interesting things; things that would probably benefit pad players the most. I was toying around with her s.hp, s.lp xx super. S.lp into super was a bit difficult for me to do because you have to do it real quick. Do it too slow and it won’t connect. I tried doing qcf+lp, qcf+kick, but qcf+lp overlaps with her special move (elbow charge). So I tried to figure out the least amount of inputs that is required for supers. Turns out you only need to do down, forward, down, and forward; no diagonals are actually needed. Knowing that, I figured out that you can do the following shortcut: down, forward+lp, down, forward+k. This works because although d,f,d,f yields super, interestingly enough d,f does not yield her special. For other characters, such as Gief’s SPD, you can bypass the directional inputs, but for Laura’s special, the diagonal is needed. Although d,f,d,f is ideal, in practical applications d,f,qcf makes a whole lot more sense (which also works). Holding down, then doing forward+p, qcf+kick also works.
So with this new technique, Laura’s s.hp, s.lp xx super is actually pretty easy to do now. On pad at least. Still requires some practice at first to get the technique down, but once you have it down, it can definitely be done consistently in a match. I only started working on this today, so I haven’t explored other possibilities for the rest of the cast. You guys can explore this with other characters and post your findings. This technique can be done on stick as well, but you’ll need to be accurate with your stick inputs to avoid the diagonal.
In IV you can mash the shit out of down and down forward, then hit forward + punch/kick at the last second and get a qcfx2 super. You can’t do that in V.
Anyways, I’ve been practicing this technique on stick now, and I can confirm that it actually has practical usage for stick users. Turns out it’s not just beneficial for pad users; it works quite well on stick too. But I still think that pad users have more to benefit because they can consistently do combos that would otherwise be practically impossible. Stick users don’t necessarily need this technique if you’re fast (I mean really fast) enough. But for people (like me) who aren’t, this shortcut could turn an extremely difficult combo into a consistent one.
If you’re not quite sure what this all means, just boot up training mode and try to do Laura’s stand LP and cancel that into super.
Here’s a video of me practicing this technique on a stick. I wasn’t able to do the combo (traditional method: LP, qcfx2+kick) yesterday because I was too slow. Yesterday, I wouldn’t have even considered doing it during a match because I just wasn’t consistent with it at all. After just one day of practicing the shortcut, I was able to do it ten times in a row–five on each side too. And now it’s definitely something that I would go for during a match. I can now hit stand HP, and on confirm, follow up with LP xx super. I think it’ll definitely add some variety to her stand fierce game. Stand HP gives you an eternity to confirm to LP.
Here’s my technique:
Press HP
then immediately hold down
if opponent is hit
then I press forward + LP
lastly just do qcf + kick
Although it looks like a lot to do, once you’ve practiced it a bit, it basically feels like doing LP then shoryuken+kick (making sure to hit forward on the last input) on hit confirm. It’s actually really easy and fluent to do. The holding down and pressing forward parts will take some getting used to though.
I’m curious to see if this has practical usage for other characters…
And finally, here it is: the end result of all my mumbo jumbo. Went through all that trouble, but now Laura has a far-reaching hit-confirmable normal into a jab super combo, that has a huge hit-confirm window, practically safe on block, does not require v-trigger, has crush counter properties, and can be executed with directional shortcut.
**Standing HP is -2 on block, +3 on hit, 8 frame start, can crush counter, and hits high and low. Stand LP is 3 frame start, and hits both standing and crouching opponents.
The super shortcut no longer exists in this game. Unlike in SFIV where you didn’t need to hit forward when doing the quarter circles, here you need to hit forward (but not necessarily the diagonals).
Thanks will give this a try later, I seem to be having a problem linking CA on P1 side but not two, I can actually physically feel the difference in my motion but can’t seem to correct it.
I tried plaything with a dual shock a couple of nights ago and my god linking moves is so easy, up until I wondered how some folks that didn’t understand the fundamentals were doing some awesome combos on me during a match.
I never used a pad for SF4, so I guess I wouldn’t know the difference. I used either a stick, or a Hitbox style layout. With both, I would always end on forward anyway when doing supers/ultras. The reason buttons (Hitbox) work as well as they do is because of shortcuts, and this game feels exactly the same to me in that regard. I guess it’s not, but it doesn’t affect the way I do inputs.