is it still a 3 framer?
^around there ya
Some quick impressions:
RSF actually felt easier to me. Feels like they might have extended hitstun on cl.hp
Ultra Spark is going to take some getting used to. Its definitely good, its just tough knowing what blocked stuff you can catch with it. I was throwing it out against most of the new characters with ok consistency.
Normals felt pretty much the same, but shower kick and cr.hp feel like they might be slightly better priority-wise.
Target combo actually works now as said earlier
It doesn’t feel so much like Fuerte got changed, but that everyone else came down.
T.Hawk could be a problem if you aren’t careful.
played some super last night, and will some more today. dunno if its mentioned but cl. HK juggles and you can follow up with Run --> Tostada Drop. Dunno how useful that really is though. Does less dmg than cl. HK–>Guac, however. It does push them back across the screen a bit more so it could be useful for getting them into the corner. Target combo is easier so its somewhat useful. Focus feels faster too (as mentioned).
cl. HK run tostada was already in vanilla.
Dibs on El Fuerte XBL Avatar Costume!
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4294/ssf4xblavatarcostumes.jpg
ya i believe its a 3 framer, i was throwin it out all over the place just to see wat whiffed normals were punishable and stuff! catches alot of things if they arent expecting it. did a ex run up to dud and stopped a character away and he threw out his cr mk and i caught him with ult. for you to use it as an anti air, u really have to wait until theyre about to hit the ground which is AWESOME cause u have all the time in the world to jump confirm. i think the whole rsf for as long as u can hold it without stun is great! u can put out much more damage without stunning them, early stun meant being stuck in with crap damage scaling. u can go for the knock down while puttin down more damage and then more gimmicks into a big combo and prolly a stun
yeah, ultra2 having tons of active hit frames almost all but obsoletes the old ultra
ultra1 now is only better at punishing certain things (blanka balls, etc.), anti-crossup and anti back jumps
ultra 2 is better at pretty much everything else, plus more
very true! but i think that with this new ultra! u can run and stop right in front and bait the back jump and i believe u have time to run again stop and ultra! need more time to play though. didnt get to try it out but im sure this is poss.
cmk is faster now, i did 5 hit cmk loop on viper & guy
also fr+mk clp cmk rs cmk rs cmk i don’t think that combo worked on viper in sf4
One thing I did try last night:
Trying to catch a chronic wake-up backdasher with Spark doesnt seem to work like GigaBuster does.
try a quick run stop wen standing near their downed body. as soon as u stop buffer the qcb, if you see the dash animation you can then hit the 3 kicks. it should catch. i do think that the distance ultra spark has is misleading. seems to have a pretty short range
I can confirm that you can catch back dashes at least with a few characters, I did it a few times while I was playing. You just have to have it ready and go into it as soon as they backdash. I was also able to catch Rufus on a div ekick on reaction with it as well.
I am really excited to see what other situations I can get it to work in. People really need to worry about this Ultra, it’s not just goign to hit them when they make a mistake like U1, you can really use it a lot.
So you can catch a backdash on reaction? Because for the giga buster, you almost have to be psychic and predict a backdash to catch it, is it the same for the spark?
If you can catch a Rufus dive kick on reaction, then that is really great news and will help a ton in this matchup. Is the timing very strict to get him?
this ultra is FAST! u can punish ALOT of things by just buffering and hitting the kicks on reaction. u see a dash startup! mash those 3 kicks and out comes the massive damage. dud was doin some of his command dashes to get in close and as soon as he hit the closest one i punished.
Yeah, seriously, 3 frames is INSANELY fast. The range on it isn’t extremely long, but it doesn’t need to be. I am constantly buffering it during my run because really if they throw out anything its stop, ultra for the most part.
And as for Rufus, if he is right on top of you I am pretty sure it will whiff, but I did it when he was maybe a character length or two away from me and maybe at about Fuerte’s height. It works as an anti-air though the timing is a bit tighter, I really only see U1 being useful against Blanka, Honda, and maybe a few others, But Ultra2 is win.
I really would like people opinion on the Rufus matchup now. It still seems like spammed divekicks own fuerte.
And I do retract saying that Spark cant get backdashers. I did it yesterday. you just really have to be aware of how far their backdash will go or if the get in the corner because of Sparks somewhat short range.
Yeah Ultra 2 is by far ahead of Giga, infact they should have tried to make Giga better to compete with Spark…give some variety.
Rufus’ jumping roundhouse appears to have been nerfed or atleast changed, so you can jumpback against Rufus now without him jumping with you and round housing you.
EX Snake Strike isn’t ridiculous anymore, you don’t lose 1/3rd of your life if he lands it.
Rufus’ new Ultra I haven’t really seen, though I think you can’t Guac over it on reaction (I am remembering trying to do it and getting hit over his head).
Ultra2 is much better against Rufus I think, U1 probably won’t be used in this match-up.
I’m loving Ultra Spark! It was catching anyone who tried to poke El Fuerte on wake up and great for anti-air (even cross-ups when it auto-corrects). 
Btw, Bison’s Ultra II (Psycho Punisher) is now like Flying Giga Buster on steroids! O_O
Rufus’ Ultra 2 seem like it may be a fuerte killer. I got caught with it once off a tortilla that seemed like it was going to be safe. The big thing is that the ultra hits on both sides and works as an antiair and also has vacuum (I think) on the ground. So you really want to bait it out of him so you can continue with oki mixups