Getting Into It

Alright, I’ve been a fairly casual SF player ever since I was about eight or nine, starting with Street Fighter II: The World Warriors on a Sega Genesis. Anyway, long story short, I really want to get into it, like hard-core.

I have a simple question, just to start.

What the hell is it called in the Alpha games when either Ken, Ryu, or Akuma pull this move off which basically looks like a block followed by a Shoryuken? The character who takes the hit does all of these spins and is surrounded by blue circles during the animation.

That and, which Street Fighter game is the most played? I have SFII Turbo HD for the 360, SF Alpha for PS3, and I’ve been playing III:3rd Strike and Alpha 2 on GGPO online for sometime now.

Thanks guys, and if anyone wants to play online sometime my GGPO name is Alighero.

That block into an SRK is called an Alpha counter. Everyone in A2/3 can do it. Never played A1.

ST and 3S get a lot of play. People do play A2/3 still. A2 on GGPO gets a decent amount of people. A3 a bit more.

Welcome aboard, man! I guarantee that this will be the most fun you’ll ever have without going on a traveling or wilderness adventure, and/or taking your clothes off. Hope to see you on GGPO. With your clothes on. :smile:

As of right now, discounting people outside of the big cities who simply do not have access available, SF4 is the most played. Almost every SF player who can’t play it right now wishes they could. It’ll be interesting to see just how much the scenes for other, older games are affected by SF4, both short-term and in the long run.

Previous to this, 3S was definitely the most popular with both the casuals and hardcores. Its reign of dominance began definitively around the time that SFAC was released on PS2 and the Justin/Daigo video showed up on YouTube. Honourable mentions include MvC2 because its players are just so frickin’ hype about it, and ST because there will always, always be people who are still playing SF2.

I’ll make a special note of A3 too, as the fanboys’ favourite because it remains hugely popular with that certain demographic but not necessarily with hardcore SF players. All those dudes who love SF for its storyline, this is their game. There are definitely some legitimate, understand-competitive-play types out there who prefer A3, but for the most part the game is a scrub-magnet. Up until Guilty Gear and the proliferation of localizing actual anime series-licensed titles, this was the must-have fighting game for anime fans. At best, they enjoy themselves all playing Akuma and jumping around a lot. At worst, they wear costumes, complain that fireballs are cheap, and talk about how much better their own personal MUGEN arrangement is than the official game their playing. That, or they play world tour mode by themselves and think deeply about the character intros and endings. Sounds cool, hey?

(Hahah, how can you tell I’m biased? Huuuge overgeneralizations, I know, so nobody get their undies in a bunch, okay? :bgrin:)

Alright, awesome, thank you for all of the information.

I am REALLY stoked for SFIV, however their is still no release date for home consoles and I think that the closest one may either be in Birmingham or Atlanta, both at least two hours away.

I had never played 3rd Strike prior to GGPO, and I’m REALLY enjoying it, especially the “counter” system, or whatever the actual name of the “tap in direction of attack and turn blue” mechanic is. That and the sprites look SO damn good. I just wish that I had a real copy instead of a MAME rom for online play, since even the slightest lag makes the “counter” a bit hard to do.

But that Alpha Counter, as the name mentions, is only in Alpha isn’t it? How does one actually pull it off because it seems that I keep doing it by accident instead.

And one last question, are the CvsSNK games worth looking into? I like X-Men vs Capcom, and the two MvsC games, but a friend of mine has CvsSNK2 for Dreamcast, is that worth playing?

I would have brought up SFIV but not everyone has access to it yet. I know I’ll be playing it when it drops.

Alpha counter is by pressing

in Alpha 1-2-2Gold: :l::db::d:+P or K
in Alpha 3: press toward your opponent and P+K

What you described in 3S is called a “parry”.

CVS2 is loved by many. I say play it to decide for yourself. I tried to get into it about 6 times but no go.

i like cvs2 a lot but a groove leaves a bad taste in my mouth

I forgot to mention, play SFHD when it comes out!

So to Alpha counter in all but 3 you basically just pull a backwards haduken right as you’re about to get hit?

I REALLY like the parry system, I just don’t know why they say SF3 won’t be included in the newest release of GGPO…

But yeah, thanks a lot guys, now all three of my room-mates are getting into it, and so we’ve got a nice little “training” routine going, lol, can’t wait for Feb. 3rd of next year now, SFIV for home consoles. Apparently Cammy and a few others will be included on home console versions too.

You do it as you’re blocking, not before. In A3 it’s :r::r: punch and kick of equal strength while blocking I believe.

Alright, cool. Thanks man.

Are there any specific characters that I should try to get good with? I enjoy playing Ryu, but it just seems that that’s stereotypical of casual SF players, what would be an enjoyable character to get into?

In A3 I like Guile/Charlie, Dee-Jay, Sodom and rolento. Ocassionally i’ll go with Guy. I don’t think theres anyone specific to go with, just give them all a shot and see what you have fun with or feel most comfortable with.