961

Yeah, it’s a fucker to learn this one. You really just need to pay really close attention to her model and get your head around blocking like a maniac. There’s no free “out” that I’ve found. Sakura is on my list of “treat 'em like Gief”. You can’t easily out-poke her, her strings are long and tricky, she has a decent overhead, and one of the best reset games in SFIV.

If you haven’t played a character (even just in training) that has resets, you really should do it. It’ll give you a much better handle on defending yourself.

962

I blocked like I never blocked before…but after the 3rd or so string, she’d sneak one in and the fun starts. What got the the worts is not knowing whether she’s gonna cross-up or not, and whether she’s gonna start her combo with j.lk or empty jump>cr.lk once I was down.

I’ve played plenty of Sakura’s before, some who I thought where more then decent, but this one left me speechless. It’s funny though that she only used 2 or 3 tools in her arsenal…guess that’s all she needs against Guiles weak wake-up options.

I’ll try to befriend the player and see what works as we go…no other way, really.

Thanks for the reply

963

if you’re talking about meaties, meaty c.lk should stuff jump attempts too.

964

np

Most Sakura’s over here are pretty average, but there are two on my friends list who are off the hook with resets and cross-ups. She can really suffocate Guile when played well.

965

this is true…but guile DOES have the tools to keep her out too. i think it’s a fun match.

just finished playing a c.viper. i can’t tell if the vipers i play are good or i just completely suck at the matchup.:rofl: now she has some nasty mix ups that are much more subtle than sakura’s.

966

Agreed. On both fronts.

967

seriously, more people need to rep viper just so i can learn the matchup!! against anyone decent with her (i.e mixups/can pull off combos into ultra), i don’t have a clue what i am doing. i lost 5-4 to the guy i played yesterday and this was only due to my combos being on point and her stamina being awful. i was lucky it was only 5-4. viper is actually quite similar to akuma in damage output/stamina and in terms of the trouble she poses to guile.

968

Unfortunately, you came across somebody who was executing their moves with surgical precision. Viper players who get it slightly wrong will usually take damage big time and she has less margin for error. I hate this matchup too, so I tend not to remain in one spot for too long otherwise I will get obliterated.

Air throws were a great help and choosing when to use projectiles also helped as well. I found that losing your head and doing wakeup flashkick is a no-no.
What i did find is FADC can sometimes help against the burning kicks (particularly when used as combo finishers) given that they are not armour breaking.

The hammer fist has different ranges for the LP, MP and HP versions, so viper players will most likely to use this from3/4 to full screen, so if you are slippery, there is a good chance of her missing and leaving an opening.

hope this is not too much of a rant. I have won some tough viper matches, but I had to play in an unorthodox fashion

969

Ahh, Viper… no recovery on most of her moves, an incredibly distracting fire effect that makes it hard to determine where/when to block, and that damn seismo. Really, I think the thing that puts her over is how almost none of her moves can be punished on block. I’ve been losing to Vipers more and more now that folks have figured her out, but like you said, not remaining in one spot SEEMS pretty key in this match. I’ve found that you can be semi-successful by basically jumping around like an idiot at 3/4 to full screen to mess up her seismo game. Forcing her into the air and timing jumps so that you can hit her while she’s on the downward arc of her hjc (to avoid that f’ing burning kick) helps. Otherwise, Capcom needs to seriously give her a small window of punishable recovery in her block strings. Seems all the new characters were given everything they need to deal with the old cast, but it didn’t happen the other way around.

970

:rofl: this reminds me so much of myself. yea this guy had surgical precision alright. not the best viper i have ever played but very impressive nonetheless. her subtle cross up options on guile are so tasty. overhead elbow drop is a really nice move. from there she can either throw or go for a combo. she has srk fadc ultra too, which i hardly saw any vipers do until yesterday. ex hammer and her fakes are just nasty mix up tools. ex flame kick is pretty dangerous tool as well. i thought air throw was good in this match but she was stuffing it quite regularly with one of her normals.

the only thing guile has in his favour is that if you can get a couple of 5 hit standing fierce combos on her, she is fucked up pretty quickly. however, i get the feeling that this match is going to be even harder for guile in super street fighter 4.

971

Anyone got any tips on the Guile vs. Gen matchup? I played the best Gen I’ve ever played today on Live. A guy by the name of Asiantom. Some of you might already know him from this site, tourneys, and vids of his matches in the Gen vid thread and on YouTube. I managed to take 1 round from him but I still feel like I don’t know enough about the matchup.

Asiantom is a very solid player though, which is probably an understatement. He got me with Yebs BnB combo in the final round which takes some skill to pull off. That was my first time ever playing a legit tourney player and I surprised myself when I took a round from him. I wish I wouldve been recording at the time so you guys could get a visual of how the match went. Anyway, any tips on the match up would be great. Don’t see many Gen’s online but when I do I want to be prepared.

972

Gen is going to jump at you; that much is certain. The difference between the good ones and the rest is the good ones wait for a boom, so then random jab comes into play again. Because of his low jump arc, far standing fierce and standing mk work for AA, but once he’s in crossup range it’s a bit trickier. Try some airthrowing. FK him if he’s dumb enough to bounce off the wall at you. That’s all I can offer; I see Gen so rarely and I go about 50/50 cause when I do see him, they generally know what they’re doing.

973

air throw is great against gen, but i remember playing one who was beating a lot of my moves including air throw with one of his air normals. (his j.mp i think). correct me if i am wrong. but yea air throw works on all of his air specials. i think st.mk works well as an anti air on his jump too…i’d need to be in training mode to know for sure. maybe even df.hk too.

974

Ok, I tried the air throw, but the low arch on his jumps made it tough to get him. It seemed like that low arching jump threw off all of my anti air timing. Thanks for the tips though guys. I’ll definitely keep these in mind next time I play a Gen.

975

Sometimes it’s about anticipating his jump, jumping first, and catching him on the way up with that airthrow.

976

i just wanted to add this to the thread after just getting out of playing some matches:

back fist owns akuma.

the end.

977

But your forgetting…

sweep owns backfist
sweep = vortex
vortex owns guile

But hell backfist is great on everyone if used sparingly. Once I see a character who likes to bulldog my booms it’s almost guaranteed if they are in range. Great on gief, abel, dictator, and ken especially it seems. Would probably work nice on gen, sak, and fei too but I don’t play console.

978

truth.

Akuma’s s.roundhouse and sweep make playing footsies with him pretty lopsided imo

979

:frowning: this in reality is true. what i meant/should have said was that it trades with air fireball but you win the trade quite drastically.

i’ve just been playing sakura and cr.mk really fucks up her walk up rush down tactics. can anyone tell me off the top of their head a good normal to counter her neutral jump from distance? i was trying df.hk and that wasn’t doing to well. i tried st.mp and i think that may work but i didn’t actually connect it.

980

I simply jump back with a jab or anything, even if I get hit and get a 100 damage thats better than getting a 50% damage with an almost borderline stun possibility,

btw, maybe you guys know this already but when you have a Sagat jumping on you and it is too late to l.FK or do anything before they start the non-endning string of (c.lp.c.lk, tiger knee, loop), c.mp gets him clean for a reset

I would like to know what you guys do vs CHUN LI once she gets in range OMG, her wake-up game is just amazing. does any move work against her back flip?