I read through the small HF thread… miss the old ones. 
Anyway, I just started playing HF more recently, along with 3s, so I wanted to get whatever possible info anyone could throw out for me…
Basically, my game so far revolves around cross-ups, and j.hk, c.hp, fierce fb for chip mainly, and throwing out a lot of lp fbs. HK spinkick on reaction to FBs, and c.mk as his biggest poke… any matchup help or basic gameplay tips? Thanks!
Learn the fireball trap…it’s easy and free chip. (slow fireball in corner followed by fast, or another slow…dragon punch if they try to jump out, etc. etc.) If they try to jump out after the slow fireball and you throw the fast one, they eat the fast fireball…and they’re still stuck in the corner.
Also learn the most damaging combos and to do them perfectly every time.
for example: with Ryu in HF, jump in with FP (RH), c. MK XX FP fireball.
or probably the best one is jump in with FP, jump straight up into RH XX hurricane kick.
Umm, kinda rough but sometimes you can land jump in RH/FP, FP XX jab DP.
I guess you know the crossups already so I won’t post those…like you said, Hurricane Kick (HK) has invincibility frames, so it’s really useful against Guile on reaction.
HF is one of the most balanced SF games…and it’s pure fun.
I like to buffer in a fireball after a c. MK poke so if it hits…or even if it doesn’t hit, it’s all good.
It’s also useful for pushing people back into corners…from there you can do Ryu’s fireball trap for massive chip since you can’t super through it like in other SFs. If you’re really good at it, even high level players get caught.
There’s more stuff, but I’m too lazy right now. As far as I know, Ryu doesn’t really have any horrible matchups…although Honda is evil to everyone if he gets in on you. :bluu:
umm Balrog vs. Ryu is pretty horrible for Ryu in HF. Zangief does well against Ryu also. So does Blanka.
Best crossup?
Balrog? WTF… where do you get your information? Balrog doesn’t have a headbutt in HF, so his only way past fireballs is to time his hopelessly low jump perfectly, or do a turn punch and hope the fireball will pass thru him before invincibility ends. He does okay when he gets in, I suppose, but that’s true of everyone, and Ryu still has Hurricane Kick of Hades to get him out of trouble there.
Zangief and Blanka I can see, but I don’t think they are horrible fights.
What? Rog does not need to time jumps over the FB. TAP goes through even the jab FB. Balrog can also watch for the fireball startup and just trade using stand fierce which does more damage and just as good (if not better) stun. Ryu trades FB with stand fierce twice or 3 times, he’s most likely dizzied and he’s taken more damage than Rog. And if the Rog player can do the redizzy combo. It’s over for Ryu.
So even if Ryu tries to throw FBs in such a way as to try to DP rog out of the blowthru TAP, that won’t always work since Rog can use the stand fierce to trade.
Sorry to sound so dumb, but what’s the TAP?
TAP = turn around punch
PPP + hold and let go
I forget how many counts (1 and 2?), but the lower counts have invincibility frames on turnaround. I suppose the level of play has increased, but from what I remember, people had serious trouble doing TAP through jab fireball in HF. Meanwhile, people in Super Turbo do it all day now
It’s not really a horrible matchup since more Balrog players learned from Super Turbo and not HF. Fireballs aren’t the only thing in Ryu’s game…especially since you can’t TAP a c. MK XX fireball too easily. And jab DP does do a decent job against stand fierce if you guess right. Anyway, the matchup isn’t as horrible as you make it sound in HF. It’s all really up the players.
You can also hold KKK to charge the TAP.
You have to learn to TAP through fireballs, especially jab FBs. If you’re getting hit out of TAP by jab FBs it means you are releasing too early. BTW TAP no longer has invincibility in ST IIRC. So you can’t use that tactic in Super Turbo.
Balrog can’t TAP through a c.mkXXfireball. But he doesn’t need to. Balrog can walk towards Ryu holding 3 kicks and just watch what Ryu does. He tries to low forward or sweep, TAP. Goes thru the low kick and hits Ryu. He tries the fireball at about half-screen distance, Rog just watches for the FB startup and hits stand fierce. Trades with the FB for more damage and stun. If Ryu tries to jump rog can just hit stand strong or crouch fierce. And about DPing stand fierce…the ROg player doesn’t have to hit the button until he sees the fireball startup and he’ll still tag Ryu for the trade. Or I can just do nothing and let you whiff the DP. I get a free TAP or a grab.
My bad about Super Turbo’s TAP, I’m not a big ST player…I’ll get into it eventually. There was a Balrog thread for HF someone posted once in SRK that was incredible. I forget who it was, but maybe someone can find it again or bump it.
Hmm, maybe Ryu’s best strategy would be to wait Balrog out in HF then. psychic jab DP is kind of a crapshoot if Ryu player stays away all day…same with Hurricane Kick…one knockdown by Ryu can lead to crossups and FB chip games. Anyway, I’m not disagreeing with you totally, I’m just trying to get information out there and see what happens.
Unless d.forward->FB is true combo, Rog can TAP thru the FB. Which means no sweep to FB pushout unless you’re close enough so that there isn’t a gap. (from what I remember anyhow)
I can maybe see it being hard from far out, where Rog has to get around the FB and get into s.fierce/TAP range… But once he’s in it’s no FBs allowed outside of combo. I think I even remember reading a post where someone said you could combo after the TAP?? (Normal one, not a meaty TAP… I think Apoc posted it? I’ll go look for it)
Umm… Isn’t this a Ryu thread? 
Learn CPS1 chain, it’s too good. After crossup RH go for d.shorts. If they connect you can react with s.fierce->FB for dizzy. If they’re blocked you can go for throw/pushout/whatever you want instead…
Yeah, Balrog is kinda screwed if he gets pushed out past half screen range, but Ryu has a hard time getting him out there. He needs either a knockdown or to somehow make Rog block a fireball which lets him get another one on screen to pressure Rog. But either way still leaves him vulnerable to TAP blowthru or the fierce trade which leaves Ryu at a disadvantage.
Anyways. Enough about Rog. Back on topic. Who wants to discuss Ryu matchups?
Actually I’d like if someone posted a Ryu matchup for every character in brief since it’s hard to find HF info now.
Err, I guess I’ll edit this later as needed…or not…but whatever.
Dhalsim: jab DP limbs when possible. This is gonna be a fireball battle at points. Hurricane Kick over close FBs. sometimes standing short beats out limbs if you’re quick. Definitely try to get in if possible…although I don’t recommend jumping in…i’d suggest walking forward and learning to DP on reaction if you’re good.
Zangief: Uhh…right.
Chun Li: I know she’s not bad, but I always think Chun Li sucks in this game til I get thrown and eat a lightning kick combo :bluu:
She can’t jump in on you well since she jumps so high and DP knocks her out of it. I personally recommend keeping away and not jumping at her too often unless you get a knockdown for fear of airthrow. Then again, I’m writing this off the top of my head and probably forgot something big.
Ken: mirror match except HK beats out fireball, and crazy random Fierce DPs from Ken.
Another Ryu: duh…maybe later.
Balrog: above for most.
Guile: Hurricane Kick over close booms. play lots of keepaway as his crossups are usually hell to block. You’re gonna want to keep him on his side of the screen as much as possible or in a corner as he can trade or beat out FB in close…and if you get knocked in the corner you’re just kept guessing all day…plus his corner combos are better than most other players with his boom XX FP, etc. etc.
Honda: Actually one of the better anti-Honda characters. Uhh, jab DP + fireballs. yeah…:bluu: Don’t let him get in…ever…don’t jump in on Honda…dear lord, just keep him off me…fucking 300-400 pound guy > me. Honda need to only really get in a couple times…and his throw is so good…especially followed by meaty HHS if you’re not good at throwing him out of it.
Bison: uhh…
Vega:
Sagat:
Blanka:
I’m lazy…other people can post since I haven’t played this game in forever.
Zangief is giving me some problems… oddly. Doesn’t j.rh, s.fierce, fireball combo? Practicing vs the CPU to get some combos down since my friends were out to work, he kept command throwing me out of the combo. It is between the fierce and fireball… odd.
I can only assume you mean j. RH, s. FP XX fireball. Uhh, if I remember right, it should combo, but I never do that combo. Maybe you’re not cancelling FP into fireball fast enough, or maybe you’re not hitting him with the close FP, or CPU Zangief is cheating, or maybe it doesn’t combo and i’m wrong…but okay.
If you’re that close anyway, i’d either recommend you do s. FP XX jab DP or j. RH XX HK instead, but hey, whatever works.
Ya, I meant j.rh, sorry. Anyway, I’m canceling it fine, and works vs other characters… must be the CPU. j.rh, s.fierce, lp dl then? What is the best way to punish a dizzy?
I’m not really that good at HF, but I usually do j. FP, j. RH (straight up) XX HK. But you probably can land j. FP, c. short, s. FP XX FP fireball.
There’s probably better crossup combos like j. RH (crossup), s. SK, c. SK, FP(close)XX jab DP. This works with Ken so I see no reason it shouldn’t work with Ryu unless SK stun is different.
Other random stuff:
j. FP, c. FP XX HK
c. SK, s. FP XX HK (not sure if it works on everyone)
j. FP, c. FP XX FP fireball
I’m not great with distancing with crossup j. RH, I think crossup j. Forward is easier. Hence my use of the easier 3 hit combos to punish dizzies.
When opponent is dizzy, the only combo you need is j.fierce, s.fierce, jab DP.
Weird Combos
Has anyone ever done any combos that are only possible when you trade hits with an opponent who is throwing a weaker attack? Maybe your c. forward vs. their c. short, and then you recover faster and create a combo?
Weird Combos
TZW (Japanese combomeister) has lots of weird combos like that he’s done on in various vids. You might want to check #gamecombos on Efnet and see who has some TZW videos.