K.O yang tutorial translation

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
1

K.O’s tutorial on Yang:

[media=youtube]dPwXJ3Bjqwo[/media]

This is a rough translation of K.O’s tutorial on yang including best normals, worst normals, and reasoning behind gameplay (big thanks to Aku for providing the translation)

Good info for new yang players or for familiar yang players to refresh on old info and learn new info

NOTE: This was captured from K.O’s Nico Nico stream, hence that brief pause around the 6:50-7:05 minute mark.

First he goes through normals that he either thinks are useless or not that great, followed by normals that are good:

  • st.LP is pretty much worthless
  • far HP isn’t used much
  • far HK isn’t used much either(though he does point out its merit as a kara normal)
  • cr.LP is better than st.LP
  • st.LK is great because it’s fast(K.O says 4F) and has good reach
  • cr.MK is his best normal because it’s very important for footsies and combos into Mantis Slashes

K.O goes more in depth regarding cr.MK->Mantis

  • Something he usually hears is how Yang players get their cr.MK->Mantis red parried. He responds by saying that both EX Mantis and LP Mantis both have 1 frame that are red parriable at the exact same time, so he says that you can mix it up with cr.MK->immediate EX Mantis or cr.MK->slightly delayed LP Mantis.
  • He mentions that Yun has generally better normals than Yang. In the case of both characters’ cr.MK, Yun’s has better reach and is faster than Yang’s by 1F.
  • Regardless, he still finds Yang’s cr.MK as his best normal and is important for keeping pressure on opponents. For instance walk-up cr.MK->Mantis as a mixup.
  • Chun and Ken have better normals for footsies against Yang, but one way to alleviate this is to make them think you’re going to just stay in the ground. This will make coming in from the air easier for Yang.

K.O goes into coming in from the air.

  • After a knockdown, you can do a whiffed LK Dive Kick and mix up from there.
  • If you can figure out the proper timing between getting a throw as early as possible AND hitting them at the earliest possible time, this will be very helpful as you can also get in those command grabs much better.
  • Apparently you can combo LK Dive Kick into EX Mantis.

K.O goes into a bit more detail with Yang’s normals.

  • st.LK has decent reach to it as mentioned before. If Chun sticks out a cr.MK that gets parried, Yang can hit that parried cr.MK with st.LK->EX Mantis.
  • st.LK is also good for stopping dashups. You can buffer in EX Mantis during the LK animation if they try to get in.
  • cr.HK is good since it’s hard to punish on block, except for Chun’s SA2 so it’s best not to abuse it against her.
  • st.MP by itself shouldn’t be used. It CAN combo into EX Mantis, but that’s just for flashiness and is never used outside of actual matches.
  • His MP-HP-Palm TC is fine to use, but st.MP by itself isn’t particularly good since it doesn’t have any decent followup.
  • Far MK appears to be good, and is useful in certain matchups, but is generally not great against characters like Chun or Ken.
  • Far HP isn’t used all that much by K.O outside of combos. It does have good stun, but it has slow recovery.
  • Far HK isn’t used that much either. It IS a better normal than far HP, but its merits are diminished by Mantis Slashes(similar to far HP).
  • A bit later into the discussion, he mentions how close MP is another one of his best normals. You can link st.LK afterwards, but K.O prefers Mantis out of preference since it’s safer. He can also follow up a blocked cl.MP with a kara-throw. It’s basically a game of chance, but that’s just how it is with mixups.
  • He also doesn’t use cr.LKx2 that much since it is harder than it looks, not to mention again, safety measure.
  • He mentions how Tokura likes to use cr.LK into command grab, but K.O prefers not to out of fear of getting parried so he just goes with command grab itself.
  • cr.MP isn’t used that often, but he acknowledges how it can be useful to catch jump attempts, as well as its stun properties.
  • Close HP is also really good. Even if it gets parried, the worst that can happen is a grab(but in Chun’s case, cr.LP). cl.MP->Mantis does more damage, but cl.HP can be a decent substitute, for instance if you’re getting rushed in and can’t think of anything else to get the opponent off.
  • f.MK(the hop kick) is best used on newbies. This is a move that WILL be parried if the opponent can see it, so this is up to the player’s best judgment.
  • K.O doesn’t use UOH…because he just doesn’t.
  • cr.HP is generally used as anti-air in certain matchups, but K.O doesn’t bother using it. He does mention that it has its uses, though.
  • cl.MK(the launcher) is also another one of Yang’s best moves. Jump-cancelled launcher can’t get thrown when parried, and it does surprisingly big stun.
  • cr.MK also offers as a response to opponents that may jump out of Yang’s grab attempts.
  • In K.O’s case, he prefers baiting throws and punishing with cr.MK->Mantis.

K.O goes into air normals.

  • There are only two things you need to know: his air TC and j.HK.
  • j.HP isn’t as valuable as j.HK, not to mention does less damage.
  • Neutral j.HP is also not that great, though it can be nice in air parry situations.
  • Jump back HK is also better than jump back HP. K.O does admittedly use j.HP when jumping back from a cornered opponent, but j.HK should be better.

K.O goes into Yang’s kara-throw(HK~LP+LK).

  • His kara-throw actually has bad reach. The only reason it looks like it reaches far is because Yang has a very fast walk.

K.O goes into the Zenpo Tenshin option select that was mentioned in the Match Vids thread:

  • F,DF,D,DB, hold DB for just a split second, then B+LP+LK
  • This is especially valuable against characters with a Dragon Punch move.
  • Makoto CAN also do this OS with Karakusa, but her Karakusa by itself is scary enough so she doesn’t need it.

K.O on Senkyuutai.

  • Senkyuutai(rolling kick) isn’t that valuable outside of combos. EX Senkyuutai has a fast startup, but it has no invincible startup. It CAN be used for anti-air, but he’s better off with cl.MK or just going under their jump ins.

K.O going indepth on Mantis Slashes.

  • LP Mantis is best used for approach since the first Slash is -1 blocked. In punishment or guaranteed situations, HP Mantis does more damage.
  • The second hit of Mantis is -4 on block. 3rd hit of Mantis is -8.
  • In poking situations, he prefers HP Mantis since it has better reach than LP Mantis.
  • When playing footsies with Mantis, it’s better to go HP->LP because of being safer on block than HP->HP. If it connects, then you can do HP->LP->HP.
  • EX Mantis Slashes are hard to punish via parry since it’s just -6. In Ken’s case, even if he parries and does a cr.MP, his cr.MP is 6F startup so Yang can still continue doing EX Mantis with a decent chance of landing the rest of the hits. Add to this Ken will be eating crouch damage so it’s even better for Yang.
  • One thing to take notice though is that Dudley’s st.HK will trade with Mantis.

K.O going indepth on Mantis Slash followups, especially against Chun:

  • One thing about Mantis is that it’s best to do HP->LP->LP Slashes when midscreen against Chun. The last HP Slash will push the opponent too far back and Yang won’t be able to continue his offense, even on Chun-Li who has the slowest wake-up in the game. LP Slash ender will give Yang enough time to teleport in and start his offense again.
  • In Yun/Yang’s case, even if you end with LP Slash, their wakeups are going to be too fast for Yang to follow up. You’ll be better off getting the damage in with HP Slash ender.
  • When coming in from the air after an LP Slash knockdown, Yang barely comes in too late when following up with a Dive Kick approach on Chun. Empty jump gives him somewhat better timing, but the ground approach works best. If you think Chun will block your jump-in attack then go for the jump-in. However if he gets air parried then he’s screwed, so it’s best to approach from the ground. He has better mixup potentials just from LP Slash->Teleport on Chun.

K.O on Byakko(Yang’s Palm).

  • It can be a decent tool for poking against Chun in the corner, since Yang’s hitbox seemingly pulls back slightly, barely dodging low attacks and thus the Palm will hit them.
  • Besides that and certain combos though, it’s not a particularly useful move.

Wrap-up on K.O’s general strategies:

  • He mainly likes to focus on using cl.MK, cr.MK and cl.MP, with kara-throws and command grabs for his offense.
  • cr.MK and cl.MP are great for comboing into Mantis, with tick walk-up kara-throws and command grabs if you think they block, followed by cl.MK to catch jumps.
  • Surprisingly, K.O doesn’t use kara-command grab much because he finds it too difficult to use.
  • One thing to look out for is NOT to mash EX Slashes. In Dudley’s case, if he parries one of the hits and does HK, it WILL connect and beat out Yang if he inputs Slashes too quickly. It’s best to figure out the timing.
  • K.O doesn’t use Yang’s SGGK too often. When he does, he uses st.LK karathrow since if he parries, st.LK->EX Mantis will come out. (NOTE: LK Karathrow is LK~LP. You input LK, and then almost simultaneously do LP. Treat it as if you’re karaing LK into LP)
  • Final words of advice for Yang players: Try your best and guess right often!
  • Final words on 3rd Strike: This is a game where you mix it up with attacks and throws. If you think they’ll block, then throw. That’s the most important fundamental rule of this game, so if you can pick up on this you can play anyone.
2

Nice tips.