1

I’ve just gotten off from an afternoon of ONLY fighting Ryu’s. I didn’t want it that way but everyone who challenged me today seems to main Ryu.

So whilst fighting Ryu I was confronted with his magical ability to combo off everything and I thought “wouldn’t be great if all I had to do was one AA and then I could go to ultra everytime”. But as far as I know, I can’t, I have to work very hard to land my ultra 2.

Or “wouldn’t it be great if all I had to do was connect a cr.m kick and then I have my options of what combos to go for to cause crazy damage”. But I don’t. As far as I know, I CAN go to FB from m. kick but it’s not a combo, ryu can cr m.kick ME before the FB comes out, and then I’m caught in a combo again.

So when I’m playing, my main pokes are step kick and cr. med kick. Can Ken actually combo into anything from either of these or are they only good as pokes alone?

I’m feeling very limited with Ken these days. it feels like all of the other characters have more options and really easy ways to combo into ultra, and all I have is pokes and a knockdown game. IE once I get a knockdown, I keep going with crossover attacks into DP for as long as I can.

I know there’s a combo thread but tbh? I can’t read that stuff. It makes no sense to me + it doesn’t seem to have been updated for 2012. Apologies if I’m wrong. I know that stuff takes effort to create. Thanks for any help guys. It’s all appreciated.

2

You could’ve asked in the Q&A Thread. What exactly don’t you understand in the Combo Thread? All the combos apply to 2012 so you can trust everything on that list.

Maybe it’s just me but Street Fighter to me is more of turning your opponent into your puppet through space control and a strong ground game rather than combos.

You can compete very well as long as you can do the basics:
cr.LK, cr.LP xx HP SRK,
cr.MK xx Special,
cl.st.HK xx Special

If you’re feeling limited from Ken, it’s probably because you need to work on putting your opponent on edge so they can commit to mistakes. Having a basic understanding of Mix-ups, Momentum, Footsiesand Zoningwill get you very far with Street Fighter.

3

That’s the thing… I do have all of those combos down, but by far the 1st is the most common.

I guess every battle is the same now. I’m looking for a knockdown, and then it’s jump crossover, cr.LK, cr.LP xx HP SRK and repeat.

So step kick doesn’t combo into anything?

My meta game actually isn’t that bad now. It’s just that I’m ALWAYS using the same tools because they’re by far the best for the job and I guess it’s getting a little old.

Thx for the reply though. 40 views and you were the first to say something. Apprectiated dude.

4

You can combo a step-kick on counter-hit, you can cr.LP, cr.LK or LP/HP SRK.

After a knockdown, you can:
[LIST=1]
[]Cross-up or not with LK/MK
[]Empty jump(not push a button in the air) and instantly go low with LK/MK into whatever
[]Walk/dash up grab if they block
[]Walk/dash up meaty(early) normal which will beat out a grab attempt.
[*]Ken’s Fake Thunder Kick Mix-ups by G77
[/LIST]

5

Hang on, yr 2nd main combo, cr.MK xx Special, is that a combo?

Because against good players, if I try to do cr.mk xx FB, they will always be able to punish my mk before the FB comes out???

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It’s mostly for punishes where your opponent is far away or if the cr.MK will allow Ken to avoid specific high moves like Bisons stomp.

Cr.MK xx FB will combo if it’s on counter but I prefer not to cancel it since it’s not safe like you said and doesn’t really leave room to continue pressure. Cr.MK at max range and mix the followup with far st.HK, HK overhead, Step Kick or Kara Focus will allow you to continue pressure.

You don’t always need to look for combos, just making your opponent second guess themselves with strong ground control is just as good. Make you’re opponent push buttons so you can hit them. If they won’t push buttons, throw them.

7

CH Step kick is +4, so you could also follow up with a cr.mk , or ex srk :stuck_out_tongue:

8

CH Step Kick? What’s the CH stand for?

And does the +4 mean that I have 4 frames still in which to do something? I tried to follow up step kick in training mode but nothing wanted to work.

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You can combo from step kick but you have a very good options after it, if it is blocked you can do a hp.srk cancel it into full U1 or mp.srk for damage or cr.hk for a hard knockdown, you can also do a kara throw if the rival expect a srk… so it is an awesome move as you see.

Ken is not bad poking so use it, also, you can combo almost everything from a cr.lk, some options are (optinal) :
cr.lk, cr.lp, (cr.lp), hp.srk
cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.hp, tatsu (ex tatsu)
cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.hp, srk (ex srk)
cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.lp, hp.srk, FADC, (air ex tatsu), U1 (it is really unnecessary do the air ex tatsu but looks very good :wink:
cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.mk, hadoken, FADC, U2
…

Really Ken has a lot of options, and a lot of combos.

One of the best things is the kara throw, with it you can throw farther and make people fear it so you can do it or try to go for a CH so in a block string…
cr.lk, cr.lp, kara.throw
or
cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.mp
or
cr.lk, cr.lp, (nothing)
or even
cr.lk, cr.lp, delay, hp.srk (CH) -> FADC U1

as you see it makes a lot of dangerous things :wink:

10

Although Ken’s fireball doesn’t combo at the full range from cr.mk, it’s certainly not as bad ad you are implying.

Heck, even if Ryu tries to do cr.mk xx fireball at full range and you block his cr.mk, you can focus through the fireball for a free combo. So bear that in mind, even Ryu and Sagat can’t “safely” just throw out fireballs from a cancelled cr.mk, so Ken is not the exception…

Peace,

G.

11

You can even use U1 or U2 in the middle of his “cr.mk - fireball” (if he is at full range obviously)… you have to “read it” i know, but lets be honest, every ryu loves to do cr.mk hadou all the time… sigh.

Sorry, with CH I meant "Counter Hit"
And if you are at +4 frame advantage, that means that you can link any move with a 4F or less start up… for instance, cs.hp counter hit (+4) and then ex srk (4f start up)

In training mode, you must first turn on the “Counter hit” option in the menu.

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Thanks guys. Some great ideas here.

Akigami. Thanks man. Awesome.

So I hit the focus after the med. kick has connected? I’m gonna need the reflexes of a ninja to do that!

Talk about reflexes! Actually I’m thinking of letting go Ultra 2 and using Ultra 1, at least then I catch jump ins with an easy big damage combo. I’m finding Ultra 2 to be waaay to slow now to catch any fireballs when I used to be able to do it all the time. And most of it’s combo’s seem to lead in from jump ins, which is always risky.

I think because the game has been out for so long now, there’s very little new blood playing it. And any who do, will get quickly chewed up and spat out online. I’m only seeing the same old names online now, and they’ve all been there since before I started playing. Because I’m finding the skill level high, I’m limiting myself to really safe moves because if I take any chances, I just get punished SO severely. Yesterday I don’t think I even won a match! And I’ve been playing for well over a year now. It’s pretty disheartening. I’m not going to stop playing, but it’s tough when everyone’s skill level is so much higher than yours. And I don’t suck! I’m just not godlike. Not even close…

I don’t get destroyed much these days. I think I can make most work pretty hard for the win. But it feels like my win rate is going down. I’m taking less risks, but I actually seem to do better when I stay aggressive. I don’t like to play that way anymore though because it seems kinda ‘shennaniganny’. I’d rather win through pure skill and from actually hitting the right options at the right time.

Fuck I’m sick of fighting good ryu players though. It’s just so boring now. Same fight everytime. And about 80% of people seem to main him. So then a good blanka, Rose or Abel come along and you have no idea what to do because you don’t know the match up.

I guess that’s just what happens when a game’s been out for years and only the hardcore are still playing it.

13

You don’t really need reflexes to Ultra between cr.MK xx FB, just buffer the Ultra after blocking the cr.MK and don’t push a button until you hear/see the FB.