This one’s kind of a mix of different tricks which’ll help make you a little tougher to beat.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, Chapter 7
Even though it’s only explained briefly, Element 22 is a big one. It’ll seem pretty straightforward once you read it, but a lot of players don’t know about this and it’s very useful.
These are great articles, and I thank you very much for the hard work you have put in it. I am especially glad that you have added video examples because the concepts are very difficult for many to understand and to pick up on. There’s lots of info here that all of us can learn from.
btw maj, this is exactly what i was hoping to do, and you did it much better than what i had imagined. good job!!! i love these and keep them coming.
Really? For a particular game or just in general?
Thought i’d write up a basic overview on hopkicks, because they’re important to the landscape of footsies even though only a few characters have them.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, Chapter 8
Anyone who’s been following this article series should understand immediately how buff a good hopkick can be. If you got 'em, use 'em. If you don’t, figure out a way to deal with 'em.
awesome as always maj.
Agreed… Good Stuff 4 sure!!!
maj…
GDLK
seriously i feel smarter after reading these in rapid succession. This kind of knowledge and display trains players how to analyze and read a match more efficiently.
carry on sir.
whats interesting is that there are a few of these tricks and elements that players do unconsciously, but its interesting to see the psychology behind these tactics and this is really a good way for some players (esp intermediate level players budding into advanced play) to really step up their game behind the scenes.
Batman couldn’t have said it better himself, anyways amazing thread.
very very good stuff, just reading it makes me feel like a better player now lets see if i can put it in my game
Even though jumping is absolutely a part of footsies, i’ve been a little hesitant to talk about it because i believe the ground game has to come first. But crossups are a major part of offensive footsies so i think this is a good time to look into reliable ways of setting them up.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, Chapter 9
Hopefully everything’s explained clearly but i added a few notes at the end too.
The last chapter covers the x-factor which makes everything run smoothly: Randomness.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, Chapter 10
You need randomness to throw your opponents off track so they can’t tell what you’re trying to bait. Without it, your whole gameplan becomes dry and your intentions become predictable.
great articles!! gotta read up
Good stuff Maj I’ve been reading these when I get the time, some of it doesn’t make sense at first but the more I read and play the more I start to get it.
Also, don’t mean to bother you, but for quick reference you probably should put all the links on the front page 
I’ll try to add a page containing links to all the articles soon, but until then you can just click on the Strategy category.
Shoto Whiff s.LK Secrets Revealed!
Ever wonder why Ryu, Ken, and Akuma players throw out [media=youtube]lOk_6mkwu9c]random light kicks during tense matches? I’ve seen this question come up on several forums and thought i’d try my hand at explaining it. In fact, the underlying concept of misdirection is actually what [url=http://sonichurricane.com/?p=1334[/media] was about.
Whiffing s.LK is a fake, but it’s not meant to bait jumps. Nobody’s going to jump at you because you’re whiffing s.LK; that would be ridiculous. What causes opponents to jump are the fireball patterns you set to manipulate them. They jump because they think a fireball is coming.
Now here’s the key. They’re only going to jump if they feel pressured on the ground. You’ll never make this happen by standing around. You have to throw those fireballs - enough of them to get in their head. It’s risky but you won’t get anywhere without following through on your gameplan.
But even on your best day, you’re going to guess wrong sometimes. You’re going to stop throwing fireballs expecting them to jump, and they won’t jump, and you’ll end up standing around looking indecisive. That lets them off the hook mentally. It gives them a chance to take a breath and regain composure. Obviously you don’t want that.
That’s where whiffing s.LK comes in. It makes you look like you’re doing something even when you’re doing nothing. It doesn’t maintain real momentum the way throwing a fireball would, but it does sustain psychological momentum in those spots where you think throwing a fireball might get you killed.
Make sense?
Maybe it’s not just about psychological pressure, there you are waiting to punish a fireball, then you hear your opponent tapping a button and Ryu doing some other thing that’s not standing, your untrained senses may just force you to jump. 90% of shotos players don’t simply press lk, they do Qcf+LK so it has the chance to trick your peripheral vision.
Good articles, congrats.
That is psychological though. Not like that s.LK represents any real threat to you whatsoever. I mean, even Daigo likes to whiff s.LK in that situation. Japanese arcades have linked cabinets so they don’t even see each other’s hands or hear the buttons. Though you’re probably right, i bet those tactics are more effective when you’re playing right next to someone.
so why is it LK? wouldn’t a Lp be safer? Larger range of motion? anyway seems worth a nomination
Yeah, s.LK looks like you’re doing more which makes it look more threatening. This is a relatively minor thing in the grand scheme. You don’t have to do it. I mean, it never makes a huge difference. Sometimes it makes no difference at all. But a lot of players do it anyway - partly because they buy into “every little bit counts” and partly because they’re mimicking players they learned from.
Anyway i wrote another article in the footsies series, this time as a tactical overview on projectiles.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook, Supplement A
It’s more abstract than previous installments, but it was too big of a concept to leave out and too big of a concept to cover in one article. In the future i’ll try to come back to fireball footsies with a different approach.