Hi, I’ve seen many Ryu top players like tokido,daigo,etc. always do a light kick and it cancels into a ex hurricane kick. I’m amazed and dumbfounded as to how they manage to do this? I mean this isn’t off of a combo or anything like that they just do it while playing footsies. How the hell do they know they’re gonna connect with a light kick and then cancel that into an ex hurricane? Wouldn’t they get deeply punished if the light kick they throw out get blocked or whiffs? I’ve read something about an options select but don’t know if this is one of the things that is done by using that or if this has nothing to do with it? I mean aren’t they really risking the opponent to just block and since they cancel into ex hurricane then it’s a bad risk/reward. Unless the ex hurricane is safe on block or whiff?
They arent worried about it being blocked because they are trying to avoid making contact completely. If you look closely, they are throwing out light kick at ranges where it will just barely whiff the opponent. This means it wont hit unless the opponent presses a button or does something to make themselves fatter than the usual crouch/stand idle position.
If the light kick hits, the ex tatsu comes out. If it whiffs, nothing comes out and they resume play. The main idea is to instill fear since light kick is a relatively hard poke to punish. Knowing the light kick combos into a tatsu or super, it can make an opponent very nervous trying to challenge ryus footsie game when he has meter.
Wait, are you saying they’re pressing the light kick while doing the ex tatsu motion? I’m confused, what if the light connects but it is blocked? Tatsu still come out since it didn’t whiff right?
That’s the point, you don’t use it if it’s going to get blocked. It’s a buffer option select, just like doing cr.mp xx fireball.
They are not targeting the character only the outstretched limbs.
Yes, they are buffering EX tatsu behind the light kick every time. They are inputting the EX tatsu so fast that the light kick hasnt finished animating. This is why you may see naked light kicks randomly being used from outside sweep range… if any one of those touch a limb, ryu comboes into a painful EX tatsu. If it whiffs, EX tatsu does not come out and ryu simply whiffs a light kick. If the light kick gets blocked, you’re pretty much fucked… but thats not much of an issue if you are good at spacing the kick.
To add some context to the situation, these Ryu players have honed their skills so far that they can accurately place attacks that will intentionally miss the opponent. Why would you want your attacks to miss? in order to bait out a response from the opponent or trying to hit their limbs. You too can practice this at home by jumping into training mode and trying to hit with the very tip of the light kick. Once you are comfortable walking around randomly and still being able to hit with the very tip of the light kick, adjust the spacing a bit further so that your foot just barely misses the dummy but the animation looks like its making contact with the leg. Once you’ve identified that specific “looks like it will hit but doesnt” spacing, set the dummy to crouch and practice it all over again.
When you are comfortable with both standing and crouching ranges, you can start recording the dummy to throw out random jabs and crouching mediums. If you try to do what youve been training so far, you will notice that light kick will magically start hitting in ranges where it should whiff. This is because you are now aiming for the limbs and perhaps extended body hurtboxes (depending on the move). Add a EX tatsu behind every light kick and you pretty much have the whole technique down!
If the reverse motion is difficult you can replace it with a EX fireball.
If you have no meter you can use regular fireball which links on a counter hit. Basically - if you throw out a st.lk with or without meter, you should buffer one of these options in regardless.
Also get used to doing something like - cr.mp - st.lk xx fireball, since this works both as a blockstring and a combo, dependant on when you trap the opponent.