New Goukens: Ask a question get an answer

yeah, thats the whole point, need some traps for delayed tech too. Imma try those. Thanks guys!~

Hello everyone!

So I’m considering picking up Gouken to begin my journey in v2012. I’ve learned most of my BnB’s, reactions to jump in’s for anti-air’s are fine as usual, and knowing how to punish where appropriate… But my question for all of you is a rather… Odd one, and probably one that nobody has come close to yet other than possibly Infiltration: What is the mindset you have while playing Gouken?

I think this is an integral part to this character. That’s really just the way he’s built; more so than your typical punish with any other character. He makes you feel stupid on his punish. My main problem that I seem to have is how to play him. His fireball game is amazing, but his oki just doesn’t seem to be there (and probably also why he isn’t as top tier as we would all like him to be). I think when someone truly picks this character up and shows what he is truly capable of in a major, then he will become more than just a threat. Thus why I’m still unsure about using this character in v2012 or not. …But he is a LOT of fun to play.

My Goukens mindset: Aggravate my opponent in footsies and fireball wars, force them to play my game, looking for that one knockdown, once I have it I stick to them like ACME quality glue(the good stuff not wile e.'s). I know they fear back throws so I aggravate them with counterhit setups, I don’t forgo the throws though. I want them SRKing me through frametraps, that means I just need to block one to deliver the mother of all punishes and put them in mixup land again.

If I’m down, block like a motherfucker, a throw or 2 is doable, we got 1k health, don’t fear it, the block is everything, then occasionally show a little what counters can do.

Also, I’ll admit it - Gouken only piqued my interest because of his fireball game. ;3

Mindset that I try to have is that of an old sensei who tricks the students to do stupid shit and teach them why it’s stupid. Sometimes, I do stupid shit in the process…lol.

And lo and behold the secret of Gouken, you are now the Student to Gouken as a character, as he don’t reward stupid shit like a proper master :3

TBH, at first glance from his moveset back in Vanilla, he reminded me of Geese from SNK fame; but I eventually grew to enjoy his entire character. Ryu and Ken’s old sensei back out of the shadows to kick some ass. And, like Climaxter had said above, you have to play him from a mindset to screw your opponent into making mistakes; then punish the bejeesus outta them.

New Gouken here…quick question: I currently main Akuma and am looking to second Gouken and possible main him in AE or rather 2012 since it just dropped. I’ve strictly been playing him 10 hours a day for the past two weeks learning his ins and outs. I’ve been through all of the posts, steadily watching these threads, watching vids on Youtube and just practicing my ass off. As far as movesets and strategy goes, I think I’m coming along pretty nicely. My only issue is defense. With Akuma I never really had to have a strong defense because I could teleport. I’m relatively decent on throw teching but I’ve found that since I dont have my regular out in teleporting that when Im getting rushed down I get destroyed. I use Goukens counter pretty good but once the opponent gets a read on it its not really an option at that point. His EX flip is wonderful because of the startup invincibility but it lands me right behind the opponent and they just continue the pressure or I eat a combo…this is whether I dive kick or parry. I guess my question is, how can I work on defense on my own…not by just playing with others. Like many of you I’ve invested thousands of hours into this game. My Akuma is pretty good IMO. I’m a 12-13,000 BP Gouki online (not that that means much) but I say that to say that I’m a really solid player and now Im switching and I feel like I’m starting almost from scratch because Gouken doesnt have any “get the hell off me” moves as in Akumas regular or EX DP which I can cancel. EX Tatsu on Gouken whiffs on crouching opponents so I cant even cancel. And as I stated before theres no teleport option for me anymore so Im forced to deal with rushdown. So…basically how do you guys practice defense on your own? I can deal with regular defense, i.e zoning, AA’ing…its just the rushdown thats killing me.

Block and tech like no tomorrow, and learn how to use Kongo effectively; if you can make good reads on your opponent, it’s almost better than a DP

Edit: If you’re on XBL, we usually have a few endless rooms going during the day if you ever feel the need to get some practice in

Ah, nah I’m on PSN. Yeah I frequently get Kongos but like I said, it usually leads to the person not attacking at a certain point and this forces me to have to try defend against a relentless barrage of attacks. I never realized how difficult it is defending against rushdown characters like Akuma, Oni and Fuerte. If anyone in here has some open endless lobbies on PSN, I would love to jump in. Thanks for the advice quez, I appreciate it bro.

Depending on the character as well as the spacing, if you do instant air ex tatsu, you can get away from the corner or create some space. Not the greatest tactic but it is useful if the opponent isn’t expecting it.

Lol that thing is a bitch to pull off. I dont know about you but I cannot do it with consistency. I can do Akumas TN fireball with ease but with his instant tatsu its almost like you have to do the TN motion and delay pushing the button. Now that you’ve brought it up though I’m gonna try it out in the lab tonight again. Thanks for your input. Does it have invincibility on startup/leaving the ground? I wouldn’t wanna be trying to do it on pressure and get jabbed to death on my wake-up.

No invincibility.

here’s the trick I use to get it decently close to the ground:

qcb,u/b,b+kk.

Apparently air tatsu has very little leniency comand wise, so if you finish it on back it helps.

If you just want to get from one aide of the acreen to the other do a 360 starting at up forward and ending there.

Both noted. I will try them out later on in training. You guys probably know this already but because I couldn’t do the TN tatsu consistently, I adopted this other method. When I get a hard knockdown from a distance, something like a sweep from max range, I’ll do a jump in and right when I’m at shoulder legnth of the opponent which is just a few frames from the ground, do a tatsu and it’ll crossup a standing/blocking normally opponent. I did this to a Ryu yesterday. He was DP happy so I would jump in and tatsu and hit the back end of the DP. And as a bonus it knocks them completely across the screen so you can start zoning. I did this 3 times. One time he did nothing and I did it a little high so it completely whiffed but I was still safe traveling in the other direction. On the 4th time I jumped in and did just a standard HP (which hit of course) into bnb yada yada yada for 630 something damage to end the match. I think its a good tactic to use sparingly…mindgames FTW

im new to gouken looking to join and become regular here! tried him out earlier in my sf4 career but opted for cammy over him wasnt an easy experience to say the least lol shes too hard for me to play, hoping to do different with gouken though.
Enough of me rambling as i said i was new and you guys are developed gouken players, what do you think is the best route to learning him and becoming a top gouken player? obvs combos etc but what order do you guys advise i should work in? my fundamentals are really basic so im not sure when different parts will hold me back, i dont want to end up the snazzy player who cant zone etc but can do flashy combos. please help srk goukeners!

How do you beat focus attacks with gouken? I try to do palm but that move is so slow that I end up getting punished doing it and cr.mp>fb doesn’t work most of the time on reaction to focus attacks. Should I try using cr.lk into tatsu? Or is the best option to just avoid them?

Backdash, forward dash to throw, or ex tatsu (armor break)

I’d say work on using your normals. Especially as anti air.