I’m a long-time scrub ( played SFII since I was a kid but never cared to be good until Alpha 3, but even that I only owned on PS1 and ‘good’ meant I could bushin flip throw my friends until they quit playing )
I skipped SF3 and didn’t play again until 4. I like 4 a lot but I’ve become disillusioned with it, it’s just not as much fun as it used to be playing Balrog and Guy. So a small local scene has been brewing lately because a local club is running monthly tournaments ( hopping between fun retro tournys, I won Alpha 2 on snes hehe, and the newer games ) so I thought SF3 might be a good way to start enjoying SF again, I’ve always been a fan of Hugo (as a huge fan of Final Fight) and I played him super casual back on original Xbox anniv. edition.
But now fuck that casual mindset. I have been practicing a lot the past few days and the rust is starting to shake off but it’s difficult adjusting to 3S, but I’m looking for some feedback and advice from all you awesome Hugo players
I’ve included some match vids from 3S:OE and I’ll add more to the playlist when I get a chance (moving house very soon so things are packed away)
well… from the videos i can tell your new to Hugo, Hugo takes time to be atleast decent with him , sa3 is probably your best choice to start, try to learn your matchups and have fun… :sleep:
You’re playing well man, blocking and poking at a lot of the right times. Just be careful of over-committing yourself with something like cr.hk or a whiffed Lariat (even EX) because you can be punished by a full combo if your opponent is any good. It also looks like you had Gigas pop out accidentally, perhaps from negative edge and an accidental partition. If you didn’t know, you can break a 720 in to one 360, pause, then another 180+P and the 720 comes out. If you’re buffering a lot of 360s try to give them some cool down between them if you don’t want to risk accidentally busting 720. The partition Gigas is a really useful trick though and something worth practicing more (it means you can use 720 as an anti-air, etc, with minimal effort).
One thing to start doing is Clapping more. Against some characters it can be a really solid footsies tool because they may not have a way to beat out your Clap from outside sweep range and it shuts down their dashes and some pokes. It’s especially awesome when used on the wake-up of your opponent’s character: it becomes one of the best specials in the game because you can headfuck your opponent for days with it (time it to hit, time it to whiff slightly early so you can 360 or block a predictable reversal instead, time it to hit slightly late to throw off your opponent’s parry timing, cancel to instant 720 if you see them parry, etc etc etc etc). If you use SA3 with it then you build super very quickly and can hit-confirm in to super if you see people run in to a Clap. There is a time and a place for Clapping but you’ll figure it out the more you use it against particular characters.
The same goes for parrying, it only comes with experience and practice, but it’s still worth spending some time in training mode practicing parry -> 360/720 so that it becomes something you can bust in an instant if you need to.
Your powers of deduction are outstanding, especially since he said it himself. I don’t know how you can manage to consistently make such short posts that contain such useless, smug crap in them, but you’re very good at it.
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate the feedback.
The gigas isn’t coming out accidentally, I’m partitioning it with st.lp/st.mp/st/lk’s, I just suck ass at predicting my opponents movements and the gigas’ range. I am going to try actively not using it for a while because I think it’s kind of like a ‘new toy’ thing. I just learned to partition it. I’ve managed to do it Tachi a handful of times but that’s not happening in a match anytime soon.
Thanks again for the advice, I shy away from the clap because it takes so damn long to start up and I need to spend some time in training mode I think working out peoples sweep ranges because whenever I do try to clap I usually get swept.
The cr.hp only every comes out by accident, usually a messed up 360, same for random neutral jumps. It needs more practice. The cr.hk I really despise using, as you rightly say I’ve eaten a few full combos because of it it, but against Uriens long pokes I just seem to fall apart and it seems to surprise them if I keep it’s usage to a minimum. Also sometimes I just fuck up and press cr.hk anyway, when my brain switches off I think it’s my default button next to cr.lp because it’s Balrog’s sweep (my main in SFIV).
What would you advise doing about this? So far I’ve taken to training mode and practiced a few simple things, mainly 1-hit jump-ins and supers of people I will play against a lot ( Makoto SA2, although that doesn’t need parry it’s easier for me to buffer the gigas if I do, Chun-Li last hit into 360/720 )
Would you say Tachi gigas is essential to learn, and I should devote at least a small amount of time to it every day, or that it’s something I can refine later on? I do like SA3 a lot but I pick Gigas for the same reason I picked Hugo, I freakin’ love it haha.
Claps have slow startup, but they have ridiculous block/hit stun and recovery very fast. You should try and chain into it off of something like cr.LK->Claps for pressure. Raw Claps are also very good for tick 360/720 setups because of aforementioned quick recovery. It may seem slow and detrimental to Hugo, but it’s one of his most important moves. Learn to use it.
I can’t think of one person that can consistently do a Tachi Gigas. If you can do it 100% consistently any time, then that’s pretty godlike. Otherwise, no, it’s not essential to learn. I’m also in the boat that starting Hugo players should try SA3 first. Gigas is awesome, but some matchups Hugo just can’t seem to do as well without the benefits of SA3.
After the first 360, you have to hold the direction to keep it right? If you return the stick to neutral direction, you lose the 360 charge. Or am I mistaken?
I’ve had some success buffering a 360, then returning to neutral before doing the 180. But it’s not consistent so it’s probably just my abominable execution.
I’ve also seen Hayao using SAII against Oro.
Thanks for the other feedback guys I appreciate it. I’m steadily trying to integrate Palm Bomber into my game a lot more, and spending 30min-1hour/day in training mode simply practicing execution, my 360 itself is very weak and I’m trying to get the rythms down for things like lp.clap lp.clap buffered/dash 360 and I’ve taken a liking to lp.clap x3 and mixing it up later with clap x 1 or 2 follow by lk meat squasher.
I’ve noticed the hitbox on hp clap is a little deceptive, it seems to sort of hang around juuuust a fraction longer than you expect it to from the animation (like a not-so-ridiculous twins palm). Is that something that can be used to try and throw off opponents with charge/dash style moves timing? Like Q/Makoto? Or is it something that would never work against an offline opponent?
I’m a firm believer that there’s a mandatory stage in every 3S player’s development where you actively try to parry every single fucking attack in the game, and that this is actually a good thing. There is absolutely such a thing as ‘parrying too much’, but it’s not really worth worrying about that until you’ve forced yourself to internalise the general spacings, timings and rhythms for 99% of the attacks you’ll come across. Once you KNOW you have that skill, that’s when you step off the parry pedal and work blocking back in to your game because down-back is still your best general defensive option. Most of your parries from that point will probably become ‘option parries’, where you pre-empt key attacks your opponent may throw out just ahead of time, and ‘reaction parries’ come in to play a lot less.
I think Hugo’s one of those rare characters where all 3 of his supers are genuinely brilliant. I agree SA3 is without doubt the best general super he has, but the other two have so many good applications in some match-ups that in my view it’s worth having all three in your pocket. SA1 completely ruins low-life characters, SA2 stops people from jumping, SA3 gives you a fantastic get-off-me tool that can also be hit-confirmed, etc. Plus all his supers are really satisfying and a lot of fun to use.
You can return to neutral and still complete the partition, but it’s harder than keeping the charge with walking or ducking.
Thanks for the advice circle masher, I’ve bookmarked this thread there’s a lot of great stuff I’m going to start working into my game asap. Claps especially, I’ve been using them a lot more but it’s gonna take a long while to get the hang of them I think.
edit: i did a little testing, it was just lag messing with my mind online >.< The claps hitbox doesn’t hang around as long as I thought it did. I just need to use it more and find this stuff out
I’m gonna get in one last practice session tonight before having to pack away my xbox for about a week due to moving house and a conference happening at the same time. But then I’ll be back and practicing every day Do you know if the 25th Anniversary tournaments will have 3S? It would very much give me a reason to go to Eurogamer this year if they do, with a goal of not going 0-2 like I did as VS Fighting last time haha.
Oh man, both of those sound amazing. I seriously had no freakin’ clue there was so much of a scene in the UK or I’d have taken to it back in 2000-2002 after I stopped playing CCG tournaments (I know, I know, most people think they are lame, but hey 2nd place nationals at any game is nothing to sniff at even if it was YuGiOh, it’s a shame I never had that success with MTG though haha)
I don’t think there’s any way I can go to both, even one is going to be prohibitively expensive and a huge travel for me from Southampton, I think but they sound really great. If I can work out the funds I’ll definitely go to one of them. Proving grounds is closer.
edit: Holy shit, dat clap! Thanks for the vid I’m gonna have to watch the whole thing and bookmark it.
)
Also, are you sure the hitbox hangs around and that it’s not just the heavily-delayed start-up compared to the weaker claps? 