look, we are all waiting on updates but no need to be a dick about it to joemasters, updating threads isn’t really easy.
LoL, Joes stick broke so he hasn’t been playing sf4 lately, I’ll try and update this with a match up I know for sure like Balrog or Sagat.
How about the Bison matchup?
Been playing a bison a lot recently and it’s always been a hard match up for me (dunno what to do or it just seems like a hard matchup for ken).
When I get locked down by Scissor kick, seems like the only things to do are cr. lk/option select (beats/trades with bison’s cr lk/loses to roundhouse, mk, another scissor kick), cr. mp (beats 2nd scissor kick and maybe roundhouse, loses to bisons’s cr mp), jump up/towards (loses to headstop, mk, hk), or LP shoryu.
Also seems hard to tick kara throw bison since his cr lk/OS is so good. And unlike jab jab (pause) throw/shoryu setups, you have to commit to putting in a input right after you drop a cr lp because bison’s cr lk comes out too fast and then i’m stuck in a scissor kick situation.
Knockdowns are iffy since it seems hard to mixup bison when he has meter since he can either do some EX move or teleport away. And even if i bait out a Ex move, it leaves me at a space where bison can zone you out with roundhouses and such.
Here are some matchups I need help with: Cammy and Bison
Here’s a place you can look. OLD Ken match up thread : http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=178925
For Sim’s FB cross up a simple jump back + mk will work wonders. It is pretty safe.
Many Sim can get predictable when they do their pokes (usually after fireball or neutral jumps). Psychic lp.SRK it and get close.
Empty jumps (you will need to learn the range) allows you to dodge the fireball and his AA knee (one of the games best normal AA).
Quick FADC and step kicks are also excellent way to get some grounds. Don’t abuse it or you will eat simple 2 hit combos.
At close range your pokes and kara throw gives you good advantages.
Try pinning him against the wall. His teleport has limitations at this junction. As long as his back is against the wall it is very hard for him to get out (unlike Akuma and Bison). Watch out for his short slide + back throw at this point also as that is his other option of getting out.
Be patient! Don’t give free hits and pokes. IT is a game of attrition and meter building for him. You don’t want to be in a position where his Ultra and/or Super can end the game for you. When he has both it becomes much harder as getting close may mean HIGH DAMAGE.
Add: watch EdMa’s match versus UTJ in the recent West Coast Warzone. He lost that match but you can pick up good points on how to get close to him and apply some pressure.
I hope to see more updates 
Thank you for that whiteshadow, the old one should’ve been combined with this new one.
If he tries to do the splash its punishable on block. You can do: #1. sweep. #2. cr.mk xx rh. tatsu or ex tatsu.( preferred)
**note: the 2nd hit will whiff when u do either tatsu, so it will get only 3 hits (4 total hits with cr. mk)
And N.jump works pretty well against him, if he tries to hit ultra, u can just tatsu to delay ur landing or u may even hit him out of it.
And also look out for his slide, FA works well against this and if u dont, I believe his slide is punishable on block.
throw out a lot of cr. mp. It beats out scissors and his st. mk…it also keeps him at bay and makes him not so scissor kick happy.
I also like to try to bait out EX head stomp on Bisons wake up, b/c u can simply walk right under it & then u can do cr. mk xx rh./ex tatsu.
And if u react fast enough and the distance is right u can catch him with a rh. or ex tatsu when u see him teleport.
You better! B/c u know I HATE Mr. Jones III…lol
All I know about the Sagat match up is jumping forward fierce beats Sagat’s standing roundhouse at the right angle… lol sorry I couldn’t be much help -_-0
i am not entirely sure what “right angle” your refering to, but i would be willing to place a pretty educated geuss that at that angle sagat could simply TU or RH TK you out of the air… it’s just not a good idea to jump in on sagat unless you have him knocked down to where he can’t AA you. that being said a lot of people don’t realize how spacing specific his AA options are so they get tricked into thinking certain jump-ins are safe because the sagat they train against just didn’t know the proper AA to use for that angle.
do an update on Viper and Gief…still my hardest matches…Sim is hard, but at least I know why I lost. Viper can get even more “crazy” than ken. A random Viper is really unpredictable.
Btw–any news on the 2nd version of Sf4? I haven’t been playing lately, getting back into RPG’s and soon Demon’s Soul will consume my time…
I was thinking, If ken gets slightly fixed, you should be God-like:wonder:
We should play a few games before that happens, still on PSN chaos? Haven’t sparred with a good Ken in a while, I don’t catch Cynistar that much…
learned a couple quick tips last night at a session i hosted in norcal:
vs. gief: kara-tatsu can stuff gief’s lariet, and while it seemed like a fluke at first i tried a couple more times and found success with it each time, while not extremly effective on it’s own i noticed it made him more reluctant to simply lariet every time i acted like an idiot and jumped at him (note: i’m not advocating jumping at him regularily but on occasion if you can catch him off gaurd with this stuff it might open up more avenues for pressure)
also what was explained to my by the gief player is that 90% of the time their hands are spread with 1 finger of each punch button which means for quick throw attempts it will take them longer to attempt a tech, so occasionally kara-throwing or dash in throw can catch them off gaurd due to the time it takes them to shift their hands into position to tech.
vs. Akuma: if your facing an akuma that likes to flip cancel alot close range neutral jump or jump back fierce stuffs most of his options and stops him from being able to combo you even if he chooses right and stuffs you (only really happens if you react late, if you jump the second he starts his flip your pretty safe from his options)
that’s the major stuff i have to bring to the table, some of it might be new some might be allready known but… yeah can’t hurt.
I gotta second a request for Cammy help. I thought I knew Cammy pretty good but last night I was proven otherwise. Thanks in advance!
Close Spiral Arrow = Free SRK/combo.
Watch out for EX Hooligan at max range. Shit is QUICK and will punish just about anything from full screen.
Bait out Cannon Spikes and punish accordingly.
Far HK will beat out a lot of her pokes and fer Spiral Arrow on start up if I remember correctly.
Anything specific you need help/advice on? You said this Cammy did some things you weren’t familiar with. Such as?
can i get sum help against honda. he so beasty, dont knw how to deal with him
Honda
His FP and HK normals jumping, standing, etc will beat a lot of your normals. So watch out. Normally you want to be really close to him or very far from him. In between and he will poke you to death.
Since he is a charge character it is imperative you pay attention to his charge positions. You want him to get out of his charge positions in order to limit his damage.
Air Tatsu is a good tool since a lot of your normals will be stuffed by his normals.
Jumping cross ups and fake cross ups are quite effective as the headbutt is his only dependable AA on wake up. Sumo Splash can be used to get away from a jump in cross up.
Sumo Splash - one of his best offensive weapons. If he uses the light or medium kick version (look at the height) he is only -2 frame disadvantage on block. Meaning throwing him can be dangerous as he can do his command throw (one of the best in the game) to out maneuver you. At this point you can either jump up to counter the command throw or lp.srk it.
Some will double up on the Sumo Splash.
HK version is -3 so that is easier to punish.
FP headbutt can be punish with the step kick.
forward j.fp is also effective instead of the hk.
Mix up your fireball speed in max range as headbutt cannot go through the hado. He has a hard time with any character if he needs to move forward.
wow… so much disinformation in 1 post… first 2 paragraphs were good advice though.
so let’s get into what WASN’T good advice.
air tatsu’s to get in is just lp headbutt bait, a good honda will send you back to the other side of the screen for that, and if he doesn’t have charge s. fp will beat you out.
good honda’s wont have too much trouble doing headbutts to beat out cross-ups so your hope in doing them is to catch them without a charge, or do it early enough to break their charge (lk tatsu to cross after a throw is good for this)
sumo splash is not really a good source of damage from honda unless your a complete scrub, it’s used to punish jumps and surprise people, all versions are punished by simply focus’ing them (they only armor break if it’s a reversal). if you focus and they cross you up dash away, if they don’t cross up let it rip and punish them hard. because lk and mk puts honda at -2 a lot of things you might try to punish with will just get eaten by a headbutt or another splash. hk version is punishable by throws and shorts though if you had to block it… but why would you block it when you have all the time in the world to focus?
fp and mp headbutts are both punishable by step kick, but the lp and ex put honda in a position to throw another headbutt to punish you for the step kick.
now onto the best advice i can give you on this matchup… make honda come to you, once you get a life lead SIT ON IT. honda has no safe ways of getting in what-so-ever so don’t play into his game by rushing him down, play patient, take your small amounts of chip damage/poke damage and sit on it.