Option Selects - Guide and Discussion

This thread is for Option Select discussion ONLY.

I will use this post to compile together all the valuable option select info as we discover it.

For those unfamiliar with the term ‘option select’, this is a second command entered/buffered before the first move you entered connects. This means that in certain situations, you cover more than one option without having to react. Instead by entering an ‘option select’ command, depending on what your opponent does, your most desirable ‘option’ will be ‘selected’ and is completely safe.

The most common option select for El Fuerte, is to jump in on the opponents wake up with a meaty jumping fierce. As the elbow would make contact, you quickly enter the ultra command (qcfx2+kkk). If the elbow is blocked, El Fuerte will still be in the air whilst you do the ultra command and it wont actually come out. However, if the opponent decides to backdash the Fierce elbow, El Fuerte will land on the floor as you enter the ultra command, and will punish the backdash by landing ontop of them with the flying giga buster.

Below is a list of known option selects, this will be updated as more are revealed during discussion.

Commands in brackets are to be entered whilst the first command is being performed. A description will follow if necessary.

General Option Selects

(On opponents wake up) Meaty Jumping Fierce (qcfx2+kkk) - Ultra performed on opponents backdash. (Be careful against chrs with teleport / fast backdash).

Character Specific Option Selects

Dictator

Backwards teleport punish
Meaty Jumping Fierce (qcf+p) - Alot of dictators abuse the backwards teleport on wake up, using this will mean you follow them and can end it with a slide or gordita sobat xx super if you have the bars to waste.

To be cont.

It’s about time I added OpSel to my game. Good stuff for doing this

I think the OS run and ultra are the only real useful ones elf has. There are prob others, but they are most likely very situational like OS guac on sagat to catch his back dash…

That was someone else.
On Zangief it’s especially terrible. There’s no need to waste your Ultra like that, since you have a million ways to land it guaranteed.

Safe Tortillia is not an option select as you have to react to which direction they jump in.

Its a shame chrs like chun or sagat have a tonne of option selects which we seem to have one.

So is there a good way to use OS through safe tortilla against Zangief ? I am wondering what is the best way to punish gief that likes to dash -> SPD on wakeup if your safe tortilla misses…

Well I was thinking of an option select specifically for hondas who abuse ex headbutt to get out. You can crossup j.fp > qcf + p and follow up with a slide or gordita sorbat. It’s basically the same thing as the punish on bisons tele.works great on akuma too

when i play gief, Itend to do alot of standing rh’s to shut down his focus/ dash game.

So is it pretty safe to say Fuerte doesn’t have a lot of option selects…

Because they haven’t been posted in the first 9 replies they don’t exist.

I have a few option selects I learned from a Fuerte from North Carolina when he came down to Cali a couple weeks ago.

On wake up buffer d, df, or d, db (The direction you wish to run) then press throw + mp.

If they throw on your wake up you tech if not you run.

Im surprised i haven’t thought of this. Does that result in an EX run or a mp run? This actually seems like his best wake up option (besides block & counter) if it results in an EX run. (like it looks like it should)

If you press Throw then strong (similar to the timing of 2nd jab in RSF to fierce or a kara) you will get a normal run, if you spam all three buttons you’ll probably get EX run.

I currently don’t use any option selects with fuerte so that’s why I bumped this thread.

I do notice that i do get thrown often when i’m trying to run on some wakeups. I’ll be trying to add this to my game.

Going to try to add taht as well, it would definitely remove a awy I tend to take a ton of damage.

does this actually work? i didnt think you could run by only pressing d, df?

I think he meant you still have to press b or f to run on wakeup. That’s a great option select though.

im definately tryin this. i hate gettin thrown out of my ex runs on wake up.

Edit
is this option select only usable on wake up. cause if i just do it standing there, it puts out a throw and no ex run comes out. yet to try it on wake up tho

K, long post ahead, making up for lost time since I’ve been gone from streetfighter for a few months, every option select I can think of that I use:

The trick Paper described works, but theres a trick to it that might need to be clarified. It is pretty good at getting out of blockstrings where the opponent is mixing up normal throw and hit, like for example when you’re being rushed by a shoto or rufus or balrog. You can’t input a run command with qcb+lk+lp+mp though or else you’ll just get the whiff throw animation, but what you do is input the run with a tiger-knee motion(D, DB, B, UB + LK+LP+MP). That will cancel your first jump frame to the run, so you won’t get the whiff throw animation. Do this motion with the timing that you’d do a normal option select throw tech(delayed, if you don’t do this, it’s critical for fuerte, read the article on the front page about it, sums it up nicely). If you time it right, then if they threw you right before you input the command, you’ll tech(since you can’t input specials while you’re being thrown), but if they didn’t, then you’ll get an EX run. It sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty easy to do, I’d recommend that fuerte players try it when they’re being rushed down and put into hit-or-throw type of situations. You can’t use it against meaty attacks when you are waking up however, since if you time it as a reversal they will always be able to throw you(you can’t tech after the ex run starts, the OS only works if you input the command after you already would be being thrown). Hope I’m clear on how it works…if you don’t totally understand feel free to ask about it. I can assure you this does work though. Great time to use this is for example you just blocked a sorta high dive kick from rufus, or you just blocked a few low jabs from rog and you see his sprite stand up, you just blocked rose’s or dhalsim’s well placed slide, you just got hit with a hurricane kick from Ken, etc. Anytime that you’re in one of those situations where the frame advantage is somewhat neutral or slightly in their favor and you’re not sure whether they are going to go for hit or throw.

Vs. rufus, sometimes when he is pressuring you he will perform the mixup between throwing you, and doing a fast divekick to beat your tech attempt. This is the most common up close rufus pressure tactic. To beat both of these options, do a shortcut LK guac with the command df, db, df, lk+lp. If he throws you before the command comes out, you’ll tech. If he divekicks, you will guac him with the lk guac which is the only one fast enough to catch a properly done rufus divekick. Don’t mash the command, do it with the timing that you would perform a normal option select tech. Of course rufus can completely fuck you up for doing this by simply pressing a ground normal instead of the throw or the divekick, in which case you end up whiffing a LK guac right in his face. Usually it is safer to go with the OS run back tech described above vs. rufus since he has to do a fat tornado to beat that but if you are able to scout the rufus a bit and know for sure that he is going for throw or divekick the os guac is a good way to possibly score a knockdown instead of just escaping, or if you’re in the corner in which case ex run back isn’t really an option. You also don’t need meter to do a lk guac so this works meterless unlike the run. This also works on that prostitute Cammy when she does her similar trick.

Another good one vs. rufus’s wakeup is safe jump, OS EX guac. That will catch him if he tries a messiah kick. If he backdashes though you’ll be in trouble, and if he ex snake strikes he will get away. However if you OS LK guac instead it will catch both of those, but it’ll lose to the messiah kick(although you’ll only take one small hit in the air, you’ll be knocked down which sucks). Lots of good easy safe jumps vs. him due to the slow startup of the messiah kick.

Dawgtanian’s jumpin fierce OS ultra suggestion is really good against backdashes obviously, that’s the one that I get the most mileage out of across all the character matchups. Just have to be careful doing it cause if they do some other invincible move other than backdash alot of them will make you waste your ultra and often get punished. Most ex shoryukens, rog headbutts, etc. will trigger the ultra since they’ll make your fierce miss, then you’ll get pounded on. Depending on the properties of fuerte’s new ultra in SSFIV, this trick might get really really dirty. You know how many times your crossup fierce just sorta misses because the person backdashed into you or walked forward, well imagine if every time that happened a ultra command grab came out. That is one of the first things I am going to try, assuming that ultra spark isn’t jumpable on reaction which most people are saying that thankfully it isn’t.

One thing that people might not realize is you don’t have to OS special moves, you can OS any input. Instead of option select run to punish a teleport, in which case you have to guess which way they teleported, just jumpin fierce near the center of their body and option select low roundhouse. The range on it is enough to catch teleport attempts except akuma, for him you do have to OS run slide and guess which way.

Safe tortilla vs. akuma, then input a run and slide in whatever direction you think he might teleport is actually fast enough to punish his teleport escape and is great for that match. I don’t let akumas teleport away from me anymore unless they are random with the direction they go.

Guac after a safe tortilla is pretty good against most characters, catches them if they jumped out of the tortilla. Input the guac by wiggling the stick from DF to DB repeatedly and mashing KK or LK like a scrub, that way the guac comes out in whatever way you’re facing and you don’t have to guess which direction. If you feel scrubby for mashing, don’t feel bad, TKD does this technique the same way. Of course if you do this and they backdash you’ll probably die. Ex guac out of safe tortilla will have the added effect of catching them if they shoryu or similar airborne move and miss the tortilla.

Vs. Claw, safe jump into OS low roundhouse will punish his kick backflip and will recover in time and move you forward so you can punish his punch backflip with a stand fierce into whatever.

Vs. Viper, safe jump into OS low MK beats all her reversals. You’ll block the HP thunderknuckle, duck the EX burning kick(can ultra here after it passes over you, or even level 2 focus her in the back if you were expecting it), and the MK will stuff the EX seismo. As an added bonus, if she does a seismo, the low MK will counterhit, and off of a low MK counterhit you can cancel to a run and start RSF. Just need to be quick to react to seeing the ex seismo start up so you’ll know to start the RSF. It really mindfucks the average viper to see their wakeup siesmo stuffed and punished with RSF off a low medium kick.

Whenever you go for a crossup fierce on a rising opponent, unless you have some other plan, always OS a throw attempt. Fuerte’s crossup is wacky and most of the cast can make it completely whiff just by holding forward, if this happens chances are they are going to try to throw you right there and you’ll already be inputting the throw tech, and you may get a throw there if they weren’t ready for your crossup to miss or weren’t sure what you were doing.

Woot! Thanks for the tips, halcyonryu!

Another OS like jump fierce, but using slide (RH) instead.

After fake tortilla slide, knockdown or anything that you want ending with slide.

low roundhouse (slide) + (qcfx2+kkk), if slide hits nothing happens but against backdash or teleports like Bison, Dhalsim, Seth or for example Balrog if use headbutt (ex too) as wake up free ultra.

Yep, that slide option select will also activate and punish some other reversals like EX seismo. Won’t work against all backdashes though unfortunately.