I’m just thinking about picking him up because of his ridiculous damage output. That’s regardless of who he is fighting. Personally I don’t have any problems with playing against Sagat. I mean it’s one of my worst matchups for sure, but it’s still about a 5/5 so that’s about what it should be.
Annotated match, please. One of the Gamestop International matches would be great for mind-game examples.
Digital717…
Yo man, I secondary Sagat and Akuma, however recently with Evo coming up I’ve put those 2 aside and am strictly staying with Ryu. Sagat is a great secondary character to have. His damage potential is great, however I think you might be blowing it out of proportion a bit…It’s one of his tools however compared to Ryu, the output is fairly similar.
Sagat is so good because he’s a better version of Ryu. Faster hadouken’s, stronger uppercut, stronger combo’s when you get the chance…
basically when you compare full screen ryu to full screen Sagat, Sagat wins. Compare mid screen Ryu to mid screen Sagat, in my opinion Ryu wins. Compare the two up close, and they’re fairly equal. Now lets take it a bit further one more step…
Think of 2 situations that are completely identical. Ryu has a lead of 40% and is at full screen, Sagat has a lead of 40% and is at full screen…Who has better chances to win? Sagat…he has more life, and better at playing full screen. When being rushed down, the option of uppercut, SADC is sooooooooooo useful that it should entirely STOP your opponent from rushing you down…So the only way to win is from mid screen distance. If you hit an uppercut, SADC, f+rh, well thats 30% more, and just 30% left to chomp away at…your at a 70% lead…who can touch you now?
Compare this to Ryu and it’s fairly similar however because his hadouken’s aren’t as good as Sagat’s, opponents are able to reach the mid screen range fairly quickly, and eventually change it into a close up battle. When this happens Ryu has the ability to SRK, SADC as well, HOWEVER, unlike Sagat’s the momentum gain is quite different.
The momentum gained for Ryu opens up a chance to rush down…but in doing so you put YOURSELF at risk to being reversalled…Sagat on the other hand can uppercut, SADC safely, land a f+rh for 30% and fire shots like no tomorrow PUSHING YOU BACK to full screen range. Remember, ground game is much more safe then rush down…in such a position where you can play on to your character’s strength (which in this case is ground game) you have to use it to your advantage. Like I said, Sagat uppercut, SADC, F+rh is 30%…back dash away and start the tiger shot game.
The point is…Sagat does what Ryu does but better. Sagat is a great secondary to pick up and I would approve heavily of it.
Wow great answer Mickey D! Thanks a lot. I think I will pick him up. Been messing around a bit more today. It seems like his options for creatively doing combos aren’t nearly as good as Ryu’s, but other than that he seems pretty fun.
Mickey D, the quality of knowledge in your videos is amazing. I’ve been a casual fan for quite some time and I’ve always had a vague understanding of the finer points of SF but videos 3 and 4 really clarified things. I main Boxer but the discussion on metagame elements like zoning and baiting even gave me ideas for my Boxer. Awesome job and I look forward to future installments.
Edit: FYI Mickey D, the hit confirm bonus video link says there’s something wrong with the URL
Mickey, first 3 videos were pretty much blah compared to the knowledge I have on this game already.
But shit, #4 makes soooo much sense. I never really broke down corner pressure like that before. Thanks!
Yep from now on the videos get a lot more “advanced.” I don’t expect to break down the novice basics any more…steering towards hitting basics to a more analytical/technical point of view.
I said this before and stand by it. Mickey your vids are great for people who have a basic understanding of the game and want to know what SF4 really is all about. Good work on your videos. I just hope that the lesser ones I made prepared people for the real gold nugget of info that your videos are.
I don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but I love the 80’s vibe in the later tutorial vids.
hahahahaha, Thank you!
Yo Mickey, I noticed you’re talking about momentum, flow, positioning, concepts that really go outside of “hit the other guy, make him miss, and hit him again.” Have you read the “Playing to Win” stuff by Sirlin?
I think it’ll be a good read for anybody on the cusp of going serious about this game and thinking about it on a different level.
Awesome tutorial videos
I must say thank you to these vids… part 1 has been my bible for the past couple of weeks, once i’ve gotten those combos down pat, i’ll move onto part 2 and then part 3.
I like how part 4 goes about grounding and anti airs, thanks for the vids once again
Best Tutorials Around By Far…GLHF @ Evo
Maybe an Akuma series after Evo?
Keep Beastin For The Pac NW . One
thnx
I think I enjoyed your Fuck Trial Mode video the most.
Those tutorials are really great.
Mickey D, I saw your games on youtube, I saw your tutorials and I learned 2 things from it :
- You’re really good in making tutorials
- You’re a great player
This won’t change, even if you lose or not @EVO.
As far as I know, Daigo loses some games from time to time, and so what ? Does that make him a bad player ?
Just focus on your tourney and ENJOY IT.
I mean it.
Keep enjoying the game and stop thinking about what people think about you.
There will always be scrubs that don’t appreciate your playstyle but I don’t know anyone who is appreciated by everyone, do you ? 
So I hope you understood me with my frenglish and that you will keep kicking some ass and share more of your experience with us ! :lovin:
Great videos dude. I learned alot.
Haha. Yeah that was hilarious. If anyone wants to be frustrated try C. Viper’s hard trials.
Mickey D. I’m really looking forward to your more advanced videos!
thank you!
Great vids, i’m waiting on the pc version of sf4 there is like two arcades in Toronto with it, and i hate the sticks.