here you go. feel free to copy/paste anything useful from the old thread into this one, but in two weeks that thread is gonna be deleted so you might wanna hurry.
well, i found something from the older thread i thought might be useful…
originally posted by Peachy 09-28-2002, 12:29 PM
Haha so you want to know my S groove Athena strategies huh? Hehe well, mainly when you are using her shinning crystal dont do it when they are in sweeping distance cause most low attack will hit her out of it. I always like to throw a slow psycho ball first and then do it for added security. (a lot of level 3 supers cant go through it unless done at the last minute) ALWAYS cancel it into the fireball, because her recovery time on it is slow. (there is only ONE exception to not cancelling it, and that’s when they roll past you. Although sometimes they will roll past you and you hit them with it and still have time to cancel for added damage) Mix it up when you cancel her shinning crystal, between the straight shot and the one that curves up at the end. Don’t always cancel and let go of the fireball right away, cause sometimes people will jump at you. (From my experience no jump in attack so far has been able to hit me when I am holding my crystal bit, although I am sure there is a jump in that will hit her out of it.) Always do it on the ground unless you have some kind of plan. (The air one has lag time when she drops to the ground) If you throw a psycho ball and they jump at you, wait until they are very deep and do your shinning crystal as anti-air, her invincibility frames will most likely save her if you do it late enough. Against P and K groovers is when she is absolutely awsome! When they parry or JD just do another shinning crystal bit, because the flash animation will freeze the screen and mess up the opponent’s parry or JD. I am sad that I didn’t get to play a P or K groover at EVO cause that is when she is the most scary. When I played Chikyu it was hard for me to use it to it’s full potential cause he had N groove and he rolled in a lot. Rolling is one of the hardest things to use it against so beware of rolls. I used to get RAPED by rolls, but after numerous battles I got used to the rolls and knew when and how to use my shinning crystal. Also another neat trick is to do the shinning crystal when the opponent gets up, but this one is risky and hard. The secret is to do the super so that the flash flashes right when your opponent is getting up and trying to do a move. The move will not register because it is interupted by the flash. 
Haha I bet people can tell that I have been studying this for a long time. Knowing all the properties of the super is a great advantage. Like for example I know if I do a shinning crystal before the opponent wakes up pretty much all uppercuts will hit her right out of it, so what I do is actually wait until they are all the way up and do my shinning crystal. The shinning crystal is NOT instant so if they did do an uppercut they would already be in the air a litte, and they have lost their invincibility where as my invincibility is just starting. Also if they don’t wakeup with an uppercut and try to throw me it wont work cause I did a super. 
I usually get an opponent into the corner and do repeated shinning crystals because the super doesn’t push her back so I can keep doing it for tick damage and if they try to attack my invincibility will take care of it and knock them back down.
There are tons of other uses and strategies but I’m tired of typing, and I am pretty sure people get the point by now. So there you have it, most of the main points to using S groove Athena. (While in critical damage) Playing her in S is a whole different story… which I am not going to get into.
S-Groove Kyosuke…I believe that’s what God intended for when he created CVS2…S-Groove Kyosuke…
If you’re in the Red with Blanka and hes not your anchor, dont be afraid to use L1 Direct Lightning to trade. The damage always goes in your favor.
I copied and pasted all the good info from the ENTIRE S-groove thread, then my computer froze, fucking great. I ain’t doing it again, sorry.
but no seriously…Bison’s dodge, HP into psycho crusher seems really good…that’s probably the most guaranteed (and easiest) dodge-combo I’ve discovered yet
I like S groove a lot for players who have a kind of command throw…Zangief, Raiden, Yamazaki, Benimaru, Todo, and Chang…even though most of these people aren’t that good…it’s just fun sometimes to kick ass with Benimaru’s Electric Rape super
i don’t know, cammy’s dodge fp into cannon drill is really easy. ok, i found some stuff. seems like most of peachy’s posts are good (maybe i’m biased or something… he posts stuff about characters i’m interested in).
originally posted by peachy 11-17-2002, 05:30 PM
Luckily enough pretty much all the characters you listed are pretty good in S groove. I would go into detail about each one of these characters but to save time I will just quickly list some things that I think are good with them.
Terry:
A good balanced character, punch dodge attack is great for comboing and kick dodge attack has range and it’s the one where he lifts off the ground, although it has a bit of start-up. Obviously Terry is good when he has reached critical life, repeated combos into buster wolf followed up by power geyser takes off a ton of damage.
Iori:
His punch dodge attack doesn’t have too much range but if you hit with it you can go into the deadly flower combos. His kick dodge attack has great range and is pretty quick, very good. His supers at level one are not too great, the maiden masher is only good when you combo into because if you use it as anti-air he will get beat most of the time and if they block it he is not safe and will be punished. His wine cups super just isn’t that great.
Joe:
Joe dodge attacks aren’t anything too special, they’re not completely sucky and not really good. He is average and his supers at level one aren’t really too great at all.
Yuri:
Yuri is really good in S groove, he punch dodge attack has great priority and combos while her kick dodge attack is her s.roundhouse which has mad range. She benefits greatly from the run and low jump because if you can rush down with her she is really annoying and hard to beat. Her supers at level one are good, I suggest using her super fireball and rush super, the uppercut one isn’t safe and doesnt do a whole lot more.
Mai:
Mai’s dodge attacks are weird, and I tend to not use them all too much. Mai is another character that benefits from the run and low jump. Her speed and priority make her hard to beat, and when she is in critical all her supers are good and have their uses. Her elbow one is really good cause it easily combos from her shorts and it is safe.
Benimaru:
Benimaru’s dodge attacks are decent but be careful cause some can duck under his punch dodge attack. Beni is a hard character to use at times just because his moves dont have too much priority sometimes, and that’s including his supers. I suggest using a lot of c.forwards cause it is really high in pirority and even beats sagat’s c.fierce. When in critical you can use his raikoken super as much as you want cause it is 100% safe if they opponent gets hit by it or even blocks it. If you hit with it you can follow up with another one for more damage. Dodging and then doing his super grab is also good as well but it takes time and you have to be careful that you time it right.
Sakura:
Sakura is really really good in S groove. Her punch dodge attack combos really well and if they jump at you and do it she will angle it upwards and it acts as an anti-air. Her kick dodge attack is a great poke, it’s he s.roundhouse. Sakura is just a solid character and when you add in the dodge attacks she just becomes more tricky. Her supers are really good as well, she is just like Yuri her fireball super and her spin kick super ihave awsome recovery and they’re really useful.
If it was me, out of those characters I would probably use Terry, Mai/Beni, and Sakura.
some gief stuff
this is a quote from peachy inside a post by rolling start on 12-05-2002, 02:59 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Peachy
Gief has a lot of trouble getting in sometimes, and in S groove you’d have to run and doge to evade fireballs because jumping is not always safe. His kick dodge attack has seom great range and I use that one a lot more than his punch one. Although be cautious because little characters can duck under his kick dodge attack. Practice dodging into his SPD, that is really useful and if you dodge and you’re not close enough sometimes you can do the kick 360 move and it’ll get a lot of people by surprise. Some setups with his level one SPD super:
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After they have been hit or blocked Zangiefs fire fist thingy, you can do it after that. It looks like it wouldn’t work but his super has a lot of range.
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Dodge into his super
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His air super in my opinion is pretty crappy since pretty much any move can hit him out of it, so I use it as a fake sometimes. This one is risky but gets people by surprise. Do his air grab super and right as you land do his SPD super. It gets you in close, it gives you time to do the motion, and it’s pretty tricky.
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If you do get them with the air grab super you can do another one right when you land and then do his SPD super after the second air grab super. You should grab them pretty much right when they wakeup.
I am not an avid Zangief player and this is about all I know as of right now. I would play him but it’s discouraging when someone picks Sagat and throws high/low tigers all day long. 
This is all good stuffs. LOL, cheesiest tactic ever: lv3 ARS across the screen, and lv1 FAB right after. SO weak, and if it ever lands, laugh in the other guys face. Now, some gief stuffs…
Against Sagat: This fight isn’t actually as bad as it seems. Most sagats will try to tiger you to death. Against any high tigers that aren’t full-screen, PPP lariat. You will tag Sagat’s hand, and he will be sad. Against low tigers, low jump fierce/roundhouse both have damn good range, so they work well. One thing to NOT do, is bring the fight to sagat. I used to lose SO MUCH against Sagat players with S-Gief by running in, dodging, running, dodging, inching my way in, only to be out-poked at mid-range. You have to make use of gief’s killer c.fp/df+mk/df+rh. All of these moves have killer range, so if you can get semi close to sagat (basically the same range that you want to be in to Lariat his high tigers) just sit there and wait for him. S-Groove anyone does VERY well against cocky sagat players who dig on the mk/c.fp. oth of these moves have enough lag for you to dodge and coutner attack with ease. Seeing as gief has one of the farther ranged dodge attacks in the game (his mk) you can use this to some degree of effectiveness against pokey sagats.
Oh yeah, and i can’t stress this enough: DON’T JUMP WITH GIEF UNLESS THE CHAR YOU’RE FIGHTING HAS A CRUMMY ANTI-AIR! Jumping in with d+fp will obviously be your jump-in of choice, but most chars can anti-air you out of it. You can jump in pretty safely on Bison though, one of the few top-tiers who Gief can do well against (psycho crusher goes through PPP lariat. Nothing big, but weird nontheless).
WITH S-GROOVE GIEF, IF YOU CAN"T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DODGE xx SPD/DSup/RBG/FAB FOR ANTI-AIR, pick another groove. Roll into command grab is better than dodge into these same moves in all situations except for close range poking and as anti-air. Ditto the lariat as anti-air. ONLY USE IT AS ANTI-AIR WHEN YOU CAN DUCK FIRST, OR AFTER A DODGE!
Cheesy tactic against shoto’s and such: after any knockdown, run at their fallen body. They will, 90 % of the time, do a DP on wakeup. That’s why you dodge at the last second. Then, start charging your meter untill they come down, and swing the stick from forward, to down, to back, to up and press punch/kick. Charging can help keep you grounded for SPD attempts if you aren’t very good at them, but obviously only do it when you have a WIDE window of opportunity.
After a double suplex, if they tend to block on wakeup instead of DP or some other move, run at them, and do an RBG out of the run when close.
If the opponent gets hit/blocks your Siberian Splash (j.d+fp), do three crouching jabs and RBG. They will sit there like a goof and get powerbombed.
Zangief can charge-fake very well, cause anything they do to hit you out of charging, you can dodge and, if it was a physical attack, spd/fab.
Lv.3 FAB works well after a whiffed Green Palm. People will think that they can hit you with a meaty super afterwards, but you can grab people out of most shit. Nothing feels better than FABing an akuma doing his raging demon. Don’t fuck up, though!
Gief’s lv3 air grab super is IMO his better super. Simply because people are so afraid of being on the ground close to gief when he has meter, they will jump alot, and you can GRIZZAB them. You can grab people out of anything which makes them leave the ground, which includes things like Guile’s dash, morrigans run, and obviously things like hurricane kicks.
Against Blanka, block his blanka ball standing, and you can get him with a standing fierce, and if you have meter, block and lv3 ARS them.
Just a couple things on the wonders of Gief.
do people really use s-groove gief? for that matter, who else is reading this stuff, or am i doing this for my own benefit?
S-Groove Gief was a surprise character of mine at one point.
When people jump in, dodge into SPD/FAB acts as a really crazy anti-air, and it’s quite amazing how many times you get to nail them with that before they catch on. Short jump fierce is somewhat difficult to stop as well, and the mix up from empty short jump into jab SPD is surprisingly good.
There are a lot of problems though, and most of them revolve around the ground game. Smart Sagats for example will try to zone you with pokes. So if you don’t have good knowledge of Zangief’s ground game, I don’t suggest taking him up in S-Groove.
i just recently visited an arcade here in fremont, ca and there was some comp. i was testing out s-ryu and he seemd pretty soild, the only problems i had with him were his super links (i’m really bad with the shoto links ) but yah it was really fun playing again. I also noticed that more people are picking up s-groove and that they have a lot of the great fundamentals. i played coco and she was good like before, really solid fakes and rush downs. hopefully i will get back into the scene and start practicing again.
keep up the s-madness and may you guys enjoy your time with the s.
originally posted by Dr.B 05-16-2003, 02:31 PM
If you like S- Iori then u would benefit from of these following S chars…
S:
Ryu - One of the dopest and craziest S chars. not only does he have a great knockdown move…(dodge + any punch) but a great in close link move…(Dodge+kick) MORE INFO WILL follow for all…
Yama - this groove gives Yama alot…His dodge +K is a great knock down move…and looks like his regular HK…his dodge link move isnt that great but off guard is nice in close…He still has run and small jump use that shit!!!
Sagat - We already know what he’s made of…Crouching HP…lol
But besides that on big chars his dodge+punch knockdown is real nice…even on medium sized chars…anyone small…forget about it…
S-Sagat is pure rush down…use charge fakes and small jump alot…Charge up your meter to do xtra damage and to link a super.
Blanka - Now S blanka is real nutty…he’s a real good ground character…he has everything that K or N blanka have…plus more…
his dodge +punch is a great 2 in 1 link to blankaball or super…his dodge kick knockdown is ok…but is nice randomly thrown or well timed…
Mai - If you love supers S-Mai is for you…charging up is quick and easy and when u got supers…especially when in desperation…let em have it…She’s turtle and or rushdown all in one…
Sakura - She is too dope in S groove…All the rushdown and turtle power u need…Her dodge kick owns as a knockdown and keeps people at bay…And her dodge punch is her link which is identical to her standing HP…use that shit…Charging her meter is fast…and at desperation use her hurricane kick super…and fireball super the most…
To be concluded…
S-Groove Usage:
The best way to use S is to be suicidal…lol U can play it Turtle…Rushdown or a mix of the 2…What i see good s-players use is this…running up and fighting like N or K groove…which means using alot of run up pokes…small jump HK’s/Hp’s or whatever is the char’s high priority move is…the next thing is meter…now u can do a few things with this…1 - Charge it up to full whenever you have the chance and do xtra damage…i.3 the meter provides xtra hit damage. 2 - Charge fake!!! charge faking is a good way to mix up your fighting style…example : Ryu…run up or move back and fourth…(whatever u want) tap charge to start building meter or rapid taps to make them glitch out…then they jump or roll in (whatever) then u All u can!!! or grab…etc… It really throws people off…and u can mix it in with your dodge kicks/punches to knockdown…or link a combo… 3 - When your meter is full you have alpha counter!!! This comes in handy if you are getting owned in the corner or need to get that annoying A- Groover off of you…it helps…
The thing that alot of S-Groovers have happen to them in the beggining is getting grabbed alot…I can tell u why this happens…When playing any other groove and you get dodge happy a person can grab you alot if you dodge right when they grab…here are the two ways to prevent that…1 - Stay ready to tech grabs all of the time…If u are gonna dodge a projectile from a near distance be ready to grab…peeps love to walk up and try. 2 - Stay out of the corner (unless you are baiting them there)…getting trapped here is hard for many to get out of… and finally stay random and have confidence in S groove…it is the least used so mix things up…More chars to follow coming soon…just post and ask for any questions…Peace…Peachy Help a brotha out!!! This is your thread too…lol
I still read these posts and I still play S groove. Keep posting more stuff please. <3
Sorry for the huge post, lots of different thoughts and stuff. I’ll try and chop it up a bit.
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So far I’ve found that S groove does best during zone/poke games and general defensive play, as this period seems to let S groove take full advantage of all it’s tools. It probably has more to do with my style of play and character selection though.
I’ve had bad experiances against strong rushdown teams and momentum/pressure games while in S groove. Any help in that area would be appreciated.
Wake-up dodges are very vulnerable to throws, and if the opponent anticipates the dodge they can take simple measures to stuff your dodge attacks or keep you blocking (or throw you). Level 1’s get stuffed and ‘alpha counters’ aren’t reliable/practical and waste meter.
Building meter to almost max, then sitting on it seems highly effective. Useful for getting level 3’s or getting out of guard crushes. And Building meter from full screen is really easy and really safe. Unless the opponent is putting on a lot of pressure, it’s a free level 1 for you in most cases. Most knockdowns lead to at least half your meter if not a full meter. And charge feinting also seems effective at close range.
However, building meter after a knockdown is usually at the sacrifice of rushdown patterns and momentum.
So again, a strong poke game seems very necessary since S groove doesn’t spend as much time rushing or maintaining momentum.
The bufferable dodge attack seems mostly useful for close range combat. Either to push the opponent back or to punish a throw attempt. Like if you see a throw attempt coming after a close dodge, or you placed/timed your dodge wrong.
The knockdown dodge attack appears to be mostly useful for punishing whiffs (attacks that you dodged), or poking from max range.
I believe most characters dodge attacks work like this. Although Sagat’s dodge attacks don’t appear to be particularly useful in comparison to other characters, I believe his work the same way as everyone elses. His kick attack, for example, is his bufferable attack and has two hits – the knee, then the foot. While the foot can be crouched under, the knee can NOT. Not by anyone. The knee is very short ranged though, like other dodge attacks, making it mostly useful for close range combat. And although it has some serious recovery due to the second part of the move, it’s bufferable so you’re able to cancel into a special or super.
His punch attack is his knockdown attack. And it’s mostly only useful for punishing whiffs. Sagat’s in particular seems to be mildly useful for anti-air as well.
I pretty much use everyone’s dodge attacks the same way. Though some are certainly more useful than others.
I’m open to suggestions on how to use dodges and dodge attacks effectively. I tend to go all or nothing. Very hazardous.
Learning to dodge at appropriate times and distances seems vital. Using the right dodge attack for the right situation, or not attacking at all, is also very important.
Dodge attack cancelling into specials and supers is a good tatic for the right situations.
Dodging in general is great for baiting pokes, throws, and jumps.
Again, suggestions welcome.
So far I’ve been most comfortable with a Cammy/Bison(cape) team, usually R2 Cammy, but haven’t quite settled on a 3rd character yet.
I’ve been playing with Mai a lot for the 3rd slot. I’ve had good results with Mai, but I’m still experimenting with other characters.
Other characters I’ve tried:
Ken, Vega(claw), Nakoruru, Rolento, and Hibiki. They have good keep-away or run-away tatics and seem to work well in S groove. Poking and running, building meter and using meter when possible. Playing dodge games and footsies. Their supers and dodge attacks are decent, but not great. They suit my style of play, but I feel I’m missing something with them as apposed to Mai.
Blanka, Sagat, and Sakura. Results seem to vary. They’re defininately solid and have a lot of strong points. However, mine get rushed hard, and I have trouble gaining and maintaining momentum with them. It could be due to a lot of things…
Todo’s supers are awesome. Though, he’s difficult to play and his dodges are really slow. I really need an abusable solid anti-air and ground poke with this guy. He’s great though.
Geese is quite powerful when charged up. Dodging adds to his ground game. He’s not spectacular, but I personally like him a lot in S groove and he seems to be one of the characters that can handle rushdown.
Rock, Kyo, and Terry. Results vary. I both like and hate them in S groove… :bluu:
Anyway, I’m open to suggestions on replacing Mai and/or Bison. Or suggestions on how to beef up Mai/Bison. I’m just relating my experiances and hoping to get some feedback. Sorry to be so non-specific.
In case some peeps don’t know what S plays like (as let’s face it, you haven’t stepped out of A :P);
I think S plays really similarly to N. There are some slight mechanical differences which in the end really seperate the two, but generally I think the same strats apply to one and the other.
- You have Dodge>whatever instead of RC.
- You have ‘the red’ instead of the frequent stock N pumps out.
- You have a chargable ‘stock break’ as oppossed to a… stock break.
- Lvl 3’s in either require a nifty little ‘setup’.
- S then also has charge faking.
That’s all the differences they really have, and even those are pretty similar. S and N are both definatly rushdown grooves IMHO.
Actually, S plays differently from N more than they are similar.
S has run, so does N.
But the main difference is Dodge vs Roll.
Dodge is way different than Roll. Dodges are a stationary defensive manuever when roll are moving. Both can be thrown out of dodging is more safer to use to avoid a non projectile because you can counter attack after that. Sure you can roll through the attack but some chracter’s rolls are so bad that they can’t punish.
“S then, also has charge faking” No other groove can charge fake. Break stock Super is something Different.
I dont see any “nifty tricks” to set up Supers in S. Dodge Super? Charge Fake Super?
I wasn’t comparing charge faking to anything, I just stated that’s something unique S has. I never compared it to break stock super o_O?
By ‘setups’ for lvl3’s, I was reffering to the fact that you have to be in a mindset to aquire them. In N that mindset is either breaking a stock and beginning to rush down looking for an opening, or pop-super. In S that mindset is keep your bar almost fully charged whilst in the red, and listing for that ‘bling’.
S-groove DEFINATLY plays a lot more like N than being the opposite. They aren’t nearly as different as A and K. That’s opposites. S and N have far too may things in common (in gameplay style, not just attributes.)
As I said those little things distinguish the grooves from eachother quite a lot. I made not attempt to say they were the same. They do however have the same mentaitlity. The attributes both grooves have, they way the use meter, and the mentality the players of said grooves are in, are all pretty much identical. S just goes about doing some things in different ways to N does (like the example you gave with Dodging an attack into a move,versus RC’ing).
The point I’m making is that if someone’s looking to pickup S groove, approach it like it was N. (The inherent problem with this is that nobody plays N-Groove either :P)
On a side note I’d love to see a game of Buk’s N-team versus RagingStorm’s S. Or of course Dr.B’s if he’s still around…
i play S-Bison/Ryu/Cammy = teh sex.
Any particular reasons/thoughts on why Ryu and not Ken?
What’s up? I see you’re still around. 
Ryu can spam level ones better than Ken probably can. Ryu has wakeup level one hurricane kick supers that not only beats all low attacks, but has high priority against air attacks as well. Although it’s not safe, a lot of S-groovers I’ve played like to end block strings by canceling into level super fireball for chip. Ryu also has a much safer dodge attack with his dodge punch compared to Ken’s dodge kick.
Is Ryu’s dodge kick attack his far s.HK? That would be too good if it is. I think it might be his close s.MK attack though.
With Ken you need to hit confirm his level one punch supers from a combo if you want to use them without getting killed. Although, close d.LK xx level one up super, mash is really awesome, when used by itself, Ken’s level one kick super doesn’t nearly have the priority Ryu’s kick super does. After I got stuffed clean and ate a whole jump in combo for trying to use Ken’s level one kick super as a wakeup anti-air, I stopped using it randomly like that permanently.
i believe it’s his close medium kick. the animation shows him kneeing the other guy. i don’t use ryu a lot so i don’t know what move that it.
my s-groove team is balrog, athena, cammy. as of yet there is no real order and no definite 2 ratio since i just picked up balrog not even a week ago. it may not be his best groove, but i needed somebody that takes hits average or better and didn’t want to use sagat and/or blanka.
other people i’ve tried but didn’t feel fit my style in s groove:
e honda
bison (psycho)
rock
terry (he’s pretty cool but i suck with him)
akuma
ken
eventually i want my balrog to get better so i can make my team athena, cammy, 2r balrog.
Hmm, got a question for S-Cammy users. How the hell do i deal with Athena since i have no RC drill against that stupid Cr. fierce.
Lol, nah u wouldn’t wanna see that. Buktooth is anti-RagingStormX. Plus he quit S-groove unfortunately.