Seeking advice on how to become a better Dudley player

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
1

As a supreme Dudley fan and admirer, I am going back to the well, the source, the root… I am going back to Third Strike, and I want to become as good of a Dudley player as I possibly can be. I want to be worthy of the greatness and excellence of the Gentleman Pugilist. So I was hoping those of you who are experienced Dudley players could give me some advice.

First, could you please tell me Dudley’s link combos. Target combos work well enough in a pinch, but I know there is so much greater possibility. I know the link combos are more complex, but I want to learn them so to enrich, expand, and deepen my gameplay.

Second, how much should I rely on jumping attacks and jump evasions? When I frequently played Third Strike a few years ago, I often used jump attacks and jumps to evade projectile attacks. In Super Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken, I never use jumps because Dudley’s ducking motion is so good at evading projectiles while maintaining and gaining ground. I feel that by jumping, I am not playing Dudley properly or effectively. Is this true?

Third, what are some good combos to execute after parrying?

Fourth, any other Dudley advice is very much welcome and appreciated.

Thank you, gents.

2

For combos and such http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Dudley_(3S) and http://www.eventhubs.com/guides/2009/may/11/dudley-street-fighter-3-third-strike-character-guide/

3

Thanks, Falzzi! That wiki.shoryuken guide is fantastic. Can you explain this combination to me: EX MGB -> twds + forward x fierce Jet Uppercut. Does ->mean dash and does twds mean toward? Also, what’s the difference between + and x? Sorry, I’m pretty much a noob to the terminology.

4

“twds” means to press forward on your joystick. Ex: press forward while pressing HP.

  • is only used for directional inputs (to my knowledge), like mentioned above.
    x means it’s a link. Ex: cr.lk x cr. lp
5

not really following the super choice logic in the wiki. picking rocket against akuma because of damage doesn’t really make sense to me. if anything i feel the opposite is true. about half of the “basic combos” aren’t useful and multiple c.hk into reset isn’t as good advice as the combos that follow. it’s almost like somebody else wrote those parts. everything else looks really good.

“->” isn’t really a standard convention. in this case it means you need to walk forward after the ex mgb. just do the ex mgb, hold forward near the end and walk forward until the opponent is level with dudley’s body. then do the next move. + means at the same time, x is just generic cancel notation. sometimes x means cancel into special move and xx means cancel into super, but people tend to do their own things.

6

Thanks, Hex and Gaijin! So if twds is forward, then in the combination example I gave above (EX MGB -> twds + forward x fierce Jet Uppercut), does “twds + forward” mean two forward motions or one before executing fierce Jet Uppercut? Sorry again that I’m kind of ignorant to the meanings. But I’m definitely wanting to learn. Thanks again!

7

for some reason a long time ago capcom thought it was a good idea to name medium kick “forward,” which sounds exactly like a direction. so yeah, it really means MK. the buttons are:

jab, strong, fierce
short, forward, roundhouse

LP, MP, HP
LK, MK, HK

http://sonichurricane.com/articles/sfnotation.html

8

Ah! Understood. Thanks again, Gaijinblaze!

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Question: What does “midscreen combo” mean? Does that simply mean a combo you execute when your character is at midscreen?

Also, does F stand for fierce? I’m asking regarding the presence of F in this combo:
[LIST]
[*]HK x EX MGB -> F -> MK x HP Jet Uppercut
[/LIST]

10

sf4/sfxt use the same terms as 3s. midscreen means it works when the other person isn’t cornered. it might also work if they are, but corner combos are more optimal in those cases. if you look at the link i gave, it doesn’t show f meaning fierce anywhere on there. it means forward (directionally). so that combo is: standing roundhouse, cancel that into ex mgb, then walk forward and do f+medium kick cancelled into fierce jet uppercut. it’s easier to just do ducking upper after ex mgb though. if you take dudley in training mode and see what everything looks like first, what people tell you and what you’ll see the best dudleys doing in videos will make sense.

aside from linking normals and certain corner juggles, a lot of sf4 dudley stuff is transferrable. but i’m starting to get the feeling that you spent more time making awkward dudley-esque posts than playing it…

11

Um, actually I’m putting in plenty of time playing. So your assumption is wrong. And I’m a noob at the terminology and advanced tactics, so I have to ask some questions to make sure I’m doing the right things and hopefully elevate my game. I feel like I’m in the dark, so I would like to make sure I know what certain things mean so I can play correctly.

“Awkward Dudley-esque posts”? I didn’t know writing clean sentences with correct grammar was “Dudley-esque.” Sorry that I retained what I learned in English class. And I’m writer, so I like language.

Anyway, thanks for your help. It has made a difference with my gameplay. Slowly but surely, anyway.

12

Right.

This is something 3s heads know. Someone noted you can tell a 3s or more experienced fighting game player vs the newbie who does one thing, nothing in between, wait, another thing, or thinks things are auto-combos. The experienced guy, does things like walk up, even only to immediately block. Gaining ground, like say a football player, yardage or army trenches, “war of inches.” He might do this 5 times in a row. Anything to gain command grab range or corner push.

So, try to understand that between moves and even during combos, there are movements to do. To make sure to hit the combo, to bait out an opponents move to punish, or ticks to setup high low by being deceptive. Take comeplete control of your character. This is something to learn to be a better Dudley outright and not just abuse his movements thru MGB, Ducking, crazy jump arc, Fierce that moves forward, BackSwingBlow, etc.

For the next time you see something like this, you will know it means, walk up just a hair / shade / step or halfstep before you do it. Err, I think that even means the Towards MK, command normal, Gut punch which goes and cancels to Jet Upper. But I thought there is a delay and you can walkup a bit to hit it better if you’re currently failing this combo. GaijinBlaze explained, my bad, early post he was very detailed. Holding forward for movement will keep the command normal when you do MK. You don’t have to return to nuetral so it may be helpful to think of it as EX MGB - walk up holding towards the opponent, just enough, MK xx Jet upper right away as it hits.

Also to know, When there’s LP MP HP, then there won’t be F(ierce) punch in the same combo notation, if the guide writer was paying attention and did it well for clarity.

Sorry for the quick run down… not English 4 college grade mastery, but I’m off to eat right now got things uin the oven.

13

Cool, holding joystick forward to both do the command normal anytime during your walk toward, like I said in there might help you understand that rather than being lost in

MK
Forward

“Two forwards?!” even after the once thru explanation help. Like you said earlier in the topic.

14

Alright, got some food in me.

This is another thing that might go unsaid in learning with only throwing you guys into the fray with
"here are the combos, do them or die or you’re weak, they’re easy!"

There will always be the optimal combo, best damage, best corner push, best setup for knockdown and wakeup timing.
With that there is also the best combo you can currently do. some might be easier for you to understand while some will take time to learn. Nobody learns the same or at the same rate and can get frustrated by something they’re told is easy without someone to show them and walk thru it.

I joked with someone trying Dudley out and thinking he can just cr HK til the cows come home. Its great that Dudley has soo many juggle options off nice launchers, so it seems really that he has different levels of follow ups.

Example. cr HK, ->HP

the slight dash, moving towards slide HP.

For me with experience I thought it, level 1. Easy to do immediately after seeing the launch, I know the timing.
For him, Ducking into P or K was easier to understand when he can act after the cr HK launch and then combo after.

Good thing he didn’t try Kokujin Tier yet in like cr HK, LP MGB (x many times as he wants really), LK BackSwing, SUPER Rocketoh~ Uppah

15

Thank you, WTF-AKUMA-HAX, for the great details and deep explanation and also for being so sympathetic to my noobishness. With higher tier players like you guys I always feel like I’m on the outside looking in, and that I don’t understand a complex equation or language that the good players seem to know. I’m trying to fix that and start understand. Thanks again.

I’m off to put some more training time in.

16

Right on. Don’t fret me saying too much as its for my own learning too, to talk this out.

That section in the SRK 3s wiki on “hit confirms” is what you’re looking for with “links” to stay safe and be able to block or not be punished after, and visually see you did hit for the opening before you commit to SRK / Supers.

3s is about Linking to Big Damage Supers, Dudley especially, more so than into another normal move, or a small special move like Hadoken.

EDIT, added this 3rd paragraph & need to edit this more or think it thru and research more: [details=Spoiler]
Target combos are fine because you are in control of doing the 2nd, 3rd, 4th action while they must block (or be as bold as to Red Parry when you can change your timing). Yes Dudley has some that get to 4!

So example Target Combo ->MK MK HP, you can be safest after the 1st, pretty safe after the 2nd MK, and only safe after blocked HP if they are not ready to super punish or something else with enough reach. Teach yourself to stop by #2 if you’re ever using this Target combo and it did not hit by the 2nd part/move.

A good one is cr LK MP HP too. As he says the classic, “ONE TWO THREE,” so it may help you learn to stop after 1-2. crLK x2 can target combo off the 2nd one also, for example if blocked, and cr LK x2 is a nice entry to hit a Super.

[/details]

That section is a little weird too. I’m not sure saying “(wait)” is the best way to teach that to learn the link timings for the next action, or saying it at all if something like Dart Shot (->HK) can’t be Special cancelled anyway and stand LK-MK(Wait) is really strange and might not even work. If we get a second opinion by another player, GaijinBlaze if he wants to help again after being very helpful so far, or anyone else, that’d be cool. Stand MP Ducking Super is really good stuff though.

17

Starting to get deeper into it and learning that physics are a huge part of getting the combos right. Some combos work on only certain characters. Also getting more comfortable moving forward between moves in link combos. Currently trying to figure out when comboing Ducking Uppercut into Rocket Uppercut if I should cancel into super after the first hit of the ducking upper or the second hit.

18

Cool, I thought about that recently too. And took it to training mode to find out.

Checkout the damage after 2 hits and after 1 for your answer. Although doubly so, it gives more time to confirm if you hit the Ducking Upper by waiting and adjusting your timing for the doing the Super after the 2nd hit.

This was Raw Ducking Kick upper to Super 1, not in combos though.

19

Practiced for a good while and started getting a successful cancel into super. I think the input comes in after the first hit. I was doing it as part of this combo: c. roundhouse, ducking upper, rocket upper.

20

Question: I’m practicing my parries and am trying to learn how to parry Ken’s fierce Dragon Punch. Is it two down motions and forward or two down motions and up? Or is it just three down motions?