Charlie 101
Posted: 2008-04-03 1:14 AM MDT
Charlie 101 Oh yeah here we go.
Charlie has an incredibly good defense and offense. He has alot of good thing going for him and a few bad, so we will start there.
Pros:
AA monster, high priority normals for anti-air (s.mp, s.mk, s.hk) as well as lk flash kick which beats anything and his AA cc.
Great projectile, though its not as good as guile’s in other games, not giving frame advantage like guile really, but come out fast and has good speed and trajectory and does allow for combos when thrown from afar.
C.mk is universal poke with far range and is really annoying
Cons:
Easy as hell to cc thru his AAs, and due to him being so solid, alot of people will try jump-in cc.
Outside c.mk his normals are so-so, f+fp is so slow, and other normals are more for AA.
ACs arent all that great with them being slow and sometimes missing.
CC isnt damaging like other characters.
****Normals Breakdown:
STANDING
s.lp- Just a normal standing lp, nothing too special about this, can AA sometimes and you can s.lp walking pressure on whoever cant duck this.
s.mp- A really good anti air, he does a quick uppercut. Cancel this ino a sonic boom to keep up pressure. I usually cancel into a lp boom if I AA with this.
s.fp- I straight punch that I havent really found much use for.
s.lk- A quick kick to the shin, I use this rarely, seems to have decent priority but no range :(.
s.mk- Another great anit air when your opponent jumps in fram afar, such as Sagat jumping in with rh. Can cancel into specials.
s.hk- Ugly angled kick which is good or anti-air, same uses as s.mk with a little more power behind it.
CROUCHING
c.lp- This is your combo starter. Combo’s easily into sonic booms, flash kicks, supers.
c.mp- Limited anti air ability, better to stick with your other choices IMO. Good to cancel into sonic boom for pressure or use in combos. Seems to have ok priority, seems slow to me compared to other characters c.mp’s.
c.fp- Probably top ten useless normals in A2. Looks like Guile’s godly c.fp from other games but gets beat by everything. I fucking hate this move.
c.lk- I like this normal, cancels easily into booms and supers. Decent range, I like to walk up and poke with this.
c.mk- His best ground all-purpose poke. Great range, speed, hits low, and has great recovery. Quite annoying when playing a Charlie player because this move can very effectively keep you out due to its range. Seems to leave you on even frames, maybe very slight frame advantage.
c.rh- Eh. This move doesnt really suck but really isnt great. Slow coming out and heavy recovery. I really dont use this at all, unless Someone whiffs a dp, etc from afar.
JUMPING
j.hp- This move is dope, hella priority, speed, and if done close you get the throw. Best air-to-air period.
j.mk- GREAT range on this jump in and pimp cross up, use to punish fireballers, and dont swing if you think a dp is comin, cc their ass on recovery. great jump-in.
j.hk- Great jump-in too, good priority and awesome angle.
SPECIAL
f or b+hk- This is his foward moving hop kick. Good range, but slow in this game. Very useful for moving forward after a sonic boom.
f or b+mk- Slow ass overhead which im pretty sure leaves you at neg frames. Use at MAX distance to be safe, I usually will do it after a boom.
f+fp- This normal is best used as a anti-jump. Good in the corner when doing soni boom pressure, toss is out it you think they will jump and it will it them :).
****Specials Breakdown:
Sonic Boom:
The best fireball in terms of release speed and recovery, and a key part of zoning and pressure with Charlie. This is very hard to punish and with good charging techniques you can keep up a while vs ryu’s. This isnt as good as later games since point blank it doesnt leave you with much if any frame advantage, but still allows combos from certain ranges.
Flash Kick:
Probably the best AA in the game, easily beating jumps in with the lk version, and easily beating ground moves with mk version.
****Supers:
Sonic Break:
Very useful super since it seems he first sonic boom comes out no matter what which ean at worst it will trade making it very reliable AA. As far as chip goes I would just cc. Good to push opponent back, can delay booms by spacing punch input. Good AA, but i would cc instead.
Sonic Blitz:
This is the super you want to combo into, decent damage and combos off light attacks at any lvl, safe on block.
Somersault Justice:
Better in A3. When comboed you usually miss hits making it weaker to combo into than Blitz after a cross up, but looks better. Unless going for chip or style points, stay away from this super unless comboing from a jump in (Which gets all the hits).
****Custom Combos:
Oh yeah, CCs, another reason this fucker is annoying. And if they block your cc, or you can see they will, dont fucking flash kick! Sonic boom, its safe. Note that his cc leave him in prefect cross-up position.
Lvl 1:
c.rh xx lk flash kick, hp sonic boom xx hk flash kick
c.rh xx hk flash kick x2
For chip and/or block:
This CC is really good because you can walk behind these unlike other chip ccs. Walk behind these and go for a counter hit, overhead, or throw. Make sure to start out with c.rh, cause if they do get hit they get juggled.
c.rh xx lp sonic boom x4
Lvl 2:
c.rh xx hk flash kick x 3
Lvl 3:
c.rh xx lk flash kick x3, mk flash kick, hk flash kick
c.rh xx lk flash kick, hk flash kick x3
Anti-Air Custom Combos
Now these are very important, specifically to punish people who look to jump after a sonic boom, also allow you to walk after a boom and punish hard, since they arent worried about a charged flash kick. Now in most cases they can jump to where if you try to AA you will get beat, mainly wen theyare looking to jump immeadiately after a boom. That when you hit’em with AA cc.
Activate:
s.mp if they ae higher up(into any lvl ground cc)
c.lp if they are lower to the ground (into any ground cc)
Now hit them with this a couple times and Im sure they will think twice about jumping >_<.
^^^^CHARGE TECHNIQUES^^^^
This section is important to learn fo any SF game, if you use a charge character. This is quick charging, the most effective way to maximie your charge time. Perform every sonic boom in this way:
charge b-f-b+p
Instead of the normal motion you execute the sonic boom ending in back+punch. This allows you to start harging for the next boom immeadiately after throwing he next one.
Sonic boom, SOMERSAULT!!!
This way of performing a sonic boom allows for the execution of a flash kick about a tenth of a second later after throwing the boom. You can actually flash kick while the boom is on screen. Perform it in this way:
charge b-f-b-db-d-df+lp
So after charging you go foward, back, then roll to down foward+lp. Hit up and kick a tenth of a second later and a flash kick will come out. neat huh?
Play Style
Charlie can be played aggressively or defensively, 99% of the players you see will be the latter. Though Charlie can be very effecive defensively, a well rounded player will learn how to use both, thus making it harder to adjust to your play style. Some players are mostly offensive (S4v is an example) while some can go hardcore turtle (Me, guilty). But the problem with that is if you cant play him both ways you are bound to run into some problems. So best to try to balance both.
Patternizing: A no-no
Alot of Charlie players I notcied will patternize a hell of alot more than with other characters. 80-90% of them will boom after a c.mk. Dont do that shit. Mix up your poke string as well as you can, other wise you are gonna get countered easily. Ever play someone and kick their ass, but about 3-4 matches down the road you are having a hard time or losing? You are probably doing alot of patterns they caught on to. Like in the corner, you throw a sonic boom, most people follo up with a c.mk or c.rh. They almost always do. They other options they had were:
- Throw another sonic boom
- nothing, punish jump attempt or cc a dp atempt
- walk up throw
- f+fp to punish jumpers
- Jump-in and start another poke string.
- f+rh to punish mashers
Now the situation is gonna dictate the action, but its better than just c.mk or c.rh. You are just gonna get AC’d. Mix it up.
Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, pause Sonic boom…
Using the quick charge technique explained earlier, this ca be very effective versus some characters. As soon as they block a boom throw another one, use different speeds. Just keept booming as fast as possible, you are doing it right if as soon as a sonic boom is blocked, one is coming out. this builds meter very quickly and can force your opponent to jump, eating a CC. When they get jump happy, ocassionally pause, if they jump, CC, normal AA, or Flash kick. Rinse repeat.
Counter CC
Now like I mentioned earlier about jump in cc’s, Charlie get that done alot to him because his solid ground game. If you suspect your opponent plans on this, or patternizes by always doing this, save your cc to counter CC, free damage for you. Some matches I would just sit back and boom and just wait for the cc to counter it.
General Combo’s^^^*^
All these can be done after a cross up mk:
c.lp x2, c.lk xx sonic boom
c.lp, c.lk xx mk flash kick
c.lp x2, c.lk xx any lvl Sonic Blitz (or Somersualt Justice)
Comboing into super is real good with charlie, dont save it for cc, the damage is the same or more.
Corner combos coming to a FAQ near you!
