XBL Gamertag: Wapostyle
Location: New Jersey
Headset: Yes
Record Matches: Unable
Dedication: I play most every night from around 10:00pm to 12:00am EST
Characters: Dictator, Balrog, Akuma
Strengths: Mind games, pokes
Weaknesses: Throw techs and execution
Characters Good VS: Blanka, Zangief
Characters Bad VS: Guile, Mirror
What I Need to Practice: Never screwing up my moves or combos
XBL Gamertag: i liek tuttles (temporary until august 8th)
Location: New Jersey
Headset: Yes
Record Matches: Yes (Capture Card)
Dedication: Training to compete in next year’s EVO (tentative)
Characters: C.Viper
Strengths: I believe I have good anti air abilities. I am also very good against Sagat’s (in my own opinion) because I can keep them from getting close.
Weaknesses: I keep finding myself stuck in corners spamming buttons which isn’t good. Also I find myself not be able to link up to my ultra/super which is a very bad thing for me considering I almost win 90% of my games without them. :wasted:
Characters Good VS: Sagat, Rufus, Rose, Ken, Ryu
Characters Bad VS: Abel, Honda, mostly characteres I haven’t played much of yet.
What I Need to Practice: Execution, Better Mixups and Rush downs
Guys, I’ve been thinking of signing up, though one thing is kind of holding me back.
Well, you know how most of the well known and long time vets here on SRK will tell you that online sucks and this and that. I never really believed the gap was as big as they claimed it was until I saw it for myself.
As a new face in the SF community, I went to my first local SF tournament down at Final Round arcade. This was my wakeup call. I mean, these guys here in the local scene were like nothing I ever seen online, and I play at G-1 and have some really good players on my friends list.
Now, not only was the talent better, but the difference in gameplay between online and arcade was competely different. My bnb combos were not linking properly, I was never used to playing competitively with NO internet lag and no input lag.
I didn’t think it would be much of a difference when I first got to the tournament, saying to myself “Well I’ll just play like I play in G-1 and just try to adjust to no lag.” It was just not that easy.
So what I am trying to say is this. I am not putting down this idea of “dedication” online, but just realize that online will only take you so far, then there is the competitive scene.
Personally, I am planning to go to this new Final Round arcade that just opened near my city and get into the scene. Make friends, learn from the best local guys, and play people at my level and higher with no lag, at a optimum tournament-like environment. Yes, I will still play at home on console and on xbl, but it will be more for fun and to actually test my improvement. The thing is, I DON’T want to condition my game skill to online, rather to arcade.
If you don’t agree/believe me, then go see it for yourself like I did. Go and take time out of your day to go to the nearest local SF scene event. Whether it be just a small 3-5 people get-together at someone’s house for some SF, a small local arcade tourney, or a major event. Like I said, if you TRULY wish to advance your game, don’t keep telling yourself you will reach it by studying youtube videos of daigo every day or playing 8 hours in G-1/SG, it will just not happen.
To those that live in farms in the middle of bumfuck egypt and don’t have any scene in a 100 mile radius, then I feel sadpanda for you, you will be stuck with online unless you travel.
In conclusion, just for the record I am not planning on quitting my job and dedicating myself to pro-gaming. I am just an avid long time SF fan that’s recently gotten swept with the hype SF scene. I’ve had lots of fun not just learning from better players, but also the interaction, the shit talking, the hype… it’s just so much fun. Just the journey itself is such a great hobby.
PS,
I will be keeping an eye on this thread to see how things turn out with this idea, I am still considering in trying to make some online training partners. Though preferably locals, so if you are in the south Florida area (preferably Dade/Broward) please drop me a line as I am looking for people around my same skill level to train with and grow with at the local competitive scene.
Good luck all, pz.
Thanks for the input Spiku. And you are absolutely correct. Online and offline play is undoubtedly completely different. Even with 5 green bars, there is still some lag. Too bad we can’t see that lag in ms, but I bet it is at least 30-40ms on good connections and 60-70ms for decent connections. and if you see yellow, I would probably think its 100ms.
I can’t even play on a TV that puts out 40-50ms of input lag. So you can just imagine the horror of playing online for me.
However, there are some things that you can benefit from when playing online. The obvious one is access to other players where you normally would have none. The second is being able to get some experience with different match ups that your local players either don’t play, or don’t play well. If you have a very limited local scene, you still might benefit from some online play.
And what if you’re only going to play online? You might as well play with a better group rather just randomly playing guys online that can play multiple matches with you and even provide feedback. That’s a long ways from what our GP or BP modes currently give. Random player matches hasn’t been too good for me either.
If you have option to play offline, by all means, do that instead. I play offline every chance I get. But if not, I think this will be the next best thing.
XBL Gamertag: Dragonsheet
Location: NJ home of the best SF4 players =)
Headset: No
Record Matches: If you want to
Dedication: Going to Evo in 2010
Characters: Ryu, Sagat, Akuma
Strengths: Good zoning, and staying cool under pressure
Weaknesses: Knowing when to slow down Tiger Shots or Hadokens
Characters Good VS: Overall good against anyone
Characters Bad VS: Any good player with a console exclusive characters
What I Need to Practice: Timing on Sagat TK and TU and Ryu DP, knowing when to punish on Missed Crossups
You might want to add this to the OP newbkill.
For those of you that still haven’t DLed an IRC client (the steps ae in the OP of this thread) you can use a temporary solution. Please go to this website:
It’ll ask for a nickname and a channel.
For nickname please use the following format:
PS3|name
XBL|name
For the channel name please enter:
#streetfighter4
The # sign is necessary.
This will get you into the irc channel that we are using to communicate for the tournies and to set up matches.
Tournament Match: PHATAL PHD vs iwanttocome
Result in FT5: 5-4 in favor of Phatal
It was a good ass set for sure. iwanttocome took the early lead with 3 to 1 games, but i ended up being first to five. Every match felt like a tug of war, so I definitly think it was a good matchup. We used a few different characters, but mostly stuck to our mains.
here is my feedback.
Cons:
the most glaring thing i saw was that you didn’t know when to punish bison exactly. Some times you’d punish a move good, other times you’d miss a lot of oppurtunities. Like times when id do the Pyscho Crusher, you couldve srk’d me. And also after you block the scissor kicks you can SRK. You did a good job of throwing, but should try and do it a little more. you only seemed to do it when it’d whiff a move and get close. Same with using pokes, you had come nice use of them, but should use them more. The c.mk can really help you get in if you hit confirm into a bigger combo. And help you with better footsies in general.
Try and switch up the playstyle from time to time too. Sometimes you’d get into predictable patters. You were more defensive than most ryus I face, so I’d say if you can be a bit more offensive at times you’ll see some benefit. Use that hurricane kick too. i don’t think you used it once. Against bison its good to use that in mid-air. You couldve shut down my head stomps and devils revereses.
Pros:
You’re a really solid player, and were patient with each match which is good. I didnt see you make many mistakes that led to oppurtunities for me to punish. You did a good job of zoning too with the fireballs. Good use of the SRK against the HS at times. Overall it was a really good match and couldve gone either way. You’re doing good agaisnst bison and with some more practice you’ll learn how more ways to beat him. Good playing with you and hope to get it in again sometime.
Tourny Match: car420son vs a big irish man
a big irish man wins 5-1.
I apologize for the poor performance, I’m still on a pad and my 3kicks button was broken.
Anyways. There’s not much critique I can give, because even if I could have capitalized on some hits you still beat me soundly. What I can say is I began to expect the EX flying claw at the start of a round where you had some meter. You let me get in with FAs more often than you should have as well, and although it was probably net lag, I was able to throw quite a few times I believe.
On my end I jumped in or out way too much letting you flip kick me, or airthrow me. I failed to block a lot of those EX claws at the beginning of the round, and I kept trying to have a pokefight with you, which is always a bad idea.
which one of you dicks neg repped me for simply being an 09er when I set up this entire idea that youre all catching onto now>? Seriously… some people are so fucking retarded.
Well, whoever got you got me too, haha. Whatever man, I could care less what one single person thinks, if people are finding value in this, then I’m all for it and will keep doing it.
Honestly, this shit takes a lot of time and will help grow the overall community. You just have a couple of guys that are afraid of change and place themselves on a pedestal. Maybe if an “09er” ran a pool at Evo next year they would all egg him or something.
GGs to PHATAL PHD, it was a really exciting and fun set that went right down to the wire (with a gr8 comeback from PHATAL).
Here is my feedback
Cons:
First of all cr.RH anywhere closer than max-range is punishable so substitute that with appropriate scissors or walk-up s.mk. Like you said the HS and close up heavy scissors are punishable so don’t do too many of those. IMO Bison has some of the best normals in the game. If in range, you can punish fireballs (on start-up) with s.mk on reaction. In general you should use s.mk, cr.mp more in your footsies both have high priority. Abuse that cr.lk up close. It is the second fastest normal in the game (after rog’s jab), can stuff throws at times and can be hit-confirmed into a lk.scissors knockdown. You should also use the ex-psycho crusher a little more. Its good on wake-up and works as a decent anit-air at the right spacing (when st.rh traded with my jump-ins, ex.psycho would have beaten it). Use ex.scissors for reversals and mid-range fireballs (outside st.mk range, Bison with meter has st.mk, ex. scissors and ex.HS all together significantly hinder any fireball based zoning), the invul start-up is awesome.
Other moves to use are teleport and ex.DR for defense purposes. Finally, I got away with a few cr.Rh on block, you can punish it using reversal scissor kicks (I tried using it when I thought you did not have charge but there were times when it was punishable).
Pros:
Overall you are a solid bison (easily one of the best I have faced in SF4, good mix-ups, spacing, sc kick pressure and punishes et. al.). You have good fundamentals and apart from basic punishes, I had to work hard to get some damage going. I really like your ex.HS use at the closer ranges. I don’t know if you did it on purpose but it crossed me up a couple of times. You had some good setups for ticking into throws. I really like the use of your j.RH you used its max range effectively to punish quite a few of my sloppy fireballs.
If you work on footsies, less punishable moves and incorporate some BnB hit-confirm combos, your Bison could easily go from solid to deadly.
We should get some more games in the future. Bison is one of my harder match-ups and that set helped me out a lot. I learnt quite a lot and just destroyed an average Bison on XBL :).
XBL Gamertag: Shervin
Location: PA
Headset: Yes
Record Matches: No, but if really needed I could use my MacBooks built in camera =/
Dedication: To get better. Straight up.
Characters: Bison (DIC), and starting to learn Akuma
Strengths: Rushdown, unique playstyle
Weaknesses: Teching throws, matchups.
Characters Good VS: Everyone EXCEPT
Characters Bad VS: Gief, Ken, GUILE, Blanka, Balrog, Honda, Fuerte
What I Need to Practice: I need to make better decisions during the match.
Im going to make room on my friends list but if its full, just send a message.
Screw all the haters. I was kind of intrigued by this idea but aafter playing my first couple of sets I think this is awesome. It is a welcome change from the barrage of garbage G2 ryus and the occasional laggy gief. I learnt more from my first set about the Bison matchup than I had from getting to 13K on XBL. Some of us appreciate what you are doing for the community 
and hope you keep it up :tup:.
MartinBob vs newbkills Feedback
Thanks for the games MartinBob. We played about 10 matches.
I would work on using more Tatsu’s or jump ins to counter my fireballs. I’m sometimes pretty careless when I feel like your not in a jumping mood and throw excessive fireballs when your in jump in range. You caught onto this one game and punished me for it and got the win.
You weren’t linking some of your combos in the beginning which got you punished, but you toned it down after to simpler combos which at least kept you safe. Good mix ups and throws, but you attempt a little too early resulting in a lot of whiffs.
AA also seemed to be lacking, I got to jump in a lot and maybe only got punished once or twice. Others may begin to abuse this and repeatedly jump in which makes the match much harder to play if you aren’t AAing.
Take the initiative in the fireball wars. When you react to me, you are already losing. I would reset the flow by neutral jumping. I made you eat a lot of fireballs when you try to FB, and then EX FB after.
Jump ins after my block strings are probably the worst time to jump in. That is when I anticipate it most. If you just wait like half to one second before jumping, I might not be expecting anymore. Mix it up.
EDIT: First video now up! [media=youtube]7pBrLSzSMjI"[/media]
PS. I knew I threw some random super/ultras. I was trying to be physic and turned out not so physic. Not doing that anymore, lol.
MartinRob vs. newbkills
those matches were definitely an eyeopener for myself. I now know what i need to work on a lot more and thanks for that. Yeah the only real things i was going to critique were the random ultras and fireball spamming.
I really liked the how well you knew the range for the c.mk, you punished me repeatedly using c.mk xx hado.
Thanks for all of the pointers i will definitely be working on your suggestions and i look forward to our next games.
Also, i really liked how you didn’t panic when you were in the corner, you kept your composure well and I also need to work on that.
I don’t play Ryu however I think I have a somewhat Solid Honda and I’d like to get some more experience in fighting some of you gents.
All characters are welcome and we actually prefer to have a variety to help one another learn different match ups. Post up your info and start adding people to get some matches.
XBL Gamertag:MrSNK
Location: AZ
Headset: None
Record Matches: I could try and use my Camcorder
Dedication: Winning This Seasons Ranbats
Characters: E.Honda
Strengths: Not too sure.
Weaknesses: Finishing the round, failing to turtle, sub-par execution
Characters Good VS: Basic Shoto’s Gief Blanka Viper Rog
Characters Bad VS: Sagat/Rufus/Chun/
What I Need to Practice: Execution, baiting, zoning, safe jumps and patience.
I would like to join the team
XBL gamertag- LaserRooney
Location: AZ
Headset: None
Record Matches: I could try and use my Camcorder
Dedication: Would like to see my limit
Characters: Ryu
Strengths: never really thought of it. Pressure player probably
Weaknesses: would like to have stronger combo links
Characters Good VS: Basic Shoto’s Rog, Ryu, blanka
Characters Bad VS: Guile
What I Need to Practice: need to apply even more pressure