Matchvids from Dragon’s Lair, Stockholm, Sweden.
First time playing for some, others are playing for the second time.
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Super Street Fighter 4 preview on gouki.com
http://gouki.com/Story/Details/super-street-fighter-4-preview
Noobish summary of the dev blog:
C.Viper:
Rufus:
Fuerte:
Abel:
Seth:
Akuma:
Gouken:
About CPU Bosses:
Next update will be on April 20th, discussing Cammy, Fei, Sakura, Rose, Gen, and Dan
Please remember I did this on haste, and there might be some things I missed. Mr. Azrael will likely post the whole interview soon.
4/13 Dev blog translation for your everyday life.
Hello everyone! This is Tsukamoto.
We’d like to keep things rolling from last week in talking about the character adjustments. This week, together with the battle planners we’ll be covering the SFIV newcomers C.Viper, Rufus, El Fuerte, Abel, Seth, and also Akuma and Gouken as well.
**-- Let’s get right into it - please tell us about the adjustments for C.Viper.
Okada:**
C.Viper is a character that has been heavily influenced by player feedback, so we wanted to adjust her while keeping her image from the last game as intact as possible.
Sano:
We’ve made some adjustments to the moves that she could just spam. For example, her Burning Kick, where even if the opponent blocks Viper is at an advantage. While there are no changes if the move hits or misses, on block we’ve added a few extra frames of recovery.
**-- Any other adjustments?
Okada:**
We’ve also made some adjustments to her crouching strong. Her crouch forward is pretty good, so c.strong gets overlooked. In order for c.strong to have more of a presence in the game, we’ve given it a bit more priority so she can use it as a counter-poke. But since Viper’s play style is pretty fast-paced, it may be difficult to find the right time to use it. We improved it to just give her a nice accent. So it won’t really affect her fight style, but in those times where c.strong lost out, now it will win.
**-- How should we use her ultras?
Okada:**
Burst Time is an ultra that had to be combo’ed into, and required a fair bit of technique, but Burning Dance is a lot easier to use. Rather than in a combo, this is a move you can hit on its own.
**-- Now let’s talk about Rufus’s adjustments.
Okada:**
The biggest adjustment is that the damage on his Falcon Kick has been reduced. We looked into various areas, and we felt that what gave people the most problems fighting against Rufus was the Falcon Kick, so that’s what we focused on for the adjustments. We tried completely nerfing it, but then Rufus would have been pretty much unplayable. We went through a lot of trial and error for this, and since we didn’t want to take away Rufus’s playstyle or his fun, we decided to keep the move as-is and just reduce the damage.
Sano:
As you may have read on the blog before, damage is being reduced all across the board, but Rufus in particular has seen a slightly bigger reduction in damage out of all the other characters. Of course, everything hasn’t been reduced, but we’ve been working on the stuff that he could just spam, or moves that were too strong.
**-- So in IV, Rufus was just a strong character that didn’t need any technique?
Okada:**
That’s not quite it. Of course, technique is necessary for controlling your character. Just, since his damage output was so high, when he got an opening he could do more damage than the other characters, so we are adjusting that aspect. Also, many players felt that they didn’t know how to retaliate against Rufus’s attacks, or they had problems knocking him down. While we haven’t particularly weakened Rufus in this area, we feel that the strength adjustments to the other characters will better help them here. As for the feel of play, Rufus is perhaps the most unchanged from SFIV. So for those who enjoyed playing as him in IV, you can play him the same way in S4.
**-- What type of move is his new ultra, Big Bang Typhoon?
Sano:**
The main thing about his new ultra, Big Bang Typhoon, is that it deals out quite a bit of chip damage. So when you have ultra stored up and your opponent is trying to run away from you, you can use it to chip them to death. Also, it has a fairly large hitbox, and it vacuums in jumping opponents, so its pretty good as anti-air.
**-- Okay, now please tell us about El Fuerte’s adjustments.
Okada:**
In IV, El Fuerte was known as the random character, so we tried to adjust him while keeping that intact. In order to be effective as a random character, technique is necessary - so in S4 as well we are keeping the feel of his play.
**-- In general, what type of adjustments have you done to his moves?
Okada:**
We’ve raised the damage on his Guacamole Leg Press. In battle, hitting it is fairly difficult, so we gave it a damage boost to compensate. We’ve also made his target combo forward kick easier to connect, and probably what most people are concerned about - we’re leaving his Run Stop Fierce loop in.
**-- Tell us about his new ultra, the El Fuerte Ultra Spark.
Okada:**
We made it as a counter if you can match your opponent’s movements. The move slides him forward, and it counts as a throw move in that state. The throw range while he’s sliding is pretty wide, so if you can match your opponent’s movements its a throw that will win out a lot of the time. It works great against grounded opponents, and if your opponent is trying to match your moves then this works nicely as a counter.
**-- Against which characters does the El Fuerte Ultra Spark offer an advantage?
Okada:**
If I had to choose, I’d say Ryu or the other projectile characters. The sliding goes under projectiles. Also, the throw period is fairly large, so you can do the ultra upon seeing the fireball and have it hit. But rather than just projectiles, its a move for your opponent’s big attacks.
**-- Fuerte was considered to be one of the weakest characters in IV, but how about S4?
Okada:**
As we haven’t really done a lot of buffing to Fuerte himself, maybe his position hasn’t changed? (laughs). But the weak parts of him, as well as things like hitting the move but not being able to do that much damage, we have been strengthening that. So by that, players can bring out their ability more and he should be easier to use than he was in IV.
**-- Next tell us about Abel’s adjustments.
Okada: **
First, we’ve make Sky Fall easier to use. We intended for it to be anti-air, but the situations where it could actually be used were on the few side. So we’ve adjusted it so that its a little easier to catch people with it.
Tamamura:
We’ve also adjusted his sweep. It now hits from a little farther away now - its a small change but it will have a big effect on his matches. Also, his far standing jab now comes out a little faster. In general, Abel’s normals have gotten a little better.
**-- Tell us about his new Ultra, Breathless.
Okada:**
Breathless is a grab ultra where he dashes forward and pressures his opponent. You can’t combo into it, but with super armor you can dash in and absorb a hit, really take it to your opponent. Also, if you hold the button down you can delay when it comes out.
Tamamura:
You can also cancel it. So if you think its going to whiff for sure, just stop it. (laughs)
Okada:
Also, as your opponent is getting up, you can start Breathless, and just before they get up, cancel it, and then just throw them regularly - my recommendation!
**-- Against which characters does Breathless offer an advantage?
Okada:**
Characters who can control distance pretty well from afar, as well as characters who do lots of mix-ups in close. It works great at all ranges, but it can be kind of hard to hit against jumping opponents.
**-- Please tell us about Seth’s adjustments.
Okada:**
For Seth, we’re basically tuningn down the moves that are too strong, and balancing him better as a player character. We are increasing the recovery on his Yoga Teleport, reducing the priority on his jump back/straight fierce punch, and taking a look at his attack power. However players shouldn’t feel as though his moves will lose functionality, as the things you can do in IV will remain the same in S4.
**-- Seth had was considered to be fairly strong in IV, do you feel that he’s about the same in S4?
Okada:**
Among all the characters, I feel he’s on the strong end. Conceptually, he is similar to Akuma. So, he can deal a lot of damage and has good combos, but if he gets rushed down he’s weak.
**-- Tell us about the new Ultra, Tanden Typhoon.
Okada:**
As Tanden Stream is a good all-purpose projectile-type, we wanted to give him a more tricky ultra in Tandem Typhoon. The basic uses are anti-air, chip damage, and combo’ed into. Its not quite as all-purpose as Tanden Stream, but it feels nice when you hit it in a combo, so all you combo fans out there please give Tanden Typhoon a try.
**-- Now tell us about Akuma’s adjustments.
Okada:**
We’ve adjusted his Demon Flip Throw. In IV, regardless of whether it was blocked or missed, Akuma was at an advantage, but now Akuma is going to have to use it more carefully.*
(*Az: It sounds like Okada is talking about something that isn’t a throw, but the move name he says is the Demon Flip Throw, so…I dunno what to tell you.)
Sano:
Akuma is a character who deals out a lot of stun, isn’t he?
Okada:
Yeah…he has loop-like combos and near hit-confirm combos, so in IV he could really dish out a lot of stun. So with one opening he could hit a loop combo and then in the next combo the opponent would definitely be stunned - almost like he gets 2 openings for the price of 1. We wanted to give his opponents a better fighting chance, so basically we’ve adjusted the stun on those strong combos so that they don’t dizzy so easily. However, for Akuma players, if you read your opponent well and hit a really difficult combo, it’ll do a bit more stun than it did in IV.
**-- Tell us about his new ultra.
Okada:**
We made it with the idea that it would be hard to hit, but once you do it’ll feel awesome. It’s almost kind of romantic (laughs). Of course its got its usefulness, and can be used in combos and what not.
– And finally, please tell us about Gouken’s adjustments.
Tamamura:
We’ve adjusted the Kongo so that it will be easier to perform. I believe a lot of people had problems with this, so hopefully this meets your expectations.
Okada:
As for other stuff, his overhead and all of his normals come out a little faster.
Tamamura:
We’ve also increased the hitbox on his Hurricane kick, so it will be easier to hit.
**-- Tell us about his new ultra, the Denjin Hadouken.
Tamamura:**
Denjin Hadouken is a bit unique in that even if it’s blocked, it will increase the opponent’s stun by a percentage. And if you hold down the button, you can charge it up for more damage. You can also use the hold to delay the timing, to catch jumpers.
**-- Have there been any changes to the CPU boss characters?
Okada:**
The boss characters are completely different from the playable versions. The boss versions of Seth, Akuma, and Gouken are the strongest (laughs). They may look the same, but their frame data is completely different.
Tamamura:
Many players told us that CPU Gouken was on the weak side, so we’ve re-adjusted him to be more like a boss character. The moves may look the same, but their functionality is much stronger. On the hardest difficulty setting, they’ll give you a run for your money. However, we have made the easiest setting a bit easier, so a wide range of players will be able to enjoy the game.
**-- Do you have any closing comments for everyone looking forward to the game?
Okada:**
The characters we talked about on today’s blog were brought to completion by the players. As such, we adjusted them to keep the interesting and fun parts they had in IV. As for the original characters from IV, we’re trying to preserve that originality, so that players can continue enjoying in S4. As for Seth, Akuma, and Gouken, we didn’t want to take away their feeling of being strong characters - keep their feeling of being bosses, but as player characters, adjust the areas that needed adjustment. The basic feel of the boss characters hasn’t changed from IV, but hopefully the adjustments made will allow their opponents to feel that the player is skilled, not just that the character is good. Also, with new ultras for all of the characters, you have a new choice of attacks to choose from, and this adds to the ways you can enjoy playing. I would like for everyone to enjoy the new features in the game.
Tsukamoto:
Well, I hope you all enjoyed today’s entry. If you want to try out some of these changes for yourself, there are various locations around Japan offering demo play, so if you can check it out by all means please do so!
And next time! For the final entry on character adjustments, next week April 20th we’ll be talking about Cammy, Fei Long, Sakura, Rose, Gen, and Dan. I think there’s a lot of interest in next week’s characters as well, so be sure not to miss out!
As you may have read on Ms. Shiozawa’s blog, this blog will be concluding soon. While there may not be many entries left, we’re going to give it our all right up until the very end!
See you next week!
Yoshinori Ono’s interview from Fnac Paris Forum (french)
Part 1: [media=youtube]Mt6D01ss9hg[/media]
Part 2: [media=youtube]TOmjEnCyBP4[/media]
Penny Arcade Expo - Seth Killian interview: [media=youtube]nA0OxArQOrA[/media]
sagat combos
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Cody trials, not my vid. I apologize if it’s been posted before. =/
Some of Dudleys Trials:
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[media=youtube]AX6HTskGRu0[/media]
adon+juri combos
Ono talks about Super Street Fighter 4 for xbox, and about playing on xbox live. It is in Japanese so I don’t know what he is saying. The video begins with some talking about the nationals, but is mainly about SSF4
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CAPTIVATE 2010: Hakan info.
Just got back from Captivate 2010 with some about 5 hours of study into SSF4, Seth Killian educating me on some of the intricacies of the characters. Since almost no info has been posted on Hakan, I figured it was about time. I was able to spend about 3 hours in training and using him in combat. Some of this information cannot be qualified as hard fact, but it does provide legitimate perspective into Hakan as a viable character.
Hakan
-HE CAN NOT FADC OIL, perhaps he can from a buffer or from a stronger oil (only tried short) for some odd reason, but I wasn’t able to experiment with that.
-If you are hit out of the startup frames of oil, you do not keep the effect. Only the mid-late frames allow you to keep oil.
-He can FADC slide from anywhere on the screen.
-According to Seth Killian, Hakan?s SPD has more start-up frames than a normal throw. This was evident to me as I was b.thrown by Gouken many, many times by another player during otherwise viable setups.
-According to Seth Killian, Hakan?s LVL1 focus bears neutral frames. Though I forgot to ask whether that was on hit or block. Even if it?s only on hit, that?s still better than most of the cast?s focus. If that?s on block, that?s pretty phenomenal.
-Jab 360 has awful (yes bad) range, possibly has the same range as his normal throw. Upon being oiled, this is a very different story, the range is pretty ridiculous.
-He can do short oil twice, doubling the longevity. Any further shorts oils, do not stack. This means that other combinations could stack though (possibly short oil, forward oil).
-f.MP has an extremely long cancel window allowing you to verify a hit into slide with relative ease, however the move has sub-par priority and slow startup. Expect to be counter-hit.
-His ?Oil Combination Hold? works with an opponent extremely close to the ground (after a jump).
-His j.MP allows for a juggle state combo and appears to be more reliable than his slow j.FP.
-His back dash is horrible, don?t expect to get out of anything unless it?s a throw. It stays grounded for what seemed to be the whole animation, moves an embarrassingly short distance backward, and has very few frames of invincibility.
-jFP is not nearly as effective as E. Honda’s. It has slow startup and I was counter-hit out of it by half the cast. It cannot sway like Honda?s or Balrog?s. The (slow to access) active frames of the move are extremely effective. Jump back.FP works well to prevent jump ins.
-Heavy oil (even medium) after jab 360 (the most practical time to oil up) on certain characters is very risky. Makoto can EX hayate on reaction easily. Short oil is very unsafe against characters like Chun-Li for obvious reasons…
-f.RH, s.MP and s.FP appear to be his best pokes. s.FP has incredible priority and range, however at max range only the last hit (of two) has a tendency to connect, making it do awful damage.
-Without oil Hakan is very, very weak. With oil, it provides marginal buffs to priority and frame advantage, with obvious buffs to range. The buff on his focus and grabs appear the most beneficial. The supposed ?frame advantage,? his normals gain off oil, was so insignificant, I couldn’t actually tell if there was any.
-Hakan’s best combos are simple two-in-one combos (c.mk > slide)
-Hakan’s links are more difficult and unfulfilling than most. IE: s.jab > s.short > s.jab > f.jab is pretty difficult with no real reason or reward for doing it. His links are very poor and strict even with oil.
-I completed his trial mode in about 10 minutes (very limited options).
-His heavy attacks do around 200 stun.
-f.FP has insane priority but an odd hit box and mediocre range. Will have uses in certain unforeseen match-ups.
-c.FP has a lot of range but I wasn?t able to experiment much with its effectiveness.
-His super doesn?t appear to have the ability to AA jump-ins.
-His jump is very, very low to the ground causing dramatic problems with certain characters. The timing to jump over Sagat?s high tiger shot is fairly strict because of its low altitude. Makoto can also punish him jumping a near full screen away, almost at the peak of his jump (perhaps even that), with her EX hayate. Makoto was able to anti-air him with f.FP and even s.MP with relative ease. Chun can punish him from at nearly any point during his jump with her s.RH.
Just got back from the SSF4 Gamerbase event. Not sure if this has already been posted, but:
SF4 save data bonus:
2 extra colours - Colour 11 is the ink shader from the PC version, Colour 12 is a very neat looking shader that turns the character into a cross-hatch version of themselves - it leaves them looking like they’ve been drawn onto the screen.
Thank the GB Manchester staff (Smile et al) for this, not me, I just got here first to post it!
EDIT: Oh, and you unlock taunts and colours very easily in SSF4 - it doesn’t take that long playing with any character to unlock the first few…
CAPTIVATE 2010: Balrog
Back from Captivate 2010 with some new SSF4 Balrog infomation!
TRADE HEADBUTT STILL CONNECTS.
**His Dirty Bull (720 U2) is actually extremely effective. **The fact you can jump out of it has little consequence as you aren’t going to be using it like Zangief’s 720. There are plenty of ways to set the opponent up for frame traps, shenanigans with this move. The key to the move’s success is to make the opponent think you are vulnerable by using moves with marginal frame disadvantage. With this simple concept in mind, you can apply dangerous setups to many areas Balrog would otherwise lose match momentum.
720 SETUPS
-Deep LVL1 TAP to 720 is incredible. Most players know that TAP is -2 or worse on block so they nearly always attempt to start a block string or throw afterwards. The -2 frames allow for a perfect 720 setup if they do anything but jump or backdash away. Simply by having selected U2 starts a whole meta-game around TAP, making opponents fear the trap causes them to randomly jump or dash back. Once the opponent has been conditioned to escape the setup you can punish with dash punch or headbutt.
-Shallow dash low straight into 720. Since dash low straight is punishable by certain characters you can buffer the 720 upon block, snatching any failed punishment attempts or misjudged spacing.
-Deep dash punch into 720.
-Semi-shallow low swing blow into 720.
-Deep EX low swing blow is very, very effective. Many players do not know it’s -1 and impossible to punish. Though they do have enough time to extend a normal that can be counter-720’d.
-Whiff overhead in front of opponent as they are waking up from a KD, 720. The awkward recovery on the move should bait a follow-up unless they expect the setup.
-Whiff TAP in front of opponent as they are waking up from a KD, 720. The awkward recovery on the move should bait a follow-up unless they expect the setup.
-Well timed reversal, nuff said.
-and so on…
Selecting U2 over U1 will be completely preferential and in concordance with the knowledge of your opponent. 720 will obviously be able to punish certain specials that U1 is simply too slow for or can’t because of charge. I have a feeling it will be very effective against Adon and his jaguar kicks. 720 also obviously has the ability to stifle pressure from the opponent with reversals. This could make cross-ups on Balrog less effective as he doesn’t need to store a charge to worry the opponent of punishment. Though U2 seems very viable, I don’t see any reason to use U2 over U1 against fireball characters. U1’s fireball crushing properties is simply too useful to be substituted by a limited punishment/shenanigan ultra.
Balrog vs. Makoto
Balrogs s.RH and s.FP seemed to shut Makoto down at their optimal ranges, however once Makoto got into f.MP range I had a tendency to get counter-hit because of its long active hit frames and fast recovery. I was hit a pretty good number of times by Makotos f.FP, particularly because of its range. I was AAd by it a couple of times as well. Not certain how much priority it has.
Balrogs dash punches ruin Makotos life. Especially EX dash punches. They counter hayate very well. I counter-hit him out of EX hayate many times. Once Makoto adapts and begins to use focus, this could change the match up greatly. Her focus seemed to be pretty quick despite the awkward animation. S.jab does not work on her while shes crouching, however c.jab to s.jab worked which was very bizarre and very effective. I only recall that working in block strings, however. I feel that the Makoto player could have been playing too much like her 3rd Strike incarnation.
Balrog vs. Dee Jay
I didnt get to fight him much but my opponent was capable of doing j.mk > c.jabx2 > c.mk. As you would expect, Dee Jays exceptional j.mk gave Balrog some problems. Apart from that I didnt notice anything really outstanding about this match-up aside from the fact it seemed easy to keep Dee Jay out.
Balrog vs. T. Hawk
After playing Seth Killians T. Hawk it seems that s.jab is capable of shutting him down just as it can Zangief and other large characters. S.FP was able to counter-hit and counter-poke T. Hawk out of nearly everything, including his fabled s.FP and c.MP. The aerial dive special was easily punished, on block, with dash punch super. Whiff horizontal flying special can be punished on reaction with a normal of choice, though the timing is relatively strict and could lead to a free 360/720 for T. Hawk. I have a feeling this will be an uphill battle for T. Hawk.
Balrog vs. Adon
His jaguar kick and wall dive thing were not very effective against Balrog. I was able to FP head butt the RH wall dive upon reaction, as well as ultra it. At one point I ultrad the short (possibly forward) wall dive from nearly full screen. I timed it right as he touched the wall and it managed to connect. The stronger jaguar kicks can also be ultrad or EX head butted on reaction.
The times in which I found myself losing a lot of life was when I was getting hit by reversal or random dragon knees. I was able to throw him out of a couple of reversal dragon knees, not sure what strength. I have a feeling that wouldn’t work on EX knee. Doesnt appear to be a threat, all of his specials seemed easily dealt with, however my opponent was spamming them and predictable. I was amusingly able to throw him out of the start-up of his dragon knee. A better Adon may not set himself up for so much punishment and those moves may remain effective in moderation.
Balrog vs. M. Bison
Not much to say here except that his c.RH was much harder to deal with and that my j.RH was beaten clean by M. Bisons shins as he passed under me with Psycho Crusher. Yay, for Bison players.
Balrog vs. Ibuki
My standing RH traded with her U1 (I believe), which was very suprising. Knocked her out of it entirely.
Overall it seems Balrog is doing very well against the new characters I fought, that is until counter-strategies are learned. Balrog’s typical tools will be more than sufficient from what I could tell. They all have an extremely hard time competing with his pokes. There are no real nerfs that I could discern and no real buffs either. The purported buff to some of his dash punches were not obvious to me and Seth Killian wouldn’t give me a straight answer. His reluctance was strange so maybe the rumors are true.