As MOV said…
play Ken if you like to play defensive
play Gouki if you want to play aggressive!!
Hey everyone. Im just one of the many noobs who will be getting 3S on Wednesday. Im here to ask- what should I do to be good at this game w/ Ken? I’ve played every SF and 3S but Ive just never been good at the game, I want to try though with the new release.
Learn to punish sweeps/whiffed attacks with SA3. Learn stuff like c.mp, mp, c.mk,mp-hp into SA3. Don’t try to play this like sf4 - try to be creative and not predictable.
edit : try to learn the game by experience, not info you found on the net I guess
First and foremost, just practice combos and whatnot. See what does what, what combos into what, so on and so forth. Second, like vandarkholme said, you should see what SA3 is able to punish on block. There’s a LOT of moves SA3 can reversal punish, including a blocked Shoto cr.MK!
You should also watch videos to sort of get an idea on how Ken is usually played. You’ll find a lot of great Ken players out there with plenty of diversity in their playstyles, so mix and match.
Thanks guys, will do. Wasnt aware Ken’s SA3 could punish so much, sounds great though because that SA is pretty much the reason I want to play him.
Although, is there anyone better for my style? I ussually main Shoto in all SF games, even though Im not paticularly good a that archtype. But ive always been more rushdown and/or footsies rather than zoning, so I’ve avoided Ryu. I play Dan in SFIV and I tried Sean in this game but he seems like crap mostly cause every good player blows you up cuz you can parry Sean hurricane kicks. Kens always been a fav and even tho I suck at hit confirms I really wanna try him in this game.
For hitconfirms just find a good way to do it. I myself was struggling very much with it telling myself its super hard, when in fact you dont even need that great reaction. when hit confirming remember to firts buffer and then check something that can asure you the next move will hit. Some people look at the faces the characters make when hit, some guys prefer the hit spark and some even do it by sound. I prefer much more looking at the life bar though,when hit confirming with a normal just check if theyr life went down… As for the character better fitted to your style…as MOV said - when comparing Ken and Akuma Ken is the defensive kind of guy and Akuma the aggresive, altough you dont really have to Ken defensively, imo he has one of the scariest corner games in the game next to Dudley, but thats just my opinion. Maybe Akuma will fit you with his rushdown mixup style, but he isnt easy to master. Just experiment and try for yourself, we’re not gonna tell you who to play - you have to find out yourself
I was actually coming here to ask about hit confirms:D
I’m having a few other problems though (as well as questions)
I printed out Ken’s section from the SF Anniversary Guide and some combos I just cannot do.
*MP , HP, SAIII (I can do MP, HP, Hado, SAIII 2/5 times but I can never do HP straight to SAIII)
*
+MK linked into SAIII (I’ve never been great at links but this just seems ridiculous)
Questions:
*What’s a good way to punish with an overhead? I keep trying to learn the above combo to punish crouchblockers but if there’s an easier way I’d love to learn it.
*When punishing a jump in, I’m able to do :f:(parry) Fierce SRK. Is this the smartest/best way to punish a jump in? I’m talking about after a player has commited to a jump in attack
- Drumming the kicks after b.MK is a good way to try and land it. That’s what I do for my links, even stuff like cr.MK->SA3 hitconfirm cancels.
- It’s a good punish if you want that knockdown, or you can do LP Shoryu for faster recovery(you can also tack on an extra LP Shoryu for more damage). If you want to set them up for a mixup though, you can do parry jab reset. That’ll just depend on what you want to do.
Looks like I might have to learn stick after all:sweat:Also, am I supposed to buffer the double QCF during the kick animation or do I have to instantly input the whole super aferwards?
And thanks. I’m always looking for that extra damage. Hell, I even cancel cr.MK into Strong Shoryu (Fierce does less damage)before doing SAIII if I’m in range. Any tips against Urien/Gill? That range is effin ridiculous
- What I usually do is input the move after seeing b.MK hit. I tend to have an itchy trigger finger so I trained myself to not buffer during animations. You can try buffering the motion somewhat late into the b.MK animation, and if you see it hit, drum the buttons.
And yeah, there’s a reason why so many 3S players advocate sticks over pads: you’ll have a much easier time doing Super links, and stuff like charge partitioning is ridiculous on the pad.
- Ken owns Urien in this matchup, but things can get very tough if you don’t know what to do, especially against a decent Urien.
There are three moves you can punish with cr.MK on block:
- Chariot Tackles(any of them)
- cr.HP
- f.HP
Remember this, because it will force Urien players to not try anymore stupid shit.
MK, HK, far HP, and cr.MK are good far-reaching pokes against Urien. There isn’t much he can do to punish them even if he parries, unless you’re like up close to him(which you shouldn’t be anyway). Standing outside of your cr.MK range works really well, because you can catch Uriens trying to dash in with it and buffer into Super. Generally speaking, Ken does very well with poking against Urien.
Urien is weak in the corner because of no particularly great wakeup move. You can start working your mixups there(so many to list here, refer to other threads for your options), but be careful not to get too predictable. One parry from close range will give Urien the opportunity to start working his magic, be it throwing you to the corner or getting a cr.HP.
Urien can be pretty weak against Ken’s crossup game. j.MK works particularly well against him here, as well as jumping EX Tatsu. Also, if you do extremely late jump-in attacks, you will be able to recover on the ground faster than Urien even after he parries, giving you time to tech his possible throw or block his counter.
If Urien has you cornered with Aegis, you’re gonna have no choice but to try and react to his high/low mixups. If you’re in an unblockable situation, you’re pretty much gonna have to try to parry out. When you jump around, be very careful of Urien’s MP and HP fireballs. If you get hit, you’re in for a world of hurt from his juggles. Basically, stay cautious when Urien’s is starting to approach like 75% bar, because one mistake up close will lead to an Aegis situation. Also be sure to look out for EX Headbutts and regular Headbutts, since he can use them to hop over your low hits and throw you(the legendary “Headbutt-Throw” technique).
I might have gotten a little carried away here, but to sum things up: Ken can beat Urien with proper zoning and corner mixups. Just don’t get too careless or you’ll get screwed.
Ok, yeah I think my problem is that I never truly learned footsies and pokes. And I have a TE stick that I’ve just never gotten used to since I did 100x better on a pad when playing Marvel. Thanks for the help though
It’d be a good idea to learn them, because shoto pokes are some of the best in the game behind Chun-Li. Ken especially benefits from them, since quite a few of them cancel or link to SA3.
And in the end it’s really up to you if you wanna use pad or stick. Times have changed over the years, and I’ve seen enough good players from 4 be able to do very well on pad, even with execution-heavy characters like Viper. I’m just giving my own thoughts on the matter, and I also leveled up my game at the arcades so I will always be pro-stick.
But anyway, best of luck dude. 
is it much better to piano after a crlkx2 hit confirm rather than pressing one kick? i usually piano lk and mk after a hit confirm. also with buffering the super in cr,lk x 2 or crlk crlp crlk i usually move the joystick from down to down forward during the last lk animation then try to do a qcf and kick as fast as i can to get the super out. is this a good way of doing it? thanks
I havn’t had too much trouble on player matches unless someone chooses Q. what the heck is my game plan supposed to be against him? and what’s HIS game plan? I’m completely lost, any other matchup I can figure out what’s going on but Q… he’s just so different from what i’ve encountered in other games… He seems to out prioritize everything, and I can’t get close to him. and he’s just… all… wierd… lol
Ken’s footsies, I don’t think I quite understand. Im checking out the frame data on eventhubs, and it seems like a lot of pokes that reach far are - frames on block. normals that seem like they would be good like st hk, cr mk, are all disadvantage on block. Cr mk -> hadouken seems unsafe as well. I feel like playing footsies with another ken or chun and using those normals its guaranteed eating a jinrai or Chuns SAII on block.
Footsies!=blockstrings
dont cancel into regular hadokens on block, be careful. It’s not easy to reaction super after a blocked c.mk, it’s not like Ken will punish it every time, unline a crouching randhouse which is piss easy to punish for both characters. Watch maybe some 3s vids to get the hang of it. In 3s every move has a meaning, you must devote yourself to that move.
Can anyone tell me the trick to Ken’s trial 5?
How many frames do you get to hit-confirm cr.mk into super?
I find this extremely hard to do on anything but an arcade cabinet.
question about c.lk, st.lp srk combo
is this character specific midscreen (correct me if I’m wrong but it hits everyone in the corner right?) or can you kara the light srk? I wouldn’t think that you could since it seems like that kara dp would link instead of cancel
Also, are there any meterless hit confirms that start from a low?