I was worried about my reaction speed when timing HP headbutt through Low tigers until Deci said what I was thinking XD Most people have been makign it sound like itās hella easy.
In practice mode I recorded Sagat fullscreen throwing tigers mixed up. The only way I could do it is to go to forward and press punch as soon as I could discern if it was high or low. The problem with that is that you lose your charge everytime you he goes high and wonāt have enough by the time he throws the next. Also, the times I was hitting Sagat he woudl have been able to block if it wasnāt a silly recorded dummy. So all in all youād need to be about 3/4 of the screen to get a good balance between time to react and time to travel to Sagat. So I donāt think the match-up has changed much. It still gives me problems, but I know what my goal is supposed to be.
EXTREME WALLāO-TEXT WARNING
A match I donāt have a good sense of what I should be trying is Chun. Kikouken zoning is the first thing that probably comes to mind when you ask a Honda about the Chun match. Kikouken zoning is pretty broad and thereās a lot of things to do as Chun when you stick one out there. Iāve seen
- walk in after it
1a) follow up on block
1b) AA if they jump
1c) charge up for another one if you didntā jump
- walk into the right AA position and wait (possibly sitting on DB so they can throw another)
- keep walking back
Walking back you just FADC forward and walk them back. That only becomes an issue when time is running out and youāre behind. Since they can wall jump over you, I try to avoid having to turn around and walk them into the opposite corner.
In all other cases Hondaās answer depends completely on how far you are from Chun when she threw the Kikouken and most of them are a guessing game due to how specific her AAās are.
just outside Honda s.HK range
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[]jumping at the same time as kikouken you win
[]jumping on reaction j.MP early beats her s.MK, but sweep beats that, later j.MP can beat sweep but that loses to her s.HP and s.MK
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*this is probably where youād want to be when a Kikouken is thrown, but getting there is really rough and thereās a good chance theyāll try to poke you out of that range before doing anything else. You still get there by walking forward since the Honda waddle is pretty fast. Itās going to be rough with s.HKās keeping you out. I try to remind myself to use Focus Attack around that range as often as blocking and jumping.
3/4 to full-screen away
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[]jumping at the same time gets you very little unless they walk forward a bit and j.HK sometimes beats and trades with AAās. I havenāt looked at the specifics of max range jumping attacks because I think itās generally not a smart thing to do because you have to either guess and go for a very early jumping attack to beat her air target (j.HP x2) and probably getting tripped when they donāt go for it OR go for something late and still get tripped or trade.
[]Walk up block. Would work alright if it was Guile since he has a harder time getting out of the corner once heās there and his block string arenāt as good. Against chun the problem is two fold: there is most likely not going to be a hole left for you to do anything and if there was one right after the block youāll not have charge. Second part is, they get to build meter and possibly get lucky with a Hazan Shu, dash throws and counterhits. It doesnāt sound attractive, but it one of three ārealā options. Anyone will get into a pattern usually thereās things you can do to counter those. An odd example is that neutral jump JAB beats max range sweeps and s.HPās. Itās nothing you can depend on, but by not becoming predictable you become less of a sitting duck, and when it hits thereās a small window of oppertunity.
[]Sit there and block. If they wait or walk back you get nothing. If they walk forward, now you have charge, but again, there is no reason for chun to leave a hole in between. There is a benefit to this though. If they walk forward they are expecting you to jump or block. If you jump at a ācomfortable distanceā they AA easily, if you block theyāll have been walking forward long enough to hit you again during blockstun. If you jump extremely late youāre at a distance where j.MP hits very low. Low enough to beat many of her options. Her c.MP still wins, but this is very specific and theres matches of Nemo getting his s.MK beaten by an early j.MP because he was too close. Also, ironically, the better Chun players will often not follow up after you block their Kikouken because they KNOW that the closer they are the harder it is to AA Honda. Maybe not much harder, but the consequence of failing to AA him at that range is usually worse. This is an opportune range and time to toss out Chunās max range s.HK. I donāt believe you can punish a whiffed one on reaction, but an LP or EX Headbutt would win if you managed to predict it.
[]Jump back and let Kikouken dissipate. I saw Akimo do this against Chun in a match someone posted in here. This way you avoid blocking and letting Chun mix it up on you, but youāre only resetting the situation and not gaining anything directly. The āchanceā you have is if Chun doesnāt use the time to charge. This is not as unlikely as it sounds, since youāre no threat when jumping back and players are LOOKING for you to jump so they can AA you. If you donāt jump it takes a split second for them to see that you jumped back and that period they use to charge you can walk forward a bit and perhaps (depending on how far they walked and where they were to begin with) get close enough to become dangerous again. An example from an actual match thatās not necessarily a good idea: I jumped back INTO where the kokouken would have been if it had not dissipated, I immediately EX Headbutt since I have charge from jumping back and hit The next Kikouken in itās startup. That would not have worked if the chun had charge the moment I landed from the jump.
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So I think that covers Kikouken zoning pretty well. It sounds awful, because it IS awful. On the up side, nobody plays 100% by the book and there are always chances for you to get damage and once youāre in thereās a lot more options. For example, thereās no reason for Chun to jump in this match ever, but they probably will. Thereās a good chance you wonāt have charge when they do, but HP (close and far) beat and trade in your favor. Thereās time for you to dash up or walk up and force a mixup. A df+HK can be hit with EX headbutt, but also EX Sumo smash when it crosses you early. EX Sumo smash puts you in a much better position than a connected headbutt. Especially in a Chun match, your postion on screen relative to hers is important.
Sumo smash is generally a crappy option when theyāre mobile and the only reason I mention it is that if for whatever reason youāre at the perfect crossup distance it might just workā¦ but no, this should not be considered an optionā¦ and yetā¦ if you block a Kikouken (or a poke) and do it reversal timing afterwards they canāt FA it. Still loses to backdashes and on block it isnāt exactly to your advantage. At least yourāe taking the fight to them and when used sparingly can be a nice surprise tactic. Something to remember.
I think thereās something to be said about Ultra2 in this match. Its range is really bad and it will NOT catch a blocked Hazan Shu. It will SOMETIMES work after blocking a df+HK depending on the range. And if they leave a hole or go for a throw after a jumping attack itāll work alright if you guess right, otherwise you eat low shorts into legs. The real reason I think itās worth mentioning is because: early j.MP. You can buffer Ultra2 while in the air and mixup with low jabs. Itās a more offensive application and itās probably not worth giving up the chance at big damage when you land a crumple FA or block an EX SBK. Just putting it out thereā¦
and after 47 games I finished with a 95.7% win rate - pure jokes). Your Honda is very solid, but you should be mixing it with guys like Zak Bennett, Ryan Hart, Dawgtanian, Yota, Slizzle, Shinji, Alioune, Starnab, Luffy,Agent Hoyā¦etc. That is when you will know how you stack up. It will hurt your win %, but you will be a better player for it.