THE SF4 BEGINNERS Thread! NEW? POST HERE FIRST!

Classic Fighting Games Street Fighter IV
61

TO armagan: You can’t cancel a normal move in to another normal move (I think you could in SF3) you link it if it gives you a frame advantage on hit. Like Bison (Dictator) c.lk has a start up of 3 frames and on hit has an advantage of 4 frames, so you can make another hit before your opponent recovers.

I’ve got a question on the frame data posted up on SRK’s Wiki for SF4 characters.

I’ve read buktooths Frame Data Trainer but I still have questions. I’ve tried Googling for answers but have come up empty handed, searching the forum wasn’t any help either. I’d just like some things cleared up and explaning because I don’t like assuming I’ve got it right.

Startup: I understand that an attack that has a startup of 17 will not hit until that 17th frame. What I don’t understand is when I look at the startup for Dhalism’s Level 2 FA which is 17+13, what do both those numbers mean? Also the 1+ when executing Supers and Ultras, is the 1+ just accounting for the camera zooming in on the character?

Active: I know what some attacks will hit more than once, but when I see something like 3(7)2*2 I have no idea what the brackets and asterisk means.

Recovery: I’ve seen all sort on this like ???, +, ~ (for Blanka’s D+PPP).

Frame Advantage Hit + Block: I take it the numbers listed are assuming the move hits on the very first frame? Also how are they calculated, for example

Dhalsim
Close LP active:1 | recovery 12 | adv.blk -1 | blockstun 10

from active to recovery its 13 frames total, you hit a blocking opponent, they take 10 to recover, you take 12 to recover, so why isn’t the adv.blk not -2?

Damage: I take it * denotes another hit, whereas 70x5 is just shorter than writing 7070707070

Supermeter Gain: So for example 20/20 means you get 20 for executing the move, and another 20 if it connects? and 20*30 is how much you get for the 2 hits that particular move makes?

Block: yeah its pretty obvious that HL stands for High Low but I’m just not sure about the numbers when it comes to throws like Zangiefs Super of 1.2 or everyones regular throw of 0.9

Cancel Ability: CSpS or SpS*- I take it means it can be cancelled in to a special, or super but I’d like some clarification to tell them apart.

Thanks in advance for answering this.

62

you’re wrong that you cant cancel a normal into another normal. many characters have rapidfire light normals, meaning you can do say, low short x3 and have each low short cancel into the next. the characters as well as the specific moves they can do this with vary though, although it’s always light normals. it’s worth noting that this game inherited from ST the property that any subsequent hits in a rapidfire light chain cannot be canceled into a special move. the difference is in ST those normals were never linkable whereas in SF4 they are, leading to some really stupidly obtuse combos like rose low jab x3 xx drill, where you have to chain the first two jabs, then link the last one so you can cancel it into the drill.

some other arbitrary normal to normal cancels also exist. these cancels are called target combos, and are inherited from 3s. most notable is ken’s close strong-close fierce target combo, and apparently theres a bunch of others but i dont know what off the top of my head.

63

Why are Arcade Sticks Superior?

After lurking the forums for a bit, it became quite clear that most people on this forum (and in competitive fighting games in general) prefer to use arcade sticks over PS3 controllers.

Is this just a matter of preference, having used Arcade Sticks first and for longer, or are they strictly superior in terms of control in some way? I ask only for quality of control, not price or any other peripheral concern.

I’d appreciate objective answers too. I half suspect it is just the cool/elitist thing to play on a stick rather than slumming it up with a controller.

64

Hi
I’ve never really liked Street Fighter games. I downloaded the Trial for the Xbox Live Arcade SFII game and wasn’t really a massive fan.

However, I do love fighting games and I’m willing to be converted mainly because SFIV looks wicked and the review scores are impressive (although are they based on nostalgia?). Just a couple of questions…

  1. From playing and watching SF it seems like characters only have 3 or 4 moves that they can use. Are characters really so boring?

  2. I love games like Tekken and Soul Calibur because of the vastly diverse characters and the different ways you can play with each character. Does SF have this sort of depth? (and I don’t mean learning Frame Rates and stuff… that database depth I don’t really care for)

From what I’ve seen, SF seems really limited in what you can do with characters… like spamming the same 3 moves and such (I’ve watched that huge guide on Youtube, it seemed a lot like Rock-Paper-Scissors). Does this game have hidden depth and variety or are people still playing this ‘archaic’ game mostly for nostalgia reasons? I don’t really want to pay 40 for this game and realise I should have just waited for Tekken 6 and saved the cash.

Of course when Isay archaic and spamming and such, this is just how I see Street Fighter at the moment. I really WANT to get into this game, but it seems so different to what I’m used to so I need your help!

Thanks

65

Did i read that right? shouldn’t it be 360-> works with 360 and pc?

66

  1. Please don’t only count each character’s special moves as the character’s whole moveset. Please do take in to account each character’s normal moves, and that for each special move there is a version for each button strength. Each character has at least 24 moves. And this is before counting special moves, supers, ultras, and command normals.

  2. If you think that Tekken and Soul Calibur are diverse, then Street Fighter (or nearly any other fighter) is going to blow your mind.

67

I have compiled some newbie questions:

  1. What is “SuperJumping”?

  2. What is a “Reversal”?

  3. What is the difference between a “chain”, a “link”, and a “combo”? Do they all mean the same thing?

  4. Your character glows white when your FA is charged to level 2 and you glow yellow when its fully charged (or so I’ve read). But how come I see alot of videos where the character is flashing yellow while doing a shoryuken or some other special move? Usually its at the middle/end of some combo, so its hard to believe that they fully charged a FA before doing the special.

68

Read the links in the first post.

69

I still can’t find the definition of Superjumping

Do “chains” cease to register as combos, unlike “links”? I don’t see the significant difference between the two.

I still want to know why I occasionally see characters glowing yellow when they do special moves.

70

Thanks.

I’ve yet to find an answer to my fa confusion though. Damn I need the game badly…

Let me guess, you think Tekken and SC is deep because every character has 50-60 “move”, since d+punch is listed as one “move” and df+punch is as another one?

Go has one of the most simple rules in a game and yet it’s one of the toughest game to master.

1-3: read sticky.

4: you don’t glow on fa. yellow glow is fadc (focus attack dash cancel). read sticky.

71

Superjumping is not in the terminology page. It is only mentioned on the acronyms guide. I still don’t know what that is.

Added: And, I have painstakingly figured out why characters flash yellow. Its not from focus attacks, and I don’t think it happens in FADCs either. Characters flash yellow when doing EX moves.

72

[list][]Using shoulder buttons sucks. Besides the awkward placement, you either have to utilize your left index finger, or you have to have an attack mapped to the analog R2 trigger, which is awkward for quick digital commands
[]You can use more fingers. Even with the new Fightpad controller with 6 buttons on the face, you’re using your right thumb for every attack. On a stick you can have fingers at the ready on 4-5 buttons.
[]It’s easier to press buttons on a planted surface than to press buttons on a controller.
[]Joysticks are great for fighters. Some people do prefer d-pads, but the default PS3 d-pad isn’t that great. It’s heads and tails better than the 360, sure, but I think most people will perform better with a joystick, though perhaps after a short adjustment phase.[/list]

Viper is the only one with a superjump. Read about it here.

73

i have a question about special moves linking to supers/ultras, for example can i do the qcf motion of an ex hadoken with ryu and just do one more qcf motion and all three punches to get the ultra out, or would i have to input 2x qcf after i do the qcf motion for the ex hadoken? (very noob i know but i was never sure) thanks in advance.

74

I have a Hori PS3 stick and it works on the PC.

75

I guess this could be helpful to add:

Anybody who hasn’t read Sirlins “Playing To Win” book needs to read it before SFIV hits. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw

Having the right mentality before you play, will drastically improve your game, and success. Realizing that losing is a must when starting, is also very important. You WILL lose, and will lose ALOT!

I highly recommend everyone go here ( http://gootecks.com/ ), and download gootecks book on “The 3rd Strikes guide to SFIV”. Even if you’ve never played 3S, you will be able to understand the guide, it is VERY helpful. Also, that site has podcasts that you can subscribe to, and other miscellaneous things for SFIV.

A site that has been mentioned before is http://www.eventhubs.com/guides/2008/jul/08/street-fighter-4-strategy-guide-hints-and-tips/ . This site will teach you the basics, along with guides on each of the characters.

This guy has alot of SFIV vids - http://www.youtube.com/user/Min0ra . There’s plenty of high level matches, and also other SFIV related thing there. Also: http://www.youtube.com/user/ArcadeInfinity - they have great matches and hilarious commentary!

If you’re going to be playing alot online, I recommend you sign up on gamebattles for the SFIV singles ladder ( http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/street-fighter-iv/ladder/singles/ ). Playing in tournament rules, and situations will further improve your game to it’s fullist potential.

Just remember, when first playing SFIV (as I said) be prepared to lose alot more than you win. At the beginning try out all the characters, and see which one you like the most. Try and have fun, and good luck to you all.

76

LOL did no one else find these questions hilarious? Sorry I couldn’t resist!:rofl:

77

That would be technically a cancel, and there are no traditional ultra-cancelable moves in the game, unless you count Dan’s Super Taunt (although people seem to tell me otherwise).

78

Man, After years of being a Pad Player on Street fighter, and 2D games in general. I Finally decided to not bullshit myself and step my game up to the next level.

I am learning a Stick, I got the TE Fight stick, and it is a great piece…I mean Wonderful. Only problem is that I played this with a trial Street fighter 2 HD Remix and None of my shit came out accurately…

I lost all my potential than when I used a controller…I can’t even Dragon Punch on command anymore with a stick. I know there are others here like me whom are pushing the controller aside and using a GREAT Arcade stick for the first time.

My question to the experts are…

How in the fuck do I hold the damn joystick to make my moves come out…at all Dragon punches and the like. Linking normals to special moves is impossible.

I am not going back to pad…I’m finally starting Stick after years of pad playing. I haven’t used a stick since SNES days for street fighter and Arcades occasionally.

Anyone here I know can relate…HELP please :sweat: hehe

79

People hold sticks differently.

  • Hold the ball between your index and thumb, with palm facing to the side. Use index, thumb, and wrist movement to control stick.

  • Hold the shaft between your middle and ring finger, with palm faceup. Grip ball with fingers. Use fingers and wrist movement to control stick.

  • Clench hand around ball (or bat), in a fist, with knuckles up or to side. Use arm movement to control stick.

  • etc etc

Keep practicing. You’ll find you’re own way. I, myself, use a combination of the first two. I hold the shaft between my middle and ring, while holding the ball with my index and thumb. And I use various combination of finger, wrist, and arm movements to control the stick. For some specific motions I may even momentarily switch my hold to and then switch back to my default hold after I’ve completed the motion.

Bottom line: keep practicing AND do not go back to pad.

80

It’s just a matter of time before you get used to using a stick. If you are asking how to hold the stick, as corny as this is, [media=youtube]iJLTa_eBLAo[/media]

Using the TE stick remember it only takes the slightest motion to do the moves. If I were you I would spend a lot of time in training mode just practicing executing special moves and moving around and shit until I felt comfortable on the stick.

Last and most important piece of advice: Don’t get frustrated and go back to the pad. You WILL learn how to use the joystick and you will be able to do things you couldn’t with a pad. It just takes some time to learn. Good luck.