http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXcsM2V2XDg If you guys want some Sakura fun. Be warned, this is a Sakura player-directed video, but can still help you aid in understanding the mindset and game plan of Sakura in this matchup. Enjoy!
nvm
What do I do against online Roses who know their slide spacing? I feel like I just have to sit and block forever until I get thrown because they just keep repeating the same blockstring into a safe slide over and over…
I’ve only ever played Sagat dating all the way back to CE and HF even though i started as a Vega player but yeah. Seems like all anyone has to do to get a character nerfed nowadays is just bitch & complain evidenced by AE2012 Sagat. Then you get these herp derp Cammy, Guy, Ibuki with their tippity tappity comboes ranked Lower than Sagat? Wtf is that supposed to be a joke? Idk my bad just ranting there but i did want to add some MU experience/tips:
Ryu: try to stand your ground meaning don’t willfully back up. Use your standing forward and LTS every chance you get. Also try to focus thru his hados and throw or TU him. Choice is pretty spur of the moment obviously lol. A shit ton of them try to get in when I’m zoning by that air hurricane bs which you can just roundhouse them out of the air. I used to prefer TC for this MU but lately I’ve been using TD because I’ve been hitting it off an AA exTU or I’ll ultra right thru their crouch forward into hado.
Ken: I use roundhouse A Lot in this MU lol. You can rock him with it for free when he tries his push kick stuff. Other than that i try to stay as.far away as possible zoning him with TS. It seems like Ken is one of those characters who i always tag with an AA TS - HSK - TC. Probably because after eating so many.roundhouses they decide to try and jump their way in. I almost always use TC here.
Guile: this can be really really tough if you can’t zone or have no idea how to zone in the IV series with Sagat. You must be extremely patient here. You can throw 2 sometimes 3 TS for every sonic boom so use that to your advantage. He’s another one of those guys where it’s really easy to connect an AA TS - HSK - TC. You have to punish him on Every jump in. You Must Punish Him On Every Jump In. I’ve been hitting a lot of Guiles with cross up short when they block i somewhat delay a TU and it seems like 95% of the time it hits because they try to get that crouching short short short or throw thing going. If you screw up and let him in remember that your crouching fierce shoots right under his standing fierce/backhand and tags him, I’ve also been able to stuff or trade my crouching strong to with his standing roundhouse/short. I haven’t been able to figure out his crouching forward though?
Guy: i still have some trouble here but I’ll share what helps me. I punish every slide with a jab into a TS/exTS if i have the meter. Ive been able to punish his stupid elbow from full and/or mid range with the TC so let that help someone too lololol. Other than that i just shoot TS at him. As i said above i punish every blocked slide with a jab into TS and if i have the resources FADC into TC off the connected exTS. I haven’t been able to successfully block/counter/etc his flippy air throw thing, ex version and normal Especially if he scores a knockdown on me and he uses that when I’m standing up so if anyone can help me with this i will reward you with 1, 000 internets.
More to come…
Rose: just alternate between high/low TS and alternate between speeds. You’ll tag her more often than you think. Punish every blocked close slide with a jab into TS. You can also do the same with a blocked close range uhhhh. Shit i forgot the name of that move but it’s the lungi Soul Fist! You can punish the soul fist the same way as a blocked slide. Pretty much justzone her out. Don’t feel you need to press the action because her footsies are.faaaaaar superior. If she’s backdash happy you can catch her with a KTU every now and then.
Rufus: hardly ever.gets in. It’s extremely easy to zone him out. Roundhouse beats his rolling normal attack bs and you can jab him outta most everything.
Honda: i need help!!! It’s like i struggle to edge out an average Honda!!! I try to stay patient but it seems like even that doesn’t work!!!
Bison: TS after TS after TS until he has ex then pick and choose your wisely. if you get caught in scissor kick pressure just try to get a feel for his inputs. If he’s roundhouse happy you can sneak a late crouching fierce, crouching strong, TU in. What i like to do is neutral jump with a forward which usually catches his scissor kick and try to combo off that. I can usually punish his devil reverse with KTS/exTS or TC. You can TU his cross up psycho crusher with ease because it sorta corrects itself. IFind it kind of easy to catch him with TK pressure shenanigans for some reason.
So above we have a video example on how NOT to play vs cody.
(I haven’t touched the game for 3+ months so i was insanely, insanely sloppy and just outright garbadge)
What are your guys approach on this matchup? How do you deal with cody? Full time zoning game or mixed zoning with TK traps to attempt that knockdown to apply pressure in response to his little to no tools on wakeup?
3 months ago i had some play time with ladnopoka (one of europe’s best cody) and i felt the matchup was something like, full head on zoning game, let him in once and your dead.
Its hard to deal with Cody sometimes. Most Cody’s will try and bum rush you so that they can get their pressure going. I feel at least in this matchup, that its a full time zoning game with very little TK traps. The fact he can dash under a lot of standing normals to punish you is annoying so I try and force this matchup to be played at 3 training room squares. Cornered, I feel Sagat gets fried by Cody frametraps.
yep just DON"T press buttons. wait it out. he has no mixups except tick throws but hes got traps on traps on traps, and his damage is so freaking high two wrong button presses and you’re in trouble.
First off, congrats on making it to grand finals, If i don’t play the game for a week I lose all my timing, can’t imagine 3 months lol.
There is an amazing Cody where I live, and I learned the match pretty well off of him. For starters, don’t jump back as much as you do, I know you don’t want cody to get close to you, but he’s so slow that you simply backdashing or walking backwards will give you more than ample amounts of space to work your ts game.
Abuse him on wake up when you get the chance, even with meter his wake up options are ass, especially if you’re holding down back when you cr.lk.
More feints, this is the most important part of the match IMO. The feints is what will keep the cody guessing, mix that with safe TK’s and TS and the feints are a huge part of the game. Bop bop bop up and down lol.
The match-up is in Sagat’s favour, so always keep that in mind when you’re feel hopeless
yeah, i kinda ran it back today and it went completely different. Having your training up to date is a whole different thing in any kind of game. Also remembered my ex knee setups on cody, need to note em down after on my excel
I find the Chun-li match so annoying and it’s all because of U1.
I have a decent grasp of the match, but I don’t know how to play the up close footsie game with chun. Her sweep is godly against me but I’ve adjusted to it.
It’s the one match I seem to have zero patience for, and I have a ton of patience.
Same, with both Fei and Sagat I struggle against her if the player is quite defensive.
Having experimented with some decent players, it’s best just to push nothing in close IMO apart from maybe focus attack. It’s the one match as well where I feel you can can a little jump happy yourself because her FB is ass and her AA’s are a bit situational.
Chun-Li I find an extremely difficult match-up. She’s basically Vega + a lot of tools to challenge your tiger shots. You need to read your opponent and punish HARD. Chun-Li is more difficult than Vega and Vega - Sagat is a 6 - 4 match-up in favor of Vega.
Chun li does not have Claws izuna vortex and its easier to zone her compared to Claw and he can punish strings he cannot.
You got it all backwards! It’s easier to zone Vega than Chun-Li and Chun-Li can punish blocked strings that Vega can’t! 
I agree Vega is easier to deal with than Chun, at least in my experience.
You can escape the Izuna vortex with a late lp uppercut and Vega you can at least rush the fuck out of. Chun can hop kick over the shots and controls pretty much that whole mid range. Vega is slightly harder to Anti Air due to the fact he can put the claw out early in his jump giving you not a lot of time to react.
Chun just seems to all round dominate Sagat once she has Ultra. Also Claws reversal is full combo.
I grinded the Chun match for a couple of weeks to improve, now I think it’s 5-5. 6-4 Sagat before Chun gets U1 and 6-4 Chun when she has u1.
The key is to be ultra lame IMHO. Don’t let her Ultra meter by focusing TS’.
Vega vs Sagat I think is in Vega’s favour at top level, but slightly. Vega has sweet spots against Sagat that are incredibly difficult for Sagat to overcome IMO.
What do you guys feel about the gen vs sagat match up. I been looking around for tips on it like vids and stuff. Just seems really hard match up. At least my issue is, once gen is in or gets a hard knockdown it’s pretty much over.
Basically any character that has “good” buttons to control the space right in front of them is a challenge for Sagat. Vega is a 6 - 4 since he has amazing buttons, a fast and short jump arc and great walk speed (Emersion an expert Vega agrees with me on this). Chun-Li is my worst nightmare, more than even Dictator and Vortex characters. She can completely shut you down if she plays an offensive footsie game. Forget about the ultra thats not even the problem, for her thats just an extra. And she has a vortex against Gat which I will shortly demonstrate how to block consistently.