As many of you probably know, you can plink an assist call to get a normal and an assist at almost the exact same time. What you might also know is that you cannot do this for special attacks if you use the two button assist method. What i’ve just discovered is that, by using a shortcut button to call an assist, you can get a special and an assist at exactly the same time. For some reason the game will always prioritize the kick button first, so as far as i know it only works for kick specials. this is pretty nifty for someone like peacock who can do her teleport and call an assist at the same time to avoid an attack and get the opponent away at the same time (note: because an assist is a punch and a kick you always get the fake teleport that drops a bomb under your opponent).
I’m not really sure how useful this will end up being, but people with 8 button controllers and sticks, you should really explore this.
I use the assist buttons almost exclusively because of some of the things you mentioned. Doing specials with the assist button lets you get the special and assist call faster than plinking, and allows for situations/combos that would normally be too impractical to use normally (for me anyway). You actually CAN do specials by using the assist normally and get the same timing though. I.e. QCF+LP+MK to get Double’s Luger Replica + assist to back you up simultaneously. I mapped my buttons to let me get quick access to the best combination of assist + special for me team.
For example, my second assist button is MP + HK, which gives me Napalm Pillar H + Double assist to make my recovery safer if it gets baited. Double’s entrance is covered by the invincibility of Pillar, then by the time she’s attacking, Parasoul’s already recovered and can still capitalize on the assist call. I usually use the normal assist method for specials when I want a specific combination, like if I want to use a certain distance command run with Cerebella while having my assist give me some extra protection.
Also, the assist buttons DON’T prioritize kicks. If you go into training mode as Parasoul and do charge back, forward + assist button, you will always get Napalm Shot. It doesn’t matter what assist combination the button is set to (like LP+MK or LK+MP), Parasoul will always do Napalm, which is set to punch buttons. The same thing occurs if I don’t use the macros. This means that either the system prioritizes punch buttons over kicks, or it varies by what character is being played. I think the same thing happens with Painwheel if you use QCF+assist button/normal combinations. She’ll always do Gae Bolga Stinger (punch buttons).
Overall, I definitely think assist buttons on an 8-button layout offers up an advantage. Certain specials using normal assist commands are really unreliable, like the aforementioned Napalm Pillar. I can’t seem to do it consistently without the dedicated buttons. Also, an perhaps this is the best use I’ve found so far, I can use the assist buttons to do supers like QCF+FP+Assist button to call Sniper Shot + assist. With an assist like Hornet Bomber, that particular super becomes almost completely safe, far more receptive to combos.
In SF2, there is a defined special priority, where if you perform an input that has two possible results, the game has a pre-programmed priority of which to do first.
In ST, this was particularly abusable (at least in theory) by T.Hawk, who could do a particular input (I believe it was 7896323+P) and the game would do a 360 if you were grabbable and a DP if you were not (because his special priority is 360, then DP).
So it may not be an issue of “punches take priority” or “kicks take priority” as much as it is that Mike has assigned a priority manually.