Back to the Basics - Street Fighter 2

One of the perks of where I work is that my boss like fighting games.  Enough to have his own personal SF2 cabinets.  We have one cab that is SF2: CE, and Super SF2.

So, most arguments as you may have guessed are decided by who wins on the arcade cabs!

I had one of the most interesting progressions in learning fighting games - I went from SF4, to SF3: 3rd Strike, to now SF2.  This game threw me for a loop at first - no supers, no damage scaling, none of my main characters.  The raw penalty of messing up in the game is so severe that it forces you to re-think what bad habits you learned from other games.

In SF4, you could EX cancel fireballs, and punish jump-ins.  Not so in 2 - you'll eat a nice, unscaled combo or get dizzied real quickly.

3rd Strike allows for parries.  No penalty on jump-ins if you have the execution or can bait them.  In SF2 you eat the normal or the uppercut.  

So the great equalizer is now the risk analysis that you must make when throwing out any move - everything has the potential to get dizzied, so you can only really make ONE mistake.  This is something that got rebalanced once Turbo was released (i.e. the addition of supers and new moves/rebalancing).    

Characters like Ryu benefited from the addition of the super gauge, as the super could turn the tide of a match and limit moves.  With every character's super, the game changed significantly and some bad matchups equalized to 5/5.  Others like Dictator or Boxer got better options, new moves, and the ability to tech throws, which made things a lot better if you had a throw happy opponent.  However, the version we have is right before the Turbo edition, so some matchups are MUCH harder - especially when some of the older employees use the highest tier characters.   

I've tried counter picking, but I think the best thing to do is to adapt new strategies for the game and scale accordingly to operate within SF2's boundaries. 

So for those who never really dived into SF2 and have only played 3 or 4, go buy SSF2T:HDR on Xbox Live or PSN, and try it out - you may learn some better fundamentals that you can bring into more recent games!

Frame Data - Part 3

Comboing and Blockstrings

Let's take a look at some frame data for Ryu, a snippit from eventhubs.   

Let's look at the close light punch.  As you can see, each field is filled in with a value.  Generally, 3 frames for startup is relatively quick, and is the same speed for a throw in this game.  It actively his for 3 frames, and takes 6 frames to recover.  Simple so far right?

Frame advantage on block and on hit aren't too bad - but how did they get to those numbers?

Frame Data - Part 2

Fighting games have some special cases that really aren't explained too well, so I have included them in my discussion of frame data as they will be of great importance later. 

A combo is defined as a series of attacks, which, after the first hit is unblockable to the opponent if the timing, hit boxes, and spacing is correct.  Several terms are used in the fighting game community, and aren't always explained very well.  Those words are Cancel, Link, Chains(Target combos). 

Frame Data - Part 1

The origin of frame data (as the name implies) is from taking a frame by frame analysis of moves in a fighting game. So, for a lot of current games like SF4, the game runs at 60 Frames per second. You take a move, such as a jab, and count the frames it takes to start up, how many it takes to hit, and how many it takes to recover. Then you see how it affects the opponent - when does it hit? how long are they hit for? When you compare these to another character, it defines how your character will "play" in the game.

For the sake of analysis, I'll be describing frame data using Street Fighter 4 (mostly because of its popularity and availibility).

Let's Start with the terminology that will be used to describe frame data.

An Introduction to Frame Data

If you have been playing fighting games for a while, or you are moderately new to it, you have most likely heard people referring to "Frame Data". What exactly is it? Why is it important? What does it tell you? Why do so many people in the Fighting game community talk about it and reference it?

To remove the mystery of frame data, I'll be writing several articles on what frame data is, what it affects, and how to use it. In order to become a better fighting game player, you need to take advantage of frame data and make it your own.

When you make an attack, what dictates if you will be counter hit by the opponent? How do you know when things link or combo? How do you know how difficult a combo's timing is? Every fighting game has a system in which it defines your attack's properties. How fast is your roundhouse? How fast can you recover to make another move following it? The code written by that game programmer dictates how that character "feels" and "plays" in the game.

In addition to knowing your character's frame data, what happens when you understand your opponent's? It allows you to know what is safe and unsafe about your opponent's attacks - giving you the upper hand in the battle. Knowing their data limits their options and opens up your options.

Let's get started on the subject.

Arcade UFO's latest Tournament trailer!

So... I spent this past Sunday helping film the most hype tournament trailer for our arcade, which will happen this coming Saturday.  But doesn't the trailer seem awfully familiar?
More after the jump...

Akuma/Gouki Combo Expo video

This video shows some viable combos that can be used in matches - taken from a link in the shoryuken forums!

Training mode's uses

After spending quite a bit of time in the arcade and practicing at home, a couple new developments have come up since that time. First of all, training mode has a few neat features to get a player up to speed in any game.

The Final Product: Arcade UFO TE Stick!

Here is my latest work: The Arcade UFO Stick!

It's a 360 TE stick with an MC Cthulhu and PS2 via the ethercon connector. The back button is now wired to "turbo".

A view of the internals

A view of the Ethercon Mod.

Modding a Madcatz TE Stick for all consoles - for a pro player

I have been tasked with creating a Modded Madcatz TE stick to work with 360, PS3, and PS2. This means cables that will work for each of them as well. I am creating a custom Arcade UFO themed stick for Fubarduck, the co-owner of Arcade UFO. This stick must be a LOT cleaner than my previous test build, and in addition it must have a lot more options added to it that are meant for Tournament use.

This means:

-A switch for PS3/360 Selection. No Imp switch, as he needs to know for sure that he's on a specific console.

-no 4th column buttons. Easy modification with panel plugs.

-An MC Cthulhu. Allows for PS3, and PS2 compatibility for 3rd Strike.

-A ethercon port for PS2 cables. Strong, Small, and easily serviced.

Notice the layout differences from my previous build.

Unopened backplate as well; all wires routed from TOPSIDE and serviced through the top.

Notice how the wires are organized, ziptied, and put away. Makes for a cleaner build.

Updates on the PS2 ethercon port later this week.

Modding a Madcatz TE 360 Stick for PS3

So I set out on modding my TE 360 stick to PS3 (I actually play more on PS3, but I bought this stick intentionally to dual mod.)

*Warning* this will VOID your Warranty!

I achieved this entire mod with 24 gauge wire, a DPDT switch, and Toodles' Chtulhu board. Time: 3 Hours.

From Scrub to Seasoned Player

There are a lot of gamers like me that missed out on the past 2 decades of Street Fighter. For us, Street Fighter 4 was our first Street Fighter game - so there is a lot of catching up on concepts and habits that seasoned players have. Execution, mindgames, and fundamentals are things that have to be practiced and learned over time. Many players are frustrated by the experience level of other gamers, and it can be really detrimental to their progress. So how do go from Scrub to Seasoned? Here are my thoughts and experiences on how I've been progressing in fighting games.

Akuma/Gouki

Stamina: 850

Akuma is one of the most powerful shoto characters in Street Fighter, and in Street fighter 4, he is no joke. He has a diverse moveset, hard hitting combos, great mixups, and a teleport to go along with all of this. However, you cannot blindly play Akuma like Ryu or Ken. His low health makes you change up the way you play him, because mistakes are punished with big damage to Akuma. You will commonly see players turtling with Akuma for this very reason, as the Japanese Player Momochi has shown. However, there are many players that play him completely different and are more aggressive in their play style. Edma's Akuma is a completely different beast then Momochi, as you will see him using mixups off of the demon flip more than anyone else as of right now.  Hsien's Akuma is where I think Akuma players should be going to.  Exploiting Akuma's mix-ups and high damage while playing safe with his footsies.

His Normal and special moves will be analyzed at the bottom of this post, with character notes before it.

The Frame Advantage blog's plan

So what I plan to do with this blog is to do a character by character move analysis versus other characters - i.e. Akuma's standing light jab vs Balrog's normals and specials, etc. Each page should have frame data and analysis of what priority the move has over other attacks. I know it seems daunting and ambitious, but I'd like to follow in Edma's shoes of being a Street fighter scientist without being too much of a a "theory fighter".

Street Fighter 4 is my FIRST fighting game, and so it's been quite a learning experience with the concept of mix ups, mind games, spacing, and frame and priority data. That's why I'm going to try to share my findings with everybody else.

So wish me luck on this project!

My Tutorial Video for Modding a Madcatz SE Fightstick to full Sanwa

Here's my video on fully modding out a SE stick with the arcade parts.