HD Remix

[buhwhyen]

EDIT: this is all off the top of my head. I'll probably have to edit some stuff cause its not entirely right, or because its incomplete.

Random stuff on Ryu gameplay (basics, not gonna put in too much shenanigans.)

-Normals
He has pretty damn good normals.

*ground*
cr.mk - this move has good range, decent priority, and combos into fireballs at most distances it would normally hit. Generally speaking, his main poke on the ground.

cr.rh - this move is hella fast, somewhere around 4 frames (which is just as fast as most strong punches/medium kicks. Hell, Guile's cr.short is 4 frames). Mash on this instead of jabs when you want to stuff a bad tick throw attempt. Careful about always canceling into fireball, if the sweep hits, it forces you to go for a cross up or meaty instead of the traditional fireball trap.

cr.strong - this move is no where near as good as in say, CVS2. For the most part its completely outdone by cr.mk. Actually, I think they took out the only real use for this move when they made Ryu's super remove your hitbox on hit.

cr.short - these are always good, but generally not used. If you need a fast move to mash on, use this. Also used in some ghetto fakes into dp and tick throws.

st.short - the old fake fireball. Now mostly useless, though still alright to throw out to fake people out.

st.rh - decent anti air. Sadly, I think mexican uppercuts beat this move out as a general anti air. It does have a good angle for potential empty jump attempts that dp would miss.

cr.fierce - this move is pretty good in ST. Probably your best bet as an anti air if you can't dp in time.

fwd+strong - 2 hit overhead, if your opponent is crouching and both hits hit, this can be linked into cr.rh and cancel into hurricane kick for lots of meter and fancy shmancy shit.

fwd+fierce - good to move Ryu forward while doing his fireball traps. Is mainly used for spacing, though has a few uses for throw/super/dp shenanigans. Don't throw this out as an attack (unless its in a combo, which isn't easy).

*jumping*
j.rh - your main jumping attack. This move is used for crossing up, don't use j.mk plz. Beats out a lot of normal anti airs, if done early it also beats/trades with Sagat's tiger uppercut.

-j.strong - used as a preemptive air to air. If you predict a jump, you can use this to get a 3 hit juggle combo (j.strong, land, j.strong) or juggle into super (j.strong, 2 hits, land, super).

-j.short - used for safe jumps (jumps timed very precisely so that you're still in the air for 1-2 frames when your opponent wakes up. This leaves you with an active hitbox that's able to hit your opponent, but if he reversal dp or supers, you're able to land and block before his active frames start).

*specials*
dp - jab is almost always the one you use here. Only use fierce when you want that little extra damage, but make sure it actually hits.

hurricane kick - has some lower body invincibility on start up. Goes over non-shoto fireballs (Guile, Dee Gay, not sure about Chun Li though). On wake up, can be used as an ambiguous cross up, though I would not recommend trying (its difficult, or something).

fireball - is good. He uses this move a lot...more later

fake fireball - this move is actually really ridiculous. Its really fast, but enough that it gets people to jump all the damn time. More on this in the fireball trap section.


Basic gayness

-Fireball traps
Ryu is able to force an opponent who's been knocked down to block at least 2 fireballs (unless he dragon punches/something else invincible through one). The trick to doing this is landing a proper meaty jab fireball. The fireball needs to hit the middle (though preferably back, no homo) as hes waking up. If done properly, you can throw another fierce fireball that can't be avoided by jumping. The main 2 things are the timing of the meaty fireball and the spacing when you throw it. The distance is roughly at the end of a generic (some characters jump further, and in some cases shorter) character's jump. So if you were to jump forward, you should be able to j.roundhouse them without crossing them up, and at the same time be able to combo a cr.mk when you land. This distance is the general distance you want to keep when doing fireball traps, on wake up or not.

Jab-> fierce fireball for fireball trap.

The above mentioned branches into a few options for Ryu:

1) throw another fireball. If preempted, you eat a jumping roundhouse/fierce.

2) jump in attack. Generally not what you want to do. Gives away any control you have over spacing and leaves you open to eat a dp (eww, no homo). If you preempt a jump, you could use j.strong, but you could also just stay safe on the ground and dp.

3) fake fireball. This one is generally your best option. Most people will be itching to get closer to you, especially after blocking 2 fireballs (no patience). I do this a lot, and almost every time you get someone to jump at you and you have all the time in the world to counter it. If they don't jump, you can just throw a fireball, psychic dp a poke, etc, because fake fireball doesn't leave much of an opening to punish.

4) do nothing/adjust your spacing. This option is also good, because if they're smart, they won't jump at you which means you get to set yourself up at the distance you want and either start your fireball trap again or some other shenanigans. If they're retarded, and jump at you, you can just dp or jumping strong it.


*basic attack strings
-j.rh, cr.mk x fireball
-j.rh, st.fierce x fireball
-cr.mk x fireball
-cr.short, cr.short, cr.short, cr.rh
-cr.mp, cr.mk x fireball

more advanced
-fwd+fierce, cr.mk xx super
-fwd+fierce, cr.mk x fireball
-cr.mk xx super
-fwd+mp, cr.rh, short hurricane kick

*easy tick throw set ups
-crossup j.rh, cr.short, throw
-crossup (or not) j.rh, walk forward slightly, throw
-crossup (or not) j.rh, cr.mk, throw
-meaty fireball, fwd+fierce, throw (this one isn't that easy anymore, they messed with the active frames/hitbox on fwd+fierce I think)

[buhwhyen]

Guile basics

Guile is more situational than Ryu. He has more match up specific nuances that require, duh, match up knowledge. His basic mix up game never changes, but whether or not he has to zone and play defensively changes with the match up.

-normals

*ground*

jab - mostly useless. 90% of the time this move is used as a rapid fire move to stop blanka balls/dash punches. Otherwise as a panic anti air (on a badly timed jump in).

st.mp - a "good" anti air that I cannot get to actually beat anything in HD Remix. Seems like they shortened the active frames, cause it seems even shorter than I remember. Has reasonable horizontal reach, and has some pretty random uses.

cr.mp - This move is good, but very short ranged. The reach on this is actually shorter than his cr.jab, but has good priority and oddly enough is a good anti crossup (lol). Generally if you need to stuff a move, use this.

fierce - st.fierce is really only used in combos, otherwise its not that great. Cr.fierce is your oh shit I have no charge and I'm not paying attention to spacing and and I can't walk under or back and I need to not block this anti air. Keep in mind this move is not as good as in CVS2, the hitbox does NOT cover his entire arm, in fact its barely up to his elbow and also barely above your hittable box (no homo). Cr.fierce does have a lot of active frames, and slightly crosses up, so you can do some ghetto (really really bad) tricks with it.

st.short - mostly used against Blanka and Dhalsim to stuff slides. Good priority and can stuff a lot of moves, but charge > this move. There's a trick where when you rapid fire this move, you can start charging after you start the first st.short and charge back while still rapid firing st.shorts.

cr.short - this is one of the slowest jab/shorts in the game at 4-5 frames. But it also does abnormally retarded damage for a short move. If you learn to kara cancel into flash kick, it literally does 40-50% damage for 2 shorts into flash kick. Use this instead of jab. If you can't kara, or don't want to risk it, link cr.short x3, st.short for retarded damage that also puts you at an almost ideal distance for sonic booming.

st.mk - sobat (this move) is one way Guile maintains spacing while holding his charge. Guile's foot is invincible so at certain distances its a surprisingly good anti air. Also used as a mix up in his rush down to preempt a jump and stuff it (while remaining safe on block).

cr.mk - like in all games, this move is hella slow. Has really good reach, and reasonable priority, and still is Guile's main poke.

st.rh - again, this is not CVS2 so this move is not that good. You can still get away with cr.mk, st.rh a lot, and actually stuff a decent amount of stuff, but its not safe at all if they're looking for it. It does have its uses, though use it sparingly. They also gave Guile O.Guile's? close standing rh. Though, it seemingly is not nearly as good as I remember. Haven't been able to actually beat much with it, the angle is terrible for how close they have to be to actually get it to come out, not to mention its really slow. The hitbox looks good on paper, but I'm not sure its a viable anti air option.

cr.rh - this move is a lot better than it used to be. I actually find myself using it a lot. They made it harder to reversal between the first and second hit, though I end up overestimating the range on the first hit and often lose rounds because of it. Has some ghetto trick set ups off this, but I wouldn't suggest most of them.

back/fwd+short - knee bazooka! This move is awesome. It can be used to do a sonic boom trap similar to Ryu's fireball trap. It also is useful to punish fireball happy people. Jab sb, knee bazooka, fierce sb leaves you at a range where if they fireball twice, you can hit them during their recovery with cr.mk/fwd+fierce. Its main use, though, is to maintain spacing while still holding charge. Can be used as a ghetto anti air if the spacing is right.

fwd+fierce - not as good as in CVS2 (I say this a lot), but still has a decent number of uses (more or less the same as in CVS2). I try no to use this move too much, I find using other moves more or less makes this one inferior.

fwd/back+rh - Guile's new overhead. Its good, use it a lot. They gimped the fuck out of its priority, so that it loses to basically everything, but most people still get hit by it. It has very limited lower body invincibility, but don't count on it to save you.


*jumping*

j.fierce - your main jumping move. This replaces j.rh (if you play CVS2 Guile), has very good priority, jumping straight up, forward, or backwards. Can also air throw if close enough.

j.forward - this is what you use if your jump in is not close enough for a j.fierce. Decent priority and range, and has some weird cross up properties. Can also air throw.

j.roundhouse - this move sucks in this game (not like CVS2). Small narrow hitbox (I can't count the number of times I've whiffed this when Vega goes for a wall dive and lost the match), terrible priority, slow to come out. Its only used when you need the extra reach, since it reaches further than j.mk.

j.short - your main crossup. This move's hitbox is deceivingly small, make sure you have your distance down, or you'll miss crossups like me and eat feces.

don't use his other jumping moves.

*specials*
sonic boom - use this a lot. Practically no recovery after it leaves his hands. If you get a knockdown, generally you use jab, if you're almost on top of him, mp if hes further away to get a proper meaty.

flash kick - this move is hella good. Stops more cross ups than it should on wake up. Has a big hit box that can actually hit a slide from Vega/claw, Blanka and Dhalsim. Roundhouse version makes Guile able to deal with bullshit like Vega/claw's wall dive/wall dive fakes and other straight up jumps.

*super*
His super is good. I use it mostly on wake up or as an anti air, since they fixed the anti air damage on it (its more consistent now). You almost always have this available, in some cases I've gotten 2 in a single round. There are some problems with the new motion, so I'd suggest using the old one if its not too difficult for you. Problems include: not being able to combo it, not being able to activate it via negative edge, not coming out when you have ANY button pushed down.

*basic gameplay*

You can charge both down and back at the same time. You can activate flash kick by holding any version of down (down-left, down, down-right) and similarly activate flash kick with any version of the up motion. Oddly, sonic boom can be charged by holding any variation of back, but can only be activated by hitting straight forward, down-forward will result in a normal move. Charge time is roughly 2 seconds, so even if you throw a sonic boom and it gets jumped in reaction, you generally have enough time to charge a flash kick.

You want to make them block a sonic boom, either on wake up or any other time. From this point you have a 3 way mix up of: high, low, or throw. Same basic idea when you play Guile is to walk after sonic booms applies, though to a lesser extent. In CVS2 you almost always wanted to walk after your sonic booms, in ST, you only do this if it puts you in range for a mix up (and they're not Zangief or T.Hawk). If you're far away keep throwing sonic booms, mixing up mainly between jab and fierce.

This breaks Guile's general game play into 2 categories. Either you try to zone with sonic booms and counter what they respond with, or you go on the offensive and mix up off your sonic boom.

Guile's 3 way mix up consists of:
1) fwd/back+rh (overhead)
2) either cr.mk or cr.rh or cr.short
3) tick throw

Naturally you can be gayass and throw out a cr.mk (or other normal) and go for a throw attempt, but generally you don't want to try this because not many of Guile's normals set up a tick throw attempt very well from a distance. I tend to use cr.rh for the low attack on most characters because its the only option other than throw that knocks down and allows me to reset into another sonic boom mix up and maintain control. The overhead does NOT knockdown, though it does have good range and is not punishable on block or hit.

If you're zoning, you mix up your sonic booms and react based on the character you're playing against. Though generally against a jump in you can either flash kick, use a grounded anti air, or try to preempt/react to them with j.fierce (or throw). Most of the time you flash kick if you have the charge, though depending on the character, you might choose to use a ground anti air so you can force them to block a sonic boom after they get stuffed (you can do this with flash kick as well, but this doesn't grant a knock down, so they have less time to think about what they want to do next).

1) they're a fireball character too and cancel your sonic boom with their fireball - in this case you should be very aware of your distancing. In a lot of cases, you can advance yourself (via knee bazooka) to where your cr.mk would normally miss, but since fireballs tend to move a character's body forward, you can hit them with a cr.mk on their recovery. This is a huge advantage Guile has over other fireball characters. It forces them to not just mindlessly spam fireballs. Similarly, you can j.mk/j.rh in reaction to fireballs and punish most of the time. I wouldn't suggest trying to combo a cr.mk or anything after, but its a viable option to consider.

2) they're zangief or boxer (most of the cast actually). Here you have to also be conscious of spacing. When you throw your sonic booms, look for headbutts, lariats, or whatever else it is that they use to get through your fireballs. Most of the moves have recovery that you're able to punish safely with cr.mk. Here, you're just sonic booming and poking. Most characters that fit into this category have very slow and short jumps, so having flash kick ready is generally pretty easy.

3) they have a fast jump (Vega/Claw, Bison/Dick, Blanka/Faggot). These are your shitty match ups. They each have a way to get over your sonic boom and punish you if you're predictable. The key here is to mix up the timing on your sonic boom so that they don't get free damage. In general, if you're at a standstill, throw a fierce sonic boom and do a forward j.fierce. This does 2 things. First, if they don't react then you've closed the distance and aren't at a frame disadvantage. Second, if they immediately jumped, you stuff whatever they throw out with your j.fierce. If say you're playing against Vega/claw, and he wall dived in response to your sonic boom, you need to immediately jump back with j.fierce. The majority of the time you'll stuff his wall dive attempt, unless he for whatever reason preemptively throws out his attack. Against these 3, you typically can't rely on your normal ground anti airs. So all anti airs are in the form of flash kick or j.fierce.

4) they're Honda. Throw lots of sonic booms, mostly fierce. If he jab headbutts at full screen/near full screen look to walk up and sweep on his recovery. Always be ready to jump if hes sitting on super, though on numerous occasions, I've been able to flash kick him out of his super from full screen. Furthermore, always keep a flash kick charged, and rarely move forward in the match. Most of the time you want to keep flash kick charged so he can't butt splash you (this leads to an almost unescapable tick throw on Guile - you have to block high and Guile has no reversal other than flash kick/super)


*Combos*
-j.fierce/mk, cr.mp x flash kick
-j.fierce, st.fierce x flash kick
-j.fierce, cr.mp xx super
-j.fierce/mk, st.fierce x sonic boom
-crossup j.short, cr.short, cr.short x flash kick
-crossup j.short, cr.mp x flashkick
-crossup j.short, cr.mp xx super (good luck)
-cr.short, cr.short, cr.short x flash kick (either 2 or 3, distance depending)


*Block strings*
-crossup j.short, cr.mp, st.mp x sonic boom
-crossup j.short, cr.mp, cr.short, cr.mk
-crossup j.short, cr.mp, fwd/back+rh
-crossup j,short, cr.mp, cr.mk, st.rh

[Pikachu]

Ryu's low strong is a good occasional meaty, sort of like CvS2, but with more payoff. Throws are faster, so ticks are viable, and if you challenge someone on wakeup and win, you can link low forward into fireball, which is a pretty big payoff. You can also psych someone out with a dash punch afterward and start shenanigans there.

Hurricane Kick is a scrubby reversal to avoid throws as well. It does not go over Dee Jay projectiles, or Chun's... only Dhalsim and Guile's.

Fireball range in SF2 is a bit outside your sweep range. And then outside that sweet spot is where a lot of the mind games go. I notice a lot of top players regardless of country try to manipulate the distance to their individual advantage. The person getting in will try to jump in safely from this distance to close the gap. If they don't stick a limb out, DP will not connect at this distance, so Ryu either needs to fake the fireball (using the actual fireball fake move or otherwise) and make the opponent land on a sweep, or delay a fireball so they land on it. Either scores a knockdown and allows readjustment there. If your name is Valle, Daigo, or Choi, you can walk into range and DP because you see into the future. No matter what, the fireball trap is a good illustration of the nature of Super Turbo. Mind games can hinge on distancing enormously, and just closing the gap instantly demands the players begin looking for different things, but this is a discussion best saved in matchups.

Lastly, for the combos, add anti-air j.mp, land, j.mp xx hurricane kick for non meter punishment (and major meter buildup), as well as anti-air j.mp, land, juggle with super.

[Pikachu]

Wordy details on Guile. The close roundhouse is simply not a good option because you can't hit it precisely when you want it and have that move come out without worrying about getting far roundhouse, which gets you smacked for a jump in combo.

You can do short short super with Guile, but that's not a main tactic to focus on. Be content with damage from pokes and throws, because it's ST. Crossups are hella dangerous because the jump short has to land deep or you will just die.

Guile can win fireball wars if you charge correctly. Depending on who you war with, however, if may not be optimal to jump in if the other person is aware of their distancing. Dhalsim and Ryu, for instance are examples where you need to almost pre-emptively jump their fireballs in order to land and hit a combo. Ken and Chun, on the other hand, afford better chances of this happening.

Full screen fireball wars with Guile are useless. The Sonic Boom is on the screen longer than you want it to be, which prevents you from tossing another. Mid-screen is where you get to be scary (and if you play a Ryu who knows the game, it's how you get him to twitch). When you get into backfist (f+hp) range, you can nullfiy a Ryu fireball and immediately mash on backfist to punch him in the nose. This discourages the fireball game on the opponent's end and starts the Sonic Boom pressure. Using backfist to dictate how projectile skirmishes go is about as old man 7-11 as you get, but the idea here is to get the enemy to overcommit when predicting your next move so you can punish them accordingly.

It is also possible to consistently punch shoto hurricane kicks with low fierce. You must hit them dead center in the balls, which is hard to do online.

[Pikachu]

I do a quick thing on Dhalsim, more so how to play against him than how to play him, since I doubt any of you have that interest.

Sim has a mathematically inverse relationship between his anti-airs and people who play him. He has a raging ton of options to anti-air with and few players. Among these few players, you can judge who "can" play Dhalsim and who absolutely cannot simply by observing their ability to use his close attacks as a part of his zoning game. If you're able to jump in all day, keep rushing at Dhalsim and you'll win, because they won't know how to use close attacks to fight back.

Otherwise, be prepared to treat the fight as if it's a fireball war. Dhalsim's job is to cut off parts of the screen with threats of pre-emptive attacks like standing strong and standing forward, in other words, controlling tons of space. If you think of the stretchy limbs as if it performs the same functions of a fireball, it helps the concept a lot. The difference, however, is that the limbs can be aimed at different angles and cover the screen a lot faster. The good news is that the limbs are hittable, don't have full screen range, and don't chip, so you can block limbs all day if you need. This affords you a chance to be patient. Even if Yoga Fires are being thrown out, the recovery on them is nowhere near as good as Ryu or Sagat's fireballs, which means there's more time to watch for patterns.

Another good thing is that if you have a fireball, you can beat out pokes with it. It takes a little prediction, but it's easier to do than a psychic invincible move. However, psychic dragon punches on limbs can mess Dhalsim up because of the knockdown.

The knockdown is what you absolutely want to score on Dhalsim. He cannot do anything on wakeup *if you do not F up*. The most extreme way to illustrate this is the Dictator vs. Dhalsim fight. Dhalsim can zone Dictator all f'ing day, but if Dictator out-thinks Dhalsim for even a moment, if can mean a crossup combo into Scissor Kicks, and then the momentum swings against Dhalsim. How does Dictator out-think Dhalsim? Dhalsim cannot cover all the angles at the same time. Knowing what angle Dhalsim wants to cover and why will let you in on what the opponent is thinking, and allow you to slip through a gap that isn't being covered. Then you can close distance and put pressure on.

What this means is that you need to swing the risk vs. reward out of Dhalsim's favor up close. Safe methods of constant pressure are very good because you can open him up for throws, or make him twitchy enough to get counter-hit into more damage.

I am making this sound better than it actually is, though. Getting up close like this simply allows you to play the game against a good Dhalsim. Up close, Dhalsim has a 1 frame normal in low forward. He has an incredible throw range (which thankfully is his far throw, and not noogie anymore). He is no gimp at close range, so it's not a free win just because you get in (unless you're Gief or T.Hawk).

No matter what, though, do not let Dhalsim get close to you. Now wait a moment... I just said to close the gap. Doesn't this statement contradict the paragraphs above? No. If Dhalsim is the one closing the gap on you, he's doing it on his terms, and that's dangerous. You must not let Dhalsim eat your curry. How your defense goes is character dependant, but the gist of what happens when Dhalsim comes up close is a whole orgy of tick throws and Yoga Flame (frame, pun intended) traps. Some of the BS you can even see coming, and still not be able to stop it. It can be more aggravating than an Indian woman driver.

Some of these shenanigans include:

1. Short slide into throw. This is counterable by reversals, but the opponent can jack up your timing by using forward slide. Either way, you have to do more guessing, because the Dhalsim player can do short slide, block DP, then throw. At perfect distance, I've seen a Japanese player do short slide Yoga Thrust (upflame) to smack someone out of their Dragon Punch. Very violent.

2. Drill, land, low kick, ad nauseum, throw. Similar crap to above. Dhalsim can put a lot of pressure on *most* of the cast using drills. They're safe, and they're perfectly viable for ticks.

3. Yoga Flame tricks. Jab Yoga Flame is frame advantage for Dhalsim, which leads to more threats of throw and low hits.

Dhalsim has a lot of room to improvise how he does all this, especially in the corner. There are certain places where you might be able to reversal DP, but the risk is usually put more on you than Dhalsim. However, the throw will come eventually, so if you sense it, try to throw him back. Part of the mind game isn't whether the throw is happening or not, but when it will be done. Dhalsim can Drill, then throw. Or Drill, low kick, then throw. Or Drill, low kick, slide, then throw. Or he can block wherever the throws might occur to bait Dragon Punches. Or he can cancel a low kick into Yoga Flame, then throw. Or he can slide after the Yoga Flame into throw. Is he using short slide, or forward slide? Or will he just drill again after the frame advantage? Damn Brahmin bastard.

Anyhow.. that's all for now. I lied when I said it'd be short. Dhalsim is always long (no homo).

And as a final note, having Ryu, Guile, and Dhalsim talked about so far, there are some really good players to watch for them:

Ryu - John Choi, Alex Valle, Daigo, ShootingD
Guile - Kurahashi, Muteki Guile, Otochun
Dhalsim - KKY, Gian

[buhwhyen]

There's a trick to getting the distance on c.fierce to hit hurricane kick online. If you block the first hit of hurricane kick standing (assume that you see it coming and it hits at max range), then this leaves you at the perfect distance to c.fierce cleanly. Only real downside is you take some chip damage, but its still situationally good to know.

[Pikachu]

Yeah, I'll trade chip damage for a c.fierce hit for sure.