Watch Impress' SFIV Player's Guide

[Reno]

There are people who can translate this during their off time (I really don't have the time, aside from what I'm gonna post here in the OP) but the information listed is pretty good, although a lot is what we already know...

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080811/sf4_1.htm

One thing that they confirm is the period of invulnerability during wake up has been reduced greatly. Scroll down to the video of Gief and Honda for that text.

Wake-up invulnerability time has been reduced
For SFIV, it feels like there's almost no invulnerability time when you wake up from a knockdown. While this would be okay if it was just restricted to regular throws, this also applies to special command throws, so players have to be extremely careful on knockdowns.

During a wake up without holding the joystick up, jump straight up and your opponent can't throw you. So when you think a throw is coming, jump up to force your opponent's throw to whiff and then come down with a jumping attack into a combo. You can also throw out an attack with invincibility frames as a reversal and have it connect, so depending on the character and the circumstances, you can do that too.

I'm not too sure on the first sentence of the second paragraph. To me it reads like "When you're getting up don't be holding up, and then jump up" meaning you can't just be holding up as the get up animation is running, but I guess some other people can confirm this.

[CFAY]

if you think thats bad..when youre getting up, if you do a some ex moves anticipating a throw, you can still get thrown from the ex move if timed correctly. i've got thrown out a wake up super hadoken.

if anything that needs patching in this game, its vulnerability on wake up

what the hell is this http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080811/sf4_m6.wmv

[Middlekick]

^ SFA2 'Gief fans should be happy.

[terracotta]

doesn't EX shinkuu hadoken have hella startup though?

[FuguTabetai]

I'm not too sure on the first sentence of the second paragraph. To me it reads like "When you're getting up don't be holding up, and then jump up" meaning you can't just be holding up as the get up animation is running, but I guess some other people can confirm this.


起き上がるときに、レバー上方向を入れっぱなしにし、ジャンプを入力していれば投げられることはないので、 投げを読んだら垂直ジャンプで相手の投げを空振りさせ、ジャンプ攻撃からの連続技を決めるのが常套手段だ。 無敵技をリバーサルで出すことでも切り返すことはできるので、キャラと状況によってはこちらも使っていこう 。

When you get up, push the stick up and leave it there, it will accept it as the jump command and it is not possible for you to be thrown, so if you can predict a throw attempt it has become a habit to do a vertical jump and force your opponent to whiff the throw, then hit them with an aerial attack and combo. You can also counter with an invincible move so depending on your character you might be able to do that too.

Looks like some good information on that page.

I went to my local today for an hour of games, and was having real trouble with my 'Gief because everyone was jumping out of all throw attempts. It threw me off for a bit, but if you know they are going to jump, that opens up possibilities too, so it isn't a big deal.

Man though, one of the Ryu players was just loving tick-throw mixups though. It's a shame he wouldn't try those on my Z., but doing the head game with Boxer was fun too... I just love it when you get that correctly-predicted no-throw animation.

[time_attack]

some one translate this shit.

[Pat the Great]

most of it is basic information about the systems (EX, saving attack, etc.). i'll see if i can translate some of the more interesting tidbits in a bit.

[FallenAngel]

Ok, I'm gonna do a rough translation of part of this page. I'm working now so it's gonna be real rough. Deal with it ok? XD

This is the section that starts right after the vid where ken is about to super Ryu.

SUPER CANCELS

You can now cancel specials into supers. This can be done like in SF3s (If I remember correctly), where you can do one hadoken to end a combo and then do another one immediately to cancel the hadoken into a the shinkuu hadoken super.

Another example is given,to cancel Guile's flashkick (somersault kick) into the flashkick super (double somersault kick): charge down back, up forward + kick, down forward, down back, up back+kick

UKEMI

You can do ukemis by pressing down or by pressing any number buttons at the same time, as long as it's more than 2. You don't have to press them exacly at the same time ,though. The game gives you a small window of time to press the buttons and it will recognize that as a "simultaneous button press".

The author of the article even recommends to "piano" the input for the ukemi, saying that he did jab->strong->fierce to make it come out, but it could be even easier if you try it with 4 buttons.

GETTING UP

This is the part that fugutabetai translated, I will leave it untouched. I know he translates Tenjou Tenge so I respect him as a translator, too much slang on that shit haha.

More later if work permits. Sorry for any mistakes.

[FallenAngel]

SAVING ATTACK

Using saving attack is not indispensable,says the author. You can fight your way without using it, but it's best to master it ,as it would give you a big advantage over your opponent.

If you're not gonna use it, you may eventually face someone who does. In that case, use a lot of throws and attacks that have effective "armor break" (help here, does it mean "guard break"?).

THROW COMMAND IS NOW JAB+SHORT

You can hold your own if you don't use Saving Attack, but if you don't throw you're going to be in big trouble when you get up from a knockdown,for example. Throws have a miss animation. Throws can be escaped by pressing jab+short.The author says that throws "feel" almost the same as previous titles in the SF2 series.

SUPER COMBOS NOT THAT DAMAGING ANYMORE

This is character dependent, but generally speaking, supers are weaker and have less invincibility, compared to Super Turbo. Ultracombos are more similiar to ST supers. You can generally use 1 Ultracombo per round, so use it wisely. Also,the author recomends to spend the super combo gauge on EX moves.

More later.

[YellowS4]

The Guile super cancel feels so awkward.

[rook]

SAVING ATTACK

Using saving attack is not indispensable,says the author. You can fight your way without using it, but it's best to master it ,as it would give you a big advantage over your opponent.

If you're not gonna use it, you may eventually face someone who does. In that case, use a lot of throws and attacks that have effective "armor break" (help here, does it mean "guard break"?).EX moves and Saving Attacks can absorb 1 hit and keep going. But each character has at least one special that ignores the super armor and hits normally. (eg; Blanka ball, shoto hurricane kick, etc) I guess "Armor Break" is the name of this property these specials have.

[FallenAngel]

Rook: You're right thanks. It says so in the first part of the article too. Chunli's Spinning Bird Kick has this property as well

[FuguTabetai]

GETTING UP

This is the part that fugutabetai translated, I will leave it untouched.


I only translated the one sentence that Reno pointed out. Credit should go to him. It didn't look like there was anything on that page that SRK hasn't already talked about, but it is nice to have in one place. I'd rather play than translate though. :wgrin:

[FallenAngel]

The Author's impressions on SF4

He talks about the network feature that's in every cabinet. Unfortunately, he says, you can only fight people that are in the same arcade that you are. This surprised me a bit, seeing as Japan has very fast Internet, you would think they would offer nationwide matching by now. Nevertheless, the author feels this is a big improvement over having to wait behind someone to play . Now you're basically waiting behind all cabinets,at the same time.

This game is apparently the closer to the SF2 series than any other game that has come out after ST. He feels that maybe the SF3 series introduced changes that were too drastic for some people, specially those that were introduced to the SF series with SF2.

He thinks that maybe this title is aimed not only at current gamers,but also old timers like him who prefer a more classic style of gameplay. He was happy to find Guile "not Nash or anything, pure Guile" and being able to play him like always: "throwing jab sonic booms while advancing on my opponent with the knee bazooka".

Finally, the author recommends everyone to try this game and wait for the next installment on this article series, where supposedly he's going to talk more about in game strats.

More if time allows.

[time_attack]

thanks guys.

[Reno]

起き上がるときに、レバー上方向を入れっぱなしにし、ジャンプを入力していれば投げられることはないので、 投げを読んだら垂直ジャンプで相手の投げを空振りさせ、ジャンプ攻撃からの連続技を決めるのが常套手段だ。 無敵技をリバーサルで出すことでも切り返すことはできるので、キャラと状況によってはこちらも使っていこう 。

When you get up, push the stick up and leave it there, it will accept it as the jump command and it is not possible for you to be thrown, so if you can predict a throw attempt it has become a habit to do a vertical jump and force your opponent to whiff the throw, then hit them with an aerial attack and combo. You can also counter with an invincible move so depending on your character you might be able to do that too.

Looks like some good information on that page.

I went to my local today for an hour of games, and was having real trouble with my 'Gief because everyone was jumping out of all throw attempts. It threw me off for a bit, but if you know they are going to jump, that opens up possibilities too, so it isn't a big deal.

Man though, one of the Ryu players was just loving tick-throw mixups though. It's a shame he wouldn't try those on my Z., but doing the head game with Boxer was fun too... I just love it when you get that correctly-predicted no-throw animation.

Cool thanks for the correction. I was thinking it was either hold up or go to neutral and then tap up but glad to see that the game isn't crazy anal about inputs (lol I made a funny).

[Kunai]

起き上がるときに、レバー上方向を入れっぱなしにし、ジャンプを入力していれば投げられることはないので、 投げを読んだら垂直ジャンプで相手の投げを空振りさせ、ジャンプ攻撃からの連続技を決めるのが常套手段だ。 無敵技をリバーサルで出すことでも切り返すことはできるので、キャラと状況によってはこちらも使っていこう 。

When you get up, push the stick up and leave it there, it will accept it as the jump command and it is not possible for you to be thrown, so if you can predict a throw attempt it has become a habit to do a vertical jump and force your opponent to whiff the throw, then hit them with an aerial attack and combo. You can also counter with an invincible move so depending on your character you might be able to do that too.


I don't know if this 100% true, especially against Zangief. When Zangief advances with a EX Banishing Flat, whether you are downed or not, it seems like he can do SPD/Super/Ultra right afterwards and you can't do anything about it. I see it coming a country mile away, hold up (especially when I'm downed) and he still grabs me.

Zangief is... magical. That's what I have always said about him in IV and I still feel that way. SPD properties are way different in this game compared to other games.

[FuguTabetai]

I don't know if this 100% true, especially against Zangief. When Zangief advances with a EX Banishing Flat, whether you are downed or not, it seems like he can do SPD/Super/Ultra right afterwards and you can't do anything about it. I see it coming a country mile away, hold up (especially when I'm downed) and he still grabs me.

Zangief is... magical. That's what I have always said about him in IV and I still feel that way. SPD properties are way different in this game compared to other games.

What character are you playing? After an EX banishing fist I have been DPd before I could get a SPD out. Maybe I did it too deep though, but I suspect there are differences between jumping away from a SPD (very anit-climatic) and DPing a SPD (I at least feel that it took some skill to do that.)

Oh, also the above section was only talking about avoiding wake-up throws, so it is a different issue. I still haven't had time to look at that page, so I don't know if they address EX Glove / SPD at all.

[CFAY]

What character are you playing? After an EX banishing fist I have been DPd before I could get a SPD out. Maybe I did it too deep though, but I suspect there are differences between jumping away from a SPD (very anit-climatic) and DPing a SPD (I at least feel that it took some skill to do that.)

Oh, also the above section was only talking about avoiding wake-up throws, so it is a different issue. I still haven't had time to look at that page, so I don't know if they address EX Glove / SPD at all.


youre right, i actually wait for an ex banishing fist when i have two bars and ultra stocked. standing HP into DP will get him but a few c+jabs or a c+mp will surely hit before he can block. he only issue i had with the banishing fist to SPD is that i once GOT HIT(not block) by a regular fist, tried to jump away but still got SPD. now i think thats just stupid.

[Kunai]

What character are you playing? After an EX banishing fist I have been DPd before I could get a SPD out. Maybe I did it too deep though, but I suspect there are differences between jumping away from a SPD (very anit-climatic) and DPing a SPD (I at least feel that it took some skill to do that.)

Oh, also the above section was only talking about avoiding wake-up throws, so it is a different issue. I still haven't had time to look at that page, so I don't know if they address EX Glove / SPD at all.

I play Viper, and I am talking about both instances when you are knocked down and on the ground... and when you are just standing there. EX Banishing Flat can be punished when blocked... it's when it WHIFFS that makes it dangerous. It's even more dangerous when you are knocked down, because it's pretty much given that Zangief will whiff while you're still down, yet time it so that you will eat the garden variety of SPDs as soon as you get up. You think you can jump away, but you can't because you are grounded by proximity blocking. If anyone can clarify a good way to counter this, I'd love to hear it because this is an annoying tactic to deal with.

youre right, i actually wait for an ex banishing fist when i have two bars and ultra stocked. standing HP into DP will get him but a few c+jabs or a c+mp will surely hit before he can block. he only issue i had with the banishing fist to SPD is that i once GOT HIT(not block) by a regular fist, tried to jump away but still got SPD. now i think thats just stupid.

That is also quite... magical. :amazed:

[CFAY]

I play Viper, and I am talking about both instances when you are knocked down and on the ground... and when you are just standing there. EX Banishing Flat can be punished when blocked... it's when it WHIFFS that makes it dangerous. It's even more dangerous when you are knocked down, because it's pretty much given that Zangief will whiff while you're still down, yet time it so that you will eat the garden variety of SPDs as soon as you get up. You think you can jump away, but you can't because you are grounded by proximity blocking. If anyone can clarify a good way to counter this, I'd love to hear it because this is an annoying tactic to deal with.



That is also quite... magical. :amazed:

how about trade lariat to banishing fist :shake: it just never stops with this guy and after the fist he's right on you for a cross up or whatever

[RagingStormX]

For those of you never into A2, gief could do that shit. He could grab you on the 1st frame of your wake up and out of blockstun. All you could do is dp/cc giefs tick, its called the magic grab.

[Jigsaw]

Volume 2: Putting It Into Practice (http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080822/sf4_2.htm)

Haven't bothered trying to read anything of it, really, but the videos show examples of how to use Saving Attacks for combos, juggles, throw setups, etc. Seems to have some interesting stuff.
I can probably help translate it later on.

[P.o.t.S.]

Ground to air counter hits are like SFA3? That's cool.

[MAGUS1234]

ya, that was the most interesting thing I saw. I guess you could get a CH antiair normal and do EX juggles. Like Rog could c.FP counter hit, EX headbutt?

[FallenAngel]

I won't be able to play this until the PC version comes out, so I'll at least help translate this. I know most of you probably know all of this but maybe someone doesn't. And the jap practice doesn't hurt me either :cybot:

SAVING ATTACK: PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

- Saving Attack into combo: cancel a SA with a forward dash,then do a target combo into a special attack/super. The author recommends to use Ken and do SA->cancel with a forward dash->target combo (st.strong->st-Fierce)->Fierce DP for a damaging and not so hard to do combo.

Charge characters such as Guile lose their charge when they dash cancel,so you dash, start charging again while doing a chain/link then cancel into sonic boom/flash kick,etc.

- Counter Hitting with SA: The author says that there are two options here:

1) When you have a no charged (Level 1 or however it's being called now) SA and you use it to counter hit your opponent. He says that you can use it in this way in jump ins.

Ex:With Ryu, jump in with Roundhouse,wait, Saving Attack. If the opponent does anything other than block,he will get counter hitted. Once the opponent has seen this and starts to block, you mix it up by throwing them instead.

2) When you expect their attack/poke to miss: SA charged up to Level 2 and counter hit them while they're recovering from the attack that missed you. The example given is counter hitting Blanka's low Fierce. If you misread and they don't attack, cancel the SA with a back dash to reset the situation.

- When your SA gets blocked: dash cancel it and follow up with rapid low shorts or throw them.

- Use SA to parry projectiles:

It lets you increase your revenge gauge without taking damage. You eliminate black stun. You also get no damage for blocking a special move. No damage refers actually to "recoverable damage".

- EX Saving Attack

A SA that uses 2 parts of the super combo gauge. Use it cancel certain special attacks and follow up with a combo. The example is Ryu's reversal DP, SA cancel, dash forward, etc. You can hit them with whatever at the end as long as it's an attack that uses meter.

You can SA cancel even after a KO, and it will not use meter.

AIR COMBOS

You can hit someone while they're still recovering in the air. The Ryu example given before shows this. I would call this more like juggles,but they call them air combos,go figure.

Not every attack in the game can juggle, and you have to counter hit them first,normal hits won't work.

Examples of attacks that work:

- Multi hit jumping attacks: Ryu's jumping strong, Rufus' jumping roundhouse/DP,etc

- Attacks with special effects: Ken's fierce shoryuken, Viper's thunder knuckle,etc

- Attacks that grab the opponent out of the air: Abel's DP move, El Fuerte's DP grab,etc

- Attacks that use meter: Ex, supers,ultras.


more later.

[FallenAngel]

TECHNIQUES

- Kara throw: You know this,same as Third Strike. Example given is Ken's standing roundhouse.

- Option select counter throw (don't know how you call it in 3s) : Also from 3s, when you think that someone is trying to throw you, counter throw by holding back down+ throw command. This lets you avoid the miss animation if you misread.

- Chains and links: You can chain jabs and shorts,standing or crouching for various hits,but you can't cancel that into a special. If you want the special ,you have to link an additional attack after the chain. So with Guile you do, cr short,cr jab, link a crouching strong,cancel into Flash Kick. Guile should use this kind of combos after cancel dashing a SA,to have enough time to be able to charge a sonic boom/flash kick.

I think that covers pretty much all of it. Someone can fill in whatever I missed.

[Dwin]

Thanks.

[P.o.t.S.]

A SA that uses 2 parts of the super combo gauge. Use it cancel certain special attacks and follow up with a combo. The example is Ryu's reversal DP, SA cancel, dash forward, etc. You can hit them with whatever at the end as long as it's an attack that uses meter.
So only attacks that normally juggle will work after a knockdown FADC? I had assumed it'd reset the juggling and that you could use pretty much any attack to juggle after it (think C-Groove Lv2 cancel).

[FallenAngel]

I played CVS2 back in the day but that was a LONG time ago. Anyway, the author doesn't give a list of attacks in any part of the article cause "it's more fun if you figure it for yourself".

That said, he also says that "the amount of attacks that can juggle (after a FADC) is LIMITED" and "APPARENTLY i'ts restricted to ex moves,ultras and moves that spend gauge".

Note that this changes for "air combos" (hitting again someone that's still in the air,after pegging them with a counter hit): you can use normal moves there to juggle them, likeRyu's j. sp ,etc. Hope that helps.

[noodleman]

TECHNIQUES

- Kara throw: You know this,same as Third Strike. Example given is Ken's standing roundhouse.

- Option select counter throw (don't know how you call it in 3s) : Also from 3s, when you think that someone is trying to throw you, counter throw by holding back down+ throw command. This lets you avoid the miss animation if you misread.

- Chains and links: You can chain jabs and shorts,standing or crouching for various hits,but you can't cancel that into a special. If you want the special ,you have to link an additional attack after the chain. So with Guile you do, cr short,cr jab, link a crouching strong,cancel into Flash Kick. Guile should use this kind of combos after cancel dashing a SA,to have enough time to be able to charge a sonic boom/flash kick.

I think that covers pretty much all of it. Someone can fill in whatever I missed.
now i know why i've been missing my dict scissors combos (god that sounds wrong).

[FallenAngel]

Third part is out. Seems they're going to focus on the new chars now. First one is Rufus. Will try to translate at least parts of it. Again, people who have access to the game probably knows all this stuff. But what the heck, I'll do it anyways XD.

[PENETRATOR]

Weird about the meter-only followups, I thought we had "DP -> SADC -> DP -> SADC -> DP" etc combos confirmed.

[Azrael]

Whoa, I had no idea Guile could juggle combo his ultra off a FK.

Guile's ultra still sucks monkey balls, but this helps.

[Jinrai]

Rufus haters rejoice.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080903/sf4_m11.wmv

We need someone to translate the paragraph discussing this. From what babelfish implies, Ryu did a DP with Strong+Forward to do what looks like a Darkstalker-style Guard Reversal on Rufus' spin. The glass-breaking effect shows that this isn't your ordinary Reversal DP. Rufus definitely didn't have time to start a Focus charge; even if he did, Ryu's DP doesn't armorbreak.

The site says that the Shoryuken is the only move they found with this property so far, but they're confident that the other characters have this ability.

[comoesa]

doesn anyone no how to get to this?

[Super Sonic]

That looks like it'll change the tier list that we know so far.

[Desk]

kind of annoying no one direct linked to this.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080903/sf4_3.htm

[Jinrai]

Sorry Desk. Got caught up in the excitement.

People are going to be testing it out right away. If someone's fluent in Japanese, a real translation would be great.

[FallenAngel]

I will get to it in a few hours. Let me get home and I'll do it.

[Septimus Prime]

Whoa, I had no idea Guile could juggle combo his ultra off a FK.

Guile's ultra still sucks monkey balls, but this helps.
Yeah, I plowed right through his ultra with Rog/Bison's (I don't like calling him "Boxer"; it sounds retarded) ultra.

So here's a question: is the ukemi invincible? I'm wondering if using that would be a better option against super/ultra grabs.

[Desk]

Sorry Desk. Got caught up in the excitement.

People are going to be testing it out right away. If someone's fluent in Japanese, a real translation would be great.

haha, i forgive you jinrai... but only because your gief is so awesome.

It would appear that when done as a reversal that dp gains armour break properties. I couldn't see any mention of button intputs though.

So does rufus actually start a saving attack? I'm guessing he does as ryu get's a counter hit. EDIT:actually, it would be a counter hit even if he punished rufus' attack, right? isn't always safe though?

[Jinrai]

Everything, especially the DP+Focus motion, is speculation on my part. But watching the video frame by frame shows Rufus was still recovering from his spin, which leads me to believe that Ryu's blockstun was somehow shortened.

If it's true that Guard Reversals exist and it's not a freak glitch that only Ryu can do, this would change the game quite a bit. In particular, it would defuse Fuerte's alleged infinite lockdown on block.

[Tension]

haha, i forgive you jinrai... but only because your gief is so awesome.

It would appear that when done as a reversal that dp gains armour break properties. I couldn't see any mention of button intputs though.

So does rufus actually start a saving attack? I'm guessing he does as ryu get's a counter hit. EDIT:actually, it would be a counter hit even if he punished rufus' attack, right? isn't always safe though?

I'm not gonna doubt your translation but wouldn't it be easier to just hurricane kick since it can armor break?

[FallenAngel]

BONUS

System related topics that weren't covered in previous installments.

Shoryuken's easy input command

You can make a dp come out by doing down forward, down, down forward. What the author says is basically the dp command has to be down, down forward now, so the last down forward carries on to the next input. Specifically, you can get a dp by doing either down forward, down, down forward+ P , down forward, down, down forward, down, down forward+ P , or down forward, down, down forward, down, down forward,down, down forward+ P .

You can use this technique with Zangief. For example, you're crouching at mid distance from your opponent. To him, you're doing nothing, but you're doing down forward, down, down forward, down,down forward, down,down forward, down,down forward. When the opponent moves, you instantly enter down forward+PP and you get the EX Banishing Flat which has invincibility properties.

Armor break Shoryuken

Yes, if you do a Reversal DP "apparently" the dp gets armor break capabilities. The author says that currently only the shoryuken is known to have this (he doesn't mention if all shotos' dp have it ,though) , but he says that the chances of other special moves having this property "are high".

more later

[FallenAngel]

Option select throw escape

The 3s thing that was mentioned before. Crouch and press P+K when you think you're gonna get thrown. If you were right you tech, if you weren't a cr. short comes out.

Now, you can add an extra button to that technique and actually CHOOSE which normal comes out if you don't get thrown. For example: hold back down on the joystick and press Jab+Short+Strong. If no throw was coming a crouching Strong comes out,and you can go from there into your combo of choice. Seems to work with all normals.

[Desk]

you should doubt it, lol.

I don't think rufus did anything else. So the dp came out quick enough to punish him. forget about me mentioning the saving attack don't know what I was thinking.

does rufus' attack have armour? in the vid you can see 2 distinct hit sparks. presumably the first breaking the armour and the 2nd hitting him away.

[time_attack]

holy shit lots of info to digest thanks guys.

[Rioting Soul]

How can Rufus get punished by this but be able to jump out of a command grab?

[Gutter Trash]

those videos really help a bunch