SRK Newbie Saikyo Dojo Execution Guide (read me!)

Frank Lucas

I asked about this in another thread but I thought I?d mention it again here so that the answer may benefit more people. Regarding the points made about chains and cancels: ?It is important to know that in the SF4 series, you cannot cancel specials or supers out of a chain combo.? Does this mean for example I cannot as Ryu chain 2 cr.lp?s together and then cancel into a SRK but that I could chain the cr.lp?s and then LINK the SRK after the second crouching lp to get the whole thing to combo? What about linking a normal AFTER an initial chained attack? So for example can I CHAIN 2 crouching lp?s together, LINK the second light punch with a crouching mk and then CANCEL the crouching the mk into a hado for a full combo? The quote taken from the sticky reads as though you cannot cancel into a special if you start the combo with chained attacks and if this is not so I think it would be a good idea to reword it slightly. I?m not suggesting this just to be difficult, but misunderstanding this is causing me to make incorrect adjustments when combo training. How, you ask? Well using the latter combo as an example I?ve been practicing it by plinking the cr.mk and whenever I do a successful plink (ie the correct input is displayed) and get a cr.lk instead of a cr.mk AND the hado doesn?t come out I?ve been assuming that I had pressed the cr.lp?s too quickly in succession making it a CHAINED combo that I believed was the reason that the hado wasn?t coming out. To counter this I end up doing the cr.lp?s much slower thinking they HAVED to be linked in order for me to end the combo with a special which I believe is bad practice given I?ll be opening myself up for reversals against people that mash DP. Is it true that I can chain the cr.lp?s together by pressing them in real quick succession and then only need worry about timing the cr.mk as a link which can then be cancelled into a hado? An insight into this would greatly affect my training.

Unknown

Yes, everything you stated above is true. The reason a c.lk came out even though you successfully plinked is because your timing was way too fast, so that you chained the last lp and the lk! You pressed (mk) (mk lk) in a situation where mk could not come out, but the lk could be chained to the last lp. I don't remember if you can cancel moves off c.lk, but certainly in this situation hadoken can not be cancelled off a chained lk.

Also realize that if you don't chain the two lps you can cancel the last one into an srk if you want. I'm not too sure you actually want to do this though.

Entropy

Awesome thread. I've dabbled in fighting games since I was a kid, but I'm just now diving into the scene. I've got a LOT of work ahead of me, but so far I've found quite a few people on the PSN who have completely destroyed me who are willing to set aside some time and teach me a few things.

Definitely underestimated the training mode... gonna dive into it today when I get back from work.

Dr. Faust

One qustion. What the heck is mash out? I was watching DPS and he keeps saying players "mash out" mash out hidoken, mash out 360, mash out blah blah blah. He also talks about how alot of his move can't come out online but I've watched FREE1UP play online and most of his moves come out and I know the lag has to be the same most of the time.

SSblanka

Frank Lucas, post: 4241884 wrote:

I asked about this in another thread but I thought I?d mention it again here so that the answer may benefit more people. Regarding the points made about chains and cancels: ?It is important to know that in the SF4 series, you cannot cancel specials or supers out of a chain combo.? Does this mean for example I cannot as Ryu chain 2 cr.lp?s together and then cancel into a SRK but that I could chain the cr.lp?s and then LINK the SRK after the second crouching lp to get the whole thing to combo?

correct. it's cause the dragon punch also comes out in 3 frames (cr. lp gives a +5) so you can link the dp for the combo.

Frank Lucas, post: 4241884 wrote:

What about linking a normal AFTER an initial chained attack? So for example can I CHAIN 2 crouching lp?s together, LINK the second light punch with a crouching mk and then CANCEL the crouching the mk into a hado for a full combo? The quote taken from the sticky reads as though you cannot cancel into a special if you start the combo with chained attacks and if this is not so I think it would be a good idea to reword it slightly. I?m not suggesting this just to be difficult, but misunderstanding this is causing me to make incorrect adjustments when combo training. How, you ask? Well using the latter combo as an example I?ve been practicing it by plinking the cr.mk and whenever I do a successful plink (ie the correct input is displayed) and get a cr.lk instead of a cr.mk AND the hado doesn?t come out I?ve been assuming that I had pressed the cr.lp?s too quickly in succession making it a CHAINED combo that I believed was the reason that the hado wasn?t coming out. To counter this I end up doing the cr.lp?s much slower thinking they HAVED to be linked in order for me to end the combo with a special which I believe is bad practice given I?ll be opening myself up for reversals against people that mash DP. Is it true that I can chain the cr.lp?s together by pressing them in real quick succession and then only need worry about timing the cr.mk as a link which can then be cancelled into a hado? An insight into this would greatly affect my training.

the first part is correct. you only have to link the last normal if you want to cancel into a special. you can chain previous normals if you want assuming they're chainable. you don't need to link the whole combo only the last normal. that's how cr. lk-cr. lp, cr. mp>special works. you need to chain the cr. lk-cr. lp cause cr. lk doesn't give enough frame advantage to link a cr. lp. as for the 2nd part you're getting a lk even though you're p-linking correctly cause your timing is way too early. since the cr. mk cannot be chained and the cr. lk can be chained the cr. lk comes out since your timing is too early.

Break Fu

Good thread, thanks

Question though. I've been practising specials and I got the motions down and all but my timing seems to be off, consistently. From what I can tell of my input in training mode I always hit the punch/kick button too soon. When I do it on my keyboard it all works fine, I can hit those rekka's 10/10, but with the stick the timing is kinda off, is that normal that the timing is different? Could it be that the stick is slower than the buttons, reponse time-wise? I can adjust in training, cause I can take my time, but if I wanne throw it out in a live match, I want to do it as fast as possible.

This is what my input looks like most of the time:

Sasmasta

Probably on a keyboard, you know that once your :r: finger hits the key assigned for :r:, you instinctively will hit the during/after that happens which may give you more of a timing 'thingy'. On a joystick, since your not keeping the punch button in time with your finger but rather your hand, that probably threw you off.

Am I making any sense? I feel I can be more clearer, however this morning...words elude me ever so much.

Break Fu

Yeah I see what you mean, cause it's all keys you make a 'finger-drum' motion. I'll have to find some kind of rhythm with the spinning motion I guess.

Nightwing1990

I'm having a problem with FADC canceling do you dash while holding MP+MK or do u tap MP+MK then dash?

Elephant Ghost

Hey, just wanted to say thanks for an excellent thread, I thought I was coming along nicely with my execution, but I now see I got a long way to go! I'm off to turn on input display in training mode, and work on execution from my bad side.
Thanks again, it's appreciated.

SleazyMole

Hey, if anyones interested, I'm working on a basic execution training program type thing. Nothing to serious, just who's good to practise what with and why... Anyone want to help, feel free to pm me.

Airk

Nightwing1990, post: 4241892 wrote:

I'm having a problem with FADC canceling do you dash while holding MP+MK or do u tap MP+MK then dash?

You hold, then dash, then release. (You can release while the dash is happening). Or at least, that's how it's working for me, but I'm still sortof bad at it, so maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Unknown

Hi there, I'm new here and have a question regarding proper input for a challenge. I'm having extremelly hard time pulling off those trials that are like
-> stand punch
-> crouch kick

Or

-> crouch punch
-> crouch kick

They are around trials 8 or 9 for characters if I'm not mistaken (I'm not at home right now to check). My question is, do you guys have any idea what I may be doing wrong? Right after I input for example, crouch puch and the text turns red meaning I completed that input, I press crouch kick but then it doesn't "count". I did a few based on "luck" but I really want to properly do it and not relly on luck...

paulietheboss

dablemont, your timing is just off. if your second attack doesnt come out, you've done it too early. if it comes out but it's blocked, you've done it too late.

SSblanka

dablemont, post: 4241896 wrote:

Hi there, I'm new here and have a question regarding proper input for a challenge. I'm having extremelly hard time pulling off those trials that are like
-> stand punch
-> crouch kick

Or

-> crouch punch
-> crouch kick

They are around trials 8 or 9 for characters if I'm not mistaken (I'm not at home right now to check). My question is, do you guys have any idea what I may be doing wrong? Right after I input for example, crouch puch and the text turns red meaning I completed that input, I press crouch kick but then it doesn't "count". I did a few based on "luck" but I really want to properly do it and not relly on luck...

they're called links. you have to time them. basically wait until the first move finishes its animation before pressing the button. it's like what jeemer says, if dan blocks you were too slow. if the move doesn't come out you were too fast. don't sweat it if you're new at these cause the hardest are 1/60 second timing.

Unknown

Thank you jeemer and SSblanka.

I was going to ask you guys whether this is the famous "link" you guys talk about but you just answered it. English is my second language so I didn't assume link would be something "ordinary" so to speak. So to be able to get those two working together, I have to find the right timing huh. Thank you. Yesterday I finally got to fire Sonic Booms, which I thought was very weird because I remember playing older Street Fighters when I was young and I don't remember that being so hard to pull off. I couldn't even get it on "luck" in training mode lol. But I watched a youtube video and the guy showed exactly how to do it, waiting the 2 secs and all that...

Frank Lucas

Thanks a lot Offcell and SSblanka for your replies; this has been a huge help for me. For combos such as cr.lk, cr.lp, cr.mk xx Hado/Tatsu (I know it wouldn't connect with a crouching opponent but sometimes I punish fireballs with this as a jump-in combo starting with j.mk/j.hk/j.hp and end in a Tatsu to push them to the corner) I can practice this now knowing I can chain the first to light attacks and work on the timing exclusively for the link.

One thing I would say to those having trouble timing combos with 'links' in them is that although the principle of a link is for the animation of one move to complete before starting the next one for most links the 'finishing of the first move's animation' as a visual cue for pressing the next input isn't viable in a match situation for most link combos. With linking off of Ryu's cr.mp as a combo it would be viable to watch the animation of the move end first since this move seems to recover almost in slow motion and I believe a lot of people (as did I) will most likely be pressing the next move too soon and getting nothing come out rather than pushing it too late and not comboing. However I challenge anyone to tell me that when linking from a cr.lp - ie cr.lk, cr.lp > cr.mk - they actually watch the animation of the crouching light kick end before inputting the crouching MK (which I plink BTW). I've found that if I judge the timing of the next button press based on when I pressed the last one regardless of what stage of the animation it was in I can link moves with much greater consistency; building true muscle memory - at this point I must stress that the timing for links differ and that what I'm referring to are those links with the strictest timing and how visual cues aren't necessarily viable for these.

One other tip that's helped facilitate my training mode drills is playing your own music off of your hard drive during drills. I cant stress this enough; If you've been practicing since SF4 and find yourself in the training room for barely a few minutes before tedium sets in you'd be surprised how much the dreaded training room music is contributing to this. I wouldn't recommend muting all sound as the effects of hitting the dummy with successful combos helps to get the rythym down but I had no idea how much the music was slowly getting under my skin. Another thing about the music which isn't helpful is that it changes slightly given certain cues in the training environment (eg when you've built maximum Revenge/Super meter, the opponents health is near zero). Listening to music I like with a constant tempo and lyrics has allowed me to lose literally hours in training mode when before just a few minutes had me walking away from my stick slightly annoyed.

Just my 2 cents and anything I can think of to help others at this frustrating stage in the game.


Frank

Unknown

I just got the game a few days ago and I hope this is the appropriate place to ask my question. Also, this is my first fighting game and SF game.

Regarding execution of inputs, how do you translate that from the training ground to an actual match?

I'm having a hard time going from one to the other without completely not being to input the most basic commands. Is it mostly just mental and something that will go away with continual practice? It has been a bit frustrating trying to put what I'm trying to learn to actual use.

I end up choking and getting perfected just trying to do one move.

MaNiLa iCeD

Same here^, I can execute a couple combo moves in training, but when I actually get in a match I end up spamming buttons.

beatsstayflowin

So what are the top 5 most execution difficult characters?
What are the top 5 least difficult?

Dunwin

Thanks for the good read for a newb.

Hado-ken

this is awesome start. thx.

FireCat4

Thank you for this thread, very informative. I just bought a SSF4 arcade stick tournament edition; I was very excited until I tried it out. I read this

3) Slow, then fast. When learning stick movements, start slow, then work your way to faster. Motions should be fluid, not jerky. Also, if you?re using a Japanese stick with a square gate, there is no need to follow the gate on circular motions. It?s best that you don?t.

The square lay out on the stick may be the cause of not being able to do the "chicken wing" or "Ten" for Fei Long. I?ll try moving in a square motion instead of a circular motion

FireCat4

Update: Thank you very much. Moving the stick in a circular motion was effecting my inputs. Thanks again

jddelphin

yeah, that's a really good tip!

sandpoint

I see that's interesting

O-Shingen

This noob thanks you for this great info.

Jordanux93

Having problems doing DQC motion on the LEFT SIDE!

Hey everyone,

I've been playing SF4 with a stick since February, so I've gotten pretty accustomed to playing on the stick after switching from the pad.

My MAIN problem is executing the when on the LEFT side of the screen. I can do when on the right side NO PROBLEM. So when I'm on the Left side of the screen, I'm at a major disadvantage because I cannot rely on myself to be able to pull off a Super/Ultra when I want to. So I'm always trying to get myself on the right side. If my opponent knows this weakness of mine, I'm screwed :P

I find that when I'm on the right side, the motion is so much easier to do because when I'm doing it, im simply just bending my wrist back and forth on the stick so the motion comes out really quickly and easily (I don't really know any other way to describe it). But when I'm on the left side, i guess the way the hand is positioned on the stick, the way I'm doing it on the right side isn't possible because the wrist doesn't bend that way. I hope this makes sense to you when reading this, I wish there was an easier way to describe it.

So my question is, does anyone else have this problem, or how do you guys pull off your should I be holding the stick a certain way?

yujie89

same here!

i using the mad catz sf4 TE stick, i can perform moves from the right side, but once my ryu is on the left, i cant execute ultra, it always comes out as ex-dp. Should I change the gate to a square one instead? would that be better?

Jordanux93

^ hmm from what I know, all TE sticks come standard with the square gate.

Trouble Brewing

Jordanux93, post: 4241912 wrote:

Hey everyone,

I've been playing SF4 with a stick since February, so I've gotten pretty accustomed to playing on the stick after switching from the pad.

My MAIN problem is executing the when on the LEFT side of the screen.

From the guide:

5) Sides matter. Many people seem confused when they can execute a move or combo from one direction but not the other. This is perfectly normal. If you encounter this problem, simply practice from both sides.

That's it. Just because you can do a motion from one side, doesn't mean you can do it from the other. Practice it on the side you can't. Like always, turn on inputs to see what you're doing wrong.

psyko12

Thanks for this! Hehe eventhough I played a different game, some tactics and tips posted here is useful!! ^^,

Red Kinikacha

Thanks for the thread

Ren Cross

Thanks Starcade for posting this. the tips are most appreciated

worknds

Another immensely helpful newbie FAQ that will go unnoticed by new posters

Unek

i have a hard time doing ryu fadc into metsu everything comes out except for the metsu is there a bufferd way that is easier to do help me please?

MaNiLa iCeD

yo this is gonna sound so noob, but how do you the escape air tatsu ? i'm not sure if that's what it's called.

sswizzbbeatss

Unek, post: 4241921 wrote:

i have a hard time doing ryu fadc into metsu everything comes out except for the metsu is there a bufferd way that is easier to do help me please?

Unek, post: 4241921 wrote:

i have a hard time doing ryu fadc into metsu everything comes out except for the metsu is there a bufferd way that is easier to do help me please?

Practice. FADC (neautral joystick) buffer ultra. try doing just the fadc ultra without the srk.
U mean do it? jump than buffer tatsu?
U mean punish? u cant really.. it needs to be predicted. Like for balrog it would be turn punch.

bigbossVII

I can do everything facing left, but nothing facing right. Its like my hand is moving quite a bit slower from that direction. Any tips on improving the speed of my hand/wrist to make my stuff pop easier?

beoglaf

I know that there's no way to get better besides practice and repetition. However, what do you guys do when practicing? I've been trying to break things down into different parts and then trying to put it together. Anything that you guys may not have mentioned yet or feel is worth mentioning twice I'd really appreciate. Strategies, settings for training mode, anything.

Lomyn

I'm having a lot of trouble simply walking forward and doing a QCF motion. As Cammy I need to walk forward and do EX Spiral Arrow to get through fireballs against several characters (Guile, Ryu, etc), and after walking forward even though my input display in training mode shows d, d/f, f +K, instead of getting Spiral Arrow I get Cannon Spike. I'm assuming this has to do with motion priority in SSFIV, but I'm wondering what do I do to get around it?

Zerogue

Thank you for the guide! It was a great read and helped me a lot!

SJDeuces

Im pretty exprienced with SSF4, im just wondering about difference of input lag between consoles. Ive been xbox 360 SSF4 this whole time and going to start practicing on PS3 for tourneys, i heard PS3 is slower like 2 frames or something. Just wondering will my execution be off or if i can do my links on 360 with ease then i dont have to adjust? If i do need to adjust, any suggestions because for some combos, they are 1 frame link heavy.

Kaito Uri

Excellent read, I'll be sure to pass this on to others who are beginning and hopefully it'll encourage others to continue playing and not quit. We need to make this community better and bigger!

fadecy

SJDeuces, post: 4241928 wrote:

Im pretty exprienced with SSF4, im just wondering about difference of input lag between consoles. Ive been xbox 360 SSF4 this whole time and going to start practicing on PS3 for tourneys, i heard PS3 is slower like 2 frames or something. Just wondering will my execution be off or if i can do my links on 360 with ease then i dont have to adjust? If i do need to adjust, any suggestions because for some combos, they are 1 frame link heavy.

Well I don't know if that's true.
But if you can hit your combos online with lag I don't see why you wouldn't be able to on the PS3, even if it is 2 frames slower
It's surely still the same timing, so unless you do you time your combos based on visuals you should be fine.

No defence

Jordanux93, post: 4241912 wrote:

Hey everyone,

I've been playing SF4 with a stick since February, so I've gotten pretty accustomed to playing on the stick after switching from the pad.

My MAIN problem is executing the when on the LEFT side of the screen. I can do when on the right side NO PROBLEM. So when I'm on the Left side of the screen, I'm at a major disadvantage because I cannot rely on myself to be able to pull off a Super/Ultra when I want to. So I'm always trying to get myself on the right side. If my opponent knows this weakness of mine, I'm screwed :P

I find that when I'm on the right side, the motion is so much easier to do because when I'm doing it, im simply just bending my wrist back and forth on the stick so the motion comes out really quickly and easily (I don't really know any other way to describe it). But when I'm on the left side, i guess the way the hand is positioned on the stick, the way I'm doing it on the right side isn't possible because the wrist doesn't bend that way. I hope this makes sense to you when reading this, I wish there was an easier way to describe it.

So my question is, does anyone else have this problem, or how do you guys pull off your should I be holding the stick a certain way?

Try a different grip..... you should have ease of motion on both sides.

Or try playing on your left side tell you get all of the kinks worked out.

Go to training mode practice only on the left side for one week, 20 min a day.(put on your fav jam/music)
If you still don't see any result you might need to switch your grip.

No defence

Lomyn, post: 4241926 wrote:

I'm having a lot of trouble simply walking forward and doing a QCF motion. As Cammy I need to walk forward and do EX Spiral Arrow to get through fireballs against several characters (Guile, Ryu, etc), and after walking forward even though my input display in training mode shows d, d/f, f +K, instead of getting Spiral Arrow I get Cannon Spike. I'm assuming this has to do with motion priority in SSFIV, but I'm wondering what do I do to get around it?

Practice walking foward.... and replace your qcf+ kick motion with HCF+k motion.

So your new imput will be Towards+HCF+k. (it's an SNK motion) You will get your Sprial Arrow everytime.

IceCool

I figured I'd post here because I'm having a lot of trouble.

I've been playing Street Fighter for awhile now..but only just started to play it seriously with some local players. My biggest problem is just that I can't seem to do even the simplest of combos. I practice for about 20 minutes, will maybe get the combo once or twice, and then continue to mess it up. Sometimes I just mash the input out, other times I hit the link too late..its REALLY frustrating. I do work on it every day though, so I guess my question is: is it normal for someone to take this long to develop basic execution and muscle memory? Because sometimes it makes me feel like a really weak player that I've been playing as long as I have and I still can't do these things.

Ikaru

20 minutes is nothing compared to what some people put into practicing man... But it all depends on the person, some people need to repeat the process over and over until it settles in as muscle memory. Others can pick it up fairly quickly. Try breaking the combo or whatever down into pieces and then when you get each piece down 100% put it together.

No defence

IceCool, post: 4241933 wrote:

I figured I'd post here because I'm having a lot of trouble.

I've been playing Street Fighter for awhile now..but only just started to play it seriously with some local players. My biggest problem is just that I can't seem to do even the simplest of combos. I practice for about 20 minutes, will maybe get the combo once or twice, and then continue to mess it up. Sometimes I just mash the input out, other times I hit the link too late..its REALLY frustrating. I do work on it every day though, so I guess my question is: is it normal for someone to take this long to develop basic execution and muscle memory? Because sometimes it makes me feel like a really weak player that I've been playing as long as I have and I still can't do these things.

Dont get frustrated...... take breaks..... just do what you can do.

Make up you own combo's keep it simple.... what character do you play with btw?

When I combo I look for the spark......

Stay calm and have a sharp eye.....


Everytime you land a hit there is a spark animation.(like a shoto jab)

If you land your first jab you will see a spark..... if you want to combo a second jab wait tell the spark animation goes away.

1.IF you try to land your second jab while the spark animation is still active your second jab won't register/come out/ combo/link.

2. If you try to land your second jab too late...... after the spark animation finishes you won't combo/link.

3. But if time your second jab just right......... after the spark animation finishes....... you will get your 2 hit link, or combo


You could mash/ machine gun jabs. But if you do that...... you wont be able to combo/link anymoves after your jabs......(like crouching jabx3, hard punch Shoryken ! (6 hit combo with Ken)

Ryu is a really good character to practice links, and combo's with.

Use this same method to link moves like crouching medium punch,crouching mp. (2 hit combo/link with ryu)