Negative Edge?

#1

I was watching Ultra Chen TV and James briefly described something I had never heard of called “negative edge” moves. I didn’t quite understand what they were, but my best interpretation was that you can do a special move by releasing a button as well as when you push it.

I main Ryu so I though that meant that I could press and hold down a punch button then do the srk joystick movement and it would come out once I released the punch button. I tried this several time and it did not work.

I then tried to do the joystick motion first and then press and hold the button(thinking the srk wouldn’t come out as long as I held the punch button down) but the srk came out immediately after pressing the button.

I was very excited when I heard about this way of inputting special moves because my reactions are bad and I have a tough times anti-airing people with srk. I imagined being able to do a “negative-edge” input of a srk so that as soon as I see someone jump all I’d have to do is release the button for my srk to come out.

Am I doing this wrong, or did I just misinterpret what negative edge moves are?

#2

You’re apparently doing it wrong. You understood correctly - hold button, do motion, release button.
However I don’t really see how this would help in the first place. Releasing a button not really faster than pressing it?.?

#3

You don’t store a move until you let go of the button. You just let go of the button instead of pressing it to complete the special move.

Hold down punch button, Srk motion + button release = shoryuken

#4

Negative edge isn’t really as useful in SF4 as it was in older games. For example you could piano you inputs for a reversal in ST/HDR for 6 chances (a press and release on each of the 3 buttons) to activate instead of the usual 2. Reversals are stupidly easy in this game, so this application of negative edge isn’t as useful as it once was.

Another application for negative edge in ST/HDR is E. Honda’s Oicho throw. In those games, Oicho is a 0 frame grab without a whiff animation and it can be stored by inputting the motion and holding any back directional input. This means that E. Honda can be sitting on :db: and by simply releasing a punch button while the opponent is in range, they will be grabbed. More importantly though, attempting to reversal through one of E. Honda’s command grab tick throws with anything other than another grab would get the opponent punished due to its lack of a whiff animation. By combining negative edge, the piano technique, and his stored Oicho, E. Honda essentially had a risk-free reversal; when successfully timed, the opponent gets grabbed, but when mistimed, E. Honda can continue to block.

Negative edge can also be used with fireball traps on the opponents wakeup as an option select. If you were to throw a meaty jab fireball, press fierce during the jab fireball’s animation, then preform a fierce fireball with negative edge, you eliminate the possibility of doing a standing fierce if the opponent were to evade the first fireball.

Negative edge can actually be a hindrance in some situations in this series. As a Seth player, doing a forward teleport too early after a fireball and failing to hold the buttons down long enough will result in a Fierce or EX SRK with meter. Negative edge will also mess up Seth’s stomp combos sometimes if :mk: is held down for too long.

#5

Maybe I was vague about my initial expectation. I envisioned holding down the a punch button, doing the srk motion, and then keep holding the punch button down. Then I’d just keep holding it down. Then the only thing I’d have to do is as soon as my opponent jumps towards me is release the button and he eats a srk to the face.

That would make it a lot easier for me to punish jump-ins with srk’s if I could input the motions before and then only have to release the button when I see them jump.

#6

Thank you. This is what I was expecting. Thanks for clearing things up.

#7

You’re doing it wrong. Probably releasing the button too early or something. You have the basic theory down, instead of pressing a button to do the move, you simply release it after you hold it.

It’s not really going to help you with your reactions though, all it does is give you another way to execute the same motion. The problem with using a DP to anti-air, with neg edge or not, is that you still need to do the complete motion, which takes time to execute. Your better off just practicing the motion until you can do it consistently, and then work on improving your hand speed in order to do it as quickly as possible.

#8

There’s Negative Edge in SFxT and I hate how easily it can mess up your combos.

I dont see the point of it being in SFxT but for other games I understand why it’s there

#9

Negative edge is basically Capcom’s earliest attempt at giving the players some leeway on special move timing. It goes back to SF1. It’s likely to be a fixture of every Capcom game moving forward.

If you ever have problems with negative edging moves you didn’t intend, simply hold the button down mid combo. It feels really natural after a while.

#10

It’s necessary for SF4 Juri Store>Ult combo. Other than that I don’t see much use for it (bar the noted leeway).