Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/Chun-Li

Introduction

Ranking
Chun is ranked high mid-tier. There are certain characters that she dominates, certain characters she has even matches with, and certain characters who dominate her. Breaking it down...

Chun does quite well against:
Zangief, Dictator, Cammy

Chun has the advantage against:
Honda, Blanka, Guile, Boxer, Hawk

Chun has pretty even matches with:
DeeJay, Dhalsim, Claw, Ken, Fei

Chun has a hard time against:
Ryu, O.Sagat

Some of her "even" matches are not even in the traditional sense. For example, against Fei she does really well as long as she's not in the corner. However, if Chun gets put in the corner and Fei starts doing st.Fierce xx Chicken Wing (his 3-hit spin kick), it is a nightmare for Chun, and she has no easy way out.

The same is true against Claw. Chun does well if she can keep the game on the ground, but if Claw can get his wall dive shenanigans going, Chun has no escape, and she must guess correctly which way to block, and that can be very difficult.

Strengths
-st.Strong is an extremely good poke
-j.Forward is a great jumping move
-can store her super
-Lightning Legs will cleanly beat nearly every ground move in the game
-good throw range
-throw does a lot more damage than it probably should
-good dizzy combos
-fast walking speed
-very agile (can jump off walls, do attacks after head stomp)
-is good at both turtling and rushing down

Weaknesses
-has no solid anti-air
-upkicks will sometimes completely whiff, even at point blank range
-has no solid reversal to escape things like Claw's wall dives or Fei's Chicken Wing trap
-has a big jump arc which is easy to see and punish
-has a hard time with fireball traps

--NKI 20:04, 8 May 2006 (CDT)

Moves

Anti-air

Chun does not have any one move (like a Shoryuken) that can be used as a general anti-air. She must use specific moves depending on what the opponent uses. Her useful anti-air moves are:
-jump straight up Short
-jump straight up Fierce
-jump straight up RH
-far or close st.Forward
-far st.Fierce
-far st.RH
-cr.Forward (make the opponent land on it)

Her absolute best anti-air is her super, which can be done so that the opponent is grounded and takes all 6 hits, followed by upkicks for massive damage. The timing differs depending on the speed of the opponent's jump. It is very difficult to do against Blanka and Claw, but it is easier on everyone else, especially against Ryu and Ken if they do air hurricane kick (because air hurricane kick has a lot of landing recovery).

For anti-air against a specific move or character, see the character breakdowns below.

--NKI 20:04, 8 May 2006 (CDT)

Ground Pokes/Footsies

Pokes
Chun really only has one good poke (st.Strong), but it is an extremely good poke. It can lock down characters with no good reversal, it has excellent range, and it beats a lot of moves cleanly. Very effective to rush down with st.Strongs mixed with throws.

Footsies
Her cr.Forward has good priority, and it's so fast it's practically unpunishable. She can also use her cr.RH for extra range and to get the knock down, but cr.RH has a considerable amount of lag and should be used with caution.

--NKI 11:29, 9 May 2006 (CDT)

Super Move

Stored Super
Chun is one of only two characters who can store her super. That is, you can input the [charge back, towards, back, towards] part of the command, then hold towards. The command will remain stored until you hit kick, at which point the super will come out. This is a technique that must be mastered to use Chun effectively.

Notes:
-It is still possible to keep your charge, even if you switch sides. You just need to switch which direction you're holding at the exact right time. This works whether you are the one doing the cross-up or you are the one being crossed-up.
-If you throw the opponent or get thrown (even if you stay on the same side), you will lose your charge. It is possible to keep your charge while throwing the opponent, but it is tricky. While holding towards with the super charged, hit Strong or Fierce to throw the opponent. Then you must quickly tap back, then return to towards and you will still have the super stored. If you simply held towards the whole time, you would lose your charge.

Using the Super Against Fireballs
Going through fireballs with Chun's super is entirely possible, but it is much harder than going through fireballs with Boxer's super, or Dic's super. The reason is because she has a very short window of invincibility, and after her invincibility her entire hit-box (where she is vulnerable) is behind her. That means that you have to activate the super JUST before the fireball hits you. Any earlier and you will not make it cleanly through.

Against fireball characters, if you have meter, whenever you do a fireball you should always double motion the super on top of it. In other words, you should do her fireball as [charge back, towards+punch, back, hold towards]. If the opponent jumps over your fireball, you can super them for free. If the opponent also threw a fireball to cancel out yours, you can super them for free. Else, walk up until you are just out of range of their longest normal and hold down towards. If they try any moves or try to jump, super. If they try to get fresh and walk towards you, st.Strong (while still holding towards and maintaining your charge).

--NKI 12:04, 9 May 2006 (CDT)

The Basics

Reversals
Upkicks - All three versions have invincibility at the beginning, but Short has the most.

Spinning Bird Kick - Has more invincibility than upkicks, but it takes a long time to hit, so it's really more useful as a way to avoid the opponent's move, rather than to counter it.

Super - The only thing to watch out for is the opponent baiting your reversal super and jumping over it.

Dizzy Combos (combos that will often dizzy the opponent)
Her bread-and-butter dizzy combo is j.RH, st.Strong, st.Fierce, but it will only work on characters that are standing. (The st.Fierce can not hit ducking opponents.) j.RH, st.Fierce xx fireball will also frequently dizzy. If you have the opportunity to do a meaty, go for cr.Forward, cr.Fierce. That also will dizzy the majority of the time.

Standard Combos (combos to do when the opponent is dizzy)
I feel that if you don't have meter, the best combo to do is j.RH, st.Strong, cr.RH. The reason I like that combo the best is because it knocks down, you are charged, you can throw a meaty fireball, and you retain control of the round. If you do something else, like [j.RH, st.Fierce xx Fireball], you are left in an awkward position where both you and your opponent are at equal advantage, except you don't have a charge.

If you have a full meter (or nearly a full meter) and you are charged, go for j.RH, st.Fierce xx super. With the super stored, it's really not all that hard to pull off: charge back, towards, back, towards, then jump towards, hit RH as late as possible, then st.Fierce~any kick button.

Avoiding Fireballs
Because she has to charge for her fireball, Chun has a problem against non-charge fireball characters. If you don't have time to charge, you have several options to try to avoid the fireballs:

Jump straight up head stomp - When Chun is doing her headstomp, her hitbox becomes thinner, so it's easier for her to jump over slow fireballs. The only downside to this is that you lose valuable charge time, because you need to do the headstomp on your way down, and the joystick needs to be straight down (down/back won't work).

D/F+RH - If you want to get over a fireball and gain a little bit of ground, you can use D/F+RH, but don't use it when you are too close, because it is easily punishable. Be sure to immediately start charge back after you hit RH so that you will have your charge when you land.

Spinning Bird Kick - Because it is invincibile in the beginning, you can use SBK to go through fireballs, but it is very punishable and not recommended unless you are about to die from block damage.

Overhead Stomp
To do Chun's instant head stomp, jump at the opponent and immediately hit down+Forward kick. Because it's a jumping attack, it must be blocked high. It's too fast to see the stomp and react to it, so the opponent must guess. You are vulnerable as you're bouncing away, but keep in mind that you can do a move (say, j.Forward) on your way down. The overhead is especially good to use against people who like to reversal Dragon Punch, because her headstomp will beat DP clean.

D/F+Roundhouse Shenanigans
Chun's D/F+RH is one of the craziest normals in the game. It can be done as a completely safe meaty against several characters if done correctly. If the opponent doesn't try to reverse, they will be forced to block it, but if they do reverse properly, they will still lose:

-Guile's Flash Kick will completely whiff (backwards)
-Ryu's DP will be blocked (backwards)
-Zangief's lariat will lose cleanly
-Deejay's upkicks will completely whiff (backwards)

As the opponent is getting up, she can whiff D/F+RH to get to the opposite side of any character, but if she immediately follows it up with a normal, it will be backwards (and will whiff), so it's not very useful.

D/F+RH will only hit as a cross-up on certain characters. Some characters always block it the same way (not as a cross-up), while some have to block it depending on how deep Chun does it.

Which characters can Chun cross-up?

Ryu: yes
Ken: yes
Honda: no
Chun: no
Blanka: no
Zangief: no
Guile: yes
Sim: no
Hawk: yes
Cammy: yes
Fei: yes
DeeJay: yes
Boxer: yes
Claw: no
Sagat: no
Dictator: no

--NKI 15:04, 9 May 2006 (CDT)

Match-ups

Vs. Ryu

Advantage/Disadvantage
Ryu wins this fight approximately 6/4. Chun can effectively lock him down if she is controlling the match, but if she gets stuck in a fireball trap, it can be very difficult to get out.

Game Plan
Chun's ideal range in this match is just outside of Ryu's cr.RH range. She has two big advantages from that range.

The first advantage is when you have meter, because her super nullifies pretty much everything Ryu has. Even if he has meter, you can react to his super and counter with yours (assuming you have it stored already). So once you have meter, store the super and stay just barely out of range of his cr.RH. Hold down/towards, and react to whatever he does. From that range, a lot of people will try to either do a regular fireball, the super, or air hurricane kick back (or towards). All of those are punishable by super. If he does an air hurricane kick over your head, make sure you switch your charge direction, walk towards just a bit, then catch him when he lands.

Even if you don't have meter, from that range she can completely zone Ryu using st.Forward and st.Strong. You can safely whiff st.Forwards because you are outside of his footsies range, but if he tries a fireball or a hurricane kick, he gets beat cleanly. His only options are to psychic DP (which is very risky), or to try to fireball in-between your cr.Forwards (very difficult).

If he whiffs a cr.Forward or cr.RH, walk up and throw.

After you're in his face and you've stuffed several fireball attempts, and all of his normals are whiffing and getting punished by throws, he will start to hesitate, and that's when you just go in for the blatant throw out of nowhere. If he start wising up to the walk-up throw, and he tries to stop you with a normal, use your st.Strong to beat his normal.

If you're not inside the ideal range and you're getting bombarded with fireballs, Chun can punish his fireballs from full screen using a j.Forward. A lot of Ryu players try to reversal with a DP or another fireball, both of which will lose cleanly to lightning legs. The only thing Ryu can do to stop you from jumping in from that range is if he does a rush punch (towards+Fierce) to get closer, then he can DP you.

Anti-Air
Against Ryu, her best anti-air (aside from the super) is jump straight up RH. Upkicks are pretty much worthless because Ryu can just do an air hurricane kick to beat upkicks clean. In the worst case scenario (he trades an air hurricane kick with your jump straight up RH), you both get knocked down, so he can't continue the pressure.

After you hit him with out of the air with jump straight up RH, you should follow it up with something: [meaty cr.Forward, cr.Fierce] or max range lightning legs (100% safe unless he has meter).

If you have meter, always do the super as anti-air. It is not too hard to time it such that Ryu is grounded for all 6 hits. If he does an air hurricane kick, it is extremely easy to time.

Anti-Fireball
Far st.Forward and far st.Strong are both good at stuffing fireballs. Far st.Fierce can also be used from much further away, but it has considerable lag, so use it only if you are certain he will do a fireball. And of course you can super through the fireball if you have meter.

If you are stuck in the corner, you can do jump back Spinning Bird Kick over fireballs to build meter. Be careful though, because if he see's this coming, he can deley his fireball and make you land on it.

Anti-Hurricane-Kick
If the hurricane kick is just starting up, far st.Forward is her best counter. If he's already spinning and coming towards you, st.Short will beat it cleanly. If he's already passed over your head and he's spinning away from you, you can catch him with a far st.Fierce, far st.Strong, or super (just one hit). Lightning legs will usually beat hurricane kick cleanly.

After he has passed over you and is spinning away from you, be careful when using normals to counter his hurricane kicks. If his spinning leg is facing you, you will trade or lose cleanly. If his spinning leg is facing away from you, you will beat him cleanly. If you're low enough on life where a hurricane kick will kill you, it might not be a good idea to try to hit him.

Misc. Notes
-If you have the super stored, don't be afraid of Ryu's super. On reaction, you can super through his super.
-Meaty instant head stomp for the kill is good against Ryu because all of his DPs lose cleanly to head stomp.

--NKI 16:22, 10 May 2006 (CDT)

Vs. Zangief

Advantage/Disadvantage
Chun wins this fight approximately 7/3. She can effectively keep Zangief out the entire round with fireballs. If Gief manages to get in once, Chun usually takes at least one SPD, but it is very difficult for Gief to close the gap in the first place.

Game Plan
Chun definitely wants to stay away from Gief. He is spending the whole round trying to get in for those grabs, so you don't want to do his job for him by closing the gap. It's extremely hard for him to get around Chun's fireballs and normals, so just stick to those. You should never jump at Gief. If you knock him down, do not go for the cross-up. Just do a meaty fireball. Worst case scenario is that he reversal lariats through it, but at least you still maintain the position advantage.

It's not exciting, but the way to win this match is to hold down/back and do cr.Forward a lot. When he's safely out of range, throw a Jab fireball, and when he jumps, anti-air him. Make him block a fireball as he gets up, and repeat.

After knocking him down, you have the option of doing meaty D/F+RH, cr.Forward xx lightning legs. The advantage to this is that the D/F+RH is safe (even if he does reversal lariat, it will lose cleanly) and lightning legs do more block damage than a single fireball. The disadvantage is that if you mess up, you have lost your position advantage, and he is now right next to you. It's your choice if you want to go for it or not. It is safe if done correctly, but I tend to just do a meaty fireball instead.

If you mess up somewhere along the line and he manages to get in on you, it can be hard to get him off you. Really your only option for reversing his ticks is upkicks, but you must be VERY careful with this move. If Gief knows it's coming and lets you whiff it, he can do the stomach crunch (jump straight up up+Fierce) for the instant dizzy (Japanese version only).

Also don't forget that if he is too close to you on a tick attempt (if he's within your throw range), you can reversal throw him for free. But make sure not to throw him into the corner though, because if he techs it he gets a free 360 (or even worse, 720)

Anti-Air
Her best anti-air is making him land on a fireball. If he's closer than 1/2 screen, you will most likely trade hits and you may even lose the damage trade by a little bit, but you get the extreme position advantage. He is knocked down, so you can take a step back to regain your distance, then throw a meaty Jab fireball for him to block as he gets up.

If you're really good at using the upkicks, you can use those as well, but when I play this match, I find it difficult to consistently use the upkicks as anti-air, and all Gief needs is for you to screw up once. I prefer to use fireballs because they are much more fail-safe.

If you don't have a charge, you can also use jump straight up RH or jump straight up Short.

Misc. Notes
-It is not safe to do a super against Gief. On reaction to your super, he can do kick lariat to beat it cleanly.
-If you're going to throw Gief, do not throw him into the corner. Always throw him away from the corner, because if he techs into the corner, you get thrown for free.

--NKI 13:13, 12 May 2006 (CDT)