C. Viper (SFIV)

Crimson Viper

Introduction

Forum Links

C. Viper Q&A: Quick questions here please

C.Viper Moveset and Attributes

C.Viper Combos and Glitches

C.Viper Strategies and Match-ups

Notation

• F - Forward - Tilt stick forward/towards the opponent. (X-axis)
• B - Backward/Back - Tilt stick backward/away from the opponent. (X-axis)
• U - Up - Tilt stick upwards. (Y-axis)
• D - Down - Tilt stick downwards. (Y-axis)
• QCF - D, DF, F - Quarter circle forward/Hadouken/Fireball - Tilt stick downwards, then to downwards and forward, then forward.
• QCB - D, DB, B - Quarter circle backward - Tilt stick downwards, then to downwards and backward, then backward.
• HCF - Half circle forward - Tilt stick backwards, then to downwards and backward, then to downward, then to downwards and forward, then forward.
• HCB - Half circle backward - Tilt stick forwards, then to downwards and forward, then to downward, then to downwards and backward, then backward.
• DP - F, D, DF - Dragon punch - Tilt stick forwards, then to downward, then to downward and forward. In SFIV, there is a "shortcut" for this motion: DF, neutral, DF.
• 360 - Full circle - Complete a full rotation of the stick.
• 720 - Complete a 720 degree rotation of the stick.
• Charge - Hold a tilt - Hold the stick in either B or D (Depending) then move to F or U respectively.

X-axis functions can be used interchangeably with Y-axis functions and vice versa. X-axis functions cannot be used in conjunction with another X-axis function and vice versa.

Six Button Notation

• Jab - weak punch (also called LP or WP)
• Strong - medium punch (also called MP)
• Fierce - fierce punch (also called HP or FP)
• P - any punch
• PP or 2P - any two punches simultaneously
• PPP or 3P - all three punches simultaneously

• Short - weak kick (also called LK or WK)
• Forward - medium kick (also called MK)
• Roundhouse (RH) - fierce kick (also called HK)
• K = any kick
• KKK or 3K - all three kicks simultaneously

Connectors

• ~ Immediately after, e.g "Strong~Fierce" means press Fierce IMMEDIATELY after Strong, f~f means to double tap forward (dash).
• , Link
• xx Cancel

State Modifiers

• st. - The following move should be performed in the standing position (neutral in the Y-axis). i.e. st.Fierce, perform a Fierce whilst standing.
• cr. - The following move should be performed in the crouched position (held down in the Y-axis). i.e. cr.Fierce, perform a Fierce whilst crouching.
• j. - The following move should be performed in the "in the air" position (After having held up in the Y-axis). i.e. j.Fierce, perform a Fierce whilst in the air.

Miscellaneous Notation

• Claw = American Vega = Japanese Balrog
• Boxer = American Balrog = Japanese Bison
• Dictator (Dic) = American Bison = Japanese Vega

Not everyone plays on the American version, and some character names are different in the Japanese version, so to avoid confusion, we should not use the names Vega, Bison, or Balrog.

Move Analysis

Normal Throws

Ab Fitness

• LP + LK or F + LP + LK

Temple Massage

• B + LP + LK

Command Normals

Viper Elbow (Overhead)

• F + MP

Double Kick

• F + HK

• First hit cancellable

Focus/Saving Attack

• MP + MK

Special Moves

HP Thunder Knuckle

Thunder Knuckle (Armor Breaker, EX Version Available) Abv.TK

• QCB + P

• LP version goes under most projectiles
• LP, MP Version can cancel into Super
• HP Version as an Anti-Air can combo into Ultra/Super afterwards

• on a traded hit Dash Forward then combo into HP Thunder Knuckle/

EX Burn Kick/Super/Ultra

• EX Version on Hit causes crumple state

Thunder Knuckle Feint (EX Version Available)

• QCB + P~PP

• Used in combos to connect Normals that usually wouldn't ex:

cr.HP, HP Thunder Knuckle Feint, cr.HP (aka Fierce Feint Fierce Abv.FFF)

Burning Kick (Also performed in the Air, EX Version Available) Abv.BK

• QCB + K

Seismic Hammer

Seismic Hammer/Seismo (EX Version Available)

• DP + P

• Distance depends on what strength P button is pressed
• EX Version has invincible startup frames, hits anywhere except fullscreen

Seismic Hammer Feint (EX Version Available)

• DP + P~PP

• EX Version has invincible startup frames

High/Super Jump

• D then immediately UB/U/UF

• Used for High/Super Jump canceling Abv. HJC / SJC

Super Move

Burst Time

Emergency Combination

• QCF x 2 + P

Ultra Move

Burst Time (Armor Break Properties)

• QCF x 2 + PPP

The Basics

Info taken from:

C.Viper Moveset and Attributes

C. Viper Q&A: Quick questions here please

Burning Kick's

There's like 30 different ways to use burn kicks, It's just one special move but combined with her super jump and other special moves you can literally turn it into anything you want. It's like your own custom special move that you can do whatever you want with. It even has the ability to absorb a fireball with just frame timing. - DevilJin 01

1) Normal Burn Kick

• QCB + K

• Distance traveled depends on which strength K is pressed
  • LK - Travels the shortest
  • MK - Travels slightly further than LK
  • HK - Travels slightly further than MK

2) Air Burn Kick

• In Air QCB + K
• UF immediately QCB + K
• Distance traveled depends on which strength K is pressed
  • LK - stops and drops straight down

3) Super Jump Burn Kick Abv. SJ BK

• Normal Super Jump with added BK

• D, UF, QCB + K

4) Instant Burn Kick

• Lowest possible BK without Super Jump

• QCB, UB, U, UF + K
• Crosses opponents up on wake up

5) Instant Super Jump Burn Kick Abv. Insta SJ BK

• Lowest possible Super Jump with added BK

• QCB, UF + K
• Cancels into BK on the first possible frame

6) Super Jump Canceled Burn Kick Abv. SJC BK

• the one required for hard trial's 4 and 5

• D, U, QCB + K

Difference between a Regular jump Air Burn Kick(2) and an Instant Burn Kick(4).

Both involve using a regular jump though one cancels into the burn kick from the first possible frame you are in the air. Allowing for the ambiguous tricks often used by high level players with it. Like crossing up on wake up and setting up an ultra when you are in the corner. Non Instant Burn Kick (just jumping and then burn kicking as fast as you can) takes longer to do and doesn't allow for as many of the tricks possible with instant burn kick.

Super Jump Burning Kick's

If you master the art of utilizing Super Jumps to Burning Kicks it will increase your offensive capabilities as a Viper player. It can help her cover a lot of ground and it can change the trajectory of her attacks, which makes it difficult to block. The faster you do the Burning Kick after the Super Jump, the lower the trajectory will be and it will also be faster.

The normal way to do Super Jump to Burning Kick is to first perform the Super Jump in the desired direction:

• quickly tap D, then immediately tap UF to Super Jump forward
• quickly tap D, then immediately tap U to Super Jump vertically
• quickly tap D, then immediately tap UB to Super Jump backwards

The faster you do the Burning Kick after the Super Jump, the more of a change you will see in descent speed and trajectory from the Burning Kick. Needless to say, the faster you do the Burning Kick afterwards, the faster the descent and the lower the trajectory. Of course, one of the trickiest Super Jump Burning Kicks to defend against is one that combines a Super Jump and a Burning Kick motion in one fluid joystick motion that cancels into the BK on the first possible frame that it can aka:

Instant Super Jump Burn Kick

The best way to do an Instant SJ Burn Kick is to do it in this motion:

• QCB, UF + K to travel foward further
• QCB, BU + K to travel backward
• QCB, U + K to travel in between

The Instant SJ Burn Kick is basically a Super Jump-Cancelled burn kick from the earliest point you can cancel it from. So it's a super super low trajectory SJ Burn Kick. The kind that will hit a crouching Ryu every time as long as he's not pressing a button.

It's execution wise extremely unnecessary to consistently do an Instant SJ Burn Kick without cancelling on the first frame via the 270 motion(D,DB,B,UB,U,UF). Just trying to mash the burn kick motion immediately after a super jump is inevitably slower.

The easiest way to test if you are doing it right is by making Ryu crouch in training mode. If you can hit him from the front and from the back of his crouching body with a super jump cancelled burn kick consistently that means you are doing an Instant SJ Burn Kick. If you can't that means you're not cancelling well enough. Like if you Super Jump Burn Kick at his face and the burn kick whiffs that means you're not doing it right.

Contributors -Kunai, DevilJin 01, H_Dee

Thunder Knuckle's

Thunder Knuckle is Viper's Armor-Breaking move. If you didn't know, all Street Fighter IV characters have the ability to employ at least one move that allows them to absorb one hit and possibly counter-attack if you are in reach. An opponent charging a Focus Attack to at least Level 2 is one example. Other characters' EX moves like Boxer's EX Rush Punch, Zangief's EX Running Bear Grab and El Fuerte's EX Command Run are examples of EX moves with Armor properties. Thunder Knuckles of any kind can counter those moves cleanly, and you will know that you countered correctly when you see and hear glass break. Viper's Thunder Knuckle is quite possibly the best Armor-Breaking move in the game because of its quickness and versatility of the 4 variations, including the EX version.

LP Thunder Knuckle can go under high-hitting attacks (like Boxer's Straight Dash Punch) and most projectiles (excluding Sagat's Low Tiger Shot). Thanks to FullMetalRoss from the shoryuken.com forums for this information.

MP Thunder Knuckle is great for covering ground quickly. It's also a good way to link some normals, especially crouching MP and crouching MK. Viper's bread-and-butter combo is crouching MP into MP Thunder Knuckle.

HP Thunder Knuckle is very important to Viper. It is probably her only consistent way to anti-air someone. However, it is not a fool-proof anti-air. It's possible that someone can hit you out of your HP Thunder Knuckle on start-up. The good news is that they will be in juggle state while you get to recover. This means that you can possibly juggle them afterwards... and even if you miss it's a knockdown scored for you. The bad news is if you are down to your last scrap of health, there's a chance you will get KO'ed.

If you hit someone out of the air with a HP Thunder Knuckle, and you didn't hit them late and/or trade hits with the opponent, you can connect with these moves while they are descending.

• EX Burn Kick
• Another HP Thunder Knuckle
• Super Combo
• Ultra Combo
• Far st.HK (Strict Timing)

Ultra Combo is quite picky to use because it seems to miss quite often, which leaves you wide open if whiffed. It also seems that some players (Zangief and Sagat) are much easier to hit with Ultra after HP TK because of their weight and bulk.

As mentioned before, if you trade hits with a jumping opponent while doing HP Thunder Knuckle, you may be able to still hit them in their juggle state. After the trade, dash forward ASAP and try doing either another HP Thunder Knuckle or Ultra Combo. Although it looks slow, usually a second HP Thunder Knuckle will get them. The timing on hitting with Ultra after trading hits may be a lot trickier, but the reward is great if it hits.

The Importance of Thunder Knuckle Feints

Thunder Knuckle Feints are an important part of Viper's offensive arsenal. First off, it can be used repeatedly to lull someone into attacking and/or making a mistake. Seismo Hammer feints have a similar purpose, but Thunder Knuckle feints recover faster.

Second, it can also be used within combos to interrupt them midway and allow you to mix up your attacks. For example, you attack with a jump-in HK and the opponent blocks it. You continue with a crouching MK, and the opponent blocks that as well. After the MK, you can do a Thunder Knuckle feint to pretend you will follow through with the combo, and afterwards you can do things like go in for a throw, attack with Viper's overhead attack (F + MP) or hit them with a crouching MK into MP Thunder Knuckle. There are many indeed many options at your disposal.

Third, the TK feints can really confuse the opponent if used correctly. It really helps mask what Viper will do next, and it keeps her relatively safe while she's doing it. It also makes the opponent jittery, which can work in Viper's favor as she can control the offensive flow of the game with more setups. It can even agitate people who turtle into making a few more mistakes than usual. An example is feinting several TKs and Seismos until an opponent visibly drops their guard. Then you hit them with something like a Seismo Hammer, launch them to a combo, and set up another offensive set.

Fourth, it can be used to link normals that normally would not connect on their own. An example is crouching HP, HP Thunder Knuckle Feint, then another crouching HP. Normally, you wouldn't be able to link two crouching HP attacks in a row, but with a HP Thunder Knuckle feint you can link them. This can be a game-breaker because Viper has the ability to link high damaging normals together that will build up an opponent's stun meter (causing them to become dizzy). Side Note It is possible to FFF with LP, MP and HP TK Feint's although HP having the quickest recovery makes it the easiest to connect cr.HP see: Not All Thunder Knuckle Feints are Created Equal

It is possible to do this type of combo for huge stun potential:

Deep jump-in HK, standing HP, HP Thunder Knuckle Feint, crouching HP, EX Seismo, instant SJ to Burning Kick (jumping towards opponent)

This will bring your opponent to a dizzy state, if not very close to a dizzy state.

Not All Thunder Knuckle Feints are Created Equal

It really does matter which Thunder Knuckle feint do at times to achieve certain things with Viper in her combos. The aforementioned crouching HP, HP Thunder Knuckle feint, crouching HP combo is best performed with a HP feint. Why? It's because of the shortened recovery frame-rate that allows you to link two crouching HP attacks.

So, you may be asking now... why not just use HP TK feints all the time? It seems to be the best overall.

The reason is because the timing is much harder to pull off a HP TK feint correctly mid-combo than it is with the LP and MP versions. It is also near-impossible to do HP TK feint as a stand-alone move, without hitting with a normal attack beforehand.

Doing a LP TK feint during a combo is very easy to do, but the recovery time from the start of the cancel animation to the ability to attack/move afterwards is the longest of the three. The MP TK feint isn't hard to to do within a combo either, but it has less recovery time in-between.

The HP TK feint is the trickiest by far, but has an incredibly low recovery time compared to the others. The only drawback is that the timing is stricter, so you may accidentally do HP Thunder Knuckle, EX Thunder Knuckle or EX Thunder Knuckle feint by mistake. This can lead to an opening for your opponent to hit you.

HP Thunder Knuckle feints have a bit of risk, but the reward is great. I highly recommend practicing HP TK feint until it becomes second nature. Just keep in mind that it helps to do the HP feint input a tad slower within combo's, compared to the other two. With some practice, you will discover the timing and recognize the feel of a perfect HP TK feint.

EX Thunder Knuckle Uses

EX Thunder Knuckle can be useful on opponents like Chun Li, Balrog (Boxer) and M.Bison (Dictator) when they do a ground-level Super or Ultra and whiff. If you end up avoiding the Super/Ultra (ex. jumping over them), with the opponent stuck in their animation and you are behind them, do EX Thunder Knuckle to follow them across the screen. If you have to dash a few times to catch up, do so. It helps if they are moving towards the far corner, so you have less ground to cover.

If this fails, use HP Seismo instead to hit them from afar.

EX Thunder Knuckle can also be great against people who like to use Focus Attack a lot. If you see or hear someone starting up a Saving Attack, if you immediately do EX Thunder Knuckle, you may be able to tag them with a crumple stun before they can recover. Since the opponent is stuck in Focus Attack animation, and since Dash Cancels also take time, it is actually a great way to counter. It is also very safe.

The most ideal situation for this trick is if the opponent is not in the corner, you are around sweep range away and you have an Ultra stocked. If the EX Thunder Knuckle hits, it sets up a free Ultra at the perfect distance. -Contributors - Kunai, H_Dee

Super Jump Canceling (SJC)

Super Jump Canceling a Normal Attack

These normal attacks can cancel into a Super Jump:

• st. and cr.LP
• st.(close) and cr.(close and far) MP
• st.(close) and cr.(close) HP
• st.(close and far) and cr.(close and far) LK
• st.(close) and cr.(any range) MK

SJC Burn Kick's(6)

Super Jump Canceling(SJC) Burn Kick's is the act of cancelling a Burn Kick after a Super Jump cancelled move, mainly a normal or a Seismo. Viper's hard trial's 4 and 5 SJC Burn Kick technique, which is useless outside of training mode, is the technique that allows you to turn a Super Jump Burn Kick into a completely grounded Regular Burn Kick. Generally after an EX Seismo perform D then Immediately U and QCB + K, this glitches out the Burn Kick and causes it to perform the slower ground based version. These days though people just cancel Seismo into SJC'd MP Thunder Knuckle. Does more damage and stun, timing isn't as strict since it activates much quicker and is generally more reliable. - DevilJin 01, H_Dee

Super Jump Canceling a Seismic Hammer:

After you connect a Seismo on Hit or Block you can SJC into other special moves such as other Seismo's and Thunder Knuckles. Seismo xx Seismo is a great zoning tool and also does a fair amount of chip damage, incorporate Seismo Feints if your opponent is jumping in between Seismo's then doing another and catching them as they land.

Seismo xx Seismo Various Inputs:

• DP + P, D, U, DP + P

• DP + P, D, U, DF, D, DF + P

• DP + P, DP, UF + P

Seismo xx Thunder Knuckle Various Inputs:

• DP + P, D, U, QCB + P

• DP + P, QCB, UB + P

Super Jump Cancel, Focus Attack, Dash, Glitch aka Meter-less Dash and SJC FADC

Info coming

Super Jump Canceling a normal attack to an Ultra Combo:

Normally, you cannot link an Ultra Combo attack after a normal attack with Viper, but using a Super Jump Cancel makes it possible. In order to do this, you must attack with a normal attack that can be SJCed (see list above). While the normal attack's hit registers, you must do the input for a Super Jump AND the Ultra Combo at the same time in order to link correctly. Please observe this simple example set of inputs:

• D, DF, MK, F, UF, D, DF, F + PPP

This is a basic link combo that allows you to link a crouching MK/MP into an Ultra, which can be effective as a hit confirm. As you roll your joystick from down to forward, in between the motion you would hit MK. If you hit MK while your joystick is around down forward, it will still register as a crouching attack. When you move your joystick to up forward, this will register as a Super Jump Cancel... but you will not immediately do a Super Jump because the MK should still be hitting the opponent, keeping Viper grounded. Immediately after that, you roll the joystick to down again and complete the Ultra Combo motion to finalize the input.

This method is quite difficult, but well worth the efforts. You can use this method as a way to severely punish someone if you know you can slip in a crouching MK while they are attacking or are vulnerable, and it is also possible to use it in a combo, following are some examples:

• j.HK, st.LK, cr.LP, SJC, Ultra (Hard Trial 3)

• cr/st.LK, st.LK, cr.MP, SJC, Ultra (Common method)

Combos

• All combo's can be started from a jump in HK
• Medium Punch Thunder Knuckle can be replaced with Light Punch TK

Bread and Butter / Beginner

• st.MP xx MP TK
• cr.MP xx MP TK
• cr.MK xx MP TK
• st.LK, st.MP xx MP TK
• st.MP, cr.MP xx MP TK
• cr.MP, cr.MP xx MP TK
• cr.LK, st.LK, cr.MP xx MP TK
• st.LK, st.LK, cr.MP xx MP TK
• st.HP xx EX Seismo xx SJ BK
• cr.HP xx EX Seismo xx SJ BK
• cr.HP xx HP TK Feint, cr.HP aka: Fierce Feint Fierce Abv FFF*

Intermediate

• FFF xx MP TK
• FFF xx EX Seismo xx SJ MK/HK BK
• cr.HP xx HP TK Feint, cr.MK xx MP TK
• cr.HP xx EX Seismo, SJC, MP TK (Note: wait a little longer to SJC the EX Seismo.)

Advanced

• FFF xx EX Seismo, SJC FADC*, HP TK
• FFF xx EX Seismo, SJC FADC, EX BK
• FFF xx EX Seismo, SJC FADC, cr.HK
• FFF xx EX Seismo, SJC, MP TK (Note: wait a little longer to SJC the EX Seismo.)

Super Combo's

• st.LK, st.LK, cr.MP xx MP TK xx Super
• cr.HP xx HP TK Feint, cr.MK xx Super

Ultra Combo's

character specific guide for mid-screen Ultra combos. by mynus

• Deep j.HK/HP, Ultra
• Close EX Seismo, Ultra
• st.HP xx EX Seismo xx SJ MK BK, Ultra
• cr.HP, HP TK Feint, Cr.MK, SJC, Ultra

Character Specific

Akuma

• Opponent must be crouching
• Deep j.HK, st.MP, st.MP, cr.MP xx MP TK

Dictator

• Opponent must be crouching
• Deep j.HK, st.MP, st.MP, cr.MP xx MP TK

Zangief

• Deep j.HK, cr.HP, HP TK Feint, cr.HP, HP TK Feint, cr.MK xx MP TK

*More Info Coming

Strategy

Dealing with Fireballs:

These are your options against people who try to play a fireball-trap game with you:

LP Thunder Knuckle (not good as an instant counter due to the 10-frame startup before invincibility, but good to use when anticipated and/or you are at a far distance) Grounded MK or HK Burning Kick (If timed correctly, the Burning Kick will hop over the projectile. Not recommended against fast fireballs. Occasionally, the Burning Kick flames may absorb the fireball, but the instance of that happening is difficult, so it's not something to rely on.)

Seismo or EX Seismo (Against characters with slow fireballs, like Chun-Li, Dhalsim or Guile, it's possible to hit them from a distance as they are throwing the fireball, SJC and hit them with Burning Kick for a solid knockdown. Against people with fast fireballs, you will trade hits... but this isn't a bad option when the opponent is near death.) Instant SJCed MK or HK Burning Kick (If timed right, you will hit characters even if they throw an EX Fireball.)

Viper's F + MP Overhead Attack (Advances you slightly as well)

These options are great to use because it will either hit the opponent or let you pass through the fireball without blocking it. Of course, you want to avoid blocking a fireball because it gives the opponent the ability to throw another fireball much sooner.

Matchups

Matchup Videos Find a great collection of matchup specific videos from top players at streetfighterdojo.com
Contributor: zaspacer

The Gauntlet Series: Flash Metroid 11/06/09 part 1

The Gauntlet Series: Flash Metroid 11/06/09 part 2

The Gauntlet Series: Flash Metroid 11/06/09 part 3 -Uploaded by: IchinShek

Match-up Information taken from:

C.Viper Strategies and Match-ups

ABEL

Abel is actually an even match for Viper. Neither one really dominates the other. Abel wins if he gets a successful knockdown since Viper is ass on wakeup. But Abel loses to great tk spacing by Viper. Once you space him correctly, it will be easier to jump in on some laggy normal he throws out.

Moreover, try and resist the urge of burn kicking from about half screen to 3/4ths screen unless you're going backwards. Wheel kicks will stuff you whole around 65-75% of the time, giving Abel an untechable knockdown. Super Jumping straight up and burn kicking can beat it, but the timing is really funky to be practical. Also, EX dp grab will grab you out of all BK's (high, instant, floating, all of them), so sometimes in situations where you would burn kick, do a meaty forward + mp to bait the EX air grab out then punish with cr. mp xx mp tk/ultra.

Also try to throw all rolls near you on reaction. The are throwable all day, so try and throw as many that you can see. On an untechable knockdown, dash up instant burn kick acts as an auto bait for a roll as you recover in time for throw. Seismo feints can sometimes also bait rolls as well.

Seismo xx tk feint is pretty good in this match as well. Also be wary of when Abel has ultra since you can't Seismo him as often because of it. - CoosCoos

Abel is a slippery guy with useful moves that can counter Viper's pressure really well. Plus he earns his living off that cross-up jump MK, and we all know Viper has a tough time dealing with cross-ups.

If he knocks down, prepare for some ugly mix-ups: cross-up into crouch HP, into standing HP, into crouch MP into change of direction, land into Tornado Throw, tick into Tornado Throw, EX Tornado Throw...the list goes on, and they all hurt.

Reversal EX Burning Kick can get Viper outta there, though. But if you miss the timing, you're gonna get hurt.

Standing jab, Puts him right next to you, where you want him. - The Lone Dragon

AKUMA (GOUKI)

There's really like no point for Akuma to rush in on Viper. His EX demon flip allows him to safely move towards her in an instant if he ever wants to but if he has a health lead he doesn't need to do that either. That's the main reason why the matchup is pretty even for both characters. Akuma does a great job staying away from Viper but if Viper catches him on one mistake she rapes his health hard on even the most basic of her combos. If she gets him in a situation to combo into her Ultra the game is pretty much done. At that point Akuma has zero health and Akuma's abilities to set up raging demon on Viper are limited due to being able to LK/air LK burn kick on reaction to escape or punish any raging demon attempt. The matchup for Akuma is basically like fighting an extremely mobile Sagat minus having to deal with F + HK and tiger shot fireball wars. Unless Viper is knocked down or he's planning an attack that will surely knock her down it's not in his interest at all to go anywhere near her without a clear plan of action.

I don't have a ton of experience on the matchup but from what I've seen it's basically just stay back and try to MP/HP seismo punish him for his air fireballs from a distance and if he tries to demon flip you backdash out, vertical jump HK or reaction Ultra him if possible. You can also super jump burn kick, dash forward into MP knuckle or EX thunder knuckle air fireball attempts that aren't super tight in spacing. Viper luckily has a lot of ways to punish air fireball attemps that half the cast can't really deal with other than to sit there and block or play the fireball game with him.

If you do knock him down and are able to do a jump in on his wake up you have to pretty much assume Akuma is going to teleport or once in a blue moon try wake up demon. You have to be prepared for both and react accordingly to ever open up big damage on Akuma. If you can score knockdowns and then punish teleports or at least stay near him after the teleport he'll be much easier to deal with. Next time you knock him down he'll only have DP's, focus attack and blocking to stay away from you at that point and Viper can take advantage of all of those easily.

I would say probably the hardest Akuma to deal with is one that can footsie well. At Evo we pretty much all figured out that shoto low forward is clearly the best poke in the game. If they're not afraid to play a poking game with you, you have to be ready to react with the right counter. I'm still learning it all myself but it seems similar to most shotos. If he's sticking out low forward specifically well timed that beats out a lot of what you have to offer. If he thinks you're going to go for EX seismo to get him to move or punish a whiff he can just walk up to you and time it so it beats it before it comes out. Viper's F + MP and LK burn kick I find are good for dealing with low forward footsies and forcing Akuma to do something different since that goes over all shoto low pokes. Then when you have him nervous about throwing low pokes you can set up your own c.MP/c.MK footsies and set up spacing for cross up burn kicks which sets up the knockdown mind games.

Akuma's F + HK is also difficult since outside of far range Viper doesn't have a lot to really deal with it other than crouch blocking or LP thunder knuckling under it. If you know it's coming from a close distance and have 2 meters you can blow through it with HP knuckle and then FADC to protect yourself incase he blocks instead. Otherwise just block and try to tech, LK burn kick or backdash the eventual throw attempt during the block string. - DevilJin 01

With Akuma's teleport, if he teleports behind, just walk towards him and throw. Normally he won't be able to teleport far. If he teleports away from you, EX Seismo has a good chance of hitting him when he rematerializes. Use FP Seismo if he teleports max distance. -Kunai

Taken from: The New Akuma Match-up Thread

Guaranteed Demons:

• F+MP (Super only)
• Blocked MP Thunder Knuckle (Super only)
• Blocked HP Thunder Knuckle
• Blocked Super/Ultra - dthboi

BOXER

Well the way you set up the damaging stuff vs. Boxer is to get him in bad situations on wake up or via burn kick pressure. You have to sort of remember that if you whiff a lp tk, you're going to be in some hurt, as well as taking improper burn kick angles will get you hurt as well.

Also remember that you can throw all EX punches and TAP as well. This is very important that you practice this since it's from about a little inside sweep range.

Your burn kick pressure will be useful in this match. The better it is, the easier the time you will have. The reason for this is that because of the constant crossing, it will cause the Boxer to continuously switch sides. And if he is continuing switching sides, that means he cannot consistently keep a back charge which is important. Also, when you have him in pressure, elbows keep him from having a down charge.

Try and not burn kick towards him at about half screen. Good Boxers can and will jump back hp you, or crouching hp you if you did the kick high. Sometimes during seismo chains, you can do Seismo xx lp/mp tk to inch closer to him, but it's best to do this from about half to 3/4ths screen. About Seismos, if you can get him to land on seismos from when he jumps, it will be a lot of help to you.

Off of a hard knockdown, meaty cr. lk beats all reversal headbutts except EX which will go under it or you'll recover in time to block IIRC. Also, I find that in this match, I go for a lot of quick rise situations. That's because this is the easiest way to him into burn kick pressure, and eventually from the burn kick pressure, open him up to the ambiguous j. mk/hk for good damage.

And always respect the jabs. Try really hard to stay out of his jab range, and make sure you block when he's got you in pressure. The best escapes I've found in this matchup are lk bk and hp tk xx fadc. Back dash also works, but do not abuse it. Good boxers will dash punch you if you try and escape.

On a back throw, or a cr. fierce xx ex seismo xx sjc fadc sweep combo, there is a way to set up a burn kick angle where should the Boxer try and escape with an EX dash punch, he will go the other way leaving him close to you for punishment. To set this up, try taking a slight step forward, then normal jump and lk burn kick.

Also, as mentioned getting just outside of of a max range jab dash punch lets you neutral jump and punish for big damage. - CoosCoos

You can't play a footsie game with Rog...because every button he has beats pretty much all of your buttons. He can pretty much choose a button and it beats what you have to offer normal wise. Jumping at him won't do you much good because he'll give you the Rufus treatment and c.HP or jump back HP you out of most anything. If you get knocked down...oh god you are so limited it's dumb. I noticed what Uryo likes to do is start the round off by moving just close enough to Rog for him to want to dash punch at you and then baiting him insta super jump burn kick backwards and then you can catch him on the recovery with your burn kick landing on his head or if you fall away from him you can EX seismo or Ultra him.

This is one of those matches you can play the "brickhouse" game with though similar to Blanka since Viper does a pretty good job at least keeping Rog out for a while and that gives you time to sit on a health lead and gain momentum for later on to win the fight. The problem is it's hard to mount any offense on Rog unless he makes a clear mistake or you otherwise knock him down with a seismo or cross up burn kick. Which he definitely has options for those but those options are safer than anything else you could try to do to him.

Once you have the health lead then you realize that there's no way you're going to win trying to chip him to death with seismos and Balrog can easily TAP or dash punch through one of your seismos if you get predictable. At this point you're going to have to play the trade game with him and use your LP knuckles to at least be able to pressure him. Even if you are trading with dash punches if you are in the lead health wise it should give you enough time to move in and throw, EX seismo, or cross up burn kick behind Rog and gain a knockdown which from there you can apply pressure.

Good Rog players will know to use EX dash punch to get out of cross ups and what not but you can mix this up by throwing them out of the dash punches. Scrubby Rogs you can just jump on all day since all they do is EX headbutt and that's super easy to safe jump and punish on whiff or block. - DevilJin 01

BLANKA

You don't really have to cross Blanka up to win the match. Viper vs. Blanka is what I like to call a "health lead" match. Just like Blanka vs. Honda was in ST or any match where the person who has even the slightest health lead takes control of the fight. The best way to ensure you start winning the fight vs. Blanka is to land the first attack and then keep a health lead throughout the fight. Basically as long as you have more health than Blanka does, strategically you are winning the fight. Then you can stall the match with your seismos/feints and he has no choice but to come to you. At this point anything Blanka does from a distance becomes more obvious and is easier to react to. Use neutral jump HK or HP Knuckle to take him out of any obvious jump ins and use seismos to punish him for walking forward or sticking out pokes or electricity to build meter. Anytime you have a health lead in this fight you have more control over the fight and Blanka must to go you. If Blanka has the health lead then you must go to him to land any big damage but at least you can still fight and bait from a distance with seismos and try for a knockdown.

Blanka can be a difficult fight for Viper but Blanka Ball is not really one of the main reasons why it is. Actually...it's one of the better parts of the matchup for Viper. Blanka's tough mainly because he has very solid pokes and air normals that are difficult for Viper to deal with. EX electricity and EX balls make him very risky to cross up as well. That's on top of the fact that his crouching hit box is very small as well.

People who just throw around Blanka balls recklessly should be easy wins for you. Blanka ball can be punished with dp+P (seismo hammer) as he's falling towards the ground after you block one. So everytime you block a blanka ball go for EX seismo (if you have it) or the correct regular seismo depending on distance and SJ burn kick after him to combo or to gain distance and stay on top of him.

Blanka is doable/even only because he can't do damage from a distance and your zoning tools against Blanka are quite effective. Most scrub/newer Viper players tend to wanna go after Blanka like he's a shoto but what they don't realize is that Blanka moves quicker than Viper and will always beat her to the punch with a ball, jump in, command dash or slide. Once he has meter you can't even cross him up without getting EX upballed.. They also don't block and reversal seismo blanka balls so they think Blanka can just ball them all day without reprocussion. As long as you space yourself well and make him fear walking or balling into seismos he can't get near you and once you get the health you take control. If he tries a random jump in and you HP knuckle trade him he's done so he doesn't wanna try that and that'll limit him to shenanigans that even if he gets near you don't guarantee him any real damage.

The only way to lose to Blanka at high level is to get put in the corner (jab electricity strings kill Viper quick) or get mixed up and knocked down for so long that you get dizzied. The only other way to die quick to Blanka is to get shenaniganed into his 50/50 ultra which requires you to be knocked down and have his Ultra. Which that's your fault for letting Blanka get in to begin with.

Jump on top of their body and do a LK burn kick while you're still airborne and time it so it hits right before he wakes up.

Thunder Knuckle to bait the ball and then punish his ball attempt?

Yeah that's what I was going to mention. You have to make him afraid to ball you inbetween the knuckles. c.MP/c.MK to MP or HP knuckle feint will have him more afraid to ball you. Since you are basically even frame advantage wise afterwards if he tries to ball you after a poke and you feint you can block and punish for free. If he's a smart Blanka player I'm assuming he's using EX vertical ball inbetween your strings which you can still punish on block with reversal timing EX seismo to burn kick. If he's using MP/HP/EX horizontal balls then he's stupid and you can punish that with either HP or EX seismo (EX doesn't need reversal timing). HP obviously requires reversal timing but saves you meter. Either way you've got a strong punish for either ball on block.

Then once you get him to respect your knuckle strings you can go for them a bit more willingly and I would suggest sticking to c.MP to MP knuckle once you start to get in. c.MP after a MP knuckle beats electricity and most of his other attacks free and the only thing left to do is EX up ball which is risky if you've been training him right. Plus it's faster than c.MK which leaves him less room to ball in the first place. I would only use c.MK if you're trying to knuckle him from a long distance and need something that hits under the electricity hit box. c.MP from a distance normally beats electricity too. Of course you'll want to block once in a while after connecting or getting a MP knuckle blocked incase he decides he wants to EX up ball inbetween that.

It's a mind game at that point but it's always going to work in your favor once you get in especially if you have a health lead. EX up ball does no damage any ways and does nothing for Blanka but reset his positioning. As long as you haven't been getting your butt kicked for half the round it shouldn't be an issue. The only other thing you might have to worry about is shenanigan Ultra to try and beat your pressure but again...if you've been mixing in feinting and blocking inbetween your strings this will be risky for him and if you catch it you can easily block or backdash the ultra and punish with your Ultra or whatever. The only other things that Blanka can do relatively safely are EX rainbow roll and backdash. Ex Rainbow he won't really try to use to hit you unless he's feeling hella risky and will probably do this just to reset his positioning away from you if he's near the corner. Backdashing is probably his absolute safest option unless he's in the corner but if you anticipate this you can time your MP knuckle to hit him at the end of his backdash or just walk forward at him to position him more towards the corner. Especially for C.Viper positionally you have the game won if Blanka is in the corner. Pretty much all of his balls are risky to use once he's in the corner. Even if he hits you/comboes into a blanka ball it's still punishable if he's in the corner.

If you wanna get really tricky you can start mixing in F + MP overhead inbetween your strings since that will beat electricity free for the most part and destroys his down charge. Which means no more having to deal with EX up ball for a short period of time. Good for going over any low pokes if he tries as well. Just have to watch out for smart blankas who will try to focus your F + MP. Which of course you can mix in with MP knuckles which beat focus. I like to do stuff like c.MP, MP knuckle...walk up c.MK, HP feint...walk up F + MP to hit him overhead and bait a ball...then walk up c.MP or c.MK feint again and continue the pressure. So many mind games especially if you're good at cancelling into HP feint which gives you plenty of time to set up more mind games during his block stun. - DevilJin 01

DevilJin 01 Blanka Tips Part 1

DevilJin 01 Blanka Tips Part 2 -July 09

Gl1tch (Bl) vs Flash Metroid (Vi)- Dec 4th 09

Mizoteru (Bl) vs Gasshuku (Vi)- Gods Garden Aug 7th 09

CAMMY

just play safe against cammy, bait with feints and play footsies. Punish hooligan, cannon spike, etc... and once she see's she can't get in easily, the game is in your favor. Gotta have solid defense to beat Cammy, its not really hard though. -subzero44

The real problem with the Cammy/Viper matchup is similarly to the Bison/Viper match, once she is in, there is not much that Viper can do to get out of the pressure she's applying unless she takes a risk (I know that you could say this about everyone vs Viper, but in these two matches it gets magnified 10 times over). Also, in this matchup she just has an easier time getting big damage than Viper does plain and simple.

Personally, I don't like the idea of doing F + MP overhead over spiral arrow because it can be hard to do that on reaction, and if you mess it up, chances are you'll be eating an Spike or a crouching normal. I would say just block them and pay attention to the range it's being done at. If you know it's going to be deep, punish with cr. mp xx MP TK/ultra.

Also, pay attention to the ranges of the cannon strikes, and also remember that they can be blocked low. There are some ranges where you can either trade a hp tk, or even make her land on an ex seismo (be wary of this one when she has ex). Also, if she's doing them for meter, try and make her land on a seismo and either tk cancel or sj focus dash to gain some ground. -CoosCoos

Instant dive kick (low to ground dive) gets beat clean by EX burn kick just like Rufus dive kick. Cammy dives coming from higher in the air...just block. -DevilJin 01

Flash Metroid (VI) vs Sanford (CA) NEC X - Dec 6th 09

CHUN-LI

Viper defintely beats Chun. Your basic combos do a ton of damage to her and her and her having Ultra does nothing to scare you. Especially considering her Ultra doesn't even juggle correctly on Viper without a super perfect setup. Oh and yeah you never have to worry about EX SBK on wake up. F + MP beats it almost clean, j.HK beats it, LK burn kick with the right timing directly above her beats it (wait till slightly after she throws it out).

The only thing u really have to worry about with Chun is pokes. She can't even focus attack you much since your MP and LP thunder knuckles beat her focus game. Even if she does go for normals well placed LP and MP knuckles contend with most of them well and if she wants to throw s.HK you can c.MK that or focus dash forward and throw her. Your seismo makes her fireball useless. If you think she's going to throw a fireball or see her throw one out period just mash seismo. She won't do it again. The only thing you have to worry about is if you get knocked down and even then good blocking keeps her wake up from being too scary. Don't worry about reversing unless you can see she totally messed up her DF + HK timing. Just block the right way and the rest is just block and crouch tech. If you wanna get risky or just get the hell out of there you can guess backdash or mash HP knuckle or EX seismo. If you have a lot of health it's worth the risk any ways. -DevilJin 01

Crouch blocking owns chun. Baiting ex sbks owns chun. Chun with no meter owns chun.

Seriously, if you crouch block, all she can do to you is throw, the slow ass overheads or the slow floaty jumpins. All of her damage is off of cr.lk EX legs. -Flook

Yeah Chun Li's normal jump is higher than Viper's but that's why you gotta super jump that bitch to stay above her air normals.

You shouldn't be afraid of this matchup because Chun is free if you knock her down (Viper has like 5 ways to beat or bait EX SBK on wake up) and you do way more damage to Chun than Chun can do to you. The only way you can lose to Chun is if you make a ton of mistakes. If you hit Chun with j.HK or c.HP 2 times in the match you basically won the match. Especially if you know how to FFF and SJC FADC or burn kick into Ultra. You can still take plenty more risks in this match than vs. some other characters (Chun Li isn't going to destroy you if she knocks you down) but it'll add up if you have no idea what's going on.

You shouldn't have to worry about Chun EX bird kicking you if you jump in on her. Especially if she's not knocked down. If she is sitting at a distance away from you on the screen you know that's what she's doing. Charging the only thing she has that resembles a dragon punch. As long as you remember to not jump at Chun Li when she's sitting in crouch block or spamming crouching normals from the other end of the screen you won't get EX SBK'd.

After you knock Chun down as long as you place your LK burn kicks and j.HK's right the best she can do is trade and push you away for little damage. Hitting her with a jump forward HK just after she starts the EX SBK usually beats it out or trades. LK burn kick on top of her just after she starts beats it obviously. Another good one is to do F + MP on top of her EX burn kick before it starts. EX SBK actually takes several frames to start up and if you elbow on top of her EX SBK before she starts it up you'll beat it for free. Smarter players will know to use crouching normals as soon as they wake up to whiff under your LK burn kick and punish you but then you can just mix this up with j.HK which they can't crouch normal under and that leads to them throwing away the round. Basically once you get Chun to stop throwing EX SBK on wake up she's free to jump on.

Chun's high jump is actually a problem for her in this matchup because once you have Ultra she can only jump in at you with a perfectly timed jumping HK (which also flat out beats your HP knuckle). The problem is she has to time this perfectly or anything else she does will get traded or beat outright. The fact that she jumps high means that you don't need to get your HP knuckle to trade to Ultra her. Just stay on the ground and once you catch Chun Li jumping forward at you just let out the HP knuckle and by the time you land from HP knuckle you'll be in a perfect position to just throw out the Ultra before she falls to the ground. Free half life combo that required like no execution.

You really don't need to jump around much in this match up though. On the ground you have solid tools vs. her. LK burn kick beats her spamming c.LK and c.MK at you. Well placed EX seismo kills her sweep. F + MP is also strong for going over her crouching normals and hitting her. LP knuckle or focus dash forward into throw takes care of her s.HK and you can trade or beat s.HP. The only thing you really have to worry about is s.MP which if you see coming you can also EX seismo or just back dash away and super jump out to reposition yourself if you don't have meter. -DevilJin 01

Chun Li was always meant to beat the crap out of people air to air so it's not surprising that Viper has problems going air to air with her. Anyone with an air throw rapes Viper air to air also. Good Chun Li players who know the match up will air throw you out of burn kicks on reaction -DevilJin 01

CLAW

I've started learning to actually use Viper's focus in certain matchups and Vega is one of those matchups. Since on the ground he can mainly only hit you with one hit pokes to back you off its in your favor if he gets predictable to move in and focus attack his cr.MP/cr.MK or focus dash them and throw him. This again learned from watching the couple Claw vs. Viper match vids out there. You can also focus dash his wall dives as long as he's going for the attack. Just have to be careful for the mix up because then you'll get caught with the izuna drop throw. Try to capitalize on any knockdowns you get vs. Vega because he can't do much about them other than low blocking or trying to catch you with a psychic EX scarlet terror (his dragon punch flip kickish move). Which you can easily safe jump (time ur jump so you can block if you don't land an attack on him) and punish. If he tries to go for backflip anticipate and dash up and punish with whatever. There's like 6 frames of recovery on it.

Against Claw's wall dives either focus that shit and punish, or SJ MP/HK his ass. Pretty much all you need is one knockdown and then you can go to town with various cross ups with burning kicks, and normals and stuff. If he flips away, just either dash up and punish, or just wait until he lands then EX siesmo that shit. - CoosCoos

Vega is easy, jump in roundhouse on his wake up and he can't do shit about it. If he backflips on reversal, just EX seismo it when he's about to recover; he won't be able to block it.

The main thing you want to do is abuse his low stun and weak wake up options. Getting there may be a problem against good players, but his anti air options aren't the best either. Look for something on the ground, you can EX seismo his pokes. I usually catch them trying to low strong me after a blocked medium knuckle, which I then EX seismo and that's all it really takes to end the round.

What you DON'T wanna do is run into his pokes and roundhouse. That's pretty much what he relies on. People don't respect him and then before they know it...they have chunks of their health bar missing from running into shit. As long as you move in with smarts, you should be sitting fine. -MagnetoManiac

When you realize that Claw has no reliable anti-air to keep you out, especially when he's not crouching and blocking... he's pretty much dead meat to Viper. Guessing games with air Burning Kicks and making sure he's pacing around instead of sitting there and charging will make your Vega match-ups much easier. -Kunai

Uryo (Vi) vs Cat-K (Claw) - GRAND FINAL A-cho 3on3 - 1st Nov 09

C. VIPER

Needed

DAN

Needed

DHALSIM

Don't be afraid of Sim's teleports. They're not really good for aggression except for if the Sim player is totally mind screwing you. If Sim teleports anywhere near your body hit him with a close or far s.MP or close s.HP. You'll win everytime since you are able to attack before Sim recovers from his teleport. Close st.MP specifically has a surprisingly large hit box that anti airs pretty well (even though it doesn't look like it at all). If he's a bit farther away than that you can his st.HK as well. The only time Sim should be teleporting near your body is after he knocks you down for wake up games. If he teleports near you and you are in a standing position...basically press a button and you stop him cold.

Sim's only safe aggression against you is in the form of well placed slide to throw/s.LK games. Basically just low block and mash on LK Burn Kick to keep yourself safe from throws. You can try to outthrow him or react to his throw setups with a tech but that requires a bit more risk. LK Burn Kick will keep you safe from a slide unless he does it right next to you and the resulting damage should he actually hit you with a slide is pretty minimal (unless he has super I think). LK Burn Kick also option selects any throws since it puts you airborne from frame 1 and smacks him away for trying a throw. -DevilJin 01

Viper can basically do most of what Dhalsim can and do it better with higher damage output. So Dhalsim effectively is fighting a better version of himself in the matchup and it can make it can make things difficult for Sim. Outside of Chun Li...Dhalsim is the only other arcade character that Viper has a clear advantage over.

Which then coincides what Flash said about the matchup which is basically to act like Dhalsim. Get a health lead and turtle your ass off with it. Dhalsim has just as hard of a time getting to you as you do getting to him. If you're at a health deficit against Sim then you have to try and option select his teleports and backdash down and that doesn't work in your favor with your low health if his spacing is on point. Just try to outturtle him so he is the one coming to you. He can't throw fireballs because of seismo/EX seismo so that limits his range game a lot.

The only things you really have to worry about against Sim are his jump back HP, st.HP, command slide and probably most important his jumping MP. Jump back HP and s.HP can both be beat by well timed HP or EX seismos. You can bait j.HP out by randomly super jumping forward and hitting HK to catch him out of the air and make him think about using it. LK Burn Kick from max range or HP knuckle can also beat s.HP. If you're at close range you can focus dash in on a s.HP or j.HP and punish accordingly. Slides can be punished with EX seismo, well timed LK Burn Kick or focus attack (let go of your focus attack so that he gets hit as he recovers). Jumping MP is probably the biggest threat to Viper in the matchup because it's the only thing that really stops her from randomly super jumping and attempting to take big health off of Dhalsim. It stops a lot of your aerial attacks and hits at an angle that is safe from most of your grounded attacks. Your best bet against this is just to wait it out and walk yourself closer to Dhalsim so it's more risky for him to throw this. At the right spacing and distance it's very safe for him to use so it's not something you're going to be able to out right punish. Luckily it also does no damage so if you have the health lead he won't necessarily be using it a ton.

Other than that Dhalsim is obviously not going to throw fireballs at you ever like said earlier. He wants to save the meter for his super because that's the only way he can reliably keep you from randomly jumping in outside of j.MP. If you knock him down on the wake up he can be tricky since he can use his solid backdash or teleport to get away. Best bet is just to option select with j.HK to MP knuckle or EX seismo. Don't use Burn Kicks too often against Dhalsim on the wake up. His slide goes under Burn Kicks for free. I would only use them after you condition him to stay in place and block or get hit by j.HK (he can't slide under j.HK knee).

This is also one of those matches that I would suggest not trying to knock down too often in if you can. As in if you are going to use a combo don't use a combo that ends in an EX seismo or anything that knocks down. Dhalsim is one of those characters looking to whore the universal backdash or teleport to SFIV reverse his ass out of any kind of pressure situation. If you knock him down you basically give him free incentive to just run the fuck away from you again. You want to use strings that keep him standing so backdashing is risky. Such as c.MP x 2 to MP knuckle or FFF/FFM to knuckle. Anything that forces him to react immediately and gives you frame advantage afterwards to immediately counter a reversal situation. Dealing with him on the wake up can be too much of a guessing game and incentive for him to get away from you. Especially when even his slide is a viable runaway move on the wake up.

When and if you don't have the health lead and have to move in just remember his most used moves that I listed above and react accordingly to move in and score damage. Random insta SJC'd burn kicks aren't a bad idea to keep him from backdashing or teleporting. Only do it enough to keep him on his toes or otherwise he'll catch on and focus attack/dash them. Random seismos and well placed MP knuckles keep him on the move at closer ranges as well. If you're not sure what do and he's pressuring you with normals...just wail on EX seismo if you have meter. -DevilJin 01

DICTATOR

Bison is tough though since his pokes are very solid and you have to get aggressive and fake a lot on the wake up against him or he just gets away and resets his positioning. If you can stay on top of Bison and get momentum going after a knockdown he'll have a hard time winning from there. Scrubby Bison's abuse his flying specials all day and that's easy to beat. It's the better players who know that Bison's ground game really messes with a lot that Viper has that are tough. Bait out scissors with seismo/knuckle feints, punish whiffed s.HK's with jab thunder knuckle. -DevilJin 01

Against devil's reverse, seismo that shit, its not safe at all, if he's near you (like trying to hit you with it) ex seismo through it, if he just spams it in the corner, do fierce seismo. Go to training mode and check it out, do devil's reverse and hold down back when you land, theres a point where bison stays standing when he lands before he crouches that you can hit. Against stomps i just back dash and go for throw. - True_Tech

Stay out of short scissor kick range. Very important to not let him get into his post mix up game after that. He can st.roundhouse jumps, EX scissor kick back dashes (punishable on block with a quick low strong -> knuckle though), EX psycho crusher if you try to walk up grab/press anything, and he can just short scissor kick again if you do nothing.

Stay out of the corner, Extremely important, him putting Viper in the corner is a nightmare, same reasons as above, but his options are much dirtier since you can't back dash.

Less jumping around. Bison can abuse his j.strongs and EX stomps a lot, so jumping is not really an option here. I use it sparingly if I walk back and make a poke whiff, because this is the time where he doesn't have a down charge, and his st.roundhouse will come out late if he presses it.

Don't challenge his pokes with yours. Seriously, even with low strong...it's not happening for Viper.

If the Bison is scrubby and doing his air specials...you can walk/dash under or away from his stomp point, and then if he did devil's reverse, just EX seismo and combo it.

Meaty overhead, then walk back and block option select on his wake up. If he wakes up with EX PC, it's slow and you can block. If he wakes up with EX stomp, you walk back and low fierce into punish it. If he wakes up with EX devil's reverse (looks like EX stomp but then he reverses) you can EX seismo it. Really hard to get used to this option select but it becomes useful.

Meaty jump roundhouse, then walk back. Same option select as above, if you have more time this one is a good option.

SJ short burning kick. Well it loses to EX stomp and earns you losing a lot of life bar if he does that. But, you can kick him out of EX PC. So the way I use that is...find out which wake up works for him when he gets away. Then for example...if it is EX PC, I'll burning kick it once, then the next time try and catch the stomp. -MagnetoManiac

With Dictator, burning kick mixups work well when he does not have meter. When he does have meter, he can escape fairly easy by an EX move of his choice. Also, remember that you can either st. lp or lp thunder knuckle under his st. hk at certain distances. Also, if you sniff out a devil's reverse, figure out where he lands and use the correct seismo to hit hin and gain ground. Also remember to dash back and punish headstomp attempts. -CoosCoos

The first part I think about when punishing EX headstomp is to know it's coming in the first place. Know the situations in which Bison can headstomp. You're not going to be able to beat it if you don't catch him when he's in position to do it. Basically if Bison is walking back and forth or throwing out standing pokes at you you know he can't do it. But if Bison is crouch blocking or laying on the ground after getting knocked down you know he's prepping for that or EX devil reverse. Jumping forward or backward repeatedly is also a good sign that they're using their jump to hide crouch charging the stomp. Especially if you can see them crouching after a jump.

Luckily most scrub players think EX headstomp is free damage since it beats most aerial and AA moves that's so that's what you'll see most of the time. Better players know to mix it up with devil reverse. Against scrubby stomp whores...once you can see that they are going for it all you have to do is react to it. The safest way to react is to simply block it and then try and AA his mix up as he flies down. Or just block that too. Yet if you do that all day you're just setting yourself up to get mixed up and thrown around all day and you don't want that either. Absolute best thing to do is to is walk backwards against or backdash the stomp just before it hits you and there's plenty of time to hit him as he flies down. He has a whole recovering animation if he doesn't touch anything. Throw him, combo him, ultra him whatever. If you can figure he's going for a stomp early you can also walk or dash forward under him as well.

DONT focus or AA the EX headstomp. Focusing the headstomp forces you to take a 1/4th of your health in focus damage and if you get hit again you lose nearly half your life for no reason at all. EX stomp beats out pretty much all of Viper's AA's except for a PERFECTLY timed EX seismo or Ultra. Smarter players will know to mix in EX devil's reverse since there's no way to tell if he's going to switch between one or the other. If you try to AA him and he mixes up and goes for Devil's Reverse...you get smacked. Not as hard as with EX stomp but he'll be right in your face and ready to pressure. This is pretty obviously but jumping up and trying to swat Bison out of the air is a no no also.

Lastly what you want to do is learn how to deal with EX headstomp when you knock Bison down. This is one of Bison's get off me moves and if he times it right on the wake up he can stuff out a burn kick with it making it risky to burn kick on top of him during wake up (his Ultra too). The idea mainly when you knock Bison down is that he'll probably get away unless he has no meter at all. This is kinda what you want though since Bison with little to no meter is much easier to deal with. The best thing to do is safe jump him on the wake up. Which is essentially jumping at him while preparing to block if your jump in whiffs. You wanna time it so the jump in touches him right before he wakes up. This way if he gets antsy and does EX stomp you'll be safe since it won't touch you being you're on the ground and you'll waste his meter. Along with that you can punish him by walking/dashing forward or behind him. -DevilJin 01

Side notes vs Bison:

st.strong can stop some of his shit. Not to be whiffed though, you'll need some good experience playing with a shorter poke. It has a bit more priority or speed over st.forward.

cr.strong is good as always, but not as much in this match up. Still something to make your opponent watch for, though.

cr.forward sparingly can really give Bison some trouble. If you make him come to you, he won't have charge while walking up. cr.forwrd has a pretty low hitbox, just enough to go under his roundhouse at the right range. So they will start to st.forward. The good news about that is, st.forward can be jumped. And you guys know what happens when Viper jumps a poke.

Low knuckle is a life saver at further distances. It's really hard for Bison to find an answer to if he isn't sitting on charge. Just make sure you don't use it to the point where he will get jumpy. If so, then look for his jump. Just a reminder, this is better over the medium knuckle because it goes under his roundhouse. -MagnetoManiac

I personally wouldn't focus Bison stomp...period. Even if you get a spacing advantage it gives Bison a huge incentive to suddenly rush you the hell down. If he randomly hits you or trades with any attack of yours you lose a 3rd of your life or more for free. Close to half life even if he hits you real early after the focus. You're better off just plain old back dashing or walking under it if you see it early. If you can't do either of those just block and watch out for the mix up after. - DevilJin 01

E. HONDA

You can actually move around in the match more than you can against Gief and actually fight Honda but it's never really in your favor. If you play really safe and high level the match could arguably be only 6-4 in Honda's favor but either way he's still in a better position to win than Viper is.

The jist of the matchup is basically to try and cross Honda up when he's walking forward at you with super jump Burn Kicks and jump back and throw seismos/seismo feints to bait headbutts and move him closer to you. Don't spam seismos or feints from anything inside of max screen distance unless you know exactly what he's doing. Eventually if you get him to do that enough you can get him to actually get hit by the seismos and then if you get a knockdown cross him up to land damage. Try to safe jump your cross ups to ensure you don't get slammed by EX headbutt. Either way if he wants to use EX headbutt he'll escape unless you catch on reaction and punish him on the way down. Long as you don't get knocked down ur straight but the problem is everything Honda has knocks you down. -DevilJin 01

On his wake up what you want to do is jump in and dont do the BK until hes up already most hondas do ex headbutt as wake up reversal if you do the bk after they are already up the headbutt wont auto correct then the bk will either hit the ex headebutt in the back or itll go overr it and it will wiff the problem with that is that if the honda is good and sees that then just do it according to when your BK crosses up.

You really cant do anything until honda makes his move until then you can pretty much only spam low forward and TK's -FlashMetroid

If a Honda is taking up space with neutral jump fierce, take a note of when he is doing it. If he is using it to clip your bk's, then you are either doing them too often, at bad distances, or both. If he is doing them to just do them, you can triipguard that bum into a combo or knockdown.

Also, when he has EX, assume that EX headbutt can come at anytime. I also recommend practicing using EX seismo to escape booty bop games on wake up.

Burn kick games are useful only if you either knock him down or if he blocks something(sometimes). Also, there are some angles with burn kicks that Ive found to beat headbutt and booty bop clean. Of course, jump back bk works vs headbutt, also reg. jump and mk/hk bk immediately has produced great results vs both headbutt and buttslam. -CoosCoos

Matchup is difficult but winnable. You've lost the match if honda feels he doesn't need to move or take any risks to win. Uve gotta make him move while not unnecessarily putting urself in harms way and that's difficult to do against a character who's normals alone will rape ur health. Like said above honda can't do much about a LK burn kick right on top of his head except ex buttslam which won't even hit u (just gets him free). Which is kinda the matchup in a nutshell. Don't get too risky if honda is playing defensively. If u already have the health lead its on him to make moves. Though u do eventually have to make honda dance or he'll just walk in ur face and destroy u with his command throw and normals. When at a far distance try to throw a couple seismos at him just to get him to move. If he jumps from a long distance u can time ur seismo so it hits him as he is landing. When you get close watch for neutral jump hp and punish any whiffed ones with hp knuckle into ultra if u have it.

Once u can get close to him and keep him grounded (he's standing not jumping in the air) u generally want to do 3 things. Hit him with F + MP overhead since it causes him to lose his down charge and keep him from splashing u. Then mix that in with cr.MK to whatever since that has to be low blocked and will create a high low game. The last important thing would be to insta cross up burn kick him. This is very important since it causes him to lose his back charge and will keep headbutt from being a defensive tool 4 him. When u get the knockdown try to stick to lk burn kicks on his head so he can't hit u with physical attacks. Crossing up with mk or hk burn kicks when he is knocked down isn't always the best idea since if it doesn't hit him u freeze when u land and are open to attack. Its better to learn how to safe jump with j.HK (air knee) since that will net you big damage if it hits and if it doesn't u can recover and block or try a new mix up. Tru to get the knee to hit the center of hondas body on wake up. That makes it very difficult to block. U want to do this so the honda player gets anxious and starts to waste meter on ex buttslam which won't hit u as long as u are doing those 2 things correctly. Which honda is a bit easier to manage when u don't have to deal with ex head and butt. -DevilJin 01

EL FUERTE

I think Viper has no control in this fight is when she gets knocked down. Then it's up to backdashing and random reversals. Other than that...Fuerte has shit for pokes and is basically trying to do what you do with less solid ways to land big damage. There's things to watch out for but the fact that he takes damage so badly compared to say Rufus or Abel makes him much more manageable for me. He pretty much has to rely solely on his ability to move around the screen quickly to deal with Viper since the priority on the majority of his attacks are pretty low. Random MP thunder knuckle deals with a lot of his crap. You have to watch what you whiff carefully when he has Ultra but as long as you don't give him an obvious chance to use it he's struggling for big damage most of the time. -DevilJin 01

This has got to be in Viper's favor. Fuerte's wake up game is about him guessing right with his mix ups. Back dash gets you out from most of his wake up games while well timed EX Seismo's beats out the rest. The only time Viper is hurting on wake up is when she doesn't have bar to do an EX Seismo when needed. Just keep in mind that meaty slide kicks will beat out reversal EX Seismo.

You have to be more careful with your air approaches as his EX AA throw (Sorry, I'm not at familiar with the names of his specials) has some incredible range to it. Keeping grounded and poking him with Thunder Knuckles work well as he doesn't have a reliable reversal against it. Burn Kick mix ups on his wake up is less effective as he can do that move where he runs back then does that command throw (Tortilla/Fajita Buster?) to reversal the Burn Kick altogether. In the corner on the other hand Burn Kick mix ups are more effective as that tactic doesn't get him out.

Avoid getting RSF'd as Viper can't handle that damage output and it has a good ability to stun Viper for game. -Killey

FEI LONG

Needed

GEN

First time i got some actual games against a seasoned Gen, I wanted to throw my stick, basically because everything got stuffed. I've gotten alot more experience in the match, and I think it's 6-4 now. Just can't do seismos at any range inside your HP seismo range, as his jump is so quick, and it requires on point blocking because of that retarded Crane jumping mk, as the hitbox on it is the entire area between both feet. Probably the best tool early on I've found is LP TK right outside of his mantis standing mk range, which is his fishing poke, and cancels into his fingerpoke combos/shenanigans. Once you get that first knockdown, or get inside, the geezer's done, though, like most of the cast.

Watch the WCW Yeb vs. Marn match. Pretty much sums up the match. Don't get hit by crane jumping MK when he has ultra, don't get hit by mantis standing MK, and once you're in, he's stuffed and has to burn meter to escape (as well as charge down for the Oga). Even if he gets his Gekiro on you, it does ass damage. -Flook

irst thing, you want to stay a bit more grounded in this match and not try and burn kick the world. Gekiro beats all burn kicks that hit in front of Gen period. From this knowledge, this eliminates spaced EX Seismo to burn kick, as well as any quick rise mixup involving sj burn kick. The best way to set up burn kicks in this match up is either from a hard knockdown or surprisingly enough that I find, from any situation where you can normal jump or dash up toward them after a quickrise. Try and taylor them to cross up if possible. Keep in mind that Gen can also dash under poorly angled burn kicks as well as go under them via a crouching normal as well.

Seismo xx tk/seismo feint is great in this matchup due to Gen's jump arcs + gay ass mantis super/ultra. Be sure to mix these in to give you more opportunities to chip em with seismo chains as well as to help you pay attention to when he's wanting to jump or punish your seismo strings. Also, Gen does have some laggy normals that you can punish with EX Seismo from a distance. Look out for those since they escape me at the moment.

Most of the time on knockdown vs. Gen you need to try and block his jump ins. Don't get cute, or else you'll lose a third of your life within the blink of an eye. Also, hp tk trades more than usual in this match, giving you easy dash up follow ups. Sometimes though if you get a traded hp tk, it's better to super jump burn kick after wards so that it leaves you in a position to do more to him on wake up. Also, if you get a clean hp tk anti air but no ultra, sometimes it's better just to do that one and then normal jump afterwards for the quick rise. This will allow you to do a safe jump hk or a cross up bk against him. Also, while burn kicks are lame in this match, hard knockdowns + safe jumps wreck this fool. Also, remember you can throw him out of gekiro on wake up as well. That's very important to remember.

Oga kicks can be punished on block by cr.MP xx TK/Ultra. Also, if you can spot where he is going, you can SJ HK him out of stuff too then do dash under mixups.

If you can't block, this match is impossible. If you can though, as well as stay grounded, it should not be a problem spacing him out and getting that knockdown to wreck him from there. -CoosCoos

Triple Threat Tournament - Yeb (Gen) vs Marn (Vi) - 14th Nov 09

GOUKEN

I would say personally from my experience the matchup is pretty even since Gouken basically has just as good or better pokes than you do but Viper's knuckle game kills Gouken's counter game. They both can do big damage to each other although Gouken is obviously going to take the damage a bit better than Viper will. I think the lack of solid reversal options from Gouken allows Viper to take advantage offensively pretty easily though. Especially if she gets a knockdown. Gouken's fireball zoning is a threat too but you can always seismo poor fireball attempts. -DevilJin 01

Be careful when 3/4ths screen since mp/hp fireball hits you out of the air and combos into palm.

Smart Gouken players will want to get to the corner, or get you into a back throw, sweep/ultra, demon flip throw, or cr. fierce xx ex palm, dash up sweep/fadc ultra. Do not get in these situations because if you do, he gets a safe mixup using meaty dive kick. Plus, if you get in the corner, well he has a shit ton of things that he can do to you there.

Take advantage of the fact that you can interupt his normals xx specials on block. Look to reversal hp tk every blocked normal xx special move. Should you have ultra, means that in most cases you get point blank EX Seismo, Ultra. Usually, this is probably the best way to get him off of you when he's in because you lose lk burn kick in this match because of counter(and good Goukens will counter this on reaction), but that loses to hp tk.

Also, Gouken's reset game is great vs. Viper because of her slow ass reversals. Block haha. Sometimes at some angles you can EX burn kick his demon flips. Super jump roundhouse is less effective in this match up vs flips because of the absorb in his flip. -CoosCoos

GUILE

Once you get within poking range you limit Guile's options as he can't safely throw sonic booms as weak thunder knuckle will go underneath them. Honestly, this isn't that bad of a match up for C.Viper it seems to be in her favor, imo, as she has outs to Guile's close and long range game. -Killey

Guile isn't easy but it's obviously in Viper's favor. She has multiple ways to get under or over booms and Seismos can keep him from mounting the fireball pressure he normally can against other characters. Flash kick is only good vs. grounded moves. If you can get a burning kick over his head and get a knockdown...you can run all over him. That's pretty much the match. Trying to get in and then confusing the hell out of him wit cross up burning kick shenanigans. LP thunder knuckle is a constant threat vs. Guile around footsie range. He can't throw a sonic boom once you get within poking range of him. If he does...bam. If you got super...GG's. Even if you don't it allows you to gain ground and get ready to cross up burn kick him or set up thunder knuckle combos.

Basically if you knock him down and aren't cross up burning kicking the crap out of him...you're messing up the best part of the matchup. You should almost never be afraid of Guile on wake up as a Viper player. That's exactly where you want him. Even before the burn kick you can just bait the hell out of a EX flash kick or EX boom on wake up with your feints and then punish. Just like in ST if you can get behind the flash kick it's useless. You really don't even need to do that since flash kicks have very little aerial priority in IV as well. As long as you're aren't throwing a ground poke at Guile on wake up you're good. -DevilJin 01

KEN

Ken match is pretty much even. Ken rapes you if you let him in but Viper has a lot of tools for keeping Ken out. Both characters are pretty even as far as damage output is concerned. Ken gets in on you he'll do big damage. You hit him with a hard attack or EX seismo...big damage. The key difference between how they do damage though is that Ken can do really solid damage to you off of light attacks while you need to hit him with a hard attack or a special move to do anything that is going to really make him scared. This is why good Ken players are gonna try to hard to get within jab and short range so they can mix you up with damaging 50/50 EX hurricane combos and end the round quickly. That low health is appetizing for a character that normally has to do a ton of BNB's to win a match. So without explaining too much more the jist is both characters can be equally as scary for each other so it's just a matter of who comes out on top.

Kara throws are annoying but they're kinda like your punishment for letting Ken get in too close. You wanna space him with your MP and LP knuckles and backdash on occasion to get him to whiff things so you can seismo or EX seismo them. You kinda wanna play a baiting game against Ken on the ground where you get him to whiff a poke so you can c.MK/c.MK, MP knuckle or EX seismo it. Then when you get the knockdown pressure accordingly. You don't want to let Ken get in because if he gets in there's not a whole lot you can do reliably except guess escape with LK or EX Burn Kicks (beats throws most standing attacks/kara throw), backdash when you get out of block stun (which he can bait if u do it too much) or HP knuckle (beats most ground attacks but will die to throw/kara throw).

It's not like fighting Ryu where eventually his blockstun on his strings will push him away. Once Ken gets in he has like 90 things he can do to stay in so you don't wanna ever let Ken get in. You can take the risk once in a while against Ryu since his mix up game isn't as strong and he's mainly trying to c.MK or shoryu FADCD you to death. If Ken gets in you better have meter or you have to play russian roulette until you escape or you're dead. -DevilJin 01

ROSE

It's not bad to stick to ground basic mix ups + instant burning kick. Safe jump roundhouse really messes with Rose, since all of her reversals have a good amount of start up.

If they soul spiral too close it's punishable on block. Look for low strong -> knuckle since it's fast and reliable, haven't tried to fierce and full combo it yet.

Her soul spark is so slow, you can easily seismo it on reaction even online and jump the hit, or even feint to recover.

You can usually reversal short burning kick slide gimmicks, but if the slide is really deep you may take a hit and get reset. Optimizing before use would be good.

Also, since Rose's main anti air is low fierce (her EX soul throw is situational due to the angle and meter) ... you can easily footsie then jump a poke and land some pain. -MagnetoManiac

RUFUS

Let him have it until he has 1 EX bar. After that, you really have to be careful because EX Messiah Kick really bails him out of everything.

Keep him honest by doing a lot of TK and Seismo feints. Otherwise, he'll definitely control the offensive tempo.

Have the mental discipline to never jump at him. His 2-hit jumping roundhouse to EX Jumping Hand Slaps automatically take off 1/3 of your life.

Unlike Viper, Rufus relies a lot more on jumping in on you to attack. It's good to do the appropriate standing/crouching jabs. If you stuff him once or twice after a jab, try using Viper's Overhead to hit him out of a subsequent attempt if he's getting a little too happy with the dive kicks. You can hit him before he even rises up.

Definitely try to have more health than Rufus throughout the match. Once you are down to your last sliver of life, Rufus has too many options to chip away that last part to KO you.

Rufus has a ton of safe options compared to Viper. It makes for a difficult fight IMO. EX Messiah Kick to get you off him, his ability to really make Viper pay for jumping with the aforementioned air juggle to EX Hand Slaps, crouching shorts or dive kicks to a combo that ends with a spin attack knockdown, dive kicks are sometimes hard to deal with if you are knocked down, etc.

Rufus can snuff an Air Burning Kick with a normal attack cleanly (where he sits on the ground and extends his fists upward). This means don't follow up with Air Burning Kicks if he blocks an EX Seismo.

FP Thunder Knuckle needs to be used often, at appropriate times. Link Ultras as best as you can, in any way possible... because you don't get many chances to get in on him and you will end up having an Ultra stocked most of the time due to his ability to deal you major damage.

Jumping straight up and fending him off works some of the time. Just make sure you are at least half-screen away.

If you do a combo, but feel like there may be a gap where Rufus can retaliate... definitely stop and just block, or High Jump backwards and get out of there. An EX Messiah Kick may be coming. - Kunai

If you're pressured, block a dive kick high and mash out short burning kicks. You'll either burning kick his throw or you'll get hit once and reset. One time, I used this, got reset, and he tried to re-dive kick my reset and I fierce knuckled trade into dash ultra.

F + MP rapes this guy, especially when he doesn't have meter. The best thing to do after is to just block, the risk of EX messiah/jump roundhouse is too big. Maybe you can back dash but I don't know if it's 100% safe. I don't know what happens when EX burning kick and EX messiah collide, but it could be an option if he's low on health and you know he's going for it. - MagnetoManiac

Rufus dive kick rushdown gets snuffed out by ex burning kick. dunno what else helps against that crap, it really makes Rufus back off which is always a good thing. - Lime Green Ninja

You just cant let Rufus get in basically you gotta keep him out and kill him asap. - FlashMetroid

The thing to look for is just to either abuse his low stun, or just limit his options. When you get an ultra, Viper will almost always land it. If you don't, then he's obviously not doing anything...which you can capitalize on if he's really afraid of it.

I said once before trade knuckle into dash ultra gives this guy a really hard time. It still does, I love that shit on his dive kicks...it almost always works.

EX messiah is like non-factor to Viper's offensive and stun game. If you land an ambiguous roundhouse into double fierce combo, we're talking about 1 hit away from stunning if he isn't already.

Something cool you can do, only against good Rufus players though...if they want to do a deep dive kick, you can use the invincibility of EX seismo to evade the hit, and when it comes out you hit them with a 'trip guard' hit which they can't avoid (hits the recovery landing frames of the dive kick).

Basically, you can have fun with Rufus...he isn't hard once you get the options down and limit him. - MagnetoManiac

Rufus isn't necessarily easy either yeah. He really takes advantage of Viper's so so wake up options once he knocks her down. It's easy for her to get overwhelmed if her blocking and reaction isn't good. Plus his air game overall is stronger in the matchup simply because j.HK or EX snake strike hitting you out of the air = peaced out Viper. I still think Viper has options vs. Rufus though. Her ability to use cross up Nurn Kick to beat EX Messiah allows her to play with Rufus on the wake up a bit more than some other characters.

It's just when it comes to footsies and the air game it's tough for Viper to keep up since she has to stick to some basic normals and vertical jump HK for spacing. Anything else gets pretty risky. You can try to beat him air to air if you see an opportunity as he's landing from a dive kick or jump in but generally Rufus seems to have the advantage in the matchup as far as spacing and damage. Just another one of those matches where you really gotta take your time. - DevilJin 01

Playing too defensive against Rufus is what he wants, because Viper's anti-airs are not solid. He will dive kick you all day and harass you if you let him. It is especially hard to stop him once he has half a super bar and an Ultra stocked.

Best bet is to make him waste EX bars using EX Messiah Kick. Ways to do that are foward + MP or varied air attacks that will either hit him before he attempts a move (like jumping WK)... or will help you drop to the ground w/o much damage if he tries to do EX Messiah Kick. Rufus totally hates foward and MP because of the relative safeness forward + MP has against EX Messiah, and it sometimes hits him out of dive kick attempts if he is too close to you.

Knockdowns on Rufus when he has no meter is what you definitely want. He will have no way of stopping you and you can play jumping HK or Burning Kick cross-up games all day with him. If he has 1 EX bar, he will definitely do EX Messiah Kick or the EX Jumping Hands to kill your momentum and take away a lot of your life.

Don't be predictable, watch his meters, stay out of the corner and you should be okay against him. - Kunai

Flash Metroid (VI) vs Justin Wong (RU) NEC X - Dec 6th 09

Simply_PH33R (Ru) vs Flash Metroid (Vi) Winterfest 2009 Orlando - 18th Dec 09

Simply_PH33R (Ru) vs Flash Metroid (Vi) Winterfest 2009 Orlando - 18th Dec 09

RYU

Auto correct DP works much better with Ryu than it does with Sagat. Mainly because Ryu's DP has a much better upwards hit box.

Basically, if you center your j.HK knee directly on top of Ryu there is no hit box. This is what all the Japanese players do. It's also the best way to hit the person on wake up period since it leads to free damage and it's easy to miss the person if you aren't trying to hit the center of them on the wake up. -DevilJin 01

SAGAT

It is my belief that safe TK strings give any Viper the most heirs. Once he gets a correctly spaced Tiger Knee, he has a counter for everything Viper can do to escape.

Though, Viper takes away the threat at times of the kara Tiger Uppercut.Because of the different jump arcs that she possesses, it's hard to for the Sagat to reaction kara TU her on reaction. The only real use for it is if he hits the Viper with a jumping hard punch away from them then kara TU to combo. Also, from about half screen or so, if the Sagat has great reaction time (and most good ones really do), it is not out of the realm of possibility to kara TU Viper out of a Seismo/either feint. Kind of reckless for him though to do, but the reward can be huge.

I know that Sagat can't exactly set up the meaty LK Tiger Shot then kara TS trap on Viper I think either. I know when he does, it's a lot of trouble for Viper since IIRC he gets and option select off of it that will stop jump ins.

Also, most of the time, Sagat on wake up will do meaty cr. lk. This is because this nullifies wake up hp tk for Viper. You see, Sagat's cr. lk recovers in 6 frames, while Viper's hp tk hits on frame 7. So Sagat will be able to block it in time. I believe that this also applies for EX Seismo and lk bk too on wake up. -CoosCoos

Q: So the situation is sagat just threw you in the corner.

He proceeds to meaty tiger knee into cr.jab short tiger knee cr. jab s.short tiger knee etc etc over and over again. Also mixes in some cr.jab ex tiger shot

How do you defend against this besides avoiding getting locked into the corner in the first place? -ganex

A: Pay very close attention to the distance of the st. lk xx tiger knee. If it's at max range, you can sometimes do a crouching lk to make the tiger knee whiff and either throw them, ultra, sj away, or combo them.

Also, backdashing after blocking the tiger knee at random times can mess up their timing if they are going auto mode and doing it over and over again, but it is a risky option like most of the others to get out of the corner. -CoosCoos

I personally think Sagat is solid for Viper just because it's so risky for him to do anything to Viper if he gets knocked down. Well placed burn kicks and j.HK's are risky for him to react to because the only real option he has to get out is a slow FA'd backdash or an uppercut. Both of which are easily baited and lead to big damage FFF and EX seismo combos. I don't personally think the match is in her favor because the Ultra system allows Sagat to clean up any big damage she did very quickly on one guess and he has access to basically the best defensive tool in the game (FADC Ultra). You have to be extremely careful what you throw at Sagat once he has FADC Ultra because it shuts out anything offensively that you do in front of him. It is also one of the matchups that Viper actually has a strong poking game versus but Sagat can option select Viper too easily and override her damage too well with his own to consider it in her favor. If the Sagat player has no idea what you're doing...then yeah it can look like it's in her favor. Once Sagat has any idea what is going on his toolset is just going to turn things around. -DevilJin 01

Sagat has a specific Tiger Knee trap that works only on Viper and it's something like s.MP->Tiger Knee repeat. The spacing, timing, and set up is specific for the Sagat player but once he puts Viper in the trap there is only one way I know of to get out of it. Block High then HP.TK out when he attempts to repeat the trap. There's too much recovery frames from blocking the Tiger Knee low that any follow up move will get stuffed. You block high because you have the least amount of recovery frames from it allowing you to HP.TK out. In general you should always block those Tiger Knee's high because you have the least recovery frames from a standing block. Any other move that Viper throws out will get stuffed by Tiger Knee because the start up frames are too long. -Killey

Flash Metroid (Vi) vs zeroG (Sag) Winterfest 2009 Orlando - 18th Dec 09

SAKURA

Sakura is kinda free for Viper. The Sakura player can win but she has to be playing pretty on point. If you knock Sakura down there isn't much to fear. Her dragon punch only hits grounded opponents so burn kicks are extra free on the wake up and the only thing you have to worry about is her small hitbox. Once you get that down she's cross up city. Her s.HK can be a bit of a pain but you can LP knuckle under that. Other than that once you gain up some meter she can't play her ground game quite as effectively due to that and EX seismo. - DevilJin 01

SETH

Apparently, the only way to beat Seth in this game is to try and random him out. He does have some of the best zoning. Viper's vitality doesn't support that, but her options do.

He does have this blind spot where he can off the wall and cross up roundhouse and either beat your anti air knuckle clean or go behind it and do the kick freeze thing.

Good Seth players just teleport whenever you're anywhere near them and try and reset to neutral every time. Fortunately, I have been able to touch Seth one way or the other. I can't really say it's as bad as a match as I want to...because her ultra builds up when she gets hit and you can use it on him at the end. I think I'm leaning towards 4-6 for Seth. He just has the tools over Viper, and that's what I usually prefer to have in a match over damage. -MagnetoManiac

I personally think Seth vs. Viper is either even or slightly in Viper's favor. Seth may have better options but the extreme low health keeps him from winning it when 2 of Viper's combos literally wins her the match also. Once you understand what to do against Seth I personally don't see anything that makes the matchup terribly difficult. The only people Seth beats or crushes are the people that can't get near him. Viper is like the best character in the game for just getting in and in order to beat Seth you gotta get in. She can close a distance gap very quickly with super jump and burn kicks and EX seismo will hit anything that is any closer than full screen away. Meaning Seth's j.HP and and any of his ground pokes will get blasted by perfectly timed EX seismo.

Overall though there's no way I can see the match in Seth's favor. Viper literally has the best options of any character in the game for avoiding his full screen BS. She definitely doesn't take the match free because Seth is basically a swiss army knife of options but the low health (Seth is jealous of Viper's health) and Viper's ability to do a lot to him on one right guess IMO would have it at either even or 6-4 for Viper. Yeah Seth can port away but that doesn't do anything for him other than...port away and reset. Unless he has a huge health lead you should be able to catch him on a port and punish and make it not worth doing as much. Like Magneto said...the more patterned you play in this matchup the easier it is for Seth to win. Just keep closing the gap and don't get hit by j.HP and let the damage output you do work for you. Viper is one of the few characters in the game that can actually force high level Seth to...fight so take advantage.

I don't really think Seth is 100 percent offense. Maybe online but that's also why I beat random online Seths free. He's like 80 percent defense and 20 percent offense. Seth can only continually create an offensive against characters that he can jump in on for free or simply in matchups where it's worth it to do so (only a few if any). Unless there's a Seth player that is just super serious on the offensive and makes it work (which I've yet to see at a high level) the best way to play Seth is to jump back and hit the HP button. That alone is able to zone out a lot of stuff and win Seth matches just by allowing him to hold a health lead for a ridiculously long time. That on top of sitting on his full screen Ultra makes it difficult for the majority of characters to do much of anything other than almost willingly give themselves into his Ultra just so they can have a chance to get in again.

High level Seth isn't going to be quite the Michael Jackson Moonwalker experience that people might have thought. Seeing Eric V and Arturo's Seth's in action has been proof of that for me. With such low health and not the highest damage output per combo he's better being Dhalsim # 2. Sitting on options that cover the entire screen length. -DevilJin 01

SBO Farewell Party - Uryo (Vi) vs Sabin (Se) Uploaded Aug 20, 09

ZANGIEF

Try to keep distance as far as possible while zoning with Seismo xx Seismo/Seismo feints. -DevilJin 01

Banishing Flat can be punished (even on hit) with c.mp xx mpTK but punishing on hit is MUCH harder. -tens

If he jumps HP TK/Neutral j.HK (when doing HP TK buffer in forward dash to get the 2nd HP TK or Ultra in case of trade) Don't LP/MP Thunder Knuckle at all when he has super/ultra on block he can punish it. -BZB Bait lariats and snuff'em with TK's -Kunai

Gief sucks ass. The guessing game works so well in his favor too because he can take your hits like a dayum champ and you're limited as far as the things that you can hit him with reliably in the first place. I respect very few American Giefs because there are very few that play him technically. Most just willy nilly on the stick and react to things randomly and act like they know something. There's no reason for a Gief to "play on point" against Viper...that's the only way she can control him. If the Gief player plays like an oversized El Fuerte he's basically shutting out any way for you to attack him without a ton of risk. He takes damage way too well and can kill her too quickly to not just go balls out like a fucking idiot. If he didn't take damage so dayum well it'd be a bit more manageable. If you get knocked down luck is like your only prayer to get out. Which is kind of the deal with Gief in every game but retarted lariat hit boxand german suplex that keeps him right next to you means you'll be playing the guessing game virtually forever if you don't luck out. It doesn't help that you can be thrown out of your most viable option to escape Gief's crap on wake up. -DevilJin 01

Taken From:

SHUT UP ALREADY, or, How to Beat Lariat by UltraDavid

Quick tip: Lariat is safe on block only if Gief spaces it perfectly and then times it to hit perfectly. Recognize this range and if you think you're at it, backdash. Otherwise the lariat is extremely punishable. If you block it at any other time than the end of it, you get a free immediate punish. Almost any punish here that says wait also applies to blocking at a bad range.

EVERYONE

• Wait until lariat's very significant recovery, then do WHATEVER YOU WANT

Viper

• far HK
• cr.MK xx Thunder Knuckle
• Seismo xx combo
• Ex seismo xx combo
• Jump HK combo
• Wait, cr.HK
• Wait, Ultra
• Wait, Super
• Throw

Cantona (Za) vs Uryo (Vi) - Quarter-Final 1 - a-cho 3on3 - 1st Nov 09

Frame Data

							Frames	Frames	Frames of	Frames of	Super Meter	Block	Cancel	Ability
Move Name	Damage	Stun	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	On Block	On Hit	Block Stun	Hit Stun	Gain	HL	Chain	Special	Super	Notes
Close LP	20	50	4	2	7	12	+2	+5	10	13	20	HL	O	O	O	-
Close MP	60	100	5	2	9	15	+3	+6	13	16	40	HL	X	O	O	-
Close HP	90	200	9	2	16	26	0	+5	17	22	60	HL	X	O	O	Forces stand
Close LK	20	50	5	1	7	12	+3	+6	10	13	20	HL	O	O	O	-
Close MK	60	100	7	4	11	21	-1	+2	13	16	40	HL	X	O	O	-
Close HK	40*60	125*75	12	1(8)3	17	40	-2	+3	17	22	60*20	HL	X	X	O	Forces stand
Far LP	20	50	6	2	7	14	+2	+5	10	13	20	HL	O	O	O	-
Far MP	70	100	7	2	12	20	0	+3	13	16	40	HL	X	X	O	-
Far HP	100	200	14	4	16	33	-1	+4	17	22	60	HL	X	X	X	-
Far LK	30	50	6	2	8	15	+1	+4	10	13	20	HL	X	O	O	-
Far MK	60	100	8	3	11	21	0	+3	13	16	40	HL	X	X	X	-
Far HK	100	200	11	6	15	31	-1	+3	17	21	60	HL	X	X	X	-
crouch LP	20	50	4	2	10	15	-1	+2	10	13	20	HL	O	O	O	-
crouchMP	60	100	5	3	9	16	+2	+5	13	16	40	HL	X	O	O	-
crouch HP	90	200	8	2	18	27	-2	+2	17	21	60	HL	X	O	O	-
crouch LK	20	50	5	2	12	18	-3	0	10	13	20	L	O	O	O	Low attack
crouch MK	60	100	7	3	16	25	-5	-2	13	16	40	L	X	O	O	Low attack
crouch HK	100	200	12	3	18	32	-3	D	17	-	60	L	X	X	X	Low attack, cannot fast recover
Jump up LP	40	50	5	7	-	-	-	-	8	11	20	H	-	-	-	-
Jump up MP	70	100	7	6	-	-	-	-	11	15	40	H	-	O	-	-
Jump up HP	90	200	8	6	-	-	-	-	15	18	60	H	-	O	-	-
Jump up LK	30	50	6	5	-	-	-	-	8	11	20	H	-	O	-	-
Jump up MK	70	100	9	5	-	-	-	-	11	15	40	H	-	-	-	-
Jump up HK	90	200	7	7	-	-	-	-	15	18	60	H	-	-	-	-
Jump forward LP	40	50	7	6	-	-	-	-	8	11	20	H	-	-	-	-
Jump forward MP	70	100	8	5	-	-	-	-	11	15	40	H	-	O	-	-
Jump forward HP	90	200	8	5	-	-	-	-	15	18	60	H	-	-	-	-
Jump forward LK	70	50	7	7	-	-	-	-	8	11	20	H	-	O	-	-
Jump forward MK	60	100	7	4	-	-	-	-	11	15	40	H	-	-	-	-
Jump forward HK	90	200	6	7	-	-	-	-	15	18	60	H	-	O	-	-
F+MP	70	100	20	5	3+8	35	-2	+1	13	16	40	H	X	X	X	Mid attack
F+HK	40*60	125*75	12	1(8)3	17	40	-2	+3	17	22	60*20	HL	X	X	O	1~11f (translate), Forces stand, 1st hit cancellable
Super Jump	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	O	O	1~3 (translate
Focus Attack LVL 1	60	100	26	2	40	67	-26	-26	15	15	20	HL	-	-	-	-
Focus attack LVL 2	90	150	18+16	2	40	75	-20	D	21	-	40	HL	-	-	-	-
Focus attack LVL 3	150	200	70	2	40	111	D	D	-	-	60	-	-	-	-	-
Forward Throw	130	100	3	2	20	24	-	D	-	-	40	0.9	-	-	-	Throw range 0.9
Back throw	120	160	3	2	20	24	-	D	-	-	60	0.9	-	-	-	Throw range 0.9
Thunder Knuckle LP	100	150	16	6	21	42	-2	+2	20	24	20/30	HL	X	X	O	1~15f (translate), 16~21f (translate), Armor break
Thunder Knuckle MP	120	200	14	4	20	37	-1	+3	20	24	20/30	HL	X	X	O	Armor break
Thunder Knuckle HP	70	150	7	16	14+13	49	-22	D	20	-	30/40	HL	X	X	O	1~6f hit invincible (not throw invincible), Pursuit property, Armor break
Thunder Knuckle EX	60*60	100*100	27	17	38	81	-5	D	32	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	Pursuit property, Armor break, Crumple on hit, (translate), (translate)
Burning Kick LK	100	100	23	4	17	43	0	D	20	-	20/30	HL	X	X	X	(translate)
Burning Kick MK	100	100	25	3	17	44	+1	D	20	-	20/30	HL	X	X	X	(translate)
Burning Kick HK	100	100	27	2(1)4	17	45	+2	D	20	-	20/30	HL	X	X	X	(translate)
Burning Kick EX	20x3*80	50x3*100	9	2*1*2(11)10	17	51	-6	D	20	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	1~8f invincible, Pursuit property, 4th hit (translate)
Burning Kick LK(air)	100	100	21	8	12	-	+8	D	20	-	10/30	HL	-	-	-	(translate)
Burning Kick MK(air)	100	100	19	8	12	-	+6	D	20	-	10/30	HL	-	-	-	(translate)
Burning Kick HK(air)	100	100	17	9	12	-	+4	D	20	-	10/30	HL	-	-	-	(translate)
Burning Kick EX(air)	20x3*80	50x3*100	6	2*1*2(10)8	15	-	+2	D	20	-	0/0	HL	-	-	-	Pursuit property, 4th hit(translate), (translate)
Seismo Hammer	120	100	24	8	31	62	-18	D	20	-	20/30	L	X	X	O	(translate), Low attack
Seismo Hammer EX	120	100	19	5	18	41	-2	D	20	-	0/0	L	X	X	O	1~13f invincible, (translate), Low attack
???	-	-	-	-	6	6	-	-	-	-	0/0	HL	-	-	-	(translate)
Super Combo LP	80*80*140	0	1+12	1(33)1(19)2	59+56	183	-96	D	20	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	1~5f invincible, Pursuit property, 3rd hit (translate)
Super Combo MP	80*80*140	0	1+7	1(15)1(21)2	59+56	162	-96	-	20	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	1~5f invincible, Pursuit property, 3rd hit (translate)
Super Combo HP	80*80*140	0	1+5	1(8)1(29)2	36+35	117	-52	D	20	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	1~4f invincible, Pursuit property, 3rd hit (translate)
Ultra Combo	108x5	0	1+6	3(53)5(8)5(10)5(10)5	59+56	227	-201	D	20	-	0/0	HL	X	X	X	1~10f invincible, Pursuit property, 1st hit Armor break, (translate)
							Frames	Frames	Frames of	Frames of	Super Meter	Block	Cancel	Ability
Move Name	Damage	Stun	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	On Block	On Hit	Block Stun	Hit Stun	Gain	HL	Chain	Special	Super	Notes

The 1 frame discrepancy you see between Startup+Active+Recovery and Total is because when it says a move has 4 frames startup, it really has 3 frames startup and hits on frame 4. It was written this way so you don't have to do any math to figure out what frame a move first hits on.

Dash Frame Data: taken from SRK Wiki Street Fighter IV Main Page

Character	Toward Dash	Distance	Backdash	Distance	Invincible	Grounded	Airborne
Viper	19	1.3	27	1.2	1~8	18~27	9~17

Forward dash speed, backward dash speed, and the invincibility/airborne frames for backdashing vary by character.

Street Fighter IV