Hyper Street Fighter 2/System

Game Mechanics

Reversals

A reversal is defined as any time you go from a non-neutral state directly into a move (normal, special, super, or throw), without ever going to neutral state. A non-neutral state is any state that your opponent inflicts on you: block stun, hit stun, getting up after being knocked down, dizzy, or being knocked out of the air.

Easiest example: your opponent knocks you down, and as you're getting up, you time a DP perfectly so that it comes out on the first frame possible. You never go to neutral state - you go directly from getting up animation to DP animation. You get a reversal message, and 1000 points! (Note that you only get a reversal message for specials and supers.)

Reversals cannot be done by World Warrior characters.

Tech Hits

Also called "softening a throw". When your opponent throws you, enter a throw command (back or towards plus Strong or Fierce or Forward or RH) within 13 frames, and you will take half the damage and recover in th air. Note that you can tech with buttons that do not correspond to your character's throws. For example, Chun can tech with Forward or RH kick, even though she can't throw with those buttons. Grabs such as Blanka's, Boxer's, Dhalsim's Noogie, etc can not be teched. See "Throw For The Win" in the Advanced Strategy section below.

Teching can only be done by ST characters when thrown by another ST character.

Juggles

The following only applies to ST characters.

After being hit by a juggle-able move, any juggle-able special move can juggle for up to 2 hits (except Sagat's Tiger Uppercut, which can juggle for up to 4 hits). Any non-throw super can juggle for up to 4 hits.

Juggle-able special moves:

• Akuma - Forward and RH Hurricane Kicks, DPs
• Balrog - super
• Blanka - super
• Cammy - super
• Chun-Li - upkicks, super
• Dee Jay - Forward and RH upkicks, super
• Dhalsim - super
• E. Honda - super
• Fei Long - Chicken Wing (his Tiger Knee move), super
• Guile - super
• Ken - super
• M. Bison - j.Strong, super
• Ryu - j.Strong, super
• Sagat - Tiger Uppercut, super
• T. Hawk - none
• Vega - Flip Kick
• Zangief - none

Simply being a juggle-able move does not mean that it can juggle at any time. The opponent must first be hit by a juggle-able move, then you can follow it up with a juggle. For example, Chun can do upkicks (3 hits) to knock the opponent out of the air, then juggle with the super for 2 more hits. However, she can not follow up with a juggle super after knocking the opponent out of the air with a fireball, because the fireball is not a juggle-able move.

Kara Canceling

Kara canceling is when you cancel a normal move immediately into a special or super move. The cancel is done so quickly that you don't even see the normal move come out (but you can hear it). By itself, kara canceling is really not that useful in ST aside from one small glitch. (For several characters, you can shorten the recovery time of a Strong or Fierce fireball by kara canceling a Jab or Short. See T.Akiba's frame data.) However, kara canceling is extremely useful when used in conjunction with renda canceling...

Chain Canceling (formerly known as "Renda Canceling")

In Japanese, "renda" 連打 is the word they use for rapid-fire chain combos, like cr.Short->cr.Short. In old school Street Fighter (in the pre-Alpha games), you can not cancel chain combos. If you chain two cr.Shorts, you can not cancel the second one. Using kara canceling however, you can get around this limitation. This is called chain canceling ("renda canceling", in Japanese).

The best example is probably the most practical example: Ken's cr.Short->cr.Short xx super. The input is D Short, D Short, D/F, F, D, D/F, F Short any punch. So in order to do TWO cr.Shorts into super, you actually need to hit the Short button THREE times. That st.Short on the end is being kara canceled into the super, which is why you never see it. Also note that you must go all the way to towards (even though Ken's super motion only requires you to go to down/towards). This is because for chain canceling, you must switch from crouching to standing (or from standing to crouching). Because you started with cr.Shorts, you have to end with a st.Short.

The reason why chain canceling is so incredibly good is because you can hit confirm (wait to see if it hits or not). If the shorts are blocked, go for a throw or a DP. If the shorts connect, just continue the combo into super.

Randomness

Unfortunately, in AE there is a fair amount of randomness. Known randomness includes:

• The amount of damage done by a move (This can be extreme)
• "dizzy meter" length. i.e. "How long it takes you to become dizzy"
• The amount of dizzy damage done by a move
• The charge times for special/super moves (Can vary up to 3 frames)
• ST-Ryu's [cr.Short->cr.Short xx super] simply won't combo half the time, even when timed perfectly.
• ST-Gief's standing 720 (He'll just jump half the time, even when timed perfectly)
• Who gets the throw when both players input the command on the same frame.
• Getting a normal move when attempting a wake-up throw against a meaty attack.

--Excerpt from ST wiki done by NKI

CPS1 chains

Only WW, CE and Turbo characters can do this.

Utilizing the CPS1 gaming engine to your advantage:

The first three editions of Street Fighter II (WW,CE,HF aka Turbo) were programmed with the CPS1 engine. There was an old glitch that was fixed in Super and Super Turbo that allowed for a number of rapid fire kicks to be linked into a punch and then further cancelled into your favorite special.

EX. Ken: 3x c.lk-> s.hp xx Hadoken (qcf p)

How this works is beyond me, but I do know how to utilize the CPS1 chains, and here's how:

After hitting with the first three rapid fire kicks, let the pad, stick, whatever go back to neutral (so you are standing) and input lk whichever punch you want with the same timing as the initial lk's. In the example above you would input c.lk..c.lk..c.lk.(neutral).s.lk hp then just cancel into hadoken.

This is the just one of the ways to use CPS1 chains. You can use these to get high punches in when all you had time for was a low kick.

One more note, you can go from standing lk's to crouching punches; or from crouching lk's to standing punches. But curiously enough not vice versa, punches don't go to kicks, and standing kicks do not go to standing punches.

Strategy

When playing AE, the three most important things are:

• knowing the match-ups
• being able to execute
• being able to out-smart your opponent

You can learn the match-ups by watching vids/reading strats, and you can improve your execution by practicing at home by yourself, but the only way to improve your mind games is to have lots of experience against human opponents. Experience is crucial.

Stable Strategies vs. Shenanigans
It is important to rely on stable strategies and not on shenanigans. A good example of this is the opening attack of the round in a Ryu vs. Dictator match. If Ryu starts off the round by throwing a fireball, Dic can jump at him and do [cross-up j.RH, st.Short, st.Short, st.Short xx Psycho Crusher] for the dizzy, follow up with [j.RH, st.Short, cr.Forward xx Scissor Kicks] for the win.

That is a shenanigan. It is not something that you can consistently rely on to win matches. Your opponent will (hopefully) wise up to the fact that opening the round with a fireball is a bad idea for him.

The most stable strategy for Dic would be to just simply duck-block and wait to see what the opponent does. In the absolute worst-case scenario, he simply blocks a Fierce fireball. Another stable strategy would be opening with [slight step forward, st.RH], which would stuff fireballs and Hurrican Kicks, but lose to DPs.

Also consider the Psychic DP. The Psychic DP is where your opponent does a seemingly safe, non-blatant move, and you "read your opponent's mind", countering him clean with a DP out of nowhere. That might work once in a while, but the truth of the matter is that if you aren't Daigo Umehara, you shouldn't try Psychic DPs, because it is not a stable strategy.

Counter Characters
There are two very different schools of thought when it comes to character selection. One school of thought is basically that because the game has counter characters, you should learn more than one character in order to do well overall. Another school of thought is basically that if you just stick with one character and learn all of the match-ups inside and out, the "counter matches" will not be nearly as hard, and you won't ever need to switch characters.

I feel that relying on counter characters is a very unstable strategy. For one thing, every match is winnable, and for another thing, the numbers are overwhelming. For every one character you play, you need to know 16 match-ups, and that can take an extraordinary amount of time to learn. If you only stick with one character, say, T.Hawk, and if you just man up and learn all 16 matches, you can beat any character, even Dhalsim (as Toutanki has shown). Obviously Dhalsim still has the advantage, but it is definitely not a free win, as a lot of people would have you believe.

Playing counter characters will only work consistently against other people who also play counter characters (people who don't know their characters 100%). It will not consistently work against people who know the matches, and that is why I would not advise relying on counter characters.

I think a good example is the Japanese player Muteki Guile (whose name means "Invincible Guile"). He has unquestionably one of the best Guiles in the world, and he also plays a little bit of Chun (in casual matches). If he were to play in tourney against a Blanka player, he could try switching to Chun (who is considerably better than Guile versus Blanka), but if he wins, then his opponent could just switch it up to O.Sagat and counter-character his Chun (because Muteki Guile doesn't know Chun 100%).

But that situation will never come up for him, because he has taken the time to master Guile, and he has no need to switch to Chun. Even though Blanka vs. Guile is an uneven match, Muteki knows exactly what he can do, and that match is still totally winnable for him, even against the best Blankas.

While the advantage of counter characters is grossly over-exaggerated by a lot of players, it is true that certain characters have inherent advantages over others. Counter characters that particularly stand out:

• Chun does well against Gief
• Honda does well against non-fireball characters
• Fireball characters do well against Honda
• Sim does well against O.Sagat, Gief, Hawk, Boxer, Ryu, Ken
• O.Sagat does well against Chun, Gief, Hawk, Honda
• Blanka does well against Hawk, Guile

Game Plan
You should never be free-styling a match. You should know before-hand exactly what your game plan is, what advantages/disadvantages you have, and exactly what moves of yours will counter your opponent's (as well as what moves your opponent can use to counter yours).

For example, if I'm Chun playing against Dictator, I go into the match knowing that Chun can get in his face pretty well, and there's not much he can do about it. Dic has no good anti-air, so I can do j.Forward a lot; Dic has no reversal other than super, so I can do meaty D/F RH for free; lightning legs will beat his Psycho Crusher and Scissor Kicks cleanly; upkicks will lose cleanly to his headstomp, etc.

Playing to Win
If you notice that your opponent has any particular weakness, you need to show no mercy and exploit it. Common weaknesses include:

• Inability to consistently reverse throws
• Inability to consistently reverse meaties
• Wanting to use the super as soon as the meter is full
• Going for the "revenge super" after getting hit by something big
• Overaggression (ex: always going for the reversal DP)
• Panic moves (ex: throwing away the super, jumping back to the corner, or blatantly jumping at the opponent when in a really tight spot)
• Lack of knowledge (ex: opponent keeps trying to Tiger Uppercut Sim's j.Forward, not knowing that Tiger Uppercut loses cleanly)
• Patterns (ex: always doing a second Shoryuken if the first one whiffs)

Stored Moves
This only applies if you choose SuperT mode holding start. Through a programming glitch, it is possible to do a move's motion, hold the last direction, and then press the button whenever you want, and the move will still come out. This works with Chun's super, Honda's super, Honda's command throw, and Claw's Flip Kick (kind of).

For Chun's super and Honda's super, charge back, then hit towards, back, then towards and hold it. As long as you're holding towards (or up/towards or down/towards), you can press the button at any time to do the super.

For Honda's command throw, do a half-circle from towards to down/back, and hold down/back. As long as you're holding down/back (or back or up/back), you can press punch at any time to do the command throw.

For Claw's Flip Kick, after you charge down/back, you can switch to back or up/back without losing your charge. (Note that you can not store the move with towards.)

Reversing Tick Throws
A "tick throw" or "tick" is when the opponent puts you in block stun or hit stun, then throws you immediately afterwards. Some characters have tick throw loops, such as Dhalsim (noogie, Short slide, repeat), and Boxer (throw, walk under cross-up meaty cr.Forward, repeat).

These are very effective techniques because the defender only has one frame of advantage. Timing anything with the precision of one frame is pretty difficult. The frame in question is the reversal frame, your first frame of neutral state. The defender can go directly into any attack (a normal move, a throw, a special move, or a super) without ever going to neutral (throwable) state. However, if the defender does not take advantage of the reversal, the attacker and the defender have equal opportunity to throw each other. (If both characters throw on the exact same frame, it is completely random who does the throw and who gets thrown.)

Because you can reverse out of hit stun and block stun, there is no reason to ever just "take the hit" on a tick attempt. Either way, you still only have one frame to reverse.

If the attacker tries to tick throw you but he is within your throw range, you can throw him for free because of that reversal frame. However, if the attacker has more throw range than you, and he is out of your throw range, you must resort to a special or super move. Every character in the game has a move that can be used to get out of tick throw attempts, however, some characters have much better options than others.

• Ryu: Dragon Punch, Hurricane Kick, super
• Ken: Dragon Punch
• Chun: upkicks, Spinning Bird Kick, super
• Guile: Flash Kick, super
• Blanka: Horizontal Ball, Vertical Ball, backwards dash, super
• Zangief: SPD, 360 K, super
• Dhalsim: Yoga Teleport
• Honda: Headbutt, Butt Slam, command throw, super
• Hawk: uppercut, Typhoon, super
• Fei Long: Flame Kick, Chicken Wing (his twist kick move), super
• Cammy: Cannon Spike, Spinning Knuckle, super
• DeeJay: Double Dread Kicks, upkicks, Machine Gun Upper, super
• Boxer: Buffalo Headbutt, super
• Claw: Backflips, Flip Kicks
• Sagat: Tiger Uppercut
• Dictator: Psycho Crusher, super

Blanka's Horizontal Ball and Vertical Ball have no invincibility, but they hit on the first frame (they have 0 frames of start-up), so they can also be used to reverse ticks, as long as the opponent is close enough so that the ball will hit on the first frame. If Blanka is too far away, he must use his back dash. Characters with command throws can also use those to reverse ticks, because command throws have large range and are also 0 frame moves. Due to a glitch in the game, Ken, Dhalsim, and Sagat can NOT use their supers for reversals.

Multi-tap/Multi-release
Multi-tapping refers to hitting more than one button in an attempt to get a reversal. For example, if I simply hit F, D, D/F Fierce, I have to time my reversal with the precision of a single frame (about 1/60th of a second), and that's pretty hard. But if I do F, D, D/F press Jab~press Strong~press Fierce~release Jab~release Strong~release Fierce, I now have a SIX-FRAME window to work with, which is remarkably easier.

Multi-tapping can (and should) be used with throws as well. Don't simply hit one button if you are trying to do a reversal throw. Unless you are going for one specific throw (like Ken's knee bash) and you have extreme confidence in your reversal timing, you should use every button your character can throw with. With Chun, you should try to reversal throw with Strong~Fierce. With Ryu, you should try to reversal throw with Strong~Fierce~Forward~RH.

Option Select
Option select refers to doing one thing that covers more than one possible outcome. For example, I am Honda, and my opponent is trying to do a meaty attack to me as I get up. I do a half-circle to down/back and hold it, so now I have the command throw stored. I press and hold all three punches before I get up (so that nothing comes out), and with reversal timing, I multi-release the punches. There are only two possible outcomes:

1. I timed the reversal properly, and I will throw the opponent
2. I did not time the reversal properly, but I will block safely because I was holding down/back

Another good example of option select is safe jumping and safe reversing...

Safe Jumps
You can time a jump-in meaty enough so that it will force the opponent to block if they don't reverse, but if they do reverse, you can land quickly enough to block their reversal. This works because there are very few moves in ST that hit on the first frame.

Safe jumps are much more practical against moves that do not have hitting frames at the very beginning. For example, it's very easy to do safe jumps against Boxer's Buffalo Charge, because the quickest version (Jab) has a window of 11 non-hitting frames in the beginning, which gives you plenty of time to land. Safe jumps are extremely hard (or impossible) against moves that have very few (or zero) frames of start-up. Don't try doing safe jumps against:

• Ken's DPs
• Blanka's upballs and horizontal balls
• Akuma's hurricane kicks and uppercuts

Safe Reversal
Safe reversal is a very useful (but very difficult) option select technique. When your opponent does a meaty to you, safe reversal allows you to attempt a reversal risk-free. For the command of the move you're attempting to do as a reversal, rather than leaving the stick in the command's final position and pushing the buttons, if you quickly move the stick to D/B and release the buttons after finishing the motion, you will block if you didn't time the reversal correctly.

For example, with Ryu, as you're getting up, hold all three punches, then do F, D, DF, D/B release Jab~release Strong~release Fierce. If you timed it correctly, you will get a DP. If you didn't time it correctly, you will block. Note that you only have a relatively small window of time to reach D/B and release the buttons, so you must be quick.

Throw For The Win
If you have the opponent's life down to where a teched throw would not kill him, but a non-teched throw would kill him, he will die regardless of if he techs or not. You will see him visually tech the throw, but he will still take full damage and die.

This also works with dizzies. If the opponent has gotten hit by a couple of moves and is at the point where a throw would dizzy him, that throw is untechable, and the dizzy is guaranteed.

Instant Jumping Overheads
Only a few characters (Ryu, Ken, Fei) have true overheads as ground moves, but some characters can also do an overhead as a jumping attack immediately after leaving the ground, at point blank range. These typically can only be done to finish the opponent, because obviously you can't block on your way down from the jump. Good jumping overheads include:

• Chun's headstomp (will beat DP clean)
• S and ST-Dic's j.Forward
• S and ST Boxer's j.Short and j.Forward

Note that Dhalsim's drills, despite being jumping moves, can be duck-blocked. In fact, if angled correctly, they MUST be duck-blocked, because they can hit as a low move.

Cross-up Charge
If your opponent knocks you down and goes for the cross-up, it is always possible to keep your charge. You simply need to switch the direction exactly when your opponent switches sides. It's an amazingly simple concept, but it's somewhat quirky and hard to do, so not many people utilize it. A practical example would be with Claw:

Chun is on the 2P side (right side), and she knocks down Claw and tries to go for the cross-up. Claw already had a charge (charging left) before he was knocked down. When Chun is directly overhead, Claw switches the direction of his charge from left to right, so now he's still holding back, but instead of holding left, he's now holding right. He only holds right for a split second before he gets up, then hits left (which is now towards) and RH.

This works with all charge moves (even supers), and it is especially useful for characters like Chun, Claw, and Dic whose only good reversals are horizontal charge moves.

--Excerpt from ST wiki done by NKI