Match-ups

Serious Advantage Match-ups

Hugo has no matchups where he is at a serious advantage. However he is capable of beating all of the cast in the right hands. Outside of a very high level play, Hugo's high damage output, stun output, defence and corner pressure all make him a decent choice.

Advantage Match-ups

Sean

Sean has a vast array of moves which are SPD punishable, making it awful for him to play close. At longer ranges, Hugo's air normals zone Sean well. There's very little Sean can do to push an advantage in this matchup. The Sean's best bet is to abuse techniques known to be strong against taller characters, such as jump-back hk on wakeup.

Fair Match-ups

Q

Look to stay close to and overwhelm Q - your close range game is much better than his and without taunts he'll die quickly. Both Hugo and Q possess similar capabilities in terms of air-normals. Hugo's best tool for handling Q is j.HP - which will hit him standing, even at long ranges. Furthermore, it will stop random dash-punch attempts. Hugo should avoid being command thrown at all costs - to achieve this c.lk must be used, as it's the only normal fast enough to interupt the startup of Q's command throw.

To punish Q's taunts, HK lariat can be used to quickly close the distance, and earn a knockdown on Q.

Under no circumstance should you engage in a "taunt war". Hugo's taunt health-buff is simply worse than Q's.

Disadvantage Match-ups

Urien **someone rewrite this pls**

Aim to break through Urien's space control and get him knocked down and/or in the corner, then do mixups from there while watching out for headbutt. 2MP will be your go-to poke here. Clap trades or beats out most of Urien's pokes in neutral. SPD is very nice for stopping his pressure if he gets too reckless, usually out of a parry or 50/50 from blocked ex headbutt. *someone write about the body splash setup*

Yun

Yun is the antithesis of Hugo. Because Yun is able to build meter so quickly, being able defend against Genei Jin is a requirement to win. Look for gaps in Genei Jin pressure to use c.lk if safe. This will push Yun back, wasting his super-time and stopping immediate overheads.

Landing Gigas will win a round outright most of the time. Aim to build meter quickly. Be aware of how the Yun's behaviour changes once you have Gigas.

If at all possible, run down weaker Yuns, and abuse the fact that the defence rating difference between the two of you is so great.

Ken

Ken's normals are ideal for keeping Hugo at distance, and avoiding ranges where SPD can be earned. Air ex-tatsu is deadly, and extremely difficult to avoid/parry when used correctly due to Hugo's height and width. Ken has a unique hit-confirm against Hugo (Far HP -> SA3).

Hugo should look to earn red parry -> SPD where possible from low light chains, and from the standing target combo. Both of these scenarios are perfectly reactable.

Claps will trade favourably with ex-DP on wakeup.

Makoto

If the Makoto does too much dashing or Hayates, they can be stuffed with lk/clk/clp and anticipation mp/cmk. If she tries to fight on the ground and use the general Makoto playstyle, she'll likely get destroyed. SPD/Gigas will own her dash punches and close attacks that get blocked or parried. All of her useful pokes can be high parried besides clk and chp. Her only ground poke that can beat Hugo's crouching pokes is cmk which trades w/ Hugo's sweep. (in your favor) If the Makoto knows that she can't do a lot to Hugo on the ground, he will likely play it safe and try to hit with cmk on the ground, jumping tsurugi and safe (to parry/grab) jump ins. You have to then rely on Hugo's pretty bad anti airs and Backbreakers, try to bait her to jump with cmp and pokes, if she jumps for a tsurugi you can sometimes backbreak it on reaction. Cornering Makoto is the best thing you can do in this match... no need to worry so much with the big man about her Karakusa bullshit, she won't likely be able to land it due to Hugo's various throws beating hers and the aforementioned countering her ground offense. SAIII is recommended cause you can use it for another anti air and you're unlikely to Gigas a smart Makoto.

2147P with the right timing will slip right through her command grab and give you a big punish.

Yang

With SA3, Yang has the ability to set-up unblockables on Hugo midscreen and in the corner. Attempt to escape this pressure with wakeup lk backbreaker - if the Yang mistimes their unblockable, you get off the ground, get hit, then reset next to Yang, for a 360 or 720, ending the scenario.

Akuma

Use j.HP to zone the life out of Gouki. Respect his zoning, and defend against it well enough to force Gouki to come close where he can be pinned down. Akuma's forward+mp is throw invulnerable. Wait about 10 frames after parrying it, before executing a 360/720. All tatsus are SPD punishable on block.

Ibuki

Play your absolute best defence and positioning to control the pace of the match. Avoid being cornered at all costs. Ibuki's range of OTG normals make her a pain to deal with. Zoning with air normals is very important.

Necro

Use stand-jab to push Necro back after the twirly dive. Show respect to both SA1 and SA2 - they are great antiairs vs Hugo. Watch out for tricky crossups and divekick -> jump-back MP. If Hugo parries a slow long range move (HP for example), he can punish with Hammer Mountain by holding down punch to delay the super activation.

Oro

Oro has all the tools he need to evade Hugo and zone effectively.

Be aware, Oro sometimes lands from ex-DP in a crouching state. This allows you to use the triple clap combo, scoring great damage.

Ryu

Look to punish all failed specials with SPD. Backdash is a useful answer to Ryu jumping in - you can buffer a Gigas and punish accordingly. All tatsus are SPD punishable on block. SA3 is very useful to punish mistimed denjins.

Alex

Look to claim as much ground as possible and avoid getting cornered at all costs! Aim to whiff punish with sweep or get a knockdown via other means. Alex struggles against clap mixups if spaced properly. EX slash elbow is punishable with SA3.

Remy

The ultimate keep-away match. I've heard some say this is 8-2 in Remy's favour, but I don't agree. Stand MP is an awesome tool to trade at mid range with any fireball. Win round 1 with full meter, then go into round 2, land Gigas, then literally anything will kill Remy.

Parrying divekicks on reaction is very possible if you try hard.

Elena

Manty of Elena's normals hit at odd angles or make her OTG. This can make landing a command grab challenging.

Because Elena is quick relative to Hugo, she has no issues using Healing after a decent knockdown. Even with Hammer Mountain stocked, very little can be done.

SA2 and backbreaker will beat many of Elena's specials, uoh and stand roundhouse.

Serious Disadvantage Match-ups

Twelve

Twelve has all the tools needed to zone and run away all day. Be careful when jumping in, since Twelve can low profile you. If Twelve gets to fullscreen, they can safely poke at you with needles/ glider mixups until you die.

Chun Li

Chun is the master of ground combat, she can zone you really easily with her long high priority pokes and can trade with everything Hugo has. If the Chun is a novice, abuse the air to quickly bully chun and start mixing her up. MP and sweep are good at whiff punishing 5HP, clap mixups are very powerful if she has no super stocked.

Dudley

Dudley has the ability to outzone you with his long fierce and forward fierce, there isn't much to retaliate against this with rather than trading hits. His hits also do a lot of damage, but most importantly is the fact that his hitbox is strange so he is harder to throw. That combined with the powerful backswing blow makes this match difficult for Hugo. Even if you close the distance, he can still slip out, SAIII is generally preferred in this matchup, and your objective is to corner him and then control him there being mindful of his EX Uppercut. Zoning with air hp can be very useful. Look to punish mistimed roses with SPD/Gigas.