Positively Dashing
Dashing allows you to make your character cover a fixed distance quickly, whether it be moving forward or moving backward. You perform a Dash by quickly tapping either Towards twice (to Dash forward) or Back twice (to Dash backwards). This will cause your character to move in that direction much more quickly than their normal walking speed. But once your character has begun a Dash, your character is committed to that Dash, as you can no longer perform anything else while Dashing.
Forward Dashing
Forward Dashing is mostly useful for positioning, surprise attacks, and just to traverse distances more quickly than walking. During a Forward Dash, all characters are considered grounded. That means all moves that connect against you while Dashing will keep you on the ground so you can be comboed and easily punished.
Forward Dashing Data
Here is the data for the Forward Dash for every character:
Alphabetical Listing
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
Sorted By Dash Time
(Total Frames from Longest to Shortest)
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
Sorted By Distance
(Distance from Longest to Shortest)
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
Back Dashing
Back Dashing is a very defensive maneuver thanks to the inclusion of invincibility frames in everyone's Back Dashes. Though the number of invincible frames generally only number around 8, it's still enough to be useful to escape a lot of situations and attacks, as every Back Dash is invincible starting from the very first frame. Not only that, but the first few vulnerable frames after a Back Dash for the majority of the characters are considered airborne, so even if you get hit out of the first few vulnerable frames, you'll be popped into the air so it's much harder to punish with combos.
However, even though you are considered airborne during those frames, you can still be hit by moves that normally miss against airborne opponents. If someone Sweeps you with Ryu's Crouching Hard Kick, for example, as you are in your airborne frames, you'll still be hit and get sent to the floor as usual.
After those airborne frames run out, you will have some vulnerable frames where you are grounded, so if the opponent times it properly and hits you at the tail end of your Back Dash, they can hit you on the ground and execute a full grounded punish combo.
Note: There are a few characters whose first vulnerable frame is considered grounded and then airborne after that, but that will supposedly be fixed in Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, where everyone will be consistently airborne their very first vulnerable frame.
Back Dashing Data
Here is the data for the Back Dash for every character. Keep in mind that the Total Frames column indicates how long the Back dash lasts while the Distance column indicates how far they travel. So the "perfect" Back Dash would be one with a very small amount of Total Frames but the farthest Distance.
Alphabetical Listing
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
Sorted By Dash Time
(Total Frames from Longest to Shortest)
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
Sorted By Distance
(Distance from Longest to Shortest)
Distance is in Training Mode Stage Squares.
The reason Makoto's Data has an asterisk next to it is because Makoto can technically cancel the last 7 frames of her Back Dash into a Special Move, an EX Special Move, a Super Combo, an Ultra Combo, or a Focus Attack, taking her Back Dash's total frames down to 22.
Back Dashing Frame Data
Here is the "state" frame data for every character's Back Dash for when they are invincible, vulnerable, airborne, and grounded:
Back Dashing Frame Counts
(Numbers - With Totals In Parentheses)
* - For the totals in the Grounded Frames column, for those characters with the lingering frame that is considered grounded right after the invincible period, the total count ignores that frame. Only the frames that occur after the airborne period were counted.
Now here's a visual chart mapping the Back Dash frames out each frame at a time:
Legend
'-' = First stage frames of pure invulnerability
'^' = Second stage frames of being airborne
'X' = Third stage frames of being grounded
Extra Note
Characters listed in order of the quality of their Back Dash. The criteria by which "Back Dash Quality" is based are:
- The less number of frames you have total, the better.
- The more number of invincible frames you have, the better.
- The less number of grounded frames you have, the better.
Back Dashing Frame Data
---------------------------------------------------------------
| | -- FRAME COUNT -- |
| | 0 1 2 3 |
CHARACTER | TOTALS | 123456789012345678901234567890 |
--------------------------------------------------------------|
El Fuerte | ( 7, 5, 7) | -------^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Vega | ( 8,10, 3) | --------X^^^^^^^^^^XXX |
Chun Li | ( 8,10, 4) | --------^^^^^^^^^^XXXX |
Rose | ( 8,10, 4) | --------^^^^^^^^^^XXXX |
Cammy | ( 6,11, 5) | ------^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXX |
Balrog | ( 8, 9, 7) | --------^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
M. Bison | ( 8, 9, 7) | --------^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Abel | ( 8,10, 7) | --------^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Akuma | ( 8, 9, 7) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Gouken | ( 8, 6,10) | --------X^^^^^^XXXXXXXXXX |
Fei Long | ( 8,12, 5) | --------X^^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXX |
Blanka | ( 8,11, 7) | --------^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Guile | ( 8,11, 7) | --------^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX |
Sakura | ( 8, 9, 8) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXX |
Zangief | ( 8, 8,10) | --------^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXXX |
Dan | ( 8, 0,18) | --------XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Rufus | ( 8,16, 3) | --------^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^XXX |
Gen (Mantis) | ( 8,14, 4) | --------X^^^^^^^^^^^^^^XXXX |
Gen (Crane) | ( 8,14, 4) | --------X^^^^^^^^^^^^^^XXXX |
E. Honda | ( 8, 9, 9) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXX |
Ken | ( 8, 9, 9) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXX |
Ryu | ( 8, 9, 9) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXX |
C. Viper | ( 8, 9,10) | --------^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXXX |
Seth | ( 8,11, 9) | --------^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXX |
Sagat | ( 8,15, 6) | --------^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXX |
Dhalsim | ( 8, 9,11) | --------X^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXXXXXX |
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