Everything I know about fighting game execution
Notice: This guide assumes a certain degree of knowledge from you, the reader. To get the most use out of this, you'll need to be familiar with the basics of playing a fighting game.
I have a general ruleset for writing notations so they can carry across all games. I'll jot them down here. For most, this will be really straightforward, but for posterity:
789
456
123
There was a point in time when finding all this information was its own journey often fraught with many dead ends. Maybe you didn't know what the technique was called so you didn't know what keywords to use when searching for information, maybe you have a local player that refuses to teach you because they just use you as a punching bag to inflate their ego. Maybe you have the information, but you don't know how to put it into practice. Well, I'm going to cover all that from basic stuff to really freaking hard stuff and I'm going to have exercises you can do to make each technique second nature. I want you to be amazing.
I'm going to use a weird comparison, but I find it analogous to the way people, myself included, first approach fighting games. Ever skateboard? Well, I did for a long time and generally when people get a skateboard, the first thing they want to learn to do is a kickflip. So how are you going to do that when you're not even comfortable standing on your board? The same is true with fighting games. How can you expect to do a really cool Max Mode combo in KOF when something as fundamental as a short hop is still hard for you? Why are you trying to do a dash cancel in Street Fighter if you can't always dash consistently? That dash command should be second nature before you start trying to stack more steps on top of it. Understanding your movement and momentum in fighting games is just as important as it is in games like Super Mario. This is especially true in games with dynamic movement options like KOF where jumping while running acts differently than just jumping from a neutral stance.
So then what do you do to get better at your movement? Besides simply going into practice mode and working on the inputs for things like short hops, one of the easiest ways you can work on movement in 2D games is to grab a friend and pick up your favorite fighting game, then go to versus, pick the Ryu of your game (there's always one) and limit yourself to only using the heavy kick key. Whether that's HS in Guilty Gear, D in King of Fighters, or roundhouse in Street Fighter, this works with any game and here's why.
Street Fighter: Ryu's heavy kick (hk) is one of his best keys. Close up, it is a 2-hit axe kick that comes out pretty quick and pushes the opponent right to Ryu's favorite distance; about a character's width away. This is perfect range for a sweep or, more commonly, a low mk xx fireball; Ryu's favorite 2-in-1. Ryu's far hk is an anti-air. Far hk is particularly useful in this training as it whiffs low so it will be beaten by Ryu's sweep (low hk). His sweep is a good mid-range button that's quick, but has a little recovery. It's his safest option to throw out but, just like a fireball, if the opponent preemptively jumps in with an air hk, Ryu's sweep will lose out. Being limited to just Ryu's hk lets you play with virtually every aspect of interaction via movement in Street Fighter including Ryu's air tatsu giving you both a final mobility option as well as your only cross up in this exercise. Ryu's neutral jump hk is also one of his best air-to-airs. I could go on.
KOF: King of Fighters is movement. I'm not saying it is more important than in other games, I'm literally saying the game is movement. If you only do this exercise in one game, make it KOF. Despite the obvious comparisons between Ryu and Ryo, our Ryu of KOF is actually Kyo. He is the character that most represents the systems and mechanics of the game which is what defines the "Ryu of [insert game]" in fighting games. For Kyo, D is one of his best buttons. Because movement is such a quintessential part of KOF, there are a lot of angles you need to be able to protect yourself from as well as many from which you can approach your opponent. Kyo's far D works great as a spacing tool or a whiff punish in neutral and close D cancels into 3D which is what I call "Unique Chains" in KOF; a one-two normal cancel similar to Ken's target combo in SF that makes for an easy and effective hit confirm for most characters in KOF. Kyo has the ability to cancel most close or crouching normals into 3D. 3D, your only low besides sweep, is one of Kyo's command normals and one of two options he generally has for doing Unique Chains. The first hit is special cancellable and is the basis for many of his core combos. Kyo's jump D when done in a neutral short hop will stop anyone trying to run up on you and is also a staple jump-in normal. 236D is another Kyo essential tool and represents a type of move that is a staple in KOF games in particular which I'll refer to as an "alley-oop" special. Just like the basketball technique of the same name, these specials lob the opponent into a floating airborne state, but unlike most launchers as we think of them in fighting games, these alley-oop specials only really setup for a single hit where you'd generally dunk your opponent back to earth if you didn't have meter. There are of course longer combos you can do from them nowadays, but at their core, Unique Chains to alley-oop specials, then a dunk are the fundamental building blocks of KOF combos and they're all present in this exercise with our next special, R.E.D. kick (421D) being our dunk. This is such an instrumental aspect of both Kyo and KOF's design that if you go back to earlier games before Kyo had his iconic R.E.D. kick, that same motion, 421D, was his first dunk special, a 3-hit air special that ended with an axe-kick back to earth. There is one thing Kyo lacks in this exercise and that is an anti-air button which is essential when dealing with KOF's many jumps and hops. So to deal with that, you'll need to rely on your movement whether that's short hop back, backdash, rolls, you'll have to figure out how to deal with one of KOF's most unique aspects without being able to rely on an anti-air or DP to save you.
Guilty Gear: Grab Sol Badguy and get ready to rock. Sol's far HS is a good long reaching normal in neutral, but is often scary to use because it gets beaten out by IAD attacks due to its long recovery. IAD HS is a great approach tool because it hits multiple times making hit confirms easier to see and convert. 2HS is Sol's anti-air and a good one at that. It'll stop that IAD attempt and it's your only tool besides a DP to really spook your opponent away from mindlessly trying to just get lucky with a random IAD because it's also a combo starter vs airborne opponents. 6HS is also a unique normal that causes a brief stun allowing for one of your only real mixup opportunities with this limited toolset. While this exercise leaves out any setplay that you traditionally think of with GG, it will help you practice your mobility options like IADs, running, backdashes, and dash jumps which will help your execution in your own setplay.
I can't list every game that's out there, but if you've read all three of these examples, then you probably have a good idea of how this kind of exercise can work in your game. I'll also say, even if you're very experienced players, this is still a lot of fun to do. Everybody loves a challenge and this is a unique one that you can bring to your next game night. Especially if you have newer players, this is a very approachable way to play while also having a fair bit of depth. Don't forget to have fun while you're doing it. Fun makes you think creatively and thinking creatively makes you stronger.
Ryu is a simple creature. He has a fireball, and he has buttons that he can cancel into that fireball from. In teaching multiple people how to play fighting games, I've found that this first step can really be difficult and for a while I didn't really understand why. Until I realized that walking up and doing Ryu's basic low strong to fireball is actually really complex. There's a ton of things happening. First, there's placing the normal; making sure you don't whiff. You also have to make sure you delay enough that the forward input won't be carried into your special input and accidentally getting an uppercut. Then you've got to have already done the motion for the fireball which means you need to know how to buffer, then you have to make sure you release the punch button after pressing it for the fireball because it allows a little more lenience thanks to negative edge. In order to do this single two-hit combo, you need to already understand four key concepts about how the game understands you. Let's break those down and then talk a little bit about each one.
Building blocks of input/output in fighting games:
Input memory - A capture of your most recent inputs that are stored for a set amount of time.
Pattern Identification - The combinations of inputs the game will be looking for in order to perform special moves.
Buffer - The time during an action where you can input your next action in advance of the timing window you need to meet.
Negative edge - A button release counting as a second input of said key for special moves.
Ever wonder how the game knows you want to do an uppercut vs a fireball? Well, let's break that out so we can see exactly how it happens. Let's stick with the example of Ryu's 2mp xx fireball. First there's the inputs as we see them literally ⬇️ 👊 ⬇️ ↘️➡️👊. However, if you've ever turned "show inputs on" it looks a little messier, right? Well, that's because that's a full history of your inputs. What's going on in the background is the game is actually keeping a window of, just as example, ten inputs on hand at any time with the oldest input either timing out or being pushed out by newer inputs. What happens then is we get something more like this, ⬇️⬇️👊 ⬇️↘️↘️➡️👊➡️. But that's much sloppier than what we needed to press so, how does the game know what we intended to do and still give us the combo we tried to do? Well, the easiest way is to simply have more potential patterns for the game to identify as a fireball. Ever heard that you could do a shoryuken via ↘️⬇️↘️👊? Well, that's because the developers made sure that there was quite a bit of lenience in potential inputs that could be received before the game would render your DP attempt as too far off the mark to qualify.
What qualifies as a shoryuken motion then? Well, as long as you have ➡️⬇️➡️ within the window that the game accepts inputs for potential pattern identification, it will count. That's how Kyo is able to still DP by doing ➡️↘️⬇️↙️⬅️➡️👊. Because if you ignore the journey between the cardinal inputs of a DP, we still have ➡️⬇️➡️👊 within the window of potential pattern identification. What's important right now is that you understand that this is how the game sees your inputs, but we will be revisiting pattern identification and ways to manipulate it to simplify combos later on. For now, I would like you to just turn on your favorite fighting game with a character that has a fireball motion and just mess around with how exaggerated your fireball motion can be before the game no longer gives you a fireball. Does ↖️↙️⬇️↘️➡️ work? How about ⬇️↘️➡️↗️ this? What's the limit of your game's leniency?
A double tap is when you roll your fingers across a button to get multiple inputs of a button within a small timeframe. This video is a little old now, but the double tap technique is universal and timeless so don't worry about this becoming as irrelevant as plinking is now. The video does a good job of explaining how to double tap, but doesn't go into how to get used to doing them quickly so here's how you can tackle this technique in a week.
First, pop in Guilty Gear Xrd or SFIV. From here the instructions will split.
For Guilty Gear: Go to practice mode and select Slayer. Now walk up to the opponent and double tap far 5S, then double tap S again to link c5S. If you're having trouble spacing Slayer correctly so the far 5S is close enough to get the c5S, you can use the gatling from c5S. So, c5S cancel to S, then link a final S. Double tap each input so you can get the feeling for double tapping. Don't cheat because you're used to gatlings taking care of the timing for you!
For SFIV: Go to practice mode and pick Ryu. Take a moment to weep for a time when he was relevant, then step up to your opponent, crouch, and attempt to link 2mp, 2mp. Each input should be double tapped. This is one of Ryu's signature SFIV combos so if you played this game this will be familiar to you, but you most likely used plinking to accomplish the execution. While plinking is often the better choice in SFIV, we're just using the game to help you build some more skills that you can carry into new games so, stick to just trying to double tap this combo.
Get used to how the double tap feels when you see that it successfully combo'd. Notice how your hand still comes down towards the controller with a single downward motion as you might when you just press one button. Think of it like an instrument. Imagine this motion as your one, complete action as your fingers perform the note twice for each down stroke of your palm. Focus on that feeling and then take it everywhere! One of the best things about practicing double taps is you can practice them anywhere. Check back in with the game of your choice to make sure you're still consistent in your input timings, but you can practice double tapping on a desk, on your lap, on the arm rest of a car, on the book you're reading, anything. Just make sure it mimics the level surface of the arcade stick to some degree. By practicing the motion frequently outside of the game, you'll pick it up as second nature that much faster.
If you've started feeling more comfortable hitting those links with double tapping, next try taking it to a combo you're familiar with on your own character. I'm just going to use SFIV Ryu as a basis as I feel like everyone has played Ryu for at least 10 minutes of their life. 2lp, 2hp xx qcf mp xx super. Make sure you're double tapping each button
TIP: It's good practice when starting a play session for the first time in a day to warm up a little and practice double tapping each button on the stick as you might while you'd be playing. It'll get your fingers warmed up and will help you mentally get in the zone to perform. I jump around games so much that I actually do this, just going over the buttons the game uses, each time I jump in to remind myself of the button layout for whatever game I'm about to play.
Aim for the waist
This is something that always catches new players when they jump into older games or KOF XIII in particular. Jump-in attacks are seemingly impossible to link from! The trick to learning how to hit that link after a jump-in actually lies in the jump itself. While newer games might teach you to aim your jump-in attack to hit your opponent's head, older common knowledge was to aim for the waist. Most characters have some belt or harness around their waist and when you jump in, if you want to link after a jump-in attack, aim for the waist. That's the secret.
Hit your DPs deep
We've all seen a Ryu player hit DPs super deep, but why? The main reason is by hitting so deep, you often get the best damage from your DP. Since you're catching them in your earliest active frames for the DP, you also guarantee you will still be in full invincibility when you connect so you don't have to worry about trading, and lastly, it allows you to potentially cancel into ground supers or other moves you might need to still have your toes on the floor to be able to cancel to.
Your fireball is just a far reaching normal
This is one for anybody who plays a character that has a fireball, but doesn't know when to throw it out there. Well, here's your answer. you should be inserting your fireball in places you'd like to place a far reaching normal such as midrange exchanges, or pushing to corner. Fireballs don't reward with damage, they reward with position. So don't potentially give up your position by chucking fireballs needlessly. Throw them at times they will retain your position whether that's pushing an opponent to the corner, popping someone out of a jump while they were trying to jump from fullscreen to mid-screen, or for setting a fireball over someone's head as they get back up.
Getting a just input every time
I love playing characters with just inputs. It makes my day every time I hit one and it never gets old because on top of the audio/visual feedback Namco has dialed in for electrics in particular, it's always fun to see how long you can go before you miss one. Unfortunately, for a lot of people the only joy to be found is in the occasional electric they actually do manage to hit. I was one of those people for a long time and it took me ages to work out how to improve without just sitting in training mode and grinding it out for hundreds of hours. While that is a valid strategy, I found it much easier to first focus on the hardest part of a just input, the unison of the left and right hands hitting an input at the same time. For most players, this is where they fail. It's as simple as a dexterity issue and this can be resolved by a simple exercise.
Sit in front of a flat surface like a table or a counter. Place your hands over the table by about three inches and in a downward diagonal motion like you're shaping the letter 'V' with your hands, tap the table with your middle fingers in unison with them landing on the table still about three inches apart. You don't need to do this hard or especially loudly. No reason to wake the neighbors. What you're trying to do is listen and hear your hands hitting the table in unison. Doing this makes it pretty easy to hear when your timing of one hand is slightly different than the other and the motion mimics the last motion your body makes when you perform an Electric Wind God Fist. Humans by nature are usually pretty good at synchronizing our hands so long as they're performing the same action while being terrible at performing two different actions in unison.The EWGF has long been the fighting game equivalent of rubbing your belly while patting your head if you'll excuse the juvenile comparison. Ironically, the solution to both dextrous conundrums are the same. Make those two separate hand motions mechanically the same. In the same way you synchronize your head patting with the vertical motion of your belly rubbing, you need to sync that downward motion of your hand falling on the button with the downward motion of moving your joystick into the 3 position. That's why it is important to learn that last step in an EWGF motion as a single, uniform action. It makes it easier for our brains to get that just frame because we've learned it as one action rather than two actions being performed in unison.
Buffering - The act of inputing a second action while the first action is still playing out.
Let's go way back to our first example of a combo, Ryu's 2mp xx fireball. Since 2mp is our first action, our second action, the fireball, is what we're going to be buffering. We press our 2mp and now we've got 7 frames (notated 7f) before it makes contact. Though you probably don't realize you can do fireball motions this fast, a fireball input is really only a 3f to 4f input. Just because you can do a fireball that fast however, doesn't mean you have to or even should. Take a look at this graph on the right. This is Ryu's 2mp broken out into a rough representation of its frame data. In yellow we have the startup, initial animation before the move hits. In red we have its active frames, this is when the move hits. In blue, the recovery, this is the rest of the animation that plays out if it isn't cancelled or interrupted. In purple is what is called a cancellable window. This is the portion of the move where you can cancel into your specials like Ryu's fireball. Different games treat this window differently with some allowing you to cancel only if you make contact with your opponent and some moves have the ability to cancel before they even become active so don't assume all cancel windows look like this. This is just an approximation of Ryu's cancel window for his 2mp. In green we see the most important part, 2mp's buffer window. While 2mp's first active frame is 7f, you don't have to cancel on the first active frame. specials will combo just fine whether you cancel into them on the first or last frame of your cancel window which means of the entire 21f of animation, you have about 16f to buffer 4f worth of inputs into. So don't rush because there are even ways to get a longer buffer window.
Cancel Buffers: These are essential tools that make combos much easier for beginners and make hit confirms simpler. Most fighting games have these and though they're often character-specific, they all work fundamentally the same. The premise is you can tap these two normals in quick succession and what happens is during the first normal's active window it will automatically cancel into the second normal meaning your buffer window is longer than normal making buffering anything from specials to supers very lenient.
In Street Fighter they're known as target combos. They're character specific and unique for each one. In King of Fighters I believe they're known as unique chains though I couldn't tell you the official name. I call them unique chains because characters have unique normals, usually either 6A or 6B, that perform an overhead or a long reaching normal, but when cancelled into lose that overhead property and act as a chain cancel. They're different from target combos in that the two moves can be used independently or as a chain. There is seldom a restriction on what kind of normal you can cancel from as well meaning unique chains make for easy hit confirms and a great starting point for figuring out core combos for your character. Gatlings are the third type of cancel buffers and while the name comes from Guilty Gear, most air dash games have a similar A>B>C route you can chain your normals in. Since lighter moves can always cancel into heavier moves, you can chain quite a few normals into one another. Cancelling out of chains like this into specials is the easiest of the three types because it's basically a slightly longer target combo.
Link Buffers: These are my favorite buffers as they always raise eyebrows and impress despite being some of the easiest buffers to execute when messing around in training mode. Link buffers are the act of buffering a special via a link. Here's two well known examples. One from Street Fighter V, and one from the best character in Street Fighter IV.
SFV's Guile HP, 2MP xx Flash Kick [HP↙️, MP, ⬆️HK]
The defecto bread-n-butter Guile combo involves this 5hp to 2mp link which, on its own is a very easy link like most SFV links, but what gets people choked up so often is that down charge happening somewhere in-between it all. So first let's see how people figure out you can even do this kind of combo. The first question when we ask ourselves about a charge buffer is "what's the earliest time I can hold the direction I need to buffer?" For this combo, the last move we need to be standing for is that 5hp. So now we know that right after the 5hp we're free to hold down. So with these kinds of buffers we can roll one input into the other. Think of that 5hp input as 5hp1. You're going to do this just like Guile's 6mp overhead, but whereas that is motion -> input, 5hp1 is input -> motion. Try to work on thinking of it as its own unique normal and practice just that part. Now that the down charge has been worked into the first button in your link, all you have to think about is timing that link to 2mp and with double tapping, the link makes itself. Once the 2mp makes contact, hit 8hk and enjoy your newfound link buffering powers.
SFIV's DeeJay EXMGU, Ultra 2 [↙️...⬆️PP, ↙️...➡️➡️↘️⬇️↙️↗️PPP]
My relationship with this combo is kind of funny as this combo's notoriety as one of the hardest things to do in SFIV was what attracted me to DeeJay in the first place. While this combo isn't nearly as hard as it was made out to be, it remains, in my humble opinion, the most fun link to do in SFIV. Do EX Machine Gun Upper and then just hold 1. Once the move is over, dash but on your second 6 input of the dash, roll the dash input down into a 6321 motion and then flick the joystick up to the 9 position and hit your punches. It always helps to understand why things like this work and the reason is because of how fast DeeJay's dash is. While being the worst character in the game, he had an insanely fast dash and it just-so-happened to be faster than the timeout of input memory. Remember earlier when we talked about how the game understands your inputs? Well, in SFIV in particular, charge buffers are held in memory for about 22f and DeeJay's dash was 19f long. This meant that if DeeJay dashed, he could retain his buffered charge and perform a charge move immediately after his dash. And since the charge was already buffered, we have his entire dash animation to buffer the motion of his Ultra and we can even hit PPP before the dash fully ends because we're buffering that Ultra input during the dash so that it will automatically come out on the first frame after the dash happens. For this combo, I recommend practicing the dash Ultra before putting the two together. Once you're ready to do the whole combo, don't rush the dash after EX MGU. You have way more time than you think. If you find your dash isn't coming out, you're rushing it. Generally, I see people failing because they're trying too quickly. General rule of thumb is, if something doesn't come out, you went too fast. If it comes out but whiffs, you went too slow.
Hiding inputs in buffers: If you've ever jumped in order to perform Zangief's throw special, spinning pile driver, then you've actually already done this. But this is the act of using a seemingly generic action to mask the act of buffering something. Sometimes this is buffering a special move while dashing or running, and sometimes this is accomplished by pressing a normal button so you can buffer a motion or charge while it appears like you were trying to do something else. The most common examples of this is usually grapplers hiding their buffer of a special throw behind a stand jab or something quick as it is difficult to evaluate the threat level of the action before the throw comes out. Another common example is E.Honda players will sometimes use a normal to mask their 1000 hands special as you have to mash very quickly for a time before the move comes out and that makes for a very obvious tell. This is also one way button hold buffers can be hidden. It's a little meta, but take SFIV Cody for example and do 2mk which is a little long and slightly moves him forward, but while the animation is happening, hold two punch keys. You've done a totally natural thing to do in neutral, but if your opponent responds with a fireball, you have the option to reversal it.
Charge partitioning: This technique is seldom explained correctly. Essentially, charge partitioning is a glitch in SFIII 3rd Strike that allows you to start a charge in one state, and then finish it in another. The easiest way to practice this is to pick Urien, crouch, then immediately dash from your crouch and after buffering the dash immediately hold down again because you're buffering the rest of your charge now during the dash animation. Right as the dash ends, press 8mp and if done correctly your headbutt special will come out. There is one very important rule with charge buffering and that is never buffer the full charge in your first state. Always leave your charge buffer incomplete or it won't work.
Button hold/release buffers: My least favorite kind of buffer. These are easily some of the hardest things you'll ever do in fighting games. Whether they're moves like Cody's bingo punch or Zato's shadow commands, you're going to have to put some forethought into how you're setting up your fingers for combos like this and maybe even hiding inputs with other buffers before the combo even begins. It's not uncommon for a Zato player to whiff a random 5P in neutral as a safe way to buffer holding another key like S (released is shadow's invincible reversal). For combos involving release keys or a key that needs to be held to charge buffer the key, the same principle as buffering charge motions can be applied. When is the last time I'll need that key? Can I hold it from there? In Zato's case, since he doesn't need to charge but only release his buttons, sometimes what you need to do is hold every other button in the combo, then tap the last key in order to make shadow do the necessary special. Let's break that down.
Let's say we're going to do a very simple combo with Zato. Let's assume shadow is already out and we want to do c.S>HS, (K). This is a simple gatling that ends in shadow's buzzsaw. Now, we could hold K, then move in to do the gatling, but gatlings can only cancel to higher power moves. So, we can't actually cancel HS into K. And since we don't have to worry about K coming out, we can do S>HS then press K which upon pressing won't give Zato's 5K but when we release the key we will still get shadow's buzzsaw. There's just one problem. When we released that S right at the start of the combo, shadow did their (S) move. In order to ensure we only get the shadow specials we want rather than the first ones we'd hit in a string, we need to do something else. We need to [hold] each key while we're performing the gatling, then (release) them once shadow is in their buzzsaw animation. So, the combo notation would actually look like [S]>[HS], [K](K), (all).
You'll see this kind of finger work in everything Zato does. It's something even experienced players need to spend time acclimating themselves to the first time they play him. But it doesn't take forever and by breaking down your different types of intended approaches, it can become second nature quickly. This is an example and while it can all be done in one series, I've used braces to separate the chunks than can be practiced individually before trying to put it together as a single series like it's shown. {IAD [j.K]>[j.HS],[S](S),(all),} {[K]>[c.S]>6[P] xx jump cancel, (K)} j.K>j.HS, c.S>HS xx 22HS -> more nonsense. Zato is his own special collection of nonsense when it comes to execution, but his patterns of when to hold and release is something that can be carried over into other characters like MvC3's Zero as a random example.
One of the biggest barriers for most games is its combo length. Not difficulty of any one cancel or link, but simply how long the combos go on. While memorizing very long combos can be confusing, there is a really easy way to make it simpler. I'm going to use the dreaded KOF XIII and teach you a combo you can do today. Are you ready? You're about to learn an HD combo and you're going to be able to do it in a matter of minutes. First we have to pick our character. We're going to use Ralf Jones. Now I want you to learn three things. That's all you're going to need for this.
Foreward
This is everything I have. Every technique, trick, and piece of execution wizardry I've picked up over the last decade of playing and loving fighting games with every fiber of my being. As the games continue to change and my interest wanes as I get older, I feel a compulsion to share what I've learned and what I love so that these techniques don't die out. While I would like to and intend to hopefully do more specific game-specific breakdowns of titles like Garou and KOFXIII, this piece will focus on the fundamentals of execution as it pertains to performing anything in any game. The tools I will lay out here, once practiced, will allow you to clear any execution hurdle ever thrown in front of you. I'm covering charge buffers, step-by-step instructions on how to charge partition, how to get just frames every time, how to approach breaking down super long combos, everything I have ever learned about execution is laid out here in a way that is meant to teach you how to demystify the hardest techniques in fighting games.I have a general ruleset for writing notations so they can carry across all games. I'll jot them down here. For most, this will be really straightforward, but for posterity:
- Buttons are titled whatever they may be in their respective games. So, SF has mp, mk, etc. KOF as A, B, C, D, etc. You can check your game's instructions to clarify how it refers to inputs for more clarification.
- input , input = link
- input xx input = cancel
- input > input = gatling (GG specific)
- [input] = hold notation
- (input) = release notation
- Motions are declared using numpad notation. Reference below. Imagine the numbers as the eight directions on an 8-way joystick, 5 is neutral. Exception is Tekken because they use numbers for button inputs.
789
456
123
So you wanna be a fighter
If you've ever tried to learn a fighting game then this scenario will be familiar. You go online, find the combo video that inspired you to try this character, scrub through the video to get to the combo, then open training mode and proceed to be completely lost as to how to do any of said combo. Sure, you know they jumped in with a heavy kick, then hit a punch or something, but after that, you don't know how to make the logical leap and you say to yourself, "how'd they make that combo??" If you still find yourself frequently shying away from characters you're really interested in because you find their signature combos or techniques too difficult to do, then this guide was written for you.There was a point in time when finding all this information was its own journey often fraught with many dead ends. Maybe you didn't know what the technique was called so you didn't know what keywords to use when searching for information, maybe you have a local player that refuses to teach you because they just use you as a punching bag to inflate their ego. Maybe you have the information, but you don't know how to put it into practice. Well, I'm going to cover all that from basic stuff to really freaking hard stuff and I'm going to have exercises you can do to make each technique second nature. I want you to be amazing.
Start with movement
Movement is what separates the best players from the herd and it's the fundamental means by which you interact with your opponent. Movement is everything. Mixups, pressure, zoning, rushdown, metas, and unblockables can all defeated by movement. Because if you don't put yourself in that situation, then you don't have to deal with it. And knowing what mobility options you have at your disposal to get out of situations, or take advantage of them, defines your play.I'm going to use a weird comparison, but I find it analogous to the way people, myself included, first approach fighting games. Ever skateboard? Well, I did for a long time and generally when people get a skateboard, the first thing they want to learn to do is a kickflip. So how are you going to do that when you're not even comfortable standing on your board? The same is true with fighting games. How can you expect to do a really cool Max Mode combo in KOF when something as fundamental as a short hop is still hard for you? Why are you trying to do a dash cancel in Street Fighter if you can't always dash consistently? That dash command should be second nature before you start trying to stack more steps on top of it. Understanding your movement and momentum in fighting games is just as important as it is in games like Super Mario. This is especially true in games with dynamic movement options like KOF where jumping while running acts differently than just jumping from a neutral stance.
So then what do you do to get better at your movement? Besides simply going into practice mode and working on the inputs for things like short hops, one of the easiest ways you can work on movement in 2D games is to grab a friend and pick up your favorite fighting game, then go to versus, pick the Ryu of your game (there's always one) and limit yourself to only using the heavy kick key. Whether that's HS in Guilty Gear, D in King of Fighters, or roundhouse in Street Fighter, this works with any game and here's why.
Heavy kicks are busy keys
I'm going to split this into the three games listed above and elaborate. If you use SFV as your Street Fighter for this, just be aware that things like close hk are now 4hk or some other command normal if they still exist as context-dependent normals were removed in SFV. I would strongly recommend SFII or SFIV for this exercise:Street Fighter: Ryu's heavy kick (hk) is one of his best keys. Close up, it is a 2-hit axe kick that comes out pretty quick and pushes the opponent right to Ryu's favorite distance; about a character's width away. This is perfect range for a sweep or, more commonly, a low mk xx fireball; Ryu's favorite 2-in-1. Ryu's far hk is an anti-air. Far hk is particularly useful in this training as it whiffs low so it will be beaten by Ryu's sweep (low hk). His sweep is a good mid-range button that's quick, but has a little recovery. It's his safest option to throw out but, just like a fireball, if the opponent preemptively jumps in with an air hk, Ryu's sweep will lose out. Being limited to just Ryu's hk lets you play with virtually every aspect of interaction via movement in Street Fighter including Ryu's air tatsu giving you both a final mobility option as well as your only cross up in this exercise. Ryu's neutral jump hk is also one of his best air-to-airs. I could go on.
KOF: King of Fighters is movement. I'm not saying it is more important than in other games, I'm literally saying the game is movement. If you only do this exercise in one game, make it KOF. Despite the obvious comparisons between Ryu and Ryo, our Ryu of KOF is actually Kyo. He is the character that most represents the systems and mechanics of the game which is what defines the "Ryu of [insert game]" in fighting games. For Kyo, D is one of his best buttons. Because movement is such a quintessential part of KOF, there are a lot of angles you need to be able to protect yourself from as well as many from which you can approach your opponent. Kyo's far D works great as a spacing tool or a whiff punish in neutral and close D cancels into 3D which is what I call "Unique Chains" in KOF; a one-two normal cancel similar to Ken's target combo in SF that makes for an easy and effective hit confirm for most characters in KOF. Kyo has the ability to cancel most close or crouching normals into 3D. 3D, your only low besides sweep, is one of Kyo's command normals and one of two options he generally has for doing Unique Chains. The first hit is special cancellable and is the basis for many of his core combos. Kyo's jump D when done in a neutral short hop will stop anyone trying to run up on you and is also a staple jump-in normal. 236D is another Kyo essential tool and represents a type of move that is a staple in KOF games in particular which I'll refer to as an "alley-oop" special. Just like the basketball technique of the same name, these specials lob the opponent into a floating airborne state, but unlike most launchers as we think of them in fighting games, these alley-oop specials only really setup for a single hit where you'd generally dunk your opponent back to earth if you didn't have meter. There are of course longer combos you can do from them nowadays, but at their core, Unique Chains to alley-oop specials, then a dunk are the fundamental building blocks of KOF combos and they're all present in this exercise with our next special, R.E.D. kick (421D) being our dunk. This is such an instrumental aspect of both Kyo and KOF's design that if you go back to earlier games before Kyo had his iconic R.E.D. kick, that same motion, 421D, was his first dunk special, a 3-hit air special that ended with an axe-kick back to earth. There is one thing Kyo lacks in this exercise and that is an anti-air button which is essential when dealing with KOF's many jumps and hops. So to deal with that, you'll need to rely on your movement whether that's short hop back, backdash, rolls, you'll have to figure out how to deal with one of KOF's most unique aspects without being able to rely on an anti-air or DP to save you.
Guilty Gear: Grab Sol Badguy and get ready to rock. Sol's far HS is a good long reaching normal in neutral, but is often scary to use because it gets beaten out by IAD attacks due to its long recovery. IAD HS is a great approach tool because it hits multiple times making hit confirms easier to see and convert. 2HS is Sol's anti-air and a good one at that. It'll stop that IAD attempt and it's your only tool besides a DP to really spook your opponent away from mindlessly trying to just get lucky with a random IAD because it's also a combo starter vs airborne opponents. 6HS is also a unique normal that causes a brief stun allowing for one of your only real mixup opportunities with this limited toolset. While this exercise leaves out any setplay that you traditionally think of with GG, it will help you practice your mobility options like IADs, running, backdashes, and dash jumps which will help your execution in your own setplay.
I can't list every game that's out there, but if you've read all three of these examples, then you probably have a good idea of how this kind of exercise can work in your game. I'll also say, even if you're very experienced players, this is still a lot of fun to do. Everybody loves a challenge and this is a unique one that you can bring to your next game night. Especially if you have newer players, this is a very approachable way to play while also having a fair bit of depth. Don't forget to have fun while you're doing it. Fun makes you think creatively and thinking creatively makes you stronger.
How the game understands your inputs
For this first part we're going to be using the original world warrior, Ryu. If you're not familiar with him, now would be a good time to stop and maybe play with Ryu a little bit in whatever game you're comfortable in.Ryu is a simple creature. He has a fireball, and he has buttons that he can cancel into that fireball from. In teaching multiple people how to play fighting games, I've found that this first step can really be difficult and for a while I didn't really understand why. Until I realized that walking up and doing Ryu's basic low strong to fireball is actually really complex. There's a ton of things happening. First, there's placing the normal; making sure you don't whiff. You also have to make sure you delay enough that the forward input won't be carried into your special input and accidentally getting an uppercut. Then you've got to have already done the motion for the fireball which means you need to know how to buffer, then you have to make sure you release the punch button after pressing it for the fireball because it allows a little more lenience thanks to negative edge. In order to do this single two-hit combo, you need to already understand four key concepts about how the game understands you. Let's break those down and then talk a little bit about each one.
Building blocks of input/output in fighting games:
Input memory - A capture of your most recent inputs that are stored for a set amount of time.
Pattern Identification - The combinations of inputs the game will be looking for in order to perform special moves.
Buffer - The time during an action where you can input your next action in advance of the timing window you need to meet.
Negative edge - A button release counting as a second input of said key for special moves.
Ever wonder how the game knows you want to do an uppercut vs a fireball? Well, let's break that out so we can see exactly how it happens. Let's stick with the example of Ryu's 2mp xx fireball. First there's the inputs as we see them literally ⬇️ 👊 ⬇️ ↘️➡️👊. However, if you've ever turned "show inputs on" it looks a little messier, right? Well, that's because that's a full history of your inputs. What's going on in the background is the game is actually keeping a window of, just as example, ten inputs on hand at any time with the oldest input either timing out or being pushed out by newer inputs. What happens then is we get something more like this, ⬇️⬇️👊 ⬇️↘️↘️➡️👊➡️. But that's much sloppier than what we needed to press so, how does the game know what we intended to do and still give us the combo we tried to do? Well, the easiest way is to simply have more potential patterns for the game to identify as a fireball. Ever heard that you could do a shoryuken via ↘️⬇️↘️👊? Well, that's because the developers made sure that there was quite a bit of lenience in potential inputs that could be received before the game would render your DP attempt as too far off the mark to qualify.
What qualifies as a shoryuken motion then? Well, as long as you have ➡️⬇️➡️ within the window that the game accepts inputs for potential pattern identification, it will count. That's how Kyo is able to still DP by doing ➡️↘️⬇️↙️⬅️➡️👊. Because if you ignore the journey between the cardinal inputs of a DP, we still have ➡️⬇️➡️👊 within the window of potential pattern identification. What's important right now is that you understand that this is how the game sees your inputs, but we will be revisiting pattern identification and ways to manipulate it to simplify combos later on. For now, I would like you to just turn on your favorite fighting game with a character that has a fireball motion and just mess around with how exaggerated your fireball motion can be before the game no longer gives you a fireball. Does ↖️↙️⬇️↘️➡️ work? How about ⬇️↘️➡️↗️ this? What's the limit of your game's leniency?
Double Tap
Before you groan and move on, let me stress this. Every top player you look up to double taps. Daigo, Justin, Ricki, Valle, Tokido, all of them. I did a survey on Twitter a while back to get an idea of who used this technique and unsurprisingly only a third of people responding did with another third not even knowing what double tapping was. This was a technique I, personally, left on the back burner for a long time as it seemed like a lot to add to what I was already doing in the game. But the reality is, it's actually more about habit than any skill with this one. So what is a double tap?First, pop in Guilty Gear Xrd or SFIV. From here the instructions will split.
For Guilty Gear: Go to practice mode and select Slayer. Now walk up to the opponent and double tap far 5S, then double tap S again to link c5S. If you're having trouble spacing Slayer correctly so the far 5S is close enough to get the c5S, you can use the gatling from c5S. So, c5S cancel to S, then link a final S. Double tap each input so you can get the feeling for double tapping. Don't cheat because you're used to gatlings taking care of the timing for you!
For SFIV: Go to practice mode and pick Ryu. Take a moment to weep for a time when he was relevant, then step up to your opponent, crouch, and attempt to link 2mp, 2mp. Each input should be double tapped. This is one of Ryu's signature SFIV combos so if you played this game this will be familiar to you, but you most likely used plinking to accomplish the execution. While plinking is often the better choice in SFIV, we're just using the game to help you build some more skills that you can carry into new games so, stick to just trying to double tap this combo.
Get used to how the double tap feels when you see that it successfully combo'd. Notice how your hand still comes down towards the controller with a single downward motion as you might when you just press one button. Think of it like an instrument. Imagine this motion as your one, complete action as your fingers perform the note twice for each down stroke of your palm. Focus on that feeling and then take it everywhere! One of the best things about practicing double taps is you can practice them anywhere. Check back in with the game of your choice to make sure you're still consistent in your input timings, but you can practice double tapping on a desk, on your lap, on the arm rest of a car, on the book you're reading, anything. Just make sure it mimics the level surface of the arcade stick to some degree. By practicing the motion frequently outside of the game, you'll pick it up as second nature that much faster.
If you've started feeling more comfortable hitting those links with double tapping, next try taking it to a combo you're familiar with on your own character. I'm just going to use SFIV Ryu as a basis as I feel like everyone has played Ryu for at least 10 minutes of their life. 2lp, 2hp xx qcf mp xx super. Make sure you're double tapping each button
TIP: It's good practice when starting a play session for the first time in a day to warm up a little and practice double tapping each button on the stick as you might while you'd be playing. It'll get your fingers warmed up and will help you mentally get in the zone to perform. I jump around games so much that I actually do this, just going over the buttons the game uses, each time I jump in to remind myself of the button layout for whatever game I'm about to play.
Cleaning Up
Messy hands, messy mind. You always want nice, deliberate, inputs. This section is going to just focus on some input-related fundamentals. This is stuff I often see people messing up and then getting frustrated when something doesn't link or they can't consistently time some basic mechanic of the game they're playing. Some of these are just forgotten rules that may not be as useful in most modern games, but not knowing them can bar new players from really getting the most out of older fighting games.Aim for the waist
This is something that always catches new players when they jump into older games or KOF XIII in particular. Jump-in attacks are seemingly impossible to link from! The trick to learning how to hit that link after a jump-in actually lies in the jump itself. While newer games might teach you to aim your jump-in attack to hit your opponent's head, older common knowledge was to aim for the waist. Most characters have some belt or harness around their waist and when you jump in, if you want to link after a jump-in attack, aim for the waist. That's the secret.Hit your DPs deep
Your fireball is just a far reaching normal
This is one for anybody who plays a character that has a fireball, but doesn't know when to throw it out there. Well, here's your answer. you should be inserting your fireball in places you'd like to place a far reaching normal such as midrange exchanges, or pushing to corner. Fireballs don't reward with damage, they reward with position. So don't potentially give up your position by chucking fireballs needlessly. Throw them at times they will retain your position whether that's pushing an opponent to the corner, popping someone out of a jump while they were trying to jump from fullscreen to mid-screen, or for setting a fireball over someone's head as they get back up.
Getting a just input every time
I love playing characters with just inputs. It makes my day every time I hit one and it never gets old because on top of the audio/visual feedback Namco has dialed in for electrics in particular, it's always fun to see how long you can go before you miss one. Unfortunately, for a lot of people the only joy to be found is in the occasional electric they actually do manage to hit. I was one of those people for a long time and it took me ages to work out how to improve without just sitting in training mode and grinding it out for hundreds of hours. While that is a valid strategy, I found it much easier to first focus on the hardest part of a just input, the unison of the left and right hands hitting an input at the same time. For most players, this is where they fail. It's as simple as a dexterity issue and this can be resolved by a simple exercise.
Sit in front of a flat surface like a table or a counter. Place your hands over the table by about three inches and in a downward diagonal motion like you're shaping the letter 'V' with your hands, tap the table with your middle fingers in unison with them landing on the table still about three inches apart. You don't need to do this hard or especially loudly. No reason to wake the neighbors. What you're trying to do is listen and hear your hands hitting the table in unison. Doing this makes it pretty easy to hear when your timing of one hand is slightly different than the other and the motion mimics the last motion your body makes when you perform an Electric Wind God Fist. Humans by nature are usually pretty good at synchronizing our hands so long as they're performing the same action while being terrible at performing two different actions in unison.The EWGF has long been the fighting game equivalent of rubbing your belly while patting your head if you'll excuse the juvenile comparison. Ironically, the solution to both dextrous conundrums are the same. Make those two separate hand motions mechanically the same. In the same way you synchronize your head patting with the vertical motion of your belly rubbing, you need to sync that downward motion of your hand falling on the button with the downward motion of moving your joystick into the 3 position. That's why it is important to learn that last step in an EWGF motion as a single, uniform action. It makes it easier for our brains to get that just frame because we've learned it as one action rather than two actions being performed in unison.Staying a step ahead
While there are some quick combos, execution is seldom about speed. In fact, great execution is usually slower than poor execution. Keeping your head cool enough to not rush your combo in the heat of a battle makes execution just as much a mental feat as it is a physical one. So how do you keep from rushing or choking when you go to execute a combo? Same as in life, if you don't want to rush, stay a step ahead of your current task. In fighting games, that translates to buffers. If you've played fighting games for any amount of time, you've heard the phrase "buffer moves" before and while you probably know that you have to buffer a charge before doing something like Guile's flash kick, you might not know that any move in a fighting game can be buffered including movement like jumps and dashes.Buffering - The act of inputing a second action while the first action is still playing out.
Let's go way back to our first example of a combo, Ryu's 2mp xx fireball. Since 2mp is our first action, our second action, the fireball, is what we're going to be buffering. We press our 2mp and now we've got 7 frames (notated 7f) before it makes contact. Though you probably don't realize you can do fireball motions this fast, a fireball input is really only a 3f to 4f input. Just because you can do a fireball that fast however, doesn't mean you have to or even should. Take a look at this graph on the right. This is Ryu's 2mp broken out into a rough representation of its frame data. In yellow we have the startup, initial animation before the move hits. In red we have its active frames, this is when the move hits. In blue, the recovery, this is the rest of the animation that plays out if it isn't cancelled or interrupted. In purple is what is called a cancellable window. This is the portion of the move where you can cancel into your specials like Ryu's fireball. Different games treat this window differently with some allowing you to cancel only if you make contact with your opponent and some moves have the ability to cancel before they even become active so don't assume all cancel windows look like this. This is just an approximation of Ryu's cancel window for his 2mp. In green we see the most important part, 2mp's buffer window. While 2mp's first active frame is 7f, you don't have to cancel on the first active frame. specials will combo just fine whether you cancel into them on the first or last frame of your cancel window which means of the entire 21f of animation, you have about 16f to buffer 4f worth of inputs into. So don't rush because there are even ways to get a longer buffer window.Cancel Buffers: These are essential tools that make combos much easier for beginners and make hit confirms simpler. Most fighting games have these and though they're often character-specific, they all work fundamentally the same. The premise is you can tap these two normals in quick succession and what happens is during the first normal's active window it will automatically cancel into the second normal meaning your buffer window is longer than normal making buffering anything from specials to supers very lenient.
In Street Fighter they're known as target combos. They're character specific and unique for each one. In King of Fighters I believe they're known as unique chains though I couldn't tell you the official name. I call them unique chains because characters have unique normals, usually either 6A or 6B, that perform an overhead or a long reaching normal, but when cancelled into lose that overhead property and act as a chain cancel. They're different from target combos in that the two moves can be used independently or as a chain. There is seldom a restriction on what kind of normal you can cancel from as well meaning unique chains make for easy hit confirms and a great starting point for figuring out core combos for your character. Gatlings are the third type of cancel buffers and while the name comes from Guilty Gear, most air dash games have a similar A>B>C route you can chain your normals in. Since lighter moves can always cancel into heavier moves, you can chain quite a few normals into one another. Cancelling out of chains like this into specials is the easiest of the three types because it's basically a slightly longer target combo.
Link Buffers: These are my favorite buffers as they always raise eyebrows and impress despite being some of the easiest buffers to execute when messing around in training mode. Link buffers are the act of buffering a special via a link. Here's two well known examples. One from Street Fighter V, and one from the best character in Street Fighter IV.
SFV's Guile HP, 2MP xx Flash Kick [HP↙️, MP, ⬆️HK]
The defecto bread-n-butter Guile combo involves this 5hp to 2mp link which, on its own is a very easy link like most SFV links, but what gets people choked up so often is that down charge happening somewhere in-between it all. So first let's see how people figure out you can even do this kind of combo. The first question when we ask ourselves about a charge buffer is "what's the earliest time I can hold the direction I need to buffer?" For this combo, the last move we need to be standing for is that 5hp. So now we know that right after the 5hp we're free to hold down. So with these kinds of buffers we can roll one input into the other. Think of that 5hp input as 5hp1. You're going to do this just like Guile's 6mp overhead, but whereas that is motion -> input, 5hp1 is input -> motion. Try to work on thinking of it as its own unique normal and practice just that part. Now that the down charge has been worked into the first button in your link, all you have to think about is timing that link to 2mp and with double tapping, the link makes itself. Once the 2mp makes contact, hit 8hk and enjoy your newfound link buffering powers.
SFIV's DeeJay EXMGU, Ultra 2 [↙️...⬆️PP, ↙️...➡️➡️↘️⬇️↙️↗️PPP]
My relationship with this combo is kind of funny as this combo's notoriety as one of the hardest things to do in SFIV was what attracted me to DeeJay in the first place. While this combo isn't nearly as hard as it was made out to be, it remains, in my humble opinion, the most fun link to do in SFIV. Do EX Machine Gun Upper and then just hold 1. Once the move is over, dash but on your second 6 input of the dash, roll the dash input down into a 6321 motion and then flick the joystick up to the 9 position and hit your punches. It always helps to understand why things like this work and the reason is because of how fast DeeJay's dash is. While being the worst character in the game, he had an insanely fast dash and it just-so-happened to be faster than the timeout of input memory. Remember earlier when we talked about how the game understands your inputs? Well, in SFIV in particular, charge buffers are held in memory for about 22f and DeeJay's dash was 19f long. This meant that if DeeJay dashed, he could retain his buffered charge and perform a charge move immediately after his dash. And since the charge was already buffered, we have his entire dash animation to buffer the motion of his Ultra and we can even hit PPP before the dash fully ends because we're buffering that Ultra input during the dash so that it will automatically come out on the first frame after the dash happens. For this combo, I recommend practicing the dash Ultra before putting the two together. Once you're ready to do the whole combo, don't rush the dash after EX MGU. You have way more time than you think. If you find your dash isn't coming out, you're rushing it. Generally, I see people failing because they're trying too quickly. General rule of thumb is, if something doesn't come out, you went too fast. If it comes out but whiffs, you went too slow.
Hiding inputs in buffers: If you've ever jumped in order to perform Zangief's throw special, spinning pile driver, then you've actually already done this. But this is the act of using a seemingly generic action to mask the act of buffering something. Sometimes this is buffering a special move while dashing or running, and sometimes this is accomplished by pressing a normal button so you can buffer a motion or charge while it appears like you were trying to do something else. The most common examples of this is usually grapplers hiding their buffer of a special throw behind a stand jab or something quick as it is difficult to evaluate the threat level of the action before the throw comes out. Another common example is E.Honda players will sometimes use a normal to mask their 1000 hands special as you have to mash very quickly for a time before the move comes out and that makes for a very obvious tell. This is also one way button hold buffers can be hidden. It's a little meta, but take SFIV Cody for example and do 2mk which is a little long and slightly moves him forward, but while the animation is happening, hold two punch keys. You've done a totally natural thing to do in neutral, but if your opponent responds with a fireball, you have the option to reversal it.
Charge partitioning: This technique is seldom explained correctly. Essentially, charge partitioning is a glitch in SFIII 3rd Strike that allows you to start a charge in one state, and then finish it in another. The easiest way to practice this is to pick Urien, crouch, then immediately dash from your crouch and after buffering the dash immediately hold down again because you're buffering the rest of your charge now during the dash animation. Right as the dash ends, press 8mp and if done correctly your headbutt special will come out. There is one very important rule with charge buffering and that is never buffer the full charge in your first state. Always leave your charge buffer incomplete or it won't work.
Button hold/release buffers: My least favorite kind of buffer. These are easily some of the hardest things you'll ever do in fighting games. Whether they're moves like Cody's bingo punch or Zato's shadow commands, you're going to have to put some forethought into how you're setting up your fingers for combos like this and maybe even hiding inputs with other buffers before the combo even begins. It's not uncommon for a Zato player to whiff a random 5P in neutral as a safe way to buffer holding another key like S (released is shadow's invincible reversal). For combos involving release keys or a key that needs to be held to charge buffer the key, the same principle as buffering charge motions can be applied. When is the last time I'll need that key? Can I hold it from there? In Zato's case, since he doesn't need to charge but only release his buttons, sometimes what you need to do is hold every other button in the combo, then tap the last key in order to make shadow do the necessary special. Let's break that down.
Let's say we're going to do a very simple combo with Zato. Let's assume shadow is already out and we want to do c.S>HS, (K). This is a simple gatling that ends in shadow's buzzsaw. Now, we could hold K, then move in to do the gatling, but gatlings can only cancel to higher power moves. So, we can't actually cancel HS into K. And since we don't have to worry about K coming out, we can do S>HS then press K which upon pressing won't give Zato's 5K but when we release the key we will still get shadow's buzzsaw. There's just one problem. When we released that S right at the start of the combo, shadow did their (S) move. In order to ensure we only get the shadow specials we want rather than the first ones we'd hit in a string, we need to do something else. We need to [hold] each key while we're performing the gatling, then (release) them once shadow is in their buzzsaw animation. So, the combo notation would actually look like [S]>[HS], [K](K), (all).
You'll see this kind of finger work in everything Zato does. It's something even experienced players need to spend time acclimating themselves to the first time they play him. But it doesn't take forever and by breaking down your different types of intended approaches, it can become second nature quickly. This is an example and while it can all be done in one series, I've used braces to separate the chunks than can be practiced individually before trying to put it together as a single series like it's shown. {IAD [j.K]>[j.HS],[S](S),(all),} {[K]>[c.S]>6[P] xx jump cancel, (K)} j.K>j.HS, c.S>HS xx 22HS -> more nonsense. Zato is his own special collection of nonsense when it comes to execution, but his patterns of when to hold and release is something that can be carried over into other characters like MvC3's Zero as a random example.
Break it down
One of the biggest barriers for most games is its combo length. Not difficulty of any one cancel or link, but simply how long the combos go on. While memorizing very long combos can be confusing, there is a really easy way to make it simpler. I'm going to use the dreaded KOF XIII and teach you a combo you can do today. Are you ready? You're about to learn an HD combo and you're going to be able to do it in a matter of minutes. First we have to pick our character. We're going to use Ralf Jones. Now I want you to learn three things. That's all you're going to need for this.- Ralf has a 236C move. It has a big frame advantage.
- Ralf has a charge move. It's 4...6A. You can link this after 236C.
- In HD mode you can cancel specials like 4...6A into 236C.
Alright, you ready for your first HD combo? Here it is. Activate HD mode and then do the following.
236C, 4...6A xx 236C, 4...6A xx 236C, 4...6A xx 236C, 4...6A
Or, if we look at the combo another way, 236C, 4...6A x4. I understand if this comes of a bit facetious, but that really is it. If you watched someone do the combo you might think, "That looks hard," but once you're sitting face-to-face with the actual inputs, it becomes a lot less intimidating. Regardless of how unintimidating this combo now seems, there are still things that make even the easiest of combos hard when they go on long enough.
Can hands get tongue-tied?
While you could grind it out starting from the beginning of this combo and keep trying from beginning to end, combos are usually much easier to learn when you can break them down to into more palatable chunks. We broke down Zato's series earlier into chunks that could be practiced separately so now let's do that with a few more combos.
Ralf KOF XIV - {5D xx 3A xx MAX} {5D xx 3A xx 63214BD} {41236PP)
Guile SFV - {5hp, 2mp xx 4...6lp xx V-Trigger} {dash, 5hp, 2mp xx 4...6lp, 2mp xx 4...6lp}
Ryu SFIV - {2mp, 2mk xx 236mp FADC} {2lp, 2hp xx 623mp FADC} {Ultra 1}
Jin T7 - {f,n,d,df+1 -> f,n,d,df+2 -> 4} {b,f2,3~f 1,2}
Any combo can be broken down like this and it's an important step, even when dealing with really short, but somewhat technical combos.
Making your own shortcuts
Sometimes there just isn't enough time to comfortably cancel one thing into another. Thankfully, we don't have to move at the speed of sound to do basic cancels like Kyo's 623C into 2141236C. We're going to go over three classic shortcuts and how they're put together. With this information I think you'll be able to work your way through making any shortcut possible.
Robert's XIV ender - A simple example to get us started. This shortcut combines Robert's fireball special, 236C, with his super, 2363214C. As you've probably already guessed, the shortcut simply uses the fireball motion as the first half of the super's motion. 236C3214C!
SFIV Guile charged up - This cancels Guile's Flash Kick into his super. 2...9K63219K. Just like in Robert's combo, we're using the Flash Kick's motion as part of the super's motion, but what's new here is we're actually using the Flash Kick's charge twice. Just like in DeeJay's charge buffer example where we carried a charge buffer through a dash, Guile is getting his money's worth out of one charge by using it to activate two moves.
Kyo's classic - One of my favorite shortcuts because it takes two very different motion moves and blends their motion inputs into one. We're combining 623 with 2141236. So how does that work? Well, someone cleverly figured out that you could buffer the super's 214 motion during a traditional dragon punch input by doing 632146 as the dragon punch motion, then swinging back around to 41236. It's a half circle one way, then back the other for this stylish shortcut. 632146C41236C.
Leona's short cut - Leona is a hard character to play. Let's just get that out of the way. But what else could make her harder than having to cancel a flash kick into a KOF super motion. Thankfully, there's a shortcut for that. This works by buffering a quarter circle into the flash kick motion, then finishing the rest of the super motion on your hand's way back down from the up position. Looks something like this. 3...2147C41236D. While this sounds really hard, in practice the hardest part is often just remembering to buffer your charge beforehand.
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info. agensloto
ReplyDelete