Wednesday 2 January 2008

Casino 22/12/07

I was at Casino today. I jumped back and forth between V-Birdie, V-Charlie, A- and V-Claw,V-Cody, A-Blanka, as well as V-Cammy. I hope I'm not spreading myself too thinly with this almost-jack-of-all-trades approach. With six characters? Well, not exactly, but it could make focusing on individual match-up problems that more, albeit slightly, difficult.
The problem of "Well, I don't seem to be doing well in this match, what about switching to another character" rears its head - something I want to avoid. Anyway, I had a successful run with V-Charlie against Hani's V-Akuma and X-Rolento. My A-Blanka managed to accumulate a 12-win streak Victor's RFI (room for improvement) A-Ryu.

I've noticed that I'm fairly reluctant to use V-Cammy in casual play or against weaker players, and I'll only allow her appearance against the main arcade players or a tournament. Of course I want to use her as much as I can, but the faint pull of pride prevents me from doing so. Must fix this.

I've started contacting players for the upcoming Super Versus Battle (love the name) 2008: Heat, TLK. I also managed to acquire the contact number of the now almost-legendary UK Street Fighter player: Damien.

Iron Man

Thanks to GIGA, I was able to view some of the recorded matches from this event. Though I must, unfortunately, admit that the overall level there was fairly low due the absence of a lot of the stronger players (IMX, 1up, Evil Guy, Hani), there were quite a few good matches on the disk.

I'll give a run through my V-Cammy matches. At the time of Iron Man, I had not yet learned Cammy's far standing Strong-> whiffed Short Spiral Arrow VC-> standing Fierce-> Roundhouse Cannon Spike, or at the least, learned well it enough for it to be my primary use of the V-gauge; so for my main VC, I would used the Cannon Spike-> far Strong-> whiffed standing Roundhouse-> Spiral Arrow etc.

middlekick VS Psi 1:



In general, I am far less confident doing moves and combos on my personal joystick than I am on an arcade cabinet. The discourse on playing with a personal joystick and playing on an arcade cabinet is worthy of a whole other diary entry, but for now, I just wanted to admit my lack of complete competence when playing with a console controller. Anyway, I was not impressed with my play; nothing really outstanding or noteworthy, just simple, safe controlling, with a few minor errors of judgement. This match does, however, manage to highlight what I've suspected for some time: A significant reduction of invincibility occurs after VC activation if followed by a Spiral Arrow. Recent attempts in Training Mode to activate - with a 100% full gauge - and Spiral Arrow through say, Ryu's Hadouken, have all ended with Cammy getting hit in every case. At time-frame 00:08, I albeit quite late, counter-activate and attempt to follow with an Arrow, ut end up trading against the Karin's Gurenken.


middlekick VS Psi 2:




More of my luck and Psi's VC execution problems determining the outcome of this match.
Perhaps more use of the Cannon Spike as anti-air and more ground pressure, as opposed to jumping in, after a knock-down, would have made the match a lot more decisive.


middlekick VS Inspector:



I've played Inspector's A-Akuma in the arcade for years, so I was quite confident when I saw that he would be my opponent. However, what threw me, was Inspector's unusually defensive style. This is not to be mistaken for cowardice or a lack of confidence in his own ability, but a deliberate change in play-style, which for all intents and purposes amounts to a more calculating method of play. After realising this, I become a lot more nervous and unsure of myself, where few a embarrassing VC misses here and there, made the match a lot more tense and close.


middlekick VS Alan:



Another arcade veteran, though in the last few years his attendance has been non-existant so seeing him at Iron Man was yet another surprise. Turns out that he still plays occasionally on his PS2.
My lack of anti-Claw strategies and general experience really show here, with Cammy walking straight into nearly everything the Spaniard attacks with.
I did not try to counter his crouching Strong, which I now know loses to Cammy's far standing Fierce. The VC misses did not help either. First at 00:27, where a poorly judged Arrow shoots Cammy farther than I would have liked (I had not learned the cross-up Cannon Spike juggle, nor did I have the wits and reflexes to instead start the VC with a Cannon Spike) and causes the VC to fail; and then at 01:57, where I was sure that Alan would poke as I land from a jump, I misjudged the Spiral Arrow (Short Arrow-> Forward Arrow-> Cannon Spike would have done it) and ended up breaking the VC. Finally, after taking a gamble and deciding to stand up and Sac-hit Claw's (02:02) crouching Roundhouse barrage, I miss the wake-up Cannon Spike. Loser.


middlekick VS Vega V-ism:



For all intents an purposes, VV (Vivi?) has a deeper knowlege of Claw's VCs than Alan. However, conversely, Alan's Claw has years of experience, tournament experience at that, on his side. Anyway, some mediocre play here by me that slowly gets worse. Frustrating to watch.

Game center -

I went to Casino today (31/11/07) and mostly played against Gary's A-Guy and Geejay's A-Gen.

Gary's A-Guy.
He's a smart player, and for the most part uses Guy's weapons effectively. However, at times his poking is predictable which leaves him prone to Cammy's VC. He also fails to utilize Guy's far standing Strong as a poke, nor its ability to hit-confirm into the Level 3 Gourai Kyaku, an important tactic and tactical staple of most Japanese Guy veterans. I think the matches were quite even and close, but I believe I won more than I lost in today's games. He often uses a crouching Jab, which is then cancelled into Roundhouse Bushin Hurricane Kick, as his anti-air. This tactic was able to beat my jumping Roundhouse and jumping Fierce, even after I varied their timing by attacking early or late. However, an early jumping Strong was at times able to beats his crouching Jab anti-air.
He also uses Guy's large jump arc to jump over Cammy in an attempt to flee. Fortunately Cammy's quick foot-speed allows her to walk after Guy as he is landing and tag him with a standing Jab or a standing Strong (with the option of cancelling into a Roundhouse Cannon Spike). It is possible to also use a VC in this situation.

Bushin Gourai Kyaku:
to land this, Gary will combo from a close standing Strong-> close Fierce chain. The Level 1 and Level 2 versions can be punished after blocking, although the Level 1 is easier to do this to. The Level 3 version is completely safe when blocked.


Geejay's A-Gen.
Geejay likes to remain in one style for a long time before switching to another. And while this allows him build up a familarity with the opponent which then allows him to mix-up to the opponent's expectations in another style, this approach limits Gen's tactical options and makes him a lot less fearsome, where the opponent only has to concentrate on fighting one style for a length of time.

Cannon Strike cross-up mix-up-

Cannon Strike cross-up mix-up-

After a close crouching Roundhouse, an anti-air Roundhouse Cannon Spike, or a (close) Roundhouse Spiral Arrow->


Option A: Whiffed Forward Cannon Strike-> crouching Short-> crouching Jab-> Roundhouse Cannon Spike




Option B: Whiffed Short Cannon Strike-> crouching Short-> crouching Jab-> Roundhouse Cannon Spike




Option C: Whiffed Forward or Short Cannon Strike-> kick throw





Option A has Cammy landing on the other side of the opponent, forcing them to change their blocking direction. In other words, it crosses up. This Cannon Strike is particularly difficult to judge whether it will cross up or not by both the opponent and the Cammy player!

Option B does not cross up, but instead places Cammy in front of her opponent, where, were they to anticipate a cross-up and attempt to block, they would be blocking incorrectly; you might even be able to use a VC in this situation.

Option C completely counters the enemy's blocking dilemma.

Cannon Spike high-low mix-up

After a knock-down:

A: whiffed Short Cannon Strike-> crouching Short-> crouching Jab-> Roundhouse Cannon Spike

B: whiffed Short Cannon Strike-> kick throw


Option A is used against an opponent expecting to block a regular jumping attack as they wake up. In this case, you mix up by switching to a combo which must be blocked low, and is hit-confirmable.

Option B is used when your know the opponent has anticipated your high-low mix-up, and has decided to block correctly. In this case you can throw them.

Manual Instant Overhead


Cammy's vertical jumping Jab will hit crouching characters with a height of 72 "dots" or higher. This enables Cammy to use her overhead against the following characters:

Sagat
Birdie
Sodom
Zangief

Quick cancel VC

VC2/3-> [Roundhouse Cannon Spike-> standing Strong-> whiffed Short Spiral Arrow] x N





There are two things to be aware of when performing this VC. This first, simply requires the cancel into the whiffed Spiral Arrow to be as fast as possible. The second point is to be aware that there is a certain "sweet spot" that you should aim for when cancelling the standing Strong from the Cannon Spike. Instead of juggling with the far standing Strong immediately after the Cannon Spike, you might delay this timing slightly, in order to hit the sweet spot. If you hit this part successfully, the opponent will juggle slightly higher than usual, netting more juggle time after the whiffed Spiral for your follow-up Cannon Spike to connect.