Description:
Provides information on the stamina, stun rating, fighting style, fighter type of the character (see Fighter Type definitions), strengths and weaknesses of that character.
Character Videos:
List of videos of Abel vs. the particular character so you can see the match-up in action. This are sourced from many areas, namely the tournament videos section, the video studies, match-up tutorial vids and other external tournament videos.
Offense Strategy:
This section details the recommended strategy Abel should take to mount a effective offense against the character topic.
Defense Strategy:
Details the recommended strategy Abel should take to defend against the opponent's attacks.
Notes:
The notes section is where I list down all the small but important little details to know about a particular match-up, like how Blanka's ultra 1 is an overhead, etc.
Showing posts with label Glossary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glossary. Show all posts
Match-up Categories
I sorted each character's match-up notes into categories based on the games or affiliation in the games they came from. This glossary should make it easier to understand if you're confused about it.
vs. Alpha
Characters: Rose, Gen, Guy, Adon, Cody, Sakura Dan
In 1999-2002, Street Fighter Alpha 1-3 were released. The 6 characters above were either brought in from other games (like Final Fight) and/or created specifically for SF Alpha.
vs. Newcomers
Characters: Abel, Rufus, C.Viper, El Fuerte, Seth, Juri, Hakan
Street Fighter 4 introduced five new characters (Abel, Rufus, C.Viper, El Fuerte and Seth) to the series, with an additional two (Juri and Hakan) being introduced in Super Street Fighter 4 later on.
vs. Shadaloo
Characters: Vega, Balrog, Sagat, M.Bison
In Street Fighter 2, four end-bosses awaited players at the end of the game. These four fighters belonged to the Shadaloo syndicate and were dubbed the Four Kings of Shadaloo, hence the name.
vs. Shotokan
Characters: Ryu, Ken, Gouken, Akuma, Evil Ryu, Oni
The fighters in this category belong to the same fighting style, Ansatsuken Karate. In the US, this style was named the Shotokan fighting art and the term Shoto to describe these fighters has stuck among Street Fighter aficionados.
vs. Street Fighter 3
Characters: Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Yun, Yang
The game Street Fighter 3 and its incarnations brought along with it its own cast of new fighters to the Street Fighter universe. Only 3 of them were introduced to the game in Super Street Fighter 4. An extra two characters, the twins Yun and Yang, were introduced in Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition.
vs. Super Street Fighter 2
Characters: Cammy, T.Hawk, Dee Jay, Fei Long
An newer version to Street Fighter 2 was released back in the day with an additional four new characters introduced at the time. Cammy and Fei Long were introduced in the Street Fighter 4 while Dee Jay and T.Hawk were brought in later on in Super Street Fighter 4.
vs. World Warriors
Characters: Guile, E.Honda, Zangief, Chun-Li, Blanka, Dhalsim
Aside from Ken and Ryu, the World Warriors made up the rest of the original cast of playable characters in Street Fighter 2 and are what some call the classic cast.
vs. Alpha
Characters: Rose, Gen, Guy, Adon, Cody, Sakura Dan
In 1999-2002, Street Fighter Alpha 1-3 were released. The 6 characters above were either brought in from other games (like Final Fight) and/or created specifically for SF Alpha.
vs. Newcomers
Characters: Abel, Rufus, C.Viper, El Fuerte, Seth, Juri, Hakan
Street Fighter 4 introduced five new characters (Abel, Rufus, C.Viper, El Fuerte and Seth) to the series, with an additional two (Juri and Hakan) being introduced in Super Street Fighter 4 later on.
vs. Shadaloo
Characters: Vega, Balrog, Sagat, M.Bison
In Street Fighter 2, four end-bosses awaited players at the end of the game. These four fighters belonged to the Shadaloo syndicate and were dubbed the Four Kings of Shadaloo, hence the name.
vs. Shotokan
Characters: Ryu, Ken, Gouken, Akuma, Evil Ryu, Oni
The fighters in this category belong to the same fighting style, Ansatsuken Karate. In the US, this style was named the Shotokan fighting art and the term Shoto to describe these fighters has stuck among Street Fighter aficionados.
vs. Street Fighter 3
Characters: Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Yun, Yang
The game Street Fighter 3 and its incarnations brought along with it its own cast of new fighters to the Street Fighter universe. Only 3 of them were introduced to the game in Super Street Fighter 4. An extra two characters, the twins Yun and Yang, were introduced in Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition.
vs. Super Street Fighter 2
Characters: Cammy, T.Hawk, Dee Jay, Fei Long
An newer version to Street Fighter 2 was released back in the day with an additional four new characters introduced at the time. Cammy and Fei Long were introduced in the Street Fighter 4 while Dee Jay and T.Hawk were brought in later on in Super Street Fighter 4.
vs. World Warriors
Characters: Guile, E.Honda, Zangief, Chun-Li, Blanka, Dhalsim
Aside from Ken and Ryu, the World Warriors made up the rest of the original cast of playable characters in Street Fighter 2 and are what some call the classic cast.
Acronyms, Lexicon and Terminology
EDIT: I'm going to put the relevant acronyms, lexicons and terminology from the Eventhub's site here to make it easier to read.
BnB, Bread and Butter:
Refers to a bread and butter combo or technique for a character. Usually this is one combo or technique that almost everyone uses because it's highly effective.
Safe Attack:
A move that cannot be punished if blocked. Usually these moves have a very short recovery time, or they stun your opponent for a long enough so that you can block again before they're capable of retaliating.
Poke:
A quick and often safe attack that's difficult to counter.
Meaty moves:
This means to use a move as your opponent is getting up so that only a few frames of the animation hit them, instead of all of the frames of animation. Meaty moves tend to have big active frames — frames where your opponent can be hit — making it easier to land an attack as the other fighter stands.
A Meaty move is useful because it shortens the wait time before you can do another attack, which leads to many additional set ups and throw tactics.
Canceling, Cancel, Super Canceling, Cancelable, 2 in 1, Buffering:
These mean to cancel the animation of one move to go into another. If something is, "cancelable," that means you can interrupt the animation of this move with another.
Link:
Timing the ending animation of one move so that the next move you do comes out at the precise moment the other one ends, resulting in a combo.
Target Combo:
A target combo is when specific normal moves cancel into each other. For example in Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike, by pressing standing light punch, light kick and then medium punch in quick succession with Yun he will perform a 3-hit combo.
Tick throwing:
To do a quick or mostly safe attack and then immediately throw your opponent. Usually this is difficult to counter and easy to do.
Whiff, Miss:
A move that misses the other character entirely, sometimes done deliberately to set up another move, or bait the opponent into thinking your guard is down.
Cross, Cross Up:
An attack that makes the other fighter block in the reverse direction they would normally have to. For example, if I'd normally block by holding left on the joystick, to successful block a 'cross' I would have to hold right.
Zoning:
Staying or attempting to get yourself or your opponent into a certain area on the screen that is to your tactical advantage.
High or Low Priority:
Priority is best explained with an example. In Street Fighter Alpha 2 Rose's Crouching Medium Punch is considered to be a high priority move. If she executes this attack from close range around the same time Guy attempts to do a Crouching Hard Kick, Rose will hit Guy out of his attack.
There are many reasons why moves will beat out one another. The start up time it takes for a move to come out, how many frames it's active for (in a hittable state), where the players hit boxes are at and if they have full or partial invincibility to attacks are the core reasons.
Generally moves with 'high priority' have a fast start up time, a solid window they're active for and they make the character's hittable box smaller so it's difficult to counter — although there are other properties that make a move high priority as well.
Juggle:
Hitting a fighter who's falling down after being attacked previously. A proper juggle gives the other player no opportunity to block, so the hits you land as they're falling down will 'combo'.
Rush-down:
Constantly trying to attack the other fighter, i.e. rushing them down with relentless attacks.
Psychic Dragon Punch, Psychic DP, yomi:
To a causal player, guessing exactly what your opponent is going to do and countering with a well-timed Dragon Punch (Shoryuken). This isn't so much as guessing, but knowing your opponent and the game so well that you know the ideal time to throw out a Dragon Punch to nail your opponent.
Sweep:
A kicking attack that knocks your opponent off of their feet. Typically a character's sweep is performed by pressing Down + Hard Kick.
Negative Edge:
In the Street Fighter games when you do special moves not only can they be executed when you're initially press the button, but also when you release it. To see a better example and a video, look at this page.
Charging, Charge:
This is done by holding the joystick in one position for a specific amount of time. An example is Guile in the Street Fighter 2 games. If you hold back on the joystick for 2 seconds, this "Charges" him up so that when you press Towards and Punch button it will throw a Sonic Boom, his signature projectile attack.
Fighting games have various ways you can "Charge" moves, but typically this is done by either holding back or down for 2 seconds and then pressing in another direction at the same time as you press a button so you can unleash a special attack.
Overhead Attack:
An attack performed on the ground that must be blocked high.
Reversal:
Executing a move on the first possible frame you're allowed to do so.
Focus Attack, FA, Saving Attack, SA:
Focus Attack, sometimes known as a Saving Attack. This is from Street Fighter 4 and it's done by pressing both Medium attack buttons at the same time. This makes you absorb one hit and then counter attack. Because of the confusion with the SA acronym, most American players try to refer to this as a Focus Attack.
EX-Move:
In the Street Fighter games this is an improved version of a Special Move that takes a portion of your Super meter to execute. Doing an EX attack will make you briefly flash yellow.
Attacks:
LP, Light Punch, Jab: The weakest punch button.
MP, Medium Punch, Strong: The medium strength punch button.
HP, Hard Punch, Fierce: The strongest punch button.
LK, Light Kick, Short: The weakest kick button.
MK, Medium Kick, Forward: The medium strength kick button.
HK, Hard Kick, Roundhouse: The strongest kick button.
cr.mk, cl.mk, f.mk:
cr. is for Crouching, cl. is for Close and f. is for Far. 'mk' in this example stands for Medium Kick.
Fireball, FB, Hadoken, Projectile:
If rolling the joystick from down to forward and pressing punch results in a projectile, many people refer to this as a fireball, or the fireball motion. An extremely common term in most fighting games to refer to a character's projectile attack.
Shoryuken, Uppercut, DP, Dragon Punch:
This move has went by many different names over the years. It's performed by pressing forward and then down and rolling the stick to down/forward position and pressing punch.
DC, Dash Cancel:
In Street Fighter 4 you can dash forward to cancel the animation of a move letting you execute consecutive moves faster.
SJC, Super Jump Cancel, HJC, High Jump Cancel:
Canceling the animation of a move with a Super Jump.
FADC, Focus Attack and Dash Cancel:
A term used in Street Fighter 4 where you do a Focus Attack and then cancel it with a Dash.
Teching, Softening, Counter-Throwing:
This is when you counter your opponents throw attempt to some degree. The results vary on the game you're playing. For example in Street Fighter 3 and 4, counter-throwing will result in both players taking no damage and bouncing away from each other a short distance, while in Super Turbo you'll still take damage, but it will be less than what you normally would have.
Armor Breaking Move:
An attack in Street Fighter 4 that cannot be absorbed. For example, Zangief's EX-Flying Powerbomb can usually absorb one attack and still follow through and grab the other fighter.
Doing an armor breaking move after Zangief does his EX-Flying Powerbomb would knock Gief out of his attack, not allowing him to absorb the hit.
Super Armor:
This is an attack move that can absorb one hit in Street Fighter 4. For example, Balrog's (Boxer) EX-Dash Punches can take a hit and still follow through to attack your opponent.
Command Throw:
A throw requiring a special input to execute. For example, the standard input for a throw in Street Fighter 2 Turbo is Towards + Hard Punch. A 'Command Throw' would be Zangief's Spinning Piledriver, which is executed by doing a 360 motion and pressing punch. It's called a command throw because it takes a special 'command' to execute it.
Balrog, Boxer, M. Bison (Japan):
Balrog's name was changed from M(ike). Bison when Street Fighter 2 was released in the United States because Capcom was afraid of a lawsuit from Mike Tyson, whom Balrog closely resembles.
Thus in some circles he's simply known as the, "Boxer," to avoid confusion.
M. Bison, Dictator, Vega (Japan):
When Street Fighter 2 was pitched to Capcom USA's marketing department, they believed that the name Vega was a weakling's name.
As such his name was changed from Vega in the Japanese release to M. Bison. To avoid confusion people refer to him as the, "Dictator."
Vega, Claw, Balrog (Japan):
Originally known as Balrog in the Japanese release of Street Fighter 2, Vega had his name changed along with two other boss characters.
To avoid confusion people refer to him as the, "Claw."
Shotos, Shotokans:
Used to define characters in a game that fight in the Shotokan karate style, usually Ryu and Ken and anyone with a similar move set, like Akuma.
Dizzy, Dazed, Stunned:
When you've beat your opponent so much that they're stunned for a brief period of time and have stars or some other icons floating around their head, they're 'dizzy'.
Block-stun:
The time it takes to recover after blocking an attack.
BnB, Bread and Butter:
Refers to a bread and butter combo or technique for a character. Usually this is one combo or technique that almost everyone uses because it's highly effective.
Safe Attack:
A move that cannot be punished if blocked. Usually these moves have a very short recovery time, or they stun your opponent for a long enough so that you can block again before they're capable of retaliating.
Poke:
A quick and often safe attack that's difficult to counter.
Meaty moves:
This means to use a move as your opponent is getting up so that only a few frames of the animation hit them, instead of all of the frames of animation. Meaty moves tend to have big active frames — frames where your opponent can be hit — making it easier to land an attack as the other fighter stands.
A Meaty move is useful because it shortens the wait time before you can do another attack, which leads to many additional set ups and throw tactics.
Canceling, Cancel, Super Canceling, Cancelable, 2 in 1, Buffering:
These mean to cancel the animation of one move to go into another. If something is, "cancelable," that means you can interrupt the animation of this move with another.
Link:
Timing the ending animation of one move so that the next move you do comes out at the precise moment the other one ends, resulting in a combo.
Target Combo:
A target combo is when specific normal moves cancel into each other. For example in Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike, by pressing standing light punch, light kick and then medium punch in quick succession with Yun he will perform a 3-hit combo.
Tick throwing:
To do a quick or mostly safe attack and then immediately throw your opponent. Usually this is difficult to counter and easy to do.
Whiff, Miss:
A move that misses the other character entirely, sometimes done deliberately to set up another move, or bait the opponent into thinking your guard is down.
Cross, Cross Up:
An attack that makes the other fighter block in the reverse direction they would normally have to. For example, if I'd normally block by holding left on the joystick, to successful block a 'cross' I would have to hold right.
Zoning:
Staying or attempting to get yourself or your opponent into a certain area on the screen that is to your tactical advantage.
High or Low Priority:
Priority is best explained with an example. In Street Fighter Alpha 2 Rose's Crouching Medium Punch is considered to be a high priority move. If she executes this attack from close range around the same time Guy attempts to do a Crouching Hard Kick, Rose will hit Guy out of his attack.
There are many reasons why moves will beat out one another. The start up time it takes for a move to come out, how many frames it's active for (in a hittable state), where the players hit boxes are at and if they have full or partial invincibility to attacks are the core reasons.
Generally moves with 'high priority' have a fast start up time, a solid window they're active for and they make the character's hittable box smaller so it's difficult to counter — although there are other properties that make a move high priority as well.
Juggle:
Hitting a fighter who's falling down after being attacked previously. A proper juggle gives the other player no opportunity to block, so the hits you land as they're falling down will 'combo'.
Rush-down:
Constantly trying to attack the other fighter, i.e. rushing them down with relentless attacks.
Psychic Dragon Punch, Psychic DP, yomi:
To a causal player, guessing exactly what your opponent is going to do and countering with a well-timed Dragon Punch (Shoryuken). This isn't so much as guessing, but knowing your opponent and the game so well that you know the ideal time to throw out a Dragon Punch to nail your opponent.
Sweep:
A kicking attack that knocks your opponent off of their feet. Typically a character's sweep is performed by pressing Down + Hard Kick.
Negative Edge:
In the Street Fighter games when you do special moves not only can they be executed when you're initially press the button, but also when you release it. To see a better example and a video, look at this page.
Charging, Charge:
This is done by holding the joystick in one position for a specific amount of time. An example is Guile in the Street Fighter 2 games. If you hold back on the joystick for 2 seconds, this "Charges" him up so that when you press Towards and Punch button it will throw a Sonic Boom, his signature projectile attack.
Fighting games have various ways you can "Charge" moves, but typically this is done by either holding back or down for 2 seconds and then pressing in another direction at the same time as you press a button so you can unleash a special attack.
Overhead Attack:
An attack performed on the ground that must be blocked high.
Reversal:
Executing a move on the first possible frame you're allowed to do so.
Focus Attack, FA, Saving Attack, SA:
Focus Attack, sometimes known as a Saving Attack. This is from Street Fighter 4 and it's done by pressing both Medium attack buttons at the same time. This makes you absorb one hit and then counter attack. Because of the confusion with the SA acronym, most American players try to refer to this as a Focus Attack.
EX-Move:
In the Street Fighter games this is an improved version of a Special Move that takes a portion of your Super meter to execute. Doing an EX attack will make you briefly flash yellow.
Attacks:
LP, Light Punch, Jab: The weakest punch button.
MP, Medium Punch, Strong: The medium strength punch button.
HP, Hard Punch, Fierce: The strongest punch button.
LK, Light Kick, Short: The weakest kick button.
MK, Medium Kick, Forward: The medium strength kick button.
HK, Hard Kick, Roundhouse: The strongest kick button.
cr.mk, cl.mk, f.mk:
cr. is for Crouching, cl. is for Close and f. is for Far. 'mk' in this example stands for Medium Kick.
Fireball, FB, Hadoken, Projectile:
If rolling the joystick from down to forward and pressing punch results in a projectile, many people refer to this as a fireball, or the fireball motion. An extremely common term in most fighting games to refer to a character's projectile attack.
Shoryuken, Uppercut, DP, Dragon Punch:
This move has went by many different names over the years. It's performed by pressing forward and then down and rolling the stick to down/forward position and pressing punch.
DC, Dash Cancel:
In Street Fighter 4 you can dash forward to cancel the animation of a move letting you execute consecutive moves faster.
SJC, Super Jump Cancel, HJC, High Jump Cancel:
Canceling the animation of a move with a Super Jump.
FADC, Focus Attack and Dash Cancel:
A term used in Street Fighter 4 where you do a Focus Attack and then cancel it with a Dash.
Teching, Softening, Counter-Throwing:
This is when you counter your opponents throw attempt to some degree. The results vary on the game you're playing. For example in Street Fighter 3 and 4, counter-throwing will result in both players taking no damage and bouncing away from each other a short distance, while in Super Turbo you'll still take damage, but it will be less than what you normally would have.
Armor Breaking Move:
An attack in Street Fighter 4 that cannot be absorbed. For example, Zangief's EX-Flying Powerbomb can usually absorb one attack and still follow through and grab the other fighter.
Doing an armor breaking move after Zangief does his EX-Flying Powerbomb would knock Gief out of his attack, not allowing him to absorb the hit.
Super Armor:
This is an attack move that can absorb one hit in Street Fighter 4. For example, Balrog's (Boxer) EX-Dash Punches can take a hit and still follow through to attack your opponent.
Command Throw:
A throw requiring a special input to execute. For example, the standard input for a throw in Street Fighter 2 Turbo is Towards + Hard Punch. A 'Command Throw' would be Zangief's Spinning Piledriver, which is executed by doing a 360 motion and pressing punch. It's called a command throw because it takes a special 'command' to execute it.
Balrog, Boxer, M. Bison (Japan):
Balrog's name was changed from M(ike). Bison when Street Fighter 2 was released in the United States because Capcom was afraid of a lawsuit from Mike Tyson, whom Balrog closely resembles.
Thus in some circles he's simply known as the, "Boxer," to avoid confusion.
M. Bison, Dictator, Vega (Japan):
When Street Fighter 2 was pitched to Capcom USA's marketing department, they believed that the name Vega was a weakling's name.
As such his name was changed from Vega in the Japanese release to M. Bison. To avoid confusion people refer to him as the, "Dictator."
Vega, Claw, Balrog (Japan):
Originally known as Balrog in the Japanese release of Street Fighter 2, Vega had his name changed along with two other boss characters.
To avoid confusion people refer to him as the, "Claw."
Shotos, Shotokans:
Used to define characters in a game that fight in the Shotokan karate style, usually Ryu and Ken and anyone with a similar move set, like Akuma.
Dizzy, Dazed, Stunned:
When you've beat your opponent so much that they're stunned for a brief period of time and have stars or some other icons floating around their head, they're 'dizzy'.
Block-stun:
The time it takes to recover after blocking an attack.
Fighting Styles
These definitions are by no means official, it is merely based on how I generalise each of the 37 character's fighting styles in SSF4.
Fighting Styles
Defensive
Fighters under this category excel at dealing damage from far, usually with projectiles. Up close they often lack the tools other fighters might have to battle at close range. Most of their specials would allow them to escape back to long range either with a good reversal or escape tool. Playing defensive characters requires ingenuity and patience and is one of the harder categories of fighters to use effectively.
Characters under the defensive category include:
Dhalsim, Guile, Dee Jay, Rose, Vega, Gouken
Versatile
These fighters have the best of both worlds. Versatile fighters are able to keep up a strong offense while maintaining a good defense when required. This lets them adapt to almost every situation and it is no wonder that most of the top tier fighters are classified in this category. However, they excel in neither defense or offense which opens up holes for players to capitalize on.
Characters under the versatile category include:
Ryu, Chun Li, Cody, Dan, C.Viper, Juri, M.Bison, Sagat, Akuma, Blanka, Seth, Oni, Evil Ryu
Brawler
The brawler category represents fighters who were built to be aggresive and win matches via sheer offensive pressure. Brawlers are normally weaker on defense compared to the other classes but make up for it with quick movements, strong moves and various techniques to break down defenses. Brawler vs Brawler fights can be some of the most exciting games to watch and play due to the fast pace of the matches.
Characters under the brawler category include:
Adon, Cammy, Fei Long, Sakura, Gen, Guy, Rufus, Balrog, Ken, Dudley, Makoto, Yun, Yang, Ibuki
Grapplers
Grapplers are the powerhouse of the fighting genre. Most often grapplers are bogged down by slow movements and large body sizes but this is more than made up for in sheer damage and high stamina. Certain grapplers break away from this genre and have fast movement speeds and high damage like El Fuerte. While being slower can give difficulty for grapplers to pin down an opponent, their mix-ups and ability to break down defenses in a single grab instills fear in many players.
Characters under the grappler category include:
Abel, El Fuerte, Hakan, E.Honda, Zangief, T.Hawk
Fighting Styles
Defensive
Fighters under this category excel at dealing damage from far, usually with projectiles. Up close they often lack the tools other fighters might have to battle at close range. Most of their specials would allow them to escape back to long range either with a good reversal or escape tool. Playing defensive characters requires ingenuity and patience and is one of the harder categories of fighters to use effectively.
Characters under the defensive category include:
Dhalsim, Guile, Dee Jay, Rose, Vega, Gouken
Versatile
These fighters have the best of both worlds. Versatile fighters are able to keep up a strong offense while maintaining a good defense when required. This lets them adapt to almost every situation and it is no wonder that most of the top tier fighters are classified in this category. However, they excel in neither defense or offense which opens up holes for players to capitalize on.
Characters under the versatile category include:
Ryu, Chun Li, Cody, Dan, C.Viper, Juri, M.Bison, Sagat, Akuma, Blanka, Seth, Oni, Evil Ryu
Brawler
The brawler category represents fighters who were built to be aggresive and win matches via sheer offensive pressure. Brawlers are normally weaker on defense compared to the other classes but make up for it with quick movements, strong moves and various techniques to break down defenses. Brawler vs Brawler fights can be some of the most exciting games to watch and play due to the fast pace of the matches.
Characters under the brawler category include:
Adon, Cammy, Fei Long, Sakura, Gen, Guy, Rufus, Balrog, Ken, Dudley, Makoto, Yun, Yang, Ibuki
Grapplers
Grapplers are the powerhouse of the fighting genre. Most often grapplers are bogged down by slow movements and large body sizes but this is more than made up for in sheer damage and high stamina. Certain grapplers break away from this genre and have fast movement speeds and high damage like El Fuerte. While being slower can give difficulty for grapplers to pin down an opponent, their mix-ups and ability to break down defenses in a single grab instills fear in many players.
Characters under the grappler category include:
Abel, El Fuerte, Hakan, E.Honda, Zangief, T.Hawk
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