Good Evening. This is the first in a series of posts that I will handle concerning my view of the more technical aspects Street Fighter. With the arrival of Street Fighter 4 and other top tier fighting games already out there like Virtua Fighter and MK v.DCU I am hoping this becomes the year of fighter. There is no other genre of game where you are truly weighed directly against your competitor brain v. brain reflexes v. reflexes mano v. mano? The other really great thing about Fighting Games is how goddamn deep they are. You can enjoy the top crust of the game for years without even realizing the deeper core of game play and technique that the game offers. since a A good fighting game like Street Fighter allows for the greatest player freedom in experimenting and discovering which techniques work better in which situation and allows for a type or artistic free style when putting all of these different strands of thinking together, its kind of like playing a musical instrument.
I learned mostly everything I know about street fighter from days in the Showcase Cinema's in Revere where i would dominate and be dominated standing at a machine placing quarters in a slot. At any moment, if I was paying attention I could watch the next guy get on the sticks and show me something new, and then try to use it against him. As time wore on, some techniques began to form a core of any good player's repertoire in that they, when used at the correct moment lead most often to winning. Now, with the fall of the arcade and the lack of an arcade machine at every pizza place movie theater the fighting game is driven on to x-box live. You cant just sit next to a machine and watch someone, they just come into your living room, beat the shit out of you and disappear into the ether. Unless you are some kind of savant you really can't take anything from these sessions, and the chances of playing the same player from a line that is "as big as the internet" is rare, so you don't get prolonged exposure to good techniques/strategies. There are some great sites out there that really get in depth on these strategies, including all the forums on www.shoryuken.com. However, at times these boards are pretty intimidating. It's kind of like asking a NASA engineer how to change your oil, and that engineer is really pissed all the time about changing oil since like 100 other goofballs already asked the same question, and he can't talk about space shuttles with his fellow NASA friends. So we are going to smash through the glass ceiling, feminism style, here and lay out the basics, that start as the foundation for any good Street Fighter player. In case you don't get the picture. IF YOU LEARN THESE MOVES THE LAKERS WILL SHOW UP AT YOUR PLACE AND WAVE TOWELS AT YOU AND SAY RAD SHIT LIKE OHHH NO HE DIDN'T
WHAT IT BE:Crossup
The crossup is one of the most basic moves in the fighting game repotire. In plain English a corssup is an attack that actually lands behind the opposing character, thereby connecting with the opponents back, behind his block. It looks kind of bizarre, but it has been around since Street Fighter II.
HOW YOU DO DAT?
The crossup is most simply executed by using any of the character's medium kick attacks after reaching an apex over the opponents head. If the crossup lands the opponent will be wide open for a combination, likely leading to stun(dizzy).
HOW YOU DO DAT (IN PARTICULAR)
Crossover/Cross up - Is what it sounds like. You begin doing something to get your opponent focusing hi sattention one way, then you fake them out by quickly jumping up and over (preferrably someone will run out into your game area and wave a wight towle at you and scream out that celery stix is the shit). Since the main point of the crossup/crossover is going over the opponent's block, he must first be induced to block, otherwise he would be able to back flip out of the way or use an anti - air attack like a shoryuken/tiger uppercut etc. This is usually accomplished by poking the oppnent with short low jabs or light kicks to induce the opponent to block low, then quickly jumping over the opponent and landing the kick on top of his head.
DONT FORGET
The rationale of the move. (1)Induce the opponent to block (2) Jump on top of opponent's head, medium kick/other reliable move that creates medium damage and medium knock back so as to set the opponent up for further combination without knocking him out of range. (3) No matter what people will eventually figure out whats doing if you fall into a set pattern. You can cross up out of a variety of moves or scenarios, so long as your opponent is blocking and you can get over them quickly. Practice, get into as many scenarios as you can. The most important thing to remember is that no amount if technique can tell you "when" to utilize a certain move, only experience, pick a character and get good with it.
BEWARE
Since the Crossup has been around since 92' most player will know that its coming if the move is obvious. Without properly inducing the opponent to block or getting him off balance in some way, you will be juming in like an idiot totally exposed to any anti air attack or super/ultimate attack. Also beware, some individuals believe that this move is "cheap" but fail to describe why it exists in the game. American Hero John Runyon, center on the Philadelphia Eagles, and like 39 Time Pro Bowler will gladly punch people in the testicles at the bottom of piles, to get an edge, to help his team win, becaus someone else would gladly punch him in the testicles to get to McNabb, which would be a failure for Runyon who does not know how to fail. There is no mysterious code of honor in games or life, other than winning and realizing that you are involved in a zero sum game where all is chaos and there is no over riding moral authority to bind your actions. To not do everything available to you is ridiculous, you can't just say that there is a code or a rule when there isn't, its like a mad man putting a hat on a fire hyrdant and screaming that it is the "A Number One Duke of New York."
SAMPLE MOVE: (I will try to do all my Sample Moves with Ken, although Sakura is my number one, I couldn't tell you the names of her moves. PLUS Ken Rules and everyone, with some rare exemples, uses him wrong. Ken is also super balanced, and is a good archetype for the large class of quarter circle forward characters.
"Safe Jump/Safe Sash" in (this is its own thing, needless to say its pretty self explanatory) so that you are out of range of the other charcter. A good principle is to eyeball two caharcter lengths between yourself and the opponnent. I like to run fiece dragon kick, the opponent sees it coming and should block, if he doesn't block you're going to hit him anyway. Once block is enabled and after the third spin, immediialt go into a low crouching foot jab with light kick. THis sould initiate low block (AND LOOK AT ALL THE CHIP DAMAGE YOU ARE GETTING) when you feel ready tap up, at the apex of the opponents head huse medium kick, which will land for a charcter space and a hal, this sshould impact with the opponent's back, behind the block. Once back there do your thing, i like to round house into EX spinning dragon kick. Butu feel free to do whatever.
In case my explanation made no sense, here is a video. This is of SFA3 but its the exact same mechanic in SF4 (crossups start at minute 3 Link up is basically light punch int medium punch combos, keeping the opponent close with lighter moves so you can get more hits in rather than gettig knocked back)
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