Writing entries always really motivates me to go do what I am talking about. Case in point: after my last post, I went into training mode and really pounded out some of those headbutt -> ultra juggles. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I also realized it’s easier than I thought because I was practicing against an opponent in the corner and it seems the window of opportunity for the ultra is about twice as large when you’re not in the corner (and you’re usually not). Even in the corner, I can get it pretty good now. The main thing I learned is to arch my fingers so as not to put the slightest pressure against the kick buttons. Preferably I don’t want the shadow of my fingers to hit the kick buttons cause the TE stick is that sensitive. I’ve extended my practice to doing c.mp xx headbutt then ultra. The c.mp xx headbutt is quite easy, but adding another step does increase the overall difficulty a bit as it’s a few more things to keep in mind (start with punch, cancel it into headbutt, maintain backcharge the entire time). Still, not bad though, and makes for a pretty hurtful combo.

I also worked on my links a bit for the hell of it. Balrog’s are practically impossible for me. I gave up fairly quickly and discovered Guile’s are quite a bit easier (at least the ones I was attempting). And by quite a bit easier I mean very difficult, but not soul-crushingly so. So now my training consists of the 3-step Balrog combo I mentioned above and I will start doing lp > mp and c.lp > c.mp links with Guile. Impressive, I know. I can get Guile’s links down a decent amount of the time, like maybe 33% or so, but the timing on links is so strict that I still feel very far away from any kind of reliability. And, unlike Balrog’s juggle, this is really just a building block as opposed to a useful combo.

It also occurred to me after my last post that I do actually do a few more combos that I never talk about. When I play Ryu on occasion, I can do some of his simple stuff. And I very often attempt Balrog’s c.lp, c.lp > c.lp xx headbutt in real matches. It works sometimes. I only try it because otherwise I’d just be doing c.lp, c.lp, c.lp at these times and I figure I might as well try to add the headbutt in (which might even connect if it doesn’t combo. Or it might get blocked and punished).

Quarter circles are getting a lot easier on the TE stick, even though I am rarely playing QC characters. Even double-QC’s are coming along ok although I’m still not comfortable with them.

I like Fei Long a lot as a character. I never cared for his gameplay much in SSF2 and still he’s not at all my type of character. He’s a rushdown guy, where I’m more of a zoning type of dude. Still, he’s pretty badass and I think I’ll start playing him a bit on the side. I think the main stumbling block to getting just the basics down with him is that one of his main attacks is a QC, which can (and should) be followed up by 2 more immediate QC’s. This is not exactly the same as a double-QC, as it’s a full QC with attack, followed by another 1 or 2 full QC’s with attack. I almost never get the second one out. I think I got the third out once. Perhaps he’s the perfect way to learn QC’s. Or to drive myself over the edge of sanity.