Street Fighter Alpha 3/Chun-Li

Introduction

While not as good as her Street Fighter Alpha 2 incarnation, Chun Li is a formidable character in SFA3, with great priority on most of her moves. She's primarily regarded as an "easy mode" character. She's easy to pick up, isn't too technical, and will easily dominate at the low to medium skill levels of this game. However, as you get upwards in play level, especially against Zangief, Shotos, and Vism in general, Chun starts to struggle.

What she lost from SFA2:

- C.MK is not bufferable anymore. This is a huge detriment to her game.

- Her Kikouken has terrible recovery. Which, combined with #1, was her main strategy in Alpha 2.

- Axe Kick is much Slower. You can't really hit a good opponent with this anymore.

- Upkicks seem to be worse.

What she gained in SFA3

1. Jump Short of Doom. Ambigious J.LK with a cross up hitbox the size of Montana.

2. Xism Spinning Bird Kick and Palm Thrust.

3. Far Stand Roundhouse (S.HK) (Sakura like)

Chun can be played in any ism, and is one of the rare characters in A3 that her Vism isn't considered her #1 choice. I mostly use Chun in Xism, however, I do not think it is her best.

1 Aism: Access to Air Blocking, Alpha Counters, and Lvl 1 Supers are the only reasons Aism is better than X. It generally makes Aism handle Vism characters better. Lvl 1 Puffball super is great anti air, and Lvl 1 Senretsu makes a safe anti poke super. Overall, Aism has the slowest walk speed, and does moderate damage on normals. Her specials are generally worthless.

2 Xism- Loses Air Block, Alpha Counter, And Lvl 1 Supers. Also loses Axe Kick, Fireball, and the ability to do a non reversal upkick. Generally faster than Aism, and does buff damage on all normals. Simple Crouch Cancels off air counter hits can lead to 50-70% damage. Gains the Spinning Bird Kick and Air Spinning Bird Kick, which are surprisingly useful (have someone airblock the SBK... hilarious). Palm thrust special is actually better than Kikouken, since it knocks down, does great damage, and can hit after jab, jab, short.

3 Vism- Loses Supers, does very low damage on normals. Gains move selection ability (i.e. can do B+Fierce for close fierce... which is nice) Very Fast walk speed. Her customs are very hard. Even her *easy* one is the fireball rave, but it's half circles instead of quarter circles. With her great cross up and her heel stomp, her unblockable setups are very nice, and can lead to infinite. Which is what V-Chun is all about. If you can't get the Walk Cancel, then get the CC stomp infinites... I wouldn't really recommend playing V-Chun.

-Renegade

Moves List

Normal Moves

Stand Jab

Chun's Stand Jab

Stand Jab is VERY important to Chun-Li. It enables her to charge her B&B combo

Aism (Stand Jabx 2, Stand Short XX Kick Super)

Xism only (Stand Jab x 2, Stand Short XX Palm Thrust)

After a cross-up, sometimes it's necessary to do Stand Jab x 3, Stand short for the extra charge time.

However, Stand Jab whiffs certain characters crouching. Couple of wrinkles here though, certain characters will get hit in their crouching REEL animation (say after a jump short). Also Xism hits more characters than Aism.

Characters who cannot duck it are susceptible to stand jab harassment techniques. Walking jabs, jab then throw, etc. Use your imagination.

These Characters CANNOT duck Stand Jab (Aism or Xism) hit or block

Blanka, Zangief, Sagat, Dhalsim, Sodom, Adon, Cody (can dodge in V), E. Honda, Birdie, Bison, Balrog

These Characters Cannot Duck after a hit in Aism

Akuma Charlie

These Characters Cannot Duck Xism jabs Block/hit

Rolento Dan (sometimes 2nd jab whiffs on hit, maybe reel animation?) Akuma

Cannot Duck Xism jabs After a hit

Charlie Ryu Rose (inconsistent)

St. Jab Completely whiffs

Ken Guy Karin Vega Sakura Gen Cammy/Dolls

Stand Strong

Ah the stand strong. Fast, decent range,bufferable, and very high priority. I think her actual hand doesn't have a hittable box, so this move is great for stuffing longer range attacks.

This move really shines against Sakura and Dhalsim. It can cleanly hit the end of Sakura's foot every time she throws it out (if she's the kind of Sakura that throws 1/2 screen stand HK's). Also, if you are close enough, it will counter hit her out of the startup. Isn't the end all be all, because she still outranges you. Against Sim, it will stuff cleanly many of his long range high pokes, such as stand forward. Know your distances. Really no reason to buffer this move, but it is her longest ranged bufferable move. I'm guessing you could throw it out, hope it counter hits something, then go into Lvl 3 Senretsu Kyaku.

Stand Fierce

Stand RH

Damage 21/18/15 Stun= 8

A great long range sidekick. While you would think it's like Sakura's, there a a couple of nuances that set it much lower. One is that the tip of Chun's foot doesn't hit them... making the move a little shorter than it appears. Two is that 90% of the cast can crouch under it.

Stand RH hits mid on: Gief, Birdie, Sagat, Sodom, T.Hawk (console)

Against these characters feel free to use Stand RH with Low forward to keep these big guys out. The need to mix it up w/ low forward stems from the fact that if the opponent jumps, stand RH is pretty laggy. Also, low forward has more range.

Against all other characters, use with discretion. It has it's uses as a Shoto Fireball stuffer, and in general using against characters that spend a lot of time walking back and forth (Sakura, Guy, Rolento). If you like to fish for major counter hits for air setups, this is your move.

Close Stand RH/ B+ RH

Chun's upkick that she gained in Super Turbo. While it's pretty slow to come out, this move is almost IMPOSSIBLE to beat when someone is coming down on top of it. With the tech flip system, this can lead to big damage.

Suppose you air to air counter hit someone w/ Chun Li. Given Chun Li's priority, this happens often.

Now, the opponent tech flips the counter hit when Chun lands on the ground. Chun Li is fast enough to walk UNDER the opponent and use Stand RH to hit them (which could lead to another major counter... etc). This can lead to multiple hits, and then the opponent won't tech out at all, giving you a free smack.

Of course there are counters to this strategy if an opponent knows it. Tech Flipping really late as Chun hits Stand RH, or tech hitting forward and attempting to cross Chun up.

Crouch Strong

Crouch Fierce

Crouch Short

Crouch Forward

While not as dominant as it was in SFA2, due the buffer being removed, Chun's low forward is still a fast low poke that's great for spacing. The lack of buffer really doesn't affect much, since all of Chun Li's specials in this game aren't very good. Use it with Stand RH against 'gief and birdie to keep them at a good distance to anti air them if they jump.

Crouch RH

An actual improvement over the alpha 2 version, this buff move now always knocks down. The hit box is such that it will go over many low attacks, while being a low attack itself. Her main body can still get hit however. It is also Chun's 2nd longest range move, behind low forward. It also is about the same range as her Stand Roundhouse. B/c of it's range, relative speed, and knock down, this is a great footsie tool.

This move is also Chun Li's primary anti air against most of the cast. It works great since she's crouching (avoiding attacks) and attacking herself. However, it does lose to some notable jump-ins. Shoto's Jump Fierce and Jump Forward will stuff it clean, as will Zangief's knees (MK) and at uber close range, his splash. When anti airing with it, you generally want to hit with her feet, not further up. So it's not a very good anti air for people jumping on top of you. In those situations you to use short upkicks, puffball, upkick super, or jump airblock. (TIP: most of those tools are only available is Aism, hence why A has more overall options)

Special Moves

Lightning Legs

(XAV)

Press K Rapidly

Damage (per hit) (4/4/4)

Chun Li's Signature move. Kick button pressed determines speed of kicks. Correspondingly, the faster kick buttons must be pressed faster to get the move to come out. I really hate this concept. LK is tapping the button frequently, MK is mashing, and HK is "METAL GEAR SOLD TORTURE CHAMBER FAST". It's pretty dumb. Anyway, the damage is constant, just the # of hits will vary depending on strength. LK will get 1 hit in the open, 2 in the corner. MK will get about 3 hits wherever, and HK can get 4 hits, 5 in the corner.

Limited use for this move in this game. I suspect b/c of it's over-usefulness in customs in SFA2, they toned down the damage a lot. You'll get more damage from jabs, especially in X.

If you need a safe,chipping move that can be comboed into, this is your move.

Kikouken

(AV)

HCF+P Damage AV (10/8)

Chun's cute little fireball. Button determines speed and distance traveled. Jab goes one full screen, Strong 3/4 screen, Fierce 1/2 screen. Like all fireballs, damaged is reduced based on distance traveled. Full screen jab fireballs do 1 point of damage.

Severely toned down from SFA2, this move is near worthless. This move is incredibly unsafe even on hit. Retaliation isn't likely midscreen where the opponent is pushed back significantly, but in the corner, you're going to get comboed for free.

Also, even midscreen, the lag and the pushback resets the match and makes Chun lose momentum.

If you want to use it to nullify Ryu's fireballs at full screen, I guess you could do that.

Tenshou Kyaku

(AV) (X Reversal only)

Charge D 2 sec, U+ K

Xism Short= 9 Forward= 9+6 Roundhouse= 9+6+2

Aism Short= 8 Forward= 8+5 Roundhouse= 8+5+2

Vism Short= 7 Forward= 7+4 Roundhouse= 7+4+2

Chun Li's reversal/DP like move. Short hits once, Forward hits twice, and RH hits 3 times. The initial intention of the move was to give Chun a reliable anti air (something she seems to lack in every game)

Two Problems with it though. One, it's not as good as a DP, frequently losing to regular jump ins. Two is that it is a charge motion, meaning that you have to be crouching in anticipation of a jump in order to use it. Due to Chun's terrible fireball, this is not such a good strategy.

However, In Aism and Vism, it is her only worthwhile special to use in combos, since it knocks down, does decent damage, and since it's a down charge, can be used after her crossup. It even loops, much like Sakura's crossup, C.lkx3XX Dp. Just do crossup, low strong x Upkicks, repeat. Obviously, being able to react and not do the upkicks on block is key.

Short Version seems to have a couple of invincibility frames, so as a reversal to stop meaty attacks, it should work best.

Hazaan Shu

(AV)

HCB+K Damage (13

Chun Li's axe kick. Button pressed is distance traveled.

Two uses for this move. One, is that it is Chun Li's only ground overhead. Two is that the invincibility of it passes through fireballs.

Unfortunately, this is yet another victim of Chun's SFA2 dominance. This move is now REALLY slow, being easily blocked on reaction by just about anyone. This doesn't really mean much, b/c there aren't very many fast overheads in SFA3.

The other use, passing through fireballs, is still there, although the decreased speed will allow your opponent to block successfully after you've passed through the fireball. With Chun's cross up style game plan, if you're in the range to hit with an axe kick through a fireball, you probably could have done much better to cross him up instead.

Since it's safe on block and and overhead (albeit slow and obvious), it's not too bad to throw this out there once every few matches or so. Unless your opponent can DP it on reaction, of course.

Spinning Bird Kick

(X) (Can be done in Air)

Charge B 2 sec, F+K

4+8+8

The other Chun signature move from SF2. Button pressed is distance traveled and # of hits.

At first glance, this move looks horrible. All of the main hits whiff any crouching character in the game, leaving her up there forever waiting to be uppercutted.

But, there are some finite uses for this move.

The very first hit (the 4 points of damage) hits mid on characters shoto size and larger. The very last hit (as she is falling) seems to hit characters that can't duck her stand jab in Aism (Dhalsim,Blanka, Gief, Etc).

Also, the move seems to have invincibility as she is flipping upside down. Even though the hit doesn't come until after the invincibility is gone, it is still useful to reverse low meaty attacks and tick throws (from larger characters). I'm guessing it can also be used as a decent anti air.

The short version appears to have the most invincibility and is in the air the shortest (meaning less time between first and last mid hits). So use that one against grounded opponents.

Bonus tip: the last hit of this move also hits BEHIND her, so if you can set up a knockdown on a larger character, SBK over them as they are getting up, you have a cute parlor trick.

Bonus tip #2: Get someone to air block the RH version in the corner. The damage is obscene. At least 15% in chip. Easiest way to set this up is after Xism super puts them in the corner. They either tech flip, then block SBK.. or not tech flip, and get hit by stand fierce->SBK.

SBK can also be done it the air. You need to tiger knee the move (just go to up forward) to use it properly. It's great air to air, and can even be used as a cross up! Better up, this move always pops up, leaving the opponent in a juggle state/flip out. Chun always likes opponents in air tech guessing games. I can't tell much difference in the strengths in air, so I go w/ RH.

Palm Strike

(X) Charge B 2 sec, F+P

Super Combos

Kikosho

The puffball

(Aism) QCF x 2+ Punch

Level 1 6+6+5+5+5= 5hits= 27 Damage

Level 2 7+6+6+6+5+5+5=7hits= 40 damage

Level 3 7+7+6+6+6+5+5+5+4+4=10 hits= 55 Damage

Chun's Super Fireball. It's primary purpose is still the same, it's a great anti air at level 1 w/o having to charge. Primary uses would be to anti air jump in's directly on top of you, and to nail people who've tech flipped after an air hit. As you can see, the damage boost isn't too hot per level. Stick to level 1's. Better to have the option available than to use a level 3 right away and be vulnerable.

Upkick Super (Aism) Charge Down 2 Secs= DB,DF,DB,U + Kick

Another anti air super, this one however is less practical due to a more difficult motion and charge time. However, if the motion isn't a problem for you (hint charge db, then do a 270 from forward to up), you can perform some elite setups with this super in tech flip situations. Some easy ones are

-After a counter hit AA C.HK. -After A Senretsu Kyaku in the corner (will hit teched or not if timed right) -After air to air Counter hit

Senretsu- Kyaku (Xism/ Aism) Charge Back, F,B,F+ Kick

Chun's main combo super and anti poke super. Safe at all levels, and can actually lead to devastating follow-ups in the corner depending on X or Aim.

VISM COMBOS

Anti air: (VC1) c.RH, whiff SK, shadow hits, j.FK, CC infinite

midscreen unblockable: (VC1) crossup j.SK, c.SK, d-u+SK, whiff SK, shadow hits, j.FK, CC infinite

corner: (VC1) [hcf+P]xN

-Xenozip

Advanced Strategy

Crouch Canceling

---

Vism CC infinite

• • • CC infinite** by Xenozip

You can CC infinite with j.RH or vertical j.RH. Both her j.RH's pop the opponent up far enough if they hit twice that you can use another attack (like j.FP) to keep them at the height you want. I would recommend [j.RH, j.FP, j.FP]xN, or whatever variation you're comfortable with. You just need to get the hang of j.HK.

Headstomping in the corner forces Chun away from the corner, which is probably why you can only get one headstomp off. The repeated headstomps only works midscreen. However, there is a way for both Player 1 Chun and Player 2 Chun to loop headstomps for an infinite CC.

For Player 2 Chun it's a simple matter of crossing up in the corner with j.SK, then stomping across the screen to the other side and repeating the process.

For Player 1 Chun it's a little harder. But, it's possible to jump toward the corner, then immediately wall jump out of the corner and hit with j.SK as soon as you leave the wall. Because Chun is facing out of the corner, the j.SK pushes the opponent out of the corner as well, and you can loop more headstomps.

An example of the Player 1 headstomp infinite is like : [j.FP]x2, j.RH, jump toward corner, wallbounce -> j.SK, CC [j.d+FK]xN, late j.FP as you're landing, repeat.

The more accurately you time the stomps, the more hits you can get. It's also dependent on your position relative to your opponent's body. But, it's a whole lot easier to just stomp a few times, since if you stomp a whole bunch of a lot then you're going to get really high in the air, which makes landing more hits difficult..

I'll try to get Chun finished next so that you guys can see what I'm talking about. -Xenozip

Match-ups

Vs Zangief

Overview This is Chun Li's worst match. Even though Chun can use all of her normals here (Stand Roundhouse, Stand Strong, Stand Jab.) it really doesn't matter much. Chun's cross up game is completely shut down by Gief's KKK lariat, plus she doesn't want to get close to get grabbed. Only thing that Chun can do is zone out Gief w/ D.MK, S. HK, and use various anti airs when he jumps. Not as easy as it sounds when gief has buff jump ins. Plus, you're pecking and picking at his life bar.... When he gets in, he eats chunks away.

Ideally, Gief is in V-ism. V allows him to get in on Chun MUCH easier, and maximizes the damage from an anti-air or jump in activation. With A or X-'Gief, Gief only gets a lariat from a jump in. With Vism, that's 60-70% damage. In A or X, when gief jumps in, he can get hit or supered. With V... he activates and blows though and combos.

Chun ideally should be in Aism. Aism allows Chun to get out of trouble against gief. Xism has NO answer to gief jumping directly on top of her in the corner. A Chun can jump airblock, puffball, upkick super, short upkick, or even alpha counter. Also A Chun can airblock the lariat. While doing so leaves both at a 0 game... it may make gief try something else (which is good for Chun). If you can do Chun's infinite, Vism is a great choice here, because then Chun keeps out gief with longer, faster pokes, and a one hit kill VC. But... that's mostly theory fighter.

Match Advantage: Gief 7-3 over Chun

06-18-2003, 05:28 AM	

by Apoc

I'm just gonna toss in shit here and there as y'all pick her up.

One problem seems to be her lack of AA against Gief.

I will list them and they are ALL reliable when used properly.

Crouching RH(duh)

Walk under standing fierce(it may trade, but then as you walk forward, Gief is landing on a free RH whether he flips or not {excluding a jump in Vism})

Walk into him and st. jab (This is great for setting up her dizzying crouch cancels)

Far standing fierce (Use low forward to keep him at THAT distance. If he jumps from around her low forward range the fierce hits clean 100%)

Flipping Neck Breaker(Used to dodge the jump in and change momentum)

St. Forward (Timed so he runs into the full extension)

St.Strong(It's a frickin' shield against cross-ups in general when used properly)

St.Rh (To hit him on the way up)

Airthrow (Hello?)

Rising kick (Reversal only in X=weak)

Rising kick or puffball super.

VC

Heheh. These are all the reliable ones off the top of my head although I'm sure there are more situation specific ones.

Apoc.

Discussion

• SRK Chun-Li thread