Street Fighter (1987)/Sagat/Matchups: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:54, 3 December 2024

Overview Movelist Matchups Strategy Misc

Adon

Medium Kick trivializes this match-up. Just medium kick anytime Adon thinks of going for a jump attack. Adon like almost everyone has a loop on you but it is extremely difficult to pull off. Tiger shot should ONLY be used if Adon isn't jump attacking and is attempting to get in with his own medium or heavy kick. Even then medium kick ruins that plan to though. If you just respond to everything with medium kick you will probably win with ease.

Birdie

Behold your rival, this absolute monster is the only thing Sagat fears. That being said the feeling is mutual. If birdie lands one light kick you probably lose. However, as Sagat you have plenty of tools to make sure that never happens. Medium kick being the greatest threat, stuffs both jump-in and walk-ins.

If the Birdie finds his way-in though your best option is heavy-kick. Birdie has a very hard time spacing himself properly and heavy kick can often force side-swap shenanigens. This is not even close to 100% reliable though, and even if you do get out birdie may be able to respond in time. In other words keep birdie out.

If the Birdie decides to go for headbutt a lot in neutral, punish with Neutral Tiger Knee( aka "The Guillotine") and cut this chickens head off.

Eagle

Similar story to Birdie however noticibly more in your favor. If Eagle hits a Jab you are thouroughly cooked as his loop is far harder to get out of. However, Eagle will have a much harder time starting this loop as his approach game is pretty bad. If fullscreen tiger shot is free even on block. At mid screen, if the eagle blocks this is what you should do. The eagle should jump in and try to start his jab loop. However the timing is really tight which is why you should attempt to light kick the second Eagle lands. DO NOT light kick eagle in the air or he may just get a free jab loop due to air hitstun and knockback being height dependent. If you successfuly launch go for tiger shot as the eagle will have buffered a jab and will likely be free, their by ending the round on the spot.

In fact I highly recommend you probe Eagle mains you are unfamiliar with to see if they can punish tiger shot successfully or not, as if they can't punish Tiger Shot at mid-far screen you can just repeat what was said above until end of set. Even if they can it can be a decent mix up option.

If the Eagle is good at punishing tigershot you now have to play some high risk nuetral. If the eagle spins go for light-kick up close and if they are out of light kick range you should be out of spin range and can ounish with either tieger shot or knee. Eagle does have a frame one and it's the very move that loops you so be careful if your trying to loop him or you may jsut get looped back.

Geki

If you find your self in this match-up the other player is either new or attempting an old meme. This match-up is pretty good for Sagat in the modern meta. Your plan is to tiger knee on round start and continue to tiger knee until round end. If you somehow got hit(screwed up) and Geki obtained life lead, you probably lose. Geki can teleport stall Sagat and I will talk about your options in this situation further down. He however has no options to deal with tiger knee on round start and back jumping isn't very helpful either.

If you find Geki always back jumps(as he probably should) you can also go for tiger shot on round start. Unless your already in a comfortable lead and are memeing this is not recommended. As it will fail against

-You Screwed Up Okay the Geki is now going to hold back for the rest of the match and there is almost nothing you can do about it. However, it was discovered that Geki's teleport block doesn't respond well to tiger shot it as it often forces him out of corner. You can then attempt to side swap him, either by trying to guess where he ends up or using heavy kick around where he ends up to jank the game even further and maybe hit him regaining life lead and probably winning the game. This your best shot good luck.

Gen

You look at the tier list and you think. This'll be easy. But, Gen actually has some decent counter play against Sagat. If he hits a jump attack he can loop you, and his Heavy Kick is decent at contesting your neutral options. However, your still very much in the driver's seat. Medium Kick contests Heavy Kick and Heavy Kick is somewhat punishable with Tiger Shot, but if then Gen is good be careful throwing out Tiger shot.

Overall, you should still win this match-up consistently if you just respect Gen's jump attack and poke him properly.

Lee

Lee's loop move is his lunge-punch. However, lunge punch is very easy for Sagat to stuff as it only hits after landing. Use Knee and medium kick liberally in this match-up and you should be okay.

Joe

Neutral, and specifically round start, may be a challenge against Joe. If you're up-close against him, it's a gamble whether you come out unscathed or not. MK is a good move to go under his high hitting normals, but his gut punch is a strong move in the matchup. Gut Punch and his MK are good anti-air normals, so don't use Forward Jump Attacks often (unless you know what you're doing). Joe's Forward Jump Attack is very fast and is a valid opener versus Retsu, but he does have a few preemptive tools against it. Neutral Jump Attack beats it clean, and both MP and HK can catch Joe while he's jumping forward. Your win condition is to force Joe to the corner because he can't do anything against HK spam once his back is to the corner.

Mike

A fascinating yet simple match-up. You and Mike loop each other, so the match is pretty volatile. Knee beats kneedash and crouch punch. low kick trades with crouch punch. Tiger Shot destroys standing punch.

So basically you have to condition mike into either Knee dashing too much or standing punch too much and punish accordingly. The match up is certainly Sagat favored as most are, but is far from unlosable as Mike only needs to hit three times to KO. You loop Mike hard with Knee and light kick. Just be sure to watch how he launches so that you can follow up appropriately.

Medium Kick is actually far less useful than usual as Mike can kneedash under the late hit and loop you to death.

Retsu

Very Easy match up.

Mash buttons, your opponent made a mistake. Don't walk into corner otherwise go nuts.

Sagat

Once believed to be a simple Tiger Shot fest this match-up has evolved dramatically. Tiger Shot on round start is a massive gambit as if the other Sagat blocks you lose, as such it has fallen out of favor as the common round start. Usually both players play some intense footsies and poke before one hits and wins. You reliably loop your self with knee. Who ever blocks tiger shot wins, therefore the matches often veers toward a close quarters standoff. Player psychology is extremely important to this match-up, as who ever can read better will win. Very volatile, Good luck.

Ken

Ken has no loop on you. However, DP will do monstrous damage if it hit's right. Your best bets are to either bait Hadoken and punish with tiger shot or jump it and light kick ken to death. Most Ken's have a very hard time DPing out of hitstun so once you land a hit they usually just die. Basically just wait for an opening and pounce. Also, don't bother blocking Hadoken as unlike your fireball it has basically no end lag. Tiger shot is difficult to punish though.

You will draw more in this match up than most but that's fine because you will usually be the one forcing the draw. Basically, if a Hadoken is coming and you don't have the time to react just tiger shot, because of the way the game works you will both hit.

Overall this match up is pretty Sagat favored as the Ken can't easily deal with you at range and Hadoken is a big risk for him. Also, your light kick easily punishes DP just don't let Hadoken hit you too much and don't get too close to DP range and you should win.

As a small aside if Ken successfully hits you with Tatsumaki he will automatically win however this is very risky and you will probably punish it on accident.

Game Navigation

Street Fighter (1987) and SF1++
General
Controls System FAQ

SF1
Ryu Ken
SF1++
Adon Birdie Eagle Geki Gen Lee Joe Mike Retsu Sagat

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ====Adon====
-This matchup is mostly dependent on who has the lifelead. Though the matchup is arguably more straightforward for Retsu, it's not necessarily easier. Pay close attention to the health in this matchup, as it usually determines who has to take the offensive.
+Medium Kick trivializes this match-up. Just medium kick anytime Adon thinks of going for a jump attack. Adon like almost everyone has a loop on you but it is extremely difficult to pull off. Tiger shot should ONLY be used if Adon isn't jump attacking and is attempting to get in with his own medium or heavy kick. Even then medium kick ruins that plan to though. If you just respond to everything with medium kick you will probably win with ease.
-If you have lifelead, you'll have the advantage. HK is what you'll be using for most of your defensive gameplan. It outprioritizes and outranges all of Adon's moves, so you'll usually be able to safely keep him at bay and widen the life gap further using it. Beware of Adon getting close to you, as his options up close are much better than yours and do massive damage. Also keep in mind that Adon may be able to take advantage of trades to take the lifelead, so always stay at the range where his attacks can't reach you.
+====Birdie====
+Behold your rival, this absolute monster is the only thing Sagat fears. That being said the feeling is mutual. If birdie lands one light kick you probably lose. However, as Sagat you have plenty of tools to make sure that never happens. Medium kick being the greatest threat, stuffs both jump-in and walk-ins.
-When forced to go on the offense, the matchup becomes tougher, but not hopeless. While jumpkick can be useful for approach, you have to pick the right time to use it very carefully due to Adon's MP/HP being able to easily anti air it. Backing Adon into a corner and poking with HK can be a good method of offense, and if he tries to regain space, that's the best time to jumpkick if they aren't expecting it. Take advantage of your superior range.
+If the Birdie finds his way-in though your best option is heavy-kick. Birdie has a very hard time spacing himself properly and heavy kick can often force side-swap shenanigens. This is not even close to 100% reliable though, and even if you do get out birdie may be able to respond in time. In other words keep birdie out.
-Adon's jumpkick can be anti aired with HK or an earlier jumpkick of your own. Though generally your moves will take priority over jumpkick, be careful of it due to the high damage it deals. At the very least, it'll deal less damage if it hits air-to-air. A niche but potentially useful thing to know is that MK can serve as a counterattack to Adon's MK/HK if he's pressing it at close range.
+If the Birdie decides to go for headbutt a lot in neutral, punish with Neutral Tiger Knee( aka "The Guillotine") and cut this chickens head off.
-Keep a good distance from Adon and maintain the lifelead if possible. HK is your best friend. Patience is extremely important in this matchup.
+====Eagle====
+Similar story to Birdie however noticibly more in your favor. If Eagle hits a Jab you are thouroughly cooked as his loop is far harder to get out of. However, Eagle will have a much harder time starting this loop as his approach game is pretty bad. If fullscreen tiger shot is free even on block. At mid screen, if the eagle blocks this is what you should do. The eagle should jump in and try to start his jab loop. However the timing is really tight which is why you should attempt to light kick the second Eagle lands. DO NOT light kick eagle in the air or he may just get a free jab loop due to air hitstun and knockback being height dependent. If you successfuly launch go for tiger shot as the eagle will have buffered a jab and will likely be free, their by ending the round on the spot.
-Video of the matchup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1EEFfXG2Q
-====Birdie====
+In fact I highly recommend you probe Eagle mains you are unfamiliar with to see if they can punish tiger shot successfully or not, as if they can't punish Tiger Shot at mid-far screen you can just repeat what was said above until end of set. Even if they can it can be a decent mix up option.
-This matchup is just miserable. Birdie is unable to be launched while he is attacking with his headbutt, and as a result, even Retsu's best headbutt answers, which are unfortunately also his slowest tools (MK, HK, Jump Attack), leave Retsu very disadvantaged on hit, allowing Birdie to just headbutt again and score a lot more damage. Much like other Birdie matchups, once he is in, there is very little Retsu can do to get him away. Simply put, Retsu lacks a sufficient response to headbutt, and so Birdie can bulldoze him with no real consequences.
-Even though this matchup is miserable for Retsu, there are certain strategies that could give you the victory against the counterpick or if Birdie is not playing at his full potential.
+If the Eagle is good at punishing tigershot you now have to play some high risk nuetral. If the eagle spins go for light-kick up close and if they are out of light kick range you should be out of spin range and can ounish with either tieger shot or knee. Eagle does have a frame one and it's the very move that loops you so be careful if your trying to loop him or you may jsut get looped back.
-F.JA is +15f when hitting Birdie while he is in his standing animation, allowing you to perform a back walkdash and execute an HK, which will always win against Birdie's LP. Now, if Birdie doesn't know he can perform an LP or if he wasn't paying attention to the play, you can perform a forward walkdash and execute an MP, wait a moment, and then perform an F.JA to start the mixup again.
+====Geki====
+If you find your self in this match-up the other player is either new or attempting an old meme. This match-up is pretty good for Sagat in the modern meta. Your plan is to tiger knee on round start and continue to tiger knee until round end. If you somehow got hit(screwed up) and Geki obtained life lead, you probably lose. Geki can teleport stall Sagat and I will talk about your options in this situation further down. He however has no options to deal with tiger knee on round start and back jumping isn't very helpful either.
-Use MK sparingly, as it is -5f on hit and Birdie will always have the advantage in this exchange.
-When Birdie performs his Forward Jump Attack (F.JA), the best option is to use LK instead of HK. There are two reasons for this: HK allows Birdie to hit you twice if you miss, and LK gives you a +7f advantage. You can also use LP, which gives you a +12f advantage, but this will change your number of hits to finish the match (whether this is good or bad depends on the player and the context).
-====Eagle====
-While this may seem like a daunting matchup, since Eagle is capable of punishing your HK from most ranges, it is very possible with proper patience and defense. HK is safe at absolute max range, so the key to this matchup is being able to space properly in order to safely do damage and keep away from Eagle. Though Eagle's individual moves overall do more damage, you can match him in the damage race with HK and jumpkick.
-If Eagle manages to get close to you, things might get rough, but you're not screwed. LP does beat all of Eagle's moves by one frame, and you can utilize MK to duck under any Eagle move excepting his kick. Chains like LP -> MK -> HK or just MK -> HK are viable ways to get Eagle away and turn the tide in your favor once again.
+If you find Geki always back jumps(as he probably should) you can also go for tiger shot on round start. Unless your already in a comfortable lead and are memeing this is not recommended. As it will fail against
-The video below is a great dense and informative guide to the Eagle:Retsu matchup. It is in Spanish, however, so unless you know the language you may need to use Youtube's auto-generated captions.
+-You Screwed Up
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF6FsMVm2Gc
+Okay the Geki is now going to hold back for the rest of the match and there is almost nothing you can do about it. However, it was discovered that Geki's teleport block doesn't respond well to tiger shot it as it often forces him out of corner. You can then attempt to side swap him, either by trying to guess where he ends up or using heavy kick around where he ends up to jank the game even further and maybe hit him regaining life lead and probably winning the game. This your best shot good luck.
-====Geki====
-This matchup might actually be quite frustrating if you're unsure how to play it. But in reality, it's very simple. LK is your friend. Make sure not to get hit by Geki roundstart. If you can close in on him, then he's already just about screwed. He may try to use LP or MP to hit you when close, but you can easily blow up these attempts by pressing LK. If he gets the lifelead, note that Retsu is basically incapable of mixing the direction up to try and mess Geki up, so while landing the first hit isn't hard for you, don't underestimate its importance.
 ====Gen====
-One of those matchups that is heavily centered on getting the lifelead. When you have the lead, there isn't too much to worry about other than Gen's quick jump attack. If Gen takes the lead, however, things will become difficult. Thanks to Gen's MK/HK, Retsu will have a difficult time approaching and winning back the lifelead.
+You look at the tier list and you think. This'll be easy. But, Gen actually has some decent counter play against Sagat. If he hits a jump attack he can loop you, and his Heavy Kick is decent at contesting your neutral options. However, your still very much in the driver's seat. Medium Kick contests Heavy Kick and Heavy Kick is somewhat punishable with Tiger Shot, but if then Gen is good be careful throwing out Tiger shot.
-Should you lose the lifelead, there's no need to panic. Recklessly rushing toward or jumpkicking Gen may just lead to getting clipped by yet another kick and the life gap widening even further. It's best to attempt to punish the recovery of his MK/HK with your own HK. This is admittedly quite difficult due to the short window where Gen is vulnerable, though. Utilizing HK will also allow you to successfully deal with any attempts for Gen to surprise you with a quick jumpkick or walk-up MK/HK.
+Overall, you should still win this match-up consistently if you just respect Gen's jump attack and poke him properly.
 ====Lee====
-Tough matchup for Retsu as Lee can blow up your defense with his HP. Don't try to turtle, and instead try to keep the Lee on their toes and counterpoke as often as you can. LP can knock them out of HP, but don't spam it, since Lee has other ways around it.
+Lee's loop move is his lunge-punch. However, lunge punch is very easy for Sagat to stuff as it only hits after landing. Use Knee and medium kick liberally in this match-up and you should be okay.
 ====Joe====
 Neutral, and specifically round start, may be a challenge against Joe. If you're up-close against him, it's a gamble whether you come out unscathed or not. MK is a good move to go under his high hitting normals, but his gut punch is a strong move in the matchup. Gut Punch and his MK are good anti-air normals, so don't use Forward Jump Attacks often (unless you know what you're doing). Joe's Forward Jump Attack is very fast and is a valid opener versus Retsu, but he does have a few preemptive tools against it. Neutral Jump Attack beats it clean, and both MP and HK can catch Joe while he's jumping forward. Your win condition is to force Joe to the corner because he can't do anything against HK spam once his back is to the corner.
 ====Mike====
-Surprisingly one of Retsu's most brutal matchups. There's not much you can do against Mike, as he can kneedash under any move of Retsu's other than MK, and MK is too slow and weak in this case to match the might of Mike's kicks. It is generally advised you pick a different character for this one.
+A fascinating yet simple match-up. You and Mike loop each other, so the match is pretty volatile. Knee beats kneedash and crouch punch. low kick trades with crouch punch. Tiger Shot destroys standing punch.
+So basically you have to condition mike into either Knee dashing too much or standing punch too much and punish accordingly. The match up is certainly Sagat favored as most are, but is far from unlosable as Mike only needs to hit three times to KO. You loop Mike hard with Knee and light kick. Just be sure to watch how he launches so that you can follow up appropriately.
+Medium Kick is actually far less useful than usual as Mike can kneedash under the late hit and loop you to death.
 ====Retsu====
+Very Easy match up.
+Mash buttons, your opponent made a mistake. Don't walk into corner otherwise go nuts.
 ====Sagat====
-You won't survive
+Once believed to be a simple Tiger Shot fest this match-up has evolved dramatically. Tiger Shot on round start is a massive gambit as if the other Sagat blocks you lose, as such it has fallen out of favor as the common round start. Usually both players play some intense footsies and poke before one hits and wins. You reliably loop your self with knee. Who ever blocks tiger shot wins, therefore the matches often veers toward a close quarters standoff. Player psychology is extremely important to this match-up, as who ever can read better will win.
+Very volatile, Good luck.
+====Ken====
+Ken has no loop on you. However, DP will do monstrous damage if it hit's right. Your best bets are to either bait Hadoken and punish with tiger shot or jump it and light kick ken to death. Most Ken's have a very hard time DPing out of hitstun so once you land a hit they usually just die. Basically just wait for an opening and pounce. Also, don't bother blocking Hadoken as unlike your fireball it has basically no end lag. Tiger shot is difficult to punish though.
-Anyways, you can theoretically loop him if you can get him to back in to corner, but no Sagat should fear you. Otherwise, he's stronger than you, faster than you, zones better than you, and doesn't get launched by any of your moves. Finally, as you can't loop him out of corner, he can often throw out tiger shot carelessly, and if he hits, it's likely round over.
+You will draw more in this match up than most but that's fine because you will usually be the one forcing the draw. Basically, if a Hadoken is coming and you don't have the time to react just tiger shot, because of the way the game works you will both hit.
-====Shotos====
+Overall this match up is pretty Sagat favored as the Ken can't easily deal with you at range and Hadoken is a big risk for him. Also, your light kick easily punishes DP just don't let Hadoken hit you too much and don't get too close to DP range and you should win.
+As a small aside if Ken successfully hits you with Tatsumaki he will automatically win however this is very risky and you will probably punish it on accident.
 {{Navbox-SF1}}