Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/M. Bison

Dictator's portrait in Super Turbo

Color Options

New Dictator Colors

New Dictator's color options in Super Turbo
To choose the "Hold" color, press and hold any button except Start for 2 seconds. To choose any other color, simply tap the desired button.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Old Dictator Colors

Old Dictator's color options in Super Turbo
Old Dictator's input code is DUUD. Pressing Short simultaneously with Jab or Fierce will give you the alternate color.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Move Analysis

Normal Moves

Note: If I don't mention what the move does, I'm not generally using it that much. My style may differ quite a bit from your Bison style, so if you find something that works, put it up here. =)

STANDING

LP - Bison does a quick standing jab, can be rapid fired to stop Honda's Torpedos and Blanka's Ball though it's not entirely reliable, useful in some anti-air situations.

MP - Bison does a body shot that can be used in ticks, also doubles as a throw command, can favorably trade with Dhalsim.

HP - Bison's main ground to air defense in lieu of a Knee Press Nightmare, also doubles as a throw command, can favorably trade with Dhalsim.

LK - Bison does a quick knee that is used mainly in combos and ticking.

MK- Bison's main "harassment" move. It is safe, beats fireballs, controls a large amount of space, and can be whiffed while charging to start a pindown.

HK- A slower version of MK. Deals really solid damage and has some of the same uses as MK. It is great as a whiff punisher for things such as OG Ken lp shoryu.

CROUCHING

HP - Bison does a slow punch while crouching, with correct timing it can be used to beat T.Hawk's splash, as well as other moves when used as an anti-air.

MK- This move is great as a meaty on wakeup because it can stuff even Shoryus with proper timing. Bufferable, on block can safely be used to setup an lk Scissor Kick for a pindown.

HK- Slide trip. Useful if opponent techs your tick throw. Also great for positioning with a knockdown. Quite unsafe on block.

JUMPING

Neutral LK- Gret priority, stays out for a really long time, low damage but it does beat a lot air to air.

Neutral MK/HK- Both stay out a decent amount of time, horizontal kick can stuff problem jump ins like Shoto j.hk quite well.

Diagonal LP - good cross-up potential, does low amount of dizzy, stays out until you hit the ground (or the opponent).

Diagonal MP: Connects up to three times, either on 2 jumps or three, can be comboed into after Kneepress Nightmare. Outprioritized and not as good as Ryu's jmp juggles in my opinion.

Diagonal MK: Great when used as an instant overhead, excellent cross-up, can stuff Blanka's Up Ball which comes into play very often.

Diagonal HK: Great crossup, big damage, easier to use than jMK on slimmer characters. Decent priority air to air.

Normal Throws

Bison can only throw with Strong and Fierce. He has no kick throws, but Bison can still tech throws with any medium or higher punch or kick even if Bison has no kick throws. This rule applies to all characters.

Special Moves

Psycho Crusher [B (charge), F+Punch] - Also known as the torpedo, Bison flies across the screen in flames. It can do a maximum of 3 blocked hits. The distance and the speed at which it travels depends on the strength of the punch. It has been severely weakened since Super SFII, no longer has great priority besides the Jab version. Can be used to escape corners at times and can also hit opponents from behind/underneath with ridiculous timing and a lot of balls. Generally, stick with the scissor kick. If you make a mistake you can easily corner yourself. Normals beat this far too easily.

Double Knee Press [B (charge), F+Kick] - Also known as the scissor kick, Bison kicks the opponent twice in a forward motion. The distance and speed at which it travels depends on the strength of the kick. When properly spaced to do only one hit, they can be quite safe and useful in pindown strategies. They also are quite useful for scoring knockdowns if opponent tries to counter standing kicks or do low attacks. Can be used as a ghetto anti air, unlike the Psycho Crusher which gets stuffed a lot.

Head Stomp [D (charge), U+Kick] - Bison flies towards the opponent and stomps their head with his boots. You can move very flexibly after the head stomp makes contact with a grounded opponent, but when the head stomp hits an airborn opponent, the control over mobility is not as flexible. Works well to get over fireballs.

Skull Diver [press punch after the head stomp makes contact with the opponent and before landing] - This is the punch that hits the opponent's head after head stomp. You can move left or right using the joystick while performing this move. The active hitting duration of the move depends on the strength of the punch. This can combo in really weird situations.

Devil Reverse [D (charge), U+punch, (optional) punch] - Bison jumps into the air and when the player presses another punch, he turns upside down midair and does a flaming punch. You can control the movement of the attack with the joystick. Learn how to control this as it can be a safe move to do. Also good for trying to charge up and get out of the corner.

Super Move

Super [B (charge), F,B,F+kick] - He does 2 scissor kicks in a row. It has invincible startup. It is Bison's only proper reversal attack.

--Laugh 03:56, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Remixed Changes

This section refers to HD Remix (360 / PS3)

New move:

         Fake Slide = DF + HK

The fake slide recovers much more quickly than the real slide, travels a shorter distance, and it does not put the enemy into blockstun because it can’t hit at all. It’s just a way to travel quickly (and then usually throw!).

Modified moves:

               Devil Reverse: Has 2 frames of invulnerability at startup, and
                              several more frames where feet and midsection are
                              invulnerable, so you can pass through fireballs.

               Standing LP: Has better priority, can stop Honda's Headbutt and
                            Blanka's Ball but is not any better as an anti-air
                            attack.

               Jump MP: Jump straight up + MP now juggles the same as jump Back or
                        Forward + MP.

--added by: _MJ_#R

Strategy

Bison is a high pressure, high risk/reward character. He can deal big damage but has unreliable defense. He has one of the best ticking games in ST and can control the mid range with his standing kicks. There are a couple of ways to play M Bison, you can try to do a pindown/harassment offense because his pokes are pretty safe, and the scissor kick can beat a lot. You can also bait quite well and stuff a lot on wakeup with meaty clk. Other players try to go for big combos and secure a win with his dizzying high damage stuff, that's not my style, but it seems viable.

No matter your style, the main objective with Bison is to not allow yourself to get cornered. There are a lot of ways to do this, personally, in a serious match I rarely jump backward and NEVER walk backward. If I need to get over firballs at a range just outside of my mk/hk where I can't counter them, I will hop straight up over fireballs or simply block them. If I can see they're going to do it again, I want to walk up and kick them out of their fireball animation. When I can make them fear throwing fireballs, I can bait and use scissor kicks for knockdowns/chip and pressure. In the corner, his tick throws are quite difficult to get around.

If I have an aggressive one on my hands, I deal with their jumping at me with stand hp, neutral jump kicks and jmp if I have the opportunity. Jmp is great because you can push them into the corner from mid screen with 3 jmps (I don't usually do the juggle with 2 jumps only as the spacing is a lot better.)

I hope some of you add what your style is, so this can expand. Remember, there is no "right" way to play Super Turbo.

What to do in the corner without meter

This depends on the matchup and how things are going. If your opponent is playing a fireballer like Ryu and has you trapped, your best bet is to initiate head presses or whatever. Unless the Ryu sucks, you'll be getting hit out of it obviously. That doesn't matter. You're likely to lose more energy in the corner blocking fireballs/trying to hop them and hoping they make an execution mistake. Hoping for an execution mistake is the wrong way to go about it. Once you get your kneepress nightmare, try to get out of there and turn things around.

If your opponent is E Honda, sincerely hope that his hand explodes. Without meter in the corner you take Ochios until you die. There's not really a way out. Gief is also great at keeping you pinned with his body splash and can tick you to death as well as T Hawk. Basically, the only way to win these matches is to get them before they get you, don't block their jump ins, don't get cornered and try not to take a tick. Easier said than done against Honda, but Gief and T Hawk are quite a bit more "controllable" because they don't out prioritize you as badly.

Against a lesser tick thrower, aka somebody without a command grab, try to reverse their throw. You might atleast get a tech, and if you get a throw, you can escape with a slide.

Advanced Strategy

Meter Building

Dictator has only one reliable reversal, which happens to be his Super. However you only have access to the Super attack when you have a full Super meter. Meaning, in some matchups, it is especially, critically important, to know how to effectively and efficiently build meter in case you need your Super to escape a difficult trap. It also means that anyone who has a larger throw range than Dictator (like Dhalsim), can terrorize Dictator if he's without meter, with repeated throws, without fear of being reversed. This constantly comes into play against T.Hawk, Zangief, and Honda especially, who all can relentlessly tick into command throw against Dictator while giving him no chance to escape (providing that Dictator is without a full meter). Having meter is important.

Building meter can be a simple exercise at first glance. Hitting your opponent with normal attacks during combos or block strings. Retreating to a corner and doing a few Devil's Hands. Looks and sounds simple. But all of those techniques require Dictator to be on offense, or at least far enough away from his opponent where he isn't immediately open to being attacked. It's easy to build meter when you are in control over the match. Building meter on defense however, or while at a situation where you are at an extreme disadvantage (such as after getting knocked down), requires enormous dexterity and precision execution. I'll link some video examples below that illustrate just how difficult building meter at disadvantage can be, yet also showing how mastering the technique of reversal meter building, can give you a powerful weapon that few players can truly use and will completely take your opponents, even the best ones, by surprise.

Getting out of the corner against Dhalsim's throw and flame traps is enormously difficult if you don't have a full meter for a Super. If Dhalsim puts Dictator in the corner, and Dictator doesn't have meter, then Dhalsim is at a huge advantage, and can trap Dictator and lock him into the corner with Yoga flames and tick throws over and over with very little risk. So while getting out of the corner using Dictator's Super attack is the best way to go...it requires a full meter. This is why having a full Super meter before getting cornered can make such a tremendous difference in a round. However if you get put at a serious disadvantage, like a corner trap, and are a few special moves away from having a full Super meter, then you can employ a special meter building technique, involving reversal special attacks, to build enough meter to the point where you can use a reversal Super on wakeup and escape the disadvantage.

If you get cornered (or knocked down), and are close to having a full super meter, then you can sacrifice some life to build meter enough to get a Super. If you have enough life where you can take a few hits and not die, and are a few special moves away (two or three at most) from having a full meter, then you still have a chance to completely reverse the situation to your favor if your execution is really good.

Here we have a match between Hakase (Dhalsim) and Taira (Dictator). The second round opens up with Dictator getting off a few hits, and using a few special moves as well (including some that whiff), all of which build meter. However, before he has a chance to build a full Super meter, Dictator gets cornered and dizzied, and now Taira knows that he has no way to directly escape from the corner without a Super. So after the first Yoga Flame knockdown from the dizzy, Taira wakes up and blocks a meaty Yoga Flame, the next attack from Dhalsim is a Yoga Fire, Taira does a reversal special attack (either Devil's Hand or Head Stomp), and the reversal attack builds him some Super meter (pay attention to Dictator's Super meter in this sequence of events), however he eats damage and gets knocked down. Now Taira needs one more special move to come out before he can get a full Super meter. Hakase does another meaty Yoga Flame on wakeup, Taira does a reversal Devil's Hand, which gives him just enough meter that he has a full Super bar, the Yoga Flame also knocks him down. The third time Taira wakes up, Hakase tries a meaty slide, however this time Taira has built up enough meter for a Super, and unleashes it right into Hakase, who obviously hasn't been paying attention to Dictator's sneaky meter building.

So in that sequence of events starting from the dizzy, Taira (playing Dictator) has gone from being repeatedly knocked down in the corner, to getting a reversal Super combo that hits his opponent for over 50% of his life and turns the match around completely in an instant. Taira went from a situation of enormous disadvantage into winning the round with one move. Because he used a meter building strategy to give him enough meter for a Super he was able to come out on top. He had three successful reversals in three chances all in a row. The first two were reversal Devil's Hands to build meter, the last was a reversal Super to get out of the corner trap. Going three for three in back to back reversal chances in the middle of a heated tournament match is no small feat which is why this is an advanced technique. Even using the piano method with negative edge, getting a 1 frame link reversal, three times in three chances isn't something that most players can do and will require considerable practice to master.

This technique doesn't just have to be used to escape corner traps. This can be used to get Dictator out of any disadvantage situation. Or to even unexpectedly turn the tables on your opponent like outlined below.

Taira (Dictator) is facing off against YuuBou (Fei Long) and tries to use Devil's Hand while being nearly a full screen away from his opponent. YuuBou however jumps right at Taira and hits him air to air. Taira doesn't panic and immediately begins charging down and back upon getting hit in the air. He sees that YuuBou has done a chicken wing upon landing, and that it will hit Taira immediately upon his own landing. Taira is also one special move away from having a full Super meter. So Taira does a reversal Devil's Hand upon landing, which gives him enough meter, at the cost of the damage from the chicken wing. YuuBou, having followed up his last chicken wing with a throw, probably expects his opponent to counter throw, so he crouches out of Dictator's throw range and attempts a sweep. However, Taira is a few steps ahead of him, and immediately performs a reversal Super. YuuBou is completey taken by surprise, his sweep is met with a Super for massive damage. He didn't realize that Taira was building meter, and thought that his ground normal attack would be safe from anything that Dictator could throw at him. Taira wasn't at a huge disadvantage in that sequence of events during the match. He didn't need a reversal Super, but he saw an opening, a way to fool his opponent into sticking out a limb that he could Super into, and he seized it, giving him a well earned victory.

In the above example it is important to note that Taira immediately begins charging down+back (defensive crouch) after getting hit air to air. The reason is that the down part of the down+back charge was used to perform the reversal Devil's Hand on landing wakeup that gave Taira enough meter to use a Super. So Taira performs a reversal Devil's Hand by going from down+back to up+back. Because he has held back through the execution of the Devil's Hand at all times, he still maintains the necessary charge direction for the reversal Super. If you are doing two reversals, the first to build meter, the second a reversal Super, back to back, you need to overlap the horizontal charge with the vertical charge.

Here is another example of meter building from disadvantage, this time to beat tick command throws. Homer (T.Hawk) knocks Taira (Dictator) down in the corner with a command throw. T.Hawk jumps in on Dictator with a jumping forward, Taira performs a reversal Devil's Hand on wake up, the reversal Devil's Hand gives him a full Super meter, the T.Hawk player combos the jumping forward with a low jab. Now, the T.Hawk player could have done a dragon punch from the low jab and knocked Dictator down, but instead of hit confirming, he sticks with a bread and butter tick into command throw. The T.Hawk player is completely unaware that his opponent has built up a full Super meter during the jump-in sequence, and when he attempts the command throw, it is met with a reversal Super. And even worse for T.Hawk in this situation is that he does not negative edge his command throw, so a normal attack (standing fierce) comes out, and he eats every bit of damage from Dictator's Super instead of blocking it.

Yet another example against T.Hawk where meter building while taking damage wins a round. YuuVega (Dictator) is knocked down his Inomata (T.Hawk), he is one move away from having a full Meter. Dictator's opponent hits him with a meaty low jab, he does a reversal Devil's Hand, and it gives him a full Super meter. T.Hawk then tries to use a command throw, doesn't negative edge, a standing fierce instead come out, because YuuVega has done a reversal Super, and now T.Hawk gets rocked for 50% of his health and loses the round. Two reversals in a row in back to back chances, first one vertical charge for Devil's Hand reversal, second one horizontal charge for reversal Super.

This example is the most incredible of all. Taira (Dictator) against Saitou (Zangief). In the last round of this match, Taira does three reversals in three chances in a row, including doing two reversal immediately back to back. GigaMSX did a video tutorial explaining what happens in the match. I'll add more details about this match sometime in the future.

Some side notes, reversal Devil's Hand, or reversal Head Stomp, on wake up, will come out and count as reversals (you'll see the reversal message and get 1000 points). However those moves are vulnerable at startup, and will lose to jumping attacks and meaty ground normals. This is why you must sacrifice damage to build meter as Dictator. It also doesn't matter if you use Devil's Hand or Head Stomp to build meter from disadvantage as they both reward the same amount of meter (eight points).

--VirtuaFighterFour January 31, 2010

Instant Overhead

Dictator's diagonal jumping forward kick (medium kick), can be used as an instant overhead, when performed immediately after leaving the ground. So, while you are point blank next to your opponent, you do a diagonal jump (either away from or towards them), and hit the medium kick button as quickly as possible (you only have a few frames, the timing is unforgivably strict). If you do this, the jumping diagonal medium kick will come out immediately after you leave the ground, and you'll be close enough to your opponent (or low enough off the ground), so that they will have to block the attack high. If they try to block the attack low, and it is close enough to connect, then they will unsuccessfully block and instead take the hit.

What this means is that there are certain situations, where when you are close enough to your opponent, than you can force them into a 50/50 guessing game of whether they need to block high or low. So, for a basic example, let's say that you throw your opponent and they don't soften the throw, and you walk right up next to them as they are waking up. You now have two options, you can try for a meaty low forward, an attack that they'll have to block low, or you can try a meaty jumping diagonal forward as an instant overhead, an attack that your opponent must block while standing. If your opponent wants to play defensively then they cannot protect against both a low and overhead attack, they must make a decision, and an incorrect choice means that they will take damage and stun.

Your opponent doesn't necessarily have to block when they wake up from a knockdown, they can go for a reversal attack, however reversal attacks are always risky because the execution barrier is high. If they fail a reversal, and you stuck out a meaty low forward in a knockdown situation, then you can potentially score massive damage and possibly a dizzy. So most of the time your opponents will simply block low, because they'll want to protect against meaty ground attacks, and this is when you need to start using the instant overhead to wreak havoc.

One thing to remember, is that a meaty low forward is much safer, can be followed with safe block strings, can be used to tick into throw, and has serious combo potential. The jumping medium kick instant overhead has no real combo potential, is not safe in my circumstances, and has low damage potential. So why use the instant overhead at all and not simply go for a meaty low forward every time off of a knockdown and try to hit-confirm into a mix up or combos? The answer, is that a successful connect of an instant overhead, can lead to a dizzy and a huge free combo.

And that is where the instant jumping overhead for Dictator shines the most. In situations when, if it connects for that one hit, it will almost certainly guarantee a dizzy. Watch this round of Professor Jones (Dictator) against R3ko (N.Honda)

Combos

Major edit coming - VF4

Jumping Combos

I'll put all of the jumping combos including the famous crossups and ToD here

Meaty Combos

Meaty ground combos

Super Combos

I'll only list practical ones

Ground Combos

Used to attack recovering opponents or in corner games

- - -

j.rh, st.lk, cr.mk XX (any strength) scissor kick or fierce psycho crusher - This is the combo that works on any character and does good damage. Note that if you use short scissor kicks, the second hit might not connect against some of the thinner characters like Chunli.

cross up j.mk, (close) st.lk x3, st.rh - This is a 5 hit combo that requires no charging and canceling and does really good damage. It will often dizzy the opponent also. The trick for this combo is to walk forward a little bit with each close st.lk so that the third st.lk is also a close one, because far st.lk has little frame advantage and a st.rh won't combo afterwards. If you want more consistency, use one less short.

j.strong, j.strong, j.strong, super - This combo is best used in the corner, where you can get more hits of the super. It's possible to do 2 j.strong's into the super as well. After 3 j.strong's, the maximum number of juggle hits you can get with the super is 2.

(meaty) cr.mk, st.lk XX (any strength) scissor kick - A decent, practical 4 hit combo starting from a meaty that knocks down. You can substitute cr.mk or cr.mp instead of st.lk for more damage but you have to use forward or roundhouse version of scissor kick in this case.

--Laugh 04:17, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Attack Info and Frame Data

Dictator's special move the Psycho Crusher (charge b,f+p) is guaranteed to come out with a charge time of 55 frames. However there is a 50% chance that with 54 frames of charge, a successful Psycho Crusher will come out. Dictator's Scissor Kicks (charge b,f+k) will always come out with 71 frames of charge. However there is a 10% chance that scissor kicks (of any strength) will only require 70 frames of charge.

Overall those instances of randomness within Dictator's backwards charge commands don't have a tremendous impact on his game play. However the charge time difference between Psycho Crusher (55 frames) and Scissor Kicks (71 frames) of 16 frames is extremely important. The reason it is important is that some combos and some block strings will give you enough time to charge for a Psycho Crusher but not enough time to charge Scissor Kicks.

Jump at your opponent with jumping roundhouse, then combo a low forward kick, then try to combo a fierce Psycho Crusher. It should work every time. However now substitute the last fierce Psycho Crusher with roundhouse strength Scissor Kicks. You'll notice that after a jumping roundhouse, then low forward kick, the Scissor Kicks will not come out. The reason is that that jumping sequence allows only for enough charge for the Psycho Crusher and not the Scissor Kicks.

--VirtuaFighterFour 20:01, January 30, 2010

Match-ups

Blanka

The most important thing is to sort out your anti-air. Bison's primary air defense is going air-to-air: climbing jump strong, vertical jump rh/strong, escaping jump rh, etc. This isn't his only option, however - two other choices to keep in mind:
1) crouching fierce. If Blanka is eager to win an air-to-air clash with his jumping jab or short you can generally shut him down with this ground attack. You need a feel for the spacing and a read on your opponent, but crouching fierce is a good back-up anti-air.

2) run away. Psycho crusher underneath him as he jumps in. Or, if he's trying to start a cross-up short trap use a slide kick to sneak away.

In a ground battle standing medium kick is ok. Keep backing up - it's good to have a quick trigger finger on the scissor kicks and psycho crushers to catch him doing a slide punch or crouching roundhouse.

Cross up medium kick loses to reversal vertical ball. You can beat that ball from the front though. The jump kick has to be a little bit high (i.e. a shade later than "well timed") to avoid a trade.

Fierce psycho crusher seems to be a decent option. Blanka can block and counter with a crouching fierce but in my experience it's a little random. If you do one psycho crusher and he misses then another and he hits, the 6 ticks of life from the blocked crushers will add up to more damage than the one fierce punch. (nohoho)

Serious Advantage Match-ups

T.Hawk, Cammy

Advantage Match-ups

N.Sagat, Fei Long

Fair Match-ups

Zangief, Guile, Claw

Disadvantage Match-ups

Dhalsim, Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Boxer, DJ

Serious Disadvantage Match-ups

E Honda- Honda is Bison's worst match up because one blocked jump in can mean death in the corner. With no reversal, Bison loses to clp tick Ochio Throw. Bison has only one special move that beats Honda's headbutt clean, Jab Crusher. Jab Crusher must come out before the heabutt though, so it requires great timing. Your general ticking strategies won't work so well against Honda because he can store a reversal Ochio and then start ticking you back. You can zone him with mk/hk some, however, if you don't build that meter he can eventually land the one Ochio or blocked sequence he needs to win. Headbutts beat everything you want to do clean, jab crusher is unreliable as previously stated.

Chun, O.Ken, O.Sagat

External Links

Street Fighter Dojo: Dictator

NKI's translation of T.Akiba's Frame Information and SF2 Information

Yoga Book Hyper: Dictator Section in PDF format

Yoga Book Hyper: Dictator Basic Information

ST Dictator Thread at SRK

HDR Dictator Thread at SRK