Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/Cammy

Cammy's portrait in Super Turbo

Introduction

Competitive Overview

Most rankings tend to put poor Cammy pretty low on the charts in terms of overall fighting strength, occasionally even dead last. Is she really that bad? I'm not really good enough to hold an educated opinion, but I don't believe she's as weak as her reputation might have you believe.

Perhaps one of the reasons she gets a bad rap from some people is because her playstyle is a little unusual. Other characters have more straightforward strategies -- Ryu throws fireballs, FeiLong pressures with the Rekka Ken, Zangief wants to get in close so he can start doing command throws -- but Cammy's a lot more subtle. Combine this with the fact that one of her key special moves requires a high level of technical execution and you have a character with a high learning curve that gets written off a lot.

Curiously enough, opinions vary wildly even among top players about how good (or should I say bad?) Cammy really is, what her good and bad matchups are, and so forth. This leads me to believe that there's actually a lot of relatively unexplored territory when it comes to her. Here's to the search!

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Strengths and Weaknesses

At a glance, here are some of the main things Cammy has working for and against her:

Advantages

• Excellent footspeed
• Pretty good poke and footsie arsenal
• Outstanding priority with jumping attacks using j.strong
• Fast Hooligan Rolls can be hard for the opponent to react to in time
• Good anti-air, reversal, and counter-move abilities with the Thrust Kick
• Decent super move

Disadvantages

• Lacks a projectile
• Needs to be crafty; usually can't rely on any one particular strategy to win games
• Requires careful handling to pressure by dealing chip damage with special moves
• Jumps slowly, which can leave her vulnerable to anti-air counters
• Has no grabs; ground throws have only average damage and range
  

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

New and Old Versions Comparison

Old Cammy can be accessed with the input code UUDD. Some of the known differences are:

• Old Cammy can't do a super move, like any other old character. While Cammy's super generally isn't considered the greatest, it's not exactly useless either and is nice to have around sometimes.
• Old Cammy can't tech throws, like any other old character. This is a considerable loss.
• Old Cammy can't perform the Hooligan Roll. This hurts her dynamism a lot.
• Old Cammy's j.short doesn't have cross-up properties. This means Old Cammy doesn't have a true crossup attack at all, as far as I'm aware. She can still land on the opposite side with j.fierce, but it is not blocked as a crossup, and the positioning and timing required is tricky.
• Old Cammy can't buffer special moves off a c.strong, c.forward, or s.close forward.
• Old Cammy's Spin Knuckles can travel through projectiles no matter which version you use (jab, strong, or fierce). Only New Cammy's jab version can do that.
• Old Cammy's Spin Knuckles don't move as far horizontally as their New Cammy counterparts. The jab version goes much shorter, the strong version goes somewhat shorter, and the fierce version goes a bit shorter.
  

It seems most players believe New Cammy to be clearly superior.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Color Options

New Cammy Colors

New Cammy'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 (March 31, 2007)

Old Cammy Colors

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

--Raisin (March 31, 2007)

Moves List

Normal Moves

Here are some of the more notable normal moves that Cammy has available to her. These descriptions only scratch the surface of the game's depth and should by no means be considered a complete examination.

s.far jab can be mashed quickly to counter moves like Blanka's Ball or E.Honda's Headbutt.
s.far short just might have the least range of any move in the game, haha. If you're sneaky, though, you can actually use this to your advantage to miss with it on purpose in certain tick throw setups -- the illusion of an attack can scare them into blocking, while the miss makes sure they don't get pushed back and stay in throw range.
s.far forward has both speed and range and serves as one of Cammy's very best pokes.
s.far RH is a weird move with deceptively good range. It's unusual in that it has a lot of startup frames before it hits but not too many recovery frames. Most players don't use it very much, but it can see some important action in certain matchups.

s.close strong sometimes gets used in combos. Other times, people employ it as a meaty attack.
s.close fierce is a prime combo move or meaty attack that buffers nicely into various special moves.
s.close RH looks like it would counter high-flying opponents, but I personally have never had much success using it for that (or anything else, for that matter).

c.jab can be used as a tick setup or mashed to ward off Blanka's Ball attack.
c.strong may not look like much, but it has weird properties and actually beats a lot of ground moves that it looks like it shouldn't in the poking and footsie game. Sometimes it gets put in combos, since its timing is less strict than some other alternatives. Another idea is to buffer it into special moves, such as Thrust Kicking afterwards for a dangerous duo from close range. Old Cammy cannot buffer off of this move.
c.fierce can be surprisingly-good anti-air against certain medium-height jumpers like Ryu, Ken, and Guile, along with the low-jumping Boxer. Although the Thrust Kick is usually used for that job, sometimes it's easier and faster just to bash this move out instead to save a split-second, especially if your reflexes aren't the greatest. Try it and see what you think.
c.short tends to see action primarily as a tick setup.
c.forward is one of Cammy's best moves, period. Its good range and quick speed make it low-risk and a major part of Cammy's footsie game. You can combo this move with itself if you're close enough, but the timing is pretty tight. It also buffers well into special moves like Cannon Drills and Hooligan Rolls. Old Cammy cannot buffer off of this move.
c.RH is Cammy's foot sweep which does good damage and knocks down. Try to be careful not to miss with it, because it has a lot of recovery frames that leave her vulnerable for a long time after the kick.

j.jab is normally used as a tick-throw setup. j.strong is a pretty amazing move with huge priority. It's considered to be one of Cammy's staple jumping attacks against grounded opponents, because the angle is favorable and it tends to fare relatively well against certain types of anti-air moves.
j.fierce is a solid punch that hits hard and lends itself well to big combos.
j.short has both good range and an unusual hitbox and does double duty serving as Cammy's cross-up air attack. It requires reasonable accuracy to perform correctly, and your margin for error will vary depending on what opponent you're facing -- some of them are wider than others. Note that Old Cammy's j.short is different and can't cross up opponents. This move can also be used in a different way, as a kind of aerial wall. For example, if you suspect Dictator might try to head stomp you, simply jump straight up and hit short and he should be repelled.
j.forward hits higher than most jumping attacks. You might consider it for air-to-air encounters. Although you probably wouldn't guess it from its appearance, it has slightly less range than her j.short or j.RH.
j.RH is powerful and has good horizontal range. For example, you might use it to clip Ryu when you jump over his fireball from longe range.

--Raisin (April 30, 2007)

Throws

→ or ← + Strong or Fierce: Back Drop. Cammy grabs the opponent by the waist and slams them backwards.
→ or ← + Forward or Roundhouse: Leg Flip, in which Cammy uses her legs to hurl the opponent down.

Both throws do about 22% damage, which is quite average and nothing special. They also have the same range, which happens to also be quite average. There's no significant difference between the Back Drop and the Leg Flip or any reason to favor one over the other that I'm aware of.

(in air) ↗ or → or ↘ or ↙ or ← or ↖ + Strong or Fierce: Air Toss, where Cammy quickly throws her opponent to the ground.
(in air) ↗ or → or ↘ or ↙ or ← or ↖ + Forward or Roundhouse: Aerial Leg Flip, which looks just like its grounded version.

Again, both air throws have the same range, which means Cammy will have to be pretty close to the opponent. So what's the differences between the two? Well, for one thing, the Air Toss does a whopping 29% damage. However, it must be performed during a certain phase of Cammy's jump, anywhere between halfway up her ascendance to the peak of her jump, or if you prefer to think of it a different way, only around the second quarter of her jump duration. The Aerial Leg Flip does a lesser 23.5% damage, but its window of opportunity is much larger and can be executed anytime Cammy is airborne unless she just left the ground or is just about to land, or in other words, around the middle 80% of her jump.

--Raisin (April 1, 2007)
--Thanks to T.Akiba for some information

Special Moves

←↙→ + P: Spin Knuckle, where Cammy takes a quick hop-step and then punches outwards with the back of her hand. The jab version travels the shortest and the fierce the farthest. It will hit twice if you're close enough.

A lot of players almost never use this move, and it requires sensitive handling due to its slowness and vulnerability during early stages. One idea for its employment is as a meaty attack, especially against characters or players who can't reverse well. Note that the jab version of New Cammy's Spin Knuckle can travel through projectiles during the part where Cammy is spinning. The same is true for Old Cammy's jab, strong, and fierce versions.

Since this move has an unusual and unique input motion, and some people try to perform this move as a simple half-circle with punch. You might find this method slightly imprecise and inconsistent.


↓↘→ + K: Cannon Drill, also known as just the Drill or the Spiral Arrow. Cammy shoots forward as a human missile in a feet-first attack. Again, the short version travels the shortest and the roundhouse the farthest. The roundhouse Drill can also hit twice if performed at close range.

The Cannon Drill has some very nice features: it's fast, does good damage, knocks down, and has high priority. Unfortunately, it also has drawbacks as well, namely the fact that it can still get stuffed by certain opponent moves and leaves Cammy vulnerable for a considerable amount of time afterwards. To help alleviate this danger, you can try to use it at precise distances so that just the end of the hitting frames strike the opponent and Cammy can hopefully recover in time to deal with any counterattacks. This is one of Cammy's few, reliable ways of dealing chip damage relatively safely.


→↓↘ + K: Thrust Kick, also known as the Cannon Spike or misheard as the Front Kick. More info coming soon.


↙↓↘→↗ + P: Hooligan Roll..., also known as simply the Roll or the Cannonball Jump, is a very dynamic move. Cammy grabs her knees and shoots herself forward (jab the shortest, fierce the longest) into the air. You can leap right over projectiles if done correctly. Through just before the halfway point of this jump, no inputs will be registered, but after she's just about reached the peak, Cammy has several continuations:

... ↗ or → or ↘ or ↙ or ← or ↖ + K: ...into Hooligan Throw is the most common decision. If Cammy is close to the opponent and still relatively early in her roll, she'll do a leg flip throw. If she's towards the end of her roll, she performs a tumbling throw instead. Neither of these throws can be teched (or softened), and since this can all happen very fast, simply the threat of this can make opponents nervous.

The grace period of your opponent being immune to throws for a short time after getting up from a knockdown also applies to the Hooligan Throw; it won't work in such a situation. Also, remember that Cammy can't input commands during the opening part of the Roll, so you'll have to be at the peak of your jump or later to throw the opponent.

... (do nothing): ...into Hooligan Slide, info coming soon.

... (during second half of roll) K: ...into Hooligan Cancel, info coming soon.

There are all sorts of things the opponent can do to prevent the roll. More info coming soon.

--Raisin (April 8, 2007)

Match-Up Strategies

(As much as I would like to fill in these sections, I don't have the expertise. Hopefully someone with the proper creditentials will come along soon and share their thoughts. Until then, the best I can suggest to readers is to watch lots of match videos. --Raisin)

Vs. Guile

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Vs. Ryu

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