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. You can assume I'm referring to that version of her in this text unless otherwise specified.

--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)

Super Move

↓↘→↓↘ + K: Spin Drive Smasher, the proper name of the technique, is almost always referred to instead as simply Cammy's super. It makes her shoot forward with a Cannon Drill followed immediately by a Thrust Kick, as the input motion reflects. (Some people prefer to roll all the way to forward at the end in a double-quarter-circle motion, which also works.)

The super can hit up to 5 times if you're close enough for up to around 50% damage, and it can juggle airborne opponents for up to 3 hits. It doesn't matter which kick button you press, since all versions are the same. You can buffer this off a normal attack just like a special move. The best thing about it is that she's invulnerable during the first half's drilling motion, so you can ignore threats and have 100% priority over anything that isn't itself invulnerable.

I consider Cammy's super moderately good in general. It has a number of practical uses, such as for countering projectile barrages; done right, you can fly right through them and hit your exposed opponent. It can also devastate dizzied opponents or (with precise timing) be used as a ground-to-ground trump card, beating any normal move your opponent tries. It makes excellent anti-air either by juggling or hitting right as the opponent lands from a jump and is unable to block. Finally, you can use it for something as simple as chipping your opponent to knockout when they're very low on health. All that said, a lot of characters have counters to her blocked super, and its ability to be punished keeps it from being a simple fire-and-forget weapon, so you'll have to exercise a degree of caution when using it.

--Raisin (May 2, 2007)

Match-Up Strategies

Taking things a step further, here are some tactics tailored for specific opponents. Having specific ideas of what you want to do and avoid against each character will probably help you feel a lot more comfortable and win more often.

--Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. Balrog (Boxer)

Be very careful... this fight isn't easy. But as scary as this is to say, Cannon Drill is your friend. LEARN the Cannon Drill distances, and learn to poke at Balrog with all three at the right distance. Problem is, if you are off by any small amount, Balrog can punish you for free. Also, once he gets his super, the whole thing changes. No more Cannon Drills. Just start playing as careful as you can. This fight is VERY hard.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. Blanka

This is a fight where you just have to stay sharp. If Blanka isn't knowledgeable about the fight, you can expect lots of Fierce Blanka Balls. You can counter those with a Roundhouse Cannon Drill. If they are smart and don't do those, the fight gets tougher. Look for Blanka to not be in charged situations, and go for jump-ins with Strong. Blanka can easily react with a straight-up Jump Fierce, so try to sneak them in. Crouch Strong is a good poke. Otherwise, use your basic Cammy tricks in this fight.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Disclaimer: I'm not a great player, so please don't take what I'm about to say too seriously. These are only my ideas at the moment that might not be very good or accurate. Trust your own discretion and experiences! --Raisin

Overview: I personally feel this is a relatively even battle with good chances for both players. Usually it features a slugfest from medium-short distance that can tilt either way, with both sides ready to jump at the opportunity to fight at very close range as long as it's on their own terms.

Generally, Blanka will spend the majority of the match trying to fight you tooth and nail with his good normal moves, dangerous grab (the bite), and occasional dirty trick. His favorite scenario is when he's able to get inside with the initiative and start doing jumping crossup attacks. Sound the air raid siren if that happens, because it is bad, bad news.

Cammy hopes to be able to meet Blanka every step of the way with a carefully-orchestrated offense of pokes, special moves, and a dash of bravado. I feel her best strategy is to play for a knockdown of some sort and then turn up the heat with mind games based off of meaty attacks.

Cammy's meaty attacks: The reason I feel meaty attacks are strong against most Blankas is because I don't know of any easy responses for him. Supposing you're doing something like standing on top of him with s.close strong, a reversal Ball will only trade hits, and reversal Electricity just gets him hit due to its startup frames. It's also harder for him to reversal grab because he can only do it with 1 button, making it impossible for him to piano (multi-tap) the input. Even reversal hopback leaves you safe for the moment. Reversal super leads to a weird situation; it hits you once on the bobbling part but leaves you safe to block the other hits very deeply, after which you can sweep him for free. You take about 25% damage, but he gets roughly 16% damage and a knockdown in return. Meaty j.strong might be even an better option after you get a knockdown, since it cuts out his options of reversal Ball (loses) and reversal grab (doesn't work, you're airborne) out completely, leaving you with only his super to worry about.

Blanka's aerial assault: Your worst-case scenario is when Blanka gets in close and crosses you up with his j.short, whose large and unusually-placed hitbox makes his air attacks very dangerous. He can follow it up with all sorts of nasty things like biting, big combos, confusing hit strings like c.forward xx crossup hop, another crossup jumpkick, or all of the above. Unfortunately, there's no easy way for Cammy to escape such a situation that I know of besides guessing his next move(s) correctly or reacting extremely quickly and accurately, such as counter-throwing Blanka when he tries to bite or correctly blocking a hit string to get some breathing room distance. If you have your super and lightning reflexes, you can consider using it as he's jumping over your head just as a "get out of jail free" card. It'll miss by a mile, but the point is that as long as you don't bump into a corner, you should go shooting across the screen to safety.

Slugging it out: Everyone has their own way of handling the medium-close-range brawl, but here are some of the things that come to my mind. Cammy's c.strong seems surprisingly reliable here, and I don't recommend s.far forward poking against Blanka, because if he's crouching, he's so short that it misses over his head entirely and leaves you wide open to a simple crouching attack. If he starts getting too defensive, the Hooligan Roll can punish his turtling; on the other hand, if he's thrashing around aggressively, you can go for the ground-to-ground Thrust Kick if you're feeling cheeky. If you want a little breathing room, jumping straight up with Short is fairly safe and hard for him to punish on reaction.

Special move uses and counters: The Drill usually trades hits with the Ball, although occasionally you'll win cleanly. His s.fierce done early enough will actually beat the Drill, but as that requires superhuman reflexes, I don't consider it very practical, and I don't know of any easy way for Blanka to consistently stuff the Drill. You can safely Drill chip Blanka from the right ranges, which due to his wide hitbox is slightly farther away than most characters. Be careful not to mess up, as his c.forward has both the speed and range to punish you if you try it from too close. If he has charge, he can counter a blocked Thrust Kick with a Fierce Ball to hit you on your recoil and knock you down. In the same way, he can punish your blocked super, and the timing for him in that case probably going to be easier due to the fact that the Thrust Kick at the end of the super normally hits very deeply.

Anti-air: The Thrust Kick is very reliable anti-air against Blanka and will beat just about every non-crossup air attack he can throw at you. The main problem is reacting in time to his very fast jump. On the other side, Blanka's j.straight fierce (the "slap," "handshake," etc.) performed near the top of his jump is a good air-to-air weapon, but takes such fast reaction that he usually has to anticipate your jump to make it work. Assuming a normal jump-in angle, the Vertical Ball will lose to your j.strong, occasionally lose to your j.jab, beat your j.forward, sometimes beat your j.short, and tends to trade the rest of the time. The thing is that it can hit you unexpectedly early in your jump when you haven't attacked yet, so it doesn't matter if you were planning on doing a j.strong if you didn't actually have it out in time. Speaking of Cammy's j.strong, I believe it is her best jumping attack to use in general in this matchup, because there's not much Blanka can normally do about it if you catch him off-guard with it -- it's not like there's some really late ground-to-air counter move that he can do that I'm aware of. The exception is Blanka's rather underused super, whose invulnerable, bobbling start actually makes it great anti-air. It's not going to connect with all of its hits or anything, but damage is damage.

Fightin' dirty: There are a bunch of dirty tricks Blanka is known for, and they come in all flavors. They can be simple, like his hop forward into bite when he thinks you're blocking or missing a Jab Ball into bite at the right range. They can be silly, like his missing a Jab Ball into a c.RH which can be surprisingly effective for some weird reason. Or they can be truly chaotic, like knockdown into missed crossup Strong Ball into s.close strong into crossup hop into bite. Practice and familiarity will help you respond to these correctly, but depending on your opponent's skill level and play style, it can be tough.

Bounce the ball: Blanka's Ball is potentially very dangerous, because it hits so fast that it can be hard to react to, and it can help swing the ground game towards his favor, since it beats a lot of moves like Cammy's footsie attacks or can just smack you in the face when you're trying to advance. Given the opportunity, most Blanka players will use the Ball very often if they think they can get away with it. The good news is that Cammy can counter the Ball after its impact with a RH Cannon Drill to hit him on his rebound, but the timing is pretty tight. Assuming a normal Fierce Ball hit, Cammy has only a handful of frames in which to input her riposte with success -- too early and nothing comes out, too late and he'll recover in time to safely block and punish you. If you don't trust your timing enough, you can also consider mashing s.far jab or c.jab to hit the Ball out of the air on approach, but you have to be careful not to do those at the wrong time or you'll outsmart yourself and leave yourself open to a simple attack like his c.RH. So the Ball isn't necessarily the easiest thing to handle, but just try your best to keep it under control and stop it from pressuring you.

Z-z-zap: As Cammy doesn't have a projectile, Blanka may more apt to try to fry you with the Electricity once in a while. This is especially annoying since it not only knocks you down but makes you go through the slow, zapping animation, giving Blanka a lot of time to set up his next assault. Remember that Blanka needs time to set up the Electricity, both for physically mashing the button(s) and because it does have a few startup frames when it isn't hitting yet. He'll usually try to hide its appearance by mashing when it can't be seen, such as when he's knocked down or airborne, during a move, or before a round's start. I believe the easiest way to counter the Electricity is with the tip of either the c.forward, c.RH, or Cannon Drill, or if you can react in time at closer range, you have the Thrust Kick (provided you don't walk into him during the forward part of the input motion, haha). We can also see the magical properties of Cammy's j.strong at work here, as it cleanly and safely cuts right through it as long as you didn't jump in too deeply. All of her other, non-meaty jumping attacks will get you juiced.

Crossup fun: Turnabout is fair play, and since Blanka's hitbox is quite wide, you may be able to work some crossup magic of your own. You can even do combos like j.short, s.close fierce xx Thrust Kick without fear of Ball reprisal, since he's going to lose his horizontal charge when you change sides. Just be aware that if you're trying to do a crossup on a knocked-down Blanka and it isn't meaty, his wakeup Electricity can turn the tables, and it's likely you who will be eating a crossup afterwards! Blanka's hitbox gets thinner when he's dizzy, so don't bother trying to cross him up in such a situation, but this is a moot point since he cannot block anyway. Ha!

Blanka's not-so-super: If Blanka does his super and you have your super stored, you can blow him away by doing your super on reaction, although overlapping invincibility periods and tricky timing can make this difficult, so you may want to simply block first and then super him into oblivion. Barring that, I think the simplest counter, assuming his super is hitting normally (shallowly), is to block it standing up for less blockstun time and then take your free knockdown with c.RH, although there are a lot of things that also work, including c.forward (buffering into RH Drill doesn't combo here), s.far fierce (doesn't buffer here), or even the Thrust Kick (with very good timing). If he gets sloppy doing his super from long range and you manage to safely jump backwards over it, he's vulnerable at the end, and you can actually hit him really deeply with a j.strong combo. In any case, many Blankas will only use the super conservatively, such as going for a meaty chip knockout when you're knocked down and almost out of health.

The chimp's no wimp, so good luck!
--Raisin (May 1, 2007)

Vs. Chun Li

Chun Li I think is not hard at all... Don't try to outpoke her, her Crouch Forward is better than yours. Cannon Drills are good against Chun because Chun can't punish you much outside of a Crouch Forward in return. If she Lightning Kicks, and I swear this to be true, jump at a non obvious time and hit Strong. You are guaranteed to hit her in the head before she can stop. The only way she can Razor Kick you is if she stopped before you jumped and, thus, she out predicted you and deserves to nail you. BUT, if you jump and she tries to stop and Razor Kick on reaction, she will get hit by Strong.

However, the ensuing situation sucks. After the Strong, you will land. You can Thrust Kick and 99% of Chun Li's next moves will be taken out. And if she blocks, you are safe. HOWEVER, if she Short Razor Kicks, she beats your Thrust Kick. So that's the mind game there. Thrust Kick or not Thrust Kick. Throw or no Throw?

Straight up Short Chun can't abuse either. If she throws it out from time to time it's not a big deal. For one, you can Thrust Kick it when you see her go up. Don't do it deep, just meet her in the air. Also, it doesn't have enough horizontal range to really do any more zoning to Cammy than her Crouch Forward can already do, since hers is better than Cammy's anyhow. Reall,y it's the same story: Chun Li's inability to really deal with Jumping Strong is the key. And because Cammy is as fast as Chun Li is, she doesn't lose in that area either.

...I actually don't think it's a good idea for Chun Li to throw many Kikokens. It is the easiest way she opens herself up. If you are Drilling a lot into random Kikokens, maybe you should Jump at her more. It's a tricky balance, and as we have both admitted, Cammy requires you to outthink your opponent more than any other character. So obviously, either path cannot be abused. It's just you have to be able to condition Chun Li.

And if she Jumps straight up Short to beat the Drill, she can't have done that on reaction. That's just a mistake on Cammy's part, and not one you have to think about often. She had to have jumped before you drilled.

...I won't jump over [Lightning Kicks] if the Chun Li tends not to do it for very long... So let her do the Lightning Kick and move on. If she likes to follow up Lightning Kicks with Kikokens, a Hooligan Roll or a Jump will get her to stop that. Otherwise, the best she can really do is just try to keep you away with more Low Forwards.

I think the key for me against the Lightning Kick is to know that she can't call upon it at any time she wants. Once she isn't doing it, you gotta break in. If Chun Li could pull out the Lightning Kicks any time she wanted, I can definitely see that taking the match from winnable to impossible. I dunno, I just feel like there are enough holes everywhere that Cammy can fight the fight. She doesn't have the advantage, admittedly (she does against only so few characters), but she can fight it.

...When I jump in with an early Jump Strong against characters like Guile or Chun Li, I ALWAYS follow-up with a Cannon Spike. It'll stuff sac-throws and there isn't a thing they can do about it (outside of Razor-Kicking you after they eat the Strong). They can't punish you either, so it's completely safe. Walk-under Throws can similarly be stuffed with a good Cannon Spike in the opposite direction, but that requires MUCH more foresight. But it does work.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. DeeJay

Dee Jay is one of the most methodical fights you can have, though I do not think (anymore) that she gets rocked by him. There is one VERY bad thing and that's the cross-up, but I still think Cammy can fight him a bit...

Don't jump over Max Out. This might sound really awful of a strategy, but this is key. DON'T JUMP OVER MAX OUT. Walk up, and block. Walk up further, and block. Walk up and block. You get closer and closer and, because he has no Crouching Forward, he can't keep you away as well as Guile. Once you get close enough, your Low Forward will stuff the Max Out before it comes out. It may take several blocks, like 6 or 7, but it gets you in.

The best part of this is that he can only really keep you out by machine gunning those Max Outs. If he puts ANY space in between them, you walk up closer. So if he starts churning those things out super fast, it becomes REALLY easy to predict a Max Out and Combo him or, at least, keep him from being able to Crouch Roundhouse trade your Jump Strong.

So once he figures he CAN'T shoot them out fast, you get two situations. 1) He's too far away and doesn't think you can jump over and punish him. So you walk up from a screen away, and Block a Max Out. IMMEDIATELY Roundhouse Cannon Drill. If he throws another pseudo-fast Max Out, oddly, you either win or trade. Now he's worried about that, so he doesn't Max Out there, gives you a better chance to walk forward more.

The second situation is that once you get close, he'll do the Short Dread Kick over your Crouch Forward, which was intending to stuff the Max Out. Yeah, that's a bummer. Not much I can say except, this is where the mind games begin. Because now Jumping Strong can beat the Short Dread Kick (which sometimes hits him out of the air, preventing any awkward landing mind games). Or you can let him whiff, and now you guys are heads up, and the real poking fun begins. In any case, Short Dread Kick from Dee Jay, to predict your Low Forward, is a huge commitment for him. If he whiffs, he's in an awkward position where he's no longer really charged for anything. So it can be good for him and it can be bad.

...[When trying to keep you pushed away with projectiles, DeeJay] throwing out a punch between Max Outs [to stop drills] is good for Cammy. Anything that puts delays between Max Outs to give Cammy a chance to walk farther forward towards DeeJay unimpeded is a good thing. The issue comes when you get CLOSE to DeeJay, and he starts mashing out those Crouching Punches.

The thing is, you're much better off against those moves that against Max Outs. They will stuff your moves a lot, but that's why you gotta throw out lots of Stand Jabs (one of my favorite moves now) and Stand Strongs (this one I like, too). They're pace breakers, really, ways to make your Low Forwards a little harder to counter. Obviously, Dee Jay has recovery on whiffed Crouch Punches, however slight they may be. But they are there enough to get a Crouch Forward in between attacks (which opens you up for Short Dread Kicks... wheee!!!!). But if Dee Jay wants to play the poke game, I think Cammy comes away victorious simply because Dee Jay can't keep her away like a Guile can.

...I will not lie: Dee Jay is probably in the top tier of anti-Cammy characters, I've always thought so (his skinniness while crouching makes Cannon Drills almost ALWAYS punishable, so you'd better make sure you land those hits!). So yeah, while I can give strategies to fight him... I think the fight will never get better than 7/3 in favor of Dee Jay.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. Dhalsim

I firmly believe Cammy wins the fight against Dhalsim. Not by a whole lot (I used to think she dominated it, but, like most matches, if Dhalsim is smart, he can hold his own against Cammy). Cammy has a LOT of tools ready to fight Dhalsim. The number one tool is Jumping Straight up Strong. Jumping straight up over Fireballs becomes a non-issue for Cammy because of this move. It'll beat/trade with anything Dhalsim does. Dhalsim can try to hit you before you do it, but you just have to be wary of those if you see Dhalsim coming up close for a Stand Forward.

Also, jumping AT Dhalsim becomes easier thanks to Strong. He cannot slide, Crouch Fierce, Stand Forward, etc. you because of that move like he can against so many other characters.

Oh, and if Dhalsim doesn't block Low on a wake-up, Crouch Strong hit him low. ^_^ Link into Stand Fierce into Roundhouse Cannon Drill = Touch of Death. 90% of the time he's dizzy after that, and anything, afterwards, will kill him. But if Dhalsim learns to block low a lot, start mixing it up. But until he does, there is almost never any reason to not go for the Meaty Low Strong.

Roundhouse Cannon Drill from 90% screen away can get under a lot of kick, and trade with Fierces and such, putting you at the advantage (you land on your feet, he doesn't). If he throws lots of Yoga Fires, though, this isn't a good tactic. Use this when he gets tentative throwing fireballs. 'Cause when he throws one, and you are 80% screen away or so, jumping over it with Strong is really good. So if he starts throwing less Fireballs, it opens up the Cannon Drill.

And lastly, the biggest advantage she has: Capcom knew she sucked, so they made her way too buff. ^_^ The damage difference between Cammy and Dhalsim is ridiculous.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. E.Honda

You don't do anything. You lose. In all seriousness (actually, I pretty much WAS serious), the best way to defeat Honda is to BORE HIM TO DEATH. Stay far far away, across the screen, and jump straight up and down with Strong on your way down. Pray the Honda gets bored, tries to hit you, and you take a lead in energy. Then turtle like you've never turtled before. Maybe you can win that way... I'm of the mindset that Honda is 100% Cammy's worst match up.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. Guile

Crouch Strong beats his Low Forward. That is a key to this fight. But it only wins if you are outside Guile's range. So learn that distance. From there, you can react to Sonic Boom and jump over with Strong (will beat all of Guile's normal anti-airs). If you hit him, get ready to be thrown. So try a Cannon Spike when you land. If he blocks it, he can't punish you. If he starts to get cute and doesn't throw Booms, you'll have to learn how to move in from that magic distance outside his Crouch Forward with Low Forward pokes and Cannon Drills. Hooligan Roll is bad against Guile, it's very easy to react with a Razor Kick and beat it. So only use it VERY sparingly, after lulling Guile to sleep by not using it. Only abuse the Hooligan Roll in situations where Guile isn't charged.

...When I jump in with an early Jump Strong against characters like Guile or Chun Li, I ALWAYS follow-up with a Cannon Spike. It'll stuff sac-throws and there isn't a thing they can do about it (outside of Razor-Kicking you after they eat the Strong). They can't punish you either, so it's completely safe. Walk-under Throws can similarly be stuffed with a good Cannon Spike in the opposite direction, but that requires MUCH more foresight. But it does work.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)

Vs. Ken

I think Cammy beats Ken, if at worst tied... I just out poke him. I just out play him. Ken is way more free form than most characters. Again, trying not to punish him for Jab DPs is key. Just let him whiff, and hit him with a Stand Forward out of the air, or just let him land if you are far away enough. The reason why I think this fight isn't bad for Cammy is because Cammy dies against keep away characters, and Ken has no keep-away game. So it becomes strength vs. strength, and Cammy has as much (maybe even more) strength than Ken. I haven't ever played a Ken yet that has really caused me troubles.

...I still don't think Ken can turtle Cammy. Ryu's big advantage is that his Fireball is very fast and large. Ken's is slow and small, so Cammy can much more easily stuff it with a well placed Stand OR Crouch Forward before it can ever come out. Ken can't handle Cammy's ground poke game nearly as well as Ryu can mostly because of the Fireball difference. Sure Ken can start throwing out Jab DP's, but it's not as effective against Cammy as it is against most other, slower characters. Also, Cammy is strong, so the trade-offs for Ken isn't as worth it against her as it is for other characters.

--jchensor, added with permission by Raisin (May 4, 2007)