Street Fighter IV Remix/Hugo

Overview Combos Matchups Strategy

Introduction

Hugo and Poison both joined the tournament for different reasons. Hugo joined because he really likes the sound of the words meat and also squasher, and he made a move called meat squasher, and he performs it as often as he can and turns people into wall beef.

Hugo is massive. There's just no better way to describe the guy: his damage is massive, his normals are massive, his hurtbox is massive, everything about him is massive. While the average Hugo player may be more familiar with him as a grappler, as he is in his USF4 appearance, his buffed normals and strong cancels lead him to play a much more slow and neutral oriented gameplan.

Hugo has a normal for every single situation. His lights are fast, extremely long ranged, and buffer safely into hitconfirmable specials that lead to absurd damage. He has super far reaching mediums like 5MP and 2MK, and the god button 5MK to do everything else for him. His heavies are more situational, but shine in their niches, like the completely strike invuln 2HP which acts as a brutal anti-air and reversal tool, or the extremely plus 5HK dropkick, or the armored and special cancellable 2HK. His air normals sport absurd disjoints as well, making him nearly impossible to anti-air. Even his command normals are absurd, like the do-it-all 4HP or armored overhead 6HP.

These normals would be much less powerful however if it weren't for the fact that Hugo hits like a runaway train. Even stray hits can easily convert into 600+, and with meter his confirms become longer and more damaging. EX Clap is extremely plus and leads to nearly 700 damage, EX Meat Squasher is a hitconfirmable running command grab that guarantees corner and leads to followups, and EX Back Breaker is a massive invuln anti-air that starts and extends combos. Every hit with Hugo does over half health and nearly guarantees the corner.

Once Hugo gets his hard knockdown, he gets to run extremely powerful offense. Clap RPS is the name of the game with Hugo, mixing between frametraps and tick throws with Ultra Throw. The aforementioned 6HP overhead can help to open up patient opponents, and his j.2HP Body Splash is an active till landing crossup that can be made extremely ambiguous over a knockdown.

Hugo's massiveness is also his key weakness however. His hurtbox is hilariously big. Many characters (including himself!) have instant overheads, new fuzzies, and higher damage routing. His size also hurts his mobility as well. Hugo has a hard time approaching and dealing with zoning due to these, which makes matchups like Poison or Guile a bit of a chore. Still, even in these matchups, Hugo still threatens stupid damage and great oki off any good hit.

Hugo is a big guy with big damage and even bigger normals. If you like characters who feel like playing as a giant, and deal hilarious damage off any good hit, Hugo is an extremely strong bet.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Damage: It's hard to understate just how much damage Hugo deals on average compared to other Remix characters. While he isn't the highest peak damage, every hit with Hugo breaks 400 easily, and even with no meter spent a strong 5HP starter punish can top out 650 damage with ease. Hugo regularly two touches even other 1100 health characters without even needing to finish the second combo, and with meter to spare by the end of it.
Normals: Hugo has some of the best normals in the entire game. Almost every single button in Hugo's kit outranges most of the cast, while also being safe, fast, and leading to massive damage. Approaching Hugo can be a nightmare, as he also sports ridiculous anti-airs that lead to the same high reward. Hugo can turn one mistake or risk into an entire round win.
Clap: The defining special of Hugo's kit. Claps are the bow on an already strong gameplan, solidifying his confirms and extending his pressure, and acting as safe buffers from his normals. They also act as the backbone of his combos, dealing tons of damage alongside his already high damage normals.
Still A Grappler, Kinda: While Hugo's signature command grab Moonsault is a bit underwhelming, his other two grabs, Meat Squasher and Ultra Throw, are some of the most threatening grabs in the game. Ultra Throw sports crazy range, especially on EX which is longer range than even some of Hugo's normals, and wallbounces for full massive damage combos, while Meat Squasher has the slow startup in exchange for running forward and sending the opponent all the way into the corner, and also leading to a full combo. While Clap sets up the respect to block, these two grabs make the opponent rethink blocking, and open them up for Hugo's massive damage anti-airs or reversal punishes.
Health: Hugo's health pool accentuates his patient gameplan, as he can more frequently trade or afford to take a short light starter combo, or take a bigger risk and live where other characters might die.

Extremely, Comically Big: Calling Hugo a big body is a bit of an understatement. His hurtbox is nearly double the size of even other big characters, to the point that his crouch is still taller than some characters standing hurtboxes. Hugo is subject to fuzzies, instant overheads, longer hitconfirms, and easier juggles or unique routes. His size also makes neutral more of a pain, as stray pokes or projectiles are fairly likely to catch him.
Slow: Run is Hugo's sole unique mobility option, and it's fairly slow by Remix movement standards. His base walkspeed is underwhelming, and he has no way to alter his jump arc, making Hugo much slower in movement than other characters.

Normals

Standing

- 5LP: An amazing stand jab. Reaches extremely far, great frame data, doesn't whiff crouchers, and even at max range you can net a combo with light Lariat or EX Ultra Throw. Use this to poke and annoy the opponent.

- 5MP: The slap. Another great poke, best in the midrange where its speed and forward movement let it smack the opponents buttons. It's also very active, and is one of your go-to meaty options.

- 5HP: A huge winding punch. TONS of startup, but tons of hitstun to make up for it. This extended hitstun allows you to combo into heavy Clap, which leads to some of Hugo's highest damage. Important normal, if only for starting punishes.

- 5LK: A goofy kick. Very similar use cases to 5LP, which has slightly better range. Largely though these two are interchangeable.

- 5MK: SKILL AND TALENT. Massive, ungodly big kick that hits twice and demolishes basically any extended hurtbox. The first hitbox is one of Hugo's fastest normals, while the second hitbox is one of Hugo's longest range. The second hit does whiff on crouchers, but it's oddly hard to whiff punish, as Hugo can threaten it well out of the effective range of other characters and it doesn't have much endlag as it is.

- 5HK: Big dropkick. A decent bit of startup, but the hitbox is beefy and it's actually plus on block. You can meaty with this for some great plus frames. The leap also allows it to low crush, beat throws, etc. If you find yourself spaced point blank over a knockdown, you can actually corpse hop with this, and with extremely precise spacing, it can even hit as a crossup.

Crouching

- 2LP: Like the standing version, but crouching. This makes it immediately amazing, and despite having less range than 5LP, you will be mashing this frequently to get out of an opponents blockstring or challenge movement in neutral.

- 2MP: A beefier 2LP. Decent hitbox, fairly active, and pretty fast. Good all around normal, nothing special but you can't necessarily go wrong with it either. Useful in a few juggles where they're too low for 5MK.

- 2HP: Ohhhhhh yeahhhhhh. This normal is fast, it's massive, it starts combos, and most importantly, it's fully strike invuln from frame 1. This is essentially a one button DP, and makes jumping on Hugo nearly impossible. As a reversal it's not bad either, since the second hitbox is actually slightly plus, though the first hit whiffs crouchers entirely, and they can still make it whiff and punish it that way.

- 2LK: A slightly unusual 2LK. Doesn't chain into itself and isn't great on block, but it's VERY long range and still special cancels. Better as a fast midrange poke than a combo starter or mixup tool.

- 2MK: One of your primary pokes. Causes a hard knockdown if you don't cancel it to start huge damage juggles off of it. Reaches far with fast startup, good on block, hits low, does pretty much everything and then some. Use and abuse.

- 2HK: Pretty strange but still very useful normal. The first hitbox is pretty active, and the landing hitbox can cancel to specials, though only light Lariat really combos. This also has some armor, so you can use it to fly through buttons or fireballs. Be careful of whiffing it though.

Jumping

- j.LP: Extremely fast hand swipe. Fast enough to hit as a fuzzy overhead (or just as an instant overhead on Hugo himself). Useful as a defensive option out of a backjump as well.

- j.MP: Shares an animation with j.LP, but it's a bit slower for more damage and a continued juggle. Not the most useful normal, but is much more rewarding than j.LP on an air to air hit.

- j.HP: A huge punch with great range. Notably, this has extended hitstun. With a good hit, this can combo into 5HP, leading to absurd meterless damage.

- j.LK: The sword. The hitbox on this is so disjointed it's not even touching Hugo's hurtbox. Nearly incontestable in the midrange, made even worse by the fact that it stays active for his full jump.

- j.MK: Like j.LK, but trades full jump active frames for the ability to continue a combo on an air to air hit. Similar to j.LP, this is largely a downgrade.

- j.HK: If j.LK is the sword, this is the claymore. Similarly entirely disjointed, but hits much harder, and wallbounces on air to air hits for great reward. Neutral jump j.HK is a great way to just wall opponents out.

Command Normals

- 6HP: Hugo's overhead. Pretty fast, and has super armor too. Cancels to lead to full combos or clap pressure. Generally great overhead, use it a lot in conjunction with throws and 2LK.

- 4HP: The chest pump. Great normal, fast and active, huge hitbox, plus on block and forward moving, combos from any of Hugo's normals. This is an anti-air, a counterpoke, a confirm tool, a pressure tool, and then some. Also key in his juggle combos, mostly after 5MK to get in range for another clap.

- j.2HP: Body splash. Causes a knockdown on air to air hits. Really ambiguous crossup, just another good option in Hugo's vortex.

Specials

- 236P: Lariat. The light version is an extremely long range poke that knocks down and is safe if spaced. Think of it as something like Boxer's Dash Straight. The medium and heavy versions run forward and activate when in range. EX also runs like this, but with armor, and forces a sideswap if it hits. Only light is safe, and it's only safe if fairly well spaced. All versions can cancel into Backbreaker for combos or a knockdown.

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