Introduction

Influenced by life on the European back streets, Birdie has become familiar with the workings of Shadowloo as a bouncer in many punk clubs. He yearns for a part of the action. Using his strength and style to avoid the law, Birdie knows he must fight his way into the infamous crime organization.

Players to watch: SlamTown

The coinflip character. It's been well worn that Birdie is the worst character in SFA2. But if you're up for a challenge, this is for you! Birdie actually can win matches, just isn't easy, but is really fun to play (but not fight lol).

Is Birdie really that bad?

Yes! ...No! Alpha 2 is a tremendously well balanced game, and Birdie isn't so bad as he is polarizing. If you aren't building meter for his win condition CC, you're likely losing. Players familiar with the matchup wont hesitate to defuse Birdie's offense. If you're scared, Birdie wins- Quite a simple concept.

Essentially, Birdie gets one chance per round to run his sh*t. A perfect tournament character.

Loads of pokes and specials end Birdie's turn. Like Sagat, some of his bigger normals are punishable on hit. Unlike Sagat Birdie needs charge for his special cancels, limiting their utility.

Pros:

One of the most damaging custom combos in the game, roughly 85-90% at lvl 3

The threat of CC makes Birdie one of the scariest characters in the game, causing many to second guess

Good anti-airs

Very good jump arc and air normals

Super is very good vs fireball zoning

Unreactable, safe, combo starting overhead that doubles as an anti air. (Seriously, 4HK feels like a glitch)

Cons:

Birdman is slow as hell

Grabs are very slow, he is NOT Zangief

Most Normals are slow and not really too good

Lvl 3 Headbutt Super's Stun can be mashed out of (wtf capcom)

One of the worst throw ranges in the game

Moves List

Normals

STANDING

- Situational anti air, throw it out if you expect them to jump from a command throw.

- Really good anti-air, real good. I have no idea why, but it is. Punishable on standing hit.

- Awesome range, slow as hell. Not something you wanna throw out alot. Can catch jumping opponents

- Little kick to the toe, good to set up a tick throw

- Ugly ass kick, short range, no real uses.

- Limited AA use, but doubles as a overhead, which is very useful and can be comboed after.

CROUCHING

cr.- Your normal crouching lp, nothing special, c.lk is better.

cr.- Decent priority but slow recovery, so be careful when whiffing.

cr.- The anti-poke/anti-air. Hit fast and 1st hit can be cancelled into special or super. This is the main normal to be used when close due to high priority and good speed, do not whiff. Love this thing. 2nd hit does not connect with many crouching opponents, punishable on hit.

cr.- Long range lk good to tick, but same as c.lp you cannot chain these.

cr.- A good poke and better anti-air, the latter being very efffective. Not abusable but very nice normal to have.

cr.- Slow sweep with decent range.

JUMPING Jumping (Neutral jump)

nj.- Great priority and beats many early anti airs, can be used to setup tick throws.

nj.-

nj.- Good range and priority, but a bit slow

nj.- Awesome angle and great to use to tick, think of Rose's j.lk

nj.- Good air-to-air

nj.-

Jumping (Diagonal jump)

dj.- Great priority and beats many early anti airs, can be used to setup tick throws.

dj.- Good priority and worth mentioning

dj.- Good range and priority, but a bit slow. Beats many vertical anti airs at max range.

dj.- Awesome angle and great to use to tick, think of Rose's j.lk

dj.- Good air-to-air

dj.- My main air normal, fast, good priority, and crosses up. Its dope.

Command Moves

(In Air) + - Body Slam. The typical grappler splash, good priority and crosses up, abusable.

Throws

/ + /- Bull Spike. Press any buttons rapidly for more hits

/ + /- Bad Throw.

Alpha Counter

Birdie was blessed with the worst ACs in the game.

+- Does a the final attack of Bull Horn, good vs air attack. I've seen this whiff on the ground, not much range.

+- Does the second hit of S.. Doesn't knock down or have any real frame advantage.

Special Moves

+ - Murderer Chain.

-

+ - Bandit Chain.

His grabs. I stick to kick cause it looks cooler, I believe version does most, but has the most range (and ). These grabs are damaging but can be jumped from or CC'd easier than Zangief, use at your own risk.

Charge , + - Bull Head. This moves is very useful when used correctly. Stick only to the version, as all other ones are death. When done from the right range it is safe 99% of the time unless they have meter. It will be a free CC for them. When done right you will be out of range from attacks and can do another one, and another, and another. You can even whiff punish with this.

Hold / , release to attack- Bull Horn. The attack will do more damage the longer you hold the buttonsVery useful. You can have up to 4 of these when all buttons are held down and cannot be punished consistently with a cc. I been punished once. This move has virtually no lag and can be used to get close after a knockdown or set up grabs or super. It even AAs when released right. If you have this move charge and the opponent does a cc, release all buttons to make them whiff, then the headbutt will hit.

Super Moves

Charge , , , + - The Birdie. This super you can combo into, lvl 3 version can be mashed out of. Not worth it.

+ /- Bull Revenger. Punch goes short range and kick goes full screen. Very useful vs fireballers. Never use a lvl 2 or 3 unless it will kill or you really need to close the gap, cause you really want to land that cc.

:

The Basics

Your main focus is to land your custom. Bottom line, it is a round winner. When the opponent is running away, whiff lp grab for meter. Once you get that lvl 3, look for a opening to land it. Until then you have some tricks to work with.

360 fun! (use light versions)

kkk (hit or blocked), 360 c.lk, s.lk, 360 j.lk or j.rh, 360 360 on their wake up

After a grab, follow up with KKK, time it to hit, or not to not and 360 or cc. It is going to take alot of patience to win, but its worth it XD. Ill add more later.

Advanced Strategy

Use crouching medium kick to bait out turns and punish them with light bullhead.

Use your tick setups such as light kicks to force 50/50's or bait out cc's.

If they somehow get hit by a final at the end of a blocked cc, you may continue the combo post cc with crouching heavy punch and light bullhead.

Bullhorn is a true reversal for a few frames so it can be used to counter specific ac's (Rose punch ac for example), pokes, and command throws

Punish ac happy opponents with command grab or empty jump or walk in cc

Kick ac leaves the opponent standing so after a close kick ac you can try to follow up with a valle cc if they are still standing

Combos

Combos to know cr.mp into light bullhead

c.hp xx lp or mp bullhead (2 hits)

overhead s.rh, c.mk or sweep (2 hits)

Custom Combos

Any lvl- c.lk, s.lk xN xx 360+rh (40-50%)

This is your starter combo until you can do his touch of death, and yes its better than reapeated red headbutts, which is...

lvl 1- c.rh xx final, final

lvl 2- c.rh xx final, final, final

lvl 3- c.rh xx final, final, final, final, red headbutt (gl with that last hit) (80%)

And for those defensive peeps

s.rh (overhead) xx c.rh xx final xN

AA CC

c.fp xx Final xN

How to do his custom to activate with lp, mp, hp, and lk, and HOLD THEM ALL DOWN. Sweep, RELEASE lp and press lp again BEFORE THE FINAL HITS, then as they hit, release mp, release hp, release lp. Final charges fast in cc mode XD.

Birdie: lvl 1- c.lk, s.lk xN, 360+hk

lvl 1- c.hk xx final x2

lvl 2- c.hk xx final x3

lvl 3- c.hk xx final x4/5 (can add a red headbutt at the end but is hard)

Match-ups

Vs. Adon: This match is basically just building meter and trying to outpoke each other, then land the CC. Adon's normals are better than Birdies in most cases, and he has a bunch of AA's from different distances.

Remember Jaguar Kick is almost always unsafe and a free CC if he spaces it poorly. You can also AA CC jaguar tooth on reaction. Adon has no safe special to end blockstrings with.

Vs. Akuma:

Vs. Birdie (self):

Vs. Charlie:

Vs. Chun-Li:

Vs. Dan:

Vs. Dhalsim Extreme zoning and high priority buttons make this matchup very hard but the hardest thing about this matchup is Sims teleport. It completely removes Birdies sweep starter final custom and allows him out corners and continue zoning, Sims very slow and high jump arc is also extremely hard to reach him or air to air him due to birdies very low jump arc, Sims back medium punch is also a hard button for Birdie to handle. Winning this requires a careful get in and good use of supers as your custom is not nearly as powerful or useful in this matchup, and good usage of light bullhead to challenge his fullscreen pokes.

Vs. Gen: You are playing Samurai Shodown Street Fighter. Both characters cant really do that much without cc so much of this matchup will be siting back building meter and trying to find a opening for cc (its the same for Gen). You can hurt Gen a bit for building meter fullscreen with his dp with your medium bullhead but he will most likely get it either way as Gen builds meter MUCH faster then you do but you still build it somewhat fast with jump back splash. Once you both have meter it really is just a game of patience, you can throw out a couple of safer pokes with cr.mk and cr.mp but overall its both of you trying to catch each other standing for a valle cc for massive damage on either side

Vs. Guy:

Vs. Ken:

Vs. M. Bison (dictator):

Vs. Rolento: Extremely uphill due to the knifes and the sheer amount of zoning he can do with him bouncing around the screen. Risk and reward is never in your favor as relento's custom is on par with birdie's. Close and far bull revengers and extremely risky long range bullheads are required to win this, standing and crouching medium punches are used to punch out the knifes but jumping light punch and jumping medium kick can be used at very specific angles. Standing back to build some meter during the zoning is also advised as your going to need as much as you can get.

Vs. Rose: This one can be hard but it is still very winnable. You have to play more slow and reactionary against Rose, try to snipe out the recovery of her st.hk with cc and catch mashed cr.mp's with bull revenger. Punish normal drills on block with cc and install drills in the corner with lvl 2 or lvl 3 The Birdie super (a punish not many characters have). Her fireballs have very slow recovery making it a easy bull revenger punish or a good jump in window. You can fight her good and far range sweep with some of your own crouching buttons such as cr.mp and cr.lk. Birdie can also counter her infamous ac with his bullhorn and can fight Rose players looking for it too much easily with just his command throw. Your best jump in attack is j.lk but jumping in without meter is not advised as j.lk is not 100% consistent against her cr.hp and for her cr.hp into her anti air throw can hurt alot its best to mostly jump in with meter so the situation is more scary for her.

Vs. Ryu:

Vs. Sagat:

Vs. Sakura:

You can punish a fireball meter building Sak player during the fb with Bull Punisher because it does not reach full screen, and the recovery is of course punishable. After Sakura's P throw, if Sakura jumps forward in oki attempt, Birdie can just jump backward to avoid the j.MK altogether. As an alternative to the j.MK setup, walk up and punish with cr.HP if they jump after the throw. The reason why Birdie loses is due to Sakura's tools against your jump-ins. Her st. HK is also a good poke against your 360s.

Vs. Sodom:

Vs. Zangief: Pretty wacky matchup here. Both characters have top tier level air buttons but Birdie will usually win out in the air to air game with his neutral jump buttons and just in general jumping heavy and light punch. Now when it comes to fighting his magic throw and tic throws you have bullhorn (Zangief can counter this with a ballsy 360k) as well as your cc ALWAYS BE CHARGING BULLHORN, at very close ranges it can be punished on hit with a 360 but there are plenty of times where it will knock him back too far and with a held final even if it is punished with 360 its a net gain in your favor not to mention that if he is anywhere near stun it will stun him. When you land a jump in and go for the throw/cc mixup Zangief has a consistent way to get out of that with lariat, many Zangiefs and trigger happy with this just wait for it and punish with cc or bullhead. Due to his slow jump in and fat hurtbox aa cc is also a much easier technique in this matchup