Character Matchups
| #Akuma | #Balrog | #Blanka | #Cammy | #Chun-Li | #Dan | #Dhalsim | #Eagle |
| #E.Honda | #Guile | #Ken | #Kyosuke | #M.Bison | #Maki | #Morrigan | #Rolento |
| #Ryu | #Sagat | #Sakura | #Vega | #Yun | #Zangief |
| #Athena | #Benimaru | #Chang | #Geese | #Haohmaru | #Hibiki | #Iori | #Joe |
| #Kim | #King | #Kyo | #Mai | #Nakoruru | #Raiden | #Rock | #Rugal |
| #Ryo | #Todo | #Yamazaki | #Terry | #Vice | #Yuri |
Capcom Characters
Akuma
Balrog (Boxer)
Blanka
How much this matchup favors Hibiki very dependent on what groove Blanka is using.
- C-Groove Blanka is 7/3 for Hibiki. Blanka's jump-ins are completely neutered by Hibiki's anti-airs, so if it's ground game vs. ground game, Hibiki is at a decisive advantage.
- A-Groove Blanka is closer to 5/5. Having the threat of an activation as a counter tactic to Hibiki's anti-airs and ground mixups will force you to be a little more honest with your attacks, especially in the corners where A-Blanka can do a lot of damage very quickly.
- K-Groove Blanka is 2/8 against Hibiki. With Just Defends and far-reaching Small Jump attacks, Blanka becomes an absolute monster up close, allowing him to attack Hibiki vertically as well as on the ground without fear. Blanka Balls become safer for Blanka due to being able to JD a frame early, and he can punish a Distance Slash with a Level 3 super (as in other grooves with Level 3 capability). This safety in mobility gives him a higher probability of getting into position to land crossups, rage throws and supers. Some of this difficulty can be mitigated with an A- or K- Hibiki's set of options.
In general, Hibiki should primarily focus on denying Blanka optimal spacing for hops, crossup hops, and Blanka Ball pressure. Sometimes this means getting close to Blanka, within MP poke range (though this largely depends on his groove and meter situation) but generally that means staying back and fishing for punishes with Beckoning Slash/run mixups as they try to build meter with neutral jump attacks and (RC) Electricity.
Blanka pressure strings will often end with cr.HP or cr.HK once he gets pushed out of range. This is an opportunity for a counter attack, using a Narrow Escape dodge into cr.LP xx MP Distance Slash. You may also consider using the cr.LP poke as a chance to run in closer and start Hibiki's own pressure game, such as using her overhead.
Cammy
Cammy rushes Hibiki to death with her close s.HP following a knockdown. When that happens Hibiki's options are exceedingly limited outside CC activation or counter-attacks (a plus for C/N/K grooves) since she lacks a good reversal outside RC run slash. She ends up blocking the Fierces or getting thrown.
-Never let Cammy score that knockdown, hence never leting her get close enough to work that s.HP, unless you've taken the initiative with a knockdown of your own, then feel free to mix-up.
-You can anti-air fairly freely between s.HP or counters
-Keep a close eye on your openings, especially vs P/K Cammy
-Don't try any forward slashes if she has a lvl 3 stored, though if you're feeling gutsy you could aim for a qcf+HP while she's dancing back and forth.
Chun-Li
Dan
Dhalsim
Eagle
E. Honda
Guile
Ken
Kyosuke
M. Bison (Dictator)
A very tough matchup for Hibiki, especially in A-Groove. Bison can simply react to any HIbiki forward movement with Scissor Kicks, immediately shutting down any Beckoning Slash/run-in mixups from distance and often leading to a fence painting. His Devil's Reverse stomp and follow-up attacks will trade or beat Hibiki's close HP anti-air, and he can also punish a whiff from afar if he cancels it in some situations.
Take great care with Distance Slashes and the BnB combo. Bison can punish any MP Distance Slash with Scissor Kicks unless it is done at the maximum possible distance. In BnBs, spread out the cr.LKs as much as possible (link them instead of rapid fire them, basically) to push back away from Bison as far as the combo will let you get away with.
Maki
Morrigan
Rolento
Rolento's mobility can easily frustrate Hibiki players. He is one of the few characters that can quickly deny her zoning position and setups necessary to maintain it. He can also punish a Distance Slash with a Level 3 Tripwire super, making it hard to use effectively.
The most effective strategy against a mobile Rolento is to approach frequently and aggressively, mixing Beckoning Slashes with standing/crouching MP pokes and aggressive run-ins and running jumps. Rolento players will rarely sit and wait as you approach them, which you can use to your advantage by having them guess wrong or baiting them to retreat into the corner, only to attack them when they try jumping out of it. One of the most unexpected things you can do is to simply run right at Rolento as he neutral jumps into the air, as he is usually looking to throw out a knife. When he does, you get a free punish combo when he lands. Be wary of his sliding cr.HK, which Rolento players will rely on to stop you from advancing.
Ryu
Sagat
Sakura
Sak's got too much going for her for A-Hibiki to try to challenge her up close without meter. While both have nice mixups when they've got the intiative, this match is best done at range. In particular, just barely past the reach of her s.HK.
At that range you can prepare yourself for a drawn out match.
-Hibiki can d.HP whiffed Sak's s.HK's, RC Fireballs
-counter RC Hurricane Kicks
-use d.LP xx qcf+MP to keep her out
-anti-airs are pretty solid vs Sak, but don't get too predictable when she has bar. That as well as including her dive kick give her unique setups for her CC's.
-You don't want to whiff anything. Sak's roll at 112 [27/4R] is not quite Iori fast, but its fast enough to punish all of Hibiki's whiffs outside s.MP, d.MP, d.LP. Her mixups are strong enough that vs Hibiki it's practically guaranteed that you'll at the very least loose 1/3 of your guardbar if you let her land her BnB once. Watch your openings.
-Sak's normal anti-airs are susceptible to Hibiki's ambiguous j.hk crossup attempts. You can beat her close s.HP or d.HP between good distancing and varying the timing of the hits.
-Sakura lacks naturally invicible attacks outside CC activation, so she's highly vulnerable to Hibiki activating point blank (for her that's a mixup in itself) and throwing or just throw and activate.
-Vs Sak's who end their CC's with HK hurricane kicks to super you can grab her with Hibiki's counter during that gap between the 1st and last hits of the hurricane kick.
Vega (Claw)
Provided A-Hibiki is put in the user position, and starts this matchup with either a full bar or close to it activation helps her dearly; if she lands her CC at all he's done. Otherwise, this matchup typically goes to Vega.
She could try to play it defensive, but typically the match will result in Vega whittling away at Hibiki's life.
-His pokes pretty much own hers. Particularly d.mp. At the range where this move hits, give or take, is where Vega wants to be fighting Hibiki, or just about anyone really.
-His anti-airs (s.HK, airthrow, jump back mashing)are solid.
-Vega's fast enough to take advantage of all her openings
Fortunately her s.HP seems to work just fine as anti-air, though a low jumping Vega would give her fits.
Seems like the only way Hibiki can kill Vega is to knockdown, get up close and mixup 'till Vega dies. Keep in mind he's a charge character so crossup run slashes/shortjump mixups are golden. The problem is landing that initial knockdown. Her only moves that give her that are qcf+HP, s.MK, d.HK, and her kickthrow. Vega's not too likely to give her the opportunity to land the latter 3, so she's dependant almost entirely on qcf+HP, which he can easily take advantage of if she's too predictable.
There's of course landing her CC, which sets up her mixups nicely.
Vega likes to jump straight up. A lot. If he does you could nail him as he comes down with RC run slash/forward slash, or anti-air CC.
Yun
Zangief
SNK Characters
Athena
Benimaru
Chang
Geese
Haohmaru
Hibiki
A very strange matchup for Hibiki, since everything you can do from distance, they can do from the same distance! Groove mechanics notwithstanding, this matchup becomes all about who can most effectively use their mixups once they manage to get into range.
Except against P- and K-Groove, Hibiki can punish an opposing MP Distance Slash with a reversal LP Beckoning Slash. (This means the opposing Hibiki can punish your MP Distance Slash with their own LP Beckoning Slash!)
Iori
Joe
Kim
The angle of Kim's jump is such that he can literally go over Hibiki's cl.HP anti-air. Using the button as an AA is still possible, but must be done a little later than usual and risks trading with Kim's strong jumping attacks.
King
Kyo
Mai
Nakoruru
Raiden
Rock
Rugal
Ryo
Todo
Yamazaki
Terry
Vice
Yuri
