Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/System

General Game Mechanics

Normal Attacks

Each of the six attack buttons will unleash simple attacks when not performing any kind of special move. Light attacks tend to be the fastest, while Medium and Heavy attacks tend to last longer and deal more damage. An experienced player can learn to react to slower moves when they come out, and respond with an attack of their own before their opponent can block (Called a Whiff Punish.) In addition, there are heavier moves that when blocked, allow the blocker to get out of blockstun before their opponent can react with an attack. However, Super Turbo has a lot of attacks that can be punished on block (referred to as Minus on Block) that can be Special Canceled, making them much more difficult to punish. To see the math behind how long attacks last and what attacks can be punished, see Frame Data.

If you get closer to your enemies while standing, most buttons will give you a different normal standing attack. These are called "Proximity Normals". You can also use a whole different set of attacks while jumping, with two different sets for jumping straight upwards (or Neutral Jumping) and jumping diagonally. Thus, unless otherwise noted at the specific character sections, all normals will have a far standing version, a close standing version, a crouching version, a neutral jumping version and a diagonal jumping version. Some normals, such as New Ken's standing Roundhouse kick have only one standing version.

A notable exception to this rule, however, is Dhalsim. Both New and Old Dhalsim have close and far versions of their crouching normals, in addition to their close and far standing normals. The difference is, Old Dhalsim's normals are used entirely by proximity, while New Dhalsim can select which version of his normals to use by pressing back on the joystick alongside the button to select the close one, or keeping the joystick in neutral/pushing it forward for the far version. For instance, back and Jab gives his close Jab, down-back and Forward kick gives the thrust kick, and either neutral or towards and Fierce gives the double stretching punch.

If you use a normal attack while waking up from a knockdown, it will come out one frame later than usual. Also, normal attacks can not be used as reversals.

Throws

If you hold forward or back near the enemy and press Fierce Punch (or whatever buttons your character can throw with), your character will either throw the enemy or hold them while attacking. The enemy must not be knocked down, not in hitstun or blockstun, not invincible (which can result from some special moves), and not in a throw invincible state from a wakeup (See the section below). Throws are an important part of Super Turbo, as they force the enemy to attack back or try something, else they will be thrown or held.

As characters wake up, they gain throw invulnerability for a random number of frames. During that period, any throw attempted at them will fail, but they can still throw the opponent. The possible throw-invulnerable wake up times and their likelihood are as follows:

Throw-invulnerable frames	1	11	12	13	14	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29
Likelihood	6.25%	6.25%	6.25%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	3.125%	3.125%

Some characters also have air throws. For them to work, both characters must be in the air, and the jumping character must press toward or back and the appropriate throw button. There are also altitude requirements that can vary on the ascending and descending parts of the jump.

You can check the throw range matchups section to know each characters' throw range. Finally, the exact mechanic of throws have been unveiled by Dammit in his SF2 throwboxes article.

When both players are in range and input the command for a throw or hold at the same time, the game will randomly choose who grabs who. There are a few exceptions to this though.

• If one of the players performed the throw on their reversal frame, they will always win, unless they're being outranged.
• This is a rare setup, but if both players perform a throw on their reversal frame, no one gets thrown (unless one of the players is being outranged, in that case they end up getting thrown).

Some common advanced level strategies with throws can be found here.

Normal Throw Tech

Also called "softening a throw". When your opponent throws you with a normal throw, if you enter a throw command (back or towards plus Strong, Fierce, Forward, or Roundhouse) within 13 frames, you will take half the damage and recover in the air. You can tech while crouching, too, even though only Zangief has crouching throws. You can even tech with buttons that do not correspond to your character's throws. For example, Chun-Li can tech with the Forward or Roundhouse kick buttons, even though she does not have normal throws with those buttons. Holds (such as Blanka's Head Bite or Dhalsim's Yoga Noogie), Command throws (such as Zangief's SPD or Honda's Oicho), and Super throws (such as T.Hawk's Double Typhoon or Claw's Izuna Drop), cannot be softened. If both players input the command for a throw or hold at the same time and in case a throw wins, it will always be softened.

Only New Characters can soften throws. New characters can soften throws from Old characters, but Old characters can't soften no matter what. This presents a universal disadvantage for all Old characters.

Failing to soften a throw will leave you wide open for meaty attacks, ground ups and safe jumps, in addition to the additional damage and hitstun, so learning to tech is important. Take notice, however, for when you soften the throws of some characters, such as Cammy, Fei Long, or Dictator, you could potentially be setting yourself up for a ground cross up or some other immediate attack on recovery, so pay attention even if you manage to soften a throw.

Throwing your opponent when the next throw will K.O. or Dizzy them will make the throw untechable.

Lastly, there are certain normal throws that can NOT be teched by a stunned opponent. The complete list of throws that have that property are:

• Guile's Fierce throw;
• Zangief's Strong throw;
• Zangief's Forward kick throw;
• Cammy's Punch throws;
• Cammy's Kick throws;
• Claw's throws;

Holds

A hold is a type of normal throw that does multiple, and a variable amount of, hits. Examples are: New Ken's Knee Bash, Blanka's Bite, Dhalsim's Yoga Noogie, and Honda's Bear Hug. Holds are performed the same way that throws are, by getting within range, and pressing forward (or backward) plus any button that a hold has been assigned to.

While normal Throws have a 13 frame window in which they can be softened, Holds cannot be softened whatsoever. As a matter of fact, if you mash buttons and shake the joystick, you'll increase the amount of hits your hold does.

When mashing during a hold, the best directional command to input is alternating between any pair of opposite directions. This is the because the game engine requires directional mashing to pass through neutral in between each input, with any input that does not pass through neutral being ignored. Diagonal inputs do not count for extra, but when using a square-gated joystick it may be easier to use diagonals as the line between opposite corners is easy to follow without drifting away from the center and missing the neutral input. If you are playing a charge character, you cannot use directional mashing without losing your charge. In this case you can hold down-back to maintain your charge while only mashing buttons.

When mashing buttons, the game counts a single button press per frame, with any additional buttons pressed on that same frame having no effect. For maximum efficiency you should aim to piano multiple buttons in a way that registers individual presses on as many different frames as possible. Button inputs, however, are significantly less effective than directional inputs. Perfect button mashing (60 inputs per second) escapes a hold significantly slower than perfect directional mashing (30 inputs per second). Optimal mashing involves combining both directions and buttons.

Escaping Holds

So how do you escape holds? The answer - mash back. Mashing buttons and directions will allow players on the recieving end of a hold to escape quicker.

All holds can be escaped in 1 hit, but it's difficult. Escaping in 2 hits is more likely, and if your opponent hits you more than 3 times it means that you were probably caught off guard. This all takes steady practice. It is possible to escape holds without taking damage, however this is prohibitively difficult and also requires that your opponent does not struggle to increase his hold damage as well, so don't expect to regularly see anyone escape holds without taking damage.

Remember, even after you escape from a hold, you still aren't in the clear. After T.Hawk's Roundhouse hold he can cross both Ken and Ryu up with a jumping Forward Kick. Honda, after his Fierce Hold, can cross Guile up with his splash. Knowing what to expect after you've been released from a hold is just as importing as struggling to release yourself from the hold in the first place.

Holds do a set amount of hits if neither player inputs any commands after the hold has been initiated. So some holds have higher damage potential because they usually yield more hits by default and are naturally harder to struggle out of in lesser amounts of hits. Here is the list of how many hits each hold in the game does by default if neither player struggles or mashes:

• O.Boxer's Strong & Fierce Holds - 12 hits
• N.Boxer's Strong & Fierce Holds - 9 hits
• Honda's Fierce Hold - 8 hits
• Honda's Roundhouse Hold - 7 hits
• Blanka's Fierce Hold - 7 hits
• Dhalsim's Strong Hold - 6 hits
• N.Ken's Forward Hold - 5 hits
• Zangief's Standing Fierce & Roundhouse Holds - 4 hits
• Zangief's Crouching Strong & Fierce Holds - 4 hits
• T.Hawk's Fierce Hold - 4 hits
• T.Hawk's Roundhouse Hold - 3 hits

--ShinVega 18:12, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
--VirtuaFighterFour - February 13, 2010
--Gavin Ward - October 22, 2018

Special Moves

Special moves are attacks or evading maneuvers that have special properties, but demand some joystick motion or button pattern to be performed. There are motion specials, charge specials and button specials.

• Motion specials are performed by doing a certain joystick motion, such as , , , and either pressing or releasing a button. As an example, if you are Ryu on the left side, inputting a quarter-circle motion starting in down and ending in and pressing - or releasing - any punch button will give you a Hadouken. There are many different motions and different specials for different buttons.
• Charge special moves demand that you hold a direction for some time, then complete the joystick motion and perform the correct button press. The main example is Guile's Sonic Boom. On the left side, hold the joystick left for around one second, then move the joystick right and press a punch button. If performed correctly, Guile will throw a projectile to the right.
• Button specials are obtained by either pressing buttons at the same time, such as all punches for Zangief's Lariat, or pressing the same button (usually) multiple times in a row. Blanka can do his electricity attack by pressing the same punch button 5 times in quick succession, for example.

Special attack moves will cause about 1/4 of it's normal damage when blocked. This is called chip damage, and it can be used to force a reaction on part of your enemy, else the damage will keep coming and they'll eventually get K.O.ed. They are also the only moves that give Super meter points, on whiff, block, or hit. This can be used to fill your super bar by whiffing short-recovery moves or forcing the enemy to block special moves that they cannot punish. Finally, some normals allow that you to cancel their recovery into a special move on hit or block, which makes special moves very important in block strings and combos.

When checking to see if a player is doing a motion based special move, the game performs a few routines to calculate if it was successful

1. The game checks every frame to see if the first input of each special move was inputted. When that happens...
2. The player has a pseudo random time between 7 frames and 14 frames to enter the next input. All non-charge motion supers, as well as Boxer and Claw's supers, add 7 frames to this, bringing the range up to 14-21 frames. After that...
3. If the player did the next input within the timeframe, repeat step 2 until the final direction. If they fail, start over. Finally...
4. Once the player inputs the final direction, they have a limited number of frames to press the button associated for the special move. This value is usually 10 frames for light attacks, 9 for medium attacks, and 7 for heavy attacks, but there are a few exceptions.
   1. 360 inputs have a 12 frame window for the light version.
   2. Dhalsim's Yoga Teleport has a random value like the one explained previously
   3. Akuma's Teleport has a fixed value of 6 frames
   4. Super Combos have a fixed value. Check your character's move list list for more information.

Sometimes, the conditions for more than one special move are met. In this case, the game has an order of precedence which is used to determine which of them will be performed. For instance, ift a player controlling Ryu performs →↓↘→ + P fast enough for both the Hadouken and the Shoryuken special moves, a Shoryuken will come out since the game gives higher priority to it.

Super Combos

At the bottom corner of each New character's side of the screen is a small bar. When landing normal attacks (whether they hit or block) or when using Special Moves, the bar is filled somewhat. Once it's filled you can use a specific input (Usually one more complex than a typical Special Move input), you will unleash a Super Combo.

Every character's Super meter is 48 units long. The general rules for Super meter building are as follows:

• Light attacks will give 2 meter on hit and 1 on block.
• Medium attacks give 4 on hit and 3 on block.
• Heavy attacks give 5 on hit and 4 on block.
• The amount of meter Command Normals give varies between moves.
• The amount of meter Special moves give varies between moves, but will always give the same amount of meter regardless of whether the attack misses, hits, or is blocked.
• Normal throws do not give meter.

Super Combos are incredibly powerful moves that can deal massive damage to opponents, and potentially turn the tide of the entire match if used correctly. Of course, some Super Combos are better than others. E. Honda's Super, for example, is near useless since it can be punished on hit.

Limitations of the Input Detection System

As previously explained, when performing motion-based special moves, a random value is set between 7~14 frames wherein you have that amount of time to input the next direction. However, if you're continually holding the first direction used in a special move (For example, walking forward to do a Shoryuken) the input timer is still ticking down, and if it hits 0, it will stay on 0 for 1 frame. If you hit the next direction of the special move during this frame, the game will think you took too long and reset the special move tracker, meaning the special move won't come out even if you technically executed it perfectly. To avoid this, it's wise to return to neutral before starting up a special move if you're holding the first input required.

In general, this is mainly a problem for moves that have the 1st direction as forward or down-back.
In case of forward, this is mainly a problem for DP style special moves (e.g. Ryu's/Ken's Shoryukens, Sagat's Tiger Uppercut, Cammy's Thrust Kick, T.Hawk's Tomahawk Buster), since the 2nd required direction (downwards) is not adjacent to the 1st (towards). All you can do as a player to mitigate the problem for when going for a walk in DP is to try to do reach downwards as fast as you can, or you could also go to neutral as said above and then do a normal DP, but that somewhat defeats the purpose of it. This also affects Honda's Oicho, Zangief's Banishing Fist (a.k.a Green Hand) and Ken's Outside Crescent (though in that case Ken is better off if it fails). In these cases the rate of failure is smaller due to the 2nd input required (down-towards) being adjacent to the 1st (towards). Lastly, 360 specials (i.e. Zangief's SPD and Atomic Suplex/Running Bear Grab, T.Hawk's Typhoon) are also affected by it, but in this case it can be totally mitigated if the player does a complete 360 with the P/K button press/release after the 360 being completed, since in case towards is discarded as the 1st required input, you'll still have 4 cardinal inputs (downwards, backwards, upwards, and another towards), which is what a 360 move actually requires.
In case of down-back (crouch blocking), the only moves affected by it are Cammy's Hooligan Combination and Fei Long's Rekku Kyaku (a.k.a. Chicken Wing). Not many people know, but the 1st input required for these moves can be any backwards direction (up-back, back or down-back), which can be good when performing the move from neutral, but it can be bad because using the move with back or up-back can make it easier for the glitch to show up. The only granted way to avoid the problem entirely is to do the move coming from neutral (or any non-back direction, of course). Special moves that start at backwards (e.g. Ryu's Red Hadouken, Dhalsim's Yoga Flame/Blast/Inferno) will also suffer from this, but of course only with the cardinal (i.e. non diagonal) backwards direction.

--Born2SPD

Reversals

A reversal is defined as: any time you go from a non-neutral state (block stun, hit stun, during a knockdown, dizzy, or being knocked out of the air) directly into a move (special, super, or throw), without ever going to neutral state. Only throws, special moves and Super Combos work as reversals.

For example, using a special move such as Ken's Shoryuken right as you're getting up from a knockdown will skip the first frame of your standing animation right into the first frame of the Shoryuken, followed by the game giving you a Reversal message below your name and adding 1000 points to your arcade score. The reversal message only shows up when a special attack, special throw, or Super Combo is done as a reversal. You can use any of your special attacks as reversals, but they are mostly useful with attacks that are invulnerable for a split second or throws, like Ken's Shoryuken. Since moves like the Shoryuken are invincible on Frame 1, if someone's trying to catch your wakeup animation with a Fierce punch, for example, you'll go right through the meaty attack and hit your opponent instead. Similarly, if you are playing as Zangief and someone is doing a meaty attack as you wake up, you can grab them out of the move with a reversal Spinning Pile Driver.

Normal throws, despite not activating the reversal message and 1000 points, can still be used as reversals. This is an occasionally useful option for those who normally don't have an invincible reversal, such as Dictator. However, this is very risky with low reward, since you're limited by your character's throw range, you can't negative edge them, and since this game was programmed on a Post-It Note in a high school locker, sometimes throws will just come out as normal attacks.

Reversals are primarily useful against two things: meaty ground normals, and beating tick throw attempts. There are other more advanced uses for reversals so you should refer to each character's specific article to discover more.

--VirtuaFighterFour February 13, 2010.

Knockdowns

There are three types of knockdowns in the game: soft knockdowns, hard knockdowns, and long-distance knockdowns.

• Soft knockdowns are a result of certain normal attacks (usually crouching Roundhouse) and Boxer's low rush punch. The character falls down for a relatively small distance with their back to the ground, then rises up quickly after that. All characters can cause this kind of knockdown with a crouching Roundhouse kick. Additionally, some characters have extra moves that cause soft knockdowns, such as Dee Jay's crouching Forward kick. Old Honda is known to have many attacks that cause soft knockdowns, namely, all his far standing kicks and crouching Fierce punch.

• Hard knockdowns push the character further back and makes them bounce on the ground once, causing a significantly longer knockdown state. This is often a much better type of knockdown to inflict on the enemy as it pushes the character back more in the direction of their corner, gives more time to build meter with whiffed special attacks, gives you more time to set up fireball traps, meaty attacks, safe jumps, cross-ups or mix-ups and gives you more time to recover from stun damage you had accumulated at that moment. Hard knockdowns can be a result of normal attacks such as Chun-Li's neutral jumping Roundhouse kick, but happen more often due to special attacks and dizzies. Some characters can only be safe-jumped if you score a full knockdown.

• Long-distance knockdowns are a result of Akuma's Hadoukens, when they hit up close, the last hit of Dhalsim's Yoga Inferno Super Combo, and New Ken's Roundhouse Crazy Kick. Long-distance knockdowns are the same as hard knockdowns, but push opponents farther away.

Dizzy

If you are hit by a number of attacks within a short time span, you may get dizzied, or "stunned". If that happens, your character will be knocked down, juggle state will be disabled, symbols such as birds or stars will appear above the character, and when they get up they will not be able to block for some time. Wiggle the joystick while mashing buttons to recover faster from this state. Check the section Escaping Holds for the optimal joystick and button pattern.

Each time you are hit by an attack, you are inflicted a random amount of dizzy damage, which belongs to a determined interval which varies from move to move. This also increases the value of a counter, which decreases over time, i.e., a decreasing timer. The amount of dizzy damage is added to whatever dizzy total you have, and as soon as it reaches the limit, you get dizzied. After that the dizzy total is set to zero and does not increase for about a second after dizzy state is over.

If you are not dizzied by an attack, then the total dizzy damage value remains until the dizzy timer reaches zero, which causes whatever dizzy damage you have by then to disappear. Both the total counter and the timer will remain at zero until other attacks hit.

Dizzy damage is not the same among the different game regions. As an instance, Zangief's neutral jumping Fierce headbutt dizzies almost every time in the Japanese version of the game.

The dizzy limit, which can be understood as a "dizzy meter length", starts at 30. If the character gets dizzied, its value changes to 34, and then to 35 if a dizzy happens again.

If someone is dizzied by a throw, they will remain throw-invulnerable for the duration of the dizzy.

Juggles

Super Street Fighter II Turbo introduced aerial combos in the SF2 series. Some moves were given a special property that allows them to hit airborne opponents, and hit them up to 2 more times in the air after that. Not every move has this property, but most super combos do. If the enemy is in the air, any juggle-able move will work. If the enemy is on the ground, only a juggle-launcher can start the combo. Most juggle-launchers are special or super moves. Any non-throw super can juggle for up to 4 more hits.

Juggle-able normal moves

• Ryu - diagonal jumping Strong
• M. Bison (Dictator) - diagonal jumping Strong (both punches)

Juggle-able special moves:

• Akuma - Forward and Roundhouse Hurricane Kicks (grounded), Air Hurricane Kicks, Shoryuken
• Balrog - Super
• Blanka - Super
• Cammy - Super
• Chun-Li - Tenshokyaku (charge Upkicks), Super
• Dee Jay - Forward and RH Maximum Jackknife (the charge upkicks), Super
• Dhalsim - Super
• E. Honda - Super
• Fei Long - Rekkuukyaku (Chicken Wing), Super
• Guile - Super
• Ken - Super
• M. Bison - Super
• Ryu - Super
• Sagat - Fierce Tiger Uppercut, Super
• T. Hawk - none
• Vega - Scarlet Terror (Flip Kick)
• Zangief - none

Juggle-launchers:

• Akuma - Forward and Roundhouse Hurricane Kicks, Shoryuken
• Chun-Li - Tenshokyaku, Super
• Dee Jay - Forward and Roundhouse Maximum Jackknife, Super
• M. Bison - Super
• Sagat - Fierce Tiger Uppercut, Super
• Vega - Scarlet Terror

Sagat's juggle-able moves are launchers, but he can almost never combo unless the enemy is already in the air, and this still demands special setups.

Simply being a juggle-able move does not mean that it can juggle at any time. The opponent must first be hit by a juggle-able move. Hitting someone with a non juggleable move, then going for a juggleable move will not work.

Special Canceling

In Super Turbo, when you hit an opponent, a brief impact freeze period occurs. Due to a bug in the original SF2, this would extend the kara cancel period, allowing normals to be canceled into special attacks on hit or block, not just whiffing or before becoming active. Thus, if an attack accepted inputs during its active frames, it could also be canceled into a special attack on hit or block during the impact freeze period, which created combos as we know them today and and allowed for extended block strings. Though it started out as a glitch, it became the defining feature of Street Fighter 2, and as of Champion Edition special cancels were coded into the AI's behavior so it would use them in combos.

Special canceling is extremely important, as it allows players to extend their block strings and combos, or occupy space in ways otherwise impossible. Several high damaging combos are a result of special canceling, such as Guile's jumping Fierce, crouching Strong into Flash Kick. It also allows a player to extend their attacking momentum. For instance, Ken or Chun-Li can never combo a Hadouken or Kikouken from the tip of a crouching Forward kick, even if they cancel it. However, if the enemy has no super bar nor an invulnerable special move, odds are they will have to block the incoming projectile, even though they will have completely recovered from the block or hitstun by the time it approaches. This gives them time to recover from the projectile and act while the enemy is yet again in either block or hitstun.

Some normal attacks can also be canceled into Super Combos. However, Super Cancels do not make use of the extended cancel time from impact freeze, so they are much harder to perform.

Damage Calculation

All characters in ST have 144 points of health. Several factors go into how much damage you take from attacks.

The formula is as follows:

(Raw damage value +/- Random Damage Number) * Character Damage Scaling Factor * Life Bar Scaling Factor.

All attacks in ST (except for most throws) are affected by this formula. The following subarticles will go over each step in the process to break down each part of the equation.

Random Damage

Every normal attack (and most command throws) will have a random amount of damage added or subtracted to them.

While all attacks have a base amount of damage, you may notice in the character's move data that next to this damage value is another number surrounded in square brackets, like this (4[0]). The number in the square bracket refers to which random random damage table it uses, which in a nutshell, determines how much damage is added or subtracted to the base value.

Click here to see the full random damage table.

[Table 0] 0x000

Modifier	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	78.125%	6.25%	6.25%	3.125%

[Table 1] 0x020

Modifier	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	68.75%	9.375%	9.375%	6.25%

[Table 2] 0x040

Modifier	-3	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	46.875%	12.5%	15.625%	6.25%	9.375%

[Table 3] 0x060

Modifier	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	+0	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	37.5%	6.25%	9.375%	12.5%	9.375%	9.375%

[Table 4] 0x080

Modifier	-5	-4	-3	+0	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8
Likelihood	6.25%	6.25%	3.125%	46.875%	6.25%	6.25%	15.625%	3.125%	6.25%

[Table 5] 0x0A0

Modifier	-10	-8	-5	+0	+5	+6	+8	+10
Likelihood	12.5%	3.125%	3.125%	59.375%	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	12.5%

[Table 6] 0x0C0

Modifier	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	71.875%	6.25%	6.25%	6.25%	3.125%

[Table 7] 0x0E0

Modifier	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	59.375%	9.375%	9.375%	9.375%	6.25%

[Table 8] 0x100

Modifier	-3	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	46.875%	9.375%	6.25%	6.25%	6.25%	6.25%	9.375%

[Table 9] 0x120

Modifier	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	+0	+3	+4	+5	+6
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	3.125%	40.625%	6.25%	15.625%	12.5%	9.375%

[Table 10] 0x140

Modifier	+6
Likelihood	100%

[Table 11] 0x160

Modifier	+13
Likelihood	100%

[Table 12] 0x180

Modifier	+21
Likelihood	100%

[Table 13] 0x1A0

Modifier	+30
Likelihood	100%

[Table 14] 0x1C0

Modifier	+40
Likelihood	100%

[Table 15] 0x1E0

Modifier	+51
Likelihood	100%

[Table 16] 0x200

Modifier	+64
Likelihood	100%

[Table 17] 0x220

Modifier	-8	-6	-4	+0	+4	+6	+8	+10
Likelihood	3.125%	3.125%	6.25%	43.75%	6.25%	6.25%	25%	6.25%

For example, 4[0] refers to a base value of 4 and a random modifier of 0, it will hit for 4 damage around 79% of the time, but to simplify matters it has about a 16% chance to do more and about a 6% chance to do less.

Character Damage Scaling

After random damage is applied to an attack, the damage is multiplied by a character's individual damage scaling factor, all of them reducing the total damage somewhat.

Zangief	22/32
Sagat, Dictator, Boxer, T. Hawk, E. Honda, and Blanka	25/32
All Other Characters	27/32

The total amount of damage is then rounded up after Lifebar Scaling. For example, an attack that does 16 damage after random damage is added would do 14 damage on a character with 27/32 scaling, assuming your opponent has most of their health.

Lifebar Scaling

As your health lowers, you will begin taking even less damage from attacks. You'll start taking reduced damage at 30 health (about 1/5th of your lifebar) and the effect will increase as you take more damage. The following chart shows how much damage you'll take from attacks at specific health values (after random damage and character scaling, of course).

Health Remaining	Damage %
144 - 31	100%
30 - 26	87.5%
25 - 21	75%
20 - 16	62.5%
15 - 11	50%
10 - 6	37.5%
5 - 0	25%

NOTE: Damage scaling only applies for the health value you were at when the attack landed. For example, if you had 31 health remaining, and you get hit by a move that deals 32 points of damage after character scaling, you will take full damage and die. However, if you're at only 30 health, you'll only take 28 points of damage (87.5% of 32 = 28).

Old Characters

Every character in the game (except for Akuma) has access to a secret alternate version of themselves close to how they appear in Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. These are often called Old characters, with the ST iterations of each character being called New characters.

Since they're ports of themselves from an earlier revision of the game, there are some notable omissions universal across all Old characters

• Old characters cannot tech throws.
• Old characters cannot use Super Combos or juggles.
• All new attacks introduced in ST are completely unavailable for Old characters.
• Some moves (Such as Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick) have different motions needed due to changes made in ST.
• Each Old character has 2 color options available: The character's "default" pallete (Notably the only way to select their original colors in the arcade version) and a second alternate one.

To select Old characters, you must select the character you wish to play as on the CSS, enter a 4 directional code specific to each character, then press Jab + Fierce. Pressing Jab + Fierce + Short will select the Old character's alternate color. The codes for each Old character are as follows:

Balrog (Boxer) - Old character code: →←←→ (O. Balrog)	Guile - Old character code: ↑ ↓ ↓ ↓ (O. Guile)
Blanka - Old character code: →←←← (O. Blanka)	Ken - Old character code: ←←←→ (O. Ken)
Cammy - Old character code: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ (O. Cammy)	M. Bison (Dictator) - Old character code: ↓ ↑ ↑ ↓ (O. M. Bison)
Chun-Li - Old character code: ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ (O. Chun-Li)	Ryu - Old character code: →→→← (O. Ryu)
Dee Jay - Old character code: ↓ ↓ ↑ ↑ (O. Dee Jay)	Sagat - Old character code: ↑ ↓ ↓ ↑ (O. Sagat)
Dhalsim - Old character code: ↓ ↑ ↑ ↑ (O. Dhalsim)	T. Hawk - Old character code: →→←← (O. T. Hawk)
E. Honda - Old character code: ↑ ↑ ↑ ↓ (O. E. Honda)	Vega (Claw) - Old character code: ←→→← (O. Vega)
Fei Long - Old character code: ←←→→ (O. Fei Long)	Zangief - Old character code: ←→→→ (O. Zangief)

While most Old characters are generally regarded as unsuitable for competitive play, players have seen success with Old Ryu. Old Ken, Old T. Hawk, and Old Sagat are also commonly cited as better than their New counterparts.

Draws

In the event that both players are knocked out at the same time, or the timer runs out while both players have the same amount of life, the rounds ends in a Draw Game. No round points will be awarded, and the game will simply start a new round without interruption.

The game will only do this once, so if both players are tied at the end of Round 3, the Final Round will begin. If the Final Round ends in a draw, the game itself will be a draw, and both players will lose.

Hitboxes

The so-called "priority" of attacks, that is, what move beats what, is explained by their hitboxes. There is no actual priority in Street Fighter II, that is, moves that are coded to be completely invulnerable to a certain moves. What happens in game is that characters have boxes which represent their vulnerable parts. These are the hurtboxes. They are mostly located around the character body, but do not necessarily match the whole art. When a character attacks, it places another kind on box on the screen: the hitboxes. When a hitbox from a character intercepts a hurtbox from another character, the game registers either a hit or a blocked attack, depending on the type of move and if the other player blocked correctly.

Other types of boxes are pushboxes and projectile hitboxes. Pushboxes determine where the character occupies on the screen. Pushboxes from different characters can never overlap. When characters throw projectiles, they come with special hitboxes around them, separate from their attacking hitbox. When these hitboxes collide with another projectile, they dissapate.

There is a very good guest article by Dammit on Sonic Hurricane about hitboxes. It has instructions on how to enable them on emulators and illustrative pictures of several interesting aspects about the theme.

Born2SPD captured the hitboxes from all attacks from both 'Old' and 'New' characters with perfect resolution and put them in the wiki. They are found on the character pages. Papasi recorded and captured the hit-boxes as well, but with the disadvantage of them being a little blurry. It has a option to compare hitboxes side by side and drag and drop comparison which are worth checking though. Link.

Randomness

Unfortunately, in ST there is a fair amount of randomn elements. Known randomness includes:

• The amount of damage done by normal attacks and special moves.
• The amount of dizzy damage done by most moves.
• Ryu's [cr.Short->cr.Short xx super] simply won't combo half the time, even when timed perfectly.
• Zangief has a chance to jump when performing his standing 720 Super Combo, even when performed frame perfect
• Who gets the throw when both players input the command on the same frame, and are in range to throw
• The length of throw invulnerability on wake-up, and after being air reset
• The time it takes for a character to recover from dizziness
• The position of the rocks in Sagat and Chun Li stages
• The speed/number of hits done by certain holds when both players mash

Majestros has also written up a good article on randomness in the SF2 series.

--NKI 03:41, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Frame Data

As mentioned in the Normal Attacks section, each attack has specific lengths of time in which they come out, stay out, and recover from. You could try measuring this stuff with a stopwatch, or you could use Frame Data.

Super Turbo runs at 60 Frames Per Second, which essentially means 60 images flash onto the screen every second, which is how you see the game. 1 frame, in this case, would be 1/60th of a second, so move timing is essentially counted in 60ths. The parts of each move are:

• Startup Frames: - The "windup" of a move, where your fist is travelling towards your opponent. If two characters strike at the same time, the move with the lower Startup Frames will always hit first, so it's an important thing to remember.
• Active Frames: - The time in which a move can deal damage. The more time it's out, the more opportunities to hit your opponent.
• Recovery Frames: - By now the attack has ended, and your character is winding down. During this state, you're completely vulnerable to attack, so if you don't want to get hit, consider not spamming attacks with lots of recovery frames all the time.

Frame Data also is also very important when performing combos and blockstrings, as well as determining whether or not a move will be safe on block. If you hit your opponent, you can special cancel the move if there's enough hitstun left, or perform a link combo. If your move's blocked, the total frames of blockstun minus the recovery frames will determine how safe a move is.

Recovery frames work together with hitstun and blockstun to determine a move's safety and combo viability. Simple explanation, hitstun and blockstun are when opponents can't act after you land an attack, and when you subtract the recovery frames of a move from that, you'll get how much frames you have before your opponent can act. If you haven't figured it out, when you can act first, you're Plus on Block/Hit, when your opponent can act first, you're Minus on Block/Hit, and when you can both act at the same time, you're Neutral on Block/Hit. When you're plus on hit, you can perform a combo. When you're plus on block, you can perform another attack that your opponent will need to block before they can recover, or you can do a throw when they leave blockstun.

A few other things of note: If you're waking up from a knockdown normal attacks will have 1 extra frame added to their startup. There's also a bug where your opponent will end up in impact freeze for 1 frame less after the first hit of a combo.

Being Plus or Minus on block isn't end all be all, however. If a move is, say, -2 on block, and your opponent's fastest move starts up in 4 frames, they mathematically can't punish you. If you try to jab during this situation however, you'll likely get your ass jabbed back. Similarly, if you try to use a move with a long startup after a move that's only +2 on block, you'll likely get jabbed back if your opponent is on to you, so study your character's frame data and see which moves are Plus and Minus on block, as well as the frame data of moves you're having trouble with to see if there's a way to counter them.

Impact Freeze

As soon as an attack touches the opponent, on hit or block, the attacking character freezes for some instants while the character being hit shakes left and right, slightly. This is called impact freeze, or hit freeze. There are three important facts related to impact freeze in Super Turbo. They are special canceling, frame advantage on isolated attacks, and option selects.

First off, during Impact Freeze you can cancel any attack that lands into a Special Move. (See Special Canceling for more detailed information.

Next, there happens to be a strange engine quirk relating to impact freeze during isolated attacks, that is, attacks that aren't part of combos or block strings. When you hit an opponent with an isolated attack, they end up in impact freeze for 1 frame longer than if it was in the middle of a combo. As a result, some moves will combo after certain attacks only after the first hit, and link combos will be slightly harder from the second attack on.

Finally, a few option selects are available due to impact freeze either extending the recovery of moves or cancel time. The first kind of technique usually consists of inputting normals or specials during the impact freeze of non cancelable moves. If such moves whiff, usually due to invulnerable attacks, the other move comes out and either beats or trades with the opponent's move. Prime examples are safe jumps with embedded moves (| usually Shoryuken-like moves). One can also do a late cancel attempt. When going for an attack, you can perform a special move motion late into when impact freeze is supposed to happen. If the move connects, it will be canceled into a special attack. Else, as there's no impact freeze to special cancel out of, the normal move recovers normally.

Hitstun And Blockstun

When a character is hit by an attack, or blocks an attack, after impact freeze, they enter a state of stun known as hitstun or blockstun, also known as the "reeling animation". During hitstun or blockstun, a player is temporarily unable to control the character, but the character is also temporarily immune to throws, but not to subsequent attacks. If an attacker lands a subsequent attack before hitstun or blockstun ends, this results in a combo or a blockstring, and the defender will be unable to block the combo or perform any actions during the blockstring, except for switching from a standing block to a crouching block or vice versa (this is also known as "auto blockstun"). If a subsequent attack connects after hitstun/blockstun has ended, this will not result in a combo or a blockstring, and the defender will be able to block the subsequent attacks or perform an action to evade/counter the string of attacks such as a reversal attack or a jump.

Depending on the strength of a Normal Attack, the character will be in a longer state of hitstun or blockstun. As a general rule of thumb, Light Normal Attacks cause 11 frames of hitstun/blockstun, Medium Normal Attacks cause 16 frames of hitstun/blockstun and Hard Normal Attacks cause 20 frames of hitstun/blockstun. This may vary depending on if the attack is a jumping attack and whether the opponent is standing or crouching. This can also vary with Special Attacks and Command Normals. An important thing to remember is that all Jumping Normal Attacks cause the same amount of hitstun (11 frames), but cause different amounts of blockstun (depends on the strength of the Normal).


Standing/Crouching Normal Attacks vs a standing/crouching opponent:
Jab/Short = 11 frames of hitstun/blockstun
Strong/Forward = 16 frames of hitstun/blockstun
Fierce/Roundhouse = 20 frames of hitstun/blockstun

Jumping Normal Attacks vs a standing opponent:
Jab/Short = 11 frames of hitstun/blockstun
Strong/Forward = 11 frames of hitstun, 16 frames of blockstun
Fierce/Roundhouse = 11 frames of hitstun, 20 frames of blockstun

Jumping Normal Attacks vs a crouching opponent:
Jab/Short = 11 frames of hitstun
Strong/Forward = 16 frames of hitstun
Fierce/Roundhouse = 21 frames of hitstun

Command Normal Attacks (eg Overheads) have their own unique stun data. YBH claims it is totally dependent on the attack itself:
Ryu's Overhead vs a standing opponent = 11 frames of hitstun/blockstun
Ryu's Overhead vs a crouching opponent = 20 frames of hitstun
Ryu's Rushing Fierce vs a standing/crouching opponent = 20 frames of hitstun/blockstun

(All other command normals are currently unknown, Ken's Overhead is classified as a Special Attack since it does block damage, see below)

All Special Attacks (eg Shoryuken) vs a standing/crouching opponent:
20 frames of hitstun/blockstun

The blockstun for Super Attacks is unknown. It's not clear in any situation what the hitstun/blockstun for a Super would be. The hitstun for knockdown Special Attacks and Super Attacks doesn't exist, since they knockdown. Just to be clear, getting up speed has nothing to do with blockstun. Hitstun/blockstun data for Super Attacks is not 100% confirmable, unless someone counts the frame data. This info is not in the YBH.

--Blitzfu 06:42, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Link Combos

So, you've wondering how you can further expand your combo game, huh? Well, as explained in the frame data section, attacks that have less recovery frames than your opponent can recover give you time to combo. Of course, you could always just special cancel moves that are able to, but if you wanna get the most damage possible, you're gonna have to do some links. Essentially, links are moves that start after your recovery frames end that have less startup frames than your opponent's remaining hitstun. Any move can technically be a link combo, but usually you'll be linking normal attacks together. Links can be hard, however, with some of the harder links giving you time as little as 1 frame to execute them. The important thing, however, is always to focus on a combo you can perform at a moment's notice, so keep that in mind with your own skill level when thinking about doing more difficult links.

Advanced Mechanics

Kara Canceling

In the original Street Fighter, special moves were quite hard to perform. They were performed with a specific sequence of joystick commands then a button, like this game. However, the joystick motions and the timing for the button press were strict, forcing players to release a button instead of pressing it to make them consistent. When developing Street Fighter II, Capcom's designers let normal attacks were be canceled into special moves during the first frames of their animations. Thus, would a player press a button before finishing the joystick movements, the special move would still come out if they released the button after the motion was complete.

Kara canceling is essentially using this deliberately to cancel a normal move into a Special move or a Super Combo. Theese cancels are done so quickly that you probably may not even see the normal move come out. A few moves can be kara canceled on their first few active frames as well, potentially creating new strategies. It should be noted that you don't need to use the same button the normal uses for the special move when using kara canceling.

For several characters, you can abuse the Fireball Recovery Glitch to shorten the recovery time of their Strong and Fierce fireballs by kara canceling a Jab or Short normal attack into a Strong or Fierce fireball. See T.Akiba's frame data.) You can read more about it here.

Mash moves are also often done through kara canceling. For example, when mashing Jab with Honda, his standing Jab will come out, but after pressing Jab 5 times and doing it again the starting frames of that standing Jab will be quickly canceled into Jab strength HHS. Same thing applies to other mash moves such as Blanka's electricity or Chun's legs.

Kara canceling is extremely useful for T.Hawk's command throw done as an empty throw. Since T. Hawk's pre-jump animation is only 3 frames long, you only have 3 frames to press a punch button until he jumps, making Mexican Typhoons quite difficult. Howeve,r you can hit standing Jab with T.Hawk, then input the execution for a command throw, and the starting frames of your standing Jab will cancel into a command throw. This technique even makes it possible for T.Hawk to do walk up 720s or walk up Super throws. A common application being kara canceling a standing Jab into T.Hawk's Super, throwing your opponent without buffering the super into a jump or off of a tick.

Kara cancels are very useful for things like auto mix-ups that involve special kara cancels built into whiffed normal throws. The idea with this auto mix-up is that you input a throw command and then do a Dragon Punch right after the throw attempt. If the throw is successful, the throw animation comes out and your dragon punch never appears. If the throw whiffs because your opponent did a reversal attack, then your throw becomes a normal attack that is kara canceled into a special attack of your own. Depending on how good your special attack is, you could beat your opponent's reversal this way. Dealing with Old Ken is nightmarish at close ranges because of this kara technique.

[VirtuaFighterFour]

Kara canceling is what allows special canceling in SF2, as explained in the impact freeze section, and is also useful when used in conjunction with Chain Canceling.

Chain Canceling

Formerly known as Renda Canceling.

In Japanese, "renda" 連打 is the word they use for rapid-fire chain combos, like Guile's cr.Short->cr.Short. Rapid fire moves (or Chain Combos) are moves which are allowed to be canceled into themselves. In this game, you cannot cancel chain combos into special or super moves the way you would a single light attack. If you chain two cr.Shorts, you can not cancel the second one into special moves immediately. Using kara canceling, however, you can get around this limitation. This is called chain canceling ("renda canceling", in Japanese).

Chain canceling consists of canceling a rapid-fire crouching Jab or Short into another crouching Jab or Short, then immediately kara cancel a standing Jab or Short into a special move.

An example would be Ken's cr.Short->cr.Short->st.Short xx Super. The input is 2 Short, 2 Short, 36236 Short, Punch. In order to do two cr.Shorts into super, you actually need to hit the Short button three times. That st.Short on the end is being kara canceled into the Super, which is why you never see it. Also note that you must go all the way to Forwards since you need to switch from crouching to standing in order to perform a Chain Cancel.

The reason why chain canceling is so powerful is because you can hit confirm (wait to see if it hits or not). If the Shorts are blocked, go for a throw or a DP. If the Shorts connect, just continue the combo into Super.

Relevant Game Bugs

This section is destined to game glitches that are relevant to high level play.

Stored Moves

Through a programming glitch, it is possible to do the motion for certain moves, then hold the last direction and then press the button whenever you want to perform an applicable move. This works with Chun's Super, Honda's Super, Honda's Oicho Throw, and Claw's Scarlet Terror (kind of).

For Chun and Honda's Supers, charge back, then hit forward, back, then forward and hold it. As long as you're holding forward (or up/foward or down/foward), you can press the button at any time to do the Super.

For Honda's Oicho Throw, do a half-circle from towards to down/back, and hold down/back. As long as you're holding down/back (or back or up/back), you can press punch at any time to do the command throw.

For Claw's Scarlet Terror, after you charge down/back, you can switch to back or up/back without losing your charge. (Note that you cannot store the move with towards.)

For Chun and Honda's supers, you can input the super motion without a full meter, and still have it stored. For example, charge back, 4646, then do hands until you have meter as Honda. Pressing punch when the meter is full will activate his super.

Fireball Recovery Glitch

There's a small glitch related to certain projectile special moves: while the properties of the projectile (i.e. damage, travel speed, stun, hit-amount) are correctly defined by the button pressed when performing the special, the length of the character's recovery animation from the fireball thrown is defined by the strength of the last normal move (i.e. light, medium or heavy) performed by the player. Because of this, it's possible to throw Fierce projectiles with the recovery of Jab projectiles. This is widely used and abused in high level play to get the best results possible while zoning the opponent out, or during fireball wars.
Throwing fireballs doesn't reset the status of the glitch, so you can throw as many Fierce fireballs with Jab recovery as you want. The only way to change it is to perform another normal attack or to end the round (In which case, the game will act like you just threw out a light).

Here's the list of characters that have differing recoveries (i.e. they can abuse this game bug to get better recovery) [Light|Medium|Heavy]:

• New Ryu [41|42|43 for both Blue and Red Hadoukens]
• Old Ryu [40|41|42 for Blue Hadouken, 41|42|43 for Red Hadouken]
• New Ken [40|41|42]
• Chun-Li [42|40|38. Note that in her case the Heavy version is the best, unlike all the other characters]
• New Sagat [38|40|42 for both High and Low Tigers]
• Akuma [41|42|43 for Blue Hadouken, 42|50|60 for Red Hadouken]

And here's the list of characters that don't have it:

• Old Ken [40|40|40]
• Guile [21|21|21]
• Dhalsim [40|40|40]
• New DeeJay [34|34|34]
• Old DeeJay [37|37|37]
• Old Sagat [38|38|38 for both High and Low Tigers]

The infamous infinite corner trap Akuma has with his Red Hadouken is only possible due to this glitch: the idea is to throw a Fierce Red Hadouken, which gives 3 hits on block, but with Jab Red Hadouken recovery so you can recover fast enough to throw another Fierce Red Hadouken before the opponent gets out of block stun.

For the glitch to work, the normal has to come out for at least a single frame. Pressing the button during conditions in which the normal will never come out won't count. For example: during knockdowns, air resets, during another move, etc. Throws won't count either.
Some players like to kara cancel the appropriate normal into the projectile special move. This will achieve the same result, but you have to make sure that the kara is being performed during the motion, not after, otherwise you would be trading startup frames for recovery frames, which is counter productive (startup is more important on most scenarios).
The kara cancel method works better with Ryu, Akuma and Old Chun though, since you can use a kick button without any conflicts with other special moves. New Ken, New Chun, and New Sagat all have conflicts when doing their special moves (Crazy Kick for Ken, Spinning Bird Kick for Chun, and Low Tiger Shot for Sagat). You can alleviate the problem by keeping the button used for the kara cancel held, and only release it after the button for the special move is pressed.
Finally, it's worthy mentioning that this bug was fixed in HSF2.

--Born2SPD

Strategy

When playing ST, the three most important things are:

• knowing the match-ups
• being able to execute
• being able to out-smart your opponent

You can learn the match-ups by watching vids/reading strats, and you can improve your execution by practicing at home by yourself, but the only way to improve your mind games is to have lots of experience against human opponents. Experience is crucial.

Footsies

Since this game doesn't have any major movement mechanics, most of your movement strategy is going to be focused on positioning and knowing what your opponent might do. If you simply walk towards your opponent, expect to get hit over and over. Instead, take the first few moments of the game to see what your opponent is doing. Are they marching towards you, like I said? Hit them, over and over. Are they waiting for you to come closer? Weave in and out of their attack range, then strike them while they attack. They're playing super aggressively? Stay calm, and wait for an opening. This is a massive simplification of what is often called "Footsies" in the FGC, but it's a good strategy to keep in mind when you're still figuring out what to do. On that note, it's a good idea to know how each character can use their special moves to move around the screen as well, so check the character pages of matchups you're having trouble with and try to figure out how you can use their movement against them.

Stable Strategies vs. Shenanigans

It is important to rely on stable strategies and not on shenanigans. A good example of this is the opening attack of the round in a Ryu vs. Dictator match. If Ryu starts off the round by throwing a fireball, Dic can jump at him and do [cross-up j.RH, st.Short, st.Short, st.Short xx Psycho Crusher] for the dizzy, follow up with [j.RH, st.Short, cr.Forward xx Scissor Kicks] for the win.

That is a shenanigan. It is not something that you can consistently rely on to win matches. Your opponent will (hopefully) wise up to the fact that opening the round with a fireball is a bad idea for him and counter your jump in with an anti-air.

The most stable strategy for Dic would be to just simply duck-block and wait to see what the opponent does. In the absolute worst-case scenario, he simply blocks a Fierce fireball. Another stable strategy would be opening with [slight step forward, st.RH], which would stuff fireballs and Tatsus, but lose to DPs.

Also consider the Psychic DP. The Psychic DP is a technique where your opponent does a seemingly safe, non-blatant move, and you "read your opponent's mind", countering them clean with a DP out of nowhere. That might work once in a while, but the truth of the matter is that if you aren't Daigo Umehara, you shouldn't try Psychic DPs, because it is not a stable strategy since performing too many Shoryukens will likely get you set up for a devastating combo.

Counter Characters

There are two very different schools of thought when it comes to character selection. One school of thought is that since the game has counter characters, or characters that do well against certain other characters, you should learn more than one character in order to do well overall. Another school of thought is that if you just stick with one character and learn all of the match-ups inside and out, the "counter matches" will not be nearly as hard, and you won't ever need to switch characters.

Relying on counter characters can be a very unstable strategy. For one thing, every match is winnable, and for another thing, the numbers are overwhelming. For every one character you play, you need to know 16 match-ups, and that can take an extraordinary amount of time to learn. If you only stick with one character, say, T.Hawk, and if you just hunker down and learn all 16 matches, you can beat any character, even Dhalsim (as Toutanki has shown). Obviously Dhalsim still has the advantage, but it is definitely not a free win, as a lot of people would have you believe.

Playing counter characters will only work consistently against other people who also play counter characters (people who don't know their characters 100%). It will not consistently work against people who know the matches, and that is why I would not advise relying on counter characters.

A good example is the Japanese player Muteki Guile (whose name means "Invincible Guile"). He has unquestionably one of the best Guiles in the world, and he also plays a little bit of Chun (in casual matches). If he were to play in tourney against a Blanka player, he could try switching to Chun (who is considerably better than Guile versus Blanka), but if he wins, then his opponent could just switch it up to Old Sagat and counter-character his Chun (because Muteki Guile doesn't know Chun 100%).

That situation will never come up for him, because he has taken the time to master Guile, and he has no need to switch to Chun. Even though Blanka vs. Guile is an uneven match, Muteki knows exactly what he can do, and that match is still totally winnable for him, even against the best Blankas.

While the advantage of counter characters is grossly over-exaggerated by a lot of players, it is true that certain characters have inherent advantages over others. Counter character examples that particularly stand out:

• Ryu does extremely well against Honda and Blanka
• Ken does well against Honda
• Guile does extremely well against Honda, Zangief, and Hawk
• Dhalsim does extremely well vs New Sagat, Guile, and Zangief, and decent vs everyone in general except Claw and Chun
• Chun does well against Honda and Dictator
• Blanka does alright against Zangief and Hawk
• Honda does very well vs most characters without a fireball
• Zangief does ok vs Boxer
• Fei does well vs Blanka and Cammy
• Cammy does well against Zangief, and Hawk
• Dee Jay does extremely well vs Honda, Blanka, and Fei
• Hawk doesn't do particularly well vs anyone, but has a slight advantage on Zangief
• Dictator does well vs Hawk and Cammy
• Old Sagat does extremely well vs Cammy, Hawk, Zangief, Ken, Blanka, and can give Chun trouble as well. He has a hard time vs Claw and Dhalsim
• Boxer does very well vs Blanka and Fei, and good on most of the cast besides Zangief and Chun
• Claw does well vs everybody

Game Plan

It's highly reccomended to know exactly what your game plan is before a match, as well as what advantages/disadvantages you have, and exactly what moves of yours will counter your opponent's (as well as what moves your opponent can use to counter yours). Only frequent studying and practice will get you to this level of knowledge.

For example, if you're Chun playing against Dictator, you can go into the match knowing that Chun has an easy time staying inside her range, with Dictator not being able to do much about it. Dic has no good anti-air, so you can j.Forward a lot; Dic has no reversal other than super, so you can do meaty D/F RH for free; Lightning Legs will beat his Psycho Crusher and Scissor Kicks cleanly; Tenshokyaku upkicks will lose cleanly to his headstomp, etc.

Playing to Win

If you notice that your opponent has any particular weakness, you need to show no mercy and exploit it. Note that the opponent can notice any weakness on your game as well, so try your best to avoid those things below. Common weaknesses include:

• Inability to consistently reverse throws
• Inability to consistently reverse meaty attacks
• Wanting to use the super as soon as the meter is full
• Going for the "revenge super" after getting hit by something big
• Overaggression (ex: always going for the reversal DP)
• Panic moves (ex: throwing away the super, jumping back to the corner, or blatantly jumping at the opponent when in a really tight spot)
• Lack of knowledge (ex: opponent keeps trying to Tiger Uppercut Sim's j.Forward, not knowing that Tiger Uppercut loses cleanly)
• Patterns (ex: always doing a second Shoryuken if the first one whiffs)

Throw Strategies

Tick Throws

A tick throw is when you put your opponent in block stun or hit stun with an attack, and then throw them immediately after they recover from stun and return to a neutral state. As an example, if you are playing Dictator and your opponent is using Guile, you can attack with a standing Short kick from point blank range, then throw your opponent right after they recover from block stun. The 'tick' in that scenario was the standing Short kick.

Perfectly timed tick throws are when you throw your opponent on the very first frame that they return to neutral from a knockdown or stun. This requires timing your throw to the exact 1/60th of a second when they get out of stun. It's an incredibly difficult technique to get down, but with practice and continuous play, executing perfect tick throws can be done consistently. The exception to this rule is Zangief using a command throw, as his SPD has 11 active throw frames, so he only needs 11/60 precision timing for a perfect tick throw. T.Hawk and and New Honda can negative edge their command throws up to three times for three chances as well, without having to worry about a whiffed normal coming out. Once you begin to effectively utilize perfect tick throws, you then leave your opponent no choice other than to perfectly reverse your tick throws.

Reversing Tick Throws

If you tick your opponent, and they continue to block after your tick, you can throw them right away, since throws can't be blocked. So how do they beat that incoming throw? Or if you are on defense, how do you beat tick throws? The answer: you must reverse.

Reversal special attacks, reversal super combos, or a counter throws (which could be a normal, special, or super throw) on the first frame that you recover from stun are the only ways to beat tick throws. Not all reversal attacks work to beat throws however. Although attacks like fireballs, Boxer's Rush Punches, and Dictator's Psycho Crushers can be put out right as you get up, trying to reverse a tick throw with those attacks will get you nowhere, since they all lack invincibility. Refer to the chart further below to see what special moves can be used to beat tick throws for each character. Some characters also cannot use reversal supers because of a bug (further description below as well). Lastly, if you use a throw as a reversal on the first frame out of stun, you only have a 50/50 chance of getting a throw against a perfect tick throw, since the game decides at random who gets the throw when both players throw on the same frame.

Throws also have no priority, providing that they are within range. This means that Guile's normal throw can beat T.Hawk's command throw when they are done on the same frame. However T.Hawk can stand outside of Guile's throw range and throw him without having to worry about a counter throw. Refer to Geo's throw range chart or T.Akiba's data to see how throw ranges affect each character match. A more complex example of how throw ranges affect the game can be found in the Dictator section.

Timing anything, such as a reversal, with the precision of one frame is pretty difficult, since it only lasts 1/60th of a second. Because of the strict timing, tick throws are quite powerful as offensive weapons. When you perform a perfect tick throw you give your opponent only a single frame where they can turn the tables before they get thrown. Multi-tapping and Multi-releasing will be a big help during these situations, however, since pressing multiple buttons for an input gives you more chances to perform your reversal of choice.

In situations where your attacker is in range to throw but you aren't, you must resort to a special or Super move. Keep in mind that some characters reversal attacks require charge. So if you are playing Guile, and you get up to block an overhead attack, you lose the charge for a flash kick to beat tick throws, meaning you run a huge risk getting thrown. Dictator can only beat tick throws with his Super, which requires a full Super meter, and once its expended must be recharged. The point is that every character in the game has a move that can be used to get out of tick throw attempts, however, some characters have much better options than others.

• Ryu: Shoryuken, Tatsumaki, Super
• Ken: Shoryuken
• Chun: Tenshokyaku (her upkicks special), Spinning Bird Kick, Super
• Guile: Flash Kick, Super
• Blanka: Horizontal Ball, Vertical Ball, backwards Hop, super
• Zangief: SPD, Atomic Suplex (360 K, Super
• Dhalsim: Yoga Teleport
• Honda: Headbutt, Butt Slam, Oicho Throw (his command throw), Super
• Hawk: Uppercut, Mexican Typhoon (his command throw), Super
• Fei Long: Flame Kick, Chicken Wing (his twist kick move), Super
• Cammy: Cannon Spike, Spinning Knuckle, Super
• Dee Jay: Double Dread Kicks, Jackknife Maximum (his upkicks special), Machine Gun Upper, Super
• Boxer: Buffalo Headbutt, Super
• Claw: Backflips, Flip Kicks
• Sagat: Tiger Uppercut
• Dictator: Super

Blanka's Horizontal Ball and Vertical Ball have no invincibility, but they hit on the first frame, as well as being airborne (they have 0 frames of start-up), so they can also be used to reverse ticks, as long as the opponent is close enough so that the ball will hit on the first frame. If Blanka is too far away, he must use his back dash. Characters with special throws or super throws can also use those to reverse ticks, because command throws have large range and are also 0 frame moves. Due to a glitch in the game, Ken, Dhalsim, and Sagat can NOT use their supers for reversals.

Sacrifice throw (aka sac throw)

This is a strategy to counter early aerial attacks where the defender lets themself get hit (sacrificing life) in order to gain a frame advantage and perform a counterthrow as a result. Specifically, sac throws only work with jumping attacks (Mostly Mediums and Heavies) against a standing opponent since it's the only case where the hitstun remains the same (11 frames) regardless of the strength of the normal, allowing the defender to recover quickly from slower moves and perform an early counterthrow. This is a useful skill to surprise unsuspecting opponents who hit with high jumping attacks often.

Sac throws have two main uses:

1. countering tick throw attempts
2. blockstrings.

Against tick throws, the attacker usually expects the opponent to block against a safe jump. If they choose a medium or heavy attack, they should expect a long recovery. However, if the defender lets themself get hit, they will recover much faster and be able to counterthrow before the attacker attempts to throw them instead. Of course, this is risky. If the attacker decides to delay the timing of the aerial attack, the attacker can connect a powerful combo for free.

Against blockstrings, the idea is similar, but the subsequent attack will be a normal or a grounded special attack instead of a throw. Attackers usually try to hit their jump attacks as low as possible in order to perform combos. With the use of ground normal anti-airs, you can force them to aim their air attacks higher in order to beat your counterattacks. If you block those high aerial hits, they might try to perform a blockstring. But with a sac throw, you would have the advantage to throw them as soon as they land.

Throw For The Win

If you have the opponent's life down to where a teched throw would not kill them, but a non-teched throw will, they will die regardless of if they tech or not. You will see them visually tech the throw, but they will still take full damage and die.

The technique also works with dizzies. If the opponent has gotten hit by a couple of moves and is at the point where a throw would dizzy them, that throw is untechable, and the dizzy is guaranteed.

This exists because SF2 checks to see if you teched a throw after reducing your opponent's life/adding dizzy from the throw. The game checks every frame to see if your life is empty or your dizzy is full, so if either of those values hit the limit at any point you die instantly.

Throw Range Matchups

Since throws and holds are such an important part of the game, it is useful to know whether you have a throw range advantage or disadvantage in any particular matchup. For example, if you're playing Ryu against a good Blanka player who utilizes their maximum throw range after a tick, you should know you will lose if you try to counter-throw if you're out of your own throw range, since Blanka's throw range is greater than Ryu's.

	Zangief SPD	T.Hawk Typhoon/720	E.Honda Oicho	Zangief Rh Suplex	E.Honda Normals	Blanka	Dhalsim	Zangief Normals/ Forward Suplex	Dictator	Boxer¹ Strong	ChunLi	Zangief RBG/ Short Suplex	Claw	Zangief 720	Ryu/ Ken	Guile	DeeJay	Cammy	Sagat	Boxer¹ Fierce	T.Hawk Normals	FeiLong
Zangief SPD		+18	+25	+28	+30	+32	+37	+42	+42	+52	+43	+45	+46	+47	+47	+48	+48	+49	+50	+62	+53	+55
T.Hawk Typhoon T.Hawk 720	-18		+7	+10	+12	+14	+19	+24	+24	+24	+25	+27	+28	+29	+29	+30	+30	+31	+32	+34	+35	+37
E.Honda Oicho	-25	-7		+3	+5	+7	+12	+17	+17	+4	+18	+20	+21	+22	+22	+23	+23	+24	+25	+10	+28	+30
Zangief Rh Suplex	-28	-10	-3		+2	+4	+9	+14	+14	+24	+15	+17	+18	+19	+19	+20	+20	+21	+22	+34	+25	+27
E.Honda Normals	-30	-12	-5	-2		+2	+7	+12	+12	-1	+13	+15	+16	+16	+18	+18	+18	+19	+20	+5	+23	+25
Blanka	-32	-14	-7	-4	-2		+5	+10	+10	-2	+11	+13	+14	+15	+15	+16	+16	+17	+18	+8	+21	+23
Dhalsim	-37	-19	-12	-9	-7	-5		+5	+5	+11	+6	+8	+9	+10	+10	+11	+11	+12	+13	+21	+16	+18
Zangief Normals Zangief Forward Suplex	-42	-24	-17	-14	-12	-10	-5		+0	+10	+1	+3	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+8	+20	+11	+13
Dictator	-42	-24	-17	-14	-12	-10	-5	-0		-1	+1	+3	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+8	+9	+11	+13
Boxer¹ Strong Throw	-52	-24	-4	-24	+1	+2	-11	-10	+1		+1	-7	+5	-5	+5	+5	+7	+7	+9	+10	+11	+13
ChunLi	-43	-25	-18	-15	-13	-11	-6	-1	-1	-1		+2	+3	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+7	+9	+10	+12
Zangief Short Suplex Zangief RBG	-45	-27	-20	-17	-15	-13	-8	-3	-3	+7	-2		+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+5	+17	+8	+10
Claw	-46	-28	-21	-18	-16	-14	-9	-4	-4	-5	-3	-1		+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+4	+5	+7	+9
Zangief 720	-47	-29	-22	-19	-17	-15	-10	-5	-5	+5	-4	-2	-1		+0	+1	+1	+2	+3	+15	+6	+8
Ryu/Ken	-47	-29	-22	-19	-17	-15	-10	-5	-5	-5	-4	-2	-1	-0		+1	+1	+2	+3	+5	+6	+8
Guile	-48	-30	-23	-20	-18	-16	-11	-6	-6	-5	-5	-3	-2	-1	-1		+0	+1	+2	+5	+5	+7
DeeJay	-48	-30	-23	-20	-18	-16	-11	-6	-6	-7	-5	-3	-2	-1	-1	-0		+1	+2	+3	+5	+7
Cammy	-49	-31	-24	-21	-19	-17	-12	-7	-7	-7	-6	-4	-3	-2	-2	-1	-1		+1	+3	+4	+6
Sagat	-50	-32	-25	-22	-20	-18	-13	-8	-8	-9	-7	-5	-4	-3	-3	-2	-2	-1		+1	+3	+5
Boxer¹ Fierce Throw	-62	-34	-10	-34	-5	-8	-21	-20	-9	-10	-9	-17	-5	-15	-5	-5	-3	-3	-1		+1	+3
T.Hawk Normals	-53	-35	-28	-25	-23	-21	-16	-11	-11	-11	-10	-8	-7	-6	-6	-5	-5	-4	-3	-1		+2
FeiLong	-55	-37	-30	-27	-25	-23	-18	-13	-13	-13	-12	-10	-9	-8	-8	-7	-7	-6	-5	-3	-2

¹NOTE: Boxer's grabs can only be activated when inside Close Standing Strong/Fierce activation range (which also explains why Strong grab has more range), this means that he is the only character in ST that has an activation range on his throw/grab(i.e. like close normals). (This is not true for HSF2, because of the CPS1 characters.) Boxer's throwbox is huge, but he can't activate his grab from that max range because of the Close Normal range restriction, which will vary by which character your opponent is using. On top of that, different characters have different throwablebox sizes, which as a result made Boxer grab to have a "variable" range by matchups: on some matchups his grabs have a long range(Blanka, E.Honda), on others it has a very small range(Dhalsim, Zangief). The underlined values represent the values that deviate from the general rule, i.e. the values that differ from Dictator's (since, otherwise, they have equivalent throw ranges).

--Born2SPD

Multi-tap/Multi-release

Multi-tapping refers to hitting more than one button in an attempt to get a reversal. For example, when performing a Shoryuken reversal, you must press a punch button within the single last frame of your character's wakeup animation after performing the motion. If you do press Jab, Strong, then Fierce followed by releasing the buttons sequentially, you now have 6 chances to hit that 1 frame window.

Multi-tapping can (and should) be used with throws as well. Unless you are going for one specific throw (like Ken's knee bash) and you have extreme confidence in your reversal timing, it's a good idea to use every button your character can throw with when reversing a throw. With Chun, you should try to reversal throw with Strong~Fierce. With Ryu, you should try to reversal throw with Strong~Fierce~Forward~RH.

Option Select

Option select refers to doing one thing that covers more than one possible outcome. For example, I am Honda, and my opponent is trying to do a meaty attack to me as I get up. I do a half-circle to down/back and hold it, so now I have the command throw stored. I press and hold all three punches before I get up (so that nothing comes out), and with reversal timing, I multi-release the punches. There are only two possible outcomes:

1. I timed the reversal properly, and I will throw the opponent
2. I did not time the reversal properly, but I will block safely because I was holding down/back

Another good example of option select is safe jumping and safe reversing...

Safe Jumps

You can time a jump-in meaty enough so that it will force the opponent to block if they don't reverse, but if they do reverse, you can land quickly enough to block their reversal. This works because there are only a very few moves in ST that hit on the first frame, most reversals have a small delay before they hit.

Safe jumps are much more practical against moves that a slow startup. For example, it's very easy to do safe jumps against Boxer's Buffalo Headbutt, because the quickest version (Jab) has a window of 11 non-hitting frames in the beginning, which gives you plenty of time to land. Safe jumps are extremely hard (or impossible) against moves that have very few (or zero) frames of start-up. Don't try doing safe jumps against:

• Ken's Shoryukens
• Blanka's Vertical Beast Roll
• Akuma's Shoryukens and Tatsus
• Chun's Roundhouse Tensho Kyaku (i.e. up kicks)

Ken and Akuma Shoryus come out too fast to perform a safejump on them if they perform it as a reversal. And in the case of Akuma it can lead to high damage juggles. Chun's Roundhouse upkick comes out too fast to safejump as well, but it's susceptible to crossups, so favour those instead, although some high priority air normals may be able to stuff her upkick, but this is quite risky. Blanka has no invincibility on his ball attacks, though they come out instantly. If you have an air normal that can stuff it, then you can still "safejump" him with that, such as Chun's Jumping Fierce etc, although he can still usually escape with back hop.

Built in safe jumps

Built in safe jumps are set-ups in which a safe jump can be achieved without the need of timing the safe jump: just holding up/up-towards (so your character will jump on the first possible moment) will grant safe jump timing! Note that if the opponent touches the corner or a breakable object, it will interfere in the setup (unless them being in the corner is a requirement). Here is the list of known built in safe jump setups:

• All Shotos:
  • vs Guile: knock down the opponent with a sweep and then hold up-towards.

• Ryu:
  • vs Guile: with Guile touching a corner, knock down the opponent with Jab Shoryuken's 1st active part, then hold up-towards.

• N.Ryu only:
  • vs Ryu, O.E.Honda, Zangief, Dictator, Cammy, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with a sweep, cancel that sweep into a Short Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku and then hold up-towards. This may be a crossup deppending on the spacing, so be aware of that. Note that in Cammy's case Ryu will amost always be in a positioning in which Ryu will jump over Cammy, but not with the optimal spacing for the Diagonal Jumping Roundhouse to connect as a crossup, so this is hardly usable. For it to work agaisnt Zangief, you have to jump with Diagonal Jumping Strong and by pressing that button on the right timing so your normal move is on the 2nd active part when Zangief wakes up so you can beat a wake up Lariat. In Fei's case, know that this is loopable as long as he keeps waking up with a Short Shien Kyaku (Flame Kick). Also, this doesn't work against N.Honda's super, but if he is meterless then you're good.
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Zangief, Dictator, Cammy, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku last active part that hits at the front, at its 1st active frame. Then, you'll have to perform a neutral jump and a jump towards the opponent's direction (in either order) as soon as possible. So just hold up/up-towards to jump as soon as the Tatsumaki animation is finished. After doing the first jump, hold up-towards/up (the other jumping direction) to jump again as soon as you land from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump. Against Zangief, the only moves that will beat a Reversal Lariat is a Neutral Jumping Jab, or the 2nd active part on the Diagonal Jumping Strong.

• O.Ryu only:
  • vs Ryu, O.E.Honda, Dictator, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with a sweep, cancel that sweep into a Short Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku and then hold up-towards. This may be a crossup deppending on the spacing, so be aware of that. In Fei's case, know that this is loopable as long as he keeps waking up with a Short Shien Kyaku (Flame Kick). Also, this doesn't work against N.Honda's super, but if he is meterless then you're good.
  • vs E.Honda, Guile, Dictator: knock down the opponent with the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku last active part that hits at the front, at its 1st active frame. Then, you'll have to perform a neutral jump and a jump towards the opponent's direction (in either order) as soon as possible. So just hold up/up-towards to jump as soon as the Tatsumaki animation is finished. After doing the first jump, hold up-towards/up (the other jumping direction) to jump again as soon as you land from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump.

• Ken:
  • vs Dictator: with Dictator touching a corner, knock down the opponent with Jab Shoryuken's 1st active part, then hold up-towards.

• N.Ken only:
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Dictator, Cammy, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with a sweep, cancel that sweep into the non-overhead version of the Roundhouse crazy kick (HCF+K) and then hold up-towards.
  • vs Cammy, FeiLong: knock down the opponent with a sweep, cancel that sweep into the non-overhead version of the Inside Crescent crazy kick (QCF+K) and then hold up-towards.
  • vs Dhalsim, Zangief, Boxer, Claw, Dictator, FeiLong: grab them with the Knee Bash hold (the Forward kick throw) and hold up-towards. Against Zangief make sure to jump with a Jab cancelled into an aerial Tatsu, otherwise it will be very unsafe. Against Ryu and Deejay it may also be a safejump, but only with specific mashing, otherwise it'll not be a real safejump, meaning you'll be vulnerable to their reversal (any Shoryuken or the Roundhouse upkicks, respectivelly), so it's a total gamble. Also, this will be a safe jump vs Guile as long no one mashes, but it's too risky to rely on that, if there's mashing involved then sometimes Ken will land on the other side and the air normal will just whiff (Ken lands before the opponent's Reversal frame), allowing the opponent to grab you easily, so it's a total gamble.
  • vs Ryu, Zangief, Dictator, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with the Roundhouse crazy kick (HCF+K) 2nd part, then hold up-towards and keep it held until Ken jumps for a second time. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touches the corner or a breakable object.
  • vs Dhalsim, Dictator: knock down the opponent with a Fierce Shoryuken 3rd active part (doesn't matter how many hits it does, as long the 3rd part hits on its 1st frame), then hold up-towards to jump as soon as you land for the Shoryuken.

• O.Ken only:
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw: knock down the opponent with a Fierce Shoryuken 3rd active part (doesn't matter how many hits it does, as long the 3rd part hits on its 1st frame), then hold up-towards to jump as soon as you land for the Shoryuken.

• Honda:
  • vs Sagat, Claw: knock down the opponent with a sweep (can be a Crouching Roundhouse as well as the command sweep) and then hold up-towards.
  • vs Guile, Sim, Boxer, Claw, Dictator, DeeJay: grab them with the Bear Hug hold (the Fierce throw) and hold up-towards. This may randomly be a cross-up against Guile, Dhalsim and Dictator, so be aware of that. When Jumping Roundhouse (not the Forward kick Belly Flop) crosses-up, it will also be safe vs Chun.
  • vs everyone but Ken, Blanka, Chun, Sagat: grab them with the Knee Bash hold (the Roundhouse throw) and hold up-towards. If the opponent doesn't hit the corner, that jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Sagat: with the opponent cornered, grab them with the Knee Bash hold (the Roundhouse throw) and hold up-towards. Against Cammy it also works as long you're not too close to her (which is what would happen most of the time). This will work vs Claw too, but you have to also be point-blank with him, so it's not very useful.

• Blanka:
  • vs Boxer: with Boxer touching a corner, knock down the opponent with a sweep and then hold up-towards. This will be a safe jump against his super too.

• N.Blanka only:
  • vs E.Honda, Guile, Dictator: knock down the opponent with the Amazon River Run (i.e. slide) on it's 1st active frame, and then hold up-towards. This can also be safe vs Chun if the jump will be a cross-up, but that requires it to be done from very close, so it's not very useful.

• Guile:
  • vs Boxer: with Boxer touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the sweep's 2nd active part, then hold up-towards. This will be a safe jump against his super too.

• Chun:
  • vs Sagat: knock down the opponent with a sweep and then hold up-towards.

• Zangief:
  • vs Ryu: beat a ground tatsu with a Crouching Jab before it goes into airborne recovery, and then hold up-towards (so Zangief jumps as soon as the jab animation ends).
  • vs E.Honda: when you're cornered, SPD him backwards to your corner, and then hold neutral-upwards or up-towards.
  • vs E.Honda: if you counter an approaching Headbutt with a Crouching Jab, holding up-towards (so Zangief jumps as soon as the jab animation ends) will be a safe jump, as long Honda doesn't touch his corner during the air reset animation. Honda will be outside the range of Diagonal Jumping Short though, so using this opportunity to set a tick into SPD is not very strong, but still this is a free safe jump so make use of it.
  • vs Guile, Dhalsim, Dictator: knock down the opponent with the Punch Lariat's 2nd rotation (i.e. the 4th hitbox), and then hold up-towards. Keep it held so Zangief does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Zangief, Dictator, Cammy, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with Kick Lariat's 1st rotation (i.e. the 2nd hitbox), and then hold up-towards. Keep it held so Zangief does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Boxer: with Boxer touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Punch Lariat's 1st rotation (i.e. the 2nd hitbox), and then hold up-towards. Keep it held so Zangief does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump.
• Boxer:
  • vs N.Zangief, Boxer, FeiLong: grab them and then hold up-towards. Agaisnt Zangief, make sure to jump with Jab to beat a possible reversal Kick Lariat, and know that this will not beat O.Zangief's Lariats. Against Boxer this will be a safe jump against his Super too. This will also be a safe jump vs Cammy as long no one mashes, but it's too risky to rely on that, if there's mashing involved then sometimes the air normal will just whiff. Against DeeJay it may also be a safejump, but only with specific mashing, otherwise the air normal will whiff (Boxer lands before the opponent's Reversal frame), allowing the opponent to grab you easily, so it's a total gamble.
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw: knock down the opponent with the Fierce Straight Rush and hold upwards so Boxer does a neutral jump as soon as possible. During the neutral jump, do a Neutral Jumping Fierce and steer it towards the opponent, and hold up-towards so Boxer jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touch the corner.
  • vs Boxer, FeiLong: knock down the opponent with the Strong Buffalo Headbutt 1st active part and hold upwards so Boxer does a neutral jump as soon as possible. During the neutral jump, do a Neutral Jumping Fierce and steer it towards the opponent, and hold up-towards so Boxer jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touch the corner.

• N.Boxer only:
  • vs E.Honda, Guile, Dictator: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with a Jab or Strong Low Rush and hold up-towards.
  • vs Cammy, T.Hawk, FeiLong: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with a Fierce Low Rush and hold up-towards.
  • vs Dhalsim: knock down the opponent with the Short Knockdown Rush and hold upwards so Boxer does a neutral jump as soon as possible. During the neutral jump, do a Neutral Jumping Fierce and steer it towards the opponent, and hold up-towards so Boxer jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touch the corner.
  • vs Dhalsim, Dictator: knock down the opponent with the Forward or Roundhouse Knockdown Rush and hold upwards so Boxer does a neutral jump as soon as possible. During the neutral jump, do a Neutral Jumping Fierce and steer it towards the opponent, and hold up-towards so Boxer jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touch the corner.
  • vs Dictator, FeiLong, DeeJay: knock down the opponent with the Super and hold upwards so Boxer does a neutral jump as soon as possible. During the neutral jump, do a Neutral Jumping Fierce and steer it towards the opponent, and hold up-towards so Boxer jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, as long the opponent doesn't touch the corner. This will also be a safe jump against E.Honda if he has no meter.

• Claw:

• Sagat:
  • vs Various (read description): knock down the opponent with the Tiger Knee 2nd active part (doesn't matter if it hits twice or not). Then, you'll have to perform a neutral jump and a jump towards the opponent's direction (in either order) as soon as possible. So just hold up/up-towards to jump as soon as the Tiger Knee animation is finished. After doing the first jump, hold up-towards/up (the other jumping direction) to jump again as soon as you land from the first jump. That second jump will be a safe jump, deppending on the match-up and the Tiger Knee strenght. Keep in mind that O.Sagat has a faster jump, so what works for O.Sagat may not work for N.Sagat. In N.Sagat's case, you can use a Short Tiger Knee against Guile, Dhalsim and Dictator, a Forward Tiger Knee against E.Honda, Guile and Dictator, or a Roundhouse Tiger Knee against Ryu, Zangief (jump at him with a punch button to beat his Reversal Lariat), Cammy, T.Hawk, FeiLong and DeeJay. In O.Sagat's case, you can use a Short Tiger Knee against Dhalsim and Claw, a Forward Tiger Knee against ChunLi, Dhalsim and Dictator, or a Roundhouse Tiger Knee against E.Honda, Guile and Dictator.

• N.Sagat only:
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Guile, Dictator, FeiLong, DeeJay: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Jab Tiger Uppercut 2nd active part, and then hold up-towards.

• Dictator:

• Cammy:

• T.Hawk:
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Guile, Zangief, Dhalsim, DeeJay, Claw, Dictator: with the opponent near their corner, but not touching it, throw them with a Strong throw and hold up-towards. If the throw is softened and the opponent only touches the corner when falling to the ground, that jump will be a safe jump (there's a specific spacing for this to work, it's not super precise though). Against Claw and Dictator know that they will not have enough charge for a Scarlet Terror/Knee Press Nightmare right when they land, due to the side switching that happens during the grab animation).
  • vs everyone but N.Ken and Blanka: grab them with the Elbow Bash hold (the Roundhouse throw) and hold up-towards. This may randomly be a cross-up against Shotos and Deejay, so be aware of that. This works against O.Ken because only N.Ken's Fierce Shoryu is a 0f startup move, O.Ken's is 1f.
  • vs Boxer: with Boxer touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Jab Tomahawk Buster 2nd active part, and then hold up-towards.
  • vs E.Honda: with Honda touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the a Typhoon, and then hold up-towards. This works because of the weird bounce Honda has when he's touching a corner and is thrown. This means you can use this as a loop: after the 1st Typhoon, go for the built in safe jump and use it to set a tick into another Typhoon (right after the Jumping Jab).

• N.T.Hawk only:
  • vs Sagat: knock down the opponent with the sweep's 2nd active part and then hold up-towards.

• O.T.Hawk only:
  • vs Guile: knock down the opponent with the sweep's 1st active part and then hold up-towards.

• FeiLong:
  • vs Boxer, FeiLong: with the opponent cornered, grab them with the Gankai Hou (the punch throw) and hold up-towards. If the opponent techs the throw, that jump will be a safe jump. This can be used pretty much against all charge characters by the way, even though you're not landing with safe jump timing, due to the opponent not being able to hit you with a normal move (not enough time for it) and due to not having enough charge for a reversal (no back charge because Fei switched sides with the opponent during the throw animation - which makes the opponent lose charge, and most probably no down charge too, since if the opponent teched the throw, he most likely was trying to counter-throw while standing).
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw, Sagat: grab them with the Shuu Kubi Kari (kick throw) and hold up-towards. If the opponent techs the throw and doesn't hit the corner or a breakable object, that jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Dictator: with the opponent cornered, grab them with the Shuu Kubi Kari (kick throw). If the opponent doesn't techs the throw, hold up-towards till you jump a second time, and that jump will be a safe jump. This is not very useful though since if the throw is teched, jumping immediatelly is unsafe.
  • vs Dhalsim, Dictator: with the opponent cornered, knock down the opponent with the Short Shien Kyaku (flame kick) 1st active part and hold up-towards.

• N.Fei only:
  • vs E.Honda, T.Hawk, FeiLong, DeeJay: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Fierce Rekka Ken 3rd hit, and then hold up-towards. Note that against T.Hawk it's unlikelly that he'll wake up with a Tomahawk Buster (if he's unaware of this setup) since in this spacing he has to do the inputs backwards.
  • vs Guile, Dhalsim, Dictator: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Strong Rekka Ken 3rd hit, and then hold up-towards. Note that against Dictator this is not very useful because the Strong Rekka Ken often doesn't reach Dictator before he recovers - for it to work, the 1st Rekka Ken has to hit from very close, and the 1st and 2nd Rekkas have to be Fierce Rekkas.
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Jab Rekka Ken 3rd hit, and then hold up-towards.

• O.Fei only:
  • vs E.Honda, Guile, Dictator: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Fierce Rekka Ken 3rd hit, and then hold up-towards.
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw: with the opponent touching a corner, knock down the opponent with the Strong Rekka Ken 3rd hit, and then hold up-towards.

• DeeJay:

• N.DeeJay only:
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, T.Hawk, Cammy, FeiLong, Boxer, Claw, Dictator: with the opponent near their corner, but not touching it, throw them with a punch throw and hold up-towards. If the throw is softened and the opponent only touches the corner when falling to the ground, that jump will be a safe jump (there's a specific spacing for this to work, it's not super precise though).
  • vs Boxer: knock down the opponent with the Forward Rolling Sobat 3rd part (i.e. 1st part of 2nd hit) from far away (so the 1st hit doesn't connect) and hold up-towards. Keep it held so DeeJay does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Ryu, Zangief, Dictator, T.Hawk, FeiLong: knock down the opponent with the Forward Rolling Sobat 4th part (i.e. 2nd part of 2nd hit) from far away (so the 1st hit doesn't connect) and hold up-towards. Keep it held so DeeJay does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump. Note that against Zangief you have to jump with Short kick for it to beat a wake up Reversal Lariat, but Zangief can just crouch that normal instead, so it's risky. It's also a granted safe jump vs a meterless E.Honda, but if he has meter, it will then only work sometimes.
  • vs Dhalsim, Claw: with the opponent on the ground and far away from the corner, knock down the opponent with the Forward or Roundhouse Jacknife Maximum (and in the case of the Forward version, don't do the move again to get the 3rd hit) and hold upwards. This will make DeeJay jump neutrally as soon as possible. During that jump, hold up-towards so DeeJay jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the neutral jump. This second jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Guile, FeiLong, DeeJay, Dictator: knock down the opponent with a Machine Gun Upper that is partially mashed (i.e. gives 3 hits) and hold upwards. This will make DeeJay jump neutrally as soon as possible. During that jump, hold up-towards so DeeJay jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the neutral jump. This second jump will be a safe jump. It will also be a safejump agaisnt Ken's Jab and Strong Shoryukens, but not against his Fierce Shoryuken.
  • vs Claw, Sagat: knock down the opponent with a Machine Gun Upper that is fully mashed (i.e. gives 4 hits) and hold upwards. This will make DeeJay jump neutrally as soon as possible. During that jump, hold up-towards so DeeJay jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the neutral jump. This second jump will be a safe jump.
  • vs Ryu, E.Honda, Guile, FeiLong, DeeJay, Dictator: knock down the opponent with his Super, but instead of following up with a Jacknife Maximum for extra juggle hits, hold upwards. This will make DeeJay jump neutrally as soon as possible. During that jump, hold up-towards so DeeJay jumps towards the opponent as soon as he lands from the neutral jump. This second jump will be a safe jump. It will also be a safejump agaisnt Ken's Jab and Strong Shoryukens, but not against his Fierce Shoryuken.

• O.DeeJay only:
  • vs Zangief, Boxer: knock down the opponent with the Forward Rolling Sobat 4th part (i.e. 2nd part of 2nd hit) from far away (so the 1st hit doesn't connect) and hold up-towards. Keep it held so DeeJay does a second jump right after the first. The second jump will be a safe jump. Note that against Zangief you have to jump with Strong punch, it's the only move that can beat his wake up Reversal Lariat and also hit a crouching Zangief.

--Born2SPD

Safe Reversal

Safe reversal is a very useful (but very difficult) option select technique. When your opponent attempts a meaty and you try a reversal special move, instead of leaving the stick in the command's final position and pressing, press the punch buttons, move the stick to downback, and release the buttons. If you didn't time the reversal correctly, you'll block the meaty.

For example, with Ryu, as you're getting up, hold all three punches, then do 623, 1, then release all 3 punches sequentially. If you timed it correctly, you will get a DP. If you didn't time it correctly, you will block. Note that you only have a relatively small window of time to reach D/B and release the buttons, so you must be quick.

Instant Jumping Overheads

Only a few characters (Ryu, Ken, Fei) have true overheads as ground moves, but some characters can also do an overhead as a jumping attack immediately after leaving the ground, at point blank range. These typically can only be done to finish the opponent, because obviously you can't block on your way down from the jump. Good jumping overheads include:

• Chun's headstomp (will beat DP clean)
• Dic's j.Forward
• Boxer's j.Short and j.Forward
• Honda's j.Short
• Zangief's j.Forward

Note that Dhalsim's drills, despite being jumping moves, can be duck-blocked. In fact, if angled correctly, they MUST be duck-blocked, because they can hit as a low move.

Cross-Ups

When a jumping attack has a long enough horizontal hitbox that it passes the character's origin point (basically their center), that attack is capable of a Cross Up. In a nutshell, when a character's origin point passes their opponent's, they are now considered on the other side of that opponent, and their blocking direction changes. That means when a Cross Up attack hits, the direction the opponent must block just changed sides. To make crossups even more dangerous, try to aim your character's origin point around the center of your opponent's. This makes which direction to block ambiguous, and this is an incredibly dangerous tool for combos and pressure.

Of course, you need to jump to perform a crossup, so consider saving them for knockdowns or when you're fully in your opponent's head.

Cross-ups and Horizontal Charge Moves

If you have a horizontal charge and the opponent crosses you up, you will lose your charge. The three exceptions to this are Chun's stored Super, Honda's stored Super, and Honda's stored Oicho. With those moves, you can switch the direction of your charge as your characters switch sides. (Side note: Claw can not do this with his stored flip kicks.) In general, if you're being crossed up while you have a horizontal charge, you can still perform the charge move at the moment of the cross-up, when your charge is forcibly removed. For example, imagine Guile knocks down Honda while he's charging a headbutt. If Guile goes for a crossup, Honda can press Punch right after Guile passes over him, and dish out a headbutt.

--NKI 14:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Ground Crossups

This is a useful way to get massive damage off a mixup. By walking under your opponent in specific situations, some ground moves can hit from behind like crossups. This pushes the opponent into you, allowing for huge damage potential. The way to set these up varies on the character, but air to airs and teched throws are common ways to setup. Other setups are matchup specific.

• Shotos - Cr mp (Only on Blanka) : This is not really useful for Ryu, as he almost never gets a chance to go for this. Ken can use it after a kneebash however, this can be blocked high, but it does good dizzy if it hits, and links into most of your other normals.

• Dhalsim - Slides : Mainly done with anti air slides (vs shotos and Sagat etc), if done at the right range it will cause Sim to move behind when it hits, allowing you to link other normals for big damage. Usually this is done with lk slide, you can link into cr mk for distance, or close hp, which will usually dizzy if it hits twice. In some cases you can set these up after teched throws, and in other cases it works as they get up (Only seen this used against Sagat).

• Honda - Sweep : The part where his leg is behind him has a hitbox, so it will be perfect for this type of setup. This is good to do after a fierce throw in the corner, most characters are susceptible to this, however some like Sim cannot be walked under in order to go for it. You are safe if they manage to block at least, you may sometimes prefer to not bother and maintain corner pressure.

• Dictator - Slide (cr hk) : This is nice in the sense you get a lot of ways to go into this, however it is very unsafe if blocked, so don't be too predictable. Best after a teched throw near the corner, or air to air/anti air normal. Vs Sim and Chun this can work mid screen after a teched throw, in addition to the corner. Dictator can cross most characters up with cr mp, but this is not much use, and a lot harder to set it up.

• Fei - Close mk/lk : One of the most common moves for ground crossups, safe it it is blocked, and can lead to massive damage combos. The most effective way to set this up is to do a throw, and if they tech, you can walk under in time. Both throws let you do this, but kick throw/air throw is more lenient. For good damage and a hard knockdown, try close mk > cr lp> hp rekka.

• Cammy - Close mk : Similar to Fei close mk, however some characters can crouch under this, making it less useful in those matchups. You can set this up well in most cases, if done after anti air close mp. Like Fei you want to link another normal after close mk for big damage and a knockdown. Usually close mk> cr mp> drill works well enough.

Corpse Hopping

Term used for moves that allow you to "pass over" a downed opponent. While there are many moves that can do this, some (like fierce Shoryukenss, Flash Kick, etc) are not very useful at all. Only ones worth noting will be listed. These are either used to simply get on the other side, like to get out of the corner etc. Or in some cases to quickly hit the opponent from the other side as a mixup.

• Ryu - lk Tatsu : Other Tatsus will work, and so will Shoryukens. Lk Tatsu is mainly to get behind them to escape the corner, or if you are against someone like Dictator or Boxer, you might use this to make them lose Super charge. If you use stronger versions of Tatsu it can go behind before they get up, and hit them from behind, this is character specific, and also quite easy to block if the opponent knows of this trick, so it's generally not much use.

• Ken - hcf + kick, lk Tatsu - This is side specific, and only works on some characters. You can't hold it and pass to the other side, or hold for the overhead, else you will go back to the front when you perform it. This is helpful in some matchups to avoid reversal moves, allowing you to punish afterwards. Keep in mind that reversal throws/command grab will beat this. LK tatsu is just if you need something quick to get out of the corner etc.

• Blanka - Horizontal Ball, forward Hop - A useful tool in Blankas mixup game. The horizontal ball will fly over a downed opponent. This is useful in the corner, and after a bite hold. You will recover very fast after landing, letting you surprise the opponent for a combo. Hop is much of the same, but much slower, it will go through opponents even when they are not downed though. You can charge upball while doing this, if you activate it with df.

• Zangief - Ground Headbutt (Fierce) - Fierce has a little more distance, allowing a corpse hop to be possible in most cases. Chances are the opponent will be able to react if they know about this, but it can be useful for making charge characters lose back charge, and escaping the corner.

• Sagat - Tiger Knee : You can also go over them if they are crouching, though this is much easier on some characters than others. Not hard for them to react to, mostly used to reduce their input time so it's harder for them to reverse. So you want to go behind, then have time to land and do cr mk meaty etc.

• Dictator - Psycho Crusher and Scissor Kick : Key mixup tool. With the obvious use of spacing (escaping the corner), it can also be used to create mixups using overheads and ticks. Mid screen both of these go over, in the corner it depends on the character you are facing, and the side you are on. Generally for most matchups, scissor kick works on both sides (but it's much slower, so psycho is favoured), and psycho works on their side.

--GolcarJack 2020