Friday, August 31, 2007

A-cho HSF Vids 072907

Watch as good triumphs over evil. Pic from a-cho site.

http://a-cho.com/
ARCADE -> "大会動画" (button on the left above Milia)

acho_hs2_20070729a.asx - Seki (DJ) & Kachu (Claw) vs. ShootingD (Ryu) & Aniken
acho_hs2_20070729b.asx - ABC (CE Sagat) & Six (CE Dictator) vs. Muteki (CE Guile) & Chamu (Chun-li)
acho_hs2_20070729c.asx - Suzuki (Guile) & Kimomaru (Dictator) vs. ShootingD & Aniken
acho_hs2_20070729d.asx - Suzuki & Kimomaru vs. Muteki & Chamu
acho_hs2_20070729e.asx - Finals: ShootingD & Aniken vs. ABC (WW Ryu) & Six

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Mikado Pre X-Mania Vids 072107

Ostensibly a warm-up for Hyper Mania and SBO, this event was more like a cap on the first season of Mikado ranbats. Super Turbo 3on.

http://blog.mi-ka-do.net/?eid=409554

0721_01.zip
N Oah (Boxer), Haru KING (Honda), Milky Vega (Dictator) vs.
Oomura (Dictator), Futachan (Ryu), Wasse-kun (Dhalsim)

0721_02.zip
Cello Tape* (Zangief), Takiba (Blanka), AFO (Blanka) vs.
Pony (Zangief), Tsunoppi (Guile), Mattsun (Ken)

0721_03.zip
Noguchi (O.Sagat), ShikiGuile, Yuubou (Fei-Long) vs.
Yoshio (Guile), Nakanishi (Ryu), Naka (Cammy)

0721_04.zip
TZW (Guile), Kikai (Ryu), KKY (Dhalsim) vs.
Gian (Dhalsim), Shiro (Ryu), Taira (Dictator)

0721_05.zip
Oomura (Dictator), Futachan (Ryu), Wasse-kun (Dhalsim) vs.
Pony (Zangief), Tsunoppi (Guile), Mattsun (Ken)

0721_06.zip
Noguchi (O.Sagat), ShikiGuile (Boxer), Yuubou (Fei-Long) vs.
Gian (Dhalsim), Shiro (Ryu), Taira (Dictator)

0721_07.zip
Pony (Zangief), Tsunoppi (Guile), Mattsun (Ken) vs.
Gian (Dhalsim), Shiro (Ryu), Taira (Dictator)

* I had been writing this nick as "Serotepu." Going to switch to Cello Tape from now on.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Classic SF2 Video - Nagoyan

Somebody posted a great vintage SF2 video on nicovideo recently. It was supposedly made way back in 1991* and features Tasaka (at the time a Chun-Li specialist) among other old schoolers demonstrating various tricks and combos. I re-upped the movies to youtube and typed up some notes (hat tip: T.Akiba) below.

* - Man, at my local arcade we were still getting the hang of DPs back then.

YouTube Playlist

Baiting Throw Attempts
One key technique here involves baiting counter-throw attempts and punishing with this or that. Blanka is especially vulnerable to this trick since he has that stupid double swipe attack.

Yoga Killing Arts
There's a lot of overlap between the Dhalsim techniques in the Nagoyan video and the ones on the 48 Killing Arts of Yoga. I wonder if Tasaka's crew were rivals with Foosuke and Team Y.S.B. Watch out for Yoga Sniper, Side Magic, Yoga Bonjour, etc.

512 Moves
In classic Street Fighter 2 there's a small chance that you'll get a special move simply by pressing an attack button. Since the odds of this happening are 1 in 512, these are called, "512 Special Moves."
I couldn't spot any 512 Moves in the video myself, but if you see a mysterious Sonic Boom or Sumo Missile this could explain it.

512 Guard
In the same fashion as the above glitch, there's a small chance that you'll automatically block even if you weren't holding back on the joystick. This can happen even if you were recovering from a move, too.

Okiseme Throws
This one was unfamiliar to me so I can only offer conjecture:
When a character gets to their feet after being knocked down, there's a brief window where they are immune to throws. If you attempt to throw them at a precise moment, however, the game will sometimes (randomly?) ignore this immunity. See pt.12 @ 8:48 for a clear example.

Counter Damage
Blanka takes double damage when he's hit out of the ball. Also, Ryu sometimes takes double damage when he's dizzy.

Zangief's Rapid Crouching Short
After doing a crouching short with Zangief, if you quickly press jab he'll do another crouching weak kick instead of a punch. Keep hitting jab and Zangief will kick rapidly.

Blanka's Semi-Unblockable Bush Buster
Instant (aka zero frame) attacks have a 50% chance of being unblockable if they're done close enough. It's like the attack is so quick that your opponent doesn't have time to put their arms up to block. Take a look at pt.10 @ 0:44 to see an example of this.
This phenomenon persisted all the way through SSF2T. Here's a list of zero frame moves:
WW Blanka - vertical jump fierce
Any Blanka - horizontal and vertical balls
HF, SSF2, O.ST Ryu and Ken - air hurricane kick
Akuma - air hurricane kick
HF Zangief - quick lariat

CPS1 Chains
If you press short + fierce simultaneously you'll do a fierce attack. You can chain from a regular short kick into this as if it were another short. To combo crouching short -> backfist with guile it goes like this:
down + short -> neutral + short + fierce
This is called a CPS1 chain because it works through SF2HF (the last SF2 game to use the CPS1 hardware.)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A-cho Vids 072907

There are some movies from a recent singles event at a-cho up.

http://a-cho.com/
ARCADE -> "大会動画" (button on the left above Milia)

acho_sp2x_20070729a.asx - Kuni (DJ) vs. OreRyu
acho_sp2x_20070729b.asx - Doku Manju (Blanka) vs. Gunze (Zangief)
acho_sp2x_20070729c.asx - The SuperStar (Boxer) vs. Seki (DJ)
acho_sp2x_20070729d.asx - Otochun vs. ZTT (Zangief)
acho_sp2x_20070729e.asx - OreRyu vs. Gunze
acho_sp2x_20070729f.asx - Seki vs. Otochun
acho_sp2x_20070729g.asx - Otochun vs. OreRyu
acho_sp2x_20070729h.asx - Finals: Seki vs. Gunze

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Daigo vs. Aniken Showdown 050406

HondaMonmon put some new Daigo vs. Aniken movies up on his Beast fan page. All of these matches are cracking good; don't miss them!
(NOTE: While I was writing this post the site seems to have gone down. If it isn't working later on, I'll at least re-up the three files (out of five) I managed to download.)

http://beastdaigo.jp/
"ウメ動画" (3rd link on left) -> "Download page" (next to Ryu vs. Ken screen)

Fatboy @ SRK was nice enough to re-up the earlier movies in this series here.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Tougeki 2007 HSF Results

1st: Kurahashi & Nuki
2nd: Taira & Shiro
3rd:
Noguchi & Hakase
sako & Nekohashi

Master Foosuke was doing some of the MC duties. Very cool.

Here's the breakdown:

1st Round
Toutanki/K def. Prince/Futa
sako/Nekohashi def. Tokido/Gian
Popopopo def. Seki/Kachu
Alex/Graham def. Otochun/Komoda
(better the yanks did it than ABC/Six...)

Six/ABC def. Yuubou/Oonishi
Tama/Shiki def. ARG/SuperStar
Kurahashi/Nuki def. KKY/Kikai
Shacho/Aomori def. Ikebukuro Team

Yuu/Tsuji def. Cruz/Lilith
Macky7/Gunze def. Nestor/Mopreme
Kusumondo/Danjiri def. Daigo/yaya
Noguchi/Hakase def. Chukui/Banana

Nakanishi/Yoshio def. Jenety/Tsunoppi
Muteki/Chamu def. Aniken/D
Pony/Mattsun def. Kimomaru/Suzuyan
Taira/Shiro def. Niigata Team

2nd Round
sako/Nekohashi def. Toutanki/K
Alex/Graham def. Popopopo

Tama/Shiki def. Six/ABC
Kurahashi/Nuki def. Shacho/Aomori

Yuu/Tusji def. Macky7/Gunze
Noguchi/Hakase def. Kusumondo/Danjiri

Muteki/Chamu def. Nakanishi/Yoshio
Tairo/Shiro def. Pony/Mattsun

3rd Round
sako/Nekohashi def. Alex/Graham
Kurahashi/Nuki def. Tama/Shiki
Noguchi/Hakase def. Yuu/Tsuji
Taira/Shiro def. Muteki/Chamu

Semifinals
Kurahashi/Nuki def. sako/Nekohashi
Taira/Shiro def. Noguchi/Hakase

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Hyper Mania 4 Results

Hyper Mania 4 took place the night before SBO. INH co-produced, which might mean they'll put together a DVD. Chamu, Mute and Taira pic taken from the Mikado blog.

27 Teams

1st Place: Muteki (CE Guile), Chamu (ST Chun) & Taira (CE Dictator)
2nd: Daigo (CE Sagat), Gotoh (ST Ryu) & Kashiwagi (WW Guile)
3rd:
Nakanishi (WW Guile), Yoshio (CE Guile) & Shiro (ST Ryu)
Pony (ST Zangief), Tsunoppi (CE Guile) & Mattsun (ST Ken)


Some OCV action:
Nakanishi beat Tokido, YuuVega and Gian
Kurahashi beat Aniken, Otochun and KomodaBlanka
and in the finals
Muteki beat Daigo, Gotoh and Kashiwagi

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Nagase Cup 4 HSF Vids 080507

These videos are from a recent solo 2on at Nagase UFO. ShootingD's 2nd character was CE Sagat, but they didn't post any of those matches. Nekohashi pic lifted from the GMC blog.

The files are available on filebank (pass: nagasecup04) but I re-uploaded them:

Part 1 (WMV x3, 42MB)
Part 2 (WMV x6, 84MB)

Thank you to umbrellastyle from sobat carnival for the file hosting!

20070805_NagaseCup4th_15.wmv - Aniken (Boxer) vs. Otochun (Chun-Li)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_16.wmv - Tsuji (Boxer) vs. Gunze (Zangief)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_30.wmv - Nekohashi (Ryu) vs. Gunze (Zangief)

Finals Block
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_01.wmv - Nekohashi (Ryu) vs. Aniken (Boxer)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_03.wmv - Nekohashi (CE Dictator) vs. Aniken (Ken)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_05.wmv - ShootingD (Ryu) vs. Aniken (Boxer)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_06.wmv - ShootingD (Ryu) vs. Aniken (Ken)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_08.wmv - Nekohashi (CE Dictator) vs. ShootingD (Ryu)
20070805_NagaseCup4th_Final_09.wmv - Nekohashi (Ryu) vs. ShootingD (Ryu)

Monday, August 6, 2007

Tougeki 2007 HSF Preview - List of Teams, Qualifier Videos and Muteki Interview

Here is a list of the teams that qualified for Super Battle Opera '07 organized by region. Note that in earlier posts I had been lumping the Tokyo qualifiers in with the Kanto qualifiers. "Kinki" and "Kansai" are interchangeable. The main event goes down Sunday, August 12th.

Later on in this post: some qualifier movies and a rough translation of a Muteki Guile interview from Tougeki Spirits Magazine.

Tohoku/Hokkaido Area
ARG (ST Claw) & The SuperStar (ST Boxer)
Pony (ST Zangief) & Mattsun (ST Ken)

Kanto Area
Nuki (ST Chun-Li) & Kurahashi (CE Guile)
Muteki (CE Guile) & Chamu (ST Chun-Li)
Popo Soncho (ST DeeJay) & Popo Sousui (ST Dictator)
Noguchi (ST Claw/CE Sagat) & Hakase (ST Dhalsim)
Shiro (ST Ryu) & Taira (ST Dictator/CE Dictator)
Yuubou (ST Fei-Long/O.Hawk) & Oonishi (WW Guile)
Toutanki (ST T.Hawk) & K (O.Hawk)

Tokyo Area
Tamashima (ST Boxer) & ShikiGuile (CE Guile)
YuuVega (ST Dictator/ST DeeJay) & Tsuji (ST Boxer)
Gian (ST Dhalsim) & Tokido (ST Claw)
Shacho (ST Cammy) & Aomori (ST Claw)
Jenety (WW Chun-Li) & Tsunoppi (CE Guile)
Daigo (CE Sagat/CE Ryu) & yaya (CE Guile)

Chubu Area
Otochun (ST Chun-Li) & Komoda (ST Blanka)
Ayanami Lilith (CE Sagat/CE Guile) & Cruz (CE Dictator)
Nakanishi (WW Guile) & Yoshio (CE Guile) (Note: qualified on 14th try!)

Kinki Area
Six (CE Dictator) & ABC (CE Ryu)
Kusumondo (ST E.Honda) & Danjiri Dhalsim (ST Dhalsim)
Kimomaru (ST Dictator) & Suzuyan (ST Guile)
Macky7 (ST Boxer) & Gunze (ST Zangief)
Seki (CE Ryu/ST DeeJay) & Kachu (ST Claw)
Prince (ST Chun-Li) & Futachan (ST Ryu)

Chugoku / Shikkoku Area
Nekohashi (CE Dictator) & sako (ST Ryu)
Aniken (ST Ken/ST Boxer) & ShootingD (ST Ryu)
Chukui (ST Cammy/CE Claw) & Macho Banana (CE Guile)

Kyushu / Okinawa Area
KKY (ST Dhalsim) & Kikai (CE Guile)

International
Alex Wolfe (ST Dhalsim) & Graham Wolfe (CE Dictator/ST Boxer)
Nestor (CE Dictator) & Mark (CE Ryu)

Qualifier Videos

I nicked these from the Spirits Magazine DVD. Don't tell anyone.

http://www.zshare.net/download/299177246ea15b/
(xvid .avi x2, 41MB)
Mirror here.

Play City Carrot Sugamo Finals 041407
ShikiGuile (CE Guile) & Tamashima (ST Boxer) vs. Hakase (ST Dhalsim) & Noguchi (CE Sagat)

Ikebukuro Playland Las Vegas Finals 050607
Tsuji (ST Boxer) & YuuVega (ST Dictator) vs. Chamu (ST Chun-Li) & Muteki (CE Guile)

Muteki Interview


Muteki and Chamu

Arcadia: Could you tell us why you play fighting games?

Muteki: Trying to out maneuver people is what makes it fun, right? Well, it's not just fighting games that have that kind of gamesmanship. The other thing is that most games don't have what we call character differences, so the players mostly fight head-to-head on equal footing. Fighting games, by contrast, have those character differences to make things more interesting.

That's a pretty unusual way of looking at it.

Well, it's easy for me to say since I'm using top-tier CE Guile, (laughs) but overcoming character differences is what excites me. The most interesting thing for me is defeating my opponent when my character is at a disadvantage. With character differences, the gamesmanship takes various shapes so that's the fun part.

Are there certain characteristics that distinguish you from other players?

That's a tough question. If I had to name a strong suit, I think I have an edge when it comes to the power of observation. Based on my opponents' tiniest movements during the fight, I'll predict their next action. People say, "you read people well," but that comes from the power of observation.

What do you focus on as you strive to improve your game?

I've practiced a lot, of course. I try not to miss anything even when playing against the computer. I've run drills on certain things, like improving my reversal consistency. Plus, I think about what the cause of each loss is.

Is there anything that you've become aware while competing recently?

I've been paying attention to getting the proper distance between characters -- the "spacing" that's needed to put pressure on my opponent. It's subtle enough that even a few pixels can make a difference as to whether your character is at an advantage or disadvantage. When I find myself at an unfavorable range, I find that a bit of ingenuity can turn things around, so I've been thinking about those situations. Instead of thinking, "I'm in trouble," I'll make a tiny adjustment and the situation changes dramatically. It's hard to appreciate without a high level of proficiency, though.

These days, is there any player whom you would call a rival?

If you mean someone I've been playing a lot lately, that would be the ST Dictator player Taira*. He's a fierce opponent so it's fun fighting him. It's tough to find rivals, since there really isn't anyone who makes me think, "I can't beat this guy." In terms of characters, I'd rather not hit any Dhalsim players.

[* - The same day I typed up this translation, Muteki beat Taira in the finals of an Ikebukuro Vegas tourney.]

When things aren't going well, how do you turn the tide?

If it's the day of the tournament and things are going poorly, figuring out how to get back on track is the key issue. When you've practiced hard and you find yourself in trouble, that hurts your spirit, right? First of all I'll defiantly tell myself, "you've practiced this, so it's all good." Of course, you have to have that practice under your belt beforehand. In addition, lately I've been focusing on getting myself pumped up. If I start thinking, "what'll I do if I lose?" there's no doubt I'll be beaten. When I start slipping towards that point, I'll picture how happy I'll be when I win, and thus pull myself together. The biggest enticement with this game is taking down the top players, so I look forward to doing just that. (laughs)

Do you have a word of advice for players who want to become more skillful?

Think about the roots of your losses. Naturally there will be many, so you must be observant. As you build up experience in observation, you will become able to read what your opponent is going to do. It's that experience that will make a big difference in the long run.

Final Word from Gary Busey

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Friday, August 3, 2007

BattleFantasia Vids UPDATE

I scooped up some recent videos from Nico Video and re-upped:

http://www.zshare.net/download/2969313d2b6ea2/
(.flv x 4, 23MB)

unknown (Odile) vs. Machida Don (Donvalve)
Across (Marco) vs. Machida Don x3

UPDATE:

Here are a couple more:

http://www.zshare.net/download/2988939c427a6e/
(.flv x 2, 17MB)

E (Olivia) vs. Kiru (Freed)
Mogura (DeathBringer) vs. Kiru (Freed)

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Mikado HSF SBO Q Vids 070107

Movies from Mikado's SBO qualifiers are up.

http://blog.mi-ka-do.net/?eid=390553

0701_01.zip - Gotoh (ST Ryu) & Mi (O.Ken) vs. Daigo (CE Sagat) & yaya (CE Guile)
0701_02.zip - Daigo (CE Sagat) & yaya (CE Guile) vs. tomo (CE Ryu) & OreRyu (ST Ryu)
0701_03.zip - Tencho (CE Ryu) & Kawamata (ST Ryu) vs. Daigo (CE Sagat) & yaya (CE Guile)
0701_04.zip - AKIRA (CE Dictator) & AFO (ST Blanka) vs. Akeome (CE Sagat) & Nougyou (ST Zangief)
0701_05.zip - Kaito (DeeJay) & Mayumura (CE Ryu) vs. N Oah (ST Boxer) & Haru KING (ST Honda)
0701_06.zip - Edoya Bunkichi (O.Honda) & Nantanki (HF Zangief) vs. Kotsu (CE Dictator) & TAKAKISIN (CE Guile)

0701_07.zip - Akeome (CE Sagat) & Nougyou (ST Zangief) vs. Daigo (CE Sagat) & yaya (CE Guile)
0701_08.zip - Kotsu (CE Dictator) & TAKAKISIN (CE Guile) vs. Kaito (DeeJay) & Mayumura (CE Ryu)

0701_09.zip - Finals: Kotsu (CE Dictator) & TAKAKISIN (CE Guile) vs. Daigo (CE Ryu) & yaya (CE Guile)