Friday, August 22, 2008

Vampire Savior Videos 072608

Singles tourney at Mikado. Please download only one file at a time.

http://blog.mi-ka-do.net/?eid=778640

By the way, DD Sasquatch won a seed for the DCC. Third time was the charm for him and Nakanishi.

080726_01.zip - Nakanishi (Bish) vs. Nasu (Sas), Shimatsuya (Jedah) vs. KEN (gallon), DD (Sasquatch) vs. Oraora (QB)

080726_02.zip - Nasu vs. Shu (Bish), Ogawa (Zabel) vs, Sasazuka (Victor)
080726_03.zip - Kaji (Lilith) vs. Hover (Demitri), Chihiro (Zabel) vs. Sakamoto (QB)
080726_04.zip - Kame (Victor) vs. Shimatsuya (Jedah), Hai-iro (Aulbath) vs. T2ya (Zabel)
080726_05.zip - Sasunii (Sas) vs. Ego (Lei2), Kosho (Bulleta) vs. DD (Sas)

080726_06.zip - Ogawa (Zabel) vs. Nasu, Kaji vs. Sakamoto (QB)
080726_07.zip - T2ya vs. Kame (Victor), Kosho (Bulleta) vs. Sasunii (Sas)

080726_08.zip - Kaji vs. Nasu, Kosho vs. T2ya
080726_09.zip - 3rd Place: Kosho vs. Kaji
080726_10.zip - Finals: Nasu vs. T2ya

Friday, August 15, 2008

Tougeki 2008 ST Results

1st: Otochun & ARG
2nd: Muteki & Shiki
3rd:
Tamashima & Hakase
YuuVega & Noguchi

T.Akiba ASTEKA MC'ed Super Turbo this year.

A couple teams couldn't make it. List of Qs.

Professor Jones is a top French player who recently won the Battle of Destiny tourney in the UK.

SpinalBlood helped sort these results out. Thank you!

1st Round
GOH Ken/Nyo def. Fujishima/San 2-0
Otochun/ARG def. 7/AAA 2-0
Macky7/Gunze def. Gotoh/The SuperStar 2-1
Shiro/Taira def. Danjiri/Saitou 2-1

Tama/Hakase def. NKI/Justin 2-0
ShootingD/Nekohashi def. Wassekun/Guts 2-1
Batayan/Tsuji def. Shizhi Huoyan/Quing Shui 2-0
Tokido/Nuki def. Tani/Oh!!J 2-0

Gian/Futachan def. Shu/Abebin 2-0
Itoh/Oreryu def. Nakamu (Blanka) & Roku (Honda) 2-0
Aniken/Suzuyan def. Kusumond/Komoda 2-0
Yuu/Noguchi def. The Muffin Man (DJ) & EvilElvis (Ryu) 2-0

Yoshimura/Yuubou def. Tsumura/Marubozu 2-1
Professor Jones (Dictator) & AFO (Blanka) def. Haru KING/Milky 2-1
Muteki/Shiki def. KKY/Kamedo 2-1
Kurahashi/Nakamura def. Hanashi/Ren 2-1

2nd Round
Otochun/ARG def. GOH Ken/Nyo 2-0
Shiro/Taira def. Macky7/Gunze 2-1
Tama/Hakase def. ShootingD/Nekohashi 2-0
Tokido/Nuki def. Batayan/Tsuji 2-1

Gian/Futachan def. Itoh/Oreryu 2-1
Yuu/Noguchi def. Aniken/Suzuyan 2-0
Yoshimura/Yuubou def. Professor Jones/AFO 2-1
Muteki/Shiki def. Kurahashi/Nakamura 2-0

3rd Round
Otochun/ARG def. Shiro/Taira 2-0
Tama/Hakase def. Tokido/Nuki 2-0
Yuu/Noguchi def. Gian/Futachan 2-0
Muteki/Shiki def. Yoshimura/Yuubou 2-0

Semifinals
Otochun/ARG def. Tama/Hakase 2-0
Muteki/Shiki def. Yuu/Noguchi 2-1

EDIT:
By the way, before the tournament Arcadia surveyed all of the qualified players to ask them who the strongest teams were and they collectively predicted the top four.
1. Otochun & ARG
2. Muteki & Shiki
3. Tamashima & Hakase
4. Noguchi & YuuVega
5. Gian & Futachan
6. Tokido & Nuki
7. Tsuji & Batayan
8. Komoda & Kusumondo
9. Taira & Shiro
10. Yoshimura & Yuubou

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Taira's Trickery and Other Tales from Tougeki '07

Since I'm light on material for an SBO '08 preview post I thought I'd get this SBO '07 review post up instead. Below you'll find some Dictator trickery and behind-the-scenes notes on 2on2 tag strategy.

The various Dictator techniques below are listed character by character. Covering other match-ups where they might be useful (endless throw loops ought to work vs. some O.ST characters, for example) is beyond the scope of this post. For an explanation of the terms "near corner" and "far corner" check over here.

Most of this information came from Arcadia (SF2 correspondent: Gian) with some extra details from Leynos.

Psycho Magic and Other Corner Traps

CE Dictator vs. ST Dictator
CE Dictator can pin ST Dictator in the corner with the following loop:
double knee press -> crouching strong -> standing medium kick -> double knee press -> etc.
Double Knee Press AKA Scissor Kick. Unless they've got a super ready, the ST Dictator player can only pray that their opponent makes a mistake somewhere.

ST Dictator vs. CE Dictator
By the same token, ST Dictator can use this loop on CE Dictator:
standing short -> double knee press -> standing short -> etc.
If either side gets backed into the corner they're dead meat.

Psycho Magic
The general form for the "Psycho Magic" corner trap is as follows:
standing short -> crouching strong -> strong psycho crusher -> standing short -> etc.
This works on various characters but it's limited to the near corner. The most important thing is that the Psycho Crusher gets blocked twice.

ST Dictator vs. ST Dhalsim
At the SBO '07 semifinals Taira broke out a new type of Psycho Magic that works against Dhalsim when he's in the far corner.
crouching jab -> crouching jab -> standing short -> strong psycho crusher -> crouching jab -> etc.
When done properly, this Psycho Magic is airtight. The Dhalsim player must hope their opponent mistimes a jab so they can throw or teleport.

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"Taira Nage" - Taira's Tickery

ST Dictator vs. CE Guile (mid-screen)
Taking advantage of Dictator's superior throw range and Guile's inability to tech throws, Taira had this throw loop ready to go for SBO:
cross-up medium kick -> standing strong -> throw -> repeat

ST Dictator vs. CE Guile (corner)
Although Muteki was careful to avoid getting knocked down mid-screen he wound up getting caught in Taira's special corner variation:
safe, vertical jump short -> standing short -> throw -> repeat

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For both of these throw loops, Guile's only way out is to stay in a crouch so that he can stop the throw attempt with a reversal Flash Kick. If the Dictator player is on the ball, however, they can convert the jump attack into a combo.

Road to the SBO Finals

In addition to playing brilliantly, Kurahashi and Nuki got a good read on their opponents' team order throughout the tournament.

In the third round Team Kuranuki anticipated that Shiki and Tama would go in that order and since Nuki had been practicing against Kurahashi's CE Guile all summer he was ready to take out Shiki Guile. Kurahashi sealed the deal vs. Tamashima and they had their revenge for losing at the Sugamo qualifiers.

The only match where they were caught wrong-footed was versus Sako and Nekohashi. It seems like both sides misread the situation. Kurahashi thought Sako might run O.Hawk and was eager to take him out. Nuki, on the other hand, was extremely confident vs. any Ryu except ShootingD and also wanted a piece of Sako. When Nekohashi switched from CE Dictator to ST Ryu and Sako brought out Chun-Li that lead to one of the stranger battles of the tournament.

In the finals Taira and Shiro apparently anticipated that their opponents would run Nuki (Chun) then Kurahashi (CE Ryu) so Taira switched from ST to CE Dictator to better deal with Kurahashi. CE Dictator is a fine choice against ST Chun-Li, too, since a properly timed Psycho Crusher works well as air defense.

Taira and Shiro had the right idea: Kurahashi did want to run Ryu, but Nuki talked him out of it. Convinced him to stick to his guns. So the trap was set and all that was left was for Team Kuranuki to drop the hammer.

Friday, August 8, 2008

ST Player Interview on INH Radio 080808

INH posted an interview with Mattsun, Gian and Komoda:
Link (in Japanese)

Komoda Blanka Interview
Discussion of the theme song video. Fans on the internet have too much time on their hands. I wouldn't *cough* know anything about that. Since his picture is out there, people pester him during matches.

NOTE: Super Nohoho Fighter II X does not condone bugging any player during a match. Nor do we condone asking Daigo for his autograph when he's trying to take a leak. Let's have some dignity, people!

Winning with Blanka not so bad when we're talking one isolated match at a time. Top tier warriors like Otochun and Tsuji who win day in and day out are most impressive.

Most difficult character to fight against: Sagat. Unwinnable. Pray for lucky dizzy.

SBO Prognostication
Otochun & ARG
First team that Gian singles out. Consensus that Otochun is still top dog. Even if ARG falters (he struggled @ X-Mania 8) Otochun can stomp people.

Muteki & Shiki
Shiki Boxer really incredible.

Tama & Hakase

Tokido & Nuki
Both of these two are in Vegas this weekend, btw.

Gian's Teammate Futachan
Very tough. Beat Aniken, D, Star, Kusumond, Shiro at the recent a-cho 2on. Stopped by Taira.

X-Mania
X-Mania 9 at the end of this year.

X-Mania 10 next year. The plan is to have qualifiers like they used to for the first few events.

The Starting Over (X-Mania Gaiden DVD + best of X-Mania bonus disc + SF2 music remixes by Hitoshi Sakimoto among others + Yoga Book Hyper) almost gone. Pick up a copy if you haven't yet.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Pre X-Mania 2008 Results 080208

Pretty sure the event name was just a joke. Pre-SBO 3on3 event at Mikado.

15 teams (45 entrants)

1st. Muteki (Guile), Nuki (Chun-Li) & Mattsun (Ken)

2nd. YuuVega (Dictator), Noguchi (Claw) & Shogatsu (O.Honda)

3rd. Gian (Dhalsim), Futachan (Ryu) & Tazawa [TZW] (Guile)

Mattsun kindly posted the results. His team's semifinal and final matches:

Semis
TZW def. Mattsun (<- Mattsun's only game)
Nuki def. TZW
Nuki def. Futachan
Nuki def. Gian

Finals
Muteki def. Shogatsu
YuuVega def. Muteki
Nuki def. YuuVega
Nuki def. Noguchi

On August 16th -- the day after SBO -- Mikado is hosting a regional showdown ("taikou") for ST.

Elsewhere...

Here's another long Cammy series on Nico. Cammy-Ryu this time.
Part 1, Part 2