Talking About Ultra Street Fighter IV Part 2

The journey continues. This past Sunday was a huge day for me in USF4. I pretty much played Endless all day with Decapre. I had some awesome fights and learned a lot. The more I practice and dive into things, the more everything becomes clearer. I've been watching some other replays on YouTube, usually from YogaFlame24's channel, which shows all the top tier SF fights off of USF4's Replay Channel, mainly trying to find how other players are playing Decapre. Odd enough, I'm playing the character a bit differently from what I have seen so far(not sure if this is good or bad).

Combofiend, an FGC highly known and respected player, started to release some vids on the Capcom Fighter's YouTube channel about how the characters should be played(at least, what he thinks). With Decapre, he pointed out the target combo, stand close MP > stand RH, which is a launcher that can lead to an air grab or even Ultra 2, her far standing MP which is good for spacing, and Decapre's really quick Scramble abilities(use to confuse, mix up, etc). Also, that the jump LK can cross up but you want to delay it so you can combo after it(which I knew that it crossed up, but I didn't know you wanted to delay it to combo, good stuff!). But one thing I noticed he showed that I then notice all players doing in the Decapre replays I've seen. She has a multi-hit attack that is used by mashing the punch buttons, much like Honda's 100 Hand Slap or Blanka's electricity. Yeah. I never really use that thing. He pointed out that it is good to get out there, because Decapre is safe on block when the attack is done. That's cool, but I never find myself in a position where I remember to use it.

For example, when I start a combo string, say, cr LP, cr LP, cr MP, I want to end it with Decapre's uppercut(charge down, then up + P). I like doing this because it knocks the opponent down at a specific distance. Then, when the opponent wakes up, I like to use her MK Scramble to either ground pound in front of or behind the opponent(which isn't safe on block, by the way) or hit LP, which brings Decapre back to her stating position in an attempt to bait something out, or just let it go, hit nothing and fly by the opponent, once again, trying to bait something out. Most of the time, I try to use the ground pound on the other side, which will knock the opponent in the air, and you can follow up with air grab or ultra 2. I like this set up more than multi-hit attack. Maybe that's just me, but now I see all players doing that. In fact, I don't really see too many players trying to mix things up with her Scramble. I don't know if I'm playing her wrong, or if no one has really found out the proper balance yet. We'll just have to wait and see.

I do have some uploads for your viewing pleasure, but before I go into that, I just want to go back to playing on Sunday. I played a lot of Endless through out the day, and that night, my good friend(also heard on some eps of TORT) Scorpius Jones jumped on and we screwed around with some characters. At first, I thought Hugo was useless. After just screwing around with him(and fighting against him) I see what he can really do, and I want to say, I think I'll start trying out some things with Hugo as well. Really sad thing is, I haven't really payed much attention to the original SSF4 cast. I've just been focused on new characters, primarily Decapre. I should be practicing with Balrog, but I'm having too much fun. Now, with Denver Comic Con around the corner, I don't think I'll be playing USF4 until after I get back.

Without further ado, the matches. I'll have my own critique, and believe me, I'm not perfect. But once again, I urge you guys to add some comments, notes or any feedback you'd like to provide.

Match #1 -

I fought this guy about 4 times. Won each fight, but, I messed a lot of stuff up. First off, this was my first time playing against a Hugo player. So, I should have won that first round. I was being careless and got caught by the ultra. While fighting Hugo, I played footsies(hence the constant back and forth) and was trying to poke with st F and st RH. I used some throws a lot(only because he didn't seem to be teching them) and you can see I used the Scramble to bait. But, a stupid jump back RH(winks to you Voltech) got me in trouble and he came back and won. After that, I think I had it solved. In the second round, I dropped a cr LP, cr LP, cr MP into uppercut combo(sigh) and I really got throw greedy. But, I learned that Hugo is totally free if you block the lariat. Also, there was a point where I baited Hugo's command air grab, and instead of capitalizing with a combo, I jabbed three times and walked up throw. That. IS. STUPID. I also didn't connect a LP, cr LP, cr LP, cr MP. I should start trying to use cr MK instead of cr MP because it has more length.

Match #2

This player and I went back and forth. I won, he won, I won, he won, until I won two in a row. This first match, I lose both rounds. I get focused twice, I didn't jump safe and ate some great anti air ex tatsus(dude had nice reactions), I got baited to use my ultra 2, and, I JUST ATE FIREBALLS. Seriously, I took them like it was my job. Also, I did two random ex Scramble slides that I should have just not done. I needed more patience and not just guess, even the one I landed was just an attempt to make something happen. I didn't tech all the throws, but I did tech some(big improvement from not teching any). Only positive thing I can state is that I got the target combo landed with the air grab follow up. Either than that, I sucked.

Match #3

Running it back, I performed better, though at the beginning, it doesn't even look like I was really thinking. Walking into fireballs and combos and kind of going crazy. Wouldn't be able to get away with that if I was playing higher leveled opponents. I eventually got it together, still got focused though, but calmed down, broke a focus attack. Also, using the mix up scramble is working for me. I darted to the other side with a ground pound and he woke up ex demon flipped. Now, I don't know if that's what he meant to do, I'm thinking he meant ex-tatsu, but I'm thinking(or hoping) that because I was on the other side, it screwed up the input and made the ex demon flip come out. You have to admit, the reaction to air grab was without hesitation and pretty cool, probably the only moment so far in USF4 I'm actually proud of. Second round was better but still rough. Baited a tatsu but then screwed up the follow up air grab on the target combo(don't know why, but some times the LK will come out when I attempt to grab). I did lose some focus in the middle when I got grabbed and then ultra'd, but I got it together again, and finished it by using the ex scramble slide CORRECTLY.

Good games to these dudes.

I'm really liking USF4. Of course, I need more practice and I need to actually fight the full cast. But I'm playing with more confidence. Maybe next time I'll have some new characters, or maybe some fights with Scorpius Jones? Ha ha, his ego would love that.

If you didn't catch Part 1, check it here.