Been a long time...

With real life issues to deal with and the pending release of SSFIV Arcade Edition, I have paid absolutely 0 attention to my blog; both updating it and publicizing it. But now AE is out and I'm pumped and I have to put something new on here. Oh, be sure to check out my Cody Combo Video (just to the right --->) along with my (unedited & unfinished) SSFIV Balrog highlight reel!  In the meantime, how about my thoughts on AE? Sure...

Let's start with the rebalancing of the game from Super.  I love it. I love the tweaks they did to the characters and really closed the gap between the worst characters and the best characters.  Am I going to whine and cry about Yun, Yang, and Fei Long being incredibly awesome? Hell no. Some characters are always going to have advantages over others, or even most of the cast, it doesn't matter which way you cut it.  I personally like the challenge of having to step up my play to a higher level to beat someone.  It makes you a better player to take that approach. On a side note, I actually miss Sagat from vanilla SFIV (playing against him that is).  And in case you are wondering, no I'm not excited about the rebalancing because it benefits my character.  I'm a Balrog player and I've seen his Heavy Buffalo Head damage drop from 180 to 140 to, now, a whopping 100. Throw that in with damage scaling and the missed hits on his Ultra 1 when used to juggle an airborne opponent and you have one seriously piss poor combo. I'm not dropping him, though I am learning some new characters simply for fun but for a match that I NEED to win, Rog is still my guy.

Speaking of new characters, the four new ones in the game, Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu, Oni.....I love them all! They are all a blast to play with and for every pro there's a con and vice versa, yet all four are still competitive.  Oni plays in a manner such that he may have some difficulty closing in and hit confirming some combos, but to make up for it, he is a power house in the damage and stun department. One combo, with a reset, I came across adds up to just under 800 damage if the opponent does not block the reset properly. Here it is, I'll share with you what I found (j.HP-cr.MP -> B+MP-HP xx L Demon Slash xx FADC -> cr.MP -> B+MP-HP xx EX Demon Slash (the EX Demon Slash doesn't combo but it crosses up serving as our reset) -> Ultra 1. I'll try to put a clip on here for you guys.


 Yun & Yang, have had their fair share of the spotlight and you've probably seen just about everything you want to with them BUT... I couldn't help but put a vid of me linking Yang's standing LP into Ultra 1. Enjoy!


Moving on to Evil Ryu, some people call him a watered down version of Akuma.  Low vitality, big damage and stun, but he lacks the vortex Akuma has and isn't seen as a justifiable pick over Akuma.  But he is fun as hell to play!  The axe kick move is really what sets E. Ryu apart and gives him some unique (and damaging) combos.  For example: j.HK-cr.MP -> HP xx M Axe Kick -> cr.MP xx L Tatsu -> H Shoryuken.  Wow!

Anyways, not much else to speak of  at the moment. No new sticks, no game breaking strategy.  Oh, very likely I'll be featured in the next LOLWTFBBQURMOM videos posted by DOntTas3MeBro with the funny, weird, & cool moments in SSFIV:AE, MK9, & MVC3 videos. Watch for it, it should finally set in stone me coining the move the "Kanevo Cancel". ...so pumped.

Thoughts on Xbox Live matches vs. AiR

As promised, I am giving a brief summation of my thoughts on the matches (1 of which I have posted on my YouTube channel) I had against AiR. I played him a total of three times, winning one.  The first match was my first match of the day and it was around 7 AM EST before I went to work.  With a gamertag that didn't flat out indicate to me that this was indeed Air (aka Air Ryu) I thought it may just be another xbox live player. I was wrong. He was actually playing his Sagat and took me to the cleaners just using his fundamentals, spacing, and reading my attempts to get in on him.  This man has astounding footsies and zoning. I checked into his gamertag and realized that this was indeed Air Ryu but he just wasn't playing as his main.  The third bout and the one that I won, I felt I did so cleanly but certainly not easily.  Air is one hell of a player and I'd love to play his Ryu sometime.  Didn't get much out of him in the form of communication, not a gg, nothing.  Not a big deal but I wanted a shot to play him again sometime soon!

Thoughts on match up vs Marn

So sometime around the beginning of December I signed up for an online tournament hosted by newegg.com  There were 500+ entrants organized into 4 different brackets in this single elimination tournament.  My first match was against someone that didn't ring a bell with me, no high level competitor or anything however, I did see that if I won my first match, my second would be against the winner of EG Marn and his opponent.  Of course, I knew it would be Marn.

I was surprised that he played C. Viper and not Dudley for the tournament match. Definitely caught me by surprise. So granted that this is only online play, but it is still a tournament in which I am fighting a world renown player, it still made me kind of frazzled.  I played the first match scared.  Making mistakes that I've known not to do for the past year and just not keeping my calm enough to play patiently. 

After the first match, there was just enough time for me to tell myself that I have very possibly only one more match and then my mark on this tournament is over and I didn't enter this to turle up under pressure and not take the risks necessary to win. I came to play and I was going to control the tempo of the next match.  Well, the first round was neck and neck, and I can definitely point to a decision near the end of round 1 that definitely sealed the deal.  I was close! If only I could have kept my calm.  Round 2 was mine.  It may have been the only round I won out of our first to 2 set, but I won it decisively.  Round 3 was neck and neck again, and just like round 1, the excitement, the pressure, the white knuckle type play eventually got to me and I, again at the end of the round, made a bad move and threw out an unsafe, random headbutt.  Now Marn needed only 1 round to win the match, the set, and advance in the tournament.  Well, in the 4th and final round he took it, decisively.

I am thrilled with how I played.  No, it wasn't the best I've ever played and I certainly am embarrassed at how much health and how many ronuds I cost myself by doing things I know much better than to do. It's all a matter of experience though. I didn't have any tournament experience going into this one, Marn has had his fair share of international tournament experience.  Marn has phenomenal execution and is a damn smart player.  I know with more experience, I can keep my cool and not make the stupid mistakes that cost me round 1 and 3 of the second match and had I been able to do this I would have won the second match 3 rounds to 0 and who knows what would have happened in the third and final match, 

All in all, it was a great experience and I owe a big thanks to Marn. A lot of people hate on him or say he has a terrible attitude (someone even called him Street Fighter's public enemy #1) but he's caught his fair share of hate from internet forums and he has every right to be upset about it.  But my first impression was that he is a cool ass guy who is an unbelievably good player.  He even played an exhibition match after the tourney matches with me as his Dudley (WOW!!).  I'm looking forward to playing him again.

For those of you transitioning from playing on a pad to a stick:

Ok. So, a buddy of mine just recently made the jump to using a joystick, leaving his old Xbox controller behind.  He came to me with a question that is pondered by many yet asked by few. "Stevo," he said, "how do you even hold this damn thing?" At first, this may seem like an easy question to answer but if you stop and think about what types of motions are most problematic, the answer could be a multi-part response necessitating a whole blog devoted to the different positions one's left hand could find suitable for joystick play, which gives birth to this blog.

A quick recap of my anatomy classes from FSU: if you were to extend your arms infront of you with your palms facing one another, this is referred to as a Neutral Grip. Palms facing up would be a Supine Grip & lastly palms down would leave you with a Prone Grip. 


Ok so let's apply this to joysticks.

First to be discussed is the Neutral Grip.

Forefinger and middle finger rest on one side of the joystick and are opposed by the thumb.  This is more than likely the go to grip for many players as most people will simply find it has a natural feeling to it. Charge motion provide no particular problem and most circular motions are not too difficult yet some people complain of slight difficultry doing double fireball motions on the player 1 side while still adjusting to their stick.  It gets better with time.  You can't go wrong with this grip especially if you are just trying to get used to using your joystick.

Next up we have the Wine Glass Grip or the Supine (or Supinated) Grip.

Hand in the supine position (palm up) with the joystick shaft inbetween the middle finger and ring finger, hand grasping the ball top loosely.  While this may be one of the more awkward grips, some players, more than likely grapplers or other characters depending on 180 degree to 720 degree motions, swear by this.  Pick E. Honda or Abel and try some Oicho Throw's or Tornado Throw's, respectively and you'll see why.  Please note this grip may be a little bit more physically demanding on your stick.

Lastly, I am presenting to you the Hydbrid Grip.

..perhaps if I moved my thumb you could see whats going on...

Start out by holding the stick with the Wine Glass Grip or Supine Grip. Then turn your palm inward to a neutral position.  The result is a neutral grip with the shaft of the stick between your middle finger and ringer finger, still yet with your thumb on the opposing side.  In this position, fireball motions are as simple as a quick press of the stick down using your forefinger and middle finger and then pressing your ringer finger and pink up and out in kind of a rolling motion. In a sense you get the best of both worlds regarding the two aforementioned grips.  Your thumb and forefinger & middle finger combo will be responsible for pressing the joystick in the general direction and your ring finger and pinky help control the way the joystick travels before returning to the neutral position.  It is certainly harder to transition to this grip once you've become completely accustomed to one of the others, in my personal opinion, but I find it far superior and am constantly struggling to make myself get used to this one.

In the future, I perhaps will cover some medium to advanced joystick techniques, such as double tapping, plinking, piano inputs, slide inputs, mashing (only kidding), and many other things that are indeed possible via training or a little manipulation of the Super Street Fighter IV engine.

Hope you enjoy,
StevoKanevo



First Tournament in Sight

So, a large interest in my life is competitive fighting games. Especially Capcom games with my biggest passion being the Street Fighter series with the most recent iteration being Super Street Fighter IV (and hopefully an update for consoles to bring everyone on par with the newest Arcade Edition title. I'll touch more on my history with Street Fighter later, for all my imaginary fans and you can also follow me on YouTube, FaceBook, & Twitter (words I never thought I would actually say, but I have lofty expectations).  As high as my goals may be I have to approach them with a series of smaller goals. First of which will be to attend a tournament in Atlanta, GA with my good friend and fellow Street Fighter enthusiast Vegita30, on January 15th.