Xbox One Padhack & Joystick Building Tutorial

I want to preface this post by saying that this is a work in progress and that more info such as tools you will need, picture examples, links and details regarding wiring up the triggers will be added in the very near future.

Warning!! I will take no responsibility for what you choose to do with your controller and what your outcome may be. Many people will probably ruin solder points, cut traces, short out boards and this and any unforeseen damage or loss of property is solely the responsibility of the owner. I will not be held accountable for anything I say on this page explicitly or implicitly telling you how to perform this modification to your Xbox One Controller. If you understand the risks involved (including, but not limited to, ruining your controller or other property, personal injury or anything stemming from this activity) and take sole responsibility for your actions, you may continue to read. Otherwise stop here and click THIS LINK where you can buy your own Xbox One Joystick.

Before we dive into this I want to try to provide you with a general list of tools and items you will need for taking apart your Xbox One controller, soldering wires to the necessary signals and hooking it up to use in your joystick. So here we go:

-T8 Security Torx Bit
-T6 Torx Bit (it is possible to use a very small flathead screwdriver to remove the smaller Torx screws)
-Soldering Iron
-Solder
-Soldering Flux (recommended but not necessary)
-Razor Blade/Utility Knife/Exacto Knife (anything to scrape the black carbon film off of the copper contacts on the PCB)
-Insulated Wire (I prefer 26-28 gauge stranded wire)
-Wire Strippers (you can improvise here but if you have all the other things I would imagine you'd have THESE)
-Micro-USB Cable
-Electrical Tape or Heat Shrink Tubing (primarily to cover the resistors if you plan on doing the triggers)
-1/4 Watt 100 ohm Resistors (only if you are going to wire up the Left and Right Triggers)
-.110 Female Quick Connects (this is the size connector for your 30mm Japanese arcade buttons and you MIGHT need some larger ones depending on the type of Stick you are using. You may be able to just use the ones in your current stick.)
-Hot Glue Gun (HIGHLY recommended to stabilize your solder points and keep them from breaking)
-Multimeter (HIGHLY recommended for troubleshooting should you run into problems along the way. If something isn't working out for you and you ask me for help and you DON'T have a multimeter I will just shake my head and laugh at you. Get one! They are generally less than $10-$15 at Radio Shack. Mainly we will need to test for continuity and occasionally read voltages around 5v or less)

Just having the right tools is not necessarily enough though. You also need to have a basic understanding of how circuits work on a very simple level (open circuit vs closed circuit; continuity; etc.), experience soldering (check youtube and the internet for tutorials AND practice! Practice, Practice, Practice on some old circuit boards out of anything that is junk laying around the house. Old TV remotes, old game controllers, etc. If you don't know how to solder be prepared to ruin a few PCB's) and I STRONGLY urge you to read as much as possible about joysticks, buttons, PCB's, etc. on SlagCoin.com as it all pertains directly to everything I will discuss from here on out.

I. PCB Extraction

Follow the directions as provided in this embedded YouTube video. Once the PCB has been removed, peel away the clear, circular film covering the contact points for the D-pad. Also, be sure that you desoldered (or cut, very close) the wires from the rumble motors and trigger feedback.

II. Prepping the PCB

After peeling away the plastic covering the d-pad and desoldering the wires connecting the rumble motors and the haptic feedback from the triggers it is time to prepare our solder points.

(Much thanks to the fellow users of the "Tech Talk" forums on shoryuken.com for the XB1 PCB pics with labeled contact points)

Using a razor blade, GENTLY scrape away the black, carbon film revealing the copper pad beneath as shown in the picture above for the following signals: Up, Down, Left, Right, Back (or whatever they are calling it now), Xbox Home, Start (now known as menu), A, X, Y. Use the same method to prepare the solder point for the B button's signal which is found on the second PCB and is shown in the picture below.

Note: You should only be scraping an area about the size of the red dot (not the red line) showing each signal point in the picture and make sure you get these AS CLEAN AS POSSIBLE.

III. Tinning the Solder Pads

I don't want to discuss in detail how to solder.  There are likely thousands of videos and tutorials out there for that. Instead we will be discussing the best method to solder to this specific PCB. Start by applying flux to the copper pads that you have now scraped clean in part II of this post. Go ahead and tin each spot that you scraped and applied flux to as well as the signal points for LB, RB and a Ground signal (all shown in the picture below). I will get to the triggers last and you will need to tin those spots as well.

IV. Connecting Wires to the PCB

Note: As you are soldering your wires to the PCB, stop occasionally to plug your PCB into a PC or your Xbox One and test the connection that you just made. If you touch the quick connect or exposed wire at the end of your wire soldered to a signal to a wire soldered to GND it should cause the same effect as if you had pressed that button on a brand new out of the box Xbox One controller. If one of your signals does not work back track and probe around with a multimeter and try to find out where the problem lies.

Go ahead and strip and tin both sides of a length of wire for each point you need to solder to (add 4 more lengths of wire if you plan to also hook up both Triggers). I may be getting ahead of myself here a little bit but if you are going to be using this PCB as the only PCB in your joystick set-up and aren't running the wires to a barrier strip but instead are hooking up the PCB directly to the buttons and joystick switches go ahead and crimp or solder a .110 Female Quick Connect onto the end of the wire that will be connecting to A, B, X, Y, LB, RB, Start/Menu, Guide/Home and Back. Once you have stripped and tinned the other end go ahead and solder the tinned wire to the spots on the PCB that you have tinned for the corresponding button. If you are turning an existing joystick into a stick SOLELY for Xbox One you can solder the wires connected to the current buttons to their respective spot on the Xbox One PCB.

 Regarding the joystick and directional signals: you will probably solder the wires from the joystick harness directly to the PCB if your stick has PCB mounted microswitches and a 5 wire harness you can strip, tin and solder the wires for Up, Down, Left and Right directly to their corresponding spots on the PCB and the GND wire from the joystick harness can connect to any GND signal on the Xbox One PCB, preferably the one next to the LB Signal. You will probably want to solder an additional GND wire to the GND signal aside from the one in the 5 pin harness from the joystick. This other GND wire will serve as the ground for each and every button in your joystick (more on that in a bit).

 If your joystick doesn't have a wire harness and instead has individual, standalone microswitches you will need to prepare a length of wire with the appropriate size Quick Connect on one end and the other end stripped and tinned. Likewise, go ahead and Solder 1 wire from each microswitch to its appropriate signal on the PCB.

(This is my personal Xbox One padhacked joystick before I cleaned up and organized the wiring. You can see where I have 1 wire connected to each signal on the PCB and it connects to the appropriate push-button. The wires for Up, Down, Left and Right are from the 5 Pin Wiring Harness that plugs directly into the Seimitsu joystick. Note do not use my wire harness colors as a key for yours, they are different for every harness and for every direction your joystick could be mounted.)

V. So What About the Ground Wires??

This is a common ground PCB. That means that every single function on here shares 1 common ground signal. Even better for you because this means that you can solder just 1 or 2 wires to the PCB for the GND (shown in the picture above section IV and right next to the LB signal). If your joystick has a 5 wire harness the GND wire from that will be 1 of the 2 wires to be soldered to the GND signal on the PCB. Once that's done, your up, down, left and right directions should be fully functional. The other wire soldered to the GND signal will be used to form a "Daisy Chain". This is done by running that ground wire to the terminal/node on one of your buttons and from there to the next button and the next button and the next and so on and so on until each button has a GND connected to one of its quick connects and the appropriate signal to the other. This daisy chain can either be soldered directly to one of the two legs of each button or you can make a series of .110 quick disconnects with 2 wires running into the quick connect (one going to the button before it and one to the button after it). Check out this simple diagram courtesy of slagcoin.com below...

(This is from my personal collection and this is a daisy chain Ground wire. The wire that runs off the right side of the picture would either connect directly to the GND point on the Xbox One PCB or connect to the Ground wire on your 5 wire harness that plugs into the actual joystick (like the lever part) and then to the GND on the PCB or if your joystick doesn't have pcb mounted micro-switches the daisy chain would connect to each microswitch for each direction and then to the GND point on the PCB.)

VI. If You Are Hooking Up Triggers....

For hooking up the Left and Right triggers you will need two 1/4 watt 100 ohm resistors. They are very cheap and can be purchased from Radio Shack and most other electronic type hobby stores.  Prepare your wire with a quick connect to hook up to the designated button  but solder the other end of the wire to one of the metals legs coming off of the resistor you purchased. Solder another wire to the other leg of the resistor and secure the resistor in electrical tape or heat shrink tubing. Connect the other end of the wire to the backside of the smaller PCB from the Xbox One controller to the spot marked in the picture below (1 wire per signal. each wire must have a 100 ohm resistor in line).

(This picture is just showing how the wire that solders to the little tiny points for the Left and Right Triggers would look. The wire terminates in a .110 female quick connect plugged into a button then is soldered to one side of your 100 ohm resistor, another wire is soldered to the other side of the 100 ohm resistor and as the wire disappears from the bottom-left portion of this picture it would be soldered to the LT or RT point shown in the picture just above this one showing the "Bottom Board Underside")

(If there is any doubt regarding the resistor you need, this is the actual packaging for the product from Radio Shack. They run about $1.50 for a pack of 5. BUY A MULTIMETER WHILE YOU ARE THERE!!)

VII. Interfacing with the Console & Preparing for Daily Use

Once every button has a ground wire hooked up to one of its two connectors and the correct signal for the other connector and the 5 pin wire harness from the joystick lever has been connected to Up, Down, Left, Right and Ground (per the respective wire) you can plug your Micro USB cable into the top of the Xbox One PCB and hook it up to your console and test everything out.  Be sure to properly mount and secure your PCB in your joystick enclosure. I recommend using small ceramic stand-off's to mount the PCB and you may want to put a zip tie or two around both circuit boards to help insure they stay together.  Using a hot glue gun to encapsulate your solder point and secure the wires to the PCB will help keep your solder points from breaking or possibly tearing off an entire copper pad.

VIII. Final Notes (for now)

For accessories and parts for your joystick (USB pass through ports, PCB feet (aka stand offs), Quick Connects, Wire Harnesses, Sticks, Buttons, etc.) I personally recommend and use FocusAttack.com 

The procedure I've covered above is for wiring up a joystick to work for an Xbox One console alone and by itself. If you have PCB's for more than just the Xbox One console hooked up in your stick you will need to dig a little bit deeper and research "Dual Modding". If you are making a dual modded stick (in our case it could be also for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360) NEVER hook up your stick to more than 1 console or use more than 1 cable at a time. I hope to cover this process in the very, near future but to get you started you would need to make sure both PCB's are common ground PCB's. Next all signals for all buttons and directions must be connected from one board to the equivalent of that same button on the second PCB before running to the physical Push Buttons or Joystick switches. Along with those signals, the VCC (power. assuming they are both 5v boards) from each board need to be connected and the GND from each board need to be connected (you only need one shared GND connection between boards). Now, how you handle the switching of the D+ and D- wires of the USB cords is up to you. You could just have separate cables coming out of your joystick (1 for each console) which I think looks sloppy as hell, OR you could mount a physical DPDT (dual pole dual throw) switch on the outside of your arcade stick to switch between consoles OR my preference would be to purchase an IMP or IMP v.2 from Marcus "Toodles" Post at godlikecontrols.com

Foe Hammer Joystick Case, 8x Seimitsu 30mm Buttons, 3x Seimitsu 24mm Buttons, Seimitsu LS-32-01 Joystick, Xbox One PCB, Micro-USB Cable, Neutrik USB Passthrough

More on Balrog's OS Against Far Reaching Pokes to Fireballs

For anyone new to Balrog, Street Fighter IV or the concept of Armor Cancels let me give you a brief history of it (as I understand it), what the technique is, how it works and why it's useful.

Brief History

Balrog's Armor Cancel technique was largely popularized by a Balrog player named Keno.  When Street Fighter IV was in arcades in late 2008 and early 2009 message boards on popular sites like shoryuken.com started to fill up with questions and speculation of what was actually happening when people saw Balrog perform what LOOKED LIKE a very quick Focus Attack type animation as Balrog absorbed a single attack and went directly into his Ultra animation.  Keno quickly dispelled the theory of it being some sort of focus attack and shared with those interested that it was simply Balrog's hyper armor from an EX Dash Punch type move absorbing a hit and for whatever reason the game allowed, at the moment, for Balrog to cancel into an Ultra, or Super, or TAP, or EX Headbutt or any EX Dash Punch.  It was then widely known as the "Keno Eye" (a take on a technique referred to as the Eagle Eye).  At first it was mostly used to absorb a fireball thrown at a distance that was too close for a player to perform the entire Ultra motion before being struck by the fireball. Now they could simply do an EX Dash Punch (1st half of the Ultra motion) followed immediately by the second half of the Ultra motion.

Why This is Possible

This technique has remained unchanged from (Vanilla) SFIV all the way through its current "AE ver. 2013" iteration.  The premise of the technique is that during the very first few frames of an EX Dash move of any sort (Straight, Upper, Low Smash, etc) if Balrog is hit by a move causing him to lose his Hyper Armor it is at that moment that he can cancel into any other EX Move, Turn Punch, Super or Ultra Combo.  It is done so early in the animation of the move that Balrog will cancel into whichever move you choose before the game deducts 1 bar of his Super Meter.  This is why you can cancel from an EX Dash Straight into a Super Combo.  The requirements of this technique are simply that you have at least 1 bar of Super Meter though you actually don't spend any meter if you cancel to an Ultra Combo or Turn Punch and spend only 1 bar of Super Meter total if you cancel to any other EX move.

How to Perform This

The basic execution for Balrog's armor cancel strategies is straight forward and not too difficult with some practice. To perform an EX Dash Straight to an EX Dash Upper you would need to charge back (this is easiest done while getting up from a knock down and being hit with a meaty attack or in the face of an oncoming fireball) and press forward + PP immediately followed by KK just as Balrog will be hit by an attack. To cancel from EX Dash Straight to his Super Combo charge back, at the proper time press forward + PP or KK, and very quickly press back, forward + P or K.  To cancel to his Ultra 1 simply replace the last P or K as shown for the Super with PPP or KKK. Hopefully, you will be able to figure out the rest of the options on your own such as cancelling to Turn Punch, Ultra 2 and EX Headbutt to name a few.

When to Perform This

As mentioned before, the easiest and most practical situations to use this in are as an Option Select as you are standing up after being knocked down when you expect a meaty poke from your opponent, when punishing an opponent for throwing a fireball but you don't have time for the whole Ultra motion before being hit by the fireball, when being spammed with dive kicks and your know the opponent won't land and recover in time to block, when you suspect an opponent may drop a combo and the next move comes too late or during blockstrings that aren't TRUE blockstrings (you don't stay in block stun entirely between hits).

I hope you enjoyed this or found it useful.  It's a flashy and very practical tool to use with Balrog (and characters like El Fuerte, Makoto, Guy, etc.).  Just get in the lab and practice it!

Balrog: Character Specific EX Dash Upper Quirks

I believe I am going to start using this blog as a supplement to my YouTube channel and videos.  I will further explain, dissect and discuss the mechanics behind how certain things work and just otherwise get into more detail than what is appropriate for the "Description" portion of a YouTube video.

This first subject may be a little backward as to the order I will normally do things.  That being said, when playing SSFIV:AE 2K12 with Balrog, EX Dash Upper is a very important tool that leads to big damage combos and many, very damaging Ultra 1 setups.  There is, however, one problem with the EX Dash Upper.... The amount of pushback caused from the move in addition to the different sizes of the characters does not always allow for Balrog to connect his "BnB" post EX Dash Upper Combo.  The combo I'm referring to is, of course, EX Dash Upper link to cr.LP link to cr.LK cancel to H Buffalo Head.  On certain characters the cr.LK will whiff and not only do you not extend your combo for max damage where you can potentially tack on an Ultra 1 juggle, but you usually get punished HARD for screwing this up.

Below is a list of known characters and scenarios where this occurs and an alternate link following the EX Dash Upper:

Character Name (Situation in which follow-up to EX Dash Upper whiffs): Alternate link 1; Alternate link 2

Balrog (Always): ...cr.LP or cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head; ...cr.LP->cr.MP xx H Buffalo Head

Dudley (Various normals): ...cr.LP or cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head; ...cr.LP->cr.MP xx H Buffalo Head

Guile (Always): ...cr.LP or cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head; ...cr.LP->cr.MP xx H Buffalo Head

Juri (Always): ..cr.LP or cr.LK xx Buffalo Head; ...cr.LP->cr.MP xx H Buffalo Head

Ken (While throwing Hadokens) : ...cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head

Ryu (While throwing Hadokens): ...cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head

Sagat (While throwing High Tiger Shots): ...cr.LP or cr.LK xx H Buffalo Head;

More characters and scenarios will be added to this list as I have time to test them.

Character Specific U1 Set Ups (Yun Series 3; Entry 1)

Ok, I know its been a long time since I've updated this so let's get right down to business.

One of Yun's less commonly used Ultra 1 set ups is connecting the second hit of his Light Nishokyaku (Up Kiicks) and then juggling the opponent with Ultra 1.  This is not seen as frequently as other set ups because it is usually by chance that you use a L Nishokyaku and happen to whiff the first hit and connect the second hit.  Well over the last little while I've spent a good amount of time in the training room trying to find character specific combos that will allow you to end the combo with a L Nishokyaku in a way such that only the second hit connects, thus allowing an Ultra 1 follow up.  Here's what I've found so far:

Abel: cr.MP->cr.MP xx L Nisho->U1
Balrog: cr.MP->cr.MP xx L Nisho->U1
Chun Li: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
C. Viper: Zenpou Tenshin (command grab)->MP xx L Nisho->U1
Dudley: cr.MP->cr.LP xx L Nisho->U1
El Fuerte: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho-> U1
Evil Ryu: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Fei Long: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Gen: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Guile: Zenpou Tenshin->cr.LK xx L Nisho->U1
Guy: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Ken: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
M. Bison: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Rose: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Rufus: cr.MP->cr.LK xx L Nisho->U1
Ryu: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1 & cr.MP->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Sagat: *corner only cr.MP->cr.MP->LP xx L Nisho->U1
Sakura: cr.LK->LP xx L Nisho->U1
T. Hawk: cr.MP->cr.MP->LK xx L Nisho->U1 & Zenpou Tenshin->cr.MP->LK xx L Nisho->U1
Vega: Zenpou Tenshin->cr.LK xx L Nisho->U1

As of now, that is all I've found.  If you find set ups for the characters I have yet to find or find additional set ups for characters I do have currently listed, please email me at stevokanevo82@gmail.com

I will continue to update this list as I find more over time, but hopefully this will get you started and you can maximize your damage output on some of these meterless combos I've listed above.

In the near future I will be adding the second entry into this third and final series on Yun and it will cover some good resets, frame traps, mix ups (especially on Genei Jin), and more.

You Hou & Genei Jin (Yun: Series 2; Entry 3)

Having put such an emphasis on minimizing the number of times you have to break through your opponents defense or stop their momentum and gain your own to land a combo, it's only natural that I spend a moment emphasizing the importance of Yun's Super Combo and Ultra 1.

If you simply watch the video below (note the order of Ultras in the video coincides in the order in which I have the set ups listed) and spend some time working on these in training mode you should have a grasp of how easy it is to land Yun's Ultra 1 (You Hou).  It is important to know that this Ultra Combo has a 9 frame start up and as such you can also punish moves that leave your opponent at -9 frames on block.  Don't forget that you can tack on a juggle or two as your You Hou is ending!

1) Close standing MK->Ultra 1
2) j.HP->Ultra 1
3) Very low hitting Dive Kick->Ultra 1
4) L Nishokyaku *2nd hit only->Ultra 1 (character specific combos for this set up later)
5) EX Zesshou Hohou->Ultra 1
6) M Tetsuzanko xx FCDC -> Ultra 1
7) L Tetsuzanko xx Genei Jin-> Ultra 1
8) EX Kobokushi xx FCDC->Ultra 1
9) *near corner EX Kobokushi->Ultra 1
10) Zenpou Tenshin->(walk forward a pixel) LP>>LK>>MP xx EX Zesshou Hohou->Ultra 1
      this can also be done with MP and in the corner does not require walking forward.
11) *corner Kobokushi->Ultra 1
12) *corner EX Nishokyaku->Ultra 1
13) *corner M or H Tetsuzanko->Ultra 1
14) *corner Target Combo MP>>HP>>Back + HP xx FA lvl 1 Dash Cancel->Ultra 1
15) *corner Far Standing HK->Ultra 1
16) *during Genei Jin: HP->Ultra 1 (Best done while Genei Jin timer runs out)
17) *during Genei Jin: (as a juggle) M Zesshou Hohou->Ultra 1
18) *during Genei Jin **in corner: M Tetsuzanko (as a mix-up on reset)->Ultra 1
19) *with back to the corner: Dakai (as anti-air; trade hits ok)->Ultra 1
20) *as anti-air Ultra 1

What is largely considered Yun's deadliest tool in his arsenal is his Genei Jin Super Combo. Coupled with the ability to quickly build Super Meter, it very well may be considered an oddity to lose a round in which you land a successful Genei Jin.

Before getting into the ways to start off the Genei Jin, what to do if you drop the combo, and the ideal attacks to use in this situation, let's take a moment to touch on damage scaling. In SSFIV:AE the damage done by each attack in a combo degrades as the nuber of attacks in a combo grow.  Your first two attacks deal 100% of their expected damage, the third attack doing 80%, and each subsequent attack dealing 10% less damage than the last with the scaling capping out at 10% damage from the 10th attack on.  The one exception being Ultra Combos and Focus Attacks counting as 2 attacks each in this regard. So it would seem opportune to cancel into your Genei Jin as early as possible in a combo.

There are a number of ways to combo into the Genei Jin.  Some of the more popular and most effective are listed here:

1) MP xx L Tetsuzanko xx Genei Jin->HK xx M Zesshou Hohou->...
     This is an ideal set up to use during your footsies game. Buffer the Tetsuzanko behind the MP and if you read a hit confirm activate super.  The opponent will still be grounded at this state and so after the screen returns to normal after fading dark for the Super activation, double tap or mash HK to launch your opponent and cancel into the M Zesshou Hohou as a follow up hit continuing the juggle and keeping you right along with them.

2) M or H Tetsuzanko xx Genei Jin ->M or H Zesshou Hohou->...
    This particular set up works well against projectile characters when you make a read on a fireball and counter them with a M or H Tetsuzanko.  You can buffer the motion for Super behind the Tetsuzanko and if it lands cancel into Super.  Your opponent will already be airborne and the Zesshou Hohou will continue the juggle and put you in position for you follow up hits.

3) MP>>HP>>Back +HP xx Genei Jin-> M Zesshou Hohou->...
     You are probably getting the idea now.  Plenty of time for a hit confirm with this set up and the opponent starts airborne.  Start off with the M Zesshou Hohou.

4) L Nishokyaku ->Genei Jin->LP->...
     Whether you hit the Nishokyaku at the end of a combo or as an anti-air this set up works the same way.  It is probably one of the easier to drop set ups as you have to activate the Genei Jin immediately upon recovering from the L Nishokyaku and then immediately catch your descending opponent with a poke (preferably LP) and then continue the juggle on from there.

5) Kobokushi xx Genei Jin->M Zesshou Hohou
    This may be one of the less likely set ups but if you are throwing out Kobokushi's, buffer your quarter circles behind it and you should be able to read a hit confirm and activate Super. As you may have guessed, follow up with a M Zesshou Hohou if you are at mid-screen if you are in the corner start with another Kobokushi.

I would suggest spending ample time in training working on not only the set ups for the Genei Jin, but also practice carrying your opponent from one side of the screen to the other while in a juggle. Also, practice capitalizing on damage while in the corner with your opponent juggled.  There are 3 attacks that you want to concentrate on using while juggling your opponent.  They are Yun's overhead (F + MK), Zesshou Hohou, and Kobokushi.  The Kobokushi deals 100 damage while in Genei Jin, the over head does 85, and the Zesshou Hohou only about 65 (unscaled).  While moving your opponent across the screen the M Zesshou Hohou will serve to push your opponent forward and also slightly upward setting up your next attacks, which mid-screen should primarily be Yun's overhead attack (2-3 reps at a time, use your best judgement) and while in the corner you should primarily be using Kobokushi's (1-2 reps at a time) closing the distance with the overhead and using Zesshou Hohou to lift your opponent back up higher into the air and to close in if you've pushed yourself too far away from the corner.  Mid screen you may occasionally push your opponent too far away by doing a M Zesshou Hohou followed by a Kobokushi.  In this case, use a H Tetsuzanko to close the gap quickly and launch your opponent back high into the air.  Practice makes perfect so spend plenty of time working on your juggles and be sure to do so against different characters as the difference in hit boxes can completely change how you need to juggle.

You should have no problem getting close to 450 damage from a Genei Jin activated mid screen and closer to 600 if activated in the corner.  You can see why you don't want to drop this combo (though there are some loops you can use on the ground. More on that later.).  However, if you ever do drop your Genei Jin it is possible, and surprisingly easy, to get back into the juggle.  Most opponents will be scared to death at the sight of Yun with his Super Combo activated and will attempt to turtle up.  Simply perform a command throw and upon landing link into a cr.MP followed immediately by a standing HK and cancel into a M Zesshou Hohou and you will be back in business!

If you are comfortable with everything we've talked to up to this point in time and you are carrying your weight in the execution department, then you should be excited about the next series of entries.  We are going to dig a little deeper into just what makes Yun such a scary character to play against.  Topics will include mix-ups, Genei Jin combo resets, option selects, frame traps, and everything else you need to have an incredibly strong foundation to continue to build your Yun on.

Purpose Driven Play (Yun: Series 2; Entry 2)

Let's start with stating the obvious.  Super Street Fighter IV: AE is a game that is far easier to play while playing defensively as opposed to being forced into playing offensively.  Have you ever seen people play (especially on Xbox LIVE) that will be down on the life lead and suddenly start to run away and turtle?  Hopefully, you have the sense to look at the life bars and decide if you have to chase them down or will you win simply by doing nothing?  The sad part is, that many, many people will go in after these people and the person turtling is essentially racking up wins by doing nothing.  It is just too easy to get zoned out, anti-air'd, or punished for trying to move in on a defensive player.

Having said this, you can see why it is important to be in this "chasing situation" as little as possible.  The more times you have to get in on your opponent, the more the chances of you losing are.  If you plan to play as a character such as Yun, who has lower than average life, your execution needs to be on point!  Anytime, you connect an attack with your opponent you want to take that one hit and chain it into another hit for a hit confirm, link that hit confirm into a stronger move, and cancel that strong normal with a high damage output special move.  If you land a crouching jab on your opponent and simply mash jab until you push them out of range, you may get (let's just say) 3 jabs in.  That's 84 damage. If your average opponent has 1000 vitality, you will have to do that at least a dozen times.  Twelve times of  risking uppercuts, weaving through fireballs, etc. to not even take a tenth of your opponents health.  What if instead you land that crouching jab, chain to standing jab, link to crouching strong, link to standing strong, and cancel into medium Nishokyaku? 211 Damage.  With no EX meter spent, you just took more than a fifth of your opponents life with a combo starting off with a crouching jab. With one bar of EX you can instead end the combo with an EX Nishokyaku and juggle with a light Zesshou Hohou netting you 238 damage.  Now you are nearing the quarter mark of your enemy's life bar.  That's only a combo starting with a jab!

We've already had a post where I've listed some of the better combo's with Yun so I'm not going to go back into that, but you need to spend enough time in training mode such that when you are in a match and you need to make it count, you only have to get in on your opponent around 4 or 5 times.  There are a few keys to doing this successfully. One is your technical ability to pull of combos consistently. Practice this in training.  Secondly, make sure you know what are your options at any given moment and which move will give you the most damaging outcome. For example, if you land a cr.MP on your opponent it would be in your best interest not to simply follow it up with cr.HP for the cr.MP >> cr.HP target combo.  Instead, how about cr.MP->cr.MP->MP xx H Nishokyaku? Also very important, be able to recognize your hit confirms as quickly as possible.  I suggest going into training mode, access the training options, and set the dummy's to block randomly.  Now, dive kick or jump in on the dummy and start with your pokes.  If the dummy is blocking, recognize this before you are out of range and go into a command grab and get a combo for free.  If the dummy is not blocking, finish out your combo maximizing your damage.

The last thing to touch on regarding this issue is meter building and meter management.  Always be cognizant of your opponents and your own health bar, super meter, and ultra meter. If your enemy is running fairly low on life and expending some EX will polish off the round or match and you are running the risk of being ko'd by another combo or two, finish them off.  Otherwise, save the meter for your Genei Jin.  It should not be a hard task to consume about half of your opponents life with one Genei Jin combo (granted you don't activate it 5 or 6 hits into a combo).  Throw out your standing MP and buffer a light Tetsuzanko behind it. If the MP hits, the L Tetsuzanko is coming out and connecting and you should be able to cancel into Genei Jin.  Yun's Ultra of choice, Ultra 1 (You Hou), will do 375 damage with no follow up juggle, 479 if you juggle with a H Zesshou Hohou, and 536 damage if you juggle with EX Zesshou Hohou->EX Tetsuzanko.

With a Super Combo netting you between 400 and 600 damage (at least) and an Ultra Combo capable of 400 to 500, there is no excuse not to get the job done in only a few combos.  Watch any high level tournament match and more than likely you will see that no one is going to be able to allow their opponent to land more than half a dozen combos on them (that many if they are lucky).

In the next entry, I will discuss using the Genei Jin combo and maximizing damage.  This will include the best ways to combo into it, the most damaging attacks to do while in the Genei Jin, damage resets and other tricky ways to end it, and even how to pick it back up again if you drop the combo.  Also, I am going to include all the Ultra set ups that I currently know with Yun, including character specific combos, and just a heads up...I believe the current count is up to 18. And thats not recycling the same move that links or juggles to Ultra 1 with a different combo in front of it, that is 18 ways you can guarantee you land the Ultra all off of different moves, situations, etc.

Back to Basics (Yun: Series 2; Entry 1)

For the first series I jumped right into Yun's Combos, be it meterless, EX, Super, or Ultra and also how is specials juggle among one another for monster damage and finally wrapped it all up in an entry regarding how to tie these aspects of Yun's offense together.  However, before I move any further into the more elaborate set ups and offensive pressure tactics I wanted to take a step back and really make sure we know when and why we are using certain normals.  This may seem like a particularly boring entry, but it will serve as the foundation for all the more complicated concepts we build on from here on out.

Jab
Yun's jab is going to be your best tool for starting combos and punishing blocks that leave themselves too wide open. Close standing LP and crouching LP both have 3 frame start ups (far standing starts up in 4 frames).  Not only do these attacks come out fast but they also chain into themselves and every other form of LP and LK.  Beware that even though you can chain into standing LK, LK will not chain into any other pokes.  Due to the speed at which they come out and the ability to chain, makes them perfect for poking and hit confirming into your basic combos (eg cr.LP-cr.LP-LP->MP xx M Nishokyaku).  Crouching LP is +2 on block and both standing versions are +3 on block, so these make ideal pokes to use for setting up tick throws.

Short
The crouching LK serves all the same purposes as the LP.  Chainable, starts up in 4 frames, good for hit confirms, and are good for setting up tick throws.  The main advantage that crouching short has over crouching jab is you will open up more opponents to combos as it will connect on standing opponents due to the fact that it is a low hitting attack.  Force opponents to stand and block with the overhead (more later) then open them up for combos with cr.LK (eg. cr.LK-LP->MP xx H Nishokyaku).

Strong
Medium Punch is really the best poke in Yun's arsenal.  Crouching MP is going to be the version you want to use to for a somewhat rangey poke and it also links into Yun's more damaging Ultras. When poking with cr.MP be prepared to link into another (and sometimes two more) cr.MP then link to a standing MP and finish with the combo ender that best suits your needs. cr.MP->cr.MP->MP xx H Nishokyaku is great and also linking cr.MP to cr.MK before ending your combo with a M Zesshou Hohou or L Tetsuzanko can be a good idea.  You typically don't want to combo off of cr.MP as you can not link into L Tetsuzanko (and thus can't cancel it to Super) and trying to cancel into Nishokyaku often times leads to some unforeseen results because of the awkward angle you come flying upward at.

Standing MP is a phenomenal poke, and is great for fishing for a hit.  It has deceptive range as it moves you slightly forward as you attack.  Buffering HP behind your primary MP will allow you to start Yun's target combo (MP-HP-B+HP) and read the hit confirm to decide to stop the combo after the first HP if you are being blocked and you will remain relatively safe from punishment.  If it hits finish out the target combo with the back + HP and use this opportunity to cancel into Genei Jin Super Combo if you have it.

Forward
It is uncommon that you will land the close MK version during a match while not in Super Combo. However, if you do you can juggle into Ultra 1 for free or jump cancel which leads to a plethora of mix ups.  The standing far version works well as a selective anti-air from opponents jumping from too far away at you.  The far, standing version works well in a footsies role, to help keep the opponent out of your face but offers no further damage in the form of links or cancelling into specials.  The strength of this move lies in its crouching version.  Throw out the cr.MK just outside of its effective range and buffer a M Zesshou Hohou behind it for a quick 1,2 if it lands.

Fierce
Yun's HP is limited in its usefulness while not in Genei Jin by only serving as a very useful poke in its far, standing form.  This is a strong, rangey poke for good damage and to maintain your spacing.

Roundhouse
Standing HK is another good tool in Yun's footsies game.  It is far reaching, knocks down on hit, and gives Yun a little breathing room.  The crouching HK is a standard sweep and can set up some good safe jump scenarios (more later) but beware the opponents wake up time differs depending on if they are standing or crouching when you hit them.  Also, this version of the move has an incredibly long recovery period so if blocked, it is best to press HK again, to complete Yun's Target Combo (cr.HK>>HK) and hopefully not get punished.

Senpukyaku
Yun's overhead.  Safe on hit and block, however under normal conditions it does not offer to start nor extend any combos.  However, battering an opponent with several overheads in a row is a sure fire way to set them up to eat a combo that starts with a low poke (eg cr.LK).

Dakai
A very strong poke that covers about half the screen, this is a great move as a surprise poke to knockdown your opponent and gain some ground in the zoning game.  Use it to punish moves that otherwise would be out of reach and use it against jump ins as it will cross under your opponent and Yun's hand furthest behind him will strike the airborne opponent, given the correct spacing.