Lets be serious here entry of the week: Scrubs cry games die

If you haven't realized by the title of this blog entry but I will be talking about the cries of players who want balancing because they aren't competent enough to step up and figure out ways around specific strategies.


Now before I get into the main topic I want to give you all a history lesson. 2 communities have been torn apart on a competitive front and hurt the game because of players complaining for nerfs to characters or game mechanics in general.

I am looking at you Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat. Now when both of these games were released they were very healthy competitively but as time went on players complained and cried for nerfs thus taking the entire competitive population down a big notch. MK which drew 100 at majors on a consistent basis now draws about 60 and Soul Calibur is barely around anymore. A lot of fighting game players from other communities stopped playing because of this reason.

It is annoying as a fighting game player who goes to tournaments on a frequent basis and plays multiple games to have to keep up on multiple patches for fighting games thus having to study even more. Its like studying subjects in school and every month you are handed a new book for your subject with changes made. For example 2+2 is no longer 4 it is now 5. Quite ridiculous right?

Anyway these games don't have a big enough community of competitive players like the Capcom fighting game community so a patch here and there won't hurt them as much because they will play whatever Capcom fleshes out. However for games like MK, SC, DOA if you change something it can hurt overall tournament attendance because it may or may not break the game. Lets be serious here when something is patched out or balanced in a Capcom game it is for very good reason and a tactic in general is probably way too good. For example Phoenix in vanilla MVC3 or Sagat/Ryu/Akuma in Vanilla SF4. While these characters are still good in the most recent renditions of their games they aren't as ridiculous as before.

In DOA the big thing is everyone is complaining about Jann Lee's dragon gunner. Now in higher levels of play.....wait first let me say something. I'm pretty sure I am more than qualified to talk about Jann Lee being a Jann Lee main as well as main of other characters in DOA,a DOA veteran and world champion "alright I promise I am done pole jocking myself" I have the rights to speak on what is too good or not in this game.

Anyway on to the cries... Apparently Dragon Gunner is too good! Its a 17 frame unseeable grab that potentially leads into half life if you guess right like 3-4 times after landing it. That's right after I land the dragon gunner I have to guess right 3-4 times to deal any big boy damage to your health bar. Now if you look for the dragon gunner and punish me with a grab you will get a pretty good chunk of life. You can even buffer your most damaging throw and hit me with it or you can just press grab and hit me with your 5 frame grab. Very similar to another game.........Tekken.

Grabs in tekken are 12 frames but almost every top level player can break grabs on reaction....... So what you are telling me is this 17 frame offensive hold you can't press the grab button when you read, anticipate and see this? You know you can also duck it too and rise up and hit me with your most damaging grab on Hi Counter Throw while I am in my recovery frames? Have any of you at all tried this? Smh

Also Jann Lee isn't a rush down character. He actually isn't that good when it comes to approaching his opponents he is more of a defensive character that basically punishes you for trying to rush him down. When you force Jann Lee to come to you is when his holes tend to get exploited. He also has a lot of trouble fighting against characters who are adept at being evasive and can high crush his jabs thus stopping him from being able to slugfest and force into stun from p6p or counter hit 6p, 6k, sidestep punches and his mid punch and high kick holds.

If you guys would stop trying to go punch for punch with Jann Lee you wouldn't have as many problems as you are having which of course goes back to your own player experience and skill. This is where you have to put an adequate amount of time into the game to get to that level. Instead of complaining you should be in the lab trying to get more accustomed to how you are supposed to play the game instead spending all of your time trying to get some cheese for your whine.

I am making this post to of course help the new up and coming DOA players to realize the errors of their ways so that we can have a healthy competitive scene instead of a bunch of players whining and complaining about whatever tactic that is giving them a hard time.


The only issues with this game is how buggy the ground game is which is being fixed in the patch. Its the same reason Mila can infinite you on the ground as well as Tina getting an inconsistent amount of continuous ground grabs after a knock down.

After that and some small tweaking like Ayane being +7 after 66kk4 and Hayabusa's 3f+k being a tracking move for example I think everything will be fine. The game is very well made and I hope all of you put a lot of time into getting good in this game and end up being worthy opponents in the future.

I don't want this game to get killed because players end up complaining so much the make the game very bland and boring thus taking any interest the game had away, so please players level up.

Now for no reason here is a video of a woman getting uppercutted for acting out on a bus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmdx08VFGmw

DOA5 Hayate Early Impressions

Hayate

I am very much soul searching with this character. I feel like hes good some days but other days I feel like he needs some buffs. His redeeming factor is how strong he is when his opponents back is to the wall. Also he still retains a 8p which high crushes in the proper frames and its difficult to attack him afterwards cause of the follow up which is very much unsafe but he finally has 8pk which is -5 now but you can hit him out of it but if you have them afraid of 8p8k you can do that instead of free cancel for a back turned mixup.

Also 33kk is -2 on guard now so you can use that as an effective counter poke which has weird timing to sidestep because you can very much just do 33k and land and go for more pressure. He has 1k which is a instant high crush so characters like Sarah with annoying strings like 6p4k that are + on block but hits high you can block it then do 1k and get advantage back and follow up with a throw or 6pk if they decide to hit a button.

6pk is really good cause if they sidestep the punch the kick is fast enough to knock them down then you can go for oki. If they don't tech immediately you can do 8p+k to pounce on them. If they tech immediately you can wind dash p+k to hit them out of all of their options when they tech or you can do the punch if they decide to block. You can also do dash up 33k, 6p, 66p, 2f+k or 9p. Also 9p is really good if they tech roll backwards and they try to hold mid and you hit them with 9p since the follow up to it is a 2in1.
My current top 10 moves with Hayate

6pk

p strings

33kk

66p

9p

33k

3f+k

8p

2p+k

1k

notable 236p

In this game Hayate has to be played pretty risky because everything is basically a raijin or a flip over grab set up. I am trying to get more used to doing the flip over grab since its +10 and forces the opponent to have to slow escape or you can just do 6pk for a free knock down for more pressure. Still working on Hayate. I wish he still had his DOA4 4f+k/h+k and 236k being a +5 guard break. I suggested this to Shimbori and he agreed 236k being like DOA4 would be fair especially since its easier to sidestep now and now if you block it its only -5. Also 4p will probably end up being his mid punch tracking move in the patch. I hope it stuns on normal hit lol.

Seasons Beatings Ascension

This past weekend I participate in Seasons Beatings Ascension and it was a really great and well ran event. I cannot express enough how happy I am that Team Ninja flew out to my home state Ohio to show support to the fighting game community and watch us all battle it out in the newly release Dead or Alive 5. DOA is very close to my heart because without this game I wouldn't exist as a player in the tournament circuit so to go from starting so many years ago and never have even thought I would even meet them to them coming to my state to support our biggest major event in our state means a great deal to me.

Talking to Shimbori-san, Peter and Tom was just a great experience in itself. Its very great to talk the team and they know exactly everything about their game and you can discuss not only strategies but anything about the game in general. And I know DOA almost as well as the back of my hand actually I probably know DOA better than the back of my hand lol.

I am really happy with the general interest in DOA5. During the finals there were golf claps and people had no trouble following along with what was going on in the matches. If someone sidestepped and it was a good read I would hear someone go "nice!" and whenever someone hit a power blow the crowd would cheer. It was a very heart warming experience for me. Very pleased with the reaction to the game. I think the negative stigma that DOA has is starting to dwindle away. Looking very much forward to the future of the game and all the new faces that will be getting into the game.

I also want to give a shout out to godlike-productions and console combat for running the best Seasons Beatings to date. Please keep it going guys! Also I hope everyone tunes into console combat for their weekly and monthly streams. You can follow them on their twitch channel @ twitch.tv/console_combat and also you can follow them both on twitter @gdlkent for godlike-productions and @console_combat.

Great job to everyone who entered the tournament and helped make this event great. Shout out to Ryujin, NinjaCW and Sloppy55000 for making top 4! Good job to Mystik and DrDogg on the mic as usual they did a great job as always.

My next events will be MLG Dallas and Absolute Battle/Dead or Alive in Dallas so please tune into the streams or better yet make it out to the event because these events can't be great without you guys so please try your best to make it out!

I will be streaming DOA this week so be sure to tune in if you want to learn more and level up. My channel is twitch.tv/perfectlegend and you can follow me on twitter @perfectlegend.
Well guys till next time!

Dead or Alive 5: quick snippet

I will post a long post on what I think of the game but I just want to make a quick statement for those getting into the game and of course those who have bashed the game in the past:

This is not the same game you have played. Let me go over key changes that have been made from DOA4 to DOA5.

1. .>>>>Hold damage<<<< this is something EVERYONE complains about well let me tell you the damage has been decreased significantly. DOA4 introduced different hold damage for when you are put into critical stun so when you are stunned your holds will deal less damage but when you are not stunned the damage isn't decreased.

Here are the damage rates for a Hi Counter, Counter and Normal hold outside of stun for Hayabusa's punch hold which is the most damaging hold in DOA4 and DOA5.

- normal 75pts

- counter 93pts

- hi counter 112pts

The difference here is that Hi Counter Hold is in DOA4 it is a 1-4 frame window but in DOA5 it is a 1-2 frame window so you are more than likely going to get a Counter hold from a hold because of the timing difference. So in other words to get hi counter damage you really need to be even more precise. In DOA4 you had a lot more leeway for a Hi Counter Hold.

Now during stun the damage for an izuna is in DOA5.

- normal 60pts

- counter 75pts

- hi counter 90pts

Also keep in mind for you to pull off an Izuna punch hold they have changed the command from single direction to double direction making Izuna an advanced hold. Let me show you the damage on Hayabusa's regular punch holds.

Outside of Critical: 

- normal 50 pts

- counter 62 pts

- hi counter 75 pts

Inside of Critical:

- normal 40 pts 

- counter 50 pts 

- hi counter 60 pts 

This change is too great. When you get held now its basically a slap on the wrist and if they want to deal real damage they have to really time their hold and on top of that make an almost perfect read which is hard with the gameplay speed of DOA. Also the hold recovery has been nerfed while you are in stun as well so even when someone holds at the first possible frame that they can hold you can easily hit them with your most damaging throw. There are also stuns in the game which cannot be escaped via hold and some that can't be escaped via hold or slow escape! Mostly sit down stuns. Example hayabusa's 214P guarantees a 33p.

2, Sidestep: Sidestep is such a game changer in DOA especially since it works just like VF and the fact that there are moves that track as well and a lot of linear moves you can't really abuse any strategies because of that. Also keep in mind most of the tracking moves are either High or Low so they can be high crushed, fuzzy guarded, guarded or defensive held.

For example Hayabusa's 6pk the 2nd hit is high. You can fuzzy guard, do a instant high crush (example hitomi's 1p), guard or Hold the punch. You can't sidestep the kick because it is in fact a tracking attack.

3. High crushes have been toned down significantly no longer does Helena's p+k or Hayabusa's 3p+k crush instantly it takes time for these attacks to get into their crushing frames. Instead you have to use 2f+k type sweeps to duck highs and you don't have to worry about your mid's getting ducked as much either because of this change making a lot of characters more viable and players will have to really know their options instead of cancelling out 1-2 options with one read. This game is very solid. Nothing is more rewarding then properly crouching an attack or sidestepping one to stop someones offense or stay on offense.

4. Wall game is really good you can no longer hold off of the wall so when someone is wall splatted you get a free combo but not a free launcher and then a combo so they balanced it out well.

5. There are only 2 get up kicks in this game like DOA2 and DOA3. No more high get up kick just mid and low. However they made the mid get up kick hit kind of on a high/mid hit box level so its more difficult to jump over the mid get up kick which is good too and they also decreased the range on get up kicks as well.

6. Training mode is so good! It tells you the frame data of every attack and every situation. Record mode is perfect and lets you record for really long and it also allows you to set the computer to hold the fastest out of a critical stun or slow escape the fastest or the slowest.

This game in my honest opinion is the best fighting game to have released in the past 10 years (ironically DOA3.1 was released 10 years ago.)

I hope you all get into it and play it because you will enjoy it! I will be posting tutorials, match videos etc so make sure you stay tuned and follow me on twitter/facebook/youtube/twitch.

twitter: @perfectlegend
facebook: facebook.com/perfectlegend
youtube: youtube.com/perfectlegend
twitchtv: twitch.tv/perfectlegend

Also make sure you go to Freestepdodge.com for all the latest on Dead or Alive news!

Pre release DOA5 thoughts

My thoughts on Dead or Alive 5 so far is that this game is stacking up to be very good. I haven't played any of the new builds for the game but the things that I have seen and have heard in particular, is very promising. I hear critical burst was toned down and have no idea why I hope it reverts back to what it was.

Actually let’s talk about Critical Burst so we can all be on the same page:

- Critical burst is a new feature in the game where it rewards you for extending the stun to maximum threshold and then breaking that threshold with a critical burst attack which allows you a free attack afterwards.

- I think this is a good feature because now it’s an actual reward for out thinking your opponent in a long sequence of attacks. Since it takes a good sequence to achieve this, it shouldn't be that easy vs. a higher level player so when it does happen you feel good that you out thought your opponent.

- Before in past DOA games if you did this you wouldn't get any extra reward besides a higher launch height. I feel this is a much better reward. However I do feel this won't change the fundamental game of DOA too much it will still be the same so that is good as well it just adds an extra element a long with the critical staggers that don't let you hold immediately and the ones that don't let you hold at all.

DOA has always been won more from how much a player and a character doesn't need to use the stun to win because there is still that randomness element in there. I say this even with knowing the hold active frames have been reduced. This means that they are shorter and the damage is even less than before now.

For example: Hayate has always been about knocking you into environmental hazards and working pressure from knockdowns. In DOA3, working from frame traps with his elbow. Based from the videos they seem to have captured his frame traps well and based on the demo he still has sick wake up pressure.

Another example though Jann Lee is dangerous when he puts you in a stun and dangerous when you are anywhere near a wall. When Jann Lee stuns you it is very hard to get away from him and that brought his old dragon gunner and mid punch/high kick hold properties back allowing him to get guaranteed damage to knock you into environment. From what I see all of the stages are more closed in this time around so I can't wait to abuse people at the wall. Sorry guys.

Also I would like everyone to go into DOA5 with an open mind. Yes some of your DOA habits should transfer but others shouldn't. I think all of you need to work on having a better spacing game this time around especially with having a Virtua Fighter like sidestep and on top of that the 8 way is better as well. So if you try to run in and cannon drill me with Ayane I will just 8 way it regularly then get a full combo in your back.

I hope everyone is able to make Season's Beatings: Ascension in Cleveland, OH on the weekend of the games release in September!

To coincide with the games release I will be running a stream playing the game against fellow veteran players and I will be posting tutorial, combo and match videos on my YouTube page, so stay tuned.

You can follow me on twitter: @perfectlegend
Subscribe to my YouTube page: youtube.com/perfectlegend
My stream channel is: twitch.tv/perfectlegend

Thanks guys!

The Pop Off: Street Fighter Rant

Alright I am really sick and tired of playing this game and not because I think its bad or good.


I can't get any quality competition to get better in this game while other regions are able to play people on a consistent basis who are good and not even have to play that much to still be able to compete at a really high level.

In this area what all I have is wolfkrone and for us to play we just play online since we are like a hour and a half away from each other. Yea I have hella Viper matchup experience but the rest of the characters in the game? Not really so whenever I lose in this game I always feel like I lost not because I was out played but I just don't know what the hell is going on. In this game it boggles my mind. SF2 for whatever reason is way easier to understand. The game in general and match ups too, but this game I am like how the hell do I open someone up you can just tech every grab with delay tech or mash tech when there is a block string and don't press a button at right time and you won't ever get counter hit. Like seriously? I have seen someone do this and it is just frustrating how much easier it is to not get hit opposed to how difficult it is to hit.

Yea I used Akuma for what 3 years but he isn't fun I don't like how he plays but I like him art wise so I kept using him but now I am trying to figure out who better suits me. I dislike how you can tech grabs hella easy and I hate how certain chars like viper don't even need to they just burn kick or ex seismo to get away from it and both these moves are safe. Most chars at least need two bars to FADC a reversal and make sure the attack doesn't whiff but nah viper can just toss shit out safely since burn kick has decent range and ex seismo is 3/4ths of the screen as it is.

Anyway I keep wanting to play this game and keep trying to practice regardless having no consistent quality competition but its hella tough cause my fundamentals as a player only go so far until knowledge of the game comes into play.

The Pop Off!

This time on the Pop Off: The subject is MK players.



You might hate me after reading this but I am really just trying to evolve the mk scene.

Anyway first things first this is a rant but its all real talk. I haven't gotten this irritated in a while but its getting pretty ridiculous.

Alright first off I am sick and tired of people saying Kung Lao is so strong. You know what he loses the SAME MATCHES now that he lost in the last game but it seems like most of you players lack the brain capacity to figure out how to fight him. How the hell do you place characters like Cyrax, Kabal, Reptile and Kitana under him? Are you really that stupid? Do you not know how to block low.

You know Kung Laos biggest weakness are people who just crouch low and guard? Guess what his options are when you do that? Overhead that doesn't lead into ANY COMBO AT ALL or a damn throw which if he decides to dash at you upon throwing you he can't block your wake up attack so he has to walk up to you and block. This is a bug that is still in the game that they haven't fixed yet and won't be fixed.

Another big weakness of kung lao is he has not one answer to defend against players who d4 him all day. All he can do is jump in. He doesn't have a mid string starter all he can do is roll and hes at a slight advantage depending on where he is on the screen. If he does roll too close hes neutral if he does it far away hes advantage but slightly, however all you have to do is stay crouched and he can't get any damage off of you. If he tries a cross up jump punch from that range guess what?! It whiffs and you get to hit him.

Characters with low hit boxes totally limit all of his options. First he can't jump at low hit box chars cause his jump in whiffs. He can't teleport and do anything because all options whiffs when you crouch even as a low hit box char and he can't come in and do a string because all of his strings begin high. SMH its like you guys don't even know how to use training mode. Yea i know we are limited options but you can still figured out stuff with what we have there. Just set the dummy to duck and you will see what I am talking about.

As far as low hat goes just freaking block low. If he hits you with the overhead from 24 so what. His pressure goes away and now he has to work hella hard to try to get back in again. Its like this for both versions of the game.

Tom Brady and Reo why the hell are you guys rating Kung Lao so high on your tier lists?! Neither one of you are Kung Lao specialists or have indepth knowledge of his matchups like I do. Please just stop it. Kung Lao is not top tier in this game. He is high tier at best. I wouldn't even say he was top tier in the last patch either but well most people just panic when he gets close instead of realizing hes all smoke and mirrors. Intimidated by his speed smh when he really doesnt even have speed its just the dive kick.

And for the last time STOP MAKING TIER LISTS BASED AROUND HOW YOUR MAIN CHAR DOES AND WHAT CHARS YOU HAVE A HARD TIME AGAINST! Matchups vs Matchups is the way to go. Please adapt that formula thank you.

Also I am tired of people getting hella hype for Cyrax's shit. Are you kidding me 70% combos and resets which are kindergarten easy to do? Like man what the hell. Kabal's shit is hella easy mode too. Don't tell me instant air gas blast is hard to do. If you think it is I will show you at the next tournament how easy it is and how stupidly dumb Kabal is. Its like you guys just don't know how to come up with shit besides combos. Everyones fundamentals are shot, but I guess I can't really expect much from a online based community where you can't develop fundamentals because online you can't even anti air properly.

Reptile is also hella easy to use like come the hell on man really? There should be 10x's more reptile and cyrax players in this country.

Don't let me get started on kitana. Yea you can crouch her shit and shes "kind of free" on wake up. But what is really going to stop this bitch from running away forever and throwing instant air fans.

Another annoying topic. Will you guys stop blowing up casual matches online and offline. Casuals are what they are casuals. Do you really think people are playing as serious in casual matches as they are in tournament? That is asinine. Its understandable you all feel like you have a great deal to prove which is good I respect the hunger but unfortunately it doesn't mean shit unless it is in tournament or a high stakes money match for a set amount of matches. Until then cut the crap on the casuals. Yea arturo got double flawlessed in casuals right before the tournament but then he raped that guy in the tournament. Anything can happen in one game and especially in casuals where people don't care. Trust me I had to go through the same shit a bunch of years back so don't make it seem like I am trying to have some elitist attitude that is just how it is. The game is different offline and in a tournament atmosphere. Just trying to make sure you guys are prepared so you can perform.

Casuals are for finding out new strats or just testing the waters. No one cares about your casual wins. I know however there are some players who keep count on every single casual match they have ever played someone knowing the counts from years ago like for no reason. MK players if you guys want to be taken seriously you need to drop this attitude like yesterday.

Also cut the crap with the online shit seriously. Like seriously what is this 6 years ago? You online warriors with your Neo in the matrix power ups need to get a reality check.

In a offline tournament the atmosphere is different. Both you and your opponent move at the same time, both of you can actually punish everything that is punishable and etc etc. You can't have the edge because you are used to playing underwater and other people aren't. Also tournament is 2/3 until grand finals which is usually 3/5 or sometimes 4/7. You don't have a million games so you better come with a solid game plan or you won't be going too far.

Updates!

Its been a long time....I shouldn't have left you....without a new entry to inform you (aaliyah - try again pun)

Whats up everyone? IT DOESNT MATTER WHATS UP!?!?!?! lol jp

Anyways a few quick updates with myself.

Been in the lab with MK trying to find out a new more solid way to play the game and also trying to get better in MVC3 and Tekken since I feel like I am weaker in those games than in MK9/SF4. While of course also staying solid in the games I am strong in.

SF, MK and MVC are all getting updates very soon. Any day now for MK, UMVC3 will be out in november and SF4 2012 should be out before christmas according to Ono.

Trying to decide on who to main in SF because well Akuma doesn't fit my playstyle or way of thinking. In MVC3 I think I will just use the Magneto, Wolverine, Akuma team since when I did play it a lot that is the team I have had the most success with.

Mortal Kombat is a different beast for me right now. Everyone is awaiting the nerfs and buffs of characters especially for Kung Lao who is supposed to get nerfed the most but we will see. I think the low hat nerf won't be as big because it isn't really needed to win just something extra. It doesn't take away from Kung Lao's core gameplay strategy in my opinion. 

Anyway I will be starting up a youtube series very soon here partnering up with machinima once I have my capture equipment up and running properly. I hope you all tune in and see what I have in store for you all.

I will be doing tutorial videos, combo videos but only combos that work in practical tournament situations. Of course I will be going over strategies and how to get better at whatever fighting game you are trying to become good in. Even with no one to play in your area.

That is it for now. Until next time...

On Blast: Mortal Kombat Match ups - Kabal

Fighting Kabal


I keep seeing hella people falling victim to Kabal tactics because they aren't in the know so I am here to save you all the headache and let you know what you need to know on how to fight the burnt masked man.


No! Do not do this! : Jump at him cause you will get hit by a air fb and get spinned.

Yes! Do this!: Dash block stay in range where he can just randomly dash and force mind games. The closer you are the harder it is for him.

- Make him burn meter so he can't EX dash you. Also f+3,1 is no longer a block infinite you can jump out of hit him out of whatever he tries to do. He is actually 0 or -1 on block after the cancel all he can do is follow up with a special or not cancel. If he does that well you are knocked down and out of the mixup. If you block any projectile upclose besides his air one he is punishable on block.

- Punish his Dash!!!! I swear I see everyone block it and not punish it like what the hell man.

- Also his qcb 2 or his sword move is a overhead. The saw is low. He can't hit you with air fbs if you just crouch. What that will force him to do is dash and cancel his dash into his swords which is safe btw but if you screw up his spacing it is harder for him. Which is why the key to fighting kabal is staying next to him and on the ground. Don't jump unless you are in a position where he can fb you.

PS: Shout outs to michaelangelo =D

My thoughts on fighting against Kasumi

Notation:
       Up
      123
Left 456 Right
      789
     Down

Punch = P
Kick = K
Free = F


vs Kasumi
You want to avoid an upclose game at all costs. She is too fast and will put you in a deep critical stun very quickly which you want to avoid. One stun can be the entire round and I stress when I say one stun. What you want to do is keep kasumi at a middle distance where all she can really do is 6p or 6k to try and get in. Everything else is too slow or risky. The biggest issue right here will be 6k which stuns and on counter hit gives a ground bounce for a juggle.

In this distance your best options are safe pokes that keep her at bay like crouch jab or a 3k which usually has a lot of range and is quick for most chars or 3p if you are say Ayane. Can also use long ranged highs as well because Kasumi's jab while being fast has no range. 6p will counter hit some moves so be careful however because of the distance she has to follow up with a string she can't really extend the stun since she will be so far away.

What you will also want to do is guess counter 6k. I recommend waiting for any subtle movements and then hold. This of course will deal a lot of damage depending on the character you have. Chars with good jumping mid kick holds are Gen Fu, Hayate and Kokoro for example. As long as you keep Kasumi out you will win.

Remember if she gets in then starts all her ridiculous deep critical stun string pressure into okizeme nonsense you will most likely lose because it is a problem trying to keep Kasumi off of you when she gets in. With a launching 6f+p and a crouching grab too that leads to juggles and her ridiculous on the ground game you might want to lay off trying to hold and take the critical combo because you basically give her bonus damage. Also don't forget about her teleport parry. Try not to get too predictable with your attacks or she will bust this out on you. Also be weary of using low and mid kicks for she has a really good low and mid kick hold.

If you want me to post more thoughts on how I approach match ups leave a comment, and tell me which character you would want. The character with the highest amount of requests I will do.

I hate snow! I missed out on a once in a life time trip to Japan =\

Where do I start man.....really bummed out. Past few days including today and future days I will be feeling pretty down about this. The worst part is I had no control over what went on. Who knew that a blizzard would come in and stunt my trip to Japan for the DOA:Dimensions location test? Not only that but I was going to meet Tecmo-Japan, Team Ninja and Hayashi the new head of Team Ninja.

Being able to go out to eat with them and give them my thoughts on my out look of DOA and what I think they could do to improve it. On top of that play the newest DOA game and play it against Japan's best again but in a new game. Ugh this sucks. I know it will get worst the more I hear news about the game cause I should have been there. I keep trying to tell myself there will be other chances to go but I really don't know. Oh well I will just continue on with my own goals there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I was really looking forward to this trip. I had went and paid $200 for an emergency passport and everything and didn't even get to use it =\. I hate snow. Everyone who lives in my city talks about moving out. Well I finally feel like that. I hate this place now.

On the bright side of things..........................................................Yea

My birthday is next week on the 10th pretty whatever I end up doing on my birthday couldn't replace how much fun I would've had in Japan. I even was going to hit up Safari arcade and play some SSF4AE. Ugh this is hella lame. Oh well I will try to make my bday fun regardless of this nonsense. 

After my birthday MVC3 comes out yay. Other than that nothing to look forward to till March and April....

Sorry for the overly emo post. Just finally got to express how I feel. I tried to ignore it but everything just hit me.

How to Play Dead or Alive: Dealing with the Defensive Hold

Dealing with the Defensive Hold







There are two types of situations in the game where Defensive Holds aka Counters/Reversals show up in the game. This is inside Critical and outside of Critical. Outside of critical is pretty much when you or your opponent are able to move around freely and attack one another. Inside critical is basically when one of you has become staggered by an attack and this is when you are trying to break free of the stagger so you can fight again, and at the same time your opponent is trying to hit you with more attacks to deal damage or set you up for more damage either with a launcher, knockdown, knockback or bait you into a throw for even more damage.






I hope this helps some of you players understand more so how Defensive Holds work because a lot of people tell me how they dislike the hold and the primary reason is because they don't know how to properly deal with it.



Outside of Critical:
To avoid getting countered you have to properly mix up the way you attack and not rely on the same hit level and formula of attacking. Also try to use attacks that are harder to react to while of course throwing in attacks they are a little bit slower to throw off your opponents timing. Also it is a lot easier to get countered low or high because there isn't a mix up between punches or kicks like their is for middle attacks. Middle attacks are really good to use for poking. Use lows and highs when you see your opponent is trying to hold you mid to throw them off and discourage them from trying to hold you. You can also mix in throws.

Inside of Critical:
Inside critical holds deal less damage so you can take advantage of this. You want to make sure you are mixing up your launchers and or knock down attacks if your character doesn't have a launcher to cover a specific hit level. For example Kasumi has a high kick, a mid punch and a mid kick launcher and she also has lows that knockdown as well.

The opponent only has a 25% chance of choosing the correct counter and of course they can "try" to react but it is hard. The more options you character has of course the better and then they still have to worry about reacting too fast and then getting thrown. On top of that you can option select their hold with a regular standing grab and a crouch grab and then follow up with an attack, a throw or a offensive hold.

Attack will counter hit their attack if they happen to try to slow escape out of the critical stagger, but the attack can still get countered of course. The throw will catch them if they decided to slow escape and then block or slow escape and then counter. The offensive hold will pretty much cover all bases but it works like a throw as far as whether they are ducking or standing, but the offensive hold will catch their attacks, grab them out of their guard and grab their holds. It will lose to throws though, but if someone is slow escaping into a grab they are really being risky lol.


The next entry will cover dealing with the start of the round.

Learning fighting games

The important part to learning a fighting game is figuring out all of the attack and defensive options in a game.

For example take a game such as Tekken.

Ways to attack are high, mid, low and throw.

Ways to defend are guard high, low, sidestep, 8 way, back dash, reversal, parry.

Attacks all have different properties such as their advantage or disadvantage on guard/hit.
Does the attack launch, knockdown, wall splat, slam down, cause a stagger?

And then you have ways to counter your opponents defensive option.

Opponent guarding high? Hit them low
Opponent guarding low? Hit them middle
Opponent sidestepping or 8 waying? Use a tracking or homing attack
Opponent backdashing a lot? Use an attack that has long range or get near them via dashing or running.
Opponent using Reversals or Parries? Use a knee/elbow/head attack because those can't be parried.
Opponent using certain attacks in a range to keep you out? Move in and out of that range to cause a whiff then punish.

Fighting games are all about finding the option to stop your opponents option.

When it comes to determining which characters are top tier its all about seeing which character makes the most out of choosing the correct options.

For example Bryan. Great keep out game with 3+4, good lows, tracking attacks, whiff punishment, wall game, combo damage, single hit damage, pokes, mids. He has everything. His only downside is that his punishment when guarding attacks that don't have a lot of disadvantage for their risks such as a hop kick is only like a 1,4 which isn't much it gives advantage but its not as juicy as a knockdown punisher. That is just an example, but that is minor compared to the rest of his tools that he possesses.

Excited for DOA Dimensions being on Nintendo 3DS

I will admit that I was a bit bummed when I first found out the newest DOA game would be on handheld for obvious reasons its not on console lol so I thought it may not be as good as previous games, but up until now I realized why it will be a great thing!


There are a bunch of things that tournament goers and hosts will no longer ever have to worry about.

1. Needing x amount of setups.

We all know running a tournament is hard but getting all the proper equipment and setups is an even bigger hassle. Especially having television sets not only television sets but the proper ones. There have been a lot of tournaments in the past where we have had to deal with slow latency on monitors, but with Nintendo 3DS that will be no more! Everyone will be using the same setup regardless and its cost effective so running an event won't be so much money out of each others pockets!

2. Being able to play anywhere whenever you want to.

I know I hate it when I am travelling to a tournament and I can't do anything but listen to a MP3 player or play a different game on a handheld system, but now we are able to practice on what we are playing on! The possibilities are endless.

3. The DPAD

I personally dislike Microsofts Xbox 360 DPad and I am wish I didn't have to play on arcade stick for certain games such as Street Fighter. I would definitely still be playing on a pad if it wasn't a 6-8 button game but whatever. DOA has always really been a 3 button game and you can add with p+k, or f+k but usually can just press those all with one thumb. Anyway Nintendo has always been good with making proper DPads especially the SNES pad so I am looking forward to playing on it. Also N3DS has 6 buttons X Y A B and L n R.

4. I know everyones biggest gripe is that we can't play it on console (mainly a big TV) but Nintendo has an adapter that you can plug into the regular Nintendo DS that hooks into a TV so you can play games through your TV. Now I know that DOAD won't look as good on a regular TV but if you have a 3D tv then maybe we might get the same effects? Not sure we will have to test it out. This will also work well for streaming too so it covers all bases.


Now last but not least
5. Really good internet latency because Nintendo's netcode is really really solid. I know people who have played Tetris with players from Japan and experienced very minimal lag, so this will be great for our game. Seems like Team Ninja is always ahead of everyone else with or without Itagaki. Honestly I personally am a big fan of Hayashi especially learning that he had a lot to do with DOA3's development.

Oh by the way guys for people who are talking about the health bars. They were like that in DOA2 for the stun threshold. I think it was like that in DOA3 as well I can't remember.

DEAD OR ALIVE DIMENSIONS!!!

I am stupid hype for this game! I don't care if its on Nintendo3DS this game looks freaking good!

It seems like they have put in every stage from all the past DOA games from DOA2-DOA4 and put in some new stages as well like that boat stage.

Raidou looks freaking mean! Finally I get the super evil type character, but when I saw Jann Lee I got really hype. I can't wait to play this game. I hope N3ds can connect to a tv so we can play it in tournaments cause that would be great!

Can't wait and since Hayashi is the head of development now (he had a lot to do with how DOA3 was made) that guarantees the game will be great.

Evo Online/Future Events training

Been practicing really hard trying to figure out whats the best way to approach this game. Whenever I get into a unfamiliar engine I need a little help, but who doesn't when they are starting out?

Pretty good guy and great player Air from Canada is helping me a great deal. Him being a ryu player and having loads of experience over in Japan playing with the best of the best is perfect for helping me out.

We played a lot today and with a Sim player named Mar who has a really good Sim. Learning both the Ryu and Sim match ups in greater detail than ever before.

The Do's and Don'ts that I have learned so far are:

1. When zoning its better to neutral jump over fireballs then shoot a fireball instead of neutral jump then air fireball because people can just walk up and punish me.

2. After neutral jumping over a fireball the opponent has 3 options, Jump-in, walk forward then do a normal or throw, throw another fireball. The 3 counters to that are Anti Air > Jump-in, Stick out your own normal > walk forward, Throw a fireball > them throwing another fireball. Of course Jump-in > Fireball. Okay I guess that is 4 options but you see what I am saying.

3. Proper use of your normals. Frame traps used to bait a whiff, apply a strike throw mix up, and also set up a counter hit. Baiting a whiff loses to doing a move that has enough range it won't whiff, Strike/throw mix up loses to late tech or reversal depending on the timing, counter hit set ups lose to block and reversal which is also another version of strike throw mix up and it also loses to whiff baiting.

My bad habits I had to break to even be able to compete with him was to stop using sweep as my primary normal choice. Its a bad habit I think cause on stick I dunno I just hit it for whatever reason lol. On pad medium kick is right there and convenient for me to press that's why I use it more, but I am pretty sure I have just broke the habit on stick.

Also my Anti Air in my opinion (and his opinion) wasn't as good because I guess I wasn't sure of the situation where the opponent would jump at me which is basically in the max range where fireball is punishable by a jump in. Once I realized that anti airing became so much easier for me.

I am also starting to realize how sparingly you should throw fireballs in certain ranges because they will get punished. Also for whatever reason I seem to either have a 6th sense for knowing a fireball is coming or I can see their start up frames pretty well on reaction now, but then again I would just be in that range and be looking for a fireball so its more so and educated reaction than a raw reaction.


That's it for right now. I can't wait to get back to it tomorrow. One more day until Evolution Online. I want that all expense paid trip to Evolution 2011 because going to Vegas is expensive and I rather just have money for food, chill and money matches this time around.

Seasons Beatings

Its been about two months since I last updated my blog. I will try not to wait this long again.

Well learned a lot of interesting stuff. First off I did terribad (I know I made up a word....U MAD?!) this time. Lost to Bison and Rose.

Bison is really good vs shoto and Rose is as well. I hate her U2 it stops me from being able to pressure her on wake up giving players easy get out of jail free cards.

Alright so when super was released everyone told me I was dumb for thinking Akuma loses to Viper/Dictator/Boxer in this game. Well I talked to Momochi and omg guess what? He agrees with 100% of the matchups I said Akuma loses in (not just viper/bison/boxer) either. He told me whenever he uses Gouki in this game he always loses to Viper and same for Dictator he just can't beat them, so if that man can't do it and Tokido can't either. Neither can I. He likes Ken vs viper though lol, but not dictator.

I also asked him who he thinks the top 5 best characters are at this present time. Immediately he answers Shotos with hella confidence. Also added Chun Li and Boxer for the simple fact all of them while they may have hard match ups somewhere. Across the board they win a vast majority of their matchups. Honda and Dahlsim are really good but they also have really bad matchups. This is what he said.

I asked Daigo something similar (moreso who he believes the #1 character is now since EVO) he said Gouki then when I looked at him with a funny face he said Honda then said Gouki again lol. Honda has bad matchups (like sagat, chun, sim etc) but he can win them still. Especially when he benefits from single attacks that just pretty much make you say "wtf happened to my bar?".

Alright let me talk about seasons beatings. The event was super good. Seriously there is no reason to go to EVO for me anymore. Columbus, Ohio is a 2 hour drive away from me. Momo2 KTV's venue is the best venue to hold a tournament with all the food and the surrounding area as well. I haven't been to a tournament more hype/fun/exciting than Seasons Beatings in a very long time or maybe ever. At evo you have to deal with  1mil people in a pool and the people who run them take too long and don't want to DQ people. Theres really nothing to do during down time of matches either besides sit around and wait. EVO still has its prestige but with Seasons Beatings being after it I think its more important now to make.

Really good stuff to Godlike Productions for delivering on everything and more. Good shit to Team Spooky for providing a great stream for everyone.

Gripe with Tournaments, Streams etc

The way tournaments have been ran in the past have been to compensate the players who are actually at the event.

I will just dive into what I am going to say instead of giving sarcastic statements and what not. This is more of a rant blog than it is an informative blog, but maybe it will give some on the outside a look on the inside of how tournaments are at least how they are in this day and age.

Alright so pretty much at every event there is SF4 then a bunch of side games. Now SF4 is obviously the main attraction due to the turnout of players. Well in this day and age we stream nearly every semi big to big event. Which is cool for the viewers at home and what not but honestly this doesn't do anything but cause the tournament to lag behind and make what could be a quick well ran event to a slow draining event. Honestly its becoming rather tedious.

Its ridiculous when you have what say 5 different games. When SSF4 gets to top 8 you decide to hold up the entire tournament for the rest of the games that the streamers could care less about just to wait to show them SSF4 at the end. While the players who are there probably aren't at their best state right now as far as physical fatigue and mental toughness and also rather go home because its usually about 1 AM. Now I am not saying cater to the streamers either however if you are specifically running a stream so people view then you might as well only show the game the vast majority is tuning in to watch. I mean if you go to the bar to watch a basketball game you don't sit through a baseball game first right? You show up only to see basketball.

I am pretty sure when a streams pops up for a tournament (minus evo) people aren't like OMG I CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH GENERIC FIGHTER 5 =\.

Anyway I feel like these events could be ran a lot smoother and faster without streaming or at least where we don't hold up the entire tournament to wait for other games to get played first and then back to SSF4.

I think which ever game gets to its top 8 first they should just go ahead and finish up their game seriously. Let everything just go at a steady pace instead of stopping everything.

Also top 8 isn't even a big deal anymore simply because only top 3 gets paid. You don't get diddly squat for being in top 8. The top 3 spots (the ones getting paid) should be the only matches streamed. A full top 8 being streamed is like 30 minutes to a hour of game play. I guess thats fine if you know we were all getting paid aka streamers paying to watch or what not but that is definitely not the case. Its cool to build up a fan base and all but not at the price of the players suffering.

Lol I have to laugh cause this doesn't help that not only do I not enjoy playing SSF4 but I don't enjoy the tournaments either. They take far too long. I would definitely have the same complaints if it were a game I enjoyed playing but it amplifies it even more of it being a chore.

By the way I am not going to go on a tangent of what I dislike about SSF4 but I will just highlight everything here.

- Game is too based around matchups instead of who is the better player as far as working the mechanics the best in the game.
- I was never a fan of reversals that are safe and lead to good damage. I think there should be risk for your reward. (bison ex psycho, honda's ex headbutt, any reversals to fadc to become safe)
- Too many invincibility frames on attacks. I really think they need to revert back to 3s as far as that goes.

In DOA shit even in Tekken if you do something that is like a reversal (well in 3D games a reversal is a crush attack) if you did a crush. If that shit gets blocked you get punished, or if that shit whiffs you die.

Also its a lot more complicated to apply a crush than it is to just hit a reversal in 2D cause in 2D reversals beat everything. in 3D no sir you better do a high or low crush depending on the attack. And mids stop all that shit anyway.
Can't make it safe in 3D. Only thing you can make safe are attacks with a lot of range and active frames and they have to be spaced properly.

Anyway like I said in the Fighters Fury interview. I am tired of playing 2D games. MvC3 and MK9 might be good but we'll see. MK9 might rip off SF4 and cause me to gouge my eyes out. (ok not really but I will probably go outside and throw the disc at a tree like a ninja star)

Its nice to see Harada opting for some Soul Calibur 5. Hopefully they get rid of that Hilde shit. Whats funny is I don't like Soul Calibur all like that because its not combo heavy.

Oh well might end up even jumping into a different genre or just taking a break altogether cause I am getting bored fighters well 2D fighters.

No longer holding back

I think I am just going to speak my mind on this one.

I have come to a realization that I just really don't like playing SF4 at all. I guess kudos to it for "reviving" the fighting game scene, but I very much rather be playing something else. The only other thing is Tekken and BB but Tekken 6 is honestly really old so getting into it now is harder than ever especially with no competition and a shitty online mode (thank you Namco =\ ) and 3D games take way more time than 2D games to learn because of the amount of variety in the game. BB I might give it a show but who knows.

My biggest gripes with SF4 is how mash friendly it is. Mash out reversals. The so called "hard" combos can be simplified with shortcuts. Multiple characters who have a very straight forward not too much thinking involved game plan. Rufus, Bison, Abel etc then you have chars like Viper who doesn't really have to block with all of her escape options. Oh and I forgot to mention how safe all of these get out of jail free cards are.

I really really hate using an arcade stick. I hate carrying it around. Its nice to look at though but to me honestly that is about it. Its the biggest waste of money I have wasted in a while. Definitely will be selling all 3 of my sticks soon including the one that is dual modded.

Tired of tournaments running forever because the TO's want to make you wait once you get to winners finals for the losers bracket to finish just to play out winners, losers and grand finals in order instead of just having the winner finals play it out then finish up the losers bracket like whatever man. Tired of TO's being lazy and running tournaments on poor latency tv/monitors. Seriously do you not look up how and what you should run a tournament on? At least fucking change the resolution to 720p. This shit irks the hell out of me.

Also hella annoyed with switching systems every tournament. Either PS3 or X360 dude choose one seriously and Ps3 is crap so use Xbox360 k thnx.

I hate to say this but there is absolutely no reason for there to be "teams" in a fighting game genre this shit isn't a team effort. Fighting game = 1v1 not 2v2 or 3v3 or 4v4. Its really pointless only thing there should be is a coach or manager.

Moving on. People keep asking me am I looking forward to the new fighting games next year and I keep giving (I could careless answers or it will be the same as any other fighter and no I am not hyped) I will give a straight up answer:

The only game that I am looking forward to that is supposed to be releasing next year is Mortal Kombat.

Yes this means I could careless about MVC3 even if Magneto is in it, I could give a shit about Tekken vs SF and vice versa. The only games I am looking forward to right now are MK or a new DOA game which hasn't even been show yet. Other than that I am looking forward to Devil's Third the game being produced by Itagaki's new company.

Anyway I am thinking about taking a break from competing for a while I can't really find any real motivation. Like there isn't a player I just hate seeing win. I don't feel like there is anything to prove, I also don't like the game(s) so that is a big factor as well.

Pre Evolution 2010 blog

Thought I would give an update before I get on my flight later tonight.

First want to say good luck to everyone and hope we put on a good show for G4. The main goal should be for sponsors and other big name companies to take notice. Because we the fighting game community is something worth investing into for now and the future.

I feel like I am a bit of a underdog going into this which I am pretty excited about because its been a while. I feel really confident going into this, coming up short isn't an option but if it happens well then it happens. Not promising anything just going to do my best. This will also be the first tournament I will not switch off of the character I will be using in tournament so that means in SF and Tekken it will be all Akuma/Devil Jin. I know I have been known to change throughout a variety of characters, but I am going to stick to what I know the best and what I feel I am the best with. Especially since in SF4 4-6 match isn't all that bad and is very winnable just have to play it properly.

Everyone in my pool is panicking because of Nin being in our pool for Tekken, but I am just like whatever since I was able to play with him a lot in Columbus so I feel very familiar with how to fight Steve. Hopefully I can get some casuals in for Tekken because I lack any worthwhile competition here to play with for me to keep playing with people. Also not much a variety of characters either.

Anyway so I arrive into Las Vegas at 7:35 AM. Unfortunately the people I am rooming with won't be in town until about 3 pm so I will be waiting about 9 hours till they get in, so in the mean time going to be looking for people to play with and get some good practice in.

It will also be really great seeing all the friends I have made over the years in the gaming community. Its been a while since I have been to an Evolution tournament. My goal this year will be to get a golden arcade stick. My goal the last time I went was to be on the Evolution trailer hitting someone with a cool ass combo and that happened :). Hopefully I can pull it off again this year.