To Hadoken, or not to hadoken?: Street Fighter 4 Ads and Tips

With the hype of Street Fighter 4 blooming into the sense of multiple orgasm for males, it was a bit surprising to see how late the promotional advertisements were coming along. Perhaps in the US, the ads should be released 1 week before it's official release. In Asia however, I don't see any promotional marketing going on except for an upcoming tournament that will be held in Cineleisure on 28th February. But, going back to the advertisement, would it be great to ask yourself this question.

To hadoken, or not to hadoken?

I'm not saying that it's lame. But, it somehow wants to bring back the older days of the times where people never stopped dunking in coins into machines in arcades or even colleges. Besides, our younger parts have all been doing that (And I still am doing so playing SF2 CE) yet it does mark as something new too.

This is definitely the return of the beatdown.

So, as far as lame (read: Yes it is.) and late marketing comes by, you can spot these commercial at your gamespot.com or even 1up.com sometimes. IGN's review is a great show of how this one might be possible to takeover Street Fighter 2 and Turbo's place in the greatest games of all time ranking.

And I might be able to help with some tips in the game (Note: I do not have the original on either consoles or played the arcade version. it is all gathered from reading too much.)

1. Combo is all about timing. Button mashing is not a combo. Though it may seem tough, you'd need a very big mental image in your head to understand which milisecond should you hit that button and continue that combo. Practice here makes perfect execution and glorious beatdowns.

2. Fighters can get tired in long streaks. This means that if you start a combo with chipping damage (like 3 times LP) chances are that you're next hit is weaker than what it should be. Start strong when the opportunity presents itself. The opportunity can only come by how aware you are. A slow but strong start can be better than chipping someone's life 20 times.

3. Charging is not difficult. If you've played Street Fighter 3 before, you can do charge partitioning/stocking. It means that before you do a combo you can charge (example, Guile's Sonic Boom) back in 2 seconds and then execute a combo. (Combo example, charge db, release, 3XLP then Front MP). The same is possibly done here, but you can also charge while hitting those 3 small punches and then straight for a Sonic Boom. Keep in mind that 2 seconds is enough.

4. Don't be afraid to get hit in Focus Attack. Focus Attack is extremely useful if you release it right on time when your opponent is coming. If they jump, you'd get damaged. But if you charge it in 3 seconds you can release an unblockable attack that gives you a very huge advantage to perform more combos. On the plus side, it heals back when the focus attack hits your opponent.

5. Try not to turtle. Turtling is basically waiting for the opponent to hit you while you block or practically spam the same thing (like a Hadoken) on and on again. When the advantage presents itself, you beat him up. Go aggressive when possible. Since I did say try not to turtle, mixing offense and defense can be very useful in any situation.

6. Be wary of throws. Throws are good mixes to drop someone off their feet and perhaps continue with a combo or just make him stay scared. When someone fights, balance is important. Not just physically, but mentally too. Thought your opponent is expecting an attack? Try giving him a little poke and come closer. Pressing LP+LK would throw him away and you can try and see how he would feel after that. On a defense note, be aware of any light moves being thrown out when you guard. Be quicker.

7. I revenge you my damage. The Revenge meter pulls off Ultra moves. The moves for each character is different and can be seen in their movelist. But there is a trick. When revenge is already half, you can start going for an Ultra move. The more the meter fills, the more damaging that move will be. the trade off is that you need to get hurt then only you will fill the meter. So, if pulling off an Ultra means so much, think again.

There are more tips and tricks you can find in the internet in the upcoming weeks, but these are mine so far. Credits to IGN and Sean Gilley for the tips and tricks.