Sagat? I see a million Ryus and half a million Kens.

I don't see enough Sagat. Except rawfish, who already knows what to do.

I haven't beaten rawfish since the marathon I think.

Sagat I guess is sort of a counterpick to Gief, I guess, I dunno that matchup well.

However, you choose Gief, I choose Balrog.

Or Cammy.

Or if I want to actually properly counterpick, Blanka.

You were just ragging on people complaining about turtling.

I shall now rag on you for ragging on counterpicking.

Barring any unforeseen problems, I'm coming tomorrow.

How long I stay will be dependant on my mood.

There's no requirement that you need to be good to take part.

If you're a noob, we can teach you the ropes.

Nice meeting everyone, particularly the newcomers Quist + Sam + DonDon, Kianweic + fujkesomething and all the rest.

Didn't even have time to introduce myself to everyone, like the new Sagat and Abel players.

Good games.

Winners:

1) Darkstalker (Balrog)
2) mikeeee (Ryu)

I forgot who got third and fourth placing. I know it's Kodanshi (Abel) and....someonewhosenameIforgotsorry (Blanka) but I forgot who got which place.

Don't think there were vids recorded.

It's Aiman.

Btw, the instant air cannon spike is done by going qcb, uf + K. If you use the EX one, it's just qcb, ub + KK (though you can use u or uf too).

___

For those that missed it, you guys should try to come for the next one. Alvin and I like to spam the dates of the gatherings so you can always just ask us if you're unsure.

Today's crowd was a bigger than usual. We got a LOT of newcomers, two of them making to the knockout stages, orange shirt (Sagat) and horizontal shirt (Abel) who are designated so because I ended up not talking to them besides asking if they wanted to change the controls, as they were from the Dark Side of Pad players.

We had LOTS of people just coming by to watch. We got the fans of the games all cheering and talking and socialising, and then we got those that just happened to be there watching because it seemed fun to them to watch.

If you didn't get it from before, it's actually very friendly, even if you ask the best of players. We discuss tips on how to beat each other and ourselves, cause it's all in the name of fun. Sure there's shit talking, but it's not personal. It just adds a bit of drama and becomes something to laugh at, especially if we cannot backup our shit talk.

If you want to get better, coming to one of these gatherings cum tourneys is one of the best ways. We're not shy of sharing info and tips or techniques.
Thanks goes to jaylike for dropping by to play a casual match and ask for tips even though he was busy.

Hope you gets to go to the next one.

This post has been edited by Darkstalker: Aug 3 2009, 12:14 AM

I doubt hanz0 went.

Mostly because he lives in Sabah.

MY BALROG SECRETS ARE TOO GREAT FOR YOUR PUNY MINDS, BOTH OF YOU

Actually, the easiest way to learn is to just play me.

Hmm...basic things to know:
- Don't spam LP Dash Punch. I know it looks really safe, but don't do it anyway.
- d+HP is your anti air, you can sometimes use ub+HP too.
- If you have a bit of space and the opponent jumps in (or up or whatever), you can use EX Upper to go hit them
- d+HK is the greatest poke in the game. Ridiculously fast, high priority, and safe. Use it well.
- Learn cLP, cLK > special as soon as possible and learn to react to it hitting.
- cMP > Headbutt > Ultra is a relatively easy way to punish anything the opponent does that is too open.
- Learn to tick throw (make them block, then throw). Balrog has fast walking speed, so he can make use of it. Most of us are used to looking out for it already, but there are ways to mix it up which are hard to explain without playing for yourself.

Finally, the best tip of all that applies to everyone with every character....

- Learn to block.

I just wanna share more thoughts on what happened yesterday.

For one thing, we got to see the progress of lots of players, particularly those that weren't so strong last time.

Case in point, Alvin did well yesterday. He may have won only one match but his skill and ability to read situations has vastly improved as opposed to when I first met him. A pity he kept messing up the tougher Sakura reset combos, I've been hit by them and they are tough to get out of.

Same to Carl (Alvin's brother), who has always been very consistent with combos and almost made it to the knockouts but unfortunately lost in the playoffs. I also like that he seems to be taking more chances and showing improved strategies too.

Yao Han too improved, whom I've only met the gathering before yesterday. He used to be spamming cHK as Guile a lot and kept getting punished for it and yesterday he was much more conservative and used it sparingly.

Everyone else brought their A-game to the gathering too. Definitely one of the tougher times yesterday. But that's okay. I like socialising, and I like competition. These gatherings and tournaments are perfect as opposed to say, a cybercafe which tends to be more isolated and somehow is filled with people that take games to seriously (no offence, I'm just speaking on the darker side of ccs that I have seen).

Special thanks goes to rawfish for always looking out for the rest of us with his technical expertise with sticks and offering parts when he has them, and Alan of course for always organising these events for us to take part in.

___

Alan, if you need help for the next event, just gimme a call or SMS or something and if I'm free I'll go over early and help out.

As for date, not sure. Puasa month starting soon so any date you pick I'll be fasting, so I can only eat at night.

However, I would like to request to NOT make it the 5th/6th of September. My birthday's on the 7th so I'd rather celebrate it that weekend.

Just posting to try and make Alvin's question clearer.

I think what he's asking is, is Sony the only one to have the rights to organising a SF event (a proper, big one) due to the equipment used in the tournament being Sony PS3s and if other companies can be used as sponsors instead?

The problem would be the use of Sony products I think. If they own the right (or whatever you call it) to hold and withhold the use of their products in events, then at the very least you would need their approval I think

Note that this is just my assumption from past dealings with sponsors and stuff. I don't know how it really is like.

No problem man.

If it's a non-disclosure agreement or something of the sort, then it's better left unsaid.

Like I said, I don't know, I'm just theorizing.

Alan, nice to see talk of the approval process for the SF tourney. No wonder it was so last minute, and I assume the marathon and the Mine's event went through a similar problem.

____

Speaking of never giving up, remember that even with 1 pixel life, no meter and no Ultra against someone with full life and meter, you have not lost yet. I feel that a lot of players trying to step up their game choke sometimes when there's a big life difference.

The format has many parallels to tennis. You can be down 0-5 in a two-set match, but it is only when you lose 0-6 that you are actually halfway losing. Otherwise, you can always comeback 7-5 later on.

Same in SF4 (and other games following a round format like it). You may be on the brink of death with almost no hope, but until you lose the round you're not actually in a "losing" position yet.

MAKE IT STRAIGHT

GO FOR BROKE

FIGHT

For Boxer, he can also Dash Punch on block, or hit.

It's really an uphill battle for BLanka.

^ Gief can do one thing, kara-EX Green Hand.

Block, then when you recover immediately HK to EX Green Hand (cannot see HK).

You will be able to catch Blanka juuuust before he lands.

Timing is hard though, and since you kara from a normal attack, you cannot see the Reversal sign.

No, you don't see the animation at all.

Easiest way to see it is just do it by itself first.

Go training mode.

Put your back to the wall and do regular EX Green Hand. Should stop just short of a line (the floor lines).

If you get the kara Green Hand, you will be over or slightly ahead of the line, I forget.

I used to do it (when I played Gief months ago) by going from back (blocking position), forward, down, down-forward, forward + HK and quickly press 2P.

A kara-anything is using two moves together, but you cannot see.

The easiest example is Ken's kara throw. This move combines Ken's f+MK and his throw (LP + LK).

You do the f + MK, then do the throw so fast, it looks like Ken teleports forward a bit and then throws.

You cannot see the kick.

The point of using kara-anything is to position yourself better.

So in the Zangief example earlier, the kara-EX Green Hand uses the step forward part of his HK to give a bit of extra distance to EX Green Hand.

____

onikari,

Nice meeting you man. I saw that you were from the DARK SIDE, any plans on converting to a stick soon or do you just want to be on pads?

Had fun facing you. The other Abel was BigMac (aka Kodanshi here on LYN).

...I have a hard time fighting Abel. BOO ABEL.

Curses.

I forgot you used pad.

Cause I would've continued the joke that...there are only TWO sith at any one time.

Just come for the PS3 tournament man.

I'm a PC gamer right now.

Try plug into PS3 and see if it works.

There's a recent story where a 360 accessory didn't work on a 360 but it worked on a PS3 for some reason.