Street Fighter IV

[Twilo]

Indeed, someone has been spotted logged onto XBox Live "currently playing Marvel Vs Capcom 2".

Looking forward to this

[Twilo]

Let us know how it works out on the PS3. Is there any reason not to get this stick?

Quality confirmed, mission is a go.

Only annoying thing is the "Turbo" which it could do without. Just make sure you don't press it.

[nakedsushi]

Now that I've been playing for a week, the analog stick on the 360 isn't too bad. It's still tricky playing charge players, but I'm glad I didn't go looking all over the place for a gamepad now.

[Nevsky]

Now that I've been playing for a week, the analog stick on the 360 isn't too bad. It's still tricky playing charge players, but I'm glad I didn't go looking all over the place for a gamepad now.

I agree. The only real problem I have with the 360 controller set up is how awkward using the triggers is. Doesn't have that stab-immediacy of a proper button.

I don't think having a pad/super-duper arcade stick would improve my game that noticeably, as my timing isn't good enough for the more hardcore techniques anyway!

[Vorlonesque]

I had a button to die in my 5 or 6 year old X-Arcade stick...so I ordered some Happ concave buttons and an IL competetion stick with cherry switches (something I've been meaning to do)...though I may replace the comp stick with a super stick...I'm torn on that (I heard that SF2 had an ultimate stick...which is supposed to be kinda crappy (though I don't remember it being that way) and I think NeoGeo cabs used super sticks (always liked the stuff on the old NeoGeo cabs)...and I'm big on using the shit I remember...and the comp stick is used on a lot of machines and seems like a good familiar choice). I toyed around with the idea of getting leaf switch buttons for a REALLY old school feel...but I talked myself out of that (maybe I'll build a stick for that purpose).

I'd add that I tested the PSX/PS2 adapter for the X-Arcade for lag and found that mine at least; is lagless. I haven't had a chance to test out my XB or GC adapter...but I use my PSX/PS2 adapter on both my 360 (via an XFPS360) and my PS3...and using the methods outlined on shoryuken's forums for testing lag, I'm ok on the PS3 and 360 front (I also tested out all my various PC adapters...and pretty much confirmed what I knew...that the old bulky 80s tech looking Radioshack adapters for playstation controllers are indeed badass, and that the Soyo adapter I have...well...isn't).

I'd also mention to anyone interested that retro-usb SNES adapters *should* work with the PS3...so if you want to use your old SNES controllers that way they should work (I've only ever tried my old NES controller with a couple of PS3 games...I should give my Super Famicom and SNES pads a try just for some nostalgia on the SF4 front). There are also some really great USB and Playstation2 versions of the old Sega Saturn controller that might be worth looking into (I have one of each and they are good stuff...I may buy another...you really don't want to see the mass of controllers sitting on my desk right now).

[NuclearMonster]

Sorry for filthying the SF4 thread with talk of SF2.

I'm trying to get this Hori "Fighting Stick PS" to work with SF2HD remix, I've mapped the buttons so they make sense, and they all appear to work fine. However, the stick part of the stick appears to not let me get fireballs reliably, or is it more likely that I'm terrible with a stick?

Oh and I'm using a cheap adapter to go from PS -> USB into my playstation tripple. So maybe that is what is f'd.

[MonkeyWrench]

Hard to say, adapters can cause a bit of lag, but it could be your kung-fu is weak.

On the subject of SF4. I've been getting increasingly frustrated with it just recently. I went through a phase of holding my own and now my win ratio is below 50%. On top of all the usual Ken and Ryu's I'm finding that more and more people are using Akuma as they're unlocking him and just completely spam you with fireballs.

Also what's with the lack of a lobby that allows multiple users? The whole "winner stays on" thing is fundamental to the coin-op experience, so it's strange they didn't include it, especially as it features in the HD remix. I'm not sure how big of a hit on network traffic it would cause having a room of 6 people watching match.

Edited March 8, 2009 by MonkeyWrench

[Nick]

I went through a phase of really liking Balrog (boxer) and whilst I could win matches against the CPU or friends, I won about 1 game in 30 online and lost every single one of my BPs

I don't know if it's just that I can't use charge characters very well or what, but online people just decimate me when I use Balrog.

For the stick, I found fireballs surprisingly harder at first but after a few days it wasn't an issue any more. I'd say it's likely not the stick and just make sure you're getting the motion right.

[n0wak]

On the subject of SF4. I've been getting increasingly frustrated with it just recently. I went through a phase of holding my own and now my win ratio is below 50%. On top of all the usual Ken and Ryu's I'm finding that more and more people are using Akuma as they're unlocking him and just completely spam you with fireballs.

Also what's with the lack of a lobby that allows multiple users? The whole "winner stays on" thing is fundamental to the coin-op experience, so it's strange they didn't include it, especially as it features in the HD remix. I'm not sure how big of a hit on network traffic it would cause having a room of 6 people watching match.

Yes, both of these things are stupid. I've said it before, but the online ranked mode is a clusterfuck. Here's how to do it fair and square:

1) let the system pick who you play against, not the player.

2) players pick characters blind

3) make it a best out of three out of three

4) after each fight, winner stays with their character, loser can change.

5) any disconnection gets automatically counted as a loss, battle points are still calculated (maybe with an extra penalty)

You'd think that on their third attempt (this is the third SF game on XBox Live), Capcom wouldn't make so many idiotic mistakes.

[n0wak]

Oh man. I've had the rarest of occurrences today: I played against Dahlsim in a ranked match!

On top of all the usual Ken and Ryu's I'm finding that more and more people are using Akuma as they're unlocking him and just completely spam you with fireballs.

Just played a bunch of matches online, all with Vega, and I encountered a few Akumas. The thing with Akuma is that most of the people online using him aren't very good with him. They tend to play hyper-defensively, chucking fireballs and air fireballs with impunity. With Vega, it's super easy to either jump over them or backflip out of the way. Was playing with one guy that was doing that and after fifteen seconds of it, without scoring a single hit, and a couple of taunts he got the message and started to attack. Not very well. I got perfect I was surprised to see the guy not disconnect.

I've definitely been improving my Vega though. Still get frustrated as fuck when I lose because I couldn't pull off a move (stupid charge moves, and zig-zaging ultra), but my annoy-the-fuck-out-of-the-opponent style is working well. I can hold my own against Ken and Ryus and Akumas, and fairly regularly defeat Abel and Zangief. Which, basically, accounts for about 90% of all ranked match characters

[MonkeyWrench]

In this Kotaku podcast with Seth Killian he mentions some of these things:

http://kotaku.com/5165282/kotaku-podcast-street-fighter-iv-with-seth-killian

The reason there's no blind select is because it's not the Japanese way (yeah lets not consider this game might actually sell more copies in the west eh?), he also skirts around the lobby question.

[Nick]

I finally beat all of Cammy's hard trials and got the icons and now I have to tell everyone!

[MonkeyWrench]

Nice work! I've hit a wall on most of the characters trials. It annoys me you can't skip levels, there's a whole host of combos and moves I'll never get to learn because of the timing of some bastard combo I can't master.

[n0wak]

I've been playing with the fight pad (no joystick here) and while I still have a hard time pulling off double fireball moves with regularity, and sometimes the side to side double charges, it's helped a lot. My Vega is that much better thanks to the pad. Of course, I can't still pull off a lot of the Hard Trial combos (finally managed to get a few at least -- but I hear you, being able to skip them would be great) but with Vega (and Blanka) they're not really needed.

Vega is fantastic against all the hadouken chuckers. I jump around, strike (often the double kick or fierce slash, couple of light/medium jabs) then backflip out. Most of the Kenryuakusagat players are annoying but not very good and I can consistently lure them into a Shoryuken which leaves them wide open for punishment. And when they stand back throwing fireballs I destroy them with the ultra. This was good enough to get me up to 1500 BP. I hope to get to 2000 in the next few days.

I've been having success with Vega against Zangief and Abel too. They can't do their grabs when you're constantly backflipping out of the way. It's annoying, but effective. On the other hand, I fought a really good Balrog today that completely destroyed me. Having seen a few Balrogs, I have to say he comes across as overpowered -- but I thought the same of Sagat until I learned to counter him better. I guess he's a rare enough character that it just throws me off. But damn, those punch-chains are brutal.

[MonkeyWrench]

I've watched a few top tier matches with players using Vega and he's absolutely lethal in the right hands. The characters are definitely a lot more equal than they have been in previous games.

Anyway, on search around to get tips on getting past some of the brickwall challenges I read something quite interesting that will help me no end - you can queue moves up out of order. One of Ken's challenges involves pulling off HK into Hadonken, but instead of doing HK QCF+P as you would expect, you can perform the QCF then press HK followed immediately P.

[n0wak]

I've pretty much given up on the Trials. There's a bunch of normal ones I can't do; and HARD? I've managed a few for Blanka, Vega, Sagat, but beyond those I don't have a chance in hell. The timing is insane and even if I could pull off one of these, what will it do? In a training environment it's one thing; in a competitive match with an aggressive opponent with network latency? Forget it. I'd be better off working on being consistent with the effective stuff and just playing smart rather than like some instant-reaction cyborg.

Which has been working for me well. I finally hit 2000BP yesterday and feel comfortable enough to take on anyone with my Vega. I still encounter the odd good player that destroys me (often with Balrog or Guile. Still learning to counter those. Fucking Balrog is sooo strong.) but overall I'm getting better.

Still playing this game more than anything else at this time.

[modeps]

I finally picked up Street Fighter IV last week and am loving it... except for some annoying problems.

First, to unlock all the characters, you need to play against Seth and beat him at least 24 times. Seth is the most cheesed computer AI opponent ever created. Even dropping down to Easy difficulty and setting 1 round wins, he's brutally difficult, specially when using a character you're not interested in playing or learning. Basically to beat Seth, you've got to learn to game the AI instead of be a better player. That is not what Street Fighter is about, and never has been. Cheese is cheese. (Before I hear "well you're just not good enough, I've got 40 ranked wins with a 68% win percentage using Honda at up around 1000BPs from when I started playing)

Second, matchmaking in general is broken. I took a video, embedded below the post, about a fairly common occurrence for me where I'll see opponents multiple times in the select screen but they are not even online. Furthermore, 9 times out of 10 when I try to play someone, it says that either the match is full, or just a general "can't play" message with no flavor text. I spend more time searching for a game than playing one. When I host, I never have anyone join. I've attempted to contact Capcom PR about it, and when their promised update would hit but even though they've been very forthcoming to me in the past, they have been silent on this particular question. (Before I hear "well, your network is screwed up..." I've checked all that, have an open NAT in Halo 3, and according to the network test for the 360, everything is fine)

Finally, I'm a stats whore and there seems to be a severe lack of statistical information regarding the game. Sure you've got your overall percentages, but I want win/loss percentages by player presented in a clear, concise manner.

In general, its a really awesome game, one that makes me feel the same way I felt while playing Street Fighter 2 on the SNES back in the early 90s while sitting next to my best friend who was a girl at the time who loved to be Chun-Li (and wanting to touch her boobs, but that's not related).

zMmeHQjoRI4

[Nick]

Basically to beat Seth, you've got to learn to game the AI instead of be a better player.

This is 100% true, however if it's really bugging you I'm pretty sure you can beat Seth on easiest difficulty by just using Roundhouse Kick over and over with all the characters.

As for the matchmaking, I find searching for a game a waste of time.

If I create my own game someone will usually join within 20 seconds. What I do now days though is set up my preferences for good connection and better ranked players and then play Arcade mode. Usually it will find a new challenger before I even get to round 1 "Fight".

[modeps]

This is 100% true, however if it's really bugging you I'm pretty sure you can beat Seth on easiest difficulty by just using Roundhouse Kick over and over with all the characters.

Roundhouse kick eh? I may have to try that.

[MonkeyWrench]

Looks like the championship mode is due next week:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sfiv-championship-mode-next-week

Still no lobby

[MonkeyWrench]

Anyone else tried the update? Whilst I like the championship mode stuff, the game now takes a lot longer to load on PS3. When you goto arcade mode and select your difficulty it almost looks like it has locked up.

[n0wak]

Haven't noticed any problems like that. Championship mode is... less of what I expected. At least they have blind character selection now. Suck on that Japan. And I thought the replay functionality would be built in to, you know, any match. Kind of annoying that only "championship" winners get saved. And still no shared lobby for multiple people

[Nick]

Yer it's nothing special, but it's kind of nice. PS3 really got screwed over on the replays with those irritating icons, when 360 lets you see the players button inputs.

I haven't had any problems with loading on my PS3 yet.

I've kind of got my fingers crossed that Capcom will improve on the game with updates and that this was just some stuff they couldn't get finished before release. I'm still playing this game a lot though and the update makes online play that little better. Ranked 1on1 matches are pretty redundant imo.

[MonkeyWrench]

Do you guys have it installed or are you running it off disk? Mine is installed.

Didn't realised the 360 version allows you to view the inputs, that's a pretty poor omission of the PS3 version. I think once I can get a fight pad for the 360 I'll move over to that version.

[Nick]

Yer I have it installed. It's just plain annoying when people online don't and you have to wait for them to load.

I don't have a 360 and I don't think that 1 single difference would be enough to make me play on another console, I'm interested in the PC version though.