So we got an Xbox for Xmas. We’ve been TV-less for about 9 years, so we had to get a TV too, so you can see we’re complete noobs in the Xbox world. It’s been going well, lots of zombies have died in Black Ops, we’re trying to work with Batman to sort out Arkham, and that Enzio dude seems to have some issues to work through as well.
But Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition is driving me mad. We’ve played the versions on handhelds, Iphone and Ipod, and no problems, but we cannot figure out how to use super combos and ultra combos. We wind up duking it out with normal moves, with our li’l super and ultra meters blazing away and full of flames and energy, but we can’t figure out how to make them unload onto the other player.
I’ve looked at internet sites but I seem to be missing something. Can you explain it in very very clear detail, like you are explaining it to your mother?
The basic special, your fireballs, dragon punches and the like. These are a short controller movement terminated by a punch or kick, typically something along the lines of a quarter-circle roll.
An “EX” special, performed by the same motions as basic specials, but with two punch or two kick buttons used simultaneously instead of one. This performs an amped-up version of the basic special attack, at the cost of of one segment of the blue Super charge gauge. Not all specials can be EX, but most can, and what the EX adds to the move can be just about anything: more damage, more speed, less vulnerability, the list is a mile long.
A “Super Combo”, performed by a double-motion (eg: two quarter-circle rolls in a row) terminated by a single punch or kick. These are canned maneuvers that will generally land multiple strong hits if the first connects, at the cost of the entire blue Super gauge. Supers universally have the ability to interrupt other specials early in the attack and thus tend to be offense-oriented with big weaknesses at the start, in keeping with how the Super gauge is charged up mainly by attacks you deal.
An “Ultra Combo”, performed by a double-motion ended by all three punches or all three kicks simultaneously. It requires at least half of the Ultra gauge to perform and will consume the entire thing, turning any excess into extra damage. The Ultra gauge is charged up by taking damage, and correspondingly, the Ultra moves tend to be defensive. Almost all of them have total or limited invulnerability when they begin, making them very potent counterattacks.
The moves vary from character to character, but the game has a move list available from the pause menu, so that’s convenient at least. All characters three basic special attacks: a throw done by light punch and light kick simultaneously, a focus attack with both mediums, and a taunt with both heavies.
Most characters have a common theme to their moves. Ryu, for example, does a fireball by rolling from down to forward with a punch, an EX fireball with a roll + two punches, a Super fireball with two rolls and a punch, and an Ultra fireball with two rolls + three punches. Possibly overkill, but SF4 is nothing if not traditional.
There is, naturally, more to it. The Focus Attack by itself has a wide array of different uses. SF4’s metagame rabbit hole is as deep as you want to it to go.
It must be the quarter roll that I don’t have right. It should be down- and roll over to the side I’m attacking, then mash the punch button, correct? And yet there I am, crouching like an idiot and then punching, my revenge meter ablazing.
Each ultra motion is different, but most of them involve a double quarter circle forwards motion (usually abbreviated to “qcf”).
Assuming that you are using Ryu, and facing right (the 1player side), his ultra 1 (the fireball), you need to do this:
down, down right, right, down, down right, right, all three punches. (with more than 50% ultra bar)
Usually, this is noted as
qcf, qcf + PPP.
If you can do his normal fireball (the HADOKEN!) that’s qcf + P. Just do two hadoken motions really quickly, and then hit all three punch buttons.
If you’re having trouble, you might want to practice in the training mode for a while. You can turn on the input display, so you can tell if you’re screwing up on the inputs (most of the time, this means not getting the full motion, either missing out on a “down” or “right” command), or if you’re simply doing it too slow (only practice will help you with that!)
Good luck! And I hope you get technically proficient enough to really enjoy the mind games!
If you’re still crouching when you get to the punch, then you’re doing it too early - a forward+punch input would result in a standing attack. SF4 is pretty lenient in recognizing a special attack command. For example, another common input is Forward -> Down -> Down/Foward (the shoryuken!) and the game will recognize that if you simply tap Down/Foward twice.
I’ll second the training mode input display. The game will show you exactly what you’re telling it to do, so you can see which component you’re leaving out. If everything shows up in the proper order, then you know you’re just not doing it fast enough. This is what you’re looking for. The training mode can also be set to give you infinite Super & Ultra gauge, to practice those.
Um, that’s a plain old hadoken. You want two of those. With three punches on the end. Just saying.
Focus on getting the inputs right first, SF4 is rather lenient with the input timing. You should be able to see Ryu kinda bob down twice and then SCHIING!
This is my method so far, but I’m a Virtua Fighter guy, from back in the arcade days. It would be nice to be able to make it do what it’s supposed to do.
Being able to figure it out before my son does, and then blitz him, all the while saying “I don’t know, I’m just a-mashin’ the buttons” - that would be priceless.
