pancho

Infexious killed me last night. I'm not sure whether that's down to me not being used to playing many Guiles, me being slightly sloshed by that point or him just being super freaking good.

Whatever the reason I definitely had a harder time playing him than some of the guys in the top division have given me in the previous weeks. Anyway, two losses for me so far -

Well played chaps.

Hey Moodmon - I'm on tonight if you wanna DO IT.

Right, been sending out invites to all those in league 2, to make sorting out fixtures and stuff a little easier. I can't add Uzi or gozaimas as both your lists are full. If there is any chance you could trim them down a bit (as I'm sure a lot of us will be sending out the requests) it would be much appreciated. If I've forgot anyone please pop me a request. I'll do my best to ignore it, but the thought will be there

Cleared some room buddy. Thanks!

gozaimas - gozaimas - Kenfag

There are actually two different ways this works - is the second SRK a one-hit off a juggle or a full three-hitter on the ground?

If it's a juggle then the FA comes AFTER the second hit, and you dash straight out of it i.e. before the actual focus attack, then SRK as they fall (EX SRK for midscreen winnage; Ultra in the corner).

If you want the full three-hitter then focus after the first hit of the SRK, let the focus attack come out for the extra damage and crumple, then dash forward and SRK (or combo, even) again.

Sounds like you want the first one, though.

Ah! Yeah it's the first one. Are there special conditions for the juggle (i.e. the first FSRK has to come off another hit or something) or can you just do it from standing?

Thanks for the tips. I'll get back to the training room.

Joffo (and/or Nate):

Since I played you the other night I've been trying to nail your super-sweet Fierce SRK into FADC into Fierce SRK.

I can get it about one in five times but can't quite read the timing of the FADC after that first SRK. I know it's supposed to be before the second hit but I can't tell if I'm being too fast or too slow with the timing of the FA.

Any tips because it's frustrating me a lot in training right now?

I managed to pull off Dan's Super Taunt before interrupting it into his Ultra for the win during a Player match last night. That right there's pretty much the highpoint of my life.

Sweet games this evening Joffo.

Picked up Megaman today (32). It's totally beautiful!

Also: WH Smiths in Brighton station has/ had a load of Pilotwings 64 and a single Way of the Exploding Fist, FEI.

gozaimas - gozaimas

Magical Olly kicked my tits so hard last night. I think I took one round. One round!

All good though. They were intense matches and some of my obvious weaknesses we're closing by end of play.

Also: just got back from Tokyo. On XBL I have a 68% win ratio. In Japanese arcades last week, it was 8%. Sheesh.

If I were to pick this up what's the best way to get half-decent? Play the training, single player or have someone help you out online?

A combination of all three I'd say. Also, play every day.

Do an armour breaking move as you wake up, or techroll/quick rise out of it and hit them twice.

I had a few games with Gozaimas yesterday, really good fun, pretty close nailbiting stuff.

I was pretty disheartened at the weekend, the execution of the moves on demand isn't easy for me, I find myself fluffing stuff that I 'think' I shouldn't. As ever it's all about practice (though I do think execution in general is too difficult in this game), and I noticed I had improved when I was playing G, which made me happy again.

Yes - awesome games. I think the game's actually at it's best when it's just you and another guy of a similar skill level in a Player match lobby playing ten games back to back. I far prefer that to random Ranked Matches these days.

Btw, that was the first time I've ever broken into an opponent's Ultra animation with my own Ultra - it was pretty much one of the highpoints of my gaming life.

Sweet games this evening Polmon. Was really useful.

I think the timing's 1/30th second for Sagat's fake kick - perfect for in-game use!

If you have a turbo button use that.

Is there a guide anywhere online for how to win the Icons? I have about ten but haven't earned any for ages now.

Got my '10 Ranked Wins in a Row' achievement today at last (got to nine wins twice before only to lose against a ridiculous Japanese Chun-Li player BOTH TIMES - nearly punched a hole in my leg the second time)

If you like achievements I'd gun for that particular one over the next few days. It'll only get harder to get as time goes on.

To be fair, the only way you can quit an SFIV match is by turning your console off or quitting to the dashboard - there's no way to pause and quit out.

But yeah, there should be a penalty.

I

Lastly, the infamous FADC: this is a Focus Attack and then an immediate Dash, right? So what use is it? A

At the moment I mainly use it to entice an opponent in when there's a bit of distance between you. You start your FA and they jump in thinking they can get an easy focus break on you. Then, at the last minute you dash out of it into an offensive.

It's also good for psyching out opponents when you're on the other side of the screen to them, as if to say: 'Yeah. THIS is what you're dealing with here'.

He has powerful offensive moves and is fast so for intermediate players it's easy to spam his big-hitting moves and, very often, take a win if your opponent isn't carefully blocking and countering.

Well, Mad Catz made a big deal of the ability to change buttons quickly and easily. If he fucked the stick because of cack handedness then it's his own fault, but if the fault's there from the off and the innards of the stick don't quick disconnect like they're supposed to then Mad Catz are idiots.

Actually I think that was Capcom. Mad Catz have always played down how easy the sticks are to mod because of warranty issues (remember the unboxing video with Seth from Capcom where he said Mad Catz do not endorse opening up the casing?)

Had a nice few games with gozaimas last night before realising the biggest problem with this game - that the missus can't get to sleep with me thrashing about with my stick (wahey) downstairs because it's just too noisy.

Yes! Thanks for the matches last night - excellent stuff.

Worst thing about the game right now is entering a Ranked match lobby only to gt kicked out because you psyched the other guy out with your Icon and Title. I'm sure this will settle down in a week or so though.

If anyone's interested here's the list of how to get all of the additional colours and taunts:

Time Attack Normal 1 = Color 3

Time Attack Normal 2 = Personal Action 2

Time Attack Normal 3 = Title

Time Attack Normal 4 = Title

Time Attack Normal 5 = Title

Time Attack Normal 6 = Color 5

Time Attack Normal 7 = Personal Action 4

Time Attack Normal 8 = Title

Time Attack Normal 9 = Title

Time Attack Normal 10 = Title

Time Attack Normal 11 = Color 7

Time Attack Normal 12 = Personal Action 6

Time Attack Normal 13 = Title

Time Attack Normal 14 = Title

Time Attack Normal 15 = Title

Time Attack Normal 16 = Color 9

Time Attack Normal 17 = Personal Action 8

Time Attack Normal 18 = Title

Time Attack Normal 19 = Title

Time Attack Normal 20 = Personal Action 10

Survival Normal 1 = Color 4

Survival Normal 2 = Personal Action 3

Survival Normal 3 = Title

Survival Normal 4 = Title

Survival Normal 5 = Title

Survival Normal 6 = Color 6

Survival Normal 7 = Personal Action 5

Survival Normal 8 = Title

Survival Normal 9 = Title

Survival Normal 10 = Title

Survival Normal 11 = Color 8

Survival Normal 12 = Personal Action 7

Survival Normal 13 = Title

Survival Normal 14 = Title

Survival Normal 15 = Title

Survival Normal 16 = Color 10

Survival Normal 17 = Personal Action 9

Survival Normal 18 = Title

Survival Normal 19 = Title

Survival Normal 20 = Title

I hope you're kind of joking.

Rock Band and SFIV both designed for a certain control system, right?

Yet Rock Band is designed for those mechanics on the system it's hosting. So if I buy Rock Band I know what it's going to set me back.

If I buy Streetfighter 4 I expect to play it on the pad. Why? Not only because it's a port, but because the SNES version was one of the best versions of all time.

Now, enough of this sillyness.

Also please explain to me how I can sing down my pad to do the singing parts in rockband. It must be a feature I'm missing

I'm, not! The game was literally designed to work with an arcade stick. It will work with your standard Xbox pad, sure, but for the best possible experience, you'll need to buy a stick. If you don't like sticks, then Capcom has released an official pad that solves all of the issues of the standard controller so you can enjoy the game too.

I think its analogous to music games or 'realistic' driving games or flight sims where the premium experience - the one that the developer intended for the player - requires bespoke hardware.

The thing is, shopto have messed me around before. So I don't use them now.

Also this got a 10/10 on EG, so it must be AWESOME using the standard pad. Right?

I know you're kind of joking but would you mark Rock Band down because it's a lesser experience when played with a standard Xbox pad?

If you have something that make you go all like 'Wow, that's hard' and then something that's harder than that.

Like a 'Hard Kick' would loosen up your teeth while 'Very Hard Kick' would tear off your entire jaw.

That's not far off the truth. Most character specials have EX versions which are triggered by hitting two or more kick or punch buttons at once (this uses up one segment of your EX gauge). With that in mind I don't think it's such a crazy translation.