it seems the guy who was going to be letting me stay over in london for svb has had to pull out for a few reasons so i’m gonna have to book a hotel instead. i might as well go for one of the local ones near the place where it’s being held, the only problem is i’m short of cash until the thursday before it starts- by which time they might all be full up or maybe it’s more expensive. that has certainly fucked me over somewhat, but i hope i can get it sorted ok. i had an idea to perhaps go halves on a single room with two beds as opposed to two single rooms to save some money and it would be cool to have some company with a fellow svb goer. i suggested it to nstalkie, but if he doesn’t wanna do it then maybe there’s someone else going who’s up for room sharing?

i don’t think there will be a stream for svb, but hopefully i’m wrong. i don’t have any means of recording anything myself. i don’t even own a camera phone, or even a normal camera for that matter. i’m hoping one of the 2df guys will have the means to record it though, because i’d like to see footage of all the 2df players from all their fights go online if possible.

aqh has agreed to be the featured 2df player of the week, so at some point i’ll get in an interview with him, i’m not sure when.

fuck i’m so tired. i barely got any sleep last night and even though i’m tired i can’t sleep, which is not much good!

-Renegade

I’ve Got Next + SVB + AQH

last night i watched a cool documentary/film which followed a few of america’s top tournament players, most notably justin and gootecks. it shows lots of interviews with them talking about how they got into street fighter and it covers them briefly during their progress at a sf4 tournament. it’s nicely made and insightful and i thought it was really interesting to learn a bit more about these guys, so it’s certainly worth a watch. the film is called ‘i’ve got next’, check it out.

i’ve been thinking a bit about svb lately and i’ve been curious as to what sort of effect sf4′s arrival might have on the standard of 3s play. i recently read harmonaz saying that he’s out of shape with 3s lately from a lack of practise and it looked from what he was saying as though some of the other big guys might also be a bit rusty. there’s a lot of talk of the europeans coming to humiliate the british and there’s going to be a lot of support for the uk guys when we all feel we have something to prove. the uk has some of the best 3s players in europe, but if some of them lack sharpness then it only takes a couple of mistakes and some of the best european guys coming might just give us brits a lesson. i’ve no idea which of the most famous europeans are coming. aqh, despite almost knocking zak out of bod last year will not be attending, but i’m sure some of the french guys are coming with big expectations. if pecheur or otana come we could see some very interesting games and i believe platinum, an excellent dudley, is coming.

having mentioned aqh above, i feel i should pass on that when we played recently he told me that he went to the last cooperation cup in japan! we didn’t talk for long on it, but he said that he got knocked out by akahori’s beastly hugo (who was teaming with nuki). it’s great to see a 2df player coming up against one of the biggest names in the 3s world!

below is a nice video showing akahori and nuki in action vs the legend that is rx.

why am i writing a post at 3am?

shit sure is busy for me atm. i’ve finished my working weekend but on tuesday it’s time for my band’s first ever gig. we’ve been rehearsing a fair bit recently and to be honest i’d rather just get it out of the way than have to wait. i don’t think we’re going to be amazing or anything so all the build up to it makes me think we’re going to be underwhelming- not that i’m particularly bothered. then some time this week my new bass guitar should arrive from america so i’m looking forward to that, if anyone gives a shit about bass guitars you can see this bad boy here. my dad appears to have come down with swine flu and is being really lax about being hygienic (not sneazing into tissues etc.) and it looks a matter of time until i catch it. looks like i’ll probably get it just before my gig and will have to cancel, which will be letting down a lot of friends who are making an effort to come see us live. my new sanwa stick and buttons should arrive any time now too and i’ve been playing with such poor technique recently that i wonder if switching to a more responsive sanwa stick from my hori will help just a tiny bit. my 360s are a JOKE lately! it’s gotten so bad that i am considering retiring hugo until further notice, something i REALLY don’t want but it’s causing me too much aggro right now and i can’t be bothered with it. strangely enough i’ve found myself using lots of ken the last few days, it must be the kuroda dvd making me want to :p- oh and whoever says i only use low tiers to try and be cool?!

on thursday i went to the local arcade and played a few credits worth of sf2: champion edition on the shitty little cab with broken buttons, a stick with no gate and cheating ai as ever! got as far as claw before my guile got spammed to death by his crossup dive slash things- flash kicks wouldn’t fucking come out on that awful stick! according to the guy running the arcade he’d just replaced the buttons recently (bullshit, they’ve been the same ever since i started going there 18 months ago!) and said he’s looking to sell on his old cabs like that one. i’d be lying if i said the thought of a sf2 cab in my house doesn’t bring joy to my heart, but sadly i don’t have enough room even if i could afford his asking price.

this has to be the most offtopic (ie 3s) post ever, so i’ll conclude this shit with a final offtopic nod in the direction of the youtube channel my brother and i share for something we call ‘all star mode’. basically we started it in pro evolution soccer games, where we make two teams of retarded players, mostly with shit stats and fucked up appearances, names and kits and make them battle in a two team tournament where fouling is considered honourable and anything goes in the name of glory. we also have branched into a few other games with all star mode too, but it’s pes where most of our videos have come from. enjoy the skillz in our top 10 goals compilation

next time i promise to return to the topic of 3s, it feels strange talking about much else here!

until tomorrow

-Renegade

Thoughts on controller types

i notice there is a lot of talk about which type of controller to use! it seems to be most commonly accepted that the really hardcore guys will end up sooner or later playing on stick with pad acceptable for casual players and keyboard tends to have the worst reputation of the three.

having used all three kinds, especially pad and stick extensively, here is my take on them. it’s understandable that keyboard has the worst reputation simply because they often can’t have enough inputs for directional throws and the like and are the least universally useable device since they (normally) aren’t used with consoles and are never used in the arcades. the keyboard is still a potentially powerful controller though, with- in my opinion- superior capabilities over pad for executing ex moves and karas due to the layout and design. it’s certainly a myth that keyboard is for noobs as some might suggest. as a stick player it really annoys me how stick players always tend to look down on the other types of controllers. the real advantages of stick over the other two can be relatively small with it being as much about the individual’s preference and experience deciding how good they will be rather than what they are playing on. most stick players will argue that the button layout makes ex moves easier. i find them easier than on pad and the same as on keyboard, however if you tactically set up your button config on pad to suit the type of execution you find easiest then with a bit of practise they needn’t be a problem.  an example of this is if you have mp set as r1 and mk set as r2 then it means your index or middle finger can be responsible for the kara, it can do half the uoh or do half the ex execution with your thumb responsible for the other input. i find the two used this way is a good way of having sharp and clean inputs.

i think rotations, especially 720s are easier on stick, however my brother used to be a monster with 720s using t hawk in st on a ps1 pad, so it’s really not something which can’t be overcome. if you can be good with hawk then you can be good with any sf grappler! it’s a really silly arrogance which stick players seem to have that their controller is hugely superior- which i think comes entirely because they want to really justify them having probably paid a LOT of money for a device which has all the same inputs and buttons as the controller which comes free with your console. arcade sticks feel like the arcade and they teach you to execute more cleanly than on pad, which i have always found you can be scruffier with for the same results. the benefit is also that they are a generic format which will be roughly true if you play in any arcade and with companies like hori making basically identical sticks for different consoles you can play on a different console without needing to adjust to a whole new controller. the buttons are usually more responsive and the layout is very logical and suited to fighting games but don’t be fooled by the hype surrounding sticks. a very high percentage of those pros you see at all the tourneys started playing these games in the arcade first so it’s only natural that they would prefer sticks. similarly as most of the best players tend to play a lot in arcades it’s very important that they are able to play with the arcade hardware. if all the best players are at your local arcade then you will never get any real fights out of them unless you can play with them and that’s never going to happen unless you play with the hardware they use. as it happens if you get playing on stick and get quite used to it you will likely start to enjoy using them and develop a preference for them. it’s exactly the same as if you’ve used pad for years and you’re playing it feels like an extension of your hands with it being no effort and requiring no time to suddenly whack out your favourite moves or combos.

whilst stick does have these advantages as said above, it’s important that people don’t be tricked into thinking that simply as a method of playing or executing it is likely to be massively superior. it will likely be a bit better, but if you have a good pad which you have been using a long time, or you’re tight on keyboard, you’re not likely to suddenly discover anything massive or game changing by switching to stick. there was a video i saw on youtube of these guys at a little tourney for some game who all appeared to joke after this kid on pad won a fight over a stick player. all i can say is any stick player who thinks the pad players are going to be any worse for using pad might just be surprised when they under-estimate him and lose.

i’ve not seen anything said from any guys on here along these lines, so i’m not criticising anyone here, but talking on the topic i really wanted to give my thoughts on stick play because i’ve been thinking about these things for a while. i guess what i’m really trying to say is if you are good already and you don’t use stick, then you needn’t feel obliged to get one just because all the top guys are using them. there are some advantages but gameplay-wise they are mostly pretty small, it’s far more just about convenience for playing in an arcade.

don’t get me wrong here, i don’t want to discourage players from using sticks. i love mine and i frankly never want to use pad again. all i’m saying is if you are unsure or maybe don’t have the money, or perhaps you are hoping to play in an offline tourney and don’t want to stand out as the noob with a pad, don’t worry! the reality of stick play isn’t something incredible even though i tend to think it’s very satisfying when your execution comes off nicely. it’s also worth remembering that if you’ve never used stick before you are going to have to relearn everything you ever knew, rediscover all your old tactics after some adjustments and put up with months of the frustrating situation of failing a move or combo which you could easily do before on your old controller. if none of that bothers you and you want a stick anyway then great, join the club! if not then you will probably be just fine with your old controller, it’s not a big deal.

obviously some pads or keyboards really are badly made and can be ruining your chances, but i’m talking in general about an official ps2 pad or a keyboard which works like normal. the same can be said about bad sticks anyway- a really shit stick will be just as sucky as a really shit pad, so if you’re considering getting a stick you mgiht as well make sure you’re getting a decent one (unless you plan on upgrading it with mods)

i’ve recently been thinking about stick modifications quite a lot and have imported some new sanwa buttons, a sanwa stick and an octagonal gate (restrictor).

i’ve decided to delay installing the stick and buttons until after svb however i couldn’t resist trying out the octagonal gate for a few minutes. i’d heard that it can help with defense (quick movements from downback-back to stop overheads are safer and more ‘solid’ feeling as you can ‘lock in’ to back). i’d also heard they can make super fireball executions easier. i’m not sure what the reason would be for that other than being able to surf the outside without the downforwards corner being a nuiscance.  i’ve also been told that it slightly slows overall technique (around the outside) just a little. another thing i’ve heard is that it helps for ‘tachi’s (standing 720s).

after my brief encounter with the octagonal gate my first impressions are that dragon punches are easier (not that they’re exactly hard with a square gate), fireball (and thus super fireball) motions are a little more drawn-out and feel harder to execute. 360s seemed easier although after 5 minutes of trying to tachi my brother couldn’t manage 1- which is far worse than he normally managed on a square gate (which he is even more successful on if he turns it to be diamond angled rather than square. with regards to the improved defense thing, i’m not convinced yet, it didn’t seem a help so far to me.

this was my reaction after a few minutes of play and i’ll give a more detailed review shortly after svb when i switch properly and give it a real test.

-Renegade

HRAP1 Review

i love my hrap1- i would recommend them to anyone. but the time has almost come for me to mod this bad boy into something better. but i’d like to go into a bit of detail with the hrap1 before i mod mine for anyone new to sticks and try and give a review of the stick in it’s original state.

the hrap1, at least mine, is a ps1/ps2 stick first and foremost. it has a reasonably heavy body (i’d say a bit heavier than the sf4 fightstick). as standard they come default with hori buttons and a hori stick although it has quick disconnects meaning that they can be easily replaced without needing a soldering iron or much more than a couple of screw drivers. it has turbo switches at the top left with options of full turbo and semi auto (the turbo only applies when pressing down the button you have set to semi auto). the button layout is a little frustrating for street fighter players. with it going l1-square-triangle-r1 from left to right along the top and l2-x-o-r2 from left to right along the bottom. this layout looks sensible, but that means if you want lp-mp-fp along the top from left to right and lk-mk-fk along the bottom from left to right (standard arcade controls) then you will need to change the button config in game. this was changed in later renditions of the hrap where the default button layout matches the default sf controls- an extremely useful little change because now if you’re constantly switching players on the console all you’ll need is to press the ‘default controls’ button on the config whilst hrap1 players like myself must change them. technically this can be changed by opening up the stick and switching the wires between the buttons to match the default layout- something which i’ll be doing myself soon. the arc of the buttons is not very severe- it’s a relatively straight rising line from left to right. players with other sticks, especially other hraps will notice that later versions have a more arched layout. personally i prefer it as on the hrap1 and it’s very similar to the sf4 fightstick- which is supposedly exactly the same as the japanese arcade cab layouts. the buttons themselves are ok for someone new to using sticks, but experienced players will likely want to swap out the buttons and stick for either sanwa or seimitsu parts. to be clear, the default buttons are fine and do the job without any problems, but sanwa and seimitsu buttons/sticks are a bit more responsive and that can make a little difference.

the sticks feels very sturdy and strong and there is no question that it is very well made and unlikely to break in any normal conditions. i’ve had mine for 6 months now with no issues so far. for those who want a stick but would rather have sanwa parts from the start, you can get hrap ‘sa’  models which come pre-fitted with sanwa parts that of course come at a higher cost.

Momochi success- but Kuroda Fever once again!

well i better start by saying sorry there’s not been any update for a few days. over friday, saturday and sunday i work all day. on saturday night i also went out and last night i had band practise after work so all in all i’ve not had the energy to make a post. i don’t know where will has gotten to, but it would be cool if he could cover the weekends for me a bit.

anyway moving on to the big topic of the day: sbo! i’ve not seen so many mid and low tiers in sbo for ages, so who says that 3s is just top tier play! that said the finalists were two teams over-flowing with incredible players and top tier characters and i seem to have predicted right on the two teams to make the final. congratulations go to momochi for managing to ocv and win his team both the semis and the final!

so the champions this year are rikimaru, boss and momochi and the losing finalists were ko, tokido and ochibi. the curse of ko not being able to win sbo goes on and it’s amazing how he has come close but lost so many times in this competition. by all accounts it was just about the greatest ever 3s tournament with a huge number of ocvs and great fights and i certainly can’t wait until the dvd is released! having mentioned the ocvs earlier on i can’t help but mention kuroda’s achievements. ino did not turn up on the day supposedly because of a family emergency, however his not turning up did not stop kuroda and mov qualifying and playing as a 2 man team. kuroda switched back to his infamous q and sure enough kuroda fever returned- at least until the semi finals! he managed to ocv the first 3 teams in a row…. first up was the taiwanese team which he destroyed. next was pierrot’s team (who had just beaten thanatos, pino and messatsu’s team) then he managed to ocv akahori, nuki and yakkun. sadly for him momochi managed to beat both him and mov in the semis and kuroda’s 1 man mission for victory was over. seriously though- wow!

my favourite team (along with kuroda’s naturally) got knocked out in the second round. ysb ocvd the american team and they got through round 2 before losing to finalists ko’s team. it’s a real shame there was no live stream and being in japan the timing was bad for me. i went to bed just as kuroda had qualified and when i left for work it had just been confirmed who the finalists were! here are the brackets as listed by Hol Horse of shoryuken.

-Renegade

Kuroda DVDs: Necro + Katsudon’s website

well i put this dvd on hoping for an explosive show of necro. everyone knows how great sugiyama and pino normally are to watch so i was hoping to see another set of top class performances from kuroda with his own tint on the character.

i was told beforehand that his necro is ‘weird’ but didn’t really know what to expect. halfway into the dvd and he certain lives up to that tag! i find it hard to know what to say on him really. it looks from this like his necro is nowhere close to some of the standards he sets with many of his other characters. he’s not much of a comboer (which seems very odd with necro). he usually either turtles or defends on the front foot and tries to counter with parry-punish off baited attacks of dash-ins and things. there’s none of his ibuki style rushdown, he’s basically just poking and countering. unsurprisingly he’s using sa1 and sa3- sa3 vs oro which surprises me a little, but my necro isn’t good so what do i know?!

he’s quite taunt happy, although many of his taunts look done for mockery rather than for any stat boost. he’s lost a few games now, at least one vs a ken, one in his first fight vs an awesome hugo and at least one more but i forget who against. he is usually extremely passive. he doesn’t go made poking wildly and to sum him up he just lost a round to a ken by a timeout. he’s had a lot more trouble stopping these guys than he did with his other characters. he still has some great moments and tricks as you might expect. his ability to red parry ex fireballs, clk-sa3 never gets old and sometimes he does brilliantly timed punishing supers when someone just slightly misses their attacks.

it’s very strange seeing this because it feels like he’s holding back massively. either that or he chooses to play this style just to stand out and be different. whatever his reasons are he doesn’t look unstoppable for these opponents whereas he usually does. he’s dropped a LOT of rounds in the fights he’s won- probably more rounds in the first 7 fights than he did in his entire 60+ winning streak with ken, hugo, ibuki etc. his punishing has at times been poor. think of the way he played justin for a timeout at sbo 3 using q. his style is basically like that, but he looks very beatable, doesn’t have the sick defense boost and doesn’t really look justified in mocking his opponents. vs a gouki player he attempted to win using almost entirely just back+mp. he managed to get pretty far surprisingly. as i type this, he’s probably going to lose his second in a row to this ken who was utterly murdered by his other characters. the last round was almost a perfect for ken- he punished kuroda’s bad use of the ankle grab multiple times with shippus in this fight. vs the very top players i doubt if his necro would have much chance very often.

with kuroda it’s always important not to forget that his control over the basics of the game like throws and parries will always give him that possibility of a massive punish, but really his necro looks comparatively lightweight. personally i feel he would b far better if he went for rushdown tactics because there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for him, but in the end he isn’t and that’s what matters. he certainly does have some great moments sometimes, but he doesn’t look close to pino and sugiyama in this dvd. to be fair to him though, i’ve watched about 6 of his dvds and this is the only one where he’s looked anything less than one of the best in the world with that character- and even here he still wins a huge majority vs good players.

if you have money to buy a kuroda dvd and can only afford one, don’t get necro. that’s my advice.

below is a link to katsudon’s personal oro fansite. very funny and worth a look!

http://tengupawa.altervista.org/index.html

Katsudon Part 2

here is part 2 of my (Renegade) interview with Katsudon (Nik)

Ryan: so moving on from oro a bit, who are your favourite 2df opponents and which characters do they use?

Nik: there are a lot of nice people i like to play with some of them are really skilled of course there is xl, i played him few times but he’s really good, then lately i enjoyed playing with striderhien, he uses a couple of interesting chars i see few people on 2df uses good (necro/q/12), then there is a nice hugo out there, name starts with ren and ends with enegade, but you told me i cant mention him. so i’ll pass on, there was a really nice gouki, kurosaki, but i havent met him in ages, there is shadow93 that has a good elena and a lot of other people i played with but at the moment i cant recall them. ah there is a guy called DINO, really nice use of ken/dudley

Ryan: i haven’t seen kurosaki in a long time either

Nik: then who else… there was a guy that used remy like it truly should be used, he was from france and nick started with t…. maybe takamaz? i cant recall. however he was very skilled.

Ryan: i know the name, so it could be. have you played much with aqh? it seems he’s a contender for the best european 2df player. i know his yun is excellent, cyrox mentioned his yun almost knocking zak out of bod last year!

Nik: mmm nope, but the name is familiar. as i told you, my connection sucks big time, so i hardly can challange and have fun without lag with people too far away from where i live.

Ryan: actually aqh is dutch! give him some games when you have a chance and i’d love to know how it goes

Nik: yeah if i see aqh, i’ll challange him. ah talking about yun, there is also the tourney player that uses yun/yang from france, ultrayox

Ryan: i’m not sure who that woul be. if you remember tell me later. so do you have any real tourney experience?

Nik: none at all. i just enjoy playing it like an amateur.

Ryan: so if you have the time and the money, would you still not go?

Nik: probably i would not go. it may seem strange, but lately the only thing that is important to me is to do a decent juggle with oro.

Ryan: i guess it’s the same satisfaction as that which comes from landing a nice gigas so i suppose it makes sense- although i’d rather land a nice gigas at a tournament! it’s a shame we won’t be seeing you at svb BUT IT’S ONE LESS NOOB FOR ME TO FUCK UP. i’ll save my skillz for the real players ffs

Nik: i’ll just answer by posting the replay of our last matches. AND THEN I’LL YOGA FUCK YOU!

Ryan: do it! show my 12 making big comebacks

Nik: your 12 even cryied before melting in a pool of mud. it’s like watching an AVARAGE MOVIE, you watch it, you say “meh…”, then you turn away and you forgot him as soon as you see a new one (movie). do you understand, my dear avarage movie?

Ryan: *cries inside* i feel like 12 in his time out pose. melting into a pool of sadness. i should go back to playing remy and turtle in the corner throwing sadness rings all day

Nik: oh cmooooooon. a BIG BOY never cries! dont know why, but when i think of you and your 12 melting in a pool of sadness, i actually feel happy.
so, you’re not interested at all in the 4th skill a good oro player has to have?

Ryan: ye why i am not surprised you would enjoy other people’s pain? go on then tell me.

Nik: what you need is…..!

Ryan: i bet it’s HAVE YOGA PAWA

Nik: THE YOGA PAWA (you finally
oh fuck man you ruined everything

Ryan: LOL OWNED.

Nik: damn. say: IT’S YOUR REVENGE. you cant beat oro so you take revenge by doing me this. damn i feel a bit sad inside.
*goes watching the replay against renegade*
*AHAHAHHA*

Ryan: ye and i won’t edit that out, now you know how it feels. oh btw nstalkie asks if you really do yoga and what games you played before 3s

Nik: no lol i dont do yoga. i tried it once however.

Ryan: it went terribly wrong? i bet you folded your legs up into your ass and vowed never to do yoga again

Nik: nah they didnt teach me how to shot yoga fires. i was there, ready with a lighter and they told me, NO WAY.

Ryan: you could always light your farts and shout YOGAAAA

Nik: that could hurt! you cant watch your opponent in the eyes with the yoga fart, that’s why i tried to learn the yoga flame. the other games i played are a lot tekkens, garou, ssf2 but the only one i’m good at it it’s just 3s.

Ryan: on that note we are out of time. have a safe journey home katsudon. mind the step as you go <=]

Hasselstick Pro

today we’ll be giving away a free rahp (real arcade hasselstick pro) to one lucky reader! to be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is correctly answer the question in the poll below. the winner will receive this fabulous prize at some point in the non-existent future to go with all their other hasselhoff related items. this stick comes with modded turbo switches which now trigger many of david’s greatest songs to play from the newly installed speaker on the back of the stick- perfect for getting yourself in the mood to kick some ass! PLUS each button triggers a sound sample of david speaking from his critically acclaimed series baywatch so you can hear all of your favourite lines, such as “nice weather today isn’t it?” again and again as you play!

runner up wins a signed copy of a dvd containing the following breath-taking fight scene- we could all learn a thing or two about fighting technique, execution and advanced mindgames from this. excellent use of hurricane kicks and kara throws later on

third place wins a signed copy of RENEGADE SECRETS

stay tuned

-Renegade