Seasons Beatings V: Redemption Recap!

Well, SB5 has come and gone, and the results have left many people, including myself, surprised. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend in SSF4.

To begin, let's take a look at the top 8 spots.

1. GamerBee (Adon)
2. Momochi (Ken, Akuma)
3. EG.Justin Wong (Rufus, Makoto, Balrog, Cammy)
4. TS.Arturo "Sabin" Sanchez (Dhalsim, Rose)
5. Mike Ross (E. Honda)
5. EMP.Sanford Kelly (Sagat, C. Viper)
7. EMP.Dieminion (Guile)
7. FYC.MarlinPie (Cammy)


Wow. First of all, note that Daigo "The Beast" Umehara, who has been dominating the US major tournament scene for the past few years isn't even in the top 8. If memory serves me right, he placed 24th this year after being knocked to losers bracket by Andre "TwistedJago" playing as Bison, and then eliminated by Martin "Marn" Phan, playing a surprisingly well polished Dudley in one of the most exciting matches in recent memory. 


Gamerbee had his rematch with Mike Ross from Evolution 2010, and Mike Ross came out on top once again, pulling through with E. Honda to beat Adon in what was, once again, a very heated match. As a fan of both Mike Ross' play and of E. Honda, I was very happy with this turnout. Mike played some very smart matches against characters he has a natural match up disadvantage with, so it's always good for me to take notes on things like this.


Also worth noting is that FYC.MarlinPie ranked 7th, which is amazing. MP is a somewhat local player to the area, and its great seeing him rank so well in a tournament. He really is a fantastic Cammy player, and I look forward to both him and FYC.KDZ playing in larger tournaments. Best of luck to both of you.

Let's Begin: Special Attacks

Special attacks, more commonly referred to as "specials", are an integral part of Street Fighter, and are ultimately the most defining aspect of a character. Some characters have special attacks that are more well oriented for rushing down your opponent with a well thought out offense, while others may be more suited for playing defensively and punishing your opponent for a mistimed or unsafe move. Other characters still are somewhat of a balance between the three. To be honest, this is just barely scratching the surface.

Now, as I went over in a previous blog, special attacks are attacks that require simultaneous input on both the joystick and buttons. For the most part, there are three separate types of joystick inputs for special attacks:

• Command Input: Movement on the joystick is a sequence of directions, most of which are quarter circles. For example, moving the stick from the down position to down-forward, and then forward while pressing an attack button.

• Charge Input: Movement on the joystick is held in one direction for approximately one and a half seconds, and then moved to the opposite direction.

• Grappling Input: A certain type of Command Input, grapples (most commonly referred to as throws) are performed by rotating the joystick a certain amount of degrees and then followed up with an input on the joystick. Some characters, such as Zangief, revolve completely around their grapples, and a majority of their moves can be used to set up a grapple.