This is not a guide for beginners. By now, we'll assume that you can perform all commands from your character's move set easily, and are familiar with the range and speed of your moves.
This guide will delve deep into the Street Fighter IV system and uncover a variety of tricks and tactics used by the experts.
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If your timing is good enough, you can perform many moves as 'Reversal Attacks'. Typically used in combination with special moves, such as Dragon Punches, this is the art of going immediately from the last frame of hit stun/block stun/rising animation etc into a Special, Super or Ultra.This is a vital part of Street Fighter, as reversal moves are often the only way to escape from certain traps and situations.
An example is escaping a tap throw attempt (explained a little later) by an opponent. Let's say your opponent knocks you down and as you're getting up they perform Ken's crouching MK (also known as a 'meaty' move). Here you are forced to block the move as you get up. The only other option is a reversal attempt.
If you perform a Dragon Punch as your character is getting up (the animation where they're picking themselves up from the floor), you will see a message saying 'Reversal' printed to screen. During a Reversal your character is invincible for a couple of frames, meaning that instead of being hit by your opponent's move, you will hit them clean instead. If this worked correctly, you will snuff Ken's crouching Medium Kick, but if you mistimed your attempt, Ken's kick will clobber you.
Cross-ups
Cross-ups are a sneaky tactic that often confuse novice players. Usually when an opponent attacks with a move, you only have to focus on blocking them high or low. However, cross-ups add a third variable into the mix - which side to actually block from.
Ken's jumping MK and Ryu's jumping HK are classic examples of cross-up moves in Street Fighter IV. If you time these correctly, you can get them to hit the back of your opponent as you jump in. The upshot to this is that the opponent must block in the opposite direction by holding 6 rather than 4.
To make this even trickier, you can create 'Ambiguous' cross-up situations. This is where you attack an opponent in such a way that it's hard to tell which side they'll strike from. Again with Ken's jumping MK, it's possible, based on the distance you jump-in from, to subtly alter which side the opponent must attempt to block.
By mixing up cross-up attempts, you can confuse an opponent and engineer combo opportunities easily.
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Meaty moves
Sometimes known as an 'early' move, meaty moves can be used to force an opponent to block, allowing you to dictate the pace of a match.
A meaty move is a move that starts hitting an opponent as they are getting up from a knockdown, but stays active for long enough so they have to remain blocking the move for a split second, even when fully out of the getting up animation. A good example is to knock your opponent down with Ryu and to then use a meaty crouching MK. Start the move a little before the opponent is getting up to execute the move.
Meaty moves offer many advantages, but one of the best is that it disables the opponent's ability to throw as they're getting up. If you time a meaty move correctly, any attempt by the opponent to throw or throw escape you as they're getting up will be stuffed.
In addition, after a meaty move is blocked, it leaves the player who used the meaty move as an advantage. This means that they recover slightly faster than the opponent, allowing the meaty user to make the next move, such as throw attempt, or to continue poking away.
Block Strings
A block string is a term used for a series of hits that keep the opponent blocking, and push the aggressor back to safety. This allows an offensive player to dictate the flow of a match and force the opponent into a series of guessing games.
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In this sequence, Ryu hits an opponent 3 times and pushes him back to safety. Upon completing this string of hits, the Ryu player can opt to walk up and throw, wait for the opponent to make a move, jump over the opponent, throw a fireball and many more.
The idea with block strings is that by using them in your offensive game, you can alternate your offence with different methods to create damage on your opponent whilst remaining relatively safe.
A good sequence with Ryu after knocking your opponent down would be as follows - meaty cross-up Jump HK, cr LK, cr LP, cr LP, walk up throw. This gives your opponent various problems. First, he must deal with a cross-up, forcing him to block in the opposite direction. The next hit is a cr.LK which must be blocked low. He must then guess if after the cr.LK if you will attempt a throw or continue the sequence. Finally after the sequence is over, he must try to throw escape or perform a move that will beat a throw. Tricky stuff.
The next time you create a knock down, you should vary the sequence. You could try starting with a meaty, or a jumping HK that does not cross-up, or by throwing after the first cr.LK. By mixing and matching your block strings with follow-ups, you will break your opponent's guard far more easily.
Tap throws and command grabs
'Tap' or 'tick' throws are old-school tactics in Street Fighter, which were once considered cheap. This is because it's a powerful technique that can be frustrating for the victim when used effectively.
The idea is to jam your opponent into blocking so that, at an unspecified moment, you'll go for a throw that is more likely to succeed. By alternating the timing of when you move in for a throw, you'll often succeed in landing damage on your opponent as they attempt to tech a throw that was never actually coming.
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Again, keep your moves varied. The next time you try this tactic, you could go for a cr.LK before you go for a throw. This way, if the opponent anticipated a throw after the HK, you will hit them with a surprise cr.LK.
This can help engineer a situation where you confirm into combos.
In this situation, after trying a tick throw after the blocked jumping HK the first time, the second time you can go for a hit confirm combo of cr.LK, cr.LP into a Dragon Punch. This means that if your opponent was fooled by your tick throw guessing game, you end up damaging them with a combo. However, if they block, you have enough time to not go through the combo, meaning that you will also remain safe.
'Command grab' is a term used for throws that require a command to execute, such as Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver, or Abel's Tornado Throw. Command grabs have a big advantage over regular throws, they cannot be tech-ed. This means that if an opponent wants to escape the command throw setup, they have to go for risky options such as a reversal, jumping away or back-dashing. If one of these attempts is anticipated, it can lead to the player under pressure taking a lot of damage.
We have brought up command throws in this section because they should be used in similar manner to tap throws. A simple tactic of Zangief's cross-up splash tapped into a Spinner Pile Driver is almost as old as the Street Fighter franchise itself, but to this day, it's a frighteningly effective tactic.
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The idea of mind games is what really makes fighting games, and Street Fighter IV in particular, great. The concept of a mind game is the idea of playing with your opponent's tendencies and patterns and duping them into making mistakes as a result.
A mind game that should be very familiar to you at an intermediate level is the fireball war mind game. Picture Ryu and Ken fighting. I'm sure that you have realised that if close enough, if you can anticipate an opponent throwing a fireball, jump over it and execute a combo. This means that there's a situation where a player either throws a fireball or bluffs a fireball before going for a dragon punch to beat what he anticipates will be a jumping attack by the opponent.
However, at intermediate level, you'll want to use far more advanced mind game situations. If you've been reading the other sections of our intermediate guide, you'll have seen many examples we've already hinted at such as cross-ups, tap throws and so on.
A good way to maximise the power of a mind game in conjunction with these techniques is to fake a pattern when setting up your opponent. Let's take a cross-up setup as an example. After knocking your opponent to the floor with Ryu, he takes two steps back before jumping in with a cross-up - it succeeds. The next time you knock your opponent to the floor, try doing the same thing initially - taking two steps backwards, but this time instead of going for a cross-up, try jumping in with a LK.
The LK will make Ryu land on the nearside of the opponent. Now by disguising this manoeuvre with the setup of the cross-up attempt used previously, you'll most likely confuse your opponent into trying to block a cross-up. Of course, because you jumped into the nearside, your opponent will get hit by this move, allowing you to go into a brutal combo.
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Juggle System
Street Fighter IV has it's own unique juggle system that determines how many hits you can connect into an Ultra with, using Focus Attacks to 'absorb' an opponent's move.
At this stage of play, it's really worth looking at adding the power of Focus Attacks into your game. A useful technique that can be used with Focus Attacks is the ability to 'absorb' a hit, allowing you to get in a little bit more easily on the ground. For example, if an opponent throws a fireball at you and you push MP + MK just as the fireball is about to connect your character will go into their focus attack animation, and they will temporarily lose life as the fireball is 'absorbed'.
However the real use of this technique is that you can then dash-cancel out of the Focus Attack forwards. The result is that you effectively travel 'through' your opponent's fireball. This allows a way to advance against opponents without having to risk jumping.
But focus attacks can be used for more than just Fireballs. If you are confident that an opponent is going to strike, you can Focus through the attack. Take the earlier example where you set up a cross-up situation. Let's suppose that after using this tactic a few times, you have scared your opponent into the stage where you are sure they are going to wake up with a crouching Hard kick and attempt to sweep you. In this case, you can charge your Focus Attack and 'absorb' the hit. You can then release the Focus Attack and hit your opponent.
You can even dash after the animation connects and follow up with a combo, varying your play and scaring your opponent.
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Crumpled state
In this state, an opponent is helpless. You get a free hit on them, which can start a combo. However, the crumpled state is unique. The opponent is not as easy to combo as if they were stunned. It's one of the nuances of SFIV that's easier to understand by seeing a video in action or actually playing. You only have a finite amount of time to hit the opponent when they're crumpled.
It's typically best to unleash your Ultra Combo, if you have it, when your opponent is crumpled because it's guaranteed to hit. During the crumple state, there are two stages the opponent goes through before falling to the ground. The first stage is a very vulnerable one - the opponent can be hit with nearly anything.
However, if you're too late, the opponent will fall, and you'll lose the ability to hit them with a full combo. this is why we recommended dashing after connecting a Focus Attack successfully. The window of opportunity to combo shrinks dramatically if you don't dash forward. It's not because of timing, instead it's down to the distance between the two characters and their range.
Armour
Focus Attacks allow you to absorb a hit, but they're not the only moves that allow this. Some characters have an EX version of special moves that also have armour properties. Taking Abel as an example, if your opponent throws a fireball at you, try an EX Change of Direction. You'll notice that the Change of Direction will travel through the fireball (although you will temporarily lose health, just like a focus attack), before striking your opponent.
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When using Focus Attacks bear in mind that not all moves in the game can be 'absorbed' Some moves, as defined in the command list for every character have 'Armour-breaking' properties. Armour-breaking moves, when used against a Focus Attack or any other move with armour will cause a 'glass shattering effect. You'll also hear a noise of breaking glass.
So if you see an opponent charging up a Focus Attack, it can be a good idea to execute an armour breaking move so that it breaks their Focus Attempt. For example, if you are a Ryu player and you see Ken charging a Focus attack, if you're close enough you can execute a Hurricane Kick to break the armour and punish Ken.
Hit confirm combos
Some combos in Street Fighter IV can be executed by linking from several LP or LK's. This means that you can use a powerful technique when attempting combos - 'hit confirming'.
This type of technique involves using a combo such as Ryu's cr.LP, cr.LK linked into a Dragon Punch. The advantage of using such a combo is that it enables you to remain safe if your opponent is blocking. Let's imagine that you knock an opponent to the ground.
As they are getting up, with Ryu, you go for a meaty crouching LK. If the opponent blocks, you can continue with a block string or tap throw. However, if you hit, you can continue the combo with cr.LP If both of those hit, you should have enough time to react and go into a Dragon Punch. However, if they were blocked, you will push yourself back and will not risk a Dragon Punch that would otherwise be punished.
Ryu Strategy
He's been in every Street Fighter game since the beginning and he's without doubt the character you will see most both online and offline. Fortunately, he happens to one of the high tier characters with the tools to deal with any situation and some excellent combos.
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Although many characters are better than Ryu in certain areas, he's good at everything and doesn't have and obvious weaknesses. This means that you can play him in any way you want. Make a rush, play defensively, use an old-school control style, or mix in all three. You can even 'switch gears' mid match to throw off your opponent.
Tools of the Trade
Ryu's standing HK, 2 + SK and LP and SP Dragon Punch make up his lethal anti-air game. Furthermore, learn the art of countering at the right time with Dragon Punches to make them more effective. If you counter with an early LP Dragon Punch and pop your opponent into the air, you have enough time to catch your opponent with an EX Fireball, Super or Ultra. This leads to massive amounts of damage from a simple anti air move.
Similarly, the HP Dragon Punch sometimes trades with an opponent's jump-in, but don't fret if this happens. After you've recovered, dish out an Ultra and it will catch your opponent on the way down. As part of your ground game, use Ryu's excellent cr.MK and Fireballs to control your opponent from range.
Learn the recovery and ranges of your Fireballs so that you do not get caught out with counter jump-in attempts. Standing HK and crouching MP are other useful pokes at this distance if your opponent gets close. Don't forget about EX Fireballs which can be lethal at mid-range, scoring you a knock-down.
Shinkuu Hadoken
Ryu's Super Move is one of the best moves in Street Fighter IV. It has an excellent range and travels quickly. You can even control the speed to a certain extent - it's determined by the strength of punch you use to activate it. One of the move's main uses is as a punishment tool. Moves such as Blanka's horizontal roll that Ryu can not usually punish are vulnerable when he unleashes a Super. It also works well when used straight after a nicely timed cr.MK.
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One of Ryu's best weapons is his ability to Focus Attack then Dash Cancel from a Dragon Punch. This allows him to tag an Ultra onto the end of a combo, leading to over 50% damage easily.
What's even more useful about this technique is that if your opponent blocks, you are still relatively safe. You can go for a throw or another Dragon Punch as you dash forwards. This will give you a good chance of catching your opponent out. It allows you to attempt a reversal and remain safe if your opponent reads you in time.
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