Countering Low Punch

Many people seem to have difficulties with low-punch spammers. Don’t get me wrong: the low punch is a great tool for interrupting your opponent and setting up these fabulous mid-launcher attacks, especially for higher tier playing.

But somehow I can’t get rid of the feeling that it works too well in Virtua Fighter 5, which is heavily strike-oriented. Anyways, taking up ChanChai’s advices I will post the best tools for countering an opponent whose main tactics depends on the low punch.

This article was originally released Dec. 2007.

Tech Guide – Sabaki Throw Escape

So far, my articles about how to and when to defend only touched the standard share of techniques that you can use for a consistency in defense. I covered ETE and ETEG, Fuzzy Guard and Crouch Fuzzy Guard. But what other option do especially Goh players have?

Sabaki Throw Escapes open up a new defensive strategy that I haven’t talked about here yet. You could call it a passively aggressive technique where a passive situation (you are disadvantaged and, thus, usually forced to defend) can net the defender some serious damage – and turn the tables in a match. It’s also a riskier technique than the standard share of classic defensive methods, such as ETEG, because your immunity to attacks depends on the limitations of the sabaki move’s properties.

When to Fuzzy, CD-Fuzzy, and ETEG with Goh

Knowing when to and how to defend is crucial in Virtua Fighter 5. The animation work behind some of Goh’s moves however are betraying: most often, Virtua Fighter 5 gives no real visual clue at how you should defend properly after a move of yours has been blocked by your opponent.

Down below you’ll find a graphic providing you with a digest of your possible options when defending with Goh Hinogami. Have fun!

Tech Guide – On Breaking Stagger

Apparently, there is some confusion regarding the problem of breaking free from a stagger. At its core, escaping stagger successfully and most quickly is mostly just about wiggling your stick like mad. After all, not everything VF has to be rocket science.

There are, however, a few important things to keep in mind when breaking staggers especially if you want to be in control of the outcome. We have prepared animated figures for you in order to demonstrate “correct” wiggling.

A Shoulderram Flow Chart for Goh

What you see here on the right is a part of a flow chart showing your options as Goh player and your opponent’s after you hit with your Shoulder Ram – or “shldrm” as Goh players would spell it.

So this is a post about option select in Virtua Fighter in general and, in particular, what your most feasible options are.

Five Things to Do Before a Match

Do you wonder why the fun zone for VF is so different each time you play? One day you’re having an aweful lot of fun, learned new things, won quite a nice bunch of matches and lived up to your level. Whereas an other day you simply can’t make sense of the game. You’d rather like to smash VF onto your table and rage-post on VFDC what had become of the VF series. Hold on! Let me tell you that VF is a great game – but not a very relaxing one. Take a few minutes to read through the five important things to do before a match in order to really get the most out of Virtua Fighter.

Round-Openers: Goh Hinogami

How a match begins, the first flurry of strikes, has vehement impact on the outcome of the round. Who will land the first hit? Whose feet will be whipped away first?

Evaluating the personality of your opponent and checking your potential round-openers beforehand can give you the advantage in a match where the first strike, the first draining of the health bars, may act out in your favor.

Four Clever Stepping Maneuvers

Having a few selected stepping maneuvers at one’s disposal comes in handy to 1. move freely around the battle field 2. bait the opponent into errors 3. turn you into a harder-to-hit, moving target and 4. disguise your true intentions (making you more random to the opponent).

Let’s have a look at my four example maneuvers.

Myke’s OM-Cancel Trick

If you have ever tried to pull off those fancy Offensive Movement combos, you might have run into a problem: most of the time not your combo but OM- or OM-, dependent on your combo starter, comes out most mistakenly.

I remember having read some post by Myke on VFDC that explained a simple but effective way of dealing with this misery. When I couldn’t find it on the forums anymore, I sent Myke a private message. Myke was so friendly to share his trick with me. And so I’ll share it with you here too.

Tech Guide – On the Secret Power of Frames

Learning frame data can be tedious. Oftentimes, command lists are so over-informative that filtering out what’s really at stake can drive you nuts.

But you don’t have to learn all the frame data that comes with every move. Knowing after which move to Fuzzy Guard, CD Fuzzy Guard, or ETEG is already an ideal start to build your defense upon and to begin your journey of frames with.

This guide deals with the frame problem, and makes use of easy-to-read frame charts for every move of Goh Hinogami. Even though this guide is quite VF5-centered (and in particular to Goh), it can, nonetheless, be adapted to any fighting games installment or character.