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STREET FIGHTER ZERO 3 CHARACTER PATTERNS AND BEGINNER’S STRATEGY GUIDE
Version 1.2
02/09/1999
by:	DARTH (09612904@mail4.dlsu.edu.ph)


INRTODUCTION	-------------------------------

I’m not a very good player, I admit it.  I’m the type of guy who just wants 
to get his token’s worth of gameplay, which translates to not losing in the 
first fight, BY ANY MEANS!  Sure, you want to beat up your friends (or 
enemies), but playing against human opponents is unpredictable because the 
"human factor" can offset the way a character is played, even characters 
that suck can be deadly to experts.  The computer opponent is a different 
story.

The computer in Street Fighter Zero 3 (Street Fighter Alpha 3) uses AI or 
artificial intelligence to try and beat you up.  The thing is, it uses 
certain "patterns" with each character.  When you know the patterns that 
the computer does, you can plan your attack, no matter how cheap it may be, 
and still come out the winner.

This guide is for people who want to know the patterns the computer tries 
to use on human players.  I will also try to mention the strengths and 
weaknesses for the different characters, which can be taken either when 
you’re the one using them or you’re the one being used against.  I guess 
this is more help to beginners, it may not help veterans or experts very 
much, but hey... you don’t have to be too shy when playing cheaply against 
the computer, right?  It doesn’t care.  Even though this is more of for 
beginners, it does not include move lists.  That’s your job, don’t be too 
lazy.  Besides, you’ll learn more when you get info from others (the pro 
stuff).

I’m no genius, so there are a lot of patterns I must admit I don’t know.  
If you have any corrections, comments, tips, and additional data, please 
feel free to email me (given above).  I’d really appreciate the help.  
Also, please excuse this piece of work, it’s the first time I tried making 
one of these.  Help is appreciated.

DISCLAIMER	-------------------------------
This guide copyright 1999 by Darth (Vidar, Raymund M.).  All characters and 
the game itself belong to their respective copyrights (that’s Capcom ©).  
This is not an official guide.  This is only for personal use and not for 
any form of publicity or money making.  It cannot be reprinted and reposted 
anywhere unless given permission by the author (who happens to be me).

REVISION HISTORY	-------------------------------
1.2 - Added info on PlayStation characters, namely Dee Jay, Fei Long, and 
      T. Hawk.
1.1 - This FAQ was created.


ARCADE CONTROLS	-------------------------------

ub u uf
 \ | /	  jab (LP)	strong (MP)	fierce (HP)	|punches
b -0- f
 / | \	  short (LK) 	forward (MK)	roundhouse (HK)	|kicks
db d df

*NOTE	-
This is with respect to Player 1.  For Player 2, just switch b and f.

LEGEND	-------------------------------

Although there are no move lists here, many things will be described with 
the motion sequences.  This legend is more or less generic to any fighting 
game FAQ, specially Street Fighter ones.  It is often included in move 
lists, but since I discuss some motions in here too, I’m putting this in.

LP/jab		-weakest punch
MP/strong	-medium strength punch
HP/fierce	-strongest punch
LK/short	-weakest kick
MK/forward	-medium strength kick
HK/roundhouse	-strongest kick
P		-any punch button
PP		-any 2 punch buttons
PPP		-all punch buttons
K		-any kick button
KK		-any 2 kick buttons
KKK		-all kick buttons
QCF		-d, df, f
QCB		-d, db, b
HCF		-b, db, d, df, f
HCB		-f, df, d, db, b
Z		-f, d, df
rZ		-b, d, db
[X]		-hold the button in question for about 1.5 seconds or counts.
[BF]		-[b], f
[DU]		-[d], u
360		-full circle (ex. uf, f, df, d, db, b, ub, u, uf)
720		-two full circles


COMBO SHORTHAND	-------------------------------

j.fierce -> s.jab -> c.short (c.short) -> Hadoken

The line above is an example of a combo sequence shorthand.  It is used to 
describe the execution of a combo.  I don’t know who made this convention 
up but I’ll use it.  It’s actually quite easy to understand.  The symbols 
before the dot are what your character is doing (supposedly) at the moment 
(j is jumping or plain in the air, s is standing, and c is crouching).  The 
symbol after the dot is what button you’re supposed to press when your 
character is in that given state.  The arrow says that you’ll have to do 
the next one after doing the current one.  The instruction in parenthesis 
means you can do this after the given instruction if you’re fast enough.  
The last symbol is a move name, which means you do the move.

This setup usually means you have to be fast enough to press the right 
buttons in the sequence.  Using the example, here’s what happens...

1.  You press uf to jump, then press fierce then you are within range and 
    still in the air.
2.  Press jab while landing, it will be executed while you’re standing.
3.  Press down and short to do a crouching short.  Follow up with another if 
    you can.
4.  Do the Hadoken move.  In this example, you have already pressed down so 
    you only have to continue the “df, f + P” to finish the move (Hadoken is 
    QCF + P).

If you see a move listing (ex. Hadoken QCF + P), the first part is the move 
name and the second is the motion to do it.  QCF is the abbreviated 
directions you have to do and the + P means you have to press punch at 
approximately the same time as the last direction pressed (d, df, f + P).

*NOTE	-
Move names mentioned mostly start with caps. Some of the names I use in 
this guide are probably not the official names in the game.  I used them 
anyway because to me they are easier to understand.  Even though I used the 
Japanese title of the game (Street Fighter Zero 3 instead of Street Fighter 
Alpha 3), the names of the characters use the English names (or the Alpha 
names).  If you don’t know who some people are or are confused by the 
names, here are the equivalents:

JAPANESE	-	ENGLISH
Balrog		-	Vega
Gouki		-	Akuma
M. Bison	-	Balrog
Nash		-	Charlie
Vega		-	M. Bison


COMMENTS	-------------------------------

To me, Zero 3 is a good improvement to the Zero series.  There really 
wasn’t much difference in Zero 1 and Zero 2, aside from the custom combo 
and the character tweaks.  When I heard they were making Zero 3, I was 
afraid they’d remove some characters to give way to the additional ones.  
Fortunately I was wrong.
Aside from keeping everybody in Zero 2 (which basically kept everybody in 
Zero 1), they added a ton of new ones.  And aside from the character 
tweaks, they put in the modes (will be explained later) which vary the 
gameplay a lot, specially with the move changes in certain characters.
It’s really too bad that Capcom didn’t put in Fei Long, Dee Jay, and T. 
Hawk in the arcade version.  That would’ve made it a full comeback of all 
the old SSF2T characters.  PlayStation owners will delight to find that, 
not only are Juli, Juni, and Balrog easily selectable, but also that Fei 
Long, Dee Jay, and T. Hawk are back!  The "get your token’s worth" saying 
doesn’t apply to the PlayStation though because it’s like having infinite 
tokens.


MODES (isms)	-------------------------------

X Mode	-

This is like Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo).  
What does this mean?  Well... it means you have only one super, one big super 
meter, and you can’t air-block.  The up thing is you’re stronger (your 
attacks do slightly more damage) and you may get a different move.  As an 
example of the different move, Chun-Li loses her Kikkoken and Rising Bird 
Kick but gains the old Helicopter Kick.  Personally, I don’t notice that 
being stronger thing, but characters like Bison with the Psycho Crusher 
instead of the Psycho Shot end up being better, IMHO.

Z Mode	-

This is the default mode.  It plays very much like the rest of the Zero 
(Alpha) series where you have quite a few supers, up to three levels of the 
super meter, zero counters (alpha counters), and can air block.  You have 
most if not all the moves of your character available, but you’re weaker 
(supposedly) than X mode and you can’t do variable combos (custom combos).

V Mode	-

This is the variable combo mode.  This is very similar to Z mode except 
that instead of the super meter, you have one big combo meter.  You lose 
your supers, but gain the ability to do variable combos. It is very similar 
to the old custom combos in Zero 2, with the variation that one of the 
shadows that follow you also attacks and does damage.  You can only 
activate the custom combo when you’re at least halfway full in the meter.

Secret Modes	-

There are three hidden modes I have heard of, only one I can say I’ve seen.  
You can use these hidden modes by holding P + K of same strength before 
inserting the token and pressing start before letting go.  You then pick 
the character you want as usual.  For the PlayStation, It’s part of the 
options when you choose the Vs mode.
The one I’ve seen is done by holding fierce + roundhouse and is similar to 
Super Street Fighter II:  The New Challengers (to me at least).  This is 
called the classical mode.  It is the same as X Mode except that your Guard 
Meter is disabled, which means that you can block indefinitely, and you’re 
supposedly slightly stronger than X Mode.  The catch is you don’t have any 
super at all.
The other two modes are Saiko and Maji, but I still have to verify their 
differences, I can’t see them yet.


GAMEPLAY FEATURES	-------------------------------

MODES	-
Well, I mentioned this above.

GUARD METER	-

It can also be called a block meter.  As much as I remember, all modes have 
depleting guard meters (unless otherwise specified).  What is this?  Well, 
every time you block, a little of the meter gets used up.  When you use up 
all the blocks you can, you get stunned and your meter goes down a notch.  
You can’t lose the whole meter, you’re sure to have at least one notch 
left, with what little good that’ll do you.  You also lose a notch whenever 
you do zero counters, which will be mentioned below.

They finally put this thing in, I’ve been waiting for this since Zero 1.  
It may be a disadvantage to beginners, but it prevents you from being too 
cheap that you just block all day.  Keeps the action going!  ?

ZERO COUNTER	-

You do this by pressing f + same strength PK right after blocking a hit.  
It uses up some of your meter, depending on what meter it is (you don’t 
have zero counters in X mode).  Doing this lowers your guard meter a notch.  
It’s supposed to be your defense against those super aggressive types to 
teach them a lesson in being too offensive, but it does too little damage 
and you lose a notch in the guard meter.  Too bad, to me the old Zero 
counters were in the right track.

JUGGLES	-

Some moves will throw the opponent to the air, giving you the opportunity 
to hit them again.  You can try to juggle them again and hit them again, 
but it seems you can only do the juggle twice, so no infinite things (it 
seems).  There’s a trick though... if your opponent keeps recovering in the 
air, you can keep juggling, the limit only seems to apply if you don’t 
recover.  Also, instead of doing an immediate juggle, let the enemy touch 
the ground for a split second then juggle again, it will count as a ground 
hit and the limit gets reset.

RECOVERY	-

When you get hit and/or get tossed, like when you get juggled, you can 
recover and get upright by pressing PP.  You can attack or block or 
whatever, you’re recovered.  Sometimes this makes you open to attack so 
it’s up to you if you want to recover or not.

TAUNT	-

This is the fun part.  Press start and your character does a pose leaving 
you vulnerable.  What does it do?  Nothing!  It’s the ultimate insult!  
Unfortunately, you can only taunt once per battle, except for Dan who can 
taunt as much as he likes.  I think he still has his Super Taunt, which is 
not only super useless, it makes you vulnerable longer and even uses up the 
super meter, not to mention that it’s the most insulting thing you can do 
to your opponent.

*NOTE	-
If you’re a beginner, never do this to an expert, the person will beat the 
crap out of you!


BEGINNER TIPS	-------------------------------

- Chose a character that is easy to learn and has a good mix of priority 
and moves that will help you know the game better.  Examples of these 
characters are Charlie and Ryu (Oh no!  Not another Ryu player!  But 
that’s one of the best characters to learn with).  Charlie will 
introduce you to charge characters while Ryu will introduce you to... um...
non-charge characters.  Ryu is also the prime example of a Shoto 
character, everyone who has moves similar to him (like Akuma and Ken) is 
considered a Shoto.  There are too many Shoto players around already so 
you can ask just about anybody about Ryu and get good answers.
- Get to know what you can do and use them, the moves are there for a 
purpose.  Characters, such as Karin, who don’t have anti-air special 
moves (she does have an anti-air super) do have the crouching fierce 
which is also an anti-air and is quite effective.  All characters have 
some form of anti air attack.
- See what the computer does and duplicate them when you can, assuming 
what the computer does works.  Don’t duplicate stupidity (like getting 
hit).
- Tip on charge characters like Charlie, if you hold db, you charge both b 
and d, so you have the option of doing a Somersault ([DU] + K) or a 
Sonic Boom ([BF] + P).
- When you execute a Shoryuken type move (Shoryuken, Somersault, Tiger 
Blow, etc.), try to time it in such a way that you make the hit when the 
enemy is within close proximity.  Executing a Shoryuken and while the 
enemy is still high up is easily blockable.

GENERAL TIPS	-------------------------------

- Recovery after a teleport is long, attack right after a character 
teleports.
- Some characters fall for trips right after getting up, so long as you’re 
not crouching while they’re still down (ex. Birdie).
- Some characters are susceptible to attack after getting up, provided the 
move is not started during the getup itself (like the trips tip).
- The fireball walk.  Fire a projectile then walk towards enemy.  The 
enemy forgets the fireball because it focuses on your last action (the 
walking).
- Some characters are aggressive when near, use this to your advantage by 
executing a high priority move when the enemy is sure to attack.
- If your character has a projectile, throw it while the enemy is getting 
up if you’re not planning to do anything else.  It may not make a solid 
hit, but at least it does block damage and it pushes them farther a bit.  
With the addition of the guard meter, it does two things, block damage 
and decrease in the enemy’s guard meter, not to mention putting a little 
juice in your super meter.
- When you jump, specially at the enemy, block!  You’ll be surprised how 
many people forget they can air block and just take the hits.  If you’re 
using X mode or its variants, forget it, you can’t air block anyway.


ADON	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
His first move most of the time is the Jaguar Kick.  He blocks while he 
gets up so be careful when you’re planing a long recovery attack.  He’s 
aggressive when he’s near and throws all sorts of attacks, the problem is 
he has a long reach so short distance priority attacks miss.  The trick 
that works best for me is to fire projectiles when he’s far and block high 
when he’s half screen distance, block low when he’s within sweeping range, 
and block high then low if he jumps you.  Once you start blocking low, wait 
until he does something with slow recovery then trip him, this strategy 
sucks, but it’s the best I could do.  I hate this guy.

AKUMA	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
Use your air fireball, specially when you want to keep the enemy away and 
he’s/she’s a bit near.  You also have a teleport, use that too.  The 
Shoryuken has good priority.  Your red fireball hits three times and is a 
nice getup chipper.  The Raging Demon (jab, jab, f, short, fierce at 
maximum level) is your best super, unfortunately you’re very vulnerable 
when you execute it so time it right.

Playing against	-
Jumping him as the first move doesn’t work that well for me, I end up 
taking a Shoryuken.  Use air Hurricanes on him, he doesn’t use it (while in 
the air at least), and it beats his air kicks.  His Shoryuken has insane 
priority so block when he’s near then counter attack (he might throw 
though).  He’s very aggressive when near so I try high priority moves once 
in a while but he always seems to come out on top.  Trip when able and get 
away to try the air Hurricane again.  If you don’t have a Hurricane, tough 
luck.  Hit and run will be the best way to survive, he’s too dangerous 
close up.  On the ground, he sometimes does this Hurricane, which will land 
behind you, then Shoryuken... I hate that.  At least he doesn’t do the air 
fireball often.  Since he’s very aggressive, time your jumps to his 
fireballs, so you won’t be countered too easily.  Block when you jump, he 
will try to hit you out of it.  If you have a projectile, keep throwing it 
to keep him away, but stop when he starts jumping over them.  I hate 
fighting this guy.

BALROG	-------------------------------
Don’t know.

BIRDIE	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
If you manage to trip him, stand near him but outside his grab range, he 
will try to grab you, then trip him.  Do this over and over again.  Keep 
him away if you don’t plan on using the trip technique.  He can, at times, 
pass through medium to fast projectiles so just trip him when he does.  On 
slow projectiles, he tries to pass through but just takes it.  If he jumps 
vertically, chances are he’ll do the charging thing afterwards, which out 
can easily trip him out of.  Don’t get too close, his grabs and throws does 
a ton of damage and he can reach you in quite a distance.

BLANKA	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
I’ve seen people use his rolling forward attack as an anti-air and it 
works, but only if the enemy is close to the ground does it seem 
unblockable.

Playing against	-
Use the fireball walk, he jumps over it at times though.  He does the 
electricity thing when you jump on him blindly so be careful.  He combos to 
the rolling thing often so make sure to block up to that point.  If he 
keeps rolling back and reaches the corner, or keeps rolling back in the 
corner, he’s going to do the rolling thing after a few dashes.  You can 
anticipate this.  If you’re near him, you can trip him out of it.  He’s a 
sucker for a Shouoken right after getting up, I got him with five straight 
Shouokens using Sakura.  If you use a Ryu type character, do a Hurricane 
then follow up with a Shoryuken right after, he always falls for the 
Shoryuken.  His trip reaches far and he has this slide that goes under 
projectiles and trips.  If he keeps jumping side to side of you, trip him 
out of it.  Don’t take too long though ‘coz he’ll bite, and he bites bad.

CAMMY	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
The Cannon Spike is your best ally, it comes out really fast.  The problem 
is when you miss, you’re really open.  Her sweep is pretty good, it saves 
me from a lot of things.  If you get the enemy in a corner, the Cannon 
Spike can do wonders if you execute it after they get up.  If you can pull 
it off, the "Maximum Spider" ([db], df, db, uf + K at max level) can save 
you, the computer seems to just take things, it only blocked this once for 
me.

Playing against	-
Trip her.  She’ll do the Cannon Spike if you try to jump on her, specially 
while she’s getting up so it’s not a very good idea to jump her while 
getting up.  When you see her roll into a ball either get out of the way or 
hit her out of it, she will throw and it’s unblockable.

CHARLIE	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
Your best asset is the Somersault so learn to pull that off at will.  Use 
it when the enemy is about to hit you, not when they’re still high in the 
air, they can block it at that height.  If the enemy still blocks a short 
Somersault, try using his c.fierce.  His Super Somersault is tough to pull 
but it’s his best super and you have to learn this if you want to maximize 
his use.

Playing against	-
Continuous crouching shorts will force him to jump.  Yep, he always falls 
for it, he may hit you some, but he’ll fall for it again.  When he jumps 
(whether you forced him to or not), he either does a j.punch -> c.kick - > 
Somersault (if you did the low kick trick) or a j.punch -> c.kick -> Sonic 
Boom.  Block the combo or jump back before the jump hit lands then counter 
attack after the Somersault.  If you jumped back, you’ll need to get near 
to do damage unless you have a long range move, if you blocked, you can 
just trip.  You can also anti-air when he jumps, forced or not.  Watch your 
guard meter, blocking his set depletes it quite a bit.  He blocks when 
getting up so high risk attacks while he’s getting up is not a good idea.

CHUN-LI	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
Having the Kikkoken as an HCT + P while having the Rising Bird Kick as [DU] 
+ K could be a little strange and hard to manage for beginners.  The good 
thing is her speed and high priority on her heavy hits.  Her c.forward is 
very fast and is a good poke.  Her j.fierce has good priority, specially 
her c.roundhouse which seems to beat any other c.roundhouse.  The 
c.roundhouse can even be used as an anti air!  She also has a lot of 
overheads, but the computer is pretty sharp with those.  You can pretty 
much mix up her fierces and roundhouses and win just using those.

Little trick, when you corner the computer, be really close and charge db.  
When they get up, do a c.short -> Rising Bird Kick, land, repeat.  Some 
computers are smart enough to block, but others aren’t.

Playing against	-
Trip her when you can, specially right after she lands from jumping.  She 
uses overheads often so be careful with your blocks.  Jumping her should be 
done with care, she uses her Rising Bird Kick and Lightning Kick as anti-
airs and they work (against you).  This girl’s tough and fast.  She likes 
to low poke you and her trip has a high priority.

CODY	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Keep him away.  He can dodge projectiles and throws often.  He’s a sucker 
for Shoryukens after getting up. He’ll throw a rock at you often so you can 
anticipate that and jump him.  Don’t let him get too close or he’ll throw 
you, he often does.  The tornado thingy normally comes out in combos, 
either you got hit all the way or you blocked them all.  If he does the 
variable combo, he’ll get near and barrage you, just block for a while then 
stick out some crouching shorts.  

DAN	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
Not a good idea for beginners.  Experts know enough to make some use of 
him.

Playing against	-
You don’t need tips to fight this character.  If you can’t beat him, either 
play another time or find a new game.  No really, maybe this game is not 
for you.  Actually, he can out TRIP you at times.

*NOTE	-
If you really are a beginner, then let me tell you about Dan’s reputation...
HE SUCKS!!!  He sucks when you fight him.  He sucks when you use him.  
Everything about this character is a joke (CAPCOM designed him that way)!  
Okay, I think that’s descriptive enough.

DHALSIM	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Do anti-airs when he’s in the air, he jumps high and slow giving you enough 
time to figure it out.  Attack when recovering from teleport.  He can slide 
to trip you and it passes through projectiles but he doesn’t use it often, 
just be careful.  Don’t let him corner you or he’ll drill you with drills, 
else you can do a high priority move to stop him since he just keeps 
drilling you anyway.  Look out for the noogie!

DEE JAY (PS)	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
He may only be in the PlayStation version, but at least he’s back  For all 
you Dee Jay fans out there like me, it could be somewhat disappointing.  He 
lost his Blade Kick ([DU] + K), which is a shame because it was a good 
improvement for him in his short transition from SSF2 to SSF2T.  He does 
gain a Blade Kick super, though having the normal Blade Kick would’ve made 
things more complete.  His c.roundhouse still kinda works like an anti air, 
but I’d really rather have the Blade Kick back.  I hope things can still 
change for the better in the English PS version (yeah right, they lost the 
Revolution Disk for the English version of Rival Schools).

E. HONDA	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
He’s a sucker for fireballs.  I just kept throwing ‘em at him using Sakura 
and he just kept taking ‘em.  Tripping him once in a while works.  He likes 
to throw jumping opponents in the air and his Hundred Hands work like anti-
airs so take care when you jump him. When he does that quick vertical jump, 
block high because it’s an overhead.

FEI LONG (PS)	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
Bruce Lee is back!  The original Karin prototype is here with a vengeance!  
He gets a new super too, the Super Rising Dragon Kick.  It works like Ken’s 
Shinryuuken, which is good because that means it can hit ground opponents 
(unlike Karin’s kick super which is sort of strictly anti air).  And no, 
his Rekka Ken move is not like Karin’s, you have to do the motion three 
times to get the full thing, no variations (like Rolento’s Patriot Circle).  
I’ll have to make a double check on his hop kick’s and other pokes, but 
he’s pretty much the same in other aspects.  I’m glad he’s back.

GEN	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Without projectiles to force him to jump, he’s pretty tough to beat.  If he 
does jump, anti air him.  Jumping him is another issue though, his rising 
kick thing and his hundred hands thing works well against you.  He even 
pops his hundred hands thing out of nowhere, and you end up in the 
receiving end.  He has a lot of overheads and a long trip range, he’ll be 
using all sorts of stuff to poke you so be careful in blocking.  Some of 
those moves move him forward and so have a long delay, you can get him 
then.  He pops his supers out of the blue, like his hundred hands thingy, 
so just take care.

GUY	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
He will always run to you and will either slide or do a flying kick after 
the run.  Keep him away with fireballs.  He’s vulnerable while running, 
that’s why the projectiles work.  He’s very aggressive when near.  Has a 
lot of overheads.  He’s a sucker for Shoryukens after... hell you know what I 
mean by now.  If you have a projectile, just stay away and watch him take 
‘em.  If he gets close, trip or do a high priority move then get away.  If 
you don’t have a projectile, just block his moves then trip or something.

JUNI & JULI	-------------------------------

They will fight you at the same time, and they don’t share one life bar, 
they have their own so you technically have to beat them both.  It gets 
confusing when they’re both alive.  After some time, one or both are going 
to do some charge thing, you can get them then, but don’t wait for that 
before you attack, they don’t do it all the time.  The good thing about 
fighting these two is that they don’t seem to block, so just keep hitting 
them with anything you have and don’t let them surround you, you might have 
trouble blocking, not to mention get a taste of their cool super.

KARIN	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
She has no anti-air move (aside from that super), but she does a simple 
uppercut that’s pretty effective so don’t jump her blindly or as she gets 
up... she uses that uppercut often.  She always attacks anyway and her 
attacks are in sets (mostly because her main moves work in sets) and/or 
have long delays.  Tripping her after blocking the sets is the easy way to 
go, she hardly throws you.  Attack her after her getup.  She’s aggressive 
when near, and open to a lot of mistakes.  She’s known to have her anti air 
super in X mode as well as her punch super, I don’t know how come, but she 
does.

KEN	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
If you love Shoryukens, this is the guy to use.  Beginners may find it 
difficult at first, but if you can pull off the Shoryuken at will, this is 
the guy to use.  It comes out fast, has high priority. it’s simply his best 
move.  Use it often, but don’t be predictable when fighting human 
opponents.

Playing against	-
Keep him away.  He will always want to get near and he packs a whollop when 
he gets there.  He does three Shoryukens in a row at times, so when he does 
two in a row, he’ll probably do a third.  Counter attack after blocking 
when near.  His Shoryuken has a very high priority and he’ll use it as 
often as he can.

M. BISON	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
I suggest you play extremely defensively and safely when he has a full 
super.  Don’t jump too much until he uses the super up.  Nothing can 
counter his super and it has the best priority, you can’t air block it 
either.  After he does it, then it’s safe to be offensive again.  Attack 
him after teleports (or the super), throw him if it hurts more than some of 
your normal moves.  Watch out for his slide, for some reason he recovers 
from the slide fast enough that he gets to block your trips.  If he just 
crouches in one place for a while, he’s going to throw a projectile.  
Anticipate this, it’s probably one of your best and safest hitting 
opportunities.  No easy way to beat him, the guy has insane priority in 
almost all moves.

R. MIKA	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Trip her just outside her grab range as she gets up, just like Birdie. 
She’s aggressive when she’s near and tries to slide you often, good thing 
her slides don’t trip.  Yep, she likes low attacks.  She has this head butt 
thing that’s a good anti-air and she uses that often.  She’s pretty easy to 
out hit.

ROLENTO	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
He will jump attack at you all the time, just wait for it then anti-air or 
trip him, just don’t block low when he jumps... those air batons are 
overheads.  He does the Patriot Circle three times in a row, so block them 
all first before counter attacking.

ROSE	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Trip when able, specially right after she lands from jumping.  She can do 
her anti-air throw so time your jumps.  Attacks right after she gets up are 
often blocked.  She slides quite a bit, but it doesn’t trip so you trip her 
afterwards.  She normally hits more than once so don’t be too eager to trip 
her after getting hit, wait for a good delay.  Even if she blocks after 
getting up, it seems she’s not to bright with near f + fierce.  I used 
Sakura and just did that f + fierce over and over whenever she got up, and 
it hit her pretty consistently.

RYU	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
If Ken is Mr. Shoryuken, Ryu is Mr. Hadoken.  Almost everybody knows how to 
play Ryu, making him a kind of generic character.  Personally, I’m starting 
to get tired of seeing Ryu vs. Ryu fights.  Beginners will have to learn to 
use him though, he’s still one of the best overall characters.  

As a side note, many people think Ryu and Ken play the same... I beg to 
differ.  Ken’s Hurricane does multiple hits while Ryu’s only does one.  Ken 
does the two to three hits with his Shoryuken more consistently, aside from 
a slightly larger hit range (he should, he’s Mr. Shoryuken).  A very slight 
speed advantage on Ken’s part and power advantage on Ryu’s part.  I dunno, 
I can’t play Ryu as well as I do Ken.  It makes a big difference to me.

Playing against	-
Treat him like Akuma, really aggressive and knows when to use that darn 
Shoryuken with insane priority.  He will do fireballs often so you can 
anticipate that, but not as often as Sagat does.

SAKURA	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
If you haven’t noticed it yet, most of my examples deal with using Sakura 
(aside from Ken/Akuma/Ryu).  Using her needs a little getting used to since 
her moves may be "similar" to the Shotos but the priority and usage is very 
different.  Her best move, and weakness, is her Shouoken.  It’s priority is 
different from the normal Shoryuken in that you are very vulnerable at its 
start.  It moves forward, which is good for catching up with far enemies, 
but it also produces lag time.  The good thing about it is it does good 
damage and, if you use the jab or strong version, the enemy gets juggled 
you can hit them with it again.  I normally hit them with the strong 
version, then I hit them twice more with it because they get juggled.  This 
method does more damage than using the fierce version which can only be 
done once.

Playing against	-
Her set is typically a j.fierce -> c.strong -> Senkiyaku.  Sometimes she 
just goes for the Senkiyaku, no combo.  If she does a c.forward she’ll 
always follow up with a Shouoken (c.forward -> Shouoken).  If she does a 
c.strong, she follows up with a Senkiyaku (c.strong -> Senkiyaku, like her 
normal set).  If she keeps firing Hadokens at you just block them, she will 
do her set again eventually.  The best time to get her is after a Senkiyaku 
or after a Shouoken, she has a long recovery time after these (the recovery 
after a Senkiyaku is slightly faster though).  You can anti-air her 
j.fierce or the Senkiyaku (which needs a higher priority anti air) if you 
feel like it, but sticking to blocking until a Shouoken or a Senkiyaku 
before attacking is the easier way to go.  She will stick to her set, don’t 
worry.

SAGAT	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
When he is cornered and getting up, be about one to one and a half 
character distance and do a Jab Hadoken -> (Jab or Strong) Shoryuken.  Trip 
if the Shoryuken misses until he takes it and repeat.  His first move every 
round is High Tiger Shot so duck.  Trip when able.  Anticipate the Tiger 
Shots, that’s what he does all of the time anyway, then jump attack.  He 
will Tiger Blow jumpers so block when you jump then trip him as he lands.  
He normally blocks after getup moves then retaliates, that’s why the 
Hadoken (which is blocked) -> Shoryuken (whose high priority ideally 
counters his attack) works.

SHENG LONG	-------------------------------

He still doesn’t exist.

SODOM	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
His set is jump -> throw or jump -> Jitte Slice.  Anti-air him when he 
jumps or wait after he attempts to throw then attack (you have to be a bit 
away or else you will be thrown, otherwise you should have attacked him 
while he was trying the throw).  Trip, specially right after he lands (he 
will try to do the throw, so trip him before he does).  If he kicks you, 
he’ll follow it up with something (ex. s.kick -> Jitte Slice)so block or 
get out of the way.

T.  HAWK (PS)	-------------------------------

Playing with	-
He gets a new super, something to do with his thunderbird attack.  I’ll 
have to see it again to make sure what it looks like.  I don’t play him 
much (or at all) but I’ll try to figure out some more stuff on him.

VEGA	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Trip after he slides, wait for him to slide because you probably won’t be 
able to beat his poking.  If you block his rolling attack thingy, you’ll 
probably be outside trip range, it pushes you away quite a bit.  Since he 
keeps jumping try to anti-air, but if your anti-air has low priority don’t 
try it when he springs from the wall.  He’s the fastest character in the 
game and he likes to poke you, you can’t out hit him with slow moves, you 
probably won’t reach him either, so either do high priority stuff when he’s 
near or block and wait for the slide, he’ll do it after a few pokes.  
Awfully aggressive and because of his long reach, you’re the one out of 
range all the time.  Try to trip him when he jumps from side to side of 
you, but it’s tough to time ‘coz he’s too fast.

ZANGIEF	-------------------------------

Playing against	-
Wait for him to come within his jump attack distance then do a c.kick.  
He’ll do a jump hit where you can anti air him.  I usually do the simple 
anti airs, like a standing fierce.  Sometimes you can use the trick on 
Birdie on him, but usually I come up with only four sweeps before he 
figures it out, still, it makes a lot of difference.

His Spinning Clothesline has a very high priority, and it also works as an 
anti-air move.  He can get close even with your projectiles trying to get 
him because of that glowing hand thingy and the Spinning Clothesline (which 
passes through projectiles)  He blocks after getting up and you can’t stay 
near because he will throw (or grab) you.  He’s a real toughie if you don’t 
use the pattern against him.


CHARACTERS WHICH I FIND DIFFICULT TO BEAT	-------------------------------

Adon	-
I really don’t understand this character, his patters are all screwed up.  
He does that rising knee thing which is a good anti-air, and he has good 
reach, which you can’t counter unless you time it well.  I wonder if he’s 
really dumb enough to do those high attacks that miss when the player is 
crouching at point blank range...

Akuma	-
Fighting this guy sucks.  His Shoryuken has an insane priority and he will 
throw you whenever he can.  He’s ultra aggressive and knows when to do the 
hits.

M. Bison	-
It’s a given, he’s a boss.  Sometimes you think you’re getting the upper 
hand then he does that insane super Psycho Crusher and turns the tides 
instantly.  He doesn’t have that super when you use him, even if you choose 
his X mode, I think it’s because the boss version is called Shin M. Bison 
(True M. Bison).

Ryu	-
He fights like Akuma, what more is there to know.  The only redeeming 
factor that makes fighting this guy "slightly" easier is that he doesn’t 
have that Raging Demon and that he just loves throwing those fireballs, 
which is to your advantage.

Zangief	-
He has his ways of getting near, the Spinning Clothesline has high 
priority, and he does a ton of damage.  He’s pretty smart in blocking too.  
If you don’t use the technique I mentioned above, he’s pretty tough.  Even 
if you do, if you mess up he’ll throw you and the tides change.


THANKS	-------------------------------

John Lange (jlange@vt.edu) for the info on Karin’s second X super and her 
set.
Jaime Uy for letting me play with his PlayStation, not to mention teaching 
me how to play the game long ago (ahhh... the good old SSF2T days).  He 
still beats me up until now.


Thank you for reading!