Some slight progress and thoughts

Hey all,

So on the subject of c.mk xxx hado, 35 ms between the first forward input and the final punch input is over-complicating the matter. To do this move effectively you simply have to hold the down input longer to reset the forward input. So after the c.mk hits the ankle of the opponent I cancel into fireball and it works every time. It's not something that is automatic yet, but it will be with some time and practice. Like any combo in SF4 its hard until the timing becomes second nature.

On another topic, I've been losing online a lot. I don't make it very far in championship mode even though most everyone says my Ryu is "solid". This comes down to patience, also lack of experience with the character. I still feel more comfortable using dhalsim and have more success with him I think because he isn't as widely used. I was fighting someone today using Sim, and it was down to that point in the match where we both had small amounts of health in the third round and were sitting at full screen distance. Instead of really gunning for the kill I tried to gut it out and wait for my opportunities. It required a little bit of guess work as I can be lp shoryukened randomly at any given time, but I managed to pull it out. This got me thinking that I need to learn this kind of patience with Ryu, and the only way I can do that is to become as comfortable and feel as confident in that situation. Watching some match vids of myself I've noticed that I spend a good majority of my time avoiding the close confrontation instead of pushing for it and pressuring my opponent with spacing. I'm afraid of having to react to a jump in or being punished for whiffing a poke and generally I just feel vulnerable at close ranges. If you watch top Ryu players they are all sitting roughly just outside or at c.mk range as much as possible. I am going to make a conscious effort to stay at this range as much as possible, getting comfortable with poking and anti-airing on reaction.

One more quick thing... I'm not really too sure what my ultimate goal is with Street Fighter. I would like become really good at the game, but I don't think I can ever reach a top 8 at Evo tier, or even a top 3 in Southern Virginia tier based on the amount of time I have to play vs. the amount of time it takes to compete at that level. The other thing working against me is that the majority of my practice is done online. I've competed in three tournaments as dhalsim. The first one was very casual and I did better than I expected to do. The second one was vaguely a tournament it was more of a "Bar Fights", but I held my own there... and the third.. well, I don't like to talk about the third. It was brutal. All in all though, when I'm at these tournaments I feel a bit "old" shall we say. I don't know anyone there, I'm not very good at the game in comparison to the majority of the other participants, and I think I've had maybe one conversation with someone at the three events combined. Its not really that I'm anti-social, its more that I'm slightly embarrassed at how bad/new I am. It's my first fighting game, and for most of these guys, its their tenth. How do I step into this kind of scene where people all have known each other for years. How do I just go hang out at some random dudes house for some casuals if I get nearly double perfected at a tournament? I don't know, some people are better at that sort of thing. I know its what I need to improve though, so maybe I will try to make an effort. It's just very hard to do for me after making such poor showings. Back to my goal for all of this though, honestly, I just want to see how good I can become over time. I will only ever be as good as my competition, but perhaps I can transcend my local competition one day if I can actually get the nerve up to overcome my embarrassment and learn something. I would like very much to overcome execution barriers and just play the game. Once I'm to the point where I'm doing 90% of the things I would like to be doing on purpose I'll feel like I've stepped over a big hurdle.

That's all for now, take it easy folks.