Well guys here is the Q&A #9 Podcast style that me and Gootecks did.

Q&A Podcast

Hope you guys enjoy it and send more questions to my email!!!!

Well its been over a month of living in the State of California.  It’s pretty awesome and I been doing most of my SFIV gaming at Family Fun Arcade.  A good guy name StriderZerO has recorded some vids of the Friday night arcade casuals.  Here is his youtube page to watch some of that action. Besides me, Marn and FlashMetroid were also part of the Family Fun Arcade night for this past Friday that just past.

JWonggg- SF4 He also has other vids containing to the local Marvel vs Capcom 2 players at the arcade.

People should also be buying the new installment of the Versus series, Tatsunoko vs Capcom!!!! GOGOGO Its a fun and creative game and I will be playing a lot of it. Expect some match vids and tutorials soon.

If you guys are wondering about the podcast for the Q&A. It is done!!! Gootecks is just editing it before releasing it online. I will put it on my site once I get it!!

Since the q&a takes alot of my time and all.  I will be answering these questions from a podcast, powered by Gootecks.  He will be asking the questions that you guys send to my justinwong@empirearcadia.com email and I will be answering them on a podcast that can be downloaded on www.gootecks.com and this site.

The only bad thing about this is that the podcast will be done bi-weekly instead of weekly.

Dj Kruze Question
Hey, I kind of have a stupid question, but what exactly is “option select” and why is it useful to learn?  I constantly hear good fighters talk about option select when playing SF4 but I have no clue what they’re talking about.

JWonggg Answer
Option select is a term to give yourself 2 options on a mixup.  For example: If you knock down Bison with Ryu crouching roundhouse, and you jump towards him and press Roundhouse, you input a shoryuken during the roundhouse frame.  Two things could happen, he blocks the roundhouse and the shoryuken won’t come out because he blocked it so you stay in the air for that split moment or he wakes up and does a ex psycho crusher.  If he does the ex crusher, the roundhouse will whiff which forces you to land quicker and the shoryuken will come out to punish the crusher before it passes you.  You can do that in many other situations and it is definitely useful to learn in high level play.

Roger Pero Question
I have been playing on HAPP sticks for many years and I have recently picked up a TE arcade stick. Many motions that I am comfortable with on HAPP I can hardly do on the Sanwa joysticks, particularly dragon punches. Since you have played at CTF for many years and can obviously play on Sanwa just as well, do you have any advice for switching from American parts to Japanese parts?

JWonggg Answer
Well I hated Japanese parts with a passion back then but the more I play on it, the better I got with it.  The best advice is when you use Japanese parts, just be more gentle so a lot of moves won’t come out by accident.

James Mcmillan Question

First off, Blanka is a difficult match-up for most of the characters I use. What are

his weaknesses? I use Chun-Li and Viper mostly, but I also use Rose, E. Honda and

Rufus.  Second, any pointers on doing Viper’s cancels or Chun-Li and E. Honda’s rapid button

press moves into combos? I’m still learning Viper and recently picked up E. Honda.

My issue is mostly with Chun-Li’s Hard Trial 2. I also have issues with combos that

require a crouching -> standing motion in those Trial modes.

JWonggg Answer

Blanka gives Chun-Li/Rose a problem but not too much on Viper, Honda, Rufus.  If you have Chun, you can’t throw fireballs you have to rely on your strong pokes like st.mp and cr.rh.  With Rose, it’s the same but you have to use cr.mp or st.rh.  With Honda, he could just sit there and press cr.lp and punish the ball with headbutts.  And Rufus just has to knock him down and then stay on top of him, he needs meter to get out and you have a lot of life to afford the ex upballs.  Viper cancels, you basically need to do it from slow to fast.  Work with the jab knuckle into the cancel, you have more time to cancel that move then the strict timing of the fierce knuckle.  Also for the rapid button moves, try to slide your fingers from jab to fierce and fierce to jab real fast and they should come out no problem.

Iam Embry Question
Okay lately i’ve been playing online championship mode and of course have been dealing with a lot of Ryu, Ken, and Sagat. I already know about jumping straight up till they come to you and heavy messiah kick over the fireballs. So I need a new technique to beat them and I see that you can beat them so I was hoping if you could help an aspiring Rufus player beat the Shoto Spammers.

JWonggg Answer
Well you have the right strategy, but the only other option I can give you is to use the fierce galatic tornado to get closer and it also breaks the fireball.  Also Rufus is a character that you need to take more risk.

Josh H Question
What are some good ways as Rufus to break a Ryu’s zone, other than faking dive kicks midscreen. Perhaps a better questions is, how do you approach the Ryu matchup and breaking the zone?. As Rufus what do you do to stop people from backdashing out of dive kick pressure? Especially Chun.  Are there any Rufus option selects you use?

JWonggg Answer
The best way is to take more jumping risk and walk forward and jumping straight up.  People are always scared of Rufus getting close. If they backdash, they get hit by the dive kick usually and from there you can just start the mixup again.  For Chun, you should just let her backdash and walk her to the corner because it gives you more options to break her and her only way out from there is the ex SBK.  There is no universal option select with Rufus, its on specific characters.  For example:  If you backthrow Viper, and you jump fierce, if she does EX Seismo you can dive kick into a free combo.

Creed Diskennth Question
I’ve been a big fan of DFO ever since the early access beta. After learning that you play the game, I want the champion himself to enlighten us on some issues! So here goes: What’s your take on the North American Dungeon Fighter’s top 3 classes (with the level cap since we know Korea’s tier list)? Why? Are you running into any problems? How are you going to fix them? Your main is the Striker right? Why did you pick it, and how is it working out for you? Do you like this “different” direction DFO is heading, or would you prefer the exact same game as our asian brethren? Lastly, your top 3 most influential anime?

JWonggg Answer
Well I do play DFO and I don’t know a lot about the game except that people complain about Gunnars in PVP and that the Striker/Monk are really good.  I actually enjoy the game and I think the game is perfect the way from I see it.  My top 3 most influential anime is Code Geass, Law of Ueki, and Full Metal Alchemist.

Kevin S Question
So my question is: do you think with the very limited information I gave you (sorry), I should put in lots of training to get natural at quickly doing many half circle commands to play Dudley well, or do you think with an even greater amount of training, Urien would be more enjoyable for me to play?  Or, do you have any wild suggestions for other characters with good zoning and rushdown games (I played Akuma a very long time ago, but his low stun and health got the best of me pretty often)?  I don’t mind an uphill battle with low tier characters (I usually play claw in SF4 despite having an easier time winning with Rufus), so feel free to suggest something like Twelve if you think he would fit me from what I’ve told you.  Oh yeah, and what was your favorite class in King of Dragons?  I was always partial to the 2p Cleric + Wizard combo.

JWonggg Answer
I think in 3s the most fun characters in the game are Dudley, Urien, Yang.  Dudley would be the best bet because he doesn’t really rely on one move like Urien aegis is.  So you can utilize everything that Dudley have to your arsenal.  But you can use Deejay in SSF4 at least and

I always use the wizard in King of Dragons, I feel like he was the coolest.

Radyan B Question
I’m maining Boxer and I really have problem with Gief matchup especially against Gief’s lariat.  I have no problem if I’m not in the corner since I can use some airplay to hit Gief while spinning, but in the corner it is almost impossible to jump. I tried jumping, using headbutt, and c.HK but Gief during lariat seem untouchable by Boxer from close range. Sometime I tried waiting till he stops spinning, but then his throws seems faster than my headbutt. Any tips to solve this kind of situation?

JWonggg Question
Your best bet is to EX Headbutt, it always beats out the lariat.

EkshtrimSama  question
I’m a SF IV player from the Israeli community. We have a small fighting games scene here [SF ST/3s/4, MvC2, Tekken, GG/BB etc]. I was wondering if you could tip us about helping our scene
- We have about… 100+- players that play fighting games “seriously”, which is a pretty low number. How can we get new “serious players”? [We have quite alot of people owing at least 1 fighting game [Usually Tekken/SF/SC] but most of them are casuals and don’t take the game too seriously
- Local matches are a problem. We barely have any arcades, and most of them barely have any fighting game cabinets, and even if they have, they’re old games [Usually SC2/T3 etc. The newest Fighting game cabinet I know of is T5]. Some of the players are organizing casual matches every week at someone’s house, but we need a better frequency and location. Do you have any ideas for ideal places? [I was thinking about trying to "convince" an arcade to import a new game cabinet or at least open a "console spot" but I have no idea if this is even going to work]. Due to being a small country, we at least can play online as “offline like” [At least on SF IV PC] but we agreed this isn’t enough for actual training and improving and we need more locals as well
- Sponsoring. As I’ve already said, this scene isn’t well known, but how can we try and get sponsors?
- In your opinion, which fighter is the most balanced? [Any gen]

JWonggg Answer
The best way to get a bigger scene is to run more tourneys at a ideal location where people can get too easily and if you want to try to get sponsors, you should fly to the USA and compete and if you guys do good, then it would be a lot easier to get known and more famous.  You should try to convince your local arcade to get a cabinet for your players.  An arcade always bring people together and I think the most balanced fighter would be Third Strike since many characters are used.

Harald E Skatvedt Question

If you play against someone you have no experience with, and you need to adapt to the way he plays a character, what is your advice for this process? Playing someone a lot, gives you time to analyze their playstyle, figure out their gimmicks and figuring out how to counter what the other player is throwing at you. But how can I speed up this process? To be able to compete at a high level in tournaments where you don’t have ample time, this is pretty much essencial, and I wonder if sharing how you approach a new player might point me in the right direction.

JWonggg Answer
The best way is too think of what would you do if you were that character.  If you are maining Ryu and you were fighting a Sagat, you should think if I was the Sagat player what would I do if I was fighting against the Ryu Player.

Wilken K

First, thanks for your attention and please ignore my english mistakes, ‘cuz its not my native language.
I have some random questions for you:
1. What is P-link and double tapping, and how to do them?
2. I’m having trouble in the Blanka – Cammy match-up, her spiral arrow have more priority than my beat roll and, sometimes, when we trade damage, she aways win, how to proceed?
3. I’ve heard that japanese players are better than US players in Street Fighter, but worse in Marvel Vs. Capcom, is that true? And why?
4. Why all those main character trades in SF4? And what is your favorite SF title?

JWonggg Answer
P-Linking and double tapping helps you with your combo timing.  P-linking is hitting 2 buttons at a very fast consecutive pace and double tapping is basically hitting 1 button 2 times at a very fast consecutive pace.  Blanka vs Cammy, you need to mainly focus on your poking normals such as cr.mp and st.mp because her normals are really bad so you should take advantage of that.  Japanese players as a whole are better than the US players because they have a bigger SF scene than us and not as distant as the US.  My favorite SF Title is SF4.

Chiloo Question
My question relates to how you have your control buttons configuration set up on the arcade stick.  Im fairly new to the arcade stick and im convinced that in time i will master it just as i mastered the playstation 3 pad.  im still learning the stick but i was curious in how a pro like you have your buttons so i can begin to practice like you.  I know it seems silly but i thought i’d just ask.  Also, do you have any other tips for players like me who are in the process of switching from pad to stick?

JWonggg Answer
I have my stick on default and the best tip I can give you to switch from pad to stick is that you have to be more delicate on the joystick.

Justin Chen Question

When you play c viper, when you high-jump flame kick crossup what motion do you swing the stick in? Do you feel like east coast tekken players can beat out beastly west coast tekken players like MYK, naps, and ricky?

JWonggg Answer
I do the motion from down to downback to back and press whatever kick button I use for the mixup.  I think the WC has more players than the EC tekken players but some of the EC Tekken players can possibly overtake the WC.

Dani F Question

I’am from spain and I have the best honda in my country I can win a lot of games but, I can’t win againts one type of boxer If the boxer plays with combos, attacks, defends, normal play, I can win, but if the boxer plays on the corner and only use the c.hp I can’t win because
all atacks of honda are neutralized, he only defens and wait that, i attack, he use c.lp (punch me all) I go to oicho he use the head and win oicho my answer is, what can I do for win a this boxer? (i lose in ALL tournament againts him, only againts him and I am frustated at all)

JWonggg Answer
This match is very stalemate.  Whoever gets the lead is usually the one with the big advantage for winning.  If you have the lead, I would say you head to the corner, but if he does you need to try to get him to press buttons or something.  Use your st.rh to outpoke him and walking up cr.jab helps also.

Glenn Z Question

Who would you say is best at fighting Sagat in this game (besides the obvious choices, Sagat/Akuma/Ryu)? Who goes 4.5-5.5 with one-eyed Willy and why?

JWonggg Answer
I would also say Viper, Abel, Bison, Chun Li, Blanka.  Because they have tools to use to get past the fireball spam and locking sagat down in the corner due to his slow mobility.

Glenn Question

Hey I play C.Viper and I am aware that most of the top viper players in the world use a cross up off the floor w/o even really jumping (usually on wake up). If you know how to do this can you shed some knowledge please.

JWonggg Answer
You have to do the motion on the ground and then hit up/forward or up/back and press the kick button you desire.  I usually use roundhouse for the cross up.

Filipe Question
I want to know what do you use/recommend when doing combos that end at doing a srk. Take Ryu’s clk, clp, HP SRK for example, do you recommend going from down to neutral and then f, d, df + HP or using the shortcut going from down to df, d, df + HP? When I try to do it without shortcuts I usually get a super if available.

JWonggg Answer
I do it the old fashion  way but the only way you get super is if you jerk the motion too fast and the game counts it as a super instead.

Zero Lee Question
As a Ryu player I find that if I can’t keep Rufus out, I get destroyed by his dive kicks and mixup games.  A game with Marn showed me that I have no idea what to do.  If I’m under this pressure what are my best options to free myself or at least break some of the rushdown?

JWonggg Answer
Rufus offense is crazy and once he gets close, people panic in general.  But as Ryu you can either take the risk of doing a SRK or if you know he is going to divekick, you can press st.jab to beat the divekick out.

Michael Merchant
Hey. Its iNerd again. I have a HUGE problem with teching throws. I swear im teching them and i always keep getting thrown. Is there anyway to practice teching throws or get better at throw techs?

JWonggg Answer
That is usually the case in general but if you want to practice at breaking throws, just press the throw break from a crouching position everytime after you block a move.  Think of it like a pushblock.

Juan Garcia

Hi Justin my name is Juan and i´m from Spain. I have two questions for you in relation to Street fighter IV. My main is Sagat and I have a question in relation to him.  What do you think about  Sagat, I mean I have met people online who are all the time complaining saying that he is very overpowered and things like that. On the one hand I could admit that he is one of the strongest  but he also has great weaknesses like his low moves….What is your opinion about him? And finally my second question is in relation to your online gameplay. Do you play SFIV on Xbox or Ps3 and have you lost against many people? Thanks in advance man.

JWonggg Answer
Sagat is the best character in the game.  He doesn’t need low moves because he prefers to fight you from full screen with his tigershots in general .  He is usually the defensive type of character.  I play on XBOX and I don’t really lose to a lot of people unless I dick around with a random character.

Eric Question
I main Fei Long and was wondering if you had any good tips on getting down Fei’s redicously hard links after MK/HK Chickenwing into the rekkas or standing HP. Ive completed all the Fei Long trials but i still have trouble when i chickenwing online, try to link to rekkas after cr. lp and end up getting DP’d. Any tips on this situation?Also, I live in New York and was wondering if there was a website which posted all local tournaments around the 5 boroughs so i can get some experience. Or is there some that happen on a weekly basis that your aware of?

JWonggg Answer
The best way to combo after the chicken wing is p-linking with the fierce.  So press fierce and then strong at a fast pace to get the link out easier.  There are usually tournaments bi-weekly in Brooklyn called battlefield arcadia.  Look it up at SF4ANSWERS.COM

Randumbcat Question

What are your thoughts on Gouken overall? Have you experimented with him? What do you think his weaknesses are? Do you think his parry compensates enough for his lack of a wake up game? The more I play him, the more I think he DOESN’T need changes. Only thing I would change is his horrid tatsu. Just wanted your thoughts. and btw, DFO is fun.

JWonggg Answer
I think Gouken is a very unique character.  I don’t really play with him but his weaknesses are that he has a very weak reversal and wake up game.  I think his parry isn’t that good since its easily baitable.

FoxHawk Question

Is there a bona fide use for Chun Li's forward + mk that isn't better served by another move?

JWonggg Answer
Lol there is no real good use for that move at all actually…

Tony Le Question
Without giving away too much of your trade secrets, what are some “diagnostics” you run If you are playing against a new person with which you never played before? I was just wondering how the pros test tendencies of say, wakeup throw, wakeup block, wakeup DP, blocks high too much, blocks low too much etc . etc

JWonggg Answer
Well I usually test it out from knocking them down.  I always rush like crazy until I see a desperate DP or a wakeup DP and from there I can tell if they are going to do it frequently or not.  But mainly you want to test it out by knocking your opponent down and what not.

Aldy K Question
I am a Ryu player. I wanna ask how do you auto-correct a shoryuken if your opponent crosses you up (with normal attacks and also cross-up tatsu)?Also, Chris Hu said that reaction can be trained, I thought the only way is to have as many matches as you can but apparently he said you can actually train it. Can you give me inputs how to train reaction in SF4?

JWonggg Answer
Auto-Correct DP is doing the same motion but doing the motion later than usual so the game allows your body to turn around in time but the motion is still the same.  Reactions can be trained by playing more of a ground game so you can make people whiff and see if you can punish the whiff attack with your reaction.

Alex Question

Can you suggest what options as a Ryu player do i have against characters that seem to have a looping combo. For example i have been playing a couple of Sagat and Bison players who seem to be able to keep looping their combos. For Sagat its something like short, short, jab, tiger knee, repeat and similarly with Bison only substituting the tiger knee with Scissor kick; how can i punish this and hence make them think twice on constantly repeating.  Similarly when playing against boxer doing jab, jab, short, overhead, short, headbut, Ultra, but sometimes mixing it up. Since it doesnt cost them any ex they can just keep repeating until they catch you with the headbutt and all they have to do is catch you once and its massive damage. Keeping on topic, here in Aus i dont get to play many Boxers can you break down on his rush (TAP etc) options which are punishable on blockand which arent, and of those that are what are my options. Sometimes you cant punish with DP and may need to link it from a forward. Also which are you able to FA absorb.

JWonggg Answer
Against Sagat’s tigerknee trap you can SRK before the tigerknee hits you.  With Bison it’s a little different, he can keep doing the scissor kick trap on him but once he does a certain amount he goes away.  Against Balrog,if you block the overhead, you can fierce SRK it on block.  And all his rush options are safe except for the overhead and a deep blocked rush straight which you can DP on block.  You can absorb or rushes except for the gut punch, overhead, and his TAP.

Ryan Question

As a Ken player, I feel a definite disadvantage against the other shotos.
First, Ryu: When Ryu gets his ultra meter up, it destroys any chance of attacking by air (because of his ultra set-up). I can’t throw a haudoken, because that leaves me open to it, as well. I don’t know how to approach him. What I try to do, and the only thing I can think of, is to attempt to tease it out of him by hitting light punch (nervous players will sometimes fall for this). Anyway, what can I do against Ryu players who have their ultras up?
Second, Akuma:Every time I play against Akuma, I have to switch to Cammy to get under his amazing zoning done with the air-fireballs (her cannon drill gets her under them and punishes). With Ken, however, I don’t know how to get past his zoning. Normally, to throw players off, I’ll do a quick jump air tatsu, but then Akuma lands and recovers in time that he can punish . What in the world do I do?

JWonggg Answer
Basically you are right by not jumping and throwing fireballs, the best way is to walk up close and poking with your f-+mk and cr.mk for poking.  Those are your main solutions.  Against Akuma you basically do the same thing with the whole advance forward and f+mk and crouching mk and your able to throw more ground fireballs.

Patrick A Question
I am a fairly decent Ryu player, and I’m having trouble against Balrog. The type of Balrog that I have trouble against are those that are content to just sit back and wait. I can’t c.mk their dash punches on reaction, it’s always a guess, and I can’t beat out his insane c.lp. My question is: What do I do against that type of Balrog.

JWonggg Answer

If they want to sit back and wait then just throw fireballs.  Balrog has to come to you no matter what.  I prefer using cr.mp to stuff the dash punches.

Andy Question

I main chun-li and I’m currently struggling against characters like Blanka and Bison. My main problem with Blanka are the rolls, I don’t seem to know how to punish them, and Bison’s scissor kicks leave me continually blocking and if I try to punish, often times it misses or it gets countered or I get thrown. I’m not quite sure what to do about the ground pressure game for both characters, and as you play a great Chun-li I was wondering whether you had any ideas on how I could start punishing these moves? Anything would be great.

JWonggg Answer
Your best option is to store super and ultra.  That is how you punish the blanka balls and what not.  And against scissor kicks once you block the first rep you can cr.jab before he starts it up again.  And remember to poke a lot with you st.mp

Abner F Question
First of all, I have a very specific question about a match you had here in Brazil. It was against Brazil’s MvC2 top player Carlos, a.k.a. FighterBro. What was the outcome of those matches? Did you win, you lose?  Also, regarding SF4; I am an Akuma Player. I am having some trouble against Dhalsim for the most part because he can hit and run for big damage, and I can’t punish him correctly. Most of the time, he punishes me for my attempt to jump in with b+RH, which deals big damage, Teleports out of DemonFlip setups, and just Yoga Tower my fireballs. I can make a comeback when I manage to get close enough to apply pressure, but that’s what it is to it. I just need new ways to approach a very experienced and good Dhalsim Player.

JWonggg Answer
Well he did decent against me but I was only allowed to play sent/storm/capcom against his cable/sent/commando so it was a little more difficult but I won a lot more.  You can approach with air fireballs to stop his anti air and also if he teleports you can use your sweep to punish.

Steve L Question
I love what you’re doing with your blog. Anyways, I’m a Blanka player, I have an incredibly hard time against Boxer. If boxer stays defensive it nearly seems impossible to get in. I can’t exactly roll, I get punched out if i jump at him, i can’t just walk/hop in on him because he’s faster than me, some of my strings is beaten out because boxer is just so fast, i can try to FA him and dash back hoping i can get him to react but that only works seldomly and if i guess wrong i get punished even harder. My best strategy which doesn’t really work well is really to run away from him make him move forward so I can roll at him and he doesn’t have charge to punish me back and i hope that i either trade blows or he takes chip damage.. but even that doesn’t work well when i react to the wrong movement. I know this is probably one of Blanka’s worst match up but it’s beginning to feel too hard. Any suggestions?

JWonggg Answer
The best option is not to use the blanka ball when he is walking forward because he can have enough charge to punish the ball.  Your best option is to just focus on your st.mp and cr.mp pokes to abuse on balrog from a mid range.  It may be boring but that is your best option.

Kent Question

Hey man your site is great and thanks for answering so many of our questions.  1.  I use Balrog.  Here in Texas, we have some AMAZING Cammy players.  Its constant rush down and when they hit you with Cannon Spike, its always followed up with ultra (just like Ryu–DP/Ultra).  I need some pointers to stop the rush down/mix up games of Cammy.

JWonggg Answer
Just basically dash back on wake up or ex dash straight on wake up.  Other than that you can play super defensive to stay away from Cammy’s offense and mixup.

David C Question
I recently started getting into fighting games about a year ago when my friend had my play Guilty Gear XX acent core and with the release of S4F,BlazBlue,GGAC+,Tatsunoko VS Capcom, and Marvel vs Capcom 2 on PSN&XBL but i only plan to play SF4 (and soon SSF4) , BlazBlue and Tatsunoko vs Capcom competitively. ive been kinda just trying to sink my teeth into all of these. The problem is i dont know what to do and where to start. I can pull of special moves, supers and ultras, but i dont really grasp the move advanced techniques, how to use them, when to use them and so on. Being a jazz musician i know that just repetition of the basics is key but should i be doing things like taking the challenge mode combos and doing them a hundred times until there engrained in my reflexes, should i just try to beat these games on the hardest mode and that will force me to develope skill? should i study videos on youtube of pros playing to get an understanding of things like “footsies”. Also in MvsC i just kinda wanna know how you follow an oppenent into the air to combo them i know it has some to do with Super jump cancling
Heres a list of characters i play so you can see what i working with
E.Honda (SF4)
Taokaka (BlazBlue)
Anji (GGAC+)
Jin (Expansion),Captain Commando(Anti Air), Cammy(Dash) (sometimes Cable) (MvsC2)

JWonggg Answer

Basically you have to practice on basic combos at first.  Like with Honda do jump in Rh into cr.mk into headbutt as a three hit starter and from there slowly get to intermediate combos and then advance combos.  You can find all these combos on www.shoryuken.com and look for your character in any capcom game.  For GGXX and Blazblue go to www.dustloop.com for that.

Emptyshiki Question

You can do well at majors even in games that you don’t main yourself. What specific player skills do you think help make you competitive at top levels in so many games even when playing against people who play more top players and are more specialized and knowledgeable within the particular game? Where and how did you initially learn/practice such skills. Examples of what I think of as player skills and things I would specifically like to know more about are things like: input accuracy while maintaining hand speed, using block strings, and methods of reading/controlling the opponent, etc. More than detailed explanation I am more looking for how to develop and use such skills as a player.

JWonggg Answer
I basically use fundamentals from other games to other games because a fighting game is always a fighting game.  You can use any type of engine from a game and then transform your own type of style in the game, but the main thing that a person needs to really practice is the execution in that game for combos.

Hector G Question
I play a half way decent Akuma in SF4(I’m just learning how and when to use the vortex). I have trouble against Rose and Balrog.What should Akuma be doing in both of these matches?

JWonggg Answer
Against Rose you can basically stay in her face and rush her down.  Against Balrog you need to play a little more defensive and solid.  You can’t just rush in you can only rush when you have to perform the vortex on balrog.

Mike Question
Lately I’ve been practicing with Storm, Cable, and Sentinel, I have the general idea on what to do with them, but what should I focus on and spend more time learning? Occasionally I play with Magneto for shits and giggles but whenever I attempt his infinite I always mess up; I’m able to get the first two kicks going up but when air-dashing-down-forward into another  two low kicks it is literally hit or miss and IF it does hit, I do a tiger-knee motion to Super-jump again but some how I miss the hit. Any Thoughts? For tournaments, do you play with a custom built arcade stick or use one from MadCatz, Hori, etc.? And would it be wise to enter tournaments with a custom stick or with one from said

JWonggg Answer
You need to be able to always move with that team in terms of keeping your character moving and always doing something since that team is very meter-dependent.  And magneto infinite, you have to slide the air dash buttons into the light kick right away almost.  I use the MadCatz TE stick.

Sam Question
I have been converted and am fully on the Rufus bandwagon after being a shoto player for most of my career.  My question to you is how does one zone with the fat man properly?  Also I wonder if Dive Kick, st. sk, st. fp xx GT is worth learning or should i just keep it simple and stick with Dive Kick, st.fp xx GT?  Thirdly, I can u, df+fk fairly consistently when attempting low dive kicks, is there any merit to learning uf,df+fk (I seem to miss this alot)?  Finally going through the trials I came across this st. sp, st. lp, is there any real application for this link, I tried to figure out some uses for it but always ended finding better more damaging options?

JWonggg Answer
You should learn the st.lk into st.fp xx GT combo because you can confirm from the st.lk to either press the st.fp or go into a grab mixup or another divekick mixup.  And learning every combo with Rufus should be mandatory.  And Rufus doesn’t really zone, he basically just keeps on rushing and rushing.

Matthew V Question

What are your thoughts on SNK and the Neo-Geo’s library of fighting games? Are there any fighters in their catalog that you enjoy? I saw a tournament match video of Karnov’s Revenge/Fighters History Dynamite on YouTube that was apparently you playing. Do you/did you really play that game? I actually enjoy that game quite alot, despite it’s controversial history. I personally like Ryoko, even if she’s been listed as bottom tier. Sadly, most of my friends that were all huge SNK purists are jumping on the Capcom and Arc System Works bandwagon, and I’ve pretty much jumped shipped with them. So I rarely play these games anymore. Do you think there’s any hope for SNK in the future, or do you think they are fated to go bankrupt again and have someone like Capcom or another talented developer acquire their franchises?

JWonggg Answer
I enjoy playing Karnovs Revenge, Double Dragon, KOF 98 and Rage of the Dragons.  I actually like karnovs revenge because it was basically me and my roommates playing it over and over.  I don’t know about hope for SNK because their last release of KOFXII was really bad but I hope  they come back and maybe work with a Capcom vs SNK 3.

Davone S Question

I started playing fighters when i was about 17, and went to my local arcade to play MvC2 and Capcom Vs Snk 2 back when it was really huge at my arcade. I played there for about 2 years and than the arcade scene declined and my local arcade was gone. I couldn’t find anymore competition anymore so i just started to casually play whenever there was a chance. Skip ahead a couple years and i’m 23 about to turn 24 and i rarely play anymore fighting games. When SFIV came out, i got into the hype and bought it for my 360 and i find that i still can kind of hang. Do you think there is still a chance to still progress into a tournament level competitor for a person who starts out late into the game?

JWonggg Answer
Anyone can get on that level they want to be.  It depends on how bad you want it.  So basically if you want it, you should focus on going to more tournaments and what not.

Chris H Question
I was wondering when you first started playing and competing did you ever feel down on yourself if you lost?? How did you push yourself to become what you are now?

JWonggg Answer
I enjoy losing because I learn things about myself like why did I lose and how can I stop that for next time and what not.  I always push myself to become better because I love the competition and always staying on top.

Mike Borges

hey justin what's up. im trying forward kick-dash-standing hp but it gets blocked

every time in trials. and matches. any tips? what's double tapping and p-linking? i cant do the forward kick dash to hp cancel into ultra, but i can do all his other setups.
i notice u dont use it very often. do u NEED to use that setup to be a good abel? cuz im fighting to
play abel since i cant do that combo but i see you go explosive with abel and u dont use it

JWonggg Answer
 You basically need to practice the timing in training mode.  It is a one frame link which is very strict but the more you practice the easier time you will have in the long run.  You should try to double tap or p-link it.  Double tapping is hitting the same button two times at a very consecutive pace in order to time your combo better.  And P-Linking is the same thing but your hitting two buttons at a very consecutive pace.  Well I do it now actually.  I don’t like doing it often because its not really safe.  But it helps a lot because they don’t get away since you can’t jump away from it.

JayH Question
I main El Fuerte and I have a lot of trouble against Claw players.  Elf’s arsenal seems to be completely inadequate for that fight, as he has terrible anti-air and Claw can negate Elf’s entire wake-up arsenal.  Any tips?

JWonggg Answer
Elf can use his ex dp and it will anti air claw everytime.  His wake up game is bad but the best thing to do is just block and tech the throw since vega does not have a lot of mixups to begin with.

Yungprinceda1 Question
Im looken for touraments in the new york region i was wondering if you know about any and if you could enlighten me

JWonggg Answer
You can find tournaments in NY on www.sf4answers.com and there are bi-weekly Empire Arcadia tournament for SF4.  They are called Battlefield Arcadia.

Carlos Question

i have a bad habit of staying crouched and timing my combos. For example, I do c-lp, c-lp, c-lk and my headbutt doesnt come out. Im like what the hell am i doing wrong. Also do you know how to cancel guiles flash kick into ultra? My last question is how is it possible to dash cancel into a fireball and ultra? Unfortunately the times we did play you never used rog so I didnt get to learn anything expect that you can kick my ass pretty good lol.

JWonggg Answer
The reason why you probably don’t get the headbutt is that your probably canceling the headbutt too fast.  This game is weird in terms of comboing.  And also you need to either do the flashkick early so you can get enough time for the charge or trade hits of the flask kick for the charge time.

Umair Question

Hey Justin, I was wondering what type of button config you have on your arcade stick? I noticed you were using the TE stick at evo. Do you use all 8 face buttons or do you only use 6 as in some arcades?

JWonggg Answer
I use the default button config on the MadCatz TE Stick.  I use all 8 buttons just in case if I get lazy or what not.

TIM TOM Question
I know the process of double tapping but i can’t do it properly.  For example, when i go into training mode and attempt to double tap i’ll only see “1″ punch instead of 2.  So my question to you is what’s the proper way of double tapping?  I have difficulties double-tapping with the top row of buttons because i get in contact with the bottom buttons.  I need to learn how to double-tap correctly to increase my chances of hitting my links consistently.

JWonggg Answer
Try to slow down your timing and from there work on the speed from slow to fast.  I double tap with my index and using the middle finger.

Well here is a random update of my current situation.

I’m currently settling in California, unpacking stuff, fixing the place up.

I just started my SFIV XBOX ONLINE LESSONS.  I will be answering the Q&A ASAP.  There are a lot of questions. LOL.

I will be doing quite a few SFIV videos, or random videos in general and I will be updating more of my site.

Here is my first vid I did, it’s suppose to be a funny one and it was uploaded maybe a month ago.  Thanks to FADC