SF Flowchart: All Roads Lead To Shoryuken

old

EMPEROR_COW

@Jon: little cooldown? if blocked it takes another 5 minutes for you just to land

@Kobun: Thanks, my similarly-avatared friend!

@Monty: Nor have I. Thanks Kotaku.

ReynaldoRiv

@Infil: Yeah it's usually Zangief or Blanka who gets picked whenever I choose Sakura, and I always end up laughing to myself when I dominate.

It's pretty sad how people think tier lists = the characters to pick if you wanna win. I try to ignore them as much as I can and just play as who I enjoy.

Sir-Lucius

You should find the other flowcharts floating around (HA!) and make this topic great.

XD LOL I know the guy who made this.

yanipheonu

@the7k: Apparently, I can't use Ken for shit, and every time I try to Shoryuken, I Hadouken.
Then my friend made me try Zangief, and I was awesome. And it was strange.

@Sir-Lucius: People think that because they pick a character that wins 6-4 or 7-3 over your character, they'll get a free win. Never mind the fact that they know next to nothing about how to properly play that character (whereas, I've put in some good time with my "disadvantaged" character).

I've picked Sakura and had people move straight to Gief (who's supposed to be a hard match for her), and do nothing but spam lariats (I guess they do this regardless of who the other guy picks!) and think that there's nothing I can do. When I wipe the floor with them, they ragequit or send me hate mail, thinking that they automatically won the match on the character select screen, so I'm obviously cheap or lagswitching or something.

Observing trends and hearing stories about SF4 online has been quite the interesting psychological experiment.

Infil

I love when people use Ken cause I know all there going to do is dragonpunch so i jack their s**t up

@Jon:
@Alternate, I cho-cho-chose the impossible:

The amount of misinformation here is quite remarkable.

No, Ken's shoryuken is not overpowered. Do it repeatedly, and watch yourself lose the match. The only reason it hits online so often is because lag plays a role. Many times I knock someone down, walk up, and TRY to block the obvious SRK that's coming, but the lag makes it difficult. It is a move to be used on wakeup very sparingly (or if you have 2 stocks for FADC), or as a hit-confirming combo finisher (the MP version works as anti-air). That's... about it.

A jumping attack followed by a shoryuken is blocked high, not low (the air attack MUST be blocked high, the SRK can be blocked either high or low).

Infil

@Sebnotic:
I dont... but then again I dont win too often...

SaanZ

@VirgoKnight: You're right, 4,2,1+K is completley different from 6,2,3+P

I hope you were being sarcastic.

@XCha0s: This originated on 4chan. As did the spin-offs.

@Strider Kojiro knows DAT'S SO PRINGLES!: Yeah, I know I'll be using Yagami alot... because he's the only character I like in it. Maybe if they put Kula, or Yuri, or Momoko, or Malin, or Blue Mary *deep breath* ... or Yamazaki, or Billy, or Oswald, or K', or Maxima, or Eiji in, I might change it up every round like I've done every other KOF.

The Dan flowchart will forever be the best.

[wa4.images.onesite.com]

@GohanGVO:

Ike? Seriously? Smash is all about speed being the easiest thing to work with, and Ike is at the lower end of the spectrum in that regard. With him, you need to know how to anticipate, counter and punish. Not what I'd call noob friendly.

I've faced a ton of Ikes online that charge in swinging and I don't think I've lost to one of them.

I think the character you were looking for would be Meta Knight. With the recent (flawed) tiers out, everyone is jizzing their pants over him.

DLZ

@Nobuyuki: There is this:

[solrflare.shackspace.com]

Too bad Capcom didn't make a CPU version of this as a challenge for us to learn to smash

xyzl

@Kobun: The people who rush to get onto the first page of comments are the same people who play Ken online.

@GiovanniMcAdoo: Cuz there aren't any stupid GG/BB or KoF players amirite?

I'm sad there's no good Cammy flowchart.

Nobuyuki

@Altima NEO: O RLY XXD ROFL.

;_;.

Thus the reason why the Guilty Gear/BlazBlue series and the KoF series are better than SF IMHO.

There's a Gouken chart somewhere right? Think we know how that one goes.

Woffls

@Altima NEO: Here's a mindfuck for you.

I've never seen this.

Just because you've seen it, doesn't mean everyone else has.

@Kobun: Oh my god, that is awesome.

I lol'd hard.

@cheesecake000: Well, would you prefer it if when you did FwdZ+PPP you just win the match automatically? Because that is what Ken's Shoryuken is if you removed its one drawback.

Seriously. I have won entire matches by doing nothing but Jump HP followed by a Shoryuken. Some people NEVER catch on that the first hit is low.

@Altima NEO: What about those who don't go to every freakin site on the internet?

I'd never seen this before. And I found it quite hilarious.

KaemonKei

@Altima NEO: *Adds nothing more to the conversation than an obligatory "Agreed"*

Agreed.

@Altima NEO: You could, I don't know, NOT click on the link? If you're tired of seeing it, that seems like a logical thing to do.

As for me, I haven't seen this yet, so thanks Kotaku.

The funny thing is that most of the people who actually complain about these "flowchart" players are people who suck and can't beat them.

@hot_heart: You know, Ill have to agree with you. Though Im sure someone will be hurt in the butt about it and ban you or dimemvowell you.

I see this reposted so many times in the months since SF IV came out, it makes you wonder why in the world Kotaku would see it fit to post this, you know? I mean I'm a big fan of non-news and all the bloggy stuff that Kotaku posts, but cmon guys? Its been 3 months since this began making rounds, this is the internet, stuff gets old fast.

Altima NEO

And this is only 4 months late.

Mohammed Ahmed

@Kobun:

Ah yes you speak the truth. I only posted so I'd be on the first page and be hugely famous...

Mark1412

Zangief flowchart is totally more informative

[fast1.onesite.com]

Zamzoph

@PantyshotMQN: yes, that's so long ago that there's major danger of memory failure since...

Poul Wrist

@Lezard: It's also pretty annoying when they wait so they can obviously pick the best character suited to countering your own pick. It ticks me off a little when I pick Sakura and my opponent waits and moves strait to Blanka.

I have no problem with people who play a character that has an inherent advantage over my own, but don't try to wait and see who I pick just so you can try to give yourself a tier advantage.

Sir-Lucius

@JDotCDot: What really sucks is the stigma that comes with maining one of the popular characters. I've been playing Ken since SFII, for better or worse, but I don't even want to bother using him online unless I'm playing friends.

I recently switched over to using Sakura and Viper, not only because they're more fun to play, but because I have never had 5 Sak vs. Sak or Viper vs. Viper matches in a row.

Sir-Lucius

@Mark1412: I saw this post 3 weeks ago on Joystiq.

svenhoek: Star Trek is the Best Movie Since Dark Knight.

@mjpm: I am so sick of coding. I had to code 4 stupid fucking COBOL programs for this ridiculous class. "But it helps you learn the basics!" NO! It just helps your dumb ass get a paycheck since no one fucking uses COBOL anymore.

Oh and why do you want me to make a code sheet BEFORE I write the program? Because you always get it just fucking perfect your first time right? No, its so I have to go back and re-write the whole god damned page because I declared something one character off.

FUCK COBOL.

/rant

svenhoek: Star Trek is the Best Movie Since Dark Knight.

@JDotCDot: People like to choose specific characters because they are, for a time or for eternity, deemed as the easiest way to win matches.

Just take a glance over at Ike in SSBB.

GohanGVO

@Mark1412: You assume that people read the entire article before posting and don't seem to consider that the first page race for commenting here supercedes everything.

Guess what character all the people complaining about the picture being old pick.

Can somebody explain what this is about? I haven't gotten hands on Street Fighter IV yet, you see.

Makes me wonder which character is going to be "The Ken" of online BlazBlue and KOF XII?

@undefined: For KOF XII, I'm predicting alot of Yagami and Bogards (No way am I offending fans of these characters, just saying who I see the most in the arcades.)

@JDotCDot:

For Blazblue, I predict Hakuman will be the character of choice for many. He looks badass.

Kevin Nguyen

"Is he close ?"
"No"
"**** it"

"SHORYUKEN!"

ahahahahaha, so nice!!

pasde

That's truly hilarious

I've never seen it. That is really hilarious.

Are any of the other versions as complex as this one?

vid3oman64

@Cronoking: The funny thing is Kilik OR Ken aren't top tier characters, for at least the games that I mentioned above.

It boggles my mind.

JDotCDot

yes! ken is the man!

Rey Rodrigues

@Jon: Other than being wide open when blocked and have your opponent be free to do whatever the hell he wants right?

"...so here's the obligatory pardon-fucking-me if one of you have seen this before."

This comment should line the bottom of every news post so the small army of morons who think they have something to prove by declaring they've seen something before the rest of us can sink back into their dark holes of irrelevance, tear in eye.

Mark1412

@the7k: Well, it was Kilik initially (when the game came out), and Ken initially (when it came out as well). Once people realized that other players are able to adapt, they end up going for another character (usually a cool one you have to unlock, like Cervantes and Akuma).

Not saying that Cervantes or Akuma are only used by amateurs, they are just the next popular to use.

JDotCDot

@JDotCDot: You gotta take into account the tier charts too. Everytime one comes out all the tourney guys just jump on it.

"...so here's the obligatory pardon-fucking-me if one of you have seen this before."

It's new to me! I enjoyed it thoroughly ;}

I love how the Hadouken is almost an infinite loop (I guess it counts as a No if the opponent is KOed, but will hang since there is no path available in this case...). Back to coding.

mjpm

@Kobun: Is that so? I was just wondering that right now, but I own VF5 on PS3 and not 360, so I haven't been able to see what the online community is like.

If VF5 R ever does come out on PS3, looks like I'll have to switch up my main (which has been Jacky for years now) so that people wouldn't be able to predict my moves as easily.

JDotCDot

@JDotCDot: Really? I've noticed more people using Cervantes (Cheap Cheap Cheap is the name of his soul) and Zangief (three throws and I'm already dead?) than Kilik and Ken. Also, I once fought 6 Akumas - in a row. My god.

That was fucking hilarious.

Pardon my french.

@Kobun: Damn brain fart. Lei-Fei, not Long.

*was about to post about how fucking old this picture is*

"The pic uploaded to the Intertubes around March and hit reddit earlier this week, so here's the obligatory pardon-fucking-me if one of you have seen this before. See everyone back in here tomorrow."

Oh...well shit. Well played, good sir. Well played.

Chunky-MonkeyLOL

old old is old.

Seen this a while back, even funnier (and true) now.

Trey

That's like the flow chart to my life.

@JDotCDot: I haven't noticed a trend toward a specific character in Virtua Fighter, though it does seem that the easier to mash characters like Jacky and Long do get selected more.

Pretty accurate, too bad the image has trendy written all over it.

Geoff Mendicino

The worst are those motherfuckers that will just move around the character select screen or hover over another character until you select yours, and then they end up picking Ken anyway.

I really wish Capcom would take that hidden character select portion of the Championship update and make that apply to all online multiplayer modes.

Honestly though, it's not too difficult to deal with these idiots once you get used to how Ken's shoryuken and hadouken work in the game. They're just really fucking obnoxious when you end up fighting them one after another online.

@TheCleaningGuy: Oops, forgot about no image BBCode on kotaku...

Awesome.

cornerman8

The Ken wave isn't as big as it used to be in February and March, but it's still there. I think a lot of people have learned to change up their style (which makes the flow chart not as applicable anymore) or move to a different character.

But online fighting games have made me realize one thing: people like to choose one specific character, for some unknown reason.

Soul Calibur IV: Kilik
Street Fighter IV: Ken

Make you wonder who will be the next few games (KOFXII, BlazBlue, Tekken 6...)

JDotCDot

That's from the shoryuken thread. The Sagat flowchart is my favorite.

[img201.imageshack.us]

There are a bunch of other great ones on Shoryuken.com
like this one:
[img][s5.tinypic.com]]

classic SF4 flowchart. I remember this back when the game first came out.

PantyshotMQN

lol someones been browsing gamefaqs

XCha0s

Thats why Ken is a fake ass @*%^$#*^#%!!!(expletive deleted)I use Fei Long.

Easy move with a decent amount of damage and little cooldown. A little overpowered imho.

Everyone ends up spamming it(either by accident or on purpose) when playing as Ken.

Well, almost everyone.

Sebnotic

OMG LOLDNEWS I WILL NOT PARDON-FUCKING-YOU

@Bialia ಠ_ಠ: I've played II, but never found myself using Ken. Kinda preferred Fei Long (I'm a Bruce Lee fan :P) or Vega (it must be the claws :P).

@Woffls: that's more of a bubble than a chart.

Old news is old

Kidrobotp1n0y

@Kobun: I don't give these out often, but fucking lmao man.

@Kevin Nguyen: The only thing Hakuman has going for him is reach+damage. High pressure characters fucking destroy him.

[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D

@Chupakun uses Synonym Attack!: ..or any other Street Fighter, I take it? ;)

@Ueziel: Yeah. Sagat used to be pretty wicked, but most people who play him only do it because he's top tier and have no fucking clue why he is top tier.

[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D

Sweep, back up, punish the wake-up. Easy.

[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D

@mjpm:
No, once you KO him and attempt it again, you'll miss. You'll also break the flowchart as it does not have a "fell down" response to that query. Also, contrary to the article's title, all roads lead to "No".

Purple Dave

@Wainut: Ah, SRK.

Home of fighting game douchebags since... well, a long time ago.

@Wainut: It aggregates them, however.

What the hell Kotaku?

caffolote

@epy0nkaru: Blocking a Shoryuken on reaction gives a charge character plenty of times to react. As would attest my win-loss record against Ken with Balrog of all fucking people.

Yep, that's Ken Fighter IV to a "T"...

still funny

@epy0nkaru: rofl @ Ken being overpowered. You don't win a lot do you?

This chart is nearly 100% accurate and completely hilarious! Just got up off the floor to type this.

SuperSonik

@epy0nkaru: Uh, if you're a good charge character, you've got your shit charged/charging at all times. And since you pretty much wanna combo into whatever charge move you're gonna do, you also have time to charge during the 2 or 3 hits you're gonna do before it as they land. Also I don't know what the hell game you're playing, but if you can get away with "overpowering" someone with a constant barrage of lp.SRK, they're as bad as you are for spamming it. That shit is INCREDIBLY punishable. I have Boxer as my backup main, a charge character, and if you spam lp.SRK against me, you're gonna get c.lp, c.lp, c.lp, headbutted to ultra. SO no, it's not overpowered.

Can there be some kind of test you have to pass that shows you know what you're talking about before you post? It'd be really handy, thanks.

@Albino:

funny how it actually works out. blocking a shoyuken "on reaction" gives a charge character little time to react, and compared to sfiii the recovery time on a shoryuken is WAAAYYYY too short. lp shoryu then lp shoryu is actually a viable tactic in this game, because you recover fast enough to overpower whatever move you're trying to counter with

in other words, it's overpowered

epy0nkaru

@dirtface: You're right, I really need to start spending more time on the internet. I'll become such a more well-rounded person.

@DLZ: When I first played the game online, Ike use was RAMPANT. I never said that those who used him would automatically win 100% of the time, though. He was merely perceived as king of the mountain back in the day. I have no idea what the tiers look like then or now, and it has been a while since I went online.

GohanGVO

old flowchart is old

@henhowc: It wouldn't be a strategy that tons of people use if it didn't work, regardless of how scrubby it is. Lariats with Zangief work really really well but does that mean it isn't retarded and scrubby? God no.

@Pombar: I haven't seen any Goukens at all and Sagat isn't broken. His strategies are pretty easy to pick up on.

@Altima NEO: Yeah, I agree. Kinda surprised the other guy hasn't been disemvoweled yet.

Rajolae

@Deadshot: All of you must be doing it wrong.

dirtface

@Lezard:
I move to the character I want to play and hover, then if they pick ANYONE ELSE but Ryu or Ken, I select the one I'm on, otherwise I'll usually just play the one they pick because fuck 'em... if I have to fight my 10th Ryu of the day, I'm not going to make it any more interesting for them!

(Also, you can say what you want about balance, but Ryu seems twice as likely to win, which is why everyone plays as him... I know I picked him when I got the game and beat it on normal, but spent a day trying to do it as C. Viper on easy...)

@Celestial Panda: Just do a hadouken while running forward, thats how you do a shoryuken!

Haven't seen a Ken online when I played yesterday...surprising. Need to change it to a Ryu one though XD

Is it bad that my best characters are E. Honda and Chun-Li? :P

stop using Ken People Use Someone Else for Petes sake

mastergodai

SHORYUKEN

@hot_heart: It's not easy being me. *Sigh*

@Infil: spoken like a true Ken user

mastergodai

@Zamzoph: I lol'd hard. Way better than the Ken chat.

@kameoosama: I used to do this with many games. In CvS2, A friend of mine would always put Kyo and Yamazaki on their team, so I'd try to make it so that my Iori and Terry would fight his Kyo and Yamazaki, just so I could see the special intro and have 'teh dramaz' going.

Ironically, the Ryu flowchart works much better.

Richard Winterton

Awesome flow chart!!!

@Sir-Lucius: I've done something similar, but it's like I'll try to pick a character with a similar style or story link or something else retarded. You pick zangief, I might decide to pick abel. You pick Akuma, I pick like gouken or ryu or seth. You pick Sagat, I pick Dan, etc. I suck so hard though so it's not like it matters anyway.

@Altima NEO: Sorry but I haven't seen it either.

I've seen posts that are way old (for me), but they were new to a lot of people.

@Shredator: For KOF, it'll be Joe or Ryo, most likely. No idea about Blazblue. KOF is a lot more unforgiving than SFIV is, so I'll just punish everything even worse than I do in SFIV.

Wainut

@vid3oman64: The Rufus one is.

Wainut

@TheCleaningGuy: No!! I don't want the majority of Kotaku to know about Shoryuken, the mass influx of not smart people is bad enough as it is. :(

Wainut

@EveryoneBrowses4chan: No, it originated on another forum completely. 4chan doesn't create every meme, contrary to popular belief.

Wainut

wow.

that
is
HILARIOUS!!!

great find.

Crash__Man

These days though, it's more likely to be Akuma, Gouken or Sagat online. People just like to play boss (or broken!) characters to compensate for being unable to win on more even ground.

I use Dan because he's finally viable as well as amusing. And for some reason (possibly lag!) people have a hard time anticipating + blocking his d.db.b.HK

@VirgoKnight: Are you kidding? Thanks to all the practice these boobs gave me, Ken is the easiest character to beat in the game. Even and especially because he's still 90% played by people using this flowchart.

It's funny how many players would rather play to their opponent's weaknesses, rather than play to their own strengths. It is a close-minded attitude that does NOT promote learning or positive gameplay.

I hope everyone learns from this... :D

I've been playing Ken a good while now, and I can tell you spamming SRK only works up to a low-mid talent level opponent. After that, they just block them and you are toast. Good ken players do a lot of close range hit confirm and crossups.

tzakiel

This is a friggin' AI script for Ken in MUGEN.

I play Ken, but I like to tell myself I'm not a flowchart Ken (I like to get in people's faces with Hurricane Kicks, like low MK to EX Hurricane, more than anything else), but I'm sure I do at least one or two of these things from time to time.

No, you know what? Everyone ELSE is playing like an asshole. All anybody wants to do anymore is hang back, play defense and wait for you to screw up so they can walk in and throw. Where's the Akuma flowchart? All those fuckers wanna do is throw air fireballs all day. Protip: avoid and Focus block them for a while; show them it ain't working and they'll get sloppy.

@EveryoneBrowses4chan: actually it is. the hit boxes are completely different

xblindx

I thought the balrog "boxer" one was godly.

my ears are burning..

@DLZ:

Metakinght?!

No wonder no one wants to play me anymore...

I mained Metaknight since day one.

I never really did expect this flowchart to show up on Kotaku...

Shiroi Kaze

@Wainut: Every repost is a repost repost

Nowell

@JDotCDot: In Japanese arcades, Ken is actually third on the list of most-played characters. After Ryu (of course) and Sagat.

@the7k: Yeah, I've been seeing more of Akuma than anyone lately, followed probably by Balrog.

@KEN:
it's all your fault!

SsLordMagus

Love this flow chart. So sad that it is true and part of the reason there's little fun to be had online in SFIV. Well, no fun for me. Maybe fun for others. I just want to play w/people of my own skill and who aren't spammy. THEN it would be fun. :)

@Sir-Lucius: That happens to me all the time, I thought it was just me. I pick Sakura... sure enough, they pick Blanka. Freaking annoying. I've ceased playing SFIV online due to these annoyances because I seriously cannot find anyone playing to just have fun.

@Purple Dave: Nice catch on the title mistake. Although Shoryuken sounds better.

Very funny. Is there a Balrog chart? I want to know if I fall into the pattern.

wow...this is really OLD guys. step your game up.

@TheCleaningGuy: Yeah... Great ones like that one... 'Cause that one was great....

@Poison:

Fuken saved!

SsLordMagus

@Lezard: oh god look at that. I've never seen so many boasting people.

Vidunder

I am actually writing this comment while waiting for a blocked fierce SRK to come back to earth. I'll pop off and make myself a sandwich first before returning to my stick to input my ultra motion.

The reason Ken's fierce DP is so successful is because it comes out quick, has startup invincibility and even if it is blocked most weaker players wouldn't effectively punish it anyway (maybe a RH sweep which for every SRK they do eat isn't going to compensate)

You'll probably catch a few better players with it aswell because they're just not expecting you to throw it out at the most stupidly risky times.. oh no he woul.. *blam FLAMES death sad face* :(

speedsix

@Tevor_the_Third:

That's not french..

SsLordMagus

The flowchart was funny, but this one beats them all:
[img300.imageshack.us]

That's absolutely hilarious xD

TheBakachan

@href="#c12712748">Thorax: Not my fault Kotaku hasn't seen all the big flowcharts that were created 2 weeks after SFIV's relese.

lets post some real news next time guys. GGPO though.

@Jon: Uh no. Just no.

@Poul Wrist: I remember those days. I used to c.lk up hill, both ways, bare foot in the snow, because I don't have shoes. Not that I couldn't afford shoes. No I can do that. I just don't like them.

ParadoxControl

@Ueziel:

More like they are new players and don't know any better as its a strategy that strictly works on other crappy players. If you think any decent Ken is going to be flying around with random HP SRKs or always doing SRK on wakeup you probably haven't played any decent Kens.

If you're calling these tactics scrubby, 9 times out of 10 you're probably a scrub yourself. Just sayin...

@epy0nkaru: Little time to react, a charge character, what? Heres what I do Block -> Grab, end of story. They learn after the first two that I'm just going to block and grab all day long. Then they lose because I just broke there strategy. I don't see how any character can have a hard time with this tactic. Block High, Wait for them to land, Grab, your done.

ParadoxControl

@ShinOni: Reading is fun.

Do it.

@svenhoek: Star Trek is the Best Movie Since Dark Knight.: Welcome to programming. It's 95% troubleshooting, you know.

I throw at least 2 Light Punches before hitting the Light Dragon Punch. Gives it some variety, ya know. Just switched to Sagat though, which makes me even less original.

Voodoo77

@Pombar:
can i practice on your boobs?

Husher

@JDotCDot:
And that's why I main Abel.

@Monty:

*rimshot*

@KaemonKei: Same. Thanks for the late-night laugh, Owen!

@Lezard:

Hello. My name is ReddHeretic, and I am a Ken-user.

*snicker* X8

Okay, in all seriousness, here's my take on the whole "Ken thing":

I've enjoyed this series since Street Fighter II. Around SSF II: The New Challengers, with the introduction of his multi-hit flaming shoryuken, I began using Ken almost exclusively. I've consistently used him ever since.

However, I don't consider myself a truly dedicated player. I'm not in it for the skill or for bragging rights; I just play SF games to have fun. As it turns out, the character I have the most fun with is Ken, because I'm just more comfortable using him over anyone else.

I don't really take Street Fighter or any fighting game seriously. We'd all rather win whenever possible, of course; but my primary motivation is having a good time. I don't try to pass myself off as some kind of pro (if you're interested in developing real technique & earning respect from other players, you shouldn't be sticking to one character/spamming/etc.). I also don't pull that bullshit of pretending I'll select another character; when I'm going to pick Ken, I go straight for Ken.

Indeed, up against devoted SF enthusiasts who take these games very seriously, I usually lose. That's fine. What makes me laugh though is when I get shit on by other players simply because I pick Ken. Look, not all Street Fighter players obey some unspoken code of fighting game-ethics. I like Ken, and I will select him. I don't care how it makes you feel; I don't play Street Fighter to satisfy your notions of character etiquette.

To all those Ken-users who do try to play competitively and talk trash: You deserve the universal scorn you receive.

Anyway, on those rare occasions when I don't pick Ken, I use characters like Sagat, Cammy, Sakura, or Ryu; basically anyone who has an "uppercut" move. I don't like charge characters, it's too restrictive for me. I prefer being able to pull off a move in a split-second at the exact moment I need to.

Although I am interested in learning Balrog for some reason. I need to find someone who's good with him to teach me.

Before any of you ask why I have a Bison avatar, let me make it perfectly clear: I'm obviously not good with Bison in-game, but I like him as a fictional character.

@hot_heart: I'm with you

outforprophets

@CommentatorHatman:Amen... but the douchebags do give good combo info... just don't talk to them and you'll be fine lol.

@ReddHeretic: I play as Balrog. He is a brilliant character. All his moves can be pulled off pretty much on-demand, you just need to get used to constantly charging down and back. That gives you the opportunity to do any of his charge punches or his headbutt as you require.

Learn the difference between each of his charge punches. Switching between his low sweep punch (charge back then diagonally low forward + press punch) and his overhead smash (as above except you hold punch) to keep the opponent guessing.

His headbutt is his best move. It goes through projectiles, as does his turn punch. This is useful when playing projectile-heavy characters.

this flowchart is months old already smh. And honestly in regards to the ken complaints Zangief is much "cheaper" as people do lariats all day.

@Mark1412:

True

That was funny

@MechaTama31: Hahaha. Guys I was joking! Pre-empting some sort of response like that (and anyone that would say 'FIRST!!1eleventyone!1!). I thought the all-caps and poor wording would have been enough.

I'd actually only seen it once before, posted by someone in the comments section here.

@Altima NEO: So, he can not post it, and any Kotaku readers who haven't seen it yet will continue to have not seen it.

Or, he can post it, and mildly annoy tards like you who are just 100% on top of everything and know everything that ever hits the internet as soon as it hits the internet, so you can bitch about how old it is a week later.

Hmmmmm, tough choice...

Owen, pay no mind to the oldtards. If it's new to you, it's probably new to some of us, too.

MechaTama31

@Nowell: Every post is a repost of a reposted repost.

This is the way total noobs play Ken. Anybody who is half decent with him, or at Street Fighter in general will not be nearly as predictable.

Sogeking

@Monty: I didn't click the link to this newspost and still saw the pic. You know how every newspost has an image and some text that gets shown on the front page? Take a guess at what the image for this post is.

@hot_heart: I'm surprised people thought you were serious. It reeked of sarcasm.

Leszek

@Mark1412: So famous you can name your daughter Erlenmeyer Flask and not have more reasonable people try to talk you out of it.

@Kobun: O God... XD

@KEN: LOL!

Your hilarity is getting buried beneath a sea of whine.

what really Floors me is when someone is playing as Ken and I have the upperhand in the match then all of a sudden the connection has been lost .....

mastergodai

Tekken it's gonna be Hworang.

I am by no means a Street Fighter 'pro', but I can absolutely murder Ken online 99 out of 100 times.

It is so satisfying to destroy Ken Dolls with Cammy. When they jump backwards at the beginning of the match, I immediately so a Spiral Arrow to get right in their face. They usually panic and do a "SHORYUKEN!!" which leads to me jumping up, grabbing their ass, and hurling them across the screen. I even got it down to where I could do a mid-air grab while they're doing the spinning kick.

Much rep was lost thanks to Ken Dolls.

StillLee

I've never used Ken and I've been playing SF since SF II Turbo on the SNES.

@Purple Dave:

Also, I just noticed that some of the logic falls to pieces if it was round 3 and you were KOed after the Shouryuken attempt...

mjpm

@svenhoek: Star Trek is the Best Movie Since Dark Knight.:

Wait till you do it for a living. Also, never underestimate proper planning and design. Pay attention to your customer's (or in your case, the assignment) requirements, and HOLD THEM TO THEM!!!! They'll always come back with some lame requirements creep that they claim was a defect on your part and not an illogical requirement on theirs, even when you told them so months ago...

mjpm

I love when Kotaku picks stuff out of the internet that´s old as shit and then treats it like it´s the new fad of the internet.

I use Ken, and Abel. I have always used Ken and I try not to flowchart but its so easy to win against people that don't know any better.

Jerpar

Unluckily for all of us facing the flowchart kens, that jumping HK into EX shoryuken does like 25% damage when they do happen to land it.

bummer dude.

Scotsdale

I first saw it on the playstation forums

ps3rulz

@Selah: You guys aren't the only ones. Abel player here as well.

JDotCDot

This is one of the funnier and more astute cartoons I've seen. Good show.

@Belabras: I was starting to think I was the only one, ha ha.

Selah

it's great how the Soto users cant seem to beat my Cammy

@Krackatoa or...:
I am lucky to be a coder and also never touched COBOL.

YuniYoshi

@MechaTama31: Oh, I know who you were replying to. I just clicked the last person's comment in order to post a response (and referred to 'guys'). No offence meant, I was just being lazy. =)

@hot_heart: I know you were joking. Notice who my reply was directed to? ;)

MechaTama31

@duckmouth: I main Chun-li because I find her thighs sexy.

...

Nothing else.

@SsLordMagus: ಠ_ಠ

@mjpm:
With the "was that Round 2" question, I'd take that to be asking if that was the second time you got your ass handed to you, not if it was actually the 2nd of 3 rounds. Because yeah, clearly it has problems if you won the first round and lost the next two (note that in that case, the flowchart would actually have you walking off in a huff as your opponent beat the crap out of your paralyzed character in Round 3).

Purple Dave

@Sir-Lucius:

I hear ya, I've been a Ken since my buddy schooled me in SF2 in the arcades years ago. I started with Guile, who I still use, but Ken was easy for him to teach me as he was like Ryu (his character).

I find Viper pretty damned cool, too. I'm happily suprised that the new fighters fit in with the old ones so well.

GorbyGipper

@Wainut: No, it did originate on 4chan, I should know.

Greenstuff-Alex

@KaemonKei: Found this hilarious also. Grats to Kotaku for not being scared of the outside deprived jackasses who are like OMG ITS OLD. I recognized the sarcasm also from hot_heart, but some people are so blinded by their fucking internet e-peen they can't see the sarcasm in the way of their scrambling to proclaim its old.

Abel.... the anti-ken random shoryuken killer..

he rolls underneath fireballs snatches down random shoryukens and best of all can close the distance on jumping back shoto scrubs...

its like having jean claude van damme that can actually fight.

as for the chart yeah its old... but even things old are valid.

im sure someone needs to make a spamming blanka or sagat chart soon too.

but that gouki chart should have been produced like yesterday.

@Infil: Get new interwebs connection, prz.

@CommentatorHatman: What's wrong with Rog?

@SsLordMagus:

Someone needs to watch Tremors.

I used to go by that flowchart. I barely use Ken anymore.

@ParadoxControl: Until they catch on and break your throws on reaction. But this is f.SRK spamming Kens we're talking about, I doubt they'll catch on.

@the7k: This. I will mostly use Kyo, Benimaru, Ryo, and Shen, but if they throw in Yuri, Blue Mary, Malin (I'm glad to hear someone else liked using her), and Vanessa then I'm all over that.

@Greenstuff-Alex: I coulda swore this started on the shoryuken forums but who knows. There is a giant thread dedicated to all these flow charts and some of them, like this ken one, are hilarious. My favorite is the Zangief one where its like "Is it a bear? WRESTLE!!!!"

@SaanZ:
Seems you should spam it more >_>;;

FlamingZelda

@CommentatorHatman:

Um, Balrog is not "of all fucking people". Balrog is a hardcore beast.

MuppetChrist

But all the paths don't lead to shoryuken.. look at the no after "seriously?"

T0pHat

I think they Made Ken Slower..

that is ****ing perfect

zuagamer

The Ken-bashing bandwagon just gets lamer and more tired everyday.

KMCC

@hot_heart: Same, I've seen it before because other people have posted it on this site in comments.

@PantyshotMQN: Yea, the pic is like 2 months old. I would have thought everyone would have seen it by now.

Sam_Lowry

@H8ff0000:

haha, yeah I was thinking of that...
Though all roads have to go through shoryuken to get to no.

Bluesnow222

@undefined: Wow... this is just now getting "reported"? Way to be on the ball - this has been around for months.

thirtytwoutside

I like being Ken and then owning all the players that think I'm another scrub.

CosmicElement

@Sir-Lucius: What a brilliant strategy...after all it works so well for the rival trainer at the beginning of a pokemon game.

Mysticgamer

I never played SFIV yet, but it applies to SFII: Turbo also. In fact, I can't even do the shoryuken. I never figured it out. Hey I admit I'm bad at the game but I don't care it's fun to me. I felt extremely proud to master Chun-Li's fireball back when I used to play it with my cousin.

Zunnoab

@Ueziel: I have seen way, way too many Goukens. Generally though, people don't know how to play him at all so it's gravy. Sagat, though, is definitely a top tier character and a crutch for weaker players more often than not.

@Husher: Anytime, honey