The New Ken Guide for Sf3 3rd Impact. By Eric Chou Email: scuddman2@attbi.com mistmoore_train@hotmail.com If you're a beginner, you probably could learn a lot more from my Ryu faq, regardless of the fact that it is completely outdated. Why a faq anyways? Why not? You'd be surprised what you can do with him that people don't know about. I recommend using Courier New 10 point font to view this faq, or use a word processor with word wrap (it'll look funny, but you can read it). I wonder if people even read this. Oh well, it's a good reference source for my own use. Last Updated 03/09/2002 This will be my final update. I've only updated stuff I've tested, and there's a lot of stuff that was changed. Table of Contents: Part 1: Ken's Story Part 2: Quick Glance Move List Part 3: Universal Commands and the Basics Part 4: Ken's Standard Attacks Part 5: Special Moves Part 6: Supers Part 7: Basic Tactics Part 8: Combos Part 9: New Stuff/Stuff that was changed. Part 10: Damage/Combos Revised ------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1: Ken's Story Um, I don't think he has one. I guess he's just entering to fight like he does every year. As Ryu would say, "You never get tired of this, do you?" His ending is really lame. His story is really lame. Goodness, you would think Capcom would spend more time, but I guess they think nobody cares, and Capcom isn't far wrong. Now why would you use Ken over Ryu? Ryu's better right? Personally, when I pick Ryu I lose a lot more. Ken's supers are more versatile, he's better at crossing up, his dragon punches have more range, he's got a good, cancellable ground chain, his air hurricane kick is much better... At first glance Ryu might be better, but in the long run I like being able to block a sweep or a fireball then bust out the shippu jinrai kyaku super. Or use shin ryu ken against someone trying to cross me up. ----------------------------------------------------------- Part 2: Quick Glance Movelist Throws: Grab and Knee Jab + Short Grab and Dump Toward + Jab + Short Grab and Flip Backwards Back + Jab + Short Specials: Fireball (Ha Dou Ken)(EX) Quarter Circle Toward + P Dragon Punch (Sho Ryu Ken)(EX) Toward, Down, DownToward + P Hurricane Kick (Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku)(EX) Quarter Circle Back + K Double Hit Kick Overhead Back + Forward Kick, or hold Forward kick. Step and Kick Toward + Forward Kick Single Hit Kick Overhead Toward + Roundhouse Hold Roundhouse to cancel Supers: Sho Ryu Reppa X 2 Double Fireball Motion + P Shin Ryu Ken X 1, Mash for more hits Double Fireball Motion + K Shippu Jinrai Kyaku X 3 Double Fireball Motion + K Chains: Close S. Strong -> Close S. Fierce (Boths hits are cancellable) Jab -> into any jab or short Short -> into any jab or short Ken's Cancellable moves: Standing jab crouching jab crouching short standing strong (close) crouching strong crouching forward kick standing fierce (close) crouching fierce ------------------------------------------------------- Part 3: The Basics Ken's basic tactics tend to be like Forest Law's in Tekken. Get in their face, and go for stuffs. Try to abuse the fact that he can combo his quicker moves into his more damaging specials and supers. This is assuming Ken is facing right. When he's facing left, reverse the command motions. jab(1) strong(2) fierce(3) short(4) forward(5) roundhouse(6) Forward Dash: Tap Toward Twice The good thing about Ken's dash (or any shoto's) is that it's fast. Doesn't go very far, but lets you cover distance. That is its use, so use it that way. Remember you can't cancel the dash, so no blocking if you dash! Back Dash: Tap Back Twice Ken dashes back. Doesn't go very far, but lets him back up about a quarter screen distance. Use it to avoid attacks, mess up jump-ins, and to get some space. Remember you can't cancel the dash, so no blocking if you dash! High Jump: Tap down, then tap straight up. I occasionally use this for anti-air. Your priority is higher if you're above your opponent Forward Long Jump: Tap down, then tap up-toward. Covers space faster! Ken will jump farther, faster, possibly giving you a chance to jump over that fireball and get a nice jump-in. Tech Roll: Tap down as you are knocked down. Ken will get up quicker and roll backwards out of the way of most meaty attacks (attacks done as you get up.) Doing so charges your super meter, so there is now no reason not to do it. You can never tech roll after getting knocked down by the end of a super. Sweeps are more difficult to tech roll. You cannot be hit while tech rolling. Overhead: Press strong and forward kick at the same time. Ahh, the universal overhead. Ken will hop and punch downwards, attempting an attack that must be blocked high. It will go over some low attacks, so use it to punish low pokes. I fake with this move a lot, because it has quick recovery and moves Ken closer to the opponent. It can combo into his supers, but not easily. Throws: 1: Jab + short Grab and kick in the nuts. Mash buttons to get up to 6 hits. 2: Jab + short holding toward The grab and dump at your feet throw. Good Damage 3: Jab + short holding back Ken's trademark roll backwards then toss throw. Covers quite a bit of distance if your back is near the corner. You can throw into a super. Use the jab + short + back throw and throw your opponent into the corner and start up shippu jinrai kyaku. Parrys: 1: Tap Toward High parry. If you parry a move, you can cancel the parry into any action you want, which means what a parry really does is give you a time advantage. Sometimes enough of an advantage to do whatever you want, sometimes not. It's important to remember a parry this way because a parry doesn't gurantee anything. As an example, if you parry Akuma's dive kick and try to attack he can block! Or even stuff you with a dragon punch. If you parry a standard jump in and try to do crouching fierce -> fireball, the opponent has enough time to land and dragon punch you, though he may not have enough time to block. Why this is exactly? I'm not sure. You can usually only parry moves from your waist up high. Certain moves can be parried high even if they hit your feet, such as Ibuki's Kunai. 2: Tap Down Low Parry. Some moves can only be parried low. 3: Tap Toward in air Parry in air. Only way to air parry now. Note that if you parry a move in the air and attack with a slow move such as fierce your opponent can parry back! 4: Tap Toward or down immediately after blocking a move Red Parry. Causes you to parry the next hit in pre-canned combos or chains. Necessary if you're blocking some supers! Throw Break: Press Jab + short as you are thrown. Usually when you try to throw someone attempting a throw on you this happens. Unlike in Tekken Tag, you cannot break a throw if you are still lagging from the recovery of a move. If you do a sweep and it is parried, then your opponent throws you, you can't break that throw because you're still recovering from the sweep. ------------------------------------------------------- Part 4: The Basics. Come on! Ken's a shoto! You've gotta know his stuff! So instead, I'll try to talk about when to use what moves and about the hit ranges. High moves can be crouched under. Overhead/mids must be blocked/parried high. Special mids can be blocked/parried high or low Lows must be blocked/parried low The Jabs: a. Don't use his standing jab. It sucks unless you want to stuff overheads. It's a high! (People can crouch under) It is cancellable. It's best use is as an anti-air if you KNOW they'll try to air parry b. Crouching jab is a special mid. Special? How is it special? You can parry it high or low. You can block it high or low. Only use to stuff moves. Will Stuff lots of low moves. It is cancellable. c. Jumping jab is one of Ken's few JUGGLE starters. Too bad his juggles are tough! I recommend not using it. It will only juggle if it hits an opponent in the air. Actually, after some testing, it doesn't seem to setup juggles that well in 3rd strike. The Strongs: a. Standing strong is the fastest way to charge your meter. It's also a good poke. It's a high. The close version is a special mid that links into Ken's fierce uppercut. Keep this in mind when doing combos, especially after blocking moves that leave you right next to your opponent. b. Crouching strong is a special mid. You have no time disadvantage if it is blocked! Keep that in mind when poking. It has very high priority vs. a lot of other moves, including most low pokes. Just make sure you have good timing. Stuff low dash moves such as Sean's tackle and cancel into super. c. I don't use jumping strong very much, but it's decent in air-air fights. The Fierces: a. Standing fierce isn't very good. It's slow, is a high, but is very damaging. Close up, Ken will do his classic uppercut. The uppercut is special mid, cancellable, and pushes back when it connects. Use as a combo filler. b. Crouching fierce works a lot like his other uppercut. Use it the same way. You can use it as a crappy anti-air. Combo filler c. jumping fierce is the jump attack to use. If it connects, you have a million years to do as you like. The Shorts: a. Standing short is a linkable poke (it'll link into itself). It's no longer cancellable. It is a low, so use it as a low poke. (Want an example? Watch Eddie Lee's Ibuki in the B4 tape. He uses that Toward + short of Ibuki's to good effect.) It can be parried high, so watch out. b. Crouching short is linkable into itself and cancellable. It's a great low poke. Take advantage of the cancel!. c. Jumping short is a juggle starter. Too bad Ken's juggles are Tough! In 3rd strike it doesn't start juggles very well. The Forwards: a. Standing forward is a high. Yuck. Think of it as a crappy version of Ryu's roundhouse. It's best use as a poke is when you think your opponent is going to jump, especially as they get up. If you hold the button down he does as double hit overhead. Although it's slow, it's fairly safe when blocked, so you can still use it as a decent poke. b. Crouching forward kick. Everyone knows about this move. Just one caveat! You have time disadvantage if it is blocked, so don't try to attack again immediately after. If it is blocked and you try another attack immediately, all the opponent has to do is any quick poke and you will be stuffed. Fortunately, you can still parry. If you do this move from sufficiently far away enough, you don't have to worry too much about the end lag of the move, so keep that in mind as well. In other words, don't do this move if you are too close to your opponent. Another thing...if your opponent is right next to you and blocks this move, said opponent has enough time to bust a really fast super on you! c. Jumping forward kick. This is Ken's crossup kick. That's really its only use. It's his best jump in. The Roundhouses: a. Standing roundhouse is slow! Damaging, good range, special mid, but slow! SLOW! So slow a wary opponent can simply jump over it and do as they like. Safe when blocked though, surprise people with dragon punches. b. Crouching roundhouse. Low, knocks down, fast, but bad lag at end. If you are a beginning player: DO NOT USE. If you are an expert player: ONLY USE IF THEY HAVE NO WAY TO PUNISH THIS MOVE. As soon as Chun-Li has that super charged up, stop using it. Now if only I'd take my own advice... Oh yeah, I've played in 5 tournaments and I always get ousted by this move. That's not to say don't use this move, just be careful. Heck, I've even seen John Choi use this move and get smacked for it. He won anyways, but it was funny, even though it looked like to me he did it on purpose. Toward + forward kick: This is one of those weird funky kicks. Ken will step forward and do a really crappy, slow, special mid. Mostly safe if blocked. They have ten years to punish you as it starts up. Back + forward kick, or hold down forward kick after doing forward kick: Double hit overhead/mid. When it connects it pushes back. You can combo shippu jinrai kyaku after it. Toward + roundhouse: Super slow wind up overhead. One hit only. So slow, that it's impossible to land on some people. Actually really difficult to combo into super. If you hold down roundhouse, Ken will cancel the move, but the lag is still horrendous. ------------------------------------------------------------ Part 5: The Specials HADOU-KEN: Fireball motion plus punch. Plus Two punches to Ex. I don't know anybody that doesn't know what this is. It is a special mid, but can only be parried high. Only use to stuff people trying to come in. Examples: Urien's chariot rush, Ryu's Hurricane kick. The ex version hits twice and always knocks down. Always use the fierce version, because it comes out the fastest. Some cancels into fireball will only combo if the fierce or ex version was used, rare as it is, they do exist. Of course that only happens because Ken's hadou-ken is slow! If you like doing crouching forward kick -> hadoken, then switch to Ryu. SHO RYU KEN: Dragon punch motion plus punch. Plus Two punches to Ex. a. Jab version. Knocks up, great range, fastest dragon punch of all the shotos. Also has the least priority of all the shotos. It is a juggle starter in certain instances. b. Strong version. Double hit. Only the last hit knocks down. Has the least range of all his dragon punches. Also unreliable, occasionally the 2nd hit doesn't hit. Only use in super-cancels. c. Fierce version. 3 hits, great range, great damage, great priority. Really, really, really BAD recovery. The ex version is a 4 hit version almost exactly like the Fierce version. TATSUMAKI-SENPUU-KYAKU: Backwards fireball motion plus kick. Plus two kicks to ex. The versions are all the same, just the button used determine the number of hits. The first hit is a special mid, but will no longer force the opponent to stand up. Sorry, it sucks in combos now, because all the other hits are highs. To this day I'm not sure exactly what this move is for, I personally use it as a confusion tactic and to move closer to my opponent. The air version is a decent anti-air and crossup tactic. The air version is also a potential juggle starter. The move works decently in some juggles, and can work as a once-in-a-while anti-air against a bad jump-in. Oh yeah, a caveat. You have severe time disadvantage if the move actually connects! You're better off if they block it. Your opponent has enough time to do a super if it connects. Yuck. A Hugo in the know can get hit by the move on purpose and gigas break you! A Ryu can do the same and do ShinShoRyuKen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 6: Supers. Just one note about damage: When your bar changes to orange, you take significantly less damage, so it's hard to calculate damage since moves look to do more damage at the start of a match. I: ShoRyuReppa. 12 hits, about 25-30% damage on Ryu. Charge Max two. All hits are special mid except for the last two, which are highs. The super is basically 2 fierce dragon punches followed by a 6 hit dragon punch. The super nobody uses. If you like comboing into super for damage, use this super. Of all the supers, this one is the most versatile. It's also the slowest. The trick to using this super is watching the range. If opponents are too far, or too high, the super will miss. It has more horizontal range than Shinryuken and more vertical range than shippujinraikyaku, but it doesn't do anything well. If you combo into it, the horizontal range increases. The super is invincible on start up. You can go through fireballs, but it travels too slow to punish people with this trick. The only supers that have more priority than this super are: Ryu's ShinShoRyuKen Akuma's MessatsuGoShoRyu It will STUFF all other supers on startup. Recommended ways of landing it: Super cancelled off fierce dragon punch on the ground (learn those short -> dragon punch combos!) As a deep anti-air.(You'll get 7 to 9 hits, but the damage is still good) After a jump-in After a quick poke, such as crouching short or crouching forward kick. After Ken's toward + roundhouse overhead (OWWW, mad skills if you can land it) Use to go through Akuma's air-fireball and give him an unpleasant surprise. Go through an Aegis Reflector and give Urien an unpleasant surprise. II: ShinRyuKen. 15 hits, about 30-35% damage on Ryu. Charge Max one. Everyone uses this super as an anti-air. That's what it's good for. Don't forget that it's also very comboable. The first 3 hits are special mid, the rest of the hits make Ken soar into the air. Recommended ways of landing it: Super cancelled or comboed off any dragon punch on an air opponent. After a jump-in After Ken's toward + roundhouse overhead (Risky). III: ShippuJinraiKyaku. 9 hits About the same damage as fierce-> dragon punch. Charge Max 3. This is the rush super of Ken's. Very comboable. The best thing about it, since it does very little damage for a super, super cancelling it doesn't affect it as much. The first 5 moves are all special mid, but the hits must be parried high. If the super is blocked, Ken stops on the fifth hit. The bad thing about this super is that the priority sucks. It'll stuff moves normals and specials, but don't count on it. Don't try to stuff command throws with this super. Use the ShoRyuReppa if you want to do that. Recommended ways of landing it: Off any super cancel on the ground. (Do not use jab dragon punch, it'll launch) After a jump-in After a quick poke. After either of Ken's overheads. (Back + forward kick) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 7: Basic Tactics. My basic tactic is to take advantage of the fact that ken's moves are so comboable and try to link his damaging moves into his quicker and higher priority pokes. This is my plan from the beginning, and involves a lot of close and mid range games that allow Ken to take advantage of all of his specials and supers. It's a simple battle plan, and effective. The key things to remember are quick safe pokes comboed into damaging moves when they connect (and only when), and a tight defense. That's it, really inelegant. I also know it's very irritating on the receiving end. There are very few openings (to a perfectly played Ken), and as soon as a mistake is made, wham! quick damaging combo. a. Ken's flaws. I'd have to say Ken's biggest flaws are his bad recovery on many moves and his lack of a long range game. All of his specials favor close range except for his hadoken, and all of his damaging moves have horrendous end lag. Try to stay away from those slow moves and doing random supers, and go for those pokes. Eventually you will get an opening. Moves to be careful of because of lag: hadouken all fierce and roundhouse moves. tatsumakiSenpuuKyaku his command overheads his sweep Did I mention his sweep? Let me mention his sweep one more time. All jump-ins. b. Some Other stuff. Ken has amazing anti-air, but a crappy air game, so try to stay out of the air. Make sure to use more than just dragon punches as an anti-air. Keep in mind that you can punish stupidly whiffed moves with an ex-hadoken fairly often. Do not do crouching forward kick -> fireball if either you or your opponent is in the corner. This is important! Even if the fireball hits, your opponent has enough time to retaliate. Do not do a fireball if either you or your opponent is in the corner. Do not do full screen fireballs unless you are SURE they cannot retaliate. If you block a sweep, resist the urge to sweep in return. Try to land crouching forward kick instead. If they are out of range, don't attempt anything. c. Poking and Initiative. When poking, try to keep poking, and give them a hard time attacking back. This is difficult on expert players, true, but it is very frustrating when you get into your rhythm. If you can help it, try not to back up. I notice people have a lot of trouble again Yun/Yang/Akuma players, and it is important that you are the one dictating the match in these kinds of fights. If you are doing nothing except blocking, in general you will not win unless your opponent does something stupid. Avoid this at all cost. d. Keep Away. Ken's keep away sucks, it consists of the classic hadoken, hadoken, shoryuken when they jump trick. He can't back up his fireball, so he has no real range game. It's still useful to take note of against characters such as Q and Hugo. The tough part is when your opponent does keep away back. That's tough to deal with. Obviously you want to get close and pressure, but in the event you can't crack the keep away, try to watch for patterns and openings. If you cannot parry, you will lose to a keep away character such as Remy every single time, so learn to parry moves used to push you back. Classic ones are Akuma's air fireball and Remy's Light of Virtue, Cold Blue Kick tactics. Oh, and ShoRyuReppa is invincible on start up, but don't rely on that tactic. e. Turtling. With a dragon punch and very good supers (all 3 supers work well in this regard), Ken is good at active turtling, as long as the attacks are close range attacks. Block a sweep, block a fireball, ShippuJinraiKyaku right away. Parry a poke, dragon punch -> ShoRyuReppa or ShinRyuKen Stuff throw attempts with any of his supers, and command throws with ShoRyuReppa or ShinRyuKen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 8: Combos. Ken's a very basic combo character. Nothing special. The order to remember is: Jump-in -> Normal -> Special -> Super Any jump in, any special (yes, even tatsumaki senpuu kyaku), and any super. You can use any normal that gives you enough stun to link another move together or is cancellable into a special or super. Those are the rules, with that, you can imagine how many combos he has. It doesn't matter what jump-in you do. I recommend using crouching forward kick for most of your combos. Don't get fancy, even if you know you can do some wacky combo. In general, a few damaging hits comboed together do more than Ken's flashier combos. So keep it simple. Ken's Cancellable moves: Standing jab crouching jab crouching short standing strong (close) crouching strong crouching forward kick standing fierce (close) crouching fierce For Damage, Damaging combos without supers. close strong -> close fierce -> jab dragon punch (Do after a cross up jumping forward kick) crouching fierce -> fierce dragon punch (or ex dragon punch) crouching forward -> fierce dragon punch (or ex dragon punch) Learn to do that Dragon punch successfully whenever a cancellable poke connects and your game will improve vastly! Suddenly that low short isn't such a weak poke anymore. For combos with a bit more safety. (Watch for fast supers though!!!) crouching forward -> fireball or ex fireball. crouching forward -> short hurricance kick close strong -> close fierce -> fierce hadoken crouching fierce -> hadoken Note that none of them are really completely safe. Must know super combos. crouching short -> crouching short -> ShippuJinraiKyaku Probably the easiest way to land this super in tournament play Name of Cancellable Normal -> Any Super Toward + roundhouse -> Any Super (Overhead into super. Surprise people) fierce dragon punch (2 hits) -> shoryureppa or shinryuken (This super cancel is a great way to land anti-airs or to deal with people who try to air parry your dragon punch) Damaging Super Combos. jump-in roundhouse -> crouching fierce -> any super close strong -> close fierce -> shippu jinrai kyaku jump-in roundhouse -> crouching forward -> fierce dragon punch (2 hits) -> shippu jinrai kyaku Juggles: I'm not too good on this section. For one thing, juggles aren't too universal with Ken. They vary depending on your opponent's size and weight, as well as certain conditions. In general, to do a juggle you want to launch them so another hit will hit afterwards. This was MUCH easier to do in older versions of SF3, but it can still be done. I first took note of juggles when I saw Ryu's jumping short -> standing roundhouse juggle, and since then I've found that some characters have some nasty guaranteed juggles. Ken's launchers only launch people already in the air. (sigh) Ken's launchers are: Jab dragon punch Crouching fierce (Difficult to get anything now though!) air hurricane kick ex air hurricane kick jumping jab or short. The easiest followup is a normal such as standing forward kick or a dragon punch. The supers also make pretty good followups, and some of his flashier combos involve incredibly wacky juggles with supers in them. I've actually seen on Hugo in the air in the corner: jumping short -> standing jab -> standing forward kick -> air hurricane kick -> crouching strong cancelled -> shoryureppa -> shoryureppa -> air hurricane kick -> standing jab -> standing forward kick It was 16 hits, since most of the super missed, but impressive none the less. The stun was incredible, the actual damage pathetic, considering two supers were burned. Then again, jump in roundhouse -> crouching fierce -> shoryureppa would have done more damage anyways. Also, for the life of me, I've never ever been able to reproduce such a flashy combo. For the most part, just keep your eye on when your opponent is falling in front of you. With experience, you'll know what you can and can't land. Note: I've actually retried doing that above combo. Ugh. Maybe it's a system's option only combo..I don't really understand how it works. Here are some common, easier juggles, naturally the opponent has to be in the air first: jab dragon punch -> jab dragon punch. You have to land the first one so they fall upward then down at your feet. It doesn't matter whether the first hit is the hit on the ground or if the hit is the hit after Ken has already swung into the air in the classic dragon punch stance. air hurricane kick -> dragon punch. Corner only. Jumping short -> dragon punch. Easier in corner. It's difficult to get this to work right, I don't really know how to do this consistently. Since all these juggles only occur on an opponent in the air, I don't really see how one can land these in any sort of higher level game. -------------------------------------------------------- Part 9: New Stuff/Stuff that was changed. 1. High Jump is useful. Getting above your opponent gives you an edge in priority. It can help. I also always high jump to get out of stun gun headbutt setups. 2. You cannot be hit while tech rolling. 3. Universal overhead into super is possible, but it's difficult to do. 4. Throwing into super is possible in 3rd strike. Use Ken's flip throw and cancel into shippu jinrai kyaku in the corner (back + jab + short) Yay! Two hit combo! 5. Using jump jab as a juggle starter usually just does a reset. It is possible to get a juggle, but you have to hit them before they flip upright. 6. Jump strong is probably your best option when in an air-air fight after a parry. If you parry an air move and try to air fierce, occasionally your opponent can air parry you back. 7. Standing forward is slow, but is a decent poke because it's mostly safe when blocked. You can do the move, and then shoryuken their retaliation. When your opponent starts turling after the standing forward kick, then you can start your options. 8. Shoryureppa will go through Dudley's cross counter, ex or not, on startup. 9. Use Ken's short hurricane kick to go past Remy's low light of virtue's. You can parry, but the hurricane kick moves you forward. ----------------------------------------------------------- Part 10: Damage/Combos Revised There is quite a bit of confusion as to how damage works in this game. I think I can finally clarify exactly how damage works in 3rd strike. First, the lifebar is exactly 161 points. It doesn't matter if it's Q, Hugo, Ibuki, or whatever, a lifebar is EXACTLY 161 points. It always takes 32 BLOCKED hurricane kicks and a BLOCKED fireball to kill someone regardless of their toughness. Now, let's assume we're beating down on Ryu, because Ryu is nice and average. So for all the numbers I show next, remember that I got them from beating on Ryu. Second, while the lifebar is green or yellow, the move always does its normal damage. For instance, Ken's jab shoryuken does 22 points. Ken's standing roundhouse also does 22 points. Ken's short kick does 2 points. However, when the lifebar is orange, the character takes significantly less. When the lifebar first hits orange, it takes 10 percent less damage. Ken's Jab shoryuken that originally did 22 points does 20 points when the lifebar first hits orange. However, as the lifebar gets smaller and smaller, eventually the character will take up to 20 percent less. By the time there's almost no lifebar, Ken's shoryuken only does 17 damage. This is true for ALL characters. To make things more confusing though, there is an actual damage bonus if you hit a character that is crouching. Now Ken's shoryuken will do 27 damage while the lifebar is green/yellow, and will do 22-24 damage when the lifebar is orange. The damage bonus is about 20-30 percent, but varies with rounding. A crouch short that does 2 points does 3 points to a crouching character. However, the bonus only applies when the character is hit when crouching. Sometimes hits in a combo will stand characters up, so damage will vary as a result. Ryu's low forward -> shinkuu hadoken does 49 points on a standing Ryu. But the combo will do 63 damage on a crouching Ryu. Ken's low forward -> shippu jinrai kyaku combo also does 49 damage on a standing Ryu. But the combo will only do 54 damage on a crouching Ryu. Odd? Well, the thing is, when you do low forward -> shinkuu hadoken, all of the hits keep the victim crouching. In Ken's case, the first hit of shippu jinrai kyaku will stand UP the opponent, so all of the other hits do NOT get the bonus. Many specials and supers cause the opponent to stand up after the first hit. Characters hit in the air take damage as if standing. The only exception to this rule is throws. Throws NEVER get this crouching damage bonus. This INCLUDES command grabs and super grabs. Now, this puts a damper in finding the most damaging combo because sometimes the most damaging combo does LESS damage than another combo on a crouching opponent if some of the early hits cause the opponent to stand up. Finally, there is damage toning to consider. Damage toning is basically the reduction of damage of hits in a combo. Unlike other street fighter games though, the damage toning in this game is different. The amount of damage reduced is modified by both the damage of the move, the number of hits, and whether it is a special or super. Most other street fighter games like the vs. series calculate damage toning by number of hits. Take Sean's Hadou burst for example. It does 32 points. If you do low forward -> hadou burst (2 hit combo), the hadou burst portion will do 30 points. If you do crouch fierce -> hadou burst (also a 2 hit combo), the super portion will do 28 damage. If you do fierce dragon punch -> hadou burst (also a 2 hit combo), the super portion will do a measly 24 damage. If you do c. short -> hadou burst, the super doesn't damage tone at all and still does 32 points. In general: a. The more damage a move does, the bigger the reduction. b. Specials reduce damage more than normals. c. Supers reduce damage more than specials. d. The more hits in a combo, the bigger the reduction. A shoryuken does less if it is the eighth hit, as compared to the 2nd hit in a combo. However, because a move causes lots of damage reduction doesn't mean it's not worth adding into a combo. Sometimes super cancels do more damage than other combos. Sometimes super cancels aren't worth doing. It's not always clear cut. In general, if a special move does a lot of damage in one hit, it's worth adding in, but that varies quite a bit. Okay, but what about characters other than Ryu/Ken? Once again, their lifebar is 161 points, regardless of how tough the character is. Q with 3 taunts still dies to 32 blocked hurricane kicks and one blocked fireball. However, other characters often take a percentage less/more than Ryu. As is widely known, Akuma takes the worse damage. Akuma Ryu Hugo Q(3Taunts) Ken's Jab shoryuken 26 22 19 13 strong -> fierce -> shoryuken 49 40 35 23 low forward -> shippu jinrai kyaku 61 49 44 27 Chun's Hoyuk-sen 68 54 46 28 Ryu's c. mk -> shoruken -> shinsho 104 86 76 49 As you can see, it's all about doing big combos on Akuma. He feels those even more than normal. On Q with 3 taunts, doing big combos is hopeless...you start doing a pixel or two per hit around hit number 5 with Ken. Other faqs have listed the difference between toughness, so I'm not going to repeat that here. For that information, you can find it at: http://db.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/file/street_fighter_iii_3rd_strike.txt In Kao Megura's very well written 3rd strike faq. Some supers change how much damage a character does/takes. Twelve's x-copy and Makoto's Tanden Renki are examples. For info on that, look up faqs on those two characters. Last, but not least, there is no damage bonus for counterhits or first attack. However, on the recovery of some character's moves the character will take extra damage. The end of Twelve's X-copy or if Dudley gets hit during cross- counter are examples. Unlike the crouch damage bonus, this damage bonus seems to affect every hit in a combo. Okay, enough blabbing about the messed up damage engine. Onto more interesting info. All moves are done on Ryu. 160 points takes away all of a characters lifebar if you ignore what the orange health does. 161 points will actually kill. Move Name Damage jab 2 short 5 far strong 13 close strong 14 forward 16 far fierce 19 close. fierce 19 roundhouse 22 c. jab 2 c. short 2 c. strong 13 c. forward 12 c. fierce 19 c. roundhouse 19 j. jab 8 j. short 7 j. strong 14 j. forward 13 j. fierce 19 j. roundhouse 19 j. -> jab 7 j. -> short 7 j. -> strong 14 j. -> forward 13 j. -> fierce 19 j. -> roundhouse 18 b + forward 9+8=17 T + roundhouse 17 jab shoryuken 22 str shoryuken 16+7=23 fie shoryuken 11+8+6=25 ex shoryuken 11+7+5+5=28 Hadoken(all buttons) 8 ex hadoken 8+8=16 short hurricane 11+4=15 forward hurricane 8+4+4+3=19 rhouse hurricane 8+4+4+3+3=22 ex hurricane kick 8+4+4+4+4+3=27 shippu jinrai kyaku 11+5+5+5+4+2+2+2+4=40 shoryureppa 55 shinryuken 68 Big whoop. Now, what about combos? This is trickier, because a combo may do more on a crouching character than others, and damage reduction varies quite a bit. First parenthesis is damage on a standing Ryu, 2nd is on a crouching Ryu. I also avoided combos that don't work on crouching characters. These combos work on everyone. c. forward kick -> hadoken (12+8=20) (15+10=25) c. forward -> ex hadoken (12+8+7=27)(15+10+7=32) (hadoken causes stand) c. strong -> hadoken (13+8=21)(16+10=26) c. fierce -> hadoken(19+7=26)(23+9=32) strong -> fierce -> hadoken (14+8+7=29) (18+10+9=37) strong -> fierce -> jab shoryuken (14+8+18=40) (18+10+23=51) c. short -> c. short -> c. short (2+2+1=5)(3+2+2=7) c. short -> fierce shoryuken (27)(35) c. forward -> fierce shoryuken(36)(44) fierce -> fierce shoryuken (42)(52) For raw damage without super, fierce -> fierce shoryuken and strong -> fierce -> shoryuken win hands down. Notice that these combos without super do as much damage as an uncomboed shippu jinrai kyaku. Now for the shippu jinrai kyaku: The problem with this super is that the first hit stands the character. As a result, this isn't exactly the best punisher of crouchers. However, the super is versatile and it does charge fast. shippu jinrai kyaku (40) (43) (Only the first hit gets the crouch bonus) c. forward -> shippu (49) (54) c. forward -> hadoken -> shippu (48) (53) (Not worth doing) c. forward -> strong shoryuken -> shippu (55) (62) c. forward -> fierce shoryuken -> shippu (51) (58) strong -> fierce -> shippu (54) (62) strong -> fierce -> hadoken -> shippu (51) (61) c. fierce -> shippu (53) (59) c. fierce -> hadoken -> shippu (50) (56) c. fierce -> strong shoryuken -> shippu (57) (67) c. fierce -> fierce shoryuken -> shippu (53) (62) b + forward kick (overhead) -> shippu (not possible) (59) t + roundhouse (overhead) -> shippu (not possible) (62) (This combo is VERY HARD) UOH -> shippu (not possible) (50) The overhead tricks only work on crouching characters. For raw damage, using strong -> fierce is best because the chain will combo even after a jump-in. It is very difficult to do c. fierce -> strong shoryuken -> super cancel off a jump-in without crossing up. This is very different from what I thought when I put in the original combo section of this Ken guide. Now for the shoryureppa: Obviously from above super cancelling with hadokens or fierce shoryuken isn't worth it because neither move does as much damage as the strong shoryuken. Once again, the shoryureppa stands up after the first hit. shoryureppa (55)(58) c. forward -> shoryureppa (64)(69) c. forward -> strong dragon punch -> shoryureppa (64)(71) c. fierce -> shoryureppa (67) (73) c. fierce -> strong shoryuken -> shoryureppa (66) (76) strong -> fierce -> shoryureppa (67) (75) When the opponent is standing, c. fierce and strong -> fierce are the combos to use. However, on a crouching opponent c. fierce -> strong shoryuken super cancel is the way to go. Confusing isn't it? While the difference in damage is miniscule, this helps illustrate why it's so hard to say.. What is Ken's most damaging combo? In this case...the answer is "It depends." This works out this way because neither c. fierce nor strong shoryuken stand up..so there's a big damage bonus...but the super also damage reduces a bit more because of the extra hits. Now for the shinryuken: shinryuken (68) (71) c. forward -> shinryuken (76) (82) c. forward -> strong dragon punch -> shinryuken (73) (81) c. fierce -> shinryuken (78) (85) c. fierce -> strong dragon punch -> shinryuken (75) (85) strong -> fierce -> shinryuken (76) (84) I would like to thank the Berkeley Bearcade for all the hours of entertainment. Now if only the sticks were as nice as the Golflands. I would also like to thank John Choi. I'll probably never beat him, but he promotes competition at our arcade. He's also a pretty cool guy. More thanks to: Jyh <- I think he's white. Just kidding. Patrick <- Genei Jin Yun, beatdown with Ibuki. Danny <-I've never seen anyone kill John Choi in 3rd strike in 20 seconds before Carlos <- Fellow Ken player. Not as reckless as me, so gives me trouble Quincy <- One of the best the bearcade had to offer in 3rd strike. Mad Elena Chris <- He sucks at 3rd strike. Ahh well, thanks anyways..Always entertaining Steve <- He sucks even more at 3rd strike, but he'd crush me in MvC2 anyday. Brian <- Up and coming...learned a lot faster than I ever did Brian Mao <- Enjoying getting trashed in 3S in Japan? Another psycho Yun Ken <- Aren't you supposed to suck? You've been holding back on us! Mouko, Peter <- Used to be a big fan of 3S. and countless other nameless players that have helped to make me a better player.