Additional Topic: The Dee Jay “Kinetic Rhythm” (AKA How to Use Purposeful Randomness to Fuck With Your Opponents and Increase Your Rate of Wins)
"By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes." - Law 48: Assume Formlessness (from the 48 Laws of Power)
My feeling is that most people throughout USF4’s
history simply played Dee Jay wrong. Wrong combos. Wrong application of moves.
Wrong ranges. But, most importantly, the wrong overall approach to the entire
match.
Too many Dee Jay players were just hell-bent on getting in close to an opponent and raining down on them with as many attacks as possible until one of them connected (usually into suboptimal combos and damage). Those who didn’t do this instead tried to play some version of a watered down fireball game which, in my experience, is equally suboptimal, the longer you attempt it in a fight.
My feeling is that most people throughout USF4’s
history simply played Dee Jay wrong. Wrong combos. Wrong application of moves.
Wrong ranges. But, most importantly, the wrong overall approach to the entire
match. Too many Dee Jay players were just hell-bent on getting in close to an opponent and raining down on them with as many attacks as possible until one of them connected (usually into suboptimal combos and damage). Those who didn’t do this instead tried to play some version of a watered down fireball game which, in my experience, is equally suboptimal, the longer you attempt it in a fight.
The main drawback to both of these patterns is that they are,
at their base, still PATTERNS and therefore, over time, become easier to
predict. This is the inherent weakness of all human patterns so, all other things
being equal, you will increasingly pay a price for using such patterns over a
longer period of time, even if they are sometimes successful. The objective therefore
should be to instead find a way to incorporate these patterns but not to rely on them exclusively. This is where the concept of “kinetic rhythm” comes into play.
“Kinetic rhythm” refers to an approach in which Dee Jay is
constantly on the move, using his many ways to travel in and out of range to
throw off an opponent’s attacks and momentum. In its highest form, it is a form of strategic dance because Dee Jay’s whole approach becomes one of continual
movement that forces the opponent to question throwing attacks and to
unintentionally leave themselves open to heavy counterattack if they are not
careful.
“Kinetic” refers to the act of constant movement.
“Kinetic” refers to the act of constant movement.
“Rhythm" refers to the fluid transition from one attack pattern to another seamlessly, punctuated by movement that at some point is translated into heavy counterattack when the opponent leaves him/herself open (what I have come to refer to as the "sweet spot in the rhythm").
Note that this approach is completely counter to the way most players used Dee Jay in the sense that they, more often than not, purposely tried to bully in on an opponent to force an opening . . . rather than frustrating the opponent through movement so that they willingly gave them that key moment of advantage.
So let's look at this business called "kinetic rhythm" in a bit more detail, shall we?
Elements of the Kinetic Rhythm
To implement a “kinetic rhythm” approach, here are some of
the techniques and concepts to keep in mind.
b) In the "within sweep range" zone, mix up your attacks between Max Outs, Short Dread Kicks, slides, regular attacks, focus attacks and dashes. Keep up-close Knee Shots and throws to a minimum here, however, as they tend to put you into that unfavorable maul zone. Above all, watch how your opponent reacts to the varied approaches you do at this range and use this knowledge to frustrate the hell out of them.
c) Use instant focus attacks to build meter against
one-hit attacks and to quickly change your range. You seldom want to hold focus for more than an instant,
however, unless it is against a very obvious attack with long recovery.
d) You should be constantly mixing up your attacks
from high to low, low to high, closer versus farther, farther versus closer, jumping in with an attack, jumping in without an attack, etc.
Dee Jay can do this better than most because of the different jump arcs he has access
to (particularly off his Knee Shot). Again, the purpose here is not always to
hit opponents outright . . . but to have them question whether their attacks are
going to hit and to ultimately force them to commit to an unsafe move.
e) You should never be sticking to a single pattern of approach for more than a few seconds. A good rule of thumb here is that each second beyond the first that you are implementing a pattern increases your rate of predictability and chance of being hit. This doesn’t mean that you have to change your approach by constantly attacking, though. Sometimes, just changing your range with a dash, jump back or up, or pause is sufficient to break the pattern and make you less predictable. Simple changes like these are often enough to keep the opponent guessing and increase their chances of hesitating and/or leaving themselves open to heavy counterattack.
e) You should never be sticking to a single pattern of approach for more than a few seconds. A good rule of thumb here is that each second beyond the first that you are implementing a pattern increases your rate of predictability and chance of being hit. This doesn’t mean that you have to change your approach by constantly attacking, though. Sometimes, just changing your range with a dash, jump back or up, or pause is sufficient to break the pattern and make you less predictable. Simple changes like these are often enough to keep the opponent guessing and increase their chances of hesitating and/or leaving themselves open to heavy counterattack.
f) You want to be spending more time playing around the perimeter of opponents' attacks rather than right up close to them. This minimizes the chances of being mauled and also maximizes the frustration factor for your opponent, increasing the chances that they will make a mistake and leave themselves open to counterattack. Also, using this strategy means keeping your repeated cross up attempts to a bare minimum (Dee Jay doesn't need them to create victories, and trying them over and over again often gets him into as much trouble as it does rewards). So, yes, use your formidable cross up where advantageous to do so - but NOT repeatedly or desperately so.
“Kinetic rhythm” is Dee Jay's version of a “purposeful randomness” approach because it incorporates the best of both worlds. Randomness is demonstrated in your willingness to constantly change your approach through both movement and attack, with the goal of unbalancing your opponent. Purposefulness is demonstrated by seeing how your opponent reacts to the unpredictability of your randomness and then determining in that very moment (not before!) the best way to punish them for maximum effect.
Again, most Dee Jay players tend to do the opposite of this. Either they enter a fight with a clear goal to get in on their opponent (in which case their purpose inevitably creates predictability) OR they try to random out their opponent with normal and special attacks for so long that it once again makes them predictable and easily beaten. Your aim here is instead to incorporate the strengths of both approaches . . . while minimizing the negative consequences of each.
That's Great and All, Mon, But How Exactly Do You Do It?
Therein lies the rub. Truth is, it's difficult to explain this approach in generic terms because, by its definition, it is intended to be fluid, vague and largely undefined. You are literally making up your strategy from moment to moment, only modifying elements of it in relation to your opponent's response patterns. It's hard to describe the process in detail, but once you start getting into the "rhythm" of doing it, you will quickly see how it can be used to unbalance your opponent and increase your chances of winning.
Nevertheless, some sort of an example would be beneficial here. One way to do so is through an actual demonstration against a computer opponent. Interestingly, a kinetic rhythm approach will even work on a computer opponent on the hardest difficulty setting despite the fact that the AI tends to punish you instantly for any stray poke at that level. This is testament to the fact that even a god-like computer foe will have trouble keeping itself from being vulnerable 100 per cent of the time in the midst of such a varied and unpredictable method of engagement. On that note, check out the video below which demonstrates the kinetic rhythm approach being used against four different opponents (Rufus, Honda, Boxer, and Viper):
So what are we actually watching here? While a lot of it will appear to the untrained eye to be just nutty movement, there is a fair amount of design hidden within this otherwise random-looking strategy. Here are a few things you may or may not have noticed in this regard:
a) There is a lot of jumping (and movement, in general) going on in these matches. Except when blocking to prevent a maul situation, Dee Jay is on the move a large amount of the time, not always for the purpose of hitting opponents but to confuse them with different ranges and attack timings. You could, of course, argue that jumping so much like this is itself a pattern, but it is generally a safe one in most cases that forces an opponent to potentially leave themselves open to counter it. Until an opponent (computer or human) demonstrates that they can consistently lay down the hurt on such a jumping tactic, I am OK with using it from advantageous ranges. 2022 Update: Over time, I've taken to jumping a little less, not because it consistently leaves you open, but because it doesn't offer any useful advantages (and sometimes even takes you out of your optimal range of just within sweep distance from the opponent). So jumping still has its uses . . . just maybe not as cavalierly as I was inclined to use it early on.
“Kinetic rhythm” is Dee Jay's version of a “purposeful randomness” approach because it incorporates the best of both worlds. Randomness is demonstrated in your willingness to constantly change your approach through both movement and attack, with the goal of unbalancing your opponent. Purposefulness is demonstrated by seeing how your opponent reacts to the unpredictability of your randomness and then determining in that very moment (not before!) the best way to punish them for maximum effect.
Again, most Dee Jay players tend to do the opposite of this. Either they enter a fight with a clear goal to get in on their opponent (in which case their purpose inevitably creates predictability) OR they try to random out their opponent with normal and special attacks for so long that it once again makes them predictable and easily beaten. Your aim here is instead to incorporate the strengths of both approaches . . . while minimizing the negative consequences of each.
That's Great and All, Mon, But How Exactly Do You Do It?
Therein lies the rub. Truth is, it's difficult to explain this approach in generic terms because, by its definition, it is intended to be fluid, vague and largely undefined. You are literally making up your strategy from moment to moment, only modifying elements of it in relation to your opponent's response patterns. It's hard to describe the process in detail, but once you start getting into the "rhythm" of doing it, you will quickly see how it can be used to unbalance your opponent and increase your chances of winning.
Nevertheless, some sort of an example would be beneficial here. One way to do so is through an actual demonstration against a computer opponent. Interestingly, a kinetic rhythm approach will even work on a computer opponent on the hardest difficulty setting despite the fact that the AI tends to punish you instantly for any stray poke at that level. This is testament to the fact that even a god-like computer foe will have trouble keeping itself from being vulnerable 100 per cent of the time in the midst of such a varied and unpredictable method of engagement. On that note, check out the video below which demonstrates the kinetic rhythm approach being used against four different opponents (Rufus, Honda, Boxer, and Viper):
a) There is a lot of jumping (and movement, in general) going on in these matches. Except when blocking to prevent a maul situation, Dee Jay is on the move a large amount of the time, not always for the purpose of hitting opponents but to confuse them with different ranges and attack timings. You could, of course, argue that jumping so much like this is itself a pattern, but it is generally a safe one in most cases that forces an opponent to potentially leave themselves open to counter it. Until an opponent (computer or human) demonstrates that they can consistently lay down the hurt on such a jumping tactic, I am OK with using it from advantageous ranges. 2022 Update: Over time, I've taken to jumping a little less, not because it consistently leaves you open, but because it doesn't offer any useful advantages (and sometimes even takes you out of your optimal range of just within sweep distance from the opponent). So jumping still has its uses . . . just maybe not as cavalierly as I was inclined to use it early on.
b) Most jumps, no matter how random they appear, are actually done with Dee Jay's optimal ranges in mind. Note that roughly 70 per cent of jumps made by Dee Jay in this video are backward and most of those made forward are made at a distance that doesn't leave him open to a maul when he lands. Why is this important? Because the most effective region of the jumping Knee Shot is right in the front and jumping back maximizes the chances that an opponent's incoming attack will be hit cleanly by it. Jumping back, in general, is a good way to take out incoming attacks, particularly linear ones such as this.
c) The power of Dee Jay's Light Kick is on full display, including the Knee Shot and his regular jumping Light. As noted before, jumping in with the knee at the right range makes it hard to counter and sets up useful combo opportunities (such as right here where it hits and right here where it doesn't). Note as well the regular jump Light Kick which takes out Honda's butt smash for free at this point in the match (and would have done so a second time if his follow-up butt smash hadn't crossed Dee Jay up). Lastly, notice how Dee Jay uses the regular Jump Light Kick as an opponent stands up to bait them into an attack which he can then punish on the other side (as observed here). This is possible because of the decreased jumping recovery on the Light Kick when used this way.
d) Some of Dee Jay's jumps are not necessarily used to strike an opponent. Some are merely used to draw out an opponent's heavier attacks and then punish them as they recover. Examples of this are clear when fighting Honda, Rufus, and Viper. There is also an interesting jump sequence against Boxer where, after letting his anti-air punch hit Dee Jay's jumping attack a couple of times, Dee Jay then jumps in without throwing an attack, causing Boxer's anti-air to whiff and leaving him open to a combo that pretty much wins Dee Jay the round. Again, this demonstrates the inherent value in mixing up your approaches so that you can regularly take advantage of an opponent's tendency to respond to your attacks in predictable ways.
e) The kinetic rhythm approach, by its random nature, sometimes leaves you open to stray hits along the way. To a certain extent, this is to be expected. As long as these hits don't lead into huge, damaging combos and/or set you up for a maul, I wouldn't worry about them too much. You can afford a few hits along the way if it allows you to continue confusing your opponent, and you have many ways at the end of a round to even up the game quickly (at least if you know what you are doing). As an example, Boxer spends most of the beginning moments of his round doing a large amount of damage to Dee Jay through stray hits . . . only to have victory snatched away from him during a critical moment which sets the stage for his final loss.
f) The whole purpose of this random, constant movement approach is to confuse the opponent and fluster him or her into a costly mistake. This is what I previously referred to as the "sweet spot" moment. Specifically, the "sweet spot" refers to that point in a round where an opponent leaves him/herself open to a huge combo from Dee Jay, a combo that does a large amount of damage and typically skews the round's outcome in Dee Jay's favour. This moment will not always occur in a round or even match, mind you (some rounds, such as the one played against Honda, are mostly spent pestering the opponent to death). In the current video, there are at least two sweet spot moments evident, one against Rufus and one against Boxer. In particular, notice how Dee Jay's varied jumping pattern makes both of these moments possible and how Dee Jay subsequently translates them into huge damage during the opponent's vulnerable window to set up for the win. Side note: one might also consider the final devastating combo against Viper a sweet spot moment but this one is less so because Viper is already dizzy before the combo occurs and she is already KOed by the time the combo's finished. Regardless, whether you call it a sweet spot moment or not, never miss an opportunity to lay down big damage when the moment presents itself.
g) Lastly, there are barely, if any, cross up attacks to be seen in this video (!). Because, although they are useful, they are not always needed.
TLDR: Be aware of the strengths of unpredictable movement for both attack and defense when employing Dee Jay's "kinetic rhythm" approach.
TLDR: Be aware of the strengths of unpredictable movement for both attack and defense when employing Dee Jay's "kinetic rhythm" approach.
FINAL NOTE
It's worth noting that many characters in SF4 use a version of purposeful randomness, some of them almost exclusively - in particular, Seth, Abel, and El Fuerte, but also characters like Blanka, Rolento,
and the grapplers to a certain extent. The thing to remember is that Dee Jay can also
capitalize on elements of this approach . . . although admittedly in a different
way from each of these other fighters.