Skip to main content

Additional Topic: How to Use Dee Jay's Ultras in USF4 (AKA How to Combine Jamaican Power with Jamaican Style)


Both of Dee Jay's Ultras are awesome fighting displays, but people have never agreed on which one of the two is better. My own answer: it depends. Here's a rundown of what I like - and don't like - about each.

 Ultra 1: Sobat Festival
This is a more dramatic variant of Dee Jay's Sobat Carnival Super, one which ends with (what looks like) a punishing Max Out that sends the opponent spinning mid-air across the screen. 

 Though you would not have gotten most people to believe it back in the SF4 era, it's actually the more potent Ultra of the two because the opportunities to land it are better (most of them off the cancel from Super). As it turns out, though, the Ultra is also great for doing massive damage at a range where Dee Jay usually sucks (from about 2/3rds of a screen from the opponent). This is aided by the fact that it has great invincibility up until the point where he finishes his jump forward and begins attacking. 

 Here's a summary of what makes Dee Jay's Ultra 1 good:
  • Can be used to brutally punish slow recovering moves (e.g., Ryu's Roundhouse Sweep, El Fuerte's Quesadilla Bomb, etc.).
  • Can easily take out certain otherwise annoying character moves (e.g., Adon's Jaguar Tooth).
  • Can be used to go through opponent's projectiles for big damage (including Guile's, if your timing is spot on).
  • Can be used as a cancel off of Dee Jay's Super for ridiculously good combo damage (both blocked and unblocked).
Now here are the elements that are not so good about it:
  • Tends to be slow to reach hitting frames. Makes it difficult to use as a raw punish.
  • Has limited juggle potential (3 hits) and leaves you in a relatively bad position afterwards if you choose to do so.
  • Can't be used as an effective anti-air or easy punish after a focus crumple (mainly for the above two reasons).
  • Not easy to do quickly in the midst of a fight (UNLESS you can get down the shortcut method - see bottom of this post).
Generally speaking, the benefits of the Sobat Festival far outweigh the disadvantages associated with it. Which is why, if I could only choose one Ultra, this would be it. Luckily, Ultra "W" gives us access to both. Before we cover the advantages of that mode, however, let's review Dee Jay's second Ultra . . . 

 Ultra 2: Climax Beat
This is the cooler looking of Dee Jay's two Ultras and, at first glance, seems like the more practical of the two (which it is, until you start learning the many applications of the Ultra 1 in regular gameplay). 

 Here are the elements that make the Climax Beat a useful Ultra:
  • It does good overall damage (in both Ultra 2 and Ultra W modes).
  • It can be used in many different ways (including as a reversal, after a focus crumple, as a killer combo finisher, and anti-air).
  • Allows you to do heavy damage much earlier in the round than the Ultra 1 (requiring only one or two bars of meter in combos, and no bars at all for other forms of use such as anti-air).
On the other hand, here are the drawbacks to Dee Jay's Ultra 2:
  • Only maximally useful in combos when you learn the dash technique from an EX Hyperfist (allows you to do Ultra 2 combos outside of the corner).
  • Leaves you in a not-so-great position when you finish the Ultra's animation (particularly troublesome when used against grapplers).
  • Its damage scales a lot during the later parts of a round when an opponent's life is low (especially in W mode).
  • Harder to land once opponents get wise to it (they know what to look out for and then actively avoid those scenarios once your Ultra meter lights up).
  • Only really practical in close fighting. This, in combination with a down charge, makes it more difficult to set up than the Ultra 1.
What this should tell you is that neither Ultra is perfect; rather, each has its own pros and cons for you to weigh carefully. Furthermore, both of them require learning some disciplined controller techniques to fully maximize their potential (e.g., Ultra 1 requires an ability to combo into the Super first to be potent, Ultra 2 requires an ability to dash into it from an EX Hyperfist or from a focus crumple after a medium Dread kick or regular Hyperfist). That said, both Ultras are highly practical once you get the setups down, so you really wouldn't want to abandon one for the other. So what is an indecisive Dee Jay player to do?

 The solution? Go full-on Ultra "W" mode.

Ultra W
Ultra W's main advantage is that it gives you access to both of Dee Jay's Ultras once your Ultra meter is sufficiently built up. The drawback is that each of those Ultras ends up doing only 75 percent of the damage that the individual ones alone would do. In Dee Jay's case, this is not as much of a disadvantage as for other characters because his Ultras tend to do a lot of damage, anyway (the only time it really becomes an issue is when you put in a lot of moves before the Ultra, and damage scaling waters the Ultra damage down to nothing). 

 Myself, I use "W" because the opportunities to land either Ultra in a round are sufficiently enhanced to justify the loss of damage from either alone. Ultra 1, for instance, gives you many more options to combo into it than is the case for Ultra 2. That said, the Climax Beat's strength is that it deters jumping from opponents in a way that the Ultra 1 cannot do and allows you to do heavy damage at an earlier point in the match than the Ultra 1 does (since Ultra 1 generally needs a Super, and thus four bars of meter, to be landed . . . unless the opponent does something incredibly dumb). 

 Always remember, when choosing your Ultra mode, it's not just about the ability to do heavy damage with an Ultra, it's also about constantly maintaining that threat of heavy damage over your opponent for as much of the match as possible, so that your opponent is always wary of throwing out a poorly placed move. The combination of both Ultras in "W" mode allows you to start that mental pressure at an earlier point in a round and then build on it as your meters grow longer. That's important because Dee Jay's damage factor is not really daunting until this factor comes into play. So, to maximize pressure on the opponent, "W" is ultimately the way to go.

 TLDR: Learn the many different setups and combos for each Ultra, and then it's "W" mode all the way, baby.

 TIP ON EXECUTING THE SOBAT FESTIVAL ULTRA QUICKLY: The shortcut trick for executing the Ultra 1 quickly is the same as the one for the Sobat Carnival Super, since the controller inputs are identical (only the buttons pressed are different). Specifically, rather than do the full motion for the Ultra, simply go from your starting down/back crouch position, to back, to back/down and forward. (note: if you are standing up at the time you are charging back - which you generally shouldn't be - do the opposite; i.e., from back, go to down/back, back, and then forward). This trick is even more beneficial for Dee Jay's Ultra 1 than it is for the Super given that the Ultra 1 covers greater ground, is invincible throughout his entire advance forward, and doesn't snap the opponent back after the first hit (ultimately meaning it is easier to get all the hits once the first hit of the Ultra connects than is the case for the Super). The more I use this shortcut trick with Dee Jay's Ultra 1, the more secretly powerful I am coming to believe it is.