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Additional Topic: How to Use Dee Jay's Sobat Carnival in USF4 (AKA Don't Look a Super Gift Horse in the Mouth)


Most Dee Jay players never realized the awesome power of Dee Jay's Super because they spent their SF4 days using their meter for practically everything else. This is a real shame because the move is - and I shit you not - easily one of the best Supers in the game. Some of the obvious reasons for this are because it deals good damage and has some invincibility during the middle parts of its animation. The real reason it is amazing, however, is because of the many different ways it can be landed. 

Don't believe it? Well, here is a list of the current ways I know of that Dee Jay can land the Sobat Carnival Super on his opponents:

a) as a counter through an opponent's fireball (note: needs to be done from a relatively closer distance than is the case for Dee Jay's Ultra 1, since the Super's first hit has a tendency to bounce the opponent back slightly, making it possible for them to block if you start the Super from too far out).

b) cancelled off a Forward or Roundhouse Dread Kick (a perfect combo to use against an opponent's whiffed special when you are not near to them as they recover; you can also use it in Dread Kick combos although damage scaling becomes more of a factor then).

c) cancelled off a Short Dread Kick (in which case it becomes a juggling Super).

d) off a Roundhouse sweep which anti-airs an opponent when they are still high in the air (note: use the Short Super version and only when your opponent is close to the corner).

e) as a juggle after one hit of an anti-air Forward Jackknife; i.e., "Upkicks" (this combo requires the opponent to be close to the corner when they jump).

f) off an anti-air Max Out (note: you need to cancel the early frames of the Max Out into the Super for this to work).

g) cancelled off a close two-hit standing Roundhouse (maximum damage combo which works best after you focus crumple an opponent).

h) off of almost all of Dee Jay's close ground normals, with the exception of his low Forward kick and Roundhouse Slide (note: the cancel into Super from a low Short is the most critical to learn, as this is the normal you are likely to land the most in a match, given its quicker speed and recovery).

i) juggle after a counter hit Standing Fierce punch (difficult to set up safely, but still possible).

j) as a counter to slow recovering normals such as Ryu's Roundhouse sweep (note: use the Forward version here, as it has the best combination of speed and distance covered).

k) cancelled off of the early hits of a Fierce Hyperfist (good during jump in combos).

l) as a juggle off of a single hit of a close anti-air standing Roundhouse kick (generally on an opponent trying to jump out of the corner).

m) as a punish during an opponent's projectile recovery when you cancel their fireball with your Max Out and then immediately cancel the Max Out into your Roundhouse Super.

n) as a block damage combo to bleed out an opponent's last bits of lifebar (the Super, when combined with a cancelled Ultra after it, can do over 200 points of block damage this way; note: some characters who are blocking can escape the last hit of the Ultra, and the Super, when not cancelled into the Ultra, can be countered by all blocking characters before the last hit connects).

So, in total, that there is 14 different ways you can use Dee Jay's Super for big damage, not even including the variants that exist within some of them (as an example, Super from a normal would actually be more like six ways). This pretty much kills the age-old myth that Dee Jay has no heavy damage combos or practical ways to combo into heavy damage. On the contrary, the sheer number of methods you can use to do it would suggest that you'll probably land it at least once a match (if not a round) . . . ONCE you know what you are doing.

For this reason, your goal should optimally be to build a full Super meter every single round (which can be accomplished more often than you think once you begin to use a few little meter building tricks). Why? Because after you know all the setups for the Super and the best ways to build meter to use it, the number of avenues you gain to do big damage will both increase your overall fight power AND put the fear of God into your opponent. Which is exactly what you should be aiming for, particularly in the later moments of a match. 

TLDR: Learn the many ways to use Dee Jay's Sobat Carnival Super and then build meter like a bastard to allow you to land them.



TIP ON EXECUTING THE SOBAT CARNIVAL SUPER QUICKLY: using Dee Jay's Super to go through fireballs on reaction was a real pain in the ass until I learned a trick to minimize the time required to execute it. Rather than do the full motion for the Super, I simply go from my starting down/back crouch position, to back, to back/down and forward. Although I am probably hitting many more directions than this, this is how my muscle memory registers it in my head and thus allows me to execute the Super in near the shortest time possible (note: if you are standing up at the time you are charging back - which you generally shouldn't be - simply do the opposite; i.e., from back, go to down/back, back, and then forward). This same technique also works for Dee Jay's Ultra 1 (and is arguably even better for certain types of punishes, such as going through projectiles for the hit).

FINAL NOTE: The Sobat Carnival also offers a means to cancel into Dee Jay's Ultra 1, the Sobat Festival. This adds even more damage to your already fearsome combos, especially if you use Ultra 1 instead of Ultra W (in which case, some of the set ups will net you between 500 and 600 damage). It's a formidable tactic that next to no one explored to its full extent during the heyday of USF4.   :(