a) Ryu is the hardest Shoto to hit with a super through his projectile. His head always seems to snap back more than the other characters, allowing him to block after the first hit of Dee Jay's super. Not sure if it is a function of his fireball's speed or just a variation in his hurtboxes. Either way, it's not particularly practical to use Super through fireball on him unless you are close and have god-like reflexes (Ultra 1 still works well, though).
b) A handful of characters fall from a focus crumple quickly and are hard to scoop off the floor with a dash into Dee Jay's Ultra 2 (Yun, Yang, and Akuma are the ones I have noticed). It doesn't mean that you can't use this technique on them, but you DO have to be quick and precise to land it. When I crumple one of these characters, I actually input the down/back charge input as part of my back dash, Then, once Dee Jay comes out of the dash, I instantly do the dash forward into Ultra 2 technique. If you are having trouble getting the timing down, use the audio as a timing tool (you should do your dash forward immediately after Dee Jay finishes his dash back and says "HEYYY!"). 2024 Update: my reworked posts on joystick input mechanics and the dash into Ultra 2 will also make landing this a hell of a lot easier.
c) When using Dee Jay’s Level 2 Focus from a Medium Dread Kick to crumple an opponent, it may seem like it has different timings to it. Which it actually doesn't. Took me a long time to learn the mechanics of how this works under different situations and I actually bungled it in my first attempt at describing the process. Anyways, the key to getting the Focus to crumple is to remember that you initiate the Focus immediately after the first hit of the Dread connects, NOT immediately after you begin the Dread kick itself. This is important because Dee Jay will travel for different periods of time after starting the Dread before it hits, depending on how far away he is from the opponent at the time -- which means you would also need to release the Focus at different points in time depending on where you started the initial Sobat kick (if you activated Focus immediately after the Dread started). As it turns out, though, none of this actually matters since you can get the Focus crumple timing consistent by only pressing the buttons for Focus after the first Dread hit connects (not before). I am not sure why this took me so long to figure out, but this is in fact the correct approach for getting that crumple after Focus 100 percent of the time. The more you know . . . 2022 Update: I eventually got off my lazy ass and wrote a full post to this topic that helped me a lot. You can find it here.
d) The key to getting a crouching Fierce punch to combo into a special on a crumpled opponent is to let them fall slightly before initiating the Fierce. This causes their hurt box to get fatter which in turn allows you to get the bufferable Fierce (except on Chun Li who the Fierce buffer never works on). Of course, Capcom, in their infinite wisdom, had to insert at least a couple of cases where the opposite is true (i.e., you can only get the Fierce to cancel during the early parts of their crumple). Zangief is the main one that comes to mind. But, in general, the above rule of thumb holds for most characters.
e) You can easily input the commands for a cancel into Ultra 1 from the early parts of a hitting super (the game engine seems to remember and store the input for this cancel an exceptionally long time). My favorite application of this is when you actually kill an opponent with your super but manage to fit the Sobat Festival Ultra into the buffer window before the KO cuts it off. This often leads to the opponent being hit by the full Ultra 1 for style points, even though the Super already did them in. It happens so often in my matches, that I even gave it a cheesy name: "the Macarena." An even more common one is when you KO them with the Super and get either one or no hits with the Ultra 1 follow-up. This one usually happens when you input the Ultra buffer into the earliest frames of the Super before it knocks out an already near KOed opponent (and, in the tightest cases, actually causes the game to speed up so that Dee Jay can perform the full Ultra animation before the round is over). That version I call the "ay caramba."
f) It took me over ten years to learn how to do Dee Jay's juggle upkick into a second upkick. To be fair, though, I seldom used it, preferring to follow up with a blocked Max Out and Roundhouse Kick instead (to build meter). In any case, I realize now that it relies on a combination of USF4's relaxed input system in combination with a SF technique called "charge buffering" (which you can find explained here). This is what allows Dee Jay to do two consecutive upkicks in quick order but also allows him to do techniques such as comboing an unblocked Max Out into an EX Dread Kick. Lastly, another hidden charge technique is comboing Dee Jay's one-hit upkick into his super. That one I did manage to figure out on my own. 2022 Update: The concept of charge buffering and how to use it in USF4 also eventually got its own post, which is located here. My post on input mechanics also covers this concept in detail.
g) Dee Jay's Standing Far Strong actually has more cancelling range than his Standing Forward Kick. This is despite the fact that, in real life, a human being's legs are longer than their arms. Keep this in mind when an opponent whiffs a special a slight distance out from you and you plan to cancel your follow-up normal into some version of special or super (i.e., use the Far Standing Strong in those situations though your brain will instinctively want to go with the Forward kick instead).
h) Balrog (AKA "Boxer") is the most unjugglable fuck in the game. To the point where it's not even worth doing any of Dee Jay's juggle combos on him. Trust me, don't even bother. Poison is also a comboing nuisance but in a different way (her hurtboxes are so small/incomplete, you are unable to continue a combo on the ground after more than a small number of hits). Lastly, hurtbox-wonky Elena is actually OK for the most part except that the first hit of Dee Jay's Dread kick will sometimes whiff when she comes down from her dragon punch maneuver. Seems to me that the last wave of characters added to the game weren't troubleshot nearly as much as they should have been, so be aware of this when going for combo city.
i) I use Dee Jay Personal Action 6 for his taunt. That's the one where he says "your problem is YOU GOT NO RHYTHM!" and does a shoulder shrug. This one is perfect for when you cheap an opponent out with a blocked projectile KO from across the screen. Usually, when you do this, the audio will be out of sync with his actions, like some piss poor dubbing attempt from a 70s Hong Kong martial arts film. Adds extra insult to your opponent's defeat. Occasionally, I'll mix this up with a simple back dash after the blocked Max Out, instead of the taunt (Dee Jay yells out "HEY!" during the dash with his fingers pointed rocker style at the opponent, which in some ways is just a showman's insult of another kind).
j) The only two outfits that are decent for Dee Jay are his Alt 1 and Alt 2. His original outfit is pretty uninspired and, to me, looks like an unfinished character design (less detail in it compared to that for many of the earlier SF4 characters). His Halloween outfit doesn't stand out in any impressive way IMO. And the other two are simply godawful (especially his summer outfit where he looks like Whoopi Goldberg in drag). 2022 Update: I finally made peace with Dee Jay's ridiculous costumes and now cycle through them all, changing outfits any time I lose or complete a run through Arcade Mode. I suggest using Version 11 of these costumes, which is the one with solid lines around Dee Jay's body for emphasis (gives it more definition and makes the costumes "pop" more, even the shitty ones).
k) I would rate Dee Jay as being one of the 4 "juggle kings" in USF4. Behind Gouken and Dudley (who are true juggle monsters) and arguably tied with Makoto for third. I define a "juggle king" as one who can do a lot of damage or stun from juggling attacks and/or has multiple avenues by which to get those juggles started. Dee Jay has enough of both to put him ahead of many of the other fighters, I think.
l) All it takes is one move to turn a whole fight situation around for Dee Jay. As an example, online Hondas love to spam Sumo Splash like a motherf*cker and, with online lag, it makes it difficult sometimes to stop it. What makes this worse is that both hits of it break armor when they use it as a reversal after being floored. It also takes out Dee Jay's best anti-airs more often than not . . . EXCEPT the Light version of Upkicks which seems to have a much better success rate than any of the other versions. Like I said, one move can change everything.
m) Be aware of the importance of varying hurt boxes when trying for combos against certain characters. You play Dee Jay enough in USF4, you'll start to notice that different characters have different hurt boxes in the front of their bodies, making them differentially susceptible to certain types of Dee Jay combos (most notably, those involving his Max Out and Hyperfist). These tend to come more into play when you are doing combos from a distance farther out (the specials will often be blocked, ending your combo prematurely) - doesn't usually happen if you start the combos relatively close to them from the start. These finicky hurtboxes are not even based on any real form of logic either, as Zangief and Seth actually have some of the smaller ones.
n) There are two different, but equally useful ways, to input Dee Jay's Jack Knife/Upkicks. The first is by using the charge buffering technique in order to simultaneously begin charging for a second, follow-up upkick as a juggle. The other method is to go from a Down/Back Charge and press the kick button as you "ride the restrictor gate" up to the Back direction and beyond. You use this one in order to get the quickest reaction Up Kick possible (such as when doing a reversal). The difference between the two should be obvious. In the first case, we are adding an additional set of inputs to start a second charge, which means we are slightly delaying the start of the initial Upkick. In the second case, however, we want that Upkick to come out on the first frame possible, so pushing the button on the nearest Up direction - without adding any additional inputs in between that would slow its release down - is the better method to use. Both look exactly the same on the screen but have slightly different input sequences to best address the situation at hand.
o) Still confused on my whole concept of roll pausing? Here are the most important ideas to keep in mind regarding this technique: roll pausing is a muscle memory method to teach you how to only move your joystick the bare minimum necessary in order to do a specific move. The best way to do this for a Forward/Toward direction, for example, is to initiate it from some version of a Back position first, since this is the starting point from which the distance required for a Toward input would be shortest. While moving your joystick all the way to a full Toward direction on your stick will often accomplish the same move, the problem is that you spend more time than is necessary this way to reach that Toward input and end up sacrificing a fair bit each time you do it (for instance, reducing your ability to take advantage of: optimal charging, cancels into specials from moves with short cancel windows, advanced techniques and combos, etc.). Roll pausing gets around this hurdle because it recognizes that you can actually input several inputs together in a short time span (and before any type of move comes out) once you learn to shorten those joysticks movements for an input sequence to their bare minimum. While a roll pause is not actually essential to achieve these shortened joystick movements – you can eventually do the necessary inputs for moves like Super from a single back position only – the roll pause (from something like Back to Back/Down) is a useful starting tool to teach you just how far you have to move the stick in a direction to have it read as an input . . . but also no farther than required, so that your subsequent inputs can be inputted even more quickly. So, when attempting this technique, just remember that all principles of the roll pause are built around this single goal of refining your muscle memory to be as efficient (and therefore effective) as possible.
p) Having trouble getting that follow-up low Fierce after an unblocked jumping Knee from up close? As a replacement for this, you can often substitute the Fierce with Dee Jay's close 2-hit Standing Roundhouse. This combo is actually better in some ways, as it leads to even higher total damage with the same amount of stun (160 damage compared to 90, 260 stun in both cases). It does sacrifice optimal distance from the opponent a little as well as down charge ability during the standing heavy kick. Still, it's a good substitute when hitting with the knee from closer or higher on the opponent. It also is the better choice when jumping in against certain moves such as Adon's standing Roundhouse and Bison's standing Roundhouse (something about the hurt boxes on these moves makes it difficult to get the follow-up crouching Fierce to connect before the opponent can block). As always, if one move doesn't work, find alternatives that get the job done better.
q) Dee Jay’s jumping Short Knee is not a dive kick. A true dive kick allows you to quickly change both the vertical and horizontal distance of a jump in a diagonal pattern, making it exceptionally useful for both changing space and striking. Dee Jay’s knee doesn’t operate this way, however. Instead, when the knee is initiated, Dee Jay starts dropping downward right away but with only a little bit of lateral movement forward (as opposed to a dive kick which covers both vertical and lateral distance). Think of a dive kick as having an arc equivalent to the top two sides of a triangle whereas a dropping knee has more of a curved, half-circle arc from the time Dee Jay leaves the ground to the time he again lands. This makes Dee Jay’s knee less useful for outright striking and offense but exceptionally useful for changing distance and spacing around him, thereby creating confusing ranges for the opponent to deal with. That's good news because the more confused the opponent becomes to your approach pattern, the more likely they are to leave themselves open to Dee Jay’s heavy combos and counter attacks (the proverbial “sweet spot”). Want a useful example? To create Dee Jay’s shortest jump, immediately press down to down/back as soon as Dee Jay starts to enter the air. Properly done, Dee Jay will do more of a hop than an actual jump which will get over fireballs and land quickly without leaving Dee Jay vulnerable for too long. It will also cause many of your opponent’s traditional anti-airs to miss if spaced properly. Most players don’t use the knee this way, however, instead waiting to initiate it much later into Dee Jay’s jump. There are times when this is useful too, of course, but remain aware that it’s not the only way to effectively use this move. Case in point: a further application of this move is when you go for a cross up on an opponent who doesn’t quick rise. Because they are on the ground longer, your cross up will not land and you will be fairly close to the opponent as they start to rise. So an alternate form of mix up in this case is to try a late quick knee drop over the opponent as they stand up. This will sometimes cause their wake up reversal to miss and/or unbalanced your foe further. You can them follow up with pressure on the other side, including normal attacks and throws.
r) Dee Jay may not be the most technical character in USF4 but he is definitely up there. Assuming you want to play him at his optimal, competitive level, of course. The best part of playing him has been discovering all the hidden gems in his game design which people simply missed because they dismissed him as garbage. Hopefully, some of you will feel differently now.
 |
| NOW things are (finally) getting exciting! |