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Additional Topic: Hitting Like a Smooth Criminal With Your Fight Stick (AKA How to Manipulate Your Joystick with the Least Effort and the Highest Results)

 


The post immediately previous to this one looked at how proper finger placement can help you utilize your fight stick's buttons with top effectiveness. The current post now looks at how to accomplish the same thing with the joystick itself. Once again, I should state upfront that this post will only be 100 percent meaningful for those of you who are using some version of an actual fight stick with a joystick controller (and more specifically, a JLF Sanwa stick). If you are using a game pad or different joystick, it is possible it applies a little less (or not at all); and if you are using a hitbox variant of controller, it is likely that none of this will be of any value in honing your fighting technique. Them's the breaks. 

For those of you using an actual joystick controller, though, it's time to do a little more exploration on how to refine our joystick method to allow for higher level techniques and gameplay. I will confess that this is going to be a long post - quite possibly the longest one in this journal - but it is a necessary evil if we are to cover all of the different situations to which good joystick technique applies. So let's get into it.

WHY FOCUS ON JOYSTICK TECHNIQUE? 

As with the fight buttons post, I'll start by pointing out why a better technique for joystick manipulation is even necessary. Not surprisingly, there are multiple reasons for refining your joystick technique, too:

1) Being able to shift from one input to another just enough to activate a move (but no farther than necessary) will allow you to not only do moves more quickly with less chance of error, it will also allow you to charge for moves more quickly (those with good memory will recall that I touched on this idea earlier in a separate post which can be found here).

2) Inputting directions more efficiently will allow you to combo more easily into Dee Jay's heavy-hitters, particularly off of quick moves like his standing Short which have fewer frames in which to cancel into moves like Supers.

3) Efficient joystick movement will allow you to use more strategic Focus attacks and dashes while simultaneously charging more effectively (and also allow you to do more advanced combo techniques using these dashes, like the EX Hyperfist into Ultra 2).

4) Better joystick management will permit you to transition easily from one or more techniques, allowing you to smoothly go from movement to attack and back again with much greater control (note: we will look at some specific examples of this in the later parts of this post).

Now that we better understand the importance of excellent joystick control, let's look at some of the game mechanics related to joystick inputs, as they pertain to USF4's game engine . . . for these will be key to unlocking the full potential of our joystick's functions.


KEY PROPERTIES TO REMEMBER WHEN DOING DIRECTIONAL INPUTS ON JOYSTICK

USF4 appears to have a more relaxed input system than many earlier Street Fighter games. Most notably:

a) It is very easy to do multiple inputs with only a small joystick shift, more than even your muscle memory would suspect. For instance, if you attempt Dee Jay's Climax Beat Ultra by doing Down/Back to Down/Toward to Up/Back, and then review the actual input display in Training Mode, you will typically see that you have inputted many more directions than the required three. The implications of this are twofold; one, you do not need to consciously spend a lot of time on any single input to initiate a required technique (in fact, faster is almost always better). Secondly, you don't have to be 100 percent precise with your inputs; rather, as long as you have inputted them in the correct order within a given timeframe, the special or technique will still come out, even when there are multiple other inputs between the ones that are necessary for your move. 

Note: The only time this will not be the case is when one of your earlier inputs accidentally does another technique before your desired move comes out (for instance, a Dread Kick coming out instead of an intended Super). This will usually only happen when you are not quick enough with your directional inputs and follow-up button presses, however. In fact, the input hacks in this post are designed specifically to remove this kind of frustrating occurrence.

b) When inputting directions, you have several frames in which to do so before any follow-up action will begin to take place. In other words, the results of an input are never instantaneous. For instance, when you go from a Down/Back charge to a Dread Kick, you do not instead start walking forward before the Dread Kick comes out, because the walk won't occur until the Toward direction has been held a certain number of frames. As a matter of fact, there is even a way to perform a short walk forward (about one step) and then still go into your charged Dread Kick. Similarly, when doing a Toward into Dread Kick, this doesn't happen on the first immediate frame . . . therefore allowing you to do multi-input moves with similar inputs to the Dread Kick instead (such as Dee Jay's Sobat Carnival Super). The main point is that, because moves don't come out on the first immediate frame, you actually have a little time to perform several inputs before a move ever appears onscreen.

c) The game engine has a long memory for moves placed in its buffer, which is why you can do techniques such as a Max Out with a Back directional input plus Punch, provided you hit the official Toward direction for Max Out activation before you get to the Back direction. In simple terms, the game will remember your earlier Toward direction even when you press Punch on a different direction, assuming they are close enough in time to still be in the game's memory buffer.

d) The game allows for single inputs to be used for two different moves simultaneously. For instance, when you do a Toward motion for a Max Out or Dread Kick, that same Toward direction can also be used as part of a Super input when canceling from these moves. That is, you never need to input a completely new set of directions for the follow-up Super, thus allowing you to perform the cancel into Super much more quickly than would otherwise be possible.

e) The game also includes a number of built-in shortcuts for doing many special attacks. Of particular note, the official motion for Dee Jay's Super and Ultra 1 (i.e., the Sobat Carnival and Sobat Festival, respectively) is listed as Full Charge Back -> Toward -> Back -> Toward plus Kick Buttons. In game, however, you can actually substitute any of the first three inputs with a variant that includes the specified direction (e.g., Down/Back for a Back direction). Only the final direction needs to be a true Toward, supposedly to keep it from getting confused with other special attacks. All you really need to know is that these shortcuts allow us even more flexibility in how we can input special moves for Dee Jay in USF4. 

So what do these game engine properties mean for our joystick technique? Well, in particular, it means the following:

i) the key is to perform all necessary inputs for a move very quickly. 

ii) you do have to input all inputs for a move in a proper order, but can often have several extraneous inputs in between them, meaning it is possible to get desired moves even when your inputs are not perfect. 

iii) as a result of i) and ii) above, speed is actually a more important factor than is perfect precision in getting specific moves in USF4 (especially when compared to earlier games with much more restrictive and disciplined input requirements, such as Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo).

iv) because moves do not come out on the very first frame of inputting, you actually have more time than you think to input the necessary directions. This window is still short, mind you (particularly when canceling from quick normal moves) . . . so you will need to get adept at inputting all inputs for a move quickly and efficiently.

v) since the game engine is fairly lenient when it comes to using shortcuts, remembering game inputs and inputting single input directions for multiple moves simultaneously, we can take advantage of these properties to make our inputs more efficient and more reliable . . . and, ultimately, more successful.

To accomplish this, we will first need to do some technical exploration around our joystick's mechanics before showing multiple examples of how the above properties can be used to make your Dee Jay techniques many times more powerful. A bit of a technical diversion, for sure, but worth reading through if the rest of this post is to make full sense to you.


JOYSTICK PROPERTIES OF NOTE: KNOW YOUR STICK TO KNOW YOUR CAPABILITIES

There are many elements to a joystick and many different parts of its assembly that can be customized to one's preferences (some players are, in fact, hardcore about the specifics of the joystick they used). The details around joystick features gets complicated quickly, so for the purposes of the current post, we are going to focus primarily on those elements that will have implications for our control technique.

First off, you should be aware of the four different states that a joystick can occupy, as these will become imperative when we get to our joystick technique hacks a little later. Where joysticks are concerned, these are the four states that they can be in:

Neutral - stick is roughly at dead center and is not being moved at all. This is also the point it returns to anytime you let go of the stick and it springs back to its original position.

Dead Zone - this is the amount of space between neutral and where the microswitches are located. The longer the dead zone, the longer it takes to have an input registered by the game from a starting neutral position (but also the less likely to hit an accidental input). Conversely, a shorter dead zone makes inputting a direction much faster but at the expense that hitting an input accidentally is increased.

Engage - this is the point where the actuator on the joystick actually contacts one or more microswitches and activates them, sending the input signal off to the game engine. The space between the Engage point and Neutral would be your stick's Dead Zone.

Throw - the throw represents the maximum distance that the stick can be moved in a direction before it can go no further. The throw would be the zone farthest from the stick's Neutral and is largely dictated by the nature of the stick's restrictor gate. 

Here is a rough approximation of what each of these zones on the stick looks like when activated (taken from a very informative Geek Pub video which you should watch for a more detailed explanation of what these zones mean) . . .


Note: in modern day fight sticks, the gate most typically used is a square restrictor gate, which is particularly useful for charge characters as it keeps the throw in all directions equal and also makes finding diagonals a hell of a lot easier. For certain character types, such as shotos and grapplers, an octagon gate might plausibly be better for circular motions. That said, you can accomplish all moves on both types of gates with a little effort, and the rest really comes down to preference. Personally, because Dee Jay is a charge character and gains significantly from the equal throw in all directions, I would recommend the square restrictor gate. But ultimately the choice is up to you.

Another important observation to remember here is that the engage point and throw are NOT the same thing. Rather, the moment at which you can first input a direction actually occurs at a point before the joystick hits the restrictor gate. The benefit of this is that you can input moves before hitting the full extension of the stick in any direction; indeed, many players regularly discourage the practice of "riding the gate" in this way, since it tends to make your inputs less accurate and less responsive. It's also harder on the joystick itself (I would know; I actually did it for years).

The other item to note is that on most joysticks, there are only four microswitches, one for each of the directions up, down, left, and right. The remaining four diagonals occur when two adjacent microswitches are activated at the same time, which is then read by the game engine as a diagonal input. See the picture below of the popular Sanwa JLF stick and note the clear square restrictor gate as well as the four red microswitches (not eight).



The short and equal throw on the square gate joystick, combined with the four microswitches creating eight possible inputs, helps explain why we often get several additional directions showing up on input display, even when we are moving between what we perceive as only two adjacent directions (as an example, getting Toward and Down/Toward inputs showing up in the Input Display when our muscle memory is inputting what we think is Down/Back to Back). The reason is that - provided we are not riding hard against the restrictor gate when we go between two directions like Down/Back and Back - we are frequently going to hit the engage point on the opposite set of microswitches as well, thereby activating them even when we are not actively trying to.

Ever had a situation where you were trying to cancel a normal attack into a Sobat Kick (Back to Toward input) and instead got a Upkick (a Down to Up input)? That occurs because you accidentally pressed a button during one of these phantom inputs instead of during the necessary Toward direction. These ghost inputs are likely a function of the short dead zone between the actuator and microswitches as well as the square restrictor gate itself. In any case, it turns out that this property is a secret boon since it means we can input multiple other directions even when we are consciously taking steps to input moves in (what seems like) the other direction. By only having to move the stick a bare minimum to trigger the microswitches on the opposite side (i.e., the engage point), it essentially allows you to perform several inputs much more quickly than would be possible by going all the way to the opposite direction (i.e., the entire length of the throw).

In my earlier post on charge buffering, you will recall I mentioned the concept of "roll pausing" when inputting two adjacent directions, as a means of activating a charged special and starting a new charge as quickly as possible. What the roll pause means is that, instead of riding hard against the perimeter of the gate, we move from two adjacent directions (say, Down/Back to Back) by "bouncing" the stick slightly in our hand while transitioning from one direction to the other. Schematically, the roll pause would be perceived by your muscle memory like this:




In contrast, the standard method of riding the gate between these two microswitches would look like this . . .



Now that we better understand the anatomy and operation of our joystick, the reason why the roll pause works should be obvious. By choosing to bounce for an ever so slight moment between the two directions of Down and Down/Back - that is, using that pause to roll between the two points rather than ride the gate hard - we have found a way to quickly reach the engage point of the microswitches on the opposite side of the stick while actually moving the joystick very little in that direction. This is why the additional phantom inputs show up on Input Display even though, muscle memory-wise, we would have sworn that we had never hit them. It's also, as it turns out, the property which serves as the backbone for all our future joystick techniques . . . which we will now begin exploring in detail (at long last!). Late 2022 Update: the physical method of roll pausing is abstract enough that it requires a separate discussion, which I have now done in a separate post all of its own (since this current post on input mechanics will be long enough as is). You can find that post on the roll pausing topic here: 


JOYSTICK TECHNIQUES AND HACKS: USING THE PROPERTIES OF OUR STICK TO OUR MAXIMUM ADVANTAGE

Once I better understood the properties of the JLF joystick and square restrictor gate, it became obvious to me that many of the hacks I had come up with in previous posts worked because of these joystick factors (all I knew at the time was that they did work, not HOW they worked). For instance:

  • The quick Super and Ultra 1 hacks I came up with (e.g., Down/Back to Back to Down/Back + Kick Buttons) work because, by rolling between these two inputs, we are actually inputting a number of Toward directions as well which, given the relaxed nature of the USF4 input system, is sufficient to fire off the Super and Ultra 1 we are attempting.
  • The Charge Buffering hack to input specials and begin charging again right away works because, by roll pausing between two Back directions, we are also inputting the Toward direction to activate the special. Since the game engine is lenient enough to remember this Toward input for a spell after its inputted, the game activates the desired special even though by this point we have already started charging Back again.

Nevertheless, that is only the beginning of the applications that we can find for these joystick techniques. So let's finish this post by going through a few of the more beneficial ones that will really help advance your Dee Jay gameplay.


LESSON 1 - FOCUS AND DASH TRICKS 

The main thing to remember when doing double inputs in a single direction for a dash is that they must be done quickly and, more importantly, have a return to Neutral before doing the two inputs for the dash (in other words, you can't simply roll the stick to the desired direction). In addition, you want to be moving the stick in the dash's direction only far enough to hit the stick's engage point, NOT all the way to the joystick's throw. This is what I refer to below as either a "Soft Toward" or a "Soft Back" input . . . meaning, a joystick movement that only moves the bare minimum needed to activate the desired direction but without hitting two of the opposite directions as you would with a roll pause. 

The reason for not doing a roll pause here should be obvious - by inserting two opposite directions on either side of your first dash input (i.e., a roll pause), you don't get to that second dash input as quickly as you could and therefore either miss the dash altogether or take longer to do it than is actually necessary. Note that when doing a soft Toward or Back you really don't have to move the stick very much at all to get that first input; in fact, relaxing the stick altogether to zip back to Neutral before your first dash input actually makes doing the dash quicker than would consciously trying to hit it manually (see my dash into Ultra 2 post here for a better explanation as to why). The other benefit of returning to Neutral first before performing a Soft Toward or Soft Back is that it allows you to do a second directional input quickly that activates the actual dash. Because the distance to any direction is equal from the Neutral starting point (at least when a square gate is used), you can hit those two same directions for a dash much more quickly than if you had to start from another direction (such as Down/Back). So here is the way to accomplish these dashes quickly and in a way that also allows you to begin charging Down/Back for a follow-up special, super or Ultra. 


Forward Dash - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a charged Down/Back input. 
  • Let go of the stick so that it automatically bounces back to Neutral (note: As mentioned, it's quicker and smoother to do this than to actively move to the Neutral position). Going from Down/Back to Neutral with a minimal amount of force will insert your first Toward input for the dash (think of it almost like a "mini-roll pause"" with only one direction before the roll rather than two).
  • Immediately after reaching Neutral and doing the soft Toward, move the stick quickly  in a circle from Toward all the way to Down/Back. The second Toward at the beginning of this circular input sequence completes the dash. As a matter of fact, by the time you see Dee Jay actually do his dash, you should already be almost all the way to a full charge. 


The trick to getting this to work effectively is to use precise movements, only moving the minimum amount necessary to trigger the Toward inputs on the stick. The longer your inputs (in terms of movement and time), the clumsier they will be and the longer it will take you to begin a new charge. That charge is necessary both for defense and potential combos after the forward dash, so getting this down properly is essential to maintaining useful advantage after your dash ends. 

Next, let's consider the method for a Back Dash. Funnily enough, this one is a little easier to do than the Toward dash once you understand the logic behind it.  


Back Dash Input - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a charged Down/Back input 
  • Quick move all the way to a Hard Toward (i.e., all the way to the stick's throw) and then let go of the stick so that it automatically bounces back to Neutral and a Soft Back input (note: this is why we start the Soft Back or mini-roll pause from a Toward direction, since it's the quickest way to get to Neutral and input our first Back direction in the most efficient manner possible).
  • Immediately after the Soft Back, move the stick from Back to Down/Back in a semi-circle motion.
  • Because the distance from Back to Down/Back is shorter than for a forward dash to Down/Back, it's easier to get a full charge completed by the end of a back dash. Again, the key is to be precise. Done correctly, you will actually insert your second Back input as you travel to the Down/Back direction, activating the back dash even as you begin a new charge.


In my experience, these are the quickest and most reliable ways to input two directions for a dash. However, if you want a little extra confidence that the dash you are attempting will come out and allow you to start charging as quickly as possible, you can do the first input for dash immediately before you release the Focus attack and then the follow-up last input immediately after its release. The two inputs will be close enough in time together that the game engine will still read them as part of the same input sequence for dash. And voila, your dash magically appears.

Final Note on Dashing Techniques: when you get really efficient with the joystick technique for dashes, you can then start styling with them in combos by doing a dash back followed by a dash forward ending in Dee Jay's Ultra 2, the Climax Beat. I have provided information on the specifics for this advanced combo technique in a separate post which you can find here.


LESSON 2 - NORMAL CANCELS DIRECTLY INTO SUPER

For all normal cancels, the basic input sequence is the same. Memorize it and then learn it in training to the point of it being reflexive, as it will be required a lot during the course of higher level Dee Jay play (particularly where combos are concerned):


Crouching Normal Cancel to Super - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a charged Down/Back direction and press the normal button to be canceled
  • Roll pause to Back (which gives us our first phantom Toward input) 
  • Finish by doing a final Toward input plus kick button for the Super. 


And here is a similar sequence, just done in reverse using the same basic inputs, for a standing normal cancel . . .


Standing Normal Cancel to Super - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a charged Down/Back direction and then ride the gate to Back before pressing the standing normal button to be canceled
  • Roll pause to Down/Back (which gives us our first phantom Toward input) 
  • Finish by doing a final Toward input plus kick button for the Super. 


These sequences, done quickly and correctly, will allow you to cancel into almost all of Dee Jay's normal attacks . . . although your input skills need to be especially tight to cancel from his quickest moves (such as a crouching and standing Short kick) given that the number of frames to perform the cancel are smaller. On the other end, Dee Jay's heavier normals (such as a crouching Strong punch or close Roundhouse) take longer to animate, so they offer many more potential frames in which to cancel the move into Super. The tradeoff is that these moves tend to be slower, more prone to counter-hit and whiff punishing, and sometimes have huge recovery. Thus, you really want to perfect this technique for all of Dee Jay's normals so that you will be ready for any situation. 

Final Note on Normal Cancels to Super:  I should mention that this is the input sequence you will need to perform the heavy damage cross up combo I presented in an earlier post in this journal. Also, when doing a combo from low Jab to Stand Short into Super, you can actually do a roll pause from Down/Back to Back between these two light hits, so that you then only have to do the final Toward direction for the Super cancel after the Standing Short. This is a great way to make a tight cancel a little easier to perform reliably.


LESSON 3 - CROUCHING LIGHT KICK CANCEL INTO LIGHT DREAD KICK CANCELLED INTO SUPER

This technique has an almost identical sequence to the one for normal cancels. The main difference is that you have to time it slightly slower so that you get the Light Dread Kick midway through and not a direct cancel into Super. To accomplish this, use the following input sequence:


Crouching Light Kick Cancel to Light Dread and Super - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a charged Down/Back direction and press the low Short button to be canceled
  • Roll pause to Back (which gives us our first phantom Toward input) and press the Short button again for the cancel into Light Dread
  • Finish by immediately doing a final Toward input plus kick button for the Super 


This input sequence is a great example of one where our inputs are doing double duty. The roll pause from Down/Back to Back sets up the cancel into Light Dread (it also uses the game engine's longer memory buffer to hold off on the button press for the Dread until we have reached the Back direction). In addition, it also serves as the majority of inputs for the Super so that, by the time the Dread has been inputted in our sequence, we only need the final Toward button to get our cancel from the Dread into the Super. This is possible because our sequence is purposely designed to cover both special moves at the same time, in the interest of getting all inputs completed during the short window available.

Final Note on Crouching Light Kick Cancel to Light Dread and Super:  the key to this one, as mentioned, is all in the timing and pacing. The first few times you try it, don't be surprised that you go from the crouching Short directly into the Super (particularly if you learned the Short Cancel into Super before this one). Your objective should be to slow down your inputs slightly, breaking the input sequence up into inputs for the Light Dread followed by inputs for the Super. This is something which only practice and muscle memory will award you, so it's best to bring it to Training and work out each component individually. Writings on an Internet blog page can only get us so far.


LESSON 4 - DASH INTO ULTRA 2 TRICKS

During SF4's heyday, this technique was considered one of the most difficult in the game (made a little easier in USF4 due to Dee Jay's EX Machine Gun Upper launching the opponent higher, allowing a bit more time to do the dash and Ultra 2). The tricky part of doing a forward dash into Ultra is that, even with the tweaked Upper, you have only a very small window to input a large number of necessary directions and button presses (in fact, you have to have most of the inputs inputted before Dee Jay even finishes the dash, since his stored charge for the Ultra runs out if you wait too long after the dash to press the three Punch buttons). 

The consequence of this is that you don't have a lot of leeway time-wise to accomplish both the dash and Ultra during the short window, either after an EX Hyperfist or a Focus crumple. However, we do have a bit more flexibility in terms of the input sequence we can employ . . . once we know how to take advantage of it. Specifically, the trick to getting this technique reliably is to input our directions in such a way that we are doing the inputs for both the dash AND the early parts of the Ultra at the same time (remember: the game engine allows us to perform single inputs that meet the requirements for multiple moves simultaneously). 

Because there are a lot moving parts to this technique, I eventually decided to do a separate post on it that can be found here. The key, as always, is to perform all inputs quickly while cutting corners with the shortcut methods available to us. I have no doubt that there are many ways to use joystick properties and the game's input system to accomplish this same technique; this is just what has proven to work for me the best. Once you are really comfortable with this technique, you can then take it to the next level by doing a Focus crumple into Back Dash (using the tricks in lesson 1) and then a forward dash into Ultra 2 (as explained in my separate post). This is a great example of combining multiple joystick techniques to create more fluid movement, as well as more flash and style in Dee Jay's killer combos. 


Lesson 5 - Roll Pausing For More Juggling Upkicks and Upkicks into Super

I actually mentioned this one during the earlier post on charge buffering, but here is where we get down to the nitty-gritty of how to perform it. Basically, to perform this combination, just activate your first two-hit Upkick on a jumping opponent with the following command:


Upkicks into Juggling Upkicks - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • From a charged Down/Back position, roll pause to Down and press medium kick to strike your opponent with both hits (don't press the kick button until you reach the Down position!).
  • Continue to charge down while Dee Jay is performing the first two-hit Upkick.
  • As soon as Dee Jay lands, do an Up input right away (no roll pause) and press medium kick again to get the second juggling Jackknife.

The trick to this one is to roll pause only the bare minimum necessary between Down/Back and Down, so that you barely engage the microswitch for Up and then immediately start charging down again for the follow-up Jackkknife. It's challenging at first, but gets much easier once you become comfortable with the muscle memory involved. Furthermore, keep in mind that you can also do an anti-air Upkick into Super if only the second hit of the Upkicks hits the opponent while they are near the corner. Here's the sequence for that one:

Upkicks into Juggling Super- Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • From a charged Down/Back position, ride the gate to Up/Back and press medium kick to strike your opponent with only the higher hit of the two-hit medium Jack Knife.
  • As soon as Dee Jay lands, roll pause to Down/Back and then press Light Kick as you move to the Toward position (this completes the input for the Super).

Final Note on Upkicks into Juggles: In most cases, you should be using the Light version of the Super here, as it usually is the only one fast enough to catch the opponent in the air as they are falling. Timing and quick inputs are necessary to pull off both of these juggling techniques properly (with quicker and even more slight joystick movements than was the case for any of the earlier lessons). Note as well that, in addition to juggling with Super in the second scenario, you also can juggle into moves like an EX Max Out or EX Sobat if you hit-confirm it early enough on an air-borne opponent.


Lesson 6 - Roll Pausing To Cancel a Low Short into Fierce Hyperfist 
This combo technique was fairly well explained in an earlier post I did (which can be found here). Rather than doing a full Up input and potentially losing a charge or missing the window for the Hyperfist, however, you can try using the following input sequence as an alternative:

Low Short Cancel into Fierce Hyperfist - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a jumping medium kick (either cross up or front on) and begin charging down immediately after starting the jump.
  • Upon landing, perform a low Short Kick from a Down position and do the first button press for Fierce in almost chain combo rhythm.
  • Roll pause quickly to Down/Back and continue pressing Fierce repeatedly to get additional hits on the Machine Gun Upper/Hyperfist.

Final Note on Roll Pause From Short to Hyperfist: If you have Super in stock, you can also cancel the Hyperfist into it by doing a roll pause to Back followed by a Toward input plus medium or hard kick. 


Lesson 7 - Jump In Link Combo to Medium Kick, Dread, and Super

I find the following combo is a great one for maintaining space and control after a jump in with the Short Knee on an opponent. If the opponent blocks it, you can end the combo early before they try a reversal. If they block the sequence and do no reversal, you can replace the Dread Kick in this combo with a Max Out to build meter and a little space. And if the opponent doesn't block the sequence, you can convert the whole thing into big damage using the following input scheme:


Jump In Link Combo to Medium Kick, Dread, and Super - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • Start with a jumping Short Knee and immediately begin charging Down/Back as you enter the air.
  • Upon landing, perform a low Jab Punch from the Down/Back position to keep the combo going.
  • Follow this up by riding the gate to the Back position and pressing the medium button for a linked standing Forward kick (this link is tighter so you need to be quick; also, no roll pause here as we don't want to do a premature Dread Kick before the Standing Medium Kick).
  • As the Forward kick connects, immediately roll pause to Down/Back and do a Roundhouse button press (for the heavy version of the Dread Kick)
  • Move the joystick forward to a final Toward input and press Hard Kick again to add on the cancel into the Heavy version of Dee Jay's Super.


Final Note on Jump In Link Combo to Forward, Dread and Super: This combo took me a long time to perform reliably, mainly because I didn't understand the full input mechanics of it. In particular, I would either not do the link portion fast enough (so the opponent could block before the medium kick landed) or I would do a sudden Dread Kick before the medium kick ever came out (which is not a true combo and therefore can be blocked by the foe). 

The way around this is to again break up the combo into two components. Start by getting the link portion of the combo down reliably to the point of the standing Forward kick consistently hitting (it's a tighter link, so takes some getting used to). Then gradually try adding in the cancels to Dread and Super, remembering to only start using roll pausing after the link portion has already been completed. The fact that you have to combine multiple joystick movements/techniques seamlessly in the one sequence is what makes this combo difficult to do on the fly. BUT the rewards are plentiful once you do, so definitely worth getting the full muscle memory down ahead of time in training. 


Lesson 8 - Instant Max Out or Dread Kick Cancel Into Super

On paper, this combo doesn't sound too difficult, but the short window to input moves for both the special and cancel into Super makes it more challenging than you would think (especially in the case of the Max Out cancel to Super). This is where our joystick technique will once again come in handy in order to meet all charge requirements as quickly as possible, thus ensuring their success. Here is the input scheme which I regularly use to this end.


Instant Special Attack Cancel into Super - Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • From a full Down/Back charge, roll pause to Back and press Punch as you are reaching the Back position (not before) to do the initial Max Out. If you are trying for a Dread cancel into Super, do a kick button press instead.
  • Immediately after reaching Back and pressing the appropriate special button, move the stick to the Toward direction and press kick for the follow-up Super.


OR you can use the following alternate method to accomplish the same thing . . .


Instant Special Attack Cancel into Super - Alternate Muscle Memory Input Sequence

  • From a full Down/Back charge, ride the gate to a Back position.
  • From the Back position, roll pause to Down/Back and press Punch as you are reaching the Down/Back position (not before) to do the initial Max Out. If you are trying for a Dread cancel into Super, do a kick button press instead.
  • Immediately after reaching Down/Back and pressing the appropriate special button, move the stick to the Toward direction and press kick for the follow-up Super.

Final Note on Instant Special Attack into Super: The alternate version of this sequence takes a bit more co-ordination and finesse in order to create the same ending effect. Why use it, then? Its chief benefit over the initial version is that it ends your charge buffering sequence with a Down/Back input, meaning you are charging in both directions in the fastest time possible. This is so important to both Dee Jay's offense and defense, I would recommend using it all the time as your default charge buffering technique (even in cases where you don't cancel into the Super afterward). Again, a whole lot of additional reward for just a little bit of additional effort. As well, take note that the Dread Kick cancel into Super only works when the first hit of the kick connects with the opponent (either as a blocked or unblocked hit) whereas the Max Out can be cancelled during its earliest frames, whether it connects or not.


THE FINAL, FINAL LESSON: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER AND CONCLUDING THIS MONSTROUSLY LONG POST (AKA TIME TO START STYLIN')

Whew, that was a journey, wasn't it? Admittedly, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time and words in this post explaining many different facets of joystick technique and manipulation, everything from the highly technical (such as joystick zones) to the rather abstract (the importance of muscle memory and how to use it and a variety of tricks to make your techniques more reliable). While it has taken us a LOOOOOONNNNG time to get to the end, I truly felt it was necessary because performing the proper technique would only make sense to you if you first understood what it was that made it a proper technique in the first place. 

Bear in mind that anything involving muscle memory will, by definition, be hard to explain on paper; you almost always end up having to learn the final method yourself by "feel", based on what is most effective for you. That is why I have constantly emphasized throughout this post the importance of training. It is highly possible that none of what I have said here will make any sense to you for weeks on end. Then, one day, you will just "get it" and it will all click in a sudden Eureka moment. 

On the other hand, you might end up coming up with a completely separate method from the one proposed here, one that works just as well on your own terms. I have no problem with that. All this post was meant to do was set you on the road to developing your own technique based on my current level of knowledge and personal experience. Nevertheless, the relaxed nature of the game engine in USF4, combined with the properties of whatever controller you are using, all but guarantee that other input methods will be found and might even work better. Again, that's OK in my books. So, I'll finish with just a few more points and tips before I leave you to your own devices (both literally and figuratively):

a) When reviewing the directions I have proposed for various input sequences, you may find that the input display sometimes shows input configurations that are very different from what I have suggested. For instance, where I have stated you should go from Down/Back to Back, you may not find these actual inputs showing up at all on the display as I have presented them. Don't fixate on this issue. The main purpose of the input sequences is merely to give you an approach for muscle memory, one which starts from your charging back position and then encourages you to move the stick only the slight amount required to trigger the opposite side microswitches. 

Make no mistake: you are in fact hitting those additional directions on the opposite side of the stick even though your muscle memory (and possibly my descriptions) sometimes imply that they don't exist. This is the beauty of a stick with a small dead zone. It is very easy to hit multiple points - even on the other side of the stick from where you think you are inputting - and, when inputs are put together in a way that takes advantage of this, the inputs for moves will show up on display even when you think they shouldn't. The fact that no moves come out on the first frame is why you never really notice the presence of these extraneous "phantom" inputs . . . unless you are looking for them and trying to use them to your benefit, of course.  :p

Nevertheless, the proof in my explanations will be there when the moves the input sequences are meant to activate do (or perhaps do not) come out when you attempt them. Even though the muscle memory sequences may not 100 per cent reflect what the actual input display indicates, it is the final consistent result that I am most interested in. To be honest, this was the best way I could think of to teach players to input moves with minimal joystick movements, in ways that don't require going all the way to the opposite direction's throw (which slows down your input speed), and which ultimately rewards you more often with whatever move you were hoping for. So, if you take only a little of this to come up with your own method to accomplish these same goals, it will have been time well worth it. For me, anyway.

b) A good rule of thumb when trying to enter inputs for moves, particularly Supers and Ultras: all of your inputs should be timed at a quick and even pace (or rhythm, if you prefer). For those of you who are musicians out there, the timing of most of the cancels and techniques above are in 3/4 time . . . meaning, three equal beats, 1, 2, 3, in quick succession and rhythm. If you consciously feel that you drag on one of the inputs more than the others, don't be surprised if the move you wanted doesn't come out. The same goes for riding the gate. If you can literally feel yourself pushing hard against the gate when executing moves, that is a habit you will have to try and break. The muscle memory sequences in this post are more or less designed to encourage just that. 

c) Another good sign that you are not inputting moves quickly enough is when you see other moves showing up instead. As an example, if after a dash back you attempt a dash forward into Ultra 2 and instead begin walking forward, that is a sign that you did not perform all the inputs quickly enough in the early frames before a walk was registered by the game engine. Put simply, that is the game informing you that you need to further tighten up your input speed. Likewise, if you get the wrong special when trying for another one, this is usually either a sign of taking too long to input a sequence or pressing the final activating button when you are on a incorrect direction (in my case, this frequently showed up as a low Short canceled into a Light Upkick when I was actually trying for a Light Dread Kick; I ended up having to update my input sequence to the one in the guide above for this very reason). My point is: usually, the mistake you are making will help reveal the solution as well, so keep in mind the principles I have proposed in this post when diagnosing where your own input issues lie.

d) there are countless other applications of these joystick input principles that you can potentially explore to make your special and Super inputs even more consistent. Case in point: maybe - just maybe - you can also input the first direction for a Super before the normal cancel, provided you do it quickly enough to not start walking instead (which should be possible since moves don't appear on the very first frame). Likewise, because the engage points are so close together on a JLF joystick, you can also begin many of the input sequences with an Up/Back to Up input, followed by another Up/Back and ending with a button press plus Toward input. How could this possibly give you moves like Supers and Ultras, you say? It's because the dead zone on the stick is so small, that you will often trigger other directional inputs in between. For this reason - and provided your inputs are fast enough - the above input sequence should also work reliably. I went with the Down/Back to Back muscle memory sequences in the earlier lessons because these are the simplest ones to intuitively understand. But they are by no means the only input method available to you. Up to you to do the homework on these additional methods to see if they truly offer a viable alternate approach.

e) The techniques I have come up with in this post are the result of many years (yes, YEARS) of experimentation, trial and error, and sometimes rather incorrect theory-chasing. At this point, though, I have at least come up with a system that makes sense to me and reliably gives me the moves and combos I want to land. It's now up to you to decide if you want to invest any degree of similar effort for a game well over ten years old. Regardless, for those of you willing to invest the time and effort to get these advanced techniques down pat, you will be on the path to becoming more formidable than most Dee Jays who have ever fought before you. And, if anything, the world needs more of that kind of light-hearted Jamaican action. So get on that good shit ASAP, kind sir. And let us all see where the rhythm one day takes you. 


WHAT, STILL HERE? And still not a believer in the power of these joystick tricks after all this? Well, check out my PDF of possible combos using these techniques . . . AND the video of them below to witness what these techniques can accomplish for Dee Jay as a fighter. With a little practice. A little diligence. And, of course, a whole lot of the BEAT . . .



PDF Version of Post