Street

Fighter Footsies
Handbook
Introduction/Foreword
The ebook you're reading now is
the result of a lot of effort by Maj
of SonicHurricane.com to compile
a guide in what's commonly known
in the Street Fighter world as
"footsies". This guide remains free
to peruse and consult at his site, but
I've taken the liberty of compiling it
as an ebook for ease of access and
portability. The contents have been
copied verbatim, including images
and links to YouTube videos, so as
to maintain the integrity of the
handbook, sans for a couple of
minor grammatical or spelling
mistakes I've fixed. I hope you
enjoy it and can make good use of
it.
The entirety of the contents of this
handbook is the product of Maj's
effort into research and
explanation; I claim absolutely
nothing about it except having
compiled it into this ebook. If you
feel you can contribute with
something to the handbook itself,
please contact Maj; if you've found
any errors or anything wrong with
the ebook, don't hesitate to get in
touch with me.

Sh1k1
www.reddit.com/u/sh1k1
www.reddit.com/r/sf4
 Footsies Handbook
TOC
Footsies is oldschool slang for
the mid-range ground-based aspect
of fighting game strategy. The
ultimate goal is to control the flow
of the match, bait the opponent into
committing errors, and punish
everything.
When i first found the tournament
scene back in CvS days, i
remember it took me a very long
time to understand what players
like Valle and Choi were doing on
the ground to control the match. At
first sight it seems like a bunch of
spontaneous normal moves and
pokes, but theres a clear purpose
behind each of them.
Nobody really talks about footsies
in concrete terms because its seen
as a complex and elusive subject.
Hopefully these articles will help
change that perception, because
anyone who wants to compete at
tournament level absolutely needs
to know this stuff. You dont have
to use it but you have to be aware it
exists.
Each installment covers three or
four specific tactics which you can
integrate into your gameplan to
achieve practical results. Think of
it like one of those chess books
showing common situations and
how to solve each one. If you
absorb enough of these pieces,
suddenly youll have a solid
gameplan.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook
Introduction/Foreword
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 1
Footsies 101 begins with three
universal concepts axiomatic to all
Street Fighter games, and the
fighting genre in general. Punishing
whiffed attacks, intentionally
making yourself appear vulnerable,
and using poke patterns to set up
throws are all fundamental skills.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 2
Light attacks often serve as
feints due to their quick recovery
time. Knowing how to shut them
down is equally important as
knowing how to use them.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 3
A cornered opponent can not
escape your attacks by backing
away. Obviously this presents an
opportunity to capitalize on a
massive advantage, if you know
what to do.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 4
Super moves inflict far too much
damage to treat casually. For every
matchup, you need several reliable
ways to fool opponents into
wasting meter without putting
yourself at risk.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 5
Jumping is one of the biggest
gambles you can take in traditional
fighting games. Despite the
potential for high rewards, jumping
usually leads to getting anti-aired,
knocked down, and crossed up. Its
risky to say the least, but there are a
few right ways to go about it.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 6
Although footsies primarily
occupy mid-range zones, quite a
few basic footsies components can
be effective in close quarters too.
In fact, having a solid foundation of
mid-range footsies opens up direct
gateways into point-blank range.
Get in there and cause some
damage!
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 7
Always be on the lookout for
minor tricks which can help make
you a little tougher to beat. For
instance, knowing when to stand in
neutral instead of crouching is a big
one. Itll seem straightforward once
you read it, but many players dont
know about this and its very
useful.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 8
Hopkicks are significant to the
landscape of footsies even though
only a few characters possess them.
Heres a basic overview explaining
their advantages. If youve got em,
use em. If not, figure out a way
around em before you face
someone who knows how to use
em.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 9
Jumping is absolutely a facet of
footsies, but the ground game has to
come first. Having read all the
previous chapters about ground
fundamentals, nows a good time to
look into reliable ways of setting
up crossups a major part of
offensive footsies in their own
right.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Chapter 10
Any offensive gameplan
requires leaving gaps for the
opponent to give you something to
punish. However, its essential to
prevent opponents from picking
apart your preferred waiting spots,
because then theyll never hand
over what you want. Occasional
chaos is a good way to fill some of
those hesitant pauses with feints to
mess with your opponents head,
making it harder for them to read
your gameplan.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Supplement A
No discussion of footsies is
complete without a tactical
overview on projectiles. This entry
is more abstract than previous
installments, but it was too big a
concept to leave out and too big a
concept to cover in one article.
Consider this a primer on the topic
and look for more fireball strategy
articles in the future.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Supplement B
After writing so many articles
about footsies, it makes sense to
write one about avoiding them
entirely. Sometimes blocking is the
best course of action. Running
away works too, especially from
easily frustrated opponents. Crazy
rushdown is another option for
bypassing footsies. Its always fun
to do and watch, but prepare to
have your heart broken sometimes.
Street Fighter Footsies Handbook,
Epilogue
Playing footsies the right way
demands a certain core confidence.
Without it, youre just somebodys
training dummy. With it, youre
always making progress, always
learning, always moving forward,
even when a (temporarily) superior
opponent destroys you. If you want
to improve your game, eliminate
doubt and play without fear. The
rest will take care of itself.
What are footsies?
What is zoning?
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 1
A lot of people make the mistake of
assuming that footsies is something
you whip up on the fly. While you
certainly can do it that way, and
while freestyling footsies is
certainly a valuable skill, the fact
of the matter is that Alex Valle
knows more about footsies than
you'll ever know. The real problem
is you don't even know that you're
supposed to know these things.
Footsies as a whole is such a
dynamic, complex subject that it's
impossible to convey or grasp at
once. So we're going to try
something different. Let's approach
footsies like a collection of
situations and try to come up with
elemental solutions to each
scenario. Practice these one by one
until you're comfortable enough
with them to incorporate them
fluidly into your gameplan.
Element 01: Momentarily step into
your opponent's poke range and
quickly back out instead of
attacking. This is Footsies 101. To
see it in action, check out Mike
Watson's HF Guile demolishing
some poor bastard two
consecutive full rounds of toying
with his opponent's natural
reactions. This bait works well in
tense matches, after extended
periods of cautious zoning, or with
charge characters who rarely walk
forward.
Element 02: Determine which of
your combos and attack strings
position your opponents barely
outside their effective reversal
range, especially when facing
characters with greater mobility.
One of the best ways to trick
someone into wasting meter and
handing you the match is by making
yourself appear falsely vulnerable.
There's no better example of this
concept than the famous final
exchange of the B3 SFA2
tournament.
Element 03: Once you've
established a pattern of poking
consistently at a certain range, use
your opponent's hesitation to walk
up and throw them. It's always
dangerous to wander into enemy
attack space, so wait until you're
certain you've trained them to think
twice about pushing buttons. John
Choi's CvS2 Sakura does an
excellent job of demonstrating this
principle for the entire first round
of that Evo2k7 match. There's no
way he would've gotten away with
such gutsy throw attempts at the
beginning of the round.
All of these plays are universally
applicable to any fighting game.
That's why footsies and zoning are
considered fundamentals. If you run
into any questions, bring them here
anytime.
Element 99: And every once in a
while, try hiding behind a table.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 2
It takes a long time to look through
enough footage to find clear
examples of these concepts, but I'll
try to continue this series on a
weekly schedule as long as I'm
able. Hopefully you got a chance to
practice some of the lessons
covered in the previous installment
and found a place for them in your
gameplan. Here are a few more
pieces.
Element 04: When your opponent
is looking to punish your standard
pokes, try whiffing a crouching
light kick a few pixels outside their
sweep range. If they mistake it for a
slower attack, they'll leave
themselves open when their
counterattack misses. Be ready to
punish the whiff or simply walk up
and throw them during their
recovery period. This tactic works
best during mirror matches and
against opponents who can hit your
medium pokes on reaction.
Element 05: If your opponent starts
overusing the feint explained
above, take a quick step forward
and attack with your strongest
combo in sync with their rhythm.
Light attacks may be fast, but
they're certainly not immune to
mindgames. Mike Watson is
known for making excellent use of
such fakes, but Ohnuki's 3S Chun Li
found a way to make him pay.
Element 06: Always be on the
lookout for changes in your
opponent's behavior, especially
when they gain access to super
meter. When people start edging
back and forth at mid-range, that's a
sign they're fishing for something to
nail with a super. Remember what
Daigo's SF4 Ryu did to Poongko at
Capcom's International Exhibition?
Stick to quick normal moves in that
situation. Don't test their reactions
with slow special moves. Or better
yet, lock them into block stun then
bait the super from a deceptively
safe distance.
By now you should be starting to
see what veteran players mean
when they say everything has a
counter. Footsies is more than
technical knowledge. It all hinges
on constant analysis of your
opponent to determine which tactic
to apply at any given moment. Look
for patterns!
Rule #1: Never get predictable. If
you can't read your opponent's
intentions for whatever reason, or if
you simply lose track of your
opponent's train of thought, do not
under any circumstances fall back
to your default gameplan. Play it
safe or do something random,
something your opponent has never
seen you do before. Otherwise
you'll find yourself walking (or
flying) home with a bewildered
look on your face, trying to
remember what exactly it was you
got hit by.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 3
This segment focuses on the
massive advantages gained by
cornering your opponent. As you
may have noticed, the capacity to
safely/stealthily withdraw from an
opponent's attack space is a crucial
aspect of footsies. Backing your
opponent against a wall negates
their ability to walk backward,
giving you sole control over when
you're in and out of attack range.
Element 07: Whenever you knock
someone into the corner, establish a
safe position slightly outside their
reach. Then as soon as you get the
feeling they're about to advance or
let their guard down, step forward
and poke their toes with a low
medium kick. Getting hit by one of
these gives a lot of players the urge
to retaliate with one of their own.
Simply let it whiff then strike their
extended limb or throw them right
back into the corner. However,
keep in mind that veteran players
often take a step forward before
counterpoking, so you might want to
give them a little extra room.
Element 08: Shortly after
succeeding with a typical tick-
throw setup, repeat a similar
sequence except step backward
instead of executing the throw. If
you catch your opponent's tech
attempt whiffing, respond with a
damaging combo. The corner
severely limits your opponent's
options for escaping throws,
thereby forcing them to take greater
risks. They're certainly not going to
walk out of your throw range, so
they have to do something proactive
to avoid dying to simple throw
loops. Having nowhere to go also
makes them an easy combo target
when they get baited.
Element 09: Following a basic
combo or block string, poke with a
light attack from its maximum
distance. The corner will ensure
your attack doesn't whiff, so you
lose nothing if they continue
blocking. On the other hand if they
happen to press a button, yours will
usually come out sooner and stuff
whatever they were trying to do.
Most everyone's natural reaction to
having their attack interrupted is to
block, which makes it easy to walk
up and throw them in their moment
of hesitation. Some people have a
habit of jumping instead, which can
also be punished with an uppercut
on reaction.
Generally speaking, there are two
approaches to corner offense.
Either you can press the advantage
and rush them down, armed with
the confidence that your pokes
aren't going to whiff. Or you can
hold your ground and counter their
every attempt to exit the corner,
waging a battle of attrition which
heavily favors whomever the
corner benefits.
It's actually difficult to find good
examples of corner footsies in
tournament finals, because both
players are fully aware that
everything can be punished.
Therefore the cornered player
becomes extremely defensive,
while waiting for a way out. Five
to ten seconds can go by without
anything major happening, because
the other player doesn't want to
open up an escape route either. Yet
it's no coincidence that the longer
someone stays in the corner, the
more often they tend to lose.
Rule #2: Dictate where the match
will be fought. Easier said than
done, but Alex Wolfe's
unbelievable EvoWest2k6
comeback in the final round of an
elimination bout provides an
excellent example. His HSF2
N.Dhalsim catches a few bad
breaks at the start, but once he
manages to recover, he simply
refuses to play the game at mid-
range. Usually Dhalsim dominates
at that distance, but not against CE
Bison. Thus he stays as far away as
possible, waiting for the one
mistake he can capitalize on. When
the opportunity arrives, he does
everything in his power to prevent
Bison from escaping to reset the
match.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 4
Picture this: You've been
dominating the match, you've got a
sizeable lifebar lead, you're
nowhere near the corner,
momentum is on your side, and all
you have to do for a guaranteed win
is stay in control for another fifteen
seconds. The only obstacle in your
path is your opponent's fully
charged meter. What do you do?
Whatever game you happen to play,
for every single significant
character matchup, you need eight
to ten viable answers to that
question ready to go at a moment's
notice. Otherwise you'll find some
serious nightmare comebacks
waiting for you. There's simply no
denying the decisive impact of
super moves in modern fighting
games. If you don't know how to
bait your opponent into wasting
meter, you may as well subtract the
entire thing from your lifebar and
try to win with whatever you've got
left not a bright idea.
Element 10: If your opponent has
full meter and you can tell they're
eagerly fishing to land it, stay far
away for a while then walk into
their c.MK range and immediately
block low. It's a relatively safe
gamble and if they take the bait, you
can punish them or at the very least
you'll have neutralized the threat of
their super meter. If you're really
advanced, you can take the hit with
an airborne hop then pass right
through the super. (Seriously
though, it's usually better to keep it
simple. If your mindgames become
too advanced for your opponent,
your elaborate bait will fly right
over their head and you'll land on a
"dumb" lvl3 super.)
Element 11: While on the
receiving end of lengthy combos
and rush sequences, a lot of players
attempt reversal supers at difficult
link junctions and possible
breaking points. If you've caught
your opponent gambling this way
and you have a direct counter to
their super move, sometimes it's
worthwhile to create an intentional
gap during your attack string by
inserting the appropriate counter. If
it works, the advantages are
numerous.
Element 12: When an aggressive
opponent willingly resets the match
by pushing you away, don't spring
for the first opportunity to make a
major move. It could be a trap. Test
the waters by whiffing a single low
jab counter-bait or simply block
patiently to see what your opponent
has in mind. As luck would have it,
both methods were demonstrated in
under ten seconds at Evo2k5 by
AfroLegends and s-kill,
respectively. Sometimes remaining
calm through a tense moment is all
it takes to avoid defeat.
These examples barely scratch the
surface of the countless meter bait
setups utilized in tournament play.
They vary based on character
matchups, accounting for the
properties and objectives of rival
supers. Pick up as many as you can
from various sources such as forum
discussions, match videos, clever
opponents, etc., and try them out for
yourself. Memorize the dependable
ones until you have enough variety
in your arsenal to overcome
predictability.
Rule #3: Constantly monitor your
opposition's state of mind. Certain
aspects of footsies take advantage
of an opponent's hesitation while
others rely on misdirecting
aggression. Thus expecting
passiveness from someone who has
grown impatient can lead to
disaster. As you practice against
different players, try to detect
which psychological stimuli nudge
them in one direction or the other.
For example, a flashing guard bar
tends to make people jumpy with
reversals and trigger-happy with
supers. Conversely, having no
meter against someone with full
meter urges people to play it overly
safe. Throwing a lot of fireballs
lures some people into
complacency while agitating others.
Learn as many of these habits as
possible and factor them into your
decisions when choosing from your
arsenal of tricks.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 5
One of the oldest textbook
guidelines in Street Fighter is
"Don't jump." That's been true since
the beginning with SF2: World
Warrior and it's still true today.
When you jump toward your
opponent, you surrender control of
the joystick for two whole seconds.
Think about that.
Hopefully stating it in those terms
reveals the massive risk inherent in
jumping. You're essentially
gambling with the momentum of the
match every time you try it.
However, the confusing part of
accepting this advice is that
jumping can be secretly good in
special instances when set up
properly. The real predicament is
knowing how and when to jump.
And if you don't, then you're better
off adhering to "Don't jump."
Element 13: Give your opponent a
good reason to throw a fireball then
jump over it. Do you see how this
concept revolves around what they
want to do as opposed to what you
want to do? It'll only work if you
successfully establish, without a
shadow of a doubt, that you don't
need to jump to win. Watch how
Daigo waits 65 ticks of game time
before jumping forward at Watson.
In fact, he makes it through the set's
entire first round plus 50 seconds
of the second round without ever
leaving the ground. How long do
you spend observing your
opponent's rhythm before taking that
chance?
By the way, the critical moment of
that final round occurs at the 3:32
mark. That's when Daigo was
instinctively "supposed" to jump
but didn't. Watch the whole round
from his perspective and you'll feel
an urge to jump at that point. That's
what convinces Watson that Daigo
has no interest in jumping, which
prompts Watson to get a little
reckless with his Hadokens. Credit
Daigo for being able to detect and
exploit that subtle psychological
shift.
Element 14: Set up a crossup by
baiting a sweep at close range. The
main tactical advantage here is that
it can be executed from within an
opponent's sweep range, which
makes it a viable tool even when
you're cornered. Choi and Bas took
turns demonstrating this maneuver
during the B5 SFA3 winners'
bracket final. Obviously this is
something to attempt sparingly.
After all, it requires an irreversible
committment to be based on a
predictive whim. Baiting a sweep
isn't exactly easy, so save it until
after you figure out your opponent's
sweeping habits.
Element 15: Analyze your jump
attack ranges and leverage them to
construct a mixup. For instance,
Zangief's j.HP has excellent reach.
If you jump at someone from
maximum j.HP distance, you can
cause their uppercut to whiff by not
pressing anything. However i
wouldn't recommend trying to play
air-to-ground footsies too often; not
even using a character equipped
with divekicks and air fireballs.
Whoever's on the ground always
has better options. But if you're up
against characters who force you to
jump such as Sagat and Charlie,
then you may as well create some
measure of uncertainty for your
opponent.
Here's what everyone needs to do
yet nearly nobody does: Before you
jump, ask yourself what you intend
to land on. If your answer is, "I
don't know, I'm just trying to land a
combo" then you're jumping onto an
uppercut. Only jump if you know
what your opponent is going to do
and if jumping is the best counter to
their action. That's how to turn the
odds in your favor.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 6
So far we've concentrated
primarily on that vital spot right
outside the opponent's poke range.
Now it's time to explore some
close quarters combat.
Element 16: If your character has a
damaging combo starting with
c.LK, a good way land it is by
taking a step forward after forcing
your opponent to block a light
attack or a jump attack, or even
after a knockdown. This makes a
lot of players twitch because it
looks like you're going for a throw,
plus nobody likes letting someone
walk all over their personal space.
Closing the gap carries the
additional advantage of enabling
you to maintain offensive pressure
with longer attack strings. The
exact duration of your walk
depends on your opponent's habits.
If they like mashing buttons during
block stun, then time your c.LK to
stuff their jab startup. If they're
extremely patient, then you'll need
to taunt them by walking forward
for quite a while.
Element 17: One of the dirtiest
tricks i've ever seen was Daigo's
ST Ryu knocking down Jason
Cole's Dhalsim, crossing him up
with a blocked j.HK, then walking
backward for half an eternity
before nailing him with c.MK xx
Fire Hadoken. It connected
because Daigo timed that c.MK to
coincide with Dhalsim's recovery
from j.HK block stun, so Cole got
hit low as he stood up to counter-
throw. This is another way to
punish defensive throw attempts
and it works even in games without
throw whiff animation. Of course
this is a variation of the element
outlined above, but it's slightly
more versatile because some
characters don't really have c.LK
combos. Since you're probably not
hit-confirming the combo here,
make sure to finish with a move that
leaves you safe if blocked.
Element 18: Uppercut that shit!
Once you scare your opponent out
of pushing buttons at close range,
you get to walk forward at will.
That's when the real fun begins.
Rule #4: Tactics are more reliable
than gimmicks, so build your
gameplan around tactics. The ideal
definition of a solid tactic is a
50/50 mixup wherein both options
are equally damaging, equally safe,
favorable to your position over the
opponent's, and designed such that
no single defensive maneuver
counters both options. There aren't
many perfect examples out there,
but three characters immediately
come to mind: ST Vega, CvS1
Nakoruru, and MvC2 Magneto.
Conversely a gimmick works only
once, because it's a trick designed
to counter the opponent's most
common reaction without properly
accounting for alternatives. Of
course shenanigans have their uses,
but only until your opponent
realizes that you're bluffing about
having anything else to resort to.
Your goal should be to get as close
to a fully tactical gameplan as
possible, because that'll actually
make your shenanigans
considerably more effective as
well. Remember, you don't get in
trouble for using shenanigans
you get in trouble for depending on
them.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 7
This week's installment highlights
assorted tricks of the trade which
may help refine your game further.
When combined with the basic
tools outlined in previous chapters,
your characters will become even
more elusive at mid-range.
Element 19: Whiff a crouching
light attack as bait, then cancel its
recovery into an evasive standing
light attack. For most characters,
the preferred ploy would be
chaining c.LK into s.LP because the
c.LK's outstretched vulnerable area
will be replaced by the relatively
safe s.LP hit box. Any low poke
meant to punish the low short will
pass harmlessly under a standing
jab. Some game engines don't allow
kicks to be chained to punches, in
which case c.LK to s.LK is the next
best choice especially if that
character's s.LK narrows their
baseline hit box by kicking high
with their front leg.
Element 20: Leverage the threat of
an effective poke to secure an extra
step forward, then use it to set up a
throw mixup. Watch ShootingD
follow a slow fireball into c.MK
range, then hover menacingly over
that spot for a moment before
advancing to land the throw. It
worked because prior rounds had
taught his opponent to respect his
precision with c.MK and fireball
spacing. Of course, the direct
counter to that maneuver is simply
marching in without hesitation and
throwing him first, as Aniken
irreverently demonstrates shortly
thereafter.
Element 21: After blocking a long-
range jump attack, try walking
backward instead of low blocking
if you expect your opponent to
attempt anything fancy. For
example, if Ryu tries to catch Guile
with a delayed sweep, Guile can
walk out of range to make it whiff.
Obviously this tactic should be
used sparingly because it would
make an awful primary strategy.
However, it's a great way for solid
defensive characters to frustrate
opponents who already have
trouble finding a way inside.
Walking backward before blocking
the jump attack also helps mess
with their spacing.
Element 22: Make your opponent
block your poke at the exact
distance so that their counterpoke
will barely whiff from where they
end up. If you poke from too far
away, they won't want to push a
button. The closer you get to that
perfect distance where their
counterpoke misses by a pixel, the
more enticing that button will seem
in their eyes. Doing this well hinges
on one crucial secret principle: In
most fighting games, crouching
makes your character bigger and
blocking makes your character
bigger. Don't crouch and don't
block!
Such specialized tricks may not
factor into every match you play,
but there are literally hundreds of
them if not thousands. Every
minor advantage counts towards
giving you an edge over the
competition. Playing footsies
against someone means putting up
everything you've got against
everything they know, so everything
counts.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 8
One of the most useful tools in
footsies is the hopkick. Not every
character is lucky enough to have
one, but those who do tend to rely
heavily on its offensive utility and
mid-range control capabilities.
Let's take a look at some examples.
Element 23: Hopkicks are
practically free after certain moves,
at certain ranges, in certain
matchups. Become familiar with all
of these safe setups, because as
long as your method of attack
requires huge risks to counter,
you'll remain in charge of the
match. Once you get your opponent
thinking they need to psychic
uppercut, that's half the battle won.
Then all you have to do is follow
through, bait it, and punish
conclusively. Hopkicks are a good
offensive foundation because they
automatically avoid low attacks,
they're too quick to counter on
reaction, and they travel forward so
it's difficult to make them whiff.
They accomplish several goals
even when blocked: you establish
momentum, you build meter, you
drain the opponent's guard bar, and
you back them into the corner or
push your way out.
Element 24: Up close, hopkicks
can be used to extend offensive
sequences or interrupt telegraphed
poke strings. Some are even
considered truly airborne,
temporarily rendering them immune
to throw attempts. Since hopkicks
trump such a wide array of
defensive attacks, their threat alone
is enough to scare experienced
opponents into blocking passively,
which opens up all kinds of throw
opportunities.
Element 25: Characters who
possess air divekicks without
minimum jump height requirements
can adapt them to mimic the tactical
functionality of hopkicks. Examples
include ST Dhalsim's j.D+MK
drill, SF4 Cammy's Cannon Strike,
SF4 Rufus' j.DF+MK divekick,
CFE Anakaris' j.DF+K divekick,
and XSF Wolverine's j.D+MK
divekick. As long as it can float
directly over an opponent's low
attacks and recover faster than they
can react to anti-air, it'll provide a
huge offensive boost to your
gameplan.
Remember, you aren't trying to win
the match with hopkicks alone.
Never get caught up in overusing
them to the point of becoming
predictable, abandoning your
gameplan, or forgetting other
effective tools in your arsenal.
Utilize hopkicks just enough to
discourage an opponent's best
counterattack options and seize the
opportunity to expand your
offensive scope.
Element 26: What's the best way to
counter hopkicks? In most cases,
preventing opponents from
establishing that ideal range is the
wisest solution. Once they've
already found it, the safest response
is to block and think about what
they're going to do next, then
capitalize on your prediction or
escape to a superior position. One
hopkick by itself won't cost you the
match, but feeling pressured might.
Beyond that, it's up to you to find
optimal counters for each matchup.
(Protip: Try standing jab it
works against divekicks too!)
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 9
Since jumping is such a slow
committment and since ground
counters to crossup attempts are
much quicker than the air time
required to reach crossup position,
effective crossup setups are more
about anticipation than reaction.
Due to sheer damage potential, one
well-timed ambiguous crossup can
turn the tide of an entire battle.
Finding reliable ways to create
such opportunities is essential to
any offensive-minded gameplan,
sometimes to the point of passing
up guaranteed damage in favor of
arranging a convenient crossup.
Element 27: Eliminate the
opponent's capacity to anti-air by
knocking them down first. In fact,
one of the primary goals of footsies
is to land a sweep or psychic DP
precisely for the purpose of
securely jumping over them as they
stand up. Simple, right?
Element 28: Bait your opponent
into committing a slow attack and
jump over them as it whiffs. This
method is slightly more
complicated and considerably
riskier, but there are several ways
to get it done. You can tick with
light attacks to push them into
position, then fake a throw and go
for the crossup as their
counterthrow misses. You can catch
them focusing too heavily on
ground footsies and jump over their
c.MK pokes while they're fishing to
land a super move. You can even
poke them from a safe distance until
they get frustrated enough to
become predictable with their
counterpokes, then jump over one
as soon as you feel out their rhythm.
Element 29: Do something chaotic
then go for a crossup while
confusion throws off their reflexes
long enough to get them into
trouble. Maintain that pressure for
as long as you can keep them off
balance, or until they gain enough
meter to tilt the risk vs reward
scales too far in their favor. Back
off when you sense desperation, or
at least switch to attack patterns
which are safe from their most
tempting comeback scenario.
Element 30: Shut down an
opponent's crossup attempt with a
vertically aimed normal move, then
time your jump to catch them with a
crossup as they land on their feet.
On a related note, whoever wins an
air-to-air encounter usually lands
first by a large enough margin to
immediately rejump for a crossup
as the reeling opponent descends.
Another alternative is to wait until
someone jumps from long distance,
then jump over them as they come
down. This works especially well
in games with air blocking and air
parry mechanisms, which give
players an incentive to forgo
attacking.
As you can see, there are countless
ways to go about setting up
crossups, depending on the
character matchup and your
opponent's tendencies. It's just a
matter of developing a strong
enough ground game to train your
opponent to stop expecting you to
jump.
At the beginning of a match,
everyone tries to stay out of
crossup range or to refrain from
using slow attacks at that distance.
Once you catch them slipping into
that spot and behaving dangerously,
that's when you should start looking
for your chance to cross them up
without making your intentions
obvious!
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Chapter 10
It takes more than a technically
sound gameplan to stay ahead of the
field and win consistently. No
matter how dominant or reliable
your tactics may be, they can still
be neutralized by an opponent who
sees them coming. Therefore the
last missing piece of the strategic
puzzle is misdirection or as
some players call it, randomness.
Element 31: A few times per
round, do something completely
meaningless yet relatively safe for
no reason other than to distract your
opponent. For instance if your
character has a poke which
dominates a certain matchup,
skilled players will try to make it
whiff as they advance to close the
gap. Avoid falling into the trap of
abusing your best move at every
opportunity. Pick out a few key
moments and randomly whiff a jab
instead of pressing the obvious
button. You won't believe how
often this tricks opponents into
walking right into your low fierces.
Element 32: Another way to
escape predictable scripts and
flowcharts is by mixing up your
timing; by skipping beats rather
than pressing different buttons.
Walk into c.MK range but don't
press it right away. Hang around
that distance for a second to lure
your opponent into a false sense of
security, then tag them once they get
restless. The next time you claim
that spot, they won't expect you to
attack right away.
Element 33: Every now and then
especially when an opponent
presumes you'll become ultra
defensive simply throw caution
to the wind and go on an offensive
tear. In addition to some seriously
nasty mixups, you'll need the
element of surprise to pull this off,
which means grasping a good sense
of match flow before you flip the
switch.

Element 34: Is anything less

effective on paper than wakeup
c.LP? That's why it wreaks havoc
on cautious players' plans; used
sparingly, of course.
Element 35: Just do lots of weird,
confusing things! When the tide of
battle has turned against you and
nothing seems to be going your
way, try repeatedly stomping the
ground at mid-range. If it breaks
your opponent's rhythm and makes
them question themselves even for
a split second, it could buy you the
opening you need.
It's virtually impossible to hide all
of your patterns from observant
players. No matter how clever and
unpredictable you think you are,
someone out there will succeed in
identifying and exploiting your
habits. You must find ways to mask
your thoughts, in order to protect
your most potent tactics from being
turned against you.
Whatever strategy you adopt in any
given matchup, mix it up with a
little freestyle creativity to throw
your opponent off the trail. Resist
the urge to coast on autopilot. Force
yourself to try something new every
round. It doesn't need to be unsafe,
it doesn't need to be complicated,
but it does have to be unexpected.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Supplement
A
Make no mistake about it, mid-
range projectiles are absolutely a
major facet of footsies. In fact, their
uses are so diverse and their impact
so significant that it's impossible to
cover everything in one article. I'll
attempt to provide a conceptual
introduction instead.
Tactically speaking, a fireball is a
relatively slow poke with good
range. Ideally you want to rely on
attacks with roughly 4-5 frames of
startup, which recover quickly. By
contrast, projectile specials
typically have over 10 frames of
startup followed by lengthy
recovery periods.
To compensate, projectiles possess
one exceptional property: their
active hit box is invincible.
With physical attacks, effective
range and vulnerable range are
approximately equal. Even if you
have a full-screen normal move
like Dhalsim's s.HP, whiffing it in
front of Dan still gives him an
opportunity to retaliate.
Furthermore, Dan's invincible
Koryuken will counter Dhalsim's
s.HP from any spot inside its range.
These basic principles form the
foundation of footsies.

The rules of engagement change

when dealing with fireballs.
Counteracting the opponent's attack
is no longer enough to hurt them
because projectiles are independent
entities. Thus, your table of
counters shifts dramatically.
Most importantly, you lose the
option to retaliate after standing
back, because projectiles will
continue advancing until they make
contact, at which point you'll be
pushed out of range. In fact, the
longer a projectile travels before
connecting, the more frame
advantage it creates for its owner.
Projectiles can be utilized as pokes
just as easily as normals can.
Fireballs can apply pressure, beat
out mistimed normal attacks, repel
aggressive opponents, and punish
mistakes. There's no unwritten law
restricting pokes to normal moves.
Some fireballs even knock down,
which makes them viable as
midscreen counterpokes. Even if
they carry frame disadvantage when
blocked, most opponents are
rendered incapable of retaliation
after getting pushed so far
backward.
Two direct universal methods of
dealing with projectiles are
jumping over them and stuffing
them during startup. Jumping is
always risky, but the reward is high
provided you land a damaging
combo. Using a quick poke to
prevent the fireball from coming
out involves less committment.
However, it does require you to
stay within close promixity, which
is a challenge against fireball
characters. It's always wise to
build meter as you work to close
the gap, because even the threat of a
super move can be enough to
discourage opponents from
throwing fireballs tipping the
matchup advantage in your favor.
The entire strategic landscape of
Street Fighter changes dramatically
once you begin thinking of
projectiles as components of
footsies. Fireballs are what
transform Shotos from mediocre
poking characters into mid-range
powerhouses. The difference
between a beginner and an expert
player is immediately apparent
from how well they apply fireballs
in footsies.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Supplement
B
After reading over ten chapters on
footsies, by now you should have a
fairly good idea of what the playing
field looks like, where you stand on
it, and where to go from here. Well,
what if you realize you suck at
footies? Worse yet, what if none of
this seems appealing to you? My
advice would be to keep at it.
Developing solid fundamentals
requires practice, effort, and time.
Don't bother chasing after shortcuts.
You'll only end up with more holes.
That said, you don't necessarily
have to play footsies if you don't
want to. There are other valid
approaches to fighting game
success. Of course it's not as
simple as ignoring the matter,
because if your opponent knows
how to play footsies properly,
they'll draw you into it whether you
realize it or not. You're bound to
get demolished whenever you let
that happen.
Therefore you must find ways to
actively avoid, escape, or
otherwise negate your opponent's
ability to hurt you through the
offensive methods we've reviewed
thus far. It's extremely difficult to
manage against seasoned veterans,
but then again it's probably more
sensible than trying to beat them at
footsies.
The universal solution can be split
into two main categories: extreme
defense and extreme offense. Both
styles are geared toward staying out
of mid-range, where skillful
footsies are most effective.
Additionally, there are countless
matchup-specific means of
bypassing footsies for various
periods to various degrees, but
they're too narrow in scope to
discuss here.
Extreme defense involves a lot of
blocking, walking backward, and
outright running away from the first
sign of trouble at every safe
opportunity. The goal is to take
someone out of their gameplan
through sheer frustration. This
strategem dumbs down the game
enough to level the playing field,
thereby reducing the overall
effectiveness of ground
fundamentals. Simply put, you're
trying to avoid footsies by
operating well outside that
hazardous mid-range zone.
Extreme offense entails constant
reckless attacking, dashing in,
crossing up, and maintaining
overall consistent pressure. As
above, the goal is to rattle someone
enough to lure them into equal or
greater recklessness, abandoning
their gameplan in the process.
Obviously this manner of all-or-
nothing gambling is highly
inconsistent, but on a good day it
can lead to lucky wins against even
the best players. In other words,
you're trying to negate footsies by
crossing over the mid-range
boundary and relentlessly
sustaining close combat.

Stage position is important as well.

It's critical to keep out of corners at
all times when fighting corner
pressure specialists like Guile and
Sentinel. Against some characters,
such as Urien and Gouken, it's
better to stay midscreen in general
because their damage potential is
far more reasonable away from
those combo-empowering walls.
Sometimes it's simply wiser to run
away and build meter, when it
would tilt the matchup scales
heavily in your favor. For example,
ST Dhalsim has direct reactionary
counters to everything Ryu can do,
but gaining access to his Shinkuu
Hadoken super gives Ryu instant
comeback potential. It's also
smarter to run away from an
opponent who already has meter,
rather than face the possibility of
single-combo death when you'd
need to land three combos to win.
As you can see, there are quite a
few situations where it's easier to
avoid playing footsies. Never
underestimate the power of
blocking, because it's much safer
than trying to be a hero all the time.
Calmly do whatever it takes to win
tournaments. However in training, i
wouldn't pass up the opportunity to
practice footsies against better
players, because you'll probably
learn more from an intense loss
than a mindless win.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook, Epilogue
What should you do when a veteran
player is outguessing you at every
turn? It's happened to everyone,
where every last thing you do gets
hit. Your every medium-range poke
gets swept, your every long-range
move gets stuffed, and doing
nothing opens you up to pressure.
The answer is obvious: block.
Sometimes when they've got your
number, just block. They're totally
playing by your rhythm, so don't
make any moves for a second until
they don't know how to read you
anymore.
When you block, don't do it out of
fear. Do it to wait them out. Do it to
take away their momentum. Do it to
figure out their methods. Do it to
plan your next move.
The key here is that there are only
two ways to beat someone who's
good at footsies:
1) Outthink them and do everything
they're doing, except better.
2) Work out some alternative
strategies to avoid that dangerous
zone entirely.
Otherwise you have no chance of
winning. Playing footsies to survive
is simply delaying an inevitable
loss. Skilled opponents can sense
indecisive reluctance and press the
advantage. Give 100% effort to
footsies or don't play footsies at all.
The easiest person to play footsies
against is that intermediate player
who hasn't quite given up on
footsies, but doesn't play footsies to
win. He doesn't move around much,
he doesn't keep track of long-term
patterns, and he plays almost
exclusively on a reactionary level.
He's not trying to get you to do
anything specific; he's simply
reacting to where you're standing.
He doesn't think his footsies are
good enough to help him win whole
matches. He's being lazy.
Playing footsies with that casual
mindset is the mental equivalent of
being backed into a permanent
corner. If you're hesitant and
uncertain, then your wins will come
from luck and your losses will be
inexorably fitting.
Do not, under any circumstances,
allow your opponent to get inside
your head and dictate your
gameplan. If your best poke gets
beaten by a fluke counter, get over
it. Don't let it startle you. Sure,
losing 10% life sucks, but you'll
survive it. What you won't survive
is allowing one exchange to
convince you to stop using your
best button for the rest of the round.
Giving up on moves only does one
thing it reduces your options.
If you get swept, that means you
were outsmarted. It doesn't
necessarily mean your opponent is
smarter than you and it doesn't have
to mean that you'll get outsmarted
again. Remember: Sweep is 10%
damage. You will get back up.
Rule #5: Forget about winning or
losing. Go all out or don't even
bother.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook: What are
footsies?
The term "footsies" refers to a
subset of zoning focusing
primarily on close range normals,
where the most common goals are
to knock the opponent down and
set up crossup opportunities. What
the hell does that even mean?
Unfortunately it means literally
everything at the core of
competitive Street Fighter strategy.
That makes it a difficult subject to
cover in one session. None of the
short definitions are useful and it
takes time to process conceptual
ideas before they can be converted
into anything practical. I'll give it a
shot, but i have a feeling i'll have to
come back to this on several
occasions because there's always
more to it.
Footsies is figuring out what your
opponent wants to do and punishing
them for being predictable.
Footsies is putting your opponent in
a situation where they have to take
risks they were trying to avoid.
Footsies is knowing both
characters' attack ranges better than
your opponent does, and finding
ways to exploit that advantage.
The concept is so complex, that you
may as well define it as "close-
range critical thinking." When you
try to create a comprehensive
definition of footsies, that definition
refuses to end. Watson, Valle, and
Choi could probably write books
on the subject.
The simplest concrete example of
footsies is walking into your
opponent's attack range to bait them
into poking at you, walking back
out of range to let their attack whiff,
then punishing their recovery
animation with a sweep. When
someone decides to learn footsies,
this is commonly the first tactic
attempted. However, anyone who's
actually tried this will tell you that
(alert) people stop falling for it
very quickly. Then what do you do?
Well, mastery of footsies is
knowing how to punish everything,
including your opponent's decision
not to poke.
Nowadays most fighting game
players are great at explaining the
basic components of intermediate
play. Especially with the more
"technical" games such as SF4 and
CvS2, lots of players hang out on
random fighting game forums and
read every article they can get their
hands on. It's just that you get to a
point where it's no longer about
what's a safe poke and what's a
good combo.
Once you cross over into the realm
of mindgames, everything becomes
far more difficult to pin down. And
it's not necessarily necessary for
success. In fact, some of the best
footsies players are terrible at
explaining the elements they
themselves have invented. Nothing
wrong with that. After all, not
everyone is interested in turning SF
into an online university. Most top
players are interested primarily in
being top players. But for the guy
trying to figure out why Daigo
keeps walking back and forth at
midrange, a straightforward
explanation would be nice.
The best way to teach yourself
footsies is to commit to the
following rules:
1) Don't jump for an entire match.
2) Don't dash for an entire match.
3) Limit yourself to one Psychic DP
attempt per match.
Every round you play with these
rules will help you gain a better
understanding of your normal
moves, will teach you how to
control space by walking, and will
force you to learn the meaning of
patient offense. If you watch any
high-end tournament match, you'll
notice that all top players possess
all of these skills. They don't come
easy, but that's okay. You'll
continue making progress as long as
you remember what you're after.
Street Fighter Footsies
Handbook: What is
zoning?
Zoning means acquiring and
maintaining certain positions on the
screen favorable to your character's
arsenal but disadvantageous and
restrictive to your opponent.
Rushdown, footsies, turtling,
runaway, and all other major
categories of tactical gameplans
employed by fighting game players
involve some aspect of zoning.
In some cases, these areas occupy
enormous chunks of the screen. For
example, take almost any Street
Fighter character and draw an
imaginary vertical line 1/3 screen
distance away from their foot. If
you put Dhalsim anywhere in the
remaining 2/3 of the screen, he's
automatically got a significant
advantage that you'll need to
overcome in order to hurt him.
Conversely, if you put Zangief
anywhere within that same 2/3
area, he's automatically got a
significant disadvantage that you'll
want to preserve. Of course if
Zangief finds his way into your
nearby 1/3 zone without leaving the
ground, suddenly he becomes quite
scary.
In other cases, these areas can
overlap in complex and subtle
arrangements. For instance, Guile
is generally dominant from long
distance because he can throw
Sonic Booms at will, and your
opponent has to take risks to deal
with them. If your opponent
somehow reaches point blank range
while carrying momentum, Guile's
in trouble.
However, the interval between
these extremes is actually reversed.
Guile has an advantage when your
opponent is a few steps away as
long as Guile's still within c.MK
range. That's Guile's best poke and
it pushes opponents away when it
connects, enabling you to throw
Sonic Booms again. However if
your opponent stays a few pixels
outside of Guile's c.MK range, that
poke becomes unsafe, severely
limiting Guile's options. Therefore
the entire strategic playfield looks
like a fuzzy checkerboard.
In addition to character spacing,
zoning also includes stage
positioning considerations. For
example, a runaway character like
Vega is in pretty good shape if you
can keep at least 1/4 screen
distance away from your opponent.
However, you have to resist the
urge to constantly move backward
during this process, because your
choices become quite a bit tougher
once you end up in the corner.
Either you need a strategy to
consistently move forward while
keeping a safe distance, or you
need to plan your escape from the
corner before you reach it. In
contrast, a hardcore turtle character
like Honda might actually prefer to
stay in the corner where you don't
have to worry about crossups.
The first step to understanding
matchups is determining where
your character has the biggest
advantages and finding ways to
establish that distance starting from
every common scenario. How do
you get there at the beginning of the
round? How do you get there after
you land a combo? How do you get
there once you've been thrown?
How do you get there after blocking
a jump attack?
Of course, all of these questions are
relative, because your dominant
zones change drastically depending
on which character you're facing.
Furthermore, they're relative to
your opponent's status. Sometimes
it's better to occupy your second
strongest zone if it locks your
opponent into their weakest zone.
You may be giving up your most
damaging combo setup, but it's
worth it if you're also keeping your
opponent at a range where they
have no combo opportunities at all.
Some of this sounds overly
theoretical, but it's simply a matter
of trial and error. If you replay any
matchup long enough, you'll start to
notice where your opponent needs
to go in order to inflict significant
damage. All you have to do is keep
him out of that spot, or hurt him for
trying to reach that spot. The most
important thing is realizing when
you're at a disadvantage and trying
to find ways to get out of there
instead of getting stuck fighting
uphill battles all the time.