So this Q&A seems like it will be on time OMGGGGGG

Seb M Question
I purchased MvC2 after the release on XBLA and I’ve barely touched itsince getting it. After reading the how to play guide and looking at chars moves I thought I would be on my way to having some fun. What can I do to start me off in this game which I’m eager to enjoy? I’m also having trouble in SFIV punishing blocked dash punch special moves by Balrog he recovers so quick any tips?

JWonggg Answer
MVC2 is a very hard game to learn.  You are forced to play characters who can hang.  Ryu, Wolverine, Spiderman those type of characters cannot win in the pro circuit of Marvel vs Capcom 2.  If you want to start off in the beginning, learn your characters air combos, find ways to combo into their supers, find ways to use the assist properly, find ways to use the assist to make your combos longers, and find ways to do more damage by DHCing.  Punishing Balrog blocked dash punch you will need characters with 3 frame moves, for example M.Bison crounching light kick can punish balrog blocked dash punch.

Arbie21 Question
My problem is that I jump in way to much with Ryu. My question is what is another alternative to get in on your opponent in general (not character specific). Also any tips for getting links down. Of  course practice is essential, but are there any drills or something you run while in training mode?  Not pertaining to sf4, but do you and daigo talk or anything, on your twitter you posted you and him almost got arrested lol? Can he speak english well?

JWonggg Answer
With Ryu, you can just your walk speed to get in on your opponent and when you get to a specific range, use your crouching medium kick because it has alot of priority and its a good poke to step in with.  Getting links down, I practice my links 100 times to make sure its embedded in my mind and into my hands.  I only talk to Daigo when we are at the same event and he doesn’t know any english, I know a little japanese since I am part japanese.

Tom (JedHawk) Question
I like to main with Honda and Rose but really struggle against Boxer and against Gief. This is because  it’s not always safe to rushdown on them without using occasional cross-ups. The problem against them is that their jabs/punches/lariat have much bigger priority. What can I do when I struggle to get  priority with Rose? And Honda vs Gief/Boxer (I hate playing against Boxer).

JWonggg Answer
Well since Rose doesn’t have alot of upclose priority, you need to use Rose as a poking character from mid range.  Using her standing roundhouse and f+roundhouse are good pokes to keep those characters at bay.  Your close game isn’t good and you should never attempt to rush someone down with Rose.  Play more defensive.  And as Honda, you just really need to sit back and just let them come to you.  Your jab headbutt can stop all of balrogs move and he can’t punish it unless he has super.  And against Gief, you can just jump neutral fierce and keep him out.  But never rush down with Honda or Gief.  Your only offensive tool is cr jab into hundred hands or Ocho command throw.

J.D. Lowe Question
I’ve been maining Fuerte on XBL ever since the game came out, and my game is strong-ish against most characters; then again, most people online stick with Ryu, Ken, Akuma, or Sagat.  My biggest problem is Dhalsim, though. Let’s face it, Fuerte is one that needs to be able to control the ground, and a lot of Dhalsim players will stick to the air with either MP or FP. Even if I can get them on the ground, they can zone me out.  How would you handle this, if you ran with the Elf?

JWonggg Answer
You have a couple options with El fuerte, if you know he is going to jump and press fierce, you can do his EX DP and it will just knock him down.  Also using your EX Run just to next to him is always a good tool to use because you will absorb hits.  Also his jump off the wall move is a good move to cover alot of ground, if you are full screen away.  And lastly, using the focus attack, abuse it to get close and make him pay for sticking out those long limbs.  But your going to take some damage, you have to get in by taking some type of damage.

Mark Cochrane Question
My questions are: how do you rate Gen? He seems to be the flavor of the month and looks as though there is still a lot to learn about him, especially since his combos can be quite complex switching between styles. Do you play as him? Do you think he’s the best console character? If not then which console character do you think is the best? I noticed you said that you thought the console characters are not as strong as the arcade characters. How about Gouken?

JWonggg Answer
I think Gen is a solid tricky character.  He has tricks but you don’t need tricks to win with him.  He has a solid poke ground game.  I know how to play Gen but not on the level as Jibbo or Yeb.  I think the best console character is Cammy by far.  Console characters dont have the cheap easy damage like arcade characters.  Gouken has hidden potential.  I think he has a very good fireball game but what stops him is that he doesn’t have solid links into combos.

Isaac Ruiz Question
Hey Justin, i’ve been having some problems in MvC2, people have been saying i have a decent Cyclops and a great Cable but I always end up using those two because i can never get around to using my first character Akuma because learn replacement for Akuma based on who I play? P.S Are you going to SGC this year? he always seems to get destroyed. So i’m wondering what’s a good and easy to

JWonggg Answer
The father and son duo is always a good combination.  I would suggest using storm or sentinel as your replacement.  Storm can build alot of meter for Cable.  You always want that meter for Cable and Sentinel is able to afford alot of hits where you can deal alot of damage to your opponent before Cable comes in and does the clean up work.  I don’t know what SGC is?

2dkami Question
Hello Justin, I am a ryu player and I cannot seem to able to pull off cr.mk-> hado most of the time. For some reason, I can only perform cr.mk->hado when I hold my joystick down then do a qcf.  But most of the time I tend to do down backward then a qcf and it doesnt work. Is there a trick to it or do most players hold down (instead of db) for mk.

JWonggg Answer
Well the way I do is, once I press cr mk from down backwards position, I go back to neutal and then hit down to downforward into foward and press punch.  You can even do the motion really slow in order to understand the actual motion, it doesn’t have to be fast.

Derek Ren Question
In your most objective assessment, what are Socal fighters’ weaknesses and how can they get better? If you can assign a number (of course, objectively), on a scale 1 ~ 10, 10 being the highest. How does Japan, East Coast, SoCal, NorCal, and other strongholds of SFIV rank? Why?

JWonggg Answer
Socal weakness – It seems like they don’t play with each other alot.  Their main weakness from what I seen is that they know how to play the game, but they are not thinking out of the box.  They need to be more unified and have more sessions with each other.  Japan would be a 10, EC would be a 7 Socal would be a 6 and Norcal would be a 5.5

John Liu Question
Do you think Ryu players will change it up after Daigo’s performance at SB4? It would be similar to how Chun play has evolved… Chun EX moves are awesome and she definitely uses EX Legs and EX SBK a lot, but a lot of Chun players switched to stocking full Super because it is such a fast invincible punish. Do you think US Ryus will start stocking full Super instead of using their meter quickly?

JWonggg Answer
I would think Ryu players now will save up the meter for the super because super with ryu is the #1 thing in the game.  But people are scared to take mixups in this game which forces them to FADC.

Jose Dominguez Question
Is turtling Blanka good against most of the players in SF4 what are the advantages and disadvantages with this kind of play style??? I see mizuteru playing that way and comes out victorious. One video he defeated mago. So what is your opinion about this?

JWonggg Answer
Turtling blanka is the best way to play.  The advantages is that he can always just sit back and relax and build alot of meter for ex up blanka ball, ex blanka ball to go through fireballs and ex rainbow ball to just build space.  His offense isn’t as good because there are alot of gaps to interrupt.  So the best way to play is Mizoteru way.  I played Mizoteru and we were going back and forth.  His Blanka is really frustrating because of how lame he could be.

Chris Herrera Question
1. Are japan players really that great? Do american fighters stand a chance?

JWonggg Answer
Japan players are really that good because they are more unified and they play around 5-7 hours a day.  They aren’t scared to share their tricks with other players so they can progress faster.  US players are always out for #1 while Japan is out to win as a whole.  American fighters have a slim chance to be honest.

Adam Barnes Questions Question
So my questions are: a) Do you play BlazBlue? If so who do you main? b) Who are you hoping to see (from Third Strike) in Super SFIV?

JWonggg Answer
I play Blazblue a little bit,  I am waiting for the new version but right now the only character I know how to play is Ragna.  I hope to see Yang or Ibuki in SSF4.  Always gotta represent the asian pride.

Skatestar178 Question
how u doin jwong..i just wanted to know if u have any websites where i can find some sf4 tournaments..im tired of beating xbox live noobs i want to see some real competition..

JWonggg Answer
The best way to find tournaments is go to www.shoryuken.com and look at tournament and events in the forum section or you can go to gamebattles.com and look for xbox live matches. Also you can check out http://sf4answers.com/events to find events around the US or events that are close to you.  It is basically the google map of tournament finding

Pedro Miziara Question
I want to know what are my options against shotos after getting close like when i focus attack and dash forward or after getting hit in the air free from juggle and they get close to me. If i throw or poke i can get a dp. If i block or poke again i can get throwed. Is it all about guessing or there’s some time to see the move and decide what i’m going to do?

JWonggg Answer
SF4 is 100% a guessing game once you use the focus attack and dash towards them. No matter what, you have to realize that both parties have to guess in every situation.  This is like that in every fighting game.

Vexthall Question
Any advice on Viper’s jab into Ultra? I know its qcf+p+u  and another qcf+ppp, or similar…. however on a square gate stick, what are the finer details about performing this motion? I can’t get it consistently. Should I be riding the restrictor plate, or trying to do the motion carefully without touching anything any edges?

JWonggg Answer
Well the proper way to do the ultra is QCF and then QCF+Up into PPP.  That is the proper way to do it and try not to touch the edges and use small motions to pull it off.

Jon L Question
Hey Justin I need some tips on the Fei Long vs Sagat matchup. What’s your general gameplan in this match and how do you handle tiger knees? What pokes are good to use vs him and what range do you think is best to fight him at?

JWonggg Answer
Against the tiger knees, Fei Long crouching medium kick goes under the tiger knee, so when that happens you get a free throw. His best pokes to use is crouching medium punch and crouching fierce which beats out his tiger shots.  Also using his first rekkas as a way to get in close is always good and remember to use ex chicken wing to go through fireballs if you don’t have super.  But I don’t try to rush down, I just try to play a sold ground game with him since Fei has better overall pokes.

Michael Leung Question
i’ve been using an arcade stick now properly for about 2-3 months. For the most part i’ve adjusted to it and can pull off all the bnb combos and stuff for my mains. I have 1 problem that I just can’t seem to overcome though – dashing to the left! The way I hold my stick is so that the shaft is between my middle and ring finger, but like resting between the top “segment” if you will of my fingers. I can dash to the right just fine by pushing my index and/or middle finger against the ball to dash, but when it comes to dashing to the left I simply use my thumb to dash, and it’s difficult to consistently do it. FADCing is a particular pain in the ass when it’s to the left. Did you suffer from the same problem when you were just starting, and do you have any tips on how to solve this?

JWonggg Answer
Well the way I hold it is I make a OK sign on the joystick where it allows alot of freedom to do anything.  I can even go to neutral perfectly fine and everything.  Maybe in your way, you need to jerk your whole hand to get around your dashing problem.

Ben Kelly Question
Since Juri has moves that juggle more than others so far in SF4, and Deejay has an EX move that crumples, do you think other characters will be getting these properties as well? that they’re going to have juggles somewhat similar to what they had before. Do you think SSF4 will be able to still stay a fair playing field with these mechanics?

JWonggg Answer
The characters from SF4 will be better according to Seth Killians response at the fight club.  I would believe that the game would still be a fair playing field because the way the game is design, every character has some unique tricks to get around the matches.

Pedro Miziara Question
Just out of a great curiosity, i follow all your matches, podcasts, in SF4, SF3rdS, GG, HDR, TvC, MvC2… and i think you are the greatest player in the west side of the planet, but you manage to lose to Daigo in tournaments (don’t know about casuals). What do you think its the major difference between you two that makes him win? What do you need to work on to beat him for good?

JWonggg Answer
Well I asked Daigo, what is his training regime, and he said he plays 7 hours a day.  He told me I am a 10 out of 10 but he is beyond a 10. lolz.  Which is respectable.  But he has more experience than me and he plays with competition that also gives him a run for his money.  But I think I would need to spend some time in Japan also.

Lance Question
I was wondering, being that I am brand new to fighting games,would you recommend me staying away from characters like Akuma since their hp is low and it gives me less of a mistake buffer? Also besides just sitting in training mode, when playing other players should I intentionally lose but practice combos slowly or kinda do what feels natural at the cost of execution to get a feel for the game?

JWonggg Answer
You can choose whatever character you like in this game.  The game is that balance that you don’t need to resort to a easier character and what not.  But you should play more careful because Akuma has low hp and you need to play perfect.  You should not lose to anyone in casuals, you should play your best and get raw experience from that.

So myself and everyone from NYC was invited to a Street Fighter 4 Fight club hosted by Capcom and Seth Killian. The fight club consisted of Street Fighter 4, The new installment of Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Marvel vs Capcom 2 patch, and a demo of Super Street Fighter 4.

Before SSF4 was showcased to the public, Me and Marn were playing the new TVC. We were basically the new characters such as Frank West, Tekkaman Blade, Joe the Condor, and of course Zero from MegamanX series. The characters I personally like was Zero because he was the Zero from megamanX4. They gave him a dash like in the actual game, where you’ll see a clone of yourself. He also has a flame uppercut with his sword. He has a sword bnb combo he had in the game. What was cool about him mostly was that his lvl3 was like really crazy. It was just that his sword grew big, and you just went through him like on some anime cinema type of thing.

Joe the Condor was also fun. He has a mixture of Ken the Eagle and Jun together. His level 3 was basically some Rock Lee (Naruto) lotus move if anything. Other than that I felt he was a great character.

Tekkaman Blade is a straight up gundam. He moves like one and fights like one. His level 3 even looks like one also. But he was a interesting character. He can dash to the end of the screen so fast in split of a second.

Juri Gameplay

Juri special moves

Counter – QCB+P  Her counter isnt like gouken counters.  Depending on the punch you use, she does a different counter.  If you use the jab version, she will dash backwards, if you use the medium punch version, she will go behind you.  If you use the fierce version, she will jump up and be on top of you.  Ex counter – Unknown

Kick String move – QCB +K It is a special move which starts from a mid kick and then depending on the kick you press, you will get a different ender.  With light kick, you will get a low ender, with medium kick, you will get a mid ender, and the fierce kick you will probably get a overhead (havent used this version ) Ex- Unknown

Kick spinning move – QCF+K.  It is like a spinning kick lariat but used for combos then Anti air.  Depending on the kick, you will get more hits and more rotation of the spin.  The light kick version seems safe on block and the ex does a lot of damage and it seems to knockdown.

Air dive kick – QCB+K  It is basically like cammy cannon spike in the air.  But the dive kick flutates in hits depending on the button.  Light kick version seems abusable and the ex versions slams you into the wall, which leads into more combo opportunities.

Super – QCF x2 into Kick.  Its all right.  It kinda doesn’t juggle properly

Ultra – QCF x2 into Kickx3.  Its the prettiest ultra by far.

Her combos (that I found out in 5 mins)

If your opponent is jumping, you can do jump strong, into another jump strong, into ultra.

In the corner you could do, cr light kick x2, into cr medium kick, into ex QCF+K into ultra.

Do a full focus attack, dash and tiger knee the ex air dive kick special and do ultra (this requires timing)

General stuff about Juri
Juri has a great ground dash.  Its compared to chun li.  Fast and short.  She has easy link options.  Her focus does not have that much range.  Mainly the strings you want to use into a special move would be either from her standing medium punch or crouching medium kick. She cannot FADC from her special moves that I have tried.

Possible stuff
Juri might be able to do standing fierce punch into ultra because it launches on hit.

Deejay Special Move

Fireball – hold back 2 seconds into forward punch.  It has nice recovery.  Not like guile but good.  His ex version, he sends out too fireballs.

Flashkick – Hold down 2 seconds into up kick – Havent fiddled around with this move at all but its always a reliable antiair.

Max out – mash on punch.  His ex version.  If hit you can combo into his ultra.

Dash 2 hit kick move – hold back 2 seconds into forward kick.  Its a 2 hit move.  But his ex version is really good, because if hit, it crumples the opponent just like a focus attack and it leads into more combo potential.

Super – Hold back 2 seconds, forward, back, forward into kick.  Its a regular super just like super turbo.

Ultra – Hold back 2 seconds, forward, back, forward into kick x3.  Its a regular super but he ends it with a really big fireball.

Combos
Cr jab x2 into cr medium punch into ex dash 2 hit kick move.  And during that time, you go back to charge, and when the move finish, your opponent gets crumple stun which leads into full ultra.

Cr jab x2 into ex max out into ultra.

General stuff about DeeJay
He has a very fast cr jab like balrog.  And his combos are very easy to pull off.  He also have good cross ups just like he had in Super Turbo.  Other than that, I haven’t tried anything else since most of my time was on Juri.

T. Hawk (What Marn Said)

Marn basically said T.Hawk sucks.  He can’t FADC out of his special move, so I guess he does alot of damage and thats all I can really comment on.

Other than that,  SSF4 is coming soon and its going to bring the HYPE.

Thanks to FADC for getting these interviews of myself/marn out really fast about SSF4

MARN – SSF4
JWonggg- SSF4

Also found a recording of me and marn playing SSF4.

Thank you to youtuber “consolewarzone”
gameplay 1
gameplay 2
gameplay 3

So the past couple of weeks, I been non-stop travelling to events/tournaments.  2 weeks ago I went to California with Marn/Sanford/Arturo/IloveuJoe as Team Empire Arcadia to compete vs Team Socal for SF4 Bragging rights.  The event was called Barfights 2 hosted by Gootecks.  The event was held at a bar called Jake’s.  It was a sold out crowd to watch the event that could not have happen at EVO2009.  Once I got to Jake, I was interviewed by Dogface, and girlgamer.com Before the main event, there were some side events such as “Beat A Pro”  The pros were basically the 5 players from the East and the 5 players from the West.  Only Iloveujoe lost in the exhibition against the people who came to see the show.  If you won, you win $100.  After that event, there were 3 matches before the Main event.

• Team Norcal (Filipino Champ(SIM)/Magus1234(GIEF)) vs Team Socal (UTJ(SIM)/Bryant the Tyrant(BOXER)) Team Norcal basically showed that they were no joke and they should be taken more seriously.
• Yeb (Gen) vs Tatsu (Vega)  This match was interesting because Gen is a console character who  a lot of people don’t face often.  His execution is flawless with Gen and knows the character in and out.  Tatsu, who uses Vega is known for his pretty face and pretty hair.  His play of vega is stylish but he is still fragile and thats what led to Yeb’s victory.
• Kai (El Fuerte) vs ShadyK (Ryu) Kai, who hates SF4 plays the character of El Fuerte resembles a 3s charcter the most because it involved a lot of guessing.  Shady K, who use to be a marvel veteran came out of retirement and started playing SF4.  Everyone was surprised that he was even in top 8 at evo (CONGRATS) but Kai did quick work with ShadyK’s Ryu and showed the whole world why he thinks SF4 sucks.
• The Main Event: Team Empire Arcadia vs Team SoCal.  What more can I say is that we were ready for anything and we came very strong.  We basically won 10-1 and the WC Crowd was very salty.  Alex Valle was the only person to take a win from the Empire Team.  It was against IloveuJoe.  But that did not stop the Empire’s momentum to dominate.
• Bonus Round: Team Empire Arcadia(Joke characters) vs Team Wildcard(Gootecks,shadyk,Kai,tatsu,yeb).  Marn was using Abel, Sanford using Dan, Joe using Viper, Arturo using Seth, and I used Fei Wong.  It was a more interesting battle because more console characters were shown to everyone and it showed a lot more diversity in the game.  A lot of good matches to look out for is Sanford Dan vs Yeb and Kai and My Fei vs Tatsu,Shady K, and Gootecks.

For more information. Check it out on Gootecks Website

The week after, I went to Ohio for a tournament called Seasons Beating 4 which was ran by Fugee and Ghaleon.  I entered Third Strike, Marvel vs Capcom 2, SF4 Teams,and SF4 Singles.  I did fairly well and it was an event that you should never have missed.  My stats are

• 2nd in Third Strike
• 2nd in Marvel vs Capcom 2
• 1st in SF4 teams (Myself, Noel, Iloveujoe)
• 2nd in SF4 Singles.

I lost to Daigo who was basically unstoppable throughout the weekend, but it was a great learning experience.  For more footage of Season Beating 4 you could go and watch it at Frame Advantage

Now there will be a event this thurs in NYC held by Seth Killian and Capcom called the fight club. It will have some secret gameplay containing Super Street Fighter 4 and the New Tatsunoko vs Capcom.

More of which events Ill be going coming soon….

Sorry everyone for this being late, just been busy a lot with traveling and tournaments.

Simon Question

1. I play with a Fight Pad, and i wanted to know is it better to stick with that or transistion over to a Arcade Stick. I ask this because i have played around with a Arcade Stick before and it feels a tad bit more responsive than a Fight Pad so which would u reccomend and why?

2. When i play online it feels as though i use LP Hadoken too much and im too hasty using the LP Shoryuken to catch an aerial opponent to combo into the Ultra. I know that Ryu’s whole style of gameplay basically revolves around the Hadoken since it barely has any recovery time at all, but in the same sense it feels as though i abuse it. Is there a such thing as using the Hadoken too much?

3. I havent really learned how to cancel perfectly yet, i would say its 75 to 80% at best but i want to be able to do it like its second nature. Im too afraid to use it in a heated battle because if i mess it up it can have deadly consequences, so wat would u reccomend?

4. I know that u started out how I am doing now. I also know it took very hard work to get to where u are now and in the league that u are in and im prepared to take any steps to get to your level. I know that i cant imitate the way somebody plays because its not in my nature to imitate. I just want to talk to somebody who can help me acheive your status and skill of playing, and i really need a push in the right direction. Im fully dedicated to playing and i would love to hear some feedback and/or some advice in helping me. Also, wat kind of training would u reccomend

JWonggg Answer

1. A joystick is always the prefer controller because your moves, combos, will be a lot easier to pull out than a fight pad because when your using a joystick, you have more access to your fingers while on a pad your usually using your thumb.
2. No. Ryu fireballs are meant to be abused.  He was always a character that was meant to throw fireballs.
3. If you need to practice your combos, you should make sure you do it like 100 times in a row so you feel comfortable enough that you don’t even have to think about it.  It would be based off instincts from body language.
4. Just keep practicing your execution and travelling is always good to experience battle at first hands.  And it will help calm your nerve down.

Hansen G Question
First off I think with what your doing with your website is awesome. I love how the pro’s in the fighting games scene are approachable. I grew up on console’s and never truly experienced the arcade scene. I have thinking for months now on how I could start one in the future when I have more money, but I don’t know anything about cabinet costs(do arcades for instance buy a cabinet once or are they usually rented and when purchased is there some fee for having the cabinet and money  has to be send to taito or capcom, etc) pricing on the games, and just really is it a venture worth pursuing at all. It may seem hopeless due to console dominance but I’ve always thought it’d be cool to own and work at a arcade.

JWonggg Answer

Well I don’t know a lot about running an arcade but I do know that its hard to make it flourish and if that’s your dream I say go for it because you can always go back to the boring day job anytime you want.

Khoa Nguyen Question
I’m a Chun user and have been having some problems against Balrog and Rufus.  Specifically for Balrog, I have a hard time against Balrog’s jumping fierce and have a hard time anti-airing it.  Right now I’m using standing fierce but often times I miss and end up eating a big combo.  As for Rufus, once he gets in I have trouble getting him off of me, especially in the corner.  What do you usuallly look for in these situations?

JWonggg Answer

Against Balrog, standing fierce is her best Anti air against rog but also build super because once you have super  you can punish his crouching roundhouse on block with it and his rush punches.  So he loses a lot of his abusive stuff.  And against Rufus you have to pay attention to every detail and attack and counter all of his aerials movements.  You control the ground and air.  Chun just loses to aggressive rushdown.

Glenn Zekeden Question
1) What do you have to say about mirror matches? What determines who comes out on top? Do you think people are full of shit when they say a certain mirror is complete luck/bullshit?
2) What do you think of counterpicking? Does it hold people back? Is it a part of high level play (in the american tournament system)?

JWonggg Answer

Mirror matches are a little tricky because you can’t tell who has the better mirror match. It is all based on who can stay under calm more.  And counterpicking is not that bad because I think learning more characters is more skilled than just one character.

Scott Cooksey Question
I watch a ton of SF4 videos and something I always notice about every Balrog player is after a successful headbutt when they do not have ultra, they almost always to rush upper, which promptly wiffs. Why do top players always wiff that rush upper after the headbutt?

JWonggg Answer

The reason why is because if you only have half ultra, it reduces the damage by a lot.  And they do the rush upper a lot to get close and build the meter.  So you build meter and you get free mixup also.

Rhys Question
You have any scheduled times you go to CTF? So have you ever reached a “plateau” in you imporvement? If so..any advice?

JWonggg Answer

The best time I would go to CTF would be on a Friday night.  Most of the time I am usually somewhere travelling or just home resting from long trips.  Also travelling and practicing with like people you don’t know or people you know who are consider as top is the best raw experience for you.  The only thing you would have to watch out for is that you can’t give everyone the same credit as when you fight a top player.

Jibbo Question
How do you feel about laggy tv’s and dual console tournaments?

JWonggg Answer

I really don’t like the fact that most LCD’s and flatscreen will make SF4 laggy.  But for big tournaments, they need to use those tv’s because it fits their mood, their tournaments, its all political in that aspect.  And dual console.  Some people have different opinions, but I prefer xbox360 all the way.

Michael Merchant
I am at a bad stage in Sf4 right now. I record my matches and review them, and i play about 6 hours a day. I feel like I hit a brick wall. I was getting better at one point and i just stopped. I feel like im doing everything right but im still losing. im determined and tired of losing. I don’t go 2 and out anymore but im still not getting Top 8 at local tourneys like c3 in Virginia. any advice on getting past this brick wall and continuing to level up?

JWonggg Answer

The brick wall you are facing.  Once your able to do the combos and know all the match up in your head.  You have to think of it like this?  A lot of people does not play theory fighter.  Maybe the fact that your trying to set them up in a theoritical situation is your main problem.  The best type of style when your in the beginning is to use a freestyle type of play.  It may be risky and unsafe but it lets you understand your opponents even more and then from there you can use your own type of theory.

Robert  Rodley Question
But I was wonderin wuts the best way to get noticed when theres no tournaments around you and absolutely no arcades. I’ve dominated every local tournament I can find but theres nothing else goin on really, I am actually real good at sf4 but besides evo there really aint shit for me :/

JWonggg Answer

The best way to get noticed in the scene is to travel to more tourneys besides evo or you can go to mlg gamebattles to play online SF4 and get the top ladder rank so that community will notice you and you might even find a sponsor.

Christopher Godina Question
Yo justin man, i wanted to know how does the joystick feels, i use the pad and am pretty good with it but i want to get the tournament edition stick, so i just wanted to know how is it, you think ill level up easier with it? are balrogs loop combos easier to do with it? because i always get it 40% of the time but i wanted to get it more often kk thanks

JWonggg Answer

Joystick will really help your reactions a lot, it also well help your execution to perform your combos because you have more fingers to work with than a pad you really only have a thumb.

Roman Barreto Question
i was wondering that how come u dont play with seth He Has a mix of the sf4 cast moves wich makes him a very versatile character he has tools to deal with any situation and he stuns quick but i guess that health factor is a problem but anyways yea i just wanted to know why u dont play with seth

JWonggg Answer

Seth does have a lot of tools which fits me as a marvel player but the main reason is Seth doesn’t have a chinese persona. LOL

Eric Shum Question
1- Ive been having issues with people who neutral jump during wake up when i roll at them for TT and i end up getting hit by the neutral jump attacks. What can i do when they neutral jump? Also im having trouble when im cornered and for example Ryu continously walks foward and does mix ups like throw, tick throw, Shoryuken, blockstrings, tatsu, Is there anyway out of it that makes me safe?
2- I noticed Marn did some sick Abel block strings during Bar Fights II against Wild Card team and i just wanted to know if those strings were safe, since as far as i was concerned if i did the same online i would almost certainly get dp’d.
3. A huge issue when i play Abel online is shotos who spam Tatsu into DP, Throw,Sweep mixup. Is there actually anyway around this that is safe since tatsu for Ryu and Ken seem like they have such fast recovery that unless i anticipate it, i end up having to go through the guessing game?

JWonggg Answer

Well if people keep neutral jumping against your abel mix up so just jump up with them when you think they will jump and air to air with them.  Make them respect your air game so they are forced to just block.  Yea if your in the corner against Ryu, its pretty hard to get out in general  because he is really dangerous in the corner, but I would say.  If he is doing a block string, just ex command throw.  The strings marn was doing is safe til he does the f+mk.  That part is dp able.  Well since its online, the tatsu  into dp is a little harder to punish because of the frame lag.  But in offline, its very easy to punish.

AJ Hatcher Question
What are your tiers for SF4, including console chars?

JWonggg Answer

I am currently writing a tier list but I can tell you that top 3 in the game would be Sagat/Ryu/Akuma.

Bruno Cognette Question
1) On average how many hours of SF4 or fighting games in general do you playper week?
2) Do you play all the characters when you practice or mainly just rufus anda select few you’re interested in?

JWonggg Answer

I don’t play fighting game as much as I did before because of all the travelling I do, but when the game just came out, I played like 20 hrs a week and I practice with every char.  See what their strings, their buttons, their frames, their risks are like.  If you don’t have people to teach you the match up than you gotta figure it out yourself.

Marcus Pleasant Question
1. I’m having trouble fighting fei long. I main ken. It seems all of fei’s normals cancle out all of my move. Any tips?
2. I also have trouble fighting dhalsim when using balrog. Once I get in I can do ok but gettin in is extremely hard. Tips?
3. Finally pad vs stick. I cannot for the life of me use a stick so I started on a pad. I’ve gotten really good with the pad. My execution is nice and and evrything, but ppl keep telling me I’ll get nowhere using a pad. What’s ur take on this?

JWonggg Answer

Well Fei Long fights Shotos.  But since Ken is a little faster than Ryu, you could just stay close to him all day and kara throw.  Also your f+mk is an annoying move in general.  So abusing it at the right times are usually the best things to do.  Getting in against Sim with rog is hard because he is so linear but I would say you might have to risk throwing out ex rushes even though its not a good option but sometimes you just have too.  And wait for him to throw a fireball, it helps a lot because you can cover a lot of ground from him during that time.  I prefer stick, but if your confident on a pad, stick, or whatever.  Don’t let anyone take you out of your element.

Brian james Question
Hey justin, i think what your doing is really great man. Well anyways my question is what are the benefits in doing what u do? for example do u get paid, do u travel a lot…etc. And also, how can someone reach this type of lifestyle?.

JWonggg Answer

The benefits.  I do get paid for it through sponsors, winning tournaments.  Its just really fun and doing something you love to do is like a very good feeling.  Also in the beginning, I use to pay for my travels because fighting games wasn’t that big but if you want to get to this lifestyle, you have to invest your money in travelling first before you can get people to start paying for you.

Nica K.O Question
I havent really been exposed to the Fuerte match up and using akuma i know i can escape on wake up by teleporting. But i was just wondering what other options i can use to escape fuerte’s moves since i wouldnt be able to use teleport every single time or else it would be predictable. if possible can you list them. Thanks

JWonggg Answer

If you totally don’t want to guess, your best non guess option is to teleport everytime.  But other than that, you can focus the splash on wake up and cancel into a dash right away but you wont have anything that can auto correct compared to a charge character.

Keith Williams Question
I have a quick question regarding Barfights II from this past weekend.  I was wondering what is your personal opinion on the results. More  specifically, since it seems like a lot of East Coast players have  lost respect for the West, do you feel like it was a waste of time  coming out here to the West Coast or are you just happy to compete  with and be around your fellow competitors? Thanks in advance.

JWonggg Answer

I love coming out to play people who I don’t normally play.  Even though EC won by a huge margin, the WC gets a lot of respect and they are still very good.  Its not like we played them in a long set, just a short set.  A lot more things happen on the WC so they don’t frequently play as much as the EC but their players if they wanted to grow would be really fierce.

Dankkk Question
I have a problem is that when I play at home/online my execution is pretty good. I don’t use many combos but the ones I do use, I hit near 100%. When I go out, my execution is horrible. I won’t start hitting my 1 or 2 frame links until I’ve played for 2-3 hours. How do you keep your execution solid when switching between different setups?

JWonggg Answer

Maybe the setup you play on has a different speed or frame rate than other setups.  Meaning your set up can be laggy or the other setup you played at has lag.  Other than that I usually take like 30 mins of my time at tourneys to make sure there is no lag or I adjust to it.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 is a popular US fighting game that hit all the arcades everywhere.  It is still being played today.  Marvel basically gave birth to me.  Most pros know that I started from Marvel and then picked up other games such as Capcom vs SNK2, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, and Super Turbo.  There are 56 characters in the game. Most from the previous VS series such as X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.
A lot of combinations you can choose from.  But there is a downfall about playing this game on a professional level.  You HAVE to pick top tiers meaning the best teams in the game.   Assist are A/B/Y. Such teams as

• Magneto (A) Storm (A) Psylocke (A)
• Storm (A) Sentinel (Y) Capcom (B)
• Magneto (A) Storm (A) Sentinel (A)
• Cable (B) Sentinel (Y) Capcom (B)
• Storm (A) Sentinel (Y) Cyclops (B)
• Magneto (A) Cable (B) Sentinel (A)
• Magneto (A) Ironman (B) Sentinel (Y)

Then you have gimmick teams (meaning they can win but not as consistent enough)

• Sentinel (Y) Strider Hiryu (B) Doom (B)
• Spiral (A) Cable (B) Sentinel (Y)
• Blackheart (B) Sentinel (Y) Capcom (B)
• Ironman (B) Storm (A) Cable (B)
• Blackheart (B) Cable (B) Doom (B)

The game is exciting, its rare for comebacks, but they are possible.  I made three impossible comebacks in my Marvel Career.

Justin Wong Comeback #1 vs Desmond @ Texas Showdown

Justin Wong Comeback #2 vs Yipes at the BREAK

Justin Wong Comeback #3 vs Yipes at EVO2007

Justin Wong Comeback #4 against Josh360 at SB

Now the game has died down heavily because the best console version was the Dreamcast, and those systems have short life spans. Recently Marvel vs Capcom 2 is gaining some life back due to its release on XBL/PSN.

Will this game survive the wrath of SF4/Tekken6/Blazblue?  Only time can tell…