Robotic
Gentleman.
Back in the Lab with Sektor and I've noticed something else. Maybe I'm on the late train with this and if I am, I'm fine with that. Skip this entirely if it's not your cup of tea.
1. An observation on the hitboxes in this game.
Not unlike a lot of you, I was playing SF4 and SSF4 before MK9 came out. In the study of those hitboxes and hittable boxes, the game is programmed to read via squares and rectangles. Hands and heads are naturally not like this, but this is how fighting games are for the most part and by extension, what we are most used to. Let's use the dragon punch as an example. Once in flight, there is an invisible rectangle that, if the opponent gets caught in it, will take the dragon punch hit. There is also a small hittable box where one can knock someone out of the dragon punch. On occasion, these boxes will extend out farther than the actual limb or what-have-you, and other times, it will appear to end well before it should. An example of this, IIRC, would be Ryu's crouching medium kick. The move seems to extend very far, but the hitbox falls short of Ryu's actual foot. This is done for balance purposes, I imagine; just because a move is animated in a certain way, it does not mean the hit/hittable box needs to be literal. They draw it first, like how it looks and adjust the boxes accordingly.
Now, why is this important?
In studying MK9, I've noticed the hitboxes do not operate under the square/rectangle ruleset often seen in fighting games. Instead, MK9 takes things to a literal level by not having "boxes"at all, they use the actual character. Simply put, the area that is active to hit and be hit is the body itself; it does not go farther or shorter. The hittable area is the actual character and not an invisible box.
Let's look back at SSF4 for a moment. When the round begins, whether the characters are hopping, leaning or taunting in the resting position, the box is unaffected; it treats the character as if it is in a set point in the stage and the hitbox/hittable box will not move along with the natural sway of the character. If the character hops while it is naturally at rest like Cammy or moves it's shoulders like Zangief, the boxes will not.
MK9 is not like this. The body is the "box". Take the Black Dragon for example: Kano leans back and forward in his resting position. If he leans forward, my range in certain attacks appear to be greater. If Kano leans back, the opposite is true. The truth of the matter is, The character itself, leaning forward and back, is constantly changing his position and, therefore, changing his hittable "box". It is only what is tangible on the screen that matters to MK9.
2. How it pertains to Sektor
I want to preface this by saying I don't think this should be done for beginning Sektor players. Due to the observations made in the first entry, I've started using D4 as an anti air - and it is BAD ASS. Sektor's toe pops up and his body (hittable box) get's low to the ground. It's not unlike an upside-down tack. In certain distances, this move can be considered as your go-to anti air, though it will take some practice to judge when to do this.
Now, why should this be a go to anti air in some situations when I can use flame thrower?
Remember, this is only certain distances we're talking. I'm thinking just outside of sweep range to a little farther, otherwise a jump kick from a closer distance will avoid your toe and hit you on the head. (As to why someone would jump in on Sektor from here, that is irrelevant to the discussion as I am merely offering suggestions on what to do against competion and preparation for scenarios, however unlikely they may be. It will happen, though.) The reason to use this as an anti air is because it can be cancelled into TU and combos are possible. Due to the negative edge, pressing 4 again is unnecessary. One can easily get 34% off of someone jumping in on you. Another reason to use D4 as an anti air is that you can cancel into upmissile. I believe the upmissile is unavoidable as I have yet to see someone avoid it and pressure can be applied to your liking, but don't quote me yet on that until more testing is done. Quick Edit: This also prevents Sektor from meeting someone in the air and putting themselves in a 50/50 situation where the faster reaction beats the other with a jump kick. Sektor's love the jump kick into TU, after all.
Hopefully this is useful to some of you in some way as it was to me.
1. An observation on the hitboxes in this game.
Not unlike a lot of you, I was playing SF4 and SSF4 before MK9 came out. In the study of those hitboxes and hittable boxes, the game is programmed to read via squares and rectangles. Hands and heads are naturally not like this, but this is how fighting games are for the most part and by extension, what we are most used to. Let's use the dragon punch as an example. Once in flight, there is an invisible rectangle that, if the opponent gets caught in it, will take the dragon punch hit. There is also a small hittable box where one can knock someone out of the dragon punch. On occasion, these boxes will extend out farther than the actual limb or what-have-you, and other times, it will appear to end well before it should. An example of this, IIRC, would be Ryu's crouching medium kick. The move seems to extend very far, but the hitbox falls short of Ryu's actual foot. This is done for balance purposes, I imagine; just because a move is animated in a certain way, it does not mean the hit/hittable box needs to be literal. They draw it first, like how it looks and adjust the boxes accordingly.
Now, why is this important?
In studying MK9, I've noticed the hitboxes do not operate under the square/rectangle ruleset often seen in fighting games. Instead, MK9 takes things to a literal level by not having "boxes"at all, they use the actual character. Simply put, the area that is active to hit and be hit is the body itself; it does not go farther or shorter. The hittable area is the actual character and not an invisible box.
Let's look back at SSF4 for a moment. When the round begins, whether the characters are hopping, leaning or taunting in the resting position, the box is unaffected; it treats the character as if it is in a set point in the stage and the hitbox/hittable box will not move along with the natural sway of the character. If the character hops while it is naturally at rest like Cammy or moves it's shoulders like Zangief, the boxes will not.
MK9 is not like this. The body is the "box". Take the Black Dragon for example: Kano leans back and forward in his resting position. If he leans forward, my range in certain attacks appear to be greater. If Kano leans back, the opposite is true. The truth of the matter is, The character itself, leaning forward and back, is constantly changing his position and, therefore, changing his hittable "box". It is only what is tangible on the screen that matters to MK9.
2. How it pertains to Sektor
I want to preface this by saying I don't think this should be done for beginning Sektor players. Due to the observations made in the first entry, I've started using D4 as an anti air - and it is BAD ASS. Sektor's toe pops up and his body (hittable box) get's low to the ground. It's not unlike an upside-down tack. In certain distances, this move can be considered as your go-to anti air, though it will take some practice to judge when to do this.
Now, why should this be a go to anti air in some situations when I can use flame thrower?
Remember, this is only certain distances we're talking. I'm thinking just outside of sweep range to a little farther, otherwise a jump kick from a closer distance will avoid your toe and hit you on the head. (As to why someone would jump in on Sektor from here, that is irrelevant to the discussion as I am merely offering suggestions on what to do against competion and preparation for scenarios, however unlikely they may be. It will happen, though.) The reason to use this as an anti air is because it can be cancelled into TU and combos are possible. Due to the negative edge, pressing 4 again is unnecessary. One can easily get 34% off of someone jumping in on you. Another reason to use D4 as an anti air is that you can cancel into upmissile. I believe the upmissile is unavoidable as I have yet to see someone avoid it and pressure can be applied to your liking, but don't quote me yet on that until more testing is done. Quick Edit: This also prevents Sektor from meeting someone in the air and putting themselves in a 50/50 situation where the faster reaction beats the other with a jump kick. Sektor's love the jump kick into TU, after all.
Hopefully this is useful to some of you in some way as it was to me.
