From: el27166@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (This Space for Rent)
Subject: The Art of Throwing in SFII and SFII-CE
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 18:28:12 GMT

Throwing is a very powerful weapon in SFII.  It must be, since more and
more places seem to ban it entirely.  This is sad, because it takes away
a necessary balance in SF2.  Some characters have their strength in their
throws (Zangief, Vega, CHun).  Whereas others have their strengths elsewhere
(Guile, Blanka, Sagat).  If you take away throws, it makes many characters
disadvantageously weak (Zangief, Vega, Chun Li, Honda, Balrog).  It also
gives some characters an unfair advantage (Guile, Blanka).

Okay, so now you're ready to join the big boys and become a Zen master of
throwing.  How do you do it?  First of all, you have to get some people
to try and throw you.  In many places, they consider this rude, to say
the least.  Well, what you do is pretend to be a novice and go only for
throws.  Play Ryu.  He has a nice average throw and good ticking ability.
Once you have pissed off your opponent by beating him with throws, they
will come back and try to do it to you.  Trust me, no one likes to be
beaten--- especially by someone less skilled (or so they may think!).

Now that you've gotten your opponent into the throwing game, it's time
to size up his throwing ability.  Each of them may be played differently.
They may be categorized as Novice, Master No-Throwers, Defensive Throwers,
Offensive Throwers, and Balanced Throwers.

Novice:
Lets begin with novice throwers.  They can do all the moves and special
moves and have a good sense of the strategy involved.  Unfortunately,
they've been deprived of throwing experience because of their environment.
When they get pissed and want to choose a character to throw you, they
go for Chun Li or Ryu.  Don't worry, they're not very good at ticking
and are terrible at counter-ticking.  Keep this in mind for later.

Master No-Throwers:
These people have an entirely different playing style than Balanced
Throwers.  They'll jump in with barrages of combos, and hit you with
moves which do a little damage at a time.  In essence, they annoy you
to death.  Often times, these people are very good at ticking.  But
more often than not, they're terrible at counter-ticking.  These ones
are the most fun to tick.

Defensive Throwers:
These are the ones to watch out for.  When you tick them, they won't
tick you back, but something will click in their heads and they'll be
ready.  If you find yourself getting counterthrown alot, you're up
against a defensive thrower.  They know how to tick, but won't do it
anyway.  This is bad for you because you don't learn how to counter-
throw.  But practice up on ticking.  These people are good for practicing
on since they don't throw you back :)

Offensive Throwers:
These people are better than novices in that they know how to tick
very well.  Unfortunately (for THEM), they don't know how to counter-
throw very well.  They play in areas where throwing is allowed, so
they have good timing for it.  They are moderately good at counter-
throwing.  Most of the SFII players around here fall into this category.

Balanced Throwers:
Terrors of the SFII machine, these people throw AND counter-throw.
Whether or not you're ahead or behind, these people may throw you.
And when you go in for that tick... WHAM!  You're counter thrown.
Don't worry, these people are rare.

End of Lesson 1 -- Sizing up your opponent.

Look for Lesson 2 -- The theory behind the throw.

-- 
Eu-Ming Lee (aka CyberGeek)                      el27166@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Nobody told me there'd be .sigs like these."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-&{&gp% +/)@ooooooo
NO CARRIER
Newsgroups: alt.games.sf2