SF4: Plinking, how to turn 1 frame links into 2~

[Skullator]

This guide is ripped from SRK a while back when P\Linking (Priority linking.. Plinking) was discovered.
Basically the idea behind the whole thing is.. you have a difficult combo you want to be able to do consitantly.. but find the timing very hard to land every time.. so you press a weaker attacks button immediately after (1 frame after) you press the actual links attack..  Due to how SFIV registers attacks, this will register as the stronger attack 2 frames in a row.. essentially widening all your combo windows by 1 frame. So if I want to link into Chuns Fierce punch.. I am always pressing Fiercepunch followed immediately by her medium punch.. you want to practice this in training mode with input display ON and look at things until the stronger attack registers twice despite you only pressing it once (Second register is both buttons, one takes priority over other) .. read the full guide below.. This can be done for all buttons except light punch, because there is nothing lower priority than it.

P\LINKING

I'm an Akuma player, and over the past few days I've been testing out this alternative way of hitting my links.

For instance, for the following BnB combo:
Jump-in, cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.MK xx EX Gohadouken
Note: the link from cr.LP to cr.MK is a one-frame link.

Instead of double-tapping the MK in the above example, what you can do is:
Jump-in, cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.MK+LK (MK~LK input) xx EX Gohadouken

By MK~LK input I mean, you almost-simultaneously press LK and MK buttons with your index and middle fingers, but hit the MK button with your middle finger slightly earlier (1 frame) before the LK button.

If done right, in the training mode with input display on, you should see this:

(second frame) down+LK+MK
(first frame) down+MK
Note: if you didn't do it right, the second frame input would have been down+LK only.

I've found this method to work more than 90% of the time for me - whereas double-tapping (perhaps due to my poor technique) works maybe half the time.

***

The same thing can be done for MP, HP, HK links:

MP links = MP~LP (or LK, but obviously LP is easier to hit)
HP links = HP~MP (or MP or LK or LP, but obviously MP is easier to hit)
HK links = HK~MK (see above)
(Remember: you have to press both buttons almost simultaneously, but with the stronger-strength button a split-second earlier than the weaker-strength one)

It also works for cr.LK, BUT ONLY IF your character's cr.LK is not chain-cancellable.

cr.LK links = (while crouching) LK~LP

This method will not work with cr.LP, due to the fact that down+cr.LP+cr.LK is always interpreted as cr.LK. It will also not work with standing LP or LK because then it becomes a kara throw.

In summary, for p-linking to work, you have to understand two things:

(1) When you do a slide input (press the second button one frame after the first button) like AA~BB, the first input (AA) will be repeated in the second frame (AA+BB).

(2) Whenever the game detects an AA+BB simultaneous input, it will always give you the strongest attack button in the following order:

LP (weakest), LK, MP, MK, HP, HK (strongest).

Therefore HK+HP is executed as HK.

If you were to enter HK~HP, the game would read it as HK (one frame later) HP+HK, and execute it as HK (one frame later) HK.

However, if you were to enter HP~HK, the game would read it as HP (one frame later) HP+HK, and execute it as HP (one frame later) HK.

This is important to note if you want to p-link specials, like Ryu's forward+MP -> Shoryuken.
You can't p-link SRK with two punch buttons because you'd get the EX. So you'd have to p-link it with either MP~LK, or HP~MK.
(Disclaimer: not sure if you can p-link specials. At the very least, I couldn't pull off Ryu's forward+MP -> SRK)



Disclaimer: this linking method will not automatically make you a link combo god - you still have to get the timing right and everything. Like double-tapping, this essentially turns a one-frame link into a two-frame link by giving you two chances to nail the input window.

*****

If you haven't figured it out yet, here's why it works:

A couple of days ago I was practising my Kara throws in training mode with Akuma (HP~LP+LK) when I noticed something - the game recognises my kara throw input as:

(second frame) LP+LK+HP
(first frame) HP
Note: The first input repeats itself when you do HP~LP+LK

And as we all know, whenever two or more attack buttons of different strengths are pressed, the game will give you the strongest strength attack i.e. if you press LP+MP+HP, you'll see that the game executes that as a s.HP.

In other words, if you were crouching, essentially the above input could be interpreted by the game as:

(2nd frame) down+HP+LP+LK (you're stuck in animation, but if you were not, this would have been executed as cr.HP)
(1st frame) down+HP (executed as a cr.HP)

So what happens when you're in the recovery frames of some other move, like, say, Akuma's cr.LP? You now have two chances to nail the one-frame window required for cr.LP to cr.HP link, depending on if you hit the down+HP squarely on the window, or one frame before that. One-frame links become two-frames. Two-frame links become three, etc, etc.

This is effectively a double-tap HP. Only thing is, you don't have to cram both of your fingers on a single button, which surely takes some level of finesse to pull off, especially under pressure. It should make link combos, in general, a lot easier. Personally I can hit cr.LP to cr.MK about 90% of the time.

Some other examples you can try:
Ryu's cr.MP, cr.MP, cr.HK
Sagat's cr.LK x3 xx Tiger Knee

But of course, if you're very good at double-tapping then you may find double-tapping to be better/easier.

EDIT: rewrote a few things. Special thanks to everyone who's helped clarify things.

[massi4h]

One thing I've been wondering:

If I plink say HP~MP while doing a fireball, the inputs I will get are D, D/F, F+HP, F+MP+HP. so the first frame of the fireball will be an HP one, but on the second frame it pushes the EX one.

What this input does it give you an EX fireball rather than an HP one. I know EX moves have more priority, but is there something in the game that swaps a move from one thing to another in a certain amount of frames? And does this slow the startup?

On this topic: Plinking is good. And from what I think I know, if you want to plink a jab in a combo (say akuma's roundhouse loop, even though the jab is a 3-frame link, makes more sense with 1-frame links), if you plink LP~MP on either the frame before or on the time that you can press LP it will always pick LP because it is faster or something stupid along those lines.

[Skullator]

If I plink say HP~MP while doing a fireball, the inputs I will get are D, D/F, F+HP, F+MP+HP. so the first frame of the fireball will be an HP one, but on the second frame it pushes the EX one.

What this input does it give you an EX fireball rather than an HP one. I know EX moves have more priority, but is there something in the game that swaps a move from one thing to another in a certain amount of frames? And does this slow the startup?

... You've got me curious!
Launching SFIV training mode.. I'll fraps -> youtube what happens in a sec..

Oh and good stuff on the LP plink tip.. Did not know that was possible.. \

Edit:

Looks like the EX fireball will come out every time.. regardless of fireball timing, and despite the fact that HP is registered first.
So you are right.. there may be some kind of window\ 1 frame window in which a regular attack can "Turn into" an EX version attack during certain attacks startup frames..
Makes sence considering how similar the red fireballs all are in terms of startup (It's the recovery which is slower with HP yea? not the startup to my limited Akuma knowledge..)

[moose!]

As far as I'm aware with the whole redundancy input system a sloppy input on an EX move will add a frame onto startup- You're essentially performing a kara-cancel, albeit a really fast, ineffectual one.

[electric]

Moose has got it pretty much on the money

The reason you get EX instead of a normal fireball is because you're "kara cancelling" the HP fireball into an EX one... The input system has to have some leniency (I think from memory, 2 frames) to allow for people who intend to do an EX/Ultra with multi buttons, but may not be pressing them at the exact same time.

As for your LP plink theory Mason, I'm going to have to debunk that. Because MP is higher than LP in the priority chain, you will ALWAYS get MP if you press LP and MP together. If you were to plink the LP like you said, and hit it one frame early, you would get the MP every single time.

The only two buttons that can't be plinked to make links easier are LP and LK because of the reasons stated above. LP can't be plinked because it's the lowest button in the priority chain, and LK can't be plinked because plinking with the only button lower than it in the chain (LP) will result in a kara throw.

Hope my explanation is clear

Oh and also, the only reason you would want to plink the LP is for Raging Demon... since you need 2 LP inputs and it doesn't matter whether they come out or not, the plink is a good method to get those LP's out as fast as possible. But in saying that, f+mp kara demon is still better, IMO.

EDIT: CROUCHING LK can actually be plinked (like it says in Skullator's copy paste) - Since you can't do a crouching throw, there's no chance of it turning into a kara throw. Forgot to mention that. YAY!

[massi4h]

Yeah I know about the RD stuff. But here's something to try. Go into training mode with chun. Crouch then press short then mash the 3K button. You will get crouching shorts rather than sweeps.

[electric]

Yeah I know about the RD stuff. But here's something to try. Go into training mode with chun. Crouch then press short then mash the 3K button. You will get crouching shorts rather than sweeps.

The reason for this is because chuns cr.lk is chain cancelable. This means that when one cr.lk (or cr.lp) is pressed, anything that's chain cancelable (usually lk's and lp's) will now become THE ONLY thing in the priority chain. This can be proven by trying to do cr.lp xx cr.lk xx super with Abel. You can't do it. BUT, you CAN do cr.lp, cr.lk xx super. The difference is, when you link cr.lk instead of cancel it, the cr.lk becomes special and super cancelable. Now, what the fuck does this have to do with sweep not coming out ? Because you're in a chain, only moves that CAN be chained will ever come out, hence you not being able sweep - this theory is the basis for option select sweep too (cr.lk xx cr.lk + cr.hk) - on hit, you will only get two cr.lk's because they're being chained. But, if the first cr.lk whiffs (when the opponent back dashes, for instance) the cr.HK is free to come out, because you never entered the chain AND because HK is higher than LK in the priority chain

Hope that makes sense haha - I know a TON about the SF4 game engine, but I'm not exactly confident in my explaining skills. More than happy to answer any questions you (or anyone) may have about this, Mason

[massi4h]

Oh shit thanks alot man. Chains were really one of the main things I wasn't too confident on understanding.

[moose!]

I find your posts very useful electric. Thanks 

[electric]

No worries guys Glad I could help explain why some of the things in SF4 work the way they do... Looks as though this Strategy sub forum has been quite useful so far! Some "understanding the SF4 engine" articles would fit nicely in here, but I don't think I could think of enough subjects to write about lol

[propafanda]

Oh shit thanks alot man. Chains were really one of the main things I wasn't too confident on understanding.

Still chains or linking are one of the fundamental and basic aspects of any fighting game. There are other link chains other than just doing low lp's, and lk's. Those are common to all characters. But you can also connect heavy attacks ito light ones or jumping heavy attacks into another standing or crouching heavy attack.
Though do you notice that most characters in the game can only do a maximum of 3xhits for light attacks.
Though others can do more links.
The point is every attack has its own varying hit frame confirmation or link combonations into other similar attacks. Thats because they act the same in hitting the opponent as opposed to the first attack so allows it to link or even cancel off of the link into supers or special move/EX attacks for example. These sort of things you would have to learn in training mode for yourself.

[xkheretic]

care to talk about SF mechanics between sets at stampede this saturday electric?  

[electric]

care to talk about SF mechanics between sets at stampede this saturday electric?

Hahaha are you heading down ? hopefully it's not too messy there with the foam pit going too berserk :/ If you see me, come say hi and I'll try pull myself away for a chat and a beer hahaha

[xkheretic]

Hahaha are you heading down ? hopefully it's not too messy there with the foam pit going too berserk :/ If you see me, come say hi and I'll try pull myself away for a chat and a beer hahaha

haha, yep, i'll be there.. though, miles away from the foam.. haha. i'll get will(s-myth) to point you out for me.

sorry to hijack the thread, so i'll leave something that might be useful to some.  It's helped me hit this combo a few more times.  Also great for hitting the links out of sps with Ryu. (c.hp xx hp shoryu and c.mp > c.mk > tatsu)

[[NIUE] BIRRY WONG]

Just when you thought regular plinking was awesome, here we have tech throw plinking, double plinking, and true double plinking.

For those that understand what is going on, its actually quite useful if you can be bothered doing it.