World Warrior Guile: Oh my glitches! (incomplete)

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A Street Fighter 2: World Warrior Guile fan's guide to Guile's many glitches

As a young 'un, I was completely transfixed by Street Fighter 2: World Warrior. I would spend hours at a time watching people play, and even just watching the machine demo... Yes, I was "One Of Those Sad Kids". The time came a couple of years back when me and my mates found a WW arcade machine in some garage, and pinched off with it. Best thing we ever did. The days of endless SF... Blanka taking humongous damage when hit out of a roll... we knew it all. And I was the master at Guile's glitches... I impressed all with my greatest feat: Invincibility. The dreaded Magic Throw turned many matches into death brawls. Knees were kicked into the front of the cabinet when turns were stolen... the works. I loved it. During my stint to becoming a Guile Glitch Master, I read MANY FAQs, and on the whole was not terribly impressed, as a lot of trial and error was still necessary (it was MONTHS before I could do a Magic Throw with any regularity), and I vowed once I learned the trick, I'd try to share the knowledge myself, hopefully in a way useful to others. So here it is, the condensed Guile knowledge of one Alan T. J. Jackson.

More recently, I have been playing World Warrior at my university, and have met a few other fellow Guile Glitch nuts, and this has spurred my interest considerably. We spend the hours between classes playing against the computer together, trying to do the best tricks... and it's STILL a blast all these years later.

I'll start with the easiest glitches, and get to the harder ones later on. I assume you know how to do the Sonic Boom and Flash Kick... I mean it isn't like Guile has millions of moves to remember or anything

(Note: I realise how stupid it looks capitalising all the special moves' names, it's just to make them stand out a bit). Also realise that when I say "Flash Kick", replace it with whatever term you are more comfortable with (Blade Kick, Razor Kick, Somersault Kick, whatever).

Auto Sonic Boom

What it is:
A free Sonic Boom without having to do any of the usual charging (not quite as useful as it sounds, you can't shove it in the middle of a combo for example).

How to Perform:
After throwing the opponent with a strong throw, keep holding the joystick in the same direction and tap a punch button repeatedly. After recovering from the throw, Guile will automatically throw a Sonic Boom. Note also that this can be used to gain a free Magic Throw, and indeed since a Magic Throw is a strong throw, this free charge is available after Magic Throw too.
Apparently the same technique can be applied after being Spinning Piledriven by Zangief, but I haven't tried this yet.

Stance (aka Statue, Pose)

What it is:
Guile gets frozen in part of his animation of the upside-down kick. This makes Guile invulnerable to most low attacks (as there is no low hurtbox on that frame), and allows some interesting other glitches to be performed. Generally not particularly useful in mid-match, with the exception of CPU Zangief, Claw and Dictator.

How to Perform:
You need to be close enough to the opponent to be able to perform the "upside-down spinning kick" (You'll know the one.. it's simply roundhouse when at the right range). The trick is you have to interrupt it with a Sonic Boom (the timing is very lax.. you have a substantial amount of time to perform it). So, if you are jumping at an opponent and holding down-back (you do do this, don't you?), when you land, move the controller to the back position, tap roundhouse, wait a little bit (half a second should do the trick), and then perform the Sonic Boom. Guile will get stuck on one leg, and there you have it. Note that this will also pause the game at the end of the round, but you can easily escape by doing a Flash Kick.
There is supposedly also a "one step Stance", which involves a more Magic Throw-like input... sometimes you get one when you stuff up a Magic Throw. I haven't been able to nail down the motion though... if anyone else knows, please tell me.

Tricks in Stance:
Against Zangief: If you perform this at a certain range (usually just outside sweep) Zangief will become "confused" and punch wildly for as long as you are in stance.
Against Claw: Claw also gets confused by this technique, but instead will constantly "slide attack" you. Fortunately you are invincible to this attack whilst in Stance, and this sets you up nicely for other glitches from within Stance, for example Stance-to-Handcuffs, or the almighty Invincibility...
Against Dictator: He will usually do a single slide, and then attack as normal. Because you know he'll slide, you can perform other glitches or a Flash Kick on him if you are quick.

Moves that can be performed from Stance: Flash Kick, Handcuffs, Magic Throw/Fake Magic Throw, Invincible.

Handcuffs

What it is:
Guile throws his opponent, but instead of hurling him, the opponent becomes stuck to Guile in a 'pain expression' frame. Even if Guile jumps/does anything, the opponent will follow. No standard special moves can be performed in handcuffs, but Stance/Magic throw/Fake Magic Throw/Invincible all work.

How to Perform:
What happens is that Guile interrupts a strong throw with a Flash Kick. If this sounds a bit tricky, it's actually fairly easy to do. Charge a Flash Kick (I find it easiest to charge down/back). Now do a Flash Kick action as normal, but instead of pressing a single kick button, "flick" or "pull" your fingers from above the strong punch button, all the way down to the forward kick button. This means that the strong button gets pressed fractionally before (ie a Cascading button press) the forward button. Note that the only way to escape from Handcuffs is to Magic Throw the opponent; if you don't (or can't), at the end of the round the game will freeze with no way of getting out, and you'll either have to reset the machine or make a brisk exit (feeling quite foolish... especially if you do it in front of other Guile players...).

Handcuffs can also be performed from Stance (although this is really only plausible on Claw or Dictator). To do this, I find it easiest to do the Flash Kick motion, but use the edge of my hand to hit the middle two buttons (like a karate chop, if you will). Basically, it seems that the two buttons should be pressed simultaneously to perform Handcuffs from Stance. Sometimes Guile doesn't throw the opponent at all, instead they just get stuck to you... it looks even more weird than the standard Handcuff entrance.

Tricks In Handcuffs:
You can perform Stance in Handcuffs, in fact it's probably easier to practice in Handcuffs.
Handcuffs is probably the easiest place to practice Magic Throws (see Magic Throw section).
It's also the easiest way to get the hang of the timing for Invincible (see Invincible section).

Handcuff direction guide:
This turns out to be inconsequential, but if you want info on how the Handcuffs directions work, it goes a little bit like this:

If you are on the Player One side:

Charge:	Move To:	Outcome:	For Invincible:
db/d/df	u/ub	Opponent thrown towards the left, ending up on the right	Charge b, f+punch LATE
db/d/df	uf	Opponent thrown towards the right, ending up on the right	Charge f, b+punch LATE

If you are on the Player Two side:

Charge:	Move To:	Outcome:	For Invincible:
db/d/df	u/ub	Opponent thrown towards the right, ending up on the left	Charge b, f+punch LATE
db/d/df	uf	Opponent thrown towards the left, ending up on the left	Charge f, b+punch LATE

(The Invincible column will be explained in the Invincible section.)
So basically, the opponent will always end up on the side they began on, but you can alter the direction they SHOULD have been thrown in.

Reset (aka Blackout)

What it is:
The machine resets. What else is there to say? Why would you want to do it? Ermm... to reset the high scores, or to avoid seeing Guile's ending for the umpteenth time (it's a damned long ending, too).

How to Perform:
There are two main resets in Guile's arsenal... the classic one, and the one which is supposed to give you a "free Flash Kick" on a certain type of machine (910218... but I have never found a machine with this ROM to try it on).

1) Interrupt a Fierce throw with a RH kick.
This is identical to the motion for Handcuffs, but with Fierce~RH instead of Strong~Forward. Note that if you try the very tricky Fierce Punch->RH Flash Kick combo, and don't do it precisely, often the machine will reset instead. Be warned Note: on emulators, Guile will instead scroll up the screen with the opponent (depending on the emulator, either can be invisible). This is almost another bug in itself... but frankly it's just a pain in the ass. Some interesting things can be produced by inputting a Sonic Boom (or Magic Throw if you like) while the scrolling is in effect. You can usually Flash kick or Handcuffs to resume the scrolling.

2) Perform a Flash kick at a particular time, after throwing the opponent with Strong.
A glitch requiring difficult timing. Perform a normal throw with strong, and as soon as possible, charge down for a Flash Kick. There is a time (around when the opponent is hitting the ground) where if you do the Flash Kick, the machine will reset. This timing is VERY late. Note: On emulators, Guile will instead become invisible and "float" above the normal position.

Magic Throw (aka Shadow/Power/Invisible Throw)

What it is:
Well, only the most well-known and useful of all Guile's glitches! Guile throws his opponent... but doesn't need to be right next to (or indeed touching) them at all! Many great tricks can be done with this move.

How to Perform:
The concept of the Magic Throw is very simple: interrupt the "upside down kick" with a Sonic Boom... ie the same idea as with Stance... but in the first frame of animation. Sound easy? Well... it takes quite some practice to get the timing down. Guile also has to be within the range to perform the upside-down kick, but once performed the opponent can then jump or move out of this range, and the Magic Throw will still affect them (most noticeable with Chun Li and Dictator). As throws have no hurtboxes (the opponent is supposed to be getting thrown, right?) the entire animation of the Magic Throw is invincible. They are also 0 frame startup, so once you've input the motion, the opponent has no chance!

The two most important things to get right are the timing and the button presses. I briefly used the term "cascading" earlier... this is another place it is useful. Cascading means that one button is pressed FRACTIONALLY before the next. I'm talking one frame - around a sixtieth of a second - here. For you CvS2 players, it's similar to roll-cancelling button pressing. For SF4 players it's very similar to a P-link or kara - one frame is RH and the very next frame is RH+FP. I recommend positioning your third finger on Roundhouse, and your middle finger on Fierce. You'll have to bend the third finger a bit, so that your palm is more or less level with the buttons. This perhaps awkward position pretty much guarantees that if you try to press both buttons at the same time, the third finger will come down ever so slightly faster, and therefore will give the necessary cascade effect. Other people prefer the index finger on the RH, middle finger on the Fierce, but I find that it is too unwieldy to get into every time you want to do a Magic Throw. Which will be a lot.
Okay, to practice it's a good idea to do a bit of preparation. I recommend getting an emulator (FBArr) with cheats, and putting the game on no p2 damage, and infinite timer. This way you can enter handcuffs and practice to your heart's content, and won't be running out of time or constantly knocking the opponent away.
I personally find the reverse (pulling towards) Magic Throw the easiest, and I'd say it's the easiest to time, initially. To do this, charge up for a Sonic Boom in whatever fashion you prefer. The motion to perform is charge b or db, f, b~RH~FP. Sound easy? Try it out.
Things to note: the f, b motion is FAST. The b~RH~FP isn't actually all at the same time, but cascaded as explained above. The opponent must be within about sweep range (actually where the upside-down roundhouse kick can be done), but can be in the air, doing a move, handcuffed, whatever.
The forward Magic throw is very similar, with the motion being simply charge b or db, f, RH~FP. The timing is a little harder (for me at least) because you must hold 'f' slightly longer than you'd expect. Some people refer to it as the maximum time after holding forward where you can still do a Sonic Boom. Basically Guile should take a tiny step forward first.

Once you're confident with Magic Throwing out of Handcuffs, move on to practicing with your opponent free to move. After that, try it against the CPU!

One of my favourite 'combos' is anti-air Flash Kick, Magic Throw. Just do the Flash Kick with charge db, ub+K, then after you recover, Magic Throw!

You can even set up 'combos' or 'magic tick throws' by doing simple block strings into Magic Throw. Just do something like j.FP, cr.strong xx Sonic Boom, except replace Sonic Boom with a Magic Throw - since it has excellent range, 0 frame startup, and is totally invincible, as long as you input it correctly your opponent can't jump away, can't block, can't DP, can't throw, can't really do anything. It's pretty broken. On block or hit this is a truly devastating string.

Once you've landed a Magic throw, the opponent is left bouncing on the ground while you are free to do anything after recovering from the throw. Here are some ideas on how to continue the Magic Throws:

Your opponent is in the corner:
Combining the Auto Sonic Boom glitch, as long as you are close enough for another Magic Throw (and that range is pretty large), simply HOLD F, and  tap RH~FP at the correct time, over and over again until the opponent is dead.

You are in the corner:
Perform repeated Magic Throws towards you (i.e. charge b, f, b~RH~FP).

Midscreen:
The same as above, except you need to be careful when the opponent is point blank because the next Magic Throw towards you will pull them across to the other side. You then need to switch your charge direction to do the next Magic Throw in the other direction.

Additionally, it's possible to perform a Magic Throw from Stance. To do this requires a slightly modified motion, the specifics are somewhat unclear but using a circular motion seems to work. For a Magic Throw towards you, rather than charge db, f, b~RH~FP for a non-Stance Magic Throw I do charge db, 270 degree circle from db to f to ub~RH~FP. Similarly for a Magic Throw away, rather than charge db, f, RH~FP I do charge db, 180 degree circle from db to f to uf, RH~FP. Basically a Tiger Knee Magic Throw. I have no idea why this is necessary.

Fake Magic Throw

What it is:
Magic Throwing your opponent from Handcuffs, but having the opponent return to a Handcuffed position rather than being thrown out. Just for show really.

How to Perform:
From Handcuffs, enter Stance. Then perform a Magic Throw using a circular motion as described earlier, and push a punch button quickly afterwards.
I thought I fully understood this, but it turns out I don't. When recording some footage with inputs turned on I realise that you don't necessarily have to push buttons afterwards, and I previously thought you had to end the input on a diagonal - turns out you don't. I think the above instruction is very likely to make a Fake Magic Throw happen, but sometimes when you try to do a normal Magic throw out of Handcuffs+Stance, they'll go straight back into Handcuffs anyway. Weird.

Invincible

What is is:
A round-winner if you are ahead on life Guile becomes frozen in a particular frame of his throw recovery, and since throws have no hurtboxes, is completely invincible to all attacks and throws (well... this isn't quite true - another Guile is capable of Magic Throwing the invincible Guile, however this is impossible to achieve without cheats). This is far more 'friendly' a glitch than Handcuffs, because like Stance you can unfreeze Guile even after the round has ended. However, the conditions required to perform it make it very unlikely to use against any Human opponent.

How to Perform:
There are a couple of ways to perform the Invincible glitch, one fairly easy but less interesting, one harder and more useful.

Easy-
1) Start the Handcuffs glitch, holding the direction you end on (left or right).
2) At the very last moment before recovering, do a Sonic Boom in the other direction.

Guile will fail to stand up fully, and is now invincible, however the opponent is stuck to him as in Handcuffs. It is also possible to achieve this from a normal Handcuffs situation by performing a Fake Magic Throw, and then performing step 2.

1) Do the Stance glitch.
2) When the enemy is in Magic Throw range, do a Magic Throw using a circular motion, holding the direction you end on (left or right)
3) At the very last moment before recovering, do a Sonic Boom in the other direction.

Guile will fail to stand up fully, and is now invincible, with the opponent able to move freely

It is possible to leave Invincible using any of the normal methods of leaving Handcuffs or Stance.