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Trial Athlete - My Journey


FawltyPowers

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Hi all,

 

Three years ago I finally achieved the trophy Trial Athlete and posted my progress each day on the N3H forum, N3H (Never Ending Hunt) are a community of like minded gamers who like to talk about and boost games.

 

Here is a copy of that post which includes the trials and other hints and tips which you may find useful:

 

 

This post is a journey towards a trophy which to me will be more than likely the most difficult and time consuming trophy any game has to offer – Trial Athlete.

I’ve always loved playing Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat but sadly have never had any real ability and always get destroyed in a two player match up. Luckily this trophy is single player and very addictive. My thought was to record a log of my progress along with all the stumbling blocks I encounter. I’ll also write about my experience switching from the dual shock controller > arcade stick.

I have found it quite demoralising reading posts in other forums where people have written that one set of trials are “Easy”, “No trouble at all”, “Took me 5 minutes”. I’ll write down how long it actually took me even if it makes me sound completely noobish. I have no idea if I’ll ever complete the trials but I’m certainly going to do my best and I’d like to think that if I can do it then anyone can.

 

Dual Shock or Arcade Stick?

I toyed with this for a long time. The first 9 characters I completed with the Dual Shock and it’s possible I may have stuck with this except I started to develop pins and needles in my left hand which I read could be due to Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. When this happened I stopped playing the game for a long period, when I returned and played Dhalsim it started to come back within a couple of hours so I decided to switch to an arcade stick.

Which Stick did I choose?

The tournament arcade sticks are very expensive and I’m not prepared to spend that kind of money so after research I found that you can get a relatively cheap arcade stick and mod it with arcade quality parts for half the price. I have no experience with arcade sticks but I’m impressed with the one I have.

This is the arcade stick I purchased:

Venom Arcade Stick


My main reason was that reviews said it was incredibly easy to mod, without the need to solder and what you have after is equivalent to a tournament arcade stick. Shortly after I purchased it I found this post:

Step By Step guide to modding Venom Arcade Stick

I was really happy to find this especially as it’s the exact one I purchased. I then purchased all the Sanwa parts from arcadeworlduk as listed and replacing all the parts took me less than half an hour, it was incredibly easy and I’m extremely happy with the results.

Octagonal or Square Gate?

There is post after post after post on the internet on this exact same topic, but this is what the general consensus is:

Sanwa JLF stick > Square Gate
Seimitsu stick > Octagonal

The reason being the Seimitsu Octagonal reduces throw while the Sanwa JLF Octagonal increases throw (throw is the distance from neutral to the gate).

The Sanwa JLF comes with a square gate as standard, I would say buy the Octagonal gate as well as they’re really cheap and you can swap them out and decide for yourself. I started with the Octagonal gate and have now switched to square. The difference between the two for me was minimal but I was able to find corners just a little better with the square gate.

Is an arcade stick better?

Without question I could see the potential of an arcade stick immediately, but when you first start using it you have to relearn everything so if you’re good with a pad you’re going to find it extremely disappointing in the beginning.

The best advice I read was to go to training, turn inputs on and practice moves, you should be able to produce the same move over and over again. Perform a set number of hadokens and if you miss one, start from the beginning again, switch sides and do the same. You’re basically trying to build these moves into muscle memory so they become second nature.

Here is a good video for learning the basics:

Arcade Stick Basic Tutorial

Is it worth the investment if I just want to complete the trials?

I wouldn’t have purchased one if not for the pins and needles I was experiencing but I’m so glad I have, although it’s taking time it feels so much better for me and I can execute moves with better consistency than with the pad. If a pad works for you then there’s no need to switch, all trials can be completed with the pad.

 

 

The Trials

I’ll keep this table updated whenever I complete a trial. I took various posts from people who have completed the trials and who gave a tier system of a characters trials in terms of difficulty. The difficulty is in relation to the other characters trials. A character listed as “Easy Tier” is only easy in terms of characters in “God Tier”. Easy characters can be quite difficult when you first start playing the game. I scored each character based off these posts (as no-one can completely agree on this due to many factors) and created my own.

 

Character Completed Percentage Notes
GOD TIER      
C. Viper 24 / 24 100.00% #13. Completed - 12/06/2016
El Fuerte 24 / 24 100.00% #14. Completed - 05/11/2016
TOP TIER      
Ken 24 / 24 100.00% #15. Completed - 19/11/2016
Dan 24 / 24 100.00% #12. Completed - 08/05/2016
Ibuki 24 / 24 100.00% #16. Completed - 24/11/2016
E.Honda 24 / 24 100.00% #17. Completed - 29/11/2016
Ryu 24 / 24 100.00% #11. Completed - 26/04/2016
HIGH TIER      
Abel 24 / 24 100.00% #18. Completed - 01/12/2016
Cammy 24 / 24 100.00% #19. Completed - 04/12/2016
Fei Long 24 / 24 100.00% #20. Completed - 05/12/2016
Guile 24 / 24 100.00% #21. Completed - 13/12/2016
Makoto 24 / 24 100.00% #22. Completed - 15/12/2016
Adon 24 / 24 100.00% #23. Completed - 17/12/2016
Chun-Li 24 / 24 100.00% #24. Completed - 18/12/2016
Sakura 24 / 24 100.00% #25. Completed - 21/12/2016
MID TIER      
Sagat 24 / 24 100.00% #26. Completed - 22/12/2016
Cody 24 / 24 100.00% #27. Completed - 23/12/2016
Gen 24 / 24 100.00% #28. Completed - 27/12/2016
Gouken 24 / 24 100.00% #29. Completed - 27/12/2016
Vega 24 / 24 100.00% #30. Completed - 28/12/2016
Zangief 24 / 24 100.00% #31. Completed - 28/12/2016
Juri 24 / 24 100.00% #32. Completed - 29/12/2016
Akuma 24 / 24 100.00% #09. Completed - 20/01/2015
Rufus 24 / 24 100.00% #33. Completed - 30/12/2016
Seth 24 / 24 100.00% #34. Completed - 30/12/2016
LOW TIER      
Balrog 24 / 24 100.00% #35. Completed - 30/12/2016
Dhalsim 24 / 24 100.00% #10. Completed - 12/04/2016
Blanka 24 / 24 100.00% #08. Completed - 13/01/2015
Guy 24 / 24 100.00% #03. Completed - 26/12/2014
Rose 24 / 24 100.00% #04. Completed - 02/01/2015
Dee Jay 24 / 24 100.00% #06. Completed - 07/01/2015
Dudley 24 / 24 100.00% #07. Completed - 09/01/2015
M.Bison 24 / 24 100.00% #05. Completed - 03/01/2015
EASY TIER      
T.Hawk 24 / 24 100.00% #02. Completed - 21/12/2014
Hakan 24 / 24 100.00% #01. Completed - 02/05/2014
       
PROGRESS 840/ 840 100.00%

 

 

 

Sources used to complete the Trials

 

Vesper Arcade on You Tube - you probably use this already, it's invaluable to see spacing and timing of combos.

Challenge Guide by Siky - This is a brilliant guide that gives you the inputs for each Trial. I use this first and then resort to Vesper Arcade if I'm really struggling.

 

Dhalsim
Spoiler

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
04/04/2016 Trials 5-18 Trial 19 Using Dual Shock - Trial 19 is tricky
05/04/2016   Trial 19 Only tried for 10 minutes. Waiting for arcade stick
06/04/2016 Trials 19-21 Trial 22 Arcade Stick arrived - Very hard to adjust to
07/04/2016 Trial 22   Spent about 1 hour 30 mins on this before discovering an easy way of doing it. Then it took just a few minutes.
08/04/2016   Trial 23 Spent 2 hours trying to do this trial
10/04/2016   Trial 23 Spent 1.5 hours trying to do this trial
11/04/2016 Trial 23   Switched sides. I can do Yoga Catastrophe with a slower motion so did that on the left first, after then I was able to teleport to his right side and perform Yoga Inferno very easily. Took me around 5-10 minutes to execute in the end
11/04/2016   Trial 24 Updated Venom stick with Sanwa Parts - very smooth - Switched from Square Gate to Octagonal

Spent 2 hours trying this last Trial. Almost got it
12/04/2016 Trial 24   Final trial took just 20 minutes tonight

 


Ryu

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
12/04/2016 Trials 10-13 Trial 14 Spent 20 minutes on Trial 14
13/04/2016   Trial 14 Switched to Square Gate

Spent 3 hours on this trial and practising stick movements. Very difficult trying to Shoryuken > FADC > Metsu Hadoken
15/04/2016 Trial 14   Spent 3.5 hours on this trial. I could not execute Metsu Hadoken fast enough from the left or FADC dash forward from the right. In the end I did this on the right but on my FADC I dashed back before Metsu Hadoken. Had a bottle of wine tonight so may not have helped, or maybe it did!
16/04/2016 Trials 15-16   Trial 15 took 5 minutes, Trial 16 took 1h25 mins, not that hard but kept screwing it up
17/04/2016 Trials 17-18   Trial 17 done in under 10 attempts, less than 5 minutes! Trial 18 took 20 minutes
18/04/2016   Trial 19 Spent 20 minutes on Trial 19. Very precise and hard
19/04/2016   Trial 19 Spent 2.5 hours on this trial. Getting more efficient with Hadoken cancel into Shinku Hadoken. I can also do cr MP, cr MP, cr MK, Hadoken. Just need to link it together
20/04/2016 Trials 19-20   Trial 19 - took less than 10 minutes ater all the practice from yesterday. Trick was to practice Hadoken cancel into Shinku Hadoken between every few attempts so once you get the cr MK done you can execute it.
Trial 20 - took less than 10 minutes, very similar to Trial 19 but easier - trickiest part was landing cr HP. Shoryuken cancel into Shinku Hadoken followed on from the last trial
21/04/2016 Trial 21   Trial 21 took an hour to complete. Practiced s MP, F, Focus, F, then added in the next s MP. Got a nice fast rhythm going with the arcade stick, the hardest bit being s MP Shoryuken.
22/04/2016 Trials 22-23 Trial 24 Trial 22 took 30 minutes. Hardest part is the 1 frame link from Collarbone Breaker to cr LP, then it's just about the timing from Shinku Hadoken to Metsu Hadoken, got close on a number of attempts so overall not too bad.
Trial 23 took 1 hour. Hardest part is memorising the combo.
Tried Trial 24 for 45 minutes, could not get cr MK to land once
23/04/2016   Trial 24 3h30 minutes. Hardest parts are connecting the cr MK and hitting the final Metsu Shoryuken, not quite there but nearly. Had a bottle of wine though
24/04/2016   Trial 24 2h20 minutes. Nearly got it a few times, feeling a bit frustrated now
25/04/2016   Trial 24 2h40 minutes. Lost focus on this and felt like I took a step backwards, too much button mashing instead of stopping and re-focussing. A lot of wasted time
26/04/2016 Trial 24   4h25 minutes. Roughly 13h40 minutes total for this trial. I changed my button configuration round and hit the combo almost immediately at the 4 hour mark (midnight). Unfortunately the Hadoken > FADC > Metsu Shoryuken was too slow so spent 10 minutes speeding it up. At this point I didn't think I would be able to put it all together but I refocused and finally I nailed it 5 minutes before I was going to switch off. Such a great feeling to finally execute this trial.

 


Trial Completed after nearly 14 hours (Crysis only took me 15 hours to platinum with breaks!!!): I'd had my phone at the ready for 10 hours to get a photo of the "Success" screen if I ever completed the trial. In the end I completely missed it but nevertheless it's still a satisfying shot of Dan finally put on his arse

Ryu Trial 24.jpg

Another Character completed and a relatively tricky one too. Maybe this might be possible.....

Progress.jpg

 

 

Dan

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
29/04/2016   Trial 23 3h00 minutes. This is really hard. I have managed to do the first 4 moves twice, the second one was cleaner but need to work on the Haoh Gadoken. Going to take a lot of practice but it does seem achievable which it never did on the pad
01/05/2016   Trial 23 4h00 minutes. Hit the first 4 moves once in the first 10 minutes then never managed to do it again
02/05/2016   Trial 23 2h00 minutes. Couldn't pull off the first four moves once. Really need to practice the execution of FADC and Airborne Dankuyaku, need to pause after the dash before trying the neutral jump
03/05/2016   Trial 23 1h45 minutes. Connected the Airborne Dankuyaku a few times. The Haoh Gadoken I really need to practice as it's on my weak side. One good thing is I can use KKK for the Airborne Dankuyaku instead of hitting 2 kicks, now less to implement
04/05/2016   Trial 23 1h00 minutes. Tried switching sides and also spent some time in training so not a focussed effort. Tomorrow I'm going to try this on P2 side and practice in training to effectively do the Airborne Dankuyaku. Basically finding it very difficult to quickly do QCF on P1 side
05/05/2016   Trial 23 3h30 minutes. Switched to P2 side and wished I'd done this from the beginning. Practiced the Airborne Dankuyaku until I was able to hit Dan with all 3 kicks. In the last hour I connected with Dan 4 or 5 times and once did the Haoh Gadoken but missed because the Dankuyaku had only hit once. Also performed the Dankuyaku at correct height a further 10 times after running past Dan. So close now, skills have definitely improved. Want to finish this soon though as getting pins and needles in my arm and want to take a break
06/05/2016   Trial 23 45 minutes. Had a drink, very tired, went to bed
07/05/2016 Trial 23 Trial 24

Trial 23 - 20 minutes. Trick was to move Dan out of the corner slightly which made the Airborne Dankuyaku connect every time. Was getting frustrated then it happened....finally.

Trial 24 - 1h30 minutes. Got to the EX Focus attack 3 times. All about timing

08/05/2016 Trial 24   45 minutes. Only real issue was getting the timing down for the s MP after EX Gadoken. Once in a rhythm it wasn't too bad.

 

 


Dan Trial 23

 

Untitled.jpg

 

Impossible for me on the pad. A couple of essential tips:

 

1. Practice the Airborne Dankuyaku until you can hit Dan with all 3 kicks

2. Move Dan out of the corner slightly so you don't miss the Airborne Dankuyaku

 

The screenshot is taken from a video I did. I was only filming so I could get a screenshot like the above as I missed the one for Ryu, I'd record for 20 minutes and then delete it. Anyway here it is and sorry for the language, I didn't realise I was as irritated as I was, been a long day. Was getting more confident towards the end when it was finally all coming together.

 

Another one done :)

 

Dan Trials Complete.jpg

 

 

C. Viper

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
26/05/2016 Trials 1-12   0h10 minutes.
26/05/2016 Trial 13   1h10 minutes. Need to start Seismic Hammer a bit away from Dan, also what helped a lot was not looking at the screen and instead just the arcade stick, when I did it this way I completed the trial in a few minutes, nice tip for future trials
27/05/2016 Trial 14   0h20 minutes. Nothing to say about this except just practice to execute. Have to be fast
27/05/2016 Trial 15   0h20 minutes. Nothing to say about this except just practice to execute. Have to be fast
04/06/2016   Trial 16 0h40 minutes. Too drunk to do anything productive
05/06/2016 Trial 16   1h20 minutes. Stupid, for an hour of tonight and all last night I was doing the wrong combo. For Burning Dance I was doing QCF instead of QCB. I'll put that down to being on holiday for a week
06/06/2016 Trial 17   0h15 minutes. Another trial that helped by looking at stick movements instead of the screen.
06/06/2016 Trial 18   0h04 minutes.
06/06/2016 Trial 19   0h15 minutes. Without a doubt it's a good idea to see the Vesper Arcade video to see how this is done.
06/06/2016 Trial 20   0h35 minutes. Have to be fast to do Medium Thunder Knuckle > Emergency Combination. Was able to get it but found it tricky to link it after the cr MP
07/06/2016   Trial 21 2h50 minutes. Having a lot of trouble trying to execute the Thunder Knuckle Cancel. Can't understand why it isn't working as it looks as though the animation is correct but it's not registering on screen. EDIT: Found out the combination I was using in the guide was incorrect
08/06/2016 Trial 21   0h15 minutes. The following combination worked perfectly although still tricky to execute fast - FA (Level 3), FADC, Down HP, Down Back HP, QCF PPP, QCF PPP
08/06/2016   Trial 22 0h35 minutes. Trying to understand the trial and its timings
09/06/2016 Trial 22   0h40 minutes. This is so precise but it's not as fast as other trials if you buffer the QCF before the s.LP, check out Vesper Arcade to see how slow it is. I did j.HK > s.LK > QCF > s.LP > QCF UF > PPP
09/06/2016   Trial 23 1h50 minutes. Just struggling trying to put it all together, a bit frustrating but it was late in the day
10/06/2016 Trial 23   0h05 minutes. Should have known when to quit last night
10/06/2016   Trial 24 2h25 minutes. Oh my god what a trial! Started getting better at Thunder Knuckle Cancel
11/06/2016   Trial 24 3h45 minutes. Had been drinking tonight so not that productive but started to get really consistent at the Thunder Knuckle cancel. Really struggling to get High Jump and Heavy Burning Kick
12/06/2016 Trial 24   0h45 minutes. Just piecing it together, hit Heavy Burning Kick 5 times but was too slow with Burst Time then 6th time lucky. The combination I used was D HP, DB B HP, PPP, DF PPP, DF PPP, D, UF, QCB HK, QCF QCF PPP

 

 

It's hard to know what to say with these trials. Regarded as the hardest or second hardest trials I actually found these weren't too bad. Trials 22 and 24 many people say are the toughest of all the trials but I did them faster that Dan, Ryu, Akuma and Rose!

 

It goes to show that it's definitely subjective. Also my skill has definitely improved, this was definitely the case with Trial 24 as you have to be extremely fast to get the High Jump and Heavy Burning Kick but I think completing Dan trial 23 helped enormously.

 

Another reason I think I found these trials easier than others is that there are next to no one frame links to worry about.

 

NOTE: I probably would have got these done even faster if I had known that the guide I attached earlier showing the inputs were incorrect for Thunder Knuckle cancel. I've listed the combination I used instead.

 

Anyway another set of trials done and another step closer

 

C Viper Done.jpg

 

 

El Fuerte

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date     Completed Attempted     Notes
02/11/2016 Trials 1-18   0h22 minutes. The Quesadilla Bomb threw me on Trial 4 for a couple of minutes, don't remember using a charge attack before        
02/11/2016   Trial 19 0h10 minutes. Tricky nailing the timing. Once managed to get everything but the cr MK but it's gone midnight so will try again tomorrow
03/11/2016  Trial 19   1h12 minutes. Turned the sound off for this and listened to button taps instead. First practiced 3 st LP's then added jump HK, then st LK and finally crouch, took a while to get a rhythm
03/11/2016 Trial 20   0h13 minutes. Not too bad. Habanero Dash > Gordita Sobat > El Fuerte Dynamite has to be quite quick but not too challenging
03/11/2016 Trial 21   0h07 minutes. Got to be fast
03/11/2016 Trial 22   0h07 minutes. Got to be fast doing st L Kick > El Fuerte Dynamite
03/11/2016   Trial 23 0h37 minutes. Got to nail Shower Kick > Stand L Kick > Crouch M Kick. This is the key to this trial
04/11/2016   Trial 23 0h26 minutes. Hit the first 4 parts of this trial. So close
05/11/2016 Trial 23   0h36 minutes. Hit the first 4 parts a couple of times but not consistent, then I got it. It's a tough trial
05/11/2016 Trial 24   1h54 minutes. Hand ached after this one. Not too hard to get the first two but took practice to link the final one.

 


It's hard to know what to say about El Fuerte except that so far he's been the character whose trials I've completed the fastest. Either my skills have improved or his trials work for me or I got lucky. Trials 19, 23 and 24 where the trickiest but I found turning the sound off helped me with timing. Maybe this will work with others too.

Another step of the journey completed

Untitled.jpg

 


Ken Masters

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
05/11/2016 Trial 10-15   0h17 minutes.
06/11/2016 Trial 16   0h12 minutes. Not too bad but took me a bit of time to link everything together
06/11/2016 Trial 17   0h51 minutes. Wow I struggled getting the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, then read you really needed to mash the cr LP so you stay in close. That helped a lot
06/11/2016 Trial 18   0h13 minutes.
07/11/2016 Trial 19   0h41 minutes. Struggled with this so switched focus attack to one button then mashed this in the corner so the FADC > Shoryuken came out like the video in Vesper arcade. Have to be really fast
07/11/2016 Trial 20   1h09 minutes. This is a hard fast combo, the most difficult bit becoming fluent with c.LP > c.HP.
08/11/2016 Trial 21   0h53 minutes. Split this into two halves, j. HK, cr. LK, cr. LP, as the LP lands then do the rest of it. Plenty of time to get the final Shinryuken in
08/11/2016   Trial 22 1h18 minutes. Need to be consistent with cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.MP. Got to the end of the combo at least 10 times but couldn't nail the final Guren Senpukyaku.
09/11/2016   Trial 22 2h17 minutes. This is all the more tricky as there are 6 different buttons that have to be pressed for the 6 different combinations. Need to practice EX Hadoken > EX Focus > Guren Senpukyaku
10/11/2016   Trial 22 3h04 minutes. I can do EX Hadoken > EX Focus > Guren Senpukyaku and I can also do cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.MP > EX Hadoken > EX Focus but for some reason I can't put it all together and get the final Guren Senpukyaku. This is getting extremely frustrating
11/11/2016 Trial 22   1h32 minutes. After a bottle of wine I can't believe I got this. I could not get the FADC motion on its own so tried QCF PPP > QCF Focus > QCF QCF PPP. Basically keeping the same motion. I fluked this but I'll take it.
12/11/2016 Trial 23   0h48 minutes. Tried to mash this a bit to start with but then realised you have a bit more time on your side unlike the last trial. Easy to do j.HK, s.HP, EX Hadoken, then it's a FA Level 2 crumple, dash in and Guren Senpukyaku
12/11/2016   Trial 24 1h50 minutes. This is the first trial on stick that I don't think I can do. It feels impossible right now
13/11/2016   Trial 24 1h16 minutes. Should have done this trial after Dan 23, got to learn it all again. Practicing DF, DF, HP, FADC, UF, QCB KKK, QCF, QCF, PPP. In this time I whiffed the Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku once!
14/11/2016   Trial 24 2h19 minutes. Managed to get one clean Heavy Shoryuken > EX Focus Cancel > EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. That's how much I'm struggling with this.
15/11/2016   Trial 24 2h09 minutes. Practice, that's all I can do!
16/11/2016   Trial 24 3h18 minutes. Getting a lot better now. Hit Heavy Shoryuken > EX Focus Cancel > EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku > Shinryuken once on P1 side and three times on P2 side. Now it's just putting it all together. The part I'm really struggling with consistency on is cr.LP > cr.MP. I miss this so much it throws my rhythm. Despite that I feel like I'm getting close now
17/11/2016   Trial 24 2h30 minutes. Grrrr frustrating. I can do all the elements but together I either miss cr.LP > cr.MP or the FADC. If I get them which is about once every 15 attempts I miss the EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku
18/11/2016   Trial 24 1h44 minutes. Not even close after a bottle of wine
19/11/2016 Trial 24   2h58 minutes. Without doubt my hardest trial so far taking 18 hours 2 minutes, I could do the individual elements (for example when practicing I did Heavy Shoryuken > EX Focus Cancel > EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku > Shinryuken twice in a row). Luckily when I finally landed EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku I was able to do Shinryuken straight away and complete the trial. So many times I nearly quit this trial, really satisfying to see SUCCESS!

 


Without question Ken and Ryu are my God Tier characters so far. Ken 24 is a harder version of Dan 23 so if you can get Dan 23 I urge you to do this one straight afterwards. Annoyingly it was cr.LP > cr.MP that caused me a massive headache trying to get it consistently and then hitting the EX Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku after the FADC.

Some people say that his Trial 20 or 22 are harder than 24, it just goes to show everyone's skills are different.

I'm really happy I kept with it as there were times I felt like stopping for good, after all - 18 hours for one trial!

Another one down - and I'm hoping - the toughest trials I'll have to do

Ken.JPG

 


Ibuki

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
20/11/2016 Trials 1-13   0h15 minutes. Some Awkward fast combo's, having to watch Vesper arcade to see how they're done
21/11/2016 Trial 14   0h22 minutes. Bloody hell that had to be fast
 
21/11/2016 Trials 15-20   0h08 minutes.
21/11/2016 Trial 21   0h28 minutes. This took a while to put it all together, so many buttons have to be pressed quite fast. Took time for me to remember it all
 
21/11/2016 Trial 22   0h47 minutes. Found it hard to land cr. MP, once I had that I had to speed up the H Neck Breaker
 
22/11/2016   Trial 23 3h26 minutes. I'm finding this combo awkward trying to execute it quickly and accurately, mainly the Kazegiri
 
23/11/2016 Trial 23   2h12 minutes. Did this in the corner on P1 side just like Vesper Arcade, the hardest part hands down for me was doing Kazegiri after the s. MK. I never got this consistent or properly understood why, in the end I think I mashed DF, DF. Glad this one is done
 
24/11/2016 Trial 24   0h10 minutes. This trial felt really straight forward, the key is to get a rhythm exactly as mentioned in the guide - s.LK x QCF + MK x QCF, UF + KKK
 

 


Ibuki is fast, fast, FAST. Although I completed her trials relatively fast as well I'm still a bit annoyed about Trial 23. Normally by the time I complete a trial that has taken me time everything comes together harmoniously, however, with this trial I struggled to ever get the F, D, DF after the s. MK.

A lot of people say they struggled with Trial 24 but I found it an easier version of Vipers.

Ibuki Done!

Done Ibuki.jpg

 

 

E.Honda

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Attempted Completed Notes
25/11/2016 Trials 1-10   0h07 minutes.
25/11/2016 Trial 11   0h03 minutes. Took a few attempts to get this but just to note I've had a bottle of wine so this may be throwing things out a bit
25/11/2016 Trial 12   0h01 minutes. Second Attempt
25/11/2016 Trial 13   0h15 minutes. Struggling a bit with the timings when holding back
25/11/2016 Trial 14   0h21 minutes. Wow that took me ages getting c.LP to F + LP
25/11/2016 Trial 15   1h10 minutes. I'm really struggling tonight with this character. Straight forward combination but it was driving me crazy executing it
26/11/2016 Trial 16   0h04 minutes. Need to be quite a distance away when you start this
26/11/2016 Trial 17   0h20 minutes. Can't say these hundred hand slaps are fun to do, especially linking anything after them
26/11/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes. Third Attempt
26/11/2016 Trial 19   0h05 minutes.
26/11/2016 Trial 20   0h10 minutes. A bit tricky to land the c.LP after the HHS but not too bad
26/11/2016   Trial 21 2h07 minutes. It's hard to link the cr.LK's and then the cr.LP.
27/11/2016   Trial 21 3h11 minutes. If the 1 frame links aren't bad enough you have to cancel out of the cr.LP into Super Killer Head Ram. I did it once and it was too slow. This is a straight forward but difficult trial to execute.
28/11/2016 Trial 21   3h00 minutes. Did not like this trial at all, finished just before I was about to call it a day.
29/11/2016 Trial 22   0h12 minutes. I'd love to say I had a technique to this but there was a lot of mashing involved and I can't properly remember the inputs except for including MP between c.LK and c.LP, that was the key to getting HHS to execute quickly. Super Kill Head Ram came easily after all the time spent on the last trial
29/11/2016 Trial 23   0h03 minutes. Only tricky part is linking HHS slap after c.LP. First time I did it I got the s.HK. Timing isn't too bad.
29/11/2016 Trial 24   0h33 minutes. This never felt a problem, it was just about getting the Heavy HHS out. The Super Killer Head Ram is now drilled in.

 

 

 

I didn't like E.Honda too much or more to the point - charge characters.

 

A lot of people have trouble with HHS Cancel but maybe due to using an arcade stick I never really had too many problems. People also mention using Turbo Mode to help with these trials, this is something I never tried so cannot comment

 

The big issue for me was the 1 frame links cancelled into the Super Kill Head Ram. One suggestion raised on Event Hubs was using a metronome and setting it to 176 BPM (only useful for LP, LK links). I gave this a try but I found it a hindrance and turned it off after 10 minutes. It may work for you though.

 

So E.Honda done, Top Tier done and now half way through the trials.

 

Done EHonda.jpg

 

 

Abel

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
29/11/2016 Trials 1-19   0h19 minutes. Not a lot to say about these trials, just follow the inputs, the longest any of these trials took was 4 minutes
29/11/2016 Trial 20   0h16 minutes. Just took a bit of time linking all the moves together
30/11/2016 Trial 21   0h12 minutes. Nothing too tricky, just practice timings until it came together
30/11/2016 Trial 22   0h17 minutes. This was different as in I could get the whole combination relatively easily, the problem was getting Soulless to connect at the end. Turns out you need to do this away from the corner otherwise it will miss.
30/11/2016 Trial 23   1h47 minutes. Getting Falling Sky to come out instead of Heartless proved to be a massive challenge so in the end I changed DF, DF to F, D, DF. Very similar to the last challenge but this one can be done in the corner
01/12/2016 Trial 24   1h42 minutes. Very frustrating trial because it's an easy combination, all except for the s.HP after the dash. I missed the final s.HP 14 times and finally nailed it on the 15th attempt

 

 

 

Compared to a lot of characters Abel is quite straightforward, not to say he's easy but just that the combinations are quite user friendly.

 

A perfect example is Abel 24. The combination itself isn't hard, it's just having the speed to land it all and get the s.HP to connect twice.

 

Now officially over halfway 18/35 done

 

Done Abel.JPG

 


Cammy

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
01/12/2016 Trials 1-5   0h02 minutes.
 
01/12/2016 Trial 6   0h07 minutes. It would have helped if I was doing the right combo. I was doing QCF instead of QCB
 
01/12/2016 Trials 7-11   0h07 minutes. Trials 7 and 9 took a few attempts.
 
01/12/2016 Trial 12   0h15 minutes. Wow, I found it really hard to connect the s.LK after the cannon strike.
 
01/12/2016 Trial 13   0h04 minutes. What the hell was that? This is a weird character
 
01/12/2016 Trial 14   0h03 minutes. Had to make sure Quick Spin Knuckle hit twice before the Ultra
 
01/12/2016 Trial 15   0h01 minutes. That's more like it, a straight forward combination
 
01/12/2016 Trial 16   0h14 minutes. It took a while to find out that you need to split this into two. Hold crouch then do 2 x LP, (pause) then cr.LK, QCF LK.
 
02/12/2016 Trial 17   0h02 minutes. Straight forward
 
02/12/2016 Trial 18   0h03 minutes. Not too difficult, just piecing it together
 
02/12/2016 Trial 19   0h41 minutes. That took a lot of time to get faster and connect Gyro Drive Smasher. You have to activate it while Dan is still high in the air so got to be quick
 
02/12/2016   Trial 20 1h12 minutes. I haven't figured out yet how to do cr.LK > H Spiral Arrow
 
03/12/2016 Trial 20   0h02 minutes. It's very important to distinguish between chaining (cannot cancel) and linking (able to cancel), this was my problem last night. Today I linked st.LP > cr.LK and got it in just a few attempts.
 
03/12/2016 Trial 21   0h18 minutes. Not as bad as some 1 frame links but harder than the last trial. Same cancel as the last trial so was able to execute relatively straight forward
 
03/12/2016 Trial 22   0h02 minutes. This is where the arcade stick really shines, the combo is considered Cammy's hardest trial but it feels really straight forward. Doesn't have to be done fast.
 
03/12/2016 Trial 23   0h29 minutes. Very similar to Trial 19, have to be fast, just needed to practice
 
03/12/2016   Trial 24 2h27 minutes.
 
04/12/2016 Trial 24   2h12 minutes. That was so rewarding. I find it hard to both FADC and get the inputs for F, D, DF so I spent pretty much 1h30 minutes of this practicing F, D, DF HK > FADC (Dash Forward) > F, D, DF HK > FADC (Dash Backwards). Ended up switching it to F,D, DF HK > FADC > DF, DF. Then it was piecing it together. The first time I activated Gyro Drive Smasher it connected which was an amazing feeling as this whifs so many times if Dan isn't at the perfect height. This trial could have took a lot longer than it ended up doing but I was getting closer and closer towards the end.
 

 


Cammy is a weird character and she has a lot of FADC to deal with as well as F, D, DF which I'm not normally the best at inputting so really had to practice this for trial 24.

Chaining and Linking

I had to fully understand this on trial 20. Basically when doing a combo of light attacks if you hit one attack while the previous one is still recovering it's called chaining. If you wait for the light attack to fully recover you link moves. The difference between the two is that chaining is easier but what you can't do when chaining is cancel a move. So in trial 20 I had to wait a split second longer to link the st. LP > cr. LK. This is the reason I was at this for over an hour and then had it done within 2 minutes the following day.

I'm sure I've had to do this before with Blanka but for some reason it really threw me out on this trial.

Now onto Fei Long

19 Done Cammy.jpg

 

 

Fei Long

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
04/12/2016 Trials 1-10   0h04 minutes.
04/12/2016 Trial 11   0h06 minutes. Shienkyaku has to be really fast after the heavy punch
04/12/2016 Trial 12   0h01 minutes. First attempt
04/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes. Straight forward
04/12/2016 Trial 14   0h12minutes. Found the timing for the Rekkaken to be a bit tricky to start with, very easy to go at this too quickly or execute Rekkashinken
04/12/2016 Trial 15   0h03 minutes. Still finding my feet with the Rekkaken
04/12/2016 Trial 16   0h05 minutes. Need to make sure I execute Rekkaken with MP, couldn't do it with HP
04/12/2016 Trial 17   0h12 minutes. That wasn't easy. Another fast combination
04/12/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes. Straight forward combination, awkward timings
04/12/2016 Trial 19   0h09 minutes. Just like Cammy had to make sure I was linking cr.LK > cr.LP before M Rekkaken
04/12/2016 Trial 20   0h09 minutes. Another fast combination to get Rekkashinken from cr.MK
04/12/2016 Trial 21   0h24 minutes. Took time putting it together but all similar to other trials
05/12/2016 Trial 22   0h02 minutes. Have to be extremely fast going from st.MP > H Shienkyaku > L Rekkashinken
05/12/2016 Trial 23   0h42 minutes. Found it hard to land st.HP, after then it's putting everything into muscle memory as everything has to be done really fast
05/12/2016 Trial 24   0h17 minutes. Not as hard as the last trial, as with the others just have to be fast after the links

 

 

 

Enjoyed doing these trials, the difficulty with this character is the sheer speed you have to execute the trials, faster than anyone else I've some across so far. With that I also felt they were a bit more forgiving as well.

 

20 Done Fei Long.jpg

 

 

Guile

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed

Attempted

Notes
05/12/2016 Trials 1-9   0h05 minutes.
05/12/2016 Trial 10   0h05 minutes. Not finding Double Flash easy to execute at all
05/12/2016 Trial 11   0h02 minutes. Took a few attempts to register s.HP
05/12/2016 Trial 12   0h07 minutes. The moves listed in the guide aren't correct. It should be (jump-in) j.HP > (land) c.MK ~ F + MP. Did it first time after watching Vesper Arcade
05/12/2016 Trial 13   0h04 minutes. Need to do (jump-in) (hold DF) j.HP > (land) HK > U + KK
06/12/2016 Trial 14   0h04 minutes. Spam the Focus Attack after the EX Sonic Boom
06/12/2016 Trial 15   1h50 minutes. This has to be pinpoint, have to hit Dan near the peak of his jump for him to be launched high enough for you to have enough time to charge Flash Explosion. This was getting really frustrating thinking I couldn't do the move, the reality was I wasn't charging it for long enough
06/12/2016 Trial 16   0h02 minutes. Just the link from s.LP > EX Sonic Boom to worry about
06/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes. Third attempt
06/12/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes. Third attempt
07/12/2016 Trial 19   0h35 minutes. I hate this charge character, spammed Spinning Back Knuckle until it came out, not enjoying these trials
07/12/2016   Trial 20 2h31 minutes. Got very close and was on this until 1.20am (just one more go), missed the final Sonic Hurricane 4 times, grrrr. Have to do this out of the corner otherwise Sonic Hurricane is released the other side of Dan
08/12/2016   Trial 20 2h23 minutes. Missed the final Sonic Hurricane once, can do the c.LP > c.MP and can do Sonic Boom > Double Flash, but cannot put it together. f..k THIS TRIAL
09/12/2016   Trial 20 2h27 minutes.
10/12/2016   Trial 20 2h40 minutes.
11/12/2016   Trial 20 3h21 minutes. So damn frustrating, have even taped arrows to the arcade stick so I get the movements correct but still having massive problems connecting it all together
12/12/2016 Trial 20   0h53 minutes. Got Sonic Hurricane for the first time but it was too slow, felt in more control of getting this tonight and then I eventually got Sonic Hurricane to connect, finally its done. Got to get really good at cr.LP > cr.MP, also Sonic Boom > Double Flash.
12/12/2016 Trial 21   0h34 minutes. At least the j.HP > cr.MP is easy. Sonic Boom > Double Flash (last trial) and Flash Kick > Double Flash (this trial) is going to haunt me.
12/12/2016 Trial 22   1h00 minutes. Not too bad, just about getting a rhythm
13/12/2016 Trial 23   1h17 minutes. Again nothing complicated in this trial, it's just about getting a rhythm going
13/12/2016 Trial 24   0h33 minutes. The only difficult part is getting cr.LP > M Double Flash and that took a lot of attempts to get right, lots of time to get the final Flash Explosion in

 

 

 

and then came Guile.

 

Trial 20

This is a perfect example of where originally you think a trial is straight forward and turns out to be anything but. The funny thing is that I almost got this in the first hour and if I had then Guile would have gone down as being an easier character.

 

But then it all seemed to unravel. The reason this can be challenging as well is that it can't be done in a corner unlike most other trials. If you start in one corner and attempt this all the way to the other corner you get 4 attempts, after then your rhythm gets thrown as you move Dan back to the opposite corner.

 

Although not many moves to the combo it's all about cancels so it has to be fast and Sonic Boom > Double Flash did not feel a natural movement. This became unbelievably frustrating, so many times I'd execute the first four parts only to miss the Double Flash, likewise I would miss the cr.LP > cr.MP but then execute Sonic Boom > Double Flash. In all I got to the Sonic Hurricane around 15 times in the 14 hours I was at this and to then miss that became annoying. I even taped directional movements to the arcade stick to help me execute Sonic Boom > Double Flash more effectively which did help.

 

Once you get Trial 20, the rest relatively aren't too bad but they are quick.

 

I was also starting to get pins and needles in my arm from using a charge character (the reason I moved from pad to stick in the first place), I don't like them and although I know I have Balrog coming up I hope he doesn't become quite as problematic

 

21 Done Guile.jpg

 

 

Makoto

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
15/12/2016 Trials 1 to 13   0h06 minutes.
15/12/2016 Trial 14   0h03 minutes.
15/12/2016 Trial 15   0h03 minutes.
15/12/2016 Trial 16   0h07 minutes. Wasn't sure of the timing. Vesper Arcade helped
15/12/2016 Trial 17   0h14 minutes. Not too difficult but a bit fiddly
15/12/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes. Straight forward
15/12/2016 Trial 19   0h04 minutes.
15/12/2016 Trial 20   0h38 minutes. It starts to mess with your head when you're watching Dan jumping up and down for 38 minutes. Nothing too complicated but took me a while to finally get it
15/12/2016 Trial 21   0h09 minutes. Loved this trial, great fun doing the Focus Attack and then full animation of Abare Tosanami. There's a good long description of how to do this in the GameFAQ
15/12/2016 Trial 22   0h05 minutes. Just as GameFAQ's mentions, adding an additional MP helps a lot with this trial
15/12/2016 Trial 23   0h12 minutes. Another trial I really enjoyed, nothing too difficult.
15/12/2016 Trial 24   0h32 minutes. The c.LP after the Hayate Cancel is really tricky. Once I'd landed it and the first QCF I was able to finish the trial first time

 

 

 

After taking a day off doing trials to do some Christmas things and going to a funeral in the morning I was hoping to just unwind and do a few of these trials, so to sit here writing that I completed them all in one evening is a big surprise.

 

The only other trials I've managed to do in one evening is T.Hawk, Hakan and Bison.

 

This was a welcome relief after Guile's trials. There are a couple of trials that did take some time to do and I can understand how a lot of people struggle with trial 24 as the Hayate Cancel is awkward to perform but fortunately once you get that the rest of the combo has already been done in previous trials so it naturally flows.

 

Of all the trials I have left and reading other comments Makoto 24 and Sakura 23 are the ones I've not been looking forward to. I just hope that Sakura 23 runs just as smoothly.

 

22 Done Makoto.jpg

 

 

Adon

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
16/12/2016 Trials 1-11   0h05 minutes.
16/12/2016 Trial 12   0h03 minutes. Took a few attempts to get the timing right
16/12/2016 Trial 13   0h06 minutes. Jumping Dan, irritating getting Jaguar tooth to connect
16/12/2016 Trials 14-17   0h05 minutes.
16/12/2016 Trial 18   0h09 minutes. Another Jumping Dan, fast combination
16/12/2016 Trial 19   0h27 minutes. Airborne Jaguar Kick has to be fast to connect and all subsequent moves also have to be quick, took me a while to get this all to work
16/12/2016 Trial 20   0h05 minutes. Just practice, nothing too difficult
16/12/2016 Trial 21   0h30 minutes. So stupid, doing this on P2 side I tried doing it using DF, DF method, but struggled, switch to F, D, DF and got it in 2 minutes, why didn't I do that sooner
16/12/2016 Trial 22   0h05 minutes. Very quick
16/12/2016 Trial 23   0h02 minutes. Just the link from cr.MP to worry about
16/12/2016   Trial 24 1h46 minutes. Jaguar Crunch > cr.LK is awful, horrible links in this trial. Got this twice but too slow and one attempt I did it all but hit MP instead of HP grrrrr
17/12/2016 Trial 24   0h59 minutes. This is extremely difficult, the most difficult one frame link so far. The best method I found to doing this was the following combo: F + MP > c.LK x QCF D c.MP x DF F PPP, so you're buffering the H Jaguar Varied Assault when doing c.MP, it's a lot easier and I wished I'd done this from the beginning instead of the 15 minutes I was doing the combo in the GameFAQ. Practice the final part until you can nail it and then add Jaguar Crunch.

 

 

 

Not too bad a character, the hardest trial is Trial 24, a gross 1 frame link from the Jaguar Crunch to cr.LK. It's tricky because you push your opponent away so it's extremely easy for the cr.LK to whiff. The cancel into Heavy Jaguar Varied Assault is also horrible so the best thing to do is buffer it, buffering helped me enormously

 

23 Done Adon.jpg

 

 

Chun-Li

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
17/12/2016 Trials 1-9   0h03 minutes.
17/12/2016 Trial 10   0h03 minutes. Had to watch Vesper Arcade, trying to do the M Spinning Bird Kick after the second Heavy Punch lands instead of the first
17/12/2016 Trial 11   0h15 minutes. A lot of wasted time, GameFAQ Combo is wrong it should be (jump-in) j.F HP~j.F HP > (land) B + MK ~ B + MK ~ D U + MK (hold D) > U + KKK
17/12/2016 Trial 12   0h01 minutes.
17/12/2016 Trial 13   0h12 minutes. Again wasted time with the combo in GameFAQ - Kikosho is not F, B, F PPP it's QCF QCF PPP
17/12/2016 Trial 14   0h12 minutes. Was finding it hard to land the Kintekishu after the j.HK then realised you have to land the HK as close to landing as possible, the rest then fell into place
17/12/2016 Trial 15   0h19 minutes. Took me a while to get the timings right
17/12/2016 Trial 16   0h03 minutes. Fast fingers but nothing too hard
17/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
17/12/2016 Trial 18   0h05 minutes. Not too difficult except having to activate Kikosho
17/12/2016 Trial 19   0h04 minutes.
17/12/2016 Trial 20   0h20 minutes. Just take it steady, nothing complicated. A bottle of wine and late in the night is my excuse for not finishing this faster
18/12/2016 Trial 21   0h24 minutes. Not too bad
18/12/2016 Trial 22   0h06 minutes. Just got to get the timing right, nothing complicated
18/12/2016 Trial 23   0h21 minutes. A very long combo, nothing too difficult but it took me time to get it to flow, be careful with the Hosenka, it's very tempting to activate it too soon after doing the rest of the combo
18/12/2016 Trial 24   0h23 minutes. Not hard but it does have to be fast

 

 

 

To be honest there's not a lot to say, she does have a few long combinations which slowed me down but there's never anything too difficult

 

24 Done ChunLi.jpg

 

 

Sakura

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
18/12/2016 Trials 1-10   0h03 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 11   0h03 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 12   0h02 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 13   0h03 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 15   0h03 minutes.
18/12/2016 Trial 16   0h07 minutes. Took a bit of time to get the timings right but nothing too difficult to do
18/12/2016 Trial 17   0h10 minutes. That took ages linking cr.LK > EX Shouoken
19/12/2016 Trial 18   0h46 minutes. The problem with this trial is linking the st.LK, most of the time I was trying to connect this too fast, practice L Shunpukyaku > st.LK to get a feel of how this works
19/12/2016 Trial 19   0h19 minutes. There's a lot going on in this trial, hardest part is getting consistent with cr.LK > st.HP
19/12/2016 Trial 20   0h27 minutes. I enjoyed that trial. Combo I used was * (jump-in) j.MK > (land) s.HP x QCB + LK > QCB D c.HP DB B + LK
19/12/2016 Trial 21   0h02 minutes.
19/12/2016 Trial 22   0h37 minutes. This just took practice, missed the EX Shunpukyaku a lot and the Light Shouoken
19/12/2016   Trial 23 1h03 minutes. The trial I was dreading and for good reason, 1 frame links, FADC and execution has to be extremely fast, this is going to take some time
20/12/2016   Trial 23 3h18 minutes. Can't believe I'm going to say this but this trial is fun. The key to this trial is nailing [EX] Shouoken > [EX] Focus Cancel > st.MK. For the [EX] Shouoken Sakura does 2 punches, pause, 5 more punches. You have to FADC on the 3rd punch of the second cycle, do it on the second punch and Dan will block the st.MK after the FADC, do it on the fourth punch and you're too late to FADC. Others have mentioned adding a cr.LP before the cr.HP but I don't feel I need it. Got to the final cr.HP 8 times tonight, it's so addictive and didn't turn off until nearly 2.00am
21/12/2016 Trial 23   0h07 minutes. All the practice yesterday paid off, this flowed right from the beginning
21/12/2016 Trial 24   0h16 minutes. A breeze compared to the last trial, should have got this as early as 7 minutes in when I missed the final Haru Ranman. Missed another 2 times and then got it on the fourth attempt. If you've done Trial 23 this one will pose no problems

 

 

 

I've not been looking forward to Sakura Trial 23, many have said it's the toughest trial and for good reason, but unlike other tough trials I enjoyed attempting it because it has a good flow to it. There's essentially 3 tough parts to this, 2 of them are the cr.HP links at the beginning and end of the trial and the other is the st.MK after the FADC. Timing of the FADC is critical.

 

Other than that the rest of her trials aren't too bad

 

25 Done Sakura.jpg

 

 

Sagat

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
22/12/2016 Trials 1-10   0h03 minutes.
22/12/2016 Trial 11   0h04 minutes. GameFAQ wrong, it says use Punch for Tiger Genocide when it should be kick, when I realised this I got it first attempt, grrr
22/12/2016 Trial 12   0h01 minutes.
22/12/2016 Trial 13   0h02 minutes.
22/12/2016 Trial 14   0h06 minutes. Have to be a few steps away from Dan and hit him with the first High Step Kick at the top of Dans jump, need to be fast with Tiger Canon
22/12/2016 Trial 15   0h01 minutes.
22/12/2016 Trial 16   0h01 minutes.
22/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes. First Attempt
22/12/2016 Trial 18   0h14 minutes. Quite a tricky one. I found this difficult to do in the corner (not sure if you can) as I kept missing the High Step Kick
22/12/2016 Trial 19   0h09 minutes. Fast hands for this one
22/12/2016 Trial 20   0h30 minutes. Damn I was forgetting to Dash forward after the FADC which is why I wasn't connecting the Tiger Knee Crush after the cr.MP. The difficult part to this trial is timing the Focus attack, the rest isn't so bad, even managed to add Tiger Genocide on the end of this (not deliberately)
22/12/2016 Trial 21   0h13 minutes. Took a lot longer than I was expecting, straight forward combination but had a few issues with cr.MP > [EX] Tiger Uppercut, also have to be fast with Tiger Destruction, missed that a few times
22/12/2016 Trial 22   2h23 minutes. That was a lot harder than expected, I think one of the trickiest parts is landing the second cr.MP, reason being you have to hit the cr.LK very quickly after the FADC but then have a slight pause for the cr.MP. Spent most of this on P2 side then switch to P1 side which I found a lot easier
22/12/2016 Trial 23   2h30 minutes. So tricky linking this together. Could do [EX] Low Tiger Shot > [EX] Focus Cancel > Tiger Cannon on its own but trying to link it after the one frame links was a nightmare. In the end changed buttons to have Focus attack on one button and used KKK instead of EX. Glad that one is done
22/12/2016 Trial 24   1h04 minutes. Not as bad as the last trial but still hard, got to cr.MP very quickly off the FADC but then there's a delay in the timing of the cr.LP. Got to also be careful of the final Tiger Cannon, if you're too fast it will go underneath Dan, that happened to me twice

 

 

 

So I've had a day off work, daughter at parents so I had the house to myself so thought I'd spend the day doing trials. Nothing particularly new with Sagat, 1 frame links, QCF's and DF, DF. Some of his trials were quite long and hard and it took time memorising it all and then executing it. A lot of his moves have to be executed very quickly too. Not an easy character by any means but I've definitely done worse.

 

26 Done Sagat.jpg

 

 

Cody

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
23/12/2016 Trials 1-13   0h04 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 15   0h01 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 16   0h03 minutes. Took a couple of minutes before I realised you have to do this from a distance away in order for Last Dread Dust to connect
23/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 18   0h03 minutes. Needed to look at Vesper Arcade for the timing and distance
23/12/2016 Trial 19   0h03 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 20   0h01 minutes. Second Attempt
23/12/2016 Trial 21   0h01 minutes.
23/12/2016 Trial 22   0h15 minutes. A bit awkward but not too bad, got to be fast to connect Dead End Irony
23/12/2016 Trial 23   0h13 minutes. The only part of this combo that causes a problem is linking the [EX] Criminal Upper
23/12/2016 Trial 24   1h13 minutes. Nothing too tricky with this one except remembering it all. The second cr.LP takes a bit of practice. Missed Final Destruction 3 times before finally connecting it

 

 

 

My first set of timed trials completed in just under 2 hours! In relation to other characters this one is really straight forward

 

27 down, 8 to go!

 

27 Done Cody.jpg

 


Gen

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
23/12/2016 Trials 1-12   0h17 minutes. Trial 12 took me a while to complete, lost track of time
 
23/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes.
 
23/12/2016 Trial 14   0h07 minutes. Took me ages to get [EX] Gekiro (finish)
 
24/12/2016 Trial 15   0h04 minutes. Had to watch Vesper Arcade to understand how this trial worked
 
24/12/2016 Trial 16   0h01 minutes. Second Attempt
 
24/12/2016 Trial 17   0h05 minutes. Again had to watch Vesper Arcade, these trials are a bit weird
 
24/12/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes. Fourth Attempt, buffered the Jyakoha off the cr.LK to make it easier
 
24/12/2016 Trial 19   0h02 minutes. The advice in the GameFAQ was spot on, made this trial quite easy
 
24/12/2016 Trial 20   0h23 minutes. Found that hard to time. First have to leave the j.MK as late as possible then hit cr.LP immediately after switching to Mantis, then be quick with Zan'ei. Lots of time to get the final Shitenketsu
 
25/12/2016 Trial 21   0h18 minutes. So for most of this I was doing the combination wrong. Stupid, this trial isn't too difficult, just have to get the timing right between stance changes
 
25/12/2016 Trial 22   0h03 minutes. Similar timings to the last trial
 
25/12/2016 Trial 23   0h26 minutes. This took a while to get the timing as I was buffering the Zan'ei while doing the s.MP so if I missed the s.MP I was having to jump back over Dan to repeat the process, plus the QCF QC motion from left to right is my week side so took me a few attempts to get the final Ryukoha
 
25/12/2016   Trial 24 1h56 minutes. Not only is Gekiro Finish hard to perform but also having problems executing Hyakurenko > Zan'ei with any kind of consistency
 
26/12/2016   Trial 24 3h15 minutes. You really have to practice the H Gekiro > Finish. It's very awkward timings. Frustrating trial
 
27/12/2016 Trial 24   0h02 minutes. Wow, suddenly attempting this today felt so easy, almost did it first attempt, did it in under ten
 

 


Ok Gen, or more specifically Trial 24, that one really threw me. I should have spent more time learning how to do the H Gekiro Finish instead of trying to rush through this because it's a unique move. Once you know it it's not too bad but it does take practice. The night before I got this I was on it until nearly 2am then hilariously turned it on the next day and just did it in just over one and a half minutes.


28 Done Gen.jpg

 


Gouken

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
27/12/2016 Trial 1-9   0h02 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 10   0h06 minutes. The speed of this one caught me out
 
27/12/2016 Trial 11   0h02 minutes. Got to be a bit away from Dan so the Tenmakujinkyaku catches his feet then you can get the cr.MP
 
27/12/2016 Trial 12   0h02 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 14   0h02 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 15   0h03 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 16   0h01 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 18   0h01 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 19   0h02 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 20   0h03 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 21   0h04 minutes.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 22   1h18 minutes. That was quite hard. Everything from the cr.LP has to be done very fast and I had a lot of problems linking the cr.LP from the st.MP especially as this can't be done in the corner
 
27/12/2016 Trial 23   0h34 minutes. Takes some practice to link Gohadoken > [EX] Focus Attack as you have to be a certain distance away when you start it. Also remember you need to pause until Dan is falling before you activate [EX]Gohadoken otherwise it will go underneath.
 
27/12/2016 Trial 24   0h49 minutes. The only real difficulty with this trial is getting the timings right, I had to slow elements of this down as I was trying to activate [EX] Focus Cancel before I'd finished L Gohadoken
 

 


Nothing too challenging compared to other characters, his last 3 trials took a bit of practice but that was all


29 Done Gouken.jpg

 

 

Vega

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
27/12/2016 Trials 1-6   0h09 minutes. This is not going well. Trial 1 took me a minute to do, trial 6 just took about 4 minutes. Similar character to Guile, I'm not going to enjoy this
27/12/2016 Trial 7   0h01 minutes.
27/12/2016 Trial 8-12   0h02 minutes.
27/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes.
27/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes. First attempt
27/12/2016 Trial 15   0h04 minutes.
27/12/2016 Trial 16   0h06 minutes. Silly was holding the charge before the focus instead of after, brainfart
27/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes. Fourth Attempt
27/12/2016 Trial 18   0h07 minutes. Quite a fun trial, all about timing the cr.LP's
27/12/2016 Trial 19   0h03 minutes.
27/12/2016 Trial 20   0h09 minutes. Again another trial that really threw me off with the timings. Need to do the Focus attack after the L Rolling Crystal Flash has completed
27/12/2016 Trial 21   0h20 minutes. Really annoying trial, coud do [EX] Scarlet Terror after L Scarlet Terror on its own easily but when I tried to do it in this combo it wouldn't work, obviously my inputs were incorrect but it was driving me mad
27/12/2016 Trial 22   0h02 minutes.
27/12/2016   Trial 23 0h39 minutes. Eurgh, 1 frame links. Missed the final cr.MP six times, not a lot else to say, keep practicing until I get it
28/12/2016 Trial 23   0h08 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 24   0h19 minutes. Really, this is the final trial? Admittedly the timing has to be perfect but that's all

 

 

 

At the beginning of these trials I was really worried as Vega's moves were similar to Guile so I wasn't looking forward to his later trials, then bizarrely it all changed and instead there were just a few difficult 1 frame links to complete. In the end another straight forward character which could have been a lot worse

 

30 Done Vega.jpg

 

 

Zangief

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
28/12/2016 Trials 1-13   0h06 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trials 14-16   0h05 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 18   0h12 minutes. Quite a tricky link
28/12/2016 Trial 19   0h03 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 20   0h02 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 21   0h05 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 22   0h02 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 23   0h18 minutes. Took me a bit of time to land the final [EX] Banishing Flat
28/12/2016 Trial 24   0h02 minutes. Once you get the rhythm with the cr.LK the rest is easy

 

 

 

Easiest set of trials yet, completed in under an hour, just a series of 1 frame links.

 

31 Done Zangief.jpg

 

 

Juri

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
28/12/2016 Trials 1-12   0h05 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes. First attempt
28/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 15   0h02 minutes.
28/12/2016 Trial 16   0h08 minutes. Found it hard to get consistent with j.MP > Shikusen and you have to be quick with Kaisen Dankairaku which is a long animation
28/12/2016 Trial 17   0h03 minutes. Did this in the middle of the screen
28/12/2016 Trial 18   0h46 minutes. I made a right mess of this trial doing [EX] Shikusen wrong and then the wrong input for Kaisen Dankairaku, glad it's done
28/12/2016 Trial 19   0h05 minutes. Took a bit of time to understand what to do
28/12/2016 Trial 20   0h03 minutes. Very similar to the last trial
28/12/2016 Trial 21   0h14 minutes. Another trial I found hard to piece together, it's all to do with the timing of the cr.LK after the Sekku, the rest is easy if you can get that
29/12/2016 Trial 22   0h20 minutes. Getting a bit more used to when I can activate the first cr.LK, needs to be just as your foot hits the floor after the Sekku
29/12/2016 Trial 23   0h10 minutes. A fun and unique trial
29/12/2016 Trial 24   0h21 minutes. Another cool and interesting trial that looks more dificult than it is. Just have to get used to holding the charges and releasing at the correct time

 

 

 

A unique and interesting character, once I figured out what I was supposed to do I enjoyed her trials

 

32 Done Juri.jpg

 

 

Rufus

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
29/12/2016 Trials 1-9   0h03 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 10   0h04 minutes. Had a few problems connecting this
29/12/2016 Trial 11   0h01 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 12   0h01 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 13   0h04 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 14   0h17 minutes. Annoyingly I wasn't pushing towards Dan while doing Galactic Tornado, once I did this trial was easy. Stupid
29/12/2016 Trial 15   0h01 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 16   0h08 minutes. GameFAQ wrong, need to do PPP at the end not LP which I found to my cost
29/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
29/12/2016 Trial 18   0h20 minutes. Spent a lot of timed on the 1 frame links and then missed the [EX] Galactic Tornado
29/12/2016 Trial 19   0h25 minutes. It took the whole of the 25 minutes to get the st.HP to land after the Falcon Kick. I got the rest of it afterwards first time. Got to remember to dash forward after the focus attack, didn't do that for the first 20 minutes or so
29/12/2016 Trial 20   0h10 minutes. This one looks harder than it is, just takes practice
29/12/2016 Trial 21   0h06 minutes. Not too bad, again just practice
29/12/2016 Trial 22   0h02 minutes. Easy compared to previous trials
29/12/2016 Trial 23   1h29 minutes. The trial is really straight forward but very hard to execute the timing for the one frame links. There's a slight pause between the final st.LP > cr.MK, use this to prepare for the [EX] Galactic Tornado
30/12/2016 Trial 24   0h04 minutes. Extremely straight forward, nothing difficult for this one

 

 

 

33 Done Rufus.jpg

 

 

Seth

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
30/12/2016 Trials 1-10   0h03 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 11   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 12   0h03 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 13   0h06 minutes. Took a while to land the first Yosokyaku
30/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 15   0h02 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 16   0h02 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 17   0h03 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 18   0h16 minutes. Jumping Dan, took me a while to get the timings right, as Dan is about to land that's when you start the Yosokyaku and you have to do it fast so you don't end up on the other side of him for the j.MP
30/12/2016 Trial 19   0h13 minutes. There's a nice steady rhythm to this once you get it
30/12/2016 Trial 20   0h04 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 21   0h03 minutes. As with other similar trials you just need to buffer the Tanden Storm while doing cr.MP
30/12/2016 Trial 22   1h28 minutes. Wow that took so long, most of it struggling to do st.HP > [EX] Sonic Boom from the cr.LP, don't know why I couldn't do it
30/12/2016 Trial 23   0h26 minutes. Everything up to the Hyakuretsukyaku is straight forward, the main difficulty is getting the first Yosokyaku when Dan falls. After that it's just aboout getting in the rest of the moves quickly
30/12/2016 Trial 24   0h29 minutes. I really enjoyed this trial, it's a nice consistent rhythm you just need to practice, missed Tanden Stream a few times in the process

 

 

 

34 Done Seth.jpg

 

 

Balrog

Spoiler

 

 

 

Date Completed Attempted Notes
30/12/2016 Trials 1-12   0h05 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 13   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 14   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 15   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 16   0h02 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 17   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 18   0h02 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 19   0h26 minutes. Completely doing the inputs wrong, was using UF instead of UB
30/12/2016 Trial 20   0h01 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 21   0h15 minutes. Got to be fast to get Crazy Buffalo
30/12/2016 Trial 22   0h09 minutes. Not too bad, just got to memorise it and then do it quickly
30/12/2016 Trial 23   0h11 minutes.
30/12/2016 Trial 24   0h14 minutes.

 

 

 

35 Done Balrog.jpg

 

 

Long Time No See and Birth of the Oni

 

When I saw the requirements for these trophies I thought I'd never do it but in the end they weren't too difficult if you know the trick to doing them.

 

Requirements - Fight Gouken (Long Time No See)

5 x First Attacks

3 x Ultra/Super Finishes

1 x Perfect

No Continues

 

Requirements - Fight Oni (Birth of the Oni)

5 x First Attacks
3 x Ultra/Super Finishes
1 x Perfect
No Continues

Defeat Seth with Ultra/Super Finish

 

How to do it

First of all set the difficulty to Hardest, 1 round, 99 seconds. Have a second controller ready, if you are about to lose the round then click start on it and then defeat player 2. This does not affect the "No Continues" requirement.

 

Use Ryu. Some say use Zangief, he has a great spinning Lariat move but his ultra requires a 720 motion which I could not do reliably at all

 

Here is the trick to being successful with Ryu. First of all as the round starts wait for your opponent to make their move, as soon as they make their attack then do a medium dragon punch to get your first attack requirement, now move a bit closer and then do a focus attack Level 3, as the move is coming out dash forward then immediately perform a throw. Now wait for the throw animation to end and immediately begin the focus attack level 3 again. This puts the CPU opponent in a continuous loop as they aren't able to block your focus attack.

 

It does take a little practice as beginning it too late will give the CPU player a chance to perform their attack, too early and the focus attack won't work. Also there is an element of risk getting your first Focus Attack in but this is only really an issue when going for the Perfect not the remaining rounds.

 

If all goes well this should get you a perfect first round, if ever I didn't I would quit and start again, never taking more than a few attempts.

 

For subsequent rounds ensure you get your first attack and then aim to get your focus attacks in to bring the opponents health down to around 5-10%, now let the CPU player attack you. Once your health has been depleted around 40% your Ultra will become active. Normally at this point I would get in a floor sweep, knocking the opponent over and then activating the Hadoken Ultra.

 

That's really all there is to it. If your health starts to get low then press start on P2 controller, better not to risk it. When I fought Gouken I had to use 11 starts with P2, the second time when I got to Oni I only used 4.

 

Here were my opponents for Oni (forgot to write down Gouken)

 

1. Makoto - 1 x Perfect, 1 x First Attack

2. Ibuki - 1 x First Attack, 1 x Ultra

3. Yang - 1 x First Attack, 1 x Ultra

4. Juri - 1 x First Attack

5. Rose - 1 x First Attack

6. Dee Jay - 1 x Ultra

7. Sagat

8. Seth - 1 x Ultra

9. Oni

 

Here is a video that shows this method, although this guy never needed to use P2.

 

Ryu Fight Gouken the easy way

 

EDIT: Fighting Seth

Just to note that Seth is now the easiest opponent on Hardest, he's actually a lot easier than on Medium.

 

Before Ultra Street Fighter 4 he performed an irritating move that pulled you in and once close he would grab you, there was nothing you could do about it and this still happens on Medium, however on Hardest he now performs a charge move. All you need to do is wait for him to do his charge, jump back and hit him with a flying kick and then do a floor sweep. He normally follows that up with a kick, so floor sweep him again. Now back to pulling you in and the focus attack, rinse and repeat. You don't even need to beat him with focus attacks, it's really easy.

Edited by FawltyPowers
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Wow, this is exactly what I need right now!!

I have recently started the long journey to Trial Athlete and really trying to get the hang of all these trials. I sadly have only one cheapass Madcatz fightstick with 6 buttons other than my dualshock ,so it'll have to do. After a quick read, this post will definetly help me, thanks very much !!!!

VesperArcade videos are VERY good but my god his hands move like a madman, can't follow him at all xD . I use jmcrofts newest videos as reference as well, he explained really well terms like Plinking, Select buffering and Piano-ing as well as doing all the trials for the hardest characters. 

 

This will be one hell of a journey!

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39 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Wow, this is exactly what I need right now!!

I have recently started the long journey to Trial Athlete and really trying to get the hang of all these trials. I sadly have only one cheapass Madcatz fightstick with 6 buttons other than my dualshock ,so it'll have to do. After a quick read, this post will definetly help me, thanks very much !!!!

VesperArcade videos are VERY good but my god his hands move like a madman, can't follow him at all xD . I use jmcrofts newest videos as reference as well, he explained really well terms like Plinking, Select buffering and Piano-ing as well as doing all the trials for the hardest characters. 

 

This will be one hell of a journey!

 

Believe it or not it was your status update earlier that prompted me to post this, but then I couldn't remember who had posted their status update, glad you found it! I've been meaning to do it for ages.

 

Best of luck on your journey, some trials are brutal and my intention with this post is to bring across how difficult they can be if you're not a natural and to not give up! For example you'll see that Ken's trial 24 took me just over 18 hours to do over the course of 7 evenings!

Edited by FawltyPowers
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1 minute ago, FawltyPowers said:

 

Believe it or not it was your status update earlier that prompted me to post this, but then I couldn't remember who had posted their status update, glad you found it! I've been meaning to do it for ages.

 

Best of luck on your journey, some trials are brutal and my intention with this post is to bring across how difficult they can be if you're not a natural and to not give up! For example you'll see that Ken's trial 24 took me just over 18 hours to do over the course of 7 evenings!

Wow my status did some magic xD Yes, Ken sounds very difficult but my biggest dread honestly is Gen. Switching stances and 4 different ultras...oh dear lordie it will be horrendous. 

 

I believe I will alternate between pad and fightstick as I progress depending on character, since oddly enough I can do a FADC way better on pad ( a bit of mashing but hey if it works it works!). But I have yet to complete a full character's trial, still trying to get better with linking. T-Hawk and Hakan are indeed the best to start with in this matter, since I have 22/24 completed with both of them.

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