Gouken resets ahoy! 

Phunkism put together a fun new video full of nasty Gouken tricks, known as “resets.”  Hit the jump for a surprisingly long-winded explanation of what “resets” are, and why you want to use a bunch of em.  Also be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 in his series of Gouken juice!

via Shoryuken

A reset is basically a variation on a combo.  It’s interesting because while a “reset combo” does less damage than you could do by completing your combo normally, it sets up a *new* chance to do even more damage (usually by leaving you in a surprising position where the opponent will fail to block). 

Why would you want to do this?  Well, resets are often important because of damage scaling.  Damage scaling is the well-known effect where every subsequent hit in a big combo does less and less damage, and sometimes gets to the point where even an Ultra Combo will only do a few pixels.  By using a reset, you are basically trading a little bit of guaranteed damage for a % chance at doing even more damage. 

Resets give you a chance to bypass damage scaling by technically letting your opponent out of the initial combo and setting them up for a new, separate combo.  Since it’s a new combo that they technically could have blocked, every hit of the new combo does far more damage.  This makes resets very valuable, unless, of course, your opponent KNOWS you’re going for a reset, in which case it makes them pretty easy to block.  That’s why you want to use a variety of different and sexy resets to keep your opponent guessing. 

A side benefit of resets, apart from the damage, is their ability to really mess with your opponent’s head.  If you can land one or two of these in a row, you can turn even seasoned pros into drooling goons wondering “wtf just happened?!”

Yay tricks! Yay mindgames!