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Street Fighter IV Champion Edition Beginner’s Guide: 9 Tips, Cheats & Tricks for Single-Player Dominance

As the text so memorably read back in the day, “here comes a new challenger.” Capcom has released a new Street Fighter game for iOS devices, and it’s called Street Fighter IV Champion Edition. With higher-resolution graphics, three new characters from the Street Fighter universe, and a grand total of 25 fighters to choose from, this new game offers a lot of depth for mobile gamers looking forward to enjoying the Street Fighter experience on their smartphones or tablets. You’ll also be glad to know that fighting is surprisingly easy in this game — just tap on the SP button to unleash your character-specific, special moves.

We should also let you know that this is a paid title — you’ll have to pay $5 or its equivalent in local currency to enjoy this game on your iPhone or iPad. And due to the game’s intensity, it would only work if you own an iPhone 6 or newer, with iOS 10.0 or newer recommended. But we can guarantee you that paying $5 for this game is a great investment, one you can reap some big returns from if you follow the tips and tricks in our Street Fighter IV Champion Edition strategy guide. These are beginner tips, but they’re the right tips you need to make good progress in the game even if you’re new!

1. Always Start With Solo Play

When playing Street Fighter IV Champion Edition for the first time, you shouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of taking on other real players. Even if you’re well-versed with the original titles from way back, it’s a completely different experience in mobile, and you’ll want to get your feet wet against the computer AI before you try your luck against other human players.

street fighter 4 champion edition characters

SF IV: CE’s Solo Play menu includes two primary play modes on the left half of the screen. Arcade is as close as you could get to the classic Street Fighter experience — instead of battling 10 to 12 opponents, you get to fight seven, with the final character always being the franchise’s big bad himself, M. Bison. Survival mode, on the other hand, starts you out with a full bar of health, and your goal is to defeat as many opponents as possible with that full bar of health, which will only refill slightly after each match.

Before seeing how well you can do in Arcade or Survival, however, there’s one mode you’ll have to go to, especially if you’re a Street Fighter newbie, or a casual player who isn’t that familiar with the popular characters everyone seems to choose.

2. Try Everyone Out In Training Mode

That mode, of course, is Training mode, which can be found on the right side of the screen on the Solo Play menu. In Training, you get to choose your character (1P), while choosing your dummy’s character (2P). Don’t worry about the dummy — as this character isn’t supposed to fight back by default, you can choose anybody in the following example.

Related: Street Fighter IV Champion Edition Tips & Tricks: 8 Match-Winning Hints for Advanced Players

Typically, you’ll want to play in Training mode if you’re trying to learn the moves of an unfamiliar character. Once you’re in there, you can tap on the timer (which should show an infinity sign), then scroll down to Command List, where you can view all of your chosen character’s moves. These include the commands for your character’s Super Combo and Ultra Combo, but if you don’t want to follow the difficult steps involved in executing these combos, you can simply follow the shorter, alternate instructions, which would usually involve tapping on the light blue “Super!’ text next to the timer, or the orange “Ultra” button, depending on the combo you want to execute; alternately, you may have to move back before tapping on the button.

3. You Can Adjust Dummy Settings In Training

Your goal in Training is to get a feel for characters you’d like to try out for the first time against a real player, or against the AI in Arcade mode. But if you want to really hone your skills in a low-stakes, low-pressure environment, that too is possible in Training. Simply tap on the timer with the infinity symbol to pull up the training menu, and go to Dummy Setting. Once there, you can change the Action setting to “CPU,” so you could see how well you can do against a computer opponent. You can also choose Training Option in the training menu, where you can remove the “infinity” settings from your Super and Ultra gauges, so as to make the game feel more like an actual Arcade, Survival, or PvP battle.

street fighter 4 champion edition tricks

Feel free to toy around with the different settings under Dummy Setting and Training Option, and if you ever lose track of the changes you made, you can always restore these settings back to default!

4. Play Defensively

Moving on to some actual fight tips, one thing you’ll have to remember when playing the game is to put a premium on defense. Yes, this sounds like a piece of advice we’ve dealt out on many an occasion, and Street Fighter IV Champion Edition is no exception. Fortunately, blocking is quite easy in this game — most moves can be parried simply by moving backwards or away from your opponent. Of course, you’ll still be vulnerable to some moves, such as foot-sweeping maneuvers that could knock you to the ground. But if you play defensively, blocking your opponent’s moves, or jumping over and away from projectiles such as Ryu and Ken’s Hadoken or Guile’s Sonic Boom, this could allow you to counter-attack the other guy (or girl), minimizing the damage you take, even if it may take you longer than usual to beat your opponent.

5. Put A Premium On Special Moves

street fighter 4 champion edition moves

When it comes to the offensive side of things, it goes without saying that special moves will do much more than basic punches or kicks. You’ll still want to throw in a few of these basic moves here or there, but if you want to charge your gauges so you can launch a Super or Ultra Combo, while defeating your opponents faster, it’s best to perform those special moves. This is a general rule, because the special move you’ll need to execute may vary, depending on the situation at the time. Go for those moves which you feel could connect against your opponent, and not those that may likely be blocked or evaded.

6. Diversify Your Fighting Style

This mainly applies to human opponents, but even if the computer AI could get to be predictable, it’s still smart enough to recognize if you’re simply spamming a command, repeating the same move over and over again in hopes of polishing your opponent off at a rapid pace. Opponents can easily adjust once they notice you’ve become predictable, so mix up the moves you execute and don’t just stick to the same old move or two over and over again!

7. Super And Ultra Combos Can Still Be Blocked

street fighter 4 champion edition tips

In some fighting games, there are moves so dominating that they cannot be blocked by enemies. That’s not the case in Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition, even if the Super and Ultra Combos could have you launching combos lasting 10 to 30 hits, depending on the character. Opponents, whether human or AI, are still capable of blocking your best and longest combos, thereby wasting your efforts and worse, leaving you vulnerable to attack once you’re coming off the blocked combo. Think before you launch a Super or Ultra Combo, as opponents can block those attacks, especially real players more skilled than you, or AI fighters in the last few rounds of Arcade mode.

8. Make Sure You’re Always In Motion

Generally speaking, one good way you can minimize the damage you take is to keep on moving. This, as we explained above, could give you more chances to block your opponent’s attacks; if you’re the type who prefers to stay crouched as a means to set up some of your special moves, you’ll still want to move around. Standing still is an invitation to the other guy to chip away at your health real quick, so make sure you’re in motion, preferably moving away from your opponent, and not toward them.

9. You Can Continue In Arcade Mode For As Often As You Need

Anyone who’s played a Street Fighter game in an arcade knows the deal — if you want to continue after getting defeated, you’ll need to insert another token or coin. Fortunately, in this mobile game, there’s no need to pay any kind of currency, may it be real currency or in-game, in order to continue after a defeat in Arcade mode. Sure, that’s going to affect your final time, and you won’t get a chance to face Akuma in the bonus round of Arcade, but at least you’ve got all the chances you need to take stock of what you did wrong in your defeat, and try once again to beat the fighter who took you out of the tournament.

That’s all for now folks. We hope you’ve enjoyed our Street Fighter IV Champion Edition beginner’s guide. If you know other tips or tricks, or just want to share your thoughts about the game, let us know below in the comments!