By Derek Daniels and John Choi

June, 2 2000 |Kattobi cancel is the name given to a newly discovered technique for Street Fighter Alpha 3. It involves doing a normal move and canceling the first few frames into a Variable Combo (VC), which produces some interesting results. Unfortunately, not every character can do this, and not every Kattobi cancel can be done on the Playstation version. We will note the ones that work and don’t for each system.

Zangief’s Kattobi cancel is unique in the fact that not only is it incredible looking, but it is also the most useful one. First, make sure you have your Variable Combo (VC) meter charged. Then, execute Zangief’s hopping headbutt by pressing towards+Strong punch and then immediately cancel into a VC before you see Zangief leave the ground. Any strength VC will work. If you wait too long, you will see Zangief complete the headbutt and you will not be able to activate the VC. If done correctly, Zangief will jump really far forwards, much similar to Rolento’s superjump. You can attack like normal during the VC. The only thing to note is that attacks in Zangief’s superjump act like his attacks from his straight up jump. So you will not be able to do a splash by pressing down+Fierce.

Video Link      Kattobi for Zangief

Detailed Analysis:

Let’s take a look at what is going on and why all this happens. Zangief’s headbutt is 38 frames total. The first 12 of those frames are execution, followed by 8 frames of hitting, then 18 frames of recovery. He is considered airborne during frames 7 through 33. You have to cancel the headbutt with a VC while he is in the air, but before the headbutt fully executes. This means that you have to press VC after frame 7, but before the 12th frame. Needless to say, you have to cancel into a VC very fast.

So why can’t you do diagonal jump attacks, since he is diagonally jumping? Our guess is that this all stems from a simple coding error. Before, the headbutt has always been a jumping attack – jumping straight up and hitting Strong or Fierce. It is our guess that when they gave Zangief the ground based headbutt, they just modified the airborne one so that it had some horizontal movement. So, although Zangief is moving forward, he is really in the straight up jump condition.

Some advanced uses:

Besides looking really cool and being fun to execute, this technique actually has several useful applications. One important use could be versus a good Dhalsim player that is keeping you out. You can execute the superjump at opportune moments to close the gap between the long limbed bastard. =) This technique will also allow you to get over projectiles in lots of situations, so it gives Zangief another weapon in his arsenal to counter projectile characters. Another great use for this is a technique which is very similar to a Custom Combo (CC) technique in Alpha 2. In Alpha 2, if Zangief had meter, he could land a Spinning Pile Driver (SPD) on his opponent, then immediately activate the CC upon recovery to run up really fast to his opponent then pressure as the opponent got up. Similarly, you can use the superjump technique to get right on top of the opponent after a normal SPD. Except that since 360 throws can be pulled off in a VC whether or not the opponent is blocking, this makes the technique much more fearful in Alpha 3. Simply perform any air attack while you are landing then a Jab and a Short into a SPD of choice. You will grab the opponent regardless of if they were blocking or not. The only way for them to avoid this attack series would be to do a reversal attack as they were getting up after the SPD.

Note:

This works on the Arcade and Sega Saturn versions. We have not been able to reproduce this on the Playstation version and it has not been tested on the Dreamcast version.

Rolento’s Kattobi cancel has the potential to produce one of the better glitches for Alpha 3. As with all the others, start off with having your VC meter charged then do his Pogo (towards+Forward) and cancel this into a VC immediately. If done properly, Rolento will activate the VC while in the air, then slowly glide towards the opponent. While he is gliding, he is susceptible to being hit although he can attack as well. If you are doing this versus the computer, when Rolento touches the opponent, they will block the airborne Rolento and continue blocking until time runs out.

Video Link      Kattobi for Rolento

This is quite similar to Guile’s handcuffs glitch from World Warrior. Once the VC ends, Rolento won’t be able to do anything – although he can sometimes still perform one last attack after the meter is drained. This one last attack will unfreeze them and they will be free to hit you, which will result in both of you being free. If you don’t hit them, when the time runs out, the machine will hang and you will be forced to reset it.

If you do this versus people, they will always be able to attack you back. Sometimes though, when you cancel the Pogo into VC, Rolento will simply activate the VC while in the air and drop straight back to the ground. He won’t glide towards the opponent at all. This is normal and if this happens, simply try again.

Detailed Analysis:

Rolento’s Pogo consists of 49 frames total. The first 9 are execution frames, followed by 3 frames of attack frames, then 37 frames of recovery. He is considered airborne from the 1st frame until the 48th frame. Just like all the others, the cancel must be done as fast as possible and you should never see the Pogo animate entirely.

Note:

This has been confirmed on the Arcade version and Playstation version. It has not been tested on either the Sega Saturn or Dreamcast version.

Guy’s Kattobi cancel has the potential to be just like Rolento’s in the sense that it can create a pseudo handcuff glitch situation also. For Guy, we want to cancel his Down/Toward+Roundhouse move – this is the Roundhouse kick that hits twice and he flips backwards. You want to cancel this into a VC immediately, just like the others. A good example of how quick this has to be is easily shown by positioning Guy next to the opponent, performing the move, and trying to cancel it into a VC.

Video Link      Kattobi for Guy

If the move hits, you are doing it too slow. If done properly, Guy will activate the VC while he is slightly airborne then float towards the opponent. This will create the same handcuff situation that happens when Rolento does his Kattobi cancel. Sometimes when doing this, Guy will just activate the VC in the air then fall back onto the ground while in VC mode, Just like Rolento. An interesting thing to note here is that Guy doesn’t continue his trajectory from the Down/Toward+Roundhouse. He just falls back onto the ground pretty much in the same spot you started.

Detailed Analysis:

Guy is doing this cancel with his Down/Toward+Roundhouse move which is 67 frames total. The first 9 are execution frames, then there is 1 frame in which he hits the opponent with the first kick, then there is a 6 frame ‘pause’ which is followed by another 1 frame where he hits the opponent again and suffers through 50 frames of recovery. He is considered airborne from the 1st frame until the 59th frame.

Note:

This has been confirmed on the Arcade version and the Japanese version of the Playstation version. For some reason, on the American Playstation version, even though he can do the Kattobi cancel, he never floats towards the opponent. It has not been tested on either the Sega Saturn or the Dreamcast version.

Chun Li’s Kattobi cancel involves her Down/Toward+Roundhouse move as well. Unfortunately, nothing cool results from doing hers, like superjumps or handcuffs. Detailed Analysis: Chun Li is cancelling her Down/Toward+Roundhouse, which is comprised of 58 frames total. The first 36 frames are the execution frames, then 15 frames that can attack the opponent, followed by 7 frames of recovery. She is airborne from 1st frame until the 41st frame.

Video Link     Kattobi for Chun Li

Note:

This has been tested on both the Arcade and Playstation version. This has not been tested on either the Sega Saturn or the Sega Dreamcast.

Dhalsim’s Kattobi cancels are unique, since they are performed while he is in the air. Dhalsim can cancel his jumping Down+Short, Forward, Roundhouse or Fierce buttons. These are his Drill attacks. It appears that when you cancel one of these moves into a VC, he seems to retain the trajectory of the move he was cancelling. As you can see in the video, you can use this to make Dhalsim land quickly and set up some interesting combo opportunities. From that point on, they are in attacking frames until they either hit the opponent or Dhalsim lands.

Video Link      Kattobi for Dhalsim

Detailed Analysis:

Both his Drills and his Mummy attacks take 7 frames to execute. From that point on, they are in attacking frames until they either hit the opponent or miss. If they do either, they suffer through 9 frames of recovery.

Note:

This has been confirmed on both the Arcade and Playstation version. This has not been tested for the Sega Saturn or the Sega Dreamcast.

Akuma also has the ability to Kattobi cancel in the air. He can cancel his Dive Kick (Down/Towards+Forward kick at the apex of his jump) into a VC. He really doesn't gain any sort of advantage from this, although he does land rather quickly and is in VC mode. Detailed Analysis: Akuma’s Dive Kick takes 3 frames to execute and has 14~15 frames of attacking animation, and takes 1 frame to recover.

Video Link      Kattobi for Akuma

Thanks go out to our men in the trenches in Japan, Chet and LiquidMetal. Also to Peter Nguyen and James Chen for helping us confirm the techniques and providing us with movies.