HondaBot v1.0

Difficulty Moderate

Focus Defensive Reactions and E.Honda Matchup

HondaBot's inputs are a little strict and can look daunting, however, if you are quick of finger they are relatively easy to input. In order to get the hundred hands input correctly you need to be able to piano the input (rapidly press one Punch button after the other, usually without hitting more than one at the same time) so can be a little tricky if you are not used to doing so. While older players may be familiar with Honda's general gameplan and space-controlling abilities, he is now able to play in a sumo-esque style as well with the addition of his V-Skill, and V-Triggers. The bot therefore is designed to help players become familiar with both concepts, and use them to help teach players how to handle an opponent who is good at punishing missed or suboptimal whiff punishes on the ground while still having to maintain solid defensive reactions such as anti-airing, dealing with the Sumo Splash, evading and punishing V-Trigger, and teching throws. From our research, CPU level 7 Honda is not useful, even as an introduction to the character, as of the time of this writing, and we therefore have no suggestions at all as to how to utilize it in any way for anything that the bot does not do.

Optimal play against this bot will involve a variety of things that are not necessarily in the Point Systems, but the player needs to maintain them mentally in order to get the proper effect from the bot. A lot of the E.Honda match up relies heavily on a player's foundational skills such as keeping your eyes focused on Honda rather than your own character while still maintaining proper spacing, properly countering his air approaches with either air to air or anti-air options while still dealing with the sumo splash, and mentally confirming what action HondaBot actually took before going for a standard whiff punish or counter move as the bot can take off a sizeable chunk of your health if you do the wrong punish. These skills can be difficult to maintain at first for newer players, and it is highly recommended that you be able to beat BirdieBot consistently on at least medium difficulty before training against him. If you are able to maintain these focuses when doing the rest of the bot, you will steadily be able to build up not just your defensive reaction capacity, but also your overall ability to see more frames of a match, and keep better track of your spacing and E.Honda players' overall flow and decision making. Note that this character's jump may be difficult to deal with because he does not aim to land jump-in combos, but rather jumps 'safely' and uses his long reach to deal with air-to-airs and antiairs. Pay particular attention to this, even though antiairs are not part of the base point system, as it affects the matchup heavily for some characters at the lower and mid levels.

Gauge Settings

As with all bots, 1P Health should be set to "Normal". Set 1P CA Gauge to "Auto-Recover", and 1P V-Gauge to "Normal".

Settings for 2P are Health - "Auto-Recover", V-Gauge - "Maximum Start", CA Gauge - "Normal".

Goals

Completing each action gives 1 point. Try to get to 10 points without dying.

Points System

Variants

Depending on your character, these variants will be either easier or more difficult. We suggest gaining a strong understanding of this character's gameplan from players of your own level or higher before using the variants for longer training sessions.

Difficulty Levels

Action #1

6MP, hidden [5/6MP] 5/6LP (this can be hidden), 9, 1 (hold), end recording (preferably near height of jump).

This input is intended to let Honda use his Medium Headbutt, but also has a small chance of activating Medium Hundred Hand Slap in certain flows. This input is the replaceable one for player experimentation, not Action #5, for this bot. Advanced players using this bot can replace the input with (6MP [6MP LP+LK] 3HK 93214 end), but we do not count this as a variant since the outcomes are likely to be quite random depending on input speed.

Action #2

1LP hidden [1HP+HK] 1LP hidden [1MP+MK 1HP+HK (hold until end)] 1LP end recording while holding 1

This input's hidden vs visible parts are not actually strict, the description is just the most likely outcome if you did it all fast enough. The LP+LK may also end up being hidden. Make sure to hold the 1 until the end so that he can do his special moves.

Action #3

8LK 963214 end recording instantly

The aim is to hit the LK quite quickly, but otherwise this is a generally standard action that allows for his command throw, and will do it after a jumping LK when combined with some other actions. Try to finish this entire input quite quickly, while Honda is still in the air.

Action #4

6LP+HP hidden [3HP+HK] (optional hold) 66 end recording instantly

Despite this being the easiest input, it should generally not be one that is replaced or experimented with. The bot needs the forward dash in order to present a credible threat against most characters, even against higher level players it seems to be useful. If you would like to have his various high level techniques, we suggest changing Action #1 instead.

Action #5

From outside of strike range, 5/6LK hidden [3/2/1LP 1HP? 1LP+LK?] end recording while holding 1 (the ? refer to inputs that may or may not be hidden in the input phase)

This is the most difficult input in every way, because it must be done at a speed that allows for Hundred Hand Slap when chaining into other things from defense while still fulfilling all conditions. It should be so fast that when replayed into itself, he always repeats a rhythm once started, and the rhythm can only be changed by hitting him. Generally, starting from just a replay of this Action #5, the expectation is that he will do LK then a crouching HP.



In-Depth

Still in progress.