Guile: Street Fighter 4 Character Guide
Last updated on Sept. 20, 2008
Character Overview
The legend of the man with two special moves continues.
Guile is fairly similar to his Super Turbo counterpart. The main new thing that Capcom gave him is an overhead hit that can be done by pressing Towards and Medium Punch.
A few of his attacks have different properties now, but he has his typical high priority and damaging moves making him formidable in the right hands.
Most players argue Guile's main strategy is centered around Sonic Booms and deciding what to do next after each one is thrown.
• Strengths •
+ Exceptional defensive game
+ Great zoning ability
+ Can apply some decent offensive pressure
+ His combos are very damaging
+ Some really good anti air options
• Weaknesses •
- Doesn't have as many options for mixing up his offensive attacks as other characters
- His Super move isn't very useful
- Depends a lot of EX moves to win
- Requires a good bit of patience to play
- The range on most of his attacks is not good
Special Moves
A (2) next to an arrow means to hold the joystick in that direction for 2 seconds to 'charge' the move.
With moves that charge by holding back or down, you can use the diagonal positions to charge up as well. For example, if you're holding back, you can jump backwards or block low and still maintain your charge.
• Sonic Boom •
A really good projectile, it's a bit sped up from previous Sonic Booms in other Street Fighter games.
You can spam the heck out of these because the recovery and charge times are quite forgiving.
To follow behind it and set up some of Guile's Street Fighter 2 tricks, you may need to dash instead of just holding forward though.
• Somersault Kick (Flash Kick) •
Guile's famous anti-air move is back, in mostly true form. It's anti-air properties are pretty decent still, but now it's also good against people who stick out pokes and low attacks.
The Kick button pressed determines the range and power of this move. Light Kick is good for countering attacks made on the ground, but it does the least damage.
Hard Kick flies up more vertically and does the most damage, but if you miss with it you can kiss goodbye to a good portion of your power. Medium is a mix of the two.
This move has a bit more combo potential this time around, as you can do a jump in attack, three quick Light Punches and then go right into his Somersault Kick. Again, the recovery on this move is as terrible as ever though, so make sure you land it.
(In the air)
• Air Throw •
A pretty good anti-air move if you can anticipate a jump in from your opponent.
Having the joystick in a neutral position or forward will result in a backbreaker, and holding back makes Guile do an air slam.
EX Moves
• EX-Sonic Boom •
Hits twice, and it's a great way to keep pressure on your opponent. It's also faster than the Hard Punch normal version of the Sonic Boom, meaning it's VERY quick.
This attack works well against fireball spammers, because your EX-Sonic Boom can take one projectile and still keep going, plus its speed can really throw them off.
• EX-Somersault Kick (Flash Kick) •
The EX version of this attack increases damage, range and priority — it also hits twice. This is a good, "Get the heck off me!" move.
Super and Ultra Moves
• Double Somersault (Super Flash Kick) •
Very, very few practical uses for this attack. You can use this to punish your opponent when they leave themselves open, but you're best off spending your Super meter on EX moves.
• Somersault Explosion (Ultra Flash Kick) •
Guile does a series of three Somersault Kicks resulting in big damage if they land. This is a good anti-air measure if you can pull off the motion consistently.
Combos
Not a complete list of combos, just most of the useful ones.
• Jumping Hard Punch, Crouching Medium Punch, cancel into Light Kick Flash Kick •
Guile's bread and butter combo. You can sub in a Jumping Hard or Medium Kick at the start of this combo.
• Jumping Hard Punch, Standing Hard Punch, cancel into Hard Punch Sonic Boom, hold away and press Hard Punch •
This old school combo still works when your opponent is in the corner, if they're not there, you can get the first three hits any time.
• Cross up with Jumping Light Kick, Crouching Medium Punch, cancel into Light Kick Flash Kick •
• Jump in Hard Kick, Crouching Light Punch 3x, Light Kick Flash Kick •
• Crouching Light Punch, Standing Medium Punch, cancel into Sonic Boom •
• Standing Light Punch, Crouching Medium Punch, cancel into Sonic Boom •
• Crouching Light Punch, Crouching Medium Punch, cancel into Flash Kick •
• Level 2/3 Focus Attack, Dash Cancel, Crouching Light Punch 2x, Cancel into Flash Kick •
Normal Moves
This is not a complete list of all of Guile's normal moves, just the ones we think are noteworthy.
• Overhead Punch •
Comes out pretty fast and has good range for an overhead.
• Anti-air Kick •
A surprisingly effective move to counter air attacks.
• Crouching Uppercut •
Still one of Guile's best options for countering jump in attacks.
• Bazooka Knee •
This makes Guile leap forward with his knee out. Good for quickly moving forward and playing a 'zone' game.
(In the air)
• Cross Up Knee •
The only known way to cross up the other fighter with Guile while jumping in. This move isn't as effective as it was in Super Turbo.
Anti-Air Tactics
Besides Guile's usual Flash Kick set ups, he has some good ways of countering jump in attacks.
If your opponent tries to jump over your head to cross you up, do a Crouching Medium Punch as they're about to hit — this will make it difficult for your opponent to land their attack.
Standing (Neutral Position) Medium Kick is a really effective Anti-Air move, once you get the range down use it whenever your opponent tries to jump in and you're not charged.
Crouching Hard Punch works much like it did in Super Turbo, making it a great move for knocking the other fighter out of the air when they're above you.
Guile's air throw (Light Punch plus Light Kick when airborne) is also effective when you anticipate a jump in.
Following your Sonic Booms
Even though your projectiles fly a little faster than you may be used to, you can still follow behind them to give the other fighter trouble.
Many times when your opponent sees an uncharged Guile (not holding down-back) their first reaction is to jump in. Depending on your positioning, you should counter with one of the anti-air measures detailed above.
If they don't jump, you can go with a low attack, a jump in, overhead hit or attempt a throw. Depending on your range, you may have to dash in after your Sonic Boom to get in the proper distance.
Contributions to the guide by HajimeOwari, NO ROUNDS, Battosai, CFAY, Tricktoshi, Gilley, Sambo and Defcon.
Posted by NO ROUNDS on August 19, 2008 at 3:58 p.m. #1
If u press foward and short he does the like dashing knee like in super sf2 great for closing the gap and he also has air throws... foward and throw for slam... back and throw for backbreaker (great priority, must be done in the air) "THEY CALL ME NO ROUNDS"
Posted by red on August 20, 2008 at 11:36 p.m. #2
yo still there..no rounds?
Posted by NO ROUNDS on August 28, 2008 at 1:37 p.m. #3
What up?
Posted by rushx5 on September 19, 2008 at 10:22 p.m. #4
note that guile's backhand (F + HP) and flash kick's range have been decreased relative to SFII
Posted by maraxusofk on September 25, 2008 at 3:28 p.m. #5
can u still charge buffer or partition in sf4?
Posted by kimbo on October 6, 2008 at 6:02 p.m. #6
i am trying to learn guile but i can never pull off any of my specials like sonic boom or flash kick mid-combo, any adavice on how to do it?
Posted by William F Guile on October 11, 2008 at 3:07 a.m. #7
suggestion would be to hold Down and back on the the joystick while hiiting LP and MP and then press up and Kick and Forward and punch, depending whether you plan on using a sonic boom or a flash kick. Sonic boom is safer if opponent blocks. I'm still learnning the game at present
Having used Charlie and Guile throughout the SF series this appears to be the best way of pulling it off.
Hopefully this answers your question.
Posted by William F Guile on October 11, 2008 at 3:07 a.m. #8
suggestion would be to hold Down and back on the the joystick while hiiting LP and MP and then press up and Kick or Forward and punch, depending whether you plan on using a sonic boom or a flash kick. Sonic boom is safer if opponent blocks. I'm still learnning the game at present
Having used Charlie and Guile throughout the SF series this appears to be the best way of pulling it off.
Hopefully this answers your question.
Posted by kimbo on October 11, 2008 at 12:40 p.m. #9
thanks ill try it out next time i play
Posted by William F Guile on October 17, 2008 at 8:39 p.m. #10
Not sure if anyone already knows this from the previous SF games, but guile can execute the bazooka knee by holding Back and then hitting LK.
This way you can launch another sonic boom straight after you do this move. this can be an effective zoning strategy.
Posted by kimbo on October 23, 2008 at 4:03 p.m. #11
i been tryin what you told me on hyper fighting on the 360 live arcade and its helping a lot with my combo game
Posted by William F Guile on October 25, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. #12
Good to hear. There are a number of other advanced strategies that I and others have employed as well. You can mix a zoning strategy and a offensive strategy, if your opponent becomes defensive and starts turtling you.
For instance, if you are say 1/4 screen distance from your opponent and you can launch a LP sonic boom and your opponent blocks you can dash (F F) and then use a normal attack such as F + MK (jumping sabot) or F + HK (stab kick) to add some offensive pressure. if timed correctly, the F + MK or F + HK will hit the opponent while they are blocking the Sonic Boom.
F + MP (overhead) can be used as a mix up if opponent blocks low. Wised up players will catch onto this so be aware.
If they jump over the sonic boom rather than block, you have the Crouching HP as an anti-air attack as outlined in the strategy section outlined.
Lastly, I'll provide you with an advanced combo (using Guiles Ultra moves (not EX moves) that requires plenty of practice and hand coordination. There will be other players who know how to execute this but here goes:
1 Jump in HP, Hold Down-back on the joystick straight after you jump in.
2. Press LK, then LP (you can add an extra LP if you wish I tend not to)
3 Double Somersault or Somersault explosion.
The tricky part part is executing the Double Somersault or Somersault explosion. The idea is to move the joystick to Down-forward at the same time you press LP and then immediately move the joystick to Down back then Up + kick.
Timing is everything with executing this combo, so you will have to invest plenty of time (and money) in practising this.
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