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Vega (Claw) Strategy Guide and Moves: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix

Last updated on Dec. 16, 2008

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Character Overview

Vega is still a great fighter in HD Remix. He has the best poke attacks in the game, he's really flippin' fast and has decent tools to do damage to his opponents.

He used to outright dominate a few characters in Super Turbo, but in HD Remix his Wall Dive no longer knocks down, which prevents his most abusable tactic, and characters that didn't have reliable counters against him got a few new tricks.

Even with the nerfs, Vega is considered one of the better characters, and his new Fake Wall Dive helps him a little bit overall.

The key to playing a good Vega is to know your positioning on screen. You need to understand the distances of when and where his moves will hit so you can keep the other fighter off guard.

Plus you'll want to develop good reaction and prediction skills for when your opponent does something they shouldn't.

Vega usually plays in a defensive and reaction based style, but he does have the speed and ability to apply offensive pressure.

• Strengths •
+ The best overall poke attacks in the game, and great normal moves.
+ Very, very fast move and footspeed.
+ Arguably the best anti air normal moves in the game.
+ Excellent defensive / reaction game.
+ Some good cheese tactics and his throw takes off a nice amount of life.
+ Fake Wall Dive gives him some good mix up tricks.
+ Still has some match ups heavily in his favor.
+ Wall Dive can be difficult to counter for some characters.

• Weaknesses •
- Some of his moves don't do a lot of damage.
- Doesn't have many combos to use.
- The Wall Dive no longer knocking down hurts his pressure game a bit.
- Can be difficult to apply offensive pressure in some situations.

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.

• Rolling Claw Attack (Rolling Crystal Flash) •
An alright move that you'll throw out occasionally to do chip (block) damage and to counter some attacks, but it can be countered pretty easily if you get predictable with it, so you need to be careful.

     (when close)
• Wall Dive Attack and Throw (Flying Barcelona Attack & Izuna Drop) •
You can also use the diagonal-up positions to execute this attack, he'll normally jump off the wall his back is facing, but pressing diagonally-up towards will make him jump off the other wall instead.

Executing this attack makes Vega quickly dive at his opponent after jumping off the wall. Press the joystick left or right and a Punch button when you're close to grab them. If you press Punch at any other time while diving, Vega will attack by spreading his arms.

This move has been nerfed so that it no longer knocks down, unless you hit your opponent in the air, but it's still really good, especially coupled with his new Fake Wall Dive.

With the speed and maneuverability of this attack, you can use it to "cross" up the other fighter, and make them guess which way you're going to come in from. And after landing it you can sometimes combo a Crouching Medium Punch — depending on your spacing.

Vega's Wall Dive works especially well against players like Dhalsim and Zangief who do not have great options to counter it. Because of its speed, unless they see the move coming they usually will not have time to react properly letting you at least score some block damage, but hopefully something more.

When your opponent starts focusing on trying to block your Wall Dive Attacks is when you should get in close to throw them with the Izuna Drop or Super.

This simple mix up game can create a lot of problems for some fighters and even the characters with great anti air options now must be wary because of the Fake Wall Dive.

Also when you get your timing down you can do repeated Wall Dives to annoy and pressure your opponent, which will some times make them go offensive, and since you have a great defensive game this can really benefit you.

    
• Fake Wall Dive (Feint Flying Barcelona Attack) •
The Fake Wall Dive is a handy move to add to your strategies. It's most effective against characters who have anti air attacks that have a wide arc to them, like Ken's Hard Punch Shoryuken and Blanka's Vertical Beast Roll.

This should enable you to land in a safe position and punish the other fighter if they're being overly zealous with their attempts to knock you out of a legit Wall Dive.

It's also smart to mix this in with your normal Wall Dives to keep your opponent guessing what's coming next.

• Aerial Claw Slice (Sky High Claw) •
Vega's Aerial Claw Slice isn't terribly useful, but if you have an opponent who likes to jump a lot trying to hit you out of your Wall Dives this move can knock them down when timed right.

Besides that, there are few uses for it.

• Flip Kick (Scarlet Terror) •
This is an excellent defensive move. While you can no longer "store" a charge with it, this shouldn't really hurt your game all that much.

You're mainly going to use this attack as your opponent tries to jump in at you as you're getting off the ground. When timed correctly you'll land both hits and if you charge up again you can juggle for a third by executing the Flip Kick again as your opponent is falling away.

     or     
• Back Flip •
Vega does a single back flip which is rarely useful in matches. Often times your opponent will throw you out of it as soon as you recover.

If you have excellent timing and prediction skills you can use this to avoid a move with a long recovery time and throw your opponent, but these chances in a match don't come around often.

     or          or     
• Double Back Flip •
Again, very few uses for this move, but occasionally you can execute this to avoid taking block damage from projectiles, and to go through a few moves. But it's still easy for your opponent to throw you out of when you recover if they know it's coming.

Only use it when your opponent is far away from you, and selectively at that.

Super Move

or

or
      With all motions, press when close to throw.
• Super Wall Dive and Throw (Flying Barcelona Special & Multiple Izuna Drops) •
There are multiple ways to execute this move, use whichever is easiest for you. The great part about Vega's Super is that unless you land the throw — it never loses its charge.

With his new Fake Wall Dive, it can keep your opponent guessing if this is a version of the move that's actually going to hit them or not, and when they're caught off guard it allows you to get in and land his Super.

Vega's Super takes off a good amount of life, and your opponent will probably attempt to throw out more counters to your Wall Dives when he sees your Super meter is fully charged. This can sometimes open them for a Fake Wall Dive and punishment if they're careless.

Combos

• Jumping Hard Punch, Crouching Medium Kick, Link into Crouching Medium Punch •
A basic three hit combo. After landing this you're usually in a good position to set up another poke or anti air move.

• Jumping Medium Punch, Crouching Medium Punch •
The reach on Vega's Jumping Medium Punch is really good, so you can score two hits against a fireball thrower even when you're fairly far away. After getting slashed a few times with this, your opponent will start being more careful with how often they throw out projectiles.

• Hard Punch Rolling Claw Attack, Crouching Medium Punch •
It's tough to combo all of the hits of Vega's Hard Punch Rolling Claw, usually you'll only hit a few times, but after the last hit you can sometimes sneak in a Crouching Medium Punch.

Normal Moves

Some would argue Vega's greatest strength is his arsenal of normal moves. Note that this is not a complete list, just the ones we thought were noteworthy.

• Crouching Medium Punch •
Speed, range, priority and alright damage. And did we mention speed? This will likely be the attack you use most often, it's great for applying pressure, slowly chipping away your opponent's life and countering moves.

This poke will annoy many players and help keep them in a defensive position, which lets you set up some of Vega's other offensive tricks.

When your opponent starts to try and Dragon Punch this move or use another counter, simply bait them into thinking another Crouching Medium Punch is coming and punish them with a sweep or something along those lines when they're open.

(In the air)
• Jumping Light Kick •
Doesn't look like much until you figure out it has great priority and stays out most of the time you're jumping. You should hit the button almost as soon as you leave the ground, which will help prevent your opponent from jumping to counter, and possibly set up a throw.

The recovery time for this is short, unless you hit with it or your opponent is expecting a whiffed move and throw attempt, you should be able to cleanly grab them when you land.

If they happen to jump, this move has nutty priority and should knock your opponent away.

• Slide Sweep •
Good range and a fast recovery on this attack, and the damage isn't bad — for Vega.

This must be blocked low, and as long as you do it from a reasonable distance it's difficult to counter even if your opponent isn't hit by it.

You'll want to throw these out there occasionally to keep your opponent off guard and blocking.

It's also handy as a tool to move Vega closer to your opponent for positioning reasons.

• Anti Air Claw •
When your opponent jumps in from a distance, make sure your spacing is correct and let them eat claw. One of your better anti air moves.

• Anti Air Kick •
A different way to anti air, used when people jump in from a closer distance than where your Crouching Hard Punch claw will hit them. Works great.

Changes from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

* Flip Back command changed to Light Punch + Kick, but old three Kick buttons command still works.

* Double Flip Back command changed to Medium Punch + Kick or Hard Punch + Kick, but old three Punch buttons command still works.

* Scarlet Terror (Flip Kick) can no longer be charged straight back (must be charged down-back).

* Flying Barcelona Attack (Wall Dive) attack no longer knocks down.

* Flying Barcelona Attack (Wall Dive) has additional recovery, to prevent combos after hitting with it.

* New Wall Dive Fake: After going off the wall (charge down, then up + Kick), you can press Kick again to drop without attacking.

Contributions to this guide by CWheezy and David Sirlin.