Tekken 3 Online - 134 (Hwoarang) vs Hey, I'm Majin (Lei) High Level match [ft10]

Funfact: My full nickname is Hwoarang134

Played on 29.10.24, 134 (Ru, keyboard, wifi) vs Hey, I'm Majin (Us, gamepad, cable)

Matchup notes:
-Hwoarang's Sky Rocket juggle here was cheesy, the ender can be quick-standed, but most people try to quick-roll and eat the ender even when standing. It's a knowledge check that barely anyone ever passes :d
-Hwoarang can do Sky Rocket after low parrying leg and attempt nosebleed into ff4 after low parrying hand, but didn't risk losing free damage to connection and went for mid pokes.
-Hwoarang's follow-up to CH LFF b3 and CH db4 was simply f3,3 which is less damaging but more reliable than other options he has.
-Lei was using a quick-rollable juggle after d34; 34 launcher, jumping 4 into 4,4,3,3 which got punished him most of the time. The better juggle is b12, sprint forward, WS3 (guaranteed if timed right, way more damage).
-When Lei was getting comboed with flamingo at the back, it was possible to duck the 3rd hit and reduce damage, or sometimes even counter, but that's a deep-knowledge-check and is difficult to react to anyway.
-After WR3, Hwoarang has guaranteed b4(if close) or df3(if far), which were used in the fight.
-After WR3, Lei has guaranteed f N 1,2,1 (hard, wasn't used) or d4 (easy, was used).

Thoughts on this match:
As a Hwoarang player, I'm proud of the gameplay I perform. The character has little to work with and only with surgical understanding of the game was I able to pursue Lei and prevent his lying stance shenanigans in advance with ff3 (which is punishable if opponent steps/rolls left, but not right) and such.
You will notice that Hwoarang mostly does same short combo from flamingo, 3,3,4,4, despite having varying branches. That is because every flamingo option can be ducked into guaranteed punish, even mid-combo. In fact, closer to the second half of the set, Majin got the hang of the timing and was doing hop kick mid-combo all the time despite me using the safest option available, which was a big part of his winning streak.
To my delight, Lei wasn't defensive, which he has great potential to be, so my RFF b4 were actually landing, which they usually just get ducked and punished with ease. After my successful pressure against Lei's wake-ups in the set, he switched to timing hop kicks and df2 uppercuts, which turned the tables a lot as it's a good way to counter Hwoarang. You will also see me often going through with the flamingo combo despite seeing opponent lying down and preparing 34 launcher. That is intentional, under certain timings the combo catches Lei in the middle of his move, which did happen several times, but several times it did not and I got launched. I'm forced to risk it as Hwoarang has nothing on Lei in turtling department. Also, I lost almost every 50/50 as per usual, whenever I was waking up and he ran up to me to do hop kick/hellsweep, I ate it looking like an idiot, but it was an intelligent guess each time (almost each time wrong). It was honestly getting absurd, after certain sequence he ran close and did hellsweep two times, on the 3rd time I decided to duck and he hop kicked, despite having 100% success rate with the low hit. Oh well, just my regular luck.
My biggest mistake in the set was overdoing 1,1,3,3 string, I was expecting it to land as a CH natural combo (or without CH against auto-guard), but he was aware everytime. Eventually, I started not finishing 4th hit expecting a hop kick and that's exactly what happened, so I punished with a flamingo knockdown option (reactable, but not easy). That also made it unexpected how I switched to 1,2,3 instead by the end, so third hit being a mid now landed even though it's not a natural combo.
Overall, set was fire! GG

#tekken3 #retrogaming #duckstation