You've come down to the wire, you and your opponent, both only have enough health to last one more combo when the unthinkable happens: you're knocked down. What do you do?

I have been seeing a lot of players have problems with their wakeup game, and it comes down the fact that they are not sure what is is they should be guarding against. What we are talking about here is: okizeme or just "oki"; and it's just your general plan or options on your wakeup.

So here is the scenario, Ryu has just knocked you (another Ryu) on your ass, and you cannot quick-rise (also called a hard knockdown). Before you have a chance to get up, they walk right up next to you, within jab range. At this range is when you should be most afraid, as your opponent is able to hit you with nearly anything they want to - given you block incorrectly.

Ryu has 6 normals, 2 command normals, 3 special moves, an ultra, a super, a focus attack - how do you block those all? The trick to blocking them all is... just a guess. Well - an educated guess, but a guess none the less. Every single one of these moves can be grouped into the following three (read: four) categories: high, low, or throw.

Lets list out all of Ryu's options again, this time, in the categories.

- Overhead
- Jumping attacks (6)

- Crouching punches (3)
- Level 1/2 focus attack (2)
- Ultras
- Super
- Fireballs (4)
- Swirly kicks (4)
- Standing kicks (3)
- Standing punches (3 plus 1 command normal)

- Crouching kicks. (3)

- Throw (2)

I know this is called High/Low/Throw, but there is also another set of attacks to "watch" for, Mid-range attacks. What makes mid-range attacks so easy is that it doesn't matter HOW you block them, just hold back or downback and boom - job done - you survived the oki.

As you're getting up off the ground, everyone knows what you're supposed to do: block. Just stand up and block. It's actually pretty easy to see when you should stand up to block a move, just refer to the list above here.

Are they jumping? If yes: block high. (see footnote 1)
Are they doing their overhead? If yes: block high.
This one will change depending on the character you're up against, but just about every character equipped with an overhead also comes with a few frames in the beginning that telegraphs their move. They are tricky to respond to sometimes, but they often do not lead into massive combos.

Out of Ryu's 34 options on wakeup, 23 can just be blocked standing or crouching. Already that's a 2/3 (66%) chance that just holding downback will save you, and if we add in the 3 low attacks he has, you can see that 74% of ALL of Ryu's options can be beat by just blocking low.

This will guard against any mid attacks, and it will also guard against low attacks, which more often than not in Street Fighter, lead to some real nasty damage. SF4 has been designed that your safest option is almost always holding downback.

It goes without saying that holding downback is the absolute safest way to get up off the ground in Street Fighter, and if you watch professionals play, you will see a vast, vast majority of the time, they just stand up without any buttons - it's the price you pay for being knocked down after all.

So why wouldn't you just block every time you wake up? Well that's because of throws. Throws are the 3rd part in this rock/paper/scissors argument, as the person throwing is hoping all you're doing is holding back, and not thinking about the throw.

You can only throw a character that is standing quite close to you (at max, one character's width away, most throw ranges are slightly less than this), and someone who is able to be thrown, ie: not airborne or doing something that makes them throw-immune.

Throws also go both ways, as to break (tech) a throw, you need to press it pretty close to the time your opponent pressed it, and that usually means you both are attemtping (or guarding) against throws at the same time. The way this deadlock is broken, is by moves that can break throws - which there are many, but they usually follow the same rules.

Moves that can break throws are those that are airborne (Rose's standing MK) or are invincible at startup (Ryu's SRK). This means if someone is getting close to you on wakeup, you can challenge their throw attempt with an uppercut to keep them honest - but before you do, look back at the numbers. There are only 2 throws someone can do, a front and a back, and while they have slightly different timings/damage depending on the character, there isn't anything tricky about them at all.

This means on wakeup, your chance of being hit with a throw is only 6% of opponent Ryu's options on your wakeup. This does not imply that people will only throw 6% of the time, as they will throw much, much more often, but in order for a throw to get off they have to be standing RIGHT next to you - and if you (as a Ryu in this example) are waking up, you've got a move in your arsenal that will negate any throws, and if you have 2 meters to FADC, you can even 100% ensure you'll get away without damage.

Blocking Low: 75% of Ryu's options beat.
Blocking High: (if Ryu is jumping) 100% of Ryu's options beat. (see footnote 1) (if standing) 70% beat.
Teching throws: 6% of his options beat.
Reversal Uppercut: 100% (see footnote 2)

With just this knoweldge, it's real easy to think all you should do is block, and that's a very good thing to do for a very long time while learning/playing Street Fighter. The way that this whole system of rock/paper/scissors gets complicated, is because of those pesky throws.

Because throws come out so fast (2 frames) and instantly reset the situation, (even though they represent only 6% of a Ryu's arsenal) they are much-used tool. A good player is going to walk up to you, threaten a throw, and then block at the last second - hoping you mashed out the biggest of all dragon punches, and will be leaving yourself open to a full combo of pain.
This is what you must look out for, and it's why understanding your opponent's options are so vital. If you know that while holding down back all Ryu can hit you with is a throw or an overhead, that's much, much less scary than thinking Ryu can hit you with ANY of his moves he wants.

Character matchup goes miles here, and unfortunately there isn't a shortcut to learning when to hold what direction against whom, as some characters like El Fuerte exist by completely messing up this entire High/Low/Throw mentality; or at least bringing it to it's ridiculous logical conclusion.

In cases where a Ryu is jumping at you, as we've discussed, your best option is BLOCK. This isn't to say that even blocking will be easy, sorry.

What isn't discussed here in depth are crossups; which is a move that allows someone to connect with the "back of your head".

They not only jump at you, but they actually jump over you, and land right on the other side of your body, hitting an attack button with a big hitbox at the same time. This lets their hitbox connect with the other side of your body, and because you are holding back, and they have crossed over, you are now actually holding forward toward them, as they attack you - which of course gets you hit. These are what makes the wakeup game so much more terrifying to deal with.

Each character has their own crossups (some characters do not, sorry Fuerte) and in order to know when to block what character, you really just need to play them. Certain characters like Akuma or Ibuki, will have their entire playstyle revolving around these crossup attacks, making it intentionally hard to guess which spot they will land after their jump.

One of your options on wakeup, that will beat 100% of an enemy Ryu's options is a Shoryuken. Ryu's SRK comes equipped with a few properties that makes it an unstoppable defensive option, but not an infallible one.

Ryu's SRK is active on it's 3rd frame, which means on the 3rd frame, the move can deal damage. During these first 2 start up frames, Ryu is 100% invincible. This means no matter what your oppoent is doing, Ryu will ignore it for 3 frames, and the moment he can start doing damage, he can start taking damage. This means at worst you will trade with your opponent, which may or may not be a bad thing.

"Why wouldn't you tell me about this earlier? It beats 100% of those options?!"
The reason this is only a footnote is because once you start going up against players who understand oki, or the whole wakeup game, you will find that they will intentionally start baiting you into an uppercut. Even a whiffed LP Shoryuken can leave yourself vulnerable to a full damage combo - and this usually leads into a knockdown, which sends you back to the start of this entire document.

Fight Streeting comes down to a lot of making your opponent play the wrong card at the wrong time, then punishing their house of dominoes with a sick blackjack to sink their battleship of a choice - yahtzee. While the reversal Shoryuken is a very powerful tool - sometimes it might be better just to take a few hairy blocks or quick overheads, just keeping the threat of the big uppercut hidden.

The moment your opponent can smell one coming, you've already lost all the power that comes with wielding such a powerful reversal.

Waking up from a hard knockdown is scary, but in Street Fighter (and most notably SF4), your best option, as expected, is just: BLOCK*

*unless you're not supposed to.