Movement: Sidestepping and Sidewalking

We've discussed before the basic movements of walking, jumping and crouching and their characteristics, including dodging and blocking some attacks. Usually, this movement is enough for 2D fighters to live for the next round. Well, this is not the case in a 3D Fighting Game called Tekken. Usually, all of your fights happen too close (well, too close if you're a Street Fighter player) and you can only block/duck for some time. There's no fireballs to throw out for zoning, and usually, your character is not blessed with moves that back your opponent away for too far. That's why in Tekken, it's important to learn how to move, because in so many cases, movement will be the only one who will give you that zoning space. There are two common movements for zoning, which is the backdash, and sidestep, and we're gonna talk about the latter.

Sidestepping
One of the "revolutionary" features introduced at Tekken 3, Sidestepping makes use of the full 3D environment by allowing you to move laterally. It allows you to dodge any linear attacks, no matter if it's high, mid or low. You can do this by tapping "u" or "d" depending when you want to move to the background or the foreground. (Note: don't confuse this with jumping upward and crouching, which is holding "U" or "D"). This will make you move laterally with a speed of a dash and dodge.

What's good thing about Sidestepping is not only it dodges linear attacks but, when done correctly, you're gonna be facing your opponent's side, where he can't block. You can utilize this opportunity to do a heavy-hitting launcher or use a quick damaging throw. This is what's so appealing to sidestepping, that as long as you can time it right, it will lead you to a great offense.

Sidewalking
Yes, sidestepping is good, but sometimes we are too greedy for damage. Sometimes, we want to snag more damage when your opponent foolishly throws linear strings every single time. Yes, sidestepping has it's limitations, that's why we're gonna use sidewalking.

Sidewalking, can be done by tap-n-holding "u~U" or "d~D". Just like sidestepping, uses the 3D fighting plane by moving laterally, but what it does different from sidestepping is it allows you to walk continuously as long as you hold the stick, just like the forward and backward walk. Sidestepping, which is useful, stops after a distance, limiting you to be on the side where you can still be hit by some iffy movestrings. But sidewalking, when used correctly, allows you to go to positions you can't get from a sidestep, like farther from the side or even at the back of your opponent, where everything you do can be guarranteed (except when your opponents can do something when backturned).

Homing Moves and SS-cancelling
Yes, sidestepping and sidewalking gives you a really good edge for evation, but it also have some counters. There are things that's called "homing moves" that's use to keep you from sidestepping/sidewalking. Usually, this attacks look like they slice horizontally, and it will "track" you as long as you are in it's range. As on Tekken 6, they added a new white trail to homing moves to easily distinguish them. And most of the time, this moves hurt, as either they deal alot of damage, or in some cases, start a combo.

To react with this moves, you heve to learn sidestep-cancelling, it's just holding "B" after you see the homing move, putting your character to block. This require either tiger-instinct and reflexes, or just simple anticipation (the latter is easier to have IMO). It allows you to cancel the sidestep immediately and block your opponent's homing move. This technique requires a large amount of practice, but in the end, it's just another tool in your toolbelt that you can use. You need to be wise and learn when to use these tools.

Next: Backdash & BDC

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