He is a whiff punishing machine he doesn’t have mixups like sub zero ( sub mixups can carry people whether you’re good or not at times ) you have to play neutral, like the other guy said, go in and out within the range of you’re strings, and good example would be walk forward then back to bait out an attack then use b3 string to whiff punish for a combo. He also has a lot of strings with good push back so you can back dash and if he whiffs, whiff punish that too. He is the most neutral focused character in the game

The key to him is movement. He’s a character you really need to focus on your footsies and spacing with. Go on and out of the range of his advancing buttons and punish people when they whiff their attacks against you.

His pressure is really good, so keep doing that while they try to figure out when to counter attack and to add in some throws so they can’t just sit there blocking and they do need to do something.

He’s a very different style of play than Sub Zero, so you can’t just charge in and mix with him. You want to focus on being in the mid range, just past jump distance.

Where are all the Johnny downplayers? Not long ago people were acting like he was the worst character in the game due to KB requirements.

How to beat Johnny.

• Crouch block.
• Punish.
• You win.

As a JC main, I really wish it was as easy as you make it sound lol JC requires so much work compared to other fighters.

I actually don't care I just block and move towards him and fuck him up lol.

He does anything he wants to. D3 is ridiculously fast.

Learn the fundimentals of fighting games like footsies, neutralgame, et cetera (this is info that'll be useful in ANY fighting game)

Play the tutorial, both the basic and the character specific one for Johnny if you're having trouble with learning the pacing of combos/ button presses.

Go on youtube, look up tutorials and tips for the character by pros. The newer the better.

Play lots of matches, learn how to adapt to different matchups, and learn from your mistakes but don't take losses too hard; no one gets "ok" at fighting games without getting their teeth punched in a whole lot, no one gets "good" without getting their ass beat a whole lot more after that.

If you playing versus or mk league learn your opponent I can’t stress that enough a lot of people play in a type of move pattern once you learn that you’ll be good and do not get discouraged if you lost like 2 games back to back the thing I will say tho is watch out for the sub zeros and the raidens their fucking annoying

Learn delay wake up use it to your advantage

Ignore specials while you learn your strings. Once you get those down, learn to fit specials in

Xombat does some REALLY good johnny cage tutorials, could also watch ninjakillas more recent johnny video. Both great ways to get down how johnny plays

rising star, throwing shades, and pissed off is my go to and is what i’ve seen used by lots of competitive players. an alternate variation of rising star, throwing shades, and low forceball against some characters that zone heavy or regular force balls don’t jail on them (like joker and kitana). practice landing the throwing shades kb, it can clutch you sooo many games and is very satisfying to hit. good luck

Rising Star. It will help you keep safe on strings that would be easy to punish otherwise.

I like mine time

Rising Star, Pissed off, and brass knuckles.

Probably the best set for pressure

Rising star, pissed off and shades is the standard. Matchup wise, sometimes people drop pissed off for low forceball. But it really depends on you. What is the goal of using JC?

I ask this because depending on your goals, I’d run different things. For example if you’re not committed to learning it, there’s no reason to use a slot for shades. Shades is not easy to do, it takes time in the lab and even then, I can do it in the lab with no issue but I’ve only hit it once in a match.

To the other guy who said to basically temper your expectations as JC plays different.. yeah that’s true. I started with JC and have since tried spawn, joker, liu, subzero.

Where you really notice the difference or at least I did is when I play Liu or Joker, especially liu though. The importance of a good mid in this game is.. high. And JC lacks that, so opening people up takes time.

also watch rewind DashFight YouTube guide on Johnny Cage

Back up. A lot. Not full screen or anything but to just out of the distance of their attacks. He is a great whiff punishing character who controls space in the neutral. If you find yourself getting into a poke war too often or racing to see who can press buttons the fastest in each other's faces, you need to back up more. Wait for them to press a button and use one of your advancing strings to punish them.

Also, don't forget his short hops. He has no overheads and everyone knows it, so they block low all the time. If you can mix in some short hops, it catches them off guard a lot more than it does with other characters where they're also looking for the overhead strings. Also, the short hops knock them down and that gives you an opportunity to back up.

b34 is his best low advancing string, cancel into nutpunch/camera on hit to extend combo, amped fireballs on block to stay safe.

f44 is your mid check. it is your only mid check, anything else is susceptible to getting yolo d2.

db2

YouTube Kompetitor. He's the best Johnny I've seen, and he has a great 15 minute guide on his best buttons and strategy.

Man people are on here talking like Johnny is street fighter 4 Sagat lol.

With Erron Black - Slide and scud shot prevents zoning.

His pokes and b2 kills johnnys shimmy game.

His main string f344 whiffs on Erron.

Sub Zero - Self explanatory lol.

You people aren’t even trying.

Most of his attacks are highs so block low. When he does one of his plus strings you can dash backwards to avoid pressure. Remember to neutral duck against him a lot. That’s as much as I want to say without giving away my secrets ��

Be Johnny

Just LTG your way out of the game lol. Jk i just block every move he has

Press Start, go down to Leave Match and accept

This matchup is really going to boil down to confidence with Johnny. A big thing to remember is that Johnny's d4 on HIT will jail into f3. As well as d1 jails into 244 But it's extremely strict. In this matchup you really have to be asertive with JC and throws are your friend. When near corner f344u4 nets you plus frames so work from there.

I actually main both JC and Jax and since both characters want to be close you're gonna have to be a little silly with Johnny including neutral jump 4's while being ready to f4~nutpunch on hit and just staying active overall. Playing Johnny at the highest level means being fully in control of everything you're doing.

Be on point with your throw-breaks against Jax as he wants you in the corner every chance he can. Aside from that it boils down to you as a player.

What do you think the Van-damme skin is? Johnny was based on Frank Dux from Bloodsport, played by JCVD himself.

Ninja Mime, Dad(aka S.F. soldier style outfit), and Suit

(As a huge cage fan) I dont really want another shirtless skin with trousers

dude it was quite literally the first one in store at launch, also a pre order bonus.