One of the games played during Evo 2024 was Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. Though he ultimately came in fourth place, PGW|Hayao managed to gain a number of fans thanks to the way he used one of Hugo’s “worthless” moves to win an important set at the big event.
It would seem that Hayao’s creativity knows no bounds. Recently, it was demonstrated that Hayao made use of yet another one of Hugo’s so-called “useless” moves to win another round in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.
Hugo’s crouching heavy punch is pretty comparable to his standing heavy kick in terms of frame data and functionality. Though it has a start up period of 13 frames, it’s -29 on block. Even if Hugo manages to hit as meaty as possible with the move’s 10 active frames, it’s still extremely unsafe on block.
Most players would just recognize how bad this move is functionally and never pull it out in an actual match. Hayao, however, has a way of finding a purpose for even the most irredeemably bad moves that are present in Hugo’s arsenal.
During an exhibition against Uraken’s Akuma at the Special FT10 Round 5, Hayao found himself with only a mere pixel of life remaining. Needless to say, he couldn’t afford to take any chip damage at this point.
When Akuma approached with an aerial Hurricane Kick, Hayao reacted accordingly with a parry. However, Uraken then proceeded to cancel into a super art.
Parrying the entire sequence would be very difficult. Additionally, Akuma would likely recover in time before any meaningful punish could occur.
Instead, Hayao opted to use crouching heavy punch to advance Hugo’s large body underneath the super art. This allowed Hayao the opportunity to punish with one of Hugo’s super arts.
Check it out below:
Hayao you are a GOD #StreetFighter pic.twitter.com/NBICOsKjJ0
— n0pants (@nzeropants) August 12, 2024
Ain’t no way he made worthless move 2 useful… https://t.co/x9VATUU0Ey
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) August 12, 2024