Now I know what you were thinking, but no this is not an article about waiting for your porn video to finish loading. This article will be a great tip/shortcut to help better you with your execution.

buff⋅er⋅ing [buhf-er-ing]
-verb. (In lamest terms)
To store and hold data.

This is the Tekken related definition of course. Now how this relates to Tekken itself. In Tekken, you can hold down a button and while holding that button down, if you press another button along with it it’ll register both buttons simultaneously. For example, if you were holding down 1 then press 2 it’ll register as 1+2.

How This Can Help

This is a great shortcut when performing combos.  I’ll use Bob’s CH df2 combo for example, now let’s see the combo displayed out:  CH df2, d23, 2, uf1+2 1, B! (stands for “bound” or “bind” a new system addition to the Tekken 6 series.  Please check out the system’s page in the near future for a description about the new system).  Now where can we buffer a move within this combo?  Right after the d23, the following move is a standing 2, press and then hold it.  Now we’re essentially “buffering” the 2, now to get the following uf1+2, simply press uf1 while maintaining your 2 buffered and voila!  No more worries about getting Bob’s uf1,2 instead of uf1+2 and hitting your combo more consistently.

Now keep in mind your previous move does not require the following move to include one of the same inputs, such as that Bob …2 (buffered), then uf1+2 example.  I’ll use Lars’ iSW (instant shining wizard, fff2+4 air throw) B!-ender for example.  Just for the sake of this example I’ll use his f1+2 launcher for the example, and the combo will be:  f1+2, db2, db21, fb21, B!, iSW.  Now the previous hit is fb21, then followed by a quick fff motion + [2+4], now what is there to buffer in this combo?  The previous hit ended with 1, and iSW has no 1 input to buffer ahead-of-time.  So here’s a little tip for you.  You can buffer any button during mid animation of another.  The way I would execute this said combo is after the fb21, B!, I start buffering the 4 immediately after the 1 (in fb21), then all I have to do is fff+2.  This eliminates me having to worry about getting dash 2 or dash 4 in case I pressed fff+2~4 or 4~2, instead of 2+4.  To put that whole combo into notation form with the buffering method included it’d look like:  f1+2, db2, db21, fb21~4*, B!, fff+2 (while holding the 4 the entire time after the B!).

I know that not all people that have come to enjoy Tekken has originially started out with Tekken as their first game.  If you come from a Street Fighter background you might know a little thing or two about a little property called “negative edge.”  This little shortcut featured in the Street Fighter games occurs when you press a button to register a move, and do a motion and release that same button you were holding down and it’ll also register as  a button input.  So to make it easy, you can basically throw a fireball with qcf+p then hold the punch button down, and then you can do another qcf motion and let go of that said punch button and another fireball will come out.  A question that could arise is, would that not happen in Tekken with it’s buffer system?  To put it simply, no it wouldn’t.  There’s no need to worry about whiffing a move after releasing a button.  It doesn’t register the button that way, the only way it does register it, is when you’re holding down a button and pressing another one with it, then it’ll just register both.  So just keep in mind there’s no negative edge properties to be found in Tekken.

Now keep in mind combos are not the only time you can use “buffers.”  Whenever I’m playing Lars or Bob I’ll always be buffering a 2, since their whiff punishers (when your opponent completely fails to have their attack hit or even blocked, and leaving themselves open for punishment from the defender’s end) require a 1+2 input, Lars with f1+2 and Bob with uf1+2.  So when playing the spacing game (looking for whiffs and opportunities to attack), as soon as I see that whiff while in range I’ll be ready to react accordingily with the most optimal whiff punisher.  Keep in mind this is only for those moves that require more than one button input, because the last thing you’d want when you finally found an opening is messing up because of your own execution error.

Alright now I hope this article can slightly help you improve on your execution skills.  Now you know how this works, so now it’s up to you to find where you can start putting this into your gameplay.

Have a good one,
-MYK