Piston Hondo is quick, starting his pattern with fast left jabs that he often throws out in rapid succession. You can earn stars off of countering his jab, which is key for quickly finishing the opponent. Generally when waiting for an action from Hondo, we hold UP on the controls in anticipation of countering his jab. If he pulls to your left, you know to abandon the counter and should focus on just dodging. Dodging left always works.

But eventually Hondo will start unleashing his nasty Hondo Rush. Defending against it isn't easy, so we suggest catching him with a counter as he steps in. Not only will it save you from the flurry, but it'll also earn you an instant knockdown. Often he'll take the knockdown, get back up and then instant try for another Hondo Rush, which makes it fairly easy to get two knockdowns back to back. And Hondo's even got a second one-punch knockdowntag him with a star punch as he tries to taunt you.

Left Jab

Before throwing this left jab, Piston gives a quick double wink. The punch is very quick but you can catch Piston with a counter punch just after he blinks. Hit him with a left or right jab and you'll get a star out of it. You can also dodge the move in any direction (or block) and follow up with a brief combo.

Right Hook

Piston Hondo pulls away to your left (without ducking down) and swings out with a big right hook. If you're really good, you can counter him with any punch just before he lunges at you but it won't result in any star and generally it's just better (and easier) to dodge the attack and follow with a flurry of your own. Since all of Hondo's attacks can be dodged with a left dodge, stick to that for the easiest evasion. After dodging Hondo's punch, follow with any right puncha left punch will whiff.

Right Uppercut

You won't see this attack for a while, but once Hondo's gotten frustrated with you he'll begin throwing this massive right uppercut. The windup for the uppercut looks very similar to Hondo's right hook, though for the uppercut he crouches down much further. Like the hook, it can be successfully dodged to the left, so stick with the left dodge to open up Piston Hondo and follow up with a combination of your own. You just as Hondo lunges in for the uppercut, you can catch him with a left punch counter, but you don't earn a star so we don't think it's worth the effort.

Hondo Rush

When Piston Hondo moves to the back of the ring and starts hopping left and right, get prepared for his Hondo...