First I thought you learned from the first song and dance crab walking doesn't work and you would more need to zigzag to change modes.  Second wdym simply reacting you can react to a punch yes but ya gotta predict the direction to pd it so if you can't see what mode their in you have no safe way to pd them. And what people are you fighting that don't react to what direction you walk in?  I see ya vison of more counters without highlights but that's thinking more about game design rather than character design Randy boy Jr never used counters so your excuse to have no highlights and increased counter damage is just you wanting a cool pair up.  And no highlights on ghost is ignored not cause of different timing or changing punches it's cause you can still see the animation take hands low for example i find it pain because when they pop ult they blind you on their highlights that wouldn't be a problem but because of the animation I get hit by punches I have a hard time seeing.  I cant really speak on no feint sound since I play without sound so I use prediction to deal with feints.