text:
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – SonSon
PlayStation 3
SonSon Part 2/2 by Vegita
Version: 4.1 | Updated: 07/17/03
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 SonSon Guide - Part 2 Versus The God Tier, Top Tier, and Near-Top Tier Written by Reverend Eric "Vegita" Johnson (email@example.com) Version 4.1 Sections: I - Introduction II - The God Tier A - Storm B - Sentinel C - Cable D - Magneto III - The Top Tier (Alphabetically ordered) E - Cyclops F - Dr. Doom G - Spiral H - Strider Hiryuu IV - The Near-Top Tier (Alphabetically ordered) I - Blackheart J - Cammy K - Dhalsim L - Iron Man M - Psylocke V - Various A - My Own Personal Thoughts on The Tiers B - Revision History C - Thanks D - No Thanks If you wish to write to me about this particular guide, please put the name of the game guide as the Subject of your E-mail; failure to do so will result in me ignoring your mail (most likely). Thanks in advance! ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ -------------------------I - Introduction ------------------------- ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ All right, I'll cut to the chase - if you're reading this, then you've probably already browsed through my first SonSon guide. This means you are here strictly for the strategy purposes, something that I wholly understand. So if you are new to the competitive world of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this probably isn't the guide for you. Yes, it covers most everything from basic to high- level tournament play...but if you aren't familiar with the basics of the game, this isn't going to help you any. Go learn somewhere else before you step up to this guide, kiddies. Furthermore, if you want more details and such, I suggest going to www.Shoryuken.com and heading straight for their forums. The best players in the world go there for this game (as well as other fighting games), so if you can't get help there...then you aren't going to get help anywhere. First off, let's get one thing straight: Even though I am Vegita, I will try to write from an un-biased point of view (although I still think I'm the best at everything). Second of all, if I catch anyone copying all or part of this FAQ, ANY part of this FAQ (not counting little, inconsequential sentences like "First off, let's get one thing straight), I will destroy you. I will rip you limb from limb like the excessively weak individual you are, and then I will sue you for copyright infringement. Well, ok, maybe I'll just sue you, but if I got the chance I'd certainly go for the ripping of limbs from other limbs. Third of all, I do not own the rights to this game, the names of the characters in this game or FAQ, or have any ownership whatsoever of this game (except for the cartridge sitting in my room, that is). Those are the property of their respective owners. If I find a website with this FAQ on it, and it has been changed in any way, does not give me proper credit, or is selling it without my knowledge and consent, then I WILL have my lawyers contact that site. Are we clear (this means YOU, Vertsk8!)? ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ -----------------------II - The God Tier------------------------- ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ Ok, folks, here come the 4 characters in the game that are so good, they're in a league all their own. Presenting the 'God Tier', characters who have the tools to destroy most anyone in the game 1-on-1, and become even more fearsome with the inclusion of assists. These guys are the ones that dominate tournaments all over the country...and I hope to help you learn how to stop them. ##### ______________________===========_______________________ ####### A - Storm #### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯===========¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### #### Hello, #1 character in the game. How are you? Fine? #### #### That's nice. Storm was initially tied with Sentinel as #### #### the Top characters in the game, but Sentinel dropped a ################# notch (and Cable moved up a bit) due to guard cancel- #### ##### ling out of Sentinel's traps. This really doesn't #### ##### effect Storm much at all, since she rarely performs combos that are long enough for you to Guard Cancel your way out of 'em. Likewise, she has no other attacks/combos/strategies where it would really apply, making her just as safe as she was prior to Guard Cancelling -- in fact, she has an extra tool to use against Sentinel, Magneto, Cable, Spiral, etc. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ In General ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, what is it that makes Storm #1? For starters, she can absolutely dominate other characters in the game with a few simple tactics. She can build her own meter in a practically 100% safe method (runaway), she has the ability to rush thanks to her speedy air-dash and high-priority moves (j.HP, s.HK, c.HK), and her modest aerial raves linking into her Lightning Storm are both painful, rather simple to do, and are perfect DHCs into other damage Supers (like a Hyper Sentinel Force, Hyper Tempest, Hyper Viper Beam, Heart of Darkness, Orobouros, Electric Cage, etc). She has the best DHC in the game (any super xx Hailstorm), since it is almost completely impossible to hurt her when she does it, she's almost 100% safe following it, it instantly combos (meaning Magneto can aerial rave them, then perform a Magnetic Tempest and immediately DHC into a Hailstorm, and the hail will connect before they can recover), and it reams assists like nobody's business. She can combo into the Hailstorm fairly easily, pinning both the player and the assist and doing loads of damage to both (regardless of where they are onscreen)...she is a demon, through and through. .......however, she does have faults, and it's your job to exploit them. Let's find out how. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Similarities...? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ You know, I consider Storm and SonSon to be rather akin in a few ways...they both have a fairly safe "moving" special that can be cancelled into a more damaging super. They both have some sort of an aerial game, they both have an air dash, they both have a high-priority j.HP, they both have a special move that links right into a damaging aerial super...ok, so maybe they're not THAT alike, but that's just what I think. Storm has quite a few tools that give her an advantage to this battle, so it's a hard fight for SonSon to win effectively (in a one-on-one situation, that is). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Runaway ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ First off is Storm's Runaway, which is very effective in avoiding whatever you might try to do, as well as adding meter and burning time off of the clock. Once you see her superjump, there's little you can do except dash underneath and hope you can connect with a Tenchi Tsuukan. Other than that, you'd best just avoid any typhoons (vertical) she calls up and wait for her to come back within striking distance. As she is slowly floating back down, you can attempt to superjump up and hit with a Seiten Rengeki - if she blocks it, then there's no way she can retaliate, and if you whiff it then it is just about impossible to catch you with anything (most likely a Lightning Attack). If you connect, then your best bet is to cancel into that lovely Tenchi Tsuukan for added damage. She can't out-prioritize your Seiten Rengeki with anything except her lightning Storm, and unless you're trying to hit her as she's doing it, there's no way she can catch you...it has too much start-up to reflex-LS you, so you should be in decent shape dealing with a runaway Storm. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Rushing ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Next up is Storm's rushing game. She'll bound about the screen using air dashes and Lightning Attacks, hoping to sucker you into taking a hit (which will then be cancelled into a Lightning Storm for more damage, much like your Seiten Rengeki). She will have most likely built up enough meter for this Lighting Storm via her runaway, which is why it is important for you to cut that short whenever you can. You can halt this by tossing out a jumping Shien Bu to create a horizonal swath she can't get through (or, at least, probably won't make the attempt), giving you a momentary lapse of time. Careful, though, as an unguarded Storm can still catch you in the animation of the Shien Bu by using a Lightning Storm...and don't you dare jump up and perform on while she's grounded, or else she can Hailstorm you back to the ground! Storm can reset her air combos, to some degree, by airdashing down past you and hitting you from another angle with a Lighting Attack xx LS. The momentary lapse in comboing resets the meter, and if you blow the block then she gets loads more damage from the combo than normal. To avoid this, simply block Storm from the opposite side when you see her airdash past. Also, although a little advanced, is Storm's ability to combo you and reset the aircombo with a throw. The reason this is more advanced is that if you tech out of the throw, Storm can guardbreak you again by tapping you as you fall, then Lighting Attack xx LS you as you recover from blockstun but before you hit the ground. She's pesky, that Storm! She has the tools that give her an edge over just about anyone in the game! Just because she isn't Magneto doesn't mean that Storm can't make use of Triangle jumps. Be wary of her ability to dash over and past you, hitting you low from the other side and starting up another combo. The difference between her and Magneto is that Mags will want to do the combo, then reset the combo and land another; Storm only needs the 1 combo, chain into a Lightning Attack xx LS, then DHC into some other painful Super (HSF, Magnetic Tempest, POW, etc) to do her work. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Assist Usage ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Storm, on the ground, can play well off of any assist that pins you down or keeps you in one place. The likes of Sentinel Ground, Doom AAA, Spiral Ground, or Blackheart Ground work well for their pinning ability, giving Storm the opportunity to run away or attack at her own discrecion. Storm also can make use of good AAA assists, either comboing into them and performing a Hailstorm before they can recover (Cammy, CapCom, Ken, SonSon), or simply OTGing them (Iron Man, Psylocke) and going into a combo off of that. She doesn't really need assists, but she certainly can use 'em effectively. The problem with Storm running away while calling an assist out is that it is very difficult to effectively harm the assist; she may be away, but Storm still has the ability to attack you through Vertical Typhoons, Lighting Attacks, and Lighting Storms. Thus, if you ARE going to assault the assist, make it quick enough so that she can't retaliate in time, or somehow find a way of getting both. My personal favorite (in this instance) is to use Hyper En'ou, since Storm cannot Hailstorm you (she's airborne, and would have to land and perform it - something you will NOT let her do). You punish the assist, and the best she can do is LA xx LS, DHCed into something else. In this instance, you will have harmed the assist a decent amount, and will either be forced to take the Lightning Storm damage (not advised) or to DHC into someone else who can take a hit (i.e., Sentinel...whom I think SonSon should ALWAYS be paired with, personally). A DHC into Sentinel actually allows you to continue damaging the assist, making it a rather costly mistake for Storm! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Retaliating Against Storm ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Anywho, so Storm is a dangerous woman just about anywhere. If she rushes you for a combo, you can out-prioritize her jump-ins with a Seiten Rengeki or a Kingin no Hisago. Be wary, however, as either of these moves WILL be heavily capitalized upon if you whiff them (the Seiten Rengeki isn't too punishble if blocked, but it is possible). Your best bet, however, is to simply block her rushes and wait for her to make the first mistake. SonSon has too many moves that leave her open to attack, so you'll probably want to play mostly defensive - don't do silly things like try to rush her, since her s.HK will outprioritize most anything you've got. However, if you do land a good hit, make sure that hit counts for everything you've got (which usually means a combo into the Seiten Rengeki, DHC into someone better - Sentinel's HSF works well, and Cable's HVB can catch them on the ground and do a little more damage). You can mess up her timing on attacks by performing wall climbs or Tiger-Kneeing a Shien Bu to prevent her from zoning you effectively. Normally, if you do this Storm will either try a Typhoon xx Hailstorm (which you should recover from quickly enough to block) or try to runaway. If she runs, go tail her, and if she uses the Hailstorm...well, you'll take a little block damage and she'll waste a bar of meter. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ DHC's ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ DHCing SonSon in can be risky, but in the right places it can be extremely worthwhile. Say, for instance, you have Cable/Sentinel/SonSon (in my opinion the best team that SonSon can possibly be on, other than Storm/Sent/SonSon). You've already DHCed Cable out to Sentinel (making the order Sent/SonSon/ Cable), and Storm has started to runaway from you. If you feel like burning the meter (and tricking your opponent a bit), maneuver Sentinel beneath Storm and perform a Plasma Storm. In that split second your opponent notices the attack, DHC into SonSon's Tenchi Tsuukan. She comes crashing down to Earth via the staff (and if it's blocked, SonSon is untouchable), and if you feel like it you can DHC again into Cable's HVB and beam her for more than half her life off (or, if you're close enough, you can actually DHC into a Timeflip; the timing is more strict, though, so you're better off going with the HVB). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Hyper En'ou ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Another example, using the same team. Cable blows an AHVB and his opponent blocks it. Since Cable is close enough to his opponent, he can DHC into SonSon's En'ou super. That's right, the En'ou super, with the specific purpose of having Storm block. If she takes the hit, then so be it; if she blocks it, then you can chip off a good 1/5 of her life with the flame breath. Storm will most likely try a Hailstorm, which is why it's important to breath on her as soon as possible (since SonSon becomes a bigger target, she takes a lot more hail). Blocked or chipped, it's a decent amount of damage, and Storm will still be stuck in blockstun from the flame while SonSon shrinks back to normal. At any rate, she'll either take a decent amount of fire damage or block damage (if you're close enough, that is). Heck, since she drops from the Deadweight damage, you can DHC into Sentinel's HSF for a decent juggle, then wavedash in and perform a corner combo and/or throw reset with the big lug. Rock! ...problem is, Storm is more likely to superjump and dash over your head, which is troublesome since you have to turn around to hit her. This is a bad day comin', since she's free to hit you (and keep hitting you) before you have the chance to turn around. If you can make the turn, breath on her and hope you do more damage than she had the chance to do to you. If you see her moving to Hailstorm you, you're in for a LOT of trouble, since a DHC into someone will get them hurt, and you're going to take a lot of damage if you don't DHC. The bottom line - hit her before she can do that! Finally, my favorite use of the Hyper En'ou: Storm trys a Hailstorm without the ground-covering Typhoon to keep you (and any possible assists) pinned. SonSon waits until the Storm is almost at the wall, then performs the Hyper En'ou. Since you're invincible when transforming, you won't be harmed by the hail (or, if any, very little damage will be taken), and Storm is forced to either take regular damage or a decent amount of block damage. This is also a good opportunity to DHC into anothers' super (DHC into Storm if it connects, 'cause retaliating a Hailstorm with another Hailstorm is always a crowd pleaser). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Punishing Mistakes ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Unlike Cable, Storm does not have an instant mistake-killer (the AHVB); however, she has a decent equivalent in the LK Typhoon xx Hailstorm or Lighting Attack xx Lighting Storm, following certain blocked/whiffed moves. Since Storm is a perpetual meter-builder, she will always have at least 1 stock to make use of these, and should always be treated as such (if she doesn't, then you know she's going to start running away and building more meter). She is a constant danger with her triangle-jumping ability (not as bad as Magneto, but it's bad enough to warrant plenty of attention), especially if she has meter. Learn to block (especially if she's performing a hailstorm), and don't do things that have a lot of lagtime on them if Storm is unoccupied - she can (and will) get to you no matter where you are on the screen. Stop her from getting the meter she needs, and hopefully you'll do fine. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Guard Breaks and Entering Combos ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ When not using assists to do so, Storm has her own ways of guardbreaking you. Since she can't hit you with a projectile quick enough to recover and Guard Break, and none of her Supers are going to do the job, she's going to have to use a normal move. She has an air-dash, though, which gives her the speed and mobility to do so rather easily; she can superjump and hit you with a HP or HK, airdash Down-Away with a LK to land quickly, then launch you with a s.HK. Also common is to see her dash underneath you as you appear onscreen, hitting you low from the opposite direction (i.e., the direction you came from). Bleh. In general, look for opportunities to hit Storm, and don't throw out things that she can easily blitz through/around. Supers should only come out when they are a sure thing, or when Storm is so high off the ground that she can't catch you after blocking. So, to recap: ~When she tries to runaway, avoid the possible Typhoons and wait for her to drop low enough to try and hit her. When she's moving up (before she goes off the screen), you can attempt a Tenchi Tsuukan to bring her back to ground. If you choose to, you can opt for a superjump xx Seiten Rengeki instead (in case you don't have the meter). ~Thwart Storm's rushes with a Seiten Rengeki, a Kingin no Hisago, or simply by (push)blocking and waiting for something you can sink your teach into. ~If Storm goes for a Hailstorm, your only real way to counter it is to time a Hyper En'ou to take the Hail as she's transforming. Otherwise, don't try anything. ~Never perform the POW super (unless you're safely DHCing into it off of a deadweight super); likewise, never do a Tenchi Tsuukan when Storm is grounded unless you plan on immediately DHCing out of it. Oddly enough, the Hyper En'ou is your best option in a lot of situations against Storm, since her best options of doing a lot of damage to you are a Lightning Attack or a Hailstorm. Watch for situations where you can use it (see above for examples). ~Wall climb = your friend. Wall climb + quick drop blocking = even better friend. ~Learn to block against frenetic Magneto players that triangle jump a lot, and you should be able to handle yourself against a decent Storm player. She just doesn't have quite the speed or complexity of attacks that Mags does, so she will be easier to work against. ~TK-Shien Bu, airdash backwards and cancel that with a HP. There, you're back on the ground with projectiles headed toward Storm, and you're ready to block whatever she throws at you. 'tis a good way of zoning the mutant, especially since SonSon (dare I say it?) carries an edge against Storm when she tries to run away. ~If you attack Storm just off the ground, end the combo with a HP xx LP Shien Bu. You really won't be able to do much more in the way of damage, and it gives you the opportunity to create a zoning atmosphere. As I said before, this isn't a clear win for either character. SonSon effectively removes Storm's ability to runaway by tailing her and using the Seiten Rengeki, and has a mix-up game capable of preventing her from effectively rushing as well. She can zone and chip (to a certain degree), and can even effectively avoid her Hailstorm if the timing is right... However, mistakes cost SonSon more, pound for pound, than they do for Storm (not counting DHCs), which is why you're still going to have to play a very careful game. In a one-on-one fight, you're probably not going to want to use the Hyper En'ou as often, as it's more of lead-in to a DHC than anything; this holds true for random Tenchi Tsuukan's and just about any application of POW, save that you should probably not use either as the start-up for a DHC (aside from a runaway Tenchi Tsuukan). In general, handling Storm means you don't rush her, you don't run away from her, but you try to mix up your attacks and counter what she does without giving her the opportunity to attack you. If this means doing practically nothing but jumping backwards and throwing out a j.HP, then so be it. ############## ______________________==============______________________ ############### B - Sentinel ### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯==============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ### #### ############### Another troublesome fellow, Sentinel is the source of ############## agony for many a lower-tier character. Sentinel takes the ### #### least damage in the game (not including the two characters ### #### that can gain defensive bonus in-battle, Rogue and Silver ### ##### Samurai), does the most damage in the game, has extreme ############### range and priority with his HP and HK, a flying mode ############# faster than some characters can wavedash, he can destroy assists with a few quick moves, his combos can take anywhere from 1/4 to 5/4 (!) of your life, he has a semi-infinite with his Hyper Sentinel Force juggle, all of his hits do chipping (some do more CHIPPING than others)...the machine is a monster, period. To beginners, they only see a big, slow machine that can hit hard but is also a big target. To call him a big target is true, but to say he's slow is very, VERY incorrect. Truth be told, he's one of the faster folk in the game, and when you combine speed with tons of power and the ability to wade through damage, you have a very potent combination. Surprisingly enough, however, SonSon is NOT altogether outclassed by the big lug. His large size makes him an easy target, true, and his Super Armor allows him to finish attacks despite his being hit repeatedly. These make him difficult to even assault, since he can retaliate mid-combo. Granted, this is only to a certain degree - if you hit 'em enough, the super armor wears off - but if your opponent has good reflexes, he can tap you out of whatever you're doing. Joyous, yes? It only gets better, too. Sentinel's standing HP and c.HP are full-screen projectile mouthbeams. This gives him the ability to zone and chip you while building meter, and - since they are normal moves instead of specials - he can cancel them into specials, allowing for more damage and/or zoning. Enough of the general analysis, let's get to the actual strategy, yes? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Normals ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ First off, Sentinel's more basic acts are simple - j.LK, j.HK, both of which have insane priority and range to 'em, and if they connect he can follow them with a Rocket Punch for even MORE damage. Those 3 hits can take off as much as 40% of someone's life, which is why it is VERY important that this does not happen to you. If you make a mistake on the ground (i.e., a blocked HVB), Sentinel can Rocket Punch xx Hyper Sentinel Force you for tons of damage. If he's close enough to you, he can dash in and launch you after that, tacking on even MORE damage to the combo. If Sentinel's near a corner, then we're talkin' about 70-80% damage, at LEAST. (He does only 60% on another Sentinel. ONLY.) He can also RP your assist and juggle them with a HSF, then perform a HP Mouthbeam xx Rocket Punch xx HSF to continue the damage. You really can't do much about it, either, since his HSF covers the same height as he is tall, and is very fast - meaning you're going to have jump out of there or block it until he's done. (Actually, there are ways around this, but I'll get to that in a minute.) Other normals of Sentinels' you need to watch out for are his c.LK, c.HK, HP, c.HP, and j.HP. Let's talk about each of 'em individually for a second. ~His c.LK is fairly quick and hits low (surprisingly), meaning he can combo you off of 1 good short kick. Due to Sent's size, it also has good range for a LK, so be wary (it can lead right into an infinite, a rush-down, an air longer, and can even OTG). ~His c.HK is an extension of his c.LK (literally), hitting 3 times and hitting low all 3 times. The problem with this maneuver is that he can chain into a Rocket Punch off of the 2nd hit (or OTG you with a Rocket Punch off of the 3rd), opening into the HSF juggle. He can also cancel into fly at any point for a high/low mixup, and the blasted move has loads of range. The good news is that it's positively lag-tastic, so hurt him if he throws this out and you block it. ~His HP and c.HP are actually full-screen projectiles, a long pink beam fired from his unhinged jaw. This makes for decent chipping, trapping, and pressure, although it actually doesn't hit if you're close enough to him. As was recently discovered, if you are in the path of the attack right as it is disappearing, it is actually an UNBLOCKABLE move. That's right, Sentinel can turn an already-potent attack and make it unblockable. If he's close enough to you, he can then Rocket Punch xx HSF, which is downright nasty. So mistakes can be quite costly, for you or your assist. This is why it is very important that you know how to handle Sentinel. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Flight Mode ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Next up is Sentinel's flying, which is excessively difficult to deal with since he can travel very quickly and utilize his long legs and HP "Middle Finger" (or "Frypan", or "Wok", pick your favorite nickname) to swat you down and keep you there. Since characters can call out assists while in Flying Mode, Sentinel perpetually has another item at his disposal - whatever assist he thinks will aid him most. When he has the likes of Blackheart, Doom, Magneto, any decent AAA, or Spiral, he can effectively begin one of his most potent strategies: Stomping. As you can see, Sentinel's HK has tons of range and priority, and also chips; thus, if Sentinel can fly above you, he can begin stomping on you. Stomping, of course, has its faults (namely the lag after the kick), but these can be remedied by unflying (to block, in case they try to attack), then reflying and stomping again. If Sentinel gets you in the corner, and he has an assist that can prevent you from dashing underneath and/or jumping up after him, then you might as well consider the match over - he's going to keep you there for as long as possible, gaining meter and chipping away your life the whole time. It gets worse, this flying mode - it is considered a special move, and his HP Mouthbeam is considered a normal. Put 2 and 2 together and you realize that he can Mouthbeam you from across the screen, quickly cancel into flying as soon as it hits, then unfly while throwing out a HP, land and do it all again. Quick meter building, good for pressure and chipping, and he can call out an assist at any time during this little escapade. This means that he can effectively use assists like Mag (Proj.), Storm (Proj.), Spiral (Proj.), Doom (AAA), Blackheart (AAA), etc., to aid him in chipping and pressuring you. Heck, he can also perform a c.HP while calling out one of these assists, cancel the HP into Sentinel Drones or a Rocket Punch, then do the whole thing again. If he screws up the timing on something, or leaves an opening that you could easily superjump out of, he can also cancel into a Hyper Sentinel Force to prevent you from jumping. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Sentinel...Rushing? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Sentinel can rush you, too, although not quitely as effectively as pixies like Magneto, Storm, Dhalsim, or Iron Man/War Machine. Since you know of his rapid ability to fly/unfly, you should be very aware of the fact that he can rush you, perform a c.LK xx Fly, j.LK, HK xx unfly, land, c.LK, and so on. Although not quite as fast as Magneto/Storm/Dhalsim, these "ghetto triangle jump" attacks are even more damaging (per hit) than Mags' or Storms' rapid work. Sentinel is a tad slower when it comes to moving to the other side of you and attacking from there, which means you have ample time to block or retaliate. As for his high/low mixups, blocking high and low should come naturally after a little practice (especially if you're practicing against more difficult targets, like Mags). Pushblock him and give yourself some breathing room if he tries to get in your face; or, better yet, block a couple of hits and j.HP him to get in HIS face! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ He IS Limited ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Sentinel DOES have moves that he shouldn't just randomly throw out, or even use in more controlled situations. The Plasma Ball Super should only be used when it's guaranteed to connect; if it is blocked, then you can pushblock it and retaliate in just about any fashion you choose (my favorite is a LP Shien Bu xx POW, giving a 4-hit insulting injury). Random Drones can be avoided and can sometimes be countered (i.e., Hyper En'ou), Random HSF's can be superjumped away from, random HKs can be retaliated during the lag...Sentinel finds that he has to pick his moves carefully, due to the lag on some and start-up on others; if he does not, then he can (and will) be harmed when his makes an unwise decision. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Hyper Sentinel Force ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I should probably talk of the HSF on its own, as it's one of the more potent Supers in the game. If Sentinel does not combo into the HSF - meaning, you're not already in blockstun when the move is initiated - then you can superjump up and away from it, safely landing after it finishes. However, if there is anything hitting you when the move starts, like a HP Mouthbeam or Rocket Punch (or assist), then you're stuck and have to take the damage. The trick is, block low when the 3 waves go by; if you're standing, you'll get hit by 2 of the waves and have to take 2 drones' chip damage instead of just 1. That's the beauty of SonSon, as she's short enough to duck the top 2 drones. However, getting hit by the HSF is another story entirely, since Sentinel can juggle you for quite a bit of damage via another HP xx Rocket Punch xx HSF. If your assist is caught in it, then there's open ground; your assist is being juggled, and you have to block the damage as well, but since something else is taking the hit first, you have the (brief) opportunity to retaliate or superjump out. Another quick note - Sentinel can OTG you following the first HSF usage, performing a LP Rocket Punch xx HSF. The Rocket Punch is damaging enough, but because you are barely popped up, you get hit by 2 of the drone-waves instead of 3; this allows for much more damage to be inflicted, often yielding somewhere in the vicinity of 100+ damage against your average character. SonSon has less-than-average health, so she could easily be killed from such a combo -- the bottom line, roll if you see him dropping you! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Counter-HSF ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ What should SonSon do versus such a potent Super? She has a few options, the first being to block the blasted thing and hope for the best. Not too good, yes, but it's better than taking a bunch of damage. If not comboed into, SonSon can superjump out and airdash across Sentinel's head, allowing herself to start up a combo or two. Her j.HP eats Super Armor alive, so she can actually SJ xx Airdash right above the Drones, landing on Sentinel's head and proceeding to assault him. Retaliation in regards to having your assist caught (but not you) is simple - Hyper En'ou will allow you to be invincible during the duration of the Super, and you can then proceed to flame Sentinel for a lot of chip damage. I say Chip because no Sentinel player in their right mind would simply allow you to hit them with the flame, and since he's a big target, he's forced to take a good deal of chipping damage as well. Granted, he can try to superjump and fly over your head, but you should be able to flame him before he gets too far. Assuming he makes it behind you, he'll try to attack you; turn around and flame him from there. The smart Sentinel will try to fly and stomp on you, but 1 good uppercut should push him far enough away (or hit him), and then it's back to fire-breath. You should at least trade damage with him by using this super; that's pretty good, considering how hard Sentinel hits. Ok, so we have a general idea of what to do versus the HSF - which, not surprisingly, is a common aspect of Sentinel's game. However, there is 1 option not yet explored, and that is the art of Guard Cancelling. If you GC the attack immediately prior to the HSF, you can actually superjump out of the HSF between the 2nd and 3rd waves, allowing you to avoid any further chipping traps set in motion by Sentinel. Granted, this means you have to play the role of minor psychic by knowing which move to pushblock on...but most Sentinel players stick to the HP xx RP xx HSF. If you see this just once, you'll know to pushblock the next Rocket Punch. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ SonSon, ad infinitum ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This goes further, in fact, as SonSon can turn the tide of the match against Sentinel just as easily as he can do it against her. Did you know that SonSon has an infinite, one that isn't that hard to do OR land? It can only be done against Sentinel, but it's a viable attack nonetheless and does loads of damage when the hits are maximized. If you successfully land a j.HP on Sentinel, then all you have to do is hit HK right before you land (it looks like you're hitting him in the knee), then immediately jump up-towards again and hit LP, LK, LK, HP, HK. The timing is a little tricky at first but with a little practice you can have it down pat. You have to hit [LP, LK, LK] rather fast, the [HP] hits at the apex of your jump (so the LP, LK, LK has to connect before you reach Sentinel's head), and the [HK] will connect right before you hit the ground. Once you have this down to a science, you can take off a good 1/3 of his life, assuming you DON'T combo into the Tenchi Tsuukan and then DHC into something else (optimal DHCs include HVB, Proton Cannon, Hailstorm, Magnetic Tempest, HSF, or Headcrush). Obviously, I suggest that you do DHC. I said that it's easy to land such a combo, and I wasn't lying. With this tool at your disposal, you can effectively turn any usage of the HSF into a possible infinite for SonSon. I've already discussed how to superjump out of the trap, and you know it's possible to airdash over the drones and hit Sentinel in the head with a HP. This means that you can immediately go into her infinite, thus turning a viable chipping strategy into an opportunity for YOU to infinite him. It's not that difficult, really, and makes the Sentinel player a little wary of what else you might have in store. Granted, Sentinel can still mix up what he has left - i.e., instead of the HP xx RP, he can HP xx LK Drones (aimed up) to trick you into taking more chip damage (then another HP xx RP xx HSF). However, now you've made him skeptical. If Sentinel is on the ground and is unprotected for even a second, he's yours. The only consistent problem I've encountered from SonSon/Sentinel matchups is that Sentinel will repeatedly c.HP xx Fly to build meter and pressure, followed by the occasional j.HP. If you see him flying above the ground, that's your (only safe) opportunity to TK-Shien Bu and airdash. He has to land to attack you, and his best attack he could hit you with in the time it takes for you to stop and block would be a HSF. If you're high enough, that's asking for an infinite to be performed, and if you're low enough, you can block it. Take off a good 35-40% of his life, then DHC into something like a Hailstorm, Proton Cannon, or HVB to total the damage count around 70%. Against someone like Sentinel, that's really, really good. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Hyper En'ou ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Actually, Hyper En'ou is a fairly safe opportunity for free damage against Sentinel, since - unless he's already flying above - you can effectively attack him for at least SOME chip. The big lug likes zoning you, so when he tries to Mouthbeam you, turn into a giant monkey and see what he does. 9 times out of 10, he'll superjump and proceed to fly around; however, he's very difficult for him to avoid all of your attacks, and attacking you himself will most likely get him hurt. The remaining 10th time is when the Sentinel player knows what to do and superjumps, then proceeds to Rocketpunch the entire time to slow his descent. If he flies, he'll hover too low, but if he hangs about via RPing, he can actually keep away from you. If you see Sentinel doing this, then he knows how to actually avoid the attack, and you should (usually) stop using it. Or DHC into something like a Hailstorm, forcing him to take more chip and/or damage. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ HP Mouthbeams, Drones, Assists, and You ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ And what else might you have in store, then? Avoiding Sentinel's c.HP xx fly (while calling assists out) or c.HP xx LK/HK Drones are fairly easily avoided, too, simply by superjumping away. However, when you superjump depends on what assist Sentinel uses, since he will most always have an assist of some sort to aid him in this; if it's Blackheart's AAA, wait a short second for the assist to hit, then jump before the drones reach you; any projectile assists should be jumped as soon as the projectile is clear (but before the drones hit, if possible); any slower assists should be jumped as soon as appearing. Reflexes must be high here, so learn what to watch for and how to react accordingly. Here are a list of commonly-used assists to aid in his attacking: ~Spiral Projectile (Jump as soon as possible to avoid the swords) ~Blackheart AAA (already discussed) ~Magneto Projectile (Jump as soon as possible) ~Any AAA that doesn't reach far enough to hit you, like Cable/Cyclops/Iron Man/SonSon/etc (Jump ASAP; avoid Cyclops' optic bullet) ~Doom AAA (Jump as soon as possible and try to land behind him) ~Strider Variety (Jump ASAP) ~Iron Man Projectile (Jump as soon as the Projectile passes; jump before if possible) For more fun, wait until a brief moment when you can start up the Hyper En'ou, and do so. Sentinel will most likely have to block it, and his assist will take damage from it. Now that's a trade! Great, so you've ruled out each others' ground games for the most part. You can't really do anything, since his HP mouthbeam will catch you during whatever you attempt or he can HSF you, and a lot of his ground-based attacks could very well end in him being hit by an infinite. So it's going to be a bit of an aerial fight, then. Sentinel definitely holds ground here with his ability to fly, but SonSon can do a decent-enough job of restricting airspace with a LP Shien-bu. Granted, if Sentinel is already flying, he can drop a bit and RP you (or fly up and do the same), but if you're careful about when you use this, you'll ground him for a short while. When grounded, you can bet that Sentinel is going to go back to his HP Mouthbeam tricks, so hopefully you'll know what to do now. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ It's Stomping Time! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Of course, what happens if you cannot get to the air, since Sentinel is stomping on you? Wellsir, it's not the end of the world, since you still have options, although they're a tad risky. Counter-stomping is mostly relegated to Seiten Rengeki, well-timed Tenchi Tsuukan's, and dashing beneath him. Problem with these are that there's enough lag on the Rengeki and the TT for him to stomp on you before you can block (assuming he blocks the attacks), and dashing underneath is difficult if he has an assist that can keep you pinned (i.e., Doom AAA). Once again, you can often find that Hyper En'ou is your savior, since Sentinel has nothing he can do except avoid you or take block damage. You are already in the corner, so he can't get behind you, and attacking you will result in his getting juggled for more damage than he can possibly inflict, giving you the edge again. If you have no meter, however, then it's back to dodging, jumping up and trying to hit him (risky, especially since SonSon's HP will usually trade hits with his j.HP), dashing, or using certain specials. Your Wall Climb is not suggested, since Sentinel will probably be in mid-stomp when you do it; however, your ground crawl makes you a MUCH smaller target and moves you forward, so unless he has an assist currently called out, you might as well start crawlin' your way out. Assists can help you, most notably AAAs that can hit Sentinel or at least force him into blocking so you can escape... ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Unfly Mode ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ...unfortunately, if Sentinel is hit by an assist that allows him to recover in air (i.e., Unfly), he then gains an advantage to his stomping game. When you are hit in air, but recover before hitting the ground, this is referred to as "Unfly Mode", and is of great benefit to Sentinel (if you fall to the ground without recovering, you are in "Deadweight" mode). Normally when Sentinel flies and then unflies, he is has 1 action to do until he touches the ground again; this means that he can block, but that's it (he cannot go back into fly mode, leaving him defenseless until he touches down). In order to remedy this, you'll usually see Sentinel simply go back into fly-mode and stomp again. The beauty of Unfly Mode (or travesty, however you look at it) is that if Sentinel begins flying after it, he can then perform multiple actions after leaving fly mode. Thus, Sentinel can fly and stomp, unfly to block (if necessary), stomp on you again and cancel BACK into Fly (which was previously impossible), etc. This makes his Stomping game MUCH more potent, which is why it's important that you get out of the corner as soon as possible. Sure, I put a lot of stock in SonSon's ability to infinite Sentinel, but it IS very effective and rather simple to do. Truth be told, I'd say it's her best edge over Sentinel, as her other tricks and tactics (i.e., TK Shien Bu, ad-away xx LP/HP) can often be nullified by one or two of Sentinels' attacks. The main thing about Sentinel, though, is that he IS slow (when not flying), and you should be rushing the big fella for all he's worth. If he has an assist that is designed to keep you away (i.e., Capcom, Cyclops, Psylocke, or some other quick-acting AAA), then you have to learn to avoid being hit by the assist...but other than that, Sentinel is often too slow to keep up with opponents rushing him. SonSon's j.HP is high-enough in priority and quick enough to stop him from booting you, and it trades with his j.HP - meaning you can jump at him with relative safety. SonSon can even guardbreak the fool by sj.HP, immediately airdashing, then hitting him again (usually with a Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan). So, to recap: ~Sentinel is great when it comes to countering attacks on the ground and keeping out of range for stopping him. He'll try to keep you pinned, so don't let that happen! ~If you can keep Sentinel grounded and unable to fly around and attack you, he'll be forced to stick to basics revolving around the MP mouthbeam. These are your opportunity to rush him! ~c.HP xx Drones w/assists can be difficult to avoid, depending on the assist. Learn when and where you should Superjump. ~Learn that infinite [j.LP, LK, LK, HP, HK]!. It's quite useful and highly damaging. ~Rush the blasted fool until he makes a mistake that costs 'em. He has trouble keeping faster characters off of him, since they can lay in enough hits to nullify his super armor before he can hit them. ~Your Toward + HP is a quick 1/2-screen attack that can be used to push him away if he whiffs a LP, LK, or HK; good for keepaway. ~Crawl, jump, bite, claw, and fight your way out of stomping attacks, especially when you're stuck in the corner. If need be, Tenchi Tsuukan and immediately DHC into a safer Super (i.e., Hailstorm). ~GC your way out of HSF traps and airdash your way into an infinite. ~Beware of Unfly Mode (which can be caused by a connected Seiten Rengeki); it gives Sentinel quite the edge. Sentinel can be a pain, or he can be a breeze. If neither of you have any assists, then Sentinel will have trouble covering his c.HP traps, and you can rush him with a little more safety to your credit. However, it only takes 1 or two j.HKs to lead into something you don't want to have happen. If you're in the corner, you might as well consider SonSon dead if he lands a launcher...but you shouldn't be letting that happen, now should you? Heck, if you're in the corner, Sentinel is probably just going to stomp on you anyways. ########## ________________________===========________________________ ############# C - Cable #### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯===========¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### ### #### "C is for Cable, that's good enough for me." #### 'Prelude to a Beat-down', ~Random Scrub at the Arcade #### ### #### #### Ok, folks, let's talk about Cable, one of the more feared ############## characters in the game. Beginners to the game know that he ######### can be annoying thanks to his s.HP x 4, but more skilled players only know Cable for 4 little letters: "AHVB". The "Aerial Hyper Viper Beam" has almost no start-up (meaning it's instant death), and - if close enough to the ground - Cable can immediately superjump and perform another, initiating the move while barely off of the ground and connecting with another one. This allows him to combo the move into itself, completely decimating you if he has enough meter. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Aerial Hyper Viper Beam ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ It's very simple - if he has a bar of meter, and you make a mistake, he gets a free combo. It doesn't matter if you are in close or far away, as long as Cable can get onto a horizontal plane with you in the next millisecond, you're dead. If you're grounded and you make a mistake or allow him to combo you on the ground, then you can kiss 1/3 of your life goodbye. If he has more than 1 bar of meter, he can continue to kill you. 3 or more bars is usually enough to destroy anyone (not counting Sentinel, Juggernaut, Colossus, and other high- stamina characters; they take 4). ...but once you remove Cable's meter, he's not too bad. Granted, he's not completely declawed without meter (he can still bite), but it's your best opportunity to try and catch up to him and make sure he doesn't get any more meter. Let's discuss Cable's usual tactics, then cover some of his assist- based strategies. After all, Cable with no assists can be quite easy to topple...you just have to know what not to do before you start doing it. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable With Meter ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ First off, I cannot stress the fact enough that Cable with meter is VERY dangerous. You have to make sure that whatever you are doing, it is unpunishable. If you call out an assist, he can AHVB you on reaction and catch your assist as well. Heck, even if you block it, he can take out the assist as you are forced to do nothing but block (you can't counter since the assist is onscreen, leaving you with practically nothing you can do to react). Thus, the absolute importance of facing a Cable with meter is that you do not giving him any opportunities. Easier said than done, I heartily assure you. In SonSon's case, this rules out a LOT of her abilities, since Cable can tear right through most anything she can do, and that's not taking into consideration the AHVB. Any one of her supers thrown out randomly will end up with her taking a lot of damage (unless properly used), even if they are blocked or whiffed. There are very, very few instances where she can use her supers without fear of retaliation (assuming Cable has meter), so it's best to just avoid the random super. Yeah, I know, it's usually best to avoid the random super anyways, but against Cable the danger is even greater. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Specials? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ SonSon can't use supers, so what of specials? She can't use her Shien-bu, since Cable can just jump up and AHVB her right through the monkeys. Even if the monkeys whiff, there's too much lag to effectively get the attack off. There's also too much start-up, allowing Cable to shoot her as soon as she puckers up and blows. Fuusetuzan is also a waste of time, as she is completely defenseless during the move...heck, even if Cable takes the hit, he'll be knocked backwards and STILL has enough time to hit you before you can stop the attack and block. The only time this move can be used safely is at the end of an Air Combo, and that is the ONLY time you should use it. The Seiten Rengeki is a little more hit-and-miss, as you have more times when you can use it despite the fact that you're quite open if it done out of the blue (or Cable is grounded and able to block it). If Cable jumps/superjumps and you catch him from beneath, then you are generally safe even if he blocks it; however, the same does not hold true for the Tenchi Tsuukan, which - if blocked - has lag enough for Cable to capitalize on. Let's look at your other special moves - Air Dash, Kingin no Hisago, Wall Climb, and Ground Crawl. Aside from the Kingin no Hisago, which has too much lag when blocked (and thus can get you killed), each one of these has fairly useful applications. The Air Dash can be use to fake Cable into wasting a bar of meter - jump, airdash towards 'em, and immediately hop off and block. If the Cable player is "twitchy" (meaning they're waiting for you to do something stupid to pounce on), then they'll waste a bar of meter when you block the attack. It's the concept of having something flying at you like that, that will sometimes fake them into think it's actually you. The Wall Climb can quickly be cancelled out of, allowing you to block, so you can also fake Cable this way as well. If he superjumps, you can Wall Climb to throw off his timing, or simply to end up beneath him and ill-preparred for a Tenchi Tsuukan from beneath. The Ground Crawl can be used to get in close to Cable, since she can move a decent distance (1/3 a screen) with it and is partially invulnerable. If Cable is busy AHVBing your assist, but he's high enough that you have a little room to move beneath it, use the Ground Crawl to move in closer. If you're lucky, you can get close enough to attack him, forcing him to stop his assault on your assist (much like Magneto's c.HK slide to duck underneath it). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Runaway, Cable, Runaway ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable can't just sit around and wait for you to make that mistake, however, and I'm sure you're not going to let him build the meter necessary. Thus, he has a few alternating strategies that allow him to build meter and keep you out of his face. These usually involve jumping backwards while firing his HP gun, then following this with either a grenade or a Viper Beam. Since SonSon isn't the most maneuverable monkey in the world, he can do a fairly good job of keeping you at bay with this tactic alone. Of course, it isn't foolproof, leaving you room to dash in underneath the HP blast and block the following move, thus getting you closer to the gun-wielding mutant. Cable should always be paired with a good AAA assist, such as CapCom, SonSon (!), or other quick- starting assists, which can prevent you from getting TOO close. He can fire his gun while calling the assist, then finish the set to cover his assist (Viper Beams and grenades are the bane of my existence, really), all the while keeping you away. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable Unassisted - Ground ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Let's forget he has an assist for a second, since assists tend to completely rework the tiers. After all, Cable with no assists actually LOSES to a fair portion of the characters in the game...it's when he has a decent AAA that he is able to cover up his own glaring flaws and become a God-like character. Cable, without assists, has trouble with people that can get inside of his game. That is to say, for all that he jumps and fires that gun, he has trouble keeping you off of his back once you get close to him. If he fires the gun while on the ground, you can jump and airdash straight at him. Sure, he can try to stop you by throwing out a Psimitar, but you can stop and block this (as you should). If he tries anything else, then he's asking to be punished, since you'll glide right over it and have a perfect opportunity to beat on 'em. Your common new player thinks that you can just stand and throw 4 HP shots, or HP x4 xx HP Viper Beam. Neither of these are a good idea, as they each have enough lag on them to be reciprocated upon (wavedash and Towards + HP xx Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan in SonSon's case, among other things). In general, a grounded Cable is going to try and leave himself open as little as possible; this will rely more on mind-games than anything. He might fire his gun once or twice, then immediately do it again to catch you while you dash in. He can also make the attempt at firing repeatedly and then throwing a grenade; the moment you see him go for the grenade, dash in and attack. He could fire, then throw a Psimitar out to recover quickly (and leave him with the ability to AHVB you). Heck, I've seen players use his Command Grab (which is actually fairly quick) to cancel out of the HP animation, leaving themselves safe. You should only be looking for the safe options, since Cable has plenty of ways to mix up his unsafe- and safe-strategies. He certainly doesn't want to throw out random grenades or crackdowns, as either of these will see him punished severely. In fact, unless he has an assist covering him, he shouldn't be using the Crackdown, period! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable Unassisted - Air ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ If Cable Superjumps, he (once again) has a few options at his disposal, although they are less varied and a little more limited in style. He usually fires his gun and cancels that into a LK Grenade (or HK depending on your position), trying to pin you down. This is all fine and good, if you don't move at all. The bottom line: when Cable superjumps, dash underneath him. Heck, if you have a bar of meter, wait until you see him throw that grenade, and then let him have a Tenchi Tsuukan. If you have no meter, then you can either wait for him to drop again (which usually has him firing his gun again, to prevent you from jumping up in front of him). If Cable is high-enough up in his jump, he can even block the Tsuukan and you'll (usually) be safe from retaliation. If you want to try and hurt 'em even more, you can jump up and perform a Seiten Rengeki, which (even if blocked) should leave you safe from countering as well. Or, if you want a little more control over the flow of the match, you can move forward to avoid the grenade and throw out a LP Shienbu, creating a pressure game along the ground that can allow you to get back in Cable's face. If he tries to jump over it, then he's no longer running and is coming to you, thus making your job that much easier. Other options Cable has while in the air include jumping HP xx Viper Beams, which slow his decent and allow him to effectively control the entire horizontal space in front of him. This means that your best bet is to attack from beneath...however, you have to be careful when you attack, as Cable might just try to switch it up and go for a j.HK instead. This think has enough priority to stuff almost anything you have, so only jump up after him once you see him firing his gun, throwing a grenade, or Viper Beaming up there. Only then should you go after him...and if he's in the middle of a j.HK, I hope you were planning on doing a Seiten Rengeki or Tenchi Tsuukan. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Assisted Cable ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ...but what do you do if Cable has a good AAA backing him? This is where things get frustrating for you, since Cable is no longer the easy rushing target he was before. You'll have to find a way to bait the assist (this is where those fake air-dashes can help, as well as ground crawls), then rush him while the assist is missing. If you're gutsy, you can bait the assist, attack the assist for a few quick hits (via an aerial rave), then resume blocking when Cable jumps up after you. Keep this up and Cable will lose either his own life or that of his assists, both of which are (obviously) costly to him. Let's talk about the more common assists that Cable uses, either to stop your rushing or to generally keep you at bay. ~Any AAA that comes out quickly and has enough Horizontal range to stop you from rushing (CapCom/Psylocke/Ken/Cammy/SonSon/Cyclops/Morrigan/Jin) ~Sentinel Projectile, other "Ghetto" AAAs (i.e., Felicia Ground) ~Blackheart/Iron Man AAA (Assisted used to keep them away instead of beating them back) ~Projectiles that cover him during the lag of his HP x4 (such as Iron Man/Magneto/Spiral/Storm/SonSon, or Sentinel Ground) ~Doom AAA (gives him a little pressure and chipping, plus it acts as a brief set-up for the AHVB) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Get that Schmuck Offscreen! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Above all, I think the most important tactic you can employ against Cable is to land 1 clean hit and immediately perform a snapback (SonSon's Snapback has great range and speed, ideal for this). I suggest bringing in that pesky AAA, so Cable will lose his necessary backup and instead be left facing your onslaught. In a lot of cases, this is going to be an AAA character whom might not rank as highly as SonSon, so you should be ok. In the case of opponents like Psylocke, Cammy, or Cyclops, you might have more problems. Might. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ (Un)assisted SonSon ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Since Cable isn't one who is likely to rush you, you won't have to worry about calling out assists on him. In fact, this is usually a bad idea, unless you are immediately superjumping to prevent Cable from attacking the assist (if he does, then you airdash behind him and take off 1/3 of his life for such a mistake). Thus, you have to be very, very careful about which assist you use and when. There are certain teams (like Spiral/Sentinel or Strider/Doom) that do not have to worry as much about their assist, since their attack plan also includes protecting that assist. SonSon is not very well equipped to handle such a task, so you're going to be facing Cable mano-a-mano for the most part. If he superjumps, then you can use certain assists to your advantage (such as Blackheart's AAA), preventing Cable from effectively attacking while leaving the assist safe. In general, assists aren't going to help you much here. Cable, Sentinel, and Storm are the top 3 characters in the game for (in my opinion) 2 main reasons - their ability to completely turn the tide of a match singlehandedly, and their ability to easily and effectively destroy assists with minimal effort. Storm has her hailstorms, Sentinel has his HSF juggles, and Cable has the AHVB. Do be careful with those assists, since they could very well mean the difference between survival and loss. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable...rushing? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable CAN rush you, sort of...if he can land 1 c.LK, he can continue the combo (c.LK, s.HK) and superjump cancel into the AHVB...and again, and again, killing you, your assist, or whoever he hit. In other words, if Cable has the meter, 1 landed c.LK can end up costing you more guaranteed life than 1 landed c.LK from Sentinel, Storm, Magneto, Spiral, Blackheart, Cyclops... the only other person in the game with that kind of sheer damage potential from 1 landed hit is Iron Man, and he lacks the ability to make it to the Top Tier because he has trouble getting inside other peoples' defenses and he can't handle runaway. ...but this is about Cable, not Iron Man! Thankfully, Cable's rushing skills are relegated to running, jumping, and wavedashing...which means his mobility is very limited, especially given his slightly larger-than-average size. You should always be aware of Cable's ability to do this, and therefore be ready to block the big lug. Learn to block high when he's jumping - if you don't, then you could very well end up dying from it. See, Cable's jumping HK has more priority than...well, a ton of attacks, more than any of SonSon's normal moves. Because of this, you are going to have to block his attack or try to counter with a Seiten Rengeki or Kingin no Hisago. I wouldn't recommend either of these, though, since - if you blow the timing or it turns out he ISN'T kicking you - Cable can block the attacks and retaliate rather handily. The surest way to make sure Cable doesn't do something stupid like start a combo xx AHVB on your assist is by superjumping away and dashing over his head. Only in specific situations would the Cable player willingly continue to attack the assist in this fashion, since he is essentially opening himself up to a world of hurt when SonSon lands. Cable can DHC into another Super to protect himself (i.e., Hyper Lightning, Hailstorm, HSF, etc), which is why it's important to keep in mind what options he has before you start exploring your own. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ King of the Guard Breaks ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ As unfortunate as it is, Cable is also quite frustrating when it comes to guard breaking. Since he has a full-screen, near-immediate jumping attack (his jumping HP gun), it is very easy for him to jump, fire, and - if he catches you blocking - immediately AHVB and take you out. You become even more aware of this problem when Cable beats your first character or snapbacks them out -- as your next character comes in, he can shoot you rather easily. If you block it, then he can jump and fire, then AHVB you before you touch the ground. Heck, I've seen Cable players that manage to time 2 jumping HP shots, thus effectively catching you even if you take the shot (he recovers quick enough to get you before you can block), or if you pushblock (thus throwing off his timing slightly). My suggestion is to simply take the shot and hope that he blows the timing, since pushblocking seems to work less often as a means of avoiding the AHVB. What happens with Cable has no meter and wants to Guard Break you? It's usually the same thing, only he'll use an assist and j.HP Viper Beam to inflict the damage. Hey, it's not as much, so you'll know what to look for. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable without Meter ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cable without any meter means he can't use the AHVB until he builds a stock or two. This means that he's going to be running away from you, hoping to use grenades, HP shots, and LP Viper Beams to keep you at bay until he can build that ever-so-precious meter he needs. This is a very bad time for Cable, since he is severly crippled in terms of offensive capabilities; however, his runaway is just as potent as it ever was (if it can be considered potent, what with how many holes there are in it). This is your chance to rush him and inflict as much damage as you can before he gets the ability to retaliate effectively. As I stated before, Cable will probably do little but jump away and fire his gun, then throw a grenade or use a LP Viper Beam. The trick to avoiding things like this is that, after each repetition, to make your move - after the grenade (or jumping LP Viper Beam), dash under his attack(s) and try to attack 'em. Of course, Cable should (and very possibly will) have an assist to give him some protection while you're rushing him. This is where things get a little sticker, as that assist is generally going to remove your ability to effectively rush Cable during those laggy-points. You're going to have to try and give yourself some room, or simply do something that throws off his timing of the attacks and the assist-calling. You don't want to be doing things that could allow your or your assist to become cannon fodder, so be ready to move! Granted, you have less to worry about if Cable has no meter, but he's still a danger. His dangerousness is seriously toned down, but he's still dangerous. The thing is, the safest thing a meter-less Cable can do is build meter by firing his gun and using his assists to back him. Remove the assists and you remove most of the problem. And how would you go about removing the assist? Simple - launch them and perform a quick combo, or Towards + HP xx HP Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan, DHCed into a safer Super (Hailstorm, HSF, Hyper Lightning, etc). These will allow for quite a bit of damage to the assist without SonSon being too open to retalation, and (after a scant 2-3 times) will make Cable very hesistant about calling that assist out any more. So, to recap: ~Cable has the ultimate Horizontal punishment, the AHVB. It's fast enough to catch you in the middle of most anything you have, so play very carefully when Cable has meter. ~Cable is vulnerable to rushing, since he has the inability to quickly halt your advances or simply run away. ~Cable on the ground = asking for punishment. s.HP x4 = REALLY asking for punishment, unless he cancels into a Psimitar or grenade. Regardless, dash in as soon as you see him moving (but don't hesistate to block if you see him try to AHVB following the Psimitar). ~Cable likes to jump away and fire his gun, then alternate between grenades and viper beams. Rush underneath either of these and make sure he can't keep you away. ~Cable can combo into the AHVB, meaning 1 c.LK can possibly be the end of your character(s). Learn to block those slower characters, please...if you cannot, then how do you hope to deal with Storm, Magneto, or any fast character that can quickly hit you with an over-head attack? ~A Hyper Viper Beam on the ground has tons of lag, practically begging you to smack him after the attack. Likewise, a DHC'ed Time Flip has a bit of start-up to it, so beat on 'em before the Flip starts. ~Cable has a weakness for rushing; however, a good AAA assist (i.e., CapCom, Cyclops, Psylocke, SonSon, etc) can easily rectify this, and in some cases give him an AHVB opportunity. Remember the fact that he has this assist and try to bait the assist, then use the opportunity to either attack Cable or the assist. ~Snapping Cable is out a beautiful, beautiful thing, especially if you're bringing in an assist character that SonSon can handle on her own. If you feel the need to, screw comboing him and go for the Snapback instead. ~Cable is the near-undisputed king of Guard Breaks...but only if you let him. Take the j.HP when your next character comes in, and hope that you are able to block in time before his AHVB connects. So there you have it - jumping Cable gives you the opportunity to dash in, a standing Cable is fodder for a jumping airdash (and if you have to block it, big deal - he has to stop shooting some time), and a superjumping Cable is asking for punishment. You know what NOT to do to Cable in the way of specials and supers, so rush that boy down and make sure he loses his edge in a hurry. Assists should be well protected or not used at all (usually the latter), and know when (and when NOT) to attack Cable's own assists. ############## ______________________=============_______________________ ################ D - Magneto #### ##### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯=============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### ##### #### #### Hoo boy, here we have a fun target. I don't care what #### #### anyone says about Iron Man...I say Magneto is the infinite #### #### king of this game. The guy is fast enough to turn 2 kicks #### #### into an infinite (actually, he has a few different #### #### infinites revolving around 2 different kicks at 2 ################ different times and places), and can set up a variety of ############## infinites off of a dozen situations...provided the Magneto player is worth their salt. Thing is, these infinites don't do that much damage, so the Mags player is going to have to pull a few resets or simply do a LOT of infinites to make it count. In my experience, half the Magneto players have a general idea of what to do, but they can't quite pull it off, while 2/5 of Magneto players know what to do, but also realize that you can probably break out of it or avoid it and thus stick to more basic stuff. They're a danger, but not as dangerous as they could be. The remaining 1/10 of Magneto players know what to do, what to do if that fails, and they don't blow their combos. If they whiff an attack, it's 'cause they want the attack to miss (i.e., resetting the combo). ...but I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. The reason people play as Magneto is because he's fast, he's mean, he has some fairly flashy combos, tons of resets, a bunch of infinites, and he can inflict moderate amounts of damage starting with one good, clean hit. This man can be an absolute pain if you don't know what to look for and what to do against 'em. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Odd Man Out ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Frankly, out of the 4 "God Tier" players, Magneto is usually the only that baffles me the most. Storm, Cable, and Sentinel can easily ream assists without getting themselves into a position where they can easily be hurt (Hailstorm, AHVB, and HSF respectively). They each have projectiles, the ability to run away or rush (moderately in Cable's case, but probably more costly if he connects), and are all good at zoning their opponents. Magneto...well...the best he can do is actually directly attacking the assist, or launching them and performing a Shockwave or Tempest. In either case, he's opening himself up to retaliation simply by superjumping over him (and/or the shockwave) and hitting him from behind. Thus, you're much more likely to see Magneto launch your assist, hit them with a HP, then airdash down and hit with another HP, HK. It's respectable damage, sure, but he's going to have to do it quite a few times to kill the assist, which means you'll have to be making the same mistake over and over. Cable, Sentinel, and Storm won't have to attack the assist as many times to kill them off, nor do they have to actually directly attack the assist. The bottom line - if he keeps doing it, learn to stop leaving the assist open the same way. Heck, if he does it more than once, stop him in his tracks by attacking him. It shouldn't be TOO hard...I hope. SonSon can dash underneath and use a Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan (or just the TT, if you prefer) and hurt him...and one good DHC (i.e., Headcrush, Hailstorm, HSF, or HVB) will be enough to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake twice. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Master of Mano-a-Mano ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Magneto may have the ability to take out just about anyone in a one-on-one perspective, but when you throw assists into they fray (and the ability to hurt the assist), he seems to falter. Not THAT much, keep in mind - he's still on the "God Tier" for a reason - but it's not as easy for him as it is for others. He gains a more potent offensive structure, but he can lose to teams that trap and/or keep him away, thanks to those assists. Sentinel/CapCom, Cable/Cyclops, and Strider/Doom can be quite a mess for him to wade through. SonSon has problems when facing him, since he has the speed to stay on top of here and the faster priority moves to keep her from doing too much. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Speed is the Key ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, the #1 thing you have to be aware of with Magneto is that he is fast. VERY fast. Look at how fast he moves across the screen with just 1 dash. No one else can even compare with that kind of speed, which means he can easily dash under your attacks or capitalize on simple mistakes just 'cause he's fast enough. His airdash is extremely fast, too, giving him the ability to rush you and suddenly superjump up, airdashing down to the other side of your and pelting you with an attack from behind before you can react. This is the exact reason people find Magneto to be so frustrating to learn (and even moreso to play against when the Mags user is good) - the timing on his abilities are extremely crucial to the point where you're going to mess up a lot more than you are going to succeed. Let's look at Magneto in progressive stages, starting with your more basic ones (and how to counter them) and moving up in the ladder of skill. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Basic Magneto ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Most people first pick up Magneto either because they want to learn his infinites, they see how damaging his Hyper Grav xx Tempest combos are, or they simply like the character and want to use 'em. Most likely, the can't appreciate Mags for what he can truly be - a king of mix-ups and mind games, all devised to make you miss a block and eat another combo. Anywho, your basic Magneto will know that they can simply perform a c.LK, c.HP (launch), aerial rave followed by a Hyper Grav xx Magnetic Tempest. This is a very potent combo...but you can mash out of the Hyper Grav and block the tempest, leaving Magneto with a wasted bar of meter. This is the first thing you need to do against Magneto players - learn to mash out of that Hyper Grav as soon as you see it. The trick is to begin mashing as soon as you hear Mags say "Hyper", then hold away from him and hope for the best. I'll not lie, it's not the easiest thing to consistently do, but it's VERY important that you learn to do so. Once you can mash out of a Hyper Tempest (as it is referred to), you've ruled out one of Magneto's many, many options. Once you take that away from you more basic Magneto players, then they don't have anything left except your basic combos and rushing. Learn to block high when he's jumping, low when he's not, and you should be fine. This can get a little more difficult when Magneto figures out how to tri-jump. Tri-jumping is the art of superjumping up, then immediately airdashing down-towards. For characters that can do this, it looks like they are jumping in a triangular fashion. Since you can be hit with jumping attacks when blocking low, this means that Magneto - as fast as he is - can quickly triangle jump and connect with a j.LK, j.LK while you're still crouchblocking. Therefore, point #2 to remember with Magneto: learn to when and how to block. This can be difficult at times, especially when Magneto has an assist to back him up, since he can cross you up quickly and force you to block in a different direction as well as a different height. ...this isn't TOO much of a problem, though, as your basic Magneto will probably blow the triangle jump and instead Superjump and throw out a HP diagonal beam. Until they can consistently airdash down-towards without messing up the motion, then they will still remain basic Magneto players. The higher levels of skill demand tight execution of this maneuver. SonSon's ability to stop Magneto's rushes are interesting enough, given the fact that she should usually be avoiding Magneto instead of directly confronting him. For starters, her Wall Climb can really mess with Magneto's rushes. You run away from him, preventing him from accurately attacking you. Since you can instantly drop out of the climb and block, you're generally safe from anything Magneto has to offer; even better is when Mags whiffs an attack of his own, in which then it's a free Wall Kick for you. If he tries to jump after you, drop and perform a Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan (or just the TT if he superjumps), or simply airdash away and follow that with a j.HP. SonSon's j.HP beats any of Magneto's ground-based moves and only loses to Magneto's j.HP (his highest-priority move) if Magneto is above her. Drop on his head with that stuff, and (if it connects) be sure to combo the dickens out of 'em. Magneto's rushes can often fall prey to SonSon's toward + HP staff extend, sending him across the screen. Since it cannot be punished by Mags if he takes the hit OR blocks it, you are sometimes safe to even throw out a Shien Bu and use it to pressure him. He'll try to jump over 'em, in which then you can either attack him or go back to dancing on the walls. Magneto's jump-ins can be foiled by the Kingin no Hisago, sucking him in even if he's performing a j.HP. The problem in this tactic lies in the fact that Mags' is fast enough to make it nigh-impossible to reflex the move on him, meaning you'll have to anticipate his jumping and attacking. If it works, then Magneto will feel like a fool and you'll get some free damage, but if it fails...well, he'll block the attack and MIGHT be able to retaliate, or he'll hit you and begin another combo. Watch out, Monkey Girl. Finally, Magnetos' HP throw encases you in Magnetic...uh...junk, preventing you from moving, attacking, or defending. Just like the Hyper Grav, it's important that you learn to mash out of this as soon as it happens. If mashes successfully, you will bounce once (a very short bounce I might add), and on the second bounce you'll break free. This prevents Magneto from dashing in and comboing you further. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Intermediate Magneto ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Ok, so Mags has started to learn more about his own abilities, as well as the fact that you're getting better at breaking out of Hyper Tempests and avoiding his regular rushes. Now things are going to get a little more complicated. The first way you'll be able to to tell if the Magneto player knows their stuff is if they launch you and, instead of performing the normal LP, LK, LP, LK combo, they hit you with a sj.HP (or HK), dash down after you, and perform a LK, LK, before landing on the ground again. For Mags, this is the beginning of a million tricks and attacks of his, including unblockable super-setups and infinites, not to mention the fact that it does more damage than your regular Aerial Raves. All a decent Magneto player needs is 1 of these set-ups to begin controlling the match and owning your character, bit by bit. Step 1 for the intermediates is this - remember what I said about learning to block? Yeah, that becomes even more important when Magneto starts to pull resets on you. If Magneto performs "The Standard" setup (launch, sj.HP/HK, airdash/down- towards, LK, LK, land), he has many options available to you. Lesson 1 is to learn what to avoid having happen to you when he tries to reset the combo on you. Resets, as I mentioned before, are intentional breaks in the combo that cause you to blow a block and allow him to restart the combo, doing more damage in 2 combos than he could have in 1 longer combo. Magneto's most basic reset is to land after 'The Standard', pause, then perform a c.LK, c.HP to relaunch. In other words, be ready to block low again, and if you see him jump/superjump, be ready to block in the appropriate direction. The next step in resets is for Mags to do The Standard, dash underneath you (crouching just as he reaches the other side of you), and performing another c.LK, c.HP to relaunch you. If you see Magneto dashing, immediately block in the other direction (low, you fool, low!). Finally, Magneto can pause and throw you, setting up for another combo or two (but I'll get to handling throws in a minute). Mags can also perform a variety of switch-ups meant to keep you guessing, such as superjumping and hitting you with a LK, dashing down beneath you and landing to hit you from the other side. With utmost importance, you MUST learn to watch Mags and block in the appropriate direction. It would be impossible for me to list all the possible resets and tricks he can use, so I'll just say...watch out! Magneto is probably the most successful person in the game when it comes to OTG combos. (OTG means "Off The Ground", meaning that as your character hits the ground, you are bounced up and rejuggled for more hits and such.) He has 4 things of his own that can cause you to drop to the ground like this: ~his HK throw, ~his Magnetic Tempest super (the magnetic chunks), ~his c.HK, and ~'The Standard', but instead of LK, LK, he performs a LK, HP/HK. This actually initiates the flying screen, but since Magneto is so close, he can OTG you easily. Of the 4, the last one is the least of your worries -- by hitting his opponent with more than 2 hits in the air and finishing with a HP/HK, the game sends them flying (via the "flying screen", making them fall to the ground). If he performs The Standard and does this, then he can only follow this with a c.LK, c.HK. Thus, he's not going to get much damage out of it, and you're going to be in fairly good shape (unless you were too weak to take even that much). The c.HK isn't much of a worry for intermediate Magneto players, since they won't want to use an attack that effectively ends their combo-spree. ...but the first 2 can be nightmares, especially when you throw in assists that also send you Deadweight to the ground. ("Deadweight", by the way, is the term used when you are hit with an attack that causes you to fall to the ground without the ability to recover in air, while "Unfly" is when you are still able to recover; Unfly is Sentinel's best friend, while Deadweight is Magneto's. Be careful.) Magneto is fast enough to catch you as you hit the ground with a c.LK, c.HK and pop you back up for another attack. He has a multitude of ways to follow this, including Hyper Grav xx Launcher (combo) or even a s.HK xx Shockwave. Your concern is not that of how he follows the move as much as it is that you roll as soon as you hit the ground, preventing him from OTGing you in the first place. Don't know how to roll? Roll from AWAY to DOWN and press either a punch or a kick, and you'll roll to safety. You cannot be OTGed if you roll (unless Magneto has his c.LK out right as you land on it, in which then you cannot roll since he successfully juggled you). Magneto's at the intermediate level (and, to some extent, basic ones) tend rely on Assists, most commonly Psylocke (AAA), Cyclops (AAA), Sentinel (Projectile or Ground), Storm (Projectile), Iron Man (Projectile or AAA), T. Bonne (Projectile), and Spiral (Ground). Generally ones that either pin you long enough for him to hit you, or ones that cause Deadweight damage. Once they realize you're not going to fall for basic rushing, they have to resort to throwing in assists in conjunction with their attacks to make them connect as well. ~~Iron Man's AAA gives Mags the ability to be rather aggressive while calling them out, trying to cross you up and make you miss a block that will send you to the ground or calling him out and using his ranged attack to catch you off guard and OTG you. As long as SonSon hits Iron Man before his beams hit him, she's good to go. Her towards + HP pole smash works well here, and can be cancelled into more damaging moves (i.e., Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan, DHC'ed into something more painful and safe). ~~Cyclops sets you up for brief air combos, and covers a good portion of the horizontal ground area when doing so, while Storm, Sentinel (Ground) and Iron Man (Projectile) can set him up for more ground-based combos by hitting you with their projectile/ground assists and keeping you pinned. ~~Magneto/Sentinel is also effective when Sentinel is on Projectile, giving Magneto the ability to immediately launch you and tack on more damage to the assist's sizeable amount of pain. Heck, Magneto can even be a mess if he picks Bonerine (Boneclaw Wolverine)'s sliding assist, giving him the ability to cross you up while calling out an assist that hits low. Know your opponent AND what his assists can do, or else you're sunk. ~~Magneto with Tron Bonne's Projectile assist gives him some very, VERY painful resets and cross-ups. If you blow the block, you'll not only lose 1/5 - 1/3 of your life, but Magneto will be free to start up another combo on you. If he opts for a Magnetic Tempest instead, you're as good as dead. Heck, if you've seen the Soo/Viscant matches (best of 7), watch how much damage 1 regular combo w/Tron does to Cyclops. 50% done in, like, 5-6 hits is so painful, it's almost unfair. ~~Spiral (Ground) is an interesting choice for Magneto, since she provides tons of meter for Mags...but Mags tends to provide himself with plenty anyways. The 3rd member of the team (usually Storm) has to benefit Spiral, or else she simply won't be able to hit her potential...however, her use to benefit Magneto can be downright scary (go watch some videos of Soo's Mags/Storm/Spiral to see what I'm talkin' about). Spiral, blocked or hit, pins them down so that Soo can tag you high or low on either side of you, essentially forcing you so that you cannot afford to blow a single block or else you immediately eat a huge combo. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Mags/Psylocke ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Magneto with Psylocke's AAA assist get their own section, really, due to their common use and general danger to you. Magneto is fast, and so is her assist, so she isn't out long enough to be in that much trouble if blocked; likewise, Magneto is fast enough to keep hammering you and keep you from hitting her, and has the necessary speed to start a combo should she connect. Psylocke also gives him the ability to extend his combos or set them up slightly differently, as well as make his Magnetic Tempest a combo attack WITHOUT the escapable Hyper Grav. Using The Standard, Magneto can land, s.HK while calling out Psylocke, cancel into the Tempest off of 1 hit of the HK, and Psylocke will act as a buffer between the moves so that you'll combo directly into it. (Since Psylocke hits with Deadweight force, you can't recover and block it. This holds true for a few other assists as well, such as Ken's Expansion or Iron Man's AAA.) With Psylocke, Magneto can also make his resets even more difficult by bringing in attacks from different positions. Think about this - since Magneto is resetting the combo (which you can only have 1 connected Assist per combo), that means he can use Psylocke again if he resets the combo. Once again, I can only stress that blocking correctly is the way to go, since Psylocke doesn't hit low, and that rolling is very, very important. Hope Magneto misses the c.LK! SonSon, at this level of the game, is most likely against Magneto for one of two reasons: 1) Your point character was snapped out and SonSon was snapped in. 2) You are down to your last character, whom happens to be SonSon. At any rate, you do NOT want SonSon playing against a Magneto of this calibur (or higher), since Magneto has the skill level and ability to effectively mess you up. As long as you're blocking correctly, there's not much Magneto can do except hope for a throw or a missed block. From there, you're back to messing him up with wall climbs and your s.HP or Towards + HP, looking for a silly mistake that can be capitalized on by a Tenchi Tsuukan (DHCed into a better character), or simply trying to land a clean hit and snapping HIM out. Your Seiten Rengeki may outprioritize any of his attacks, aerial or not, but if he blocks it (or it whiffs) then Magneto has a free combo, courtesy of your mistake. At full screen, you are marginally safe to use a Shien Bu, but use caution when doing so. I suggest the Tiger-Knee Shien Bu, followed by an airdash backwards cancelled into a HP. It's fairly safe and allows SonSon to throw out those projectiles and protect herself within reasonable limits. If you jump too high, he can cross underneath you; too low and he can jump the monkeys and hit you with a j.HP. However, Magneto can easiliy superjump away and airdash over them, meaning your follow-up will have to be swift. The Kingin no Hisago has to practically be a psychic move to be effective, since Mags is fast enough to block the attack, then dash in and retaliate while you are still in the lag-frames of the move. Therefore, you'd have to do the move just soon enough to catch Magneto as he's attacking, which is usually before he has even attacked; thus, a decent Mags could stop himself from attacking when he saw the move, then attack you. Don't do it, man. In the way of Supers, you really want to avoid using any of them unless you're DHCing or comboing into them. It's very, very risky, but you can perform SonSon's POW super as a ghetto Anti-Air move, stopping his jump-ins with the super; however, this can also be very bad for SonSon, since - if blocked - she is going to be in a world of hurt when Mags gets near her again. The only assist I can think of that would aid you here would be Doom's AAA, and even then Magneto can simply perform a Shockwave and get you both. The Seiten Rengeki has enough startup for Mags to dash in and hit you before the staff drops, and the Hyper En'ou can be jumped over and (before you can turn around) attacked from behind with a Magnetic Tempest. Only if Magneto is unable to effectively jump over you should you use the move, and even then it's risky - you'd better block when the move ends, since Mags WILL be rushing you. Magnetos at this level are quite a pain to deal with, and you're going to have to do all the damage you can and hope for the best. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Expert Magneto ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ These are the guys that you're not likely to face unless you're from California or New York, since Magnetos of this calibur can only really be created from prolongued exposure to high-level gameplay. If the gameplay in your area isn't that high, then the players don't have to work themselves to be much better if what they are currently doing gets the job done well enough. Since Magneto can often be effective enough at the intermediate level (and, in some cases or areas of the country, even basic Magnetos can run the gamit quite well), Experts are few and far between. What makes an expert Magneto, you might say? First off, they know the character. I mean, KNOW the character...it's like watching someone use A- Groove in Capcom vs. SNK 2, or a decent Yun player with Genei'Jin in SF3: Third Strike: they know what moves to use and when, how the other character will respond, and know exactly how to adjust their tactics or which moves to switch to in order to continue the combo or start up another set. Sure, this holds true for every character in every fighting game, but Mags in MvC2 seems to hold some sort of twisted edge in terms of improvisational combos and tactics. Within the myriad of linking combos and attacks that Mags utilizes, there lies room for error and room for spontaneous changes without dropping the flow of the attack; if the Magneto player isn't dropping these options, then you know you're fighting someone that knows their Magneto. ...but maybe I get ahead of myself. Magneto at this level will be using infinites on you, to be sure, and some of these infinites are downright scary. The standard is no longer your greatest fear, since it often ends up just being a set-up for resets (which you should have learned a few by now). The problem with infinites is that Magneto can start up a combo and continue it indefinitely, doing minute damage the entire time. The problem with this arises when you realize that he's setting you up in a rhythm, making you feel every blow of his combo and experience the timing of it...so that when he resets it, you are caught completely off-guard and he only needs 1 more combo - the one he just started up - to kill you off. Magneto has dozens of infinites and even more ways of setting them up, making everything from a simple air-combo to a c.HK sweep the catalyst for something greater. This is where the culmination of your efforts come into play, as you'll have to learn to mash, block, and roll your way around whatever Mags is doing and hopefully stop him before he can hit you again. And Again. Since this isn't a Magneto FAQ, it would be a little ridiculous to tell you how to do each of his infinites, or even what all of them are; instead, I will list a few of his more common ones (that pertain to SonSon, since he has infinites specific to larger characters), what some common set-ups are, and how to hopefully avoid them. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Infinite #1 - the ROM Infinite ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Created for the Japanese player "ROM" who busted this out, much to everyones' surprise...and then it was immediately ripped off by every wannabe Magneto player (much to no one's surprise). Anywho, it's very basic - Magneto knocks you down towards the ground, then performs d.LK, d.LK to juggle you. He then superjumps back up and performs another LK, LK, before airdashing back down again and hitting another d.LK, d.LK. Repeat. The beauty of this infinite is that, while it isn't THAT easy to set up, it can be done for quite a lengthy period of time, or until Magneto opts to try for a reset. There are a good number of resets involved with this infinite, such as: ~Airdashing past/beneath you on the jump up, then hitting you from the other side, ~Dashing down and hitting you once, then pausing followed by a throw, ~Dashing underneath instead of jumping, ~Calling in an assist while dashing underneath, triangle-dashing back across... In general, the usual "make you blow a block so I can hit you again" sort of thing, only now he has a tool to force your attention onto something else instead of where and when the reset will come into play. The ROM infinite has a few practical ways of being put into play, thanks to Magneto's speed and uncanny ability to guardbreak you right from the start. Mags is fast enough to beat out most anyone with his c.LK, which means he can start off with a combo; thus, he can do 'The Standard' and follow that up with the ROM infinite. If you jump and block, however, you're in just as much trouble, as Mags can superjump LK, airdash down-towards, d.LK, d.LK, and it's infinite time once again 'cause he guard-broke you. Isn't he wonderful? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Infinite #2: The Deus Infinite ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Granted, this infinite is extremely difficult to do on the likes of Sentinel, but it IS possible for shorter characters, and it makes for a decent tactic all by itself for rushing. The Deus Infinite (named for Deus, who successfully landed it on Duc Do's Sentinel in tournament play) simply has Magneto superjumping with a HK, then immediately airdashing down-towards and throwing out another HK. sj.HK xx ad/df HK, sj.HK xx ad/df HK...good damage and VERY fast. This infinite is not something you are likely to see, per se -- you'll see Magneto doing the movement for a variety of purposes, but usually not as the infinite itself. By doing a sj.HK, airdash/down-away HK, he can quickly build meter and leave the ground for only a brief moment. Likewise, he can rush you with sj.HK, airdash down/down-toward/toward you with a HP or HK and make himself very difficult to keep up with. He can effectively close the gap between the two characters while remaining fully volatile, which becomes extremely helpful against characters that can't get away from him or don't have the ability to fend rushing (i.e., Cable and Sentinel). Sure, it's not really going to be used as an infinite, but the properties remain the same for the attack. If you see him doing this, go ahead and use a LP Seiten Rengeki (when he's above you, preferably). It should be unpunishable in most instances, and if he's caught in the middle of a kick/punch when you're using it, that's a free Tenchi Tsuukan (and possible DHC) for you. By the by, it IS possible to change-up this "infinite", performing j.HP instead of j.HK, or using LK to touch the ground quicker. On the likes of Sentinel, you'll probably see Magneto do sj.HK xx ad/df, LK, HK over and over, using the LK to give a little more time between HKs. It's a little easier to do (at least for me) than your standard infinite. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Infinite #3: The Slide Infinite ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ In my opinion, this is the hardest universal infinite that Magneto has, and with good cause. As you know, the game supports a very, very high level of cancellability, not just allowing normals into normals, specials, and supers, but giving a lot of lee-time on when you begin the cancel. As such, that means that moves you normally wouldn't be able to cancel - given the right timing - can be cancelled into other attacks. For characters like Magneto, whom are fast enough to make this matter in a fight, that means he can turn his c.HK into a devastating attack. Now, your intermediate Mags might learn about the ability to cancel off of a c.HK, usually through an OTG xx Hyper Grav. What they might not realize is that the Hyper Grav will miss larger targets (unless cancelled into a Magnetic Tempest, but you should be mashing out of those by now); plus, there are several other options he has off of a successful c.HK. A more basic Magneto might superjump off of the c.HK, delivering a sj.HK, then dash down after you and perform 'The Standard'. (Granted, it has to be faster, but it's possible.) This can be changed, of course, by instead sj. cancelling off of the c.HK and going right into the ROM Infinite. However, none of these are the slide infinite. As you might have already guessed, the slide infinite requires Magneto performing multiple c.HKs. In order to do that, he superjump cancels, then almost-instantly airdashes down-away. Now, as you've probably seen with Magneto (if you've been using him before), if you airdash down to the ground, he'll actually hover a bit before touching down. Due to this momentary hovering, Mags cannot actually land and hit his opponent again with a slide...however, if Magneto perform a LP or LK, the animation is much, much sorter than that of the hover. Thus, Magneto can airdash down-away and hit LP (or LK, which seems to be more commonly used), then land and immediately perform a c.LK, c.HK. The LK juggles them and the HK retrips them, not acting as an OTG but instead hitting them before they reach the ground again. Think of it as a 2-button juggle, even though you're actually pressing a bevy of buttons in the span of one second. What makes this infinite so bad? Well, Magneto slides forward when he performs a c.HK, meaning if you were to do something that ended up whiffing and he were just out of range, but didn't want to walk right up and get himself hit, he could c.HK trip them and immediately begin performing an infinite. He can then interweave other infinites, making you guess when the changeup is going to take place and where he's going to try and reset you. For example, if one Magneto were to perform a Magnetic Tempest and the other Magneto immediately SJ xx ad/df around him, he couldn't simply hit him 'cause he would end up striking one of the magnetic chunks; however, a c.HK leaves him perfecty safe AND opens the door to an infinite. Want even more frustration? Magneto can connect with a c.HK, then immediately superjump cancel, airdash down with a LK to tap you, then go right into the infinite from there. He doesn't need any deadweight damage or a HK throw to start it, he can just trip you and start the infinite over and over. Isn't this fun? I didn't think so. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Throwdown ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Finally, one should mention Magneto's proficiency with throws, since they are very, very handy in the right hands. His HP throw can set up a bunch of attacks, provided you don't mash out of it; thus, he has to try and hit you before you bounce a 2nd time. That's all fine and good, since he will usually do nothing or throw out a HP Disruptor. If he has enough meter, though, he can Magnetic Tempest DHC into something that can hit you before you're safe, like a HVB, HSF, Proton Cannon, Hailstorm, etc). His HK throw, as already discussed, is potent if you don't roll it...and sometimes, the Magneto player anticipates your rolling and dashes backwards to catch you as a you stand up and throw/combo you again. Here, again, is where your reflexes and better judgement will have to come into play, as there's not sure-thing against him (he could hit low, triangle-jump to hit high, or throw you). These Magneto players stink to play against with SonSon, 'cause you're just going to have to learn to watch everything and try to block whatever you can. Magnetos of any caliber are good at staying in your face, so SonSon's best option is actually to run away. That's right, run -- sj.HP, airdash, keep away from him, and do whatever you can to avoid that first hit. Find your safest moves against him and abuse them, 'cause you're not going to want to try and start countering whatever he does. He has too much he can do, and it's too easy to mix it up and force you into a bad position. Heck, if SonSon were any bigger, Mags would gain even MORE infinites and ways to set 'em up, so be thankful it's not as bad as it could be! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ How Good is YOUR Magneto? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Attention Potter, Soo, Wong, If you're fighting a Magneto that is proficient with at least 1 infinite, then you can safely assume that they're going to know a couple of resets and will try them on you. No one I've seen sticks out any of his infinites for the full 50+ hits, since they do rather paltry damage on your average character. No, every Mags I've seen likes to get greedy, trying to reset you or do something silly like Hyper Grav Magnetic Tempest (HGMT)'s. As long as you're good at rolling and mashing out of throws and Hyper Gravs, then you've removed some very potent tools of his; he's going to have to get very good in order to earn new tools to make up the difference. Anywho, your basic Magneto will do nothing but mindlessly rush and try to hit you with c.LKs and a launcher. Pushblock the launcher and harm him, or simply wait for him to mess something up (which they always do) and launch xx Seiten Rengeki xx Tenchi Tsuukan him somethin' fierce. There might also be random supers; feel free to retaliate to these however you feel most necessary (Hyper En'ou and POW are both fun uses, although it's probably better to just SJ over a shockwave instead of countering it). The next logical step in Magneto's repetoire is actually learning how to use the Air Dash effectively, whether it's in a combo or used to triangle jump. If they perform an aerial combo with no dash OR a Hyper-Grav, then they're not too good; if they airdash to extend the combo and end it with a HP/HK, they're getting better. Magneto players usually then learn to attempt the HGMT, usually in air combos. This is all fine and good, but you need to make sure they know you can mash out of those immediately, and that they shouldn't waste their time. This means that Mags is going to have to learn other ways of doing those (i.e., with assists) or he'll be forced to resort to his regular combos to do damage. This is when Mags players usually go back to using the air-dash, either to try and reset you or to get 'The Standard' down. Learn the resets, and hope you don't get caught in 'The Standard'. As Magneto players progress, they learn the usefulness of assists - assists like Sentinel and T. Bonne Projectile and for damaging combos, and Psylocke, Iron Man, and Cyclops AAA for combo set-ups and HGMTs. These can either be handled by taking out the assist, snapping out Mags, or simply blocking the assist and hoping Mags doesn't protect them too well (and thus hurting them even more). Psylocke and IM are very troubling when Mags realizes he can do 'The Standard', s.HK w/assist call xx Magnetic Tempest, and have it connect. No Hyper Gravs, no mashing, just damage (and an OTG if you're not paying attention). Remember - SonSon can't be tripped or knocked down when in Hyper En'ou form, so punish the assist if you so choose...the best Magneto can do is a Magnetic Tempest, which will be a fair-enough trade considering what you'll end up doing to the assist. Once you see some careful assist-uses (or simply the act of picking Psylocke/Cyclops AAA), you can reasonably assume that your opponent knows how to use them. They both require being in range, so unless you have an assist that can stop Psylocke or Cyclops, you'd best simply try to avoid Magneto's assist uses and retort on every mistake made. If your opponent builds meter via the Deus Infinite, or they display the signs of knowing how to do any of his infinites (and actually do any of 'em, come to think of it), then you know you're facing a Magneto that's worth their salt. Granted, it's possible to play Magneto players that are only skillful with Magneto, yet don't know how to effectively employ these strategies in fights...but if they can do 'em, that's just as dangerous as a Cable with a bar of meter. They can turn a single mistake into something fiercely punishing, which is why you have to learn to block. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Guard-Breaks and Dodges ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Magneto may not have the consistent guard-breaks that Cable, Iron Man, and Sentinel do, but he can mix things up a-plenty to make sure you die as soon as you touch the ground. Your most common guard-break is having Mags superjump HK, then airdash down-towards with a variety of LK's, HP's, or HKs to continue pummelling you. Once he has you in the corner, you can expect a lot of quick triangle jumping to try and keep you pressed in the corner while he bats you left and right...and if he goes for a HK throw, you could very well be in for the end of your character. It is also common for Mags to dash underneath you so that you appear on the opposite side of him upon entering, blindsiding you. Keep him away from you and do what you can to kill the pest before he can get to you first. Thankfully, Magneto lacks the ability to effectively chip, and his projectiles aren't the greatest in the world, so if you're good enough at blocking whatever the fool has to offer, then you SHOULD be ok. Should be. However, that's really, REALLY not likely, so get someone better in there and try not to mess up when doing so. I'd give a recap, but I get the feeling that all it would amount to is "Learn to block", "avoid getting thrown", and "keep Mags away from you". Oddly enough, your best option for dealing with Magneto is running away from him and snapping him out in favor of an opponent SonSon could hope to better fight. ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ -----------------------III - The Top Tier------------------------ ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ Presented alphabetical order, the God Tier presents 4 characters that - while each great in their own ways - cannot quite seem to surpass those top 4 characters. Yes, some characters might beat other in one-on-one matches, but if you throw assists into the fray (which this game seems to be all about), the entire thing is thrown askew. The God Tier, with assists, seem to be insurmountable...however, don't count out the Top Tier characters! In the right hands, they can be just as deadly as those godly ones listed above (if not moreso in some cases). There are other characters that arguably deserve to be in the Top Tier, such as Blackheart, Iron Man, Dhalsim, Psylocke, War Machine, Cammy, SonSon, Vega...however, this includes the use of assists as well as without, which can often make-or-break these characters. They all have something that sets them apart from most everyone else, allowing them to surpass their fellow roster, and that's what I'm here to discuss now. By the by, you might be wondering why I no longer list Blackheart, Iron Man, or Dhalsim in the Top Tier category; this is because they really aren't Top Tier characters anymore. Dhalsim still takes hits like a girl, and he really doesn't gain enough from Guard Cancelling to become that much more effective than he already was. At least he doesn't lose anything...thus, he stays right where he is in the listing, firmly planted as the best CapCom character out there (aside from Strider, whom I think he beats). Iron Man - whom I personally would consider to be a solid Top-Tier character - just isn't widely recognized (outside of Japan) as being that great a character. He has above-average rushing and running abilities, decent air combos, somewhat decent chipping and trapping (sans his Proton Cannon), and his infinite can lead to the death of all 3 of your characters. However, he just doesn't get the cred he deserves. Oh well. Back in the day, Blackheart had a fierce keepaway-game, good chipping, and an excellent AAA for trapping...however, since then people have figured out tons of ways around his demons and his chipping has mostly been removed thanks to Guard Cancelling. This leaves...uh...his AAA, which - while good - is no basis for making a character a Top-Tier player. If I were to go by that rationale alone, then T. Bonne, CapCom, Cammy, Ken, and a host of others would be Top Tier as well. No dice, folks. Deal with it. ################ _______________________=============_______________________ ################ E - Cyclops ### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯=============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ### ############## There is something to be said for characters that are very, ############## very safe to play as. Cyclops is arguably the safest guy ### in the game, due to his high-priority (and FAST) normals, ### fast (and safe) projectiles that can hit anywhere on the ### playfield, easy meter-building, good chipping, high damage, ################ and a great assist. If you want a good beginner character, ################ I wouldn't think of going any further than Cyclops - he is great for learning the basics of the game, and has an all- encompassing game that is easily workable on the higher levels of gameplay. This, of course, is very, very bad if you're playing against him...so let's see if we can't figure out how to debunk the optic wonder. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 1 - Priority Rules ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cyclops has loads of priority to just about every move he has. Maybe it's because some of his attacks seem to stretch a little further than they actually do, but the fact remains that he is probably going to stop you cold rather than trade hits. How important is this? Well, let's take a look at some of his higher-priority normals and how he uses 'em: j.HK - A wide, circular kick where Cyc completely flips backward, slamming his feet upwards (and into you, if applicable). Very fast, decent range, high priority. j.HP - Cyclops' sideways fist bash, for some strange reason, seems to have loads of priority to it. I've seen him trade off with Sentinel's jumping HP...and beating a move like that is VERY impressive in terms of priority. As with any of his other attacks, it is pretty much instantaneous, too. jd.HP - That jumping HP of his is just as potent if you hold down in mid-leap. Ol' One-Eye smacks downward with a quick hammerfist. Once again, very fast. jd.HK - This is THE Priority jump-in, lemme tell ya. Cyc's double-leg jump in is one of the higher-priority jump-ins in the game, beating out just about any standing normal you can think of (and even quite a few specials, supers, etc). It's disgusting, really. s.HK - Cyc actually has 2 standing HK's, the initial kick and then a flip-kick (similar to his jumping neutral HK). Although the hit detection on his first HK is rather small, the priority is pretty good. His 2nd HK, however, is the one you really need to watch out for. Its wide arc allows for hitting small and large targets alike, crouching or jumping fools...and it's quite fast. oc.HK - Cyclops' mini-launcher, his down-towards HK attack, is pretty much an instaneous attack; furthermore, since it is faster than, say, certain characters' LP/LK attacks, this means they'll beat those out in speed and outprioritize the rest. What's even worse (for you) is that Cyc crouches when doing this, so he's an even smaller target...and his attack will probably take out whatever you're doing. Now, why are these attacks bad news for you? It's simple - if you're jumping and he follows you, he has the necessary attacks to stop whatever you're doing. If he's running at you on the ground, he has the range, speed, and priority to stop a lot of attacks that you could mount from there. If he's jumping in on you, he has attacks with the range and speed to stop most counter-measures you would go for. This gives Cyclops free reign to attack you at just about any point of your offense, giving him a potent offensive defense - you can't stop him 'cause he has moves that will stuff tons of your own abilities. Sure, he may not have the instant-mistake killing ability of Cable, the sheer damage of Sentinel, or the maneuverability of Storm...but good luck cracking his gameplan. You can't really jump in on Cyclops much. Look at it this way - SonSon's best jump-in attack is her j.HP, which tends to beat out tons of ground-based attacks and specials. The only times she loses, really, is when she faces off against a projectile, an attack that is invincible, or an attack that hits her (body) rather than her staff. Thus, she beats out Cyclops quite a bit... however, his oc.HK launcher makes Cyc very small, and can actually give him the necessary range and priority to avoid getting hit by the staff and clubbing SonSon instead (thus going into a painful infinite). Sure, SonSon is more likely to win out here...but don't assume it's a guaranteed hit. In most cases, your opponents' best bet would be to simply block and wait for an opening to retaliate; against the likes of Storm or Cyclops, her odds of winning out against their HK launchers aren't as good. Against the rest of his maneuvers, they are fast and - unfortunately - don't have enough lag for SonSon to easily punish. At least...not unless you know what to look for and what moves to use after certain attacks of his own. His jumping attacks have tons of priority against the rest of the cast; however, unless he's directly above you and coming down with a d.HK, then he's not going to be able to beat out SonSon's j.HP (he'd have to be in your face for any of his other moves to beat her HP, which wouldn't happen because he'd be well within range for the HP to stop him first). Furthermore, SonSon is nigh unpunishable by Cyc if she tries to halt the airborne Cyclops with a Seiten Rengeki - if it connects, then it's a free Tenchi Tsuukan follow-up, if it's blocked then he can't retaliate in time, and if it's whiffed...well, his only way of catching you is with an Super Optic Blast, tracking your movements. Even THIS is dangerous, since - if he can't catch you in time - you can run underneath (remember, the Seiten Rengeki has no lag once you land) and Tenchi Tsuukan him before his beam gets you. Now, the problem with Cyclops' rushing you is that SonSon doesn't have anything that out-and-out beats his d.HK jump-in, so she has to block his attacks and hope for the best. Yes, the Seiten Rengeki, Tenchi Tsuukan, POW!, Hyper En'ou, and Kingin no Hisago can beat out his jump-in...but all of them have too much lag to 'em. If you guess incorrectly and Cyclops blocks instead of attacks, then he has free reign to trash you during the lag of any of these moves. Thus, SonSon effectively has no options against a jump-in from Cyclops aside from blocking (or the ground crawl...but he can get you as you come out of that, too). Make sure all you do is block, then. The bottom line - Cyclops has loads of priority where ever he goes...but SonSon's j.HP can beat him out at crucial times. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 2 - Damaging Combos ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cyclops may not be the damage wizard that Cable, Sentinel, Iron Man, Magneto, Storm (et al) are, but he can do a fair amount on his own. Cyclops' bread-and- butter combos usually follow the same gameplan: Jump-in (usually d.HK), 3 ground hits (using variations of LP, LK, and HK), HK Cyclone Kick xx Super Optic Blast. Not too terribly damaging, but even if it's blocked then he is 99% safe. So despite its lower-than-average damage (60+ damage is nothing to sniff at, really), its safety is key - the only way Cyclops ISN'T safe after this combo is if you guard cancelled during the attack, then used the minute lag on the move to attack within. This is difficult enough to do, and only certain maneuvers will effectively counter it - since you're pushed away, SonSon is too far away for conventional means, so she would have to guard-cancel, then dash in an Towards + HP Pole Smash him (or frame-kill him with a Tenchi Tsuukan xx Fast-Start Super). Let's face it, it's just not feasible in a fight, so we might as well consider it a 100% maneuver. Thankfully, it doesn't do that much chip (unless you really mash the dickens out of it). Now, suppose Cyclops wants to do more chip than actual damage. That's fine - ol' One-Eye can cancel the first hit of the Cyclone Kick into a Mega Optic Blast, which does loads of chip. The problem with this, as you'll quickly notice, is that it has quite a bit more lag than the SOB, so it is easier to retaliate upon. Unlike the SOB, furthermore, the MOB does not push you back; thus, if it is blocked, Cyclops will do quite a bit of chip damage...but he'll be right next to you AND stuck in lag, ready to be hurt during those end frames. Because of this, Cyclops will only resort to this maneuver if he's at a full-screen's distance (so that you won't be able to catch him, despite the lag), or if you are so low on life that he can chip you to death. It's simply not as safe...so if you encounter someone that readily uses this when you have more than enough life or are close enough to catch him, make sure you let him know that it was a bad maneuver. Another problem with Cyclops is that, if he manages to land a combo with you blocking but your assist caught, he can continue right into the SOB and take a bit of damage off of your assist. Since it won't mean much chip damage, you might as well pushblock it and allow the assist to book it out of there. If you can guard cancel it as well and turn it into a full-blown countermeasure, then go for it. Assist punishment really sucks, yo. Supposing Cyclops makes the mistake of going for a Cyclone Kick when he doesn't have meter? Well, that's a sticky wicket - there's just enough time to dash in and launch him for a combo, or pole smash xx frame kill for an insult. Generally, either take the chip damage and hope you're close enough to retaliate. SonSon doesn't have anything that can beat him out here, so he tends to hold the advantage. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 3 - Watch out for that Infinite! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Landed hits mean trouble for you, even if they are blocked (free chip) or not. So what happens if Cyclops can't land a ground combo (into a MOB or SOB), but manages to launch you? There's more trouble afoot, as Cyc has an infinite. That's right, the one-eyed-wonder can kick you up into the air, then repeatedly club you with attacks as you fall back to Earth. Since he doesn't hit with any HP or HK attacks, that means he never encurs flying screen...which means he is free to oc.HK relaunch you, then jump back up and continue the infinite. That's anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 your life, not counting finishers or resets. So if Cyclops needs Meter - which, as I'll cover in a bit, he should NEVER be hurting for - then he can land an infinite and take off a very good sized chunk of your life AND build loads of meter. However, it can get worse, as Cyclops has resets to the infinite. First off, he can simply pause upon landing, allowing the hit-counter to reset, then relaunch you. Logically, blocking is your best friend in this matter. However, Cyclops is above such petty tactics...so block low, or else you could find yourself getting reset by a pause, c.LK, LP reset. Block low or else you could find yourself back in the infinite. Now, if you can't pull a high-low mix-up, that means throws are going to come into play, which is precisely what Cyclops uses for a most excellent reset. Cyc is frequently paired with Sentinel, and Sentinel usually has his Ground Assist paired up (since the two characters work VERY well together, so here is what you need to watch for - if Cyclops lands a Leg Throw backwards into Sentinel's Ground assist, it will combo cleanly...and Cyc can oc.HK relaunch you, successfully taking off over 100 points of damage with the 2 infinites. That's definitely nothing to sniff at, nossir; furthermore, there was no meter used (tons built, though), so he is fully stocked at this point and ready to punish you quite handily. My best advice towards this situation is to know that Cyclops (if he has Sentinel-Ground on his back) may try for the reset, so when you hit the ground be ready to hit Towards + HK to break the throw. It's either that or avoiding the infinite, which certainly wouldn't hurt. Cyclops can also reset the combo with a rather interesting mix-up. If, prior to hitting the ground, he decides to pull off a j.HK, this will cause you to slam into the ground (not too far from where he lands) and Flying Screen will occur. The problem with this, of course, is that Cyclops cannot use any cancellable moves...but his standing HP Optic Bullet is fair game. This means that you suddenly hit the ground, and - before you can effectively realize it - Cyclops has launched an optic bullet at you. This will cause 90% of players to reflexively block...but they all block high, meaning that Cyc can run right up to you and hit you with a c.LK (you didn't block low!) and start it all up again. The point to remember is that blocking low is your friend. Finally, Cyclops has a couple of other ways to finish the infinite. He can simply AC you, ending with HP/HK, and let that be the end of it...but there are more damaging ways to stop it, which is why you're more likely to see Cyclops go for something else. If you see a combo with a slight pause to it - remember, Cyc needs to be near-constantly attacking to upkeep the infinite - then a throw is coming, so be ready to hit Towards + HP to break that throw. When you near the ground, he may opt to go for a LP Gene Splice xx MOB, tacking on a little more damage to that combo of his. If he reset it, then this is the icing on the cake...so make sure you can do what you can to avoid letting it happen, and - should it land - know of where to break it and how to do so. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 4 - Oh, That Crazy Meter Builder ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Ok, you already saw me mention Cyclops' speed of aerial attacks. Since HP and HK tend to build meter quicker than LP or LK (and, obviously, you don't want to be taking hits to build meter), and Cyclops is relatively free to run away from you and superjump HK repeatedly...that means he's going to build meter quite quickly. Furthermore, he is pretty darn safe (99% of the time, only against certain characters and in certain situations) when it comes to burning meter, which means Cyclops is constantly building meter and, in turn, burning it for free chip and/or damage. So what can you do to stop him? Unfortunately, there is little you can do to prevent him from these tactics. When he goes off jumping and kicking, as he is prone to do, it's difficult for characters like Storm or Magneto to stop him from these assaults; he's quick enough to stop and block anything you do directly (like jumping and chasing him), and Cyclops players are USUALLY smart enough to stop your set-ups from below with a fire-and-forget MOB. However, if he lacks the meter (or the intelligence) to make this move, then you can cross 'em up or lay a trap or two. The first is obvious - Shien Bu, then use the pressure game to try and cross him up, fake him into landing on 'em, or hold him just long enough to airdash --> land a jump-in (and follow with a combo). Jumping after him, you do carry the advantage with SonSon's j.HP...provided you have it out there when he tries to sock you back. This can create a few mindgames within itself, as - if blocked - he can't react quick enough (even with the MOB) to catch you; however, you have to have the move out before you're in range for one of his speedy attacks to knock you cold. Specials are out for both of you, since Cyc probably won't hit with his Optic Blast (and a whiffed one could give you enough time to land a Tenchi Tsuukan) and almost all of SonSon's attacks can easily be reciprocated upon by a MOB. No good for you. Now, SonSon CAN catch 'em from below with a Seiten Rengeki. The thing about this is...he has to be high-up enough so that you can safely land before he can counter. You'll remember that I suggested doing this when he's jumping in on you, and the reason for this is because - in this instance - he is getting hit by the middle-to-latter portion of the move (when SonSon is near or at her apex), so she lands (and is blocking) before he can retaliate. When he's jumping at her, she is in the air longer due to her start time, and thus she can be hit. So remember SonSon's placement when performing this maneuver (and, better yet, check and see if he has meter...wait, nevermind, you should probably consider Cyclops as ALWAYS having a bar of meter on hand). On the ground, Cyclops can probably get a couple of HKs in before you are able to stop him (at a full screen's distance)...unless you make it very clear that you will not allow him to do so, and continue to pressure him with Pole Smashes and the like. Problem is...he can play defensively very, very well, so this ends up being very intersting match. If there are any assists left over, you can bet they'll be showing up to try and keep these two separate. Problem is, as we've already discussed, Cyclops holds the edge on punishing assists...so Cyc is usually going to hold some sort of edge in this bout. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 5 - Assisted Cyclops ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The MOB might provide minor chipping, but if Cyclops is paired with Dr. Doom or Sentinel, then he has that much more potential chipping at his disposal. Remember that he can combo into a Cyclone Kick xx MOB and remain pretty much untouchable; if adds in either one of those assists, then he's going to tack on even more chip or damage to an already potent combo. If he is blocked and has Dr. Doom backing him, he can instead combo into the SOB and (depending on how close you are) effectively chip off 1/5 to 1/4 of your life. That's just sick, folks. Lemme see...Cyclops uses Sentinel (Ground) for his assist reset as well...you will often see him paired up with CapCom for extra damage and anti-rushdown uses, or T. Bonne for loads of damage and cross-ups for his infinite. Of course, if you're good at blocking your basic jump-over cross-ups (i.e., follow the point man and ignore the assist) then these shouldn't pose many problems. Dr. Doom will, of course, but that's a separate matter. You also tend to see Cyclops with anyone else on the God, Top, or Near-Top lists, so let's look at what kind of assists he might be getting use from, as well as a few other lower-tier characters and how he might be usin' them: Storm - Projectile or Variety. Projectile would act the same as Sentinel's, except that he wouldn't be able to infinite-reset. Generally, this would act as a rushdown tool (using it to clear projectiles out of the way). Variety would require a trickery to get to work effectively, but could act as a lock- down tool in conjunction with HP bursts and LP Optic Blasts. Not too big on damage or combo-ability, but it could provide some interesting set-ups. Since Cyke isn't the greatest when it comes to continually holding you down, I don't think this assist is going to be very beneficial to Cyke's gameplan. Sentinel - Ground has been covered; Projectile can offer setups to Cyke's infinite, as well as tacking on a little more damage to his B & B combos. Cable - Cable's AAA is the choice for just about anyone you'll see, as his projectile won't offer much to anyone's game (aside from scrubs that don't know any better). Although Cyclops probably won't be adding any damage to his combos through the use of Cable, he CAN use the assist to get a pesky opponents' assist character out of the way. Also, if he lands Cable's AAA on a point character (and his opponent isn't Storm or Blackheart), he can spam on HK for 1/2 a bar of meter. Not too shabby, especially against guys like Sentinel or Cable (where meter-building becomes rather difficult). Magneto - Mags' projectile is the usual choice, which really doesn't give Cyclops anything to work with. His Hyper Grav is a little better, but Cyke usually has to worry more about protecting his berzerker rushdown character than use him effectively. Sure, a landed Hyper Grav can mean a free infinite...but more often then not, Mags will just get socked. Dr. Doom - Doom's Rocks have been covered...and that's just about all Doom is used for. Why would you use anything else? Strider - Strider's projectile might work for a mind-game or two against your jumping...but not much else. Variety is too difficult to consistently play off of, so you won't see that happen, either. The best bet I can figure is, using Variety, Cyclops timing a combo so that he can link into his SOB using Strider as the buffer. Aside from that, Strider doesn't come out unless Cyclops feels like playing protector. Spiral - Projectile adds chipping to his combos, and (I believe) can be used as a reset to his infinite. Her Ground assist works for cross-ups, but doesn't tend to fair all that well for Cyclops unless he's already landed a combo and is looking to extend it (and lessen the overall damage) or work into a SOB. Most likely, though, you'll see Projectile. Iron Man - Iron Man can use his Projectile to add a little more chip and to Cyclops, or use his AAA for infinite set-ups and SOB combos. Dhalsim - Cyclops has a VERY painful combo involving Dhalsim's AAA - by launching and calling Dhalsim out, he can d.HK you into the flame, then d.HK OTG you, relaunch you, and perform his infinite from there...and presto, he's taken off over half your life. Disgusting, really. Cyc doesn't have much else use for the stretchy one, though, so this is all you should worry 'bout. Blackheart - Cyclops can use Blackheart to halt runaway and effectively cover the big demon with Optic Blasts of many kinds. That's about it, really. Psylocke - Psylocke's AAA can start up that blasted infinite of his very easily. Cammy - Cammy's AAA...well, it knocks people away. Great. No feasible combo-ing off of this (at least, none with Cyclops that I know of). CapCom - CapCom is there for anti-rushdown, big screen-coverage, and damage. That's about it. Silver Samurai - SilSam's Projectile adds more chip to his already-volatile combos, although not quite as much as Doom does. Also, one landed Cyclops assist is a free Hyper Lightning for SilSam, which is plenty painful for point characters and assists alike. Gotta love low-tier characters who pull off stuff like that and end up reaming high-tier teams in the process. T. Bonne - Tron's Projectile assist, landed once, will guarantee that 1 AC will remove 1/2 of your life, and ground combos are even more disgusting. Avoid the cross-ups and remember to block low and you'll do fine here, as she doesn't truly offer much in the way of mix-ups (aside from the cross-ups, that is). Ken - Ken's AAA is just the same as Cammy's really. Akuma - See Cammy or Ken. Zangief - Zangief's Ground assist makes for a painful SOB set-up, or the (frequent) Infinite, should it land. If it does, then Cyke mearly has to time his launch to get a free combo out of it. Rogue - Rogue's Kiss assist is much the same as T. Bonne's Projectile, Spiral's Ground, or a variety of other assists where its usual use is as a cross-up tool. In her case, though, you'd best just jump and hope that Cyke doesn't go for a re-cross. Hey, it's possible... Anakaris - Anakaris offers practically nothing for Cyclops to work with. If you see an Anakaris/Cyclops team, then the Anakaris player is trying to use Cyke for his infinite, and the Cyclops player is hoping that he doesn't have to use Anakaris in the match. I don't know of anything he gets out of the Pharoah. Really. Sending out Anakaris is either an attempt at baiting you, or simply a player looking to lose Anakaris. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 6 - Projectiles and Capitalization ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ One of the things that make-or-break several characters is their ability to turn minute openings - whiffed moves with tiny amounts of lag, blocked moves that give you barely enough frames to try and hit your opponent before they recover - into damage opportunities. This requires a keen eye of what to look for, a good knowledge of your own characters' moves and what will get there quick enough, and just how much damage you can do. Guys like Iron Man or Colossus, for all the damage they can do in close, have practically nothing they can hit with from afar; Unibeams and Shoulder Charges MIGHT get the job done, but nothing more substantial. It's the primary reason Cable is so effective, is that he can turn so many minute moments into gamebreaking mistakes. Storm, Sentinel, Cable, and Magneto all have their own ways of turning such moments, and Cyclops is no exception either. Suppose you're at a full screen, and you throw out a HP. Characters like Rogue or CapCom MIGHT be able to catch SonSon with a Hyper Move, but that's still pretty risky. Cyclops, however, can LP Optic Blast xx MOB for a free 25% combo. If he has an assist to act as a buffer - like Sentinel Ground - then he can time the assist so that it acts as that buffer for his LP Optic Blast xx SOB combo. However, this requires slightly larger windows of opportunity, so you should 90% of the time expect a LP Optic Blast xx SOB. Cyclops also has the Optic Sweep, which can knock you off of your feet and make for a good long- range mix-up tool...but it's a pretty big gamble, since - if you roll it - he's vulnerable. He's even MORE open if he cancels it into his SOB and you roll behind him, since he's going to be firing off that big beam for quite a while. Protecting his assists is also quite easy, since - if you decide to go after one of 'em - he can run away hit you with a MOB, ending your reign of terror. Attacking your assists amounts to another LP Optic Blast xx MOB, since you can't move and are forced to watch as the assist takes it. As I suggested before, just pushblock it (and try to turn it around, will ya?). Cyclops, somewhat like Cable, can be countered in off of his AAA and immediately burn a bar of meter to throw out a MOB. Thus, if he needs a really, really quick counter move, he can be countered in and blast you while you're still in the frames of lag. Sucks to be you, eh? Finally...and THANKFULLY...Cyclops really doesn't have as much in the way of damage capabilities when in the air. While Storm or Magneto can combo into a special xx hyper (Lightning Attack xx Lightning Storm, Hyper Grav xx Magnetic Tempest), Cyclops can do little else than kick you or use a SOB/MOB to hit you. So if Cyclops is running after you, at least you know that he's not going to be able to easily stop your j.HP (unless he uses a Hyper). Problem is, Cyclops probably won't be running after you, since he can just perform a MOB from the ground and peg you while you are in midair. So don't superjump away unless you know he's preoccupied (or unless he's already running). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Lesson 7 - What's a SonSon to Do? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now we get to the stuff that really matters from this guides' standpoint - what to do when it's SonSon versus Cyclops. Or, more importantly, what SonSon should be doing to handle herself in such a situation. For starters, you need to realize that you cannot pull any full-screen maneuvers without running the risk of immediate retaliation. Whether it's a SOB or LP Optic Blast xx MOB, SonSon can and will be hit from afar if she does anything. No Shien-Bu pressure games for you, no Assist calls unless you are ready to jump out of there, nothin'. Cyclops has to be occupied or else he can - and will - hit you from afar. Great, so that means SonSon is going to have to keep Cyclops occupied to prevent him from attacking him. This puts Cyke on the defensive, which can be just as dangerous if you aren't someone like Magneto or Storm (which SonSon is not like, unfortunately). SonSon becomes quite limited rather quickly, since her airdash would have to be cancelled into an attack very quickly to ensure that Cyclops cannot counter the maneuver with a launcher or SOB. Timing and maneuvering is very important. Now, 90% of Cyclops players prefer to build meter, which they will in turn try to burn as chipping or straight-up damage. Furthermore, Cyclops is not the rushdown wonder that some people like to make him out to be (he has priority moves, but he's not a blazing assault force), so his best option is an offensive defense - he's not directly trying to attack you, yet he's also not out-and-out turtling and expecting you to come to him. He simply keeps hopping about, building meter and then burning it for "free" damage. Cyclops players will also realize that, as long as he's on the other side of the screen from you, then punishing a M/SOB won't really be possible. No good for SonSon, so you're going to have to do what you can to stop the meter-building or halt the beams. SonSon does have some tools she can work with, then. If you see Cyclops superjump away, mashing on HK to build meter, toss out a LP Shien-Bu, then apply pressure vigorously with air-dashes and a possible cross-up. Landing one can mean quite a bit of damage for the mini-monkey, and also makes for convenient DHCs (unfortunately, Cyke has some good DHCs as well). Now, it's obvious enough that the Shien-Bu, Seiten Rengeki, Fuusetzu-Zan, and Kingin no Hisago are out of the question. Blocked or whiffed, you're going to be in trouble (especially if Cyke has meter), so avoid using those outside of specific situations (such as the one mentioned above using the Shien-Bu). Ground Crawl can work if you're trying to dodge an Optic Blast or an S/MOB, as well as allowing you to mix things up and try to get around Cyke's (moderate) rushes; just make sure you know when to block (or attack) when coming out of it, or else you could get hurt. SonSon's Airdash, as previously covered, will require that you drop off of it with her HP or else you could get harmed. Her Wall Climb - and following moves - will work great for messing with Cyke's ground abilities, since you'll quickly scale up (hopefully faster than he can start up a S/MOB) and kick him before he can do anything about it. SonSon so little lag off of the move that, even if blocked, she'll remain pretty safe and can try tagging Cyke in close (or whatever you have in mind). Sometimes you'll see Cyke repeatedly firing off s.HP and c.HP optic bullets; this is a prime opportunity to Ground Crawl, Air Dash or Wall Climb, since all three will act as effective ways of getting in close while still leaving you relatively safe. The reason behind this is that Cyke's HP bullets are not cancellable, meaning he also can't call out any assists, superjump cancel, dash cancel...so while it's an effective method of keeping you on the other side of the screen, it just won't work if SonSon won't allow it to work. Getting back in Cyclops' face and tagging him where/when you can will force him to resort to safer options. Unfortunately, this can be bad for SonSon, since she has trouble dealing with one of the safest guys in the game (if not THE safest). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Close the Section ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Cyclops doesn't necessarily dominate the game, but he can really be frustrating to counter if he's plaing safe. A good portion of the cast - SonSon included - simply cannot counter some of his attacks, so if he sticks to just those... well, you're going to lose. SonSon has to change the flow of the match and try to stop him from abusing these abilities if she wants to stand a chance. I think SonSon holds up better against the likes of Cammy and Psylocke, simply because they, too, have to take greater risks to be effective, and so she can wind up doing better in such matches. Against Cyclops...well, it's going to be difficult. Cyclops holds the advantage of quick punishment from just about anywhere, he can build meter effectively with minimal resistance, and his rushing or turtling skills make him pretty difficult to overcome. Guys like Magneto and Storm can do it because of their phenominal rushdown abilities... while SonSon has to try and make up the ground everywhere. I apologize if I make it sound like SonSon has a more difficult time against Cyclops than against, say, Storm or Sentinel...it's just that I feel SonSon has the tools to directly counter some of Storm or Sentinel's best tricks, while Cyclops ends up countering some of SonSon's. ################ _______________________==============______________________ ################ F - Dr. Doom #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯==============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### ############## Dr. Doom, like Cyclops, is a very safe character. He does ############## very well when it comes to taking on a variety of strange #### situations, and both characters can build meter and expend #### it equally for damage or chip alike. How they go about #### doing so, as well as how their assists are used (both of #### which are excellent in their own respective ways) differ, #### so let's start covering the other guy which I would say is a solid contender for the God Tier...but not quite there yet. I mean...at once point, sure, people thought he was the best character in the game. Personally, I think Doom would rank higher if he had a decent HP or HK that could be comboed into like Storm, Magneto, Iron Man, or generally anyone else with an air-dash and HP/HK attacks that can be useable. Still, Doom has it where it counts, so let's see what DOES count. And, of course, how to get out of those situations. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ############ _______________________============________________________ ##### ##### G - Spiral #### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ### ### ######### One of the things you'll no doubt notice about the ### ######### characters in the God, Top, and Near-Top Tiers is that they #### #### all have the ability to do a ton of damage through various ###### ###### combos or supers that they have. Let's look at the list: ############ Storm - LA xx LS combos and Hailstorms Sentinel - Any hit is free chip damage, plus his combos do loads of damage alone...not even taking into count his HSF juggles... Cable - AHVBx 3 = dead character Magneto - Standard combos do moderate damage, with resets they do more, and his Shockwave and Magnetic Tempest combos are quite painful Cyclops - Infinite can do decent damage, and his Cyclone Kick xx S/MOB combos are good for free chip or 40% damage Dr. Doom - Photons make for loads of chip, and can be combo'ed into for a good 50%+ combo Strider - Strider/Doom is massive chipping damage, and a connected Oroborous can mean at least 33% of your life gone Blackheart - Inferno xx Heart of Darkness combos can take off 1/4 of your life, and if you don't GC out of it then you're still looking at a ton of chipping damage; plus he has an infinite Dhalsim - Corner combos are absolutely terrifying, ranging from 30% to 100%+ taken off Iron Man - His infinite = you are probably dead, unless you're Sentinel (even then, though, he only needs to DHC) Psylocke - Basic Combos ending in Butterflies can do 30-40%, while more difficult combos can end up topping 50%+ Cammy - HK Cannon Drill xx KBA combos (without resets) can do upwards of 90 points of damage to Cable (roughly 2/3 of his life) So you might wonder just how the blue blazes someone like Spiral would end up making it onto the top chart. Sure, she has her Power-Up hyper, which allows each hit to do more damage...problem is, she is vulnerable when powering up, and the timer bar is too short for her to make much of an impact before it expires. Her Speed-up Hyper gives her a brief infinite, but it's not lookin' to do much damage on its own, and she is just as vulnerable as the Power-Up. Her metamorphosis is a level 3 hyper, and (once again) has an incredibly short timer for you to connect with; someone only has to run away for a few brief moments to make you expend 3 bars in a wasteful gesture. Finally, you have Spiral's HP throw, which can do a bit of damage if you mash good and hard...but they can mash out of it, leaving you with less damage done than if you'd performed a regular throw. Spiral, as you can see, lacks the excessively huge damage of Iron Man, nor does she have as many useful and highly-damaging combos as Sentinel or Magneto. What does Spiral have, then, that would allow her to be ranked so highly? Swords. Lots and lots of swords. Let's talk about Spiral's nigh-infinite projectile count, and how she might not be able to singlehandedly turn the tide of a match...but she can certainly keep you from doing it. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I Like Swords ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Never before (and, arguably, never again) will you see a character in a fighting game that really only has to use 1 move to survive, and survive well enough to be considered one of the best in the game. Spiral has an infinite number of projectiles at her 6-armed disposal, plus a little diversity in how she can sling them to make sure you get the point quick enough, through the use of her swords. When Spiral calls swords, she briefly stands still (and defenseless), causing 6 blades to appear around her and spin wildly. These swords, once in place, can be thrown in a number of ways...but more importantly, the do not encumber her in (almost) any way, allowing her to move about and attack freely while holding onto her projectiles for future use. And how would she go about using this, you might ask? Simple - by pressing LP, Spiral throws a single sword in a set order; the order goes from High-to- Low and Low-to-High, starting in front of her and firing off the 3 that float before her (High-to-Low) before shooting off the rear knives as well (Low-to- High). This gives her 6 moderately-fast projectiles that she can use at any point she wants, allowing her to shuck-and-jive all over the place and still continue to hurl stuff at you. They may not do much damage, but Spiral can keep hurling those things at you and do moderate amounts of chipping damage, all without you being able to get close enough to stop her. Now what does this mean for you, the anti-Spiral player? You have to be able to avoid or counter a series of projectiles while trying to get close enough to bopp her (which, by the way, 1 clean hit causes Spiral to drop all of her swords). This is difficult for larger characters or ones that lack much maneuverability; thankfully, SonSon has a few tricks up her sleeve that can give her an edge. However, to know which tools you should be using (and abusing), you should know just how Spiral is going to be throwing those swords. She's a versatile lass with those knives, so let's lookit what she usually does with 'em. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Swordplay - Throwin' Stuff Every Which Way ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral can do more with her swords than just throw them in single volleys. I'll not go into directional motions for each move - for that, you should consult a Spiral guide - so instead I'll stick to what each move does and what you should do to avoid 'em. Apart from the regular one-at-a-time throws, here are what Spiral can do with swords: Horizontal Circle, Vertical Circle, Expanding Circle, and "Knives Out" Firing. Let's cover each individually: Horizontal - Spiral poses for a brief moment, taking as many knives as she has left (depending on how many she has thrown prior to performing the move), and launches them horizontally in front of her, all 6 (or less) forming a smaller circle. This circle moves at a slightly slower pace than if the swords were thrown individually, but makes up for it with the fact that it is large-enough of a circle to hit characters as small as Kobun (or OTG characters); thus, it is an attack to be avoided, chipping or no. If Spiral is wasting her time with this, then jump the circle, airdash toward her, and attack. If she wants to waste her ammunition, then good for her, but punish those mistakes nonetheless. Vertical - Much akin to her Horizontal incarnation, Spiral poses before sending her cutlery in a vertical circle. Due to the fact that you are left wide open to this attack, and it's not really wide enough to give you a good AAA, it's an attack best avoided. Since we're talkin' about SonSon vs. Spiral, though, that means that if you see Spiral use this attack, by all means destroy her! Expanding - Probably the most common usage of the Swords (aside from singular attacks), Spiral poses (as always), gathers the swords in close, then causes them to spiral (sic) outward, spinning in an ever- expanding circle. This circle will rather quickly enscorl Spiral, making attacking her physically a pain; however, the knives will drop harmlessly after hitting one of the 3 walls (or floor), so she can't very well do this while on the ground and have it be useful. Instead, you are far more likely to see Spiral expand blades (known as "Circle of Swords", or CoS) while in the air, thus protecting herself as well as giving her the ability to lock you down and prevent you from moving in certain directions. Annoying, to be sure, since those puppies fly REALLY fast when she does this. Knives Out - Finally, Spiral has the ability to take whatever daggers she has left over and fire them outward simultaneously in 6 different directions: Up-Left, Left, Down-Left, Down-Right, Right, and Up- Right. This is the only way you can really hit someone diagonally with her blades; however, it's simply more feasible to perform a CoS and have the blades fly into your opponent. Oh well; I suppose it still has its uses... The most common thing you'll see Spiral use of these four is the Circle of Swords; it allows her the capacity to throw out a group of knives that create a pseudo-barrier, preventing opponents from jumping or moving horizontally; of course, these knives can be blocked...but that's not the point. She zones you with the swords, then calls up more swords and continues to batter you with them from all angles and sides. This can present problems between SonSon and Spiral, although it's not nearly as bad as you'd think... ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Countering Swordplay, Part 1 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ To be honest, Spiral's #1 priority is to have swords and chuck them at you. She has a bunch of ways to do this, which is why you have to throw her off whenever you can, or simply avoid those swords and poke her when she tries to make 'em. First thing's first, if you see her on the ground call swords, a quick dashing f.HP will smack her out of it; if you like (and if you're close enough), cancel that into a Seiten Rengeki, further cancelled into a Tenchi Tsuukan for added damage. If it's blocked, then it's no loss, as Spiral has no way of capitalizing on it. Ok, so that much is easy...but no Spiral player in their right mind would simply call swords when you have the opportunity to retaliate so easily. They make things more difficult by calling out swords when you are currently occupied. Case in point - you will practically always find Spiral with Sentinel backing her, his ground assist (drones) working as a buffer zone for which she may call more swords. If you're being socked by that assist - or ANY assist that keeps you locked down for half a second - then Spiral has a free opportunity to gain more swords, and she may begin her myriad of traps and tricks anew. Let's go back to theory fighter, one-on-one...after all, if Spiral gets to use Sentinel's assist, then we would have to level the playing field by giving an assist to SonSon, and that would spring forth a wealth of debates over which ones would give her a greater edge and why...blah blah blah, I'll spare you the time and me the effort by NOT going into that. If it's a one-on-one fight, then Spiral is going to do what she can to avoid you until she gets those swords; this means she'll be superjumping away while calling them out, or going for a ground combo ending in HP (or c.HP to knock 'em further back) and cancelled that into a Sword Call. If she runs, chase her and continue to box her around the ears (arms?) so that she can't get those blades to her disposal, and if she goes for the ground combo...well, hope that you block it. Spiral's #1 priority is getting swords and keeping swords, and if you are someone who can rush effectively (i.e., Magneto or Storm) than she is going to have a major headache trying to do either. SonSon isn't the most effective rusher in the world, but she can still mix things up enough to mess up her sword-calling. For starters, you can crawl right underneath her swords via the Ground Crawl. Good for avoidance, yes, but it's only a temporary solution (and a short one at that). SonSon's air dash gives her the ability to quickly sail horizontally towards Spiral, closing the gap without superjumping (or, if already superjumped, allows further chasing). You can even use the Wall Climb to force the screen's focus on you, throwing off Spiral's timing for a sword call and possibly messing it up entirely. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Advanced Swordplay - [Blank] of Swords ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral's ability to quickly chuck single swords while moving, coupled with an arsenal of 6 at any given time and the ability to call more even while firing them off, gives her the ability to set up traps and such with a near- constant fervor. What sort of strategies might encounter from Spiral's strength in sword slinging styles? Well, she's really known for 4 solo tricks: The Wall of Swords, Line of Swords, and Circle of Swords Traps, and Metamorphosis Set-ups. As with before, let's cover each separately (although I'll cover the Metamorphosis stuff a little later): Wall of Swords - Spiral jumps in the air, calling swords at the apex of her jump. She then drops to the ground, firing off 3 as she falls, then jumps, firing the remaining 3, and calls another group of swords when she hits the top of her jump. This is an extremely frustrating maneuver, since the first Sword thrown is the topmost one, meaning it creates a diagonal line of projectiles that - if not immediately jumped over - must ALL be blocked. Spiral can quickly do this over and over again to build tons of meter, remain VERY safe from most everyone in the game, and slowly lock you down while pushing you back into the corner. Also, the last knife thrown is (once again) the top one, meaning that your only option for getting out of it is to jump between the last blade of the first volley and the first blade of the second. This isn't TOO hard, but if you blow the timing then you'll end up right back in blockstun, as Spiral zones you even more and more. Line of Swords - In terms of performance, this is the opposite of Spiral's WoS. Usually accompanied by a projectile of some sort (or, more commonly, Sentinel's Ground Assist), Spiral will call swords, then jump and fire off all of her projectiles when she hits the top of her jump. The effect is that of an entire Line of Swords (hence the name) being fired off just above head-level, preventing your opponent from jumping. Of course, this has a few problems with it, namely the fact that Spiral cannot safely land and call swords without a covering assist; thus, that is your opportunity to hit her hard. If she does have the likes of a projectile backing her, then you can expect to see the LoS in conjunction with that projectile, effectively hitting everything along the ground for at least some chip damage. Plus, if you get hit by 1 of the swords, then you'll be forced to take the rest of the swords as well. Either superjump when you can, or rush her in the openings to halt this attack. Power-Up Traps - Fairly simple, really - Spiral jumps (or, more preferably, superjumps), performing a CoS xx Power/Speed Up. This essentially gives her a free powerup, allowing her combos to be more potent per hit or simply give her tons more speed. Thankfully for you, her Power-Up doesn't increase the damage of her swords; however, if she lands 1 good aerial rave, she can do as much damage with that combo as your average Sentinel combo. That certainly isn't anything to sniff at; however, I think her Speed-Up can be far worse for you, as it allows Spiral the ability to move a lot quicker, putting blades in quicker patterns (and even a short infinite). Bleh. In general, you'll most likely see Spiral sticking to WoS and LoS, with CoS occasionally rearing its ugly head and hitting you from above (or locking you down). Gotta love the [Letter]oS. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Let's Talk Assists ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral, by herself, suffers from rushing and characters that can avoid her traps or effectively counter them (i.e., any of of the God or Top Tier). However, pairing her with an assist that either enhances her trapping or prevents such rushing easily allows her to surmount most any single character in game, as well as quite a few potent duos. Who should you worry the most about, and why? Let's take a look. Spiral +... .......Any AAA = Spiral no long has the fear of being rushed, so she is slightly more free to reign terror with her knives all over the place. Since she's a natural meter-builder and doesn't expend much herself, you'll often see Cable as her AAA. Cyclops is also a good matchup. Projectiles = With the aid of a decent chipping projectile, Spiral can lock you down with knives while using the projectile to chip and damage, then protect the assist and go back to meter-building. You tend to see Iceman, Iron Man, Cable, and Storm used here. Blackheart = Not quick enough to play the part of anti-rushdown, Blackheart's Anti Air allows Spiral to keep her opponents from (super)jumping away from her trapping/zoning attacks. BH can also burn meter for a little chip (much more effectively and safely than Spiral can, at least), so it's a decent pairing. Dr. Doom = Although it can act as an anti-rushdown assist, Doom's AAA will often be paired up with the intention of adding more chip to her traps. Superjumping out usually isn't a viable opportunity, since Spiral can bring you back down with a quick CoS and force you to eat all that chip damage. Sentinel = I'll get to this later. Believe me, they deserve their own separate section. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The Spiral/Sentinel Trap ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Did I just mention Spiral/Sentinel? Why yes, I did. Here's the deal - as I have already described, Sentinel's Ground assist gives Spiral the ground coverage that a projectile usually gives, plus it has fairly decent damage (unblocked) and 3 points of chip otherwise; plus, it can even act as a pseudo- anti-rushdown assist, although it's not quite quick enough to effectively handle itself. While the assist is hitting - blocked or not - Spiral has enough time to call swords and rush in at you again. What does this mean, oh SonSon pupil(s) of mine? That means that Spiral can rush you, perform a standing HP for a few hits while calling calling in Sentinel, throw 3 swords at you, load swords while Sentinel's drones are hitting, then rush you again. When done correctly, this puts you in permanent blockstun...and since most of the hits are special moves, they all do chipping. Per repetition, that's 3 swords and 3 drones, counting as 6 points of chip (or the rough equivalent of a couple of jabs)...and you can't get out of it unless you can Guard Cancel or have an assist that can get you out of it. Isn't this fun? Allow me to explain further: since you are continually stuck in Blockstun, you can't attack, jump, call assists, etc. Thus, you have to pushblock your opponent to generate enough time to call an assist out; moreso, this assist has to be one that can do SOMETHING quick enough to allow you enough time to either jump out of the trap, or directly counter it. Thus, you'll need an assist that is fast enough to come out, plus it'll have to actually do something that you can work with...which means you'll have to have an assist like Ken, Cammy, Akuma, Cyclops, Jin, or CapCom AAA, or else you're sunk and Spiral will have a field day with you. Plus, I've seen Spirals that do this for a good long while, then catch you low with a c.LK (you weren't paying attention, were you?), s.HP, 3 knives (drones hit), s.HP, 3 knives. That little combo is a fairly decisive end, and - if the trap has been done long enough - it could even kill Sentinel. That's bad news for you, SonSon. Now, you have 2 ways of getting out of this, and 1 way of countering it (although countering it is quite tricky). First off is the aforementioned AAA; for SonSon's purposes, she usually IS the AAA, so you'd better hope you had someone like Cyclops on your team as well (fairly decent pairing, I don't see why not). Barring that, then it's down to escaping and countering through Guard Cancelling. I talked of this before, but I'll quickly cover it again - Guard Cancelling is when you cancel the frames of animation for your guard, allowing it to prematurely end and perform a cancellable move such as dashing, normals, specials, supers, superjumps...a ha, Superjumps! That'll get you right out, now won't it? So in order to Guard Cancel, pushblock the knives, put the stick (or directional pad) to neutral, then superjump outta there. The timing's a little stiff, but it works. So what's the countering way, and how is it difficult? Wellsir, we know that Cable can Guard Cancel xx AHVB his opponents, but what can SonSon do? Easy - GC xx Hyper En'ou. She'll be invincible during the start-up, and with a little luck (and precise timing) you'll catch Sentinel with your flamebreath as well. This leaves Spiral 2 options - run away or attack. Most likely, she'll run away until she realizes you're attacking her assist, so you won't want that to go on for a very long period of time (especially since she can teleport, initiate a metamorphosis, then grab you right as the super ends). Thus, hurt Sentinel for as long as you can, then DHC into something else. If Spiral tries to simply batter you with her knives and fists, then good for her - it's a much better trade for you, damaging her assist so much. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral tries to Metamorphosize ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral's biggest single-damaging trick would be her Metamorphosis Super, a 3-bar command throw with a short timer but a big damage-payoff if she lands it. You should be aware that such a thing exists, and that - given the right mistakes on your part - she can have that damage for free. Since it's a command throw, you had better make sure that you stay away from her for the duration of the timer. This can get difficult if Spiral is setting you up for the attack, but you should hopefully be able to smack her or pushblock before she gets a lock on you. So what are some of those set-ups? Well, she can combo into the maneuver with a c.HK (launch) xx Metamorphosis, then jumping up after and performing sj.LK, LK, HP (grab). It IS possible to tap her or throw her before the throw, but the timing is very strict; plus, she can mix it up so that she only hits LK once before grabbing, or simply not kick at all. Tricky stuff; just try to make sure she can't launch you - that shouldn't be TOO hard, given her rather lackluster rushing abilities (speedup and teleporting are the only edges she has, and those should still be easily blocked, avoided, or countered). Set-up #2 is often seen when Spiral beats the first character and the next is set to come into play. She jump and performs a CoS xx Metamorphosis, then forces you into blocking the knives (and she can grab you before or after they connect, so pushblock), or if you take the hit then it's more free damage followed by a launcher, sj.LK, LK, Grab (ow!). If you're not in the corner, then she can teleport behind you and grab you while the knives cover 1/2 the screen as she moves in from the other. In general, if you're doing something that leaves you open long enough for her to initiate a Metamorphosis AND grab you, then you're doing something wrong. Any of SonSon's supers have enough lag for her to do so, which is why it is imperative that you make sure you are covered when performing them (or, at least, that she can't quickly get to you in time). If not, then DHC before that grab happens. Trust me, it's a good idea. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Teleporting and You ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Given certain situations, Spiral can teleport away from whatever you're doing, then grab you during your vulnerable frames of animation; as I mentioned before (in the Spiral/Sentinel section), using the Hyper En'ou is NOT a good idea if Spiral has 3 bars of meter. She can easily teleport over and over again, the grab you as you shrink back to normal size. Not good for you, believe me. There is also enough time (although barely) for Spiral to reflex- teleport if she sees you performing a Tenchi Tsuukan, then grab you from behind; also not a good maneuver. However, you can always turn this around; if Spiral teleports directly above your head, you can perform a Tenchi Tsuukan as soon as you see her teleport and catch her as she reappears. Still...don't just randomly throw things out, as she probably won't either. When it comes to avoiding things that you're doing, Spiral really has 2 things at her disposal (other than the standard jumping, ducking, dashing, superjumps, etc), Teleports and Quickfalls. Teleports you should know a little more about, namely the fact that Spiral can teleport to 1 of 5 locations: Above you, above/behind you, directly behind you, above/in front of you, and in front of you. Since her teleport has no startup (literally; she can teleport and disappear from the midst of a beam without being hit), this allows her to continually avoid attacks simply by teleporting over and over again. Mix this up with her ability to place her reappearance at other points and you have a very frustrating character to play against (not to mention the fact that she'll be throwing Swords the entire time). Quickfalls are less-used, but can be just as irritating when used in the right places. She can call swords, then quickfall while throwing those swords to close off the upper-portion of the screen and prevent you from jumping. She can combo you, then quickfall mid-combo, touching the ground at the same time you do, and catch you off-guard with another c.LK, s.HK launch, or a HP Throw. (This is actually key to doing a lot of damage with her Speed-Up ability.) She can avoid attacks by falling away from them, or quickfall, teleport to throw off your timing of something. She's a crafty little minx, I'll give her that! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Everything Else You Should Bother Knowing ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Spiral can guard break you upon entry by jumping and throwing a single Sword, then launching you and ACing you. These air combos usually end with her command throw ("Raise the Roof", as it's referred to) followed by a Sword Call; in the event that she decides to perform a Kick Throw infinite, learn to tech the throw as soon as you see it coming. (By the by, the Kick Throw infinite is when Spiral performs a short AC, then does a Kick Throw away from the corner, relaunching you before you can land from the throw and doing it again.) Spiral's Sword Super is very easily avoided, as it has tons of lag AND start- up; you have ample time to avoid it and punish her for her silly mistakes. So there's Spiral - she is there to build meter and keep you away, never really looking to inflict tons of damage herself but instead avoiding what you do and countering it with even more swords. She is the ultimate projectile character, as most of her gameplay revolves around constantly weaving and throwing swords at you. SonSon should do what she can to mess up Spiral's swordplay, and counter whatever options you can. If you can keep on her trail and stop her from getting/using swords, then the match should be in your favor. #### #### ____________________====================___________________ #### #### H - Strider Hiryuu #### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯====================¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### #### ################# ################# #### #### #### #### #### #### #### #### #### #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ -----------------------IV - The Near-Tops------------------------ ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ They aren't quite the Best of the Best, but these 5 characters deserve plenty of attention all by themselves. Here are...the Near-Tops: Blackheart, Cammy, Dhalsim, Iron Man, and Psylocke. Characters that probably SHOULD be considered Top-Tier characters, but aren't...yet. ##### ____________________________================__________________________ ##### I - Blackheart ##### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯================¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ##### ##### Blackheart is a pesky fellow, once being considered one of the top ##### characters in the game an' all. In general, anyone with a long-range ##### HP/HK attack tends to do better in fights, and Blackheart has ##### projectiles for such attacks - thus, he has a master of keep-away, and ##### is quite good at building meter and even chipping a little. ##### Unfortunately, his keepaway has gotten terribly tiresome and ##### predictable, and his chipping has been nullified by Guard Cancelling. ##### Joyous stuff for the once-proud player, now reduced to just another Anti-Air player. Still...he CAN be potent, and he still has the tools to destroy some of the lower-tier characters. There are people that have the skills and abilities to stop his tricks, though, so you might find Blackheart coming up short time and time again. I like to think that SonSon has such tools, so let's get crackin' on what Blackheart does and how you should stop him from doing it again. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Superjumping. A Lot. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Blackheart is going to take to the sky and throw demons, there's no doubt about that. A Blackheart that doesn't superjump is like a human living a normal life without any vital organs - it's just not possible. Expect to see a lot of superjumping and HK Demons to pin you down and build meter, interchanged with the occasional Inferno xx Heart of Darkness to chip life. He might also try to throw HK demons while you're in the corner, then airdash backwards and perform an aerial Judgement Day for added chip, so it's good to be careful of this tactic as well. If you jump after him, his j.LK tail is very fast and has loads of priority for a LK, so he can effectively keep you away from him via quick LK, LP, HK combos. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Demons R Us ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Blackheart normally cannot block after superjumping and throwing out either HP or HK demons; this is remedied by airdashing back or forward, giving him the use of another attack or a block. Thus, you have to make sure your attack is going to work or else it will be a wasted effort. For this reason alone, I suggest that you stick to using a Seiten Rengeki before cancelling into the Tenchii Tsuukan. No need to waste meter, you know. You can't easily zone him by superjumping and throwing out a LP Shien-Bu, since he will either hit you in the air with something or simply Inferno xx Armageddon or Inferno xx Heart of Darkness you. It does no good to use a strategy that gives Blackheart the opportunity to hurt you, so don't. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Keep Him Grounded ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ When Blackheart superjumps, jump up (and away) from him so that you can avoid his demons, then throw out a LP Shien Bu. Since Blackheart's already in the air, he has no way of attacking you; likewise, he's not on the ground, so he can't catch you with an Inferno. The purpose of the Shien-Bu is not to damage, but to make sure he can't superjump again. By effectively grounding him, he has very, very little he can do to stop your rushing him. The most likely attacks he'll use are HP or HK demons. These are easily blocked, although it can give him enough time to jump up and away (or past) the monkeys. Thus, a slightly better option would be to airdash at head-level with Blackheart. This reduces his options to jump-attacks (which you can out- prioritize with a j.HP or Seiten Rengeki), a launcher (again, out-prioritized by the j.HP), or a HP Dark Thunder. If he's silly enough to use the Thunder, then prematurely drop off the cloud and punish him during the considerable lag that the move has. Blackheart's only other option is to block and hope you don't hit him, which is not bloodly likely. Once you're inside his game, make sure he can't get away from you. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ What NOT to do on the Ground ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ It's not wise to do the standard TKSB (Tiger-Knee Shien Bu), Airdash xx HP maneuver if Blackheart is grounded. Granted, it will prevent him from retaliating with an Inferno xx HoD 'cause the monkeys will hit him out of it, but he will do more damage to you than you do to him. Worse yet is if you're hit by the Demons while in air, since you will begin bouncing...and if Blackheart continues to hit you with HK demons while you're in the air, he can infinite you until he feels like ending it (usually with a Heart of Darkness). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Blackheart USED to have a Good Strategy... ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Do you know what guard cancelling is, folks? If you do, then you can very easily remove Blackheart's ability to chip life off with the Inferno xx HoD. Right as the Inferno connects, pushblock, then hold up-towards to jump out of the demons' field (you'll jump right over a few of 'em, unless you would rather super jump instead to be safer). From here, walk (or dash) over to Blackheart and hurt 'em however you want to. He's out meter, he doesn't do any chip, AND he takes a bit of damage. Fun, eh? This means the only way he can effectively chip you is with his Judgement Day super, which can be avoided (and doesn't do nearly as much as the HoD). Congrats, you've just taken away Blackheart's most reliable chipping strategy! Good job! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Non-Maneuverable Entities ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, the beauty of Blackheart is that he has trouble maneuvering about and generally being mobile of any sort. He can't ground-dash, since (when he does) he turns to goo and crawls slowly, making himself very vulnerable. Thus, his fastest option for getting across the screen is superjumping and immediately airdashing, then doing it again. Plus, he's a big, slow fella, which means that the smaller, faster characters (like SonSon) can absolutely destroy him...provided he can't pin you down with demons first. For SonSon, this means rushing the big lug and hitting him wherever you can. Be careful not to run foolishly into a c.LK, 'cause he can combo right into an assist (and then into the HoD, which stinks) or even into a ground-Judgement Day if you're near the corner. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The (Un)Punisher ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Blackheart has trouble punishing things that people do. This is due in part to the fact that he can't maneuver quickly enough to get close to you, and partly because his fastest specials still won't be fast enough to get to you before you will be able to block them. I'm talking about 2 things, here - sj.air dashes, and his HP Inferno (Dark Thunder takes more time, and leaves him just as vulnerable), both of which are potent but still not enough to catch the usual tricks. There are exceptions - i.e., the aforementioned Shien-Bu trades hits with his Inferno xx HoD, but you end up taking more damage from the trade - but you can generally stick to ground rushes, Toward + HP to keep him from throwing out any demons on the ground, and whatever you think will work well. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Assist Usage ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Blackheart lacks the ability to effectively stop you from rushing him without assists, and he lacks Sentinel's flying ability (for mobility) or Cable's AHVB (which means 1 mistake = free damage). If you remove Blackheart's AAA assist(s), then he has very, very little he can safely do to stop SonSon. In the event that you find yourself running into an assist too much, change tactics and wait for the assist to come out, blocking the attack and then assaulting the assist instead. Blackheart, as previously discussed, have trouble retaliating after certain attacks, and the Seiten Rengeki is actually a good attack for this sort of thing. Combo your opponent's assist and, if Blackheart is blocking it, you're free to finish the attack with a Seiten Rengeki. Blackheart's best option will be to try and poke you, and since his assist will already be occupied, he can't use them to combo into an Inferno xx HoD. Keep this sort of thing up and BH won't be able to call out the assist without worrying for their safety, meaning you're free to rush him again... .......until his assist has healed enough life to be deemed safe again. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Intelligence Quota ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, this is all under the assumption that the Blackheart is going to be playing intelligently, and knows what to do and when to do it. Too often, I see BH players that mindlessly jump and throw out HK demons without any variation, and don't even bother with ground attacks or even use stupid, unsafe moves on the ground. These are SonSon's times to shine, as you should be effectively figuring out how good the BH player is while you watch him handle the giant archdemon. If he throws out a Dark Thunder, Inferno, or any crouching attack without cancelling them into anything, then SonSon only has to block the attack and then retaliate on his oversized hide; heck, SonSon can even allow herself to be hit by the Dark Thunder, roll behind BH, and then get him during his lag. BH can also superjump and throw out HP demons and immediately airdash backwards, thwarting opponents from jumping up after him; if you see him do this, start wavedashing beneath him, since the demons shouldn't fall low enough to hit you. If you see him superjump again, then wavedash anyways - HP or HK demons can both be avoided this way. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Guard Break ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ As with a lot of characters, Blackheart has a few ways of guardbreaking his opponents. Oddly enough, they end up revolving around his HP Dark Thunder, which - in most any other circumstance - would be asking to be hit. However, by throwing out the Dark Thunder (forcing you to block it when your next character comes in), Blackheart can then cancel into a Heart of Darkness or Judgement Day and catch you before you hit the ground. If you take the hit from the Dark Thunder, you can't GC your way out of either Super, forcing you to at least take some chip. However, SonSon is one of those characters with a pesky airdash, meaning she has the ability to dash right over the demons and start the fight by clubbing Blackheart in the head with a j.HP/HK. It's not failsafe, but it works. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Roundup ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Ultimately, Blackheart tends to be a tad predictable in his methods, and he can't handle rushdown too well due to his lack of quick priority moves (other than his c.LK and j.LK). His HP moves are fine for keepaway and building meter, but if you remove his most reliable form of chipping (Inferno xx HoD), that meter won't mean much and going to have to work harder to make the damage count. He does hit hard, and he takes less damage than normal, but he's also a big, slow, not-very-maneuverable target. Pound for pound, SonSon should be able to take out Blackheart without TOO much trouble. She's really only in danger if he has the likes of a good AAA (like CapCom, Doom, Cyclops, or Cable) to protect him from your rushing; these are helpful, but they can't protect him when you take to the air and prevent him from mobilizing too much. Remember, if you're in the air and he tries his Inferno xx HoD, pushblock and airdash over it; if you're on the ground, you'll have to guard cancel it. Blackheart has no good reason to continue using such tired old tactics that can easily get himself killed, and that's the reason why he isn't Top Tier anymore. ##### _______________________===========__________________________ ##### J - Cammy ##### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯===========¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ##### ##### Cammy is a fairly common choice as a 3rd player, not because ##### of her amazing on-point abilities but more for her 100% ##### invincible assist (her Anti-Air). As such, she is usually ##### the weakest of the 3 characters brought out to play, and ##### ##### can seriously cripple the rest of the team by being ##### ##### defeated. Thus, snapping out that pesky Cable, Storm, ############# Sentinel, or whoever can be a good thing...but it certainly ######### helps to know how to deal with Cammy when she comes out, lest you end up being the butt of several jokes after snapping in the "assist" character and promptly losing to them. For SonSon, this is usually a bad situation to be in - since she's usually an "Assist" character as well, her being brought out can spell doom for your team as well. However, making sure that you can topple your opponents' Assist can do wonders for your luck throughout the rest of the match...now let's get to it! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Another Speed Demon? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ First off, there's something you should know about Cammy: she is fast. VERY fast. Her dash is the 2nd fastest in the game (behind Mags, of course), so she can very quickly and very easily get underneath whatever you're throwin' out. As such, you have to realize which moves of yours have even the smallest amounts of lag; failing to realize this means you'll be rushed and pummelled before you can even get a decent attack off. Thus, a lot of SonSon's specials and all of her Hypers can't simply be thrown out without them being punished. Granted, this goes for quite a few characters - including the God, Top, and Near-Top Tiers - but it's worth bringing up. Cammy isn't quite nearly as dominating as them, but she has a few points that make he quite dangerous. As long as you know what to avoid - and, failing that, what to do to avoid further damage within her combos - then you should come out on top. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Pain from a Little Girl ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ One thing you'll notice about the Top, God, and Near-Top tiers is that they have 1 of 2 things going for them (or sometimes both): high-damage combos (and I mean HIGH damage), or extremely safe methods of attacking. In certain instances, chipping comes into play, but for those such characters their ability to chip supercedes their high-damage abilities (i.e., Strider and Spiral). For Cammy, she has some fairly impressive combos that can do quite a bit of damage...but she's not altogether safe when it comes to doing it. For starters, she is limited in much the same way that SonSon is (most specials and all hypers can be capitalized on). This means that the deciding factor comes down to who has the better attacking style, who can do more damage, and ultimately who is the safest in attacking the other. For this, I think SonSon wins out in terms of safety and style...but Cammy clearly holds the edge on damage, and it doesn't take much to knock SonSon out of the picture. Let's go over that, shall we? Cammy's biggest combo(s) revolve around ending with a HK Cannon Drill xx Killer Bee Assault. For the most part, you should be able to handle avoiding such combos...let's look at it this way: Cammy has to hit you first to chain into her combos (since she lacks any reliable, SAFE chipping to hurt you with). Due to this, you'll see her rushing you a lot, trying to land a clean hit. Of course, blocking high is ok...until she tries to hit you with a crouching attack. Now, if you crouchblock her rushing, then she would have to hit you with an overhead attack to connect. Cammy doesn't have any quick-to-connect air attacks that she can perform from a grounded position (such as various characters' Tri-jumps), so she can't easily attack low and then catch you from above...at least, not quickly. Thus, she's much more likely to use a scant few special moves to try and catch you off guard. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Mix-Ups...where? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ What are those special moves? Well, let's look at what she has: Cannon Drill, Cannon Spike, Cannon Dive, Spinning Knuckle, Hooligan Combo, and her counters. Which ones can she combo off of (i.e., combo into a super with)? Her counters and her Cannon Drill. What does she have that she can use to mix up her attacking? Well, the Spinning Knuckle can be thrown in to add a little chip to a blocked combo, and it's fairly unpunishable (unless it's pushblocked, in which then it's even MORE punishable), but you should pay attention to the use of the Hooligan Combo. This little move doesn't yield much, but it's great against those who lack the reflexes to counter/avoid it - she slowly arcs towards you, ready to attack in 3 different ways - a cannon spike, a command throw, or a sliding trip. The real difficulty of this is the fact that it acts as a command throw; the moment you see her doing this, smack her with a Seiten Rengeki. If you whiff it, then you're ok (she won't be able to counter you, as she'll be stuck in her own lag), and it's impossible for her to block or counter it once in this mode. If she doesn't connect at all - meaning she threw it out randomly - then she isn't safe at ALL, and should be punished thusly. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ OTG and You're Fine ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Ok, so let's suppose Cammy DID land 1 good hit and AC's you into her Cannon Drill xx KBA combo. Then what? Well, you should definitely be aware of the fact that Cammy has OTGs and throw resets. Cammy's air HP throw causes her to chuck you straight to the ground...and since she has little-to-no lag on this, that means (if she's close enough to the ground) she can OTG relaunch you and do another combo. In other words, learn to roll off of any/all airthrows you see - Cammy lacks any defining cross-up techniques, so she despite her speedy dash there is little she can do when you roll. Her KBA ends with you being dropped to the ground via an aerial Frankensteiner, which should also be rolled; once again, Cammy is free to OTG you if you don't roll it, so any further combos are avoidable through this simple act. ...and that really is about it. She can't easily link off of her ground throws without creative assist usage, and she can't do any defining damage unless she lands a good hit and launches you (even if she lacks meter, she has some painful doublejump combos that you'd want to avoid). Since she has no real aerial game (that doesn't leave her open to retaliation), most of Cammy's game is relegated to mindless rushing and hoping to land a lucky shot. Sure, she can do a little bit of chipping with certain specials, but if they're whiffed - or, for some of them, even if they're blocked - they are punishable. All 3 of Cammy's supers are heavily punishable when blocked or avoided, forcing her back into the rushing game she likes so much. However, don't think that she's a buttercup; her KBA has an invincible start-up (go ahead, start one up and watch her fly through a beam attack to the wall), and is very fast when she kicks off, so she can counter easily. Heck, she can full-screen counter with a HK Cannon Drill xx KBA, which certainly isn't too much fun. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ One on One with the Killer Doll ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, SonSon vs. Cammy is an interesting thing to see. It's usually your 2 last "assist characters" going at it, and they both take damage rather poorly. Thus, 1-2 moderate combos from either person is going to severely cripple their rival, and any DHCs or resets are sure to do even more damage (if not outright death). SonSon tends to carry the edge in terms of being able to land more hits, or generally tricking Cammy into attacking when she shouldn't...and thus, this should be your strategy. Fake Cammy into a combo, or simply turtle until she does something you can capitalize on. 90% of the Cammy players you'll find only do 1 thing, and that is mindless rushing so they can land a KBA combo. Sure, it's easy and damaging, but Cammy has more than that to her...but if they use the wrong tool at the wrong time, she'll get owned very severely. SonSon's airdash, ground crawl, and wall climb are all wonderful assets for trickery, since 2 of them can be cancelled quickly and 1 of 'em (ground crawl) is decent for baiting. SonSon's Shien-Bu works for pressure, since - if done just off the ground (Tiger-knee'ed) - Cammy can't KBA you or Cannon Drill you, so she has to pass underneath...and by then, you're safely blocking again. If she doesn't move or superjumps, then she has to come down at you, which gives you the opportunity to cross her up and attack in a variety of ways. If she remains grounded, then you have the ability to airdash over her head, drop to the ground and attack, or simply wait for her to make the next move. You have the advantage at this point, and you can practically lounge around until she makes another move. Her Seiten Rengeki isn't too good a move, considering how open it leaves her - blocked or whiffed, Cammy can rush in during the lag and launch you for a combo (or two...that's why you have to roll!). Thus, it's the kind of move that you want to use only in combos that you KNOW are going to connect. Of course, having it connect is a free Tenchi Tsuukan, so it's not TOO bad of an attack...it's the equivalent of Cammy's Cannon Drill, really. What else does SonSon have? Well, you can keep Cammy at bay with her f.HP smash - it's practically unpunishable anyways, and against someone like Cammy this can do a fair amount of damage if it connects more than once. SonSon's j.HP will beat any of Cammy's normals, although it fails - just like everything else - against her Cannon Spike. See, that blasted Cannon Spike is invincible (that's why people use it as an assist), so SonSon can't hope to beat it. Thus, you can usually get a couple of free j.HPs in before the other player realizes this. My suggestion is to go with a couple of j.HPs before faking her out and blocking, then making her eat a combo when she goes on the offensive. You can also jump at her, then airdash backwards to avoid being hit; if worse comes to worse, you can perform a j.LP to cancel it and block whatever comes your way (or j.HP to hit her in the head if she runs after you). ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Close it Up! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Ok, so there you have it - she can be deadly, but if you know how to block then you should be fine. Sure, she's fast on the run, but she unless she lands that c.LK then she's never going to get anywhere. Make sure you drop her at the surest sign of convenience, and cripple your opponents' entire team. Cammy has some serious power to her modest (and short) combos, so all you have to do is NOT allow her to land that c.LK or do something that has enough lag for a HK Cannon Drill or KBA to connect. If she tries to mix it up with a throw or Hooligan Combo, you should know what to do. Aside from that...well, what else do you need? #### ###### _______________________=============_______________________ #### ###### K - Dhalsim #### ##### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯=============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### ##### #### ##### Ah, one of the two kings of Japanese gameplay! Dhalsim ####### #### simply does not see enough use anywhere throughout the ##### #### U.S., which is a darn shame; the guy has a lot going for #### #### him, including the infallable (though slightly tricky) #### #### infinite runaway, supremely damaging corner combos, a #### #### mashable throw for tons of damage (and, if close enough to the corner, this can link into one of those 100% corner juggles), near full-screen pokes...problem is, people only see him as someone who is too difficult to combo with, doesn't have any useful supers, and takes too much damage to be worth it. He's no Strider, and he doesn't have one of the 3 best supers in the game (Hailstorm, HSF, and AHVB), but he's got long limbs. You'll find out just how important those are once you start playing some good Dhalsims. ....the biggest problem with Dhalsim, though, is that his learning curve is so extremely high that people often look at him as a wasted effort. He doesn't have any (immediately noticable) normal combo that do as much damage as Iron Man, Magneto, or Sentinel, and he doesn't have any (immediately noticable) ways to combo into his supers. These people are fools, through and through... Dhalsim just takes a little more work to get those things down, that's all. Let's discuss the long-limbed-(g)ladiator in detail, shall we? ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### _______________________==============______________________ #### L - Iron Man #### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯==============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ #### #### As you may have guessed, here is the OTHER king of Japanese #### gameplay. I tells ya, from what I've seen the Japanese #### LOVE this guy...and there's plenty of reasons why, once you #### start to flesh out the character. Sure, he lacks the tools #### to effectively handle any of the Top Tier (although he has ################ the damage to back it up), but for anyone below him...watch ################ out. If you can't run away from him and keep him at arms' length, then you could be in for more trouble than any of the God Tier is able to provide. So let's get to the guy I would say is sorely underrated...Iron Man! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ##### ##### _______________________==============______________________ ###### ###### M - Psylocke ###### ###### ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯==============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ### ## ## ### ### ### ### ### As with Cammy, you will primarily see Psylocke taken into a ### ### ### ### fight as an assist character. However, unlike other assist ### ##### ### -oriented characters (T. Bonne, Captain Commando, Zangief, ### ##### ### etc), Psylocke can actually handle herself when on point. ### ##### ### Sure, she has one of the nicest AAA's in the game...but she has a point game that shouldn't be scoffed, either. Let's find out what the Japanese psionic ninja has going for her, and how to take it away from her and beat her over the head with it. ...or something like that. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ ----------------------------VI: Various------------------------------ ================================ MvC2 - SonSon ================================ Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else? Find it here! __________________===========================================__________________ A - My Own Personal Thoughts on the Tiers ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯===========================================¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The tiers are very, very hotly debated across boards and within arcades throughout America. Coming up with a tier list is, essentially, the compiled win/loss ratios of every character in dozens of situations, playing against everyone in the game, analyzing matchups with players of equal skill as well as players who are heavily inbalanced on either side of the sticks. They represent tournament placements, character abilities, specific matchups as well as broader tactics. These concepts are the basis for my guide, as I try to cover the basic, all-encompassing tactics and abilities that each character uses and what are most effective for them across the board as well as specific situation occurances (and how to cover them). I picked the character I wanted to take the angle from (SonSon), and then went from the basics to the hard-core one-on-one stuff. ...however, this is about the tiers. Now, people have widely accepted that the "God Tier" - a tier comprised of characters that are so insurmountable that they are in a league all their own - is of the following order: 1 - Storm 2 - Sentinel 3 - Cable 4 - Magneto Now, I'm sure to generate some interesting e-mails from the folks at Shoryuken.com, with people (scrubs and vets alike) challenging my opinions and thoughts on the matter. That's fine; I hope to address some of the upcoming arguments in this section right here. We all generally take the SSCM listing to heart, so there isn't much to comment on there. The reason I said that Sentinel and Cable are now tied is due to Guard Cancelling. ~Sentinel loses some of his excellent, excellent traps and juggles associated with his HSF juggles. The guy, formerly an assist destroyer, singular-character demolisher and chipping wizard, loses some of his potent tricks through Guard Cancelling out of his traps. Before, Sentinel could juggle an assist while the point man was forced to block it all; now, they can leap out and prevent Sentinel from juggling any further, meaning he can't harm the main character OR the assist as much. That's quite a loss, really. Still, I don't know if it is enough to allow Cable to completely rise up past him, since you can mix up the Mouthbeam, Rocket Punch, and HSF timings so that guard cancelling isn't as easy to predict. However, for a lot of players, you can expect that first HP xx Rocket Punch to be followed by the HSF, so anyone with reflexes can avoid the trap entirely. Not too good for Sentinel...but he is FAR from being without options. He just loses a really, really good one, that's all. Now, if someone could find a way to apply it to getting out of Sentinel's stomping frenzies, THEN he might officially drop a number... ~Cable moves up a spot by guard cancelling into an AHVB. Remember, it is a VERY fast maneuver, allowing Cable to full-screen retaliate against many moves that some people couldn't even effectively retort against from 1/2 to 1/3 a screen away. Now, with Cable's ability to guard cancel out of certain attacks, he can (hopefully) turn even more situations into a good situation that can be remedied with the AHVB. All he has to do is cancel at the right moment and either AHVB it (from a distance) or LK at the right moment (when in close) and the combo is his, regardless of what his opponent is doing. Spiral loses even more safety against him, as does Magneto (formerly a TERRIBLE matchup for Cable), Dhalsim, Storm, Sentinel, Strider, Dr. Doom, Cyclops (not even the SOB is 100% safe anymore!)...in fact, pretty much anyone that has (had) an attack that usually leaves Cable in blockstun long enough for them to recover is now toast. So while Cable had to work for those openings before, he can how take a slightly less- involved (yet much more skilled) attitude to the fight. That's good enough for me to rank him higher. Storm and Magneto...well, I already covered them. __________ __________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now, when it comes to the Top Tier, the only 4 people that are ALWAYS on it are Cyclops, Dr. Doom, Spiral, and Strider. Many, many people will argue that Strider/Doom should be listed as a God Tier member...but let's be honest, that is actually nothing more than Strider with his absolute optimal assist backing him. If we were to play that game, then you'd see Cable/Cyclops, Sentinel/Blackheart or Sentinel/Capcom or Sentinel/Doom, Mags/Psylocke, Storm/Anyone, Spiral/Sentinel...we can't place teams or else the "God Tier" gets muddied up with dozens of groups that are "arguably" the greatest out there. Now, when it comes to the placement of each character in the top, I (personally) would rank Cyclops and Doom as tied (5th), with Spiral and Strider ranking as tied for 7th. Cyc and Doom are both extremely well-rounded, having moderate comeback skills of their own, excelling in chipping and doing quite well in their own respective styles of rushing, running, and playing keepaway. In order to raise either one above the other, you would have start debating who has the more effective style across the board, as well as who handles themselves better against the God, Top, and Near-Top Tiers (my money's on Cyclops...but that's just me). Spiral and Strider, to be as effective as possible, require certain assists to truly get their games going, and - to be honest - neither of them have any truly defining comeback tools. Yes, Spiral has her Metamorphosis and her glitched throw, but you can mash out of one and the other is VERY easily avoided; thus, she is good for her amazing keepaway and battery skills, NOT for her comeback abilities. Strider's best combos, under optimal settings, can do 50% of your life...but those simply aren't going to happen much. Furthermore, he has a very high risk/reward ratio, meaning that if he makes one mistaken move it can cost him dearly. If he blows a teleport and instead clings to a wall, then dozens of characters get a free advantage in the fight and - since Strider has terrible stamina - that means he is losing FAR more life than he (probably) took off in the process. Sentinel and Dr. Doom enhance both characters' gameplans to ungodly levels...but without them, each person is severely crippled, and lose far more than Cyclops or Doom do when they are assist-less. If I had to rank these two, I'd put Spiral below Strider for the comeback factor alone. __________ __________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Now we hit the Near-Tops, which is definitely an interesting group. Before I even start covering the characters, I feel I should defend my position of NOT including Captain Commando. That, however, will be covered below with the other miscreants that didn't make the cut. Feel free to browse down below and see for yourself. I'll first cover the primary-assist characters, Psylocke and Cammy. Both of them have decent damage to their games, they both have enhanced mobility, both are very fast...but they lack the safety to truly make their games effective. If you block Cammy's rushes, then what else does she have to offer? Furthermore, her rushing skills are a far cry from the likes of anyone with a decent tri-jump (or ghetto tri-jump, like Thanos, Rogue, et al), so she can't even do much of THAT well. Since she has difficulty effectively working off of a throw, then she has very little options left...still, she has the tools to wreak havoc in certain situations, and she can do tons of damage if you blow a block. Psylocke doesn't have the damage of Cammy, but she has better (safer) chipping, better mobility, and a few more mix-ups and traps going for her. Since she doesn't have the damage of Cammy, and their assists have equally useful applications, one could argue that the two of them are equals. Not quite as great as the Top or Near-Top characters...but they have enough in certain areas to make them contenders. I'd tie them and place them just beneath Iron Man and Dhalsim, putting them at tied for 11th. Blackheart, as previously discussed, is a natural meter-builder, but he's like Gambit in a few respects - he needs someone to effectively combo into his supers. If there's an applicable situation, he can directly go into the Inferno xx HoD (just like Gambit's Kinetic Card xx Cajun Explosion)...but that can now be guard broken out of, meaning he's going to need an assist just to make sure THAT works as well. So not only can it be avoided or countered by everyone, but he relies on an assist regardless of whether or not it hits! No good. Furthermore, his aerial keep-away game has been seriously debunked by people dashing underneath his demons and catching him from below, or superjumping up after him (avoiding either batch of demons) and hitting him horizontally. Blackheart also severely suffers from bad rushdown, meaning that if you stay in his face, he has no safe options to keeping you away from him. Yes, he has good damage and some comeback capabilities...but if you're someone that can effectively rush (which, in certain styles, is most of the cast of this game), then Blackheart is going to be severely disabled. .....still, for the kind of power this guy has, and an excellent anti-runaway assist that he brings to the table, you cannot discount Blackheart. Underestimating a smart Blackheart can be just as bad as underestimating one of the God Tier. If I were to rank Blackheart, he would be 13th. Dhalsim is a huge bundle of potential, dragged down by his frustratingly high learning curve. Unless you have the timing exactly precise on his j.HP and d.LK maneuvers, then you're not even going to be able to add substantial damage to combos, and you can forget about comboing into supers and such. However, once you get past that learning curve, you'll discover that Dhalsim has tons of ranged and close-quarters abilities, one of the best runaway games ever created (infinite teleport at the top of the screen, nigh untouchable), amazing corner combos, and some mix-ups that even Magneto would be proud of. However...he just doesn't have the same consistent damage of Storm, his mix-ups aren't as workable as Magneto, and he doesn't have the high-damage count of Sentinel or Cable (outside of a corner). Still, for what he has, he really does it well. I'd easily rank him at 9th, tied with Iron Man. He may have better tools for getting about and dealing (or avoiding) damage, but Iron Man - with his modest tools - certainly does get more damage done than Dhalsim. Finally, we have the man that I think is sorely underrated - Iron Man. This dude isn't as fast as quite a few members of the cast; however, he has a tri- jump that is VERY workable, giving him some very potent mix-up games. Furthermore, one well-played mix-up (and the proper level of skill) can turn into an Iron Man infinite, which can easily mean the end of that character...if not the entire team. If he is blocked, then he can still take the free chip from a c.HK xx LP Unibeam (only the likes of a God Tier character will be able to counter this), and his modest runaway skills are still difficult to supercede. Since he has a great mix of everything (lacking a good DHC-out or - in, really), I would easily rank him up as a Top Tier, bordering on God Tier...but since he DOES falter to excellent rushdown or trapping, you'll soon discover that he ends up handling like 90% of the other guys in the game. Heck, even Cable - with his average maneuverability - can avoid quite a few traps with his offensive play style. Iron Man, however, can't seem to get the job done quite as well even though he DOES get around better. I don't necessary agree that he should be dropped to Near-Top status...but at least he's getting the mention. __________ __________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ My closing argument will be for those whom are probably going to be debated as Top or Near-Top worthiness, but were left off. Let's get the list rolling. CapCom - Sure, some people will tell you that he has the best assist in the game. Loads of damage, works well as a counter-in (for more damage), it covers a good portion of the screen, and he even has modest retaliation abilities. The problem is that he just doesn't play that safe, and he has trouble on a lot of fronts that other characters can effectively handle. He doesn't have the enhanced mobility of Cammy or Psylocke, whom also have Top-Tier assists, and although he has the damage of Cammy, it just isn't as consistent or as feasible as Cammy's is. Furthermore, he isn't as safe at chipping as Psylocke is, so he loses there as well. When it comes to one-on-one matches, he has to take more risks than usual just to get the job done, and while he CAN turn the tide of a match with the damage he can reap...well, the risks too often outweigh the rewards. You whiff or block a special (unless you are Blackheart, or he decided to use Sho's Katana Fall) and you are in SERIOUS trouble...and in high-level tournament play, that's just not a good move. He is there for assist-uses ONLY at this level of competition. Anakaris - Anakaris has some serious damage potential, including his assist- related infinite. Unfortunately, the guy plays in such an unortho- dox way that he is sure to give a headache to plenty of players (instead of competition). Furthermore, his level of risks vs. rewards is a little too high to work in competitive play, since he is too easily guard broken, he lacks good runaway, he doesn't have the tools to counter or combat certain situations...yes, he can rushdown in his own odd way and there can be tons of damage to be brought from it, but that doesn't automatically make you a Top character. He could be a contender for a Near-Top slot, but he tends to fail because he relies a little too much on assists, he doesn't have any assists that aid his teammates very well, and he lacks the right kind of tools to stop the onslaughts that the God/Top/Near-Tops can wreak. Rogue - Sorry, Vegita-X and VDO, but she just isn't quite up there as a Near-Top character. Rogue has the mix-ups that Cammy and Psylocke lack, using he d.HK jump-in for cross-ups and etc., and she can combo into her super (on the ground) for a decent amount of damage. However, for all that, Rogue has some serious problems in safety: ~If she whiffs a move or is blocked, then she is right next to her opponent and ready to be pounded on (same with Cammy, but Cammy has certain other tools to her advantage so that this might not be the only outcome); ~Rogue doesn't have an assist that consistently aids her opponents; ~Her mix-ups, revolving around her Command Throw, are risky enough to cause serious pain if they fail; ~She has trouble dealing with being rushed or being run from; ~She can't stop trapping teams. Psylocke can teleport or use her blazing speed and three jumps to get out of stuff, and Cammy can either doublejump and invincible through something or simply KBA through the bulk of the attack and rebuff the rest. Rogue can airdash, block, and hope for the best. She doesn't have a good DHC-out or DHC-in in terms of safety, especially if she needs to get out in a hurry, while everyone in the God, Top, and Near-Top tiers has such DHCs...save Strider, Spiral, and Iron Man, of course. Strider has his instant-start Legion super, and Spiral can just load swords, toss a few, and tag in the next guy while their opponent is still in blockstun, preventing a counter-attack. Iron Man is stuck like Rogue - their DHCs leave them open before they can DHC out, messing up their team and possibly losing a character in the process. Rogue may be faster and can really wreak havoc with some of her mix-ups...but she doesn't have the chipping of Iron Man, the damage capability of Iron Man, the keep-away of Iron Man, the assist-punishment of Iron Man, or assists that help quite as much as Iron Man's. And, of course, if Iron Man is only a Near-Top...then what does that make Rogue? T. Bonne - Tron has quite a bit going for her, really. She has good offensive capabilities (damage-wise), and - with the right assists - she can do quite a bit of safe chipping in her own makeshift-lockdown sort of way. She has a versatile j.HP with good priority and range, she has an air-dash for mobility, she can punish moves quick quickly and easily, she can somewhat-safely DHC in or out, she's not too big, and she has an assist that can aid just about anyone in the game very well. However, she ends up losing quite a bit when she doesn't have assists backing her, since she cannot play nearly as safe as she did before. She can c.LK, s.LP for a few hits, then throw out a Tron Strike if it connects (or refrain if it is blocked, giving her enough time to make that decision). However, if she throws out that Strike, she is right next to her opponent and in for a world of hurt. Tron has a spot of trouble dealing with rushdown, since she doesn't have any really safe anti-air methods (I've seen people use her s.HK rock throw to AAA, but this is a bit of a gamble), and trapping teams can give her headaches as well (her airdash, while nice, simply isn't as effective as it could be in avoiding some of Blackhearts' or Spirals' stuff). She may have good long-range capitalization and decent damage, but if you can rush her or turtle at the right times then you're just not going to get anywhere with Tron. Now, her assist on the other hand... SonSon - Ah, the one you've all been waiting for. Well...SonSon has some really good damaging combos, and she has the tools to work certain situations and combos in her favor. Howver, she lacks a cancellable air-dash (which means she can't halt an airborne move and dash away) or feasible way to combo off of her Wall Climb overhead. She ends up with the capacity to do the damage of Cammy, but she is less able to succeed in landing that damage and doesn't have the mobility to make up for the lack of damage. If you have the tools, then you can land more combos and ultimately do more damage...if you only have the damage, then you could be in trouble. Juggernaut and Colossus have the damage, but they lack the tools to make use of 'em. SonSon may have less damage and more tools, putting her ahead of them, but she just doesn't have the right kind of abilities to completely put her up into the next league of gameplay. She has a great assist and some wonderful abilities...but the best she can possibly hope for is high "Wanna-Be a Near-Top" Tier. ...yes, I just made that term up. ____________________________======================_____________________________ B - Revision History ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯======================¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 07-06-03: So I've decided to split up my SonSon guide. Yay. 07-14-03: First version put up online. I've added my "thoughts on the Top Tier" section, as well as most of the Cyclops section. Plus, as you may (or may not) have noticed, I changed the style for this particular game guide, suiting quick searches easier. After all, this guide does amount to rather extensive passages of text, so making those section breaks easier to notice through browses is a plus. 07-17-03: Cyclops is finished, and I added Tron to the "Sorry, but you're Just Not a Near-Top Tier Character" list. Next up will probably Psylocke or Strider...I get the feeling that Dr. Doom and Iron Man will be VERY difficult to cover. _________________________________============__________________________________ C - Thanks ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ~CJayC (email@example.com, www.gamefaqs.com) for putting this FAQ up. Your hard work as earned my respect. ~Al Amaloo (www.gamewinners.com) for being such a cool guy, and having a great site. Your tenacity will live forever! ~email@example.com for giving me a heart attack with your childish "I stole your FAQ and sold it with my name on it" antics. Because of that, I now do dozens of things to make sure people don't steal my work. If they do, I know exactly what to look for to see if they took MY work or not. ~Uh...I can't exactly thank God for the role he's taken in my life, because that would seem like I'm trying to force my religious opinions on someone else (which I'm not). Therefore, I'd like to thank "Murray" for the role he's taken in my life (Murray, you know who you are). ~Those crezzy, crezzy guys at www.Shoryuken.com. Guys, if you want to know something about a fighting game - really, ANY fighting game - then head to SRK's forums. The best players in the world (on a lot of fighting games) go to those boards, so if you can't get your game some help there...then you're not going to get helped at ALL. ~Brian Clevenger (www.nuklearpower.com) for his wonderful comic "8-Bit Theatre". Taking the characters from Final Fantasy and making a comic strip was a great idea, but the jokes you've managed to create thus far have bordered on absolute genius. Plus, I decided to quote Fighter in my guide (see the "Spiral" strategy section), so I might as well give credit where credit is due. ________________________________===============________________________________ D - No Thanks ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯===============¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ If you write me asking for help with the game, I'll send you a link to my FAQ. If you ask for specific help, I'll try to aid you. However, if you ask me about something that is already covered in the FAQ, I will simply refer you to the FAQ again. I wrote the FAQ so that your questions would be answered here, not so I could repeat that FAQ bit by bit through e-mail for the next few years. If you need clarification about something in the FAQ, ask about it - but don't ask me to repeat anything. =============================================================================== End FAQ =============================================================================== The following are sites that can NOT use my work. If you see these sites using ANY of my FAQs, please e-mail me ASAP. Each of these websites are sites that have plagiarised myself or others in the past, or simply taken our work(s) without our prior permission. Since they do not have enough respect for the authors (or an ignorance of the law), I am expressly forbidding them from using my work. I will not promote such sites that partake in these actions. 911 Codes http://911codes.com 9 Lives http://www.9lives.ru/eng/ Bean's PlayStation Dimension http://www.bean.dk/psx/index.htm Cheat Code Central http://www.cheatcc.com Cheat Index http://cheatindex.com Cheat Matrix http://cheatmatrix.com Cheat Search http://cheatsearch.com Cheatstop http://www.panstudio.com/cheatstop/ CNET Gamecenter http://games.netscape.com/Faqs/ Console Domain http://www.consoledomain.co.uk Dirty Little Helper http://dlh.net Dark Station http://www.darkstation.com/ Dreamland http://kirby.pokep.net Games Domain http://www.gamesdomain.com Game Express http://www.gameexpress.com Games Over http://www.gamesover.com/ Mega Games http://www.megagames.com Square Haven http://www.square-haven.net Ultimate System http://www.flatbedexpress.com VideoGaming.net http://www.videogaming.net/ Cheats.de http://www.cheats.de (Taken from Jim "Red Phoenix" Chamberlin's FAQ Theft Guide, as well as added onto.) As I stated above, if you want to use one of my guides, I ask that you e-mail me to gain my permission first. I like to keep track of which sites use my work, so I know where to send the updates, and it's a little difficult to keep you updated if you don't e-mail me. This Document Copyright Reverend Eric "Vegita" Johnson, 2003
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