Suggested Reading Format: MS Word, Times New Roman, font size 12.
Parts of this FAQ are incomplete. They will say "Under Construction."
However, this is probably the final version of the FAQ.
Disclaimer:
This FAQ is (c) 2002 Henry "H2" Huang. Bloody Roar is (c) Hudson. This FAQ
is intended for personal use only. Do not reproduce or distribute any part of
this FAQ without explicit written permission from the author. To request
permission, simply e-mail me at h2_huang@hotmail.com.
===================================
THE GOAL OF THIS FAQ:
This FAQ will teach you the fundamental tactics, strategies, and technical
knowledge for Bloody Roar 3. The bulk of the FAQ can be applied to all Bloody
Roar games, as they are all based on the same fighting engine. I hope that
this FAQ will redefine your view of the game and bring you up to a new level of
BR play!
FAQ QUALITY:
Good fighting game FAQ's are even rarer than Bloody Roar players. In this
FAQ I share my own knowledge... plus strategies and tactics given by
TOURNAMENT-WINNING JAPANESE PLAYERS. 'Nuff said.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
"Come back when you're ready!" -Gado
Before starting this FAQ, make sure you know how to DO the basic things in
BR: how to use special moves, heavy guard, beastorize, etc. This FAQ tells you
how to strategically and effectively USE your moves, not how to DO them. If
you need to learn how to DO things in BR, then please check your BR manual or
read Deeshad's excellent BR FAQs (available on gamefaqs.com).
TERMS NOTE:
In this FAQ, I often refer to "attack strings." I am actually referring to
BR's "attack combinations" or "links," like P, P, P, K. To me, if something
isn't guaranteed to hit, it can't be called a "combo" or "link."
===================================
*********************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
*********************
I. GAME SYSTEM THEORY
= General Gameplay
= Basic Structure of a Fight
II. DEFENSE
= Defending From Standing Guard
= Guard Escape
= Guarding Your Back
= Escape Install
= Defense on Recovery
= Defense on Stagger
= Run Away
= Attack Reversals
= Conclusion
III. COUNTERATTACK
= Countering After Guarding
= Low Throws After Guarding d+P/Low Attacks
= Countering After Getting Hit *new*
= Countering After Guard Escape
= Countering After Running Away
= Learning It
IV. ATTACK
= AbG Low Attacks, Guard Breaks, and Throws
= AbA General Theory
= AbA Interrupting Attacks
= Canceling Attacks to Psyche
= Canceling Attacks Because You Don't Want Them *new*
= Canceling Attacks to Recover Faster
= Canceling Attacks Conclusion *new*
= Delaying Strings
= Attacking Off of Stagger
= Attacking for Movement
= "Custom" Strings
= Anti Guard Escape Attacks
= Conclusion -Rush Down and Footsie-
V. JUGGLING *updated*
= Juggling
= Juggle Recovery
VI. OTHER
= Movement **updated**
= Beastorizing
= Hyper Beastorizing
= Beast Drive
= Pre-fight Movement
= Getting Up *updated*
= Positioning/Distance
= Stages and Strategy *new*
= Frames
VII. CHARACTER ANALYSIS *updated*
= Alice
= Bakuryu
= Busuzima
= Gado
= Jenny
= Kohryu
= Long
= Marvel (Shina)
= ShenLong
= Stun
= Uranus
= Uriko
= Xion
= Yugo
In order to understand how a BR fight flows, we must understand the general
elements involved in a fight and how they are set up in relation to one
another. We must understand the general game theory. It's not necessary to
read this if you have a basic understanding of 3D fighters.
===================================
Game System: General Gameplay
===================================
Actual BR gameplay revolves around three actions:
(attack) CAN beat (guard)
(attack) CAN beat (attack)
([guard/guard-escape] then counterattack) CAN beat (attack)
I ain't talking RPS here. Basically this means that players will attempt to
deal damage and win the fight by successfully performing one of these three
actions. The success of each action is dependent on whether it is properly
executed or not (thus I say "CAN beat" and not absolute "beats").
Let's look at each component of BR gameplay and evaluate its value and
difficulty. Please become familiar with each of the components, as I will
refer to them a lot throughout the FAQ.
Refers to rushing someone down with a barrage of various attacks. Playing a
pressure game with low attacks, guard breaks, throws, attack cancels, attack
delays, etc. can help break down an opponent's defense.
Attacking a guarding opponent is the main method of offense for about a half
of the characters in BR.
-----------------------------------
(attack) beats (attack) : AbA
-----------------------------------
This refers to playing footsie; both characters moving around sticking out
attacks in attempt to hit each other and trying to get into/maintain their
ideal fighting position. Simply moving around is also a big part of AbA.
The effectiveness of using an attack to beat an opposing attack, AbA, is
based on the speed, range, trajectory, etc. of the attacks used. AbA is
generally somewhat difficult to perform.
The damage an attack does will usually coincide with the risk of the attack
used. Classic 3d fighter example of AbA: d+P (the crouching jab)
beats/interrupts a lot of attacks at close range and is generally pretty low
risk (it will actually be moderate-high risk for your opponent by the time you
finish this FAQ!), but does negligible damage.
-----------------------------------
(guard/guard escape then counterattack) beats (attack) : GbA
-----------------------------------
Guard or guard-escape your opponent's attack, then hit the enemy while they
are stuck in recovery animation, or hit them as they are starting their next
attack.
The difficulty of GbA and the damage it inflicts is highly dependent on what
attack is guarded/guard-escaped. Guarding or guard escaping a slow recovery
attack offers space for a more damaging counterattack. Guard escaping someone
during their attack string usually offers a chance to interrupt with a quick
punch and the chance to go on the offensive.
###############################
General Gameplay Summary:
###############################
BR gameplay is based on three actions:
(attack) beats (guard) : AbG
Rush down. AbG is easiest to do and results in moderate damage.
(attack) beats (attack) : AbA
Footsie. AbA is moderate difficulty and widely varying in damage.
(guard/guard escape then counterattack) beats (attack) : GbA
Guard then counterattack beats rush down. GbA is varying in difficulty and
damage.
===================================
GAME SYSTEM: Basic Structure of a Fight
===================================
Now that we know the main components of a game, we can put it all together
and see how BR fights work:
When the two fighters are at distances of well over two bodies apart from
each other (a range where most attack strings will whiff), they fight using AbA
to do damage and fight for position. GbA is possible but not the focus.
Characters like Gado, Xion, and b.Busuzima can thrive at this distance using
their long-range attacks.
When characters are about two or less bodies away from each other, they go in
and out of AbA. The fight usually ends up with one fighter attempting AbG and
the other fighter naturally reacting with GbA. AbA often blurs with AbG and
GbA. Yugo, Uriko, Long, and other characters who depend more on attack strings
over power hits deal the majority of their damage at this range.
Get used to the idea that you will need to make use of AbG, AbA, and GbA to
fight effectively (though the balance among these options will vary according
to your character and situation). Beginner players, in almost any fighting
game, try to fight exclusively through AbG and limited AbA.
###############################
Basic Structure of Fight Summary:
###############################
When fighters are at long distance:
AbA
Limited GbA
Close distance:
AbA
One fighter might attempt AbG while one reacts with GbA
Like most 3D fighters, Bloody Roar has what I call, "Defensive Focus." All
that means is that defending in this game requires you to fall into an actively
defensive state instead of holding down-back on your controller. Due to the
effectiveness of using evasive movements and the ease/frequency of using guard
escapes, BR3 plays with more of an "active" defense than other fighting games.
There is almost never a time when you are just sitting there holding back on
your stick/directional pad, blocking your opponent's five-minute attack
sequence... which is a common scenario in games like MvC2, GGX. Those are
technical traps. Even if you are locked, you can still keep guard escaping
while looking for a good opening.
Still, standing around blocking is usually where your defense starts, so
let's take a look at it.
===================================
DEFENSE: Defending From Standing Guard
===================================
Standing (neutral) guard is our base point of guarding since regular high and
mid attacks can all be guarded in this position.
If you know the basics of Bloody Roar you can skip this section and proceed
to "Guard Escape."
-----------------------------------
Weaknesses in standing guard
-----------------------------------
Technically, we have three major concerns when defending through the standing
guard:
1. guard breaks
2. grab throws
3. low attacks
I will talk about why each of these are a threat and how you can stop them
from your standing guard (aside from using a beastorize).
-----------------------------------
Guard Breaks:
hit because they either stun/break through light guard
-----------------------------------
In their raw form, guard breaks are not too dangerous against guarding.
Guard breaks have an obvious flash and tend to be slow to hit. Also, almost
all of them hit high. And finally, in BR3, the majority of guard breaks don't
cleanly hit you out of light guard anymore. I think you take about 50% of the
damage and get put into a short staggered state. That's still better than
getting straight-out hit by the attack.
If you are in defensive focus, it should be relatively easy for you to switch
from neutral to heavy guard because of the guard break's flash and startup
delay. If someone attempts a guard break close to you and you are not already
in "defensive focus," then you will probably smack them out of it without even
trying.
-----------------------------------
Grab Throws:
hit because they can't be guarded
-----------------------------------
Throws can be a pain. Throw ranges are short but setups are numerous. Throw
attempts can often run into an attack since attacking in close range is
frequent in BR.
From light guard, you can break out of a throw by mashing P+K as the throw is
about to connect, but this is not recommended as you will go into a throw whiff
animation if your opponent wasn't really trying to throw you.
You can also crouch or jab like in Virtua Fighter/Tekken. Crouching is okay
as long as you don't crouch too early; your opponent can very easily switch to
a low throw by pressing df+P+K instead of f+P+K.
Of special notice are Stun's chain throws (HCB+P+K and QCF+P+K). If you get
caught by either throw, you can escape the next stage of the throw by pressing
P+K just before you receive damage from the current portion of the throw. So
for Stun's HCB+P+K, you can escape by pressing P+K right before Stun slams you
into the ground with his leg grab. If you miss that escape point, you can
escape the third part of the throw by pressing P+K right before Stun slams you
into the ground for a second time.
You are probably hit by a throw when you let yourself fall into "defensive
focus" before your opponent even attacks, allowing them to come in and throw
you. Either that or you were faked out with a pressure string or attack cancel
(more on that in the "ATTACK" section).
-----------------------------------
Low Attacks:
hit because all require you to low guard
-----------------------------------
Low attacks are the most devastating form of AbG. The are usually used in
close range fighting, mixed in the rest of an offensive plan. In order to
properly guard low attacks in BR, you need to recognize the attacks before they
hit. You should also know when attack strings can go low.
Luckily, many strings follow a basic pattern of high/mid and low hitting, and
most characters mainly stick to certain patterns.
For example, Alice's attack strings hit on the same level at least twice. P,
P; K, K; f+P, P; each hit high/mid twice, so they can be guarded standing.
Alice's d +K, K; df+K, K; both hit low twice. Unless Alice cancels a string
after the first hit and then switches to a different attack that hits on a
different level (like df +P -mid-, df+K -low-), you always know where you need
to block against Alice's second hit.
You can get hit by a low attack for a number of reasons. One, you simply
could not react fast enough or anticipate it. Another way you get hit dealing
with low attacks is if you crouch in reaction to a lie down attack (d, d) but
hits mid. Since lie down attacks always start with the character pressing
themselves on the ground, they can be visually misinterpreted as low attacks to
the untrained eye (although some lie downs DO hit low).
Learn to recognize and react to the strings, and you will be much better at
guarding low.
Guard escaping is one of the coolest and most exciting features of Bloody
Roar. While most other 3D fighters focus on Guard Reversals that result in
some short automatic sequence where neither player can do anything (similar to
the results of throw), Bloody Roar keeps the action going at all times with
fast guard escapes that don't break up the flow of the fight.
Right now, we will look at guard escaping without considering the specifics
of what you do afterwards.
-----------------------------------
Differences From Earlier BR's
-----------------------------------
This is just for anyone who is coming from BR1 or 2. Guard escapes have been
overall improved for gameplay. Guard escapes occur very quickly, and if you
don't attack after guard escaping your escape won't even disrupt your
opponent's attacks.
This, combined with the general lack of ground combos in BR (everyone can
theoretically keep going back and forth guard escaping each other every two or
three attacks because most attacks don't combo), gives BR fights a flowing,
natural feeling. I think it is truly much better than the "back and forth, I
attack and you sit there and guard" feeling in many fighting games. That is
not to say you can't get trapped guarding in BR, or stuck in a corner, but it
is much more psychological then technical. And indeed, you will see later that
the means of creating non-technical traps is pretty high in Bloody Roar.
Guard escapes are now much, much safer and easier to do. It's
one-size-fits-all since f+G will guard escape low attacks and guard breaks now.
If you do it properly, when you mess up your guard escape you just end up
guarding.
At the same time ground-based guard escapes offer significantly less reward
since rather than sidestepping your enemy (causing them to whiff off to nowhere
if they're doing a string) you stay, horizontally speaking, in the same place
(sometimes you hop over low attacks so you can have vertical movement). If you
guard escaped part of an attack string, the next attack in the string can still
hit you.
This means that the counterattack situation in BR3 is opposite of that in BR2
and 1; you can now get much better counterattacks off of guard escaping single
hit slow attacks than fast strings.
-----------------------------------
Uses of Guard Escape
-----------------------------------
1. Can offer you a large counterattack window against slow attacks.
2. Gives you an opportunity to interrupt strings and go on offense.
3. Makes opponent more hesitant to attack.
4. Can be used to handle low attacks, since no high/low judgement is needed.
5. Against some characters, it can be used as a universal reaction to their
Beast Drives (guard escape handles both Jenny's un-blockable BD and her strike
BD).
6. Can get you out of juggles
-----------------------------------
What to Guard Escape
-----------------------------------
What do you want to guard escape? Anything that'll let you go on offense.
Even better, you want to guard escape anything that lets you pull off a phat
counterattack. That's pretty vague, hunh?
"Slow Attacks"
Guard escape all attacks that have either slow recovery or have slow start up
and moderate/slow recovery. Guard breaks are slow. Some characters have slow
attack strings that you should guard escape: Gado, Marvel, Xion, and Stun
(against faster characters, AbA is usually better). Circle combo characters
are sort of in the middle of the pack in terms of speed, and quite logically,
you use a combination of AbA and guard escapes to beat them.
"Find Constant Guard Escape Points"
There are usually ideal points to guard escape a string. At the same time,
they are usually many BAD places to guard escape where you will probably just
end up getting hit if you try to counterattack afterwards. Almost all string
finishers are an ideal guard escape targets since most have slow recovery.
Otherwise, guard escape the attack right BEFORE any slow-startup attack.
Usually if you have a stabilized point in a string to guard escape (like on a
specific attack), then you will be able to guard escape quite naturally and
consistently. The earlier the guard escape, the better, since you do not know
if your opponent is going to do the entire string.
Of course, if you start guard escaping at the same point, you can be baited
into guard escaping, so it is a double-edged sword... as it should be. I leave
true the details of handling guard escapes to you.
"If you don't know how to handle it, guard escape it!"
Well, I'm not quite serious. But if I don't know how to guard a string or
deal with an attack, I just guard escape it. Example? Bakuryu's f,b+P/K (up
the string run). Bakuryu can do different things after running up that string.
Guard escape is a universal solution to whatever he does. Uriko's CC? I've
never really bothered to learn it since I never play as or against Uriko. When
I can't judge between Uriko's high and low hits, I just guard escape all of it.
-----------------------------------
Executing and Timing Guard Escape
-----------------------------------
Now that you sort of know what to guard escape, let's talk about timing. If
you time your guard escape too early, you can be hit by attacks even after
guard escaping. This is especially true when you guard escape certain
multi-hit attacks, like Gado/Marvel quick one-legged kicks (f+K strings) or
attacks that can be canceled into command attacks. In general, when your
opponent has the "potential" of doing an attack that is hard to guard escape,
you obviously want to handle the attack with some other method.
Thankfully, most attacks are not anti-guard escape and the timing is pretty
loose.
Whenever you are guard escaping fast attacks either from a guard or just from
standing position, press and hold G, then immediately press f. This way, if
you mess up, you just get a heavy guard. But if you mess up, don't bother
pressing G+f again, because there is a split second of "no guard escape time"
(12 frames) every time you mess up.
You can guard escape multiple times. I advise you to hold forward and
reaction press G if you want to multiple guard escape. Multiple "chained"
guard escapes are not that great, though they look cool. Guard escaping
multiple times is more for intimidation, or if you realize that you guard
escaped an attack that won't offer you a solid counterattack opportunity (like
during in a circle combo). A multiple guard escape can also be used to handle
a string that you have no idea how to guard... but really, you should learn all
the major attack strings in this game. I'd tell you to do the same thing in
any 3D fighter.
However, it is justifiable to guard escape an attack and not follow it up
with a counterattack. It depends on your guard escape style.
You can also guard escape simply by VERY quickly pressing b, f or db, d, df
because the b and db motions register as heavy guards. Unfortunately, since
the motions must be done so quickly, they are much harder to do than the G
guard escape and I consider them worthless. On the positive side, some times
this method of guard escape accidentally comes out when your opponent is
attacking your back and you are trying to turn around.
DON'T base your game completely around guard escape. It might sound obvious
but there are people like me who have dreamt of being able to "guard escape
everything" or "parry everything." It is important to realize that you do not
need to guard escape every one of your opponent's attacks. It might look cool
as hell but it has little gameplay worth and you'll probably get killed if you
try to. You are extremely vulnerable to throws if you stand around guard
escaping.
= Guard escape has these benefits:
1. Can offer you a large counterattack window against slow attacks.
2. Gives you an opportunity to interrupt strings and go on offense.
3. Makes opponent more hesitant to attack.
4. Can be used to handle low attacks, since no high/low judgement is needed.
5. Against some characters, it can be used as a universal reaction to their
Beast Drives (guard escape handles both Jenny's un-blockable BD and her strike
BD).
= Good things to guard escape are
1. All slow-startup moderate/slow recovery attacks, slow recovery attacks.
2. Slow points in attack strings. Guard escape attacks that lead into
slow-startup attacks.
3. Specific attack points that you recognize.
4. Attacks you don't know how to guard
= Guard escape a string or initial fast attacks by holding G and quickly
pressing f. This way, if you mess up your guard escape, you just get a heavy
guard.
= Just like guarding, don't think you should try to guard escape everything or
focus your entire game on guard escape. You will either get hit or thrown
around if you do.
===================================
DEFENSE: Guarding Your Back
===================================
It is absolutely critical that you are able to defend yourself when your
opponent is facing your back. That is, assuming they have the initiative to
attack. You have four major defensive options in this situation:
1. Beastorize
Let the invincibility save you.
2. Run away from or evade your opponent
Do a forward momentum attack (Long QCF+P hopping punch), run, jump, lie down.
All of these are viable options that can save you. After running away, a
regular turn around is usually okay. It is recommended that you run if you
have already have some distance between you and your opponent.
3. Guard Escape
If you do it right, you turn around instantly with your dodge animation.
Though guard escaping with your back turned might sound daunting, it is a very
good option and not that hard. If you mess it up you might end up with our
next choice. Remember that you must guard escape in the direction you are
facing, not towards the direction of the opponent.
4. Hit G as you are hit from behind.
This will automatically turn you around with heavy guard. This is only
effective as you're being hit, so if the first back attack you receive is
Gado's QCB+P (Fire! Punch)... then you're probably dead. I will often opt for
the G turn around when I mess up a guard escape attempt.
5. Attack
In this case, attacking is purely for defense. Turn-around attacks are
pretty quick. Additionally, some attacks can hit behind even when you're
facing the wrong way. Almost any flipping attack will do the trick.
Generally, attacking for defense is not highly recommended.
###############################
Guarding Your Back Summary
###############################
= Move away with runs, jumps, or attacks if you have distance between your
opponent.
= Guard escape if you are already in prime attack range. If you mess up your
guard escape, try holding G and you will automatically turn around as you are
getting hit.
In BR, there is a way to defend against all high-mid attacks, guard breaks,
and cheaps from one easy position.
If you are a fighting newbie, a "cheap" is when you throw someone, usually as
they are guarding in anticipation of receiving your attack. This method of
throwing is not actually "cheap" or anything, the technique simply got that
name as a reflection of scrub's lack of ability to adapt to sensible tactics.
In BR, it is easy to avoid being thrown during a heavy guard. Why? You
first must realize that you can mash P+K to input a throw escape. The regular
downside to mashing P+K is that you will do a missed throw animation, leaving
you vulnerable to attack.
Enter heavy guard throw with mashed P+K. When holding G, you have no missed
throw animation. This technique significantly impacts the game. For ease of
reference, I will call the process of heavy guarding and mashing P+K "Escape
Install," or EI. ("Install" is a cool word, hehehe)
By holding G (heavy guard) and mashing P+K, you are simultaneously achieving
two great things:
1. Standing heavy guard
2. Inputting a constant throw escape
With EI, guard breaks and grab throws cannot harm you, so you have basically
eliminated two of the three major vulnerabilities of guarding. You are
invincible to all AbG except low attacks and command throws.
Let's look at how this impacts some characters in BR.
Think about Gado fighting against someone who is just doing EI. Gado has no
command throws (QCF+P and HCF+P are a strike throws- can be guarded) and only a
few low attacks that are tough for the opponent to reaction guard like d+K
(standing low kick) and f+K, d+K (repeated one leg kick string that eventually
hits low). How can Gado beat EI?
He can't. At least not easily. Gado is faced with a difficult battle if the
opponent has a significant lead and falls back on EI tactics.
In eUriko's discussion of this technique, he outlines how EI affects BR.
1. Person who uses the technique first has the advantage.
2. Attacks must be chosen more carefully
3. Command throw characters move up
4. Attacking low becomes more important
The biggest part of AbG is low attacks, and they remain a solid threat
against EI. While it is easier to guard against low attacks in EI since you do
not need to consider throws and guard breaks, it is still difficult. Moreover,
you can't retaliate as effectively from an EI heavy guard as opposed to light
guard.
In any case, I am positive that even when implementing EI into your game, you
will find that it is much more threatening on paper than in actual gameplay
(though still very useful!).
= "Escape Install" is the act of heavy guarding while mashing P+K.
= By holding G (heavy guard) and mashing P+K, you are simultaneously achieving
two things:
1. standing heavy guard
2. inputting a constant throw escape
This means that standing EI is only vulnerable to low attacks and command
throws. Drop into EI if you think your opponent is trying to throw you from an
attack.
===================================
DEFENSE: Defense on Recovery
===================================
-----------------------------------
Defense on Recovery
-----------------------------------
Realize that all of your attacks have recovery times, and during this time
you can get hit if your attack whiffed/was guarded/was guard escaped.
The only defensive measure you can take while recovering, particularly while
in a slow recovery, is to mash P+K for throw escape. Learn to do this
automatically and naturally for as many points as you can. Especially learn to
do it after slow recovery attacks or attack strings that you are purposely
stopping.
Let us consider your options as soon as you have recovered and are able to
move again. In order from most dependable to least, you should consider these
options to protect yourself when your opponent is likely to attempt a
counterattack.
1. Beastorize
2. EI
3. Guard attack (cancel into guard attack is especially good)
4. Lie down (supposedly you can buffer it)
5. Guard escape
6. A quick attack like d+P
If you look at those options, four of them deal damage to your opponent. Two
of them, LD and guard escape, can easily lead to large damage. You can use
attacks with fast recovery times as bait for the enemy to attack and then
counterattack. Very important for some characters. But since this is the
"Defense" chapter I'll shut up now.
-----------------------------------
Defense When Landing
-----------------------------------
When a player is landing from a juggle, the natural tendency is for him to
drop into defense, right? Hold G and EI. It makes sense, because his opponent
has the current attack advantage; if you try to attack you'll get countered.
This is a common scenario in a number of fighting games so lets think about
it. If your opponent is any good, he knows that you probably want to stand
there and defend after landing. In other fighting games, that would mean he
would throw you. In BR, it means he will command grab you or hit you with low
attacks.
I just want you to be aware of that, because dealing with it is all mind
games. Stay sharp.
===================================
DEFENSE: Defense on Stagger
===================================
Like most 3D games, you can recover from being staggered and guard your
opponent's follow up attack. At one point I felt this was tough to do, but
like counterattacking, necessity made me learn it. You definitely won't be
able to recover from all staggers, but hey, the more the better right? And you
should definitely learn to recover from frequently used staggers.
One way to recover quickly is to simply rotate the directional pad around
(touching all four points) and then press G to guard the opponent's stagger
follow up attack. Only one rotation of the directional pad is needed to
recover from most staggers (Busuzima is the only character I know who has
"power staggers" that require more than one rotation to escape). You can also
just shake the directional pad or press buttons but that might result in
accidental release of an attack. So basically, you do not need to input that
many button presses to recover from a stagger. It is just a matter of
recognizing you have been staggered and acting immediately.
I suggest you go into EI after recovering, but in many cases you'll even have
enough time to guard escape the follow up attack and make an awesome
counterattack.
If, for whatever reason, you anticipate the opponent's stagger follow up to
be a low attack, you can just rotate the directional pad on the bottom
directions (df, d, db) before guarding. If you get back staggered, you can
stagger recovery, but you're still likely to get hit, since you pretty much
have to guard escape whatever's coming after recovery.
###############################
Defense on Stagger Summary
###############################
= To recover from stagger, rotate the directional pad once. For Busuzima's
staggers, rotate more than once.
= After recovering from stagger, going into EI is recommended, but actions like
a guard escape are also possible.
===================================
DEFENSE: Run Away
===================================
This is sort of defense, but not really. By "run away" I simply mean you
make an effort to avoid contact with your opponent by moving out of their range
of attack. The best defense against super beasts is certainly running away,
and when being rushed down, you might just want to run away.
Running away has some solid benefits:
1. You are avoiding conflict with your enemy.
2. If you are in beast mode, you can regain life while running away.
3. You can get counterattack opportunities.
4. You can get some temporary breathing space.
And the down side of running away:
1. You are avoiding conflict with your enemy.
2. Running away usually has a moderate-high risk of getting hit.
Pretty self explanatory, I hope. I'll just explain reason #1: "avoiding
conflict." If you're behind in life and the clock is ticking, you probably
need to go on the offensive in a fight unless you can get that life back at the
last minute through a beast drive. That's when avoiding conflict is bad since
you have to deal damage. But if you have plenty of time left, or are against a
super beast, then avoiding conflict can be good.
-----------------------------------
General Run Away
-----------------------------------
A regular back dash or backwards walk away from your opponent can also
provide you with some space. It is a vital tactic against some characters.
Dashing will be discussed in more depth in the Other: Movement section.
If you are in beast mode and have exceptional jumping ability, you can run
away simply by jumping around. You can guard or guard escape anything that
threatens you while you're in the air.
If you have some space and some daring, you can use a move that leaves you
with your back turned (like Stun f, f+K step kick) and then immediately run
like a monkey. This is especially good for Bakuryu/Kohryu in beast form, since
he's got that zippity-zip back turned run (d+B).
Less common is using moves that leave you on your back. When you are on the
ground, not only are you invulnerable to everything except ground attacks (plus
a few low pecks), but you can also roll off to wherever you want. In BR2, Stun
u+K (flip over kick land on back), is a key part of his overall runaway
strategy (Stun is no longer a run away character in BR3).
Finally, some moves/attacks automatically create distance between you and
your opponent. Alice d, u+K (backward flip) is an example.
The most realistic way of running away from a rush down is to back dash or
walk back before it even hits you. Some players like to start up an attack
string at a whiffing distance and use the forward momentum of the string to
approach you. You can simply back dash while they are whiffing and possibly
attack them as they continue whiffing towards you.
To run away in the middle of a rush down, light guard/guard escape some of
the attacks and then back dash during an opening. Or you can just start
walking backwards.
Note that the effectiveness of running away from a string depends on the
speed of your own character's back dash and the forward momentum of the
opponent's attack string. Yugo constantly rushes forward with his attack, so
it is quite futile to try back dashing away from him. In contrast, Jenny is
very immobile while in her QCF+P (on one leg kicks) so it is quite effective to
move away from her if you find an opening.
If you are in beast form you can also jump straight up as the attack string
begins, or I suppose you could jump in the middle of the string if it is slow.
In the finals of the second Alpha Station Tourney (see Links), immediately as
the last round began, Thermo (Alice) jumped straight up over eUriko's Circle
Combo. Thermo landed with a clear shot at eUriko's back so he busted out a
stagger hit into wall juggle for an awesome 95% damage!
And that's what you can get for running away. ;P
###############################
Run Away Summary
###############################
Benefits:
Avoiding conflict
Regain life in beast mode
Breathing space
Counterattack opportunities
Demerits:
Avoiding conflict
Risk of getting hit
= For general run away, you can jump, turn your back and run, fall on the
ground and roll, move backwards by dashing or walking, or use a move that
creates distance between you and your opponent.
= To "run away" from whiffed strings, you can back dash or walk away before the
string connects. The effectiveness of this tactic depends on how fast your
character can back dash and the forward momentum of your opponent's attack
string.
= To run away in the middle of guarding an attack string, you can guard/guard
escape then back dash or just walk backwards.
= You can jump straight up (in beast) before a string begins.
Few characters possess attack reversals, or even prominent attack reversals;
but they still deserve a quick mention.
You can use them while guarding a string, recovering from your own attack...
just anytime you anticipate a normal attack from the opponent.
The real thing I want to point out is that attack reversals tend to have
delayed reversal attack time.
For example, Marvel can do QCFx2 +B (beast drive attack reversal) AFTER
guarding certain attacks, like low slides (Thermo, naganuke.html). Man, it's
crazy. I hate that beast drive!! :P
One good way for Stun to use his attack reversal is to simply do it AFTER he
has light guarded an attack, because the reversal will still come out on slow
single hit attacks. If the attack is too fast to get reversed, it is usually
an attack in a string, so the following attack in the string will get reversed.
I have to point out that even though the whole chapter on defense is shorter
than most other chapters, it is equally as important. It's just that I can't
write a lot about defending. Much of your defense has to be learned and
trained. You need to get familiar with the moves and tactics of the other
characters in order to defend against them. I can't tell you how to do that.
Make sure you know how to defend before you try to formulate an offense.
Remember that in BR, defending is not disadvantageous. People usually prefer
offense tactics because they are easier to do and their use is more implicit.
It also tends to be more fun. But heck, in BR, defense is so well integrated
with attack that it should feel very natural and comfortable.
On defense, you might not be able to control or dictate the flow of a fight
as effectively as you could on offense, but I guarantee you, unless your
opponent is a BR master, when he goes on offense he is more vulnerable to
attack than you are. That is, provided you know how to effectively...
This is it. If you have great retaliation skill then you are on your way to
becoming a great BR player. If you are not hitting your opponents when they
are recovering it is like giving them free energy or allowing them to stay in
control and abuse your puny behind.
While it is impossible to take advantage of every single retaliation
opportunity, cashing in on as many counterattack opportunities as possible will
help your game greatly.
A lot of people don't effectively counterattack in any fighting games. In
modern Street Fighter, how many players out there are going to hit you with a
level three super after blocking your close-up Hadouken or c.HK? Why do scrubs
fear Eddy Gordo? They have no idea how to counterattack him during his
gazillion openings.
Or more obviously, how many matches have you lost because you "screwed up
your combo after the other guy whiffed his Shoryuken"? I can count a lot in my
personal experiences, but I can count more times when I didn't mess up and a
counterattack brought me the win. In BR, many matches are won on
counterattacks that lead to mega juggles or big hits. *it's breath taking*
The issues that you must deal with when properly attacking your opponent
after you guard or guard escape are:
1. Deciding if you want to counterattack.
2. Deciding what attack to counter with.
3. Timing and doing your counterattack.
The first question is just situational. You ALWAYS want to counterattack if
you can do it cleanly (meaning, opponent has no chance of defending). Let's
look at what to counter with.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Countering After Guarding
===================================
A big part of 3D fighters, that leads many of people to start counting frames
like monkeys. Countering after guarding has lost much of its prominence in
BR3 due to the superiority of the new guard escape, but it is still useful.
There are two things you want to know to counter after guarding. You have to
know what you can counter with and you have to execute your counter right.
Executing a counterattack is something that must be learned with practice.
There are many attacks in this game that you can counterattack after guarding,
but only if you are quick!
Remember a single-hit attack loses its ability to hit you as soon as you
guard it. Well, actually the attack window can last 1 frame or 2 frames, or
maybe even 6 frames... but those are all undetectable by human reaction.
To should also try to use "easy" counterattacks. If you low guard something
with Long, just roll your left thumb up to f and press K to counterattack with
QCF+K. Very convenient, very easy.
Also recognize that many attacks lose their hit ability before they have
noticeably retracted. Gado's QCB+P ("Fire!" punch) is an example. If it
whiffs, do not wait for Gado's arm to start retracting to start your
counterattack. You can attack a moment after Gado's arm has shot out
(obviously, know the exact timing and distance of QCB+P... or you will just run
into it! ).
And of course it's useless to have good timing if you don't have a good
counterattack.
Although you can use some general rules to determine the specific move you
use to counterattack, maximizing your retaliation abilities will require that
you recognize specific attacks and know how to retaliate against them.
I will provide a few general solutions based on the opponent's position and
the recovery speed of his attack. Hopefully, someone will eventually make a
list of specific counterattacks to specific attacks.
All of these assume you have just light guarded an attack or heavy guarded a
guard break.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OPPONENT: in standing slow recovery right next to you or within half body away
EX: Gado running P (shoulder tackle); Long d, d +P (Bruce Lee punches circle
combo finisher); power attacks done at close range (Gado QCF + P); getting up K
(universal forward flip kick); something air borne (Alice QCF+P twirly jump);
most Beast Drives
-----------------------------------
YOU: throw, powerful strike/launcher attack (Alice QCF + B), pounce attack
(Gado/Marvel QCF+B), rushing strike (Yugo/Bakuryu QCF+B), quick strike Beast
Drive (Bakuryu, Yugo, Alice, etc), combo string (Bakuryu f, f+K...), drop kick
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OPPONENT: standing in moderate length recovery right next to you or within half
body away
EX: Long b+K (two hit pop kick circle combo finisher); Bakuryu b+B (quick
downward slash); string finishers like Xion Px5
-----------------------------------
YOU: pounce attack, rush strike, quick-start combo string (Gado P, P, f+P),
throw
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OPPONENT: standing slow recovery at two to three bodies away
EX: complete whiff of some sort of power hit move, like Gado/Marvel QCB + B;
Yugo QCB + K (flip kick); of a whiffed guard attack (Bakuryu QCB + P)
-----------------------------------
YOU: run forward cancel into throw, run into long range strike attack (Stun QCF
+ K), pounce attack, rushing strike, running attack (Alice running B launcher
kick), forward hopping drop kick (uf, f+K)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OPPONENT: crouching or "lying down" slow to moderate recovery right next to
you or closer than half body away
EX: Long db+K or f, f+K (sweep kick); Bakuryu P, P, d+K (punch into low kick);
Busuzima d + B, B (low head butt); Stun d, d, B (low rush); running low attacks
(slide attacks); some of Uriko's attacks; most character's d+P low jab
-----------------------------------
YOU: low throw, quick mid attack (Long df + P, P and many df attacks)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OPPONENT: turned around crouching after an attack
EX: Bakuryu, Jenny turning around punches
-----------------------------------
YOU: quick mid attack Gado B, B (slashes); low throw
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You can buffer QCF; QCB; f, b; b, f motions from a heavy guard. This can be
useful for speeding up the timing of your counterattacks after heavy guarding.
-----------------------------------
Counterattacking While Guarding in the Middle of an Attack String
-----------------------------------
If you looked carefully at the examples of "attacks that you can
counterattack after guarding" that I've given, you'll notice they're mostly
special moves, string finishers, or single hit attacks. It is possible to
counterattack someone in the middle of guarding their strings too.
It is not quite the same as interrupting the string (which is discussed in
the Attack section), because the purpose is to hit the opponent as they are
recovering from an attack. Counterattacking in the middle of a string is
pretty limited, but can be very awesome.
For example, if you light guard the start of Busuzima P, P... string (arm
swing punches); you can back throw him immediately as he is recovering from his
second P (assuming he doesn't cancel the recovery time of the P with a special
attack). This can be done regardless if Busuzima tries to continue the string
or not, because you are hitting him in his recovery.
###############################
Countering After Guarding Attacks Summary:
###############################
= When timing a counterattack, realize that you are free to move as soon as a
single-hit attack has made contact with your guard.
= Fast mid attacks with forward momentum, like pounces or rushing strikes, work
very well as general-purpose counterattacks.
= It can be more effective and easier to use a combo string counterattack if
the enemy's recovery is fast.
= Throws are generally great for counterattacking even though they can be
escaped. If your opponent isn't escaping throws, it should probably be your
first choice of counterattack.
= For counterattacking low attacks, a low throw or fast mid attack are your
best options.
= Retaliation: You can buffer QCF; QCB; f, b; b, f motions from a heavy guard.
= In rare instances, it is possible to counterattack an opponent (hit them
during their recovery) in the middle of guarding their attack string.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Low Throws After Guarding d+P/Low Attacks
===================================
A subsection of counterattacking after guarding that deserves its own
section.
Of great interest to me is the ability to low throw someone after guarding
their d+P/any other single-hit low attack (you know how pesky those low attacks
are!) In many situations, you can throw someone after guarding their low
attack.
To low throw after guarding:
1. Light guard the low attack.*
2. Press df.
3. Then quickly press P+K (do not try to press df and P+K at the same time).
*Against some low attacks, you can even get hit by the attack and still have
enough time to low throw.
Like with all counterattacks, counterattacking immediately is of the essence.
Here are some of the factors that determine how effectively your character
can counterattack low throw another character:
1. Throw range
2. Size of opponent
3. Distance from opponent
4. Foot position
5. Against the wall
1. Throw range
Speaks for itself. Throw range is pretty much relative to the size of the
character. I did some brief testing to see who could throw Long after guarding
his d+P and how close they needed to be to do it, and I'm pretty sure throw
ranges go like this:
Long range: Gado, Stun, Kohryu
Mid range: Alice, Busuzima, Long, Marvel, Xion, Yugo
Short range: Bakuryu, Jenny, ShenLong, Uriko
It is really only the short range characters who experience a lot of trouble
throwing after guarding low attacks.
2. Size of opponent
Smaller characters are much harder to throw than larger ones. Most
characters should be relatively easy to throw, but Bakuryu and especially Uriko
are very hard to throw after guarding their low attacks because they are too
small in horizontal width.
3. Distance from opponent
Duh. Unless it is a large character against another large character, most
counterattack low throws can only be done when you are near/next to your
opponent. Taking note of this range is usually irrelevant, since characters
generally have to get in your throw range just for their d+P to connect.
4. Foot position
This is weird, if not irrelevant. I thought foot position was a Virtua
Fighter only kind of thing. What is foot position? It basically means which
foot forward your character is standing with. Look at my vague diagram:
Key:
Baku's two feet: x x
Stun's two feet: y y
Bakuryu and Stun can stand facing each other in two different ways.
x_y
_x_y
Closed stance
x___y
_x_y_
Open stance
In closed stance, Bakuryu can throw Stun after guarding Stun's d+P if they
are right next to each other, but not in open stance because Stun is too far
away.
Various characters have different methods of changing their footing position.
Jenny can walk (er... strut), and every time she steps forward she changes
from closed stance to open stance. For characters who don't strut like Jenny,
you can usually change foot position by doing a drop kick (u, f+K).
If you don't get any of this, don't be concerned. Foot position is a very
subtle factor in low throws, but it does make the difference as to whether a
mid range character can low throw a small character like Bakuryu, or whether a
short throw range character can throw a large character, like Stun. But since
these situations are too difficult to evaluate in game, they should not be
regarded as realistic throw opportunities.
5. Against the wall
If the opponent is against the wall, he doesn't get pushed back when you
guard his d+P because he is at the wall. This can let middle range characters
throw small characters.
If we put all these factors together, the basic equation is this:
Long-range characters can easily low-throw counterattack large and
medium-sized characters and can sometimes throw counterattack small characters.
Medium-range characters can throw large characters easily and do fine
throwing medium-sized characters. They shouldn't try to throw small
characters.
Short-range characters can occasionally throw large characters but probably
shouldn't try.
###############################
Low Throws After Guarding d+P/Low Attacks Summary:
###############################
= After light guarding d+P or a single-hit low attack, press/hold df, then
quickly press P+K to low throw. Sometimes you can get hit by the attack and
still manage to throw.
= The ability to low throw as a counterattack mainly depends on the throw range
of the character and the size of the opponent.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Countering After Getting Hit
===================================
Get hit by an attack that doesn't cause much hit stun and has moderate
recovery time, then attack the opponent. Throw is probably the best choice
since there's not a big opening.
Throwing after getting hit is pretty much as situational as it is technical.
You don't need to know that you have a good chance of throwing someone after
getting hit; you can just see them standing there and think, "Hey, I think I'll
go for a throw now." If you just got hit and weren't staggered/knocked down,
and your opponent is right next to you recovering, throw that sucker.
Bakuryu/Kohryu f,f+P (dash punch), ShenLong db+P (two fisted punch), Alice
f,f+P (dash low punch) etc.
This theory can also be applied to any delays or stops in attack strings. If
someone hits you with P,P and you know they're stopping at that point, just
grab them.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Countering After Guard Escape
===================================
-----------------------------------
Single Attacks, Strings, etc.
-----------------------------------
Counterattacking after guard escaping basically serves one of two purposes.
1. To stop whatever the opponent is doing.
2. To connect a powerful attack that would otherwise be too slow to connect.
If you guard escape a single-hit attack with moderate to slow recovery, you
counterattack as you would after guarding a slow recovery attack. That means
pounces, momentum attacks, and launchers.
After guard escaping a point in a normal string, your counterattack options
are usually limited to using a fast attack. For most characters, guard
escaping and starting an offensive with P, P, P or d+P is fine.
It depends on how fast your character is and how fast your opponent is. You
will not be able to guard escape and counter Bakuryu P, P, P; most of Yugo
rushes, or Jenny Twist (on one leg multiple kicks) because there is so little
space in between the attacks (those must be beaten with AbA).
If you guard escape slow strings like Xion and Gado's strings or circle
combos, you can try to interrupt with a more damaging fast attack or a throw.
If you escape early in the string (which is what you should do), try to use an
attack that will stagger on counter hit, like Alice f+B (step punch), so you
can follow up with something big.
Just like timing your counterattack after guarding, it is of the utmost
importance to be able to cancel out of your guard escape animation immediately
with an attack/throw. Attacking immediately will allow you to interrupt strings
with slower, more powerful attacks.
Naturally, you won't want to attack immediately if an attack has not whiffed
through you yet because you will simply get hit. There is supposedly a four
frame (insignificant... around 1/6 of a second) delay before the attack comes
out if you cancel it from a guard escape (Arcadia Magazine).
Also, another time to delay your counterattack is if you are going for a
counter hit in the middle of a string.
In addition to f+G to guard escape, you can also guard escape by pressing
df+G. Pressing df was actually the best way to ground guard escape in previous
BR's, for uncertain reasons. Anyway, df+G is useful if you want to
counterattack with a df attack or want to crouch down.
But wait, there's more uses for df+G. You automatically buffer f, b attacks
whenever you do a regular guard escape. Sometimes you don't want this. If you
are Marvel and you press f+G to guard escape and then immediately press b+K,
you will do f, b+K fake low kick. Not good, right? You can get rid of this
effect simply by guarding escaping with df+G instead. Now if you press df+G,
then b+K, you will get Marvel's standard b+K.
-----------------------------------
"Buffered" QCF; b, f attacks
-----------------------------------
You can "buffer" b,f and QCF motions into a guard escape (eUriko, gge.htm).
It's not really a buffer, or it might be more like buffering a guard escape
into your b,f or QCF attack. Whatever.
Anyway, just press "b, f+G, attack button" and you'll immediately do your b,
f+P/K/B attack after a guard escape, assuming that you have a b, f attack.
Let's look at Stun to make this clearer.
Stun b, f+P (neck grab) can be buffered into a guard escape. If you press b,
then f+G as the opponent is attacking, you will do a guard escape motion. Now
if you immediately press P, Stun will cancel out of the guard escape motion
with his neck grab attack. As said, it works for QCF motions, including Beast
Drives.
For a QCF motion, it is just: d, df, f+G, attack button.
And no, this is not like a CvS2 roll cancel!! ;P
Since these buffered motion guard escapes require controller motions that
take an extra split second, it is better if you anticipate (not react to)
attacks when you want to use a buffered motion guard escape.
It's always cool (and damaging) to throw after a guard escape. Throws are
best done after guard escaping those slow recovery string finishers.
To cancel your guard escape into a throw, you CANNOT press f+G to guard
escape and then press f+P+K or hold f, then press G, P+K to throw. Don't ask
me why f doesn't work. Here is what you do instead:
f+G, b+P+K
So basically, just cancel out of your guard escape with b+P+K, or I suppose
db+P+K if you wanted to low throw (fancy, ain't cha?).
When discussing the guard cancel QCF attacks, you might have been wondering
if that would give characters with strong and fast QCF attacks an advantage.
Not really.
If you want to guard escape cancel into a QCB attack, you can simply press:
f+G, df, d, db, b+attack button.
Or if you want to be one micro-second faster...
df+G, d, db, b+attack button
Actually df+G is highly recommended because it IS faster.
It's f+G into a HCB motion. It doesn't work quite as fast as a QCF cancel
but it still works well. Sometimes, you might get a db attack through this
method instead of the desired QCB attack. If this is the case, add the ub
direction to your HCB motion to make sure you complete a full QCB.
If you have ever tried to use a f,f attack after guard escaping, you probably
ended up with a f attack instead. AFAIK, there is no way to quickly follow up
a guard escape with a f,f attack, but it can still be done. Simply press f,f
slowly after the guard escape and hold f when pressing your attack button.
Of course, since this must be done "slowly", using f,f attacks after guard
escapes is ineffective.
###############################
Countering After Guard Escape Summary:
###############################
= Use slower, more powerful attacks to counterattack after escaping slow
recovery attacks. Use fast attacks for escaping fast recovery attacks.
Obvious.
= When counterattacking in the middle of a string, try to use an attack that
has counter hit properties.
= You can immediately cancel a successful guard escape with an attack/throw.
= You can guard escape with df+G.
= f,f motions attacks only work after df+G guard escapes, not the f+G.
= f, b motions are automatically buffered from a guard escape. You can remove
them by doing df+G instead of f+G.
= You can buffer b, f; QCF; and QCFx2 attacks into a guard escape.
= To escape cancel into a throw, use b+P+K.
= To escape cancel into a QCB attack, do f+G/df+G into a HCB+attack motion.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Countering After Running Away
===================================
Remember "Run Away" from the Defense chapter, where you walk/dash back as
someone is attacking you (usually with a string), so that you have gone out of
their attack range? At that point, you can hit them as you are free to move.
Counterattack after run away should be done without hesitation, or otherwise,
the opponent naturally has the option of stopping their attack. Although they
could also continue attacking if they simply believe you will not be able to
counterattack them.
Please refer to ATTACK: Interrupting Attacks for some ideas on what to use
for counterattacks after running away.
This might be a small section, but it's a big part of fighting characters
like Jenny and Uriko, so be sure to take note of it.
===================================
COUNTERATTACK: Learning it
===================================
On paper counterattacking looks easy... but it requires much practice and
familiarity with BR! I knew OF a number of counterattacks before I was
actually USING them on a consistent basis. There are still many possible
counterattacks that I am in the process of learning.
The best way I learn to counterattack (or just how to guard) an attack is to
get hit by it over and over in actual gameplay. Repetition. Adapt or die.
Once upon a time... Every time I got (er... get) hit by Long f, f + K (hopping
low sweep) I thought about that attack and hated how Long could always get in
my face with it and I imagined how great it would be if I could stop it.
Eventually I learned that you could low throw it and, after some practice, I
learned to guard and low throw it consistently. Now I can throw counterattack
Long and say, "There you go, you lil' #@$#, there you go!" :P
Practice, practice, practice! It's all about string recognition,
preparation, and training your counterattack from a conscious, clumsy action to
a natural, automatic one!
Of course, all well-structured fighting games focus most of all on attacking.
BR is no different. I will talk about using attacks in the context of AbG and
AbA.
===================================
ATTACK: AbG Low Attacks, Guard Breaks, and Throws
===================================
In the beginning of the FAQ I mentioned the elements of AbG. Let's take a
closer look at them and how we can use them to attack.
Attacks that hit low. Note that d + P is not a low attack (it's one of them
special mid/low thingies).
Low attacks are generally very weak damage-wise and can't guard break.
Usually, any low attack that reaches two bodies or further is just slow enough
to be guarded on reaction, or it is slow enough to be punished hard on
recovery. Low attacks with shorter ranges tend to be too fast to be guarded
"comfortably" on reaction and difficult to punish on recovery if the opponent
guards or guard escapes.
The main purpose of low attacks are for AbG. You mix low attacks up with
other level attacks. You want to annoy your enemy with fast, safe,
high-priority low attacks, they interrupt a lot of things, like guard attacks.
If he starts guarding low, you can hit him with quick mid level attacks or a
low throw. And of course, if he doesn't guard low, you just drain him with
more low hits.
As you know from the Counterattack chapter, it is possible to get thrown if
your opponent guards your low attack. Possible. I don't know who you're
playing, but hopefully you're the only player who can do the low counter throw
consistently. If your opponent is actually good enough to throw you after your
low attacks, you will have to be much more careful. Only use long-range low
attacks that leave you too far away to be thrown (Alice df+B loooong leg),
multi-hit low attacks that push you out of throw range (Jenny d+K,K poke and
sweep), or standing low attacks (Xion d+K standing low kick). Or you could
just try to input a throw escape after every low attack you do, but that's a
real hassle. It gets very tedious and getting thrown becomes preferable. :P
= Low attacks are mainly for annoyance and defense because they do miniscule
damage.
= Your opponent might open himself up to a more powerful mid attacks and throws
when he tries to deal with your low attacks.
= If your opponent is throwing you after your low attack, you will have to
restrict your usage of low attacks to doing long range or multi-hit push out
low attacks so you can't be thrown.
Throws seem to be instantaneous and will connect as long as you are in throw
range and the enemy is not in the start up or hit part of an attack. You can
throw during someone's recovery animation. They can escape any grab throw by
mashing P+K.
If you miss a regular P+K throw, you will do a whiffed animation of grabbing
nothing. Missing a low throw will cause you to do a downward missed animation.
During this downward animation, you evade high attacks. The length of these
missed animations varies from character to character. Alice has a long missed
animation and Stun has a short one.
If both characters try to throw each other at the same time, they will both
miss.
Large characters are much easier to throw than small ones. b.Uranus, the
Chimera? Very easy to throw. Little Uriko? You could throw whiff a lot.
Unlike many other fighters, you can cancel your run with a throw. Whenever
you are going for a throw from a distance, run cancel into throw.
xxxxxxxx 4/1/02: Incorrect info below
Do not dash because you cannot dash cancel into throw; there is a vulnerable
stopping animation for dashing.
eUriko makes a very relevant point about dashes and runs. You need distance
to start up a run. If you try to run when you are too close to your enemy you
will just dash, and even worse you will end up with a dash recovery (eUriko,
maai.html). So if you want to use running throws (which kick much booty, FYI),
set up a sweet spot for it. Run-cancel throws can actually be used in footsie.
xxxxxxxx I misinterpreted eUriko's info. Only back dashes have recovery time,
and this can be canceled easily with G. Look at the Movement section for more
info.
Characters have different throw ranges, usually corresponding to their
overall size (see the Counterattack: Low Throws After Guarding d+P section for
the list). However, this is mostly a concern when using throws for
counterattack.
Running speed and throw setups determine a character's throwing ability when
considering throws as an offensive tool. Bakuryu's throw range might be short,
but offensively, his standing throw is very good because his run is so fast.
If an enemy whiffs a move from far away, there is a good chance Bakuryu can run
up and throw while the enemy is recovering. What can Stun, the slow throw
character do to grab throw you in the same situation? Nadda.
Throw setups put your opponent in a "defensive focus" before throwing them. A
potent throw set up for Stun is a close up "Eat this!" (QCB+P low strike throw)
canceled into low command throw when the opponent crouches.
Fast attacks hit before slow attacks. If Alice and Stun are next to each
other and both are attacking, Alice will be the one landing all of the hits
because of her superior attack speed.
Speed is most important when characters are close enough to each other so
that attack range is no longer a concern. In more advanced fighting, speed is
a significant factor at all ranges since players will be trying to use every
bit of range and speed that their character has.
-----------------------------------
Range
-----------------------------------
Longer range lets you hit a character when they can't even reach you. In
beast mode, Xion and Busuzima get tons of long range attacks to hit their
opponents safely.
Naturally, range attacks are important when characters are further away from
each other. They are often too slow to be used close up.
Attacks that go into the air will go over low attacks. The default hopping
attacks (u+P or K or B) will go over an opponent's low attack and hit them.
Attacks that "sway" backwards or have a back step before the actual attack
will dodge the opponent's attack and then hit. Stun b+B (sway backward then
thrust head forwards)
Lie-down attacks allow you to duck under high and mid attacks before your
attack comes out.
There are attacks that just travel at good angles and "drive through" the
opponent's attack. Long K (snap kick) is an example.
Some attacks, like crouching attacks, you can use after ducking under high
attacks. This is not as substantial as it is in Tekken or Fighting Vipers, in
which there are many rising stun hits and launchers that you can use after
crouching under something. In BR, there are no "while standing" attacks
outside of the lie-down attacks.
AbA trajectory attacks come into play everywhere. Hopping attacks are
usually used close up against low pokes. Sway/back step attacks are usually
used around the edge of the opponent's primary attacking range (thus the back
step moves you out of their attack range). Lie-down attacks are best when
anticipating attack strings at close ranges, or during a continuous attack
string like Yugo's rush.
-----------------------------------
Built In
-----------------------------------
Some attacks were simply built to beat other attacks. All guard attacks have
neutral guard built it. Stun QCB+B is an automatic high/mid attack reversal.
As I've said, I personally don't like guard attacks when used defensively.
However, on the offense, I think they're okay. Guard attacks are usually used
in conjunction with psyches... our next section.
###############################
AbA General Theory Summary:
###############################
Interrupting an attack refers to CONSCIOUSLY stopping someone's attack with
your own attack. Many fighters have openings in their attack strings that allow
you to interrupt even if your were guarding. You should be aware of
advantageous interruption points so that you can punish sloppy/abusive attacks
and so that you can make your own offense tighter (use attacks with
fewer/smaller interruption points).
-----------------------------------
What to Interrupt With
-----------------------------------
Not surprisingly, some of the best footsie attacks tend to also be the best
interruption attacks. They are attacks that beat other attacks (AbA). Speed,
trajectory, and built in properties are the big characteristics of a good
interrupting attack.
The standard attacks for interrupting another attack are P and d+P. These
are the fastest attacks for most characters, so they interrupt with speed.
Characters who have faster jabs, like Bakuryu, are able to interrupt their
opponents at many more points than characters who have slower attacks, like
ShenLong.
Attack trajectory is another big factor when interrupting. Long db+P (duck
back then two arm punch) goes low before it hits so it naturally avoids high
attacks. The direction of the attack is important; Alice b+K (reverse
roundhouse) is not only fast but travels at a horizontal-diagonal angle that
happens to beat out many attacks. Any sway back attack, like Stun b+B (swing
back then head butt) also interrupts well.
Built-in attacks can also be used to interrupt, like guard attacks or guard
reversals.
Experiment with your own character and find out what their best interrupting
attacks are. As said before, great interruption attacks also tend to be great
footsie attacks.
Finally, remember that each of the BR characters are very different from one
another. An attack that can always interrupt Busuzima might always get beaten
out by Yugo. You will need different interruption attacks against different
characters and, if you want to get really specific, you might want different
interruption attacks for their different strings.
-----------------------------------
Examples of Useful Interruption Points
-----------------------------------
Examples of interruptible attacks would be Bakuryu f, f + K... (jumping
multiple kicks) and Bakuryu d, d, K, K (rising vault kick followed by dropping
heel kick). f, f + K, which puts Bakuryu above his opponent, can be stopped
just by punching as soon as Bakuryu's first kicks are guarded. d, d, K, K can
be stopped after the first K (rising kick) with various upward attacks like
flip kicks (Bakuryu ub+K). Interrupting either one can let you start up a
juggle.
Circle combos, in general, are very interruptible. Just try to interrupt
with a mid/low attack because if Long/ShenLong d+P dodges low attacks and
juggles on counter hit, and Uriko is just plain short so high attacks whiff.
Against Long/ShenLong CC, I like to interrupt the low attack. There are
issues. I might talk about them later in Character Analysis.
Yugo is constantly interruptible with low attacks. He's got some quick mid
hits, but they are either weak or slow.
For Jenny f+K, K, K... attack string, you can interrupt her with P after
f+K,K as well as after f+K,K,K (two hit spin around kick). You can interrupt
her after light guarding B, B. B,B interrupt results in a juggle and stops one
of her fly starters.
The second hit of Alice d+K, K (two low poke kicks) can be interrupted with a
quick mid-range attack, even special attacks will work, like Long QCF+K
(jumping double kick).
Get the idea? There are many, many interruptible attacks in this game. The
more of them you know (and can take advantage of), the less your opponent can
attack you safely.
Be careful, though. Many interruptible strings are safe if the opponent
simply stops their string at the interruption point. No big deal if you are
just interrupting with jabs.
-----------------------------------
Lying Down to Interrupt While Guarding Attack String
-----------------------------------
Lying down (LD) attacks are especially great at interrupting fast attack
strings. It is very useful to use lie down attacks against characters like
Yugo, who often hit too fast to guard escape.
To execute an LD attack while guarding a string, just hold G to heavy guard
then push d, d. Push d slowly; if you tap it, the LD won't come out.
And of course, make sure you can control your LD very well. Sometimes you
might want to attack as soon as you lie down, and other times you might want to
delay your attack. It might be to score a counter hit, or it might just be
because you lay down too early. Also know how to STOP yourself from doing an
LD attack if it is not needed. A lot of LD attacks have poor recovery time so
don't just do one for the heck of it if you lay down and find there is no
attack to counter.
= Many guard breaks, guard attacks, and circle combo attacks are interruptible
with quick attacks.
= You can guard attack while guarding an opponent's attack string
= To lie down in the middle of a fast attack string, hold G to guard and
"slowly" push d, d. Do not tap it or the lie down will not come out.
===================================
ATTACK: Canceling Attacks to Psyche
===================================
Canceling attacks to psyche is a major element of BR gameplay. It is one of
the best parts.
Canceling attacks is useful against competent players. By doing an attack
and canceling it, you can egg your opponent into a certain state (like guarding
low or standing heavy guard) and then capitalize on it by using an attack that
specifically defeats that state. Or you can just make them uncertain.
An example is Stun QCB + P "Eat this!" low strike throw. By itself, this
move is completely idiotic. It is so slow and obvious that anybody who
recognizes it can guard it or counterattack it. The only use for it would be
to pick people up off the ground after a bounce for a small bit of damage.
Enter the G cancel. Do Stun QCB + P, cancel it, and immediately do QCF + K
(mid hit kick strike throw). If they crouch in reaction to the QCB +P, or try
a hopping attack to AbA it, your QCF + K will hit them. A completely idiotic
move made dangerous through G canceling.
And for you monkeys fighting the "advanced advanced" player... you can try
the double psyche. Meaning, you cancel two or more attacks in a row, or you do
something like cancel a low attack into another low hit attack (Stun "Eat
this!" into low command throw). The knowledgeable player sees the canceled low
attack and thinks a mid is coming, so you hit him with another low attack.
An added feature in BR3 is that canceled attacks can be guard escaped. If
your opponent likes to guard escape and counterattack with slow recovery
attacks, you can just do an attack, cancel it, then let your opponent guard
escape and try to counterattack you while you just guard.
Naturally canceling attacks has drawbacks. You are vulnerable at the point
before you cancel. If you cancel an attack into a different attack, it is like
you are adding on startup frames to your real attack. If your opponent can
read your cancel, then they will just attack you during your cancel and you
will be in horrible, horrible pain. LOL
We can develop canceling games further by involving guard attacks. It is
certainly useful against characters that don't have lots of low attacks or
guard breaks.
In this section, I will basically summarize what eUriko has written in his
column on guard attacks (ga.htm).
The best time to use guard attack cancels is when there is some distance and
"breathing space" in between two opponents; basically a point when the match
has reset.
Do guard attack > G cancel > guard attack > G cancel... to get the opponent
into a defensive focus and then throw him. If the opponent tries to hit you
with a guard break, you just hold back and press G to cancel and you will get
heavy guard.
Another possibility is guard attack > low attack
Attacks that come after guard attack cancels tend to counter hit more, so it
is good to follow up with attacks that have advantageous counter hit effects.
When both characters are using guard attack cancels, the low attacks become
more predominant as they will beat guard attacks whether they are canceled or
not. If you anticipate your opponent's guard attack cancel, you can throw him.
H2's note: Let's mash P+K while we are in guard attack start up, then.
###############################
Canceling Attacks to Psyche Summary:
###############################
= By doing an attack and canceling it, you can egg your opponent into a certain
state (like guarding low or standing heavy guard) and then capitalize on it by
using an attack that specifically defeats that state.
= Canceled attacks can be guard escaped. You can use them to bait guard escape
counterattacks.
= Canceled command attacks are best done when you either have control of the
fight (rushing someone down) or when the match has reset.
===================================
ATTACK: Canceling Attacks Because You Don't Want Them
===================================
Probably the most obvious usage of canceling. You cancel a command attack if
you figure out that you don't want it.
For example, if Marvel is doing u+P xx QCB+B, she will probably want to
cancel her QCB+B if the u+P is guarded. That way, she can avoid suffering
through the recovery time of QCB+B, and possibly start something else up.
===================================
ATTACK: Canceling Attacks to Recover Faster
===================================
After going from a cancelable attack into a special attack (QCF/QCB),
immediately cancel that special attack with G. This can cut down the recovery
time of your original cancelable attack, had you done it without any cancels at
all.
Once again, the undeveloped BR world gives me the liberty of naming this
technique. I call it the (Speed) Drive Cancel... DC!
Here are some of the uses for DC on attacks that can be canceled into specials:
1. Gives you "new" follow ups.
2. Lets you perform a more continuous attack with shorter recovery holes.
-----------------------------------
New Follow Ups
-----------------------------------
Let me give you an example of how you can use DC to follow up with attacks
you normally couldn't follow up with.
Rabbit Alice f+P, P (slow swing down, swing up punches) xx QCB+P [G cancel]
--> P, P...
Normally, if Rabbit Alice f+P, P does not counter hit, it leaves her with no
follow up options aside from canceling into a special attack. (3/1/02:
Correction. She has no ground follow up options, but she can AC) She can
follow up with a special attack simply because canceling into it cuts off the
recovery time of f+P, P.
But if Alice cancels the f+P, P into QCB+P and then immediately cancels the
QCF+P with G, suddenly she has cut down the total recovery time of f+P, P had
she done it with no canceling. So now Alice can follow up f+P, P with many
non-special attacks like P, P, P; a very good attack to use against the
opponent's impending low air recovery after getting hit by f+P, P.
-----------------------------------
More Continuous Attack With Shorter Recovery Holes
-----------------------------------
I actually learned about DC from the CPU when it was using DC to attack me
continuously. What did the CPU do?
Long did a circle combo into QCB+P, canceled the QCB+P, then immediately
restarted the circle combo from the beginning to keep the pressure on.
Xion can do things like P,P[DC],P,P[DC]P,P and on and on. DC is very
relevant to Xion. If you combine DC with canceling to psyche, you have a game
plan going.
-----------------------------------
If you find some more good uses of DC, or specific applications, please e-mail
them to me at h2_huang@hotmail.com or write them up in a FAQ or something.
###############################
Canceling Attacks to Recover Faster Summary:
###############################
= Drive Cancel (DC): After going from a cancelable attack into a special attack
(QCF/QCB), immediately cancel that special attack. This can cut down the
recovery time of your original cancelable attack, had you done it without any
cancels at all.
= DC gives you new follow-ups to certain cancelable attacks.
= DC lets you use cancelable attacks continuously with shorter recovery holes.
As said, canceling is just a big, big part of BR. When using your cancels,
think of your cancels as pokes, or even like fireballs (uhm, especially if you
consider your fireball to be a poke... a very familiar concept to SF2 players).
What a cancelable attack does, especially if it is discernable before it comes
out, like a guard attack or guard break (which both have flashes) is to create
uncertainty... hesitation. Confusion. Suspicion. Second-guessing.
If you do a cancelable guard break it's like saying, "Look, this space in
front me is now mine. If you want to attack and move forward now, you could
get hit by my guard break. If you want to guard this guard break, I might
cancel and hit you low. If you're going to guard escape, I might cancel and
throw you. If you want to back up, I'm just going to follow you and set you up
again." Okay, that sounds dumb, but you've got the idea, right? Cancels are
like pokes/fireballs. Pressure and guessing games.
You can delay attacks many attack strings. Delays seem to be much stricter
in BR3 than in previous BR's. You can delay fewer attacks and furthermore you
can't delay them as long as you used to.
Delay is not that useful against someone who is trying to guard, since they
are just sitting there guarding. It is relatively useful against someone
trying to guard escape a fast string since it can throw off their timing.
-----------------------------------
Safer Delays With Throw Escape
-----------------------------------
It is a common problem that if your opponent reads your delay, they will just
take your pause to throw or attack you. The throws, at least, can be limited
by entering a throw escape in between your delay points.
-----------------------------------
Delaying to CH
-----------------------------------
More importantly, delaying can be an excellent way of hitting (and more
importantly COUNTER hitting) an opponent who is trying to hit you during your
recovery or during your string "opening" or pause.
A fine example is Bakuryu's f+K, b+K (forward flip kick, backward flip kick).
Delay the b+K. This is good for a number of reasons:
1. f+K recovery looks vulnerable after finishing
2. the delay after f+K can be quite long
3. b+K is fast
4. b+K juggles on counter hit
Look at your character and find out which of their attacks have increased
benefit on counter hit (like launching, stunning, or bouncing your opponent).
Delay attacks before these counter hit attacks to bait your opponent into
attacking... and then BAM!!
-----------------------------------
Delaying for Visibility
-----------------------------------
Particularly for Yugo, it is possible to delay his combos in order to give
you more time to consciously determine whether the starting attacks hit or not.
Then you can decide whether or not to continue the combo. So for Yugo's
B,P,P,P xx QCB+K combo, he can delay every hit of B,P,P,P. If any of the
attacks hit, they will still combo even if Yugo delays them. If they don't
hit, Yugo can stop and do something else.
###############################
AbA Delaying Strings Summary:
###############################
= Delays can make it harder for your opponent to guard escape.
= When doing an attack string, you can delay attacks in hopes of baiting the
enemy into attacking so you can get a counter hit.
= Your string delay can also throw off guard escapes.
= Yugo can delay certain ground combos to see if they hit or not.
===================================
ATTACK: Attacking Off of Stagger
===================================
There are so many different forms of stagger/stun in BR. Guard crushes,
bounces, pop ups, on one knee, etc. At these points, you can often hit the
opponent with deadly attacks. The attack will do less damage then normal, but
it can still be very deadly.
There are basically three ways of putting someone in a stagger:
1. If the opponent light guards a guard break.
2. Hitting the opponent with an attack that has stagger properties.
3. Counter-hitting the opponent with an attack that staggers on CH.
If the opponent tries to light guard a guard break attack, they will get
guard crushed. A little explosion effect will occur and the opponent will
stumble backwards. At this point you can whack them.
Guard break staggering isn't that useful. Attacks that guard break usually
have moderate-slow recovery, and the stagger caused by a guard break isn't that
long. Therefore, the follow up attack has to be performed right after the
guard break stagger, and that is not easy.
The only character who has any good use for guard break staggering is
ShenLong, because he has guard breaks in his CC.
-----------------------------------
Attacks That Stagger
-----------------------------------
This is very useful. Normal attacks that stagger can often take the opponent
by surprise, giving them insufficient time to recover from their stagger.
Busuzima f, f+K (foot stomp) is an attack that staggers; your opponent ends
up hopping up and down on one foot if he gets hit.
Leopard Marvel's u+P (overhead hop smash) is an incredibly deadly stagger
since it bounces the opponent and let's Marvel go into a juggle.
Many attacks, that get some sort of stagger on a normal hit will get a
stronger stagger on counter hit. Alice b+K (reverse roundhouse) will cause the
opponent to pop back on a normal hit, but on a counter hit the opponent will be
launched into the air.
-----------------------------------
Counter Hit Staggers
-----------------------------------
Certain attacks will have counter hit (CH) effects that leave your opponent
staggered. Marvel, Gado, and Xion d+K (standing low kick) and Uriko db+K
(sweep) are examples. It should be noted that attacks that stagger on CH will
often get CH effects if they are used on someone who is already in hit stun (or
in the air? -confirm). Make sense?
Lets look at Yugo db+P, P (two diagonally downward punches). The db+P causes
a small stagger on connection, the second P bounces on counter hit. However,
if you connect the first db+P, sending the opponent into small stagger, then
when the second P connects it will bounce the opponent just as if it had
counter hit. If the first db+P DOESN'T connect and the second P hits by itself
normally, the opponent will still be standing.
eUriko believes this happens because there is a "knockdown" counter
programmed into the game. It's like dizzy counter in a Street Fighter game.
Your opponent gets knocked down or staggered when his knockdown counter reaches
a value of, let's say 10; and the counter resets whenever he goes out of hit
stun.
You hit an opponent with attack X, which adds 5 to the opponent's knockdown
counter as he is in hit stun. Now you combo attack with attack Y, which adds 6
to the counter. Since the counter goes over 10, the opponent is knocked down.
-----------------------------------
Following Up the Staggers
-----------------------------------
More often than not, you must do your follow up attack before you can
consciously determine whether you scored a CH or not. If you plan to follow up
with an attack that will leave you vulnerable if guarded, you should try and
guess whether your attack will CH before it connects, and use that to decide
whether to follow up or not (Note: I do not do this. :P).
CH attacks and follow ups can be extremely powerful, but since most CH
attacks and their follow ups are character specific, it is difficult to discuss
them in detail here.
###############################
Attacking Off of Stagger Summary:
###############################
= There are basically three ways of putting someone in a stagger:
1. If the opponent light guards a guard break.
2. Hitting the opponent with an attack that has stagger properties.
3. Counter-hitting the opponent with an attack that staggers on CH.
= For most follow up attacks after a stagger you need to do it immediately
after CH'ing your opponent.
===================================
ATTACK: Attacking for Movement
===================================
This is an interesting topic. There are four different offensive purposes
for using an attack to move:
1. To quickly get in from long range distance
2. To approach at ranges where walking forward will get you hit.
3. To get close enough for a throw
4. Looking vulnerable to incite an attack that you can counterattack
-----------------------------------
Closing Long Distance
-----------------------------------
If your character is an in-your-face fighter, you want them close up as much
as possible. Forward momentum attacks can be used to quickly cover long
distances and position you next to your opponent. Long f, f+K (hopping sweep)
and Bakuryu/Alice f+K (forward flip kick) are examples of attacks that can move
these characters in fast. Is it safe? Only if you set it up to be safe. You
could cancel a guard attack into these or do them while your opponent is
recovering from an attack.
A more interesting way of approaching is through a canceled special attack,
like Bakuryu QCF+B (rush and thrust) or ShenLong QCF+P (hop forward punch).
Very cool stuff.
Can you do something like a SF3 kara throw in Bloody Roar? Not really. You
can obviously cancel a special move into a throw, but it happens too slowly to
get any sort of decent range leverage off of it.
-----------------------------------
Approaching When Close
-----------------------------------
Once you are about two or three bodies away from your opponent, it is
probably not safe to walk forward anymore. As soon as you walk into your
opponent's standard attack range you are likely to get hit by something. Your
opponent's attacks will probably be too fast to react to, even if you only want
to react with a light guard or G cancel. So how do you move forward? An
attack string is a possible solution. It is not unusual for Long or ShenLong
to whiff their CC starting attacks so that they are right into the meat of the
CC attack when they reach you.
-----------------------------------
Setting Up A Counterattack
-----------------------------------
The theory canceling an attack to make yourself look vulnerable to invite an
opponent to attack, and then hitting them with a counterattack. Now applied to
movement. In Thermo's Alice strats, he speaks of canceling Alice QCF+K (hop
back to slide kick) to set up counterattacks. I believe Kuu talks about
canceling ShenLong QCF+P (sway back hop punch).
Custom strings (CS) is the art of mixing different attacks/attack strings in
a continuous assault. In Virtua Fighter land, I think they call this
flowcharting, but the feature is in all games (like BR!).
You could say that characters like Long, Uriko, and ShenLong (the circle
combo characters) and Yugo all have "built in" custom strings, since they do
one attack and then they can smoothly switch to a plethora of different
options. Nah, scratch all that. I want to talk about CS that isn't built in.
Even though it is wise to have many CS, let's look at a single "CS
possibility" to start off.
>>>
Alice CS:
df +K (low rush kick), df + P, P (two mid rush punches), throw
>>>
Look at this example closely because we'll be referring to it for a while.
You'll notice this string uses parts of three different moves:
1. df +K, K, K
2. df + P, P, P
3. throw
How the example CS works on paper/mind games:
The df+K is low and fast so it will probably connect. Since the regular df +
K, K string hits low a second time, your opponent crouches to guard the second
hit. Instead, he gets hit out of his crouch with mid-hitting df + P, P. By
the second hit of df+P, P; your opponent is mentally aware that he is getting
hit by df+P; so he gets ready to guard/guard escape. That's when you throw
him. This particular CS actually works a lot better in BR2 but whatever. I'm
too lazy give you a new one.
I'm sure you've got Q's so I'll try to answer them.
-----------------------------------
Question:
Isn't there a pause between df+K and df+P that would let your opponent
counterattack? Wouldn't this defeat the use of custom strings?
-----------------------------------
Answer:
Yes and no. Well-constructed CS create a sort of "I know my opponent is
doing CS but I still can't combat it effectively because it is tight" situation
for your opponent. You start with an attack, then create a scenario where you
can do A or B. Both A and B can be counterattacked by your opponent, but the
counterattack to A will be beaten by B and the counter to B will be beaten to
A.
It usually goes something like that, except things like the damage of A, mind
games, conditioning, etc. also come into play. It is basically a guessing game
that is in your favor.
Referring back to the example, after the first df +K, you can just start df+K
all over again if you see your opponent guard high. Low hit annoyance.
But what is much more effective is pressuring your opponent with custom df+K
strings AND regular delayed df+K, K, K string.
In the regular delayed string, the second K in (df+K, delay, K) will easily
snuff your opponent if he moves during the pause between the first and second K
(there are some moves that can interrupt df+K, K; but they are risky, like
Alice's QCB+K).
By mixing up the CS with the delayed string, you make your opponent
uncertain. Whenever your opponent detects a pause in your string, he can't
tell if you're doing a custom string or a delayed string. Against a custom, he
has a small window to counterattack, but against the delayed string he'll get
hit if he moves. By the time he can mentally verify what you're doing, it's
too late and your next move is out. This is can be very, very frustrating for
your opponent.
-----------------------------------
Question:
I dunno... Why can't I just use the canned mix-up strings?
-----------------------------------
First of all, canned mix-ups are more recognizable to the opponent. Also,
the point where the attack can be branched to various attacks is the
finishing/last part of the attack, and low finishers are either slow to come
out or slow to recover.
I'm not saying canned mix-ups are useless, but...
-----------------------------------
Question:
Bah! I don't believe you and these custard strings!
-----------------------------------
Answer:
That's not a question, dammit!
Okay, okay. I know if you're experienced with "paper/theory fighter" (or in
this case "Paper Roar") you're still thinking, "These customs can't be as good
as they sound." And you're right. If you were to stick to custom strings all
day long you'd probably lose!
But when you smoothly integrate custom strings into the rest of your game,
with guard escapes, cancels, high low mix-ups, throws... then custom strings
are truly a force to be reckoned with.
= "Custom" strings are what you get when you mix different attacks/attack
strings in a continuous assault. In Virtua Fighter they call this
flowcharting.
= Custom strings are much more effective when mixed in with the rest of your
game like cancels, delays, AbG...
= The general idea behind custom strings is to use attacks that lead your
opponent into taking a particular action... so that you can hit him with
something that specifically beats that action.
===================================
ATTACK: Anti Guard Escape Attacks
===================================
Some attacks have a strong tendency to hit your opponent even after they
guard escape. Most of them seem to be fast multiple-hit attacks, or low
attacks that can be quickly followed by high attacks. They hit either because
a series of quick multiple guard escapes in a row are needed, or because the
opponent immediately tries to cancel out of the guard escape with an attack
before your attack has actually finished.
Jenny's Twist (on one leg kicks), Busuzima's P,P strings (wavy arms), Stun's
f,f+P (fast three hit) are examples.
On the other side of the spectrum is very slow-startup single hit attacks.
The attacks have such a large start-up window that the opponent can guard
escape too early, and counterattack right as your slow attack starts to hit.
B.Uranus has some of those too-slow attacks.
Another form of anti guard escape is to just use a quick recovery attack like
P, in hopes that the opponent will guard escape and try to counter you with an
attack that you in turn can guard and counterattack. In the same sense, you
can cancel a command attack to bait a guard escape, because canceled attacks
can still be guard escaped depending on how soon you cancel them.
And the most useful anti-guard escape attack: the throw. If you think
someone is sitting there trying to guard escape your attacks, just go up and
throw that sucker.
###############################
Anti Guard Escape Attacks Summary:
###############################
= Fast multi-hit attacks are anti guard escape. Slow start-up attacks can also
be used for anti guard escape.
= Using a fast recovery attack or canceling a command attack can bait a sloppy
guard escape counterattack from the opponent that will leave them vulnerable
when you block it.
= If you can anticipate your opponent's desire to guard escape. Throw him.
===================================
ATTACK: Conclusion -Rush Down and Footsie-
===================================
Okay! You've learned the elements of attacking! Let's very quickly review
some of the things you've learned to determine how you rush down and play
footsie.
-----------------------------------
Rush Down
-----------------------------------
You are in the rush down range once the majority of your basic, fast attacks
are in range of hitting the enemy. Get your opponent to guard and follow it up
with attacks so he keeps guarding. If you have the opponent locked in a guard
you can use AbG to beat him. They will probably be trying GbA or AbA to stop
you. You can make it much harder for them to do this by mixing in string
delays, custom strings, and attack cancels to your already potent low attacks,
throws, and guard breaks.
As in any fighting game, look for your character's general strengths and your
opponent's weaknesses. If he can't handle something, abuse it. And of course,
always have your defense ready.
Footsie varies. Range is probably the first thing to consider in footsie. You
want to fight to get into your best range with footsie. If your character can
effectively hit your opponent at a range where they can't effectively hit you
back, that's naturally a good footsie range for you. If you have the range
advantage, poke to keep your opponent at bay. Make your opponent "fearful" of
your pokes and fearful of the possibility that you could advance in on him to
weaken his ability to close distance. Walk back and back dash fairly often to
keep your distance, but stay conscious of the wall.
If your range is shorter, you want to use footsie to get in close. After you
are closer you probably want to rush down. Since your range is generally
inferior, you want to focus on speed and trajectory. Close in with quick
attacks. Try to attack during your opponent's recovery when far away. Forward
rushing attacks will close the distance quickly, though they can be risky if
guarded.
Lying down under pokes or in rare cases jumping (Stun electro geyser), can
put you on the offense, but like rush attacks they come with moderate
counterattack risk. Guard attack or guard break cancels can get your opponent
into a guarding state, even from far ranges, giving you a chance to move in.
At close range, footsie often comes down to safe low attacks and
high/moderate risk trajectory attacks (like hopping attacks). Since you are
probably trying to go into rush down, close range AbA blurs with AbG.
In BR3, a certain amount of stability has been added to juggling with the
addition of a technique that eUriko has dubbed air canceling (AC). AC is the
ability, in beast form, to cancel/speed up the recovery of any attack by
jumping once your opponent is floated. The general juggling formula in beast
mode is:
Launch->Air Combo->Ground Hits->Launch->Air Combo... etc. ->Finisher
A launch is not necessary to start a juggle. You can also instantly go into
a juggle if your opponent jumps or uses an aerial attack.
Juggles in BR3 are technically very easy to do if you know they will connect,
but the presence of escape points in juggles and the fact that you have to
input a air cancel AFTER you launch an opponent makes the task of juggling a
little more challenging.
The height at which an opponent is launched depends on the launcher used, the
position of the opponent at the time of being launched, and the weight of the
opponent. Yugo db+P, P (two low punches) sends the opponent into a bounce and
lets him go right into a low juggle. Xion QCF+B (generic upper slash) sends
the opponent high into the air and lets Xion go for an air combo. If you are
in beast mode, basically anytime your opponent has floated, even if they are
just hovering inches off the ground, you can air cancel into an air combo.
-----------------------------------
Air Canceling for Air Combo
-----------------------------------
Although I do not like or use this technique very much... Since you want to
AC as soon as you can after launching someone, you can mash u/uf after doing
your launcher.
I would recommend that instead you learn the precise timing of AC after using
a launch attack and always input it after using your launcher. If you did not
connect the launcher, no AC can come out, so you will not jump accidentally.
-----------------------------------
Air Combo Attacks
-----------------------------------
The air combos you want to use vary from character to character.
Against medium to light weight characters, using K, P, K or P, K, P in the air
are usually a good formulas that let you go very smoothly from an air combo
into a ground combo. K, P, K is probably your first choice. Jumping K not only
does more damage than P, but it also recovers faster, letting you more smoothly
go from an air combo to ground hits.
The speed at which you press K, P, K or whatever should allow you to smoothly
begin the ground combo right as you end the air combo. So, if you do your air
combo too fast, you might leave a large escape point as you are landing from
your air combo and starting a ground combo.
When doing an air combo on heavy characters or on a low launch, B, K, P must
be used (B pushes the opponent up slightly).
Some characters, like Yugo and ShenLong, do not have many good ground hits to
go into after an air combo. If you do not want to go from an air combo to
ground hits; K,P,B or possibly P,K,P,B for a character like Alice; can be used
to re-launch the opponent.
The other type of air combo sequence Marvel can use is P/K, then f+P. This
is the Dragon Ball Z air combo as it makes use of a trademark DBZ hammer fisted
punch to send your opponent smashing into the ground in a bounce stagger. From
that point you can land and ground combo/re-launch.
If you didn't launch the opponent on a counter hit, they can recover at the
top of their launch and hit P to smack you as you are jumping up to air combo
them, or they can guard escape. (3/17/02: Correction. There are non-CH
juggles that cannot be recovered, though there are also plenty that CAN be
recovered). It is unlikely that the opponent can actually do this unless you
are juggling off of an obvious situation (like launching someone off of a
stagger hit).
You can break an air recovery P attack by jumping STRAIGHT UP with B, B
instead of P, K, P or whatever. B works because it hits a little more
vertically. That lets hit the opponent earlier than you could with P or K, and
it has a trajectory advantage that will AbA the opponent's air attack.
Using B in your air combo will knock your opponent high up into the sky,
giving you some more juggle possibilities.
Do not neglect B,B as a combo. The B,B does solid damage by itself (a
jumping B does about twice as much damage as a jumping P/K), and is nearly
guaranteed to beat both an attacking opponent and a guarding opponent.
An opponent can also recover at the top of a launch and guard escape.
-----------------------------------
Run Under
-----------------------------------
Launch someone up in the air, and then run underneath them. At that point,
you usually follow up with a back attack as the opponent falls into your attack
range.
Commonly used after hitting someone with B air combos or certain launchers,
run under can be an effective confusion technique and option limiting
technique. Once you have gone behind them, they only have two ways to defeat
your attack: do an air attack that hits behind them, like b+K (back drop kick)
or guard escape. Oh yeah, beastorizing is possible too.
The guard escape is actually something you really need to watch out
for/prevent. That is because the air guard escape works like a BR2 guard
escape. If they guard escape in the air, they usually land and end up with a
shot at YOUR back. I usually prevent this just by mixing run under with air
combos, and during run unders I let my opponent land before I attack them.
However, there might be ways of using the knowledge that your opponent will
guard escape to your advantage.
I feel run under is effective when used after low launchers, or situations
where you will be able to run under the opponent just before they are landing.
In these situations, the run under is much more surprising/last minute.
-----------------------------------
u+P/K/B Air Cancel Juggles
-----------------------------------
In my idiocy, I actually thought I had discovered a glitch when I first
encountered it. When you opponent is floating, cancel/speed up the recover
time of any of your attacks with a jump or an up attack like u+P.
Let's say you're juggling someone with PPP... after any one of those P's, you
can cancel into a jump and air combo (or at least try to do it... more likely
you will jump past them), or more relevantly, an u+P/K/B attack.
Air canceling with u+P/K/B after a launcher is good for heavy opponents like
b.Stun or b.Kohryu because they can only be launched to low heights.
An example of a good air cancel sequence is Gado f,f+K (jumping knee) --> u+P
(jumping hammer fist) --> QCF+B (pounce). Without the air cancel, you've got
no follow ups to f,f+K, but the air cancel makes the f,f+K a great juggle
starter.
Alice, and possibly some other characters, have some special-usage air
cancels. Alice u+K (two hit reverse flip kick) will beat someone who air
recoveries and tries to guard because it hits twice and you can only guard once
in the air. Yugo u+B (hop two slashes) might be applied in the same way.
Alice u+P is CH launcher that comes out almost as fast as a jab. It can be
used to combo certain launchers that otherwise could be escaped. Like b+K -->
f,f+K --> (AC) u+P. Without the u+P, the opponent could recover after getting
launched by f,f+K and dodge any follow up attack. Instead, the u+P combos and
puts the opponent high into the sky.
AC is of course very suspicious technique. It is unlikely that the true
potential of AC has been tapped right now. If you have any specific uses for
AC, please mail me with the info: h2_huang@hotmail.com
Launch->Air Combo->Ground Hits->Launch->Air Combo... etc. ->Finisher
= Air canceling (AC) is the beast mode ability to cancel/shorten recovery time
of any attack by jumping when your opponent is floated.
= Always input AC after you do a launcher. Learn the precise timing so you can
AC immediately, giving the opponent less time for an air recovery.
= The standard air combo for going into ground hits is K, P, K on medium-light
opponents, and B, P, K on heavy opponents.
= P/K, f+P which will basically put your opponent into a bounce stagger. Used
by Marvel.
= If you do not want to go into ground hits from an air combo, use something
like K,P,B to re-launch.
= If your opponent air recovers after you launch and hits P or wants to
guard/guard escape, air combo them with B,B.
= You can run under your opponent after launching them and then hit them with
back attacks as they land. Running under someone limits their options to back
attacks or guard escapes.
= In beast mode, once you have your opponent air borne, you can cancel the
recovery of any of your attacks into a jump or an up attack like u+P.
Most of the info on juggle recovery is taken from eUriko (ido_hukki.htm,
hukki.htm). I still need to develop a lot in this area. Most people do.
Air recoveries are another part of BR's theme of "keeping both players active
at all times." BR lets an airborne player recover from mid-air "reel
animation" and gain some limited defensive and offensive abilities.
You need to know how to defend in the air or you will be killed by mad
juggles. Of course, often it is not easy, and messing up in the air is pretty
frequent.
The first distinction you have to make with BR juggles is that almost all of
them aside from tight wall juggles are ESCAPABLE (eventually). We want to
master this.
The process of recovering in the air has two steps. First, you must choose a
direction to recover in. Then you need to take some sort of action like guard
or attack.
-----------------------------------
Air Recovery
-----------------------------------
General Recovery Directions
1. For high launches, recover upwards.
2. For low launches (quite low!), recover downwards.
3. For "horizontal" launches -something that pushes you backwards-, recover
backwards.
A downward recovery is generally best. Hold down the direction you want to
recover in and mash P+K.
H2: I'd say neutral recovery is best because it's easiest to go into a guard
escape from there.
-----------------------------------
Options After Recovering
-----------------------------------
Then you have four options for air defense after recovering:
1. Beastorize
The universal, brainless defense if you've got it.
2. Attack
Usually good for high juggles when the opponent wants to air combo. Punch
for high juggles. Kick for lower juggles.
3. Guard Escape
Need this one badly. :P I think this is your best option and I am working on
mastering this.
4. Guard
Not too great since it only works once, but even one guard can give you some
time to think, and against characters with poor juggles it can be an easy
solution.
Recover at the top point of being launched, the air-to-ground point, or
during an "captivity phase" like when you are being juggled with an attack
string.
If you manage to recover at the top point of being launched and suspect your
opponent will attempt an air combo, hit P, or try to guard escape.
If you miss that point of recovery (and you probably will :P), it is a good
idea to recover at the moment when a ground combo is going to be connected from
an air combo. Air recover then immediately guard escape or use jumping K.
It is important to learn the guard escape timing at the air-to-ground
recovery point. If you do your life will be much easier. It works
consistently for many juggles. But be aware that it does not work for all
juggles. I think Xion's (AC) K,P,K --> P... cannot be escaped at the
air-to-ground point (of course, it's very easy to escape afterwards).
-----------------------------------
Recovery At the Wall
-----------------------------------
It is a bad place to try and recover. If you are being hit with a good
juggle, recovery at the wall is more like "I will keep on recovering until I
push myself up or down far enough to actually get out." And at that point
you've probably already lost too much life.
You should also note that if you are near a wall it's possible to recover and
guard escape into the wall, essentially meaning you went nowhere and are still
within hitting range of your opponent. I do not know exactly what influences
the direction you swerve in when doing an air guard escape, but it's probably
just "left foot/left handed attack swerve to right" and vice versa. You'd
never be able to tell so it's irrelevant.
-----------------------------------
Recovery From Unknown Juggles
-----------------------------------
I am not clear on this subject. But I will discuss it briefly. The question
is, should you try to recover from a juggle that you do not know how to recover
from? Before you say, "Yes," realize that there is damage scaling in BR.
That means for juggles, every successive hit does less and less damage as the
combo counter goes up. On the first hit, you do 100% damage, on the second
hit, you do 90%, third 80%, etc. Until you reach the ninth hit and then all
attacks do 20% of their damage.
If you air recover, you have reset the combo counter. If you continue
getting juggled after your air recovery you will now be taking MORE damage than
you would've had you not recovered because the damage scaling has reset.
So should you randomly try to recover from juggles or just eat it? I do not
know a definite answer. Certainly, if you never ever recover you can be
juggled forever. Does your opponent know you plan to sit there? Or will they
just stop with a juggle finisher. Who knows?
Perhaps the best solution is to only attempt recovery at the aforementioned
recovery points; at the top of a juggle, the air-to-ground point, and... some
time on the ground. It is definitely more worthwhile to try and recovery from
a character who have shi-tee unstable juggles, like Yugo or Xion; than a
character who can really do much more damage to you if you mess up your
recovery like Marvel or Alice.
-----------------------------------
Counterattacking After Recovery From Juggles
-----------------------------------
Depending on where and how you escape a juggle, you might get a great
counterattack opportunity as your opponent is mindlessly continuing his juggle
while you are not their to receive it. Be sure to keep a counterattack in
mind, but beware the opponent's possible counterattack counterattack!!
Conclusion? If you know how to specifically escape a juggle, that's the best
case scenario. Thankfully, numerous juggles have poor stability so you can get
out using the general rules listed above. Stay calm!
===================================
OTHER: Movement
===================================
-----------------------------------
3D Movement
-----------------------------------
I could definitely tell Eighting made a game that fit my tastes when they
added "worthless" 3D movement into BR. That's not sarcasm; I'm raised on 2D.
Although I have not explored it much, I'm pretty positive that walking up or
down does very little to dodge attacks, so it is only a repositioning tool.
Dashing is great in BR. It is very flexible and allows for a faster, edgier
interpretation of 2D-style footsie that can often occur in middle of a rush
down and such.
The distance and speed of dashing varies from character to character. Back
dashes have recovery times. Busuzima's back dash goes a very short distance
but has almost no recovery time. Alice's back dash goes a long distance and
has a chunk of recovery time.
However, recovery time means nothing. You can cancel both forward and
backward dashes at any time by pressing G. It will cause you to stop in place
and instantly be ready to do something else (there might be some delay, but I
see nothing).
So what can you do with dashing? Especially in the cases of characters with
long and fast dashes, you can dart back and forth with ease.
Back dashing is a very useful method of getting away from attacks and
pressuring games. Jenny troubling you with the Twist (on one leg kicks)? Back
dash outta there. Don't like the pressure Uriko is putting on you with CC?
Back dash outta there. And the added plus, of course, is that you can get
attacks to whiff you entirely, then use some sort of AbA attack to hit your
opponent.
The most obvious weakness of back dashing is that you are going somewhere
fast. Namely, into a corner or a wall. When I first started incorporating
back dashes into my game, I was often surprised to find myself with no more
room to back dash, and in quite a dangerous place! You must use back dashes in
moderation, and certainly mix in enough forward-movement moves to balance it
out.
eUriko wrote something like, "If one guy back dashes, and the other guy
forward dashes, the forward dashing guy will get a run instead and he can throw
the other guy." I dunno. It was crazy, but uh, keep that technique in mind
(maai.html).
-----------------------------------
Dashing Games
-----------------------------------
If you throw together dash canceling, attack canceling, and attacking; you
suddenly have a lot of fake-out possibilities. Fast characters can add in
their walk for extra control. You can fake some sort of attack initiative just
by dashing forward and dash canceling outside of attack range; or dashing
forward, canceling into a command attack, and then canceling the command attack
into something else. You can back dash, dash cancel, then immediately attack
or guard escape if your opponent pursues you.
Just try it out and see for yourself. It's part of what makes BR such a
great game!
Beastorizing is an important part of BR. Important, but not complicated as
far as figuring out when you should beastorize or even purposely revert to
human form. Here are some good times to beastorize:
1. To save yourself from an attack
Juggles, back attacks, openings, whatever. Beastorizing will probably save
you from all of them.
2. To match your beastorized opponent
Very simple concept here. If your opponent is in beast, and you are not, he
is probably in a much better position than you to do damage (beasts tend to to
deal ~150% of the damage they did as humans... that is a BIG deal). All the
best attacks are in beast mode only. You also take damage much better. I
highly recommend that you try to be in beast mode if your opponent is in beast
mode.
3. Because an opportunity for a beast special attack has arisen.
Your opponent whiffs against you and is recovering slowly. Hit him with a
big damage beast special. If human Marvel connects b+P,P she will probably
beastorize-cancel into QCB+B to go into her juggle.
4. Regain life
Regaining life in beast mode is almost meaningless now because it's so slow,
and to substitute for it Eighting added the "regain all your regainable life
through beast drive" thing. I think this was a good move, because it
discourages machi play in beast mode, which was pretty common in previous BR's.
5. Because you have a full beast meter
Hey, why let your beast meter just sit there?
By this list, you can see that against a human form opponent, you probably
won't beastorize unless you have to save yourself from an attack or find a keen
situation for a beast special attack. Otherwise, you just beastorize when your
opponent beastorizes, and he will probably only beastorize when he needs to
save his own ass.
If you manage your beast meter based on winning the whole match and not on
winning one round, I think you will be fine.
===================================
OTHER: Hyper Beastorizing
===================================
Under Construction
It is very easy to finish someone off in hyper beast mode, especially if they
are in human form. The real problem is, you will probably have to lose at
least one round in order to get into hyper beast mode. Because if your
opponent beastorizes and you don't, he will have a significant advantage
against you.
That is really the only thing that balances hyper beastorizing in this game,
IMO. The fact that you will probably be dead before you can go into it.
It's hard to talk about these since they're all so different from one
another.
Generally speaking, you don't want to use your beast drive unless you have a
clear opening and you know it will finish off your opponent. Unless you have
about 0 beast meter left, maintaining beast form is simply more valuable than
doing, or even guaranteed connecting, a beast drive in many cases.
The only real exceptions to this, IMO are for Stun and Uranus. Stun has
excellent BD's, and Uranus simply doesn't need her beast mode as much as other
characters.
===================================
OTHER: Beast Drive to Regain Life
===================================
It is vital to consider this ability when the timer is going down and a
character can win or lose the round based on how much life each player finishes
with.
Simply beastorize and then do the beast drive, hit or whiff you'll still get
your life back.
In opposition to this, you can hit a character out of their beast drive to
limit the amount of life they get back. This hit has to occur almost
immediately.
I am not clear on this, but sometimes you get your life back when you beast
drive and sometimes you don't. I'm not talking about those special beast
drives.
===================================
OTHER: Pre-fight Movement
===================================
You'll probably hear all sorts of stuff about how you should be moving around
before the round starts. Certainly, the initial positioning/moves can
influence the flow of the round. Get the opponent near the wall, get behind
their back, start with a dash, start lying down, blah blah blah. All I say is,
don't do anything stupid. Try to hold your general ground and start the round
facing your opponent.
If you watch one of the Yugo vs. Xion rm movies from the Links section,
you'll see two bunglers try to start off a round with all their fancy-smancy
movement. What happens? Yugo ends up starting the round facing the wall with
his back to Xion. Greeeaaaat. Xion juggles off ~75% of Yugo's life.
===================================
OTHER: Getting Up
===================================
In BR, getting up isn't quite as complicated as in most other fighters.
There are still variables you have to consider, but it is pretty cut and dry.
You should be thankful, because recovering from juggles in BR is already as fun
as getting up in Tekken. I just don't think we could handle any more of the
fun.
-----------------------------------
When You Are Down
-----------------------------------
When you are lying on the ground, you can get up, get up faster, roll in a
direction, or kick flip wakeup.
Pressing a direction will let you roll in that direction. You can only be
hit by a ground attack while rolling. I am not certain, but you seem to have a
vulnerability point when getting up from a roll. I'll check it out. I do know
at least, that you can get up facing away from your opponent, or in a direction
where you won't be able to guard anything.
Tapping P will help you get up faster. This can be useful for throwing off
your opponent's timing or avoiding a ground attack.
Pressing K will let you get up with a universal flip up kick. This wake up K
beats any attack it comes in contact with for minor damage, but you are pretty
vulnerable if your K is guarded or guard escaped so it shouldn't be used
frequently. Only use it if you are SURE your opponent is going to attack/be
vulnerable as you are getting up.
Generally, when you are knocked down, you want to act/press something as soon
as possible. The only time you want to stay down is against a super beast, as
you want to waste as much time as possible against them.
So here are the rules for getting up:
1. If you want to be somewhere when you wake up, you roll there.
2. If your opponent is attacking over you as you are down, you might consider
a wake up K.
3. If you think they're going to attempt a ground attack, you can do tap
either P or K, depending on what you want to accomplish.
-----------------------------------
Attacking Someone Waking Up
-----------------------------------
If you are attacking an opponent as they get up, you will probably be hit by
the wakeup K. However, attacking someone on wake up can let you set up certain
moves/ guessing games. By starting his attack before his opponent is standing,
Long can just whiff the un-variable start up attacks of his Circle Combos
(which are easy to guard and guard escape since they never change) and go
straight for the real Circle Combo which can be mixed up.
It's also worthwhile to point out that most character's downed attacks
(d+P/d+K/d+B when opponent is lying down) are worthless. They do beans damage,
have little positioning value, and often just put you at risk of getting hit if
you whiff. However, some characters who do have good down attacks. Bakuryu
has the multi-hit d+B (multiple claw swipes) and Stun has the quick d+K which
might hit multiple times.
Speaking of Stun, he is probably the only character with anything that could
really be considered decent okizeme. With his quick d+K; f,b+P electric geyser
that does a chunk of damage; multi-hit f,f+P guard break attack; command
throws... and his unblockable beast drive, Stun has a few options. The
unblockable beast drive is very good on an opponent who is getting up. If the
BD is properly timed and positioned, the opponent's only choice is an instant
guard escape or wake up K.
###############################
Getting Up Summary
###############################
= Getting up by rolling if you want to go somewhere. Watch out when rolling,
because you might get up facing in the wrong direction.
= Get up with tapping P or K if you suspect your opponent will try to hit you
with a ground attack.
= Use K flip kick to get up sparingly because of its slow recovery.
It is vital in any fighting game to be keenly aware of your position in the
playing field and your distance from your opponent. This is mainly because you
want to know exactly what you can and can't attack with at your given position,
and what your opponent can and can't attack with.
You also want be at least vaguely aware of the fighters' current movement
capabilities. If you are with your back to a wall, you cannot walk backwards
and expect to move anywhere.
-----------------------------------
Using Distance to Anticipate Attacks
-----------------------------------
Unless your opponent is a moron, he is likely to use certain set of
attacks/moves at one distance and a different set of attacks/moves at another
distance. Mainly, the distances we are concerned with are close range,
basically less than two bodies away, in the range of attack strings; and mid
range, more than two bodies away and still close enough for certain standing
attacks to hit.
Let us consider an opponent when he is at mid distance. Some people like to
start up an offense with cancels.
===================================
OTHER: Stages and Strategy
===================================
I hate it when stage structure gives certain characters advantages or
disadvantages. This is a big issue with Virtual On and Tekken 4, but
thankfully it doesn't affect BR that much.
There are only four stages that I think you should consider. The two small
stages: freezing space (refrigerator) and sewers. The two big stages: city
night and Xion's happy land.
In the small stages, there is not enough maneuvering room. Especially in the
sewer. If you back up too much, you're at a wall. Heck, the other guy is
already near a wall, too. Wall juggles are easy to set up here.
So in small stages: Concentrate on juggles if you character has them. Try to
keep yourself facing along the long way of the sewer.
The larger stages are not as big of a deal. Just realize that you can often
have a little more room to back dash and retreat. If you don't like that, try
to hit your opponent with a power attack that will send them into the wall.
If you have the JP version of BR3 and want to know the frame data for your
character's attacks...
1. Enter debug mode (L2+O on Option)
2. First option -PLAY_TEST
3. Press Select to get the menu
4. Go to DISP Menu
5. Turn off Gauge (otherwise it'll block your view of the frame data)
6. Set 1PMESS to ATAK2
7. Exit debug so the changes can take effect and return to the DISP Menu
There will be some data up on the top left-hand side of the screen.
A = startup frames
V = frames where hit box is active/ hit is possible
K = recovery frames
D = damage
Looks like this, though this might not be lined up properly in this FAQ:
A V K D
(8 2 18) 9
If a number under D has an extra number in parenthesis next to it, like 12
(14), then I believe the parenthesis number refers to damage done on a ground
hit.
If anyone knows what the other ATK2 numbers mean, please e-mail me.
h2_huang@hotmail.com
Debug Mode is so cool. I pity the players who only have the American version
of BR3 and cannot access this awesome bonus. It's not just for perverted
stuff. >_<
Mwahah, and most of the American voices suck, too (in both versions, but
especially in the US version since there are more voices in English, LOL).
For much better, in-depth info about certain characters, I suggest you visit
the some of the links offered in the Links section. Many of the juggles are
taken from either eUriko or Kuu's sites. Though it is obviously tuned for
Alice, my Alice FAQ (which should be available by the time you read this), also
has a lot more info on fighting specific characters.
I now offer a brief synopsis of each character's overall playing style and
their strengths and weaknesses. Of course, a character can have various
playing styles. I only play two of them and with my comp I only play against
about half the characters. And even then who knows if we are using our
characters truly effectively? So, I hope you will take these analyses with a
pinch of poo. *hweh hweh, I made you touch poo*
-----------------------------------
ALICE
-----------------------------------
+ Low attacks
+ Speedy
+ Juggles
- No basic physical power, especially when human
The love-love heroine. It is her occupation to injure people. Such is the
nature of nurses and medical practice.
Alice is the character of choice for tournament winners. Thermo used her to
win the second Alpha tournament, and Arakawa/huku used her to win the fourth
Alpha tournament (just this 2/10/02) and place second in the third tourney.
Alice is a adept at AbA and has solid AbG. Her strength is derived from her
arsenal of low attacks (which have become so important in BR3). d+K; df+K; d+B;
and df+B strings are very annoying for opponents, have long range, and have
good mix ups/customs.
Her juggle set-ups are decent. Lots of juggle-oriented attacks like u+P,
u+K, air throw; combined with a fast and high jump give Alice some of the best
juggling games.
Alice's obvious problem is that she has little physical strength. It is not
a big problem in beast form, but in human form she can barely do damage.
- No power
- Big risks involved in tricks... takes damage badly
Bakuryu was transformed into bishounen. Complete with the most jiggly
appendages in the game. It is a sign of youth. Was the appearance of being
honorable ojiisan a disadvantage?
Bakuryu's keen ability of getting behind his opponent is not as brutal as it
was in other games due to back guard escapes and Bakuryu's overall decrease in
physical power in BR3.
He's got good mix-ups and speed. Just starting from P,P; Bakuryu can branch
off into many different attacks. Unlike many of the other characters, there's
no single good way of dealing with his attack strings because some will hit
guard escape, some will hit lie down, low attack, etc.
Bakuryu's footsie is pretty good. b+P (one handed swipe down) staggers on
CH, can be done easily while retreating, and has decent priority. Same
situation with b+B (two handed claw swipe down). In beast, the fact that
Bakuryu has long claws almost gives him some Vega-esque poking ability.
Bakuryu has been given two major new tricks in BR3; the backwards run n' flip
and the little LD ground trap attacks. The ground traps are worthless since
they come out very slowly and is thus easy to GbA or AbA, but the backwards
runs are pretty good if used in moderation.
As usual, the speedy dude lacks in power. That's Bakuryu's main weakness.
He can't finish an opponent off of one mistake; they have to make a chain of
mistakes in order for you to do good damage. Of course, Bakuryu is equipped to
do that.
The other weakness is that he can be punished brutally for messing up any of
his trick moves, like f, b + P (run up the string/wall) or u+P (flip over).
Bakuryu takes damage just as badly as he did in BR2.
+ Long range in beast
+ Tons of little gimmicks/tricks/throw setups
- Slow.
- No counterattacks
Coolest. Win. Poses. Ever.
Has a lot of little tricks: f,f+K (foot stomp), (back, K) sidestep while back
turned, obscene range with certain attacks in Beast. Background
blend/invisibility. Most obvious is Busuzima's ability to stretch his arms in
beast. His Maji stance (QCF+K) gives him fast, long range attack power and can
be a real pain for opponent's to deal with. Busuzima's low attacks are pretty
good, too.
Additionally, Busuzima has early cancel points, like from his P, P; which
lets him play more canceling games than other characters.
The command grab (QCF+P+K) seems to be very good. Lots of setups to connect
it. Like P,P --> grab or d+K --> grab. The problem is that there do not seem
to be stable, damaging follow ups to the grab itself. Generally speaking,
follow up with LD+B --> u+K when away from the wall. It is cheap but stable,
and it has positional advantages.
Busuzima suffers from being a little slow to attack. He can get snuffed
pretty easily. Movement is slow, too. Busuzima lacks good counterattacks
after guard escaping and has only one good counterattack after guarding: his
command grab. So he can get rushed down pretty badly.
Old man who looks so much better hand-drawn. Come back when you're wearing
regular pants, dammit! The beast drive. It is Eighting taunting Gado. Why do
they torture him?
Gado has been weakened in BR3 by changes in the game system. His key power
in previous BR's, his guard breaks, can now easily be guard escaped and
punished. Most of his other attacks are also overly easy to escape and punish
with the new guard escape system.
Gado's power is still ultra-destructive. Some people say he is a "one juggle
and you're dead" kind of character. Which is true, but the difficulty for Gado
lies in connecting his juggles when he can't put any pressure on his opponent.
Gado just has to be played completely on the defensive now. Most of the
damage Gado does should be off of GbA. Guard escape into QCF+B (pounce) still
works pretty well and can dish out some major damage fast. Guard/guard escape
into P, P, f+P is too weak in damage now. Guard escape into QCB+B is history.
On offense, the only good attack is fake/cancel into f,f+K juggle.
Everything else is too slow. Fast characters can stand there and just use P
all day to hit Gado out of everything he does. Well, it actually doesn't
matter because Gado is structured so that he can take you out in pretty much
one or two hits, but it's a pretty lame way of fighting.
+ Kicks are fast
+ Great low attacks
+ Flying in beast
+ Air combos
- Overall vulnerable
- Poor forward mobility
The vicious, sexy lady that Activision unsuccessfully tries to use to market BR
in the US. The poor marketing is not her fault. The Primal Fury picture is
just horrible horrible. Her beast form is "naked woman with body tattoos and
no bra."
Jenny fights just as viciously as she behaves. She fights well at all ranges
using her flying ability, priority, attack speed, and low attacks. Standing K
(snap kick) is super fast and has great range. It's easy to use after a guard
escape and it can 7-hit combo into the Twist (QCF+P one leg kicks) for a nice
bit of damage. Since going all the way to the 7-hit combo is not safe, the
Twist can be canceled earlier. There is an incredible point to cancel the
Twist that has almost no lag time. That is after the first two K's, right
before the command cancel point on the third K.
K xx QCF+P, K, K... is very useful for human vs. human situations because
most human characters can't really punish flagrant, repeated combo attempts.
What's most important about the Twist is that is really builds beast meter up.
You can fill 1/3 of an empty bar by connecting one Twist.
Strong offense when close due to Twist and low attacks. df+K,K (standing low
poke kicks) is very good. Hits fast with good range. At a distance, it hits at
an angle that tends to beat out low sweep-type attacks very easily. d+K,K (low
poke kick to low sweep) has good range, and is very annoying. Nice for
push-out, but it can be countered after being guarded.
LD+B has good range for a launcher and leads to Jenny's air combos. Not
surprisingly, she has some of the best and most impressive juggles in the game.
There's a crazy one listed on eUriko's site, I guess I'll reproduce it here:
LD+B --> (AC) u+P,d+B --> QCF+B --> (AC) d+B --> back B --> (AC) B,B,B --> b+P
xx QCB+K --> (AC) K,B,B,B --> P,P,f+K,K,K,K --> QCF+K
It can be escaped early at the (AC) u+P, d+B, but you can mix this juggle
with an easier juggle that requires a different method of escape. That easy
juggle is just the last part of the above juggle starting from (AC) K,B,B,B.
If you are playing against Jenny, please escape (AC) K,B,B,B by recovery at
the second B and blocking the final one.
Of course, Jenny has a few disadvantages. She cannot walk. She must strut,
and her strut is not good for fighting. However, the back dash is fine. In
the similar theme of immobility, Jenny does not move forward much when
attacking, meaning it is not difficult for opponents to walk back/back dash
away from her attacks.
Jenny can be pretty vulnerable at points, especially if she goes into Twist
(QCF+P one leg rapid kicks) or uses careless Flying.
The old fart ugly Bakuryu returns. Does anyone welcome him? Nobody loves
machines because they have no souls. He must become bishounen like Bakuryu.
Here are some of the differences between Koh and Baku:
1. Takes damage much better than Baku
2. Heavy in beast
3. QCB+K has variations (bicycle kick, spin stomp, land throw, regular)
4. No LD+P/B ground shock attack and no f,b string run tricks
5. Koh transforms into an iron mole that can pose and go, "Hahahah!"
The ability to take damage alone makes Kohryu more attractive than Bakuryu.
Kohryu's QCB+K variations are also much more valuable than Bakuryu's silly
string run and ground punch tricks.
-----------------------------------
LONG
-----------------------------------
+ Technical depth/Options
- Can't do a lot of damage in a single attack sequence
The favorite martial artist who screeches like Bruce Lee. Players are rooting
for him to kill off Yugo and take on the role of being BR's hero character.
Long is one of the most popular characters in both US and JP. His CC's
(circle combos) were laughably bad in previous BR's due to the ease in which
they could be guard escaped and punished, but the changed nature of guard
escaping in BR3 and the addition of the powerful B+P circle makes the CC
usable. They can still be guard escaped or interrupted, but the magnitude of
counterattacking them has been decreased significantly.
I still play my Long "old school" style, which means I tend to avoid using
his CC for anything other than quick pressure and instead rely on quick hits,
especially ones that knockdown. Lots of footsie both at mid distance and close
range. db+P (turn down and punch); df+P, P (shoulder check); df+B, B and db+B,
B (turn kick into back check); b+B (double palm), etc. are all moves that I
like to use frequently. All of these are great, great, great, for footsie (as
long as they connect, LOL). Problem is, they don't do much damage, especially
since life bars in BR3 are larger.
Use the CC.
Command grab is a great addition to Long's arsenal. He can do a small chunk
of damage after it or set up small juggling games. Without this attack, Long
might have ended up a weaker character because otherwise he essentially has
very little to use against EI turtlers aside from his beast circle. I like to
do the command grab by pressing HCF+P+K instead of b,f+P+K.
b,f+P+K --> P+B --> d+K+B --> b+K --> (AC) u+K --> juggle games
In human mode just do f+P --> K --> b+K
"Dealing with Long's CC"
Under Construction
There are many potential weak points in the CC that you can punish. The
challenge is locating those weak points and properly counterattacking. Most of
these points are interruption points; you don't know even need to guard
escape... you just guard and interrupt the next attack.
CC must go back and forth between P and K attacks or into the beast circle.
The only CC attacks that can be canceled into specials are P and f+P. So if
you just guarded a P attack, you know the next attack cannot be canceled into a
special. That is a good time to guard escape and counter.
AFTER d+P
After Long uses d+P, we know it is highly probable that the next two attacks
used will be high/mid. Now is a good time to guard escape and counter, because
you know the next attack cannot be canceled into a special. If Long stops at
d+P, then it is a neutral situation.
"Examples of effective CC's"
K, d+K, f+P xx (DC) QCF+P --> b,f+P+K
f+P comes up fast after d+K, preventing interruption. In beast, (DC) QCF+P
makes the guard break flash come out, hopefully encouraging your opponent to
heavy guard/EI. Canceling the QCF+P correctly moves you forward, right in
range for command grab.
f+P, P xx (DC) QCF+P --> b,f+P+K
f+P, K --> b,f+P+K
f+P,P, b+P
f+P,P,d+K --> f,f+P xx special attack (beast only)
She is angry. Very angry with the guard attack and the juggling. Her father
didn't teach her any of this evil.
Very fast guard attack (multiple kick QCB+K) that can be canceled at all but
the last kick. db+P (CH) into 360 low grab is pretty dope. d+K (standing low
kick) stuns on CH so it's also formidable. She has quite a few CH staggers.
Marvel also has the Marvel juggle
It is difficult to escape even when not at the wall, and does devastating
damage. If the opponent doesn't know how to escape this juggle ahead of time,
he is simply dead (air recover after the QCF+P/QCB+B then attack/escape).
An even deadlier way to start the juggle is off of b+P,P xx QCB+B. b+P,P
combos and is a safer, faster attack than u+P. You can guard escape
slow-recovery attacks into the b+P,P; making it very connectable.
If you combine the juggles with the guard attack, Marvel becomes powerful.
Very scary.
Attack reversal beast drive (QCB x 2 +B) is also pretty good since it
discourages low attacks.
Outside of these tricks, Marvel is just like Gado. She is very easy to guard
escape and can't really put much pressure on the opponent. There is no
strength in low attacks, and there is no standing command grab, so Marvel is in
a bit of a fix against a turtler.
Of course, her other strengths more than make up for it.
-----------------------------------
SHEN LONG
-----------------------------------
+ Strong offense
- Interruptible
- Lots of primary attacks have too much recovery time
Younger, more confident, and now fluent in English, ShenLong returns with a
vengeance. Japanese Pun: Japanese way of saying Long: Ron. Japanese way of
saying "clone": Ku-ron. Shen-Ron is Ron's Ku-Ron! Wahahahaahah! :P
Judging by the frequency in which he turns up in Japan's tourneys, I assume
that the Japanese consider him the strongest character.
ShenLong can basically be characterized as a fighter with massive offensive
power in beast, but poor overall defense. Flat out, he does good damage with
each attack and has some good guard break/stagger combos from starters like f+P
(swipe); f,f+P (elbow) and db+P (two hand punch).
f+P,P (CH) --> P --> d,d+B || b+K
In beast, Shen's CC becomes much harder to interrupt (B,P --> CC. GbA and
can be very threatening.
+ Nice range
+ Solid single hit power
+ Big stamina
- Very slow
- Weak rush down
- Without beast drive, cannot take off huge chunk of damage in one go: no
juggles
The ugly thing with the goofy voice and strange fashion sense. Available with
metal plating. He is large. Please do not step on him. I will find a twig
and a large jar and then Stun will have nice home to live in.
Even though Stun is a "throw character," he is good for long range
defensive/machi/turtling. He has slow strings but can do solid chunks of
damage with single hit attacks and throws.
Stun was changed a lot from BR2. His back roll has been removed, his bio
shock (f, b+P) now has too much start up time and less range (though it can be
canceled now and does huge damage on close, downed opponent). Additionally,
his QCB+B (attack reversal) no longer takes off a sizable chunk of life, b+B
(sway and head butt) is also less damaging and seems to have less range. Stun
can still take more damage than the other characters but the difference isn't
nearly as great as it used to be... Stun the insect is not the turtle he used
to be.
His defensive nature is still present, especially in beast. In addition to
the already mentioned QCB+B attack reversal, Stun's low command grab, as well
as the overall range of Stun's grabs, add to Stun's overall defense. The
presence of a low command grab completely alters the game for many characters.
It is dangerous to attack Stun with single-hit low pokes that don't
knockdown/stagger (d+P) or two-hit low pokes that don't push out (Alice df+K,K)
because Stun can just low throw you for a phat chunk of damage. And of course
at the same time, the high road offers the threat of the attack reversal.
Naturally, what hampers Stun's defense is human reaction time/ability more than
anything else. Otherwise, I'd say Stun technically has the best tools in the
game for becoming an invincible wall.
To make up for some loss of defense, Stun has a somewhat better offense with
new throws, cancels, and anti-guard escape attacks. He is now much more like a
traditional throw character who plays best close up and throwing people in
obscene WTF situations. Now that his f,b+P (electric geyser) and b,f+P (choke
punch) are cancelable Stun has a more threatening fake-out game and can thus
generate a better offense.
Stun suffers from being slow and having no rush down ability. His range
advantage is pretty much canceled out by his complete absence of walking speed.
Stun has zero good attack strings in human form, and in beast he has one that
is okay (B,B...) but has poor variation and is interruptible.
Without his beast drives, Stun lacks the ability to do a huge amount of
damage in one "assault"/juggle. His beast drives are great, but the obvious
issue becomes weighing the value of landing a beast drive as opposed to just
staying in beast mode.
The god-like chick who warps around a lot and engages in much ass-kicking. She
evokes many deep BR message board questions like, "How the heck do I beat
Uranus?" I take it these people were brought up on today's sissy games. CPU
Uranus should be a twenty second diversion, like Bonus Kun in Galaxy Fight,
except with more curves. :)
I didn't include Uranus in the earlier versions of the FAQ because she
shouldn't be considered a "competition" character. Fast ground speed, easy
juggle setups, tight juggling, large attack ranges, air canceling in human
form... Uranus is a true beast in human form.
Amusingly enough, I think she gets a little weaker in beast as the Chimera
has limited attacks and slow speed. It's the Gado formula and it doesn't work.
Great range and power isn't enough.
... And I guess Eighting purposely did that. I've learned that in Primal
Fury, Uranus' hyper form is actually a powered up human form rather than
Chimera form. Makes sense since the human form is stronger.
- Weak attack power
- No attack range without risk
Silly little girl with the deceptive fighting style. Loved by BR players
everywhere.
The most irritating character to fight, IMO, and eUriko's character of
choice. Despite all her wacky recovery animations, Uriko is the hardest
character to hit in the game. Her short stature often makes her completely
invulnerable to high attacks and even some mid attacks. f+P is an example. It
is the Virtua Fighter elbow, and it goes under high attacks and leads into the
CC.
Uriko's short range is her disadvantage. While Uriko's CC is fast, the range
is so short that the opponent can usually dash back to safety in an instant.
Weak attack power also means that you must attack very intelligently in order
to inflict damage.
+ Lots of cancel points, many early
+ Ground combos
- Attacks too slowly
The guy who looks like many anime stock characters. He calls himself an unborn
because it is shameful. It is shameful to be a cockroache man. There is a
glowing head in the cockroache. It weeps in shame.
His strength lies mainly in his ability to cancel main of his strings.
Supposedly you can do a lot of effective DC (drive cancel) with Xion. He's
also got excellent range with certain attacks in Beast form.
Xion is one of the few characters who can use short, relatively safe ground
combos. K,K xx QCF+P is an example. If the K's are guarded, he can cancel
into something else like a guard attack and lower the chances of an opponent's
retaliation.
Xion's disadvantage is that he doesn't attack quite fast enough, making him
easy to interrupt or guard escape and counter. He can stop this by canceling
some attacks, but most of his cancels just leave him vulnerable if missed or
guarded.
+ Solid overall in power, range, speed, etc.
+ Useful ground combos!
+ Rushes
- Very interruptible
- Not enough low attacks
Unloved hero. Back turned, the dog whimpers and runs away into the shadows.
Poor Yugo. Although he's strong, he's one of the least popular characters in
the game. It's extra humiliating for him since the hero characters are often
the most popular. Like Ryu or Jin Kazama. Everybody plays those guys. Oh
well. The Primal Fury version of Yugo looks pimpin' so maybe he'll get some
fans.
Yugo has the best ground combo in the game: B, B xx QCF+P, P, P xx QCB+K.
Does great damage and is relatively safe to attempt because if the B, B gets
blocked you can branch to different attacks very easily. If it is guard
escaped you're not likely to suffer a huge counterattack. Naturally, all other
forms of P,P,P can combo into QCB+K. So B,P,P,P xx QCB+K and df+P,df+P,P,P,P
xx QCB+K (first hit does not combo) all work as well. In addition, they can
connect even if the hits are delayed. You can use these combos after guard
escaping or guarding. Very deadly.
Yugo's other good quality is that his upper/mid attacks are very strong. He
hits very fast (anti guard escape) and rushes forward so his opponents can't
get away from him. He can rush forward and backward relatively well with his
db+K and df+K (sway back/forward).
Yugo also has a command grab, which is always a great thing to have. His
lets him do a small chunk of damage if he uses it to launch.
Yugo's big weak point is in the general low hit department. Yugo has only
one good low attack, his db+P, P. He can't even low throw properly. In
addition, the opponent's low attacks and lie down attacks will stop the
majority of Yugo's assault.
4/22/02: This is probably the final update, simply because this FAQ hasn't
really spurred any improvement in the BR "community" and Primal Fury still got
the same ol' commentary from reviewers. I don't want to put anymore effort
into a FAQ that hasn't gotten any results. It was a tough objective anyway; to
make BR popular through a FAQ.
"Movement" updated with short but very important info on dashing. "Getting
Up" updated. Small sections "Stages and Strategy" and "Counterattacking After
Getting Hit" created. "Character Analysis" updated with a decent amount of new
useful stuff. Some corrections here and there. Two chapters removed as they
were throw aways.
3/14/02: Most important updates:
- Juggling chapter
- Interrupting Attacks
- Attacking Off of Stagger
Hmm... That "Learning" section was messed up in steps. Fixed that. But I've
got to make that section better next update. It's a throw away right now.
Mini section "Counterattack After Run Away" created.
"Positioning/Distance" added to Other chapter. "Attacking Off of Counter Hit"
changed to "Attacking Off of Stagger" and updated. "Character Analysis"
updated. Removed "Glitch" section.
2/24/02: "Canceling Attacks to Recover Faster", "Juggling" and "Low Throws
After Guarding d+P/Low Attacks" sections added. A few additions/modifications
to guard escaping. More links. Little changes here and there as usual.
2/14/02: Separated the juggling section, added sections to most chapters.
Added a lot of links. Added more info from JP. It doesn't make a difference
for you to know what I updated b/c this FAQ hasn't been publicly released yet!
1/23/02: First version of FAQ completed. Must finish a lot of ATTACK sections.
Confirm minor counter.
e (Uriko): best overall BR player (aside from Arakawa/huku)
- His main BR page is officially closed, but the links still exist!
There are too many links to list. Search for "Bloody Roar" on lycos.co.jp and
you will find all of e's pages under "Bloody Roar Tactics" (they are NOT all
grouped together). To check out the links I referenced in this FAQ, simply use
the link provided below plus "br3/?????.htm"
http://isweb23.infoseek.co.jp/play/rz_/
-----------------------------------
Cafe Globe Translator (translates JP sites to English)
- I know some Japanese, but I'm definitely better using a translator! Just
some notes about the translations: cooperation refers to attack strings. SUKA
refers to dodge ability. SUKI refers to recovery time. GIRIESU is guard
escape. "brute man" is Beast. G KYAN is guard cancel. For controller/joystick
directions, the Japanese use the directions corresponding to the number pad,
which should be on the right side of your keyboard. So 6P in Japanese means
f+P.
http://www.cafeglobe.com/cafe/wotg/index_en.html
===================================
Japanese Players
===================================
All of these players except Voldest and the Roar Room guy are tourney
players, and most of them have done very well.
Sa-mo/Thermo (Alice, ShenLong written by RX78)
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-King/7434/entrance.htm
-----------------------------------
Kuu (ShenLong)
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Darts/4969/br3.html
-----------------------------------
Gou (Busuzima, Alice written by Fortune)
http://popup2.tok2.com/home/click/roar/index.html
-----------------------------------
Kou-den (Marvel, Yugo, Gado)
http://homepage2.nifty.com/naraku/
-----------------------------------
Duck (ShenLong)
http://www.people.or.jp/~br3_shenlong/index.html
-----------------------------------
Voldest (Uriko)
http://www.members.goo.ne.jp/home/voldest
-----------------------------------
Roar Room (system info)
http://www13.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/qa3/poli_o/roar/
===================================
Other Links
===================================
Alpha Station Tourney Movies (mpg)
- Download all the # files in a directory then run the bat file. Only 4~5
movies are available.
http://isweb32.infoseek.co.jp/play/alpha-st/
-----------------------------------
Hakuyama Plaza Tourney Movies (real media)
- You need an LZH decompressor. The level of play here is no good.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Knight/5877/taikai.htm
-----------------------------------
Alpha Station Arcade HP
- You can see the draw sheets for past BR tourneys here. There are sheets for
plenty of other game tourneys, too. Street Fighters will recognize big names
such as Ohnuki, Raoh, and Mester winning SF tourneys. (Raoh played in the first
BR tourney but got eliminated first match ;P )
http://www.alpha-st.co.jp/index2.html
-----------------------------------
Bloody Roar 3 Debug Screens + Links
- Debug mode is so fun!
http://www3.tok2.com/home/sigh/index.html
-----------------------------------
Bloody Roar Official Site
- Why do official sites always suck? Right now they've got some nifty
wallpapers. Well, actually they suck like the site.
http://www.bloody-roar.com
Anyway, good luck to you in BR! If you have questions or comments, you can
e-mail me at h2_huang@hotmail.com or leave them on the Bloody Roar boards on
gamefaqs.com. Unless some glorious BR site pops up somewhere, gamefaqs will
probably have THE BR message board.
Of course, the best thing you can do is spread the Bloody Roar power wherever
you can. Bloody Roar really is an excellent fighting game, and I hope all us
Bloody Roar players can help everyone else get into Bloody Roar!!
