Bob (RBFF2)

Introduction

The 2nd ever Capoeria fighter ever in a fighting game (the first being his Maestre, Richard Meyer) and bartender at the Pao-Pao Café! RB2’s resident juggle-master an ultimate example of big risk / big reward, whether Bob wins or loses can depend on the setup and execution of a single combo.

He has an excellent set of normals, decent pokes (though he no longer has the godly B poke he had in FF3), a nice set of specials, good supers, a regular throw that sets up into juggles, a decent mindgame, and is the only character in the game with both a rising attack and a pursuit, and the crowning jewel of his strengths: not only does he have the easiest infinite in the game, but he has nearly half a dozen ways of setting it up (including from his regular throw)!

His downsides are positioning and recovery. He only has one safe special: the Rolling Turtle and even then, it’s only safe if you land (hit or blocked) the last 5 hits of it. Used improperly, this move can leave you extremely unsafe even when it’s fully connected! He has to very precise in both timing, execution, and positioning in order to maximize his damage, and any slip-up can leave him served up on a silver platter.

Moves List

Command Normals

Low Fang (A + B) - Bob's sidestep attack. It has a far amount of invincibility on startup and is bufferable. It could make for a decent poke and puts him down low enough to avoid some attacks. Not a move a I often use, though.

Flying Fish (C when knocked down) - Bob's wakeup attack. It's basically a slower, weaker version of the Bison Horn with less priority and more recovery. There's honestly no reason to use this thing when there's the Bison Horn available.

Leg Drop (u + C) - Bob's pursuit attack. He performs a quick front flipping heel kick onto the downed opponent. This attack is guaranteed after a throw or a super, but can leave Bob open if the opponent is able to do a fall recover. Even when it misses, though, most people don't react fast enough to hit Bob before he can recover from this.

Falcon / Hornet Attack (Close f + C / df x 2 + C) - Bob’s linking command throw. Though the official follow-up to the 2nd part of this throw is b, f, f + BC, you can actually follow it up with any move of Bob’s that has the juggle property. It doesn’t have the most range, and you have to be fast to connect the follow-up, but can open up incredible damage.

Elephant Tusk (Close in Air, d + C) - Bob's air throw, basically looks like the Falcon (a quick knee to the gut). Not much reason to use this move, actually. In fact it'll probably surprise you as much as the opponent when it comes out.

Eagle Step (In Air d + B) [Overhead] - Your typical airstomp. I really can't think of too many reasons to use this move. I actually forgotten that it even existed until I went to do this writeup. Because of the way it sends Bob flying back when it connects, it's basically saying: "I have entirely too much life. Please, take some from me."

Rhino Charge (f + C during a dash) - Another move that I never use. That said, though, this move actually isn't too bad. It's basically a faster version of Terry's Power Charge. It has decent priority, knocks down, and you can do it at any point in a dash. A decent move for herding someone getting someone into the corner with.

Wolf Tail (BC or df + B [or df + A] during a dash) - This move isn't on any movelist so I just created a name for it. Bob does a dashing version of his standing B that doesn't link into any other normal. The big difference between this and his regular dashing B is that he continues to slide forward when he kicks. This makes for a long-ranged, bufferable poke that could serve as a minor anti-air. You can also give him a bufferable sliding jab by doing df + A during a dash.

Special Moves

Frog Hunting (b, f, f + BC) [Juggle] - Bob quickly launches himself forward with a flying dropkick (his jumping animation) that knocks down on hit, it also sends Bob flying down to the ground whether it’s hit or blocked. A nice surprise move, has little recovery on whiff, and goes all but the highest fireballs. However, Bob is a dead man if this is blocked. Even on hit, the knock back of this move kills the opportunity to take continue offensive pressure. This is a move to use sparingly.

Bison Horn (Charge d, u + C) [Juggle] Bob’s main anti-air. With a scream of “WAHOOOOO!” Bob performs a dropkick that ends in a big back flip. This move has practically zero invincibility, but has incredible speed and priority. Very, very few moves beat this thing clean, and it’s also Bob’s main combo / juggle ender. The only downside to this move is, you’ve guessed it, the recovery. Bob floats to the ground after the back flip, and although it puts him a good distance away, any character who’s fast, has good reach, or a projectile will be able capitalize on this recovery. If only this move was breakshottable.

Monkey Dance (dp + B) [Juggle] [Breakshot] - Bob’s secondary anti-air and juggle extender. Bob flies through the air at a 45° angle with three powerful roundhouse kicks. It has great speed, range, and good priority. However, its main use is in combos / juggles, herding the opponent into the corner, and in setting up the Bison Horn and the Dancing Bison P-Power. If the last hit of this move misses or barely hits, you won’t be able to juggle either Bison from it, hence the importance of positioning for Bob. This is the move that, when it lands, leads into what is often the make-or-break moment of the match.

Sidewinder (qcb + C) [Low] [Breakshot] - This move was so much better in RBS, godly even (low, instant startup, great anti-air, big damage, juggleable, tons of chip, and safe). Now its only saving grace is that it hits low…well that and it does a decent amount of damage. Bob scissors his legs ala Yashiro’s sweep or that crazy pommel horse scene from Gymkata. Though it has the distinction of being one of the 3 specials in the game that hits low, it has so much recovery that if it’s whiffed or blocked, Bob may as well lose 25% of his life when it misses.

Wild Wolf (Charge b, f + B) [Overhead] [Overhead] - One of Bob’s two overheads and an surprisingly effective anti-air. A little hard to describe this move aside from that Bob does a one-handed cartwheel that hits 3 times. The first hit isn’t an overhead, but last two are; if the last hit connects just right, you can connect an S / P-Power, but this is extremely risky. While this move is comboable, Bob has so many better combo options.

Rolling Turtle (qcb + C) [Juggle] [Breakshot] [Controllable] - I’ve probably talked more about this move than any other. Bob drops down onto his head, crosses his arms, and spins around in a cyclone of feet and dreds.

Unlike most other specials, you can control what direction Bob moves in, and that is the one very important thing that makes it one of Bob’s better specials. Though he kicks about 8-10 times, it only hits a maximum of 5 times, leaving the rest of the kicks without a collision box: meaning that you only ever get 5 hits out of this move, whether they were blocked or not. Whenever using this move outside of a juggle, be very careful to not land the first few kick animations (don't worry, it's possible to miss the first few kicks in a combo without breaking the combo).

Where this move really shines, is that you can not only infinite with it, but you can also juggle the Bisons after it. I'll elaborate more on the infinite and it's many setups in the stategy section.

Super Moves

[S-Power] Dangerous Wolf (f, hcf + BC) [Overhead] - Bob performs a series of very fast Wild Wolves with trails of energy surrounding his feet before finishing with a Bison Horn. A very fast comboable overhead super with 3 unique downsides.

1- Does less damage than every other S-Power in the game; the price one pays for a comboable overhead super.

2- The first 2 hits that connect are what I call "warning hits." No matter at what point this super connects, the super doesn't become an overhead until two hits connect (blocked or otherwise). So a croucher with fast reflexes can stand and block the whole super.

3- If this is blocked, whiffed, or connects on an airborne opponent... call an ambulance.

That said, this move is quite really quite good just as long as you combo into it or use one of Bob's many low pokes / strings to set it up. Also, always follow it up with his pursuit (u + C), since it's unescapable following supers.

[P-Power] Dancing Bison (f, hcf + C) [Juggle] -A huge improvement over the P-Powers he's had in the past. It's rather hard to describe, aside from that he begins with a sideways, one-handed handstand and corkscrews towards the opponent and into the air with huge trails of wind gushing behind his feet.

This move is incredibly good: it's fast, it combos off of practically everything: pokes, low attacks, the Falcon / Hornet Attack, the Wolf Tail, the Wild Wolf, the Monkey Dance, juggles it has decent invincibility at startup and does a ton of damage. It has a fair amount of recovery if blocked / whiffed and it's a very unreliable anti-air. I've had moments (though rare) of the first kick going completely through the opponent.

Nevertheless, this move is one to be feared. If Bob can so much as land any bufferable attack (that isn't a plain sweep) with the very tip of his fingernail, you can land this attack. Not to mention that you can follow it up with a pursuit for an extra guaranteed bit of damage.

The Basics

You’d think Bob, being a practitioner of Capoeria would have a ton of mindgames…well, sadly he doesn’t. This is due to two things: one is that he doesn’t have any normals that are overheads , and the one special he has that’s an overhead is a charge motion, which puts a serious limit on the ways he can use it. His mindgames open up considerably once he is able to use his S-Power.

Bob excels at two things: his low strings and his juggles. His normals are fast, have great range, and have very little recovery. Though he has a huge list of specials, you’ll likely be relying on his normals the vast majority of the time.

Something I should note is that Bob is one of the few characters in the game that doesn't have anyway of knocking someone into the backplane, which is a shame because it would add greatly to his mindgames and ability to do damage.

Bob has the luxury in that his air C animation for the hop is the same as the one for his jump, which is –awesome- news, because his air C is one of the best in the game; enough so for it to be one of your main methods of closing range and applying pressure.

Bob has two optimal ranges: close and sweep range. Sweep range for applying pressure with his poking (preferably low ones) game and close for when he wants to go for big damage. While there are people with better ranged pokes, there are few (arguably none) that have his speed with them.

Though he has defensive tools, the main one being his Bison Horn to beat / trade attacks, and his speedy pokes to slip in an opponent’s defense: he’s much better suited for offense.

Combos / Chains

Though Bob doesn’t have the flexibility of his chains that Bash does (but then, who does?) he does have a great mashable A and a very long-ranged low B that’s also bufferable into specials / supers. Also, Bob can do his chains without them hitting the opponentUnless otherwise noted, you can begin any combo that starts with A with 3-4 of them.

• Falcon + Hornet Attack xx S/S (Throw, Launcher, Infinite Setup)
• A + B xx S/S
• (d) A, B, C
• (d) A, B, df + C (launcher) xx S/S (Infinite Setup)
• (d) A, d + B (low), d + C (low)
• df + A, df + B, df + C (low, launcher) xx S/S (Infinite Setup)
• df + A xx S/S
• AC xx S/S
• (d) B, B, C
• (d) B, B, df + C (launcher) xx S/S (Infinite Setup)
• (d) B, d + B, d + C
• C, C, f + C (knockdown)
• C, C, A, C xx S/S
• C, C, (d) A, B, C
• C, C, (d) A, B, df + C (launcher) xx S/S (Infinite Setup)
• C, C, (d) A, d + B (low), d + C (low)

Infinite

Bob’s infinite can start from anything that is a launcher, and involves juggling the first and last hit of the Rolling Turtle into itself. Depending on which starter you use, you may have to delay the first Rolling Turtle to properly land the first hit.

Generally, after the 2nd Rolling Turtle, there’s a very slight shift in timing where you have to perform the 3rd instantly after the 2nd one ends. After that it becomes easier to maintain the infinite. Also, after any Rolling Turtle, you can juggle any special / super with the Juggle property (except for the Monkey Dance and Frog Hunting).

Match-Ups

Real Bout Fatal Fury 2