Capcom vs SNK 2/Combo

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PART II: COMBO FAQ

Combos in Capcom Vs. SNK 2 have expanded. I mean, the basics are all still there: Buffering, Links, etc. However, a whole new level of Combos has been added to CvS2, especially in the realm of Juggling. Juggling in Capcom Vs. SNK 2 has become far more complex than it was in Capcom Vs. SNK 1. The scary part is that CvS1's Juggle System was pretty confusing enough to explain. However, Capcom Vs. SNK 2 brings in a WHOLE new level, because of all the new Systems implemented: Level 2 Super Cancels, Custom Combos, and other new Juggle methods like High Jump Canceling.

So read this section to learn everything you need to know about Combos. If there is something about Combos I still didn't cover, something that still puzzles you about Combos, write to me at [email protected] and let me know. I'll try to include it in my next FAQ and cover any topic I may have missed.


Chapter 08 ---| COMBO BASICS 101

INTRO

The game is still far more Capcom-based than SNK-based, when it comes to Combos. So again, you SNK fans will have to adapt to the Capcom-styled Combo System if you haven't already done so. Combos seem more powerful and potent in Capcom Vs. SNK 2 than they were in CvS1. Learning how to get the maximum damage you can out of your Combos is VERY important, now. So read on, and learn everything you need to know about Combos and more! To help you learn Combos, all of the examples in this section are going to be given with Kyo. That way, if you so desire, you can turn on Training Mode and choose Kyo, and see all of these things for yourself. You can try all the examples listed here, and not have to change between characters. Just pick Kyo vs. Ryu, and that way you can test out all the things described here.

1 MUTLI-HITTING MOVES

So what's the easiest way to get a Combo? Let the game do it for you. There are many moves, whether Normal Moves or Special Moves, that automatically hit more than once. The majority of Super Combos out there also hit for more than one hit. Thus, you can end up with a combo with simply one button press, whether it's two hits from Kyo's Offensive Crouching Roundhouse (HK), three hits from Akuma's Shoryuken, four hits from Morrigan's Close-up Roundhouse (HK), 5 hits from Ryu's Level 3 Shinkuu Hadouken, or 14 hits from Ryo's Fierce (HP) Zanretsuken. It's not much, but it's a Combo. _____ | |

2 JUMP-INS

If you get an opponent Stunned or if you are just performing an Exhibition Combo (a Combo done purely for show, not for any practicality... like most stuff you see in Combo Videos), players tend to begin a Combo with Jump-Ins. After your character lands (if you hit the enemy with your Jump Attack low enough to the ground right before you landed), you can continue your Combo with a move done from the ground that's fast enough to hit the enemy before he/she stops reeling from your Jump Attack. What you do when you land is up to you. That's what makes Jump-Ins so potent. They allow you to get one strong hit in before performing whatever Combo you desire from that point on when you land, whether it be something that involves Buffering or Chain Combos. So for example, Kyo, can do a Jumping Fierce (HP) into a Standing Fierce (HP) for a simple, 2-Hit Combo.

Different Jump Attacks can affect where your character lands. Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK) tend to push the enemy the least distance, so you will usually land closer to the opponent. Fierces (HP) and Roundhouses (HK) push them the farthest away, so you tend to land a bit farther away from the opponent. However, most of the time, the distance is negligible. If you attack low enough to the ground, the enemy doesn't even get a chance to start sliding away before your ground move connects. Very few combos fail because the Fierce (HP) or Roundhouse (HK) pushed them too far away.

But all Jump Attacks WILL push them a slight distance, so any Combo that can be performed from being RIGHT next to the enemy MIGHT not work after a Jump-In... unless it's a Cross-Up. Cross-Ups are very potent, because of this, as they usually land you RIGHT next to the opponent. Thus, any Combo that requires you to be RIGHT next to the opponent, you can usually perform it after a Cross-Up.

One thing to note about Jump-Ins. Many times people claim that the best way to perform Jump-In Combos is to land your Jump attack as "deep" as possible. In other words, you want to make your move hit so that it connects as close to the ground as possible. While this DOES allow you to EASILY Combo the next move when you land (putting as little space in between the moves as possible), it might not necessarily be in your best interest. There's a trade off on the height at which you land your Jumping attack. Landing a deep Jump attack allows you to Combo slower moves on the ground. If you want to Combo Yun's Standing Forward Kick (MK) after, say, a Jumping Fierce (HP), you'll need to land your Jump attack as deep as possible, because Standing Forward (MK) is very slow. If you land the Fierce (HP) too high up in the air, you'll have farther to go before you land, which takes up some time. By the time you land and hit Forward (MK), the enemy has just about finished Reeling and will recover before the Forward (MK) connects. But if you hit with the Jumping Fierce (HP) deeper, you will land instantly, and your Forward (MK) will come out in time to Combo on the Reeling enemy. However, sometimes this isn't the best thing to do. Let's look at Ken vs. Ryu. If you perform a Jumping Fierce (HP) and go for a Standing Close-up Fierce (HP) Buffered into a Fierce (HP) Shoryuken when you land, what happens? Well, if you perform the Jumping Fierce (HP) deep, the Fierce (HP) Shoryuken will whiff entirely. So does this Combo work at all?

Actually, yes, it does. But you have to land your Jumping Fierce (HP) HIGH UP in the air. This is what I've termed as "High Hitting" long, long, long ago in the days of Hyper Fighting (I just called it that, but with no FAQs, no one knew about it. ^_^). The reason why this works is because, if you hit the enemy high in your Jump, your forward Jump's momentum will naturally keep you moving forward until you land. Thus, you end up RIGHT next to the enemy when you land (not as close as if you land a Cross-up, but closer than a deep Jumping Fierce (HP)).

However, the move you do when you land must be a FAST move. If the move is slow, like Yun's Standing Forward (MK), it'll NEVER connect after a High Hitting Jumping Fierce (HP). Thus, you must land with a faster hitting move, like Ken's Close-up Standing Fierce (HP). That move hits almost immediately, so it's easy to Combo it after you land. So if you do a Jumping Fierce (HP) high up in the air with Ken, you can get the Standing Fierce (HP) into Fierce (HP) Shoryuken to connect. Mastering High Hitting can be the key to landing the highest damaging Combos. _____ | |

3 BUFFERING

Capcom is never going to abandon the most widely used form of Comboing invented back in the days of Classic Street Fighter. There's really no reason why they should, too! Arguably, there is no better system of creating Combos than through the use of Buffering. What is Buffering you ask? It's the ability to cancel certain Normal Moves into a Special Move. This technique is also commonly referred to as "Two-in-Ones" and just about every company that's made a fighting game has adapted Buffering into their Fighting Game: King of the Fighters, Samurai Shodown II, MK4, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear X, TMNT: Tournament Fighters, Critical Blow, Dynasty Warriors, and many, many, MANY others. It's almost impossible to find a Fighting Game out there that doesn't adapt this system (okay, lie: there ARE games that don't follow this system of comboing, but most of those are all based after Virtua Fighter, the pioneer of 3-D fighting games. Most 3-D games are based on the principle of Floats, Juggles, and Strings. I bring this up just to be thorough... ^_^).

Again, the concept of Buffering is the ability for any of the characters to be able to cancel the animation of certain Normal Moves into one of their Special Moves or a Super Combo. Not all Normal Moves have the ability to be canceled like this. Thus, the moves that are granted this ability are known as "Bufferable" Moves. Normally, the Bufferable Normal Move causes the enemy to Reel long enough so that whatever Special Move you canceled your Normal Move into will hit the opponent while they are still in their Reel Stun. You will then be rewarded with a Combo. An example of this is the ability for Ryu to cancel Crouching Forward Kick (MK) into a Hadouken for the two-hit combo that we've seen since the dawn of Street Fighter.

One of the major factors of using Bufferable Moves in Combos is the amount of time the Normal Move will put an enemy into Reel Stun. All Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK) done from the ground cause the same Reel Stun length, the shortest Reel Stun length in the game. All Fierces (HP) and Roundhouses (HK) cause the same Reel Stun length, which are the longest Reel Stun lengths that can be caused by a Normal Move. And all Strongs (MP) and Forwards (MK) will cause a middle-length Reel Stun, shorter than that caused by a Fierce (HP) or Roundhouse (HK), but longer than that of a Jab (LP) or a Short (LK). Since Special Moves have varying distances and different speeds, it becomes imperative to learn, for your character, which moves are Bufferable and which Special Moves combo from these moves. For instance, a move such as Kyo's Wicked Chew (Fireball motion + Jab (LP) or Strong (MP)) takes an average amount of time before it actually starts to hit. It's not slow, but it's not particularly fast either. Thus a Crouch Short (LK) or a Crouch Jab (LP), both of which are Bufferable for Kyo, will not combo into the Wicked Chew. If the enemy gets hit by the Crouch Short (LK), it will not cause the enemy to Reel long enough for the Wicked Chew to hit the opponent before they recover. He/she will recover in time and be able to Block it. However, a Crouching Strong (MP) is ALSO Bufferable for Kyo, and it puts the enemy into a decidedly longer Reel Stun. Because of that longer Reel Stun, the Wicked Chew WILL combo if Buffered from the Crouch Strong (MP). So Crouch Strong (MP) into Wicked Chew and followed up by the last two hits (Nine Scars Maker and Seven Hurting Combos - Fireball + Punch, then Kick) will all connect for a four-hit combo. But how about the Poison Gnawfest (Fireball + Fierce (HP)? That move comes out slower than the Wicked Chew. Thus, a Crouching Strong (MP) Buffered into the Poison Gnawfest will not Combo!! This time, a Crouching Fierce (HP) is in order. Crouching Fierce (HP) puts the enemy into an even longer Reel Stun, so after a Buffered Crouch Fierce (HP), the Poison Gnawfest will indeed Combo.

If a Special Move Combos after being Buffered from an attack, it is pretty much guaranteed to also Combo after any Normal Move of the SAME AND STRONGER strengths. So for example, Kyo's Short (LK) version of the New Wave Smash (the leaping double kicks) Combos after a Crouching Short. Thus, it is also a guarantee that it will also Combo after being Buffered from Crouching Jab (LP), a same strength Normal Move, and a Crouching Strong (MP), a stronger Normal Move, AND a Crouch Fierce (HP), an even stronger Normal Move.

Distancing can also affect outcome of a Normal Move Buffered into a Special Move. Use can do this as an experiment with Kyo. Place Kyo right next to the enemy and perform a Crouching Strong (MP) Buffered into the Forward (MK) version of the New Wave Smash. You'll see that you are rewarded with a 3-hit combo, and the Crouch Strong (MP) puts the enemy into a long enough Reel for the Forward (MK) New Wave Smash (again, the leaping double kicks) to connect. Now do this: place yourself right next to the enemy and do two quick Crouching Jabs (LP). Now, after you finishing Jabbing (LP), WITHOUT MOVING from where you are, do the Crouch Strong (MP) into the Forward (MK) New Wave Smash again. You'll notice this time you only get a 2-hit Combo, which were just the two hits from the New Wave Smash. Why not a 3-hit Combo this time? It's because the Crouch Strong (MP) did not Combo with the New Wave Smash. But why not? We already proved that the Crouch Strong (MP) puts the enemy into a long enough of a Reel Stun. What happened?

Distancing is what happened. The New Wave Smash ended up being too far away, and it needs to travel a distance before it will connect. If you put too much space between you and your opponent, that distance may be large enough so that by the time the New Wave Smash reaches the enemy, the enemy has recovered. But if you are closer, the Forward (MK) New Wave Smash gets to the enemy right away, so the Crouching Strong (MP)'s Reel Stun is long enough for it to connect while the enemy is still Reeling. So learn the distances that your moves will combo. Otherwise, you may put yourself in a very bad situation with a Special Move that didn't Combo AND put you in a vulnerable situation...

Some Normal Moves that are not Bufferable into a Special Move CAN be Buffered into a Super Combo. For example, Kyo's Crouching Forward (MK) cannot be Buffered into any of his Special Moves like the Wicked Chew or the R.E.D. Kick, but it CAN be Buffered into a Super Combo. Many characters have this property. Other examples of this are Guile's Crouch Fierce (HP), Yuri's Standing Far Away Short (LK) and Standing Far Away Roundhouse (HK), and Maki's Standing Far-Away Fierce (HP). All these moves can Buffer into Super Combos, but not Special Moves.

This is very important, actually, depending on what character you are. For example, if you know you can cancel Benimaru's Crouching Roundhouse (HK) into his Heaven Blast Flash (the Taikuu Raikouken spark Super), Benimaru gets a very useful and practical combo. Buffering his Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into the Heaven Blast Flash is a very useful combo in normal combat. _____ | |

3a BUFFERING: BUFFERING INTO SUPERS

Buffering into Supers is not easy at first, and actually takes a lot of practice. So in the following section, I'm going to give some tips on how to Buffer into "Circular Motion" Supers.

CIRCULAR MOTION SUPER BUFFERING TECHNIQUES

By a "Circular Motion Super", I am referring to any Super that requires you to rotate the joystick for most of the Super motion. This includes Double Fireball motions, the standard SNK Super motion, and Double Half-Circle motions. These motions will be illustrated later in this section.

There are basically four different Buffer techniques used to Buffer Normal Moves into a Circular Motion Super Combo. In order to be a "Combo Master", you've got to learn all four because different characters / situations will require you to know all four. But get good at them one at a time to start off. I'll list them in order of practicality and usefulness for each motion.

Before we begin, one thing must be established first and foremost. I mentioned something earlier when I first talked about Buffering. The one thing I said was that only certain frames of Normal Moves can be Buffered. Thus, regardless of which of the four Buffer techniques you are trying, the following statement holds true:

You want to hit the button to activate the Super during the Animation Frame that the Normal Move connected on.

If the move you are trying to Buffer continues its animation AT ALL, you're out of luck in 99% of the cases. That's because only that one, specific frame can be Buffered (there are some exceptions to this rule, but rather than talking about them, I'll ignore them because they are not relevant in learning how to Buffer into Supers). Once the move connects, you've only got half a second in which the Normal Move freezes in Hit Stun. Once it resumes its animation, it can no longer be Buffered. Thus, you've got to finish the motion for the Super and hit the button that activates it before that happens.

So let's look at Terry's Crouching Fierce (HP). When it connects, TERRY freezes in the position with his hand extended out in front of him. Then, after a half second of Hit Stun, the Fierce (HP) will continue to animate and his arm will retract. In order to Buffer that Fierce (HP), you've got to have hit the button to activate the Super BEFORE TERRY STARTS TO ANIMATE again. This may seem like blatantly obvious information, but it's important to have that mindset. Making sure that you keep in mind that you must hit the button before the animation continues is VERY important. The reason for this is because you learn, regardless of which technique you use, the time between when you hit Fierce (HP) and when you hit a button to activate the Super NEVER CHANGES. The only thing that changes is how fast you have to do the Super motion. So keeping this in mind will help you learn to not do the motion for the Super too slow, which causes you to hit the button too late. But you'll also learn that in many cases the motion doesn't need to be done quickly either. Regardless of how fast or slow you do the Super motion, as long as you hit the button during that Hit Stun, you know that the Super will come out if you did the motion correctly.

One thing to keep in mind is that different strengthed moves give you different amounts of leeway for Buffering. Fierces (HP) and Roundhouse (HK) cause longer Hit Stun, so obviously you'll have more time to Buffer them into Supers. Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK) will cause much less Hit Stun, so you'll have much less time to Buffer them. Now, the following are the motions that are in question (all motions can be mirror-imaged):

DOUBLE FIREBALL SUPER MOTION    Qcf.png  Qcf.png +button
SNK SUPER MOTION    Qcb.png Hcf.png    + button  
DOUBLE HALF-CIRCLE SUPER MOTION   Hcf.png  Hcf.png    + button 

You are allowed to hit the button for the move to be Buffered at ANY POINT during the Super motion, which is what makes Buffering into Supers that much easier. The motions are long enough so that there are VARIOUS places you can hit the button for the move you are trying to Buffer. However, only four of them are practical spots, and those four spots are what make up the four Buffer techniques. The four spots that you can perform the move to be Buffered are labeled in the diagrams below as A, B, C, and D.

DOUBLE FIREBALL SUPER MOTION  N.png  [C]|  D.png [-A-] Df.png  F.png  [B]  D.png [-D-] Df.png  F.png  button     o   o
SNK SUPER MOTION   N.png [C] D.png [-A-] Db.png  B.png  [B]  Db.png [-D-] D.png  Df.png F.png  [B]   + button     o  o
DOUBLE HALF-CIRCLE SUPER MOTION     B.png [C] Db.png D.png [-A-]   Df.png F.png  [B] B.png   Db.png D.png [-D-]  Df.png F.png       + button

Each of these will be described in detail and rated in three categories: Usefulness, Ease, and Practicality. By Usefulness, I am referring to at how often you are "allowed" to use this method. Ease describes at how easy it is to use that technique. Practicality rates the technique on how practical it is to use in combat. The ratings are on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being good, 1 being bad).

A Type Buffering Technique

Usefulness Ease Practicality
Fireball Super 5 4 5
SNK Super 5 4 5
Half-Circle Super 3 2 3


For this technique, you hit the button for the Normal Move you want to Buffer anytime during the two Down positions of the beginning of the Super Combo motion.

This is the easiest place to hit the button for the attack you are trying to Buffer and the BEST way to do combos into Supers if you are trying to Buffer a Crouching move (which is possible and the most practical for 90% of the Super Buffers you normally would want to do). The idea is this: there are two joystick positions, Down and Offensive Crouch, that'll make you to do Crouching attack at the beginning of the Super motion. Thus, if you press the attack button slightly after you begin your Super motion, you'll most likely press the button during one of those two Down positions. Right after you hit the button to attack, finish the Super motion and then hit the button to activate the Super. The nice thing is that you've already completed a good portion of the Super motion by the time the attack connects. This makes it so that if you hit your attack button at point A, you've really only got 1 more circular motion complete. Thus, you really don't need to the motion all that fast. Just start the motion, hit your attack button, then take your time finishing the Super motion before the Normal Move continues it's animation. Don't get me wrong, it still takes a lot of speed to finish the motion before the animation continues.

Without a doubt, this is the number 1 technique you'll be using for the Double Fireball Motions and the SNK Super Motions (there's still a lot of motion left for Double Half-Circle Motions so this technique doesn't work as well for it). The reason this technique is the one to learn is because it allows for very accurate timing of the Normal Move you want to Buffer. You'll find this especially true with Combos with Links. Comboing a Crouch Fierce (HP) Link after a Crouch Jab (LP) with Ryu, for example, requires some good timing. If you want to Buffer the Crouch Fierce (HP) into a Shinkuu Hadouken, this technique is the best because it doesn't affect your button press timing. Also, hitting people after whiffing moves with a Normal Move can sometimes require precise timing of the Normal Move if the enemy's delay is only very brief. This technique works well in these situations as well. So the first thing you'll need to find out is which of your character's crouching moves are Bufferable and learn this technique. * * * +-------------------+---------------+----

B Type Buffering Technique

Usefulness Ease Practicality
Fireball Super 3 5 4
SNK Super 3 4 4
Half-Circle Super 1 3 1

For this technique, you hit the button of the move you want to Buffer at the end of the first Fireball motion.

This makes Buffering into a Super just like quickly performing two Fireball motion Special Moves in a row. But this works only on two conditions: 1) Your character does not have a Special Move that involves a Fireball motion + the button you are trying to Buffer. 2) You are trying to Buffer a Standing attack. This trick also works PARTICULARLY well with Rapid Fire Weak Attacks, like fast Crouching Shorts (LK) from someone like Sakura.

The idea is this: make the Buffering of the Normal Move as easy as doing a Standing attack Buffered into a regular Special Move's motion (just a Fireball motion or a Half-Circle motion). Performing a Standing Normal Move into a Special Move is easy, right? So why not make Buffering into Supers the exact same difficulty? The way to do this is to, when you want to Buffer into a Super, do the first Circular motion + the button of the move you want to Buffer and then quickly do the last circular motion + the button of the Super activation. So for Double Fireball motions, it's like doing two Fireball commands in a row really quickly. The way it works is that the first Fireball motion you do registers as the motion for the Super. But since you have no Special Move with that button, you'll end up just doing the Normal Move while Standing. Then, when you do the next Fireball motion, you'll end up canceling the Normal move into the Super, since you've officially done two Fireball motions for the Super. (For Third Strike fans, this is almost exactly like canceling Ryu's Fireball into a Super Fireball.)

Let's use Sakura as an example. Let's say you are right next to the enemy and you land a Crouching Short (LK). You Chain that into another Crouching Short (LK) and then Chain that into a Standing Short (LK). But now you want to Buffer the Standing Short (LK) into her Midare Zakura Super (the Shououken Super). This is actually really simple. Hit Crouch Short (LK) 2 times and then quickly do Fireball + Short (LK) and then another Fireball + Short (LK). What happens is this: the first Fireball + Short (LK) doesn't register as a Special Move because Sakura doesn't HAVE a Fireball + Short (LK) Special Move. So what comes out? Standing Short (LK) because Standing Short (LK) can Chain from Crouching Short (LK). After that Standing Short (LK) connected, you did another Fireball + Short (LK). But his actually is the second Fireball motion you've performed! So the last Standing Short (LK) registers as the activation for the Super. Voila! Stand Short (LK) is thus Buffered into a Level 3 Super! It also works well for SNK Super motions as well. Take Rugal for example. He can do Crouch Short (LK) twice. Then do Fireball + Short (LK) and then a reverse Half-Circle motion + Punch. This will result in Rugal doing a Standing Short (LK) canceled into the Gigantic Pressure. It WOULD work for Double Half-Circle motions, but there are VERY few characters who could actually use this technique. 95% of the characters who have a Super with this motion also have Special Move Codes that interfere with this technique with both Punch and Kick buttons. Take Akuma for example. He has a reverse Half-Circle + Punch Special Move (the Red Fireball) and a reverse Quarter-Circle + Kick Special Move (his Hurricane Kick), both of which will interfere with his reverse Double Half-Circle + Punch Super Combo (the Super Fireball). Only four characters can actually use this technique with Double Half-Circle motion Supers: Evil Ryu (who doesn't exist in the arcade, so what's the point?), Kyosuke (despite the large amount of Kyosuke fans out there, I'm just gonna say it: Kyosuke sucks in this game and he's not worth actually learning in Serious 2-player combat), Chang (who's reverse Double Half-Circle + Kick Super doesn't Combo after anything), and Raiden (who generally doesn't get a lot of chances to land Combos). So this technique is almost completely useless when it comes to Double Half-Circle motion Supers.

Again, this ONLY works if your character has no move that matches the code. If Sakura had a Fireball + Short (LK) Special Move, this would NOT WORK. This technique, you'll learn, is the most useful for Buffering a two-hit or three-hit Rapid Fire Weak Attack Chain into a Super. The last hit of the Chain will be a Standing Move, naturally. Many characters won't be able to use this technique. Take Benimaru, for example, who has a Fireball + Punch and a Fireball + Kick Special Move while also having all Supers that you'd want to Combo that are done with Double Fireball Motions. You won't be able to use this technique because those Special Moves will interfere with the Super motions. But those that can use it, such as Sakura, Terry, Chun Li, Rugal, etc. will find it very practical.

C Type Buffering Technique

Usefulness Ease Practicality
Fireball Super 4 2 4
SNK Super 4 2 3
Half-Circle Super 3 1 2

For this technique, hit the button for the move you want to Buffer and then just do the Super motion as quickly as possible before the Normal Move continues to animate.

There is no trick to this method of Buffering into Supers. There is no strategy, no secret, no technique... nothing. This is just pure finger dexterity and hand speed at it's best. This is just hit the button and then do the Super motion as FAST as humanly possible before the move continues to animate. And, sadly, this technique is very valuable to learn, especially when it comes to Buffering Standing Strongs (MP), Forwards (MK), Fierces (HP), and Roundhouses (HK). Needless to say, this method is damn near impossible for Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK). It IS possible, yes, but you've got to be FA-A-A-A-A-AST.

Let's use Chun Li in N-Groove as an example. You've just used your Crouch Roundhouse (HK) as Anti-Air and knocked the enemy to the floor. The enemy, however, performs a Safe Fall and is ready to attack again. You want to take advantage of this Safe Fall by nailing it during it's delay... but how? There's only one way: Run up to the Safe Falling enemy and nail him/her with a Standing Strong (MP). It's the only Normal Move that reaches far enough and quickly enough to punish an enemy who performs a Safe Fall after getting hit by her Crouching Roundhouse (HK). Crouching Strong (MP) after Running up to the enemy very briefly will catch an enemy in a Safe Fall delay if you hit the enemy very close to you with the Crouch Roundhouse (HK). But at farther distances, it's simply too short ranged to reach the enemy. Standing Strong (MP) after Running for a bit, however, will reach in the majority of the cases and nail the enemy in his/her delay. Also, Standing Strong (MP) is Bufferable. Maybe a Crouching Forward (MK) can catch the enemy, but that's the end of your punishment. If the enemy Safe Falls and you know you can nail him/her, you want to deal as much damage as possible. So you want to use a move that's Bufferable. But then this poses another dilemma: what Combos from her Standing Strong (MP) at that distance?

The only thing that will Combo is her Hoyokusen (Lightning Kick Super) at any level. So you have to Run up to the enemy and do a far Standing Strong (MP) into a Hoyokusen. Even though Chun Li has no Fireball + Punch Special Move (her Fireball is a Half-Circle motion), you can't Run up and then try the second method listed above. The slightest delay of you trying to pull the first Fireball motion before hitting Strong (MP) will make you too far to reach the enemy, or too late to hit him/her out of his/her delay. So you've got to run up, hit Strong (MP), and the just do the motion for the Super as fast as possible.

Another example is with Cammy. If she has a Level 3 charged up, she can actually wait and see Sagat whiff a Crouching Fierce (HP), which happens to be one of Sagat's best pokes, and counter with a Standing Roundhouse (HK) which will hit Sagat in his delay. But then, you can Buffer that Roundhouse (HK) into the Level 3 Spin Drive Smasher and do some REAL damage to Sagat for whiffing his punch. But the only way to do this Combo is to simply press Roundhouse (HK) and then do the Super motion as fast as possible.

So you can see there are many instances where you WILL need to learn this technique. It's definitely harder to do than the previous two methods, but if you want to have the full range of "Comboability", you need to learn this method. It's easiest to apply to Double Fireball motion Supers, though. SNK Super motions are possible, but slightly harder. Double Half-Circle motions, however, are not very compatible with this method, because the code is so much longer and you have to be REALLY fast to pull this off. Again, it's possible, but only the best of the best can consistently pull off a Standing attack Buffered into a Double Half-Circle motion Super using this technique. Either that, or your game is running at a very slow speed.

D Type Buffering Technique

Usefulness Ease Practicality
Fireball Super 3 3 2
SNK Super 3 4 3
Half-Circle Super 3 3 4

For this technique, you hit the button for the Normal Move you want to Buffer anytime during the two or three Down positions of the second Circular motion in the Super code.

This method is actually easier than the above method, but not as practical. The reason why is because the very first technique listed above pretty much makes this technique obsolete. The precision you gain from the first technique (using point A) far outweighs any benefits you get from using this technique (using point D). This technique works, but the lack of precision can harm you.

For example, if Ken misses a Dragon Punch and you are Kim, you want to be able to nail Ken with a Crouching Forward into his Phoenix Flattener (the Super where he flies forward and pummels you). If you use this last technique, you have to do the first Fireball motion before Ken lands from his whiffed Dragon Punch and time the joystick to be in one of the three Down positions and hit Forward (MK) to do a Crouch Forward (MK) at the very split second that Ken is on the ground and in delay. It's simply not as efficient as the first method. Plus, it's harder to do on reaction to, say, a whiffed Jab (LP) Dragon Punch from Ken, whereas the first method is. And finally, it's much harder to use this method during Combos from Jumps because you have to do the first Fireball motion in the air, timed well enough so that you will be in the middle of your second Circular motion after you land.

So why are we still referring to this technique if it's so useless? Well, for one thing, it is probably the only way you can do Buffers into Supers consistently in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. ^_^ But it can be used in Capcom Vs. SNK 2, mainly for Double Half-Circle motions. These motions are longer and harder to do than your standard Double Fireball or SNK Super motions. So using any of the above three techniques isn't that easy.

This current technique isn't much easier, but it is the best way to do Supers into Double Half-Circle motions because it allows for the most leeway in terms of the speed at which you must move the joystick. But all the problems stated above still hold true: you lose accuracy and ease of performance, but in this special case, you may not have much of a choice. If you are fast enough so that you can do it with the first technique, more power to you. And seriously, you may be better off just trying to get good at it that way. But for now, using this last technique may be the simplest way. * * *

So those are the four different techniques used to do Supers in a Combo. In order to perfect your Comboing skills and become a Combo Master, you will have to learn all four techniques eventually. But, for now, focus on learning them one by one in the order they are listed above. _____ | |



3B BUFFERING: THE NEGATIVE EDGE

I'm going to talk a little about the "Negative Edge," here, to help people with some problems they may encounter when trying to perform Combos with Buffers in them. The "Negative Edge" was a technique implemented by Capcom to help people perform Special Moves. Normally, when you perform a Special Move, you do the joystick motion and the press the button. However, you can also perform a Special Move by performing the joystick motion and then LETTING GO OF A BUTTON. So with Ryu, for example, you can hold Jab (LP), do the Fireball motion, and then let go of Jab (LP) and the Hadouken will still come out. This is what is known as the Negative Edge. Capcom implemented this so that even if you press the button slightly early, letting go half a second later will let you do activate the Special Move.

The problem is that this easily messes up Combo attempts! This especially messes up attempts at performing Buffers into Supers. Trying, with Ryu, to perform a Crouch Fierce (HP) Buffered into a Shinkuu Hadouken using the first technique listed in the last section, for example, often results in you performing just a Crouch Fierce (HP) into a regular Fierce (HP) Hadouken. This is because if you tap Fierce (HP) for the Crouch Fierce (HP) and then do the motion for the Super, you tend to let go of the Fierce (HP) button right around the time that you finished the first of the two Fireball motions required for the Super. That registers as performing the Hadouken before you even finish the code for the Shinkuu Hadouken. So you'll end up Buffering the Crouch Fierce (HP) into the regular Hadouken rather than the Shinkuu Hadouken. So how do you fix this? The best method of avoiding the Negative Edge problems is to hold buttons down, rather than tapping them. So in the example with Ryu, above, you can avoid all Negative Edge problems not by tapping Fierce (HP) but by HOLDING it and then finishing the Shinkuu Hadouken motion and activating it with Jab (LP) or Strong (MP) instead. That way, you can't accidentally do the HADOUKEN code by letting go of the button. You're holding it down to ensure that it doesn't activate the Fireball with the Negative Edge. This technique works ESPECIALLY well for the Charge Supers, like Guile's Sonic Hurricane. Performing Crouch Strong (MP) into Sonic Hurricane, for example, is MUCH easier if you hold the Strong (MP) button down.

This works in all sorts of situations, not just Combos. If you are trying to do a tip-of-the-Crouching Forward (MK) into a Short (LK) Spiral Arrow with Cammy as a poke, for example, you might accidentally come out with the Forward (MK) Spiral Arrow instead because of the Negative Edge. This plants you right next to the enemy with huge delay and gets you killed. The Short (LK) version would let you poke the enemy and be safe afterwards. So you can avoid this problem, again, by holding the Forward (MK) button down, ensuring that you'll only get the Short (LK) version of the Cannon Drill. So you can see why learning how to hold the button down can be a very effective way to avoid this problem.

The biggest problem comes from C-Groove. The different buttons activate specific Levels, so sometimes you don't have the luxury of choosing whatever button you want to activate a Super. So what if you are Ryu and you want to do Crouch Fierce (HP) into a Level 3 Shinkuu Hadouken? You can't hold Fierce (HP) down, because you need to use Fierce (HP) again to activate the Super!

There are two ways to fix this. The first is just brute force: make sure you do the first Fierce (HP) tap for the Crouching Fierce (HP) as FAST AS POSSIBLE. Just tap the button, and quickly let go before you complete the first Fireball motion for the Super. That will avoid Negative Edge problems but you have to be quick and aware that this can be a problem. The second method is taking ADVANTAGE of the Negative Edge. Just do Crouching Fierce (HP), hold Fierce (HP), do the two Fireball motions, and let go of Fierce (HP). That way, you are holding the button down to prevent Negative Edge but then letting go of Fierce (HP) and utilizing the Negative Edge to perform your Super! Either method can be used, and both are equally as practical.

4 THE RAGING DEMON SUPERS

There are only two instances of this move in the arcade version of Capcom Vs. SNK 2, four in the home versions. Basically, the "Raging Demon" Super is a generic way of labeling the Shungokusatsu, known as the Raging Demon, of Akuma, Evil Ryu, and God Rugal. It also applies to Morrigan's Darkness Illusion. So what is it about these moves that prompts them to be put into their own category? They all have the same code to activate them: Jab, Jab, hit Toward on the joystick, then hit Short and finally Fierce (LP, LP, Toward, LK, HP) very quickly. However, this code is a bit complex to perform. It's not your standard one-button activation for a Super Combo. Because of this, the Raging Demon Supers were given a lot of leniency. I am assuming they were afraid that these moves would be difficult to perform. Since most of it requires button presses, you could be in the middle of a move that was performed by one of the early button presses by the time you finish the code. Normally, a Special Move or Super Combo cannot cancel a whiffed Normal Move, so the Super should not come out. But these moves are allowed to cancel ANY NORMAL MOVE at ANY ANIMATION FRAME, whiffed or connecting, blocked or hitting. They did this because they knew that while tapping out the code, you will be flailing a bunch of Normal Moves. To make it easier for the move to come out, they allowed you to interrupt any Normal Move with it. So for example, if you are using Akuma, You can do the following trick. Hold Toward on the controller. Press Strong (MP) and then quickly do the code for the Shungokusatsu. What will happen is that you will go into your Overhead. That move is rather slow and takes a while to finish, and is not, in any way, Bufferable into a Special Move or a Super Combo. However, because you finish the code for the Shungokusatsu WHILE the move is still animating, it will cancel the Overhead anyhow and the Raging Demon will come out!! This is a good tactic because people will stand up to block the Overhead, but you cancel it into the Shungokusatsu instead to grab them.

So if you are fast, you can have the Shungokusatsu cancel anything you want, like Crouch Roundhouses (HK) or Stand Fierces (HP) etc. This doesn't do much in terms of combos, though, since the Shungokusatsu, from any of the three characters that possess it, cannot Combo it. It is a Throw, and thus it can't even be put into a Combo. But it does help set-up great ways to land the Raging Demon. Raging Demons in this game are VERY quick. If you perform the Shungokusatsu right next to an enemy, and they aren't already in the middle of trying to Jump away or in the middle of an move that possesses some invincibility, they will be grabbed. In past games, like Street Fighter Alpha 3, he could have started the Super at point blank range, and you could still Jump away on reaction after the Chi Gathering. So the Shungokusatsu Super is actually effective in CvS2 and will grab people close-up, so that they can't escape it on reaction. However, there are three situations where the Shungokusatsu will NOT connect, even if performed right next to the enemy. It cannot grab enemies out of Block Stun, Hit Stun, or while they are getting up off the floor. So if you do, say, a Crouch Roundhouse (HK) which is blocked and it gets canceled into the Shungokusatsu, the enemy can ALWAYS JUMP AWAY from the Shungokusatsu. If you actually HIT someone with the Overhead and cancel it into the Shungokusatsu, Akuma will slide into the enemy even while the enemy is Reeling and not grab them. And if the enemy holds Up, they will simply Jump away. And if you do it to someone getting up, they can always Jump away right when they get up. It is ONLY effective against enemies who are simply Crouching or Standing there, or in the middle of a move.

Okay, so we've discussed the Raging Demon Supers of Akuma, Evil Ryu, and God Rugal and I said they can't be put into Combos (outside of Stuns). But this is the COMBO half of the FAQ. So why are we talking about this here? The answer is Morrigan. Her Darkness Illusion is the same code as the Shungokusatsu, and has been given equal lenience in doing the code. That means that anything can be canceled into the Darkness Illusion, at any point in time. This is VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER, because this allows you great Combo opportunities. For example, one of her easiest combos is Crouch Short (LK) Chained into Standing Roundhouse (HK). Her Close-up Roundhouse (HK) is a somersault kick that hits four times. While all four of these hits are connecting, you can, at your leisure, tap out the Darkness Illusion code. And even though NONE of the hits in that Roundhouse (HK) is Bufferable in any way, shape, or form, the Darkness Illusion will cancel that Roundhouse (HK) and Combo on the enemy. So if Morrigan is in the middle of ANY Normal Move, it can be canceled into the Darkness Illusion.

This goes for while she is Jumping too!!! Morrigan has a Down + Roundhouse (HK) in the air on her way down that hits three times. None of these three hits are Bufferable in any capacity, but if you are quick enough, you can tap out that Darkness Illusion code and cancel the last hit of Down + Roundhouse (HK) into the Darkness Illusion and it will Combo. Heck, you can even wait until Morrigan lands and cancel the DELAY that Morrigan has from her Down + Roundhouse (HK) when she lands into a ground Darkness Illusion. Also, one other sneaky trick you can do with this is cancel your delay of a Jumping move. If you Jump and hit Roundhouse (HK) on your way up with any character, after the Roundhouse is done, your character is pretty much stuck in the air and vulnerable all the way until he/she lands. Not so with Morrigan. You can actually cancel that "vulnerability" into the Darkness Illusion!! Technically, you are still considered in a Normal Move "delay", and since the Darkness Illusion can cancel any Normal move, it can cancel this delay as well. So if you do any Jumping move, you can do this to cancel it.

So anything that has a Raging Demon code can cancel any normal move at any frame of animation. This can be useful in various situations, but mostly for Morrigan, who can use it in combos. _____ | |


5 RAPID FIRE WEAK ATTACKS

Rapid Fire Weak Attacks are basically the quick Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK) that can be chained into themselves. The most well-known of these moves is Ryu and Ken's Crouching Short (LK). If a player is Crouching and hits Short (LK) as fast as possible when right next to the opponent, you can easily be rewarded with three successive Crouching Shorts (LK) for a three-hit combo (usually, the next Crouching Short (LK) misses, as the enemy has been pushed too far away). Thus, in essence, the Crouch Short (LK) is chaining into itself repeatedly. Thus, the Crouching Short (LK) of Ryu and Ken can be called a "Rapid Fire Weak Attack" in that it can chain into itself. That is a good, simple way to describe it. And for experiment's sake, Kyo's Crouch Short (LK) behaves the same: it can Chain into itself for three hits.

However, the actual technical way in which a Rapid Fire Weak Attack works is this: if a Weak Attack has the ability to Chain, it has the ability to Chain into ANY Weak Attack, not just itself. If the Weak Attack that you chain it into just happens to be ANOTHER Rapid Fire Weak Attack, you can also Chain that third Weak Attack. Thus, we can dissect what's really going on if someone like Kyo does three Crouch Shorts (LK) in a row. What really is happening is that Kyo is merely Chaining a Crouch Short (LK) into a Crouch Short (LK) which so happens to also be a Rapid Fire Weak Attack. Thus, you can Chain it into yet another Crouch Short (LK) for three Crouch Shorts (LK) in a row. But three Crouching Shorts (LK) isn't the only thing that's possible. Since their Crouch Jab (LP) is ALSO a Rapid Fire Weak Attack, Kyo can also do Crouch Short (LK) into Crouch JAB (LP) into Crouch Short (LK), or any combination thereof. As long as they Chain into another move that's also a Rapid Fire Weak Attack, you can keep Chaining the moves. However, the restriction must be stated once again: you can only Chain a Rapid Fire Weak Attack into another Weak Attack, i.e. any other form of Jab (LP) or Short (LK) (Crouching or Standing, Close-up or Far Away). Also, keep in mind that Rapid Fire Weak Attacks share one unique ability: they can Chain into each other whether you land the move or whiff the move. So since both Crouch Jab (LP) and Crouch Short (LK) are Rapid Fire Weak Attacks for Kyo, you can just Crouch there and ram on Jab (LP) and Short (LK) all day, and Kyo will continually come out with Jabs (LP) and Shorts (LK) in rapid succession, whether the enemy is nearby or not. That's why characters like Kyo can ram on Stand Jab so quickly in attempts to stop an incoming Blanka Rolling Attack, but characters like Rolento, who's Stand Jab (LP) is NOT a Rapid Fire Weak Attack, can't.

Many characters have at least one Jab (LP) or Short (LK) that counts as a Rapid Fire Weak Attack. Some characters have more than one. Let's look at Sakura for example. Her Standing Jab (LP), Crouching Jab (LP), and Crouching Short (LK) are all considered Rapid Fire Weak Attacks. Thus, you can chain any of those three moves into each other, such as Standing Jab (LP) into Crouching Jab (LP) into Crouching Short (LK). You can also Chain them into the Standing Short (LK) kick. However, since Standing Short (LK) is NOT a Rapid Fire Weak Attack, the Chain Combo ends there. Standing Short (LK) cannot and WILL NOT be Chained into any other Weak Attacks. So Standing Short (LK) pretty much ends all Rapid Fire Chain Combos. Fortunately, Sakura's Standing Short (LK) is Bufferable and a Fierce (HP) Shououken combos from a Standing Short (LK). So tacking that at the end of the Chain Combo gives Sakura her most highly used combo: Crouching Short (LK), Crouching Short (LK), Standing Short (LK), Fierce (HP) Shououken. Very rare, but some characters such as Guile have all four Weak Attacks as Rapid Fire Weak Attacks. Thus, he can conceivably Chain any of the attacks into any other of the Weak Attacks. Of course, he normally can't get more than three or four of them off in one combo. Some characters only have one, such as Chang (only his Crouching Jab (LP) is a Rapid Fire Weak Attack). Other characters have none at all, such as Blanka or Rolento. Then there are characters like Cammy whose Close-Up Short (LK) is a Rapid Fire Weak Attack but her Far Away Short (LK) is not. So it is highly varied between characters. _____ | |

6 LINKS

In the olden days of Street Fighter, Links were very useful in doing longer combos when you were provided with little else (like Honda... What did he do for combos in Classic Street Fighter II?!? He had zero Bufferable Moves. ZERO!!!). A Link is not a special form of combo like Buffering. Basically, a Link is when you combo two moves in a row using no special methods. Usually, a Link occurs if the first move ends fast enough so that a second move, which typically comes out really quickly, can hit the enemy before he/she finishes recovering from his/her Reel Stun. Thus, the two hits register as a two-hit Combo. Links have become highly prominent in Capcom Vs. SNK. In fact, I can't think of a game, other than Street Fighter II Classic, where Links have played such a HUGE role in comboing. A LOT of things Link in this game. Fortunately, this does not get abused, because Linking is still perhaps the most skilled version of combos ever created in a Street Fighter game. Links are all about timing and are not very "user friendly" at all. There's nothing intuitive about them. They are simply just timing, and the only way to get good at them is to practice.

So for example, Kyo, up close, can do a Crouching Jab (LP). Before the enemy recovers from the Reel of the Jab (LP), Kyo will recover, and can throw out a Crouching Fierce (HP) and catch the enemy before their Reel Stun ends. Thus, the two hits will connect as a two-hit combo. And then, you can Buffer that Crouching Fierce (HP) into his Poison Gnawfest (Fireball + Fierce (HP)). Ryu can Link a Crouch Jab (LP) and a Standing Fierce (HP). Or a Crouch Short (LK) into a Crouch Forward (MK). Cammy can Link a Standing Close-Up Fierce (HP) into a Crouch Forward (MK). The list goes on and on. There are so many Links in this game, it would double the size of this FAQ just to print them all out, probably (okay, so maybe not). So rather than doing so, you're gonna have to find them on your own. But there's a LOT out there. Very few characters have no Links (there are some characters where I haven't found any... yet...).

As I said, performing Links consistently is mainly a result of practice and timing. There is no trick to them. Just remember that if you hit the button too early, your move won't come out (you're still in the delay from the first attack). If you hit it too late, the two moves won't combo. Keep adjusting you timing until you can get them to connect consistently. If you are having trouble doing Links, just keep practicing. That's the only advice I can really give on perfecting Links. _____ | |

7 CHAIN COMBOS

In the last game, only one character had Chain Combos: Morrigan. Well, in Capcom Vs. SNK 2, the feature has been extended to a few characters now. Morrigan still has the most "free form" style of Chain Combo, and Kyosuke follows with a close second. The other cases are all "fixed" or "canned" Chain Combos: you cannot vary the sequence of the Chain Combo. Chain Combos are the ability for a character to cancel the animation of a Normal Move into another Normal Move, much like Buffering is the ability to cancel Normal Moves into Special Moves. The sequence of Normal Moves cancel into each other so quickly that the opponent cannot recover from their Reel Stun quick enough to block. In most cases, this allows you to maximize the damage you perform.

We are going to discuss the "Fixed" Chain Combos of the game first. And then a second section will be devoted purely to Morrigan.

7a Fixed Chain Combos (Target Combos)

Various characters in Capcom Vs. SNK 2 have Chain Combos. Most of the Chain Combos that exist in the game are "Fixed". There is only one basic sequence that the character can perform and this sequence in general cannot be varied. With every Fixed Chain Combo (except for Terry's), the timing to perform the Chain Combo is about the same. After a move that is a part of the Chain Combo sequence connects, you are allowed to Chain into the next move in the sequence ANYTIME before the current move ends. In other words, once a move connects, as long as it's still animating in it's recovery or delay, you can Chain into the next move. So, for example, with Yun, you can time his Chain Combo of Standing Jab (LP) into Standing Short (LK) into Standing Strong (MP) really quickly (Tap tap tap) or you can even space it out slightly, and hit each button slightly AFTER the move hits (tap tap tap). Basically, the earliest you can chain the moves is right AFTER the move hits. For many of these Chain Combos, hitting the button the INSTANT the move hits will actually lower your success rate, especially with Iori and Blood Iori. Also, if there is no joystick direction associated with the move, the Chain Combo move MUST BE DONE WITH THE JOYSTICK NEUTRAL. Except for the first move of the sequence, the joystick CANNOT be held in any direction for the Chain Combo to come out successfully. For, for example, with Maki: if you are doing her Standing Jab (LP), Standing Strong (MP), Standing Fierce (HP), Standing Roundhouse (HK) Chain, you have to leave the Joystick in Neutral by the time you hit Strong (MP). If you hold the Joystick in a direction at ANY point in that sequence, and hit the next Button while the Joystick is being held, that attack will not come out. Below is a list of every Chain Combo that is known in CvS2. Any additional details about it will be added as a small description:

  • Athena- 1) Standing Close-up Strong (MP) -> Towards + Forward (MK)

Only Close-up Strong (MP) Chains. The nice thing is that, even though the Towards + Forward (MK) hits twice, the first hit can actually miss and still Combo (the second hit will still reach the enemy fast enough to nail him/her and knock them down), if you accidentally did it from a bit too far away.

  • Blood Iori and Iori- 1) Standing Strong (MP) -> Towards + Strong (MP)

Towards + Strong (MP) is Bufferable, so this Chain can lead into various Combos. I have more success doing the Chain slower than the other. Hitting Strong too early seems to happen a lot more often than hitting it too late.

  • Chun Li- 1) Jumping Fierce (HP) -> Jumping Fierce (HP)

This Chain Combo sequence is a bit unique in that the first hit, the first Jumping Fierce (HP), does not even need to CONNECT for Chun Li to be able to Chain the moves. You can Jump, hit Fierce on your way up, and then hit Fierce again and she'll still chain into the second hit, even if the first hit doesn't connect. But you still have to hit the second Fierce (HP) before the first one finishes animating. Oh, and you cannot do this Chain sequence Jumping straight up. 2) Standing Far-away Short (LK) -> Standing Far-away Short (LK) -> Standing Far-away Short (LK) I don't even know why they give this Chain Combo to Chun Li. 1) Most of the time, you get a Short (LK) Lightning Kick Buffered after the second Kick when you try it if you press Short (LK) too fast. 2) It is literally impossible to land on most characters. If you are too close, you'll do the Close-up Standing Short (LK) first. But when you get far enough for the Far-away Short (LK) to come out, the third Kick in this Chain is too far away to connect!!! So it only can really land against a few characters who are large, like Sagat. So there really is no practicality to this Chain Combo at all. If you actually manage to land it in a perfectly distanced Combo in the heat of a battle, then... then... then... then I would seriously bow down to you. ^_^

  • evil Ryu and Shin Gouki- 1) Standing Strong (MP) -> Standing Fierce (HP)

Although Standing Fierce (HP) looks exactly like the normal Standing Fierce (HP), the Fierce (HP) in the Chain Combo is a Knock-Down.

  • Hibiki- 1) Close-up Standing Fierce (HP) -> Standing Fierce (HP)

I'm hard pressed to list this one... It's not really a Chain Combo. I mean, you can do Close-up Standing Fierce (HP) and then press Fierce (HP) again, but there are a few things you can do with this Close-up Standing Fierce (HP). First of all, you don't even need to hit Fierce (HP) again for the second hit. You can just HOLD Fierce (HP) down after the first time you press it and Hibiki will automatically do the second swing. Secondly, after the first Fierce (HP) connects, at ANY time before the second Fierce (HP) hit connects, you can cancel her animation into ANY SPECIAL OR SUPER as long as you are still holding down Fierce (HP)!!! So even though her close-up Standing Fierce (HP) is not normally Bufferable, you can hold Fierce (HP) after the first hit and Combo it into, say, a Jab (LP) Distance Slash. And even though it's normally Super Bufferable, now you can cancel it into any Level Super with much more leniency on timing (though only Level 3's will Combo that late). It's really very bizarre how this "Chain Combo" works, thus it's very hard for me to qualify this as a Chain Combo. But, as usual, gotta be thorough and list it anyhow.

  • Maki- 1) Standing Jab (LP) -> Standing Strong (MP) -> Standing Fierce (HP) -> Standing Roundhouse (HK)

This first Chain Combo, you may recognize, is the same as Guy's Chain Combo from Street Fighter Alpha 3. However, this Chain Combo doesn't knock down, like Guy's did. Instead, the enemy remains standing throughout this entire Combo. 2) Standing Jab (LP) -> Standing Strong (MP) -> Standing Fierce (HP) -> Down + Fierce (HP) The Down + Fierce (HP) is VERY hard to time. Although you CAN do it anytime during the Standing Fierce's (HP) animation after it hits, it'll only connect if you do it as soon as possible (again, hitting Down + Fierce (HP) the INSTANT that first Standing Fierce (HP) connects will NOT work. You have to hit it slightly AFTER). Otherwise, the final hit of this Chain will whiff (you can see Maki grab at the air). Also, even though the animation makes it look like Maki is performing a Throw, the move isn't actually a Throw. If the enemy Parries all three of the first hits of this Chain Combo, the last hit will still whiff, and you'll see her grab at the enemy. The enemy is NOT in Block Stun, so technically, it should grab... but it doesn't.

  • M.Bison- 1) Jumping Strong (MP) -> Jumping Strong (MP)

Like Chun Li, the first Jump attack, the Jumping Strong (MP), does not even need to connect to be able to Chain into the next Jumping Strong (MP). In fact, for Bison, you don't even need to hit the second Jumping Strong (MP) before the first one finishes animating! You can hit Strong (MP) on your way up in the Jump, let the punch come and go, and then hit Strong (MP) on your way down and it will still come out! So he has the most lenient Chain Combo of them all! However, like Chun Li, you cannot do the move while Jumping Straight up. But UNLIKE Chun Li, both hits of this Chain sequence are Knock-Downs if you nail the enemy out of the air.

  • Terry- 1) Standing Close-up Fierce (HP) -> Offensive Crouch Fierce (HP)

Terry's Standing Close-up Fierce is a two-hit move. However, BOTH hits can be Chained into the Offensive Crouching Fierce (HP). You can do it after the second hit for three total hits, but that combo only connects for all three hits against really wide characters, like Zangief. Terry is the only one without the lenient Chain timing. For Terry to successfully Chain the Close-up Fierce (HP) into the Offensive Crouch Fierce (HP), you have to hit the second Fierce (HP) RIGHT after either hit of Standing Close-up Fierce (HP). If you wait, say, a little bit after the second hit, you will not be able to Chain. So Terry requires a bit more timing, but it's still very easy. Lastly, all three hits of this Chain Combo are Bufferable, so Combo to your heart's content!

  • Yun- 1) Standing Jab (LP) -> Standing Short (LK) -> Standing Strong (MP)

Remember, all Buttons must be pressed with the Joystick in Neutral. Otherwise the Chain Combo will fail. And YES, if you hold a direction, the Standing Short WILL still come out in this Chain. But that's because Standing Jab is a natural Rapid Fire Weak Attack. So if you are holding Towards when you hit Short, it'll still come out. But because you Chained, now, into his regular ol' Standing Short, that move has NO ABILITY REGARDLESS OF JOYSTICK DIRECTION to Chain into the Standing Strong (MP). In order for the Short to be able to Chain into the Standing Strong (MP), the Joystick has to be in Neutral when you hit the Short (LK) Button. Standing Strong is Bufferable. 2) Standing Strong (MP) -> Standing Fierce (HP) -> Back + Fierce (HP) The Back + Fierce (HP) looks like the Kobokushi (the Palm Strike), but it's really just a Normal Move that looks like it. It's a lot faster, and it has no ability to do Block Damage. Thus, it's definitely just a Normal Move. It is not Bufferable by a Special Move, but it IS Super Cancelable. 3) Jumping Jab (LP) -> Jumping Towards + Fierce (HP) Unlike the other two Jumping Chain Combos listed so far, this Chain Combo ONLY works if the Jab (LP) connects. Jumping Jab (LP) sticks out for a while, too. But even if it connects late, you can still Chain it into the Towards + Fierce (HP).

7B Morrigan

Morrigan's Chain Combos work exactly like they do in Vampire Savior. In the last game, her Chain Combo timing was VERY lenient. It behaved a lot like the other Fixed Chain Combos behaved. But in this game, that isn't the case. The timing for her Chain Combo has become a LOT more precise, and far less forgiving. Now, in order to properly Chain her moves, you MUST hit the next Button in the Chain Combo sequence at the EXACT moment the previous move connects. Any earlier or later will cause the Chain Combo to fail. As I said, this is exactly how Chain Combos have been in the DarkStalkers series of games. So if you are familiar with her Chain Combo timing from those games, it'll be the same here. She can Chain her attacks together, but only in a specific order. The order in which you can Chain her attacks is: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse (LP -> LK -> MP -> MK -> HP -> HK)

 Morrigan's Crouching Jab (LP) is a two-hit attack.  Either hit of  this Jab (LP) can be Chained from.  Also, you can use either Standing  or Crouching Moves in this sequence.  And when you use this sequence,  you can go forward in this sequence and skip any moves you want.  You  cannot, however, go backwards in the Chain sequence.

So, for example, you can choose to just do a Standing Jab (LP) Chained into Crouching Forward (MK) Chained into Crouching Roundhouse (HK), skipping Short (LK), Strong (MP), and Fierce (HP) all together. However, she cannot do a Jab (LP) Chained into a Strong (MP) and then Chain back to a Short (LK). You can only progress forward in the series. (Those of you familiar with characters who have the Magic Series pattern of "ZigZag" in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 will find this sequence right at home). Morrigan has various Bufferable moves. However, when they are in the middle of this Chain sequence, they lose their Bufferability. Thus, if Morrigan does Crouching Short (LK) chained into a Crouching Forward (MK), and then tries to Buffer that Forward (MK) into a Soul Fist, it will not work, even though Crouching Forward (MK) Buffered into the Soul Fist works outside of the Chain Combo.

7c Kyosuke

Kyosuke's ability to perform a Chain Combo is VERY limited. He can only perform a Jumping Chain Combo in one of two places: Jump Canceling Offensive Crouch + Roundhouse (HK), or Jump Canceling his Super Lightning Upper. Once he cancels either of those two moves into a Jump, Kyosuke suddenly gains the ability to Chain his Jumping attacks together. This works whether he Jumps forward, straight up (which only is useful in the corner), or backward (though why you would ever do this is beyond me). And, like Morrigan, the timing of the Button presses must be PRECISELY when the previous move landed. Hitting it any later, like you are doing a Fixed Chain Combo, will not work, and you'll get a failed Chain Combo. The sequence in which Kyosuke can Chain his Jump attacks together is exactly the same as Morrigan's: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse (LP -> LK -> MP -> MK -> HP -> HK)

 Again, you can go forward in this sequence, skipping moves, but  you cannot go backwards.  So you can do Jumping Jab (LP) into Strong  (MP) into Fierce (HP) into Roundhouse (HK), skipping Short (LK) and  Forward (MK), but you cannot do something like Jab (LP), Strong (MP),  and then going back to Short (LK).

Some moves work better than others in the middle of this sequence. Forward (MK), for example, hits really far below Kyosuke, and thus is probably the worst move to try and use. Also, Fierce (HP) and Roundhouse (HK) are Knock-Downs, and they will floor the enemy. And unlike Morrigan, any move that has Bufferability RETAINS that ability in this sequence. So Jumping Jab (LP), Short (LK), and Strong (MP) all retain their ability to be Buffered out of, even if you Chain into them.

8 CONTROLLED BUTTON TAPPING SPECIAL MOVES

Five characters have Button Tapping Special Moves: Blanka (Electric Thunder), Change (Spinning Iron Ball), Chun Li (Hyakuretsukyaku), E.Honda (Hyakuretsu Harite), and Joe (TNT Punch). Move of these moves are very useful, but of course they are Button Tapping Special Moves. It's hard to use them in a controlled manner so that you perform them whenever you want, unless you happen to be a star Track N' Field player. ^_^ Thus, their use is rather limited, sometimes, and can be easily telegraphed to your opponent by a sudden WAP!WAP!WAP!WAP!WAP! sound coming from your buttons. ^_^ Wouldn't it be nice if you had some better control over the Button Tapping Special Moves? Well, you can. ^_^ Otherwise this section would be pointless and there would be no reason for calling this section "Controlled Button Tapping", would there? So yes, you can turn the Button Tapping Special Moves into a controlled weapon, putting them easily into Combos and using them as pokes at practically anytime you want 'em. "How?!?" you ask? It's actually very simple.

The way it works is that every Button Tapping Special Move needs to have 5 button presses occur within a given timeframe for the move to come out. This was true for ALL past Street Fighter games. However, what makes it so easy in the Capcom Vs. SNK series is that, unlike the older Street Fighter games, you no longer need to use the SAME BUTTON. In all Street Fighter games prior to Capcom Vs. SNK 2, you needed to hit one Kick button or one Punch button 5 times within a certain time frame to cause a Button Tapping Special Move to come out. But in the Capcom Vs. SNK series, you can use any-strengthed button. And in Capcom Vs. SNK 1, you needed 6 button presses. In Capcom Vs. SNK 2, they made it as easy as possible.

So what this means is that, to do Chun Li's Hyakuretsukyaku, you only need to hit any five Kicks in any order within a certain time frame. And the time frame is fairly lenient. So now, you can walk up to an enemy and quickly tap out: Forward (MK), Short (LK), Short (LK), Forward (MK), Roundhouse (HK). This is basically rolling your fingers from right to left starting with Forward (MK) and then rolling them left to right across the three Kick buttons. If you do this quickly enough, you'll actually finish the code before Chun Li leaves her Bufferable frame of the Standing Forward (MK) Kick. And so, you'll actually, after merely WALKING UP to the opponent, do a Standing Forward Kick (MK) Buffered into a Roundhouse (HK) Lightning Kick Combo!! It's very simple... I can do the Combo consistently.

The other nice thing about all this is the fact that the last button pressed is the version of the Button Tapping Special Move that comes out! That's why in the above Combo, the Lightning Kick that comes out is the Roundhouse (HK) Lightning Kick. This is HUGE for characters like E.Honda, who's Kyakuretsu Harite (the Hundred Hand Slap) is a useful poking move, especially the Fierce version. In the time it takes for Honda's Standing Strong (MP) to whiff, you can easily tap out: Strong, Jab, Strong, Jab (MP, LP, MP, LP) ...which is four Punches so far. After the fourth button press, you can simply press Fierce (HP) and Honda will suddenly come out with the Fierce (HP) Hand Slap! And if you want to fake your opponent out, don't press Fierce (HP) at all and watch them whiff an Uppercut or something. So now you can attack with the Hand Slap or fake it at the tap of ONE button! And it's extremely controlled so that it's never a question to you whether you are doing the Hand Slap or not. It's only a question to the enemy, whom you get to keep guessing.

And now, most importantly, this makes Button Tapping Special Moves easily accessible for Combos. The above Chun Li example is not practical at all, but there are many practical uses for Button Tapping Special Moves in terms of Combos. Joe, for example, can now easily so a Crouching Jab (LP) chained into a Crouching Jab (LP) Buffered into a Fierce (HP) TNT Punch. This is a great Meaty Combo because if the enemy Blocks it, it will do a good three nicks of Block Damage. If they get hit by it, it's a 5-hit Combo. Just tap out this sequence quickly:

Jab, Strong, Fierce, Jab, Fierce (LP, MP, HP, LP, HP)

Do this by rolling your fingers across the Punches twice (skipping Strong (MP) the second time). What will happen is that, if you're quick enough, the second time you hit Jab (LP) will cause you to perform another Crouching Jab (LP) because Crouching Jab (LP) is a Rapid Fire Weak Attack for Joe. But it's also Bufferable, so when you hit Fierce (HP) the second time, it'll activate the TNT Punch and cancel the Crouching Jab (LP) for you 5-hit Combo.

This also helps for characters in Grooves with Low Jumps. You cancel Low Jumps with Special Moves, so being able to easily cancel Jump Attacks with a Button Tapping Special Move would be huge. For example, Honda can perform a Jumping Fierce (HP) and land instantly with a Strong (MP) Hundred Hand Slap, which Combos from the Jumping Fierce (HP). Thus, even if the enemy Blocks it, you can do good damage and not have a delay from your Low Jump. To do this, simply Low Jump at the enemy and tap out this follow sequence:

Fierce, Strong, Jab, Fierce, Strong (HP, MP, LP, HP, MP)
    --or--
Fierce, Strong, Jab, Jab, Strong (HP, MP, LP, LP, MP)

The initial Fierce (HP) you press will make Honda do a Jumping Fierce (HP) and then the rest will make you land and cancel your Low Jump delay with a Strong (MP) Hand Slap. It's the Strong (MP) Hand Slap that you want because the Strong (MP) one Combos easier than the Fierce (HP) one and does more hits than the Jab (LP) one.

You can actually TRY to do a Low Jumping Roundhouse (HK) canceled into the Hand Slap, but it's much more difficult. You basically have to add Roundhouse (HK) to the beginning of the above sequence. Sounds like it shouldn't be THAT tough, but just because it's on a different Row than the Punches, it's much harder to roll your fingers across the appropriate buttons.

Another character this technique helps out tremendously is Chun Li. Having the ability to quickly make Chun Li perform a Hyakuretsukyaku (Lightning Kick) is VERY useful, especially in Grooves with Low Jump. Why? Because now you can use her Low Jumping Short (LK) as a Cross-up, and not land with a delay so that the enemy, who you are now right next to, can punish you like nobody's business.

What happens instead is that now you can Combo a Low Jumping Short (LK) into a Roundhouse (HK) Lightning Kick, which can, in turn, be LINKED into a Crouching Jab (LP) Linked into a Crouching Strong (MP) Buffered into a Level 1 Hoyokusen!!! This is a technique used by all of the top Chun Li players in Japan and is VERY devastating. So the way to do this is to quickly (and in this case, I mean VERY quickly) tap out the following sequence:

Short, Forward, Roundhouse, Short, Roundhouse
(LK, MK, HK, LK, HK)

The initial Short (LK) will perform the Cross-up Kick, and if you tap out the rest REALLY fast, she'll land with the Roundhouse (HK) Lightning Kick, which is the only version of the Lightning Kick that you can Link a move after. And it'll come out so quickly that it WILL Combo after the Low Jumping Short (LK). This can make a Low Jumping Chun Li VERY deadly.

So if you use a character with Button Tapping Special Moves, learn how to use it in a controlled fashion. Doing so will let you easily perform all sorts of tricks, including Meaty Fierce (HP) Electric Thunders with Blanka.

Chapter 09 ---| THE CAPCOM JUGGLE SYSTEM |--

00) Intro  01) The Juggle Set-Up  02) The Juggle Count  03) The Juggle Potential  04) The Juggle Formula  05) The Juggle Potential Revisited      - Gradual Juggle Potential      - Phase Juggle Potential      -      -     -    -   -  -  - - -----------------<>  <>  <>  <>    <>===============================================<>  juggle  <>      <>
  <<< INTRO >>>
  <>  system  <>  00)   <>===============================================<>  <>  <>  <>

The Juggle System in Capcom Vs. SNK 2 has grown in complexity... even though, it really hasn't. It's really tough to say. With the advent of Level 2 Super Canceling and Custom Combos and a lot of small, specific cases (from Yun's Super Jump canceling to Kyosuke's Air Combos to a group of really bizarre Kyo exceptions), Juggling seems to have become a whole different beast. But at the same time, Juggling has become a LOT less free-form. Combos like Ken's Jab DP into Level 1 Shoryureppa, King's Punch Throw into Surprise Rose in the corner, and Guile's Level 1 Total Wipeout into Level 1 Somersault Strike into Level 1 Somersault Strike... all those Combos are GONE. There just simply isn't as many opportunities for Juggling as before. Also, if you understood the Juggle System of the first Capcom Vs. SNK, it shouldn't be too hard to understand the Juggle System of this game. Despite the inclusion of all these new features, the Juggle System still remains pure and identical at it's heart. The Juggle Count / Potential from the last game still exist, as does the "KOF Juggle System" (as I called it back then. I've since renamed it for this game). And both of those still make up the heart and soul of the Juggle System.

 But these things must be described in some form of order, so  first off is the Capcom Juggle System.  This system of Juggling is  mostly the same as it was before.  However, if you've never understood  it before, it is VERY complex, and even HARDER to explain.  And  because of a new type of Juggling that has become more prominent in  this game (it existed before, but only on VERY few moves), it has  actually gotten increasingly complex.  So read on, learn about the  Capcom Juggle System and hopefully I've described in a way that's  understandable...      -      -     -    -   -  -  - - -----------------<>  <>  <>  <>    <>===============================================<>  juggle  <>      <>   <<< THE CAPCOM JUGGLE SYSTEM:  PART 1 >>>   <>  system  <>  01)    

===== Part 1: The Juggle Set-up =====
    <>----------------- - -  -  -   -    -     -      -

If you are going to be Juggled in this game, you have to have one main thing: a Juggle Set-Up. There are two types of Juggle Set-Ups in this game, and are extremely reminiscent of Alpha 3's two Juggle Set-Ups: the Knock-Downs and the Air Reel animation frame.

 The first type of Set-Up, the Knock-Downs, are simple to explain.  Anything that knocks the enemy over so that they will land on their  back counts as a Juggle Set-Up.  This can be a Sweep, a Dragon Punch,  or a Super Combo... if it will put the enemy on to floor, you can  Juggle them before they hit the ground.  They can be VERY close to  hitting the floor, too.  If your move is fast enough to catch them the  instant before they hit the floor, they will be Juggled, no problem.

Throws, on the other hand, do not count as a Juggle Set-up. Capcom Vs. SNK 2 has completely wiped out post-Throw Juggles (for the most part). So even though Throws put you on the floor, they do not count as a Juggle Set-up.

 The second type of Juggle Set-Up is a bit harder to explain.   Basically, the second opportunity for Juggling comes from one  particular Air Reel Animation Frame that all characters go into when  getting hit out of the air by a move that is NOT a Knock-Down.   Whenever you strike an opponent out of the air with a Normal Move  that's not already a natural Knock-Down (some Normal Moves are natural  Knock-Downs, like Geese's Toward + Fierce (HP)), the enemy will Reel  in the air by flying back in an Animation Frame where they look like  they are in pain for just a tiny bit before automatically doing a  small somersault in the air that makes it so that they will land on  their feet.  That "pained" Air Reel Animation Frame is the key for  this second Juggle Set-Up.

That Animation Frame allows the enemy to be Juggled by anything that has the ability to Juggle the opponent. As long as the Juggle move connects while the enemy is in this Air Reel Animation Frame, it will connect for a Juggle. If you try and Juggle them after they finish this Animation Frame (they do that little somersault), you can't Juggle the enemy anymore. Let's look at Akuma. His Jab (LP) Goushoryuken has the ability to Juggle the enemy. If the enemy jumps at you and you strike them out of the air with a plain ol' Standing Jab (LP), the enemy will Reel in the air for a second, then flip and land on his or her feet. So let's say you Buffer that Jab (LP) with a Jab (LP) Goushoryuken. Since the Goushoryuken has the ability to Juggle, and you did the move quickly after the Jab (LP) connected (by Buffering the Jab), it catches the enemy while they are still in that "pained" Air Reel Animation Frame. Since that frame allows characters to be Juggled, the Goushoryuken will connect without any problems. But let's say you are in the corner, your opponent Jumps straight up, and you run under and Jab (LP) the opponent out of the air. Now, instead of Buffering the Jab (LP), you let your Jab (LP) finish normally, and THEN do a Goushoryuken. Well by this point the enemy has already left the Air Reel Animation Frame and is flipping to land on their feet. If that's the case, then they can no longer be Juggled: they become "invincible" the instant they start the small somersault and will remain so until they land. So the Goushoryuken will completely whiff and you won't get your Juggle. This is all because the Goushoryuken did not connect while the enemy was in that crucial Air Reel animation frame.

 So to sum things up, in order to have a Juggle occur, you have to  have a Juggle Set-Up, whether it be a Knock-Down or use of the Air  Reel Animation Frame.  If you don't use either of these methods for a  Juggle Set-Up, you will not be allowed to Juggle the enemy.      -      -     -    -   -  -  - - -----------------<>  <>  <>  <>    <>===============================================<>  juggle  <>      <>   <<< THE CAPCOM JUGGLE SYSTEM:  PART 2 >>>   <>  system  <>  02)   <>===============================================<>  <>  <>  <>

===== Part 2: The Juggle Count =====
    <>----------------- - -  -  -   -    -     -      -

As a character gets Juggled while Reeling in the air, the game implements a "Juggle Count". This Juggle Count does not appear anywhere on screen. It is actually kept track of internally. Basically, the Juggle Count is the number of times a character has been Juggled in the air. For example, if you do Crouch Roundhouse (HK) Buffered into a Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku (hurricane kick) with Akuma, the Roundhouse (HK) will set the enemy up for a Juggle (because it's a Knock-Down which makes it a Juggle Set-up) and the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku will Juggle with one hit. When that Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku hits, the game will keep count how many times the enemy was Juggled. So after the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku, the Juggle Count is now at 1. So if Akuma does another Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku and Juggles the enemy again, the Juggle Count is now at 2. This Count is very important, because it will determine just what can Juggle and what cannot anymore. Why this is so will become clear in the next section where we discuss Juggle Potential. Just keep in mind that every time an enemy is Juggled, the game keeps track of this number. - - - - - - - - -----------------<> <> <> <> <>===============================================<> juggle <>

Part 3: The Juggle Potential
    <>----------------- - -  -  -   -    -     -      -

Regardless of what you do to set up the enemy for a Juggle, if you don't have a move that actually is ALLOWED to Juggle the enemy, you are at a loss. Only certain moves in this game are allowed to Juggle, like Akuma's Goushoryuken mentioned above. However, some moves just aren't allowed to Juggle. Let's take a look at Ken, shall we, and see if we can make this a bit clearer. Ken's Crouching Roundhouse (HK) is a Juggle Set-Up. So if he gets the enemy in the corner, and connects with a Crouch Roundhouse (HK), he can Buffer that into a Jab (LP) Shoryuken. The Crouch Roundhouse (HK) is a Juggle Set-Up, so the enemy is set-up for the Juggle, right? The Jab (HP) Shoryuken should connect and Juggle, right? No. This is because his Jab (LP) Shoryuken does not have any "Juggle Potential". In order for a move to actually Juggle the enemy, it has to have a Juggle Potential. Ken's Shinryuken has Juggle Potential, so instead of Buffering the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into a Jab (LP) Shoryuken, Ken can Buffer the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into any Level of his Shinryuken. So Buffering the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into a Level 1 Shinryuken will actually connect and Juggle the enemy (if Ken does the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) Close-up. From farther away, the Shinryuken doesn't have enough reach to catch the enemy in the air). If the Shinryuken had NO Juggle Potential, it would have just completely whiffed, even though it passes right through the enemy.

 Moves that actually have Juggle Potential also have values  assigned to each hit of the move.  So you can say something like,  "Akuma's Short Hurricane Kick has a Juggle Potential of 2."  But like  I said, these values can be assigned to a particular HIT of a move!   King's Surprise Rose has a total of 5 hits: two knee strikes on her  way up and three stomps in the air on her way down.  You'll learn that  you can say things like "The first hit of King's Surprise Rose has a  Juggle Potential of 0, but the second hit has a Juggle Potential of  1!"  What this all means shall be explained in the next few sections.      -      -     -    -   -  -  - - -----------------<>  <>  <>  <>    <>===============================================<>  juggle  <>      <>   <<< THE CAPCOM JUGGLE SYSTEM:  PART 4 >>>   <>  system  <>  04)   <>===============================================<>  <>  <>  <>

Part 4: The Juggle Formula
    <>----------------- - -  -  -   -    -     -      -

The Juggle Count and the Juggle Potential go hand in hand to determine what can Juggle an enemy set up by a Juggle Set-up. Basically, as the Juggle Count increases when a character gets Juggled, only moves that have a HIGHER Juggle Potential than the current Juggle Count will be able to Juggle the enemy! Thus, when we talked about Akuma's Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku (hurricane kick) having a Juggle Potential of 2, that means if the Juggle Count is currently at 2, the Short Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku CANNOT JUGGLE ANYMORE. So there is a formula to determine how many times a move with Juggle Potential can Juggle the enemy. The number of possible Juggles is equal to the Juggle Potential minus the Juggle Count. Or:

 Num Hits = Juggle Potential - Juggle Count
 Okay, let's go back to Ken's Crouching Roundhouse (HK) into Level  1 Shinryuken.  The Level 1 Shinryuken has a Juggle Potential of 6.  So  after Ken hits the enemy into the air with the Crouch Roundhouse, the  enemy has been poised for a Juggle by the Juggle Set-up.  The current  Juggle Count is 0 (nothing has Juggled yet).  Since Ken Buffers the  Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into the Level 1 Shinryuken with the Juggle  Potential of 6, how many hits do we get?  Let's see, what was that  formula?  It was Juggle Potential minus the Juggle Count, right?  6 -  0 = 6.  The Level 1 Shinryuken will Juggle for 6 hits, giving you the  grand total of 7 Hits for your Combo (one for the sweep, 6 for the  Super).

But now let's look at this... The Level 2 Shinryuken has a Juggle Potential of 10. So after the last Combo, we had 7 hits total. But what is the Juggle Count at? The Juggle Count is currently at 6! That means, if Ken lands and does a Level 2 Shinryuken right after the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into Level 1 Shinryuken Combo, what will happen? Well, since the Juggle Potential of the Level 2 is higher than the current Juggle Count, it WILL Juggle the enemy... But for how many hits? Let's try that formula again... Juggle Potential minus the Juggle Count: 10 - 6 = 4. The Level 2 Shinryuken Super will Juggle for 4 more hits. This brings the Juggle Count up to 10, so only a move with a Juggle Potential of OVER 10 can Juggle the enemy now!

 So in other words, if the enemy has been Juggled more often than  your Juggle Potential, your move will miss entirely.  Let's use Ken as  an example again.  Let's say you are in N-Groove and you've performed  a Power Activation.  You've stamped and used a Power Stock and have  two remaining.  You catch the enemy with a Crouch Roundhouse into a  Level 3 Shinryuken super.  The Level 3 Shinryuken has a Juggle  Potential of 14.  So you get all of the hits and have a 15-hit Combo.   But Ken lands before the enemy does, so you quickly use up the last  Power Stock for a Level 1 Shinryuken to catch the enemy before they  hit the ground.  But the Level 1 Shinryuken has a Juggle Potential of  6!  So, let's see, will this work?  What's that formula again?  Juggle  Potential - Juggle Count = number of times move will connect.  So  that's 6 - 14 = -8.  Hmmm...  Things don't look good.

Again, if the Juggle Potential of your move is LOWER than the current Juggle Count, it's gonna whiff entirely. The Level 3 Shinryuken Juggled 14 times, putting the Count at 14. The Level 1 Shinryuken can only Juggle 6 times. Since the enemy has already been Juggled more than 6 times, the Level 1's Juggle Potential has been surpassed. So it will whiff entirely.

 One last example with Akuma.  Let's say Akuma does a Crouch  Roundhouse (HK) and barely hits the enemy with the tip of his Kick and  Buffers that Kick into the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku.  Like  Ken, his Crouch Roundhouse (HK) is a Juggle Set-Up, and his Tatsumaki  Zankuukyaku, any strength, has a Juggle Potential of 2.  So Juggle  Count is 0 before the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku connects and  the Juggle Potential of the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku is 2.   That means it can hit the enemy two times in the air (2 - 0 = 2).   However, the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku only hits once!  After  that, Akuma lands.  So the Juggle Count is now at 1, but Akuma's Short  (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku STILL HAS the Juggle Potential of 2.  That  means he can do ANOTHER Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku and Juggle  the enemy again!  The Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku, since it still  has a Juggle Potential of 2 and the Juggle Count is only at 1 (2 - 1 =  1 hit left!), will connect again for a second Juggle.  However, now  that the Juggle Count is at 2, and the Juggle Potential of the Short  (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku is 2, that leaves no hits left for the  Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku.  So if you did another Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku,  it will not connect at all.
 Here's a question I anticipate I might get asked if I say  something like "Akuma's Goushoryuken has a Juggle Potential of 2."   Then, you might ask, "You said that Akuma's Goushoryuken has the  Juggle Potential of 2.  Yet when the enemy jumps at me, and I do a Jab  (LP) Goushoryuken and hit them out of the air with a good, deep hit, I  get three hits.  If you can only Juggle for 2 hits, why did I get 3?"

The explanation of this is simple. The first hit does not count as a Juggle. Sure, you are hitting them out of the air, but remember you need a Juggle Set-Up before the enemy actually starts getting Juggled. Thus, the first hit of the Goushoryuken knocks the enemy INTO a Jugglable State acting AS the Juggle Set-Up because it's a Knock-Down. From there, the enemy gets Juggled two more hits, equal to the Goushoryuken's Juggle Potential. - - - - - - - - -----------------<> <> <> <> <>===============================================<> juggle <> <> <<< THE CAPCOM JUGGLE SYSTEM: PART 5 >>> <> system <> 05) <>===============================================<> <> <> <>

Part 5: The Juggle Potential Revisited

The above examples given in the last chapter were ALL very simple and clear cut. Why? Because the moves I listed in the combos above all had a "consistent" Juggle Potential throughout the move. Akuma's Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku (hurricane kick), for example, has a Juggle Potential of 2. The WHOLE MOVE has the Juggle potential of 2. Very simple, very easy. There's nothing to elaborate. The Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku has a Juggle Potential of 2 and that's all there is to say about that.

 Life is never that simple.
 In Capcom Vs. SNK 1, life WAS considerably simpler.  Many Supers  just had one, giant, consistent Juggle Potential.  Ken's Level 1  Shoryureppa had a Juggle Potential of 3.  Guile's Level 3 Somersault  Strike had the Juggle Potential of 10.  These Juggle Potentials  applied to every hit of these Supers.

Well, this isn't the case anymore. If fact, there are two VERY limiting factor with Juggle Potential these days. They both existed before in CvS1, but they were far and few between. Now, it feels like the majority of the Juggle Potentials follow these rules.

 So what are the two limiting factors you ask?  There's the  Gradual Juggle Potential and the Phase Juggle Potential.  I'll go over  these one by one.    * * *    ----------------------------  | GRADUAL JUGGLE POTENTIAL |  ----------------------------

The Gradual Juggle Potential is an easy concept to understand. Basically, with every possible hit of a move, the Juggle Potential increases by one. Thus, rather than having a whole entire move be of one Juggle Potential, every hit has their own Juggle Potential, and this Juggle Potential increases by one with every hit. Let's take a look at all three levels of Akuma's Messatsu Goushoryu. The Level 1 version makes Akuma do two Goushoryukens in a row, both of two hits for a total of 4 hits. The Level 2 makes Akuma also do two Goushoryukens, but each one hits three times for a total of 6 hits. The Level 3 makes Akuma do three Goushoryukens, the first two being 2 hits and the last being 3 hits for a grand total of 7 hits. The way Gradual Juggle Potential works is that each hit of the Super has one more Juggle Potential than the last. So for the Level 1 Messatsu Goushoryu, the first hit has a Juggle Potential of 1, the second hit has a Juggle Potential of 2, the third hit has a Juggle Potential of 3, and the fourth hit has a Juggle Potential of 4. This is what is known as gradual Juggle Potential. This is the same for EVERY Level of the Super. Let's look at a chart below, which will list the Juggle Potential for every hit of each Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

--<< THE JUGGLE POTENTIALS OF AKUMA'S MESSATSU GOUSHORYU >>--      Level 1  ^^^^^^^  1st GOUSHORYUKEN     2nd GOUSHORYUKEN   _______|_______     _______|_______  |
|   |
|   Hit 1     Hit 2     Hit 3     Hit 4   =====     =====     =====     =====     1
 2
 3
 4     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    Level 2  ^^^^^^^

1st GOUSHORYUKEN

     2nd  GOUSHORYUKEN   ____________|____________     ____________|____________  |


   |   |


   |   Hit 1     Hit 2     Hit 3     Hit 4     Hit 5     Hit 6   =====     =====     =====     =====     =====     =====     1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      Level 3  ^^^^^^^  1st GOUSHORYUKEN     2nd GOUSHORYUKEN
3rd  GOUSHORYUKEN   _______|_______     _______|_______     ____________|____________  |
|   |
|   |


   |   Hit 1     Hit 2     Hit 3     Hit 4     Hit 5     Hit 6     Hit 7   =====     =====     =====     =====     =====     =====     =====     1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 So what does this mean?  We've already established that Akuma's  Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku has a Juggle Potential of 2.  So let's say we do  Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into Short (LK) Hurricane Kick so that the tip  of the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) barely connects.  That will cause the  Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku to hit the enemy only once for 1 Juggle, so the  Juggle Count is now at 1.  If we do ANY Level of the Messatsu  Goushoryu, we see that all three Levels have a hit in the first  Goushoryuken that has a Juggle Potential of AT LEAST 2.  In other  words, if done quick enough, all three Levels of the Super will be  able to Juggle the opponent after one Short (LK) Tatsumaki  Zankuukyaku.

However, if you do the Super too late, the enemy may pass through Akuma and hit the ground BEFORE Akuma "reaches" the second hit of the Super! Remember, ONLY THE SECOND HIT of the Super has a Juggle Potential of 2. Since the enemy has been Juggled once already, the first hit will whiff so the only way the enemy can be Juggled is to get hit by the SECOND hit of the Super. Now let's think of this scenario: Akuma does the same set up as mentioned above but does the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) up close to the enemy. Now when he Buffers into the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku, the Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku will hit TWICE, once on it's way up with his knee and once more when he swings his leg around. That means the Juggle Count is now at TWO. So what happens when he does the three Levels of the Messatsu Goushoryu now? Only Level 2 will connect. Why? Because only Level 2's first Goushoryuken has a Juggle Potential hit of 3. The other Levels won't have a hit that has a Juggle Potential of 3 until the SECOND Goushoryuken of the Super! So by the time Akuma has gotten to the second Goushoryuken of those Levels of the Super, the enemy will have hit the ground LONG ago. So there's no way a Level 1 or 2 will Juggle after the above scenario where the Juggle Count is already at 2. But if you do a Level 2 super, as long as Akuma gets to the last hit of the first Goushoryuken of the Super before the enemy falls to the ground, it will Juggle! And since that hit with the Juggle Potential of 3 occurs in the FIRST Goushoryuken, it is very easy to get this Super to Juggle, even thought the Juggle Count is already 2. It's the only Level of the Super that reaches a Juggle Potential hit of 3 early enough to catch the enemy before he/she hits the ground.

 So you can see how Gradual Juggle Potential can affect your  ability to connect Combos.  Who'd've ever thought that a Level 2 would  be better for Combos than a Level 3 in terms of Juggling?  Most people  would assume that higher Levels have better Juggle Potentials (they  usually do).  However, understanding how Gradual Juggle Potential  works will show you why the Level 2 is in fact the only Level that can  catch the enemy.
 Gradual Juggle Potential applies to Special Moves as well, not  just Supers.  We already described King's Surprise Rose earlier.  If  you notice, that move follows the Gradual Juggle Potential to a tee,  except that the first hit has a Juggle Potential of 0 and the SECOND  hit starts with the Juggle Potential of 1.  But in any case, each hit  gains one more Juggle Potential than the last.    * * *    --------------------------  | PHASE JUGGLE POTENTIAL |  --------------------------

Okay, now this is starting to get weird. "Phase" Juggle Potential. Where am I coming up with these names and why are there so many? Why is this so confusing??? Well, hopefully, it's not confusing, hopefully I've managed to not lose you so far. This is the last of the Capcom Juggle System rules, so bare with me... ^_^

   A Phase Juggle Potential is basically the same thing as the  Gradual Juggle Potential accept for one major difference: you never  get a chance to "reach" a certain hit.  The second "hit" of the move  never is reached.  The second hit of a move only occurs if the first  hit connects.

What does this mean? Well, let's look at Ken's Fierce (HP) Shoryuken. That move is three hits total. One where his arms is under his chest, one where his arm is at head level, and the last is when his arm is stretched up into the air. This third hit lasts all the way until Ken reaches the top of his Shoryuken climb. When you hit someone out of the air with a deep Fierce (HP) Shoryuken , it Juggles for two hits for a total of three hits. So let's do some theorizing here. We'll just guess that we have a Gradual Juggle Potential on our hands. The first hit of the Shoryuken has a Juggle Potential of 0, the second hit has a Juggle Potential of 1, and the third hit has a Juggle Potential of 2. Thus, getting the two Juggles of an anti-air Fierce (HP) Shoryuken would make sense. But if the second hit has a Juggle Potential of 1, this Combo should work: Crouch Roundhouse (HK) Buffered into Fierce (HP) Shoryuken. The Roundhouse knocks the enemy into the air and the second hit of the Fierce (HP) Shoryuken easily passes through the falling enemy. But the enemy doesn't get hit at all! Ken just whiffs entirely! Why didn't this Combo work if the second hit has a Juggle Potential of 1? The Juggle Count is still at 0! This is where the Phase Juggle Potential comes into play. Essentially, when you perform the Fierce (HP) Shoryuken , the move remains in "phases". Upon activation, it remains in it's first "hit" phase, which has the Juggle Potential of 0. It will ONLY move into the second hit phase if the move, ANY HIT, connects during the first phase. And after the move reaches the second phase, it will only move into the third phase if the move connects while in the second phase. The second hit phase has a Juggle Potential of 1 and the third phase has a Juggle Potential of 2.

 Okay, this makes NO sense whatsoever, does it?  To understand  this properly, we must separate hits from phases.  Ken's Fierce (HP)  Shoryuken has three hits and three phases, but these two concepts  don't coincide.  Ken goes from the first hit to the second hit to the  third hit during his general animation.  But Ken will ONLY move from  one phase to the next if any of those hits CONNECT.  So while hits are  reached automatically, phases can only be reached if a hit connects.
For example, we had Akuma's situation where you can "reach" the  third hit of his Super to Juggle the enemy after two hits of a  Juggling Short (LK) Tatsumaki Zankuukyaku.  With Phase Juggle  Potential, you cannot "reach" that third hit by whiffing the first two  hits.  In order to "reach" the third hit, the move HAS TO CONNECT TWO  TIMES.  And it doesn't MATTER which of these hits connects.  As long  as two of the hits connect, it reaches the third phase.  So each time  a move connects, it jumps to the next phase, and each phase has a  gradual increase in Juggle Potential.
 So if you perform a deep Fierce (HP) Shoryuken against a Jumping  enemy, the move is in it's first phase upon activation.  It then moves  into the second phase (with a Juggle Potential of 1) when that first  hit connects.  The second phase has the Juggle Potential of 1, and Ken  still has yet to reach his second hit.  Thus, since we are in Phase 2  with the Juggle Potential of 1, Ken's second hit is allowed to Juggle.  It connects and shifts the move into the third phase, which has a  Juggle Potential of 2.  Since Ken has a third hit left in his move,  that hit connects.  But by that point, there are no more "phases"  left, so the move stops connecting.

So let's say the enemy is high up in the air and you do a Fierce (HP) Shoryuken. Ken will go through his first hit and second hit, and then reach his third hit when he rises up into the sky. But because neither of the first two hits connected, he's still in his first phase! When Ken sideswipes the airborne enemy with the third hit, it was still in it's first phase. But now that it connected, we've moved onto the second phase, which has a Juggle Potential of 1. But Ken has run out of hits! So there isn't anything left to Juggle with.

 This is why Ken's Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into Fierce Shoryuken  doesn't connect.  The enemy is put into the air and Ken goes up for  the Shoryuken.  But the move's first phase has a Juggle Potential of  0!  So since none of the three hits of Ken's Shoryuken connected, it  never goes into the second phase, which can Juggle.  Thus, the  Shoryuken passes harmlessly through the enemy.  Although Ken passes  through all three hits of the move, he never advances a single phase.   And moves that exhibit Phase Juggle Potential can only Juggle if the  move advances in phases, not hits.
 Let's look another example of this: Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken.  The  Shinkuu Hadouken, if Buffered from a Crouch Roundhouse (HK), will pass  right through the enemy.  Thus, it most likely has no Juggle  Potential.  However, what if the enemy is Jumping, and lands on a  Shinkuu Hadouken?  The entire Shinkuu Hadouken will connect, 5 hits  from a Level 3, 4 hits from a Level 2, and 3 hits from a Level 1.  So  obviously, it CAN Juggle...  What gives?!?  Why doesn't it connect  after a Crouch Roundhouse (HK)?

Same rule as Ken's Fierce (HP) Shoryuken. The Shinkuu Hadouken can't get to it's second phase, which allows it to Juggle because a first hit of the move never occurs. Thus, it'll never leave the first phase. The only way to have that happen is to have the enemy land on the Shinkuu Hadouken. The move will then move to it's second phase with the Juggle Potential of 1, which allows the next hit of the Shinkuu Hadouken to connect. That shifts it into the second phase and so on and so forth. Thus, the entire super can connect and Juggle if the enemy lands on it, but won't Juggle after a typical Juggle Set-up like the Crouch Roundhouse (HK).

 One last example: Ken's Shoryureppa.  Each Level behaves exactly  like Akuma, with the same number of hits and the same number of  Shoryukens that occur.  The Level 1 version does two Shoryukens in a  row, both that do two hits for a total of 4 hits.  The Level 2 also  has two Shoryukens, but each one hits three times for a total of 6  hits.  The Level 3 has three Shoryukens, the first two being 2 hits  and the last being 3 hits for a grand total of 7 hits.

However, each Shoryuken in every level of the Super has it's own phase count!!! Thus, Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into ANY Level of the Shoryureppa will not Juggle. And even if you catch someone out of the air with the Shoryureppa, you may get a Juggle from the Shoryuken that connects, but the instant Ken starts the next Shoryuken , the phase reset back to phase 1 with no Juggle Potential. That means it will not Juggle anymore! So with the Shoryureppa, the best you can get for Juggling is all the Juggles from ONE of the Shoryukens that occur during the super. You'll never get more than one to Juggle.

 Very few moves actually exhibited this behavior in the first  Capcom Vs. SNK.  But in this game, a TON of moves exhibit this  behavior.  Terry's Rising Tackle, Sagat's Fierce (HP) Tiger Uppercut,  Kyo's Forward (MK) and Roundhouse (HK) Spinning Kick (the rising  triple kick attack), Iori's Fire Ball (Iori's uppercut), and so on and  so forth.  Knowing which moves exhibit this behavior will help you  understand why some moves can Juggle (like Akuma's Messatsu Goushoryu)  and some can't (Ken's Shoryureppa).    * * *
 So understanding this Juggle System is very important to learning  what will connect and what will not.  This Juggle System is pretty  complicated, and isn't the most intuitive thing.  If this still isn't  clear, and I haven't done my job explaining it clearly enough, please  drop me an e-mail at [email protected].  I will NOT explain it  further in an e-mail response, I just want to know if it's not  explained clearly enough.  I will attempt to make it easier to  understand in a further revision of this FAQ if it is necessary.   Again, I will NOT, repeat, NOT explain it to you more clearly in a  reply e-mail if you send me an e-mail.  I simply don't have the time.   But I would still like to know if it is not described understandably.   Thanks to anyone in advance who gives me feedback on the explanation I  have provided.
    =====================================================================  =====================================================================  =====================================================================
===========================



Chapter 10 ---| THE SNK JUGGLABLE STATE |

00) Intro 01) Description 02) Normal Set-Up 03) High Jump Cancel Set-Up 04) Move Cancellation Set-Up 05) The Kyo / Yun Exception

INTRO

The second half of the Juggle System involves the SNK Jugglable State. In the FAQ I wrote for the first Capcom Vs. SNK, I called this the "KOF Juggle System". I've since renamed it to the "SNK Jugglable State." The reason why I call this the "SNK Jugglable State" is because these types of Juggles didn't exist in any previous Street Fighter games before the Capcom Vs. SNK series. They've only existed in SNK games like King of the Fighters. Thus, I felt it appropriate that, since I named the other Juggle System the "Capcom Juggle System", I be fair and name this type of Juggle after SNK. Thus, we have the SNK Jugglable State. The reason why I call it a "state" rather than a "system" is because there really isn't much of a system behind it. Actually, "state" is a very good word because this type of Juggle only can occur when a character is put into a certain state. And there are only a certain number of ways a character can be put into this state. Fortunately, SNK Jugglable State is MUCH easier to grasp than the Capcom Juggle System. There are no "set-ups" or "counts" or "potentials" to describe. The best way to explain this type of Juggle is to explain what happens when you are put into the SNK Jugglable State, and then the set-ups will be explained afterwards. There are SO MANY set-ups for the SNK Jugglable State in Capcom Vs. SNK 2. In the first Capcom Vs. SNK, I think there were a whole whopping 3 moves that put the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State. You literally could count them on one hand. But not this time. Nope, this time SNK Jugglable State exists in so many places, most of which you probably don't even notice IS the SNK Jugglable State.

 But as I said, the SNK Jugglable State is MUCH easier to  understand than the Capcom Juggle System.  So even though there are  still multiple parts to this Juggle system, it will be easier to  understand BY FAR.  So read on and hopefully, you'll agree with me.      01)   <>  <>  <>  <>----------------- - -  -  -   -
Part 1: Description

So what is the SNK Jugglable State? It's quite simple. It's a condition where a character is in the air during an Air Reel that will result in them falling on their backs onto the ground (like after getting hit by a Knock-Down). It's just like any other Air Reel except that the enemy can be Juggled by ANY ATTACK. You can hit the enemy with a Jab (LP), a Fierce (HP) Uppercut-like move with any character, a Super Combo, a Roundhouse (HK), a Jump Kick, a Projectile... Whatever can reach the enemy will Juggle him/her. For about 99% of the situations where a character is put into the SNK Jugglable State, the instant the character is put into this state, the Juggle Count is also reset to 0. Thus, no matter what the Juggle Count is at the time, the instant the character is put into SNK Jugglable State by any of the following set-ups listed, the Juggle Count resets to 0 so that certain Juggles will ALWAYS work after the set-up. Not only that, but the hit that connects against an enemy in SNK Jugglable State counts as a Juggle SET-UP, not as an actual Juggle. Thus, if you strike an enemy out of the air when they are in SNK Jugglable State when the Juggle Count is 0 (which it will be, 99% of the time, since SNK Jugglable State resets the Juggle Count), it will still be 0 after that hit. Any Juggle that occurs AFTER that hit will start the Count at 1.

 One thing to mention here, though: the instant you get hit, the  enemy LEAVES the SNK Jugglable State.  In other words, if you strike  an enemy with a move that normally causes the SNK Jugglable State and  TRADE with the enemy, the enemy will NOT be SNK Jugglable State  anymore.  Even if you hit the enemy with an SNK Jugglable State  set-up, and then get nailed afterwards (like with a lingering Steel  Rain from Rolento), the enemy will fall out of the SNK Jugglable  State.
 There are a lot of little specifics here and there, however,  because there are so many specific set-ups for the SNK Jugglable  State.  There is, for example, one VERY specific exception where the  SNK Jugglable State exists in a non-Knock-Down situation.  All the SNK  Jugglable State Set-ups will be described in the next few sections. 


Part 2: Normal Set-up

Normal SNK Jugglable State Set-ups are just moves that, when they strike the enemy, knock the enemy into the air in an SNK Jugglable State. Basically, after these moves connect, you are free to Juggle the enemy with whatever you so desire.

 Below is a list of all the SNK Jugglable State Normal Set-ups  that exist in the game:    Athena     - Super Psychic Throw  Blood Iori - 2nd hit of the Deadly Flower  Hibiki     - Melding Being Blade (the counter)
     - Going My Way (ROOT-3)  Iori

- Hit enemy out of the air with a One-For-The-Road Blast

(known as the "8 Wine Cups" Super on most public Forums)  Kim
- Level 2 or Level 3 Phoenix Kick Tornado  Kyo
- The Forward (MK) or Roundhouse (HK) New Wave Smash  Terry      - Buster Wolf  Yamazaki   - Taunt & Counter  Yun
- Hit enemy out of the air with a Jab (LP) Tetsuzankou
     - The Strong (MP) or Fierce (HP) Tetsuzankou
     - You Hou


Part 3: High Jump Cancel Set-up

This is a special case of the SNK Jugglable State. A very few select number of moves (6 in total count) have the ability to be canceled by High Jumps. When you strike the enemy with these moves and then perform the High Jump cancel, the enemy will be in the SNK Jugglable State and can be Juggled by anything. However, because you are performing a High Jump, your choices are severely limited. For the majority of the time, you can only follow up with the best air Chain Combo your character has. And in one case, the character doesn't even have an air Chain Combo.

 If you DON'T CANCEL these moves with the High Jump, the enemy  cannot be Juggled by anything outside of what follows normal Capcom  Juggle behavior.  You can see this illustrated with Yun.  If you can  catch the enemy out of the air high enough with his High Jump  Cancelable move, Standing Forward (MK), you will recover before the  enemy hits the ground.  But you'll notice that nothing you do after  the kick connects and recovers will Juggle the enemy, even though you  are clearly making contact with the enemy.  However, your moves just  whiff.

Now try this: if you hit the enemy out of the air high enough with the Standing Forward (MK), you can High Jump Cancel the move and quickly do a whiffing Dive Kick (Offensive Crouch + any Kick button) and land before the enemy does. After you land from the Dive Kick, NOW you are allowed to Juggle the enemy with any move! Thus, you can see how the High Jump is integral to getting the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State.

 Below is a list of all the moves that can be High Jump canceled  and, as a result, puts the enemy into an SNK Jugglable State:    Chun Li    - Standing Close-up Roundhouse (HK)
     - Hoyokusen  Kyosuke    - Offensive Crouch + Roundhouse (HK)
     - Super Lightning Upper  Ryo
- Kyokugen Kick Dance  Yun
- Standing Forward (MK)
 A special note will be written about Chun-Li's Standing Close-up  Roundhouse (HK).  Unlike Yun's Standing Forward (MK) or Kyosuke's  Offensive Crouch Roundhouse (HK), Chun Li's Close-up Roundhouse (HK)  isn't a Knock-Down.  So if you hit someone while they are standing and  High Jump cancel this move, nothing will happen, really.  The enemy  stays on the floor and you... well, you just end up Jumping over the  enemy, most likely.

However, if you hit an airborne enemy with Chun Li's Close-up Roundhouse (HK)... You STILL don't knock them down. In fact, they follow a normal Air Reel arc. But wait... remember the Juggle Set-ups for the Capcom Juggle System? Well, these set-ups STILL apply to SNK Jugglable States, apparently. High Jump canceling Chun Li's Roundhouse (HK) will put the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State, but only as long as they last in the Air Reel. The instant they do that little somersault to land on their feet, they are free from the SNK Jugglable State. But if you High Jump Cancel the Roundhouse (HK) fast enough, and go into the air before they do that somersault, you can nail them with any Jumping attack you want, including her two-hit Fierce (HP) into Fierce (HP) Jumping Chain Combo.

 In both of Kyosuke's High Jump Cancel set-ups, you do NOT need to  do the full High Jump command.  You only need to press any of the "Up"  directions, and he'll go up into the air with a Super Jump  automatically.  Everyone else needs a full Down then Up motion for the  High Jump.
 Oh, and just so you know, Ryo's Kyokugen Kick Dance is the  four-hit PUNCH attack (Half-Circle back + Punch).  I have NO clue why  they call it a "Kick Dance."

Part 4: Move Cancellation Set-up

In some cases, the enemy is put into the SNK Jugglable State merely to accommodate a Combo. For example, Vice can perform her Mayhem (the charging Shoulder Attack) into the Da Cide Slayer and have the Da Cide Slayer Juggle the enemy out of the air. This is just like the High Jump Cancel Set-ups, but instead of using High Jumps, you're canceling the move with another move. Move Cancellation Set-ups allows the enemy, now in the SNK Jugglable State, to be Juggled by anything and the Juggle Count is reset to 0. This is the best way for Capcom to make moves possess Juggling follow-ups, but not allow for "easy Juggling." Kyosuke is a good example. Doing his Lightning Upper launches the enemy slightly up and Kyosuke can chain that Lightning Upper into his Shadow Cut Kick, which will Juggle the enemy out of the air. But the Lightning Upper doesn't have a very long delay after it hits, and Kyosuke easily recovers before the enemy hits the ground. Now, if Capcom wanted to let the Shadow Cut Kick Combo afterwards just by making the Lightning Upper put the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State, that would mean he can Juggle with ANYTHING he wants, even if he didn't cancel the Lightning Upper. He would recover and be allowed to Juggle with anything, including his Final Grade Remix (the triple-team Super). That would probably be WAY too potent for Combos, and that's something Capcom wouldn't want. Thus, to prevent the Juggle set-up from being too powerful, and to basically "force" you into using that one sequence of Lightning Upper into Shadow Cut Kick, the enemy can only be in SNK Jugglable State if you cancel the Lightning Upper with the Shadow Cut Kick.

 As for knowing that the Juggle Count returns to 0?  This can be  proven with a Combo that Kyosuke can perform (although this  explanation really isn't that crucial for any reason.  In fact, it's  quite trivial, and only of interest to those who have a penchant for  extreme details on how exactly things work.  Skip this paragraph if  you're really not interested).  With Kyosuke, catch the enemy in the  corner with his Level 1 Super Shadow Cut Kick, which results in the  enemy being Juggled a lot out of the air at the end.  You can cancel  the end of that Super into an air Shadow Cut Kick, which will Juggle  because of the Move Cancellation Set-up.  However, Kyosuke lands  before the enemy.  At this point, you are allowed to Juggle the enemy  with a Level 2 Super Shadow Cut Kick, which only has a Juggle  Potential of 1 on it's second hit.  The only way the Level 2 Super  could Juggle after the Level 1 Super Juggled the enemy in the air is  if the canceling of the Level 1 Super into the normal Shadow Cut Kick  resulted in the Juggle Count resetting.  It's a long winded example,  and quite confusing.  It's not easy to understand this explanation and  even if you don't, don't worry about it.  It's really not that  important.
 Below is a list of moves that can be canceled into something  specific, sending the enemy into SNK Jugglable State:    Kyosuke    - Lightning Upper canceled into a Shadow Cut Kick
     - Any Jump attack canceled into a Special Move or
another Normal Move when doing an Air Combo
     - Super Shadow Cut Kick canceled into a Shadow
Wave or Shadow Cut Kick in the air  Rock

- Evac Toss canceled into the Raksasa Vice - Gore Fest canceled into a Tranquility

     - Mayhem canceled into a Da Cide Slayer  Yun
- Standing Strong (MP) Chained into Standing
Fierce (HP) Chained into Back + Fierce (HP)  Yuri

- Fierce (HP) Yuri Super Upper canceled into a

Yuri Double Uppers
 With Yun, since the only thing you can cancel the Back + Fierce  (HP) at the end of his patented Chain Combo is a Super, Supers are the  only thing you'll be able to Juggle with (even though the only useful  thing to cancel it into is a very late You Hou).  This, in fact, COULD  be just a normal SNK Jugglable State set-up, but there's no real way  to find out.  But since it does involve the cancellation of a move, I  think it's best to assume it's a Move Cancellation Set-up.
    <>  <>  <>  <>----------------- - -  -  -   -    -     -      -      <>  juggle  <>===============================================<>    <>  system  <>      <<< SNK JUGGLABLE STATE: PART 5 >>>      <>  <>  <>  <>  <>===============================================<>   05)
Part 5: The Kyo / Yun Exception

The Kyo / Yun Exception is pretty easily explained, but very complicated in the end. It involves both the SNK Jugglable State concepts as well as the Capcom Juggle System concepts. Basically, up to this point, I've said that everything that puts the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State resets the Juggle Count to 0, correct? Well, there are two moves that are exceptions to that: Kyo's New Wave Smash (the Double Kick) and Yun's Tetsuzankou (the Shoulder Ram). These moves will put the enemy into the SNK Jugglable State after the second hit of the move connects, but it will NOT reset the Juggle Count. And in Kyo's case, the first kick of the New Wave Smash knocks the enemy into the air, so the second kick, the hit that actually causes the SNK Jugglable State, puts the Juggle Count at 1! As stated earlier, in all the other cases of SNK Jugglable State set-ups, the hit that hits the enemy out of the air for the Juggle doesn't add to the Juggle Count. This isn't the case for Yun's Tetsuzankou and Kyo's New Wave Smash. The hit that hits the enemy out of the air actually ADDS to the Juggle Count. Thus, certain Combos that seem like they should work won't. For example: if Yun does a Strong (MP) Tetsuzankou and then Jumps up and follows up with a Jab (LP) Chained into Towards + Fierce (HP), it should connect, right? The Towards + Fierce (HP) has a Juggle Potential of 1. It doesn't, though, because the Jab (LP) counts as the first Juggle! It puts the Juggle Count to 1 so that the Towards + Fierce (HP) completely whiffs, since it's Juggle Potential is only 1. Another example: With Kyo, Towards + Fierce (HP) Buffered into a Level 2 Serpent Wave is a Combo in the corner. The Towards + Fierce (HP) is the Juggle Set-up, and the Level 2 Serpent Wave has a Juggle Potential of 2, so it connects twice for a total of three hits in the Combo. If Kyo's New Wave Smash behaved like a normal SNK Jugglable Set-up, you should be able to follow-up the New Wave Smash with that exact same Combo: Towards + Fierce (HP) Buffered into the Level 2 Serpent Wave. However, the Juggle Count isn't reset with this SNK Jugglable State set-up. No, the Juggle Count is at 1 already, as mentioned before! The enemy can STILL be Juggled by anything (the Towards + Fierce (HP)), but that move puts the Juggle Count up to 2! Thus, the Level 2 Serpent Wave, with the Juggle Potential of 2, now has too low of a Juggle Potential to connect.

 Another exception given to these two moves: You CAN hit the enemy  high enough out of the air with the Forward (MK) New Wave Smash or the  Jab (LP) Tetsuzankou that you recover while the enemy is really high  up in the air.  This means you have time to fire off another Short  (LK) New Wave Smash or Jab (LP) Tetsuzankou.  However, if you notice,  the moves just COMPELTELY WHIFF.

This was Capcom's attempt to make sure that Kyo and Yun have no Infinite Combos... at least, that's what I believe is true. They designed it so that the New Wave Smash cannot Juggle after a New Wave Smash and the Tetsuzankou cannot Juggle after a Tetsuzankou. This is despite the fact that the enemy is in the SNK Jugglable State, which means ANYTHING should be able to Juggle them. Capcom just wouldn't let it happen and so the moves whiff. Although the opportunities are far and few between to do this, and even if they DIDN'T put in this weird exception, there would be no Infinite Combos (just wouldn't work because of timing), I guess they figured it'd be better to be safe than sorry.

 No more needs to be said about Yun, but Kyo's weirdness continues  on.  If the Juggle Count REALLY does not reset to 0, what happens with  moves like his Fierce (HP) Fire Ball (Kyo's Uppercut)?  The move has a  Phase Juggle Potential, but the second phase of the move has a Juggle  Potential of 1.  So what happens after New Wave Smash?  You do a  Fierce DP and... both hits connect??  That doesn't make any sense.   The second phase of the Fierce DP only has a Juggle Potential of 1, so  the first hit should connect, bringing the Juggle Count to 2 after New  Wave Smash.  Thus, the second hit should whiff!!  But it doesn't!  So  what gives?!?

The theory is this: The instant you perform any Special Move that has a Phase Juggle Potential, the Juggle Count resets to 0. I know, I know, don't ask me why they decided to do this and make it SO incredibly confusing. But my logic is that they didn't want a move like his Spinning Kick (the upwards rising multi-kicks) with Roundhouse (HK) to hit the first hit and whiff the rest. I guess they thought that would look kind of "stupid" or something? So they decided that all of his multi-hitting air Juggle moves would reset the Juggle Count as soon as they connected. I mean, what's the harm? All of those Special Moves (Fierce (HP) Fire Ball (Kyo's Uppercut), Roundhouse (HK) Spinning Kick, and Forward (MK) Spinning Kick) basically make it so that Kyo can't take advantage of the reset Juggle Count, because the delays of those moves are too long. Or... are they?? The REASON you can tell that the Juggle Count was reset to 0 is because they made an oversight: you CAN Combo after one of those moves. This Combo is what I call the "Tom Nonaka Combo", since he was the one who told me about it. ^_^ But basically, if you judge the height of it well enough, the Forward (MK) Spinning Kick move will hit the enemy out of the air for both hits and Kyo lands BEFORE the enemy does! Thus, you can do a Level 3 Serpent Wave right when you recover from the Spinning Kick. Now, the beginning of the Level 3 Serpent Wave, during the portion where Kyo engulfs himself in flames, has a Juggle Potential of 2. Now, if the Juggle Count were NOT reset by the Spinning Kick, there is NO WAY the Super will connect (Juggle Count is at 1 after New Wave Smash, the Spinning Kick adds two more hits for a Juggle Count of 3, and that is way too high for the Super to connect with a Juggle Potential of 2). However, the Super DOES connect, for ONE HIT while Kyo continues to hold down the button to remain engulfed in flames. Thus, the Spinning Kick HAD TO HAVE reset the Juggle Count to 0, and the second hit of that move brought the Juggle Count back up to 1. Thus, the Level 3 Super can Juggle the enemy for one hit (since it's Juggle Potential is 2), and then the rest of the Super Combos just fine (because the actual portion of the Super where Kyo splashes the flame over the enemy has a Juggle Potential of 3, 4, and 5). Now, this isn't just any Special Move. Only moves that exhibit the Phase Juggle Potentials. If you do Spinning Kick into just a Jab (LP) Fire Ball (Kyo's Uppercut), you also land in time to nail the enemy out of the air with a Level 3 Serpent Wave. Unfortunately, the Juggle Count doesn't reset, because the Jab (LP) Fire Ball (Kyo's Uppercut) is not a Phase Juggle Potential move. Thus, the Juggle Count is increased by the Jab (LP) Fire Ball (Kyo's Uppercut) to 2, and the Level 3 Super no longer has a high enough Juggle Potential to connect while Kyo is on fire. * * *

 So understand the SNK Jugglable States.  And understand the  Capcom Juggle System.  Understand them both, and understand them WELL.  They are the heart and soul of the Juggle system in CvS2.  And  everything that let's you Juggle are based off of these two  principles...  So know them WELL.  ^_^ 

Chapter 11 LEVEL 2 SUPER CANCELING

This is C-Groove's unique ability to cancel a Level 2 Super into any Special Move or Super Combo. Explaining the Level 2 Super Canceling could have been far more complicated had I not already described the SNK Jugglable State in great detail. You find out that Level 2 Super Canceling is simply just another SNK Juggle State Set-up. Basically, the way Level 2 Super Canceling works is that as soon as you cancel a Level 2 Super, the enemy will INSTANTLY be put into the SNK Jugglable State (if the enemy is in the air getting hit by your Super, of course). That means anything that couldn't Juggle before now can! This is why Bison can perform the Level 2 Knee Press Nightmare and cancel the last sliding hit into the Psycho Crusher. The Psycho Crusher has no Juggling Potential, normally, but the instant you cancel the Level 2 Super, the enemy is put into the SNK Jugglable State, so anything can Juggle!

 Let's take a look at our first example: Cammy.  Cammy can perform  a Level 2 Spin Drive Smasher on the enemy.  She'll do her Cannon Drill  and then her Cannon Spike that hits three times.  On the third hit of  the Cannon Spike, you can cancel that into a Cannon Strike.  The  Cannon Strike will miss, but it will cause Cammy to land before the  enemy does.  And because Cammy canceled the Level 2 Super, the enemy  was put into SNK Jugglable State.  That means, when Cammy lands, she  can Juggle the enemy with just about anything she wants from a  Standing Fierce (HP) to a Cannon Spike to a Level 1 Reverse Shaft  Breaker.
 Not only that, but like most SNK Juggle State set-ups, Level 2  Super Canceling resets the Juggle Count to 0.  Let's take a look a  Benimaru against an enemy in the corner.  Normally, Benimaru's Heaven  Blast Flash (the Taikuu Raikouken spark Super) at Level 2 has a Juggle  Potential of 7 and his Level 1 has a Juggle Potential of 5.  Thus, you  can do the following Combo in the corner: Crouch Roundhouse (HK)  Buffered into the Level 2 Heaven Blast Flash, canceled into the Heaven  Blast Flash, followed by a Level 1 Heaven Blast Flash.

The way that Combo works is this: the Crouch Roundhouse can only be Buffered by Supers. The Level 2 Heaven Blast Flash has a Juggle Potential of 7, right? So after the Crouch Roundhouse (HK), the Super Juggles the enemy for all 7 hits. But the Juggle Count is now at 7. However, the instant you do the Heaven Blast Flash, the Juggle Count resets to 0! And the first hit does not count as a Juggle, so the Heaven Blast Flash hits the enemy, and the Juggle Count is still at 0. So when you follow up with a Level 1 Heaven Blast Flash, it will connect for ALL 5 HITS of it's Juggle Potential. The Juggle Count is still at 0, so 5 - 0 = 5 hits of the Super.

 Thus, once you understand Level 2 Super Canceling, you can start  creating high damaging Combos like the Benimaru one above.  One of the  Combos that you will see the most used is Ken's.  Combo anything you  want into the Level 2 Shoryureppa Super, and cancel the VERY LAST HIT  OF IT into his Jab (LP) Zenpou Tenshin (his Roll).  Ken is still  technically on the ground when that last hit connects, so this is  possible.  And the enemy has knocked into the air by the last hit of  the Super, so when Ken does his Jab (LP) Zenpou Tenshin, the enemy is  instantly put into SNK Jugglable State.  If you aren't in the corner,  you then Juggle the falling enemy with a deep Fierce (HP) Shoryuken.   If you are in the corner, you can do a Jab (LP) Shoryuken instead, and  follow that up with a Level 1 Shinryuken.  This Combo does a TON of  damage and is VERY practical in the middle of combat.
 Okay, a few technical things on Level 2 Super Canceling.  This  was mentioned in the C-Groove section, but I'll restate it here,  again: You can only cancel a Level 2 Super if it CONNECTS.  If the  Super whiffs, or if it is Blocked, you CANNOT CANCEL IT.

However, this isn't actually how it works. The way it works is that the game system will only let you cancel the Level 2 Supers if the enemy is in the middle of a Reel. As long as the game registers the enemy as Reeling during the course of a Level 2 Super, you have the right to cancel it. Of course, the only way you can see this demonstrated is with Rolento and his Steel Rain, which doesn't give him any Combo that is really all that impressive. So for the most part, you can simply state: you can only cancel a Level 2 Super if it connects. So for example, if Ken whiffs the Level 2 Shoryureppa, he can't cancel the end of it with an air Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku after he leaps into the air. However, if he does a Level 2 Super against Dhalsim from a screen away while Dhalsim tries to punch Ken with a Standing Fierce (HP) and Ken nails Dhalsim with one hit of his Super, Ken will whiff the entire rest of his Super. However, just because it connected with just that ONE HIT, Ken can now cancel the Super at the end when he leaps into the air with an air Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku.

 Some Supers, however, are just VERY picky.  Canceling them isn't  the simplest of things.  Cammy's Spin Drive Smasher is one of these  Supers.  The Cannon Spike portion of the Super seems to never want to  cancel UNLESS the last hit of it connects.  Even if the Super connects  early on during the Cannon Drill portion and the rest of the Super  misses, you can't cancel the Cannon Spike portion like you can cancel  the second Shoryuken of Ken's Shoryureppa Super in the Ken example  above (even when the second Shoryuken misses).  UNLESS the very last  possible hit of that Super connects, you cannot cancel it into the  Cannon Strike.  And to make it even MORE picky, it can only be  canceled a tiny bit AFTER it connects.  You can't cancel that move the  instant it hits like you can with most Supers.  So when you do the  Super, and you get the three hits from the Cannon Spike, wait until  slightly AFTER the Super connects before you try the Cannon Strike,  otherwise it won't cancel.

Other Supers just have very specific periods where they can or cannot be canceled. For example, Iori's Level 2 Maiden Masher ends with Iori placing the enemy on the ground, holding his/her face to the ground, and then blowing them up in purple flames. During that part where Iori is holding the enemy down, you cannot cancel the Super. But right AFTER Iori causes the enemy to explode and spring out of his hand, you can. It's different with every Super. Just experiment and figure it out. It's usually not too much of an issue, because in general there's only one place in every Super you'll want to cancel it, and you'll already know what to cancel it into, so there's not a lot to dwell on. But it's just good to know that some Supers are as free form as others. Most Supers are free form, though, and will behave exactly like I said: let the move connect, and then at ANY point during the Super from that point on, you can Cancel it into a Special Move or another Level 1 Super Combo.

 The only true exceptions to the ability to be canceled are pure  Throw Supers.  Benimaru, Maki, Raiden, Vice, Vega, and Zangief cannot  cancel their Level 2 Throw Supers into anything at all.  Only Yamazaki  can do it, but his Throw Super is comprised of hits, so I guess they  let you cancel that Super.  But outside of Yamazaki, you cannot cancel  any Level 2 Throw Supers.
 Also, please note that if you cancel a Level 2 into a Level 1  Super, the Level 1 Super DOES NOT GAIN any special properties.  It  will retain all of it's normal Juggle properties.  The reason I  mention this is because the Level 1 Supers that you can do at the end  of a Custom Combo gains the ability to Juggle with EVERY HIT of the  Super.  I am afraid people may get confused and wonder why Canceling  Athena's Level 2 Shining Crystal Bit into the Level 1 Shining Crystal  Bit only allows her to Juggle the enemy once with the orbs spinning  around her, while if you cancel a Custom Combo with it, it can Juggle  up to four times!  Just keep in mind that Level 1 Supers canceled out  of a Level 2 Super behave just like an ordinary Level 1 Super by  itself.


Chapter 12 CUSTOM COMBOS

INTRO

Custom Combos are back for yet another round! And in every game so far, Custom Combos have been dealt with differently. Whether it's Street Fighter Alpha 2's Customs Combos, Street Fighter Alpha 3's Variable Combos, or even Street Fighter EX 2's Excel Combos, they've all never behaved quite the same. But in almost every case, at least for the Alpha Series, it seems like it's the Custom Combos that end up dominating the game. They are too powerful and too versatile, to the point where, frankly, Alpha 2 became Custom Fighter 2 and Alpha 3's V-Ism made X-Ism and A-Ism obsolete. And now, they've brought back Custom Combos for Round 3... and are they over powering?

Yes and no. Some Customs have turned out to deal out waaaaay too much damage (think Bison) while other characters can only deal out about the same amount of damage that any other Groove with a full Meter can. And even though they are still extremely versatile like they were in the past games (quick activation from anywhere: ground or air), they still have their own limitations and ways around them. Capcom seems to have done a good job making a really nice balance for Custom Combos. They are still versatile in this game, but not nearly as powerful. Capcom's Custom Combo damage scaling has a lot to do with it, making Customs damage behave in a very, very specific way, limiting the amount of damage they really can cause. A-Groove thus isn't overly abusive as it was in the other games so far. It's lack of other abilities, such as Run and Low Jump, hinder it quite a bit. Customs, though, still make A-Groove one of the more fun Grooves to play. But they definitely have a "formula" to them, thanks to the damage scaling, so sit back, relax, prop up your feet, and read on to see how Customs work and how they can grant you the most damage possible.

A-GROOVE BASICS

Customs don't gain any otherworldly powers in this game. In Alpha 2, you gained that forward momentum that kept you moving forward. In Alpha 3, you gained the Shadows. In Capcom Vs. SNK 2? Nothing. At least... nothing extraneous. As mentioned in the A-Groove section, the main two abilities you gain from activating a Custom Combo is: 1) The ability to chain moves into each other. 2) Infinite Juggling Potential on all moves. Basically, think of it as Alpha 3's Custom Combos without the shadows. That's about the equivalent. Of course, there is also no Flipping in this game, so you can imagine how much EASIER that makes everything in this game. That does mean that, yes, you can easily make a Custom Combo where you repeatedly Juggle someone in the corner with Standing Fierce (HP) forever until the Custom runs out. So Custom Combos in this game can get downright scrubby-looking. And the limitations in this game are FAR less restrictive... Often, Slides in Alpha 3 could not Chain into themselves. But they can in this game, so Customs like repeatedly sliding with Mai (Crouch Forward (MK)) work, no problem. And what makes things even MORE unfortunate is that, oftentimes, those are the MOST DAMAGING Customs the character possesses. That is probably the biggest problem with Customs in CvS2: they can require a great deal of skill to perform certain Combos, but the ones that use up less skill usually are the more effective ones. Others may do more damage, but not by much, and the level of skill needed to perform the simple ones more than makes up for the slight damage loss.

If you want most basic information about Custom Combos, please read the A-Groove Section in the Grooves Chapter. That will help explain all the technical aspects: when you can activate them, what happens if you get hit out of one, what abilities you retain and which ones you lose, etc. Below will simply describe all of the Custom Combo properties, and how you can use Customs to piece together a worthy Custom Combo.

The ability to Chain moves into other moves will be broken down into categories, and described one by one. Below is a chart indicating the different Chaining abilities you gain:

CVS2 A-Groove Custom Combo Cancelling Chart.png

Special Move to Special Move and Special Move to Normal Move while on the ground behave the same way, thus they will both be discussed at the same time. ==================================._


A-GROOVE | NORMAL TO NORMAL

Chaining a Normal Move into another Normal Move is VERY simple. Unlike in Alpha 3, there are pretty much NO restrictions as to what can Chain into what. Whether the move be a Slide, an Overhead, a Sweep, or a Normal Move that brings you forward, it can Chain into another Normal Move. And Fierces (HP) can Chain into Roundhouse (HK) which can Chain into Jabs (LP) which Chains into Strongs (MP) which Chains into Shorts (LK) which Chains into Roundhouses (HK) which can Chain into Fierces (HP)... whatever is your desire works. The only real restriction is that Chaining Normal Moves into Normal Moves during Custom Combos is possible ONLY if the move makes contact! It doesn't matter whether it is Blocked or if it connects, as long as the move makes contact with the enemy, it is fair game to be Chained. That means you CANNOT Chain a Normal Move into a Normal Move if it whiffs. And you cannot Chain a move before it hits. So if you do, say, Ken's Overhead (Towards + Forward (MK)) in the middle of a Custom to draw your enemy to stand up, and then Chain that Overhead into a Crouch Roundhouse (HK) before the Overhead connects... well, that's not possible. The Overhead has to make contact before you can Chain the move. Also, that means the move can be Chained out of at ANY POINT after it connects. So 2-hit moves like Kyo's Offensive Crouching Roundhouse (HK) can be Chained the instant it connects. So you can Chain it after the first hit or after the second hit. You can even wait until RIGHT before the move ends to Chain it. So you can let it hit twice, wait half a second, and THEN Chain it into another move. The timing is very lenient. The only caveat is that it HAS to connect at some point.

  • All of the above rules apply while Jumping. And while Jumping, the whole delay period after a Jump attack connects in the air counts as the delay of the Jumping attack. So if you Jump and hit Roundhouse (HK) on your way up in the Jump and hit an enemy in the air, you can Chain that Roundhouse (HK) into another move the instant it connects or even wait until right before you land to do your next move. As long as the Kick connected, you can Chain it whenever you so desire. If the move WHIFFS, however, you cannot do another Normal Move until you land.

While Jumping, however, there are a VERY FEW select moves that cannot be Chained from Normal to Normal. Kyo's Down + Fierce (HP) and Morrigan's Down + Roundhouse (HK) are two examples of this. These moves cannot be chained OUT OF. They can be Chained into, but not out of. There may be more moves like these, but these are the only ones I know of. It is NOT just all Directional Moves that have this limitation. Zangief's Down + Fierce can be Chained out of, for example. It's just a few certain moves.

  • Sometimes I experience a weird problem when trying to Chain a Normal Move into another Normal Move late in the Normal Move's animation. I hit the button, but nothing comes out. This happens VERY rarely, but I THINK there may be, like, a half second where, at the end of a Normal Move, you CANNOT Chain from it anymore. It usually occurs when I try to repeatedly Juggle the enemy in the corner with the same move over and over again, like a Standing Fierce (HP). Randomly, one of the Fierces (HP) I press will not Chain properly, and my Combo gets ruined. As I said, this happens VERY rarely, and maybe it's just me. ^_^ But I thought I'd mention it, in case any one else experiences this too and wonders if it is just him or her, or if there IS something weird going on. ==================================._


NORMAL TO SPECIAL

Normal to Special is the easiest to describe. You can cancel a Normal Move into a Special Move during Custom Combos at ANY TIME. I repeat that again, otherwise this section won't be long enough to justify being it's own section: "You can cancel a Normal Move into a Special Move during Custom Combos at ANY TIME." This is if you have it Blocked, if it connects, or even if it WHIFFS. You can cancel it before it hits, after it hits, while it is hitting... Anything you want!! This works while on the ground or while Jumping. The possibilities are everything you can think of. Even moves like Ryu's Hop Kick can be canceled into an air Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku before it connects! Whatever seems like will work... will work. The end. ^_^

SPECIAL TO NORMAL / SPECIAL

Canceling a Special Move with both Normal Moves and Special Moves work the same. If a Special Move connects or is Blocked, you can Chain it into something else, be it a Special or a Normal Move. You can cancel Ryu's Jab (LP) Shoryuken even before it leaves the floor, for example, into a Hop Kick (Towards + Forward (MK)), the Towards + Fierce (HP) sliding Punch, a Short (LK) Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, or even another Jab (LP) Shoryuken, if you are fast enough. You can even wait until Ryu goes into the air and cancel the Shoryuken into an air Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. You can even let the DP land and cancel the delay of your Shoryuken the instant you touch the floor.

The only real restriction is that, just like Normal to Normal, canceling the Special Move is possible ONLY if the move makes contact. It doesn't matter whether it is Blocked or if it connects, as long as the move makes contact with the enemy, it is fair game to be canceled. Otherwise, the Special Move will behave as it normally would, delay and all.

Also, just like Normal to Normal, the Special Move can be canceled out of at ANY POINT after it connects. you do Benimaru's Roundhouse (HK) Shinkuu Katategoma. That move spins and hits many times, if Blocked. You can cancel that move after the first hit connects or the second it connects or the third hit connects, etc. And you can cancel it into anything you want. Another example is with Hibiki. Normally, her Distance Slash has a lot of delay to it. But if it connects, whether Blocked or not, you can cancel it at any point into whatever you like. You can cancel it the instant it connects. You can even wait until the very end of your delay, right before she finishes putting her sword away to cancel it.

  • Projectiles are the same way. You can ONLY cancel the delay of a Projectile if the Projectile you threw actually CONNECTS with the enemy. If it misses or is still on screen, you can't cancel it's delay at all. Only if it makes contact can you do something else.
  • This is the only area where Jumping and being on the ground differ. Special Moves can be canceled into other Special Moves no problem in the air. But you cannot, I repeat, CANNOT cancel a Special Move into a Normal Move in the air. They just won't let you. So Ryu cannot do a Fierce (HP) Shoryuken into the air and then do a Jumping Strong (MP) to cancel the Shoryuken. Ken cannot Jump and do an Air Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku and then cancel that into a Jumping Fierce (HP). Morrigan cannot do an air Soul Fist and then cancel that into Down + Roundhouse (HK). Normal Moves just cannot be done in the air after a Special Move.

The biggest thing about canceling Special Moves, however, is that the timing for canceling Special Moves gets REALLY picky sometimes. For example, canceling a Jab (LP) Shoryuken with Ryu into anything else is really tough. You can't seem to cancel the move the INSTANT it connects. You have to wait until slightly AFTER the move connects before you can cancel it, and if you wait TOO long, Ryu will end up in the air so you can't Chain it into a Hop Kick or some other Normal Move anymore. So the timing of canceling a Jab (LP) Shoryuken before it leaves the floor is REALLY tough. SOME Special Moves just won't let you cancel them until certain specific points. Ryo's Zanretsuken, for example, cannot be canceled out of after it connects until the point where Ryo actually performs the final blow. But while he's pummeling the enemy with those multiple punches, you cannot cancel it at all. Same goes for Iori's Dark Crescent Slice (the "Grab You and Explode You" move... had to keep that goofy description of the move in because it made a friend of mine laugh uncontrollably. ^_^). You can't cancel that move until after the Iori blows the enemy up in that move. But until then, you have to let Iori hit the enemy and put him on the ground. But after the explosion occurs, you can do whatever you want.

  • Throw Special Moves cannot be canceled at all. Zangief, Yamazaki, Raiden, Morrigan, Iori, etc. cannot cancel their Throw Special Moves at all. The only exception (there always has to be an exception) is Todo. Todo can cancel his Center Of Gravity (his Throw Special Move) at any point, probably because he doesn't actually "Throw" the enemy, but keeps them on the floor after he hits them.
  • Most moves behave how I first described them: able to be canceled at ANY point after they connect. There are just those few that cannot be done. There aren't too many of these moves, so it isn't too hard to remember which ones can and which ones can't. ==================================._


THE LEVEL 1 SUPER COMBO

Perhaps the most important aspect about Customs is the ability to perform a Level 1 Super Combo at any point during a Custom. Basically, canceling moves into the Level 1 Super Combo is exactly like canceling a Normal Move into a Special Move or a Special Move into a Special Move. Level 1 Supers act as Special Moves so the same rules apply. The important thing to remember, though, is that Level 1 Supers at the end of Customs are the best way to actually get damage from your Custom Combo. Many times, a Custom involving only Normal Moves and Special Moves will warrant you 4000 or 5000 points of damage. Good Custom Combos will get you about 6000 points of damage from just Normal Moves and Special Moves. But if you tack on a Super that connects for all or most of the hits, you can easily jump those damages from 4000 to 6000, 5000 to 7000, and so on and so forth. But, obviously, you usually want to tack on the Supers as late in your Custom as possible, otherwise it will just end your Custom Combo when you could've done more damage if you waited.


ROLLS IN CUSTOM COMBOS

Rolls can be performed in Custom Combos and behave like Normal Moves. You can only cancel into a Roll from a Normal Move if it connects. The same goes for canceling Special Moves into Rolls. The Roll is your only defense if you've messed up your Custom Combo. You can't Block anymore, so the only way to avoid getting hit by attacks is to Roll through them. Unfortunately, that leaves you pretty vulnerable in its own right. Still, though, it's your only hope of avoiding stuff like Level 3 Supers.

 The other use for Rolls is a method of "transportation".  Some  good Custom Combos use Rolls.  For example, Sagat, when not the  corner, can do a Jab (LP) Tiger Uppercut canceled into a Roll  immediately.  That will move Sagat closer so that he can land yet  another deep Jab (LP) Tiger Uppercut on the enemy in the air.  Without  the Roll, Sagat would have no way of getting in close enough to Combo  anything else worthy of good damage.

Iori can do something similar, except continue Juggling the enemy in the same are of the screen. He can cancel a Jab (LP) Fire Ball (Iori's Uppercut) into a Roll and then repeat Standing Close-up Fierce (HP) into Roll. He'll keep Rolling behind the falling enemy, knock the enemy the other direction, and basically play a one man game of ping pong.

JUGGLES IN CUSTOM COMBOS

Juggling is very specific in Custom Combos. The main two things to note about Juggling in Custom Combo: 1) Once the enemy is struck by a Knock-Down, every hit in a Custom Combo is a Knock-Down. 2) Every move you do has Infinite Juggle Potential for every hit of that move.

  • All Normal Moves that don't have natural Knock-Down ability will only behave as a Knock-Down once the enemy has already been hit by a Knock-Down. So if you hit someone with a Shoryuken, for example, and then Juggle the enemy with a Standing Jab (LP), that Jab (LP) will also be a Knock-Down, and cause the enemy to land on their backs. However, if you just activate a Custom against an enemy Jumping at you and hit the out of the air with that same Jab (LP), it will NOT be a Knock-Down. Normal Moves will only act as Knock-Downs on enemies that ARE ALREADY FALLING ON THEIR BACKS, otherwise, it will act as normal.
  • And once the enemy is falling onto their backs, everything that reaches the enemy WILL Juggle, no matter what. EVERY HIT of EVERY MOVE gains infinite Juggle Potential. It doesn't matter if it's a Phase or a Gradual Juggle Potential Move, or even if the move didn't have ANY Juggle Potential before. If it connects against the enemy while they are in the air, it will Juggle.
  • One of the main important things to note is that this applies to the Level 1 Super you can do as well. This is HUGE, because it allows for you to land many things that aren't normally possible. For example, Terry's Level 1 Buster Wolf normally has NO Juggle Potential at all. However, you can perform a Buster Wolf at the end of the Custom Combo so that the first hit (the hook punch) tags the enemy out of the air. That hit normally has NO Juggle Potential, but it will Juggle in this case. But what makes it even better is that the second hit, where Terry sprays the flames up into the air, will Juggle as well!!! That hit also normally cannot Juggle, but in this case it will. So you can get both hits of the Buster Wolf to connect as a Juggle at the end of a Custom Combo. And THEN, remember, Buster Wolf is an SNK Jugglable State set-up!!! So you can still Juggle the enemy AFTER THAT.

Just keep in mind that this is VERY different from canceling Level 2 Supers into Level 1 Supers from C-Groove. For example, doing a Tiger Genocide at the end of a Custom with Sagat will allow the Tiger Genocide to Juggle for most of it's hits. Canceling a Level 2 TIGER RAID into a Level 1 Tiger Genocide will only warrant you one hit. Athena's Shining Crystal Bit will Juggle only once if you do a Level 1 version of the Super out of the Level 2 Super. But at the end of a Custom Combo, the orbs spinning around Athena can Juggle for up to FOUR TIMES before you need to cancel it into the second half of that Super. That's because, again, EVERY HIT OF EVERY MOVE gains infinite Juggle Potential when performed in a Custom Combo. But only during Custom Combos. I got confused, when the game first came out, and wondered why Athena's orbs would Juggle more than once at the end of a Custom but not during the Level 2 Super Canceling of C-Groove until I realized what was going on. I'm making that distinction clear here, in case anyone else is confused like I was.

Remember how I said that these moves gain infinite Juggle Potential? Well, that means normal Juggling rules DO apply to these moves. What I'm trying to get at here is: the move that knocks the enemy over DOESN'T HAVE TO OCCUR IN A CUSTOM COMBO. You can use the infinite Juggle Potential at ANY TIME, as long as the enemy is in a position to be Juggled! Suddenly, a whole world of Custom Combo set-ups has opened up. Rugal can do a Jump Roundhouse (HK), Crouching Strong (MP) Buffered into a Fierce (HP) God Press normally. However, Rugal recovers VERY quickly after the God Press. Thus, he can actually ACTIVATE A CUSTOM COMBO and Juggle the enemy before they land! The God Press acts as a Juggle Set-up, and the Custom Combo activation gives Rugal infinite Juggle Potential. Thus, anything he does after the Custom activation will Juggle the enemy after the God Press. This opens up a WORLD of Custom Combo set-ups. Ryo can perform his Kyokugen Kick Dance (the four-hit Punch move... that HAS NO KICKS... what was Capcom thinking with some of these names??) and then activate a Custom Combo and Juggle the enemy afterwards. Athena can Psychic Throw you into the corner, Juggle with a Fierce (HP) Psycho Sword, then activate her Custom and continue to Juggle. Sagat can land a Fierce (HP) Tiger Uppercut in the corner, land, activate a Custom, and continue to Combo you.

The potential goes on and on. So learn some good set-ups for your character. You'll learn that these types of set-ups are perhaps the BEST way to land a Custom. They are pretty much guaranteed if you land the first part of your Combo, and you won't waste a Meter activating a Custom Combo only to have the opponent not fall for your bait and simply Block your Combo.

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD CUSTOM

Custom Combos follow a very distinct formula. Basically, you want to do about 7, 8, or 9 hard hits, and then go into a sequence that grants you MANY hits quickly, regardless of what they are. The reason for this is that Damage Scaling during Custom Combos follows a VERY distinctive pattern.

CvS2 Custom Combo Damage Chart.png
 Thus you can see how every hit grants you less and less damage.   And by the end of your Custom Combo, every hit is doing only 100  points of damage (as 100 is the minimum amount of damage that a move  can do during a Custom).  Thus, the logic behind creating a good,  damaging Custom Combo is to take advantage of the near full damage you  can get from the first few hits, and then go for nothing but frequency  of hits towards the end.  Let's take a look at Mai for a good example  of how knowing how Customs work can give you the most damage (for  reference's sake, remember that most characters have about 14400 Hit  Points):
 Mai has two possible Custom Combos: 1) Repeatedly hitting  Roundhouse (HK) while Standing and ending that with a Level 1 Super  Deadly Ninja Bees or 2) Repeatedly hitting Forward (MK) while  Crouching and ending that with a Level 1 Super Deadly Ninja Bees.   Either Custom will work and both are fairly easy, as Mai will  continually move herself forward so that the enemy does not get pushed  too far away.

The first Combo comprised of Standing Roundhouses (HK) will give Mai a Combo damage total of 7224 points. That's a decent amount of damage for a Custom Combo... about 50% damage on most characters. The second Combo, comprised solely of Crouching Forwards (MK), will give Mai a damage total of 6364 points. It's a decent amount of damage for a Custom, but obviously the other is better. Why? Because the first Combo takes advantage of the fact that the first few hits aren't affected by Damage Scaling as much. Thus the first few hits are what do the most damage (and the Super at the end). Can we improve on the Combo more though? Most definitely. Mai's Standing Roundhouse (HK) does 1200 points of damage, close-up or far away. And obviously, that kick is slower than the Crouching Forward (MK) Slide. So let's do some math here. As the 9th hit of the Custom Combo, Mai's Standing Roundhouse will do 8% of it's normal damage, which is 96 points of damage (raised up to 100, because of the minimum damage value). So by the 9th hit of the Combo, Mai's kick are doing 100 points of damage each. We said the Crouching Forward (MK) kicks come out faster, correct? So if we want Mai to do as much damage as possible, it turns out that the best Combo for her to do is to do exactly 8 Standing Roundhouses (HK) in a row and then SWITCH OFF to repeated Crouching Forwards (MK) from the 9th hit and on. Why? Because, once your Combo reaches a point where every hit is doing 100 points of damage, you want FREQUENCY of hits, not strength. Thus, because the Crouching Forwards (MK) hit at a much faster clip than the Standing Roundhouse (HK), you'll get MORE 100 point damage hits in with Crouching Forward (MK) than you would with Standing Roundhouse (HK). Because you'll squeeze in 5 extra hits, your Combo damage now jumps from 7224 points of damage to 7724 points of damage: 500 more points! And you'll know to do this only by knowing how Custom Combo damage works!

 So you can see how a good Custom Combo goes from hard hits to  quick hits at around the 8th or 9th hit of the Combo.  Also knowing  this teaches you that you want to avoid landing Jabs (LP), Shorts  (LK), and multiple hit moves at the beginning of a Custom Combo.  For  example, landing Yuri's The 100 Blows (the multi-slap move) at the  beginning of a Custom Combo is a waste.  It's a bunch of low damage  hits that will eat up the Combometer count, and as a result, pretty  much every hit you do from your Combo will be 100 points of damage,  resulting in a VERY worthless and low damage Custom.  You want at  LEAST your first 5 or 6 hits to be substantial hits.  Otherwise, there  just isn't any point.  So avoid multiple hitting moves.  It may feel  better getting a higher count on the Combometer by repeatedly doing  Fierce (HP) Tiger Uppercuts at the beginning of a Sagat Custom, but  you'll get more damage from doing repeated Jab (LP) Tiger Uppercuts  instead, because each hit has more damage and you'll use up less of  the high damage hits that way, saving them for good, powerful hits.   That is the key to making a damaging Custom Combo.
 Remember, the damage scaling is based on the Combometer, and  nothing else.  Thus, if you perform one of the set-ups mentioned  earlier, like Sagat's Fierce (HP) Tiger Uppercut, land and then  activate the Custom, the Combometer is already at 7 hits.  Thus, the  first hit of your Custom Combo will do 16% it's normal damage already.  So if you do plan on using set-ups, make sure you know whether to go  for quick hits right away (such as in Sagat's case) or to stick with  the hard hits to start up (like in the Rugal example given above,  which starts your Custom off at the 5th hit, which is still 40%  damage).
 For reference, poor Customs do 6000 points of damage or less.   Average Customs should do 6000-7500 damage.  Customs that do over 7500  points of damage are qualified as good Custom Combos.  If your  character has a Custom Combo that can be used in realistic combat  situations that does over 7500 points of damage, that's usually a good  indication that your character's Custom Combo is worth it and your  character qualifies as a good character to use in A-Groove.  If you  have a Custom that does over 10000 points of damage, that qualifies as  an amazingly powerful Custom Combo.  Few characters can do it, but the  ones who can... if you can pull them off consistently, do it!      ==================================._


 A-GROOVE  |  CUSTOM COMBO SET-UPS
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The hardest thing about using Custom Combos is... when do I activate them?? There seem to be so many places to use them, but where is a good place to activate them? If I use it, and the enemy Blocks or isn't doing what I thought they would be doing, my whole ENTIRE Meter goes to waste! What should I do?

 Well, there various Custom Combo Set-ups that exist in the game.   The best users of Customs Combos tend to take advantage of the slight  invincibility that a Custom Combo grants you.  One of the most popular  set-ups, for example, is to Roll right next to the enemy and then  activate your Custom Combo.  If the enemy tried to hit you out of your  Roll too late, you invincibility will allow you to pass through  whatever move they stuck out to hit your Roll, override it with your  own attack, and then proceed to Combo him/her to pieces.

Also, you can use Custom Combos in places where enemies tend to try and counter attack you after Blocking a move. For example, after Benimaru's Towards + Forward (MK), the move where he runs forward and does a punt-like kick, people try to hit him back a LOT. Activate your Custom Combo slightly after their Block Stun ends (to give them time to start attacking), and then blow through their counter attempt with your invincibility to land a Combo of your own. Another popular bait is to Jump well over your opponent, but to still land in a range where they can easily catch you with a Sweep. Right after you land, activate your Custom, avoid their Sweep, and then Custom them in retaliation. Players usually can't resist trying to hit you after you land from Jumping over them, so it's a good place to try and sneak in a Custom. These three examples of Set-ups are more proactive ways to try to set-up Custom Combos. These methods are the riskiest usage of Custom Combos, because if the enemy doesn't bite at your bait, you have a non-hitting Custom Combo on your hands. Do what you can to keep yourself from getting pummeled in your current state of the inability to Block.

 There are much more reactionary and defensive set-ups as well,  used more to take advantage of the enemy's oversights.  The most  popular of these is the Anti-air Custom Combo.  If the enemy Jumps at  you, thinking you have no good Anti-air or hoping to catch you off  guard (so that you don't have time to react with a full Uppercut  motion on the controller in time to Anti-air the enemy), you can  easily take advantage of this by activating a Custom Combo.  It's EASY  to react with just a button press (or two buttons, as the case may be)  and then hit your enemy with an Anti-air move that is a Knock Down.   This allows you not only to turn your low-quality Anti-air into a  pure, invincible Anti-air, but if you have a good Custom to follow-up  that Anti-air, you can potentially do upwards of 60% damage to the  enemy for their misstep.

Another example of the reactionary Custom Combo set-ups is the anti-Projectile Custom. If you have a good Custom Combo that can start off from a decent range, you can actually react to close ranged Projectiles thrown by the enemy, activate your Custom Combo, walk THROUGH the Projectile, and then Combo the enemy while they are still in delay. Terry is a good example of this, as a Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into a Strong (MP) Burn Knuckle will Combo from a decent range and is a good way to start a much longer Custom Combo for Terry. So walking through a Projectile and nailing the delayed enemy with this start-up is simple. Another simple way of landing Customs is the punishment Set-up. When the enemy misses an Uppercut or does something else that leaves them vulnerable, simply activate the Custom and punish away! Or if you Guard Break the enemy or they have been knocked Dizzy, activate them and deal as much damage as possible. You can also Combo Customs from Jump-ins. Land a good Jumping Roundhouse (HK) or Fierce (HP) when you, say, jump over a Projectile and then activate the Custom when you land. Do a move as fast as possible out of the activation, and you can catch the enemy while they are still in their Reel. The last example of a reactionary Custom Combo set-up is a Custom used as an anti-Roll. If you see the enemy Roll at you, you can activate your Custom Combo and REALLY punish the enemy for their Roll. Not only does this allow you to land a good, damaging Combo, this will also make your opponent think twice about Rolling at you when you have a full Meter again.

 The last set-up has been mentioned already: the 100% guaranteed  Combo set-up.  This is basically when you activate your Custom  following a normal Combo that leaves the enemy set-up to be Juggled.   This is the best way to land a Custom, because if you perform your  Combo correctly, you are landing the full Custom 100% of the time.   You've already hit the enemy into the air, so when you activate your  Custom, you are guaranteed to connect it.  There isn't anything the  enemy can do anymore.
 These are the primary ways to land Customs.  The more obvious  set-ups, such as enemy in delay or opponent is stunned, don't come  around every 5 seconds, though.  So you need to learn when to land  your Custom Combos in other situations in order to make full use of  your Meter.      ==================================._


 A-GROOVE  |  TYPES OF CUSTOM COMBOS
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There are various "classes" of Custom Combos that are available for your use. These aren't "official" classes or anything. These are just names given to certain types of Custom Combos by the Street Fighter community. But even so, they are all very important classes of Custom Combos, and you can tell if your character is a good character to be used in A-Groove if your character possesses most of these classes. Below are the different classes of Custom Combos that have been qualified by the Street Fighter community. Following that are descriptions of each one. Combo Customs: 1. Corner Juggle Customs 2. Ground Customs 3. Midscreen Juggle Customs 4. Anti-air Customs 5. Jumping Corner Juggle Customs Blocked Customs: 1. Guard Crush Customs 2. Block Damage Customs Risk / High Damage Customs: 1. Broken Customs 2. Confusion Customs * * * ----------------- | COMBO CUSTOMS | ----------------- These are the type of Customs that are doing what they are intended on doing: Comboing the opponent. There are five distinct types of Combos you can do with Custom Combos, and this is what they are: 1) Corner Juggle Customs These are fairly simple to come up with. Basically, it just involves you putting the enemy into the air with a Knock-Down and then repeatedly Juggling the enemy in the corner. This can be done in a number of ways. Morrigan, for example, can do this with repeated Jab (LP) Shadow Blades. Someone like Zangief can Sweep an opponent, and then do this with repeated Standing Fierces (HP). Whatever it takes, that's what you will do to keep the enemy Juggled in the corner. And with 100% of the characters, Juggling the enemy with a nice hard hit, like Roundhouse (HK) or Fierce (HP) Chained into itself over and over and over again in the corner, and then tacking on a Super at the end will warrant you with a very nice damaging Custom, on average of around 6000 to 7000 points of damage. 2) Ground Customs These are by far the easiest to come up with. Basically, these Customs involve you NOT putting the enemy into the air, but rather, keeping them on the ground. These types of Customs are perhaps the "scrubbiest" of Customs, because most involve you hitting one button ad infinitum until the end, where you tack on a Super. All you have to do is to find the move that makes you move forward when you do the move, and there you have it. Mai's Crouching Forward (MK) has already been established as one, as is her Standing Roundhouse (HK). Chang can use Standing Forward (MK) or Standing Strong (MP) over and over again for a Custom Combo. Kyo can use Offensive Crouching Roundhouse (HK) over and over again (one or two hits of it). Some characters have moves that allow them to do that, but must be done with a rhythm. Chun Li's Standing Towards + Roundhouse (HK) and Benimaru's Standing Fierce (HP) are examples. Both moves have a little recovery period where they continue to drift forward slightly. If you mash on the buttons to the point where you do not allow Chun Li or Benimaru to drift forward slightly in their recovery period, the move you are using WILL push you too far away from the enemy eventually, breaking your Combo. Instead, put a LITTLE space in between each hit, so that your character will make up a little ground from that recovery period. The enemy is reeling long enough so that you can afford the tiny delay (and by tiny, I mean, like, half a second long or a quarter of a second long. That's all you really need). Sometimes, it requires a little more than just one move. The above examples all can be done if you simply mash on one button. The character will do all the work for you afterwards. However, some Ground Customs do take a bit more work. Geese, for example, needs to use his Evil Shadow Smasher (the Jaiaiken three-hit move) in order to create a good Ground Custom Combo. Allow one or two hits from that move to connect, cancel it into a Standing Fierce (HP) and then cancel that Fierce into another Evil Shadow Smasher. Repeat that over and over again. Eagle can do three Standing Roundhouses (HK) canceled into a Forward (MK) Oxford Red, then instantly cancel that move into three more Standing Roundhouses and repeat (until 9 hits, after which you'd be better off letting the Oxford Red hit with it's multiple hit portion). These are all Ground Custom Combos, but require the help of Special Moves.

 Generally speaking, you also want to make sure this Combo works  against Crouching opponents.  Benimaru's Standing Fierce, for example,  goes over the heads of some Crouching characters.  Thus, you either  want to make sure the Combo hits Crouching characters or that you  "stand the enemy up" at the beginning of the Combo.  Almost all  Special Moves, like Benimaru's Iaido Kick (the knee strike referred to  as the "Sword Kick" on most public forums) and most Projectiles will  cause the enemy to reel standing up.  So with Benimaru, against the  shorter characters, make sure you strike them with the Iaido Kick  first to stand them up.  Any subsequent hit in the Combo will keep  them standing up.  So cancel the Iaido Kick into Towards + Forward  (MK) (to get yourself next to them), and then go for the Standing  Fierces (HP).
 Or course, these Customs work once they reach the corner as well,  so there's no need for a distinction of Ground Corner Customs and  Ground Midscreen Customs.      3) Midscreen Juggling Customs

Midscreens are a necessity if you do not have a good Ground Custom. If you don't have a good Ground Custom Combo, that means you can only use Customs once you get your enemy into the Corner for a Corner Juggling Custom... and that simply won't do! You have to develop a Midscreen Juggling Custom Combo so you have Custom Combo options in the middle of the battlefield away from the corners. If you don't have a good Midscreen Custom and you don't have any Ground Custom Combos, there's almost no point in using A-Groove. The trick to Midscreen Juggling Customs is to find a way to deal hard hits to Juggle the enemy while still finding a way to stay close to the opponent. Terry has one of the better Midscreen Customs: Crouch Roundhouse (HK) canceled into a Strong (HP) Burn Knuckle. Repeat that sequence over and over. It will: 1) Deal hard hits for good damage for the early half of the Combo. 2) Keep him moving forward so the enemy doesn't fly out of range. 3) Push the enemy into the corner, where he can transition to a Corner Juggle Custom that involves many quick hits for the second half of the Combo. This is an ideal Midscreen Juggling Custom.

 Some characters can use Jump Attacks for Midscreen Custom Combos.  If you can find a way to pop the enemy into the air and then Jump  after them, that could easily work as a Midscreen Juggling Custom  Combo.  However, often, they need to end the Jumping sequence with a  weaker hit, because stronger hits knock the enemy far away from you,  so when you land from a Jump, there's nothing more you can do.

Let's look at Akuma for example. One of his classic Customs comes after landing Crouch Roundhouse (HK) followed by two one-hit Short (LK) Hurricane Kicks. After he lands from the second Hurricane Kick, the enemy is still in the air and Akuma can activate his Custom Combo. Connect a Standing Close-up Fierce (HP) and Buffer that into his Hyakki Shu, or as it has become to be known, the "Demon Flip." Hit Kick in the air to make him come down with his overhead kick from the Demon Flip (the Hyakki Goudan) and cancel that into a Hurricane Kick. You'll land right after the enemy gets hit by the Hurricane Kick, which bounces the enemy up a little bit. Then, while the enemy is still in the air, Super Jump at the enemy with three Jumping Roundhouses (HK) really quickly. Now, if you go for another Jumping Roundhouse (HK), you'll knock the enemy too far away so that when you land, your Custom is over: nothing will reach anymore. However, if you cancel the third Jumping Roundhouse (HP) into a Hurricane Kick, that'll knock the enemy straight up so that you can land and go for another sequence of the three Super Jumping Roundhouses (HP) and a Hurricane Kick. By this point, you'll be in the Corner (if you started from the other Corner) and can transition to a Corner Juggle Custom (which, for Akuma, is usually repeated Fierce (HP) Red Fireballs canceled into a Super Fireball at the end).

 Some Midscreen Juggling Customs don't involve you moving forward,  but keeping the enemy Juggled in between yourself.  These are Customs  that typically involve Rolls, but the generally do fairly weak damage.  An example of this is one I mentioned earlier with Iori.  He can  cancel a Jab (LP) Fire Ball (Iori's Uppercut) into a Roll and then  repeat Standing Close-up Fierce (HP) into Roll.  He'll keep Rolling  behind the falling enemy, knock the enemy the other direction, and  basically play a one man game of ping pong.  End this Custom Combo  with a Maiden Masher.

These types of Customs, needless to say, do not need any type of transitions into Corner Juggles.

 Lastly, there are a lot of Midscreen Customs that start off on  the ground and then transition into Midscreen Juggling Combos, for  damage's sake (or if they have no other choice).  Rolento, for  example, usually wants to start off his Custom Combo by landing a  Crouching Forward (MK).  He can then chain that into three Crouching  Fierces (HP).  Then Chain that into a Crouching Roundhouse (HK)  Chained into a Standing Roundhouse (HK) to Juggle the enemy.  Cancel  the Roundhouse (HK) into a Flash Jump and Juggle with a Roundhouse  (HK) during your Flash Jump.  Do Standing Roundhouse (HK) into a Flash  Jump again and Juggle with one last Roundhouse (HK) in the air.  By  now, you've reached the corner and can transition to a Corner Juggling  Custom.      4) Anti-air Customs

Easily one of the most best situations to use Custom Combos is as Anti-air. People tend to Jump at their opponents every so often in battle, especially if you have no other good Anti-air!! Well, they Jump at you more often than letting you land Custom Combos from other types of set-ups, so having Anti-Air Custom Combos is really important. There are two types of Anti-air Custom Combos.

 The first type of Anti-air Custom Combo takes advantage of Trip  Guard.  Remember talking about Trip Guard, WAAAAAY earlier in this  FAQ?  Well, knowing that the enemy cannot Block after doing a move  while Jumping is HUGE for Custom Combos.  If you have a Custom Combo  that can start from the ground, particularly a move that must be  Blocked while Crouching, this is where you can take advantage.  If the  enemy Jumps at you and attacks, activate your Custom as Anti-air and  then throw out a move that must be Blocked Low.  Your temporary  invincibility will let you pass through the enemy's attack and since  the enemy can't Block when they land, thanks to Trip Guard, they'll  fall right into your Custom Combo.  Remember Rolento's Custom Combo  listed just above here?  Well, that Custom qualifies as a perfect  Anti-air Custom because it starts with the Crouching Forward.  Mai can  use her Crouching Forward (MK) slide and transition to Standing  Roundhouses (HK) for a Ground Custom.  There are tons and tons of  possibilities.

The weakness of these types of Anti-air Customs is that if the enemy wises up on you and knows you like using this type of Anti-air Custom Combo, they can Jump and do nothing. You'll activate your Custom and throw out a Low Attack, but they CAN BLOCK IT because they didn't do a move! Their Trip Guard is intact, and now your Custom Combo has been wasted (but still, try to make the most of it). So beware of those who are keen to your Trip Guard Anti-air Custom Combos.

 The second type of Anti-air Customs are true Anti-airs: they just  Juggle the enemy right out of the air.  But what makes this difficult  is that you MUST perform something that is a Knock-Down because if you  don't, there's no way to land a full Anti-Air Custom.  In the Akuma  example above, you can't start your Anti-air Custom with the Standing  Fierce (HP) into the Demon Flip and go from there.  The Fierce (HP)  isn't a Knock-Down, so the Hyakki Goudan will just completely whiff!   You need to have a Knock-Down somewhere so you can go from your  Anti-air Custom into a standard Midscreen Juggle Custom.

Iori is a perfect example for this. He can use his Jab (LP) Fireball (his Uppercut) as the Knock-Down for his Anti-air Custom. He can cancel his Uppercut's landing delay into a Crouch Roundhouse (HK) and Juggle the enemy clear across the screen with repeated well-time Crouching Roundhouses (HK) from there. We can go back to the above Terry example. Terry's Crouching Roundhouse (HK) can hit enemies out of the air! So he can just do the Crouching Roundhouse (HK) into Burn Knuckle as his Anti-air Custom Combo! This makes Terry very powerful as an A-Groove character. He has a good Combo that works as a Midscreen Custom that can be started if the enemy is on the ground OR in the air. 5) Jumping Corner Juggle Customs At the end of a Custom Combo, you want lots of hits in quick succession. Sometimes, a character has no good move for doing that at the end of a Custom Combo. So sometimes, their best choice is to use Jump Attacks instead. Take the above Rolento Combo for example. When Rolento lands from the Roundhouse (HK) during the second Flash Jump, he reaches the corner. From here, you want to get lots of quick hits. The best way to do this? After landing from the Flash Jump, Jump at the enemy with a Jumping Strong (MP) which hits three times really quickly. Chain that into a Jumping Short (LK) so you have time to land and do it again. After the second repetition of it, finish the enemy off with a Standing Fierce (HP) canceled into his Mine Sweeper (Grenade Super).

 But sometimes... Jumping Corner Juggling Customs are goo at the  BEGINNING of a Custom!  The logic behind this is: Jumping attacks are  powerful and can deal damage on average of 1200 points of damage if  you use Fierce (HP) or Roundhouse (HK).  And since you can Chain them  into each other in the air during a Jump, logic dictates that maybe  this would be the best way to dish out damage at the beginning of a  Custom Combo.

So let's take a look at Rugal. Let's say you threw a Wind Slice (the Reppuken ground Projectile) across the screen at the enemy. They try to Roll through it, which is what you expected. Thus, you have a God Press already running at them to meet them at the end of their Roll and catch them out of their delay. After you slam them into the wall, you activate your Custom Combo and Juggle them with 13 Standing Roundhouses (HK) and end it with the Gigantic Pressure. That Combo will do 8372 points of damage. But what if you can land Jumping Hits after the God Press instead? You can only get 13 Standing Roundhouses (HK). Can you possibly try to land more hits without losing damage? Well, yes, and Jumping Attacks is the best way to do it because they aren't much weaker than the Standing Roundhouses (HK) if you use Jumping Fierce (HP) and you can land a lot more of them. But how do you land a Jumping attack after the God Press?

 There's a special technique usually used to set-up such Combos.   Because you like to use strong hits at the beginning of a Custom, you  never want to hit the enemy with Jabs (LP) or Strongs (MP) or the like  early on.  But often, to set-up Jump Combos, you have to.  I mean, if  you hit someone with a Fierce (HP) in the corner, the Fierce (HP)  usually takes too long to recover.  By the time the Fierce (HP) is  done, the enemy has already almost fallen to the ground.  So  typically, you would use a Jab (LP) or a Strong (MP) to bounce the  enemy up.  Because those moves recover faster, in general, you can  then go in for a Jump attack after the move recovers, and catch the  enemy while they are still high enough in the air.

However, you CAN still use the hard hitting moves as "Launchers" so to speak. The way to do this is to Chain your hard hitting move into a whiffed Crouching Short (LK) or a whiffed Crouching Jab (LP). What that does is allow you to hit the enemy with a powerful hit to knock them into the air, but give that powerful move the delay of a Short (LK) or a Jab (LP). AND, at the same time, it will not add any hits to the Combometer, so the Damage Scaling won't be affected.

 So let's apply this to the above Custom Combo set-up with Rugal.   Grab the enemy with the God Press, throw them into the wall, then  activate your Custom Combo.  This time, however, Juggle the enemy with  a Crouching Fierce (HP) and then chain in into a WHIFFING Crouch Short  (LK).  Then Jump at the enemy four times in a row with four Jumping  Fierces (HP) in each Jump, and end it with a Gigantic Pressure.  That  Combo, instead, does 8884 points of damage.  Granted, it's much  harder, but if you can get good at it, it's worth it for 512 extra  points of damage!

So you can see that the Jumping Fierces (HP) allow you to get in more hits. But not only that, they are all very POWERFUL hits, so you can get high damage. Of course, it takes much more timing and skill to implement the Jumping Custom, but the extra damage can be very worth it. * * * ------------------- | BLOCKED CUSTOMS | ------------------- Whenever you try one of the risky methods of landing a Custom Combo (such as Rolling at the enemy or baiting them) and the enemy doesn't fall for your trick, often you'll end up with wasting your Custom if you don't know what to do with it. But if you keep that in mind, you can actually try taking advantage of this in other ways. Basically, if you know the enemy is going to Block the Custom, you can go for a Combo specifically to break their Guard. 1) Guard Crush Customs These Combos are designed simply to "Combo" on the Blocking enemy and try to do as much Guard Damage as possible. The goal of these is to land as many hard hits as possible, and ending it so that you can tack on a little extra at the end for even more Guard Damage. Let's look at Ryu for example. If the enemy ends up Blocking your Custom Combo in the corner, you can simply do repeated Towards + Fierces (HP). Ryu will just slide forward with a punch that hits twice. You can keep repeating this move over and over and over and over again. If you do this until the Custom Combo Meter empties out, you'll do about 1/2 of a full Guard Meter's worth of damage. However, if you time it so that RIGHT before the Custom Combo Meter empties out, you can throw out a Crouching Jab at the very end, Link that into a Crouching Fierce Buffered into a Fireball. The reason for this is that after the Custom Combo Meter empties out, moves will do Normal Guard Damage again (moves performed in Custom Combos do far less Guard Damage than normal). So tacking on the Crouching Jab allows a non-Custom Combo Crouching Fierce and Fireball to connect, upping the Guard Damage to nearly 75% of a full Guard Meter. The only way for an enemy to escape this is if you time it poorly and mess up your "Combo" or if they perform a Counter Attack or Counter Movement. Either way, you've got their Guard Meter down: go in for the attack! 2) Block Damage Customs These are essentially the same as the Guard Crush Combos, but instead you are focusing on Block Damage. In 95% of the cases, Block Damage Customs will BE your best Guard Crush Custom. But in some cases, as with Ryu, they aren't the same thing. For Ryu, the above is a good Guard Crush Custom, but repeated Shakunetsu Hadoukens (the red Hadoukens) in the corner is his best Block Damage Custom. Cancel the Custom, before it ends, into a Level 1 Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. That sequence will do only 50% Guard Damage, but it will do a good 2500 points of Block Damage, just about. That's practically two full Fierce (HP) punches worth of damage! Other characters have the benefit of Both. Benimaru, for example, can just do repeated Shinkuu Katategomas until the Custom ends, and cancel the end with a Heaven Blast Flash (the Taikuu Raikouken spark Super). This Custom, when Blocked, will do OVER 4000 POINTS OF DAMAGE!!!! That is HUGE! That is more than some Customs that connect!! ^_^ Not only that, but it'll drain about 5/6 of the entire Guard Meter. That is VERY potent! That means if the enemy has about 1/3 of their Guard Meter drained, you can do this Combo and time it just right so that the instant you Guard Break the enemy, you cancel into Benimaru's Heaven Blast Flash to make it even more damaging. And to make it even better is that is works ANYWHERE ON THE SCREEN, not just the corner. Sakura, however, is an example of the ultimate Guard Crush + Block Damage Custom. You can do repeated Fierce (HP) Shououkens, and if you can do it (it's VERY hard), you can drain a full Guard Meter COMPLETELY. And, tacking on the Midare Zakura at the end of this Custom will give you a lot of damage because most of the Super connects (and the enemy took a LOT of Block Damage from the Shououkens!!). This trick works WELL against P-Groove and K-Groove players, as they can't even Counter Attack you. As I said, most character's Block Damage Custom is the same as the Guard Break Custom. If that's the case, then be prepared to pull it out if the enemy Blocks your Custom. * * * ------------------------------ | RISK / HIGH DAMAGE CUSTOMS | ------------------------------ These aren't Combos. These are sequences that you use that have holes in them on purpose. You are trying to either start landing hits on a Blocking enemy, or to try and maximize the damage of your Custom as much as possible. How that works will be explained below. 1) Broken Customs These go hand in hand with Ground Customs. Basically, your goal is to "start the Combo over" at some point in the Custom. Why? Because, remember that the Damage Scaling occurs based on which hit of a Combo your are currently on. It has nothing to do with how far the Custom Combo Meter has drained or anything. So by breaking your Combo intentionally and going for a risk, you can end up doing a TON of damage. The best example of this is with Ken. Ken can do a Ground Custom easily by starting with a Crouch Forward (MK) and then using Towards + Roundhouse (HK) repeatedly. Doing this until the Meter runs out, and ending it with a Crouch Roundhouse into a Shinryuken, will result in about 7000+ damage... very good by Custom Combo standards. However, if you do Crouching Forward (MK) into just about 8 Towards + Roundhouses (HK), sneak in an Overhead (Towards + Forward (MK)) and then Chain the Overhead into the Towards + Roundhouse sequence again, and end it with the Crouch Roundhouse (HK) into Shinryuken, you can get almost 10000 points of damage!!! If the enemy isn't suspecting it and gets nailed by the Overhead, you "break" your Combo, but end up resetting the damage done so that Damage Scaling goes back to the 72% it starts at during a Custom Combo. This can be HUGE. If the enemy falls for such a trick, a Ratio 2 Ken can pretty much take out the ENTIRE Life Meter of a weaker Ratio 1 character, like Cammy. So you had better be careful if your opponent tries to pull something like this on you. Of course, the weakness of this trick is if your opponent is READY for this, they can end up Blocking the entire rest of your Custom Combo. Worse yet, they are ready for the Overhead, and when they see it, they hit you with a move, ending your Custom all together. So rather than going for a guaranteed 7000 points of damage, you risk going for 10000 but may end up with only 4000. 2) Confusion Combos Whereas Broken Customs are designed for when the enemy is getting hit, Confusion Customs are designed for when the enemy is Blocking. Basically, you are not trying to do Guard Damage or Block Damage. You are trying to hit the enemy, pure and simple, and you are trying every trick in the book. Perhaps the best example of this type of Custom Combo is with Maki. If you activate your Custom Combo, but the enemy is Blocking, you can start going ballistic with her Hayagakes (the various forward running moves done by Fireball + Kick). Simply keep pressuring the opponent with repeated Standing Fierces Buffered into either the sliding Hayagakes or the Overhead Hayagakes. Throw out Crouch Roundhouses in there as well, and go straight from sliding Hayagakes into Overhead Hayagakes. Basically, your whole goal is to get the enemy to Block the wrong way once, so that hopefully you can continue your Combo after the enemy gets hit. If Maki ever lands one of those Overhead Hayagakes, for example, she can continue it into a full on Corner Juggle Custom Combo. If you can do this quickly and well, the enemy will have a hard time Blocking every single attack correctly and will, hopefully, get caught at some point. The problem is that the sequence isn't a Block Combo. Thus, at any of the many holes you are leaving open, the enemy can try to sneak in their own move to hit you while you are trying your tricks. Your hope is that what you are doing is fast, confusing, and intimidating enough that the enemy is scared to try anything, because the slightest misstep could equal disaster. ==================================._


 A-GROOVE  |  CUSTOM THROWS / OTG THROWS     | `=============================.  ================================._|
     custom combos: 11  \



`==================================

Remember how, a while back, I mentioned that you CANNOT, in any way, shape, or form, Combo after a Throw? That Capcom took all measures to prevent Throw Combos? That if you Throw someone, there just isn't ANY POSSIBLE THING you can do? Well, I lied. Because there is ALWAYS an exception. And there is an exception to the Throw rule, but a VERY specific exception. ALL Special Throws allow the enemy to be Juggled afterwards if one condition is met: the hit that connects against the enemy for the Juggle is performed during a Custom Combo. So you can actually nail an enemy after a Special Throw with a move in a Custom Combo. You'll notice, however, that VERY few characters actually have the ability to Combo after their Special Throw, as 90% of the characters are still in delay far after the enemy has landed. So only a few characters can actually Juggle after a Special Throw. Vice can Juggle after a Gore Fest and Chang can Juggle after a Big Destroyer Toss. In a one in a million situation (Chang RIGHT in the corner, enemy RIGHT next to him), Raiden can perform the Front Suplex follow-up to the Raiden Combination-Body Blow can Juggle afterwards. Doesn't sound very special, does it? Only three characters (that I know of at this time) can Juggle after their Special Throws... all whom are better off not using their Throws in Customs? Well, Chang can perform his Big Destroyer Toss in the corner, THEN activate the Custom Combo, and then Juggle you afterwards. But the damage you get from that Combo is pretty bad, considering the Combometer is already at 8 by the end of the Big Destroyer Toss. Still doesn't sound too useful to be able to Combo after a Special Throw.

 Well, bizarrely enough, four characters have NORMAL Throws that  can be Comboed after: Maki's Punch Throw, Yun's Punch Throw, Chang's  Kick Throw, and Hibiki's Kick Throw.  Of course... only Maki and  Hibiki recover soon enough to be able to Juggle after their Throws.   And Hibiki is the only one who can Throw and THEN activate the Custom  and still have time to Juggle afterwards.  So again, this doesn't  sound too useful...
 Well, there is a major bug in Capcom vs. SNK 2.  You can tell  it's a bug because it only happens to two characters: Dan and Rolento.  Basically, once Dan or Rolento are hit by anything that knocks them  over, they are free bait to be Thrown at any point at which they are  touching the ground.  That could be the instant they hit the ground on  their first bounce, or after they land after the bounce and lay there.  The WHOLE TIME while they are lying there, you can pick them up right  off the floor with a Special Throw.  They even be to the point where  they are JUST ABOUT ready to stand up, and you can Throw them.  It's  pretty sad.  Tactical Recoveries only widen the window during which  you can be Thrown, and Safe Falls only help so much since you can be  Thrown out of a Safe Fall delay ANYHOW.  And again, this goes for  Normal Throws AND Special Throws.  Any Throw can pluck Dan or Rolento  right off the ground.

However, Normal Throws are a one time thing: once you perform a Normal Throw, the enemy cannot be Comboed anymore. So if you knock Dan or Rolento over in a Custom Combo, then Throw them Off The Ground (hence, the term OTG), that's it. That's the end of the Custom Combo. You cannot Juggle the enemy afterwards at all or do anything else. Hmmmm... NOW this is starting to make sense why I mentioned that you can be still be Comboed after a Special Throw. Because you can actually Combo after a Special Throw, this allows you to pick up Dan and Rolento off the floor over and over and over and over again with your Special Throws. After Normal Throws, Dan and Rolento are put into a state in which they cannot be Comboed. But after Special Throws, they still can be Comboed. So Vice, for example, can perform her Nail Bomb repeatedly to a cornered Dan or Rolento, picking them up off the floor repeatedly!!! This major bug makes those two poor souls fear A-Groove characters with Special Throws more than you can imagine. Basically, anytime Dan or Rolento get knocked onto the floor by a Knock-Down, they can be picked right up off the floor by a Special Throw that is done during a Custom Combo REPEATEDLY. This Special Throw can be Zangief's Screw Pile Driver, Vice's Nail Bomb, Yamazaki's Bomb Bopper (the exploding headbutt Throw), Yun's Senpou Tenshin (the flip-over-you Throw), Iori's Scum Gale (the switch-sides Throw), Raiden's Thunder Crush Bomb, God Rugal's Rugal Execution and so on. Even Super Throws work. Zangief can do a Final Atomic Buster, Maki can do an Ajaratengu (her 720 Throw Super), Vice can use her Withering Force, Benimaru can use his Elec-Trigger... anything that Throws will work!! The move that puts them onto the floor doesn't even need to be done during a Custom either. You can do something like Benimaru's Iaido Kick into the Bounce Back Tri-level Kick (the follow up to the Iaido Kick) in the corner, activate your Custom, and the repeatedly grab Dan or Rolento of the floor with repeated Benimaru Colliders and then finish it off with the Elec-Trigger. This actually HURTS big time!

 And now you are probably aware of why I mentioned the four  characters whose Normal Throws can be Comboed afterwards.  Yup, you  guessed it: Maki's Punch Throw, Yun's Punch Throw, Chang's Kick Throw,  and Hibiki's Kick Throw can ALSO pick up Dan and Rolento off the floor  over and over and over again.  Why these four Normal Throws have this  property, I have no clue.  It just happens.  And why Dan and Rolento  are the only sad folks who are susceptible to this?  I again have no  clue.  Just bugs, I guess...      ==================================._


 A-GROOVE  |  MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION      | `=============================.  ================================._|
     custom combos: 12  \



`==================================

Any last second information regarding Custom Combos will be listed here, but fortunately for me, there is only one thing I can think of.

 Because Special Moves can chain into Special Moves, certain  characters will run into problems.  Let's look at Iori.  To do his  Deadly Flower (the rushing, manual three-hit Special Move), you need  to do a Reverse Fireball motion three times in a row.  However, in the  middle of a Custom Combo, you are allowed to cancel the Deadly Flower  into a Normal or Special move the instant it hits.  So what happens  when you try to do all three hits of the Deadly Flower?  Well, when  the first hit connects and you do the next Reverse Fireball motion,  you end up canceling that move into the first hit of the Deadly Flower  again!  Instead of registering the Reverse Fireball motion as the  second part of Iori's Deadly Flower, it registers it as the FIRST part  again!  So there is no way to do all three parts of Iori's Deadly  Flower in a Custom Combo.  You can only do all three parts if the  first two parts whiff, because you can't cancel the move Custom  Combo-style if it whiffs.  Thus, you can make it behave as normal if  the move whiffs.

Kyo's Wicked Chew and Poison Gnawfest sequences also has this problem. Rolento's Patriot Circle DOES NOT, however, because of severe limitations placed on Rolento. The people at Capcom decided that the first two parts of the Patriot Circle CANNOT BE CANCELED into anything. In a Custom Combo, the Patriot Circle just cannot be canceled into anything: not a Normal Move, not a Roll, not a Special Move, not even a Super. Thus, doing another Fireball motion WILL make him continue his Patriot Circle, since he isn't allowed to cancel it into the start of another Patriot Circle sequence. Sakura's Shunpuu Renkyaku (the ground hurricane kick) also exhibits this problem. If you try to do the second part of her Shunpuu Renkyaku, you'll most likely do a Shunpuukyaku (the air hurricane kick) instead, canceling the Shunpuu Renkyaku from the ground you are currently in. However, Sakura CAN do the second part of her Shunpuu Renkyaku... but only if you are REALLY quick. You can, for example, do Crouching Forward (MK) canceled into a Shunpuu Renkyaku in the middle of a Custom Combo. And if you can manage to VERY quickly do another Reverse Fireball motion + Kick BEFORE THE FIRST HIT OF THE Shunpuu Renkyaku CONNECTS, Sakura will automatically do the last, Knock-Down straight kick at the end of the Shunpuu Renkyaku. If you do the motion anytime AFTER the first hit connects, you'll be getting the Shunpuukyaku for sure. For some reason, even though you CAN cancel it with other Special Moves or Normal Moves as soon as it lands from the first part, Yuri's Fierce (HP) Super Yuri Upper into Yuri Double Uppers works without a hitch. Same goes for Hibiki and Vice. Hibiki will still be doing her Beckoning Slash into Distance Slash or her Piercing Moon Pounce (the Overhead Special Move) into Distance Slash because, even though she's using the Custom Combo engine to do it rather than it's own built in Chainability, the result is exactly what she would have done without the Custom Combo. The same goes for Vice. Her Mayhem into Da Cide Slayer still works normally because even though you are canceling the move with the Custom Combo engine, it just ends up doing exactly what you wanted it to do had you not used the Custom Combo engine. Raiden can do his Raiden Combination - Body Blow into the two follow ups, but ONLY if you make sure you do the Reverse Fireball motion for the Head Butt instead of accidentally doing a full Reverse Half-Circle motion. If you do the full Half-Circle, you'll end up doing Poison Spray instead.

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  Chapter 13  ---| Damage Scaling |------------------------------------------------     ==================  00) Intro  01) Damage Scaling  02) Post Custom Combo Damage     ______________________________ ________ ____ ___ __ _
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|    |   |  | | DAMAGE    | |  | <0> Intro
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|    |   |  | |   SCALING | |  |______________________________|________|____|___|__|_|===========|_|

Every game has it: a method of preventing Combos from doing too much damage. We've already talked about the Custom Combo's form of Damage Scaling, but there's some information about Capcom Vs. SNK 2's normal Damage Scaling that should be discussed. ______________________________ ________ ____ ___ __ _

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|    |   |  | | DAMAGE    | |  | <1> Damage Scaling
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|    |   |  | |   SCALING | |  |______________________________|________|____|___|__|_|===========|_|

Before we get into Damage Scaling, I want to establish that all Normal Moves, Special Moves, and Super Combos do a pre-set amount of damage. Unlike older Street Fighters, like the classic Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting (where a Jump Roundhouse (HK) from E.Honda could do a small amount of damage sometimes or a HUGE chunk of damage at others), CvS2 moves do a fixed amount of base damage. The damage of a move is never affected by any random factors. It will always do the base amount of damage, altered only by the FIXED damage changers such as Super Meter (in some Grooves), amount of energy left of the opponent, and Counter Hits. Well, another form of fixed damage alteration comes through Damage Scaling, a very common occurrence in almost all Fighting Games. Damage Scaling is the designer's way of preventing Combos from doing too much damage by reducing the amount of damage a move does when that hit occurs "late" in a Combo. In Capcom Vs. SNK 2, Damage Scaling follows a pretty simple formula. No Damage Scaling is present for the first five hits of any Combo. So for the first five hits of a Combo, every move will do 100% of it's damage. With each succeeding hit after that, the damage will be reduced by an extra 1/24th. So let's say you have a move that does 1200 points of damage. If you land that move as the 6th hit of your Combo, it will do 1/24th less for a total of 1150 points of damage. If you land it as the 7th hit of the Combo, it will do 2/24th less damage for a total of 1100. If it is the 15th hit of a Combo, it will do 10/24th less damage for a total of 700 points of damage. This formula will be applied to every hit but the minimum damage a move can do is 100 points. Thus, after the 24th hit of a Combo, it is guaranteed that every hit will only do 100 points of damage from that point forward. The damage a move does can be calculated through a formula listed below. For the nth hit of a Combo, if n is greater than 5, the damage will be (if the normal damage a move does is "x"):

 Damage dealt (if n > 5)   =   x * (24 - n + 5) / 24
 So let's look at Ryu for an example.  His Short (LK) Tatsumaki  Senpuukyaku does, normally (without any damage enhancement from Super  Meters), 1200 points of damage.  Now, let's say you have only a Level  2 built up in C-Groove, and you catch Kyo in the corner with the  following Combo:
 Jumping Fierce (HP), land with a Crouching Fierce (HP) Buffered  into a Level 2 Shinkuu Hadouken, then Level 2 Super Cancel the Super  Fireball into the Short (LK) Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku.
 By the time the Hurricane Kick connects against Kyo, it's the 7th  hit of the Combo.  So let's plug that into the formula, where the  normal damage "x" is 1200 and the hit number "n" is 7:
 1200 * (24 - 7 + 5) / 24 = 1100
 So, as the 7th hit of a Combo, the Short (LK) Hurricane Kick will  do 1100 points of damage.  It does 22/24th its normal damage according  to the formula.  Remember, this formula applies to EVERY Normal Move  and Special Move that occurs after the 5th hit of a Combo .
 So how does this knowledge help you?  Well, because of this  knowledge, you can make sure that your Combos will do the maximum  damage possible.  Let's say you perform the following Combo with Yun  in C-Groove:  	Standing Jab (LP) Chained into Standing Short (LK) Chained into  Standing Strong (MP) Buffered into the You Hou, followed by a Jab (LP)  Tetsuzankou (the Shoulder Ram).  Now, the enemy is free to be Juggled  one last time.  What are your follow-up options?  Well, one option you  can do is the Standing Forward (MK) High Jump Canceled into a Jumping  Jab (LP) Chained into a Towards + Fierce (HP).  Or, you can just  Juggle with a Fierce (HP) Kobokushi (the Palm Strike).  Now, both of  these follow-ups, when not affected by Damage Scaling, will do 1600  points of damage.  But in the above Combo, there have already been 7  hits of the Combo.  So how much damage will each follow-up do?

Well, the Standing Forward (MK) Launcher does 500 points of damage, the Jumping Jab (LP) does 400 points of damage, and the Jumping Fierce (HP) in the air does 700 points of damage. But since they are the 8th, 9th, and 10th hit of the Combo, they will do, instead, 437 (21/24th of the normal damage), 333 (20/24th of the normal damage), and 554 (19/24th of the normal damage) which bring the damage to a grand total of 1324 for those three hits. The Kobokushi, however, does 1600 normally, and as the 8th hit will do only 21/24th of it's base damage, which comes out to 1400 points of damage. So, in actuality, the Kobokushi, though less hits, is the better follow-up for an extra 76 points of damage. Not much, but hey, every little bit counts. Logically speaking, then, it appears that doing one, powerful hit will be affected less than a string of smaller hits. That's because in a string of hits, each succeeding hit gets affected buy increasingly stronger Damage Scaling whereas one hit only gets affect by the one percentage. But let's look at another example. Let's create two follow-ups for Level 2 Super Canceling Ryo's Ryuko Ranbu. Ryo's Zan Retsu Ken, on it's own, does 1950 points of damage with 14 hits. A 4-hit Combination of Ryo's Fierce Kyoku Gen Kick Dance High Jump Canceled into a Jumping Fierce, on it's own, does 2400 points of damage. Now, let's do a Combo, with Ryo, of Crouch Jab (LP), Crouch Jab (LP), Stand Short (LK) Buffered into a Level 2 Ryuko Ranbu. Before the 11th hit of the Ryuko Ranbu (which is right before the first hit of the first Uppercut at the end of the Super), you can cancel it into either of the follow-ups given above. The Zan Retsu Ken follow-up gives a grand total of 4029 points of damage for the whole Combo (for Ryo starting at a full Level 3). However, the follow-up of the Kyoku Gen Kick Dance sequence does a grand total of 3977. So how come in this case the smaller number of powerful hits does less than the many weak hits? It's because the weak hits of the Zan Retsu Ken do 100 points of damage each normally. Thus, when used to Level 2 Super Cancel the Ryuko Ranbu, Damage Scaling does not affect the damage of these first few hits at all! Remember, the minimum damage one hit can do is 100, so those moves cannot drop below their normal damage. So the initial 13 hits of damage (for 1200 points of damage all together... the very first hit of the Zan Retsu Ken does 0 points of damage) will still do 1200 points of damage even when affected by Damage Scaling. Thus, the Zan Retsu Ken is a better Level 2 Super Canceling follow-up. So with the two above examples, you can see how knowing how Damage Scaling works can benefit your Combo ability. Sure, the damage differences can be very minute, but then just think of the last fight where your opponent made a Zero Vital comeback victory. Then you'll see how every bit counts.

 A very important thing to mention: Super Combos are exempt from  Damage Scaling.  Super Combos will do the damage they are supposed to  do REGARDLESS of which hit it occurs in a Combo and regardless of  which Groove you are using.  Thus, in C-Groove, a Level 2 Super Cancel  into a Level 1 Super will have the Level 1 Super do 100% of it's  normal damage.  It becomes obvious, then, that the best follow-up to a  Level 2 Super Cancel will always be a Level 1 Super Combo.  In other  words, to my knowledge, there is not one character that is better off  canceling the Level 2 into a Special Move instead of a Level 1 Super  Combo if all you are concerned about is damage.

The lack of Damage Scaling also is in affect in other Grooves, too. If you can follow-up a Level 3 with a Level 1 Super in N-Groove or S-Groove, that Level 1 will do 100% of it's damage as well. Needless to say, the only exception to this is the Supers during a Custom Combo. A Super done in a Custom Combo will do 80% of it's normal damage. ______________________________ ________ ____ ___ __ _

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|    |   |  | | DAMAGE    | |  | <2> Post Custom Combo Damage |
|    |   |  | |   SCALING | |  |______________________________|________|____|___|__|_|===========|_|

So Damage Scaling applies to every hit that occurs in the game, except the damage done during a Custom Combo, which has it's own formula for Damage Scaling. But here's something interesting to note: Custom Combo's own private Damage Scaling only occurs when the Super Meter of your character ACTUALLY STILL HAS METER IN IT. So after you activate a Custom Combo, while the meter drains, all hits are affected by the Custom's Damage Scaling. However, once the Meter finishes draining, all hits that occur AFTER that will be affected by normal Damage Scaling. This can actually be used as an alternate way to end a Custom Combo. Rather than using a Super, you can end Customs with a move that normally does a lot of damage if your Custom is one that has very few hits (so that move will not be affected by Damage Scaling that much).

 For example, Raiden can do the following Custom Combo: Crouch  Roundhouse (HK) Buffered into a Jab (LP) Giant Bomb.  Cancel the Jab  (LP) Giant Bomb into a Fierce (HP) Giant Bomb and then repeatedly do 5  more Fierce (HP) Giant Bombs.  That should be 8 hits total.  At this  point, you'll have a tiny bit of Custom time left.  You can do the  Level 1 Flame Breath, but if you started the Custom Combo mid-screen,  you're in the corner by now.  Timing the Flame Breath can be  difficult, because doing it too early results in the enemy bouncing  off one hit and the other hits all missing.

So instead of the Super, you can do a Fierce (HP) Jumping Lariat Drop right before the Meter drains. Raiden will jump up and grab the opponent with some Meter left (so it can still Juggle) and then slam them down after the Meter has been emptied. So when the Jumping Lariat Drop actually does its damage, normal Damage Scaling takes over rather than the Custom Combo's Damage Scaling. The move does 1800 damage normally, but since it's the 9th hit of the Combo overall, it will be damage reduced by only 4/24ths. So you will get 1500 damage without the need for timing a Level 1 Super that has a joystick motion that many people hate performing (two backwards half-circles). Sure, the Super will do 1680 damage if you land it, but if you are not confident with the joystick motion nor the timing, you can do a simple DP + Fierce (HP) motion instead for only 180 points of less damage.

 Also, characters with Air Throws can also take advantage of this.  Guile, for example, has a Custom Combo in the corner: Crouch  Roundhouse (HK) into Towards + Roundhouse (HK), which is the  upside-down kick.  Do the upside-down kick 9 more times.  After the  10th upside-down kick, you can do a Level 1 Somersault Strike Super  with the enemy as close to the ground as possible to score 1520 damage  from the Super Juggling the enemy.  But 1) many people have expressed  extreme frustration at pulling off the motion for the Somersault  Strike.  2) Timing the Somersault Strike can be tough.  Too early, and  you'll you get very few hits out of it and it does very little damage.  Too late and the enemy will hit the ground and you do ZERO extra  damage.

So, instead, you can cancel the last upside-down kick with a Standing Jab (LP) that hits and then Jump up and grab the enemy with the Roundhouse Air Throw. By the time the Air Throw does its damage, the Super Meter will have fully drained, it will be affected by normal Damage Scaling, and it will do 1333 damage (16/24th it's normal damage). Along with the one standing Jab (LP) for 100 points of damage, you get 1433 points of damage, losing only 87 points of damage for doing a Combo that is by FAR easier to do. Less room for mistakes means better clutch at performing Combos actual combat.

 This knowledge may also be useful in situations where your enemy  blocks 80% of your Custom but ends up getting hit part way through it  (if you threw in an Overhead they didn't Block or something).  You  might want to end a Custom with an Air Throw instead of a Super at  this point because, if you're only in your 4th hit, your Air Throw  (5th hit) would do 100% of it's damage!  The Super would still only do  80% of its normal damage.  Perhaps the Super will still more damage,  though.  You'll just have to check with your character.


James Chen CVS2 Systems FAQ

Campbell "Buktooth" Tran Systems FAQ