Tem seleção de fases, tower mode, liberar personagens para o duelo, FAQ, lista de golpes etc.
Este post traz algumas dicas, trapaças e macetes do Double Dragon IV, este beat ’em up da Arc System Works que, apesar do estilo retrô de visual e de gameplay, é um jogo lançado em 2017.
As manhas, ou pelo menos algumas delas, devem funcionar para para Windows, PlayStation 4, iOS e Switch, mas não temos como garantir isso 100%. A maioria é ensinada em texto, mas tem um vídeo também.
Enfim, vamos às dicas?
Para liberar o Modo Torre (Tower Mode), basta zerar o jogo vencendo o chefão na Missão 12. Trata-se de um modo survival no game.
Abaixo, temos um vídeo do canal Powermafia Games que mostra truques do passado, os que pegavam nos Double Dragons antigos, mas que funcionam até hoje, neste novo Double Dragon IV:
Abaixo, tem um FAQ do Double Dragon IV cheio de dicas, informações e outras coisas feito pelo Patrick Coffman. O texto está completíssimo e em inglês, sem alterações.
DOUBLE DRAGON IV a FAQ/Movelist/etc. by Patrick Coffman (ThePatrick at GameFAQs) coffman (underscore) patrick (at) yahoo (dot) com @hatoriki on Twitter Hatoriki and Hatoriki_kai on PlayStation Network Version 1.01 (10/12/2017) - Fixed various move properties and damages, most notably what is and isn't invulnerable. Copyright crud: I wrote this so no copypasta. Gimme credit when credit's due. TABLE of CONTENTS: I. Introduction IA. How to Play IA-1. Main Menu IA-2. Controls and Display IA-3. Stage Progression IB. Unlocking Stuff IC. Combat II. Characters' Move Lists And Strategies C1. Billy Lee C2. Jimmy Lee C3. Williams C4. Rowper C5. Linda C6. Linda (Mohawk) C7. Abobo C8. Right Arm C9. Burnov C10. Chin Taimei C11. Mason C12. Cody C13. Jake C14. Casey Okada C15. Shannon Okada C16. Ashida C17. Yamazaki C18. Soeno C19. Ayumi C20. Kodani C21. Sonny Lee C22. Chin Seimei C23. Yagyuu Ranzou C24. Jimmy Lee (Retro) C25. Mysterious Warrior III. Story Mode (Missions) IV. Tower Mode ---------------- I. Introduction ---------------- I should start, I suppose, by explaining what this game is and why I decided to write this silly guide/move list/whatever you wanna call it. Back in the '80s, the arcade and Famicom/NES versions of Double Dragon, then Double Dragon II and III were developed, produced, and released through various companies, but the main guy in charge of stuff seems to have been KISHIMOTO Yoshihisa (at first under the professional psuedonym of simply "Yoshi Kishi"). These games were big hits in Japan and abroad. The teams he was involved with also made the "Ragin' Kunio" games ("Nekketsu kouha Kunio-kun"), which included many different types of games but basically with the same "feel" to them. Two examples that made it out of Japan and enjoyed some success old-school gamers might know would be River City Ransom (Downtown nekketsu monogatari in Japan) and Super Dodgeball (Nekketsu koukou Dodgeball-bu in Japan). See the whole "Nekketsu" thing? Anyway, these are all pretty much related titles with the same kind of aesthetic. It's kinda hard to trace what people were involved with all the games in the series, but it seems like Mr. Kishimoto is generally referred to as a producer for games like Return of Double Dragon (a.k.a. Super Double Dragon) and Double Dragon NEON. Whatever the case, I think this game is him (listed as director this time) trying to get back to the feel of the late '80s Double Dragon I-III. I think? More like, it's insanely obvious. This game basically feels like Double Dragon II + you can play as all the characters this time. Unlike Double Dragon II, though, it can be rather tough and the 5 continues really doesn't seem like a lot. There's also no way to select things like difficulty. So, you've probably read a whole bunch of negative reviews by now. I think the last time I checked, it was around 50% on Metacritic with most professional reviewers giving it unfavorable scores. Why is that? Well, the game...has major issues. First off, a newcomer will probably be confused entirely because there is absolutely no tutorial. There is a "How To Play" selection in the Options Menu, but it doesn't really tell you very much. Add in the fact that so much of the game's system operates on its own, awkward rules, and it will appear as a confusing mess--and maybe it really is! I was confused because when the game was first released, all the message boards seemed to be full of posts by people saying they had beaten it with all characters or whatever casually, but I couldn't even make it through the bloody thing with the main characters (always ran out of continues by the final two chapters of the story). It was so frustrating that I decided to take it upon myself to figure out the nuances of the system and the damages of each move and how much health each enemy had, and such. ************ Let me just break this part out for those who don't want to swim through that text up there: The game does have a system that does "make sense," in its own weird way. It confused me, too, so I wrote this FAQ. ************ Having said all that, I used to think the game was just what I'd call "kusoge--adjacent," until I realized there were actually gamebreaking and consistent glitches and bugs, so it really is what the Japanese would call "kusoge-." "Ge-" is short for "ge-mu" ("game") and "kuso" is a very mild swear word in Japan that means something like "poop" or "crap." So, it's really a junk game. At least I know how to replicate most bugs so things that halt progress are avoidable if you know what you're doing (they mostly involve two-player mode). Anyway, the most important parts of this guide will be the section on combat and the section on characters (where I list the damages and stuff). IA. How To Play ---------------- IA-1. Main Menu ---------------- Cycle through the options with up and down on the D-Pad or left thumbstick. Left or right will change the language (at the bottom of the screen). STORY: Play through the 12 Missions of the story 2P DUEL: Couchplay against another person (yay?). Note that some moves have different effects when playing against another human arbitrarily. For instance, Ashida's K attack will knock a player's character down, while it will stun a computer opponent. Also, you can't throw or grapple another player (why?). TOWER: Basically a survival mode. You need to play through the story mode first to unlock this mode. CONFIG: I highly recommend you do this so that you can assign a button to each of the three "Special" moves. The other methods of performing these are a bit complicated, so just using assigned buttons is recommended. -> 1P CONFIG: Configures player 1's controls. -> 2P CONFIG: Configures player 2's controls. -> DEFAULT: Sets everything back to default. OPTIONS: -> HOW TO PLAY: Displays a cryptic overview on how to do moves. -> BGM MODE: Select "NORMAL" or "RETRO" for the soundtrack. -> CLEAR DATA: Clears your progress. -> EXIT: Exits Options menu. Once you have selected "Story" or "Tower," you can select your characters. To change the number of players, hit up or down on the D-Pad or left stick. 2P-A (with both characters looking to the left) is the regular two-player mode; players hit only enemy characters. 2P-B (with both characters doing an attack and facing each other) is a two-player mode where players can hit each other, too (not recommended to be honest). Press right or left to select your character. If you haven't beaten the story mode and played the tower mode, you won't be able to select anyone but Billy and Jimmy; the others are unlocked in tower mode. ** COOL TIP!! ** If you hit Options on player 1's controller on the menu screen, you can select a mission, providing you have already cleared it. This is useful for your first playthrough, basically. ** / COOL TIP! ** In 2P Duel, you can play as characters you have unlocked either by playing Story or Tower. Note that the only way to quit out of this mode, once you have selected it, is to hit Start--er, Options--and select "Exit Game." IA-2. Controls and Display --------------------------- D-Pad/Left Stick: Use to move around. Press up to go into the background and down to come into the foreground, and left and right to move left or right (gee). P: Whatever button you have assigned to Punch. K: Whatever button you have assigned to Kick. J: Whatever button you have assigned to Jump. You can also jump by press- ing P+K at the same time if you want, but there's really no reason for that. S1: Whatever button you have assigned to Special1. S2: Whatever button you have assigned to Special2. S3: Whatever button you have assigned to Special3. Options: Press this to bring up the "Continue / Exit Game" menu. Note that there is no "confirmation" for exiting so you can easily destroy everything you've done in that playthrough if you're not careful. I recommend setting P to Square, K to Triangle, and either setting J to X or Circle, then Special one to either Circle or X, then S2 to R1 and S3 to L1. You can obviously do whatever feels comfortable, tho'. Display: This should be fairly straightforward, too, but here we go: There is a black bar area at the bottom of the screen. The lower left- hand side will have a portrait of player 1's character, followed by a "x(1-3)" for how many lives you have. Above that is player 1's health gauge. It goes down and you get knocked down, you die. To the right of that is player 1's score, then a part saying how many credits you have to continue if your lives run out, and below that the high score. If your character has projectiles, they will appear in a little box above your score and next to your health with a "x(number)" to show you how many more uses you have. Note that the Health Gauge doesn't really show things very accurately because there are just these 8 blocks. For the purpose of this guide, the best way I could figure is that a player either has 128 health or else it's a multiple of that and some things might be very slightly off (for instance, something that says "3" might actually do "29" and it's out of 1,280), but it doesn't seem like it. It seems like everything fits the 128-Health model. To the right of that? The same info but for player 2. Pretty much intuitive. IA-3. Stage Progression ------------------------ For each "wave" of enemies, you will find yourself unable to progress, blocked by either a door or an invisible barrier, until you defeat the enemies. Enemies somtimes linger for a long time off-screen or appear only after others are defeated, so your game probably isn't broken if you think you beat them all and you want to go to the next part; it's probably just that there's some chowderhead dawdling about somewhere. After you clear a wave, you'll probably get a little hand symbol pointing either to the right or up. You'll either have to move to the right or enter a door or climb up stairs and platform to get to the next invisible barrier and next wave of enemies, though sometimes it just automatically switches to a new scene after you beat everyone up. If you go through a door or are transported to a new area, I call those "scenes" in the walkthrough. Going to a new scene is especially cool for characters who have projectiles because it will give you more automatically just for changing scenes. Once you defeat the enemies in the final wave of the final scene, you will get a "Mission (whatever) Clear!" notification and you can continue to the next mission automatically. Oh--except Mission 11; you need to navigate through traps and go into a door to get to the final mission. IB. Unlocking Stuff -------------------- First off, you will need to play through Story to get the Tower Mode unlocked and to unlock characters for 2P Duel (if that matters to you). Some characters will not unlock for 2P Duel, even if you have already defeated them in Story, but they will become available when you unlock them through Tower (the game will tell you "Unlocked for All Modes"). If you run out of continues, don't fret! Just use Mission Select by pressing Options on Player 1's controller on the main menu and muscle your way through it. Characters unlocked for 2P Duel through Story Mode: Mission 01: Williams Mission 02: Rowper Mission 03: Linda, Linda (Mohawk) Mission 04: Mason Mission 05: Cody Mission 06: Abobo, Burnov Mission 07: Chin Taimei Mission 08: Right Arm Mission 09: Yamazaki, Soeno Mission 10: Kodani, Ayumi Mission 11: (No one) Mission 12: Ashida, Jake Characters not unlocked in Story Mode: Casey Okada Shannon Okada Sonny Lee* Chin Seimei* Yagyuu Ranzou* Jimmy Lee (Retro)* Mysterious Warrior* *--do not appear in Story, even as enemies. Note that in order to select these characters in 2P Duel, you will need to scroll off the screen down at the bottom for their "row." Once you have unlocked Tower, defeating a character in Tower will unlock them for play in all modes. Enemies randomly appear in Tower, except for a few that you will have to be at certain floors to unlock. NOTE: Once you defeat an enemy in Tower, you will need to survive that floor to unlock them! Characters unlocked at specific times in Tower: Abobo: From Floor 07 on Right Arm: From Floor 07 on Jake: From Floor 12 on Ayumi: From Floor 17 on Kodani: From Floor 17 on Ashida: From Floor 22 on Casey and Shannon Okada: Floor 25 (note: they appear from Floor 22-29) Chin Seimei: Floor 30 Yagyuu Ranzou: Floor 30 Sonny Lee: Floor 30 Jimmy Lee (Retro): Floor 35 Mysterious Warrior: Floor 40 That's really all there is to unlock, so I will now talk about Trophies (for PS4, at least...still don't own the other versions of the game). *** OMG IMPORTANT NOTE! (not really) *** In order to attain the Trophies for specific characters, you must play through the entire Story in one go (Mission 1-12 without using Mission Select). Probably best to do as couchplay with a friend, using a powerhouse character like Ashida or Abobo or Mysterious Warrior and whatever other character. You get the Trophy regardless of which player was using the character. You can also shove the weaker character to a "safe zone" (top or bottom of the screen...I'll explain in Combat) and beating the game with a strong character and get the Trophy. You get the Trophy even if the character died and didn't continue if you are in 2P (provided you still cleared the game with the other character), but note that gamebreaking glitches can occur in some points of the Story if your secondary character didn't continue (you're safe once you clear Mission 8). Note that there are no specific Trophies for clearing the game with any of the Lee characters, i.e. Billy, Jimmy, Jimmy (Retro), or Sonny. Also, Linda and Linda (Mohawk) share a Trophy, as do Casey and Shannon Okada, so you only have to beat it with one character of those pairs. If you do that, you will have cleared Mission 1-12 with 19 characters (unless you played through the whole thing the first time to unlock the other characters without using Mission Select), so basically you will have to use one of them to get "THE_GENERALIST." DD4_MASTER (Platinum): Attain all other Trophies GO_TO_JAPAN (Bronze): Clear Mission 6 OKADA_TOWER (Bronze): Clear Mission 8 TOWER_10F (Bronze): Clear Floor 10 of the Tower TOWER_20F (Bronze): Clear Floor 20 of the Tower TOWER_30F (Silver): Clear Floor 30 of the Tower TOWER_40F (Silver): Clear Floor 40 of the Tower TOWER_50F (Gold): Clear Floor 50 of the Tower TOWER_MASTER (Gold): Clear Floor 100 of the Tower (hardest Trophy) STORY_CLEAR (Bronze): Clear all Missions (you can use Mission Select) WILLIAMS (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Williams ROWPER (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Rowper LINDA (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Linda or Linda (Mohawk) ABOBO (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Abobo RIGHT_ARM (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Right Arm BURNOV (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Burnov CHIN (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Chin Taimei MASON (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Mason CODY (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Cody JAKE (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Jake CASEY_SHANNON (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Casey or Shannon Okada ASHIDA (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Ashida YAMAZAKI (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Yamazaki SOENO (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Soeno AYUMI (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Ayumi KODANI (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Kodani SEIMEI (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Chin Seimei RANZOU (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Yagyuu Ranzou MYSTERIOUS (Silver): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with Mysterious Warrior THE_GENERALIST (Gold): Clear all Missions from Mission 1 with "many characters" (they mean all 19 characters who get a Trophy for completing the game without Mission Select). IC. Combat ----------- This is the only thing you can do in the game, so this part of the guide should be pretty useful (I hope)--especially if you are finding yourself always getting knocked down by stupid jump kicks and then never being able to stand up properly so the computer just camps around you and hammers you to pieces while you're like "Gee, I wonder what it's like to actually be allowed to play?" So, here's the deal on the system. I would recommend actually reading this section (though I know, verbose FAQs are annoying for a game that seems relatively simple and newcomers might just race down to the character section to see what moves do how much damage). Keep these things in mind and after playing a bunch you'll probably learn the weird nuances of DDIV and then you can totally scoff at all your friends because you know you're a DDIV master so whatever they accomplish you can just be like "But did you beat DDIV in one go with Soeno? Did you get to Floor 115 in Tower? Then your argument is moot." They'll probably appreciate that. ** Wind-up, active, cool-down--hey, let's attacking! ** Every character's attack basically has three stages: wind-up, active, and cool-down. The idea is simple, but I will sometimes refer to these three things, so I guess it's a good idea to clarify: Wind-up: The animation of your character getting ready to attack. For instance, when you use Special1 with Billy or Jimmy for the Headbutt attack, you'll notice a brief animation of them rearing back before their head comes forward. This actually lasts while their head is coming forward, too. This is the wind-up for that attack. Active: The period of time in which your attack is sticking out there and can hit the opponent. Continuing with the Headbutt, when their head and torso are leaned forward. Cool-Down: The animation and period of time in which the character is recovering from their attack before they can attack again. This is the most vulnerable time, usually, since there's no active attack and the character is locked into animation. For the Headbutt, it's basically a reverse of the wind-up animation after the active period. You'll see why I described this for some moves, such as those that have invulnerable attributes. Just a quick run-down, though I'll go into it in a bit, no invulnerable move has invulnerable frames (animation, what- ever) during cool-down. ** Whoah, did you see that guy's hitbox? What's his hurtbox like? ** If you play fighting games, you probably already know this concept, but basically, when you move a character around and/or perform an action, rather than just pixels running around on a screen, there's also a hidden concept the computer figures of the area you can be hit, and when you attack, there's an area of effect of the hit. These are basically drawn with rectangular "boxes" in the computer's mind--though we don't get to see them drawn on the screen. You'll notice sometimes that the move looks almost like a Hollywood stuntman attack in some older action film; a fist or foot will just kinda be near someone and they're like "oh man, I'm hurt!" This is because of hitboxes and hurtboxes interacting. Hitbox: This is the area in which your character's attack can damage an opponent (bear in mind, yes, this is different from the animation and is generally a little bit bigger than what's actually displayed on the screen). Hurtbox: This is the area around a character in which, should an attack or active trap come into contact, the character is hit. I'll describe some attacks as better or worse because of where the hitbox sticks out versus where the hurtbox is. Sometimes, a hitbox is way out in front of a character and the hurtbox isn't very exposed at all. This makes it hard for someone to interrupt the attack or counterattack, basically. It's a bit technical and not always worth going into because this isn't Street Fighter or Tekken or anything, but I will use these terms sometimes, so it'll be good to know what the blazes I'm babbling on about. ** Invulnerability ** This is a time in which the character is still on the screen and active, but actually has no hurtbox, basically. In games with a dodge (which would have been so wonderful in this title, but, alas...), you know, usually there are what action people call "i-frames." This refers to frames of animation as a measurement of time (since it's usually far less than a second) in which the character has no hurtbox. You'll usually see this displayed for the character as them "flickering" on the screen. This is their visual cue for "hey there nephew, you can't get hit right now." However, there are moves I list as "invulnerable." This means that during the move's wind-up or active windows (usually both), there is no hurtbox. It's really useful when approaching aggressive enemies to bust this out on them so their attacks sail right through you and yours hits. ** Crouch ** One of the important game design elements to this entire series has been whether or not a character is crouching. Crouching is actually an invulner- able state, but it lasts a short window of time and then the character is standing up again. What's important to note here is that some moves only come out from a crouch. I list these in the movelist as "cP" or "cK" (crouching punch or crouching kick). Actually, from a crouch--except the special crouch from getting up off the floor after being knocked down (see the next blurb)--these are pretty much your only options, unless you just want to wait to stand up. Tekken peeps will know this well because that game has "wr" (while rising) moves. If you crouch and then let go and hit an attack button in Tekken, you won't get the same move as you would if you were just standing there; you'll get a special attack assigned to that button for that state. Most characters can't just crouch. There's no command for most characters to just go into a crouch--which would have been appreciated maybe for some characters, but oh well, there you have it. To get into a crouched state, you will need to land from a jump or get up from being knocked down--or do a move that ends in crouch (these are basically all attacks that make your character leave the ground). ** Dazed and confused ** The Japanese instructions refer to this also as crouching. Basically, when a character is hit by certain attacks, they will make a visage of agony and be briefly incapacitated. During this time, a character attacking them will get a special attack for P or K if they attack--and their normal P or K will not be available in that instance. Since it would take a lot of room to write out "in front of dazed opponent" on my movelist, I've just used a bit of shorthand and said "dazed." This doesn't mean when you are dazed yourself (you can't do anything in that instance, anyway); it means when the opponent is dazed. >>> COOL TIP!! You can cancel almost any character's second P or K <<< >>> on successful hit as it dazes an enemy into any "dazed" move or <<< >>> any Special. There are three exceptions as listed below: <<< 1. Yamazaki's K (Leaping Overhead Chop). He has to recover from the jump of the move and will land in crouch. 2. Shannon and Casey Okada's K (Sliding Kick). 3. Ayumi's Smoke Bomb Special (S1). On successful hit, she will automatically jump backwards to throw a Shuriken. A dazed character WILL NOT GET HIT BY PROJECTILES. A projectile will sail right through them, but naturally, if you time it perfectly they will come out of the daze and not have time to respond, if you really want to do that. I'll go into projectiles later. Billy, Jimmy (but not Jimmy [Retro]), Abobo, Burnov, and Kodani can grapple or throw opponents by pressing towards in front of them when they are dazed and facing the player. This usually leads to huge damage. Abobo, Burnov, and Kodani are invulnerable as they throw their opponent--but not Billy or Jimmy, so if you are grappling and wailing on a guy, wrap it up quickly before the enemies catch up and hit you! !!! IMPORTANT: Throws only work on "normal" sized enemies; not on !!! !!! bosses or other "big" guys. They don't work on Chin Taimei, Chin !!! !!! Seimei, other players, Jimmy (Retro), Sonny, or Ranzou, either !!! All throws arejuggle starters, and strangely, Billy and Jimmy can actually hit another juggle starter after the throw. Confused? Well, I'll explain juggling next, then. ** Juggles ** Most of the time, if a character is in the air because they were hit by an attack and falling to the ground, they're immune from attack. However, some characters have attacks that cause a special knockdown effect in which the hapless victim can be hit with one more attack. This is known as "juggling." A character struck with a hit in a juggle is then falling in a normal knock-down state and cannot be hit with anything else--except for the special juggle starter that is Billy and Jimmy's throw. After the throw, Billy can use his S2 kick special, which is his other juggle starter, and hit one more time. Jimmy's throw hurls the opponent too far for his S2 to connect, but he can use his S2 on Billy's throw to keep the combo going. This is much less awesome than it sounds. Juggles are pretty addictive in almost all games, but in this title, they're not used too much except by maybe Billy, Jimmy, Abobo, and Right Arm (sadly). Billy, Jimmy, Burnov, and Abobo get some pretty hefty damage from their throw combos, but it's a bit useless because it's overkill; the only enemies they can throw have so little health it's probably best to just do a quick combo and kill them instead of giving the enemies an opportunity to come in and give you the smack-down as you bounce them around. ** Let me get the (censored) up off the ground!! ** When you've been knocked down, you'll get up in a special crouch state. During this crouch, you can just wait to stand up (as usual), or you can use your crouch attacks--but you can also use any Special attack, too. When you do either a crouch attack or a Special, you'll notice that your character flickers on the screen for a short time. This is because--yes, you guessed it--you're invulnerable. Luckily, the stupid computer does not get this bonus, as I'll explain later for how to beat up guys with tons of health. The thing is, this is another way of being invulnerable--but you will need to choose what you do wisely as the computer's main gameplan is to surround you. In fact, you'll notice them all jockeying for their usual positions like it's suddenly some team strategy game at that point as you lie on the ground. Most characters do not have a very good benefit from doing a crouch attack in this state. The invulnerable window is pretty short and doesn't usually even last the duration of the attack. So, you'll pretty much want to stick to relatively fast crouch attacks if you do that so that you have time to recover. To that end, you'll most likely want to avoid any attack that ends in crouch. This is because you will lose the invulnerability and be stuck in a crouch animation again--which does have temporary invulnerability, sure, but then enemies will just come and stuff whatever you do off of the crouch. So, when getting up, I generally recommend finding either a fast crouch attack with a nice and short cool-down so you can recover and be ready to answer the enemies who will come rushing in from all angles with their own nonsense, or to use a good Special that will do something like knock all enemies around you down (rare) or else propel you far away from the action. The caviat is to not use something that leaves you crouching too close to the standing enemies. This is a weird answer to the problem of enemies being able to just crowd you as you lie on the ground and quickly hit you as you get back up. Other brawlers, such as the Final Fight series, have different answers that might feel a bit more intuitive such as the "extra joy" attack, a crowd-clearer that is basically invulnerable at the cost of a little bit of health. It's different in Double Dragon Land, but that's just how it is, so you gotta get used to it or else get used to just lying on the floor for a million years and watching your lives and credits go away. One last thing about getting up from a knockdown that is important to note: you can change what direction you're facing for the crouch. BUT, the timing might be a little weird and need practice. Simply hold behind you and you should be getting up in a crouch that faces behind you. The problem is that if you hit the button for your attack too quickly when you do this, the game will often misinterpret the command because of the awkward "hold a button while the stick is neutral and then hit forward or back" method of inputting Specials. So, say you want to get up and face behind you and do a cP with Billy to remove those chowderheads behind you from the equation while invulnerable, and exploit its quick recovery to turn around and deal with the other knuckleheads, and you didn't time the "turn around" part correctly because you hit the button too soon? You'll get his S3 (back elbow) instead because the command is to hit back while holding P, basically. The reach of the Elbow is pathetic and won't hit certain enemies such as Abobo, who will camp out farther away than others because of his incredible reach, and so he'll just stand there and not get hit, then unload on you as your invulnerability fades. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR BILLY AND JIMMY: Their Spiral Rising Headbutt, or whatever you want to call it (S1~P or K or J) is a great move and all--and it's a Special! So, can you use it to get up? Not if you wanna be invul- nerable! Unfortunately, although moves that are "offshoots" of other moves (for instance, Abobo's P or J attacks off his dashes--these are technically a move after a move), this is actually more of a "cancel that!" move. You cancel the Headbutt to get the Rising Headbutt. So, all you need to really know? It won't have the invulnerability property when you're getting up from the ground (I think the game ascribes the "invulnerable now!" flashing status to the Headbutt but then "forgets" about it for the Rising Headbutt when you cancel the move). This is lame because it would be a nice way to destroy people swarming you when you get up from being knocked down (the Rising Headbutt is Billy and Jimmy's most damaging single move). ** Yo what plane are you on?! ** This game features semi-3D gameplay. It's 2D, but you can move into the background or closer to the screen. Because of this, attacks don't just hit directly in front of a character. You don't need to be exactly lined up with an enemy to hit them--nor them you. Instead, you usually can be off by a slight amount either "above" or "below" them. This will be important a couple of blurbs from now. Sometimes I'll say something like "break the safe plane" or whatever. The "plane" I refer to is the horizontal line directly before and after the character. For example, you'll want to move a few planes up or down from the enemy to avoid his attacks, or platforming segments have just one "plane" or whatever (meaning you can't move up or down on the platform). ** He who walks diagonally is the loser ** Walking directly up or down is much, much faster than walking diagonally. It's actually a bit disproportionate to the amount of distance traveled! Try this. Clear the numskulls in wave 1 of Mission 1 Scene 1. This gloved hand will appear to point to the right. Go to the top of the screen. Now, wait for the hand to finish blinking, and then walk down and to the left. Notice how it took two blinks of the hand? OK, now try it again, but this time just walk directly down from the top to the bottom. Just took one blink, right? Since you move so much more quickly just walking vertically, I highly recommend that unless you are far from an enemy, you rely mostly on walking straight towards the background or into the foreground to get in the desired position. That desired position? A little bit off the enemy's vertical plane. Why? Well, if an enemy is to approach you to attack, and you throw an attack out there, they have to get in the right vertical position to strike you. The vertical hitbox is much smaller than the hitbox or hurtbox on a horizontal plane. So, if you threw out an attack that had a nice active window and they come strolling in some vertical way to get to where their attack can finally hit you on a vertical plane, well, if you time it right, they won't have time to get an active attack out at you. The computer is stupid and will almost always walk towards you a distance and then decide to diagonally come towards you. I should note that for defeating the computer, this tends to work better from a position "below" them on the screen so that they walk down towards you. This is because most attacks strike at the upper body, so they come out more "up" as far as the vertical hitbox goes. It's still definitely possible to exploit the computer walking up towards you, but it's probably better to make them walk down at you. Oh--one more thing! If you're surrounded by dudes and wanna try to get away, why not take a gamble that you can vertically stride away with up or down? A lot of times, you can even avoid the second hit of things that are meant to combo, like a punch, punch! It's not 100% guaranteed but it's a good way to get out of danger if you're in a pinch. ** I need a safe space!! ** For some reason, in almost all areas where there is a vertical plane (in other words, not in platforming areas), the computer will almost never go to the plane furthest into the background or closest to the screen. Usually (and I mean, like 95+% of the time), you can go to either the highest or lowest plane and just stand there and be totally fine. Watch in amusement as the enemies gather around and just look at you like man- nequins. There are a few points in the story where either the top or the bottom are not actually safe. This is usually because there is something weird like a little indentation somewhere in the stage for a doorway, but some- times it's just...there. Also, some characters are guilty of breaking the plane from time to time. Pretty much, these include Ayumi (biggest offender), Yamazaki and Soeno (though it's a little rare), and sometimes Right Arm. Right Arm is par- ticularly obnoxious because he will often jump kick all over you and seem to always be behind you no matter what you do when you get up. It's kinda rare, though, as I said. It does sometimes occur on the bottom plane of the Tower, sadly, but not very often. The reason for them breaking the safe space plane is generally because they somehow get into that plane. The CPU is loath to enter the very top or bottom of the scren (for whatever reason). If they do manage to get there, however, there is a simple way to resolve this: walk up or down when you can and get to the other safe plane. The CPU will then usually mind its manners and not break the safe space, but the ones I listed above will sometimes still be jerks and go there. ** How to break the plane ** So, you're chilling in your safe space. What to do? Well, some characters are fast or have moves that can make them run around a bit (such as Abobo's S2 or S3, which make him run around all sloppy with a stupid look on his face). You can use these characters' movements to avoid the cluster of dingdongs that have assembled to knock you silly as soon as you step out of the plane if you want, but if you don't got something like that, you'll just have to walk and jump and stuff to try and get them into a better position. Note that some characters can't really do this too well (such as sluggish Kodani). When you have the enemies where you want them, the best ways to break out of that safe space and attack are either going to be your fastest attacks such as P,P, or else an invulnerable attack. Billy and Jimmy can Headbutt, for instance. You can actually play through almost the entire game by getting in a safe space, darting out with a Headbutt, then going right back and you'll be OK--but note that the Headbutt only does 5 damage and the weakest enemies in Story have 18 Health. This means it that while it is possible to just Headbutt almost everyone into oblivion, it's gonna take a loooot longer than getting in the right position and then launching a Spiral Rising Headbutt or something so that when they come to attack, they'll get hit by the lengthy active window. Note that the Spiral Rising Headbutt (S1~P or K or J) also is their most damaging single move for an added bonus. ** Don't mind me; I'm just camping out here to punish you ** The absolute best, ideal situation to really hand it to the computer in this game is to stand over them when they're lying on the ground and then attack them as they get up. The best way to do this is probably to do a P,P, dazed P or K or some variant. For Billy and Jimmy, the best thing to do is probably to get them dazed and then do a jumping kick (S2) and then use the cP to uppercut them back up into the air as a juggle. This leaves them near you, so you can just camp out and repeat. This is essential for bosses (especially because you can't grapple them). Some of them have way too much health, so this is the ideal way to repeatedly deal some decent damage and keep them in a sort of loop where you keep knocking them down and then comboing them as they try to get up, since the computer does not enjoy the invulnerable bonus of using a crouch move. ** Ow, you punched me!--um, but I just walked away? ** I've listed "combos" as suggestions in the characters section, but...in actuality, the only true combos that exist in the game are when a character is dazed or during a grapple or juggle. The thing is, a great deal of the time, the recovery from something like a P jab is so long that the next move will almost certainly hit. However, if you're at the edge of the range of the hitbox of an attack, you can actually walk up or down and avoid the next hit. It might be a little rare, but it's very useful to keep this in mind in case you're trying to get to a safe space because only characters that can daze or knock you down with a quick attack will usually be able to do anything permanent. Still, it's not 100% and you will find yourself getting combo'ed anyway by brutes with fast punches or with great range like Abobo. The computer will only break the combos I've listed if they have a quick and invulnerable attack. This includes Lvl.5 Abobo and Lvl.3 Cody, so keep that in mind when fighting them. If you have them knocked down, it's best to do a K as they get up and then some sort of knockdown to keep them in range and drain their life that way (or grapple Cody). ** Oh how cute--Abobo is green now? Is he a Pokemon? ** Enemies who do not appear in their default colors are at a higher level than their other versions. "But, Patrick, what happens when an enemy levels up?" All characters that are not boss-like (i.e. not a Kodani or an Ashida or what-have-you) become more agressive in higher levels. Just stand in front of a Lvl.1 Cody or Mason. Guy's practically brain-dead. In contrast, a Lvl.3 Cody will attack as soon as he can when you're near him. Abobo gets more aggressive as he levels up, too--this is part of the reason why the Lvl.5 Abobo fight is kinda like the great barrier many characters will face to getting through the game without using Mission Select. All enemies get damage bonuses as they level up, too--and it's usually pretty drastic. For instance, Lvl.1 Cody does normal damage, but then Lvl.2 gets a x1.5 modifier, and then a Lvl.3 Cody has a ridiculous x3.9 modifier. If you think about it, it's not too unfair since Cody usually does something like 2 or 3 points per attack, and he has to take care of players that are at 128 health. Again, though, wait until Lvl.5 Abobo, who gets a whopping x5 modifier (ouch). One crouching K spinning jump thing hits? You're really gonna see your life vanish. Usually, they also have a higher Health. I say "usually" because the following exceptions occur: -- Lvl.1 Chin Taimei has more Health than Lvl.2 Chin Taimei, but Lvl.2 Chin Taimei is more aggressive. -- Lvl.2 Abobo has less Health than Lvl.1 Abobo, but has a x1.25 Damage Modifier. -- Lvl.1 Jake has slightly more Health than Lvl.2 Jake, but Lvl.2 Jake has a x3.0 Damage Modifier. -- Kodani seems real messed up. Kodani already always has a slight Damage Modifier (x1.4) compared to the player Kodani, but this doesn't affect his Taiatari Charge attack (S3). However: Lvl.2 Kodani has less Health than Lvl.1, but has a higher damage Modifier (x3.6) except his S3 attack is still unchanged. Lvl.3 Kodani has the same Health as Lvl.1, but has a higher damage Modifier (x2.5) and his S3 attack is x1.8. Lvl.4 Kodani has the same Health as Lvl.1, but has a higher damage Modifier (x3.5) and his S3 attack is x1.8. (He also looks like Lvl.2 Kodani...isn't that weird?) In addition to Health and aggressiveness, some characters also get additional attacks added at certain levels. For instance, a Lvl.1 Mason will not use the Ball and Chain projectile (boomerang), but a Lvl.2 and Lvl.3 sure will. Refer to the section on characters and their moves for full details. ** Wait, CPU...how did you do that when I wasn't stunned, what? ** There are many moves in this game that require the player to be in certain instances to use. These include crouching moves and moves in front of a dazed opponent. You might notice the CPU use these moves even if you're just wandering around without being dazed or without them crouching at all and be like "What?" That's because a computer enemy can use any move it wants at any time, just about. They don't need to crouch to use a move you would need to crouch for, and they don't need you to be dazed in order to use it. This is because they actually CAN'T use special dazed moves, generally, or crouching moves. The CPU can just go "OK, so, I guess I'll use that move" if if has it in its arsenal. But a lot of times, you might notice that they P,P you, then follow up with another P--something that's impossible for a player to do because the enemy is stunned. Luckily, the CPU characters do not generally have access to the entire move list of a character--especially if they are at a low level. A Lvl.1 Mason, for instance, basically only has P,P, a crouch, and its jump kick. Lvl.3 Mason, however, will not only be able to throw those annoying, boomerang-ing Ball and Chains like you can as a player with K, but it can also do the Leaping Knee attack tha would normally only be done off a crouch. The only exception to this rule seems to be grapples. Abobo, Burnov, and Kodani will grapple your character--but only after they you have been dazed. ** Two-Player shenanigans ** Got a co-op pal? Yay! The game is almost certainly designed so that it's more fun and more "doable" with a homey. Trouble is, who's got couchplay buds these days? It's not 1988 anymore, when games were basically only played by school kids (who didn't have this modern plethora of other forms of entertainment or social media to enjoy). I mean, it's much rarer to have someone be like "I'm gonna come by so we can play games!" these days than it was in the '80s or '90s. Anyway, if there are 2 players, one who is suffering in the safe zone like "help!" can rely on the other player to come by and stomp the fools who are just standing in place staring at you. What to do, then? Well, you CAN actually exploit this if you don't got nobody around, providing you have two controllers. Park one character in the safe zone and then go around and try to take care of the fools who don't collect in front of the one in the safe space like so much plaque in my arteries, then it's way easier to deal with the mob instead of taking them on all by your lonesome. Heck, put them both in the safe zone and move around to get them in position more easily! Problems of being surrounded all the time by num- skulls solved. Tired of always running out of continues with worthless Soeno? Pick Mysterious Warrior or Ashida or Kodani or Abobo or some other huge brute and him, park Soeno, and merrily chortle to yourself as you clock statues that were supposed to be active characters causing a nuisance. Just be careful because if you kill your secondary character off and don't continue, while you will still get the Trophy if you clear the game as if the second- ary dude lived, the game sometimes gets kinda buggy in this instance and will always be gamebreaking if you get to levels like Mission 8's final wave. You'll see weirdness like your character floating up to the heavens or off screen or even put on a non-existent platform from which the only escape is to fall and die. You'll probably also need to employ this "strategy" with Tower Mode, if you want to get to Floor 100 and don't have a couchplay friend. I'd say you almost definitely should be playing two Mysterious Warriors for that. ** Jump-man Double Dragon-io ** Jumping can be performed by either hitting J or P+K (if you really want to risk hitting two buttons at once even though the game is pretty strict on reading that input). There are a few things to note about jumping. --> Jump Kicks are AWESOME! Most characters have simply one attack when they jump, done by either pressing P or K while jumping. The thing about this attack is, the hurtbox is usually small because the character is usually more hori- zontal than vertical. Here's the other awesome thing about jump kicks: they basically have no wind-up or cool-down and the active window is the entirety of the jump. This makes them seem like almost unbeatable attacks (except that a savvy player can stand there and jab a jumping dude out of the air). Most of the time, the computer will try to respond when you get in range with some big attack--and you'll end up hitting them. This is good even for enemies like Kodani, who loves to abuse his Taiatari Charge. It has limited invulnerability at the crouching part of the wind-up, but not during the attack, and the way your jump kick's hit- box is moving during a jump, you'll generally come into contact with his hurtbox before his attack can hit you. Other characters such as Mason are very "jump-kick-happy," and will almost always do a jump kick to approach. However, if you start yours from a far away distance, you'll usually end up hitting him instead. This makes jump kicks an ideal way to just drop guys so you can camp out and destroy them (in a later blurb). --> Turn around! Um, weirdly, you can change the direction you are facing in a jump. You can't change the trajectory of a jump once you've started, but you can press back to look behind you--and do that over and over if you wanna make the guy spin around weird in the air. This is useful for some fast characters that like to rush in, because you can jump away, face them, and hit attack to stuff whatever nonsense they wanna through your way. --> Jump Kicks are low-risk Except for boss characters like Ashida, who has that ridiculous energy attack thing that has an enormous hitbox and does tons of damage, you basically only risk getting popped out of the air with one attack with a jump attack. This is good because you won't end up being combo'd, which is obviously the way the computer can destroy your health like crazy. --> Jumping is essential to platforming. I'll describe that in the next blurb so I can get out of these stupid bullet point things. Help! I'm stuck in format land and I can't get out! ** Platforming and traps ** This isn't really part of combat...kinda, but you do sometimes encounter enemies in platform or trap segments and I don't want to make a whole section just for platforming. Once you get high enough on any platforming segment, a fall will pretty much get you an instant death, so...yeah. Be really careful! I think they either did this just to be nostalgic for the NES days, or because they wanted to break it up so one guy didn't use two controllers to get the Trophies for beating a game with a character in semi-cheating fashion. This whole thing is timing. It's not terribly complicated; just don't get hit by a trap or miss your jump. Here are the elements of platforming: Elevator platforms: These go up and down. Time your jump and try not to jump as the elevator rises from its middle, because you might find yourself accidentally "landing" on the very edge, and while you are still crouching, sometimes falling off the edge to your death. Conveyor belts: Obviously, these push you in one direction or the other. What's dangerous about these is that when you jump onto them, you will be stuck in a crouch animation for a bit of time. Be care- ful not to land too far near the edge in which the belt is pushing you so you don't get stuck long enough to die, but if you are close, another jump forward as soon as you can won't hurt. The only part where you can't do the "two controllers, one player" thing too well because of platforming is in Mission 6, right after the second wave of Scene 2. This is because you have to jump to a conveyor belt, but both characters have to jump down to that belt to make the screen scroll down enough for you to complete the segment, so you can't just do one at a time as well as you could in other platform segments and will have to be walking to the left as the belt scrolls you to the right with the first character. It's definitely still possible, it's just that you may lose a life or two. Vanishing platforms: These flicker for a moment before vanishing, but they also flicker as they reappear and you can't actually stand on them during the "reappearing" flicker. Cogs: These rotate at certain intervals. You will get hit (possibly for 0 damage) and it will try to throw you, but if you're on the far part of the cog, you might still be safe. Study the timing for these and make sure you are jumping onto them just after they have turned. Since saome characters have longer jumps, be careful doing this! Ayumi in particular suffers in these scenes. What you will probably have to do is use her backflips while facing the "wrong" way. I use S3, but I think you can probably use S1~P if you really want. Bamboo(?): These might be pistons or something--I dunno. They look like big bamboo stalks cut at an angle to be sharp. Obviously, time it so they don't poke you because they do a lot of damage. For some reason these will hit you even if you are using an invul- nerable attack, but you're safe if you're flickering. Spears: These only appear in Mission 10 and you pretty much only have to worry about them on the lower level of the platform they are on. They are animated poking up through to the floor above, but their hitbox is actually shorter than their animation, so you don't have to worry about them on the highest level. These will also hit you, as with the bamboo, if you are using an invulnerable attack, but not if you're flickering and invulnerable. Compactors: These two clamps come at you from either side on the final staircase of Mission 11 and have a bigger hitbox than they seem, so don't get too close. You will have enough time to progress through them if you wait for them to close and then start to open; don't worry. Bricks: These only appear in Mission 11. Jump or stop to avoid them, or use your invulnerable move (if you have one). Oh yeah, that's the thing about traps. Besides the ones on the stairs for the final part of Mission 11, you can always use an invulnerable move if you think the trap is about to hit you and you should be OK. ** Hey, look--weapons! ** Littered about many stages of Story Mode are what I usually call "stage weapons." This is to differentiate them from weapons you can purchase or equip in other games, but in this game, it's to differentiate them from projectiles certain characters naturally have. If you're using a character that can pick up weapons, why not use them? Walk over to a weapon lying around and hit P to pick it up. You usually will throw it with an attack, but I'll list the exact damages and such in just a bit. In order to pick up a weapon, you have to go through the animation of crouching down and picking it up--so you're vulnerable at that moment. Also, if you are hit while holding a weapon, your character will drop it (grr). Not all characters can use weapons. In fact, the majority can't. I'll list what weapons characters can use in their movelist, but pretty much the ones who use weapons most are gonna be Billy, Jimmy, Rowper, Williams, Mason, and Cody. Billy and Jimmy are obviously the best when it comes to weapons because they can use all of them, including the huge crates and shipping containers. Here are the weapons you can use: HUGE WEAPONS Used by: only Billy and Jimmy Crate: P or K = tosses weapon (1 use only). 30 damage. Knockdown. After use, breaks to reveal random weapons--but also sometimes enemies in Chapter 10! Container: P or K = tosses weapon (1 use only). 30 damage. Knockdown. After use, breaks to reveal random weapons. Boulder: P or K = tosses weapon (1 use only). 30 damage. Knockdown. 2-HANDED (OVERHEAD) WEAPONS Used by: Billy, Jimmy, Cody, Rowper, Soeno Stone: P or K = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. Box: P or K = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. Tire: P or K = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. Barrel: P or K = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. Log: P or K = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. 1-HANDED (TOSSED) WEAPONS Used by: Billy, Jimmy, Mason, Cody, Rowper, Williams, Soeno Knife: P = throws weapon straight. 30 damage. Knockdown. K = kick (normal kick damage and daze property for character) Dynamite: P = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. K = kick (normal kick damage and daze property for character) If left on the ground, weapon can explode (30 damage knockdown). Grenade: P = tosses weapon. 30 damage. Knockdown. K = kick (normal kick damage and daze property for character) If weapon hits opponent, it explodes (1 use). If left on the ground, weapon can explode (30 damage knockdown). MELEE WEAPONS Used by: Billy, Jimmy, Cody, Mason, Rowper, Williams, Soeno. Linda and Linda (Mohawk) can use Ball and Chain--but only Ball and Chain. Bat: P (by Billy, Jimmy, or Williams) = swing. 9 damage. Knockdown. P (by Mason, Cody, Rowper, or Soeno) = strike. 3 damage. Knockdown. K = throws weapon straight. 30 damage. Knockdown. Iron Bar: P (by Billy, Jimmy, or Williams) = swing. 9 damage. Knockdown. P (by Mason, Cody, Rowper, or Soeno) = strike. 3 damage. Knockdown. K = throws weapon straight. 30 damage. Knockdown. Ball and Chain: P = slow overhead strike. 7 damage. Knockdown. P (by Linda or Linda [Mohawk]) = strike. 3 damage. Knockdown. K = kick (normal kick damage and daze property for character) Seriously, some fights...it may seem cheap and boring, but just grabbing a knife or Tire and lobbing it at the enemies over and over makes it way easier. ** This guy can throw a knife whenever he wants?? ** Some characters have their own weapons they stock. These include Mason, Rowper, Williams, Cody, Linda, Linda (Mohawk), Ayumi, Sonny Lee, and Mysterious Warrior. These weapons behave differently than the stage weapon counterparts that may exist, and also do different (less) damage. Going through a door or whatever to change the scene of a Mission or surviving 5 floors of the tower will give a refresh. I'll list those in the character section. Don't shy away from using these--especially as someone like Williams, whose best attack is basically his Knife. It's a good way to take out bosses or crowds of enemies. >>> Oh wows important note on projectiles!! Projectiles may have <<< >>> different properties when they hit up close to an enemy, but <<< >>> all projectiles pass through the enemy up-close, even if they <<< >>> usually vanish after one use...so you can hit another guy be- <<< >>> hind the dude you hit up close. Wow! <<< The only enemy characters who use these are Rowper, Mason, Ayumi, Sonny Lee, Yagyuu Ranzou, and Mysterious Warrior, so don't worry that Williams is gonna suddenly throw a knife at you or whatever. ** Argh I died! ** Aw, man! I'm sorry! But here's something cool: you get the longest invulnerable period in the game as you reappear on the screen (you'll know because you're flickering). You can use this time to do whatever you want, but it's probably best to just get the heck out of there to a safe zone. ------------------------------------------ II. Characters' Move Lists and Strategies ------------------------------------------ I literally had to sit around doing jabs and stuff in 2P Duel to get a base for the damages here, and it was really a time-consuming process. Once I figured out how things were calculating up, it seemed like matrices were pointing to things being 128 Health for a player character. It's worked out to be fairly consistent, so I think that although there are probably some slight errors, this should pretty much be accurate as far as damage goes. For throws and weapons, I had to go into the Story and use damages I already knew to figure stuff out, since you can't use either of those in 2P Duel. Long story long, I figured all this out so all the credit goes to me and yay, me and I guess I'll totally be drinking high-end scotch with Derek Flint and Dolemite in Heaven in some swank mid-century mod disco when I die after getting my Nobel Prize or whatever, right? LEGEND: f = Forward (in front of the player's character). b = Back (the direction the player's character is not facing). P = Punch K = Kick J = Jump S1 = Special 1 (must be assigned by player) S2 = Special 2 (must be assigned by player) S3 = Special 3 (must be assigned by player) + = Hit the buttons at the same time , = Hit the buttons sequentially. Also, in combos, I separated moves that aren't strings, but their own attacks with a "," then a space (this basically only applies to P,P strings everyone has) (NP) or (NK) = while holding down the punch or kick button (respectively), and while the D-pad has no directional input (neutral) ~ = The next command is meant to cancel the move that comes before it. In other words, hit the button during the animation of the first move. The best example is this leaping spinning headbutt attack thing for Billy and Jimmy, which is explained in the "How To Play" option from the Options menu under "Special Teq." as "[P or K] just before the attack of ExtraTeq.1." I list it as S1~P. -> = A follow-up during the animation of the first part. For instance, Abobo has two different charges as his special moves (S2 or S3). While he runs, you can follow up with the buttons I listed afterwards for either stopping his run or making him do one of two different attacks. | = "or." I use this when listing other commands for the same move. jump = During a jump. dazed = Near an enemy that is crouching in a stun from an attack. c = (Written as cP or cK) crouching. This is when the character the player is controlling is crouching. The best way to see this is right after landing from a jump or when getting up off the ground. Tekken players will know this as "while rising." Dazes = A successful hit will cause the enemy to be in the "dazed" state. Knockdown = A successful hit will knock the enemy down. Far knockdown = A successful hit will knock the enemy down, but also far back through the air. Great for knocking people off cliffs and such. JUGGLE STARTER = A knockdown that can be followed by another attack while the victim is still falling in the air. You can only do one hit to the falling foe--except for Billy and Jimmy's throw attack. This can be followed by another juggle starter and then a third attack for some reason. Ends in crouch = After the move, the character will be in "crouch" state and will only have the cP or cK available until standing again (after a short time). Remember that when getting up from being knocked down the S1, S2, and S3 moves are available as well as the cP or cK moves. Invulnerable = The move has some invulnerable frames in the animation in which attacks will just pass through the character. Note that all moves with invulnerable frames still have a moment of "cool-down" after the attack in which the character is vulnerable to an attack. C1. BILLY LEE -------------- Description: Blue-wearing protagonist, one of the Lee twins who knows the Sousetsuken (twin dragon fist...or I suppose Double Dragon Fist!). Overview: Billy has some faster punches than Jimmy, but does lower damage with them as a trade-off. He also deals more damage with his kicks than Jimmy, but is slower with them and has less reach with some kick attacks. He's arguably better at combos than Jimmy because he can do his juggle- starting jump kick special when the opponent is dazed, whereas Jimmy has a special attack in that slot. He also has a much easier time comboing off his throw because the enemy doesn't fly as far back as they do with Jimmy. Stage Weapons used: All Can be grappled/thrown: Only by CPU Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 3. P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage 3,3. Dazes. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 5. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight jump kick. Damage: 7. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. jump (timed near the peak of jump) K: Senpuukyaku (Whirlwind Kick). Damage: 12. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). Ends in crouch. dazed P: Ryuusetsu raijinken (Dragon Thunder God Fist...an uppercut). Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed K: Ryuusetsu raijinkyaku (Dragon Thunder God Kick...a spin kick). Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed S3: Elbow Drop. (other commands) dazed (NP)+b | dazed (NK)+b | dazed P+J | dazed (NP)+f~P | dazed S1~P | dazed P+K+J~P | dazed (NP)+f~K | dazed S1~K | dazed P+K+J~K Damage: 14. Knockdown. dazed (enemy facing player) f: Grapple. -> P: Hammer Elbow. Damage: 9. May be followed by another Hammer Elbow or Stomach Knee, but the third input will be a grapple combo finisher. Also can be followed by a Throw. -> K: Stomach Knee. Damage: 4. May be followed by another Stomach Knee or Hammer Elbow, but the third input will be a grapple combo finisher. Also can be followed by a Throw. -> P (third attack): Power Hammer Knockdown. Damage: 9. Knockdown. -> K (third attack): Power Stomach Knee. Damage: 4. Knockdown. -> b+P: Throw. (other command): b+K Damage: 8. JUGGLE STARTER. Does 8 even if enemy doesn't hit ground. cP: Uppercut. Damage: 13. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). cK: Flying Knee. Ends in crouch. Damage: 15. Far knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). S1: Headbutt. (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J. Damage: 5. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). S1~P: Rising Spiral Headbutt. (other commands) S1~K | S1~J | (NP)+f~P | (NP)+f~K | (NP)+f~J | P+K+J~P | P+K+J~K | P+K+J~J Damage: 22. Far knockdown. Ends in crouch. S2: Jumping Spin Kick. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J. Damage: 9. JUGGLE STARTER. Ends in crouch. S3: Back Elbow. (strikes behind player) (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J. Damage: 7. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed f (enemy facing player) -> P,P, b+P, S3: 41 P, K, dazed f (enemy facing player) -> P,P, b+P, S2, cK: 58 P, K, dazed P or K: 16 Relatively safe. P, K, S2, cK: 30. Knocks far away, though. P, K, S2, cP: 28. Leaves enemy near enough to harrass when rising. PLAYING AS BILLY LEE Billy and Jimmy are very similar, but there are a few key differences as I have already noted: Billy has weaker but faster punch attacks, Jimmy has weaker kick attacks, and Jimmy has more range to his S2 and throw attacks. Overall, they both are your "jack-of-all-trades" type. Besides project- iles, they have all the elements you'd find in all the "enemy" characters you can unlock. They have the basics, juggles, grapples, and a move with invulnerable frames (S1 Headbutt). They both have middle-of-the-road walking speed and a relatively solid jump kick. To break the safe plane with Billy, it's best to use the S1 Headbutt. This move is invulnerable when active and has a very short wind-up and a relatively short cool-down. Since you can quickly squash almost any attack the enemy throws at you instantly when you break the safe plane near them, it's useful to just get guys on the ground, but because of its relatively short cool-down you can then turn and respond to others who will gang up behind you much of the time. A notable exception to breaking the plane with a Headbutt would be Lvl.3 Cody, who will usually instantly respond when in range with his special attack (performed by a player only with crouching K). This move has 0 frames of wind-up and is invulnerable during the active window until he hangs with his leg out in the air (the cool-down...which is still active as a kick). All you can do is get up and respond with invulnerable stuff if this happens, but it is too fast for the wind-up of the Headbutt attack to reach invulnerable frames. Another strategy that works well with most characters is to get them to walk diagonally towards you--even after breaking the safe plane--and then do the Rising Spiral Headbutt attack (S1~P or K or J). This move deals 22 damage, which is better than or comparable to most characters' full combos, and will generally take out the riffraff in one hit. Since the move is not invulnerable, jump-friendly characters such as Mason or Williams may annoy you with a hit before you can do anything, so bear that in mind. For the S1~P move, you can also take out most characters with the correct distance and timing without needing a diagonal walk. This is because the move has a terrifically long active window, so if you start it from far enough away, they generally won't even get into their response mode until it's too late and they will get hit with the move. Approaching characters who like to throw out jumping attacks such as Linda, Linda (Mohawk), Mason, or Soeno, it may be advisable to first jump at them and kick them out of the air. Soeno's jump kick does beat Billy's, so be careful. This is also good for approaching characters like Kodani because, if you performed the jump from a correct distance, you will hit him as he responds with a Taiatari Charge (which he almost always will do). Once you get them knocked down, the best thing to do with Billy is to camp out over them and then get them dazed, do the S2 Jumping Kick to start a juggle, and then do a crouching P to Uppercut them. The other crouching move is a rising knee which lingers unsafe in the air and ends in a crouch, limiting your options. It also knocks enemies far away, so you will need to approach them and sometimes an enemy may be able to get up and start their shenanigans, but it deals more damage and is great at launching guys off platforms and killing them. For characters who approach and jump kick, the best strategy is to employ the invulnerable frames of your Headbutt. When getting up from being knocked down, the best things to do are either to use a Headbutt or an Uppercut. This will leave you invulnerable briefly and then you can maneuver as necessary because the recovery is decent and you will not be stuck in crouch animation. Note that none of Billy or Jimmy's grapples are invulnerable. This means an enemy can come and knock you out of an attack at any time. Even if you've dealt enough damage to defeat a scrubby opponent and at the last hit are hit by another enemy, they will take the damage but still be standing. In this game, a character only will die when knocked down at 0 Health, so they can stay active long enough to really louse things up for you. Comboing off of a throw for Billy is much easier than for Jimmy because he doesn't throw them very far away. It may be best to just hit them with something fast so you can answer other enemies, but throwable characters with relatively large amounts of Health such as Lvl.2 Right Arm can be destroyed by grapple combos and eliminated from the fight. Billy and Jimmy have a special attack at the peak of their jump, the Whirlwind Kick, which deals a decent 12 damage and knocks them down so they are relatively close. This move may have some invulnerable frames, but it's difficult to tell since the set-up is pretty specific. This will sometimes be a good way to deal with jump-friendly characters but, as I said before, its set-up may be a little too awkward to use reliably. Billy and Jimmy can use all weapons found on the ground in some stages, so why not? The only ones I'd really say to avoid are the fairly useless Ball and Chain (which all characters should probably avoid) and the Crates in Mission 10 because these can contain more enemies. Having 8 Abobo to deal with instead of 2 can be a pain in the rear. C2. JIMMY LEE -------------- Description: Red-wearing protagonist. Overview: Stage Weapons used: All Can be grappled/thrown: Only by CPU Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 4. P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage 4,4. Dazes. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 3. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight jump kick. Damage: 5. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. jump (timed near the peak of jump) K: Senpuukyaku (Whirlwind Kick). Damage: 12. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). Ends in crouch. dazed P: Ryuusetsu raijinken (Dragon Thunder God Fist...an uppercut). Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed K: Ryuusetsu raijinkyaku (Dragon Thunder God Kick...a spin kick). Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed S2: Kakato otoshi (Axe Kick). (other commands) dazed (NK)+f | dazed K+J Damage: 10. Knockdown. dazed (enemy facing player) f: Grapple. Damage: N/A. -> P: Hammer Elbow. Damage: 9 May be followed by another Hammer Elbow or Stomach Knee, but the third input will be a grapple combo finisher. Also can be followed by a Throw. -> K: Stomach Knee. Damage: 4 May be followed by another Stomach Knee or Hammer Elbow, but the third input will be a grapple combo finisher. Also can be followed by a Throw. -> P (third attack): Power Hammer Knockdown. Damage: 9 Knockdown. -> K (third attack): Power Stomach Knee. Damage: 4 Knockdown. -> b+P: Throw. Damage: 12. JUGGLE STARTER. Does 12 even if enemy doesn't hit the ground or is juggled. cP: Uppercut. Damage: 15. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). cK: Flying Knee. Damage: 13. Far knockdown. Ends in crouch. Longer range than Billy's. Invulnerable (active window). S1: Headbutt. (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J. Damage: 10. Knockdown. Invulnerable (active window). S1~P: Rising Spiral Headbutt. (other commands) S1~K | S1~J | (NP)+f~P | (NP)+f~K | (NP)+f~J | P+K+J~P | P+K+J~K | P+K+J~J Damage: 23. Far knockdown. Ends in crouch. S2: Jumping Spin Kick. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J. Damage: 6. JUGGLE STARTER. Ends in crouch. Longer range than Billy's. S3: Back Elbow. (strikes behind player) (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J. Damage: 9. Knockdown. COMBOS P,P, dazed f (enemy facing player) -> P,P, b+P, S1~P: 61 P,P, S1~P: 31. Knocks enemy far away, though. P,P, S1: 18. Knocks enemy near enough to harrass while rising. S2, cP: 21. Knocks enemy near enough to harrass while rising. PLAYING AS JIMMY LEE Billy and Jimmy are very similar, but there are a few key differences as I have already noted: Billy has weaker but faster punch attacks, Jimmy has weaker kick attacks, and Jimmy has more range to his S2 and throw attacks. Overall, they both are your "jack-of-all-trades" type. Besides project- iles, they have all the elements you'd find in all the "enemy" characters you can unlock. They have the basics, juggles, grapples, and a move with invulnerable frames (S1 Headbutt). They both have middle-of-the-road walking speed and a relatively solid jump kick. To break the safe plane with Jimmy, it's best to use the S1 Headbutt. This move is invulnerable when active, but its wind-up is longer than Billy's. It still has a relatively short cool-down. The answer is to get very close to the enemy so their P actually misses through you. Since you can quickly squash almost any attack the enemy throws at you near them, it's useful to just get guys on the ground, but because of its relatively short cool-down you can then turn and respond to others who will gang up behind you much of the time. Jimmy's Headbutt also does double the damage of Billy's as a bonus, so it's less of a chore to defeat characters with it. A notable exception to breaking the plane with a Headbutt would be Lvl.3 Cody, who will usually instantly respond when in range with his special attack (performed by a player only with crouching K). This move has 0 frames of wind-up and is invulnerable during the active window until he hangs with his leg out in the air (the cool-down...which is still active as a kick). All you can do is get up and respond with invulnerable stuff if this happens, but it is too fast for the wind-up of the Headbutt attack to reach invulnerable frames. Another strategy that works well with most characters is to get them to walk diagonally towards you--even after breaking the safe plane--and then do the Rising Spiral Headbutt attack (S1~P or K or J). This move deals 23 damage, which is better than or comparable to most characters' full combos, and will generally take out the riffraff in one hit. Since the move is not invulnerable, jump-friendly characters such as Mason or Williams may annoy you with a hit before you can do anything, so bear that in mind. For the S1~P move, you can also take out most characters with the correct distance and timing without needing a diagonal walk. This is because the move has a terrifically long active window, so if you start it from far enough away, they generally won't even get into their response mode until it's too late and they will get hit with the move. Approaching characters who like to throw out jumping attacks such as Linda, Linda (Mohawk), Mason, or Soeno, it may be advisable to first jump at them and kick them out of the air. Soeno's jump kick does beat Jimmy's, so be careful. This is also good for approaching characters like Kodani because, if you performed the jump from a correct distance, you will hit him as he responds with a Taiatari Charge (which he almost always will do). Once you get them knocked down, the best thing is to camp over them and do a P,P, then while they're dazed you can either use the S1~P Headbutt for great damage or use the S2 to use the axe kick. The second might be preferable because the Rising Spiral Headbutt will knock them pretty far away and you will have to approach them. Usually, you will have just enough time to combo them again, but why risk it for 9 more points? It's a bit more tedious, but in a dangerous situation, the axe kick is better. For characters who approach and jump kick, the best strategy is to employ the invulnerable frames of your Headbutt. When getting up from being knocked down, the best things to do are either to use a Headbutt or an Uppercut. This will leave you invulnerable briefly and then you can maneuver as necessary because the recovery is decent and you will not be stuck in crouch animation. Note that none of Billy or Jimmy's grapples are invulnerable. This means an enemy can come and knock you out of an attack at any time. Even if you've dealt enough damage to defeat a scrubby opponent and at the last hit are hit by another enemy, they will take the damage but still be standing. In this game, a character only will die when knocked down at 0 Health, so they can stay active long enough to really louse things up for you. Comboing off of a throw for Jimmy is trickier than for Billy because he throws them a fair distance away. He can hit them with a Rising Spiral Headbutt attack, but not really so much the S2 Jumping Kick attack. Even then, the S1~P will miss from time to time so it's not really the greatest option ever. Throwable enemies with a large amount of health such as Lvl.2 Right Arm can be eliminated quickly by the huge damage off of a grappled- attacks-to-throw combo, so it may still be worth it provided there aren't a bunch of dudes ganging up on you to break the throw. Billy and Jimmy have a special attack at the peak of their jump, the Whirlwind Kick, which deals a decent 12 damage and knocks them down so they are relatively close. This move may have some invulnerable frames, but it's difficult to tell since the set-up is pretty specific. This will sometimes be a good way to deal with jump-friendly characters but, as I said before, its set-up may be a little too awkward to use reliably. Billy and Jimmy can use all weapons found on the ground in some stages, so why not? The only ones I'd really say to avoid are the fairly useless Ball and Chain (which all characters should probably avoid) and the Crates in Mission 10 because these can contain more enemies. Having 8 Abobo to deal with instead of 2 can be a pain in the rear. C3. WILLIAMS ------------- Description: "I wish I was an '80s Britpunk" guy, updo and spiked braclets. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat, Iron Bar, Ball and Chain Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile Stock: 15 (+5 scene refresh) Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 4. P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage: 4,4. Dazes. K: Cartwheel. Damage: 5. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight Jump Kick. Damage: 8. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Gut Punch. Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed K: Shoulder Charge. Damage: 7. Knockdown. cP: Cartwheel. Damage: 3. Knockdown. cK: Rising Cartwheel. Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Dash. (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: N/A -> P Cartwheel. Damage: 3. Knockdown. -> K Rising Cartwheel. Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. -> J Jump Damage: N/A. Jumps farther because of running speed. Ends in crouch. S2: Knife Throw. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 22 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Knife (15 stock). Close: Knife passes through enemy and can hit others. At 0 Knife, attack does not hit. S3: Backstep. (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A COMBOS P,P, dazed P: 16. Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Williams Shoulder Charge (dazed K) Knife Throw (S2) Lvl.1 Williams: Health 18 (Blue jeans) Lvl.2 Williams: Health 24 (Green jeans) CPU Only Moves Added: Gut Punch: Same as dazed P without dazed. Invulnerable. Crouch: Goes to crouch (invulnerable). Lvl.3 Williams: Health 32 Damage Modifier x1.15 (Purple jeans) Tower Williams: Health 10 DEFEATING CPU WILLIAMS CPU Williams will very often dash forward or instantly use a jumping kick attack. This enables him to harrass you a bit--especially the instant jump kick. You'll especially notice this when trying to break the safe plane or when you've been knocked down; he will often use this even when you are invulnerable from using a Special when getting up and pass through you to get behind you. Other than that caveat, he is pretty much just a generic trash CPU character. Lvl.2 and Lvl.3 Williams can crouch to avoid an oncoming attack but not as often as other characters such as Mason. Just camp out and attack him as he does this so your combo will hit when he stands back up. CPU Williams will also sometimes use a jump kick when approached, so it's best to either get him to come at you diagonally or to approach him with a jump attack from a distance. PLAYING AS WILLIAMS Beating the game with Williams isn't really as hard as it would seem. This is largely because of his S2 (Knife Throw). While it does less damage than its stage weapon counterpart, it still does 22, which is enough to kill most lowly peons right-out, but note that he doesn't really have a lot (15). You will get a +5 when you go through a door or whatever to change scenes, so you don't have to be too much of a miser. Also, remember that when you die and respawn, you will fully restock (useful in stressful boss battles). Honestly the worst part about Williams is his cartwheel. His regular K attack is difficult to land because of this, so I recommend using a P,P if you want to combo people...which really limits the damage you can do. He can't even kill a Lvl.1 trash enemy with one combo. This also makes his crouch moves and moves off the Dash pretty lousy. While it appears that his cartwheels are invulnerable at the very start of the attack, this is basically the wind-up periods (almost all other characters get the invulnerable property during the active window). Most characters will beat these attacks. When getting up from a knockdown with Williams, your options are to either use the cP cartwheel and enjoy that invulnerability while knocking enemies down, or else to use the S1 Dash and get away. The rising cartwheel (cK) is not advisable as you end in a crouch, and the S3 Backstep is pretty close to useless because of its small distance and slow speed. If you're having a rough time and enemies are in front of you, you can use an S2 and throw a knife to clear them out and probably kill them, too. In the safe plane, it's probably best to use the S1 Dash a lot to get out of enemy range and then break the plane, but you can break it with a P combo. For some reason, his second P comes out fairly slowly, so some enemies will break it. For instance, an enemy Williams will sometimes respond with an instant jump kick to annoy you. Still, once enemies are down, the best way to defeat them is to use the P,P, dazed P combo. C4. ROWPER ----------- Description: "I wish I were in Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star" little guy with spikey shoulderpads reminiscent of GWAR or something. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Iron Bar (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Ball and Chain, Box, Stone, Barrel, Tire, Log Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile Stock: 20 (+6 scene refresh) Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 4. P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage: 4,4. Dazes. K: Ball-and-Chain Throw. Damage: 15. Knockdown (projectile). Uses Ammo (20 stock). Weapon boomerangs back towards character after traveling forward. Close: Weapon passes through enemy, does 9 damage. Dazes CPU, knockdown versus other player. At 0 Ammo, attack does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player. jump P or K: Straight Jump Kick. Damage: 4. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Flailing Overhead Punch Damage: 17. Knocks down. dazed K: Headbutt. Damage: 18. Knocks down. cP: Flailing Overhead Punch. Damage: 3. Knocks down. cK: Headbutt. Damage: 2. Knocks down. S1: Dash. (other commands) (NA)+f | P+K+J Damage: N/A. -> P or K or J: jump. Damage: N/A. Jumps farther because of dash. Ends in crouch S2: Dynamite Throw. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 12 (projectile). Uses Ammo (10 stock). At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S3: Backstep. (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A. COMBOS P,P, dazed K: 26 P,K (close), dazed K: 37 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Rowper Headbutt (dazed K) Headbutt (cK) Dynamite Throw (S2) Lvl.1 Rowper: Health 18 (Green pants) Lvl.2 Rowper: Health 24 Damage Modifier x1.2 (Blue pants) CPU Moves Added: Crouch: Goes to crouch (invulnerable) Flailing Overhead Punch: same as player dazed P but does not require dazed status. Lvl.3 Rowper: Health 32 Damage Modifier x1.2 (Red pants) Lvl.3 Rowper has a high walk speed. Tower Rowper: Health 10 DEFEATING CPU ROWPER Rowper is basically a projectile character, so he generally stays at an annoying distance and tries to throw his boomerang Ball and Chain projectiles. You probably won't notice it too much at Lvl.1, because it's at Lvl.2 and Lvl.3 that Rowper really starts to lob those things like it's going out of style. For Lvl.1, I just recommend approaching and jump kicking him to the ground, then dealing with him. At Lvl.2 and Lvl.3 he can be quite a nuisance. If you get knocked down in front of him, he'll start tossing those things ad nauseum and you'll probably get hit even after you get up. Use your Specials or crouching moves to knock him and others down in this instance, so your invulnerability goes through at least one of the Ball and Chains...but note that you'll probably be hit with another. Use that opportunity to do a quick get-up move and move up or down as soon as possible to avoid the onslaught of boomeranging projectiles. It's probably best to try and take care of Lvl.2 or Lvl.3 Rowper as soon as possible in a crowd. Make use of the safe plane and group people so you can deal damage to him and don't try to engage a big group with a Lvl.2 or Lvl.3 Rowper present until he's out of the equation. PLAYING AS ROWPER Rowper isn't too bad at defeating the game. When you're in the safe space, you can use the Dash (S1) to jockey for position. This is good to get through areas where there are no enemies, too, of course. Your basic strategy is to get in and do a P,P, dazed K combo to the enemy to drain their health as quickly as possible. This is also the best way to camp out and defeat enemies. If you are going to use a jump kick, you may want to S1 Dash first to get a nice, long jump and get the drop on enemies, because they only respond at certain distances. His projectile, of course, is a viable technique. This is best at boss battles or against enemies that themselves are annoying such as CPU Lvl.2 or Lvl.3 Rowper, to knock them down so you can deal with the easier characters to hit. C5. LINDA ---------- Description: Woman with ridiculously huge biceps and shoulders with ugly perm hair. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Dynamite, Grenade, Ball and Chain (P attack does only 3 damage, so this is not advisable) Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile Stock: 25 (+8 scene refresh) Moves: P: Roundhouse Punch Damage: 3. P,P: Roundhouse Punch, Jab. Damage: 3,3. Dazes. K: Side Kick. Damage: 8. Dazes computer, knocks down other player. jump P: Flying Elbow. Damage: 10. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. jump K: Air Grenade Throw. Damage: 15 (projectile). Knocks down. Ends in crouch. Uses Grenade (25 stock) At 0 Grenade, attack does not hit. dazed P: Turning Elbow. Damage: 7. Knocks down. dazed K: Side Kick. Damage: 19. Knocks down. cP: Lunging Elbow. Damage: 3. Knocks down. cK: Leaping Side Kick. Damage: 8. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. S1: (N/A) S2: Grenade Throw. (other commands) (NK)+f, K+J Damage: 16 (projectile). Knocks down. Uses Grenade (25 stock) At 0 Grenade, attack does not hit. S3: Turning Elbow. (other commands) (NP)+f, P+J Damage: 4. Knocks down. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 30 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Linda: Lunging Elbow (cP) Air Grenade Throw (jumping K) Grenade Throw (S2) CPU only moves: Jumping Elbow (same as Linda (Mohawk)'s cP) Crouch: Goes to crouch. Invulnerable. Lvl.1 Linda: Health 18 Tower Linda: Health 10 DEFEATING CPU LINDA Linda basically only has one good thing going for her: she has a pretty good walking speed. The CPU will use this to get in a good position and perform a Jumping Elbow. She'll also use her Leaping Side Kick. These can be annoying as she will use them to get behind you often and also because the version of the Jumping Elbow she has can sometimes be good against airborn players, but you can usually address it with a jump kick. PLAYING AS LINDA This is another character they gave a projectile to because the character herself isn't too great, to be quite honest. Luckily, she's fast enough that jockeying for position in the safe space isn't too hard at all. If someone is faster than you, you can jump in the safe space, then use the crouching K over and over because it is slightly faster. The best way to break the safe plane with Linda is to use the S3 Turning Elbow. Unfortunately, it's not really invulnerable, but it is fast enough with deceptive enough of a range that it will stop a lot of enemies much of the time. Once you have them down or can combo them because they're diagonally approaching, you should probably use the P,K, dazed K combo. The K, oddly enough, seems to have a shorter range than her punch. You'll notice she's one of the many characters with a slightly larger hitbox for her punches than the animation for the moves. So, you may have to rely on just a P,P, dazed K. Strangely, her jumping attack (an elbow) isn't so great. This is because her hitbox is relatively small and high up on her body, leaving a lot of her hurtbox exposed. The CPU answers this problem by giving her the same crouching punch as her Mohawk-sporting semi-clone. It's usually best not to use the jumping attack to approach enemies. Don't shy away from throwing Grenades at people with S2. I mean, you have 25 of them and get 8 back at scene's refresh! The Grenades also have an explosion effect that basically extends the active attack of the move, so enemies walking right behind the struck victim will often walk into the explosion and get hit. This is key to defeating the game when faced with large crowds and bosses. C6. LINDA (MOHAWK) ------------------- *Name note: Select screen in 2P Duel Mode says "Linda.M," but they mean to abbreviate "Mohawk." Description: Woman with ridiculously huge biceps and shoulders with a mohawk. Her face is entirely different from "regular" Linda, but they are actually supposed to be the same person, if you can believe that. This is the character's redesign for Double Dragon II. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Dynamite, Grenade, Ball and Chain (P attack only deals 3 damage, so this is not advisable) Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile Stock: 20 (+6 scene refresh) Moves: P: Roundhouse Punch Damage: 3. P,P: Roundhouse Punch, Jab. Damage: 3,3. Dazes. K: Side Kick. Damage: 8. Dazes CPU, knocks down other player jump P: Flying Elbow. Damage: 10. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. jump K: Air Dynamite Throw. Damage: 12 (projectile). Knocks down. Ends in crouch. Uses Dynamite (20 stock) At 0 Dynamite, attack does not hit. dazed P: Wild Overhead Punch. Damage: 9. Knocks down. dazed K: Side Kick. Damage: 18. Knocks down. cP: Leaping Elbow. Damage: 3. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. cK: Lunging Side Kick. Damage: 8. Knocks down. S1: (N/A) S2: Dynamite Throw. (other commands) (NK)+f, K+J Damage: 12 (projectile). Knocks down. Uses Dynamite (20 stock) At 0 Dynamite, attack does not hit. S3: Turning Elbow. (other commands) (NP)+f, P+J Damage: 4. Knocks down. Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by Linda (Mohawk): Lunging Side Kick (cK) Air Dynamite Throw (jumping K) Dynamite Throw (S2) CPU only moves: Leaping Elbow: same as cP but CPU can use without being in crouch Leaping Side Kick: similar to Linda's cK; not a crouch move Lvl.1 Linda (Mohawk): Health 24 (Pink clothes) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk): Health 28 Damage Modifier x2.1 (Green clothes) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk): Health 32 Damage Modifier x2.25 (Blue clothes) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) has a very high walk speed. Tower Linda (Mohawk): Health 14 DEFEATING CPU LINDA (MOHAWK) Linda basically only has one good thing going for her: she has a pretty good walking speed. The CPU will use this to get in a good position and perform a Jumping Elbow. She'll also use her Leaping Side Kick. These can be annoying as she will use them to get behind you often and also because the version of the Jumping Elbow she has can sometimes be good against airborn players, but you can usually address it with a jump kick. PLAYING AS LINDA (MOHAWK) This is another character they gave a projectile to because the character herself isn't too great, to be quite honest. Luckily, she's fast enough that jockeying for position in the safe space isn't too hard at all. If someone is faster than you, you can jump in the safe space, then use the crouching P over and over because it is slightly faster. The best way to break the safe plane with Linda (Mohawk) is to use the S3 Turning Elbow. Unfortunately, it's not really invulnerable, but it is fast enough with deceptive enough of a range that it will stop a lot of enemies much of the time. Once you have them down or can combo them because they're diagonally approaching, you should probably use the P,K, dazed K combo. The K, oddly enough, seems to have a shorter range than her punch. You'll notice she's one of the many characters with a slightly larger hitbox for her punches than the animation for the moves. So, you may have to rely on just a P,P, dazed K. Strangely, her jumping attack (an elbow) isn't so great. This is because her hitbox is relatively small and high up on her body, leaving a lot of her hurtbox exposed. The CPU answers this problem by using her crouching punch attack instead. She also has her un-mohawk-sporting, "normal" Linda clone's crouching K, which is a leaping version of her lunging move. Don't shy away from throwing Dynamite at people with S2. She has less stock than her "normal" self, but you still have have 20 of them and get 6 back at scene's refresh! Dynamite also has an explosion effect that basically extends the active attack of the move, so enemies walking right behind the struck victim will often walk into the explosion and get hit. This is key to defeating the game when faced with large crowds and bosses. Because of her lower ammo count and damage output of combos and the Dynamite, Linda (Mohawk) is actually harder to use than her other self, which is weird considering she seems like a tougher opponent when the CPU controls her. This is partly because her "normal" self only has one level, while Linda (Mohawk) is used much more often and has higher levels. It's still a little strange, though. C7. ABOBO ---------- Description: Big brawny bald beast. Wears wrestling pants and boots. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Straight Punch. Damage: 7. P,P: Straight Punch, Jab. Damage: 7,7. Dazes. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 12. Dazes. jump P or K: Air Mongolian Chop Damage: 9. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Mongolian Chop. Damage: 13. Knocks down. dazed K: Heavy Straight Kick. Damage: 13. Knocks down. dazed (enemy facing player) f: High Toss. Damage: 8. JUGGLE STARTER. Does 8 even if enemy does not hit the ground. Invulnerable. cP: Straight Jumping Elbow. Damage: 15. Knocks down. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. cK: Spinning Straight High-Jumping Elbow. Damage: 22. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. S1: Mongolian Chop. (other command) P+K+J Damage: 4. Knocks down. S2: Dash 1 (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: N/A. -> P: Shoulder Charge. Damage: 8. Knocks down. -> K: Dash Cancel. Damage: N/A. -> J: Straight Jumping Elbow. Damage: 15. Knocks down. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. S3: Dash 2 (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: N/A. -> P: Dashing Straight. Damage: 8. Knocks down. -> K: Dash Cancel. Damage: N/A. -> J: Straight Jumping Elbow. Damage: 15. Knocks down. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. COMBOS P, K, dazed f (enemy facing player), S2 or S3 ~J: 42 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Abobo: Heavy Straight Kick (dazed K) CPU Only Moves: Crouch: Goes to crouch. Invulnerable. Hop Mongolian Chop: Same as jP or jK, but dazes player and has shorter range, making it overall a better move. Lvl.1 Abobo: Health 48 (White pants) Lvl.2 Abobo: Health 38 Damage Modifier x1.25 (Darker skin) (Note: Lvl.2 Abobo's jumping Mongolian Chop is a knockdown) Lvl.3 Abobo: Health 64 Damage Modifier x3.4 (Green skin) Lvl.4 Abobo: Health 88 Damage Modifier x5 (Greenish pants) Lvl.5 Abobo: Health 132 Damage Modifier x5 (Grey skin) Tower Abobo: Health 28 DEFEATING CPU ABOBO Abobo has always been feared since Double Dragon I as a ridiculous mid- boss. I'm not gonna lie, the Lvl.5 appearance will be the make-it-or- break-it point for most players when they first play the game. As arguably the toughest mid-boss character, Abobo may look slow and lame but he will often charge at you when you are on his plane, so keep a little distance and walk up or down from safe space to safe space if you're aiming to take out the riffraff before dealing with him (which is recommended). His punches have terrific range and are relatively fast, too, so it can sometimes make dealing with him a headache as you get up because you can't do things like elbow him if he camps out behind you. It's best to use some move that makes you invulnerable on a get-up and then get the heck out of Dodge in that instance by walking up or down. Although his punches are fast, if you can get him diagonally walking toward you, that's where your opportunity is to knock the dude down. Once he is down and there's nobody around to harrass you, just camp out and do a combo over and over. Unless there's a hazard like the edge of a plat- form around to knock him off, it's probably best to do a combo with a normal knockdown so you can easily walk up a little and keep comboing him as he gets up because he has relatively a lot of health. When approaching a Lvl.1-3 Abobo, do a jump kick at him from a distance because the only move he has that will answer most characters' jump kick is his Straight Jumping Elbow attack, which is invulnerable and has a huge active window, but Lvl.1-3 Abobo don't use this anywhere near as much as a Lvl.4 or Lvl.5. The Lvl.4 Abobo only makes one appearance, thankfully, and is on a tiny little platform. Poor Lvl.4 Abobo is easily knocked off the ledge and killed--and he often will even charge at you and fall off on his own accord. Poor suicidal Lvl.4 Abobo, we hardly knew ye. Lvl.5 Abobo makes his appearance a bit after the other enemies at the start of Mission 11. Stay away from the left side of the screen on that stage because he will just charge in and shoulder charge you as you're trying to deal with the Burnov guys (and the Chin Taimei if you're in 2-Player). Playing against him is basically the same, except that he will use his Straight Jumping Elbow attack often. He will even do this when you camp out, but it's very rare, so camp out over him and keep combing him so he falls near enough to you that you can repeat and take down that ridiculous 132 Health. Note that you should be using the fastest combo you possibly can, too; he can interrupt you if you're going from P to K to stun him, so use P,P or a K. Note that Lvl.5 Abobo also does x5 Damage. This means that all it takes is a couple of his Straight Jumping Elbow or Spinning Straight High- Jumping Elbows and you're toast. At least the Spinning version is not invulnerable, but it still does so much damage that it's probably best to simply avoid the move entirely and wait for him to land. Incidentally, this is the best strategy for his invulnerable version since you can get hit on the way up or down. If you've already cleared the other enemies away in this fight and are in 2-Player Mode, be sure to keep an eye on where the other Lvl.5 Abobo is because if you are trying to defeat one of them and he's not also being hit at the same time, he can really louse things up with a Shoulder Charge. PLAYING AS ABOBO Let me just say, Abobo is a BEAST. It should be fairly easy for anyone-- even those who haven't played the game much and are still learning the system--to manhandle the game pretty easily with this big, bald beauty. If you're using the safe plane, charge around with S3 or S2 to get to the proper position. Wanna get there faster? Use S1 and then follow with a P to Shoulder Charge. The range on this move is limited but its recovery is a bit faster than the Straight Punch. Navigating stages is easier thanks to this, too, but be sure to cancel your charge with a K if you're platforming because if you try to charge and jump, you won't get a longer jump; you'll just get his silly pogo shoulder thing which has a really crummy jump range and is very slow. When approaching enemies, just Shoulder Charge (S2 -> P) through them. This will take care of all the annoying jump-happy fleas and plow through everyone else, just about. His throw sets up juggles. The best attack out of it is his Straight Jumping Elbow (S3 or S2 -> J), but it's a pretty slow technique. Note that he is invulnerable during hs throw animation, which is good if a crowd is approaching you. The recovery is pretty quick, so you can attack the guys behind the one you've thrown with ease. Most characters will be killed by the time you throw them so juggling is basically there to grandstand. C8. RIGHT ARM -------------- *Name note: "Migiude" is like "Right-Hand Man" in Japanese and is literally translated "Right Arm" (hence the weird name). He was a mid-boss in DDII. Description: Frankestein's-monster's-looking-head guy that's supposed to be a kung-fu expert and wears some fashion of martial arts clothes. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Moves: P: Body Uppercut Damage: 5. P,P: Body Uppercut, Face Palm. Damage: 5,5. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 8. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight Jump Kick. Damage: 8. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Uppercut. Damage: 16. Knockdown. dazed K: Spin Kick. Damage: 16. Knockdown. cP: Straight Dash Palm. Damage: 12. Knockdown. cK: Dash Uppercut. Damage: 6. Invulnerable. JUGGLE STARTER. S1: Crouch. (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Ends in crouch. S2: Spin Kick. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 8. Knocks down. S3: Sliding Low Kick (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: 11. Knocks down. COMBOS P,K, S1, cK, S1, cP: 31. P,K, S1, cK, S3: 30. P,K, K or P: 29. P,K, S1, cK, P,P: 29. P,K, S1, cK, jump, jumping P or K: 27. Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Right Arm: Uppercut (dazed P) Straight Dash Palm (cP) Dash Uppercut (cK) Lvl.1 Right Arm: Health 32 (Blue pants) Lvl.2 Right Arm: Health 64 Damage Modifier x1.5 (Green pants) Lvl.2 Right Arm has a much faster walking speed. Tower Right Arm: Health 19 DEFEATING CPU RIGHT ARM Right Arm abuses his fast walking speed and great jump kick attack, plus his Sliding Low Kick. These and his punches, kicks, and Spin Kick are about the only moves the CPU uses. That's because that's all it needs! Right Arm can be annoying because he only appears in crowded areas (mostly boss areas) and will walk fast enough that it's hard to get him not almost on top of almost all characters, where he will instantly knock you down with a jump kick or slide and then repeat as you're getting up to get behind you and do it again and again. It's best to get him ahead of the pack in crowded areas using the safe plane. Breaking the plane with him around can be a little difficult as he will probably instantly knock you down with a jump kick, so beware! A good strategy if nobody is really around and you have some distance is to first knock him down with either an invulnerable move or a jump kick or any move that will knock a jumping guy out of the air such as a P from a distance. It's also best to eliminate him as soon as possible. As I mentioned above, the main use for this guy is to annoy you when you're in a rather tough fight. His Health is relatively high, so if you can get distance and throw or grapple him or just repeatedly camp out and keep him close while downing him with combo after combo, I recommend doing so before resuming the rest of the fight. PLAYING AS RIGHT ARM He's actually a pretty fun guy to use because he can juggle. You may notice that his Dash Uppercut (cK) is invulnerable and has a relatively long active window. Follow it by quickly crouching (S1) and then doing a Straight Dash Palm (cP) for a pretty good combo. You can do this to an enemy as they are dazed, but the move travels forward a bit before coming out, so you'll need more space than you might think. Distance may be an issue, in other words. His first punch is very slow. This makes breaking the safe plane a bit of a nuisance if you're trying to hit a guy who's standing right there, waiting for you to be available to punish. However, his S2 Spin Kick is pretty fast and a fairly good way to break the safe plane. Most of the time, however, I don't really recommend juggling. You can juggle a lot when you approach guys because you can rely on his invuln- erable Dash Uppercut (just hit S1 and immediately hit K), but note that the only way to deal enough damage to kill an enemy outright with this will be the Straight Dash Palm (S1, P). This move is not very safe, so if there are people walking up behind the victim, you may have to refrain and use something else such as a Spin Kick (S2) or a jump kick or a Sliding Low Kick (S3). You can also just do another Dash Uppercut and hit the juggled victim and the guys behind him, but the whole thing will only do 12 damage, so bear that in mind. His jump kick is pretty good, so it's also good to approach people with that and just get 'em down on the ground quickly. When camping out over enemies, you can do the whole combo (P,P or P, K, or just K, and then S1~K, follow with any other attack), or you can just do a dazed K to finish it. The damage is still pretty solid and they will end up falling in relatively close range so you can repeat, even if it is a bit duller than juggling. C9. BURNOV ----------- Description: Big fat dude who looks like he wishes he was in Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star with a weird metal mask. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Knife Palm Strike Damage: 7. P,P: Kife Palm Strikes Damage: 7,7. Dazes. K: Knife Palm Strike Damage: 8. Dazes. jumping P or K: Butt Drop Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Upwards Knife Palm. Damage: 11. Knockdown. dazed K: Knife Palm Strike Damage: 16. Knockdown. dazed (enemy facing player) f: Grapple. Damage: N/A. Invulnerable. -> P or K: Triple Grappled Punches. Damage: ??,??,?? JUGGLE STARTER. Invulnerable. NOTE: Does at least 20 each for 60, so 60+ cP: Butt Drop Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Jumping Upwards Knife Palm. Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch to Jumping Knife Palm. (other command) P+K+J Damage: 8. Knockdown. S2: Heavy Upwards Knife Palm. (other commands) (NK)+f, K+J Damage: 12. Knockdown. S3: Heavy Knife Palm Strike. (other commands) (NP)+f, P+J Damage: 15. Far knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 31 P, K, dazed (enemy facing player) f, grapple P or K, S1: 90+ Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by Burnov: Upwards Knife Palm (dazed P) CPU Only moves: Jumping Upwards Knife Palm: same as cK, but CPU doesn't need to crouch first; crouches at start similar to S3. Quadruple Grapple Punches: Hits 4 times instead of 3, does far less damage than Player grapple attack (3 or 4 each hit). Lvl.1 Burnov: Health 48 (Orange pants) Lvl.2 Burnov: Health 66 Damage Modifier x1.1 (Green pants) Lvl.3 Burnov: Health 88 Damage Modifier x2.5 (Blue pants) Tower Burnov: Health 28 DEFEATING CPU BURNOV There's a reason Burnov is the first boss you encounter. He has a lot of Health, but his attacks aren't very fast at all. Approach Burnov so he will diagonally walk towards you and you have him. Approach him from the front and he will probably do a Crouch to Jumping Knife Palm or Crouch to Jumping Upwards Knife Palm, which both look invulnerable and all, but only are at the wind-up. This means you can just jump kick him and almost always connect. It's also a really slow and telegraphed move, so you can just walk up or down or whatever to get away from the attack and then answer. The only thing he has going for him is his Grapple. In order to land this, he'll need an enemy to get you dazed or he'll need to throw out a relatively slow Knife Palm, so you can just walk up or down and avoid to your heart's content. With people like Billy and Jimmy, you can remove him from fights by breaking the safe plane and immediately doing the Rising Spiral Headbutt (S1~P or K or J) attack, which will also do enough damage that, if you do three or four of them, it will destroy him relatively quickly. This is pretty important when you get to the Lvl.5 Abobo fight at Mission 11, because you'll want to get rid of these idiots as quickly as possible so you can focus on Abobo. Other characters can just use whatever they would to blast him away, but the damage won't be as good so it's advisable to knock them down and camp and try to destroy them as quickly as possible, jockeying for position in the safe zone so that Abobo decides to walk up or down and cross past them to get to a better position. PLAYING AS BURNOV Oh, man...here we go. Just to warn you, Burnov is one of the hardest guys to beat the game with. I think they either intentionally made his Grapple Punches do immeasur- able damage and be invulnerable to address the issue that his other attacks just...aren't that great. The trouble is, you basically can only take out one throw-able enemy at a time like this--and most crazy fights don't even have many enemies you can throw in them! He is vulnerable at the end of his Grapple Punches, but not for very long. It sets up juggles, but these are entirely meaningless as no character that can be thrown can survive being dazed and then grappled and punched by the big guy to begin with, so focus on the enemies surrounding you as you obliterate the one enemy. Pretty much, the only way to successfully answer the crowds of enemies who abuse your relatively slow walking speed by standing right against you in the safe zone is to come out with a P,P or P, K and hope you're fast enough and with enough reach to do something to the enemies. He does deal some hefty damage with his combos, so it's not like it'll be impossible to defeat characters like the Lvl.5 Abobo, but still...not exactly as ideal as being able to quickly get away or enter with an invulnerable knockdown. His jump attack is actually not so bad, even though it looks awkward. You will probably still get poked out of the air by enemy jump kicks from some characters, but it's still worth a shot. The better option is his crouch P, but note the range is sluggish. Both end in crouch, so it'll probably leave you open for attack. This is why when you are going to get up from a knockdown, you can use the cP attack, but its invulnerable status isn't too great because he ends up vulnerable and crouching. Still, not that bad a choice. I usually will instead use the S3 (Heavy Palm Strike). This move does good damage, knocks people away, is invulnerable when getting up from a knockdown, and you can usually recover fast enough to respond to others by either walking up or down or facing them and hitting P. Beating the game with Burnov (without using the 2-Player method where you pick him but shove him to a safe zone and abuse the CPU with a brute like Abobo, Kodani, Ashida, or Mysterious Warrior) is still possible. I've done it plenty of times. However, even someone who knows how to play the game and understands the system and Burnov's moves and knows what to expect from all enemies in all stages will probably use 3 or 4 of the continues by the end of the game. Incidentally, I'm still not sure whether they gave him the huge damage on his Grapple Punches to address his weak gameplay or if it's some kind of bug. If you care about score, go through the game and use this often and note how your score is 8-10 times higher than it would normally be. Is this some kind of bug? Not even Lvl.2 Right Arm, the character who can be thrown/grappled with the largest life bar (64), can survive just one of these grappled P attacks. Seems almost like it does the maximum damage of any move, so it also yields the highest score per hit. C10. CHIN TAIMEI ----------------- *Name Note: The Japanese have their own way of reading Chinese characters that sometimes comes up with things that are pretty far-off (for instance, Lu Bu is transliterated "Ryofu" and Guan-yu is transliterated "Kan'u" and stuff). So, they just used the Japanese readings. If he's from China, his name would either be Chen Tai-ming if Mandarin or Tsan Taai-ming if Cantonese. Description: Mop-top Chinese martial arts guy with two sticks. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Kali Stick Poke Damage: 4. P,P: Kali Stick Poke, Kali Stick Overhead Damage: 4,4. Dazes. K: Side Kick Damage: 8. Dazes. jump P or K: Jumping Kick. Damage: 8. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Kali Uppercut. Damage: 8. Knocks down. dazed K: Spin Kick. Damage: 16. Knocks down. cP: Dashing Kali Uppercut. Damage: 13. Knocks down. cK: Spin Kick. Damage: 10. Knocks down. S1: Forward Leap to Springboard Kick (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 5. Knocks down. Ends with player jumping backwards--only if it hits another Player, for some reason. If it hits a CPU character, it lands Chin Taimei as if a normal jumping attack. -> ~P: Aerial Backflip. Damage: N/A. Cancels jump attack into backwards jump. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. -> ~P or ~K: Backflip Cancel Damage: N/A. Cancels special jump into regular jump. Ends in crouch. -> ~K: Attack Cancel. Damage: N/A. Cancels attack; enables regular jump attack. Ends in crouch. S2: Sweep. (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 8. Knocks down. Invulnerable. Hits behind player at end of move. S3: Backflip. (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. -> ~P or ~K: Cancel. Damage: N/A. Cancels special jump; enables regular jump attack. Ends in crouch. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 28 Enemy Stats: CPU Only Attacks: Crouch: Ends in crouch. Invulnerable. Lvl.1 Chin Taimei: Health 32 (Green clothes) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei: Health 28 (Pink clothes) Lvl.3 Chin Taimei: Health 48 Damage Modifier x2.4 (Blue clothes) Tower Chin Taimei: Health 19 DEFEATING CPU CHIN TAIMEI Chin Taimei is a very squirrelly enemy. He uses his fast walking to get in and harrass the player with jump kicks and Sweeps. His first P is pretty fast, but has limited range and his second P is slow enough that if you are in a jam, you can walk up or down and usually escape being combo'ed into oblivion. Usually, if you're breaking the safe zone, he'll jump towards you and knock you down with a kick, also getting behind you. He will do this when you are getting up from a knockdown, too, so using a Special or crouch attack will often miss and he'll be behind you as he just sails through your invulnerable status. He will also jump kick at you when approaching head-on, so the best response most characters have is to jump kick at him early. However, he will often jump backwards as you approach, which can be annoying and may make it so you have to take several attempts to hit him and destroy him. I do still recommend taking him out as soon as possible. Move away from the crowd in the safe zone to lure him away with his faster walk speed. Note that Chin Taimei is the only "normal-sized" character you can't grapple/throw in the Story Mode. I guess it's just impossible to grab a guy with sticks in his hands? Meh. Who knows? Anyway, if you use that to kill "normal-sized" guys, you can't rely on that for this nut. PLAYING AS CHIN TAIMEI He's actually a pretty good character to use. His jump kick is fairly good, so approach with it when possible. It's even good to use the For- ward Leap to Springboard Kick (S1), but note that the attack itself is pretty much garbage so you will want to cancel the forward leap into a long-range jump by hitting K and then hit P or K to go into a normal jump kick. When navigating a stage or trying to get distance in the safe zone, it's good to use this and then cancel with K so you get a normal landing (as the animation for him landing with the built-in attack actually adds to the amount of time you'll be stuck in crouch), and then using a crouching P to move forward with his attack. This crouching P is also a good way to get up from a knockdown. It moves him forward and has a decent recovery, plus it leaves him on the ground so you don't have to worry about ending in a vulnerable crouch. Otherwise, you can use a Springboard Kick (S1) jump to get some distance. Note that his Sweep (S2) is invulnerable. This is great for breaking the safe plane or responding to characters who are rushing at you. It has a lengthy active window that even ends with a sweep behind him that will knock close enemies down who camp out behind you. As with most characters, his K does more damage than a P, but its range is not as large as the P attacks. So, if you're in doubt and camping out on top of guys like Lvl.5 Abobo and just trying to shut them down with repeated combos, it's best to just use P,P, dazed K. I can't really recommend the Backflip (S3). Although it's a nice way to get out of jams, maybe(?), it has a relatively short range and is kinda sluggish, plus it ends in crouch so you're vulnerable for a while afterwards. C11. MASON ----------- Description: Bald dude in what appears to be a wrestling outfit. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Iron Bar (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Ball and Chain Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile Stock: 10 (+3 scene refresh) Moves: P: Straight Punch Damage: 3. P,P: Twin Straight Punches Damage: 3,3. Dazes. K: Ball-and-Chain Throw. Damage: 15 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Ball-and-Chain (10 stock) Weapon boomerangs back towards character after traveling forward. At 0 Ammo or when Close, attack does 4 and dazes CPU, knocks down other player. jump P or K: Jump Kick. Damage: 4. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Power Straight Punch. Damage: 6. Knockdown. dazed K: Knee. Damage: 10. Knockdown. cP: Hop Damage: N/A. Jump; can use jump attack. Ends in crouch. cK: Leaping Knee Damage: 8. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Dash. (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: N/A. Can be followed by crouching commands (note the hop and leaping knee have better range off the dash). S2: Leaping Ball Attack (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 8. Knocks down. Ends in crouch. S3: Backstep (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A. COMBOS P,P, dazed K: 16 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Mason: Power Straight Punch (dazed P) Knee (dazed K) Hop (cP) CPU Only Moves: Ball and Chain Throw (close K), without using Ball and Chain Lvl.1 Mason: Health 18 (Grey clothes) Lvl.1 Mason cannot use Ball and Chain Throw (player K) Lvl.2 Mason: Health 24 (Blue clothes) CPU Moves Added Ball and Chain Throw (same as player K) Lvl.3 Mason: Health 28 Damage Modifier x1.75 (Red clothes) Very fast movement. CPU Move Added: Leaping Knee (same as cK, but can use from standing and is invulnerable) Tower Mason: Health 10 DEFEATING CPU MASON The very first dude you encounter in the game, Mason, will almost always approach with a jump kick at Lvl.1. This can make him annoying for characters who don't have a good jump kick themselves, because they will have to basically find another way to knock him out of the air, and it also makes it so you will probably end up doing relatively low damage intead of shutting down a scrubby garbage enemy right away. At this low level, he also crouches a lot, which makes him invulner- able--but bear in mind that a CPU character can't crouch and then use a crouching attack (thankfully). If you're camping out to defeat a Mason and he's crouch-happy, just keep tapping P until he is hit and then defeat him normally. Defeating him with Billy and Jimmy is also pretty easy because you can throw out a Rising Spiral Headbutt (S1~P or K or J) very early and he'll respond rather late. It will also kill him at Lvl.1 right away. Lvl.2 Mason is a little bit more of a pain because he can throw those boomerang Ball and Chains, just like Rowper. He's nowhere near as happy to do so, however, so it might not come up too often. Lvl.3 Mason will do the Leaping Knee attack a lot, and also has an incredibly fast walk speed. He's tough, but still a fairly useless enemy in that he has low-ish health and his Leaping Knee, while it may be annoying, is not invulnerable. Note that Mason has very fast punches, so it might be difficult to just walk through him up or down to get away. PLAYING AS MASON Mason and Cody are kinda similar, but Mason is definitely a bit harder to beat the game with. It's still very much doable, though. Use Mason's fairly long reach and quick speed for his P attacks to get at guys when you can, though the damage output for his combos is pretty crummy. Still, when camping out over enemies, P,P,K all day. Mason's Leaping Ball Attack (S2) is his best way to get up from a knockdown and also his best bet at breaking the invulnerable plane. You may also use his Leaping Knee (cK), but it doesn't have a very good range and is a bit slower--plus it ends in crouch. When in the safe plane, you can dash and dash and dash with S1. Note that his dash is much shorter and slower than other dashes, but it still works. Another method is the same as with Cody; use his Hop (crouch after a jump and hit P or else S1 -> P), then just use it over and over as he lands in a crouch. This isn't the fastest way to move around but it's a lot faster than walking. He does have the boomeranging Ball and Chain projectile, but note how miserly the game is with his ammo. It's best to reserve these for fights at the end of a Mission when you are relatively low at health or need to quickly take an enemy out to address the others, such as the boss fight of Mission 8, in which a bunch of projectile-happy Rowpers show up. His jump kick is good for the CPU and all, but not the best in the game. Still, it's a good way to approach people for a quick knockdown. C12. CODY ---------- Description: Dude in what appears to be a wrestling outfit with a skull mask and goth/emo hair. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Iron Bar (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Ball and Chain, Box, Stone, Barrel, Tire, Log Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile stock: 25 (+8 scene refresh) Moves: P: Straight Punch Damage: 2. P,P: Twin Straight Punches Damage: 2,2. Dazes. K: Mongolian Chop Damage: 12. Dazes. jumping P or K: Jump Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. dazed P: Mongolian Chop Damage: 3. Knockdown. dazed K: Double Hammer Punch Damage: 14. Knockdown. cP: Hop Damage: N/A. Jump;can use jump attack. Ends in crouch. cK: Forward Somersault Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Knife Throw (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 21 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Ammo (25 Stock) Close: weapon passes through enemy and can strike others behind them. When at 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S2: Grenade Throw (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 16 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Ammo (25 Stock) When at 0 Ammo, atack does not hit. S3: Backstep (other comands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A -> P: Knife Throw Damage: 21 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Ammo (25 Stock) Close: Weapon passes through enemy and can strike others behind them. When at 0 Ammo, attack does not hit -> K: Grenade Throw Damage: 16 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Ammo (25 Stock) When at 0 Ammo, atack does not hit. -> J: Backwards Hop Damage: N/A. Jump; can use jump attack. Ends in crouch. COMBOS K, dazed K: 26 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by Cody: Mongolian Chop (K) Mongolian Chop (dazed P) Double Hammer Punch (dazed K) Knife Throw (S1 or S3 -> P) Grenade Throw (S2 or S3 -> K) CPU Only Moves: Crouch: Ends in crouch. Invulnerable. Forward Somersault Kick: Can do without crouching, also invulnerable. Lvl.1 Cody: Health 18 (Grey clothes) Lvl.2 Cody: Health 24 Damage Modifier x1.5 (Blue clothes) Lvl.3 Cody: Health 32 Damage Modifier x3.9 (Red clothes) Tower Cody: Health 10 DEFEATING CPU CODY Until Lvl.3, Cody is almost your scrubbiest scrub trash character. You probably don't really need to worry about him too much and should be able to take him out with not much of an issue, though his Lvl.2 will sometimes use the Forward Somersault Kick attack, which is invulnerable from the very first frame until he's hanging mid-air with his legs extended. Lvl.3 Cody will abuse that attack, which makes him more treacherous than Lvl.1 or Lvl.2. He also gets a whopping x3.9 Damage Modifier, so, yeah...a lot tougher than other Cody's. He'll break it out even to interrupt a combo between punches (P,P)! Sometimes, he'll even do this as you hit him as he gets up from a knock- down, which is a little annoying as the general strategy is to camp out over a knocked down foe and combo them into oblivion. Bear that all in mind, but note that he's still not exactly indestruct- ible. In fact, he won't probably give you too much trouble if you know what you're doing with the game's basic system. Thankfully, you only face Lvl.3 Cody once in the game, at the start of Mission 9. I recommend getting rid of him and Lvl.3 Mason as quickly as possible at this fight. PLAYING AS CODY One big thing to note with Cody is that his best damage output is to use a K and then a dazed K. This is because both attacks do pretty nice damage. However, the K is really, really slow, so you'll notice characters move after your P if you go P, K. It's still very much viable, but I can't recommend it for camping out over Lvl.5 Abobo, Ashida, or the Okada sisters because they will probably do something to interrupt you. It looks more dangerous than it is for the other characters, though, so I recommend it in other instances. For Lvl.5 Abobo, Ashida, and the Okada sisters, I recommend just standing over them and hitting K timed just before they start to get up into the crouch position so that you can hit them right when they stand up. This is your best bet at doing a lot of damage. In the safe plane, the best thing to do with Cody is to face the opposite direction and hit S3 repeatedly to Backstep. This is faster than his walking and can really help get some distance from the computer. Breaking the safe plane or hitting diagonally approaching characters, your only real option is to do a P combo, so bear that in mind and get distance. When getting up from a knockdown, you can use the crouching K attack that Lvl.3 Cody abuses, but note that you will end up getting hit on recovery often. If you're getting low on Health, you can always bust out a Knife Throw with S1. Speaking of his Knife Throw, this is the best thing about Cody. Your main line of offense--especially if you're getting kinda low on Health--is to stand away from enemies and lob knives into their faces all day long. Cody has a generous 25 Stock and gets 8 back between scenes, so this is even a viable option in Tower Mode! Anyway, if you're low on Health or fighting crowds of people near a scene change or a boss fight, this is the way to go because it's damaging enough to kill Lvl.1 enemies and also Cody just has so many, it's not worth it to be frugal with these things. Because he can throw his projectiles off of it, his Backstep (S3) is the best out of all the "retreat" moves. Since he lacks a forward Dash, unlike the other guys with a Backstep, it's your best bet to move quickly. I don't recommend using the Grenades too much. They don't do as much damage as a Knife, but their explosion lingers and extends the active portion of the attack so others can walk into it...but the hit box of the Knife is already pretty good and enemies tend to walk really close together, so you will probably end up hitting a couple of them with a Knife anyway. C13. JAKE --------- Description: Big brawny guy who looks like he came from Hokuto no Ken/ Fist of the North Star with shoulder pads and such. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Straight Damage: 8. P,P: Straight, Gut Punch Damage: 8,8. Dazes K: Straight Kick Damage: 10. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other Player. jumping P or K: Body Splash Damage: 16. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Kong Overhead Punch Damage: 16. Knockdown. dazed K: Thrust Uppercut Damage: 24. Knockdown. cP: Leaping Body Splash Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Jumping Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Ends in crouch. S2: Drop Kick (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 20. Knockdown. S3: Kong Overhead Punch (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: 20. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 42 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Jake: Kong Overhead Punch (dazed P) Thrust Uppercut (dazed K) Kong Overhead Punch (S3) CPU Only Moves: Body Splash: same as the player's jumping P or K, but the jump is much shorter and lower so it doesn't linger on the screen as much. Lvl.1 Jake: Health 66 (Grey clothes) Lvl.2 Jake: Health 64 Damage Modifier x3.0 (Blue clothes) Tower Jake: Health 36 DEFEATING CPU JAKE CPU Jake's main line of offense seems to be to approach and then to come at you really quickly with a Leaping Body Splash or Drop Kick. He can sometimes even use a shorter version of his Body Splash (his jump P or K), which does tons of damage in comparison to the Leaping Body Splash. The Leaping Body Splash and Drop Kick are pretty fast, but they can both usually be beaten by a character's P. So, if you're breaking the safe plane and a Jake is there, use either an invulnerable move or a P because he's almost certain to get knocked out of the air as soon as he tries to come at you. Camping out over him is the same as most other characters; just P,P or whatever to combo him. You have no fear that he'll suddenly get up with one of his quick jump attacks. If you get hit by a Drop Kick, though...that's a lot of damage. So, be wary of that one attack. It's probably good to take him out first when fighting him with other bosses around, such as the final fight of the game, so he doesn't louse up the whole "camp out and combo people for forever because they have tons of health" thing. His other attacks are slow enough that if you walk straight up or down in front of him he probably won't hit you. PLAYING AS JAKE Although Jake has no invulnerable moves, he's a wrecking crew. His damage output is ridiculous, so the only "normal-sized," non-boss character who can survive a P,P, dazed K or P, K, dazed K combo is Lvl.2 Right Arm, who only makes 1 appearance in 1-Player and 2 in 2-Player. Of course, pretty much all characters except for Kodani, Ayumi, and the Okada sisters have faster punches than this bruiser, so breaking the safe plane and punching isn't really the best offense, usually. But all hope is not lost! You can use his Leaping Body Splash to knock down most enemies because if you do it from a distance, they will usually not even have time to respond. Heck, most enemies will let you knock them down if you time a Drop Kick from far enough away, in which case they'll move in to respond, but get hit because the range is pretty large and it will be active when they try their shenanigans...and you'll hit them for a ton of damage. In the safe space, use his Leaping Body Splash (S1 or jump so you crouch, P) over and over to move so quickly no enemy will be able to keep up with you, then respond accordingly. Some jump-happy characters will be able to respond with a jump kick if you want to body splash them down so you can camp over them and kill them with a combo, such as Soeno or Yamazaki, but these are dealt with easily enough because you can just get to the distance in which they'd like to do a jump attack and then jab them out of the air. Seriously, you'll probably end up dying from traps or platforming more than you will from enemies damaging you, unless you play very recklessly (which is the best way to play as this knucklehead to begin with). When getting up from a knockdown, you can use a Body Splash (cP) to get them down and get a little distance. If you want them really close, you can always opt to do the crouch K move, but it's pretty slow so others can get around and mess you up. The best thing to do from a knockdown, however, is the Drop Kick (S2). This does a lot of damage and pushes you forward like the Body Splash. It's a bit slower, but then again, you're invulnerable if you did it right. The only thing else I can say is that I don't recommend using the Kong Punch (S3). It's pretty useless. C14. CASEY OKADA ----------------- Description: Lady in a revealing purple evening dress with purple hair. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Slap Damage: 4. P,P: Slap, Backhand Damage: 4,4. Dazes K: Sliding Kick Damage: 10. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other player. jumping P or K: Leaping Kick Damage: 4. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Shoulder Charge Damage: 21. Knockdown. dazed K: Sweep Damage: 21. Knockdown. cP: Rising Somersault Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. cK: Far Cartwheel Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Limited invulnerability. Crouch moves available. S2: Front-and-Back Shots (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 66, 66 (projectiles). Uses 2 Ammo (6 Stock) Close: Bullet passes through enemy and can strike those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S3: Pistol Shot (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: 66 (projectile). Uses 1 Ammo (6 Stock) Close: Bullet passes through enemy and can strike those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. COMBOS K, dazed K or dazed P: 31 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by Casey Okada: Shoulder Charge (dazed P) Sweep (dazed K) Lvl.1 Casey Okada = Health 144 Tower Casey Okada = Health 40? DEFEATING CASEY OKADA The main problem with the Okada sisters is that they walk very quickly and can shoot you. Basically, it's the latter you have to contend with. They will shoot when you get on their plane, typically, so if you are, say, at the big boss showdown of Mission 12, they will shoot at you when you are trying to destroy the Kodani and Jake with combos and the like. As such, it's not too great an idea to use moves that end in crouch so you don't get stuck too much. The bullets fly rather slowly, and there's the high-pitched sound cue for their shot, so listen for it and move accordingly. I still recommend taking care of at least the Jake first, because he will come in and louse things up with a Body Splash quickly. One thing to bear in mind with these two is that they will generally respond when close with a P,P combo--but that theirs is the slowest punch in the game, tied with Ayumi. This should give you enough time to break the safe zone and beat 'em up. Sometimes, they will slide or do a Cartwheel Kick, shoving them out of range of attack or knocking you down, but that's rare. You do not want to be hit with a bullet (duh). A bullet will do 1/2 your life bar, and CPU Okada sisters have an infinite amount of ammo. PLAYING AS CASEY OKADA Considering they're the big boss of the game, the Okada sisters are kinda lousy as player characters and require a specific game plan to use. Your best bet is the slide. If you can do it early enough, you should be able to hit most characters and daze them. Hit near the end of their slide so you can go into the Shoulder Charge or Sweep... but preferably use the Shoulder Charge (dazed P). These attacks arbitrarily do a lot of damage and can really help kill enemies quickly. Most of the time you will have to turn towards the dazed enemy to hit them as you will generally slide past them. In the safe zone, use the K to slide around or use the cK (you can crouch with S1) to gain distance. The crouching K is also the best way to get up from a knockdown so you can get away from the action. The Okada sisters' crouching P attack is invulnerable, so you will probably need to use it sometimes when enemies approach and jump at you or what-not. This is a good way to respond, but note that it doesn't do much damage and that you end in crouch, so you will need a gameplan to keep moving after that (probably the crouching K). The guns.... You don't get many bullets, nor do you get a very good refresh from scene to scene. You can take out characters handily with a gunshot, but not well enough to recommend using it too much. For bosses or when you're low on Health, though, you may as well try to shoot some fools. Just don't use the S2 version because this will waste 2 bullets and you only have 6 to begin with. When camping out, remember that your P,P is very slow. You will need to initiate the attack a bit earlier than with other characters, but if you get the hang of it, you can do some pretty hefty damage this way. P, K is not advisable as you will slide too far away to finish your combo properly and leave the enemy dazed. Remember that a character only dies if they reach 0 Health and are also knocked down, so this will leave them in play similar to trying to P, K with Williams. However, her P,P is already 8 damage, so a P,P, dazed P will do to kill guys pretty quickly. Yes, BTW--these are clones. Casey and Shannon are listed separately and selected differently, but they are the same character with different color pallets. C15. SHANNON OKADA ------------------- Description: Lady in a revealing white evening dress with green hair. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Slap Damage: 4. P,P: Slap, Backhand Damage: 4,4. Dazes K: Sliding Kick Damage: 10. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other player. jumping P or K: Leaping Kick Damage: 4. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Shoulder Charge Damage: 21. Knockdown. dazed K: Sweep Damage: 21. Knockdown. cP: Rising Somersault Kick Damage: 3. Invulnerable. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Far Cartwheel Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Limited invulnerability. Crouch moves available. S2: Front-and-Back Shots (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 66, 66 (projectiles). Uses 2 Ammo (6 Stock) Close: Bullet passes through enemy and can strike those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S3: Pistol Shot (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: 66 (projectile). Uses 1 Ammo (6 Stock) Close: Bullet passes through enemy and can strike those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. COMBOS K, dazed K or P: 31 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Shannon Okada: Shoulder Charge (dazed P) Sweep (dazed K) Lvl.1 Shannon Okada: Health 144 Tower Shannon Okada: Health 40? DEFEATING SHANNON OKADA The main problem with the Okada sisters is that they walk very quickly and can shoot you. Basically, it's the latter you have to contend with. They will shoot when you get on their plane, typically, so if you are, say, at the big boss showdown of Mission 12, they will shoot at you when you are trying to destroy the Kodani and Jake with combos and the like. As such, it's not too great an idea to use moves that end in crouch so you don't get stuck too much. The bullets fly rather slowly, and there's the high-pitched sound cue for their shot, so listen for it and move accordingly. I still recommend taking care of at least the Jake first, because he will come in and louse things up with a Body Splash quickly. One thing to bear in mind with these two is that they will generally respond when close with a P,P combo--but that theirs is the slowest punch in the game, tied with Ayumi. This should give you enough time to break the safe zone and beat 'em up. Sometimes, they will slide or do a Cartwheel Kick, shoving them out of range of attack or knocking you down, but that's rare. You do not want to be hit with a bullet (duh). A bullet will do 1/2 your life bar, and CPU Okada sisters have an infinite amount of ammo. PLAYING AS SHANNON OKADA Considering they're the big boss of the game, the Okada sisters are kinda lousy as player characters and require a specific game plan to use. Your best bet is the slide. If you can do it early enough, you should be able to hit most characters and daze them. Hit near the end of their slide so you can go into the Shoulder Charge or Sweep... but preferably use the Shoulder Charge (dazed P). These attacks arbitrarily do a lot of damage and can really help kill enemies quickly. Most of the time you will have to turn towards the dazed enemy to hit them as you will generally slide past them. In the safe zone, use the K to slide around or use the cK (you can crouch with S1) to gain distance. The crouching K is also the best way to get up from a knockdown so you can get away from the action. The Okada sisters' crouching P attack is invulnerable, so you will probably need to use it sometimes when enemies approach and jump at you or what-not. This is a good way to respond, but note that it doesn't do much damage and that you end in crouch, so you will need a gameplan to keep moving after that (probably the crouching K). The guns.... You don't get many bullets, nor do you get a very good refresh from scene to scene. You can take out characters handily with a gunshot, but not well enough to recommend using it too much. For bosses or when you're low on Health, though, you may as well try to shoot some fools. Just don't use the S2 version because this will waste 2 bullets and you only have 6 to begin with. When camping out, remember that your P,P is very slow. You will need to initiate the attack a bit earlier than with other characters, but if you get the hang of it, you can do some pretty hefty damage this way. P, K is not advisable as you will slide too far away to finish your combo properly and leave the enemy dazed. Remember that a character only dies if they reach 0 Health and are also knocked down, so this will leave them in play similar to trying to P, K with Williams. However, her P,P is already 8 damage, so a P,P, dazed P will do to kill guys pretty quickly. Yes, BTW--these are clones. Casey and Shannon are listed separately and selected differently, but they are the same character with different color pallets. C16. ASHIDA ------------ Description: Big guy in a karate gi with a mole on his forehead. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Straight Punch Damage: 6. P,P: Twin Straight Punches Damage: 6,6. Dazes. K: Roundhouse Damage: 12. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other player jumping P or K: Jumping Knee Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Backhand Damage: 30. Knockdown. dazed K: Knee Damage: 30. Knockdown. cP: Power Stance Damage: N/A. Invulnerable. cK: Hop Kick Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Power Attack (other commands): (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 33. Invulnerable. Far Knockdown. Attack is like a mid-range projectile although there is no projectile animation. S2: Knee (other commands): (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 12. Knockdown vs CPU, dazes other player. S3: Backhand (other commands): (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: 15. Knockdown. COMBOS: P, K, dazed P or dazed K: 48 P, K, S1: 50 Enemy Stats: CPU Only Moves: Crouch: Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. Lvl.1 Ashida: Health 88 (White gi) Lvl.2 Ashida: Health 100 Damage Modifier x2.5 (S1 is x1.8) (Blue gi) Tower Ashida: Health 40? DEFEATING CPU ASHIDA When you first get to Ashida, you may have some serious difficulty. This is because he strikes a pose and glows with a strange move and if you move in on him and attack, you'll notice your character getting tossed across the screen and taking a ton of damage. So...an invulnerable reversal? No. It looks like he's reversing you, but actually, what Ashida is doing is a move with invulnerable wind-up and active windows. This move has a somewhat lengthy wind-up, and then an active window with a huge hitbox that extends far in front of Ashida (about 2 other Ashida's lengths...or possibly a little more). Since the hitbox is not attached to anything animated on the screen, it looks like you got hit because you were trying to hit him. This is the move I call "Power Attack." It's almost like an invisible wall of energy is thrown out of Ashida and hits characters in front of him. To counter this, get him to walk diagonally or break the safe plane and attack him with something fast. The easiest for most characters is to just do a P,P, because anything that launches you at him but makes you stay crouched will have too long a recovery and you won't be able to move. If you trigger his invulnerable attack, walk up or down right away. The idea is to get him while he's trying his P or K, or else try to trigger it and then walk up or down, then get close so you can hit him while he recovers. Once he is knocked down, Ashida is just like any other big boss--you just need to camp out and combo him over and over to defeat him. His walk speed is relatively low, so it's usually easy to clear the riffraff away first. Just be mindful of where he is so you can keep some distance and not get hit with a Power Attack. CPU Ashida can actally use the Knee (S2) over and over and keep you dazed, but this is very, very rare and the CPU is too stupid to ever use this as an infinite loop for very long (it will generally only do 2 or 3 if it goes this route...which, again, is extemely rare). PLAYING AS ASHIDA Ashida is one of those characters you can really ceasily destroy the game with. In fact, he's probably the second-easiest character to use against the computer. Why would that be...? Hmmm. Use the Power Attack a lot. His other moves are fairly slow, but also damaging, so if you're camping out, a P,P, dazed K combo is the most ideal as it knocks the enemy down close enough to keep it up. Remember that most characters will die easily from his regular combos, so you can use your reach, you can beat a lot of characters by just making them walk diagonally towards you, if you're tired of some characters getting to you as you recover from the Power Attack. Otherwise, it's probably best to use it from a distance that seems a little too far for it to work. This way, the enemy will generally approach and try something like a jump kick, but they'll be too late as you'll still be in invulnerable frames and you'll kill most enemies with that crazy attack. The big problem when using him is that he moves slowly. His jumping attack isn't exactly the greatest, though it's certainly not the worst. This makes it hard to get far away in the safe zone. The best thing to do is to make sure not too many stand behind you as you break the safe zone and just use the Power Attack, which is invulnerable, so they'll usually miss whatever they try to use on you. Getting up from a knockdown might be a little tricky. Do not use the crouching P, because this actually doesn't have the attack even though it looks just like the Power Attack (S1, BTW). Annoying enemies may want to jump though you and get behind you as you get up with this attack, so if you get tired of that, you can use something else like the Backhand (S3), and then recover with enough time to move up or down to avoid all the knuckleheads with their knuckleheadery. You can also use his cK Knee, but note that you will be in crouch at the end of the move and it's not actually fast enough that you can just repeat it over and over reliably. Anyway, you really should have no problem crushing the game with this cheap guy. C17. YAMAZAKI -------------- Description: Guy in a karate gi. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Iron Bar (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Ball and Chain Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Moves: P: Straight Punch Damage: 5. P,P: Straight Punches Damage: 5,5. Dazes K: Leaping Overhead Chop Damage: 5. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other player. Ends in crouch. jumping P or K: Jump Kick Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Power Straight Punch Damage: 16. Knockdown. dazed K: Power Uppercut. Damage: 12. Knockdown. cP: Triple Spinning Jump Kicks Damage: 3. Knocks down. Note that the kicks won't juggle so it's one hit. Ends in crouch. cK: Double Spining Jump Kicks Damage: 4. Knocks down. Note that the kicks won't juggle so it's one hit. Greater range than cP. Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Ends in crouch. S2: Leaping Spin Kick (other commands) (NK)+f, K+J Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S3: Double Forward Spin Kicks (other commands) (NP)+f, P+J Damage: 8. Knockdown. Note that the kicks won't juggle so it's one hit. COMBOS P,P, dazed P: 26 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Yamazaki: Power Straight Punch (dazed P) Power Uppercut (dazed K) Double Forward Spin Kicks (S3) CPU Only Moves: Quadruple Spinning Jump Kicks: same as Player cP, but doesn't need crouch status. Lvl.1 Yamazaki: Health 28 (Yellow gi) Lvl.2 Yamazaki: Health 32 Damage Modifier x2.2 (Green gi) Lvl.3 Yamazaki: Health 48 Damage Modifier x4.0 (Red gi) Tower Yamazaki: Health 16 DEFEATING CPU YAMAZAKI Yamazaki will generally approach and then either do the Leaping Overhead Chop or else the spinning jump kicks. His P,P is very fast and has very good range, so a lot of characters struggle to break the safe space against him. You can counter this with most characters by jumping at Yamazaki and kicking. Some characters lose to his Overhead Chop, but this is kinda rare since he will generally just do the spinning jump kicks. The big problem with fighting Yamazaki is that he pretty much always appears with Soeno, his semi-clone that uses and abuses a regular jump kick (with relatively high "priority") and his Overhead Elbow, which the computer seems to use in an almost invulnerable way. And...there's usually a swarm of a bunch of them together; not just one Yamazaki and one Soeno. Since the Soeno he travels with don't get hit very well with jump attacks, it's probably best to approach Yamazaki and P him out of the air when he tries his leaping attacks instead. I recommend clearing out the Yamazaki and Soeno characters before tackling others if they're all together in a group. PLAYING AS YAMAZAKI Although his damage output is much better than Soeno, making him better to use in a straighforward way with combos, most of his specialty attacks are pretty much useless in comparison. The best thing to do with Yamazaki? Approach with jump kicks and use the safe zone. Yamazaki has a decent walk speed, but he can't outrun really fast people like Ayumi, so be careful of them. Remember his punches come out fast. If you do break the safe zone, probably the best thing to do is actually to just P,P, dazed P. His K is pretty hard to gt in well, because he'll get stuffed by jump kicks and...actually quite a lot of enemy attacks. Since it does the same damage as a P, there's almost no advantage to using it to begin with, but note that if you try to combo it or if it hits, you'll be in crouch, and unless you land right in front of a dazed foe, you will probably not be able to use a dazed move as a result. If you're knocked down, all I can say is you really should use the Forward Double Spin Kicks (S3). You will get invulnerable status and it will travel a decent distance, plus you may knock people behind those right in front of you with the second kick. This is his only special move that does not end in crouch, so you will not be stuck in a state from which your only two attacks are slow, very vulnerable garbage. Camp out over people and just P,P, dazed P. This is your best way to beat the game with Yamazaki. C18. SOENO ----------- Description: Guy in a karate gi. He has a widow's peak; less hair on his forehead than Yamazaki. Overview: Stage Weapons used: Knife, Dynamite, Grenade, Bat (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Iron Bar (P attack only does 3 damage, so use K), Ball and Chain, Box, Stone, Barrel, Tire, Log Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Moves: P: Straight Punch Damage: 4 P,P: Twin Straight Punches Damage: 4,4. Dazes K: Overhead Elbow Damage: 10. Dazes. On successful hit, can immediately be canceled into a dazed P or K attack! jumping P or K: Jumping Kick Damage: 2. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Charged Straight Punch. Damage: 4. Knockdown. dazed K: Overhead Chop. Damage: 3. Knockdown. cP: Uppercut. Damage: 3. Knockdown. cK: Leaping Rising Knee Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Straight Palm Strike (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 3. Invulnerable. Knockdown. S2: Hopping Knee Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S3: Backfist (other commants) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: 3. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed P: 18 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Soeno: Charged Straight Punch (dazed P) Overhead Chop (dazed K) CPU Only Moves: Leaping Rising Knee: same as player cK but does not need a crouch Lvl.1 Soeno: Health 24 (Yellow gi) Lvl.2 Soeno: Health 28 Damage Modifier x2.2 (Blue gi) Lvl.3 Soeno: Health 32 Damage Modifier x4.25 (Pink gi) Tower Soeno: Health 14 DEFEATING CPU SOENO Despite his super-low damage in the player's hands, Soeno can be a bit of a pain because he travels in packs and gets ridiculously high Damage Modifiers at Lvl.2 and Lvl.3. He also will use his invulnerble Straight Palm Strike to counter often at those levels as you break the safe zone or use a jump kick ad nauseum. Jumping at him is not recommended. He will respond with an instant jump kick or a Backfist or a Hopping Knee, or he will use his Overhead Elbow, which seems to be invulnerable during its active window for the computer. Since he will also often use his Leaping Rising Knee to go far over your head, he is a pain because he will often maneuver behind you. So, what to do? The best strategy with him is to approach and hit him out of the air, since he will generally approach with a jumping kick. Then, you can camp out and defeat him as he lies down. Be careful! Don't get too close to him if you are coming out of the safe zone. Soeno's punches have great reach and speed and will beat a lot of characters to the punch (Okada, Kodani, et al). I recommend taking care of both the Soeno and Yamazaki characters first if you can because of their speed and harrassment tactics. PLAYING AS SOENO Soeno is difficult to beat the game with. In fact, you may have a harder time with him than with Burnov, until you know what you are doing. I suppose that's why out of all the Trophies for beating the game with characters, his has the lowest percentage of attainment on PSN. The first obstacle for Soeno is his damage output. Notice that almost all of his moves do very little damage. His punches do OK for a "regular character," but certainly aren't breaking any records. The only move he has that does any damage is his Overhead Elbow (K). This move is awkward and slow, however. But, you can do it right after a P if you land it. The best thing to do is P, then K...then, something wonderful that may not be apparent at first: you can cancel the Overhead Elbow with a dazed move THE INSTANT IT HITS, like a 2D figher's 2-in-1 cancel. This is definitely one of the keys to beating the game with this weak- ling. When you camp out, P, K, then time it so you instantly cancel with a P. If you just tap K, you can hit that easily, but it will do a whole 1 point less. When in the safe zone, you can jockey for position by using his Leaping Knee Attack. Jump, then when you're crouching as you land, hit K. You can repeat this to gain some distance if you want. Note that you can use the Straight Palm Strike's invulnerability to beat other characters' jump kicks or to break the safe plane. The problem is that this move has a very small hitbox for whatever reason and its wind-up, while invulnerable, is kinda lengthy. This means it may take a lot of getting used to to use his invulnerable move at all effectively, which makes it way worse than, say, Billy's Headbutt. Using his jump kick is pretty good, but you may note that it's not so great compared to many of the other characters in the game. Still, not bad to throw out there from time to time. When getting up, it's actually probably best to throw out either a Hopping Knee (S2) or Leaping Knee Attack (cK). The latter will get you pretty far away from everyone and stay invulnerable a bit, but note that both of these do end in a crouch. You can opt to instead use his Backfist (S3). This is good because you will reover very quickly, so in a pinch, do this and then walk straight up or down because the enemies will probably descend upon you like vultures. As I said, at first, Soeno will appear to be unusable, but it is actually possible to defeat the game with him on one go. I know because I've done it a number of times already. His low damage output and the awkwardness of his invulnerable move do mean that you will have to really be on top of your game, though, so he might be a good character to practice with to get a feel for how to defeat the game. One last thing about Soeno: don't shy away from using the stage weapons in earlier stages. He can use the usual one-handed or melee stuff, but he can also pick up the things you hold overhead such as Tires or Boxes. There's no shame in using those for instant kills on weak characters. C19. AYUMI ----------- Description: Kunoichi (female ninja) in fan-service-y mini-skirt. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: Yes Projectile stock: 20 (+6 stage refresh) Moves: P: Chop Damage: 3. P,P: Twin Chops Damage: 3,3. Dazes K: Shuriken Throw Damage: 18 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Shuriken (20 Stock) Close: Weapon does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player, can hit those behind for full damage. At 0 Ammo, attack does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player. jumping P or K: Jumping Knee Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Straight Step-In Punch Damage: 14. Knockdown. dazed K: Spin Kick. Damage: 22. Knockdown. cP: Dashing Elbow Damage: 10. Knockdown. cK: Hopping Knee Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Smoke Bomb (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 30. Dazes (if S1 hits): Smoke Bomb to Quick Backflip Damage: 30,N/A. -> (N): Shuriken Throw Damage: 18 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Shuriken (20 Stock) Close: Weapon does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player, can hit those behind for full damage. At 0 Shuriken, second attack does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player. -> ~P: Jump Cancel Damage: N/A Cancels into normal back jump with jump attack available. Ends in crouch. -> ~P: Quick Jump Back Damage: N/A. -> (N): Shuriken Throw Damage: 18 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Shuriken (20 Stock) At 0 Shuriken, or when attack hits in close range, 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown other player. Close: Weapon does 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player, can hit those behind for full damage. -> ~P: Jump Cancel Damage: N/A Cancels into normal back jump with jump attack available. Ends in crouch. S2: Jumping Side Kick (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 15. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S3: Jump Back (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: N/A. -> ~P or ~K: Jump Cancel. Damage: N/A. Cancels into normal back jump with jump attack available. Ends in crouch. -> (N): Shuriken Throw Damage: 18 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Shuriken (20 Stock) At 0 Shuriken, or when attack hits close, 9 damage and dazes CPU, knockdown vs other player. NOTE: This only comes out sometimes so I'm still not 100% sure what triggers it. -> ~P: Jump Cancel. Damage: N/A. Cancels into normal back jump with jump attack available. Ends in crouch. COMBOS P,P, dazed K: 28 P, K (close or at 0 Ammo), dazed K: 34 P,P, S1: 36 (NOTE: Does not knock victim down so you will need to knock them down afterwards to defeat them) Enemy Stats Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Ayumi: Twin Chops (P,P) Straight Step-In Punch (dazed P) Spin Kick (dazed K) CPU Only Moves: Dashing Elbow: Same as cP but doesn't require crouch status. Hopping Knee: Same as cK but doesn't require crouch status. Lvl.1 Ayumi: Health 28 (Pink clothes) Lvl.2 Ayumi: Health 32 (Blue clothes) Tower Ayumi: Health 16 DEFEATING CPU AYUMI Ayumi moves very, very quickly. The best response to her is to either get in the safe space and break it by punching at her or else to approach with a jump kick from a distance. The latter is preferable, even though her Smoke Bomb does pretty great damage. It's an awkward move with an awkward hit box, so you can generally hit her out of it. Once she's down, it's time to camp out and destroy her. The big problems? She jumps backwards with her Jump Back very often and she can throw her Shuriken very quickly, with almost no warning. The other big problem is that she travels in packs quite often. Oh, another big problem: this character is the most guilty of ignoring safe zones. If she starts getting active with attacks while you're in the safe zone, there are two options: walk up or down to the other safe zone to get her to behave, or else to use that opportunity to destroy that one Ayumi while all other enemies are basically out of the picture (recommended). When breaking the safe zone against Ayumi, punch. If she tries to attack with her own punches, chances are very good that she will fail because Ayumi has what may be the slowest punches in the game and since the CPU can't use dazed attacks, she basically will just be throwing a bunch of these without knocking you down. If you have a move like Billy or Jimmy's Spiral Rising Headbutt, you can use this pretty easily on her because she runs around like a lunatic and often will get nailed by this attack, though she will sometimes Jump Back out of range. At first encounter, she may seem like quite the threat, but once you get used to fighting her, she's really not the worst thing ever. She can do some annoying things but she's easily stuffed. Because of her speed and squirelliness I recommend taking her out as soon as possible in a huge group with her in it. PLAYING AS AYUMI Ayumi moves quickly but she is a bit weird to use. She's actually a bit difficult to defeat the computer with because she has no good knockdowns as her jump kick is bad, her K is a projectile, and her P attacks are insanely slow. Also, moves like her Smoke Bomb might deal a lot of damage, but they daze the computer and she will automatically jump away, so the only vialbe options are to let her strike with a Shuriken or to cancel and use the crouching P Dashing Elbow, but that's not 100% guaranteed. First off, I should note that she has 20 ammo for her Shuriken, so it's not really worth it to shy away from using them to knock troublesome enemies down. In fact, you will mostly be trying to get some distance from crowds and picking people off with Shuriken. In the safe zone, you'll probably outrun most characters simply by her high movement, so she's great for that. Breaking the safe zone against an enemy close to you may be an issue, however. This is because her P attacks are very slow and her K is her Shuriken Throw. Though it is a little faster than her P and dazes at close range, it still wastes a Shuriken and isn't as fast as the P attacks for a lot of characters. Another problem is that her jump kick is fairly bad. The hitbox is really small because she barely puts her knee out in front of her body, which is her hurtbox. This makes a lot of jump-friendly characters a bit difficult to deal with. You might want to stay an appropriate distance away and try her Jumping Side Kick (S2) instead against these characters, but note that it is not invulnerable, and also that it is a little slow and ends in crouch. When getting up from a knockdown, your Jumping Side Kick (S2) may come in very handy, but note that she is then in crouch. Her cK is better for this because it's faster, but it also ends in crouch. Her cP dashes forward, so it's a good way to knock people away...but be ready to move up or down almost immediately to avoid people. As a regular move, it is useless because it is not invulnerable and most enemies will easily counter it. The best thing to do when camping out is probably P,P, dazed K. You can use her P, K, dazed K, but it will cost you one Shuriken unless you are out (in which case, why not?). Her dazed K is the damage-heavy move, so it's definitely the way to go. Note that her P,P attack is actually so sluggish that enemies will be able to move after the first hit stun. This won't be too much of a problem for scrub characters except for Williams (who will often do an instant jump kick), but other characters can really mess her up if they want (Lvl.4 or Lvl.5 Abobo, for instance). One more problem with her is her platforming skills. Her jump has incredible range, but...note that it's probably too much range for platforming. In fact, it's impossible to use normal jumps and get across the areas with Cog traps. For these, you will defintely have to do this: turn and face the opposite way, then hit S3 to Jump Back. C20. KODANI ------------ Description: Typical sumo rikishi with black mawashi and hair in a mage. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Nodowa (palm thrust) Damage: 6 P,P: Nodowa, Teppoutsuki (palm thrust, palm strike) Damage: 6,6. Dazes. K: Heavy Downwards Harite Slap Damage: 10. Dazes CPU, Knockdown vs other player. jumping P or K: Jumping Belly Bump Damage: 3. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Power Harite Slap Damage: 19. Knockdown. dazed K: Buchikamashi Headbutt Damage: 20. Knockdown. dazed (enemy facing player) f: Uwatedashinage Throw Damage: 5. Knockdown (throw). JUGGLE STARTER. Invulnerable. Note that juggling off his own throw is impossible but is possible in 2P with the other character--it's just difficult. cP: Jumping Headbutt Damage: 3. Knockdown. Invulnerable (wind-up window). Ends in crouch. cK: Power Rising Belly Bump Damage: 13. Far knockdown. Invulnerable (crouch before active window). Ends in crouch. S1: Crouch (other command) P+K+J Damage: N/A. Ends in crouch. S2: Leaping Backdrop (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 16. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S3: Deashi Taiatari Charge (other commands) (NP)+f | P+J Damage: 33. Far knockdown. COMBOS P, K, S3: 48 Enemy Stats: Player-Only Moves Unused by CPU Kodani: Jumping Belly Bump (jump K or P) Power Harite Slap (dazed P) Buchikamashi Headbutt (dazed K) Jumping Headbutt (cP) Rising Belly Bump (cK) Leaping Backdrop (S2) Lvl.1 Kodani: Health 115 Damage Modifier x1.4 (S3 is x1.0) (Normal) Lvl.2 Kodani: Health 66 Damage Modifier x3.6 (S3 is x1.0) (Darker skin) Lvl.3 Kodani: Health 115 Damage Modifier x3.0 (S3 is x1.8) (Green skin) Lvl.4 Kodani: Health 115 Damage Modifier x3.5 (S3 is x1.8) (Darker skin) Tower Kodani: Health 40 DEFEATING CPU KODANI Kodani's main strategy is to come up to you and use his Taiatari Charge. This move is fast and has a great hitbox and moves a good distance, but it also does a ton of damage (about a quarter of your health unless a Lvl.3 or Lvl.4 Kodani hits you, in which case it's more like 45% of your health). He will also use his P attacks on you, but they are very slow, so you should be able to walk up or down to get out of his combo shenan- igans. The Charge itself can be avoided similarly, if need be. This is because the crouch he goes into as sort of a tachiai (if you know sumo terms) is is a pretty lengthy wind-up. A character entering his "plane" will probably trigger the Charge, but will be out of range by the time he actually comes out of the crouch and has an active attack. Thankfully, he has the slowest walk speed in the game. You can actually deal with other characters before he creeps his slow butt over there to deal with you, generally speaking. Just be sure to get out of the way if he gets too close so he doesn't Charge into you while you're still trapped in animation for something. A key to defeating him is to jump in early as he approaches and use a jump kick. He'll go into his crouch for his Taiatari Charge, but will usually be defeated during the Charge. Once he's down, just camp out and combo him ad nauseum because Kodani always has a prodigious amount of Health. Note that if he comes up to the front of the crowd around you when you're in your safe space, almost all characters can just break the plane and hit him with P combos before he can react. His P and K are too slow to beat just about any other P attack, and if he goes into a Taiatari Charge, you'll be there to strike him during the animation of him getting up to charge into you. Because of his slow speed, he's not really that much of an issue in huge crowds so it's not usually necessary to deal with him first. You will probably want to take him out in the final fight before the Okada sisters, but be careful not to overextend yourself and get caught by a bullet because that will drain 1/2 your Health. PLAYING AS KODANI Kodani is relatively easy to defeat the computer with. Why is this? Well, it's his Taiatari Charge, of course! You should look at using it as you would a jump kick from a distance. Start it a little early so that his hit box strikes enemies who try to do stuff like jump kick you. One hit from that thing will outright kill most "normal-sized" foes. When in the safe zone with Kodani you are at a bit of a disadvantage. This is because of his sluggish walk speed and because he really doesn't have a safe way to break the plane and knock enemies down. Your best bet in that instance is to go for a P,P, Taiatari (S3), but his P is very slow so you might get tagged. You can also go straight for a Taiatari but you will probably get beaten up by the jump-kicky or even P,P happy enemies. He has two invulnerable options off the S1 crouch. The kick version (Rising Belly Bump) does a nice chunk of damage, but its invul- nerability isn't too long and it makes him hang in the air for a long time (vulnerable), then end in crouch. The punch version (Jumping Headbutt) actually has a decent invulnerable window and can be used to break the safe zone, but you must immediately cancel the S1 crouch into the P and jumpy characters will usually just go right through you. Moving him in the safe zone, you can try repeatedly using the Taiatari Charge repeatedly because even with the crouch animation, it is faster than walking with him. If enemies are approaching diagonally, go ahead and use your P,P or P, K. He's slow, but if you start it early enough, they probably will get tagged as they enter the hitbox area to try and get their own move off. When they're dazed, you may as well go ahead and throw at a Taiatari Charge. His dazed attacks don't do as much damage and his Uwatedashinage Throw is pretty much worthless because, although it is invulnerable, it has a slight wind-down window. He throws the opponent backwards, but ends up facing the same direction as he started the throw with, in case you wanna use it and then immediately throw something out at enemies approaching you. When getting up from being knocked down, his crouch moves are sorta pathetic, but if you want to use one I recommend the cP (Jumping Headbutt) because it doesn't have the lengthy cool-down period while hanging in the air that his Rising Belly Bump (cK) does. Both end in crouch, which means you will probably be vulnerable at the end, so beware. In this case, as boring as it is to basically have one gameplan, it's probably best to use the Taitari Charge and exploit the invulnerability for the wind-up. Note that Kodani's jump attack is relatively useless and I don't really recommend using it too much. C21. SONNY LEE --------------- Description: Guy who looks like Billy and Jimmy but wears yellow. He's the third Lee ... triplet?, I guess? Anyway, he is from Double Dragon III's arcade version, which had a 3-Player mode basically. Overview: Stage Weapons used: All Can be grappled/thrown: No Projectile stock: 20 (+6 scene refresh) Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 3. P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage 3,3. Dazes. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 5. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight jump kick. Damage: 6. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Ryuusetsu raijinken (Dragon Thunder God Fist...an uppercut). Damage: 8. Knockdown. dazed K: Knee. Damage: 10. Knockdown. cP: Uppercut. Damage: 13. Invulnerable. Knockdown. cK: Flying Knee. Damage: 18. Far knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Energy Ball (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J. Damage: 22 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Energy Ball (20 Stock). Close: projectile passes through enemy and can hit those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S2: Senpuukyaku (Whirlwind Kick) (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J. Damage: 7. Knockdown. Invulnerable. Ends in crouch. Sometimes does much more than 7? Maybe at the very first few frames. S3: Back Elbow. (strikes behind player) (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J. Damage: 4. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 18 Enemy Stats: Tower Sonny: Health 40? DEFEATING CPU SONNY LEE You can only get to fight this guy in higher levels of the Tower, so you will probably already be using a character that rocks the computer by this point. Here is what you need to keep in mind: he will throw Energy Balls at you from a distance. So, you may have to walk up or down from one safe space to another and keep an eye on where he is as you knock the other enemies down, or else jockey to get him close and come out of the safe zone with an invulnerable knockdown over and over. In fact, that's the best way to deal with all five of the "special guest" characters in the Tower: use the safe zone and come out with an invulner- able attack, then boringly go back and repeat. PLAYING AS SONNY LEE Sonny is like Billy or Jimmy, but he has no invulnerable moves and has a Hadouk--er, um, Energy Ball. He can also use the Whirlwind Kick whenever he wants without needing to be at the peak of a jump, yay. He also lacks the ability to grapple. Another thing about him is that his Flying Knee seems to have less of a "hang time" in the air, and also delivers a pretty decent chunk of damage. Pay him the same as you would another Lee, but it should be a fairly easy row to how with him since he can throw Energy Balls at enemies if there are a bunch of them or if you're in a boss fight. Use it to hit nuisance enemies such as Rowper or Ayumi from a distance. He has 20 ammo, with a +6 refresh between scenes or when you are defeated, so there's no need to be too miserly (except in the Tower). When in the safe plane, jump to crouch and use the Flying Knee over and over. This moves him a little faster than normal walking speed and will help you get some distance. Remember that he has no invulnerable attack, so you'd better be able to hit enemies with a P, K, dazed K or S2 (Whirl- wind Kick) if you break the plane. Speaking of the Whirlwind Kick, it's...a bit of a conundrum. It seems like if it hits an enemy from slightly far away or once it's off the ground--or possibly if the enemy is off the ground, it only does 7 damage. The strange thing is that sometimes it seems to do much more damage (at least double). As such, I recommend using the S2 Whirlwind Kick when you've dazed an opponent when camping out to defeat those with large amounts of Health. I also recommend using it if you are approaching jump-happy fools, or when you are trying to beat one of them walking diagonally. It will prob- ably knock them to the ground, plus any other enemies crowding them. When getting up from a knockdown, you can also use the Whirlwind Kick, but note that it will probably leave you hanging in the air and then you will need to recover with a crouch afterwards, so although it can clear out the close enemies, those not-so-close will probably be able to come in and punish you. Therefore, I usually recommend the Leaping Knee attack. Its recovery isn't really so bad by comparison and it deals 18 damage (not too shabby). It also knocks people off platforms very easily. Remember that Sonny can use all stage weapons, so, you may as well! C22. CHIN SEIMEI ----------------- *Name Note: The Japanese have their own way of reading Chinese characters that sometimes comes up with things that are pretty far-off (for instance, Lu Bu is transliterated "Ryofu" and Guan-yu is transliterated "Kan'u" and stuff). So, they just used the Japanese readings. If he's from China, his name would either be Chen Qing-ming ("Q" sounds like a "ch") if Mandarin or Tsan Tsing-ming if Cantonese. Description: Little Chinese guy with awkward posture and blue clothes. He comes from Double Dragon III, and so the graphics are really bad for him and you might not be able to discern what's up with his face, but he's not a robot monster or whatever. He's supposed to have a thin moustache. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Eagle Claw Strike Damage: P,P: Twin Eagle Claw Strikes Damage: 4,4. Dazes. K: High Face Kick Damage: 6. Dazes. jumping P or K: Straight Jump Kick Damage: 4. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Overhead Chop Damage: 12. Knockdown. dazed K: Twin Jump Kicks Damage: 3,3. First hit JUGGLE STARTER, but unless you strike a jumping foe, the second hit is the only follow-up available. If you do strike an airborne foe, cP is best. Ends in crouch. cP: Iron Claw Leaping Uppercut Damage: 20. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Iron Claw Leaping Forward Drill Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Flying Headbutt (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 8. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S2: Twin Jump Kicks (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 3,3. First hit JUGGLE STARTER, but unless you strike a jumping foe, the second hit is the only follow-up available. If you do strike an airborne foe, cP is best. Ends in crouch. S3: Iron Claw Spin (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: 3. Invulnerable. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed P: 22 Enemy Stats: CPU Only Moves: Crouch: ends in crouch. Invulnerable. Tower Chin Seimei: Health 40? DEFEATING CPU CHIN SEIMEI You can only get to fight this guy in higher levels of the Tower, so you will probably already be using a character that rocks the computer by this point. Chin Seimei is a "harrassment" character. His walk speed is relatively fast, but he will approach with garbage like Twin Jump Kicks or the Iron Claw Spin and knock you down. In fact, that's the best way to deal with all five of the "special guest" characters in the Tower: use the safe zone and come out with an invulner- able attack, then boringly go back and repeat. PLAYING AS CHIN SEIMEI This guy is possibly the worst at defeating the game, along with Burnov. "But, Patrick--he has an invulnerable move!" It's slow. The wind-up isn't invulnerable, though it's relatively short, but its active window is long and his cool-down is long. Breaking the safe plane with it might be OK if there aren't a lot of enemies about, but it's not that great, honestly...you will often find yourself with enemies simply waiting out of your tiny range until your long cool-down to punish you. "But, Patrick--he does relatively decent damage!" I mean, so? To do damage effectively, you'll be tempted to use the Iron Claw Leaping Uppercut (crouch P), but the hang time in the air is ridiculous and it ends in crouch without moving forward very much, so you'll want to get the heck out of Dodge immediately after you strike enemies. The hitbox is nice, though, so you might hit a few enemies at once. "But, Patrick--Juggles?" The Twin Jump Kicks juggles...technically. But, all you can do is have the move hit twice for 6 whole damage, most of the time. The only real way to juggle off it (unless you're in co-op 2P and the other guy steals the second hit) is to hit an enemy who is already jumping, so the second hit misses. This will pretty much guarantee an Iron Claw Leaping Uppercut (cP), so you get 23 damage...but the Twin Jump Kicks attack is very unreliable for this and gets stuffed by a lot of enemy jumping attacks, so it's largely worthless. Oh yeah, and if a bunch of guys are coming at you to hit you when you're in the forced crouch, your only real option is to try for a Drill (cK) for a whopping 13 damage total plus maybe 10 to the guys who are moving in behind the guy (those behind you might still catch up during your forced crouch and get you). One decent(?) thing about his Twin Jump Kicks is you can use it to approach enemies and then end in crouch, then use the Iron Claw Leaping Uppercut (cP) to deal pretty good damage and to hit just about everyone because it has a great hitbox and does some good damage (20). The set-up is awkward, though; you'll mostly be looking to either miss the enemy or to hit them if there's a pack of enemies congregating behind him (so that they can eat the cP). The Claw Uppercut is arguably his best move because of its hitbox versus his tiny hurtbox and because of the way it travels, making it difficult or impossible for enemies to jump in on you and also knocking multiple enemies down. It also does great damage. The problems are that the hang time is long and it ends in crouch so you will be pretty open if there are other enemies hanging about...and also that there is no simple way to get into crouch for this character. If only they had given him the computer-only Crouch move! I think on paper it looks like he's OK, but he's really not, for the reasons above and also because his first P of his P,P is really, really slow. His second is nice and fast, though--which is relatively stupid because it makes camping out a little awkward. One good thing about him is his P and K attacks have larger hitboxes than the animation displayed. In fact, the only characters who seem to be able to beat him are Yamazaki, Soeno, and Abobo for this--but their attacks are faster. It will take practice to get the hang of the range of his P,P, dazed P, but it's the key to winning with him. Usually, if you are hitting someone already, your second and third attacks will hit those who come in to smash you as you're stuck in animation. The other good things about him are his walk speed is really good and his jump kick, as awkward as it looks, is actually very good. Jumping at enemies from a distance with a kick is recommended. If you get in the safe space, good for you! Now walk away from every character you can outrun, which is pretty much everyone but Ayumi or Lvl.3 Mason (whom you only face once anyway). Ayumi is fine to deal with because she has such a ridiculously slow P attack so she can't really stuff you with an attack as you break the safe zone...but be sure other characters aren't swarming you. His jump is also awkwardly long. You'll notice in the "cog" platforming sections that it's a little difficult. This is because he will do stuff such as jump straight over the "top" of the cog if you land on its left side...but that's actually OK because if you're on the right and it rotates, like...the worst that can happen is you'll get tossed into the air and land bck on the right side of the cog instead of being thrown far to the left and falling through a platform or whatever. If you lose too many lives early on and have to continue much, it's best to just give up. You'll probably have 1 or 0 continues left at the end of the game. Good luck! You'll need to be at the top of your game to win with this weirdo. Oh, also, his bellyflop Headbutt thing (S1) isn't the worst move in the world but it's fairly worthless so I almost never end up using it. It has a lengthy hang time, doesn't move very far forward, and ends in crouch, leaving you vulnerable. Also, it's not very good at hitting jumping opponents for that added extra awesomeness. Instead, to get up from a knockdown, it's probably best to use his crouch K attack and then immediately follow with another to get the heck away from characters...although they will maybe still be close because of the whole "ends in crouch" thing. You can also use a Twin Jump Kicks (S2), which also ends in crouch, but covers a bit more distance than the crouch K. To successfully beat the game with him without using Mission Select, you will basically need to trick characters into moving diagonally towards you and attack early, plus make use of the things I mentioned above such as the jump kick or Claw Uppercut (when you can). It will pretty much take you completely understanding the game system to beat the game with him. I usually only have 1 or 0 continues left by the end of the game. I can't recommend him for Tower Mode at all. C23. YAGYUU RANZOU ------------------- Description: Ninja guy in the oh-so-inconspicuous salmon color. He's from Double Dragon III. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Projectile stock: 20 (+6 scene refresh) Moves: P: Quick Backhand Damage: 2 P,P: Twin Quick Backhands Damage: 2,2. Dazes. K: Quick Roundhouse Damage: 3. Dazes. jumping P or K: Double Claw Leap Damage: 8. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Katana Slice Damage: 20. Knockdown. dazed K: Jumping Spin Kick Damage: 6. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cP: Somersault to Aerial Katana Slash Damage: 30. Knockdown. -> ~K: Aerial Katana Slash cancel to Somersault to Drop Kick Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. -> ~K: Second Somersault cancel to Drop Kick Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Somersault to Drop Kick Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. -> ~K: Somersault cancel to Drop Kick Damage: 10. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Dash (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: N/A -> P: Katana Slash Damage: 14. Knockdown. -> K: Dash Cancel Damage: N/A -> J: Somersault to Drop Kick Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. -> K: Somersault cancel to Drop Kick Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. S2: Shuriken Throw (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 18 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Shuriken (20 Stock) Close: Weapon passes through opponent and does 6 damage, can hit those behind opponent. At 0 Ammo, attack does 6 damage and knockdown vs Player, dazes computer. S3: Katana Slice (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J Damage: 18. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed P: 25 Enemy Stats: Tower Ranzou: Health 40? DEFEATING CPU YAGYUU RANZOU You can only get to fight this guy in higher levels of the Tower, so you will probably already be using a character that rocks the computer by this point. Ranzou is basically another "harrassment" character. His walk speed is excellent, so avoiding him in the safe zone might be a little rough, but keeping in mind where the other characters are in these special fights so you don't get hit with an Energy Ball, try and gain a little distance from them and come out with an invulnerable knockdown before he gets a chance to jump through you. If he's at a distance, he will throw a Shuriken, so that's another fun thing in this fight where someone else is already lobbing Energy Balls at you. The best way to deal with all five of the "special guest" characters in the Tower is to use the safe zone and come out with an invulnerable attack, then boringly go back and repeat. PLAYING AS YAGYUU RANZOU Although you may be thinking Ranzou is another super-fast character with big jumps and a weird movelist, so he must be Ayumi-esque in his awkward- ness, he's actually a breeze to beat the computer with (especially in Story Mode, but he is viable in Tower--just not as much as Mysterious Warrior, maybe). He moves really fast, so if there are enemies that jump kick towards you or whatever, you can usually just walk backwards and then approach as they are in a crouch. His punches are very fast and have great range, too, so you can knock them out of the air with them--but you should do so at a distance. The hitbox for his P,P is a lot bigger than it seems, so you can stand well out of range of enemy jumps and hit them. If you can get some distance, there's a better way to defeat jumping opponents--and the key to his victory in Tower Mode: the Dash -> Katana Slash (S1 -> P). To do this properly, try and do it from a far distance and time it so the slash looks like it would hit only at the very end of its slash or not even hit at all. Enemies who jump will be stuffed by the nice hitbox at the end of the slash, and most other enemies will react too slowly to even do anything to counter it, anyway. Great way to get characters down and it is absolutely essential to learn the distance if you want to make it to high levels of Tower Mode. I recommend using him to unlock Myster- ious Warrior. As for his moves, you should note that his jump attack is pretty bad because he exposes his whole body with a hurtbox and has a high and small hitbox, so it's probably not like you're going to approach enemies with it too often. His Shuriken Throw is as great as any other character's projectile, and he has a nice amount of ammo, so you'll probably use it often and find it very effective, but his other Specials aren't too useful except that the Dash makes him even faster, so you can get into position easily. Use this for the safe plane, to get up from a knockdown (with its invulnerability), or just when trying to get through the slog of enemy-less, empty areas. You may be tempted to try his Somersault to Aerial Katana Slash for its heavy damage, but it's a fairly awkward move. Even exploiting the invuln- erability status when getting up from a knockdown, enemies will often just move out of its awkward range. It's also slow and ends in crouch, leaving the poor li'l guy open to attack. So, when getting up from a knockdown, I'll either use the Somersault to Drop Kick -> Cancel Kick (cK -> K) and use that invulnerability to knock a guy down, use the Katana Slash (S3) for the same thing, or just dash away with S1. Although his jump is very long and that would make platforming really tough, there is a way to beat the "cog" platforming traps for him that actually makes it not as big a deal as it would for Ayumi or Chin Seimei. Jump at the left part of the cog and then hit K when he is crouching from the landing and the somersault should get you up onto the top part. You can jump from top part to top part when they are in a row, but if you really want to be safe, you can drop down to the right part of the cog because if it turns you will be tossed up into the air, but not off the trap, so no insta-death. Breaking the invulnerable plane with him is simple because of his ridiculous P speed. Even almost all enemies who respond with a jump attack will probably be caught on the way up and dropped to the ground. He does do more damage if you use P, K instead of P,P, but it's only 1 point, so it's not even really worth it. It's boring, but just approach enemies and hit them from a relatively far distance with P,P, dazed P because the hitbox of his P,P is larger than the animation. C24. JIMMY LEE (RETRO) ----------------------- Description: Looks like the old model of Jimmy used in Double Dragon (I) on the Famicom/NES. Overview: Stage Weapons used: All Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Jab. Damage: 3 P,P: Jab, Straight. Damage 3,3. Dazes. K: Straight Kick. Damage: 5. Dazes. jump P or K: Straight jump kick. Damage: 6. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Ryuusetsu raijinken (Dragon Thunder God Fist...an uppercut). Damage: 9. Knockdown. dazed K: Spin Kick Damage: 10. Knockdown. cP: Jumping Uppercut. Damage: 12. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. cK: Flying Knee. Damage: 14. Far knockdown. Ends in crouch. S1: Headbutt (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J. Damage: 10. Knockdown. S2: Spinning Jump Kick (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J. Ends in crouch. Damage: 9. Invulnerable. JUGGLE STARTER. S3: Back Elbow. (strikes behind player) (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+J. Damage: 5. Knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed K: 18 P, K, S2, cK: 31 Enemy Stats: Tower Jimmy (Retro): Health 40? DEFEATING CPU JIMMY LEE (RETRO) You can only get to fight this guy in higher levels of the Tower, so you will probably already be using a character that rocks the computer by this point. Overall, Jimmy (Retro) has a pretty weak strategy and doesn't have the bonus of ridiculous moves such as an Energy Ball. He's probably the least of your concerns, but he seems to usually want to attach himself to you when you're in the safe zone, so break out with an invulnerable move and move on because the other enemies will be throwing projectiles at you pretty much instantly as they crowd you. In fact, that's the best way to deal with all five of the "special guest" characters in the Tower: use the safe zone and come out with an invulner- able attack, then boringly go back and repeat. PLAYING AS JIMMY LEE (RETRO) Retro Jimmy is like Billy and Jimmy (non-retro), but he can't throw enemies and has one great move: the Spinning Jump Kick (S2). This move is his invulnerable move. It doesn't sound like too much of a change to go from an invulnerable Headbutt to an invulnerable Spinning Jump Kick, but it really helps in approaching enemies and can immediately be followed by a crouching P Jumping Uppercut or a crouching K for a Flying Knee. It's a great way to break the safe plane and also to counter those enemies that like to jump in with their attacks. His walk speed is also better than the other Lee characters. This means that, unlike, say, Sonny, you don't have to use the Flying Knee over and over to gain distance from enemies. Enemies like Lvl.3 Mason or Right Arm will walk about the same speed as you or faster, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue if you counter them with the invulnerable Spinning Jump Kick. The trouble is that he is in crouch at the end of the Spinning Jump Kick. I recommend using a Jumping Uppercut (crouching P) usually at the end of it, unless you want to hurl a guy off a platform, because the range of his Flying Knee is really crummy and may not even hit nearby guys who try to come in and close the gap. The best combos for camping out are going to involve the Spinning Jump Kick. You can opt for a Flying Knee at the end for 2 more points damage, but note that approaching guys is still possible and all, but not as reliable as just Jumping Uppercut-ing them and letting them land close. He can also use all stage weapons, so, why not? C25. MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR ------------------------ Description: This guy really looks like someone from Hokuto no Ken/ Fist of the North Star. Tall, shoulder-padded guy with long hair. He was the boss of Double Dragon II. Overview: Stage Weapons used: None Can be grappled/thrown: No Moves: P: Jab Damage: 2. P,P: Double Jab Damage: 2,2. Dazes. K: Straight Kick Damage: 6. Dazes. jumping P or K: Jumping Knee Damage: 6. Knockdown. Ends in crouch. dazed P: Backhand Damage: 15. Far knockdown. dazed K: Straight Palm Damage: 12. Knockdown. Acts like a medium-range projectile though there is no projectile animation. cP: Jumping Double Spinning Lariat Damage: 15. Far knockdown. Invulnerable at start. Ends in crouch. cK: Power Palm Strike Damage: 10. Far knockdown. S1: Energy Ball (other commands) (NP)+f | P+K+J Damage: 32 (projectile). Knockdown. Uses Energy Ball (20 Stock). Close: projectile passes through enemy and can hit those behind. At 0 Ammo, attack does not hit. S2: Handstand Kick (other commands) (NK)+f | K+J Damage: 40. Knockdown. S3: Double Spinning Lariat (other commands) (NP)+b | (NK)+b | P+K Damage: 15. Invulnerable. Far knockdown. COMBOS P, K, dazed P: 23 P, K, S2: 48 Enemy Stats: Tower Mysterious Warrior: Health 40? DEFEATING CPU MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR This is pretty much the "sticking point" for the Tower. You only fight him on stage 40, or every 40 stages after that (80, 120, etc). If you're going for the Trophies, you will only have to face him twice in one run through the Tower, therefore (since you only have to make it to Floor 101). Mysterious Warrior has an excellent walking speed, but he will usually just try to fire his Energy Ball at you from a distance. If you're in the safe zone, you may have a slight issue as his P,P is the fastest in the game and he can also use the Double Spinning Lariat or the Jumping Double Spinning Lariat when close to punish you because it's also so fast that it seems like an invulnerable move (it may as well be). Treat him like the others in these special fights. Be mindful of where he is and break the plane with something like a Double Spinning Lariat or else an invulnerable move when he's around so you can knock him down right away and not have to bother with his ridiculous, fast P attacks. The only trouble will be that there will be another character throwing Energy Balls at you when he gets to your plane from a distance. To make it easiest, you might want to jockey for position in the safe zone until he decides to walk around the other characters by moving up or down off the plane and then past them before approaching again, take them out, hopefully catch him walking diagonally in the process. PLAYING AS MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR Mysterious Warrior is ridiculously powerful and you should have very little difficulty defeating the game without using Mission Select, even if you haven't played enough to get the system down. Stupidly, your main strategy will be, again, to use P,P, dazed P. His K can be combo'ed and does much more damage (6 vs. 2, basically), but its range is stupid short compared to his punches, so it's probably not even worth it to bother. He moves relatively quickly, so you don't have to worry about jockeying for position being too much of an issue except against maybe Ayumi, Lvl.3 Mason, and Ranzou in the Tower. His P attacks, like so many characters, have a bigger hitbox than their animation, but they're also blindingly fast. Against most characters (even "jumpy" ones), you can stand a little bit away and just ram on the P button to interrupt them. This is because not only is his hitbox large and his speed fast, but it's also high up on his body, so it's difficult to jump over. His Double Spinning Lariat (S3) has invulnerable frames or else it is just too fast for most characters to counter. Breaking the plane with this against people like Williams or Mason is advisable because they might jump and louse things up. I also recommend using it to get up from a knockdown as it is fast with a fast recovery and hits both in front of and behind the character. He has projectiles, which do massive damage. He also has a healthy stock of ammo for these, so don't shy away from taking out bothersome foes like Lvl.2 or Lvl.3 Rowper or other such projectile wielders. If you are in Story Mode, you can use a lot more of these than in Tower because you only get a refresh every 5 levels in Tower Mode, but you will probably change scenes in a Mission. Abusing bosses with this is recommended as no boss can eat 5 of these without dying. Both his dazed moves hit the enemy far away, which is a bit of a shame because it makes camping out a little difficult. If you daze a foe and cancel right away into the Handstand Kick (S2), though, you will deliver really great damage as it does 40 by itself. You can kill all bosses but the Lvl.5 Abobo and the Okada sisters with only 3 of these combos. His dazed K and his crouch moves are pretty much useless, so I don't even recommend them. Maybe if you're in a pinch, throw out the crouching P Jumping Double Spinning Lariat to gain a little distance with the invulnerability as you get up from being knocked down, but it's not even really that necessary to be honest. Mysterious Warrior and Yagyuu Ranzou are the two characters I recommend for getting through 100 Floors of the Tower. He's that good. III. Story Mode (Missions) --------------------------- MISSION 1 --------- --Scene 1:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 2 Knife x 1 and Rock x 1 on the ground. Progress to the right as far as you can to bring on the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Boulder x 1 on the ground. Enter the door at the top of the screen for the next scene. --Scene 1:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 ... Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (left side, after others die) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (left side) ... Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (left side) Get on the raft for a boring, pretty much pointless boat ride to the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Enter the elevator for the final wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Burnov x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.1 Burnov x 2 (left side) Boss battle. End of Mission. MISSION 2 --------- --Scene 2:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (already on screen) (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (already on screen) Move to the right to progress. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (already on screen) ... Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side, after others die) (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (left side) ... Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side, after others die) Rock x 1, Tire x 1 on the ground. Climb the stairs and jump right along platforms to reach the very end to trigger the third wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (right side) You can jump back one platform and get near the edge to bait the enemies into jump kicking, then jab them to make them fall to their deaths if you want. :Fourth Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen, lower platform) ... Lvl.1 Rowper (left side, after Mason dies) (2P) Lvl.1 Linda x 2 (left side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (already on screen, lower platform) ... Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (left side, after Mason dies) Linda and Rowper come in from relatively far back so you will probably have to either wait or go back and get them (esp. Rowper). Jump to the next platform and climb the ladder, then jump to the next platform for the final wave. :Fifth Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (right side, after others die) (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 2 (right side) Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (right side, after others die) Boss fight; ends Mission. If you stay near the left of the platform, Abobo and Chin Taimei will often throw themselves off like idiots. MISSION 3 --------- --Scene 3:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (right side, after others die) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (right side, after others die) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) Progress to the right until you reach the roof access to the train. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (door) ... Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (door, after others die and player nears door) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (door) (2P) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (door) ... Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (door, after others die and player nears door) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (door) You will automatically enter the access to reach the train. --Scene 3:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Mason x 2 (left side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.1 Abobo x 3 (left side) Lvl.1 Mason x 3 (left side) Boss fight; ends mission. Barrel x 1, Tire x 1 on ground. MISSION 4 --------- --Scene 4:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (2P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 ... Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (side, after others die) Box x 1, Bat x 1 on the ground. Move to the right for the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (2P) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Williams x 1 Crate x 1 on the ground. Tire x 1, Box x 1, or Barrel x 1, or Dynamite x 5 inside. Enter the door for the next scene. --Scene 4:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (left side, after other Cody dies) Bat x 1 on the ground. Move to the right for final wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Burnov x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.1 Jake x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.2 Abobo x 1 (already on stage) (2P) Lvl.2 Burnov x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.1 Jake x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.2 Abobo x 1 (already on stage) Enemies do not become active until the screen scrolls as far as possible, so if you're playing 2P and one guy hangs back and the other walks over, that player won't even be able to interact with them at all. Boss battle, end of Mission. You can bring the bat from the earlier wave and toss it at them to make it easier. MISSION 5 --------- --Scene 5:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (door) ... Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (door, after others defeated) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (door, after others defeated) ... Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (door, after others defeated) (2P) Lvl.1 Mason x 1 (door) Lvl.1 Cody x 2 (door) ... Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (door, after others defeated) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (door) ... Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (door, after others defeated) Progress to the right, but you will soon be stopped for another wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.1 Linda x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Abobo x 1 (left side) Progress to the right, but you will soon be stopped for the last wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 Lvl.1 Right Arm x 1 Lvl.3 Burnov x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (2P) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 2 Lvl.1 Right Arm x 1 Lvl.2 Burnov x 1 Lvl.3 Burnov x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 Boss fight; ends Mission. MISSION 6 --------- --Scene 6:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 Lvl.2 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 Lvl.1 Williams x 1 Lvl.1 Burnov x 1 (2P) Lvl.2 Mason x 2 Lvl.2 Cody x 2 Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 Lvl.1 Williams x 1 Lvl.1 Burnov x 2 Crate x 2 on the ground. Grenades x 1-5 and sometimes a barrel in the first, second is either empty or has Dynamite x 8...but can also have Lvl.1 Abobo x 1. Climb the ladder and jump to the left, then climb the ladder for the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (already on stage) (2P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (already on stage) After beating them, jump to the right and climb the next ladder for the next wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (already on stage) ... Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (door, after Mason is defeated) (2P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (already on stage) ... Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (door, after Mason is defeated) ... Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (door, after Cody is defeated) The Mason waiting at the top of the staircase will often knock you down immediately with a jump kick--but then fall to his death. The other enemy (or enemies) can be knocked to lower platforms, so beware because you will have to go down and beat them. Go through the door to the next scene. --Scene 6:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (left side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (left side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (left side) Go to the left and the enemies will appear on the platform near the conveyor belt. You can lure them to the edge and get them to jump, then jab them off as they do so they fall to their deaths. Climb down the ladder to the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (right side) Avoid the bamboo traps. The enemies are very stupid and have trouble avoiding them and instantly are killed by them, if you don't want to fight them. Go down the ladder and avoid the traps. Jump to the left at the last platform because the next platform is a conveyor belt. Then jump to the next one and progress to the right, jumping platforms to the next wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 2 (already on platform) (2P) Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 2 (already on platform) ... Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (right side, after others die) You can bait them to jump at the edge and jab them off into the lava for instant kills. Note that you will probably have to move backwards and then turn around to jab them as Chin Taimei's jump kick has terrific range. After beating the enemies you wil instantly be transported to the final scene. --Scene 6:3-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Abobo x 1 (already on stage) Lvl.2 Burnov x 2 (already on stage) (2P) Lvl.3 Abobo x (already on stage) Lvl.2 Burnov x 4 (already on stage) Boss battle; ends Mission. MISSION 7 --------- --Scene 7:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 Lvl.1 Soeno x 2 (2P) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 Lvl.1 Soeno x 3 You can knock enemies off into the harbor for instant kill. Progress all the way to the right for the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 (left side Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 (left side) Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 (left side Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (left side) Shipping Container x 1 (ground). Inside appears to be nothing usually. Enter the door for the next scene. --Scene 7:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Soeno x 2 (left side) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 (left side) (2P) Lvl.1 Soeno x 2 (left side) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 (left side) ... Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 (left side after other Soeno die) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 (left side after other Yamazaki die) There's a conspicuous pit at the end of the conveyor belt you can knock enemies off to their deaths. Climb the ladder to the platforming segment. Sometimes in 2P, if you jump from the very edge of one of the first up-and-down elevator of either set to the next, you will catch and fall straight down to your death, so avoid jumping from the very edge. Once you are past the conveyor belts, the next wave starts before you can go down the ladder. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 (right side) You might want to climb down the ladder to lure the stupid enemies closer because they will often dawdle off-screen. Climb down the ladder for the final wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 2 (right side) Lvl.1 Soeno x 2 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 2 (right side) Lvl.1 Soeno x 3 (right side) There's another conveyor belt-y pit of death-y area to the left if you want. Once you beat the enemies, Mission complete, yay. MISSION 8 --------- --Scene 8:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (2P) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 - Lvl.1 Abobo x 2 (right side after others defeated) Enter the doors to the lobby for the next scene. --Scene 8:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side after others die) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 (right side) Ball and Chain x 1 on the ground. (Not recommended) Go to the right to the elevators for the next wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (left side, after first Chin Taimei dies) (2P) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Williams x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (right side) ... Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 2 (left side, after first Chin Taimei dies) ... Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (left side after other Chin Taimei die) Ball and Chain x 1 on the ground. (Not recommended) Enter the elevator but be ready for the next scene but be ready because the action is pretty immediate. --Scene 8:3-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Abobo x 1 (already on screen) (2P) Lvl.2 Abobo x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (already on screen) Defeat enemies for the next scene, which starts with a platforming sequence. Make sure you time it so you are crossing the disappearing platforms as they reappear, but also as they are in phase at the same time as the cogs move so you have a chance to jump across. --Scene 8:4-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.4 Abobo x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (already on screen) (2P) Lvl.4 Abobo x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (already on screen) After the platforming segment, the enemies will not be active until both players (if there are two) are near them. You can knock them off the platform. Container x 1 on the ground, sometimes Knife x 1 inside. Note that the only "safe" plane is to the very bottom of the platform. Enter the elevator to the final wave. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Jake x 1 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Cody x 2 (right side) Lvl.1 Cody x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.2 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.3 Rowper x 1 (right side) Lvl.1 Jake x 1 (right side) Boss fight; ends Mission. You can knock them off the platform to the left if you want. Jake especially likes to just plummet to his death there. MISSION 9 --------- --Scene 9:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Cody x 1 Lvl.3 Mason x 1 Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.2 Soeno x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 (2P) Lvl.3 Cody x 1 Lvl.3 Mason x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 Lvl.3 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.2 Soeno x 1 Lvl.1 Chin Taimei x 1 After defeating enemies, scene automatically changes. --Scene 9:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Right Arm x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Soeno x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Kodani x 1 (already on screen) (2P) Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Right Arm x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Yamazaki x 2 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Soeno x 2 (already on screen) Lvl.2 Chin Taimei x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Kodani x 1 (already on screen) Boss fight; ends Mission. MISSION 10 ---------- --Scene 10:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Ascend the...whatever climby part of the cliff that is for the next wave, which should already be running around like idiots up there. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 2 (right side) (2P) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 2 (right side) Ascend the ladder for the next wave. :Third Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 2 (right side) (2P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 2 (right side) The enemies come in a little late, so you might actually at first miss the first Ayumi from the left. You can just wait near the ladder for her so she doesn't throw shuriken all over you while you deal with the others. The spear traps can kill the idiot Ayumi on the next roof segment. Ascend the ladder for the last wave of the scene. :Fourth Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 3 (door) (2P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 2 (already on screen) Lvl.1 Ayumi x 4 (door) It takes a bit of time for each enemy to come so if you clear them out quickly, just wait by the door. Don't worry about the graphical illusion that the spears can hit you on the roof; they appear to come that high but don't in reality. Enter the door for the next scene. --Scene 10:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 2 (right side) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 3 (left side) (1P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 2 (right side) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 3 (left side) The last batch of Ayumi appear after a short amount of time from the first set so dispatch of the first set as quickly as possible. Enter one of the three doors for the next scene. NOTE: PAY ATTENTION!! This section can infinitely loop. It's pretty annoying. I recommend the middle door, then the middle or right door, then the left or right door to get to the boss. That's Middle, Middle or Right, Left or Right. Keep that in mind! --> DOORS: Left: Scene 10:3 Middle: Scene 10:4 Right: Scene 10:2 --Scene 10:3-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Abobo x 2 (2P) Lvl.1 Abobo x 2 Lvl.2 Abobo x 1 Crate x 1 on the ground. Random inside such as Log x 1, Dynamite x 2, BUT also can contain Lvl.2 Abobo x 2 and Lvl.1 Abobo x 2 so not recommended. Enter one of the doors to go to the next scene. --> DOORS: Left: Scene 10:5 Middle: Scene 10:7 Right: Scene 10:7 --Scene 10:4-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Williams x 1 Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 (2P) Lvl.2 Right Arm x 1 Lvl.1 Rowper x 1 Lvl.2 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 --> DOORS: Left: Scene 10:6 Middle: Scene 10:7 Right: Scene 10:7 --Scene 10:5-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Cody x 2 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.3 Mason x 1 (2P) Lvl.3 Cody x 2 Lvl.1 Jake x 1 Lvl.1 Mason x 1 Lvl.3 Mason x 1 Enter one of the doors to go to the next scene. --> DOORS: Left: Scene 10:6 Middle: Scene 10:7 Right: Scene 10:7 --Scene 10:6-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Right Arm x 1 Lvl.1 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Mason x 1 (2P) Lvl.1 Right Arm x 1 Lvl.1 Linda (Mohawk) x 1 Lvl.1 Cody x 1 Lvl.2 Burnov x 1 Lvl.2 Mason x 1 Crate x 1 on the ground. Random inside such as Barrel x 1. Enter one of the doors to go to the next scene. --> DOORS: Left: Scene 10:7 Middle: Scene 10:7 Right: Scene 10:7 --Scene 10:7-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Kodani x 2 (2P) Lvl.1 Kodani x 3 Crate x 1 on ground. Inside is random weapons OR Lvl.2 Kodani x 1-6, so not recommended. Not recommended to use the crate, in other words. Enter one of the doors to go to the next scene. --> DOORS Left: Scene 10:8 Middle: Scene 10:2 Right: Scene 10:8 --Scene 10:8-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Ashida x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.3 Soeno x 2 (already on screen) (2P) Lvl.1 Ashida x 1 (already on screen) Lvl.3 Soeno x 2 (already on screen) Lvl.3 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 Boss fight; ends mission. MISSION 11 ---------- --Scene 11:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Burnov x 2 (left side) Lvl.5 Abobo x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.3 Chin Taimei x 1 (left side) Lvl.2 Burnov x 2 (left side) Lvl.5 Abobo x 2 (left side) Enter the doors for the next scene. --Scene 11:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (left side) Go to the right for the next scene. :Second Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (left side) (2P) Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 (left side) Lvl.3 Soeno x 1 (left side) Go to the right and survive the platforming. Be careful not to jump to the rotating cogs before they are done moving. You actually will have more time from one cog to the next than you may realize so just take it easy. Use invulnerable moves or jumps or whatever to avoid the bricks coming out of the wall. NOTE: DO NOT ENTER THE DOOR AT THE END; GO TO THE RIGHT TO THE FINAL SCENE OF THE LEVEL. Unless you want to loop back and fight Soeno and Ayumi again and go through the platforming again for some reason, that is. --> DOOR: Scene 11:2 --Scene 11:3-- (No enemies) Climb the ladder. Don't progress until the traps are retreating. Be careful; the hit boxes are a little bigger than they appear, and one hit off the ladder past the first trap will be an instant death because you will fall to your death. Go through the door at the top of the ladder to end the mission. MISSION 12 ---------- --Scene 12:1-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.2 Soeno x 1 Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 Lvl.2 Ashida x 2 (2P) Lvl.2 Soeno x 1 Lvl.2 Yamazaki x 1 Lvl.2 Ayumi x 1 Lvl.2 Ashida x 2 Lvl.3 Kodani x 1 Go up the stairs for the final scene of the game. --Scene 12:2-- :First Wave: (1P) Lvl.1 Jake x 1 Lvl.4 Kodani x 1 Lvl.1 Casey Okada x 1 Lvl.1 Shannon Okada x 1 (2P) Lvl.2 Jake x 1 Lvl.1 Jake x 1 Lvl.4 Kodani x 2 Lvl.1 Casey Okada x 1 Lvl.1 Shannon Okada x 1 Beat the enemies to win. Be careful not to over-commit if you aren't aware of the Okada sisters' positions because being hit with a bullet will be catastrophic. -------------- IV. Tower Mode -------------- Gosh. This mode.... I mean, it's not the worst thing in the world, and it will help you if you want to get good at the game and at using all the characters, but...it's not great. It will especially become nauseating if you want to get all the Trophies and so you are going for clearing Floor 100. Anyway, there are infinite floors and you basically have 1 life to live. Beat a Floor? A door opens but for some reason you don't actually have to go though it--the game just naturally progresses to the next Floor. Enemies come in from the sides. There is only one "wave" of enemies per Floor here, so don't worry about more people showing up. What you see is what you get. Enemies have lower Healths than in Story Mode, thankfully. I've listed their Healths in the characters section, but I'll also put them below so you don't have to navigate this ugly FAQ to reference. Enemies are at Lvl.1, so they don't get Damage or Speed bonuses, nor do they become as aggressive as they can, nor do they get their silly little "bonus CPU attacks" they get at higher levels (cf. Mason and his Ball and Chain projectile). The game is basically Floor 1-40, then it repeats, but adds more "scrub" random enemies and repeats for 40 more floors, then 40 more, etc. Note that playing in 2-player will basically add one more enemy to each stage. For projectile-stocking characters, you will get a refresher of projectiles every 5 floors, so every Floor ending in a 1 or a 6 (since there are no "scenes" in this mode). What's boring about getting to Floor 100 is you will probably have to use 2 Mysterious Warriors and either park one in a "safe zone" or else play with a friend. And, you'll have to be pretty conservative to boot. Most characters can't deal with Mysterious Warrior's P,P's speed or range, so you can just keep the whole "make them diagonally walk down towards you" thing going and P,P,P or whatever. Get knocked down? Use the cP (invulnerable from a knockdown). Pesky characters like Sonny or Mysterious Warrior or whatever? Energy Ball (S1). You should probably do that with Mysterious Warrior anyway because he will probably beat you as you break the "safe zone" plane with his P,P. You can follow the above with Yagyuu Ranzou if you want. He's very much so viable for this. In fact, I prefer him, although I've read a few people saying they got the Trophy using Mysterious Warrior, so maybe it's a preference thing. For him, I end up using nowhere near as many projectiles, so I'm generally at 20 Stock at each refresh. This is because if you learn how to distance the Dash Katana Slice (S1 -> P) properly, it will hit even squirrelly, jumping opponents like Chin Taimei, Right Arm, Jake, Mason, and the Lindas. Even if Chin Taimei or Ayumi jumps back when you approach, you can usually just quickly do another one and nail them. Break the safe zone with P,P, dazed P, generally, as his P attacks are almost as fast as Mysterious Warrior's and also have a great range. Get ready to repeat that ad nauseum if you're going for the Trophy! Here are the random and set appearances for enemy characters: (Appearing from Floor 01) Williams (10 Health) Rowper (10 Health) Note: Tower Rowper doesn't appear to use his projectile Mason (10 Health) Cody (10 Health) Linda (10 Health) Linda (Mohawk) (14 Health) Burnov (28 Health) Chin Taimei (19 Health) Yamazaki (16 Health) Soeno (14 Health) (Appearing from Floor 07-40, 47-80, etc.) Abobo (28 Health) Right Arm (19 Health) (Appearing from Floor 12-40, 52-80, etc.) Jake (36 Health) (Appearing Floor 17-40, 57-80, etc.) Kodani (40 Health) Ayumi (16 Health) (Appearing Floor 22-40, 62-80, etc.) Ashida (40? Health) (Appearing Floor 22-29, 62-69, etc.) Shannon Okada (40? Health) Casey Okada (40? Health) (Appearing Floor 30, 70, etc.) Chin Seimei (40? Health) Yagyuu Ranzou (40? Health) (Appearing Floor 30, 35, 40, 70, 75, 80, etc.) Sonny Lee (40? Health) (Appearing Floor 35, 40, 75, 80, etc.) Jimmy Lee (Retro) (40? Health) (Appearing Floor 40, 80, etc.) Mysterious Warrior (40? Health) Thanks for reading this dumb FAQ! I hope it helped in some way. Special Thanks to Pat Yap for being my couchplay friend.
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