------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Capcom vs. SNK 2 Raiden FAQ: VERSION 1.00 -Created, Edited and Compiled by: Psychochronic of Shoryuken.com Another form of Psychochronic Literature! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last Update: May 18, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes before reading this document: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) This document is protected by US Copyright Law, and the Berne Copyright Convention of 1976. This document is for private and personal use only--it cannot be reprinted in part or inwhole or reproduced in any way or in any form (written or otherwise). It is a free document that cannot be used in any sort of commercial transaction, including selling it or giving it away as a gift. Although I am...the author in the majority of the text, please respect the other authors whose work I have included in this guide. 2) This document is better read on Notepad with the Font set on "Times New Roman" on Regular setting, Size "10" and the screen resolution set on 1024x768. Use the Find feature (Ctrl + F) to find whatever term you're looking for easy mobility. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Version Changes 2) Character Biography 3) Legend 4) Pros and Cons 5) Basics 6) Movelist -Normals *Standing *Crouching *Jumping *Command -Special Moves -Super Combos 7) Groove Specifics for Raiden 8) Contact 9) Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version Changes: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.00 - May 18, 2006: Compilated on March 30, 2006 but completed on May 18, 2006 due to various research and other FAQ documents made during that timeframe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Character Biography: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Raiden (pronounced RAIden (like the side-scrolling plane shooter), not REIden (as the character from Mortal Kombat)) is a video game character from the Fatal Fury series of fighting games. He is a large character wearing a blue wrestling suit and mask with a yellow lightning bolt down its center. In certain games, he appears in a blue wrestling suit and is unmasked. In that form he assumes the persona of Big Bear, and bears a strong physical resemblance to real-life wrestler Vader. The Big Bear persona is mainly used when he plays himself off as a face (fan favorite; good guy) whereas the Raiden persona is mostly used if he plays himself off as a heel (hated villain; bad guy). Birthplace: Alice Springs, Australia Birthdate: March 3, 1964 Height: 2.02m Weight: 210kg Blood type: O Fighting style: Professional Wrestling Likes: His mask collection, Country rock, Beef steak Dislikes: Koalas First Appearance: Fatal Fury Known Players to use Raiden: -Chikyuu (N-Groove; Japan) -Desora (K-Groove; Japan) -Psychochronic (K-Groove; Canada) -VDO (P-Groove; United States) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Legend: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U = Up UF = Up-Forward F = Forward DF = Down-Forward D = Down DB = Down-Back B = Back UB = Back QCF = Quarter-Circle Forward QCB = Quarter-Circle Back HCF = Half-Circle Forward HCB = Half-Circle Backward 360 = 360 Degree Motion 720 = 720 Degree Motion P = Punch LP = Light Punch MP = Medium Punch HP = Hard Punch K = Kick LK = Light Kick MK = Medium Kick HK = Hard Kick CC = Custom Combo RC = Roll Cancel JD = Just-Defended ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Various Points: (+): Pro (Positive note) (?): Unknown (Tentative note) (-): Con (Negative note) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (+): With a Level 3, can do massive amount of damage off of a crouching LP. (+): The highest health points at 15600 (assuming Raiden is a Ratio 2). (+): The highest stun points at 80. (+): Farthest normal throw range in the game at 85 pixels (P throw only). Very useful tool, more so than his Thunder Crush Bomb usually. (+): Raiden is the only character in the game that can make good use of the Tech Throw Glitch without help from the opponent. Combined with his far throw range, he can make the glitch come into play more often than you would think. (+): RC Front Suplex (there are many that aren't due to too many conflicting special move inputs) makes a good wake up, since his Thunder Crush Bomb grabs fast enough (3 frames) so that he can't be thrown out of it before his "unthrowable time" goes away. His Thunder Crush Bomb is also mostly safe to opponents jumping away from it. (+): Has a useful mix up to his Thunder Crush Bomb or his Destruction Drop with crouching LK into a Combination Body Blow. If Raiden has a level 3 ready, he can get a lot of damage out of a right guess. (+): Combination Body Blow easily combo off a standing/crouching LP/MP, leading to big damage if a Level 3 is ready. The Headbutt is safe against many characters. (+): Giant Bomb has more invincibility time than most anything. The only things that beat it in that category are Ryo's and Haohmaru's useless Level 3 only supers. Safe at the right distances, can be used to beat supers and CC's. (+): Poison Breath leads itself to a crazy corner game. It also reaches farther (about the length of Raiden's crouching LP before normal sized characters can crouch it) and hits lower sized characters (shoto sized characters and up have to block it up close). If it hits, Raiden can juggle a Level 3 Flame Breath if available. (+): Raiden's Destruction Drop has a lot of range and is mostly safe to opponents jumping out of it. Level 3 version is the longest ranged grab in the game by 2 pixels. (+): Flame Breath is a useful anti-air. The Level 3 version is jugglable, which is where the bulk of Raiden's potential damage comes from. (-): Probably the worst ground game in the game. He has almost no useful ground moves of note. Decent sweep and that's about it. Most Raiden, players that play their ground game consists of trying to get a lucky roll, Giant Bomb or a Roll Cancel Combination Body Blow. (-): The slowest run in the game. (-): No anti-air. Crouching HP is garbage and has to be done really early for it work, and even then it gets beat a lot. Flame Breath is only good at Level 2 or higher and the cumbersome input method makes it tough to pull out without anticipation. (-): Overall defense is probably the worst in the game also. In addition to having no anti-air, his ground moves are slow and he doesn't really have a reversal-type move to get out of sticky situations. He generally has to Counter Attack if he has meter (he usually spends most of his meter on Counter Attacks) or hope a random Giant Bomb will work if he doesn't. (-): Same horrible jump arc as Ryo and maybe worse. Unlike Ryo and Zangief, Raiden's jump-ins are all pretty bad. Jumping HP and the his command splash in the air have decent priority, but they require Raiden to be at a range that he has problems getting to due to his crap jump arc. (-): He's too big of a target. Raiden is the probably the biggest character in the game and as a result, he can't crouch under a ton of stuff such as Rock's and Rugal's standing HK's. Pretty much any low jump move can be an overhead on Raiden. (-): Though his close game is very good, Raiden has the hardest time of any character getting into that range. (-): Combination Body Blow -> Headbutt is punishable on block by most any fast super. Even many Level 2's can easily hit it for free. (-): The tech throw glitch can be just as detrimental to Raiden as it is to the opponent. Since the opponent is mostly invisible, stuff like low jumps and overheads become especially hard to deal with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Basics: *Does not explain the Grooves, just the sub-systems and systems of what's in the Grooves. [C] = Available in C-Groove [A] = Available in A-Groove [P] = Available in P-Groove [S] = Available in S-Groove [N] = Available in N-Groove [K] = Available in K-Groove ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Air-Block [C]: Hold B in the air: Allows to block attacks and projectiles while in the air but not supers. Dash [C/A/P]: Tap Fx2: Allows to slightly dash/hop across the screen a bit. Run [S/N/K]: Tap and hold Fx2: Allows to run across the screen until the F motion is let go. Safe Fall [A/N/K]: Px3 after a knockdown before you touch the ground: Allows to slightly get up faster after a knockdown. Tactical Recovery [C/P/S]: Hold Px3 when you're knocked down: Allows to delay the character's wakeup by getting up a second or two longer. Roll [C/A/N]: LP + LK: A short dash-like tactic towards the opponent with some invincibility frames. Minimal recovery time making the player not able to attack after and not vulnerable to throws. Very easy to abuse. Roll Cancel "RC" [C/A/N]: LP + LK 5/60ths of a second before a move is executed: Allows any move (normal, special or super) to be completely invulnerable for 0.4 seconds. A glitch that's hard to execute and legal in high-levelled competition. Not available on the Gamecube and XBOX version. Dodge [S]: LP + LK: Allows the character to move into the backgound for 0.5 seconds. Very easy to abuse but invulnerable to throws. Also allows an attack to be done afterwards. P does Raiden's standing MP which does a knockdown and K does his standing close MK. Counter Attack [C/A/S/N]: While blocking, F + MP + MK: Allows to immediately attack while in block stun. Each character has 1 Counter Attack and can be blocked about 75% of the time. Raiden's Counter Attack is his standing MP. Each Counter Attack uses 1 level of meter. Counter Movement [N]: While blocking, B/F + LP + LK: Allows to immediately Roll while in block stun. Holding B allows to do a back dash as holding F allows to do a Roll. Great to get out of corners or to sneak behind supers like Chun-Li's Hoyoku-Sen. Each Counter Movement uses 1 level of meter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Movelist: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NORMALS: Standing: LP: (FAR/CLOSE) Raiden does a chop attack that comes out very fast and is cancellable to various moves such as Combination Body Blow or Poison Breath. Can also be used as anti-air if timed right. LK: (FAR/CLOSE) Raiden does a small kick that has fast time on it. Good for tick-throws and Thunder Crush Bombs when getting closer. MP: (FAR) Raiden his a palm push that can be safe on block depending on opponent and is also his Counter Attack and P Dodge Attack. Somewhat a dice roll using if used as anti-air but can be unreliable. (CLOSE) Raiden does an elbow which has some fast time into it and can be cancelled to a Combination Body Blow if timed quickly. MK: (FAR) A side kick that has some horizontal range but some sweeps can beat it. Not very useful. (CLOSE) A quick kick to the mid-section. Also has K Dodge Attack and can go in for a tick-throw or a quick Destruction Drop. HP: (FAR) Raiden does a simple punch to the opponent's mid-section. Comes out fast, has good recovery time and guard damage. (CLOSE) Raiden does an elbow- like attack to the opponent. Similar to standing far HP, Raiden has a bit of recovery time down and it's very noticable. HK: (FAR/CLOSE) Raiden does a drop-kick on the spot he stood on without falling down to the ground after just like Hugo's. An overhead which can beat out most crouching attacks and sweeps. Also does decent guard damage. Crouching: LP: Raiden does a short punch that has quick time and can setup for a Combination Body Blow after a few hits. LK: Raiden does a short kick that comes out fast and has short-range. Good for close attacks for those cheap chip hits and it's cancellable to do a simple Combination body Blow afterwards. MP: Raiden does a short punch similar to crouching LP that has a little bit more recovery time. MK: Raiden does a short kick similar to crouching LK that has a liitle bit of more recovery time but can be cancelled if timed fast. HP: Raiden does an upwards swinging hammer attack that does two hits if done up close. Bascially his only normal that resembles anything close to an anti-air but not very reliable. HK: Raiden does a sweep that has good distance for a character his size. Obviously for his massive size, he can't go through mostly all incoming attacks unlike some people. Does decent guard damage and good for footsies. Jumping: LP: Raiden does a forward palm attack in the air. Only has horizontal instead of diagonal range, very light thrust, not very offensive. LK: Raiden does a short kick in the air that has some corssup on his hitbox. Good to do before nailing a throw or combo but that hitbox can affect various ground crossups such as stalling projectiles from the opponent such as Guile's Sonic Hurricane. MP: Raiden does a forward palm attack in the air similar to jumping LP except it does a slight bit more damage. MK: Raiden does a downward kick that's set at an angle. Doesn't have the horizontal range so most air-attacks that do have it such as Sagat's jumping HP can beat it. HP: Raiden does a clapping-chop attack in the air which can leave him open for anti-air attempts. Comes out fast but focuses more downward such as his Splash. HK: Raiden does his standing HK animation in the air. Very good for an aerial attack, decent guard damage and good horizontal reach. Command: Splash: D + HP (only in air): Raiden presses his body down-forwards in a splash position. Great for countering some anti-airs and is good for crossups. SPECIAL MOVES: Giant Bomb: Charge B then F + P: Raiden crouches down as he says "Ready..." then quickly stands up with a charging shoulder and says "Go". Has some good invincibility on startup which can go through fast-travelling moves such as Bison's Psycho Crusher. Can be safe in some distances and can beat some supers depending on level but not safe on block depending on which button pressed. Also deals a good amount of guard damage. Poison Breath: HCB + P: Raiden spits out a poison that surrounds the opponent in green flames when hit. Very quick on startup but the HP version has long recovery time. Best on corners or anti-air. Super Drop Kick: Hold Kx2 then release: Raiden slightly jumps towards the opponent in his HK animation and yells "Drop Kick". Great as an overhead and probably passable as an anti-air. Also great for surprise attacks and to break a footsie game but has slow recovery time. Thunder Crush Bomb: 360 + K: Raiden grabs the opponent as he does a powerbomb then jumps straight up to the air and throws the opponent down. Must be very close to execute as it doesn't have the tick-range such as Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver but it comes out really fast after a roll, parry or just-defended. Combination Body Blow: B, D, DB + P: Raiden goes forward a bit as he does a punch to the opponent's mid-section. Does good guard damage and is the factorial move to setup for a combo after a few normals. -Headbutt: QCB + P: Raiden goes forward a bit as he does a quick headbutt to the opponent. Good guard damage, safe if blocked depending on character, a great combo finisher and also used for juggling attempts such as the use of Flame Breath. -Front Suplex: QCB + K: Raiden goes forward a bit as he does a grab attempt which lands the opponent to the other side of the screen. Can be easily reacted by a simple attack (even specials or supers) but it's unblockable. Great for surprise or desperation purposes such as getting out of corners. Jumping Lariat Drop: F, D, DF + P: Raiden does a long forward hop across the screen while catching the opponent with his legs. Good for surprises and lucky anti-airs but has bad target range, leaves him open froim up top and across and has horrible recovery time. SUPER COMBOS: Destruction Drop: 720 + K: Raiden slams the opponent with his Thunder Crush Bomb a few times and instead of jumping up and throwing them into the ground, Raiden instead ends it with a jumping Lariat Drop. Excellent range if a level 3 is done as it grabs slightly further and has the potential to take out more than 60% of the opponents life (character and ratio depending). Flame Breath: HCBx2 + P: Similar to his Poison Breath, Raiden instead spits out fire which lasts longer during the animation and does more damage. The level 2 version can be cancelled into a level 1 version or a Poison Breath. Good for juggling and anti- air purposes but can be easily avoided by crouching, parrying or just-defending. Crazy Train: QCFx2 + P: Raiden does a barrage of normals rushing towards the opponent and ends it with a Giant Bomb. Passable on wakeups and desperations if close to the opponent and is an alternative to Destruction Drop. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Groove specifics for Raiden: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C-Groove: Stored super lets him hit his Flame Super whenever the opportunity arises. Counter Attack abuse makes it much more realistic for him to get in. Access to Roll Cancel Thunder Crush Drop and Roll Cancel Combination Body Blow and can cancel his level 2 Flame Breath or Crazy Train into a level 1 Flame Breath. A-Groove: Has access to Roll Cancel Combination Body Blow and Roll Cancel Thunder Crush Drop but level 1's do crap damage and it's hard for him to nail a Custom Combo. P-Groove: Parrying helps his ground game and also helps with his lack of an anti-air or reversal. Meter generally has to save it for guaranteed situations and has an easier time getting in with parrying though. S-Groove: Has access to Dodge, stored meter gives him the choice to do a level 1 or a Counter Attack. P Dodge Attack has very little uses as it's slow and unreliable on ground. K Dodge Attack is good for tick-throw attempts. Supers do good stuff for a level 1, red vital plus stored meter is a danger as he can deal a lot of damage (with level 3's!) which can turn the tables but has low life in the process. N-Groove: Has the ability to juggle his Flame Breath off of a Counter Attack. Counter Attacks and level 1/3's are still available along with Roll Cancel's. Run helps his ground game a little, low jump MP makes his defense a little better. K-Groove: Just Defended's help his ground game and also helps with his lack of an anti-air or reversal. Can do a Thunder Crush Bomb right after a Just Defended and can be really random with his Flame Breath or Destruction Drops and has more damage properties on his normals when on rage mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact me! Here are the following e-mails and internet forums you can find me at: E-Mails: MSN Messenger/Hotmail: b_unit905@hotmail.com Yahoo!: psychochronic2004@yahoo.ca Internet Forums: Gamefaqs.com: brettdude Shoryuken.com: psychochronic MIRC (channels on EFnet): #Capcom (The main channel for Shoryuken.com) #Gamecombos (The main channel for Gamecombos.com) #Srkgd (The General Discussion part of Shoryuken.com) #Srklive (The XBOX Live part of Shoryuken.com) My Fighting Game Site: www.geocities.com/psychochronic2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Props to those who made this guide possible: Buktooth for the Pros and Cons explained in the thread of "Who's the worst character in CvS2?" that was listed in Shoryuken.com's forums. Guess we now know that Raiden isn't one of them and he has that disintinct potential among characters. Copyright (c) Brett Navarro 2005-2007