Garou: Mark of the Wolves Character FAQ for Gato by Drahktar (Drahktar@astound.net) ICQ#50970876 Don't modify, sell, or plagurize this FAQ without asking. My first FAQ! ^_^ Feedback appreciated. Gato is the best. Really! The game's name comes from him. He has the Mark of the Wolves! How else can you explain the massive scar on his back? You can't. -----FAQ History------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 0.50 - 4/23/00 - Initial release! Yay! Version 0.51 - 4/29/01 - Did some VERY minor touch-ups. Changed contact information. Basically reminded myself that this thing exists and that I should work on it a little. -----Notations----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- f forward b back u up d down db diagonal down-back df diagonal down-forward ub diagonal up-back uf diagonal up-forward qcf roll down to forward qcb roll down to back hcf roll back to down to forward hcb roll forward to down to back -----Me------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apparently unlike most FAQ creators I do not speak japanese yet. I will instead refer to moves in english. I will try to pick appropriate names for all of Gato's special moves. Also, in my years of playing various fighting games, I have yet to produce any distinct terminology to distinguish between special moves and special moves that require some bar to be filled and/or have low life. So if I'm not consistant in my verbage, that's why. -----Stuff you need to know---------------------------------------------------------------------- Have a general understanding of how Garou: MotW is played. Find some other FAQ for for that information. If you don't know what a TOP attack is, you don't have a general understanding. Also, if I say counter-attack, I'm not nessesarilly talking about a move designed to counter. I usually am talking about an attack that hits an opponent while he attacks you or very shortly after. -----Why play Gato?----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The ground explodes when he jumps. - The groung explodes when he holds his hands out in a vaugely threatening manner. - Very versitile. An extremely wide array of attacks. - He looks cool. Use "B" when selecting him, or "C" if you like blue hair. - He can run. In fact he runs sickeningly low to the ground, which looks creepy. -----Why not?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Easilly punished for mistakes. - Some combos are very short range and often require corners. -----Move list------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Throws Body Toss when close, b or f + C Head Stomp when close, b or f + D - Command Moves Hook Fist f + A Hop Kick f + B Air Thing in the air, CD - Special Moves Palm Strike (weak) qcf + A Palm Strike (weak) follow-up f, f + A Palm Strike (strong) qcf +C Palm Strike (strong) follow-up f, f + C Tiger Leap (weak) qcb + B Tiger Leap (strong) qcb + D Telekinetic Palm during Tiger Leap, A Foot Thrust during Tiger Leap, B Heel Press during Tiger Leap, C Slide during Tiger Leap, D Heaven Walk (weak) f, d, df + B Heaven Walk (strong) f, d, df + D Regret Fist charge d, u + C - Super Powers Spinaltap qcf, qcf + A Phoenix Rise qcf, qcf + B - Potential Powers Spinaltap qcf, qcf + C Phoenix Rise qcf, qcf + D Earth's Wrath f, d, df + AB x3 -----In Depth Move List-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Body Toss when close, b or f + C A standard throw. Gato picks them up and throws them. Head Stomp when close, b or f + D Gato somehow attaches them to his foot and slams thier head against the ground. Looks better then his Body Toss in my opinion. Also does one extra pixel of damge! Woo! Hook Fist f + A Gato takes a swing. Very hard to counterattack. Decent for nocking off that last bit of health. A little slow. Takes a good chunk off their guard meter though. Hop Kick f + B Same as above, but a little quicker to get out. Air Thing in the air, CD Gato spins around in the air and ends up facing the opposite direction. I imagine this is supposed to help cross-up attacks, but I found this to be basically useless. If anyone finds a use, I'd love to hear it. Palm Strike qcf +C Gato throws out an impressive looking Palm Strike. Very useful in combos because of it's respectable damage and speed. The A version of the move is quick enough to combo off either of his weak attacks and is great for punishing mistakes. The A version has very little range however, short enough that it often misses when thrown into combos. The C version however, in addition to additional damage, has significantly more range. In general use the C version in all combos and the A version for counter-attacks. Tiger Leap qcb + D Gato's best move. USE IT! This move has four endings, which gives Gato incredible potential for mind games. The leap itself causes damage and is a great way to counter sweep attacks as it has resonably high priority. While this move doesn't have much damage potential, its four endings make it impressive indeed. It's also one of the safest offensive moves in the game. Telekinetic Palm during Explosion Jump, A Gato's only ranged attack. Press A at any time during his jump and an explosion will appear on the ground at a 45-degree angle down from him. By far the hardest "projectile" to just defend because is simply appears. Any attempt by the oppenent to knock you out of the air with a ground based attack will fail. Most all anti-air attacks will be hit as they leave the ground or they will miss. DO NOT use this if they jump. They will hurt you. Foot Thrust during Explosion Jump, B Basically a standard jump kick. What isn't standard is it's priority. Should your opponent jump at you, presumably to attack, this will often win out over anything they can dish out. Also, like every other counter-attack in this game, you'll be treated to a nice pop-up which you can usually tack on a good kick for some extra damage. Heel Press during Explosion Jump, C Gato takes a diagonal, foot first dive. Great for mixing up the timing if your oppenent starts to just defend your Telekinetic Palm attacks. Also good against jumping oppenents, but ends up trading hits much more often than his Foot Thrust against high priority attacks. The safest way to get out of the air should you decide that you don't want to be in the air any longer. Slide during Explosion Jump, D Gato waits until he hits the ground then immedietly slides forward. Use any time they escape the range of his Telekinetic Palm. Do NOT press D until the end of his jump! The second you hit D, you are committed to this attack and will be helpless during the rest of the jump. This is more useful than it sounds, because it keeps your oppenent on their toes. Like any slide attack, it must be blocked low, which is very useful since all other jump attacks must be blocked high. This will still be blocked more often than not, but of they weren't in range of the Telekinetic Palm during the entire Tiger Leap, then they won't be in range to hit you back either. Should they be foolish to walk back in range, hit A instead. Heaven Walk (weak) f, d, df + B Gato jumps forward unleashing a flurry of kicks. Reasonable anti-air attack with decent damage. His only anti-air attack besides his Phoenix Rise, so if you have no power guage, use this. Oh yeah, this is Gato's breakable move. Don't bother. The only time Gato can deal more damage off this pop-up than by simply letting the Heaven Walk finish, is to use his Phoenix Rise. Unfortunetly it will only work in the corner, in which case your better off comboing into his more powerful attacks. Heaven Walk (strong) f, d, df + D Same as above with an additional downwards kick tacked to the end. You're screwed if you miss on either one, so I usually use this version. You'll be happy for that last kick if they're foolish enough to jump into it. Regret Fist charge d, u + C A freaky looking counter-attack. Gato holds his hand out and, should they strike it, he brings up both his fists, knocking them off their feet. This move would be greatly improved it had a version that blocked low attacks, but unfortunetly it does not. It is far from bad however, as a few crouching attacks can still be countered. It will not counter sweeps. Try not to use this much as it doesn't fit well with his offensive nature. Spinaltap qcf, qcf + A Gato smacks them, jumps forward and gives their head a wrenching. The C version continues with a slam to the ground. Very easy to combo into. Decent damage, but try to stick with the A version. Use Earth's Wrath if you have the bar fully filled. It's also smart to save some power meter for the Phoenix Rise. Looks awesome when you kill them with it. If they're low enough to be killed by the C version, it's smart to use since it has better range than Earth's Wrath and is less likely to be screwed up. Phoenix Rise qcf, qcf + B Gato launches into the air will a vertical kick, legs ablaze. This is a VERY good move. It does resonable damage and is by far Gato's best anti-air move. Both versions go straight up so aim accordingly. This can only be comboed into with the help of a corner, so you're better off using this strictly for anti-air purposes. Earth's Wrath f, d, df + AB x3 This move is extremely damaging and is great in combos. It has relatively short range however, so make sure if it's a jump in combo, you use a light attack to chain into it. Any other attack will push them too far away except his low AB, which works great for this. Should this move be blocked, your oppenent will suffer INSANE guard meter damage. After this move they will most definetly be blinking red quite rapidly. Follow it up with something, as the next attack will almost certainly crush their guard. One down side is the recovery. It's TERRIBLE. If you crush their guard using this attack, they will recover BEFORE you. Oh well. -----Combos------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following are basically all the combos I've found for Gato. If you have a combo that's not listed here, feel free to e-mail me. Do not mail me about combos that are the same as the ones I have listed, just using weaker versions of the same moves. Note that Gato's crouching AB attack can be substituted for most standing or crouching standard attacks. It also moves Gato forward as much as it pushes them back, which can be quite useful. It even does the same damage as a standing C, so don't be afraid to use it. Almost all combos involving a standing C/D can be completed using a crouching C instead. Just so you know. All slashes are used to destinguish between two moves that can be used at that particular part of the combo. For example "standing/crouching A" means a standing A or a couching A may be used. A combination of buttons means that they are to be pressed simultaneously. Jump-ins Jumping C/D, standing C, Palm Strike (qcf + C), Palm Strike follow-up (f, f + C) Jumping C/D, Tiger Leap (qcb + B), Telekinetic Palm (A) Jumping C/D, Tiger Leap (qcb + D), Foot Thrust (B)/Heel Press (C) Jumping C/D, standing C, Heaven Walk (f, d, df + D) Jumping C/D, standing C, Spinaltap (qcf, qcf + A/C) Jumping C/D, crouching AB, Pheonix Rise (qcf, qcf + D) Jumping C/D, crouching AB, Earth's Wrath (f, d, df + AB)x3 Standing Standing C/D, Palm Strike (qcf + C), Palm Strike follow-up (f, f + C) Standing C/D, Heaven Walk (f, d, df + D) Standing C, Tiger Leap (qcb + B), Telekinetic Palm (A) Standing C, Tiger Leap (qcb + D), Foot Thrust (B)/Heel Press (C) Standing C/D, Spinaltap (qcf, qcf + A/C) Standing C, Pheonix Rise (qcf, qcf +B/D) Standing C/D, Earth's Wrath (f, d, df + AB)x3 Corner Jumping C/D, standing C/D, Palm Strike (qcf + C), Palm Strike follow-up (f, f + C) Jumping C/D, standing D, Tiger Leap (qcb + B), Telekinetic Palm (A) Jumping C/D, standing D, Tiger Leap (qcb + D), Foot Thrust (B)/Heel Press (C) Jumping C/D, standing C/D, Heaven Walk (f, d, df + D) Jumping C/D, standing C/D, Spinaltap (qcf, qcf + A/C) Jumping C/D, standing C/D, Pheonix Rise (qcf, qcf + D) Jumping C/D, standing C/D, Earth's Wrath (f, d, df + AB)x3 Fast (These all start with quick attacks) Standing A/B, Palm Strike (qcf + A), Palm Strike follow-up (f, f + A) Standing A/B, Heaven Walk (f, d, df + D) Standing A/B, Spinaltap (qcf, qcf + A/C) Standing A/B, Pheonix Rise (qcf, qcf +B/D) Standing A/B, Earth's Wrath (f, d, df + AB)x3 -----Character Specific Strategies---------------------------------------------------------------- None as of yet. I want to make strategies and how to beat people, not the computer. I'll need to find people reasonably good with any character I'm going to write strategies for. I should be done with a strategy against Hokutomaru and B. Jennet soon. -----Credits-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Many thanks to Mathonwy, who has provided me with plenty of competition. - Thanks to SNK, for making yet another amazingly awesome fighter. - Greets to Reijin, Hurricane, and of course, Shih Tzu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Unpublished work copyright 2000 Jake Terhune --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------