PHARAOH ANAKARIS FAQ v0.2 for Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Japanese DC version) by Chris MacDonald Unpublished work Copyright 2000-2001 Chris MacDonald This document is protected by US Copyright Law, and the Berne Copyright Convention of 1976. It is for private and personal use only--it cannot be reprinted in part or in whole, 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. This FAQ cannot be referenced, altered, or used by anybody (including webmasters, publishers, and magazine staff) without my express written permission. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, Chris MacDonald . It can be found exclusively at (www.GameFAQs.com). All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that are not specifically mentioned herein. I expressly forbid the following publishers/publications from using this FAQ, namely: Ziff-Davis Video Game Group (publishers of Expert Gamer), Future Publishing, Ltd. (publishers of PlayStation Power, Official UK PlayStation Magazine, etc.), IDG Media, Game 13th Magazine, Brady Games, and Prima Games. Remember, plagiarism is a crime and is punishable by law. All Capcom characters and series are (c) Capcom Co., Ltd. Strider is (c) Moto Kikaku. All Marvel characters are (c) Marvel Characters, Inc. With that out of the way, on with the FAQ.... ================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= 1. all about anakaris 2. pros and cons 3. basic commands 4. normal abilities 5. special moves 6. hyper combos 7. combos, etc. 8. choosing your assist type 9. choosing your partners 10. strategies 11. moves anakaris has lost 12. author's note There is a companion file to this FAQ--it's a general information guide for MvC2, containing movelists for all the characters, tables and charts of information, glitches, and other stuff like that. You can find it at (www.gamefaqs.com), or my page, (i.am/kao). ======================================================================== 1. ALL ABOUT ANAKARIS ======================================================================== Anakaris is a mummified pharaoh who came back to life 2000 years after his death to save his people from invaders. In Vampire Savior, we learned that he had moved his people to a hidden world in the center of the earth in order to protect them. What's this have to do with MvC2? Nothing, since that game has no plot. For all we know, Anakaris is out shopping for a new sarcophagus and wants to buy one off Abyss. Although he was never a particularly strong character in the Dark Stalkers series, Anakaris was fun to play with as he had a wide variety of moves that were either weird, funny, useful, or all three. If you practiced with him, you could hold up pretty well. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, he's been stripped of many of his moves, his previously useful attacks have been toned down, and his little funny actions and whatnot have been tossed out with the trash. That being said, this FAQ was written for the Anakaris fans like myself, who will use the guy no matter what horrific changes Capcom makes to him. If you don't mind playing with some pretty serious disadvantages, then Anakaris is the character for you! ======================================================================== 2. PROS AND CONS ======================================================================== So, is Anakaris the right character for you? Let's see what makes him a good and bad choice: + Anakaris can rack up lots of HC power with his Miira Drop. + If used correctly, most of Anakaris' HCs can do tons of damage. + Many of his attacks have a very long range. - He's the slowest character in the game, in terms of jumping, and has a pretty awful walking speed as well. - He takes lots of damage from attacks, ranking in just behind the likes of Gouki, Strider, Kobun, and Roll. Yet in spite of that his attacks still do average damage. - He has no ground or air throws, and only one special move throw. - If blocked or missed, Anakaris takes forever to recover from his launcher. On top of that, it has a very bad range. - He only has one special move that is really useful on it's own. - He only has one special move that can actually be comboed. - None of his attacks reach the other end of the screen--they all stop short. If someone is far enough away, Anakaris cannot reach them no matter what. - Only one of his HCs actually insures a good amount of damage, but it's nearly impossible to land. His other HCs do lots of damage, but only with proper timing and in specific situations. - Finally, he's a pretty tall and thick character when standing. This makes him a big target for attacks and combos. As you can see, the cons definitely outweigh the pros. Anakaris is not the kind of character you want to pick if you're planning on winning a match, because he has so many drawbacks. But if you're up for that kind of challenge, keep reading. ======================================================================== 3. BASIC COMMANDS ======================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FAQ NOTATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section outlines the basic controls for all characters: [ Controller Layout ] ------------------------------------------------- ub u uf Jump Up-Back Jump Up Jump Up-Forward \ | / b -- n -- f Walk Back / Block Neutral Walk Forward / | \ db d df Crouch / Low Block Crouch Offensive Crouch Obviously, when facing left, the controls are reversed. :) [ Button Layout ] ----------------------------------------------------- LP HP PA Light Punch Hard Punch Partner Button A LK HK PB Light Kick Hard Kick Partner Button B This is the default arcade set up. On the default Dreamcast controller, PA is the left trigger, and PB is the right trigger. The Start button pauses the game, which is why you have to use Start + LK (or MK) to taunt (they really should have done it the other way around, IMHO). In the arcade version, you need only press Start to taunt. Anytime the FAQ specifies that MP or MK is to be used, that means you have to use it in a chain combo, since Medium Attacks only come out if LP or LK is pressed during the animation of a Light Attack that hits or is blocked. For example, Anakaris' crouching Medium Punch won't come out unless you do an LP or LK attack that hits or is blocked, then crouch and press LP again. [ FAQ Abbreviations ] ------------------------------------------------- qcf - Roll (d,df,f) on the joystick. P / K - Press any Punch or Kick button. PP / KK - Press any two Punch or Kick buttons. x~x - All possible ranges are allowed (for example, ub through uf, or LP through HP). (air) - The move can be performed while on the ground, or while in the air. Any move that can be performed in air can be done from the ground by adding ub~uf at the end, and pressing the button the moment you leave the ground (you could do the Pharoh Cobra Blow as b,uf + PP, as an example). Note that some air-only moves can be done just off the ground, too. For example, you could do the Ouke no Sabaki as: qcf,uf + K to make Anakaris jump and immediately do the move. pushblock - Another name for Advancing Guard (press PP when blocking) s./c./j. - standing / crouching / jumping (referring to combos) sj. - super jumping a / B / y - Alpha / Beta / Gamma (referring to assist types) (movename) - Means I don't know the official name for the move. HC / DHC - Hyper Combo / Delayed Hyper Combo H / h - "H" means the move is hypercancelable (cancels into an HC) before or once it hits, "h" means the move can only be hypercanceled before it hits. Taunt - Press Start + LK / MK (for the DC), or just Start (if you're playing the arcade version). The Japanese name for this is 'Chouhatsu', and it appears that way in the button config. menu. PCB - Pharaoh Cobra Blow Note that any time you are supposed to press a button in the FAQ, you can usually do it in the reverse (by releasing a button). For example, you could hold PP, tap b,f, and release to get Anakaris' Pharaoh Cobra Blow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BASIC COMMANDS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Standing Block Hold b when attacked Crouching Block Hold db when attacked Mid-Air Block Hold b / db when attacked while in air Advancing Guard While blocking, press PP (can use repeatedly) Dash Tap f,f / press PP Backstep Tap b,b / press b + PP Slide / Stop Movement Press d during a dash or backstep Dash Jump Press uf while dashing Super Jump Tap d,ub~uf (can no longer super jump via KK) Universal Launcher df + HP, then ub~uf to s.jump Escape Roll b,db,d + P / K when knocked down Chouhatsu (Taunt) Press Start + LK or MK (arcade ver.: Start only) Tech. Hit (Escape) Any dir. but d / u + HP / HK when grabbed (air) Tech. Roll Attempt a Tech. Hit after a throw connects Hold Recovery Shake joystick and tap buttons when in a hold Variable Attack Press LP + LK / HP + HK to switch in PA or PB Variable Assist Press PA or PB Variable Counter b,db,d + PA / PB while blocking (Level 1+) Variable Combination Press PA + PB (Level 1+) Snapback qcf + PA / PB (Level 1+) Delayed Hyper Combo Do an HC during your own HC x2 (Level 2+) Partner Order Change Hold PA or PB before a battle (at the VS. screen) to make your 1st or 2nd partner switch places with the lead character. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ANAKARIS, Absolute God of Gold ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miira Drop qcf + P (air) Cobra Blow H b,f + P (air) Hitsugi no Mai H d,d + P / K (air) Ouke no Sabaki h In air, qcf + K Seija no Ayumi b + LK Tenchuu b / f + HK Idainaru Bohi In air, f + K Seinaru Bohi In air, d + K Ooinaru Bohi In air, df + K Kuuchuu Dash In air, tap f,f / press PP Pharaoh Magic HK,LP,d,LK,HP (air) Pharaoh Illusion LP,LP,f,LK,HP Pharaoh Cobra Blow b,f + PP (air) Hitsugi no Utage d,d + PP (air) partner assist variable counter variable combination ------------------------------------------------------------------- a: HP Cobra Blow HP Cobra Blow Pharaoh Cobra Blow B: HP Miira Drop HP Miira Drop Pharaoh Illusion y: HP Hitsugi no Mai HP Hitsugi no Mai Hitsugi no Utage Chain Combo Type: [Ground 5] [Jumping 3] [Super Jumping 6] A.Rave Launchers: [Crouching HP] [df + HP] A.Rave Finishers: HP,HK Ground Throws: None. Mid-Air Throws: None. Flying Attack: None. Knockdown Attack: Crouching HK Variable Attack: Ooinaru Bohi Snapback Attack: Standing HP Damages L P M P H P L K M K H K ---------------------------------------------------------- Standing 4 7 13 4 7 13 Crouching 4 4*2 13 4 7 13 Jumping 4 7 13 4 7*2 13 Superjumping 4 7 13 4 7 13 - The Ouke no Sabaki can only be hypercanceled during a super jump. - The Cobra Blow and Hitsugi no Mai can only be hypercanceled while on the ground or during a super jump, not during normal jumps. - When performing button-press HCs, make sure that you don't press in a direction and a button at the same time. For example, the Pharaoh Illusion will not come out if you press LP,LP,f+LK,HP. You have to make sure you press LP, then LP, then f, then LK, then HP. This is important for Anakaris because he has two button-press HCs (more than anybody else). ======================================================================== 4. NORMAL ABILITIES ======================================================================== One of the neat things about Anakaris is that he's got some pretty unorthodox ways of getting around, and he has some pretty weird attacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MOVEMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WALKING Anakaris' walking speed has been increased a touch. He's still slow as hell, but you can still outrun the likes of Thanos and Blackheart. In the previous games, he would pause with each step while walking backward or forward, a bit like Mega Zangief. If you need to get somewhere in a hurry, you're better off dashing and backstepping instead of lumbering around all day long. DASHING AND BACKSTEPPING Anakaris' dash and backstep are both really short, which is a shame when you look at characters like Cammy and Iceman who can clear the entire screen just by tapping b,b or f,f. However, they're both very fast, making them good for moving out of range of an attack or dashing up underneath somebody in air. Try to use these instead of walking, especially because you can get in more hits from a dash-in chain combo than a walk-in one. NORMAL JUMPS Anakaris has the worst jump in the entire game. I mean, even Spiral's is faster (and she can do the Kyuukouka Dance to drop down quickly). When you jump, Anakaris leaves the ground at a snail's pace, then floats slowly across the screen in a low, broad arc. And I don't mean Dhalsim-slow, I mean dead people could jump faster than he could. Believe it or not, you should never jump with Anakaris, unless you have to do a mid-air move like the Ouke no Sabaki (and even then, you're asking for it). If there's one consolation, it's that only your body can be hit once you start jumping, so you don't have to worry about someone attacking Anakaris' legs while they're unravelling upwards. SUPER JUMPS Anakaris' super jump is a much better way to get around then walking or jumping. You can super jump, then air dash to clear a lot of distance. Super jumping can also be used very advantageously for Anakaris, since he has a lot of mid-air moves and can stay in air indefinitely during a super jump by using the Ouke no Sabaki, Hitsugi no Mai, or even whiffed Miira Drops. It's a great way to avoid Hyper Combos and even Variable Combinations! AIR DASH See the special moves section. To basically sum it up, his air dash is really long and slow, making it very good for moving around and avoiding attacks. However, it can't be used for any of the tricky air dash stuff that you can do with faster characters like Rogue and Chun-Li. His air dash is also a better alternative to jump-in combos since his jump is so lame, although it makes them harder to perform since he'll be higher in the air than during a normal jump-in combo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ STANDING ATTACKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ STANDING LP: KATSU (Scold) Anakaris thrusts his arm down-forward, striking with his fingers. It's a jab, it has gigantic reach, and you can poke like hell with it. Makes for a good dash-in lead for a combo. STANDING MP: MICHIBIKI (Guidance) Anakaris does a downward chop. This move has worse range than his standing LP...you may want to stick with his standing MK if you're comboing from afar. On the other hand, some people can crouch under his standing MK, but they can be hit by this move. So against small opponents, use this move to combo, and against larger ones, stick with his standing MK. STANDING HP: SHUKUSEI (Enforcement) Anakaris holds out his arms, which form into the huge biting head of a cobra. Some characters can crouch under this attack--Roll and Kobun can actually stand beneath it. Although his standing HK offers more protection against low attacks, it can't be used effectively as a dashing attack as his HP can, and besides, his standing HP has more range. This makes a dashing HP a great way to hit someone from far away (assuming they're recovering from an attack and are unable to strike back), since you can then combo into the HP Cobra Blow for even more damage. If they block, nab them with an HP Miira Drop. The best thing about this move is that for a standing HP, it comes out pretty damn fast! STANDING LK: SEISAI (Sanctions) Anakaris remains still while kicking out with one leg. Nothing really special about this move, but it can hit opponents who can crouch under his standing LP (namely Kobun). The range is not as good as his standing LP, but this comes out a touch faster, which is why I prefer it. STANDING MK: SHINBATSU (Divine Punishment) Anakaris leans back while striking out with the sole of his foot. Use it in combos ;) Some characters can duck under this, but it has a longer range than his standing MP. STANDING HK: TENCHUU (Heaven's Punishment) Anakaris leaps into the air and 'makes like a sarcophagus.' If you press b / f + HK, he drifts backward or forward while doing this move. The Tenchuu may seem too weird to be useful, but it's actually got some good qualities. It hits high enough for people's low attacks to miss (like Ryu's crouching HK), and since you can control the direction, you can move out of the way of people's attacks. On the other hand, some characters can crouch beneath it, moreso than Anakaris' standing HP, so be careful. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CROUCHING ATTACKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CROUCHING LP: KISEKI NO TE (Miraculous Hand) Four of Anakaris' wrappings become rigid and fly forward. Good for poking. CROUCHING MP: SEI'IKI NO WANA (Holy Precincts' Trap) Anakaris punches with his hands, which rise vertically out of the ground as they travel forward. This move hits twice, but if blocked, your opponent can hit you while you recover. I recommend canceling into a special move (like the Miira Drop), if this attack is blocked. CROUCHING HP: SEI'IKI NO MAMORI (Holy Precincts' Defense) Four hands rise vertically out of the ground around Anakaris while spinning around. This is Anakaris' launcher, and if there's a worse launcher in the game, I'd like to know what it is. This move lasts _forever_, and if it's blocked or it misses, your opponent can leave, go play some other arcade games, come back, and attack you all before you recover from this move. I mean, one time Wolverine even air blocked this, landed, and did a Berserker Barrage X on me while I was still doing this attack. That wouldn't happen with any other character. If you're not sure that you can nail your enemy with this move, for god's sake, don't do it. If you do it and miss or it's blocked, you might as well cancel into a special for the hell of it--it can't get any worse. The other huge drawback of this is that it has no horizontal range. Even though it can hit on all sides of Anakaris (so you can hit people jumping over you), the range of the move stops right where Anakaris' four arms stop, so it's not easy to combo (you can proceed it with two hits only if you dash, otherwise, you can only do LP or LK, or LP,LK before doing this move, unless you're in a corner). Note that this move does more damage (16 points as opposed to 13) when used as a unique launcher (df+HP). You can't chain into a unique launcher, but you could always do a jump attack, land, then do this. Of course, Anakaris' jump sucks, so you're in trouble either way ;) CROUCHING LK: CHI NO WAZAWAI (Earth's Calamity) Anakaris' feet come out of the ground a short distance away from him. This is another good poke with good range, just a bit more than his crouching LP. CROUCHING MK: CHI NO SAKEBI (Earth's Clamor) While crouching, Anakaris turns and sort of sweeps his disembodied feet across the floor in a half-circle, like a slower but further reaching version of his crouching LK. In the Darkstalkers games, this move had more reach than his crouching HK (by one pixel), but now it's noticably shorter than his crouching HK. This is still a very handy move because you can block safely if it's blocked, unlike his crouching MP. And although it does less damage than his crouching MP, it still has a longer range. CROUCHING HK: CHI NO GEKIRIN (Earth's Imperial Wrath) Anakaris' feet come out of the ground far away from him. This is Anakaris' knockdown attack, and it has an excellent range, making it easy to sweep people from a far distance. You can be punished if it's blocked though. In the corner of the screen, the Hitsugi no Utage makes a good OTG follow-up. If you land a Miira Drop out in the open, don't forget to dash up and OTG them with this move! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JUMPING ATTACKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Comments for Anakaris' superjumping Punch attacks are also included here since these stay the same when superjumping, unlike Anakaris' Kick attacks; he has one set of Kicks when jumping, and another when super jumping. JUMPING LP: SHI NO KIZASHI (Death's Omen) Anakaris sticks a tiny foot out from beneath him. This has a bad range, but it's really the only jumping attack he has for people who are directly in front of him. JUMPING MP: SHI NO YOGEN (Death's Prediction) Anakaris sticks out a longer foot at a downard angle. This move has the tendency to miss if you're too close to your opponent, but at least it doesn't knock them downward like his superjumping MK does. JUMPING HP: SHI NO SHUKUMEI (Death's Destiny) Anakaris sticks out his feet at an steep angle beneath him. This is a good finisher since it hits downward, so you can even use it after his superjumping MK. JUMPING LK: OU NO NAGEKI (King's Lament) One of Anakaris' feet comes out at an angle from the ground. Like the rest of Anakaris' Kick attacks, this move really offers him no protection, and is more used for hitting people on the ground. This move can hit someone off the ground with ease. However, Anakaris' leg is just as vulnerable to attack as his actual body. JUMPING MK: OU NO UREI (King's Sorrow) Anakaris' leg comes out of the ground, followed by another one. This move does very good damage if both hits connect--I recommend it. This move can hit someone off the ground with ease. However, Anakaris' leg is just as vulnerable to attack as his actual body. JUMPING HK: OU NO IKARI (King's Wrath) Both of Anakaris' legs fly out of the ground. An okay move, but it doesn't really offer anything over his jumping HP aside from a wider hit zone. This move can hit someone off the ground with ease. However, Anakaris' leg is just as vulnerable to attack as his actual body. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SUPER JUMPING ATTACKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When super jumping, Anakaris' Punch attacks are the same as his jumping ones, but his Kick attacks are changed like so: SUPER JUMPING LK Legs come out of Anakaris' underside and he kicks diagonally upward. Good for hitting people above you, obviously. Otherwise, nothing too special. SUPER JUMPING MK Legs come out of Anakaris' underside and he kicks diagonally downward. Someone hit by this move is knocked downward, meaning all you can really follow it with is a super jumping HP. Stick with the super jumping MP if you had other combo finishes in mind. SUPER JUMPING HK Legs come out of Anakaris' underside and he kicks straight forward. Well, the horizontal range is good--this is useful if you're trying to hit someone from afar. ======================================================================== 5. SPECIAL MOVES ======================================================================== Anakaris' list of special moves is pretty small now, compared to his previous incarnations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MIIRA DROP (Mummy Drop) QCF + Punch (air) Damage: 22 points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Portals appear on the ends of Anakaris' arms, separating his wrists from his hands. His hands then emerge from another set of portals a certain distance away from him and wave around in air, if the move misses. If it hits, the hands wrap his opponent up in bandages, then bring him back over to Anakaris, who waves them around before slamming them to the floor.) The Miira Drop is Anakaris' most useful move, and you should be abusing it every chance you get. People will call you cheap for constantly throwing them around, but this move is really all Anakaris has to put up a good offense. The move itself only does average damage (in Vampire Savior, you could spin the joystick to increase the amount of damage done in a 2P battle, but this feature has been removed), but there are tons of other reasons why you should use this move, described below. Firstly, you get an _insane_ amount of HC power from landing a Miira Drop. It's something like 40% of a level every time it connects. A simple "combo" like a blocked s. LP, c. MP, LP Miira Drop will get you half of a level easily. By overusing the Miira Drop, you can rack up five levels of power in no time flat. If you think that sounds too good to be true, well, your opponent gets a lot of HC power as well; by the time I had hit 3.99 levels dead on with Anakaris, soley using the Miira Drop, my opponent had gained about 2.5 levels. And while Anakaris himself doesn't benefit from having a lot of HC power (since his Hyper Combos are so unorthodox), you can always switch in someone who can make use of all that power (Juggernaut, anybody?) and kill off your opposition with ease. The biggest asset of this move is that it comes out really fast; in fact, the sound cue is about the only thing your enemy has to clue them into an incoming Miira Drop. This means you can do this move out in the open whenever you want and have a very high success rate, as long as you know the ranges. Since you only have two strengths (LP is just in front of you, HP is just less than half the length of the screen away), you'll need to be able to know when to use the move, as there are plenty of places your opponent can stand in order to avoid getting hit. One weird thing about this move is it's hit range; someone can stand just in front of or behind your hands and not get hit (thin people can even stand between Anakaris and an LP Miira Drop)! You'd think this mean that the hit range was rather small, but I've had this move catch people who I thought were out of range a bunch of times. So I'd guess that anyone in the immediate vicinity of your hands can also be captured, but you should really take this as a nice bonus when it happens and not rely on it to save your butt in battle. There's a much easier way to land the Miira Drop instead of just doing it on it's own, and that's to treat the move as if it were comboable. It's not...but it comes out so fast that an opponent cannot attack or move out of the way in time. The ranges work perfectly for this purpose, as your opponent will be knocked within range of the LP Miira Drop after 1 to 3 hit or blocked attacks, and in range of the HP Miira Drop after 4 or more hits. Of course, if you make a punch or kick attack and it hits, you'd be much better off doing a chain combo and finishing with the Cobra Blow, which really combos, but this method works great when your normal attacks get blocked. However, there is a catch. Remember how I said that a character who is getting hit or is blocking attacks cannot get away from the Miira Drop in time when you cancel into it? Well, they can still duck to avoid it. Even if you're clobbering them with a full-fledged chain combo, they can hold down the entire time, and the instant you go for the Miira Drop, they'll duck out of harm's way. This even applies to the big guys like Sentinel and Juggernaut. So if you are going to use the Miira Drop like it's a comboable move, try to cancel into it after just one or two hits, since your opponent will have plenty of time to crouch if they sit there getting hit by or blocking an entire 5 or 6-hit chain combo beforehand. To make up for this, the Miira Drop can grab anybody who is standing (even Kobun), except for characters who have been transformed by your Ouke no Sabaki, and your enemy's assisting characters. So if your opponent calls in Thanos to do his launcher, you wouldn't be able to Miira Drop him--you'd just miss and (since your hands are so close), you'd take the hit. And while the Miira Drop is truly inescapable in the air, you have to keep in mind that it's air-to-air and ground-to- ground only; you can't pick up a standing character with this move while you're jumping, and you can't snatch someone out of the air while you're standing, either. Also, although it's really fast, it cannot grab people out of block stun, so don't think you can have an assistant throw a fireball, and then get a free Miira Drop if they block it. So enough with how to land the Miira Drop. Let's talk about when it hits or misses. First off, this move has amazing priority. Against any sort of move with startup, in can catch that person out of it (for example, it will grab Psylocke out of her Psi-Thrust HC). You don't want to do this against a move that comes out instantly, because the Miira Drop isn't _that_ fast, and besides, Anakaris' hands can be hit when they're wagging about. Yes, you read that right. One of the problems with missing a Miira Drop or trying to grab someone out of a quick-to-start move is that you're basically giving them an even bigger target to hit. Sure, the hands do not stay in air forever, but it is a window of opportunity that you don't want your opponent to have! Once the Miira Drop actually hits, you get a lot of good things going on, and a few bad things as well. Since the Miira Drop is a throw, Anakaris is totally invincible once he's grabbed his opponent. Normally this is not a big deal, but since Anakaris has such a long reach, it's possible for someone to fire a projectile, then you grab them, and the projectile passes through you harmlessly. In this aspect, the Miira Drop is a great defense mechanism against projectiles, because there's enough startup lag on most fireballs to allow you to land the Miira Drop. For example, if Guile is in range and tosses a Sonic Boom, you can nab him easily and watch with glee as the Sonic Boom just sails on past you. Of course, if you miss, then Guile gets an easy hit, as the Sonic Boom would go right into your waving hands ;) If this sounds a little tricky, it's not--I do this to fireball-happy people all the time, and I'm nowhere near being a master Anakaris player. So anyway, try this when you have the chance; all you have to do is make sure you're in range for the Miira Drop to hit. Another benefit of landing a Miira Drop is that you will throw your opponent behind you. For one thing, this means you can get out of corners easily by swapping places with your opponent, but is also means it's easy to throw your opponent into the corner. Not only is this good for trapping them, but you actually recover fast enough from the Miira Drop to combo them. In the open, this is limited to a dashing, crouching LK or HK, but in the corner, you can do full combos like a standing LK,MK,HK,LP Cobra Blow, or even an HP Cobra Blow into the Pharaoh Magic. Obviously, your opponent could roll after the Miira Drop, but if they're stupid enough not to, it's free damage. You can even do air combos as well (jumping back HP, LP Miira Drop is a nice one), but I haven't found any that are particularly damaging. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUKE NO SABAKI (Pharaoh's Judgment) In air, QCF + Kick Damage: 10 points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris' real face emerges from his mask and spits out a mass of swirling souls, which grow larger as they fly diagonally downward. The souls either dissapate after a while, or if they hit, turn their opponent into a small creature. His opponent remains transformed for a short period of time, or until hit. In their transformed state, all they can do is walk around, jump, and crouch. Pressing any P or K makes them worship Anakaris, but this cannot actually hit him and has no purpose aside from showing your opponent that you admit defeat.) ;) The Ouke no Sabaki has become a pale shadow of it's former self, but it's still a great move to use because of the damage opportunities it gives you. In the previous DarkStalkers games, this move could be done in air repeatedly, could hit right after it was fired, and a transformed opponent remained that way for a fixed period of time, no matter how many times they were hit. Now it can only be done in air once (unless you're superjumping), and hitting a transformed opponent with any attack immediately returns them to normal instead of keeping them transformed. One weird change is that, unlike in that game where you couldn't use some moves while your opponent was transformed, you can now use any move you like. The only ones you should avoid is the Miira Drop (it can't hit even if you're both in the air and at the same height), and the Ouke no Sabaki, which simply uncursed an opponent when it hits. Of course, that's assuming you actually get it to hit. Whereas this projectile previously drifted down in a nice angle, it now comes out in a steep descent, reducing it's range severely. What's more, it cannot even hit until the flying spirits 'grow' to their full size, which prevents you from hitting people right next to you--it's now really only effective against far away grounded foes, and useless against airborne opponents. Since the spirits dissapate as soon as they get near the ground, the only way for this move to hit someone on the far side of the screen is to jump to your full height (and you never want to jump with Anakaris unless you like getting your butt kicked), or to superjump and attempt it on the way down. You have to be careful about using this move in corners too, since it won't dissapate, but will fly offscreen while you sit there in the air like an idiot. If I want to use this move without superjumping, I usually jump and do it right off the ground, since Anakaris will drop down fairly quickly afterwards, or I'll do it as qcf,uf + K. This detracts from the range, but it's better than leaving yourself open while you jump to your full height. Also, avoid using this move on assisting partners, since it simply knocks them away without transforming them. As you can guess, I do not recommend using this move whenever you can, because it's not worth it. Only in situations where you will clearly connect (say when someone is doing a beam super and you are jumping over it), should you attempt this. And that's not to say that you shouldn't use this move, because if it lands, you have a free shot at doing a lot of damage. In a world of V. Combinations and DHCs, it shouldn't be that hard to beat the stuffing out of your transformed foe. If you want to try it, it's also easier to connect with the Pharaoh Magic during this time. Your opponent can't block, after all, although they can still move and jump around, so try to get them into a corner first. Alternatively, you can attack your transformed opponent by dashing in and do a crouching LK into a launcher and air combo from there. Another option would be to switch in a teammate with better offensive abilities because a) your transformed opponent cannot block, so if they're hit by the tag-in, you can juggle them any way you like, and b) even if you miss with the tag-in, you still some time left to attack them. This also allows the beleagured Anakaris a free tag-out so that he can start earning back lost life. Despite what you may have heard, a transformed character still takes the same amount of damage from attacks that they normally do. Another important use of the Ouke no Sabaki is against people with 'timer' moves, like Strider's Ouroboros, Spiral's Metamorphose, Rogue's ability drains, etc. If you transform a character while their timer is onscreen, the move automatically ends. I got quite a kick out of transforming Shuma-Gorath right after he'd activated his Chaos Dimension, effectively wasting 3 HC levels ;) Just remember that this move can't beat out Hyper Armor, so while you could hit Silver Samurai out of the Koori mode, you couldn't do it if he did Koori 3 times (since that gives him hyper armor). This move can be hypercanceled out of off of a superjump, but I haven't found any real uses for it. Trying to time it so that it combos into one of his supers or leaves your opponent with no time to get out of the way has not been too successful for me yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COBRA BLOW Press b,f + Punch (air) Damage: 16 points (LP) / 18 points (HP) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris' arms extend straight forward, the hands merging together into a gigantic statue-like head of a snake. After reaching their maximum distance, the snake head snaps it's mouth shut, and the the whole mess retreats backwards). The Cobra Blow is pretty useless except in combos, because it's his only real comboable move. On one hand, you can use it on it's own somewhat effectively because the move reaches it's maximum range (which is huge) rather quickly, so it's easy to punish someone from afar with a well- timed Cobra Blow. This gives it an advantage over the Hitsugi no Mai (which is slower), and the Miira Drop (since the Cobra Blow has a slightly longer range and can hit most crouch blockers). So why should you not use it on it's own? Well, this takes some explaining. Basically, the move cannot hit anything until the 'body' of the snake has reached it's maximum length, at which point the snake head closes it's mouth. Just before it closes it's mouth and as it does so, this move can hit someone. And we're not talking just the snake head; if you're standing right next to Anakaris and he does a Cobra Blow, you'll get hit when the mouth closes, even though it's beyond you. Similarily, if you jump over the head thinking you can attack the arms without worry, you're in for a nasty surprise if you attack while the snake head is biting, because then the arms can hit you as well. The problem with all this is that while the Cobra Blow extends to it's maximum length rather quickly, the whole length of it is vulnerable to attack before the snake head bites. Afterwards, while the whole thing is retreating, it is also vulnerable to attack. So if someone is quick enough, they can attack you while you start this move (even Juggernaut can jab you out of an HP Cobra Blow), or they can simply block the head and attack you while you're pulling your arms back. You're pretty much inviting your opponent to kick you around by doing this move out in the open. What makes it even worse is that it's not like the move has a lot of priority when the snake head is biting--you're more likely to trade hits instead, which is very detrimental to Anakaris. After all he takes way more damage than most other characters. This really ticks me off because in previous games, the Cobra Blow hit multiple times, making it much safer to use. Now it's disadvantages really outweigh any of it's benefits. So, should you use this move outside of combos? Well, the LP Cobra Blow reaches the 'about to bite' stage faster than the HP Cobra Blow, so it's less of a risk, even though it has a shorter range. I do use this to smack people out of the blue sometimes. One problem is that some characters can duck beneath this (which is pretty lame considering the same characters will get hit by the HP Cobra Blow). So as you can see, it's not really worth it. After all, there's the annoying move command--I tend to mess up and get Miira Drops sometimes. I'd much rather accidentally "combo" into an LP Miira Drop than attempt a LP Cobra Blow out of the blue and get a Miira Drop instead, because it has a shorter range than the Cobra Blow. In combos this move shines, because it has a huge range and can easily be tacked on to just about any chain you can create. Nevermind that it's his only real combo ender. The LP version combos from all of his attacks with ease, excluding his crouching HP and HK, and any jumping kick. The HP version, unfortunately, only combos off of a standing HP or HK, but at least it has a much bigger range to make up for it. Another problem is in the air, you'll only be able to combo with the LP version, and that will only combo off of his jumping Punch attacks or his super jumping kicks (it can't combo off of normal jumping kicks). Finally, as the Cobra Blow knocks a character upward, hypercanceling into the Pharaoh Cobra Blow or another HC is not recommended. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HITSUGI NO MAI (Dance of the Coffins) Tap d,d + Punch or Kick (air) Damage: 20 points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris gestures towards his opponent with an outstretched palm, and a large sarcophagus falls from the sky, hits the floor, and flies back up.) This move has it's uses, but it's not really abusable. The first thing you'll want to learn are the ranges: LP is closest to you, then comes HP, LK, and finally HK, which is furthest away. You don't want to miss with this move, as you're left wide open until the sarcophagus starts to fly back up again. Since the sarcophagus doesn't hit on the way up, anyone can simply dash forward and / or jump over to you and attack you before you recover from the Hitsugi no Mai. On the upside, the coffins can destroy some normal projectiles (for example, it can stop a Hadou Ken but not a Psycho Field). It can also stop some HC projectiles (Sonic Break, Stampede Sword), but this isn't recommended as you only destroy one projectile and the rest come right at you. Otherwise, it cannot destroy HC projectiles (not even Dan's Shinkuu Gadou Ken). Beams cannot be negated, either; the coffins simply bounce off of them like they do with projectiles. If someone is close enough for you to hit them and their projectile, the coffins hits the projectile and not them, unfortunately. The coffins can also hit someone off of the ground, although the only time when you will be able to do this is after a successful Pharaoh Magic. I use this move mainly to punish people who leave themselves open, and as a distraction after hitting PA or PB to bring in a helper. Otherwise this move does not have a lot of uses; it can't be comboed into, and while it does good damage, it's very easy to see coming. I only recommend doing this move from as far away as possible, or when superjumping. See the neat thing about doing this move after doing a super jump is that Anakaris can start his next coffin toss the moment the current one hits the ground or his opponent. This means that you can sit in the air and throw coffins all day, using the '2P' icon to keep track of where your opponent is. This is more annoying then useful (except when fighting Abyss), but it's an easy way to waste time when you're ahead in the game, and the scrubs will hate you for it. ;) Although the move can be hypercanceled into, this is hard to do and is only really useful for a Hitsugi no Utage setup, as none of his other supers are effective when used from afar. You can hypercancel into his other HCs from up close, but standing next to your opponent and hitting them with an LP Hitsugi no Mai is about as smart as wearing all black and running back and forth across the freeway at midnight...you're going to get hit ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEIJA NO AYUMI (Saint's Walk) Press b + Light Kick Damage: 7 points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris lifts up a leg high above himself, and brings it down in a vicious axe kick.) This move has good range and it's an overhead. You can chain into it from a standing or crouching LP, too, and chain out of it into his standing or crouching HP, HK (yay!), or any special move. I like doing this move against an opponent and if they stand, then chaining into a low HK, or doing a Miira Drop. Try doing some low attacks (his crouching kicks are his only attacks that have to be blocked low), to get your opponent to start crouch-blocking, then pull this on them. A character with fast attacks can hit Anakaris out of this move, as Anakaris delays for a moment before dropping his leg. Another problem is that you drift backward every time you use this move, unless you input it as f,b + LK or chain out of it. Some people may prefer the 'Bohi' overheads (see below). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEINARU BOHI (Sacred Tombstone) In air, press df + Kick OOINARU BOHI (Great Tombstone) In air, press d + Kick IDAINARU BOHI (Greatness Tombstone) In air, press f + Kick Damage: 7 points for any version ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris' lower body turns into a pyramid, and he flies in in the direction inputted with the joystick. The Kick button used has no effect on the move itself.) In a game of superjumps and air dashes, these moves are not as useful as they were. In terms of movement, you are carried a very short distance, and so you may miss your opponent unless you're close, and it makes them useless when trying to fly over fireballs. Since you recover after the move ends, these are not 'safe' moves to get you back down to the ground, although you can always use a mid-air attack while falling afterwards, unlike his jumping special moves and supers. You can put in these moves at the end of chain combos (remember to use HK if your previous attack was MP or MK), but as they knock someone down, comboing into a special or HC is not recommended. One good thing is that all of these moves are overheads; you may have seen the CPU Anakaris jump and then immediately do a Seinaru Bohi to hit a crouch- blocker. This is a touch faster than the Seija no Ayumi, so you can always mix up the two to throw people off (this faq is to be found at game faqs dot com only) Since you can combo out of these attacks, it's even possible to do a Bohi move, then land and do a combo, or (my favorite), land and combo into a c. HK to mess up your opponent ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ KUUCHUU DASH (Mid-Air Dash) In air, tap f,f or press PP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris flies across the screen while in his jumping animation.) This move is not really good for an aerial offensive, because Anakaris covers a lot of ground, and he falls forward even while attacking, so you can't use it to be all over your opponent like Rogue can. Still though, this move is superb for either getting away from or getting close to people, because you literally go all the way across the screen, which means that as long as you can get off the ground, you should have no problem getting out of corners or sailing over attacks and hitting people even when they're across the screen. If there's a drawback, it's that you can't immediately dash after jumping; you have to wait until Anakaris has lifted himself up a ways before tapping f,f or PP has any effect. I generally stick to doing this move from afar so that I can dash in over someone's attack and combo them with a falling LP,MP,HP preceeding the actual combo (see the combo section for more info). Also, Anakaris' dash is the only move in the game (aside from Blackheart's air dash and backstep), that you can cancel out of normal attacks with. For example, if you hit someone with a jumping HP and then hit PP, Anakaris will dash _before_ the recovery animation of the jumping HP comes out. I don't know how useful this is, but it could be used for quick escapes or something (hit n' run tactics, aheheh)! If you cancel into his PP air dash, you can't do any normal attacks, but can still interrupt the air dash with special moves or Hyper Combos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SNAPBACK: SHUKUSEI (Enforcement) qcf + PA or PB Damage: 10 points (costs 1 level of HC power) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (This is the same animation as his standing HP: Anakaris holds out his arms, which form into the huge biting head of a cobra.) Since this attack uses the same animation as Anakaris' standing HP, it shares all of that move's drawbacks; small characters can crouch beneath it (Roll and Kobun can stand beneath it). It does have a great range, though, although you can't dash and slide forward during this move like you can with a normal HP. Of course, being a Snapback, you can combo this move from a standing HP, or any other normal attack, as well as his Seija no Ayumi (overhead into snapback...how wicked is that)!? Generally speaking, it can be use as a substution for the LP Cobra Blow in combos...for example, you have to finish a standing LP,LK,MP,MK,HP combo with an HP Cobra Blow, but if you dash in, you could finish with an LP Cobra Blow or a Snapback. Some of you may scoff at Snapbacks since they do so little damage, but hey, Anakaris earns enough HC power to Snapback all day long, and it's a great method for getting rid of pesky opponents or bringing someone back in who has a lot of recoverable life (like a helper you just nailed with a Hyper Combo), since they'll lose it all upon coming back in. And in combos, there's nothing your opponent can do to avoid getting knocked out by a Snapback! ======================================================================== 6. HYPER COMBOS ======================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PHARAOH MAGIC Tap HK,LP,d,LK,HP quickly (air) Damage: 4 hits, 59 points (costs 1 level of HC power) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (A golden stand appears beneath Anakaris, who rises off the ground. He looks up towards the sky and spits a curse from his mouth, which he grabs and throws forward, the words of the curse forming into a colored orb surrounded by spinning souls, a la his Ouke no Sabaki. The orb flies diagonally downward, and dissapates after hitting the floor or walls. If the orb hits, Anakaris' opponent is burned and held in place while he spits out two more curse orbs which hit his stunned opponent with ice and lightning attacks [every time I see those orbs I have a "King of Dragons" flashback] ;) Finally, Anakaris gestures at his foe and a huge sarcophagus falls from the sky and flattens his opponent, then rises back up into the sky). This move was never a particuarly useful attack in the Darkstalkers series, but in MvC2, it's hands-down the most useless move in the entire game. It's blockable, slow as molasses, and has an awful range. Since it flies downward, your opponent can jump over it with ease. It's even been weakened--instead of going through fireballs, it gets canceled by them. That's right, you can throw a Hadou Ken or use a Banishing Flat to destroy the Pharaoh Magic projectile. Probably the only good thing that was carried over from Vampire Savior was that if your opponent gets hit by the projectile, their own fireball will vanish into thin air, instead of knocking you out of this move. What's more, if any of the spell orbs miss or are blocked, the move ends (and yes, it is possible to position yourself so that the first orb hits and the second one misses, such as in a DHC). And as long as I'm talking about the faults of this move, the Pharaoh Magic is also the lamest looking super he has; hey, this is a Versus game, they should have given him the Pharaoh Salvation or Decoration animation instead. You can combo into this move, but I've only ever found two ways to do so. The first method is sort of lame; you have to be relatively close to your opponent, do a Hitsugi no Mai, then hypercancel into the Pharaoh Magic. The problem with this is that doing the Hitsugi no Mai from up close leaves you open to attack. The other method only works in the corner, but you can start off with a Miira Drop to prevent your opponent from attacking you, which is a plus. What you have to do is get your opponent cornered and be right next to them, then do an HP Cobra Blow and hypercancel into the Pharaoh Magic (comboing into the Cobra Blow or doing it from further away won't work). Obviously doing the HP Cobra Blow on it's own is like inviting Death to your house for dinner, but you can always preceed the Cobra Blow with a Miira Drop. Doing so makes the timing of the Cobra Blow a little harder, but it gives you more opportunities to land the combo since the Miira Drop is an easy way to throw your opponent into the corner of the screen if you're already there yourself. So basically, whenever you're near the corner of the screen, it's possible to go for this combo, which does lots of damage. If all that sounded like a bit much just to connect with this HC, well, try connecting with this move _without_ comboing into it. It's impossible, really. The only time when you can do this move on its' own and have a chance of it connecting is if your enemy is transformed, since they can't block it. Of course, they can still jump or move out of the way, but hey, I told you this HC was hard to hit with. Like the Ouke no Sabaki, you can also attempt it when your opponent is doing or recovering from a move, but since Anakaris will stick out his feet when you press HK, this really prevents you from using it in the air to hit beam HC users. If you ever do manage to connect with this move, then you are rewarded with pretty high damage. It's not as much as his other Hyper Combos, but at least it's guaranteed and not dependent on timing or location. You're also given the the world's easiest chance to OTG (assuming your opponent doesn't roll). Since you recover as the giant sarcophagus hits, you can simply dash forward and crouching LK them off the ground, then do whatever you want. Or knock them off the floor with a Hitsugi no Mai or Hitsugi no Utage (though the Utage won't do much damage unless they're in the corner--see the Hitsugi no Utage entry for more details. Otherwise the Hitsugi no Mai does more damage). The Pharaoh Magic is also a great opener for a DHC, since Anakaris' opponent stays stunned after being hit by a curse orb, ensuring that the incoming character will have an easy time landing their move. Considering how hard it is for the Pharaoh Magic to connect, though, you may want to have Anakaris as your middle-man instead of being first up for the DHC. The only time when this move can easily connect is against a helper, which is both good and bad. The good thing is that since an assisting character cannot block, you can hit some of the slower ones with the Pharaoh Magic without fail, and they are held in place while you do the entire sequence on them. The bad news is that your opponent is free to super jump over to your backside and attack you, or just blow you up with a beam super, or whatever. At least if they get hit by the spell orbs, they get trapped, too ;) Finally, against a character with Hyper Armor, Anakaris will do the entire Pharaoh Magic sequence as long as each spell orb hits. All of the orbs (and the large sarcophagus) are blockable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PHARAOH COBRA BLOW Press b,f + both Punch buttons (air) Damage: Up to 78 hits, 92 points (costs 1 level of HC power) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris appears inside his sarcophagus. He opens the lid and remains like that for a limited period of time. During this time, pressing any Punch or Kick button makes giant snakes come out of the coffin and fly straight forward, then retract, just like a long-range Cobra Blow). The Pharaoh Cobra Blow, like the rest of Anakaris' HCs, can either be used correctly for tons of damage, or used incorrectly for almost no damage at all. To know when to use it, you have to understand how the move works: The button used determines the height of the Cobra Blow; LP is highest (from the top of the sarcophagus), HP is lower, LK is lower than that, and HK makes you fire a snake head from near the bottom of Anakaris' coffin. You can do combinations of buttons, like pressing LP + HP to make the top two snakes come out, or HP + LK to get the middle two, or even press three or all four of the buttons to have all the snakes come out. When a snake is fired, it travels forward until it reaches the edge of the screen, then it retreats back into Anakaris' coffin. Note that a snake hits more times (7 total), the further out it is allowed to extend. This means that doing this move when you're close to a wall allows the snakes to recover faster, but for less damage. Doing the move when you have the whole screen in front of you means the snakes hit more times for more damage, but take longer to recover. Doing this move out in the open may also create the very desirable 'vacuum' effect, where the multiple hits actually pull your opponent towards you instead of knocking them away, insuring more hits and preventing your challenger from recovering. So what does all this mean? Unlike your standard Hyper Combo, the Pharaoh Cobra Blow requires that you use the proper spacing and timing in order to use this move successfully. If you just mash on the buttons, you're sure to get some hits, but you might leave your opponent a window of opportunity in which to block, and you won't get as many hits as you could using one of the methods described below. To better see how to use the Pharaoh Cobra Blow, take a look at these little playfield diagarams. "A" is Anakaris, "O" is your opponent. The 'walls' represent the corners of the playfield (either the actual corners or just the edge of the screen, depending). These method apply to whether you're on the ground or in the air, btw. Fig. | | This is the optimum setup for the Pharaoh #1 |A O | Cobra Blow. Since Anakaris is in the corner `----------------' and his opponent is right next to him, you the snakes will hit for maximum damage. The method I suggest is to press all 4 buttons to fire all the snakes at once, and once they come back, fire all four snakes again. You should be able to do this about three times. If you're in the air, try firing your highest snake (LP) to juggle them, then rapidly mash LP+LK and HP+HK to alternate between both sets of snakes. The four-button method can work in air, but it's easier to knock your opponent down. Doing it this way is more likely to create the 'vacuum' effect described above. Fig. | | This is the reverse of the previous setup. #2 |O A | Unlike the last example, timing is irrelevant `----------------' since the snakes come back so fast. Simply mash the buttons like mad to get the most hits and damage. This also works if you're both in the air. You can't get as much damage as the first example but if you're a good masher, you can still get quite a lot of hits in. Fig. | | Since you're not in the corner of the screen, #3 | A O | the cobras won't hit as many times, and since `----------------' your opponent isn't close by, you'll get less hits. The best way around this is to fire one snake (I prefer LP, but you may want to use a lower one against smaller opponents), then rapidly alternate between LP+LK and HP+HK, the same method used in the previous example when you're both in air. This will usually create the 'vacuum' effect, allowing you to pull your opponent in and still do lots of damage. Fig. | | Although your opponent's in the corner, you #4 | A O | aren't close enough to mash the buttons for `----------------' lots of hits. You can try the same method used in Figure 3, but you won't get a lot of damage no matter what you do. Fig. | | This is the worst possible time to use the #5 | A O | Pharaoh Cobra Blow. You're so far away that `----------------' there's no way to keep your opponent in hit stun unless you cycle through the hits (hit the four buttons in any sequence and quickly repeat), but this will get you about the same damage as a single Miira Drop! Obviously, you'd flip the diagrams around if you were on the other side of the screen. The distances and spacing aren't exact--it's just there to give you a general feel of what your locations should be. Also, if you don't like the firing methods mentioned here, you can always create your own--there are a lot of combinations that will work with this move. It's just that I've found that the four-snake method and the alternating between LP+LK and HP+HK methods are the ones that get me the most hits and damage. This also applies to block damage...since the snakes hit more times the further out they can extend, you'll get way more block damage in the Fig. #1 situation than you would in any of the others. So now that you know how this move works and how to get the most out of it, let's look at the Pharaoh Cobra Blow's weaknesses. One flaw is that the input command is weird--mess up and you dash forward, obviously. This can be a real problem if you screw up at the wrong time (I always mess up this move and Hayato's Byakko Hou). You can try inputting this move as hcf + PP, but this sometimes results in the Miira Drop. I like using the hold PP, tap b,f method myself. I'd like to say that this is a good move to use to catch people who make mistakes (such as a blocked HC), but that's not really the case, as the PCB has a bit of startup lag, and is only useful if you block your opponent's attack from up close. And while the PCB can destroy normal projectiles, no idiot would throw a projectile from up close (where the PCB could really hurt), and from far away, you're not going to get a lot of damage. You can use this move to seriously mess up helpers who are on-screen (especially the type that come charging at you, so they're nice and close), but make sure you Snapback the helper in afterwards before they get a chance to recover their lost life. Finally, this move can OTG with HK (the lowest snake), but the damage will not be that good unless you've got your opponent right up in the corner so you can mash like mad. During the Variable Combination version of this move, Anakaris sends out cobras automatically. This is sort of a mixed bag because you can sometimes get lots of hits, but sometimes you won't, or else maybe it won't combo all the way. However, this move is great when you have other people's HCs going to keep a character in place because the PCB will do tons of damage (it even does great block damage)! Obviously, though, you can't do this type of Pharaoh Cobra Blow in the air since it's a V. Combination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HITSUGI NO UTAGE Tap d,d + both Punch buttons (air) (Banquet of the Coffins) (costs 1 level of HC power) Damage: 7 hits, 99 points ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris repeatedly gestures towards his opponent with an outstretched palm, while many large sarcophagi fall from the sky, hit the floor, and fly back up. For those of you who have seen it, it's basically his EX Hitsugi no Mai, but with bigger coffins). The key to this move is _knowing_, with absolute assuredness, that your opponent is at the proper distance from you before you begin this move. This is because if your challenger is in the right place when you do this move, the falling sarcophagi will combo for multiple hits and a ton of damage. If you mistime this move, then your opponent may only take a few hits, or they may be able to simply block them all for only minor damage. Another problem with this move is it's range; if they're too far away, none of the coffins will hit, and if they're close to you, they can just attack you as this move starts up, since it's very slow. So, you don't want to use this move unless you know you'll get in the multiple hits. Otherwise it's just a waste of an HC level, and you're left open for so long that just about any sort of offense can be mounted against you. AFAIK, the only way to get maximum damage is to have your opponent in the corner, since otherwise the falling sarcophagi knock them too far forward or backward. Anakaris has to be standing a short distance away--a little bit inside the range of his standing LK. If your positioning is right, all seven coffins will combo for 99 damage. Believe it or not, there's a way to position yourself perfectly every time, although chances are you will not have the time to pull it off in the heat of battle. Once your opponent is in the corner, crouch for a moment. When crouching, the hem of Anakaris' gold loincloth should be lined up with the triangular edge of the HC gauge that's furthest away from you (so if your opponent is on the far left corner, you'd be lining yourself up with the left edge of the 2P Hyper Combo Gauge). If you've lined it up perfectly, the yellow 'oval' of Anakaris' lower half is in exact alignment with the triangle edge, and none of the background can be seen. If you're off, you'll see a thin line where there is space between you and the HC gauge. Despite being able to align yourself properly, this move simply can't do all 7 hits on characters who are short (like Ryu), or thin (like Storm). On larger than average characters, you have a bit of leeway in getting your position (against Colossus, you can actually be a step or two off and the coffins will still combo). Since you can't combo into this move on the ground, a smart opponent can knock you out of it with a quick attack, too. For this reason, you may want to superjump before doing this, although you have to be careful not to veer back or forward while superjumping. Another method that works on most characters except for the thin and small ones is to knock down an opponent while they're in the corner of the screen using Anakaris' HK or the Pharaoh Magic, then hit them off the ground with the Hitsugi no Utage. If your positioning is right (it's a bit inside of the maximum range...you don't have to be exact as the above setup), then three of the sarcophagi combo for 57 damage total (using HK) or 77 damage total (using the Pharaoh Magic), which is pretty good, all things considered. Anyway, these are about the only times this move is useful on the ground. There are other distances that work, but I've only ever gotten about three comboed hits from doing the move in the open. In the air, you can get a guaranteed four-hit combo with this move, but you have to be very fast, and this only works on certain characters. See the section on combos for more info. Like the Hitsugi no Mai, the coffins will go through projectiles (normal or HC), but will merely 'bounce' off of beams. Unlike the Hitsugi no Mai, they can hit someone off the ground after being knocked down by Anakaris' crouching HK, although the opponent rolls away after the first hit, so you get crap damage unless they're in the corner of the playfield. The Variable Combination version of this move is just like the normal one. Since you _are_ doing a Variable Combination, starting off with an HC this slow is asking for trouble. Make sure Anakaris is your second or third character, so that your opponent is already stuck in hitstun by your first character's attack when the coffins start falling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PHARAOH ILLUSION Tap LP,LP,f,LK,HP quickly Damage: Up to 10 hits, 88 points (costs 1 level of HC power) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Anakaris seals himself in a sarcophagus and shoots offscreen, only to return as a giant upper torso with detached, controllable hands. He remains this way for a while or until hit). As dumb as this move seems, it can actually result in a lot of damage. Unfortunately, if you mess up, your opponent can block and wait out the HC (and it doesn't last more than a few seconds anyway), or they can hit you (one hit will do) to knock out out of the move. Note that this is Anakaris' only HC which can't be used in mid-air. Anyway, the Pharaoh Illusion is controllable like so: Left hand moves right (upper) Press LP Left hand moves right (lower) Press f + LK Left hand moves up (upper) Press u + LP Left hand moves up (lower) Press LK Left hand moves down Press d + LP Left hand moves diagonally downward Press df + LP Left hand moves diagonally upward Press uf + LK Body moves left or right Hold b / f The same attacks can be done with HP and HK to control the right hand. Even if you're on the other other side of the screen when you do this move, HP and HK still control the right hand. Obviously you'd switch the controls, though (so technically, it would be f + LK to make the left hand move in from the lower part of the screen, and b + HK to make the right hand do the same thing). Note that when moving the body, releasing the direction makes Anakaris drift back to the center of the screen. Finally, all hand attacks do 10 points of damage (of course the damage will be reduced with multiple hits). The only way I have found to make this move do any real damage is to hit your opponent with the startup animation of Anakaris flying off screen (worth 10 points). This is not as impossible as it seems as you can combo off it from any two hits against normal-sized and larger enemies (I use a dashing s. LP,MP, which is used to perform the move anyway, since it counts as LP,LP, and you can just stick in f,LK,HP to finish the move). This will knock the opponent into the air, and you can then juggle them back and forth between your hands by using the upper hand animations (just press LP,HP,LP,HP or the reverse to knock them into your other hand). Another method is to hit them with Anakaris' launcher, then quickly input the Pharaoh Illusion to make the startup combo. This results in you performing the Illusion in mid-air, so that you can hit your opponent, but Anakaris will sink down if his opponent falls down to the ground. The sure-fire way to get lots of hits is to start off at a moderate pace and then increase the speed to prevent your opponent from flying over your hands, although you can always stick in an upper attack (u + LP or HP) for the final hit if they begin to move out of range. This results in about 81 points of damage (including the 10 from the startup hit). Or you can just spaz on the buttons, but I've only ever gotten one hit more (for 88 damage) this way, and you might knock your opponent out of the way. If you don't combo the startup, you're asking for trouble, because one good hit to any part of your body except the hands, and this move ends What's worse, since Anakaris falls out of the air from very low to the ground, he's fodder for both ground attacks and throws, _and_ any number of aerial raves, air throws, etc. If you are going to attempt this move without the startup hit, try using LK or HK (no directional press) to knock a character into the air, then use the same side Punch button to start juggling them (so if you knock them up with LK, time an LP press and it will hit, you can then juggle with HP,LP repeatedly). There are other juggling patterns, but this one seems to be the easiest and most effective. Some larger characters will be hit by the upper hand animations, so you don't need to lift them up with LK or HK before you start tapping LP,HP repeatedly. In the Variable Combination version of this move, Anakaris' hands move automatically. Since they move at random, you'll sometimes get a few comboed hits, but he may just end up flailing in the air while your opponents on the ground. It's just a huge waste of HC power. ======================================================================== 7. COMBOS, ETC. ======================================================================== Here are some combos (complete with hits and damages) for Anakaris. Note that the damages may change depending on how well you mash the Pharaoh Cobra Blow or time the Pharaoh Illusion or Hitsugi no Utage. Like all characters, Anakaris can't hypercancel during a normal jump, so if you want to do something like Cobra Blow -> Pharaoh Cobra Blow, make sure you attempt it on the ground or during a superjump. Then again, that's not a very good hypercancel anyway ;) One neat thing about Anakaris is that you can (usually) switch his Punch and Kick attacks in his ground and jumping combos, which you may need to do if you're out of range (for example, his j. HK hits people on the ground at times when his j. HP would miss). Finally, note that for any combo that uses a standing HP or HK, you can substitute in a Snapback, or use it after the HP or HK (yes, even though his s. HP and Snapback have the same animation, it doesn't mean you can't use them both in a combo). The Snapback can also be used in place of finishing with a LP Cobra Blow--the range is a little shorter but it's still a long-range move, after all. 1 s. LP,MP,HP, HP Cobra Blow 4/40 2 s. LK,MK,HK, HP Cobra Blow 4/40 3 s. LP,LK,MP,MK,HP/HK, HP Cobra Blow 6/46 4 s. or dash in s. LP, c. MP (1/2 hits), Pharaoh Cobra Blow 55/71 5 c. LP,LK,MPx2,MK,HK 6/31 6 c. HP, aerial rave (example used: sj u. LP,LK,MP,MK,HP) 6/43 7 c. HP, sj u. LP,LK,MP, LP Cobra Blow, Hitsugi no Utage 9/91 8 c. HP, sj u. LP,LK,MP, LP Cobra Blow, LP,LK, (f+HK) 7/?? 9 c. HP, sj u. LP,LK,MP, Pharaoh Cobra Blow 72/102 10 c. HK, OTG Hitsugi no Utage near corner 4/57 11 c. HK, OTG Pharaoh Cobra Blow in corner 50/74 12 Pharaoh Magic, OTG Hitsugi no Mai 5/76 13 Pharaoh Magic, OTG Hitsugi no Utage near corner 7/99 14 Pharaoh Magic, (can dash in) OTG Pharoh Illusion 5/64 15 Pharaoh Magic, (can dash in) OTG Pharaoh Cobra Blow 54/116 16 Pharaoh Magic, dash in, OTG c. LK, c. HP, aerial rave 11/86 17 Dash in s. LP,MP, Pharaoh Illusion 12/91 18 Hitsugi no Mai, Pharaoh Magic 5/77 19 Hitsugi no Mai, Pharaoh Cobra Blow 52/83 20 Hitsugi no Mai, Pharaoh Illusion 10/98 21 Hitsugi no Mai, Hitsugi no Utage near corner 8/116 22 Hitsugi no Utage near corner 7/99 23 LP Cobra Blow, Hitsugi no Utage 2/31 24 LP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Illusion (only on big characters) 10/94 25 HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic 5/75 26 HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic, Hitsugi no Mai 6/91 27 HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic, Hitsugi no Utage 8/113 28 HP Cobra Blow, Hitsugi no Utage 8/114 29 HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic, c. LK, c. HP, aerial rave 12/97 30 Miira Drop, HP Cobra Blow 2/40 31 Miira Drop, HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic 6/95 32 Miira Drop, HP Cobra Blow, Pharaoh Magic, Hitsugi no Mai 7/104 33 Miira Drop, OTG s. LK,MK,HK, LP Cobra Blow 5/59 34 Miira Drop, OTG s. LP,MP, c. HP, sj. u, aerial rave 9/64 35 Miira Drop, dash in OTG with c. HK 2/35 36 Miira Drop, dash in OTG with c. LK 2/27 37 Any "Bohi" attack, LP Cobra Blow 2/23 38 Jump uf, immediate LP,MP,(df+HK), LP Cobra Blow 4/33 39 Jump uf, immediate LP,MP,HP, LP Cobra Blow 4/39 40 Jump uf, immediate LP,MP,(df+HK), s. LK,MK,HK, HP Cobra Blow 7/50 41 Air dash or jump in late LP,MP,(f/df+HK), LP Cobra Blow 4/33 42 Air dash or jump in late LP,MKx2,HP, LP Cobra Blow 4/34 43 Air dash or jump in late LP,MP,HP, land, jump uf LP,MKx2,HP 7/47 44 Air dash or jump in late LP,MP,HP, land, jump uf LP,MP,HP, ... LP Cobra Blow 7/55 45 Air dash or jump in late LP,MP,HP, land, dash in s. LP,MP, ... c. HP, aerial rave 11/57 46 Air dash or jump in late LP,MP,HP, land, dash in LP,LK,MP, ... MK,HP, HP Cobra Blow 11/57 47 Do #45, but after c. HP, do sj u LP,LK,MP, LP Miira Drop 9/51 48 c. HP, Pharaoh Illusion 9/89 49 Do #45, but combo c. HP into Pharaoh Illusion 14/96 Notes on performing the combos: 3. If you dash in first, you can use the LP Cobra Blow, although for less damage. 4. Try to make sure your opponent is either in the corner, so that you can mash for the PCB, or that they're next to you and have a lot of space behind them, so the snakes can extend to their full length and you can time them for maximum damage. 5. This is my old favorite all-crouching combo from Vampire Savior ;) 6. This is the aerial rave I'll be using for all the other combos with raves in 'em, just so you know. 7. You have to do the LP Cobra Blow hypercancel into the the Hitsugi no Utage really fast for it to work. Furthermore, this combo has to be done out in the open in order for it to hit. This combo works only on the wider characters--others may get hit by the Utage but not for the full amount. From what I've tested, it works on the following characters: Amingo, Anakaris, Cable, Colossus, Doom, Hulk, Sabretooth, Shuma- Gorath, Silver Samurai, Strider Hiryu, Tron Bonne, Venom, Zangief. It will only work partially on these characters: Cammy, Captain America, Captain Commando, Cyclops, Felicia, Iron Man, Jill Valentine, Jin, Juggernaut, Marrow, Omega Red, Rogue, Sakura Kasugano, Sentinel, Spiral, Thanos, Vega, War Machine, Wolverine (both types). On everybody else, the Utage misses entirely. 8. This is the only theoretical combo in the list...I've gotten as far as connecting the LP after the mid-air LP Cobra Blow but no further. It should be possible, though. If anyone gets this to work and wants to tell me the damage / how they did it, by all means, drop me a line. 9. If you don't jump straight up, the MP may miss. Again, it's best to have your opponent in the corner so you can mash the PCB, or have them next to you but with a lot of space behind them so you can time the hits for lots of damage. 10. This combo requires that you have your opponent at the proper range for the first falling coffin to hit, and for the other coffins to snag your enemy while they're being hit. Some thinner characters may not take all the hits--wider characters work better. Like most Utage combos, this can be done in the open, but for far less damage (since you'll only get one hit). 13. Same as #10. 14. This is sort of a joke combo, since the Illusion OTGs for only one hit. It just looks cool ;) 15. Do this in the corner so you can mash like mad. It doesn't work well out in the open. 17. This only works on average and larger characters. On thinner characters, it will miss. Since the LP,MP already counts as part of the entry, you can input the Pharaoh Illusion simply as f,LK,HP. 18. Same as #10. Hypercanceling out of the Hitsugi no Mai is really tricky since you need to do it once the coffin is onscreen but before it's come down too far. Unlike combo #20, you don't have to be right next to your opponent for the Pharaoh Magic to combo, but you still have to be really close. Follow the Magic with whatever OTG combo you like. 19. Same as #4. 20. You have to be up close and do the LP Hitsugi no Mai if you want the Illusion to combo. Again, the hypercancel timing is tough. 22. This only works on some characters (the wider they are, the more likely it will hit)), and you have to be lined up perfectly. As stated in the Utage section, you can get the perfect range every time by lining up the circular, golden hem of Anakaris' clothing with the silver triangular edge of the 2P HC gauge (if you're on that side), or the edge of the 1P HC gauge (if you're on that side). The yellow hem should lie along the upper edge " / " of the triangle with no background showing through, just gold-on -silver. 21. You'll only get one hit of the Utage, unfortunately. 25. Anakaris' other Pharaoh Magic combo. You have to do the HP Cobra Blow to a cornered opponent, and you have to be close. I highly recommend sticking the the Miira Drop version (#28), since doing the HP Cobra Blow on it's own is suicidal. 27. This requires that you move back a bit so that the first coffin of the Utage will hit. Some thinner characters may not take all the multiple hits. 28. See #10. 30. I wonder, is this unescapable? I know you can roll before Anakaris can c. HK you, but what about attacks that hit higher up? For combos #27 through #31, you have to have your back to the corner of the screen, and you must be able to throw your opponent into the corner with the Miira Drop in order for the combo to work. In some cases, if you're not close enough, you can dash forward before doing the rest of the combo (this won't work with the HP Cobra Blow, though, since it needs a lot of time to come out). 31. You can follow up the Pharaoh Magic with something else, just like in the other combos listed here. Be creative ;) 33. Believe it or not, the HP Cobra Blow won't combo off of the HK. Must have something to do with juggling them off of the Miira Drop. 34. The spacing is a little tricky (that's why I like #33 so much), but it's possible. Just practice. Alternately, you can dash in and do s. LK, s. MK, c. HP. 35. Since you can do this combo out in the open, you should do it _every_ time you land the Miira Drop (unless you throw them into the corner, where there are all sorts of other high damage combos). I mean, even if they roll out of the way of the c. HK, they'll end up in the perfect range for an HP Miira Drop upon your recovery (or you can do a standing HP into the Miira Drop if you want to add in some variety). 36. This is possible out in the open, but not really useful ;) Unless you throw them into the corner and want to follow it with something else ;) 37. Anakaris' worst combo. Well, at least it's in there. If you're too high up, the LP Cobra Blow will miss. 38. For #38 through #40, you have to start attacking the moment you leave the ground. 40. If you don't do the first three hits fast enough, you won't land fast enough to finish the combo on the ground. 41. This combo only works against taller characters. Since I consider Anakaris' jump to be Satan-spawned, try the air dash instead, it works just as well and is a lot faster. Sure it's slow to start (you have to jump to use it, after all), but you can jump up from the other side of the screen, then dash across it and still be in range to attack. 42. See #41. 43. Like #41, but it works on all characters. You may wish to switch j. HK for j. HP if your opponent is out of range. Since you're left defenseless after this combo, you may want to cancel into a special move for the hell of it. This combo is more for show ;) 44. For #44 through #47, see #41. 47. The actual damage is 51 from the combo, plus 22 for the Miira Drop, for 73 damage all told. Doing this combo twice will leave someone with almost no life left! Remember, this is a real combo since the Miira Drop is inescapable in mid-air. 48. This isn't as tricky as it seems. Simply input the command for the Pharaoh Illusion during Anakaris' c. HP launcher, and the startup animation combos for 2 hits. If you don't want to enter the whole command, you can always crouch and quickly tap LP,HP,LP,f,LK,HP, which results in a c. LP,HP combo ending in the Illusion startup. Miira Drop 'Combos': s. LP, Miira Drop s. HP, HP Miira Drop s. LK,MK, LP Miira Drop c. LK,MK, LP Miira Drop s. LK,HK, HP Miira Drop s. LP, c. MP (1st hit), LP Miira Drop Miira Drop into corner, jump ub, j. HP, LP Miira Drop None of these are real combos (maybe except the last one), since the ground Miira Drop can't combo. You could do longer ones, like a full 5-hit chain into an HP Miira Drop, but it's safer to use shorter chains, which is what I've listed here. ======================================================================== 8. CHOOSING YOUR ASSIST TYPE ======================================================================== None of Anakaris' assists are particularly useful--you tend to get something good and something bad no matter which one you pick: ALPHA - Chijou Kougeki Type (Ground Attack Type) Partner Assist: HP Cobra Blow Variable Counter: HP Cobra Blow Variable Combination: Pharaoh Cobra Blow This is not a very useful assist type. The HP Cobra Blow has a good range, but that is about it's only redeeming feature, both as an assist and a counter. Good players can trade hits with it, but at least Anakaris can recover lost life if you avoid Snapbacks (especially in combos). At least the Pharaoh Cobra Blow is a great Variable Combination, and will get you lots of damage. BETA - Nage Engo Type (Throw Assistance Type) Partner Assist: HP Miira Drop Variable Counter: HP Miira Drop Variable Combination: Pharaoh Illusion This probably makes for Anakaris' worst assist. The Miira Drop is easily telegraphed by your incoming Anakaris, and since it's a long range attack, it will miss people who are too close or too far away. What's more, Anakaris throws your opponent away from him, and he does it faster than a normal Miira Drop (since he doesn't shake them around much), meaning that unless you're next to or behind Anakaris when he catches an opponent, you won't have an easy time comboing off of his attack. As a counter, it's range makes it useless for stopping close attacks. And the V. Combination version of the Pharaoh Illusion is just plain worthless. BETA - Hensoku Kougeki Type (Irregular Attack Type) Partner Assist: HP Hitsugi no Mai Variable Counter: HP Hitsugi no Mai Variable Combination: Hitsugi no Utage This version is not great but it has it's uses. Anakaris shows up in front of you, leaving him open to attack, and the Hitsugi no Mai actually comes down in what would be the LK position because of this. In other words, as an assist this is not useful for stopping anything other than mid-range or far attacks. As a Variable Counter, the Hitsugi no Mai is just too slow to have any element of surprise. The Variable Combination is just the same as a normal Hitsugi no Utage, and if your opponent is under attack by another character's super, than you will at least get in a few coffin hits for pretty good damage. So which one to pick? Alpha probably has the least faults, and the best V. Combination. If you like having an unblockable assist and V. Counter, then Beta is for you, but you have to know your ranges. Gamma is just, well, I dunno, if you like having coffins everywhere, go for that one. I tend to stick with Alpha, personally. ======================================================================== 9. CHOOSING YOUR PARTNERS ======================================================================== Personally, I find that Anakaris' best partners are the ones that can make the most of all that HC power he earns. Here are the people I pair up with Anakaris the most often, the assist type I recommend, and why: [ SILVER SAMURAI ] ---------------------------------------------------- - Favorite Assist: Beta or Gamma - Favorite Color: Black (it's so friggin' cool...pick with A1) This may be a little biased because Sammy is my favorite character after Anakaris. Seriously, though, you can have a ball with this guy, because all that HC power Anakaris is earning can be expended on his sword modes, and trust me, nothing's better than doing 'Koori' three times and running around with Hyper Armor, instant-recover Shurikens, and a 'hits low and freezes you' Hyper Combo to go with it. Did I mention he takes the lowest damage in the entire game when he's in Koori mode? Or if you have a lot of life, try three 'Honoo' power ups--Combo #9 (listed below), will do 90 points of damage! Even if you don't like the sword modes, you can still chip off lots of life with his Chou Shuriken HC and do lots of damage with his easy c. LK, c. MK, Raimei Ken combo. And Sammy has some great combos, especially since his jumping HK crosses up so easily. As a beta partner, Silver Samurai gives Anakaris what he needs most; a projectile. Sure the Shuriken can be destroyed by normal attacks, but you should be using it to pressure your opponent...so that they don't have time to negate the Shuriken since you are all over them with attacks, forcing them to block for good block damage. Sadly, the Shuriken is destroyable, and his V. Combination choice (the Chou Shuriken), is only useful if your V. Combination is blocked. If it hits, the Chou Shuriken may launch an opponent out of the way of the other characters' attacks. As a gamma partner, Silver Samurai's assist and V. Counter are rather worthless--all he does is a crouching HP that doesn't launch. His Raimei Ken makes an excellent V. Combination attack, though, and if he's your current character, he'll do whatever HC is available to him depending on what mode he's in. This makes it possible for you to press PA and PB, and a Koori mode Silver Samurai will leap to the center of the screen and freeze the floor, while your other teammates come in and attack you from behind! Combos to try: 1 s. HK, Shuriken (opponent in corner) 7/31 2 c. HK, OTG with Shuriken (direct downward) 7/31 3 c. LK,MK, Chou Shuriken (direct upward--only vs. large guys) 20/50 4 s. LP, HPx2, Raimei Ken 41/64 5 s. LP, HPx2, Homura Ken (after using Touki 'Honoo') 46/71 6 c. LK, MK, Homura Ken (after using Touki 'Honoo') 36/54 7 c. HK, Homura Ken (after using Touki 'Honoo') 43/73 8 s. LK, MK, LP Hyakuretsu Tou, Fumikomi Hyakuretsu Tou 8/29 9 Cross up j. HK, c HP, sj. uf LP,LK,MP,MK, HP Shuriken 12/60 2. This won't work if you have a Touki mode turned on. 9. This won't work if you have Touki 'Koori' on (since the Shuriken comes out slower). Obviously the damage on these combos changes depending on how many times you've used his sword modes. Another combo to try with him (I dunno if it's a real combo), is to get into Koori mode, throw a Shuriken, then combo into the Hyouga Ken (ice super) for 4 hits. You can then take a step back and keep doing this, and your opponent can't escape (until you run out of HC power)! If you have already used Koori before, the damage of the Hyouga Ken increases. At Level 3, you're doing 58 points of damage per attempt (40 for the Hyouga Ken, 18 for the Shuriken). That's sure to kill of anybody after about three uses! [ JUGGERNAUT ] -------------------------------------------------------- - Favorite Assist: Beta - Favorite Color: Dark Gray (pick with LK) Even if you don't abuse the power-up glitch, he's way powerful. Thanks to Anakaris, you'll always have enough power to do his best combo (jump in HP, standing LK, standing HP, Headcrush). Heck, you can even jab someone and combo the Headcrush off of that. The beta assist gives you his too-good-to-be-true Juggernaut Punch, which is fast, has Super Armor to protect it, and is a great way to keep your opponent scared by using it when they're not expecting it ;) Combos to try: 1 s. LP, Juggernaut Headcrush 5/64 2 s. LK, s. HP, HP Earthquake Punch 8/46 3 j. HP, s. LK, s. HP, Juggernaut Headcrush 7/94 4 j. HP, s. LK, s. HP, LP Juggernaut Punch 4/57 5 c. LK, c. MK, OTG with HP Earthquake Punch (3 hits), J.Headcrush 9/84 6. c. LK, c. MK, OTG with LP Juggernaut Punch, Juggernaut Headcrush 7/93 7. HP Throw, Juggernaut Headcrush (opponent in corner) 4/73 8. HP Throw, standing HP (opponent in corner, launches) 2/33 9. HP Throw, j. LK,HP, HK Juggernaut Body Press 4/56 2. This will not work on small characters. 9. This only works in the corner. The timing on the body press is difficult--you may prefer using LK which does 52 points overall. [ COLOSSUS ] ---------------------------------------------------------- - Favorite Assist: Beta - Favorite Color: They're all really the same ;) The great thing about giving Colossus lots of HC power is that you can run around with Hyper Armor all day long, making it much easier to land attacks. His LK Shoulder Tackle assist is a nice way to keep your opponent busy while you attack. Combos to try: 1 c. HP, HP Giant Swing 2/55 2 c. HK, sj LP,LK,MP,MK,HP 6/56 3 s. HK, sj LP,LK,MP,MK, LK Power Tackle, Super Dive, d + P / K 8/104 4 s. HK, sj LP,LK,MP,MK, LK Power Tackle 6/63 5 s. HK, sj LP,LK,MP,MK, Mid-Air HP Throw 5/43 6 s. LP,MP, LK Power Tackle 3/40 7 c. LK,HK, LK Power Tackle 3/47 8 j. HP, HP Giant Swing 2/52 9 c. HK, sj u LP,LK, Super Dive (misses), d + P / K (hits) 4/66 3. Must be done in the corner of the screen. 6. You can use the HK Power Tackle, but only if you do the combo from reasonably close and you don't try to proceed it with an attack. 8. You have to hit late with the jump attack (any will do, really), then do the Giant Swing. You can preceed any of these combos with a jump-in attack (makes a great way to connect into his launcher), except for combos #5 and #6. Note that doing this prevents you from using these combos on smaller people, though. [ FELICIA ] ----------------------------------------------------------- - Favorite Assist: Gamma - Favorite Color: Black (pick with PB) I personally think Felicia has been pretty much ruined in this game; she doesn't have a lot of high damage attacks and a good deal of her specials are either useless or have limited uses. She's really only in here because of one or two good combos that require a lot of HC power--that's where Anakaris comes in ;) Combos to try: 1 Rolling Buckler, Sliding Kick, Please Help Me (can then do #2) ?/??? 2 Please Help Me, c. LP / LK, Please Help Me, c. LP / LK.... ?/??? 1. This combo is really just a setup for #2. Once the Rolling Buckler hits, press K for the Sliding Kick, then do the Please Help Me, juggle with a crouching LP or LK, and do combo #2. 2. You can repeat this until your opponent dies, or you get pushed out of range. Don't forget that you can tap K rapidly during the Please Help Me for even more damage. Of course, your opponent can roll, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't attempt this combo every so often ;) [ OTHER CHARACTERS TO USE ] ------------------------------------------- Really, anybody with a Level 3 HC makes a good partner for Anakaris because they'll be able to use it more than they normally would. You might as well make a Spiral-Shuma-Anakaris team and use them soley for the Metamorphose and Chaos Dimension, while Anakaris does all the Miira Dropping. ;) Dan also makes a good partner, but really only because you can do stuff like his Shinkuu Gadou Ken -> Kouryuu Rekka juggle in the corner, and when he starts to get low on life, use him for an Otoko Michi. Come to think of it, between Anakaris' Miira Drop and Dan's taunting, pairing them together would keep you maxed out on HC power for the entire match ;) ======================================================================== 10. STRATEGIES ======================================================================== Playing with Anakaris takes a little adjusting to because he's quite unlike the other characters. This section has some suggestions on to play a better Anakaris. 1. Overuse the Miira Drop--Anakaris' sole purpose is to earn HC power. Use this move until you're blue in the face, and when even you start to feel like a cheap bastard from all the throwing, ignore your conscious and keep on gift-wrapping them. Yes, this move gives your opponent a lot of HC power to use, and if you're fighting Cable and don't think you can handle him with all that super power, you have a problem. You can play an okay Anakaris without the Miira Drop, it's just that you're missing out on his best ability. It's like trying to play as Zangief without using any SPDs or FABs. Anakaris can max out his HC levels faster than anybody else in the game, and he gets to do a lot of damage at the same time. So, what do you do when you have a bunch of HC power? Switch in with someone else. Anakaris has some really devastating Hyper Combos, but they're also really difficult to land. You're much better off playing with someone who can really take advantage of a fully charged gauge. Once you're out of power, bring Anakaris back in, charge back up again, and repeat. Do you want to waste the time trying to get your opponent in range for that perfect 7-hit Utage? While you're waiting for your chance at glory, you could have already switched in Colossus, turned on his Super Armor HC, and waded through a couple of attacks in order to land one of his high-damage combos. 2. Never use normal jumps. Ever. As I've already said elsewhere in the FAQ, Anakaris' jump totally sucks. Need to move around quickly on the ground? Dash or backstep. In the air? Super jump and/or air dash. Even Anakaris' dashing jump is slow as heck (though it's better than his normal jump, that's for sure). It's often tempting to take to the skies, but when you jump, you basically just coast across the screen holding a sign that says "hit me baby one more time." After all, what are you going to do if someone comes at you with an attack? If you attack with kicks, well, your legs are vulnerable to attacks, and Anakaris has no specials he can use that will allow him to reach the ground unmolested. Plus you're total fodder for projectiles, even when jumping backwards, since you stay in air for so long. 3. Watch out for lag when you attack. Anakaris' moves have a lot of lag. Basically, anything you do that is blocked invites a counterattack. The only moves that recover fast enough for you to block after being blocked yourself are Anakaris' standing LP, LK, MP, MK, or his crouching LP, LK, or MK. So if you start attacking and your normals are blocked, cut it short after one of these moves, and don't go for his crouching MP or any of his HP or HK attacks unless you want to get a beating. All of his special moves have lag, so take the proper precautions, like only using the Cobra Blow in combos, never doing the Hitsugi no Mai when close, etc. If your attack gets blocked, you could always try cancelling into a Miira Drop to grab someone unexpectedly, or at least an LP Cobra Blow as it comes out quickly. Other than that, you're asking for it (I once did an HP Cobra Blow out in the open by accident, and CPU Juggernaut responded with an 8-hit Headcrush)! 4. Play cautiously. Anakaris is slow and takes a lot of damage, so you have to play carefully and not take too many risks--otherwise you'll just end up dead. Instead, wait for openings and take advantage of his long reach to hit opponents who leave themselves open. Instead of trying to land Anakaris' slow and clumsy launcher, whittle down your opponent's life with his short n' sweet ground combos (s. LK,MK,HK, HP Cobra Blow does do 40 damage, after all). And of course, Miira Drop them whenever possible; this will annoy the heck out of your opponent and may lead to them making some mistakes in an attempt to strike back, which you can exploit to your advantage. 5. Don't push Anakaris too hard. Like I just said, Anakaris takes a lot of damage from attacks. It's tempting to keep playing with him even when you've lost a good deal of life, because you can get so much HC power from the Miira Drop, or maybe you're waiting for that perfect chance to bust out a full-range PCB and utterly destroy your opponent. Realistically, though, you'd be much better off switching Anakaris out and having him earn back what life he can. After all, he'll give you enough HC power to bring him back in any way you like--you can Variable Counter or DHC him in with power to spare, if you're not playing too wastefully. 6. Don't forget to pick a cool color! Okay, this isn't a strategy, I just had nowhere else to put it. Here is Anakaris' color scheme: LP - White wrappings, gold and blue clothing. HP - Cream wrappings, green and dark green clothing. LK - White wrappings, red and pink clothing. HK - White wrappings, gold and red clothing. PA - Brown wrappings, yellow and blue clothing. PB - Light gray wrappings, dark gray clothing. PA is the biggest eyesore and is guaranteed to make your opponent groan, while PB (monochrome Anakaris!) is the coolest looking, esp. when you have a black Juggernaut and Silver Samurai on your team (see the previous section). Vs. CPU Strategies - Fighting Abyss First Form: Superjump and use the Hitsugi no Mai repeatedly--you can just watch where the 2P icon is and use the proper button to nail him over and over and over. You'll kill him in record time and will have taken no damage _and_ have earned a lot of HC power. All you really have to watch out for are the homing sparkballs and his Green Rain hyper combo. Second Form: Just superjump and keep tossing coffins. Abyss is powerless to stop you aside from his green bubbles (just pop 'em), and his Hyper Combo (just block it). Again, it's possible to kill this form without taking a single hit. Third Form: The Pharaoh Cobra Blow works nicely on Abyss, but you can always wait for Abyss to rise out of the ground, then do a triple V. Combination (you should have enough power by now, anyway). Afterwards, block his counterattack, and switch in someone else to finish off Abyss. That's because Anakaris doesn't really have any good attacks for fighting Abyss when he has no HC power. ======================================================================== 11. MOVES ANAKARIS HAS LOST ======================================================================== For those of you who only know about this guy from experience with the DarkStalkers games, here's a list of what he's lost since joining the MvC2 cast: Kotodama Gaeshi (Suu) (Power of Words Return (Inhale)) Kotodama Gaeshi (Haku) (Power of Words Return (Exhale)) - The Suu allowed you to 'eat' an opponent's projectile, giving you a small amount of EX power in return. With the Haku, you could spit back a swallowed projectile, or even EX it yourself. Without this move, Anakaris' only defense against projectiles is to negate them with a Hitsugi no Mai (which is really slow), or grab his opponent with a Miira Drop before the projectile hits (which is impossible if they're out of range). Togame no Ana (Pit of Blame) - An unblockable counterattack move used if people tried to hit you while you were on the ground. With the removal of pursuit attacks, this move was not really needed as much, but as it could still grab people who were standing or jumping, it would have made a nice way to stop people attempting to OTG you. Naname Fuyuu / Suichoku Fuyuu (Diagonal / Vertical Float) Nidan Jump (Two-Level Jump) - Anakaris had the ability to float in the air, and to jump up to two different heights and move around on the screen. All of this was canned in favor of normal jumps and his air dash. Considering how slow his normal jump is, I don't really think it was a fair trade ;( Reverse Warp - One of his most useful abilities, he could backdash while in the corner of the screen and show up on the other side. While his walking speed has been increased, the reverse warp would have still been a great method for him to sneak up on opponents. Naraku no Ana (Pit of Hades) - An EX (super) move. This was an unblockable move with bad range, but it was still his easiest EX to connect, and it could grab people out of the air as well. Shinjitsu no Oshie (Doctrine of Truth) - A weird Guard Cancel that only did a few points of damage. I can see why this was removed (hell, it could miss on a lot of characters), but I still liked it ;) Pharaoh Salvation: Yajuu Mahou (Eightfold Magic) Pharaoh Decoration: Bijo Mahou (Beautiful Women Magic) - The Salvation was a pumped-up version of the Pharaoh Magic in which Anakaris also attacked with gas, meteorite, petrifying, and cursing spell orbs. The Pharaoh Decoration was an alternate version of the original Pharaoh Magic--Anakaris would throw love heart orbs that would turn his opponent into women after each normal spell orb. Both looked really wicked (and humiliating) if you got them to connect. Yet Capcom went in favor of the lame Pharaoh Magic. Go figure. Bunri Kougeki: Pharaoh Split (Separation Attack) - In this move, you could control Anakaris' upper floating half with the controller and punch buttons, while his lower body was under the control of Khybit, who would kick when you pressed and Kick button. Not really that useful, but pretty fun. All the extra stuff - In addition, Anakaris also lost the funny stuff, like the random Khybit appearances during his normal taunt or EX Miira Drop, Khybit's appearance during the "Pharaoh" moves, and the Royal Procession taunt and all the related moves. Capcom even canned the 'coin-catching' mini-game winpose! Having been robbed of all his useless stuff like Felicia, Anakaris has become a much more boring character to use. ======================================================================== 12. AUTHOR'S NOTE ======================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SPECIAL THANKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GANYMEDE - For teling me how to combo Anakaris' launcher into the Pharaoh Illusion. MaSa - I got the 'Idainaru Bohi' name from his FAQ. Chris - Some move names taken from his excellent technique guides. Dash Taisen is a fantastic site for finding out official movenames and stuff like that. Ura no Ura (Double Reverse) - Some moves and quite a few movenames taken from this site. If you can read Japanese, this is a cool page to visit. All MvC2 FAQ contributors - For the information I used from my own MvC2 FAQ. Thanks guys! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVISION HISTORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VERSION 0.2 (July 11, 2000) - Some contributions were sent in and added, I made a few additions here and there, that's about it. VERSION 0.1 (June 12, 2000) - The first release. All this comes after messing around with Anakaris for, like, two straight weeks. Enjoy. Unpublished work Copyright 2000-2001 Chris MacDonald