Copyright 1999 by Johnny Nguyen This faq was meant only to help people and nothing else. In other words, don't even think of selling this for money. If you want, you can copy this to read it but nothing else. You are not allowed to take credit for writing this, sell this, or change this. If you think I'm missing something or I made a mistake, you can send it to me at skatehacker4@angelfire.com and I will test it out. If it works, I will add it to my faq and give you co-author credit for it. ---------------------------- Table of Contents ---------------------------- 1. Updates 2. Introduction 3. Why should you pick Strider? 4. Strider's moves 5. How to use Strider effectively 6. Strider's comboes and little tactics 7. Strategies using Strider 8. Who should be Strider's partner and why 9. Helper's that could benefit Strider and how 10.How to fight certain characters UPDATES ------------------- 9/26/99 Started my first faq for Strider-Hiryu 9/27/99 Added Chapter 5 and the Bomb Drop special move. Started Chapter 6. 9/28/99 Added more comboes and little tactics. 9/29/99 Added more little tactics, finished Chapter 6 and updated the table of contents. Started and finished Chapter 7 and Chapter 8. Also started Chapter 9. 10/4/99 Added more to Chapter 9. 10/7/99 Added more to Chapter 9 and started Chapter 10. 10/9/99 Added more to Chapter 10. 10/11/99 Added more to Chapter 10. 10/13/99 Added more to Chapter 10. 10/25/99 Added more to Chapter 10 and added another tactic. 10/29/99 Added more to Chapter 10. 10/30/99 Added more to Chapter 10. 11/6/99 Added more to Chapter 10 and some new comboes. 11/24/99 Added more to Chapter 10. INTRODUCTION ------------------- Thank you for reading my faq. Sorry, but I don't know much about Strider's history or where he came from or anything like that. You can find that stuff on another faq. This faq is not written for beginners. It is written for people who use manual mode and not auto mode. I assume that you already know the basics of the game before reading this faq. This faq is only dedicated to making better Strider players out there. WHY SHOULD YOU PICK STRIDER? ----------------------------- You should pick Strider because he has power, range, and speed on his side. He also looks cool too. Strider is a complicated player who requires skill to master. A lot of people play him cheaply and are still very hard players to beat but this faq will teach you to play better than that. Plus, you'll also have a lot of fun showing your new skills at the local arcade....unless I'm around. STRIDER'S MOVES -------------------- These are Strider's special moves. Know that all of his moves have a specific use at a certain time. Don't just do them randomly or else you'll get killed. Legion Attack = down, down + forward, forward + any kick button Strider makes a leopard fly out and go running across the screen. Ghram = forward, down, down + forward + any button Strider takes his sword and does a slash that reaches almost all the way across the screen. Punches make it slash high, kicks make it slash low. Ame No Murakamo = down, down + forward, forward + any punch button Strider runs across the screen and takes a slash with his sword. The punch button used will determine how far he runs before taking a slash with his sword. Vagula = down, down + back, back + any kick button Strider disappears and reappears and does a kick downwards. The kick button used determines where on the screen Strider will reappear. Teleport = back, down, down + back + any button Strider teleports. Kind of like Vagula but without the kick. The button used determines where Strider will reappear. Ragnorak = down, down + forward, forward + any button Strider does an air dash and attacks with his sword while dashing. The button used determines where Strider will dash. (This move can only be used in the air.) Bomb Drop = hold back for 2 seconds and then push forward + any kick button Strider calls out an eagle that flies across the screen and drops a bomb. This move causes very good damage and cannot be blocked in a crouched position. The button used determines how far the eagle flies before dropping the bomb. Slide = down + forward + HK Strider does a quick little slide on his side. (This move goes under projectiles and other stuff.) Note: I may have forgotten some other special moves. These are Strider's super moves. Ouroboros = down, down + forward, forward + 3 punches Strider makes these two little things that revolve around him and protect him from attacks. Slam on the punch buttons to make rings shoot out. Or go near the opponent and slam on all the buttons to hit the opponent and have the little things hit him at the same time. If your opponent keeps blocking try to trip him to open him up and if he blocks low, then jump a little to hit his head. Or you can also open him up by doing a small jump over him. Legion = down, down + forward, forward + 3 kicks Strider calls out a whole bunch of birds and leopards that attack the opponent. Nice chipping damage. (Hold up to make the birds fly higher.) Ragnorak = forward, down, down + forward + 3 punches Strider runs about halfway across the screen and if the opponent is open, Strider will grab him and bring up into the air. In the air, Strider will slash him a couple times. (This move has great damage potential but is very hard to connect.) HOW TO USE STRIDER EFFECTIVELY -------------------------------- The first step to using Strider effectively is to use his comboes. His comboes cause great damage and are not very hard to learn. The second step to using Strider effectively is to learn how to block. Never let Strider get hit because he has low stamina and will die in two big comboes. Also learn how to make use of Strider's speed, double jump, and wall cling. Dash in more, double jump around in the air to avoid beam supers, and cling on the wall so you can jump some more. Some ways to use Strider's speed is to wait for Wolverine players who jump high in the air and come down at you. These players like to cross you up and have you blocking the wrong way. This is when you use your speed and dash out to the side so they can't cross you up. Use your double jump to trick people who are launcher happy. Jump down at them and right before you get into their launching range, just double jump to their other side and hit them. Use your wall cling so that you can jump around some more. Also remember that Strider's Legion super can chip people to death. If it's a close game and your opponent has very little life, wait for him to jump and then do your Legion super. You want him to jump so that 1)you know he isn't gonna use any of his supers unless it's Chunli, Spiderman or Wolverine or anybody with an air super. 2)this way, if he's jumping, he won't be able to super jump over your Legion super. Another thing is to remember that Strider can teleport. Whenever you get stuck with someone who likes to corner you, just teleport out of the way. Also don't forget to learn how to roll and tech-hit. You can roll by doing down, down + forward, forward + any punch button (the button used determines how far you roll before getting up). You should roll right after every time you get knocked down. Also roll so that you can get up right behind your opponent and get some revenge on them for knocking you down. Use the jab punch roll so that you don't roll too far. Rolling is also a must for playing Zangief players because they like to trip you and then do their super(this also applies to Spiderman, Gambit, Ryu, Captain America, and Megaman players). Learn how to tech-hit so that you can anger those grabbers at your arcades. Whenever somebody throws you just keep pushing the joystick forward and slaming on the MP and the HP buttons at the same time. The final thing to using Strider effectively is to learn how to OTG. OTG means "on the ground". OTGing means hitting somebody while they're on the ground. Strider's only OTG move is his Ame No Murakamo. Right after every time you trip somebody, just do a jab punch Ame No Murakamo. Imagine hitting everybody an extra time right after tripping them. Throughout the whole match all the extra hits add up. STRIDER'S COMBOES AND LITTLE TACTICS --------------------------------------- Strider's launcher is down + HP Right after you do the launcher, just push the joystick up and when Strider is right next to his opponent in the air, just start pressing the rest of the buttons in the combo. D. = Dash in J. = Jump in C. = While crouching or holding down on the joystick S. = While just standing still (sometimes I may not put a "S.") () = Anything between these is to be done while you're still in the air Pause = wait a half a second before going on to the next step SJ = means super jump(push all 3 kick buttons or moving the joystick down, up quickly) d = down df = down + forward f = forward b = back db = down + back WP = weak punch a.k.a. jab MP = medium punch a.k.a. strong HP = hard punch a.k.a. fierce WK = weak kick a.k.a. short MK = medium kick a.k.a. forward HK = hard kick a.k.a. roundhouse 3P = 3 punches 3K = 3 kicks OTG= means the move hits them while they're still on the ground CHB= means charge back for 2 seconds 1) D.C.WK, C.MK, C.HK, d,df,f+WP (jab punch Ame No Murakamo) Note: Don't do the jab punch Ame No Murakamo if they block! 2) D.S.WP, WK, MP, MK, HP, HK, d,df,f+WP (jab punch Ame No Murakamo) Note: Don't do the jab punch Ame No Murakamo if they block! 3) D.S.MP, MK, HP, HK, d,df,f+WP (jab punch Ame No Murakamo) Note: Don't do the jab punch Ame No Murakamo if they block! This combo takes more than the one listed above! 4) D.C.WK, C.HP, SJ(WK, MK, HK) Note: This should be the first air combo you learn. 5) D.C.WK, C.MK, C.HP, SJ(WP, WK, MP, MK, HK) 6) D.S.WP, WK, C.MK, C.HP, SJ(WP, WK, MP, MK, d,df,f+WP) 7) J.C.WP, C.MP, C.HP, SJ(WP, WK, MP, MK, d,df,f+WP) 8) D.S.WP, WK, C.MK, C.HP, SJ(WP, MP, MK, HP, HK) Note: I think this combo might take more life than the one listed above. 9) D.S.WP, WK, C.MK, C.HP, SJ(WP, WK, MP, MK, MK, WK, MK, d,df,f+WP) Note: In the air, you might have to wait a split second between the second MK and the second WK for the combo to work. 10) D.S.WP, WK, C.MK, C.HP, SJ(WP, WK, MP, MK, pause, WK, MP, MK), land, push joystick up, and (WP, WK, MP, MK, HK) Note: Pausing takes a while to get used to. Wait too little and your hits will miss. Wait too long and your opponent will be able to block. 11) d, df, f+3P, your opponent will now run into a corner and block, just run to the opposite corner and teleport to your opponent. In other words: activate the Ouroboros super and then when your opponent runs into the corner, proceed to b, d, db+WP if they are in the left corner and b, d, db+HP if they are in the right corner. From here you just slam on all the buttons. Note: Requires 1 level of energy charged up. 12) jump in and right when you're right outside your opponent's launching range, do d, df, f+WK Note: Do this only on people who are trigger happy (Chun-li, Megaman, Ryu, Spiderman, Strider, etc.). Don't do this trick too much or else your opponent will block when you do it and get revenge on you! 13) anytime when your opponent is around half the screen away and he isn't guarding his feet, do f, d, df+HK (roundhouse Ghram) Note: This does excellent damage and works often. Also try finishing your ground comboes with the short version of this move. 14) d, df, f+3P, now go next to your opponent and do a low kick so that you can open him up if he blocks. If he is blocking low then try to do a very small jump just high enough to jump over him. Once you reach his other side he should be getting hit. If he is still blocking, then jump over him again but this time once you get over, quickly do low kicks. If he is blocking all your attempts to open him up then keep repeating the steps above but mix them around and soon, you will open him up. If he still retains his blocking, try jumping straight up sometimes instead of jumping over him. This makes him block the wrong way and when you come down, you'll start hitting him. Note: Requires 1 level of energy charged up. 15) CHB, f+the kick button that corresponds to where your opponent is. If your opponent is in the left corner, use WK and if he's in the right corner, use HK and if he's in the middle, use MK. Once the eagle flies out, start dashing at your opponent and when you get close, start doing low kicks. If you opponent blocks your low attacks then the bomb dropped by the eagle will hit his head. If he blocks the bomb, then your low kicks will open him up and he will be vulnerable to a combo. Note: This works great on turtle players!(turtle players are players who like to just wait in the corner and wait for you to come and attack them, these players often use Captain Commando so that they can keep doing Ground Sparks and Captain Fires once you get close) 16) d, df, f+3P and use the tactics from 9) and 12) to open up your opponent. Once you have opened up your opponent, do f, d, df+3P. This takes lots of life but you lose 2 levels of energy for your supers. Note: Requires 2 levels of energy charged up. 17) anytime your opponent is half the screen away and isn't guarding his feet, do df+HK(Slide) Note: This is like 11) but instead of the Ghram which leaves you more safer, you do the Slide which is easier and faster to do but if your opponent blocks it, you may get counter attacked. 18) anytime whenever your opponent jumps over you and is on your other side, quickly before Strider turns around so that he the opponent, do d, df, f+3K(Legion Super). What's supposed to happen is that when Strider does the super, your opponent is caught between Strider and the army of leopards and birds. now you opponent is confused and wont know which way to block. If your opponent is on the ground right behind you, you can quickly turn around and attack him once you gain control of Strider. If your opponent is in the air right behind you, don't turn around be cause the leopards and the birds will push so that he will end up in front of you(this is if he somehow manages to block all the leopards and birds). If this happens, now he will be blocking the wrong way so attack him. Sometimes if your opponent doesn't jump over you but just goes high into the air, you can quickly dash under them and before Strider turns around, just do the Legion Super. Note: This works well against Wolverine players who like to super jump and go way above your head and then do a kick going straight down. 19) whenever you need to switch out desperately, try this: D.C.WK, C.MK, C.HP, HP+HK Note: This an excellent way to switch out safely. Always remember this and use it when you need to switch. STRATEGIES USING STRIDER -------------------------- Strider has strategies for every situation. To be a master Strider player, you should know them and use them well. If someone trips you, always remember to roll with the jab punch version and when you get up right behind your opponent, do a trip and immediately do a jab punch Ame No Murakamo. Always remember to use the Teleport whenever you're stuck in the corner. Another good player especially Chun-Li and Wolverine players will always open you up if all you do is sit in the corner and block. Teleport out of there and do some offense, not defense! Always use your supers when you have the chance! I know that most of you would rather combo then super when your opponent misses a Dragon Punch or a super. I know that when your opponent misses a Dragon Punch you think,"Alright let's combo the hell out of him, I'll save my supers for another use because I don't want to waste them." What are you saving your supers for?! Use them! I know you'd rather combo but you can combo some other time! Use your supers because: one, supers take more than most of your comboes. two, so you can charge up more supers. three, so that you can kill your opponent faster. and four, what the hell are you saving them for?! These are the perfect times to use them! Another thing is to try and use the Ragnorak Super every time you get the chance. This is Strider's most damaging and coolest looking super. Plus I think it come out faster than the other two supers. Use the Ragnorak Super after your opponent misses a Dragon Punch, super, or anything like that. If your opponent blocks too much, grab him! Let's say your opponent is in the corner and every time you get close he knocks you away with a special move, do this: dash in and right before your opponent gets to do anything do C.WK, C.MK, f+HP. Your opponent will block the C.WK and the C.MK and will think you will do the trip. This is when you just grab him because he is doing nothing but blocking. Another way you can fight these kind of players is to do a Ghram or a Slide when you're close enough and they're not blocking low. Sometimes you may be caught in a close game and you're opponent has more life than you do, you can: 1) Chip him down by using all of your supers and keep doing the Legion Super. If you're lucky, your opponent may accidently let go of a block and will get hit by the Legion Super. 2) He will mostly be blocking in the corner so just walk over and grab him. Keep doing this until he is very cautious of your grabbing and starts trying to jump away. Now you can just try to combo him or when he is in the air, run under him and do the Legion Super like in tactic 18). 3) If he's just jumping away from you every time you get close, just use tactic 18). 4) Don't get into that situation in the first place. Here's some more strategy: Whenever you're jumping away from your opponent, sometimes they like to follow you and walk after you. These players are usually Chun-Li and Wolverine players. Now right when they start following you and you're in the air and jumping away at the same time, press HK. That's right. The moment they walk close enough and get into range, press HK. Most players fall for this because they don't think you're gonna attack them. After all, you are jumping away. I don't think this tactic should be planned but when you see a chance for it, do it. You'll get the chance mostly in the final seconds of a match and your opponent's constantly comin'after you because you have more life than they do. Another thing to consider while playing the game is your opponent. Watch them play before you stick in your quarter and challenge them. Always pay attection to your opponent and learn his pattern. Some players like Chun-Li will always try to launch you so that they can do their high-damaging super on you. If this happens, use the Ouroboros often. Other players like Hulk like to go on full offense. What happens is they keep coming after you and trying to attack you and trade hits with you. Just keep running away by super jumping above them and when they come into the air, attack them before they are at the same height with you. You will also meet players who constantly dash at you so that they can open you up and combo you. Keep jumping around so that they have a hard time getting to you. Once, they stop trying to get to you, go attack them. The same applies to people who like to trip you and then do a super. Here's some strategy for cheap players: if you ever come across someone who likes to launch you up and then step over to your other side and relaunch, this is how you get back at them-do to them what they did to you! Here's a pattern I use for those type of players so that they have a hard time finding out which way to block. Launch, switch, launch, switch, launch, launch again, launch again, switch, launch, launch again, switch and then go up and air combo! Here's the abbreviated form:l,s,l,s,l,l,l,s,l,l,s,Air Combo. This works because the pattern never stays the same! You see, once your opponent finds out your pattern, just change it. If your opponent stops using the cheap tactic, then you should stop too. For people who like to keep using the same combo on you and the combo is huge, really life-taking, do this: Show them that a little variety is better. Do your air comboes but end each one differently. Instead of using HK, you can always use HP, jab punch Ragnorak, or a jab punch Ghram. Jab punch Ghrams are kind of hard to do though especially as an air combo ender but they are life-taking and impressive. Another way to fight is to listen to your opponent pressing the buttons. Sometimes when you play, glance over at your opponent hands and see what he's doing. If he's slamming on the switch buttons, get ready to block and hit the character coming out. If you hear him slamming on the buttons really hard and he's only hitting the top three or the bottom three, that means he's going to do a super. If you trip him and you hear him rotating his joystick, that means he's going to roll so don't try to OTG him(hit him while he's on the ground). The final strategy to using Strider or any other player effectively is to not keep playing in the same way. This way, your opponent will never figure out your pattern because you don't have one! Also remember to play smart and that you have helpers and energy levels for supers! Oh yeah, hit the switch button when Strider has a lot of red life! It can be regained and Strider can't fight alone so use your other character! WHO SHOULD BE STRIDER'S PARTNER AND WHY ------------------------------------------ Wolverine- and have the two combo kings as teammates! Remember that you don't have any power characters so make sure you learn big comboes for the both of them! These will also be a fast couple. Wolverine doesn't have any projectiles to protect himself so use your helpers to protect him. Also remember never to play defense with these two! Doing this totally rules out the reason why you picked them and remember that Strider has bad stamina and Wolverine was meant for close up offense! Captain America- boy, this is a great team! Captain America has stamina, power, and speed if you lose the shield! Captain America is a great player to use while Strider is regaining his red life! Captain America is also a complicated character and mastering him and Strider could make you the best player at your arcades(this is, if I'm not around in the area). Jin- Whoa! Now you got a power partner! Jin is great fun to use but sometimes you might notice that your opponents are dying too fast and that isn't fun. Jin is kind of slow and his recovery time on some of his moves is horrible but if you play carefully with him as you play with Strider,you will find out that people will stop their quarters from going into the slot once they see that you know how to use Jin. I'm sure why but the way the computer plays Jin, it scares people every time they see Jin so you might be intimidating a lot of challengers without even noticing it! Spiderman- Here's the speed team! Spiderman is very fast and if you master him, you will see him eat your opponents' life away very,very fast. Spiderman's HK has great range and will come in very handy when you're stalling the game so that Strider can regain his red life. Spiderman and Strider also have different styles of playing so whenever your opponent is used to fighting one of them, just switch and pound your opponent down while he's getting use to fighting your other character. HELPERS THAT COULD BENEFIT STRIDER AND HOW --------------------------------------------- Colossus- (just press and hold "Start button,WP ,MP, and MK" right after you pick your two fighters) Colossus is a great helper. When you call him out, he goes charging across the screen and will hit your opponent several times. Right after you send him out, just wait to see if he hits your opponent. While Colossus is hitting your opponent, quickly do the Legion Super. A great time to send out Colossus is when you are in the corner and your opponent is jumping in at you. Another trick with Colossus is when you're hitting your opponent with the Ouroboros Soper and the Ouroboros is about to end send out Colossus. While Colossus is hitting your opponent, activate another Ouroboros Super, and attack. Keep repeating this until all your supers run out. If you have three supers, don't do Ouroboros the third time. This makes you look cheap. Instead, do the Ragnorak Super. This also takes more damage. Beware, Colossus can cover you from overhead attacks when he comes out but if you look carefully, when he first comes out, small players like Wolverine can duck under him and attack you. This creates a big problem if you play against a Wolverine player who knows this. Note: Colossus can only be used 5 times. Psylocke- (just press and hold "Start button and MP" right after you pick your two fighters) Psylocke is a great helper. Right after you call out Psylocke, she comes out dashing across the screen and will hit your opponent several times like Colossus but she comes straight out and will not protect you from jump in attacks but will trade hits with your opponent. She can also be used like Colossus on some ways. Note: Psylocke can only be used 6 times. Devilot- (just press and hold "Start button, MP, and HP" right after you pick your two fighters) Devilot and her friends pop up right on the screen where you're standing. Her team stays there for a little while before blowing up. The explosion cannot be blocked so if your opponent is close to Devilot, he will get hit and this takes a lot of damage! Use Devilot on people who keep jumping in or try this: 1) Activate Ouroboros and walk into your opponent if your opponent keeps hanging in the corner or if you killed one of his fighters and the other fighter popped out. 2) What usually happens is that your opponent blocks and is being forced into the corner at the same time. 3) Once your opponent is forced into the corner and blocking, call out Devilot. 4) This is so beautiful because your opponent is stuck blocking your Ouroboros and can do nothing about Devilot blowing up in his face. 5) If you don't want to use Ouroboros, you can just keep pressing WP in your opponent's face instead. Note: Devilot can only be used 5 times. Ton Pooh- (just press and hold "Start button, WP, and HP" right after you pick your two fighters) Ton Pooh does some sort or jump kick slash that does incredible damage. She also has 9 uses too! The only thing with Ton Pooh is that she can be seen from a mile away coming out. Call out Ton Pooh when your opponent keeps pressuring you or when he's far away and throwing projectiles or just not blocking. Note: Ton Pooh has up to 9 uses. Don't forget to use them all! HOW TO FIGHT CERTAIN CHARACTERS ----------------------------------- This chapter will teach you how to fight against different characters and most of the styles that people use for them. I put the characters in the order I think is most used to the least used. RYU: This guy is one of your typical cheapo fighters but then there are the masters who aren't cheap and will pound the hell out of you. Let's look at Ryu's strenths and weaknesses one form at a time. Akuma- 2 of his supers can be easily comboed. Has the strongest comboes of all three forms of Ryu. Has an overhead move for turtle players. And he also has the annoying Diving Kick. These are Akuma's strengths. Avoid them. To fight Akuma, don't let him combo you. Two of Akuma's comboes with a super at the end will kill Strider. The range of his launcher sucks so whenever you jump in, you can use HK whichout worrying too much about get launched up. Always watch your feet when Akuma dashes at you because that means he's going to do a low attack and then launch you. Don't stay in the corner too much or else Akuma will start doing his overhead move and then a trip and then a grab a then the move again and then whatever. Lots of Ryu players like to keep doing lots of different attacks in your face that attack high, and then low, and then a grab or whatever. Never ever get stuck trying to block all the hits! If you get tripped, roll out of there! Also, when Akuma is in the air and throwing fireballs, don't try to walk under them because most Akuma's will stop throwing fireballs and will do the annoying Diving Kick on you. Instead, you can do the Legion Super. When you do this, it protects you and chips him down. Or, you can dash under his fireballs and activate Ouroboros. Now, just jump straight up into him or wait for him to attack you. By the way, don't get caught in Akuma's blackout! Now it's time to finish Akuma. He has no double jump. He has bad stamina and doesn't take hits to well. Also has a launcher with low priority. And has no decent air attacks. These are Akuma's weaknesses. Exploit them and use them against him. Akuma doesn't have a doublejump. Jump around a lot to run away from him and when he meets you in the air, combo him with WK, MK, and HK. Also jump away from him alot so that he never gets the chance to launch you and combo you. Use Legions against him to chip him down when he keeps throwing fireballs. He has bad stamina so use every opportunity to make him eat super. When you don't have a super, do your highest damaging comboes. One good way to kill Akuma is to jump in at him but to not be on top of him and press HK. If the HK connects, then start comboeing. If he uppercuts you, then the next time you jump in, block and then counter attack. Ken- is one of the faster players in the game. Has a powerful uppercut that also works in the air. All of his supers can be comboed. Also an overhead move. Also has the deadly anti-air super. Out of all the three forms of Ryu, Ken will probably be the one you'll see the least. The reason why is because his only real advantage is speed. Even though, you must play against him carefully. First, of all: Keep jump-ins to a minimum. The reasons why is because he has a strong uppercut and that super where he uppercuts straight up and takes a lot of life off of you. Now this creates a problem for you because you can't attack him from the air. Now you have to attack from the ground and that's bad because he could combo 2 of his supers from the ground easily. Don't try to trip Ken because if you miss, he'll make you eat the super where goes uppercutting several times across the screen. Like Akuma, you shouldn't just sit in the corner because Ken has his own overhead move and he's going to do that stuff where he keeps attacking you high and low and somehow, he's going to break through your blocking and hurt you bad. Ken doesn't really have a weakness so listen carefully. Always try to make Ken do a super or a hurricane kick. Those moves have a huge recovery time. Those are your chances to kill him. Don't waste them! Do the Ragnorak Super! Keep pressure on Ken by attacking him repeatedly when he doesn't have a super. If he has a super, play keepaway and make him come to you. If you ever get caught blocking one of his supers don't push block them unless you don't have much life left! Wait for them to finish and then attack him! This may be a tough fight but remember that you have a partner so use him! Ryu- has 2 comboeable supers. Has overhead move as well as the other 2 forms. Also has strong comboes. Has a super that is a real life-chipper! Most Ryu players that you're going to see don't know how to use him correctly. You might not ever see a master Ryu player! There are many things to watch out for when you're playing Ryu. First of all, pay attention to Ryu's energy meter. Ryu is the most dangerous when he has a level. Watch your feet and don't get tripped by Ryu because right after he trips you, he could that life-taking hurricane kick super where he stays in one place and does a long hurricane kick. Watch out for Ryu's S.HP because right after it, he could do the Shinkuu Hadouken. Don't sit in the corner too long or else Ryu's going to do that high-attack, low-attack stuff. Somw Ryu's like to keep doing fireballs in the air and when you're not paying attention, they like to come down and jumpkick you. Then if you block the jumpkick, then they'll grab you. These players are annoying. If you see a Ryu player who keeps doing fireballs in the air, either do the Legion Super or activate Ouroboros and attack them. Ryu is also the slowest of the three Shotokan characters. His air fireball goes straight forward so you can easily jump up and attack him. Pushblock his Shinkuu Hadouken so that you take less block damage(while blocking, press all 3 punch buttons). Don't try to push block more than twice or else you might end up opening your blocking and get hit. If you get caught in his hurricane kick super and you're blocking, pushblock so that you can push him away from you. Now that you're free and he's still doing the super, do the Legion Super or if you don't have any levels, do the HP Ghram. One good way to play against Ryu players who like to trip into the hurricane kick super is to keep jumping all over Ryu. He won't be able to trip you and this will also make him mad and when he starts chasing around the screen, kill him. Another way to kill Ryu is to take advantage of his hurricane kick. Every time does he does the hurricane kick, duck under it and launch him up and then air combo him. If you ever meet a Ryu who just likes to float in the air and do nothing but fireballs just do your Legion super. Wolverine: Meet the king of all button smashers. Almost every beginner player has started out with Wolverine and Ryu or whoever. Wolverine has low recovery time on all his moves so all you got to do slam on all the buttons and a combo will come out. That's the reason why most beginners like him. He's so easy to use and requires almost no skill. Most people who use Wolverine are cheap players. This section of the chapter will teach you how to deal with the cheap Wolverine players and the master Wolverine players who are very deadly and skillful. Cheap Wolverine's- These guys are annoying aren't they? They just keep doing the same annoying combo over and over again. The combo takes so much life and requires almost no skill while you're trying so hard to do your combos which barely scratches him and are so hard to do. Well, let's teach these guys to not mess with you. First of all, you have to scare these guys from doing the same stuff over and over again. If they keep super jumping above your head and then they do that annoying straight kick down at you, you should be happy. Activate Ouroboros and then step to the side a little. When he comes down, keep attacking him. If he keeps cornering you and keeps putting pressure on you, you have to keep jumping all over the place. Use your doublejumps and wallclings to get him mad. Once he starts coming after you, activate Ouroboros right when he's jumping in at you. Always remember to roll if you get tripped by Wolverine or else he could OTG you and you could lose a lot of life. Never pushblock Wolverine's supers. Always wait for him to finish and then counterattack him. The only time you should ever pushblock his supers is when you have very little life left. Always try to keep jumping in at Wolverine so that: 1) He can't get on top of you. 2) So that you don't have to watch your feet because if all you do is stay on the ground, Wolverine will do a low attack and then do one of his huge comboes on you. Master Wolverine's- Whoa, these guys could give you some major problems. You're going to have play smart against these guys. They know major comboes that end with a super and could probably give a really hard time fighting them. We're going to look at their advantges first. Then we're going to look at their weaknesses. Lastly, I going to show you how to beat them. They have speed, power, range, and priority. The first way to defend against master Wolverine players is to know where you should be on the screen. If you hang around the middle of the screen too much, they could superjump high above you and then come down in a zigzag pattern to confuse you and mess up your blocking. If this happens, either activate Ouroboros and attack, use tactic 16), or just keep dashing to one side until you're in the corner and he can only come down on one side. Now, you're stuck in the corner. This is bad because he could do some massive comboes if you're stuck in the corner. Most Wolverine players love it when you're stuck in the corner because all they have to do is to keep pressuring you until you open up. You must know how to fight in these situations if you want to beat master wolverine players. If you're in the corner and: they superjump; this means they're going to do that straight kick down at you. Either use tactic 18), activate Ouroboros, dash out of there, or use the chance to switch when they're about to hit you and regain the offensive. if they keep dashing at you and doing low attacks; this means they're trying to open you up either for a really big combo or a super or both. Pushblock when he's close and superjump yourself out of there. Also watch out for getting grabbed when you're stuck in the corner. Also, if you're in the air with Wolverine at the same time, keep attacking him with HP or HK because I don't know why but most people see Wolverine in the air and all they do is block because they're thinking "Oh, no. He's going to attack me. I better block." Don't block or else Wolverine's going to grab you because most Wolverines that get close to people think, "Hurry, attack, attack, attack." Whenever you superjump into the air and Wolverines coming up after you, hit him with HK before he levels with you. Don't let him get on the same level with you or else he'll do a HP or a HK and those have more priority than most of Strider's moves. Also, if you can't stand it when he keeps pressuring you, activate Ouroboros and chip him down while it's activated. I can't stress how important this is, always remember to watch your feet when you're near Wolverine! He is very fast and can catch off guard if you don't block low. Even if you're half a screen away, Wolverine still has a very fast dash and WK to get you. Plus, always be careful when Wolverine has a super. His supers are one of the easiest to combo and they do great damage to Strider! Also remember never to pushblock Wolverines supers unless you have very low life because most of his supers leave him vulnerable afterwards and that may be your only chance to hit him in the game. One more thing when you're fighting Wolverine: always fight Wolverine offensively! His main advantage is offense. Keep attacking him and make him block. Don't let him get up and fight. Captain Commando- "Captain Fire! Captain Fire!" Sheesh, does this guy really have to tell us what he's doing all the time? This guy is probably the most popular of all the turtlers(people who just sit in the corner and wait for you to attack). Most of them are pretty annoying with that Ground Spark. All they do is sit in the corner and when you get close they do that Ground Spark which is so horribly damaging especially if they combo it after a trip. Well, in this section you're going to learn how to play against the turtlers and the masters. As well as Ryu, you're probably never going to play against a master Captain Commando player. Cheap Captain Commando's- Let's push these guys out of the corners and make then come out and prove themselves as worthy fighters(which they aren't). Just about every single one these cheap Captain Commando's sit in the corner all day and do nothing but the Ground Spark. The best way to fight these guys is to counterattack. Most of his special moves and super moves have a huge recovery time. One tactic to fight against them is to jump in and hold block. When they do that annoying Ground Spark you're already blocking so it will chip you. Now when you hit the ground, go dashing into him and do 3). Keep doing this until Captain Commando grows a brain and craws out of the corner. Once he does this, treat him like a master player. Master Captain Commando's- These are the guys who know how to combo supers especially that Captain Sword. Every time they trip you they never forget to OTG you with Ground Spark. You're really gonna hate these guys because every mistake you do while fighting them is gonna make you pay for it. Their advantages are power. Avoid getting hit at all costs and you'll be in pretty good condition. Don't try to jump into these guy so much unless you're gonna use that tactic in the cheap Captain Commmando's section. Try to stay away from him if he keeps dashing at you. This means he desperately wants to combo you into a super. Pushblock him. Watch for his J.FP. It's when he jumps in and you see him do a punch with electricy on his fist. They don't take too much damage but they all add up and if he keeps hitting you with these, you'll die real soon. Always remeber to roll whenever you get tripped by this guy because he could always do that Ground Spark and I don't think you want that now, do you? Don't wall cling against this guy because he could just pull out his Captain Sword and it would be over for you. Here's another thing. If this guy comboes you into a Captain Sword, don't freak out. I know, I know. it took half your life and you really have to switch but don't be a dummy. The moment you switch out, your partner's gonna eat another super! Don't switch out the moment you get hit by something very devastating. Wait for him to do a Captain Fire or try 19). If he blocks too much and you can't open him then try a team super(d, df, f+HK+HP). Also don't try to dash into this guy too much because his do his Captain Fire and that comes out pretty fast. To kill Captain Commando fast, always make him pay for making mistakes. Every time he misses a Ground Spark or a Captain Sword, dash in quickly and combo him. If you're close enough, do the Ragnorak super. Oh yeah, here's a really cool trick for gutsy players. I discovered this out one day when I was playing this guy. Whenever Captain Commando tries a Captain Storm on you(the super where he dashes in the you and comboes you into a Ground Spark at the end), wait for him to run into you. Now when he gets within 1/3 of the screen's distance away, do the Ragnorak super! This is so cool because the Ragnorak super has more priority than the Captain Storm and what's going to happen is Strider's going to grab Captain Commando and bring him up into the air and proceed with the rest of the super. The only drawback for this tactic is that if you mess up, you're going to lose a lot of life. Megaman: "Eh. Eh. Eh." This little guy's really starting to get on your nerves isn't he. I use to play with him but not anymore. He has lots of potential for good comboes, too. Master Megaman players are very annoying and can play a really good keepaway game especially with those stupid fireballs. They're so damn easy to do, too. I remember chasing Megaman around the whole screen one time and I died before I even got to even touch him. You should watch out for Megaman players who play on chip damage. These players just relentlessly charge and shoot their megabusters throughout the whole match. The thing is that they always charge the megabuster up until it's at least red so that even if you block the shot, you still get block damage. They're incredibly annoying and you can't even get close to them because of those stupid fireballs. The only person who could probably beat Megaman in a fireball fight is Ryu especially if he uses his Shinkuu Hadouken. Megaman's main weapon is his megabuster. It allows him to combo a suepr anytime right after the shot if it hits. If you ever come across a Megaman player who doesn't charge his megabuster, you should be very happy. Megaman is the smallest player in the game. He can easily dodge your attacks so you should kind of aim when you fight Megaman. Megaman is only a deadly defender when he has a level. When Megaman activates his Hyper Megaman Super, he can actually hit you if you're close or if you're attacking so don't jump in when he has a level. When Megaman has no level he's almost helpless. Superjump high into the air and doublejump all over him to get him confused if he tries to launch you. Attack him with a J. HK and then a combo or d,df,f+WK when jumping in. If you do d,df,f+WK, make sure it hits or he could combo you. Don't worry if you get comboed by this midget. They don't take that much life anyways. Don't let it throw off you game. One good way to make Megaman waste his level is to jump in and just hold block. Most Megaman's like to do a super when their opponents jump in. After he does the super, dash in and attack if you're close enough. Don't pushblock his supers unless you're almost dead because whenever you pushblock his supers, you push yourself away from him and that might keep you from attacking him while he's recovering from the super. Watch out if Megaman jumps in at you. The reason why is because I use to do the trick where I would jump in at somebody with Megaman and then when I get close, I would activate my Beat Plane to attack the person if they were trying to launch me. If they weren't trying to launch me and were blocking then I would just move far to the other side of the screen while shooting at the same time so that they couldn't move. It's cool because even though I didn't get to hit them, I at least chipped their life a little. Sometimes, you might come across Megaman who likes to keep jumping up and down shooting fireballs in a pattern that forces you to block all the time. To take care of these guys, do your Legion super. If you don't have a level, do the Vagula. You should always watch for Megaman players who charge up their megabusters and then come after you. These guys are the ones that like to combo into a super or a really big buster shot. Watch for their slide because right after they trip you, they can easily combo in a Tornado Hold and then a super or a combo. Whenever you want to chip Megaman down as revenge for taking all that chip damage, just activate Ouroboros. Megaman's weakness is air defense. Jump in a lot when he doesn't have a level. His launcher and his uppercut is a joke. Both have horrible range so don't worry about jumping when he doesn't has a level! Spiderman:"Web Ball. Web Ball. Web Swing." Like Captain Commando, this guy also has to tell you what he's doing. I use this guy sometimes and he is one of the fastest guys in the game. If you're fighting this guy for a second and you take your eyes off the screen for one moment, when you look back you'll notice that nearly half your life is missing and Spiderman still hasn't used a level. This guy has range. I'm talking major range and priority, too. Especially his J.HK and S.HK. Those two attacks can beat out almost anything. This guy also has speed. He also has a super high jump and when he comes down, he goes so fast that it's kind of hard to time your launcher...that is...if you wanted to launch him. Fighting a master Spiderman player is going to be hard. Especially if you're fighting one who knows how to combo the Maximum Spider and the Crawler Assault. The first thing to playing Spiderman is to avoid getting tripped by him. After a trip, Spiderman can do a Web Swing or a Crawler Assault. Most master Spiderman's don't trip that much. They would rather do a combo. So remember to guard low and watch out for Spiderman's who like to dash and then do a C.WK. Spiderman's Web Ball is just about the weakest projectile in the whole game. It's used more as a stunner. Don't get hit by them because Spiderman could do a Maximum Spiderman while you're stuck in the webbing. Whenever you're trying to pushblock a Crawler Assault, do push block the beginning! Pushblock the last jumpkick! That jump makes up half the chip damage for the Crawler Assault! Whenever Spiderman jumps in at you, just block! There's nothing you have except a certain helper like Colossus or Juggernaut that could beat out Spiderman's J.HK. That move has way too much range and priority so don't try to counter attack him when he's doing it! Also jump-ins, try not to jump in because Spiderman's S.HK also has very good range and priority. The only thing you have in the air that beats Spiderman's S.HK is the WK Ragnorak. Spiderman is almost a perfect player except for the fact that he has no doublejump and he can't really fight at a distance. He has to fight close up most of the time. Try to run away from Spiderman and make him come to you. Let him pressure you and surprise him with your helpers if you have Colossus or Psylocke. Use your helpers to set him up for the Legion Super. Use Ouroboros if you need some extra defense or offense advantages. Another cool trick is to superjump high into the air and when Spiderman comes jumping up at you, do a Ragnorak using the button that aims for him. Spiderman has good recovery time on most of his regular attacks so don't go charging into him if he misses something like a launcher. Attack him when he misses his Web Swings. Those have huge recovery time so attack him with the Ragnorak super if he misses one. Remember to use your Legion Attacks so that you can keep Spiderman at a distance. Don't keep doing Legion Attacks over and over again because he'll learn and start jumping over them and then he'll attack you! Don't keep dashing in at Spiderman blindly because he could counter attack very quickly and you'll get hit by the surprise attack. Also watch out for cheap Spiderman players who just like to launch you up again and again. You should already know how to deal with these guys from reading Chapter 7. Just remember that this guy has a very deadly HK whenever you're fighting him. Gambit: This guy has a bunch of tricks up his sleeve. Surprise attacks is Gambit's advantage. Most of his moves come up fast and have very little recovery time especially the WP Cajun Slash. His Kinetic Card is pretty hard to see and counter. The computer Gambit is pretty annoying because he blocks too much but human Gambit's tend to do the attacking rather than the defending. He has a bunch of tricks and powerful attacks but don't worry because you have some of your own tricks as well. I'm not saying you should treat Gambit like a pushover but I'm just that most fights against Gambit isn't going to be very hard. First of all, don't keep attacking Gambit because he could always surprise you with the WK Cajun Slash and that catches just about everybody off guard. Instead, do the defending and wait for Gambit to do the attacking. Don't try to counter attack his Cajun Slashes because they have almost no recovery time and if you attack, he might do another one which will definitely catch you off guard. Watch your feet with this guy too because right after the trip he could OTG you with the Royal Flush super or a Cajun Slash. Both of those should be avoided at all costs. If you ever block Gambit's Royal Flush, always dash and combo right after. Also block low when you're blocking the Royal Flush so that you take less chip damage. Also watch out when you're superjumping over Gambit because he could do the Royal Flush and the staff will fly straight up and knock you unconsious into the cards. Actually, you should always watch for the staff and make sure it doesn't hit you when Gambit does his Royal Flush. Remember that Gambit could combo his Royal Flush and watch out if he has a level. Another thing for defending against Gambit is to not let him confuse you with his Kinetic Wave. Many Gambit players like to do the super and then they jump across the screen to your other side. This shouldn't confuse you but sometimes, it actually gets you so always block the right way. In the air watch out for Gambit's J.HP. That move also has a lot of priority and most Gambit's love whacking people around in the air so block whenever you're in the at the same time with Gambit. If you ever jump in at Gambit you'll notice that his launcher has pretty good priority and could actually counter against jump-ins. The best way to jump in is to jump in diagonally. In other words, don't go straight down at him. Try to jump in at his front and top with your J.HK. You're suppose to barely reach him with your sword when you do this. This tactic is useful because it let's you hit him while being out of his launcher's range. Also whenever Gambit jumps in at you just hit him with your launcher and then proceed to a combo or switch if you have to. If Gambit keeps jumping high in the air and then doing Kinetic Card, just do your Legion super. Just play smart against this guy and you'll have him beat. Chun-Li: Good lord-I hate this girl. Most people who play with her win so many games using barely any skill. And for the people who actually know how to play with her are so hard to beat. Well, you're gonna have to not get launched when you play this girl or else you're gonna eat one of the most damaging supers in the game! Her launcher has better priority than any of Strider's jump-in attacks except for the WK Ragnorak. Her comboes are life-taking with or without the unfair air super. Two of her supers can be easily comboed. She has triplejump, air dash, and a wall cling. One of her supers is one of the very best chippers in the game. This is a tough fight but you still have lots of advantges Chun-Li doesn't have. Well the first thing to worry when fighting Chun-Li is to not get launched when she has a level. The reason why is obvious- she'll do her new air super! It takes so much life and is not very hard to do so don't count on her to mess up! Chun-Li is sort of like a Wolverine player- she can just keep pressuring you until she overcomes you. This is when she gets through your blocking and you get launched. When playing Chun-Li, keep in mind that she has triplejump. So don't do Legion Attacks and don't try to launch her when she jumps in at you! What usually happens is she jumps over your attack and then comboes you into a super you don't like. Another thing is to not dash into her blindly. Most Chun-Li players have a surprise attack that catches you off guard when you dash in. Then they hit you with a C.HP and do the super where she kicks you a whole bunch of times. If you can't stand it when Chun-Li keeps pressuring you, do an Ouroboros and chip her down while you have it activated. The last paragraph was dedicated to keeping you alive when playing Chun-Li. This paragraph is dedicated to beating the crap out of Chun-Li!! For those annoying Chun-Li players who like to stay in the air as long as they possibly can by doing triplejumping and wallclinging, do the Legion super or use 18). If it doesn't hit Chun-Li, it'll chip her. Whenever your blocking Chun-Li's Kikoshou super(the big fireball one), pushblock to get out and then do yourLegion super or stay in there and when she's done, do your Ragnorak super. Whenever you're blocking her 'One Thousand Kick' super, hit her with a ground combo when she's done and remember to pushblock her super but not when she's about to finish. Chun-Li also has bad horizontal range on on her launcher. When you jump in at her try not to be on top of her but try to jump in at her from her diagonally top and front and J.HK. Try to be out of her range but keep her in your range. Her launcher also has a huge recovery time. Whenever she misses you with her launcher, quickly dash in and hit her. Don't slide because if she blocks it, she'll try to launch you again and this time, you're gonna get hit! Same goes with jumping in and doing a WK Ragnorak! Jin: I don't even know why some people call this guy "Mini-Hulk". I call him "Hospital Man". Jin and Zangief are those the type of characters that are more dangerous when used by a computer oppenent rather than a human opponent. The reason why is because the computer is "dumb". It doesn't know what losing means therefore it just attacks you over and over without even thinking and most of the time, you won't even know when to block and will get hit by a random move. Humans on the other hand, like to play smart wiithout chasing after their opponents around the screen the way computer Zangief does. This makes their offensive advantages go to waste. You'll probably never ever see a master Jin player in your life that's even close to being as dangerous as the computer Jin. I've only seen about 4 good Jin players in my life. Even though, I try to prepare you if you ever meet a deadly Jin player. A good Jin player will eat you alive. They'll create some real problems for you. You can't sit in the corner because Jin's just gonna chip your life away or he'll grab you and do some devastating slam. You can't attack Jin from close range or far range. You can't to close to Jin because that's where you start getting in his range. Being in Jin's range is kinda like racing a freight train on the same track. You can run for a while but soon you gonna get hit and it's not going to pretty. You can't do your Legion Attack because he'll do that Saotome Dynamite where he blows off his clothes and that gets rid of any projectile. This gives you a question. How the hell am I suppose to beat this guy? You're gonna have to play smart. Don't jump in on him because he'll do that Great Cyclone and that's about half your life saying,"bye,bye". If he doesn't have a level, he can still counter attack you in several different ways. To fight this guy, you're going to have be patient and start playing turtle style. Sit in the corner and have him attack you. When he does, counter attack. If you notice, most of his moves and huge recovery time. If he misses a Saotome Dynamite, combo immediately. Don't waste you're chances. If you block his Blodia Punch, dash at him and attack. If you need to switch out, then switch but watch out. I'm very sorry I didn't put too much up on how to fight against master Jin's. It's just that I've never seen too many of them. You're gonna have to be kinda be on your own when fighting this character. I'm sorry but I am unable to finish the FAQ has already overwhelmed me and I have school to worry about. Anyone who needs further help can email me at skatehacker4@angelfire.com Thank you for reading!