From: Steve Quinlan Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade Subject: [VF3]- Akira Evasion FAQ v1.1 Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 00:30:52 -0300 (ADT) Evading FAQ - Akira Specifics v1.1 By: Stephen Quinlan Quinlan@ug.cs.dal.ca Changes from v1.0: Typo corrections, more description of certain things. The biggest is the correction of discussing a d+K,G-cancel. That was a BIG mistake. Any Sample combo's/ descriptions with this should be IGNORED! Contents: 1) Introduction 2) Notation 3) Special Terms and Actions i) G-cancel ii) Crouch Dashing iii) CD Evade Canceling iv) Evasion Angles - Circular Coordinates 4) General Evasion and Evade Motion 5) Special Evade Motion i) Evade Crouch Dash ii) Korean Stepping iii) "Slip dodging" 6) Evading Attacks and Counter Attacking i) Evading a Basic Attack ii) Counter Attacking after Evasion 7) Using "E" in Combo's i) Sample Combo's ii) Descriptions 1) Introduction The "Evade" button, and its proper use is an integral part of becoming a good VF3 player. But I believe even more so if you are learning a character such as Akira. Many of his moves lend themselves very nicely to the inclusion of the dodge before and afte r their execution. In fact, Akiras "style" is known as "Hakkyoken-ken" or "the eight extremes fist". This style was supposedly based on the eight compass points, and if one could defend all eight points at once, you could not be hit. So, most of the moves from the style has circles, dodges etc.. involved in them. It follows naturally that any Akira (obsessed?) player would want to include the dodge on these points alone! This FAQ will describe various uses for the evade for circumstances specific to Akira. They are based on personal observations and experiences alone, so some things may or may not work in all situations. Note: I am writing this FAQ specifically for Akir a and so will be using his name to describe some general things as well as Akira specific things. In the "general" cases any characters name can be substituted as these moves are common to all characters. 2) Notation G = Guard P = Punch K = Kick E = Evade d, f, b,u = down, forward, back, up d/f = down forward diagonal u/f = upper forward diagonal MC = Major Counter mC = minor counter A capitalized d,f,b,u etc... means to hold that direction. eBC = "evading bodycheck" / b,f+P+K+E DbPm = "Double Palm" / D,b,f+P DFS = "double fist strike" / b,f+P+K LBF = "low back fist" / d/f +P+K SRM = "shoulder ram" / D,f+P+K SPoD = "Stun Palm o' Doom" / G+P+K, b,d/f+P+K, d,(b or f)+P DLC = "Dragon Lance Combo" / d/f+G+K, f+P, b,f,f+P+K CD = "Crouch Dash" GC = "G- Cancel" 3) Special Terms / Actions i) G-Cancel: When you perform a move, it requires a certain number of frames to be executed. While this is occurring, it is possible to "cancel" your move by hitting "G". This must be done fairly quickly, as each move has a certain frame limit in which you can cancel it. If this time passes before you push "G", you cannot cancel the move and it will be fully executed. The benefit of G-canceling is that you can "correct" some mistakes you may have made if you catch them in time, also there is the various "Senbon" typ e moves. A full discussion of G-canceling will not be given here; you just need to be familiar with how to do it and what it is. ii) Crouch Dashing: Crouch Dashing is a special form of movement. Basically it is exactly what the name sounds like; dashing while you are crouched. It is done by hitting d/f,D/F while you are crouching. If done correctly, you will "hop" instead of crouch "walking". It is a very effective form of movement, especially if you need to "jump in" quickly for a combo. Even more so since most of Akira's moves come from a crouched position. CD's can also be used for defensive maneuvers as well, such as quickly escaping high attacks etc... iii) Crouch Dash Evade Canceling: This is using the CD to cancel your "E" input during your evade motion. It is done "simply" by entering the commands for a CD during your evade. There is a small glitch in that the E, CD cancel is done a little more easily if you evade by using the "d+E" . Just push one d/f during the evade (d+E) and a crouch dash cancel will come out. iv) Evasion Angles: For many of the discussions about evading I will give an approximate "angle of motion". To picture this, think of a circle. When two characters are facing each other directly, P1 is at 180 degrees and P2 is at 0 degrees. Directly up is 90 degrees, and th e bottom of the circle is at 270 degrees. If two lines are drawn connecting 0-180 and 90-270, this divides the circle into four pieces. Each piece can them be dived in two by drawing a line from the center of the circle to its edge at a 45 degree angle. ( if you can't picture this mentally, draw it on paper). When people dodge, they deviate from the starting position of 0-180 degree line, off to different angles. So, when I give an angle motion, (Akira is the one usually moving) the opponent is stationary at the 0-180 line and Akira ends up standing on a different one. Eg., a side throw can occur when Akira is in the section of approximately 45-90 degrees. Dodging "into" the screen translates to movement from 0 deg up towards 90 deg, and "out" of screen is from 0 deg down towards 270 deg. Its not as confusing as it sounds. 4) General Evasion/ Evade motion General evasion is the most basic form of evasion possible. It is done simply by pressing the "E" button. When done, Akira will dodge into the screen, by about 45 degrees into the screen. If however, d/f+E is used Akira will dodge 45 degrees out of the screen. (i.e. be at 315 degrees on circle) If this is done without the purpose of dodging a move it serves you no purpose as your opponent can hold "G" and re-orient themselves to face you quite quickly. However, if this is done as your opponents attack i s coming at you, you will dodge your opponents attack, ending up at their side leaving them totally exposed to your attack. This a perfect opportunity to get a mC to start off a combo. Evade motion doesn't actually have anything to do with dodging, instead it deals with actual character motion. Akira can Run (forward), or quick-step (forward or backward) by pressing "E" and "F" for running, or either "E" +f, or "E"+b for a quick step. These quick-steps are much more efficient than hitting f,f or b,b for motion. These evade motions can be combined with regular evasion to confuse your opponent or to help get you out of a sticky situation. For example, if you are pressured into a corner or an edge where a ring can occur, use a general evasion (not to evade an atta ck) in the appropriate direction, then a quick-step away from the opponent once finished dodging. This will successfully move you out of the corner/RO spot and give you a little breathing space from your opponent, who if didn't match your evasions with th ose of their own is themselves against a wall! Lets look at a specific example using our "circle" coordinate system. Akira is at 0 deg. His back, and right arm are both facing a wall. If Akira does a d/f+E, he'll dodge out of the screen and be placed at 315 deg. Now do a short quick step backward. If you opponent held "G" at all during any of this, they would have rotat ed around to face you. Now both chars. are facing each other again except now they are on the 90-270 line and the opponents back is against the wall Akira's right arm used to be against! Evade motion is also quite "short ranged" except the run of course. This makes them the perfect tool to quickly move away from an incoming attack, then to move back in for a counter of your own. This does not work against "multiple hit" attacks like Akir a's DJK 'cause you'll just walk right into the second attack. Only quick-step back in if you know you'll have a chance to counter attack. Ex. Shun does his "Chouwan upper". Quick-step backwards to avoid it, then immediately quick-step back in. Shun's attack will just be retracting as you arrive at your original location, and he's wide open for a throw or quick counter attack! 5) Special Evade Motions i) Evading CD. You can crouch dash by using the evade button as well. Its similar to the motion of a Standard CD (d/f, D/F +E) except at the end of the dash you end up slightly off to the side of the opponent. You are not "rotated" so you are facing the s ide of the opponent, but yours and your opponents left (or right depending which side your on) legs are almost "touching" one another. I'll give more info on the use of this if I find out anything else on it. ii) Korean Stepping. This is a STYLE of play such that one can "continuously" dodge and "eliminate" the dodge recovery time. Its done by "E" ing and canceling that evade with a CD. Not too many people have witnessed this, so there isn't much info beyond t his. Korean stepping is best likened to "TAIWAN STEPPING" which is a style that uses CDing as your PRIMARY form of movement. See the section on "Crouch Dash Evade Canceling" above. iii) "Slip-dodging". This is using the "E" to escape rising attacks. For a full discussion of how its done go to Kris' Miscellany at HTTP://www.kwaltd.com/vf3/index.html. 6) Evading Attacks / Counter Attacking i) Evading attacks is just as important, if not more than just being able to block them properly, and Akira has moves to capitalize on this ability. In order to evade attacks you need to learn the proper timing.... and that takes practice. Its best not t o try and evade on "reflex" until your sure of your timing. Limit yourself to evading attacks you "know" are coming. The second thing is DO NOT try to evade multiple attacks like a pppX. You will successfully evade the first attack, but the others will "h ome in" on you and that means trouble. Evasion has a "recovery" time associated with it. So, getting hit during this period is almost like getting a MC or mC. The "time" for evasion is when you just start to see the attack coming. i.e. foot just leaving ground or whatever. If you do it too early, the attack will re-align itself and hit you, too late and well, your probably already hit. The window is somewhat small, but not small enough such that only the elite can do it. In fact EVERYBODY can learn it, if a little effort is put into it. Direction is also important. Some moves, like sweeps, originate at a certain point and "sweep" out a certain area. If you dodge into this area, you'll be hit. So you have to pay attention to stance, and the move you are dodging. ii) Counter Attacking One of the easiest counter attacks to do after a dodge is the "side throw". Everyone has one which is just P+G, a few others have more elaborate ones (Wolf, Jeff). You must enter the command for the side throw just before the Dodge comes to an end. If you do it too early, the input will be entered before you reach the side of your opponent. If you do it too late, your opponent may move out of range, and attack you during your missed throw animation, or you might enter your "recover" phase of the dodge in which you cannot do anything. 7) Moves/ Combo's using "E" Akira has many attacks / combo's that work quite nicely from the side. In fact most of his normal float combo's work exactly the same. I'll describe a few of the "E" moves and combo's. i) Sample Combo's 1) E, DLC (mC) 2) E, Yoho (float), DLC 3) E, SPoD * 4) E, eBC * 5) E, DFS * 6) LBF, E, SPoD 7) LBF, E, d+K, E, SPoD (mC) 8) LBF, E, d+K, E, DLC (mC) 9) f+P+G, P,K, E, f+E, Throw 10) K,(G-cancel), E, d+K, d+E, (CD - cancel), SPoD # 11) E(spinning attack), P+G (special) 12) SE, f+E-> A+B during "quick-step" (special) * Combo's will hit Crouchers. # Special circumstance; The KG must have "wiffed" the opponents throw. ii) Descriptions 1) Evade an attack, mC with a DLC, or DLC type float combo as in 2). 3) Evade an attack and SPoD while the opponent is recovering. This is a good way to get consistent SPoD opportunities. SPoD works from the side, and on crouched opponents, so you can use this after evasion of low attacks as well 4), 5) Combo's 4, and 5 are somewhat special. You can do these as a regular attack instead of limiting them to dodging an attack, especially the E,eBC. Both the eBC and the DFS are Dodging attacks. This means that Akira will dodge from the 0-180 line just by doing this attack. It is not as pronounced with the DFS. Akira more or less just steps aside for a split second while the attack is coming out. If timed correctly, both attacks will dodge attacks on their own. Combining them with an E serves to amplif y this effect. Lets look at the E, eBC. The eBC will cause Akira to dodge about 30-45 degrees. If you do this attack alone, Akira's arm (from eBC) will hit the side of the opponent. If you dodge first, the dodge angle and eBC angle are cumulative. Thus Akira CAN hit the opponents BACK with his eBC instead of the side. The eBC seems like it can also "cancel" an evade. So if you start the eBC at the end of the dodge, you'll hit the opponents back. If you do it "mid-dodge" Akira's back will hit the opponents side. Needless to say, this move often will hit as a MC due to its peculiar dodging abilities. 6),7), 8) rely on "conditioning your opponent. You must condition them to stay Crouched, or to do a certain counter attack after the LBF. The low kick is a good way to accomplish this. The low K is a deceiving lead up to a Double Palm, which can also h it a "crouched" blocker. If you think your opponent will stay crouched, evade SPoD (or DbPm). If you know a certain counter attack is coming, E, low K (mC), SPoD or DLC or whatever. 9) This is a sample combo of how the "E" can be used as a "mixer". If people get used to certain things being thrown at them, like a BG, P,K, use the evade to mix it up. In this example after the P,K, use "E" to escape any expected counters or just for s urprise. Then quick-step in for a throw or combo initiator. 10) This is a SAMPLE of how more complex E ing can be used during combo's, meaning I haven't actually done the COMPLETE example I give below, but I have done up to the d+E dodging an attack. I screwed up the "simple" CD. There was PLENTY of time left dur ing my screw up to get a KNEE combo, or something like that. After the "whiff" animation (or during actually) instead of doing those tired old combo's everyone has seen a thousand times, throw in a little spice! This combo requires a little conditioning of your opponent, so don't expect it to work unless you have done this. Basically, the E, d+K will hit the opponent for a mC if your fast enough. Then, d+E an incoming counter attack and SPoD. If the d+E is used for MOTION only, do the "simple" CD cancel for a quick surprise. Lets look at the circle coordinates again. Akira is P1. Akira and opponent start at 0-180 line. During the "whiff" animation from the KG, Akira dodges into the screen (now located at ~ 135 deg.) and d+K's the opponent. Then, using the d+E for MOTION, it gets canceled by a CD. Lets assume the d+E was canceled half way through. So, the CD begins when Akira is located at ~155 deg. The CD moves him ahead (towards opponent) but due to the angle of motion, he should end up at opponents side hopefully dodging an attack on the way by. Now any devastating combo you can do from the side can be done, while the opponent is recovering from their missed attack, and it hits as a mC!! 11) This is a "special" quirk I found fighting against Lau. We all know that Akira's Behind catch throw (G+P) stinks... Its too slow. Well, I evaded Lau's spinning chop (turns him around) which I believe is b,b+P+K or something like that. I dodged INTO its origin. i.e.. opposite direction which it "sweeps". I saw Lau's back exposed so I quick-stepped in and as I was quick stepping I hit G+P. It appeared to me that a WHOLE LOT of the catch throw animation was removed. It was almost like the quick-step co unted as some of the animation, and to my surprise the throw caught him! I tried this again (with a friend) by positioning myself to the same distance away from Lau as I was before, AFTER Lau did the "spin", then hit P+G. The throw did NOT hit. I tried it again but hit P+G during a quick-step and this time it HIT. Some more testing of this is necessary! 12) Combo 12) is similar to 11) except it requires a successful SE. These are just SAMPLES of how Akira or anyone can use the dodge. Since dodging can get SOOOO complex, you can't really just write down a list of combo's and expect them to work for everyone. So use them as a GUIDE as to how Akira, or anyone for that matte r, can incorporate the E into combo's! Any additions or corrections to this FAQ are welcome. Steve "Tanoshii, ne?" - Vice Stephen Quinlan Quinlan@ug.cs.dal.ca