------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================== (INCREDIBLY LONG) CVS2 N-GROOVE IORI GUIDE ========================================== (intended for the arcade, Dreamcast and PS2 versions) v.1.7, last updated 7/5/03 By Buktooth88 (my first FAQ!) =========== FAQ HISTORY =========== -6/3/03, v1.0: This was actually an unfinished version that I sent in on accident. Two notepads open, slapped the 1.0 on the wrong one, you know how it goes. -6/13/03, v1.3: My "finished" version plus a few more tweaks here and there in the movelists section and a lot more stuff in the match-ups section. Also fixed the formatting of the whole thing (which was really tedious and took like an hour). Also made the match-ups section a bit more beginner friendly. -7/05/03, 1.7: In the process of making a Morrigan guide, and applied a lot of my new format ideas to this guide. There's now a quick reference frame data list, a "how do I read Buktooth's movelists section" with explanations on my newer (and hopefully, clearer) notations. I deleted all the parts of the movelists that indicated whether a move had to be parried high or low, since nobody really cares and it really cluttered up the way the whole guide looks. Formatting within the movelist is also more uniform for better ease of comparison, and all my new notations are applied also. Look for lots of changes within the special moves and supers portion of the movelist. I realized that out of laziness, I made the data on a few moves either near-unreadable or just plain wrong. Running Grab in particular. Added 'things Iori can crouch' section. Added 'groove specific tips' section For those of you who have seen the v1.0 already, updates within the guide will be marked with the date they were added. However, the stuff left out between the v1.0 and my v1.3 won't be marked since I don't want to go through the whole guide and find out what they were. I did add a few things on 6/13, though. This guide is meant to be viewed in Notepad. It's readable in other programs but the lines will look all funky. Unpublished work Copyright 2003 Campbell Tran This document is protected by US Copyright Law, and the Berne Copyright Convention of 1976.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, Campbell Tran. It can be found exclusively at (www.GameFAQs.com). All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that are not specifically mentioned herein. Plagiarism is a crime and is punishable by law. I'll git you sucka! The CvS series and all of its characters are (c) Capcom of Japan and (c) SNK/Playmore of Japan. ----- NOTE: ----- This guide is intended for advanced level play. If anything here is unclear because of my terminology or notation, ask somebody on the forums at www.shoryuken.com. It's country's largest Street Fighter site; somebody can help you there. Do NOT e-mail with inane questions!! Anyway, on with the guide! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= 1. WHY PICK N-GROOVE IORI? -strengths -weaknesses -stats -objective -recommended ratio/placement (added 7/5/03) 2. MOVELIST (completely re-formatted 7/5/03) -how to read Buktooth's movelists (added 7/5/03) -normal moves -command normals -normal throws -special moves -alpha counter (added 7/5/03) -counter roll (added 7/5/03) -supers -quick reference frame data list (added 7/5/03) 3. COMBOS YOU SHOULD KNOW -ground combos -jump-in combos -Scum Gale combos 4. SCUM GALE SET UPS 5. STRATEGY -full screen - 3/4ths range -half screen range -point blank range -opponent in the corner -things to keep in mind 6. THINGS IORI CAN CROUCH (added 7/5/03) 7. GROOVE SPECIFIC TIPS (added 7/5/03) -N-Iori vs C-Groove -N-Iori vs A-Groove -N-iori vs P-Groove -N-Iori vs K-Groove 8. KEY MATCH-UPS -N-Iori Vs C-Sagat -N-Iori Vs C-Cammy (major update 7/5/03) -N-Iori Vs A-Bison -N-Iori Vs C-Guile -N-Iori Vs C-Chun -N-Iori Vs Any groove Blanka -N-Iori Vs A-Sakura (added 7/5/03) -N-Iori Vs Any Groove Vega -N-Iori Vs C-Rolento (added 6/13/03) -N-Iori Vs A-Rolento (added 6/13/03) 9. CREDITS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================== 1. WHY PICK N-GROOVE IORI? ========================== Well, the most common 2 reasons people pick Iori is either they're: A) A fob B) An SNK nazi fanboy Me? I use him because he has some of the best offense in the game, and aside from a few bad match ups (REALLY bad) could easily be top tier. Let's see... he has the best roll in the game, arguably the best "bread and butter" combos, the most threatening command grab, a strong ground game revolving around his RC rekka ken and standing roundhouse, he's in a three-way tie for shortest character in the game (if it's crouchable, Iori can crouch it) and... well, his last name spelled backwards is IMAGAY! What more could you want? oh yeah, and why N-Groove? Because it's his best groove. A-Groove Iori is okay but he suffers from a serious lack of offensive options. N-Groove Iori benefits a LOT from being able to run, roll (and in turn, Roll Cancel), low jump, and Counter Roll. ----------- WEAKNESSES? ----------- Well, Iori is a little too dependant on risky moves; his fireball, his RC rekka ken, and his low roundhouse. Also, his best ground move, the standing roundhouse, can be crouched by anybody shoto-sized and smaller. Also, since Iori is a mix-up character he is inconsistent by nature. Some days you guess right every time, some days you can't grab an opponent to save your life. Iori CAN still play pretty effectively without his mix up game, but that's where his main strength lies. Lastly, a few characters counter Iori fairly hard... namely, Bison, Blanka, and Honda, ------------------------------------ IORI'S STATS (made up by your truly) ------------------------------------ On a scale of 10, 5 being average: Offense Rating: 9 Defense Rating: 7 Practical Damage: 9.5 Potential Damage: 5 Speed: 4 Jump: 6 Roll: 10 Normal Moves: 7 Special Moves: 9 Supers: 6 Overall: 8.5 ---------------- IORI'S OBJECTIVE ---------------- Iori's what? Since people play better and more focused when they have a set goal in mind rather than "uh...imma just hit guy and win! And do combos!", it's good to know what your character's main objective is before playing. A kind of a fighting game thesis, if you will. Iori's objective is to get within point blank range of his opponent. (Simple, right? It's supposed to be) Why? Simple. When you're up close you have the threat of the Scum Gale grab, which lends itself to high damage 50/50 mix ups, all of which knock down the opponent and set up another mix up. How is this objective accomplished? In order of best method to worst method: 1) Knocking the opponent down 2) Getting 3/4ths to full screen, throwing a jab fireball and running after it 3) Establishing Iori's strong mid-range ground game, which drains the opponent's guard bar. The draining of your opponent's guard bar entices him to make mistakes that enable you to achieve method 1). 4) By trying to roll through or jump/low jump over your opponent's moves. Since 1) is hard to do on a good opponent and the distance for 2) can be difficult to establish, Iori spends most of his time doing 3). --------------------------- RECOMMENDED RATIO/PLACEMENT --------------------------- (added 7/5/03) For the most part, Iori should be a ratio 1 character and should be assigned the leadoff spot in your team. Why? He's a great battery and builds meter really fast while not needing to use it himself. Four out of five games with Iori he never uses a super AND has a full 3 bars before he dies. However, Iori CAN be a good ratio 2 anchor character in a counter character situation. If your opponent has ratio 2 Cammy, Guile or Vega last in his line-up, by all means, give the extra juice to Iori. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============ 2. MOVE LIST ============ --------------------------------- HOW TO READ BUKTOOTH'S MOVE LISTS --------------------------------- (added 7/5/03) (all frame data is taken from Famitsu's Capcom Vs SNK 2 Millionaire Fighting 2001 Official Guidebook. Ebay it! It's a must have!) As far as I know, I'm the only person that includes a frame data listing in a 2D fighting game faq, so that means I had to come up with a format myself. I've been trying several different formats here and there... this is my latest version. My apologies if it's unclear or difficult to read... but there's a limit to how simple I can make the charts look without pictures or graphs. Hopefully it will be cleaned up with a better format in a newer revision. For now, it's not very intuitive so please read all the junk below explaining all the notation before reading on. Format for the move list is as follows: (1) (2) (3)/(4) (5)/(6)/(7) [(8)/(9)/(10)], Invul [(11)] (1) Name of the move (2) Damage it inflicts on opponent (3) Frame advantage (disadvantage) if move hit. DOWN or DN means the move knocks the opponent down (4) Frame advantage (disadvantage) if move is blocked (5) If move is chainable into itself or not. o=yes, x=no (6) x or o referring to whether move is bufferable into special moves (7) x or o referring to whether move is bufferable into supers (8) number of frames it takes the move to hit (how fast the move is) (9) number of frames the move has an active hit box (how meaty the move is) (10) number of frames of recovery the move has (11) If a move has an 'invul' with a box, that means that the move has a certain number of invincible frames. However, it doesn't necessarily mean your ENTIRE body is invincible. So, each reading refers to the number of frames that contain invincibility, and immediately after it will show WHERE you are invulnerable. For example, Invul [10 full/8 lower] In the above example, the first 10 frames of the move have full-body invincibility, then the next 8 frames after that are only invincible from the waist down (lower body). Muiti hitting moves are encased in {} brackets. Morrigan's low jab is [3{3/3}6]. The move has a 3 frame start up, then the first hit is active for 3 frames. The second hit is active for 3 frames after that, then there's a 6 frame recovery period. Fireball moves will have | between two numbers. The first number is how long it takes the fireball to come out and the second number is how long the recovery is. For example, Morrigan's fireball is [18|38]. The fireball takes 18 frames to materialize, and Morrigan is prone afterwards for 38 frames. All supers have a small invincible start up before the "super flash". This is why sometimes an opponent's limb is fully in your body when the super flash occurs. The start up time before the super flash is represented by a number, then a : (is that a colon or a semi-colon? I forget). The number after the : represents how long it takes for the super to hit AFTER the super flash. For example, Morrigan's Darkness Illusion super is [5:4/44/13]. 5 frame (invincible) start up before the super flash, flash happens, then a 4 frame delay before super has an active hitbox on it (which lasts for 44 frames). Certain moves have 2 readings in certain places. This means that move has two separate points with different properties. The first number always refers to the part of the move that comes first. To use Morrigan in another example: Close Standing Fierce 800,800 +2/+2 x/x/o,x/x/x [5/6/22] --------------------- The first part refers to when Morrigan's hand is about at her waist level. The move does 800 damage, has a +2 advantage, and is only bufferable into supers. The second part of the move (when Morrigan's arm is fully extended upwards) has for the most part all the same stats, except it is NOT bufferable into supers. Unfortunately, for two-part moves frame data is unavailable for the second parts. The second part of the move obviously comes out slower than the first part, so keep that in mind. Lastly, GROUND means whatever it is, it lasts until the character reaches the ground. There's often recovery once the character reaches the ground also, which is represented by a number immediately following GROUND. This applies to moves that you can do in mid-air, since you can do them at any point in the air there's no way to accurately determine how long it takes the character to reach the ground. For example, Morrigan's jumping shell kick is [7/GROUND/7]. It has 7 frames start up, then has an active hitbox all the way until Morrigan reaches the ground, and from there it has a 7 frame recovery time. Whew! Well, on to the movelist! Hopefully I haven't discouraged any of you with that long-winded explanation above. -_- ------------ NORMAL MOVES ------------ -Close standing jab 400 +7/+7 O/O/O [2/4/6] ------------------- Iori's close jab is very useful for many reasons: 1) Comes out in 2 frames, making it Iori's fastest move. 2 frames are as fast as moves get in CvS2 with the exception of Zangief's SPD, which is the only 1 frame move in the game. So what does this mean? Whenever you're in a situation where you have to mash a move, such as trying to avoid a throw, this is the move to mash. 2) +7 advantage, also the most out of any of Iori's moves. 7 frames is a fairly huge advantage as far as CvS2 goes, meaning most links afterwards are brain-dead easy if the jab hits, and if blocked you have ample time to set up stuff safely like walk up to your opponent again and get another close jab. A perfectly timed close jab tick into Scum Gale (8 frames) is theoretically irreversible by jabs or throws. All tick throws can be escaped by jumps, however. 3) At 400 damage, it's the most damaging out of all of Iori's weak attacks that can be chained together. -added 7/5/03 - Correction. Since in CvS2 you cannot be grabbed for 6 frames after leaving guard stun, the close jab into Scum Gale tick can indeed be interrupted by jabs and throws. The window (6 frames = 1/6th of a second) is still pretty small for your opponent so they'll miss their jab quite a bit. -Far standing jab 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [2/4/8] ----------------- While sharing almost the exact same traits as the close jab, the standing jab doesn't have that many tactical uses; You're too far away to tick into throws, and Iori's walking speed is too slow for repeated walk up jabs to set up anything threatening. If you're at this range hit low strong instead. -Standing strong 800 -5/-5 x/o/o [7/3/25] ---------------- This move has the special property of being able to chain into Iori's f+strong. There's only one instance in which I use this move, and that's to combo after a connected Scum Gale. Even though it's a far reaching bufferable move, buffering into fireballs is not safe, and the move itself leaves much to be desired in terms of priority and speed. It reaches farther than the f+strong, but at that distance a fierce rekka ken will completely miss. Needless to say, a whiffed rekka ken will lead to a lot of hurt. -Close standing fierce 1200,1100 +0/+0 x/o/o,x/x/o [3/6/24] ---------------------- For the commas above, the reading on the left refers to the first portion of the fierce, where Iori's fist is around his waist level. The second reading refers to when Iori's fist is over his head. Outside of combos, the main use for this move is for anti-cross ups. Close roundhouse is your main anti-cross up, but you'll want to use close fierce against characters with bigger jumps like Blanka. -Far standing fierce 1300,1400 -5/-5 x/o/o,x/x/x [7/5/26] -------------------- Reading on the left of the commas refer to when Iori's head is going OUT. Reading on the right refers to when Iori's head is going UP. This move doesn't really have much tactical use since the distance to get the bufferable version of the fierce is really specific. However, the bufferable version happens to be Iori's most damaging bufferable move, and there's ONE useful set up to get it shown below (see Running Grab). -Close standing short 500 +3/+3 x/o/o [3/4/10] --------------------- It does 100 more damage than the close jab, but the jab chains into 2 more jabs plus a short which is ultimately a LOT more damage than this will get you. The only thing this has going for it over the close jab is this hits low. -Far standing short 500 +3/+3 x/x/o [6/6/8] ------------------- AKA "kickin 'em to da curb". Other than randomly whiffing it every now and then as a fake fireball, the only use for this move I have is for combos. See combo section. -Standing forward 1000 -6/-6 x/x/o [6/3/26] ----------------- I probably don't use this move as much as I should. It's quick, has surprising range, and even more surprising priority. I'd use it against characters that can crouch the standing roundhouse if you can get into the range to use it. 6/13/03 - Some Japanese players like to punish whiffs with s.forward into super, but I find that whenever I bait a whiff I'm too far away to hit with a s.forward. I just do a low/standing roundhouse instead. I also noticed that Japanese players have set-ups for COUNTER HIT s.forward and buffer the super on reaction, but to me that's in-humanly difficult (the window to buffer is 3 frames long, 1/20th of a second). That super isn't one that you want to have blocked. -Close standing roundhouse 1400 +3/+3 x/x/o [6/3/21] -------------------------- Best used as an anti-cross up, only a few characters can get over this move that I can think of (Blanka and Chun Li). Also has the distinction of being Iori's most damaging move that can be buffered into a super. The link from a close jab is a one frame link though, meaning it's a little too difficult to do really consistently. How does Iori manage to kick so high with that funky little cord tying his legs together? -Far standing roundhouse 1300 -2/-2 x/x/x [9/7/22] ------------------------ Iori's best poke by far, despite having the distinction of being one of Iori's two crouchable moves. Any character bigger than a shoto is fair game, however. You can use it fairly liberally against the characters that cannot crouch it to slowly drain their guard meter and entice them into making a mistake that will get you the all-important knockdown Iori needs to get in. Be aware, though, that the move is not safe against a fast roll and that Sagat can punish you hard with a standing fierce into super if you whiff it. (6/13/03 EDIT: I accidentally put the following paragraph under LOW Roundhouse!) Yet another great use for this move is to anti-air an opponent's straight up jump. A straight up jump is the best way to punish Iori's RC rekka, which is one of his best moves. Being able to punish those straight up jumps is key to being able to use the RC rekka kens without fear of retaliation. However, a few straight up jump moves beat Iori's standing roundhouse, most notably Sagat's and Bison's jumping roundhouses. 6/13/03 - Here's a list of characters that cannot crouch Iori's roundhouse: Raiden Geese Chang Sagat Eagle Yamazaki Bison Blanka Honda Benimaru Kyo Rugal Guile Todo Balrog Dhalsim Terry ...uhh, I'm pretty sure there's a few more. I'll add them in the next update. 7/5/03 - As promised, the forgotten characters that cannot crouch roundhouse. Kyosuke Joe Zangief 7/5/03 - Standing roundhouse is also a good "run counter". Whenever you see an opponent running at you from more than 1/2 screen away, just hit standing roundhouse as soon as they get into range. Not much they can do about it besides RC or a pre-emptive roll, and both of these options require the opponent to be in N-Groove... a rarity these days. -Low jab 300 +3/+3 o/o/o [3/4/8] -------- No real reason to use this, really, since you have low shorts that hit low and standing jabs that are faster and have more range. -Low strong 900 +5/+5 x/o/o [4/6/9] ----------- A great move to throw out every now and then or to build meter, as it has high priority and recovers fast enough to be nearly impossible to punish on reaction. As the frame data shows, this move links into itself. Although it's a one frame link, 2 low strongs into fierce rekka kens does a whopping 4000 damage without a power up. That's clearly enough damage to be an incentive to go for the combo when the opportunity arises... particularly situations where you can throw out the low strong meaty, therefore making the link much easier in the process. Also, the +5 frame advantage basically insures the next move you throw out will not get beaten by your opponent and will actually produce a lot of counter hits. This makes guard crush strings like low strong, low strong, standing roundhouse possible. The basic rule of thumb is if you're close but not within point blank range, hit low strong. It will beat most anything, and if blocked you can immediately do a standing roundhouse after for a nice big chunk of guard bar. Whiffing it intentionally can also be pretty good against certain characters, as it tends to beat a lot of long range moves... especially the low ones. Blanka's low fierce and slide, Dhalsim's limbs, shotos' low forwards... they all get beat cleanly by this move. 6/13/03 - the move also makes for Iori's best and safest meter builder in a pinch. I really wouldn't make turtling and building meter a core strategy with Iori, though, since he builds meter so much faster just by playing normally. However, if you're a few slivers away from having that 2nd meter, by all means mash on low strong. 6/13/03 - Sometimes your opponent will randomly be able to block a rekka ken after a max range low strong. Even worse, sometimes it whiffs completely for no apparent reason. 99% of the time it works fine, but sometimes the low strong x2 combo goes awry. -Low fierce 1100 -1/-1 x/o/o [4/5/20] ----------- Iori's other crouchable move. It doesn't really matter, though, since you'll probably never use this move as anything except as an anti-air at the 45 degree angle. It works fairly well as anti-air as long as you stick it out early enough, but it does tend to trade with the really high priority jump ins. When you use it as anti air you can buffer it into a fierce fireball to make your opponent land on it, but I would recommend throwing a jab fireball instead so that you can run after it and use it as cover to attempt to get in. -Low short 200 +5/+5 o/o/o [4/4/8] ---------- Used mainly as your low combo starter and as a roll punisher, this move is pretty self-explanatory. Low shorts x3 into rekkas whenever the opportunity arises. The +5 frame advantage also lends this move into being another good Scum Gale tick, with the added advantage that people tend to sit and block after blocking one low short... they expect two more. The main weakness of this move is its relatively slow speed at 4 frames. When situations arise where you need a fast move, mash on standing/low jab (depending on distance) instead. -Low forward 800 -2/-2 x/x/o [5/4/20] ------------ I hardly ever use this move since low strong is just better all around. Also, the animation of this move is very misleading. Iori's entire foot doesn't have an active hitbox on it, making the move a lot shorter than it looks. Its actual range is nearly identical to Iori's low short, which is a lot better move to use in more situations. -Low roundhouse 1300 DN/-16 x/x/x [9/4/36] --------------- In my opinion, use of the low roundhouse is what makes or breaks an Iori user. The move is usually essential to get in against an opponent with good defense since you can't always rely on low jumping, rolling, or guard crushing your way in. How is the move used? Well the best application of the move would be to punish a whiffed move that you baited out. The less recommended use would be to catch somebody standing from roughly 1/3rds screen distance away. This works most often against footsie-reliant characters like Chun Li or Cammy since they're generally never crouching unless you're right next to them. The move has tremendous recovery, meaning throwing it out without being SURE it's going to hit will certainly be the death of you. At max distance it's generally safe if blocked, but most any level 3 super will punish it fairly easily. If it's whiffed, well... you're gonna get hurt. Bad. A connected roundhouse rewards you with the all-important knockdown that insures Iori's way in. After a successful low roundhouse you can either walk forward a bit and go for cross up/non-cross up roll mix ups, or run forward a bit and go for a jumping cross up. An opponent that tech rolls the low roundhouse is impossible to punish, unfortunately, so the best thing to do if this happens is to throw a jab fireball and run after it. 7/5/03 - SOMETIMES you can punish a tech-rolled low roundhouse with another run-up low roundhouse. Doesn't really work if the first low roundhouse was at the absolute max distance, though, and it works a lot better on big characters. Try to low roundhouse tech rolls on reaction, rather than guessing. However, of all the times that I've whiffed a low roundhouse against an opponent who didn't tech roll, I don't recall being punished for it once. In fact, I've hit several uppercuts on people who've tried to punish it. Hrmm... to be safe, though, I'd recommend RC rekka'ing instead of doing uppercuts after the whiffed low roundhouse. -Jumping jab 600 [3/22] ------------ NOTE: All of Iori's straight up jump moves are the same as his jumping forward/ backwards moves. I don't use this personally, but I've seen many good Iori users use this as their preferred jump in. It has pretty good priority and sticks out for a long time, too. Low jumping and immediately pressing jab is an overhead on every character in the game, but you might as well use jumping strong if you're gonna do that. 7/5/03 - This probably Iori's best option if you want to jump directly on top of your opponent's head. Jumping roundhouse and strong also work well for that purpose, but I've noticed that this move beats a lot of anti-airs meant to hit directly above the opponent's head. Use this when jumping on an opponent in the corner. -Jumping strong 900 [4/7] --------------- Probably Iori's highest priority jump in, also a decent air to air due to its high speed. Range is a little lacking, though. Low jumping and immediately pressing strong is also an instant overhead on every character in the game. Do it while jumping backwards to make it safer. Low jumping forward and hitting strong gives the overhead surprising range, though; you can still connect it after doing three low shorts. 6/13/03 - Dunno why I didn't add this before, but low jumping BACKWARDS and doing overhead strong still works, and is a whole lot safer. You do have to be quite a bit closer, though. It works after doing one jab/short. -Jumping fierce 1300 [11/3] --------------- Iori's highest damage jump in, so this is the one to use when your opponent is dizzy. It comes out painfully slow, but not slow enough so that you can use it for fakes to land a Scum Gale. -Jumping short 500 [4/22] -------------- I don't think I've ever used this move before. It sticks out for while so I guess it would make for a decent pre-emptive air to air. -Jumping forward 900 [5/10] ---------------- Pretty much the exact same thing as jumping short. I don't like the angle of these two moves... too straight forward. This is an overhead on Sagat-sized characters but I don't see why you'd want to use this instead of jumping strong. When used as overheads the ranges on the two moves are almost identical. -Jumping roundhouse 1200 [7/8] ------------------- This is the move I press 90% of the time. Has a good degree of priority, speed and air coverage. Pretty good range, too. When low jumping this is really the only move to use since you should never low jump in range to use the jumping strong. 6/13/03 - Since Iori's jump doesn't have a lot of horizontal range sometimes you can actually pressure an opponent with repeated jumping/low jumping roundhouses to work the guard bar. Even though it doesn't look it, for some reason I'm told that Iori's jumping roundhouses are difficult to uppercut. --------------- COMMAND NORMALS --------------- -Geshiki Yumebiki [f+strong (strong -> f+strong] ----------------- 800 -8/-8 x/o/o [8/7/24] One of the most useful command normals in the game, this gives Iori his best long range bufferable move. F+strong into a fierce rekka is great for guard crush, and can also be used to punish moves from a distance such as a blocked Chun Li super or Cammy uppercut (you have to run forward a bit for the latter). Also, if you can't risk getting close enough to guard break somebody with close fierce into jab uppercut you can try doing f+strong into Running Grab which does the exact same amount of guard damage. It's not a combo, though, so you CAN be punished for it. I've used it quite a few times and have never once seen it avoided, though. Another nice thing about guard breaking with Running Grab is that it leaves you at the perfect distance to guard break with a BUFFERABLE far standing fierce, which is Iori's most damaging bufferable move. You can also punish a blocked Blanka Ball with a kara cancelled f+strong into fierce rekka kens, but it's a bit too hard to be practical. Just run up and low roundhouse instead. Something to be aware of, if you do f+strong into rekka or Running Grab and your opponent happens to jump when you do the f+strong, your rekka or Running Grab will not juggle and your opponent will land out of the air and be able to do a free combo. Since opponents jump up and down against Iori quite often this happens a bit more than I would like. -Geshiki Kofun In "Shinagami" [f+forward] ----------------------------- 1000 +0/+0 x/x/x [33/3/17] One of the worst manual overheads in fighting game history. It's so slow the game should reward you with a guaranteed dizzy if you ever hit with the move. The only use for this move is for CC resets, but this FAQ is about N-Iori so I won't go into those. -Geshiki Yuriori [(in air) b+short] ---------------- 500 [5/12] NOTE: unlike in KOF, inputs for command normals don't switch when you cross up an opponent in CvS2. Hold back in the diretion Iori jumped from and you will always get this move, regardless of the side you end up on. Iori's one and only cross up. Highly useful since Iori's objective is to get into point blank range, and cross ups accomplish just that. Unfortunately, the move will never produce an ambiguous cross up; the opponent always has to block in the other direction. Another negative point: Iori's jump has very little horizontal range... the max range you can successfully cross up at is the tip of Iori's standing strong. That can sometimes be a difficult range to establish except after a knockdown. Other than crossing up, the only other use for this move is as a fake. For example, jump at the front of your opponent, hit b+short which whiffs, then go low or grab him. Ghetto? Definitely. But it does work from time to time. Something to remember, Iori's b+short is exactly that: a short. It doesn't produce much hit stun when it hits, so doing low shorts after a b+short won't always combo. Close jab WILL combo 95% of the time, though, so use that instead. It's not like Iori has very good high/low mix ups after the cross up anyway. The b+short has a lot of range, somewhat reminiscient of Gen's Mantis-style jumping forward in the Alpha series. You can use that in conjuction with Iori's limited horizontal range on his jumps to immediately cross up an opponent again after you've just crossed them up. If you're feeling really spunky, you can go for a THIRD cross up if you want. Again, I wouldn't recommend crossing up more than once since the b+short hardly does any stun or guard damage. The main reason behind crossing up more than once would be to confuse your opponent (and then quickly mix it up with a grab or low short attempt) or to try to elicit a response from them like jumping. 6/13/03 - Something I just started doing, but hitting b+short REALLY late in your jump will sometimes get your opponent to block low, or if you jumped WAY past them, walk right into your cross up. It comes out really fast and hits from pretty far away, so you can press it almost right before you hit the ground. Makes for a pretty decent mix up. ------ THROWS ------ Sakahagi (punch throw) -------- Damage - 1800 Range - 52 pixels [3/1/13] Damage and range are standard among throws. After the throw you can run and go for a jumping cross up, but I would recommend running a bit and rolling instead. The side Iori ends up on looks totally ambiguous. One of the most ambiguous roll cross ups in the game, actually. If the opponent tech rolls there isn't much you can do about it unless he's in the corner, so again, just throw a jab fireball and run after it. Unfortunately, this throw resets the opponent's stun meter, and does not let Iori take advantage of the 2nd player corner cross up glitch (none of Iori's moves do). Sakahagi (kick throw) (yes, it's the same name. What do you expect? It's -------- pretty much the exact same throw!) Damage - 2000 Range - 52 pixels [5/1/13] Exact same as above except that it's a kick throw, meaning higher damage, slower speed, harder for opponent to break out of. Kuzukaze (AKA Scum Gale) -------- hcb,f+any punch Damage - 0 Range - 52 pixels [8/1/32] Listed here for ease of comparison, the specifics of this move are written in detail in the 'special moves' section. ------------- ALPHA COUNTER ------------- (added 6/13/03, I forgot to add this in the original!) Actually, I'm writing this at school and I don't know the exact stats of the Iori's alpha counter off the top of my head, so I'll add this in my next revision. 7/5/03 - As promised, here it is: Counter Attack -------------- 300x2 DN/-42 [4{3/9}48] invul [4 full/12 feet] Iori's counter attack (alpha counter) is a weaker, less invincible version of his strong uppercut. I generally don't use this much, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Iori's main objective is to establish point blank range, most often accomplished by knocking the opponent down with a move that lets Iori get near the opponent before they get up. This is perfect for that! Not only is it a near-effortless way to reverse momentum back into your favor, it also sets up a roll cross up beautifully! Before I wrote this guide, I generally only used Alpha Counters to avoid guard break and when blocking safe Alpha Counters like Rolento's and Blanka's. By Alpha Countering their Alpha Counter you regain momentum AND put your opponent on his back with hardly any guard bar left. For the most part, though, I used Iori's excellent Counter Roll instead with great results. DON'T use Iori's Alpha Counter against jump-ins and jabs/shorts. Your opponent will be able to block the majority of the time. That can possibly cost you the match, as you just gave your opponent a free combo, lost a super, AND lost a huge chunk of your guard bar! Against opponents who have the ability to tech roll, you can easily run a tiny bit and punish the tech roll with a low roundhouse. ------------ COUNTER ROLL ------------ (added 7/5/03) Counter Movement ---------------- Horizontal Distance: 132 pixels Length: 29 frames (27 fully invincible, last 2 frames fully vulnerable) All Counter Rolls have the exact same stats as their normal counterparts, except for the obvious meter and guard bar penalties. An often over-looked yet very powerful tool Iori has (even by myself), Iori's roll also makes for the best Counter Roll in the game also. So how is a Counter Roll used properly? Well, the main use for them would be to punish otherwise safe sequences, such as Sagat doing low fierce into low tiger super. You block the low fierce, see the super flash, then mash Counter Roll on reaction AFTER seeing the super flash. Free combo! (well, it costed one meter) Aside from supers, you can also use it with a little bit of anticipation on things like Guile's low strong into Sonic Boom or Ryu's low fierce into fireball. Also, you can use Counter Rolls to punish things that are safe only if done at a distance, like say Hibiki's slashes or (if you're REALLY fast) Sagat's standing forward. Even if you Counter Roll something and don't have enough time to get a free hit, most often your opponent will freeze and try to block whatever you do. Counter Roll into Scum Gale! ------------- SPECIAL MOVES ------------- -Hyakuhachishiki Yamibarai (AKA fireball) -------------------------- qcf+any punch jab: 800 -12/-12 [12|45] strong: 900 -12/-12 [12|45] fierce: 1000 -12/-12 [12|45] As far as ground fireballs go, Iori's is the second best in the game. That's not really saying much, though, since ground fireballs as a whole really suck and are vastly inferior to conventional air-based fireballs. Unfortunately, Iori's fireball is a very necessary tool for him, both as a footsie tool and as a means to get in. 3/4ths to full screen away throw a jab fireball and run after it to get in. 2/5ths to half screen away use it as a footsie tool. Any closer and you should never use it. NEVER buffer a fireball off of a normal move. Your opponent can easily roll on reaction and kill you. Also, since varying ground fireball speeds really doesn't get you anywhere, always throw jab fireballs since those you can follow easily. The other two speeds are unnecessary to the way Iori plays. One of the main reasons that Iori is dependant on his fireball is because CvS2 is a game where you cannot walk backwards if there is something on the screen you can block. Meaning, if Iori throws his fireball and runs after it, his opponent cannot keep his distance by walking backwards as he will go into his blocking animation. This is a very handy tool, especially when fighting characters who walk backwards stupidly fast like Vega, Cammy and Chun Li. The fact that the fireball is so essential to Iori and that it's a ground fireball is really bad. Characters that can easily punish ground fireballs like Bison, Blanka or Honda all give Iori a really hard time. RCing the fireball doesn't really make a difference either, since you never want to do the fireball up close, and if you RC it from far away the invincibility is gone by the time your opponent reaches you with a Psycho Crusher or Blanka Ball or whatever. Bleh. -Hyakushiki Oniyaki (AKA uppercut) ------------------- dp+any punch jab: 1700 DN/-33 [4/10/38] Invul [4 full/10 lower] strong: 1800 DN/-42 [4{3|9}48] Invul [7 full/9 feet] fierce: 2000 DN/-51 [4{2/2/5}59] Invul [6 full/7 feet] Well, it's an uppercut. Fills all the basic criteria for an uppercut; invincible, un-airblockable (when timed deep) anti-air, beats pretty much any move on the ground also. Like most uppercuts in the game you always want to use the fierce version for anti-air and jab version to hit ground moves. Iori's uppercut has a lot of horizontal range, which is good since you can anti-air jumps from farther away, but also bad since you'll go right past jumps that are right on top of your head. At 4 frames, it's a little too slow to punish certain supers like Sagat's level 3 hotfoot super or Sakura level 1 kick super, but it still gets the job done for the most part. (6/13/03 EDIT): Even though the frame data suggests that it's impossible, you actually CAN punish Sagat's level 3 hotfoot super with Iori's uppercut. Nice! The fierce uppercut's damage is above average at 2000, which also results in a good 20 stun points, the most stun out of any of Iori's moves. If you want to go for the dizzy and have the presence of mind, end your combos with a fierce uppercut rather than rekka kens... it's only 200 damage less. Speaking of combos, this is the move to do after a low jump hits. A simple low jump roundhouse into fierce uppercut combo does 3200 damage and 32 stun points... that's half of the way to a dizzied opponent right there. -Nihyakujuunishiki Kototsuki In (AKA Running Grab, capitalized so that there's ------------------------------- no confusion) hcb+any kick short: 1800 DN/-18 [5/32/12] forward: 1900 DN/-18 [5/48/12] roundhouse: 2000 DN/-18 [5/64/12] contact: [4/5/29] 7/5/03 - The above frame data for the three button strengths represent what happens if Iori never makes contact with the enemy. For example, a roundhouse whiffed Running Grab has 5 frames start up, runs for 64 frames, then has 12 frame recovery. If at any time during those 64 frames of running Iori makes contact with his opponent, he then takes 4 frames for his arm to whip around, which has an active hitbox for 5 frames, and has a 29 frame recovery. Whew! Writing and explaining frame data isn't easy! Most of the time I wish this move simply didn't exist, since 90% of the times I use it is totally on accident screwing up the command for RC rekka kens. As the -18 frame disadvantage tells you, this move isn't anywhere near safe if blocked. It's also very vulnerable if the move whiffs completely also, unlike Kyo's. It does have its tactical uses, though. As stated above, the move does almost the exact same amount of guard bar damage as a jab uppercut (if you don't know, that's a lot), so if your opponent's guard bar is flashing and you can't get close enough to do a fierce into jab uppercut to guard break you can do f+strong into Running Grab instead. And again, guard breaking with a Running Grab just happens to leave you at the perfect distance to get a damaging far fierce into rekka kens. Another use for this move is to chip somebody to death. If you're not within fierce uppercut range to chip somebody (fierce uppercut does 325 points of chip damage), the next best option is to f+strong into Running Grab, as that does 300 chip damage. 2 Rekka kens only do 200 damage, and a fireball does 100. 300 damage from the running grab is enough to insure that you never fall victim to the "Magic Pixel" that has claimed many a player. RCing the move can be useful from time to time, like when you REALLY need that chip damage to kill the opponent but can't find a way to f+strong them, or to punish somebody buffering moves into a fireball. You could theoretically use an RC Running Grab as an anti-air from afar, but I wouldn't recommend it since the move comes out pretty slow. -Hyakunijuunanashiki Aoihana (AKA rekka kens) ---------------------------- qcb+any punch 1st hit: 400/500/600, -5/-5 [12/4/29] 2nd hit: 400/500/600, DN/-13 [12/4/37] 3rd hit: 800/900/1000, DN/-33 [16/8/40] THere's a 25 frame window to cancel the first rekka into the second rekka. From the second to third hit there's a 27 frame window to cancel. The different damage numbers correspond to different button strengths. Outside of its obvious use in combos, the rekka ken doesn't have much use. Start RCing it, though, and you have a different beast entirely. The result is a high priority (invincible, even), high damage (2200 if you get all 3), long range (Iori's longest ranged move, farther than his standing/low roundhouses) poke that enables Iori to compete with the Sagats and Cammys of the world. The catch? The move carries a ton of risk behind it. As much as a fireball, even. The move is most easily punished by either a straight up jump (which results in a full jump in combo since Iori conveniently moves right under them) or a well timed roll. The move can also be baited into whiffing and then easily punished also. As if that weren't enough, the move isn't even totally safe if blocked! As you can see from the data above, the move carries a -5 frame disadvantage, enough for a few characters to get a low forward combo in. However, the move is mostly safe if blocked around max distance, though. You can actually punish attempts to hit a well-ranged RC rekka ken with... another RC rekka ken! DO NOT fall into the habit of doing RC rekka ken, then another RC rekka ken, though. It's killed me more times than I care to remember. If your rekka ken is rolled through, try to get away from the opponent by doing the second and third rekkas. This works well if you're in the middle of field, but if you're opponent was in the corner you're not going anywhere. So given all those ways to punish the move, how does Iori go about using the RC rekka without getting killed? The first step is to punish your opponents attempts to stop the rekka ken; anti-airing straight up jumps with either standing roundhouse or a super, punishing rolls with Iori's easy assortment of damaging rekka ken combos. The second step is to try to not fall into patterns; even if you punish every single random straight up jump or roll that your opponent does you will still get killed if you fall into the habit of RC rekka ken'ing in the same situations every time. Once you've got your opponent grounded and playing the ground game with you, THEN you can throw in the RC rekka kens every now and then. The second and third rekka kens are obviously very unsafe, so do not continue the series unless you SEE the first one hit. Luckily doing the first rekka ken and then reacting to whether it was blocked or not is pretty easy, just watch your opponent's sprite and then continue if you see the sprite flinch. Aside from its usefulness as a powerful footsie tool, I also use the RC rekka ken to pressure fallen opponents in the corner, since you cannot cross them up with your rolls or jumps like you normally can. Meaty RC rekka ken (done from a good distance) is almost totally safe for the most part. If the opponent wakes up and does anything besides block he gets hit. This conditions the opponent to not wake up with uppercuts or supers, which in turn lets you do Iori's powerful mix ups on rising opponents. You can punish an opponent tech rolling rekka kens by running forward a bit and doing f+strong into rekka kens. It's great when you get it but it's a little difficult. People who get hit by that usually never tech hit again, though. Heh. After knocking an opponent down with the rekka kens you can either run forward a bit and superjump for the b+forward cross up, or run forward a bit and roll to cross up. For the most part the second option is better since it's really dificult for your opponent to wake up with an uppercut since the cross up happens so fast. However, doing a super jump cross up every now and then is recommended to keep your opponent on his toes with some cross up b+short into Scum Gale set ups. 6/13/03 - Unlike most cross-up setups, since Iori's rekkas have a good deal of recovery, the cross up b+short after a connected rekka series isn't meaty. In fact, your opponent has time to jump before you hit the b+short. C-Groove can air block it and land safely far enough away to be out of Iori's mix up range, but other grooves take the hit and bounce, allowing you to throw a meaty jab fireball they have to land on which also covers your run-in. That's even worse than blocking the cross up, so most non-C-Groove players will just get up and block the cross up. If you are playing against C-Groove, just do the roll mix-ups. Another thing to add about the b+short cross up on wake up, it's a lot more difficult to uppercut than other cross ups. Since Iori crosses you up late you cannot do the normal f,df,d,db method for cross up uppercuts. You have to actually wait till the last second and input the uppercut command in the other direction. 6/13/03 - Something to keep in mind: If you roll after knocking the opponent down with rekka kens and end up in FRONT of your opponent, you have a slight advantage since your roll ended just before your opponent gets up. However, if the roll ends up BEHIND the opponent, the opponent can actually throw you for free since it takes a bit longer to get to that distance. Mix it up. If you end up in front of your opponent and he's mashing on throw, you can easily get counter hit jabs/shorts into a combo. 6/13/03 - Something I forgot to add. Iori's rekkas (as well as Kyo's) do very little stun damage. A full triple-hit series gets you 2200 damage, but only does 9 stun damage on the opponent. This is one of the few moves that is the exception to CvS2's "stun = damage/100" rule. Man. That's a lot written about one move. It's a necessary move, though. It's like Iori's missing link. -Kuzukaze (AKA Scum Gale) --------- hcb,f+any punch Damage - 0 Range - 52 pixels [8/1/32] NOTE: 12 frame window given after a successful grab The move that makes Iori truly scary when up close. By the numbers you wouldn't think the throw is that good; it's really slow, range is the same as any normal throw, it's nearly impossible to RC... but when you account for the fact that by landing this grab you get anywhere from 3400 damage to 6560 it presents a huge scare factor for the opponent whenever Iori gets in close. A whiffed grab has a pretty long lag, so an opponent jumping straight up out of the grab can usually punish you pretty hard. A connected grab automatically switches sides with the opponent, so you might want to think about that before grabbing a cornered opponent. Personally? I'll choose a grab over a positional advantage every time. Since the grab doesn't do any damage, it also doesn't retain your opponent's stun meter. However, if you add a tick before the grab your subsequent combo WILL add to the stun meter. Another thing to think about before grabbing an opponent. One of the best tactical uses of the Scum Gale is to grab opponents who like to wake up with reversal RC moves. As we all know, RC moves can be grabbed in the first few frames. Start your Scum Gale a bit before they get up and you'll grab them out of their reversal RC every time. The distance a successful grab leaves you at is kind of quirky. It's close enough so that you can get a close fierce/roundhouse, but far enough to get far jabs/shorts. I didn't even know those two move sets had different distance requirements until writing this faq. -_- Anyway, Scum Gale distance leaves you with a few combo options. If you don't have a super I would always do close fierce into fierce rekka kens. It only does 58 less points of damage than the strong -> f+strong chain and is a lot easier to time. If you DO have a level 3 ready to use then you the most practical combos are strong -> f+strong chain into super or standing jab, jab, short super. The latter is easier to time and does about 200 less damage. You might think that getting the strong after grab is really easy but trust me, you WILL mess it up eventually. Sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry. 6/13/03 - The range of the grab is 52 pixels, which is the range of any normal throw in the game. This means whenever you're in range to Scum Gale the opponent, they can also grab you by mashing on throw. In fact, the opponent's throw will win the exchange every time almost. This makes it essential to mix up the grab with close jabs/low shorts. Jabs and shorts will beat anything an opponent tries to do to counter the grab (not uppercuts or supers, obviously), including jumping straight up. It takes a few frames for a jump to leave the ground, so when they try it your jab/short hits them while they're still on the ground, allowing you to combo them. Anyway, back to the range thing, 52 pixels is just long enough to grab them after ticking the opponent with ONE close jab. No further. ------ SUPERS ------ -Urahyakuhachishiki Yasakazuki (AKA pillar super, wine cups, waste of meter) ------------------------------ qcb,hcf+punch level 1: 800 DN/-15 [4:22|50] level 2: 800 DN/+29 [4:22|50] level 3: 800 DN/+29 [4:22|50] NOTE: this super can be delayed by holding down the punch button. If the super hits (good luck) it does 200 damage per second for 3-5 seconds depending on level. Can be mashed out of, though. Do yourself a favor. Don't use this super. Your other characters can make much better use of the meter. It's ONE questionable use is to chip somebody to death (that doesn't have a level 2/3 ready) with a level 3 pillar super from full screen. If they block it it does 400 points of chip, if they roll you should be able to punish it. However, since Iori is best used as a battery and placed first in the lineup I wouldn't advise doing this. 7/5/03 - During a recent tourney, I saw a SoCal player who went by Hung Bee (sp?) do a fairly interesting set up involving the lv1 pillar super. If he ever connected with the 1st and 2nd rekka kens in the corner, he would let his opponent drop and immediately do a lv1 pillar super. The super would hit really meaty when the opponent got up, getting you a free mix up of your choice. Me? Personally I would get the guaranteed damage from the 3rd rekka ken (1000 pts) and just do normal opponent wake-up mix ups and save the super. If I wanted to discourage an opponent from waking up with an uppercut I'd do an RC rekka. Still, it's in interesting and inventive set up that I might steal every now and then to mix things up. -Sansennihyakujuuichishiki Yaotome (AKA super, rush super, combo super) ---------------------------------- qcf,hcb+punch level 1: 2200 DN/-10 [4:8/8/33] Invul [8 full/ 12 upper] level 2: 3700 DN/-10 [4:8/24/33] Invul [14 full/22 upper] level 3: 5000 DN/-10 [4:8/40/33] Invul [22 full/30 upper] Your basic all-purpose super; functions as anti-air, anti-fireball, anti-poke, works in combos. There's a few unique things about it, though: the upper body invincibility granted to the move give it the ability to punish fireballs from much farther away. Other supers run out of invincibility if you do it too early, and if you wait long enough to go through the fireball the opponent has usually recovered already. The upper body invincibility also makes ths move great for punishing straight up jumps, even at level 1. 6/13/03 - If you try to anti-air with the super and your opponent didn't press anything they will be able to land and block it every time. Fortunately most people never jump up and down without pressing anything, and if they do you can just standing roundhouse them instead. Something to think about vs P and K grooves, though. On the down side, the super's damage is pretty low. Level 1 damage is the same as a set of fierce rekka kens, so you should only use level 1's as straight up jump anti-air. Level 3 damage is a below-average 5000. Not earth shattering, but still enough to warrant its use. One should note that a connected level 3 super switches sides with the opponent also. The range on the level 1 version of the super isn't nearly as long as you'd think it is. It's roughly the same range as a fierce rekka. Luckily, that's well within the range to hit Sagats, Blankas and Bisons jumping up and down. The range on the level 3 is obviously a lot better, and it has an added benefit: When you're throwing fireballs as a footsie tool and your opponent jumps straight up over it, sometimes when you try to anti-air their straight up jump with a level 3 they get pushed BACK into the fireball they just jumped over. This not only makes the super safe, it gives you frame advantage AND puts you right into point blank range for a free mix-up. Doesn't happen EVERY time your opponent jumps over your fireball, though. It's kinda random. =/ Whenever you hit with the level 1 super you get a free roll cross-up that's one of the most ambiguous out of all of Iori's set ups. Also, your opponent can't tech roll to safety since you can't tech roll supers. Run forward about half a second and roll. TOTALLY ambiguous. Makes up for the measly 2200 damage pretty well... justifying the use of a meter. Iori gets meter fast anyway. Unfortunately, hitting with a level 3 doesn't set up much of anything since your opponent is thrown really far away and Iori doesn't recover until the opponent is almost fully standing. Just throw a jab fireball as they're getting up and run after it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- QUICK REFERENCE FRAME DATA LIST ------------------------------- (added 7/5/03) Close standing jab 400 +7/+7 o/o/o [2/4/6] Far standing jab 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [2/4/8] Standing strong 800 -5/-5 x/o/o [7/3/25] Close standing fierce 1200 +0/+0 x,x/o [3/6/24] Far standing fierce 1300 -5/-5 x,x/o [7/5/26] Close standing short 500 +3/+3 x/o/o [3/4/10] Far standing short 500 +3/+3 x/x/o [6/6/8] Standing forward 1000 -6/-6 x/x/o [6/3/26] Close standing roundhouse 1400 +3/+3 x/x/o [6/3/21] Far standing roundhouse 1300 -2/-2 x/x/x [9/7/22] Low jab 300 +3/+3 o/o/o [3/4/8] Low strong 900 +5/+5 x/o/o [4/6/9] Low fierce 1100 -1/-1 x/o/o [4/5/20] Low short 200 +5/+5 o/o/o [4/4/8] Low forward 800 -2/-2 x/x/o [5/4/20] Low roundhouse 1300 DN/-16 x/x/x [9/4/36] Jumping jab 600 [3/22] Jumping strong 900 [4/7] Jumping fierce 1300 [11/3] Jumping short 500 [4/22] Jumping forward 900 [5/10] Jumping roundhouse 1200 [7/8] Geshiki Yumebiki [f+strong (strong -> f+strong)] 800 -8/-8 x/o/o [8/7/24] Geshiki Kofun In "Shinagami" [f+forward] 1000 +0/+0 x/x/x [33/3/17] Geshiki Yuriori [(in air) b+short] 500 [5/12] Punch throw 1800 - 52 pixel range [3/1/13] Kick throw 2000 - 52 pixel range [5/1/13] Kuzukaze (AKA Scum Gale) 0 - 52 pixel range [8/1/32] Fireball jab: 800 -12/-12 [12|45] strong: 900 -12/-12 [12|45] fierce: 1000 -12/-12 [12|45] Uppercut jab: 1700 DN/-33 [4/10/38] Invul [4 full/10 lower] strong: 1800 DN/-42 [4{3|9}48] Invul [7 full/9 feet] fierce: 2000 DN/-51 [4{2/2/5}59] Invul [6 full/7 feet] Running Grab short: 1800 DN/-18 [5/32/12] forward: 1900 DN/-18 [5/48/12] roundhouse: 2000 DN/-18 [5/64/12] contact: [4/5/29] Rekka Kens 1st hit: 400/500/600, -5/-5 [12/4/29] 2nd hit: 400/500/600, DN/-13 [12/4/37] 3rd hit: 800/900/1000, DN/-33 [16/8/40] Scum Gale 0 - 52 pixel range [8/1/32] Pillar Super level 1: 800 DN/-15 [5:22|50] level 2: 800 DN/+29 [5:22|50] level 3: 800 DN/+29 [5:22|50] Rush Super level 1: 2200 DN/-10 [4:8/8/33] Invul [8 full/ 12 upper] level 2: 3700 DN/-10 [4:8/24/33] Invul [14 full/22 upper] level 3: 5000 DN/-10 [4:8/40/33] Invul [22 full/30 upper] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================= 3. COMBOS YOU SHOULD KNOW ========================= NOTE: I'm not going to go and list every single Iori combo here. I'm just going to list the practical ones you should use in certain situations to help you win. Again, this is an N-Groove Iori guide. No custom combos here. - Low short x3, fierce rekka kens (2758 dmg) The most basic, yet most often used Iori combo. It has everything you need; a quick starter in low short, hits low, easy to do, good damage. Decrease the number of shorts if you're farther away. A rekka ken will still combo off of a max range low short. - Close jab, close fierce, fierce rekka kens (3800) This is the combo to do if your opponent gives you a fairly big opening like a whiffed uppercut. The link from close jab to close fierce is brain dead easy and is the most practical high damage combo in almost any given situation. - Low strong, low strong, fierce rekka kens (4000) Another big damage combo, this one off of low strong. Again, the link isn't particularly hard, but it isn't easy enough to do 100% either. Counter hit/meaty low strongs make it easy, though, and you hit with low strong enough to think about trying to get the maximum possible damage from it. If you're not comfortable with the low strong link, do low strong into standing jab instead. That's a 3400 damage combo. - Low short x2, standing short, level 3 super (6080) Not the most damaging level 3 combo, but it starts low and is really easy. Besides, Iori hits those low shorts pretty often. - Close jab, standing jab x2, standing short, level 3 super (6800) The best combination of damage and practicality when comboing a level 3 super. It's really easy to do: 3 jabs, qcf+short, hcb+punch and you're golden. - Close jab, close roundhouse, level 3 super (7160) Iori's most damaging ground super combo. The link from close jab to close roundhouse is a one frame link, so I wouldn't advise trying this unless you really need the extra damage. The best way to do this combo without messing up is jab, qcf+roundhouse, hcb+punch. - (in air) cross up b+short, close jab, close fierce, fierce rekka kens (4258) It might seem kinda anal-retentive to list this combo, but its just to remind people that Iori's close jab is far more consistent comboing off of the b+short cross up than anything else. - Jumping roundhouse, close fierce, fierce rekka kens (4600) Simple. Iori's best jump in combo. If the opponent is dizzy jump in with fierce instead for 100 more damage. - Jumping roundhouse, standing jab x2, standing short, level 3 (7760) Iori's best jump in super combo in terms of damage and practicality. - Jumping roundhouse, close roundhouse, level 3 (8120) Iori's most damaging combo. I wouldn't recommend doing it in a tournament though, since the close roundhouse gives you plenty of ways to mess up. Best way to do the is combo is: jumping roundhouse, qcf+roundhouse, hcb+punch. - Jumping roundhouse, close fierce, fierce uppercut (4400) Sacfrifice 200 damage points for 11 more stun points... a pretty good trade in my opinion. To get this combo to work the jumping roundhouse must hit slightly high... otherwise you won't get all the hits of the uppercut. - Scum Gale, close fierce, fierce rekka kens (3400) The basic grab combo with no meter. Don't try to add more damage to it because I guarantee you you'll mess it up a lot more often than you'd like. - Scum Gale, standing strong -> f+strong, level 3 super (6560) The basic grab super combo. Pretty easy, but still screw up-able. - Scum Gale, standing jab x2, standing short, level 3 super (6320) 200 less damage, but much easier to execute with consistency. On skinnier characters you may need to walk forward a tiny bit, but it's still easier to get every time than the strong -> f+strong chain combo in my opinion. - Scum Gale, walk up a bit and close fierce into fierce uppercut (3200) Works best on fat characters, you should use this if you're going for a dizzy. 32 stun points is quite nice. - Low jump roundhouse, standing jab x2, fierce rekka kens (3958) Iori's 2 frame jabs make comboing off of low jumps easier than with most characters. I wouldn't risk it and would just combo an uppercut instead, though. Does more stun damage anyway. - Low jump roundhouse, fierce uppercut (3200) Self explanatory combo, but this is the one you should be doing off of your low jumps. 32 stun points! - Low jump roundhouse, level 3 super (6440) Again, self explanatory. It isn't as easy as you would think, though. I guess Iori's super is a little slow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================== 4. SCUM GALE SET UPS ==================== A whole section for these? Well, yeah. Without this move Iori wouldn't be half as deadly when he's up close. Also, opponents squirming to escape the grab will give you lots of counter-hit jabs/shorts. -Close jab, grab This is the best set up for a few reasons: theoretically, the frame advantage of the close jab makes it impossible for your opponent to hit or throw you out of the scum gale. Second, you can mix it up with walk up jab jab low short while still under the protection of the close jab's frame advantage for one of the deadliest 50/50 mix ups in the game. If your opponent tries ANYTHING to counter the throw besides an uppercut or a super, your walk-up jab jab short counters it and you get a nice, damaging fierce rekka combo. If it's blocked, unfortunately Iori's slow walking speed prevents him from easily getting all the way back in to grab range... you'll have to work your way back in again. 6/13/03 - Actually, you CAN be hit or thrown out of a close jab tick into Scum Gale. Unlike older Capcom games, in CvS2 you cannot throw the opponent the first few frames he leaves guardstun, much like an opponent waking up. Need proof? Try to do close jab into Scum Gale as fast as you can without actually buffering the jab. You'll get a whiffed jab every time. To successfully grab the opponent you'll need to slow it down slightly and leave a tiny gap. However, the gap is fairly small, small enough so that an opponent mashing something to get out will at least have to time it well. I've heard many complaints from grabbed opponents saying that they were mashing jab or throw, but still got grabbed. -opponent waking up, grab this works best after you condition your opponent with meaty RC rekka kens. Since the only way to avoid getting hit by RC rekka kens is to block, it perfectly lends itself to this set up. Mix up with low shorts, which will punish almost everything your opponent tries to avoid the grab. This works especiallly well against P and K grooves. -cross up b+short, grab This makes the short stun of the B+short work FOR you since you can grab your opponent pretty much immediately upon landing. It's a pretty smooth transition and will catch almost anybody by surprise. Mix this up with landing with close jab, which if blocked is ANOTHER set up for the grab. -low short, grab another basic tick into the grab, this works because the opponent always expects you to do 3 shorts whenever he sees the first one. The +5 frame advantage doesn't hurt either. Mix up with low short, wait, low short x2. -empty low jump, grab To get this to work you usually have to condition your opponent first with empty low jumps into low shorts. Either way is a good mix up as long as you don't get hit out of the air. Works best if you jump over a move you can't quite punish in time with a low jump roundhouse. Also, empty low jump, low short, grab is pretty tricky if you can pull it off. -empty cross up, grab Works better if you stick out a move that doesn't cross up like jumping short. Inputting the command for the grab can be a little tricky; wait till after you've switched sides with the opponent and THEN start inputting the command for the grab. Mix this up with empty cross up into low shorts. -Jumping roundhouse, run up a bit, grab The huge frame advantage the jumping roundhouse gives you covers your run in, and from there you can mix up standing jabs or the grab. -Jab fireball, run after it, grab This is one of my favorites. If you run after a jab fireball and your opponent decides to block it you basically get a free move your opponent has to block since it's a block combo after the fireball. You can wait a bit and do low shorts or an RC rekka ken if they try to do something, and if they're just going to sit and block you can run all the way up to them and grab them. Very satisfying. 6/13/03 - A lot of people have trouble performing a Scum Gale while running. It's not that hard, really. You're already running, so just roll the stick around to back, then hit forward and punch at the same time. Is it that hard? -Cross up roll, grab This a powerful addition to cross up/non cross up roll games you do on opponent wake up. Since you often don't know what side you're going to end up on yourself, the easiest way to perform the motion for the grab is HCB as you're crossing up the opponent, then hit F,B+punch. Whether you cross up your opponent or not you'll still get the grab. If you mess up the command you'll get a normal grab which isn't that bad either... worst case scenario you might get a fireball, though. That's REALLY bad. This one takes a bit of practice to master, but it's really powerful tool for Iori... especially with his great roll. -6/13/03 - overhead low jump strong, land and grab Not the safest tactic, but is still useful if you incorporate the low jump strong overhead into your game. However, to get this to work you'll have to condition your opponent a few times with overhead into uppercut when you land, and that's not exactly safe either. Still, the mix-up is good to try on an opponent you can't seem to grab or get counter hit jabs out of. -6/13/03 - low jump jab, grab I never do this myself, but a number of people suggested I should. The reason I don't do this is because it's almost exactly like the overhead strong set up, but without an overhead. Low jump jab into grab looks pretty smooth, but an opponent mashing anything at all (which they will probably do seeing how it's just a jab) will interrupt the grab. So, you have to land with an uppercut a few times to condition your opponent. Again, not the safest thing to do. At least with the overhead set-up you get the surprise factor and the quasi-free damage from the overhead to offset the risk a little. -6/13/03 - power up, grab I generally only do this while the opponent is getting up, therefore making this pretty much exactly the same as the "opponent waking up, grab" mix up listed above. However, adding the power up not only lets you do a super combo after the grab, it has the added effect of "stunning" your opponent mentally for a second. Sometimes, anyway. Mix ups are exactly the same as the "wake up" ones... power up then grab, or power up then low short/close jab. -6/13/03 - whiff close roundhouse, grab A really goofy alternative to the above mix up, I've only done this once and it worked (I was actually TRYING to do a "power up, grab" mix up. You know the deal). Close roundhouse recovers deceptively fast and has a nice "what the hell" effect on your opponent since the move looks so weird. -6/13/03 - Cross up b+short, low jump cross up b+short, grab This is a little more fancy than I usually get, but it has a fairly good success rate if you use it in moderation. The second cross up is fast enough to surprise the opponent, but not fast enough so that they won't block it. However, a lot of times they'll be thrown off long enough for you to grab them after the second cross up. Mix it up with empty low jump cross up grab, empty low jump cross up low shorts, and low jump cross up b+short into jabs and you have a pretty potent attack sequence. Empty low jump cross up into grab works especially well but the grab is kind of tricky to pull off. Wait until you're ALL the way past the opponent and THEN start inputting the motion for the. Otherwise you'll get something bad like a point blank rekka ken or something. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========== 5. STRATEGY =========== A lot of Iori's main strategies were covered in the move list, but I guess I'll do it separately here for the sake of organization. -------------------------------------- RANGE 1: FULL SCREEN - 3/4THS DISTANCE -------------------------------------- This is easy. Throw a jab fireball and run after it. The most common reaction from the opponent is to jump straight up over the fireball. There are a number of counters to this depending on the timing of your opponent's jump: Too early: This happens quite a bit. Your opponent jumps up too early and is going to land on the fireball. It's pretty easy to tell when it's going to happen also. Run up to your opponent and roll when you get within range. If your opponent decides to stick out something on the way down your roll dodges it, they land on the fireball and get hit. Your roll conveniently puts you in the perfect position to combo off of the hit fireball. If your opponent wisely decides not to stick out anything on the way down from the jump, he lands and blocks the fireball. Your roll ends while your opponent is still in blockstun, and you've easily established the desired point blank range. Too late: Your opponent jumps right before the fireball was about to make contact. This gives you two main options: you can get directly under the jump and low fierce it for guaranteed damage, or you can walk behind the opponent to establish the point blank range and immediately do a mix up when your opponent lands. While it seems like the latter would always be the better option, a number of characters have good cross up moves from their straight up jumps that would foil your attempts to get behind them. Just right: Your opponent jumps at the perfect time, where you can't get under him in time to low fierce and he's also not going to land on the fireball. In this situation just uppercut while running. Since you're already holding forward on the stick all you have to do is roll the stick to d,df and hit the button. Low jumps would also fall into this category, but those are a lot harder to deal with. If your opponent is in a low jump groove and jumps really late, just be ready to uppercut as soon as he leaves the ground since none of the low jump grooves have the ability to air-block. Nobody really does this, but if your opponent decides to jump forward instead of straight up you can punish it with either one of Iori's anti-cross up moves or an uppercut depending on when the opponent jumped. Opponents who try to roll behind the fireball can be easily punished with a simple low short x3 into fierce rekka combo. Once you punish their attempts to avoid the fireball enough times, your opponent will most likely decide to sit tight and block the fireball. The block stun from the fireball lets you run all the way up to your opponent and easily establish the desired point blank range. If your opponent has an easy way to counter your attempts to throw a fireball from full screen like Bison or Blanka, just walk forward a bit to establish mid-range. The only character that can give anybody a problem establishing mid-range is Dhalsim, but nobody uses him so don't worry about that. -------------------- RANGE 2: HALF SCREEN -------------------- This is where you'll be spending most of your time. You can still throw a fireball and run after it here, but there are a few key differences: 1) Your opponent is in range to take counter measures to your fireball like jumping over it and killing you. 2) If your opponent decides to block the fireball, you still cannot run all the way up to him and start the point blank mix ups. To combo off of a mid-screen fireball you have to run up and do a max range f+strong. If you want to run closer you'll have to condition your opponent to not stick out anything by running up and doing RC rekkas. You can also go into "attacking mode" from here and actively try to earn yourself the knockdown or guard crush, whichever comes first. Even though you're bound to take a few hits here and there from attacking your opponent, it's often worth your while to at least make the attempt every now and then since Iori's game revolves around getting close to your opponent. The most basic thing to do is to run right at your opponent and mix it up. While running at your opponent try doing an RC rekka the moment you get into the range of the move your opponent is most likely to do, like say... Cammy's standing roundhouse or Blanka's low fierce. If it worked, great. You just scored yourself 2200 damage plus a knockdown. If it was blocked, you didn't really get anywhere but you're still okay. If it was punished, well... ouch. You either are being too predictable or you have to condition your opponent into not doing random rolls or jumps. Instead of running up to your opponent and doing an RC rekka, you might want to try simply rolling instead. Same basic effect but with a few differences: 1) If your opponent pressed something relatively quick like a low forward, RC rekkas would have punished it but a roll won't. 2) If your opponent jumps straight up or rolls, you're generally still safe. In some instances you can actually get a free hit on your opponent. 3) If the opponent doesn't press anything at all, you've automatically established point blank range. Congrats. 4) You can run a little closer and go for a cross up roll to try to confuse the opponent. A relatively risk-free thing to try is to run right outside your opponent's "twitch" range and stop yourself with standing jab. Watch your opponent's move whiff and low roundhouse him. If he didn't do anything, standing roundhouse to work the guard bar and try something else. Another thing to try is to WALK into your opponent's "twitch" range and low jump roundhouse. If your opponent hit a button, you either get a low jump roundhouse into fierce uppercut combo for lots of damage + stun + knockdown, or you simply get a blocked jumping roundhouse to accelerate the guard breaking process. If your opponent didn't press anything, you run the risk of getting hit out of the air... most of the time your jumping roundhouse will be blocked, though. If you feel like your opponent is actively looking for low jumps to uppercut you can simply do an empty low jump from your jumping roundhouse's max range and watch their uppercut whiff. Run in and kill accordingly. One of the riskier things attempts to get in is to run at your opponent and cross them up. If they stuck out something, great. You're right at point blank range. If they didn't stick out anything you're likely to get hit with a walk-back uppercut. You probably notice that all of these attacking options revolve around your opponent sticking out something. If you get your opopnent to totally turtle up with your attacking options you can either: a) run CLOSER to your opponent and do the same options, or b) use the opportunity to guard break your opponent. If a) isn't working, you can try to run even closer still (maybe even all the way up into point blank range) or play it safer and work the guard bar. Low jump roundhouse and standing roundhouse your opponent continually. Once your opponent's guard bar hits about 1/2 you'll probably elicit a response from him that you can try to counter. If you want to play it safe and not attack, opting to work the ground game instead, your offense revolves around 3 main moves: Standing roundhouse, RC fierce rekkas, and low roundhouse to punish whiffs. Usage of these moves was covered in the movelist; Standing roundhouse liberally against big characters, RC rekkas when you think they're gonna stick out something, low roundhouse to punish whiffs or catch your opponent standing. Small characters are a lot harder since you lose the usage of standing roundhouse completely and have to rely solely on RC rekkas and low roundhouse; two VERY risky moves. Unfortunately, all the good short characters also have very longe range (Chun Li, Cammy, Sakura), so getting closer to use your standing forward to replace the standing roundhouse isn't a very good option. My advice would be to keep faking the rekka kens and to react to whatever they try to do to punish it. If that's not working go ahead and throw in a rekka ken every now and then... if you get the hit you're rewarded with the big knockdown. If that's not working either I would try dashing back and either throwing a fireball and running after or faking a fireball and reacting to whatever they do. Against characters that grossly outrange you like Cammy or Vega you'll have to resort to using fireballs as a footsie tool. Get them to whiff their big long ranged move and throw a jab fireball. If they roll or jump you should be able to easily punish them, and if they block you have the option of running after the fireball to establish your desired range. -------------------------- RANGE 3: POINT BLANK RANGE -------------------------- Ah, the mecca. This is where your continual struggle against your opponent's defense gets you. Really, there isn't much strategy involved here; just pick from any of the throw set-ups and mix-ups listed above and go with them. I get a ton of mileage out of just using the close jab, grab mix ups and the opponent waking up grab mix ups, but I still use all the other ones sporadically to keep my opponents on their toes. Pretty much every mix-up is totally 50/50, except for opponents who like to uppercut. Baiting an uppercut gives you even more damage, though, so smart opponents won't be doing that too often. Since Iori's walking speed is very slow, messing up your mix up will usually result in you being pushed out of point blank range. Sometimes you can salvage it by doing the attacking options listed in the mid-range sections, but most often you have to suck it up and find another way back in. When I push myself out of the point blank range, I generally just do a low strong, standing roundhouse to continue working on the opponent's guard bar. On the upside, once you get in you have the potential to end the match quickly with a successful series of mix ups. Make them count! 6/13/03 - If you tried to do a jabs/shorts mix up and your opponent blocks it, you can still try to create a counter hit which will result in knocking your opponent down. Iori walks too slow to do walk up jabs/throw games effectively like Chun Li, but you can still try to salvage something out of the situation. After your opponent blocks your two jabs/shorts, wait a split second and then do a standing jab/low short/low strong into rekka. If your opponent pressed something, you just got a counter hit into rekka kens combo and scored a knockdown. If it was blocked, well you're still pretty safe a drained a bit of guard bar. Next time, after your opponent blocks your jabs/shorts mix up walk up the a bit and then do the jab/short/strong. If your opponent STILL didn't bite on the bait, walk up even FARTHER next time. I guarantee your opponent will press something before you get into grab range. If not, then well shit, grab them! 6/13/03 - Another thing to remember, even if you tried bait a counter hit with jabs and your opponent blocked them, you're still within range to do a low jump overhead strong on most characters. Mix it up when you land with either an uppercut or a grab and a lot of times you'll successfully salvage your failed mix-up attempt. --------------------------- RANGE 4: OPPONENT IN CORNER --------------------------- This is a pretty fun situation to be in. Happens quite often also since one connected series of rekka kens will take your opponent from the middle of the field all the way to the corner. Against big characters you can just go on auto-pilot and roundhouse away. Punish rolls with low short combos, punish jumps with your anti-cross up moves. Straight up jumps are sometimes close enough to be countered with a low fierce, otherwise standing roundhouse/super if you can. Against small characters you can use your RC rekka a little more freely here since you're not in danger of whiffing it. Again, punish all jumps and rolls, then periodically RC rekka ken every now and then. If they stop giving you moves to RC rekka, you can go for the guard break by rushing with low strongs and f+strongs into rekkas. 6/13/03 - Be aware, though, that if your opponent rolls through your RC rekkas in the corner that YOU are into corner, and you cannot escape punishment by doing the second and third rekkas like you normally would be able to mid-screen. 6/13/03 - If you knock down an opponent into the corner with rekkas, you obviously cannot cross them up with b+short or rolls, so just throw a meaty jab fireball and run after it which is just as good. If your opponent was already in the corner when you knocked him down with rekkas, just do basic wake-up mix-ups like the grab/low short mix up as your opponent gets up, meaty low strongs on fidgety players, jump straight up roundhouse on slow players or against characters like Rolento who often wake up with a super you can jump over and punish (trip wire). ---------------------- THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ---------------------- -Iori has by far the best Counter Roll in the game (Guard Cancel Movement to all you nerds). You can counter roll almost any super if it's buffered from a normal on reaction (just see the super flash and mash f+roll) and get a nice fat combo for free. It doesn't stop there, though. If there's a certain safe pattern that's bothering you, like Guile's low strong into sonic boom, just counter roll the low strong and beat up on Guile for free. If a shoto does the normally safe pattern of low fierce into fierce fireball, you can actually counter roll the FIREBALL and still get a free combo. -Iori is tied with Athena and Maki as the shortest characters in the game. If it's crouchable, they can crouch it. The moves they can crouch that none of the other short characters can are Kyo's standing roundhouse, Eagle's standing fierce, and Ryo's standing strong. Ryo's isn't that big of a deal, but Kyo's and Eagle's definitely are. The majority of Kyo/Eagle players don't know this, so be sure to be ready to capitalize on their whiffs with a low roundhouse. -You have access to the best roll in the game. Use it! Sure, your roll will get punished a lot, but it's often your best tool to penetrate a strong defense. Look for opportunities to get a cross-up roll, which is nearly impossible to punish with anything other than a throw. If you have trouble visualizing where Iori's cross up roll distance is, it's exactly the distance you end up at after making your opponent block 3 shorts/jabs. If you still can't picture that, then it's right outside the range of your low strong. -If anybody was wondering, here's the stats on Iori's roll: Moves 132 pixels across, is invulnerable for 27 frames, is vulnerable for 2 frames 2 frames! There's 60 frames in a second, so you figure out yourself how long that is. To put it simply, punishing a perfectly placed cross up roll with a combo is nearly impossible; the opponent's move will almost always go the wrong way. -Iori's low jump strong is an overhead on any character in the game if done immediately after leaving the ground. That's basically 900 free damage whenever you might need it. Come down with either an uppercut or a Scum Gale for a really ghetto, yet effective mix up. -6/13/03 - Also listed above in the move list, but here's a list of characters that cannot crouch Iori's standing roundhouse: Raiden Geese Chang Sagat Eagle Yamazaki Bison Blanka Honda Benimaru Kyo Rugal Guile Todo Balrog Dhalsim Terry Kyosuke Zangief Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================== 6.THINGS IORI CAN CROUCH ======================== (added 7/5/03) This gets its own section because there really isn't anywhere else it fits in. It's too big to go into the 'things to keep in mind section' :P Anyway, as I stated earlier in the guide, if it's crouchable... Iori can crouch it. So the following is not only a list of what Iori can crouch, it's also a comprehensive (I hope) list of every crouchable move in the game that certain other characters cannot crouch. Make sure you know what your other two characters' crouchable moves are. Ryu hop kick standing far jab standing far roundhouse Ken standing far jab standing far fierce hcf+k funky kick Chun Li standing jab close strong Spinning Bird Kick the second hit of Lightning Legs (free hit!) f+forward Guile standing far strong backfist standing jab standing far fierce Zangief standing forward standing strong standing fierce Dhalsim standing jab Blanka standing strong Balrog standing fierce standing jab standing short rush punch Vega standing jab standing strong Red Impact (the level 3 only super) Sagat standing jab standing fierce Bison standing jab standing far strong Sakura standing far fierce standing jab standing far strong second hit of roundhouse hurricane kick Cammy standing far strong standing far jab Morrigan standing far jab standing close jab Dan standing jab standing roundhouse Eagle standing far fierce (!) Maki standing jab standing close fierce standing close roundhouse standing far roundhouse Kyosuke standing close jab standing far strong flash kick Rolento standing far roundhouse Akuma standing far jab standing far roundhouse Kyo standing far short standing far jab standing far fierce standing roundhouse (!) Iori standing roundhouse Terry standing far strong standing far jab standing far fierce Ryo standing far strong standing far jab standing far roundhouse Mai standing far fierce Kim standing far fierce KuuSaJin (triple kick move) first hit of HanGetsuZan (half moon kick thingie) standing far strong HoouHiTenKyaku (launcher super) Geese standing jab standing far fierce Yamazaki standing far strong Raiden poison breath standing close fierce standing far strong Rugal standing close fierce standing far jab standing far roundhouse second hit of low fierce (the part that goes really far) Vice standing far strong standing far jab Benimaru standing fierce (which throws a wrench into his custom) standing far strong standing far jab Yuri standing far jab Saifa (reflector) King standing far jab standing far forward standing far fierce standing far roundhouse Nakoruru standing close jab Joe standing far jab standing far fierce Todo standing close strong standing far strong Athena standing far forward Rock standing close roundhouse standing far roundhouse Haohmaru standing far jab standing far forward standing close roundhouse Chang standing fierce ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================= 7. GROOVE SPECIFIC TIPS ======================= (added 7/5/03) ------------------ N-Iori Vs C-Groove ------------------ The popularity of C-Groove has really shot up as of late. Fortunately for Iori, most of C-Groove's bonuses and tendencies aren't really much of a bother for him. Air Blocking: ------------ While slightly annoying, still not a really big deal for Iori, since the only move you're likely to have air-blocked is your jumping/low jump roundhouse. Each air-blocked jumping roundhouse does a fat chunk of guard bar and pushes your opponent towards the corner, so everything's peachy in the end. Adjustments Needed: None Frequent Alpha Counters: ----------------------- This is the real annoyance. Spend the whole round jockeying for position, finally get in, then BAM. You're back out again at the press of two buttons AND took 600 damage. 10 seconds later, your opponent has another level 1 ready. Adjustments Needed: 1) Bait the alpha counter - Not in a Alpha 2 sense where you draw out the alpha counter and uppercut it (though that's certainly a viable solution if you can do it), but getting them to input the Alpha Counter command without blocking anything. Why is that good? Well, for a lot of characters, it isn't. But against certain characters like Sagat, Rolento, Chun Li and Ryu, it is. When your opponent hits f+strong and forward without blocking anything, the game automatically recognizes the command as simply f+forward. When Sagat does that he gets standing forward, a REALLY laggy move. Rolento gets his ground pogo move, which is very vulnerable but is also an air-based move. Do an uppercut or Running Grab to punish that. Chun Li gets her f+forward step kick, which Iori can crouch under and punish. Likewise for Ryu, who gets his hop kick. 2) Alpha Counter the Alpha Counter - There's a large number of slow Alpha Counters that are often blocked, but still safe like Rolento's, Bison's, Blanka's etc. Even though you didn't get hit by the Alpha Counter, you're still pushed out of that point blank range you worked so hard to get into. By Alpha Countering their Alpha Counter, you not only regain the momentum and get a free mix up, your opponent is almost always near guard crush also having just lost a large chunk of their own guard bar by Alpha Countering. Level 2's/Holding on to the super: --------------------------------- This is pretty annoying also, since once your opponent gets to level 2 you usually have to fight a lot less agressively. Fortunately, since Iori is best used as a leadoff character you usually have about half the round to get buck wild on your opponent before you have to slow it down. Adjustments Needed: 1) Slow down - Don't take any unnecessary risks to get in, as a level 2 will often hurt just as much, if not more than a level 3. Lean on standing roundhouse and RC rekkas more and focus on pushing your opponent to the corner. When the opportunity arises (usually opponent wake up) try baiting the super with an RC rekka. Also, crossing up a downed opponent with a roll and attacking afterwards is still basically safe except charge supers (which CvS2 will always steer in the right direction for no apparent reason) since you mess up your opponent's inputs by switching sides. Faster Jumps: ------------ All low jump grooves take longer to leave the ground as the game gives them extra leeway (sp?) for inputting the low jump command. C and A grooves leave the ground in two frames, with Honda, Zangief and Raiden being the exceptions. Their jumps have a five frame start up to facilitate their 360 motions. All low jump grooves take 6 frames to jump. Adjustments Needed: 1) Speed up your jab/short mix-ups: You suspect your opponent thinks you're going for a jab into Scum Gale tick, so you do jab, wait, jab jab. If you don't do it fast enough, your opponent sometimes will be able to jump in between. However, you can easily hit them out of the air with a close fierce/roundhouse on reaction but that's not nearly as much damage as the successful mix up would have got you, not to mention the knockdown. 2) Go for cross up b+shorts less: If you knock your a C-Groove opponent down and do a normal super jump b+short cross up your opponent will be able to jump and air-block it. From there he gets to land safely and the match is resetted. Go for roll cross ups instead. Roll Cancels: ------------ The one thing that 99% of America doesn't know how to fight against. Counters to different Roll Cancels sometimes differ per character, but most the most common counters are listed below. Adjustments Needed: 1) Roll on reaction: Self explanatory, and works against the vast majority of Roll Cancel moves in the game. Again, Iori's excellent roll suits this purpose real well. The most common RC moves that get countered by rolls are Sakura's hurricane kick, Sakura's fireball, Iori's own rekkas, any fireball, Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick (which Iori can crouch anyway), E.Honda's slaps, Yamazaki's arm whips, and Vega's rolling claw. 2) Jump up/back: Counters almost any Roll Cancel that rolling won't. Also, randomly jumping up and down is pretty safe against most characters. Problem is, it's really hard to jump over a RC move on reaction; it HAS to be done either in anticipation or randomly. Jumping up/back counters prominent moves such as Chun Li's lightning legs, Blanka's electricity (as long as he doesn't keep mashing), Rolento's patriot circles, Rock's elbow, and Yun's rush punch thingie. 3) Throw it: This mainly applies to opponents who wake up with Roll Cancel moves way more often then they should. It's also the best counter to Blanka's dreaded RC electricity. When an opponent knocks you down and you anticipate an RC grab as you're getting up, the best solution by far is to pre-emptively throw your opponent. 4) Counter Roll: this only applies to a handful of moves, but when it does work it's a major advantage for Iori. A few RC moves that can be punished with a counter roll: Most fireballs (if blocked somewhat close), Vega's rolling claw, ------------------ N-Iori vs A-Groove ------------------ A-Groove is a pain to fight, but that's more because every A-Groove team has Bison on it than anything else. The groove-specific things aren't too much to worry about. Random Customs: -------------- Even the best A-Groove players do it from time to time. Here are the most common scenarios: -Roll into custom: You really shouldn't get hit by this unless your opponent rolled through one of your RC rekkas. Practice punishing those rolls! -"Anti-air" custom: By "anti-air" I mean customs that start with low forward and hope that their opponent disabled their trip guard in the air by sticking out a move. People who do this are easily baited by empty jumps, or even better, empty LOW jumps. -Dash into custom: This one can be pretty scary since your opponent can easily mix it up with dash into throw. My advice would be either to take the throws and wait for him to eventually mix it up with dash into custom, or jump straight up if you have fast enough reflexes. Be careful though, if you jump too late your opponent can still activate and low forward you during your "takeoff" animation. -Jump behind you, custom: This one gets me more than I care to admit. I'm always mashing on those low shorts when somebody misses their cross up distance on me. Bleh. If you predict your opponent doing this, immediately jump over him as he's about to land. You can often get a free b+short cross up into a fat combo if he activates. If he doesn't, you probably still got him to block the cross up and established the point blank range. -Jump at you, custom: Designed to bait people into trying to uppercut their jump, this is another one I fall for a lot more than i should. I love my uppercuts! Anyway, if your opponent has a custom ready, NEVER anti-air them from the ground. Either go for air-to-airs or stay out of the jump in's range and make them block something when they land. -Walk up, custom: The simplest one, yet most effective. For some reason, this set-up never really caught on in America. It's a huge footsie tool for A-Groove players, as they can mix it up with walk-up throws or walk up and do guard crush patterns. -Wake up, custom: Simple enough, just do your RC rekka as they get up later than usual and you'l counter the CC activation clean. Adjustments Needed: All listed above. Roll Cancels: ------------ See C-Groove. Faster Jumps: ------------ See C-Groove. ------------------ N-Iori vs P-Groove ------------------ I have VERY little experience against P Groove as there isn't a single P-Groove specialist in my area. Most of the following is pure theory-fighter but it makes pretty good sense in my head. -_- Wake-up Parries: --------------- Self explantory. Adjustments Needed: 1) This is a guessing game that's totally in your favor. Just mix up standing jab (which has to be parried high) with low shorts and Scum Gales. Grabbing a P-Groove opponent as he's getting up works especially well, since most P-Players that I've seen can't resist going for a parry of some sort. Also, I'd recommend doing standing jab more often then low short since players tend to try to parry down a lot more often than parrying forward. Jump-in Parries: --------------- We've all seen this a million times...empty jump in, try to parry something, mash on throw when you land. Fortunately for Iori, throws aren't instant in this game like they are in Third Strike so you can actually make them block something when they land without getting thrown. Adjustments Needed: 1) Run under them: One of the things that makes me happy that I still play this antiquated groove, running under your opponent and hitting them out of the air from behind is by far the best option. It's parryable, but your opponent has to parry the other way and I have yet to see somebody do that yet. Also, even if the move is parried your opponent is still facing the wrong direction and usually cannot punish you. 2) Wait until the last second, mix-up when they land: If you don't have time to run under your opponent this is the next best option. Block high until your opponent is so close to the ground they can't possibly stick out a move before reaching the ground, then commit to standing jab/low short/Scum Gale mix up. If you want to Scum Gale your opponent immediately when he lands without getting grabbed yourself you'll have to do the grab when the opponent is a little in the air. Standing jab is the most consistent option, since by jumping in and blocking your jab your opponent is pretty much voluntarily giving you a free mix up. The weakness to this strategy is if your opponent actually did a jumping attack you'll have to block it and deal with whatever guard crush string or mix up he does next. 3) Test your opponent's parrying skills: I would almost never recommend doing this, but most of us just can't resist. Including me. :P Rather the usual jab into uppercut or air-to-air attacks that I'm sure any good P-Player is used to, I'd recommend low fierce at the tip (which is a good anti-air anyway) into jab uppercut. The parry timing for the uppercut is a lot slower than it looks so it should catch your opponent at least the first two or three times you try it. 4) Roll!: Yes, it's a pretty gay solution, but it's pretty much 100% safe. After rolling you can immediately jump and go for a b+short cross up (watch out for parries!) or just play normally until your opponent jumps again. Hopefully you'll be able to run under it and counter it. Ground Parries: -------------- Besides jumping up and down, ground parries are P-Groove's only defense against Iori's RC rekkas. Since it's really hard to parry RC rekkas on reaction, P-players will probably be looking for the only real "set-up" for an RC rekka: ... a blocked RC rekka. Besides that, the other main instance a P-Groove player goes for a ground parry is after he whiffs a move. Adjustments Needed: 1) Mix it up: while this should go without saying, mixing up your moves and timing is the best way to throw off ground parries. For example, your opponent blocks an RC rekka and is expecting another one. You can do a whole bunch of things that would never work against any other groove (other than K) like run up and grab afterwards, sweep, roll, etc. Take advantage of the fact that both Iori's run and roll look similar to his rekkas. 2) After a whiffed move: Ideally you should be able to punish the whiff every time with a low roundhouse or something, but not all of us are fast enough to able to do that every single time. Just mixing up standing/low roundhouse after a whiffed move works well enough, and it's also a good opportunity to low jump roundhouse in since they usually aren't looking for it. Low Jumps: --------- Definitely something to get used to... but for the most part easily dealt with after some practice. Adjustments Needed: 1) Actively look for low jumps: While some people have fast enough reflexes to be able to easily uppercut low jumps on reaction, most of the time I'm not one of them. However, once you've trained yourself to fight on the ground without having to think about it much, you can actively look for low jumps to uppercut without hurting your overall gameplay too much. The good part is, Iori's uppercut has a lot of horizontal range so the low jump attack/empty low jump mix ups are a little less effective on him. Some days your reflexes are exceptionally slow... you can be looking for nothing but low jumps and STILL not be able to uppercut them on time. In this case I would recommend hitting standing roundhouse a lot more than normal if your opponent can't crouch it. If they do happen to randomly low jump it'll probably get stopped by your boot. This also applies to low jumps that are usually just too fast to hit on reaction like Blanka's, Vega's and Mai's. If you're having a bad reflex day AND your opponent can crouch your standing roundhouse, I would recommend going all out and trying to attack them instead. Rather than unsuccessfully trying to anti-air low jumps and taking hits, put your life bar to better use by sacrificing it trying to get in and score a knockdown. You're much more likely to win that way. ------------------ N-Iori Vs K-Groove ------------------ Very similar to N-Iori vs P-Groove, with a few adjustments here and there. Low Jumps: --------- See P-Groove. Jump-in Just Defends: -------------------- Bleh. Just like P-Groove air parries, these are dumb. Adjustments Needed: 1) See P-Groove 'jump-in air parries' section. For the most part it's all the same, but you can take advantage of the way K-Groove bounces after an air-Just Defend and just get under your opponent and keep low fiercing. Also, Iori's fierce uppercut is more difficult to Just Defend than other uppercuts since the timing on the third hit is a little slower than the first two. Even so, the best anti-air against K-Groove is usually just running under them and doing whatever you want. Ground Just Defends: ------------------- Again, same idea as P-Groove, just less risky for both sides. The main irritant here is that a successfully Just Defended RC rekka, low roundhouse and standing roundhouse all give the opponent free hits. Adjustments Needed: 1) See P-Groove "ground parries" section. Again, it's mostly all the same stuff. However, K-Groove tends to get a lot more "random" Just Defends than P-Groove since they're practically no risk to sitting there and tapping DB. Still, the blocked RC rekka into run up and grab trick works really well. It's fun to land that too! K-groove obviously doesn't fall prey to low roundhouse and standing roundhouse mix ups, so your main strategy in this fight should be to just hit standing roundhouse at increasingly random times and work K-Groove's short guard bar. It should only take 4-5 blocked roundhouses to get the guard bar flashing, and that's when results start to come in from the opponent. If your opponent Just Defends a jab or short Iori still has the advantage. Since at that range most every K-Groove player will mash on throw after a Just Defend, you can get quite a lot of free close fierce into rekka combos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================ 8. KEY MATCH-UPS ================ ----------------- N-Iori Vs C-Sagat 5:5 ----------------- On the ground Iori actually has the advantage in this match up. With standing roundhouse and RC rekka ken to work with, all Sagat can do is try to make you whiff your moves and standing fierce them. RC rekkas against Sagat are VERY risky, though, since Sagat tends to be jumping up and down a lot in this fight. If he jumps when you rekka, prepare to eat a nice jumping roundhouse, standing fierce into super combo. Also, Iori can't anti-air Sagat's straight up jump roundhouse with his own standing roundhouse; he has to either use his supers or or make Sagat block a standing roundhouse when he lands. Of course, Sagat can counter your standing roundhouse when he lands with an uppercut or (more likely) a roll. Watch out for those and punish accordingly. Trying to go all out and attack Sagat is generally a lost cause. You can't jump at him obviously, and his ultra-annoying standing shorts will stop almost anything you try to do to get in. Again, running up to him and RC rekka ken'ing isn't advised since Sagat tends to jump up and and down a lot in this match. Just push Sagat to the corner with the standing roundhouses. From there Iori is in complete control of the match. Work the guard bar faster from there with repeated standing roundhouses, counter whatever Sagat does on reaction. REMINDER: If Sagat (or any other character, really) buffers a move into a super such as low forward into low tiger super, Iori can easily counter roll on reaction after the super flash animation and get a big free combo. 6/13/03 - Iori's footsie range in this fight is well outside Sagat's low fierce and low forward range. If he whiffs either of these moves, low roundhouse him if you are confident, standing roundhouse if not. At this range the only moves Sagat can do are his standing short, standing forward, standing fierce, and fireballs. Iori's standing roundhouse and Sagat's low fierce have roughly the same priority; whoever presses it first usually wins. However, since you're hanging around well outside the range of his fierce Sagat can't randomly press it or else you can easily punish his whiff with a standing/low roundhouse. Smart Sagats will do nothing but standing shorts and jump up and down randomly, since Sagat's standing short is arguably the best normal move in the game; it's nearly impossible to punish if whiffed and has insane range/speed/priority. It's not damaging on its own but it all but shuts down his opponent's offense and sets up the opponent to make mistakes which will all lead to huge damage. Standing forward isn't generally a good idea for Sagat but most will still throw it out every now and then. It's his longest ranged normal and has good priority, but its recovery time is similar to Hibiki's slash. Iori MIGHT be able to block it and level 3 super him for free. I'll have to test it before my next revision. Anyway, if Sagat does standing forward and Iori does ANY of his attack mix ups (RC rekka, roll, jump, etc.), Iori gets a free combo plus knockdown. Sagat's standing fierce has a lot of range and players who aren't careful tend to walk into them a lot. However, Iori can crouch it and easily punish it on sight with a low roundhouse. Sagat really doesn't want to throw fireballs either, for the same reason as the standing forward. Moreover, Iori players can usually roll through fireballs and punish on reaction. -7/5/03 - The key things to think about in this match are to stay out of Sagat's range so you can punish his whiffs, and to find a way to stop Sagat from jumping up and down. Making him block a standing roundhouse when he lands is usually good enough... but again, be aware of rolls and uppercuts when he lands. The guessing game is totally in your favor, though. ----------------- N-Iori Vs C-Cammy 6.5:3.5 ----------------- Even though Cammy is a short character, I believe Iori wins this match mainly because he can bully Cammy around with RC rekkas and ground fireballs. Cammy has a really tough time fighting RC rekkas; she doesn't have any good RC moves herself to fight it with. Her roll is so slow, Iori can punish HER for rolling through a rekka ken. Her straight up jump moves to counter a rekka ken aren't very good either, Iori can counter them easily with a standing roundhouse. Getting into rekka ken range can sometimes be a problem, though, since it's within Cammy's standing roundhouse range. You can try matching her roundhouses with RC rekkas but I wouldn't advise that since at that range she can easily bait you into whiffing them. If you're out of rekka range throw fireballs instead. Cammy can't drill through them, and even if she RCs the drill she still gets caught by the tail end of the fireball. She can try dashing over the fireballs but almost every player I've seen (even the Japanese) can't do it consistently and end up landing on the fireball and getting knocked down. Bonus! Cammy's jump is also fairly slow; you can punish most attempts to jump over your fireballs unless she jumps EXACTLY when you threw the fireball. That's basically a guess, so throw plenty of fakes along with your fireballs to mess her up. If she blocks one of your fireballs, throw another jab one and run after it since you've just created the ideal distance for yourself. Most Cammy players will get baited at least a few times by whiffing something and then immediately rolling. Whiff a low strong, Cammy sticks out her standing roundhouse, you roll through it and beat her up. Added 7/5/03 - Iori has two major advantages against "walk back" characters like Cammy, Vega and Chun. By "walk back" characters, I mean one of their most effective traits is their incredible backwards walking speed; you can almost never cross them up without knocking them down first since they walk backwards faster than your jump and just stay in front of you. They bait whiffs very well by dancing in and out of your effective footsie range, then easily punish a whiff with an easy one button long range move (i.e. Cammy standing roundhouse, Vega low strong). Running at them trying to get in generally doesn't work either, since their backwards walk is just slightly slower than you RUNNING forward. They can easily stick out a move while walking backwards that you'll run into, or you'll stick out a move that you THINK should hit, but your opponent will just walk backwards out of range and punish you for it. Anyway, Iori has two major advantages on these types of characters. First, his ability to run after a fireball. When the fireball is on the screen, the opponent can't walk back! Unlike other recent games like Alpha 3, CvS2 will make your opponent go into his blocking animation if you ever hold back on the stick while there's something to block on the screen (the fireball). The result? Your opponent is stuck in place while you're running right at them, and the strategies for that are all listed in the '3/4ths - full screen distance' section of the Strategy chapter. The weakness to this strategy is that it works best when the opponent is at 3/4ths to full screen, and any good player will not easily let you establish that distance. So how do you get that far away? Well, sometimes it's just given to you after certain knockdown moves that knock you far away. Just get up and throw a fireball and run after it. The simplest way for YOU to earn that distance is to jump/dash back and throw a fireball. This is painfully obvious, however, and you'll probably get punish hard for it eventually. It could lead to baited opponent jump-ins, though... The safest way to get far away from your opponent is to use your fireball as a footsie tool. RC fierce fireball as a poke or after your opponent whiffs a move. If your opponent blocks it he'll be pushed out to roughly 3/4ths distance where you can throw another jab fireball and run after it. Iori's other tool against "walk back" characters is his low roundhouse. His sweep has incredible range and of course, hits low. 'Walk back'-types generally never block low unless you're really close so they can make your moves whiff. Roundhouses from far away will catch them standing (or rather, walking back) really often. If your opponent catches on and crouch blocks sooner so that he doesn't get caught by a low roundhouse, that's good also since you now can run up to your opponent easier without him walking back to keep the distance. As a final note, with the exception of Chun Li "walk back" characters hardly do any damage; they let the damage add up over time since they're usually in control of the match. This tips the risk/reward ratio of random rolls, jumps and low jumps more in Iori's favor. Go for broke and attack when the opportunity presents itself. ----------------- N-Iori Vs A-Bison 2:8 ----------------- Ouch. This match is bad. REALLY bad. You can't ever throw a fireball unless Bison lost his charge, which he'll probably never do. If Bison has his CC meter, then you DEFINITELY can't ever throw a fireball. You can't jump or low jump at Bison because he can standing fierce or low fierce, respectively. RC rekkas to get in are also bad since Bison can punish you HARD with a jump up roundhouse, standing strong into scissor kicks (into custom) or simply a roll into custom. Bison's straight up jump roundhouse also beats Iori's standing roundhouse. So what do you have left? Well, against his straight up jump roundhouse low fierce works pretty well... just hit his leg. Try to keep him on the ground and push him to the corner with standing roundhouses while working his guard bar. A good Bison will punish a whiffed standing roundhouse with a slide, a scissor kick (into custom), or even activate custom and slide on reaction. It sucks. If you do manage to get Bison in the corner, Bison can simply opt to pay 1300 life and RC psycho crusher out of the corner. Sure, you get a free sweep, but Bison tech rolls your sweep and you're all the way across the screen again. Running at Bison generally isn't recommended since Bison can easily counter your run with a psycho crusher. If you expect this to happen you can attempt to counter the psycho crusher with an RC rekka... your fist will hit Bison's feet and knock him down right next to you. If Bison RCs his psycho crushers, you're pretty much screwed. No running for you. This is especially frustrating since Bison tends to sit at the other side of the screen and build meter, while you're almost powerless to do anything about it except WALK up to him and try to roundhouse him. Here's a list of things you can do to counter Bison: -Blocked psycho crusher - low roundhouse -Blocked (2 hit) scissor kick - low short into rekkas -Devil's Reverse - RC Running Grab or fireball -Straight up jumping roundhouse - Low fierce, super, RC Running Grab, make him land on a jab fireball -Whiffed ground moves - low roundhouse if you're confident, standing roundhouse otherwise -(added 7/5/03) Blocked scissor kick super (usually during a blocked Custom Combo) - Counter Roll as early as possible, run up behind Bison and combo him This match more than any other depends on Iori getting the knockdown and successfully mixing it up to win. Unfortunately, since it's very hard to attack Bison more often than not you'll have to keep walking up to Bison and hope he makes a mistake you can punish. Otherwise you'll just have to roundhouse away and hope for the best. Bleh. -added 7/5/03 - Your standing roundhouse DOES outrange Bison's moves on the ground, so RANDOMLY roundhouse (so you don't get RC psycho crusher'ed) every now and then to whittle his guard bar. If Bison has close to a full meter he'll probably just block the roundhouses and let his guard bar go down in exchange for meter. If he doesn't have that much meter he'll probably opt to try to fight you on the ground instead. This is where you have a chance to win the fight. If he has no meter and is trying to fight with you on the ground he's probably lost his charge. You can now fight him as a normal opponent without fear of RC Psycho Crusher and random Customs. Better make it count before he gets his meter again. -added 7/5/03 - Something everybody should practice, when you block a Psycho Crusher and have a level 3 ready, super him in the back! It's really pretty easy to do as long as you wait until Bison is all the way past you before you start inputting the motions. Iori's low roundhouse will trade 99% of the time with Bison's jumping straight up roundhouse. A good trade if you ask me, since you just knocked Bison down and get to cross him up. ----------------- N-Iori Vs C-Guile 7:3 ----------------- A counter match probably only the players at Sunnyvale Golfland know about, this match is pretty similar to Iori vs Cammy. Bully Guile around with RC rekkas all day. He can't roll, and to punish it with a straight up jump Guile has to jump almost exactly at the same time Iori does the rekkas. To accomplish this Guile will have to do a lot of random straight up jumps and those you can punish easily with standing roundhouse. If Guile throws an RC Sonic Boom and your rekka goes through it, mash on f+fierce to try to throw. 7/5/03 - Like most other RC against RC situations, when a RC rekka ken goes through an RC sonic Boom you can often get the second and third hit for free. However, Sonic Booms obviously recover really fast so I wouldn't recommend trying this if Guile has a level 2 or 3 ready. If he doesn't by all means rekka away. What's he gonna punish you with? Low forward? If Guile ever gains the initiative by making you block a Sonic Boom, look for a gap (usually after a low forward) and start RC rekka'ing again. Guile can counter this by using his B+forward sobat to make your rekka whiff and then hitting your recovery, but if you don't do the rekka ken and he does the backwards sobat the match is resetted and you can go for another run-up RC rekka. Just make him block an RC rekka and you should feel in control. Also, if Guile falls into the jab jab low strong into sonic boom pattern, Counter Rolling the low strong will earn you a free combo while Guile is still recovering from the sonic boom. ---------------- N-Iori vs C-Chun 4:6 ---------------- This match is difficult for a few reasons: 1) You can't use standing roundhouse 2) RC rekkas are risky 3) You can't counter her cross up 1) is self explanatory. Chun Li is small. Give her a roundhouse and she'll crouch it and promptly standing strong into super on you. As for 2), Chun has a quick enough roll to punish rekkas fairly easily. Midscreen you can usually get away from her by doing the 2nd and 3rd rekkas, though. However, if she jumps straight up prepare to eat painful combo. You can counter her straight up jumps with a standing roundhouse, though. 3) is just what it sounds like. Iori's anti-cross up moves get cleanly beat by Chun Li's jumping short every time. Just roll out of there instead. When fighting on the ground Chun is at distinct advantage since she has one of the best multi-purpose pokes in the game in her standing strong. It's fast and doesn't carry that much risk with it. Iori? Well, he has to resort to RC rekkas and low roundhouses, the kind of big laggy moves Chun Li players thrive on. Iori also has a hard time attacking Chun, since it's tough getting around the standing strong and she can also easily counter any of Iori's jump ins with a simple low roundhouse. If you can somehow establish a 3/4ths - fullscreen distance, great. Throw a jab fireball and run after it. Works just as well as it does against everybody else. If Chun is stubbornly sticking to her standing strong range it's gonna get tough. Try to bait out a whiffed standing strong and low roundhouse it. You have to be quick, though, and Chun Li can hit a blocked Iori low roundhouse with her level 2 or 3 supers. Throwing fireballs as a footsie tool is pretty dangerous against Chun's fast roll, so I would use it very sparingly. Much like the Iori vs Bison match, to win this match Iori must achieve his point blank range and make it count. Fortunately, attacking Chun Li is a lot more feasible than attacking Bison. REMINDER: Punish a blocked Chun Li super with f+strong into fierce rekkas. Free 3000 damage plus knockdown! - Added 7/5/03 - See the "walk back" characters strategies listed under Iori vs C-Cammy. They definitely apply to Chun Li as well. --------------------------- N-Iori Vs Any groove Blanka 4:6 (changed from 3:7) --------------------------- Another tough match, played almost exactly the same as Bison's. Blanka doesn't have the luxury of being able to roll through Iori's rekkas or scissor kick into custom, though, so it's a bit more do-able. Blanka's straight up jumping roundhouse is one of the hardest for Iori to stop. It's fast enough that supering it is difficult, and standing roundhouse definitely doesn't work. Low fierce hits Blanka's roundhouse decently if you hit it really early, but it tends to trade a lot more often than I would like. Most often the best thing to do is make Blanka block a standing roundhouse when he lands from the jump. In fact, standing roundhouse is 90% of this match for Iori since he really can't do much else. RC rekkas work well if you can get Blanka to stop jumping up and down, but if he's jumping up and down a LOT then you can probably throw a fireball and run after it. However, Blanka will usually have his charge immediately after blocking the fireball so he'll be able to ball right through your RC rekka after the fireball's stun is gone. Of course you can bait it out by blocking it the Ball and punishing it with a run up low roundhouse, but to do that you will have to WALK up to Blanka so that you'll be able to block in time. Actually, running at Blanka is hardly ever a good idea. Blanka can just do a Ball to counter your run and there isn't much you can do about it. You can't block, obviously, and attempts to avoid the Ball with a roll or RC rekka ken will work but Blanka will go right through either move, leaving him unscathed all the way at the other end of the screen. Since the vogue thing with Blanka nowadays is to show off how good you are with RC electricity, landing a Scum Gale on Blanka's wake up can be quite easy. Another Blanka-specific grab set up is after blocking a Blanka Ball. Instead of doing the normal run up and low roundhouse, sometimes you can run all the way up to Blanka and grab him while he's still expecting to be swept. Not the safest thing to do, but it might be good to try in a pinch. In all, the best thing to do against Blanka is just standing roundhouse him every chance you get. Blanka can easily punish a whiffed standing roundhouse with his low fierce, but Blanka isn't played to bait whiffs. If the Blanka player is getting low fierce-happy, just get inside the range of his low fierce and repeatedly whiff low strongs... you'll beat it clean. As an added bonus you'll also beat any random slides with low strong also. Iori also crouches Blanka's low strong so the only long range move Blanka has left to use is his low roundhouse which can be low jumped or rolled through with some anticipation. Blanka's sweep will generally lose to standing roundhouse anyway so it's better to just stick with that instead of trying all kinds of fancy stuff. -added 7/5/03 - Even though it looks like it isn't possible, a whiffed Blanka low fierce is easily punishable by an Iori low roundhouse. Even though it appears that you're out of range to hit him, hitting Blanka's still-extended arm is fairly easy on reaction. Iori's jumping strong seems to work wonders in this fight, and as long as you hit it early enough it seems to beat Blanka's infamous straight up jump fierce with pretty good frequency. ------------------ N-Iori vs A-Sakura 5:5 ------------------ FUNKY QUIRK: Iori cannot do the normal strong into f+strong chain after a connected Scum Gale on Sakura. The f+strong whiffs! (thanks Crowbait!) -added 7/5/03 - This is played somewhat similar to other "walk back" characters. When Sakura doesn't have a full CC ready there isn't a whole lot of risk to jumping at her. She also has a small problem with Iori's low jump roundhouse when it's mixed up with an empty low jump. Against low jump she has to do either early standing roundhouses, which is difficult on reaction, or RC hurricane kicks. The hurricane kick will only hit once for piddly damage so it's nothing to worry about. It does knock you down, though. Haphazardly rolling at Sakura isn't recommended, though. Her basic combo not only does really good damage, it also gives Sakura a ton of meter as well. Even if she throws you out of the roll, her punch throw sets up a whole mess of different things, all of them scary, all of them damaging. The main move that will give Iori problems in this match is Sakura's standing roundhouse. It has incredibly fast recovery, so countering it with rolls or jumps isn't an option; you have to either RC rekka it or low roundhouse it when she whiffs it. Neither of these options are easy to accomplish (particularly the latter) or safe since Sakura can punish these moves hard if whiffed. Iori also can't match her roundhouse with his own standing roundhouse since Sakura can easily crouch it; you'll have to use RC rekka as your main ground move in this fight, and that's really risky since Sakura has an above average roll to work with as well. On the flipside, Sakura can't really attack Iori all that well either. Her fearsome RC roundhouse hurricane kick can be easily crouched on the 2nd hit and punished, so she has to resort to her inferior (but still powerful) RC forward hurricane kick. This leaves her at a -1 disadvantage on block, so as long as you have good timing you should win any priority battles afterwards with standing jab. If you don't want to risk that, Alpha Countering the hurricane kick works beautifully and will either get you a free mix up or a free low roundhouse if Sakura tech rolls. If she's trying to use RC forward hurricane kick as a ground move, its inferior range makes her use it a lot closer than the Sakura player would like. That's good for Iori. Also, the move is rather easy to roll through on reaction which will usually earn you at least a free low roundhouse depending on distance. Her other dominant special move against other characters, her dive kick, is also rendered somewhat useless against Iori. The huge horizontal range on Iori's uppercut will easily scoop up Sakura's dive kick if it gets anywhere remotely near Iori, neutering most of Sakura's whiff dive kick patterns severely. The move is still unreasonably hard to stop as a meter building tool from afar, so my advice would be to either try to get her to land on a fireball or to use the opportunity to establish full screen distance and run after a jab fireball. As long as you stay out of the corner (where EVERY character dies to Sakura) you should at least be very competetive in this match. Like many other matches, the deciding factor will usually be how well you use Iori's low roundhouse and how well you made your mix up opportunities count. ------------------------- N-Iori vs Any groove Vega 6:4 ------------------------- This match plays really similar Iori vs Cammy, but you can't be quite so dependant on the RC rekkas and fireballs. However, Vega's weak stamina causes him to die after about two successful Iori mix ups, so once you manage to get in expect to do some serious damage. Vega also doesn't have the luxury of having a reliable wake-up reversal move. His flip kick trades a lot, and if Iori blocks an RC rolling claw he can easily Counter Roll and put a big hurt on Vega. Getting in on Vega can often prove troublesome, but if you're persistent enough and mix up your attacks well your patience will usually pay off; Vega doesn't have anything really damaging to anti-air you with outside of his level 3, and the most damaging thing he can punish your roll with is his roundhouse throw. Feh. Take it like a man and keep trying to get in, since all it takes is one mistake from Vega and the match is potentially yours. The most effective way I've found to get in on Vega is to bait his low strong. Since the best Vega players play by baiting whiffs with Vega's foot speed and subsequently punishing with either low strong or slide (low forward if they're uncertain), get about half-screen away and whiff jabs/shorts/low strongs. If Vega low strongs/slides you, you know you can bait him out by whiffing stuff. Whiff something quick and roll. If Vega stuck out a slide/low strong, big free combo. If not, he'll probably punish your roll with either a slide or a roundhouse throw for a bit of damage. No big deal. Try it again in like 5 seconds. If Vega isn't biting on your attempts to bait him into sticking out something, throw a few fakes and then throw a jab fireball. The fakes should dull the Vega players reflexes a bit, and if he does jump over the fireball you should be recovered in time to uppercut him and then move in for the kill. If he blocks the fireball, throw another jab fireball and start running after it. If Vega jumps over the second one you should be out of range of his jump in since blocking the first fireball pushed him back a bit. If Vega starts doing his run away games he's actually doing you a favor: He's willingly giving you the 3/4ths to full screen distance you need to to effectively throw a jab fireball and run after it. A Vega that stands his ground and fights you on the ground is much more troublesome. - Added 7/5/03 - For more info, see the "walk back" characters strategies listed under N-Iori vs C-Cammy. ------------------- N-Iori vs C-Rolento 7:3 ------------------- (added 6/13/03) This match is both fun and annoying at the same time. On one hand, you can bully Rolento fairly well with low jump roundhouse and RC rekkas. He has a hard time stopping the jumping roundhouse on the ground, and most of his air attacks lose to it as well (except for jumping jab, but who cares about that). Your jumping roundhouse will be air-blocked pretty frequently, but that's okay too since air-blocked moves do much more guard damage and have the added benefit of pushing your opponent to the corner. On the other hand, it's annoying since you're chasing Rolento the whole entire match. When you do manage to get in, most of the time you get alpha countered (Rolento is tied for best alpha counter in the game. +10 frame advantage if blocked!) and then you have chase him some more. For the most part, though, Iori totally dictates the match. Throw a fireball and run after it, counter what Rolento does. A lot of times Rolento will jump off the wall and run away, and you just throw a jab fireball and run after it AGAIN. When you get within half screen and Rolento isn't running around, just low jump roundhouse away. You might take a jumping jab or a standing strong here and there, but it'll take like twenty of those to kill you. If he alpha counters you and you block it, just alpha counter him back and he's on the ground with hardly any guard bar left. A few things to remember: -Rolento can wake up with RC pogo jump. Be especially aware of this when you have him in the corner, since he can RC pogo jump backwards and come down with a jumping strong combo. Uppercut it! If you're mid-screen, just be safe and do a normal throw (into totally ambiguous roll cross up). Trying to Scum Gale Rolento out of a RC pogo jump is really difficult. -Rolento's jumping strong beats any normal move anti-air you have. You HAVE to uppercut, and you have to do it earlier than you think. -When running at Rolento without the cover of a fireball, Rolento can easily standing forward -> tripwire you. -When Rolento is crossing you up, just roll. Don't try to counter it or block it. Rolento has the Cross Up From Hell: ambiguous cross ups in several NON knock-down situations. -When blocking a Patriot Circle, wait until he cannot do a 2nd or 3rd twirl and THEN hit him with f+strong into rekkas. Don't get caught by delayed patriot circles! Also, Rolento moves REALLY far forward when he does the circles, so you often can't punish him when you counter roll it. -(added 7/5/03) A high percentage of Rolento's Alpha Counters are blocked. Again, it's safe and gives Rolento a +10 advantage. However, you can quickly turn the momentum back into your favor by Alpha Countering his Alpha Counter! Puts him on his back for a free mix up AND he probably has hardly any guard bar left also. ------------------- N-Iori vs A-Rolento 7:3 ------------------- (added 6/13/03) Back in CvS2's infancy, A-Rolento was one of the most used characters in the game. If you used A-Groove, you used A-Rolento. Now, he's been mostly replaced by A-Sak/Bison/Blanka teams, and is generally inferior to his C-Groove version. Why? Air blocking and (plentiful) alpha counters supplement Rolento's game much better than his Custom Combo. Anyway, the fight is basically exactly the same as vs C-Rolento except without the two obvious things: Alpha counters and air blocking. This makes it much easier for you to get in and stay in. The only thing you have to worry about is Rolento's Custom Combo, which really isn't THAT much of a threat since he doesn't have any (useful) ways to land it guaranteed. He has to do it randomly and hope you stuck out something. While it does good damage if he does land it, you can bait it out of him the same as you can against any other A-Groove character. ...More match-up analyses to come in a later revision, with hopefully more details on the matches above. Next ones are probably N-Iori vs Shotos and maybe Eagle... MAYBE Hibiki also. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========== 9. CREDITS ========== Inkblot -For creating shoryuken.com, and in doing so, keeping the spirit of Street Fighter alive. Ponder -For thanklessly running the B/Evolution series of tournaments every year, which give us players a common goal to strive for. Kao Megura -For (unwittingly) providing this newbie FAQ writer with a template to go off of. Famitsu -For creating the excellent Official Guidebook for CvS2 that I got all of my frame data from. Ohayo1234 -For making me practice a lot more than I would without any encouragement, for showing me my bad habits and making me break them. D44Bas -For being a real down ass nig and giving us American players some insight to the Japanese SF scene. Back ofu. Choi -For continually beating my ass and providing me with the motivation to better myself (to eventually regulate on you). Gunter -For letting me and Ohayo use your place as our practice center. Hurry up and move to Japan so I can use your place there, too. EHHH! Crowbait -For supplying me with the knowledge that Iori can't do the strong chain on Sakura after a grab. Jackie -For being the coolest and somewhat understanding/putting up with me and my gaming habit. <3. NO thanks to Running Grab, Morrigan's Valkyrie Turn, Morrigan's standing forward, Morrigan's close fierce, CvS help uppercuts, Hibiki Black out super, Sagat's standing short, Cammy standing roundhouse, Vega's standing roundhouse, Just Defending, and Running Grab. Peace. Campbell_Tran@hotmail.com - If you need to contact me, make the subject of your mail something that will catch my eye, lest it gets thrown away with my junk mail. You can also reach me on AIM . My handle is Buktooth88, which is also my handle on shoryuken.com if you want to message me there.