Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 - the Newcomers <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Playing as Duck King >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> version 1.06 - Nov. 24th 2003 by Twipol / fran-c@tele2.fr Copyright 2003 by François Collette available on www.gamefaqs.com only seen it elsewhere ? please e-mail me. *******please view this document in any fixed-width font, eg Courier New******* Note : I tried to write the kind of FAQ i would be glad to read, that is, as much precise and detailed as possible. However i did my best to avoid superflous comments, and i hope you will find this FAQ interesting. Anyway, please e-mail me for any comments. _______________________________________________________________________________ Version history 1.06 - 24/11/03 Minor corrections. 1.05 - 30/03/03 (shame) How could i miss that one ? The Dancing Dive can be followed with qcf,B. Omega Mad and M. O'Neill's general FAQs do mention that and i didn't even see x_x Big thanx to Duck King (who else ? well, that's the guy's nick) for pointing this out ! 1.03 - 21/03/03 Minor update. Added a paragraph in the combos section : combo opportunities after a C attack from backline. 1.02 - 14/03/03 Little omission fixed in part X : Duck does appear in the KOF series. Thanks to Jean-François for pointing this out. 1.01 - 27/02/03 The dumb guy who wrote this FAQ (aka me) forgot a chain combo in the first release (combos ending with d+C). No big deal, but still. Few keying errors fixed. 1.00 - 25/02/03 First release. First FAQ ever. I just have no idea of how many people will get to read it. _______________________________________________________________________________ Contents I) Some boring but necessary legal stuff II) Why on earth did i write this FAQ ? III) What to expect from this FAQ ? IV) Abbreviations V) Playing as Duck King VI) Duck's moves VII) Important note : the so-called 360° motion VIII) A throws & holds character ? Related moves IX) Duck's combos X) Miscellaneous notes about Duck King XI) Usual ending stuff *************************************** I) The boring but necessary legal stuff *************************************** Okay, looks like nobody omits this part so i guess i have to do it as well. So, firstly, all trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders, but i'm sure you've already heard this before. Secondly, i would like us to be friends forever, therefore don't publish the contents of this FAQ on your website without my permission, or even worse, use it for any commercial purpose. You are free to link to the GameFAQs FAQ list pages, but not directly to the FAQs. Anyway you can find my e-mail above for any request. Bearing this in mind, every personnal use of this FAQ is allowed, like giving it to your friends, sending it to Santa Claus or frying it into a pan with onions. Etc, etc, done it. *************************************** II) Why on earth did i write this FAQ ? *************************************** For many reasons ! This is my first FAQ ever. As i expected there are a very few FAQs related to this game on GameFAQs, compared to King of Fighters games. Therefore, i wrote this FAQ to help gamers, as much as possible, fully enjoy the game, because it is worth trying to play it in depth - and it deserves you do so. Moreover, i've decided to talk about Duck King because this character has a rather unusual style and you may not think you're gonna be efficient when trying to master him at first. But after some practice, i found he was a very interesting character, and that's what i want to share with you, even though i think i'm still more efficient with other characters, like Geese, Mai, Joe, or even that dumb ol' Bogard brothers for instance (FAQs to come for the first three of them, hopefully). *********************************** III) What to expect from this FAQ ? *********************************** Usually, in fighting games FAQS, you may find an exhaustive list of moves and combos, with commands and short comments for each of them. This is an interesting method that gives a good deal of useful information, but here i will try something slightly different. Why ? There are two reasons. Firstly, being aware of every single combo or move for your character is cool, but not enough to master her/him. You might be able to perform the most awesome combo, if you don't know how to land it during a real game against a good opponent, it's no use. Secondly, in Duck King's particular case, a classical FAQ would have been of no interest at all, and very short anyway. You'll understand why later. Thus i'll try to build this FAQ as a strategy guide. There will be detailed comments for each move and some of them are to be found again in part VIII, a very important section devoted to grabbing strategy. I just wanted to warn you about this : it is not exactly organized the way you might be used to. But trust me, this is for a good cause ! What else will you find in this FAQ ? Maybe some mistakes in English, English not being my mother tongue, but i've done my best :) Really, e-mail me for any weird thing you find ! It may help me. Then again, you won't find overall instructions about the game engine, cause this FAQ has been designed as an extension of general Real Bout 2 FAQs you can also find on GameFAQs. We're gonna talk about line shifting, chain combos, big & small jumps, breakshots, power specials, overhead attacks... if it sounds unfamiliar to you, first check those general FAQs. ***************** IV) Abbreviations ***************** Most abbreviations used in this FAQ are very usual, but to make sure we understand each other i prefer to explain them. u = joystick/pad up d = " down f = " forward (or towards your opponent, if you prefer) b = " backward ub = " diagonally up/backward (so guess what for uf, db, df) Default Neo-Geo setting for buttons is used here : A = light punck B = light kick C = strong blow D = line shift Always lower-case letters for joystick/pad directions and upper-case letters for action buttons. So don't mistake b for B or d for D :) d,C means "down then C" d+C means "down and C simultaneously" A+B means... right, let's go on u+d means i screwed up something C(X hits), A means "after X hits from C, press A" A,(A or B),B means "A, then A or B, then B". What else !? Joystick/pad motions : qcf = quarter-circle forward (d,df,f) qcb = quarter-circle backward (d,db,b) hcf = half-circle forward (b,db,d,df,f) hcb = half-circle backward (f,df,d,db,b) dp = dragon punch motion (f,d,df) 270° = move joystick/pad in a 270° motion (see part VII) That's all. Why stuff like qcb,A instead of qcb+A ? Simple : in almost every fighting game i've played so far, the proper command for any special move is "joystick motion THEN attack button", you're not supposed to press the last direction and the button at the same moment - even if, for obvious reasons, it's also gonna work ! *********************** V) Playing as Duck King *********************** Duck King is not what you call a combo-machine. Well, he can combo decently, yet you'll see his chain combos are few and most of them have a rather short range. In spite of this, he's definitely an offensive character. Duck King is really not the king of ducking turtles (sorry, i just had to work that poor joke somewhere). You cannot expect to wait & see what your opponent's doing for some quick retaliation, Duck just doesn't have proper moves for this. Instead of blocking in fear, Duck has some ways to move around quickly and let his opponents understand that danger can come out anytime. His favorite preys are static players. The key is that when you manage to land your nasty tricks a couple of times, you can turn an annoying, happy-kicking player into a suddendly wary, less euphoric person ! Not only is Duck King's style offensive, but it's also quite risky. His tricks can leave you wide open for a destroying retaliation if things don't go the way you expected. It can go very fast in either way : if you screw up around too much or get predictable, what i called a "risky" style above will become a suicide style. All that characteristics make Duck King a quite high-level character. Though, he has a good bunch of reliable strenghts, it's really refreshing playing as him, and finally, whenever things happen to work properly all the time, you get a couple of stylish victories. Now, let's check this in depth ! (Note : of course, the strategy tips i'll propose you rather apply to human opponents. They are still efficient versus computer, but it obeys to routines and is not likely to reassess its strategy ! Thus you can trap it forever with the same trick as well as being countered each time you try another trick...) **************** VI) Duck's moves **************** Note : Duck has so many grabbing tricks to land his S. Power special Break Spiral that i devoted a whole section for them, which is part VIII. Also check part VII. Therefore, i won't explain any ground-based grabbing strategies here, thus some moves appear both here and in part VIII, so be sure to check everything. ====================== A) Miscellaneous moves ====================== _______________________________________________ 1) Ground Spin : d,C when opponent knocked down Duck's pursuit attack. It is the most reliable pursuit attack of the game, as you don't have to be near the opponent to connect with it. It does little damage but still, that's better than nothing. You can use it after many moves. Just be careful near the corner, you might be grabbed when they stand up. ________________________________________ 2) Slam Dunk : near opponent, (b or f)+C Duck's normal throw, see part VIII) F) 1) ________________________________________________________________ ?? 3) Air Slam : (d or db or df)+C near opponent, both in air ?? Okay, i've seen everywhere that Duck was supposed to have this air throw but i just can't do it. Though, Mai has the same move and i have no problems doing it with her. So either it's a mistake, or i'm dumb, so e-mail me if you think you can help me being less dumb. ____________________________ 4) Overhead Axe Handle : b+A Cool, an overhead attack, that is, it must be blocked high. It has quite a good range. Use it rather often against ducking turtles. Also try some crouching B kicks before. Else, try some small jump-in C then b+A if blocked. However, has an initial lag as any overhead moves. Neither combo'able nor cancelable. ____________________ 5) Slide Kick : df+B An ordinary sliding attack, that hits low. Kind of half a screen range, so you can sometimes surprise a standing opponent thinking she/he is out of range. Otherwise try to do this move from a bit too far so you won't connect, and surprise the crouching opponent with b+A. ___________________________________________ 6) Fake Air : in air tap, d,d (then b or f) During any jump, Duck pauses a short moment in mid air ! Amazingly enough he can also choose to land forward or backward by pressing b or f then. An interesting move but you need to be quick if you want to take advantage of it, it's also risky. You can jump backward, tap d,d then f, so that you unexpectedly land back to where you started from ! Then try to attack in air and combo, or land & grab... You can do the opposite move, that is, jump forward and land backward, so that your opponent can miss an anti-air retaliation. This also works in small jumps. See part VIII) F) 10) for a very funny Break Spiral trick ! Well, a hard-to-use move but very funny. You play video games for fun, ain'tcha ? ____________________________________ 7) Fake Ground : dash (ff) then df,C Great move, see part VIII) F) 4) _________________________ 8) (dodging attack) : A+B Standard dodging attack (see general FAQs), but Duck's one is very good, being quite long ranged, with downward angle (not overhead but still, can't be avoided crouching) and good priority. You can poke quite safely with it. Cancelable like any A+B attack, it allows you to combo with Head Spin Attack A from mid-distance, which is good. ================ B) Special moves ================ _____________________________ 1) Head Spin Attack A : qcf,A A standard horizontal attack. Can be used as a breakshot. Excellent move, very quick, comes out instantaneously (no more charge back like in FF Special). Good priority. Covers about half the screen distance. Good for long ranged poking. Draws back quickly after it connects, leaving you rather safe if blocked. Combos off almost everything. For grab-tricks see part VIII) F) 6) _______________________________________________________________ 2) Head Spin Attack C : qcf,C then C again for Kick Away Finish Long ranged version of the above. Covers almost the whole screen distance. It less reliable than the A version because of its initial lag, also, being 3-5 hits move, it is more likely to be breakshot-countered. Always do the Kick Away Finish when you connect or you'll be wide open for any retaliation, blocked or not. Even so, when blocked, this move leaves you in trouble as it takes a huge time to land back. Eventually its main use consists in combo'ing it off a 2-hit standing close C, see part IX. ____________________________________ 3) Neo Break Storm : dp,B then tap B A kind of vertical move that is not really dragon punch-like. I'm pretty sure Duck is invulnerable during the very first frames of this move. Thus it's a good counter move but alas very short ranged, which decreases its reliability. However, when it connects, it does do damage ! But only if you tap B for 10 hits (in most cases). Else the first hit does very weak damage. It's a big deal because if you tap B and are blocked, you'll be, once again, wide open for retaliation. If you try to tap B only once you saw you hit your opponent, it should be too late. Anyway, when successful, always end with your pursuit attack Ground Spin. You can also counter an opponent trying to attack you from the backline at that very moment ! Useful. Also note that this move can be canceled with a S. Power special, see section C). It has both a too long initial lag and a too short range to combo off anything except for nice corner juggles, see part IX. _________________________________________ 4) Cross Head Spin : from backline, u,d,D From backline, Duck travels to foreline using a kind of Head Spin Attack. Counters or avoids d+D plane hit attempts, but not standing D. Can hit up to 3 times, but very often just doesn't hit opponents, though homing in on them. Well, okay, anyway : awesome move for Break Spiral tricks, its main use, so check part VIII) F) 7). __________________________________ 5) Dancing Dive : qcb,B then qcf,B Duck does a jumping knee strike that goes upward and travels almost the whole screen distance. When you connect with this move you can (and you should) follow with qcf,B so that Duck hits the opponent with his bottom. Note that you can still perform that follow-up after having gone past your opponent, and remember that it is really "qcf", so in this case you have to input the same quarter-circle as before. I still have to find very good reasons to use that move if any save combo-ing after a standing C. It is slow, doesn't knock down grounded nor airborne opponents, has weak priority, and leaves you in big trouble if missed. That's a bit too much. Can be used as breakshot. Also check part VIII) F) 8). _____________________________________ 6) Flying spin attack : in air, qcb,A Duck performs a downward-angle Head Spin Attack while in air. Doesn't draw back when landing, leaving you near opponent when it connects. Don't use it too often against characters that have dragon punch-like moves ! Also check section VIII) F) 9). __________________________ 7) Fake Duck Dance : d,B+C Sadly enough, Duck's only fake special move. It's useless. Too slow for fake combos. And since a true Duck Dance makes the background turn into kind of flames or whatever (like any P. Power special), you won't fool anybody with that fake. ============== C) Power moves ============== - S. Power moves __________________________________________________________ 1) Break Storm BR 1 : Neo Break Storm, cancel with hcf,B+C You perform a Neo Break Storm and instead of tapping B, cancel the first hit with hcf,B+C. Duck is gonna drill the opponent's belly with his knee. The whole thing does hardly 30% damage, which is not that much for a S. Power special. Obviously, to prove able to land this move, you have to know when to do a Neo Break Storm, so check section B) above, then the combo chapter (part IX). That leaves you a good bunch of chances to perform it. _________________________________________________________ 2) Break Storm BR 2 : near opponent, both in air, hcf,B+C An air command throw. It does less damage than S. Power specials usually do ! Hardly 25%, which is mean when you consider it is hard to land, though the command in itself is really easy. Indeed, when you see opponents jumping at you, is it really reliable to try jumping as well and grab them ? Moreover you can still try to counter with Neo Break Storm & Break Storm BR 1, which is both easier and more damaging. And when they missed any kind of dragon punch-like move, you'd better wait for them to land and use a Break Spiral, combo them or knock them down with a Duck Dance (see below). _________________________________________ 3) Break Spiral : near opponent, 270°,B+C 3 things to say : a) read part VII about the 270° command b) read part VIII where there is everything you need to know about this move and its uses c) this move rocks ! - P. Power moves Big deal, here. _______________________________ Duck Dance : f,hcf,C then tap C Duck will start dancing. This move is an attack in itself. Yes, it is ! At the very beginning of this move, Duck elbows opponents at a very short range, doing insignificant damage, BUT, it knocks down and... dizzies them ! It leaves you enough time to do the rest which may *do* significant damage. Once you know that it sounds a bit more useful to you, ain't it ? Then when you tap C, you make Duck dance longer depending on how many times you tap C, reaching different levels, and several other ducklings will appear ! Don't worry, you don't have to mash the button like crazy, unlike with Yamazaki's P. Power move. Once he stops, he does an ending pose, his power bar is set back to its maximum and slowly decreases. Then, before it empties you can do one of the enabled moves explained in the table below. Once you perform one of them the Power bar empties. If you manage to land the Duck Dance three times in a round, afterwards it won't knock down nor dizzy your opponent anymore (but if you get to land it three times you should have already won the round, see below) If Duck is hit before he completes the Duck Dance move, it won't work. You know which level you've reached by looking at his ending pose, and also by checking the number of ducklings following him. It's hard to tell an accurate percent of damage because in RB FF 2 it looks like you take slightly less damage once your bar is flashing red. _____________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | approx.| | level | | | | | max. | max. | |(ducklings) | taps | ending pose | move(s) enabled | command | hits | damage | |____________|______|_____________|_________________|_________|______|________| | | | shows his | | in air | | | | 1 | 0-2 | palm | Air Cannonball | qcb,B+C | 4 | 30% | |____________|______|_____________|_________________|_________|______|________| | | | shakes his | | | | | | 2 | 3-5 | head | Cannonball | qcf,B+C | 13 | 40% | |____________|______|_____________|_________________|_________|______|________| | | | | Dance Kick | qcb,B+C | 9 | 42% | | 3 | 6-8 | points at | | | | | | | | opponent | Heaven's Knee | dp,B+C | 10 | 48% | |____________|______|_____________|_________________|_________|______|________| | | | points at | | | | | | 4 | 9 + | the sky | Duck Rave | hcb,C | 10 | 60% | |____________|______|_____________|_________________|_________|______|________| Moves descriptions : Air Cannonball : enhanced version of the Flying Spin Attack Cannonball : enhanced version of the Head Spin Attack Dance Kick : vertical jumping combination of kicks, good anti-air, first hit must be blocked low ! Heaven's Knee : another combination of kicks, not a good anti-air but better in combos, first hit must be blocked low as well Duck Rave : Duck does a Sliding Kick that must be blocked low. If successful, it knocks down opponents then Duck jumps on them and starts to dance on their belly ! If it's blocked, it hits up to 5 times for little block damage, and each hit may lead to the complete move if the opponent stops blocking. Important note : for some reason, though it requires a simple hcb motion, i found this move didn't come out every time. I just don't understand. I thought it was me, but really, it's not. Either there is a parameter i don't know, or it's not the proper command. Please e-mail me if you know. - Okay, now, how to use the Duck Dance properly ? Obviously, you'll have to connect with that initial short-ranged hit, in order to dizzy your opponent then have some time to tap C and enable your P. Power moves. Since it is very short ranged, you can try to use some of the tricks that you normally use for a Break Spiral purpose (see part VIII), but the Duck Dance, being not a throw, is blockable. It doesn't seem to have an exceptionnal priority either. Still, note that the Duck Dance has a few combo opportunities (see part IX). Eventually, i can say nothing more but use it in any obvious opportunity (after avoiding a dragon punch-like move, as a reversal after having blocked Terry's Burn Knuckle C or a similar move, etc), because it can lead to do great damage when successful. - Okay, then how to lead to that "great damage when successful" ? While your opponent is dizzy, if she/he does nothing, you should reach level 4 just when she/he recovers. But she/he can recover faster by tapping buttons & joypad. Even so, you have enough time to reach level 2. Then you should go for a jumping C, standing C (2 hits) canceled into Cannonball for a classical but very damaging 16 hit combo. I still have to check if you have enough time to reach level 3 in this case, but looks like it's cutting it a bit fine. Maybe on a cornered opponent. If eventually you find it okay then go for the same kind of combo as above using Heaven's Knee instead. If for some reason you screw up something and stop at level 1 while your opponent is still dizzy, you could cancel a jumping C into an Air Cannonball, but it's better rushing and grabbing with Break Spiral (it does almost the same damage) so that you will still be able to do an Air Cannonball later. Anyway, you see that in a real game against a good player, you have no chance to reach level 4 and do a Duck Rave, unfortunately. - Okay, and what if i missed ? Then you shouldn't tap C. You are totally vulnerable during the Duck Dance, so just let Duck reach level 1 and try landing an Air Cannonball later - but don't go happy-jumping, your opponent knows what you want to do, so just play normally and don't forget that the Air Cannonball does only about 30% damage anyway... ************************************************ VII) Importante note : the so-called 360° motion ************************************************ There is a couple of things to clarify about this "Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver" motion. Even advanced players may have problems with it, 'cause many of them almost never try to master "throws & holds" characters. That is sad :\ So i guess it was worth devoting a paragraph to it. In addition many fighting games FAQs or guides don't describe it the proper way. I'll try to analyse it in depth and convince you that it is quite easy to perform. You will find this paragraph in every FAQ i may devote to the concerned RBFF 2 characters, namely Duck King, Yamazaki, Sokaku, Li Xiangfei, Krauser and Geese. Why "so-called" 360° motion ? Because it's definitely a 270° motion only. Clearly, you only need to input "any 270° motion with joystick/pad, then specified button(s)". Obviously, you'll find that "360° motion PLUS specified button(s)" can work properly, but it's not the "pure" command. Moreover, note that *any* 270° motion is possible. That is : 1) Do it either clockwise or counter-clockwise, no matter you are on your opponent's left or right 2)Start the motion from any - i do mean any - direction. Some examples ? f,df,d,db,b,ub,u then button(s) ub,b,db,d,df,f,uf then button(s) b,ub,u,uf,f,df,d then button(s)... Then again you understand that these principles are very theoretical. Because when you are just standing here, doing nothing, before your opponent, only a motion which starts with f or b then ends with u is reliable. Even so, you will have both to perform it quickly and press the attack button(s) soon. Else, you're gonna jump. Still, after a bit of practice, you should be ok. Now, there are plenty of situations where all the theoretical principles *do* work perfectly. The most basic : jump toward your opponent and perform the motion while in air. You'll have a lot of time to perform it quite slowly. It also applies when you land or recover from a special move, recover from hit or guard stun, from a knock down or any light attack you made... So you see that it makes of good bunch of interesting situations, where you can perform the move in the way you prefer and, guess what, these situations often correspond to actual opportunities in a fight. So everything's fine ! That's all for the old story of the "Spinning Pile Driver" motion. Now practice and find your way. ************************************************ VIII) A throws & holds character ? Related moves ************************************************ Here we're going to study Duck King's "throws & holds" aspect. We'll see that many of his moves lead to chances to grab your opponent, which is most interesting when you are S. Powered or flashing red, thus Break Spiral enabled. But first let's have a little speech about general grabbing strategies. ===================================================== A) Grabs have three main advantages upon other moves. ===================================================== Just in case, may i remind you that grabs are unblockable ! Grabs also have a 100% priority over any other move, provided your opponent is still connected to the ground, and that she/he is not using a special move that gives him invulnerability, of course. The third good aspect of grabs is that they come out instantaneously, they don't have any initial lag - it complements the high priority aspect mentionned above. Then again all grabs are very short ranged in this game. So, Duck's Break Spiral is not SF II Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver, that could grab opponents from a huge distance. Still, it has a slightly better range than a normal throw. Also note that you can't grab an opponent when she/he is in a hit or guard stun. As a consequence, you can't combo anything into a command throw, unlike in KOF. ================================================================= B) About ground recovering (a big deal in most fighting games...) ================================================================= A very important fact is that a knocked down opponent can never be grabbed for a short while after he recovers from the ground. Therefore, it's almost never a good idea to stay close to a knocked down player. If your opponent does so, it is guaranteed that you won't be grabbed, then *you* are much likely to attempt a throw and i would say a Break Spiral is a good idea. However a crafty opponent might just stand next to you and, when you get up, do a hopping attack, a line shift then a quick attack or worse, a special or power special move that makes her/him invulnerable in its first frames or leave the ground. For example, Joe's Tiger Kick. If you expect the opponent to do such a thing, you can just stay in crouching guard, block then retaliate. Watch out for overhead attacks, be ready to stand up quickly. Otherwise, you might want to use the cool ground line shift (u+D when knocked downed - needs H. Power condition) in order to avoid the mess, stand up in the backline and surprise your opponent, but what if she/ he also planned to fool you with a line shifting ? So you see, these grounded opponent situations are really a matter of speculation. Still, when you didn't get to know your opponent very well yet, i'll definitely suggest you to try a Break Spiral whenever you recover from a knock down, provided you're S. Powered. It is worth. When successful, bear in mind that the opponent is now aware, and act consequently the next time. Most players will eventually decide that it's better staying away and and avoid the scissors-paper-stone stuff. Still they sometimes don't have the time to go away, so try a Break Spiral then, it is not likely they prepared a trick. ====================================== C) The good old "jump-in & grab" trick ====================================== This trick is as old as the hills. It works against too defensive players : you jump towards them ; expecting you to attack, they fearfully draw back in order to block, but instead of kicking them you just land before them and grab them. But this shouldn't be overused : most of time, a good player will use a proper anti-air attack against you, not letting you jump fast and loose at you and get away with it ! However, this game features small jumps (tap ub, u or uf), which are rather quick, kinda harder to counter, so likely to make your opponent just block. Then even against good players you can use the "small jump-in version" of this trick. To fool them, do small jump-ins, then sometimes you'll attack in air & try to combo, sometimes you'll just land then grab. Break Spiral power !! You can also try this after two crouching B kicks, likely to set your opponent in low guard. =================================== D) Reversal or kinda reversal grabs =================================== Of course, there are many moves that leave your opponent wide opened for any destroying retaliation when you block them. That can be a combo or a Break Spiral. Whenever your opponent screws up something close to you, you should always be ready to land a Break Spiral. A very classical case is when your opponent hits you with a jumping attack but screws up the timing and can't combo when landing, allowing you to grab her/him. There are many similar situations. Each time you recover from a A or B hit or guard stun, try to do a reversal Break Spiral. Your opponent might be too far, but there's no risk in trying it. Just be careful for low/overhead attacks. ======================== E) Against line shifters ======================== I've noticed you can trap opponents that attack you from the backline with this method : wait for them to attack, and as soon as they do it, do a vertical big jump and grab them (with a Break Spiral if enabled) when landing. No matter they attack with A, B or C, this might work quite well if you time it properly. ================================================== F) Moves related to ground-based grabbing strategy ================================================== Note : this section only describes moves in their grabbing-strategy aspect. You could also find most of them in part VI for other hints about them. Also note that some moves won't appear at all in this section, so definitely check part VI for them. ________________________________________ 1) Slam Dunk : near opponent, b or f + C Duck's normal throw. Does normal damage, but can always be followed by Duck's pursuit attack Ground Spin (see below). Maybe you shouldn't use grabbing tricks too often with that one, because you'll warn your opponent and you might be less likely to land a Break Spiral once enabled. _________________________________________ 2) Break Spiral : near opponent, 270°,B+C Needs S. Power condition. Duck throws opponent in air and juggles him doing the smurf ! Unblockable throw with slightly better range than normal throws. Somehow, it does 16 hits sometimes, and sometimes only 15, even against the same character. The most damaging of his three S. Power moves, also the most useful. It does as much damage as you can expect from such a move, that is about 40% damage. Morever, here again you can always follow it with a Ground Spin for a bit of additional damage. _______________________________________________ 3) Ground Spin : d,C when opponent knocked down Remember to use this after each Slam Dunk or Break Spiral. ____________________________________ 4) Fake Ground : dash (ff) then df,C Great move, really. This is not an attack. While dashing, Duck suddendly slides on the ground. During this move he just goes through everything. He cannot be hit by anything. He can even go through the opponent and stand up behind her/him, unexpectedly. Mainly, you're gonna use this move in order to grab your opponent. Rush on him, do a Fake Ground and go for it, Break Spiral ! Against that dumb computer, it works very, very often. But against a human opponent, equipped with a reliable brain, and wary for having been nailed with that trick, don't get predictable. The best atlernative would be to dash then stop and wait for a reaction, then retaliate if possible. You can also dash, stop for a short moment and do a Head Spin Attack A to surprise them. Or also get ready to press D or d+D for a mainline-to-backline attack, just in case... ________________ 5) Chain d+A,d+C Duck gives a crouching punch then slides like in the Fake Ground. He slides on a smaller distance, so he won't get through opponent. Other features remain the same, so it's an other good trap for a Break Spiral chance. Try it ! _____________________________ 6) Head Spin Attack A : qcf,A This move covers only about half the screen distance, it's also very quick. Thus you can use it to land quickly just before your opponent without hitting her/him, then grab her/him when she/he expected to block something. Still there is a short recovery lag when you land, so be careful. Great move anyway. _________________________________________ 7) Cross Head Spin : from backline, u,d,D With this move you can try exactly the same trick than in 6), and it may work better for three reasons : it homes in on your opponent automatically even from almost a whole screen distance, it seems it has no recovery lag when landing, and surprisingly enough it almost never hits your opponent (at least not when you're not too close to them when you launch it). Then again don't just move to backline for no apparent reasons then try this trick, 'cause it's gonna stick out a mile ! And note that the Cross Head Spin has weak priority against a plain D standing attack. So you'd better try it when the opponent attacks, a good idea would be when they go happy fireball-throwing at you. Anyway an awesome move for Break Spiral tricks. ____________________________________ 8) Dancing Dive : qcb,B (then qcf,B) Well, i didn't find very interesting uses for that move (see part VI), but let's say, perhaps, from far, you can try the same kind of Break Spiral trap as in 6) and 7), taking advantage of the fact it can go over most projectiles... if you are very quick and responsive. Also note that Duck lands after quite a big time. I also noticed that if you connect with both hits from very close, you can try to grab... a quite slow opponent. Well. I might be wrong but don't bother too much with that move. _____________________________________ 9) Flying spin attack : in air, qcb,A That can also be good to try a Break Spiral after an opponent blocked this move, but remember you can't grab them when they are in a hit or block stun, so you have to time it well. Moreover, this is an air special move, and when you think air you think anti-air retaliation. So you should rather use this move during small jumps. ____________________________________________ 10) Fake Air : in air tap, d,d (then b or f) During a big jump, you can even cancel a jumping attack into that move ! Thus, you can hit your opponent with a jumping C, cancel into Fake Air, tap forward to land near the dumb opponent and grab her/him with a Break Spiral ! It's not very hard to time. Of course you have to do a big jump at first, which is still annoying because of possible anti-air retaliation, so i didn't have many chances to test it against valuable opposition yet. Still, it works no matter your opponent is hit or blocks. And after a jumping C there are great chances that he tries to block something else ! ***************** IX) Duck's combos ***************** I'm not into writing a full list of possible combos without any comment. I prefer writing comments than writing three times the same combo, changing only the name of the special move at the end. Thus you'll be able to design your combos as you fancy, still i'll suggest you the most reliable possibilities then give you a couple of particular examples in section B). ====================== A) Combo possibilities ====================== With no S. or P. Power or corner condition, many of Duck's ground based combos lead to about 25% damage, which is the best he can do in such conditions : i'll refer to them as "normal conditions good example". Thus you know you can rely on them. All combos starting by a standing A or B can actually start by 2 or 3 standing A or B, it depends on corner condition, jump-in starter, etc... So check the examples. In this section * signals cancelable moves. ___________________________________ 1) From a standing close C (2 hits) The only interesting way to combo with a Head Spin Attack C or a Cannonball (those two moves being poor for juggles). You can also combo into a Dancing Dive with "bottom strike finish". You can even combo a Duck Dance off it ! But either you have to cancel right after the first hit, or your opponent must be in the corner. Normal conditions good example : C(2 hits), Head Spin Attack C. Really easy. Just time the Kick Away Finish properly for a total of 6 hits against small characters, 7 hits otherwise. Works after a jumping C as well. ______________________________________________ 2) From a standing D when opponent on backline Same as in 1) save the Duck Dance opportunity. ____________________________________ 3) From a C attack while on backline Well, the best you can do after this is a 3-hit A, B, Head Spin Attack A or A, B, f+C. However, on a cornered opponent, you can do the same as after a jumping C. _____________ 4) Air combos Whenever you jump on tall opponents (Franco, Yamazaki, Laurence, Krauser and even Geese) remember you can hit them with A or B, then C while in air, then combo as you like when landing. But it doesn't work during small jumps. Also note that any jumping attack can be canceled into an air special move (namely Flying Spin Attack and Air Cannonball), but you might have better combos to do or else check part VIII) F) 10) ! Basic example on tall opponents : Jumping B, C in air, C(2hits), Head Spin Attack C then Kick Away Finish. Good 9-hit combo. _____________________________ 5) First chain combo family : A*____ \ B*_____\ Plain "ABC-3-hit-combo" where C is not \__B*__C cancelable and has very poor range. Forget d+B*____/ that one. / d+A*__/ ______________________________ 6) Second chain combo family : A*____ \ B*_____\ \__B*__ Much more interesting. The last hit is d+B*____/ \ cancellable and sends your opponent in air for / \ juggles, but is a bit short ranged. The most d+A*__/ \__df+C* interesting is that you can at last combo with / Neo Break Storm when your opponent is in the / corner. d+B*__d+B*_____/ Normal conditions good example : A,A,B,df+C, Head Spin Attack A. 5 hits Corner example : A,A,A,B,df+C, Neo Break Storm, tap B, Ground Spin. Up to 14 hits, but it may be less against some characters. If S. Powered you can also chain Neo Break Storm into Break Sorm BR. In both cases, if you want to start with a jumping C you should remove the first standing A. _____________________________ 7) Third chain combo family : A*____ The last hit sends opponent to backline on \ 2-line stages. Not very useful, but you may B*_____\ then surprise them with d+D or D, Head Spin \__B*__ Attack C. Still, its best use is on 1-line d+B*____/ \ stages, where it has the same uses as in 5), / \ with a better range in normal conditions, but d+A*__/ \__f+C less effective in the corner. Also note that / the third hit being not cancelable, you have / to wait for it ends then perform your special d+B*__d+B*_____/ move. ______________________________ 8) Fourth chain combo family : A*____ \ Well, this time we end the chain with a sweep. B*_____\ Not very useful. Do it only when you think \__B*__ you're out of range for df+C, or when blocked, d+B*____/ \ just in case, but since Duck never hits / \ overhead in his chains, most players will just d+A*__/ \__d+C crouch all the time. Maybe once your opponent / got used to it, you should omit the sweep and / do a b+A instead, but it's a bit slow. d+B*__d+B*_____/ _____________________ 9) Other chain combos d+A,d+C : see section VIII) F) 5) d+C,d+C. 4 hits. Duck cancels the first hit of his regular sweep with three cancellables kicks inspired from his Fatal Fury Special "needle roll". When you are very close to your opponent, you can quickly cancel the last hit with Head Spin Attack A for 5 hits, but in most cases it won't combo. Good move anyway. d+C,d+C,qcf,uf,B. 5 hits. From the previous chain combo, you can cancel the second or third hit (no matter which, damage and total number of hits will remain the same) with that qcf,uf,B command, resulting in Duck's old Break Storm move. A nice allusion to Fatal Fury Special, but you should only use this move when you are sure it's successful, because you can't help the fact Duck does a victory pose at the end from which he can be combo'ed like crazy. Anyway it requires to be very close to the opponent to connect, so in this case you'd better go for a d+C,d+C, Head Spin Attack A that is more damaging ! =================================== B) Examples of more advanced combos =================================== Technically speaking you now have all the elements you need to know to find the examples below by yourself, but i wanted to give you them just in case. Duck has no fake combos (see section VI) B) 7)), thus his most powerful combos are not too hard to time. Well i hope you won't find them hard to time. _____________ 1) (P. Power) Jumping C, Duck Dance. 2 hits, opponent dizzy, reach level 2, then : Jumping C, C(2 hits), Cannonball. 16 hits. Check section VI) C) if something sounds weird to you here. Remember you have to land very close to your opponent to connect with the Duck Dance. This combo is an ideal way of taking advantage of your P. Power condition. Darn easy to time. About 70 % damage altogether. _____________ 2) (P. Power) Jumping C, Duck Dance. 2 hits, opponent dizzy, reach level 3, then : (corner) Jumping C, A,A,B,df+C, Dance Kick. 12 hits. A variation of the above. No corner condition for the first part, but needs your opponent to be sent in the corner after Duck Dance. Reaching level 3 is risky, check section VI) C) about this. Thus i would say that the combo described in a) is much more reliable, doing just as much damage, but this one looks nice and i wanted you to try it :) ______________________ 3) (P. Power) (Corner) Jumping C, C(2 hits), Duck Dance. 4 hits, opponent dizzy, reach level 3, then : Jumping C, A,A,B, Heaven's Knee. 13 hits. Nice sequence for over 75% damage. In the second part, a plain standing C would be more damaging and easier to time than A,A,B, but it was just to make it look greater :) Once again this combo is easy to perform, but against a good opponent, you won't have plenty of chances to hit with a jumping C kick in the corner ! And there is still that problem of reaching level 3. ______________________________________ 4) (S. Power) (Corner) (Tall opponent) Jumping B, C in air, A,A,B,df+C, Neo Break Storm, Break Storm BR, Ground Spin. 21 hits, approximately 60 % damage. 21 hits is the maximum i've found with Duck King, but maybe he can do more. Not too hard to time but, of course, it's that kind of "S. Power-corner-tall-full- moon-nights-only" combo, that is, a combo you won't have many chances to land during the game. ************************************** X) Miscellaneous notes about Duck King ************************************** Okay ! We're done with all that technical stuff. Now let's relax a bit and talk about Duck King's background before we part. First, note that Duck is a really a veteran of the Fatal Fury series. He had as much appearances as the very popular Kim ! But unlike him, he never appeared in any KOF game as a regular character. He just appeared as a striker in KOF 2000. He was one of the first four ennemies you had to beat in the first Fatal Fury (1991). He sure didn't look as great at that time, but neither did the other characters ! He already had his Head Spin Attack and his Slide Kick. He was not playable on the MVS and Neo Geo versions, but was playable later on the Megadrive (Genesis in USA) conversion (but not on SNES). Then he was, along with Tung and Geese, one of those characters that were forgotten in Fatal Fury 2 but came back in Fatal Fury Special (1993) ! In this game, Duck was already very stylish. He was also very efficient with a more classical game play. I just love the way he draws back when you tap b,b in this game. Unfortunately he was removed from Fatal Fury 3, where it was time for many new fighters to come. But many fans have probably cried for him to come back, as well as for Kim. So it's no wonder he was there again in the Real Bout series. Look at the little duckling that follows him during his moves. Especially when you perform a Break Spiral or a taunt ! As you might see during the Duck Dance, he has several friends like this one. About this, check his ending ! It's not the most funny i saw in this game but still. About his stage,i've noticed that the clown painted on a wall on the right winks at you sometimes. Anyway, Duck prefers dancing than fighting (check his ending in Fatal Fury Special). Let's end with that thought ! ********************** XI) Usual ending stuff ********************** 1) Requests The first request is : your opinion ! Don't hesitate. It is my first FAQ ever, moreover i tried something slightly different from the examples i've seen previously so i don't know how one could like it. Also, if you know something that should be added to this FAQ, tell me, and you will be given proper credit for it. 2) Things to come Possible updates of this FAQ. Really, e-mail me for any comments, no matter they are positive or not. FAQs about Bob, Kim and Mai. Maybe others later. Maybe a general RB2 FAQ, because i made some suggestions to Omega Mad and Marc "Flea" O'Neill, i had some feedback from Flea but i suppose they no longer have the time or the motivation to update their FAQs. However they have my respect for their work. 3) Special thanks First i would like to thank GameFAQs staff. They had a brillant idea with that website, also i really like the fact it gives more importance to being clear, fast and functional than to flashy effects and agressive advertising strategies. It becomes scarce on the internet. I would also like to thank Matanza and Gathershot because thanks to their FAQs i realized that fakes could be used in combos, that you could hit tall characters twice in air and that send-to-backline moves could set an opponent for juggles in 1-line stages. Thanks to the Neo Encyclopedia ( http://web.tiscali.it/neoencyclopedia ) webmasters, to Omega Mad and to Flea for their move lists and the move names. Thanks to David Taborda, Lionel Vilner and Michael Valensi for having given so many good hints about the Street Fighter II series in magazines, at a time when almost nobody in France could combo a standing fierce into a dragon punch ! Thanks to Christophe Delpierre for having written so many good reviews of fighting games in french press so far. J'espère qu'un jour on pourra se rencontrer, taper la discute et se faire quelques parties sur des jeux mythiques ! Thanks to Reyda Seddiki as well, and all those who wrote in Player One at its greatest time - je fais partie des nombreux gens que vous ne connaissez pas mais qui se souviennent de votre travail ! Bravo. Thanks to Renaud, Julien and Brice for being brillant sparing partners when we have the time (avec une réserve sur Renaud qui en fait est plutôt mauvais - hey du calme, je blague. Non pitié, pas dans les dents le tornado kick). Thanks to Capcom and SNK for all that great fighting games. At last, thanks to that pack of gnocchi were it was written you could also cook them in a pan with butter instead of boiling water. I didn't know that and it is just awesome this way. I could eat tonns of them. Well i actually ate tonns of them while i was writing on this FAQ ! by Twipol / fran-c@tele2.fr Copyright 2003 by François Collette ***breathe and let do***