=========================================== SEGA VIRTUA FIGHTER THE VIRTUA FIGHTER (ONE) SYSTEM BREAKDOWN by GodEater =========================================== DISCLAIMER ---------- This guide is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced electronically / placed on a web page or site as long as it is unaltered, with this disclaimer and the copyright notice appearing in full. Any information used from this document, quoted or not, should have this author's name somewhere clearly as acknowledgement. Feel free to distribute between others, but this guide is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way. CONTENTS 1. MOVEMENT 1.1 Breaking it Down 1.2 Simple Movement 1.3 Advanced Movement 1.4 Putting It All Together 2. ATTACKING 2.1 The Two Types Of Attacks 2.2 "G"ing 2.3 PPPK Variants 2.4 Getting Hit/Blocking 3. THROWING 3.1 Conditions For Throwing The Opponent. 3.2 Setting Up The Throw 4. THE DOWNED OPPONENT 5. OKI-ZEME/THE RISING OPPONENT 5.1 The Rising System 5.2 Rising with an attack 5.3 Uramawari 6. COMBOS AND TIDBITS 7. ENDNOTES 1. MOVEMENT ============= 1.1 Breaking it Down -------------------- Like all good games, VF's movement can be very simple or very complex. You could play the game using only the Very Simple method of moving and never feel like you were being excluded from a larger world of gameplay (though, you were), which is good. It allows novice players to have fun and not have to muddle through guides and compendium's just to figure out how to dash. Of equal goodness is the fact that high end movement exists and has many many advantages. It improves the game and keeps the level of play moving upwards. This is good for obvious reasons. 1.2 Simple Movement ------------------- On the surface movement in VF consists of two very simple concepts: Walking, Dashing, and inching forward in a crouch position. Walking consists of holding the joystick in a forward or backward position, the character will do the rest. Walking is painfully slow, especially if you are walking backwards. In actual games I find that it has very little value, especially in versus games. Everything is happening too fast for Walking to have any real benefit. Dashing (and running) is very useful. With it you can cover distances very quickly. Tapping forward twice on the joystick will enable a forward dash. Assuming you are outside of a certain range (your character will stop running once it has entered this range which is equivilant to one dash) holding the last forward will cause your character to run. Running is great to close large distances. You cannot run backwards and dashing backwards does have its limitations. There is a *large* delay after a back dash which prohibits multiple back dashes. This limits the kind of space you can create between yourself and your opponent; but only under the Simple Movement rules. Inching in a crouched position is useless unless your opponent is a half-wit. You have little mobility moving forwards or backwards, there's just no point. Don't do it. That's Simple Movement. Not too hard, huh. Go out there and enjoy the game. Or stay for a second more and I'll fill your ears to a greater level. 1.3 Advanced Movement --------------------- Under Advanced Movement we find such crazy terms like: Crouch Dashing, Dash Cancelling and Dash Doubling. Cool, huh? Worth the wait Just for the names, right? Read on, Macduff. Dash Cancelling: Here's the short explanation. Every joystick input that sets your character in motion (but not attacking) can be instantly cancelled by simply entering another joystick input. The Simplest example is cancelling a backward dash by tapping forward on the stick. Your character begins their dash and then stops cold. The amount of dash allowed to come out is dependant on when you cancel it (duh). You can cancel it right away if you so desire. Remember, you can cancel it with any movement. A crouch, and hop... anything. This gets important later on with Dash doubling. Crouch Dashing: This gets fairly complex just because it can be enabled by a couple of different inputs and they both have their own good reasons for being done at different times. Crouch Dashing is (get this) the condition of moving at dash speed and with dash range but in a crouch position. There are two main inputs methods to enable crouch dashing. Method A: The joystick motion df, d, df enables method A. It can be done forward or backwards. The motion allows one to move underneath all high attacks and still maintain a retreat or offensive motion. Method B: The joystick motion df, df enables method B. This has some very distinct advantages over Method A. The crouch dash is the exact same in speed and distance as method A but it counts as both a crouch dash and the required input for any attack that needs the joystick to be tapped forward (ff) twice. Moves like Akira's Dashing Elbow--normally enabled by the input, ff+P--can be begun by crouch dashing! why is this important? You can unleash certain moves while in the middle of evading any high attack that your opponent tries to hit you with, like punches. Or ticks (see Ticking). Dash Doubling: Every time you engage in movement in the world of VF there is a curious thing happening, whether you want it to or not. It has a lot to do with why method B crouch dashing works the way it does and it is also tied into dash cancelling a little bit. Every time you engage in movement there is a doubling going on. For example, a standing dash in VF counts as just that, a standing dash. But as well it has the potential to count as a crouch dash. The same is true of the reverse, crouch dashes are crouch dashes but the computer recognizes them as standing dashes as well. The trick is learning to dash cancel. If you are performing a forward standing dash the computer allows the possibility of that standing dash to become a forward crouch dash. All you have to do is cancel the standing dash by holding down and forward on the stick (DF). Your character begins the forward dash, gets maybe half-way and then performs a full crouch dash. Same thing applies to a forward crouch dash. Your character would begin a forward crouch dash (df, DF) and then you would cancel it with a forward tap on the joystick...voila! Standing dash. Dash Doubling. 1.4 Putting It All Together --------------------------- This is important for a couple of reasons. One, it allows a player to double his dash distance with only one extra stick input. This is good. You can cover more ground, even when you are within the opponents dash radius (the point where running characters stop). The other immediate advantage really only applies to Wolf and Jeff. They share a similar throw, the Crucifix Piledriver, this throw can be done while crouch dashing. this is great because you can crouch dash forward, avoid high attacks, and throw all at once. but sometimes the distance to the opponent is greater than the distance allowed by the crouch dash. ff,df+PK gets you a forward dash into a crouch dashed Crucifix. You've doubled the distance of one of Jeff and Wolf's most powerful moves. Yeah, you. But there are bigger pluses to consider. Remember that dash cancelling is instantaneous and has no recovery time. I purposely avoided any examples using backwards movement in the previous paragraphs because it is there that the meat of dash doubling is revealed. Instantaneous and no recovery time. That's what I said. Earlier, in the Simple Movement section I said that there was a large delay after a character back dashes. This is true, except for when a player makes use of both dash canceling and dash doubling. Tapping back twice on the stick gets you a backwards standing dash, you can cancel that with a DB motion on the stick which enables a backwards crouch dash which you can cancel by tapping back on the stick which enables a backwards dash which you can cancel...well, by now I hope you get the picture. Here is a *sample* of continuous movement, not plagued by any delays or recovery times that many people thought were entrenched in VF movement. Keep in mind that this is only a sample. You can choose which way to move, how long to let the movement come out before cancelling and where to insert attack commands. It's up to you. Here it is: bb, db, b, df (only a cancel, not a crouch dash), ff, df, f That's a back dash into a back crouch dash into a back dash which is cancelled by a forward crouch. Then we begin anew with a forward dash into a crouch dash into a forward dash. Notice that you cannot turn a standing dash (or crouch dash) going one way into a standing dash (or crouch dash) going in the opposite direction. You can only cancel said movement and then begin all over again, only this time moving in the other direction. When you have the timing down so that the movement is nice and fast and fluid then you are doing something I simply call 'stepping'. 2. ATTACKING ============= 2.1 The Two Types Of Attacks ---------------------------- Attacks can be split up into two simple categories, combinations and non-combinations. A combination attack uses a pre-programmed sequence of moves such as Sarah's PPPK. A non-combination attacks--it should be obvious--is a throw move or a single blow attack such as a sidekick or an elbow. Combinations are *usually* started by button presses and no joystick input (although there are exceptions listed below), while non-combination attacks usually rely on both joystick and button presses (the most rudimentary attacks such as high kicks and high punches are the exceptions). It is important to note that there can be no delay inbetween button presses for a combination attack to come out; the attack sequence for the combination attack must be hit in rapid fashion or the combo will stop prematurely. This can be good and bad. Bad if it is your intention to finish the combo in question (say, in a float) but good because by the virtue of minute pauses you are allowed to change tactics on the fly. Or you could "G" a combination attack. 2.2 "G"ing ---------- "G"ing is the condition of pressing the Guard button in order to cancel a move in mid-attack (only the highkick can be cancelled mid-way) or to stop a combination attack from coming out totally while still allowing you to press on with your attack strategy. An example would be standing punches. It is quite possible to fire off very rapid punches that have nothing to with the normal PPP combination attacks by striking the Guard button after the intial punch and then repeating the process: P(g), P(g), P(g), P(g)....A certain rythm is required, simply striking the two buttons as fast as possible can actually slow you down. "G"ing can also enable you to fly between combination attacks with ease. Beginning with two combination punches, Sarah can then "G" into an Elbow Knee combination attack, maybe catching a crouch guarding opponent. Switching attack levels (high to mid for example) is a good way to keep your opponent on the defensive and surprising someone who tries to duck under punches. The button/joystick example mentioned above would look like this: PP(g), F+PK. With the ability to delay only slightly in the execution of a combination attack in order to switch combo's or fire out multiple (non-combination) punches, why "G" at all? Fair question and the answer is fairly much straight forward. Timing. Timing the pause between the attacks so as to cancel the combination and still press ahead at speed is hard to acquire. It is much simpler to insert a "G" in the middle of a combo then worrying about going too fast to effectively allow the combo to stop or too slow and allow the opponent an opportunity to escape. It is a safety measure and by no means necessary which is the prime reason for always representing it in brackets. The truth is that sometimes pressing Guard can also screw up your timing. I find a healthy mixture of "G"ing and delay cancelling works to my advantage. 2.3 PPPK Variants ----------------- With the exception of Wolf, Jeff and Akira all characters have a staple PPPK combo at their disposal. Well hidden is an alternate style PPPK combo that left Jeff and Wolf out in the cold but allowed Akira--the only character without a PPP combo--a good combat option. For the most part the variant is accessed through this input: ff+P&K, PPK. Some however an access it simply by tapping ff on the stick and striking PPPK like you normally would. These variants are listed under each character's movelist. You may find you never use the variants but it does add a small taste of variety. And it gives Akira the chance to do three punches in a row! 2.4 Getting Hit/Blocking ------------------------ I've put this before the throw section because it has some stuff that throwing actually can rely on. In Virtua Fighter being hit can be bad (duh) but surprisingly blocking can put you in an un-happy place as well. The reason for this is two little conditions, hit stun and block stun. If there are formulae for these two things I've yet to find them but it essentially breaks down like this. Depending on what you are doing when your opponent hits you, you can be placed in the unenviable postion of being stunned and immobile. If you are hit by a punch and you are not blocking or anything the hit stun you experience will be tiny and barely perceptible. If you are trying to attack and a punch hits you before the attack can come out you have been "minor countered"; the punch has interupted you. The hit stun you experience will be signifigantly higher. In some cases the hit stun is so high that a quick thinking opponent can actually hit you with another punch before your guard button will even register! This is rare thankfully. Block stun works on a similar but more mysterious principle. The way it works (I think) is that the opponent attacks at the *exact* moment that you guard after missing with a move. At this point hit stun mechanics still apply and your character reacts in much the same way he would have had he been hit. You take no damage but cannot move which is not a good situation. Block stun does not require the above conditions (you whiffing a move and guarding your opponent's attack just in time) to become active. It actually is going on each to lesser and greater degrees each time you block an attack. The stun experienced in most cases is so small that it doesn't normally matter. Only "minor counter" block conditions affect larger stun times (again, I'm guessing here). 3. THROWING =========== A throw is an attack move that cannot be prevented by guarding. It is one of the ways of maintaing a balance of attack and defense in most fighting games. Throw moves inflict a greater amount of damage (up to 100 points) than most attack moves do, so use them. 3.1 Conditions For Throwing The Opponent ---------------------------------------- The opponent must satisfy certain requirements prior to being thrown or the command will have no effect. These requirements are: a) the opponent must be facing you (excepting back throws). An opponent who is facing away from you by more than 30 degrees is safe from being thrown. b) the opponent must be standing. Only Jeff and Wolf can throw a crouching opponent. c) the opponent cannot be attacking. The opponent can only be thrown when he is recovering from an attack, when he is doing nothing at all or moving back and forth. There is only one exception and that belongs to akira (see his movelist). There is a small sticking point to the "no attacking" rule, though. The fine print is that you are only considered to be attacking when animation corresponding to an attack is present. What? Okay, lets use Sarah's Elbow Knee combo as an example. If the elbow portion of the combo whiffs (so you are not in block stun) it is perfectly possible to throw her before the knee can come out because technically she is not attacking. You can also throw people in the middle of their PPP combos. Possible does not mean easy. If anyone can throw this off at the drop of a hat I'll be very surprised (although I've never really given it serious attention, so who knows?). 3.2 Setting Up The Throw ------------------------ Once you have a handle on the game, not only do throws become (arguably) the most powerful tool you have, they also become the easiest to perform. Here are the main techniques for throwing that you should learn and practice. (1) Recovering Opponent: As mentioned above, a throw can be performed on an opponent who is in the middle of recovering from an attack that has missed. Here is an example: Opponent performs a high kick over your head (assuming a crouched position on your part. -> You input a throw command immediately. -> Opponent is thrown. Easy! In fact, this recovery-throw technique--once you've got the reflexes for it--can be done off of everything to whiffed sidekicks to missed punches. (2) Static Trap: Another method for setting up the throw is by creating a static trap. A static trap is simply the point where you have aggressed your opponent into a state where he considers it unwise to move, allowing you the time to input the throw. This is most easily done by unleashing a string of attacks that take advantage of quick recovery time and mix up levels. Say for example that you are playing Jacky and after a Low Back Fist it is common for you to immediately a Punt Kick. This hits mid level and your opponent has eaten it many times by trying to duck or attack at the same time. If he is smart he will stay put after the Low Back Fist, anticipating the Punt Kick. unfortunately for the opponent he has just satisfied one of the requirements for throwing, namely, doing nothing. You can now just input a dash (if you are out of range) and throw. Static traps are hard to come by unless your opponent knows your attack sequence or is just plain nervous about being hit. (3) Ticking: This is the easiest of all throw techinques (apart from having your opponent just stand there). It is also the hardes to avoid and many people will either find themselves on the receiving end of ticks or doing it themselves. I consider nothing in the game to be 'cheap' but my advice here is, if you want to tick, do so, but mix it up. It can be really frustrating for your opponent and remove a lot of the fun from the game. After that, what's the point. Onward. Ticking makes use of hit/block stun. It is the act of hitting your opponent (usually with a punch) with a quick attack and then when he is recovering from the attack, inputting a throw. If the punch hits (sometimes a blocked punch is just as bad) and the person doing the ticking is competent the throw cannot be avoided. Sega either did not consider this weapon when constructing the block/hit stun formulaes, or did and just figured players would rely on ethical play. Whatever, it is your most powerful weapon for leading up to throws. There are three types of ticking, High and Low Ticks, Body Ticks and Tick Continuations. High and Low Ticks: High ticks are the easiest and thus, most seen type of ticking done. It begins with nothing more than a simple high punch. because of the odd block/hit stun formulaes the high punch, in most cases, can even strike a guarding opponent and still be followed by a throw. The sequence involved for high ticking (indeed, ticking in general) is simple: hit opponent with a punch and then input the throw while the opponent is in the middle of recovering. A sample of high ticking: Pai Chan hits opponent with a punch and then inputs ff+P&K. Instant throw. Low ticks are basically the same thing. The only thing is that they come off of a low punch. A little harder to do because it is harder to get the counter needed for long stun time. Body Ticks: A much harder form of ticking and open all characters but with some provisions. Only a few characters can body tick with ease while engaged in toe to toe fighting. A body tick is accomplished by striking the opponent in an unguarded instant (it can be done to a blocking opponent but is a more rare occurance) with a mid level attack. Akira and Lau seem to be the only ones (excepting Dural) who can do it easily and that comes from having the only uncounterable sidekicks in the game. They recover way before the opponent ever can. Lau has a few more options open to him than does Akira but never mind, body ticking will always be easiest with the sidekick. I said that everyone could body tick and I meant it. When everyone else does it, however, it is a hell of a lot harder and involves a greater risk. hop kicks can body tick. Now one of the things I'm unsure about is whether you need a special counter with the hop kick to produce the long stun time. Hop Kicks recover fast but not *really* fast. If so, the special counter can most easily come from hopping kicking over an opponent's low rising attack (see, Oki-zeme tactics and The Downed Opponent). Once you have hit them with the hop kick the second part is the same as with high and low kicks, input a throw. Here are Akira's and Lau's body tick weapons: Akira: Sidekick Lau: Sidekick Down Knife Hop Kick (without special counter!) Of the two character's Lau is obviously the best. In any case, it will take a little bit before you can master both the timing and the conditions for body ticks. Listen for the distinctive CRUNCH noise that accompanies long hit stun time, that is the time to input your throw. Tick Continuations: If people have problems with ticks then they'll absolutely love this. The whole concept revolves around ticking but you get to hit your opponent two to three more times! Hit stun formulaes, we love ya! Basically in a continuing tick situation the hit stun is enough that it allows the next hit (and possibly one more) to strike the opponent while still maintaining the hit stun required for throw. Evil, huh? the maximum number of hits before the hit stun wears off is three, which is your basic PPP combo. Not everyone's PPP combo can tick continue which is a true shame because it does reduce the equality of the playing field. Here are the characters with their tick continuations: Akira: none. Lau: Down knife Punch Up knife Punch PP Pai: none. Wolf: none. Jeff: DE-Upper Kage: none. Sarah: PPu (see Sarah's movelist) Jacky: none. Dural: PPP Out of them all (excluding Dural), Lau and Sarah are the absolute best. Lau is incredible because his tick continuations start with mid attacks. Sarah is *amazing* because she gets all three of her punches in before the throw; this brings her damage up to a healthy 78 points. Lau's tick continuations beat Sarah's with his maxing out (assuming the Face Smash throw) at 112 points! I have thrown after hitting with Jeff and Wolf's PP combo but it is really hard to tell if it is a true tick continuation. Jeff's DE-Upper, on the other hand, is a monster. The only catch is that you have to be in really tight to get it. Hard to do. 4. THE DOWNED OPPONENT ======================= Any move that inflicts 30 or more points of damage (or has a tripping aspect to the move such as a sweep) to the opponent will cause that opponent to fall to the ground. In high end VF play this is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to you as it removes from you the possibility of controlling the game. However, if you are the player who has sucessfully downed your opponent there are several things that can be done to maintain advantage or further damage your enemy. 4.1 Stomp Attacks ----------------- A stomp attack is a special attack that can only be launched on a fallen opponent. This attack is accomplished simply by pressing up on the joystick and hitting the punch button at the same time. With the exception of Kage--who has three different stomp attacks that change depending on the distance from the downed opponent--there are two different kinds of stomp attacks, weak and hard. Weak Stomp: A quick to execute stomp which has the advantage of almost always hitting. The downside to this move is that certain characters are rendered defenseless should it miss. Akira seems to be a shining exception, his stomp is very hard to punish; trying will probably get you hurt. Hard Stomp: Stronger version of the weak stomp which takes longer to come out. Certain characters have different animations to accompany the harder stomp. missing with the hard stomp is not as bad as missing with the weak one. Akira has no hard stomp. In addition to stomp attacks, Pai and Akira both can punch the downed opponent. The damage done is minimal but the plus side is that multiple punches can be brought down upon the opponent and the risk of retaliation is small. Of course you can choose not to stomp the opponent and move into his space, keeping the pressure on and looking to keep him from getting up. This maintaining of pressure on the fallen opponent is usually referred to as, Oki-zeme. Oki-zeme is hard sometimes but the rewards are great. To be able to pressure the opponent effectively you must know certain things about the condition of rising. This is detailed below. 5. OKI-ZEME/THE RISING OPPONENT ================================ As explained in the "downed opponent" section being knocked down is the worst possible place you can be. In high end play there is absolutely no chance you can control the direction of the match and control is vitally important. The fact is if you are knocked down and playing against someone who is well versed in the mechanics of the game that you are NOT going to get up. It is that simple. Oh sure, you will give the illusion of someone who really wants to stand and remain standing but an illusion is all it will be. Once up you will be put down again. Here is why. 5.1 The Rising System --------------------- First the rising opponent is plagued with one huge disadvantage. Complete vulnerability. If the rising opponent tries to rise without an attack they will have a instant where they are completely vulnerable to throws or attacks. There is nothing you can do to avoid this. The best option for an opponent eschewing an attack is for them to "kip". Striking up on the joystick makes the character do a handspring recovery. This seems to reduce the recovery time but by what degree is uncertain. A misconception floated around for a while that relied on the premise that rolling and striking Punch and Guard reduced the recover time to nothing but that was untrue. Striking both Guard and Punch reduced the amount of time spent recovering from the blow that knocked you down but it could not help you if you chose to rise without an attack. Not much can. 5.2 Rising with an attack ------------------------- The High Riser: High rising attacks hit mid so you need to be standing to block it. If you block the rising option then you and your opponent are at a stalemate. Both of you recover in almost the same instant. Almost the same because tests have proved notoriously inconclusive. However it suffices to say that if either player has an advantage it is very small and hard to really capitalize on. After blocking the high riser if both opponents decide to attack the player who uses the move with the smallest execution time will win out. This invariably means the high punch. Of course, knowing the high punch is coming out means that you might favor the low punch or another such attack. And then the opponent who "knows" your Lau will attempt a sweep to beat his high punch will opt for the sidekick, hoping for a float. The point of that little exercise is just to show that nothing is cut and dried. Just because high punch seems like the best bet it usually isn't or at least won't be the perpetual option. The High Rising attack that hits will not knock down unless the opponent attempts a move that puts them in the air. If a player opts for the high rising attack and it hits that attack puts the opponent in sufficient hit stun that a throw is possible. The length of hit stun depends on what the opponent was doing when they got hit by the rising attack. The throw attempt has to be inputed immediately after the high rising attack hits or both players are in a neutral situation where the other could win out. All high rising attacks, blocked or whiffed, are thrown high. The Low Riser: The low rising attack that is not blocked will knock down. Obviously the player knocked down from the low rising attack is in danger now and will have to attempt to get back on his feet again with a minimal amount of time and damage. Low rising attacks that are blocked fall to the same rules as high risers. Everyone is about equal in respect to how they recover. All low rising attacks, blocked or whiffed are thrown high. Rising from the standing opponent's perspective: One of your most important tools for survival is being able to successfully anticipate your opponent's movements or strategies. In most cases this arises because you are able to read your opponent but in some cases it simply comes from knowing certain conditions that are hardwired into the game. When you are facing a rising opponent that does not roll to one side you are faced with a guessing game. The opponent can choose to rise with a low or high attack. Failure to rise with an attack will automatically create a deficit in strategy and now that you know this you can force them to come out with an attack. In a standard rising option the downed opponent will simply hit the Kick button and either hold the joystick down (low) or leave it in a neutral position (high). If you are pressuring the opponent and forcing him to rise with an attack you are involved in a game where you have a 50% chance of getting hurt. Not the best odds. Baiting is usually the best option. Utilizing the movement mechanics of VF(stepping) you can pressure the opponent to rise with an attack and slip that attack at the last second. Then punish, punish, punish. You could count on your knowledge of your opponents strategies and attempt to block the incoming attack but since that would lead to a paper, scissors, rock, type game plan it is mostly better to try and bait. The alternative rising option is side rolling into an attack but this is the worst option available for the downed opponent. From a sideroll the only possible type of rising attack available is a low rising. The rising opponent doesn't even have to hold down to access the low rising kick, just press G,G,G,K,K,K. Obviously from the standing opponent's perspective they know the rising opponent is screwed. One of the best strategies here is to hop. If you counter the rising attack with a kick you can tick into a throw. If you simply hop causing the low rising attack to whiff then you still get a throw. If the opponent rolls but then doesn't attack he is incredibly vulnerable and your hop has instant recovery. Another throw opportunity for you. If you choose to attack a whiffed rising attack your best option is a PK. 5.3 Uramawari ------------- Uramawari is a condition specific to the rising opponent and when translated literally means, "rotate the back". It is most prevalent in the second and third installment of Virtua Fighter but can certainly be found in the first. I have only found two uramawari scenarios but there may be others. Anyone with a knee can pass through the opponent's rising attack if they perform the knee at the right instant. With the most perfect timing you have time to turn around with a high punch and stun the opponent. What you do then is anyone's guess. Alternatively (but this is hard), you can turn around naturally and attempt a behind throw. From his f+P throw, Wolf can perform his Shoulder Ram and make the opponent rise completely wrong. Totally free back throw. 6. COMBOS AND TIDBITS ===================== Here are a brief samplings of the combos available to each character. There are more but if I gave them all away then what would you have to experiment with? AKIRA: Sidekick, Dashing Elbow (df+K, ff+P) Single jump kick, Dashing Elbow (ff+K, ff+P; Sarah only) Hidden Mountain, Palm, SJK (b, df+P+K, d, df, f+P, ff+K) PAI: Hahahahaha. LAU: Up knife punch (upknP), PPPd+K UpKnPx2 PPP-sweep UpKnPx3 PPP-crescent (versus sarah) Sidekick, PPP-sweep UpKnP, P(g), P(g), P(g) (until R.O; possible from one end of the ring to the other) Wolf: Knee, P, P, sidekick Lifting Upper, P, ShoulderRam Knee, P, Knee Jeff: DE, P, Double Upper DE, DE-upper DE, Knee Knee, P, DE-upper Lifting Upper, P, DE-Upper Kage: TFT, P, PPPK Elbow, Sweep PK, Sweep 7. ENDNOTES =========== I still come back to VF1. There is still so much fun, adrenalizing competition to be had. Maybe the reason it is still fun is that it is so stripped down as people complain. It is fighting at its most essential. Or maybe it's that it is not as stripped down as people complain. That, for being the first in the series and the pioneer of the genre, it is still a very complete game equipped with combos, tricks, gameplay strategies and a variety of characters.