Akira Combos

Hi,

I have recently purchased VF3tb for my DC, so I am quite new to the Virtua Fighter scene. I play as Akira and was wondering how to do some of hs combos, I have heard about DLC but cannot do it. Can anyone give me some tips on how to do some combos?

Thanks in advance

 

Well, this is how the DLC was taught to me, anyway:

Look down at the stick when you do the combo, to make sure you're doing it right. And you have to do the motions QUICK. Start slow at first, and as you get a "rhythm" going, input the commands a little quicker. Keep practicing it, and it will be just a matter of muscle memory. Then practice it after a combo starter (D, f+P+K, SDE, GB->SJK or ST->SJK).
You do have an arcade stick, right?


-<font color=white>Ghost</font color=white><font color=blue>DOG</font color=blue>

 

Welcome to VF.

Where do you live? You might be able to find some players around you.

Akira is also my character; and while I'm no master, I can give a little advice here.

First off, there are some good FAQs around at places like Gamefaqs.com and there used to ba a "Step 1 Guide" here, but that may have been taken down. Those can provide you with more info than I'm wiling to type.

Akira is kind of a complex character, and while he has many combos, getting the oppt into the air usually involves some risk for him. That is, most of the moves Akira can float with, if the oppt guards your attack, you can be attacked/thrown and cannot guard because of slow recovery. Akira is kind of "high risk/high return" in nature. Even his most basic attack the Rimon Chouchuu/ Dashing Elbow is dangerous if your opponent guards and you don't know what to do next, you can be thrown.

Anyway, most of this stuff won't come into play against the CPU. Even on Hardest, it will rarely counter quick enough for you to worry about your move being guarded.

Moves that Akira can combo with from the standing position are:

f,f+P "DE"(requires a counter hit)
f,f,f+P "SDE" always floats and gives good damage, but if it's guarded, you can be hit/thrown. Be careful.
f,f+K "SJK" this is best used after Kuzushi or "Break Guard" tech. It can hit counter for a combo, but it's rare
d/f+K middle kick floats well on a counter hit
d/f+P+K SoukaHousui this move will also flaot on a counter hit. As it leaves Akira crouching, the most basic followup is
A Double Palm

Form a crouch, Akira can cobmo with the D.f+P+K MahouShouKou, or shoulder ram. This is probably Akira's best combo starter. Again, if it's guarded, you're in trouble, but the CPU will probably never get you after it guards this. This floats the oppt high even on a normal hit. To use this move (and Akira in general) to it's fullest, you should practice crouching dash, d/f, D/F. This allows you to move forward while crouching, and is essential as the shoulder ram, palm, and double palm can only be done from a crouch. If the article on Korean Step is still here, read it.

Okay, lastly comes the break guards. There are 2 kinds: throws and "hitting" break guards, which are only effective against standing guarding oppts.

Throws:
b,d+P+G: JyunHouHonKou or Stumbling Throw (ST) :Akira lays the oppt down face first behind him
f,b+P+G: JyunShinHonKou : Pulls the oppt's hands towards him forcing the oppt to crouch
b,d/f+P+G: YoushiSenRin or Reverse Body Check (RBC): steps behind the oppt and hits oppts bach with his, stunning him
b/d+P+G: ShinPoriKo or Suprise Exchange (SE): pulls oppt's hands back and steps behind oppt

and hit or just "BG'"s

f+P+G Kaiko: pushes oppt's guard up with his hand
d+P+G GekiHouHonKou: pushed oppt's guard up with his elbow

Okay, for starters, the ST, and both BG's can be followed with a SJK for a nice, high float. This can be struggled out of by the oppt, but it's difficult. The CPU will almost never do it, but will almost always fall for the d+P+G, almost never for the f+P+G.

Look, I have to go to work right now, so i'm gonna finish this later today, I promise. Until then, play around with this stuff.

Spotlite

corrections/additions welcome

 

Okay, before I get flames, I forgot 2 combo starters for Akira.

From standing, the Knee (K+G, G only 1/60 th of a second) and the Yohou, d/f,d/f+P.

I'll finish later, really.

Spotlite

 

I must have retarded muscle memory
somedays I wake up performing 100% DLC, 20% spod
otherdayz it's the opposite...some days I do em both 100%...other freako days both take a holiday.
and quite frankly....I can do much harder commands (ie, parrying akuma's super in 3s) on other games...however...just the DLC and SPOD fucking me over n over again.....

must be a confidence thing....

such is the fun of akira....
I had actually intended to ask the newbie posting the question not to learn Akira right now.....

But what the hell...he might not run into this stupid problem I have with Akira....

and for what's it worth...I, too look at the stick while performing the move during the learning stage.....



<font color=red>~~~ 'enemy not SPODED, enemy not DOWN/versus/images/icons/mad.gif~~~'

 

Okay, here to finish.

A little disclaimer here; I keep mentioning the CPU here, and I want to say I'm only doing so because I'm assuming that's
how you're going to practice this stuff. But if you have friends and you want to learn all this during combat, just
remember to be careful about moves with slow recovery being guarded, then countered; and many of the followups
to the break guards can be "stuggled" out of by shaking the stick and pressing the buttons quickly, then holding guard.

So, like I was saying, the ST and the 2 BG's (d+P+G and f+P+G) can be followed with a SJK, which gives a special,
high float, but can be struggled out of. The SE also can be followed with a SJK for a good, high float, but even
the CPU usually won't fall for it, and it can be avoided easily. You should absolutely master the first three though,
as they are staples of playing Akira in VF3tb, they are perfect for practicing his better combos, and only the best
players have the reflexes to recover consistently.

The timing for doing this is to tap forward 2 (or 3 to make sure) times QUICKLY and tap k for the BGs, and a little
slower for the ST, although you can buffer it, if you do it too quick you'll miss.

Those three (ST, 2 BGs) and the f,b+P+G can also be followed with a SDE, which AFAIK is guaranteed after the
first three, but the last can be struggled out of. This gives good
damage, and can set up some so-so to excellent combos depending on the situation. The RBC, SE
can also be followed with an SDE, but can be avoided by moving with E/struggling. In fact, the SDE is the standard
followup to the RBC, even though it can be avoided; if it hits, some cool stuff can happen.

The Yoho is a great move which gives a nice float and can be used in many situations. Personally, I think it's
underrated by Akira players, or maybe we just all forget about it (like I did in my first post), but most of us use it
sparingly. It's big drawback is that since it winds up a little slow, it's easy to see it coming; but if you use it wisely,
it's a great move! In some situations, it's guaranteed, such as after you guard sommersault/flipkicks, or Lau's
double palm, and you can follow with a DLC. Nice, right?

The knee is also excellent, but it's tricky execution limits it use to Yoho-ish levels by most. A good way to try it
in combat is to hold/tap down so that when you miss, you'll get the low kick instead of a high kick, which is
dangerous if you totally miss the oppt. It can also be done from a crouch, which is nice. A counter hit will give a
great float, and you can get a DLC in most cases. In case of a normal hit, you can sometimes get a low punch
followed by the Double Palm (do d+P,then b,f+P) for a classic Akira combo that looks great and anyone could
be proud of. Practice the Knee. After you feel comfortable, try to do ST, followed by a Knee (you'll have to
either f,f or f+E to dash forward first) then IMMEDIATELY do a SJK (like they're one move) for a REALLY good float
that can be followed by a DLC with a little slope or even on flat ground against girls; but that's one of his most
advanced combos.

The SDE is a great move to start combos with, but like the Yoho, must be used properly. If you guard Sarah's
Double Joint Butt (elbow,knee combo), and buffer the beginning of the SDE as you guard, then finish just as she
lands, you'll get big, guaranteed damage with the SDE and a fat float that can be followed with a DLC. This is a
good example of how to use it. It's also good after escaping the oppt's move,or if you're to the oppt's side or back.
But again, if it's guarded, you can be nailed, so be careful (try to reverse/escape throws!)

This is getting disorganized as I can't see the whole thing in this small window, so I'm gonna tryt to wrap it up
with some sort of order.

Okay, once they're in the air, what should you do?

for starters, and some might disagree here, I'm going to recommend you try to hit with the SDE, then follow up
with a ground punch (d/f+p when the oppt is down). Try to do this after any of the moves I mentioned above. You
might have to dash forward (again, with f,f or f+E) before the ground punch, but sometimes you won't, it has a
little more range that it looks like, and you should get comfortable with EXACTLY what the range is, because the
small ammount of time you spend going forward can sometimes allow the oppt to get up and hit with a rising
attack, or worse, a throw, as the punch has slow recovery, and the dash is often unnecessary.

I'm recommending the SDE because it gives good damage, requires some but not too much coordination, pushes
the oppt far, has variable timing, and can be easily changed to the DE if the float is a little lower. After you get
good at comboing with the SDE, try putting a punch (p, or p,g or p,k,g cancelling the kick) between the floating
move and the SDE, then the punch. This won't always work, but should with most cases. Again, if it's low, just
use the SDE or DE instead. If you can get a D,f+P+K, p,k,g (or p or p,g) f,f,f+p, f+E (or f,f), d/f+p, you're doing
well, and should start trying the DLC. You can start trying now, but it's good to be very comfortable with these
most basic combos because they'll always work for you;but the above combo approaches the level of dexterity needed

I'm gonna list some basic combos here. These come from the Gamest Mook for VF3tb. They're simple and will work
on almost all characters/stages (except Taka, who has his own combos).

DE- SDE- d/f+p (counter hit)

Shoulder- DLC
Shoulder- P(optional)- SDE- d/f+p

BG- SJK- P(optional)- DLC
BG- SDE- DE- d/f+p

SDE- DE- d/f+p
SDE- DLC

ST- SDE- DE- d/f+p

f,b+P+G- SDE- P- SDE- d/f+p (vs. Kage and Lau and lightweights only)
" "-SDE- middle kick- d/f+p (vs. Jacky and Akira and lightweights only)

some others are:

f,b+P+G- DE this causes a stagger which forces a mind game for the oppt, you can do many things
f,b+P+G- b,f,f+P+K (body check or TetsuzanKou)- d/f+p this is standard for high level play, and difficult to avoid, great damage

BG- SJK- P- b,f+P+K (ChouzanHouSui or double fist strike((some people call this mountain paste, but I have no idea why)))
This combo is DC only I think, gives nice damage, and looks good. the timing is a little quick.

Lastly, a little about the DLC (speaking of which, where did that name come from?) The real name is:
ShuraHaoOhKouKazan! Or roughly emonFightingKingVolcano! Or just Shura for short. Cool right? I think
I'll we should call it DKV from now on.

Anyway.... uh, doing the Shura isn't that tough with some practice. Many people can do it with almost 100%
consistency (I can't), but I've seen even the best players miss it every now and then. I could go on and on about the
mental games Akira players play with themselves about how to do these moves/why they're hard/how to do them,
But I feel it's best just to say it's easy, and you should be able to do it. If you tell yourself it's easy, it'll be easy.
The one I will say as far as your mental state is concerned is to stay relaxed, but focused. Don't rush it. As long
as you stay relaxed and just do it right, it'll come out.

Here's what I feel is the best way to learn it:

As a command, it has 3 parts:

d/f+K+G- f+P- b,f,f+P+K

You can probably see, this command is a little unbalanced; it's sort of like Medium, small, BIG! in terms of complexity.
Or if you break it down into directions+buttons, it'd be:
4- 2- 5

An easier way to think of it is:

d/f+K+G- f+p, b- f,f+P+K (4,3,4)

This method has worked for a lot of people, and works for me. So the way to do it is:

Hit the oppt with the kick. Once it hits, or even earlier, make SURE to return the stick to neutral, then f+p, b. The
window you have to put in the f+p after the kick is actually pretty big, so you can do it really quick, but don't
have to. You can wait until the kick has hit visually if you want, just be sure to pull back after the f+p. Now, all
you have to do is f,f+P+K, which should be no problem if you've been practicing the above combos like I told you.
The biggest pitfalls people have are not going to neutral after the kick, and not hitting back after the elbow. If you use
this method, and do it cleanly, no problem.

There's no trick to doing it, just relax and punch it in. Whenever I listen to people who do it well. I realize I'm always
trying to go too fast. It isn't needed. Just punch it in. It's easy.

I have mixed feelings about watching your hands. it works, but I think it's a bad habit, espescially with the SPOD.
If you can do it looking at your hands, you can do it with your eyes closed even easier. I used to practice the SPOD with my eyes closed. try it, it works. Stick to trying to learn it one way, even if it isn't my way, and you'll get it. If you start switching around
a lot in terms of trying different methods, you'll get into trouble I find.

If you're still out there, I'll write more later after you've tried this stuff. Let me know how it goes.

You should register. Stick with Akira, he rocks!

Sorry about the fucked up spacing, I'm not using my usuall computer

Spotlite

 

Very nice, spotlite.
The biggest pitfalls people have are not going to neutral after the kick, and not hitting back after the elbow.

Yeah, going back to neutral was a big problem for me, but I can get 2/3 DLC...err, Shura about 80-85% of the time. I still have make myself hit back after the elbow.
I wish I was this consistent at the last gathering. Oh well...


-<font color=white>Ghost</font color=white><font color=blue>DOG</font color=blue>