Taka Arashi...what was his style like?

The rumor of Taka being back in VF5 R made me curious...how did he play in VF3? What was his style like (well yeah, it's sumo wrestling...but how does that translate to VF)?

Was he like Brad? Jeffry? Wolf?

Can one of the vets help me out here and describe how he plays?

 

Taka was a slow, fat, squishy punching bag for my Sarah to moonsault over and mirage kick in the daiper.

 

Taka played like Pai.

 

Whoever wants to complain about hitboxes need look no further than Lion's final juggle in that second video. =/

 

I love VF3 for the simple fact you can't be offensive and think your gonna win. Heavy attacks get held up on guard. You gotta love it.

 

In VF all characters seem to have a unique style.

Akira: Powerful offense/bombardment
Pai: Speed
Lau: Offensive
Wolf: Throws
Jeffry: Power
Kage: Agile
Sarah: Kicks
Jacky: Balanced (fast but powerful)
Shun: Unorthodox/confusing/comical
Lion: Range
Aoi: Defensive
Taka: Ring out
Lei-Fei: Stances and flowing sequences
Vanessa: two characters in one
Goh: Precision (no flash)
Brad: Constant offense
Eileen: Unpredictable
El Blaze: Close range

At least that's how I see it...obviously characters have other facets in addition to this focus such as Lion's propensity to be fast and tricky...

Taka was mostly like Goh but slightly slower and stronger. He had lots of powerful throws, singular powerful moves (except for his 6 sumo slap string), a catch throw with lots of variations once he'd grabbed them. But he also had Akira style power palms and seemed geared towards ring outing the opponents as he had the longest /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif string, his attacks used to knock opponents flying and many throws carried them forwards or backwards. He didn't have a /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/u.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif pounce attack, only a slow /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/d_.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/u.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif mega pounce. His /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/k.gif stomp was slow but powerful and his regular /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif down attack was a double hit slap (similar to the multi-hits after Akira's /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/g.gif throw). He also had a face slap that was super-weak but was awesome at reducing DP off Shun.

So a one word answer to what Taka is like - "Awesome!"... but also "fat".

 

Lemmy I love the use of the word bombardment to describe Akira /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

Thanks everyone for the good info. I didn't even know this character existed, never played him if I even barely recall playing VF3 all too briefly. VF4:Evo was when I arrived at the series so this is all news to me.

Am I right in thinking he was VF's answer to E. Honda from SF2? I half imagine him to have a 100 hand slap and a special stage at a swimming baths!

 

Well, it's the best I can think of /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif. Just about every single move of his you manage to guard still sends you reeling. He is a powerhouse and a nutcase. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Well, he is a sumo. But he doesn't fly at you headfirst like a bullet.

 

I think the thousand hand slap would be a bit too much for VF, I fully support the idea of Taka having that throw of E Hondas where he choke slams you to the floor and then jumps ass first on your chest though.

EDIT: Taka doing that to Eileen and Blaze would be immense!

 

Thanks Myke for the video, and everyone else for the descriptions. Now I am excited about Taka too!

And Lemmy, I like the "precision" description of Goh, I never thought about him like that, but yeah....Goh is as unflashy as they come, and can't afford to waste any moves. I've always wondered about how judo style == assassin, but now it makes sense (precision!)

 

taka was cool, too bad he was removed. imho lion should have been the one taken out of the game. lion is the most unrealistic character in the game. he would be at home in tekken or mortal combat. lion pokes at you knees and knocks you down???

 

Taka was one of my favourite characters in VF3. I was disappointed to see that he was removed in VF4 -- very happy to see him briefly in the VF5:R video /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Taka had several things going for him that made him very unique in the VF world. Here are a couple of things I remember -- there might be more.
<ul>[*] He had P+K+G and d+P+K+G, high and low hand claps, that if used successfully in the first 5 seconds of the match would send the opponent into a unique stagger that allowed a for a float combo.[*] It took a single hit of 40 points or more to knock him down (i.e. a normal Knee my Akira wouldn't knock him down but an MC Knee would).[*] Virtually every throw in the game had a special animation for Taka. Wolf's Giant Swing would hardly throw Taka. Lau struggled to lift Taka for his b,f+P+G throw, etc, etc.[/list]Unfortunatly I suspect those last two points will not make a return in VF5:R -- because the 40point knockdown made him hard to balance and the throw thing required a lot of work on the part of the animators. Regardless I'm glad to see him make a comeback.

 

The one throw most people remember not being as useful on him was Kage's Koenraku (TFT). He'd go about 5 feet in the air, and instead of the Izuna Otoshi followup, Kage would do a handspring kick.

Edit: Now that I've just seen the match video on the first page, I noticed that it was in that.

Also, he only had one jumping down attack. From VF1-VF3 everyone bar Akira had two jumping down attacks, heavy and light (Akira only had light). Taka only had heavy.

 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Unfortunatly I suspect those last two points will not make a return in VF5:R</div></div>
It'll be an utter disaster if they don't make special throws animations for throwing Taka.

 

Honestly, I thought Taka-Arashi will never make a comeback since AM-2 found him impossible to coordinate with the other fighters. However, having him back will probably rejoice a lot players of him. When I first tried him out in my Dreamcast, he was kind of very fast in his punching since he is a big guy. Since he returns, I guess we will see how he can manage to fight against fighters from 4 to 5.[/size]

 

re Izuna drop: That was a command followup that you could do on anyone. b+P+G --> u+P+G. However, Kage had a Taka only d+P+G followup.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Also, he only had one jumping down attack. From VF1-VF3 everyone bar Akira had two jumping down attacks, heavy and light (Akira only had light). Taka only had heavy. </div></div>

Which was never used. You either used b+K, or often the hand slaps (df+PP) on grounded opponents.

 

Actually it was the same command versus Taka, it's just that instead of the /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/u.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/g.gif doing the izuna drop, it did the weird upside down kick.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Also, he only had one jumping down attack. From VF1-VF3 everyone bar Akira had two jumping down attacks, heavy and light (Akira only had light). Taka only had heavy. </div></div>

Well I used it a lot. If the opponent was going to be grounded for a long time such as after a wall hit or if Shun laid down after his moves, then you could do the damaging butt drop. It was nowhere near useless.

 

Sigh. There are two, Lemmy. The d+P+G is Taka only. The u+P+G had a Taka specific animation, like every other throw in the game did on Taka practically.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well I used it a lot. If the opponent was going to be grounded for a long time such as after a wall hit or if Shun laid down after his moves, then you could do the damaging butt drop. It was nowhere near useless. </div></div>

Well, perhaps you didn't play competitively. There are a lot of things that one can use in the game, however against players who played a lot in the competitive circles, rising in time for Taka's pounce to miss was quite easy and as such good Taka players often used his other ground attacks for guaranteed damage after certain knockdowns. Against the CPU or beginner players, I'll agree with you that his pounce was less than useless in some situations. Against good players, you and I will agree to disagree here, I guess.

I'm excited to see that VF5:R will bring out all the Taka players who apparently played him before...but not really. gg.