By James Chen
May 18, 2001
Well, good news: I still like the game after a second day. ^_^
Just a few minor things to add, and then I'm gonna go into some more detail about character changes. First of all, I forgot to mention that Ratio 1's feel REALLY weak right now... I mean, they can still be effective and do well, but a Level 1 Super from a Ratio 1 does pathetic damage. However, I don't think ANYTHING can be taken as "certain" right now... According to Majestros, Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick behaves like Street Fighter III's SBK... But the damage is still like CvS... for EVERY HIT. So if Chun Li lands an SBK on you and it connects for, like, 6 hits, you've lost 50% of your life right there. Also, one of Yun has a super where Yang dives down in front of him. If Yang nails the enemy, he goes into his Raishin-Mahhaken on the enemy, as Yun smugly waits for him to finish. However, when I did a Level 3 as Ratio 2 Yun on Ratio 2 Guile, the move's damage was just a SMALL, SMALL chunk. I'm talking SMALL. Haohmaru's Standing Fierce did more damage than the Level 3 super. So it's hard to take the damage at face value for now...
But I will reiterate standard Level 1 Supers do seem weaker. And currently, it's hotly debated whether or not Level 1's have LESS priority, or MORE priority. I saw Level 1's get stuffed, but other times, Level 1's pass right through things. I am suspecting that it really depends on the character and the super performed...
And yes, Juggling has been severely WEAKENED. Many things that Juggled before no longer Juggle. Ken's Level 1 DP, indeed, has no ability to Juggle, not even after a Crouch Roundhouse. Mai's Level 1 Fan Super passes through bodies if Buffered after a Crouch Roundhouse. King can no longer Throw into the corner and follow up with Surprise Rose. And, biggest news of them all... The first hit of the Shin ShoRyuKen DOES NOT JUGGLE. That means no combo off of Crouch Roundhouse, no combo off of a Jab DP in the middle of the screen... nothing. The Shin ShoRyuKen will just connect for one, very weak hit. It can still be used as anti-air I think (since the first hit wouldn't count as a Juggle), but is now much harder to combo into.
Rolls really are VERY weak now. ANYTHING that hits the ground can stop a Roll. So you cannot Roll through Sweeps and you cannot Roll through Rugal's Fireball, for example (the Ground one, not Kaiser Wave). So you'll really have to be careful. I think at the very start of the Roll, there is still some invincibility, because I distinctly remember someone Rolling through my Kyosuke Crouch Roundhouse right at it's start up. But I may have just saw wrong.
Links DO still exist in the game, very much so. Most characters can still do their standard links... Vice can do Crouch Jab into Crouch Fierce still. Shotos can still even do Crouch Jab Stand Fierce. It just seems like only the Crouch Short, Crouch Roundhouse links are gone, as I could NOT combo that with Ken. It just wouldn't happen. But other links still existed, no problem.
SNK Groove seems to charge up slower. Charging is still done by holding Fierce + Roundhouse. But when you start charging, the meter builds slowly at first, and then picks up speed as you hold it down. It's almost like it has to "rev up". The meter is also longer. So charging a full meter takes a little bit longer than before, and you can just Charge a bit, attack, charge a bit, attack anymore, since those short charging periods don't build as much meter as they did before. This doesn't make charging useless, however. Just a bit longer than before.
Guard Cancels seem to be pretty effective. I never got a bead on how much damage they did, but they certainly seemed to work better than in Alpha. I did see some Guard Cancels get stuffed, but overall, I think they're a bit better than in Alpha 3. MCTek was using Guard Cancels repeatedly, one fight, and they seemed to be doing him well.
A lot of colors haven't been made yet... So if you tried picking a button for a non-existent color, your character appeared all white. Everything was white, like a white shadow (think of CvS's Color Edit Mode, and you just made every color white... That's how they looked). It was actually kinda annoying, especially on stages where the background was predominately white! ^_^ Anyhow, more to update as I think of them. But here are some more details on characters:
I tried using Yun and basically got worked everytime. However, John Choi was able to do really well with him, getting various win streaks with Yun. It seemed like he played Yun fairly similarly to the way he plays him in Three. The Dive Kicks seem to be his main source of attacking. Fireball + Jab is really fast now, and seemed to be good at surprise attacks. Also, as mentioned in the last report, you can combo it off of Crouch Short x 3 (the STANDARD CvS combo... some things don't change in the CvS sequel... ^_^). His DP + Punch seemed really slow in this game. Standing Forward was excellent anti-air, and you could Super Jump cancel it for an extra hit.
Maki has some nice pokes from distance: Crouching and Standing Forward (see, already, how much of a difference having two extra buttons make?!? I can't even IMAGINE her without these two moves) and Standing Fierce. Unlike Guy, who had a Bufferable Standing Strong to lead into his Runs, Maki doesn't have a long ranged Bufferable Move. Her Short Run forward can't be canceled as quickly as Guy's, though her BACKWARDS Run + Short can!! So if you want to play like Guy, you actually have to, say, Buffer a Crouching Strong into Backwards Run and stop the run! She basically doesn't move anywhere from where you started the run.
Her jump is very long, much like Guy. And no shock, they gave her Down + Strong in the air, emulating Guy's elbow drop from the Alpha series. The run attacks are very nice, though the Slide is punishable if blocked. The Overhead one seems much harder to punish, which is good for Maki. The Roundhouse Overhead Run move is VERY fast and low, so it hops over limbs and catches people off guard much easier than Guy's Overhead Run. Fireball + Punch is her best comboable move. She has no last second DP like move, which is a big weakness. But in non-wake-up situations, her Crouching Fierce is REALLY good anti-air.
Oh, and how to work the Backwards Run? If you do it with Short, then hit a Kick, she stops in place, with almost NO skidding distance at all. If you Run Backwards with Forward, then hit Kick, she automatically Super Jumps forward. This is a GOOD way to get at people, because it goes farther than your standard Super Jump. So you can run away and then Super Jump forward with an attack. Don't forget Down + Strong to drop on people closer than a screen away. If you Run Backwards with Roundhouse and hit Kick, she'll Super Jump backwards. Total escape move from close-up. But I can also imagine... it'd be a good way to set up her off the wall Throw move? Never tried it, but I'll be interested to try it when CvS2 comes out!!
Anti-air was weird with Kyosuke... Sometimes Fireball + Kick worked well (last report, I said it was DP + Kick, but I was wrong), but seems to have to be done EARLIER... You can't seem to use it as a last second DP, like a ShoRyuKen. His Level 3 Kick Super is excellent Anti-air, and connects for many hits, but the damage of it was WEAK. Then again, I was using Ratio 1 Kyosuke for most of the time, which might explain it. Standing Forward also seemed like it could be a decent anti-air (it kicks very high up in the air) but I hadn't gotten a chance to really play with it yet.
Kyosuke has some nice corner traps. Meaty Jab Fireballs, walk-up, Crouch Strong into DP + Fierce was a nice sequence I was using. The fireball is really a nice weapon for him. Oh, and at one point, I accidentally made Kyosuke do some sort of revolving kick attack... It looked kinda like a Crack Shoot but he had a giant spark of energy at the end of his foot. I was never able to do this again... So I have no idea what it was!! And I won't be able to find out until the game finally is released somewhere... :-(
I played her a little bit, but I'll be honest: the fact that her Fireball was Reverse Fireball + Punch and her Special Throw was Yoga Flame + Punch (as opposed to Reverse Yoga Flame + Punch) really messed me up, getting Fireballs when I wanted Throws and Throws when I wanted fireballs. ^_^ But her Special Throw does allow for Juggles afterwards, most commonly used was her Fierce DP. I did manage to Juggle with her Super (Reverse Yoga Flame x 2 + Punch does the Super where the energy spheres swirl around her from the KOF games). But it didn't do much damage...
She has the Rolling attack from the air. Reverse Fireball + Short and Forward just make her Roll down and attack. But Reverse Fireball + Roundhouse made her roll down and tack on that long ranged kick at the end of it. Recovery of it seemed pretty good, but I think you can be punished afterwards with a well-timed Sweep or something. She still has the Super version of that move as well, just like in KOF.
I'm not sure how reliable her Uppercut was as anti-air. That's something others who played her more will have to attest to. But the Jab one, when done at the right distance, seems like a decent way to get block damage. I pulled a lot of "Kens" today with Athena, having someone block a Jab DP, then getting another Jab DP stuck into whatever they tried to retaliate with. She has her teleport (Fireball + Kick... or was it Yoga Flame + Kick???). It seems pretty decent and seems to recover decently, but still does have the delay at the end of it.
According to Majestros, his DP + Punch is not perfect anti-air. It seems like you DO need a bit more anticipation for it to hit people out of the air well. So it might not be a good last-second DP. But I'm not too sure on that yet... I kinda remember seeing people do that. But I can't really remember too clearly anymore...
But Fireball + Kick is a fake Fireball. Reverse Fireball + Punch is his attack where he leaps forward and slams down on the ground with his sword (I think that was DP + Kick in Samurai Shodown II, wasn't it?). His original super from Samurai Shodown II is a Level 3 only super... But it HURTS!!!! Someone did it to my Ratio 1 character with his Ratio 2 Haohmaru... It drained my character from about 80% to almost, like, 10%, I swear... It hurt BIG time... Everyone who saw it was like, "Oh my God!!!" as the red "leftover" portion of my energy meter continued to drain slowly long after the Super connected... Oh, and regarding his Uppercut Super... It's really good anti-air... for one hit!! The rest of it has absolutely NO Juggling ability. Rather pathetic, IMO, but I guess kinda fair, if they didn't want it to be too useful as an anti-air.
Haohmaru's Standing Fierce is really slow, but long ranged and STRONG. It's his Standing A+B from Samurai Shodown II. But at Ratio four, Standing Fierce does 40% damage to a Ratio 1 character. OUCH!!!! Crouch Roundhouse is a slide attack. And his Jumping Fierce has a LOT of priority, because it reaches very low. Haohmaru seems like he's gonna be good... What is it with these Samurai Shodown characters?!? ^_^ People shouldn't be allowed with swords...
He has two supers, one I could not pull off for the life of me. The other one is just a Super version of his Fireball + Punch... Instead of throwing out three slashes on the ground in front of him, he throws out a long wave of them, and they streak across the screen (it's notable that you can't roll through this super, because it goes along the ground!!). But once, I did a Level 3 version of this Super with a fireball right inside me when I got up, and I got nailed. NO invincibility!!
Ugh, so far, there seems to be little hope for Todo. I can't wait to be proven wrong...
Alex did still do well with Ryu, as I think he's still pretty similar to how he was before. It'll be nice, though, to be able to walk around and Jab without accidentally getting the Overhead punch out! And to fake Fireballs with Short and not do the Hop Kick.
I'll have to wonder... With no more Links from Crouch Short to Crouch Roundhouse, and no ability to Juggle with the Level 1 ShoRyuReppa... Seems like the debate on who is better, Ryu or Ken, is pretty well decided now... I'm hoping that'll prove to be wrong, as I'd like to have Ken still be good.
It was really weird seeing how she changed so much... And it looked like she wasn't complete yet, because her graphic looked really bad... :-( Her legs were all generally one color, except for this really way too bright line running down her legs. She just looked really pixelated and poorly colored...
But those that used Chun Li from Third Strike said Chun Li seems to have good potential. Her Normals still have good priority. I didn't see what her walking speed is, though. In Third Strike, if I'm correct, she actually doesn't walk fast like she does in Alpha. I wonder which one she resembles more in this game.
His Sonic Hurricane is Level 3 only, which may explain it's "lasting" power. It's done with Towards, Back, Towards + Punch. I saw someone block it, Guard Cancel it, hit Guile, and then get nailed by every remaining hit of the Hurricane, since it doesn't go away when Guile is hit. That just looked wrong... He apparently still has the Rushing Super, but it's done with Kick now. I heard the Level 1 version of it is much more punishable.
The only other things that seemed to have changed about Guile to make him LESS powerful is that his Crouching Forward does seem a TAD bit slower, but it's hard to tell when the game speed, overall, is a bit slower. Also, Jumping Short, according to Majestros, does not stay out the entire jump anymore. If you use Jumping Short the instant you leave the floor, it will retract by the time you reach the ground.
Otherwise, Guile seemed the same. John Choi rocked house with Guile at one point, completely wiping out all the energy of an opponent when the round started with Choi having only 10% of Guile's life. Both characters were Ratio 2, as well, so it wasn't like Choi was beating down a weak Ratio 1. The fashion that Choi played looked almost exactly the same as CvS1.
Guile is going to be dominating in CvS2, I feel... Unless there's other things about him undiscovered as of yet that can be considered weaknesses...
But really, outside of this, I can't really say much. Honda was still as dominant as ever in Jason Wilson's hands (at least the debate between Regular and EX can finally be laid to rest, eh Geminite? ^_^). Honda did the bulk of the work in Jason Wilson's 26 game win streak, before he had to leave the machine.
Her Darkness Illusion is as good as ever, though. I was still able to use it as anti-air and it worked fine. I can imagine that poking with Morrigan will have improved tenfold, now that she has 6 separate buttons to perform her Normals. Other than that, though, I never really got a chance to see anything else that was different about her.
Her Cannon Drill has just as much recovery as before, and now I have THREE distances for on-site Cannon Drills!! Heheheh... Her Spinning Knuckle does go through Fireballs but... it's still the Spinning Knuckle... The Hooligan Roll was every bit as slow as it was in CvS (it'll never be like the Super Turbo days ever again...) but you can do the Cannon Strike (Dive Kick) out of it by hitting Kick (thus, Throwing is with Punch still). However, if this Cannon Strike, out of the Hooligan Roll, is blocked, Cammy DOES INDEED bounce off, and is vulnerable to counter hits.
But her regular Cannon Strike, which could be done jumping forward or backwards, does NOT bounce off. This makes it VERY evil, as there does not seem to be any frame advantage on that of the Blocker... Cammy recovers right next to the enemy at the same time the enemy does, so Cannon Spikes will take out any would-be poking from a Normal Move. This is going to make her really nice, as she now has an even NEW option of getting in close.
Her Spin Drive Smasher also seems improved. Instead of charging forward slowly, and then Uppercutting, the initial Cannon Drill portion seemed to charge forward faster than before and farther than before. I mean, I comboed Stand Fierce, Crouch Forward, Level 1 Spin Drive Smasher... The level 1 NEVER connected before!
I definitely see a lot of potential with Cammy. Maybe the fact that most people thought she wasn't as good as I claimed was a good thing!! Capcom didn't tone her down at all. ^_^ I didn't see one thing that got worse for Cammy. And I can do Crouching Forward and hold Straight Down at the same time! Woo hoo!!!! And Reverse Shaft Breaker at Level 3 will be an excellent anti-cross up super, I hope...
Her Hurricane Kick is NICE. Now, when you do the Hurricane Kick and repeat the code for the extra Kick at the end, Sakura goes into a NEW kick animation never seen before. And it recovers WELL. It's an EXCELLENT poke. And best yet: that extra Kick combos... everytime!! And it knocks over!! So nice. ^_^
Couple this with her Crouching Forward kick. SO NICE to have it back, but it can do something it's never been able to do before... It's BUFFERABLE. Crouch Forward into Short or Forward Hurricane Kick into the extra Kick... It all connects for a combo!!! It's safe whether blocked or connecting! And Crouching Forward had good range (coupled with her good foot speed) and having that Hurricane Kick to tack on after it was VERY nice.
Her ShouOuKen is the good ol', regular ShouOuKen. And it still combos after her standard Crouch Short, Crouch Short, Stand Short set-up. She also has changed the animation of her Dive Kick. It's hard to describe it, but she dives down with both feet this time, with her body stretched out. I DIDN'T see what happened when this move was blocked... If it's anything like Cammy, where she doesn't bounce off, it would be VERY nice... And lastly, she has the Sakura Otoshi!! The Sakura Drop! DP + Kick. But without Juggles, like in Alpha 3, I can't see how this move will EVER be useful!! But I did note that instead of three punches possible, only two were possible in CvS2.
Overall, I see a drastic improvement on Sakura's gameplay. I'll definitely be using her a LOT more now. It'll be nice to see Sakura competitive again.
He has the Yoga Tempest (the super Yoga Flame) and the Yoga Stream, still. Wasn't sure if he has the Inferno (A-ism Alpha 3 super) or the Yoga Strike (the anti-air super). Oh, but one thing that will make Dhalsim a bit weaker: Air Blocking. C-Groove characters can now just air block any Yoga Flames or Yoga Blasts. That'll help characters out a little (but of course, you still can't block Normals done from the ground...).
Oh, and another thing... His Air Taunt may be actually useful now. I swear I saw Dhalsim Taunt in the air. Dhalsim was kinda floating there and then started to drop really fast and he landed quickly. I can actually see practical uses for this, now, helping to avoid landing on Fireballs and such. Of course, this is HARDLY a big deal, but just thought I'd mention it. ^_^
Blanka may not be as dominant as before, if his Charge is more counterable. But that SHOULD have been the price to pay in CvS for gaining a Blanka Ball that actually knocked over, finally... The problem before, was that even if the Blanka Ball hit, he could be punished. Now that he knocks over, this seems about right.
Also, the code of Razor Kick + Punch makes him do the Devil's Reverse, EX-Bison style. That'll be good if it works as well as it did in CvS. Also, he DID lose his code for doing the Double "Slap" move, but that turns out to be his Guard Cancel now!! It's great, because the first hit now knocks the enemy into the air and the second hit smacks them out of the air. ^_^ Fun to watch.
I THINK Bison's Standing Forward Kick and Standing Roundhouse Kick are the long, straight versions, like Super Turbo. If that's the case, Bison will be NICE again. I saw him pull off one of the older school things from Super Turbo: his Standing Roundhouse traded with Guile's Sonic Boom right when Guile threw it... I hadn't seen that in a long time... It's gonna be nice to have a fully six-buttoned Bison that plays like Super Turbo again finally!
Outside of me playing him for that short stint, I didn't see him anywhere else. I never managed to try a Super, so I'm not sure if he has both Fireball Supers and the Raid and Genocide. His Crouching Forward Kick IS Bufferable, however, which is nice.
I think Vega is another character, like Sakura, who will finally have the fighting chance he deserves. He's got some really good foot speed, and has all of his pokes back... there's no need to choose whether you want a Vega with a Crouch Forward or a Vega with a Crouch Strong... he's got both now. ^_^ I didn't really get a chance to test out a lot of his moves, though... I'm curious to see whether his Kick Flip is as good as it was before, or if his Wall Dive is as controllable as it was before. One thing to note, though, was that I got nailed out of the air by Vega's Level 3 Claw super, and the upward stab end whiffed completely. At first, I thought this was a glitch, and that it would be fixed in the final version... But then someone mentioned that this could have been changed on purpose... I really didn't think about that... If that is the case, that just doesn't seem right in more ways than one... From my perspective, being a "technical" person, I can't see how that works in terms of Juggling rules... But if someone said that they saw it connect from the ground, then perhaps it is an intentional change, to weaken that super...
I think it'll be very interesting to see how Vega pans out. It seems like His Razor Kick still doesn't have the priority of Alpha 3 or Super Turbo, though, so hopefully, Vega (with a Crouching Forward and Crouching Strong AND a good Back Flip) won't become a Turtling nightmare...
Akuma's Raging Demon, by far, has been weakened. I saw it get swept early in it's animation. Zangief did a far reaching Crouch Roundhouse, and Akuma did a wake-up Raging Demon. Zangief was frozen, during the Super's start-up, in the position right before his leg is fully extended. In CvS, it would have EASILY passed through the sweep after the pause, but this time, I saw Akuma get swept right out of it.
However, Akuma's Juggles still exist... Crouch Roundhouse into Short Hurricane Kick x 2 still worked. I wonder if the Level 2 DP Super will still Juggle after that? If it does, and Raging Demon has lost a lot of it's invincibility, that will definitely become Akuma's best use of meter... His Normals looked more like Third Strike. He had the same Standing Fierce, at least, from Third Strike.
KOF fans, rejoice!! Kyo is definitely one of the characters who saw some huge improvements. First things first: Kyo is NOT the Fireball version of Kyo... he's the KOF '98 version. So he still has the Aragami Chain. But it seems a LOT faster in this game. Doing Fireball + Punch, Fireball + Punch, Punch still does NOT combo like it did in KOF '98. You still need to do Fireball + Punch, Fireball + Punch, Kick.
However, one thing I left out: Kyo also now has the Dokugami chain. Fireball + Fierce now makes him start up the chain with the same punch that Fireball + C did in KOF '98. That should be the same as KOF '98... I did follow it up with the Reverse Yoga Flame + Punch and got the second part, but forgot the last part of it (Towards + Punch, I think it is...). So now he has both of his chains from KOF '98. Jab and Strong both activate the original Aragami chain.
The other area of improvement: the R.E.D. Kick. It's faster, higher (to get over fireballs better), and... What's this? Vice had to block it while Crouching! It didn't just whiff over her head! I'm still wondering, though if it combos at all, like it did in KOF '98. I don't think it was THAT much faster... But at least it'll now be a legitimate form of attack.
Kyo still has his Offensive Crouch + Roundhouse. It's slower than before, still has good recovery time. I thought they would make that his Crouching Forward Kick, but Crouching Forward turned out to be a really nice ranged Sweep. He also still has Fireball + Kick, from EX-Kyo as well as the Running Grab move (Reverse Yoga Flame + Kick) from before.
Another thing to note, and this may apply to many characters, but Alex Valle said that Kyo, in S-Groove, is really good. His Jumping Short, coupled with the Low Jump available to you in S-Groove, makes him really effective with Jump-Ins. I thought about this, and figured so much potential for so many characters: Vice, Shotos, Yamazaki... Anyone with a good Jumping Short may be pretty frightening with a Low Jump. And think of the potential for Grapplers like Zangief... People could land a surprise Jump-in and SPD often before... Will a Low Jump only add to the power of a Grappler?
Anyhow, I digress... Back to Kyo: I think Kyo will be a lot better than before. I don't know if Crouch Jab still combos into a Crouch Fierce. If it does, Kyo will definitely be a force to contend with.
I didn't see much of Iori... I'm a bit worried about him. He had no EX-version other than Blood Riot Iori. That means that he won't benefit from the "merging" of modes like all of the other characters have. Not only that, but the only major difference I saw for Iori was one that made him weaker! His Level 3 Wine Cups super now STREAK across the screen. So they only stay on the screen for about 1 second or 2. Thus, S-Groove Iori won't be able to do his Wine Cups Super trap anymore.
Otherwise, I didn't see anything else for Iori. Does he have the Uppercut Super that Riot Iori had? What about any of the other moves he lost from KOF '98? Like the Overhead Claw attack that he had that could be comboed into his Three-Hit Aoi Hana chain? Let's hope Iori gains some new powers, as I really didn't think he was up to par in CvS. And now that everyone else has gained so much more, a "stagnant" Iori could spell the doom for him.
Terry is going to be something, I think. He was very good in the last game, and it doesn't seem like he's lost much. Actually, he's lost NOTHING as far as I can tell, and gained a whole lot! Sure, his Roll will be severely weakened because they can be hit now, but that's nothing... What I speculated on before is true: he has the Rising Tackle AND the Power Dunk. And his Power Wave is the actual fireball version (and it won't be a Fireball that you can Roll through!!). His Crack Shoot looked a LITTLE slower than before, but not by much, I don't think. But overall, Terry is definitely going to be a scary guy to go up against. For Normals, I only saw one new Normal: he has a backfist, like Guile now. I didn't see any of his other new Normals, except for the Jumping Forward kick, which actually hits downward now (a picture of it was available on Madman's Cafe).
I think Terry is going to be scary...
I didn't get a chance to use Mai. But I am pretty sure, she's just a full-on mesh of both Regular and EX-Mai. But I'm not sure if she got any new moves. Also, her Level 1 Fan Super no longer has Juggle ability, so no more Crouch Roundhouse into Fan Super anymore. No more Level 1 Ultra Deadly Ninja Bees into Level 1 Fan Super anymore.
However, other than that I really didn't get a chance to learn anything about Mai. Apologies to all the Mai fans out there, including myself. ^_^ I'm kicking myself for not learning more about her now...
Kim should be a lot of fun, I think. His Half Moon Slash supposedly has more delay after it, though, so that it's punishable. I can't imagine why, though, because that means he should be punishable whether it connects or not... But it's definitely something that'll need to be tested.
He actually has both Razor Kicks in this game, the one performed with Kick cannot be followed up with an extra hit, like before... At least, I couldn't get it to work. But he still has Razor Kick + Punch, which does the three-hit Kuu Sajin, was I was told still can combo after a Crouch Roundhouse. His new move, the Sonic Boom + Kick, causes him to slide along the floor, then perform a small downward slashing kick... He had it in the KOF games. And it can be comboed off a Crouching Forward.
The Crouching Forward, by the way, is a decent poke with decent range. But it seems like his Crouching Roundhouse is still the main attack in terms of Normal moves, though I didn't see what his other Strong and Forward attacks were. However, with the addition of 2 buttons, Kim now has two more options to do after the Stance Switch. I didn't see what they were, but Majestros told me they were pretty interesting. Kim has all three of his Supers that existed in CvS1. And his Fireball + Kick in the air still had good recovery, like it did before.
Kim seems like he'll definitely be a more well-equipped fighter with the addition of his new special move. However, if the first slide portion is blocked, it is possible to hit him in between the slide portion and the axe-kick portion. Guile could Razor Kick it easily, for example. So we'll see how useful the move really turns out... If it's easily stoppable by Crouch Fierces or other Normals, the usefulness of that move as a poke may not be good. But the slide comes out very fast, and so it can be a very good surprise attack, hoping to catch people while standing or out prioritizing their pokes.
Ryo has some new short-ranged pokes with the Forward Kick. But though they are short ranged, they seem to be VERY good at space controlling. I played against MCTek's Ryo, and he used Crouching and Standing Forward a lot. He wasn't trying to poke me with them, but everytime I tried to sweep him, his Crouching Forward, for example, would stuff it.
Another thing is that Ryo's Hien Shippu Kyaku (that lunging kick) seemed to have, by far, more delay than before. Why?!? I loved the move from the first game. It's weakness is supposed to be the fact that you need to charge up for it. Otherwise, I swear it was my favorite move of his. But if it has more delay, it might be a lot less useful...
And according to MiamiX-Alex, his Level 3 Punch Super Dizzies?!? Too good! Hope it does less damage now!! If not, man, and I'm guessing it's still comboable... Might be pretty nasty. And his Leaping Chop seems to have the same amount of delay, which would take away another good Special Move poke option... Hopefully, I'm wrong about the Hien Shippu Kyaku... Hopefully, it's not as bad as I thought it was.
Again, I didn't see any Raiden. However, according to MiamiX-Alex, again, one change is that he needs to hold Two Kick for Drop Kick. Also, I heard from Gerald Guess that Raiden now has a decent Anti-Air, but I'm not sure what it was. A new Normal Move? A new Special Move? And I'm not even sure which Specials he has, and which Supers. I would imagine he's got them all, to be honest, from both modes (Regular and EX) since none of the codes overlap. But otherwise, I didn't see much of Raiden...
Nakoruru is toned down, yes, but fortunately, she didn't get the "Blanka from Turbo to Super Street Fighter" treatment. She's still competitive, easily. She's just not the Queen of Death like she was in the last game. Interesting to note that I heard that people in Japan don't even PLAY her in CvS, most likely because she's just so cheap and unethical. But in this game, she seems far more fair. Her Dive is slower off the bird, her Fierce isn't Bufferable anymore... But she CAN still combo, after a Cross-up, Crouch Jab, Crouch Jab, Crouch Strong, Upwards Slashing attack (Fireball + Punch). It does by far less damage, though, than her combo in CvS. And it doesn't work on Crouching opponents.
She also does have the new way to dismount the bird. I think you have to hit Fierce while on the bird, and Nako will dive down with the same animation as her Offensive Crouching Fierce. I think I saw it hit multiple times, but I might be wrong. But it can be controlled, so you can drop forward a bit, backwards a bit, or straight down. Ricky Ortiz said it was a really useful move.
Nako's Bird Super did seem a lot slower to start up as well. Also, she has the Reflect move she had in Samurai Shodown II, where she swipes her cloak out in front of her. It DOES reflect Fireballs, but must be done pretty early. According to MiamiX-Alex, that move can be hit twice by adding another motion to it, and she has a new Super Dive off the bird Super.
Nako is weakened and toned down, but Nako is still competitive. That's good because now she's honest. So people who liked her before can STILL play her, and not have to deal with a severely weakened Nako. So I'm VERY happy with the way it turned out.
Yuri seems like she's gonna be REALLY evil... Okay, first, let me get the "bad" over with: her ground fireball is the short one, the one that doesn't go across the screen. Okay, that's it. That's the bad. Want the good?!?
She has the Slap move, sure... No big deal. But she still has the Fireball + Kick from the EX version! And it's STILL Bufferable after a Crouch Roundhouse, and it didn't seem to change at all! Okay, want more? She HAS HER UPPERCUT. So now, she has the Fireball Trap + good Uppercut!!! Man, can you say... *shudder*. Man, I can only picture how evil her Fireball Trap might be now...
Strange, though... I couldn't do her Rushing Super (the one from EX mode). She still had the Uppercut Super and she still had the Fireball Super. But I couldn't pull off the Rushing Super. Maybe the code changed to something easier? I don't know...
But I think Yuri is gonna be a terror to behold... She was already scary in the right hands in CvS1, even as a Ratio 1!! I can only imagine what she's gonna be like in this game...
I didn't see much of King. Of what I did see of her, she seemed pretty much the same. According to MiamiX-Alex, she cannot buffer Crouch Roundhouse into her Fireball anymore. And her Roll is slower and less far. However, I have no clue as to what special moves she has, though. I don't know if she has the Tornado Kick AND the Moushuu Kyaku (that Reverse Fireball + Kick in EX Mode). I know she has the Double Strike. And I know she has the Surprise Rose. I don't think she has the Uppercut from EX-Mode. And since she has her Double Strike, does she have it in Super form, like EX-Mode?
And most importantly: has her Level 1 Silent Flash been toned down? It would seem like they would, considering how powerful it was before. But if they did, it might make King lose one of her most important moves. So I really don't have a lot of information regarding King, which is bad on my part, since I know she's really popular to use... Apologies from me. ^_^
Vice seems like she's mostly the same. I saw Arturo Sanchez go on a nice win streak Vice. She has both of her Special Throws (Nail Bomb and Gore Fest), but her DP + Kick is the Deciding Slayer from EX-Mode... Actually, I am not sure, because the only time I saw someone try it was after the Mayhem. But maybe, perhaps, if you don't do it after the Shoulder Rush, she'll actually do the Tranquility (the Rose-like Air Throw). But I'm guessing not.
I was told that her Super Throw was done with Punch now, not Kick... I wonder why it was changed? Does she have a new Super? But the Super Throw seemed as good as ever, as Arturo was grabbing people left and right with it. Also, her Crouching Strong seemed really good... It seemed to have good range and probably can be used as a good addition to her poking game.
Benimaru seems like he's gonna be better... I didn't see much with him ,but I did one thing that seems promising. His DP + Kick move, from KOF, has been added in. I'm wondering how good it is as anti-air. But if it is a good anti-air, Benimaru could prove to be very promising. Also, he has both the running kick from before (used to be Towards + Short, and is now Towards + Forward... yes, he DOES have a separate Neutral Forward) as well as the Rolling Sobat like Standing Roundhouse from regular Benimaru in CvS. So I think he's gonna be a more formidable in the ground game, and if he really does have a good anti-air, now, Benimaru can actually be the force he's supposed to be.
A funny story regarding Yamazaki and Geese... At first, people were like, "What the heck?!? Yamazaki lost his Low Serpent Slash!" or "Geese doesn't have the Low Counter anymore!!" Of course, this is only proof of how much four buttons has poisoned us. ^_^ All of Yamazaki's Serpent Slashes are done with Punch now! He also has the Special Throw still. DP + Kick makes him do his Overhead Kick, and Reverse DP + Kick does his sand kick now. I think his anti-air Super, the Guillotine, is performed the same way as it is in Regular mode of CvS (Toward, Back, Down/Back, Down, Down/Towards + Punch) and his Super Throw, the Drill, is done by two backwards Half Circles + Punch, like in EX mode. But I may be wrong about that.
Otherwise, I didn't see anything really different about Yamazaki... I don't know if he has his Dokusyu (the move where he lunges forward with his hand and pierces the enemy's body that Regular Yamazaki had). I'm sure there's probably more to him, but I didn't see enough of him to really know.
Geese is the Fireball Geese, not the EX-Geese. He has the ground fireball and the Air Fireball. However, he also has that three hit rushing attack that EX-Mode has. I think his Raging Storm is done with the same code. And someone tried to land his whole Deadly Rave, and it seemed like it was the same as before, but the player messed up with it in the middle, so I didn't know if he did it right or not. He also has all three Counters... The Low Counter is done with the Fierce Button. And an old, old CvS2 preview video shown at another game show long ago made it look like his Counters could catch Super Combos!!! The video showed Geese catching Kim's super where he rushes forward with his knee.
But again, I didn't see much of Geese. So that' all I can really add about him.
I didn't see much of Rugal. What I did see, however, showed promise. His Crouching Forward and Strong seemed like some nice pokes. I heard he has new Special Moves, but I don't know what they are. However, someone did tell me that he now has a Fake Fireball. However, if the Genocide Cutter isn't any better as anti-air, I'm not sure what the point would be... Also, I'm not sure if he has the Dark Smash (Fireball + Punch in EX Mode of CvS1). But I did notice one thing: Genocide Heaven actually Juggles more than before. So if any Level has decent invincibility, maybe the Super may be good anti-air?
I obviously didn't use the SNK bosses much... Apologies for those interested in them for not providing enough info about them...
So there's a more comprehensive update, not written up at 2:00 a.m. at night. ^_^ Hope it answers more questions!! I can't wait until this game comes out! I can't even play CvS anymore!! It just seems so pale compared to CvS2, now... Let's hope the new Grooves don't ruin the game...
I have high hopes for the game!!! Let's hope it proves to be a winner!!!