GWED Epyon Gundam: Backattack Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelEpyonCombo.gif

A spiffy looking combo which can be done as Epyon Gundam; the overpowered hidden character which can only be played after inputting a series of directions at the character select screen. 

This combo requires a back attack which I achieve by utilizing Epyon's command jump while my opponent is down. The timing on it is really tight -- in-fact, that was the most difficult part of this GIF. It took me about 40 tries to get over my opponent so they would face to the right side and I would be able to attack them before they turned around. 

As for the combo itself, it's pretty straight-forward. It's really just a series of attacks into Epyon's command jump. One interesting thing to note about Epyon however is that he doesn't really follow the normal rule that you can't cancel a heavy attack into a light attack, which is the norm in most games and every other gundam. You'll notice however, whenever I am near my opponent in this combo I am wailing on them back and forth with my whip and sword without any delay whatsoever. Typically, you can only revert to light attacks after a heavy attack via links but Epyon as the boss of the game says fuck that and as such, he is easy to use and immensely good.

Only other thing of note (which I'm really the only who probably cares but I found it interesting) is that at the end of the whole ground hopping fiasco, I actually do land on the ground after I crossup my opponent. I was watching someone do this combo before I did it and I was staring at the video like "How is he turning around in mid-air?" Turns out, he was actually just hitting the ground and just jumping and attacking so fast that the game actually doesn't even show you hitting the ground. Which is uh... pretty weird, just goes to show that there is 0 frames involved when it comes to jumping in this game.

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Unrelated to this GIF, I am still working on practicing the new game I plan to show GIFs of. I don't think I'm wrong when I say it's one of the more input-heavy fighters out there but I am certainly grateful for it. It has cleaned up my input immensely!

I'm probably gonna have to show more Gundam GIFs for now because I am no where near ready to transition to my next game. Hell, I'm only JUST barely getting decent with one character and I know next to nothing of the others. It's a popular fighter as well so I don't want to end up posting stuff about the game that is just blatantly obvious. I have to say though... I do love the game so far.

GWED Mercurius Gundam: Overpowered Shield

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelMercShield2.gif

A little showcasing of just how ridiculous Mercurius's shield can be when activated. It has a long start-up and is easily cancelled but if you manage to get it off, it offers you complete immunity to attacks with the only exceptions being throws. Sure it drains your meter slowly but considering how fast you gain meter in this game and how evasive you could be to avoid throws, it is just plain ridiculous.

GWED Mercurius Gundam: Random Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelMercCombo.gif

This GIF had a lot of issues but first let's start with the combo itself. 

This combo was fairly whimsical of me, I started originally doing the 100% combo which requires a bit of a strict timing but is unimpressive looking. Going from that, I devolved it (or evolved maybe) it into this random strings of attacks. I did this combo several times as I wasn't sure how I wanted it to end or anything of the sort. Mercurius Gundam left me a lot of options in that regard but overall I'm satisfied with it. 

Also yes, that initial dash in attack to the energy swing is an infinite, you can repeat that starting loop over and over again but like most things in this game, it's a tight timing. 

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Now onto why this GIF was a pain in the ass. Typically, when I convert my video into a GIF, I also convert it to 30 frames per second which is typically fine since most 2d fighters have the same animation for 2 frames at least. However, silly Mercurius gundam here has a unique little effect with her energy shields -- they are invisible every other frame! So when I converted it to 30 frames per second -- well, it looked like this...

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelMerTASCombo2.gif

Funny thing that; something that's invisible every other frame is gone completely from a GIF which removed every other frame. This was irritating as it made a lot of the attacks just look... weird and considering Mercurius Gundam already has a pretty bizarre moveset (quite unique), she doesn't need any help when it comes to confusion. 

My solution was to halve the speed of the emulation so it would record each frame more than once which solved it more or less, though it took a few tries for some reason. If the frame I started from was had the shields invisible, there would be way more frames where they were gone than present. Along with that, photobucket also refused to upload this for awhile until I shortened it's number of frames.

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Time to make a few more set of GIFs I think, as I finally used all of the ones I had premade. I'll probably stick with Gundam Wing Endless Duel for a little while longer -- at least until I'm knowledgable enough in the next game to which I am already practicing. (Hint, hint, it's a pretty well-known fighter and gets compared to Melty Blood quite often or should I say Melty Blood gets referred to it?)

GWED Shenlong Gundam: Jumpaway combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelVoltronJumpawaypunish.gif

This is a weird combo that can only be done if you hit your opponent with a heavy kick the very second he jumps away. That being said, it's not something that will ever come up really. I will say that you can include a 3rd repetition of that punch -> spear bit but it's timing is bizarre and I could never get it, I think it's better to do the consistent version which is this. Important thing to note is you do need to attack the moment you leave the ground to link that attack together into Shenlong's amazingly satisfying dragon throw.

GWED Deathscythe Gundam: Backattack combo.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelDeathScytheTACombo.gif

This is such a snazzy looking combo, I adore it. However, behind each great looking combo in this game are millions of little things that make doing it so extraordinarily difficult. Before I delve into that, I should also state that this combo (I believe) can only be done on a back attack and a crouching opponent. (More hitstun but I may be talking out of my ass, I never tried doing this on a normally standing opponent.)

Now I mentioned in the last GIF how I would be using a slower emulation speed to perform these combos and now let me explain why that is. Now what may look like a seamless combo from attack to another is actually a series of small one frame stops in order to connect each attack together. The first part of this begins when I use Drill Shield for the second time. (My favorite special in the game, teleports you upon hit if you use the heavy version of it.) This timing actually isn't all that bad and in-fact, I would say this entire combo could be done consistently if you practice enough but I'm too lazy to practice a combo for a game I'm only passing through. 

 

Anyways, as I was saying, the second drill shield needs to be delayed a couple frames, canceling into it right away results in it only hitting twice which is not enough for your to boost upwards in time, cancel too late and the gundam either regains himself and can block it or hits the ground. 

Now after that shield is thrown we must boost the moment we teleport but we also need to make sure not to attack right away! We need to glide to the right for a moment and wait until the last possible moment, utilizing all of our previous attack's hitstun before attacking. Once in that distance, we slash and the moment we hit the ground we cancel into that light shield swing but before we cancel into that scythe swing, we must wait exactly 1 frame. Canceling into it right away results in the swing whiffing and too late and the hitstun is worn off. The reason we need to wait 1 frame is so the opponent's gundam falls just 1 pixel more so it can hit. 

After landing that we instantly boost, wait just a moment as before -- being sure to glide a tiny bit closer and utilize the hitstun of our previous attack before attacking with a heavy kick. Depending on your distance, you can either cancel into your special spinning scythe or your super which is more or less the same thing with more range. In my case, I used the super. 

All in all though, though I used an emulator to perform this, this combo for the most part is quite doable at a normal speed. The only real tricky part is after the second shield is thrown.

GWED Wing Gundam: Vulcan BnB

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Wing Gundam's vulcan BnB. Should you start a combo with a vulcan and are close enough, you can dash in to continue the combo after using your buster rifle. 

Vulcans in this game can only be used at a certain range which becomes apparent when you see the target over the opponent. The weak version of the vulcan (3 shots) can be canceled into the heavy shot version (5 hits) for more hits before you dash in. It's very important for this combo that you use your buster rifle just before you fire the 8th vulcan otherwise the hitstun will be out of whack and your buster rifle won't hit. 

As with most combos in this game, this one can be longer and more powerful but also becomes equally more difficult. There seems to be a lot of inhuman combos (Combos that are not humanly possible to replicate consistently.) which is why for a lot of the following GIFs, I actually do the combo at 1/4th emulation speed.

GWED Wing Gundam: Standard BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DuelWingGundamBnB.gif

We move onto or perhaps backwards to the first Gundam game I ever played: Gundam Wing Endless Duel!

This is a fairly uninspired combo but it does show a more realistic BnB even if this combo can drag on much longer, the input for it becomes so specific that you're better off not trying. (Something that seems to be the case a lot in this game.) What this combo does show is how nifty the ability to cancel out of your normal attacks into your verniers (Boosters) is! It's somewhat of a universal dash cancel and it makes for some interesting play, both offensive and defensive. And as you can see from this GIF at the beginning, dashing via your verniers is a block dash, blocking high attacks but you can also boost back in a blocking hop or straight up and from there you can either boost one more time up, forward or back or you can hold down and hover to the ground. I really enjoy this game's booster system.

BA3 Wing Gundam Custom: Blaster Link Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Gundam3WingGundamUpgradeBnB.gif

A fairly simple combo for Wing gundam consisting of nothing more than a boost-in kick, a target combo and a somewhat tricky blaster link. The blaster timing is a bit tight, too early and it misses, too late and it whiffs. This combo can only be done on Health-based opponents. (more on that later.)But the real beauty of this GIF is that it gives me a lot to talk about -- hurray for me!

Let's start with the most obvious part of this GIF, the upgrade system. This is a nice mechanic in the game which I found myself quite enjoying. Pressing select will put your gundam into a crouching state, during which time you have to input a random code of inputs which get progressively longer for the first 3 upgrades. Being hit during this state stops the input and your chance to upgrade.

Now what for the upgrades do...

The first upgrade alters your heavy attacks to make them do more hits and have more damage. Along with that, they also add a nice little effect to your sword/fists!

The second upgrade alters your ranged attacks, making them larger and more powerful.

The third upgrade doubles your boost capacity which even makes boosting out of attacks not use up all of your boost energy.

The fourth and each subsequent upgrade restores a small bit of health/armor.

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Now a keen person may be wondering why I had to upgrade to do that combo and no, it's not simply because I wanted to do more damage, it is actually necessary. The reason for it is because the second upgrade not only increases the size and damage of Wing's buster rifle but also increases the hitstun. While normally against Master Gundam that rifle would only make him take normal hitstun, that upgrade made him take a type 2 hitstun where he stumbles 180 degrees off-balance. Why does this only work on Master Gundam and those like him you may wonder now -- that leads me into my next mechanic...

Armor and Health and unsurprisingly two different things and as such, they are in BA3 as well. Some gundam in this game will use health, some armor and some a 50/50 mix of both. The difference of them is as such...

Gundams struck by projectiles who still have armor will have that hitstun reduced by 1, as such most projectiles will actually cause no hitstun and only a flinch. Armored gundams take less damage and when their armor reaches 0, will power down during an invincible animation where the color of their gundam drains away. (As such, it's impossible to kill a gundam who still has armor left because once their armor runs out, they'll fly out of your combo and power down)

Gundams with health suffer from everything at 100% of it's worth.

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Now that all of the mechanics about the GIF are done and since this is my last BA3 GIF out at the moment, let's talk about a few more mechanics in the game which I didn't or won't ever get the chance to show!

Random BA3 mechanics time...

The energy meter in this game is something that is used for a variety of things but for the most part simply projectile attacks and boosting. When you stop using it it will recover after a second or two. 

Boosting in this game provides a lot of movement options. You can boost straight up, side to side, back or towards your opponent. Doing so uses a decent chunk of your energy meter but you can also hold down your boost button to hover and while it won't provide the speed that boosting with double taps does, it only drains your bar slowly. 

If you have even 1 energy left in your bar, you can press boost while in hit-stun to boost away from the opponent and out of their combo. However, it reduces your energy to zero for a few seconds before it will recover. This can also be baited out by a high-level player. Something else of note is that if you achieve upgrade 3, boosting out of hit-stun only uses half of the bar -- really, if someone reaches upgrade 3 during a match, they win unless you also get to 3 because they will fly out of all of your combos and still have the energy to maneuver around. Still, it's a fun high flying match!

BA3 Master Gundam: Darkness Bomb Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Gundam3MasterGundamBnB.gif

A bizarre little combo for Master Gundan utilizing one of the best zoning abilities in the game: Darkness Bomb. It's a unique special which lingers at a location for quite a surprising amount of time, allowing all sorts of bizarre combos should you manage to get it off, but it is very slow to start, so it's rare that you will. 

Random BA3 Mechanics time!

This is a quick one but I actually really liked it. In BA3, all gundams can both run and dash-in which I found really, really nice. You dash by pressing forward twice and run by pressing forward twice with a small gap between them. I would call that an overlap of controls and faulty but it honestly works pretty well.

BA3 M1 Astray: The Bread and the Butter!

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Gundam3M1AstrayBnB.gif

M1 Astray BnB which you will be using almost every time you catch your opponent cleanly. This is my gundam of choice in BA3 or at least, the one I'm most comfortable with but I honestly didn't play BA3 for too long. Sadly, this game mostly Gundam Seed characters and they're... blah. (Never watched it)

This combo showcases really only one thing but I'm going to talk about a few things because you're apparently interested enough to read this and hear my thoughts. First would of course be this game's weird but not entirely unreasonable way of linking together chains of target combos into a much longer combo. Which would of course be that when a Gundam in this game is given the chance to "recover" (it's really just an animation, you have no say) when flung through the air, they will catch themselves on the ground on their knees and quickly climb to their feet. However, during that initial climb, they're still vulnerable to attacks and unable to defend themselves. As such, you can utilize quick dashes or boosts to follow-up. The timing is somewhat tight but it's actually a really satisfying way to extend combos -- I enjoyed myself and it makes it look pretty fast and impressive.

You can also see the combo restriction mechanic working properly in this GIF! See if you can spot it (it's obviously at the end...)

Now for random BA3 mechanics discussion which has little relation to this GIF! An odd thing I found in this game is unlike in most fighters where each attack is assigned a number of frames that it will put the opponent under when hit (Hit stun), this game doesn't seem to do that. Rather, BA3 has universal forms of hitstun that it assigns to it's different attacks. These can easily be read by the animations the gundam gives off which is actually quite nice even if somewhat uninspired since it does give each attack in the game less variety. During the mega special, you can see two forms of hitstun, the normal one and the long one where the gundam spirals itself around 180 degrees because it got hit so hard it went off balance. There's a few others but those two are the most important.

BA3 Forbidden Gundam: Wall combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Gundam3SomethingGundamWallBnB.gif

(Yes, I cut out of the character portrait scenes during mega specials which is why some GIFs appear to jump.)

Forbidden Gundam (or as I like to refer to him as: Deathscythe wanna-be) combo which while I label as a wall combo, 90% of it can be done mid-screen as a typical BnB. 

The main aspect of this GIF that I would like to point out is the clever little abuse I pulled at the end of the GIF. Like in a lot of games, BA3 has combo restriction mechanics implemented in the game. One of them results in the opponent twirling about and flying really far and fast away from his/her opponent. However, when you realize how and when this will happen during your combo, you can do what I did here and link a small tap (the kick) and utilize that large knockback as more of a launcher so you can chain another attack, in this case, another mega special which as you can see deals an absurd amount of damage. (About an 80% combo)

BA3 Burning Gundam - Wall bounce combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Gundam3BurningWallBnB.gif

And so we move onto Gundam Battle Assault 3! First, apologies for the black bar on the right, it was some weird emulation problem. (You try emulating a PS2 game, it can be tricky!)

I would discuss the combo but I actually have a lot to say about BA3 and with this being the first GIF of it, I'll put most of it here...

To start, I had never played BA3 before until I decided to pick it while making these GIFs. I was hesitant about it as it was in 3D and I feared that would ruin the flow of the BA series. However, much to my delight, it's probably the most 2D playing 3D fighter I have ever played and feels VERY much like a BA game. It's also not a bad looking game and has some really nice animation quality -- though it damn well should when every gundam is more or less using the same damn skeleton and animations.

Now for a brief combo oriented overview. The combos in BA3 operate... very strangely from your typical fighter, as it is almost ENTIRELY target-combo based, which while nice for a casual fighter, I do feel overall hurts the game. What I would have preferred was to add an extra attack button to the game as the game only uses 3 buttons for attacks: light attack, heavy attack and shoot. Target combos are fine and in-fact most characters I use in fighters (like Ibuki) tend to be quite heavy on target combos but I feel you're too limited in the number of ways you can start an attack in BA3 because you can't do this attack until you hit with this one and such. (It's a lot of LA, then ->LA then upLA and stuff like that)

All of that said, the game still possesses some high-level play and most of your typical fighter mechanics like links and meaties. Most important of all, it's a very fun game but... something I would like to say and I say this quite sincerely, if they changed the game around just small bit it could actually be a really competitive style fighter that is both fast, fun and Gundam which would be amazing.

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NOW, onto the combo itself. This is one of Burning Gundam's combos which I crafted myself after tinkering about a bit. The combo starts with the very practical forward boost (Quarter circle boost makes you launch towards your enemy. The booster in this game is actually really nice and makes for a fast paced match.),  then into one of Burning Gundam's many target combos; this particular one ends with a very hard knockback which normally you would not be able to follow up with. However, the opponent hit the wall and as such bounced back to the ground and still active for further combo goodness after a very tightly timed dash-in from me. Overall, a pretty nice combo.

BA2 Rose Gundam: Rose funnels everywhere!

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/RoseGundamBack.gif

(Apologies for the low frame rate in this GIF, it was long.)

A Rose Gundam combo based almost entirely off of attacks that wield no launch properties.

This combo showcases two things I'd like to talk about, the first being Funnels. A neat little special attack that is given to a decent number of the cast of all of the battle assault games (except 3 where only 1 has funnels) are funnels which are small destructible turrets of sorts. You release these when it's safe to do so and (if they're not destroyed) deploy them when you feel the need to do so. When deployed, they launch towards your opponent and shoot two (usually) bursts of shots that do normally do not chain together. They're very useful, being a good way to link attacks together if you're skilled enough to do so and also amazing for defense for stopping a combo on you or preventing some sort of ranged assault by applying pressure beyond your own gundam. 

In this GIF, you'll see the 3 small roses at the start which would be Rose gundam's funnels. (shocking!) I use them in this combo to link attacks together after firing my vulcan. The timing is quite tight as if you launch them too soon, you won't recover from your attack in time and too late results in them already finishing their assault. 

The second and quite simple thing I'd like to point out is that this combo features a back attack which in BA2's case, increases the hitstun of the opponent by what I would wager is about 2 frames. It's what allows me to chain my vulcan into my combo as well as perform (more consistently anyway) the various jump-ins to continue the combo. 

-Side Note- I find Rose Gundam to be probably the most natural character for me to play now despite my beloved ZakuII-S being my go-to gundam of choice when I originally played this game.

BA2 Gundam AK-78: BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/GundamBnB.gif

The original gundam showcases probably one of the more less abusive combos that I've shown, no infinite or hitstun abuse, just a plain ol' bnb. 

The original gundam (or AK-78) as one would expect from being the original probably has the most diverse moveset (as well as the largest)while also being very traditional, feeling very natural and point-blank like shoto characters often do in Street Fighter games. He's also gifted with the strongest single-hit in the game via his mega special, which is amazing for dealing damage to opponents who overheat where you're really only going to get one more hit in that will have a lot of damage reduction but this super will still leave a huge dent on an overheated opponent. Along with that, it's also instantaneous while it's only draw back is that it has a pretty single-pointed range, hitting only at mid-range opponents.

One thing to take note of from this GIF is that certain specials in this game negate the ability to boost out of a combo until you hit the ground, AK-78's shield rise is probably the most practical one. (Though in the deathscythe GIF, the kick special I do at the very end also does it)

Past Pyscho Gundam nightmares!

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/PsychoGundam.gif

This GIF is a replay of my past, though a bit distorted. Way back when I played BA2 a lot with my brother, he would often test my skill by playing Psycho Gundam, a near impossible to beat boss when humanly controlled. It cannot be hitstunned outside of when it overheats, it has ABSURD damage resistance and damage -- taking off about a bar of HP with any of it's specials. It was a cruel test but I always enjoyed it.

However, Wing Gundam was never my gundam of choice but for "filming" this GIF it was the easiest choice. I liked the idea of utilizing all of Wing's various ranged attacks and fleeing consistently. And since I was controlling both of these gundams at the same time with one controller, I couldn't use my beloved Zaku II-S. Which, ironically, I haven't made a GIF for yet.

I do want to do a GIF of this again using my Zaku II-S but I definitely couldn't control both myself as the Zaku II-S is the faster gundam in the game in terms of boost speed. I would be flying around all of the place and that's hard enough when controlling one character.

BA2 Maxter: Unshown GIF

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/MaxterBnB.gif

I didn't show this GIF at any point on a forum because to be honest, I wasn't happy with it. I was aware of Maxter's infinite potential but I was trying to make a more practical looking BnB because unlike the other Gundams, his infinite actually requires some effort. However, I never spent much time on it and just did this half-assed thing which is more or less just the beginning of the infinite only ending the combo with a tornado punch.

If you cannot gather what the infinite it is from this GIF, it's essentially just a series of dashes and jabs. Numerous Gundams have specials in this game that are designed for movement, and several with a command dash like what Maxter has, allowing them to cancel a move into a dash. However, Maxter also has the fastest jab in the game, more or less forcing his opponent into a static state in the air without rising or falling or getting the chance to fall out of hitstun if you dash in fast enough.

What this GIF does show however is the type of universal grab that is unique to Battle Assault 1&2. You'll see it at the beginning. Rather than a typical grab, it's more of an electric pulse which stuns the opponent's Gundam for a few seconds, allowing for a free combo of near any sort. I've commented before on my dislike of even command grabs that allow you to combo too effectively after them but this grab is actually quite balanced. First off, it's slow, you can vividly see the animation and dodge it in time. Second, it can only be done at point blank range and third, it leaves you vulnerable for a long enough time to make it risky.

BA2 Heavyarms Custom: BnB/Infinite

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Heavyarms Custom's standard BnB that (like deathscythe) also doubles as his infinite. This is, by far, the easiest infinite I have ever seen in a game. So easy, I could see someone who had no fighting game experience getting it down in only a few minutes. Dash forward, light kick, down, back, punch, repeat~

Of course, I jazzed it up a little bit to show how you can even link back into the infinite after using his megaspecial, as well showing his nice launch into gattling which I am a fan of. (It sounds awesome -- not sure if you've ever heard Heavyarm's gattling noise but it's amazing.)

BA2 Deathscythe Hell Custom: BnB/Infinite

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/ScytheBnB2.gif

Moving on to some nostalgia! With my Arcade stick broken, I decided to show my love to a game I played quite a lot of with my brother way back when: Gundam Battle Assault 2. (I skipped 1 because with the exception of a few aspects, 2 is superior.) Back in the day, I didn't play fighting games at a high level so going back to this game with all of my newly acquired knowledge, it was amusing for me to discover that all of these things were possible in this game. Crossups, meaties, links, combos -- every fighting game standard was there and though I felt bad that I could no longer play the game as I once did, it was fascinating for me to dissect the inner mechanics of this game!

This is Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom's standard BnB while also doubling as his infinite. With the number of hits that Deathscythe's beam sickle special provides when using the strong version of it, it's very easy to continue a combo and just as the previous sickle dies out, you can replace it with another. (As two cannot be on screen at once) However, it launches the opponent, forcing you off the ground if you wish to continue the combo. Typically, since the game only allows 3 uses of your boosters, a combo of that nature would only go for so long but because of Deathscythe's teleport, you can easily swap out using your boosters for using that, allowing time for the boosters to recharge. 

It's an easy combo and an easy infinite but still very fun. However, though I say it is an infinite, that is actually not entirely the case as such things are not possible in Battle Assault 2 due to the overheat system. Each gundam has 3 life bars (most anyway) and once that bar reaches it's end, the gundam overheats and plummets backwards and though it can be hit about once more, it will hit the ground where it can be hit further but the damage is greatly reduced. Especially after a long combo with all of that natural damage reduction.

Ken: SAI Corner BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/KenSAIBnB.gif

Ken's SAI BnB. It amounts to a decent display of damage and is easy enough to do in a corner. You can connect the second shoryuken mid-screen by karaing the shoryuken but for the most part that is unnecessary. 

Ken's SAI is generally shunned as an option for the reason that it only has 2 bars, does minimal damage and does not fully connect on airborne opponents, as well as it's range not being all that great. Still, it's not as though it's a bad super, it's just Ken's SAIII is undeniably better in near every way .

For the time being this is the last 3rd Strike GIF as it was around this time that my arcade stick broke! (Not so much broke as, not detect input nearly as well as it used to.)

Ryu: 100% (Remy,Akuma: only)

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/Ryu100stun.gif

Ryu's 100% combo which works only against Remy and Akuma as they have the smallest stun bars in the game. I also believe this only works on crouching opponents as while I know crouching opponents take more damage by about 33%, I believe they also take more stun as well. It's been awhile so I'm not entirely sure on that. 

Anyways, this is quite the beefy combo but it's pretty damn rare for an SAII Ryu to ever land an entire jump-in combo, especially in a corner. Everyone who plays Third Strike knows how well a match can turn ugly if they get hit with a shin shoryuken (Ryu's SAII) so generally people play a lot differently when Ryu's super bar is full.

Makoto: Fukiage 100% on Akuma

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/CrossupFukiagePunishSAIII.gif

If you've been following my GIFs, you may have heard me telling you how ridiculous the stun generation on Makoto's fukiage is, this is the proof. Two -- count em' two, is all it takes to stun Akuma/Remy who suffer from the smallest stun bars in the game. However, poor Akuma also suffers from the lowest health in the game so... he dies from this as well.

Granted, I believe hitting with two clean fukiage without Makoto's SAIII is close to impossible but similar things can be achieved consistently. Funnily enough, Makoto's EX Fukiage is the most balanced one as despite being much faster and moving you forward, it's stun generation is only a third of this.

GMotW Hotaru: Counter-hit Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/CounterhitCombo.gif

A snazzy counter-hit combo for Hotaru utilizing her T.O.P. attack. T.O.P is a GMotW mechanic where during a pre-fight assigned section of life bar, you are granted...

• Enhanced damage to all of your attacks
• Faster meter build up
• Slow regeneration of your health bar (however, it doesn't regenerate past the T.O.P section)
• T.O.P. special move becomes available 

The T.O.P. move for Hotaru is considered one of the worst in the game since it's hitbox more or less only hits people who are directly above you and it leaves you wide open if you miss. However, it served as a good starting point for this combo so I let it go. 

Counter-hits in this game enhance your combo potential by a LOT and can really be all you need to end a fight in your favor, should you have the meter to follow up with a deadly attack. In the air, the leniency on hitting with your attacks is increased and on the ground the initial counter-hit increases the opponent's hitstun by what I would say is a whopping 8 frames or so. 

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When Third Strike was taken off GGPO (And I thought I couldn't play it anymore), I looked for a new game to play and with runningwild always praising Garou, I decided to give it a shot and I gotta say, it is a very fun and impressive game. A lot of VERY high level mechanics means that it's a fighter with a very high skill ceiling just like Third Strike and in-fact, Third Strike and Garou are often compared with one another as they play very similar. The only downside to Garou and the reason I didn't really play it for long, is that it doesn't seem to have a very large community. A lot of people love the game but not very many seem to be on and about -- at least on GGPO.

Do love the game though and I recommend it to anyone who likes Third Strike. So few fighting games really capture the high-speed gameplay of these games while offering combo potential but also not turning the game into 'learn your BnB which works everywhere, always' like some other games. Footsies, mind-games and everything in between all come first and as such, the fights always go back and forth a lot which I absolutely love.

GMotW Rock: Basic BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/CrossupThrowBnB.gif

Garou Mark of the Wolves combo featuring Rock. There's several interesting mechanics in this game, one being utilized in this combo is the act of 'breaking' which I use after the command throw after I cross up with Rock's unique command dash which goes through opponents. (Much like Ibuki's in SF4) After the throw, if you immediately press A+B you can cancel the animation, offering the time to follow up with a different combo. It's a neat little thing to add onto the specials in this game and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

--Random Fact--

With the release of Third Strike: Online Edition, our beloved GGPO which hosted Third Strike for those who wished to play it online took it down and as such we could no longer play it together -- we PC users were betrayed, t'is a shame. However, it's not understandable since GGPO's existence is there entirely to show just how well it can host games and as such Capcom bought GGPO's engine and used it in their online edition so that at least makes me happy.

*Wink* But the third strike community on GGPO still lives and plays on GGPO by abusing a known bug. So we're all fine, hurray! (Granted my stick is faulty at the moment so I haven't played for quite some time. I'll get around to buying a new one eventually...)

Ibuki: Super Parry

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/DudleyParry.gif

A clip simply made because I love parrying triple shoryuken type supers. Jumping during the middle of it is very fun. The reason you jump during the parry attempt is so that you can do more damage by starting your punish combo with a jump down combo. However, I was using SAII at the time and just used that. High level players will punish these types of supers in such a way, even red-parrying these supers is pretty easy. (For those unfamiliar with Third Strike, a red parry is simply a parry but done while in block stun. The timing is tight and as such it's a very high level technique.)

Makoto: Q HitBox Shenanigans

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/MakotoSAIGlitch.gif

Amusing use of hitboxes. Typically, the suction after Makoto's first hit would bring the opponent into the next attacks but not when hitting Q's long leg! There's multiple variations of this where you let Q live or Makoto live, all of which are amusing. If Makoto lives, they both sit there stuck in that position until her mouth stops moving before going flying away randomly. (After her SAI she says 'Seichusen-Godanzuki') And if Q lives he does one hell of a backflip recovery.

Akuma: Spin to Win combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/HurricaneComboFullhitSuper.gif

This combo... this damn combo took me SOOOOOOO long to do! My god. I was inspired by KYSG's video but I was adamant about doing it myself. I'll say it right now, input is not my forte (despite making these GIFs) so making this was one hell of a trial. It may look like just jumping and using tatsu -- and it is! But each tatsu needs to start within I believe 1, maybe at best 2 frames from the time your feet leave the ground. 

 

Now ordinarily, this wouldn't that difficult except Tatsu is a quarter-circle back motion and you need to jump forward. Typically, to do a special or aerial super the moment you leave the ground, you do the motion first and then jump. Like say when I use Ibuki's SAI the moment I leave the ground, I do quarter circle forward on the ground and the second one as well but from the second I lead into jumping diagonally up, being sure to press a punch button the moment I leave the ground. A backward motion would lead you jumping backwards so this means you have to be really quick with your stick. (Which I am not)

This is without a doubt my favorite GIF because of that. Spent about an hour or two for 5 days before I sat down one morning and said "I got this" and did it first try. Slept on that shit! Plus, I also think this combo looks damn cool but that's just me.

SI Hugo: Infinite

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SIhugo100.gif

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, stun! It's just that easy my friend! Hugo's infinite in SI does require a corner but it's anything but difficult.

SF4 Makoto: Mid-screen BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/MakotoMidScreenBnb.gif

A very quick and effective mid-screen combo that can be used against anyone. Since input in SF4 is pretty simple, this combo is fairly easy to do despite requiring a speedy focus cancel and jump cancel. 

Now for some SF4 rant space again...

This is among my major complaints with SF4 and it's somewhat potent in this GIF. Why is it that you can link SO many attacks together in SF4? I get that you can link a LP or LK out of a HP or something but why can you link LKs into HPs and shit? Am I the only one who thinks it not only looks stupid but feels wrong? It seems so unnatural, I feel like I'm out of hitstun each and every time someone hits me but yet another attack hits when my character is already back in his fighting stance. It's just so... ugh...

This is the last SF4 GIF so you don't have to deal with my rants on that game anymore.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SF4SuperJumpCancel.gif

This is a simple showcase displaying how easy it is to do supers in SF4 and how weird it is that Ibuki in SF4 can literally super jump cancel out of more or less all of her attacks. I love SJ canceling but this seemed excessive. 

Side comment: Why the hell can't every super in SF4 look like that? Just a simple flash and then the super, why must Capcom insist on breaking my thoughts by putting 30 second cutscenes in my fights? This isn't a dragonball Z Budokai game. (I love Budokai 3 but come on...)

And don't get me started on how it ruins the gameplay...

SF4 Ibuki: Focus-cancel Raida BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SF4BnB.gif

A standard focus-cancel BnB for Ibuki in SF4:AE. Focus canceling in SF4 is essentially spending a bit of meter to cancel whatever attack you're doing. While the focus attack is charging, you cancel it into a dash, doing it perfectly makes it look as if you merely dashed out of your attack.

I'll say it right now, I hate SF4 more than any other fighting game I have played. It's style of play is the exact opposite of what I want but... I got my copy for free but even so... I couldn't stand to play this game for more than a week. So as such, there's only a few of these GIFs.

I do love how pretty Raida is in SF4 though...

SI Sean: Throw "bug"

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIThrowLink.gif

This my friend is what I like to call bad design. It's alright to have the ability to combo even after a normal non-command throw but only if certain conditions are met like say... you threw him into the corner you were right against. But this... this is a full screen regular throw into a super, which since it only hits once, does full damage. If it hit multiple times, god knows what else he could do here.

Now you'd think it would only work on Hugo because he's so big but it actually works on every character. For what purpose, I don't have the slightest clue. It seems like they hit the ground but apparently SI has hit frames for a lot longer than Third Strike.

SI Sean: BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIIIBnB.gif

SI Sean's BnB. Unlike his Third Strike equivalent, SI Sean is actually amongst the top 3 characters in the game. His damage was better, his abilities actually comboed together and he had a weird bug where he generated a crap ton of super meter just by whiffing his HP. Which is why most Sean vs Sean matches in SI started with both players going to either side and maxing their meter.

This combo helps showcase how crazy Sean's stun generation was on his EX tornado kicks and how he can link out of it into his SAIII. (or I)

SI Ibuki: Stun Combo (Hugo)

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIStunCombo.gif

A flashy stun combo that can only be done against Hugo. It's somewhat of an extended version of the non-stun combo I did for Third Strike with the addition being the elbow-backhand which in SI is slightly faster, has a better hit box and LOADS of hitstun to the point where I could chain together that and Hien. (the jump kicks to the face)

Sadly, the elbow-backhand which even in SI isn't very useful was nerfed to pointlessness in Third Strike. It has a slim use of poking at a distance under a very specific timing but nothing more.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/BnBCrossup.gif

SI Ibuki's standard BnB. There's a lot of things that were taken away from Ibuki in her transition from Second Impact to Third Strike, let's focus on three of them in this GIF. 

After the jump in and target combo, you will notice a small crouching attack which appears to be a jab but it's actually a MP. It has the speed of a jab but the hitstun of a MP, making it absolutely amazing for linking out of her other attacks to extend the combo.

Second, Ibuki's special move Tsumuji (the kicks) can be canceled into a super using any strength of kick and at any kick. In Third Strike, she can only cancel into a super off of the second kick out of only the HK version of Tsumuji which was the slowest version which could only be comboed in after certain attacks.

Thirdly, her super (to which I already covered a bit) provides the perfect canvas for setting up for another bout of attacks. In this case, I chose to do an EX Kunai crossup. Though a bit of a fun fact, EX Kunai was one of the few things that improved from the SI to TS transition. (It got load more hitstun.)

SI Ibuki: 100% stun combo against Akuma

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/100Stun.gif

A keen eye will notice that something just doesn't seem quite right about this one compared to the others. That's because this is Second Impact baby! Predecessor and overall more broken and imbalanced version of Street Fighter III. (Though way less broken than New Generations)

This is a 100% stun combo that can only be done (I believe) against Akuma because he has the smallest stun bar. You can just barely link Ibuki's SAIII after the forward HK (the jump kick) but since Ibuki's old Second Impact SAIII was super awesome, you can continue comboing even after the super. 

Ibuki's old SAIII was removed in third strike along with a lot of other things because believe it or not, she was amongst the highest of tiers in second impact whereas in Third Strike she is in the dead center of the tier list and (in my opinion) the most balanced character in the game. Her SAIII in SI, as you can see was a bit too powerful. It moved her across 60% of the screen, within the first 20% the super was instantaneous and could be linked off of near anything. Along with that, it did good damage, generated stun and could be comboed after. It was beastly...

Makoto: SAII bug (Backflip dodge!)

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/WhiffedSAII.gif

A fun little bug/glitch involving Makoto's SAII: Abare-Tosanami. Technically the super doesn't start until you touch the wall within the first 2 frames so if another super moves the screen fast enough (like another Makoto using SAII) you don't reach it time and end up just doing this neat little backflip. It's cool looking but it leaves you wide open but at least it doesn't use the super meter!

Makoto: Tsurugi catch into SAI

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIAir.gif

A nice way to utilize a free air to air Tsurugi. (the mid-air axe kick) On some characters the SAI will knock the opponent out of the super before it's finished leaving you wide open but... that's why you learn your matchups. Execution is easy enough and only requires a small bit of timing to pull off.

Sean: Corner BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/FullSAIICorner.gif

Sean's corner BnB utilizing his SAII: Shoryu-Cannon. There isn't much to say other than that if you had more super bars this could go on forever. It's a nice little combo and actually worth doing. 

(Fun fact about Sean's SAII, I believe (correct if me if I'm wrong) but I believe it has the best priority in the game. Pretty bold thing to have when you're otherwise considered the worst character in the game. Still love playing Sean though...)

Akuma: Instant Kill

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/1hitKO.gif

One-hit kill "combo" that utilizes the fact that when Twelve's copy super art wears off, he takes twice as much damage and since Akuma's special SA has one of the strongest 1 hits in the game, it's pretty deadly. (Also fun to note, Akuma's Kongou Kokuretsu Zan (One of his two universal super arts that have unique inputs but require max super) has one of the only unparryable AND unblockable hits in the game.

Remy: SAI chain

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIChain.gif

Look at those light of virtues fly. He may have stolen Guile's moves but I quite like Remy and this is coming from someone who sucks at charge characters. An entirely possible but albeit unnecessary combo chaining together two of his SAIs.

Remy: Air-to-Air follow up.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/AirtoAir.gif

Very nice air-to-air follow up for Remy. You'll see this done pretty often in high level matches. Good damage, decent priority and it's not that difficult to pull off.

Oro: 100% stun

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIII100stun.gif

Oro's 100% stun combo against Chun-li specifically. The key to successfully doing this is to make sure you're positioned just right so that only your kicks will hit her and not the rocks. The reason for that is because the rocks will increase the number of hits, reducing the damage and stun generation of the next hits. Hitting with HKs generates a lot of stun but you can only just BARELY hit with the necessary 6 in time before the super gives way. Tricky but I could do it consistently after only a few tries.

Oro: Kishin-Tsui combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIBnB.gif

Standard Oro BnB only featuring his Kishin-Tsui super which turns all of his throws into much more deadly devices. As well as allowing him to throw opponents who are in hitstun while in the air.

Makoto: Pain Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIII2hitIbuki.gif

Ah, a cruel little showing of just how deadly Makoto can be under the ideal situations. Taunts in this game can have various effects, Makoto's for the most part increases damage. (I could have used two for more damage) Getting more than the first part of the taunt off in an actual match is impossible but this isn't about possible, it's about damage. About 52% more damage from the full taunt, 50% more damage from hitting Ibuki during her command dash and double damage from using Makoto's SAIII. Needless to say, she's dead and a half and probably could die twice if I used a second taunt.

Makoto's taunt statistics

Part 1 - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3% per taunt. Maximum 2 taunts, 62.5% damage.

Part 2 - Replaces a second Part 1 taunt. One two-part taunt is the maximum.
Part 3 - Increases stun recovery rate by 10% for the first full taunt and an additional 21% for the second full taunt. Lasts the whole round. Maximum 2 full taunt, 33% bonus.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/KYSGInstantKOIbuki.gif

All credit for this combo goes to KYSG as I could not replicate this combo on my PC emulator -- only on the console version for whatever reason.

A 100% combo that requires a very precise positioning and a counterhit for extra stun which is why Ibuki is using her command dash as getting hit during her command dash makes her take twice as much damage and fall under 1 more frame of hit stun like a counter hit. Timing on linking the super is very strict, I believe it is literally only 1 frame but nothing drumming the keys on your stick can't solve.

Oro: Yagyou-Oodama Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SAIIFullCombo.gif

Basic BnB but utilizing one of Oro's unique supers Yagyou-Oodama which is a special version of his typical SAII: Yagyou-Dama. All of Oro's supers have a special variation that can be done by pressing two punch buttons instead of one after the super motion. In this case, rather than tossing out a small orb, Oro uses all three of his super bars to unleash this massive one. It's uses our slim and generally not worth doing as the normal versions of his SAII are far superior.

I do certainly find doing Oro's BnB of jumping and landing very fun to do.

Ibuki: Stun Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/StunCombo.gif

Just a fun little stun combo for Ibuki. For those unaware of the stun mechanics of Third Strike, when an opponent gets stunned in the air they become infinitely easier to combo as the timer between each consecutive hit is increased (making it more lenient) and the opponent when hit flies higher and more rounded making him/her easier to get to. Of course, the 6 hit (7+ if you cancel into a fast special) aerial combo limit in Third Strike is still in effect but that counter can be reset to 0 using super arts but none of Ibuki's super arts can be comboed after so it's not possible with her.

Ibuki: Triple Hit Launch

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/NoStun3hitAir.gif

A neat little combo that can only be done if you only hit once with Ibuki's close range HK (Her launch). If it only hits once, you can just barely super jump cancel into a HK in time to combo it all together. It's damage is decent but it's stun generation is quite noteworthy. Not impractical but it's not a situation that will come up often and even if it does, you have to realize it fast enough to make use of it.

Alex: Stun Gun corner combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/StunGun.gif

Bit of a tricky combo utilizing Alex's SAIII which by most (including me) is generally considered to be a troll super. It's uses are slim as it's easy to not only avoid but to punish. Should it hit however, it's a 100% stun and decent damage.

This combo showcases one of the very tricky ways to actually combo it but don't expect to hit with this in an actual match as it requires a very precise hit of Alex's HK against an airborne opponent at a specific height and a well timed elbow charge. Not easy by any means and this combo can actually be longer and trickier...