Samurai Showdown Combo-Mini FAQ
(from r.g.v.a. post)
by Chae

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                    COMBO-ING
                (From a rgva post)

>y'know, for all the time i've played samurai shodown, i've
>never really tried to do combos [probably 'cause i can't do
>combos that well on SFII].  they would probably come in
>handy; i say this because, on more than one occasion, the
>computer Hanzo has aerial AB'ed me, and with no landing/
>recovery delay, ground AB'ed for a stun... BHB, you know the
>rest of the story... anyway, is this an example of comboing,
>or just the computer's rampant "i can do this because i'm
>the computer" behaviour?  i suppose i might know more if i
>played more human opponents, 'cause against the computer,
>aerial C + low C are all the moves i can string together
>before it blocks.
>for that matter, what of FF2?  i always thought the hits came
>out too slow to combo, but i could be wrong...
>
>any input from the neo-geo crowd?  has anyone developed combos
>for SS, FF2, etc., and if so, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?!? many
>thanks...

        I think a lot of combos in SS are not. Most characters have
the ability to land a ground AB after an aerial AB because 1) aerial
attacks generally has less attack stun (pause before being able to attack
again) than ground attacks and 2) attack stuns are generally shorter
than hit stun (reeling back after getting hit) 3) characters can be hit
while reeling back for relatively (to SFII which is my main source of
comparison) extended period of time. On top of that, some characters
have long range ground AB attacks that help out a lot. One of the easiest
ones is Haohmaru's aerial AB + ground AB for almost a sure stun. Repeat
means messy death for the opponent.

        But if you rely on combos in SS, then you may be putting yourself
in a disadvantage. A good player knows how to combo well but s/he also
knows how to avoid getting combo (usually by not making stupid mistakes).
Even a rampant combo-matic game like Hyper SFII, a match between good
players are surpirsingly devoid of combos and even special moves. Any
amount of reliance on combo will put you at disadvantage, at certain level
of competition. Secondly, combos are usually culminated with special moves.
I think I speak with some consensus here when I say special moves in SS are
generally risky and, for some, quite useless. Only a few special moves
can be done with near impunity and even less of them are of any use in
a combo. Charlotte's Power Gradation probably is the best special move,
when considered in context of risk vs. reward, IMHO. The move also hits at
the beginning too unlike Jubei's and Ukyo's thousand swords attacks.
But damage tends to be paltry. Another good special move is Gen An's
poison cloud but that is because the move can be used to trick other players
not necessarily for the strength of the move as a whole. A hell of a delay
time too.

        Combos (I have heavy SFII bias here so feel free to contradict
me, anyone) are possible because speical move can 'interrupt' normal

moves, making the series of hits near impossible to escape. Now, given the
risk and general uselessness of special moves (Slash Flaunt? Heheh),
incorporating special moves in combos are generally not advisable. Instead,
we can use the 'built-in' combo-matic feature of the game. I am, of
course, talking about the three points I mentioned at the beginning of this
overlong post (yeah, I know I'm being pompous and breathy). Keep in mind
the 'reel' time of a hit stun and delay time of a attack stun. And also,
think about the initial hit location (high or low/deep). If you try
Haohmaru's aerial AB + ground AB on EQ, you'll see that if the initial
AB hits too high, the ground AB will whiff because Haohmaru takes too
long to land, giving EQ enough time to recover from the hit stun. Same
theory applies to other characters. There really is no appreciable
height difference between other characters tho. But if you hit too
high with the initial attack, you'll most likely whiff the ground attack.
This again is not uniform on all characters. Haohmaru has a large (perhaps
even the largest) margin of 'window' because his ground AB has such a
tremendous range but other characters all have noticably less range *or*
their attacks are modified according to range. (case in point: Charlotte.
her ground AB can either reach a long way or short, depending on where
the opponent is. if the opponent is somewhere in between, then shorter
version of AB can miss. same with her B which is either epee poke or
guard bash)

                                                --C h a e
--
E-mail: paladine@rodan.rs.itd.umich.edu   | finger paladine@umich.edu
        chaean@engin.umich.edu            | for more info. :)
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