------------------------------------------------------------------------ Samurai Shodown 2 - Nakoruru Strategy Guide Version 1.0 note: this guide is also available via anonymous ftp at the following ftp sites: ftp.krl.caltech.edu /pub/fighting/ss2/guides/nakoruru.guide.hsu ftp.netcom.com /pub/vi/vidgames/faqs/SS2NAK.txt please send comments/suggestions/corrections to Kenneth Hsu ____________________________________________ | ,###########8888888888888888#####| | d888b############8888888888888888###| | d8888888888b###########888888888888888| | d8888888888888888b#########8888888888888| | d88P d888PY88888888PY88b#####888888888888| | 88P 88888 888888888 88888b####88888888888| | 8P 8888' 888888888 88888b###Y8888888888| | Y8 8888 88888888b 88888b###8888888888| | ` Y88P Y888888 Y8P d8888888888888| | \ d888ba, d888 d88888888| | , db \ d8888P d888888888| | | YO ) d88888P d8888888888| | ___ ,' `~~~ d88888P d888888888888| | \ d888888P d88888888888888| | ) d88888P d888888888888888P| | `-- d88888P d888888888888888P d| | ' d88888P d88888888888888P ,d8| | | d8888P d88888888888888P d888| | d8888P d88888888888888P d8888| | d8888P----~~~d8888888888888P d88888| | d888P d8888888888888P d888888| | d888P 8888888888888P 8888888| `--------------------------------------------' This picture is used with permission from Timothy Heydelaar ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS: Revision History Nakoruru - the transition from SS1 to SS2 1) Graphics 2) Game Play Special Moves General CPU Strategies 1) CPU runs towards you 2) CPU rolls towards you 3) CPU just standing there and doing nothing 4) CPU jumping in 5) Air counters/escapes 6) Misc. Strategies Specific Character Strategies My own ranking of CPU opponents from hardest to easiest to defeat using Nakoruru Combos Ending for Nakoruru Credits/Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Revision History v0.1 Initial Release - very disorganised and missing many things.... v0.2 Added title picture, special moves and rewrote many sections in the guide. v0.3 Restructured format for Specific Character Strategy section, minor revisions here and there.... First version posted to the above mentioned ftp sites. v1.0 Added ending for Nakoruru, credits/acknowledgement and minor revisions here and there... Also got most of the spelling mistakes out of the guide (hopefully!) Although there is still bits missing this is the first official version (hence v1.0) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nakoruru - the transition from SS1 to SS2: 1) Graphics: Graphically Nakoruru looks more 'mature' than in SS1. She is almost completely redrawn, has grown a bit taller (now nearly as tall as all the other fighters) and has a new fighting stance. The three victory poses are OK and I like the Cape Wrap the best. Some of her attacks are altered (e.g. crouching B slash, air A, B slashes). The fighting portrait at the vs. screen is excellent but the portrait of the alternative colour Nakoruru looks quite 'evil' (dark skin, purple eyes....*shudder*)... 2) Game Play: Delay triple plus.... Our Nakoruru is not as fast as what she used to be in SS1. There seems to be a slightly longer delay at the start of Leyla/Annu Mutsubes (it might just be my imagination but it seems to me that the length of the delay depends on whether you used A, B or AB Mutsube move - A having shorter delay than AB) and also when summoning the hawk to attack (it's a dead give-away for the ninja teleporters to disappear and nail you from the sky....) Delay after spinning off the Hawk is introduced and the new move Cape Swirl has major lag time after execution. Standing far B slash also seems to come out slower. The standing close AB slash does not hit ground opponents twice anymore except when you use it on the big Earthquake. Also, A Annu Mutsube seems to have a shorter range and it is very hard to use A Annu Mutsube to combo in SS2 now and I usually need to use B or AB (but in doing so endangering myself if it is blocked...). Annu Mutsube hits the opponent low in SS2 (i.e. needed to be blocked low), however the move suffered a decrease in priority at the start of her Mutsube moves and Nakoruru can be hit/thrown out of her Mutsube moves at the start quite easily. Mamahaha attack does not hit opponent multiple times in SS2 either. Looking on a slightly brighter side, Nakoruru has better damage for her slashes now (especially the big AB ones). Spin attack off the Hawk hits multiple times on all characters. The new Cape Swirl move works fairly well as an anti-air attack and reflects projectiles/cancels pet attacks. The Super Cape Swirl is quite useful too. SS2's special moves recognition system is very different from that of SS1 (where special moves are harder to pull off). In SS2 special moves seem to come out left, right and centre - sometimes even when you don't want it! This is not good news for Nakoruru as her special moves usually place her in very vulnerable positions. To make sure that the right special move comes out, do the move slower than usual, making sure that the joystick move across all the contact points required for the move, and then press the button with a very slight pause after you have completed the joystick motion. This is particularly important for the Power Special, Super Cape Swirl and to a lesser degree summoning Mamahaha to attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Special Moves (taken from SS2 moves List v5.0 with permission from Hecubus ) This moves are listed for a Nakoruru standing on the left hand side facing right. A - Weak Slash, B - Medium Slash, AB - Strong Slash C - Weak Kick, D - Medium Kick, CD - Strong Kick Nakoruru, with her hawk Mamahaha ,_ Special Moves ____________________________________________________, | | \ -O Slash Leyla Mutsube | | O O Upward rush | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | O- / | Slash Annu Mutsube | | O O Horizontal energy rush | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | | / O- Slash Kamui Ryuse | | O O Nak swirls her cape in front of | | her. This move will also reflect | | projectiles, and make her | | invulnerable to pet attacks. | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | / AB Rolling Slash | | O Roll forward along the ground | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | -O \ | / O- Slash Amube Yatoro | | O O O Summon Mamahaha to attack | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | | / O- C Hawk Carry | | O O When without weapon, this move | | will also summon Mamahaha back | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | (Hawk Carry) Rolling Down Attack | | / or | or \ Slash or Kick Direction controlled by joystick | | O O O | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | (Hawk Carry) Diagonal Down Arrow Attack | | Any other dir., Slash or Kick | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | \ | / O- -O | \ BC Apefuchi Kamui Rymuse | | O O O O O Flick her cape quickly four times; | | finish with a fierce flick, from | | which a baby hawk appears. | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | -O \ | / O- (2x), D Super Deformed | | O O O | |____________________________________________________________________| ,_ Throws ___________________________________________________________, | -O B Toss | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | -O AB Trip, sit and stab | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | -O B or AB (without weapon) Face Slap | | She hops up on her opponent and | | slaps them around, then ends with | | a two handed pound to the head. | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | | B or AB (in air) Air toss | | O | I--------------------------------------------------------------------I | -O D Grab and triple kicks | |____________________________________________________________________| |____________________________________________________________________| _ Power Special ____________________________________________________ | -O O- / | \ -O A Mamahaha's Revenge | | O O O Nakoruru glows, and Mamahaha | | streaks down. If she hits, the | | hawk dives three more times, then | | slams into the opponent. | |____________________________________________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ General CPU Strategies: SS2's AI is a lot more intelligent and also aggressive than that of SS1. Against Nakoruru, CPU controlled characters seem to advance upon Nakoruru quite a lot. They stay outside of Nakoruru's attack range and wait there for you to make a move (where if you attack you will miss and if you jump you will over jump). And if you just crouch defending there the CPU will move in and throw or jump in with an air attack and throw. Nakoruru players should be aware of this and know how to deal with this situation when CPU is advancing upon you. Below is a general summary of tactics for Nakoruru players when CPU is in the above mentioned position (i.e. outside of your normal attack range but within their own attack range). Some of these are actually pretty basic and applies to any human characters fighting CPU characters but anyway here goes... 1. CPU runs towards you: This happens quite a lot with for example CPU Galford and Wan-Fu. This also happens when CPU is lower on the energy bar and there is not a lot of time left. The best way to keep CPU away in this case is to do standing C kicks when CPU comes into range. It has a decent range and is quite fast. Nakoruru can usually get a few of these kicks in the CPU to tick off some damage. Make sure you stop the standing C kicks straight away when you have pushed them outside of your standing C kick range and then go back into defensive crouch. Any missed moves on your part can cost you dearly. If CPU has already run in too close to you then you should do crouching C kicks to keep them away and then maybe add one or two standing C kicks. Alternatively if you are feeling bold and brave you can try using AB Leyla Mutsubes as they run in on you but the CPU, having perfect reflexes, will usually block them so use this sparingly. Also standing far B slash works often (opponent runs into the slash! :) ) 2. CPU rolls towards you: Be careful when CPU decide to roll toward you just outside your attack range. This happens in many situations. For example when you have kicked them in the face too many times with the standing C kicks, or when you just crouch there and do nothing, or when you send Mamahaha to attack at close range. There are many ways to deal with CPU rolling in on you, and it depends on where the CPU character is after rolling in. If CPU will be very close to you after rolling in (e.g. CPU might have rolled under your series of standing C kicks). When I say close, I mean the sprites of Nakoruru and the opponent are overlapping. In this case I would suggest that you quickly get away. CPU will usually throw after it comes out of the roll and in very close situations like this counter-throwing is often difficult. Jump back with an air C kick or if you see it coming or AB Leyla Mutsube to get away. If CPU lands in front of you when it has finished rolling, then quickly do a lot of crouching C kicks to push them away - you will usually get a few hits like this. As soon as they are outside your crouching C kick range, switch to standing C kicks to push them away further. If opponent's roll finish in front of you, there is a better chance of throwing the opponent so it is a viable option (either B throw or the D kick-throw should be used, I personally tend to use D kick-throw more as it seems to be quicker than the B/AB throw) Another alternative is to quickly get on the hawk and immediately attack off it. It has worked about 40% of the time I tried it.... 3. CPU just standing there doing nothing: Since CPU is still outside your attack range don't be foolish and try attacks on the spot which will miss. CPU is very good at detecting this and then will use their advantage of having a better range to hit you as you are recovering from your attacks. (It's times like this I wish that Nakoruru's father had given her a longer sword...) Also, don't be tempted to jump forward - at this position if you jump forward you will over-jump and will get slashed/kicked/thrown on the back as you land. And if you are corner- trapped don't be tempted to jump back against the wall either. CPU usually will find a good way to hit you out of the air. I will usually try moving forward a little bit at a time so that opponent is in my standing C kick range and then try kicking them. Sometimes CPU also backs off if you move forward bit by bit. This has proven to be quite useful. Moving in and trying crouching CD kick has worked exceptionally well against a few CPU chars. 4. CPU jumping in: If when they jump in they are almost on top of you, make sure you DO NOT block their attack. You will be thrown afterwards. You must think of a way to counter their attack or escape. If you do not have time to escape/counter and blocked their move, immediately go into crouching C kicks when you have blocked CPU's air attack - this will minimise your chance of getting thrown. Below is a list of Nakoruru's possible air counters/escapes and how they can be used: a) Nakoruru's air slashes: Nakoruru's air slashes are probably best for air counter strikes. If CPU jumps forward, and is in reach of your jumping air slashes, then jumping forward and doing an air slash immediately usually will hit them out cleanly (and with good damage too!). Try to use the air AB as much as possible because it does so much more damage compared to any other Nakoruru's moves. Since Nakoruru's air AB is a down-to-up slash you must make sure the AB slash has ample time to slash 'up'. So it is best to jump up and counter with the AB as EARLY as possible when your opponent comes into range. The timing/spacing is approximately that of when your opponent is on or near the top of their jumping arc. If the opponent has already gone past the top of their jumping arc, you might want to consider using air B or A slashes as they come out quicker but are equally as effective. Try to make sure that only Nakoruru's knife meets the opponent. If CPU is too close, then you can try jumping back or jump straight up and then A/B/AB slash. Make sure you can time and counter any CPU opponent with your air slashes to ensure some easy wins. b) Using Leyla Mutsube as an air counter: This requires that you first learn the range of her A, B, and AB Leyla Mutsube, and use Leyla Mutsube so that when you execute the move, Nakoruru will meet the opponent in the air with the front part of her (the knife) touching the opponent only. Then the chance of opponent slashing you out of the Leyla Mutsube is minimised. Timing is also important due to the slight delay Nakoruru has before she starts her Leyla Mutsube. You must make sure that Nakoruru starts rising before the opponent lands since if they block it you are in deep trouble. You might think that using Leyla Mutsube is too much trouble, but once when you got it right it is very effective. For example, if opponent jumps in but is outside of your jumping- forward AB/B slash counter, then doing the Leyla Mutsube will counter very nicely. Also, if an opponent jumps away or jumps straight up in front of you, then you can execute Leyla Mutsube to hit them. c) If you have time to walk under the jumping opponent, then walk under and do a standing close or crouching B slash as opponent lands. Alternatively, You can also try a throw but I wouldn't count on it against CPU.... or try running or rolling forward when CPU jumps to get away to a safe place. If you hit your opponent while they are still in the air they will jump backwards. Then you should send Mamahaha to attack for one more blocked damage. (note: some characters have an air move which has a wide range in front and also behind them, you must be careful when trying to walk under and counter attack like this. The characters which I can think of that has these kind of attacks are: Mizuki, Ukyo, Nicotine and maybe others. Also against fast jumpers like Charlotte and Gen-An it might not be a wise idea to counter in this fashion as usually you have no time to walk under) d) Kamui Ryuse (Cape Swirl): Make sure the cape connects with the opponent. This is especially useful if the jumping opponent is right on top of you but it also works for opponent in front of you. e) crouching AB roll: For crouching AB roll you must make sure the jump-in opponent will land just in front of you if he/she did not do any attack on you. Otherwise when you attempt the counter the roll will miss (you will roll under the jump-in opponent) and they will throw you from behind. Do the crouching AB roll when opponent is about to land (but not too late or they will land and be able to block it and retaliate) f) crouching CD kick: Crouching CD kick works especially well against jumping opponents that will land in front of you. Say if CPU jumps in at a distance such that if you try jumping forward and counter with your air AB you will just miss them, then usually you are in a good position for using crouching CD kick for an air counter. Crouching CD kick also works very well against many characters trying to do an air slash on you (especially Haohmaru and Genjuro). In this situation (when your opponent is attempting an air slash on you), crouching CD kick will also works if opponent jumps in on top or slightly behind you but you might trade damage. If opponent jumps in with a kick crouching CD kick is less effective and you must make sure opponent is in front of you and not on top of you (or their kick will hit you out). If you have used crouching CD kick successfully to knock the opponent away, immediately summon the hawk to attack as your opponent is jumping backwards for one blocked damage. Against any Genjuros/Haohmarus this is a very valuable defense. g) Close Standing AB slash: The first hit of the close standing AB slash is quite a good air counter. You just need to make sure that you have time to get the moves out in time. The timing is approximately that when your opponent has just past the top of their jumping arc, you must hit AB then. Best to use this when opponent is jumping in nearly right on top of you. h) Annu Mutsube - I used to use this a lot in SS1 for air counter but it doesn't to work in SS2. Now I only use this to escape if I am trapped in the corner and opponent jumps in on me. i) Mamahaha's Revenge or Amube Yatoro (hawk summon) as air counters is also possible. The timing is different for each character since everyone's jumping arc/jump time in air are all different. Spacing is also important, use A, B or AB hawk summon depending on how far the opponent is when they jumped. If opponent will be able to hit you when they jump in usually A hawk summon is the one to use. But generally this is not a reliable air counter and is very hard to time. j) Air throw: I haven't really used this move at all yet as I am not quite comfortable with having to push down and B/AB to throw in air (never played Hanzo or Galford and played too much Chun Li in SF2 :-) ) But it should work fine like in situation as described in a). In fact I have pulled off the air throw a couple of times when I was actually trying to counter an air-borne opponent with an AB slash (well it's because I have developed a habit of pulling down on the joystick when I jump). So I would suggest that whenever you jump up to counter your opponent with an AB slash, also pull down on the joystick and you may throw them once in a while. k) Standing C/D kick: Well this only works if opponent is landing in front of you. Does pitiful damage but it is useful in that after you knock the opponent back, you can send Mamahaha after them. This will generally miss because CPU would've jumped forward again as the hawk flies towards him, but you get out of the stun quick enough so that you can repeat it again (i.e. use standing kicks to knock him back and then send the hawk after CPU again etc.) This pattern only works wonderfully well on CPU Sieger and sometimes this is all I have to do to kill him. Misc. General Strategies: a) Anticipating opponent's attack: Since our Nakoruru has no range at all for her attacks :-(, to beat opponents who just keep on using their big range slashes, you must learn to anticipate and counter strike successfully against these big-range opponents (hmm that's everyone else! :)) Annu Mutsube or Leyla Mutsube should be used here. I now tend to use AB Leyla Mutsube more than the Annu Mutsubes because if you execute a AB Leyla Mutsube at the wrong time you still fly safely away from your opponents and not slide along on the ground to the front of your opponent so that you get AB slashed to death. Some opponents have a 'poking' slash (e.g. Haohmaru's B slash and Charlotte), which if you execute your Annu Mutsube when they do the move, the poke will miss and you will get them. But this is very hard to anticipate when playing against CPU. b) Luring your opponent to jump-in: The only way Nakoruru is going win against anyone (especially against CPU) is getting some of those nice air ABs into your opponent. But in SS2 the CPU rarely jumps. So you must find someway to force them to. To lure them to jump use the Mamahaha, send the hawk to attack will usually make the CPU characters jump (if not forward, then upward). If they jump forward then you must find a way to hit them out of the air with any of the air counters described above. Sometimes CPU also jumps in after blocking your Mamahaha, and also after you have executed a B or AB cape swirl far away. However, Some characters just will not be tricked into jumping forward (for example Haohmaru or Genjuro), other CPU characters fall for it quite a bit though (like Cham Cham and Gen-An). Sometimes if you do your crouching C kicks a couple of times CPU opponent will also jump in or jump away, if they jump in, air AB or walk under and B slash. If they jump away, Leyla Mutsube to hit them! c) Use your hawk effectively: When opponent is knocked down, send in the hawk to hit them as they get up (or use Mamahaha's revenge if your POW meter is full). CPU sometimes will be stupid enough to get hit by it. Try to use the hawk to get as many blocked damage as you can on your opponent. As said in b) use the hawk to lure your opponent to jump and then hit them out of the air. It is very hard to describe the spacing/timing required here. But generally, your opponent must be at a position where your B Mamahaha attack will just reach them. Then if you do your B Mamahaha attack, and they jump over the hawk (or blocks it and then jump forward), then you will usually have enough time and the right spacing to either Leyla Mutsube or just jump forward air slash them out of the sky (sometimes you might need to walk forward a little bit before countering) Against the teleporting ninja trios (Galford, Hanzo and Earthquake), after you knock them down you can also execute a hawk attack that reaches them just AFTER they get up. They will usually try the teleport move and hit you from above but as you have already recovered from the stun time of the hawk attack you can block it and then retaliate. c) Use of Nakoruru's power specials: I usually do not use this move very much. CPU is programmed to block it when you do it anyway and if you don't pull it off and ended up with a Mutsube move instead you get slashed! But there are times when you might want to try this. First of all, use it when opponent is getting up - you might get lucky once in a while. And secondly, when opponent sends a slow projectile to you - if you can get the hawk to hit your opponent FIRST before the opponents recovers from their projectile stun time and before their projectile reaches you, you won't get hit by their projectile (their projectile will just go past you). I have some success in doing this against CPU Hanzo, Haohmaru, Nicotine and Kyoshiro because it is easier to read when they are going to do their projectile move and also because their projectile are generally slower than other people's. The power special hawk also cancels any projectile in its path. d) Jump-in attacks: Nakoruru's air attack does not have very much range (as the rest of her moves). Also due to Nakoruru's long jumping arc it is very easy to overjump and miss an attack completely. First thing to make sure is that you do not overjump. CPU will murder you if you do. Hop back until you have enough space and will not overjump. And when you have jumped in correctly make sure your attack hits. The safest attack to jump in with is of course Nakoruru's kicks (especially the C kick). But you can also use her slashes - AB slash does a lot of damage so I general try to go for it with AB. B does decent damage too and is quicker but I miss the opponent quite many times if I try jumping in with B. Against small characters like Cham Cham it is safer to use the kicks since the slashes (especially B) will generally miss altogether. Also if you have overjumped I would suggest you either try and jump away after landing, counter-throwing, do a crouching AB roll slash or go into a AB Leyla Mutsube straight away as you land. If opponent blocks your attack you can try immediately throwing them (if you are close to them) or just go into your crouching C kick - CPU doesn't tend to block the first or second low attack after you jump in). If the air attack hits comboed them!!! (refer to combo section below) e) Dealing with opponents' projectiles: You can use the Cape Swirl to reflect projectiles. Probably only useful if say you see Hanzo running towards you after his firesnake or if say Haohmaru does his tornado at close range (very unlikely). Cape Swirl also make you invulnerable to pet attacks from the opponent. Make sure you use A Cape Swirl to reflect projectiles so if your opponent jump over their own projectile you will have time to block/counter. If at close range I would rather go through the projectile with Annu Mutsube to hit them (provided that I CAN go through it) Alternatively roll forward or lie flat on the floor and wait for projectile to go past you. Certain projectiles can be slashed in half by Nakoruru in SS1 (Tam Tam's Skull, Kyoshiro's flaming fans and Hanzo's Shuriken) with her far standing B slash. It is still possible to do it. At least with Kyoshiro's fans you can slash it in half with Nakoruru's standing A slash (the standing B slash doesn't seem to work anymore for some reason). f) Opponent's missed/blocked normal moves: In SS1 Nakoruru can block some opponents' long-range AB slash and then still have lots of time to retaliate with an Annu Mutsube. However in SS2 this is harder. It is possible I think but you need to execute Annu Mutsube as soon as you hear the sword clashing sound. I can now sometimes counter Wan-Fu's standing far AB this way. Also, if opponent is close within say your crouching CD kick or crouching AB roll range and stuck out a move that misses (e.g. if Haohmaru at close range do a crouching A slash that misses Nakoruru and Nakoruru immediately stuck out her crouching CD kick you will knock Haohmaru off). Also if you block an opponent's normal 'sliding move' (e.g. Haohmaru's crouching CD slide kick, Cham Cham's slide kick, Ukyo's slide-in slash, Gen-An's sliding kick) then you should immediately do crouching C or D kicks to hit them once or twice. You can also use crouching AB roll slash. g) Opponents' missed/blocked special moves: It seems that there is a greater delay when characters land from their special moves. So it is a lot easier to retaliate when you block an opponent's special moves or if opponent misses with their special moves. If close enough, make them either eat a standing close AB followed by an Annu Mutsube (yeah this will combo almost always on anyone) as they land. Note that you must time the standing close AB so that the first hit doesn't hit the opponent has they fall down from their missed move and the second slash should be the one that hits the opponent when they've just landed. If not comfortable with timing the big standing AB slash just use whatever but make sure you retaliate! Nakoruru cannot afford to let a chance like this to slip past! h) Countering opponents' special moves: Many of the other fighters' special moves can be countered using Nakoruru's Mutsube moves. Refer to the specific opponent strategies section below. i) When CPU's POW metre is full: Be careful, although CPU doesn't do it often, when CPU's POW metre is full you should think twice about jumping in. Many CPU characters are programmed to execute their power special if you jump in and their POW metre is full. Or when you are trapped in the corner and CPU's POW metre is full, don't be tempted to jump back against the wall with a C kick hoping that CPU will move forward and get hit, they will simply do their power special! j) When you are dizzy: If the CPU opponent is advancing towards you when you are dizzy - Don't just wiggle on the joystick and press the slash buttons if you see the CPU opponent is advancing towards you!!! If opponent approaches you when you are dizzy, you should continuously do forward or backward half-circle joystick motions and pressing the slash buttons to get out of dizzy. So that when I get out of it I will usually go immediately into a Annu or Leyla Mutsube (if you use forward-circle joystick motions) or Cape Swirl/Mamahaha summon (if you use backward joystick motion). So if opponent is approaching they might get hit by it. If CPU opponent is not approaching you or send a projectile to you, then just use your standard wiggling of joystick because there's no need to go into any special move in this situation (and hopefully you will get out of the dizzy and block that projectile in time!) k) Getting out of the corner when trapped: When you are trapped in the corner by the CPU, if CPU is extremely close to you - you can AB Leyla Mutsube to get away from the CPU opponent (cannot do this with some CPU characters - mentioned in the specific character strategies below). Another method is to immediately get onto the hawk and either move the hawk over the opponent and then away from them, or immediately do a flaming arrow attack off the hawk that will miss your opponent completely but in the process you will end up flying over your opponent's head and land quite far behind them. l) Finishing off the opponent: If opponent has only 1 tick of energy left, do any of your special move to finish them off!! (Try not to use Annu Mutsube as a finishing move too much - many CPU characters with an upper-cut special move will sometimes hit you out of it in this situation, like Haohmaru). If opponent has two ticks of energy left, send Mamahaha to take off the first tick and then do a Mutsube move to finish them off. If you can get off the Super Cape Swirl easily use that to finish someone off if they don't have much energy left and is just knocked down. Or you can do an arrow flaming dive off the hawk - this will take up to three ticks of energy off too if you get the spacing right (so that flaming dive hits your opponent around the head region - this is my favourite finishing off move at the moment :-) and I finished Mizuki off with it!). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Specific Opponent Strategies: The following section contains general CPU patterns and strategies against CPU specific to each fighter, and also a list of each fighter's special moves are listed below with a short paragraph as to how they can be countered or retaliated using Nakoruru. Also note that CPU gets progressively harder as you advance through the opponents (i.e. the first opponent you fight is going to be a lot easier than say the 7th opponent you fight). The strategies given below is for the 'harder' CPU opponents you counter. The first and/or second opponent you fight when you start a new game is often very easy and you don't really need to follow any of the strategies below in order to win (I mean, sometimes they just stand there and do nothing and let you hit them with your Mutsube moves without blocking!) Cham Cham: CPU patterns/general: If you Leyla Mutsube to escape CPU will toss a boomerang after you. Jump in with care, CPU will sometimes throw a precision-upward boomerang to hit you. Take advantage when CPU Cham Cham jumps towards you. If spacing is right Leyla Mutsube to counter, or use air AB, B slashes. Don't try crouching CD kick as an air counter, it does not work on her usually since CPU Cham Cham nearly always jump in with a kick. If you are going to jump attack Cham Cham, use kicks since the slashes will generally miss. CPU Cham Cham will use her sliding kick a lot so make sure you block low all the time. Standing attacks are generally not a good idea since all of them miss her if she is crouched. If Cham Cham sends the monkey to do any attack try and jump in to nail her. Make sure you can determine whether Cham Cham is jumping normally or is doing a jumping scratch. Cham Cham shouts different words when she does the jumping scratch. Also her jump is faster when she does the jumping scratch. CPU Cham Cham will execute the jumping scratch more often if she is lower in energy than you and time is running out. Also she will sometimes do the juming scratch if say you jump away from her at close range. Special move counters: Boomerang: I have Annu Mutsubed under it a couple of times but still unsure if this is safe. Lion Rush (Power Special): Block and retaliate in anyway you want! Mura Gaburu (Paku Paku toss an skull): Reflect using Cape Swirl or Annu Mutsube under it? Might be able to slash it off like in SS1... Jumping Scratch: There are many ways to counter this move.... You can block the jumping scratch and retaliate afterwards. Cham Cham bounces back with different jumping arcs depending on whether she executed C, D or CD jumping scratch (C jumping scratch will bounce her back very far while CD jumping scratch doesn't). Depending on how far Cham Cham bounces back you can use different moves for retaliation, if Cham Cham bounces back quite far after the blocked jumping scratch you can either AB Leyla or Annu Mutsube her. If she doesn't, you can get into range and execute combo 7 in the combo section to retaliate. You can also make her miss by hopping/rolling back or running/rolling forward. If Cham Cham misses (i.e. lying flat on the ground), Annu Mutsube and crouching AB roll will hit her as she lies flat on the ground. Of course you can also use the crouching kicks but they don't do as much damage. (note: don't try countering the jumping scratch with Leyla or Annu Mutsube without first blocking it, the jumping scratch cancels the Mutsube moves) Pakupaku Deos (Paku Paku spins forward): Cape Swirl (Make yourself invulnerable to it) or Annu Mutsube? Paku Gaburu (Paku Paku rises and spits a fireball): If you are sure you can Annu Mutsube through it before the fireball explodes on the ground, then do it!! You will hit Cham Cham along with it too. Or otherwise jump away or block it (make sure you have enough energy left to block it!) Charlotte: CPU patterns/general: Make sure you do Not overjump!! CPU Charlotte has so many ways to cheese you off..... If trapped against the wall and CPU Charlotte is very close just AB Leyla Mutsube away to get out. CPU Charlotte will generally advance toward you a lot and poke and tick and tick with her sword (I don't know which slash it is but she has an one- handed long-range poke that is similar to Haohmaru's far standing B slash. And she can do it standing or crouching!!). If she is relatively close and miss a sword poke, Annu Mutsube will get her in time. Or if she gets in too close and misses with a sword poke, crouching AB roll slash will hit her too. Special move counters: Power Gradation: Block and retaliate - use combo (7) listed in the combo section below as she lands from the move. Splash Fount: cannot Annu Mutsube through (so far...), so block and Annu Mutsube or crouching AB slash roll afterwards. Or jump over and Annu Mutsube from the other side. Splash Gradation (Power Special): Block it and then as the 7-pointed star starts fading, Annu Mutsube through to hit Charlotte. Sword Flash (Triangle Projectile): Use Cape Swirl to reflect or Annu Mutsube under it. Earthquake: CPU pattern/general: Jump in on CPU Earthquake STRAIGHT AWAY at the beginning of each round as CPU Earthquake has a habit of attacking with his weapon straight away at the start of a round. You can most of the time combo him straight away after jumping in at the beginning of a round (I always use air AB, ground B or AB Annu Mutsube). Earthquake is probably the easiest CPU character for Nakoruru to defeat. Generally just jump in and attack and attack and combo him if air attack gets him. If he blocks your jump-in attack, when you land do a few crouching C kicks which will usually hit him. If CPU jump towards you counter with air AB slash will usually work since he is so slow (except when he sticks out that air C kick of his early and you are too close....) Be careful when sending Mamahaha away, since Earthquake now can do portal drop he will do that sometimes as you send the bird away. Also if you are trapped in the corner he will try to come in with his power special (if his POW metre is full). Jump behind him and retaliate. Special move counters: Fat Bounce (bouncing butt attack): Annu/Leyla Mutsube through his fat butt!!! Fat Chainsaw: Annu Mutsube through it will hit him out. Or if too close, block and then Annu Mutsube. Flame Fandango: Jump over and attack him from the other side. Not sure if you can just jump in and attack, the flame looks quite high and I've never tried. Mirror Images: If you are not in between the two images, just AB Annu Mutsube through both images. The bomb that appears from the false image won't explode in your face since you already slide past it and you will hit the real image too. If you are in between the two image, you can look at the top of the screen where Earthquake's name is displayed, it is replaced by the motion of the move he performs so you can work out which image he is from the button pressed (A=left, B=right). Otherwise just take your pick I guess.... Portal Drop: Block and then Annu Mutsube to get him as he lands. Yo Yo Gama (Power Special): Can Annu Mutsube through provided you slide through when blue hand is waving up. Alternatively send Mamahaha to get him. Galford: CPU pattern/general: CPU Galford will usually run/roll at you a lot. I don't know about other people but usually a match with Galford for me turns out to be a manic button pressing exercise (standing C kicks to try and keep him away). Take advantage when he jumps, if you can walk under him and standing B slash him as he lands. Also, Galford has a habit of sending the dog to drop from the sky whenever you get on the hawk. So you can try getting on the hawk at a position relatively close to Galford, and if he do the dog drop, immediately arrow flaming attack off the bird to get him! The dog will drop at the position where the hawk was so you won't get hit. Special move counters: Dog Drop: If you see it coming and Galford is relatively close, Annu Mutsube to hit Galford before the dog reappears. Don't know if Annu Mutsube cancels it or if Cape Swirl works? Fake Wood/Portal Drop: The same counter as with Earthquake. Invisibility: Find him and slash him out of it quick!!! Mad Dog: use Cape Swirl, cannot use Annu Mutsube since this cancels Annu Mutsube out and you will get munched to death by the dog. Mirror Images: The same counter as with Earthquake. Plasma Blade: Reflect using Cape Swirl, or Annu Mutsube under it. Poppy Power (Power Special): Jump over it and attack. Rush Dog: Annu Mutsube through it or use Cape Swirl to make your- self invulnerable to it. Strike Hez (SPD-like throw): Pray that he doesn't get that off on you!!!! Gen-An Shiranui: CPU pattern/general: Be careful of badly-timed Leyla Mutsubes because Gen-An will spin in to hit you as you are landing on the other side.... CPU Gen-An also uses that quick slide kick his a lot (usually in succession). Make sure you block all of them low. When Gen-An jumps it is your chance to get ahead!! Air AB slash works very well on CPU as an air counter so use it! Leyla Mutsube is less consistent as an air counter because Gen-An's jump is quite quick and usually he will be able to land and block it and then retaliate. Special move counters: Butcher Thrust: If have time, Annu/Leyla Mutsube through it will counter. Or Block it, and Annu/Leyla Mutsube to retaliate as he spins back. When using the Mutsube moves to counter the Butcher Thrust, you must make sure the Butcher Thrust move doesn't touch Nakoruru from the top or she will be hit out of the Mutsube (i.e. Nakoruru's knife MUST meet Gen-An's spin first before any other part of her body). Or you can block it, then send Mamahaha to attack but this is harder to time. Or you can use standing far B slash to slash him out of it quite easily. Standing C kick also kick him out of this move easily. If you meet his Butcher Thrust in the air and you are on top sometimes your air kicks will also hit him out of the Butcher Thrust. Death Twister (Power Special): Not quite sure if you can jump in on it. Send Mamahaha to burn him if you have time. Or otherwise block and then retaliate. Glove Extension: If hit by it, usually you will have enough time to wiggle your way out of the dizzy and retaliate with a Annu Mutsube. If you block it, you can also immediately go into a Annu Mutsube to hit Gen-An. Poison Blizzard: Jump in and attack him. Or just block or reflect it with your cape. Second Skin: Wait for Gen-An to spin forward, block it and then Annu/Leyla Mutsube to get him as he spins backward. Don't try countering it with Annu/Leyla Mutsube without blocking first because the spin is coming down on you and it will hit you out of your Mutsube moves. If Gen-An misses with it and lands close to you just slash him with anything.... When Gen-An is emerging from the skin if you are close enough do a Leyla Mutsube which hits him just as he starts to spin upward. This also hits him out of the move I believe. Or time a hawk attack so that the hawk hits him as he emerges from the skin to spin upwards also works. Genjuro (Kibagami Genjuro): CPU pattern/general: I found crouching CD kicking him works very well. CPU will usually try and do some move as you do your crouching CD kick and will be knocked off his feet. Genjuro does not has enough time to do his standing AB if he blocks your crouching CD kick. The worst you can get is just a A slash. Be careful of him blocking the crouching CD kick and walk in to throw you though if you did your CD kick when he is too close. In this case, jump away as soon as you retract from your crouching CD kick. If Genjuro gets too close push him away with crouching C kicks or D kicks. Also try to anticipate when he is going to do that big AB slash.... You will have time to get Genjuro if you executed your Annu Mutsube as soon as you see the first animation frame of his standing far AB (where he lifts his sword up) and if you are close enough. DON'T do any Leyla Mutsube to get out of his way - or he will send his projectile cards after you when you land! Try to get within your crouching CD kicks' range by moving forward a little each time and then wait for CPU's reaction. Sometimes CPU Genjuro will even back off! Use the hawk to attack often, Genjuro doesn't jump over the bird very much. And if he does, counter with a crouching CD kick (works like wonders...) At the start of a round don't do anything but block because CPU Genjuro will do a Sanrensatsu at the start of the round about 40% of the time. Block and retaliate! CPU Genjuro is actually quite easy to beat, usually all it takes are three moves - Mamahaha attack, crouching C kick and crouching CD kick! Special move counters: Card Game (Power Special): CPU Genjuro hardly ever do this move at all. He has only done it once when my crouching CD kick missed him. There doesn't seem to be enough time to retaliate after blocking?? Oukazan (card projectile): Reflect using Cape Swirl or Annu Mutsube under it. Sanrensatsu (dashing slashes): If Genjuro is still sliding forward you can throw him out of the dashing slashes. Otherwise block it all (block in the same direction as the first), then retaliate. Haven't tried Annu Mutsube through it yet as I never can react quickly enough to do it. Or maybe you can block the first one and then counter with Annu Mutsube? Toha Kouyokujin (rising purple slash): Block and retaliate when he lands. Use combo (7) in combo section below. Hanzo Hattori: CPU pattern/general: As with Galford, Hanzo will run/roll towards you quite a bit. Keep him away with standing C kicks. If he jumps towards you counter accordingly. CPU Hanzo will disappear/fake wood a lot so make sure you know how to counter that properly. Don't try throwing too much - CPU usually wins :(. You must be careful when you try to jump and attack CPU Hanzo, sometimes he will time a perfect Bakuen Ryuu to hit you as you jump in - this happens when you are landing in front of him. Luckily CPU doesn't do it too many times. Be careful when Hanzo is running towards you, he might do a Bullhead Blast on you. If he runs in after his fire snake make sure you reflect the fire snake with your cape! Special move counters: Aerial Shuriken: You can block it and still have enough time to nail Hanzo with an Annu Mutsube afterwards. or reflect it with Cape Swirl? Annu Mutsube through it straight away? Bakuen Ryuu (fire snake): Reflect it with Cape Swirl - especially if Hanzo is running towards you after it. Or jump forward to attack. Bullhead Blast (SPD-like throw): Pray that he doesn't get that off on you!!!! Fake Wood/Portal Drop: If Hanzo does a portal drop from above the counter is the same as with Earthquake/Galford. Note when Hanzo does a Fake wood he disappears and attacks from below, so watch out and see which one it is!! Annu Mutsube can hit him out of his attack from below. So if Hanzo does a Fake wood, wait for a split second and go into an A Annu Mutsube which will hit him as he reappears. Note you MUST use A because if you use B or AB Annu Mutsube, when Hanzo gets hit by your Annu Mutsube he can do another Fake Wood which will get you as you are still recovering from your previous Annu Mutsube. If Hanzo does disappear again after getting hit by your A Annu Mutsube, do another one and another one until he gives up :-). Hellfire (Power Special): Hazno doesn't seem to have much stun time after he executes this move and there is probably no time to retaliate after blocking it. The move however takes a while to come out. If you see that fire of circle on the ground maybe there is enough time to Annu Mutsube forward to hit him first? Invisibility: Find him and slash him out of it! Mirror Images: Same counter as with Earthquake. Haohmaru: CPU pattern/general: Play turtle. Never initiate an attack yourself by jumping in since Haohmaru will just upper cut you. Stay in defensive crouch and wait for Haohmaru to do his attack. Unlike Genjuro, where you don't usually need to worry about getting hit by that standing AB because it comes out so slowly, watch out for Haohmaru's big AB which is a lot faster than Genjuro's. CPU Haohmaru will either stay just outside your crouching CD kick range and wait for you to do something, or he will back slightly further away and try his standing ABs on you or toss a tornado or fake a tornado. If you see Haohmaru start his tornado move (no matter whether it's a fake or a real one) do your Mamahaha attack straight away. If it's a real tornado it will cancel and if it's a fake Haohmaru will have to take a tick of blocked damge or if your hawk came out fast enough you might hit him too! If he is close, do a crouching C kick every now and then (which will miss him but will recover fast enough so you don't get slashed) and see what CPU does. At this distance, CPU Haohmaru will usually try to do any of his quicker attacks. In particular, if Haohmaru does his crouching A slashes and just misses you, crouching CD kick him straight away! Also he will sometimes do his crouching CD slide kick, block it and then retaliate with a crouching kick (C or D). Don't use your crouching CD kick unless you are sure he will be knocked off because if you miss or if he blocks you will eat a standing AB (ouch!) But if Haohmaru jumps in use crouching CD kicks to counter! Works very well. Try to anticipate his attacks and execute Annu/Leyla Mutsube to counter. If CPU presses in too closely can do a AB Leyla Mutsube to get out of the way. CPU generally won't retaliate effectively. Try to use the Hawk as much as you can, Haohmaru usually won't jump over it - he will simply just block it all.... If he does jump in again use crouching CD kick. Special move counters: Energy Slice (Power Special): Block it and then Annu Mutsube to get him afterwards works very well. Kogetsuzan (rising uppercut slash): Block and retaliate. Use combo (7) listed in the combo section below. Kogetsuzen Combo: Can't do much except block them I suppose... Resshinzan (leaping somersault slice): Block and Annu Mutsube to retaliate. Or maybe it's possible Annu Mutsube through it?? Sake Attack: Block and Annu Mutsube? Annu Mutsube through it??? Senpuretsuzan (energy tornado)/False Senpuretsuzan: If he is actually doing the tornado, jump over and combo him!!! CPU will fake quite a bit so watch out. I have seen CPU Nakoruru go through the Senpuretsuzan with Annu Mutsube but I cannot do it personally.... Jubei Yagyu: CPU pattern/general: If trapped in the corner AB Leyla Mutsube to get away. CPU Jubei usually won't retaliate. Standing C kick him if he gets in too close and counter/retaliate any missed Mikkaku Ratoh and Hasso Happa. Again make sure you don't over jump. You are usually safe to jump in after Jubei blocks one of your Mamahaha attacks. Otherwise play turtle and counter his moves. Make sure you can distinguish whether he is just running forward or is doing Mikkaku Ratoh. If he is just running forward keep him away with crouching C kicks. Special move counters: Hasso Happa (100-sword Strikes): You can Annu Mutsube through this with no problem usually - but I have been hit by it while trying to Annu Mutsube through it though. Or block it for a while and then Annu Mutsube through it as Jubei is about to stop. Mikkaku Ratoh (charge forward then rising slash): Block and then retaliate as he lands (combo 7 again!). Maybe it is possible to also Annu Mutsube to counter it - not sure though. Suigetsutoh (ground wave projectile): Reflect with Cape Swirl or jump over and attack. Or block it. Yagyu Shingantou (block with one sword/attack with another): Zetsu Suigetsutoh (Power Special): Kuroko: CPU pattern/general: I have finally beat Kuroko with Nakoruru. Basically the strategy is similar to that of fighting Mizuki - play turtle. Crouching defending there and wait for Kuroko to make a move. He has many different projectiles and you really need to watch out for them and block them when he throw them at you. Do crouching C kicks or standing C kicks to keep him away and eventually he will jump in. Then just walk under and standing close B slash him and then send Mamahaha to get one more blocked damage straight after. Use the hawk to get as much blocked damage as you can but don't send the hawk out at close range, Kuroko will roll under the hawk attack and throw you afterwards. Kuroko usually rolls under your hawk attack but if he is far away and roll in under the hawk you are in no danger really. Special move counters: Kyoshiro Senryo: CPU pattern/general: Can't really find any specific patterns for him. Usually I just jump in and attack and get away and jump in again. If trapped AB Leyla Mutsube to get away. Be careful not to jump in on his power special. If jumping in to attack Kyoshiro make sure you use a kick - you have a better chance of hitting Kyoshiro out of his rotating slashes (see below) Special move counters: Chobi Jishi (flips forward on stick in a fiery spin): Block and wait for a very short while until he is retracting and then get him with an Annu Mutsube. Fire Fan: Reflect with Cape Swirl or Annu Mutsube through it. You can also slash it in half with Nakoruru's standing A slash, and possibly with Nakoruru's standing B slash as well. Flame Fandango: Not sure, I think you can Annu Mutsube through it? or jump over him and attack from the other side. Flaming Top (Power Special): Don't think there is anything Nakoruru can do - block it all and maybe get him afterwards? Or if he is just spinning there and send Mamahaha to burn him. Vertical Rotating Slash (rising): Nakoruru's kick can fairly easily hit Kyoshiro out of his Vertical Rotating slash if her kick hits Kyoshiro from the top and hits approximately in the centre of the spin. This is why it is wise to jump in mostly with a kick, not a slash. Vertical Rotating Slash (falling): I think Nakoruru's slashes can hit Kyoshiro out of his falling Rotating slashes provided that only the knife touches Kyoshiro. But again, not sure as I have only hit him out of this once or twice. Mizuki: CPU pattern/general: YES! I finally defeated Mizuki - after about 15 tries altogether... My limited experiences of fighting against her is still limited though. Here is just some basic observations. Don't miss ANY chances of air counters when Mizuki jumps in on you (it's about the only time you have an advantage over her), punish Mizuki with some nice big ABs whenever she jumps (which is rarely...) Other than this I usually try to play very defensively. Stay in defensive crouch and counter Mizuki's move accordingly. If she approaches you to within your crouching C kick range then do one or two crouching C kicks to push her away - you will usually also kick her once or twice in the process. I have not had many successes jumping in to attack Mizuki. She always manages to either send her 'altered' beast to rush pass her just in time to hit me out or she will produce one of her projectiles so that it envelopes her as I am about to hit her and I will be hit out by the projectiles. Mizuki also teleports quite a bit and she usually will appear behind you. When she sends any of her projectiles watch out!! Try jumping forward over them (except for the power special which you will have to jump back over it as it travels BOTH WAYS). If you decide to block them you must be very careful cause Mizuki will usually teleport behind you as the projectile is about to hit you and thus reverse the joystick direction for blocking (ie you get HIT by the projectile!) Try keep your distance and send Mamahaha to do some blocked damage. Be careful of that move of hers in which she sends this energy pool thing along the ground which pulls you into the ground - if you stay in defensive crouch the energy pool cannot pull you in. As said before watch out for the Mizuki's power special projectile (which is a black and if you get hit by it the projectile envelopes you and bounces you on the wall several times and does HUGE damage and breaks your weapon). It travels forward and then BACKWARDS! Special move counters: Pig projectile (a small lightning ball released by her pet) Big Black Projectile (power special) Confusion Projectile (while & flashing projectile) Beast rush Electric beast rush Mad Beast rush Energy Pool Nakoruru: CPU pattern/general: This is a waiting game. Just crouch there on the spot and wait for CPU Nakoruru to make a move. Sometimes she won't do anything either so in this case do some crouching C kicks to make her do something. The following is a list of things CPU Nakoruru will try: If she jump towards you, walk under and standing close B slash her. If she runs towards you or roll towards you, continue your crouching C kicks. (and at all times watch her to see if she is going to Annu Mutsube) If she get on the hawk, stop crouching C kicks and wait for her to attack, block it and retaliate. If she Annu Mutsubes, block and retaliate. If she Leyla Mutsubes, run after her to where her land and do a crouching move to hit her (note: it's better to use a crouching move as some standing moves miss and the only one that will hit her is far standing B slash and the AB slashes but they take too long to come out). This way you usually will win against CPU Nakoruru easily. Don't worry if you are trapped in a corner, just continue to do what is said above. NEVER, EVER do a AB Leyla Mutsube to get out of the corner, or you will get Annu Mutsubed on the back as you land. Special move counters: Annu Mutsube: Block and then do any attack. Or alternatively, you can do your own Annu Mutsube when she starts hers. The trick is to do the move after CPU Nakoruru finishes shouting out "Annu Mutsube". Then you do yours. Apefunchi Kamui Rymuse (Super Cape Swirl): Block it! Don't think there is much you can do about it. If you see it coming maybe jump over it and attack? Attacks off the hawk (spin and arrow): Block and then do any crouching attack (I always use crouching AB roll slash). Again alternatively you can start a Annu/Leyla Mutsube when CPU's attack off the hawk is about to hit you. But blocking then attack is safer. Hawk Carry: Jumping up to attack CPU Nakoruru while she is on the bird is generally not a good idea. But sometimes if I judge it correctly I use Leyla Mutsube to get her. Kamui Ryuse (Cape Swirl): Block and Annu Mutsube if Nakoruru used a B or AB Cape Swirl? Leyla Mutsube: If CPU does a Leyla Mutsube that flies over your to the other side, start a AB Annu Mutsube as soon as she flies over you (i.e. you've turned around) and this will get her on the other side. Alternatively you can run after her and retaliate, or send Mamahaha after her if you can time it right. Mamahaha's Revenge (Power Special): If you are close - run/roll forward to get Nakoruru. If not, just block it or jump over it and attack. Rolling Slash: Block and throw/retaliate. Or Annu Mutsube through it. Nicotine (Caffeine Nicotine): CPU pattern/general: Like Cham Cham, your standing attacks will miss altogether if Nicotine is crouched so don't do any missed attacks or otherwise Nicotine will use his staff to crouching AB trip you. Try to get him to jump and counter him in the air with either the AB slash or Leyla Mutsube. Generally CPU is not too hard to beat. If you AB Leyla Mutsube to get out sometimes Nicotine will send a projectile after you so do it sparingly. Be careful if you want to walk under and slash as Nicotine as two air moves which will hit opponents on the back (the spiral kick and one of the slashes). Special move counters: Confusion: Just make sure you don't get hit by it! Block!! You will have enough time to crouching CD kick Nicotine after blocking. Bakusa Jougeki (staff extends via a chain): the same counter as Gen-An's glove extension. Shikigamireifu, fire (fire demon - run low along ground): Reflect it with Cape Swirl, or jump over and attack, or block LOW. Shikigamireifu, thunder (electric bird - flies at head level): Reflect it with Cape Swirl, or jump over and attack, or Annu Mutsube under it, or crouch and let it fly above you. Spiral Kick: Don't think there is anything you can do when he does this spiral kick in the air..... Summoning Atavakah (Power Special): Block and then retaliate? Sieger (Neinhalt Sieger): CPU pattern/general: Don't send Mamahaha away too many times in succession (especially if you are corner-trapped), CPU will do the Blitz Siege when you are about to send the hawk to attack (even though CPU usually miss with the Blitz Siege but it is not wise to try sending the hawk too many times in succession. Whenever Sieger gets in your standing C kick range kick him!! It will get him usually. When jumping in it is best to use C kick - and kick as early as possible since CPU Sieger will usually counter by jumping and doing his C kick belly attack which has very high priority. So if your C kick is not out by then you will get countered. Don't use Leyla Mutsube to get out of the way or otherwise you will get comboed with that backbreaker thing (OUCH!). A very useful pattern for Sieger, send the hawk to attack, Sieger jumps forward over the hawk and then you standing C or D kick him! (you might need to move forward a little bit to get into range though.) Then he gets kicked back and then you send the hawk again. Can substitute standing kicks with a crouching AB roll slash too. Just watch out he doesn't do the Blitz Siege move instead of jumping again. If he did the Blitz Siege, counter as specified below. Be careful when Sieger is close to you - CPU may attempt a Wolf Fangen throw - this throw has a slightly longer range than your standing C kick. Special move counters: Atomic Blast (Power Special): Don't know - it looks just like the Blitz Sieger move though. So maybe Annu Mutsube as he is about to hit you??? Or block and then Annu Mutsube. Blitz Sieger: Do either Leyla Mutsube or Annu Mutsube when he is about to hit you. You will hit him cleanly out of the Blitz Siege. Alternatively you can block it and then Annu Mutsube. Sometimes CPU will do a Blitz Sieger which will land just behind you and you need to make sure that you do the Mutsube to go on the other side or you will miss (which is no big deal since you will just end up on the other side of the screen - but it is better that you nail him since you don't really get that many chances with the CPU....) Finger Flick (reflects projectile): No concern for Nakoruru - she does not have a projectile! Tiger Kopf/launching punch/backbreaker: CPU will not do the Tiger Kopf if it is not going to hit. But say if he did, block it and then Annu Mutsube. You might also be able to Annu Mutsube through to hit him out of the Tiger Kopf? Velcan Weinen (turn arm into flamethrower): Block and then Annu Mutsube? or just Annu Mutsube through it??? Wolf Fangen (arm extends along ground and grabs): If you stay in defensive crouch Sieger's Wolf Fangen cannot grab you. So block it crouching and then retaliate with Annu Mutsube? Or maybe Annu Mutsube through it? Ukyo Tachibana: CPU pattern/general: When you are knocked down, CPU Ukyo will do his apple slices as you get up, counter accordingly as stated below. Do AB Leyla Mutsube to get out of the way if CPU Ukyo gets too close. He usually won't do any effective retaliation after he blocks it. Another turtle game. Stay in defensive crouch and watch for Ukyo's moves. If he moves too close push him away with crouching C kicks. Be careful here as sometimes Ukyo will run in and do a SSS firebird from the ground. Use the hawk to do some blocked damage. A pattern here for you: if Ukyo blocks your first B Mamahaha attack (the hawk hits him at maximum distance), do another one immediately which CPU Ukyo will almost always jump over but he will be in perfect distance for you to crouch CD kick him out of the sky. If CPU Ukyo jumps in close, you must be careful, you can usually counter with a air AB provided you hit him out very early in his jump. Crouching CD kick also does NOT work as an air counter on Ukyo as he jumps in at close range because he will just do a very late SSS firebird to get you as you are doing your crouching CD kick. Also get out of the corner quickly when you are trapped by Ukyo, or it is very hard to anticipate what he is going to do next. If you stick out a crouching attack CPU Ukyo will jump SSS firebird you. If you block standing he will use his long range low attacks to knock you off the feet. So get out of there quick!! Also don't hop back at close range or CPU Ukyo will sometimes do the spirit slide to hit you as you hop back. Special move counters: Sasame Yuki/Apple toss fake (apple splice): If you see Ukyo toss an apple and you are close enough to reach him with an Annu Mutsube BEFORE he starts slicing then get him with an Annu Mutsube. Or otherwise wait until he is about to finish with his apple slicing (after he slices down for the third time) and then Annu Mutsube to get him. It seems not possible to jump in and attack when he is slicing the apple now so if you really want to jump in - jump over him and attack. DO NOT do the Annu Mutsube while he is still doing the apple slice - you can slide past if you go through only if his sword is not slashing down but it is very hard to time. Spirit Slide: Block and retaliate with any attack? This move has a very short recovery time though. Don't know if Annu Mutsube will counter - never had a chance to try. Swallow Fury (Power Special): Block it, and as Ukyo is bouncing back do an Annu Mutsube to get him as he lands. Tsubame Gaeshi (SSS firebird - air or ground): If Ukyo jumps in and does a SSS firebird (which you blocked), execute Annu Mutsube straight away to hit him as he is bouncing back from the attack (you must not be too far away from him though). If Ukyo just jumps straight up and does the SSS firebird, quickly go into Annu Mutsube to hit him as he lands from the move (the firebird won't get you). Just make sure you will reach him in time. Wan-Fu: CPU pattern/general: When trapped in the corner, AB Leyla Mutsube to escape works pretty well. Standing C kicks are very useful in keeping big slow Wan-Fu away from you. But beware of that spinning fire column move he does on the ground - he will do it occasionally if you tap on your C buttons too many times. If Wan-Fu does his standing far AB (the really long-range one), block it and immediately do either AB Annu Mutsube, crouching AB roll slash or crouching CD kick. You will hit him before he has time to start retracting from the attack. Don't stay trapped in the corner for too long, and don't jump back against the wall when you are trapped in the corner cause Wan-Fu will just step forward and then do his sliding gust to hit you out of the air... Pray that CPU does the Benpatsu Attack - there was this time when I was playing against CPU Wan-Fu and I was losing (3rd round) and had only a bit of health left while CPU Wan-Fu still had about a quarter of his health left. Then for some strange reason CPU did two Benpatsu Attack in succession (which drains his health to nearly zero) and then I send Mamahaha after him.... :-) Special move counters: Benpatsu Attack (drains health to power up POW metre); LET HIM!!! You cannot Mutsube to hit him while he is pounding his head on the column. Send Mamahaha to burn him when he is about to finish. Column Sweep: Block and then retaliate. Not quite sure if Annu Mutsube goes under it though... Exploding Wave (leap and throw weapon): If you see it coming, then Annu Mutsube before the Column comes down and you should nail Wan-Fu as he lands. Otherwise block! Be careful of Wan-Fu running in to throw you if you blocked. AB Leyla Mutsube away after you block the fire column generally works to get away from a running in Wan-Fu and also sometimes preventing him from getting his column back. Pillar Destruction (Power Special): Same as with Exploding Wave. Slicing Gust (rising flame pillar): Block and retaliate (combo 7). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Combos: SS2's combo system as I understand it: It seems to me that in SS2, when a character is hit, only the first few 'reeling back' frames can be hit. If your opponent's 'reeling back' frame goes beyond those first few frames they won't be hit. So when comboing you must make sure your second hit hits your opponent before your opponent 'reels back' too much. Combos in SS is mainly based on using a short-range attack followed by a longer range attacks. Since Nakoruru lacks in long-range attacks she can most of the time combo only with her special moves. But two-hit combos on the ground with just normal moves are quite possible. For example: a) crouching C or D kick followed by crouching CD kick. b) standing close A or B slash followed by crouching or standing CD kick. c) crouching C or D kick, standing C or D kick. etc... experiment and see what works and get into the habit of executing the second attack of the above if the first one hits. Other two-hitters include the crouching AB roll, Leyla/Annu Mutsube and the Cape Swirl. These moves will hit opponent twice if executed at very close range. It is also possible to interrupt some of Nakoruru's moves into Annu or Leyla Mutsube. There are times when I have done this and I also saw it happen while watching someone else playing Nakoruru. The interruptable moves seem to be the slashes only. Most of the time this happens by accident for me: E.g. there was a time when I was dizzy and I was wiggling on the joystick like mad and CPU was advancing towards me, then I came out of the dizzy and did a very close range crouching AB roll into an AB Leyla Mutsube!! The crouching AB roll is interrupted because it only hit once and then AB Leyla Mutsube came out and did the second hit... But when I try to reproduce this on a dizzied opponent nothing came out after the AB roll.... The Mutsube moves can be buffered also after quicker attacks like the A or B slashes, but you need to be extremely close for it to combo and so I wouldn't recommend you trying it unless you are very, very close to your opponent (e.g sprites are overlapping when you say crouching B slashed your opponent...) Here are some more possible combos: 1) Air AB slash or air CD kick, Annu Mutsube (works best on Earthquake and does mega-damage!) Against small characters like Cham Cham, Nakoruru, and Nicotine use CD kick instead of AB slash since AB slash is a down-to-up slash and can easily miss on these characters. You must make sure you are very close to opponent when your air attack connects or opponent will go into those frames of 'reeling back' animations where your Annu Mutsube will not hit them even though they are not blocking yet. 2) Air C/D kick or air B slash, close standing B slash or crouching B slash into B/AB Annu/Leyla Mutsube (carried over from SS1 - I still can not get this to combo consistently but here it is anyway for you to try). If you use standing close B slash you should combo with Annu Mutsube, if you used crouching B slash for the second hit use Leyla Mutsube for the third hit (this is just a suggestion for fluid joystick movement since when you do standing close B slash you will most of the time be pulling back, then it is easier to just move the joystick down to do Annu Mutsube. And similarly if you are crouching attacking it is more natural to move the joystick from that position to do Leyla Mutsube). And note you must be very close for the second attack so that the opponent will not have enough time to recover to block the third Mutsube attack. 3) Air attack, crouching AB roll slash. 4) for a easy combo, do air C kick, a couple of crouching C kicks. 5) Air attack (not AB or CD), crouching C or D kick and then CD kick works fairly well. This might not actually be a combo but CPU has a habit of trying to do a move after getting hit by your crouching C kick and in the process will be knocked off by your crouching CD kick. 6) Carried over combo from SS1: standing close A or B slash, crouching A or B slash and A Mamahaha attack (haven't really tried this to see if it still works). 7) Standing far/close AB slash, B or AB Annu Mutsube (good for retaliating blocked/missed upper-cut-like special moves or when opponent is dizzy) NOTE: this combo does not work on Kyoshiro often for some strange reason... Kyoshiro seems to go into the invulnerable part of the reeling back frame a lot faster than anyone else.... 8) Air kick (not CD), A Cape Swirl or Super Cape Swirl (CPU did the Super Cape Swirl on me like this once...) Must be very close after landing and only use A Cape Swirl as the others has too long of a lag time afterwards. 9) Air AB/CD, A Mamahaha attack (not verified - don't know if it works) 10) Very close air AB slash or CD kick, crouching CD kick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My own ranking of CPU opponents from hardest to easiest to beat using Nakoruru (Just MHO, and it is constantly changing!) 1) Mizuki/Kuroko (equal first) 3) Charlotte (those quick long poke slashes, ARRGHH!!!!) 4) Jubei (has less experience fighting him than Ukyo - hence 2nd) 5) Ukyo 6) Hanzo 7) Wan-Fu 8) Cham Cham (dropped to 8th because now that I have worked out how to beat her easily) 9) Kyoshiro (at 9th mainly because I haven't played against him much - should probably be lower) 10) Haohmaru 11) Genjuro 12) Nicotine 13) Gen-An 14) Sieger 15) Galford 16) Nakoruru 17) Earthquake ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ending for Nakoruru: Below is a description of the Nakoruru ending as described by Robert DeLoura. His description is actually a breed of the ending text in English and Japanese. I have finally finished the game with the English text) and I think what Robert has wrote from his translation of the Japanese is a lot better than the English text. I have only made a very slight modification to what he has wrote. I will only add here that Nakoruru's sister (Rimururu in Japanese translation) doesn't have a name in the English version, and she doesn't call Nakoruru 'sister' in the English translation, she just call her by name.) The standard canned bit takes place first... that's the same for everyone. The standard forest scene. Cut to Nak, stretched out on the ground unconscious, with Mamahaha perched on her. Poppy walks in, and does her "crying" animation (she does this in the game sometimes when Galford loses) from across the screen. Galford walks in behind Poppy, and says "Nakoruru!". Nak sits up and says, "Galford...". Galford says something like, "I was worried about you" Nak says, "...Galford...I...." The forest starts to flash red, and Nak jumps up on Mamahaha (the hawk- carry move). Galford says, "Nakoruru!" again. Nak says, "The forest is still being destroyed by evil power. I must go." She flies away on Mamahaha. Cut to that rocky outcropping that everyone stands on just before they go to fight Mizuki in the game. Nakoruru then says something like "Great Mother of nature, please protect the forest..." A wide beam of light strikes Nakoruru, and she turns into a small ball of light, which rises up and radiates out into the forest, vanishing. Her sword falls to the ground, and Mamahaha chirps. Cut back to Nak's village. Mamahaha has apparently brought the sword back. Nak's parents are there, and the girl being held by the bear in the background of Nak's stage is there also. (She is Nak's sister, Rimururu. The name might be different in the English version, but that's her name in the Japanese one.) Rimururu is holding Nak's sword, and says "Sister...." The sword glows, and Rimururu says, "That voice is... sister?" The scene cuts to a background that's a picture of Nak, and text is overlaid on top of the picture. The text says that they shouldn't be sad, because although she can't laugh with them anymore, she had to do this in order to save the forest. She says that Rimururu will have to take up the sword, and take over for her. Scene cuts back to the village, and Rimururu says, "I understand, sister." -- END -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits/Acknowledgements Robert DeLoura - For supplying the detailed Nakoruru ending Scott Fujitomo Hecubus - for supplying the special moves list Timothy Heydelaar - for the wonderful title ascii picture! An Nguyen - For spelling correction and testing out many of the counters/combos/strategies in this guide on his SS2 at home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ End of SS2 Nakoruru Strategy Guide (so far!)