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CHARACTER PLAYING GUIDE
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Here is a general character playing guide which will help you with some strategies for specific players.  Each character's guide is divided into 3 sections: Strengths, Weaknesses and Beating the Computer


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Jacky -- "Ballet of the Fighter"
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Jacky's Strengths:
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Jacky is a favorite among advanced players because of his wide variety of attacks and combinations.  Jacky is perhaps the most flexible of the characters, able to easily attack standing opponents, crouching opponents, jumping opponents, opponents behind him and opponents who just knocked him down.  Many of his combinations attack both high AND low, such as his Punch&Foot sweep or his Double Punch, Elbow & Kick.  His Punt Kick is deadly versus crouching opponents, and opponents who are not cautious getting off the ground.  Finally, his pounce is quick and deadly.

Jacky's Weaknesses:
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It's tough to find weaknesses in Jacky because of his flexible arsenal of moves.  But when compared to the other characters, his weakness is that he is not the "best" in any one thing.  He is good all around, but he does not have the best range, best speed, best power, best throws, or best combos.  He is good all around, but if your playing style is geared to specializing in a particular type of attack, other characters would be better.  For instance, if you love making throws, Jeffry or Wolf are better.  If you are good with quick, light attacks, Lau or Pai or Sarah are better.  If you play a positional game of hitting and running, Kage is better.  Jacky is good at all these things, but he is not a specialist.

Beating the computer Jacky:
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It is extrememly difficult to lose to the computer Jacky.  In fact, it is SO hard to lose you may want to take the opportunity to practice some difficult throws or moves on him while you have the chance.  Show off for the crowd a little, they'll appreciate it.


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Jeffry -- "A Pillar of Strength"
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Jeffry's Stregnths:
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Power and throws are Jeffry's strengths.  He and Wolf do the most damage with basic punches and kick, and Jeffry has EIGHT (!!) throws to smash opponents flat on the mat.  If an opponent pauses or kicks over Jeffry's head, a good Jeffry player can do a throw & Body Splash pounce for an easy 50% of their life bar.  Scariest of all is Jeffry's Toe Kick o' Doom combo, the most powerful combination in the game.  This toe kick followed by a LONG range Cruicifix Piledriver and a Butt Bomb will always, ALWAYS, KO the poor opponent in three devastating moves.  Jeffry's Backbreaker is also (not surprisingly) greatly feared as one of the most damaging single moves in the game.  Finally, Jeffry's Uppercuts and Rushing Uppercuts have deceptively long ranges and can hit crouching opponents or opponents knocked into the air by another attack.

Jeffry's Weaknesses:
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Jeffry is one of the slowest characters.  His recovery from missed attacks is relatively slow.  Butt Bombs usually miss, although the Body Splash has a good chance of hitting.  However, missing either leaves Jeffry prone and possibly vulnerable.  Likewise, missing a jumping double kick leaves Jeffry flat on his back.

Beating the Computer Jeffry:
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Block his punches, then retaliate with a punch/kick combo or other quick move.  Punch & throw techniques work very well against Jeffry, since he is usually charging right into them.


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Sarah -- "Femme Fatale"
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Sarah's Strengths:
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Sarah has the flexible arsenal of Jacky, but is faster and lighter than her brother.  Her Light Pounce (Tap Up+Punch) almost always hits if the opponent is knocked down, and her elbow and knee can keep crouching opponents honest.  Her backkick and quick attacks keep most opponents on their toes.

Sarah's Weaknesses:
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Sarah's attacks are all somewhat weak, so she must connect more frequently than stronger characters to get the KO.  Also, the lack of a foot sweep makes standing opponents more difficult to handle.

Beating the computer Sarah:
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Play defensively.  Block her punches or knees, then do a quick attack.  Punch&kick combos followed by pounces work particularly well.  Avoid crouching, since her elbow/kick combo and her rushing knee can hit you easily.


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Kage -- "Death from Above"
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Kage's Strengths:
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Kage has the greatest range and best movement of all the characters.  He can roll forward and backwards, doing a foot sweep with either.  He can flip backwards quite quickly, and can jump twice the height and distance of all the other characters.  His flying kick and Double Footed Sweep have extremely long ranges, and he can do a kickflip backwards or forwards as the situation warrants.  He can even pounce on a character from any distance in the ring, and his double-foot heavy jumping kicks roll out safely whether he kicks forward or backward.  If he misses a mid-range pounce, he lands on his feet and can immediately do a throw, kickflip or other attack if the opponent is nearby.  Given all this, Kage is the best positional character in the game, and is the best at jockying for better spots on the ring to both get Ring Outs and avoid them.

Kage's Weaknesses:
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Kage has trouble against crouching opponents.  In addition, his long range attacks (including his pounces) are all slow, and take a long time to recover from if blocked.  His head dive is virtually worthless, except after the Ten Foot Toss, and missing a flying kick can put Kage in quite an awkward position.  When playing Kage it is crucial to not overly rely on his slower attacks, using his Punch/Kick and Heel Kick/Sweep combos to keep opponents off-balance for the occasional Flying Kick or jumping attack.  The element of surprise is essential with Kage.

Beating the computer Kage:
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The computer Kage is a sucker for ducking his first kick in a round, and getting thrown with Def+P (or B+P in Akira's case).  If you get knocked down, roll backwards.  If Kage dives at you (which he often does), do your most powerful single attack that hits CROUCHING opponents.  Wolf's Shoulder Ram, Akira's Body Check, Jeffry's Toe Kick/Punch Combo, Lau's Knife hand/Double Punch/Crescent Kick, Pai's Foot Sweep, Jacky's Punt Kick, Sarah's Elbow/Knee Combo, and Kage's Flying Kick are probably the best ways to hit Kage after he misses a head dive.  Be careful to block his heel kicks, and block low if he starts to roll or slide toward you.  If he misses a foot sweep or flying kick, don't hesitate to make him pay.


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Pai -- "Pulling the Strings"
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Pai's Strengths:
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Pai's greatest strength lies in her speed, and in one move: her Back+Punch throw.  This throw stops punching and kicking opponents dead in their tracks, and completely negates much of the value of some special attacks as well, such as Jeffry's Rushing Punches and Uppercuts, Akira's Rushing Palm and Lau's Knife Hand.  It can even grab Kage's Flying Kick, believe it or not.  This takes away alot of options for opponents who fight Pai, and force them to rely on either crouching attacks, or attacks which are often slower and harder to recover from.  Pai's speed allows her to then strike back, and her pounce is almost always a hit.  In addition, her foot sweep is useful if used judiciously, and her punch/kick combos are all reasonably powerful.

Pai's weaknesses:
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Pai has serious problems dealing with crouching opponents, since none of her "special" attacks hit crouching defenders.  Also, although she is fast, her attack power is weak, so she has to connect that much more often to get a KO.

Beating the computer Pai:
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Wait for her to come at you with an attack.  Block high.  If she punches you, duck after the last punch so that she will either kick over you or you will block her low kick.  If she does a low kick, just hit her.  If she kicks over your head, do a throw.  Likewise, if she misses a pounce be sure to throw her.


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Wolf -- "Rage in the Ring"
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Wolf's Strengths:
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Wolf is as powerful as Jeffry with his basic attacks.  Although Wolf does not have as many throws as Jeffry, the throws he has are more than adequate to do the job.  If used wisely when opponents are vulnerable, his shoulder ram & pounce is devastating.  Essentially, Wolf is a powerhouse who can grab or ram opponents for tremendous damage.

Wolf's Weaknesses:
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Wolf's biggest weakness is his speed.  His punches and uppercuts are extrememly slow, and his recovery from attacks is snail-paced.  His arsenal is not nearly as flexible as other characters, and blocked shoulder rams leave him wide open for retaliation.  Wolf is best played with an eye for intimidating opponents into making mistakes, leaving them open for a shoulder ram or throw.

Beating the computer Wolf:
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If Wolf starts punching, block it then punch back.  Three punches, followed by a crouching punch and low kick, work surprisingly often on him.  One tactic that almost always works for a quick hit is to start the round by jumping straight up in the air.  Wolf will usually do three punches underneath you while you are in the air.  As he does this, hold the joystick back and press kick.  You will do a backwards double footed kick into Wolf's spine.


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Lau -- "Furious Flurry of Fists and Feet"
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Lau's Strengths:
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Lau has the fastest punches and kicks in the game.  His punches and kicks are so fast, in fact, that if a kick knocks an opponent into the air, he can follow it up with two or three more attacks before the opponent lands.  This ability to play "handball" with his opponents produces many ring outs, and many KO's.  Lau has an eight hit combination, for instance, which does tremendous damage and pushes the opponent ridiculous distances across the ring.  His face slam does terrific damage, and his foot sweep and punch/heel kick combo are both difficult attacks to avoid.

Lau's Weaknesses:
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Although Lau can string together his punches and kicks quite quickly, he is slow to recover after any combo or "heavy" move.  Also, Lau has to be careful about not getting thrown by opponents who duck underneath his running punches.

Beating the computer Lau:
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Beat the computer Lau exactly as you did Pai.  Just be forewarned that Lau mixes up his attacks more than Pai, and has much better timing than Pai.  Nonetheless, the same defensive strategy suggested for Pai works for Lau.


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Akira -- "Invincible Motions"
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Akira's Strengths:
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Akira has the fastest special attacks in the game.  His rushing palm, body check and rushing elbow are all so fast that they can all connect on an opponent who has missed anything other than a punch.  These attacks are not only lightning fast, but as powerful as dynamite.  The body check can do as much as 85% of the life bar on opponents who are close enough, and the rushing palm can do upwards of 65% of the life bar on occasion.  His rushing elbow can hit crouching opponents, as can his Double Kick and Elbow.  One VF player put it best when they said that while Jacky instills the fear of the unknown because of his wide variety of attacks, Akira instills the fear of the known, because his opponents know EXACTLY what Akira will do but are almost powerless to prevent it.

Akira's Weaknesses:
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Although Akira's attacks are powerful and blindingly fast, he takes longer to recover from these attacks than almost any other character recovering from a special attack in the game.  Any missed special attack leaves Akira wide open for a combo or even a throw on occasion.  And to compound this, NONE of his special attacks hit standing defenders.  This is a tremendous hinderance, since Akira must resort to low kicks and punches to hit standing opponents.  

Beating the computer Akira:
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Keep in mind that Akira is vulnerable after any special attack.  Keep him at bay with single or double punches, and never crouch.  Stand and block all his attacks.  If you block an elbow, kick, body check or rushing palm, do your most powerful single move.  If Akira knocks you down, roll backwards.  If he misses the pounce, quickly run forward (For,Hold For) and throw him.


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Dural -- "Superhuman Cybernetics"
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Dural's Strengths:
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Dural, the final Bonus stage character, has some of the best moves from each of the other eight characters.  She has some of Wolf and Jeffry's throws, Kage's flying Kick, Lau's punching ability, Wolf's Clothesline and Akira's Single Kick.  Dural is extremely quick, and difficult to throw, and it is almost impossible to pounce on Dural if you knock her down.  Her attacks all do significant damage, and she throws opponents with eerie regularity.

Dural's Weaknesses:
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Dural is susceptible to Uppercuts, Jumping Punches and Crouching Punches.  Her knee pounce (borrowed from Kage) is very slow, and it takes her a long time to stand back up from it.  If she tries it and misses, don't waste time; beat her into the ground with the best attack or combination you can muster.

Beating Dural:
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Play off her weaknesses.  Don't try to throw her, and be prepared to miss if you pounce on her once you knock her down.  If necessary, you can beat her quite soundly by jumping straight in the air and doing a double-fisted punch (Hold Up,For+Punch).


