[S4]The Phantom

There might be mistakes in translation, description, and maybe even missing information. However, I tried my best to share the newest information on what's changed and what has not changed. Bare with me if some thing's don't make sense - I'll try to clarify them. For moves that sound unfamiliar, I've added description and the command for the move, so please look it up in www.gamesfaq.com. The original text is from This Japanese site and This Korean Site, which had the stuff translated in Korean. Please don't copy & paste, for this material is a result of many hard work. If you must share it on some other site, please post a link in sake of the poster. I am only taking this time to share it with www.1emulation.com members in a small tribute I could do for this community. (Although not many will read it with interest:) For glossaries, please read my other post that had the changes in SSZS. Its just to much to post, this post will be lengthy enough already Well, for those(or who) of you who had waited, here it goes Minazuki Zankuro Pros: Great Heavy slashes. Especially standing distant/close AB is just overwhelming. Almost matches Enja in its style of One slash one kill (well, no he can't, but its a figure of speech) Cons: When he misses the heavy slashes, not only he gets hugh delay, his Kenki guage turns to ZERO. Nothing. One miss = inability to carry out attacks for a short time again. Also, he does not have enough means to break through opponent's guards. This will be one of your challenges if you are planning to play Zankuro. -Moves Mugenryu Shippuzan: 236+slash A ground fireball, think of Jubei's Shigetsu Tou. However, this one is actually a low attack. It is slow to fire, but after it launches Zankuro recovers quite quickly. The main usage of this is to fire it at a distance and try to make the opponent jump. And as we all know jumping at Zankuro is near suicide. A note about this move is that when this fireball meets another one, its damage and attack priority goes null and void but its animations still exist until it gets across the screen. This is actually a pretty bad thing because you cannot fire another one until it gets off the screen. Mugenryu Muhouken: 236+C Zankuro's "Burn Knuckle" Very good priority, especially to those in midair. Very good combo attack as well. Also this might help u get out of a pinch when you drop your sword, since this can be executed without the sword. Mugenryu Buddou - Tenchu : 214+C A counterattack, this can counter low, mid, and high attacks. Sounds donkey-kicking, huh? Well, sadly it cannot counter aerial attacks. However, it can counter pretty much anything that uses a sword on ground. It even has been confirmed to counter some kick attacks(it should not), like Yoshitora's 6C. Good move in the sense that its counterattack priority timing is longer, but it does not counterattack right after execution. Use carefully, because ith as lower damage than Jubei's "eye of heart" counterattack and more delay after u fail. Primarily use after AB being blocked, or after spotting slow, uncancelable attacks like Charlotte's Splash Punt (or Gaoh's button mash attack as well). This move's damage is also effected by the Kenki guage so beware. Mugenryu Tenhoujian: 623+slash Kinda like Jubei's shoulder tackle attack(whats with all these jubei equivalents..), Zankuro charges with his shoulder then attack upward with his sword. However, Zankuro does not do the sword motion if he does not get close enough. This move is invincible to low attacks and grabs, so a good counter to Mina who just spams crouching B. But mostly used in combos with close B. Also, one can do a near-infinite if you combo this from the back, because from the back Zankuro will not do the sword motion, so B-Tenhoujian-B-tenhoujian is repeatable, except when the opponent gets near the wall. So this is not in infinite, and it does crappy damage to because by the second loop Zankuro is nearly out of Kenki guage anyways. Mugenryu Ougi Mugen Hou: 236+CD Makes a huge, cresent shaped projectile. Ignores most projectiles. Great guard damage, but prepare for some death after it gets blocked because of the insane delay. Also, if the enemy is right in front of you then he won't even get hit.. In SS4 anyone who got hit by this in midair was 1-hit KO but this has been fixed(DUH), but in SSZS if the enemy is hit in midair the damage stacks and can do some insane damage. There are rumors that it can kill Mina in one shot after rage explosion by hitting her in midair, but unconfirmed. This can be comboed by 6C-236CD, but getting that 6C to hit is a difficulty by itself. Conclusions Zankuro is a one-hit kinda character, so just like Haohmaru or Enja its way to victory is very, very straightforward. The decisive point is to get a high-kenki AB to hit the opponent. However since your AB missing will turn your Kenki to zero (even jump AB will make it zero if you do it high enough), so you must be careful. You have to be very prudent in managing your Kenki guage. In near range, use the long 6C+236A as a main poke, and Slash out from time to time to gain a lucky hit. Remember, as long as you even make the opponent guard the AB your kenki will not go down to zero. In close fights, use 3C to knock down the opponent in order to gain the upper hand. Also, standing AB is fast and has quite a range both above and fro so use this whenever u get the chance. When jumping, use B and AB with discretion, since AB will not do well as anti air. When using jump AB, always make sure AB comes out when Zankuro is low as possible. This will minimize your kenki loss. Be sure to give them a good finger...err, crouching AB so they will not even bare to think about rushing by jumping. However, the only low attacks Zankuro's got are the crouchiing C and his projectile. Also his BC is not that great so its really hard to do low-mid pokes. Because of this, Zankuro's playstyle is very careful, very accurate, and very very strategic of time and distance. Not as a powerful character as I thought, but moving on. Amakusa Shirou Tokisada Pros: The reach of his attacks, of course. Powerful combos and very entertaining mix of fast low & mid attacks. Cons: In close range, things get bad. Has a chance of getting totally owned by fast characters in average hands. -Moves Oumagatoki: 236+C(front) or 214+C(back) Amakusa's own teleport. During the teleport he is completely invincible, except at startup and finish. Easy to get caught by CD right after finishing. You must calculate the distance well so that you do not land right beside your opponent after the teleport. Also, the BEST SKILL to avoid Mu no Kyouchi. You are slowed, but you are invincible to everything but grabs to whole way and fro. Nanji, Anten Nyumetsu Seyo: 623+slash - Press slash to attack, D to cancel Wtf, I hate these long names. And I thoght Gaoh's full name was long enough, sheesh. Anyways, after the command is executed, Amakusa rises up in the air, and press a slash button to do a diving attack as a ball of fire, homing on the opponent. The move can be canceled by pressing D, when you think it is not wise to attack the opponent at the moment. However, if you do nothing and just stay in the air, the diving attack automatically comes out. The diving attack has great priority, and you have prioirty while you are just floating up there so there's no chance you're going to lose in a aerial battle. However, has big delay, and you will be retalitated with at LEAST a CD grab. You can make crossover or reverse attacks if lucky, but not easy. Also, even the D cancel leaves Amakusa defenseless for a while, so not a great one to spam. It does best job at guard damaging. Shiryou Jin: 236+ slash Fires a burining skull. Damn, I hate these things in doom3, and I hate them again in SSZS. A version is slow, B is a bit faster. AB is slow in execution but does guard damage justl like SS4 rage version. Very powerful as a projectile, and its most popular usage is to use the AB version right when the opponent gets up. Tenshou Fuuou Ha: 214+slash In SS4 it was THE TRASH move of Amakusa, but in SSZS it is awesome. A and B versions are mid attacks, which have different reach. AB version can cover the range of the A and B both, but it is a low attack! Enemy, when hit, is thrown in the air and Big Pursuit (Greater down attack, whatever) can be done as a follow-up in the corner. Barely any delay when guarded, and ignores kenki guage. Great damage as well. Also can be comboed, what can you ask more? Clearly at least 100 times better than SS4 version. Actually, its one weakness is that it takes so long for the hitting animations to go through gives a lot of stress if you manage to get this hit like like 2 seconds left, or even 4 secs for that matter. Kairetsu Shou 623+C The Ace of Spades for Amakusa's close range battle. Can be executed without the weapon, very fast to execute, long recovery time. Get ready to be hit with something big if you are blocked. Kyoumei Jussatsu Jin 236+CD Charging- type desperation move. Very good damage and priority. Also, very small delay and FULL INVINCIBILTY. Can be combo-ed after standing near B, Close standing/crouching AB from the back, Crouching AB cancel without question. Especially good damage from Crouching AB cancel. Since Amakusa's rage fills up fast, there will be good chances to use this. Conclusion The main point is to go ground battles from long range. When the enemy is airborne it is hard to be destructive. For air, use B or 623 slash with discretion to drop the opponent. When the opponent drops, the game is Amakusa's - so many low-mid pokes that is really hard to block. Mix in some surprise dash grabs to confuse the opponent more. When the opponent manages to get close, simply run away by teleporting or use 623+C to catch them off hand. The key of victory is to keep the enemy just blocking like, forever. Rashoujin Mizuki Pros: Thanks to Haki Inmetsu Jin, a power character. One sucess can be a game-turner. Cons: All of her moves/slashes are extremely slow to recover, and has crappy defense rating. This means that uncontrolled play will lead to real fast death. -Moves Juka Soudan: 236+slash Slashes with her fingernails. Well at least they had a purpose A version is fast and can knock down the opponent right away. Small pursuit follows right after. However, slow recovery time so be careful. B version will combo from standing B, and you can do small pursuit(2BC), and when guarded, just pray. AB version is the slowest but strikes alot, so great for guard damage purpose. Also not much delay after being blocked so this can be spammed as long as know you know what you;re doing. When hit, big pursuit follows right after. Good damage with the follow up big pursuit (8BC) Use A, B, AB version with discretion. AB will probably be used most often. Jashin Kyoumei: 214+C When executed, draws a mark on the place of the opponent that is unblockable. Similar to Gedo's 236+A, and also has big delay so will not be used too much. This move can be countered simply by running towards Mizuki, or anywhere else on the screen other than the place the opponent was at. Also, if enemy escapes(which is really easily done), whoever is playing Mizuki might just uh.. pray, yah. Only usage of this move is in Mu no Kyouchi, anti-air(rare circumstances), or against huge characters like Gedo and Gaira... Oh, this move is invincible to Grabs, but I think I'd rather use 2D for that purpose. Haki Inmetsu Jin: 214+Slash Fires a circle of magic that crawls on the ground. Similar to the move Amakusa Bust had in SS4. The most powerful attack of Mizuki in a practical sense, it does awesome damage, and you can even do big pursuit in near corners. When you manage to hit the opponent with high Kenki guage, you are most likely to win. Also, the only thing different between A, B, AB is the distance, and damage, recovery time are all the same so use AB version all the time. However, extremely long recovery time after being blocked OR Missing, so if you're not sure, its very risky. You can use it as the enemy just turtles are fires projectiles, but it can be canceled from close standing B or dash B, if you cancel fast enough. One sad thing about this move is that when the hit numbers go up, its damage goes down, because more hits = less Kenki guage. Shinma Mesatsu Jin: 623+C Command throw, it turns the opponent into a pig and throws it down. For Mizuki who is in tight situations for close fights, this is her savior. It is fast, and can be canceled from 3D and such. However, its damage is shoddy as Hanzo's Mozu Otoshi and its recovery time is long as well. Mix it with CD grabs. As a note, the CPU Mizuki is very good with this move so it will be very annoying Makai Tensei: 421+Slash Similar to Sogetsu's teleport move. A is back, B is front, and AB is opponent's back. Try to get close with this move, and do Shinma Mesatsu Jin to get opponent off-guard. Also, try not to mix up with Haki Inmetsu Jin - it will hurt. Gashin Kyoumei Kon: 623+ slash Mizuki hops forward, lifts her skirts, and.... Summons a Kusaregedo. .... No. The difference between A, B, and AB is the place where Mizuki lands after the move. The monster summoned by Mizuki does a med attack, and does a charging attack. However, the crappy thing is that the damage is concentrated in the charging part, and the two attacks do not combo. Also, if the first attack is blocked, the opponent can simply do a Jump AB to punish Mizuki. Rumors suggest that it has some invincibility in the end, but unconfirmed. Useless move. Tenchi Makyou Jin: 236+CD What killed so many noobs and pros alike in SS2. With all the crappy moves Mizuki has, it is simply the best ,and grants invincibility against strikes on startup. The projectile goes forward and comes back after a certain time. However, if Mizuki is attacked during the time the projectile disappears, so no more of the glory in SS2. Not much recovery time if guarded. Good damage, so spam this in mid-range away. Also can be used as counter/anti-air using the invincibility. However, most people just turtle and sit there when Mizuki goes into rage. Pretty tough, and must mix the command throw. Also, there is a bug where the opponent gets stuck in midair when he or she is hit with this desperation move. Nobody can do anything until the time is up. AHH Yuki... -Bodily abilities No, I am not talking about anything sexual. Good thing is that she has very short recovery time after failing a CD grab (41 frams to be exact), and good rage charging/retain abilities. However, takes 115% damage, so every hit counts negatively. -Conclusions Shoddy and crappy moves all over, which is really sad. Very limited to what is usable and what is not viable at all. Has a defense raiting of a ranged character but is forced to go close-range, because she does not have good long-range moves. Also, has barely any means of anti-air. The conclusion is: TOO FRIGGIN WEAK!! The thing is, her wierd set of moves and limited abilites make it hard to define the fighting style. We just can't figure how and what to use with her. Kyoukoku Hinowakanomi Gaoh Pros: Very stable, all-round character. Cons: Long full-name, boring gameplay. -Moves Ibushi Miyabe: 214+C No damage on itself, but reflects projectiles. Can be used similar to Shizumaru's reflecting move. The whole motion, from raising the fist to slamming it in air, can deflect, and deflects everything no matter if it is low or high. Top-tier fireball deflector. Kabuto Goma: 623+slash Good anti-air. If used properly it can totally repel all attempts to rush by air. Also, Gaoh is immune to grabs while excuting this move. On the side note, the first part is actually a low attack. Good noob-massacre move. Also, great to use against tall characters, i,e, Gedo. Imi Kagura: 236+Slash Similar to Nadeshiko of Yoshitora, very good move. A, B, and AB has different abilities. A is short and fast, and can be combo'ed from standing B and dash B. B version is a bit slow and is very low, and thus can go under high-flying projectiles (i,e, Genjuro's) or even some high attacks(i,e, Zankuro's Muhouken). However, it is not easy to time it. AB version is for catching enemies off-guard, and comes out after a backstep. Very high damage but blocked = death. The motion is exactly same as normal backstep, but during the backstep Gaoh is totally invincible, so mix it with backstep. Oboro Bayashi Rapidly stabs with his spear. Almost completely a guard-damage move. A~AB increases the number of stabs, and the delay before the first stab. A stabs 3 times, B stabs 5, and AB stabs 9, but the AB version is slow to startup so a good person can easily counter it with sword deflection (2146+D). This move doesn't really matter if enemy guards or gets hit really. When used in safe distance, barely any recovery time. Kurogane Kudagi: 623+C Similar to Yoshitora's Yuugaoh, it is a blockable "strike grab". It is quite fast and long, and can be combo'ed after B. However, if guarded/missed the consequences can... hurt. Narakuboe: 236+CD Similar to Enja's DM, it has insignificant amount of invincibility timer, and it has a bug of not dealing damage if the opponent is hit in the top sides. Useless. -Conclusion: 4D is a bit slow, and missing a CD grab is fatal because of the long recovery time. Fast to rage and rage mode goes off fast, so it might be a good idea to just go Mu no Kyouchi especially since his DM sux as well. 100% defense, very stable. And with very long/wide jump AB, he is a top tier character. However, this character is not going to have extreme fun in gameplay since his main tactic is to turtle and poke pretty much. However, good rusher>good turtler all the time, so its actually a challenge to turtle in SSZ:Special. Keep in mind that characters who are built to turtle cannot rush, so calling turtling as cheap is like saying "Hi, I don't know how to play!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, finished I hope everyone who plays SSZ:Special is happy Ask any questions on this thread and I'll try to answer them as best to my knowledge.

Because of the immense length, I am moving the Boss analysis to a new post

That's the new P1 This is the original. Not only the health bar looks dirty, The Rage Guage color is distorted and the flames are that of SSZ's, not the special ones. The Mu no Kyouchi bar is not supposed to be way up to 50% health either. They are both SSZ special, u can tell by the background. I'm not touching this p1...

Actually, then I must change my point/problems. The supposed color "black" in these boards are too light!

Why not?

I kinda felt that, as I was trying to write... Ok, I copied & pasted, sue me for BSing. Anyway, I felt the default color was a bit too light, and the darkest font color I found was this purple. Why are there no black color for fonts? There's yellow in there... Oh, no pun intended

Well, my laptop has a very minor dvd writer, a DVD-R, with only 2x speed. I got it "just in case" situations. Anyway, Im thinking about buying one, around at least 8x writing speed. I actually saw a DVD plusminus RW that was 8x, for 200 bucks in cosco. I forgot the maker. Anyways, can someone tell me if that is a good deal or not, and maybe the brands I should look for rather than the cheap flimsy ones? Thanks in advance

I am actually wondering if this post even belongs here... perhaps to one of the gaming forums it must go?

I personally don't see that as a small touch...

So you have a laptop? Yes, I do. And actually I've heard about others that use the mame I use having problems with some blitter filters, so I am guessing it has to do with my mame itself. Btw, I am using EK-mame, which is compiled by Koreans. Other than the blitter filters, I am loving its user friendly interface, especially in-game movelist/game startegies it comes with

That actually sounds cool although I'll feel bad since I am not the best player out there I'm just waiting for the sound patch, ah...

I use FX 5700 go with 128 dedicated memory, with 1GB of ram. I don't think its my computer that is lacking... If it really is then I fail to see the practicality of it.

But I have P4 3.16 with Hyperthreading.... Maybe its just my mame, lol But looks really bad on it, seriously. I've tried to take a screenshot, but the screenshots in mame come out as if there were no filters....meh I guess HQxx does not fit with my mame.

Thx for the bumpages, shows the support Now I am finished with the changes, and I will soon get to the work of new characters, i.e, the bosses

Are you serious? HQxx filters come out even worse than not using filters in my view. The curves look awful and the computer slows down a lot... and my comp can run doom3 at medium so I don' think its because of my computer. Am I doing something wrong? At least in SSVS....

15% is the MVS, and the person who does the Zetsumei Ogi should not have anything happen to his health bar. Hmm, interesting...I think I'll stick to Uni Bios.

Damn, I feel so left out... New P1? THat was like, overnight or something. So fast, this is...

Thanks to everyone (winks at a special person) I was able to get my hands on the rom, but even in Arcade mode with lvl3 violence, the Zetsumei Ogi comes out as same as issen. Just like the censored AES version. Am I the only one? Or is there a fix for this?

Not even from premium members anymore? I never even got the chance to abuse it...

Well, they removed bust slash, grade select, all of them because they were making insane imbalances. If you have noticed, all the major tournaments BAN begginer mode. Even the Upper mode can be abused. You try to follow a good Nakoruru slash with upper. With the increased speed, less delay, increased defense, in good hands she becomes a true god. And everyone who knows half the game knows how broken Beginner Hanzo is. A (cancel) Cd = 1/4th of life away. When Hanzo gets into rage(which takes about 1/7th of his life), his CD+start button (cancel) qcb+a (connect) Jump C + Mozu Otoshi = One line of life gone. And slash/bust was good, but it generated inferior characters that were pretty much never used. Gaira bust? Good in good players hands, but want to compare that with Slash? Compare haohmaru slash with bust? we're talking difference of Heaven and Mud. Kyoshiro Bust? I have fun with it, but I would NEVER use it to face a good person. Of course, such changes would be justified if Yuki did balance SSV, which they failed miserably. Fatalities, well, they're sort of coming back. Besides, SS4 fatalities were criticized for trying to imitate Mortal Kombat when SS4 came out. Now we can see the more "Samurai Shodown-ish" fatalities in SSVS, which I think is a good improvement. But over all things, I really miss the SS4 atmosphere - serious, competetive and faster.

Well, the CD combos are a controversial thing. CD combos are what made SS4 so popular and so active among offline battle teams. Also it made so many possibilities and there are stuff yet to be found out. A colleague of mine knows a person in Japan who actually wrote his Graduate Thesis on SS4. And yes he graduated - He was not merely joking when he wrote his graduate thesis about a video game. And Gaoh's transformation is no more(DUH), and the FAQs in www.gamesfaq.com have WRONG PARTS in it. I've read through them all and I've found parts just ripped up from SS4 guides which are no more. Do NOT trust the guides in www.gamesfaq.com 100%, especially the SSVS ones. For instance, Zankuro's dash A no longer stuns as it says in the SSVS FAQ(or thats what it used to say) by Megura(i think). That was back in SS4 when he was a boss. If you want to know anything trustworthy, grab a translating site, and try reading this homepage: http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~hitokiri/ The most renowned research lab for SSVS. About the rom, there is BARELY any news. I keep getting different rumors. 1) Mr.Lee dumped it 2) They're having a hard time cuz they don't have the MVS cartridge And some others, but those above two seem the most time-worthy.

Well, they wouldn't have made it anyhow because LB series failed to gather a great attention like SS series in Japan other than the minority. Yuki is tight on budget and manpower, and they cannot afford to make a inefficient investment again. SS series still presses the KOF series in its sheer "being played" factor in Japan. Those japanese are stupid, can't even recognise a good game Oh well, a game being good and being popular do not always draw a linear graph... I guess one of the factors that made it less popular is the fact that LB series was the SNK's last attempt to revive the company by releasing a sequal to the SS series. Which blowed, of course. It didn't attract original SS players, nor it was flash enough to attract fanboys/regular arcade go-ers. A good game, at the wrong time and targeted the wrong audience. What happened before LB series was when SNK came out with the 3D SS series, which all of them was a direct link to SNK being no more. Their last hopes, such as Garou and LB series, which are surprisingly good games, all failed because of the air of panic and the rise of 3D games taking control of arcades everywhere. Not sure if everybody is familar with it, but SNK was always behind compared to Capcom in terms of profit/sales/recognition. Not when SS1 came out... and 2... and became #1 Fighting game company at the time. That is something so ironic. The same series that made SNK such a large company killed SNK...

Well, they wouldn't have made it anyhow because LB series failed to gather a great attention like SS series in Japan other than the minority. Yuki is tight on budget and manpower, and they cannot afford to make a inefficient investment again. SS series still presses the KOF series in its sheer "being played" factor in Japan. Those japanese are stupid, can't even recognise a good game Even though most of their games are for their market and just mindlessly translated to the masses of [insert country here] Good one there K'Dash I'll have to put that in my book...

Forbidden?

Well, they wouldn't have made it anyhow because LB series failed to gather a great attention like SS series in Japan other than the minority. Yuki is tight on budget and manpower, and they cannot afford to make a inefficient investment again. SS series still presses the KOF series in its sheer "being played" factor in Japan.