Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

M.Bison FAQ

Written by: Stuc2k (Brilliance Straun)

Contents:
I.     Author's notes (Introduction)
II.    M.Bison basics
III.   M.Bison specials
IV.    M.Bison Hyper Combos
V.     M.Bison Combos
VI.    M.Bison assists
VII.   General Bison Strategy
VIII.  Character specific strategy
IX.    Bison from a different perspective (Words from Jay "Viscant"
Snyder)
X.     Misc. Stuff
XI.    Credits

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I.     Author's notes (Introduction)

Well, if you come to the MvC2 boards often, you see a lot of me. And
most people know that of all the 56 characters in this game, Bison is my
favorite by a long shot. This FAQ isn't to persuade you to feel the same
way I do about him, but obviously you've taken an interest in him and I
made this FAQ in hopes to keep you interested, and to let it be known
exactly why Bison is my personal favorite. Well, let's get down to
business shall we?

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II.    M.Bison basics

First things first, here's a key of abbreviations that will be used
throughout this FAQ: (All information will be given in the assumption
that your character is facing the right...duhh)

U      Up
D      Down
B      Back
F      Forward
DF     Down-Forward
DB     Down-Backward
C      Crouching
S      Standing
J      Jumping
SJ     Super-Jump
OTG    Off-the-ground
AAA    Anti-Air Assist
QCF    Quarter circle forward
DPM    Dragon Punch Motion (Forward, Down, Down-Forward)
HCF    Half circle forward
HCB    Half circle backward
LK     Light Kick
MK     Medium Kick (obtained by hitting light kick twice)
HK     Heavy Kick
LP     Light Punch
MP     Medium Punch (obtained by hitting light punch twice)
HP     Heavy Punch
KK     Light & Heavy Kick buttons simultaneously
PP     Light & Heavy Punch buttons simultaneously
---
On with the basics:
Here, we'll get into the basic attacks. Which ones will help you and
which ones won't. For the most part Bison's basics hit hard, but a good
number of them lack range. There are ways around this, but allow
yourself time to read through these as I make the basics known and what
they'll do for you.

Standing:
LP
Bison throws a quick straight-forward jab. Quick, and is actually the
second longest reach of any of his standing basic attacks. Not bad at
all, use it.

MP
Just like the LP, this time the ol psycho energy emits from his fist.
It's a decent combo filler when you wanna do something short and snazzy
on the ground. Not many moves can follow this one (unless in a corner)
because Bison knocks them back a little with this one. More on what to
follow up with in the combo section.

HP
A uppercut. It's about as useful as the MP seeing as it also pushes the
opponent back quite a bit. Anything you can follow a MP with, it's ditto
for the HP. One big exception is that unlike the MP, you can't follow
this up with too many moves even in a corner. Overall, not of much use.

HP (In close)
This is his throw. He grabs the opponent by the throat, spins around and
slings em to the far end of the screen. You'll want to get accustomed to
doing plenty of throwing if you're gonna play a good Bison. There will
be times (and characters) in which this will be the definitive part of
making him a top contender. If you don't throw with characters already,
I suggest you play a few rounds with Sabertooth or Venom (they have very
high priority throws) and sorta get the feel for throwing effectively.

LK
This is a quick knee. I prefer the LP to this in any situation because
it reaches farther and is slightly quicker. Overall the same usefulness
as the LP, but a lot of the time you'll need that extra bit of reach so
try to go with the LP as much as you can.

MK
Bison extends his whole leg this time. Again, a combo filler and much
like the MP and HP, it pushes the opponent back and not much can follow
it outside of a corner. Whether you use this or the MP in combos, it
doesn't really matter.

HK
Bison plants a foot in the opponent's face. Hits twice when done very
close and has the most range of any of Bison's normal standing attacks.
Works rather well when someone misses a super and you're not close
enough for anything big, very useful when compared to most of his other
standing attacks.

Crouching:
LP
A basic Jab. Shorter reach than the standing LP but slightly more reach
than the standing LK. As far as crouching attacks, this one is not the
way to go. You have much better alternatives.

MP
Same as that crouching LP, but the psycho energy emits from his fist
again. It's the same as the standing medium attacks in that it pushes
the opponent back and can only be followed by few attacks unless in a
corner. You have a much better alternative and it's the attack just
below this one.

HP
This is Bison's launcher, an uppercut similar to the standing HP, with
the psycho energy glowing in his fist. This doesn't have much range but
can follow any SINGLE weak attack, doing two weak attacks (as you can do
for some characters) will push the opponent back too far so be aware of
that. Though Bison has a bad launcher, landing it is very rewarding.
I'll explain later.

LK
The better of the crouching weak attacks. Always use this one instead of
the crouching LP because it has more reach and comes out quicker. Ideal
for leading into the Bison's launcher and overall pretty useful.

MK
Same thing here as all the other medium attacks. The animation is the
same as the crouching LK, but this one pushes the opponent back out of
your immediate reach. Anytime you connect with a single crouching weak
attack PLEASE DO THE LAUNCHER afterwards. I'll give some alternative
methods, but nothing will be of more use to you than landing an air
combos with Bison as much as possible.

HK
This one is Bison's classic slide. This should be used for a pressure
tactic. It stops some supers because it's rather quick and obviously has
the most range of the crouching attacks. I'll explain the pressure
tactics further into the FAQ.

Jumping:
LP
A quick forward jab. Certainly not what you'd want to jump in with
although you can pull off a guard break with it. Hardly any range on
this one. Only use it if you've mastered the art of guard breaks (if you
haven't, i'll give a description of it further into the FAQ).

MP
Same exact punch as LP, a combo filler, nothing more. Let me reiterate,
don't jump in with LPs.

HP
A downward palm thrust (with the glowing psycho power of course). This
move is decent when mixing up cross up game, but certainly not the best
thing to jump in with. Yet another attack that lacks range.

LK
A quick knee. If you value Bison on your team, don't jump in with this.
Only use it as a combo filler.

MK
A forward kick. Again, a combo filler.

HK
This powerful downward kick is Bison's best jump in attack and is
actually better than quite a few other characters' jump ins. It has nice
priority and hits at a nice downward angle so you can get it out before
the opponent can respond effectively sometimes. If you tend to work off
of jump ins, use this one.

---
III. Bison Specials

Psycho Shot - HCF + Either punch button
With a huge grin on his face, Bison forms a ball of psycho energy in his
hands and thrusts it toward the opposition. This move isn't popularly
used, but it's underrated. It can be very effective in some keepaway
game (with the use of assists) and can be used to guard break those that
aren't used to Bison players actually using this move. It moves very
fast and has rather small startup so don't hesitate to toss this out
every now and then when you need to back off for a breather.

Scissors Kick - HCF + Either kick button
Bison flips his body horizontally into the air and thrusts himself knee
first toward an opponent. A great move because of it's versatility. If
you like to play rushdown (if you don't know what I mean, i'll explain
later in the FAQ) then you'll need to get comfortable with this move. I
perfer the LK version of this move because it's more sudden. It's one of
the quicker expansive moves in the game (to me anyway). So if you're
hesitant to dash/jump in due to fear of an Anti Air Assist (AAA) or
something, just throw the LK version of this out to keep them on their
toes or draw out their assist, then dash in and handle your business.

Psycho Field - HCB + Either punch button
Bison releases a small ball of energy from his palm that makes a huge
explosion at a predetermined distance. The LP version of this move
explodes immediately in front of Bison, and the HP version travels a
little over half screen. A definitive part of a good Bison player, is
knowing how and when to use this move so that it helps you a great deal,
but doesn't get you killed due to it's lengthy startup. Against most
characters (a few exceptions) you'll want to try to keep an HP version
of this move out on the field at all times. It chips very well and can
make most players go defensive. If they start to turtle or try to jump
away, throw them back into it. Bison's throw has a lot of priority so
even against very skilled players, this can work like a charm. The LP
version of this move makes for great pressure tactics. I like to corner
opponent's and dash in c.LK c.LK c.HK and immediately throw a LP Psycho
Field and call an assist. Anyone goofy enough to not pick an AAA on
their team against Bison or those who don't understand pushblocking
can't do anything about this, but it's not a trap so be careful and do
it in moderation. I'll talk more about the pressure tactics later in the
FAQ.

Head Stomp - Hold down for 1 second, press up + Either kick button
Bison leaps into the air and comes down on the opponent feet first.
Another underrated move. The LK version of this move is great against
turtlers or really defensive players and the HK version is a quick and
effective way to evade some supers. I will say this...it's underrated
for a very understandable reason. That reason being if you miss, YOU'LL
HAVE HELL TO PAY, and the price tag is huge lol. This move can be used
in conjunction with 3 of Bison's other moves to make it a little safer
and trickier to deal with. I'll explain them throughout the rest of this
movelist.

Skull Diver - Hold down for 1 second, press up + Either punch button (or
press either punch button after a Head Stomp)
Bison does a sommersault and swoops down toward the opponent fist first
with psycho energy emitting from his palms. Needless to say, you should
follow the headstomp with this move if it connects. When using it by
itself, it has pretty much the same properties as the headstomp, but a
neat thing about this move is, it can be delayed in a big way. The punch
will come out when you tell it to basically. This can be used to trick
some opponents in a few ways. One way is to throw a HP psycho field and
go into the Skull Diver. If the Psycho Field makes the opposition go
defensive, you can actually make Bison sommersault to the other side of
the character and trap them in the middle. I try to either throw the
punch out while the Psycho Field is exploding or a split second before
to ensure safety. I prefer to the Head Stomp over this move because it's
quicker, but like the headstomp, this can be used with other moves to be
made more effective.

Teleportation - DPM + Either punch or Either Kick button
Arms folded (and grinning ^_^), Bison appears in 4 different places on
screen and reveals the "real" Bison in a pre-determined spot. Another
definitive part of a good Bison player, is abusing the speed of Bison's
teleport to get you out of pretty much any kind of big trouble. It's
probably just as fast as Spiral's, but the fact that you have to do a
dragon punch motion, makes it appear a tad bit slower. Know the places
to teleport and when like the back of your hand, if you want to ensure
Bison's survival. The places in which he teleports are in the exact
position of the button you pressed after the dragon punch motion, for
example if you pressed LP (located in the top left) he'd appear at the
top left corner of the screen), if you pressed HK (located on the bottom
right) he'd appear at the bottom right corner of the screen, etc.
Remember when I said Bison's Head Stomp and Skull Diver could be used in
conjunction with other moves? This is one of them. Get in the habit of
holding down immediately after you enter the teleport command just in
case you'll need to execute either of these moves coming out of a
teleport. There will be times that your opponent will take a wild guess
where you'll appear (please don't be predictable) and they'll guess
correctly. The quickness of the headstomp will almost always get you out
of a teleport safely (especially the HK version) so always be ready to
go for it. The Skull Diver however, should only be used when you're
teleporting into either of the air locations. Again, KNOW THIS MOVE if
you want to live.

Flight Mode - QCB + both kick buttons
Arms folded (and grinning again) Bison levitates himself into the air.
Not much can be said about this move, because unlike all other
characters in the game that have flight mode, Bison doesn't have an air
dash. Going into flight mode means 1 of 2 things. 1) Escaping a super 2)
You want to die quickly and painfully. Lol...seriously the only use for
this move is escaping a super. Flight Mode is never better than doing a
teleport. Although the move isn't all that bad because once in flight
mode you can either Teleport, Head Stomp, or Skull Dive, or another very
special move that i'll get to next. It's cool to use this against
Wolverines, Zangiefs, etc., but don't overdo it.

---
IV. Bison Hyper Combos

Psycho Crusher - QCF + both punch buttons
Bison draws back, ignites his whole body with psycho energy, and lunges
forward at the opponent palm first (spinning and yelling "Psycho
crushaaaaaaaaaaa" ^_^). This move is gonna end most of your combos with
Bison. It does serious damage (damage buffer or not, this thing is
harsh) and when used out of the blue, it even has a few frames of
invincibility in the beginning. A lot of priority also. The only
problem, is if you're gonna use this outside of combos, people will tend
to see it coming due to the big startup. Try to only use it in combos or
if you're going to DHC Bison out or something. Oh, and be sure to mash
all the buttons and wiggle the joystick as fast as you can to add more
hits to it.

Psycho Explosion - HCB + both punch buttons
Bison goes into the same animation for the Psycho Shot, and throws a
small ball of psycho energy at the opponent that explodes on impact.
This move is very good for chipping and when DHCing into the match. It's
a good way to damage an assist character without putting yourself in
immediate danger also, so be ready to use this when an assist happy
character goes a little overboard. It has about the same startup as a
Psycho Crusher so be aware of that.

Knee Press Nightmare - QCF + both kick buttons
Smiling big time, Bison duplicates himself twice (one behind him, one
above him) and all three Bison's lunge at the opponent knee first ending
in a slide. This is a good move for punishing mistakes and for all of
your ground combos (which i'll talk about later). A decent damaging move
and little startup. Be very careful with this move, because if he
misses, you're gonna get it big time.

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V. Bison Combos
Didn't skip here did ya? If so, SHAME ON YOU. At any rate on to some
Bison combos. Before I start, let me say that a Psycho Field can be
thrown out before any of these, but do consider the damage buffer and by
the way.....all of these were done on Cable. ^_^

Ground
1) LK MK HK (hits twice) xx Kneepress Nightmare - 59% damage
A necessity combo for punishing mistakes. A very easy one at that.
Remember this one next time an Iron Man player misses a Proton Cannon or
something lol. This is actually the only solo ground combo you'll ever
need.

Air
1) c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK xx Psycho Crusher - 74% damage
This is the very basic Bison air combo, sometimes you'll feel the need
to keep it simple (believe me, with Bison you sometimes will). Very
damaging...see what I mean about that Psycho Crusher? Lol. Don't forget
to mash.

2) c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK HK/HP - 51% damage
Another very basic combo, but damaging nonetheless if you don't have any
super meter to spare.

3) c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK xx HK Scissors Kick (Hits TWICE) xx Psycho
Crusher - 78% damage
Not a lot more than combo #1, but every little bit helps. Use this one
as much as you can, it's not a hard combo as long as you remember to let
BOTH hits of the Scissors Kick connect before cancelling into Psycho
Crusher.

4) In a corner, c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK xx HK Scissors Kick (Hits
TWICE) xx Psycho Crusher, LK MK xx Psycho Crusher - 85% damage
This one HURTS! It can only be done in corners, but if you're in a
corner, by all means go for it. The timing on the LK following the
Psycho Crusher can be tricky, but with a little practice you'll get it
down pat.

Helper Combos
Bison has a few noteworthy capabilities when teamed up with certain
characters. They are as follows:
1) Bison/Doom (AAA): c.LK c.MK c.HK + Doom's AAA, LP Psycho Field, Jump
straight up and pause for a sec, Psycho Crusher - 61% damage. If done
correctly the opponent can't roll out of this one because Doom's assist
should connect at the exact same time as the c.HK. It's more flash than
anything, but nonetheless a rather effective combo.

2) Bison/Zangief (Ground): LP + Zangief assist, HP xx Psycho Explosion -
53% damage
A good use for that quick jab. A decent combo overall.

3) Bison/Ken (AAA): c.LK c.HK + Ken assist - 43% damage
This combo is really weird because it doesn't look like it would take
1/4 of an energy bar, but what can I say? It does. No meter required
either. This also can't be rolled out of if done properly.

4) Bison/Tron Bonne (Projectile): In a corner, c.LK + Tron assist, dash
in c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK xx HK Scissors Kick xx Psycho Crusher, LK MK
Psycho Crusher - 108% damage
Guaranteed to leave many characters hanging by a thread. You can do this
combo outside of the corner for an easy 97% damage (cause you can't add
the second Psycho Crusher). As you probably know Tron's projectile
assist is considered to be glitched. Meaning she's great to put on a
team with Bison ^_^

5) Bison/Spiral (Ground): In a corner, LK MK HK + Spiral assist, LP
Psycho Field, dash in c.LK c.HP sj.LP LK MP MK xx HK Scissors Kick xx
Psycho Crusher, LK MK Psycho Crusher - 68% damage
Pretty much for flash...not much I can say about it.

More to come as I find them ^_^

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VI. Bison Assists
Projectile - Psycho Shot
Don't use this one! I mean it! Lol...I won't even bother explaining it,
it stinks. Unless you guard break that is, but that doesn't do it much
good. On triple hyper combos(THCs), he does Psycho Crusher.

Variety - Psycho Field
One of the better assists in the entire game. Mainly because Bison
leaves as soon as he puts it out, meaning you can call out yet another
assist while Bison's is still on the screen (considering that the assist
is blocked of course). No other assists can do that...so take advantage
of it. This is definitely Bison's best assist type. In THCs, you get the
Psycho Crusher.

Expansion - Scissors Kick
Decent. It can be OTG'ed by a lot of things so if you're a combo person,
you might go for this one. Doesn't help for much else. Kneepress
Nightmare in THCs.

---
VII. General Bison Strategy
Here, i'll go over Bison in his entirety. The use of his moves and
general things that prove effective against a large mass of other
characters in this game. Read through carefully.

1) Ok, first things first. Any chance you get, establish your offense
and your mobility. What I basically mean is, let the opponent know that
you have more than one way to get around the screen and a multitude of
ways to attack. I don't mean throw stuff out at random at the start of a
match, but in the beginning don't be afraid to try certain things more
than once. With Bison, you actually WANT the opponent to be aware of
you. Bison isn't a sneaky, slithery, kinda character. He's more the "Man
oh man...i'm gonna love beatin the snot out of you" type of character.
By letting them know what you're capable of, you'll tend to make them
play really defensive or force mistakes. Needless to say doing either of
these in MvC2 will get you killed quickly.

2) This really isn't a gameplay strat, but it must be said. When you're
playing Bison, REMAIN CALM. Meaning if Bison gets nailed with a super or
something, don't sweat it and go tagging out in a hurry. Especially if
you're just starting to use him. See how far he gets you the first
couple of times. By all means, don't let any "cheese" tactics or
whatever upset you. Be relaxed.

3) Use his moves. Don't expect Bison to be a huge asset to you when you
first begin to play him, it takes time and some experimentation on your
behalf. Use all his moves and figure out what works for you and against
the people you play against.

4) Be very agile. Meaning constantly on the move. Bison is a big guy,
but he's rather quick. Use that to your advantage. I like to think of
Bison as a good mixture between  Ruby Heart and Spiral. He can be like
played like Ruby Heart because he can put a multitude of things on the
screen at once and can match a lot of character's fighting styles in a
unique way. He can play like Spiral because he can chip very well and
has a very quick teleport making him rather evasive. Again, never stay
in the same place too long.

5) Assists. To properly cover Bison, you'll need some good help in the
background. Generally speaking, characters with good Anti Air Assists
and assists that will help in keeping the opposition in a defensive
posture is the best thing to line Bison up with. To name a few: Doom on
AAA, Captain Commando on AAA, Storm on Expansion, Bone Wolverine on
Variety, Sentinel on Ground, Cyclops on AAA, Tron Bonne on Projectile,
Iron Man on AAA, etc. Feel free to put him with whoever you like, but
Bison can get an extremely good rhythm going with the characters listed
and a few others. Doom is probably Bison's best teammate by a large
margin. He chips good and makes the opposition go defensive with little
effort. Here are two lockdowns (or traps) that Bison has with two of the
previously listed characters:

A) Bison/Doom: c.LK c.MK + Doom AAA, teleport (above and behind
opponent), Skull Dive, land and repeat. This will hold big characters
more so than any others, but if the opponent does escape, you'll be safe
so don't have any second thoughts about using this if you need some
quick chip damage.

B) Bison/Bone Wolverine: Normal Jump straight up, LK Scissors Kick +
Wolverine's Variety assist. (Thanks to Roger for this one)
This trap can be effective against people who haven't seen much of it,
but if you get too repetitive with it, the opposition can AAA out of it,
leaving Wolverine open for attack and you knocked a good distance away
so you can't protect him lol. It has it's uses, but don't overdo it.

---
VIII. Character Specific Strategy
Bison is my favorite character in this game, but not the best in the
entire game unfortunately. There are characters that will give Bison a
very very hard time and some you just flat out shouldn't use him
against. Here i'll make them known, and if you are gonna play him
against these characters, i'll try my best to tell you how.

Versus
Pixies - (Strider, Marrow, Psylocke, Wolverine, Spiderman, etc.)
Bison doesn't really have a lot of trouble with the speedy, big combo,
type of characters, but keep #2 from the General Strat section floating
around in your head. At times, pixie characters can be extremely
annoying and pesty. Just remain calm and never let them gain initiative
on you. The Head Stomp is pretty useful against characters of this
nature because they tend to jump in a lot. Using it in conjunction with
flight mode and teleports is also very helpful. Also, remember your
assists. You wanna keep these opponents from putting pressure on you at
all costs. This means a lot of low risk assists (safe assists that won't
get your helper killed rather) and a lot of Psycho Fields. ALWAYS try to
keep one of these out. The real reason I said Bison generally doesn't
have problems with these characters, is because he's tons stronger than
roughly all of them, and they generally take bad damage. One air combo
will leave them on the brink of extinction so DON'T MESS UP when given
the opportunity to do one.

Beamers - (Cable, War Machine, Cyclops, Iceman, Doom, etc.)
Teleports will definitely come in handy against characters like these.
Though they can burden Bison plenty (most beamers tend to play keepaway
and run like wimps), Bison can take a good number of them if you
remember a few things. One of those things being that teleport. Being
able to do this on instinct will definitely be a great help to you
because sometimes a missed projectile will present a free opportunity
for an air combo or another combo of some sort. Other than teleporting,
BE VERY AGILE. Don't let them lock you down or get too many beams off on
you. Stay on the move using your assists to cover your tracks and watch
closely for opportunities to throw Psycho Fields. Against beamers, the
chances can be rather scarce.

Power Characters - (Colossus, Hulk, Juggernaut, Jin, Sentinel, etc.)
With the exception of Sentinel, these characters have to be close to you
to bring you any harm. This doesn't mean run like a punk, but it means
be extremely careful. Don't throw out random supers, beware of assists
that can set you up for deadly combos and such, and be very careful when
using your assists. A lot of the time, against characters like these, it
turns into a waiting game of sorts. Either you're waiting for them to
mess up or vice versa. Just take the initiative of your speed advantage
and chipping ability to make this as short and safe as possible. Against
Sentinel, it's a whole different story. Sentinel players love to chip
and nail you with Rocket punches so with that in mind, play against
Sentinel as you would Beamers in that you want to be very agile, but
DON'T teleport unless you're absolutely sure Sentinel won't nail you
with a Rocket punch (or worse) coming out of it. Lock him down with good
chipping assists and Bison Fields whenever you can and look for Sentinel
players to abuse his flight mode. Be ready to Head Stomp as soon as they
go for it if you can. There isn't anything Sentinel can do about it if
you go for it soon enough.

Other noteworthy characters - (Storm, Blackheart, Magneto, Spiral,
Rogue)
These are four characters that you generally should NOT use Bison
against. Reason being, because four of them can play keep away in a way
that Bison isn't fit to handle without the right assists, and chip him
safely. I'll try to help you with these characters because I admire your
bravery ^_^

Storm
Against Storm, if you don't have Captain Commando or Blackheart, you can
forget it. You can try all day to catch a GOOD Storm player, but unless
you luck up, it ain't happenin. If you are indeed that brave, try to
Head Stomp your way in close when she takes to the skies. She has low
defense so anytime you can combo her, DO IT. Take almost any measure
possible (you're at risk by just putting yourself against her anyway) to
keep her from super jumping and suprisingly enough, your wrecklessness
might catch some Storm players off guard and with one or two good
opportunities, Bison can kill Storm in a small amount of hits.

Blackheart
This big time chump will try to stay out of your reach most of the time
by throwing demons and chipping you with supers. The only time you
should really worry about him is when he isn't even in the match. His
AAA takes away 3 modes of your transportation. You can't teleport,
Flight Mode, or Head Stomp without getting nailed if the person knows
what they're doing. In a match, you generally won't have much trouble if
you play off of your reflexes and punish mistakes and blocked attacks.

Magneto
Magneto is a big time problem in every sense of the word. Magnus is
faster than you, builds meter better than you, and can run away from you
if need be and there isn't very much you can do about it. I've beaten
Magnus players with my Bison, but NONE of it came easy. Now is the time
to use Bison's throw. Throw his butt any chance you get and if you can,
without a moments hesitation, throw out Psycho Fields. LP Psycho Fields
generally ruin his rushdown game and doesn't allow him to get in close
and get the c.LK off. Playing against him with Captain Commando makes
this match tons easier because he stops all attempts Magneto has at
pressuring you. As far as the running away, if you don't have Captain
Commando or Blackheart, just forget it. If they start playing keepaway
with you, use the same strategy listed for Storm and just hope for the
best. Other than that, play dirty. If he's coming in after a killed
character, guard break him by throwing a HP Psycho Shot that he will
block as soon as he comes in, and immediately throw a Psycho Explosion.
If he doesn't air dash after the blocked hit, you got a free super (in
which I suggest you cancel into another super, then another if you can,
damage is the keyword in this fight).

Spiral
I'm very serious in saying that you should not bother with this one if
you don't have Doom's AAA or Captain Commando's AAA. If you don't have
either of these and this Spiral player is good, you don't begin to stand
a chance AT ALL. I know it's sad, but the truth hurts. Spiral can own
Bison if he doesn't have the backup. If you do however, abuse it. Bison
will simply act as a place holder punishing mistakes when possible and
other than that, just nailing her with assists and/or nailing her with
combos/supers if the player is dumb enough to call out swords with no
protection. Not much else I can say about this, but if you don't have
Doom or CapCom, please let someone else try to take her on.

Rogue
Didn't expect to see a non-top-tier character in this section did ya?
Well, Rogue can be quite a handful for Bison, but only if the Rogue
player is EXTREMELY good. Meaning they will abuse the Power drain, her
throw, and her rushdown ability. An AAA will snuff it her out of these
moves, but if you don't have one, this is the only case with Bison in
which you'll be playing defensively. Just pick your openings and take
every chance you get to exact damage on her. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ROGUE
when playing with Bison. You'd be suprised what she could do to him when
she gets ahold of him.

-Now i'll tell you 5 of Bison's best teammates and basic things you'll
want to make note of when using them.

1) Doctor Doom - I dare anyone find a better teammate for Bison than
Doom. He is clearly the best teammate for all situations because he
gives you freedom to be more aggressive and is capable of making some
very big things happen. His AAA assist is considered the best assist in
the entire game by many and with good reason. I definitely recommend
using Doom with your Bison if you're just starting out. Also the trap
previously mentioned will be very useful to you on some occasions.

2) Spiral - She basically is the same type of companion as Doom is in
that her ground assist allows you to be more 'pushy' with your offense,
but she doesn't chip as good. Regardless, it will only do you good to
have a stand-alone character like Spiral to help you out in case Bison
dies on you. Her projectile assist is also great for chipping and
locking opponents down in the corner. The way I do it is: Dash in c.LK
c.MK + Spiral Projectile xx Psycho Field, repeat. Beware of AAAs when
doing this.

3) Sentinel - Sentinel's ground assist is the same as the first two
assists in that it leaves you more room to be aggressive. A nice trick
with this guy, is that when you play him with Ground assist, you can
call it out, and throw an opponent into it if they start to turtle and
follow with a Psycho Crusher or something. A nice assist capable of
making big things happen, but beware for Cable players when using
Sentinel. You don't wanna get him killed.

4) Cyclops/Ken/CapCom/Blackheart - AAAs, try to have one of these on
your team at all times. They give you more freedom to play the air if
need be, and even makes Flight Mode a good idea sometimes. I like to
teleport above and behind the opponent and immediately cancel into
Flight Mode and call out my AAA. If they try to attack, they get nailed
by the AAA (sometimes the AAA even comes out behind them) and from there
I go into Psycho Crusher. A pretty safe trick, but not to be abused. The
AAAs are generall for defensive purposes and for catching chumps that
like to run...always try to have one.

5) Tron Bonne - As you've seen in the combo section, her Projectile
assist truly comes in handy. It even makes rushdown with Bison safe. A
good rushdown tactic is to dash in c.LK c.MK + Tron assist c.HK sj xx LK
Scissors Kick. A neat trick that you might not have known about
cancelling the super jump into Scissors Kick, is that you can make it a
lot easier by Tiger Knee-ing the Scissors Kick motion. What I mean by
that is, after going a half circle forward, if you go to Up-Forward
before you hit kick, Bison will superjump and quickly come back down
with that Scissors Kick. A very good pressure tactic...especially in
corners.

-Any other assists generally are ok, but any assist that fall into the
above 5 categories, are the ones you'll pretty much rely on. If you have
any question about a specific character teamed up with Bison, feel free
to e mail me at [email protected] and ask. I'll help as best as I can.

---
IX. Bison from a different perspective.
If you're really into this game and the websites that deal with it, you
know Jay "Viscant" Snyder. He's one of the more popularly known players
in the west coast. A few things he's known for is the fact that he
doesn't always use heavily abused top tier characters. I admire that
uniqueness, so I asked him for his take on Bison. So without any further
holdup, here's a brief synopsis on Bison from Jay (used with his
permission of course):

I don't do much that most people don't do, the trick is just to stay
within yourself with Bison. He plays a little like Cyclops...not overly
offensive, not overly defensive, but that odd mix.

--Basic air combo (I'm sure you know this), launch, jab, short, strong,
forward, scissor kick, psycho crusher, short, forward, scissor, pc is
all I ever do. Don't even bother with the 3 pc variant, it's a waste of
time. Name of the game with Bison is damage anyways.

--Trapping with Doom assist. I consider Bison like Ruby and Strider.
Good with Doom, not much point to picking him without. Exploding ball +
Doom assist is too good. Exact pattern I use is j.rh, jab, strong (hit
jab and Doom assist together), jab exploding ball, jab, strong, jab
exploding ball, j.rh, short, forward, rh (call doom now), exploding
ball, etc. If I'm feeling creative I make the 2nd ball a fierce one and
push them into it (fullscreen only).

--Assist. He has two good ones. Expansion you can use like Psylocke (fun
with Magneto) in combos. Neat trick though is that his B assist is
weird. He runs away before the ball goes away. So if they block it, you
can call another assist immediately. So I have a pattern I do with
Storm. Drop Bison, dash in and do a short combo. They're blocking and
while stuff is still on the screen, drop Doom on top of them. Great way
to get some guaranteed block damage.

This is just basic stuff though. I don't even try a lot of hard stuff
like using teleport in combos or anything like some of these nutcases
around here, just keeping it short and sweet works well. The 3 notes I
mention above are all I ever do with him and it's working so far..."

--Jay

-Insightful no? Well he resides over at Shoryuken.com if you've got any
questions for him...

---
X. Miscellaneous Stuff

Colors
I think Bison looks better this way than in the older Street Fighter
games (bigger...more evil looking), but that's just my opinions. If you
aren't familiar with his colors here they are and the buttons pressed to
get them. First color is the costume, second the armor, third the cape.

LP - Default Red/Silver/Grey
LK - Blue/Silver/Grey
HP - Maroon/White/Greenish Grey sorta color (I know it sounds ugly, but
it's actually pretty cool ^_^ )
HK - White/Silver/Grey (I hate this one.....but if you wanna color
coordinate your teams, do what you gotta do)
Assist 1 - Black/Silver/Blueish Grey (I love this one!)
Assist 2 - Navy Blue/Gold/Brown (My personal favorite)

Intro
Intro - Bison appears from above and slowly descends to the ground. He
makes a rather lenghty statement saying "Koko ga Haka bada!" (No, he
doesn't say anything about coconuts lol). In English, this means "This
place will be your Grave." Just figured i'd add this because there was a
lot of speculation as to what exactly is being said during this intro.
Well, a friend of mine who aced Japanese class this past Spring
confirmed it for me...but believe what you want lol.
---
XI.Credits
First, I'd like to thank Capcom for makin cool games and such. GameFAQs
for gathering so much useful information into one easy-to-use website.
Viscant, for the briefing on Bison. JackOfClubs, for the extended help
in making this FAQ look presentable. Roger, for general information on
MvC2 as a whole and helping me to get better. Bison, for being such a
badass. And all of you for reading. PRAISE BISON. Maintain...many
blessings...all that stuff. Later! ^_^

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