Segafreak
Rival Schools: United By Fate(Hyo and Sakura combo guide) version 2.0
Date: 10th August 1999

Legal Stuff
===========

Copyright 21st May 1999 Segafreak ([email protected]) All Rights
Reserved
Rival Schools and United by Fate are trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd (c).
1997-1998 All Rights Reserved
This guide may be posted on any website as long as it remains fully
intact. And I do mean fully. If you want to make any changes, ask me
first and mention what changes you wanna make.
And if anyone paid for this, you better demand a refund.



Introduction
============

Hi. When you are reading this, I would assume that you have already know
the basics of this game (countering, launching, blocking, side-stepping
(which won't be used in detail), etc.). This guide is written in mind
for those players who already know how to play the game and are hungry
for some combos on what I consider to be the cheapest characters in the
entire game, as well as those who wants to become an expert in handling
these two. This guide will also teach you to play against an expert
player who knows his/her stuff with Hyo, Hideo, Sakura, etc....Enough
with the introduction, let's move on.

Legend
======

f : forward
b : back
d : down
u : up
d/f : down/forward
d/b : down/back(low block)
u/f : up/forward
u/b : up/forward(air-blocking)

Special movements
=================

qcf : d,d/f,f
qcb : d,d/b,b
dpm(dragon-punch movement) : f,d,d/f

+ : do at the same time

wp : weak punch
fp : fierce punch
wk : weak kick
rh : roundhouse

Let's go on to the characters...

Sakura
======

Introduction
============

Sakura is a hidden character in Rival Schools: United by Fate. There's
no need to use any code to get her as she is time-released(a feature
Capcom implemented into the game) after about 55 hours of gameplay on
that machine. To use her, move your cursor to Hyo and push up once.

Air-combo launcher: d/f + rh

Special Moves
=============

Hado-ken : qcf + wp or fp
Her basic projectile, with average range. Useful only at the end of
combos. Can be done in mid-air.

Upward Hado-ken : qcb + wp or fp
Her hado-ken. This time, it's aimed at a 45 degree upward direction. Not
very useful..

Shoryu-ken : dpm + wp or fp
An uppercut that she pushes forward and up. If connected fully, it
should land about 6 hits. Useful at the end of combos.

Hurricane kick : qcb + wk or rh
A spinning kick that moves up in a 45 degree angle, then down again in a
45 degree angle. Useful for dodging projectiles(Warning! This move
cannot be used for dodging burning vigors with a projectile nature),as
well as chaining into her burning vigors. Can be done in mid-air.

Burning Vigors
==============

Shinkuu Hado-ken : qcf,qcf + wp or fp
Burning vigor version of her projectile. Connects up to 5 hits. Use at
the end of combos. Can be done in mid-air. Average damage.

Upward Shinkuu Hado-ken : qcb,qcb + wp or fp
Upward version of her shinkuu-hadoken. Practically useless.

Midair Zakura : qcf,qcf + wk or rh
Runs forward with 3 shoryu-kens. Causes up to 10 hits. Very useful in
ground combos. Rather good damage with good range

Haru Iciban : qcb,qcb + wk or rh
Crouches low and spins with outstretched leg 4 times, then kicks your
opponent in the head for a total of 5 hits. Average damage.

Combos
======

Basically, Sakura have many combos, the best and least known(to my
knowledge and experience) of which is her infinite air-combo! The damage
dealt is a lot, so it's worth your time trying to master this combo.
First of all, I'll go into the basic set-up for her combos.

You have a choice of using 2 set-ups. The first one is : wp,wp,fp into
whatever. The second one is : wk,wk,rh(preferred method for
launching).For your information, the second one is used in setting up
for her air-combos. Just add her launcher : wk, wk, rh, d/f + rh ,after
which press up and combo. Let's go into detail...

Ground combos
=============

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, shoryu-ken

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, hadoken

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, upward hado-ken

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, shinkuu hado-ken(requires 1 level of your super bar)

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, upwards shinkuu hado-ken(requires 1 level of your super
bar)/*pratically useless*/

wp,wp,fp,f + fp, midair zakura(requires 1 level of your super bar)/*one
of her best combos*/

Note:The 2 wps can be substituded for wks.

Air-Combos
==========

Set-up : wk,wk,rh,d/f + rh,u

after set-up:

wk,wp,wp, hado-ken

wk,wp,wp, hurricane kick

wk,wp,wp, shinkuu hado-ken

Infinite air-combo
==================

after set-up:

wk,wp,pause,wp,wk,f + fp,wk,wp,pause,wp,wk,f + fp....infinitely.

Important points to take note of:
1) After the first wp, pause for about a frame(roughly half a sec).The
second wp must hit at the lowest point of your opponent's body,
otherwise the second wk won't connect at all, and/or the wk after the
f+fp will not connect.
2) After the f + fp, you must press wk immediately, or else the wp will
not connect and your opponent will fall to the ground.
3) After the second wp, you can connect into a shinkuu-hadoken.

Strategy
========

Always try to connect with Sakura's infinite combo, which is why you
choose to play as her in the first place! :)

Hyo
===

Hyo, like Sakura,is a character that's only revealed through a time
release function. However, unlike Sakura, he's not hidden. Being the
last boss of the game, he's pretty powerful.

Air-combo launcher : d/f + fp
                    d/f + rh

Special Moves
=============

(Sorry, I don't have the names for the moves)

qcf + wp or fp
A quick horizontial slash. Perform the move twice for 2 slashes.

dpm + wp or fp
A quick slash uppercut. Use at the end of combos.

qcb + wk or rh
A somersault kick, similar to Kyosuke's

qcb + wp or fp
A side-stepping, turn around with slash move. Useful for chaining into
combos and for surprising your opponent. Perform move twice for 2
slashes. Can also launch your opponent after this move.

In mid-air,qcf + wp or fp
A 2 hit downward slash. Use at the end of air-combos.

Burning Vigors
==============

(I have to give my own names for this)

Shadow Kick:qcb,qcb + wk or rh
Hyo backflips with leg outstretched twice, then slashes downwards for a
total of 6 hits. Damaging when chained from a combo.

Doppleganger:qcf,qcf +wk or rh
The most damaging burning vigor in the game. The first sequence is that
Hyo hits his opponent with a crescent kick. If it connects, a
doppleganger image of Hyo appears on the other side of his opponent,
then the 2 of them start to beat the crap out of his opponent, ending
with multiple upward sword slashes. Total of 25 hits,no less. Expect
your opponent's lifebar to be down by a third, unless you chain into
this move from a combo, where you can expect that the damage dealt is
much greater.

Combos
======

Ground combos
=============

wp,wp,fp,qcf + wp or fp

wp,wp,fp,qcb + wk or rh

wp,wp,fp,dpm + wp or fp

wp,wp,fp,f + fp,qcf + wp or fp

wp,wp,fp,f + fp,dpm + wp or fp

wp,wp,fp,f+ fp,qcb + wk or rh

wk,wk,fp,qcf + wp or fp

wk,wk,fp,qcb + wk or rh

wk,wk,fp,dpm + wp r fp

wk,wk,fp,f + fp,qcf + wp or fp

wk,wk,fp,f + fp,dpm +wp or fp

wk,wk,fp,f + fp,qcb + wk or rh

Air combos
==========

Set-up 1:wk,wk,fp,f + fp,d/f + fp or rh,u
Set-up 2:wk,wk,fp,d/f + fp or rh,u
After set-up:

wp,wk,f + fp,qcf + wp or fp

wp,wk,f + fp,qcb + wk or rh

wk,wp,wp,wk,f + fp,qcf + wp or fp

wk,wp,wp,wk,f + fp,qcb + wk or rh

Strategy
========

Use the below combo if you wanna be cheap. It's Hyo's most powerful
combo.

Jump in with any basic attack (wp,wk,fp or rh).wk,wk,fp,f + fp,qcf,qcf +
wk or rh.
Mind you, this combo takes off roughly two thirds of your opponent's
bar. It's very powerful.
Another variant of this combo is to skip the jump in attack. Rush in and
do the combo. Chances are you will connect with the combo if you are
fast enough, unless your opponent is very experienced...which brings me
to the next section.


Guarding yourself(Advanced strategy)
====================================

Chances are, when someone challengers you, that guy is experienced in
the game. Therefore you have to know how to defend against their
attacks. Here are points to take note of:

1) Never let yourself be sweeped. This is an important rule. If you are
sweeped, it's possible that you will fall into a trap. For Hyo, he can
go directly into his burning vigor attacks,which are very damaging.For
Sakura, she can immediately launch you into her infinite air-combo. A
few of the remaining characters can chain from a sweep into a burning
vigor. For the others, they can at the most chain into their special
moves. Which deal damage all the same...bad news for you if you are at
the butt end of it.

2) No matter what, block all their wk or wp attacks, especially from Hyo
and Sakura. Cause,as you know from my guide above, the wk or wp can
actually chain into a wide variety of combos.

3) Also, no matter what your opponent uses against you, do not tardy
counter his attacks. You don't know what attack he will use next. Only
attempt to counter if you know the combo your opponent is using, and try
to do so at the end of your opponent's chain combo. By doing so, you
will be in a position to successfully counter attack with one of your
own combos.

4) If an opponent jumps in on you, launch him or do a uppercut move. If
the uppercut move you are doing is a special move, do the "light"
version so as to minimize chances of a counter attack from your
opponent.

5)If your opponent throws a projectile at you, side-step by pressing
both punches or both kicks. It's difficult to side-step burning vigors
of a projectile nature, with the exception of Kyosuke's, since he throws
5 shots at you, instead of one concentrated shot like the others.

In my humble opinion, I think Sakura is the most powerful character in
the entire game. To face and successfully win a good Rival Schools
player, I recommend that players use Hyo, Sakura, or even Hideo.

Note: Expert players (in Singapore, I don't know about elsewhere) tend
to mix Hyo and Hideo in a team. Just be careful.

Misc info
=========

The highest score I've for Hyo - 8,512,400;for Sakura - 4,710,800.Note:
I did not mix any of these 2 together in a team when I achieved these
high scores. They are achieved from "pure" teams(i.e. Hyo and Hyo,
Sakura and Sakura).

Feel free to e-mail me about any comments for this guide, and any
mistakes in it. Mail me about any correction, and get mentioned.