Saturn X-Men: Children of the Atom FAQ v1.1
by Kenichiro Tanaka ([email protected])

Since the same question questions seem to get asked over and over,
and since no one else seemed to be working on one, I thought I'd
write an X-Men FAQ, specific to the Saturn version. There is some
info that's applicable to the arcade version as well, but the point of
this document is to deal with the Saturn version. (And to be more
precise, the Japanese Saturn version.)

For more general info, check out the X-Men FAQ and the X-Men Combo
FAQ at:
  ftp://brawl.mindlink.net

You can also find the Gouki FAQ there, which will tell you the code to
select him, as well as his moves.

You can find _this_ FAQ at the following places:
  http://www.maya.com/Local/tanaka/Video/saturn_x-men.html
  http://www.cyberhighway.net/~khoipham/ss_xmen.htm
Though I don't understand why you'd need this information if you're
sitting there reading this.

VERSION HISTORY (as if anyone cares):
  v1.0: Created. (duh)
  v1.1: Made corrections to Juggernaut stuff.

CONTENTS

    I. GENERAL
       1. Differences from arcade version
       2. Options screen

   II. CODES, TRICKS & MISC
       1. Gouki ("Easy Select")
       2. Juggernaut
       3. Magneto
       4. Storm and Psylocke
       5. Button Config

   IV. COMBOS
       1. Creating a combo
       2. Examples


==========
I. GENERAL
==========

Q1: What are the differences between the arcade version and Saturn
version?

A: There are very few differences--this is an _incredible_ port of a
game that's probably very demanding on the hardware, considering
the size and number of on-screen sprites, the smoothness of the
animation, and the ridiculous size of the backgrounds. It's about as
good of a translation you can hope for, and I haven't heard anyone
complain about it yet.

There are a few minor graphic differences. 1) The health and X-
power bars are a little thicker on the Saturn version. 2) The
characters are a little smaller on the Saturn version. (As an aside, I
think this is because many arcade games, X-Men included, use some
bizarre resolution, like 512x212. So, if you take the same bitmap
and put it on a 640x480 screen (for instance), it'll look smaller even
though it's using the same number of pixels. Of course, I don't know
what resolution Saturn X-Men uses, so I'm talking out my butt. ^_^;)
3) Wolverine is missing a few frames in his standing animation.
They're there during the character select, but gone during the actual
game. 4) There's occasional slowdown when Sentinel is on the
screen.

There are, however, no gameplay changes, as far as I can tell. And if
anyone else has noticed any differences, they haven't bothered to
post about it. All the moves are intact, all the combos work, and the
controls are very responsive. The Gouki code works, and the Saturn
version has the added advantage of player selectable Juggernaut and
(probably) Magneto. There are additional game modes, as well--your
standard "Versus" mode for two players, a "Survival" mode where you
see how many characters you can beat on one health bar, and a "Group
Battle" mode where two players select a team of characters to fight
against eachother.

I've noticed two bugs, both related to superjumps. First, when you do
a superjump, occasionally, you won't hear the "swoosh" sound or see
the blue and white speedlines. Also, I've noticed that if you're
playing Gouki and you enter the following command:

       O
-O | \  |  + punch
  O  O

Gouki will do a very high DP. I imagine it's a result of inputting a DP
command and superjump command simultaneously.


Q2: What are the settings on the Options screen?

A: From top to bottom:

Difficulty:   1 to 8 stars
Time Limit:   Yes / No
Speed Select: Turbo 1-3, Free Select
Key Config:   Jab
             Strong
             Fierce
             Short
             Forward
             Roundhouse
             Sp. P (All punches)
             Sp. K (All kicks)
Sound:        Stereo / Mono
Data Reset:   No / Yes

Sp. P and Sp. K allow you to assign "All Punch Buttons" or "All Kick
Buttons" to the L and R buttons. This lets you do Hyper-Xs and X-
Powers with one button press, but since the L and R normally act as
the Start button, you'll lose Storm's second Hyper-X, as well as
Psylocke's taunt. (See II. CODES, TRICKS & MISC Q4.)


========================
II. CODES, TRICKS & MISC
========================

Q1: How do I select Gouki/Akuma?

A: The code's a little long to include here--check the Gouki FAQ at
ftp://brawl.mindlink.net. The code is difficult, but it _does_ work.
Just keep trying.

There's also an "easy select" code in Versus mode. After a match,
when you get to the stats screen, press L+R+Start. You'll get a list of
the characters, and if you've already used the Gouki code (and backed
up the data), Gouki will be on the list. Also, in Arcade mode, after
you've lost, you can continue with the same character without going
back to the character select screen by hitting L+R+Start at the
continue screen. This works for all characters, including Gouki. I
think you have to be holding L+R+Start when you leave the continue
screen.


Q2: What's the Juggernaut code?

A: In Versus mode, enter the Gouki Code. After the match, go back to
the character select screen and tap UP-LEFT on the joystick/pad
twice. (Thanks to Teh Kao Yang ([email protected]) for posting this
code.) The first tap will display Wolverine's face and the second tap
will display Juggernaut. This works even if you use the easy select
menu to choose Gouki. (See above.) Unfortunately, if you play
Juggernaut vs Juggernaut, they're both the same color.

Here are his moves:

Earthquake Punch:
Juggernaut sends a seismic wave across the ground.

  -O \  | + punch
      O O

Double-fisted Punch:
Juggernaut lunges forward with both fists. This is the same as his
-O + fierce in MSH.

  | \  -O + punch
  O  O

Girder Bash:
Juggernaut picks up a girder. When he has a girder, his punches
become long range overhead attacks. (You can't block them low.) You
must be behind one of the girders to perform this move. Juggernaut
will lose the girder if he gets hit too many times.

  | | + punch
  O O

Taunt:
Juggernaut crosses his arms and gets a gleam in his eye. This has no
attck regions, but it fills your X-Meter.

  O- |  / + punch
     O O

Body press:

  | + fierce (in the air)
  O

Cittorak Powerup (X-Power):
Juggernaut glows red. His damage is increased while he is glowing.
Juggernaut doesn't gain any X-Energy while he is poweredup.

  |  / O- + punch
  O O

Juggernaut Headcrush (Hyper-X):
Juggernaut rushes forward with a headbutt. HUGE damage.

  O-  / | \  -O + 3 punches
     O  O  O

Juggernaut's chains go from kick to punch, both on the ground and in
the air, though I haven't found much that actually combos. His
crouching fierce launches his opponent into the air, so this is
possible: crouching fierce, superjump roundhouse, aerial fierce. His
body press does huge dizzying damage, and just a simple crouching
fierce, superjump body press (for example) will dizzy your opponent.
Oh, his standing kicks are great for stepping on fallen opponents. ^_^


Q3: What's the Magneto code?

A: Dunno. ^_^ Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?


Q4: How do I do Storm's Icestorm Hyper-X and Psylocke's taunt?

A: Use the L or R button. This won't work if you're using them for Sp.
P or Sp. K. (See I. GENERAL Q2.)


Q5: Is there a way to change options in the middle of a game?

A: Yes--pause the game by hitting Start, then hit A or C. You'll get an
abbreviated version of the Options screen. You can set your button
config and the sound mode. When you change the settings this way,
they're _not_ saved to backup memory.


===========
III. COMBOS
===========

Q1: What are some good combos?

A: Check out the Combo FAQ. I do have some stuff to add that's not
included in the Combo FAQ, however.

I imagine everyone knows this already, but here's some terminology:

Jab = light punch
Strong = medium punch
Fierce = heavy punch

Short = light kick
Forward = medium kick
Roundhouse = heavy kick

X-Men has a goofy damage system where a combo's damage is less
than the sum of its parts. I'm not sure if this is the same formula
they used in X-Men, but SFA does this to calculate damage: DAMAGE =
BASE DAMAGE - NUMBER OF HITS. So, if a fierce punch normally does
14 pixels of damage and it's the fifth hit in a combo, it'll do 14 - 5 =
9 pixels of damage. X-Men, I imagine, uses a similar system. Another
strange thing is that the first hit in a combo acts as a limiter for
the amount of damage done by successive hits. A roundhouse
preceeded by a short will do considerably less damage than one
preceeded by a fierce.

Try this little experiment. Select Psylocke vs Psylocke and have
Psylocke 1 hit Psylocke 2 with this combo: jab, short, strong,
forward, fierce. Now, have Psylocke 2 hit Psylocke 1 with this
combo: strong, forward, fierce. The second combo does about twice
as much damage as the first, even though the second is a _subset_ of
the first!

So, when you perform a combo in X-Men, you often have to choose
between a short combo that does a lot of damage, or a long multi-
hitting combo that does little damage. If you're going for damage,
make sure to start the combo with a medium or heavy hit and try to
use as many heavy hits as possible.

Here are some of my favorite combos, which aren't listed in the Combo
FAQ:

Wolverine:
aerial roundhouse, crouch roundhouse, crouch fierce (2 hits), Hyper-
X, fierce, fierce Tornado Claw [~20 hits] What's sick about this
combo is that it's incredibly easy to do, and there's plenty of
opportunity to use it. Does really nice damage, too. Against Sentinel,
you can add an aerial fierce after the aerial roundhouse.

Psylocke:
crouch fierce, superjump forward, aerial fierce [3 hits] This is
simple, but it looks really cool, and does a fair amount of damage.

Hyper-X, short (x5), fierce, Psi-Blade Spin [15-20 hits] Do both parts
of the Hyper-X horizontally, and start tapping the short button. You
kind of have to eyeball this, but when it looks like your opponent is
at the tip of Psylocke's foot, do the fierce. Remeber to hit a
different kick button after the Psi-Blade hits 3 times. (And again
after 6 hits.)

Gouki:
fierce, crouch roundhouse, fierce, DP [6 hits?] Pretty big damage,
and easy to do.

Cyclops:
(in the corner), fierce throw, aerial fierce throw [2 hits] This is too
cool--two throws in one combo. Jump up after your opponent
immediately after the first throw.

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