STREET FIGHTER III 3rd STRIKE: GILL FAQ (arcade version)
-= SAL's guide to world domination and body paint =-

STORY:
The time is almost upon us. The two opposing forces of the universe that
have been with us for all time will soon collide. Yet as the event draws
nearer, I find myself experiencing disturbing moments, as brief as they are,
of trepidation. I am the one prophesized to curb the impending doom by
controlling the coming forces of utter destruction. I have spent my entire
existence preparing for it, since the very moment of my creation. And yet,
as that which was destined unfolds at last, I strangely feel, in small
passing moments, that which the mortals refer to as apprehension. Have I
been tainted by exposing myself to these inferior beings for too long?
Their irrational and short-sighted motivations disgust me. Can they not see
how foolish their ambition for freedom truly is? Perhaps their lowly minds
are simply too limited to ever realize the importance of my task.
Regardless, the fate of the world will soon be guided by my power alone, and
the prophesized future shall surely unfold regardless of mankind's ignorant
resistance. All of the preparations have proceeded within schedule... let
the revolution begin.

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NORMAL ATTACKS:
This is only a list the attacks Gill will use. If it's not listed here, you
probably won't be seeing him use it, or ever wanting to use it yourself.

JAB Punch
A quick jab that can be chained into his standing Strong Punch. He'll poke
with this at close range, and use it's priority to cancel out some Super
Arts and special attacks.

SHORT Kick
A quick low kick with very little range or usefulness. He doesn't use it
very often.

D + SHORT Kick
Can be chained into another crouching Short or a crouching Forward Kick,
which he will try to do often. Luckily, it doesn't have much range. Watch
out for it up close though, because it's one of his favorite pokers and
cancelling attacks.

JAB Punch + SHORT Kick
Gill grabs you, holding you up in a choke hold with one arm. It inflicts
surprisingly little damage compared to his other throw, but the computer
will use this randomly instead of it anyway.

F/B + JAB Punch + SHORT Kick
A pile driver attack that amazingly takes off about as much life as Alex's
Power Bomb, making this the most powerful normal throw in the game. If he's
pulling this off on you, you know you're letting him get way too close way
too often.

STRONG Punch
A quick straight punch. Not much range or damage, so don't worry about it
too much. Like the Jab, he'll use it's priority to knock you out of some
lesser-priority Super Arts or specials.

F + STRONG Punch
An uppercut he'll use to knock you out of the air on occasion. Not that
good, but can be effective as an air defense, especially with his precise
timing to ensure it will connect.

D + STRONG Punch
A sliding elbow attack that moves him forward quite a bit. He can chain a
crouching Fierce off of this, but it rarely connects as a true combo. Be
sure to block after seeing this move though, because he usually likes to
throw out the Fierce afterwards whether it connects or not.

FORWARD Kick
Straight kick with decent range. Another poker, but not too dangerous of
one.

F + FORWARD Kick
A sliding poke kick, that's not too bad for range. He slides forward about
as much as with the crouching Strong. He can't chain anything onto this one
though, so it's mainly just annoying rather than dangerous.

D + FORWARD Kick
Pretty good range. He'll be poking with this a lot, just like all his other
low attacks. Try to watch out for this move, and be prepared to block low
against it when you think it's coming.

STRONG Punch + FORWARD Kick
A standard overhead. He doesn't use it much, but he'll occasionally throw it
out to counter a lot attack of yours.

FIERCE Punch
He smacks you with a chop attack with this one. Really fast, and does pretty
good damage, but leaves him momentarily open when he misses. It also lacks
the range of most of his other moves, so it makes a good opening to watch
for and take advantage of.

D + FIERCE Punch
His big combo setup move. This is a two-hitter that launches you on the
second hit. Great as an air counter or in close on the ground. After you get
hit by it, he can chain all kinds of stuff to make some really nasty combos.
This is definately his best normal attack, and the one you want to watch out
for the most. It's ground range is limited though, sometimes leaving him
really open if it misses.

FIERCE Punch (while jumping)
The air version of the standing Fierce chop. Good priority, especially
against jumpers, but not much range. He uses the jumping Roundhouse a lot
more than this one.

ROUNDHOUSE Kick
An overhead kick that's surprisingly good at hitting you while
simultaneously avoiding your low attacks. Start trying to sweep him a lot
and just watch him use this move to counter it all the time. It leaves him a
bit open if it misses though, so considering how much he uses it this is
probably one of your best opportunities to get free hits.

D + ROUNDHOUSE Kick
An incredibly good foot sweep move. It's range, speed, and damage are all
simply unbelievable, making this probably his best normal attack aside from
the crouching Fierce. Just be grateful it knocks you down so he can't combo
off of it.

ROUNDHOUSE Kick (while jumping)
Like his foot sweep, this has incredible horizontal range. He'll almost
always use this on a grounded opponent while descending from a jump, and it
has so much priority that trying to counter it directly often results in
trading hits at best, and your move being countered by it at worst. He
always uses it at exactly the same point during the jump though, so learning
to parry it instinctively isn't too hard with practice.

FIERCE Punch + ROUNDHOUSE Kick
Gill laughs it up at his pathetic opponent. The real Gill never uses this,
but you can if you morph into him with Twelve. It leaves you totally wide
open for a beating, so I wouldn't recommend getting this cocky against the
computer's Gill while the match is still going. It makes a great showoff
move if you still have time to do it after landing your finishing blow on
him, though. :)

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SPECIAL ATTACKS:
Note that although Gill's super bar will flash to indicate the use of EX
moves has become available, he apparently has no EX moves to use it on.

PYRO/CRYO KENESIS - D,DF,F + Punch
A projectile move of either fire or ice depending on whether he's facing
left or right. It hits twice, and therefore must be parried twice. It is
able to pass through most other normal projectiles, and will often cancel
out EX projectiles. It can also be angled with the button, with Jab
travelling horizontally, Strong travelling at about a 30 degree angle from
the ground, and Fierce travelling further upwards at about 60 degrees. Gill
uses this move fairly infrequently, but can use it to intercept jumpers as
an aerial defense with fairly good accuracy. Practice the double-tap parry
for this move, and be prepared to defend against it in the air if necessary.

SABER LARIAT - F,D,DF + Punch
A dashing clotheline attack that has incredible damage potential. Like most
of his other attacks, this one is able to hit twice. The first point of
impact occurs directly at the start of the move, and the second as he dashes
forward. If you're on the ground, the first hit will likely miss, unless he
uses it as a counter right up close. If you're jumping in on him, the first
hit has a better chance of connecting. Each hit does about as much as both
hits from a Pyro/Cryo Kenesis, making this his most damaging special attack
overall. Both hits connecting successfully mostly only occurs in cases of
using it as a counter against a jumping attack though, and even then it's
rare. He'll make use of this move randomly as a counter, and occasionally as
a spontaneous ground attack. The speed of this move makes it almost
impossible to parry, and Gill isn't left open for most attacks even after
the lariat is blocked, but countering using a normal throw (Jab + Short) or
a Super Art after blocking it is usually a safe retaliation.

PSYCHO HEAD BUTT - D,DB,B + Punch
A quick hopping headbutt move that resembles the look of a standard overhead
(Strong + Forward). Gill almost never uses this outside of combos, but can
be devastating when he frequently chains it after his crouching Fierce. The
button used varies the damage, distance, and recovery speed of the attack.
The Jab version can always be chained twice after the crouching Fierce,
where as the other two can only be done once in this situation. A four-hit
combo of his crouching Fierce followed by two Jab Psycho Head Butts is
certainly Gill's best technique that doesn't make use of a Super Art.

MOONSAULT KNEE DROP - F,DF,D,DB,B + Kick
Gill leaps into the air and lands on the opponent's head knees first. It
hits twice, and therefore must be parried twice, except in rare cases where
the second hit misses and he lands directly on the ground after hitting you
only once. Missing with the second hit occurs the most frequently against
small characters such as Oro, Twelve, and the twins Yun and Yang. If both
hits are blocked, he can occasionally be hit with certain fast-moving
attacks as he rebounds off of you, such as Yun's Zesshou-Hohou (D,DF,F +
Jab) and Q's Dashing Head Attack (charge B,F + Jab). If the second hit
misses, though, he will immediately land on the ground and will not be left
vulnerable at all. He's also vulnerable to moves like the Shoryu-Ken if used
to intercept him before the Knee Drop connects. Still, the best way to deal
with this is often in parrying it. Practice getting the timing down on
parrying for the Pyro/Cryo Kenesis, and simply use the same timing for the
double hit of the knee drop. Sometimes he'll pull this move off
spontaneously, but often dashes backwards before starting it, so be sure to
watch for that tell-tale sign and prepare to react accordingly. After
parrying both hits successfully, he's left open for retaliation either in
the air or the moment he touches the ground. That moment of ground
vulnerability is extremely tight, but with practice you can learn to take
advantage of it with nearly any ground combo you want. Assuming you can
successfully parry it, this move is the one you actually want him to do,
because it allows you the biggest potential opportunity for free hits aside
from his Seraphic Wing Super Art.

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SUPER ARTS:
Note that unlike other characters, Gill has no Super Art selection process
in which he must choose one over the others. Instead, he always has access
to all three of his Super Arts, all of which use up his entire Super Art
meter to perform.

RESURRECTION (1 charge maximum) - automatically activated when knocked out
This isn't a controllable Super Art, but qualifies as one regardless, due to
it's use of the Super bar. If Gill loses all his life while his Super meter
is filled, this move is then automatically activated. Instead of you
normally winning the round against him at this point, Gill will float up
into the air and start regaining his life back. His life bar will quickly
increase during this pose until it fills up to 100%, or he is hit by any
attack, which will immediately cancel the move and stop his life bar from
increasing any further. He is invulnerable during the initial start of the
move though, essentially guaranteeing him at least 10-15% life regeneration
no matter what. In addition, his body emits a sort of reverse vacuum effect
while floating, pushing you away from getting near him. This only has enough
force to stop moves which don't have much horizontal distance or movement to
them, though. Although he is in the air during this move, the vacuum renders
vertical anti-air attacks mostly ineffective because of this. The best thing
to do to counter this is to dash in as close as possible after knocking him
down, and then perform a move with as much horizontal movement and speed as
possible during the initial stages of the move. To illustrate this point,
Ryu's Shoryu-Ken is a completely ineffective counter for this move, as it
has virtually no horizontal distance, and will be immediately pushed out of
striking distance even when done extremely close to Gill. Alternatively, his
Tatsumaki-Senpuu-Kyaku makes an excellent counter, as it's fast horizontal
movement makes it essentially immune to the Resurrection's anti-vacuum
effect. Simply apply this information to other characters to determine what
move would be best suited to counter the Resurrection, then get in close and
dish it out. An interesting point worth mentioning is that he is unable to
gain Super energy at all for the remainder of the round after resurrecting,
so it can be a good thing to get him to use this if you think you have
enough time left to finish him off for good afterwards.

METEOR SHOWER (1 charge maximum) - D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Punch
Gill tosses a whole shower of Pyro/Cryo Kenesis projectiles down from above.
The damage varies greatly, but can get as high as around 70% depending on
the number of projectiles that successfully connect. He's lost the lag time
that left him open to retaliation after this move finished in 2nd Impact,
making it an especially annoying Super Art to have to deal with now.
Parrying it is possible, but not recommended, since the projectiles have no
set pattern of descent, and missing one means the others will surely combo
into some huge damage that just isn't worth the risk. If he does the move up
close, the best thing to do is tag him with a fast normal attack to cancel
it out as quickly as possible. You might still get hit by one of the
projectiles this way but it's usually worth it, since blocking the whole
bunch of them can add up to just about as much damage in the end anyway. If
he's out of range of your normal attacks but you have a quick dashing attack
that you can pull off right away, like Alex's Elbow Slash, you can also use
that to cancel it out in a similar way, though this is slightly more risky.
If neither of these options are open, you often don't have much choice but
to just take the blocking damage. He can also chain this move off of his
crouching Fierce, which produces a massive combo that pretty much wins the
round for him right then and there, but he rarely does this, and there's
nothing you can do about it when he does anyway, so don't bother worrying
about it too much.

SERAPHIC WING (1 charge maximum) - D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Kick
Say hello to the mother of all Super Arts. Gill quickly floats to the center
of the screen before activating the move, during which time it can be
cancelled by hitting him out of the air, but take note that his Super bar
will still remain filled if you do. When the move is activated successfully,
Gill sprouts angel-like wings from his back and proceeds to fill the entire
screen with energy. This move is completely unavoidable, and parrying it I
assume is impossible, as I have yet to even hear of anyone successfully
parrying one hit of it as of yet. Blocking it usually results in around 25%
damage, where as not blocking it can result in up to 100% damage and instant
death, though this damage seems to vary somewhat depending on your position
on the screen. Specifically, if you're caught in a jump it tends to take off
somewhat less damage than being caught on the ground, though this is by no
means a certainty in every case. The move delivers 20 hits in total, after
which Gill drops to the ground and is vulnerable for a short time. To
compensate for the massive blocking damage you take, be sure to dash forward
during this phase and welcome him back to the ground with the biggest,
meanest combo you can reliably pull off. Usually it's not too hard to take
more damage off him than he did off of you, especially if you have a Super
Art charged up, making this move actually beneficial to you in most
circumstances. In fact, the only time it becomes a real problem is when you
don't have the 25% life you need to take the blocking damage, but if your
life gets that low you're probably pretty much finished anyway.

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COMBO LIST:
Moves are seperated by a dash. There are others aside from these, especially
off of the crouching Fierce, but these are the most important ones to
remember.

standing Jab - standing Strong
crouching Short - crouching Forward
crouching Fierce - Psycho Head Butt (D,DB,B + Punch)
crouching Fierce - Psycho Head Butt (D,DB,B + Jab) - Psycho Head Butt
(D,DB,B + Jab)
crouching Fierce - Meteor Shower

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GILL VERSUS GILL: having fun with Twelve's X.C.O.P.Y.

Since the only time you can play as Gill is through Twelve's X.C.O.P.Y.
Super Art, the only possible opponent you can fight with him is the
computer's Gill. Considering this, there's no real point to writing a
general strategy section for playing as Gill against anyone else, so I'm
limiting this player strategy section to winning against Gill using Twelve's
X.C.O.P.Y.

First, let's deal with the problem of getting that X.C.O.P.Y.'s bar maxed
out in the first place. Gill's one tough cookie to deal with using Twelve's
natural form, but there is a relatively safe strategy to building up your
super bar enough to transform, and this almost entirely involves careful use
of the D.R.A. attack (D,DB,B + Kick while jumping). Even when he blocks this
move he rarely does anything too significant to counter it, and it will
build up your super bar rather quickly either way. To get a few hits in
before pulling the big copycat though, keep in mind that the D.R.A. can be
activated at any time during the jump. Often times, if you do the move while
coming down from a jump rather than on the initial rise, he's much less
likely to block it. This seems to work best when using the Roundhouse D.R.A.
from the opposite end of the screen while descending, but tends to improve
the success rate for the Forward version as well. Sometimes when he throws a
Strong Punch Kenesis out to intercept you from across the screen, you can
actually fly under it and hit him while he's left vulnerable with the right
timing. When in close though, a good technique seems to be repeatedly using
the Forward D.R.A. directly upon leaving the ground. Just jump and do a
Forward D.R.A. as soon as possible, then jump immediately again and keep
repeating as long as you can avoid getting hit. If you get so close that
you're risking being hit out of the air before even doing the D.R.A., then
it's time to back-dash away to safety and start again with a Roundhouse
version. Also, finding yourself backed into the corner can be a big problem
for this strategy, so your primary goal in that case should switch to
getting out into the open again. The best way to accomplish this when he's
crowding you is usually to jump and do a Roundhouse D.R.A. over his head, or
try air-dashing past him. If he's not quite close enough to get past him
easily, it's sometimes best to let him get that close and then make your
escape. His most effective counter for the D.R.A. tends to be the rising
Kenesis attacks, which actually do slightly less damage to you than is done
to him by being hit with a D.R.A., so even if you trade landed attacks
evenly you're still coming out slightly better in the end. In any case, this
strategy is most often a very effective method of both filling your super
bar up quickly, and keeping Gill relatively pacified in the process. The
only really dangerous thing to watch out for is being caught in the Meteor
Shower while jumping, but the danger of that can be minimized by keeping the
level of his super bar in consideration at all times, and being a bit more
cautious with the jumping when it's filled.

Now, once your super bar is full, go ahead and use it anytime you want to
transform into Gill and let the real fun begin. With your double armor,
remember that you take half damage of what you'll do to him with the same
attack, and his move priority has for once finally been equalized. The only
limitation on Twelve's newly aquired supreme power is the time limit on how
long he can maintain his morphed form. So, although you could easily pick
off his life little by little if you didn't have that limitation, your
strategy to beating Gill must keep in mind that you do. Since you want to
score big damage, and fast, you simply have to forget about using moves like
the Kenesis and Knee Drop for the most part. The fact is he will almost
always be able to block these attacks, making them a waste of precious time.
Your main focus will instead be on setting up his most damaging non-super
combo: the crouching Fierce into two Jab Psycho Head Butts. Luckily, this
isn't as hard as you'd think, and takes merely a little prodding to get him
to jump into his doom. Since his priority advantage is lost now, he won't be
able to counter your crouching Forward and Roundhouse kicks with attacks of
his own, so use these moves, especically the crouching Forward Kick, just
out of range of hitting him. If it barely misses him, he'll respond by
jumping towards you more often than not. When you see him do that, respond
in kind with a crouching Fierce. Don't worry if it only hits once, or even
trades hits with him, because once he's been launched those Psycho Head
Butts are almost guaranteed to hit. Simply follow with the D,DB,B + Jab
command twice, and watch as your simple 3-4 hit combo eats away at least a
quarter of his life and does tons of stun damage to boot. Landing even two
of these combos in a row will frequently render him dizzy, allowing you to
score a free third one, which usually ends up winning you the round by this
point. If for some reason this hasn't quite worked out as planned, and
you're in danger of turning back into Twelve, then make use of the Pyro/Cryo
Kenesis to force him to back off before you change. Once you're back in
Twelve mode, start the strategy in the previous paragraph above and
re-transform into Gill as quickly as possible.

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FIGHTING FIRE WITH ICE: pulling the old switcharoo

Now for everyone else, this section will deal with general anti-Gill
strategies for all of the characters except for Twelve. A few universal
points to keep in mind right off the bat:
1. Gill's moves generally have the best priority, speed, and damage of
anyone in the game.
2. Gill's parrying rate can get as high as nearly 80% against ground
attacks.
3. Gill's artificial intelligence knows an effective counter for just about
everything.

Looking at this, it's pretty obvious that playing offensively is usually
going to be the quickest way to your grave rather than his. In fact,
effecient defensive characters such as Remy and Oro tend to have the least
amount of trouble beating Gill, while mostly offensive characters such as
Ibuki and Yun have a much harder time. Luckily, I've come across a universal
technique that tends to give anyone a fighting chance. So, without further
adew, let me introduce the AI switching technique. The secret behind this
method of indirectly controlling Gill lies in the fact that the computer has
a set program of attack patterns, and can be made to switch to a new pattern
under certain circumstances. The method of doing this we want to look at for
Gill is by using a normal attack that barely misses him. When this happens,
you will often notice him either pausing or backing up momentarily. This
actually indicates that he's just randomly switched to a new attack pattern.
Now let's go into detail on making this little programming nuance work for
you.

First, we need an AI switcher attack that can function as just mentioned in
as safe and reliable a manner as possible. Ideally, the move we choose
should have good range and speed, with speed being more important overall,
and you should be standing rather than crouching for it. Most of the time
this won't ever be used to hit Gill directly, but if you can get an attack
with good priority that's even better for when it does. The perfect example
of this combination is probably the Shotokan characters' standing Strong
Punch. For other characters, we have to settle for the closest they've got
to this, though. Once you've found something that seems to work, you want to
use it whenever he gets just outside of it's range, or close enough to be
noticably affected by it. When the attack just misses him like that, he'll
pause or retreat as described before, indicating the switching of his AI
pattern. What's the use of this, you ask? Well nothing on it's own, but we
also want to find another attack we can easily use on him whenever he
switches to an attack pattern that will leave him open. Lets call this an AI
counter attack for future reference. For this one, power and range are
everything over speed and vulnerability, since we're only going to use it to
smack him when it's a sure hit. You also want to make sure it's really easy
to pull off in a pinch, because Gill never leaves himself open for long.
Ideal moves are standing Fierce or Roundhouse attacks with a lot of range,
or dashing attacks like Alex's Short Elbow Slash or Q's Jab Dashing Head
Attack. Now, here's a quick list of some of the moves to watch for after the
AI switch that you can exploit: standing Roundhouse, standing Fierce,
crouching Fierce, and upwards Kenesis. If he uses any of these and misses
you with it, and you're in range to connect with your AI counter attack, go
ahead and give it to him. After that, just go back to AI switching him until
he does something that leaves him open again, and repeat. Now, it's
important to note that he can also do other special moves or patterns after
you switch his AI which your AI counter move won't be able to take advantage
of. In those cases, simply refer to the appropriate counter listed in the
SPECIAL MOVES section above, or block and wait until you get him to choose a
pattern that is exploitable. Note that this strategy isn't a guaranteed
success, as even the patterns listed won't leave him open to your AI counter
all the time. This largely depends on Gill's position in relation to you and
the range of the AI counter move you're using, since if you can't reach him
with your AI counter it's useless no matter how much he's leaving himself
open. It also doesn't guarantee you won't be taking occasional hits yourself
either, since this is reliant on the range and priority of your AI switcher
move, and how effectively and carefully you're able to make use of it.

To make this whole thing a little easier to understand, I'll go through an
example. Let's use Yun, because he's normally a tough one to beat Gill with
and needs all the help he can get. First of all, let's find an AI switcher.
Well, his standing Fierce and Roundhouse are obviously too slow, which is
pretty much the case for everyone. The standing Forward and Strong are a bit
faster, but we want something we can do again and again without being left
too open, which unfortunately the awkward movement of these moves doesn't
provide. So we're left with the Jab and Short, either of which could be
okay. They don't have the range we'd ideally want, but the speed and
potential vulnerability are the most important aspects to consider, so
they're still the best bet he's got. Speaking of speed, the Jab seems to be
slightly faster than the Short, and leaves him less open. If the Short had
more range we might want to consider it anyway, but since they seem to be
about the same in that regard, we'll pick the standing Jab. As a side note
here, punches seem to invoke AI switching better than kicks do anyway, so
when you have a close match like this one, you should usually go for the
punch. Now to choose an AI counter attack. This one's an easier task, as
that long range standing Fierce makes an obviously ideal poking attack.
We'll go with these two then, standing Jab for our AI switcher, and standing
Fierce for our AI counter. As another side note, choosing these attacks
usually isn't so simple, and takes practice using them against Gill to
determine which work best. If you find an attack that works, by all means
stick with it, but you may want to experiment a bit with other attacks if
the one you're using doesn't seem to be too effective, despite possibly
appearing to be the most ideal through reasoning. Now the round begins, and
Gill's already getting cocky and walking right on up to our Yun. We'll just
hold back on the joystick for blocking purposes now, and tap the standing
Jab whenever he's getting close but still outside it's range. It doesn't
have much reach so we have to be careful about him throwing something like a
crouching Roundhouse, which will go right past the AI switching area we've
created with the Jab. If we're lucky he'll just walk close enough without
doing anything like that though, then the next Jab that misses causes him to
show the trademark AI switching pause. After we throw out that Jab we always
pause to see what's coming, and only continue with another Jab if he's
decided to try walking in again without attacking just yet. If we're backed
into the corner by now, that's actually a good thing, because then we can
constantly block without having to risk sacrificing distance by
unintentionally moving backwards all the time. Let's suppose after the
switch he goes into that crouching Strong into crouching Fierce pattern he
loves so much now. We see it coming in time not get hit by tapping the Jab
again, and instead sit back and block the pattern. The crouching Strong
moves him in closer, and the crouching Fierce will leave him wide open. As
soon as you see that opening, tap the Fierce for a free hit. But don't get
cocky now, because we have to go right back to the AI switching pattern and
wait for another opening after scoring that attack. If he now does something
that doesn't leave him open, like his sliding F + Forward kick, then we'll
just block it and continue messing him up with the Jab until he chooses
something we like better. Now he may also decide to do other things, like a
jump-in, in which case we'll parry his ever-so-predictable jump kick, and
try something like our Strong, Fierce, B + Fierce combo as he lands.
Likewise, Saber Lariats get blocked and easily countered with a normal
throw, and the Moonsault Knee Drop will be parried and countered with a
Nishou-Kyaku (F,D,DF + Kick), or blocked and countered with a Zesshou-Hohou
(D,DF,F + Jab). After all this, those few moves of his that do get through
won't really seem like much in comparison to all the ones we know how to
take advantage of, and his life will gradually drop faster than yours will,
hopefully giving you the win.

As you can see, the basic objective here is to use the AI switcher not as an
attack so much as a trigger to get him to leave himself open. Keeping this
in mind, focus on finding a move for this purpose without the intention of
actually hitting him with it, or at least not enough to do significant
damage, but instead looking for what he seems to react and leave himself
open to the most. When you're able to reliably switch his AI without fear of
retribution, and have a good AI counter attack that deals enough damage to
become significant in the long run, you'll be surprised at how easy to
defeat he can actually become. As a mental note though, remember that you
can never directly control what he does when he switches his AI. If he
decides to do a lot of things that leave him open, then you may certainly be
able to beat him before he fills his Super bar even once. If he decides to
be annoying and favor AI patterns that don't leave him very open, on the
other hand, you may simply not be able to knock him out within the round's
time limit. Even in this case though, things aren't totally hopeless if you
simply switch your objective to getting a time win. The fact is that all of
his attacks that can take off a lot of block damage tend to be easy to
counter afterwards (take the Seraphic Wing as a prime example). If he's not
using those attacks, and you're playing cautious enough not to let a large
amount of his poking attempts get through, you'll lose very little life. I
tend to find battles with Gill to end up where I always have about 25% more
life than he does at the end. That means that when I knock him out, I'm
sitting with less than half, where as a time win might result in me with 75%
and him with 50%, or whatever. The more aggressive he fights, the more
damage you'll be able to inflict back with this strategy. Above all else,
you must let him decide how the match will go, rather than trying to direct
the match yourself. Your best bet is to play this match reactively, not
actively.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

USEFUL TRICKS: artificial intelligence as an oxymoron?

Alex and Q both have patterns that will guarantee you free hits as any
computer opponent is getting up from a fall, including Gill. For Alex,
simply stand on top of him and cancel a close Forward Kick into a Spiral DDT
(F,DF,D,DB,B + Forward). For Q, simply grab him with the Capture and Deadly
Blow (F,DF,D,DB,B + Kick), and follow with whatever you'd like as a juggle.

Low-hitting Super Arts seem to be highly confusing to the computer no matter
which character it's using. When done outside of countering range, Ibuki's
Yami-Shigure will often hit an opponent easily as they rise, as will Necro's
Electric Snake. Additionally, Necro's Electric Snake can be cancelled from
the last hit of a Spinning Punch, or any grounded hits of an Electric
Blaster (usually only the first two), and the computer will almost always
get hit by it regardless of whether the preceding move was blocked or not.
The reason is that the computer usually blocks these special attacks high,
and when it does, it usually won't switch it's blocking correctly in
response to a low-hitting Super Art cancellation on your part (though I have
actually seen it happen maybe once out of a hundred times).

Gill's offensive style leads him to fall victim to high-priority Super Arts
when he's getting up off the ground. Simply stand within range of his normal
attacks, and activate your Super Art the moment he's fully up. The trick is
that he will always try attacking you the instant he's standing as long as
you're standing close enough for him to reach you. The high priority of his
moves usually makes this work in his favor, but not in the case where you
simultaneously activate a Super Art that has an even higher priority.

While Gill's parrying skills are admirable while grounded, he seems to lose
this ability while in the air, so don't let yourself get intimidated by his
frequent jumping tendencies. On the contrary, this often provides you with
the best opportunity to knock him down and use the previous tricks listed
above. While his jumping attacks do have a lot of priority, he's left
helpless to anti-air attacks that hit him before the set point during the
jump at which he always attacks a player on the ground. In other words,
either simply attack early enough to intercept him before he attacks during
his jump, or wait to intercept his attack with a parry and then counter.

As against all CPU characters, Remy can get free hits with a low Light of
Virtue chained after a crouching Strong Punch. All you really have to do to
defeat Gill is sit there blocking low and wait. If he walks into range of
your crouching Strong Punch, throw it out and immediately chain a Short
Light of Virtue onto it. The Light of Virtue will almost always connect on
any computer controlled opponent, regardless of whether the low Strong was
blocked or not. If he jumps at you, then use the Roundhouse Rising Rage
Flash early to knock him back down before he goes into the jump kick. Just
repeat this simple and easy pattern, and those free hits with the Light of
Virtue will quickly add up for the win.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it... good luck defeating quite possibly the toughest and smartest
fighting game boss ever created - you'll need it! :)

email me at: [email protected] (but don't ask me anything related
exclusively to the Dreamcast version of the game, because I don't own one
and probably won't be able to help)

be sure to also check out my Twelve and Sean guides, available at
www.GameFAQs.com

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