Capcom Versus SNK 2
Basic Vega (Balrog in Jap. versions) guide v 1.3
by Frostbite
***What's new?
-Revisions almost everywhere!
Introduction:
Okay. I pretty much suck when it comes into things like these. Besides, it;s
pretty much self-explanatory. Vega is (IMO) a top tier character from the
Capcom side (thanks to his speed and priorities) that almost nobody likes to
use (dang shoto scrubs...). I will assume that you are quite familiar with the
notations and stuff. If not, head to www.highervoltage.net or to the madman's
cafe.
Before emailing me, take note that I do not know:
-his bio
-his quotes
-his style
-his ending (when I beat the game, it was in Jap...and my Jap ain't that good
yet!)
-the official name of his moves.
..and lastly, I will only put in here the moves I commonly use or which
require special attention.
Legal stuff:
"What's mine is mine....what's yours is yours"
Nuff sed.
Hey! This FAQ is Onibushi's! Ripoff!
It ain't plagiarism...coz I WAS ONIBUSHI! ugh....just had to change my em@il
addy since edsamail's no longer free...besides, the servers are getting ugly,
so it's a good chance for me to change email addies. ^_^
Guide proper:
rating: the more stars, the merrier ^_^ (aka...good abuse material!)
+++Normal moves:
crouching strong (csp) *****
-best poke he has. Has good range, speed, priority, and okay
damage.
-abuse this
crouching forward (cfk) *****
-see csp.
-mix with csp
crouching fierce (cfp) ***
-it can be an "okay" anti-air. I don;t use this that much....
standing roundhouse (srk)***
-better antiair than the cfp. They gave back his old SSF2 srk.
Yay!
f+standing roundhouse (f+srk) **
-knocks down the opponent....IF it hits
crouching short (csk) ****
-see csp, minus a little range, and a lot of damage
-use this with cfk
crouching roundhouse (crk) ***
-a slide which may/may not knock the opponent to the ground
-be careful...coz if the opponent blocks/you miss, expect a
"Marvel vs. Capcom sized" combo afterwards...
standing strong (ssp) *****
-good standing poke. Lacks sfp's power. Only hits high. FAST
recovery and almost no lag.
stand fierce (sfp) ****
-same as ssp, with slightly added recovery and lag time
jumping fierce (jfp) *****
-great jump in. Has vertical (down) range and priority.
jumping roundhouse (jrk) *****
-same as jfp, only diff. is that it hits deeper. Can hit
Zangief out of his lariat I believe. Also seems to hit Chun Li out of her "3rd
strike cheap" standing fierce. hehehe.
kick air throw (duh! Air throw with kick button) ****
-THE anti-air move of Vega. Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to
pull of since it's an air-throw move.
(note: Vega can also leap "from the wall". Just back up into the corner, then
"jump away the corner")
+++Special moves
Flip kick (charge db, f+k) ****
-a flip kick which mimics Guile's sommersault. Pretty good anti
air/wake up move. The charge motion still bugs me though,,,then again, the best
use for this is for "wake-up"...^_^
Rolling stab (charge b, f+p) ***
-all I know about this move is that it can hit while he;s
rolling. You can use this when the opponent is recovering (and if he doesn't
have a shoryuken type of move!) to chip some life.
Wall leap/climb (charge d, u+k, then press punch for a claw slash or d+p when
you're near the opponent for a suplex) ***
-advice on how to use this move....DON'T get predictable coz
anyone with a decent anti air can nail you out of this. Use this primarily to
confuse your opponents left and right. There was once a time when it's just my
r2 Vega, against my opponent's r3 Terry. Since I only have less than 1/8 of my
left, his Terry almost 1/4, I thought to myself, "Oh what tha hell...", then
proceeded to do multiple Wall leaps. Well guess what.....since Vega IS a
pressure character...and if you're opponent IS pressured....this move WILL
DOUBLE THE PRESSURE....my less than 1/8 Vega BTW won the match ^_^. Tricking
your opponent when to "attack" from the Wall leap/climb makes wonders for those
shoryuken freaks...Feel free to abuse this if your opponent doesn't have a
decent anti air however...^_^
Flip (3p/3k) ***
-I don;t abuse this like hell. Use this to retreat to a wall for you to "bounce
from" safely. Thazz all.
+++Supers:
Claw stab (charge b, f, b, f+p) (lvl3) *****
-THE Vega super...master doing this after a jump and watch
opponent's life bar go gone when they get suprised with this move ^_^ Has
almost NO lag time...and absolutely NO recovery (recovery is identical to s.
sp). Can be used as anti-air but be careful. Watch out since the move hits only
"high". You can use this move in ANY situation: Wake-up, poking,
counter-attacking...you name it, it can be used for it.
Flip kick super (charge b, f, b, f+k) ***
-A better version of the Flipkick special.If you don't have enough
super meter to start the claw stab super, you can use this in place of the Flip
kick special. Be warned that at level 1, priority is horrible
Rolling Inza drop (charge db, df, db, u+k) ****
-see wall leap/climb special
+++Combos:
Honestly, the best combo I have is
jrk/jfp, csp.
Although Vega is VERY fast, he doesn't have the comboability ease of
the Shoto clones. He relies more on powerful pokes/stabs.
+++Pressuring
"Pressure is the name of the game" -> My Bio prof. in UA&P ^_^
Just remember that "corny" line from my Bio. prof. Vega's pokes,
priorities and speed are his keys to victory. When the opponent makes a
mistake, punish with a throw, sfp or the claw stab super. Rinse, repeat.
Common pressure tactic I use:
jfp/jrk, csk (x2), cfk, csp, ssp/sfp
You can skip the first four moves and replace it with a cfk. Works
best at corner. But IMO, if you can manage to tweak the pressure tactic that I
use, it can work almost anywhere in the screen.
+++What if I lose my claw?
It is inevitable that in one of your matches, you will lose your claw.
Your best bet is to get it back since it plays a BIG part of your
poking/pressure game. But if the opponent is good enough not to let you get it,
you can still poke him with his kicks, csp, sfp and/or jfp....although don't
expect all of them to outprioritize your opponent. Anti-air is still not
affected since you got kick-air throw and the flipkicks. You can also use the
Flip kicks/Flip kick supers if you can manage to squeeze them in. Just
remember, get that claw back if you have the chance!
+++Hit and run
As the name merely implies, you nail the opponent with any of the
ff.: csp, sfp, jfp, jrk. Then you retreat. Rinse and repeat. Trust me. This'll
annoy people a lot. This is very effective against most grapplers.
+++Rationing
I once wrote that r1 is the worst r1 for Vega....well guess what....IT TOTALLY
DEPENDS ON YOU! If you feel confident with your Vega skills, then go ahead,
give him a low ratio value so that you can concentrate the rest on your other
main character(s). Rationing Vega to Ratio 4 has it's benefits (you take LESS
damage and do MORE damage)....as well as it's risks (you lose once...game
over!!!).
+++Groove
I use N groove. A level 3 super at the cost of 2 levels
ain;t bad for Vega. Besides, you get to run, roll and high jump. If you feel
comfortable in the other grooves, fine, use 'em.
P and K grooves are great if you feel "elite", since it only takes ONE bar to
do his claw super, but you lose a whole lot of stuff (like rolling). K groove
as explained by SAL is great once you master the "just defend" technique, while
P groove is just one helluva groove to even just familiarize with (NO! This
ain't SF3!!!!). I'd wager my bets on K groove however, since Just defend is
just plain easier to do...not to mention it recovers some of your health
back...PLUS that big damage boost when you're raged ^_^
+++General strategy
Poke. Pressure. Poke. Pressure. Poke. Pressure. Poke.
Pressure. Those are the two words that Vega's strategy is all about. Fire ball
traps are handled through rolling/hitting them first with csp. Grapplers are
handled by jumping around (*carefully!*) and nailing them with jrk or jfk. And
absolutely counter *EVERYTHING* with the claw stab super. Nuff sed.
If you can't seem to poke and pressure them, fear not. You
can also opt to do the hit-and-run tactic. This will test their patience, and
if you're patient enough, this will make them commit mistakes, which you can
counter freely.
+++Character specific guides:
*Yamazaki - I don't know why people don't like to use him.
He's one of the stronger characters in the first game, and he's better now,
since his supers are now easier to do. Vega's best bet in fighting Yamazaki is
to read his mind. If you jump in, he has the options to do the
taunt-and-counter move, the qcfx2+p super, or his upwards aim backfist. The
latter two can be easily handled with Vega's superior speed and priority, while
the first one can be a pain in the a**. Vega has a pretty low stamina, so don;t
even find out the hard way which one is he gonna use, since it is going to be
*very* painful. Since his counter move DOES NOT counter many low attacks, this
is were the cfk can save you. Poke him with cfk. Of course, you jave to deal
with his backfists. They all have a frame of recovery which Vega can capitalize
on if any of them misses. Just be patient and evade them. If the chance to hit
him hard comes, do it fast! Your best bet of course is to throw him....since
most people view Vega only as an effective "poker". Just remember, Vega is
faster than Yamazaki! Use speed to your advantage.....watch out for Yamazaki's
insane throw range though!!!!!!!
*Geese - Unless you're fighting a complete moron/someone
who still can't get his moves right....is Vega supposed to win this match!?.
His only weakness is his ability to guess which counter to use. And for the
first time....DO NOT ABUSE THE LVL 3 CLAW SUPER...Geese counters physical
supers like crap. Let's review his counters (I used to be a Geese user in the
1st game.....^_^)
"High counter" - He raises his arm up. Can counter ANY non-normal
(aka, specials and supers) physical attacks and jumping attacks.
"Mid counter" - Arms at torso level. Counters standing
attacks/mid-hitting ones.
"Low counter" - DUH! Attacks which are oftenly done crouching can
be countered in this move.
Raging storm - the dreaded of all his counter moves, especially if
you jump in at him, since this move can take out HUGE chunks of life (as SAL
would put it. Geese+Kgroove+Raging Storm=instant death....). It's IMpossible to
outpriotize Geese's *Raging storm at level 3/maxed level.....so don't even
bother of "knocking" him out of it....just stay away and wait!
If you;re fighting the CPU, he tends to be predictable, so no
problem in that. Watch out if he has a super ready though....CPU gets
unpredictable with his raging storm. If you're fighting human players, you can
worry less about the raging storm since it's pretty difficult to use...unless
if they;ve mastered the timing. Now that's where it gets scary. Since his
counter throws can counter ANY physical attack, mixing up your attacks can make
a BIG difference. Don't just use csp, also use ssp and jrk. Jumping in without
attacking can be okay, just watch out for his cfp (uppercut), which can be
swatted with any of Vega's attacks.You can tell when he's gonna use his counter
which since his counters have a short frame when he can counter (unlike
Yamazaki's, where he can counter as long as he's sticking out his tongue).
Watch out for his jumping hard kick (the one which looks like his sweep). That
move of Geese outprioritizes almost ANYTHING in the air, including most of
Vega's air arsenal. Again, due Again, due to the lack of good Geese players, I
STILL cannot find a move that can beat his j.rk. And know this,....since I;m
still a Geese player, so far, nothing that I know of HAS BEATEN his
j.rk....save for a level 3 air super (I guess)...
Bottomline: Play the guessing game with him. The moment a Geese player can read
your attack patterns like a book is the moment he wins....again, watch out for
his insane throw range....
*Sagat -again another tough match. Sagat's high priority moves, coupled with
his high damage capacity is just too much for Vega's defense to deal with.
Fortunately, you are faster than him. Just don't risk in "trading hits", since
you'll always lose because of his damage. DON'T blindly jumpin at him, coz
Tiger Uppercut cleaves your life quite easily. Tiger Genocide is the worst
punishment you can receive.
*Rugal - pretty much the same story as Sagat, only that HE'S *faster*
(compared to Sagat of course). One thing about Rugal however, is that he can't
jump for squat (his jump is just slooooow). So he'll stick to the ground. Don't
take the bait! Coz if you jumpin him, he'll either:
1) Genocide Cutter
2) Standing Roundhouse
3) Parry/Just defend, THEN do something while you're helpless.
Distance is the key here. Keep him out of his effective range, while inside
your stabbing range. Sounds simple, but pretty hard, since Rugal here is NOT
the sucky Rugal he was in KOF98. CvS1, he's improved a bit (both versions). Now
in CvS2, he's one of the best characters in the game IMO. Good damage, good
speed, good throw range and good stamina. Too bad he's got a horrible jump.
Players (speaking from own experience as a Rugal player ^_^) will poke you with
his s.rk, c.sk, s.fp and s.fk. Watch out for his level 3 supers....both are
equally damaging...
*Shotobrats (Akuma, Ryu and Ken) - They almost always play the same. So it's a
pretty give away. Ryu is the "timing" character, Ken is the "aggressive"
player, while Akuma is the mix of both. Ryu has power. Ken has speed. Akuma has
tools. All have priorities with their shoryukens. One nice thing to know is
that Akuma still takes damage like a granny (he's prolly old as Heihachi!), so
hitting him with the Claw super is a must! Ryu is the "slowest" of the three,
so use your speed to dispose of him. Ken is only good when he's up in your
face....so outprioritize him wiht your pokes and/or supers! His lvl 3 claw
super SHOULD catch Ken in any of his Supers...Fireball traps are pretty useless
here since you can roll, dodge, parry or just defend them. Remember, the c.sp
should nail them at least several times due to it's good reach.
*Blanka - Okay....pretty theoretical since Blanka players here ALMOST DON'T
EXIST!...but from my OWN experience as a Blanka player, watch out for the
following:
1) c.fp
2) rolls. s.fp SHOULD get him after a blocked roll
3) super meter. If he can do a super, DO NOT jump at him. Trust me.
4) j.rk. Think Vega's the only one with a good j.rk? ^_^
5) the slide (df+fp). I use this to surprise ppl....can count the number of
times my buddies scream things at me whenever I do this move ^_^
Any comments? Tips? Hints?
em@il me at
[email protected]
or
at
[email protected]
Again, go for the bigfoot addy....I only use hotmail for emergency purposes ^_^
