Aquapazza: Aqua+ Dream Match

[Elochai]

Went ahead and downloaded and uploaded the footage from the Examu Cup stream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_zX6Z6BnZc

Thanks! Looking forward to some high level play.

edit: lol wow, video removed for length? I've seen a 7 hour video before; how can this be?

Edited January 16, 2014 by Elochai

[lark]

Went away after uploading. Looks like you have to register your mobile number to have longer than 15 minute videos. Link works now.

[Grimsley-San]

Is there any high-level Manaka play?

[iw2ma]

Let me re-make this clear from some pages back.

Manaka is BAR NONE, as in no contest, the worst character in the game. She is total trash, in every way.

There is only 1, a single, GOOD japanese player that uses her and he still loses 95% of the time in every video he's ever been on A-cho/kouhatsu. There are other Manakas but they are mediocre, meaning they are terrible because they use her and can't beat anyone other than themselves in tournament.

[Crimefighter]

Went ahead and downloaded and uploaded the footage from the Examu Cup stream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_zX6Z6BnZc

You are the best.

Is there any high-level Manaka play?

I haven't watched the whole archive, but there's at least one Manaka.

[Elochai]

The performance of the Manaka players (two of them iirc) is to be expected. Surprisingly though, there was a pretty good Oboro who was getting wins.

I'm pleased with what I watched though. Only disappointed because there were no Riannon players.

Tamaki/Ulthury is pretty hilarious; the one guy who was running it in the video showed me how silly it is.

[Speakeasy]

Sorry if this is a double post, but I posted a couple minutes ago and my post hasn't shown up yet.

Is this game completely dead online? I bought it on a whim a couple weeks before Christmas and I've tried to play online a few times, but I haven't seen a single soul aside from the odd pair of friends in a room. Shame, too, because I really like it.

[Crimefighter]

I always manage to find some players when I go online in player match, sometimes it's nothing but private lobbies, but even then if I start a lobby someone joins eventually. If you'd like you can add me, I'm always up for playing this game.

[Speakeasy]

I'd absolutely love to add you, but I don't have a mic (or headset or CB radio or whatever it is the PS3 uses) and I don't play Aquapazza very often. Got a fightstick a couple weeks ago and I've been playing Arena a ton whenever I'm playing the PS3. In addition to that, I'm about as beginner as it gets with Aquapazza.

[Grimsley-San]

I always manage to find some players when I go online in player match, sometimes it's nothing but private lobbies, but even then if I start a lobby someone joins eventually. If you'd like you can add me, I'm always up for playing this game.

Add me, I'm mainly on my PS3 on weekends

[Elochai]

I'd absolutely love to add you, but I don't have a mic (or headset or CB radio or whatever it is the PS3 uses) and I don't play Aquapazza very often. Got a fightstick a couple weeks ago and I've been playing Arena a ton whenever I'm playing the PS3. In addition to that, I'm about as beginner as it gets with Aquapazza.

If you're East Coast, I will play with you!

[Speakeasy]

If you're East Coast, I will play with you!

I'm in the South now and will probably be in the Midwest in a few months. :C I'm adding Grimsley-San and Crimefighter though, if you guys are cool with that.

To return the discussion to the game, I mostly use Chizuru and Manaka with Sasara or ... um... the singer lady with red hair. I just can't figure out any big combos, though. This game's much more strict than the ones I'm used to.

[Crimefighter]

I have a mic (for the record, the PS3 works with all USB headsets/mics as far as I know), but I usually don't bother using it, I just send messages (the PS3 also supports using USB keyboards for text input).

If midwest means chicago, make an effort to head out to ignite on mondays, I bring a setup with this game almost every week.

If you're looking for rina combos with chizuru, just confirm into assist and then mash BC. Manaka can do that in the corner too (I even put it in my incredibly amazing and not shitty looking combo video), but it's not worth it given rina's long cool down and how it's basically useless in neutral. Chizuru+Rina is alright though, not great but not awful. Both of those characters work well with a variety of assists though, so for the most part you can play whoever you want with them.

In general for combos, you just want confirms into super. You can do fancier stuff with assists and the corner and what not, but you'll pick that up through videos/matches. If you have any specific questions you can always ask them here.

[Speakeasy]

Chicago (or any big city really) would be sweet as hell to live in, but alas, I'll most likely be in the Kansas City area.

I've found that with Rina's assist active, just about everything is a combo. I mostly use her because I started to learn the game using her and Multi, which was a very nice combination in my eyes. I mostly use Serika because the grab is handy and the move she gets from the opponent is generally pretty useful to have. There are some partners I just can't fathom using, though, such as Yu. Are those partners just for extra hits in combos or something?

[Crimefighter]

Yu can defiantly work well in combos, off of the top of my head she's the only one that lets Manaka combo off of her throw, I'm sure she works well with other characters too.

She also probably works well for Oki set ups. I haven't tested anything, but move-that-gives-hard-knockdown > Active assist into YU (6/4D) probably makes the opponent wake up blocking the fan, which would let you do a mix-up of some sort.

Here's a really basic rundown of assists as I understand them (If someone else can give better descriptions of some of these, please do.)

Camyu-

Fireball knocks them high up, so sometimes you get really good combos off of it.

in neutral fireball can make them block for a while, since they know it's coming. It doesn't really lock them down, but it can be decent cover if you want to go in.

Dark energy thing makes them not want to jump, if you combo into it you force them into low emotion.

Llyr -

You can use the delay stab thing for oki setups, not sure about the ice thing, combo tool maybe?

Ma-ryan-

Fireworks make stuff safe and can be used as a poke. Kick can work in combos, but it's nothing amazing. Fireworks is probably the best assist for making stuff safe, because of that Ma-ryan isn't really bad for anyone. If you're new and want a "default" assist while trying out characters, I'd suggest Ma-ryan.

Mizuki-

Uppercut is a really good combo tool, running kick can make approches better/stuff safe, but it's not as good as most other assists for that sort of thing

Octavia-

Sword slash is a good alpha coutner, it knocks them down and comes out really fast as long as Octavia is nearby. The flash of light can be an alright poke and you can combo off of it.

Rathty-

Hammer spin extends combos, hammer hit does a lot of damage and you can kind of use it as a ghetto slide head. Hammer spin also works well as an alpha counter if Rathty can avoid getting hit. It wont be fast enough to hit them, but they'll be stuck blocking for a while, so you can do whatever mix-up.

Rina-

Rina gives you huge damage in exchange for basically sacrificing your assist. She's probably not the best assist for anyone, but she's usable with most of the cast.

Satsuki-

really good lockdown assist, call the tripple gunshot and do your mix-up, they'll either get hit, or be in low emotion from all the blocking. If you do something dumb you can cancel into single shot assist and make a lot of stuff safe. Satsuki is good with most if not all of the cast. If your character doesn't have an obviously amazing assist and you don't think Ma-ryan is really giving you much, I'd look at Satsuki before anyone else.

Serika-

Don't know much about her, grab probably lets you do good neutral/oki set-ups, her 4/6 assist is obviously matchup dependent.

Ulthury-

You can get Kanji lightning, except it also tracks, and you can do it out of blockstun, and it'll combo break for you, and you can still use all your normals/specials while it's coming, and you can cancel whatever you want into it. Also you have that whilwind thing, I have no idea what good it'll do.

Yu-

Normal fan gives you a ground bounce for combos, multihit fan keeps them stuck in the same place for combos/mix-ups

Yuma-

Nothing really stands out to me with this one, but it's popular at kouhatsu, watch they're stuff and pay attention if you want to learn it I guess?

Yuki-

Makes all your normals cancel into each other, so you get swag combos. Also has snowflakes which the other player basically just has to respect. She also has a long recharge like rina, but is much more useful in neutral thanks to the snowflakes. Also worth noting is that her snowflakes always fall in one of 3 patterns.

[SonOfHeaven]

If anyone wants to get some games in. Message me via PSN.

[SoWL]

Bought the game last week, Tamaki is as great as I expected. Though to be honest, the fact that she doesn't have any decent pokes worries me, but I suppose that's what the assists are supposed to compensate. It also feels like the inputs are a bit more strict than in BB: I can 360 with Tager any day of the week, but with Tamaki, I get her suplex or the eye laser more often (which kinda sucks, especially the latter). And I totally have to get her short hop mix-ups down, the usual grappler "grab or AA" can only get you so far.

[Crimefighter]

You should run Uthury assist with Tamaki, it's not really a poke, but gives you a better version of kanji's lightning oki (maybe the best oki in this game? I'm not sure). Also it's worth noting that your half circle command grabs have a bunch of invun on them, I'm not sure exactly how much and when, but it's not frame 1 and it's not until active, but you can still do it when your opponent wants to put pressure on you and just throw them out of their stuff.

Also,

Knock them down in corner > call Uthury > A grab before lightning hits

> if you grab them then yay

> if they jump then they have to block lightning in the air, your A grab will recover quickly enough to AA grab them out of their airblock

> if they got hit by lightning you can super them or AA grab them

> if they try and hit you out of command grab they get lightninged

Some characters can reversal super to get out, but not everyone iirc. If you do it midscreen upbacking might let them jump away from lightning or back dash the grab and avoid the lightning, I don't remember but if you make the hard read you can blow those options up.

[SoWL]

Yeah, I'm already running Ulthury with her, and I'm aware of those lightning tricks, but it might take a while before I can do them reliably (still has to train myself to do stuff when the lightning actually hits).

Also, it feels that among all the 360s, even 360A has pretty bad range, even though Tamaki does cover their sprite with her hands on whiff. This (along with the input issue) is why I opt to use the suplex more often, even if it doesn't deal as much damage. Also, invul frames, yay!

[Hecatom]

I have to say that i hate fighting against Multi because the cute sounds she makes when being hit make me feel bad about hiting her

[ehuangsan]

If Tamaki had good normals, she would be SSS+ tier. She is already the best grappler in the history of fighting games.

Just ignore your lifebar and YOLO all day. If you are not dead, then it doesn't matter.

I don't get why people complain about Chizuru when Tamaki is the one that is really having all the fun in all of her matchups.

Chizuru-Tamaki may be an even matchup, but it is a struggle to play the Chizuru side.

[nadakaineko]

In what universe does Tamaki not have good normals?

Edited January 28, 2014 by nadakaineko

[Tigre]

If Tamaki had good normals, she would be SSS+ tier. She is already the best grappler in the history of fighting games.

You can't be serious. Tamaki has god normals. Hell, Tamakis jA extends almost two full character lengths in front of her. She literally has zero bad normals.

People do/did complain about Tamaki. The difference is Chizuru literally shits on you from half screen for zero meter. Tamaki at least needs a super to godpress and punish a wiffed normal.

In what universe does Tamaki not have good normals?

The same one where Oboro is winning tournaments, it appears.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Tigre

[SoWL]

In what universe does Tamaki not have good normals?

I've been playing the game for a week, so yeah. I suppose I should use her 5C more often as a poke, even if it whiffs on crouchers (if they're crouching, I should be in their face mashing 5/2A or something). I also can't get used to her B+C and when I'm supposed to use it.

And yeah, her jumping normals are all amazing.

[ehuangsan]

Tamaki's normals are only good in some circumstances, but they have problems against characters with good neutral like Karlau, Chizuru, and to some extent Multi. However, she can just YOLO so it's all good.