Undying

Dear Taokaka General Discussion thread, I sometimes played as Taokaka in Calamity Trigger and enjoyed her high mobility and hit-and-run shenanigans that could lame out or generally annoy the opponent. Her Almost Becoming Two! move was also one of my favorite distortion drives in the game, although she also had a good set of normals and specials to win matches with. Anyway, my question to you is this: Considering that Taokaka throws a bowling ball in the C version of Kitty Litter Special, does this mean that... A) Taokaka enjoys bowling? B) She sees Arakune's mask as a bowling ball? C) If she were real, would she agree to go bowling with me? I don't bowl and I don't play Taokaka anymore, but I am curious about this. Sincerely, Undying

If by "proficient" you mean "can win matches regularly/consistently", then I am mostly there, I have been "maining" my "mains" for a little over a month now. If I had focused on just one character, I think I would have already been at that level of "proficiency", but I like being able to play all the cool characters well enough :8/:. Certainly however, I am not proficient enough to win matches against expert or professional fighters, nor do I see myself winning any kinds of tournaments any time soon. None of my "combos" go over 2.5-3k damage with any character and I am struggling with timing in more complex ones . When CT came out, I was on a crash-course in the fighting game scene that was sparked by Street Fighter IV. I had played them now-and-then throughout my gaming experience, but nothing that went beyond button mashing and simple canned chain-combos (I didn't even know what a combo was at the time, but it looked really cool ). CS came out about a year after that experience and by then, I had a sufficient knowledge of several concepts discussed regularly in the scene such as okizeme, yomi, footsies, zoning, frames, hitboxes, and what have you. I took the knowledge I gained from playing multiple kinds of fighters regularly online and against live players in local multiplayer or at arcades to try to play Blazblue correctly (that is, to win.) For CT I was not from a serious fighting background, but for CS I was already on top of things before I even knew what they were. Definitely not an advanced player, but most certainly an enthusiast of the fighting game scene in general:kitty:.

Most of the time in CT, I stuck with any character that had a "super" mode, because I liked the idea of custom combo chains ala V-Ism from SFA3, which meant I picked Bang, Taokaka, and Ragna the Bloodedge. I stopped playing after a while and then came back into the Blazblue series when CS came out. By then, I had played several fighting games I hadn't before, including Guilty Gear. It was at that point that I became more conscious of how fighting games worked and how they are played. With that knowledge in hand and my general gravitation towards oddball/badass characters, I ended up maining the H-Man and the Boo-Boo Man , while subbing Haz and Lambchops . : Picked Hakumen as my main because I liked his fighting style and ability to deal with most situations in some way or another. I also fancied myself a bit of a psychic and noted that his Drive was also quite handy when I can accurately read my opponent (I seldom use it, however.) His ability to gain meter automatically and cancel specials into each other was another thing that appealed to me. His Astral, super mode, and overall badass design was just icing on the cake. It's also fun to hear him say "COME" and then immediately skip the intro sequences :razz:. : I picked Arakune a few times in CT, but his changes in CS made this pick somewhat more appealing. Arakune now has to work for his curse and is generally awful until he gets it, but the game is over once he does. I played mostly as Zappa in Guilty Gear XX and I saw many parallels from Arakune and Zappa that made him feel like a natural choice. His curse meter is similar to Zappa's soul orbs; once either one fulfills their conditions, they have essentially already won the match. I also like his design and being a bit of an Eva geek, I found it disturbingly fitting for him to be voiced by Spike Spencer . and : Completing the set of "Team Boundary" are Lambda-11 and Hazama. I liked both of these characters enough to want to learn them both, but I am still practicing their tools. I picked Lambda because I like robots and brainy girls with nice asses, so she was right up my alley . Her ability to control space and lead into ridiculous combos with a single button was also an aspect I enjoyed about her. Hazama in an interesting character and I picked him up because I thought his attacks looked flashy and he was a pretty cool guy. His Ouroboros drive is also interesting and is useful for controlling the screen/pace of the match in many cases. As for my CT "mains": as much as I like RTSD, I found that I actually prefer a more methodical pace to my matches because it typically means that I can be in control of the action when I have the momentum.

HERE COMES DAREDEVIL! :8/: I'm fairly new to the fighting game scene in general and have been playing them regularly in the recent one and a half years since. I haven't checked out the EFL and C3 yet, but I do not know of their presence in my area. I currently live near DIA between the city limits of Denver and Aurora, but will be moving to Fort Collins roughly ten weeks from today. I have played nearly every major fighting game since then, such as Street Fighter II: CE-Super SFIV, King of Fighters 96-XII, all of the Capcom crossover fighters, Namco's non-animu 3D fighters, Mortal Kombat II-Armageddon, Guilty Gear XX (MC, #R, and AC+), and both Blazblues. I haven't gotten into more obscure SF2/MK ripoffs or any other fighter made between 92-today that I didn't mention, but that doesn't bother me. My skills aren't sharp enough to compete with an advanced or professional player, but I can hold my own in most cases . I occasionally go to an arcade in the Aurora Mall on the weekends and sometimes compete against strangers to try and beat them at their own games. Because my mom's car is wrecked right now, she is borrowing my car and I can't move around very much, but I would like to join in the fun here. You can drop me a message if you want something more specific, I regularly check up on the site even if I seldomly post. As far as Guilty Gear and Blazblue goes, I mostly use , , and am learning in GGXX AC+. For Blazblue CS I main and ( and are in training). Because I know no basic BnBs or awesome combos, my playstyle tends to be a bit unorthodox :roll:. However, I am quite aware of what I'm doing and what is going on in a match. I've been sandbagged enough times to know when someone is holding back, so clean matches would be most acceptable. So what is going on in the Centennial State right now?

Alright, I wasn't aware of that actually. I also tried this on Carl and Tager and it seems to work just as well against them. This combo also prorates on counter-hit and does roughly 30% less damage. I like to use it because I happen to hit an opponent with 4B often and want to follow up with something quick. I am also trying to figure out what possibilities there are after a back throw when they're still OTG.

I'm a bit of a control freak, so I felt that Lamb-chan would naturally help me get some of that desire out and into opponents' faces . I am still a bit new with how she works, picked her up about a week ago and have learned a lot. I skimmed through parts of this thread but haven't tried any of the combos listed in them yet - I can barely get through challenge level 4 TBH... I'm still trying to get a feel for Lambchop's Air-to-Air options after launching an opponent with Spike Chaser or a move that results in wallbounce. I don't know what goes after 6DD>j.DD so I end up ending that chain Crescent Saber after the last blade hits. However, I did find a strange combo while I was checking out her options after a 4B in training mode. I think it went something like... 4B > j.C > j.2C> jump cancel >j.C >j.2C>214D (~1.7-2.6k damage) Alternatively, if you have enough heat... 4B > j.C > j.2C > jump cancel > j.C >j.2C> 632146D (~2.6-3.8k damage) I tried this combo out on Jin , not sure if it works on smaller characters or if it is easier against larger opponents. Also, you must be careful about the timing of the jump cancels after j.2C and your distance from the opponent, as the Crescent Saber may whiff if they are too far away or too far above from you (Calamity Sword tends to hit them even if they're really high up but close enough). The most hits I managed to land out of this combo was 28 hits and maxed out at approx. 2600 damage, although most of the time I was only to land about 23 for 2540-ish damage. A bit unstable, tends to blue-beat occasionally enough to make it impractical, but still an easy and viable follow-up to 4B. One time I was able to use j.DD to hit Jin a few times after the jump cancel, but I didn't get more than two swords in before he recovered...if anyone else wants to expand on these options, I would be all ears . I also picked up Lambda to figure out how to counter her as my mains ( and ), but right now she is just so fun to play around with. I didn't play Nu very much in CT, but if Lambda is any indication as to how much they had to change her to how she is in CS, I think I would have enjoyed it. Val-speak Yandere Nu is like, good for me and some junk .

Very informative read, oi! Zappa seems to have several great normal moves and crazy shenanigans associated with some of them. I had no idea that 5HS could be FRC'd twice or the lower-body invuln in 5K and 5D, as obvious as the latter seemed; should definitely come in handy for a Slide Head-spamming Pot or against sweep-type moves. 6P is also an interesting move, but I haven't found much use for it myself, as the only action I get on AC+ is against the CPU (Gold HOS can kiss my ass:mad:). The very first time I picked up Zappa, I thought 5S was a command special and always used to wonder why I always got a random ghost out of nowhere at times. It wasn't until I tried doing a 236+P (naked) that things really started to pick up, and the rest, as they say, "was history". Getting Raoh out for the first time was also a memorable moment, as was beating the living daylights out of May with Last Edguy:MA:. I am still trying to teach the Dog some new tricks, as it's sometimes confusing to keep both Zappa and the Dog together - occasionally, I will burst on accident from this:sweat:. Of all the summons, I find the Triplets to be the most useful in situations. As mentioned, they can link the S normals together along with Zappa's punches, and the explosions have a good amount of application. Tossing ghosts is also great for pressuring the opponent and stopping rush/jump-ins if timed right. I also like the sword, it has great pokes and decent priority over several other moves, but I definitely feel the damage on it to be quite low. If someone is turtling, I tend to toss out a "Looks Painful..." to close the distance, but try not to get too predictable with it, "...and is!" also tends to catch some players off-guard though:keke:. Dog has the most potential, but I've yet to fully master it and keep it in play long enough to do something nasty. I only discovered FRC a couple of days ago and it really allows me to do some insane things with the characters - instant Raoh from FRC'ing summons is pretty much the best thing ever in a fighting game to date, IMO. Is there much use for "Etiquette" (Zappa's Unsummon Force Break 214+D)? In X2 and #R, I would have to either get hit by my opponent or use "It's Alive!" (Zappa's Overdrive) to get rid of the current ghost (in order to summon Raoh), so I found it to be very useful in those cases. I'm just wondering if there's any other practical use for it. Also, what's up with Zappa's standing hitbox? Considering his stance and how it moves, I would imagine that it has some weird properties as well. Zappa's run is also pretty cool, seeing how it could run under certain attacks - does it have any other tricks behind it? Aside from the obvious like moves and color palettes, what are the biggest differences between X2 or #Reload Zappa and Accent Core Zappa (I haven't played Slash)? Patiently awaiting part two!

Really? Since Dan's the mod of the Zappa forum, does that mean that this place goes unmodded for the most part? AFAIK, there isn't much of scene here in Denver or Colorado for fighting [or other] games. I am aware of Extra Fresh League and the Colorado Cutthroat Connection chapters of competitive gaming, but I haven't seen them for myself. Also, I doubt there are many arcades around the city or in the whole state, let alone, any that carry Guilty Gear in any incarnation. The only one I am aware of is the one at the Tilt inside the Aurora Town Center, though it is Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival. Everytime I show up to play there, no one even touches the machine at all...it got more attention when it was dead (read: game disc dieded) than now that it's back up and running . Sometimes though, I do attract a few onlookers for a brief moment from all the zany action that GG offers, though I hardly ever get any takers. Yesterday was different though, as some guy offered to fight against my scrubtastic Faust , saving me the pain of having to fight boss I-No for the third time that day . He picked Chipp and rushed my ass down with a flurry of aggressive setups, abusing the hell out of Gamma Blade and his Sushi move . The way he played made it apparent that he knew what he was doing, but just looking at him would make it seem as if he was just slamming the stick and buttons furiously without direction . He hit the buttons so hard, the whole base the controls sat in shook and the jingling of coins inside the slots could almost be heard . We fought in a best of 2-out-of-3 games thing - I won the first game, he won the second, and I pulled out a win the third game - with many close matches in between. I got careless in the bonus round afterwards and almost got double-perfected , evening the score to 2:2. I shook his hand and left promptly, as I was out of tokens after said round. I spent most of the fight calmly zoning him with Faust's j.S [jump-ins], 2HS [Ground], j.HS [AA in Air], 5K [AA on ground], Ai (bomb-bags) [for pressure], and Nani Ga Deru Kana [for the hell of it]. Surprisingly, I was able to land the scalpel enema on him several times, mostly by doing it in between his attack-strings, but failed to land the IK on him at full-screen , much to my surprise. Still a great bunch of games though, it really helped me appreciate the arcade experience that much more to have a live match, though I think I probably would have done much better if I had picked Zappa instead. Actually, I think I heard murmurs that AC+ on PSP can be played through the PS3's Ad-Hoc Party app, but since I don't have any wired connections in my house that I can use, I am unable to experience that for myself. I'm sure that whenever GG XXX or whatever it's going to be called is released, it will have online play, though whether or not Zappa will still be relevant remains to be seen. Anyway, I think the thread has come a long way since it's inception, and since so many other people seemed to have shown interest in it, I think it's time for an update. That is to say, a Zappa player listing and some updated maps. I spent some time this afternoon compiling together information to throw onto some maps I found from information posted by users on this topic. Here's the result of that: ZAPPA PLAYER DIRECTORY N. AMERICA Map here. WEST U.S. (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana) Map here. Oiboi - Mountain View, CA (IK) Ankh - Fairfield, CA (Three Stooges) Hellsap - Portland, OR (EX-S, Zappa Summon) Lutrano - Tempe, AZ (#R HS, Ghost J.HS) Meowmix - Santa Clara, CA (#R K, Zappa 5K) lovage Thousand Oaks, CA (Zappa 4+Respect) AlmightyGnat - Van Nuys, CA (Zappa 2P) MID U.S. (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North/South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan) Map here. 4Corners - Denver, CO (#R-S, Raoh j.HS) Chippy - Columbus, OH (#R-K, Looks Painful) blipples - Lebanon, KY (#R-Start, 5D) Undying - Denver, CO (AC-K, Zappa Psych Burst) ~Gen~ - Memphis, TN (j.HS Zappa) EAST U.S. North/South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, R. Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine) Map here. Phrekwenci - New York, NY (j.D Zappa) Zoogstin - Raleigh, NC (Raoh 5HS) eratice8188 - CT (Zappa 6HS) Winbutton - Charlotte, NC (Zappa 2S) Hi-C - VA (#R-HS, 5HS) Haku Salmon - Cape Cod, MA (Zappa 6+Respect) SH-Junkie - Long Island, NY (5S Zappa) SOUTH U.S. (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida) Map here. Dangeif - Orlando, FL (Green Dictator Headstomp) Pirateyoshi - Miami, FL (Zappa Ghost Go Away...) Valentine - Houston, TX (Zappa It's Alive!) Tilde~ - Delray Beach, FL (Zappa Bellows Malice) CANADA Map here. [*]Chomite - Victoria, BC (small Dog) [*]Zeero - Toronto, Ontario (2HS) EUROPE & UNITED KINGDOM [*]Lars - France [*]The Mastodon - England AFRICA [*]Kanom - Morocco Map Source.

Hello, everyone. Name's Undying, but you can just call me "Undie" or "Dan" if you want. I am new to Dustloop and Guilty Gear in general, but I am already a fanatic of this game series! Played Blazblue CT on PS3 before I picked up Guilty Gear XX at the local arcade, and I was definitely not disappointed at what I saw. I must have spent at least $5 playing the game the day I discovered it, as the characters and game mechanics were so captivating, I got sucked into just trying to find out how it all worked! Out of that experience, I can say that my favorite characters of the bunch were Zappa and Faust, as they had a very unique and unpredictable way of handling any situation, which meant they never got boring to play. So I guess you could say I "main" these two characters(, ), though I also like Testament and A.B.A from AC. My location is Denver, Colorado. I go to a Tilt Arcade on the weekends at the Aurora towncenter with my dad (:KY:, ) and sometimes my brother(, ), sometimes picking fights with other players and getting whupped just as quick. Also, regarding this thread, has the map been updated since its last posting? Looks a bit outdated...if I am going to be on the map, I want Normal Kick Zappa (My main color) in his Psych-Burst pose.