Xaphiel

Not sure if this will help much, but I usually mash until Jin lands the 6th hit of Sekkajin. I tend to mash all the way through, though, because I'm still used to doing the move by mashing instead of holding the button. It continues to work just fine, and I don't have a stick to worry about taking good care of, so I haven't bothered to switch over yet. So for me it's like this: 5C>mash mash>1st hit of Sekkajin>mash until Jin lands the 6th hit from Sekkajin>stop mashing and watch as Jin continues to Sekkajin, then stops at the 8th hit>followup after recovery frames at end of Sekkajin The trick, at this point, is recognizing the end of the recovery frames from Sekkajin and making sure your dash input comes in *right* after it. Just Sekkajin and Sekkajin and Sekkajin a lot, focusing on watching the end of the animation. Maybe try holding forward while Jin is recovering from the move, so that it will be easier to recognize where the recovery ends and when you can begin to give inputs and control Jin. Get very familiar with the recovery timing and the animation so that you develop intuition and reflex. It might take a while, but you'll get it.

Major thanks for the thoughts and the perspective. Really inspired me to consider the potential changes from a few different angles that I had been too lazy to get serious and look at or think about. It's been a really long time, should really start taking GG study/practice more seriously for the release this Summer.

Herp derp ;_; I think Johnny picked up Jackhound in Slash, not #R. Sorry about that. But yeah, all the other stuff should be good to practice on. Don't forget to spend time practicing mist cancels for mist Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 since the timing will be different. You'll probably want to practice Level 2 cancels the most, since you'll want to be at Level 1 as little as possible, and unless you're an unorthodox Johnny player you will rarely make it to Level 3 on purpose. Although honestly I recommend getting Level 3 cancels down *pat* if you can. Lots of potential there, and the vast majority of people who play against Johnny scarcely have to cope in a match against someone who is busting out Level 3 cancels reliably, so you'll have the added advantage of being less familiar.

Well, I didn't really start taking the game seriously until I started playing AC so I don't actually know much at all about Johnny from #R. I'm fairly certain the timing for mist cancels, Divine Blade FRC, Mist Stance Jackhound and Mist Stance Dash Jackhound are the same. Those are all good things to practice that you can and should make part of your game. Also, yes... the 'double hop' which you will usually see called Wave Dashing is a very useful tool to help Johnny feel less stiff. Wave Dashing is also especially useful since a lot of people don't see it very often at all, so it helps to add something to your game that most people won't be expecting.

I've actually never owned a PSP. What kind of limitations are you working with? What kind of difficulties do you have playing fighting games on the PSP? In general my best advice for just starting off is familiarizing yourself with Johnny's normal moves. Knowing which ones to use at what time and why. At the same time, practice your Mist Cancels, they are *required* to play Johnny and hope to have a chance at victory. If you have any questions or need any help, don't hesitate to post something up.

At the very beginning I want to state very clearly that I'm not trying to bash DC, and that the man obviously has skills. I'm impressed by his execution in some cases and he does some interesting things with KJFRC's, and one-hit Ensengas are always sexy. That being said, I just cannot get behind his style. I wonder what his mentality must be at certain points and I always have a "WTF?!" moment in every single match. I'm honestly wondering why more of his opponents don't just adopt a safer and more defensive strategy until he runs out of coins, which doesn't take long. I mean, sure... Johnny gains tension like a beast and by the time DC *is* out of coins he's probably going to get a good tension lead while you play it safe. But even then JO is way less scary when he's stuck in Mist Level 1 unless he uses Return Jack, which is a terrible waste of tension at *almost* any time in my humble opinion. Let me also state that this is my opinion and my JO skills are not as good as DC's.

I'm really not sure what would be 'best' to practice with, but 5H was my go-to for early Mist Cancel training. But really my best advice is to practice with a wide range of normals on each Mist Level respectively, that would probably provide the best results and sharpen your Mist Cancelling instincts and senses more. It will probably be frustrating, and keep in mind that it will take some time to be really good, but the payoff will feel great and I truly cannot stress enough how essential good Mist Cancelling skills are to playing Johnny. Keep in mind that the timing for when you cancel out of Mist Stance will be sooner depending on which Mist Level you're at. The higher the level, the sooner you have the opportunity to cancel out of Mist Stance, and the quicker you will have to be with your cancel input to get the best possible Mist Cancel. The reason is because a greater Mist Level means it takes fewer frames to enter Mist Stance. You'll mainly want to focus on your cancels for Level 1 and Level 2 since you're going to spend the majority of your time at these two Mist Levels. One more thing. Here is a trick to tell when you're doing the fastest possible (and therefore best) cancel for your Mist Level. If 5H>236[K]HS is the input you're using for a Mist Cancel, then instead of holding K until you press HS simply tap K to enter Mist Stance and then tap HS to cancel out of it *before* Johnny can perform a K Mist Finer. This means that if you do not press HS to cancel Mist Stance at the *very* first opportunity (the very first frame that you can input HS and cancel out of Mist Stance, which is dependent on Mist Level) then Johnny will perform Mist Finer instead of cancelling out of the stance. You probably shouldn't try to do this until you're at least comfortable with how quickly and consistently you're able to Mist Cancel.

Major thanks to qwerty for taking time out to help the community like this! Really appreciate it.

Demonstration video(s) would be fantastic if it's not too much trouble, qwerty. Definitely helps people to understand, and honestly the Johnny forum needs the activity ;_; If anybody out there is thinking about picking up Johnny to play with the new release of Accent Core to Xbox LIVE and/or PSN, or if you're still out there trying to brush up on your JO game for your next showdown please don't hesitate to speak out or ask questions in the Johnny forum. I'm sure that there is a surprising number of experienced players lurking here, hoping that someday people will freely talk shop about JO again. If you're new and you're interested in Johnny or just Guilty Gear in general, speak up and help us help you help the scene and the game.

Everyone I know who is in the GG scene here in my slice of Texas wants this *incredibly* bad. Mostly for the 360, but some people prefer the PS3. Just making it known.

Not Sakura FRC, Jo is talking about the move when Baiken throws out a grappling hook and pulls you in. You can hit I think S to follow up with a two-cut attack. I think that after the first hit you can FRC, but I haven't played a Baiken in ages so.. I'm a little foggy.

I believe that if you can just tap K/S/P, and then press HS at the right time to mist cancel, then you know it's the fastest possible. So just tap K, S, or P instead of holding it, and if you still manage to cancel then you've done it as soon as you can.

OMFG wat?! This Johnny just beat *ass*! I was cheering him on the whole time, and I really got into these matches. Love the MC skills. This is a *must see*. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGqkgUP5rbk&feature=PlayList&p=F5706BECE729E2C8&index=127 BTW, sorry that I did not find the answer myself.. but who is this JO?

Just thought that I would add a little bit to my previous post... but without editing. If you do end up using the 2K-Pause-etc. or 5K-Pause-5K-etc. then I suggest also doing the following: When you've connected with a move any moves you would cancel it into (like 5K cancels into 2D) can be performed within a certain time window. The most common and easy to find example is j.D-Ensenga. You *can* just input the Ensenga immediately and attack with it on the first frame possible after the j.D connects. But you can also delay your input, and cancel into the Ensenga later on in the frames of the j.D Now, you can also do this with any other move, it's just the window might be smaller or larger. So, instead of pausing and waiting for your move to finish before inputting another move (like the 5K-Pause-5K) you can just delay the input of your followup to make it *seem* like you're going to pause and leave a small opening, when in fact you're going to cancel into your move late. So, for instance it would look like this: 5K-Delay-2D. What you're doing here is mixing up the way you do things to make yourself less predictable. When you throw out your 5K, you want your opponent to think "Balls. He could do any number of things here, what should I do..?" instead of thinking "He always does a tick throw after his 5K MC's, here it comes."

Johnny doesn't have tremendous pressure ability unless you're *really* good at Lv2 and Lv3 MCs. If you're rocking Lv1, your pressure is full of holes and it's comparitively easy to escape from. Personally I like to perform a good string with 5K to start, let the string push me back to where I can 5H at max-ish range or 2D. Then I toss out the attack when I expect them to escape or attack and hope it hits. When I'm close to the opponent, I like tossing out 5K, 2K, 2P, or any other poke that doesn't have much pushback and then wait a very short moment before starting a string with 5K, 2S, or I try to 2D-236HS. So it would be like: 5K-Pause-5K-2D-236HS or 2K-Pause-5K-5HS-Lv2 combo if I hit/MC dash in if they block Good call on not IADing as much anymore. It's not a safe option against many of the characters if you do it too often, and the spacing on your aerial attacks needs to be pretty precise against a choice few opponents. Your pressure should never be the same-old same-old. You can make it *look* like it is with the start of your string, but don't ever move on to the same thing you've been doing the last few times. Mix it up, mix it up, mix it up.

It can be kind of tricky, I agree, I still miss it once in a while. Personally I don't RC the Ensengas I perform during air combos very often, it's rare in fact. I usually RC my TK Ensengas, however. For the higher altitude and longer combos, it might be an issue of just missing the rhythm of the combo, and the additional hits are throwing off your timing. Try adding a little more delay for the longer combos, that's usually the way to go in my experience. But if that doesn't work, then try to remove a bit of the delay and perform it earlier. It's really just getting a feel for the timing now, it will feel more natural once you have more experience with it.

It's probably the massive hitstop that occurs with Ensenga. Wait a moment after performing the RC to finish your airdash input. Just put a small delay between the RC and the 66 input, and you should be good to go. Try it out, experiment with the timing involved and then insert it into your game and kick ass stylishly :D

RCing an Ensenga can be useful to make the move a little safer, it's true. The distance left to fall to the ground, and then the crouching recovery makes for horrid possibilities, depending on the situation. Spacing is important, ideally you want to be hitting them with the farthest part of Ensenga, putting as much distance between you and the opponent as possible. Now, don't do that every time because then the opponent can watch your spacing and predict when you're going to be using Ensenga, or at least that you won't be hitting them low, so they'll be blocking high all the time. Then you can always use your Lv2 low when they're blocking high waiting for the Ensenga and etc. etc. etc. You can also RC an Ensenga for other purposes. Connect with the Ensenga, RC, then airdash at the opponent. You've got a few options from here depending on if you actually hit them or they blocked. If you hit them, then if you're in the corner here's what you can do: 1. RC-Airdash-j.D-Ensenga 2. RC-Airdash-j.K-j.D-land-jump back up to continue air combo possibly with KJFRC Now that doesn't work on everybody, it's just the basics to work with. You'll need to experiment since I don't have the specific combos verbatim off the top of my head. If you're not in the corner and you hit with an Ensenga here's what you do, and it may not connect due to the hitbox of your opponent and spacing, but it's your best bet if you're gonna RC anyway: 1. RC-Airdash-j.S-Ensenga If they block the Ensenga and you RC here's what I like to do: 1. RC-Airdash-j.K-j.S-2K-Tick Throw (Any normal which you setup a tick throw after can be used instead of 2K here, so like a 5K MC into tick throw is fine too) 2. RC-Airdash-j.K-j.S-5K-5HS-Lv2MFS combo (You can really do *whatever* you want after you land from the j.S. Do a 5K-2D-Coin if you want, or 5K(JI)-5HS-KJT-KJFRC-etc. But only break out the good stuff if you actually hit them and combo. Just do the usual blockstrings and mixups if they block.)

I dont believe there should be any *real* difference between the RC and FRC combos, besides of course the tension cost and possibly on which frame you're able to cancel out. But as for damage or comboability there shouldn't be any difference between the RC and FRC versions of a combo. People list FRC's in their combos because an FRC is *always* preferrable over an RC simply due to the tension cost, you gotta make efficient use of the tension you get regardless of how fast you get it. It's fine to blow a ton of tension every now and then, but usually only because people don't expect you to just throw tension at them in one go, typically you ration out the spending of your tension and thus do not use large quantities at one time. As always, more RC's/FRC's means more mixup options, and mixup=greater chance of damage.

After you hit the three buttons for the FRC just quickly switch to hitting j.S. Don't spam it by repeatedly hitting the button, since that will probably mess up your chances of jump canceling after. Johnny is pretty much free to do anything you want the moment you FRC, so let loose. dj.S= Double Jumping Slash KJ= Killer Joker (214S) PSSH, KSSH, KPSSH= Likely every P=Punch K=Kick S=Slash H=Hard Slash As for a legend.. I'm not sure. But if you have any questions feel free to shoot them our way and any of the exceptional gentlemen here will help you out.

Not to slander Kabegiwa no DC's name, and not like I have anything against him... but honestly, I'm not a huge fan. I never find myself really rooting for him to win like I do other JO players. He wins, and he's good.. but I don't like his style at all. Honestly, I think he does so well, in part, because he's so unorthodox in his playstyle. But any time that his opponent just plays keepaway and is patient, DC ends up throwing *all* his coins into thin air without landing one.. it's almost humiliating, really. I just don't think most people are used to his strange playstyle and get nailed by a hit from him.. now, here's where I give him props: His execution is pretty darn good, and he gets good damage off of the hits he connects with usually. I guess it works but... not a big fan.

Dutchy, if you want to beat them with Johnny I suggest checking out this forum a little more. Above all *learn mist cancels*! Also, if you can FRC fairly well then work Killer Joker FRC's into your game and try them out, especially with Level2 Slash Mist Finers. If you need any more help, let us know here.

Most broke char in the game? You mean the worst? He's not quite *that* bad, I don't think. Sure, he's near the bottom of the list.. but still. He's actually *really* good against unseasoned players if you can Mist Cancel effectively. As for the mist, Bacchus Sigh, if it lands on them any of Johnny's Mist Finer attacks are unblockable. Johnny's Mist Finer attacks are the ones where he enters that stance and slings the blade out at a great distance before resheathing it, and it's performed like so: 236K/S/P

I'm not sure if getting a CH with JH increases the stagger or not.. but what I can tell you is that (though I'm sure you already know, it bears reiteration just in case) there are three types of Jackhound: 1. Regular Jackhound- 214D Least number of stagger frames 2. Mist Stance Jackhound(MSJH)- 236K/S/P > 214D Noticeably more frames of stagger than regular Jackhound 3. Mist Stance Dash Jackhound(MSDJH)- 236K/S/P > 66214D Has the most stagger frames, but is by far the most difficult to pull off. The more stagger time they are in, the more time you have to do whatever followup you like. Make sure your timing on the followup is pretty tight, you can act the moment Johnny sheathes the sword and that last little blue/white flash appears between the handle and the scabbard as the blade disappears. Sorry if I told you a lot of stuff you already know, just trying to be thorough with my responses. Edit> 4r5 beat me to it by a longshot. Sorry about posting the same stuff so long after XD That's what I get for working while I type up responses. Took me several breaks between working to get it done, so it took a while. 4r5> I think you're doing a fine job of being the Johnny forum mod. Johnny's forum is one of the best in my opinion. Easy access to info, nice and organized threads for the most part, and you're even going so far as to write and type up different strats, combos, and the specific info on a lot of JO's moves. Just really *really* helpful stuff in general. My improvement with Johnny is, in no small part, due to your posts and the info you've provided. Lemme take this opportunity to say *thanks* for all your work, I know you're busy with other things all the time, but I'm sure everybody appreciates the time you *do* devote to helping us out.

Bolded for emphasis! This is really important to do, since dashing back in such a big deal for Johnny you absolutely *need* to get the timing down for following up a dash. Not only for throws, but for throwing out pokes or continuing strings. This is probably why Honnou was throwing you out of your throw attempts so often, since he used to play Johnny he probably knows the dash-in timing at least fairly well, so he grabbed you as soon as he could. Also, in case you didn't know you can mix-up your dash-ins just a little by cancelling your dash into a jump. Just tap 66 and then hit 9. This way your opponent hears the sound of Johnny dashing and sees some motion, so they might think this fits into the pattern of a tick throw and try to respond to a tick throw when in fact you're in the air above them waiting to rain down punishment. Although.. there really isn't much punishment to dish out at that height and angle so your options, as I see it, are either DBFRC or KJFRC to hit them out of the 5H or 6H they got instead of a throw. Essentially you want to use this dash-in>jump mixup to keep your opponent on edge, and to discourage them from *always* doing the same old thing in response to your same old thing.