Shazam

The netcode patch is out!

GGs to anyone who I got to play against. If you fought Sanoshi using Yu then it was me. Keep an eye out for me, i'll be around :3

GRIND GRIND GRIND NETPLAY GRIND GRIND GRIND CASUALS GRIND GRIND GRIND TOURNAMENTS e t c This game is much fun, am I right? I gotta say I'm really happy with it. I'll come find you if you don't go to Walnut. MAKE IT OUT I know you can at least make it either today or Sunday. I should be going both days, come and fight me! I'm still free! @Guymam: get a ps3! you poor guymam why did you get your copy already LOL at least you can still make it out to play. I'll admit that it is a good story, at least, I thought it was hilarious. I keep picturing you reading the game manual and looking at the case/disc combo with just no sense of satisfaction at all. It's like having a computer without the internet, or an iPod with a dead battery. Sorry brosuke, my ps3 died on me once too, shit sucks. I'm now going to main Yosuke to same character troll and because I want some ridiculous mirror matches, r u ready

Lucky you - it's just been a few days for me. It's a great feeling though. It's interesting to think about just how many people are going to be playing tomorrow, lol.

Well since it's my last day to rub this in I figured I'd just say that this game has been amazing so far and this character is a hell of a lot of fun. It would do you well to train hard, Yu really has a lot of potential and I'm interested in seeing what we all come up with. Have fun guys. To all the newcomers, welcome to Dustloop, enjoy your stay. Edit: My color choice is character color 2, persona color 7. It looks so good. Keep an eye out for me on SoCal streams, i'll be representing Yu to the best of my abilities.

Well, picture being able to do stance moves, but dashing before them. It gives you so much more range and makes people afraid to approach you from the air. If you want to you can try doing regular dash into stance to see how it changes your spacing, which makes both ~a and ~b more useful in certain situations. I think Lich is gonna play Kanji, at least, i've seen Lich posting on the Kanji forums. Naoto has a solid design and I was planning on maining her myself but she doesn't flow with me, she feels kinda glass cannon-y to me. I love how Persona turned out though, it's so fun and hype. All of you better be getting it tomorrow.

Nice confirm Sey. God that new character artwork is sexy as fuck. I love how they're trying to make it more like CT. Being able to dash during stance sounds amazing now that i'm actually thinking about it. I like to dash into flashkick sometimes but it could be so much more useful this way. Combo potential is there it's just if they want to give it to us or not. Maybe they just changed (2) to a green flash because that obviously fits Hazama much better... and then buffed/changed his stance moves a bit as well?

What would they do though? CS1 was jc loops, then 6c, now j214b/214d~b with jc's and etc Hazama doesn't really have a lot of moves.. outside of drive his normals are pretty straight forward and same-ish. I would really like that, a combo that wasn't repetitive or loopy. Hotenjin removal was just speculation on my part but when you put it that way it does seem too vital to his character to get rid of it. I just thought maybe we can combo after stomp and get better damage but who knows, it might even be another ender like mizuchi. Didn't mean to scare anyone... no loketest info, just a theory, and if you notice I even said probably not when I brought it up. I was also trying to suggest that we could keep hotenjin as a reversal and combo tool but generally use stomp for confirms instead - but obviously I have no idea and this is theory fighting 101

GET HYPE

TK loop is boring for me because I always drop it. I just don't practice it enough I guess but whatever. It stopped looking cool after a month or two though yeah. They could bring back multiple 6c's but just give it less damage than cs2. I hate how you can only do one per combo now. They were fun in cs2 because they were new, easy, and did a TON of damage. I think I saw the dash during stance btw, how interesting... I think we'll get to keep hotenjin but it will be nerfed and the stomp will be our go-to super for corner carry and big damage combos.... just a theory. I want a ballin' new normal though, idk. As long as chains are still good i'll be happy.

I am loving the direction they seem to be taking BB3 in. Can't wait to see what else Hazama gets, a lvl 3 stance would be great. I'm curious if his new super is going to replace hotenjin, either completely or just combo wise. Probably not though. I wonder what they plan on doing to chains this time. Give us back the easy cs2 6c loops plz

For pad the best is just to use a regular DS3, one without vibration, and wear it in yourself. The tip of my thumb is still kind of calloused from all the netplay I used to do. I had two that were nicely worn but one of them got accidentally traded at an event and I ended up taking a shitty one home. There are some solid third party pads too, for example I saw a Lambda player using a pad that had a smaller analog stick in place of the dpad and he was doing well with it. I also wanted to mention that when I was playing Persona last night I was having much less trouble with dashing and IAD's in general, my stick execution is finally getting somewhere! Best coast getting dat early release. I had to drive an hour to get there but it was worth it~

Oh man that's great. Glad to hear your crazy long drive wasn't in vain :D

I was so afraid of this! I'm much closer though, that fucking sucks man! When I got there they were already turning away people who wanted 360 copies. I was really worried for a second. I'm watching the intros for the first time now, fffffff

Temecula is pretty close to me but i'm working... maybe if your sessions are after 5pm I can come. I should be getting my copy today! We should have a mini event on Sunday or something...

Once you practice a lot then the wrist movements become natural. I still have a hard time dashing to the left so playing on stick makes me hella free and dropping combos all over the place but it's more fun, and I've been more successful at the loop on stick. It really comes down to personal preference in the end.

Actually I remember the loop in CS1, I was pretty impressed seeing it for the first time. When Extend wasn't out yet I believe Zeron said he was able to get 6 reps in CS1 lol. It ended up being a good thing to tack on the end your combos in CS2 because of the meter gain. I got a chance to play CS1 on cabinet the other day, and it's so weird. The chains were so much slower and Hazama felt a lot clunkier. I kept trying to do j.c x 10 but couldn't get it. It's too bad we'll never get 236236b > 6d~a x N again that was a fun combo. Anyways, playing on pad will definitely make the loop a bit harder, at least in my experience. Just find a motion that you like and master the execution. If you're still having trouble doing it consistently then you need to just spend an hour a day in training mode practicing, although you don't have to be grinding out the loop the whole time. Practice makes perfect.

Well, there will be another tourney on Wednesday the 8th at the same spot at Super Arcade in Walnut. You should check out the stream if you can't attend. So who's going to Long Beach today?

Since I wrote the beginner guide I should do a quick write up on how to play this match-up with the least frustration. Don't play this like a normal matchup, Tager is pretty beasty up close so stay out and make him come to you. Better yet fly around like a madman and enjoy your nearly unlimited mobility. As long as you can get him to block a chain you can just fly around in circles the whole match, given you have life lead. The best thing about sledge is that it doesn't work in this matchup. You can either do 5d~a and bait it, then try to snag him with 3c, or you can let your chains hit the guardpoint and cancel into stance and then flashkick. Tager 6A superarmor still loses to 3c. Hell, if Tager's on the ground and you're within in the range of Hazama's 3c tip, it will beat so many of his options. If you must rush Tager down, be really careful with your spacing. If you get too close and get 360'd -> Gadget finger, forward jump j.a used to beat all of his options, though maybe not anymore. Anyone want to try this for me? 236c owns the shit out of this matchup once you learn how to use it effectively. It beats his command grabs. Tager will jump in on you a lot. Keep him blocking 6d and 623d if he's a good bit farther. Watch out for the spin super, Tager loves to try and take the match with this, it's probably the one thing that beats forward jump j.a after Gadget Finger. Again, I can't test this at the moment, but it makes sense. You don't need to go for oki on Tager. No, seriously, you don't. End your combos with 236d and don't give him a chance to 360 you by going for oki in the corner.

I definitely appreciate the input Lich, I've added an anti-air section and changed a lot of things around in light of your post and the sticky. I agree, if it weren't for my love of this character I probably would've given up early on too. He was stupidly easy and braindead in CS1 though hahah (shoutouts to Zidane). That is another part of why I felt the need to make this though, and of course the lack of strong players both in Japan and America. I just hope this guide wasn't completely in vain with those 'new games' right around the corner . I'm hoping it's the opposite effect and those games will bring new players to BB but we'll see. So the guide's pretty much finished now, until I come up with more ideas or someone gives me new info to put in. I might change small things here and there but for the most part it feels complete. Lich has been a great help in getting this guide where it needed to be, so thanks again to both of you, Chickzama for the idea, and Lich for everything.

Special shoutouts to whoever found and turned in my phone to the beard man behind the counter, I love you <3 Teams were really fun, that rule set was great. I ended up losing both of my matches, getting absorbed despite being the worst player, and then being on the winning team. Shoutouts to our leader who IIRC only played a single match. "You have to have a cool name to get picked" The matches were really hype though and it was awesome all around. Great job though, the turnout was really well. That was some of the most fun i've had at this venue yet. Shoutouts to everyone for showing up and keeping the scene strong, it's always a pleasure. GGs, looking forward to next time.

Glad to help. Actually, special thanks to you for inspiring me to write this. Once again I've revised the first post.

Thank you so much! I've cleaned it up a bit and made it nicer to look at, as well as adding a few things.

Hello everyone! First things first, welcome to my beginner's guide to playing Hazama, my name is Shazam and I'm here to help you get started playing this character So you like Hazama? Want to open yourself up to his potential? If you feel like you have no idea what you're doing or just want to sharpen your skills you're at the right place. It may take time but with practice and training you'll eventually find yourself a deadly opponent. The thing about Hazama (and BB/FGs in general) is that, even once you get comfortable with movement and spacing, you have to learn how to play each match-up. Hazama is not a free win card, nor is he an easy character, but he is scary. Now if you're still new to BB/ArcSys fighters in general he will no doubt be awkward at first. The basic things to learn are safe and unpredictable pressure, drive movement, and combos. This guide will go over everything from pressure to neutral game to drive movement, for combos you'll have to go check the combo thread. Now, this is kind of an intermediate guide, that is it assumes you've played already played BB a little bit. If you have any specific questions or it's too much to read/take in you can PM me and I'll try to help you personally. There's a bit of a learning slope, but IMO, the highest possible potential in all of BBCSE. While characters like Jin and Ky Kiske are jack of all trades characters, Hazama is an ace of all trades, who has just enough of everything to be the best. His pressure is free form and you can be really creative with how you play. He has multiple anti-airs. Much of Hazama's damage is meter dependent (outside of raw 214d~c) so you want to be careful with your meter. The all powerful Jayoku Hotenjin also known as Serpents Infernal Rapture (SIR) - commonly referred to as either simply jayoku or hotenjin - it's your only real reversal and your biggest damage tool. Now I believe you should try and confirm 1-2 normals into jayoku asap at 50 meter and get the momentum going in your favor. This is where the big damage combos come in. Now you're probably asking yourself - so we have the good stuff, is there anything that sucks about Hazama? Honestly, not really. The big thing is the learning curve and the somewhat hard combos. The only real downside to Hazama is that you don't have many options at mid-range. Basically if you look at 3c, that's your longest ranged normal, so you want to be within that range or closer to start pressure. Generally speaking the best moves to start up blockstrings are 2a and 5b, so keep that in mind. Hazama's chains are simply bad at mid-range, they get less hit stun and you have less/no time to do gimmicks from chain momentum. The opponent gets in easier if you mess up your spacing and throw out chains mid-range. If you suck at defense you will get blown up, so learn how to block, don't mash jayoku on wake-up all the time because it's probably a bad idea. Now, I could break down his normals, specials and drive but there's already a wiki page for that. I strongly suggest reading it before continuing on if you haven't done so already. READ THE WIKI http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hazama_%28BBCSE%29 Spacing, fundamentals, and getting used to dashing: You should know all of Hazama's normals by now, or at least have a decent grasp of them. The most important thing with any character is to know all of your tools and how/when to use them. This is generally known as your spacing. Spacing is invaluable in fighting games and indeed it's so when playing as Hazama. If your opponent is close to you, throwing out a chain can be risky. If you're not careful and just throw out whatever random normal you want whenever you want then there's also a good chance you'll get hit and then eat a combo. You need to time your attacks appropriately and know what situations to use what moves. It's also important to know when to block and when to try and hit them out of an attack or approach. It's important to learn the combos and not drop them as this can screw up your spacing as Hazama. Get used to dashing both in and out of combos; while Hazama doesn't have a normal run his dash is incredibly useful for spacing and starting or continuing blockstrings, and it's basically a requirement if you want to land command grab as mixup. You can cancel it with any normal, special, or with barrier block. This would be a good time to mention that super jumping backwards is a pretty strong option as Hazama, especially if you throw in a j6d. Long list of random things that will help you out You can keep people out with your chains AND get IN with them! Cancelling your ~d momentum with an air throw whiff or j.a is now easier than ever. Do this from a blocked j6d, land and score your free 3c counter hit against their anti air. Lots of damage. Chain movement is incredibly important. Every time you move you are committing to a pull and losing a stock, you should always be mindful of your stock counter and movement choices. This will make or break your play. Try not to get hit out of the startup to a pull or do stupid shit like pulling yourself into a projectile or one of Hakumen's orbs. Chains can be special cancelled on block or hit. This means you can use them after a blocked 5c and even use stance mix-up afterwords if they block it. ANTI-AIRS FOR DAYS! 214d~b, 5c, 2c, 5a, 4d, 6d! All situational and worthwhile. Refer to the anti-air section below. 6a is a great overhead and you can take about half a life bar if you land it with 50 meter. Once you have 50 meter, your goal is to land 1 or 2 normals into hotenjin and do a huge combo after it. If you prefer to play defensively, want to make your opponent afraid of taking risks, and know how to IB and IB hotenjin then this is actually pretty viable, but I'm usually not patient *or smart* enough to do this. Just remember if you don't score a counter hit on hotenjin, your damage won't be as good. This technique also means learning frame data for other characters. You shouldn't fish for raw 3c counter hits, it's a very powerful tool when properly executed but you can get blown up for throwing it out all the time. Don't always use stance in a predictable way. Sometimes 214d~a is a better option against an airborne opponent than 214d~b. I also am saying instead of always using one move in the same situations, change it up. If you time it right for example you can 214d~c Tager and beat out Sledge, or if you think someone is going to 5a you out of 214d~a then try ~b or even ~c if you're feeling the spacing and yomi. Hazama's oki isn't that strong outside of the corner but you can do dash > 2a, 2b, 5c, 6a, or even 5b when you get midscreen knockdown. Any of those. Pay attention to your opponents wakeup preferences, be mindful of reversals, don't get too greedy. I'd also like to bring up 2a (whiff) > 236c for reacting to their emergency tech when you have them cornered. Unblockable oki! Breakdown of Hazama's Anti-air options 5a - Fastest startup but small hitbox and active frames. Harder to punish but easier to beat. Time it properly against sloppier air approaches, confirm into 5c/2c, 4d, air combo. Can also confirm into 5c>623d depending on where it hits. 2c - 'Main' or 'true' anti air, there are a few frames of upper head invulnerability but this move will usually trade in your favor. Combo into 623d on counter hit. Learn when to commit to this for jump ins. 214d~b - 6 frames entering stance, 7 more frames of startup. As long as you use this sparingly it's a very strong anti-air IMO, this is used to beat out stuff like Ragna air dash j.c, Tager j.2c, Arakune j.b or Rachel j.2c. 6d - For farther away jumps, you basically have to guess that they're going to jump. Pretty useful chain. It will be blocked a lot but remember you can special cancel it into stance, cancel it with a, or cancel into 623d which is air unblockable without barrier. If hit you usually want to combo into 623d but if theyre in the corner you should just use ~d and air combo. 4d - Although you shouldn't use this very often, there are times where it's a good idea. The angle hits really high in the air, it's a weird move, just remember the angle and don't use it when they're close. You might want to make sure you have a stock before you throw this out. 5c - Has a unique hitbox and a lot of active frames. Bad on whiff. I recommend looking at the frame data and hitbox for this move and using it as an occasional anti-air, if you score a counter hit with it you get a huge combo into either hotenjin or 214d~c(1). 623d - OUROBOUROS! "HUNGRY COILS!" This move is super risky raw, but if you notice your opponent likes to stay far away and in the air a lot this can actually help. Think of jumpy Tagers and Arakune. I don't recommend using this unless you're REALLY feeling it - even though they might be far and in the air, they will probably have time to punish you if it whiffs. Now let's work out a few blockstring ideas, and now we have a full pressure guide below, courtesy of our mod Lich: Condition your opponents to block low with 2b/3c (2a>5b>2b)or high with 214d~a (2a>5b>214d~a) early in blockstrings, and switch it up so that they are constantly guessing. Change it up with stance cancels and throws as well, or simply jump cancel 5b. 3c is bad to just use without making them afraid of ressenga, as anyone worth their salt will block low by default and this will end pressure and leave you at -6. Your only safe option after this is 236d which if you delay it a bit you might catch them. Use blocked normals to jump cancel into an instant airdash for crossups. Very strong tool and also has option select capabilities. IAD 3a+b. 5b is +2. Since this move is so quick and non committal you should be using it in blockstrings a ton and take full advantage of plus frames - i'll just quote Guymam on this. With 2b being only -1 you can dash right after it is blocked (normal block; not IB)and reset your blockstring, allowing you to start fresh with either 2b again, 2a, or 5b. You can get pretty creative with this. 2a dash 2a command grab. Special thanks to our mod Lich for this pressure guide, very good info for both new and old players alike. Lich's Pressure Guide Going Places With Ourobouros

I know this might seem weird but I find it easier to not look at Hazama when attempting the loop. At least I have more success when looking at the entire screen and glancing at the enemy every so often instead of focusing attention to Hazama himself. I also have had less trouble with the loop using this technique - right before you make the input for 5c otg link, glance at the combo counter. Watching it red beat is satisfying this way. Also, hold up during 2c, this is vital. The timing for the corner combo is really not that hard, and it definitely feels like you delay each hirentotsu just a tiny bit more than the last. I still have a hard time with midscreen though.