Soviet Bear

If a single character changes the metagame to the point where the majority of the cast has to sub someone in order to deal with said "OP" character, it's unhealthy for the game on multiple levels. Assuming that Kokonoe is too powerful, sure, there is a solution to deal with her: learn a hard counter character, or pick her and be a better Kokonoe in a mirror. It's not impossible to defeat her, but if people feel like they are pigeon-holed into certain solutions just because of this one factor, then the game becomes stale, people get frustrated and you limit the variety of the cast. It's hard to come to a middle-ground in this discussion though, because if you play Kokonoe, you like the character and don't want her banned. If you're not playing Kokonoe and happen to play someone who is easily destroyed by her, you want her gone until she's "fixed".

Local play so far is amazing, but online play can lag out in the oddest ways. Had situations where I seemingly killed someone, saw the animation, then it turned out I was dead all along. Still, had some great matches.

GGs to people I played today. Odd how some quality 2 connections are unplayable and some work fine.

Tricks like inputting a backdash Tsubaki as 2144C instead of 44214C and stuff that's too hard to do on a pad, but is more reasonable on a stick (like how it's easier to manage Nirvana when playing Carl if you have a stick). Anything will help, really.

I got my first arcade stick and I'm currently trying to learn to play Haku on it. Any general advice people can give? So far, doing hop Tsubakis/Agitos is a nightmare, but my general timing on normals and drives feels better.

Ordered a stick and decided on the artwork I'll be using for it EDIT: And it's done!

I had a very odd issue on my PS3 (Super slim) where the game would freeze in offline play for a third of a second (enough to make you drop a combo and be noticeable). I think it may have been because the BBCP disc was in my console for a month and was the only thing I played. When I switched to another game to test out whether there were such issues, nothing happened and then when I went back to BB, the freezing stopped. Still no idea what was up. Other than that, only slowdowns I had was charging Shippu with Hakumen in OD while Kokonoe was doing her Black Hole. Completely wrecked my framerate.

I'm sadly at work, but I'd love to play you again tomorrow evening if you're free? Loved those Relius matches we had way back.

Fuumajins are his cookies. Magatama is his milk.

That picture is amazing. Happy Holidays, Hakubros.

I don't think I have anything too interesting to offer for this, but I look forward to seeing what people upload. I'm guessing opponents' names will be censored when uploaded?

GGs to all the people I fought tonight on the EU side.

Training mode seems to imply you can.

I only found out now that you can't do Crush Trigger in Mugen. Wonder if it's a bug or a feature...

Like mAc said, an Agito from a higher height is generally more practical and gives you enough time to do a jB. Hop Agitos are only good as cheap scare tactics when people don't expect them (since they come out really fast), or, if you're timing it really well, doing fancy cross-ups against blocking opponents.

I block the follow-up jB, or Yukikaze the jB. I don't think normal D moves are fast enough to catch a jB after Agito. If he's not doing a jB as a follow-up, 5C/2C might hit him, depending on how "high up" we're talking about. Most Hakumen I've fought in mirrors just use Agito as a combo finisher, so I haven't had many situations where the move made me go "what now?"

This always evolves into a "What if he knows that I know that he knows that I know that he will do X?" for me. And if you're too fancy, people will pick up your own gimmicks. I suggest doing sub-optimal stuff (*cough6Dcough*) until your opponent catches on, then just use the throw button. Be the void, embrace the void, just don't go into mashing territory. Haku VS Haku is possibly the only mirror I enjoy in any fighting game.

Shame :/ I did a ctrl+f on you on the list and was hoping you entered under a different name. Hopefully next time.

Anyone else from Dustloop going to this? Would love to meet some forum people there.

I don't think I've been this frustrated with a MU since Nu in CT. I've reached the point where I'm considering subbing someone just to deal with Kokonoe matches.

I've just played 61 offline matches with my regular sparring buddy and made use of the advice in this thread. End result was 31:30 in my favor, and this is against someone that usually wins 70% of matches in a session against me. So yea, all this has helped immensely. Thanks folks. I think I have the staircase combo stuff down somewhat as well.

Thanks! I'll add that to my training schedule together with the other stuff you guys mentioned. Also, can you guys give me an idea what you mean with "game plan" when it comes to BB? I've had game plans when playing DOA, but that was due to stage layouts being relevant. Is it match-dependent in BB? Like "VS Terumi rush with Combo X", "VS Tager be lame with pokes"? I generally played Haku reactionary, which I know is not optimal, but it's the aspect of him I enjoyed - figuring out the opponent and predicting his attacks. I knew a few combos in Extend that I used, but that kinda went to crap with CP. Staircase combos aside, is it possible to play a non-combo oriented Hakumen?

If you're playing competitively, nothing wrong with tier whoring. Everyone has the same tools at their disposal and they can choose/learn whatever they like.

I personally could never play a character I don't enjoy, even if I'm doing better with them. I was so disappointed when I first turned on BB and wanted Noel to be my main (based on previews before release) and it turned out I didn't enjoy her one bit. I went through the entire cast and Hakumen was literally the only character I enjoyed. With CP that number increased to 2 with Bullet. Some people like playing the strongest option at any time, some people stick with the style they enjoy, regardless of power. You have the advantage that you're playing ASW games which often reward time invested, even if a character is objectively weaker.

Thanks for the critique, folks. I'm not sure I'll be able to learn any of the more complicated combos before a tourney this week, but there's already plenty of here I can work with.