Barzorx

You should definitely still put the time in akihiko, although his combo routes are getting changed, his general gameplay has not. All we need to do is change our combo routes a little bit! I'd highly suggest playing akihiko because, his gameplan consists generally of good and precise reads, and you can only get those by consistently getting destroyed by others until you understand your own normals, range, what works and what doesnt in neutral, down to a T

As Atarax said, its not perfect. Also, you have to instant block 5C, otherwise it wont work.

A correction on that last video: It aint domi, its actually a friend of mine that's on japan right now. His name is soriphen!

Nah parrying isn't great, however if they spam it you can always B parry them from time to time to get dat meter. Sometimes they'll go in with the knife too, mashing buttons. Parry into ex hook babeh.

Unholy high levels of damage finally

I made a special video on youtube regarding pressure with akihiko, neutral game, and meter management. Hope you all enjoy! Pressure and meter management In case someone needs it, here's the full video transcript: http://pastebin.com/5GGZ2ZeA

I could never go because im too poor to go all the way south there, but play P4AU. :D

That's... not really 2.0 exactly, and I kind of replied to you in a way in http://www.dustloop.com/forums/index.php?/topic/6649-p4au-general-discussion/page-6 already...

Moar aki combos.

Nah man, luca had it in the bag and he threw the match in the end for some reason. His style really messes with my head hahaha. Thanks for the tournament and ggs to everyone

You can and should use both routes

Moved your post since it wasnt really about 2.0 discussion, but rather akihiko general discussion. Akihiko in neutral is all about knowing how to use your meter properly, and your rekkas to retain pressure. You should not do random killrushes, those are generally a bad idea. Air dash in jb is great if done in the right situations - after a cork b you usually have a safe jump option / cross up option so you can also use that to your advantage. Ex hooks/sonics are good to get in so dont forget you have those. Same goes for ex duck. But dont just randomly rush. That's bad. You can however 2A>236A since it'll OS - if 2A whiffs rush wont come out so its safe. You also want to bait grabs and the such by doing things like, air dash jB, land, 2A, 66grab. They'll start seeing your jump ins 2A as a grab route, so you can then hop it, or back dash, or 2B depending on how they deal with that grab (eg if they jump grab [fuzzy jump], normal grab, or back dash)

New akihiko 2.0 combos

In my opinion this is a pretty even match. Probably 5-5. Reasons are that, although narukami's range and pressure is far stronger than akihiko's, most of akihiko's combos work optimally on him - this means that at a high level match with precise combo making and quick right decisions, akihiko evens the field and he evens it FAST. It is massively important to understand that as an akihiko player you have to be as patient as you can get. Dont push buttons. On wake up, block, and be patient. Sooner or later he'll do a backdash from his pressure and thats your time to get out. If he doesn a command grab, DP it. But be patient. If you think about it, he doesn't have that many options, they just seem scary because of how fast, and wide his pressure is. If he hits your with a random raging lion, do NOT dp. It's a bait. Wait it out. Sometimes even after getting raging lion'd, grab him since they'll often bait for the dp. Use fuzzy guard OS when he's close doing 2/5A pressure and you'll be fine. Well read persona attacks can also be parried to get out of his pressure. In order to promote matchup discussions, I'm also looking for good and high level players, and requesting FT5s against them. I dont know if the footage will actually be all that good, but hopefully it'll promote discussion in these forums. Hopefully they'll help discuss tools with actual visual samples. With that being said, FT5 vs narukami

"senpai" might be a bit too much man im just another player like you and the others lol. When running in, they'll jump and stop you with either their persona air attack or fans, nothing you can really do other than predict it and go into SB sonic like a boss, or block it. Try to play a patient-aggressive game. Block, then punish whenever they do unsafe persona attacks. If they send the persona above you to try and do unblockables, super jump and block the mixup. If they are in the corner and they jump and use that same persona amove (the one where the persona falls from the sky spinning) literally straight up just jump and grab her out of it. Be a man. When going in always be careful of the DP because it's terribly annoying. Make every single time you go in count however and you'll take the game. If you ask me its 6-4 on akihiko's advantage as long as you keep your cool. When you're close to her, if she wakes up super look at her pose and you'll be able to tell by what she says and how she stands what super is coming. If its Maragidyne, DP immediately. If its Agidyne, parry into EX hook fatal for lulz. If you use EX hooks and she dps, remember you can cancel into sonic A (fatal)>DP for more lulz.

Shadow akihiko seems to be the way to go as of 2.0. I've been talking on twitter with musui and domi and it just seems like shadow aki is going to be (at the best) around mid tier or slightly below top tier (ie. top mid tier) Some of the combos they're coming up with and im helping create are pretty interesting too. I'm just playing theory fighter with them on twitter but they have confirmed several things. This one seems to be really good: 残念ながらそのコンボは既にありますね。。今は「～SBソニ>ダッキング>5C>Cウェブ>足払い>Cウェブ>Aコーク」のような更に強いコンボもあります！ This message is in response to what I asked about a possible combo route: 画面端 ｊｂ＞５ｂ＞暴走＞キルラ＞ウェブ＞ソニ＞フック＞ウェブ＞SBコーク＞Dウェブ＞ｍｊ＞Bアサルト＞ｍｊ＞SBアサルト＞ｓｂフック＞ｓｂソニ＞「ｂフック」＞ｍｊ＞Aアサルト＞足払い＞（SB?)ウェブ＞Aコーク＞SBサイクロン Translations: me: in the corner: jb>5b>frenzy>rush>weave>sonic>hook>weave>sb cork>weave>hop>B assault>hop>SB assault>sb hook>sb sonic>[b charged hook]> hop>assault A>sweep>(SB?) weave>cork A>SB upper to which he answered: "sorry to say it but there are even stronger routes than that now! what you said ~ SB sonic>duck>5C>weave>sweep>weave>A cork is possible and is really strong!" The highlighted part is interesting. As shadow akihiko you can cancel 5C into DP, this is not new, but I had no idea you could cancel 5C into weave (obviously, manually, as in, 214C not just 4C), and its important to note that he actually has enough time to go all the way into A cork. I'll keep you guys posted on anything else I dig up. /Barz

In my opinion the strongest nerf akihiko got is three of 'em, tied up. SB sonic upper projectile invulnerability, and his Uppercut super damage getting nerfed, and finally his DP. Not so much the dp's not being comboable (though thats definitely a part of it) but the fact it's not air unblockable anymore.

As the title implies, and as it has been mentioned by others, it would be a good idea to discuss the changes - not what they are, but how they affect akihiko in general, what we can work with, and what we need to find fixes for. I think its pretty obvious so far that shadow akihiko will be better than normal akihiko in 2.0, but other than that there's a looooot of things that we can discuss. Lately I've been chatting with Musui and Domi over twitter, figuring combos out, and getting their opinions on both versions of akihiko, but I also want to hear from you all your opinions. Therefore... let's all have fun discussing the upcoming Protein Junkie! /Barz

More normal aki 2.0 combos

Start by making ^ those changes I highlighted on your quote. Also, it deals more damage in the end if you do 8A>weave>4A>cork B instead of 4a>8a but, yeah.

This is a terrible matchup for akihiko, probably 6-4 on margarets advantage if not 7-3. All of her normals outrange you, she can go under some of your stuff with her 2A, jumping in is ridiculously hard and once she corners you its pretty much a guessing game to try to get out (I mean, not really, but it sure feels that way in some points). At the start of the match you want to jump back since thats literally the safest way to start a match. If she 5as, nothing happens, you go over her 2A, 2B wont reach you, and you also avoid her persona attacks, though you still have to be wary of her air dashing at the start to catch you off guard. Her DP is also really strong against most of akihiko's pressure, however you can still bait it and get sweet sweet fatal damage off of it. Keep in mind that her jC is absolutely crazy in the corner since it is an overhead, safe jump, DP/roll bait move so on the corner you have to block and be patient. Most will go with a jC into 2A since its really tight, annoying to block. I'd say DP but then she'll just use her spear move instead and you'll be pepsi'd, so seriously, just be patient. Her persona command grab is really annoying, you can see at the persona's hand to know if you have to jump or not. Ice = stay grounded (blue) fire = jump (red). I've found that assault dives are good in this match since, if the margaret is happily spamming 5B/jB, assault dive actually beats it, and gets you a counter hit. Be wary of her reversal supers, though they arent much of a threat (you can roll through the tornado, or... maybe even all of them iirc), but getting hit by one of those will really hurt. In neutral if she does the tornado super be sure to IB, then either roll or assault counter her to stop her from doing her mixup. Overall, extremely hard. She has amazing mixups, stupid range, every single option available, you cant even weave and duck through her projectiles, and really high health, damage, and just.... just ugh. She's really strong.

Also terrible typing since I meant cork SB.

I particularly enjoy doing Parry B>Cork SB on unsuspecting chies running in on me. I do it often. I feed off of those tears. Barz approves. What you said is nearly 1:1 what I'd write, but I'd include: When she's above you be careful not to anti air, her jC is actually really strong vs Akihiko's 2B. During pressure, they'll sometimes bait grabs - learn fuzzy jump, and break out of her pressure afterwards. If she tries to do 2B or 5C at certain distance in front of you, as if to trying to catch you running towards her, stop mid way and after the move is out, killrush A for a counter hit. This leads to at least 3.5k damage (rush ch, hook b sonic b hook a weave c cork B 2a5aaaaa cork B) Overall, 6-4 in favor of aki or maybe even 7-3. There's little to worry about in this matchup as far as I know and you can easily blow her up.

This is a very annoying matchup for akihiko, i'd say its probably 5-5. Reasons are obvious, once she gets the ball running you're probably going to block a lot, and OS your way out of her pressure. Its important to keep in mind that anti airing, going at her air to air, and even weave>sonics are hard to use because of her massive poking range. Not to mention if you're fighting shadow mitsuru you want to be double careful of what buttons she's pressing, or you're going to see your health deplete really really fast. With that being said we're not completely helpless. EX hook is of course your friend in this match. You can also bait her jump out jD with well timed sonic B/SB which if it connects you'll get a nice fatal (just be careful because it could be a jB instead of a jD...). Jumping in on her is slightly easier on this game since her 2B isn't that strong, but still dont just throw it all willy-nilly or you'll be in a world of hurt. Defensive wise she has few options to keep you out other than the universal options of DP, rolling, or guard cancel roll/assault counter, so i'd say go nuts on offense, learn the specific players preference (when they DP or roll) and then punish when they happen (hmmm delicious 5b fatal after a DP)

This is an interesting MU. I'd say its probably 6-4 on aki's advantage. The entire MU is whoever gets in first wins, in a nutshell. Remember that at your disposal you can break her persona easily with 2B>214C to make it safe. Be patient. Don't roll at her mixups. If you get combo'd, don't tech in the air, neutral tech then react to the persona's command grab. Anti airing her is a bit hard, but you'll be fine if you learn the timing. And with her being so squishy, it'll deal a huge hunk of damage. Her dp is faster than Labrys' so you must be careful on your offense. With that being said getting DP'd in this version isnt too bad so you've got my permission to go nuts once or twice. EX hooks will be your friends to bait these out. On awakening you want to use 5D in case she uses titanomachia. You'll probably lose a persona card but moving shabby around with 5D screws up with her timing for different things. If at all possible, stay on the air - and keep a good eye on how many attacks her titanomachia have stacked. If you feel threatened and have the meter for it, just maziodyne C>OMC to break her super and get in. Whatever you do, learn to not telegraph your jump ins. As with labrys, her 2B is amazing and she can dish out some nasty damage and oki situations off of those.