lacey

so after playing this for a decent amount of time, as a long time zato player i'm definitely switching to an online only char. I'd love to be able to play zato more heavily, but he is just garbage in delay. requires too much precision to succeed in heavy lag. i'm too old and have too many responsibilities to hit the arcade and play local anymore, so... later. enjoy my pastebin notes: http://pastebin.com/8VV41m48 edit: seriously, online just play sol or potemkin and mash into vviper or hamerfall and win and think you're good! (you aren't though)

i lost to a leo so i bought him. from my pastebin: his rekkas look stronger than they are. basically he'll hit with 5.s, 5.h, 236s, 236h (crossup), then either 5.k (low), 5.h (overhead), 5.d (counter) or 214s (knockdown). there are 2 situations that'll occur here. first, if you're blocking this string is stunningly easy to whiteblock. if you whiteblock his 236s, you can throw him out of 236h's startup before it comes out. it's really easy to do once you've gotten the timing down. watch for the 5.h then get ready for the whiteblock. you also get a free throw if you whiteblock 236h rekka. the timing for the 236h whiteblock is to wait for the 236s, then immediately hit forward after he hits you and then mash throw. the second situation is if you're getting hit. if he goes for the knockdown, great, get ready to whiteblock and throw him. if he leaves you standing, block low for a split second, then jab. This will block 5.k, stuff 5.k and lose to 5.d. you can also do low block, then immediately command grab (236s). this beats 5.d, 5.h (you grab him out of the startup) and blocks 5.k, 5.s will probably hit you though. if he's doing backturn 5.s (the cross move) and then the command crossup, you can throw him for free out of the crossup. also, he's crazy strong online due to the frame delay. he benefits from it heavily because it makes his rekkas safer than they should be. well... maybe it's not that he's advatanged always, maybe it's more that lag really hurts zato because he doesn't have any good gatling combos. edit: he's basically this GG's anji. really strong until players get his mixup down, then.... yeah. double edit: after further testing, if you whiteblock 236h you can command grab all his normals and his backturn d for free.

absolutely. basics first then expand. if you start by trying to learn everything you'll get overwhelmed. it really is too much to learn all at once.

that's an old #reload combo. i wouldn't bother. to get started you only really need: 2p, 2d p, s, h, 22h ground string into eddie -s-, superjump, j.k, j.s, j.h, j.d opponent guards eddie -k-, dash jump, j.k, fly, j.k, j.h then finish with something like -s- into aircombo opponent guards eddie -k-, dash jump, j.k, land, 2.k, 2.s, eddie -k- and finish with something. if you're feeling ambitious: in corner: opponent guards eddie -k-, dash jump, j.k, fly, (guard break) j.k, j.h, eddie -k-, 5.d, homing dash, 6.p (1 hit), 2.h and plant eddie -d-, 22.s. then fly, j.h, 6.p, sj j.k j.h j.d Really though you're fine to start with the first 5 and work from there.

I don't. If i'm missing a char it means i haven't had enough matchups to come up with anything.

zato notes pastebin here: http://pastebin.com/8VV41m48 go nuts. you don't need to credit me if you make a thread or whatever, i don't care. use/abuse/remix/tellmei'mdumb

I'm looking at the Zato matchup forums and it is pretty bare. Would you folks be interested in me posting my matchup notes as threads in it? When I get in to a fighting game I make copious notes over what to do in each fight and why, I might as well post em and see if ya'll can get use out of them. In fact, you're already using my stuff if you checked out the guide poon wrote at the top of this thread. I was his college roommate and that post is based on my notes. Like that -p- dash notation you're all using was my notation so I wouldn't get confused ;] Anyway, any interest?

I was referring more to things like reacting to your opponent, anti-airing, throwing bad setups etc. I feel like I'm getting attacked with weak rushdown but I'm having a ton of trouble breaking out because my reactions just feel way too slow. Is that how online is played? Should I just focus on throwing all my offense at the other player an not bother reacting to their attacks?

So do you guys practice with delay on or something? I'm used to GGPO for netplay, and even that is pretty bad due to takebacks screwing up your positioning. XRD is something else though. I'm amazed at how hard it is just to move around with input delay. What do you recommend to be able to play in this? It feels like my character's feet are encased in concrete.

You can actually do either. 2K has surprisingly long hitstun so you can get 2S to link or gatling. The trick to getting it is releasing -P- and hitting 2S almost simultaneously.

If you're just brand new to Zato/Eddie, then I'd recommend not starting with combos. Instead, go into training mode and put the dummy on block all. Practice starting an attack with Zato, holding the buttons, and releasing the negative edge for an Eddie attack. Eg. do 2p 2k -p- over and over until you're very comfortable with it. Pick another attack sequence, say p 2s -k- and get that down so you aren't thinking about the negative edges anymore. Zato's standard punches and kicks don't gatling from his slash/heavies, so use slash and heavy to hide positive edge inputs from punch and kick you don't want. Practice until you can attack as Zato and then buzzsaw with Eddie without ever having Zato kick. It sounds trivial but it teaches a lot. Fighting in tandem with Eddie is the core of good Zato play. You should totally learn the combos and setups, but check out the Ogawa videos in the other thread. In most of his matches the vast majority of damage comes from random hits and combos that consist of Eddie -s- into superjump j.k j.h j.d. Basics are going to serve you much better than mastering a combo you may never get the opportunity to land.