Umareru

I got to play BBCS yesterday, Carl definitely still has game. Volante is a great answer against turtlers, which BBCT bred and raised in the form of rachel, arakune and V-13. I think you can fire off 2 Volantes before Lambda can fully charge a system shidou, first will clash, second will force lambda to block or get hit. Arakune also has lots less breathing room, where in CT he could simply spam clouds and pretty much fly wherever he goddamn pleased. Volante also makes for a somewhat decent anti-air when the ball is in place before it flies off, creating a hitbox infront of Nirvana for a short period. My only complaints regarding Volante is it's still really hard to use in a combo/as a combo starter because of the unfixed duration before it hits and that it has very little hit stun(barring CH), but it's something which can be remedied with more practice I guess. Sandwich loops are fun and do big damage, however at my local arcade the comp is too high, almost every Ragna player can IB in my block strings with Nirvana and Inferno Divider my ass, same with Tager and a version Tager Busters. When it was reported that you can only do the sandwich loop up to 2 reps, this is somewhat true in the sense that the combo resets at 10 hits, as compared to before when it would vary between 13-15. I could do many reps of block string sandwich loops with Nirvana before she was in danger of breaking down, 6D takes very little meter. Of course you can reset the combo early with mixups or small gaps, or end the combo with Nirvana's punch super. Brio nerf is sad. There is no bright side to it. Carl's biggest weakness is his lack of Guard Primers. Dead Spike breaks one primer per hit. You have 4. After bursting you have 2. Burst again, and you have 1 before your guard is broken and you have to eat a full combo. Blocking for long periods of time is no longer an option. In other words, Ragna is now public enemy number one, thanks to his Inferno Divider, non-situational high damage combos and great ability to break your guard should you let your guard down Carl is still a glass cannon overall, he requires a lot more diverse options and setups to play effectively as compared to CT, when you only needed the clap loop. Definitely more fun to play.

Ugh, the Sol Zappa matchup is pretty disgustingly bad for us. Volcanic Viper beats summon, sol's command grab rapes summon too. The only advantage we have really, is that crouching around mid screen makes riot stomp whiff completely, its even a free combo sometimes. Still hits full screen tho. I can't really do a play by play of your matches cos i get off work soon, but from what i can tell Valentine, you are missing out on alot of opportunities. I saw your last video, your raou does singular pokes and then leaves it. You also seem to like poking with 2S naked(4:20), don't. 2K is faster and reaches slightly further. If i had to give you one big piece of advice, it'd be that judging from your playstyle, you are really afraid of him. I think you miss alot of big combos because you fear he might VV out of nowhere or something. Thats not how GG is played! You might say its cautionary play, but trust me, its not. Cautious play would be like a crouching panther stalking an antelope. No i don't know if panthers share the same habitat as antelopes, in fact i doubt they do, but stay with me here. If you wanna turtle, you gotta be ready to pounce. Argh, i clearly can't make any animal analogies. Never mind that. Strike fear into his heart! Run at him and FD! Teach him that spamming VV isn't gonna do him no good! Also, a friend of mine once told me regarding Sol: Make the Sol player pissed off, and hes bound to start throwing out big moves like bandit bringer, grand viper and volcanic viper. To some degree its true. So maybe you can try pissing your friend off, then play like a little wussy. HOHOHO

Zoogstin i watched your videos, you play really well! Great comeback in the last round. Your cautious play style is a refreshing sight to behold. And the part about watching you play and thinking "yeah i would have done just that"? Whenever you sword rushed into a gunflame, i was like, yeah, i've done that like a million times but i still go for it every single time. To be fair, we get a counter hit on it if we're like a split second faster.

HellSap, i think you play pretty well! I can't really say much because i think I'm probably around your level, but here are some things i noted: Against HOS: 1)Your sword work was really good overall, you cornered him often and pressured the shit out of him. 2)Your ghosts, however; you fire all 3 too often. Sure it gets more orbs and more summons, but you are often left lonely and end up eating hits after. Also your block strings aren't tight enough, and you aren't using the FRCs to keep him blocking. I have the same problem too, so I'm trying to work some 2HS into my block strings to keep them nailed in the corner. 3)Raou. You Edguy like its pressing p or k, lol. Against HOS its especially a nono, a cornered HOS facing Raou will normally go for the gunblaze to go under it. 2S and 2HS work well against gunblaze, a CH 2HS leads to big damage. You also did this strange combo off a K darkness anthem, i think you got a RC'ed Edguy in and then did this un-impressively short combo, finishing him off with a run in 2S>Edguy. What i would've done off a K darkness anthem hit is j.HS, edguy(RC) into the 6HS darkness anthem loop. But maybe you knew that short combo was good enough to finish the job, so whatevs :P Against Dizzy: 1)It looks like you don't really know the matchup too good. Try and picture the fish as super armor frames for Dizzy, there were a few incidents where you rushed in with the summon only to kill the fish and stand there waiting to eat a big combo. 2)Your air game. I would've liked to see you high jump>dash to get away more often, or high jump and shoot P or K Ghosts at Dizzy. 3)You were offensive, which is the right way to fight Dizzy IMO, but offensive in the wrong way. You kept leaping head first into big pokes. Backdash often as feints, it helps to keep them guessing. Fighting Dizzy is a very "Who corner's who first wins" type of game, so be patient and wait for her to do something big and then punish her for it. Overall i still think you're a good player. Would be nice to see more turtling with with your dog and ghost though. Zappa has 4 summons for a reason, change the pace of the game by rushing him crazy one moment and then suddenly playing like a coward the next. Unless your name is Nang-In, hes the only Zappa player i've seen who goes full offence 100% of the time. But lets be honest, none of us can pull that off Do upload more vids! Now i wish i had a cam, would love to get some criticisms on my gameplay too. Sigh.

Sorry, but i laughed at the Smash Bros reference. Funny cos its true. Regarding the 6HS Raou loop, always time the ball to hit them just near the end of the slide. That gives more time for running in with the extreme fisting. We just use the inputs, i guess. Usually when referring to moves, we just say the Dog's 5D etc. Heres what i call those moves, in my head: 5D: Dog skull poke 6D: Dog tackle 4D: Dog backflip Followup: Dog corkscrew missile 2D: Dog bite 8D: Dog somersault Zappa's only named moves are KSM, Shijyou saidai no akumu, Last Edguy and Bellows Malice. Its only natural we name some of the more important moves ourselves. Sadly for me, every sword move i named is some variation of pokey poke or stabby stab.

Dizzy is a tough fight, no doubt. If she knocks you down, you are in for a helluva hard to block mixup combo. Fortunately, Dizzy takes alot more damage than usual, and she doesnt have wakeup shoryuus. So when you score those knockdowns, make them count! Sword has a good anti air, and you can poke her pretty well. Dog can be rape if you corner her. Play high jump ghost firing when you get the trio. Any Raou RC combo will win you the match. Also, don't run forward and summon out of a combo if she has fish or weird things around her. Not much else i can say, i have alot of problems with this matchup too. But unlike, say, using Roll, Rockman and Servbot in MvC2 to go up against a Sentinel, Storm and Cable team, this match can be won.

2k doesn't link into 2HS, right? 2HS being the big head bite. It only will link on a crouching opponent. I think that combo is a good hit confirm combo, like if you see hes not blocking, do 2p 2k 2d 236p, if he blocks, do 2p 2k 2HS. Sometimes, people mash on punch or something if they are expecting you to suddenly whip out a dust or go for a tick throw, the 2HS will beat those attempts and give big stagger and damage, with or without CH. So true. There is no better feeling than losing badly, then suddenly pulling raou out of nowhere and then proceeding to beat your opponent's face in for a turnabout KO.

Hi Veda, i saw your videos, you definitely need a lot of work. But don't worry, we all start somewhere I guess you still haven't got used to the game. There are some basic gameplay elements you are missing, especially FD in the air. For Zappa related issues, i highlighted some areas you need work in: 0:10 - You picked the rotten banana colour! Sorry, not constructive. But makes me lol. 0:29 - Bad poke attempt. fS or firing ghosts would be better options. Also, super jumping out of the corner and covering yourself with either K or P ghost tosses are valid options. 0:33 - This part made me cringe. Dizzy has no wake up options aside from her overdrives. If you score a knockdown, rush that shit down. 0:36 - You have to learn how to combo on reaction better. No way to get better aside from practicing more. Especially so for a random character like Zappa, you have to be ready to pull out an air combo anytime! 0:39 - I'm only gonna say this once, but your okizeme needs work. crouching within grabbing range of your enemy on wakeup is never a good idea. Ghosts have good pressure options, but you have to keep pressuring when you get those knockdowns! For some of your other oki, i noticed you like using mid P and K on wakeup. This is not a good idea. Go low or high, mix that shit up! 0:54 - I would have personally used the spit(fS) here, shes just begging to trip on it and eat a free summon combo. It may not seem like much, but the spit is a great option against many characters. Try and implement it more. 0:58 - Thats a so-so anti air which just screwed you over. 2HS is superior in many ways, covers alot of ground and huge air combo, CH or not. 1:17 - Thats a really weak ghost combo. Dont use so many Ps, it prorates like hell. get some S and fS in there too. 1:25 - If i got the dog in such a sweet position, it would have been match and point for the dizzy, especially since she has no burst. Thats an easy setup for a combo ending in the dog bite, leading to unlimited dog bite unblockable setups in the corner. Refer to the tutorial vids to see what i mean. 2:01 - Ugh, that happens alot to me too. Its such a familiar scene it hurts. Well, dont get too close on wakeup. Characters like testament and dizzy with huge grab range will tear you apart. 2:13 - Someone mentioned it, free sword CH combo here. Would have easily knocked a good chunk off her hp. 2:18 - Mix it up a little. Sometimes do a low sweep with 2S, or a high with 6HS after connecting with 226S. Or run forward and throw him, if hes being a big wussy. 2:20 - ...Oh boy. The sword spinning move depends on how you are jumping at the time. Jumping straight up does... that. Get a good running jump or IAD. 3:02 - Wasted a game ending combo. Pick her up with 236S > K, then proceed to tearing her asunder with a good air combo ending with Edguy. Don't feel bad though, that dizzy player is probably just as bad as you are, its just that Dizzy is a much easier to use character than Zappa. (Yes, you heard me.) What i would recommend is looking at the combo tutorial vids, and learn to execute at least the basic ones of each summon. Then work on your Ghost FRCs, which are crucial to the ghost game. Also, do a few runs in arcade mode and make those combos muscle memory, and work on finding the best pokes for the best situations. Ugh... This is way too lengthy because my girlfriend refused to go out with me today. Oh well. Think i'll go run a few combos on my PS2, i've been getting kinda rusty too. I hope that helps!

For the ghosts, i like using the S version of the toss, giving it a few seconds to advance towards the baiken, and then firing the HS toss. Most baikens will not be able to resist countering the S toss with the leaping air counter, which smacks them right in the face with the HS toss. I know, not the most groundbreaking strategy, but pretty funny to see.

Listed them in order. Nang-In is awesome, eki-chan is a close second. I think they are so great because of their excellent dog work.

Hey blipples, its always nice having more Zappa players to discuss with. Check out the Zappa tutorial vids posted. Theres one for each summon, and the combos, albeit very staple and standard, are all you need to win matches. You can freestyle and develop on those if you want to get flashier Thats the GG way! For your c.s 2hs(RC) 5d 2p2k c.s 6d 6hs 6d combo, if you get them in a corner you can do a very imbalanced variation loop using the 2HS(Big head bite), no tension required: hs (d 66 c.s 2hs) Takes off a good 50% if you rinse and repeat a good number of times. Starts from a decent overhead too, so pretty easy to land. Just dont do the initial hs too close to the opponent, he can grab you in the startup animation. Just one of the many good examples of excellent combos listed in the tutorial vids. Maybe i'm just a tension scrooge, but i'd prefer to use the tensionless variation of the two combos you listed (2p2k 5d 2p2k c.s 6d 6hs 6d), corner the poor bastard, and then do unblockable setups or try to bust out the combo i listed above. Its strange, but i never use tension when using the dog. I prefer saving it for the ghosts, sword and instant summoning raou. And of course, RC-ing edguys.

That would be a god send. Yes, please!

Up till yesterday, i used to think this was the worst matchup possible for Zappa. But after some experimenting with different options (an expensive thing to do, seeing as how i did this against a pretty experienced Pot at my local arcade) i found that its not so bad after all. First off, zappa's backdash is short. As such, backdashing away from the dreaded slidehead is often a difficult endeavor. Wait a split second before backdashing, or you'll be in for a helluva ride. I like to start the match by running forward. running 6p will beat his double-fisted long reach punch (6HS, i think?), and hit under his hammer fall. Also beats slide head. Needless to say, if he goes for the heat knuckle hes in for it too. You will also out prioritize him on most of his ground normals, so if he tries any of the above its a free summon for you. Forward mega fist will probably go over you, but its best to FD if you see him start with mega fist. Same with the flick. jumping p is a lifeline in this match. j.p will beat and out prioritize many of his air options, and punishes any slidehead attempts. Watch out for his deadly 6p (the Buddha clap), though. The potemkin i fought was very good with flicking the ghosts back at me. However, there is a way around it. First off, always jump before firing ghosts, for obvious reasons. I usually fire off the standard S toss, baiting a flick, before firing off a P toss. Naturally, if he goes for the flick he will flick away the S ghost toss, but leave himself wide open to eat the P toss. The K toss is pretty good if you think hes gonna try to heat knuckle you, as all he'll be grabbing is a handful of POSSESSION. The damage is pathetic, but pile on the pressure and farm orbs. Dog and sword have already been covered very well, i have nothing to add on those fronts. When using Raou, this is my favourite combo against Pot (and ky and sol and may and a few others): HS, K darkness anthem, j.S, j.HS, Edguy. If he is in the corner, RC and continue Edguy-ing until you run out of tension (2 Edguys per RC). So yeah, he'll be pretty much dead if he tries to burst anytime after the first Edguy, because he'll just be giving you a free Edguy in the air. Stay grounded. When he corners you, don't jump out of the corner. It is instinct to do so, but he will probably be waiting with a heat knuckle or a heavenly potemkin buster. IAD or K if you see a slidehead coming.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=BiYESEGSWLM Eki chan vs Dogura. Good reference, Eki chan played a very textbook Zappa against the best Robo Ky in Japan and came out on top. He seemed to like the sword swipe move, and got a good number of CHs with it.

Remember all the times you used Zappa, and people wouldn't give you a chance to summon and it pissed you off? This is your chance for revenge. Don't let him charge up, and his mixup game will go down the crapper. He will need to roman cancel his standard ground overhead for a combo, and bandit revolver lvl 1 = free summon, even if you eat it. His dust range is very short compared to the range of all his other pokes, so he isn't going to be throwing that out much. I don't find this match very hard. HOS needs spacing and time to charge up in order to really do any serious damage, time you can easily use in your advantage to either naked summon or rush him. I like to high jump and fire off K ghosts, unless he high jumps and storm vipers there isn't very much he can do to stop you. HOS has the lowest jump height in the game, and Zappa has some good air maneuverability, so go crazy.

Well if it worked on Ruu, i don't think there would be anyone who you could try it on the first time and they'd be able to block it :P Maybe i'm a bad player but with my hp so low, and having eaten an unblockable i'd never seen before, last thing on my mind would be checking the opponent's tension. I thought it was awesome, until i saw he lost the match. That raises a few eyebrows as to whether thats a viable combo. Sure, its flashy, but you give your opponent way too much tension for the damage done. If he had done the textbook knockdown and corner combos that Eki-chan or Nang-In usually do, he would have gotten the same amount of damage (or more.) And if that Johnny had managed to escape, he wouldnt have had enough tension to do those big combos later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txrdKpI4elk At the end of the match, eki chan uses the low spit+ force break for a quick low-high combination. Not sure if its unblockable, but it looks like no ones gonna be blocking that anyways. The way he mixed in the throw later was genius as well.

I think you cant start the loop with 6HS, it always ends on the second 6HS for me when i try. Get a little airtime with a j.HS or whatever, and the looping should be easier.

Ah, yeah i was training on Potemkin because i had the feeling that he might be the easiest to juggle. Too bad i still failed with all the juggle moves Start with a 2D huh... sounds good. I'll try that tomorrow. I was having problems with doing 5p cos yeah, i always messed up and did 6p instead. But thats just 'cos my arcade sticking is the worst ever. Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Hey guys, i'm having alittle trouble doing the instant raou summon. What i'm doing is: 2P>2K> Summon(RC)> dash> c.S> Summon (RC) >dash> c.S Summon My combo usually drops on the second loop. I'm just not dashing fast enough, i guess. I noticed here it says 'Dash must be primed before RC." What does that mean? Sorry and thanks, i can do most other zappa combos, weird that the most textbook one is the one i left till last to learn.

The vids are back! Thank you Zoogstin! I'll repay your kindness by training hard in an attempt to make Zappa look good

Awesome! Thanks! :D

Hi guys, didn't know where else to ask but... There were these sweet tutorial vids on youtube called "Zappa Beginners Guide pt.1-4" and they each covered zappas various aspects. They had loads of awesome combos and showed the inputs and everything. Only problem is, the vids have been removed. Anyone knows where else to watch them?

Hi, thanks for the help! Yes EXE beast is a huge issue with me. I block it fairly often, sometimes i even try baiting it for an opening, but its still a pretty ridiculous move. Also i've fought my friend so many times, he knows all of my moves and mixups and he can warrant them pretty easily. Yes i find ghosts are my best summon here, using the p version of the toss is great most of the time because its hard to warrant, with the inconsistency of the bouncing patterns. :D Unfortunately after pressuring and extreme poking from the ghosts, usually my friend can beat me back from having 10% to a full health win ON HIS SIDE I honestly thought of taking a break from Zappa to try my luck with Robo Ky (I seem to do better with him, iono) but i think i'll give Zappa another shot. I've got a horrible win rate with him, but hes just so much fun. Thanks for the advice!

This is a matchup i'm pretty familiar with, because my best friend is a testament user. Unfortunately he almost always wins, so i don't know if you want a loser's experience, but here goes: First, know this: You do not have a single move which can beat any of testament's in range. Except in some occasions, maybe the bloody sword swing. Also, 70% of the time he will win in air to air because of the same range. Therefore, poking is a lost cause. The only way to get in? Run up to his face and pressure. Easier said than done, since the battlefield is laid with traps. Remember to run a few steps, FD, run a few steps, FD. It is very tedious but probably the only way. Oh, and be careful about empty summoning at the other end of the screen, he might have an EXE beast waiting for you. Okay, so you made it all the way to his face! Congratulations! However, testament is a sneaky one, he might have a warrant waiting for you. (I have some problem here: Do i block warrant normally, or reversed?) Usually i bait the warrant before doing a combo. With Sword: This weapon is much better in AC than Slash, simply cos you can tack a 61234HS at the end of your combo for a knockdown. Testament has no SRK or good wakeup supers; Feel free to oki as you please. Don't 236HS into forward EXE beast! With Ghost: I usually get distance and shoot ghosts all over to clear zeinests. of course remember to always do this jumping, so you dont eat exe beasts! Once you do that, you can IAD over (but watch the hitomis!) and start pressuring him with the usual. Ghosts do really bad damage here by the way, but its not as much about dmg here as it is about being plain irritating and ruining his tempo. With Dog: This can be either the best summon or the worst, depending on your spacing. Forward EXE beast beats your 6D, so use it discreetly. Also don't be thinking "HA HA, dog is out, pressure is on you now chump!" Because he might just think screw the dog, and go straight for the owner with a EXE beast on your ass. With Raou: Raou is my weakest summon. I usually can do an oki where i either 2HS or Dust him, before doing a Edguy RC'd into Edguy. Of course its a 50/50 whether he eats this incredibly painful combo or not. My friend also goes into mega turtle mode against Raou. You can see him backdash, his skirt fly up alittle, he puts something red into the air, rinse, repeat. He does EXE beast the moment he sees the purple ball in my hands, and EXE BEAST ONCE AGAIN RUINS Bellow's Malice. If he does the forward version, the bloody beast can block majority of the hits for him. If he does the back version, 90% of the time the beast will bite you before a single hit can touch him. Yes i mentioned EXE beast alot of times in this post, because i find it is Zappa's worst nightmare. The backdash we all adore is crippled by it, and you cannot immediately start running on wakeup, because he might have an okizeme EXE beast waiting for you. And you can't outrun that! You need to be at least 1-2 seconds into running before Zappa picks up enough speed to outrun it. Stuff i find that stuffs testament's... stuff: 6p beats testament's 2HS.. i think? The one with invincible startup. Thats a big plus, because most Testaments spam that like crazy. I think the slippery spit halts this one too. Not sure though. 6p also beats: Master of Puppets, gravedigger. Stuff you can run under: Master of Puppets, gravedigger, Zeinest(wouldn't recomment it, because unlike hitomi it doesnt disappear once you knock down test. You might IAD backwards into a net later.) Conclusion: This is a really horrendous matchup for me, Because of how plain tedious it is, and how ridiculous it is that not only can he outreach, outdamage, and outspeed you, But in the worst case scenario, you are poisoned and phantom soul'd, which is pretty much a game over. Don't give up though! Because it looks awesome when you do win. Ref Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-cpZSiTWk Abe does pretty well against testament. Of course once shonen kicks badlands loop into overdrive thats pretty much the game. Sorry if this wasn't helpful, or if it was too long.