SNK vs Capcom Chaos Mr. Karate for Beginners FAQ Version 1.0 By GenesisGamma6 (AKA Epsilon of Blood-sports.net) Started and completed on: September 9, 2006 Formal Stuff ------------ This FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any website or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other website or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Contents -------- (1) Introduction to the Karate Goblin (2) Quick bio and story information (3) Legend (4) Game basics (5) The Kyokugen Special Techniques (6) The really secret Kyokugen supers (7) Basic combos (8) A few final tips (9) Miscellaneous Information (10) Credits and Contact Info Introduction to the Karate Goblin --------------------------------- If you're a fan of Takuma Sakazaki in the KOF games, then you'll definitely like Mr. Karate in this game. He practically has it all here... power, good stamina and easy combos! And of course, a few new bonuses due to the fact that our favourite old Kyokugen master has donned the Tengu Mask! The purpose of this FAQ is to give a brief guide for beginners to Mr. Karate in the SNK vs. Capcom game and will by no means provide insane amounts of combos. Quick bio and story information ------------------------------- I don't have a Neo Geo official handbook so here's some bio information from a KOF 98 Takuma FAQ with additional info from http://www.answers.com. Place of Birth: Japan Date of Birth: Febuary 4th, 1947 (Feb 4, 1933 according to AOF) Height: 1.80 m (5'11") Weight: 70 kg (154 lbs) Blood type: O Hobbies: Making Soba (buckwheat) noodles Favorite food: White rice, miso soup, kale pellets, vinegar-cured soybeans Favorite sport: All martial arts Most valuable: His children, students, and Kyokugen-ryuu Karate Hates the most: Snakes Fighting style: Kyokugen-ryuu Karate (Extreme style Karate-do) The story begins in Art of Fighting when he lost his memory and got recruited by Mr. Big to take care of some pesky martial artists at the Kyokugen dojo. Ryo managed to eventually defeat him and was about to go for the final blow when Yuri saved him and helped him restore his memory. The entry on Wikipedia states something different and suggests that Takuma created this persona to preserve his honour and had nothing to do with memory loss. So what's his story here? According to the SVC Comic, he's interested in doing battle with Akuma and has died in order to get to the Parallel World Tournament to fight him at full power there. Primary colour: White karate gi, white hair and beard on mask Secondary colour: Light purple karate gi, light purple hair and beard on mask Legend ------ u = Up uf = Up-Forward f = Forward df = Down-Forward d = Down db = Down-Back b = Back ub = Up-Back qcf = Quarter-Circle Forward qcb = Quarter-Circle Back hcf = Half-Circle Forward hcb = Half-Circle Backward P = Punch LP = Light Punch HP = Hard Punch K = Kick LK = Light Kick HK = Hard Kick Neo-Geo System Button Configuration A = LP B = LK C = HP D = HK Game Basics ----------- Dash: Tap f twice Character will perform a quick dash forward. You are vulnerable to attack during this dash. Backwards dash: Tap b twice Character will hop backwards. Once again, you are vulnerable to attack during the hop. Guard Cancel Frontstep: Tap f twice while blocking or press BC while blocking Character cancels block and dashes forward with a brief moment of invincibility. This is a key concept to master so get used to it quickly. This technique consumes some power gauge energy. According to Kao Megura's general FAQ, tapping F twice consumes less power gauge energy than pressing BC while blocking. Guard Cancel Attack: Press CD at same time while blocking Character cancels block and performs a small counter attack to knock opponent back. This costs you one level of your power gauge and seems to deal little to no damage so use this sparingly. Throwing: Press AB or CD when near opponent This is probably one of the elements that turns normal fighting game fans away from this game. Throwing is a bit of a hassle here (even more so than Street Fighter Alpha 3's PPP or KKK throw input). If you miss a throw, there will be a miss animation for your character and you will be punished for a missed throw by losing some power gauge energy. Obviously a successful throw doesn't cost any power guage. The AB throw will keep your opponent in front of you while the CD throw causes your character to switch sides so keep that in mind. Throw escape: Press AB or CD as soon as you are being thrown by the opponent Your character will perform an action to avoid being thrown by the opponent. Note that you must use the same input as the opponent did. So if the opponent tries an AB throw, you have to press AB as well to escape the throw. Recovery Roll: Press AB when landing A standard feature in King of Fighters, this allows your character to recover on their feet quickly instead of being knocked down. The Kyokugen Special Techniques ------------------------------- Oosotogari: Press AB when near opponent Mr. Karate quickly forces the opponent to the ground before adding in a final punch. Ippon Seoi: Press CD when near opponent A standard grab move where Mr. Karate picks up the opponent, switches around and slams the enemy on to the ground. Oniguruma: f + A Mr. Karate performs a punch that acts as a knockdown attack unless you cancel into it (according to Kao's FAQ). This move is also cancelable. Kawara Wari: f + B An overhead attack. Use this to mix up your game and smack opponents who use crouching guard too often. If you combo into this, there won't be any overhead properties. Hisha Otoshi: b + A A chop that can negate normal projectiles. Pretty slow start-up so I would suggest that you avoid this move. Ko'ou Ken: qcf + P Mr. Karate's standard projectile move. The C version travels a bit faster than the A version. Alternate between both to confuse your opponent. You can also use this to combo from his normal cancelable attacks. Good to see that he has this version rather than the one he got in KOF 2002. Zanretsu Ken: f, b, f + P Mr. Karate gets into a stance and starts jabbing the air with his inner arm. If the enemy comes into contact without guarding, Mr. Karate will use his inner arm to deliver 12 hits before finishing off with a punch from his outer arm to knock the enemy down for a total of 13 hits. There seems to be no real difference between using A or C (unlike Ryo's version where A or C determines how Ryo's final punch is delivered). This can act as a good follow up from a D Hien Shippu Kyaku. More on that later. Kohou: f, d, df + P It's about time Mr. Karate got his own uppercut! I've never seen him have it before in the KOF games. I have no idea if he had this move back in his Art of Fighting days. Basically, it's a good clean tight anti-air move similar to Ryu's Shouryuu Ken and the movement is the same as Marco/Butt's anti-air from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Mouko Burai Gan: qcb + P Mr. Karate throws out a punch from his outer arm that comes out after a few seconds of autoguard from his inner arm when it's in the air. Can be used as a follow up from D Hien Shippu Kyaku. Shouran Kyaku: hcb + K Mr. Karate runs towards the opponent, grabs him, uses his knees to inflict some damage before kicking him away. This move has been with Takuma throughout his KOF incarnations. Mr. Karate is obviously vulnerable during the run and will stop after running a certain distance depending on if the player used the B or D button. Hien Shippu Kyaku: Charge db, f + K A classic move of Takuma... er, Mr. Karate. You will always want to use the D version since that allows for an easy juggle of the enemy. The B version only goes a short distance and has one hit while the D version travels further and does two hits. There are so many ways to follow up with the D version. I'll leave a brief list at the end of the FAQ in the basic combos section. The really secret Kyokugen supers --------------------------------- Kyokugen Kohou: qcf x 2 + K Essentially, this is a super version of Mr. Karate's uppercut and this goes for 7 hits. Obviously, if a student like Marco/Butt had this move as one of his supers, the great Grand Master should have this too. Best used as a follow up to D Hien Shippu Kyaku. Haoh Shikou Ken: f, hcf + P (hold P to delay release of projectile) The standard Kyokugen super projectile. Every single disciple of this art has this move in one way or another. You can delay the release of this move by holding down P. The A version travels slowly while the C version travels fast. Also, delaying the projectile will not affect it's damage or speed. Chou Haoh Shikou Ken: f, hcf + AC [EXCEED] (hold AC to delay release) Mr. Karate throws out three Haoh Shikou Kens at once (much like the finisher for the MAX version of Takuma's old Ryuuko Ranbu). As noted above, delaying has no effect on damage. Speed is pretty much the same as a C version except for three at once. A good Exceed which can act as a great follow up to D Hien Shippu Kyaku or as a wake up call for someone abusing their projectile attack too much. SNK did not give this version of Mr. Karate the Ryuuko Ranbu. Instead they made it as an Exceed for Serious Mr. Karate. What gives? Basic Combos ------------ 1. D Hien Shippu Kyaku => pretty much any physical attack except for grabs 2. Jump D => Crouching C => D Hien Shippu Kyaku => Same as above 3. Close C => Ko'ou Ken. A few final words ----------------- As great as D Hien Shippu Kyaku is, don't get predictable with it or you can end up getting severely punished. Also, it's about damn time that Takuma was given an anti-air move like the Dragon Punch. Some CPU End Boss Tips for those having trouble getting to Mr. Karate's ending Shin Akuma: The CPU attack pattern is that once you get in a corner, he'll continue teleporting back and forth and do random things that would obviously destroy an agressive player (or a complete newbie). Have patience. Once in a while, he'll leap forward to do a Zankuu Hadouken. Once he lands, he usually pauses for a bit so that's when you can quickly perform a throw. Also, try and feint at certain times to have the CPU throw out a Messatsu Gou Shouryuu when you still have time to guard. Then you can punish with a simple combo. Violent Ken: Time your jumps carefully so that he can whiff his HP Shoryuuken and then nail him with a combo. Orochi Iori: Use your dashes as ways to feint so that he will whiff his 100 Shiki: Oniyaki in front of you. Also, don't rely on the Ko'ou Ken here since Orochi Iori can easily duck under them with his crouching guard (or with a Ya Otome super). Serious Mr. Karate: Learn to master Guard Cancel Frontstep so that you can punish him when he does Chou Haoh Shikou Ken. He will occasionally leave himself wide open when he does his HP Built Upper and Kyokugen Kohou so be ready to combo him there. Red Arremer: I don't have too many tips here since I usually don't fight the devil with Mr. Karate. Red Arremer's projectiles can easily out do Mr. Karate here so the only time to nail him in general is if he uses Hell Hunter (Chijou) where he flies in a straight path. Just dodge it and counterattack. Athena: Easy for anyone in general. All you need to do is be aware of her move properties and their openings for a counterattack. Miscellaneous Information ------------------------- Win pose 1: Slips out of his karate gi top to expose his scarred chest Win pose 2: Performs a light kata in place Win quote 1: Lads like you cannot hope to bend my nose out of shape. You can't touch this baby! Win quote 2: You lack real training! Win quote 3: I've heard rumours that the Kyokugen dojo is all the rage these days. Win quote 4: My real identity? I'm the Karate Goblin! Special win quote against Ryo: You lack devotion! Enduring hunger and poverty is how you find the way! Special win quote against Mr. Karate: If you're going to wear a mask, make it a cool one like mine! Special win quote against Serious Mr. Karate: Imposter! You think you can hide behind a mere mask? Credits and Contact Info ------------------------ Special thanks to those who wrote up KOF Takuma FAQs. Their useful information made this SVC Mr. Karate FAQ easier to write. Also, thanks to Kao Megura's FAQ for some additional notes on move properties for the Karate Goblin. Kudos for Capcom and SNK teaming up together on these projects. Hope to see another one in the works soon. AIM: GenesisGamma6 Yahoo: nemesisalpha1@yahoo.ca MSN/Hotmail: deadalpha@hotmail.com Copyright 2006 Isaac Tong