The Complete MARVEL SUPER HEROES Combo FAQ ============================================================================ ###b d### A ########b Y##b d##P ######### ### ####b d#### d#b #########b Y##b d##P ######### ### #####b d##### d#^#b ### Y###P Y##b d##P #### ### ######bd###### d#P Y#b ### d##P Y##b d##P ######### ### *****Y**P***** d*******b *******C Y**bd**P ********* *** ***** YP ***** d**P***Y**b ***IY***b Y****P **** *** ***** ***** d**P Y**b ***I Y***b Y**P ********* ******** ***** ***** d**P Y**b ***I Y***b YP ********* ******** ____ _ _ ____ ____ ____ _ _ ____ ____ _____ ____ ____ / ___|| | | || _ \ | __|| _ \ | | | || __|| _ \ / _ \| __|/ ___| | |__ | | | || |_> || |__ | |_> | | |_| || |__ | |_> || | | || |__ | |__ \__ \| | | || ___/ | __|| / | _ || __|| / | | | || __|\__ \ __| || |_| || | | |__ | |\ \ | | | || |__ | |\ \ | |_| || |__ __| | |____/\_____/|_| |____||_| \_\ |_| |_||____||_| \_\\_____/|____||____/ ============================================================================ Written by James Chen e-mail:jchensor@ucla.edu Version 3.0 *****IMPORTANT NOTE... PLEASE READ:***** For clearest reading of this FAQ, it is best viewed with a type-writer font (example: Courier on Mac-based Word-Processors) with left/right margins at 1.0 or smaller with a font size at 10 point or smaller (try different combinations of fonts, sizes, and margins to see if you can find a format that looks most clear). If you want to be EXACT, use a set up where there are 78 characters per line. You can tell if you can view the FAQ clearly if the title ASCII art looks correct and each line of it fits on one line. Table of Contents: - What's new in this version - Intro - The Basic Components to the Combos - Multi-Hit Moves - Special Moves/Infinity Combos - Special Move Cancellation - The Magic Series - Basic Rules - Rules for Ground Magic Series - Rules for Regular Jumping Magic Series - Rules for Super Jumping Magic Series - Combo Classifications - Regular Combos - Dashing Combos - Jump-In Combos - Juggling Combos - Air Combos - Set-Ups - Launchers - Super Jumping - Regular Jumping - Types of Air Combos - Super Jumping - Regular Jumping - Tips On How To Perform - Reaction Problem - Timing Problem - The Fireball Problem - The Confusion Problem - Double Jumping Combos - Off-The-Ground (OTG) Combos - Flying Screen Combos - Gem Combos - Combo Combinations - Character Specifics - Legend/Definitions of terms used for describing the combos - Captain America - Spiderman - Wolverine - Psylocke - Hulk - Ironman - Magneto - Juggernaut - Shuma Gorath - Blackheart - Special Thanks/Closing - Appendix: Detailed Combo Explanations WHAT'S NEW IN THIS VERSION (3.0) - MANY MANY MANY more new and MORE awesome combos than before! - Lots more information never in before - Totally revamped the format of the FAQ for more clarity - New sections made, old ones deleted, etc. - Just read the whole FAQ again 'cause everything is updated! :-) (2.0) - More combos - New information about Regular Jumping Magic Series added - New paragraphs in the Regular Jumping Magic Series Section - # of hits possible on grounded enemy added to Character Specifics Section - New info about Dashing Combos after Jumping Combos - New Paragraphs in the Dashing Combos Section - Figured out everyone's Regular Jumping Magic Series - Lots of fixing-up and cleaning-up in the Character Specifics Section (1.9) - More combos - All combos in here work and have been verified - Juggernaut section totally revamped! Lots of combos now! - New "Safe Ground Combo" section for character specifics - New section added to the end: Combo Limitations - New discovery about Regular Jumping Magic Series... - Section in Air Combos description and Magic Series section changed - Added Regular Jumping Magic Series to Character Specifics (not all known) - Few minor tweaks in paragraphs, nothing really important ============================================================================== INTRO Welcome to the world of Marvel Super Heroes, Capcom's latest installment in the Marvel Fighting Game Series. The first game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, gave the player control of 11 familiar faces from the popular Marvel Comics Series X-Men capable of some of the most bizarre combos ever seen in a fighting game. Now, in Marvel Super Heroes, they have completely expanded the combos and brought them up to another level! Never before has there been a game where the combos grow into the number of 20+ hits yet still require skill, imagination, and timing (unlike the preprogrammed combos from KI). Never before has anyone seen the wild styles and types of combos pulled off in this game. And never before has there been a game where the ability to create unique and awesome-looking combos been possible. The possibilities are endless. New combos are created everyday. Old ones are constantly being improved. And the number of max hits for each character constantly climbs. So thus I present this FAQ to help you learn how to perform, create, and improve your own combos! So hopefully, this FAQ will turn you into a Combo machine so you can impress your friends and destroy your enemies and give you an adrenaline rush you've never felt before performing these combos! Throughout this FAQ, I will be pointing out difference between this game and X-Men in case you read the X-Men Combo FAQ and think that some of the combos are the same (for example, air combos are hardly the same as they were in X-Men). Note: Remember, this is PURELY A COMBO FAQ. For more comprehensive information on the game in general, please look for the MSH FAQ by Richard Cheung in the Brawl.Mindlink.Net FTP Site, the FTP.netcom.com FTP site, or in any other places you may be able to locate it. It may be a good idea to find that FAQ first if you have never played this game before because that FAQ will be a better aid in helping you learn the basics of the game. This FAQ assumes that you already have a very high knowledge of the game in its basic structures and systems. If you are very unfamiliar with this game, it may be more productive to learn the game to an extent before utilizing this FAQ. ============================================================================== THE BASIC COMPONENTS TO THE COMBOS There are many different kinds of combos in Marvel Super Heroes. However, all of the combos are made up of combo rules and techniques. This section lists the basic components of every combo for the game. Understanding the very basics behind every combo is a key factor in learning how to do combos effectively. -=Multi-Hit Moves=- What better way to do a combo than to just hit a button that makes your character perform a move that hits more than once? Some examples are Shuma Gorath's Standing Roundhouse, Hulk's Crouching Fierce, Blackheart's Standing Roundhouse, and Psylocke's Jumping Up+Roundhouse. They don't require much skill and they don't look at all impressive, but they count as combos anyhow. -=Special Moves/Infinity Combos=- Not much harder to do are the Special Moves and Infinity Combos that automatically get you a higher number of hits. These can be rather impressive, however... especially the Infinity Combos. Examples of automatically multi-hitting Special Moves are Shuma Gorath's Mystic Stare, Ironman's UniBeam, Wolverine's Berserker Barrage, Blackheart's Inferno, and Psylocke's PsiBlade. Examples of multi-hitting Infinity Combos are Wolverine's Weapon X, Captain America's Final Justice, Blackheart's Heart of Darkness, Psylocke's Psionic Maelstrom, Juggernaut's Juggernaut Headcrush, and Ironman's Proton Cannon. These all get you impressive looking combos but don't rank too high on the skill-level meter. -=Special-Move Cancellation=- Marvel Super Heroes still hasn't lost the classic way to do combos... the old Street Fighter series method of comboing is still quite intact! The method of allowing you to cancel normal moves with special moves is still possible and still one of the best ways to do a combo. The whole principle behind this combo method is to hit the enemy with a normal move and then cancel the normal move's animation and delay with a special move so that the special move hits faster than the opponent can recover from the first hit. However, as in X-Men, the programmers of Marvel Super Heroes have decided to give the player MUCH more freedom than in the SF series. In MSH, you now have the freedom to cancel ALL normal moves (grounded, jumping, super jumping) at ANY point in its animation whether you hit the enemy or not (in Street Fighter, you could only cancel CERTAIN moves in only CERTAIN frames of animation)! This goes for ALL normal moves including Ironman's Low Fierce missile, Wolverine's Offensive Crouching Fierce, and Shuma Gorath's Standing Roundhouse. This allows for a great freedom of combos. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, however. Blackheart's Fierce and Roundhouse are some of them. Once the demons are summoned, he can no longer cancel these moves with a special move. He has to wait until they are finished before doing a special move (the Standing Roundhouse CAN be canceled in it's initial frames of animation before the demons appear, however). Another exception is Juggernaut. Some of his Fierce punches can only be canceled in their early frames of animation. If you wait too long, for some reason, they won't cancel anymore. -=Magic Series=- In MSH, Capcom uses a very similar Chain Combo system as they did in X- Men. For MSH, the Magic Series once again becomes of the major determining factors in how long and impressive your combo can be. Basically, the Magic Series is a system in which the fighters are allowed to cancel one normal into another different one. For each character, there is a specific rule that their Magic Series follows while on the ground. Also, every character has a Magic Series for when they are performing a Regular Jump. The same goes for Super Jumping although everyone has the same Super Jumping Magic Series. Some basic rules about Magic Series: Before, in X-Men, you could cancel a normal move with another move in the Series even if you didn't make contact with the enemy. That feature is now gone and, thus, you now have to actually make contact with the enemy before the next move can come out. For example, in X-Men, you could actually make Psylocke whiff a Standing Fierce Punch and cancel it into the Standing Roundhouse in the middle of the Fierce's animation. Now in order to do that in MSH you actually have to make contact with the enemy with the Fierce attack or you cannot cancel it with the Roundhouse attack. This is a little more limiting in some respects, but helpful in others. If a Magic Series is more than two buttons long, you can skip any of the middle buttons and jump right to later ones. However, you can never go backwards. For example, Psylocke's Ground Magic Series is Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse. However, she can choose to just do a Jab -> Strong -> Forward -> Roundhouse skipping Short and Fierce all together. However, she cannot do a Jab -> Strong -> Fierce, and then back to a Forward. You can only progress forward in the series. Rules for ground Magic Series: When performing a Magic Series while on standing, you can cancel the appropriate normal move with a Standing or Crouching move. For example, in Psylocke's above Magic Series, she can cancel her Strong into a Standing Forward OR a Crouching Forward. Psylocke also has another normal move that you do by holding Towards on the joystick and pressing Forward Kick. Thus, you can also cancel her Standing Strong into this move as well. Basically, you can cancel a move into any version of the next button(s) of the series. Rules for Jumping Magic Series: Basically the same as Ground Magic Series. Just like the Ground Magic Series, you can do any version of a button that you want. For example, with Shuma Gorath, you can do a Jumping Strong into a Jumping Forward OR a Jumping Fierce into a Jumping Down+Forward. Rules for Super Jumping Magic Series: The way Magic Series work while Super Jumping has been simplified since X-Men. This is so because everyone has the same Magic Series while Super Jumping: the Zig Zag series (Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse). Like the Ground Magic Series and the Regular Jumping magic Series, the Super Jumping Magic Series allows you to do any version of a button. For example, Captain America can do a Super Jumping Jab into a Super Jumping Roundhouse OR a Super Jumping Down+Roundhouse. ============================================================================== COMBO CLASSIFICATIONS Now, with all of the basic components to combos, you can do many different things with them. This section here lists all of the different types of combos possible using the basic components. Throughout this section, I will classify combos in the terms of locations. For example, in the Dashing Combos section, I say that the it is a Ground-to-Ground combo, meaning that these combos are done when you are on the ground attacking an enemy on the ground. The first location applies to you and the second applies to your opponent. -=Regular Combos=- The first type of combo possible, of course, is a normal combo using any of the basic components. A good example of this is a basic Magic Series Combo with Captain America: Crouching Short -> Crouching Forward -> Crouching Roundhouse. Another example is a basic Special Move Cancellation Combo with Psylocke: Standing Strong canceled by a PsiBlade. -=Dashing Combos=- Dashing Combos apply for Ground-to-Ground combos. There is no better way to initiate ground combos then to start them by Dashing in this game. By doing a Dash before your first move, you can add more hits than if you did the combo without the Dash. This works because, when you Dash, your first attack will carry some left-over momentum from the dash and, thus, your first hit won't push you away from the enemy as far as a non-dashing version of the attack would. For example, when Psylocke fights against Juggernaut, she can do a Standing Jab -> Standing Short -> Standing Strong -> Standing Forward Magic Series against him. If she tries to chain a Crouching Fierce after the initial four hits, it will miss Juggernaut completely. However, if you start the exact same combo Dashing in and hitting the Jab right when you get next to him, you will be able to connect with the Crouching Fierce at the end and that will launch Juggernaut into the sky setting up for Air Combos. The extra Dash inserted at the beginning allows Psylocke to put in more hits for her Ground Magic Series and not slide too far from the enemy after too many hits so that some moves will whiff. Thus, when someone like Wolverine leaves himself open for a combo after missing with the Tornado Claw, it is much better to start a combo off by dashing at him and comboing him than to just start it from standing next to him. Remember that it is key that you do not attack too fast with your first attack. The point of Dashing in is also to make sure you're as close to the enemy as possible so you can sneak in the most hits. In order to ensure that you are close to the enemy and hit them with all your moves, you must do the attack a little AFTER you start Dashing. I will use the above Psylocke example against Juggernaut again in this situation. If you Dash in with Psylocke but hit Jab too early, you'll stop Psylocke's Dash early and she won't be as close to Juggernaut as you would want her to be, thus giving you the chance of missing with the Crouch Fierce. However, if you Dash and attack a little later after your Dash, this will make sure you are closer to Juggernaut giving you a better chance of landing all five hits. Needless to say that this is highly dependent on the distance between you and your enemy. If you are already next to each other, only a short pause is needed. If you are a screen away from the enemy, you can't get close enough with a Dash no matter what. -=Jump-In Combos=- Jump-In Combos apply for Air-to-Ground Combos. Jump-In Combos is the use of the Magic Series to give yourself more hits when initiating a combo from Jumping. For example, if you are using Spiderman and you jump in at Hulk, you can do a Jumping Roundhouse, Crouch Short -> Crouch Roundhouse combo. However, utilizing a Jump-In Combo allows you to perform a Jumping Jab -> Jumping Short -> Jumping Strong -> Jumping Fierce when you jump in at Hulk all before you land and do the two hits from the ground. All four hits will connect and combo before Spiderman even touches the floor. An important thing to know to do these combos more effectively, however, is that in order to add many hits from normal jumping at the enemy, it is better to start the first hit very high on your Jump Arc. For example, in the previous Spiderman example, you have to hit the Jab Button right when Spiderman starts coming on his way down from his Jump. If you wait too late to hit the Jab Button, there won't be enough time for Spiderman to get in all four hits. Also, it is important to note that the smaller attacks, such as Jab and Short, permit more hits. Using the Spiderman example again, Spiderman can get in four hits ONLY if he uses Jab and Short for the First two. If Spiderman tries a Jumping Strong -> Jumping Forward -> Jumping Fierce -> Jumping Roundhouse, the Fierce or Roundhouse will miss because the previous two moves come out slower than the Jab and Short, preventing him from getting all four hits in. So, in the long run, it is debatable which is better: doing four hits with weaker attacks or two hits with stronger attacks. For example: Wolverine can jump against Hulk with a Jumping Jab -> Jumping Short -> Jumping Strong -> Jumping Forward. However, he can opt for a Jumping Fierce -> Jumping Roundhouse instead. Which is better? To put it simply: for more hits and a more impressive looking combo, do the four hits from the weaker attacks. For more damage, do the two hits with the stronger attacks. I will leave it at that. -=Juggling Combos=- Juggling Combos apply for Ground-to-Air Combos or Air-to-Air Combos. Juggling is basically any combo that keeps your opponent in the air while you are on the ground hitting them. This can come in MANY forms. For example, If the enemy jumps backwards in the corner, Psylocke can do a Standing Jab -> Standing Strong -> Standing Fierce to the enemy while he is still in the air. All three hits will connect and "bounce" the enemy in the air a little. Another example is after Captain America's Forward Kick Throw (the Throw where Captain America takes his opponent and tosses them up into the air). If Captain America throws, say, Spiderman with the Forward button, Captain America can hit Spiderman on his way down from the Throw with a Standing Fierce before Spiderman lands on the ground. This is also a Juggling Combo. One last example is after getting hit by Blackheart's Inferno (Pillar). After hitting the enemy with the Inferno, if Blackheart is close enough, he can hit the enemy on their way down from being hit by the Pillar with a Standing Strong or any other move quick enough, bouncing them back up. Also, you can Juggle people with any sort of Jumping Move as well. So after throwing Spiderman, Captain America can Jumping Fierce Spiderman as he falls as well as Standing Fierce. There are many forms of Juggling Combos. This isn't the most useful type of Combo, however. It is almost exclusively used most effectively for Air Combo set-ups, after OTG Combos, and Flying Screen Combos. -=Air Combos=- Air Combos Apply for Air-to-Air Combos. The one thing that Capcom apparently is trying to promote is the Air Combo. Not only do they give you special messages when you perform them (the words "Air Combo" appear at the side of the screen), they tell you to do them after you lose games (you know, those little "advice" messages they give you while the Continue Meter counts down). Messages like, "Down, Up for a Super Jump. Do combos even in the air!" or "After you knock opponent into the air, it's time for an air combo!" or something like that will appear. Even though they existed in X-Men, they were not NEARLY as effective as they are in MSH. Plus, only a few people could really effectively use them in X-Men. Now in MSH, everyone can do them (even Juggernaut can fly up and whack you a bunch of times... looks funny as hell!), it's practical for everyone, and it's easy for everyone to do as well. The actual definition of an Air Combo, in MSH terms, are a series of hits you perform on an airborne enemy while you yourself are airborne. For example, if you juggle an enemy in the air while remaining on the ground, it is not considered an Air Combo. If you jump at an enemy and hit the ground- based enemy with two hits from a Jumping Magic Series, you do not get an Air Combo message. It only counts as an Air Combo if both characters are in the air. There are three ways to set up air combos and actually two different types of air combos. The three ways to set them up, in order of usefulness, are a) after "Launchers"; b) Super Jumping at an airborne enemy; c) regular jumping an airborne opponent. The two different types of Air Combos are, simply enough, Super Jumping Air Combos and Regular Jumping Air Combos. -Set-Ups- 1) Launchers: In MSH, there are many moves that, when striking the opponent while they stand on the floor, will knock them off of their feet so that they are no longer standing still. There are three kinds of these moves: 1) Launchers: ones that will knock the opponent upwards rather than outwards. Height can be from just a little bit upwards to very high; 2) Strikes: moves that knock the enemy off their feet but not upwards for an Air Combo set-up. Most of the time, they knock the enemy straight across the screen; 3) Knock-Downs: Ones that drop the enemy to the floor (sweep moves/trip moves). The first one is the most useful one concerning Air Combos. The other two are not useful for Air Combos so no detail on those need be gone into for now. The Launchers are by far the most useful because they knock the opponent right into the range for an air combo. There are three kinds of Straight Up Launchers: 1) Regular Launchers: ones that knock the opponent upwards and very high regardless if the opponent is on the ground or in the air; 2) Small Launchers: ones that knock the opponent just slightly up off the floor; 3) Air Launchers: ones that launch enemies straight up and sky high only if the enemy was hit out of the air. Regular launchers can be used as Air Combo set-ups at almost anytime.The Small Launchers and Air launchers can be combined to set-up Air Combos. Since Air Launchers can only launch people if they hit the enemy out of the air, you can set them up with Small Launchers. For example, with Spiderman, you can use Crouching Forward, which is a Small Launcher, and follow it up with Standing Roundhouse, which is an Air Launcher. The Crouching Forward will barely knock the guy into the air but the Standing Roundhouse will hit them out of the air before they recover and launch them sky high allowing you to perform an Air Combo. The Air Launchers can be also used to set up Air Combos if you merely strike an opponent with the move while he is jumping or flying or any other action making them not touch the floor. When the opponent is knocked upwards into the air by a Launcher, he is rendered vulnerable UNTIL HE REACHES THE TOP OF HIS REEL "FLIGHT". After the opponent starts falling back down, they can block everything again. This is very important as, after launching an enemy, you must IMMEDIATELY jump after them and HIT THEM ON THEIR WAY UP, NOT ON THEIR WAY DOWN. To use a Launcher successfully, you must hit the enemy with it and then cancel your move with a Super Jump to follow the reeling enemy into the air and combo them. However, you do not have to do the complete Down, Up motion required to Super Jump in the middle of a Launching combo. You merely have to hit any of the three up directions to send your character Super Jumping after the enemy after being launched by your move. This only works after Launchers, however. If you hit the enemy with non-Launchers, you cannot Super Jump after hitting them. If you hit the enemy with a Launcher, however, the game will automatically make you Super Jump as soon as you touch any of the three Jump positions with the Joystick. So after you hit the enemy with Launcher, immediately hold Forward Flip (or Straight Up depending on the situation) upon contact to make your character Super Jump and then start your Air Combo. A side note: you can ONLY cancel your Launcher with a Super Jump if it HITS the enemy. If they block your launcher or you whiff them with it, you cannot cancel it with a Super Jump. 2) Super Jumping: When your opponent is airborne (whether they are flying or Super Jumping, or just Regular Jumping), you can actually Super Jump after them and start comboing them right there and then without setting them up with a Launcher. This, however, is not as carefully set-up and the same combos that you used after Launchers may not connect with every hit as the enemy is not always in such perfect positioning. 3) Regular Jumping: the best time to do this one is when your opponent Regular Jumps at you. You can regular jump up at them and try to hit them first with your air combo. This is basically the same as the second method, only with a slight difference that will be mentioned in the next section. -Types of Air Combos- 1) Super Jumping: In MSH, Super Jumping Air Combos have been highly systemized. Not only does everyone have the same Magic Series, they have put in "Air Combo Finishers". The Combo Finishers for Super Jumping Air Combos are merely the Fierce and Roundhouse buttons (for most characters... some exceptions do exist in Blackheart and Ironman). If you start an Air Combo with any button other than these two, you will end the combo as soon as you hit Fierce or Roundhouse (again, with exceptions for Blackheart and Ironman... read their section for more details). What do I mean by "ending the combo?" What I mean is this: if you hit the enemy with one of these "Finisher" buttons, the enemy will be launched with great velocity either straight down or across (depending on what move ends it) and your character will disappear off the screen so that the view can follow the comboed person. (This is what I call the "Flying Screen". Read the section called "Flying Screen Combos" to get a more detailed explanation of what a Flying Screen is) This ends the combo, as you cannot add anymore hits to it, normal or special, and the enemy is rendered immobile as he/she cannot even perform a roll when they hit the floor. Your character will then jump into the screen from the side and the game continues. For example: If Wolverine does a Super Jumping Air Combo, he can do a Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward and then choose to end it with Fierce OR Roundhouse. Fierce (which slashes downwards) will launch the enemy to the floor and slam them into the ground. Roundhouse (which is a straight kick) will launch the enemy sideways. Another way of ending Air Combos is with a Special Move. You can only cancel one of the first four buttons of the series (Jab, Short, Strong, or Forward) as Fierce and Roundhouse end the combos. This will not do any fancy character launching as the Fierce or Roundhouse button would, but it can be much more damaging or useful in knocking Gems out of the enemy if he/she is holding any. Also, for certain special moves, you can still tack on moves AFTER the special moves for even longer combos! For example, instead of hitting Fierce or Roundhouse in the previous Wolverine example, you can end the combo with a Drill Claw. Note: If you Super Jump and start a combo with Fierce or Roundhouse, they will not cause the Flying Screen the enemy and end the combo. Thus, you can cancel them with Special Moves. 2) Regular Jumping: There is only one main difference between Super Jumping Air Combos and Regular Jumping Air Combos: the lack of Fierce and Roundhouse finishers. You can actually do use all six buttons from the Magic Series in Regular Jumping Air Combos. For example: If Magneto Hyper Gravs Juggernaut, he can launch Juggernaut into the Air with a Crouching Fierce and jump after him and do a Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Fierce Magic Series. The Fierce will end the combo and Juggernaut will crash to the floor. However, if Magneto Hyper Gravs Juggernaut, he can skip the Crouching Fierce launcher and Regular Jump at Juggernaut. Since the Hyper Grav renders opponents in the air, Magneto can then do a complete Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Fierce, and Roundhouse Air Combo on Juggernaut (really difficult to distance and time correctly, but is possible). You can also cancel any of these six hits into Special Moves. This is how the Wolverine on the Attract Mode gets the seven hit Air Combo on Blackheart (if you watch carefully, you can see Wolverine do a Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse canceled by a Drill Claw Combo). This can never be used after launchers because you can only cancel Launchers moves with Super Jumps, never Regular Jumps. -Tips On How To Perform Air Combos- Many people have difficulty trying to perform Air Combos with great ease and so I offer this section to aid those who are finding it difficult to successfully pull these off. Here are my tips: 1) The Reaction Problem: When it comes to using Launchers for Air Combos, one problem may occur: when you go for Air Combos, your opponent may not be so nice as to let you hit them with your Launcher every time. In fact, they will probably block more than half of your Launchers. Thus, half the time you find your Air Combo attempts must be aborted. However, sometimes you WILL get a miracle Launcher to connect and the enemy is knocked high into the air. However, since you were so used to having the enemy block it, you reacted too late, Super Jumped too slowly, and your Air Combo failed. There is a simple solution to this problem: ***never believe your opponent is going to block your Launcher.*** After you hit the enemy with your Launcher, hold Forward Flip for the Super Jump anyhow and hit Jab immediately afterwards for the first hit in the air. If the enemy is hit, you'll go into your Air Combo. If they block it, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. Your move can't get canceled by a Super Jump since it was blocked and the Jab won't do anything. So merely let go of the controller and go to block yourself if you notice the enemy blocked your move. You can react quicker to the fact that the opponent BLOCKED your Launcher than to the fact that they got hit by it so always believe you're Launcher is going to hit. 2) The Timing Problem: A more elementary problem is merely getting off all the hits in the air. Some people have trouble, at first, timing the hits so that they will connect. I've seen many people attack too late and fly past their enemy, attack too slowly so their combo just stops connecting, or hit their buttons too sporadically and only get 2 hits instead of potentially 5. The two most likely problems are 1) You aren't timing the buttons rhythmically. 2) You're doing nothing wrong (I'll explain). When you do Air Combos, it is VERY important that you do NOT hit the buttons lots of times until you see the move hit and then switch buttons and hit that button LOTS of times until it hits, etc. The best way to do Air Combos is to develop a nice, steady rhythmic timing for each button so that you only hit each button once. If you develop this timing, you can do Air Combos with your eyes closed... seriously. The rhythms may be different for each character, however. For example, Magneto's is the easiest to do BY FAR and is very quick and simple. However, Blackheart's is VERY slow, and very delayed so that the timing is a LOT slower than Magnetos. Experiment with your character. Most people range on the fast side like Magneto so you're best bet is for quick. Warning, though: don't do it TOO fast... you can potentially do it SO fast that you skip moves. Learn a good consistent timing. The other problem is that you're doing nothing wrong. Some characters have moves that simply aim in the wrong direction. For example, Psylocke's Jumping Strong punches completely up and can't hit anything next to her. So if you get into the air and do a Jab, Short, Strong Air Combo, the Strong will simply miss and the Air Combo will fail. So skip the Strong button altogether to get a simpler, easier Air Combo (I list the BEST sequence for Air Combos for every character in the Character Specifics Section). 3) The Fireball Problem: This problem occurs for only characters will Air fireballs and Crouching Launchers (Captain America, Psylocke, and Magneto). A lot of the times after you Launch the enemy into the air, you go up for the Jab hit and instead comes out a Jab Fireball, be it a Web Ball, Shield Slash or PsiBlast. This occurs because when you go from a Crouching Launcher to Forward Flip, the controller passes from Down to Down/Forward to Forward to Forward Flip. The fireball code is in there and so when you hit Jab, the fireball comes out instead. To fix this problem, this is what I do: hit Up on the controller EARLY. As SOON as I hit the button that is my Launcher, I immediately hold Up. Thus, by the time I hit Jab, the fireball motion is past and won't be connected to the Jab button. That prevents the fireball from coming out and you can proceed with your Air Combo. Another solution is merely to just be more careful when going to Up. Do it more carefully and don't sweep it around the front, doing the fireball motion. 4) The Confusion Problem: Lastly, another problem I often face myself is just pure confusion. Sometimes I launch the enemy and jump after them and forget which buttons I should try and use. In the above Psylocke example, I sometimes forget to skip Strong until it's too late and thus, I either pause too long because of my realization and whiff my Forward Kick or actually hit Strong and miss the rest of the combo. A good way to solve this is to, with each character you use, keep it set in your mind which combo you want to do and what moves you are planning to use before you go up for it. That way, you can do the whole combo with great ease and control and not have to remember things at the last minute. I basically have each character's Air Combo dead set into my mind now so that it's completely second nature to me for which buttons to hit in an Air Combo... so much so that if I want to change it, I have a hard time changing. -=The Double Jumping Combos=- This is a really bizarre form of combo in MSH. It requires two separate Air Combos... one normal Jumping Air Combo and one last Super Jumping Air Combo. The enemy must be in the air when you start this. Basically, this is how it works: if you Regular Jump at the enemy and they are in the air, you can start hitting them on your way down from your jump. When you land, they will finish their reel in the air. In that time, you can actually Super Jump again and continue hitting them on your way up if you're fast enough. Thus, you connect the two Air Combos together in one. Not the greatest nor most exciting form of combos, but they exist so I must put them down. They work best against Flying enemies who are low to the floor. Jump at them and hit them as late in your jump as possible (or do a bunch of hits early but have the last one hit late) and then Super Jump again as fast as possible to continue the combo. -=Off The Ground Combos (OTG Combos)=- This type of combo is the only kind that break the rule of combos that say that: "A combo is a series of hits that the opponent can do nothing about once the first hit makes contact." You can actually prevent yourself from being OTG Comboed if you are aware of them (in MOST cases... see Flying Screen Combos for exceptions). So what is an OTG Combo? This is a combo where you knock the enemy onto the ground with a Knock-Down move and then combo them off the floor while they are still lying there. The basic way it works is this: when an enemy is lying on the ground, they can be hit by moves that hit low enough (sweeps, downward punches, etc.). When hit by these moves, regardless of WHAT they are, the person hit will fly off the ground only a SMALL distance and then land quickly. During the time before they land and after they are hit, they cannot block anything for they are stuck in reeling animation. Thus, you can actually hit them in that period of time with any move that will reach them. A good example of an OTG Combo is in the Attract Mode with Captain America vs. Shuma Gorath. In one combo, Captain America hits Shuma Gorath out of the air with a Jab Stars And Stripes. When Shuma Gorath lands on the ground, Cap follow this up with a Dashing Crouching Short which knocks Shuma Gorath slightly into the air off the ground. Thanks to the momentum from the dash, Cap can follow the Crouching Short up with a Crouching Fierce, which is a Launcher. This makes contact with Shuma Gorath before he can land and recover and launches him into the air. Cap then cancels with a Super Jump and smacks Shuma Gorath with one last Fierce. One thing you should take note of, though: people do not lie on the ground for very long in this game. So OTG Combos can only be done after a select few set-up moves that characters can use. For example, Psylocke can set you up for an OTG Combo with a Low Roundhouse sweep because she is fast enough to hit you off the floor with a Low Short before you can get up. However, Magneto's Low Roundhouse move is too slow recovering to be able to hit someone Off The Ground after it sweeps them. Thus, it is NOT a good set- p even though it knocks them to the floor. So OTG Combos are hard to come by. Essentially, there is no such thing as an OTG "Combo" because OTG combos are mainly Juggling Combos initiated by hitting the enemy off the ground. After you knock the enemy off the ground, you can try to combo them in the air for as long as possible but this, then, has become a Juggling Combo. So Juggling Combos and OTG Combos go hand in hand. Without Juggling Combos, OTG Combos would be useless. The reason why OTG Combos are so good is because they usually allow the player to create longer combos. You can add many hits into a combo sequence if you add in a good OTG section. However, the bad part about OTG Combos is that when the enemy hits the floor (after the move you use to knock them down), they can roll away and completely avoid the rest of the combo. If they do NOT roll, however, the combo will keep going and your combo meter will still rise. So even though the combos are escapable, they will still continue the combo meter going if they do NOT roll away. There are some exceptions to the rolling rule, however. Read the next section to find out what those are. It is NOT possible to do 2 OTGs in one combo. After being knocked off the ground once, you can no longer be hit off the floor again until you land and are able to block. Example: If you perform a Gamma Crush with Hulk after a Crouching Fierce, you can hit the enemy out of the air with the first hit. The enemy will land on the ground and the second hit of the Gamma Charge will come down and hit the enemy off of the floor for an OTG Combo. HOWEVER, if you do a Short Gamma Charge (one hit) and let's the enemy hit the floor, you can Crouch Fierce them Off The Ground after the Gamma Charge and then do the Gamma Crush. However, the second hit of the Gamma Crush will NOT hit the enemy off the floor because you have already hit them Off The Ground once. The enemy on the floor will just be invincible.and the Gamma Crush will go right through him. -=Flying Screen Combos=- To start this section off, I must explain what the Flying Screen is and what effects it has on the game. The Flying Screen is the phenomena in MSH that causes the screen to scroll VERY quickly after certain moves hit the enemy. The view of the game follows the enemy and the person doing the hit disappears from the screen. Once the screen stops moving, the person who was hit will just lie there and the other player will hop into the screen from the side. This can be seen happening after any Air Combo Finishers and after certain special moves like Juggernaut Punch, Web Throw, Berserker Barrage (if all hits connect), and Shockwave. If any of those moves hit the enemy, they are sent flying across the screen and the view follows them, and after they land, the other fighter jumps into the screen from the side. However, if you are too close to the corner of the playing field, there is no where for the person who is hit to fly. Thus, after getting sent into the Flying Screen, they will just hug the corner wall going up, and then down and hit the floor. So essentially, if you hit the enemy while you're in the corner and they are sent into the Flying Screen and you can recover quickly enough, you can add extra hits AFTER or BEFORE they land! Here's the easiest example: if you're Wolverine and you do a Fierce Berserker Barrage against someone in the corner and you get all hits to connect, the enemy will be sent into the Flying Screen but he won't go anywhere because you're both in the corner. The enemy will merely fly against the wall up and then down. Wolverine recovers fast enough from the Berserker Barrage to be able to hit the enemy Off The Ground after they land. So Wolverine can tack on an OTG Juggling Combo after the Berserker Barrage in the corner in the form of a Crouching Short -> Crouching Strong -> Standing Roundhouse for three extra hits. Now, there are a lot of limitations to the Flying Screen. The biggest limitation is that after the Flying Screen is initiated, a person can no longer Super Jump NOR perform a special move until the comboed person is ABLE TO BLOCK AGAIN. Until the enemy is able to block, you won't be able to do a single Special Move or a Super Jump. So in the above Wolverine example, you CANNOT hit them off the floor with a Crouching Short -> Crouching Strong into a Tornado Claw NOR can you do all three hits and then go for the Air Combo after the Roundhouse Launcher. The Flying Screen will prevent you from doing any sort of Special Move or Super Jump until the enemy can block again. However, one GOOD thing about Flying Screen Combos is that the Flying Screen also restricts the person being hit. Once they are sent into the Flying Screen, they are not allowed to roll when they land. THUS< OTG Combos after Flying Screen initiations are NOT escapable and 100% definitely a combo. Thus, even though the above Wolverine Combo is an OTG Combo, the enemy cannot roll to escape it. More technicalities with Flying Screen Combos. Whenever you do two hits while Super Jumping (last one being a Fierce or Roundhouse), the Flying Screen is initiated as said before. Some special cases allow you to actually hit the enemy AGAIN after the initial Air Combo and Flying Screen initiation. For example, if you end an Air Combo with Fierce while you are in the corner with Captain America, you will knock the enemy slightly upwards with the Fierce. Since you are in the corner, the enemy will start falling back down and pass by Captain America again, who has not yet landed from his Super Jump. Thus, in this time, Captain America can land MORE hits on the enemy while they are both on their way down. If Captain America hits them with a Magic Series and ends with Fierce or Roundhouse, they will take the damage and still hit the floor afterwards, unable to roll or block. HOWEVER, if Captain America, during this time, hits the enemy and stops at a Jab, Short, Strong, or Forward, the enemy will recover afterwards and can block on their way down again. -=Gem Combos=- There are two types of Gem Combos: ones that use the initial activation hit from the Gem and ones that need the extra ability of the Gem. An example of a Gem Combo that needs to use the Initiation Hit if the Gem to do a combo is with Juggernaut. When you actually hit the enemy with a Gem, you can INSTANTLY preform a Juggernaut Headcrush and it will combo after the hit from the Gem. With certain characters, you can also DASH right after hitting the enemy with the Gem and hit them before they recover. However, this is VERY VERY VERY difficult to do and I, myself, have never, EVER done this myself but the CPU has done it to me. The reason for the difficulty of this is the intense need for accurate timing... while the screen turns black during the Gem Activation, no joystick motions are effective so buffering in a Dash by tapping the joystick forward twice before the Black Screen leaves will not register. Thus, the only way to do this combo is to do the Dash by hitting the 3 Punch Buttons. Thus, you have to PERFECTLY time the dash and then PERFECTLY time the first attack after Dashing. It's very tough and, other than the Juggernaut one, probably not worth attempting. The second method is not really an actual combo method, but after using some Gems, there can be new combos you can perform that were previously unperformable. An example of this is with Hulk. If he uses the Speed Gem, he can actually use his newfound speed to combo two Standing Fierces in a row. For these types of combos, only notable and unique ones will be mentioned (combos like hitting someone with the Strong punch after using the Reality Gem will not be listed in the Character Specific Section since anyone can do it). ============================================================================== COMBO COMBINATIONS Here's the meaty part: the ability to combine ALL of those different Combo Classifications in one combo. It is possible to put nearly every classification into one combo. An example: With Wolverine, do a Jumping Fierce into a Jumping Roundhouse. Land and dash with a Jab into a Short into a Crouching Strong into a Standing Roundhouse. Super Jump after them with a Jab into a Short into a Strong into a Strong into a Strong into a Forward canceled by an upwards aimed Drill Claw. Then Jab into a Roundhouse. If in corner, hit the enemy Off The Ground with a Short on your way down from the air, land and do a Crouching Strong into a Standing Roundhouse. YES, this is all one combo. In it, we have a Jump-In Combo, a Dashing Combo, and Air Combo, a special move cancellation, an OTG Combo, and a Juggle Combo. And in case this combo really confused you, worry not... it'll get a detailed description in his Character Specifics Section. However, there is ONE essential combination of Combo Classifications that deserves a LOT of attention and that is what this section will concentrate on: the Jump-In Combos into the Dashing Combos. In MSH, it is possible to hit the enemy from a Jump-In, land and dash with a move fast enough so that it all connects into one combo. If you do not learn this technique, it will be difficult to perform the larger and more impressive combos. So here are some tips on how to perform a Jump-In to Dashing Combo since it is such an important part of combos (95-99% of the best combos I will list require this technique). Jump-In to Dashing Combos is 100% timing and nothing else. In order to perform this correctly, you must do however many this from the air you were planning to do and land, dash, and attack quickly enough before your opponent recovers from the hits from the air. To start off, make sure you know EXACTLY how many hits you're planning to do from the air. Jump at the enemy and start attacking the enemy. After you hit the last move you plan on doing from the air, you must enter the Dash code by tapping forward on the joystick twice quickly. However, you must start to do the motion BEFORE you land from the air. So, in other words, after your last hit from the air, start dashing right away. However, you ALSO have to FINISH the code right AFTER you land. Thus, you must hit the first forward on the joystick while not yet landed but hit the second forward on the joystick AFTER you have landed. THEN, you must hit the first button in your Dashing Combo quickly enough so that the enemy does not have time to recover from the air. Thus, it is logical to try to finish your Jump-In Combo with a Fierce or Roundhouse as those moves make the enemy reel longest, giving you MORE time to connect a Dashing attack when you land. Also, it is logical to START your Dashing Combo with a Jab or Short, since those moves come out the quickest. Thus, this gives you the most lee-way for timing errors between the Jump_in and the Dash. This just takes practice. Once you practice enough, it gets REALLY easy to do and you'll never do a combo without it ever again. Just practice it and don't give up because it is VERY important to learn this technique. Another thing, there is an alternate way of doing this technique. Since you can Dash by pressing all three Punches, you CAN also do a Jump_in to Dashing Combo simply by pressing the three Punches RIGHT when you land and going for your combo VERY quickly after Dashing. Seeing as, however, I prefer to use the Double Tap method personally, I can't offer any tips on doing it this way. Experiment with both methods and see which suits you the most. ============================================================================== CHARACTER SPECIFICS Here is a list of phrases and definitions I use when I describe the combos: Magic Series Names: ZigZag - The Series that incorporates all six buttons: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce -> Roundhouse Punch to Kick - Can cancel any one punch button with any one kick button. Jab/Strong/Fierce -> Short/Forward/Roundhouse Kick to Punch - Can cancel any one kick button with any one punch button. Short/Forward/Roundhouse -> Jab/Strong/Fierce Stronger - The Series used in Darkstalkers 1. Can go to any stronger attack. Jab/Short -> Strong/Forward -> Fierce/Roundhouse Weak Start - Start on Jab or Short and end with any of the other four attacks. Jab/Short -> Strong/Forward/Fierce/Roundhouse Ground Magic Series: The Magic Series used on the ground. Jump Magic Series: The Magic Series the character uses when Regular Jumping, not Super Jumping. A number will be in parenthesis after the name of the Magic Series. This number represents the MAXIMUM number of hits you can get from a Jump-In Combo against the largest enemies. For smaller enemies, just lower the number down one or two. Experiment with the timing to see what the most hits you can get on each specific character. Safe Air Magic Series: Since everyone's hits in the air hit in different directions, you can get a lot of Air Combos that fall apart when trying to get in all five hits (Jab, Short, Strong, Forward, Fierce/Roundhouse). Thus, I list the safest series of buttons to do here. These series will work on every character, no matter how small they are and are less likely to miss their target. Against bigger characters, you might be able to add more hits... experiment and find out where you might be able to add hits and on whom you can do it to. Also, since you may want to knock a Gem out of the enemy with a Special Move, the best Special Move to use in place of an Air Combo Finisher will be listed in parenthesis afterwards. List of Launchers: Launchers: These are the moves that launch the enemy sky high no matter where they are. Small Launchers: There are the moves that barely knock the enemy into the air. Air Launchers: These are the moves that only launch enemies sky high if they hit the enemy out of the air. Strikes: Moves that knock the enemy clear across the screen. I list these moves because it is a good idea to AVOID these moves when trying for combos. Knock-Downs: All the normal moves the character has that can knock the enemy down onto the ground. These can possibly set-up for OTG Combos. Combo Notations: -> means use Magic Series to reach next move listed XX indicates Special Move cancellation /\ indicates that you cancel the current move with a Super Jump \/ indicates that you land after the last move and continue on the ground , indicates that no special combo method is needed in between the two moves S. stands for standing C. stands for crouching OC. stands for offensive crouching DN. stands for holding down on the controller while attacking during a jump UP. stands for holding up on the controller while attacking during a jump T. stands for holding towards on the controller (direction you are facing) J. stands for jumping SJ. stands for Super Jumping D. stands for dashing before performing the move F. stands for Flying (for Magneto and Ironman only) AD. stands for Air Dashing (for Magneto and Ironman only) (OTG) means this will hit opponent off the ground (FS) means that the move you just did initiated the Flying Screen Jab- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Jab Strong- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Strong Fierce- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Fierce Short- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Short Forward- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Forward Roundhouse- means you must do the Special Move indicated with Roundhouse Safe Ground Combo: It has come to my attention that, in MSH, it is pretty easy to get countered after trying to initiate a Ground Combo because the move you tried to launch the enemy with or punish the enemy with makes you pause too long (For example, you dash in with Magneto, do a Crouching Short into a Crouching Fierce and the enemy blocks it... then, he counters you can combos YOU for massive damage). Thus, to help avoid this problem, I have developed this section. It gives you a good combo to try against people that can lead to bigger combos if the enemy takes the hits but can easily be turned into something that leaves you uncounterable (not counting Infinity Counters) if you noticed the enemy blocked your attack. This gives you a better chance of attacking and not getting killed. For example, for Wolverine I have listed as his safe ground combo: D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong XX Fierce Berserker Barrage. However, if the enemy blocked this, you can almost always react quickly enough to NOT do the Berserker barrage after the Strong and use the safe combo to finish it off, which is: D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Fierce. After the Fierce, you are a sizable distance away which makes you harder to counter and leaves you relatively safe rather than doing the Berserker Barrage to a blocking opponent and getting yourself killed. Thus, for most of the ground combos, I give a three-move lee-way reaction time. Most people can usually tell by the third attack if the enemy is being hit or if the enemy is blocking. It will be listed in this fashion: 1) Combo to do if you hit the enemy 2) Combo to do if you notice the enemy blocked BIG note: I list these combos and for the second combo listed, it leaves you RELATIVELY safe afterwards. HOWEVER, there are exceptions like Hulk's Gamma Charge. Hulk's Gamma Charge has TREMENDOUS speed and can hit people after MANY moves that have even a slight delay. In that Wolverine example above, Hulk can actually Gamma Charge Wolverine after the Fierce before Wolverine can recover. However, Hulk is one of the ONLY people who can do this so these Safe Ground Combos are still relatively safe. Just be careful of Hulks out there with an itchy Gamma Charge finger...! READ THIS NOTE: In MSH, there are three important things to take notice of when considering whether or not your combo will work on a specific character: Height, Width, and Weight. Height determines how many hits you can get in from a Jump-In Combo. Width determines how many hits you can get in for a Dashing Combo. Weight only affects a VERY few number of combos but can determine whether or not they will work or not. Here, I list a VERY loose order of the characters for each quality... I say it's "loose" because the orders aren't exact but relative. Thus, two people listed next to each other could be reversed in the order I've listed them because the difference is so minute, but, in general, they are in that order. Height (from tallest to shortest): Blackheart, Juggernaut, Hulk, Shuma Gorath, Magneto, Ironman, Captain America, Psylocke, Spiderman, and Wolverine. Width (from widest to thinnest): Juggernaut, Hulk, Blackheart, Shuma Gorath, Magneto, Captain America, Ironman, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Spiderman. Weight (from lightest to heaviest): Spiderman, Psylocke, Wolverine, Shuma Gorath, Captain America, Magneto, Ironman, Blackheart, Hulk, and Juggernaut. One last note: Some people may not be familiar with the terminology I use for this FAQ. In this FAQ, I use the terms Jab, Strong, Fierce, Short, Forward, Roundhouse for the six attack buttons in my combo descriptions. Some people are more familiar with a a, b, c and x, y, x (or even A, B, C and a, b, c) notation for button notation. Also, others are used to a Weak/Soft Punch, Medium/Medium Punch, Strong/Hard Punch and Weak/Soft Kick, Medium/Medium Kick, and Strong/Hard Kick notation. Thus, if you use a notation other than the one I have used, I recommend that you use the Replace function of your Word Processor to replace the terms I use with the terms you are more familiar with. Please do note that some of the margins and spacing of the combos may be altered in strange ways if you do this however. Here is a diagram of which buttons are which if you are unfamiliar with my terminology: () () () PUNCHES Jab Strong Fierce () () () KICKS Short Forward Roundhouse ============================================================================== -=Captain America=- --Ground Magic Series: Stronger --Jump Magic Series: ZigZag (3) --Launchers: S.Strong, C.Fierce --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: S.Fierce --Knock-Downs: C.Roundhouse --Safe Air Magic Series: Short -> Forward -> Fierce (Shield Slash) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) D.S.Short -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Jab-Shield Slash 2) J.Fierce \/ C.Short -> C.Roundhouse XX Jab-Shield Slash (OTG) INTERMEDIATE: 3) D.C.Short -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce (FS) 4) D.C.Short -> S.Strong /\ SJ.Roundhouse XX Shield Slash 5) Throw enemy with Forward Kick, Final Justice before they land. *note: VERY tough to do it on heavier enemies because timing is tough 6) Throw enemy with Forward Kick, C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse 7) Jab Stars N' Stripes enemy out of the air, D.C.Short (OTG) -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse 8) Lose your shield. J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short XX Fierce-Stars and Stripes *note: If you don't have your shield, the Fierce Stars and Stripes does 7 hits. 9) J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Final Justice 10) J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> S.Forward -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Jab-Shield Slash EXPERT: 11) Enemy must be in corner. J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> S.Forward -> C.Fierce XX Strong-Stars N' Stripes, C.Short (OTG) -> S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ. Fierce (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.Fierce. When enemy starts falling back down, Jump up and meet them in the air with J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Fierce. *note: This combo will get a detailed explanation later on in an Appendix after the FAQ. All combos that deserve explanation will get one in the Appendix. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.C.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Final Justice/Charging Star 2) D.C.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Shield Slash -=Spiderman=- --Ground Magic Series: Stronger --Jump Magic Series: ZigZag (4) --Launchers: S.Strong --Small Launchers: C.Forward --Air Launchers: S.Roundhouse --Strikes: S.Fierce --Knock-Downs: C.Roundhouse --Safe Air Magic Series: Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce/Roundhouse (Jab Web Ball, Web Swing) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) J.Roundhouse \/ S.Short -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse 2) J.Short -> J.Roundhouse \/ S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Fierce (FS) 3) Be really close to enemy: S.Roundhouse XX Jab-Web Ball. Then try to combo them before they shake out of the web. INTERMEDIATE: 4) D.C.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Short-Web Swing 5) J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Forward XX Fierce Spider Sting XX Spider Sting (2nd hit) 6) J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS) 7) Against larger opponents: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Strong XX Fierce Web Throw (FS) EXPERT: 8) Spiderman's Marvelous Combo: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Strong Spider Sting (one hit), S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Jab-Web Ball, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ. Fierce (FS), C.Strong (OTG) -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse *note: This combo deserves EXTRA explanations due to one VERY peculiar exception to the Flying Screen rules in the middle of the combo. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.C.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse /\ Air Combo of your choice 2) D.C.Short -> C.Forward -> S. Roundhouse XX Web Ball -=Wolverine=- --Ground Magic Series: ZigZag --Jump Magic Series: ZigZag (4) --Launchers: S.Roundhouse --Small Launchers: C.Strong --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: S.Fierce, OC.Fierce --Knock-Down: C.Forward --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce/Roundhouse (Drill Claw) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) J.Fierce \/ S.Short -> S.Fierce 2) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Fierce INTERMEDIATE: 3) Enemy in the corner: D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong XX Fierce-Berserker Barrage (Keep hitting Fierce until all hits connect) (FS), C.Short (OTG) -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse 4) D.S.Short -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce (FS)/SJ.Roundhouse (FS)/Drill Claw 5) J.Jab -> J.Fierce, D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> C.Strong XX Fierce-Tornado Claw 6) J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> C.Forward XX Berserker Barrage (OTG) (FS) 7) J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Drill Claw *note: You can do three Strongs in a row and connect three times. Make sure you aim the Drill Claw diagonally up after the enemy after hitting Forward kick. Against bigger enemies, skip some of the moves from the Dashing Combo 8) Enemy in corner: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward XX Berserker Barrage X (FS), C.Short (OTG) -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse 9) J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Strong -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS) EXPERT: 10) Enemy in corner: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> C.Forward, D.S.Short (OTG) -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Fierce+Roundhouse-Drill Claw Aimed Diagonally Upwards, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Fierce (FS) 11) Enemy in corner: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Fierce+Roundhouse-Drill Claw Aimed Diagonally Upwards, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS), SJ.Short (OTG) \/ C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse *note: Both combos will get a detailed explanation later on. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong XX Fierce Berserker Barrage 2) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Forward -> S.Fierce -=Psylocke=- --Ground Magic Series: ZigZag --Jump Magic Series: ZigZag (3) --Launchers: C.Fierce --Small launchers: C.Forward --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: S.Fierce --Knock-Down: C.Roundhouse --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Short -> Forward -> Fierce/Roundhouse (PsiBlade (3 times)/Kochou Gakure) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Fierce *Note: Make sure you move the joystick back to the neutral position after hitting Jab because if you hold Towards on the controller when you hit Forward Kick, Psylocke will do a weird, slow kick that will not combo. 2) D.C.Short -> C.Strong -> C.Roundhouse XX Jab-PsiBlast (OTG) INTERMEDIATE: 3) D.C.Short -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward XX Short-PsiBlade XX Forward-PsiBlade XX Roundhouse-PsiBlade *Note: all three PsiBlades can be chained together. To do this, simply do the code for the Short PsiBlade and then hit Forward then Roundhouse afterwards without a joystick motion. This will automatically perform the Forward and Roundhouse PsiBlades. 4) D.C.Short -> C.Fierce XX Psionic Maelstrom (FS) 5) J.Fierce \/ D.C.Short -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> Kochou Gakure 6) J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ. Forward XX Short-PsiBlade XX Forward-PsiBlade XX Roundhouse-PsiBlade *note: On smaller opponents, skip the necessary amounts of ground moves in the Dashing Combo 7) Fierce Throw into the corner, C.Short (OTG) -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS) 8) Activate Time Gem. S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, S.T.Roundhouse, etc. until Time Gem runs out. *note: Holding Towards on the controller when hitting Roundhouse makes Psylocke "zoom" past the enemy after kicking them and ending up behind them. So essentially, you have to switch directions that you are holding on the controller when trying to zoom forward. EXPERT: 9) J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ. Forward -> SJ.UP.Roundhouse (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.Short -> SJ.UP.Roundhouse. When enemy starts falling back down, Jump up and meet them in the air with J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Forward -> J.UP.Roundhouse *note: This combo will get a detailed explanation later on. 10) Enemy in the corner. PsiThrust (only first half), C.Short (OTG) -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward XX Kochou Gakure *note: This combo will get a detailed explanation later on. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> C.Fierce /\ Air Combo of choice 2) D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> C.Fierce XX Jab Psi Blast -=Ironman=- --Ground Magic Series: Stronger --Air Magic Series: ZigZag (2,2) --Launchers: C.Strong, S.Roundhouse --Small launchers: None --Air Launchers: S.Strong --Strikes: S.Fierce, C.Roundhouse --Knock-Downs: C.Forward --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Strong -> Strong -> T.Fierce (Jab UniBeam) *note: aim straight when you do the Fierce at the end. Oddly enough, Ironman has NO Air Combo Finishers as Fierce and Roundhouse do NOT initiate the Flying Screen. Thus, the Jab UniBeam at the end can actually be tacked on AFTER the Fierce. --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) D.S.Jab -> S.Strong -> S.Fierce *note: Tack a UniBeam at the end of this every time. Even though the enemy CAN block it, they cannot escape it and are forced to take, at least, the block damage from the UniBeam. If they are near death, you can even do the Proton Cannon to finish them off. 2) J.DN.Fierce \/ S.Short -> S.Forward XX Jab-Repulsor Blast 3) J.Short -> J.Roundhouse, C.Short -> S.Strong -> C.Roundhouse INTERMEDIATE: 4) D.C.Short -> C.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.T.Fierce *note: Instead of the Fierce, you can do an Air Throw instead. This set up seems to be perfectly distanced for the Air Throw. Warning: people CAN Tech Hit out of the Throw. 5) Fierce Throw enemy into corner. D.C.Short (OTG) -> C.Roundhouse XX Jab UniBeam 6) J.Short -> J.DN.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> S.Forward XX Jab-Repulsor Blast, D.C.Short (OTG) -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.T.Fierce EXPERT: 7) Ironman's Marvelous Combo: Start by Flying and be near corner. Be relatively above the enemy. Smart Bomb. After the Smart Bomb, Air Dash diagonally Down/Forward right away. F.AD.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong -> F.Forward -> F.DN.Fierce XX Flying Command (to land), S.Short -> S.Forward XX Jab-Repulsor Blast, D.C.Short -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.UP.Fierce XX Flying Command (to start Flying), F.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong -> F.T.Fierce XX Jab-UniBeam. Air Dash diagonally Up/Forward. F.AD.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong *note: This combo will get a VERY detailed explanation later on. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Jab -> S.Strong -> S.Fierce XX UniBeam 2) D.S.Jab -> S.Strong -> S.Fierce XX UniBeam -=Hulk=- --Ground Magic Series: Weak Start --Jump Magic Series: Weak Start (2) --Launchers: C.Fierce --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: S.Roundhouse --Strikes: S.Fierce --Knock-Downs: None --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce (None) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) J.Roundhouse \/ S.Jab -> S.Fierce INTERMEDIATE: 2) J.Short -> J.Strong \/ S.Strong XX Gamma Charge XX Gamma Charge *note: Guide the second half of the Gamma Charge towards the enemy. 3) J.Short -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> S.Strong XX Gamma Throw (FS) 4) Be in Corner: D.S.Jab -> S.Strong XX Fierce-Gamma Throw (FS), S.Short (OTG) -> S.Fierce 5) J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce 6) J.Short -> J.Strong \/ S.Short -> S.Strong XX Short-Gamma Charge, C.Fierce (OTG) /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce 7) J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.C.Fierce XX Gamma Crush (2nd hit is OTG) EXPERT: 8) Enemy in corner: J.Short -> J.Strong \/ C.Fierce XX Upwards Gamma Charge XX Upwards Gamma Charge, C.Fierce (OTG) /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce *note: May not work on thinner characters. Also, for the two Upwards Gamma Charges, do the second one as EARLY AS POSSIBLE or this combo will not work. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Short -> C.Fierce /\ Air Combo of choice 2) D.S.Short -> C.Fierce XX Gamma Ground Throw *note: When doing the Gamma Ground Throw, do the Down, Down + All Three Punches version. It hits grounded people better than the other one. -=Magneto=- --Ground Magic Series: Weak Start --Jump Magic Series: ZigZag (3) --Launchers: S.Strong, C.Fierce, S.Roundhouse (2nd Hit) *note: The S.Roundhouse launcher only works either in the corner or on a larger enemy. You have to hit them with the second kick (the two kicks combo, though) but it launches the enemy slightly outward as well as upward so catching up to them is kinda awkward. --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: C.Strong, S.Fierce --Knock-Downs: C.Roundhouse --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Forward -> Fierce/Roundhouse (Jab-EM Disrupter/Magnetic Tempest) --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) J.Roundhouse \/ C.Short -> C.Strong 2) D.S.Short -> S.Roundhouse XX Jab-EM Disrupter *note: only let the first hit connect with the S.Roundhouse INTERMEDIATE: 3) D.C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS) 4) Hyper Grav, C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Jab-EM Disrupter 5) Hyper Grav, Shockwave (FS) 6) C.Roundhouse XX Shockwave (OTG) 7) J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Magnetic Tempest 8) Start by Flying. Air Dash diagonally Down/Forward. F.AD.Jab -> F,Short -> F.Strong -> F.Forward -> F.Fierce -> F.Roundhouse XX Jab-EM Disrupter EXPERT: 9) Only works on Blackheart (so far as I can tell): J.Jab -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Roundhouse XX Roundhouse-Hyper Grav (OTG), C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Magnetic Tempest --Safe Ground Combo: None *note: Magneto has no special move that leaves him relatively safe nor does he have a long enough Magic Series to allow him to divert the combo into something safe. -=Juggernaut=- --Ground Magic Series: Weak Start --Jump Magic Series: Weak Start (2) --Launchers: T.Fierce, C.Fierce --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: S.Fierce, S.Roundhouse, C.Roundhouse --Strikes: None (!) --Knock-Downs: C.Forward --Safe Air Magic Series: Jab -> Short -> Strong -> Fierce --Sample Combos: BASIC: 1) J.Strong \/ S.Short -> S.T.Fierce 2) J.Strong, S.Fierce XX Jab/Strong-Juggernaut Punch *note: Jab is a sure-hit, but doesn't have good range... if you hit the enemy from too far away with the Fierce, the Jab Punch will miss... the Strong one will not miss, but sometimes, if not done fast enough, will not combo. Strong is recommended, but only if you are really quick. INTERMEDIATE: 3) J.Strong \/ C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Fierce 4) J.Strong, C.Short -> C.Forward XX Forward/Roundhouse-Juggernaut Splash (OTG)/Juggernaut Punch (OTG)/Earthquake (OTG)/Juggernaut Headcrush (OTG) *note: Splash works poorly, not recommended. Headcrush does the most damage by far and is totally worth it if you know your enemy is not expecting to get tripped and won't roll. 5) J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Short -> S.Fierce XX Juggernaut Headcrush 6) D.S.Jab -> Holding Towards S.Fierce XX Roundhouse Juggernaut Splash *note: you must be RIGHT next to the enemy to do this combo. 7) Enemy in corner: J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Jab -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Fierce, C.Short (OTG) -> S.Roundhouse EXPERT: 8) This combo only works on the lighter characters (Psylocke, Spiderman, Wolverine are easy to do it to, Ironman, Shuma Gorath, Captain America, and Magneto are tougher, and Hulk, Blackheart, and Juggernaut are impossible). J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Short -> S.Fierce XX Juggernaut Headcrush, Juggernaut Headcrush, D.C.Short (OTG) -> S.T.Fierce *note: Due to some timing difficulties, this combo will get an explanation later on. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Short -> S.Strong XX Earthquake 2) D.S.Short -> S.Strong XX Earthquake *note: I'm not sure but enemy might be able to jump in between the Strong and Earthquake. -=Shuma Gorath=- --Ground Magic Series: Punch To Kick --Jump Magic Series: Punch To Kick (2) --Launchers: S.Forward --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: C.Forward, S.Fierce, C.Fierce, S.Roundhouse, C.Roundhouse --Safe Air Magic Series: Short -> Strong -> Forward -> UP.Fierce (Mystic Smash) *note: The Mystic Smash is REALLY tough to connect with so basically disregard it. --Sample Combos: Now by far my favorite character, I've got a TON of Shuma Combos here! :-) BASIC: 1) J.Roundhouse \/ C.Jab -> C.Roundhouse 2) J.Strong \/ S.Forward XX Roundhouse-Mystic Smash INTERMEDIATE: 3) D.S.Strong -> S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) 4) J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ Mystic Stare 5) Enemy in corner: J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ C.Jab -> C.Forward XX Mystic Stare 6) Enemy in corner: J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.Strong -> SJ.DN.Forward 7) Enemy in corner: S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.UP.Fierce. C.Jab (OTG) -> C.Roundhouse *note: in order to do this, you have to Super Jump STRAIGHT up and not in the direction of Forward Flip. An alternate way is to Forward Flip for the Super Jump but immediately start holding Back Flip to get Shuma to back out of the corner a little. The reason why you have to do this is that if you're hugging the corner wall, you cannot hit the enemy with the second UP.Fierce. 8) Grab with Roundhouse, S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ. Forward -> Aimed Upwards SJ.Fierce *Note: This is a good combo... not only do you punish the enemy, you get your own energy back as well! Against the three smallest characters,, unless you're in the corner, you have to DASH right when you finish your throw and peg the enemy with a D.S.Forward because the regular S.Forward will not reach them. 9) Alternate of Combo # 8: Grab with Roundhouse, S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong, Roundhouse Air Throw. Roundhouse-Mystic Smash. *note: This CAN be Tech Hitted during the second throw but if you pull the whole thing off, you get back a TON of energy for both energy drains and STILL get to punish the enemy severely. 10) J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse XX Roundhouse-Mystic Smash \/ C.Jab (OTG) S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce 11) Activate Time Gem. Hit enemy with Chaos Dimension Activation (which will turn them to stone). Press Strong, Forward, Fierce, or Roundhouse immediately for the free Grab. EXPERT: 12) Grab with the Chaos Dimension, J.Strong \/ S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) 13) Start with enemy in the corner. J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Forward XX Chaos Dimension Activation, J.Strong/ J.Forward/ J.Fierce/ J.Roundhouse to grab enemy, J.Strong \/ S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) 14) Activate Chaos Dimension (doesn't have to hit). Activate Mind Gem. After Mind Gem fills up your meter to full again, grab with the Chaos Dimension, J.Strong \/ S.Forward CC Chaos Dimension Activation, J.Strong/ J.Forward/ J.Fierce/ J.Roundhouse for the grab, J.Strong \/ S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) note: All three Expert combos will be explained together later on. --Safe Ground Combo: 1) D.S.Strong -> S.Roundhouse XX Mystic Stare 2) D.S.Strong -> S.Roundhouse XX Mystic Stare *note: When you hit Strong, begin to immediately charge up for the Mystic Stare. Let Roundhouse hit a couple of times before trying to cancel it. Enemy might be able to jump at you after blocking the Roundhouse. Shuma has no safe combo to try against the enemy that can lead to bigger things and still can be diverted into something safe. -=Blackheart=- --Ground Magic Series: Kick To Punch --Jump Magic Series: Kick To Punch (2) --Launchers: S.Strong --Small Launchers: None --Air Launchers: None --Strikes: None (The Fierce Demons do bounce the enemy a bit, but not much) --Knock-Downs: None --Safe Air Magic Series: SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward *note: Blackheart's Forward is his Air Combo Finisher. Fierce and Roundhouse can't be put into Air Combos as far as I know. --Sample Combos: Definitely my worst character and least played so the combos I have for Blackheart stink. Any input for him would be greatly appreciated. *note: The Portal move I call "Inferno" BASIC: 1) J.Forward \/ C.Short -> C.Strong 2) S.Roundhouse Demons, Fierce-Inferno while enemy is still stunned. 3) Inferno, Inferno (OTG) INTERMEDIATE: 4) Inferno enemy high out of the air, Heart of Darkness. *note: You can do this if you hit the enemy off the ground with the Inferno, but they can roll away from it as the Heart Of Darkness would be an OTG. 5) Have enemy near you (in air or on ground). Inferno, S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward 6) J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ C.Forward -> S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward (FS) 7) J.Forward -> S.Strong XX Armageddon *note: You must be VERY close to the enemy when you hit them with the Strong button or all the meteors will miss. Also, you must cancel the Strong IMMEDIATELY after you hit them or it will be too late. EXPERT: 8) Enemy in corner: S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, repeat until enemy is dead. *note: This combo DOES work but a lot of problems are associated with it. Thus, I will give a detailed explanation of it later on. --Safe Ground Combo: None *note: He has no dashing combos and no real close-up combos so he doesn't really have a Safe Ground Combo to initiate attacks with. ============================================================================== Things I am hoping to add to the next version of the FAQ: - Add more combos sent to me by anyone out there!!!! - Send me a BETTER ASCII art to replace my loser ASCII art. Please? - I lied, there still is no Attract Mode Section and by now, I've basically given up hope of ever starting it. :-P Special Thanks Go To: - Mike McCool - Special thanks absolutely the MOST for helping me test out a LOT of theories and experiments with his machine at his HOME... - Youji Kinoshita - For being one of the first people to comment and critique my FAQ as well as keeping me thinking about combos and helping me come up with new theories. - H. Ong - For giving me a lot of new ideas he saw/did from his arcade in Thailand. - C. Chin - For keeping me thinking and reevaluating my ideas and beliefs. - V. Radford - For continually giving me new ideas for combos and helping me brainstorm - S.Kitti, L.Thana, and R.Rutt - These three deserve great thanks for being the ones to originate the Marvelous Combos for Spiderman and Ironman (I heard they had one for Psylocke but I never heard what it was!!! :-( ). I'm not sure WHAT those folks in Thailand are DOING, coming up with those AWESOME combos, but a BIG "thanks" to these three for reporting their finds to us in America! Hopefully, this FAQ will help you become the MSH combo master of your local arcade. PLEASE, if any of you out there have more combos and better combos than the ones I have, feel free to immediately write to me and tell me about them! Write to this address: jchensor@ucla.edu I am eager to learn of more combos that might be able to help me punish my opponents in cooler and more various ways =) !! Also, if you see anything that is contrary to anything you've ever experienced, please write to me and tell me. Thank you for taking the time to view this FAQ and I hope it was helpful in some way! Once again... COMBO IS THE KEY!!!!! (note: Appendix follows this FAQ) ============================================================================== -=APPENDIX=- This Appendix includes detailed explanations of all the combos that deserve it. DETAILED COMBO EXPLANATIONS Captain America: 11) Enemy must be in corner. J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Short -> S.Forward -> C.Fierce XX Strong-Stars N' Stripes, C.Short (OTG) -> S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ. Fierce (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.Fierce. When enemy starts falling back down, Jump up and meet them in the air with J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Fierce. There are only a few things I need to discuss for this combo. First of all, for smaller characters you need to change the initial three hits to only two hits with J.Fierce -> J.Roundhouse highly recommended. And in the Dashing Combo portion, skip the S.Forward on smaller enemies. Another problem is that after launching the enemy Off The Ground with the C.Short -> S.Strong, for no reason it is hard to connect all four hits from the Super Jump. Sometimes, the first hit just misses, especially against Ironman. It might be safe to do a SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce and then the rest and skip the SJ.Jab. After completing the Air Combo (SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> J.Fierce), the enemy will be knocked upwards and you'll still be in the air. The enemy will start falling back downwards and will fall faster than you and pass you by. This is when you hit Fierce again. You will hit them out of the air while you are both on your ways down and you'll land. The enemy, after being knocked BACK up, will start falling down again. Jump up after them and meet them in the air with the last three hits. After the last hit, they will be free to block again. An alternate of this combo that doesn't allow the enemy to roll away is to skip the Strong-Starts N' Stripes, C.Short (OTG) -> S.Strong portion. Go directly from the C.Fierce into the SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Fierce portion. Then, at the end of the combo, instead of jumping back up to meet the enemy in the air, you can just wait until they land and do an easy S.Short (OTG) -> S.Forward -> S.Roundhouse Juggle OTG Combo that they can't roll away from. ********** Spiderman: 8) Spiderman's Marvelous Combo: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce \/ D.S.Short -> C.Forward -> S.Roundhouse XX Strong Spider Sting (one hit), S.Strong /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Jab-Web Ball, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ. Fierce (FS), C.Strong (OTG) -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse Okay, a VERY LONG AND DETAILED explanation will be gone into here because the combo is so difficult to do. First, start off with your normal jumping attacks... 3 for small guys, 4 for big guys, and 2 for the tiny guys. Assuming we're doing this on biggest opponents, this would be 4 hits. I usually do it with a J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Fierce. Now, when you land, do a D.S.Short into a C.Forward, into a S.Roundhouse into a Strong-Spider Sting. (another 4 hits... 4+4 = 8). Do all four hits VERY quickly. Here is the important part: you must hit the Strong button for the Spider Sting ONLY ONCE. If you hit it more than once, you're sunk. Hitting the Strong button more than once will cause Spiderman to attempt both hits of the Spider Sting and the second hit will miss and cause him to pause too long for the rest of the combo to connect. After the first hit of the Spider Sting, the enemy will be bounced upwards and start falling down unable to block anything. If you did only ONE hit with the Spider Sting, Spiderman will have already landed and free to move again. So while the enemy is falling, you can peg them with a Standing Strong as they fall and launch then RIGHT back up. So when you do the Spider Sting, hit the Strong button once, wait a while until the enemy starts falling down, and then hit Strong again to hit them. If you hit Strong too quickly, you may accidentally make Spiderman do the second hit of the Spider Sting so it's best to wait until you definitely see the enemy start falling down before you hit Strong to hit the enemy back up. Also, hold forward on the joystick after the Spider Sting to make Spiderman take about a half-step to reach the enemy quicker (another Strong punch brings the total to 9). Next, super jump after the Standing Strong. In you are doing this to the enemy in the corner make sure you Super Jump STRAIGHT UP, not Forward Flip. Forward Flip Super Jump will cause you to fly behind the enemy and you'll miss with all of your air hits. Instead Jump straight up. If you AREN'T in the corner, go ahead and Forward Flip Super Jump. Do a SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Jab-Web Ball. Do these five hits VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY quickly. It is IMPORTANT that you do it VERY fast. If you aren't in the corner, skip the SJ.Forward in the air on SMALL enemies (Spiderman, Wolverine, and Psylocke). Assuming we're in the corner and doing this to a big enemy, that brings the total up to 14. Now, AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, hit Jab. You HAVE to hit the enemy while both of you are on your way down BEFORE they break out of the Web encasing. If you don't, they can block and you're combo is over. THIS IS THE HARDEST PART OF THE COMBO TO GET TO CONNECT. 99% of the time I fail to do this combo successfully, it's here so if you can't get it to connect, don't be discouraged. Just try again. Anyhow, as SOON as Jab connects with the enemy, switch to SJ.Short and then to SJ.Fierce for three hits in the air (SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Fierce). When you start hitting the enemy after Web Ball, you'll both be starting to fall down. By the time the combo finishes, your Fierce will make contact right before both of you touch the floor. Thus, after you pummel the enemy into the ground, you land right next to him setting him up for the next part (17 hits so far). C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse. The Fierce from the air prevents the enemy from rolling thanks to the Flying Screen so you have pretty much a green light for the Off The Ground part. The C.Strong will hit the enemy off the floor and the S.Roundhouse will launch them for another Air combo. [Now, the strangest thing here is the fact that, since the Fierce in the air initiated the Flying Screen, you shouldn't be able to Super Jump anymore but YOU CAN for some odd reason. THIS IS THE ONLY TIME this Flying Screen limitation is not followed. There are THREE possible reasons as to why, after the Fierce in the air, you can still Super Jump and do Special Moves. One reason might be this: If the Air Combo Finisher hits the enemy STRAIGHT down instead of sideways, the Flying Screen will not limit you from Super Jumping and doing Special Moves. The reason for this is because Capcom probably never felt like there would be an opportunity for someone to do an Air Combo ending with a downward launching Air Combo Finisher and still be able to reach them for an OTG Combo. The second reason that this might occur is because Air Combos that finish VERY low to the floor will not initiate the Flying Screen. Thus, if you Super Jump and hit an enemy on your way DOWN, you will still be able to do anything you want because no Flying Screen was initiated. A third reason might be because you did the Jab Web Ball in the middle of the combo, the SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Fierce doesn't count as a Super Jumping Air Combo anymore so there is technically no Flying Screen activated. Of all these theories, the first one is most likely because, as I said, you still canNOT roll away from this combo so the Flying Screen HAD to have been activated. Thus, the idea that Capcom did NOT put the restriction on downward launching Air Combo finishers is most probable. Anyhow, sorry for this little side distraction. Now, back to the combo!] Super Jump after the launched enemy for a SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.Roundhouse Air Combo finish! This builds the count to 24! I have done this combo lots of times now so yes, it really works!!! A swift good look to whoever tries it! It's really tough! A few extra tips: 1) Be VERY VERY VERY fast with the chain combos in the air or you're in trouble. 2) MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY MAKE SPIDEY try for the second hit with the Spidey Sting. Hit the button ONCE for the Spidey Sting and make sure you don't start hitting Strong for the launch too early as I did. 3) Keep in mind all of the moves you want to do before you start the combo... make sure the moves all come out of you on reaction. There is no time for memory recall while doing this combo! 4) Practice practice practice. ********** Wolverine: 10) Enemy in corner: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> C.Forward, D.S.Short (OTG) -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Fierce+Roundhouse-Drill Claw Aimed Diagonally Upwards, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Fierce (FS) 11) Enemy in corner: J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong -> J.Forward \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward XX Fierce+Roundhouse-Drill Claw Aimed Diagonally Upwards, SJ.Jab -> SJ.Roundhouse (FS), SJ.Short (OTG) \/ C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse Okay, the combo is pretty normal except there is one part I would like to clarify. After the Upwards Drill Claw, Wolverine will hit the enemy and recoil upwards. After recoiling up, Wolverine is free to do more moves. This is where you do the SJ.Jab -> SJ.Fierce/Roundhouse in the two combos. Basically, you have to do them RIGHT after the Drill Claw connects as fast as possible. The timing is hard, but not TOO hard. In the second combo, I must point out that in order to get the last three OTG hits off, it's VERY hard to time. After hitting the enemy with the J.Roundhouse after the Drill Claw, both of you fall down at nearly the exact same time. You land slightly after they do and if you're timing was perfect, you can OTG them with C.Short. However, many times, you won't land quickly enough to hit them with the C.Short before they can recover and the OTG misses. If you find that you are not going to land quickly enough to hit them with a C.Short, you can change that C.Short into a SJ.Short. Basically, press Short RIGHT before you land and from the air, you can kick them off the floor and continue with the C.Strong -> S.Roundhouse. However, if you do this method, it may be better to try with C.Strong -> S.Fierce because you'll be further out from the corner. ********** Psylocke: 8) J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ. Forward -> SJ.UP.Roundhouse (FS). While enemy starts falling back down and passes you (you'll still be in same Super Jump), SJ.Short -> SJ.UP.Roundhouse. When enemy starts falling back down, Jump up and meet them in the air with J.Jab -> J.Short -> J.Forward -> J.UP.Roundhouse 9) Enemy in the corner. PsiThrust (only first half), C.Short (OTG) -> C.Fierce /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Forward XX Kochou Gakure For the first combo, it's pretty basic up until after the first SJ.UP.Roundhouse. After doing this, the enemy will start falling down. Wait until they pass by you and hit SJ.Short so that you hit them while they are just barely below you. After the second SJ.UP.Roundhouse, they will be bounced back up and you will land first. Jump up and meet them in the air with the appropriate moves. In the dashing portion of the combo, eliminate some moves against smaller enemies. A variation of this combo HAS been done before but it seems like it ONLY works on Wolverine and even on him, it's not consistent. Instead of jumping up to meet the enemy after they start falling at the end, you can wait for the enemy to just hit the ground and OTG them and juggle them. Against Wolverine, I have juggled him with S.Jab -> S.Short -> S.Strong -> S.Forward -> S.Fierce but it doesn't seem to always work. The other method is more of a sure-fire way to get in five extra hits, but this method is easier to time (but less likely of getting all five hits in). The second listed combo I have never done myself but someone has told me that he has seen/done it before. You must only do one half of the PsiThrust and the enemy must be in the corner. The first half of the PsiThrust will knock them down as a set-up for an OTG combo. HOWEVER, the OTG is VERY hard to do because if you hit any button quickly, it will activate the second half of the PsiThrust when you do not want to do that. Instead, you will have to use timing to wait until the first half of the PsiThrust ENDS and then hit Crouch Short. The timing is hard to do. I have done all of the combo up to the Air Combo part due to confusion on my part. ********** Ironman: 7) Ironman's Marvelous Combo: Start by Flying and be near corner. Be relatively above the enemy. Smart Bomb. After the Smart Bomb, Air Dash diagonally Down/Forward right away. F.AD.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong -> F.Forward -> F.DN.Fierce XX Flying Command (to land), S.Short -> S.Forward XX Jab-Repulsor Blast, D.C.Short -> S.Roundhouse /\ SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.UP.Fierce XX Flying Command (to start Flying), F.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong -> F.T.Fierce XX Jab-UniBeam. Air Dash diagonally Up/Forward. F.AD.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong This combo works best, for me, against Hulk. Also, I start it when I am in the corner and Hulk is standing barely outside of it. I start Flying and fly to the proper place to initiate the combo. It works against other enemies, but you have to leave out some moves or the combo will start missing in certain parts. It works best on Hulk. Now, in the beginning, I say to Smart Bomb. I usually SKIP this move because I don't want to bother with it. I haven't done the whole combo with the Smart Bomb at the beginning but I HAVE done enough of the combo after the Smart Bomb at the beginning to know that it will all connect together. So if you want to try the whole combo, start by Smart Bombing (1 hit from this). Airdash Diagonally Down/Forward (hold Offensive Crouch and hit all three punches) and while airdashing, press the buttons Jab, Short, Strong Forward, Fierce VERY VERY VERY VERY quickly. I cannot emphasize this enough. You must press the five buttons FAST and after Airdashing... if you do not Air Dash first, the five hits will NEVER connect (6 hits so far). Here's where the combo gets VERY tricky: After hitting Fierce, IMMEDIATELY cancel the Fierce with the Flying Command and hit S.Short RIGHT away. There must be NO pause between these three commands and if there is, you're sunk. Do the Air Combo and when you hit Fierce, do the Flying Command and hit S.Short RIGHT away!!! VERY VERY VERY quickly... I'm saying it again because this is VERY important. The time it takes to do all three moves (Fierce from the Airdash, Flying Command, S.Short) all fits into about 1 second of real time. You HAVE to do the moves that fast or you'll never connect the Fierce from the air and the Short from the ground. After hitting S.Short, hit S.Forward for the ground combo and cancel that into the Jab Repulsor Blast. Against smaller characters, the Jab Repulsor Blast will NEVER hit unless you skip a couple of buttons from the original Flying Dash Air Combo. So against smaller guys, dash down with F.AD.Jab, F.Strong, F.Fierce XX Flying Command (to land), S.Short, S.Forward XX Jab Repulsor Blast... but against Hulk and Juggernaut and Blackheart, go ahead and keep the five hits from the air (so the S.Short -> S.Forward XX Jab Repulsor Blast will add four hits making the total go up to 10). After the Jab Repulsor Blast, the enemy will land RIGHT behind you. Quickly Dash towards them (backwards from original facing direction) and hit C.Short into a S.Roundhouse (against the big guys like Hulk, you don't need to Dash, making this part a little easier to time). This launches them into the air for an Air Combo. The Short will hit them off the floor and the Roundhouse will launch them... warning, though, if your opponent rolls, they WILL escape the combo at this point. So this combo is not DEFINITE as the enemy CAN roll away at this point (the two OTG hits make it 12 hits now). Now, after launching them, Super Jump and VERY quickly, hit SJ.Jab -> SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.UP.Fierce. You must do this fast and early so that the enemy is POSITIVELY above you and that the SJ.UP.Fierce will hit them ABOVE you. If they are too low, the Fierce will miss or the rest of the combo will just whiff and fail (4 more hits... up to 16). Here is the second tricky part. You have to do the three codes in sequence VERY quickly again... just like before when you had to land. SJ.UP.Fierce, Flying Command (to start Flying), F.Jab. These three must be done is sequence VERY quickly... as quickly as you had to do the landing part of the combo earlier. Again, you should do those three commands in the time span of about 1 second or LESS if possible. You'll start flying and the F.Jab should BARELY get them before they start falling too low after being hit by the SJ.UP.Fierce. Now complete the Air Combo part by hitting Short, Strong, Fierce after the Jab (so after executing the Flying Command, hit F.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong -> F.Fierce). You CANNOT skip any of these buttons because each hit will subsequently start causing the enemy to slowly by slowly rise upwards in relation to you... by the time the Fierce hits, the enemy will be right next to you and in front of you... if you don't hit will all four buttons, you'll never raise them high enough for the Jab UniBeam to hit... so hit with all four buttons and cancel the Fierce with a Jab UniBeam... also be sure that you used a Straight Fierce (neutral joystick or holding Toward). This adds 4 hits from the Flying Combo and another 4 hits or so from the UniBeam, bringing the total up to 24 hits. The Jab UniBeam will bounce the enemy UPWARDS. Thus, you can Air Dash AGAIN after them (Hold Up/Forward and hit all three punches) and quickly hit F.AD.Jab -> F.Short -> F.Strong. This is where my combo ends. You MIGHT be able to tack on more moves or something, but it's hard to tell because at this point of the combo, both of you have risen CLOSE TO BEING OUT OF THE screen so it's hard to tell what is going on. The original poster of this combo said that after the F.Strong, you can do an Air Throw and I'm not sure what's stopping you from adding another F.Fierce XX Jab-UniBeam. But by this point in the combo, I have usually lost all coherency and am completely confused so that these hits only happen if I'm lucky. You CANNOT get these three hits if you didn't start the combo while you are near the corner. These last three hits can only be tacked on if YOU started near the corner which results in the enemy being cornered at this point. So if you aren't in the corner by this point, the last three hits will never connect (The last three hits are what brings the total to 27!). The exact number of hits varies from time to time because sometimes, the UniBeam will hit less times than normal and sometimes the last three hits will work part way etc. Good luck with this combo. It's VERY possible but will almost NEVER be pulled off in real combat. Better to plunk in credits yourself and practice on a 2nd player just sitting there (hope you have tons of money for this). Some tips to help you: 1) When you do the parts with the Flying Command (to land and to fly), you HAVE to do it VERY quickly. I cannot emphasize this enough. Speed will get you through it and if you're too slow, you'll never pull the whole combo off. 2) Keep in mind all the moves you want to do. Make sure you don't start the combo and get to a point where you go, "What move was I supposed to do next?!?!?" and fail to keep the combo going. Remember all the moves beforehand so they all come out in a very instinctive nature. 3) Practice, practice, practice. ********** Juggernaut: 8) This combo only works on the lighter characters (Psylocke, Spiderman, Wolverine are easy to do it to, Ironman, Shuma Gorath, Captain America, and Magneto are tougher, and Hulk, Blackheart, and Juggernaut are impossible). J.Short -> J.Strong \/ D.S.Short -> S.Fierce XX Juggernaut Headcrush, Juggernaut Headcrush, D.C.Short (OTG) -> S.T.Fierce There's not much to say about this combo. Basically, the only thing that needs to be talked about is when to do the second Headcrush. After the first one, Juggernaut pauses for a while and the enemy goes flying up into the air. Now, Juggernaut recovers fairly quickly from the first Headcrush and he does so while out of view (the view follows the flying body of the enemy you just Headcrushed). So basically, you have to activate the second Headcrush even before you come into view. Also, after the second Headcrush, you have to start your dash at about the same point in order to OTG them in time. Some people have mentioned that they HAVE done it to the bigger guys but I find it impossible. By the time Juggernaut recovers, the enemy has already hit the floor and the Headcrush will OTG them unsuccessfully (the first hit knocks them off the floor but the rest of the hits are blockable... not sure why this is so). ********** Shuma Gorath: 12) Grab with the Chaos Dimension, J.Strong \/ S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) 13) Start with enemy in the corner. J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Forward XX Chaos Dimension Activation, J.Strong/ J.Forward/ J.Fierce/ J.Roundhouse to grab enemy, J.Strong \/ S.Forward /\ SJ.Short -> SJ.Strong -> SJ.Forward -> SJ.UP.Fierce (FS) 14) Activate Chaos Dimension (doesn't have to hit). Activate Mind Gem. After Mind Gem fills up your meter to full again, grab with the Chaos Dimension, J.Strong \/ S.Forward CC Chaos Dimension Activation, J.Strong/ J.Forward/ J.Fierce/ J.Roundhouse for the grab. After grabbing with the Chaos Dimension, it drops the enemy to the ground and Shuma falls out of a portal right above the enemy. Now, in this period where Shuma falls out of the portal, you can actually still do moves. So while you are falling, you can J.Strong the enemy right off the ground on your way down. You will land right away and you can get in a S.Forward to Launch the enemy upwards for an Air Combo. There is actually Chaos Dimension Combo. If you hit the enemy with the Chaos Dimension activation, you can actually jump up and grab them before they recover for a combo. You can also tack on a S.Forward to knock them slightly upwards, THEN activate the Chaos Dimension (and hit them), then jump up and grab them. Thus, you can do a whole Jump-In combo beforehand and get a whole J.Strong -> J.Roundhouse \/ D.S.Forward XX Chaos Dimension. The Chaos Dimension will hit them and you can jump up and grab them. It will count as a combo and your combo meter will continue to go up. Against larger enemies, you don't need to be in the corner for this to work but against smaller characters, you do. In the last combo listed, you can actually get two Chaos Dimensions in one combo. If you activate the Mind Gem, you can still activate the Chaos Dimension. Do those two and wait until your meter fills up. After it does, you still have time to run up and grab the enemy before the Chaos Dimension effect wears off. Grab them and the Chaos Dimension will begin. After coming out of the portal, do the J.Strong before you land to OTG the enemy. Then do a S.Forward XX Chaos Dimension (do these quickly so that the Chaos Dimension activation will hit the enemy). Then jump up and grab them again just like in combo 13. You won't be able to hit them again after the Chaos Dimension because there is only one OTG per combo. But by this point, the enemy should be just about dead. ********** Blackheart: 8) Enemy in corner: S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, S.Strong XX Fierce Inferno, repeat until enemy is dead. It is true, if you get the enemy into the corner, you can get them into an infinite combo. Just repeatedly hit the enemy into the air with a S.Strong canceled by an Inferno and wait until the enemy falls back downwards, peg them out of the air with another S.Strong and repeat. You have to cancel the S.Strong AS EARLY AND QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE or the Inferno will not be quick enough. Also at any point after an Inferno, you can throw in a Heart Of Darkness just for the fun of it. Then S.Strong them afterwards and continue the combo. When you start the combo, the enemy will get dizzied at one point. But if you do the combo on the dizzied opponent, they won't get dizzied again (I'm pretty sure) and they will eventually die (though this takes a LONG time). Now, I've tried it against the CPU but they somehow manage to block after the S.Strong but when I do it to a 2nd player who does nothing, I can get it to combo (the combo count continues to rise continually). For some reason, I cannot get it to work on the CPU. I think it may be due to the fact that I so RARELY get the chance to do it to the CPU since my Blackheart is pathetic. This combo is SO hard to actually find the chance to use. And the VERY few times I finally managed to pull it off, I may have been so surprised I got it off against the CPU they just blocked it due to poor timing on my part. I'll experiment further and see what happens. (End of Appendix)