The King of Fighters Ex 2 - Howling Blood Jun FAQ by Tiago Lopes, aka Charade (Version 1.00) Got suggestions, criticisms, questions or just plain chit-chat? Feel free to mail me at vianalopes@clix.pt It's my very first FAQ so please don't take it hard on me... 1. Legal Disclaimer 2. Revision History 3. Who is Jun? 4. Move Analysis 5. Special Moves 6. DMs 7. Striker 8. Strategy 9. Miscellaneous 10. End Notes *************** 1. Legal Disclaimer *************** The King of Fighters saga, Jun Kagami and other mentioned characters are the property of the allmighty SN...ahh crap....in this case it's actually property of Playmore Corporation, so don't mess with their copyright for your own good. This FAQ is the intelectual (yeah right...) property of Tiago Lopes, I'm a Law School student, don't mess with me!!!! You all know the drill: "Don't reproduce this document without the permission of it's author...yadayadayada...". Heck, I DARE YOU to reproduce this crap, no, I DOUBLE DARE YOU!!! Copyright 2003 Tiago Lopes *************** 2. Revision History *************** 21st June, 2003 (it's Saturday over here!!!) - the horror begins 4th July, 2003 - added "Alternate Strategy" against Sinobu and updated Jun's strategy and Jun's strategy against the previously mentioned ************ 3. Who is Jun? ************ I dunno...why do you think I'm asking? Who is Jun? Unfortunately I don't know much about the character since I couldn't get my hands on a official profile (help here, H-E-L-P). The storyline revolves on some weirdo, Gustav Munchausen, trying to ressurrect Goenitz's spirit on some guy, Sinobu (the end boss) who is the brother of Miu, one of Jun's teammates, the other being Mr. Congeniality himself, Iori Yagami. There's a lot to the general plot, they speak of the Ten Orochi Treasures, and I'm getting the idea that Jun and her teammates are three of those treasures (that's the idea I got from the in-game plot of Iori Team...), heck, these P(l)aymore dudes sure can make weird stuff! Mr. Congeniality is, as always trying to kill Kyo, the Gothic Lolita is looking for her brother and I'm assuming that Jun is only tagging along for the fun. Jun's a fashion model and her last name's Kagami, that's just about all I know of her... Also, IMO, she isn't the bimbo she looks like since she knows the entire Orochi story. For the illiterate fans of Jun, if you can't read or just get way too distracted with the pretty pictures, she's the one that looks like a cross between Angel (KoF 2k1) and Sonia Romanenko (Rage of the Dragons), she's got tan skin, purple/lavendar short(ish) hair and a red outfit like Sonia and she's just über-goofy and laid back like Angel. (if you've never seen any of those mail me and I'll send artwork of 'em) Reasons to pick Jun: a) she's hot b) she's really fun to watch (just check out her hoochie mamma stance and walk animation) c) she's a new character and that's always a good thing (unless you happen to be at KOF 2000 and answer to the name Ramon...) Pros & Cons of Jun: Pros: + she's fast + does decent damage + she's a grappler, pardon me, a fast grappler! + she's got a few sneaky moves that can catch must opponents off guard Cons: - she's tall, aka big target ("Being tall isn't all that's cracked up to be, you know?" - Clark to Jun) - her air game is kinda lame - few special moves and only ONE DM (oh, the criminy!) - her SDM is actually the same crap as her DM!!! (more damage and a little more hummm into it, but it's even the same bloody animation!!!) Overview of Jun All things considered...she's not that much (I thought "crap" would be a little too harsh), she hasn't got that special something a few characters have that allows them too be sure-winners with little effort, I believe the term is "scrubbyness", she isn't scrub-friendly and it will take a few rounds to get the hang of her but as soon as you can balance her pros and cons and take advantage of those of your foes she's a force to be reckoned with!!! In general terms I recommend Jun for those who actually like her, she's fun to play and that's the reason to pick her, assuming you've got Iori on your team things aren't THAT bad! ************* 4. Move Analysis ************* Legend: P - Punch K - Kick dp - dragon punch motion hcb - half circle back Weak Punch standing - a quick elbow to the face with very short range, it's only usefulness is to stop rushing opponents, but isn't an unblockable command throw much better? crouching - quick knife chop with decent range, good for poking and pressuring jumping - utter crap, avoid like the plague (attack is the same as crouching) Weak Kick standing - really quick kick to the thighs/ balls/Choi's head, very good range and an awesome poking/stuffing weapon, at close range Jun aims at the shins and you can combo two or three of these. Highly recommended. crouching - quick all-too-generic footsie we all know and neglect, I think it's faster than crouching punch... jumping - same as above only in air now Strong Punch standing - nasty hook right in the noggin, fast, high priority, good damage and dizzying properties, one of her best weapons to stop predictable rush-ins and to throw out in those bitch slappin' situations (just don't try it with Chang...). Highly recommended. crouching - turns her back and elbows just like Mai, short range but it's really fast, feel free to whip out two in row when you're pressuring. Highly recommended. jumping - generic, "I've-already-seen-this-in-Mortal-Kombat" air punch, decent damage, range and priority. Strong Kick standing - looks like a kick in the balls to me (ouch!), long range, damage and priority aren't that much. Takes some time to recover. Use sparingly. crouching - Jun extends her leg to sweep the opponent, use it like you would use any other sweep, with caution and within hit range. jumping - dropkick aiming downwards, decent priority and damage. It takes some time so throw it as soon as you jump or at the highest peak of the jump. Front + Weak Kick - two-hitter axe kick. Jun does a standing split!! (fanboy drooling) Fast overhead with good dizzying properties and good range. Excellent against turtlers. Punch Throw - looks like a German Suplex at first but instead of busting their heads against the concrete Jun tosses the opponent way too far and does a pose after getting up (her girly scream as she does this is a killer!). My suggestion: do the pose as well when connecting this move! Yay!!! (I won't be held responsible if you: a) look like an ass and b) drop your Game Boy in the process) Kick Throw - Jun picks her opponent and slams him back first right in the ground, looks kinda like a power bomb... Knockdown (Strong Punch + Strong Kick) standing - really good move for a knockdown since these tend to be short ranged and slow, that isn't the case of Jun, she kicks her opponent hard in the gut fully extending her leg so range and priority are a plus here. It's not ultra fast but like I said, knockdowns aren't famous for being fast but this one moves at a decent pace, you're not totally safe but are still safer than most of the other characters! jumping - same animation as her Sunrise Drop (cheap scapes...) meaning it's an all too well known kung-fu style flying kick, since Jun isn't all that much when it comes to aerial confrontation this is a decent choice if you happen to cross paths with your opponent in mid-air. ************* 5. Special Moves ************* Chop Buster - (near opponent) hcb+P yer ever-useful command throw, Jun hits her opponent hard in his head with her fore arm knocking him down and proceeds to fall on top of him (sigh) elbow first just like in wrestling (take back sigh). It will be best used to punish any missed or blocked moves but since Jun is rather mobile and if you see the chance, run up and grab the bastard!!! Revolver Drop - dp+P (anti-air throw) what's to say about this? If you see your opponent jump at you go for it! Jun grabs the opponent and falls on top of him with her knees on his gut. Needless to say you need good reflexes for this kind of moves (personally I suck at this) but once you prove your opponent you can grab him any time he jumps, believe me, he won't try it again and since you're a grappler keeping your enemy on the ground is a good thing (btw, this goes for Clark as well!). Sunrise Drop - hold K for 2 secs. then release too bad it's a hold move...Jun jumps fast in a forward motion and kicks the opponent violently knocking him down. Good damage, good priority, awesome surprise factor, horrible disgusting abonimable and every icky gooey word you can think of command! If this thing wasn't a hold Jun would kick too many asses, ah well....hold the button and remember you can still use punches. Note: I bet if this move was for Kyo or those Art of Fighting scrubs they had a fireball motion for the friggin' move!!! Sunset Low - dp+K Save!!! Jun shows some latent baseball fanatism by dirting herself with this oh-so-cool sweep. Previously I said Jun wasn't scrub-friendly...weeellllll, that isn't quite totally true, you see this move is kinda abusable, not to the extent of having her being mistaken with Takuma but the CPU tends to fall for it a lot, but don't think you can pull this off continuously coz you may end up eating a super since this move tends to have a world of recovery time when blocked. This move is abusable in the sense that it's easy to catch someone off guard with it and you can perform it in the middle of a dash which is vewy vewy good. ****** 6. DMs (where Jun was reeeeaaaaaaalllly screwed!!!) ****** Chop Buster Special - (near opponent) hcb, hcb+P Your opponent standing next to you? Got a Super charged? Then what are you waiting for, dumbass?!!? Jun starts by bashing her opponent in the noggin like in her Chop Buster but instead of doing the elbow drop she kicks him high in the sky (sometimes I wish I could actually do this to someone...What? You too?). This move does mucho damage and stuffs anything in your path, godly priority, but then again look at the friggin' command, personally I wouldn't expect anything less!!! Indeed pulling this off is a struggle on it's own. SDM Chop Buster Excellent - (near opponent) - hcb, hcb+MAX (A+B default) same as above, double the damage Note: those guys at Playmore are such cheap scapes!!! Watch this move and feel the lazyness of it's creators!!! WHY THE HELL JUN IS THE ONLY CHARACTER WITH ONLY ONE SUPER!!!???!!! WHY???!!!??? TELL ME, GOD DAMN YOU!!!!!! ******* 7. Striker (Weak Punch + Strong Kick) ******* Jun is a limited range Striker and only attacks characters within half-screen range yet it's really cool looking (one of the best in the game IMHO), Jun strikes with the feathers (?) in her gloves which extend in the process throwing the opponent in the air, she follows up with a Messatsu Gourasen type attack (Akuma's ascending hurricane kick) making 2/3 hits and ending with a part of her axe kick (basically she kicks her opponent down). Even though it's Recycled Sprites R'Us it still kicks ass!!! WOULD IT BE THAT DIFFICULT MAKING A SUPER OUT OF THIS? ********* 8. Strategy ********* First things first. I'd like to give you all a few hints that will prove useful in just about every fighting game. 1. Don't fall for that "he's too slow/his moves have too much lag/ recovery" crap advice, must people tend to have this in mind while fighting and that's BAD. REALLY BAD. My advice is "There aren't slow moves." Period. Most people go overconfident to battle against characters they think are too slow and Bang!!! You just got you're skull cracked by Chang's iron ball. Of course moves have recovery but don't be overconfident to the point of underestimating your opponent's ability to surprise you. My best example is Potemkin's front+high slash (if you've played Guilty Gear X you know what I'm talking about), one hit can stun you, four or five can kill you, it's one of those so called "slow moves", yet he can whip it out and absolute rape your life bar in a flash if you're distracted. 2. Don't get "CPU broken". What's this? "CPU broken" is a concept I invented, probably some of you call it something else, it's a wordplay from "housebroken" and it basically means if you play too much with the CPU you'll end up playing like him. That's my case, I'm CPU broken and I'm still trying to fight it. Why? I've been playing fighting games ever since Street Fighter II in the Megadrive/Genesis system, I've noticed I was rather good at fighting games, my friends did too, and basically deserted me (fighting games aren't even slightly popular in my country, rather all out ignored) since I mauled them continously (they still won't play with me because they think I'm undefeatable or somethin' like that. I'm not. I'm really not that good.) so I got stuck with the CPU, for years and years. I played so much with the CPU I basically assumed it's tactics (coreographed attacks, patterns, totally neglected some moves, etc.) which was crippling in my creative spirit. This proves fatal in matches against another human since my mind is adapted to respond to set patterns. A friend of mine usually plays with me just for fun, he himself says he's crap and will consider himself happy by just ripping out 1/2 my lifebar. True he had no knowledge of whatever game we played but I panicked while playing with him due to my accostumization with set attack patterns. My advice, always try playing with human opponents no mather how weak or bad they are or you think they are. Fighting human opponents will make you think more in terms of creating your own traps and attacks against all sorts of situations. 3. Most will say "don't pick a character just because of his/her looks", hell with that, I say "Pick a character because of his looks!!" You're playing the game to have fun nothing more or else you'll end up like those poor dudes who just pick some guy they aren't particular fond of just because they can hang more than five minutes in the ring with him. That's castrating, not to mention all out boring since it takes the fun of training hard with the character you think looks the coolest and turn that apparent underdog into a killer machine. Personal example: Voldo from Soul Calibur. First time I played with him I thought he was utter crap, I had my ass absolutely owned in there, but I thought to myself "This guy is so cool, it's a crying shame to let him go like that...". When I bought a Dreamcast and got the game I spent about three or four hours in training knowing everything there was to know about that guy. The effort did pay off, and it's a whole damn more gratifying winning with a character I actually like. OK, what about Jun? I really don't have a specific strategy with her, I tend to poke with her weak kicks, mercilessly haunt them with her standing Strong Punch (this move is that good!), grab them when they make any mistakes, Super when they're dizzy, nothing special. I do tend to abuse her Sunset Low when I find myself in "vital disadvantage", since the CPU tends to fall for it. Hey, if it works... My best advice is to make up you're own strategy since I think it's awful and rather arrogant of me trying to teach you all how to play effectively. Alternatively you can play like a careless ten-year-old, jumping like mad and jabbing the opponent to death (beat someone with this and he´ll die of embarrassment!!!). The best thing I can say is that Jun isn't the combo type so you must mainly rely on throwing whenever possible and landing clean hits. Extra - beating Sinobu Don't pick Jun. That's it. Really, you can try using Sunset Low but he'll fry you halfway through. OK, I'm probably exagerating but if you make a smart use of Sunset Low, her roll to cover distances and Chop Buster whenever you can close in on him, there's a good chance you can own his windy ass!!! Sinobu, as you should know Timmy, is an SNK boss, so it will take the cheapest to beat the cheapest, fortunately each team has a member or two with a certain move that Sinobu will always fall for. step 1 - always be at the other end of the stage, he can't reach you since he lacks convencional projectiles step 2 - get it over with and be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS Hero Team Moe - her qcb+K windup punch, an exception here, cornertrap Sinobu and perform this move as soon as he's up Fatal Fury Team Mai or Terry - projectile, nothing to it, Mai is best since she has a projectile super Ikari Team Leona - her earring bomb (this will bore you to death, believe me) Korean Team Chang - his charge move, hold it to the max, take full advantage of the damage and auto-guard, throw him if he gets too close Art of Fighting Team Yuri or Takuma - Yuri's fully charged fireball, I don't know about Takuma since I hate the bastard, but it should work Psycho Soldier Team Athena - she has two projectiles, they're big and do considerable damage, throw them at different speeds to break his timing Iori Team Miu - easy-cheesy, toss feathers, perform feather super as soon as you have gauge Alternate Strategy (works with just about everyone as long as your careful...) - roll around to get close and throw him Note on beating Sinobu - don't feel bad for having to resort to these methods, he's an SNK boss, so the possibility of beating him fair and square are absolutely zero, believe me, every time you even try moving in his direction he'll create a hurricane covering the screen (vertically) which takes about a fourth of your lifebar. ************* 9. Miscellaneous ************* Start Pose - Jun points at her opponent in a rather menacing fashion whilst saying "Ikeyo!" (is that correct?) - "Let's go!" Taunt (Select button) - Jun, with eyes shut, gestures with her shoulders (awful description here) Striker Call - points at her opponent while turning her back to them Win Pose - Jun triumphantly lifts her arm making the gesture imortalized by a certain British Prime Minister after a certain World War, she winks her eye and smiles saying "Yatta ne!" - "I did it!" Win Quote - "Did I want to take you out in earnest?" (honestly, I don't get it...) Alternate Color (Strong Punch) - turquoise blue top, boots and gloves, light grey pants (looks really neat!) *********** 10. End Notes *********** If you feel something here is wrong or missing feel free to mail justifying your point, your opinion will must certainly be taken under consideration. Note: I'm aware I didn't ad the Game System, because a) I'm lazy and b) if you're a REAL KoF fan you'll know it by heart even with the changes year from year. About combos it's because a) I don't really know any, that's it. I hate Kensou. Feel free to mail as well if you wish to discuss other stuff besides gameplay aspects, KoF or fighting games in general. I'd really love to see Ron in KoF 2003. Really. Really. Really. Really. Ok, that's enough. Reiji is a pedophile, he called Miu "babe" 0_º (jokes aside, Reiji can kick some serious butt!) I'd like to make a sort of a request here, if any of you have a decent sized, good quality full body artwork of Jun it would be a real treat if you could send it to me since I can't find it anywhere. Fanart is welcome as well. :) (all for my private collection) If any of you wants to trade game related art (I'm not talking screenshots, people!) I am more than willing. I hate Bao but then again everybody does... I've got about 100 sprites of Jun I ripped myself, if you manage a videogame/KoF/spriteripping site or just like Jun mail me if you're interested (the folder is 2.6Mb). I never did like the Art of Fighting team. Actually, I hate their guts, especially that no good, ultra-cheap, monotonous bastard, Takuma!!! On a side note if any of you readers is Portuguese (my country) please contact me since I've never met any KoF fan from my country. I think Mai has definitely seen better days. Much love to Playmore for keeping up this magnific franchise that is The King of Fighters and making a kickass game. Thank You! Truckloads of Kudos to the wonderful people at Gamefaqs.com. You Rule!!! And a very special thanks to You, the reader, this was all for you and I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writting it. I really doubt this was useful but I hope it was entertaining at least. Heck, I read FAQs for games I don't even own, so... Thank you for your time, now go out and kick some ass to make me proud!!! Tiago Lopes