NIGHT WARRIORS: DARK STALKER'S REVENGE -- HSIEN KO GUIDE ver. 1.0 - revised 03/28/96 by: FrostByte @ ix.netcom.com Eclipz @ msn.com ------------------------------------------ | \ _______ / | | \\ \ / | | | |=================== | | | | d8888888888 | | 8| | _,,, q88888888888 | | 88| | (_(0) q888888888888 | | 888| | d8888888888888 | | d8888| | d888888888888888| | | | d88888888888888888| | , |__ / / | | /_______/ / / | | `.____ / \ | `__________________________________________' HSIEN KO the Chinese ghost Birth Date: 1730 Height: 6ft Weight: 95 lbs. ============================================================================== Contents: 1. General character background & storyline. 2. General control. 3. Gameplay 4. Regular moves. 5. Special moves. 6. Super moves. 7. Hsien Ko's art of fighting (1) OFFENSIVE 8. Hsien Ko's art of fighting (2) DEFENSIVE 9. Combos you should know 10. An overview of your challengers. F. Finis ============================================================================== 1. General character background Hsien Ko is a typical Chinese vampire which greatly differs from their European counterpart (ie. Demitri). First of all, most of them are similar to robots, they are unwillingly summoned/controlled by a priest In Hsien Ko's case, she has the help of her sister Mei Ling's who appears as the talisman on her head. (yes in contrary to what most people think, the ghostly female figure which appears beside the coffin is not Hsien Ko's ghost. It is her sister, you can see them together in the ending.) In this game, Hsien Ko wears a traditional Manchurian burial robe with an extended sleeve which carries her secret (and hilarious) arsenal of weapons. This includes her chainsaw, knives, axes, boulders, axes, etc. As with all Chinese vampires, Hsien Ko does not walk, she hops around on the ground, or run on the air. Winning Poses: Her talisman jumps to her shoulder as she puts her hands together. She tilts her head to the side and says "xie xie" (thank you in Chinese). She puts her hands together, but clumsily drops all the stuffs she hid under her sleeves. She takes her arms out of the sleeves and begins to juggle her knives. Winning Quotes: "Return to the darkness shade! We shall not be denied our vengeance!" "That was too easy! in your next life try defending yourself!" "Close though you may come, you will never defeat us nor sway our course!" "Have a pleasant journey through the 9 courts of Judgement!" ============================================================================== These are her wardrobe selection; (for those fashion conscious players) Button Color Jab : pink robe with a splash of dark blue. Strong : dark blue robe with yellow sleeves. Fierce : pale white Hsien Ko with orange robe. Short : orange robe with green sleeves. Forward : white overalls with blue sleeves. Roundhouse : bright red robe with deep red sleeves. Jab + Forward (Hold) : "evil" looking naughty black robe with reds. Start : light blue overall with dark blue robe. ============================================================================== Storyline Hsien Ko and her sister were born in the 1700s, during one of China's more turbulent periods. While they were still young girls, their mother was killed by one of the darkstalkers (probably Demitri). Not knowing of the evil that had taken their mother, the girls set off to find out what happened only to fall themselves to the forces of darkness. As they breathed their last breath, they each made a vow: one to free (or avenge) the spirit of their mother; the other to avenge themselves against the powers of the night by destroying the Darkstalkers. Although they have yet to realize it, they are rapidly becoming exactly what they swore to destroy! They now must race against time to complete their tasks before their humanity drains out completely. Ending Mother... we have done it, we defeated them all just as we promised. Having fulfilled their oath to destroy the Darkstalkers, Hsien Ko and her sister collapse as the last of their spirit energy drains away. They prepare to fade into non-existence... Hsien Ko, Mei Ling, no my little ones, the reward for your great deed shall not be oblivion. Warm light envelops the two sisters as their mother's freed life force flows around them. Here is my gift to you, live long and happy lives my children and know that I will be with you, always. whaaa! Darling, look at them! They are adorable. The reborn twins look forward to a new life, one where the happiness that eluded them the last time can at last be theirs. ============================================================================== 2. General control All of the moves in this guide are written Street Fighter style; The button line up being: Jab Strong Fierce 0 0 0 0 0 0 Short Forward Roundhouse The joystick setup: Up/Back Up Up/Forward 0 0 0 \ | / Back 0-- --0 Forward / | \ 0 0 0 Crouch/Back Crouch Crouch/Forward All moves written assuming that the player is the first player and is facing right. ============================================================================== 3. Gameplay Nightwarriors has almost an entirely different gameplay compared to its predecessor the DarkStalkers. The difference has already been discussed in the FAQ so I will go straight to a brief description of the gameplay. Winning a matchup: This can be done in several ways. 1. Depleting your enemy's bar will result in victory, The last "finishing move" you did will determine what is shown in the box. A regular move or throw will result in a "V" A special move, throw or pursuit will show as "S" An Enhanced Special move will result in an "ES" An Extra Special move will result in an "EX" 2. A Draw will result in a "double point" where each fighter will receive a point on their boxes. This is denoted by a "D" (Draw) If you both have a point, and your 3rd round is a draw, the fighter with the longest winning streak will stay in the game! If there is no winning streak yet, the "defender" will win the game. 3. A time out will award the fighter with the most life with a victory point. This is denoted by "T" (Time out) The power bar: Unlike Darkstalkers, Nightwarrior's powerbar is visibly longer and appear right below the life bar. This can be charged up multiple times. The color of the bar change according to the power you have in store. The highest rank reachable is "special" denoted by a bright flashing white bar. This power bar is consumed by use of either of the following. 1. Enhanced special move 2. Extra special move This too can be charged up by either of the following. 1. Hitting an unblocking opponent 2. Hitting a blocking opponent 3. Getting hit by an opponent 4. Blocking an opponent's hit 5. A Throw 6. Any special move execution. 7. Pressing any punch/kick button You start each matchup with an empty power bar, but whatever power bar you have remaining at the end of the round will carry over to the next round. Auto blocking: For the beginners, Capcom has added this feature. You can enable this by selecting "automatic" on your character selection screen. With this enabled, your fighter will have 10 computer-aided blocks (shown at the bottom of the screen). In addition, you will also have access to the "auto combos", these are done by pressing the 3 punch or 3 kick buttons. The only drawback to this is that you will not be able to chain any flashy manual combos. Combo notes: Unlike the Street Fighter series where the most prominent combo is the two-in-ones special combos, Darkstalkers uses alot of chain hit combos (I will explain it later in the FAQ). Special combos are still here and they cause huge damage, but the offset of this is they are very hard to execute. Finishing Score: There are several ways to score BIG points in the game, but mostly it is through this Finishing move score you'll gain a lot of point. 1. Perfect ( +30000 ) 2. EX finish ( +20000 ) 3. ES finish ( +10000 ) 4. Special ( +5000 ) Versus mode: If there is a challenger, you'll be brought into the VS mode. Here you'll have to defeat your challenger to continue. The loser of course stays out. In this mode, there will be no points scored no matter what you do. The combo meter will still register, but the only thing that change is your "win" meter. Any consecutive match you win will be registered but any loss will drop the meter back to 0. ============================================================================== 4. Regular moves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Standing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jab : fast punch to the face (1 hit) Strong : overhead punch (1 hit) Fierce : low stomach jab/chainsaw (1 hit) / (3 hits) Short : fast mid kick (1 hit) Forward : handstand double kick (1 hit) Roundhouse: high leg sweep (1 hit) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Standing --0 + punch ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jab : fast punch to the face (1 hit) Strong : high mace swing (1 hit) Fierce : long diagonal claw uppercut (1 hit) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crouching; ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jab : fast left claw (1 hit) Strong : low double handed uppercut (1 hit) Fierce : low rotary blade crawl (1 hit) Short : a short leg jab (1 hit) Forward : long leg jab (1 hit) Roundhouse: double leg lift (1 hit) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jumping; ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jab : claw drop (1 hit) Strong : mace drop (1 hit) Fierce : rotary claw drop (3 hits) Short : high kick (1 hit) Forward : mid leg kick (1 hit) Roundhouse: downward left kick (1 hit) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Running: --0 --0 (ground): will make Hsien Ko teleport a short distance ahead. --0 --0 (air) : will make Hsien Ko run on the air. 0-- 0-- (ground): Hsien Ko will slide backwards. 0-- 0-- (air) : Hsien Ko will run on the air backwards. Knock down recovery: Left/Right to Roll away to the direction you desire. Throw recovery: --0 + Fierce or Strong Pursuit: 0 | + any kick Overhead Throw\Air Drop: --0 + strong, fierce, forward or roundhouse ============================================================================== 5. Special moves. Maximum number of hits unblockable are shown in brackets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | \ --0 + punch | 0 0 | DARK ARTILLERY ------------------------- -Ankihou- (1 hit) Hsien Ko throws whatever item she has up her sleeve. The strength of the button determines where she throws. Jab = forward Strong = Up/Forward Fierce = Straight up then down The more you use the move, the stronger the strength of the item she tosses. some items may dizzy the enemy in one hit if it connects! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --0 | \ + punch | 0 0 | CYCLONE BLADE DANCE -------------------------- -Senpuubu- (1-9 hits) Hsien Ko shoots a chain to the ceiling and swings back and forth. Tap the button to dish out more hits. Tap the any kick button during the swing to abort the swing. This move can be executed in the air. This move takes a while to execute, but causes heavy ticking damage. Not to mention, hard to block, as the victim must block both ways when she swings back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | / 0-- + punch | 0 0 | ( Close ) SPECTRAL SLICER --------------------- -Houtengeki- (n/a) Hsien Ko throws her enemy up in the air (like her overhead throw) and spins like a top on the ground with her claws out. The enemy falls on her spinning claws for massive damage! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | / 0-- + punch | 0 0 | PHANTOM REVERB ----------------------- -Henkyouki- (1 hit) Hsien Ko pulls out and hammer a black gong. The stronger the button, the longer this move last. Can be executed in the air too. This move can reflect a forward moving projectile, it also can cause damage and pushes the enemy back. ============================================================================== 6. Super moves. Extra specials (ES) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | \ --0 + 2 punches | 0 0 | ENHANCED ARTILLERY -------------------------- (1 hit) Hsien Ko will flash and roll 3 spike balls on the ground "bowling" style consecutively. However, the move is slow and blockable after the first hit, leaving lil' Ko vulnerable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --0 | \ + 2 punches | 0 0 | ENHANCED BLADE DANCE -------------------------- (4 hits) Similar to her pendulum move, but in this version, she flashes red and is able to swing back and forth 4 times. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | / 0-- + 2 punches | 0 0 | ENHANCED PHANTOM REVERB -------------------------- (3 hits) You are also able to do this move in the air, and just like the special version, it will still be able to reflect fireballs. It lasts longer and scores more hts than her regular reverb. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0 + 2 kicks | | | (After knockdown) ENHANCED PURSUIT ------------------- (8 hits) Similar to her regular pounce, she spins longer causing even more damage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Extra super moves (EX) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0-- / | \ --0 + 3 Kicks | 0 0 0 | DEMONIC CUISINARD ------------------------------ -Jireitou- (5 hits) Hsien Ko sticks her sleeves into the ground and a volley of 6 daggers shoot out from the ground consecutively towards the enemy. Note: Hsien Ko is NOT invincible during this move. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Short, Roundhouse, Strong, Strong, 0 | TENRAIHA | | (5 hits) ----------------------------------------- Hsien Ko, lifts her arm high and drops a mega weight from her sleeve! This knocks down your opponent and cause 10 spike balls to drop from the sky. Note: Hsien Ko is NOT invincible during this move. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Practice these moves until you can do it smoothly, especially her Tenraiha move ,her Pendulum swing and her pounce attack. Once you have mastered them, notice their timing, get a feel of her animation. OK so now you have mastered her moves, lets get on with Killing! ============================================================================== To make it easy for beginners, I'll write this step by step, beginning with the most essential skill to learn. It is useful, if you learn this with an arcade machine to practice with nearby. 7. Hsien Ko's art of fighting (1) (ATTACKING) In order to be able to use Hsien Ko well, there are some things you must master first. The first and most important arsenal you can have as Hsien Ko is her chain hit combos. There is no way you can win using Hsien Ko without these, so if you like to spaz, use someone else! a. CHAIN HIT COMBOS Intro: If you remember, this combo was first introduced to Chun Li in the old SF2 game. With the introduction of KI and X-MEN, people started calling it things like the "magic series" combo. Well, to put it in simple term, it is cancelling your regular move, into another stronger regular move. To get an idea of how beautiful this looks, I sugest you watch CPU Hsien Ko fights. Almost all of her combos are chain hits. How to: OK, get near the enemy and press; jab, strong and fierce one after another, time yourself. Remember you can only cancel weaker attacks to another atack of the same level or a stronger attack. Then try; short, forward, roundhouse. After you get the feel of it, try crouching and do the same thing. Got it? Now try; jab, short, strong, forward, fierce. If you did those correctly, the combo meter will show your chain hits. Usage: 1. "Tick" your opponent, throwing jabs (standing or crouching). or even strong (crouching). If one of them goes through, follow up with the rest. 2. Guard (crouch or stand) Wait for a "heavy mistake move". Like Demitri's demon spin, or Talbain's Beast Rush. Then counter! 3. Jump in with her fierce to drill your opponent's face and follow up with her combo. b. Speed & Choice of moves By now you should have mastered her chain combos, and probably you'll notice, (except her combo which ends in a crouching fierce) that her combos leave her clear off any counter attacks. So if they block your combo, finish your combo, and end it with a standing fierce. There is no way your enemy can counter you. (except with a guard reversal). Important! END ALL OF HER BLOCKED COMBO WITH A STANDING FIERCE! END MOST UNBLOCKED COMBO WITH A CROUCHING FIERCE FOR FOLLOWUP ATTACKS! Usage: Now use her speed to your advantage and confuse your enemy. Try her Tenraiha and while your enemy is busy orienting himself, do her Blade Dance! Now he'll be thinking; Which way to block? down? forward? back? If they don't block it, do her pursuit in the midst of the falling metal balls. c. Followup attacks 1. Pounce everytime you knock down an enemy (just like VF) If it fails, don't worry! Dash backwards, or even forward for another attack. 2. After pounce, tick him! do your blade dance, there is no way he could have countered your pendulum without a block reversal. He'll block it! Trust me! (except against people with auto blocks! ;( ) d. Fierce punches! Hsien Ko's jumping and crouching fierce has a high priority over any other regular attacks. There is no way your enemy can knock you out of these with a regular move. With this in mind, you should start all jumping combos with a deep fierce (2 hits) and use the crouching fierce (which travels a short distance forward under most projectiles) to counter your opponents. Against jumping opponents, her forward + fierce is really awesome. I would put it a notch above the other Dragon Punch type air counters. You'll cover your whole up/forward flank with this move, knocking anything out of the air. It's un-air-blockable unless it hits your opponent at the front upper body part (which is very rare). Her standing far fierce punch is another useful move. It has a range of almost half the screen, one of the furthest reaching move. Use it as a harassment move after a dash, or you can use it as a gambit when you start the round. Try these out and get a feel of these essential moves. e. Special moves usage 1. Dark Artillery Use the jab to tick your opponent's bar and psyche them out to keep their distance. Do not use this up close. The ES version is next to useless, save your special for something else. 2. Cyclone Blade Dance Again, do not use this when the enemy's waiting. It has huge lag time at the start. But please do use this AFTER a succesful pursuit. It won't combo, but will tick of a chunk of their bar. (Again... don't use this strategy against auto-blockers) The ES version swings really high, and its highly counterable so, save your power bar. 3. Phantom Reverb Use this to counter fireball-happy Demitris/Morrigans. Other than that, this move has a huge lag at the end. Do not overuse it. As a guard reversal, it hits only the front part of your sprite, so try to predict where your enemy ends. The ES version again, is almost useless. 4. Spectral Slicer This is an execellent counter/cheap move. Unlike other special throws in the game this one, does decent damage, second only to Victor's Power Bolt. Use this after they screw up. (ie. Blocked Beast Rush, Rikuo's Slide.) Also use this after her Blade Dance throw them as soon as you land! Or you can roll towards them after a knockdown for this throw. 5. Demonic Cuisinard Although not as useful as her Tenraiha, this move holds up on its own against air opponents. For best result use it when an enemy is jumping, right BEFORE they hit you. You will trade hits, but the trade - off is far greater, he'll be juggled for 4-5 hits and dealt massive damage. 6. Tenraiha Absolutely the best special Hsien Ko has. It is very hard to block! (the first part must be blocked high, and the second low.) The greatest damage is caused by the first hit, the second part cause little damage but knocks down, and the spike balls also does abysmal damage but keeps your enemy down. Learn to chain into this move and follow up your attack when they are down. 7. Hsien Ko's art of fighting (2) (DEFENDING) a. Blocking Once you learn how to attack, let's learn how to defend. There are 3 areas where you can block 1. Ground (standing) For all upper body attack, including jump kicks, any air fireballs, etc. 2. Ground (crouching) For all lower attack like sliding tackles, Sasquatch's EX Huitzl's bomb, low lasers etc. Learn to alternate between the two fluidly to prevent any trip ups from jump kicks. Learn when to block and when to attack. The best way to do this is to fight Felicia, go to a corner, and block until the timer runs out (really! kidding aside, this is a real good practice!) If you can do this without dying, you pretty much have a good ground defense skill. 3. Air This is as easy as pressing back in the air b. IMPORTANT! AIR BLOCK AND ATTACK Don't attack too fast in the air, allow your opponent to do a move, like an uppercut, BLOCK IT! and press your fierce punch immediately! This method works best against fireball-uppercut keep away techniques. Here, the best practice is against Morrigan. She always jumps up to meet your jump, perfect for your counter, try it! c. Guard reversals This is essentially, cancelling your block animation into a special move. Well, ok, it sounds easy, but it is not. Here's how really to do it. Notice the white "flash" when you block a hit? That is the border line for you to execute your reverb. You must execute the COMPLETE reverb move around that "flash" time. But really, I strongly discourage you from using this. First, even experts know that there is a whole lot of risk involved. Second, the reverb does miniscule damage. Third, Blocking and countering their attacks is much more damaging and demoralizing to your opponent. Example: Someone does Demitri's Demon Drill. You guard reversed. So? a little damage, no sweat! Now try this. You block the entire thing. He bounce away, you do a crouching fierce, he's down, you pursuit, then do a the blade dance, at the end of it you spectral slice him, he's down, you give him the Tenraiha. See? If you have followed these instructions, by now, you'd have mastered half of the skills it takes to be a master Hsien Ko player. Now, lets go to the advanced combos and an analysis of your enemies. ============================================================================== 9. Combos you should know. Jumping Starter: Always use deep fierce punch (2 hits)! Basic chain combos: Jab, Strong, Fierce (5 hits) (hold forward) Jab, Strong, Fierce (3 hits knockdown) Crouch Jab, Crouch Strong, Crouch Fierce (3 hits knockdown) You can mix between standing and crouching variation of these. Special attack combos: Strong --> Jab ES/Dark Artillery (2 hits) Strong --> Fierce ES/Phantom Reverb (2 hits) Advanced chain combos: Jab, Short, Strong, Fierce. (6 hits) Short, Roundhouse, Strong, Strong, Up (5 hits knockdown) *fast!* (if you did it correctly, only the first short and one roundhouse/strong will come out before the Tenraiha kicks in.) Followup attacks\Cheese trap 1. Pursue every knockdown combos! only ES pursuit after Spectral Slicer. 2. Use another Tenraiha close. They can roll, but you can follow them. 3. Do the Blade Dance to tick them after a successful pursuit. 4. Spectral Slice them if you land close after a Blade Dance. Hsien Ko's cheese trap will look like. (knockdown combo) -> Pursuit -> Blade Dance -> Spectral Slice -> repeat from Blade Dance. The only way they can escape is to roll, guard counter, or jab you in the lag before the spectral slice. If you anticipate their counter, you can dash backward or block it, and again, knock them down and further attack them. ============================================================================== That's basically what it takes to be good with Hsien Ko. In summary: 1. In air battles, always air block first, wait for your enemy to make his move then attack out of your air block. 2. Master chain combos! You should be able to do it in a snap now! 3. Use her speed! attack from all direction! 4. Once you managed to stick an attack in, go berserk (I don't mean spazzing). Follow up those attack with a variety of her moves! keep your enemy blocking! ============================================================================== 10. An overview of your challengers. This section is here to show you what most human opponents do, and what the CPU AI will do as specific characters. a. Anakaris CPU Techs: Move away as far as possible and use your strong artillery Repeat... he'll get dizzy! Most players will float on the air, doing their transformation cloud multiple times (Yawn!). There are 2 easy ways you can get around this. 1. Your strong artillery which goes at an arc. Throw it all the time until he gave up jumping (sucker!). 2. Run forward little by little, get under them as Anakaris is literally "floating down". When you are under him, go up for the attack! when Anakaris is hit, his cloud has no effect on you. Note: You cant block his super throw, when you see the purple hands coming, run back or dash (teleport) through it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Bishamon CPU techs: Keep your offense, Bishamon loves to stick on the ground, and using his dash attacks. Try to trip him mid-dash using the knock down combos and wear him down. Now, he's one guy you dont want to mess with. Most of the experts here choose him, well, he's my best guy matched only by Ko ;). Among the things you want to watch out for; 1. His jumping roundhouse; really high ground priority, long reach and very heavy damage! 2. 3 hit chain hit "poker" Bishie's crouching Jab, Strong, Fierce chain will take almost half of your life if comboed with jumping roundhouse. 3. His crouching fierce; This gotta be the longest reaching move in the game! not to mention one of the most damaging! How to beat him? Defense! wait for him to come to you. Try to maintain a higher life bar than his so that he don't turtles. Dont "tick" too often, or he'll poke you silly with his crouching fierce. Wait for him to jump then counter. And most importantly, use your power bar, dont be a miser! squeeze every single drop of life you can! c. Demitri CPU Techs: Well, pretty straight forward here. Stay pretty close to him, anticipate his fireballs (its easy!) then jump in and combo him! If he tried the demon drill, use Ko's crouching fierce for a follow up attack. Well, Demitri seems to have been toned down a little now, he poses little danger to an experience Hsien Ko players. Watch for his "demon drill" move which can easily be countered with your crouching fierce or even reversed. Maintain a balance between your defense and offense, attack too often and your enemy will counter it easily with his demon spin. Look for misFrom: frostbyt@ix.netcom.com(Hans ) Newsgroups: rec.games.video.sega Subject: Hsien Ko player's guide (Hsien_Ko.txt 42K) 2/2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Bishamon CPU techs: Keep your offense, Bishamon loves to stick on the ground, and using his dash attacks. Try to trip him mid-dash using the knock down combos and wear him down. Now, he's one guy you dont want to mess with. Most of the experts here choose him, well, he's my best guy matched only by Ko ;). Among the things you want to watch out for; 1. His jumping roundhouse; really high ground priority, long reach and very heavy damage! 2. 3 hit chain hit "poker" Bishie's crouching Jab, Strong, Fierce chain will take almost half of your life if comboed with jumping roundhouse. 3. His crouching fierce; This gotta be the longest reaching move in the game! not to mention one of the most damaging! How to beat him? Defense! wait for him to come to you. Try to maintain a higher life bar than his so that he don't turtles. Dont "tick" too often, or he'll poke you silly with his crouching fierce. Wait for him to jump then counter. And most importantly, use your power bar, dont be a miser! squeeze every single drop of life you can! c. Demitri CPU Techs: Well, pretty straight forward here. Stay pretty close to him, anticipate his fireballs (its easy!) then jump in and combo him! If he tried the demon drill, use Ko's crouching fierce for a follow up attack. Well, Demitri seems to have been toned down a little now, he poses little danger to an experience Hsien Ko players. Watch for his "demon drill" move which can easily be countered with your crouching fierce or even reversed. Maintain a balance between your defense and offense, attack too often and your enemy will counter it easily with his demon spin. Look for misticker" combos CPU Huitzl's real good at guard reversals! He/It is actually very similar to anakaris. However, you need to be on the defense when fighting Huitzl. He has a huge array of projectiles and an unblockable air counter (his strong punch). The only time you should jump is when he does his laser or bomb. Other than that harass him with a low item throws. (be very careful blocking his bombs, you need to block until all the flames has gone!). g. Morrigan CPU Techs: Again, similar to Demitri, stay close, wait for her fireball. The only difference you must note, CPU Morrigan has this tendency to meet you mid-air for a counter. Use the block and attack strategy till she decides to stay down and fireball. (Did I mention she's a good air blocking practice? ;) She is pretty easy to beat actually, you can stay on the offensive for this one. Your main weapon should be jumping in combos. Done right after her fireball (huge lag time for her). Or like usual a fake block jump (lure her into her shadow wings). One thing you should watch for in human Morrigans is her low roundhouse trip, it has a deceivingly small range, but its actually pretty hard to anticipate. h. Rikuo CPU Techs: Similar to Talbain, stay on defense. Use the jab item toss to tick him and wait for his dashing low roundhouse (which is his favourite move.) If he tried jumping in attacks, block it! In fact block everything! wait for his low dash roundhouse only! Against human Rikuos, again, you should stay on the defense. If you have played Rikuo you'll notice he doesnt have any decent fireball type harassing moves. The only way for him to score is to wait for you, or go berserk. This is where mistakes such as crouching fierce, come in. Another thing to watch is his "float" (down + roundhouse) block this move (or reverse with gong), and counter with fast jabs. When he reach the ground, his recovery time is almost 0! you'll end up screwed if you try to combo his landing! i. Sasquatch CPU Techs: Nada here... its so stupid you can do a double perfect EX ending showoffs here. er.. ok do only ground combos, his air counter is fairly good ;) One thing I noticed about experienced sasquatch players, they throw! With things like his "freezer" you should play on the offensive with him, dashing back and forth, and jumping out of his throw range. Wait for chances like his ice breath or a blocked hurricane kick to nail him. j. Felicia CPU Techs: Same with Talbain and Rikuo, go on defense, low defense, wait for her to roll, land, then counter her with your crouching 3 hits. Block her jump ins, and try to keep away from her... she's pretty cheap up close ;> A second spazzer's choice, she's actually pretty deadly when used by experienced players. With her, go on defense, BUT... block LOW, only block high when she jumps at you... WHY? well her cat roll, which many people do will push you out of counter range when you block high, if you block low, she'll land nicely on your lap (really!). Other than that she really pose no threat to expert Ko players. k. Raptor CPU Techs: Defense again here, try to stay in the corner, block his attacks, counter his rising demon spin (which he always does after a mid-air demon spin). Also duck his standing roundhouse or fierce and use your low fierce (both those moves have huge lag time). If Raptor goes on teleport frenzy (you'll see it), crouch and throw fast continuous jabs till he eat one of them. One of the most popular characters, he has a long range for his regulars (almost same as Bishy's crouching fierce). Watch for his chainsaw drop (block HIGH!) or his "Dunker" special (jump away DONT block!) Again, play the defensive game, but try for power attacks, no fancy footworks here! counter his attacks with your crouching fierce only, forget combos, you need to kill him fast and decisively. Also, to counter his demon spin trip him when he's close to the ground but is still flying, because when he lands there is almost no recovery time form this move. l. Pyron CPU Tech: Go offense here! Get close to him, use the air block/attack strategy often. If he goes on teleport frenzy stay on the ground, hold back and hit fierce to catch his teleport. If he goes for his EX, jump in do a combo that ends with your crouching fierce. Again, Pyron is really overused by beginners (yeah he's the old boss so what?!) against them, you really have nothing to fear. At the hands of an expert however, Pyron is the king of 2 in 1s combos. His 3 hitter fireball combo can take almost half your life. But of course, he'll have to jump near you first. That is one weakness you can use. Use her forward + Fierce punch to keep him off the air and watch for his oh-so-counter-able slides. m. Hsien-Ko CPU Tech: Its easy, she crouch often, just go offense and do lots of jumping combos, until she throws her claw uppercut, then you have to wait until she go on her artillery frenzy. Damn... I wished it never came to this, but since alot of people is using her nowadays, you have to be prepared to deal with her. One thing you'll notice about Hsien-Ko, her moves, especially her jumping fierce has high priority over any other attacks. So any decent Ko player will try chaining his hits on you. SO the whole game should be played DEFENSively. Do not initiate an attack first or she'll cut you down, trust me! Ever saw Ken/Ryu Ryu/Ryu fights? the one where they harass each other waiting for mistakes? yap... thats basically what you need to do ;) Victor CPU Tech: Another easy one. Just do jumping combos, he usually do his jab punches to keep you off, to counter this, hit the fierce punch early. You'll snuff his hand and be able to combo him when you land. There's not many human Victor players, but those that play him really play him well. Watch for his jumping roundhouse boot. It doesnt have your fierce priority, but it sure kicks up some pain, and his 3 hit chain combos also do huge damage. Another thing you have to watch is his Power Bolt, the most damaging move in this game. In the arcade, 3-4 of this can kill you straight out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MY CHARACTER RANKING FOR HUMAN CHALLENGES; 1. Bishamon 2. Hsien Ko 3. Raptor 4. Pyron 5. Talbain 6. Demitri 7. Morrigan 8. Felicia 9. Morrigan 10. Sasquatch 11. Anakaris 12. Victor 13. Huitzl 14. Donovan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F. THE END Written by: Hans D.A and Ron Credits; CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM CAPCOM damn they're good! all the NW FAQ writers; De Bruyne Yves (Nightwarrior's FAQ) Kenichiro Tanaka (DS Revenge FAQ) Timothy Heydelaar: used his excellent Nakoruru ascii as a base for the pic. all the guys I played at Teddy. RGVA! my fave newsgroup So there it is! I hope you find this guide useful. If you have any comments, suggestions, additions or would like to challenge any of my theories feel free to mail me or drop me a line. Frostbyt@ix.netcom.com Teddy Bear arcade (25ct) Boston, Stuart street (beside Park Plaza) Every weekend, see the guy who always do 1200000 Hsien Ko in the machine ;)