Maxima (Arcade Version)

[nilcam]

Notation
= Light Punch
= Light Kick
= Strong Punch
= Strong Kick

* = EX version possible

Throws
Dynamite Drop - / + /

Command Moves
M9 Missile - +

Special Moves
M4 Vapor Cannon - + / (ground or air) Has Guard Point properties (more in the ) *
EX: Increases priority, Wire damage can be followed up (Air Vapor Cannon has Guard Point)

M19 Blitz Cannon - + / *
EX: Has guard point, additional hit frame on his knee

Maxima Press - + /   *
∟Press Plus - + /   > Super Cancel only
   EX: Fast and hard to jump over, Press Plus can now be Drive and Super Canceled, Instant-grab when near opponent unlike the D version which has a start-up animation.                                                                                                                                    
Desperation moves
Double Vapor Cannon - + /
EX: Faster startup, increases hitcount.

Neomax
Maxima Laser - x2 +


Maxima's Wiki entry.

Console changes:
-df.C has better recovery
*No recoil after air vapor canon
*Guard points on normal are now cancellable by specials
*Hit box on the follow up to EX Maxima Press improved. Can now hit from counter CD.
-No bounce back when EX Maxima Press is guarded. He’s now more vulnerable to punishes.

Yamamoto:
df.C can be used effectively as an early (okiwaza) anti-air as the recovery has improved. Also counter df.C and counter j.CD can be followed by EX Maxima Press for extra damage, possible to counter-confirm. Pressuring the opponent by earning precise follow-up damage is the ideal way to play Maxima.

[Kane317]

Maxima's Technical Reference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sBJCsCsBIY#t=3m35s

Maxima impressions per FightClub.

Normals have changed some. Seems to have a larger range. Autoguard is pretty much the same (far D seems to be longer).
Low A is slower, but has increased range. Low B is a totally new animation, comes out fast. Not sure if can cancel into anything yet.
Far C is slightly faster but has less range. Stays out longer. Close C and low C are the same as before.
Far D is slightly faster than before, and has a longer autoguard. Low D is really fast and reaches farther.
Hop C is like hop A from before with a better range. Good for air to ground, combos easily to close C after doing as jump in. Jump D hits downwards, so you won't get low attack air counters as easily as before.
Standing CD is same as before, jump CD is same as XI.

df+C is his only command move, only good for anti-air, but it hits really high and will miss most crouching opponents.

Lost his qcf+P chain and his hcf+K.
VAPA KANNUN has strong version with autoguard (not sure with weak version), 2k2UM's dp+P VAPA KANNUN is in here as well. Jump qcb+P has him do the VAPA KANNUN diagonally downwards, good to catch dps. The air version will have him do a hop backward afterwards, and if it misses Maxima's screwed. EX VAPA KANNUN wires regardless if it's a counter hit or not.
dp+K flies higher and farther, at times he jumped over the opponent.
hcb+K has a followup qcb+P, light version is a grab move (not a running grab) and can combo. Heavy version has him dashing forward, has some startup time but dashes really fast, can use as anti-air somewhat (like Adel in XI). This is his main move.

DM so far is his qcfx2+P, comes out fast, autoguard on startup, but not really high damage.

Neomax is his KOF: MI chest beam super. Has dramatic pause effect (Pen: He said "lock frame" which means animations are suspended for a second or two?), even if the opponent does a weak attack from afar, or is almost landing from a jump, it'll hit, but damage isn't as high, around 35%.

Notes:
-Maxima Press B is unblockable, it's considered a command grab however when it connects it'll press him against the wall. The whiff animation looks like any command grab.
-Maxima Press D is unblockable but has a slow start up.
-EX Maxima Press is blockable but is fast.
-All of Maxima's ground strong normals, have Guard Point (autoguard); d.D is the only exception.
-Vapor Cannon C will wire if it's a counter, EX Vapor Cannon will counter wire every time.
-d.C empty cancels (I like doing it into df.C for some reason).
-GP'ing takes no tick damage at all.  I once Guard Pointed Joe's entire Screw Upper DM (qcfx2+P)!

Quick notes between these two combos:
--> EX qcb+P (wire), df.C, (df.C), Ex hcb+K -->
vs
--> Ex hcb+K.qcb+P, [DC] Ex qcb+P (wire), df.C, dp+K

Is to use the second one for more damage, but first one if you only have 2 stocks and no Cancels.  Arguably, both combos can be extended but would personally use the first one for SCs and MCs as it uses one less Drive Cancel already.

Maxima only has three special moves (if you count air.vapor cannon he has four).  The cool thing is he does massive damage and his limit is his stocks (the more he has the more creative the combos can get).  df.C has pretty good horizontal range as well.

Combos:
-d.B, d.A, hcb+B.qcb+P -->
-(d.Ax3)/(d.B, d.A, df.C), Ex qcb+P (wires), df.C, (df.C), dp+K /Ex hcb+K.qcb+P -->
-Crossup j.C, d.A, df.C, qcb+P/hcb+B.qcb+P -->
-Crossup j.C, d.A, df.C, Ex hcb+K.qcb+P, [DC] Ex qcb+P, (wire) df.C, dp+K
-Hyperhop/hop C, Ex air.qcb+P, Ex qcb+P (wires), df.C, dp+K

If, --> Ex hcb+K.qcb+P, [DC] qcb+P, [SC] qcfx2+P
If, --> hcb+K.qcb+P, [SC] qcfx2+P
If HD, --> [SC] qcfx2+P, [MC] hcbx2+P NM

-d.B, d.A, df.C, Ex qcb+P (wires), hcbx2+P NM
-qcb+P (counter), hcbx2+P NM

[MrZaKaGi]

How do you go against Takuma's zoning game?

Due to Maxima's large size, it feels harder to move around the fireballs the same way I could do better with normal sized characters.

crC GP-> C Vapor GP from far doesn't seem lead to anything unless perhaps at around near 1/3 screen range. Yes it hits 2 because if I recall the first GP went through an A fireball then the next one hits a C fireball.

I'm all ears to how to more effectively deal with zoning characters like that.

I constantly aim to combo into the command grab due to the mixup he can get from there, unless it's too far. After reading those combos, it looks like I'm just missing alot of stuff and was being sloppy with exec especially DCing the 2nd part of the command grab into Vapor Cannon (I used C which was too slow).


Base on what I've read, here's a few more general questions:
Is it better to put him for 2nd or 3rd person since alot of his good tools are EX moves? Setting up a CH C Cannon/ air CH A Cannon requires good reads imo.

In terms of ground normals... st/crA, crB and crC are good poking tools right? stA and dfC are his most reliable anti air normals I presume?

For air normals.. I'm really not too sure on the application of his normals bar, jump C which is a good crossup tool especially after the command grab w/o the 2nd part. jA is good but I got snuffed out of it by K's jB in an air to air situation even air to ground the K's I played just hop jB'd to aa me out of it. Hopefully it's just bad spacing.

Still an explanation in the application of his normals can be handy.

Thanks for the guide anyway. I am pretty new to Maxima as a character so this is a new experience for me but he looks interesting enough to be a definite 3rd man for my team.

[krazykone123]

EDIT: Moved it to the top, thanks.

Maxima looks like an awesome 3rd character

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

so far Maxima is currently my favorite character in XIII... with Takuma being second... i switched up Maxima in XI to learn Adelheid... he is pretty awesome in XI ...BUT thanks to his new command throw and new strings he just got SOO much better... thank you SNK...

oh and "someone" on srk "gave me shit" for posting a theory combo with Maxima before anything about him was posted up...

"hop C, s.C *1 hit*, d/f.C, HD, s.C *1 hit*, d/f.C, hcb.B, DC, qcb.A+C, *opp. side switch* d/f.C, hcb.B+D, DC, qcb.A+C, *opp. side switch* d/f.C, hcb.B+D, DC, qcb.A+C *opp. side switch* d/f.C, dp.D..."

...guess i was right!!! :D

[Diavle]

How is the timing on his Guard Points?

Do you attack in advance and have them hit during a specific frame or is it instant and you can do it right before getting hit (ala parry and JD)?

[Ash]

You have to do it in advance still, but it seems like his guard point has a bit more frames so it'll happen more often. I remember one match I kept doing dash s.D and it worked like a charm because people weren't used to fighting against it.

[Diavle]

You have to do it in advance still, but it seems like his guard point has a bit more frames so it'll happen more often. I remember one match I kept doing dash s.D and it worked like a charm because people weren't used to fighting against it.

Ah, thanks man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj9WENV-qjs got me really pumped for this attribute of his.

[Ash]

That's an awesome video! I'm not sure how many hits his GP blocks, but definitely seems to be the easiest to GP out of all his incarnations in the past.

[Kane317]

That video was seriously badass.  GO Makishima! EDIT: 5mins later I still have that BGM in my head lol.  It's like a 90's theme song or something.

Before I forget, apparently Maxima's Far C is SC'able (but neither cancelable or drive cancelable, much like Shen's Far C), and yes it does have Guard Point

[SAB-CA]

I love the music in that video... I was gonna post it in this thread too, but I held back my fanboy urges! (So I posted it on GaF instead... -cackle-) But in all seriousness, it does make me ponder his possibilities in XIII. I believe Kane mentioned his Guard Points don't take (block?) damage, also?

If anyone finds out where there music is from, LET ME KNOW! It's the perfect "Crash! Makishima, a super giant robot, appears!" theme.

The tags for that vid are awesome, BTW.

I wanna see Maxima VS King's Venom Shotgun NM! Or Trinity Geyser!~!! Or VS the Mature Infinite! (this is pushing it.)

[Kane317]

I believe Kane mentioned his Guard Points don't take (block?) damage, also?

Nope, no block damage at all unlike 2K2UM (?) in the video.

The tags for that vid are awesome, BTW.

Those tags lol...REAL talk.

BTW, I love the response to Ice-Kun's itpcruz08 question about what the BGM is:

"@itpcruz08 I don't know. I just assumed the music radiated from Maxima's manly aura."

[MUSOLINI]

wow man it took 15 minutes to get through all the 2k2 um characters. also max needs to get damaged while in gp, its ridiculous for him not to take any damage. back in the days he did, same for ralph during galactica phantom.

[itpcruz08]

That video was seriously badass.  GO Makishima! EDIT: 5mins later I still have that BGM in my head lol.  It's like a 90's theme song or something.

Before I forget, apparently Maxima's Far C is SC'able (but neither cancelable or drive cancelable, much like Shen's Far C), and yes it does have Guard Point

It's still in my head since the day it was posted on CyberFanatix. But I really liked the music, anyway. xD

Ah, thanks for the note. It's so sad that the only KOFs I can play here are 2001, 2002 and 2033. :<

The tags for that vid are awesome, BTW.

I wanna see Maxima VS King's Venom Shotgun NM! Or Trinity Geyser!~!! Or VS the Mature Infinite! (this is pushing it.)

Maxima the SEX MACHINE. @_@

If Maxima can GP Kula's Freeze Execution in XIII then I'm one happy man. xD

Those tags lol...REAL talk.

BTW, I love the response to Ice-Kun's itpcruz08 question about what the BGM is:

"@itpcruz08 I don't know. I just assumed the music radiated from Maxima's manly aura."

Hahaha. Oh, you can still call me Ice-Kun.

Oh, right. Another question. xD GP-ing takes no damage in Health Bar and also in Guard Meter? :o

[Kane317]

You definitely take no damage for GP'ing but I dunno about the guard gauge.