Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 Information

[steamwolf]

Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, known as Real Bout Garou Densetsu (Legend of the Hungry Wolf) 2: The Newcomers in Japan, it is the 7th installment in the Fatal Fury series and the last of the 2D Fatal Fury/Garou Densetsu games on arcade. Like FFS and RBS, this is another Dream Match title, bringing characters from across the series, even ones who died, back for this game. This is by far the fan favourite of the Fatal Fury series, only rivaled by Garou: MotW in terms of popularity amongst SNK players. Overall, its one of the most fun and balanced SNK fighters to date, with plenty of old characters from across the FF series and even some new faces (Hence the "Newcomers" subtitle)

This information is for the arcade version of the game.

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Story

Again, like FFS and RBS, this game has no story and is merely a Dream Match to gather up various people, alive and dead, to have a game where they can all be played as.



(Yes these are HAPP parts. Get over it, I use sanwa and seimitsu)

Basic Controls

  N 


Basic Mechanics

Forward Dash -  Jumping during a forward dash allows for greater distance
Backward Dash -  Good for dodging normals and specific specials (I.E. Certain projectiles with less range). There is a slight frame of invincibility in everyone's backdash, with Xiangfei having the longest frames of invincibility.
Small Jump -      (Tap once, don't hold)
Block -  (Hold) Blocking prevents knockdowns and damage from normals and you take much less damage without knockdown from specials and DM/SDM. Standing block can be used against standing and jumping attacks. A note on blocking: When you block an attack in this game, you do not have to keep holding the stick back. The game has a semi-auto block where once the first hit is blocked, you can release it and allow your character to continue the block with the joystick in neutral. This makes Break Shots much easier to perform due to not needing to constantly hold back while blocking.
Crouch Block -  (Hold) This will block any low attacks. Standing and jumping attacks will still hit you, learn to mix block and low block up depending upon the situation for the best results in your defensive game.
Air Block -    (Must be mid-air) Obviously, this blocks attacks while in the air. Best used when jumping in on someone who uses a lot of aerial attacks or attacks that hit high.
Crawl -  (Hold) I like to call this "Duck Walking" so you'll probably see me call it duck walk or DW a lot. Its useful for remaining in a crouching position to charge up some     attacks like Terry's Rising Tackle, or to do some zoning while anticipating a low attack.
Mid-Air Turn - While jumping, press  to turn around in the air. Very useful for quickly turning around while jumping over your opponents in order to go into an attack or to perform a mid-air special.

Feint - These are fake-out moves that start up as though the character is about to go into a special/DM/SDM move, but ends it prematurely. These are usually used during chain combo's to cancel part of the animation and then quickly go into another attack to continue the combo with another chain. This will allow you to do some very advanced combos not normally possible. These are also used to recover quicker from normals and then continue into another normal or something else.
Evasion Attack - Press  and  together. This will evade an attack for a split second while you attack the opponent.

Grapple/Throw - Press Forward or Back and C when you are very close to your opponent. Certain characters also have air throws, so make sure you check the command list of who you're playing to be sure.
Safe Fall - Press  during your own knockdown, before hitting the ground, to recover quickly. Does not work if thrown or hit with a DM/SDM

Pursue Attacks - Specific characters have these. They are attacks used to hit someone while they are on the ground. All the more reason to use Safe Fall religiously.
Life Shift Recovery - Hit  +    as you hit the ground to roll onto the back line. You need to have H Power or higher to do it.
Taunt -  +  Its a taunt, what can I say? These are more effective as a mind game against human opponents, as it pisses them off. I like to use them after a DM/SDM in order to further rub it in their face that I pulled it off. Other than that, they do nothing.

Break Shot - Sometimes referred to as "Guard Cancel", certain special and Desperation Moves can be done while blocking and break your opponent's attack. H Power or higher is required as it drains your gauge by one bar. Obviously for DM Breakshot, you need S Power or higher.

360 Degree Motions: Many characters in this game use these for different inputs. However, like 360 motions in most fighting games, this can be done by doing hcb, any up directional + whichever attack button is required. This is useful for pulling off those 360 motions that seem so difficult to those who don't use characters who use them.

Planes
Two characters cannot be on the back plane at the same time.

Switch to back plane - 
Low Attack -  From back plane
Overhead Attack -  From back plane
Strong Attack -  From back plane
Switch to front plane -  From back plane
Roll to front plane - 
High plane attack -  When opponent is in back plane. Overheard, will pull the opponent to the front plane if connected
Low plane attack -    when opponent is on back plane. Must be blocked low, will pull the opponent to the front plane if connected

When both characters are in opposing planes:
Front Plane Character: Cannot duckwalk

Back Plane Character:
Cannot perform special moves unless specified.
Cannot perform DMs/SDMs.
Cannot crouch. It will however show the crouch block animation when crouch blocking.
Cannot Duckwalk.
Cannot jump.
Dashing forward or backward will switch you automatically to the front plane.
Standing still for two seconds will automatically switch you to the front plane.
Holding  will keep you in the back plane.
Walking  or  will allow you to stay in the back plane.

Power Gauge and Desperation Moves
Power Gauge: This meter will fill up when you use your special moves, connect (not blocked) any attack, or block an incoming attack. There are three levels of the Power Gauage, each having different effects to them.

H. Power: This is when half of the power gauge is filled. You're capable of doing Break Shots when you have H. Power, and you're more likely to have H. Power most of the time than the other two levels of the gauge. Often times, it can be better to just go for a Break Shot than use up everything on one DM/SDM. Break Shot will however lower the power gauge back down to zero.

S. Power: When your gauge is filled up, it will become S. Power. This gauge will decrease over time. With it, you are able to use your Desperation Moves. When you use a Desperation Move, your gauge will go back down to nothing once again. If your life bar is flashing red, you will be able to use S. Power DM an unlimited amount of time as long as your life remains critical.

P. Power: When your life turns red, the gauge will then become P. Power when filled up all the way. Like S. Power, it will also decrease over time. This will allow you to use your Super Desperation Moves. Once an SDM is activated, the bar completely goes back down to zero. Remember: As long as your life is flashing red, your gauge will always build back up to P. Power after H. Power.

Chain Combos
Each character is capable of chaining specific basic attacks into Chain Combos. They differ from character to character, but each do decent enough damage on their own. The best thing about these, is you can follow them up with a special/DM that will do much more damage than without them. You can also knock your opponent into the background with some of these, allowing for more damaging combos. Its best to learn how to do your character's chain combos, and then try and turn them into flashier, longer combos.

Obstacles

Tiers
These are rather disputed, and I'll be citing sources as to where these different lists have come from. Bear in mind, this game is extremely balanced and there is no one character that dominates all 100% of the time, even during high-end Japanese tournaments. Any character in this game is a viable option, and at most you might have to try a little harder in certain matchups but you won't be seeing anyone winning because of <Insert character here>.

Ghost Pilot AKA Mr. Big's Tier list:
Top
Rick, Kim, Chonshu, Escalation-Mode Mary

High
Geese, Yamazaki, Terry, Franco, Hon-Fu

Mid-High
Bob, Xiang Fei, Krauser

Mid
Sokaku, Mai, Chonrei, Mary, Billy, Laurence, Joe, Duck, Andy

Low
Tung, Cheng

For further analysis and reading, check here: http://shoryuken.com/f4/fatal-fury-real-bout-2-thread-139480/#post4331965 Ghost Pilot goes into further detail about his tier list and why he chose what he did.

Akutabi's Tier List:
Top
Rick (Mix-up+Damage), Xiangfei, Billy, Geese & Bob

High
Mai & Krauser

Mid
Just about everyone else not listed

Low
Cheng, Sokaku & MAYBE Mary

Characters
Terry Bogard
Andy Bogard
Joe Higashi
Kim Kaphwan
Duck King
Mai Shiranui
Rick Strowd
Li Xiangfei
Sokaku Mochizuki
Bob Wilson
Hon Fu
Blue Mary
Franco Bash
Ryuji Yamazaki
Jin Chonshu
Jin Chonrei
Billy Kane
Cheng Sinzan
Tung Fu Rue
Laurence Blood
Wolfgang Krauser
Geese Howard
Alfred Airhawk

[God 2.0]

Not sure if this is the best place to write down this, but I consider this info important to know.

Special moves require precise inputs. That means that Terry's Power Wave must be performed as  +  . No other buttons can be pressed at the same time, or the move will not come out. Command normals and throws however, do not need to be precise. You can perform thse types of moves even when pressing additional buttons, and the move will still come out. Kim's Neri Chagi command overhead can be performed with both  + and  +  .

Why is this important to know?

Well, for characters with charge moves, this is very useful to know in order to avoid accidental use of special moves. Take for instance Blue Mary's command overhead, the Axe Kick, which is performed with  + . Try doing this just after walking backwards or blocking. Good luck not getting the Crab Clutch special. However, if you perform the move with  +  , you cannot get the Crab Clutch, because specials require precise button presses, while command normals still work.
In addition to this, some moves get different properties when performed with multiple key presses. I will list all applications I know of below.

Known uses:

Joe:
- Accidental Slash Kick when trying to do normal throw or dashing  . In both cases, use + .
- TNT Punches when doing regular punch. Use instead of  to avoid.
-  +  becomes a sliding version of .

Franco:
- Accidental Golden Bomber when trying to do normal throw or forward  . Use  + .

Cheng:
- Accidental Avalanche Crunch when trying to do normal throw or dashing C. Use  + .
-  + becomes a sliding version of his dash  .

Andy:
- Accidental Zanei-Ken when doing forward throw or  . Use    + .

Laurence:
- Accidental Bloody Saber when doing forward throw or  . Use  + .

Blue Mary:
- Accidental Crab Clutch when doing  + command overhead. Use  +  .

Bob:
- Accidental Cartwheel Kick when doing  + . Use + . Unfortunately, you cannot do his chains from this, which hurts its usefulness.
-  + becomes a sliding version of  .

Billy:
- Accidental Telescope Staff when doing  + . Use    .
- Accidental Spinning Staff when doing  . Use  .
(Don't know his real move names, sorry.)

Yamazaki, Krauser, Chon-Shu, Rick:
-  +  becomes a sliding version of  .

Geese:
-  + becomes a stationary version of his dashing  . (In other words, completely useless)

Caveats

- or sliding versions of normal moves never count as a regular button press in normal chains, meaning you cannot start or continue these strings with it. Strings that normally start with will not work if the first hit is from a button press. They can be cancelled into specials normally though.
- None of these double presses work for special chains, like Cheng's  .

Alternative Slides

Most moves that can become sliding versions with  can also be performed by holding  or  while dashing. It would be performed like this:  +  . Bob, Kim, Chon-Rei and Franco can also do this with dashing  .
Like the  versions of the sliding moves, these cannot be used in normal chains but can be cancelled into specials.