Art of Fighting 2/Mickey Rogers

Backstory

Mickey Rogers (also spelled Micky sometimes) was a former professional boxer, but was banned from professional boxing after killing a man in the ring. He lurked the backstreets of South Town after losing his career, eventually joining Mr. Big's syndicate. Ryo and Robert encounter him and make quick work of him in their effort to find Yuri when she was kidnapped, and he took them to the military zone after his defeat. After this defeat, he gets his life back together to repursue his boxing career, joining a new small boxing gym with a trainer called Pops. In an effort to restart his career, he joins the Art of Fighting tournament to show off his strength to the world.

Special Moves

Burning Upper - qcf + A (236 + A) [20% spirit meter]

• Mickey swings upwards and shoots a short wall of energy high into the air
• A very fast projectile which can hit jumping opponents
• With red spirit bar, this move will have very short range

Combination 1 - qcb + A (214 + A) [20% spirit meter]

• Mickey performs two quick jabs, followed by a straight
• Good for wakeup to stop pressure or to follow up attacks for a short combo
• This attack will not change depending on the spirit bar but will still drain it nonetheless

Combination 2 - qcb + AC (214 + AC) [20% spirit meter]

• Mickey performs a slow three hit attack
• Worthless move to stop pressure as it doesn't combo regularly and is slow to come out
• Only possible use is as option select for grab, but it's easier just to walk forward more and grab

Crazy Upper - d, u + A ([2]8 + A) [20% spirit meter]

• Mickey crouches and punches in the air, forming a small whirlwind
• A decent anti-air with limited capabilities due to its startup
• Trades often with attacks
• With red spirit bar, doing this attack just does his AC attack which is a good anti-air itself

Rolling Upper - qcf + B (236 + B) [20% spirit meter]

• Micky swings and forms a shock of energy which rolls quickly on the ground towards the opponent
• Must be blocked low
• An insanely strong move to keep pressure and the opponent away
• With red spirit bar, this move will have very short range

Chopping Right - qcb + B (214 + B) [25% spirit meter]

• Mickey swings his arm in the air behind him before launching his fist forward
• No point to use this move as its slow and easy to intercept
• Mickey's swinging arm has a hitbox, so it could be used as an anti-air, but its incredibly jank for that purpose
• With red spirit bar, this move loses it's special swinging effect on his arm and does heavily reduced damage

Super Moves

Planet Gale - f, hcf + A (641236 + A) [75% spirit meter]

• Mickey pulls his fists back, then launches a whirlwind of energy twice across the screen
• One of the fastest super moves in the game
• Hitting someone in neutral with this usually only gets one of the attacks to hit, but on counter-hit both attacks usually hit
• Hard to jump over due to two different projectiles, and does good chip damage

Hidden Super Move/Desperation Move

Bomber Rush - qcb, reverse qcb + A (21412 + A) [75% spirit meter]

• Mickey charges for a second before rushing forward, locking down the opponent with a flurry of punches, ending with hook to knock down
• Does massive damage and can be safely performed on knocked down opponents
• Move can only be performed when health is low enough (Mickey's stance will change as a sign)

Important Character-Specific Tech

Mickey is the only character in the game with an untechable grab. Mix this with the fact that you can grab opponents a few frames before they are able to do anything, you can loop Mickey's grab if you grab during the few frames the opponent can't do anything over and over. This window is very small though, and Mickey can be punished if he times it wrong. To time it easier, you can whiff a jab or two before dashing for the grab on the opponent's wakeup to have a tighter sequence to reach the grab window. Also, even if you don't buffer, press A or B a couple times between your grabs while you're recovering so the game reads your input better, it's less likely to drop that way.

Strengths And Weaknesses

Mickey is usually considered in the top 5 characters in the game. His grab loops, if timed well, can make him an unstoppable force once he gets in. Even with this strength, he has some glaring weaknesses holding him back from truly being number 1.

Strengths: Mickey can tear through the opponents health with his grabs, and with the agile nature of the game in general, Mickey can take advantage of almost any opening. Mickey also has far reaching jabs, good for finishing the opponent off from afar or to whiff punish the opponent. His projectiles are some of the strongest in the game too, making him comparable to Sagat from Street Fighter.

Weaknesses: Mickey's anti air game is very weak. His special moves as anti-airs are hard to time, and his normal anti-airs do very little damage. His best anti-air is AC, which luckily knocks down, setting you up for a grab attempt, but does very little damage itself. Smart opponents will jump at Mickey at angles not above his head to avoid AC, leaving it hard for Mickey to stop people from getting on him. Mickey also has very few combos, which isn't to bad since grab is already a very good attack, but it stops him from getting that extra damage other characters get from a single interaction. Mickey is also a larger character, making his hurtbox larger than some other characters.