Samurai Shodown 4: Amakusa's Revenge Combo system guide Created by: Fragraham Lincon fragraham@mail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Controls Deffinition of Combo How to Combo Grades Auto Combos Mannual Combos Juggle Combos 14 hit multislash and cancelling Special combos Super combos Rage Explosion and enormous combos Chaining Non Multislash Combos Examples. Infinites and glitch exploits Rumors Other Games Special Thanks Credits -------------------------------------------- Introduction Samurai Shodown 4 has been a long time favorite of mine and I greatly enjoy the in deth system with use of rage explosions, continuous slash, fatal slash and the CD combos. This allows for some extreamly high count combos capable of doing insane levels of damage if done properly. There are a few glitch exploits that allow for infinite combos but the purpose of this FAQ is not to give away combos themselves though I will give examples it's to explain how the system functions allowing you to build combos of your own. Controls The following is he refference guide for motions described. f (forward) b(back) A (light slash) B( medium slash) C(hard slash) D (kick) qcf (Quarter circle forward aka fireball motion) qcb (quarter circle back aka reverse fireball) dp (Dragon punch motion Forward, Down, Downforward diagonal) rdp (reverse dragon punch Back, Down, Dowback diagonal) Space (seperate motion performed earlier.) Nothing between (Press simultaniously) example ABC , (consecutive motions) ABC (rage explosion or continuous slash if already in rage mode) CD (initiate combo) AB (Dodge, switch sides when near, or final buttons of super) BD (torso blow) BCD (fatal slash, rage mode only) Deffinition of Combo For those who haven't yet played SS4 or are unfamilliar with performing combos I'll define it. A combo is any series of successive attacks betweenw hich your oponent does not have time to recover and defend himself. Combos in most games come in two flavors standing in which the combo is exocuted with your oponent standing on the ground, and juggle in which your oponent is knocked into the air and then repeatedly hit with blows that will keep them in the air. SS4 has a few characters capable of performing juggle combos but the majority of the system is centered on standing combos simillar to Killer instinct and Mortal Kombat. While capcom fighters such as street fighter seem to be more centric on juggle combos. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Combo In Samurai Shodown 4 ia continually raising counter will appear when you are dellivering a combo. It begins counting at 3 hits and remains green as long as you continue the combo. As long as the counter remains green it indicates that the oponent is still vulnerable to another hit without the abillity to diffend. Once the counter turns red the combo has ended and the red number represents the final count of the combo. Unless your oponent has fallen over it is usually possible to continue the combo. So the secret of SS4 combos boils down to dellivering successive blows without knocking your enemy over. Grades Your capacity to exocute combos will be very dependant upon which grade you choose. Beginner's class will not offer the abillity to perform mannual combos and is more centric around quickly performing super moves. Unlike SS3 however it is not considered "easy controls" as auto blocks are removed merely this is a different set of controls for those who do not seek to perform combos. Medium grade is what the bulk of players looking to achieve success in SS4 will be using. Super moves now must be performed mannually as will combos but the advantage of being able to perform these mannual combos is that you will be mostly unrestricted in your capacity to extend combos through your own creativity. This also allows you use of the rage explosion, fatal slash, continuous slash, and 14 hit multislash which will be discussed later. Upper grade is the hardest grade to use as it removes your use of blocking leaving you with only the dodge as a means of deffense however your character attacks and recovers slightly faster allowing you to extend into combos not concievable through medium grade. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto Combos Auto Combos are simply attacks that cause the hit counter to raise without actually having to manjnually input every blow. Many characters have use of auto combo special moves which inflict multiple blows. The most notable examples would be Shizumaru's umbrella spin or Bust Ukyo's snowfall slash. Other characters also have auto combo special moves and their uses will be discussed later. The other major auto combos are the beginner's class 4 hit autocombo which is exocuted simply by pressing C and D at the same time. It inflicts a decent amount of damage quickly and knocks the enemy down. THe other is the continuous slash used during rage explosion which will be explained later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mannual combos This is the meat and potatoes of the combo system. Mannual Combos are performed by as the name suggests mannually hitting buttons for each blow. Some mannual combos can be started with any blow but the majority of them will be started with a CD trapping blow which will initiate the combo holding your oponent in place preventing the bounce away that inhibbits combos otherwise. Once CD is pressed you will need to quickly hit buttons for the successive blows. Some combinations will lead to longer combos some will not. A quick 4 hit combo can be exocuted by pressing one of the folllowing combinations. AAA ABC BBC These are rudimentary combos. I don't use them often now but these are great for building your combo skill and to quickly run down to the arcade with and open up on some unsuspecting victims. Now you may be asking. These do only about as much damage as a C slash or a special move. So why bother? It's a good question. But the answer is this. The starting CD blow of a combo can be exocuted much faster than a C slash or special move and with less warming. Not to mention being a human on the recieving end of a combo does have a certain demoralizing effect. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Juggle Combos A Guggle combo is a combo which knocks an enemy into the air and hits them with repeated blows which knocks them back into the air without allowing them to hit the ground. There aren't amny of these in the SS series though they're more common in other fighting games. The only Juggle combos I know of belong to Genjuro and are his basic special moves. Since this isn't a major part of the combo system I'm not going to go in depth on it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 hit multislash and Canceling This is where it gets complicated but at the same time rewarding. Literally the game rewards you for doing these. A 14 hit multislash takes time to learn but it's well worth it as you'll recieve a full POW gauge for doing it. There are two button combinations that will result in a 14 hit multislash. Learn one and don't bother with the other. First initiate a CD initial strike as always. Then press either.... AACBACBACBACB or AABBCCABCCCCC You should be holding forward when you do this but don't have to keep holding it in fact you should release it before you hit C or you may accidently go into a special move or perform a guard break which would ruin your combo. I realize these button combinations sound ludicrous to memorize so the trick is the recognize the pattern in them thus you only need to learn a section of it and repeat. With the first it's simply Pressing A then the sequence of ACB four times. The latter all you really have to remember is that you're advancing up the slash buttons from A to C twice hitting everything twice on the first run and once on the second then hammering the hell out of C at the end. The second is my personal prefference. You'll know when you've done it right as your oponent will fall over, the screen will flash and your POW gauge will be instantly filled. Some characters have odd multislash combos and inflict either 13 or 15 hits but the concept is the same. Although I've also found some characters tend to miss the final hit of the attack especially Rimururu. Memorizing the 14 hit multislash is the key to long combos with any character. It's difficult at first but like amy move in time it becomes almost reflexive. Canceling the 14 hit multislash is the gateway to longer combos. In order to cancel just stop at the 12th hit (that's the rd successive press of C) and initiate a different attack. For starters you can practice with a BD torso blow. In the next section I'll explain chining into special moves. However cancelling will mean you sacrifice filling up your POW gauge and depending on what you do you may run the risk of leaving your enemy standing and ready to initiate a counter attack. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Combos Taking the next step beyond a 14 hit multislash comes special combos. Cancel at the 12th hit and quickly perform the motion for your special of choice to end on a powerful special attack which will depending on the attack increas the sheer number of hits and damage done. It's recomended to choose a special move which is an autocombo such as Shizumaru's umbrella spin, Slash Jubie's multistabbing attack or either Ukyo's snowfall slash. In the case of Bust Ukyo you can build up the largest of all combos as his snowfall slash when chained into a combo lands a whopping 29 hits. Though if massive damage is more to your taste you may perhaps choose to end with a single hit but highly damaging attack, particularly if Gaira is your flavor of character. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Super Combos Ready to do BIG BIG damage and leave your enemy utterly screwed and without his weapon. Then you'll need fast fingers. This works much like a 14 hit multislash into a special but the difference is you'll need a full POW gauge and you simply cancel at the 12th hit going into a super move instead of a special. However as the movement takes time to do it's extreamly difficult to do this way. I recomend instead chaining it in during a continous slash or after certain special moves which will be explained later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rage Explosion. In medium and Upper grade you are capable of performing a "Rage explosion" by pressing ABC simultaniously. This causes your POW gauge to dissapear and be replaced by a rage guage which will be filled inversely to your life gauge. (the less life you have the MORE rage you will have) This power can then be channelled into devestating attacks. You will be in a powered up state causing your attacks to do more damage simillar to when you have a full POW gauge and some of your special moves may be more potent depending on who you use such as Genjuro or Amakusa. It also gives you access to one of three super powerful moves. One is your super move akin to your POW gauge and you will be allowed to repeat it until either the rage gauge runs out or until you land it successfullly. The other two are dependant on how high your rage guage is. You can either exocute a continous slash by pressing ABC which will cause your character lunge into an autocombo which will inflict several hits and repeatedly tapping these buttons will cause this autocombo to continue until your rage guage expires. This can be stopped by simply stop pressing the ABC buttons after which the combo will cease a few hits later. This can be useful for concerving your Rage gauge if your oponent is blocking or if you want to chain into another attack. Obviously the continuous slash will be the most useful for building long combos. Finally you can risk it all by performing a fatal slash by pressing BCD simultaniously which will cause your character to quickly dash across the screen dellivering a single extreamly powerful blow which will vary in strenght depending on the amount of rage you have left. This is good for giving a battle a dramatic end but I recomend chaining it into the end of a combo either immediately after landing the first hits of a continuous slash or canceling out of a 14 hit multislash after the 12th hit. Considering that you'll be inflicting all those hits while in rage mode and landing the fatal slash this will do tremendous damage. Chaining it into a combo also means your oponent will not be able to block it. Nothing sucks more than Zankuro blocking it and immediately giving you face time with that enormous sword of his. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chaining. Alright so you understand the 14 hit multislash, you can cancel into any special move you want and you know the rage explosion like the back of your hand. You've truely come a longe way. You can pull off some lengthy combos but you keep saying. How can I get MORE and what's this "chaining" you keep talking about? Chaining is this. It is following one special move with another attack smoothly bringing together multiple special moves into one long combo. Only certain special moves chain into others though as most will simply knock your oponent down but occanionally there's one that just causes your oponent to stagger a bit leaving him vulnerable to another attack. Examples of this are Bust Ukyo's Sparrow (energy punch qcbD) which can be quickly followed by a devestating snowfall slash. Practics doing this at point black range in 2 player mode first then practice canceling into it from a 14 hit multislash at the 12th slash. You'll achieve the maximum effect from this if you do it with your oponent in a corner as the Sparrow will inflict 3 hits on its own. I mentioned chaining with the continous slash and supers before and now I'll explain them as well. When you're in a rage explosion you can actually cancel the 14 hit multislash into a continous slash and then wrack up hits. however instead of fully expiring your rage guage on the continous slash you can chain into something else. This is particularly easy because you're controlls are free to do moves while your oponent is still in the continuous slash mode. You could continue by going into your choice of special, into a fatal slash if you feel so inclined. During the continous slash for above mentioned reasons is the ideal time to perform a super as your oponent will still be trapped in your combo and unable to evade and as I said before you'll have your controlls free during the animation to perform the motions. The results can be quite devastating to your oponent's life bar. I highly recomend waiting until your life is in the red to perform your rage explosion then attempt this as you'll get the highest number of hits from your continous slash. Remember that you get more than one use of your continuous slash so it's not out of the question to chain the continous slash into something else halfway then chain that move back into another continous slash. I find you can wrack up more hits that way. It's made a difference of up to 15 hits for me before. Finally the most finger straining aspect of chaining is to chain multiple 14 hit multislashes into one long combo. This can be done after using the continuous slash to rush in however requires very exact timing. Although as I said this is insanely difficult and even masters are unlikely to pull it off in a real battle. When you understand chaining you've mastered the combo system. Now train your reflexes. You're the man now dog. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non Multislash Combos As a minor note I'm going to include a bit of information on Non Multislash Combos. These are exactly what they sound like combos that don't require the use of the 14 hit multislash or the CD combo starter attack. You might think of these as the more traditional Street Fighter style combos. Due to the "bounce off" they're fairly limited in what they can do because without first trapping your oponent with CD they'll back off as they get hit. However the non multislash combos do have their place as being versetile and less predictable. The concept behind building these combos is to find one move with minimal recovery time and a follow-up move that has minimal start time in order to strike your oponent before they recover from the first move. A very basic non multislash combo is with some characters such as basara to perform three rapid kneeling light slashes at close range. Most characters can perform a basic 3 hit combo like this though it varies between kneeling, standing, and kicking. Sometimes you'll discover new combos by accident. Usually a combination of specials and basic slashes chained together are the best option. Suggested starters include jumping in Hard slash and standing medium slash at close range. The hard slash has a lot of stagger time for your oponent but timed properly you land and are free to attack again without delay. The medium slash is a blow you can usually recover more quickly from exocuting than your oponent can from being hit thus both are ideal for non multislash combos. It should also be noted that an oponent is staggered longer by a blow from behind than from the front giving you the chance to form a combo. The use of stagger moves such as Bust Ukyo's sparrow are ideal to put in the middle of a non multislash combo. These are very freeform and with practice and often with just luck you can discover and create new combos never before seen. Finally it should be noted that a non Multislash combo can sometimes be used to lead into a multislash combo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Examples Back for more? You greedy little bastard. I like your style. Like magicians combo masters never reveal their secrets mostly for fear their own moves will be used agaisnt them. But screw those eletists I'm going to tell you just how to lay the smack down with enormous combos that hurt both life bars and pride. I'm even going to include my trademark Bust Ukyo 50 hit combo. So on with the show. I'll offer text explanations first then the button sequences. HISAME SHIZUMARU (slash) Shizumaru is a good character for all manner of players. He's just ryu cloney enough for beginners while having unique moves of his own to allow him individuallity. The following are two combos you can use for major damage, high hits. Rage explosion when low on life. Initiate a 14 hit multislash and cancel at the 12th hit and go into a continuous slash until seven or eight hits then finnish with either the umbrella spin to quickly add more hits or if it's more to your taste go into the super for BIG DAMAGE. ABC CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C,ABC,qcbC OR ABC CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C,ABC,b,f,d,AB This is the rudimentary pattern to my long combos and can be used for almost any character simply changing the final attack with a different special move or super belonging to that character. Use this and go lay down the hurt. In fact let me say use this wisely. When timed properly this WILL CHANGE THE OUTCOME OF THE BATTLE. KIBIGAMI GENJURO (bust or slash) Genjuro is regarded as a combo friendly character and for good reason. You can make some quick and easy high hit combos using bust or slash versions. In either mode initiate a 14 hit multislash and cancel either triple slash or triple air slash depending on which version you're using. Or alternately if you have a maxed out POW gauge cancel into his dragon punch style move. When powered up it inflicts 10 hits in mid air. CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C,qcfC,qcfC,qcfC or (with full POW gauge)CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C,dpC Obviously you can enhance this simple combo by using the same chain into continous slash trick used by Shizumaru above if you're low on life and have done a rage explosion. Follow the pattern and you can do some nasty stuff. TACHIBANA UKYO (bust) Bust Ukyo is my choice character due to his devestating snowfall slash. When used normally it inflicts 32 hits and 29 when chained into a combo. On top of that he inflicts large amoutns of damage but his big drawback is that he has long recover times from his attacks leaving him vulnerable so time them carefully. Non multislash 5 hit combo. Simply perform a close range medium slash, follow with a sparrow and end with a forward rolling hard slash. Or if you happen to have gotten your oponent into a corner you can end it with a snowfall slash instead. B, qcb+D, C or (in corner) B, qcb+D, qcb+C This combo does decent damage nothing to write home about but small combos are practical as they start with a fast hit and deal more damage than the starting attack alone as well they allow you to stay in control of the momentum of the fight longer. 50 Hit Combo First when your life is in the red rage explosion. It's best if you can use the initial shove of the explosion to push your enemy into a corner. Now initiate a 14 hit multislash. Cancel at the 12th hit as always and go into a continous slash squeezing in as many hits as you can. I believe 8 is possible. then Perform a Sparrow to stagger the enemy inflicting 3 more hits and then quickly and I mean FAST exocute a snowfall slash and watch your oponent's life bar drain for several seconds while the hit counter tries to catch up to you. ABC CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C,ABC(repeat for 8 hits),qcbD,qcbC If you can lay this out you just put a world of hurt on your oponent. Between rage mode and the large number of hits inflicted your oponent will lose 60% of his life and given that you'll most likely be using this at the end of the match just when he thought he was winning chances are even if you don't finnish him off whith this attack he'll be so demoralized he'll walk away halfway through the combo. I'm serious this thing hurts to look at. It's possible to chain even more moves and combos together with Bust Ukyo through repeated use of sparrow. Recently I've achieved an even more powerful 65 hit combo that inflicts over 75% damage. 116 hit combo. The following combo was submitted by Vansibel of the Samurai Shdown Forever messagoe board. This combo is performed simillarly to the 50 hit combo. It works on the following concept. PerformRage explsion then jump in with a strong slash and as soon as you land Initiate a 14 hit multislash, canceling after the 12th slash into a sparrow. While your enemy is staggering quickly land a medium slash then use the continuous slash to rush back in three times followed by another sparrow, medium slash, continuous slash then initiate another 14 hit multislash again canceling at the 12th into a sparrow at which point you should repeat the pattern from that point until you run out of Rage when you will finnish off with a snowfall slash. 116 hits Rage explosion--> Jump C, CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, qcbD, B, ABC, ABC, ABC, CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, qcbD, B, ABC, CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, qcbD, CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, qcbC This would be an infinite combo if the sparrow didn't stagger your oponent back out of range of the combo initiating blow. Thus it has to end when you run out of Rage. However it should be noted this combo will remove 100% of your oponent's life so some might call it an infinite. It brings the hit counter up to 99 where it stops. In fact this combo is so powerful that only Zankuro with damage turned all the way down can even remain alive until the end. The following combos can be used by Bust Rimururu, Slash, Tamtam, and Slash Jubei. All of these characters have something in common and that's a special move exocuted simply by holding forward and hammering the C button, all of which are multi hit moves. Simply initiate a 14 hit multislash but as you begin the final rapid presses of C instead of just pressing the button hold forward and continue as normal and the character will cancel into a multi hit attack resulting in a combo that can almost be done with yoru eyes closed. CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,fwd(hold)rapid C ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Infinites and glitch exploits The following were submitted by Wings to the Abyss from the Samurai Shodown Forever Message board. These are only here to document their existance and to practice with. PLEASE don't use these against a human oponent. Haoumaru Bust: Infinite 1. CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, DP+D, repeat Infinite 2. From Behind at a distance B, DP+D, B, DP+D, repeat Genjuro Slash or Bust: Infinite 1. CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C, db+A, repeat Infinite 2. From behind running B (two hits), running B... repeat Nakoruru Slash or bust From behind RDP+A, repeat Galford Slash: CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,, db+A, repeat Galford Bust: Drop weapon. From behind in corner df+A repeat. Or df+B repeat. Rimururu Slash or Bust: CD,A,A,B,B,C,C,A,B,C,C,C, repeat. (this works because Rimururu is one of those before mentioned characters with an unusual number of hits in her multislash one of which causes the enemy to stagger so with proper timing it can be looped infinitely. Kazuki Slash or Bust: 14-slash (7th hit), 14-slash (7th hit), repeat. Amakusa Bust: (rage max) (corner) df+A, df+A, repeat. (can also be done with B or C) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rumors I have seen screenshots of a 72 hit combo performed by Bust Ukyo. Suposedly a glitch exploit allowing for an infinite combo through repeated snowfall slashes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Games If you enjoy the combo system of SS4 you might also enjoy the following Killer Instinct Killer Instinct 2 Killer Instinct Gold Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance Capcom vs SNK2 SNK vs Capcom ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Thanks Special thanks goes to CK manager of SamuraiSpirits.net where you're probably reading this. Wings of the Abys Lorenzo_zerg@hotmail.com For submitting the infinite combos. Vansibel for his 116 hit Bust Ukyo combo and for telling me that multiple 14 hit multislash can be chained together. Special thanks goes to Lancer ( lancer@pacific.net.sg ) who's original FAQ explained the rage system of SS4 and the 14 hit multislash sequence withotu which I would be unable to build my own skills. The people of the samuraispirits.net message board who encouraged me to make this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits With the assistance of the above mentioned people this FAQ was written by Me. Fragraham Lincon. Email: fragraham@mail.com AIM: FragrahamLincon Message board: http://gabtable.stalo.com this FAW can be found at Samurai Shodown Forever http://www.samuraispirits.net