King of Fighters 98 Blue Mary Players Guide July 2, 1999 by: Patrick Hwang email: ph@ucla.edu Table of Contents 1. Disclaimer 2. About the guide 3. Blue Mary info 4 About Blue Mary 5. Moves/Special Moves/DM info 6. Combos 7. Strategies 8. Conclusion 1. Disclaimer Blah blah blah, you know the drill on this. Use it for personal uses. Wanna copy it? Let me know and give me credit. Please don't money off of it, etc etc etc. 2. About this guide This guide is intended for those people who would like to know more on playing that blonde haired babe, Blue Mary. I would believe that most people who already play Mary, or if like me, play nearly eveyone, wouldn't find this guide too helpful since he/she would know most of this stuff already. In addition, most of this guide is based on my opinions. Basically use this guide as a reference but not as a way to play. Good players should have already developed their own style of play. Well enjoy. 3. Blue Mary info First person match: Blue Mary throws off her jacket and her dog jumps in and catches it. 2nd/3rd match: Mary jumps in, pulls up her belt and lets it go. Vs. Terry Bogard: Mary puts her hand to her mouth and mumbles something like, "Hi handsome." Taunt: Remember hoola hoops (sp?) well she does that with her big belt. Winning Stances: You can select you winning stance by holding a button after you have beaten the opponent. A: Fans herself. B: Points her hand into a gun and says something like, "Buck you." uh....sounds like something else though... C: Her doggy runs up to her and licks her face. D: Turns around and looks over her shoulder. 4. About Blue Mary Blue Mary, in my opinion, is probably one of the most powerful characters in 98. Fortunately, she is not a scrub character, Mary takes skillz to play. Her moves are good, and she has great combos. Unfortunately, Mary has been greatly weakened since Kof97. Her moves do less damage now as do her DM/SDMs. Mary has also lost her 100% combo in 98. Among other things, her command throw is also harder to execute. Though Mary has experienced great changes, she still is an all around fighter. Mary still has no problem doing what she knows best...kicking ass! 5. Moves/Special Moves/DMs Ratings: *: bad, poor, useless. dont use the move too much **: okay move, not too great. use it once in a while to surprise the opponents ***: average move. not too good, not too useful ****: good move. actually a very good move. use it often, but dont get too predictable *****: excellent, great move. abuse as much as you can Basic Moves Standing A: a jab. just a simple jab, not too useful ** B: a frontal kick. Mary stretches her leg out and does a quick kick. useful in the "kick" combo, explained later. **** C: elbox drop. ? Mary lunges at you with her elbow. very slow. easily punishable * D: spin kick. mid level kick. veeeeery slow * CD: forearm attack. okay move, Mary steps forward a bit when executing. *** Close A: elbow. fast, quick, weak elbow ** B: knee. again fast, quick, very weak ** C: slap. a two hit move. THE MOVE. abuse it because this is one of the things that makes mary a combo queen. ***** D: axe kick. good move, but use the close C instead *** Jumping A: jumping jab. yay... * B: downwards kick. a kick aimed downwards. *** C: jumping punch. good jump in attack for combos **** D: jumping kick. good jump in attack for combos **** CD: jumping chop. very high. looks like it misses ground opponents unless done late. * Crouching A: a jab. another jab... * B: quick low kick. long range, useful for poking **** C: lunging blow. I have no idea what she's doing here. not very useful but fast and interruptable ** D: sweep. a long ranges sweep attack. slow *** Command moves Forward+A: lunghing hammer punch. very good move, allows Mary to get an extra hit in her combos. Not too useful alone, though... **** Forward+B: Double kick. First kick looks like standing D, then Mary does a low B attack. Not too useful, can fake people out sometimes ** Downfarward+B: Upwards kick. Looks like a mule kick. No use for me * Special Moves Mary Spider QCF+A/C *** Mary jumps on the opponent. If she lands on them, she grabs them and breaks a limb. Good against newbies. Better players can see it coming. Unblockable. Use it occasionally, it can catch people. I use it usually if the "standard combo" (explained later) is blocked, it may just get them. Otherwise dont abuse it, its too predictable. C goes out farther. Mary Backdrop HCB, F+A/C ***** Command throw. Nuff said. Spin Fall QCF+B/D *** Mary flies at opponent and does an "axe kick" landing on the opponent. Has range but is slow and weak. Opponent can easily punish after this move. B is slower and has less range but less recovery time. D is more powerful, faster, but has more recovery time. Not sure if it combos. Use it to surprise opponents occasionally. Vertical Arrow DP+B/D **** Marys version of the Dragon Punch, hence the same motion. :) anywayz, it sounds like VASCANADO to me, oh well. upward kick, finish off with snatcher for extra hit. Has lots of recover time despite the fact that is low to the ground. D goes higher. Mary Snatcher DP+B/D ***** Done after vertical arrow connects. Mary nabs opponent in air and drops them down...hard. Why five stars? Cuz its a free hit, and mamma always said free is good. heh heh Slide Kick Charge B, F+B/D **** for B, ** for D Haha i dont know the name of this move...Mary slides at ya. Must be blocked low. B is great, its fast, and it has almost no recovery time. Abuse it...but dont get predictable. The move is great cuz it can surprise opponents. D goes farther but opponents can have a field day if blocked. Dont use it. Slide Kick Finisher QCF+B/D ***** Dont know the name, again. after the Slide Kick connects, immediately do this for a FREE hit. Free is good rite? :) Mary grabs ya and breaks a limb. Mary Counter High/Low QCF+B High/QCF+D Low Mary counter does exactly what it says. Hard to describe but Mary stands back ready to counter...duh! anywayz, B counters high attacks, good for jumping. Mary grabs opponent and breaks a limb...again. D is for low attacks. D is good because Mary flips them into the air and you get a free hit. DM/SDM Mary Surprise Rose QCF, HCB+A/C **** Mary runs @ the opponent and beats em up. Very fast, but has recovery. Can be comboed after the "standard combo" SDM just adds more beat down. Mary Dynamite Swing QCF, QCF+B/D *** Surprisingly, this actually fakes people out. Mary does an upwards knee, if it connects, Mary lands and wings them around for damage. SDM adds a backdrop before the swinging begins. Okay DM, but doesnt do much damage and has nearly no range. Not a very good air counter, will miss opponents unless done at the rite time. Mary Typhoon HCB, HCB+B/D ***** Command throw DM. Has become Mary's most damaging super in 98. SDM goes higher for more damage. IMO, this should be called the Surprise Rose cuz, a rose appears after the opponent hits ground in SDM. oh well... 6. Combos Now for the good part. Combos are what makes Mary shine. Im not gonna list all the combos or linking moves that Mary has, i dont really know them all. I'm only listing the ones that i do, or see people use the most, or the most useful ones. "Standard Combo" This is the bread and butter combo for Mary. Standard cuz its a simple basic combo but it lets you do nearly anything after it connects Jump C/D, Stand C ( 2 hits), Foward A, X X means you can do any of the following: 1. Mary Backdrop 2. Vertical Arrow, then Mary Snatcher 3. Surprise Rose DM/SDM 4. Dynamite Swing DM/SDM 5. Mary Typhoon DM/SDM uh...okay so thats only one combo, but look at the possiblities, what else do you need. Seriously though, she has many other combos, but they either arent worth mentioning or they are just a part of this combo. example, close c, Mary Backdrop. 7. Strategies So this is how i play Mary, or the way i use the moves. use as ref, please. The poking game. Well, her low B is very long and quick. Poke them three times with it and do a standing B, you will get a 4 hit rush combo off of this. :) Her slider attack, B version is very quick, use it to hit people, and then run away. haha Her low counter is hard to anticipate but if you are able to connect, you can use you free hit to do a vertical arrow and finish. If you have stock you may also do a Surprise Rose DM. I find that a lot of people will get caught into the high counter. Anticipate a jumping attack and do it, you will always win. Aggressive people do this a lot, there is your free chance. Most people i play start out with a jumping attack, so i always have this ready at the beginnning of the match. So you do the "standard combo" now, what happens if its blocked? Well, sometimes i will do a Mary Spider. Since they are holding back to block, most people will stay in that position. Spider = free hit. After a while tho, people do learn. They stop standing their and blocking and they may start to jump to avoid the spider. At that time, use the spin fall. The spin fall will hit them out of the air. If you're lucky, or they are stupid, you'll get them. Good players don't fall for this, though... Bug/Glitch Mary also has a bug in the game. If you do the Dynamite swing and hit them but miss, you can get a free throw in. This is what it means. When you do the DM, Mary will rise and do a knee, if this connects, she will grab them down and swin the opponent. Sometimes the opponent is too high in the air when you do the super. In such cases, Mary will hit them with the knee but not grab them. If this happens, the bug occurs. The bug allows you to get any throw in after the knee hits. Meaning, Mary can run up and do a command throw or DM. If this happens, immediately charge back and to the Slide attack (the slide attack is merely used to get closer to the opponent). While next to the opponent do a throw for a free hit. If this is done correctly, you will have grabbed the opponent while he/she is lying on the ground! 8. Conclusion There! i finished my first guide. its not perfect but its mine. Hopefully you learned someting from it. if now, well at least im glad you read it. Feel free to email me w/ comments or arguments, etc etc etc. copyright 1999 Patrick Hwang