From: omnicron@sheridan.org Date sent: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 02:53:43 -0500 To: gamefaqs@gamefaqs.com Subject: sfa1: Rose faq Rose - A Guide By Derek Daniels Ver. 0.9 - The unofficial version I can be reached at omnicron@sheridan.org. If that account dies for some reason or another I can also be reached at wsi$@in.net. Please try the sheridan account first though. Thanks. I. Introduction II. Moves That Rose Has A. Normal Moves B. Special Moves C. Super Combos D. Misc. Aspects of Street Fighter Alpha 1. Throws 2. Tech Hits 3. Rolling 4. Taunting III. The Combo Section A. Chain Combos B. Normal Move Interrupt Combos C. COMBOS!!! 1. Chain Combo Combos 2. Special Move Combos 3. Super Combo Section a. Normal Move SC Combos b. Juggle Super Combo Combos c. Friends 1. Normal Move 2. Special Move 3. SC Section 4. Friends Juggle Combos 5. Glitch IV. General Info V. Vs. Other Characters A. Ryu B. Chun Li C. Charlie D. Ken E. Guy F. Birdie G. Sodom H. Adon I. Rose J. Sagat K. Akuma L. Bison M. Dan VI. Appendix VII. Conclusion I. Introduction The first thing usually remarked about rose is, 'Who is that?' Which I'm sure runs through most peoples minds. Yes, she is unique in the street fighter world. Even if she does have a fireball and an uppercut. She also fights in a dress and high heels, which is not exactly a standard issue uniform. And the darkstalker comment is usually thrown in around here now as well. Yes, Rose does possess a fireball and an uppercut, however she behaves nothing like a ryu clone. Since she does have these 2 qualities and IMHO is designed as an anti Ryu/Ken character, she makes for a refreshing change to bored Ryu/Ken Players. She also could add variety to the character pool of your arcade as well. While she has no past per se, we can gather some general information from her ending. She fights with Soul Power, as opposed to "Pyscho Powa". :) Other than this, we can infer that obviously her and bison had some previous knowledge of each other. This is clear when bison states, "I knew you would come sooner or later." Other than this, there really isn't much else to say about her character info. Besides that she is a hooker who everyone loves to hate. ^_^ II. Moves That Rose Has A. Normal Moves Rose's normal moves are very key to success with her. More so than say with sodom or someone else. Standing ~~~~~~~ Jab: A short punch, kinda around the delay of a normal standing jab with ken or ryu. Useful for fakes. Strong: Same animation as jab except has a glow around it ala bison's fierce punch. Slightly more range due to this. The delay is barely longer than jab. Fierce: She whips her cape out and swings it in an arc. Excellent recovery. Excellent range. This is a great counter to jumpers, especially would be cross over (neck kick) attempts. Short: A gimpy looking kick with more range than forward, less priority though. Not really useful. Forward: I love this button with Rose! This counters ryu, ken & akuma's low roundhouse. Also stuff's fireballs if in range. Very useful for poking. Roundhouse: A weird kick where she plants one hand on the ground and swings one kick in an arc. Hits weird. Only the tip of her foot actually hits. Semi-useful against people jumping in from afar. Be cautious when using to stuff fireballs, because it's dp meat. Crouching ~~~~~~~~ Jab: A quick low punch. Ok repeat rate. Only useful in chain combos. Strong: A low punch. Same animation as jab, but has that little glow around it. Again, more range than jab. Fierce: She stands up and whips her cape in an upward arc. Awesome for hitting jumpers. Useful in combos. Short: A quick litle kick. Useful in starting chain combos. Forward: A low kick with nice range. Should use slide if you are going to poke low. Useful in chains and other combos. Roundhouse: Standard low rh. More range than low forward. Useful in setting up juggling combos. Jumping ~~~~~~~ Her mvoes look and for most purposes act the same no matter which angle you push. Jab: She punches. Good priority, it's a jab afterall. Strong: Same animation as jab, but with the glow effect again. I never use it. Fierce: Swings her cape in an arc. Good range, useful, nice priority. I use this a lot when trying to corner trap people. Or just keeping them pinned. Short: Gimpy angled kick. Since it's a short it probably has ok priority. I use it in rare occasions which will be discusses further later on. Forward: Good angled kick. Nice for cross overs. Roundhouse: Nice range. Useful in jumping in over fireballs and starting jump in combos. Slide ~~~~~ I decided to put this under normal moves instead of special, as it doesn't invlove a complex joystick motion. The slide is simply performed by moving the joystick to offensive crouch and hitting the forward kick button. With rose, this is going to be your main weapon. This thing has ZERO recovery time. If you are getting swept afterwards, you either failing to block or you are trying to hit too deep. Instead use a normal low forward and chain into low roundhouse. It goes cleanly under bison's fireball (even jab?), charlie's sonic boom (except jab), sagat's high tiger, and your own (possibly?). It will trade with all others. More than likely though the trade will be in their favor. So be cautious. Don't get too predictable with this though, as it is easy to dp or fk it. Can be AC'ed but most of the time you will recover in time to block. It is much more useful than guy's slide IMHO. You can add on another hit afterwards. Nothing 'chains' so to say, but a standing fierce or standing roundhouse can be tacked on afterwards. B. Special Moves These are moves that fill up your super meter when performed, involve a complex joystick motion and kinda make rose what she is. The standard faq rules apply here, if you are facing left, reverse the motions, etc. Soul Spark ~~~~~~~~~~ O-- / | \ --O + Any Punch O O O A standard fireball. She extends her arm and cape and a ball comes flying out. She can hit the opponent with either the cape or the ball but not both. Delay is long on recovering from it. Since her arm and cape are extended, dp's are attracted to it. Be aware of this. I use it a lot after knocking someone down to play with positioning. The jab has a delay before it comes out. The jab and fierce are the only 2 versions of it that i use as she really isn't a fireball character. Soul Reflect ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / O-- + Any Punch O O An interesting move in that each punch reacts differently to projectiles. They can also be used as 'normal' moves in the sense of hitting someone with them. They have crazy high priority but i really don't recommend this. Jab ~~~ If you 'reflect' a projectile with jab, it absorbs the projectile and charges up your super meter. Has a slight delay as you absorb the projectile. Has no other real use, unlike the other two which can actually hit an opponent. Strong ~~~~~~ If you reflect a projectile with strong, it reflects it back towards the opponent horizontally. If you use this on akuma's air fireball, it usually reflects it back horizontally around head height. Fierce ~~~~~~ With fierce, the cape will reflect the projectile back at the opponent on a upward 45 degree angle. This is useful on opponents who like to throw a projectile than jump in after it hoping to catch you doing something stupid. Soul Throw ~~~~~~~~~~ --O | \ + any punch O O This is her dp'esque move. She jumps diagonally and air throws throws the opponent to the ground. Fierce travels damn far, 1/2 of the screen, easily. Can be hit out of, but useful nonetheless. Works good against hurricane kicks and some overheads. Be aware of low jumpers like birdie and sodom. C. Super Moves Moves that take away energy stored in your super meter. level 1 takes one level, level 2 takes 2 levels, etc. With level 1, you need to only do the motion and hit one button. Level 2 requires you to do the motion and hit 2 buttons. Level 3 requires the motion and all 3 buttons. Aura Soul Spark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / O-- | / O-- + punch O O O O Level 1: She does a three hit soul spark. She is invincible until soul spark appears. Can't be air blocked. Level 2: She moves forward while doing normal attacks (last normal attack is a standing roundhouse) then ends with a 3 hit soul spark. Is invincible until the end of the RH frame. 6 hits total. Level 3: She does a soul reflect than a soul spark. The soul reflect in this is the only reason to do this SC. The soul reflect not only reflects normal projectiles, but also SC projectiles! So now you can reflect ryu's SC! Should be able to do so for Sagat, akuma, rose, and possibly akuma's air fireball. Will check later. 4 hits total. Invincible slighlty before soul spark appears. Aura Soul Throw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | \ --O | \ --O + punch O O O O Level 1: She does a more damaging soul throw. Doesn't hit opponents on the ground. More priority than normal soul throw. It is invincible during the rise. Level 2: She does a crouching fierce which knocks the opponent into the air and then jumps after the air-borne opponent and slams them to the ground. This hits opponents on the ground and in the air. Invincible til she leaves the ground. Level 3: She does a standing strong, crouching fierce which knocks the opponent into the air then jumps up and slams them to the ground. Invincible halfway when moving forward. Aura Soul Illusion (aka Friends sc) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | \ --O | \ --O + kick O O O O This is rose's comback move. When activated 3 shadow's follow rose and mirror her actions. Any move that hits, will hit 4 times (once by her and 3 by the shadows). The only exceptions are throws, air throws, her crouching roundhouse and her standing roundhouse (which hits up to 7 times?!?!?!?!). Her normal moves gain not only more priority, but also juggle properties. When using this, try to penetrate their block with slides, cross ups and other attacks. Level 1: 5 seconds Level 2: 6 seconds Level 3: 9 seconds All time is 'Alpha' time. Alpha Counter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Block + O-- / | + Any Punch O O This technically isn't a super combo, but it does require 1 level of your super meter, so it is under here. Alpha counters are new to the street fighter series. They are a type of guard reversal (ala darkstalkers 1 and 2). Basically they allow you to attack right after blocking by-passing 'block stun'. This hit is not a guaranteed hit, and rose has the weirdest (also best?) alpha counter in ther game. While every other character's alpha counter inflicts damage if it connects, rose does a mini (jab?) soul catch which stuns the oppponent for a brief second when they land. However, in that brief second, there is only so much you can do. The easiest is to slide. You can also do a low forward into a low roundhouse. Also you can do a level 2 soul spark (you have to be quick on the motions). Finally you can just walk up and throw (least expected of all), but can be 'teched' (see later on for more info). D. Miscellaneous aspects of SFA In this section, I will discuss things that are a combination of new things that are applicable to all the characters. Yes, Ac's do fit in this section, but i put them above. The reason i put them there instead is for the fact that they use up super combo energy. 1. Throws ~~~~~~ Rose gets gypped in the area of throws, as she has only one throw (with punch - strong or fierce) and you always switch sides (which sucks when you are corner trapping someone). When you are close to someone (and i mean close in alpha!), press either strong or fierce to throw them. She will jump onto the opponents head and do a headstand while their energy depletes. Of course this can be softened (see below). If the throw is successful, throw takes off around 6% (normal damage machine), you and the opponent will switch sides and you will be knocked from your opponent (no real chance of ticking them afterwards. Unless you are in the corner?). Now that you know how to throw, you kind of need to know what you can throw. The most general rule would be, "Any move during any part of it's animation as long as it's not an invincible frame." Now, this statement does not take everything into consideration. Some of these things would be meaty and well-timed attacks, as (flames will now be rejected) these attacks can not be thrown as you are getting up. On the other hand, it's easy to throw ryu or ken doing their over head attacks. However due to the small throw ranges in alpha, throwing is harder to do. This brings up the topic of ticking. Yes you can still tick in alpha, you just have to be more creative in doing it. If you aren't, you could be eating a level 3 super combo, or counter thrown. In case you aren't aware, ticking is defined as throwing someone right after you hit them. An example would be, jump in attack, land and then throw them. It usually works better if they block the attack before the throw. In some circles, this is considered cheap or cheesy, thus not allowing this. This is unfortunate as it is one of the most exciting aspects of sf. And then in some archaic backwoods, throwing isn't allowed. I feel sorry for these people. One of the better ticks for rose aside from the more typical low short throw, is slide into throw. As the slide pushes you into the character so you will be close to throw them. This is a pretty straight forward tick. Of course, to counter this you could either try to throw them instead which will result in two things. Either you will actually throw the opponent or you will tech hit out of their throw attempt. Or you could hit them before they enter into throw range, as the throw range in alpha is teeny tiny. I suppose birdie and sodom could do their spd moves, so watch out for this also. You could ac the slide if you anticipate it. And finally you could sc after they slide if they are getting predictable doing this tick. As you can see ticking just isn't a nightmare in alpha. 2. Tech Hits ~~~~~~~~~ For some unknown reason when you soften a throw in alpha, it is called a tech, and you receive a tech bonus. Any character in sfa can do this. Essentially as soon as you are thrown, you must press either toward or away plus strong, fierce, forward, or roundhouse. Basically a throwing 'motion'. This works for any throw, hold or air throw. Complex joystick motions cannot be softened though. Example: Spd moves, guys bushin air throw, etc. Do note though, this 'tech motion' must be inputted in the first few (first only?) frames of the throw animation. Do take note that you are vulnerable to attacks while you are falling. The ability to hit you though is so small, so don't worry too much about it. You might just want to block low in case someone sweeps. 3. Rolling ~~~~~~~ Ok...I'm not an expert on this, so i'm going to quote the alpha faq for this. Make sure to note the fact that you can roll after air blocking. As you are knocked down, such as from a sweep or throw, perform this motion: O-- / | + punch (An easier way to roll is to just keep moving O O the joystick in quarter or half-circle motions while press the punch button) and you will hit the ground rolling, similiar to Ken's rolling move. You can also roll after getting knocked from the air or even after an air-block. This move can be used to get out of corner traps, counter a fireball set-up, etc. The roll can also go through projectiles. However, you are not invulnerable to other attacks while rolling, like sweeps. You can also get thrown if you end up too near to your opponent. Note that you can only roll towards your opponent, not away. The only exception is Sodom who can roll forwards or backwards, or even initiate his Tengu Walk if he 'rolls forward' with a kick button. 4. Taunting ~~~~~~~~ Yes, the sf series now contains taunts. To do rose's taunt, simply hit start. Rose will taunt her opponent by shaking her finger, shaking her head and saying, 'Mada Mada Ne'. Which according to the faq translates to, 'You still have a long way to go'. During all of this, you are completly vulnerable and there is no way of interrupting this unless of course you are hit out of it. You can only taunt once per round with rose. Her taunt also doesn't do any damage to the opponent. A good time to use taunts are after a big combo, a big super combo, when someone is dizzy, or throwing a no thrower. III. The Combo Section A. The Chain Combo Section Faq Quoted: ' Like Darkstalkers and X-Men, SFA now has chain combos. Not only do you have 'normal' combos from sf2, but you now have certain combinations of normal moves that are specifically designed to work together in a 'chain.' More specifically, when you see a sequence of ground attacks and each attack 'interrupts' the previous one, that's a chain combo. The only way you can recognize these chain combos is by the way the 'flow' together. These chains open a whole new door to comboing. Take Ken for instance. If a chain combo starts with a jab, you can do the jab 1-2 times, follow up with a low forward, a low roundhouse, and then finish with a special move. You can mix chain combos and super combos, or even lead off the chain combo with a jump attack. The whole system is pretty flexible now, allowing you to use which combo you need at the right time, whether you are comboing in a super combo, going for maximum damage, or trying to get a dizzy.' With rose, chain combos are something you must learn. Without them, you will not survive. Simply. Luckily, chain combos are simple to learn as they require no 'expert' timing. And they do a fair amount of damage. They can also help you when you are jockeying for position. In short, learn them. From Lanzers Faq, here is a list of normal moves that chain for her: Jab: Standing and crouching Strong: Nothing Short: Crouching Forward: Crouching I have a list of combos in the next section. B. The Normal Move Interrupt Section The classic way of doing sf combos still remains intact in alpha. If you don't know how to buffer, I highly recommend you read T. Cannon's buffer workbook on brawl.mindlink.net. As it it is a good beginning place. I only wish someone would update it to take in account of supers. Essentially while you are doing a normal move, you can interrupt the retraction animation and 'buffer' in a special move, such as a fireball or dp, or whatever. With rose, you won't be buffering many special moves. Maybe an occasional fireball her and then. You will be buffering a lot of supers however. So make sure you practice well on this. Here is a list of moves that will buffer for rose. These include both special moves and supers. Jab: Standing and crouching Strong: Standing and crouching Fierce: Standing and crouching Short: Standing and crouching Forward: Standing and crouching Roundhouse: Crouching only There will be combos in the next section. C. The Combo Section 1. The Chain Combo Section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are the main combos you will be using for rose. In fact, more than likely you will be using one main combo, the low short, low forward, low roundhouse chain. This is by far the best chain combo for rose as each kick is longer than the next, so it connects easily. Plus all 3 buttos are next to each other, so you don't have to do any fancy fingerwork, plus it knocks down. The only way to really mix up this combo is to either put a neck kick in front it, or put a jab in front of it. So it would be: Jumping forward (neck kick), low short, low forward, low roundhouse. Or: Jumping forward, low jab, low short, low forward, low roundhouse. If you REALLY want variety as you are bored to death doing this combo, you could put a standing roundhouse or standing fierce at the end instead of the low roundhouse. These have more of a tendency to be dp'ed though against a blocked form. Plus these don't knock down giving you that positional advantage. And as with most chain combos, you can skip the middle attack if you want. Say you jumped in early or the opponent does a small dp, etc., you can do a low short to low roundhouse for a nice 2 hit knockdown. By knocking the opponent down, you can position yourself better for the next attack. Also, an early slide as an opponent is getting up can be followed by a low roundhouse. This is not a chain in the alpha sense, rather in the previous sf series (ex: Super Turbo) sense. 2. The Normal Move Interrupt Combo Section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The thing with rose is that her fireball has a slight delay in execution. Due to this delay, fireball combos are real sketchy with her. Her other special move that would combo is the shawl reflect, and this is just as sketchy. Both of these moves just don't like to actually connect. Here are a few combos that work semi-regularly stolen from various places. Soul Spark (fireball) ~~~~~~~~~~ Jump in roundhouse, standing fierce, JAB soul spark. For some reason fierce soul spark just does NOT connect. I'm assuming the delay starting is longer than jab. Either that or the shawl hits first with jab or something. *shrug* Umm...ok combo I suppose. I never use it. Soul Reflect (That shawl thing) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, this move does combo. Why? To knock the opponent in the air. Once they are in the air, you can tack on a super, but more info on super juggles later. The standard soul reflect combo is usually this: Jump in roundhouse, low/standing strong, Fierce soul reflect. With this combo, I cannot get any other soul reflect to connect other than fierce. You would think strong would work, but it just doesn't. Once again, I never use this combo. I don't know, just too sketchy to rely on and there are other that do more damage. 3. The Super Combo Section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the section that I'm sure most of you have been waiting for. For rose, I've decided to break this up though. A normal SC combo section, a Juggle SC combo section and a friends specific section. Hope this helps, if it just confuses you, please let me know. a. Normal Move SC Combo All of her normal moves except standing roundhouse buffer into her super combos. For right now, let's just concentrate on her fireball sc and her level 2 & 3 soul throw sc (because with level 1, the opponent must already be in the air via a juggle move for it to combo). Aura Soul Spark Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For this style of combos, these pretty much fall into this pattern: jump in attack, ground attack buffered into sc. In all honesty you should probably use the level 2 version as it pushes you forward. Because of that, even if you were far from the opponent (say due to a high jump) it should still connect. Jump in roundhouse, standing fierce, L2 Aura Soul Spark Super Combo. Another good combo is standing forward into soul spark. Since the standing forward has so much priority over low attacks, this will connect when people are playing 'footsie'. This works particularly well when combined with a sweep. A lot of people will try to sweep you afterwards, just do a standing forward buffered into level 2 and watch their health go bye-bye. Aura Soul Throw Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are going to concentrate on only levels 2 and 3. Level 1 will be discussed in the juggle section. Jump in combos work well here also. A simple combo of jump in rh, standing fierce into level 3 AST does massive damage. You could also just do a standing fierce into level 3 when someone misses a dragon punch or whatever. B. Super Combo Juggle Combos This section is a vital part to rose's strategy. Aside from the friends sc, these combos can do most of your damage. Now, these are some of the harder combos to land, as a lot of prep work must be done. Ranges become more important now. Knowing what your opponent is going to do next is vital, as it might put them at either the perfect distance or at a horrible place. Knowing timings of attacks is a must now. In short, you should be familiar with the joystick, familiar with rose, and familiar with with street fighter in general. Aura Soul Spark Juggle Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The best version to use IMHO is level 1. Levels 2 and 3 just don't juggle. I've tried and tried, but I cannot get either to juggle. The best move to begin the juggle would be low roundhouse. This can be used in conjunction with a jump in roundhouse. This would give us: Jump in roundhouse, low roundhouse, L1 soul spark juggle. Of course if the opponent was in the corner, you could do jump in rh, low short, low forward, low rh, L1 ss juggle. You can do parts of this out in the open but it all depends on ranges. If the opponent is in the corner, you can wait til maximum range of the low rh til buffering the ss. In fact, it connects better if you do. Of course, if the opponent is out in the open, you want to be as close as possible to the opponent when you hit them with the low rh, as the delay on the ss is long and this will put you at the proper distance. Her other normal juggle move, the fierce reflect does not work. Again, I've tried and tried and i cannot get any level soul spark to connect. So, I guess you'll have to stick to low rh, level 1 as her only ss juggle. Aura Soul Throw Juggle Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ahh...combos. For me, these are some of the more fun combos to do in alpha 1. It just looks so sweet when rose jumps up and grabs an airborne opponent and slams them to the ground. Makes one feel warm inside. Ok, I will start off first with what is known as her defensive juggle combo. Most characters have something along these lines in alpha. It basically involves knocking a character out of the air as they jump towards you, then hitting them again before they recover. With rose, hers is low fierce (as they jump in at you) buffered into a level 1 ast to grab them before they recover. This is semi hard to pull of in an actual game. That is if you ever remember it. I never do. Another move you can use to launch the opponent into the air is her fierce soul reflect. But this is strictly limited to the corner though. Does ok damage. The best combo i know of is: Jump in rh, low strong, fierce soul reflect, level 1 ast. The part of this combo that is sketchy is getting the soul reflect to connect. I would personally say stay away from this combo except for stylish purposes only. The Low Roundhouse Launcher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As far as setups go for a juggling move, rose's low rh is her best move, especially for her ast. As it can be used either in the corner or out in the open. This factor alone makes it one of the best juggle combos in the game as far as usefulness is concerned. Just a low rh buffered into a level 1 ast is a good combo for a counter to a missed fk, dp, super, etc...You may have to take a step forward first. Nonetheless though, this is a very good counter and you should practice this. If you are wanting to put it in a jump in combo, a good one is jump in roundhouse, low jab, low short, low roundhouse, level 1 ast. If you try the official rose chain, make sure you are in the corner. Another good combo for the low roundhouse is as follows: Do an early slide as your opponent is getting up so that it hits meaty, low short chained into low roundhouse into level 1 ast. This of course is harder to pull of as the slide needs to hit meaty. Refer to the appendix if you need or want more information on meaty attacks. And yet another good combo for the low roundhouse, is by putting it together wither her ac. If you are in the corner, ac, then low short, low roundhouse, L1 ast. Of course, you need to have at least level 2 built up so far. This is a good combo, impresses people. And if you have level 3, there are better combos. Combining Supers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lastly you can combine super combos. In all honesty, the below example isn't the greatest combo, especially when combining supers. Well...the opponent must be in the corner for this one to work. Jump in rh, low short, low forward, low roundhouse level 1 soul spark, level 2 aura soul throw. First, you need to get down the soul spark part down. Once you are competent doing this, practice tacking on a level 1 ast. You need to have the motion completed as soon as the 'black' screen disappears from the soul spark animation. Once you get proficient at doing this, you can practice on tacking a level 2 after the 1st sc. The trick to doing this, is making sure that the first part of the level 2 connects so that it will juggle the opponent. If it doesn't, you will miss your window to juggle, and your soul catch will miss. If you are going to use this combo in actual gameplay, I would say, just use a level 1 ast. C. Friends This super combo is why rose is hated so much. It won't win all of your matches, but if combined with intelligent gameplay, good buffering skills, it can win most. And while you may be losing a round, this super combo allows you to comeback in a major way and possibly win. I suppose if you don't win, it would make for an exciting match. So, I would say keep in mind (and your opponent's also) that there's always a possibility you can come back and win. I will break this sc up into many sections, so that i can explain it in it's fullest. Once again I'll preface this by saying that if it confuses you, mail me. 1. Normal Move Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this section, I'm going to just cover the usage of normal move combos. With the friends sc activated you can do massive damage. However, you must keep a few things in mind, such as: You have to take in account that with all these images hitting the opponent, they get knocked back more so than usual. Also, low rh has some strange propertied when friends is activated. As in sometimes it knocks down, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it hits more than once, sometimes it doesn't. More than likely it has to do with distance, but I haven't played around much. Also, depending on how fast you chain from one attack to another can determine the number of hits. I'm sure there is more, but I'm still experimenting, if I missed something (like why her standing roundhouse hits 7 times), please mail me. Ok, as far as this section is concerned, I'm only going to concentrate on the slide, as every other normal move combo would be a waste of a level IMHO. Slide ~~~~~ With the friends super combo activated, the slide becomes even a bigger threat than before. The main reason behind this, is due to the fact that the slide pushes you forward, thus pushing you deeper and deeper into the opponent, when used repeatedly. One of the better things to do when you activate the friends sc, is to slide repeatedly at the opponent. If they are open, such as landing from a dp, you can rack up some serious damage. This works better the closer the opponent is to the corner. Chris Finney also posted this, cross the opponent up with forward, low jab, low fierce, L1 friends, then as many slides as possible. If they block, do a low fierce into fierce fireball instead to push you back. Of course, James Chen had to outdo everyone with his crazy xmen skills and came up with this. You need Level 3 for this. Put Sodom in the corner. Low short into Level 1 Friends. Low Jab, Jumping Fierce, Low Jab, Jumping Fierce, Low Jab, Jumping Fierce, Low Short into Level 1 Friends, Low Jab, Jumping Fierce, Low jab, Jumping Fierce, low jab, jumping fierce, low jab, jumping fierce, low short, low forward, low roundhouse. An actual 101 hit combo than CAN be done in a real match provided the enemy didn't die too fast nor redizzed. You CAN do this on the training mode after beating the crap out of sodom for a while (lowers his dizzy potential) and on the training mode, since the meter recovers, it can be an infinite combo. I've gotten 123 hits, but Sodom redizzed so the combo ended. It's a BITCH to time and to do, but very much possible. The jumping fierce must be done the INSTANT you leave the floor and the low jabs must be done IMMEDIATELY upon landing. I've personally only got like 30 some hits for it. Timing the jumping fierce and low short sucks and it's quite hard. These are all of course if the opponent doesn't block, what do you do then? Well, there are a few options, and I will try to cover them all. Probably the easiest way to confuse your opponent's block is to cross them up with a jumping forward. If they are blocking low to block images of slides hitting them. This can be somewhat effective. But the downfall with this tactic is that most people (should be all by now) know how to block cross up attacks. A good tactic is to jump in (friends sc already activated) with kick, slide, cross up kick, slide, cross up kick (if they blocked), slide, cross up, cross up, slide, etc. Just try to mix it up looking for them to fail blocking then punish them with slides. Another tactic that will guarantee you a hit, but it will only get you that, one hit. Well, technically 4 hits due to the friends SC :) But there is no chance of adding more hits, so I suppose use this technique only if they've blocked everything else and you don't want to feel like you wasted a level. First, have friends going and slide into your opponent. While they are blocking the images you can move around. This is where the guaranteed hit comes in. Since they are blocking low, they can be hit by high attacks. Well...Rose doesn't posess an overhead attack, so you have to cheat a little. In this sense, you have to hit your opponent with a jumping attack. Backing up and jumping in doesn't work because they will recover and block. Jumping up and down won't work either for the same reason. So what can you do? Hit them on the way up! The most effective move is short, as it angles downward. Just hit up and away and short immediately. Since they are blocking low, they won't have time to block this, thus scoring four hits. Is it cheap? I really don't care as it works, besides, it's not like it does massive damage. You can also do up, toward and short, but it is easy to get thrown out of this. So, be careful. I suppose this angle would give you more of a chance to hit the opponent more, who knows. Redizzy ~~~~~~~ Yes, rose does have a redizzy in street fighter alpha. It requires the opponent to be dizzy in the corner, for you to have level 3, and to be within jumping distance. Ok, activate a level 3 friends sc, jump in with a deep short, do a low jab, then chain into six low slides. Yeah, it's near impossible, only works on big characters as far as I can tell. I hear she has another one as well. If anyone can tell me what it is, please write me. Training Mode Infinite Combo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A while ago, someone posted a combo that only worked in training mode for rose that was infinite. What exactly was it? Is it the combo that James Chen posted? Any information would be appreciated. 2. Special Move Section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As far as the friends sc is concerned, any special move is a waste of precious sc energy. In fact, I only know of one combo that would take advantage of this. That is, activate friends when the opponent is in the corner, do a strong soul reflect, which will knock the opponent into the air, then add a L1 Aura Soul Throw. A Jump in attack can in the beginning works nicely. A waste of time IMHO. 3. Super Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you thought your super combos did damage before, imagine them hitting an extra three more times! Aura Soul Throw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, Level 1 is only a thorw, so combining friends with this gives you no extra damage. Level 2 is a different story though. Any Normal Level 2 combo can be combined with friends already activated for massive damage. Aura Soul Spark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, level 1 won't result in 12 fireballs, so that is a waste of sc energy. You can't perform Level 3 obviously, so that leaves only level 2. However, it pays off big time! Normally level 2 hits six times, but if combined with friends, it hits 15 times (12 from friends, plus 3 with the fireball). This makes for incredible damage. There are a few good combos using a shadowed level 2 soul spark. Probably the best one is friends, jumping fierce, standing fierce, L2 soul spark. 20+ hits easily. This is hard to land though as everyone will try their best to block once they see friends going. The best way to get around this is activating friends in the middle of the combo. For this particular combo, this works very well. Do the jumping attack, do a standing fierce buffered into a level 1 friends super combo. Immediately buffer the level 2 soul spark. If done correctly, they will NOT be able to block the now shadowed level 2 soul spark. The key to doing all of this is to buffer the soul spark sc motion during the 'black screen' frames of the friends sc. It should go like this, jump in fierce, standing fierce buffered into friends (opponent is in the 'reeling' animation, during the start up frames of the black screen of the friends sc, buffer the level 2 ss so that it begins as soon as the friends black screen ends, and while still reeling (should be same frame if done quickly enough), the level 2 ss will come out, hitting the non blocking opponent with a shadowed level 2 soul spark super combo. This is a skill you MUST learn, buffering a friends sc into another super combo. Why rose can do this is beyond me. This is one of the many factors that have many people believing rose is overpowered. I would have to agree with them. Like a wise man once said though, "If it's in the game...." In Sfa2, sher retains this ability. *shrug* A combo that I feel has more uses is either a standing forward or low forward (just be careful of doing the slide on accident) buffered into friends, buffered into level 2 SS. The reason why I feel this has more uses is due to the length of the standing forward. This is a good counter combo to missed dragon punches, missed flash kicks, missed super combos, blocked fireball combos, low roundhouse attempts, etc. The standing forward just has so much range and priority. Plus the fact that it buffers makes this game sick. One last combo that involves friends and L2 SS is this: Friends, slide x 4, level 2 soul spark super combo. First of all the opponent must be in the corner, and it also helps if the opponent is a big character. Second the slide does not buffer! So the L2 SS must be chain at the end of the slide. If friends runs out before you activate L2 SS, only do 3 slides then. 4. Friends Juggle Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, for some unknown reason that I CANNOT figure out, when friends is activated, rose's normal moves will juggle once. So...what does this mean? In all honesty not a whole lot. But it does lead to some interesting combos. Below are a few, if you have more, as always, please e-mail me. I think Dave Kirsch posted this one to AGSF2...if it was someone else...I apoligize. Jump In roundhouse, low short, low roundhouse, Level 1 friends, standing roundhouse, Level 1 Aura Soul Throw. The standing roundhosue will juggle the airborne opponent. Corner only. Another one along the same lines is this: Jump in roundhouse, low short, low roundhouse, Level 1 friends, standing fierce, Level 2 Aura Soul Throw. The standing fierce will juggle the airborne opponent. Level 2 is really hard to tack on. Go with Level 1 if actually done during battle. Corner only. And last, Rahmon Deloney says vs. Sodom in the corner - jumping roundhouse, low short, low forward, low roundhosue, Level 1 friends, jumping jab (juggle), Aura Soul Throw. This is a dman funny combo IMO. Just due to the fact that the jumping jab knocks Sodom crazy high in the air. Again...who the hell would use this during game play? 5. Rose Is One Cheap Glitch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rahmon Deloney (rdeloney@norfolk.infi.net) posted this to AGSF2 awhile ago. Really interesting and semi useful. Any questions should probably directed towards him. 'Hey all, just thought I'd explain Rose's unblockable glitch in as much detail as I can, so as to make experimenting easier. For Street Fighter Alpha: The glitch was first discovered in the first SFA and is 100% (yes, I've confirmed it as well--Derek) confirmed. Here's an explanation on how it's done (it's actually pretty easy). If you own a saturn or PSX the easiest way to try this out is to simply have another person play the other character. Knock them down with a sweep (they can start blocking now) and immediatly do Rose's Friends super. Now get close to them and time a standing jab so that it comes out a split second before the 'getting up' animation ends. The initial jab will miss but the following images will hit the other character just as they are coming out of it. If your timing was correct, the images will be unblockable and your opponent will be open for one of Rose's many combos. Unfortuantely, it won't work in practice mode, because the cpu will automatically block _any_ attack immediately after getting up from a knockdown (it will even block Sodom's standing roundhouse). It will still work on autoblocking opponents, however. Of course, this trick is vulnerable to reversal attacks and throws, but we can't have everything :). This glitch works for all of Roses ground based normal movs, except standing roundhouse, but timing and distance become more of a factor. For instance, to perform an unblockable sweep (the images won't knock the player down), you have to be about a character length away from them as they're getting up. Next, do a very early sweep so that only the last image hits. The timing and distance are slightly different for all the normal moves (some are done early in the 'getting up' animation, some are done late). I used standing jab in the explanation because the timing doesn't have to be precise as some of the other normal moves, which leaves more room for error. Also, it's also easier to follow up with a combo because your opponent doesn't get pushed very far. This trick also works on jumping opponents, but it's very hard to position and is only midly useful. Anyhow, you can do this by having friends already activated or done _just_ as your opponent jumps. Then position yourself so that you'll be about a character length away from when they land. Next, do an early sweep (about when they reach the peak of their jump), they will land right on the images and not be able to block them. Again, it is unlikely you'd be in position to do this in a real match, but it does work. ' He also posted a combo on AGSF2 implemeting this: After a knockdown, activate friends, do any early low jab so that it just misses, but the images connect (if your timing is right the images will be 100% unblockable), low short, low forward buffered into Aura Soul Spark. I'm still experimenting with this. I will hopefully update this and include more information as it is found. IV. General Info This is the general info area. A tad bit of where rose fits in, and a preface to fighting vs. other opponents. I'm sure something else will be mentioned. First, is Rose overpowered? Simply, yes. Is she the best in the game? Well, I don't know what gamest said, but the general consensus for sfa1 is that akuma is the best. Akuma is probably the best oveall, however, rose destroys him. That air fireball only weakens him vs. rose. The teleport isn't an option, and well, that's it. :) She is a very fun character to play. If she wasn't, I would not have written this. She is also effective when playing various styles. She is best played offensive, but turtles rather well. Who would dare jump if you have level 3? They either eat a Level 3 Aura Soul Throw, or an alpha counter, Level 2 Aura Soul Saprk. Jumping in on her with Level 1 (aura soul throw) isn't exactly the greatest idea either. Her normal moves have so much range, priority and I swear all of them have zero recovery. Especially the slide. This thing has crazy recovery time. Slide, if you think they will do anything, just do a Level 1 or 2 Soul Spark. If they do nothing, throw them, or a standing fierce into fireball works well. She has so much flexability in the ways she can be played effictively. Lastly, I'm not going to discuss fighting computer controlled opponents. A)I don't want to write that much, B)There already exists a faq based solely on fighting the cpu with rose. V. VS. Other Characters A. Ryu ~~~ More than likely, you are going to be fighting a plethora of ryu's. Luckily, ryu's fireball trap has been somewhat diluted. More so vs. Rose. Given hat most people who play ryu have been playing him since 1991 doesn't help much though.
       Rose definetly has the advantage in this matchup.  Essentially you
     have nullified his most effective pattern, the fireball trap.  Ryu would
     be silly if he tried it.  Essentially you have nullified any fireball
     attack he might present.
       If ryu does fireball, you have a few options.  If you are close enough
     and anticipated it (as most ryu's are patternish), jump in with a combo.
     If you are near full screen away, absorbing it isn't that bad of an
     option.  That brings us to midscreen options.  You could reflect it with
     fierce if you think ryu will jump towards you after throwing the
     fireball.  Sometimes, reflecting it with fierce gives you a good window
     for jumping in at the opponent.  Of course beware of dragon punches.
     This brings us to reflecting it with strong.  If you are close enough,
     you can hit ryu with his own fireball before he recovers from throwing
     it.  This is the ideal use for it.  If you think he will recover from
     it, you might try throwing a fireball of your own to give him something
     else to deal with.  This also allows a windows to jump in at him.
     Finally, if you anticipate the fireball, a level 1 or 2 ss works nice.
     Also...be aware that there is a range where ryu can throw a fireball and
     you will not have time to reflect it, it will hit you as soon as you
     begin the reflection animation.  If this happens, either jump up and
     kick with roundhouse on your way down, or just block it.
       Ok, so now you should be able to take care of ryu's fireballs.  What
     we need to concentrate on now is what he might do afterwards.  A lot of
     ryu's will fireball then jump in after you.  A fierce soul throw is a
     good bet.  If not, a level 1 AST works well.  If you don't have time
     for that, a croucing or standing fierce works good.  Of course, either
     can be buffered into a L1AST.  Also, a standing roundhouse can work well
     from afar.  Lastly, simply block any attack that ryu throw at you, and
     AC, low forward, low roundhouse.  The major downfall to this is ryu
     may simply do nothing during the jump, then land and throw you.  I guess
     that is the risk you take.
       He might either hurricane kick or air hurricane kick.  Both of them
     present the same solutions.  A soul throw works great.  L1AST works
     better.  And a crouching fierce works, just not as well.
       He could also throw another fireball.  If he does this, know your
     ranges.  More often than not, you've been fireball trapped before, so
     you should be able to detect the beginnings of it.  If you are close
     enough jump in and combo the hell out of them.  You could also just
     jump straight up over it and air block the fireball then roll torwards
     him catching him off guard, or react to it as suggested above.
       You could also block it and see what he does next.  If he does nothing,
     slide in.  He might expect this and either dp or ac it.  If he blocks
     the slide, you have a few options.  If you think he will sweep, do a
     standing forward or L1ASSSC (level 1 aura soul spark super combo).  If
     he does nothing you can do a standing fierce into fireball to knock you
     back, or simply throw him or tack on a roundhouse to push you back.  But
     keep close to him.
       Sliding does not work as effecive as it does vs. other opponents.
     The main reason is that damn hop kick.  It hits you clean every damn
     time.  Always try to throw him afterwards to either counter throw
     or tech hit it.  If you get predictable with the slide he will dp it.
     So don't.  The best time to slide is as he is getting up, or when he
     is throwing a fireball.  It trades more in his favor, so try to use it
     when you are ahead, and the slide will kill him.  Also, he could do a
     'reverse' dp and hit you after blocking the slide.  His fireball sc
     when performed with 'reverse' timing (the reverse message actually
     appears on the screen) will probably hit you also.  
       The last thing you need to worry about is his super combos.  The
     hurricane kick one can present problems.  It simply does too much
     damage.  If blocked, AC it, but sometimes I've missed the soul catch,
     so beware.  The fireball one is more often that not used in combos but
     for some reason if it isn't, simply block it.  It does such little
     block damage, even level 3.
       Umm...A blocked fireball combo from ryu will leave him more open
     than in previous versions.  A low roundhouse works nice.  Try
     buffering it into one of her super combos.  As well as a standing
     forward buffered into one of her super combos.  Lastly, an AC works
     well here also.

     B.  Chun Li
         ~~~~~~~
       Well...this hooker is just that, a hooker.  Maybe I'm just jaded
     by the fact that I know how she will be in sfa2.  ^_^  Anyways...she
     still is problematic.  With this matchup from what my personal experience
     I would say that chun li has the advantage here.  Yeah, she is a fireball
     character and beating those chumps is what rose is best at, but she
     plays better without it.
       Your main attack vs. someone is usually the slide and the tricks that
     come along with it.  Not vs. chun li.  She can just block and ac the
     hell out of you.  After blocking she can do her overhead attack that
     will pass through everything I swear.  Actually your Aura soul throw
     beats this thankfully.  But it goes through your level 1 Aura soul
     spark.  Level 2 hits her..but only once.  Major waste of super combo
     energy.  If you do something low to hit her out of her overhead attack,
     she can mix it up and throw in the neck breaker to hit you out of
     whatever you might try. But this can be soul thrown, either normal or
     aura.  She can do her blade kick to knock you out of most attempts of
     anything also.  In other words...watch your back and see how the
     person reacts to your slide before you start throwing out attacks
     afterwards.  She could also do a reverse timing super combo..the
     1000 burst kick works well as well as the rising kick one.  
       Ok...in all honesty her fireball should not pose a problem.  She
     doesn't need it to win.  In fact it would only cause her problems.  But
     if she does...just react how you would vs. ryu and counter what she
     throws at you.
       Her air game is better than yours also.  Her jumping forward, fierce,
     and roundhouse all have crazy priority.  Just air block and roll or
     try jab or short.
       Beware of doing a normal soul throw to grab her.  A lot of her normal
     moves will knock you out of it.  If you can, always do level 1 to
     grab her out of the air.
       Be careful jumping in at her also.  Her standing roundhouse knocks
     everyone at of everything.  As well as her standing forward, fierce,
     strong, etc.  She could also just blade kick you.
       Her supers cause some problem.  The giant marshmallow thing can be
     easily beaten by sliding into it.  The burst kick one you should just
     block and ac it.  And try to avoid the blade kick one.  If you can AC
     it or aura soul throw it.
       So how do you beat her then?  Well, chain combos work well.  Try
     to stick close, look for mistakes and combo her.  Try to tick her
     as well.  She has a good throw so watch out for ticks.  Her air throw
     might present a problem, but I cannot think of how at the moment.  I
     really can't see her throwing you out of a soul throw.  Also when she
     leaves herself open (say a missed blade kick) try to catch her with
     a friends combo thus knocking off major damage.
       I have a hard time fighting against her and am still working on it.
     If someone has some suggestions please mail them to me.  Thanks

     C.  Charlie
         ~~~~~~~
       I happen to think that rose has the advantage in this matchup.  Yet,
     a good charlie can cause you some major problems.  For you to win this
     matchup you have to turtle kinda and react to what charlie does more
     than you usually do vs. other people.
       His main attack is the sonic boom.  All versions of this projectile
     can be overcomed with a slide except jab.  If you stay close enough to
     him at all times, you can hit him CLEANLY every time he does either
     a strong or fierce sonic boom.  Of course, most charlie players know
     this, so they won't do this.  He has no recovery time from throwing it
     so if you plan on doing a jump in combo, make sure you will land it
     because a standing strong will be waiting for you if you mistime.
     Reflecting them isn't necessarily a bad idea either.  Just be careful
     absorbing them, for he has no recovery time and you do.  Of course
     you can do an aura soul spark (level 1 or 2) to go through his
     projectiles.
       His flash kick just isn't that great.  I believe every version can
     be airblocked except is it short?  The main reason you have to fear
     his flash kick is because it is easy to fk you out of the slide.  So
     again, try not to be predictable.  Jumping in isn't always that bad
     of an option, just watch out for his backfist, standing strong and
     sometimes don't expect to airblock the fk.  If you do though, roll
     when landing and try to catch him before he recovers.
       Back to the slide.  Well...he can fk it, so watch out.  Also with
     reverse timing he can hit you with the fk super combo or the horizontal
     kick super combo.  Both hit you easily and do nice damage.  But easier
     than that, he can do his overhead attack to hit you out of it.  Once
     again though, this can be aura soul thrown.  Other than that, once
     he has blocked, just be careful of a flash kick.  But if he does a low
     forward, Yep!  Standing forward buffered into a super combo works
     wonders.  Same with low roundhouse.  He could throw a sonic boom after
     blocking the slide, so a level 1 soul spark is a good idea to throw in
     if you expect this.  Or simply block and AC.  Speaking of AC's, his
     is really horrible.  Works mediocre vs. jumpers and blocked up close
     fireballs.
       This leaves his supers, the sonic boom one can be air blocked so that
     isn't that much of a problem.  The horizontal one can simply be blocked
     and AC'ed.  The flash kick one...well, try not to get caught up in it.
     That one does major damage at level 3!
       After knocking people down with a low roundhouse or super or whatnot,
     a lot of times I will throw a fireball so that they have to block it
     when they are getting up.  Beware that charlie can either flash kick
     or flash kick super coming up off of the ground and hit you cleanly
     out of the fireball.  Same with hitting him with the slide early.

     D.  Ken
         ~~~
       If you don't have a problem with ryu's, then expect to have problems
     with ken.  Ken fights totally different than ryu in alpha now.  He
     still retains his fireball trap, as if that wasn't enough.  Now he
     has a roll which has introduced the roll trap.  Sigh.  I would give
     ken a slight advantage in this matchup for various reasons.  One,
     his roll trap.  Two, people who generally play him haven't moved the
     cursor in years.  Three, he has really useful supers.  Plus he is
     just annoying for being ken.
       First things first, The Fireball Trap (tm) as well all know it still
     remains.  For ken in this version, it consists of fireball, either
     dp when you jump or his standing forward kick to knock you out of the
     sky.  Sure, there is some variation, like crouching fierce, or jumping
     kick but it still remains in the same form.  Combined with the fact
     that super meters charge just for doing a move, not actually connecting
     with that move, which means the longer you are trapped the higher his
     meter gets can cause some problems.
       Ok, you should try to reflect his fireballs as much as possible.  Both
     with strong and with fierce.  If you are far enough away, absorb as
     many as possible so you can build your meter.  You will need it more
     than likely.  Next, never jump unless you are positive that you will
     hit him.  If you do jump, try to connect with a big combo or your chain
     combo to knock him down, thus giving you the positional advantage.
     If you are close enough and he is still trying to fireball you, let
     loose with a level 2 ASSSC to punish him. Level 1 works nicely also.
     By not jumping you are forcing ken to come to you which is always a
     good thing.  If he hurricane kicks, simply grab him.  This applies to
     both air and ground hurricane kicks.  If he jumps in at you, use a
     level 1 ast, as the normal one can be hit out of easily by ken's
     jumping fierce.
       If you do pursue him, try to poke with standing roundhouses and
     standing fierces.  Yes, both can be dped but that is the risk.  The
     slide is iffy vs. ken.  He can dragon punch it.  Both of his supers
     murder it.  And lastly he can AC it easily.  And at certain ranges
     his standing roundhouse will trade or cleanly hit you out of the
     slide.  Plus he can reverse it after blocking with both of his supers
     and his dragon punch.  Kinda sucks don't it?  :)
       Now, if ken comes at you with the roll you have problems.  Yes, the
     roll can be simply stopped with either a slide or low roundhouse,
     but that isn't the problem.  The problem is this, the roll trap.  The
     roll trap is essentially this:  Do a low attack buffer it into the
     roll and then stick at another low attack, chain, throw, combo, etc,
     or do another low attack into roll, chain, throw, combo, etc.  The
     problem with the roll trap is that after blocking the low attack, the
     jab roll arrives as soon as you get out of block stun.  So, say you do
     try to attack, more than likely you will be hit out of it by either
     a low short or super combo, or meeting a blocked form thus getting
     alpha countered.  For rose, she has a harder time than most getting
     out of the roll trap due to not having a wake up move that would
     knock ken out of something (like a dp, fk, etc).  Most of your supers
     are countered with a low short by ken.  So, I would say try to alpha
     counter some of the low attacks.  Once you do that, then chain into
     low forward, low roundhouse so that you knock him down.
       This is of course if you face the roll trap.  Improvise to get out.
     Sometimes sliding the roll will confuse ken.  Sometimes ken won't even
     be aware of it.  All ken's are somewhat different so just take care
     of his fireball patterns and you should be fine.
       His overhead attack cannot be soul thrown.  So be aware of this.
     It's pretty slow so you can just throw it though.  I do this a lot to
     ken's.  You also have to watch throwing blocked chains at ken due to
     his alpha counter.  If he does miss with his dragon punch though,
     punish him with a friends combo, like standing fierce into friends into
     level 2 ASSSC or whatnot.

     E.  Guy
         ~~~
       Guy can be problematic sometimes.  It all depends on who is playing
     him.  First of all, Guy's main strength is fighting a fireball
     character.  Well, since you technically aren't this gives us an
     advantage.  On the other hand, guy isn't a fireball character either
     thus giving him an advantage.  But, rose fights better vs. non fireball
     character IMO than guy does.  Overall, I would say that rose has
     the advantage in this matchup.
       The first thing we need to discuss is his main weapon, the bushin
     run.  This thing can be stopped early thus drawing out counterattacks
     or put into a slide that has to be blocked low or changed into a crescent
     kick that has to be blocked high.  So the best thing to do is try to
     stop the run before it becomes something.  A slide should take care
     of that.  A bushin slide might be countered by either a standing forward
     of a slide, still experimenting as I have very few guy players to
     play against.  The crescent kick can be taken out with either a normal
     soul throw or an Aura soul throw.
       The hurricane kick can cause problems.  It has the trajectory and
     priority of a dragon punch and will be used like such.  So be careful
     when jumping in.  Usually it will go over your slide though.  It can
     also be soul thrown very easily.  Level 1 Aura Soul Throw grabs it
     also.  Can be alpha countered pretty easily as well.
       Another thing is that is jump has a crazy high arc so he jumps
     really, really high.  This can be easily soul thrown.  His roundhouse
     might knock you out of it, if this happens just go with level 1 to
     grab him.
       His ac is something you need to worry about.  Especially when playing
     foot games with him.  Just be aware if he has level 1 and whether or
     not he will spend it for an ac when you slide in to him trying to
     chip off energy.
       Something else you need to worry about is if he will tick.  Guy has
     a STRONG ticking game.  His standing forward has incredible range
     and can be easily buffered into that bushin throw thing of his.  He
     can also use the elbow instead of the throw to knock you out of an
     attempt to counter this.  The only good counter is hope that he throw
     out the elbow instead and ac it.  Guys usually love to tick with the
     slide also.  Bushin run then stop right in front of you then throw.
     Or slide then throw you after you block it.  This all depends on whether
     or not you play a ticking game (you should), if you don't, then just
     worry about boring attack patterns.
       Speaking of boring attack patterns, guy has probably more chain
     combos then anyone else.  And a good guy will implement this.  So what
     does this mean?  It means block, block, and block some more.  Then ac!
     Either that or stay on the offense and ac and thing he might try to
     counter one of your chains with.
       The main thing you have to worry about when being offensive vs guy
     is his slide.  It seems to trade more often than anything else, with
     him doing more damage.  But it will cleanly hit you out of yours enough
     that you should be careful. Also he can reverse it after blocking and
     hit you with both of his supers.  
       His overhead is one of the best overheads in the game.  This one you
     can't soul throw.  It is quick and chains into other moves rather easily.
     The best bet is try to throw him out of it as he starts it.  Rather
     hard though, I must admit.
       His supers are really good also.  Level 3 vs a jump is just damn
     painful.  So, jump with caution.  His ground one has good priority and
     can be easily comboed off of his low forward.  Beware if that low forward
     does connect.  It can easily be chained into low roundhouse or his
     offensive crouch roundhouse or buffered into slide or crescent kick or
     both of his supers.
       The only other thing that I will touch on until I get further
     experience fighting guy is that he is vulnerable during his bushin run
     and can be easily hit with Level 1 or 2 Aura Soul Spark.

     F.  Birdie
         ~~~~~~
       Birdie in the right hands can definitely be a problem character.  A
     good birdie well do everything he can to tick you with his chain grab.
     Birdie fights better versus fireball characters and you can easily
     beat him without resorting to playing as a typical fireball character.
     Rose has the advantage in this matchup due to this.
       If you do want to play like a fireball character, never, ever throw
     a fireball when birdie has level 1.  A good birdie will do his hop
     super combo and grab you out of it.  Especially due to the long delay
     that you have throwing that projectile.  Also...Never do a level 1
     Aura Soul Spark when he has level 1.  Again, a good birdie will buffer
     the motion for his during your black screen animation of your level 1.
       Birdie will try to get close by doing either his turn around headbutt
     (tah) or his other rush.  If you see either one coming, just slide to
     knock him out of both.  Just be aware of the fact that the tah has an
     invincible frame in the beginning.  Other than that they are both easy
     to beat.
       Another way birdie will try to get close is by jumping in at you.
     His jump is so low that you normally won't have time to pull off a level
     one ast.  A standing fierce or low fierce should help.  If he does jump
     and you block it, try to ac as much as you can.  If not, more than
     likely he will tick you with short then chain grab which can start
     hurting after a while.
       Also, beware jumping in at birdie.  His low fierce is a good anti
     air counter.  Also, he can do a level 1 hop sc to go through any
     attack you may make and grab you when you land.  Not too many birdies
     I have fought do this, but I'm sure there are a lot who do.  I've
     also seen a few to his tah when you jump in.
       A good way of beating birdie is ac as much as you can, poke with
     long range attacks like standing rounhouse and standing forward.  As
     always, if the forward connects buffer it into something.  Either
     friends into sc or just a sc.  Speaking of friends, he is a good
     character to 'friend' to death.  Activate friends the slide and
     cross him up like no tomorrow.  His ac should beat you slide but
     I'm not positive at the moment.  Will check later.
       When birdie does get in close, and more then likely he will manage
     it.  Take caution due to the chain grab tick, and try to tick him
     before he does you.  Also, try to chain combo him a lot to gain
     position.
       Other than this, I can't really think of anything to add.  I have
     fought so few birdies and I usually do ok.  He is definitely an
     underplayed character so you will have to figure out how the person
     playing him plays him.  After blocking the slide, he should be able
     to do his birdie super combo with 'reverse' timing and hit you out
     of it.  Have never seen it done though.  

     G.  Sodom
         ~~~~~
       The character that some consider to be the cheapest in the game.  Next
     to akuma I'm sure.  I could care less who the cheapest is.  Yes, he
     does frustrate me sometimes but a good anyone does that.  Overall
     including the standing roundhouse 'trap' I would say that rose wins.
       Sodom is another one of those characters that have a low jump.  His
     jumping fierce beats out a lot of your anti air attacks so try to block
     and ac a lot of his jump in attempts if you can.  If not, try either
     standing or crouching fierce.
       Sodom is a player who will rely on a lot of ticks.  Any spd character
     does.  The fact that his standing roundhouse timed well is unblockable
     doesn't help things.  The standing roundhouse trap if you aren't aware
     follows like this:  Knock someone down, then do a well timed standing
     roundhouse, if timed right CANNOT be blocked!  Coupled with the fact
     that it buffers can cause problems.  A lot of Sodom's will buffer it
     into a fierce jitte scrape.  This knocks you down, thus allowing them
     to walk up and do it again.  There are two ways out of it.  One is
     rolling but this leaves you open.  They can easily slide your roll.
     The other is with a super combo.  Probably level 2 or 3 aura soul
     throw would be your best bet.  This is of course if the sodom player
     does use the unblockable roundhouse.  Most good sodom players will only
     use it once or twice a round or game.  Again...I hate to say this
     a billion times but sodom is an underplayed character and all play
     different.
       With his slide I think that his beats yours.  Or trades in his favor.
     Fortunately your slide beats any of his rushes if you hit him soon
     enough.  So you have that in your favor.  Especially since it is an
     easy way of trying to get close for sodom.  Expect him to use these a
     lot and either slide to knock him out of them or block and ac and
     combo accordingly.  Also, after blocking the slide he should be able
     to reverse it with his rushing super combo.  Again, never seen it
     done but it should.
       Again, play keep away with him and make him come to you.  Use a lot
     of chains and slides vs sodom.  Poking with roundhouses and forwards
     is a good idea.  His ac is designed for vs jump in attacks so just
     be aware of that.  His spd supers do some nice damage so try to not
     let him get close enough for that.  His other one goes through fireballs
     so just take caution when he has level 1.  Also, his kick spd can be
     comboed or done from afar so make sure to either trip him or slide
     him when done from afar.  Other than this, I can't think of more to
     add when fighting him.  If anyone has anything to add or correct
     email me.

     H.  Adon
         ~~~~
       Yet once again Adon is one of those characters that fight best versus
     a fireball character.  So don't.  And yet once more, he isn't a fireball
     character either.  And even more than all of that, adon just happens
     to be one of those characters that few people play.  In fact, I have
     very little experience playing him, that I would appreciate if people
     could email me some stuff that would make this section accurate.  Oh
     yeah...I think rose has the advantage in this one too.
       Let's talk about what can be soul thrown.  Jaguar kick can before
     it is in it's 'attacking' animation.  So can the rising jaguar.  And
     so can the jaguar tooth.  All are tricky when throwing.  For the tiger
     knee it 'attacks' all the way until the peak of the jump.  Sometimes
     you can grab it before then, other times not.  Best to wait until
     after the apex of the jump.  The jaguar kick can be thrown all the
     way until the apex of the jump.  Then it 'attacks'.  And the jaguar
     tooth is more or less the same.  Vulnerable until he touches the 'wall'
     then it 'attacks'.
       His jump is rather mediocre also.  Off the top of my head I can't think
     of anything that knocks you out of your soul throw.  Probably roundhouse.
     Or some other goofy looking attack of his.
       When jumping in make sure you are aware of two things, either the
     tiger knee which cannot be air blocked, or that little jutting kick
     of his (offensive crouch with forward) which cannot be air blocked.  The
     jumping fierce might beat it.  Not sure.
       His supers are pretty boring.  The jaguar kick one can knock you
     out of the air.  The varied assualt one can go through projectils,
     so just use caution when throwing fireballs.  His ac is one of those
     that are good vs. jumpers, so it shouldn't bother your slide.
       Speaking of your slide.  Slide him like no tomorrow.  Slide, then
     low roundhouse into fireball or if it connects into level 1 aura
     soul throw, or slide then standing fierce, then slide again or
     slide then standing fierce into fireball.  Just trap him like no
     tomorrow.  But beware of him reversing a blocked slide with his rushing
     super combo.
       He does have good poking range so watch you for this.  His jaguar
     kick 'trap' shouldn't pose that much of a problem.  Alpha counter it
     or slide after the low forward so that you go under the jaguar kick
     or whatever variation they use.
       His throws are good, so watch out for this.  His ticks are really
     boring and mundane.  Nothing too creative comes out of a ticking
     adon.  Other than all of this, he shouldn't cause you too much of
     a problem, if there is something I'm overlooking please tell me.

     I.  Rose
         ~~~~
       Yeah right, like someone else would play rose.  I have absolutely
     no experience fighting this matchup as I am the only rose player around
     here.  I would say an even matchup.  :)  All of this is guessing,
     if something is wrong, please email me.
       I think you can slide under her projectiles.  Possibly all but jab
     or maybe none.
       I don't know what to write.  Just see how the person plays her,
     if they try to play her like ken or ryu just destroy them.  If they
     actually know what they are doing then ask them how to play versus
     rose.
       If anyone can send some info, it would be much appreciated.

     J.  Sagat
         ~~~~~
       Yeah...A fireball character to pounce on!!  Poor sagat, once a
     decent character humbled into what ever alpha passes him off as.  Most
     people I know who played him moved onto whoever, so there really aren't
     that many sagat players left.  If there are, it's those poor souls who
     just play him because his tiger uppercut hits 7 times.  Ooooh...
     Anyways...Rose definitely has the advantage here.
       If sagat does throw a high fireball, slide the idiot.  Doing this
     a few times will make him quit doing this quickly!  So this will only
     allow him the option of throwing low fireballs.  :)  This is good
     because of the delay that exists on it now.  And if you see it coming,
     as you usually will, reflect it back at him with strong.  You could
     also slide it before it comes out but that is taking a risk.  Why
     would you want to do that?  ^_^
       So when he does throw a low fireball, either reflect it or jump in
     for a combo.  Always jump in pulling back, in case he does recover and
     tries to uppercut you.  This will be often airblocked, so just combo
     him when he lands.  If it isn't, it does pitiful damage unless he hits
     all 7 times.  He could also do a standing roundhouse which will hurt
     after a few times.
       When sliding, you need to realize a few things.  He can dp it and it
     will hit all 7 times which hurts.  If he is quick, he can do a low
     roundhouse to knock you out of it.  If I remember right his ac can't
     touch you.  But his tiger raid super combo can hit you clean out
     of it.  Other than that, he can't do much to counter it.
       Also his fireball super combo will hit you if you go around chucking
     fireballs like a mad man (woman).  Also his level 2 and 3 tiger raid
     goes through fireballs, so use caution when lobbing fireballs up
     close.
       His tiger knee can be soul thrown at the right distance. So can his
     tiger uppercut.
       Sagat just isn't that much of a threat anymore.  His fireballs are so
     slow in comparison to how they used to be.  His fireball trap patterns
     are still there but by playing rose you shouldn't have to deal with
     them that bad.  Just reflect or absorb accordingly.  Really shouldn't
     be that much of a problem.

     K.  Bison
         ~~~~~
       The Psycho Powa man himself.  Well...it's one of those things that
     no one here learned him well enough for me to give an accurate way
     of fighting him.  Personally I would say that rose has the advantage
     but the feel of agsf2 is that bison slaughters her.  More than likely
     it has to do with beating the slide with either super combos or something
     else I'm not thinking of.  Such as maybe if he can scissor kick over
     it or something else.  So for right now, this section is dead until
     someone mails me what I'm missing.

     L.  Akuma
         ~~~~~
       The little overpowered guy who grunts too much.  Yeah he probably
     is the best in the game, especially overall.  And yes he is played
     way too much.  Ryu players actually move the cursor now a days.  But
     there are very few people that actually play akuma, and not just ryu
     with an air fireball.  I personally feel that rose wins this.  I know
     Jeff Schaefer agrees with me on this.
       Ok, first you have to see what kind of akuma you are playing.  If he
     plays him like ryu, then destroy him.  More than likely this is the
     majority of akumas you will fight.  They just play ryu with an air
     fireball.
       Ok, lets discuss the air fireball now.  First, it does horrible damage
     if it hits but damn it can be annoying sometimes.  A lot of akumas will
     throw them every time they jump, whether it be backwards or forwards.
     So use caution if you try to soul throw the chump.  A level 1 soul throw
     done as you are being 'hit' by the fireball will go through it and grab
     akuma.  If they jump forward and do it, simply slide underneath and
     do a standing fierce (you usually turn towards them to do this) to
     him akuma before he lands.  You could also reflect it back towards
     him with fierce.  This is kinda tricky because the angle on the reflect
     can be weird when done with an air fireball.  Also, reflecting it with
     strong if done early will reflect it back around head height.  If they
     jump back and do it, simply absorb it or reflect it with strong.  Some
     times jumping over it isn't that bad of an option, just be careful of
     dp's and super combos.  Also, if you jump you can air block the air
     fireball and roll as soon as you land, thus giving you some positional
     advantage sometimes.  The only other time akuma will throw an air
     fireball is when you are getting up, then he will either do a low
     combo whether it be chain or whatnot.  Or he will do his overhead
     attack.  He could also throw you.  A good akuma will mix it up so
     you have to know what each looks like, especially the overhead.  This
     can be easily thrown if he does it close enough.  Try to ac any low
     attacks he may make.  If he throws you, simply throw him first.  Either
     you will successfuly counter and throw him or you will tech hit the
     throw.  Sometimes 'waking' up with a super combo works well also,
     like a level 2 soul spark super combo.  Rose has no wake up move so
     sometimes his air fireball trap can get annoying.
       The air fireball super combo isn't that big of a deal if you are
     paying attention.  The only thing is you can't air block it, so just
     be aware of this when jumping.
       Ok, the other thing that is annoying when playing against akuma is
     that damn air throw rip off of guy.  I've only played against a few
     akumas that actually made use of this move.  After knocking you down
     akuma will usually come in with this move or if you are throwing
     a fireball or fireball super or what not.   A standing fierce is your
     best bet of getting out of it.  Sometimes you can slide past it because
     his doesn't go as low as guys.  More than likely you won't have to
     deal with it though.
       The teleport shouldn't be used very often.  If he does, either
     throw him when he comes out of it or simply slide into it.  Like I
     said though most akumas won't use it unless they are escaping a really
     bad corner trap or like once in a round.  It just leads to his death
     to keep using it.
       Speaking of sliding into him, be careful.  He can dp it, super dp
     it, hop kick it, block and ac it, or something else I'm probably
     forgetting.  But don't discount it all together as it can be effective
     especially countering the air fireball.
       The only other thing that he has that I think I'm forgetting is his
     bison killer sc.  You have to remember that it isn't blockable, but
     you can throw him, hit him out of it or just avoid it.  Very few akumas
     will use it, but there are a few that are really good at it.  Watch
     out for those.
       Also remember that akuma has a damage handicap.  By this I mean that
     a move that would do so much damage versus someone else, does more
     to akuma than it would that person.  This is particularly noticeable
     when you activate friends and punish the little demon.
       All in all, akuma is pretty damn powerful and flexible, but if you
     keep your head together than you should be able to win.

     M.  Dan
         ~~~
       Do you really need help vs. dan?  I didn't think so.
       If he is gale kick happy, simply block and ac it.  Also, beleive
     it or not, but you can reflect or absorb his fireballs.  You gotta
     love dan.
       Dan shouldn't pose a problem, so just take care of him.  But he
     can ac your slide.  Damn him.  Also his short gale kick can go over
     your fireballs and nail you before you recover.  And beleive it or
     not he does have a few good super combos, particularly the level 3
     one...the one from art of fighting i think.
       Other than all of this, dan is a joke and should really pose no
     big problem.  And if he does, maybe you should re-think learning rose.

 VI. Appendix
     Meaty Attacks
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     This was something that Seth Killian (skillian@uiuc.edu) wrote to me a
     while ago concerning meaty attacks and well timed attacks.  I saved it
     because I felt that it answers a lot and have decided to include
     it here.  As far as I know seth is still in europe or has moved from
     UIUC so I haven't  yet asked him if I can include it here, but I will
     try soon.  Please note that this was concerning the traditional sf2
     engine (st, super, etc.) and so some stuff doesn't concern alpha.
     However, over all it is still applicable, thus I'm providing it for you.

     MEATY ATTACKS (def.1):  A ground based attack that hits the opponent
     (typically while the opponent is standing from a knockdown) with a
     retreating or otherwise non-stnadard frame of an attack's animation.
     To wit:  If you walk up to a standing opponent and perform a cr.
     short kick w/Ryu, it will hit, but you will not be able to combo
     anything beyond another light attack into it, because it will hit
     with an earlier frame of animation, and then there will be a puase
     as it retreats to allow you to do another regular move.   The only
     way out of this pause is to interrupt the normal move with a special.
     However, if you hit an opponent while they are standing with a
     "meaty" cr. short such that it hits with a retreating frame of
     animation, you do not need to interrupt the cr. short to combo it
     because the time before you can do another normal move (the previously
     referred to "pause") is now absent, since the move is already
     retreating when it hits.  This allows non-standard combos, such as
     cr. short, standing fierce, FB.  There are many possibilities.

     This definition can be extended to cover jumping attacks in a sense.
     While jumping attacks will not hit with a "retreating frame"
     typically, they can be made to hit very deeply such that the attacker
     lands almost immediately following the attack, and can launch
     a ground based attack while the opponent is still reeling from the
     aerial hit(s) so as to insert extra hits into a combo that would
     not have been possible vs. an already standing opponent.  This
     effect can also be seen sometimes by jumping in (and "neck-kicking",
     usually) a crouching opponent, although this is rare (since it is
     usually dumb to cr. vs. an attacker trying this without attacking).

     The confusion arises because meaty attacks as originally meant
     referred to a particular timing of the attack to prevent the
     possibility of a "wake-up" reversal by the person getting up after
     a knockdown.  While the existence of this timing is in dispute, it
     is still true that not all attacks which hit "meatily" will be
     timed in the proper way.  Certain moves, such as Chun Li's palm
     press, keep attack sprites out for a long time, but they do not
     seem to hit in a constant way such that "simply" doing the fierce
     palm press early guarantees that it will prevent a DP (still
     assuming this is even theoretically possible).  The timing of these
     attacks is referred to as "well-timed", such that a "well-timed
     attack", while not necessarily hitting with a retreating frame of
     animation, will prevent the possibility of a wake-up reversal.

VII. Conclusion
       Well, I hope after all of this, that someone somewhere has learned
     something.  Initially this was supposed to be out way before now.  But
     with the advent of so many things, it has been delayed until now.  Not
     that anyone was expecting it or anything.  If you have any questions,
     comments, things to add, remember email me at omnicron@sheridan.org.
     I promise I will update it here soon to take in account of alpha 2.
     Unless I decide to write that rolento (you know, the flying monkey)
     guide.  Shrug.  I will update it here soon if people email me stuff
     that I'm missing, especially vs. other characters.  Thanks to everyone
     and I do mean everyone at AGSF2.  Everyone has provided more knowledge
     to this faq that you can imagine.  Thanking people individually would
     take up too much time!  Just remember, keep posting stuff to AGSF2 so
     everyone will progress.  Hopefully we can start documenting street 
     fighter a little more than we have here lately.  Thanks.....

            Derek Daniels
            Omnicron@sheridan.org

            "This is no way to run a revolution....."
              -A good friend of mine.