Smoke isn't happy at medium range or with people in his face. If you get him in the corner all but his ex moves (and even those) will get caught by mixups.
Not only that, you can dash out of Smoke's X-Ray while it's held down, FADC-style. Though I have no idea why you'd want to, since it still uses your full meter in the process.
Also I guess you can add me (GreatSlinky) to the PS3 side of the tourney and whatnot.
RoyallyFlushed on
0
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
Added, RoyallyFlushed.
My new favourite game is to condition people to block Sektor's FP BP back+FP string. Then I bust out the back+FK BK string instead.
It's a damage loss but hell it hits people and hurts them.
Also interesting to note is if you hit someone in the corner with Sektor's FP BP BP string after a neutral jump punch (so a ground bounce) they'll float in the air for a while. It looks really cool but the recovery is so long I can't do much except run the chain back or uppercut.
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
I'll test it thoroughly tomorrow in training. Right now? Too tired.
It might have been the lag. It might have been expert timing, but brother? I tried to throw that shaking Smoke twice and got nothing but vapour for my troubles.
Not only that, you can dash out of Smoke's X-Ray while it's held down, FADC-style. Though I have no idea why you'd want to, since it still uses your full meter in the process.
Also I guess you can add me (GreatSlinky) to the PS3 side of the tourney and whatnot.
I know you can charge Sub-Zero's XRay, too. There's an advantage because if you charge it, it gives the XRay armor.
That was an X-Files Raiden, to be sure. Dude looked pretty good with a beard, too. They might want to consider that whenever they redesign him again.
Does every mental hospital operate under the pretense of passively abducting anyone they find on their grounds and have a smug, merciless sociopath running the facilities?
That was soooo much better than the Kitana/Mileena bullcrap. I hope this series stays on course now.
AbsoluteZero on
0
Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
That was an X-Files Raiden, to be sure. Dude looked pretty good with a beard, too. They might want to consider that whenever they redesign him again.
Does every mental hospital operate under the pretense of passively abducting anyone they find on their grounds and have a smug, merciless sociopath running the facilities?
That was soooo much better than the Kitana/Mileena bullcrap. I hope this series stays on course now.
I think if they keep hinting at the wilder stuff, rather than just outright showing it and being unable to make it right due to budget constraints/costume trouble/whatever, we'll be doing well. The Sonya/Jax stuff worked, even with the Virginia Slims-style Kano in the fold. Johnny Cage worked. Raiden worked mainly because we don't get to see the inside of Raiden's head and know what he knows-he's just a spooky weirdo that wants to save the world. If it had Raiden standing in front of a portal with folded arms talking to the sky and arguing with a floating luminescent head, it would be dumb. This isn't dumb.
I say, skip the Outworld stuff entirely or keep it in the shadows.
I really enjoy playing this game but honestly, reading this thread makes me feel like I've walked into a party I wasn't invited to.
You people talk about shit that goes so far over my head.
Any room for a dude who likes punching and special moves and X-rays... ?
Pew pew... ?
Is there any way for a complete novice to start picking up some of these ideas and techniques that you folks talk about without being overwhelmed by numbers, letters and fighting game tech speak?
I'm not criticizing anyone by the way, it's cool. I'm a fighting game novice, I get that.
Bacon-BuTTy on
0
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
Well, let's go with the obvious shit first:
What do you want to know about? Kombos? Specific character strengths/weaknesses? Gameplay mechanics? Technical jargon?
Edit: Also holy shit it is true. Regular Shake makes Smoke immune to throws, and Enhanced Shake lets him counter them. For fucks' sake.
What do you want to know about? Kombos? Specific character strengths/weaknesses? Gameplay mechanics? Technical jargon?
Suggest a character that would be a good starting point to learn first of all the tiny game mechanics that are lost on me, and how they link into perfoming combos. Because when I try and pull combos off, I always fall short somewhere and I do not know where.
The characters I like at the moment and am interested in getting good with, or at the very least competative with are Sonia, Kitana and Stryker.
I'd appreciate any beginners tips. Not just MK beginners tips.. like ... fighting games beginners tips.
This game uses a combination of dial a kombo like tekken. You can I input all te commands right after another even if it takes 10 seconds to do on screen. These are the ones that are in your moves list.
There are also juggles, which one of the listed dial a kombo might end in. These leave your opponent air born where you can perform a jumping attack/throw, more pinches or kicks possibly juggling more, or a speacial, or a combination.
The came also uses kancels, much like street fighter. With kitana hit b+2. This will put them in a juggle state. If you were to immediately input the motion for her fan after b.2, she will cancel into her fan right after the b.2. If yoive played street fighter the basic cancel would be light punch to fireball with ryu, the punch hits but you cancel into the fire ball.
Also in this game you can simply input down then forward, or do the qcf motion.
I'd appreciate any beginners tips. Not just MK beginners tips.. like ... fighting games beginners tips.
How to get into MK9 as a beginner:
Do the entire story mode (even if it's on easy,) at least some of the challenge tower, and the arcade ladder with some characters you haven't had the opportunity to play or are interested in. This should give you a good feel for the game.
Pick a character. Go into practice/training mode. Do every attack, combo, special, ex-special, x-ray.
Take note of which attacks/combos
Knock up -- Follow up with more attacks while they're in the air for more damage! An easy followup is sometimes just a dash (:arrow::arrow:) forward into an uppercut or certain special moves.
Hit high/low or low/high in sequence -- To punish someone just blocking while standing
Do high damage -- Try to use these when you know you can land a hit
Ignore blocks -- Outside of the obvious throws, the standard block punish, some overhead attacks (i.e. jade's staff smash) and some special moves (i.e. scorpion's ground fire) ignore block and land no matter what
Ignore attacks -- Many attacks do this clearly. Sub-zero's slide special ignores high projectiles, allowing you to punish your opponent immediately for using them rather than having to stay defensive or jump. Jade's Shadow Flash special is another good example.
Punish attacks -- Kung Lao's spin, Johnny Cage's X-Ray, Nightwolf's Reflect. If your opponent is being very aggressive or heavily favoring certain moves, this can allow you to shut down aggression and force them into a defensive posture or a different playstyle.
Hit quickly -- If your opponent is executing a move that has a big windup or cast time, instead of just trying to block it you can turn their temporary vulnerability into an attack for yourself. The most common quick attacks are punch/jab combos.
Are slow -- Know when you're vulnerable, try to avoid attacks that leave you too open for punishment against a faster/smarter/cheatier (fucking AI) opponent unless you're pretty sure you can land a hit. Often the slow attacks are high damage or juggle setups, so you're taking a risk to leave yourself open to try and do more damage.
Jumping can be extremely dangerous if your opponent's not locked into an attack. Scorpion's teleport can easily punish you for every jump you make, for example.
Play arcade mode after messing around with your character and try to abuse what you've learned. Shang Tsung/Goro/Kintaro/Shao Khan are bosses and will be dicks regardless so don't worry too much if they beat you up. Be as cheesy as possible with them.
Hopefully that helps a bit. You don't have to be able to land crazy 15-attack 41% damage combos or know how to read df+1, 2, 2, 3, dash bf4 to enjoy the game, although if you're really interested in learning that stuff there are FAQs online or posters here that will be happy to break it down for you.
JAEF on
0
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
His shake is a counterattack setup right? If you attack him he counters you?
Regular Shake is a counter-attack against projectiles. EX Shake counters projectiles, normal moves (except lows and sweeps) and throws. But the thing is, regular Shake isn't countering throws. It's just ignoring them. You can stand next to a Shaking Smoke and try to throw but you'll whiff every time. Feels like an oversight.
His shake is a counterattack setup right? If you attack him he counters you?
Regular Shake is a counter-attack against projectiles. EX Shake counters projectiles, normal moves (except lows and sweeps) and throws. But the thing is, regular Shake isn't countering throws. It's just ignoring them. You can stand next to a Shaking Smoke and try to throw but you'll whiff every time. Feels like an oversight.
That's so weird. I wish this kind of shit was listed in the hover-text when you highlight the move, or there was some sort of database (accessible from within the game) that listed the kind of peculiarities like that. It seems pretty dumb to have to go to an outside source to figure out what basic special moves do.
His shake is a counterattack setup right? If you attack him he counters you?
Regular Shake is a counter-attack against projectiles. EX Shake counters projectiles, normal moves (except lows and sweeps) and throws. But the thing is, regular Shake isn't countering throws. It's just ignoring them. You can stand next to a Shaking Smoke and try to throw but you'll whiff every time. Feels like an oversight.
That's so weird. I wish this kind of shit was listed in the hover-text when you highlight the move, or there was some sort of database (accessible from within the game) that listed the kind of peculiarities like that. It seems pretty dumb to have to go to an outside source to figure out what basic special moves do.
As accessible as MK is, it's still pretty cryptic about teaching you how to do full combos and what special moves do and whether they are safe/unsafe and such. I think they over value experimentation with the basics in fighting games. Most anyone who is serious enough to discover that kind of stuff looks it up on a knowledge base anyways. Why not just introduce this kind of information in the game?
I'd appreciate any beginners tips. Not just MK beginners tips.. like ... fighting games beginners tips.
How to get into MK9 as a beginner:
Do the entire story mode (even if it's on easy,) at least some of the challenge tower, and the arcade ladder with some characters you haven't had the opportunity to play or are interested in. This should give you a good feel for the game.
Pick a character. Go into practice/training mode. Do every attack, combo, special, ex-special, x-ray.
Take note of which attacks/combos
Knock up -- Follow up with more attacks while they're in the air for more damage! An easy followup is sometimes just a dash (:arrow::arrow:) forward into an uppercut or certain special moves.
Hit high/low or low/high in sequence -- To punish someone just blocking while standing
Do high damage -- Try to use these when you know you can land a hit
Ignore blocks -- Outside of the obvious throws, the standard block punish, some overhead attacks (i.e. jade's staff smash) and some special moves (i.e. scorpion's ground fire) ignore block and land no matter what
Ignore attacks -- Many attacks do this clearly. Sub-zero's slide special ignores high projectiles, allowing you to punish your opponent immediately for using them rather than having to stay defensive or jump. Jade's Shadow Flash special is another good example.
Punish attacks -- Kung Lao's spin, Johnny Cage's X-Ray, Nightwolf's Reflect. If your opponent is being very aggressive or heavily favoring certain moves, this can allow you to shut down aggression and force them into a defensive posture or a different playstyle.
Hit quickly -- If your opponent is executing a move that has a big windup or cast time, instead of just trying to block it you can turn their temporary vulnerability into an attack for yourself. The most common quick attacks are punch/jab combos.
Are slow -- Know when you're vulnerable, try to avoid attacks that leave you too open for punishment against a faster/smarter/cheatier (fucking AI) opponent unless you're pretty sure you can land a hit. Often the slow attacks are high damage or juggle setups, so you're taking a risk to leave yourself open to try and do more damage.
Jumping can be extremely dangerous if your opponent's not locked into an attack. Scorpion's teleport can easily punish you for every jump you make, for example.
Play arcade mode after messing around with your character and try to abuse what you've learned. Shang Tsung/Goro/Kintaro/Shao Khan are bosses and will be dicks regardless so don't worry too much if they beat you up. Be as cheesy as possible with them.
Hopefully that helps a bit. You don't have to be able to land crazy 15-attack 41% damage combos or know how to read df+1, 2, 2, 3, dash bf4 to enjoy the game, although if you're really interested in learning that stuff there are FAQs online or posters here that will be happy to break it down for you.
This is a cool post. And pretty much exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
E-mailing it to myself at home and I'll spend an evening trying some stuff out I think.
Thanks :^:
Bacon-BuTTy on
0
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
Tournament update: I've got brackets ready but sign-ups are still open and it won't be a hassle to slot you in at all.
... Could really do with two more sign-ups on the Xbox 360 side since currently we have four people who have to play an initial round and two who get a bye into the second. If we don't get two more then well, I'll leave it up to the RNG gods to decide.
The PS3 side of things is pretty neat right now, nice 8-player set-up with a loser's bracket.
If you are more of a visual learner watching kombo videso of characters that interest you is a good way to get a feel for how stuff works. Especially vids that show the button inputs on the screen. I know those help me a lot but as with anything like this YMMV.
Mutilate on
0
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
thanks a lot jaef. not that everyone isn't awesome with information here but it's tough to know where to start.
you're all awesome but that post will be bookmarked
I really enjoy playing this game but honestly, reading this thread makes me feel like I've walked into a party I wasn't invited to.
You people talk about shit that goes so far over my head.
Any room for a dude who likes punching and special moves and X-rays... ?
Pew pew... ?
Is there any way for a complete novice to start picking up some of these ideas and techniques that you folks talk about without being overwhelmed by numbers, letters and fighting game tech speak?
I'm not criticizing anyone by the way, it's cool. I'm a fighting game novice, I get that.
Yeah. I'm not really a novice, but I'm kind of in agreement with you-generally speaking, I'm just not into learning a fighting game that reminds of the times I tried to learn to play guitar, if you know what I mean. Which is not to say I don't appreciate a well-made fighting system, but it's never been my goal to suck every drop out of the mechanics of the game.
One thing I'd like to see someday, and maybe this is impossible, but, I'd like to see a game where I have a chance at understanding a combo just by visually seeing it. Or a moves list that actually shows an image of that move displayed. For having a move list of everything a character can do in MK, it needs organization. Telling me it uses the triangle does not equate that it's going to be a high attack.
Hell, why should I quit there? Let me be stupid and say input a crafting system where you can take what I'm gonna call 'move blocks' and try to arrange a row of them into a combo, and, if the system says it can be done, que it into the practice mode and select your premade combo list and learn it, and the store it on your move list? Why not have a personal move list that describes the attacks you prefer or tend to use, instead of twenty types of punches you probably haven't sorted through and can't sort through, or a list of combos you can't practice without pen and paper on your coffee table?
Because that's a lot of work, and innovating/coding something conceptually new is far more difficult than retreading known paths. It would also only serve a small subset of their sales audience (enthusiasts) who might care about those features, and might have been deemed not worth development time or simply not considered.
FWIW I find MK9 far more approachable than SF4. I feel like I have a chance of eventually being decent in MK9 but I don't think I will ever even be competitive at SF4. For some reason I just can not fight in the streets.
SF4 requires some absolutely ridiculous input precision (in part thanks to the use of diagonals and directional holds as part of moves,) has much less forgiving frame timings and is a faster game in general, which means you have less time to react to anything.
I always thought, save for a few characters, SF4 played slower. It's the precision of input that gets me and the links. I play Abel who is not supposed to be super execution heavy but I can't even do his simple dash into fp change of direction stuff. It's not from lack of trying either.
I really enjoy playing this game but honestly, reading this thread makes me feel like I've walked into a party I wasn't invited to.
You people talk about shit that goes so far over my head.
Any room for a dude who likes punching and special moves and X-rays... ?
Pew pew... ?
Is there any way for a complete novice to start picking up some of these ideas and techniques that you folks talk about without being overwhelmed by numbers, letters and fighting game tech speak?
I'm not criticizing anyone by the way, it's cool. I'm a fighting game novice, I get that.
Yeah. I'm not really a novice, but I'm kind of in agreement with you-generally speaking, I'm just not into learning a fighting game that reminds of the times I tried to learn to play guitar, if you know what I mean. Which is not to say I don't appreciate a well-made fighting system, but it's never been my goal to suck every drop out of the mechanics of the game.
One thing I'd like to see someday, and maybe this is impossible, but, I'd like to see a game where I have a chance at understanding a combo just by visually seeing it. Or a moves list that actually shows an image of that move displayed. For having a move list of everything a character can do in MK, it needs organization. Telling me it uses the triangle does not equate that it's going to be a high attack.
Hell, why should I quit there? Let me be stupid and say input a crafting system where you can take what I'm gonna call 'move blocks' and try to arrange a row of them into a combo, and, if the system says it can be done, que it into the practice mode and select your premade combo list and learn it, and the store it on your move list? Why not have a personal move list that describes the attacks you prefer or tend to use, instead of twenty types of punches you probably haven't sorted through and can't sort through, or a list of combos you can't practice without pen and paper on your coffee table?
You should play God Hand. Not only do you get to buy and sell different techniques and assign them to buttons, but they all are arranged by category so that you know exactly what each one does. It's not a fighting game, but it kind of marries that tactical depth of choices to the one-versus-many format of old beat-'em-up games.
The only problem with God Hand is that it's just a game about punching people.
My network experience started pretty bad, but its gotten alot better..
Find a room that is as local as possible.... I live in Toronto, so ive joined the Montreal room (5 hrs away) and all the games (including packed KOTH) have run very smooth...
As soon as I leave Kanada i start to have issues. I also had alot of success in the buffalo room (2 hrs away)
Posts
I'm getting slapped around like a cheap whore.
Fuck that OTG Smoke bomb. :x
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Pretty sure it's b+1,1,2,1
I promise I'll use my mic.
What the shit. You can hold down Smoke's X-Ray. I did not know this, and it does not amuse me to lose to it.
Also I guess you can add me (GreatSlinky) to the PS3 side of the tourney and whatnot.
My new favourite game is to condition people to block Sektor's FP BP back+FP string. Then I bust out the back+FK BK string instead.
It's a damage loss but hell it hits people and hurts them.
Also interesting to note is if you hit someone in the corner with Sektor's FP BP BP string after a neutral jump punch (so a ground bounce) they'll float in the air for a while. It looks really cool but the recovery is so long I can't do much except run the chain back or uppercut.
Edit: WELL I FOUND IT INTERESTING!
That rat bastard. :x
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
It might have been the lag. It might have been expert timing, but brother? I tried to throw that shaking Smoke twice and got nothing but vapour for my troubles.
I know you can charge Sub-Zero's XRay, too. There's an advantage because if you charge it, it gives the XRay armor.
Podcast WHORING: Episodes 2-8 (Thanks Zonghui)
Hold the buttons down
That was soooo much better than the Kitana/Mileena bullcrap. I hope this series stays on course now.
I think if they keep hinting at the wilder stuff, rather than just outright showing it and being unable to make it right due to budget constraints/costume trouble/whatever, we'll be doing well. The Sonya/Jax stuff worked, even with the Virginia Slims-style Kano in the fold. Johnny Cage worked. Raiden worked mainly because we don't get to see the inside of Raiden's head and know what he knows-he's just a spooky weirdo that wants to save the world. If it had Raiden standing in front of a portal with folded arms talking to the sky and arguing with a floating luminescent head, it would be dumb. This isn't dumb.
I say, skip the Outworld stuff entirely or keep it in the shadows.
You people talk about shit that goes so far over my head.
Any room for a dude who likes punching and special moves and X-rays... ?
Pew pew... ?
Is there any way for a complete novice to start picking up some of these ideas and techniques that you folks talk about without being overwhelmed by numbers, letters and fighting game tech speak?
I'm not criticizing anyone by the way, it's cool. I'm a fighting game novice, I get that.
What do you want to know about? Kombos? Specific character strengths/weaknesses? Gameplay mechanics? Technical jargon?
Edit: Also holy shit it is true. Regular Shake makes Smoke immune to throws, and Enhanced Shake lets him counter them. For fucks' sake.
Suggest a character that would be a good starting point to learn first of all the tiny game mechanics that are lost on me, and how they link into perfoming combos. Because when I try and pull combos off, I always fall short somewhere and I do not know where.
The characters I like at the moment and am interested in getting good with, or at the very least competative with are Sonia, Kitana and Stryker.
I'd appreciate any beginners tips. Not just MK beginners tips.. like ... fighting games beginners tips.
There are also juggles, which one of the listed dial a kombo might end in. These leave your opponent air born where you can perform a jumping attack/throw, more pinches or kicks possibly juggling more, or a speacial, or a combination.
The came also uses kancels, much like street fighter. With kitana hit b+2. This will put them in a juggle state. If you were to immediately input the motion for her fan after b.2, she will cancel into her fan right after the b.2. If yoive played street fighter the basic cancel would be light punch to fireball with ryu, the punch hits but you cancel into the fire ball.
Also in this game you can simply input down then forward, or do the qcf motion.
How to get into MK9 as a beginner:
Do the entire story mode (even if it's on easy,) at least some of the challenge tower, and the arcade ladder with some characters you haven't had the opportunity to play or are interested in. This should give you a good feel for the game.- Pick a character. Go into practice/training mode. Do every attack, combo, special, ex-special, x-ray.
- Take note of which attacks/combos
Knock up -- Follow up with more attacks while they're in the air for more damage! An easy followup is sometimes just a dash (:arrow::arrow:) forward into an uppercut or certain special moves.
- Jumping can be extremely dangerous if your opponent's not locked into an attack. Scorpion's teleport can easily punish you for every jump you make, for example.
- Play arcade mode after messing around with your character and try to abuse what you've learned. Shang Tsung/Goro/Kintaro/Shao Khan are bosses and will be dicks regardless so don't worry too much if they beat you up. Be as cheesy as possible with them.
Hit high/low or low/high in sequence -- To punish someone just blocking while standing
Do high damage -- Try to use these when you know you can land a hit
Ignore blocks -- Outside of the obvious throws, the standard block punish, some overhead attacks (i.e. jade's staff smash) and some special moves (i.e. scorpion's ground fire) ignore block and land no matter what
Ignore attacks -- Many attacks do this clearly. Sub-zero's slide special ignores high projectiles, allowing you to punish your opponent immediately for using them rather than having to stay defensive or jump. Jade's Shadow Flash special is another good example.
Punish attacks -- Kung Lao's spin, Johnny Cage's X-Ray, Nightwolf's Reflect. If your opponent is being very aggressive or heavily favoring certain moves, this can allow you to shut down aggression and force them into a defensive posture or a different playstyle.
Hit quickly -- If your opponent is executing a move that has a big windup or cast time, instead of just trying to block it you can turn their temporary vulnerability into an attack for yourself. The most common quick attacks are punch/jab combos.
Are slow -- Know when you're vulnerable, try to avoid attacks that leave you too open for punishment against a faster/smarter/cheatier (fucking AI) opponent unless you're pretty sure you can land a hit. Often the slow attacks are high damage or juggle setups, so you're taking a risk to leave yourself open to try and do more damage.
Hopefully that helps a bit. You don't have to be able to land crazy 15-attack 41% damage combos or know how to read df+1, 2, 2, 3, dash bf4 to enjoy the game, although if you're really interested in learning that stuff there are FAQs online or posters here that will be happy to break it down for you.
Regular Shake is a counter-attack against projectiles. EX Shake counters projectiles, normal moves (except lows and sweeps) and throws. But the thing is, regular Shake isn't countering throws. It's just ignoring them. You can stand next to a Shaking Smoke and try to throw but you'll whiff every time. Feels like an oversight.
As accessible as MK is, it's still pretty cryptic about teaching you how to do full combos and what special moves do and whether they are safe/unsafe and such. I think they over value experimentation with the basics in fighting games. Most anyone who is serious enough to discover that kind of stuff looks it up on a knowledge base anyways. Why not just introduce this kind of information in the game?
This is a cool post. And pretty much exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
E-mailing it to myself at home and I'll spend an evening trying some stuff out I think.
Thanks :^:
... Could really do with two more sign-ups on the Xbox 360 side since currently we have four people who have to play an initial round and two who get a bye into the second. If we don't get two more then well, I'll leave it up to the RNG gods to decide.
The PS3 side of things is pretty neat right now, nice 8-player set-up with a loser's bracket.
you're all awesome but that post will be bookmarked
Yeah. I'm not really a novice, but I'm kind of in agreement with you-generally speaking, I'm just not into learning a fighting game that reminds of the times I tried to learn to play guitar, if you know what I mean. Which is not to say I don't appreciate a well-made fighting system, but it's never been my goal to suck every drop out of the mechanics of the game.
One thing I'd like to see someday, and maybe this is impossible, but, I'd like to see a game where I have a chance at understanding a combo just by visually seeing it. Or a moves list that actually shows an image of that move displayed. For having a move list of everything a character can do in MK, it needs organization. Telling me it uses the triangle does not equate that it's going to be a high attack.
Which is unfortunate. Would be nice though.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
You should play God Hand. Not only do you get to buy and sell different techniques and assign them to buttons, but they all are arranged by category so that you know exactly what each one does. It's not a fighting game, but it kind of marries that tactical depth of choices to the one-versus-many format of old beat-'em-up games.
The only problem with God Hand is that it's just a game about punching people.
Find a room that is as local as possible.... I live in Toronto, so ive joined the Montreal room (5 hrs away) and all the games (including packed KOTH) have run very smooth...
As soon as I leave Kanada i start to have issues. I also had alot of success in the buffalo room (2 hrs away)