P. Jack: Interesting

TTT2 for consoles is just around the corner and if you've been living under a rock, Namco Bandai announced a total of 8 additional characters for DLC (Note: Free!) that will be available a short time after release . We all have our favorites (Forest and Kuni are on my priority list) and that's pretty understandable but I'd like to discuss the old robot by the name of P. Jack.

P. Jack is an interesting addition to the current line up of TTT2. First off, the story: I don't really care lolz.       I have followed Tekken long enough that I know Namco concocts some of the most cliche and corniest storylines around and this will be no exception. Basing on that experience, the story won't even matter because Tag2 may not be even canon with the main storyline, just like the original Tag was. P. Jack is supposed to be dead anyway because in his Tekken 2 ending,  It showed him losing a screw as he was flying away from a base with crashing sounds in the background. Go figure. Let's move on to the gameplay as that what we're here for.


Now, don't take my word for it because these are just my personal opinions. Think of these as food for thought while waiting for TTT2 to drop. I based my opinions on the "gameplay" footage that was recently released by IGN so you can deduce by now that most of what I'll be writing is mostly theoretical. 


Said video: P. Jack Gameplay Footage



At first glance, you'll immediately notice that he almost has the same moves as Jack 6. No surprise there because that's what clone characters are (the other "new" characters are no exception) albeit a few interesting additions like:

• P. Jack has good sidestep moves. Granting that these moves were already in the original TTT, the move at 0:08 has been significantly improved with a little evasion factor and the one at 0:29 looks like Djin's SS+2 with also good evasion factor.
• P. Jacks u+1+2 recovers faster than Jack 6 so it has more usage in juggles.
• His debugger (b,d,D/F+2) hits twice! Maybe it's the same damage as Jack 6 but it looks better. :D

Add all these with select moves from Jack 6 arsenal and you get a pretty well rounded character. What I'm curious about though is if P. Jack will have the same annoying low poke sets of Jack 6, namely d/b+1 and WC d/f+1. If P. Jack has these low pokes then he'll surely be effective (and competitive.)

-Chady

World's Greatest Markman: Hawkeye UMVC3 Quick Guide

Hawkeye Quick Guide:

As an individual character:
Clint Barton/ Hawkeye is an amazing character for UMVC3. Primarily a zoning character, he can keep you away With a variety of projectiles ranging from angled shots (spamming violet fizz/posion shot from an L acrobatic manuever), projectile normal attacks (air greyhound triple arrows or spitzer shot) and a tracking arrow hyper (Gimlet) but besides that, his melee normals are all very solid like his dwnfrwrd H (Sliding H. Some say this was She Hulk's slide.) air H (triple hitting bow spin) and stand M. (good range and anti-air) He's an overall good character because he's excellent from afar and he's not too shabby up close.
The only bad thing about him that acrobatic manuevers seems limited because he can only fire one set of arrows, he has awkward and situational corner combos and weak overall damage outside of xfactor. This is pretty much understandable as he's primarily known as a support character and this kinda fits him perfectly.
And now we lead off to...

Working in a team:
Let's start with positioning. I honestly think Hawkeye can be played in any position but he should be played as anchor because Hawkeye with Xfactor is godlike. I'll explain later below why Hawkeye is OP in lvl3 xfactor but for now, let's talk about Hawkeye in a team. Besides at anchor, Hawkeye can also be placed in at point or at the second spot as long as you have a good assist to either complement his zoning (Sent Drones) or extend his combos.(Sent Drones again or any Spencer grapple) Furthermore, Hawkeye can hold his own alone as long as you zone properly. And when I mean zone properly, I mean zoning with a strategy, not just spamming triple arrows all day long. This is the usual zoning method used by Hawkeye players. You jump up and do a falling Greyhound/Triple arrow and as soon as you land, press standing H arrow once and cancel into any of the three standing arrows (Greyhound, Hunter or Spitzer) or you could do either Ragtime Kamikaze or Ragtime Jack Rose or even do the Ragtime arrows after doing any of the three standing arrows. If you do this two to three times, that's a pretty solid wall of projectiles that's very hard to go through. During these times, the opponent is busy avoiding all the projectiles on screen that you can catch them off guard with a well-placed slide and into your combo. This zoning method is even stronger with good lockdown assists like Vergil Rapid Slash and Sent Drones. When the opponent is coming in, you can also set up some traps with the Jack Rose/Explosive Arrow and do an H acrobatic manuever and Ice arrow or do air grabs. With or without assists, Hawkeye can hold his own so usually he is...(next part)
Notable Helpful Assists (for Zoning): Doom Beams and Missiles, Sent Drones(also extends combos), Storm Whirlwind, Vergil Rapid Slash, Iron Man Beam,
Honorable Mentions: Ryu Tatsu (Chris G) extends combos, Jill Flip Kick extends Combos, Dante Jam Session good vertical cover and extends combos, Either of Spencer's
Grapples can extend combos, Wesker Gun Shot extends combos

Working in a team (as an assist):
The only assists that I see constant use are Hawkeyes Greyhound Triple Arrows for zoning and Violet Fizz's Poison Arrows for combos. Triple arrows is a great horizontal projectile assist as it's fast, durable and has good damage. When they also hit a standing opponent, it leaves them at a standing state which is perfect
for combo maestros like Spencer or Zero. Violet Fizz is more of a combo extension move that can be utilized by a handful of characters plus, the poison damage really adds up. I've never seen anyone use The last assist,  Ragtime Shot (Kamikaze) outside of combo vids. It kinda resembles Dooms Missiles but it's just too slow to be effective in any way. Stick to the two first assists for Hawky. The first one as it is good. The second one if you have a character who can utilize it in his/her combo and you have already a good horizontal assist.


Characters who can use Violet Fizz in their combos: Captain America, Taskmaster, Spider-Man (yeah, he does!), Jill


Working alone (with X-factor):
So both of your characters are dead and all you got left is Hawkeye. With X-factor. Piece of cake hehe. Seriously, when Hawkeye is in level 3 xfactor, he's pretty scary. Almost all his hits are doubled in damage and he's pretty quick. You can fire three spritzer shots (with H shots in between) in rapid succession.
A gimlet Xfactor cancelled into another gimlet is almost an instant kill. (around 750k to 770k of damage) but besides the damage, he also has an infinite during his Xfactor state. Well, technically it's a loop but you get the idea. It's available during Xfactor level 2 but it's more difficult there. Just try it during Hawkeye's Lvl3 state. It can be done by pressing Standing H once and looping it with the Hunter/Binding Arrow (qcf+M) and when the opponent is near death, end it with spitzer shot and Gimlet.
It looks like this on paper: 
H arrow, M Hunter Arrow, H arrow, M Hunter arrow, H arrow, M Hunter Arrow, H arrow, H Spitzer arrow, Gimlet = dead enemy.
Of course, the infinite is pretty tricky to land in itself so your primary purpose when you first activate Xfactor is fill the screen with projectiles. The single shot H arrow, Triple Arrows, Spitzer Arrows, Violet Fizz arrows and for long distance keepaway, the never used Ragtime Shot Balalaika (dp+H) shine during lvl3 xfactor.
Fill the screen with arrows and when they become distracted, move in for a low slide or for an air grab and go into a combo.

Keeping the Pressure on with Hawkeye:
-Carefully lay out your zoning. Whether it be with assists or Hawkeye alone, a well executed falling triple arrow, single H arrow cancelled into another triple arrow is a good enough manuever to keep the enemy out. Keep in mind that I always mention falling triple arrow because what I mean is you need to wait for Hawkeye to be in his falling animation before you fire the arrows so that it covers more horizontal space. More horizontal space coverage, more harder to approach.
- His normals can be cancelled to acrobatic manuevers. Now this whole concept is not really that useful...besides one tactic. The only normal I could find worth cancelling from is his slide and when you cancel it into Acrobatic Manuevers H (then fire an Ice arrow), it usually crosses the opponent up, leading to a combo.
-Still in line with crossups, when an opponent is still coming in, you can leave an explosive arrow on the floor and as soon as the opponent lands, immediately do an acrobatic manuever H and try an ice arrow to cross them up. If you feel that the opponent is familiar with this setup, you can always go for an air grab, you can
go for a fake cross up by simply jumping up then landing with H or doing acrobatic manuevers H then when you land, doing a slide for a low into combo. Option selects!
-When your opponent breaks your air throw, usually you won't be able to move right away but with Hawkeye's air H, you can hit people who like to press their buttons when they are falling down. This may not prove to be as useful but it cancels out any hyper they're planning to do or a normal they were trying to pull off.
-Use Gimlet with your head. Hawkeye's omnidirectional Gimlet hyper is powerful in part because it is instant on start-up after the cinematic, but do keep in mind that there are methods and characters who can take advantage of it being instant and avoid it completely with a few different few actions,
provided they are not in block-stun. The first option is using a power up hyper like Wolvie's Berserker Charge during the cinematic of Gimlet. The invincibility and quick recovery time of these types of hypers will dodge the Gimlet arrow completely, leaving Hawkeye in a bad position The second option is to use the invincibility of "raw" tags to dodge the Gimlet. Though this option will not leave you in as good position afterwords, it can be used by the entire cast and can still be very useful to save a character from chip death. Only use Gimlet when they whiff something, you have a pretty badass guess (lolz), you have Xfactor to cancel into and during combos.


On being effective with Hawkeye:
-Zone them out. Develop your zoning with practice and your choice of assists. Keep them away with arrows before you initiate your own rushdown.
-Practice them corner combos. It may not seem much but I tell you, when you land in the corner and realize that you still need to backdash and do an L acrobatic manuever into arrows and gimlet, you're gonna have a bad time. Yipes can vouch me for this statement.
-be familiar with your arsenal and Use all of the arrows in the right situation. Everything has it's use. For everything else, there's Mastercard lolz.
-The Spitzer Shot is the arrow with the most durability. Sometimes it can go through Mags or Dooms beams in weird distances. thats a big sometimes, though.


Finally, parting words:
Nothing much to say here. As long as you zone them out, punish their mistakes with Gimlet and do good combos.
you have a pretty decent Hawkeye.

Peace out.

-Chady

Nathan Rad Spencer: A quick guide for the Bionic Commando

So, I've been playing Spencer for UMVC3 and this is my guide to those who want to start with the bionic Commando

As an individual character:
Spencer is designed with two main purposes:
Rushdown and an awesome combo potential enabling him to kill any character off one clean hit.
In order to achieve that with Spencer, you need take advantage of his mobility(Zips and air zips),powerful air normals (air H and S) and learning the best combo's that lead to or close to the corner, regardless of who your assists are. (Knivez' zip loop or Adeleheid Stark's combos work fine.) Now bear in mind that even though his zip brings you up close, it's far from safe as characters with faster pokes can and could beat out Spencer's ground normals.
Here is where I bring in...

Working in a team:
Spencer greatly benefits from a good horizontal projectile assist (e.g.Doom beams, Task's Arrows) to support his rushdown and keep him safe at the same time.
OTG assists wouldn't hurt as well as it extends his combos and maximizes damage potential.
This covers the two essential elements in a Spencer team: The horizontal support for rushdown and the ability to extend combos with maximum flash and damage potential.

Good Horizontal Assists: Task and Hawkeye's Arrows(Combofiend), Doom Beam, Iron Man Beam, Akuma Tatsu (Knivez), Sent Drones
Some OTG Assists: Wesker Gun Shot(Omen), Doom's Missiles(GX), Felicia Sand (PR Rog)

Working in a team (as an assist):
Spencer as an assist is mainly used for extending combos and I have rarely found anyone using Spencer as a main support assist although sometimes people do get caught with a grapple but then again, it still leads off to a combo hehe so it can also be a combo starter. The grapple assist to be used is dependent on which characters are with Spencer. Grapple Horizontal Shot ends in the opponent in OTG status and this is perfect for characters with OTG moves like Dante and Sent while the Grapple Slant Shot puts the opponents in a restand neutral state which also leads to combos as well as resets. I don't see anyone in competitive play using Spencer's Armor Piercer which is pretty understandable. It's too slow to be a get-off me assist and only a handful of characters can use this assist to extend  their combos. Stick to the grapples.

Notable Slant Grapple Set-ups: Iron Fist Restand Restun Combos, Wolverine Setup for either extending combo or a reset (PR Rog), Wesker Setup like Wolvie's.
Notable Horizontal Grapple Set-ups: Hawkeye Arrows Galore Combos (Zeohawk and me lolz), Sentinel Rocket Punch Combos, Dante, Wesker    

Working alone (with X-factor):
Now generally, me and most players prefer Spencer to be at point or middle man for positioning for a ton of obvious reasons but sometimes when worst comes to worst, Spencer may become the last remaining member of your team. Now, don't get me wrong, Spencer with level 3 X-factor is anextremely OP character but unless you are Spencer God Combofiend, you're gonna have a hard time getting those combos and controlling him around the screen. Stick to simple
combos (like L,M,H, L Zip Grapple end with Bionic Arm) and diagonal air zips when using level 3 Spencer. The simpler you use him, the better.

Being craftier with Spencer:
Being familiar with all the things written above is great but adding a few more tricks wouldn't hurt.
-Spencer has an overhead move (f+H) which is hella slow and is kinda hard to set-up on it's own but with a good horizontal assist, you can get this. Also, you need to always, ALWAYS link the Armor Piercer after the overhead because it's very punishable. Even though if the overhead doesn't hit, the Armor Piercer will push the opponent back and keep Spencer safe as long as the opponent is not in or near the corner.
-Spencer also has a command grab set-up which you need to integrate into your game. Try to use it when they least expect it like do a d.L>d.M and if they don't
pushblock, cancel into the grab. Note that only the M and H versions leads off to a combo (don't do the follow-up move as it's crap.)
-For incoming opponents, you can do another command grab setup by delaying an air H and as they pushblock you'll land immediately, letting you dash in and do the antiair command grab setup (The H version) Yipes uses this often.
-There's also a snapback setup that Infrit used that I think is an ambiguous cross up. After doing the snapback, do a slant zip near the corner and do a Death from Above (air dwn,dwnfrwrd,frwrd+S) and when it's succesful, it leads to a combo. Having a good assist like Sent drones can totally make this a scary tactic.
-This is a rarely used and seen setup but this proves useful for players who aren't familiar with it and you have Sent or any character with good lockdown assists. Spencer has an upzip (up+anybutton+S) that has special properties because you can still activate an assist while you are upzipping. It looks like a normal zip butSpencer moves up straight. Be careful with the input of this zip because a delayed or mistimed input may lead to a swinging zip (the one where he looks like Tarzan.) Now the reason why this is so good with Sent drones is that while Spencer is zipping up and the opponent is guarding the Sent drones, he's open to mixups. You can
zip straight down and go for the overhead, the low (watch your feet) or wait for the assist to finish and do a command grab.Some other good assists for this are Strange's Eye of Agamotto and to a certain degree, Doom's Missiles.
-Spencer has one of the best air grabs in the game because you can maximize the damage from those air grabs as long as you know the right combo. Learn that combo.
-Death from above is an interesting move. Now I know it's only often used in combos but Knivez has been integrating it into his game. Using it randomly and cancelling to Xfactor when it fails lolz but I think there is potential to it. What I'd like to mention about it though is that it can lead to air grab resets. After doing a DFA in a combo, doing a stand L and jump cancelling it can lead to some pretty tricky grabs although it's kinda obvious at times hehe. There's no harm in trying, though.
-The smart and proper usage of Bionic Lancer/Bionic arm. First, while the Bionic Lancer is invincible from startup to hit contact from mid range, you are completely wide open after that so learn the distance and instance on when to use this super. The recovery is really bad if you miss and without Xfactor, say goodbye to Spencer. Another flaw is it may look full screen due to the size of the attack, but it isn't. Don't ever use this from far away since you can easily get punished  hard.You can also use it to punish assists. People with assist happy mentalities will get punished and even happy birthday'd. All in all, this is by far one of the best punishers in the entire game. Don't waste it.

On being effective with Spencer:
The most helpful advice I could give to budding Bionic Commando's are the following:
-Practice practice practice his combos until you can do them with your eyes closed. (Mick Valle)
-Learn to Tiger Knee that Grapple in them combos and you're good.
-Zip smart, zip well. Zip with assists, zip with purpose.
-Bionic arm them shit (Combofiend)

Finally, parting words:
Spencer teams are designed with one purpose: maximize Spencer's combo potential enabling him to kill (or almost kill) with one touch.
In order for you to do that, you need some kind of projectile support allowing him to zip in freely and set up high low mixups.
Once you get in, do those combos you've been practicing and make sure to make them count. TK inputs will help you here.
When they come in, perform your setup of choice.( Air grabs, Upzips, Command Grab setups, etc.) and combo again.
When it fails, back off and repeat the process.
Always remember to add in the command grab when the opportunity presents itself. Punish whiffs and bad assists with Bionic Arm.
Do all this and you'll be winning in no time.

Peace Out.

-Chady