SvC Chaos: SNK Vs Capcom/Vega

バルログ, Balrog
Difficulty	Difficult
Max Mode Needed?	Almost Uselss
Tier Placement	Trash (E)
Standing Hitbox	?
Crouching Hitbox	Short

Introduction

Vega (known as Balrog in Japan), or also known as Claw to avoid international confusion, is a narcissistic, Spanish ninja that works as M. Bison's personal bodyguard. In at least a of his appearances, most notably Super Turbo, he has proven to be a monster of a character with incredible buttons and gameplay that forces even the best players to stay on their toes in their approach against him (outside of SF4 and SF5, at least). In SVC, unfortunately, Vega suffers tremendously. He retains a few of his qualities like his great speed, good pokes, and somewhat unpredictable gameplay, however he's also a good example of a good character thrown into a game whose system completely hinders them. Vega's a charge character, but SVC - outside of Guile - is very unforgiving to charge characters when the likes of movement, zoning, and especially front step are prevalent. The system does nothing but make matters worse for Vega as he gains practically zero benefits while also having a pretty bad movelist to work with. On the bright side, you never have to worry about losing either his mask or claw.

Pros	Cons
Amazing mobility and speed Easy screen travel Has wall jumps Can air grab the opponent Annoying to deal with pokes Can no longer lose either his mask or claw Mixups can potentially work Decent anti-airs	Hard to master Really bad Exceed Can't cancel normals into command normals or supers Everything else is super unsafe and makes for free GCFS punishes cr.LP is rather slow Wall leaps can be easily anti-aired Hardly any combos to work with, and none of them are good GCFS is arguably nearly useless for him

Moves List

Normal Moves

Vega's Normal Moves are nice to use in battle, and if you used him in the early SF games, you will know some of them.

s.LP - The Far and the Close versions are the same(And Claw was needing a far s.LP in this game). A fast attack with his claw. Good as a starter for light attack combos, can be canceled, but it whiffs against low crouching chars.
s.LK - (Far) Nice cancelable poke. It's fast, its reach is nice, and it's 100% safe if blocked. (Close) A fast attack with Claw's knee. It hits low crouching chars, can be comboed after a s.LP, and you can cancel it. It's good for tick throws too.
s.HP - (Far) A poke. It isn't fast as the far s.LK, and cannot be canceled, but its reach is better. Use if you need. (Close) His most damaging cancelable move, but it's slow and whiffs on low crouching chars, so use this only on punish situations.
s.HK - The Far and the Close versions are the same. A great anti-air. The range is nice, the priority is nice, and the damage is simple. Use it only as an anti-air.

j.LP - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. A good air-to-air, and only that.
j.LK - (Diagonal) A fast jump-in. Good to use on combos. The kick stays for the entire arc of the jump. (Neutral) Can be used as an air-to-air, but the j.LP is better.
j.HP - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. A slow, but good jump-in for combos. The reach is not that great, compared to the move below. It can even crossup the opponent, but it's hard.
j.HK - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. Claw's best jump-in in my opinion. It's faster, has more reach, but can't crossup compared to the j.HP, now just choose which jump-in you'll use.

cr.LP - I remember this poke in the early SF games... It could combo in itself, it was extremely fast, and was a followup to his rolling move. Here, this move isn't like that, sadly. Don't worry, you still can combo after the s.LP, and cancel it.
cr.LK - A low poke. It's cancelable, fast, and can be comboed after the s.LP.
cr.HP - Nice reach and angle. It's slow, but this move is good as an anti-air, and only that.
cr.HK - This move has the same animation as the cr.LK, but a little slower. It cannot be canceled and doesn't knocks down(Strangely enough) but you can link another cr.HK after a meaty cr.HK.

Command Moves

Well... What can I say? You cannot cancel normal moves into those so... If you want to use them, use in mixup games.

Peace of Mercury

• f+LK - An overhead kick. It's slow, so you cannot combo after this. It's unsafe if blocked too, watch out when you use.

Cosmic Smarts

• f+HK - This move has a nice reach, can be used as an anti-air, but whiffs on low crouching chars and Claw can't combo after it, so watch out in this move too.

Round Slider

• df+HK - This is Claw's cr.HK from the Capcom games. Can be used as a low poke too. It can't combo too. Unsafe if blocked.

Special Moves

Rolling Crystal Flash

• Charge b, f+P - Claw's classic rolling move. LP version is better if you're doing poke games, and the HP version is for combos(It's nice to cancel the last hit of this version in MAXIMUM Mode) and cheap finishers. Unsafe if blocked too.

Scarlet Terror

• Charge db, f+K - One of Claw's best moves. Can be used as an anti-air too, it knocks down if hits and safe on block. Oh, and while Claw is doing this move, you'll have time to charge, leading to some interesting setups. You can charge this move by holding backwards too, and when you finished charging, press db, f+K and the move will come out.

Sky High Claw

• Charge d, u+P - This is used to travel around the screen and to punish projectiles. LP version can be used as an anti-air, and the HP version can be used to punish projectiles, because Claw will fly lower than the LP version. This move is really fast, so use when you need.

Wall Leap

• Charge d, u+K - Claw's classic(It was good in the early SF games) Wall Leap. You can use this to some hit & run strategies, and to get away from the corner too. You can control(With f/b) where Claw will land, and it's important to know exactly where he will land. He will do a simple backdash after he lands, remember that.
  • Follow-Ups:
    • Flying Barcelona Attack
      • Press P slightly near opponent - This is an important move to Claw's hit & run strategies in this game(In every game, I mean). Well, in this move, Claw will open his arms, and either one can hit, so after a wall leap, try to move behind your opponent and press a punch for a crossup attack. The damage is great too, and it's safe if blocked(Remember that simple backdash?). If you want, after the Wall Leap, control Claw with db/df, to charge while you're moving.
    • Izuna Drop
      • P near the opponent - A grab with no range. Don't think about using this, because it's unsafe if you miss the timing. It's hard to do too, so use the FBA(The follow-up above) instead.

Backslash

• LP+HP - Interesting move that you should master. Claw will do two backflips, and he is invincible while doing them. Good to hit & run(You can cancel Normal Moves into this move too), good to escape from fireballs(Watch out for the timing), good to escape from GCFs, and good to do safe moves in MAXIMUM Mode(Yeah, just press AC while doing a ground move in MAXIMUM Mode).

Short Backslash

• LK+HK - You'll need this too. It has the same properties as the move above, but Claw will do only one backflip. Good to use to do a quick escape against those reversals.

Super Moves

(Super) Wall Leap

• Charge db, df, db, uf+K - The input is strange, I know. But remember that this move is not like in the old SF games, where the super only starts if Claw grabs the opponent, so don't use this in vain(If you do nothing after the Super Wall Leap, you'll lose meter). You can control where Claw will go with b/f too, like in the normal version.
  • Follow-Ups:
    • Flying Barcelona Special
      • P - A safe super. You can use this like the normal version(With crossups and those things), and it does more hits and damage. Don't even try to make this move whiff.
    • Rolling Izuna Drop
      • P near the opponent - The same properties as the normal version, but it does more damage(The damage is nice too). Use at your risk.

Scarlet Mirage

• Charge b, f, b, f+K - Claw's super for combos. The LP version is more defensive, while the HP version is better on combos. It knocks down, and you can charge while the super hits the opponent. The LK version is a safe Super, but watch out for those GCFs.

Exceed

Red Impact

• Charge b, f, b, f+HP - One of the worst Exceeds in this game(That's just my opinion). It has almost no range, it's hard to combo(But it's possible anyway), can be blocked with ease, and the damage is not that good(I mean, when compared to other Exceeds). Use on punish situations(You'll need to turtle if you want to hit with this).

The Basics

Claw's Gameplan

Claw is a charge character who likes to travel around the screen, you already know that. And he likes to be safe everytime too, with his Wall Leap crossups, with his Backslashes, and with his safe anti-air Special move. Claw, as you know, is a hit & run character, and this can make the match easier to win against some characters. His pokes are very nice too, you should use them. You have the Backslashes at your dispose, and you can even punish projectiles when you need. So travel around the screen, be safe, punish the opponent when you need, and plan your game everytime(If you're in the defense, think what you can do to help yourself, and if you're in the offense, think what you can do against the opponent, and now it's up to you. Good luck in your matches).

Some combos (Without MAXIMUM Mode)

Vega's combos can be used better on punish situations(That's because he needs to charge backwards/down-back to do more damage in the combos), and remember: Claw can't cancel normals into Command Moves(Even in MAXIMUM Mode). Some possible combos are below(If I forgot something or if you want to add a possible combo, put it here).

1- [Jump Attack] cl.LP(2x, 3 if you're lucky), f./cr.LK, LP+HP/LK+HK - (Up to) 4 hits(Depends of how many LPs you used); 5 hits if you used a Jump Attack

A simple hit & run combo to practice. And this is good because you don't need to punish your opponent to do this. Watch out, because the cl.LP whiffs on low crouching chars.

2- [Jump Attack](Hold back/down-back while you're jumping) cl./cr.LP/LK, (After the charge) f+HP/HK/f, b, f+HK - 4/3/10 hits; 5/3/11 if you used a Jump Attack

A kind of basic, but damaging combo. If you want to punish, you can use the cl.HP(Do the charge, press the HP button while standing, and then do the rest of the command).

3- Charge db, f+LK(Make sure you got a counter hit), Charge db, f+HK - 3 hits

A defensive combo with a defensive starter. This is nice to use when you need. And you can use while you're in midscreen too.

4- (Charge back/down-back) cl.HP, (After the charge) Exceed - 2 hits

Claw's best punish combo, and it's the only way to combo with the Exceed (without counter hits and the MAXIMUM Mode). Can be the best way to spend your Exceed.

Advanced Strategy

I don't know so many special strategies for Claw, so I will only add a MAXIMUM Mode combo here(You can add more if you know some).

Some Combos (With MAXIMUM Mode)
I could confirm only one combo, so... Dunno. Claw isn't combo friendly in this game(He can MAX cancel only 2 of his special moves).

1- [Jump Attack](Hold back/down-back) cr.LP/LK, (After the charge) f+HP(Charge db here), f+HK, LK+HK(MAX cancel the last hit, and charge db/b), f, b, f+HK - (Up to) 14 hits; 15 with the Jump Attack

Probably one of Claw's most damaging combos. Some guys said that this combo is possible with the Exceed instead of the Super on big characters, but I couldn't do it(Because I'm testing on a Keyboard only to see if it's easy to do), but I could MAX cancel the roll into the (Charge)db, f+HK, and connect this move into another (Charge)db, f+HK, and I can confirm that the first hit of the anti-air can juggle the opponent if canceled. The Super part is the most difficult. If you want to try with the Exceed, okay.