Galford (SS2)

Introduction

He’s a fighter who wants to be a lover, and he’s out to spread peace and justice at the tip of a sword. He’s Galford D. Weller, American ninja! If you enjoy versatility, speed, and mobility without being a stereotypical featherweight pixie, Galford is for you.

Story

According to SNK cannon (gathered from the series intros, endings, etc., including SSRPG), Galford is the nice guy son of an American Sheriff killed in the line of duty. He left his family behind and became a sailor, whereupon his journeys he heard stories of ninja and their amazing exploits. Intrigued, Galford sought out Hanzo (yes, that one). Hazno did not train Galford personally, but gave him and Eathquake (huh?!) both permission to learn under the wife of his master.

Earthquake quit in short order, though obviously not before learning quite a few tricks. Galford stuck with it and now uses his skills to defend “justice”. His sword, “Sword of Justice” is forged using metal from the bullet that killed his father, though at the time of SSII Galford does not yet know who the killer is (this is a little nebulous – the timeline of Samurai Shodown Sen is not well established and might even be a retcon).

Also unexplained is where Galford acquired his control of electricity - later games make it pretty clear his electrical powers are an innate ability and not tied to specific techniques like Hanzo’s various fire based attacks.

At some point during all of this, Galford met and went ga-ga over Nakoruru, but whether or not she returns his feelings, her duties to nature usually prevent anything coming of it. Sieger’s SSII ending also implies he, Galford, Wan-Fu, and Charlotte are all allies. It’s probably safe to say Gaflord is on friendly terms with all the non-evil cast members.

Moves List

Normal Moves

Standing

A – Galford uses his lead hand to swipe at the opponent with a backhand motion. Quick and decent damage, but the range is poor.

B – Galford swings overhead with one arm in a C shaped arc, stepping forward on his front leg. Overall this is your best poke. It comes out fast and has reasonable range. Damage isn’t great but it does the job. Use this to wear down your opponent in footsie games, but don’t stand around trading with Haohmaru, Charlote, or Ukyo. You won’t like the results.

AB – Galford somersaults forward and performs a nasty looking overhead strike. Looks cool, but it’s very situational. Takes forever to execute and even longer to recover. Damage output is divided over three hits, each slightly more than a standing B. In theory that would be awesome, but normally only one can connect. End result is that damage and stun are absolutely pathetic for a standing AB. Worse, even a clean hit leaves you virtually no frame advantage, and you can’t cancel out. It’s Galford's only standing slash that doesn’t recoil stun when blocked, but the atrocious recovery makes that a moot point. In short the only thing this move does well on its own is get Galford killed quickly.

All that said it is the prime ingredient for a couple of some utterly devastating combos involving Poppy that can often take out your opponent in one go, so don’t discount it entirely. See strategies and combos for more info.

C – Galford throws an insanely quick head level roundhouse kick. It’s his fastest standing attack – that rear leg practically teleports into your opponent’s face and retracts just as quickly. Not bad range either, though it completely misses crouching opponents. Not much damage, but more than most C kicks. Use it mainly as a harassment tool and to stuff incoming attacks.

D – Same animation and functionality as C, trading speed for damage. Still faster than most moves of its kind, and with the extra damage it’s worth using now and again as a poke. Just be careful, because you’ll take a lot more in return if countered.

CD – Galford throws a spiffy jumping back spin kick right to the side of his opponent’s head. Very fast and damage output comparable to some weaker characters’ AB slashes. Unfortunately the short range really limits its use. For some opponents, you need to be almost near enough to trigger the horrendous close CD. Like Galford’s other standing kicks, this one also misses crouching opponents. It does have one interesting property though - Galford is airborne on the very first frame, meaning he can dodge low attacks like a hop. I don’t have the reflexes to make anything of this, but it might have some situational counter attack uses. Can also occasionally work as an anti-air if the range is right.

Standing, Close

A – Galford strikes vertically downward with his far arm, crossing his own body. Does average damage for a close A, comes out almost instantly and recovers quickly even if blocked. Use this to back off an aggressive poker or to keep the pressure on.

B – Same animation as A and comes out just about as fast, but does more damage at the cost of slower recovery. I don’t use this one much. It’s not a bad move at all, but most of the time you have better options.

AB – Now here's what I’m talking about! Galford rears away with both arms and comes back with everything he’s got in a huge overhead slash. This move looks like it would hurt, and it does. Considerably stronger than Hanzo’s counterpart, it’s one of the most damaging close AB’s in the game, only losing out to Jubei, Seiger, and Genjuro. This by extension makes it one of the most damaging attacks period, and in a high damage game like SSII that’s saying something.

Two of these and your opponent is dizzy. Four and he’s dead. Best of all the damage comes in one big chunk, so no worries about grazing hits. Land it whenever possible, but don’t just swing randomly because the startup and block recoil both leave Galford more open than a 7-11. Look for ways to punish, surprise and combo instead. More on that later.

C – Galford drives a quick knee into his opponent’s gut. Works essentially the same as his standing C, but doesn’t miss crouching opponents.

D – Same as close C, but adds an extra frame where Galford turns his knee inward a bit to absorb the recoil. Stick to this one over close C. Damage difference is well worth the very slight speed loss.

CD – Galford shows off his flexibility training by throwing a nearly vertical side kick. Pretty fast and it does damage on par with weapon strikes; if disarmed this is your single strongest basic attack. Good luck ever getting it to hit though. Has ZERO reach and even at point blank range it will whiff right over half the cast! It also lost the excellent ground to air priority from SSI. The only real use is giving Sieger or Earthquake a solid boot to the face now and then, but in those situations you almost always have better options.

Standing Unarmed

A/B/AB – All three versions use the same animation - a lunging straight punch to the breadbasket. Despite appearances there are subtle differences in speed between each. All come out fast with solid range and top tier damage output compared to other punches.

Standing Unarmed, Close

A - Very fast backhand. Damage is what you'd expect, but speed and priority make up for it.

B - Harder, slower backhand. Otherwise same as A.

AB - Three hit auto combo consisting of an elbow, backhand and finally the normal standing punch. Doesn't do nearly as much damage as appearances would suggest - close CD is considerably stronger. However the first hit comes out almost instantly, plus it or the second hit can be canceled for a true combo. As icing on the cake the whole move is nearly impossible to punish when blocked.

Crouching

A – Galford lunges slightly and swings vertically with his rear arm. Short range but very quick. Unfortunately it doesn't hit low. There are usually better things to do, but if you are cornered this can back them off for a little breathing room.

B – Same animation and basic properties as A, but trades speed for some more damage. Good for chopping down low kicks, but very situational.

AB – Yet another excellent AB attack; I guess SNK was making up for the horrendous standing AB. Anyway, Galford grabs his weapon with his near arm and swipes low with a backhand motion, almost like his standing A. Even without all his other tools this move is good enough on its own to make Galford dangerous. It comes out fast, hits low, knocks down and like all ABs does a ton of damage. Excellent dizzy potential too.

Want more? Strangely, the hitbox reaches slightly above Galford’s head, making this a very surprising and damaging anti air if timed correctly. Range isn’t outstanding but it’s good enough to get the job done. The only real issue is a fairly long recovery, but even that can be nullified by canceling. Part of the infamous rush trap (more on that later too).

C – Galford pokes at the opponent with his near foot. Even faster than standing C, this spams fast as you can push the button. As you might guess, it removes barley a pixel from your opponent’s life bar, but it hits low and stuffs a lot of other moves. Use it now and then to harass and annoy them into making mistakes, or to counter moves that are normally safe from retaliation.

D – Galford whips his rear leg forward. Has kind of an awkward animation that makes it look slower than it is. Hits low and sweeps your opponent off his feet. A nice general purpose sweep. Use this in place of crouch AB if you are unarmed and want to sweep when up close.

CD – Very similar to his standing CD, Galford throws a full spinning back kick, but aimed low. An all-round excellent move - it comes out fast, hits low, sweeps, has good range, recovers quickly and even does fair damage. Compliments crouch AB perfectly - use AB for maximum damage and this one for reach.

One other interesting use is item collection. If you don’t want to risk running up to grab a food drop, just stick this out instead and Galford will snatch the morsel right out from under his opponent’s nose! The only real disadvantage this move has is that you might accidentally trigger the less useful crouching close CD instead.

Crouching, Close

CD – A nifty looking but not particularly functional attack. Galford somersaults in place and throws a rolling two hit axe kick. Does pretty good damage, but doesn't hit low and leaves your opponent standing. Decent recovery, but the big problem is the absolutely horrendous start up. It practically begs to get counter hit. Avoid this move unless you’re going for style points.

Crouching Unarmed

A – A quick backhand. Doesn’t hit low, but it’s nearly as quick as crouching C and does a bit more damage.

B – Same as A, with a nearly imperceptible trade off of speed for damage.

AB - Crouching version of the standing lunge punch. Nice priority and damage for a punch, but since it doesn’t hit low your kicks are usually a better option.

Jump

A – Galford swings downward with one arm - basically an air version of his close A. Covers in front and slightly below with excellent priority. Beats just about anything air to air if you’re close enough, but range and damage are not worth it unless you have no other options.

B – An air version of his standing A. It has a very high hit box and nice priority, so if you are quick this is actually a pretty good ground to air defense option. Won’t rock any worlds but still does decent damage.

AB – Galford throws a hard vertical chop - looks very similar to Haohmaru’s and is right on par with it in quality. Excellent reach and coverage in front and below Galford. Jumping in is generally a bad idea in this game, but if you must this one of the best. Will win a few air to air battles too, and like most ABs it hurts plenty when connected.

C – A weird looking back kick. Stays out quite a while and has excellent horizontal range. Your longest reaching jump attack.

D – Same as C. A little more damage, but doesn’t stay out as long.

CD – A spinning back kick similar to standing CD, but completely horizontal. Takes a while to execute, doesn’t reach as far as it looks. Hits hard if it connects, but otherwise not really useful.

Jump, Horizontal

CD – Galford throws a hard side kick at a slight downward angle. Quick, powerful, aims perfectly for a jump in and it has high priority over most ground attacks. Can cross up if timed correctly. Only stays out for a second though, so plan accordingly.

Jump Unarmed

A/B/AB - Again the straight punch. Functionally it takes the place of your armed jumping B.

Throws

Note: All of Galford’s throws cause the same amount of damage but vary wildly in their positioning effects, so chose the one that suits your strategy best. There does appear to be a throw priority in place, and if so Galford must be high on it. I find playing as Galford or Hanzo I can consistently throw my opponents in situations most other characters can’t. Feel free to toss most of the cast about at your leisure.

B/AB – Galford somersaults backward with his opponent, similar to the classic Frankensteiner, but instead pins them flat to the ground with his hands and bounces away. The bounce carries Galford quite a distance, about the same as his normal jump. Note Galford bounces to the opposite side he releases opponent, so if you throw them to the right, Galford bounces away to the left.

D/CD – Galford grabs his opponent in a scissor lock, then cartwheels head over heels, taking them to the ground and following up with a slash to the throat (!!). Opponent bounces away a short distance in direction of the throw while Galford remains in place.

Unarmed

D/CD – Same startup as the armed version but instead of a slash follow-up Galford flings them away midair. Probably his most effective basic throw. Galford's recovery is unchanged but due to being thrown so far the opponent is neutralized much longer. This gives you plenty of time to retrieve your weapon and/or set up some wake up games, including the rush trap.

Jump

2 + B/AB – Galford performs his B/AB throw midair except he only bounces a short distance after impact. Stops all jumping momentum and drops both participants straight to the ground. For whatever reason there is a dramatic flash effect as he first grabs the opponent. Cannot be used on Earthquake, but if timed correctly has incredible priority over jumping and special attacks from anyone else. It’s possible to throw Haohmaru and Genjuro’s uppercuts, Wan-Fu’s jumping CD, Sieger’s Blitz Jaeger, etc.

Vs. Earthquake/Kuroko

Any ground throw – Galford uses a quick version of his crouch D to destabilize their footing and then floors them with a standing C. You cannot air throw Earthquake. I am not certain if it is possible to air throw Kuroko.

Special Moves

Wall Jump

9 near screen edge when in air.

Not something you want to do a lot in this game, but it’s fast enough to catch some extra air and pull a jump in when they least expect it.

Triangle Jump

9 near screen edge immediately after jumping.

If you are next to the screen edge, jump and immediately wall jump, Galford will rebound with a slightly different animation and much lower trajectory. Hard to do, but results in a jump in that is very difficult for your opponent to defend against.

Plasma Blade

2 3 6 + A/B/AB

Galford charges a pair of Kunai with electricity and throws them forward. Button strength controls execution time and projectile speed. A version comes out quick and travels slowly, AB is the opposite.

On hit stuns your opponent for quite a while – just enough to chase the A version down and combo a close AB or jump in. Nowhere near as quick or devastating as it would become in later SS installments, but here it’s still one of the better projectiles. Main use is to cancel from basic attacks for add on damage or as chipping tool.

Rear Replica Attack

6 3 2 1 4 + BCD

On hit or block 4 or 6 to control direction of recovery.

Galford disappears instantly and then reappears over his opponent falling down with a spinning sword strike. If whiffed Galford recovers more or less instantly. Otherwise he bounces away in the direction of your choice. Tracks your opponent’s location, must be blocked high and does a nice chunk of damage. It also has excellent priority and sports an active hitbox the very second Galford reappears. Unfortunately there is a small delay before Galford actually does reappear, so trying this at random gives your opponent all the time in the world to react. As you might have guessed this is really bad for Galford. Another minus is the lack of any chip damage.

Sounds useless right? As an offensive tool it mostly is, but that’s not what you should be doing with it. Instead, learn to perform it on reaction. If you are quick enough, the Rear Replica can shut down many other characters’ entire game plan, especially those involving projectiles and big AB slashes. Another use is against characters you can hit when held by Poppy (see Machine Gun Dog). If Galford is unarmed, he will instead drop straight down with a punch. Doesn’t seem to lose much priority and still does decent damage, but the recoil bounce follows a slightly different trajectory.

Replica Attack

BCD when hit.

On hit or block 4 or 6 to control direction of recovery.

Galford performs his Rear Replica Attack out of hit stun, leaving a log behind. Has all of the same attacking properties. You can’t use this to escape a true combo, but oddly you CAN escape a dizzy and some knockdowns (time BCD just as Galford lands). Great to turn the damage trade back in your favor when Poppy attacks assist style. Also good when your opponent has you pinned down and gets greedy with trapping. Otherwise you want to be careful. It’s tempting to show that you can take it and keep on coming, but more often than not you’ll be giving them another hit for free.

Strike Heads

6 2 3 + C/D/CD

“I wanna take you for a ride… I wanna take you for a ride…” Galford grabs his opponent, leaps for the sky and inverts himself to bring his foe spiraling to the deck head first. Upon impact he summons a lightning bolt to fry them for even more pain. Button used controls height carried and reach. C takes them about half the screen height and does negligible damage, but it has the most range. CD version requires closer quarters, but carries them well beyond visual range of the camera for a massive impact and damage comparable to AB slashes.

Even for C version the range is rather short - you aren’t going to “Zangief” limbs from three character lengths away. That said, this move does enjoy supreme priority over pretty much everything else in the game. If you are close enough and fast enough there really isn’t anything they can do except jump away. Sometimes not even that. Knowing this, about half of your opponent’s game plan is to avoid getting caught in Galford’s clutches (notice the VS. Hanzo/Galford sections of other FAQs – watching out for this move will be on most of them). This gives you a huge overall strategy advantage, and ironically enough often makes them fall right into your hands for a grab.

Another interesting property is that you can cancel into this. You can’t grab an opponent during a hit or block stun, but since there is no whiff animation certain other moves with a long recovery can be cut short. So far no infinities have been found, but you can leverage this to put on insane pressure.

Running Strike Heads

6 2 3 + C/D/CD (Running)

Galford performs his Strike Heads throw instantly from a run, this time carrying his unfortunate victim in an arc before the inevitable crash landing. Shares all the properties of its stationary brother with just a couple of exceptions. First, that arc is a perfect positioning tool for cornering. CD travels over ¾ of the entire stage! Second, despite appearances this version actually does slightly LESS damage. Range and timing are also a bit stricter to avoid rolling instead. Just like the normal version though, this move enjoys ludicrous priority. Remember above where I said you can’t grab from long range? This is the solution! With Galford’s insanely fast run, it’s possible to dash in on reaction from a few character lengths away and grab them out of just about anything. Practice until you can do it at will.

Shadow Copy

6 4 1 2 3 6 + A/B

A = Real Galford on left.
B = Real Galford on right.

Galford takes a Kuji stance, smokes out and reappears as two copies at left and right of the screen area. Galford is vulnerable except during the actual smoke out, but it has a fast startup time and can be canceled into anything (including itself) immediately after reappearing. Should your opponent strike the fake image with weapon attacks, a small electric bomb will be released that knocks down for minor damage. The move ends when you take action or after ~5 seconds.

The most obvious strategy is to teleport to your opponent’s location and grab them with Strike Heads. Against the CPU opponents (even and especially Mizuki) this is pretty much an “I Win” button if you can do it consistently. Just rinse and repeat until they’re dead.

Humans will be fully aware of the teleport and grab tactic, but you can actually use this against them. Teleport away from them and cancel into Rush Dog (I catch humans with this all the time). Repeat Shadow Copy a few times and when they start swinging in frustration, that’s when you can grab them – really turns up the frustration factor. Do the same thing but this time drop on them with a Rear Replica Attack (risky but rewarding). The possible combinations are limitless. Most human players who are aware of these tricks will tend to stay in the middle so as to properly react to whatever action you take. If you’re fast on the controls, come out from either side with a dashing Strike Heads and grab them anyway. Heh heh heh…

Dog Commands

2 1 4 + Button (see below)

"Go Poppy!" Galford points to his opponent and gives his loyal canine sidekick Poppy the command to attack, whereupon she'll perform one of three actions based on your button press. Galford stays in his command pose long enough to get nailed pretty easy, but the upside is that once Poppy begins to act interrupting Gaflord won't stop her. This means that often as not they'll hit Galford only to get mangled by Poppy for the trouble. Damage wise this rarely works in Gaflord's favor, but strategically it's a huge advantage. It's often worth it to intentionally sacrifice a hit from your opponent just to ensure Poppy can get to them.

Rush Dog

A/B/AB

Poppy races forward washed in a red glow and rams herself head on into whatever comes first. Button press determines distance Poppy will run before stopping (and thus return time if she misses). Fastest startup of any projectile in the game, but Poppy takes a while to recover. Can be used to stop other projectiles, but poor Poppy will be left writhing in pain for a moment after. Does solid damage and can’t be ducked under, but it’s easily hopped. Also be warned that many physical rushing attacks like Nakoruru’s Annu Mutsube will plow right over Poppy and usually Galford too in the process.

Machine Gun Dog

C

"Get it off! Get it off!" Poppy backflips and rushes forward looking to put the bite on your opponent. On a successful hit she latches on, mauls the unfortunate victim for a few seconds, knocks them down and leaps back to Galford’s side. Has much better priority than Rush Dog; Poppy will grab extended limbs and weapons without missing a beat. Projectiles and certain specific special moves can still stop her, but the list is pretty short. Galford is free to act during the mauling and is able to attack certain members of the cast himself for even more carnage!

The latter works on Genjuro, Gen-an, Kyoshiro, Wan Fu, Earthquake, and Kuroko (Galford’s attacks will pass through everyone else). Give them a taste of your devastating close AB and laugh as they cry foul. Even better, nail them with all three hits of your standing AB. Takes very strict positioning and timing but if successful they'll kiss more than half a lifebar goodbye (unraged!) and be left knocked down. It's possible to get a grazing hit on everyone else if you time it to Poppy's release, but you're better off just getting set for the rush trap or another wake up game of your choice. Either way, they'll still cry foul! >:)

Because of that little backflip and associated startup lag throwing this move out randomly won't do much for you, but it's fast enough to act as the perfect riposte against certain opponent actions. This takes some characters completely out of their game. Moreover, the startup lag and knockdown effect make this a deadly counter move. It's more than worth it to trade for whatever they want to hit you with and easy to time once you get the feel. You'll almost certainly take more damage, but they'll be set up for your potentially fatal rush trap.

Replica Dog

D

Poppy does her version of Galford’s Rear Replica Attack. She teleports directly over your opponent’s head and drops on them spinning Sonic Style. Must be blocked high. Least damaging of Poppy’s attacks, doing much less than Galford’s Rear Replica. Still not bad though and unlike Galford, Poppy does chip damage. If you are quick enough this makes an effective air defense, as Poppy tracks the opponent’s current position when she teleports and will nail them midair. Time this just as the opponent gets up from a knockdown for free chip damage – Outside of a 100% perfectly timed back dash there’s not a thing they can do about it.

Stealth

6 4 6 4 6 4 2 + BCD

Galford assumes his Kuji stance, smokes out and becomes invisible for around ten seconds or until hit. Also reappears briefly while attacking. CPU opponents completely ignore invisibility and will attack you normally.

On its own this move isn’t that great. Between a perfectly visible dog following you about, sound effects, and screen scrolling your position is still pretty obvious. But when combined with the rush trap, plus all the Poppy and teleporting shenanigans Galford is capable of, it’s almost unfair. They’ll have a rough idea where you are, but no clue when you’re going to attack or from which angle. Enjoy the cursing.

Doll Transformation

6 3 2 1 4 6 4 + C

Galford and Poppy both transform into cute doll versions of themselves. Maybe not the best idea if your opponent is looking for revenge from all those pile drivers…

Super Moves

Mega Attack

6 3 2 1 4 6 + D

"Mega Attack, GO! GO!" Essentially a souped up Machine Gun Dog, and shares all of its properties (including add on hits against certain cast members and Poppy’s assist style hit trading). This time Poppy kicks and beats the opponent, then tears at them from all directions before taking to the skies for a crash landing with her own version of your Strike Heads throw. Like all power specials it does big damage and breaks weapons.

Use all the same strategies you would with the Machine Gun Dog. Poppy takes her sweet time laying the smack down, while Galford is free to act and stays in rage until she's finished. Yep, that means you can hit certain members of the cast with raged slashes in the midst of them getting torn apart by a power special! One mistake and your opponent can go from 100% life to just a sliver remaining and with no weapon in hand.

Match-ups

Vs. Wan-Fu:

Samurai Shodown II