Capcom vs SNK 2/S-Groove

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S-Groove is one of the six grooves in Capcom vs. SNK 2. It features many unique abilities in CvS2, including the Dodge and manual meter charging. It also grants players unlimited Level 1 super opportunities when at low health. It is inspired by system present in the early King of Fighters games, starting with KOF'94.

Despite its looks on paper, S-Groove is a trash-tier groove in CvS2 for reasons that will be better explained below.

Groove Data

S-Groove Data

Main Features	Dodging, Manual Meter Charging, and Unlimited Level 1 Supers at Low Health
Groove System	Extra Gauge & Special Move System
Groove Subsystems	Run Dodge (Exclusive to S-Groove) Counter Attack Small Jump Tactical Recovery
Meter Length	100 Units
MAX Mode Duration	166 Time Units	(~16.6 seconds)
Guard Bar Length	48 Units	Standard
Meter Bonuses	During MAX Mode: +15% damage With Low Health: +5% damage

See Groove Subsystems for complete technical data on specific subsystems.

Meter System

The meter in S-Groove is a single bar. Though some meter is gained when getting hit by the opponent, the primary means to fill it is to manually charge the meter. To do this, hold + while in neutral.

The longer the buttons are held down, the more the meter bar will fill up. There is a brief period at the beginning of the charge animation where the meter bar accelerates from a slower speed to the maximum charge rate. To put that more simply, you will gain a lot more meter off of a few significant charges versus several momentary ones.

Charging must take place on the ground and while the character is in a neutral state. Charging cannot be cancelled into from or out of with any move. While in the charging animation you cannot block, move, or perform any action other than to release the buttons to stop charging. However, ending charging is an instantaneous action, allowing you to do something on the very next frame after exiting the charge state.

When the meter is completely full, the player will automatically enter MAX Mode, a state that lasts up to 16.6 seconds. During this time all player attacks will do an additional 15% damage, along with enabling access to a Level 1 super or a Counter Attack. When using the meter for these abilities, any remaining meter will empty and the player will exit MAX Mode.

Meter charging is disabled in MAX Mode; there is no way to add meter or extend the timer for MAX Mode once it has activạted.

If the player has low health (a.k.a. Red Health) and enters MAX Mode, any super attack will instead be a Level 3 super. Like before, any remaining meter is lost and MAX Mode ends if a super is used during it, though the player will retain the ability to use Level 1 supers in the low health state.

Meter is gained and used by one character during a single round only. It does not carry over between rounds, even if you win the round. It does not carry over between characters when you lose a round. If partially filled after a round win, it will reset to zero at the start of the next round. If the player was in MAX Mode after a round win, they will no longer be in MAX Mode and will begin again with zero meter in the next round.

Unique Groove Abilities

Groove Strategy

S-Groove is similiar to N in the fact you need to build a team around it to have the best chance of success. While S is overall a weak groove, some characters can excel if they can use the groove mechanics well. You want to be able to utilize dodge, charge, and desperation mode as best as possible. If your team can not do those well or at least excel in utilizing dodge or desperation then its near pointless to choose S over N (or any other groove).

Strengths

• The dodge attack mechanic on some characters is very strong.
• Dodge has no recovery and can be chained back to back.
• Dodge can allow for punishes against many moves that might have been safe if rolled or blocked.
• Charge fakes can throw people off.
• Some characters in desperation are very strong.
• Many people do not know how to fight S groove well despite being a weaker groove.
• Charging is safe and grants 15% damage bonus and access to level 1 super or level 3 in desperation mode.
• Level 1 supers charge up decently fast.
• Charging in general can make the opponent want to attack.

Weaknesses

• Dodge is throwable and you are stuck to your position until the animation is over.
• You do not build meter by attacking, only on block and charging.
• Some dodge attacks are worthless.
• Charging mechanic is counter-intuitive for some characters, must choose to charge for damage bonus or go on offense in some situations.
• Charging when in desperation is very very slow.
• If using counter-attack while in desperation, you basically spent your slow to charge level 3.
• Comeback factor is a mixed bag depending if you are able to charge a level 3 or have a great desperation level 1 super.
• Even though some characters have amazing level one's, typically you are near death when you have access to desperation.

Character Considerations

There are a few key factors when using S-groove to consider:

How good are my character's dodge attacks?

Good dodge attacks are a key component. They can help score good damage and knockdowns allowing you time to charge up or start the offense. If your character has a fast cancel normal with good range and a good fast knockdown normal for their dodge attacks, then they might be a good choice. Some examples:

Cammy- close s.fp (cancelable) and s.rh (knockdown), a dodge fp is +10 and can link to super like normal close s.fp Chun- close s.fp (cancelable) and s.rh (knockdown) Ryu- close s.mk (cancelable), and s.fp (knockdown)

How good is my damage or gameplan with and without super

Some matches it may be hard to charge so taking into account their normal gameplan (even better if they have good dodge attacks) to do damage with no meter is a good thing to have. Some examples:

Kyo Iori Yamazaki

Do I have abusable level 1's?

Since desperation mode is supposed to be a comeback factor and the "gimmick" of S-groove, it's best to have safe abusable level 1 supers. Big bonus if your characters have abusable normals. These super can be ones that are safe to cancel into or just abusable done raw. Some examples:

Ryu- Shinku Hadouken
Sagat- Tiger Cannon
Athena- Shining Crystal Bit
Terry- Buster Wolf
Blanka- Direct Lightning
M.Bison- Knee Press Nightmare

There is another consideration for damage and chip as well. Chun Li can kill you fast if she land her level one and Chang has huge chip and mix ups with Choi. The reason those aren't as good is because that is still on the player to land those situation to use them and cant be abused in anyway unless you force the situation.

While not an all inclusive list, the following are very strong or solid in S-Groove:

M.Bison Sagat Blanka Cammy Athena Ryu Terry Kyo Benimaru

Groove Comparisons and Matchups

The info in this section is for direct comparisons between grooves and generic groove vs groove matchups, which may apply differently to specific characters. For more detail on how a character plays in and plays against the different grooves, refer to their character info page.