Vice (KoF '02 UM)

(WIP)

Introduction

No pants suit yet.

Move list

At a glance:

Normal Throws
Death Blow	(throw) f./b. + C
Backlash	(throw) f./b. + D
Command Moves
Monstrosity	f. + A
Special Moves
Gore Fest	hcb f. + P
Decide	hcf + K
Blackend	hcf + P (*)
Mayhem	qcb + P (*)
Mithan's Robe	(after * move) qcf + P
Outrage	qcb + K
Ravenous	(air) qcb + K
Desperation Moves
Overkill	db. qcf uf. u. d. + P
Withering Surface	qcf x2 + P
Negative Gain	hcb x2 + K
Max Desperation Moves
Withering Surface	qcf x2 + PP
Negative Gain	hcb x2 + KK
Max 2
Cannibal Corpse	qcf hcb + PP

Normal Moves

Close Standing Normals

• Close B

cl.B – A quick knee attack. Chains from Crouch B and is cancelable. Doesn't have that much use other than from pressuring from up close. There are better ways to tick and pressure that breaks alternate guard to set up for command throws so it feels like this move is mainly here to pressure those that just like hopping or jumping out all day.

• Close C

cl.C – A fast Close C but lacks vertical ranges compared to uppercut-based Close C attacks. Still, it has a good enough vertical hit box to tag as far up as her elbow and head and it doesn't whiff on anyone crouching. It's not that bad of a move but overall Close D what Close C does and then some. The small plus is that the single hit of Close C does more damage than either separate hit of Close D if the opponent gets snagged by only one hit.

• Close D

cl.D – This move hits twice and has a decent anti-air hit box. It's a pretty good move as a meaty and the two hits makes it easy to hit confirm into a number of moves for knockdown. It's a safe, strong move overall and can't really go wrong with it.

Far Standing Normals

• Far A

Straight Jab. It's a pretty good anti-hop tools with a good number of active frames. Far A is a good move to just stick out there every now and then to check hops without much committal and is effective at what it does.

• Far B

This is the button to push to create some space between Vice and the opponent. Vice sticks out that leg pretty far and pretty fast and it's hard to counter poke it. Vice can also kind of pressure with it while walking forward to limit the opponent's options and encourage the other player to jump or hop. Making the opponent want to jump or hop is pretty good since Vice's other buttons cover the air space extremely well. If the opponent still wants to try to do something grounded after a blocked Far B, following up with an occasional Decide (B Version) should stuff out "most" of their responses to Far B.

• Far C

The punch. Comparably, it's like a shorter range Far B that covers the space directly above Far B. It's pretty chunky, faster than Far B, and a great button to smack the opponent during hops or interrupt most of their grounded options. Although a small issue, it recovers slightly slower than Far B and the frame disadvantage on block is significant enough that the player can't just keep pressing Far C all day without repercussion. Far C contacts most of the crouching cast on hit and block except for tiny crouching characters such as Bao, Choi, and Chin. To reiterate, Vice's ground-to-ground game is really dominant thanks to both Far B and Far C.

• Far D

If Vice's Far C covers frontal hop space and Crouch C covers directly vertical air space, then Far D was made to cover the angle in between Far and Crouch C attacks. A good anti-air in general that supplements Vice's ground game.

Standing Blowback

st.CD – Kind of like a slower, longer ranged Far C that does not whiff on any crouching characters. The slowness limits its general use but can be canceled on whiff or contact. Vice players often follow this up on block with Decide (B Version) or just leave it on its own. It could be used as a meaty at maximum spacing to pressure from optimal range, but Vice's wake up options are quite strong so using st.CD is a bit more rare.

Crouching Normals

• Crouch(ing) A

cr.A – Small, crouching jab. It's a standard, crouching light punch that one could find in most fighting games. Low committal, doesn't hit low but is a pressure tool to a certain degree. It can be chained into from other light attacks but can't chain out. The biggest plus to use this move over Crouch B is that some characters can reversal super jump or hop out from certain ranges when Crouch B is used, but Crouch A in those cases would stop those characters.

• Crouch(ing) B

cr.B – Crouching kick. This attack has good speed, in regards to start up and recovery, for the range it reaches. It chains into itself and is cancelable, thus making this a really strong tool for breaking alternate guards and opening up more tick throw opportunities.

• Crouch(ing) C

cr.C – The Tower of Vice. It's a great anti-air that covers directly above Vice. The only limitation of this move is the slight start up it has in conjunction with its hurt and hit boxes. In certain cases, this move may lose out to jump-in attacks if the said attacks are already in their active frames. Crouch C is still a great, reactionary anti-air but must be used during the earliest opportunity to prevent inconsistencies. If Crouch C doesn't work, Vice can space differently with her hop air-to-airs or position differently with her other grounded normal moves.

• Crouch(ing) D

cr.D – Sweep. It's a standard sweep and is pretty fast for the range it covers in comparison to the rest of the cast. Like some other sweeps it's cancelable on whiff, block, or hit. Sometimes on block, players continue to string her sweep with a Decide (B Version) afterwards to keep up the pressure but doesn't have too much application with its ability to cancel.

Jumping Normals

• Jump(ing) A

j.A – An air-to-air with some downward hit box to hit most crouching characters. An all around jumping attack that doesn't excel at anything. Used occasionally from closer range and could be stuck out a bit earlier due to its slightly lingering active frames. In this situation it can preemptively cover any other hop-ins or jump-outs while still landing on the grounded opponents with an overhead attack, of course if timed and delayed properly. Surprisingly this move is cancelable into Ravenous. On counter hit Jump A, Ravenous combos from Jump A and leaves the opponent in a juggle state afterwards. This is a bit more important in the corner for juggle combos.

• Jump(ing) B

j.B – Angle-wise, this is Vice's best jump-in attack. Vice's jump is a bit floaty and her Jump B doesn't induce a lot of hit stun so it has to be used deeper within the jump or hop for Vice to continue a combo upon landing. Due to the overhead properties and little hit stun and block stun it produces, Jump B is excellent for safe jump, tick throw set ups. Once Vice encourages the opponent to alternate guard from the safe jump Jump B set up, Vice can easily break the alternate guarding with Crouch B chains. Altogether, all of Vice's tools in conjunction with each other lead into a nuanced and strong tick throw and anti-anti-tick throw games. Other players also simply combo Jump B into Close D since the latter is much faster on the start up than Crouch B. This move is also a very good instant overhead that works on the entire cast.

• Jump(ing) C

j.C – A paltry air-to-air and air-to-ground move. Doesn't get to see much action since Jump D covers about the same horizontal range but has a better, deeper hit box for attacking directly below. It is also cancelable like Jump A and does combo into Ravenous from counter hit. So for air-to-air, counter hit fishing purposes (and one should really fish for this much), it functions as a more damaging Jump A with more limited spacing purposes.

• Jump(ing) D

j.D – Vice's third best jump-in attack as it has to be delayed a bit later compared to Jump A and Jump B to make contact with a crouching character. It has better horizontal range as an air-to-ground attack compared to Jump A and Jump B, but Vice is so floaty as a character that she shouldn't really be jumping and doing hop pressure like other characters can. In the other situations she does need to jump, Jump B or Jump CD function better as air-to-ground and air-to-air respectively.

• Jump(ing) Blowback

j.CD – One of the fastest Jump CDs in the game and one of the best air-to-airs in the KOF series overall due to its speed and hit box. Vice may have a floaty jump and hop to make her not want to approach in the air, but her Jump CD is one of few reasons she should take to the air in response to a jump or a hop. If Vice's great grounded anti-airs can't deal with certain jump-ins or approaches, her Jump CD should contest those tools well air-to-air without an issue. This move is strictly an air-to-air and lacks a good vertical hit box and is very susceptible to trip anti-air attacks and combos.

Normal Throws

• Death Blow - (throw) f./b. + C

A standard forward throw that the opponent can recovery roll from.

• Backlash - (throw) f./b. + D

A good backwards throw that causes hard knockdown and causes back turn on the opponent's wake up.

Special Moves

• Despair

• (air OK) qcf + P
• A strange move with varying purposes. The A Version can be spaced in a way that can be made "mostly" safe if blocked at the furthest distances and has the tendency to be used during frame traps. The C Version isn't quite as safe as it whiffs against the entire crouching cast except for Daimon and Chang whom could punish it on block with command throws. So the C Version has very limited application as an anti-air when Mature's Jump C or grounded anti-airs would work better with consistency and with much less risk. The air version completely whiff against the whole crouching cast and should be strictly and only occasionally used as an air-to-air. Air Despair changes Mature's aerial momentum, but it can only be used near the apex of her jump of super jump. Only the air A Version can combo and only from counter hits. When the air version is used while jumping over the opponent, she crosses back to the other side with this move. Overall, this move isn't used very much due to its risk vs. reward and even then only really the grounded A Version is used.

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• Sacrilege

• dp + P
• A "dragon punch" like attack that isn't used that often as one. It covers a range that Mature doesn't really cover on the ground well with her normals, but this move lacks consistency as a reversal and the complete hits sometimes drop out as an anti-air. This move as an anti-air is also overshadowed by super jump forward or hyper hop forward Jump C. This move is pretty much mainly used in combos, namely her Max mode combo because of the large amount of damage it does in the first two hits. The A Version exhibits more invincibility than the C Version, but it still runs out of invulnerability before active frames, cleanly losing out at times against jump-ins.

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• Death Row

• qcb + P (up to 3 times)
• Mature's "rekka" series. This is the move to use during punishes to get the damage and knockdown. The first part of the C Version series has slightly more horizontal range than the A Version, making it the preferred one to use due to consistency and not dropping out of combos. The first two parts are mostly safe on block, barring guard rolls, while the third hit is really unsafe. The third part in this game actually whiffs if the first two parts are blocked, leaving it greatly punishable. In certain circumstances, even the first part of Death Row may be used as an anti-air.

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• Metal Massacre

• qcb + K
• A mostly safe chip move. It's the move for Mature to cancel into on block for the safe chip as it's hard to punish. The only time it seems it can be guard roll against is in the corner when the opponent backwards guard rolls to catch it. Otherwise this move is good for chip and is safer than Ebony Tears in exchange for ending momentum afterwards.

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• Decide

• hcf + K
• Mature's version of Vice's whip sleeve. The D Version works much like Vice's Decide as a "hit-throw" that tosses the opponent to the other side of the screen. In comparison, Mature's is much slower and lacks any good utility outside of meaties on wake up in the case that the opponent likes pressing buttons or moving around right after getting up. Even then it comes out obviously, slow, and recovers too slowly. The B Version is the better version as it's faster, can tag characters out of their hops and jumps if timed properly, and can cancel its recovery into any special or Desperation Move of Mature's choice, even Max 2. Still is a bit slow to use as a poke or anti-air, this move is mainly used in her Max mode combo to maximize damage.

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• Ebony Tears

• qcf hcb + P
• Mature's signature projectile that covers a huge part of the screen and is integral to her zoning and pressure game. The move has a bit of start up so good players can smack Mature out before she can get her projectile out but otherwise can scare players into hesitating and is hard to contest once it is out. It recovers decently so Mature players can even pressure with this move using strings such as "cr.D xx qcfhcb+A > run up st.CD xx qcfhcb+A ... etc." Canceling into this move is good for pressure but could be punished by guard rolls easily. Both versions can be cleared by full/super jumps if timed properly by the opponent; but, Mature can super jump Jump C on reaction against those that jump over her A Version of Ebony Tears for a guaranteed air-to-air. Players that try to roll mid-screen and beyond against the A Version can be punished by Mature run up Close C into a combo, even a damaging Max mode combo. Although the C Version recovers a bit slower and doesn't really net punishes, just the change in speed messes up the timing for other players to try to jump it or roll it, sometimes even running into it.

Desperation Moves

• Nocturnal Lights

• qcf x2 + P
• A standard combo super that connects from light attacks. Unsafe on block, like other Desperation Moves, and doesn't function as a reversal. Strictly for combos.

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• Heaven's Gate

• qcb hcf + K
• Another Desperation Move mainly used for combos. It combos from Close C and Crouch C and does more damage than Nocturnal Lights. The best part about this move is that it corner carries, making it overall that much better than Nocturnal Lights, that is if the player can confirm and connect into it.

Max Desperation Moves

• Nocturnal Lights

• qcf x2 + PP
• A standard combo super that connects from light attacks. Unsafe on block, like other Desperation Moves. Does more damage than the DM and MDM versions of Heaven's Gate for whatever reason.

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• Heaven's Gate

• qcb hcf + KK
• Pretty much like the DM Version of Heaven's Gate but does a different colored explosion on wall impact. For damage it's overshadowed by MDM Nocturnal Lights, but still has the advantage of corner carry. For Max mode combos, though, it's just better to stick with the DM version of this move to finish or use MDM Nocturnal Lights.

Max 2

• ECSTASY 816

• qcb hcf + PP
• A Marylin Monroe super combo. The initial hit functions as a homing grounded Despair and works great as an unsuspecting anti-air. Also a stylish ender for Max mode combos when available. Of course it's unsafe on block.

Combos

Essentials

• cr.B, cr.A xx qcb+C x3/qcfx2+P

• Basic combo from low hits.

• cl.C/cr.C xx qcb+C x3

• Another basic combo and the main one to punish bad rolls or punishable moves with.

• cl.C > BC > Far C (2-hits) xx qcb+C xx hcf+B > dp+P (2-hits) xx hcf+B > dp+P (2-hits) xx hcf+B > dp+P (2-hits) xx qcbhcf+K/qcfx2+PP (Can omit the last dp+P and go directly into Max 2 from hcf+B)

• A pretty good Max combo that Mature has. The desperation moves at the end are the best enders damage-wise for the amount of meter each consumes. The qcb+C starter is mainly to normalize the combo for most of the cast. Against other characters, Mature can start of with dp+P; but, it has a tendency to not induce the huge hit stop, which the player uses to cancel into hcf+B, against certain characters and is also dependent on crouching and standing states. Otherwise, starting the combo with dp+P nets more overall damage although almost negligible.

The Basics

Lift the skirt.

Advanced Strategy

Wear an eye patch.

Match-Ups

The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match