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
| Main Features | Dodging, Manual Meter Charging, and Unlimited Level 1 Supers at Low Health | |
|---|---|---|
| Groove System | Extra Gauge & Special Move System | |
| Groove Subsystems |
| |
| Meter Length | 100 Units | |
| MAX Mode Duration | 166 Time Units | (~16.6 seconds) |
| Guard Bar Length | 48 Units | Standard |
| Meter Bonuses |
| |
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
Dodge
Unlimited Level 1 Supers at Low Health
Manual Meter Charging and MAX Mode
Groove Strategy
S-Groove is trash-tier in CvS2.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Character Considerations
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.
