Game Mechanics
Jump
Input 7, 8 or 9 to jump back, straight up, or forward respectively. Jumps in Fatal Fury Special have vulnerable prejump and landing frames. Jumping normals may differ depending on if they are done during a diagonal jump (7/9) or a neutral jump (8).
| Character | Prejump Frames | Airborne Frames | Landing Frames | Total Frames |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terry | 4 | 47 | 3 | 54 |
| Andy | 4 | 45 | 3 | 52 |
| Joe | 4 | 47 | 3 | 54 |
| Bear | 4 | 39 | 3 | 46 |
| Jubei | 4 | 47 | 3 | 54 |
| Cheng | 4 | 51 | 3 | 58 |
| Kim | 4 | 47 | 3 | 54 |
| Mai | 8 | 43 | 6 | 57 |
| Duck | 4 | 45 | 3 | 52 |
| Tung | 4 | 47 | 5 | 56 |
| Billy | 4 | 45 | 3 | 52 |
| Axel | 4 | 43 | 3 | 50 |
| Laurence | 4 | 51 | 3 | 58 |
| Geese | 4 | 51 | 3 | 58 |
| Krauser | 4 | 47 | 3 | 54 |
| Ryo | 4 | 43 | 3 | 50 |
Crawl
Hold 3 to walk while crouching. This is slower than walking normally, but maintains a low profile.
Backdash/Backstep
Input 44 to quickly retreat backwards. This is a very powerful defensive tool as it provides frame 1 strike invincibility that lasts almost the entire animation, and the few vulnerable frames can be cancelled into special moves which can punish the opponent for trying to punish. While they lack any throw invincibility, all backdashes (with the exception of Mai's) are considered airborne until recovery, keeping them generally safe as only a handful of characters have air throws.
| Character | Invincible Frames | Recovery Frames | Total Frames | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mai | 28 | 6 | 34 | Grounded |
| Duck, Krauser | 28 | 3 | 31 | Duck is visually grounded but considered airborne |
| Tung | 20 | 5 | 25 | |
| Others | 20 | 3 | 23 |
Below is a table comparing backdash distances from longest (top row) to shortest (bottom).
| Mai |
| Krauser |
| Bear, Duck |
| Geese, Laurence |
| Axel |
| Andy, Billy, Jubei, Kim, Terry |
| Cheng, Joe |
| Tung |
Throw
Press 4/6C (or D for some characters) when close to the opponent to throw them. Many characters have additional throw inputs unique to them, and Axel is the only character who only has D throws. Throws are unblockable, but cannot hit opponents in hitstun or blockstun. All basic throws are instant and have no whiff animations, and the same goes for nearly every throw special move. Some throws hit multiple times and can be resisted by the opponent if they mash directions and buttons. These types of throws are called "holds". Characters receive 17 frames of throw invincibility after waking up from a knockdown, but there is minimal throw protection after hitstun or blockstun and characters can be thrown out of jump startup, making tick throws very strong (though escapable with reversals).
Below is a table comparing character throw ranges from longest (top row) to shortest (bottom), measured starting from the end of the character's collision box.
| Duck 4123692BC |
| Bear 6428C |
| Tung [1]9D |
| Jubei 63214C, Jubei [1]23BC |
| Tung [1]9B |
| Andy 4/6C, Jubei Basic Throws, Jubei [2]8A/C, Laurence All, Terry 4/6C |
| Axel 4D, Axel 6D, Bear Basic Throws, Billy 4/6D, Cheng All, Joe All, Krauser All, Mai 4/6C |
| Billy 4/6C, Duck 4/6C |
| Geese 4/6C, Geese 3C |
| Geese 4/6D |
| Axel 9D, Kim 4/6C, Tung 4/6C |
Below is a table comparing air throws. Only horizontal range is measured here, which is not the whole story for an air throw. If they were compared to ground throws, all 4 would lie between Tung's [1]9B and Jubei's command throws.
| Laurence j2C |
| Jubei j2D |
| Duck j2C, Mai j2D |
Taunt
Press C while far away from the opponent to taunt them. Taunts serve no purpose and can be cancelled with any directional input at any time.
Lane Sway
A signature mechanic of the Fatal Fury series is the ability to move in and out of the background. In Fatal Fury Special, most stages have two lanes (AKA "planes" or "lines"), one in the foreground and one in the background. When in the background lane, characters' sprites are smaller, so there is slightly more horizontal space to move in.
Press A+B to "Lane Sway", or jump to the opposite lane. This is a frame 1 strike invincible escape tool but it can be thrown.
If both players are in the same lane then the game plays as normal, but there are special rules when characters are in opposite lanes.
- All attack buttons can only be used to do Lane Attacks that cross over to the opposite lane. Although it looks similar to a normal lane jump, these attacks are not invincible and have punishable landing recovery. All Lane Attacks are overheads and are very plus on hit and block. Using a Lane Attack without holding a direction will make it home in on the opponent, and attacking while holding 4 or 6 will not target the opponent and instead slightly steer the jump left or right. Light buttons will do a low Lane Attack which is faster, while heavy buttons will do a high Lane Attack which may beat or go over a low attack. Some characters have different Lane Attacks for punch and kick buttons. In general, low homing attacks are usually preferred, but when close to the opponent low steered attacks are useful to cross the opponent up too.
- Inputting 8 in the front lane or 2 in the back lane will roll into the opponent's lane. Like the AB lane jump, rolling is invincible except to throws. The roll's input means that jumping in the front lane and crouching in the back lane are impossible. Rolling is a fast way to cross lanes and is safe as long as it's done from a distance.
- Once a character is close enough to the opposite lane, their opponent waiting there can crouch/jump and use their ordinary moveset again which allows them to anti-air a Lane Attack or throw an incoming roll.
Lane Blast
Press C+D on the ground to do a special attack that knocks to the opponent to the opposite lane. On normal stages, characters can meaty the opponent with a left/right lane attack afterwards. On single-lane stages, Lane Blasts will cause additional damage and stun as the opponent collides with the background hazard.
Unlike other attacks, Lane Blasts have different frame data and hitboxes when done in the back lane as opposed to the front lane.
Dodge Attack
Press 6A while in proximity guard (character is visually blocking but isn't in blockstun) to do a Dodge Attack. Dodge Attacks have upper-body invincibility and can be canceled. Attacks in Fatal Fury Special will trigger proximity guard from a very far distance and for a very long time, so they can be used in many situations.
- Note: Dodge Attacks will cause a character to enter their 5A animation for 1 frame before it is kara cancelled into their Dodge Attack. This 5A frame is not counted in Dodge Attack frame data on character pages.
Below, each character's Dodge Attack has been ranked based on reach, startup, how easy it is to use, and finally, how well it compliments the rest of the character's moves.
| Character | Reach | Startup | Ease of Use | Complimentary Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geese | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Andy | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Joe | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Axel | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Mai | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Bear | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Jubei | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Cheng | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Krauser | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Terry | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Duck | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Billy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Tung | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Laurence | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Desperation Moves
When a character is at 33% life or lower, their life bar will start flashing. Each character has a unique Desperation Move that can only be used in this flashing-health state.
Dizzy Points
Every character in FFS has an invisible stun gauge which when filled will make them dizzy. When dizzied, a character will be knocked down regardless of what move hit them, and after waking will be vulnerable for an extended period of time that can be reduced by mashing buttons and directions. Below is a list detailing how many dizzy points it takes to stun each character.
| Dizzy Point Limit | Characters |
|---|---|
| 13 | Jubei, Mai, Tung |
| 14 | Billy, Terry |
| 15 | Andy, Cheng, Duck |
| 16 | Joe, Kim |
| 17 | Laurence |
| 18 | Axel, Geese, Ryo |
| 22 | Bear, Krauser |
Generally, light normals will add 2 dizzy points, heavy normals 4 points, light specials 3 points, heavy specials 6 points, throws 3 points, Dodge Attacks, Lane Blasts and stage hazards 5 points, and Desperation Moves 4 points.
After being dizzied, a character has 8 points added to their limit. For example, if Tung Fu Rue is stunned, he would then require 21 dizzy points to stun a second time.
The exact duration that a dizzied character is vulnerable for is determined by another invisible "stun retention" value. Each move will add to this value on hit, and it will decrease by 1 for every frame that a character is not in hitstun or blockstun. The amount of frames a dizzy character is vulnerable for is then equal to the number of stun retention points they had accumulated at that time. If a character's stun retention value decreases all the way to 0, they will lose all of their dizzy points. Below is a table detailing how much stun retention each character's moves will do.
| Character | Light Normals | Heavy Normals | Light Specials | Heavy Specials | Throws | Dodge Attack | Lane Blast | Desperation Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy | 12 | 22 | 38 | 44 | 38 | 32 | 32 | 68 |
| Axel | 10 | 32 | 38 | 44 | 54 | 26 | 44 | 44 |
| Bear | 10 | 32 | 38 | 44 | 44 | 26 | 44 | 44 |
| Billy | 20 | 32 | 26 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
| Cheng | 12 | 14 | 38 | 44 | 50 | 50 | 56 | 26 |
| Duck | 14 | 26 | 32 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 |
| Geese | 12 | 20 | 38 | 44 | 50 | 50 | 26 | 38 |
| Joe | 18 | 30 | 36 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Jubei | 20 | 32 | 38 | 44 | 26 | 44 | 44 | 26 |
| Kim | 18 | 30 | 36 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Laurence | 14 | 26 | 38 | 44 | 26 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
| Mai | 14 | 32 | 32 | 50 | 38 | 38 | 44 | 56 |
| Terry | 14 | 26 | 32 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 |
| Tung | 20 | 32 | 26 | 44 | 26 | 44 | 44 | 26 |
| Krauser | 12 | 20 | 28 | 44 | 50 | 50 | 26 | 26 |
Damage Calculation
The damage calculation formula for almost every attack in Fatal Fury Special is the following: Attack Damage x Round Victory Scaling x Health Scaling x Weak Point Bonus x Combo Scaling
Chip damage is unaffected by scaling, and is simply calculated as the following: Attack Damage x Chip Scaling
Hold throw damage ignores the normal rules in favor of its own, too, calculated as: Attack Damage x Hold Scaling
- All decimal damage values will be rounded down.
Explanations for each term are written below.
Round Victory Scaling
After winning a round, a character's attacks will do 75% damage. If both players have won a round, they will both have the damage reduction applied.
Health Scaling
Characters take different amounts of damage depending on how much remaining health they have, out of the maximum of 96.
| Remaining Health | Damage Modifier |
|---|---|
| 96-49 | 100% damage |
| 48-24 | 75% damage |
| 23-12 | 67.5% damage |
| 11-0 | 50% damage |
Weak Point Bonus
Axel and Krauser have certain hurtboxes that take 125% damage when hit. Axel's weak point is in his stomach, and Krauser's weak point is his head. They have no weak point hurtboxes in hitstun, so only the first hit of a combo can benefit from this bonus.
Combo Scaling
Attacks hitting opponents in hitstun will do reduced damage. Hitting an opponent on the last vulnerable frame of their hitstun will not apply combo scaling.
| Hits | Damage Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1st hit | 100% damage |
| 2nd hit | 87.5% damage |
| 3rd hit and onward | 75% damage |
Chip Scaling
Special moves that are blocked will do 25% damage.
Hold Scaling
When a character is at 48 health or below and uses a hold (multihit throw), their hold will do 75% damage, or 3 damage per hit instead of 4.
Basic Strategy
Advanced Strategy
Whiff-Canceling
I was experimenting with some of the whiff-cancelling like you've seen in the videos. It's pretty simple most of the time; with Geese, for instance, do D, D/F+C, F+C to to a crouching fierce immediately cancelled into Double Reppuken. Or Axel: Do QCF + B~A or C (in case you're not familiar with this notation, it means you press B then ASAP press A or C; it's best to put one finger over one button and one over the other) to do a standing B whiff-cancelled into Tornado Upper.
The interesting thing is that unlike in SF, some moves can't be whiff-cancelled; with Axel, for example, his far standing D cannot be whiff-cancelled. There's no real rhyme or reason as to which moves can be whiff-cancelled, it seems to be totally random; using Axel once more as an example, I thought his standing D didn't work because it is not a bufferable move. So I tried his sweep, a move which *is* bufferable, and that doesn't work either. So you'll just have to go by good ol' trial and error to figure it out. I can semi-consistently do Big Bear's close standing C -> command throw whiff-cancel, the one you've seen on the video; it's kinda hard to do and doesn't have any real purpose since his command throw is easy to do on the ground anyway.
Duck King's crouching D -> DM whiff-cancel, on the other hand, seems VERY useful...except it's insanely hard. I have only managed to do that once out of many tries, and still don't know how I did it. A good tactic I learned from this "experimenting": Geese's crouching C -> Reversal is a useful whiff-cancel to know. It's easy, too: All you need to do is move from Back to Down/Forward and press C, then move to Forward and press B or D. The reason it is useful is because the beginning animation of crouching C is clearly visible to the opponent, which can bait them into the reversal. And one more peculiar little note: It seems that you can whiff-cancel a normal move into a command normal.
Take Duck King, for instance...do his crouching D, and IMMEDIATELY move the joystick to the D/F position. You'll see the beginning animation of the crouching D and then it'll go straight into his slide. This is REALLY weird, because you could never do this in SF. But I like it.
Credit to Josh-TheFunkDOC
