Bob (RBFF2)

Introduction

The 2nd ever Capoeria fighter ever in a fighting game (the first being his Maestre, Richard Meyer) and bartender at the Pao-Pao Café! RB2’s resident juggle-master an ultimate example of big risk / big reward, whether Bob wins or loses can depend on the setup and execution of a single combo.

He has an excellent set of normals, decent pokes (though he no longer has the godly B poke he had in FF3), a nice set of specials, good supers, a regular throw that sets up into juggles, a decent mindgame, and is the only character in the game with both a rising attack and a pursuit, and the crowning jewel of his strengths: not only does he have the easiest infinite in the game, but he has nearly half a dozen ways of setting it up (including from his regular throw)!

His downsides are positioning and recovery. He only has one safe special: the Rolling Turtle and even then, it’s only safe if you land (hit or blocked) the last 5 hits of it. Used improperly, this move can leave you extremely unsafe even when it’s fully connected! He has to very precise in both timing, execution, and positioning in order to maximize his damage, and any slip-up can leave him served up on a sliver platter.

Moves List

Command Normals

Low Fang (A + B) - Bob's sidestep attack. It has a far amount of invincibility on startup and is bufferable. It could make for a decent poke and puts him down low enough to avoid some attacks. Not a move a I often use, though.

Flying Fish (C when knocked down) - Bob's wakeup attack. It's basically a slower, weaker version of the Bison Horn with less priority and more recovery. There's honestly no reason to use this thing when there's the Bison Horn available.

Leg Drop (u + C) - Bob's pursuit attack. He performs a quick front flipping heel kick onto the downed opponent. This attack is guaranteed after a throw or a super, but can leave Bob open if the opponent is able to do a fall recover. Even when it misses, though, most people don't react fast enough to hit Bob before he can recover from this.

Falcon / Hornet Attack (Close f + C / df x 2 + C) - Bob’s linking command throw. Though the official follow-up to the 2nd part of this throw is b, f, f + BC, you can actually follow it up with any move of Bob’s that has the juggle property. It doesn’t have the most range, and you have to be fast to connect the follow-up, but can open up incredible damage.

Elephant Tusk (Close in Air, d + C) - Bob's air throw, basically looks like the Falcon (a quick knee to the gut). Not much reason to use this move, actually. In fact it'll probably surprise you as much as the opponent when it comes out.

Eagle Step (In Air d + B) [Overhead] - Your typical airstomp. I really can't think of too many reasons to use this move. I actually forgotten that it even existed until I went to do this writeup. Because of the way it sends Bob flying back when it connects, it's basically saying: "I have entirely too much life. Please, take some from me."

Rhino Charge (f + C during a dash) - Another move that I never use. That said, though, this move actually isn't too bad. It's basically a faster version of Terry's Power Charge. It has decent priority, knocks down, and you can do it at any point in a dash. A decent move for herding someone getting someone into the corner with.

Wolf Tail (BC or df + B [or df + A] during a dash) - This move isn't on any movelist so I just created a name for it. Bob does a dashing version of his standing B that doesn't link into any other normal. The big difference between this and his regular dashing B is that he continues to slide forward when he kicks. This makes for a long-ranged, bufferable poke that could serve as a minor anti-air. You can also give him a bufferable sliding jab by doing df + A during a dash.

Special Moves

Frog Hunting (b, f, f + BC) [Juggle] - Bob quickly launches himself forward with a flying dropkick (his jumping animation) that knocks down on hit, it also sends Bob flying down to the ground whether it’s hit or blocked. A nice surprise move, has little recovery on whiff, and goes all but the highest fireballs. However, Bob is a dead man if this is blocked. Even on hit, the knock back of this move kills the opportunity to take continue offensive pressure. This is a move to use sparingly.

Bison Horn (Charge d, u + C) [Juggle] Bob’s main anti-air. With a scream of “WAHOOOOO!” Bob performs a dropkick that ends in a big back flip. This move has practically zero invincibility, but has incredible speed and priority. Very, very few moves beat this thing clean, and it’s also Bob’s main combo / juggle ender. The only downside to this move is, you’ve guessed it, the recovery. Bob floats to the ground after the back flip, and although it puts him a good distance away, any character who’s fast, has good reach, or a projectile will be able capitalize on this recovery. If only this move was breakshottable.

Monkey Dance (dp + B) [Juggle] [Breakshot] - Bob’s secondary anti-air and juggle extender. Bob flies through the air at a 45° angle with three powerful roundhouse kicks. It has great speed, range, and good priority. However, its main use is in combos / juggles, herding the opponent into the corner, and in setting up the Bison Horn and the Dancing Bison P-Power. If the last hit of this move misses or barely hits, you won’t be able to juggle either Bison from it, hence the importance of positioning for Bob. This is the move that, when it lands, leads into what is often the make-or-break moment of the match.

Sidewinder (qcb + C) [Low] [Breakshot] - This move was so much better in RBS, godly even (low, instant startup, great anti-air, big damage, juggleable, tons of chip, and safe). Now its only saving grace is that it hits low…well that and it does a decent amount of damage. Bob scissors his legs ala Yashiro’s sweep or that crazy pommel horse scene from Gymkata. Though it has the distinction of being one of the 3 specials in the game that hits low, it has so much recovery that if it’s whiffed or blocked, Bob may as well lose 25% of his life when it misses.

Wild Wolf (Charge b, f + B) [Overhead] [Overhead] - One of Bob’s two overheads and an surprisingly effective anti-air. A little hard to describe this move aside from that Bob does a one-handed cartwheel that hits 3 times. The first hit isn’t an overhead, but last two are; if the last hit connects just right, you can connect an S / P-Power, but this is extremely risky. While this move is comboable, Bob has so many better combo options.

Rolling Turtle (qcb + C) [Juggle] [Breakshot] [Controllable] - I’ve probably talked more about this move than any other. Bob drops down onto his head, crosses his arms, and spins around in a cyclone of feet and dreds.

Unlike most other specials, you can control what direction Bob moves in, and that is the one very important thing that makes it one of Bob’s better specials. Though he kicks about 8-10 times, it only hits a maximum of 5 times, leaving the rest of the kicks without a collision box: meaning that you only ever get 5 hits out of this move, whether they were blocked or not. Whenever using this move outside of a juggle, be very careful to not land the first few kick animations (don't worry, it's possible to miss the first few kicks in a combo without breaking the combo).

Where this move really shines, is that you can not only infinite with it, but you can also juggle the Bisons after it. I'll elaborate more on the infinite and it's many setups in the stategy section.

Match-Ups

Real Bout Fatal Fury 2