Leonardo (TF)

Introduction

The Head Turtle wears a blue bandana and carries dual katana. Leo is a good all-around character to choose, and is probably the most straight-forward to learn. His style is very efficient and packs a decent punch, but it may seem a bit bland to anyone who's even heard of Street Fighter's icon, Ryu.

Leonardo has a unique damage animation: the Sword. (not totally true as Aska has the 'slash' animation on her Spinning Attack) This means almost all of his regular moves have an insane amount of priority compared to his brothers, despite having the same look to the attack.

With these obscene level of priority, plus possessing good speed and versatile moves, Leonardo is a strong defensive as well as offensive character.

Moves List

Normal Moves

Weak Punch

Jumping Weak Punch

• This is a fairly high priority move; it can stop a few ground attacks and some air-attacks. Leo takes a quick swipe with his blade and does not retract it. Use this only if you're nose-to-nose with someone in mid-air; his FP comes out almost as quickly.

Standing Weak Punch

• Both from afar and up close, the s.WP is the same; a high elbow. This will completely whiff a ducking opponent or hit a jumping one. This is mainly useful in cheaps and combos.

Crouching Weak Punch

• A fairly ranged attack for a crouching strike. This is actually slow compared to all the c.WP attacks everyone else has; it comes out slower than any other WP attack Leo has too. It still is fast enough in short combos, and has good range.

Fierce Punch

Jumping Fierce Punch

• One of the greatest jumping attacks ever. It cuts a wide swath through just about anything. Great to use as a cross-up, a jump-in, an anti-air; when timed well, this move can stop just about every counter-attack (that has no invincibility).

Standing Fierce Punch

• Like Street Fighter 2, a lot of characters have different moves when close. The s.FP from 1/3 of the screen or closer from your opponents is a chop. This has horribly long start-up animation; anyone can see it coming and block. It does combo into a lot of moves; if a person blocks this, just follow it up with a special attack. It pushes them farther away so you can annoy them with patterns and cheaps, plus it lets you recover faster from this move's horrible lag time. From more than 1/3 of the screen away from your opponent, Leo dishes out a lunging thrust that covers 1/2 the screen. It comes out a bit faster than the chop, so you can actually stop people who are about to shoot a projectile if you have good reflexes (or anticipate). The s.FP (far) is great for poking and pinning people down while building up Leo's U.A. bar, just like the s.FP (close) followed by a WP Roto-Cutter or WP Shining Cutter.

Crouching Fierce Punch

• This is one of the easiest and best anti-air attacks in the game. All the turtles have this, but Leo's is special-er. Because of the sword advantage, Leo's c.FP has much more priority and pretty much stops all normal jumping attacks cold. It can even stop, or at the least trade hits, with jumping special attacks with good timing. Because it hits high, do not use this on close crouching opponents.

Weak Kick

Jumping Weak Kick

• A diving knee. It has low priority compared to Leo's other moves. Use j.WP instead. If you jump straight up, Leo will do an extended high kick. The range is also very limited, and it comes out only slightly faster than the j.FP.

Standing Weak Kick

• When next to your opponent, it's a low-attack kick to the shins. Too slow to be used in combos, but fast enough that people might not see it coming. Opponents must block LOW to stop this. From farther away, it's an upward kick. Pretty fast, and hits at a high enough angle to stop jumping attacks, but s.FK/c.FP are better.

Crouching Weak Kick

• A very fast, short ranged low-attack to the ankles.

Fierce Kick

Jumping Fierce Kick

• A deep-angled jumping kick that can cross-up. This is a great move over-shadowed only by the j.FP. If you jump straight up, Leo will do a high kick with almost no horizontal range.

Standing Fierce Kick

• When next to your opponent, this is an upward kick, like the s.WK from afar. This can miss a ducking opponent completely. It would make an OK anti-air, but when the opponent is that close, they're practically on top of your head. From farther away, this is a high roundhouse to the head. A sweeping motion means excellent priority against jumping attacks.

Crouching Fierce Kick

• A sweeping low attack that knocks people off their feet. Good range & excellent speed; very hard to avoid.

Throws

Shoulder Toss

• Forward or Back + FP
  • A "seoi-nage" throw.

Suicide Throw

• Forward or Back + FK
  • A drop-back throw

Command Moves

Back Flip

• Back, Back
  • All turtles have this. It's a quick evade move that provides complete invincibility as you move backwards. You are vulnerable the moment feet land however, but should have enough time to block.
    • Pros
      • Complete Invincibility
    • Cons
      • You're moving backwards

Body Press

• (In Air)Down + WP
  • An easy, but weak cross-up move.
    • Pros
      • Easy cross-up move
    • Cons
      • Weak

Special Moves

Shining Cutter

• Quarter Circle Forward + Punch
  • A fast projectile with a fairly quick start-up, but longer lag. The WP version will travel much slower, but allows Leo to recover faster.
    • Pros
      • Excellent to use with s.FK or c.FP as a bait/trap
      • Excellent for "behind the head" attacks on people getting up
      • Can follow up (from 3/4 screen) with s.FP
      • A lot of moves can combo into the Shining Cutter
    • Cons
      • Lag after FP version makes it dangerous to use, even in combos

Roto-Cutter

• Forward, Down, Down-Forward + Punch
  • Leonardo somersaults into the air and spins his blade around him. The WP version can still hop over projectiles, but the FP version is stronger and jumps farther.
    • Pros
      • Excellent protection as Leo spins his blade around him
      • Can hop over all regular projectiles
      • I believe the WP version is completely invincible at the start
    • Cons
      • Not invincible at the peak
      • c.FP & s.FK are just as good anti-air moves

Endless Screw

• Quarter Circle Back + Punch
  • Leonardo spins toward the opponent with extended blades. The WP version is slow and only travels half the screen. The FP version is fast and moves across the entire stage.
    • Pros
      • First hit is a one-hit knock-down
      • There is a very small invincibility window at the start, not enough to avoid fast projectiles unless you're getting up.
      • Great in combos
    • Cons
      • If the first swing does not connect, it scores weaker multiple hits
      • Easy to avoid; just duck and attack Leo's legs

• Body Splash: (air) d+lp

• Backflip: b,b

Ultimate Attack

Millenium Wave

• HP+HK
  • Leonardo puts his swords away and fires off dozens of projectiles. If done at close range on a cornered enemy, this will re-dizzy them. Leonardo has horrible start-up and lag time with this move though, but it fires over a large area making it impossible to avoid if done from far away. If you can't use this on a dizzied enemy, do it on someone just getting up to force them to take excessive block damage.
    • Pros
      • Lots of hits, can re-dizzy, good block damage from up-close
      • Counts as a series of projectiles and will nullify other projectiles
      • Even if someone jumps to try to take only one hit, when they get up, you're still attacking!
    • Cons
      • Must be done close up for good damage otherwise too many hits miss
      • Horrible start-up & lag
      • People can jump behind you while you're sheathing your swords
      • Can be reflected by C.Shredder's Aura Shield!

Match-ups