Introduction
Story
Rugal Bernstein is the big baddie of the early King of Fighters games. He is a feared man by criminals and governments, and a highly influential arms dealer operating off his aircraft carrier, The Black Noah. Rugal was infamous for violence, and would often kill his victims in gruesome ways. Not only that, but Rugal would preserve their corpses in liquid metal, creating statues of their bodies to line his rooms. At about 25, Rugal would come to fight an 18 year old Goenitz, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi. Goenitz took out his eye in one shot. As a reward for Rugal surviving the blow, Goenitz gifted him with the power of Orochi, further fueling his immense strength. Rugal would have the eye replaced with a bionic one afterwards.
Eventually, Rugal would recruit two personal assistants, Mature and Vice. Unbeknownst to him, these two were actually part of the Orochi clan, sent by Goenitz to see if Rugal would be a fitting host for Orochi. Soon after this, greedy for more trophies, Rugal would host his own King of Fighters tournaments. In order to maximize how many corpses he would add to his collection however, fighters would be in a team of 3, with each battle being a 3v3. Saisyu Kusanagi, the head of the Kusanagi clan, would go and confront Rugal. Saisyu would be defeated, but Rugal wasn't impressed with him, leaving him instead to be a final fighter to the winning team. Saisyu's son, Kyo Kusanagi, and his friends Goro Daimon and Benimaru Nikaido would win the tournament. After safely defeating Saisyu, they would face Rugal, and bring his reign of terror to an end... for now.
Gameplay
Rugal is essentially a weaker Sagat. He uses a lot of buttons in neutral, and does not have strong meterless combos, but can really deal huge damage with meter. He has a few unique tools at his disposal as well, although they are situational. Rugal has some of the best damage output in the game in general thanks to his Gigantic Pressure super, and it's ability to juggle into his Genocide Heaven super. His Dark Smash divekick can work for some decent offense, and it can eat most normal anti-airs, however it can be swatted away if used predictably. His normals are also good in the damage department and has a ton of anti-airs, however they have very specific ranges where they can and cannot work at.
That said, Rugal has a lot of weaknesses. Some of his specials are difficult to use, especially his God Press, which only really works as an RC and a combo ender. Kaiser Wave has to be used sparingly in order for Rugal to effectively zone with it. As well, Reppuken can rear it's ugly head in terms of it's speed, but is usually a decent form of blockstring and throw pressure. His infamous Genocide Cutter is a decent reversal with LK, and a pretty consistent anti-air as well, but it cannot do much else besides that, as the range is low and cannot be combo'd into from more than two 2LKs. His Dark Barrier can also be used as a projectile reflector and a jail tool in the corner. Overall, Rugal has a versatile kit, but the individual moves are not strong enough to put Rugal amongst the best characters. He sits in the upper mid-tier.
Groove Selection
Best - C: Rugal heavily relies on having super consistently for big damage, which immediately sets C-Rugal a bit above the rest. C-Groove's meter can be stored indefinitely, allowing Rugal to use his super only when the time is right without the worry of a timer like Rage or Max Mode. Airblock makes anti-airing him harder, which can force you to respect Dark Smash even more, and Alpha Counters give him an extremely needed defensive option. His roll isn't the best, but being able to RC specials is a massive benefit to make up for the slow startup of his various moves. C-Rugal is comfortably his best Groove.
Useful - P/K/A/N: P-Rugal is behind C in terms of strength. It seems odd at first, but P-Rugal is a surprisingly powerful character. He has access to shorthops, and his good dash. He gains decent meterless reward from a parry, but even more scary is that one parry with meter can turn into a Gigantic Pressure confirm for massive damage. This is more or less the game plan of P-Rugal. Gain meter through parries in neutral and get the confirm for the damage. K-Rugal can be just as terrifying. Raged buttons do crazy damage and a level 3 confirm with the added rage buffs completely wreck checaracters with ease. He just can't control his meter, which can sometimes be an issue, and his JD game is worse than his parry game. A-Rugal is somewhat different, and might not seem like a strong character at first, but once Custom Combos are taken into account, you realize that Rugal has really good synergy with CCs. He can confirm into it from a large amount of moves and setups, his main ones being God Press, Dark Smash, and Dark Barrier. These are corner only, of course. His Custom also deals great damage. However, confirming into Gigantic Pressure deals the same damage if not more, so that somewhat hurts Rugal a bit. N-Rugal relies a lot on his offense more than his defense, as he can pop MAX Mode to confirm into Gigantic Pressure, and even juggle it into Genocide Heaven, although that usually is only done if it secures the kill. He has a shorthop and a run, as well he can RC his special moves. A very versatile Rugal, but not having a stored level 3 somewhat hurts, since P/C Rugal having a stored level 3 always poses the threat of a potential confirm at any point. With N-Groove, that time is limited. Still, he is a decent character.
Worst - S: S-Rugal doesn't do as much as the other grooves. He does have defensive subsystems, and can somewhat control where he gets his meter from. When he has a level 3, his Gigantic Pressure confirm becomes downright terrifying. He can always juggle it into a Genocide Heaven and the combo will be a true 10K damage combo. His dodge attacks are okay at best however, so that limits how he shuts down the opponent defensively. The main draw with S-Rugal is landing his level 3 since he will always get 10k damage from it. However, S-Groove just does not give Rugal enough convenient firepower to make it work a lot of the time.
Rugal is a slow, neutral/pressure heavy character with big buttons and even bigger damage output with meter. He relies heavily on having meter, but when he does have meter, he can dish out some of the best punishes in the game. Rugal is best in C-Groove. Difficulty: MediumTier: B |
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Pros | Cons |
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Players to Watch
Name | Country | Groove | Accounts | Notes |
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Tetsu | Japan | C-Groove | N/A | Old C-Rugal player. Pulls off very stylish super combos. Sample Match |
Dari | Japan | C-Groove | N/A | Relies on fundamentals, as he is a great C player overall, but can use Rugal's meter well if need be. Sample Match |
P-Rugal | Japan | P-Groove | Twitter: @oyasuminecalli | As his name suggest, P-Rugal is his specialty. He has perfect fundamentals and uses parries very efficiently. Sample Match |
Ankoku | Japan | P-Groove | Twitter: @ankokuPruga | A fine P-Groover. Lands lvl3 confirms off of parries like it's nothing. Sample Match |
Silentscope88 | USA | K-Groove | Twitter: @silentscope88 Youtube: Silentscope88 Discord: Silentscope#7008 |
A strong K-Groover and Rugal main. Knows the ins and outs of Rugal's defense to create a scarily well rounded character. Sample Match |
!!!THIS PAGE IS A WIP. IF YOU NEED FRAME DATA NOW, REFER TO THE CVS2 BIBLE OR LOOK THROUGH EDIT HISTORY TO FIND THE LAST EDIT CONTAINING FRAME DATA IF THERE WAS ONE!!!
Normal Moves
Far Normals
5LP
5MP
5HP
5LK
5MK
5HK
Close Standing Normals
clHP
clLK
clMK
clHK
Crouching Normals
2LP
2MP
2HP
2LK
2MK
2HK
Jumping Normals
j.LP
j.MP
j.HP
j.LK
j.MK
j.HK
Throws
Scorpion Deathlock
Hip Toss
Special Moves
Reppuken
Kaiser Wave
Dark Barrier
Genocide Cutter
God Press
Dark Smash
Super Moves
Gigantic Pressure
Total Annihilation
Colors