While standing: Jab (and short) quick jab claw, strong(or forward) for counterattacking air Fiece damaging/Slow While crouching: The punch buttons will slash/stab, while the kick buttons will perform leg sweeps. The slash/stab's are more or less similar, but they vary in speed and damage. I personally feel that the jab and strong slashes are the best. The short and forward sweeps are rather quick, and vega stays in place while leg sweeping. The roundhouse sweep slides into the opponent, knocking thme off their feet. BEWARE! This move can be very dangerous to your health, because it has a _long_ delay after execution. If your sweep is blocked, look forward to getting thrown or something mean happening to you. In the air: Every button does a kick. Jumping straight up with a roundhouse kick does Vega's "stright-out" kick, where his leg is parallel to the ground - Firece will have the same effect. The other four buttons perform the kick which points down at the earth. Jumping in any direction and then attacking will perform the diagonally pointing kick, but if you are on top of your enemy (also in the air) and use strong or fierce, you will do some funky looking air-throw. From my experience, it's best to use fierce. It will roundhouse normally - and if someone jumps in the air to meet you, you may airthrow them also (without having to switch buttons *grin*) Special moves: O- O -O (sonic boom motion) with a punch button will do Vega's rolling claw attack (or rolling punch). If you are close enough to your enemy, you can potentially hit the opponent three tiems (but not enough to stun). This move can be useful in hitting opponents out of the air - _if_ the timing and distance is right. It is also possible to use it to _dodge_ under an arial attack (i.e., someone jumping in at you), and you can often recover in time to throw. ^H / O / O O /or O \ (sonic kick motion - sort of, I'll explain) You have to charge this attack by crouching (any direction) for about 2 - 3 seconds. Then, by pushing the joystick to _either_ corner of the controller, you will jump off the wall and perform the "screaming eagle attack". Pushing toward backwards flip will jump to the wall behind you, pushing the joystick the other way will jump to the wall you are facing. When you come off the wall, you have some control over where Vega lands. (Basically, you can land in the left, middle, or right part of the screen) Simply push the joystick there to land there. As you are coming down, push Fierce or Strong - You can use the others, but you don't want to, since Fierce or strong _will_ backdrop if you are close enough, otherwise, you will to the spread eagle attack (arms extended). The trick to the backdrop is to aim Vega to the _back_ of the opponent, and pushing Fierce or Strong just as you are descending upon them. Vega is somewhat vulnerable (about 1/3 second) afterwards (he bounces around after landing), so be careful if you are fighting against Zangief (he can spin you after you land). O- O O- (tap joystick left twice (assuming that is back defense) ) or / ! / O O O (d. crouch, crouch, d. crouch) or / O- O O- (b. defense, d. crouch., b. defense) All the above will do Vega's flipping attack. It is useful against flying attacks (like the Blanka ball, sumo torpedo).. but be careful about using it otherwise. A smart opponent will follow the flip and throw (or d. punch) you as you get out. Other than that, it is fun to use because it look so cool :). Tactics: General tactics: Master the "Screaming eagle back drop". If you master this move, you will be able to pull so many wins out of your ass. It's important to mix it up. The secret is to aim for the back of your opponent. If he goes into the air, the job is alot easier, but if he stays on the ground, _aim_ for the back and hit Fierce just as you are about to land. This is one of the most powerful moves in the game, and only a few characters have a great counter attack against it. (No, Guile isn't one of them). Mastery of the back flipping dodge is nice. I still haven't got this one down. But it is damned impressive looking and you usually get a throw out of it (if you dodge the right attacks (Sumo torpedo, etc.. ) ). The surprise throw can be effective in keeping your opponent honest. If he is just sitting there in defense. You might try walking up and throwing him. Vega's jump kick does not have the highest priority in the world. His kick can be beaten by alot of other kicks, _unless_ you get it off after the other person kicks (depending ont he character, of course). Jumping into the opponent and pushing roundhouse immediately is quite effective. The rolling claw can be devestating, but use it with caution. It is quite vulnerable to counter attacks, a simple jab can stop it, and a dragon punch can really make you look bad. However, a good time to use it is after your opponent is down - walk up next to him and do it just as he gets up (before he throws you). You will knock of a little energy (hey, it's a free hit) if he defends.. If he trys to throw, you'll score three nasty hits. Walking under people and throwing works very well with most opponents (Vega is so damned fast!), and sacrifice throws work quite well too, however you have to be in close to the attack to throw (unlike Sagat or Zangief or even Ken for that matter). Vega vs Vega: The main strategy here is a) watching out for the screaming eagle attack. b) knock the other Vega's claw off first. If the other Vega heads for a wall, if you are charged and your timing is good, go for the opposite wall and meet in the air. Otherwise, head for the same wall and attack when the other vega hits the ground. If you are not ready for an attack, you have a few options to get away. If there is enough distance, jumping back with roundhouse will kick the other Vega down (usually), if not, try either rolling out of the way, or sliding out of the way. DO NOT JUMP! You are only making it easier to slam you. If the other vega heads for the wall you are facing, if you have time, try to catch Vega 2 in the air with an air throw (Vega when heading for the wall is vulnerable). The other important tactic is to constantly jab, jab, jab, roll.. jump in with roundhouse, jab, jab, etc.. (but mix up the number of each, to keep the other vega off guard). Once you've knocked off the other vega's claw You are in good shape. Walking under and throwing works well, as does sacrifice throws, provided that you are very close to the attack (otherwise, you will get hit with many stabs). Vega vs. Ken/Ryu: Patience is the key here. Pester Ken/Ryu with occasional jabs and crouchine and standing strong stabs - but keep it a surprise, or you can have your claw uppercutted. Occassionally, throw several jabs _short_ of Ken/Ryu to try to fool them into a dragon punch (for Ken, you want to jab alot farther away, since his Fierce dragonpunch has some serious range). Always be ready for the fireball. As soon as you see Ken/Ryu go for the fireball, jump in with Roundhouse then Strong, then jump back. If you get in fast enough, not even Ryu has time to avoid being hit. If Ken/Ryu goes into the air, use the standing strong to knock him back down (only if you have a claw). Be cautious about the screaming eagle attack here, only use if you can be tricky. One tactic is to jump at the wall behind the enemy (tricking him into a dragon punch) and come back and slam. OR, you can jump to your own wall and land short (provided you have enough space). Keeping the opponent off guard as to where you are going and landing is the key here. Vega vs. Honda: Use the stabs carefully, because they are easy for honda to hit. Perhaps jab a few times, kick and then retreat. If honda torpedoes, block, jump or dodge it with the backflip. If Honda tries to corner you with the 1000 hands, jump over him and throw (he can't stop the hands in time). As for the rolling claw, only use it from a long distance, or if the opponent is down (then get ready to jump away, since the 1000 hands can come out soon). Caution with the diving attack - Make sure you land _behind_ honda, or he can headbutt you out of it. If you land behind him, you should have a backdrop or a slash at the very least. The trick is to vary the walls that you jump off of. A good trick is to jump off the wall behind your opponent, and when he turns around, land behind him *grin* Vega vs. Zangief The trick here is just to keep Zangief away, with jabs and the strong upward slash. Vary the timing of your jabs, or Zangief may hit your arm/claw. If he spins, use the roundhouse slide. The rolling claw should only be done from a distance. For the screaming eagle attack - make sure you slam or connect with your attack. And use it sparingly, since Zangief can just spin around to hit you away. If you do not slam Zangief, he has enough time to SPD you.. owch. Otherwise, Zangief should not be hard. Vega vs. Dhalsim HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - Good practice for your Arial backslam. This is the easiet match for Vega. Occassionally, his headbutt can knock you out of the air, but the timing is hard, and if your opponent gets good at it. Aim your landing far behind him and slash instead, this will keep your opponent honest about using the headbutt, then it's back to backslams from the air again. Vega vs. Chun-li Stay away from her 1000 kicks, or you will lose your claw quickly. If she jumps up and down, get in close, then run under and slam her. He is one of the very few characters who is fast enough to do this. If she goes up in the air, jump back if, possible, otherwise block. You cannot counter attack her from the air. As for arial slams, just make sure you get behind her, and you will usually be okay. Otherwise, she can jump straight up and kick you out of the air. Keep her busy with jabs and strongs when she is on the ground, occasionally jumping in with the roundhouse or using the rolling claw. Make sure that you use the "run under-and-slam" technique whenever she jumps up into the air. Vega vs. Balrog Keep attacking with standing strong, and if you see the opponent coming in with a charging punch, knock him down with roundhouse. If he jumps in the air, use the upward slash (standing strong) to knock him down. If you go for the air slam, make sure you land behind Balrog, or he can clock you out of the air, and boy, does that hurt! Vega vs. Guile Guile is tricky, because he will keep you honest about throwing constant jabs and strong claw attacks. The key here is to be very patient about attacking. If he uses several medium kicks or the 360 kick, try to sneak in a sliding roundhouse. If he throws a sonice boom, sometimes you can jump in and annoy him a little, but he will usually block this. However, with the screaming eagle attack, you can fake most Guile players out of their blade kick. Bu By jumping on the same wall, and landing short, many times a tense guile will release his bladekick, allowing you to walk up and slam. Or... you can head for the wall behind Guile, and if he doesn't turn around, air slam. If he does, land short and slam if guile doesn't do the blade kick.. With this move, you have a definate advantage - sometimes, you can jump off the wall without attacking and just slam the opponent when you land next to him, but it's sometimes risky.. Vega vs. Bison Your first move should almost always be a strong slash - it will keep Bison from torpedoing or even doing his Blitz-kick. Keep the strong slash up, varying it with the roundhouse (jumping) kick. If you get it in right, you shoudl ususally kick Bison out of his flaming torpedo. If he is a ways away and he does a torpedo, you can a) kick him out of it... b) do the screaming eagle attack and backslam him as he gets out of the torpedo. If you aim for the location _behind_ him, it is VERY hard for Bison to counter it. However, if you see Bison start up another torpedo, direct yourself do a safe spot to land in. If he does the torpedo and you block, if you are within an inch when he reaches the corner, use the strong throw to slam him, otherwise try jumping away, or just blocking. (I recommend jumping away..although perhaps back flipping may work) Vega vs. Sagat Argh, this is a very tough one. Having high and low tigers makes it hard to time when to come in and attack, and one of Sagat's hits takes like 10 of yours to make up with. You cannot keep stabbing, because a) you may get hit with a tiger or worse b) You can get hit with a tiger uppercut. If you have alot of distance, you may try jumping off a wall and landing way short to draw Sagat into a tiger uppercut. If you can time it well, jump over the tiger and use a roundhouse kick, then strong hit, then retreat again. Or, if you are very fast, jump the tiger and slam Sagat, but this is risky. A good Sagat can give you problems, because that Tiger uppercut is much more deadly than Ryu or Ken's (hell, all his moves are nasty). Vega vs. Blanka This is a bad matchup for Vega. Blanka wins in the air almost every time, unless you jump early with roundhouse and he jumps in at you to attack, in which case, you will hit. But he can also jump straight up and fierce slap you, or do a standing fierce (claws up) to hit you. His ball attack can be stopped by kicking it, but that is risky. Don't even think about doing the screaming eagle. Blanka seems to be _very_ good at defending it, and at best, you will just land safely. Continuous thrusting of the claws means getting a ball in the face. On top of that, Blanka does heavy damage per hit, and you will find yourself incapable of matching that damag easily... really, its like 10 hits of yours to one of his, only Blanka is alot faster than Sagat. The best option here is to sacrifice throw _alot_. This means getting Blanka to jump up, and taking the roundhouse hit and then slamming. Well, that's most everything i've learned so far. One cool trick though - If you know your opponent is coming in for a tick. Do the rolling claw. 3 hits that will make him think about ticking next time *grin*. BISON: Flaming Torpedo - Guile sonic boom motion (jab - short distance, fierce - long distance). 4 to 6 hits if blocked using fierce. Scorpion (head stomp followed by rounded punch) - Guile whipkick to start flying into the air, followed by a kick button to stand on the opponent's head, followed by fierce and a push of the joystick toward the person for best results. Double foward kick - Guile Sonic boom with a kick button (again length of flight is dependant upon the kick button pushed) Those are the majors, the slide is roundhouse and the throw is the same as other character's throws...... VEGA: (personal favorite) "Screamin' Eagle" - Guile whipkick (corner to corner) to fly and scream, fierce to spread eagle. (followed by backbreaker can sometimes stun) NOTE: If you crouch left and sonic kick up to the left corner then you will jump off the left wall, if you crouch left and sonic kick to the right corner you will jump off the right wall. Claw roll - Guile sonic boom from crouch to forward with any puch button. Highly effective if close. It can hit 3 times almost like a Blanka ball. Bison Buster - regular jump kick when Bison does his torpedo. All other moves in the air are jump kicks, even punch buttons, on the ground the opposite is true, all buttons are stabs, including kick buttons. The backbreaker is like Guile's. You can throw an opponent out of the air but timing is critical! SAGAT: Tiger Uppercut - Ryu uppercut albiet harder. Tiger fireball - Ryu fireball with punch to get the high ones, kicks for low ones. Tiger knee - Guile sonic boom with kick button. Throw - Toward an opponent with fierce or strong button. Nothing else a major factor with him to learn.... BALROG: Turnaround Pause punch - hold down the three top punch buttons and then release must be timed correctly to work. For a faster punch, hold down for three seconds, release, push them again, release (hold for 1 sec the second time). Charging punches - Guile sonic boom with any button. Balrog will slide and punch but be prepared to be tripped. Headbutt - Push joystick toward opponent and press strong or fierce. Highly effective if the opponent doesn't shake it off because he will keep doing it for as long as they don't touch anything. Obviously anything he does takes off mondo damage but he is the most ineffective character in the game due to the fact that he gets hit quite a bit and cannot retaliate. Now for other "improvements" - the game is definitely faster with little slowdown whatsoever - Ken has a wider arced uppercut that covers half the screen, and a twice as fast hurricane kick which does little damage. - Ryu is almost unchanged except for faster fireballs. - Zangief can move with the spinning punch and has a faster SPD. - E Honda can move with his wipe on wipe off hands and can torpedo faster. - Blanka got deadly! He can do repeated balls and get his electricity off 10x faster now. Also he doesn't have the double ball claw move anymore, yeah! - Chun Li has a bird kick that can hit an opponent on the back of the head with her knee in a "bird kick" plus she also has a push away kick. - Guile has one new thing, instead of a stationary knee he "flies" with the knee or as we call it "cheezyknee" - Dhalsim can now spin twice as fast but that's about all. He does shout "ooga" everytime you noogie someone though. "Arguments with furniture are rarely productive." -- Kehlog Albran, "The Profit"