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|   Part II: Putting it together   |
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Contents:
1)Strategy

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|Strategy|
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Fighting games rely heavily on developing not only an intuitive
knowledge of the attack forms for each character, but on developing 
the INTUITION and reflexes needed to "out-guess" your opponent.  
Strict adhereance to one technique, such as multiple rushing elbows, 
can defeat a mid-level opponent, but will be overcome by an advanced 
fighter.

Sun Tzu's "Art of War" says that defense is the art of making 
yourself invulnerable, and offense is the art of finding the 
opponent's vulnerability.  Nothing is closer to the truth in VF2.  
Defensively, you need to consider how to make yourself less 
vulnerable to counter-attacks, while taking advantage of every chance 
you have to attack where the opponent has failed to defend.

Every character has different stregnths and weaknesses in VF2, but 
you need to play against the other PERSON, not the other CHARACTER.  
You have to understand not only what the other character is capable 
of, but be able to quickly develop a feeling for how the other person 
wants to play that character.

If you can understand and take all that to heart, you're well on your 
way to having the right mindset for VF2.

Shun Di is a character that is well suited to the player who likes to 
mix a variety of quick moves together into an intricate choreography 
of maneuvers.  Shun is constantly on the move.  Even when he stands 
still, his body slowly lists to one side or another.  He drinks saki
he staggers around drunkenly, he twists and turns and sidesteps 
constantly.  No matter how he dances or turns or hops, though, there
is a purpose to his madness.  That should be your mindset as well.

Shun has a variety of moves which come out quickly but leave him 
vulnerable afterward.  The cartwheel kick and lunging uppercut are
the two best examples.  He also has moves which do not leave him 
particularly vulnerable but which do less damage.  His twisting heel
kick and backfist are two examples here.  Finally, he has moves which
are not quick coming out or recovering, but which are evasive in 
nature; ducking under high attacks, hopping over low attacks or 
dodging back and forth.  Lying down on the ground is also an example
of this evasion within an attack.

With all these moves at his disposal, Shun is truly versatile.  He 
can change his timing, going from quick attacks to an unexpected 
delayed P+K attack.  He can be backing up slowly, only to suddenly
side step in and throw the opponent.  Even his joystick motions can
be deceptive; his scorpion kick is performed by d+K+G, which is very
similar to his sweep (d/b+K+G), but the scorpion hits mid-level and 
the sweep hits low.

Some experts say that Shun is weak at the higher levels because an 
expert is not fooled by the deceptive nature of Shun's attacks, and 
can block and counter them fairly easily.  As far as this statement 
goes, they are correct.  But Shun has quickness and evasion as well 
as deception on his side, and truly great Shun players know how to 
evade and attack in a combined motion.

My best advice with Shun, though, would be to have fun playing him.
As with many things in life, it is when you treat it as a thing to 
enjoy that you gain the most benefit.  A player who has mastered Shun
technically but plays him like a robot will fall before a Shun player
who has the intuition to outguess him.

So play to challenge yourself.  Tell yourself, "I want to hit him 
with a mule kick", and then try it.  If you fail, you've learned from
the experience.  But if you've practiced the timing on attacks,
you'll succeed more often than you think.  Be willing to take a risk
or two with Shun.  Go with your gut feeling on what the opponent will
do next.  Don't get lost in thought waiting for your opponent to kick
over your head - develop the instincts to read what the opponent's
game plan calls for next.

I only have one word of warning - don't take needless risks.  If 
you're feeling is that a lunging punch will hit, fine.  But if you
mindlessly continue to repeat the lunging punch over and over, the
opponent will punish you every time.  If you fall into a pattern or
telegraph your moves, you will lose.  Think of him like a whirling
tornado, skipping about and striking here and there.  If you turn 
this tornado into a motionless manequin, the opponent will smash you
with overwhelming power.



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E-mail: 
dug@lugaru.com
TheDugman@aol.com