The Vs System

[Cyanide]

As you guys work so much in this. And use the same template which has some problems, i figure you might like to know everything i've found out about it from the characters i've made and how things act.

First off, and most importantly. Combos. I'm going to theif these descriptions from a FAQ at gamefaqs because the guy in question describes them really well, also i don't need to type so much this way.

Combo Systems

Stronger:

Jab --> Strong --> Fierce

This can be done by almost any character in the game. Also you do not just have
to stick to just using straight punches and straight kicks, you can also do
this:

Short --> Forward --> Fierce

Just as long as the next hit you will execute is stronger than the last hit,
then the combo will fully come out.

______________
Punch to Kick:

Fierce --> Short

Only one character in the game possess this odd magic series, and that is Shuma
Gorath. Here you can go backwards in terms of strength but you can never get
more than two hits, and you can never go forward like a stronger magic series.
Remember, this is only just one possible combination, you can go from a Strong
--> Short, or a Fierce --> Roundhouse.

______________
Kick to Punch:

Roundhouse --> Strong

This is very similar to Punch to Kick Magic series, but its reversed. Only two
character in the game has this magic series and that is Blackheart and
Mephisto. Here you can go backwards in terms of strength but you can never go
forward like the stronger series. You can never get more than two hits out of
this and also there are more combinations like Short --> Strong, or Short -->
Jab.

______
ZigZag:

Jab --> Short --> Strong --> Forward --> Fierce --> Roundhouse

The most complex part of the magic series, but after you take sometime you can
perform outrageous combos like the experts. You can most likely collect five
hits out of this magic series. Also you can skip some of the magic series for
example:

Short --> Strong --> Fierce --> Roundhouse

You can also perform a stronger magic series as well because basically a
stronger magic series is in the ZigZag magic series.

__________
Weak Start:

Short or Jab --> Stronger Attack

Consider this like a weaker version of the stronger magic series. You can only
go from a Jab or Short into a Strong/Forward/Fierce/Roundhouse. That is it, you
cannot get more than two hits out of this and Hulk is the only one with this
magic series in the game.

____
None:

Any attack --> Special Move

That is the biggest combo out of this magic series. Any character with this
magic series is primarily at a disadvantage, since the player cannot get more
hits out he can only cancel into a special move just like those two-in-one's
back in the old Street Fighter days.

There is an additional one that he hasn't mentioned. Exactly the same as "Stronger" listed above but you must stick to the same move type. Jab --> Strong --> Fierce or Short --> Forward --> Roundhouse

Choose the one that suits the character you're making best. Zig-Zag really is for fast fighters though. The bruisers will often have a far more limited system. Blackheart above is a good example.

Other things to note. Ground series and air series do not need to be the same. Super jump is always zig-zag. Every character, regardless of system is able to interchange between crouching attacks and standing. Even the limited people like blackheart with kick>punch. He may do c.LK>s.MP or s.LK>c.MP. This limitation is not present for anyone.

Dashing
Dashing will always be a short dash and to maintain continuity normally causes a certain amount of slowdown rather than an outright stop. The only character i can think of who crosses the whole screen is Blackheart, and you cannot cancel his dash into any other moves.

Wave dashing is achieved by allowing dash in states 10 or 12 and not using the statetype trigger as a triggerall. Crouching will cancel 99% of characters dashes, both back and forwards but a tap>release>3P should set you dashing once more

Air Dashing, especially off super jumps. Assuming a character has 1 available (chun li has 2 air jumps iirc) you may only use this ONCE per jump cycle regardless of moves used in between. So you may do Jump>Aircombo>air dash> special. You may do Jump>Airdash>Special. You may do Jump>Special>Airdash. You may not do Jump>Airdash>special>AirDash.

Super Jump
Lots of rules around this.
Holding forward or back during a launcher, or if you can manage it from a normal super jump will start your X velocity at 4, or -4. It will not go higher than this. It will not decrease below this. That's it for the duration of the jump. Both of these should have a unique forwards/backwards animation. Some characters even have unique landing animations.

Pressing forwards or backwards a bit late. When jumping forwards the acceleration begins 8 ticks after you enter the animation. Acceleration is possible to 4. If you release any key before it reaches 4, it will decrease to 2.

Jumping back, acceleration starts 15 ticks after entering the animation. Obeys the same rules as forwards. It will accelerate to a maximum of -4 and stay there, if you release before it reaches that far, it will decrease to -2.

You may move backwards and forwards in the same super jump, but only until it reaches 4, after that point you may not alter your velocity again.

Both of these will retain the neutral jump animation.

Negative Edge
Not sure if anyone here is doing it, but it is a firm part of the Vs system. Negative edge is where releasing a key rather than pressing it will activate a move. Say you were using a basic combo with ryu. LP, MP, HP. But during HP you would also run the command  The move would then activate when you released HP rather than when you pressed it. Timing on this is difficult but works really well for charge characters especially.

Dampening
There are actually 2 combo dampening systems for Vs. I don't care much for the damage one. It's difficult to add to mugen because of its very static nature but i will describe it anyway. In the game itself. 1 damage is actually 8 points of life. The entire system works off this. So if you have 3 moves. Lets say by themselves they deal 16 HP, 24 HP and 48 HP. In a combo it will strip the damage off 8 by 8 up to a maximum of 6 or something (i forget, it's a terrible method). So you would get 16>16>24 by comboing the above 3 moves together.

The other side of the dampening system is power. Vs does actually use power dampening. It works exactly the same way as the combo system itself. But because power only adds a maximum of about 48 per move, this is a bit easier to deal with in mugen. You will once more lose 8 power from the getpower of any hit in a combo. So as per above you would get 16 power > 16 power > 24 power. The only difference is starting off an air combo will increase this by n+1. So if the second hit was actually from a launcher it would be 16>24>36

Other features like Advancing Guard or recovery rolls are quite obvious and need little to no explaining.

The last thing i will point out that improves ANY character, Vs or not is the timing of basic moves. I am not stating total accuracy here, but this is something that everyone could improve on, and it will make an incredible difference to your characters. Timing is about the impact of a move. If you get it wrong it feels like nothing has happened, it makes combos feel loose and it really does make an otherwise good character feel worse. Moves like LP will be quick and seldom change frame times. However a heavier move will not only be slower, but the frame times will differ and it will often end on a longer frame. Assuming LP is 5 frames, you would not be off by much doing
2,3,3,4,2
That's quick start up, a bit of a longer time on the actual hit frame, and fast recovery
However for a heavy move, which may be 8 frames it would look more like this
2,6,3,3,3,8,8,5,5
That's a slower start up, a lot of time on the impact portion (first and a lot of recovery.

This is a practice thing, there is no right answer, especially when making things in a custom style, but it's important to do some of it to make light moves and heavy moves FEEL like light and heavy moves.

I have probably missed some stuff. If there is a mechanic you'd like expanded upon, or one you feel i should cover post, i'll add it in, or learn about it then add it in.

[ZVitor]

 
i still receive feedbacks about loose combos, and dont know exactly what i should do, usually my chars dont have so much frames at basics attacks.
...
also, the strong basics attack cancel to special, i use movecontact, so it can be done immediately after hit, it is correct? it make strong attack lose his impact?
...
i preffer run then dash, while chars still running while you press fwrd.


you may sugest some char where i can copy... i mean... study, this number values? hitpauses, hitshake, frametimes....?

[Cyanide]

for basics, yes. Specials however no. specials can be done at any time, even before a move hits. You can test this yourself. Take a character with an easy to do move and a move that takes a long time to complete. In my case i worked this out with omega reds s.HP while playing round with negative edge. I discovered i could do omega strike before s.HP had even completed 3 frames. Further testing showed there were no real limitations there.

As for basics with limited frame count. I doubt you're ever going to have less than 3 frames for a heavy, this is easily enough to make a move feel heavy still.
4,10,6 will give you a 3 frame heavy move. Vs may be fast, but that's because movecontact is a very quick combo method, not because the moves themselves are overly quick.

Aside from studying the game heaps. Take a look at any author who claims to have made an accurate character, that will at least let you look at the code. Sunboys stuff (i dislike it but he did go for accuracy) Kamekaze, Mine (omega yes, blackheart, limited) I can't think of anyone else who went for accuracy off the top of my head, very few people really have. Any of those should show you timings for basics and how they act.

[O Ilusionista]

Thanks for the info. Besides there is some points I don't agree on the VS series and I modified on my chars.
For example, if you dash with Megaman, he jumps (or leaps forward), but if you attack, the leap is cancelled and he is on the ground again, what makes no sense to me.

The power dampener is a cool idea, and its fair.

[Cyanide]

The problem there would be if you were to use an air attack, or even make the move air statetype certain things will occur that you may not really want to.

Using statetype = A for it
Characters who have air hit launchers, they'll hit you expecting a standard zoning knockback and get a launcher instead. Alternatively they'll hit you and air vel simply differs too much you're just knocked away and no combo is possible.

If not using statetype = A but you insert an aerial attack. It'll cancel out on landing possibly faster than a basic move would recover, this allows you to do things that were conceivably impossible from any other standing basic. Using a super move that is normally impossible to combo into for example. Your move finishes a few ticks early and the buffered command kicks in.

Of course if you have simply changed his hop into a running animation, not an issue really. Just have to think stuff through.