CvS2: A-groove Ken

[Retro-rific]

Hi, Im new to the game..(surprisingly) and just need help, strats, combos (not CC), and Ideas on what I should do for pokes and such.

I've played the game before and can execute everything really well, so please don't treat me like a complete idiot, just a well thought out, complete over-all discussion of A-groove Ken would be great if you guys could help.

Im a little aliterate when it comes to terms you guys use, so if you could be very specific.

I know all about standing and crouching (s. and cr.)
I know about RC (Roll canceling) just not too sure on how to do it yet.

ah hell.. just be specific

[CrimsonDisaster]

Jab, short, etc. is older than LP, LK, etc. So actually, you're using the "new lingo," and it's incorrect to boot. There's no such thing as a fierce kick. FK = forward kick, ie MK.

Best poke is RC short(LK) funky kick. Then s.roundhouse(s.FK in your terms). Also twd+roundhouse(twd+FK) at the right range.

B&B: crossup j.MK, c.LKx2, s.LK XX HCF+LK. And variations on that.

Strategy: Get in their face and RC short(LK) funky kick them. There's some other stuff you should probably learn, but this is so much more mindless.
RC roundhouse(FK) funky kick is good for AA. Less risk than DPing. Though you can combo the trade, or after a connected DP in the corner. So take your pick.

Learn your distances. Just outside of RC(LK) short funky kick range is the best range to use twd+roundhouse(FK).

Generic RC strat: RC fireballs to stall.

[pain]

Um.... I think he's new to the game.... no point getting him to RC stuff = P ....

If you're starting with A-groove Ken know the easy Ken CC.... activate, ->+RH x N, cRH, qcfx2 + K........

[Retro-rific]

eh.. I suppose i can deal with Jab and short.. everyone, from now on don't worry about putting Lk or Lp.. I see his point.

By the way, crimson, thanks a lot for replying. I will definitely take all you've provided into consideration. All i have trouble with really is what "twd" means.. not too sure on what that is.. at first i thought it was "Towards" but.. apparently not if you use "forward" is it the "shoryuken" motion on the stick?

[Shafted!]

I see from your profile that you're in orlando, what school do you go to?

There are a lot of good playesr around here...and a tournament in january.

[Retro-rific]

I know all about the tourney. My main Competition is Tr3nt. But I've just started playing the game. I may be going to the tourney if i feel im ready by then, but i doubt i will be. Anyways.. I know theres a lot of comp here..

oh yeah, I go to "Cypress Creek High School".

Ok here to make things easier and more "stable" in this topic, we'll start off with this:

NON-CC Combos

lay out the combos guys..

[CrimsonDisaster]

twd = toward.
Since I've gotten into the habit of using "forward" for the kick, rather than the direction, "toward" is used to avoid confusion.

Honestly, forward is a more accurate directional term.

Once you reach the corner with Ken's CC, do stuff like:
c.roundhouse > close s.RH, [jump straight up RHx5]xN, HCF+forward XX Shinryuken.
Or if you distance and time it right, max range c.RH XX RH Hurricane Kick, Shinryuken.

[Retro-rific]

so wait.. Crimson, you're saying I can get off 5 RH kicks in the air before landing??? wow.. does it do good damage?

And also, about how high does the S. roundhouse before hand hit them up so i know the limitations and timing i need to have.

and lastly, what exactly do you mean by "mex range" im kinda lost there.. what's the difference between when you get them into the corner and round house, and get them into the corner and crouching round house? how does this change his position of hits?

[CrimsonDisaster]

If you jump straight up when they're sort of deep, you can connect 5 j.RH. Hit count and strong hits. It's perfect for when you reach the corner early.

If you reach the corner late, then do the Hurricane Kick one. When you do the max range sweep, what happens is:
You sweep them, they get knocked down.
RH Hurricane Kick moves up and juggles them for like 5 hits.

If you did it when you were in the corner, the first hit of the Hurricane would hit early and pop them up, so you'd get maybe 2 hits out of it at most.
If you don't have the time to jump when you reach the corner, do sweep XX forward funky kick XX Shinryuken.

[Retro-rific]

Hmm.. -very- interesting.. Thanks alot crimson, i'll have to work on that quite a bit..

anyways, back to business.. we're going to discuss (as said above):

"NON-CC Combos!!"

have at it.

[Shafted!]

Originally posted by Retro-rific
I know all about the tourney. My main Competition is Tr3nt. But I've just started playing the game. I may be going to the tourney if i feel im ready by then, but i doubt i will be. Anyways.. I know theres a lot of comp here..

oh yeah, I go to "Cypress Creek High School".

Ok here to make things easier and more "stable" in this topic, we'll start off with this:

NON-CC Combos

lay out the combos guys..

Cypress Creek huh? :lame: (i've got a personal reason to dislike CC HS)

Anyway, if you just started playing cvs2 you've got a lotta good players to go against, so be sure to hook up with some of them. Even if you think you aren't ready to play in the tournament, you might as well go as it's free to play (but there will be an entry fee for the actual tourny).

Anyway, peace out.

[caliagent#3]

Best ken combo: crossup with mk, cr.mp,cr.lp,cr.mk,hadoken (if opponent blocks this combo takes away almost half the gaurd meter)
play offensive with ken and u won't lose . . . an offensive ken can take out a whole team alone:cool:

[CrimsonDisaster]

j.fierce, close s.fierce XX fierce DP.

Hit the j.fierce high so that you keep falling and stay close, then land, s.fierce XX DP.

[Retro-rific]

caliagent, by blocking it, you mean blocking it from the starting cross-up, correct? if not.. i was going to ask "How is it considered a combo if you can block between the hits.. lol..

Crimson, im sorry i have another question.. lol what does "XX" mean.. I don't exactly understand what you're trying to explain in this combo. if you could enlighten me it would be most appreciated.

[ytwojay]

Originally posted by Retro-rific


Crimson, im sorry i have another question.. lol what does "XX" mean.. I don't exactly understand what you're trying to explain in this combo. if you could enlighten me it would be most appreciated.

"XX" means "cancel into." C. mk xx hadoken means crouching forward (medium) kick cancelled into a fireball. Hmm, or is that buffered... Either way, "a XX b" means do b right after a. :)

[Retro-rific]

Originally posted by ytwojay


"XX" means "cancel into." C. mk xx hadoken means crouching forward (medium) kick cancelled into a fireball. Hmm, or is that buffered... Either way, "a XX b" means do b right after a. :)

Oh, ok.. i understand now, so basically it's just like doing a move really fast right after the move before hand to actually make it a combo?

wow.. Didn't know that.. tanks a lot ytwojay.

[bakemono]

XX usually means buffer last time I checked.. But buffering is pretty meaningless in A groove. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

As for combos, just link a few crouching hits into any of his super moves, and bust out shinryukens whenever you can cause it's Ken's dopest Super :) :)

[caliagent#3]

if your opponent blocks and u continue the combo they will stay in block stun . . . by the time u buffer the hadoken from the cr.mk your opponent could come out of block stun but most likely they won't. If they do then they get hit by the fireball

[caliagent#3]

here's a ken pressure tactic that i use:

If opponent is a turle:

(opponent blocking) cr.lp, cr.lk, backwards dp+lk, (as opponent gets up) back dp+lk, (when opponent gets up again) throw

if not a turtle:

use command roll to fake them out then crossup with mk, cr.mp, cr.lp, cr.hkxxcommand roll, cr.hkxxhadoken. instead of doing the last cr.hkxxhadoken u could take the chance and do a super after the cr.hkxxcommand roll

[Rick Fn Stalvey]

Originally posted by Retro-rific


Oh, ok.. i understand now, so basically it's just like doing a move really fast right after the move before hand to actually make it a combo?

wow.. Didn't know that.. tanks a lot ytwojay.

Lol is this the person we took to tampa lanes last night....if so I didnt know u posted here LOL.

If it is u know who this is. A-groove ken is pretty fun to play with. That qcf lk is a great bar builder if u have room do that. Also his best far poke is s.HK altho I am fing against Sagat playes the forward s.hk is better lets u keep ur distance as well I like to do that move right after Sagat does a Hp of any kind. The key is knowing the distance and playin smart, dont thro them out randomly because u will get punished for it!!!

Ken mediums are also really good. As for combos he has all the basic shoto combos.

1. Jumpin hp s.hp hadoken
2. c.mk hadoken
3. c.mk huricane kick
4. Jumpin mk c.mk qcf P or K will connect

Theres more but these r the basics.

If u r going to jumpin just be smart about it. In this game there is lil reason to jump at all.

[Original Geese]

Originally posted by caliagent#3
here's a ken pressure tactic that i use:

If opponent is a turle:

(opponent blocking) cr.lp, cr.lk, backwards dp+lk, (as opponent gets up) back dp+lk, (when opponent gets up again) throw

if not a turtle:

use command roll to fake them out then crossup with mk, cr.mp, cr.lp, cr.hkxxcommand roll, cr.hkxxhadoken. instead of doing the last cr.hkxxhadoken u could take the chance and do a super after the cr.hkxxcommand roll

Yeah, those strats are wicked and are sure to work...
...
...






...
...





...
...



...
...


On blind people.

EDIT: His best poke is c. forward. And it's HCF + Short, not QCF.
EDIT2: Wow! He has all the standard shoto combos? I thought because he is a shoto and all, he would play more like Rog. Thanks for the info dude!

[caliagent#3]

Well obviously everyone who plays the game is blind:evil:

[jreinert13]

Ken's best poke: RC HCF+Short
Ken's Bread and Butter combo: C.Shortx3->HCF+Short
Ken's best crossup combo/Blocked string: Crossup->C.Jab->S.Fierce->HCF+Short

Other good pokes: Close S.Roundhouse(speed and priorty), C.Forward(fast, good range, hits low), Far S.Roundhouse(Priority, power, range), Forward+Roundhouse(lots of range, priorty, good speed considering it's range).

[Vampire]

if you get better with ken this is a classic because i hate blanka in cvs2 lol

block Blanka Ball, activate, twd.roundhouse x4, far s.roundhouse x2, twd.roundhouse x6, c.roundhouse, qcb+roundhouse, qctx2+K

its pretty easy and makes blanka look like green snot

[Gunter]

Originally posted by bakemono
XX usually means buffer last time I checked.. But buffering is pretty meaningless in A groove. (Correct me if I'm wrong)


You're wrong. :)

While you don't need to buffer moves to make them connect (CCs are lenient that way), a lot of the times you need to buffer them in order to make the combo continue.

[Kilo 1-1]

If opponent is a turle:

(opponent blocking) cr.lp, cr.lk, backwards dp+lk, (as opponent gets up) back dp+lk, (when opponent gets up again) throw


I got everything there, but what does "dp" mean?

[X-Sapphire]

Originally posted by Kilo 1-1
If opponent is a turle:

(opponent blocking) cr.lp, cr.lk, backwards dp+lk, (as opponent gets up) back dp+lk, (when opponent gets up again) throw


I got everything there, but what does "dp" mean?
dp means dragonpunch motion, in this case it's a reverse dp motion...
neways i tried a new trick and it seems to get alot of people by surprise so here it is....
-when u activate ur cc and you keep s.rh that shit but they're blocking it low, normally you would press f.mk for the overhead which they easily see it but if you go from a s.rh to sweep(blocked cuz they're crouching low)->fireball,f.mk which will fortunately hit them...
when you throw the fireball and if you press f.mk right after, the kick is kinda behind the fireball and they don't see it coming :evil:
very simple but it works :D

[X-Sapphire]

and anyone know if i can connect a hcf+lk(one hit) into cc(starting with f.rh)?

[_blitz]

alright.. i understand all the other lingo but what does
CC stand for? man i feel stupid

[jaky]

wat're sum resets w/ ken???

[Orochi_Shoto]

CC stands for custom combo... as in A-Groove method of obliterating the opponent.

The most basic reset with ken is twd.froward. If you can play mind games you can try resetting with a knockdown via rdp + short. I don't advise resetting with Ken at all though, because it requires you to be very techy and there's high risk of failure... especially against pros. An example of a reset string in a CC using rdp + short would be something like:

[CC] whatever.RH x 6, cr. forward, rdp + short, dash back, roll-in close.RH x 3, cr. RH, qcb + RH, qcf x 2 + kick

This is somewhat effective, but don't just try to roll-in as soon as you can, wait that shit out and as soon as you see an attack frame, roll in there. From the distance the dash puts you at, you're safe against most characters unless they fierce/RH, which means you should be able to respond in time. This is about as safe as it gets in resetting Ken's CCs... that and this is actually a double reset... but a simple approach would be to twd.forward, cr.forward (if they block) somewhere in there... I never do this because everyone with any experience knows about it and it hardly ever works. It's probably better to reset with hcf + forward (hold), cr.forward (if they block) for that axe kick, because somehow I bet that would work more than twd.forward, cr.forward (if they block). Just some theory fighter.