Fatal Fury CotW Mechanics info

Some Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves mechanics info, initially gathered with the help of @OlafRedland at Evo, then re-tested from the Open Beta Tests and final release.

[full credit goes to modder Amedo for finding JD/HD/GC information from in-game files]

Frame data can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zg8H1AgpgPBbAdpPdsGC3WRUEmGVajbv2Ea6b-FZ1kI/edit?usp=sharing
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- Movement:
  - if your character has a forward dash instead of a run, you can attack or jump in the middle of your dash. You cannot block, crouch, or Rev Guard until frame 13. It's not like an SF dash that you must fully complete. (Tizoc is an exception. He cannot cancel his forward dash in any way.)
  - there are 3 jumps: regular jump, hop, and dashing/running jump.
  - there are 4 pre-jump frames, except for Tizoc, who has 5. The pre-jump frames are unthrowable.
  - backdashes are low invincible and throw invincible, however they are NOT airborne until frame 4 so a meaty non-low attack will hit normally.
  - Some characters can do air EX specials during a backdash.
  - you can't jump over someone in the corner, so there are no generic corner crossups. Hotaru and Gato are exceptions to this with their turn-around in mid-air move.

- Landing Recovery:
    - When you jump or hop, you can't guard on the frame you land. The attack doesn't need to be low. Rev Guard/JD do not get around this. If you do an air JD, the landing frame can -still- be punished.
    - if you press a button while airborne during a HOP, there are 2 additional landing frames of recovery.
    - if you press a button while airborne during a JUMP, then the timing of the button matters. You get 4 additional recovery frames if you pressed the button on the way up, or 2 additional recovery frames if you pressed the button on the way down.
    - if you press a button while airborne during a DASH JUMP, you get 3 additional recovery frames if you pressed the button on the way up, or 2 additional recovery frames if you pressed the button on the way down.
    - some characters have Air Throws, which have their own specific landing recovery. During a HOP, they will add 6 frames. During a JUMP or DASH JUMP, they add 8 frames if done on the way up, and 6 frames if done on the way down.
    - This means that you can safejump against 5-frame or slower reversals (in the cases where you add 2 recovery frames to the existing 1).
    - Safejump magic numbers: +34 / +39 / +41
      - +34 to safejump with a hop
      - +39 to safejump with a jump
      - +41 to safejump with a dash jump
      - EXCEPTION: Tizoc can do a safejump with a hop at +35, and a normal safejump at +40. Tizoc cannot dash jump.

- Rev Guard:
  - blocks left and right automatically. You must hold down to Rev Guard a low. (it doesn't auto guard overhead/low)
  - prevents chip damage
  - prevents you from walking, but otherwise doesn't stop you from taking any action. You can attack, dash, backdash, throw escape, or do anything else during Rev Guard.
  - while holding Rev Guard, tapping forward gives a forward dash and tapping up gives a hop. You can hold both Rev and a direction to do this multiple times in a row.
  - while holding back, if you tap Rev Guard, you will backdash. Holding Rev and then tapping back does NOT give a backdash, but you can still tap back twice to backdash.
  - simply tapping Rev Guard cannot produce a JD. A JD requires a back or down back directional input.
  - successfully Rev Guarding makes your Rev Meter go up, and pushes the opponent further away than standard guard

- REV Meter:
  - The REV meter auto-regenerates at a certain pace. if you are walking forward, it goes faster. if you are walking backward, slower. This seems true even in the air
  - EX specials cost 25% outside of SPG
  - if you cancel an EX special into another (REV Accel), the 2nd EX special costs 15%, and all after that cost 10%
  - In SPG, costs are reduced if placed in 2nd or 3rd position:
    - 1st third
		REV specials - 25%/15%/10% (normal cost)
		REV Blow - 17%/15%/2%
    - 2nd third
		REV Specials - 19%/12%/8%
		REV Blow - 13%/6%/2%
    - 3rd third
		REV Specials - 17%/10%/7%
		REV Blow - 12%/5%/2%

  - If you fill your REV meter, you enter Overheat.
  - Overheat:
    - you cannot just defend or hyper defend (and therefore, can't guard cancel either)
    - you cannot use any EX special moves
    - you cannot Rev Guard
    - when you guard attacks your guard gauge goes down (blue bar, under your health bar)
    - if the guard meter hits zero, you suffer a guard break (and your Rev Meter instantly recovers)

- quickrises/recoveries are now done entirely with punch buttons.
 - A: small distance forward
 - C: far distance forward
 - back+A: small distance backward
 - back+C: far distance backward
  - you can hold the button and direction, no timing is required.
  - there are hard knockdowns where none of the quickrises work.
  - normal throws, EX special moves, Rev Blows, supers, and some other character-specific moves cause hard knockdowns.

- Dodge Attacks:
  - Low dodge attack (goes over lows) is C+R (R is the Rev button).
  - Low Dodge is not universal. Some characters have a Low Dodge that beats lows earlier than others.
  - For the precise frame that Low Dodge causes a slowdown, see my frame data sheet (linked at the top of this document). Note that it's possible that even when the slowdown animation happens, the low dodge attack might be blocked; for example, some 2Bs have more or less recovery.
  - All Low Dodges except Rock's can also beat throws (because Rock's does not put him airborne)
  - All Low Dodges are also overhead attacks, except Gato's.
  - High dodge attack (upper body invul) is 2C+R. This attack can be special-cancelled or feint-cancelled on hit only.
  - High Dodge starts working (causes a slowdown animation) on frame 5, except for Billy's which frame 7, if the opponent is using an appropriate attack at that time. It continues working until the frame before it is active.

Just Defense (JD)
  - A Just Defense occurs when the following things are true:
    - you are not in Overheat
    - you are not already be in blockstun
    - you are on the ground, or you are currently doing a full jump (exact windows for this currently unknown. You cannot JD during a hop)
    - you press and hold back 1 to 6 frames before an attack collides with you, or you tap back on the exact frame an attack collides with you (A total window of 7 frames). Back is required for overheads, and down-back is required for lows. For any other attacks, either will work.
  - When you successfully Just Defend, you get the following benefits:
    - your Rev meter is reduced a small amount
    - you gain a small amount of life
    - you nullify chip damage if it was a special move or Super
    - you have the ability to Guard Cancel your Just Defend
    - frame advantage does NOT change.

Hyper Defense (HD)
  - A Hyper Defense occurs when the following things are true:
    - you are not in Overheat
    - you are on the ground -and- ARE CURRENTLY in blockstun from a normal guard or a JD
    - you press and hold forward 1 to 3 frames before an attack collides with you, or you tap forward on the exact frame an attack collides with you (A total window of 4 frames). Forward is required for overheads, and down-forward is required for lows. For any other attacks, either will work.
  - When you successfully Hyper Defend, you get the exact same benefits as a Just Defense.
  - You can successfully Hyper Defend after normal guarding, or after a JD. This means you cannot HD into HD, or Rev Guard into HD. This also means that you can only Hyper Defend ONCE at a time, and after that if there are more attacks you need to JD them. Note that doing an HD after a JD is just a harder timing window for no real benefit, so simply repeated JDs after an HD is recommended.

Guard Cancel (GC)
  - When you successfully JD or HD, there is a window where you can cancel that Defense into any special move, any super, or Rev Blow.
  - That window is 12 frames from a JD or HD on the ground, and 18 frames from an Air JD (of course during an Air JD, you can only cancel into Air specials/supers and Air Rev Blow if available).
  - Guard Cancel does not change any of the properties of the move you are canceling to, however it will only do 85% of its base damage if it hits (see combo scaling section below).
  - Guard Cancel is not available in Overheat, because you cannot JD or HD during Overheat.
  - Guard canceling costs 1/6th of the Rev Meter, approximately 17%.
  - If you JDGC (just defend, then guard cancel) into a super, it becomes a "Zero-Frame" super. Against frame-perfect safejump setups, the defender cannot block them. --- Clip: https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxOpfq-MjFc1zBOQt3xOly7dRVxWdrX7RJ

[full credit goes to modder Amedo for finding JD/HD/GC information from in-game files]

Miscellaneous:
- you can "button-hold" specials and supers just like in KOF, and you can also button-hold Rev Blow (C+D)

- if two strikes collide on the same frame, they will both hit (trade), with one exception: if one strike is a light normal and the other is a heavy normal, the heavy normal will win as a counter hit.
- if a strike and a throw collide on the same frame, the throw wins, unless the strike is throw invul or has throw protection (see next section)
- if two normal throws collide on the same frame, that is a throw escape
- if a command throw and a normal throw collide on the same frame, the command throw wins
- if two command throws collide on the same frame, the winner is random (as far as i can tell - results inconsistent)

- normal throws (A+B) are active on frame 5 and have 3 active frames.
- throw protection lasts for 5 frames out of hitstun, blockstun, air resets, and on hard knockdowns.
- In any situation with throw protection, if you are -1, 0, or +1, you can throw and it will connect, but if they mash a 5-frame button, the throw will lose because the 5-frame button will hit you before the throw protection runs out. If they mash a 6-frame button, your throw will win. From +2 in a throw protection situation, your throw misses whether they mash or not.
- there is no throw protection after an air Just Defense, and there is no throw protection after any techroll/quickrise.
- In any situation without throw protection, you can throw at any advantage from +6 down to +1 and the throw will connect, and they can't mash fast normals to beat it. Note that at +0 in this situation you can beat a 5-frame mash with a throw but not a 4-frame (4-frame wins by 1).

- 626 / 636 / 632146 count as valid DP motions (unless you have a 632146 special move. Sorry, Rock)
- 23626 / 23636 count as valid for 236236 supers

- Special moves marked with 'BR' on the Command List can be Braked. The Brake input is A+B after the special has started, or you can tap Rev (R) instead.

- D+R or B+C is Feint. A character can have up to 3 but might have only one (the animations of the feints can be seen on the Command List. Moves marked 'FE' are what your character will fake when feinting). If a character has more than one, the other feints are 6D+R/6B+C and 2D+R/2B+C.

- A+B+C is taunt. After KO, 4A+B+C and 6A+B+C give different taunts

- pressing A+B while crouching makes you stand and throw
- a successful throw escape gives no one advantage.

- Most Ground Rev Blows / Air Rev Blows are safe when guarded, but there are some exceptions.
- Ground Rev Blows have armor starting on frame TWO. (Air Rev Blows currently unknown)
- Rev Blows CANNOT be Just Defended
  - supers defeat the armor. You can also High Dodge attack (2C+R) them, and if they are not airborne you can also throw them.

- There is a universal target combo chain: close A > C > C > D.
  - The last hit can be D or 2D or 6D. the 6D is an overhead that's +2 on block. The other two are punishable.
  - A > C, A > C > C, and A > C > C > D can be cancelled into Rev Blow, but nothing else.
  - You can do any of the D enders after a single C if you choose.

Counter Hit / Wild Punish
	- A Counter Hit occurs when you hit the startup frames of any attack, or when you punish any uppercut-style special move (such as Preecha's 623K or Vox's 623P, including the non-invincible versions), or if you punish a Rev Blow.
	- Counter Hits do 20% bonus damage. Light attacks give 2 additional frames of advantage, and Heavy attacks give 5 additional frames of advantage. Some attacks have special Counter Hit properties (such as some special moves becoming launchers)
	- A Wild Punish occurs when you hit the recovery frames of an attack after it misses. This applies to all attacks in the game except the uppercut-style moves and Rev Blows mentioned with Counter Hits.
	- A Wild Punish gives 10% bonus damage. Wild Punish Light attacks give 2 additional frames of advantage, and Heavy attacks give 5 additional frames of advantage, except for some specific Heavy normals which get 20 additional frames (Close C, Close D, Far C, Far D, and 2C).
	- If your opponent is in the air and you land a Counter Hit -or- a Wild Punish, they are in a brief juggle state. Notably, this means almost any clean anti-air is a combo opportunity, especially from a High Dodge Attack.
	- A "Punish" has no bonus damage or additional frame bonus.

Combo Scaling
	- Each separate "move" in a combo normally scales by 5%. So Damage is 100% > 95% > 90% and so on. Maximum scaling is 10%, except for supers, which have a maximum scaling of 50%.
	- Decimal values are rounded down/truncated. (if a move would do 8.75 damage, it does 8 damage)
	- EX special moves obey normal scaling if they are not launchers/combo starters.
	- The following situations enable a combo, but the attack after these initial hits will scale by 25% instead of 5%, then scaling continues as normal.
		○ Any EX special move putting the opponent into a combo/juggle state (When doing Rev Accel combos, this often means each EX move scales an additional 25%, very quickly killing your damage)
		○ A successful Wild Punish with either High Dodge Attack or Low Dodge Attack
		○ A successful Counter Hit with a Rev Blow earns you a crumple state or ground bounce
		○ Landing a level 2 super which can be braked, and then continuing the combo
	- A successful Guard Cancel into a special move or super starts the combo scaling at 85% for that hit, then continues as normal.
	- Counter Hit special move launchers, guard breaks, overheat, and S.P.G. do not affect damage scaling (however, all moves do 10% bonus damage in S.P.G.)
    - other known exceptions:
       - Vox's 214C causes 10% scaling on the next hit
       - Jenet's EX 623P > P causes 40% scaling on the next hit