Capcom vs. SNK 2/C-Groove
C-GROOVE OVERVIEW
Inspiration: Street Fighter Alpha Series
Groove Sub-Systems:
- Dash
- Rolling
- Air Guard
- Counter Attack
- Tactical Recovery
Unique Systems: Lvl 2 super canceling
Meter Length: 168 units (56x3 levels)
Guard Bar Length: 48 units
Damage Bonuses: lv1: 101% lv2: 102% lv3: 105%
Strengths: Meter efficiency
Weaknesses: Rushing the opponent down
Play if you enjoy: Footsie based gameplay
Characters well suited for C groove: Sagat, Blanka, Hibiki, Honda, Guile, Ken, Chun-Li, Rolento, Yun, Kim, Eagle, Rugal, Yamazaki
Meter Style: Three Tiered Super Meter Groove Systems: Level 2 Super Canceling
SUMMARY
C-Groove is a purely Super Combo-based Groove. You have a Three Tiered Super Meter which allows you to perform three different Levels
of Super Combos. True, EVERY other Groove has Super Combos as well, but there are four main factors that make C-Groove far more Super
Combo based than the other Grooves:
- No time limit! Once a Meter is built up, you don't have to worry about any time limits. You are able to Super whenever and wherever you like, so utilizing Supers into your gameplay is MUCH easier. You can play naturally, and your opponent will never know when the Super is coming!
- Any Super, any time, any place! A-Groove and P-Groove don't have time limits either, so why aren't they as good? Because A-Groove is stuck with Level 1 Supers (which are pretty terrible in priority by Level 1 Super standards) and P-Groove is stuck with Level 3's. C-Groove's biggest advantage is that a person using C-Groove not only can choose to do a Level 1 or Level 3 whenever he/she wants, but a Level 2 Super, which isn't available is any other Groove. If you have the Meter (and see number 3), you can do a nice Level 1 to finish off opponents, or you can do a powerful Level 3 if you need a comeback. Whatever the situation asks for, if you've got the Meter, you can do it. C-Groove is the ONLY Groove where you can choose what Level of your Super Combo is performed.
- Meter builds up SOOOO fast! You do not realize how fast your Meter builds up in C-Groove. I swear I've seen fights where someone blows a whole Level 3 Super Combo on someone, and in 10 seconds, BOOM! You're Meter is full with a Level 3 again. The reason this seems so much fast than other Grooves is because it requires the least amount of points to build up a Level 1 Super in C-Groove. A-Groove and N-Groove have the next shortest meters, but C-Groove's Meter is more than 1/5 shorter than A-Groove and N-Groove.
- Level 2's can produce tons of damage thanks to C-Groove's new ability to cancel Level 2's into a Special Move or a Level 1 Super (if available). This makes it much more practical to throw out Level 1's at will, because if you have a Level 2 left, you can still do VERY damaging Combos. So you don't always need a Level 3 for a good, damaging comeback Combo.
So if you like using Supers, C-Groove is the Groove for you. Especially if you're proficient at Comboing Supers.
METER SYSTEM
C-Groove's Super Meter is divided into three equal parts. You can see the divisions in the Meter by the fact that each third gets increasingly "thicker" in the Super Meter. Your Meter will build up during the normal course of battle. When the first third fills up, you now have one "Level" of Super Meter. Now you can perform any actions that you need a Level 1 to perform (Level 1 Supers and Counter Attacks). When the second third of the Meter fills up, you can now perform Level 2 Supers. And finally, when the last third of the Meter fills up, you gain the ability to do Level 3 Supers.
Whenever you perform any of these actions that drain Meter, only that portion of the Meter required will drain from your Meter. In other words, if you have exactly 2 Levels stored up and you perform a Counter Attack, you'll now have exactly 1 Level left in your Meter. Or if you have 2 and a half Levels filled up, and you perform a Level 2 Super, you'll have half a Level left in your Meter.
Performing an action that consumes Meter is the only way to drain the Meter. Otherwise, whatever Meter you've gained, you keep. It never drains by any other means.
C-Groove is the ONLY Groove where you can choose what level of Super you do. In order to choose which Level of Super you perform, you have to use specific buttons to activate the Super. For example, if you are doing a Super that is activated by a Punch button, doing the Super with Jab (LP) will perform a Level 1 Super. Performing the Super with Strong (MP) will perform a Level 2 Super. And performing the Super with Fierce (HP) will perform a Level 3 Super. This also applies with Supers that require the Kick buttons with Short (LK), Forward (MK), and Roundhouse (HK) respectively. If you don't have enough Super Meter for the Level you chose, it will just activate the highest Level Super possible. For example, if you have only 1/2 a whole C-Groove Meter (which is one full Level and half of the second), and you do the Super with the Fierce (HP) button, you will perform just the Level 1 that you had available to you.
There are some extra benefits to filling up your Meter. At each Level you build, you also gain a slight strength increase. Once you get your Super Meter up to a Level 1, your character will do 1% more damage with every hit. At Level 2, your character will do an extra 2%. At a full Level 3, your character does an extra 5%. It's not much, but any little bit will help, right? And if you use your Super Meter for any reason, your Strength will drop down to whatever your Meter is at. So if you are at Level 3 and do a Level 2 Super, your strength will go down from 105% to 101%, since you have a Level 1 left.
In C-Groove, regardless if you win or lose a round, you will keep EXACTLY whatever Meter you had filled up between Rounds. So if you win a Round with a full 100% Meter, you'll start the next Round with a full 100% Meter. If you are defeated with just 50% of your Meter, you'll start the next Round with your next character with 50% of your Meter. So be it 23%, 78%, 16%, 0%, or whatever percent of your Meter is filled up at the end of a Round, that's exactly how much Meter your character will have at the start of the next Round.
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LEVEL 2 SUPER CANCELING
C-Groove's one main unique ability (besides Air Guard) is a new feature that has never existed before in any Street Fighter game: the ability to cancel a Level 2 Super Combo into a Special Move or Level 1 Super Combo (if you have the Meter for it). This allows you to add more damage to many of the combos that can be performed with Level 2 Supers. The way this works is pretty simple, and it goes pretty much how you think it would: at any point, during a Level 2 Super Combo, if you input the code for a Special Move or a Super Combo that can be performed from where you are, your Level 2 Super Combo will be canceled, and your character will go straight into what Special Move code you input. However, there is one MAJOR caveat to this: the Super Combo HAS TO BE CONNECTING. You cannot cancel a Level 2 Super Combo that is whiffing, or a Level 2 Super Combo that is being Blocked. Only if the Super Combo is CONNECTING can you cancel it. It doesn't matter which hit connects, as long as ONE hit connects, you then gain the ability to cancel that Level 2 Super at any point from that time on.
To keep things simple, it is safe to say, for now, that anything you perform out of a Level 2 Super Combo has the ability to Juggle the opponent. So even if a move does not Juggle the enemy normally, in this situation, it will. For example, Bison's Psycho Crusher normally does not have any ability to Juggle the opponent. But if you perform a Level 2 Knee Press Nightmare, and cancel the last hit into the Psycho Crusher, the Psycho Crusher will Juggle the enemy out of the air. Such are the benefits of C-Groove's Level 2 Super Canceling ability. To learn more about how the Juggling works, and EXACTLY why the Juggles work and why some don't, please read the Level 2 Super Canceling section in the second half of this FAQ. In the Combo section, under Level 2 Super Canceling, this will be explained in far greater detail.
This allows you to add on a lot more damage to a Level 2 Super. In some cases, a Level 2 Super canceled into a Special Move will do more damage that a Level 3 by itself. A Level 2 canceled into a Level 1 is the most devastating in many cases. However, the only truly consistent thing about Fighting Games is that NOTHING is ever consistent. In some cases, performing a Level 2 Super canceled into a Level 1 or a Special Move will do LESS damage than a Level 3 by itself. In those cases, you're better off landing a full Level 3 if you are looking for damage. However, if you only have a Level 2 available, or you just want to conserve Meter, feel free to do the Level 2 in the Combo anyhow. Sometimes if you're not careful, though, the cancellation can lead to disastrous results. For example, if you do Blanka's Shout of Earth, which garners more hits if you mash buttons, just be careful if you EVER do a Level 2 Shout of Earth. Mashing Punches will instantly cancel the Super into Electric Thunder, wasting your entire Super for one hit. Mashing Kicks may accidentally make you perform a Surprise Forward or a Surprise Back, again wasting your entire Super. My advice? Mash on Short (LK) and that's it. Oh, and wiggle that joystick like mad. ^_^
