Dong Dong Never Die/System

Blocking

As with most 2D fighters, DDND employs a mid/low/overhead blocking system. Low attacks can only be blocked while crouching and overhead attacks can only be blocked while standing. Mid attacks can be blocked in either states. Lows include crouching kicks and moves like Dong Dong's D Silk Road followup. Overheads include all jumping normals and moves like the third hit of Fei Fei's Deadly Flower rekka.

Dashing

66 will cause your character to dash.

• For everyone except Wu Liao Jun, Jiang Bao, Bioman, holding 6 will cause your character to continue to run forward until you release 6, input any backwards direction, or input a move or jump.
• Performing a dash and canceling the dash immediately with a button is called microdash, and can allow characters to pick up certain punishes that weren't otherwise possible or extend combos.

44 will cause your character to backdash.

• Every backdash has a set distance.
• All backdashes have 20 frames of invulnerability on startup, with the exception of Da Lan.
• All backdashes also have a significant amount of airborne frames, which can be helpful on defense as it will cause most grabs to whiff and may mess up your opponent's combos.

Rolling

Normal rolls are performed by pressing any forward or backward direction+E.

• Pressing 1/4/7+E will perform a back roll, and pressing 3/6/9+E will perform a forward roll.
• Normal rolls are invincible to all strikes and throws starting from frame 1 and allow you to pass through the opponent.
• Rolls can be canceled into throws, normals, specials, and supers from frames 7-12. Kara canceling out of roll effectively increases the move's range, while also potentially allowing you to blow through an opponent's attack due to the i-frames from the roll.
• Rolls are vulnerable during the later frames. For most characters, the last 20 frames of the roll animation are vulnerable.

Golden rolls are performed by pressing any forward or backward direction+F.

• Pressing 1/4/7+F will perform a back roll, and pressing 3/6/9+F will perform a forward roll.
• Like normal rolls, golden rolls are invincible to all strikes and throws starting from frame 1 and allow you to pass through the opponent.
• Golden rolls freeze the opponent for some amount of time when performed. The duration of the freeze varies from character to character.
• Backwards golden rolls freeze the opponent for longer than forwards golden rolls.
• Golden rolls can be canceled into from nearly any grounded move. This gives them a variety of applications in combos and pressure.

Dead Angle Attack

A Dead Angle Attack (DAA) is executed by pressing any forward direction+E in blockstun.

• DAA costs 1 bar to execute.
• All DAAs have the same frame data: 15f startup, 10f, active, 40f recovery.
• DAA is invincible during startup and the active frames.
• DAAs are not invincible during the recovery frames, but it is possible to block during the recovery frames.
• DAAs deal damage and can KO the opponent.
• DAA cannot be canceled in any way.

Knockdowns

• You may tech roll by pressing any backward or forward direction+E as you get knocked down. Try to time the input just before the lowest part of your character's body would touch the ground.
• Tech rolls are invincible and cause the character to move forward or backward depending on the button pressed.
• If a character misses their tech roll, they stay knocked down for a while. Tech rolling is crucial to avoid giving your opponent oki.
• However, just like regular rolls, tech rolls are vulnerable during their later frames. If the opponent predicts your tech option, they may be able to hit you out of the recovery with a move and extend their combo. The combo counter and scaling are not reset if your tech roll gets caught.
• Depending on the matchup, you can sometimes run right through downed characters. This is most common in the corner with fast characters like Da Lan running towards characters with a small width while downed like Mario. This can allow for a very nasty crossup if timed right.

Cancel System

Cancel Hierarchy

• DDND has a strict cancel hierarchy.
• The cancel hierarchy goes light normals > heavy normals > command normals > specials > supers/golden roll.
• Any move earlier in the hierarchy can be canceled into any move later in the hierarchy.
• Most supers can be canceled into supers or into golden roll, with some exceptions.
• Throws can only be canceled into golden roll.

Cancel Windows

• Generally, normals can be canceled starting from the first active frame until the very last frame of recovery.
• The same applies for most specials. For projectile moves, the cancel window generally starts on the frame the projectile appears.
• The cancel window for throws starts on the frame the throw deals damage.
• Some supers can be canceled into other supers or roll.

Hitstun and Blockstun

Hitstun and blockstun have a number of quirks in DDND, as a result of the game's engine.

Hitstun Animations

• Different characters have different grounded hitstun animation lengths. For example, Dong Dong's crouching hitstun animation is 42f long, while Gouki's is 53f long.
• Different characters also have different properties on their air hitstun animations. For example, different characters may get knocked back at different speeds by certain moves, may start moving at different times after getting hit, and the point at which pushback stops kicking in upon the character reaching the corner may be different.
• This, along with the characters' hurtboxes during hitstun varying wildly, means that there are many character-specific combos in DDND.
• Characters can adjust whether they are standing or crouching as they are getting comboed. If a character is holding down when they get hit, they will use the corresponding crouching hitstun animation, even if they were standing when they got hit. The same logic applies if a character is not holding down when they get hit crouching. This makes moves that whiff on crouchers significantly worse if the opponent begins holding down on reaction to getting hit.

Blockstun Animations

• Every character has four blockstun animations: standing light, standing heavy, crouching light, and crouching heavy.
• Standing and crouching light blockstun lasts 34 frames for most characters, and 28 frames for Violent Dong Dong.
• Standing and crouching heavy blockstun lasts 42 frames for most characters, and 36 frames for Violent Dong Dong.
• Just like characters can change whether they are crouching or standing mid-combo, they can change whether they are crouching or standing mid-blockstring.
• While in a blockstun animation, characters will automatically block all incoming attacks even if the blocking direction is released. This automatically protects against unblockables where a character will hit from one direction on one frame and the other direction on the next. The character must still be standing or crouching for the purpose of blocking overhead and low attacks.

Throw Mechanics

• Throws cannot be blocked.
• Normal throws can only be initiated when in close proximity to the opponent and when the opponent is grounded.
• Normal throws have 1 frame of startup.
• Characters can be grabbed while in prejump frames. That means that holding up on wakeup will not allow you to escape a meaty grab. A wakeup roll, backdash, or invincible move is the only effective defense against a meaty throw.
• Characters in hitstun or blockstun can still be affected by throws.
• Throws can be teched by inputting any forward direction during the first 20 frames of the opponent's throw animation. If any backward direction is inputted during this window, you will be locked out from teching the throw. Throws can only be teched if you were in a neutral stance (not in the animation of any move) or in blockstun when the throw landed.

Meter

There is one meter in DDND.

• Meter is spent to perform supers, golden rolls, and dead angle attacks. Golden rolls, dead angle attacks, and most supers cost one bar.
• Each character starts the match with a number of bars of meter pre-stocked equal to their "Spirit" rating on the character select screen.
• Each bar contains 200 units of meter.
• A maximum of six bars can be stocked at any time.
• Meter is retained between rounds.

Building Meter

Meter is built in five ways.

1. You get meter every time you hit the opponent.

• Each hit builds the same amount of meter, regardless of what type or strength of move it was.
• Supers build meter on hit.
• Throws (including command grabs) do not build any meter.
• Every character builds a different amount of meter per hit, as detailed on their character page under "Character Data".
• Prioritize combos that have a lot of multi-hit moves if you're trying to build meter.

2. You build meter every time you get hit.

• Each hit builds the same amount of meter.
• Every character builds a different amount of meter per hit, as detailed on their character page under "Character Data".
• The same rules governing whether you build meter on hit seem to apply when you get hit, i.e. getting thrown builds no meter.

3. You build meter every time you perform a special move.

• Each special builds the same amount of meter. The meter gain is the same as the meter gain when you get hit.
• This happens on hit, whiff, or block, and stacks with the meter gain from hitting the opponent.
• Air specials do not build meter.
• The point in the move's animation where you actually gain the meter seems to vary from move to move. If the move is interrupted before then, you may not gain any meter.
• Because of the above point, hitting Kenjiro's command grab will not build any meter, but whiffing it, ironically, will.

4. you build 3 meter each time you block an attack that causes light blockstun, and 6 meter each time you block an attack that causes heavy blockstun (still needs to be tested with all characters).

5. You gain 50 meter upon hitting an opponent who has been stuck to the wall with any move.

Wall Stick Combos

• Every time a character is put into an "air reset" animation, if they reach the wall by a certain frame, an invisible counter will tick up by 1.
• When the counter hits 6, the character will be stuck to the wall for a brief period of time.
• When the character is stuck to the wall, any hit will cause them to fly off the wall towards center stage, and suffer an untechable knockdown.
• The character will also take 30 unscaled damage and grant their opponent 50 meter upon flying off the wall.
• If the character is not hit within a certain time frame when stuck to the wall, they will fall off the wall into a techable knockdown.
• The wall stick counter is reset once the character lands.
• If the character is hit with a grab attack while on the wall, the grab animation will override the wall flyoff animation, but they will still take the 30 unscaled damage and give their opponent 50 meter.

Chip Damage

• All specials and supers deal chip damage when blocked, equal to 10% of the move's normal damage.

Star Ratings

On the character select screen, characters have ratings on different attributes on a scale of 1 to 4 stars. The meaning of the star ratings are as follows:

Power: The amount of damage your normals do to opponents.

Damage (Light Normals)

Rating	Damage (LP)	Damage (LK)
⭐	6-8	6-8
⭐⭐	9-10	9-10
⭐⭐⭐	11-13	11-13
⭐⭐⭐⭐	14-16	13-15

Heavy normal damage multiplies light damage by 2.

Speed: Your run speed.

Health: The amount of hitpoints that your character has. Bosses have a secret fifth rating

Health

Rating	Hit Points
⭐	270-280
⭐⭐	310-350
⭐⭐⭐	410-420
⭐⭐⭐⭐	420
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Boss)	510

Spirit: The amount of meter that you start a game with. You start with a number of bars equal to the number of stars in the spirit rating.

Combo Scaling

• Damage is reduced by a flat 3% for every hit in the combo counter.
• For example, if there are currently 25 hits in the combo counter, damage will be reduced by 3*25=75%.
• This means that multi-hitting moves will scale damage very quickly while single-hitting moves will barely scale at all.
• The minimum amount of damage a hit can deal is 1, and damage numbers always round up.
• Grabs, including hitgrabs like Jackie's 236236B, are unaffected by combo scaling because they reduce the opponent's life total directly.

Rage

When a character falls below 1/3 of their Max HP, they will enter a state called rage. This is indicating by their health bar flashing. While in rage, all of the character's supers will be powered up, dealing more damage, having additional hits, extra properties such as being able to combo afterwards, or more duration (in the case of install supers).

Round Start

There is a short period at the start of each round where characters can move around and jump, but not dash or attack. Players can take this opportunity to adjust their screen positioning, either walking towards their opponent to start the round at point-blank or retreating to fullscreen. Faster characters can also push their opponent to the corner if both players hold forward. The amount of time characters have to reposition at the beginning of the first round has a random element due to different entry animations having different durations.