Immaterial and Missing Power/Bomb

Bombs are a universal command which primarily serve two functions: as a defensive maneuver to get the opponent off of you, and as an offensive maneuver in which you can extend combos.

You start with two bombs in stock, indicated by two stars in the lower corner of your side of the screen. All bombs are done by tapping 22C, which will cause your character to emit a flash of light that hits all around you and slightly above. Depending on the time the bomb is used, this will have different effects. All bombs are airblockable, deal no spirit damage, and have recovery if blocked.

You can also input bombs by doing 11C, which is slightly more difficult but works better if you are in blockstun, as you won't drop guard in case you mistime the command.

Neutral Bomb

A neutral bomb is done when your character is not in hitstun or blockstun. This bomb will refill your spirit bar completely and knock the enemy away and down, effectively resetting the match's momentum if you're cornered, or preserving your own momentum if you've got them cornered. Neutral bombs deal no damage.

The closest approximation of this move to other fighting games would be Guilty Gear's Gold Burst.

Offensive Bomb

An offensive bomb is done when your opponent is in hitstun. O-bombs will cancel the recovery of the move you are doing on the ground and allow you to add in a few more hits afterwards. The O-bomb itself will deal a fixed 500 damage. A couple of things to note before using O-bombs in all your combos are:

• O-bombs greatly ramp up the juggle bar, effectively allowing one or two more hits afterwards regardless of where it began. If you use an O-bomb before fully depleting your juggle allowance, you will be depriving yourself out of further damage.

• O-bombs will reset your PI gauge to -10, and unless your opponent is knocked down you will not receive the 10 knockdown PIs to help you towards your next bomb. You are effectively sacrificing an emergency exit if your opponent begins to build momentum on you.

Not all moves can be cancelled by O-bombs. You cannot use them at all in the air, nor can you cancel supers with them, so their use is limited to certain combos. Remilia and Yuyuko are probably the only characters that truly requires using O-bombs for her combos on a regular basis.

The closest approximation of this move to other fighting games would be Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel.

Defensive Bomb

A defensive bomb is a bomb done during blockstun. It is easy to confuse this with the neutral bomb; however, two key differences discern them. The main difference is that D-bombs do not restore all spirit. The second is that D-bombs come out a couple frames faster than the other bombs, and because of your blockstun state and the speed of the D-bomb, you will almost always incur a counterhit on the enemy (but deal no damage). D-bombs are difficult to time because they must be done during blockstun, not afterwards, or else you will do a N-bomb instead. The best time is during moves that hit multiple times; because of IaMP's absolute guard, you are free to input the bomb command without having to hold block.

The closest approximation of this move to other fighting games would be Street Fighter Alpha's Alpha Counter or Guilty Gear's Defensive Burst.

Getting More Bombs

You have an invisible gauge which stores point items that you obtain from the opponent. Point items are gained whenever you convert their bullets by attacking them while they have bullets on-screen; this will yield a variable amount depending upon the density of the bullets. You will also gain point items when you knock the opponent down, yielding a fixed 10 PIs.

Every 30 point items you receive will net you a bomb, shown as a green B item that you automatically collect in addition to the blue point item tabs. Any bombs collected in excess of two are discarded. Note that at the beginning of a round, your point item gauge is set at -10, and any bomb you use will also reset your count to -10. Because the usage of bombs almost always leads to an opponent getting knocked down, this will yield an easy 10 PIs for you everytime you use one; however, if use a bomb and an opponent is not knocked down, you will need 40 PIs to get another one (since you will be going from -10 to 30).