Melty Blood/Moons

Melty Blood Actress Again introduces moon styles, which are kind of like Isms in Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Grooves in Capcom vs. SNK 2. After selecting a character, you can select between Crescent, Half Moon, or Full Moon as a style. Aside from changing the mechanics a bit (as listed below), switching to different moons of the same character will often change their attacks and sometimes even alter their movement options.

(Note: 5E is the quick-action command for A+B+C, and 2E is the quick-action command for 2A+B.)

Crescent Moon

In general, plays the way Melty Blood Act Cadenza did. A good mixture of speed, power, and comboability. Has the most control over meter out of the three styles.

• Reverse Beat (can chain attacks backwards, i.e. 5C > 5A).

• Meter goes up to 300%, at which point MAX mode activates automatically.
  • Can activate HEAT mode by pressing A+B+C while on the ground anytime meter is over 100%. During HEAT mode, red life slowly regenerates and the timer stops. Heat activation has invincible startup, is unblockable, and wallslams, but can be Shielded and is very punishable if baited.
  • MAX mode activates automatically at 300%. When MAX ends, the meter goes to 200% if MAX ran out, or 100% if MAX was ended through an Arc Drive.
    • Can go into BLOOD HEAT mode by activating HEAT in MAX mode. During BLOOD HEAT mode, red life recovers much faster than in regular HEAT.

• New to Current Code, for Crescent Moon only, in HEAT, characters have a 1.07 additional damage modifier and a 0.9 additional defence modifier. In BLOOD HEAT, characters have a 1.13 additional damage modifier and an additional 0.85 defence modifier.

• Can dodge both on the ground and air by pressing 2A+B. Doing an air dodge makes your character realign to face the opponent at the end of the dodge (as opposed to double jump, where the character realigns at the beginning). Dodges will temporarily weaken the guard bar. Can cancel air normals into airdodge for 50% of your meter.

• Airdash Cancel: Most characters can airdash cancel universal air normals (i.e. j.A, j.B, and j.C but not something like j.2C) on hit or block, but not on whiff. See here for exceptions.

• Can Circuit Spark (burst) both in the air and on the ground by pressing A+B+C when getting hit in MAX mode.

• Has both EX Shield (tap D, aka parry) and Normal Shield (hold D). Failed Shields will temporarily weaken the guard bar, while a successful Shield strengthens it (up to the starting value). Cannot Shield Counter.

• Shield Bunker is performed by pressing 214D. Can be performed in blockstun to essentially work like a guard cancel or alpha counter. Costs 50% meter (only out of blockstun) and does a bit of damage. Needs to be used carefully since it is slow and punishable. When used in neutral it has clash frames at the beginning of its startup.

• EX guard is performed by guarding an attack right before it hits, like a Garou Just Defend or a Guilty Gear/BlazBlue Instant Block. Restores guard meter and very slightly reduces blockstun when successful. EX guard can be done during blockstun, so multiple hits in a blockstring can be EX guarded.

Half Moon

Good comboability, power is generally low but damage can be very high with extended combos. Has the least control over meter out of the three styles. Generally suited to a rushdown style of play.

• Can Reverse Beat

• Meter goes up to 200%, at which point HEAT mode activates automatically (except during hitstun, in which case it activates when you regain control of your character).
  • HEAT mode: Cannot manually activate heat. During HEAT mode red life gradually regenerates and the timer stops. If your character gets hit while in HEAT mode you will automatically Circuit Spark. EXCEPTION: If your character is getting comboed by the opponent and you reach 200% meter before the combo ends, then you can choose to manually Circuit Spark with A+B+C.

• Can dodge both on the ground and in the air by pressing 2A+B. Works the same as Crescent Moon's dodge.

• Airdash Cancel: Like Crescent most characters in Half can also airdash cancel air normals. See here for exceptions.

• Shield: Cannot hold, only tap. If Shield is successful, your character will perform an auto Shield Counter which launches the opponent and allows for a followup combo. Shielding projectiles will not trigger the auto counter, although it can be done manually by inputting 236D. A failed Shield will decrease guard quality, though a successful shield will not heal quality.

• Shield Bunker is performed by pressing 214D. Costs 100% meter, but is faster and has better recovery than the Shield Bunkers of the other moon styles as well as causing a hard knockdown. Does not do any damage. Outside of block, it costs no meter, does not cause a hard knockdown, and does damage (all identical to other moons?).

• Cannot EX guard but has a more resilient guard bar (150% maximum Guard Quality) than Crescent or Full Moon.

• Gains a 6AA followup to 5A which is typically used as a combo extender.

Full Moon

Emphasis on power, more damage per hit, but less comboability. Similar to BlazBlue or Guilty Gear.

• Cannot Reverse Beat. Has basic weak->medium->strong chain sequence. There are also rules within the button strengths for how moves chain into each other. A’s have no restrictions, B’s are normal->crouching normal->command normal(ex: F-Ciel 5B2B4B), C’s are normal->command normal and crouching normal->command normal. Basically there are BlazBlue/Guilty Gear style gatling chains.

• Meter goes up to 300%, at which point MAX mode activates automatically. Before reaching 300%, instead of being able to activate HEAT you can press (and hold) A+B+C to charge meter at an accelerating rate.
  • MAX mode activates automatically at 300%. When MAX ends, the meter goes to 100% if MAX ran out, or 0% if MAX was ended through an Arc Drive.
    • Can go into BLOOD HEAT mode by activating HEAT (pressing A+B+C) in MAX mode. This works the same as Crescent's BLOOD HEAT except all red life is instantly regained and the timer does not stop.
    • Also, in MAX heat mode, almost all normals and certain special moves (all EX-cancellable moves?), including air moves, can be cancelled on hit or block by doing an Initiative HEAT, which is performed by pressing A+B+C during cancellable frames. Additionally, any normal or special move that can be EX cancelled on whiff can also be IH'd even on whiff. Kind of like a GG or BB Roman/Rapid Cancel, but on top of cancelling the attack Initiative HEAT also puts your character in HEAT mode. IH is similar to Crescent HEAT, but like Full Moon BLOOD HEAT it instantly refills all red health and does not stop the timer.

• Can Circuit Spark both on the ground and in the air by pressing A+B+C during MAX mode.

• Cannot dodge or air dodge.

• Airdash Cancel (j.A Only): Unlike Crescent and Half, Full can only airdash cancel j.A for most characters instead of all three air normals. See here for exceptions. Can still double jump cancel normally.

• Shield: Cannot EX Shield, but can normal (held) Shield. Upon a successful Shield, your character can cancel into a special (including EX), activate Initiative Heat, or perform a Shield Counter by inputting 236D. Shield Counter can be cancelled into a special move. Shield Counters can only be cancelled into normals if you tap Shield into Shield Counter instead of holding it. Much like Half Moon's Shield Counter, 236D launches the opponent and allows for a followup combo.

• Shield Bunker is performed by pressing 214D - this works identically to Crescent's Shield Bunker.

• Like Crescent, can EX guard.

Referenced from: http://www.meltybread.com/meltywiki/melty-blood-actress-again/mbaa-moon-style-differences/
Airdash Cancel Exceptions