While going through an old harddrive, found this article. Again, I don’t remember why we never posted this. Yeah its 4+ years old but halfway entertaining to look back at how far Marvel has come along.
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Marvel Vs. Capcom2: Wave Dashing
By Derek Daniels, Jay Snyder, and John Choi
It seems as if the main topic in MvC2 seems to always be trapping - there is little discussion about actually moving toward the opponent. Thats right, not running away, not throwing out some demons, etc - we are going to discuss actually moving around in MvC2.
Make no mistake, we arent here to suddenly tell you that MvC2 is now a scrub dashing fest, where you can just dash and do low Short over and over. Traps still exist, are still good, etc. What we are here to discuss is how to move faster (which gets out of some of these traps) and give out some uses in hopes for you guys finding more.
In MvC2, you can dash either towards or away from the opponent like in every other previous versus game: either by tapping toward (back) twice or holding toward (back) and pushing 2 punch buttons. You can normally cancel that dash into either a backwards dash if you started by going towards the opponent or cancel it going towards the opponent if you started by dashing away. This is done by simply dashing then dashing in a different direction before the first dash ends, you can even keep repeating this over and over if you wish so that you go forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards, etc. You can also cancel that dash by tapping down. This is the important part because you can dash from most any non-dashing pose that’s not already committed to anything - most normal attacks, calling an assist, etc. In other words, you can do dash, tap down to cancel, dash again, tap down to cancel, etc. This is what has been coined Wave Dashing - a term taken from the Tekken community.
The fastest way to accomplish this is to first start dashing as you normally would then do down then PP (2 punches), down then PP, etc. You dont even have to wait until the dash is about to end - you can cancel any of your dashes at any point in the dash. There is no universal method to maximize speed for every character and you’ll find yourself using multiple wavedash patterns for the same character sometimes. For example, Psylocke has to cancel very often (as many as 3 cancels in one screen length) to achieve best results, whereas a character with a longer period of speed in the initial burst like Storm will only have to cancel once per screen length.
USES
One of the main reasons why a character should ever wave dash is to decrease the recovery it takes to recover from a normal dash. Magneto for example, dashes full screen as it is (if the opponent doesnt scroll it) but the recovery on the end of his dash leaves much to be desired. Instead you can do PP, down, PP, down to still go full screen but recover faster now in case you can to launch or even do low Short once you get there.
The ability to mix it up and change your wavedash pattern is also important. Wavedashing, like any technique, can get predictable, but by changing your speed you can use this to your advantage. By using a slower pattern as a change of pace, you can in effect bait your opponent into attempting to counter you and whiffing moves and create even more opportunities for yourself!
You can also use the faster recovery to throw once you arrive next to your opponent. The best way to do this is start off first by dashing, then doing down, PP, down, PP, down, neutral, then toward plus button to throw. You want to tap down to cancel your last dash, then let the joystick go to neutral, then throw the opponent, almost in one smooth motion if you can get it down. Command throws like Cyclops’ leg whip throw (db+roundhouse), or Morrigan’s Vector Drain (hcb+fierce) work especially well for this purpose as you’ll pass through neutral while completing the motion.
Getting out of Traps
MvC2 is known for its myriad of traps and how hard some of them can be to get out of. Wave dashing provides you a way out of some traps, if you know when to dash.
Doom photon traps:
A very common trap with Dr.Doom and Blackheart (covered in the traps article, part 1) is to call Blackheart, super jump and throw down photons, getting a little block damage and keeping you set up at full screen. Executing a trap like this against a wavedasher can be much more difficult. After blocking the first hit of the Blackheart assist, you can do PP, tap down, PP and get directly under Doom, ready to either set up an attack of your own, or if you like, you are free to attack Blackheart before Doom comes back to the ground to stop you.
Sentinel/BH:
Another trap that is becoming more popular now is a variation on the
Sentinel/Blackheart trap. Sentinel can do Low Fierce, call Blackheart, call drones with Roundhouse and hold down the button, then follow up with other attacks when the bombs start falling on you. Right after blocking the Low Fierce, you can start wavedashing immediately, making the Blackheart assist miss, and then you can get a free shot on both Sentinel and Blackheart after the 2nd/3rd part of your wavedash. Perhaps you might even be able to combine this with the snapback for game-turning results. (see snapbacks section below)
Other Uses
A rather unique usage of Wave Dashing is to dash under an opponent who super jumps in the air. If you continue to keep Wave Dashing in the same direction, you will not turn around until you stop dashing. The usefulness of this is rather novel - but you can get some mileage out of it.
The best use of it is combining dashing forwards and backwards - so that the opponent doesnt know what side you are on. So a character who has a launcher with some range - such as Storms standing Roundhouse can dash ambiguously underneath the opponent trying to launch them when they land.
Another novelty trick is to call an assist that is really delayed in attacking (like Storm-G)when the opponent jumps. Then wave dash towards the corner and keep wave dashing so that you dont turn around. The opponent will land and may try to attack you, but since you called out your assist you might get a free hit in.
Snapback
Perhaps the single best usage of wave dashing is when you snapback (qcf+assist) the opponent while their assist is on the screen. The reason behind this is because when you snapback the point character, their assist is left unable to block. Normally the assist would finish their assist action, taunt, then jump back off the screen then either they would fall back in or the other assist you called out with the snapback command would fall in. Since the assist is unable to block, if you can attack the assist while they are still on the screen, you can do the assist infinite (launch, launch, launch, launch, etc) - which is where wave dashing comes into play.
Snapbacking point then wave dashing to catch assist:
Many assists (like Doom-B) lag out behind the opponent and don’t require much effort to kill after a snapback. But for assists that complete their task then quickly scurry offscreen, the wave dash is the difference between being able to fully capitalize or having to settle for less. Many people will use assists like Psylocke-A or Cyclops-B as a way to halt your pressure and then launch a counterattack. If you could manage to snap out their point character quickly enough, their anti-air helper would be at your mercy as long as you can wave dash over quick enough to take advantage.
Comboing both point and assist and comboing snapback:
This opportunity comes up fairly often, but is not utilized as often as it should be. For example, take a look at recent tournament footage offered here on shoryuken.com, Jay Snyder v. Kevin Tran in the 1/27/01 SHGL tournament. Jay happened to catch Sentinel and Blackheart in the same part of the screen at the same time and comboed the both of them. However, had he snapped Sentinel out, Blackheart would have been a sure kill, by wave dashing over, OTGing and finishing him with the launch infinite. This happens often in many matches in competitive and casual play and using both the wave dash and the snapback will help you make the most of these opportunities.