A2 Bison plays like a obese ST Bison. Limited offense, decent defense, half his moves are safe, one his moves is horrible.
A2 Bison plays like a obese ST Bison. Limited offense, decent defense, half his moves are safe, one his moves is horrible.
Uh I hate you for making do a bison write up.
Much appreciated guide. Learning A2 Sagat has really given me an appreciation for his other incarnations given how hard he has to work without CC
You really have to have good spacing with his fireballs and know to anti air at every angle, his normals are so slow and his links arent easy. He really has no universal bnb either, so it’s all footsie and fireballs til you get meter, and his normals are ok at best.
I main Bison in A2. He’s one of my favorite characters to use. The way I play Bison: brutally patient.
I basically play keep away with poking and throwing mixed in. The ideal situation for Bison, IMO, is to constantly have his opponent at the edge of his standing MK. You’ll play ground footsies with standing MK, mix in some LP Psycho Balls (if safe). If the opponent backs away or looks like he’s about to jump then you throw a standing HK. If your opponent gets in close, you throw standing or ducking MPs or you throw. If your opponent is attempting a jump-in, then you throw a well timed LP psycho ball as an anti-air or a do a standing HK or ducking HP (both riskier at trade-ins of course). Sometimes a headstomp works as an anti-air also if the timing is right.
If you want to mix things up, you might want to jump-in with an early HK or a late LK. I like to do air-to-air with his MK also because of its horizontal reach. I’m sure there are some small combos you can do-- mix that in if you get the opportunity. You can also sparingly do headstomps-- but I think A2 Bison’s headstomps have low priority in this game so you’ll end up trading or losing a lot if you get predictable with them. Sometimes you can use HK Scissor kick to punish wiffed moves from a distance-- but I think almost all versions of the scissor kick will leave you seriously vulnerable if blocked. Use them only in combos.
I’m pretty sure you can combo into his scissor kick super. Use that if you get the opening. His psycho crusher super is pure trash at all levels and in every situation. Never use it. Don’t ask me about CCs with Bison cause I just don’t really utilize them.
I love A2 Bison. He’s my main. I used to get on GGPO last year but stopped cause I no longer have a dedicated computer for it. I would play A2 regularly if it were released on Live though. Sigh sigh sigh. I’ll never stop loving this game.
Funny thing, I use a similar play style with 3S Remy and SSF4 Honda. Poke, poke, poke, throw, poke, poke, poke. Its an uphill battle but I like charge characters. Honda struggles a lot less cause of his much larger stamina, damage potential and versatility.
M.Bison 101.
****Normals Breakdown:
Standing:
Lp- Quick jab, with small frames advantage. Not great.
Mp- Glow version of his s.lp, with great priority and blockstun, similar to ST Chun’s s.mp. Can do multiple in a row to counter hit and anti jump characters up close. Serves as far anti air in a lot of matches. This is his up close bully move.
Hp- Upward angled punch, which looks like it can be used as anti-air, but has actually pretty bad priority, though it ok to use sometimes as it’s faster than c.fp. Lots of meaty range.
Lk- Quick knee kick to the mid section, cancelable, good priority.
Mk- Straight kick with good range. Universal poke, not too fast, not too bad recovery. Very good to zone.
Hk- A two hit Anti-air angled kick. Good anti air priority and first hit is cancelable to anything. Use for AC reversal up close.
Crouching:
Lp- Little jab to the shin, not really all that though is has ok range for a jab.
Mp- A straight punch with good priority, cancelable.
Hp- Very good anti air once its out, must do early for it to be effective, lots of meaty frames.
Lk- Quick kick to the foot, can hit meaty, not chainable.
Mk- A low kick similar to c.lk, hits meaty and cancelable.
Hk- Great surprise move and safe when distance right, same applications as other games, can be kara canceled for add reach on specials.
Jumping:
Lk- Best air-to-air, quick, but low damage.
Mk- Jumping version of s.mk great neutral jump moves.
Hk- Angled jump in with good priority.
****MEATIES!!!
These are important because if make it alot more difficult for your opponent to do wake-up reversals on you, and allow link not normally possible.
s.fp- Hits super meaty, but no real combo opportunity cause of push back
c.fp- same as above
c.mk- Hits low and can link a s.lk and I think rh, been awhile idr.
s.mp- Heavy frame advantage.
****Specials Breakdown:
Psycho Shot: b charge f + P:
A fireball. Although its a charge, the recovery sucks. What is best about this move is its size, speed, and hitbox. Very hard to jump over (lp version) cause it is so slow, can be super meaty, and change bison’s hitbox (the fireballs anti airs A LOT).
Double Knee Press: b charge f + K:
Ew. NOT CVS2/ST/SSF4 Knee press. Only usefulness is it goes over lows, semi unpunishable at certain ranges and character specific. 100% punishable by anyone with meter by CC or AC. Used mainly in CCs. All versions combo only after s.hk.
Head Press: d charge u + K:
Very good move when mixed with somersault skull diver, safe as hell and annoying. Always whiffs on Evil Ryu and on Sak sometimes. Can kara a rh into this, mix this with instant skull divers to keep your opponent guessing. Good priority and hard to cc and anti air. If hit anywhere during the move to include recovery results in a air reset. Press P for follow up, safe on block, easy to ac or cc though.
Somersault Skull Driver: d charge u + P,P
Bison goes in the air as if to headstomp but does nothing unless you press p which causes him to punch dive. Slight frame advantage on block and good when whiffed and mixed with stomps. Same properties as headstomp on hit.
Bison Warp: dp or rdp + PPP or KKK:
Very good teleport, great to take you away from your opponent.
Supers:
Mega Pyscho Crusher:
Meh. Lvl 1 doesnt have good priority, lvl 2 is ok, but lvl 3 is beast. Use lvl 3 version as anti ait to make your opponent shit themsleves. Horrible wake up option as it does not track opponent if it hit a limb, wasting the super.
Knee Press Nightmare:
Great lvl one to blow through fireballs and on wake up.
****Play Style:
Bison is fast in this game. Stupid fast for his size. He can be in your face or turtle, depends how you roll. Walking mp is very effective versus mashers and will counter hit the hell out of them. Utilize his fast walk speed to get throws when close, and counter hit with various normals when you get in. Bison only real combo is off s.rh so you wont be doing combo vids. Harass from afar with slow fireballs, anti air with s.rh and c.fp. Mid range keep your distance with s.mk and from far screen you can sweep to close the gap.
Your main objective is to annoying your oppenont into messing up. Constant barrages of headstomp, skull divers, and lp fireballs from a distance will frustrate your opponent into acting rash. Every blocked skull diver (beware of ac) is a guessing game for you opponent. You can go for a throw, ac their attack attempt, or activate a cc, or do another skull diver.
Bison can pressure well in the corner, example of a annoying pattern would be skull diver, [c.lp xx instant skull diver]x2-3. Mix in some walking lks, a throw, neutral jumps, empty jump throw and you can begin to see how annoying Bison can be.
Bison is very versatile with meter. You can blow through moves with knee press nightmare, alpha counter, or cc. I sometimes blow a lvl 1 cc just to get close. Here are some examples:
Activate - lp psycho shot x3, teleport behind or in front
- lp psycho shot x3, headstomp -> skull diver follow up
- lp psycho shot x3, empty somersault skull diver or follow up
As for ACs, Bison’s fist of hit punch ac seems invincible. Alpha counter reversals with dps wont work on him unless close. If you opponent does ac reversals use kick ac. Kick ac is very very good. Bison will teleport behind the opponent then you can CC or throw. Buff stuff. If they ac reversal his kick ac, Bison gets a free hit.
****COMBOS!!!
s.rh xx hk knee press
s.rh or c.mk xx any super
Lame.
::::Custom combos::::
Sweep xx hk knees press xx sweep xx headstomp -> dive (whiffs unless they tech roll), meaty unblockable sweep follow up.
Add one extra knee press for lvl 2, 2 for lvl 3.
in custom combo… isn’t a s.HP better before the headstomp -> dive, meaty unblockable?
i find it hard to hit the second sweep in level 1
M.Bison’s crouching Forward links into the first hit of his standing Roundhouse, and his punch Alpha Counter cannot be blocked.
Whichever works for you, s.fp is better at lvl 3 since you can add 1 more knee press. I think at lvl 2 also, Im rusty on my stuff, but a lot of people found sweep easier.
Yeah I’m aware I left out a chunk of combos. I whipped this bitch up late last night and is WIP as most these guides still are. And yeah, Bison AC is such bs.
Air to air mk is a better neutral or jump back move while lk is his best overall. Bison really is limited in the combo section and relies more or damage from throws, normals, and supers. His headstomps are ALL very good and good to mix up with the somersault diver. All versions of his scissor kicks are horrible and only for combos, on top of that they are so damn slow and don’t do great damage. My biggest argument here is with his supers. Lvl 3 PC is one of the most devastation anti air supers in the game and can’t be activated through, and it can be comboed into. Lvl 1 PC super is not great, but 100% safe on block while knee press nightmare isn’t. All lvls of knee press nightmare are excellent to go thru fireballs.
RSX, its unclear to me what you wrote about Lvl 3 PC-- are you saying its a very good anti-air super? What do you mean “can’t be activated though.” What are some good moves to combo into the Lvl 3 PC?
I don’t use the knee press nightmare to go thru fireballs-- its a great strategy but I always overlook it.
For some weird reason, I have an easier time missing the head stomp on Chun and Ryu-- it could just be me being predictable or making mistakes though.
I love his air MK. I just love the play style that A2 Bison has. IMO, you cannot play A2 Bison at all in any of the ISMs in A3 (thats why I hate A3). A3 really makes Bison weird and some of his normals even get traded out for newer ones that are far worse IMO. The air MK is an example of that-- it becomes a diagonal kick instead horizontal.
I so could use some A2 right now. I so wish there was an EX Bison option in SSF4 where he lost the PC for a psycho ball (yes, I’m crazy for wanting that but so what!)
Yes it is a excellent anti air. What I meant about the activation is if someone activates in the air they still eat the super. You can activate thru anti air moves in a2 but not that shit lol.
Thanks for updating, good read
someone introduced me to this game but it’s just brazilians on ggpo lol.
I play A2 online these days, although its mostly A2 Gold / Zero 2 Alpha. We should play some time.
sit in the room idle for a few minutes… people from Europe, NA enter from time to time
If anyone wants to play I usually go on, just pm me a time and if I’m not busy I’ll be on.
How’s that matchup chart coming along?
Shit I have to find my files they hiding and I been busy, but good thing you brought that up. I have to get with some other people and finish it.