Bought Battle Arena Toshinden 2.
Solid ass game. Canât sit on super meter as it will drain. Special moves turn into ex moves while you have full bar. Do a bit more damage and moves with special properties get a buff. (Invincibility moves get a bit more invincibility for example.) Game has legit mix-ups. Every character has at least one grounded overhead. Some chars can even combo out of them. Combo system is solid. There are links, chain cancels, special cancels and super cancels. Game runs pretty fast, especially for itâs age. Balance is overall alot better. Duke got fixes to his moves. They track properly now and he is more safe on hit. Ellis lost her infinite, but she is still beast. Rungo got buffed. Uppercut is now more of a command jump/uppercut that he can attack out of. Sho is still Sho. Still god-mode. Well, in the story he killed Master and Uranus so I guess him being retarded is ok. Master and Uranus seem broken at first, then you realize they canât throw. So they have virtually no mix-up potential. BUTâŚUranus has a great dash overhead that she can combo out of though which saves her. Still their huge damage hit-confirms keep them in the upper tiers.
This is my rough tier list thus far.
God Tier: Sho
Top Tier: Eiji, Kayin, Ellis, Uranus
High Tier: Master, Sophia, Tracy, Vermillion
Mid Tier: Gaia, Chaos, Fo
Low Tier: Duke, Rungo, Mondo
Sho as I said before, is Sho. He is the best or one of the best in every Toshinden. This time is no different. He has all the moves of his two students(I mean he did teach them those attacks so it makes sense) Eiji and Kayin, and he even has two unique moves. He has tons of hit-confirms and mix-up potential. Shoulder Crush gives him fairly safe pressure at footsie range. He can zone with double fireballs and the recovery on this move is good. He has a dive kick that can lead to combos and a jumping knee strike which also leads to combos but isnt safe. However he can special cancel into the knee strike for mix-ups. Both are overheads. In block strings he can end with double fireballs which is pretty darn safe or attempt a mix-up with slide kick or jumping overhead slash. Overhead slash hits 3 times on block so its pretty safe and lp version knocks down on hit. He does not have any bad match-ups and can fight any character in the game. Jumping knee strike can also lead to loops and net him combos that do 75% damage before the opponent goes into automatic knockdown state. Oh yeah his ring-out game is great too due to double fireballs. And he has an amazing dragon punch. He has a reverse dragon punch as well so he can turtle like no one else and buffer it when blocking then bust it out when there is a gap in a string getting him a knockdown. He is ridiculous.
Eiji and Kayin are great characters. Good buttons, zoning and dragon punches. Eiji has more mix-up potential with his dive kick and overhead slash. Kayin has more damaging and consistent hit-confirms thanks to shoulder crush and his close cr.hp which hits twice and keeps his opponent near him. Both are equally great zoners. Pick one or the other based on what you want. Or just pick Sho, which is what you really should be doing. Sucks that two awesome characters are overshadowed by their master. All 3 of them have good confirms into their overdrives. Oh, yeah Eiji and Sho can loop with their slide kick, but itâs not 100% consistent. Very spacing dependent, but if you hit with the last active frame of the slide, the opponent will be in very heavy hit-stun while Eiji/Sho are recovering which lets them continue the combo. Ew.
Ellis lost her infinite in Toshinden 1, but remains strong. Best walk speed in the game, solid hit-confirms, good dragon punch, Arc Slash is her dive kick. Hits overhead and can net combos. Easy confirms into overdrive. Fast and agile. Great character.
Uranus would have been the best if she could throw. This limits her mix-ups and ability to get people off block. Her dash overhead mitigates this somewhat though as it can lead to combos and has little recovery. Her zoning is as good as Shos and her normals that use her wings are insane. She has great confirm damage with double arrow shots and fire hawk. Her hp is an arrow shot with limited range but can clash with special projectiles and lead to mid-range hit confirms.
Master has amazing damage and good specials. Normals are so-so due to a lack of range, but she can do over half life with a hit confirm. She lacks mix-ups though. Her dragon punch is an overhead but is mega unsafe when hitting a grounded opponent. Her amazing damage keeps her aloft though. Still I might drop her a tier in the future.
Sophia has great footsies, solid damage and mix-ups. Lacks a dragon punch type move which keeps her from the top tiers imo. She has a special overhead which is great in pressure strings. Her zoning is great as well. Overall a good character.
Tracy has alot of tools and good damage. Has a command jump to get in on her opponents and start combos. Decent dragon punch and can confirm into overdrive. Normals lack some range and the hitboxes are a little off on some. Canât cancel off far hp either which sucks.
Vermillion has infinite range on his gun attacks. He needs to abuse jumping lk, dashing and jumping gun attacks to mix opponents up. His mobility otherwise is garbage. Has no confirms into supers and no dragon punch which does limit him. He also has no throw. He has distinct pros and cons, but overall he is a threat.
Gaia, Chaos and Fo are all solid with different flaws. Gaia has power and range. Lacks good mix-ups and a reversal. Combos are ok. Chaos has great footsies and solid combos. Again lacks a reversal. Good pressure with his projectile which has lockdown applications at close range. His crouching hk is an overhead though he commits to it heavily. Generally commits alot to all his specials and some of his attacks leaving him wide open. Fo has a reversal, but lacks utility on his specials. Can only confirm into his desperation not his overdrive. Solid poke game, but commits very hard to his reversal.
Duke, Rungo and Mondo got fixes, but itâs still not enough. Duke has way more combos, but no reversal and commits to alot of his specials. Good pokes though. Rungo hits very hard, but lacks overheads and alot of his specials are unsafe. Mondo has mix-ups and overall a decent toolset but once again he commits alot to what he does with his specials.