Why is Rage of the Dragons so friggin' hard?

neo1087

Bead Banger
Joined
Dec 17, 2002
Posts
1,478
I love this game to death,as it is one of my favorite fighters on the mvs,besides Samurai Shodown 4 and the KOF series,but why is it so damn hard? It seems that i can beat the first 3 sets of people,but then it gets really hard.I'm trying to disect each charecter,and learn their moves,but its not working out very well.My main team is usually Jimmy and Pepe,but i still can't do all of their attacks.So does anyone else agree?Can someone give me some tips,on maybe how to learn the charecters moves better? Any help is appreciated,Thank you Tim
 

DanAdamKOF

Iori's Flame
20 Year Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2002
Posts
8,250
Firstly I'd get to know the cpu's patterns. This will take time, but, well... I can one-credit the game with at least a C ranking against all teams with a random team (CPU chosen) , since I've played the CPU enough to know some stupid patterns they fall for. Here's some random stuff to use against the CPU (they work a lot but not all the time):
(note: against Johann these might not work so well, also with Abubo. IMO Abubo is more difficult than the team after him (may just be me))

-The CPU is stupid on wakeup. ESPECIALLY against air-to-ground attacks. Try Pepe's Temoc (air qcb+k I think) so it lands as soon as the cpu gets up. I'll also list some other stupid things it wakes up to:
Fireballs (like jimmy's, time it so that it will touch the enemy when he gets up and they'll usually get hit)
Rushing DMs and SDMs (like Pepe's Quetzocoatl (too lazy to look it up) (qxfx2+P), Elias' Maximum Desiderium, maybe Jimmy's Gun Blow (I never tried it.) (hmm I dunno if Pupa's rushing DM will work this way...)) (Also, Alice's Red Rose, you can use it right on the enemy on the ground and when they get up they're right in it) (maybe more DMs can combo, I'm not sure)
Team Duplexes (just get it to contact them on wakeup, the "running" part lasts so long so timing is lax)

-With Kang, the enemy is STUPID on this combo, and will always wake up into it (not an infinity they're just dumb): C+D, AAAAC, fwd+B (You must make sure that the fwd+b doesn't connect that it hits them for another chance for you to combo), then if they're not cornered run a little and hit CD again and start the whole stupid thing over again. You can get perfect against the CPU this way and it's just sad.

-More wakeups the computer often falls for:
Jones: dnfwd+B (do that so that the first or second kick lands on wakeup then combo off it (ARC Fliegen (qcb+K), Groove Master (qcbx2+k)) (It works every time I can think of, I think it has a 90% chance of working)
Pepe: Close D or C (not as reliable as the above but oftentimes they wake right up into it (maybe 60% of the time), you can combo his Cuautli (command grapple, hcb+K) and maybe more)
Kang: dnfwd+A (his 3 hit punch, any of his hits on it are comboable I think, you can combo this into his Body Press Special (hcbx2+P), Kang Screw (DP+P) and more I think) (This is more reliable than Pepe's wakeup (actually about the same as jones'))
Billy: forward+B (his overhead kick, you can combo Ko Ryu Kyaku (DP+K), Back Slash (QCB, HCF+K)) (works maybe 50% of the time, if you can try to have the CPU wake up into a team duplex as it always works, but the fwd+B has an alright chance of working)
Pupa: dnfwd+B (her sliding multipart kick, I'd say it has a 70% of connecting) (I forget what you can combo off it, sorry)
Radel: dnfwd+B (his twopart sliding kick, you can combo his Shadow Sword (qcf, hcb+P), head execution (command grab, hcb+P) and more) (I'd say this has a 65% chance of hitting)

As for some other stuff:
-Against Johann, Cassandra is killer. Why? Her Air DM/SDM (White Wave (QCF, HCB+P)) is invincible on startup (so it goes through his giant column), and he usually is blocking the first part, SO he'll counter AND GET HIT BY THE SECOND PART. Make sure he has at least one power stalk otherwise he won't counter and you could be too close for comfort.
-No offense but I'm not sure how well you know the game. When you do a normal B+C Tag, it's invincible except for grabs. And you can combo a lot off your partner's tag-in hit. With good timing you can use this against Johann and combo a DM off of it (except for Kang's grab), you have a high, HIGH chance of hitting once he does his projectile.
-Any character's air C+D chain combo (hold up after you press C+D and you'll do a chain combo in the air) will combo into their team duplex. A lot of DMs can combo off of it (not all of them), and any air-to-ground attack (like Pepe's Temoc, Alice's Heads Off (qcb+K), Cassandra's Fallen Angel (qcb+K)) will combo off of it. Cassandra's air super will combo right off her air C+D chain combo.
-These characters can combo a team duplex off their ground C+D combos: Pepe, Billy, and Annie. For each character the timing of comboing the team duplex is different so you should practice.
-Just so you know, ground C+D Chain Combos do more damage than air C+D chain combos but do not fill the super meter up as much. Air C+D chain combos fill up the super meter more but do not do as much damage.
-Be careful when tagging against these CPU characters as they can use their grapples as soon as your partner comes in: Kang, Abubo, and Johann. Like I said, try to tag while they're doing an attack.

Perhaps later I'll tell you about some patterns specific cpu teams have. I hope the above helps your CPU game as I know mine improved a lot!
 
Last edited:

Stokers

Geese's Thug
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Posts
270
hmmm,

although this is perhaps not the most productive answer, Rotd seemed easy all round untill you got to the fella at the end.

He was fuckin hard, in fact if i recall he was so hard i havent played it since
 

neo1087

Bead Banger
Joined
Dec 17, 2002
Posts
1,478
Awsome,thanks DanAdamKof,I'm going to try all you've said.I appreciate it :D
 

Vincere

No longer Tristesse
Joined
Dec 26, 2003
Posts
1,506
Stokers said:
hmmm,

although this is perhaps not the most productive answer, Rotd seemed easy all round untill you got to the fella at the end.

He was fuckin hard, in fact if i recall he was so hard i havent played it since

Same here.

These stupid bosses like him and King Lion, RRRRRRRR :very_ang: .
 
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