Script:: Basics
Let's start the controls and movements unique to Melty Blood.
Movement:
Movement in Melty Blood is usually referred to in number notation. Numbers 1 though 9 describe different states, for example 2 is crouch, 5 is neutral and 8 is a jump straight up.It might take some getting time to get used to it if you are coming a Capcom background, but it works well for Melty Blood and you'll find most guides and wikis in this form.
Layout:
MB works on a 5 button layout; A, B, C, D and E. A to C are your attacks: weak, mid, and strong respectively. D is shield, and E is your quick action, a preset macro. Here are some commands:
Throw : 4/6E or 4/6 AD
Dash/Air dash : 4/6 AB or 66
Heat/Circuit spark/Charge : 5ABC or 5E
Super jump/super double jump: 27/8/9
We will explain most of these in depth later in the video
Health:
Each character has a set life total of 11000, but take different amounts of damage at different points of their life bars. In Melty Blood, there is Yellow health and red health. The amount of damage dealt to your yellow or red health depends on the attack that you were hit with. Generally, more damage is dealt to your yellow health and when your yellow health is gone, KO. One mechanic unique to Melty Blood is the fact that you can recover health. You can recover health while you are in HEAT, in this state you recover your red health.
Magic Circuit :
Your magic circuit is your meter in Melty Blood, it will help you to regain your life, fuel EX moves, Arc Drives and bunkers. The amount of meter that you have is dependent on the moon style that you choose for your character, we will explain this next.
Moon Systems:
New to MBAA, each character has 3 "styles" that you can choose from, comparable to the groove systems in CvS2. Here is the break down for each:
Crescent Moon
In general, plays like how Melty Blood Act Cadenza did. A good mixture of speed, power, and comboability. Has the most control over meter out of the three styles.
* Can reverse beat
* Meter goes up to 300%, can go into HEAT mode by pressing 5E/5A+B+C anytime meter is over 100%. During HEAT mode, red life slowly regenerates. Can go into BLOOD HEAT mode by pressing 5E/5A+B+C on the ground anytime meter is in MAX mode. During BLOOD HEAT mode, all red life instantly converts to yellow life. Heat activation has invincible startup, is unblockable, and wallslams, but has recovery.
* Can dodge both in the ground and air by pressing 2E/2A+B. Doing an air dodge makes your character face the right direction, and weakens the guard meter
* Can circuit spark both in air and ground by pressing 5E/5A+B+C when getting hit in MAX meter mode
* Has EX Shield and Normal Shield.
* Shield bunker performed by pressing 214D, works kind of like a guard cancel or alpha counter. Costs 50% meter, does a bit of damage
* EX guard performed by guarding an attack right before it hits, like a Garou Just Defend or a Guilty Gear Instant Block. Restores guard meter when successful
Half Moon
Good comboability, and power is generally low but damage can be very high with good execution. Has the least control over meter out of the three styles. Suited to a rushdown style of play.
* Can reverse chain
* Meter goes up to 200%. Cannot manually activate heat, but once meter reaches 200%, your character will automatically go into HEAT mode. During HEAT mode red life slowly regenerates. 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% during the combo, then you can choose when to spark during this time.
* Can dodge both in the ground and air by pressing 2E/2A+B
* Can only EX shield.
* Shield bunker performed by pressing 214D. Costs 100% meter, but is faster and has better recovery than the shield bunkers of the other moon styles. Also does 0 damage
* Cannot EX guard
* Gains a 6AA followup to 5A
Full Moon
Emphasis on power, more damage per hit, but less comboability. If you like Guilty Gear, play this style!
* Cannot reverse chain. Has basic weak->medium->strong chain sequence. There are also special rules within the button strengths. 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.
* Meter goes up to 300%. Cannot manually activate heat if meter is below 300%. At 300%, your character goes into MAX heat mode. At MAX, your character can go into BLOOD HEAT mode by pressing 5E/5A+B+C.
* Also, in MAX heat mode, most normals and specials can be cancelled by doing an INITIATIVE HEAT, which is 5E/5A+B+C while the normal or special is being performed. Kind of like a GG Roman Cancel, but Initiative Heat cancels the attack and also puts your character into HEAT mode. Initiative Heat instantly converts all red life into yellow life. Normals can only be IHed on hit or block, specials can be IHed on hit, block, and whiff.
* Can circuit spark both in ground and air by pressing 5E/5A+B+C
* If not in MAX or BLOOD HEAT mode, pressing and holding 5E/5A+B+C on the ground will make your character enter a charging animation. Meter will rise at an accelerating rate until 5E/5A+B+C is released.
* Cannot dodge or air dodge
* Cannot EX shield, but can normal shield.
* Shield bunker performed by pressing 214D. Costs 50% meter
* Can EX guard
Specifics about Meter:
When Full moon and Crescent generate enough meter to fill up the magic circuit the reach MAX. You do no recover red health in MAX, but you will have free use of your meter for a limited amount of time and uses, about three. When Full moon comes out of MAX, you will be left with 100% of magic circuit and 200% for Crescent moon. You have access to arc drives in this state
When you are in heat, your meter drains much like in in MAX mode, but you regain your red health and the clock stops. Blood heat is similar, but in Crescent moon meter drains slower, you recover health faster. In Full Moon your red health instantly recovers but the clock does not stop. Both moon styles have access to Another Arc Drives and Last Arcs.
Specifics about shields:
Shields in MBAA give you hit stop, without getting hit. It is comparable to the parry system in Third Strike. In crescent, on a successful shield, you can normal or special cancel it. If Full moon, you can special cancel shields, or you can perform a shield counter, this is done by canceling into 236D. 236D launches the opponent and allows a followup combo. In Half moon, you get an auto shield cancel. If you shield a projectile, then you can cancel into a shield counter (like F moon) or special cancel it. Like F-Moon, the shield counter launches the opponent and allows a followup combo.
Guard Bar:
One of the new additions to MBAA is the guard bar. It is much like the guard bar in CvS2 as is decreases the more you block your opponents moves. One thing that is different, is that the integrity of the guard bar changes when you whiff a shield, or dodge. When the guard bar is completely red, you take around triple the normal guard bar damage.
Notes:
Health definition came from ikusat
Moon Systems off MBread, I don't know who wrote them, someone tell me so they can be credited
