For those of you who had a PC in 1994, you may remember this fighting game. I've spent a lot of time playing around with the system, but I'm generally terrible at combos - I have lots of replays but they're mostly just bread-and-butter stuff. Hopefully this blurb will get people interested in messing around with a virgin design space. Imagine if SF2 had air combos...
The System
Two buttons, Punch and Kick. Different strength attacks are implemented as command normals (for example, stand fierce is back+punch).
Movement is like SF2 with "superjumps" that are just higher jumps.
Arenas don't scroll, so the action can feel claustrophobic and pulling off midscreen combos can be a challenge (they'll usually hit the corner).
Anti-air is very scarce in this game, and so it's very valuable.
Your stun bar is visible right below your health bar. It recharges faster when it's lower, and it's affected by damage scaling. Shadow has a smaller stun bar than the other characters. You can mash to become un-stunned faster, but there's still a good chunk of time for free combos.
There are no super moves, but some moves may as well be super. :-p
Pilots
Before choosing a character (robot) you pick a pilot who has 3 stats: power, agility and endurance. Agility affects the speed of ALL animations in both X and Y directions - so a pilot with high agility floats more on every hit, falls faster, and can do better combos. It's like VF, but in reverse.
Combos
There are chains, but they only chop off a couple recovery frames, so they may not actually combo. It's mostly SF-style links.
Jump attacks cause crazy amounts of hit stun because they're percieved as very powerful moves. There's even an option to make them knock down.
Turning on rehit mode on the options is fairly standard in the community, and it activates a weird air combo system. Every move after a knockdown or air hit juggles a set amount, damage scaling is a flat 40% (or 60%, can't remember), but you can only hit with the same move once. Thus, the longest possible combo is one that hits with every single move - this may be impossible for some characters because their sweeps have such terrible hitboxes.
Improving Characters
In multiplayer mode, you can give your characters "enhancements", which usually pump up your special moves. Sometimes they'll let your moves become cancellable, and that's usually pretty broken. You can also get enhancements in...
Tournament mode allows you to build up a character until their stats are insane, then fight them against each other. They usually push stats just up to the breaking points - a couple bots have level 10 speeds, which allow easy "jab, walk forward, jab" infinites.
The One Must Fall 2097 Thread
Further info:
F+button = weak but quick, Neutral+button = medium, B+button = Fierce. [edit:] Also applies to crouching/jumping moves.
Some moves slam you against the wall if used as a juggle and prevent further juggles.
"Quarter-circles" in OMF2097 are actually only DF,F or DB,B.
Doing a motion that applies to two special moves, holding the last direction and pressing the button for both moves with somewhat quick timing will get you both very quickly in a row, almost like cancelling. For example Shadow has phantom slide-punch and slide-kick, so if you do DB,B+P~K you can do both in a row. As well, if you get the air version of a move, like Thorn's dragon-kick, if you do the motion on the ground and smash on the button, you get the ground version cancelled into the air version (which in Thorn's case is an instant dizzy).
The "every move can juggle once" rule applies separately to air and ground versions of special moves - so you can hit with F,F+P with Gargoyle from the ground once, and in the air once. However, there are no non-glitch, non-enchanced-by-tournament-mode infinites which is pretty amazing for a game in which chains go from any move to any other (or even the same) move...
Projectiles are an exception to the juggle rule, so they will always hit. Infinites exist for regular-ol' non-enhanched Jaguar, Shadow (his phantom moves are projectiles), and Electra (or is it Elektra? I forget) that take advantage of that. Shadow's requires use of the one-motion-for-two-moves "feature".
Shadow's Shadow Grab, if done to a dizzy opponent, will not undizzy them, so they will be re-stunned after the followup combo. Therefore, you can repeat Shadow Grab, combo, Grab, combo...
Ignoring the broken stuff you get from speeding up your 'bot to crazy levels, some of the tournament-mode enhancements are interesting by themselves. For example, Shadow gets a Sub-Zero-style freeze that travels along the floor (do Destruction to Iceman), and Flail can get the ability to cancel his rushpunch into his command grab. As well, there are some enhancements available for characters that you can't normally obtain (Epic Games admitted these were scripting errors :^), like Katana's fireball. You can still get them through really easy save-file hacking...
Mike Z
F+button = weak but quick, Neutral+button = medium, B+button = Fierce. [edit:] Also applies to crouching/jumping moves.
Some moves slam you against the wall if used as a juggle and prevent further juggles.
"Quarter-circles" in OMF2097 are actually only DF,F or DB,B.
Doing a motion that applies to two special moves, holding the last direction and pressing the button for both moves with somewhat quick timing will get you both very quickly in a row, almost like cancelling. For example Shadow has phantom slide-punch and slide-kick, so if you do DB,B+P~K you can do both in a row. As well, if you get the air version of a move, like Thorn's dragon-kick, if you do the motion on the ground and smash on the button, you get the ground version cancelled into the air version (which in Thorn's case is an instant dizzy).
The "every move can juggle once" rule applies separately to air and ground versions of special moves - so you can hit with F,F+P with Gargoyle from the ground once, and in the air once. However, there are no non-glitch, non-enchanced-by-tournament-mode infinites which is pretty amazing for a game in which chains go from any move to any other (or even the same) move...
Projectiles are an exception to the juggle rule, so they will always hit. Infinites exist for regular-ol' non-enhanched Jaguar, Shadow (his phantom moves are projectiles), and Electra (or is it Elektra? I forget) that take advantage of that. Shadow's requires use of the one-motion-for-two-moves "feature".
Shadow's Shadow Grab, if done to a dizzy opponent, will not undizzy them, so they will be re-stunned after the followup combo. Therefore, you can repeat Shadow Grab, combo, Grab, combo...
Ignoring the broken stuff you get from speeding up your 'bot to crazy levels, some of the tournament-mode enhancements are interesting by themselves. For example, Shadow gets a Sub-Zero-style freeze that travels along the floor (do Destruction to Iceman), and Flail can get the ability to cancel his rushpunch into his command grab. As well, there are some enhancements available for characters that you can't normally obtain (Epic Games admitted these were scripting errors :^), like Katana's fireball. You can still get them through really easy save-file hacking...
Mike Z
I didn't know you'd played around with this game...
The "fake quarter circles" trick also applies to half-circles, which are db,d,df,f or the reverse.
I didn't know the double special move trick - I just knew that Shadow can chain his specials into each other or themselves, so you can just do slidekicks over and over with good timing (mixing in a slidepunch or two to get the correct height). I think it's the fact that OMF only clears the input buffer when you're in a neutral state - if you hold the last direction down you can do any command whenever you want. (For example, you can do f,f,walk forward,punch and get a f,f+P instead of a throw.)
The combo meter has trouble counting your hits sometimes - it will sometimes undercount, especially when throws are involved, because they don't START the combo meter, although they can add to it.
I didn't know there was a Jaguar infinite - I'll just give a list of known infinites:
Flail is a terrible character with only one attack strategy: tick throwing. Jump punch, command grab is theoretically unescapable if you do it perfectly (it has more range than a throw, and there are no moves that are invincible on frame one), but in practice it's just a devastating guessing game - a one-frame execution variation lets it combo after jump punch, tick throw after jump punch or get BLOCKED after jump punch. With enhancements, he can do it after his rushing punch, which basically wins games. More on this below.
There is exactly one attack in the game with zero startup - Gargoyle's Diving Claw. Unfortunately, I have no way to test whether Jaguar's Overhead Throw is invincible to air attacks on frame one. Any ideas?
Another weird thing: unblockable moves can't hit you out of blockstun. Flail's command grab and Nova's Earthquake Smash are "unblockable" only if your character was in a neutral or walking state when the move would hit. If they're already blocking, it'll just block the move. On the other hand, this means you can "tick throw" with these moves by doing them right as the opponent gets out of block stun. (For Nova, you'll have to set up the tick with his Missile Launcher or Mini Grenade.) You can also combo into them, so they're not technically throws.
Invincibility is based on the type of move: high, low, projectile, special, etc. Moves with blue trails are invulnerable to projectiles, Overhead Throw is immune to high attacks, etc. Electra's Electric Shards counts as neither a physical nor a projectile attack - it's a win/loss animation - so it'll stop anything except a Rising Blade in its tracks.
The "fake quarter circles" trick also applies to half-circles, which are db,d,df,f or the reverse.
I didn't know the double special move trick - I just knew that Shadow can chain his specials into each other or themselves, so you can just do slidekicks over and over with good timing (mixing in a slidepunch or two to get the correct height). I think it's the fact that OMF only clears the input buffer when you're in a neutral state - if you hold the last direction down you can do any command whenever you want. (For example, you can do f,f,walk forward,punch and get a f,f+P instead of a throw.)
The combo meter has trouble counting your hits sometimes - it will sometimes undercount, especially when throws are involved, because they don't START the combo meter, although they can add to it.
I didn't know there was a Jaguar infinite - I'll just give a list of known infinites:
- Shadow Grab, non-juggle combo, repeat. The one known bug introduced in OMF version 2.1 is that a Shadow Grab is a zero-damage throw, so it doesn't un-stun the opponent. (In 1.0 it was a 10-damage anti-air attack that switched to a zero-damage throw, so it would still un-stun.)
Shadow Slide / Shadow Punch against wall, repeat. This is because projectiles don't count against your one-of-each-move limit. Although Shadow's special moves are technically projectiles, they can be hit. They also don't start the combo meter, so you'll have to mix in a "real" move if you want it to keep track of your combo.
Shredder Flying Hands (2nd hit juggles on last frame), repeat. Again, the Flying Hands are hittable projectiles, and with proper spacing against the wall they can keep an opponent juggled.
Tournament Shredder or Gargoyle, jab infinite. (Tournament Shadow can do the same thing with his short kick.) At max speed, these moves have one of their recovery frames eliminated, allowing you to walk forward while they're still in hit stun.
Tournament Thorn, Spike Charge -> low jab infinite. The enhanced Spike Charge is a throw, so it resets the combo meter, and the low jab catches opponents before they hit the opposite wall to repeat the process. Impossible in real matches, except with specially set-up characters.
Enhanced Electra or Jaguar, projectile infinite - this one is theorized, because its enhanced projectiles juggle so well, but I've never seen anyone do it. Note that Jaguar's enhanced projectile must hit with the projectile, not his head (which is a normal attack).
Flail is a terrible character with only one attack strategy: tick throwing. Jump punch, command grab is theoretically unescapable if you do it perfectly (it has more range than a throw, and there are no moves that are invincible on frame one), but in practice it's just a devastating guessing game - a one-frame execution variation lets it combo after jump punch, tick throw after jump punch or get BLOCKED after jump punch. With enhancements, he can do it after his rushing punch, which basically wins games. More on this below.
There is exactly one attack in the game with zero startup - Gargoyle's Diving Claw. Unfortunately, I have no way to test whether Jaguar's Overhead Throw is invincible to air attacks on frame one. Any ideas?
Another weird thing: unblockable moves can't hit you out of blockstun. Flail's command grab and Nova's Earthquake Smash are "unblockable" only if your character was in a neutral or walking state when the move would hit. If they're already blocking, it'll just block the move. On the other hand, this means you can "tick throw" with these moves by doing them right as the opponent gets out of block stun. (For Nova, you'll have to set up the tick with his Missile Launcher or Mini Grenade.) You can also combo into them, so they're not technically throws.
Invincibility is based on the type of move: high, low, projectile, special, etc. Moves with blue trails are invulnerable to projectiles, Overhead Throw is immune to high attacks, etc. Electra's Electric Shards counts as neither a physical nor a projectile attack - it's a win/loss animation - so it'll stop anything except a Rising Blade in its tracks.
Hey man, glad you decided to join in. I'm starting to think that Mike has played every random fighting game in the history of ever.
You recorded a whole bunch of clips as replay files from the game itself to share on SRK and VidOp, right? Would it be possible to capture those as video? Hosting the files shouldn't be a problem because of all the different file hosting websites that are out there. If all else fails, there's always youtube.
I just think it would make this discussion a lot more accessible, since it's such an obscure game that most people haven't played.
You recorded a whole bunch of clips as replay files from the game itself to share on SRK and VidOp, right? Would it be possible to capture those as video? Hosting the files shouldn't be a problem because of all the different file hosting websites that are out there. If all else fails, there's always youtube.
I just think it would make this discussion a lot more accessible, since it's such an obscure game that most people haven't played.
Some preliminary trials with the DOSBox video recorder: I can't get these things on youtube (either codec problems or size issues), but Winamp can watch DOSBox's AVIs just fine. This is I think the only format I've ever seen that VLC just won't play.
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/2xthrow.avi - Double Overhead Throw, 20 sec @ 3.5 MB
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/2XTHROW.REC - Double Overhead Throw recording
To anybody who's played this: Does this seem fast, slow, or just right to you?
EDIT: One of my best combos ever:
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/act1_0m.avi - Jaguar Corner Combos. The first combo requires you to walk forward just the right amount between virtually every hit.
My brother tells me that all my combos should be Crystal vs Crystal since that's the only pilot people use in tournaments...
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/2xthrow.avi - Double Overhead Throw, 20 sec @ 3.5 MB
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/2XTHROW.REC - Double Overhead Throw recording
To anybody who's played this: Does this seem fast, slow, or just right to you?
EDIT: One of my best combos ever:
http://robyrt.coolserver.net/omf/act1_0m.avi - Jaguar Corner Combos. The first combo requires you to walk forward just the right amount between virtually every hit.
My brother tells me that all my combos should be Crystal vs Crystal since that's the only pilot people use in tournaments...
Can't play any of the video in any player at all, but the audio sounds the right speed. :^P GSpot says it's Zip Motion Blocks Video (fourCC ZMBV), whatever the heck that is. Try converting them to something awesome via Virtualdub.
And nah, combo videos should be Crystal vs. Ibrahim. Extra hitstun ftw!
Mike Z
And nah, combo videos should be Crystal vs. Ibrahim. Extra hitstun ftw!
Mike Z
Some dude posted a couple of OMF2097 combo clips in the Combo Video Discussion thread that i started on PA forums.
Dunno if they are good but that Electra combo looks tight.
YouTube apparently has like a million of these clips, many of them mine (like that first Shredder combo). I've had various people want to put my clips on Youtube, but nobody actually emailed me saying they'd done it - this is a nice surprise. 
The Electra 34hit combo is pretty hilarious, but is actually really easy to do - it's just walk up, attack, walk up, attack, preceded by 20 low shorts. That guy's combos are done using the RPG-like Tournament Mode, where you can upgrade your speed, power and special moves. Here's the best ones of the series:
Jaguar 22-hit combo
Gargoyle 19-hit combo
Note that there are no authentic combo videos up yet - just raw demo recordings. You can see our mistakes, the random hits we use to finish off opponents to end the recording, etc. It is sad.
In response to Maj's PA forum comment: The Electra combo actually ends there, he just has enough oldschool class to kill the opponent with the last hit. When you juggle with a jump attack, you rebound backwards (as if you were double jumping off them). He could have continued it by doing his Rolling Thunder (blanka ball), but the opponent died.
The Electra 34hit combo is pretty hilarious, but is actually really easy to do - it's just walk up, attack, walk up, attack, preceded by 20 low shorts. That guy's combos are done using the RPG-like Tournament Mode, where you can upgrade your speed, power and special moves. Here's the best ones of the series:
Jaguar 22-hit combo
Gargoyle 19-hit combo
Note that there are no authentic combo videos up yet - just raw demo recordings. You can see our mistakes, the random hits we use to finish off opponents to end the recording, etc. It is sad.
In response to Maj's PA forum comment: The Electra combo actually ends there, he just has enough oldschool class to kill the opponent with the last hit. When you juggle with a jump attack, you rebound backwards (as if you were double jumping off them). He could have continued it by doing his Rolling Thunder (blanka ball), but the opponent died.