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Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai
Author- [email protected]
Version 1

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of copyright.

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INTRODUCTION

This is Bardocks first entry into the Shin Budokai games, and what a splash 
he's making here. People all over all falling in love with him because of his 
devastating moves and newb friendly combos. However, although newb friendly, 
Bardock does have enough depth in him for the hardcore players as well, more 
then most characters in the game in fact. This guide will help you learn him 
inside out and how to play him effectively, so I urge new players and veteran 
players to be patient and give it a good read through to make sure they absorb
everything.

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BARDOCKS ADVANTAGES

- Bardock is definitely among the heavy hitters in this game, dishing out over
3100 damage with his best combo. And when you take into account his attack % 
is only a measly 110% while at full ki, had he had the bonuses any other 
character has, blow for blow, he's the most damaging character in the game. 
And like Piccolo, he can get a massive combo off in a relatively short amount 
of time.

- His defense doesn't drop that low while low on ki. The lowest his defense 
will ever be is 85%. In contrast, characters like Gogeta can have their 
defense go all the way down to 65% while low on ki. A 20% difference could 
mean up to 600 damage per combo against the strong characters, which is a lot.

- His burst charge "knowledge of the future" is amazing and one of the best 
burst charges in the game. For 10 seconds Bardock can use Discernments 
(Teleport Counters to Budokai veterans) at the cost of 1 bar instead of 3. 
That means that when Bardock activates it at 3 ki bars or more, he 
automatically gains the ki advantage regardless of how many ki bars his 
opponent has. An excellent power up.

- He has excellent rushdown ability. His >RRS puts pressure on guarding 
opponents like crazy, but the fact that he can combo off of his throw, 
devastatingly, is the real kicker here.

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BARDOCKS DISADVANTAGES

- His baseline ki is relatively low at 3 ki bars. With no transformations to 
bring it up he's stuck there.

- His ki recharge rate is slower then any other character in the game. 
Not much slower, but it still makes a difference.

- He has great trouble against characters that have large multi-hitting "S" 
starters (such as Krillin and Kid Buu). Bardock's longest string of Slams 
is his "SS" starter with a measly 3 slam attacks that are also pretty slow. 
Guys like Kid Buu and Krillin will always beat that with theirs.

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BARDOCKS MAIN STRATEGY

Bardock is a very versatile character in this game. He's able to mount a 
strong rushdown offense with his >RRS chain and it's properties and his 
comboable throw, as well as put up a strong defensive stand with his high 
priority "S" (traditional Budokai <K) starter. First, I'll teach you how to 
play a proper rushdown game with Bardock.


*Rushdown*
Bardocks >RRS chain is the key of his rushdown game. The last hit of that 
chain is chargeable, nullifies 1 hit, tracks against sidestepping opponents 
and stuns his opponent on hit, making combo opportunities possible. This makes
it so that your opponent has a lot to worry about when facing this chain. To 
avoid it, your opponent will have to anticipate exactly when the last hit is 
coming, and sidestep out of the way with precise timing. Now it's time to 
factor in Bardocks other rushdown asset, his throw. While your opponent is 
busy worry about how to avoid this move, you can quickly cancel it into his 
comboable throw which will catch side steppers as well. From there you could 
use some quick rush attacks to get your ki up, Riot Javelin if you have 1-4.9
ki bars, or put the big hurt on your opponent and combo into and off of Saiyan
Spirit if you have enough ki bars. Just knowing this is nerve racking for your 
opponent since they have to worry about so many things at once.

There is yet another rushdown worry for your opponent you could put into their
heads. In this game some charge attacks can be dodged, including the last hit 
of Bardocks >RRS chain, so standing there and dodging the fully charged hit is
a viable option for your opponent. However you could reduce the frequency of 
them trying that by Aura Burst canceling into a Slam attack which they can't 
dodge. 

Your opponent could also try throwing ki blasts at you (Credit goes to 
SuperShinySonic for finding this out) while your charging the move to 
interrupt the charge, or even flat out attack you and try to land 2 quick 
hit's since your rushdown only nullifies 1 hit. To stop them from abusing 
this, quickly Aura Burst cancel into a Rush attack. This will deflect any ki 
blasts and nullify any attack and eat right through.

A good rushdown game is a varied rushdown game. Bardock has tons of options 
to put the hurt on his opponent while using his rushdown abilities, be sure 
not to get predictable and to mix it up a lot so your opponent never knows 
what's coming.

*Defense*
As I stated before, Bardocks "S" starter is the key of his defensive game. 
While low on reach, it makes up for it with great priority against attacking 
opponents. This strategy should only be used when you are at even ki with your
opponent, seeing as how the rushdown strategy works much better when you have 
the ki advantage. The objective here is to use your opponent�s aggressiveness 
against him and force him to teleport and lose ki so you can begin your 
rushdown game.

Use Bardocks "S" chain right when you think your opponent is about to attack 
you. The requires some guessing, but the move can be canceled at any time and 
even on the follow up, so it's not totally unsafe. Try to remember the range 
of your opponent�s starters and use the it when you are in their range as 
opposed to them being in yours.

It's also a very nice starter to use off of an Aura Burst guard. Use Aura 
Burst guard to defense against the first few hit's of a chain and then 
interrupt it with "S". 

Bardock can stun in 3 different ways with his "S" chain. First and most basic,
"S" itself is a stun. But Bardock can also us "SS-" to add a bit more damage 
and a safe follow up. If you know a combo opportunity is guaranteed, use 
"SRRS-" since it's the most damaging, but make sure it will land first since 
it does have rush attacks in it and isn't safe to use as a normal starting 
chain.


So to recap, use a mix between Bardocks defensive game and rushdown game 
while at even ki with your opponent, and switch fully to rushdown when you've 
got the ki advantage.

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BARDOCKS BAD MATCHUPS

*Piccolo*
Although he has a huge advantage against every other character in the game, 
this goes DOUBLE for rushdown characters and defensive characters, and 
Bardock is both of these. While at even ki Bardock can employ a mix of 
Rushdown and defensive tactics against his opponent to land a hit and force 
his opponent to TC and gain the ki advantage. However in order to use his 
rushdown strategies you need to get point blank, something that is almost 
impossible to do against a good Piccolo who'll be constantly pushing you back 
every time you guard/aura guard his "S" strings. Bardocks defensive starter 
does work on his "S" chains either, since they don't seem to be in his hitbox.

*Kid Buu*
Kid Buu has the fastest hitting (not in terms of starting speed, but in terms 
of multiple hit's) starter in the game. Using Bardocks defensive starter 
against this is suicide since it only nullifies 1 hit and 2 hit's will 
certainly rain down on you before you can get it off. Bardock is stuck always 
using rushdown against Kid Buu, and always starting with his >R starter. Of 
course, >R being a rush attack, it's unreliable against "S" starters.

*Krillin*
See Kid Buu, except trade the quickness of multiple hit's for higher priority 
and better starting speed.

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BARDOCKS GOOD MATCHUPS

*Cell*
Cell is a good character, but he's pretty meat and potatoes in terms of his 
offense. His S starter has decent range, but it's priority is average and 
it's a bit slow, this is the right combination for it to be countered by 
Bardocks defensive S starter.

*Broly*
Broly has big range, but unlike Piccolo his starter can be nullified by a 
defensive starter. Bardocks "S" takes away Broly's big range.

*Vegetto*
One of Vegettos best defensive moves is his counter. However it seems Bardock 
was built to avoid and counter this. First, his Riot Javelin comes out super 
fast, so canceling a move into it as soon as you see Vegetto activate it means
Vegetto is going to take damage. Next, you have his grab. Canceling into that 
could mean HUGE damage to Vegetto if he doesn't have enough to use a 
discernment, since Bardocks best combo is off of his throw. Next you have the 
very nature of his defensive starter. "S" can be charged longer to catch 
incoming chains. If it can be charged, it can be canceled. A Vegetto may be 
enticed to try to catch the first hit of Bardocks chains with his counter, 
but if Bardock charges it often he'll cancel it often.

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BARDOCKS MOVE RATINGS

Riot Javelin: 8.5/10
This is, quite simply, a very good projectile move. It does pretty standard 
damage and is easy to combo into like most other projectile death moves, but 
it comes out a lot faster then a lot of other moves. This is good for catching
opponents doing something stupid while distanced, but better yet, it's good 
for chaining it into juggles normal moves wouldn't connect after.

Heat Phalanx: 7.5/10 
Heat Phalanx in this game, while still a good move, is severely nerfed 
compared to it's Budokai 3 version. Obviously Dimps watched some of the 
Bardock combo vids ans seen how abusable it is in infinite combos, so for 
this game they made it so slow that it's barely comboable even after the "axe 
kick" cancel. Also, since infinites were removed and juggling is hard or 
impossible with some characters (Bardock included in the former) there isn't 
much to do after it other then fire a Riot Javelin).

Saiyan Spirit 9.5/10
One of the best Ultimate moves in the game. Like Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade, 
the possibilities after it are numerous. If you don't press the second "E" 
Bardocks opponent clinches his chest after the punch and falls the the 
floor....after about 2.5 seconds. You have THAT much time to follow up with 
an attack, since Bardock has no lag time after the punch. You can follow up 
with anything in his arsenal, even a throw. And he's the only character in 
the game who can chain together 2 ultimate attacks in 1 combo. The only 
reason this move didn't get a perfect score is because it's one of the only 
Ultimate moves that discernment (Teleport Counter) can be used on. But it 
would be totally cheap if it wasn't, so it looks like Dimps thought Bardock 
through a little better in this game. Great move!

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COMBO SECTION
(Canceling? Stunning? Juggling? Burst Canceling? If any of these words are new
to you or you simply do not know what they mean or how to perform them then 
read Goryu's Cancel Combo Guide found at this link: 
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/file/924588/42016 then proceed to the 
beginners section)

***ALL COMBOS ARE DONE AT MAX KI AGAINST GOGETA AT MAX KI***

R = Rush attack
S = Slam attack
> = Towards opponent
< = Away from opponent
/\ = Up on the D-pad
E = Energy Button
- = Cancel
* = Stun
' = Fully charge upcoming move
[AB] = Aura Burst
-[AB] = Aura Burst Cancel


Beginners Section
(Cancel knowledge not needed)

#1. S*, >RRS*, <SR>E^ [Riot Javelin] 12 hit's, 885 damage, Opponent gains .6 
ki bars.

#2. S*, >RRS*, <SR<E^ [Heat Phalanx], >E [Riot Javelin] 13 hit's, 1350 damage,
Opponent gains .8 ki bars.

#3. P+G^, /\E [Saiyan Spirit]*, S*, >RRS*, <SR<E^ [Heat Phalanx]^, >E [Riot 
Javelin] 17 hit's, 2270 damage Opponent gains 1 ki bar

Intermediate Section
(No Burst canceling knowledge needed)

#1. SS*, RRS-. <RRRS-, >RR'S*, <SR>E [Riot Javelin] 21 hit's, 1280 damage. 
Opponent gains 1.3 ki bars

#2. SS*, RRS-, <RRRS-, >RR'S*, <SR<E [Heat Phalanx]^, >E [Riot Javelin] 22 
hit's, 1742 damage. Opponent gains 1.5 ki bars

#3. P+G^, /\E [Saiyan Spirit]*, SS*, RRS-, <RRRS-, >RR'S*, <SR<E [Heat 
Phalanx]^, >E [Riot Javelin] 26 hit's, 2644 damage Opponent gains 1.7 ki bars

Advanced Section
(No Burst Canceling knowledge needed)

#1. P+G^, /\E [Saiyan Spirit]*, SRRS-, RRS-, >S-, >RR'S*, <SR*, <RRRS-, /\EE 
[Saiyan Spirit] 38 hit's, 3130 damage. Opponent gains 1.8 ki bars



Like always, expect more updates, strategies and combos to come shortly.

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SPECIAL THANKS

Special Thanks

CJAYC - For creating the n00b infested boards in which the depth of this 
series was created.

Dimps - For continuing this series.

Drunken Pilot, Zejitox, philff138, cml64, Brogeta, Goryus, Sjsman, vegeta1, 
kekken5, Super Saiyan 3 Goku - and the rest of the users on the Shin Budokai: 
Another Road board who give a damn about the games depth.

Copyright 2006 Nnamdi Wosu