Variable Atmosphere 2 Combo Video - Apocalyptica: Prologue (Apprehension) & No Education from the album Reflections.
Variable Atmosphere 2 Combo Explanation - Tycho: From Home, Sunrise Projector, Dictaphone's Lament, PBS, Brother, A Circular Reeducation, Past is Prologue, Cloud Generator.
# |
Clip |
Date |
Comment |
| 1 |
Psylocke 90 Hit Combo |
5/22/2010 |
This combo was a long time coming. I had the idea for a while, but I wanted to save it for this video. The combo took a while to program since I had never messed with most of the things done in the combo. It was strictly trial and error for most of the combo. The systemic ideas I had for the combo were intuitive. There were some that took some work to get, but overall, it was purely trial and error that showed me whether or not something was possible. I forget exactly how many hours it took to do the combo, but I think it was around 50, or so, altogether. I was really shocked with how many of the ideas ended up working. This set-up really allows for many crazy things to happen. However, I didn't feel like I should have used more instances of the same idea.
Joo kind of used this idea in Meikyousisui 10 with Strider vs. Colossus and Magneto. However, his combo was rather simple. Maybe he did not feel comfortable with a combo using this idea and so he did not flesh it out as much as possible. |
| 2 |
Storm - Servbot Situation |
3/15/2010 |
I had this idea a little bit after I came up with the Cyclops-Strider Situation in early 2009. The idea, once again, was just being saved for this video. I think I put it in at the start to act kind of as a transition into the different type of material that was going to be displayed in the video. Storm is one of the few characters whose launcher would allow the character to kick all of the Servbots. Overall though, it's a really easy set up to program. However, I think that normals not experiencing hitstop when they hit projectiles is a cool side-effect in MvC2. |
| 3 |
Cyclops 19 Hit Combo |
5/23/2010 |
This combo is probably my favorite combo in the video. It's so simple, but the idea that allows it to work is so profound. Cyclops blocks for one frame before Super Jumping and then one frame again before Double Jumping. By blocking for one frame he is able to ascend faster and higher. The Gene Splice doesn't have that much hitstun. Therefore he wouldn't be able to reach Ruby Heart in time if this technique wasn't employed. I found the technique maybe 3 months before I did this combo. I thought I was going to use it for a different Cyclops combo that already had a few ideas in it. However, I decided to make an entirely different one because I wanted to the idea to be the centerpiece of the combo. The combo is so simple and the idea is unnoticeable. I don't think anyone really realized what happened there. I find the simplicity of the combo interesting because a very advanced technique was used to achieve it. |
| 4 |
Sakura - Psylocke Situation |
5/26/2010 |
This situation was done toward the end of the video's completion. I was thinking of everything that I find interesting and I decided to use an idea that was originally going to be used in the Super Fireball Collision video (which premiered at Evolution 2010). There were a few clips in Variable Atmosphere 2 that were going to be in the Fireball video that I decided to put into this one. I think the main reason was because the intention of this video was to be the ultimate compilation of what I find interesting. Therefore I decided to use all of my favorite concepts and video clips in this video. Lastly, I think the little combo at the end before the launch was aesthetically pleasing so I decided to put it into this situation. Again, I had another combo that I was going to use that employed Dan assist as a wall. I figured it would be better to include those concepts into one situation. |
| 5 |
Magneto 17 Hit Combo |
3/29/2010 |
Believe it or not, I've had this idea since around 2006. I never thought about programming the whole thing until this video. Since this video was supposed to be my best ideas compiled into one video, the difficulty level was not important. This combo took about 50 hours or so to program. I tried many variations of Magneto's chain combo before landing on the correct one. Furthermore, I tried many different teleport variations before landing on the one that would place Spiral in the ideal position for Magneto to combo her. The other difficult part was setting up the float glitch so that it moved Magneto to the absolutely highest point while allowing Sentinel to have something on-screen from which to counter. This was probably my favorite combo for a really long time. Although Joo fleshed out the off-screen combo idea to its fullest potential (Cyclops56), I think this combo is interesting even though it uses the same concept. I think this presents Magneto's float glitch in the best possible light. There are many setups that can be done with the float glitch, but I think the off-screen combo is the most interesting. Lastly, after bringing down Spiral from the air, I had a hard time finishing the combo. It felt like the combo should just be starting and I didn't want to end it with something simple. Guile's blade set up is what added another 12 hours or so to this combo. It took a while to figure out the positioning for the whole thing to work. If the blade was too close, Spiral would hit it when she Countered in. If it was too far, Magneto couldn't walk and kick Spiral in time before she got up. I ended the combo with a tag-in to Guile for Majestros (who likes Guile). It's a way of thanking him for all the help he's given me throughout Joo's DVD and this. |
| 6 |
Dhalsim 63 Hit Combo |
5/17/2010 |
This combo idea was given to me by MikeZ in 2008, I believe. The combo idea was a result of a glitch that he had found. I knew that I wanted to use Dhalsim for this because it would be cool to show him moving the character from corner to corner in this type of set up. I figured I would start the combo in a difficult way so it took way longer than I thought it would to do the whole thing. The beginning of the combo took around 3 hours to set up; timing the far Light Punch was more difficult than it looks. I also use something from Joo's Dhalsim combo on Hulk: CR.MK into SJ far LP. I wanted to pay homage to something that I think is very cool looking as well as very technical. I made it difficult on myself in a few parts of the combo because I wanted to include as many far SJ.LPs as I could.
Finally, this whole combo was supposed to use a lot of Unly, but the glitch does not allow Unfly to be used when it's employed. Even if Unfly is set up before this combo, the glitch will break Unfly. Nevertheless, I think it provided enough interesting options to exploit, so I'm happy I used it. Dhalsim coming out of the left side was interesting enough on its own to get it to work. Although when I tried to FSD using this technique, the SJ'ing far HK's stun would not be more than 10 frames. |
| 7 |
Anakaris - Zangief Situation |
9/20/2009 |
This idea is also from around 2008. I was messing around with maintaining Flying Screen active and thereby causing side effects which could lead into something interesting. I found this to be one of the most amusing things. The principle idea is that Zangief is never on-screen completely, therefore Flying Screen is never de-activated and thereby causing Zangief to have zero control. |
| 8 |
Psylocke 10 Hit Combo |
12/29/2009 |
I wanted to make a Scroll-FSD combo for a while. I tried a few characters before realizing that I could do an interesting set up with Psylocke. Even though the idea itself isn't as profound as other ideas in the video, I think it looks aesthetically interesting. I find the principle behind a Scroll-FSD to be challenging. Since FSD occurs in 10 frames, there is a time limit for the set up to finish. The whole thing has to allow the character to follow up after the FSD-Dash. Without the up-back jump, Psylocke would not have followed up in time since Doom would have gotten up before she could get within striking distance. |
| 9 |
Magneto 48 Hit Combo |
11/19/2009 |
This is another contender for favorite combo. It was an idea I've had since like 2007 that, once again, I was too afraid to program. However, since Joo found the 100% technique, I figured this idea would be much easier to do. The hardest part was thinking of an interesting combo before the Forcefield was triggered. There are so many combos with Magneto already, that it was difficult to find a unique set of attacks. Although HP or HK to HP or HK is not new, I tried to squeeze the most out of that concept in this combo. Furthermore, I started it with something that is seldom seen. Magneto's Hyper-Grav being done right above Sentinel so that it will break his Super Armor. I think that's a technically special idea that no one really used in a combo video before. It breaks the armor, but since each orb hits one frame part, the hit counter does not show a 2-Hit combo.
Lastly, I wanted to mention my thoughts about the Forcefield trigger: I think the combo idea can be used in a variety of ways, but having one character do both the trigger and the follow up is interesting. Out of all the characters who have a counter attack, Magneto is the only person who can do this combo because he has the Hyper-Grav which keeps the dummy stunned before the counter hits. I'm very happy with this combo idea. It took a very long time to figure out the timing, and a very long time afterward to finish the combo, but it was definitely worth it since it turned out well. This combo is an example that the proof of a concept is just as rewarding as the conception of it. When I thought of the combo in '07, I was very happy and curious about how it would work, when I saw it combo and work out just fine, it felt just as rewarding as when I thought of it. |
| 10 |
Spiral - Doom Situation |
12/25/2009 |
This is definitely my favorite clip in this video. This is my favorite situation clip, not combo. I went out of my way to try to match the fast portion of the song with the fast portion of the clip. For some reason it still gives me goose bumps when I see it. I had a very long first revision of this situation completed in around 2008 but it was 3 separate situations woven together to look as one. Majestros talked me out of doing it and I ended up trying to remake the situation, except this time I would employ two instances of the 100% technique. This made it take a bit longer than it would normally. However, the results were 100% accurate. This enabled me to get the most out of the Doom SJ>HK concept. I found the concept in early 2008, but I never really tried to maximize the potential until now. It's really amazing to me that it even exists in the game.
I think that this situation demonstrates the best of Marvel vs. Capcom 2's hectic nature as well as its behind-the-scenes complexity. The way that Doom's situation worked in terms of the frame skipping cycle is very special. If any of his frames had any other inputs (from when he started to do SJ > HK), the sequence would not work. All of that working is due to the frame skipping cycle avoiding certain frames. Again, I think this is the most interesting situation because of how much work and technical insight is behind a very cool looking 'face'. I really enjoy the ebb and flow of the situation and the way it matches with the song's fast-paced cello piece. |
| 11 |
Cyclops 32 Hit Combo |
5/5/2010 |
I've had this clip for a while now. I was thinking of using it for this one because of the fact that no one has ever seen the Super Optic Blast do more than 19 or 20 hits. Furthermore, since it's partly off-screen, it looks more interesting. Although it's simple to program, I think the idea is worth noting. Sometimes, just because the execution of an idea is not difficult, doesn't detract from our (Joo and myself) choice for including it in a video. In Joo's combo DVD, he had a 4 hit Felicia combo. The programming for it is very simple, but the concept of the combo was something he felt necessary to showcase in a DVD alongside his best ideas. |
| 12 |
Captain Commando 27 Hit Combo |
5/9/2010 |
This clip was originally supposed to be a situation. When messing with the possibilities during Captain Storm, I decided that it would look best as a combo. Captain Commando's assists follow the dummy wherever they are, even off-screen. However, I couldn't combo 2 Corridors if the dummy was off-screen (timing issues). Still though, I like this combo for the way it looks, even though it has some technical mechanics. |
| 13 |
Magneto 41 Hit Combo |
3/29/2010 |
This combo went through a few revisions. Originally I was going to end the combo with Magneto doing something generic after the Hyper-Grav OTG. Then I was going to end it with him taunting. Finally, I decided to do something special after the taunt to finish the combo.
The combo idea itself is really interesting to me. I really like the way it looks and I really like that it proves something that Joo said about the Super Armor system as well as my Magneto59 hit combo. In order to break Super Armor and keep the dummy in the same pose as well as make the combo meter run, the attack must hit 5 frames apart. In the case of Magneto59, the Hyper-Grav hit 1 frame apart so it broke the armor, but it didn't combo. This proves that each orb is 1 hit and that each orb hits in a one frame interval. It also shows that the Hyper-Grav is not a No Count OTG. One causes OTG Stun and the other captures the dummy. I'm really happy with all the Magneto combos in this video. It's very hard to find new ideas for combos with characters (especially Magneto and especially after Joo's DVD). Each Magneto combo in this video had a different idea behind it. I'm really proud of how each of the Magneto combos turned out and how they managed to be separate from one another in terms of concepts. |
| 14 |
Ruby Heart 31 Hit Combo |
5/15/2010 |
This was my take on what Joo did with Iceman in his combo DVD. In his DVD, Joo had the Icefist allow Iceman to do a relaunch combo. However, the timing for it was very strict. In this combo, I use the Icefist to allow Ruby Heart to follow up after using her Schwarzaile glitch. Personally, I don't think this combo is anywhere near the complexity of Joo's Iceman combo. However, I wanted to use this idea to allow Ruby Heart to get a follow up after her glitch. Ruby's glitch is interesting to me because she moves absurdly fast but cannot follow up since she and the dummy are off-screen. Ruby Heart cannot special-cancel her Schwarzaile off-screen and since Juggernaut would recover off-screen, she would not be able to follow up. Lastly, Ruby Heart's super cannot be aimed up when it starts and it cannot be controlled once she is off-screen. S the off-screen Icefist allows the whole thing to work.
Originally, I was joking with a friend about using the Icefist because of how absurd it would be to set it all up just to get the follow up. But I went through it when I realized that Ruby Heart doesn't have any other way to follow up. It would be interesting to see an entire combo video that showcases nothing but different Icefist combo setups. |
| 15 |
Thanos - Sentinel Situation |
3/15/2010 |
Once again, a clip that was going to be used for the Fireball Collision video. I think this clip just looks interesting. There isn't anything technical behind the clip. I just think it's absurd that Sentinel's super can be mashed on a programmable controller for 38 hits while human mashing gets a max of 14. |
| 16 |
Magneto - Cable Situation |
3/24/2010 |
At first, this situation involved Cable versus Cable. However, the clip ran a bit long so I intended to make a new clip that just included the main idea as the centerpiece of the clip. However, when I thought about what I could do afterward. I remembered something that Joo showed me a long time ago. When the counter flash happens on the same frame as the super flash, the character goes across the screen instead of sticking to the edge. I regret not using another character's super to show that the character gets in the opponent's face when they counter in on the same frame as the super flash. |
| 17 |
Dhalsim 54 Hit Combo |
5/2/2010 |
I am very fond of this combo. It uses an idea that Joo showed me and it also uses an idea that I found but never included in a video. Dhalsim going from Super Jump to Normal Jump back to Super Jump was shown in Joo's Combo DVD. The fact that the dummy can control where they move when they are being hit is something that I found. I think I like this combo most for its technical insight. It doesn't look very impressive (kind of generic, actually), but I am very fond of the mechanics being used. I'm happy with the way the Dhalsim combos turned out. I really like Dhalsim's combo architecture in MvC2. The long limbs and the fast air dash allow him to do interesting things when both are used. Lastly, being able to move while being hit during the Yoga Blast is very strange. Although it isn't used in any other part of the video, it's really special and strange.
A note about the Yoga Blast, like Charlie's Sonic Boom, 1 frame of its recovery can be canceled by pressing forward for one frame. However, in the case of Dhalsim, he cannot follow up afterward (where as Charlie had a special infinite using that technique). I wish the combo relied on Storm moving toward Dhalsim as well as Dhalsim canceling his recovery by one frame. It would have made it very technical. |
| 18 |
Wolverine - Morrigan Situation |
4/25/2010 |
This is definitely the longest situation I've ever made. Most everyone I ask say that this situation was their favorite. I think it's the most visually impressive. But there are other elements that I'm more proud of in this situation. I think the most interesting thing to me is the fact that I was able to chain together so many concepts into one situation. Even something special that deals with the character dying and having a different hit box as a result. Nevertheless, I cannot finish this comment without mentioning that Wolverine and Morrigan hitting each other's assist is something visually interesting. Most people always point that out as a very eye-catching moment. That moment is something that I wish I could find cool again.
When I first did the situation, I was just as excited as other people when they first saw it. The concept wasn't new (hitting each other's assist at the same time), but the degree to which it happened was definitely something new. Indeed, it was something really spectacular looking at first, however it was the beginning of a very long situation and eventually, it got kind of dull. However, I knew that it was still going to be visually stunning to people who see it. Therefore I did not tamper with it at all; I just built off of it and made the situation as long as I could. Anyway, I don't think this is my favorite situation, but I can see why it grabs everyone's attention when they first see it.
Again, this is one of those situations that had a previous version made. I decided to change it because the execution of the elements in the first revision was lackluster. The second one, I feel, demonstrated the concepts in a better light. The whole thing feels a lot faster and, again, when they hit each other's assists, it looks really cool. Though the first revision of the situation had both main character's assists being hit, it wasn't executed as interesting as it was in this revision. I don't remember how long it took to make this revision, but it was definitely around 30 hours altogether. I wish I had kept a running total for how long each situation took to program. A lot of these clips were truly epic in terms of time of completion. I wish I kept a "Time Spent" tab for all of these clips. |
| 19 |
Magneto - Sentinel Situation |
9/12/2009 |
The last situation in Variable Atmosphere 2 that was originally intended for the Super Fireball Collision video. This situation was meant to show how Magneto could work around and null all sorts of stuff. Ruby Heart's assist is the only one in the game that could allow for something like that to happen. There are other assists which can be hit by the point character, but their mechanic gets triggered (such as Amingo or Jill.) However, Ruby Heart's Orb can be hit while not triggering its mechanic. My only regret with this situation was not working in Doom's projectile assist. It has the same property as Captain America's Shield Slash. The bean moves through freezes, but does not hit anything. Overall, I'm very happy with the way the situation turned out. It really looks interesting since there is no hitstop and the CR.HP gets canceled very quickly. |
| 20 |
Spiral 11 Hit Combo |
5/9/2010 |
I've always wanted to do a dead body combo. However, like some of the other ideas, I could not get myself to do it because there was no 100% technique. However, since I wanted to include everything in this video, I gave it a shot. Overall, I'm really happy that I found a good character to use. The other candidate was Omega Red, but he was too slow and does not have projectiles to help him keep the combo going. The combo took a long time to make, mostly because I went through so many revisions and basic trial and error. There were many instances where one or two frames would have made all the difference. However, I'm still happy with how it turned out. All the time put into it wasn't a waste if I came up with something that I'm happy with. Although I wish the combo was a longer, I'm not disappointed because I tried every which way to figure out a way to continue it in a non-repetitive way. |
| 21 |
Morrigan 118 Hit Combo |
2/25/2010 |
This combo idea was a result of Joo and I exploring Flying Screen when making the explanations for the combo DVD. We were trying to figure out the mechanics behind "Keep-FS" and we eventually figured out that there wasn't much you can do with it. Not a whole lot of characters have something special. Morrigan was the exception in the results. Her throw causes the game to load slowly and causes a delayed effect that happens after around 2 minutes.
Although the combo is interesting to me, Joo did not think it was that special. Nevertheless, I still chose to use it because it's 1 super doing a ridiculous amount of hits. Again, sometimes non-technical stuff is just as interesting to me as a technical combo. Since combo videos are ultimately the platform on which the person demonstrates their collection of interesting stuff, almost anything is OK to put in a video. |
| 22 |
Cyclops - Strider Situation |
2/9/2009 |
This was probably my favorite situation until Spiral-Doom. I had this one done since 2008 (when Maj and I came up with the idea for a Fireball Collision video). If I recall correctly, this was my first attempt at making a clip for the video. I remember I was blown away when it all actually worked. The craziest thing is that it's not 100%, even though things aren't random. Using the 100% technique for both characters doesn't help its success rate at all. Nevertheless, this is one of those situations that took around 8 hours of trial and error before moving on to the next part. I'm very happy with this situation and I'm very happy it used it for Variable Atmosphere 2 instead of the Fireball Collision Video. It took an unreasonably long amount of time since there is so much randomness to it. It was hard to tell how I should add onto it since I couldn't tell which pattern was working. |
| 23 |
Magneto 18 Hit Combo |
3/6/2010 |
This is yet another contender for favorite combo. The initial idea is something I found while talking to Joo on MSN. We were discussing how many options are possible with FSD-Dash. I've known about Launch into Shockwave dropping Chun-Li and Ryu for a very long time (2006-ish), but I never thought about doing something really elaborate with it. There were 4 different FSDs that were possible from this combo idea. At one point, I thought I found a different kind of FSD.
Magneto would do a Tempest then FSD-Dash onto the screen. However, the Tempest would cause Flying Screen Deterioration on its own. It would set FS, and since its knockdown time is more than 10 frames, Magneto would be able to OTG off of it. Eventually I figured out the mechanics behind how it occurred: if the tempest rock formed before FSD-Dash, it would cause Flying Screen. However, the tempest is random so it was very difficult to make a stylish combo with it. It took a while for Joo and I to figure out how it was working, since it was a completely different kind of FSD, we weren't sure what was triggering the effect. Again, since I couldn't do anything interesting after the FSD, I decided not to include it.
Eventually I chose to use this idea because I really like the way it looks and because I knew that there was a special follow up to be done after the Overhead Wave hit Chun-Li. The combo after the OTG is so crammed full of technical stuff, I think it might be my favorite combo. I think that having so much technical stuff in 9 hits is really interesting. It's hard to explain, but every single hit is special in its own different way. I think that's a really cool way of showing MvC2's combo engine. |
| 24 |
Morrigan & Iron Man 999 Hit Combo |
5/30/2010 |
The last combo. This idea was originally shown in a MikeZ video a long time ago. However, he never found out that a 999-Hit Combo could be done after the stun occurs. This was the last combo I programmed for my video. I wanted to have a long combo of some kind. I was thinking of remaking the 3-Character combo, but I decided to try something else. The reason I was contemplating making another 3 character combo was because I did not have any other ideas that I could think of that would fill the time I needed and because I am not 100% happy with the 3-Character combo in Variable Atmosphere 1. Anyway, I decided to watch some of his bug videos to see if I could find something, and eventually I came across that idea.
I'm shocked and, at the same time, not shocked that this is possible. It's interesting that something like this is in the game, but at the same time it's not surprising because of the way MvC2 was coded.
The character selection for this combo took a while. I ended up writing a list of all the possible characters that had mechanics that could chain with other characters. I wanted a character that could do more than 50 hits before tagging or switching out. I also wanted a character that could have an infinite that is easily performed. If I had gone with a character whose only infinite was a series of jumping attacks, it would have been really difficult to program and set up the infinite after the combo was done.
A note about the combo that I feel is interesting: my 999 hit combo stops being a combo and begins to be an infinite at the same hit number as Joo's 999 Hit combo. This was purely coincidence. The combo ends in a Snapback into Shuma-Gorath who is the same color as the combo from Joo's 999 hit combo in Volume 10. I also taunted with Iron Man afterward, as Joo did with Ruby Heart. Those 2 things I went out of my way to get, however the combo into infinite number was on accident.
Overall, I'm really happy and satisfied with how Variable Atmosphere 2 turned out. I set out to make it a compilation of my best ideas, and I feel that I did it.
I can't think of any more ideas and I don't want to spend the huge amount of hours, days, and weeks to make a clip for a video anymore. I feel like I've explored MvC2 to the point where I'm happy if I do not make anymore videos because I feel that I have done everything I could for it.
Since the beginning (for me), combo videos were always about showing what I thought was cool. Sometimes, having a cool idea executed in a poor way is so off-putting to me, that I don't bother showing it. Variable Atmosphere 2 was the best product that I could produce with all the knowledge I have and that's all that I could possibly do. |
