Consistent 1-Down KO Combos in Manga% and Any%

As seen in Hudson222's any%/manga% runs and each of my own runs, there's a way to exploit the enemy AI to force them to not get up after the first down. Each punch in the game deals a combination of red damage and yellow damage (with the exception of jabs which only give yellow damage, and body blows which only give red damage).  If the enemy takes less than 140 red damage, they'll get up on their own, but if they take more than 141 red damage, they'll use their spirit to get up. But certain punches do fractional damage, meaning if we can do between 140 and 141 red damage, they don't get up at all. With a lot of help from Hudson222's spreadsheet, I've found consistent, easy 1-down KOs for everyone in story mode except for Miyata, Hayami, Date, and Sendo 2. Shown below were my ideal combos for everyone in Manga%.

Miyata:
Dodge punches whenever possible, and land 5 hooks followed by a Strong Upper (Up+R+B). Two of those will give you your first down. For the second down, if you get it in early enough, you can down him with just 5 hooks. Avoid ending all 3 combos with a Strong Upper, since it will deal enough damage to make Miyata use his down-avoid upon getting up. For the third down, just land 5 hooks and a Strong Upper to take the win. 

Hayami:
Similar to Miyata, land 5 hooks and a Strong Upper. Try to get the next combo of 5 hooks in asap, since if you wait too long you'll have to end it with a second Strong Upper, which would put in him down-avoid range. Once he gets up, you can finish him in a single 5 hook + Strong Upper combo.

Mashiba:
Now we have the best move in the game: the Liver Blow. It deals a shitton of red damage, which is perfect for us. Land two body blow + liver blow combos, and follow it up with an uppercut + Liver Blow combo. Open all non-hook combos from here on out with jabs, since they deal 0 red damage and are an easy way to gauge if they have their guard up or not. It also prevents your punches from gaining a 1.5x multiplier from being a counter. Long story short, if you dodge a punch or your enemy fails a dodge, the first punch of a combo gains a 1.5x red damage multiplier. We don't want that. 

Sendo:
Same as Mashiba. Exact same combos.

Okita:
Much like Mashiba and Sendo, lead with 2 sets of body blow + Liver Blow combos. Follow this up with a set of 5 hooks + Liver Blow, and he'll stay down for the count.

Saeki:
Same as Okita. Do the same thing.

Volg:
Lead with 5 hooks, and follow it up with 2 sets of body blow + Liver Blow combos. End the fight with a combo of 5 hooks + a Liver Blow and he'll be doneskies.

Date:
If you're doing an Any% run, just throw out a lot of hooks + liver blows until he goes down 3 times. His damage multiplier means there are almost no punches that do fractional damage, so it's probably quicker to just fight normally.
If you're doing a Manga% run, let him give you hardcore brain damage and just be a punching bag until you go down 3 times. Get up asap to limit the amount of time you stay down, use instant get-ups if you have to. (Up+R+A)

Shigeta:
Same combos as Volg.

Sendo 2:
He has the same damage multiplier as Date, so you're going to have a really hard time landing a 1-down KO. My best plan was to throw hooks + Liver Blows as often as possible and just get the standard 3 downs.

Manga% Date Down Avoid Strats

Hey all, quick guide to something I’ve been trying out while working on my manga% time. I found an alternative to the three knockdown Date strategy.

First, let him break your guard. Then right before you are about to go down, use a Down Avoid (Down+A+R). This lets Ippo take more damage over the down limit. If Date does his part, he will do enough damage that you'll be unable to beat the 10 count and will lose with only one knockdown scored.

If you’re lucky and you only have to use one DA, then it is faster than the current strategy. Sometimes you have to use two DA’s to get enough damage, depending on Dates aggression. In this case it’s comparable to the current strategy speed-wise.

If you get greedy and he downs you before you can get a down avoid off, it’s probably faster to pivot to the normal strategy instead of committing to DA’s for the second down. One thing to watch for, if Date has you caught in a combo when DA runs out he may down you before you can get a second one off. If you don’t have enough damage to stay down for the full 10 count, then I would force Ippo up with (Up+A+R) and pivot to the backup strats.

Using the one DA version lowered my gold split to 43 seconds, roughly 13 seconds faster than my previous best.

Happy running!

Strat for fast KO's in Manga% and Any%.

I'm leaving this strat here because i cannot record it due to technical problems with my PC. But i got the time almost 30 seconds below the Manga% WR, so if anyone wants to try this out, go for it. 
(If anyone wants to know, i got 11:24 PB on manga%, but a bold claim is nothing without proof.)

I've noticed that the game deals with 2 types of damage, and the red one is the most important one, since it doesn't allow the opponent to do a long recover (the 8 seconds timer) while recovering all the damage.
And it seems that blows on the body (Down+Attack/Special) are optimal for that.

The strat is basically, try to get the first dodge using the neutral one and go for Jab > Jab > Down Attack and then into a Down Special.
ALTHOUGH for Miyata and Hayami you only have the first Special (Long Upper), which is not great, but it will do the job.

Detailed Explanation:

The sequence with Miyata is:
Left Attack Combo WITHOUT Specials Until he KO's twice, then at the last KO you use the Up Special after one Left Combo.
For Hayami is the same, but you only do it once since the needs to get KOed only 2 times.

Now you Unlocked Liver Blow, this is where the fun stuff happens.

Now everyone is the same strat:
Jab > Jab > Down Attack > Down Special(Liver Blow), until they are KO. The last KO's, you will only need a simple combo to KO them.

Why this works better?
Imo and my tests, if you do it right, the first KO will cost 9 second on the Timer for the opponent to recover, but it will be a fast KO overall, then he will use Get Up and Down Avoid, which idk how to avoid that but, he will be damaged enough for you to KO him even faster. So you will only lose a couple seconds at the start of the fight while the end of it will be fast.

Well, Good Luck for you all.

Notes: I think that the faster strat is some consistent thing to make the opponent waste all the Spirit (maybe with the guard cross or just his own specials), then you do this down combo strat, since it would lead to an instant KO. But i really don't have anything in mind for that since idk about the AI.
It would be great if more ppl tried to run this game and find more stuff in it.

Name	Author
Consistent 1-Down KO Combos in Manga% and Any%	ButtGallon 4 years ago
Manga% Date Down Avoid Strats	Hudson222 1 year ago
Strat for fast KO's in Manga% and Any%.	Guppinas 4 years ago