_______ _______ ______ _______ _ ______
( ____ \( ___ )( __ \ |\ /|( ___ )( ( /|( __ \
| ( \/| ( ) || ( \ ) | ) ( || ( ) || \ ( || ( \ )
| | | | | || | ) | | (___) || (___) || \ | || | ) |
| | ____ | | | || | | | | ___ || ___ || (\ \) || | | |
| | \_ )| | | || | ) | | ( ) || ( ) || | \ || | ) |
| (___) || (___) || (__/ ) | ) ( || ) ( || ) \ || (__/ )
(_______)(_______)(______/ |/ \||/ \||/ )_)(______/
God Hand Techniques In-Depth FAQ Version 1.0
Copyright 2007 Michael Q. Larson
michaelqlarson at gmail dot com
15 May 2007
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*INTRODUCTION*
God Hand is a 3D beat-em-up saga from Clover Studios via Capcom. It is
unique in its quirky humor, precise gameplay and self-adjusting difficulty.
I managed to put about 40 hours into this game. I plan on beating it on hard
mode one of these days. It's worth picking up. The goal of this FAQ is to
answer questions that troubled me during my first trip through the game. It
will break down individual moves in terms of power, speed and cost.
*LEGAL*
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise
distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on
any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited,
and a violation of copyright.
*CREDITS*
Thanks to Clover for creating this engrossing teeth-gnashing experience. I
shouted and squeezed my controller in frustration, but I never felt like
giving up. I'm glad there are still developers who know how to make a game
difficult without letting it get too frustrating.
Thanks to gamefaqs.com posters sephirosuy, Animerox and mikeburnfire for
taking the initiative and filling the vacuum with useful FAQs for this
game.
Thanks to Rikiya, my Japanese friend hailing from Tianjin, China, for
introducing me to this game. Rikiya crashed on my couch in Guangzhou
for three weeks and alternated with me on our trip through the English
version. I promise I'll get around to explaining the silly-ass story
line to you later on, Rikiya!
*METHODOLOGY*
I gathered information from this guide by beating the game, going to
practice mode and timing all the different moves available. I timed
ten iterations of each move, then divided the final time by 10 to
limit the impact of my very human reaction time. I rounded to the
tenths-of-seconds. To calculate the damage-to-time ratio, I divided
the damage of each move by its duration. The dividend is the theoretical
amount of damage the move deals per second. Since special attributes
of moves are unquantifiable, I've left those as side notes.
*LEGEND*
GB - Guard Break (stuns enemy long enough to land a free hit)
LNCH - Launch (sends enemy flying backward, taking with him others in his path)
CHRG - Charge (holding down the button increases the length and strength of
this attack, possibly rendering it unblockable)
JUG - Juggle (sends enemy into the air, where you can air combo him)
UNBLK - Unblockable
EH - Evades High Attacks (this attack ducks under high attacks, thus is safer)
STUN - Stuns enemy (provides a longer interval during which you can land free
hits)
HEAT UP - Boosts your God Hand bar, allowing you to go into God Hand Mode
sooner
RANGE - Longer range attack
() - Values in parenthesis indicate the attributes of a move that is cancelled
after it connects but before it finishes. This is accomplished by
flicking the right analog stick to the left or right after impact.
*THE LIST*
# MOVE DAMAGE TIME (C) D/S (C) PRICE SPECIAL
001 Left Jab 1 3 0.6 5 NA
002 Left Jab 2 6 0.6 10 6000
003 Left Jab 3 10 0.6 17 10000
004 Left Hook 1 4 0.8 5 NA
005 Left Hook 2 9 0.8 11 6000
006 Left Hook 3 15 0.8 19 10000
007 Uppercut 1 6 0.7 9 NA
008 Uppercut 2 12 0.7 17 8000
009 Uppercut 3 20 0.7 29 12000
010 Pimp Hand 9 0.8 11 5000
011 Pimp Smack 18 0.8 23 9000
012 Straight 1 4 0.5 8 NA
013 Straight 2 8 0.5 16 5000
014 Straight 3 15 0.5 30 9000
015 Long Straight 1 8 1.3 6 2000
016 Long Straight 2 16 1.3 12 8000
017 Long Straight 3 24 1.3 18 12000
018 Right Hook 1 5 1.0 5 2000
019 Right Hook 2 9 1.0 9 5000
020 Right Hook 3 14 1.0 14 8000
021 Short Uppercut 1 8 1.0 8 2000
022 Short Uppercut 2 10 1.0 10 5000
023 Short Uppercut 3 15 1.0 15 8000
024 Chop 1 10 0.8 8 6000
025 Chop 2 20 0.8 16 10000
026 Elbow 10 4000
027 Elbow Spin 1 4-4 1.8 4 5000
028 Elbow Spin 2 8-8 1.8 8 8000
029 Elbow Spin 3 12-12 1.8 12 11000
030 Spinning Back-Fist 4 1.5 3 8000 GB
031 Back-Fist Strike 1 8 1.1 7 4000
032 Back-Fist Strike 2 16 1.1 15 7000
033 Chin Music 4-3 0.7 10 5000
034 Punch Rush 4-4-6 1.0 14 8000
035 Gene Rush 5-5-7 1.0 17 10000
036 Float Rush 6-6-10 1.0 22 14000
037 Sting Rush 8-8-10 1.0 26 18000
038 Fist of Justice 16 1.7 9 14000 CHRG
039 Mach Jab 1 3-3-3-3-3 1.0 15 15000
040 Mach Jab 2 6-6-6-6-6 1.0 30 22000
041 Haymaker 1 18 1.8 10 11000 GB
042 Haymaker 2 35 1.8 20 14000 LNCH
043 Forearm Smash 25 2.2 11 10000 LNCH
044 Forearm Smash 2 50 2.2 22 22000 LNCH
045 1-2 Punch 16-24 2.6 12 20000 JUG
046 Elbow Vortex 6-6-10 1.9 12 13000 LNCH
047 Palm Smash 60 3.2 (1.3)19 (46)32000 LNCH, UNBLK
048 Low Kick 1 6 1.0 6 NA
049 Low Kick 2 12 1.0 12 6000
050 Right Roundhouse 1 12 1.5 (0.4) 8 (30) NA
051 Right Roundhouse 2 20 1.5 (0.4)13 (50)10000
052 Right Roundhouse 3 28 1.5 (0.4)19 (70)15000
053 ? ? ? ? ?
054 Left Side Kick 1 10 1.2 (0.6) 8 (16) NA
055 Left Side Kick 2 20 1.2 (0.6)17 (34)10000
056 Left Side Kick 3 30 1.2 (0.6)25 (50)15000
057 Right Side Kick 16 1.3 12 6000
058 Knee Strike 9 0.7 13 5000
059 Right High-Knee 10 1.4 7 11000 GB
060 Flying Knee 28 1.5 19 13000 JUG
061 Reverse Sweep 6 1.0 6 9000 EH
062 Back Roundhouse 36 1.4 26 13000
063 Reverse Hell Kick 30 1.2 25 12000 LNCH
064 Expert Sobat 12 1.5 8 8000 GB
065 Dashing Sobat 20 2.4 8 12000 LNCH
066 High Cross Kick 28 1.7 16 10000
067 Spinning Sobat 18 1.2 15 9000 GB
068 Rolling Sobat 26 1.6 16 10000 LNCH
069 Drunk Fist 1 9 1.3 7 6500
070 Drunk Fist 2 18 1.3 14 10000
071 Chin Rocker 8 1.1 7 8000 EH
072 Side Swipe 8 1.2 7 10000 GB
073 Drunken Twist 18 2.1 (0.5) 9 (20) 6500 EH
074 Overhead Blow 22 1.0 22 10000
075 Stomping Fist 19 1.4 (0.6)14 (32)11000 JUG
076 Rocket Uppercut 23 1.2 19 20000 JUG
077 Right Twister 15 1.1 14 15000 EH
078 Left Twister 12 1.6 8 12000 EH
079 Drunken Sweep 10-10-10 1.0 30 7500 EH
080 Drunken Fall 25 1.9 13 7500 EH, LNCH
081 Hand Plant Kick 20 1.3 15 11000 LNCH
082 Double Snap Kick 5-10 1.4 11 9500 JUG
083 Toe Touch Kick 35 1.7 21 10000 LNCH
084 Heel Drop Kick 25 1.4 18 10000 JUG
085 Half Moon Kick 10-15 1.7 15 90000 JUG, EH
086 Somersault 14 2.5 6 8500 JUG
087 Triple Snap Kick 5-5-5 1.3 12 8000
088 Triple Side Kick 6-6-6 1.2 15 10000
089 Flying Triple Kick 8-8-8 1.2 20 18000 JUG
090 Step Back Kick 25 1.6 16 9000 LNCH
091 Mule Kick 15 1.2 13 9000 JUG
092 Double Spin Kick 20-20 3.1 13 12000 GB, LNCH
093 Barrel Roll Kick 25 3.5 7 NA LNCH
094 Guard Break 2 1.4 1 NA GB
095 Guard Break 2 5 1.4 4 8000 GB
096 Charge Punch 1 6 1.5 4 NA JUG, CHRG
097 Charge Punch 2 8 1.5 6 8000 JUG, CHRG
098 Charge Punch 3 12 1.5 8 12000 JUG, CHRG
099 Charge Punch 4 16 1.5 12 20000 JUG, CHRG
100 Granny Smacker 10 3.3 (1.4) 3 (7) NA STUN
101 President Punch 10 4.0 (1.5) 3 (7) NA HEAT UP
102 God Jab 20 0.6 33 35000
103 God Straight 25 0.5 50 40000
104 God Hook 30 0.8 38 45000
105 God Upper 35 0.7 50 50000
106 Godly Smack 28 1.0 28 45000 GB
107 Pay Up NOW! 30 0.9 33 50000 LNCH
108 Godly Chop 20 0.8 25 55000 GB
109 God Low Kick 20 1.0 20 35000
110 Haymaker of God 50 1.8 28 50000 LNCH, UNBLK
111 God Break 25 1.4 18 35000 GB
112 Charge God 30 1.5 20 100000 JUG, CHRG
113 Fist of God 40 1.7 24 600000 CHRG, RANGE
114 Invincible Fist 100 2.9 34 400000 CHRG, UNBLK
*ANALYSIS*
For building an optimal chain combo, it's best to look at the D/S column. The
best moves in the game in this respect are God Straight and God Upper, with
God Hook and God Jab taking 3rd and 4th place. This means, assuming you've
beaten the game and unlocked the Godly Moves, and have the money available,
the optimal 4-string combo is:
God Straight -> God Upper -> God Hook -> God Jab
This combo will deal 50+50+38+33 = 171 damage in 0.5+0.7+0.8+0.6 = 2.6 seconds
It's important to note that when not in God Hand mode, a lag of roughly one
second exists between combos. So really it's more like 3.6 seconds.
As I said before, the special properties of moves and the general quirks
surrounding enemy blocking behavior should weigh in on your ultimate decision.
In some of the videos I've seen on line of people playing Hard mode (the Kick
Me Challenge videos are amazing) they use moves which according to the chart
above should be pretty mediocre. Who's to argue with success? It all comes down
to finding combo strings and individual moves that work for you. Hopefully this
data can help toward that end.
*INTERESTING FINDINGS*
- Although jabs seem like they should be faster, straights are actually faster.
They deal more damage, too.
- Right Roundhouse 3, if cancelled with a side dash, is the most powerful
move in the game. If not cancelled, the move is rather mediocre. Thus, it
probably wouldn't make for a good inclusion in your combo. I always assign
this as a stand-alone command in case I'm really in a tough spot. It hits
enemies while they're down, stunning them and allowing you to do it again
indefinitely. It's simply so powerful it's cheap.
- The Sushi item that expands your combo one or two moves is a double-edged
sword. It's good if you're wanting to postpone the inter-combo 1-second stall.
It's bad if you're in God Hand mode because it means your strongest move will
hit only once in five or six moves, lowering your overall damage/second ratio.
Once a move is assigned to a sushi-expanded slot, you can't unassign it. Your
God Hand mode combo will always be slightly weaker than it would have been. So
I recommend against buying the sushi.
- I couldn't find any difference in move duration in situations where I
alternated between left-handed and right-handed moves. The frames for these
moves seem to be static, so linking several right-handed shouldn't affect the
overall execution time.
- Mach Jabs and other multi-strike moves are often quite powerful.
Unfortunately, enemies tend to only eat one or two hits before they start
blocking, and only block one or two hits before they start parrying. These are
best used in combos while in God Hand mode. I often change my combos back and
forth during play.
- The presidential bunch (101) has only modest damage stats, but I have yet to
see a serious player play without it. After obtaining it during the first Elvis
boss fight, I kept it assigned throughout the game. The heat-up property is
invaluable.
- I didn't break down the monetary cost/benefit of each move, but if I did,
you'd clearly see that the Fist of God and Invincible fist are hardly worth the
time you'd put in at the blackjack tables.
*SUGGESTIONS?*
If you have any comments or suggestions about this FAQ, please email me:
michaelqlarson at gmail dot com. Thanks for reading!
