Jean Pierre (FHD)

Jean Pierre

Overview

Coming in just below the 4 top tiers, Jean is a very solid character who can be played both offensively and defensively depending on the matchup. He has great potential to zone out several characters in the game, but he can also do INSANE damage on offense thanks to the hands glitch. Performing hand combos can be tough at first, but it is worth mastering them as they can drain an entire life bar in seconds!

Pros

• Amazing anti airs with crHP and Flic Flac.
• Can deal HUGE damage with Ultra Needle Shower aka ABCD Hands whenever he cancels them from normals.
• His projectile is fat and high, almost impossible for most characters to neutral jump over it.
• Great tick throw game, especially in the corner.

Cons

• Can struggle defensively in the corner as Flic Flac leaves him very vulnerable if blocked.
• Loses most fireball wars quickly and has to rely on his slide, which is unsafe on block.
• Cannot dictate the pace of the match against the top tiers.
• Very floaty jump that makes him easy to anti air with invincible special moves.

Moves

Normal Moves

Note: I'm only going to list normals that I find useful for at least 1 purpose, even if it is niche.

• Light Punch

Standing (Far) - Whiffs on crouching opponents, so it can be used for tick throws.

Standing (Close) - Same as above.

Crouching - Insane priority, quick, great range.

Jumping - Ok move, has decent priority. Jumping Light Kick is generally better though.

Jumping (Neutral) - Same as above.

• Strong Punch

Standing (Far) - Can be used to cancel into Ball Rose or hands. Good anti air.

Standing (Close) - Generally used for cancelling into hands.

Crouching - Excellent anti air and bufferable into any of Jean's special moves. Beats most if not all air normals.

• Light Kick

Crouching - Fast, decent priority, good to cancel into a Chojaku Needle Shower or to push your enemy away (cr.LK x 2, cr.HK xx Ball Rose).

Jumping - This is your choice jump in. Stays out forever and beats a ridiculous number of attacks. Also an amazing crossup (sometimes it may even hit on the front then land behind the opponent; tricky stuff!).

Jumping (Neutral) - Same as above.

• Strong Kick

Standing (Far) - Ok anti air for very far jump ins, but generally trades. Use sparingly.

Standing (Close) - Against dizzied opponents this will hit higher weak spots that Close and Far Strong Punch may sometimes miss.

Crouching - Great poke. Fairly speedy, great range, cancellable. Another of Jean's excellent anti-airs, useful to catch opponents jumping outside of the range of your cr.HP. Really good also to push your rival away if you cancel it into a Ball Rose. However, don't spam this in neutral because it has much worse priority than most other sweeps for some reason.

Jumping - Has an amazing hitbox.

• Command normals

Down Forward + Light Kick: sometimes useful for going under air attacks, but why do that when Jean has an amazing anti air game already? It can also go under most fireballs with the correct timing, though not all of them (it cannot go under Ray's light Big Tornado, or Matlok's Spinning Wave).

Down Forward + Strong Kick: your main tool for punishing most fireballs, but be sure to time it well because it is unsafe on block.

Special Moves

• Ball Rose (Charge Back, Forward + Punch): Sonic boom with a pretty fat hitbox and very little charge time (2/3s of a second). Remember that you can release all sonic boom projectiles in this game with down forward, which allows you to keep charge for your flash kick!

• Flic Flac (Charge Down, Up + Kick): Flash kick that has start up invincibility and moves Jean backwards... as broken as that might sound, be wary of characters that can punish a blocked Flic Flac midscreen, and don't get too reckless with it when you're in the corner, as every character can get a very painful punish there.

• Needle Shower (Tap Punch Repeatedly): No real use because of Ultra Needle Shower (see below)

• Ultra Needle Shower (ABCD): Jean's most important tool on offense. Canceling normals into Ultra Needle Shower deals huge damage, and you can repeatedly cancel light normals into it and then walk in and do it again for some insane damage combos. Learning how to cancel into ABCD Hands is essential for playing Jean at a high level.

• Rondato (Charge Forward, Quarter Circle Back + Kick): Might just be one of the worst special moves in the game, though it is invincible during its first few frames and could be used to escape the corner or for some kind of 300 IQ throw bait. Personally, I would only use this to kill a dizzied opponent with style.

Gameplay

Jean is a very simple character, perhaps one of the easiest characters in terms of gameplan. From far away, his gameplay is as simple as throwing out Ball Roses and anti airing with crHP and Flic Flac. When he wants to get in to do damage, he will do it through one of his excellent jump-in attacks or his slide, and once he's in, his mixup is as simple as crLK xx Ultra Needle Shower (which you can do several times) or throw.

While he does well in zoning with fireballs and up-close, Jean struggles somewhat in the neutral game against characters with anti-fireball tools and better buttons, such as Zazie or Ray, so generally you will want to avoid playing footsies against characters with better neutral (though it is important to mention that he can make his sweep safe by canceling into ABCD hands or Ball Rose).

Jean's weakspot is his french leg band on his thigh. There is generally no downside to downbacking whenever you're being comboed, as crouching lowers his weakspot by a few pixels.

Combos

• crLK x3, crHK xx HP Ball Rose (good for pushing the opponent back on block, and the sweep will obviously knock down if it connects).
• crHP/clHP/clHK xx Ultra Needle Shower, crHK (easiest dizzy combo by far).
• clLK/crLP xx Ultra Needle Shower, walk in, repeat the process (this is a 100% combo against crouching opponents. You will know if Jean can do another rep whenever only one of the hits of Ultra Needle Shower connects. PRACTICE THIS!)

Matchups

• Vs. Jean (Mirror): The mirror match comes down to which player has the better reads. Slide will easily punish Ball Rose, and from them on you can keep press the advantage as much as you want. Getting the other to the corner will generally give you the victory. Also, don't jump in this MU, just don't.

• Vs. Clown: Favorable for Jean. Clown's projectile is very slow, so you will not have any trouble reacting with slide. Also, he has no good anti airs just above his head, so you can keep bothering him with jump LK crossups and there's not much he can do about it. The only way Clown can get in on you is if he uses his head stamp to punish Ball Rose, so be on the look for that and you should be good. He can also read a bad Ball Rose and get a jump-in combo but, well, any character can do that to you from jump-in distance.

• Vs. Feilin: Feilin's only saving grace in this MU is that most of her normals and special moves will hit your weakspot. Your projectile is better, your damage is better, and unlike her you don't need charge to punish her (easily reactable) fireballs. If Feilin is downbacking, she's most likely waiting for you to throw a Ball Rose so that she can punish you with her sliding uppercut, which means that you should probably not throw a fireball whenever she's charging. Other than that, she has no reliable way to defend against crossups, so abuse the hell out of jumping LK, and be sure to bait DPs from time to time as you can punish them for great damage up close.

• Vs. Karnov: Be careful when throwing Ball Roses from full screen, as Karnov can teleport to punish them and potentially dizzy you in the process, though he needs charge in order to do this. Your best defense against balloon will be crHP and Flic Flac, but make sure to time them well depending on which version of balloon he's doing. Other than that, this MU is nothing special and can be played like normal (though you cannot punish Karnov's projectile with slide, you'll have to make a read and jump over it).

• Vs. Lee: This MU can go either way. Jean has the potential to keep Lee out forever, but if he gets one knockdown you'll have a very tough time getting back on track. Zone Lee out with Ball Roses and make sure to anti air him whenever you're in range, you'll usually win here. If Lee neutral jumps over your Ball Rose, he will most likely try to use his Super HP Lunge Punch to get you during the startup of your next fireball, so be especially careful if he successfully neutral jumps over one of your projectiles. crLP is a great tool for checking his Lunge Punches, and it will hit Lee's weakspot, so make the most of it. It is also worth noting that your sweep will hit Lee's weakspot.

• Vs. Marstorius: Easy peasy. You don't ever need to hold forward during this MU unless you get a punish opportunity or after getting a dizzy. Just throw out Ball Roses if he's full screen. If he jumps from jump-in range, hit him out of the air with stHP. If he uses LK Rising Knee from that same distance, you can punish him with sweep. There's not much else to this MU, just don't throw a bad Ball Rose whenever Marstorius is at jump-in range, because he can get you with his sweep or a jump-in attack.

• Vs. Matlok: This MU is very even, and will generally be won by whoever gets the other to the corner first. Both characters have deadly mixups in the corner, and have very similar neutral. Matlok has the advantage in having a better fireball, which is very hard for Jean to punish properly (you will need a good jump-in or a good read with your slide). However, Matlok has terrible anti airs, so abuse the hell out of jump-in attacks. Jean's anti airs are excellent, but Matlok's jump is very fast, so be careful at jump in range. There's not much else to this MU, both of you have tools to punish each other, you just have to make use of them at the right times, and if you manage to get Matlok to the corner you'll generally come out on top.

• Vs. Mizoguchi: You can zone Mizoguchi out with Ball Roses easily from full screen, as his only answer is to either jump forward or LK Tatsu over them. From neutral and jump-in range you have to be extremely careful: his HK Tatsu will go over your low attacks, giving him a full combo and a knockdown, and his jump is fast and low. ABCD Hands can punish his LP Koryu Sai, a move that is normally extremely hard to punish, so be aware of that. ABCD Hands cancelled from normals will hit a crouching Mizoguchi's weakspot, and you can follow it up with another rep, so learning your ABCD hand combos is extremely important for this MU. Try to keep Mizoguchi out, as he's very dangerous up close. He's going to have a hard time getting in due to his mediocre neutral and bad fireball, so your best bet is to not make mistakes in neutral and to keep him at a distance until he dies.

• Vs. Ray: One of Jean's worst MUs. You cannot challenge Ray in a fireball war, so your only answer to his projectile zoning will be to make a good read with your slide. Jumping is also generally a bad idea because your jump is floaty and Ray has the best anti air special move in the game. My advice for this MU would be to get a knockdown, generally with slide, and then keep the pressure on until Ray is dead. Be wary of Dynamite Tackles as they will all hit your weakspot; be especially wary of the electric version as it will dizzy you instantly if it connects, leading to a very painful dizzy combo.

• Vs. Ryoko: Almost a free win for Jean. Be careful at jump-in range with your Ball Roses, as she can roll under them and grab you or jump over them and hit you. Also, don't jump at her if she's charging her Roll. Other than that, crHP, stHP and Flic Flac will beat all of her jump in attempts, and use max distance sweep xx Ball Rose to push her out to full screen. Ryoko has to take risks and make reads to even get in on you, while you can just sit on your ass and zone her out until she's dead. Also, your dizzy combos will HURT.

• Vs. Samchay: Slightly in favor of Jean. If you manage to get Samchay dizzy, it's pretty much game over for him. Meanwhile, his combos do very mediocre damage. However, his Maddrons will beat your Ball Roses in a fireball war, so you'll need to mix it up when full screen. Slide works ok in this matchup, but be careful as Samchay can get his pressure going if he manages to knock you down. One thing to note is that Samchay's only good anti air is relatively difficult to pull off, so going for jump in isn't always bad in this MU. Be sure to punish badly spaced Ti-kau-kouns with ABCD hands or throw.

• Vs. Yungmie: This MU can be extremely difficult depending on how good the Yungmie player is at doing instant air Aura Smashes. You cannot contest her fireball with your own, so you'll have to be patient and hope she screws up. If she releases her fireball too high to the ground, you'll be able to duck it and close in the distance, then if she tries to throw another fireball you can hit her out of the air with stHP. She might also screw up her motion and end up jumping forward, in which case be ready to anti air with crHP, cancel into ABCD Hands and move in. Slide also works to punish her fireballs, but make sure it hits or she'll knock you down and you'll have to start the entire process again. Jumping in from the front is a terrible idea, though going for crossups might work well, just make sure that your spacing is right before doing it.

• Vs. Zazie: Forget about trying to zone Zazie, you'll be asking to eat a Ducking Hellfire or worse, Ducking and then a combo from Hands, so only throw Ball Roses if you know he's not going to punish you. Zazie has a bit of a tough time dealing with Jean's jump-in LK and jump-in HK if he's not expecting it, so try to look for instances where you can jump in and get your up close mixups going. stHP and crHP will punish badly spaced hands. Finally, as with Mizoguchi, ABCD Hands cancelled from normals will hit a crouching Zazie's weakspot, and you can follow it up with another rep, so learning your ABCD hand combos is extremely important for winning this MU.