Megalon

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Introduction

A well rounded solid playstyle character, Megalon is the most mixup heavy of the 3, but also the most risky due to not having any tools to get out of pressure. Coupled with his deceptively tall crouch, he struggles against aggressive rushdown if they get in. Therefore, it's very important for him to....well, play solid. He has all the tools he needs to never get into a situation like that, but it only takes one mistake for everything to go downhill. Recommended only for players confidant in their antiairs and neutral.

Overview

Strengths

  • Highest damage throw in the game
  • Easy 50% guaranteed damage off his easy drill(bite) throw
  • Fastest fireball startup in the game. Random midscreen fireball is a legit mixup, a la Butt from Garou
  • Easy mixups after firebombs, hit or blocked. They also do lots of chip on block
  • Y psycho crusher has extremely fast startup, recovery, priority, and destroys projectiles. Though this is somewhat offset by its low damage
  • j. d+X is one of the best air normals in the game, with a huge hitbox, range, priority, knocks grounded opponents down on hit, and ground bounces air opponents, while being safe on block with long blockstun and good knockback
  • One of the best wrath attacks in the game, with incredibly high damage on hit with guaranteed followups on standing opponents for even more damage, and a ton of chip and a free mixup on block. Can also be used as a devastating antiair

Weaknesses

  • Worst jabs in the game, while having subpar throw range and no good reversal specials means he's quite helpless in oki and frame trap situations, of which this game is full of
  • Tall crouch can get him into trouble
  • His highest damage throw has an absurd pretzel motion
  • Fireball recovery leaves a lot to be desired, though it's still safe in most cases

General Strategy

First and foremost, get used to buffering Y psycho crusher. Megalon absolutely cannot afford to let opponents put him into their frame traps, and instant air Y psycho crusher is his quickest and most reliable on reaction antiair due to its speed and priority. The execution can be a bit tight, since you usually wanna have the ff buffered while on the ground, then still need to react to whether you need to jump backwards or straight up, and what height you want to do it at to hit them, so in many cases you're pressing Y at the very limits of the buffer window. Despite being his lowest damage antiair, this should be a core skill to keep yourself safe and solid.

Once you have that down, you can use his riskier but more rewarding antiairs for when you're expecting a jump. j. d+X is simple and leads to ground bounce for good followup options, but is kinda slow, and may just require a hard read. Tripguard firebomb is the other great option, but be careful of jump ins that bounce/float or knock you down, cuz the idea is you trade hits favorably, cuz you'll be able to combo or mixup off the firebomb to deal far more damage than you took, and you can't do that if they just bounce off you or knock you down. It's a really strong option for jump ins like Ghidorah's j. X, which is always risky to challenge. And of course, tripguard wrath is well over 50% from the wrath alone and almost guaranteed stun from your followup, just make sure you do it early enough so that they don't just hit you out of your wrath startup. Being hit out of your wrath recovery, however, is great for you and likely death for them.

Have ff buffered also means you can easily insta 1 button punish most fireball attempts. Some come out at odd heights and can slip past your drill hitbox and hit you, as only the drill destroys projectiles, so be wary of those. Psycho crusher of course also low crushes, and can also be let loose to punish low poke attempts like Ghidorah or MG93's d+X. It's just an incredible anti everything special that you should always have ready. Which, is probably why the damage it deals is so minimal. It's also the best special in the game to 1st frame air reversal glitch out of juggle states, such as after being hit by Ghidorah st Y or Biollante d+Y.

Once you've established yourself, your offense is pretty straight forward. Random j. d+X is always a threat cuz it leads to your choice of guaranteed OTG damage or meaty firebomb mixups. Random qcf+Y comes out so fast that it's extremely difficult to react to just block from midscreen. The recovery may feel iffy, but you're safe on hit or block even from Godzilla run slide X, so everything should be fine unless you didn't establish yourself well enough and they pre jumped over it. Spacing your Y psycho crusher to stop 1 pixel from their face and then throwing is the classic Blanka lp ball into throw setup, and still works just as well over 20 years later. Any time you get them to block an X firebomb, you can dash up for a true 50/50 with either d+hold X to frametrap low for big damage, or throw them for big damage. If you wanna be extra dirty, you can grab them ASAP after blocked wrath attack if you traded, and if they tech, they eat the rest of the wrath. If they don't tech, they eat your pretzel throw. Either way, their health is going to get annihilated, unless you botch your pretzel and give them a super late tech.

Your ground Y normals both have slow startup, but are still your fastest buttons should you need to jab your way out of a stick situation. What you need to do know is, d+Y has faster startup, but is more minus and doesn't technically get you out of the situation, while st Y can reset the situation back to neutral, but is less likely to come out cuz the startup is worse. I'm not sure if st Y is even faster startup than just Y psycho crusher. Ideally you pick a spot where they're too close and go for a grab instead, but your range isn't great. However, your throws are better than most in the game, so it's usually a favorable gamble if you're both going for a grab. This is exactly as iffy as it sounds, and is why it's important to avoid this situation in the first place when playing Megalon. He can be really strong if you do everything right, but he really can't afford mistakes.

Regarding the pretzel throw input, the game actually checks for speed more than accuracy. The whole input needs to be done within the same ~20 frames or so from what I can tell. As for easy longcuts, qcf 270 b to u is about as smooth as it gets, like a really over exaggerated double qcf motion, and somewhat similar to the somersault strike longcut. Just doing a 720 in the right direction seems to also work.

Interestingly, they are projectile immune while airborne from pretzel throw, until they hit the ground for the second time.

Also noteworthy, qcf+Y ducks down much lower than his crouch. Because of its fast startup, you can use it to high crush like a normal sized character, ducking under and punishing the likes of Godzilla run slide X spam or his air fireball pressure.

Strategy Against

Data Arsenal

+

  • Average hop

+

  • Average hop. Whiffing Y psycho crusher is better for traveling long distances

  • ?

Range

  • Below average

Stun Gauge

  • ?

Stun Recovery

  • ?

Wake Up Speed

  • Slow

Other Mechanics

Movelist

Ground Normals

  • Small karate chop with long startup. Not great, but still useful as his better recovering light. Roughly frame neutral.

  • A backhand to the shins. Decent range and mediocre startup, faster than his standing Y. However, it's frame disadvantage. Still useful to interrupt opponent's offensive rhythm.

(hold)

  • Standing straight drill punch. Keeps hitting when held, but doesn't always combo with itself. Good damage, and safe recovery even if it's minus since you can hold to push them out and away.

(hold)

  • Crouching straight drill punch. Hits low and has much more range than standing version. Slightly slower startup and recovery than standing. Huge OTG damage and used for low/throw mixups.

Jumping Normals

  • Karate chop with good range and priority. Active for entire jump. Ok for completely denying the area in front of him during a jump.

  • Small kick that's active for entire jump. Never really used.

  • Upwards drill with a very high hitbox. Technically can hit twice, but is really awkward to, and will generally never happen. Has great priority, so is good to throw out in weird situations where you're falling from a jump and they're jumping in on you. Not a good reactive uppercut style antiair cuz they recover much earlier than you and will just punish you as you're landing for more damage than you did to them.

  • A huge full lower body double kick with a hitbox that's even more massive than it looks. Great horizontal and vertical reach and very high priority. It also ground bounces air opponents, and knocks down ground ones on hit, setting him up for oki or combo opportunities. Has good knockback on block, making it quite safe even when done early. His main air normal, and one of the best in the game. It's antiair to air, jump in, poke, fireball punish, and anti flier all in one.

Throws

  • A standard "bite" throw, drilling into their torso. Initial damage is unremarkable, but the massive OTG damage followup of d+X makes it easily the second best bite throw in the game, dealing around 50% damage. Has useful stand glitch combo variations.

  • Punts them off the top of the screen. The most powerful throw in the game, with many odd quirky unique mechanics. Most importantly is the entire weird input must be done within a roughly 20 frame window (1/3 of a second), and that it uses the heavy button. It is the only throw in the game with these restrictions. Also, they're projectile immune until they hit the ground a second time. Can easily combo for 80-100% damage afterwards, but between the motion and his meh throw range, is very difficult to land.
  • Suggested longcuts to make the input easier on your hands are:
    • QCF, 270 b to u, X
    • 540 starting from d, spinning towards opponent (counter clockwise when facing right)
  • launches Biollante normally if it kills her, rather than ripping out a chunk

  • Leg sweep that pushes them far away from you, which you will never want to do cuz you have some of the best OTG and oki follow ups in the game. Never use.

  • Like his bite throw, but finishes by lifting them and drilling upwards. No followups, so bite throw ends up better. Never used.

Special Moves

/ (air ok)

  • Standard fireball, shoots lightning bolts from his horns. Ducks down lower than his normal crouch, down to regular crouch height, allowing it to be used as a high crush to evade and counter attack against Godzilla's air fireballs. Recovery speed is quite bad, and can be punished even on hit even from close medium ranges ranges.
  • Y version has the fastest startup of any ground projectile in the game, while dealing full damage, unlike Ghidorah's air fireball. This makes it a very powerful punish and mixup tool, along with it's low profile. Just be careful with it's recovery.
  • Air version fires from a really high point, making it too awkward to use in most cases, though they also have extremely fast startup.

/

  • Spits out a firebomb that can hit and bounce off opponent. Once it reaches the ground, explodes into a carpet of flame pillars that hit low and deals a high amount of chip. Megalon recovers long before the flames stop hitting, giving him many combo and mixup opportunities. One of his main offensive mixup tools.
  • The bomb projectile itself doesn't do much hit/blockstun, and your opponent can get away or even throw you in between the bomb hitting and exploding if it hits too high.
  • The bomb will also bounce back if it connects with enemy projectiles. The fire can't hurt yourself.
  • X version has longer startup, travels further, and has more/wider and longer lasting flames, and is preferred in scenarios where you have time to safely get it out such as as an oki meaty, but most of the time, you'll be using Y for safety and practicality.

/ (air ok)

  • Psycho crusher. Flies horizontally forward with drills out. The drill nullifies projectiles and hits his opponent. Projectiles from nonstandard heights can navigate around the drill and still hit you. Both versions have extremely high priority at the drill, but no hitboxes at his body, so anything that can sneak under or over will be able to stuff him out of it.
  • Y version has very fast startup, extremely low damage, and very fast recovery on whiff. Will bounce back after 1 hit on hit or block. It does chip, making this one of the most annoying and oppressive moves in the game. However, this is balanced by the lack of damage, so the risk reward ratio isn't actually all that terrible for his opponent. Still his most important tool to control the match, allowing him to counter any jumps and projectiles on reaction, or close the gap suddenly by whiffing it in their face. And even if you're too close and your attempted whiff gets blocked, it's perfectly safe. Always be ready to use this on reaction.
  • X version behaves a bit differently, and is more of a combo tool. It has a telegraphed startup time, will continue hitting until it travels a set distance, and will always bounce backwards even if it whiffs. It is safe, but quite minus on hit or block, allowing your opponent to take their turn and get pressure on you...who's main weakness is having awful tools to get out of frame trap pressure situations. Easily punishable on whiff. It will do more hits if your opponent is closer, doing good damage and hefty amounts of stun.
  • Air versions behave like the ground counterparts. Y version maintains it's horizontal momentum when recovering, making it an ok tool to switch sides with your opponent. It is of course punishable if they're ready for it and didn't commit to rushing forward though, so not quite a get out of corner free card like Ghidorah's dive kick.

Wrath Attack

+

  • Really big firebomb. Similar to his regular one, but flames reach much wider and taller, and last even longer. Huge damage, stun, and chip. It has really long recovery, so it normally is only moderately more frame advantage than his regular firebomb. But as long as he gets the projectile out, the wrath will keep going. One of the best wraths in the game overall due it's versatility and damage/mixup potential. Held back only by the difficulty of comboing into it.
  • Because of it's long recovery, Megalon will get much more frame advantage if he gets hit after spitting it out, further increasing his follow up combo damage.
  • Because blockstun has no throw immunity, and throw teching has no invincibility, you can block confirm his wrath into a free pretzel throw. If they tech, they will get hit by the rest of the wrath and you can follow up combo as normal. A Megalon with good reactions and great execution is guaranteed to deal at least 40% damage every time his wrath can just touch his opponent in any way.

Combos/Punishes

Tech Punish

  • d+hold X
  • Qcf+Y
    • Big damage. Looks iffy, but is only unsafe and punishable if they're cornered and have a good long range poke. Even then, those are typically not going to out damage a full 3 fireball segments

General OTG

  • d+hold X
  • ff+X
  • Qcb+Y xN
  • Meaty qcb+X

Links

  • Qcb+Y/X, qcf+Y or ff+X
  • Qcd throw, OTG d+hold X
    • Easy peasy 50% damage bite throw. A majority of it from the d+X, so it doesn't even matter if they mash out. You can completely ignore his other throws because of this, besides the pretzel
  • j. d+X -> whatever you want
  • Wrath, ff+X
    • 100% stun or close. In cases where your wrath trades, you can act sooner and freestyle for more damage, making it an even more devastating antiair super than Godzilla's or MG74's. When this happens, you can try to stun with something that recovers faster like a firebomb so you can get even more damage during stun

Advanced

  • Pretzel throw, X (1 hit), wrath
    • Guaranteed touch of death
  • Pretzel throw, X (1 hit), qcb+X
    • Meterless variant, ~60% damage. Suboptimal, but simple
  • Pretzel throw, dash under crossup, OTG qcb+Y, unblock meaty qcb+Y, ff+X
    • Optimal meterless pretzel combo, but very tight execution. ~65-80% damage and ~70-90% stun. Also gives them 100% wrath, but that probably only makes the imminent stun all the more inevitable. You get more damage if you walk slide away from them on both firebombs, causing more pillars to connect. The second firebomb can be subbed with an X one, but it requires much tighter timing, and is actually less damage if the opponent isn't fat since the bomb gets lobbed kinda far behind them, so not really worth the effort of learning
  • Qcd throw, stand bug X(3 hits), meaty qcb+X -> dash up roar(stun) or mixup
    • Actually less damage than his easy OTG combo, but roughly ~65% stun. Because crouching takes 1 frame, attempting this glitch is free by holding d and just attempting to mash X at the right time, reactively holding it when you see/hear the drill throw stop. If you pressed it frame perfect, then you haven't crouched yet and will get a st X. Otherwise, you get the 50% damage OTG d+X combo. Just don't overmash and get a 1 hit X
  • Qcd throw, stand bug ff+X, meaty qcb+X, dash up roar(stun)
    • 100% stun variant, but punishable if you don't get the glitch, so it's not practical unless you can consistently mash 1 button at 60+Hz. Because there will be variance to when the drill throw ends due to opponent mashing out at different speeds, this cannot be learned like normal 1 frame link combos

Matchups

Godzilla

Anguirus

King Ghidorah

Gigan

Megalon

MechaGodzilla 74

Biollante

Mothra

Super MechaGodzilla

Godzilla Kaijuu Daikessen
Godzilla Anguirus King Ghidorah Gigan
Megalon Biollante Mothra Gotengo
Mecha Godzilla (Showa) Mecha Godzilla (Heisei)
Super Mecha Godzilla
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