Sailor Moon S/Sailor Venus
Sailor Venus
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| Full name | Minako Aino |
| Age | 15 |
| Height | 5'2" |
| Blood type | B |
| Hometown | Shiba Koen, Minato ward, Tokyo, Japan |
| Likes | Volley ball, singing, video games, proverbs, boys, Artemis, +31 on block, Simon Belmont |
| Dislikes | Romantic mishaps, being corrected after misquoting proverbs |
| Special skills | Leader of the Inner Senshi, fluent in English, fires balls of energy straight into the air & other Pop Idol things |
Character Overview
A secret member of the Belmont clan, Venus excels in the mid and close range. Her standout feature is the Venus Chain Wink Sword, an upwards moving projectile with negligible recovery, done with a flash kick motion. She also has a fast DP and a few unique whip normals that give her extra range and a large disjointed hitbox in exchange for slow startup. On the other hand, her slow walk speed and bad traditional fireball make her one of the worst members of the cast at long range; you'll almost always have to approach your opponent. If you like unique moves, setups and looping okizeme, Venus just may be the character for you!
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Upball: Upwards moving projectile with massive frame advantage (+30 and up) that lends itself to great pressure, setups, and potential combos
• Great normals: All of her normal attacks either have great range or frame data and lend themselves to a lot of mix up potential, which make Venus particularly deadly at close range • Short crouch: Her crouching animation is very low and, combined with some moves like cLP, allows her to dodge certain moves and projectiles • Good defence: With her DP, Upball, desperation move and disjointed buttons, she has good guard cancel options, anti-airs and ways to keep the opponent's offence at bay • HP throw: One of the best throws in the game, only techable for six frames, can be option selected and does good damage |
• Very slow: Venus has the second slowest walk speed in the game, just above Jupiter's, which gives her a lot of trouble approaching
• Bad at full screen: Her slow movement paired with a not-so-great jump arc and a below average fireball makes her the least threatening character from across the screen |
Movement
Speed Forward: 1.192/1F
Speed Backwards: 1.064/1F
Jump: 51F
Jump Speed: 2.000/1F
Jumping Distance: 82
Back Dash
 
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Throws
Knee Machine Gun
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Hurricanrana
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Normal Attacks
Standing Light Punch
 
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Standing Heavy Punch
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Standing Light Kick
 
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Standing Heavy Kick
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Crouching Light Punch
  +
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Crouching Heavy Punch
 +
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Crouching Light Kick
 +
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Crouching Heavy Kick
 +
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Jumping Light Punch (Vertical)
 
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| Jumping Light Punch (Moving)
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Jumping Heavy Punch (Vertical)
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| Jumping Heavy Punch (Moving)
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Jumping Light Kick (Vertical)
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| Jumping Light Kick (Moving)
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Jumping Heavy Kick (Vertical)
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| Jumping Heavy Kick (Moving)
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Special Attacks
Venus Wink Chain Sword (LP)
 (charge)  + 30 frame charge time |
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Venus Wink Chain Sword (HP)
 (charge) + 30 frame charge time |
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Venus Love-Me Chain (LP)
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Venus Love-Me Chain (HP)
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Crescent Beam (LP)
  +
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Crescent Beam(HP)
 +
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Desperation Attack
Chain Explosive
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Strategy
As you become comfortable with Venus, it is essential that you learn to walk briefly before release upballs. Directional inputs are stored for a long time in this game(15 frames!); charge moves are no different! This will help your microspacing in midrange and pressure, as well as giving you an extra tool to help yourself get in.
Upball is your strongest tool which can be used in three main ways: corner pressure/mixups, fireball wars, and zoning in neutral.
In the corner, you have several options on how to mess with people with your upballs.
You can jail people in the corner by doing an upball that'll either whiff while the opponent as they're getting up, or meaty them. You can even time an upball to whiff on their crouch but hit their stand! Another whiff option is to whiff it right in front of them. If your ball whiffs, you can do your throw OS (6236HP), the DP catching reversal backdashes for multiple hits. If you get the throw you can loop into another upball setup. Meaty upballs to go into other options like another upball (great for baiting guard cancels!), crouching LK or HK (low options that let you get another setup, may catch backdashes), instant overhead jumping HP, or a super.
In a fireball war, you can slowly advance forwards by walking up forwards after charging and then releasing the upball to gain space. This is especially effective when you negate their projectile with it. You can also use it right after blocking to stop pushback (which is large in this game). Alternatively, if you don't have charge, you may want to negate the pushback by doing a 236LP. It can be better than to lose your ground.
In neutral, you can use upball in combination with HP chain Castlevania pokes and low hitting long range kicks to maintain space and discourage jump ins. Upball used properly can discourage mid range fireballs from opponents; punish them with a sweep! Again, microwalking before releasing your upball can adjust your spacing, adding that extra few pixels of range can make all the difference!
On defense, your guard cancel DPs can discourage pressure from opponents. Guard cancel upballs are also useful in certain situations. If they negate a projectile up close, you're good to punish, also great if they happen to make contact with your opponent on hit or block. Backdashes are to be used more if you're closer to the corner or as a desperation move; a Venus at full screen is usually not a Venus that's winning.
Venus is blessed with many great anti-air options. 2LP is strangely her best AA normal! Her air-to-air options are fast and have great hitboxes (jump LP and HK). 623LP and HP gets only one hit, but it does knockdown. Upballs will anti-air people with premature use. Lastly, Venus' desperation super will leave an immediate impression with its unfair damage.
Match-ups
• Vs. Sailor Moon
Moon has one of the best fireballs in the game. Getting into a fireball war will put you at a disadvantage. The good news is that her anti air yell is a flash kick, meaning she has to give up charge for a moment to throw her fireball.
Still, her fireball and excellent hitboxes can give you problems in neutral. In addition, her forward dash means she can sideswap pretty easily when you make her block. Punish her attempts to dash from far away! Use whiff upball oki, in order to not give her an opportunity to guard cancel out of the corner. If you can hit her, 2HP and 2HK will duck her fireballs due to the extended hitlag (the projectiles still move over Venus' head). While full screen is Moon’s advantage, it’s usually not so bad if she escapes, unless she has a big life lead.
On the other hand, Venus’ ridiculously small crouch and DP/GCDP options that hit on both sides can shut down her Heart oki. Be aware of your options or this vortex may kill you.
• Vs. Sailor Mercury
A fun if not exhausting matchup to play, Mercury possesses amazing ground tools. Shabon Spray is hard to negate and advance untouched due to Mercury’s great recovery and fast walk speed.
Strong Mercury players will know the spacing you want to try jump-ins and have the tornado ready to rip. Stay disciplined! Your spaced 2HP and 2HK can hit through tornado attempts!
Corner oki in this match is funny to me on both sides. I prefer whiff upball oki for this matchup. Tornado, has invincibility on startup. The good news is that if you time your whiff fireball correctly, it will NEGATE the tornado granting you a punish.
If Mercury tries to wall you with repeated tornadoes in the corner, wait patiently for an opportunity and let your upball negate it, while nabbing a quick punish (usually a sweep).
• Vs. Sailor Mars
A difficult matchup for Venus that will test your patience. Mars has unparalled zoning ability with high and low fireballs that knock down on hit. Luckily, she lacks strong guard cancel special moves, so you have high reward once you get in!
While you can take risks to approach such as jumping HP which Mars has trouble anti airing, I don’t like the consequences of suffering a knockdown. Just be patient. Negate those snakes with your upball and walk forward (even better if you sneak in a quick walk before releasing it). You don’t want to be pushed back from blocking if you can help it, so if you don’t have charge, throwing a light fireball to guard cancel and hold your ground can be useful.
Be aware when she has super and don't plan to take more than one hit on block from Mars' super. It's fine to backdash, chances are her life is low if she has super and you won't need much to close it out.
It’s easier said than done, but this matchup is quite winnable. Experience and adaptation really comes into play!
• Vs. Sailor Venus
Stay just out of upball range in neutral, then when she freezes up or whiffs something, do a slight walk forward before using it. If not for this MU alone, I highly recommend learning the technique for it.
• Vs. Sailor Jupiter
While Jupiter’s wall of defensive options and strong offense present numerous problems for Venus, her weak forward movement gives Venus opportunities to put on the pressure.
Jupiter plays neutral by being a defensive wall, often having to move backwards or stand still. Your goal like most matchups is to get her to the corner, but because of how Jupiter operates, it works a little differently than most matchups. Here are many of her neutral options and how Venus can circumvent them.
If Jupiter goes for a Dragon Head fireball, Venus can crouch it and press any button during that time as well without any issue. So any fireball thrown within 2HP range deserves to be smacked! In addition, another option you have you can opt to stand to block the fireball, taking advantage of the stored charge to guard cancel your upwards fireball. This will get you moving faster than if you ducked it.
Jupiter can attempt the pillar from a backdash or jump. A Jupiter strong with backdash pillars will concede some space to you, but the pillars will come out quickly. Stay alert as you make your approach vs a grounded Jupiter. If Jupiter goes for jumps, this can be a key opportunity. Judge where the pillar will come out and choose whether to walk forward, jump to meet her in the air, or stay still.
If Jupiter jumps forward in neutral though, that’s great! Air to air can lose out, but Venus’ DP and up fireball will have you covered.
Jupiter’s lariat and command throw are powerful defensive tools. In neutral, space out 2HP and 2HK to play just out of their range. Avoid reckless (most) jump-ins that will result in getting hit with an anti-air guard cancel that will send you full screen. During your corner oki, you can play mindgames with a Jupiter player’s tendency to guard cancel these moves, purposely having her block a fireball while maintaining your spacing. If they don’t bite, you have your incredible frame advantage to continue your offense or go for the situation again. Punish with a knockdown if they take the bait.
And my personal favorite anti-Jupiter strat. When you get knocked down if they go for their crossup oki into lariat, I simply duck and take the hit. From this position, they are surprisingly limited! They can’t combo it into sweep. Venus’ crouch will duck under Jupiter’s lariat from any position, leaving her wise open to punish! At worst, I’ve taken a couple of lights and blocked a heavy. At best, they whiff a lariat and you get a free punish! Better than risking a wrong guess into losing all your life. Just beware of a potential command throw.
• Vs. Sailor Chibi Moon
Be aware that her backdash can be looped for full invinciblity in the corner. Against Chibi's that go for this, Venus' j.LK crossup can disrupt. If you land a throw, this is also your preferred oki setup.
Be aware of her slide range. Her fireball is pretty bad, but stay aware it goes under yours.
Be careful when crouching within range of her hip drop. It's quite punishable on block though!
• Vs. Sailor Uranus
The toughest matchup.
You CANNOT pressure with fierce upwards fireballs in this MU. Forward dash will punish you and you will get hit with an infinite. For the most part, stick to pressuring with lights.
You CANNOT do reckless jump-ins. You get 360’d for that. See Jupiter. Your best shot at jumping in is spacing a j.HK, but you may be vulnerable to anti-airs. An anti-air from Uranus is a potential left/right/throw mixup.
Be very careful in neutral. Abuse the hitboxes on 2LK, 2HK, and 2HP, the latter 2 can beat her slide.
Her forward dash is only invincible when done as a wakeup reversal. Be on your toes, even stuffing it with a light is far better than letting her get in uninterrupted. Between that and her GC 360, most of your regular corner oki is useless.
From Koushun: If Uranus throws a far screen fireball, do not block it. Instead, jump straight up or backwards. She will be at big frame advantage if you block it and she closes the gap. If you jump, any attempt at dashing forward can be interrupted with a safe jump-in. Jumping forward may put you at risk to getting anti-aired by slide.
Slide is risky to GC until she performs an action.
Some setups you have to backdash out of to avoid getting thrown.
The risk vs reward of this matchup is heavily skewed. Normally, a character with most of these tools would be manageable, the fact that a grounded punish means an infinite will limit what you can safely try. On the other hand, if you wait too long, you can get snatched for massive damage and another hit vs throw mixup. Yet your payoff is so pitiful; you corner party is cancelled even if you get there. Good luck.
DO NOT ASSUME THEY WILL MESS UP THE INFINITE BUT DO BE READY JUST IN CASE THEY DO.
• Vs. Sailor Neptune
I enjoy playing this matchup! Many Neptune players love to abuse their LP DP but Venus has great tools to play around it! Since her chains have no hurtbox, you can throw out spaced 2HPs that she can’t stuff or guard cancel DP punish!
You can also trick the Neptune player by jumping and throwing an early j.HP while high up, this will beat her DP because she won’t reach you before her invincibility runs out! It is risky because a Neptune player that blocks can punish, but the knockdown situation vs Neptune isn’t necessarily as bad as much of the rest of the cast (just be aware of her overhead). Not something to abuse, but can be good here and there.
Regarding corner oki, you risk losing your turn going for your whiff fireball oki, but similar to Jupiter, you can space your upwards fireball while she blocks from a range she can’t reach you with her signature guard cancel. Unlike Jupiter you have to watch out for her fireball GC, but if they try that option, start abusing your frame advantage with the tip of 2HK or spaced 2HP to make them reconsider!
• Vs. Sailor Pluto
Venus has a nice advantage here.
She can crouch Pluto’s standing overhead which shuts down a lot of her mixup options.
Pluto does have a strong anti-air and long range normals of her own. Her fireball doesn’t go full screen but your fireball is so bleh that the fireball war isn’t too great here anyway. Play solid and stay crouching. Your crouch will go under her super a well, but the recovery is fast, so be careful.
Colors
| Player 1 | 
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| Player 2 | 
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Frame Data
External Links
A lot of this information is out of date, so please tread with caution and cross-verify information. Roughly ordered by level of practicality/difficulty from most practical/least difficult to least practical/most difficult to perform in a match.
- Venus overview advent video
- Basic Venus primer by DaiAndOh
- Reminder that Crescent Beam isn't safe
- Venus match-up guide by DaiAndOh circa Canada Cup 2018
- Venus section of Koushun's Mix-up Movie
- Venus section of Koushin's Combo Movie 1
- Venus section of Koushun's Combo Movie 2
- Venus desperation corner chip setups by gllt
- Upball after throw/throw tech by gllt
- Mars backdash catch from j.LK by gllt
- Walking upball from jump and crouch by gllt
- Backwards walking upball from HK throw by gllt
- Mars Fire Snake punishes by Ben2
- Mars Fire Bird punishes by Ben2
- Big damage Venus corner combos by gllt
- Venus corner combo against Venus's 2LK by gllt
- Punishment option against Chibi's desperation by Sprint
- Venus TAS combo by Sprint
| Sailor Moon S | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sailor Chibi Moon | Sailor Jupiter | Sailor Mars | |
| Sailor Mercury | Sailor Moon | Sailor Neptune | |
| Sailor Pluto | Sailor Uranus | Sailor Venus | |
| List of Fighting Games | |||
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