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In vol.2, we're going to look thorough wall systems in Tekken.
When you slam the opponent on the wall, particular motions are provoked.
-Weak hit on the wall Simply pressing the opponent to the wall. Nothing changes in frames, though distance will be quite close.
-Sticking to the wall Occurs when pushing the opponent in the air to the wall. You can manage a several hits before the opponent slides down to the ground and be able to perform Ukemi.
-Hard hit on the wall Occurs when you blow off the opponent and hit the wall. The opponent will be unprotected for a while and various combos are possible.
Some throws can provoke this situation too.
You don't have to think about distance in wall combos, but it's not possible to hit the opponent unlimitedly.
The point is the duration of time before the opponent's recovery. It differs according to the number of times that the opponent had hit on the wall.
When you hit the opponent 2 times or less on the wall, he/she will recover slowly. But as soon as you've hit him/her 3 times or more, recovery motion becomes much faster and it will be hard to sustain the combo.
The number of times you hit the opponent on the wall is commonly called "wall counts." (Only in Japan maybe.)
By the way, hard hit on the wall does not increase wall counts.
Bound moves, or moves that slam the opponent down to the ground do not increase wall counts either, since the opponent's back actually doesn't touch the wall.
Some string moves that impacts very quickly are not affected by wall count matters. Using these moves can work out a great number of hits in the combo.
Now, let's see how wall counts work in actual cases.
No count on first hit since it's hard hit. A bound move is directly hit, which still doesn't increase wall counts.
A string move with two hits will increase wall counts to 2. However, the third hit of the string will be guaranteed because the opponent's recovery motion is still slow.
Now this combo is similar to the last one in composition, but it ends up in a failure.
No count on first hit either, but there's one hit before the bound move, which increases wall count to 1.
Two hits in a string move will push up wall counts to 3. It makes the opponent's recovery motion fast enough to avoid the last hit, and it whiffs.
How about this one?
No count on first hit. Two hits before the bound move.
Wall count increases to 3 on first hit of the string, but the rest of the attacks are quick enough to hit the opponent before he/she can perform Ukemi.
When you hit the opponent at high position on the wall, it's not counted as a wall count, because he/she is not touching the ground.
Opportunity will come when you've set up a high launcher near the wall, or when you've triggered TA during the wall combo.
TA interacts very well with wall combos.
Its bound motion launches the opponent higher than normal bounds, and the connection between the partner's attacks and those of main character tend to be very fast that you can consider them as a single string move(with quick impacts.)
One of the important factors in wall combos is a ground hit.
When you hit the opponent by a ground hit, which is possible in particular timing just before the opponent's recovery, the attack deals 60% damage across the board, regardless of the damage rate.
So if you could finish up the combo by a ground hit, it will obviously be a powerful one.
In usual wall combos, the opponent has an option to delay the timing of Ukemi, but it's invalid when hit by a ground hit(since it's actually a ground hit, not wall hit.)
The most practical way of using ground hits is to adopt a combo which naturally makes grounds hits, even if you performed it without thinking.
There are some regular menus including bounds or TA.
Mind that it may fail if too many wall counts are put up.
You can delay attacks to adjust timing so that it would hit by a ground hit.
It may be increase some difficulty, but it's worth trying.
Margins for ground hits varies depending on the moves, so spare it if you felt it's too hard to perform.
Another feature which makes a ground hit favorable is that it won't be counted as a wall hit.
If you managed to hit an attack by a ground hit and then the rest of the attacks, it does a remarkable damage.
To "dig up" the opponent is to hit him/her right after a ground hit, and stick him/her to the wall again.
It is means to sustain wall combos containing ground hits.
Since a ground hit makes the opponent bounce quite low, you have to choose string moves with quick impacts, or utilize TA to connect.
The point is that a ground hit does not put up wall counts, so it just won't disrupt wall combos.
You can adopt a combo that naturally provokes digging up to stay away from trouble.
A striking combo is possible using ground hits and digging up during TA.
Note that there are some combos that deal more damage than those including ground hits. Sometimes a ground hit disrupts combo connection.
Character size affects wall combos to some extent. Combos that are possible against normal size characters may whiff against small size characters.
Oppositely, some special combos are possible against large characters.
However, large characters with their feet being long, they fall to the ground relatively fast.
This will cause a problem that the subsequent attack will hit low on the wall, and the opponent will recover very quickly.
Whether this happens or not depends on the combo menu.
By the way, this case DO NOT affect wall counts.
Of course you have to land the attack quickly, in some measure, but wall count model works as usual.
Besides, some large characters such as Ogre and Kuma/Panda have short legs, which make them fall to the ground as fast as normal size characters, and the problem doesn't occur.
So, it's hard to say simply whether large characters are underdogs on the wall or not. If you try to be precise, you may have to master several combo menus which depend on the opponent character's size.
It's a reasonable way to adopt a staple combo which will be valid against any characters, to make the matter simple.
There are some special tricks using TA in the wall combos.
-Multiple attacks in TA
-Attacking simultaneously with partner character
-Launch the opponent into the air so that the opponent won't touch the wall
-Blow off the opponent to the opposite direction (This will save wall counts well)