The most overly complicated mechanic in Fighting Games

Today we're playing some more Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax! Today we're discussing Junpei, the character with THE MOST ridiculously complicated unique mechanic I've personally seen in a fighting game. His baseball gauge and it's associated Victory Cry mode are REALLY hard to understand, especially if you don't know the rules of baseball. We'll be discussing how Junpei works, some of his basic combos and supers, including how to get 10 runs in one combo! And then taking him online to see how we far with Shadow Junpei! Hope you enjoy the video!
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Twitter: / crofts

[@basanova22]

A Junpei mirror match with no life bars. Just a set time and whoever scores more runs on their baseball gauge wins.

[@cerdi_99]

that sounds fun af

[@d4rkmn643]

this is just baseball with extra steps

[@Renewablefrog1224]

Instead of a "Round 1" you get a "Play Ball!"

[@poggersuni9637]

I love this idea

[@spencerl9897]

Is this just like two steps from Lethal League

[@itloaf]

imagine being the guy to pitch this to the rest of the dev team

[@itloaf]

bro wtf you hearted this less than ten seconds after I posted it lmao love ya jm

[@babytextor]

I see what you did there

[@itloaf]

@@babytextor lmao that wasn't even intentional

[@babytextor]

@@itloaf the best of puns

[@i-never-look-at-replies-lol]

I'm pretty sure they caught on quickly and got the ball rolling as soon as possible just because he really knocked it out of the park with such a good idea

[@The_Meev]

JM didn't even mention this, but the effects of Victory Cry actually become stronger for every 10 points you get, both the damage buff and the HP+SP regeneration. The points cap at 55 though because of some baseball reference I don't remember. Still, it's worthwhile to continue trying to rack up as many points as you can even after getting Victory Cry.

[@JaysapPrime]

In 1941 Joe DiMaggio got a hit in 56 straight games (next best is "only" 45). Probably a reference to that.

[@GenericSoda]

They also carry over between rounds, making Junpei really unique among ArcSys' fighters since traditional resources almost never carry over between rounds.

[@The_Meev]

@@GenericSoda JM did mention that though

[@Ryuryusu]

It’s cause of Joe Dimaggio’s 56 hit game streak

[@aj_style1745]

Wait, so are the last 5 points just useless then? Or does it still give you another boost when you reach 55?

[@anonnine9994]

Normal player: Most difficult system ever Me, Baseball player / lover of the game: This is part of my soul. I understand this with every fiber of my being.

[@Sakis_Husband]

LOL Same here. My real dad loved baseball so I understood everything about the system perfectly. I didn't think it was confusing at all because of it. I honestly find Blazblue character systems to be more confusing at times. xd

[@basedeltazero714]

It's... definitely a weird skin, but the system is mostly a 'fill meter by hitting, reset when you get hit' mechanic that rewards consistent fighting.

[@hisradiancelordnasty]

FACTS

[@lovethepandainyou]

I don't love baseball (because it's not played in my country), but I absolutely appreciate the depths they went to in order to make a proper baseball fg mechanic. They got my respect for that 100%.

[@hisradiancelordnasty]

@@lovethepandainyou Japan has many great players in the american major leagues and a love for the sport there as well

[@JonahBoing]

Junpei is actually so sick, like not many fighting game characters have these types of meters that are THIS unique. Love it.

[@granddaddy_funk]

Or they do but it's in a game like strive where the Gorillaz rule

[@JokerStairs]

@@granddaddy_funk that’s why they said not many and not “none at all”

[@Counterpoint3002]

@@granddaddy_funk Also none of the meters in strive (or xrd for that matter) are this unique. Strive meters are almost all an extra resource, and some (like Goldlewis') aren't very interactive

[@Se7enRemain]

@@granddaddy_funk +R has Robo Ky but like. Even HEAT is no where near as creative as the run guage

[@Se7enRemain]

It really is just this guy, Marvel 3 Pheonix W/Frank West

[@theraltsguy]

The fact 10 is a Victory Cry is a reference to the fact that in Baseball there's a rule called Mercy Rule where if you hit 11 Home Runs above your opponent at the end of your inning the game is automatically over, so 10 is basically a celebration point for a guaranteed win, but still a chance to drop it all.

[@raynegro666]

Victory Cry is also a powerful skill in P3

[@Ldevos0]

Note that this rule does not exist in major league baseball. Just a recreational baseball thing.

[@YOSSARIAN313]

​@@Ldevos0 i was confused because i thought he was talking about pros

[@duffman18]

Yeah what? This ain't a thing in professional baseball, luckily. Because there was that game between Philly and Pittsburgh where Pittsburgh scored 10 runs in the first innings alone, which is absolutely goddamn insane (for those who don't know baseball, this has basically never happened before), but then somehow, they ended up actually losing the game. Something like that has never happened before or since. And Pittsburgh had Barry Bonds playing, you know, the guy with the most home runs ever, and somehow they still lost.

[@Phantom-kc9ly]

It's not home runs. It's from anything.

[@robeness247]

Well, good thing I played enough Wii Sports Baseball to help me understand.

[@jmcrofts]

the classic

[@UnPokemon]

Deadass, as a French that's how I learned the basis of Baseball

[@lemon66111]

mercy rule is at least 5 in that game, apparently it’s over 10 here

[@kenamada5451]

Small details not mentioned for those who want a more in depth look. -Before and after victory cry, the runs give you more hits on your spins. -Getting runs after victory cry increases SP and HP regen up to 55. (A reference) -Clean hits are not just automatically given to you. You cannot clean hit the first hit in the combo and to get clean hits you have to hit with the bats sweet spot. This includes sweet spots on your super for homeruns as well. Every move has a slightly different sweet spot. Do not worry though, once you get the first sweet spot, the rest sets itself up for easy clean hits without much worry. -All of your bat normals can hit projectiles back at enemies and count towards your base/runs. Beams do not count (Adachi, Narukami, Elizabeth Ziodyne, Rise scan, Margaret Spear throw, etc etc). Junpei is an okay character until victory cry, but once he does get it he can easily 2-3 touch most the cast! Hope some of these things helped and if I missed anything feel free to add in comments!

[@valla7644]

Your opponent needs to be airborne in order to get clean hits, I need to check if it's possible to actually get a clean hit for the first hit in a combo with a air to air with the clean hit spacing.

[@kenamada5451]

@@valla7644 I tried. You cannot. Always has to be on 2nd hit+ on combo counter! Thank you for the addition though, slipped my mind!

[@shinmasterryu]

He's a decent character outside VC in 2.5/2.0. in 1.1 I can say he's not a good character until VC but this patch actually helps him out a lot outside of VC

[@kenamada5451]

@@shinmasterryu I still have 1.1 on the brain haha. Haven't adjusted.

[@valla7644]

@@kenamada5451 I saw someone able to get a clean hit on the first hit

[@psychicmouse1051]

“This is a touch case, even for Junpei Iori, Ace Detective.” -Junpei, trying to understand his own mechanic

[@butterccm]

Ace Detective? More like stup-

[@CKing97]

​@@butterccm YUKARI NOOOOOOOO

[@wyawardclown]

@@butterccm now, just which one is she saying? the classic, or the _classic?_ flip a coin to find out!

[@crppledizzle9374]

​@@wyawardclown -id little

[@Jexdra]

The way the matches ended just seems canon haha. Shadow Junpei is overcome by Junpei through the sheer power of baseball.

[@SuperLlama42]

I just love how his entire playstyle is just modeled off the fact that he had no idea how to wield swords in P3 and just swung them like baseball bats. I can't remember any baseball themes Junpei had in P3 aside from that.

[@Luis-wf9ws]

I think in a part of the history he says to Chidori that he likes Baseball and wanna be pro player

[@300IQPrower]

his persona’s animation for physical attacks is also slamming into enemies like a baseball player sliding into home. As in it is explicitly designed to look like that with blades on its heels for that reason.

[@akasahi9315]

Critical attack is literally a baseball swing...

[@jerry3115]

One of the weapons you can get for for him from an earlygame quest is a spiked bat

[@elijahfyffe5176]

He always wore a baseball cap Like Mark (American version)

[@Majimba_Enjoyer]

"you know that 1 idle animation from junpei in p3? yeah lets make his whole moveset around that and a whole ass baseball sub mechanic" - some genius dev

[@ubermaster1]

Fun (late) fact: Junpei canonically was REALLY good at baseball as a kid, he just dropped it cause he lost motivation

[@midgetmasher166]

fun fact: according to dustloop, junpei can get balls by more ways than just landing bat attacks on block if he attacks a persona if he attacks ken's dog and get this if he *clashes* god bless baseball install

[@Josuh]

he can get b a l l s ?

[@midgetmasher166]

based balls, one could argue

[@Josuh]

ah, so that's where the name baseball comes from

[@Devilcakes]

Junpei-balls

[@gogovish]

"ken's dog" what utter disrespect for koromaru

[@Holacalaca]

I heard of Iori from Core-A Gaming video a loooong time ago, he sounded extremely confusing, but really his meter amounts to 1)getting hits is good 2) whiffing and getting hit or thrown is bad. Wich is genius since all of his complicated stuff already matches what you _want_ to do normally during a round.

[@blout4337]

Yeah exactly, it’s really just, do your best to play the game and after a little bit you become a real character

[@Neogears1312]

@@blout4337 implying junpei was this gutted Phoenix ass character who doesn’t totally function alright without victory cry.

[@Jfrost9101]

@@Neogears1312 he's literally the worst character in the game lmao

[@TheCosmicUprise]

@@Jfrost9101 have you heard the clean hit sound tho

[@gengarisnotinsmash...]

"So what does all this setup do, why even do it at all? Well, it doesn't do anything, not until you get 10 runs." At that point I lost it. Seriously, you think it's gonna end and it just keeps going.

[@likky1]

it does something before it hits ten, it increases the number of hits of his quarter circle forward special or least that's what the move list says

[@pharaohmugs3485]

Funny thing is I’m a iori main this is probably the most confusing character ever but that’s why I like him

[@christianhoogerwerff9754]

I am also an iori main & I think he's one of the easiest characters in the game

[@Eggroll3s]

@@christianhoogerwerff9754 he's really not. He's not good and he has some difficult routes for optimal damage

[@christianhoogerwerff9754]

Everyone has their cup of tea so I'm not going to argue about it, I think he's much easier than let's say Narukami

[@arcfieri5965]

@@christianhoogerwerff9754 But you would agree that someone like labrys is easier overall. (Also no shade to labrys mains, I am one, she's just really easy)

[@Breakbeat.]

Do you also Voldo as well?

[@GenericSoda]

Junpei only seems complicated until you you break it down into "hitting things is hype, getting hit isn't hype."

[@DoctorVega]

I wish more fighting games would prioritize creativity like this. Not for every character, but just have 4 or 5 characters that really feel unique and play a game within a game

[@spiralgodking9877]

Blazblue is like that too. Several characters in that game have unique mechanics.

[@Rhannmah]

@@spiralgodking9877 yeah I love Blazblue for that, they really went all the way with the complex mechanics, it's amazing. But I also hate it for forcing really hard inputs for incredibly mundane stuff that shouldn't require any precise timing (looking at you, microdashes)

[@brupts7297]

When fighting games do this, the characters with said unique mechanic end up being low tier and gimmicky.

[@spiralgodking9877]

@@brupts7297 Meta Knight from Brawl and Bayonetta from Smash 4 say hi.

[@khemically6124]

@@spiralgodking9877 inb4 some idiot starts crying out "SmASh IsnT a FiGhTinG GaMe!!!1!"

[@pokemonsonic321]

As of latest arcade version and the new release which are essentially the same, teching a throw does not give Junpei an out. Rejoice. Getting hit by burst still nets an out though.

[@yano4473]

It's over complicated and mostly to his deficit, but the home run gauge is actually one of the sickest ideas ever.

[@ihavenonamestilldonthaveon8970]

This honestly doesn't seem that bad. Just fight like it doesn't exist and do a sick combo, then you have a reward for the the second half of the first round and the next couple rounds if you lose any.

[@pingouuiin]

I would actually enjoy a "Top 5 most complicated characters ever" x) I think that's a fascinating subject to talk about, as far as I know there are some Blazblue characters that are really really strange Anyway good vid !!

[@jmcrofts]

hmmmm future video idea maybe 🤔

[@kevingriffith6011]

You'd have to dig into the really obscure stuff, I think. The most complicated character in a mainstream fighting game probably doesn't even come close to the absurdity you can get in the wider world of fighting games.

[@dominiquebautista3769]

Ángel gotta be in there

[@luisrosa4316]

@@jmcrofts maybe top 10

[@Sk8r115]

KI Girl Bot with the 3 modes? Actually KI has a ton of super unique stuff

[@ezrasilver9819]

Man I barely picked up P4AU recently, trying to learn Aigis, but the other day I played against a Shadow Junpei player that had the clean hit combos on deck. Fun games, immediately humbled. Well played to that person if they ever read this.

[@FreshTillDeath56]

The best part about this game is that every character is fun to play. And it's Persona, so you know the characters are good.

[@300IQPrower]

As a longtime Junpei fan, as in flat out my favorite persona party member, seeing the absolutely bewildered joy at his playstyle from this new wave is just magical.

[@0uttaS1TE]

It's really ironic that the dumbest SEES member (I don't mean that as an insult, he's my favourite party member too, and no other Magician comes close) has the most utterly complex playstyle. Like, I know once you get down to it, you just need to play well and you'll be fine, but a lot of the innards read like a MENSA test

[@GodammmitKalcour]

Naoto: After landing some moves you deplete a gauge on the enemy's side, when it depletes any death or hama skil will instakill them. Yukikko: More heat means your fire moves deal more damage and some change. Junpei: In order for my mechanic to work you need a degree in metaphysics and have needed to have your college thesis on Gravity and Anti-Gravity.

[@The_WIll_OF_D99]

I love wacky mechanics like this honestly. It showed how far they can think outside of the box for any character and make it hella fun. Plus we rarely get Base ball fighting game characters so it's a treat to see this

[@24hourPrince]

Something that you didn't mention is that every 10 runs after activating victory cry will make the buffs you get from victory cry stronger

[@ubermaster1]

I've learned more about baseball through playing Junpei as a kid than I ever have watching the actual sport.

[@Franswa80]

Phoenix Wright comes to mind with a unique in-game mechanic.

[@WeavileGuy]

funny to me that junpei is a relatively simple "bro" character personality-wize but he's one of the most complex characters in this game

[@jml6263]

Honestly he has some of the best character growth in P3 lol so this being a grown version of him and being more complex feels right.

[@gyppygirl2021]

@@jml6263 Haven't actually played P3, but Junpei is probably my favorite character from that game just from what we see of him in Ultimax. He deserved so much better...

[@jml6263]

@@gyppygirl2021 He's far and away my fave in Persona 3 too, even with a lot of the other characters treating him like a butt monkey and him surface level just filling that 'normie dumb best friend' archetype, he manages to really really shine as a character. Love that guy, Junpei forever.

[@gyppygirl2021]

@@jml6263 Yes, justice for Junpei! Quit picking on him, he's really a great guy!

[@mortomultiverse8778]

@@jml6263 For sure. Personally, I didn't like Junpei that much in P3 personality wise, and in some parts of the story he can be pretty anoying, but I can apreciate what they did with his character, and his energetic personality serves as great balance for the cast. I love how they continue his story in Arena, and thanks to that he has grown on me a little more.

[@baozhai1981]

i like how this guy is overwhelmingly positive and even talks about how the other player is doing well, it's a nice breath of fresh air

[@Eggroll3s]

As an Iori player for a long time and someone who's not American, once you really just understand Victory Cry, it becomes second nature. It can be hard for new players to understand tho

[@MustacheDLuffy]

As somebody who’s never played this game before but has played baseball it’s like second nature for me

[@sirreginaldfishingtonxvii6149]

Pros: _Hot damn this is absolutely mental, I love it_ Cons: _What the hell is going on? What is a base? Based on what?_ We don't really do baseball in my country

[@Neogears1312]

It’s really just any sport with a goal except your team gets checkpoints on their way to score at the goal.

[@professionalfangster1510]

To add on to what Neogears said: In baseball, there are two teams. The team who is "batting"(hitting the ball) and the team who is "pitching"(throwing the ball). The pitcher team is on the field, and they must catch the ball or tag the batter with the ball whenever it's hit. The batter has to hit the ball in a way that it'll be unpredictable to catch, or they will be "out" when it gets caught. When the ball is hit, the batter must run to the three "bases", which are checkpoints across the field indicated by these little pads. After the third base, they must go back to where they started and complete the circle, which scores the batter's team a point. The pitching team has to try to touch the batter with the ball to earn a point. That's pretty much how it is. A "home run" is when the batter hits the ball out of the field or in a way that no one can possibly catch it, so the batter gets a free run around the bases and back to where they started(which is called "home base").

[@SebiBubble]

"Based on what?" 😭😂

[@PixyEm]

@@SebiBubble You're telling me a shrimp fried this rice?

[@MustacheDLuffy]

That’s the problem. Gotta learn baseball to enjoy this

[@qedsoku849]

That’s a pretty cool mechanic, clearly designed so that it rewards you for pressing the advantage. If you want another overly complicated fighting game mechanic, Soku’s weather system is a system mechanic where at first there is a weather forecast that slowly counts up to 99, both players can change the forecasted weather to the next one in the 20 weather cycle by knocking a character down, bouncing them off the ground or wall, guardcrushing, or using cards (Soku’s meter system). The timer can also be sped up by hitting the opponent with certain moves or getting hit by the opponent while you have projectiles on screen. Once it reaches 99, whatever weather is currently forecasted will activate providing game changing symmetrical effects depending on the weather until the timer counts down, which will end the weather and a new one will be forecasted. High level play has a lot of strategies to manipulate what weather it will be such as doing combos with a different number of bounces, taking stray hits, using meter at certain times, running away or blocking for a few seconds etc.

[@TheKazuma410P]

Hey if somebody's already used to playing fighting games, chances are they can probably grasp this easy. An install that seems more "overly complicated" is probably Bang's Fu Rin Ka Zan from Blazblue. Due to seals and a few technicalities (no blocking for exemple)

[@ByrneBaby]

I love this character. It's such a well done complicated mechanic in that while the rules are pretty insane, the outcome/goal is not. Like after you explained how it's just "get 10 ASAP" and the insane benefit of getting to 10, it's less like a mechanic and more like a brace to keep him from being broken. How well you play equates to how well you're rewarded and that's fantastic. Bring back shit like this.

[@FreshTillDeath56]

I will always prefer Samurai Shodown for how uncomplicated and brutally fast the fights are, but in terms of spectacle, p4 is great

[@conrspowrt6691]

I love how if you don’t play or watch baseball, this mechanic seems realllly stupid and complex, but if you play or watch baseball it’s like “oh okay that’s cool lemme swing”

[@kota8045]

I think the fact that it is kind of obtuse and difficult to build is an interesting way to balance the fact that he keeps his runs between rounds. There’s not really any other characters in fighting games that I know of that have to build a resource like this. Very unique!

[@astralnekomimi]

I don’t have much experience with fighting games but I remember that in Smash Bros. Brawl, Pokémon Trainer was essentially the inverse of Junpei: where Junpei starts off weak and once you do something obtuse, he gets stronger, Pokémon Trainer’s Pokémon start off strong and once something obtuse occurs (in this case, time invisibly passing), they get weaker. Each of his three Pokémon had a hidden stamina gauge that ticks down while they’re out on the field, and when it ran out, the Pokémon would appear tired when idling and all their attacks would practically become Little Mac aerial tier. So, down-B and switch out the tired Pokémon to refill its meter, right? Not so simple - you can’t simply switch 3 times and have a fully refreshed Charizard, because stamina slowly regenerates after a switch, rather than being instantly recharged when switch is used. Again, this is completely hidden from the player. For Smash Bros. in particular, which tends to have simpler mechanics compared to other fighting games, this mechanic is extremely obscure for something that can directly affect matches (since in Brawl, only one of the Pokémon really had much viability). To be fair, it is Brawl, and the series didn’t have a single visible meter (despite multiple characters having them, like Trainer’s stamina and Wario’s gassiness) until Smash 4 (Shulk’s Monado, Cloud’s limit break). In fact, it seemed to have been the intent for there to be more (all invisible) meters for certain characters, as things like Meta Knight’s mask have more “damaged” states that are unused in the game files that seem to indicate fighters would appear more damaged after taking damage, likely to a similar effect as Trainer’s stamina. I don’t think stamina (or it in combination with type effectiveness) is as interesting as Yunpei’s baseball, but there’s a damn good reason both were removed in Ultimate, they are probably the most obscure (intentionally included) part of any Smash game, and both specifically nerf Pokémon Trainer, like being three characters that share a damage gauge at once is some sort of “broken ability,” when the fact the damage gauge is shared is clearly balance enough.

[@saltyralts]

@@astralnekomimi HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE ENTER KEY?

[@mrwheatles4094]

Another thing he has that most people don't know about is something called a full count. When he has 2 strikes, 3 balls, and 2 outs, he glows red and the next bat hit forces fatal no matter what.

[@jmcrofts]

truuuuue it's crazy they put that detail in even though it almost never comes up

[@qspec2002]

The important part is that the payoff of all of this complexity is ultimately worth it since in the end you end up with a top tier character, right? Right... ?

[@EeveeShadowBacon]

Junpei with VC is actually pretty good, and is basically Snowballing, the character. However, getting to VC is a problem, cause everyone should know about VC and will do anything they can to deny you hits.

[@ihavenonamestilldonthaveon8970]

@@EeveeShadowBacon problem is, denying hits isn't that easy since blocking is helping Iori too. And if they mix you, they're just gonna get a lot of runs and get VC. This is a very good mechanic actually! I love this concept.

[@EeveeShadowBacon]

@@ihavenonamestilldonthaveon8970 I mean, Junpei's Tools pre-VC aren't the best and losing the Neutral awful for him, since any stray hit gives him an out and he only gets bases with his bat. At least he's got strong anti-zoning tools, but I've gone all 3 rounds with a Junpei before and them not getting to VC until the last half of R3.

[@blitras8102]

Okay something important about the home run super. If you press a or c at the right distance you will get home runs but b and d will never give home runs, which is important for certain combos since you can follow b and d with the persona chase super

[@Leon-wz5qh]

Imagine learning Baseball not to play baseball but to play a specific character in a Jrpg-spinoff-fighting game

[@harrylane4]

Somebody tried to explain this to me in fighting-game terms and I was totally lost. Just *seeing* his little HUD icon explained the entire mechanic to me

[@nonnon6856]

I start to believe that junpei is atlus favorite character he got a unique mechanics, they give him a best dance in dancing games and now they give him such a good set-up in reload makes him one of strongest party member, what a legend

[@Delta21OnYT]

Not to mention Atlus canonized Chidori living in this game's story and adding the option to save her in Reload when it was originally in FES

[@venheartzeil3070]

This is one of the only games that keeps up with MVC2 and 3rd Strike aesthetically imo. From the music to the animations, the scenery, etc. They went so crazy with this game.

[@ryanhartmanisgreat]

On a mirror matchup the baseball runscore should do something at the end of game. Even if you die in the fight, if you have a higher amount of runs you just get some sort of fun victory / defeat screen or something.

[@Maxler5795]

The level of irony with junpei being the simpleton character in P3.

[@theREALlouthelou]

"If you enjoy the Persona 4 content..." Never heard of the game, to be totally honest. I just like /your/ content, so a Like you receive, good sir. (I do miss FigherZ, though. Stupid lack of rollback...)

[@Merkhahba]

You'll never guess what FighterZ got

[@gamer-qk8vd]

already planned on maining Junpei once rollback came out but now that i understand how his meter works my opinion of him has only risen. what a sweet character

[@thej-vu9213]

Dude your explination is very clear. Now I'm interested in the in Junpei.

[@IamGulzow]

Okay, so check it out. I'm not a very competitive person so I've never really gotten into fighting games, I'm more of an RPG kinda gamer. That said, I do enjoy watching competitive fighting games because of the rivalries, the upsets, the stories, and the undeniable excitement. The only problem is that when I do watch tournament play, the nuanced play and commentary are so over my head that I feel like an American watching cricket, I see the crowd cheering, I hear the announcers excitedly saying words I don't understand, but really I'm just lost. I say all that to say this, you, sir, do such a great job of breaking things down, telling stories, pausing to recap dope shit, and explaining the nonsense sounds the commentary team shouts when attempting communication, that it makes being a fan of high level fighting game play accessable to folk who don't play them. I greatly appreciate this and it is why I am subscribing to your channel. Keep it up, sir.

[@DodderingOldMan]

I absolutely suck at fighting games, but for some reason I love needlessly complicated mechanics like this. Possibly that's because while I'm too old and doddery to ever be good in an actual fight, I can at least enjoy learning the intricacy and the theory behind the mechanics.

[@xaininpc5625]

What do I think? I think the next persona game needs to be Persona 4 STADIUM: Ultimax. The entire roster should be Junpei, Shadow Junpei, Dark Junpei, Smokey Junpei, Emo Junpei, Goth Junpei, Sunglasses Junpei, Parasol Junpei, Throwin Shade Junpei, Ashy Junpei, Midnight Junpei, Obsidian Junpei, Charcoal Junpei and Orochi Junpei. The boss would be Sunshine Pingless Umpire Junpei who drowns out all shadows with sunshine, negates your runs with bad calls at the plate and uses a sacrilegious wooden bat.

[@stevedaguy9639]

I await the character that somehow incorporates solving higher level algebraic equations into their gameplay. It would be shit but fuck would that be iconic.

[@DairunCates]

He's called Potemkin.

[@NeoMusicGamer]

Not high level, but Margaret from this same game actually rewards you with a high damaging super as long as you use it ONLY while your combo is a multiple of 8 (the super deals an extra hit up to the next multiple, so a 6 hit combo super hits 2 times, at 8 hit combo it hits the full 8 times)

[@stevedaguy9639]

yeah, but there are probably setups to make it more accessible. I want a system that just makes the game unplayable on either side whether its because of how it reduces the game to math homework with motion inputs or because if you're not doing the math homework you just lose outright. The suffering is the point I think.

[@jml6263]

The only thing keeping me from trying this game is the fact that both my favorite Persona characters are low tier / difficult lol.

[@jmcrofts]

honestly the whole cast is really complex and deep, but you can start out simple with anyone and have a good time

[@FreshTillDeath56]

The strangest thing of all is, I recall Junpei being a good enough fighter where this whole baseball meta-game wasn't even necessary.

[@gshedgehog]

When I finally got my hands on this game and played as junpei, this mechanic was honestly amazing to see as a baseball fan lmaoo

[@tinytrtle5681]

The best part of the baseball meter is it doesn't really require you to learn anything new: hitting the opponent good, getting hit and whiffing moves (at least ones with long recovery) bad.

[@chandirby1444]

i've never played but i can feel the dopamine everytime i hear the ping

[@blout4337]

In the super you only get a home run if you either hit A or C and you hit the sweet spot, if you hit B or D you get a clean hit. The clean hit is a little slower and does more damage iirc and it works even if VC isn’t active

[@AoiLucine]

I love my idiot boy being ridiculous in a fighting game, it gives me life.

[@LargeToastie]

I tried playing Junpei when the game first launched on Steam but he was too big brain for me. I just switched to Adachi but watching a good Junpei player is so satisfying.

[@ryanrcosta]

the clean hit sound alone makes me want to play junpei

[@tikazombie37]

"if you play a lot of fighting games you probably encountered a character with a unique system or meter associated with them... that's literally everyone in persona."

[@Feeble_Weeble]

Asuka from Guilty Gear:

[@victheorize4939]

Junpei is the most fun fighting game character I've ever main. Yeah his not top tier and you have to work extremely hard but is so much fun

[@drowsyvt]

This is like some shit Araki would come up with for a JoJo character. God bless Baseball.

[@zakutenakazumiya1516]

Tiny nitpick. Though the ping sound is fine, it would've been more satisfying if it was a crack like a wooden bat. Yeah overly complex character exclusive mechanics would be a fun video to do. Like Phoenix Wright's Turnabout Mode, Bang's Furinkazan, and others.

[@Drax-Striker]

Persona 3 Junpei: BRAVE BLADE BRAVE BLADE BRAVE BLADE Persona 4 arena Junpei:

[@Traewulong]

I love this. Being a huge baseball fan if I played this game I would for sure learn him.

[@diseasedwombat5611]

And here I was, hurting my head trying to learn Labrys’ axe meter

[@justdakotamusic]

"this is just boys being dudes!" I'm stealing this one

[@ajkcool]

The first 15 seconds describes every Rivals of Aether character

[@zeroescape]

Every time I see or hear about persona 4 arena I always feel super envious of huge persona fans cuz its like an arcsys fighting game with characters from my fav RPG series would send me over the moon

[@phantomspaceman]

The baseball gauge is genius. It's characters with moveset swap commands that kill me.

[@UnPokemon]

The fact that JUNPEI of all people has a super complicated mechanic is what's hilarious. Junpei himself probably doesn't even understand

[@valla7644]

It looks complicated but it's actually not xD

[@UnPokemon]

@@valla7644 it's not when explained by JM but if you're left to figure it out by yourself...

[@valla7644]

@@UnPokemon that's how I did it though

[@LolaliciousSmiley]

This is my favorite video on the channel. I come back to it all the time.

[@2Eliishere]

Lnao that first match. Justice truly won.

[@BlueDragon7100]

So this is just the coolest limiting concept ever for the sickest install super ever? Hmm, maybe I should consider this character

[@varenoftatooine2393]

I feel that I learned more about baseball than I learned about how to play this character.

[@bl03k]

The funny part is Junpei is actually a pretty easy and beginner friendly character to play lol

[@NurseLee]

Wow! I've never ever seen that mechanic before! That's awesome!!!!

[@drakearrington3150]

Reminds me of Phoenix Wright from the capcom fighting game. His whole gimmick was finding evidence to 1 of 3 phases that each have different move sets and abilities.

[@Theta4]

I love the persona content, JM! Combo challenges, this info/match videos on characters are awesome. Would you ever consider doing combo guides? Asking for a friend who plays Margaret and Akihiko....

[@TheBigSad8247]

I'm enjoying my time learning him as my first character. An ABSOLUTE journey for sure, but fun nonetheless.

[@mrcool9090]

Another plus to junpei is that his personas name is fun to say

[@DrumLuv23]

If I was a high schooler without a job and as knowledgeable about things as I am now I would mail this character.

[@SpeedShadow54]

That *ping* is straight-up NUERON ACTIVATION.

[@Otawizo]

Jmcrofts: I apologize to those who don't know anything about baseball Me who dedicated half of my childhood to the Wii: HOMST HAS AWOKEN THE ANCIENT ONE

[@tristanveneliso9535]

He is SUPER DUPER OVERLY complicated after learning him. Thanks to this vid.

[@DylanMatthewTurner]

I want you to know your video has inspired me. I bought the game with the sole purpose of playing this character bc of his weirdness. I do not plan to even try the others.

[@Koobird784]

When I saw the thumbnail, I jokingly thought to myself “what, does he have a baseball mini game that makes him stronger or something?” I was not expecting to be right

[@Breakbeat.]

Next DLC, a bowling character with bowling gauge.

[@MrBoltstrike]

You had me right up until the home run part. Until then I thought this was relatively tame. Then you tell me I have to count the four runners in a home run. FOUR, not the THREE loaded bases. I'm out, I have a life to live.

[@joelvaldesjr.7404]

Well... you got 3 bases and a batter.... that make 4

[@tabbycrumch3062]

wat? the batter gets a run off a home run too goob

[@MrBoltstrike]

You gotta understand. It's not that I can't count, it's that there's no visual indicator for home, so I have to allocate that much more space in my brain *while* dodging mixups. My brain says "no."

[@LucDaMan4]

@@MrBoltstrike skill issue

[@SuperDeleto]

Just got this game a week ago. Junpei looks very confusing but oddly interesting. Might consider picking him up later on after Akihiko...

[@jmcrofts]

one of the fun things about p4u is that you can start out with any character just using the basics, then uncover more and more depth the longer you play. great game

[@MistuhChai]

The funny thing about this is that Junpei's JPN dub VA also plays as Pheonix Wright who also has a special mode in MvC3

[@greypolar2720]

Every character in Soul Calibur 6 has a unique meter type (or something very similar to meter). The drunken fighter from Virtua Fighter has a weird meter too

[@babymaharaja7638]

for me, that ridiculous super move one of the women from Darkstalkers does that puts you into a dancing, rhythm pattern mini game

[@hyozanrutheexiledfab]

honestly always had a hard time trying to time the bunts and get that PING sound

[@jmcrofts]

easiest way is off of 3rd hit of autocombo

[@halstonnixon2649]

God I love this game. Thank you sir Croffington.

[@dragenn]

I dont play persona but this is still awesome to watch. Do more stuff like this