Power Wave

Power Wave
Power Wave in Ultimate.
User	Terry
Universe	Fatal Fury

Power Wave (パワーウェイブ, Power Wave) is Terry's neutral special move.

Overview

Terry slams his fist into the ground, creating a burst of energy that travels across the ground. Similar to the Hadoken, the move travels at two different speeds, depending on whether or not the player holds the button or taps it (Hadoken has heavy, medium, and light variants, but Power Wave only has heavy and light). Upon activation, Terry will either shout "Power Wave!" or "Rock you!", or grunt. Power Wave covers a lot of horizontal distance while having a relatively large hitbox, allowing it to control a lot of space for the player. It has decent vertical range as well, making it sometimes even cover short hop approaches. However, it has very little followup potential in comparison to Terry's other moves, making it almost strictly used for this. However, if a Power Wave has been active for a while, it is possible to follow up with Crack Shoot or even Buster Wolf.

If used in the air or at the ledge, Power Wave will instead be a burst of energy that covers a small distance in front Terry. This version does more damage and knockback in exchange for range. The aerial Power Wave has transcendent priority akin to Wolf's Blaster, allowing it to bypass projectiles completely. It also sends the opponent at a horizontal angle, making it a good option for gimping opponents off-stage. Due to its range and disjoint, as well as its ability to stall Terry in the air, this is also a very safe edgeguarding option as well. The aerial version also hits the ledge, enabling it to be a decent ledgetrapping option. Despite its appearance, it is considered a projectile like the grounded version.

Canceling

Terry can perform a Power Wave out of some standard attacks, as part of his special move canceling mechanic. By pressing the special button after connecting with one of certain standard attacks, Terry will cancel the endlag of the attack and perform a Power Wave. Compared to some of his other special moves, Power Wave is not nearly as effective for follow-ups, mainly because of Power Wave's very high endlag (FAF of 50); at close range, it can even be unsafe on hit.

However, there are scenarios where cancelling into Power Wave can be favorable. Once forward tilt sends into tumble, Burning Knuckle and Buster Wolf are no longer true followups, wherein Power Wave becomes more viable to build damage and force the opponent into shield. This can situationally be more useful than Crack Shoot, such as in scenarios that would forfeit centre-stage. Cancelling a neutral aerial into Power Wave is also viable off-stage for more effective gimps, as aerial Power Wave can sometimes be difficult to connect. Outside of these scenarios, however, cancelling into Power Wave is almost completely suboptimal.

Instructional quote

Move List

Punch down and send a shock wave along the ground. The range of the shock wave is shorter in the air.

Origin

Terry using a Power Wave in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters.

Terry using a Power Wave in The King of Fighters '96.

Power Wave has been one of Terry's special moves since the original Fatal Fury, being used by him in every following Fatal Fury title and in The King of Fighters series. The move in Terry's home series is performed with ↓ ↘ → + light/heavy punch. This command input was not included in Ultimate. The heavy version is faster and deals more damage than the light version, but has a much longer recovery time to compensate. Originally, the move had energy rise from the ground in a wave motion, before eventually being changed to the animation seen today. The move typically uses quarter-circle forward input, much like the Hadoken, but in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the quarter-circle forward motion is instead assigned to Burning Knuckle to make up for the lack of a punch and kick system. Ergo, Power Wave lacks a command input in Smash and is the only special move in Terry's moveset to do so. The aerial version is based on the short-ranged version of the move as seen in The King of Fighters '96 through The King of Fighters '98, which in turn was based on Round Wave, a stronger and shorter-ranged variant that debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury.

Gallery

• 

  Screenshot of Terry using a grounded Power Wave from the official Super Smash Bros. Twitter account.

• 

  Screenshot of Terry using an aerial Power Wave from the official Super Smash Bros. Twitter account.

• 

  Terry using Power Wave as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	パワーウェイブ, Power Wave
English	Power Wave
French	Power Wave
German	Power Wave
Spanish	Power Wave
Italian	Power Wave
Chinese	能量波
Korean	파워 웨이브, Power Wave
Dutch	Krachtgolf
Russian	Энергетическая вoлна

Terry's special moves

Neutral special	Power Wave
Side special	Burning Knuckle / Crack Shoot
Up special	Rising Tackle
Down special	Power Dunk
Final Smash	Triple Wolf