Terry Bogard

Terry Bogard is a playable character in the upcoming PlayStation All-Stars sequel.

Profile
Terry is a tall, heavyweight that uses special inputs for his special moves, and also has a unique trait of facing an opponent in 1-on-1 matches. He has slow air speed and decent running speed, but is characterized most by his great ground game. This includes a powerful back dash which allows Terry to play footsies very effectively, a strong set of normal moves and special moves, his unique ability to attack directly out of a spot dodge, and finally his comeback mechanic which allows incredibly powerful Super Special Moves that require specific input combinations to use.

Terry's playstyle capitalizes on his strong bait-and-punish options. Terry has good tools, sporting many finishing moves in his power attacks, clean dash attack, back and down aerials, and the majority of his specials. Forward tilt sports good range and above-average damage, while granting Terry's leg intangibility; dash attack possesses good knockback, damage, and traveling distance while being able to cross up shields; forward power attack deals very high damage and knockback with impressive horizontal range to boot; up power attack has good vertical range and also deals high damage and knockback; down power attack has good range and high speed, but is still decently strong; back aerial deals high damage and knockback and sports excellent range; and down aerial is Terry's most damaging aerial.

Terry's special moves have special inputs which allow for more power and capabilities. These are generally dictated by how long the player holds the O button and normally determine distance and strength. His neutral special, Power Wave, is a projectile that travels on ground and serves as a good long-range poke that has both a weak and strong version, with the latter having a faster travel distance. In mid-air, it instead turns into a mid-range poking tool that deals more knockback, while also temporarily suspending Terry in the air. All of Terry's other moves come in four different variations when accounting for their weak/strong regular input variations and their weak/strong command input variations. Burning Knuckle is one of Terry's go-to KO options, as even the weak regular input can KO opponents at fairly early KO percentage, and it is Terry's best tech chasing tool. Terry also sports a "backward special" in the form of Crack Shoot; while it is not a KO move, it high-profiles through certain low attacks and also has a wide enough hitbox that it serves as both a reliable anti-air and Terry's most reliable cross up option at point blank range. Rising Tackle sports intangibility on the legs, and its command input version sports full body invincibility, making it an effective anti-air. Finally, Power Dunk serves as a strong combo ender, with invincibility on startup, and is another one of Terry's most reliable KO moves. The command version has a meteor hitbox, though connecting this hitbox is difficult, as it is only active during the descending portion.

One of Terry's biggest strengths is his punish game. Due to his special cancelling after moves such as his jab, neutral aerial, and down aerial, Terry can successfully deal a large amount of damage from any opening. The aforementioned Power Dunk is among the most notable, as Terry can cancel into it from even his jab, and KO opponents with relative ease. Additionally, Terry's comeback mechanic grants him access to two Super Special Moves, Power Geyser, and Buster Wolf. Power Geyser releases from the ground directly in front of Terry in a massive explosion with incredible height and damage, acting as an extremely effective anti-air move as well as dealing a considerable amount of shield damage very quickly. Buster Wolf acts as a hit command grab, and causes Terry to dash forward a fair distance into a two hits attack which causes incredible damage and knockback. While Terry is able to use these attacks any amount of times when passed the percentage threshold, they are very punishable if blocked or whiffed.

Although he is known for being a punishing character with a plethora of KO moves, set-ups, and confirms, Terry still has a good combo game. Neutral attack can easily chain into itself or special cancel to deal high amounts of damage; up tilt boasts both high speed and damage, has good range, special cancels, and juggles aerial opponents; and down tilt deals extremely low damage and knockback while having very low, all-around lag, allowing it to be spammed. Neutral and up aerials both provide plentiful combo opportunities due to their mixture of low all-around lag, good range, and decent damage and knockback. Despite his poor air speed, his neutral air can combo into itself with ease, giving Terry a form of Wall of Pain.

In spite of his strengths, Terry still has notable drawbacks. His two extra special moves via his comeback mechanic serves as a double-edged sword; because these special moves are only accessible by reaching 100% damage (0.3× max HP in Stamina mode when HP is set to 200 or less, 1/3 max HP in Stamina mode when HP is set to 300 or more), coupled with the fact that both moves have considerable ending lag makes them extremely risky to use. This makes Terry's comeback mechanic the epitome of risk vs reward, forcing his playstyle to drastically change when it comes into play.

Terry's overall disadvantage is another glaring weakness of his. His fall speed is among the lower half of the cast, which combined with his large hurtbox makes him susceptible to juggles. Rising Tackle, while having intangibility throughout the first half of the move, is unable to sweetspot the ledge, meaning that Terry is forced to utilize it from very low under the stage, as he is otherwise left vulnerable for a hard punish at the move's apex. Additionally, the move's vertical and horizontal distance is sub-par, making it a generally inferior recovery move. His aerial speed is also well below average, making his off-stage survivability lacking; while he is able to mix up his recovery to a certain extent with his specials, he is unlikely to survive in most off-stage situations if he is exhausted his double jump and his side special. Additionally, despite having a strong grounded neutral game, it is largely centered around baiting the opponent to approach and reading their habits to lead into combo extensions. As such, Terry doesn't possess many good pokes outside of down tilt. Given his average ground speed and poor air speed, his air approaches are fairly weak unless he starts close to his target.

Terry also has a rather high learning curve compared to most of the cast due to his command inputs being a crucial part of his success, though his inputs are a bit more lenient in comparison to the aforementioned two. Nonetheless, his Super Special Moves, in particular, can be difficult to execute in some situations, and further compounding his recovery, it is not uncommon for a misinput to result in an unintentional self-destruction offstage. As such, it is crucial to get the hang of inputting moves correctly and at the right time in order to avoid putting Terry in a very unfavorable situation.

Overall, Terry is a melee-focused and "footsie" oriented heavyweight character with immense combo, damage, and KO options in all areas. His ability to apply dangerous shield pressure or cross-up shielding opponents is incredibly useful when executed at the right times. His access to Super Special Moves at high percentage gives Terry the mental edge over opponents, as any ill-managed approach on the opponent's end can be called out by extremely hard punishes, and due to being a heavyweight he is very hard to KO without a proper edgeguard, making him more dangerous the longer he holds onto his stock. However, his poor disadvantage state and mediocre off-stage survivability means players need to be mindful of every off-stage option, as Terry can easily die to an off-stage gimp, and despite his powerful neutral, many of his most effective moves leave him vulnerable, meaning the player must make calculated decisions with which attacks to throw out in pressure situations.