The most recent Fighting Game released by veteran developer of the genre, Arc System Works, Guilty Gear Strive has received a great deal of praise for its stunning visuals and easy-to-learn but hard-to-master gameplay that caters to veterans and newcomers alike.
A mainstay of the Guilty Gear series, the pirate, May is one of the most popular characters in Strive and has recently garnered quite a notorious reputation. By and large, much of this reputation is due in part to one move at May’s disposal: Mr. Dolphin.
While it may not seem like much at first, this aggressive move provides May with a great deal of forward momentum, allowing her to continuously barrage one’s opponents as they are overcome with not just heavy damage, but the repeated yells of “totsugeki.”
Luckily, dealing with May’s dolphin-based offense is much more straightforward than one would expect as long as you know what you’re doing.
Mr. Dolphin Strategy In Guilty Gear Strive
In order to deal with May’s dolphins, the best offense one can use is a strong defense, so rely on punishing. For newcomers to the fighting game genre, punishing is the act of blocking an unsafe attack that leaves an opponent open, and capitalizing with a counterattack while they’re still recovering.
As much as a new player may want to strongarm their way through May’s onslaught, there’s a strong chance that the speed of Mr. Dolphin will beat out an opposing attack.
Plus And Minus On Block
Before we continue, it’s important that we understand what it means for a move to be “plus on block” or “minus on block.” In fighting games such as Guilty Gear, if an attack is blocked, the move causes the attacking character to need to recover a set amount of animation frames before they can attack again.
If a move is plus on block, it means that the character can quickly attack again making it difficult, if not impossible, to punish. If a move is minus on block, it means that the attacker is in a disadvantageous position from being blocked, and will be ripe for a counterattack.
Mr. Dolphin Mechanics
Different Effects For Different Attacks
The first thing to know about Mr. Dolphin is that it has two variations: slash vs. heavy slash. Being conscious about which variation of this move an opponent is using at a given moment is paramount for punishing it. One variation of Mr. Dolphin is plus on block while the other version is minus on block.
The slash version of Mr. Dolphin deals less damage and moves very quickly, but is negative on block, while the heavy slash version is noticeably slower, but is positive on block.
This means a heavy slash Mr. Dolphin is much more difficult to punish than a slash version of the move. As the version of this move that is plus on block has a slower startup, if you anticipate that an opposing May is going to attempt to use it, the use of a quick attack can beat out the move before it has any active hitboxes!
TL;DR
In short, if you block the heavy slash version of Mr. Dolphin, May is still on the offensive and attacking her will likely leave yourself open.
