WELCOME, STUDENT I am Tobiko-Sensei, a simple teacher. This dojo exists to offer martial arts training to those who seek it. Do you come to the Tobiko-Ryu Dojo to study bujutsu, the art of battle, or budo, the path of life? That is for you to decide, but be forewarned that either path will require rigorous training and absolute dedication. Empty your mind of preconceptions; they will only delay your physical and spiritual advancement. And also know that martial arts can not bestow physical strength on one who is not also strong of spirit. The Tobiko-Ryu Dojo offers training in four martial arts: Karate, Kendo, Nunchaku, and Bo. First you will jiyu-renshu; or practice your skills alone. Then you will kumite; or spar against instructors. There is also a Free Spar mat where you can spar against students practicing other disciplines. When you are ready, if you wish, you can travel to the world championship martial arts tournament at the Budokan. There you must match your skills against advanced students in many disciplines, and you will see weapons and techniques that are not used in this dojo. How well you preform against these opponents depends entirely on your experience and dedication. TOBIKO-RYU DOJO - THE TRAINING HALL You stand in the main courtyard. Surrounding you are the various training halls. To begin your training, walk into one of the four dojos: * Karate, Kendo, Nunchaku, or Bo. Use the eight directions of your joystick to walk into a dojo. The dojos direction are listed here. Make a note of this. Tobiko-Sensei - Top of the screen Bo - Middle-right of the screen Karate - Lower-right of the screen Nunchaku - Lower-left of the screen Kendo - Middle-left of the screen In each dojo, you are given three choices: Jiyu-renshu - Lets you practice alone Kumite - Lets you spar with an instructor Leave Dojo - Returns you to the courtyard Move the Yin Yang symbol up and down using your joystick, and press FIRE to make a selection. At the start of each exercise, Tobiko-Sensei says hajimae (pronounced ha*gee*may), which means "begin" in Japanese. JIYU-RENSHU This is a time of practice and self-study where you fight an imaginary enemy. Practice each move again and again until you can perform any of them quickly and precisely. When you have memorized every move and can throw any strike and parry any blow immediately, imagine yourself facing an opponent. If he throws a punch to your solar plexus, parry the blow with a mid-range block. If he spins to kick your forehead, drop to a crouch and kick his leg out from under him. The Stamina Bar at the top of the screen tells you how tired you are and how well you can perform. For more information on this indicator, see the Stamina Bar section. When you are through practicing alone and want to spar with another student or leave the dojo, press fire to bow and conclude the exercise. KUMITE This is an opportunity to spar with instructors of various degrees of difficulty. You are given three choices: Sankyu - Easiest Ikkyu - More difficult Shodan - Most challenging Move the Yin Yang symbol up and down using your joystick, and press FIRE to make a selection. In addition to your Stamina Bar above you on the left, your sparring partner also has a stamina bar. For more information on this indicator, see the Stamina Bar section. Use your instructors wisely. They are not there for you to simply fight or defeat. They are also there so you can practice combination moves, timing, and correct distance. Do not think instructors reduce their attacks as you grow weaker. It is the quality of your technique, variety of moves, and how comfortable you are with that knowledge that counts. Remember, your instructors are your partners. SCORING Each time you strike your opponent, a number appears indicating the strength of your strike; the higher the number, the more damage you inflicted. And you receive a bonus when you use a move for the first time. When the match is over, you are shown your score, which is the total of all your strike points. If you want to stop in the middle of a sparring match, press B to bow and exit the match. STAMINA BAR The Stamina Bar indicates your current strength and endurance; the longer the bar, the more stamina you have. Performing difficult moves or being struck by an opponent reduces your stamina. Resting and successfully blocking blows from your opponents lets your stamina increase. Blocks prevent you from regaining stamina, so only block your opponent's attacks as they come. If you perform a block and hold it, your stamina will not increase until you relax again. The Stamina Bar is color-coded so you can approximate your status with a glance: Green - Full strength. Your moves are quick. Yellow - 60% stamina loss. Your reactions are slow. Avoid making high-energy attacks and try to block your opponent's strikes. Red - 80% stamina loss. You are very close to exhaustion. You cannot perform strenous attacks quickly. Avoid most offensive moves and block your opponent's strikes until you regain strength. KI BAR Ki (pronounced "key") is the term describing the energy of the universe. It is the essential life force that flows through and around us. Your ability to accumulate and focus this energy and let it flow freely within you is essential to your understanding and growth. The Ki Bar is a measure of how much ki you have; the longer the bar, the more ki you possess. The longer you stay in a match without attacking, the more ki you collect. The more ki you focus when you attack, the more damage you inflict. When you attack, you use half your ki for the blow. If you strike your opponent, he loses half of his ki, too. Similarly, if you are building up ki and get struck by your opponent, you will lose half of it from the blow. If you are forced off the mat during the match, you lose half your ki. PERFORMING THE MARTIAL ARTS The grids on the following pages correspond to your joystick. The lines on the grids show the path the joystick must follow. Wherever a circle appears, press your fire button. A thick line indicates a path you follow while holding down the Action button. For example: The grid below shows you how to perform an attack in karate where you first crouch and then kick high. Next to him is the movement grid showing how to perform this move. 1. Pull the joystick down to crouch. 2. Press the fire button and quickly move the joystick to the upper right corner to kick. 3. Release the fire button and return the joystick to the center. To smoothly perform each move, time your controls to the character's movement on the screen. Though each martial art has many different moves, each motion is represented in an intuitive way. To do high kicks, blows, or blocks, you use the top row of keys on your keyboard or push the joystick up. To do low kicks, blows, or blocks, use the bottom row of keys or pull the joystick down. With practice, you will be able to perform each move quickly and smoothly. Jiyu-renshu to learn them well. Only when they become second nature will you be ready to take on human opponents. TOBIKO-SENSEI Walk into the building in the top of the screen to seek wisdom from Tobiko-Sensei. Inside, you are given three choices: Budokan - Select this when you are ready to travel to the Budokan. Press the spacebar to begin the tournament. Talk - This seeks wisdom from your sensei. Press the spacebar when you have duly noted his advice. Do not pester the sensei, for he is a man of great patience, but not eternal patience. Courtyard - Returns you to the dojo. BUDOKAN In the tournament, you are only allowed to use any one martial art a maximum of four times. Under each martial art are dots indicating how many more times you can use that art. To win the Budokan, you must use many arts, thus you must plan each choice of art carefully depending on the martial art chosen by your opponent. Do not fight your easiest four opponents with your best art. Engaging opponents in the Bodokan is similar to kumite (See "Kumite" in the Tobiko-Ryu Dojo - The Training Hall section for a complete description), except you are often pitted against adversaries who practice martial arts not taught in the Tobiko-Ryu Dojo. Even if they practice an art that is taught in your dojo, remember they were instructed in a different dojo, and they will have different fighting styles and may perform attacks unfamiliar to you. You are give three chances to defeat each opponent. If you succeed, you meet the next contestant. If you fail three times, you are set back to your previous contestant. (For example: If you last Match 5 three times, you are taken back to Match 4.) If you run out of weapons to fight with - remember you can only use each weapon four times - you are taken back to the Tobiko-Ryu Dojo. MARTIAL ARTS RANKING Every school has its own way of ranking. Most commonly, a beginner wears the white belt. As you grow more skilled in your art, the color gradually progresses to black. Kyu Ranks (Mudansha) Undergraduates Level - Rank 6 - Rokkyu 5 - Gokyu 4 - Yonkyu 3 - Sankyu 2 - Nikyu 1 - Ikkyu (Most advanced undergradute) Dan Ranks (Yudansha) Black Belts Level - Rank 1 - Shodan 2 - Nidan 3 - Sandan 4 - Yondan 5 - Godan 6 - Rokudan 7 - Shichidan 8 - Hachidan 9 - Kudan 10 -Judan (Most advanced master) Below are the diagrams that you will need to know to be able to block or attack during the game. The execution of a move is pretty tricky, so don't be discouraged if your move doesn't turn out like how you planned it. Sorry the diagrams isn't available yet.