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| "You plan on taking us on with a power level like that? You're way outta your league!" | |
| Lore: | Once Vegeta's partner and body guard, Nappa traveled to Earth with the Saiyan prince in the hopes of gaining immortality. After killing Yamcha and Tien, he was confronted by Goku, who defeated him with little effort. One of Goku's attacks rendered him paralyzed, and Vegeta killed him in cold blood purely due to Nappa's inability to act anymore. |
Nappa 
Nappa is a slow, strong bruiser who supplements his attacks & pressure with Saibaman footsoldiers that he can grow during battle. It takes time for the Saibamen to grow and be of use, but once they are in the field, they can disrupt opponents and leave them open to Nappa's punishing blows and devastating mix-game.
- Saibamen: Saibamen attack freely & separately from Nappa himself, giving him built-in EZ-bake mixups. Saibamen also stay out when Nappa is hit, potentially saving him from a combo.
- Great Corner Game: Saibamen can be used to fill in blockstring gaps in the corner, and can even let Nappa restart his pressure for free. Nappa also suppliments this power by having higher than average damage in the corner compared to the rest of the cast, fantastic mix-up tools, and...
- Restands: Thanks to the unique properties of Saibamen's Spit & Explosion attacks, Nappa is the only character in the game with access to consistent Restands nearly anywhere within his combos. Restands allows him to remove an opponent's tech options after a combo, forcing opponents to play Nappa's excruciatingly difficult mix-game.
- Corner Carry: Has a great 5H that launches the opponent all the way to the screen edge, allowing Nappa near instant access to the corner if he lands it in neutral.
- Mixup Potential Probably the best mixups out of any character in the game. He is able to setup midscreen, 4 way, unreactable mix with the right assists. He also has corner 50/50 mixups that are incredibly difficult to block thanks to his high / low tools and Saibamen.
- Large Movelist: has a reversal level 3 that can be cancelled into special attacks, allowing Nappa to either start combos at his conditions or add more damage in the cost of 3 bars. Most of his specials can be delayed, which gives them different properties, either being range, damage or mix-up potential.
- Poor Defense: Saibamen go down in one hit, and without one of them onscreen, defense options are limited. His 214S Guard Point starts at frame 5, and due to his jabs being quite slow, he has difficulty mashing out of pressure.
- Weak Neutral: Has a neutral game best described as "poo." His normals outside of 5H are incredibly stubby, his 5L is 7 frames and 2L is 8 frames, his aerial ki blast is very slow, and his grounded ki blast is terrible for neutral. Because of these faults, he relies heavily on assists and a really basic handful of moves to get in.
- Needs the Corner: Nappa struggles to utilize his Saibamen in his combos mid-screen, and he is incapable of performing his signature air combo extension without the corner. This results in mediocre mid-screen combo options. He also struggles to keep offense going without corner, due to rather poor oki options mid screen.
- Poor Air Game: While his j.L is a great air-to-air and catches Super Dash fairly well, his lack of solo midscreen combo extensions midscreen lead to poor damage and an over-reliance on assists to extend from a j.L air-to-air. Not to mention his j.S is quite slow and j.236S being a very situational Beam-type projectile tool. It's also a shame j.2H doesn't have any sort of Head Invulnerability to help with opponents Super Dashing from below Nappa in the air.
| Nappa | |
|---|---|
 |
Normal Moves
5L
Punchin' your shins
boot
smacc
| 5L |
|---|
| 5LL |
| 5LLL |
- 5L has decent range jab, one of the slower 5L in the game.
- Can be repeated by holding 4.
- Hits low
- 5LL is good for stagger pressure, moves him forward quite a bit.
Mostly useful as a gapless bridge to his medium buttons. It being -8 doesn't matter much.
- Last hit of his L auto combo, only really useful if you confirm into it.
Can be spaced out to beat mashing. Other than that it only has esoteric uses in combos.
5M
AH A SPIDER
- A standing low. Ground bounces airborne opponents.
Frame traps from his jabs. Really useful as a stagger tool as 2M > 5M is completely safe and pressing 2L afterwards will beat most 5L's.
5H
"A major in child psychology.....WITH A MINOR IN PAIN"
- Unsafe, but absolutely insane range. Moves him forward more than half screen fairly fast. Can be pretty good to throw out with assists.
5S
Hot potatoe
"The paparazzi... I HAVE TO PROTECT MY `AAGE"
- Nappa takes a step forward before he throws a piercing Ki blast, during this time it'll reflect all ki blasts that are S normals
- A bit slow but an important part of his corner combos.
- Will pierce through any other projectile S normal, but still lose to 236S type projectiles.
- Wind up has a hit box and if done close can be a double hitting move.
2L
Little punches por a big guy
2M
Man, Nappa must be great at breakdancing.
- Good range but fairly slow.
- Due to 5L, 5M, 2M being lows, and 5L being repeatable, Nappa has access to four lows in one string.
2H
The Nappa Clappa
- Anti-air with great vertical range and a mediocre horizontal hitbox. As such, it can whiff during some grounded strings/confirms if you're too far.
Utterly massive anti-air. Useful when catching uptech in the corner, as it can be plus when cancelled into 214S and covered by a Saibaman.
6M
- DBFZ Nappa 6M.png
bend it like Beckham
- Standard grounded overhead.
- Slow 5L means Nappa's fastest option to beat mashing is 214S.
Nappa is blessed with the ability to easily make his universal overhead plus. Even basic strings like 4LL > 6M can leave him at advantage.
j.L
yoooooo, look that punch
- Great air-to-air.
It can easily whiff during air combos, especially versus smaller characters. Make sure to delay your initial jump cancel from 5M when confirming into air combos to minimize drops. The other 50% of his corner restand 50/50.
j.M
aerial boot
- Good range for IAD crossups like a lot of j.M moves.
Not a bad normal, but mostly overshadowed by it's heavier cousin outside of combos. Decent for mixups as it can be cancelled into j.L where j.H cannot.
j.H
"TAG! ...No tag backs."
- [] is on Smash hit.
Pretty insane jumping button, as it has an amazing hitbox and can be done low to the ground.
j.S
skedaddle skidoodle this move is my neutral
- Piercing Ki blast. Z Broly's but it was there first.
- Arcs downwards.
Nappa's main neutral tool. If performed low to the ground (via IAD, for example) this move generates enough frame advantage to dash up and continue pressure/confirm into a combo if it hits.
j.2H
"FOR PONYYYYYYY!"
- DBFZ Nappa j2H-2.png
"I know! I'll use Rock Smash!"
- Dives and slams the opponent to the ground.
- Input 2H again to only do the first hit and leave Nappa floating in the air for a second. You can also hold 2H and he will do the cancel ASAP. This cancel is only available early on in the move, falling for too long and Nappa will be stuck in the animation.
- 1st hit will not have more than 8 active frames, regardless of altitude.
- 2nd hit has a minimum of 2 active frames with additional frames based on altitude.
- 2nd hit has 1 extra startup frame if Nappa hits the ground before the hitbox comes out (this only happens when activating the attack extremely close to the ground).
Not the best in neutral, but an important part of his corner combos and also can hit after air Vanish. Can be cancelled into specials after he lands on the ground.
Be warned that whiffing the move causes Nappa to slam the ground and have to bounce back and land, during which he is free to be punished (unless you have meter to Vanish-cancel).
Special Moves
Arm Break
236L/M/H
"Looks like he's been..."
"Dis-armed!"
| L |
|---|
| M |
| H |
- 236L is a safe but fairly slow standing overhead that they can quick recover out of. Okay to throw out with assists sometimes, but can be interrupted easily if done in blockstrings.
- 236M runs forward before slamming the ground twice, causing a sliding hard knockdown state. Important part of his combos, but not too useful outside of it, as he can be hit while running and has to run a minimum distance.
Nappa's main combo ender used to set up a knockdown for planting Saibamen.
- 236H is more powerful version of his M arm breaker. Stands still for a bit before rushing forward into the attack.
- Has slightly more range than M version.
- Causes a ground bounce into a sliding knockdown on hit. Can be extended with either an assist call or a vanish during the ground bounce.
Saibamen
214L/M/H
I don't know if I want a sunflower or a peashoter
| L |
|---|
| M |
| H |
- After sprouting, the Saibamen will walk towards the opponent and only perform their attacks at close range. Disappear if they're hit, but not if Nappa is hit.
- Input can be held to delay the sprout, e.g. if you do 214L, hold L until Nappa stands up for the delayed sprout.
- Multiple Saibamen can be planted at once, but planting a new one before the last one can sprout will overwrite it, and new Saibamen will only sprout when there's no other Saibamen on screen.
- If a planting spot is offscreen, Saibamen will sprout at the edge of the current screen instead.
- 214L plants a green Saibamen that performs Claw, Slide, Grab.
Combo food and blockstring fodder, as there are no Saibaman moves with Reflect-able blockstun.
- 214M plants a blue Saibamen that performs Spit, Slide, Grab.
Use near the end of corner combos for restands. There's a consistent setup that uses one assist into restand 50/50, you almost always want to use this over explosion restand.
- 214H plants a red Saibamen. Pressing L/M/H/S during the planting will program Saibamen to do the pressed sequence, up to 4 actions before automatically ending with Grab.
- L does Claw, M does Slide, H does Grab, S does Spit. H will always end the sequence early.
- Saibamen will perform Spit, Claw, Spit, Slide, Grab by default.
Saibamen Attacks
"That one's Snuggles!"
"And that one's Fufu!"
"And that one's Cabbagehead!"
"And that one's Vegeta Jr- VEGETA JR NOOOOOOOOO!"
| Claw |
|---|
| Spit |
| Slide |
| Grab |
- Claw launches on hit.
Useful as a combo extender, primarily after Blazing Storm in the corner.
- Spit Ki Blast properties.
- On hit, puts the opponent in standing hitstun even if they're in the air, and they'll fall down to the ground in this state.
Nappa's main restand tool. From 214M, if the opponent is hit while they're high enough, the slide will whiff allowing Nappa to capitalize on the restand.
- Slide launches on hit.
Useful as a bridge to a Dragon Rush close to the end of a combo.
- On hit, the Grab immediately puts the opponent down on the ground in standing hitstun, then explodes.
- The grab can only land once per combo.
Another restand tool: at high hitstun decay, the combo will drop in between the grab and the explosion. If they block the explosion, Nappa gets either a mixup or airtight pressure. If they get hit, he can easily confirm into a full combo. This is stronger than spit restand pressure wise, but the mixup is weaker.
In a normal combo, the explosion gives Nappa enough advantage to plant another Saibaman.
Blazing Storm
236S (Air OK)
I command this area to EXPLODE
| Ground |
|---|
| Air |
- Nappa swipes his arm forward and makes a moderately sized explosion.
The explosion itself has fairly weak range, however the S button can be held down to extend the range the move strikes at, going slightly under fullscreen if held. This applies to both the ground and air versions of the move. Unfortunately, this move is one of the few S specials that doesn't clash with other 236S type moves; it will simply eat 1 hit, leaving the beam with 4 remaining hits. Single hit 236S moves will simply pierce it. This means your opponent will have an easier time wiping out Saibamen planted in neutral if they have a beam!
Too Bad
214S
"Hi-yah!"
"Welcome to the Gun Show!"
| Normal |
|---|
| Counter |
- [] = hold down S.
- Nappa swipes forward and then brings his elbow down for a vicious strike.
- Both parts of the move can be held.
- Guard point from frames 5 to 24 (frame 38 if S is held down).
- Blocks all physical strikes. Loses to any projectiles, throws, and supers.
- If successfully blocks incoming attacks, Nappa responds with a more devastating elbow that ground bounces.
Useful after a blocked 6M or 5H. Normally, Nappa has a 7 frame 5L so he wouldn't be able to contest vs characters with 6 frame 5Ls after their 6Ms. Additionally, since the first part of this move is a strike, most point blank command grabs/Dragon Rushes are slow enough that the aggressor will be hit by 214S(1).
Can follow up after the second hit easily with either a super dash or by jumping forward with air buttons to get a full combo or an air 2h to get sliding knockdown outside of the corner. However, the second hit uses up your smash and prorates the follow-up combo heavily.
Z Assists
Assist A
Blazing Storm
"Hey Vegeta am I helpful yet?"
- Tracks the opponent.
- Good for neutral and combo extensions.
Remarkably high blockstun and relatively quick speed make this a great all-around assist. You'll probably be using this one the most because of how versatile it is.
Assist B
Too bad
Enemies can´t even see your beautiful face Nappa
- On hit, followup with a ground bounce.
- Has guardpoint like 214S, making it a pseudo DP/barrier assist.
Remarkably good for the Gohans, as its guard point can stop people from Guard Cancelling air EX Legs. Otherwise decent as a pseudo-barrier like Android 17. In theory, it can be used to set up checkmate scenarios with command grabs using the guard point to cover the command grab and the hit to keep pressure afterwards.
Assist C
Deluxe Bomber
He´s a frieking misile
- DBFZ Nappa j2H-2.png
Hidden missiles this ain't
- Tracks the opponent.
- On hit, adds a ground bouncing version of 236L.
Not really all that great considering his other options. It's decent as a tracking assist, but it also has all the drawbacks of a C assist without having an additional property like armor to prop it up.
Super Moves
Giant Storm
236L+M or 236H+S
"I sunk their battleships!"
"...And their WHALES."
- Invulnerable from frames 9 to 20.
- Minimum damage: 805
Nappa points two fingers into the air creating a big explosion that takes up most of the screen. If the button is held, the opponent will be sent in an arc behind Nappa.
Break Cannon
214L+M or 214H+S
"Hey Vegeta, look! Imma firin mah lazar!"
"BGAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
- Invulnerable from frames 1 to 15.
- Minimum damage: 1778
- Advantage on hit: +44, enough for a safejump. L/M Saiba pland it 0, H Saiba is +5.
Nappa winds up for a big gut punch that, if it lands, sets him up to fire a huge laser out of his mouth. Has less utility than other level 3's due to the fact that he has to land the first punch for the followup. Invincible on startup like all level 3's. As of the Season 3 patch, the button can be held for Nappa to do just the punch and not the beam follow-up. The punch also becomes special cancelable, allowing Nappa to convert into saibaman combos and setups without any assists. Results in very high damage potential when used mid combo, and can turn reversal level 3 into a full setup rather than simple midscreen oki. Very resource intensive, but worth it in the right situation. A basic example of that kind of setup is 214[L+M] > microdash 5LLL, as if you're cornered you will corner them and be ready for a restand setup. Yeah, it's messed up, but it's all he has.
External References
move and the move Full sections. One is shown on the character page, while the other is shown on the frame data page.