Zappa is Guilty Gear's perpetually unfortunate soul from the most dangerous region in the gear universe: Australia.
Zappa's game design is one of the most unique in fighting games. Zappa psuedo-randomly summons spirits to change his fighting style drastically, and to help him gather orbs to summon an even greater ally: Raoh.
Each of Zappa's summons gives him a different playstyle and set of tools to work with, from zoning, to spacing, to rushdown. Zappa's general strategy is to get a summon, play based on that summon's style, and gain orbs. Once Zappa gains 8 orbs, he can summon Raoh, inflicting lethal damage for 15 seconds. Zappa players will have to learn the ins and outs of each of his playstyles, resulting in Zappa having five times as many matchups as normal characters.
File:PrivateTarkus sandbox3 Icon.pngsandbox3Zappa is Kusoge From the Japanese "クソゲー", meaning "shitty game"Kusoge are games which are highly broken in the literal sense. Kusoge often function poorly, and lack polish, and usually have extreme mechanics/balance. Kusoge is both a term of endearment and an insult, depending on the context. five characters in disguise as one who overwhelms the opponent with bizarre hitboxes, hurtboxes, and moves with unique properties.
Pros
Cons
High grounded mobility: Zappa's extraordinary Backdash and fast low profile dash make him one of the slipperiest characters in the game when he's grounded.
Variety of overheads: Most of Zappa's forms have access to a variety of grounded overheads including his 16f 214D force break.
Tricky Normals: Zappa has many normals that shrink his hurtbox to go under the opponent's attack as well as his 5K which raises his hurtbox to go over lows. This makes Zappa very difficult to poke against for some characters.
Free Summons: Zappa has a 3/8 chance each time he leaves hitstun to get a free summon, which often is enough to turn the tide of a previously bad situation.
Strong meterless reversal option: Although it is only available when Zappa has no summon, 236P is a very strong reversal that can get Zappa out of difficult situations or be used to counterpoke.
Low damage output: Zappa generally does below average damage off of regular confirms, especially when he has no summon or Triplets.
Limited tools in the air: In most forms Zappa cannot end confirms in a hard knockdown vs airborne opponents and he generally lacks strong air to air or jump-in tools.
Overall poor Anti-airs: While his unconventional 6P can be an effective Anti-air versus some characters, naked Zappa must often rely heavily on airthrow or his grounded mobility to protect himself from jump-ins.
File:PrivateTarkus sandbox3 Icon.pngsandbox3 summons a shadowy Dog to assist him in battle. While Dog is summoned, Zappa becomes like a miniature Eddie, working in tandem with his canine companion to create suffocating pressure situations.
Pros
Cons
Dog Pressure: If Zappa manages to either get his opponent into the corner or sandwiched between him and the dog, he can create some of the most intense pressure in the entire game. Numerous resets, dozens of high/low and left/right mixups and the threat of a grab on top of it all can make the opponent dread seeing him pop up.
Unblockables: With the use of 4DD combined with a low from Zappa even the most defensive opponents can be opened up.
Infinites: If the opponent is between Zappa and the dog when hit Zappa can choose to combo infinitely until he decides to go for a reset or the opponent bursts.
Amazing Defense: Not only can the dog absorb one hit for Zappa, it can also attack at all times, even when Zappa is blocking, stunned, or even while he is bursting. This allows Zappa to start offense even when he is defending, making Dog an incredibly strong tool.
Invincible While Idle: Dog cannot be hit if it is not in an attack or recovery animation unless it stays still for 6 seconds straight.
Demanding Positioning: Dog takes a significant amount of time to cross the stage and must be present for Zappa to extend his combos, meaning Zappa must remain close to the dog lest he be caught in a bad position. Additionally, while the dog being vulnerable while attacking can be a great boon for Zappa when he's on the defense, it also means that the summon is easy to lose while positioning it in neutral. Zappa must be especially cautious of multihit moves as they can blow through the dog and still hit Zappa.
Limited Knockdowns: Because he loses access to his regular 2D Zappa is unable to knock down the opponent unless the dog is in position to help. Additionally, Zappa with Dog usually gets limited conversions that don't lead to a knockdown off of hits vs airborne opponents.
File:PrivateTarkus sandbox3 Icon.pngsandbox3 summons three ghostly Triplets to help him in battle. While Triplets are summoned, Zappa becomes a trickster with access to extended pressure and screen control, capable of flooding the screen with numerous projectiles.
Pros
Cons
Zoning Extraordinaire: With 236P/K/S/H/D Zappa can control a ludicrous amount of space on the screen, warding off approaches and locking the opponent down.
Misfortune Curse: If you manage to curse the opponent they will be forced to be careful of the random items, allowing Zappa to take the initiative. Misfortune items can also save Zappa from pressure, extend combos, or even set up unblockables.
Tricky: Triplets give Zappa a variety of options which let him confuse and frustrate the opponent. Zappa can stall in the air with repeated triplet tosses, hit them with lingering hitboxes while jumping over their heads, cause chaos by spawning multiple items at once after comboing into 236D, and generally annoy the opponent to no end.
Extensive Pressure: Triplet normals cancel into themselves and other Triplet normals allowing Zappa to perform extended pressure, especially with the help of curse items and his highly useful triplet toss FRC. When the other player is in the corner Zappa can continue pressure almost indefinitely if he has a good read on his opponent.
Orb Generation: Landing Triplet Toss and doing Triplet combos consistently rewards Zappa with orbs that he can use to eventually summon Raou.
Poor Damage: Triplets do extremely low damage and instead rely heavily on repeatedly opening up the opponent.
Misfortune Interruption: When the opponent is cursed the random items can sometimes interrupt Zappa's combos or otg knocked down opponents.
Limited Triplets: Should Zappa rely too heavily on his ghost toss specials or 2H/jH he will be left vulnerable until his ghosts return to him.
Extended Hurtboxes: Most Triplet normals extend Zappa's hurtbox signficantly which can make them vulnerable to being counterpoked.
File:PrivateTarkus sandbox3 Icon.pngsandbox3 summons a bloodstained sword to help him in battle. While Sword is summoned, Zappa gains access to numerous extremely powerful mixups and fully disjointed long range pokes.
Pros
Cons
Fully Disjointed: Sword has a unique property in that it does not have a hurtbox, which makes it extremely effective in neutral and invalidates many options that the opponent might otherwise use to escape pressure such as burst, dp, or dead angle and allows spaced Sword normals to be fully reversal safe during combos and okizeme From Japanese "起き攻め". Attacking an opponent about to wake up after they were knocked down, usually with meaty attacks or mix-ups..
Strong Zoning: Because the sword can reach roughly 3/4ths of the screen, Zappa can use it to zone out opponents with very little risk to himself, especially versus characters with subpar mobility.
Amazing High-Low Mixup: When Zappa obtains Sword he gains access to some very strong high-low mixup tools such as his 6P>2K gatling (which is exclusive to Sword), 6H (a 13f overhead that turns into a low later on in the move), 2S (a ranged low), and his j.S (which hits high and can be used as an instant overhead). These tools allow Zappa to keep his opponent guessing from all ranges.
Plethora of Strong Tools: Sword gives Zappa a variety of useful tools that allow him to move across the screen quickly, anti-air, extend pressure, and recall sword. In addition to this, every Sword special has an FRC point to make it safe or to extend pressure/combos.
Oppressive Corner Pressure: Sword has some of the strongest corner pressure in the game. When an opponent is forced into the corner Zappa can use Come Close, and I'll Kill You (also known as Swipe) to cause a hard knockdown. This allows Zappa's to keep pressuring the opponent after every corner combo and force Zappa's opponent to work to get out of his pressure.
Dead Zone: Due to the sword lingering in place after completing a move, poor placement or exploitable gaps in pressure will allow an opponent to get between Zappa and the Sword. Once this happens Zappa's options become much more limited, as he will either have to go for a risky option such as Please Fall (DP), run away, or rely on his P and K normals to bail him out.
Highly Committal Normals: Sword normals such as 2H (37f), 5H (39f), and 6H(45f) are all moves with high total frame counts that leave Zappa completely vulnerable should the opponent avoid them.
Limited Access to Knockdowns: Although Zappa retains his 2D allowing him to KD midscreen when close to the opponent, Sword normals and specials generally do not result in hard knockdown unless the opponent is grounded and in the corner.
Other Limitations: All sword normals build 0 guard bar and every sword normal/special other than 236S is air-blockable without Faultless Defense unlike most grounded moves in the game.
File:PrivateTarkus sandbox3 Icon.pngsandbox3 collects eight Orbs, allowing him to summon the mighty Raou! With excellent control of the screen and absurd damage potential, Raoh is to be feared by opponents!
Pros
Cons
Damage like His Namesake: With 50% meter and a 214S starter close to the corner Raou is capable of dealing close to an entire health bar's worth of damage. Even outside of this situation he does enough damage that often even a single confirm is enough to close out a round.
Strong Normals: Raou gives Zappa access to some very useful normals with far reaching hitboxes that can be used for poking, frame traps, and extended pressure.
Amazing DP: Raou's 214S is one of the best invincible reversals in the game, coming out on frame 4 and reaching almost to the top of the screen with an air-unblockable mountain of a hitbox.
High Threat Projectiles: Raou's 236S followups are air unblockable and lead into a full combo on hit, which combined with their multiple trajectories and large hitboxes makes them a threatening screen presence.
Chip Damage: Raou's 236S projectile and 632146S super both do highly increased chip damage, forcing the opponent to choose between losing their meter or taking significant (sometimes fatal) damage.
You Are Already Unsummoned: After 15 seconds Raou disappears, leaving Zappa summonless.
Limited Mixup: Raou's only option for a grounded overhead is his 5D. This means that Raou can sometimes struggle to open an opponent up before he disappears.
Enlarged Hurtboxes: Although Raou's normals are quite powerful, they also expand Zappa's hurtbox significantly and make him vulnerable to counterpokes.
Zappa has the ability to summon one of 4 familiars which will augment his playstyle significantly by replacing his specials and normals.
Zappa's forms are in brief:
Naked or Summonless - This state is his weakest form. Zappa will start the round this way and return to it if he takes damage.
Triplets - Grant Zappa a flexible projectile special with 5 different trajectories that curses the opponent on hit, causing random items to harass them. Also gives Zappa augmented normals that can cancel into each other on whiff.
Sword - Grants Zappa overwhelming mixup potential while also allowing him to attack from nearly fullscreen.
Dog - Replaces his Dust button with a familiar which can act autonomously from Zappa, even while he is attacking or blocking.
Raoh - Raoh only appears when Zappa has 8 orbs. Raoh has amazing damage, reach, and speed, but is balanced by very poor mixups.
Zappa has a unique resource called Orbs which he gains by hitting enemies with certain moves.
Orbs will be shown as balls of light which float in a circle around Zappa's body. Zappa's special moves will grant Zappa with 1 to 2 orbs if they successfully hit, depending on the move. Zappa will start each round with 0 orbs, and can have a maximum of 8 orbs. When Zappa has 8 orbs, his next summon special will summon Raoh who is a unique summon that only lasts 15 seconds.
Zappa is Kusoge From the Japanese "クソゲー", meaning "shitty game"Kusoge are games which are highly broken in the literal sense. Kusoge often function poorly, and lack polish, and usually have extreme mechanics/balance. Kusoge is both a term of endearment and an insult, depending on the context. five characters in disguise as one who overwhelms the opponent with bizarre hitboxes, hurtboxes, and moves with unique properties.
