Claw's claw

Vega is famous for his detachable claw. His punches have less range and damage without it, but it's a little mysterious what causes it to get knocked off.

In the SF2 series there's a counter that starts at zero and increments every time Vega gets hit or blocks. There doesn't seem to be any distinction between light or heavy attacks or normals vs. specials, but throws don't affect it. When the counter reaches 8, instead of increasing further when he's hit, there's a pseudorandom chance the claw will pop off. The probability doesn't seem all that small. It couldn't be less than 1/16.

In the games prior to ST, a dropped claw is irretrievable. In ST you can touch it to pick it up, and this resets the hit counter. This behavior is preserved in the respective HSF2 modes.

In SFA3 the counter goes the other way, from 8 to 0.

FF8528 SF2WW|P1|claw
FF8828 SF2WW|P2|claw
| |
FF8520 SF2CE/HF|P1|claw
FF8820 SF2CE/HF|P2|claw
| |
FF8530 SSF2|P1|claw
FF8930 SSF2|P2|claw
| |
FF85B0 SSF2T|P1|claw
FF89B0 SSF2T|P2|claw
| |
FF849E HSF2|P1|claw
FF889E HSF2|P2|claw
| |
FFCEEC SFA3|P1|claw
FFCFEC SFA3|P2|claw
| |

I'm guessing the CvS and SvC games work just the same way as above.

In the SFEX games a dropped claw is lost but Vega has a (slow) special move to attach a fresh claw, which can be done any number of times. There's also a secret mode to play without the mask, which probably has no effect on gameplay.

In SF4, both the claw and the mask can fall off—losing the latter makes him take more damage. He can also throw them away at will.

Finally, in SFTM, he can chuck his claw and mask at the opponent as attacks.

Comments

[error1]

so the counter doesn't regenerate then? In sf4 he also deals more damage with the mask off.

[dammit]

Nope, not by waiting at least. Funny thing about the mask. I guess he really doesn't want to get hit in the face.

SF4's drop algorithm must be less random after what Maj found:
http://sonichurricane.com/?p=2828#comment-3581

[James]

Dammit,

The exact probability is 12.5%. A random number (rn) is generated between 1 and 16. It then tests (rn)'th bit of the word 0xDFDF. This word is all 1's except for two bits. Therefore, the chances are 2/16 = 1/8 = 12.5%.

[dammit]

That's good to know.