Welcome to my Gambit Shrine 
Max Mouse

Ver 0.1:  Did my intro, special moves, super moves, strats (will add combos 
and versus later) 

INTRODUCTION:  
Hey guys.  Anyways this is my first time writing a faq so don't expect some 
heavy duty ascii art or anything like that sort of stuff.  Gambit is has been 
and always will be my number 1 character.  Him, Guile/Charlie will always be 
on the top of my list.  Gambit isn't one of those regular do-gooders, and he 
ain't really a team leader, and he definitely isn't the strongest or the 
fastest.  These are some of the reasons I like him.  He's different.  He does 
what he wants to do and nothing else.   Playing Gambit isn't about getting all
those little hits in, it's about style, and in order to play Gambit you gotta 
learn that style.  He ain't a scrub, and he ain't power.  He's tricky, but 
once you get it, it pays off.  (note: This is for intermediate to advance 
players) 

GAMBIT'S SPECIAL MOVES

1) Kinetic Card: (d, df, f + punch)

This is Gambit's fireball.  But it ain't just a regular fireball.  It's 
fast, it's invisible, and it's just too sweet.  This is one of the 
aspects that makes Gambit so different.  Because it comes 
instantaneously, it can catch people off guard.  This move has 
absolutely no recovery time, and after thrown, you can block immidiately 
if you miss.  These babies can be thrown from the air and they slow down 
the rate at which he falls, allowing you to dump a whole deck on your 
opponent before landing.  The punch determines how long it stuns the 
opponent.  Jab comes out fast, yet does not hold the opponent for that 
long.  Fierce comes out slow and holds the opponent forever.  It is 
possible to OTG air combo after doing this move if you're fast enough.  
These babies are faster then a beam, I once pulled this move just as Ryu 
was doing his shinkuu-hadoken, and I won out.  

2) Trick Card: (d, db, b +punch)

Same thing as Kinetic card, but direction is at an angle.  After nailing 
him with the card, you can launch him into a royal flush.  It's hard to 
time this as an air defense, and should only be used as a "trick".  
Other then that I can't seem to find a good use for it. 

3) Cajun Slash: (f, d, df + punch)

This is an extremely useful move.  It's a dashing type move, quick and 
free from recovery time.  A cajun slash can be comboed, used as a 
surprise tactic, and has a lot of range and priority.  Depending on the 
button pressed, Gambit will do either of the following:

Jab:  Gambit will take a big step and during that step takes a huge 
swing at his opponent.  This is the one I used the most.  Lots of range, 
very quick on the first hit, and high priority.  This move is comboable 
but does not OTG.

Strong:  Gambit will jump and take a slam his staff below him like his 
jumping fierce, then he will add to additional hits with the last hit 
resembling his crounching strong.  I think this move OTG.  It did in 
X-Men vs Street Fighter.  Anyways, the little jump allows him to avoid 
trips and hit em on the way down.  The range of the first hit isn't as 
great as the jab cajun slash, but it's better then average.  I use this 
version of the cajun slash the least.

Fierce:  This is a pretty useful version of the cajun slash.  Gambit 
will take three swipes with this one, and it OTG.  It's got the most 
range, and goes a little more then half a screen.  I love comboing this 
version.  

4) Cajun Strike: (d, u + punch or kick)

Gambit jumps from side to side then comes down with a kick or a flipping 
staff smash.  I don't know what to say about this move.  It's got high 
priority, but it starts up slow, and it's hard to control.  I pulled 
this move off by accident one time and I was eating Kikoken super on my 
way down.  The only have to say is don't do this move unless you're 
fighting the computer.  

GAMBIT'S SUPER MOVES

1) Royal Flush: (d, df, f + 2punches)

This is one of my favorite moves.  Gambit tosses his staff into the air, 
shouts "Royal Flush" then unloads 37 cards upon his opponent.  Does a 
lot of flashes when it hits, and drains a lot of life.  It's alright for 
chipping, although it shouldn't be used for that.  The twirling staff in 
the air can hit opponents right back down into the cards, but a lot of 
people air block it.  Man they should make the staff unblockable since 
it's so hard to hit people with it.  Anyways, this super starts out real 
slow, (at least not as slow as WarMachine's Proton Cannon) and it also 
has a little bit of recovery delay (again, not as much as WarMachine's 
Proton Cannon).  The only supers that can probably tag him after his 
royal flush are, Gambit (gotta be really quick), Ryu (easily done), and 
shadow Lady (i'm not too sure about this one).  Anyways, this move can 
OTG, but I never try to OTG whenever the opponent is in the corner.  
Sometimes it doesn't hit, and it leaves Gambit standing with a big 
bullseye in his belly.  

2) Cajun Explosion: (d, df, f or d,db,b + 2 kicks)

This move resembles an angled Magnetic Shockwave.  Gambit jumps to one 
wall or the other (forward if you do the fireball motion, backward if 
you do the hurricane) and throws a kinetic card which turns into a huge 
wave.  This is a surfing super, but it only gets in about 5 hits and 
little damage.  I can't seem to nail an opponent with this one.  Even 
with their backs to the corner, they are still able to block it if I 
jump behind them.  It's pretty decent at chipping though.  Oh well, it 
works great on computers.  


MY LITTLE GAMBIT STRATEGIES

Playing Gambit requires a lot of cancelling, quick and tactical 
thinking, knowing your opponent and a mix of defense and offense.  

Strat # 1: Cancelling
Whenever I play Gambit, I always cancel my normal moves into a lot of 
special moves.  Gambit's not as fast as Spider-man, so a lot of his 
offense is blocked.  To remedy this, I always cancel the last hit of my 
combo into a special move leaving Gambit relatively safe and also 
chipping away at my opponent's lifebar.  Crouching roundhouses take a 
lot out of Gambit.  After it's blocked opponents can easily combo the 
crap out of him.  I throw in a jab Kinetic card after every blocked 
crouching roundhouse.  It comes really quick because it's instantaneous, 
it catches people that are trying to dash in on you for that combo.  If 
they block the kinetic card, throw in a cajun slash.  They always think 
the kinetic card has recovery time, but it doesn't and soon, they'll get 
smacked in the face.  If they don't fall for it... who cares... you're 
doing a little chipping for every kinetic card.  Sometimes I encounter 
people that jump when I pull off the Kinetic card.  Again because of the 
little recovery time, I get these guys with Gambit extremely useful 
launcher.  Don't ever let your guard down.  Let these guys know that 
they're gonna take the chipping damage, or take the air combo.  
Cancelling with specials after normal moves should be second nature to 
Gambit players, and getting it you should encorporate it into every 
single tactic you use. Even after blocked launchers, I pull off a 
kinetic card, and if they jump again, another launcher into a kinetic 
card and maybe a cajun slash.  Standing fierces should be cancelled with 
kinetic cards if they're blocked or ducked. 

Strat #2: Quick and Tactical Thinking
One of my big weaknesses with Gambit is that I get way too predictable.  
Sure I can corner them and chip em to death until they make a mistake, 
but those that don't make a mistake can be pretty troublesome for 
Gambit.  For example, I was playing a friend of mine who knew exactly 
what my patterns were.  Jumping fierce, jumping roundhouse, dash, 
ducking short, ducking strong, ducking fierce, jab kinetic card, jab 
cajun slash.  He knew my cancelling pattern, and waited me out.  I did 
this for the third time, and when I threw the kinetic card, he jumped 
and stuck out venom's long hands in my face.  After that I was eating an 
air combo with a venom fang finish.  I got up, did my pattern again, but 
this time instead of pulling off a kinetic card, i pulled off a jab 
trick card.  He fell for it when he jumped, and I was able to launch, 
super.  One thing that Gambit players should do but I find very hard to, 
is never fall into the same pattern over and over again.  When you play 
an opponent for the first time, it's hard for them to notice the 
pattern.  But after they learn it, it can be really trouble for you.  
One of the things I'm trying to do is copy my friend's philosophy by 
never using the same pattern more than twice in a row if they don't fall 
for it.  It's really hard to do this.  

Strat #3: Knowing your opponent
There's no one way to play Gambit.  A good Gambit player knows exactly 
what to do in every possible situation.  He should sum up the odds, and 
follow the strategy that's best layed before him.  Different players 
require different ways of attacking.  Players who constantly are on the 
offense are very susceptible to dashing and crouching attacks.  A lot of 
these guys try to get in every single hit in a combo, and are not 
thinking about their defense and just want to get the applause.  Punish 
their mistakes by pulling off a launcher when they jump, a kinetic card 
when they're far away, and a jab cajun slash when they dash in on you.  
Don't ever try any patterns on these guys as for some reason, I don't 
know why, they manage to dodge you and pull off a combo.  Turtlers are 
some of the easiest people to handle with Gambit.  Gambit's jumping 
fierce, to jumping roundhouse catches tons of turtlers off guard.  No 
one expects another strong attack after a fierce punch.  Turtler's and 
keep aways can't handle it up close, and after you hit them with the 
jumping roundhouse, follow it up with an air combo.  After you land, 
jump straight up and repeat with jumping fierce jumping roundhouse.  
Turtler's are so busy trying to block every single attack that they 
won't risk try to attack you unless you make a big mistake.  With your 
cancelling kinetic cards and cajun slashes, you should be relatively 
safe from any attack and thus, not making any mistakes.  There's a ton 
of different players out there and you just got to figure them out.  See 
if they launch you if you jump, if they do, they're probably a rusher.  
If they block, they're probably a turtler.  Of course there's those 
people who are mixed, and those guys are the toughies.  There's no one 
way to play against these guys, and it just requires a mix of tactics.  

Strat #4 Mixes of OFFENSE and DEFENSE
Gambit can both go offense and defense.  Because of his range, he's got 
pretty good priority and because of his priority he's got pretty good 
defense.  Offensive tactics require a basic knowledge of Gambit's 
attacks.  Jumping fierce has a lot of priority, and can combo into 
jumping roundhouse.  Ducking short is quick has okay range.  Crouching 
fierce is powerful and sends opponents sky high.  Standing strong is 
extremely high in priority.  Know which moves to use for offense and 
which for defense.  Whenever jumping in on a ground opponent always jump 
with fierce, then cancel into roundhouse.  The first hit has a ton of 
priority and damage, and the second just adds up to more damage.  They 
go well together.  After this dash in and pull off a combo.  If they 
block the combo, end it with a kinetic card and then a cajun slash if 
they block the KC.  When your on defense, remember that Gambit's 
launcher is a pain for other characters.  Also, Gambit's jump is 
extremely high and slow.  Watch out for those guys that like to dash 
under you and launcher you.  Your Jumping fierce won't hit anyone behind 
you so you better block accordingly.  Gambit's classified as a mid-tall 
character.  Watch out for the double kick jump in from other characters.  
For defense, just basically watch your blocking and pull off your high 
priority moves (launcher, jab cajun slash, standing strong) when they 
least expect it.

CONCLUSION:  Anyways that's about it for now.  I'm gonna add a few 
comboes that I love to do and versus strategies for specific characters 
later.  Anyways Thanks goes out to MIGS for his excellent site (some of 
the descriptions and strats are from his awesome site).  Thanks also 
goes out to all the Gambit fans out there, because skilled players pick 
Gambit.  Unskilled players pick Strider.  Yeah, well I'm gonna mail this 
in now. Seeyah later. 

Max Mouse