THE MANAGER · Neon Stick Fight fighter

ON THE BOOKS

How often THE MANAGER gets picked, how often it wins, and its best and worst matchups, against the CPU and against other players. The numbers load from the game's server; they aren't available right now.

STATS

Measured against TEMP, the baseline (the tick on each bar).

HEALTH104

out of 100+4 vs TEMP

WALK0.88x

walking speed-12% vs TEMP

BACK WALK0.77x

stepping back-23% vs TEMP

RUN0.90x

running speed-10% vs TEMP

JUMP0.90x

jump height-10% vs TEMP

DASH0.92x

every glide and lunge-8% vs TEMP

WEIGHT1.15x

heavier flies less far+15% vs TEMP

STAMINA BAR1.00x

size of the attack budgetsame as TEMP

STAMINA REGEN0.95x

how fast stamina refills-5% vs TEMP

DAMAGE1.04x

every hit he lands+4% vs TEMP

BODY

SIZE: 1.06xthe whole rig
HEIGHT: 1.04xhead to feet
ARMS: 1.00xshoulder to fist
LEGS: 1.02xhip to foot
LIMBS: 1.02xthickness (hitbox and hurtbox)
LEAN: 3°leans in

REACH, ROOT TO FIST OR FOOT

JAB: 92 pxTEMP 88 px
CROSS: 122 pxTEMP 116 px
SNAP KICK: 94 pxTEMP 92 px
ROUNDHOUSE: 94 pxTEMP 92 px

MECHANICS

Nothing special: the shared rules, played straight.

Drops the shared TRIPLE JAB and ONE-TWO KICK strings.

UNIQUE MOVES

Frames are at 60 fps, from the animation's own timing. Damage is before THE MANAGER's 1.04x damage stat. On block is about right, before any string follow-up. Tap or hover a move to replay it.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW

1, 2, 2ends PERFORMANCE REVIEW

String, four-hit rush ender

DAMAGE: 4+4+4+10
HEIGHT: MID
STARTUP: 4f
ACTIVE: 35f
RECOVERY: 19f
ON BLOCK: -12
STAMINA: 26
REACH: 123 px

ender
knockdown
4 hits
glides 41 px

DOWNSIZING

← 3

Axe kick overhead, hits crouchers

DAMAGE: 16
HEIGHT: OVERHEAD
STARTUP: 21f
ACTIVE: 10f
RECOVERY: 16f
ON BLOCK: -16
STAMINA: 26
REACH: 91 px

knockdown
glides 24 px

TOP-DOWN

3, 2, 3ends TOP-DOWN

String, ends in the axe kick

DAMAGE: 15
HEIGHT: OVERHEAD
STARTUP: 21f
ACTIVE: 10f
RECOVERY: 16f
ON BLOCK: -16
STAMINA: 30
REACH: 91 px

ender
knockdown
glides 24 px

STRATEGY

How to beat THE MANAGER's own moves. Here → is toward THE MANAGER and ← is away, 1 2 3 4 are your buttons, and ↘ is down and toward. Every tip was scripted against the move in the game, with a TEMP doing the answering, and kept only if it worked.

DOWNSIZING

← 3

It's an overhead, so stand-block it. Crouching gets you hit, blocking or not.
It's slow. When you see the leg go up, a cross (2) or →2 thrown right away knocks him out of it.
Blocked, he's stuck. Punish with the cross (2).
→ parries it.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW

1, 2, 2JAB › CROSS › PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Stand-block all of it. The rush at the end is four hits, so keep holding ← until the last one lands.
It shoves you a long way back. Only →2, the lunge cross, reaches him afterwards.
Stop it before the rush: after you block his first jab, jab back (1) or low kick (↓3). His cross is slow and you hit first.
Crouch from the start and the first jab goes over your head. The string stops there, and a low kick (↓3) punishes.

TOP-DOWN

3, 2, 3SNAP KICK › CROSS › TOP-DOWN

Stand-block it. It's a mid, a high and an overhead, and crouching gets you hit by all three.
The axe kick at the end is slow. After you block his cross, a roundhouse (4) knocks him out of it.
If you block the axe kick too, he's open. Punish with the cross (2) or →2.

THE MANAGER still has most of the strings every fighter shares. How to beat those is on TEMP's page.

CELEBRATION

Win the match and THE MANAGER breaks into this under the WINS banner.

PERFECT

Win a round without taking a hit and THE MANAGER ends it with PERFORMANCE REVIEW FLING: the beaten body goes into the camera, hits the glass and squeaks down it.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW FLING

A performance-review fling: he holds it up at eye level, shakes his head, winds the shoulders round and flings it sidearm at the camera, then straightens his tie and points.

stamped on the glass: NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

STRINGS AND ENDERS

Press in rhythm: each press goes in during the last hit's recovery. Damage is for the whole string landing on TEMP, with combo decay. Stamina is the bar it spends, out of 100.

INPUT	STRING	HITS	PAYOFF	DMG	STAMINA
1, 2, 2	PERFORMANCE REVIEWUNIQUE	JAB › CROSS › PERFORMANCE REVIEW	knockdown, 4 hits	32	64
3, 2, 3	TOP-DOWNUNIQUE	SNAP KICK › CROSS › TOP-DOWN	knockdown, overhead	33	73
1, 1, 2	ONE-TWO	JAB › JAB › CROSS	—	23	55
1, 1, 2, 4	FLASH ROUNDHOUSE	JAB › JAB › CROSS › FLASH ROUNDHOUSE	knockdown	38	85
1, 2, 3	UPTOWN	JAB › CROSS › UPTOWN	—	27	60
1, 2, 3, 4	NEON TORNADO	JAB › CROSS › UPTOWN › NEON TORNADO	launch	39	90
2, 3	CROSS SNAP	CROSS › SNAP KICK	—	18	43
2, 1, 4	SPIN HEEL	CROSS › JAB › SPIN HEEL	knockdown, wall splat	32	68
3, 3, 4	CRESCENT	SNAP KICK › SNAP KICK › CRESCENT	knockdown	31	74
↓1, ↓1, ↓3	LOW RUSH	LOW JAB › LOW JAB › LOW KICK	low	17	48
↓3, ↓3, 4	GROUND RUSH	LOW KICK › LOW KICK › RUSH KNEE	knockdown	27	66
↓2, 1, 2, 4	SKY SPIKE	UPPERCUT › JAB › CROSS › SKY SPIKE	knockdown, ground bounce	36	92
↓1, release ↓ 3	RISE AND SHINE	LOW JAB › RISING KICK	—	17	37

SHARED BASICS

Every fighter has these.

→ is toward the other fighter. Reach is on THE MANAGER's body.

INPUT	MOVE	DMG	HEIGHT	STARTUP	ON BLOCK	STAMINA	REACH	PROPERTIES
1	JAB	6	high	7	-16	17	92
2	CROSS	10	high	14	-18	21	122
3	SNAP KICK	7	mid	7	-9	22	94
4	ROUNDHOUSE	16	high	14	-18	22	94	knockdown
→ 1	BODY BLOW	9	mid	4	-7	19	92
→ 2	LUNGE CROSS	11	mid	11	-18	22	141
→→ 1	BULLET JABout of a dash or a run; the fast way in, bounced out and punished if blocked	7	high	7	-21	19	106	glides 53 px
→→ 2	COMET CROSSout of a dash or a run	16	mid	11	-14	30	173	ender, knockdown, wall splat
→→ 3	SKID KICKout of a dash or a run; blocked low it has no blockstun at all	8	low	9	-26	20	96	glides 63 px
→→ 4	RUNNING BOOTout of a dash or a run; slow out and very slow back	13	mid	10	-22	24	103	knockdown, glides 75 px
→ 4	OVERHEAD KICK	13	mid	14	-7	22	92
← 4	SPIN KICKnear a wall: Wall Spin	15	high	11	-9	22	95	knockdown
↓1	LOW JAB	5	low	4	-10	15	88	ducks highs
↓2	UPPERCUT	9	mid	9	-6	24	68	launch
↓3	LOW KICK	6	low	5	-15	18	90	ducks highs
↓4	SWEEP	9	low	11	-21	22	97	knockdown, ducks highs
release ↓, 1	RISING JABthe quick one out of a crouch, and a mid	7	mid	6	-10	17	93
release ↓, 2	RISING UPPERCUT	11	mid	9	-4	24	68	launch
release ↓, 3	RISING KICKthe second hit of ↓1, release ↓, 3	11	mid	7	-12	22	94
release ↓, 4	RISING KNEE	12	mid	4	-3	24	62	launch
1+3	THROWor 2+4; near a wall: Wall Slam	8	throw	2	—	22	100	throw, knockdown
1 in air	JUMP JAB	6	overhead	2	-1	12	88
2 in air	JUMP CROSS	9	overhead	5	-1	15	102
3 in air	FLYING KICK	10	overhead	3	-2	16	90
4 in air	AIR ROUNDHOUSE	13	overhead	5	-1	18	88	knockdown
↓4 in air	DIVE KICK	11	overhead	4	-5	16	69
↓4 over them	STOMPthe other fighter on the floor in front of you; ↓3 there is the low kick	9	low	10	—	18	92	glides 26 px
1 on the floor	WAKE KICKor 3, while knocked down; can't be hit until it swings; 17 to 24 frames minus on block	8	mid	9	—	12	—	knockdown
2 on the floor	WAKE SWEEPor 4, or ↓ and any button, while knocked down; can't be hit until it swings; 17 to 24 frames minus on block	7	low	11	—	12	—	knockdown

Also shared, with no button of their own: parry, a tap toward the other fighter just before a hit lands (↘ for a low), which costs nothing and leaves the striker reeling; getting up, where ↑ stands, ← or → rolls, and a button is a wake-up strike; and air recovery, a button at the right moment while juggled that lands you on your feet (right at the start of the window, with a jab).