The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/Blue Mary

Introduction

Blue Mary is a well-rounded character that leans more towards offense with her large bag of mixups. In neutral, she has access to some good pokes to keep the opponent from going in and some special moves that move her forward so she can get into mixup range. Once she is in mixup range, she can pressure the opponent with her good jump-ins and low chains or mix them up with her 1f command grab, overhead or jumping grab. Her main weakness is that a lot of her moves are punishable on block.

Changes from Previous Versions

98 to 98UM

Normals:

• st.B now has less priority

• cl.C's recovery reduced by 6 frames

• st.C's recovery reduced by 10 frames

• st.D's startup reduced by 2 frames

• cr.D's startup reduced by 4 frames

• Raw f+A's recovery reduced by 15 frames

Specials:

• qcf+A's startup frames reduced by 2 and recovery frames increased by 2

• qcf+C's startup frames reduced by 4 and recovery frames increased by 4

• b~f+B's startup reduced by 3 frames, 2 more active frames and 3 frames more recovery, can now combo from lights

• b~f+D's recovery increased by 3 frames

98UM to 98UMFE

Specials:

• qcf+B's recovery reduced by 3 frames

• qcf+D's recovery reduced by 5 frames

Normal Moves

Close

• cl.A: Fast startup and plus on block. Whiffs on short crouchers. Not chainable. Cancelable.

• cl.B: Short-ranged normal with good frame advantage. Can combo into cl.C with a 1f link. Chainable and cancelable.

• cl.C: Two-hitting close normal. Great combo filler since it deals good damage and both hits are cancelable. Safe on block.

• cl.D: Two-hitting close normal. Has a lot of startup and is less safe than cl.C, so this one doesn't have much use. Cancelable on both hits.

Standing

• st.A: Fairly short range, but it can be used to stop some hops. Whiffs on short crouchers. Chainable.

• st.B: Great poke with fast startup, good range, nice active frames, and good recovery. Whiffs on tiny crouchers.

• st.C: Long-ranged poke with a lot of startup and recovery, making it unsafe on whiff. Kinda hard to punish on block because of the pushback.

• st.D: Slow poke with a lot of recovery, but it has a lot of low invincibility.

Crouching

• cr.A: A crouching jab with fairly short reach. Kinda bad on block at -3. Good combo tool after cr.B. Chainable and cancelable.

• cr.B: Mary's main low combo starter. Has good reach and shrinks her hurtbox quite a lot. Chainable.

• cr.C: Moves her forward a little bit. Has a lot of recovery, making it very punishable. Can be used in combos at ranges where cl.C would whiff. Cancelable on hit, block, and whiff.

• cr.D: Long reach but has equally long recovery, making it unsafe on block and whiff (unsurprisingly for a sweep). Shrinks her hurtbox a lot, so she can go under some flying projectiles with it.

Jumping

• j.A: Decent jump-in attack with a lot of active frames.

• j.B: Has long reach downwards, making it another decent jump-in attack. It can also be used as an instant overhead.

• j.C: Has a nice hitbox in front and slightly below Mary, so this move can function as both an air-to-air and jump-in. Comes out fairly slow though.

• nj.C: Great hitbox for air-to-airing as it has loads of priority in front of Mary.

• j.D: Mary's best jump-in normal due to its good speed, reach, and damage. Can crossup, and also be used as a instant overhead when used during a hyper hop.

CD Normals

• st.CD: Good grounded poke that can be cancelled on whiff and on contact to make it safer or apply different mixups.

• j.CD: Great air-to-air normal. Whiffs on low crouchers.

Throws

Victor Heave: b/f+C (close)

• Regular throw, techable. Mary picks the opponent up and drops them behind her and then delivers a elbow strike. Sends the opponent half screen away behind Mary with a backturned hard knockdown.

• The fact that this switches sides means that Mary cannot normal-throw her opponent in the corner and keep them there—luckily, she has a command grab for that.

Head Throw: b/f+D (close)

• Regular throw, techable. Mary flings the opponent behind her full screen distance, causing a soft knockdown.

Command Moves

Hammer Arch: f+A

• Overhead when done raw, loses the overhead property when cancelled into. Moves very far forward.

• One of Mary's primary mixup tools.

• Punishable on block when done raw and when cancelled into.

• A staple in her combos, as it combos after her heavy attacks and allows her to cancel into a special or DM. Forward movement also means it negates any pushback from what it was canceled from.

• Causes a hard knockdown when hitting an airborne opponent.

• When late-canceled into, it maintains the overhead property, letting you surprise your opponent in pressure.

Climbing Arrow: df+B

• Good anti-air that hits high up.

• Can be canceled into dp+K on hit for a combo.

• Shrinks her hurtbox, so it can low-profile some jump-ins.

• Pops grounded opponents up for an air reset on hit.

Double Rolling: f+B

• A slow double kick. First hit has low invincibility but hits mid, and second hit has no invincibility but hits low.

• Unsafe on block and not cancelable, so bad in combos.

• Avoid using this move. Mary can simply do st.D or cr.B by themselves, instead of both at once.

Special Moves

Spin Fall: qcf+B/D

• Forward-moving jumping kick. A version goes a shorter distance than the C version.

• Will go over a good amount of grounded attacks, so it's good to use as an approaching option.

• Safe on block.

• Susceptible to hop anti-airs.

• Best as a neutral option or blockstring ender, doesn't really have any benefit as a combo ender (and is hard to combo into).

M. Spider: qcf+A/C

• A jumping command grab. A version flies shorter and lower than the C version.

• Very reactable and punishable if done raw, and good players will usually still catch it and respond even if you do it as a surprise cancel.

• Use it as an occasional YOLO mixup option.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown.

Straight Slicer: b~f+B/D

• A long-range sliding kick. B version goes about half screen and D version goes almost full screen.

• Can low-profile a lot of pokes and some projectiles.

• It can also low profile jump-in attacks, so it functions as a good long-range anti-air as well.

• B version can combo from lights, which gives her nice low confirms.

• It has a lot of active frames.

Crab Crunch: qcf+B/D (during b~f+K)

• A followup to b~f+K. Mary grabs the opponent and breaks their leg. Adds extra damage and a hard knockdown.

• Always follow up with this, since it only comes out on hit and nothing extra happens on block or whiff.

Vertical Arrow: dp+B/D

• An upwards travelling DP move. B version flies shorter than the D version, but is faster.

• B version only has a bit of startup invincibility and D version has full startup invincibility that lasts until the 4th active frame.

• B version can function as a fast anti air as it has a very good hitbox.

• D version functions as a reversal and as a late anti air.

• Very unsafe on block and whiff.

M. Snatcher: dp+B/D (during dp+K)

• A followup to her DP. Adds extra damage and a backturned hard knockdown.

• Always do this followup, as it only comes out on hit and nothing extra happens on block or whiff.

Backdrop Real: hcb,f+A/C (close)

• A 1f command grab.

• Good to use as a mixup tool and as a combo ender.

• Also good as a fast punish tool against things that leave the opponent point blank.

• Very punishable on whiff.

• Causes soft knockdown.

• Damage isn't much more than a normal throw, but this has great utility.

M. Reverse Face Lock: qcb+B

• Counters only high attacks.

• The counter is active on the second frame, so this is excellent to use as a reaction anti-air.

• Unsafe on whiff.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown.

M. Headbuster: qcb+D

• Counters mid/low attacks.

• Mary flings the opponent behind her, leaving them in a juggleable state that you can combo out of with her dp+K, qcf,hcb+P, or a normal of your choice for a reset.

• Unsafe on whiff.

Desperation Moves

M. Typhoon: hcbx2+B/D (close)

• DM version of her hcb,f+P that does a lot more damage.

• Causes a hard knockdown, but sends the opponent far enough away that you usually get no oki.

• MAX version just does more damage.

M. Splash Rose: qcf,hcb+A/C

• Mary dashes forward and delivers a series of strikes on hit.

• Does less damage than her other DMs, and doesn't really do anything that they don't also do, so this DM isn't that useful outside of juggling out of qcb+D.

• Causes soft knockdown.

• MAX version does more hits and more damage.

M. Dynamite Swing: qcfx2+B/D

• An invincible DM that travels upwards like her DP. If it hits, Mary swings the opponent around and then throws them full screen.

• B version travels a shorter distance upwards, and the throw hitbox after the first hit is shorter than the D version, so using the D version is preferred.

• Good as an anti air as it hits quite high up and has invincibility, though if it hits too high up the second hit can fail to combo.

• Good to use as a reversal due to the invincibility it has.

• Mary's only DM that combos from lights.

• Causes soft knockdown.

• MAX version does more damage.

Combos

General Notes

• For grounded cancels to DM, qcfx2+K does less damage than hcbx2+K, but qcfx2+BD does more damage than hcbx2+BD.

Meterless

Low

cr.B, cr.B, cr.A, b~f+B > qcf+K

Good meterless low confirm into a hard knockdown.

Mid/Jump-In

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, hcb,f+P

Your main jump-in and heavy button combo.

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, dp+D > dp+K

Version of the above that does slightly more damage but is much less consistent.

cl.B, cl.C, f+A, hcb,f+P

A 1f link combo from a point blank cl.B. Not very useful, but it's there.

Other

qcb+D, dp+K > dp+K/qcf+K/j.D reset

Meterless combo options after qcb+D. Running forward between the counter and followup can help consistency.

With Meter

Low

cr.B, cr.A, qcfx2+D

Simple low combo into DM.

Mid/Jump-In

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, hcbx2+K

Full combo into DM from a jump-in.

cl.B, cl.C, f+A, hcbx2+K

Meter-burning combo from cl.B.

Other

qcb+D, qcf,hcb+P

Meter-using combo after qcb+D. Timing is tight because of the delay between when qcf,hcb+P is activated and when it starts moving.

Videos

King of Fighters 98 UM FE: Blue Mary Guide by Mash It Out