The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/Clark Still
Introduction
Clark is the purest grappler in the game and as such his whole gameplan revolves around scoring a knockdown and then running his scary knockdown mixups over and over until the opponent is dead. In neutral Clark has to play a solid fundamental game using his decent normals to try and get in on the opponent, he has no real anti zoning measures so he has to rely on good mood movement and decisions to get in. Once clark is in he has an impressive vortex game where each move he lands will lead to a hard knockdown and another mixup situation. Clark requires a lot more mindgames and reading than a lot of other characters as he always has to be one step ahead to choose the correct measure against the opponents defensive decisions.
Normal Moves
Close
- cl. A: same as st.A
- cl. B: Clarks fastest normal at 2f so useful when you're up close and need the speed. Chainable. Cancelable.
- cl. C: very fast at 3f and his main heavy combo normal. Good for meaties due to its long active frames. Cancelable.
- cl. D: has low invul from startup until after the active frames so it can be good for blowing up lows on a read.
Stand
- st. A: has nice priority and a decent amount of active frames so it's good for stopping hops. Chainable. Cancelable.
- st. B: a decent poke as it has good speed and priority.
- st. C: reaches really far but whiffs on most crouchers.
- st. D: hits low crouchers, has better priority than st.C and is faster but it doesn't reach as far.
Crouch
- cr. A: is pretty standard. could be good for tick throws if you cancel dp+K out of it. Cancelable. Chainable.
- cr. B: your main low combo starter and a core part of his mixup and pressure game. Not cancelable but you can link his 1f command grab afterwards for a combo. Chainable.
- cr. C: has less range than his standing pokes but has a lot of active frames so it's good for meaties and comes out fairly fast, it also recovers really fast. can be used as a shorter ranged poke.
- cr. D: Fast sweep with decent range
Jump
- j. A: your main jumpin button for combos, comes out quite fast.
- j. B: a fast air to air normal, good for hitting characters straight in front of Clark.
- j. C: his most damaging air to air normal so good for max damage punishes but outclassed in other situations.
- j. D: great air to air normal that hits above clark. especially good when done with a short hop.
Blowback
- st. CD: has a large hitbox that essentially creates a wall in front of clark but it has quite a lot of startup, good for whiff canceling
- j. CD: is your main jumpin normal for pressure.
Command Normals
Stomping f+B
- mostly used after a meaty cl.C, though it won't combo into anything else after this due to the pushback of it. Cancelable.
Throws
Gallanting German: b/f + C (close)
- regular throw, techable. Clark goes behind the opponent and flings them behind him sending them full screen away with a soft knockdown.
Fisherman Buster: b/f + D (close)
- regular throw, techable. Clark picks the opponent up and suplexes them behind him causing a backturned hard knockdown.
Death Lake Driver: b/d/f + C/D (in the air)
- air grab, not techable. Clark grabs the opponent in the air and throws them down to the ground in front of him causing a hard knockdown.
Special Moves
Vulcan Punch: press A/C repeatedly (can be cancelled by pressing ABCD simultaneously)
- Clark delivers a series of quick punches angled upwards. the punches has 2 alternating hitboxes, one angled upwards and one angled in front of clark.
- this move isn't great as an anti air as it can be hard to time and even the upwards hitbox isn't that great.
- can be made safer on block or whiff by cancelling it with ABCD
- can be cancelled into dp+A on hit for a combo.
Flashing Elbow: qcf+ A/C after ($) moves
- a followup to a variety of Clarks specials.
- adds extra damage and still gives him time to pressure and run oki so it's safe to always go for this followup.
Super Arabian Burglary Backbreaker: hcf + A ($)
- a running command grab that puts the opponent behind clark with a hard knockdown.
- has a nice amount of low invul when Clark has started running.
- can be followed up with qcf+P for added damage and oki.
Rolling Cradle: hcf + C ($)
- a running grab where Clark rolls around with the opponent backwards.
- Clark runs further with this version compared to the C version and this version has more corner carry as well.
- has a nice amount of low invul when clark has started running.
- can be followed up with qcf+P for added damage and oki.
- causes a face down hard knockdown giving Clark more time to put pressure on the opponent on their wakeup compared to hcf+A.
Super Argentine Backbreaker: hcf + B/D (close) ($)
- Clarks 1 frame command grab and a staple of his mixup and combo game.
- causes a hard knockdown.
Napalm Stretch: dp + A/C ($)
- an anti air grab designed to catch people trying to jump out of his grounded command grabs.
- not great as an anti air since Clark will get hit out of it if the opponent has an attack out.
- causes a hard knockdown.
Frankensteiner: dp + B/D (close) ($)
- a slower command grab with full invul until the grab comes out.
- great move to catch people trying to wake up with a button or reversal as your invul frames will allow you to go through those.
- staple move of his mixup game as this will catch people trying to beat some of your other options like cr.B or a meaty.
- causes a backturned hard knockdown.
Desperation Moves
Ultra Argentine Backbreaker: hcb,hcb + A/C (close)
- super version of Clarks 1f command grab.
- causes a backturned hard knockdown
- MAX version does more damage.
Running Three: hcf,hcf + B/D
- super version of clarks running command grab.
- has some startup invul.
- causes a hard knockdown.
- Max version has a bit more startup invul and does more damage.
Napalm Strike: hcb,hcb + B/D
- super version of clarks anti air grab.
- still not great as an anti air but good for making a statement with hard reads.
- Max version does more damage.
Combos
- cr.B (cr.A) hcf+B qcf+P
- clarks main low combo. you can either chain into a cr.A and cancel that into the command grab or you can link the command grab directly after the cr.B
- cr.A [A] dp+P qcf+P
- corner combo with the mash punch and the followup
- j.A cl.C hcf+K qcf+P/hcbx2+P
- Clarks main jump in and heavy combo.