The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/EX Blue Mary

Introduction

EX Blue Mary is primarily a rushdown- and mixup-based character that aims to score a knockdown and run mixups on the opponent. The main attraction of her moveset (especially as opposed to regular Blue Mary, who is otherwise extremely similar) is her install DM that perfectly complements this gameplan, as it increases the damage on all her mixup options. It also works as a utility tool, as you can use it defensively to react to the opponent's actions. To complement her main gameplan, she also sports a nice selection of normals that she can poke with to prevent the opponent from getting in on her. Her main weaknesses is a lack of long-ranged tools.

Changes from Previous Versions

98UM to 98UMFE

N/A

Normal Moves

Close

• cl.A: Fast startup and plus on block. Whiffs on short crouchers. 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, not cancelable.

• 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, but a good combo tool after cr.Bs. Chainable and cancelable.

• cr.B: Her main low combo starter. Has good reach. Shrinks her hurtbox quite a lot. Chainable and cancelable.

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

• cr.D: Long reach, but has kinda long recovery, making it unsafe on block and whiff. 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 of and slightly below Mary, so this move can function as both an air-to-air and jump-in attack. 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. Can be used as an instant overhead from a hyper hop.

CD Normals

• st.CD: Good grounded poke that can be cancelled on hit, block, and whiff 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 halfscreen 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 fullscreen distance, causing a soft knockdown.

Command Moves

Hammer Arch: f+A

• Overhead when done raw, loses the overhead property when canceled into.

• One of Mary's primary mixup tools.

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

• A staple in her combos, as it combos after her heavy attacks, moves forward a lot to mitigate pushback, and allows her to cancel into a special or DM.

• 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 cancelled 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 aerial 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 it's bad in combos.

• Avoid using this move. Mary can just do st.D or cr.B by themselves.

Special Moves

Young Dive: d~u+B/D

• EX Blue Mary does a somersault and comes down with a leg strike. B version goes shorter and lower than the D version.

• Hits overhead.

• The move can be cancelled into one of the followups before or after the leg strike.

Reverse Kick: B/D (during d~u+K)

• A j.D from the somersault.

• Hits overhead.

• On hit it causes a juggleable state, so Mary can follow it up in the corner.

• Safe on block.

• If done after the hit of the initial dive, it will be a true blockstring on block and a combo on hit.

• Causes a soft knockdown.

Dangerous Spider: A/C (during d~u+K) ($)

• An M.Spider during the dive. Behaves identically to the raw version.

• Can be good to catch people trying to block the dive attack.

• Fairly easy to react to and hop to beat it, so use sparingly.

• Causes hard knockdown.

M.Spider: qcf+A/C (in air) ($)

• An aerial command grab.

• With the A version Mary comes down diagonally, with the C version she comes down vertically.

• This cannot grab aerial opponents, only standing and crouching.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown on hit.

Straight Slicer: b~f+B/D

• A long-range low-hitting sliding kick. B version goes about halfscreen, and D version goes almost fullscreen.

• Can low-profile a lot of mid-height moves, like 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.

• Has a lot of active frames.

Stun Fang: qcf+B/D (during b~f+K)

• EX Blue Mary pulls out a stun gun and stuns the opponent after the slide.

• Only comes out on hit, so always do it after the slide.

• Causes a hard knockdown.

Leg Press: d,d+B (when opponent is knocked down)

• OTG move that can be done after hard knockdowns (or soft knockdowns if the opponent didn't recovery roll).

• Can only be done after moves that put her close enough to the opponent.

• Use it for extra damage whenever possible.

Vertical Arrow: dp+B/D

• Mary's DP.

• B version has faster startup than the D version, but travels a shorter distance.

• B version only has a bit of startup invincibility, while the 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)

• Followup to Mary's DP. Adds extra damage and gives Mary a better knockdown.

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

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown.

Real Counter: qcb+A/C

• EX Blue Mary does a pose, she is strike-invincible for a long period during it.

• Has a bit of punishable recovery at the end, and can be thrown.

• Can be cancelled into 2 followups to punish the opponent for whiffing an attack through the invincibility frames.

German Suplex: hcf+A/C (close, during qcb+P) ($)

• A 1f command grab out of qcb+P. Can be canceled into at any point during the stance.

• Causes a hard knockdown without switching sides.

Face Lock: hcf+B/D (close, during qcb+P) ($)

• Another 1f command grab out of qcb+P. Also can be canceled into at any point during the stance.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown that gives you plenty of time to set something up on their wakeup. Switches sides.

Desperation Moves

M.Escalation Mode: qcfx2+A/C

• An install DM that gives EX Blue Mary a blue effect behind her.

• This DM gives access to new moves, and new followups to existing moves.

• The main strength of this DM is that it gives Mary the option to tack on more damage on any of her special moves that scores a knockdown, making her mixup game much more threatening.

• The other main benefit of this DM is that it recovers almost instantly, letting you use the super freeze as a small timeout where you get to see what the opponent is doing and then take an appropriate action to defend against or beat it.

• MAX version makes the followups do more damage.

Spin Fall: qcf+B/D (while qcfx2+P is active)

• Blue Mary does a front flip while kicking in front of her. Hits mid.

• Good approaching tool, as it's fast and fairly safe on block.

Double Spider: qcf+A/C (during qcf+K while qcfx2+P is active) (#)

• A grab followup to qcf+K that can only be done on hit.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown.

Double Crunch: qcf+B/D (during b~f+K while qcfx2+P is active) (#)

• Replaces the normal followup to b~f+K while qcfx2+P is active.

• Can only be done on hit.

• Causes a hard knockdown.

Double Snatcher: dp+B/D (during dp+K while qcfx2+P is active) (#)

• Replaces the normal followup to dp+K while qcfx2+P is active.

• Can only be done on hit.

• Causes a backturned hard knockdown.

M.Triple Ecstasy: d+A/C (during (#) moves while qcfx2+P is active)

• During qcfx2+P you can cancel qcfx2+P-exclusive followups into this.

• EX Blue Mary picks the opponent up and swings them around in circles, and then throws them away to the other end of the screen.

• Especially good in Extra mode, since it gives EX Blue Mary time to charge her meter after using it.

• Ends the qcfx2+P state.

• Causes a hard knockdown.

M.Dynamite Swing: d+A/C (during ($) moves while qcfx2+P is active)

• During qcfx2+P you can cancel Mary's command grabs into this.

• EX Blue Mary picks the opponent up and swings them around in circles, and then throws them away to the other end of the screen.

• Especially good in Extra mode, since it gives EX Blue Mary time to charge her meter after using it.

• Ends the qcfx2+P state.

• Causes a hard knockdown.

M.Diving Smasher: hcbx2+B/D (close)

• 1f command grab DM, and EX Blue Mary's more conventional DM.

• Good for grounded combos.

• Causes a hard knockdown.

• MAX version does more damage.

Combos

General Notes

• In any metered combo, you can replace hcbx2+K with hcbx2+BD for more damage if you have the resources.

• In any combo that ends with "b~f+B > qcf+B", you can add d,d+B for extra damage if you are close to the corner.

• In any combo using qcfx2+P, using qcfx2+AC instead will make it do much more damage.

Meterless

Low

cr.Bx2, cr.A, b~f+B > qcf+B

Basic low hit-confirm combo.

Mid/Jump-In

(j.X), cl.C, (f+A), b~f+B > qcf+B

Basic jump-in or heavy button combo. Hold back during the cl.C to get enough charge for b~f+B. f+A can optionally be included after cl.C for more damage, but the timing to get b~f+B afterwards is difficult.

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

Need to be relatively close to the opponent for dp+B to connect.

f+A, d,d+B

Overhead combo.

Corner

d~u+D > K, dp+D > dp+K

Corner combo after her d~u+K special.

With Meter

Low

cr.B, cr.A/cl.A, hcbx2+K

You can do this as cr.B, hcb+A, hcb+K for an easier cancel.

Mid/Jump-In

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

Simple punish/jump-in combo into DM.

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, qcfx2+P, b~f+B > qcf+B > d+P

You need to charge back during the qcfx2+P to get enough charge for b,f+B.

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

cl.B, cl.C is a somewhat difficult link but, it can be safely hit-confirmed.

Corner

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, qcfx2+P, cr.C, b~f+B > qcf+B > d+P

You can only add the jump-in in the corner, but you can do this combo starting from cl.C from anywhere.

Quick Dodge

(j.X), cl.C, f+B(2), AB, b~f+B > qcf+B, (d,d+B)

Can only be done in Extra Mode or Ultimate Mode (with "Avoiding"). You need to charge back during the dodge to get enough charge for b~f+B.

With Install Active

Low

cr.Bx2, cr.A, b~f+B > qcf+B > d+P

Mid/Jump-In

(j.X), cl.C, f+A, dp+B > dp+K > d+P

qcf+K > qcf+P > d+P

j.qcf+P > d+P

qcb+P, hcf+P/K > d+P

Corner

d~u+D > K, dp+D > dp+K > d+P

With Quick MAX

Low

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

cr.B, ABC, cl.C, f+A, qcfx2+P, b~f+B > qcf+B > d+P

• You need to charge back during the qcfx2+P to get enough charge for b,f+B.

Mid/Jump-In

j.B, ABC, cl.C, f+A, hcbx2+k

j.B can be done very high up and still combo, from about when Mary reaches the top of her hop arc

d,u+B, ABC, cr.C, b~f+B > qcf+B, (d,d+B)

You need to charge back during the ABC to get enough charge for b,f+B.

Strategy & Tips

1f real counter

• You can execute hcf+P instantly, entirely skipping the stance part of the move and going straight into the command grab, by inputting it like qcb,hcf and an isolated P at the end. By learning to do this you effectively gain a 1f command grab, an additional mixup in your bag that is fairly powerful.

Videos

(Eng sub) How to use EX Mary-quick guide and tips by Vero The 98umer

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