The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/EX Yamazaki
Introduction
EX Yamazaki is a midrange poking character with a strong emphasis on neutral mindgames. Yamazakis most defining feature is his serpent slash pokes which can cover space in different angles in front of him. Combine this with some good poking normals and Ex Yamazakis neutral space control becomes quite strong. Yamazaki wants to keep you guessing over which serpent slash he will do so that the opponent starts to hesitate in neutral. Ex Yamazaki can then use this hesitation to go in as his own close range mixup game is quite strong with access to both an overhead and a 1f super command grab. Ex Yamazaki also gets some quite damaging combos, especially when you have a lot of meter to spend.
Changes from previous versions
98UM to 98UMFE
Normals:
- st.C can cancel into special/super moves when it connects
- f+A if not cancelled into, second hit does a hard knockdown
Specials:
- qcb+C has less recovery, is now -2 if guard cancel rolled
- HCF+K damage increased from 13 to 21
Supers: QCFx2+P Made it easier for the downward attack to hit if a grounded opponent is hit by the rising punch
Normal Moves
Close
- cl. A: ok fast feeler button with ok frame advantage. cancelable.
- cl. B: another feeler low button. used more than A since it is a low. cancelable.
- cl. C: very fast combo starter and nice frame trap. cancelable.
- cl. D: slower than cl.C but has long reaching second hitbox. only first hit is cancelable.
Stand
- st. A: very long anti hop check.
- st. B: a lower version of st.A. still does ok hop check. but this one is more suitable for anti run.
- st. C: slow punch, cancelable but too slow to utilize it.
- st. D: a big long poke. but its large recovery making it quite risky. dont spam it.
Crouch
- cr. A: quite typical crouching jab with ok range and plus on block. cancelable.
- cr. B: pretty long low. cancelable into itself or other light buttons such as cr.A. your main low confirm.
- cr. C: fast crouched uppercut. is cancelable/whiff cancelable on first part.
- cr. D: uncancelable sweep. quite long and fast.
Jump
- j. A: somewhat similar to kusanagi knee, their j.B, but not as deep and no cross up. still an ok fast jump in.
- j. B: a very long horizontal ranged kick. nice air spacing tool.
- j. C: opposite of j.B, great vertical ranged punch. a great air control move.
- j. D: very deep downward kick. nice close ranged jump in. but the range is very short.
Blowback
- st. CD: generic st.CD. not so great.
- j. CD: a great jump in, air to air with fast start up and good priority.
Throws
Choke Hold: (close) b/f + C
Whackdown Wallop: (close) b/f + D
Command Moves
Eviscerator (Overhead): f + A
- causes hard knockdown. loses its properties, overhead and hard knockdown, if you canceled into it.
Special Moves
Serpent Slash (Upper): qcb + A
- can hold pose up to 5 seconds or release his hand in that time at will.
Serpent Slash (Mid): qcb + B
- can hold pose up to 5 seconds or release his hand in that time at will.
Serpent Slash (Lower): qcb + C
- can hold pose up to 5 seconds or release his hand in that time at will.
Big Serpent Slash (For All):
- Hold the pose until he chatters three times, then once he chatters the third time release and he will do ALL THREE slashes from lower to upper.
Serpent Slash Cancel: D (During the Serpent Slash pose)
Sadomazo: hcf + B/D
Double Return: qcf + A/C
- A version will break projectiles, C version he will absorb the energy of the the projectile and it gets stored. Then when the input is repeated (qcf + C) he will fire a projectile back.
Judgement Dagger: dp + A/C
- If you whiff the first slash he does not go for the second.
Fight of Tempering: dp + B
Flying Dragon Kick: down, down + B (while opponent is knocked down on the ground)
- This is a key followup after doing Fight of Tempering. Note the recovery on this move is quite long because he laughs for a moment once he finishes stomping the grounded opponent. But the entire animation is fully invincible until it ends, so it's actually Yamazaki who can react to their next move with DMs or regular throw etc.
Desperation Moves
Guillotine: qcf, qcf + A/C
- very fast reversal move with some nice invulnerability on start up. causes hard knockdown.
Drill: (close) hcb, hcb + A/C
- tap or repeatedly for more hits
- Drill Lv.5: In Max Tap A+B+C repeatedly during Drill
- a super command grab.
Combos
- cr.B, cr.A, dp.B, d,d+B
- cr.B, cr.A, qcfx2.P
- cl.C, qcb.A or B or C, D, cr.C, dp.P
Ex Meter
- cl.C, qcb.ABC, D, cl.C, hcbx2.P