The King of Fighters XIII/Mai Shiranui

Gameplay Overview

Gameplay Notes

Less combo friendly, losing her anti-air from her repertoire, and having one of lowest damage outputs to her MaxCancel combos (due to damage scaling from her DM) makes even the most diehard Mai fans cringe when they first tryout XIII Mai. It's easy almost to chalk her off as fan-service for the "No Mai, No buy" XII-complainers.

Mai XIII however, really belongs to this growing list of revamped (and refreshing) characters such as Ralf, Chin, Iori and even Kensou. Once mastered, she's really a deadly weapon and some have reported that she's a lot more interesting to play than her former formulaic iterations.

Pokes, Priority, Speed, and everything in between. Mai has amazing pokes; all of her ground pokes near and far are good. Close/Far C is fast and kind of acts as a pseudo anti air (the close version is cancelable). Far D is meaty, has good range, and has a nice upward slant. Close/Far B has good range and is quick. Far A/Close A is fast and cancelable. Next, one will realized about her awesome priority. Sick. Her priority is pretty disgusting and it was probably designed that way to compensate for a lack of a real anti-air. If timed correctly, Mai's j.B and j.C will even beat Kyo's wake up Oniyaki (dp+P). She has excellent air normals, in particular her j.CD is real fast (and a huge hitbox to boot) and her crossups are great and reliable (j.C and j.B). Her air throw is extremely threatening when you factor in her sheer speed hence, it is always a good habit to hold any direction (but up) plus C when you jump, to throw your opponent if they try to attack you air to air. Her dash speed is definitely one of the fastest in the game which work hand-in-hand with her pokes excellently. Everything combined, makes her have good offensive pressure and helps make her the perfect battery character.

Mai's pitfall is that she struggles to do great damage mid-screen. Mai's d.B, d.A/s.A, hcf+D (Hisstatsu Shinobi Baichi) combo is hard to hit confirm as well (remember she has no command attacks anymore) and she'll get punished easily if the opponent blocks your hcf+K. Her air.qcb+P (Musasabi No Mai)is not safe either; the Ex version is only safe if you aim it at their feet.

During a wake up block string, d.A, d.C works wonders and it will catch your opponent off guard the first couple of times. Do not risk throwing out too many blocked Ryuenbu to a savvy opponent as they are easily GCAB rolled --> punish. The only decent block string for pressure is j.CD, s.CD, qcf+C. If the opponent tries jump after the s.CD, more that likely they will get hit by the C Kachosen since the s.CD puts them in a longer hit stun.

Her only mid screen combo that's decent is a jump attack of choice, d.B, d.A/s.A, Ex Ryuenbu (qcb+P), hcf+D which is pretty handy considering you don't need to blow a drive cancel. Beware, if d.C --> C Ryuenbu is spaced even slightly apart, it will not combo. Alternatively, one can do d.B, d.A/s.A, Ex hcf K, far D even though it does slightly less damage.

On the subject of spacing, Mai's jump arcs needs time adjusting to because of her speed, making you miss the opponent when you go for jump-ins if you are not used to them yet. Poke away or j.CD your opponents and overall just zone them until they are in the corner. Even when you get them in the corner, her Ex Ryuenbu > C Ryuenbu > C Ryuenbu > air throw is so picky on timing that it's best off skipping the last C Ryuenbu and going for the air throw. Much like Hwa Jai, she doesn't have much mid-screen options but turns in to a monster in the corner (especially in HD).

A special mention to her Ex Kachosen (qcf+P), it is extremely fast and will catches people off guard. Even her C Kachosen is fast again. If you connect her Kachosen, you can quickly link that to her NeoMax even from full screen away. Also, her j.B, j.D, and j.CD have a special property which allows them to wall jump AFTER they have put the opponent in block stun, in the corner, from above.

In hindsight, SNK did a good job taking an cookie-cutter character (jump attack > stand attack > command attack > special attack) and made her gameplay more interesting. All in all, despite her shortcomings, her pros compensates and she belongs in the solid mid-tier section.

Pros

-Great Pokes

-Good normals

-Awesome priority

-Fast

-Good keep away

-Great battery character

-High jump arcs enable to her to control air-air battles along with throw option

Cons

-Damaging combos do not really emerge until she corners the opponent

-Lacks real safe block strings

-Harder to hit confirm without command attacks

-High jump arcs makes her sometimes more susceptible to anti-air tactics

-NeoMax scales poorly when Max Canceled

-Somewhat one-dimenional

Normals

Standing Far

Far A: A quick standing horizontal poke, very fast and is cancelable and it chain into s.A again or s.B.

- Chain/Cancel-able

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 25

Far B: Mai leans back and tilts slightly giving a quick kick to the chest/head area, also very fast, great poke overall.

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 30

Far C: A very fast over the head forward swing with her fan. This move has a decent hit box and is the normal of choice against hoppers an hyper hoppers.

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 80

Far D: Mai faces towards the screen leans back and does a sidekick upward at a 20 degree angle, somewhat similar looking to her s.C (close version) If used preemptively, her far D works well against hoppers also.

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 80

Close Normals

s.A: A quick standing horizontal poke, very fast and is cancel-able and it chain into s.A again or s.B (same as far A).

- Chain/Cancel-able

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 25

s.B: Mai leans back and tilts slightly giving a quick kick to the chest/head area, also very fast, great poke overall. (Same as far B)

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 30

s.C: A very fast over the head forward swing with her fan. This move has a decent hit box and is the normal of choice against hoppers an hyper hoppers. (Same as far C)

- Cancel-able

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 70

s.D: Mai faces away from the screen leans back and does a sidekick upward at a 35 degree angle. It would seem that s.D has a larger cancel window than s.C.

- Cancel-able

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 70

Crouching

cr. A: A standard quick poke to the shins, it still can be blocked high but it has great recovery. On wake up opponents, d.A --> d.C is a great pressure string. This is chainable to d.A, s.A, and s.B; it also is cancelable.

- Chain/Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 25

cr. B: Also a very standard low hitting down B, chains easily to d.A/s.A/s.B.

- Chainable

- Hit Detection: Low

- Damage: 30

cr. C: Mai's d.C from the previous years. A very meaty crouch back-elbow attack that is perfect for canceling out of. This move makes Mai crouch down extra low (on a very petite character to begin with) and will duck many high hitting moves if spaced correctly (Terry's Crack Shot etc.).

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 70

cr. D: Another one of her normals from the older version. A standard sweep, it is cancelable.

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: Low

- Damage: 80

Jumping

j. A: Quick poke with her fan angled 45 degrees downwards. It stays out for quite some time so it's a pretty safe bet even for air-to-air battles and it works well air-to-ground and is also cancelable.

- Hit Detection: Mid

- Damage: 45(40)

'j. B: Mai leans in and knees forwards, somewhat like Joe's Tiger Kick. Her j.B stays out for a long time, good air-to-ground, crosses up easily, and is cancelable.

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: Mid

- Damage: 45(40)

j. C: A very quick over-the-head forward fan swing (somewhat similar to her s.C) except she's jumping of course, and her body is tucked. This move is very fast and has real good priority, it cancels, works well air-to-air and air-to-ground (crosses up well also but not as good as j.B). Also, if you hold any direction but up, Mai will perform an air throw. Easily her more versatile jump attack.

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: Mid

- Damage: 72(70)

j. D: A very standard, ninja-like (martial arts like) air kick angled 45 degrees. Decent air-to-air (but j.C and j.B is better), great air-to-ground, and it also cancels.

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: Mid

- Damage: 70(68)

Blowback Attack

CD -

- Whiff/Cancel-able

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 75

j. CD -

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 90(80)

GCCD: Guard Cancel Blowback Attack

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 10

Throw

Fuusha Kuzushi = (b/f+C/D) close -

- Can be broken

- Hit Detection: Close

- Damage: 100

Yura = (b/d/f+C) close in air -

- Can't be broken

- Hit Detection: Close

- Damage: 125

Command Moves

Filler Picture

"There's no picture of the wall jump in the mook, just read the description below!"

Wall Jump = (press uf when near the wall in the air, ub on the 2P side) -

- Area Detection: 1P Wall (uf) / 2P Wall (ub)

Ukihane = (d+B) in air -

- Cancelable

- Hit Detection: Mid

- Damage: 60

Special Moves

Kachousen = (qcf+P) -

(EX) = qcf+AC -

- Super Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 60/120

Ryuuenbu = (qcb+P) -

(EX) = qcb+AC -

- Drive/Super Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 65/40+65/50+80

Hissatsu Shinobi Baichi = (hcf+K) -

(EX) = hcf+BD -

- Drive/Super Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage:45x3/50x2+45+50/32x6

Musasabi No Mai = (d~u+P) -

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 70

Musasabi No Mai (Air) = (qcb+P) in air -

(EX) = qcb+AC in air -

- Drive/Super Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 70/48xN+48

Desperation Moves

Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Baichi = (qcb hcf+K) also in air -

(EX) = qcb hcf+K

- Max Cancelable

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 30+25x8(25x8)/45+25x11

Neomax

Kunoichi no Mai = (qcf hcb+AC) also in air -

- Hit Detection: High

- Damage: 0+450

Combos

Combos (Starters are: d.B, d.A/s.A; s.C/s.D and are interechangeable)

Misc.

- j.D, j.d.B [128]

1 stock/No Drives

- s.C, Ex hcf K, Far D [260] - s.C, Ex qcb P, hcd D [267] - (Corner) s.C, Ex hcf K, qcb C, s.C [316] - (Corner) s.C, qcb+AC, qcb+C, qcb+C, air throw [431]

2 stocks/No Drives

- s.C, Ex qcb P, qcb~hcf+K DM [315] - (Corner) s.C, Ex qcb~hcf+K, air throw [408]

0 stocks/1 Drive

- (Corner) s.C, hcf+K (2hits), [DC] air.qcb+C, qcb+C, air throw [383]

1 stock/1 Drive

- (Corner) s.C, Ex qcb P, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [DC] qcf+P, qcb C, qcb C, s.C [497] - (Corner) s.C, Ex qcb P, qcb C, hcf D [2hits[, [DC] qcb C, qcb C, qcb C, air throw [514]

2 stocks/1 Drive

- (Corner) s.C, Ex hcf K, qcb C [1hit], [DC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C x2, s.C [455] - (Corner) s.C, Ex qcb P, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [DC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C, air throw [543] - (Corner) s.C, Ex qcb P, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [DC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C x2, s.C [554]

3 stocks/ 1 Drive

- (Corner) d.B, s.A, Ex qcb P, qcb P, hcf D [2hits], [DC] qcb C x2, Ex qcb~hcf+K [580]

HD Combos

No stocks

(Corner)

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D, [HDC] air.qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf D [1hit], [HDC] qcb A, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, air throw [640]

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D, [HDC] air.qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf B [1hit], [HDC] qcb C, (hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C) x2, qcb C, air throw [659]

2 stocks

(Corner)

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, (qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] qcf A) x2, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C, qcb C, s.C [655]

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb P, hcd D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C x2, air throw [711]

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf B [1hit], [HDC] qcb A, (hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C) x2, qcb C, Ex qcb~hcf+ K [769]

(Corner to corner combo 2 stocks HD)

- j.C, s.C, HD, dash D, (hcf D [1hit], [HDC] qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P) x2, hcf D [1hit], [HDC] qcb A, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, air throw [619]

3 stocks

(Corner)

• s.C, [HD], s.C, hcf B [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb P, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] qcf A, [MC] qcf~hcb +AC NM [776]

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D, [HDC] air.qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcf A, [MC] NM [799]

• j.C, s.C, [HD], s.C, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb P, (hcf D [2hits],[HDC] qcb C) x2, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcf P, qcf~hcb+AC NM[/url]. (Approx. 790dmg) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvJsHUl1qX8#t=0m14)

4 stocks

(Corner)

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb P, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C, qcb C [1hit], [HDC] Ex qcb P, qcb A, qcb C, Ex qcb~hcf +K DM [808]

5 stocks

(Corner)

• j.C, s.C, [HD] s.D, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] air.qcb P, hcf D [2hits], [HDC] qcb C, hcf B [1hit], [HDC] qcb C, qcb C, Ex qcb~hcf +K DM, [MC] qcf~hcb +AC NM [908]

Miscellaneous

Colors

Other

Taunt

First Row: Standing/Crouching/Evasive Roll

Second Row: Walking (forward/Walking (Backward)/Safe Roll

Third Row: Running/Back Step/Throw Break

Fourth Row: Standing Guard/Crouching Guard/Guard Crush

Fifth Row: Dizzy/Downed/Hyper Drive Activation

Last Row: Win Pose/Knock Out/Time Up Pose

Discussion Threads

Discuss at Dream Cancel