Xeno’s awesome VC vid thread has inspired me to try my hand at creating a mini FAQ for my favorite character, Karin. I’ve been using her for years - she’s an awesome character and a lot of fun to play. So I’ll try to create a FAQ here by posting in installments. And mods - I know there’s a V-ISM Karin thread, but I hope to cover Everything Karin which is why I made the new thread.
Anyway, let’s get started…
**Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Karin Kanzuki
Introduction - Why Karin?**
Karin is a solid character in SFA3. Tiers never list her below mid-second tier - she sometimes achieves high second and on a rare occasion, low top. So if you want to be competitive but not have to rely on the top tiers, Karin is a good choice. She’s also a VERY technical fighter - playing Karin means being skilled at traps, baits, and most importantly, distancing. If you like this type of gameplay, you are suited for Karin.
*Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths*
– Has a very fast walking speed. This is extremely useful for footsies.
– Very good mixup game. Has a solid cross-up in her j.mk. f.mk has crazy range for an overhead.
– Very strong ground game. This includes her fast walking speed, as well as good ranged pokes. Can stuff or at least trade with many established pokes in the game.
– Decent air game as well. j.rh can punish whiffs from a long way away. j.lk can stuff if used right. And of course j.mk is a great cross-up.
Weaknesses
– No anti-air/DP. Makes life against certain characters (ahem Gief/Akuma) a bit difficult. Also makes her somewhat prone to rushdown.
– No fireball = no distance game. Karin needs to get in close to do damage. This makes certain fights (ahem Gief/Dhalsim) kinda hard, but against any skilled opponent who knows their ranges/pokes it will take perserverance.
– Karin lacks a big power move, or at least something that will take away a significant chunk of energy in one shot (barring crouch-cancel assisted VC’s). Every one of your victories will be earned.
– Doesn’t build meter as quickly as some of the other characters.
– Nothing that is flat out abuseable.
Choose Your ISM
As you might already imagine, the best ISM’s for Karin, in order, are -
- V-ISM
- A-ISM
- X-ISM
V-ISM
Karin’s VC’s are neither flashy or hard hitting, but they do get the job done. More than the actual VC, V-ISM gives her some great options she doesn’t ordinarily have. She gains better anti-air capabilities, and if used right, a VC can turn the tide on a rushdown into damage for Karin. She can also use it to blow through pokes/fireballs to hit her sweep xx Ressen Ha xx 360 throw xx rest of the VC. Additionally, using activate xx 360 throw gives her some great unblockable VC options.
An of course, VC’s give her a set-up for crouch-cancelling corner juggles, which you can use to deal more damage…or just infinite your way to a win if that’s the way you roll.
A-ISM
While A is undoubtedly second to V, I question whether the gap is all that big. Obviously you lose all the great anti-air/anti-rushdown/counter attacking options that you would have in V. However, Karin’s punch super does work better as anti-wake up (against a grounded opponent, of course) than V-ISM. It also has great anti-poke options while in close range. There are also a number of ways to bait an opponent into the super as well.
Kick super, unfortunately, isn’t THAT useful. It completely misses grounded opponents, and only really works on blatant jump-ins…and how often does that happen? In intermediate level play, rekka’s with the kick ender -> kick super is a popular technique, but in high level play this can actually get you killed.
Nonetheless, I survived for a few years playing at a-cho, the Haven of SFA3, using A-Karin, and lately I saw an A-Karin player racking up quite a few wins at a tournament.
X-ISM
There is literally no reason to play X-Karin. A-Karin does everything X does better, and then you have to deal with the limitations of X-ISM - namely, no air blocking and no alpha counters. …V-Akuma players will LOVE you if you pick X-Karin.
To be continued with Ground Game…