N-Groove is BY FAR THE BEST YAMAZAKI GROOVE. I mean… right now it’s insane that anyone would try to argue otherwise.
Yama’s run is vital for him to get anywhere. His dash isn’t cutting it, and it forces him to play a wall-up game in the Capcom grooves. With run AND roll, Yama always has a feasible way to get into his ideal range - just outside of the range of his standing roundhouse.
Yamazaki likes to have rolls, not just for RC dust kick but so he can roll to get into a position to headbutt/grab super people. It’s very hard to attack Yama because of the risk his roll has on your offense. If he’s in your range, you are forced to get out of the way somehow, and those all involve risk.
Most importantly, a stocked N-Groove is always a risk. A stocked N-groove can do a level 1 grab super and STILL have a painful anti-air option available to him - something no other groove can do. Break stock into anti-air super on reaction is so easy to do on most characters (only Vega and maybe Blanka are impossible to do this on).
But enough about that… let’s see the problems Yamazaki has to tackle in other grooves:
C-Groove: Probably second best. C-Groove Yamazaki has to turtle up more, though, and I don’t like it. If I want to turtle, I’ll play Honda in N/C Groove or whatever. Airblock helps KIND OF, except Yamazaki shouldn’t really jump that much anyway.
A-Groove: Yama’s custom isn’t very easy to do or very versatile, which leaves you with basically C-Groove Yama with no airblock and quickrise instead of delayed getup. No one can really make a case for him, except maybe as a battery.
P-Groove: There’s a player here that plays a very good Yamazaki in P-Groove, but the problems show. You don’t have a PALPABLE anti-air threat without a super, and you don’t have a way to sneak a way into grab range without parrying your way in, which is easier said than done. He has lots of parry tricks and he IS good, but it’s a lot of work and he probably needs a full meter to really play.
S-Groove: Dr.B plays this groove. He’d probably know more about it than I do. IMO, it’s not really that good because Yama likes roll way more than dodge. But his dodge attacks are good, and he can be a real nuisance when his life gets into the red zone.
K-Groove: I honestly don’t think K-Yama is very good even though the few Yama players I’ve seen that win tournaments use him in this mode, because like I said, Yama likes the roll a lot more than JD or “get owned and then kick your ass” factor. But if you can overcome this, and play the timer game, then sure.