The Kenichi strategies thread

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1

Well since the game is out, we can finally talk about strategies and such. I’ll get started on game systems.

Systems FAQ

Notation
:snka: = Weak attack
:snkb: = Strong attack
:snkc: = Guard Break
:snkd: = Counter
E = Activate

Holding temporarily :l: or :r:+:snkb: will always yield a grab.
Dashing attacks are done by holding :l: or :r: until the run animation begins and then pressing :snka: or :snkb:

Specials and supers
Each character in this game has 5 specials and 1 super. Whichever mode you select will take out one special but give you access to another for a total of 4 specials whenever you play.

All specials and supers are done through :qcf:+:snka:/:snkb: or :qcb:+:snka:/:snkb:. This streamlines the moveset and makes it easy to access for everyone.

Combos
Combos in this game work differently than in most fighters. Most combos are preset and cannot be cancelled, however, you can cancel the second-to-last hit of every character’s standard weak attack combo into any special or strong attack or guard break (most guardbreaks will not connect however).

For example, Kenichi’s standard weak attack combo is :snka::snka::snka::snka:, however you can also do :snka::snka::snka::qcf::snkb: or :snka::snka::snka::snkc:.

Any crouching move can also combo OTG but only for a limited number of hits before your opponent can techroll away from it. Command grabs can also hit at any time during a combo, even if your opponent is in the air.

Guard breaks
Hitting :snkc: generally yields an attack that can rarely be comboed into and deals less damage than your standard strong attack. However, if you have 1 or more stock of super, the attack will guard crush automatically on every hit and stun your opponent for 2 seconds or so (long enough for any character to take advantage of the opportunity). This is especially useful against turtlers or during blockstrings.

Counter
Counters are done by hitting :snkd:. Any attack that hits a small window of activate frames during it will get countered. Your opponent will take some damage and will be back to your character, putting him in a disadvantageous position. Timing your counter correctly will either give you “Counter”, which is the normal form of it and “Just counter” which deals more damage and puts you closer to your opponent.

Here’s the real icing on the cake though: counters can be canceled into from blockstun. There’s a small window where you can press Back+:snkd: which cancels your blockstun into an immediate counter. Some combos cannot be canceled out of however and of course, your opponent can bait a counter if you become too trigger happy with them and then hit you for an harder combo which you cannot counter out of.

Modes and activation
The game has two modes for each character, Fury and Calm. Both do very different things but they both work the same general way: get your super meter to 3 stock and press E. From there, your character’s proprieties change and can do some pretty awesome stock for a limited time until his meter depletes itself (pretty quickly too).

Fury
Fury mode allows your character to super cancel any special into his super and do an unlimited amount of supers until his bar is depleted. He also gets a small speed boost to his normal attacks and deals a little more damage (how much should be determined, I have no idea).

Calm
This is the opposite of Fury, instead of super cancels, you get guard cancels. Guard cancels work differently in that only one attack can be guard cancelled into, usually :qcf::snka:. You also get less damage from blocked attacks.

Teching
This game has no jumping, so teching can only be done on the ground. You tech by hitting any button + the direction in which you want to roll to. It’s rare that it’s not at your advantage not to roll away or on the sides of your opponent, so do it often.

Characters and temptative tier list

Characters list
I’ll also describe what the characters look like because nearly no one ever read the manga or saw the anime.
Kenichi - Main character of the game. Plays sort of like a close range shoto.
Miu - Blonde girl with a really round ass and other features. Plays sort of like Cammy.
Odin - The last boss. A guy with purple hair and a white suit.
Berserker - Blonde guy with a red suit who’s a little cocky on the side.
Freya - Girl with a stick. She’s a total ripoff of Billy Kane with some Rolento moves.
Loki - Insane guy who uses electric attacks and can charge his lightning rod.
Siegfred - A guy who loves music. He wears a dashing hat!
Hermit - Hooded guy and Kenichi’s main rival in the anime.
Thor - A sumotori with a plaided gi.
Valkyrie - A girl with torn up pants and a green beret.
Takeda - A student in Kenichi’s school, he practices boxing.
Ukita - A student in Kenichi’s school and the resident bully. Wears sunglasses and a button-up shirt.
Nijima - Weird student with elf hears. Joke character of the game.

There’s also another character but I haven’t found out how to unlock him and who he is. Can anyone help me here?

Tier list
Top:
Kenichi
Takeda
Hermit
High:
Thor
Freiya
Ukita
Mid:
Odin
Siegfried
Low:
Loki
Miu
Valkyrie
Bottom:
Berserker
Nijima

Of course, this is still a tentative and pretty shallow list. More things will get uncovered over time, but I think the top tier is pretty much set in stone unless some abuseable thing is found for other characters.

I’ll come up with strategies for the characters I use most (Kenichi and Thor) later when I get more matches in and see how good they really are.

And discuss!

2

Thanks for the info.
I only read the first 4 Vol. but will start the anime when I can.
Hope the game will do good, enough for it to hit the US :).

3

No jumping? That’s kind of wierd… I was hoping for some form of air combos, but I guess not. So, can anyone comment on the side stepping? How does it handle? Can it punnish?

4

I noticed in the vids you can’t duck (IIRC). What gives? Also I Demon Dash mentioned in another forum that only two characters are available at the start so how do you go about unlocking the rest?

PS: this game seems heavily based on command strings. I don’t know if I’ll like it enough. Just have to wait a see when my friend gets his copy then.

5

I’m not certain, but maybe you can only like, block low hitting attacks, instead of ducking and attacking directly low. I’ll have no way of telling till I get the game, but from watching the footage some attacks appear to hit low…

6

You do end up crouching against low attacks, but yes, in this game crouching is limited.

P.S.: In response to the fact that it seems no one has seen or read the manga, I for one have followed the anime, and find the characters to be huge spoilers. =P (To unlock characters, simply play through story mode.)

7

Crouching attacks are automatically blocked (since blocking is simply putting the stick in the neutral position). They have the advantage of ALWAYS knocking down however, so they’re a good addition to anyone’s footsies. Crouching also “works” in that if you do a low attack and your opponent does a normal attack, the normal attack will usually whiff.

Also, some Kenichi combos:
:snkb: (launches) :snka::snka::snka::qcf::snkb: scores a knockdown and deals around 20% damage.
When you have full stocks, you can either do:
(in Fury mode) :snkb: (launches) :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb: Activate :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb::qcf::qcf::snka: (BnB super cancel combo)
(any mode) :snkc: :d::snka::snka::snka: :snka::snka::snka::qcf::qcf::snka: (standard guard break combo, can be comboed into from a stringed guard break)

So far, Kenichi looks like a solid character with lots of launching combos that can deal incredible damage. He’s also really fast and is good in both Modes.

Also, from the matches I played, we always ban the bus top stage. Anyone else does that?

8

Yeah, that stage is way too stupid. Ring outs like no tommorow.

9

Alright, I messed for a few hours in training mode verifying combos and such and here’s what I came up with for Kenichi. This is going to be very useful too for people just picking up the game since Kenichi is the only worhtwhile of the two characters originaly avaible at the beginning of the game, and the one character you will play the most with to unlock other characters.

Any mode
:r::snka::snkb:
:r::snka::snka:
:snka::snka::snka::snka: (can be cancelled on the third hit with any special or super)
:snka::snka::snka::snkb:
:snka::snka::snkb:
:snka::snkb:
:d::snka::snka::snka: (launches)
:l::snka::snkb::snkb: (can be techrolled out of on first and second hits)
:d::snka::snka::snka: > :d::snka::snka::snka:> :r::snka::snka: >:r::snka::snka: > :r::snka::snkb: (Bread and butter combo, deals roughly 30% damage and gives nearly 2 stocks of super meter. Cannot be rolled out of once launched until the very last hit)
:l::snka::snkb::snkb: > :snka::snka::snka::qcf::snkb: (Knocks opponent away from you. Can replace last hit by any special except Calm mode’s :qcb::snka:. Gives roughly 1.15 stock of super meter)
:snkb: > :r::snka::snka: > :r::snka::snka: > :snka::snka::snka::qcf::snkb: (Same as above but longer string. Unsafe on block. Gives roughly 1 stock).

Fury mode (with 2 or more stocks)
:l::snka::snkb::snkb: > :r::snka::snka: > :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb: Activate :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb::qcf::qcf::snkb: (Can be techrolled out of on the first, second and second to last hits only) ~70% damage done to opponent
:snkc: > :l::snka::snkb::snkb: > :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb: Activate :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb::qcf::qcf::snkb: (techrolls are at the second, third and second to last hit of the combo only) ~60% done to opponent. Breaks guard.
:snkb: > :r::snka::snka: > :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb: Activate :snka::snka::snka::qcb::snkb::qcf::qcf::snkb: (can only be techrolled out of on the second to last hit) ~50% damage done to opponent. Air combo.

Basic gameplan
Kenichi’s entire game revolves around landing one of his damaging air combos. His normals are really fast and his specials can nearly all be cancelled into from his :snka::snka::snka: string. His 4 hit string is extremely safe on almost every hit, and he can end it at any time to link a guard break attack into it, your opponent’s only answer is to counter it at the right time, sidesteps get hit by the break! He can also score an unbelievable amount of knockdowns which can then be setup for a wakeup game that puts your opponent at a huge disadvantage since his guard break move has so much priority once it’s actually coming out and his other normals are too fast to be countered accurately on wakeup.

When playing in Fury, your biggest goal is to get your meter up as fast as possible. You have to be very aggressive to get those 3 stocks going. Once you have them, hit your opponent with the Activate cancelling combo of your choice and watch their life go down real fast. Kenichi can deal as much as 80% to his opponent if he doesn’t techroll. Kenichi’s only real drawbacks are that he deals almost no Stun damage on any of his hits and his incredible amount of knockdowns, which can turn to your disadvantage if your opponent is good at teching out.

In Calm, be more patient and use safer strings. Since you can’t super cancel (but can still activate cancel, however you can’t do supers while activated in calm mode), doing his Fury strings is pretty useless unless you want to scare your opponent in not attacking you after he gets knocked down. Use his powerful guard break attack as much as possible, it launches and can link into :d::snka::snka::snka: on a counter hit for damaging combos.
His only drawback is that a lot of his combos can be teched out, but this shouldn’t be much of a problem since you can bait those and punish them, making your opponent afraid to tech afterwards.

This also reinforces my belief that Kenichi is one of the most solid and balanced character in the game. Strong amount of offense with a good defense and safe moves and a very good guard cancel attack in Calm mode.

10

power mode Hermit is top tier-broken
he can kill in basically two combo
LPx3, qcf LP, qcf LPx3 or [(LPx3,qcf LP)x2,LPx3 super]
LPx3, qcf HP, max mode, [(LPx3,qcf LP)x2,LPx3, qcf HP, super]=80%
This game needs damage scaling, lol

11

dude sorry to break it to you but anybody can do that, Hermit should NOT be randomly throwing out stuff lest he get countered, or worse, if he’s randomly throwing out A’s against Takeda then Takeda can do 4A (backsway)~B to launch on counter hit, 214B high launch, AAA236BB, AAA236BB activate AAA 236236B, sixty percent to seventy percent of his lifebar gone, GGPO

and everyone in the game has a BnB that’s at least as good, the game is very balanced, Counter / Just Counter makes just throwing out 5A’s like you’re talking about VERY unsafe
the only character with any form of unfair advantages are characters with super good mixup options like Odin ( a random move where he throws out his palm and guard breaks / OTG hits for free is just silly, plus that move with like no startup where he jumps at you with the ridiculous punches, and his command oraoraora high launcher is ridiculous ) and maybe Berserker who i was playing around with today, his move where he crouches in place gives him silly mixup, like he can scout an incoming move and do his roll-kick launcher, or if the person is waiting to counter him he can do the warp-teleport to appear in front of you and go for a throw
Loki also has some really good stuff, it seems like he can only do that taunt-move to get up to 5 charges under his lifebar total
but it gives the moves he has that use his shock-stick a greater damage output, so he can knock you down and get a charge, then do a safe, hard to block string that will do far greater stun damage to go for a Break ( also i think maybe some stuff becomes unblockable? i’ll have to play some more to be sure )

12

I’ve been playing ukita the judo guy. pretty solid. bnb does a decent chunk of damage. In calm groove, his GC attack(qcf + weak) is capable of doing of 50%. I’m takes more than just a counter hit to get that damage though. qcb + strong throw does less damage than his qcf throw but you can use it in juggles. His guard crush attack is awful though. he fakes a throw and than does a headbutt. the answer to both attacks is to attack so it really isnt a mixup. in fury mode he can do b + weak xx activate, u + weak, weak, weak xx qcf + weak xx super from a half screen distance away. for some reason you can only cancel the b + weak attack into activate in fury mode. My loses clash situations, but having such a powerful throw gives him a much better mixup game. regular throws do so little damage that id rather just guard against the crazy juggles. his counters are alright. some of them lead to grapples for small damage, but he does have a reset counter as well. he works well at long range with his long range throw, roll and long range kicks. he does do the crazy damage some people can, but he can do pretty consistent damge without meter. if only his guard crush was useful so far the game is pretty fun, and most of the cast seems to have something to work with.

sidesteps are pretty handy in dodging strings i realized, too bad there are no sidestep attacks.

13

yea, a note on sidestepping:

sidestepping twice will avoid most high attacks and some mids but if the character your fighting is going for a throw or anything with good range then you want to scout it and go for a reverse crouch dash input by tapping down-away, just like in VF.
there really isn’t a forward crouch dash ( except for Takeda’s 236B ) and you probably shouldn’t be rushing in anyway or you’d be asking to get your dash punished.

14

Wait! So to block, you put the stick in neutral?

15

So seeing as this game has no jump or crouch, what do up and down do?

16

The game has an 8-way run system like in Soul Calibur, so pressing up, down, or any diagonal and up or down makes your character move towards or away from the camera.

17

Very nice work Boringryu, i got to play this earlier today and i am pleased at how different it is from the usual 2D fighter. These anime/manga fighters are getting quite numerous now, i think more of them need to get explored. Who knows there could be more gems out there like this one and the Narutimate Hero (NH) series. Very fun games, can’t wait for NH4 that comes out next month.

Are these type of games the future of fighting games possibly? You got the 3D fighters, complex Guility gear style 2d fighters, SNK and these badboys, which imo just need that one big hit to really set them off. I don’t think kenichi will be the one, but who knows.

18

Alright, I have a more concise tier list that I’ve built up after a few more hours of playtime. Also, I’ll add reasons to the changes/why they’re placed where they are.

I’ll get a better guide for Kenichi and Hermit done later, I haven’t slept much because of insomnia, so I’m going to catch up on that now.

19

how are you getting a launch off of ukita’s qcf + A guardbreak? I mean ive gotten it to do 50% by itself but ive never gotten a launch on it from a counter hit. I can tag on a d + B for free but thats it. It also turns out that qcb + b hit throw beats out autoguard moves( very useful against siegfrieds cartwheel since his strings are too slow to beat it otherwise.)

ukita’s main issue seems to be that he has trouble with the faster guard break attacks since his strings are so slow. he cant really beat them on reaction.

I think valkyrie is a little better than you give her credit for. she has an very long ground combo can that can lead to a juggle for good damage since you get so much damage before the launch and the gravity begins to fall. she also has a guardbreak trap off of one of her strings on hit. combine that with her range, multitude of ways to bait counter, and low hits and she is fairly decent. this is all untechable stuff too. if the opponent doesnt tech roll she could probably do 75 damage or so

i find that the lack of ducking is really not an issue. low strikes are very effective at beating at high pokes. this works really well for siegfried since his low hit can be canceled into super.

20

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wSoTb5asx4k&mode=related&search=
Saw a few vids here. That crazy,drunken,capoeira guy has some cool moves. He did a crazy overhead kick into a throw twice in a row (is that built into the string, or did the player set that up?-also its in a vid next to the one i linked).
Sorry I can’t play this, but I’m curious about some stuff and I read the thread, but I apologize if i’m asking questions that have already been answered.
Are there hit levels?–high,mid,low,etc… how do you block them. Are throws breakable? Duckable? Fast?
Is there a reason NOT to tech? Like are there ways to setup a guard crush or throw by baiting a tech? Seems pretty decent overally, I enjoyed those matches a bit at least.