The King of Fighters '98/Terry

Introduction

Terry is a true-blue red-blooded American who likes Football, pizza, and beer. Since he is not Japanese, he isn't a top tier character, but he comes very close.

Gameplay Overview

Terry is a mid-to-close range pressure character, focusing on chunky block strings, guard breaking, and raw brute force rather than mixups. He is just under the top tier, and a good solid character for beginners to use in my opinion. He doesn't have many uses for meter, so he is best used as a battery/point character (ie the first character on your team). He doesn't require strong execution; the hardest common thing he has is d/f+C combos.

Combos

Some standard combos everyone should know.

- cl.C (2 hits),d/f+C (optional) xx B Power Charge (hcf+B)/Power Geyser (qcb,f+C)

- cr.B,cr.A,d/f+C xx B Power Charge (hcf+B)/A Burn Knuckle (qcb+A)/Power Geyser (qcb,f+P)

- cl.D,d/f+C (optional) xx Power Charge (hcf+B)/A Burn Knuckle (qcb+A)/Power Geyser (qcb,f+P)

- cl.D,f+A (2 hits) xx Power Charge (hcf+B), sj.D (sets up a sh crossup)

Anytime you land a B Power Charge (hcf+B), you have 3 options:

- Sj.D, which is the least damage, but forces a reset and puts you right next them with a lot of advantage.

- Cancel (xx) into C Rising Tackle (dp+C. This only does a bit more damage than the above, and is a normal knockdown, which means they have the choice to roll or stay down. I don't recommend it.

- D Power Dunk (dp+D). This only works if you're close. This does the best damage and forces a slam, so you can set up whatever you want; a crossup, meaty, short hop mixup, whatever. Usually the only situations where it doesn't connect is either of the first two combos I listed after a jump-in. You can substitute a close D xx Power Charge (hcf+B) after a jump-in midscreen to connect it.

The only reason I list Burn Knuckle as a combo ender is because it's much easier to cancel from d/f+C than Power Charge. You should use Burn Knuckle at first for the cr.B combo, but practice comboing into Power Charge, as it's always a better combo option. Burn Knuckle even misses (is blockable) midscreen from the cr.B combo.

You can can combo into Power Geyser from any of this stuff, and it does just a bit more than a D Power Dunk ender. Since Terry is used as a battery, usually you won't be using it, but being aware of this combo option is good.

Generally I recommend not using f+A in combos, as the damage sucks and it messes up the range for the Power Dunk ender off Power Charge. It does have one good use, which I noted in the last combo I listed as a crossup setup. Since you're further away when you land from the sj.D, you can short hop (sh) into sh.C/D and crossup a crouching opponent.

In-depth analysis

Standing B - A very fast long-range poke. Not cancelable, but a very good asset in between pressure to keep the opponent in place.

Close C - Fast, and 2 hits for easy comboing/hit-confirming.

Close D - Terry's best meaty attack, it stays out forever. It also activates from further away then close C.

Crouching B - Standard cr.B a fast low that can be chained into cr.A, then d/f+C into pretty much anything as noted in the combo section.

Crouching C - Cancelable, decently fast and pretty good as a meaty. His longest range comboable move.

Crouching D - Slow but cancelable. Easy to whiff cancel, so it is not bad for mid-range zoning by whiff-canceling into B Crack Shoot (qcb+B) or A Burn Knuckle (qcb+A) in case your opponent jumps.

Jumping B - Not used much, but is a great air-to-air move, and useful in some matchups, like backwards sj.B vs Choi.

Jumping C - Crosses up, and personally I like this more as a crossup than j.D.

Jumping D - You'll see this one used more than any of his other jump attacks by most players. Great air-to-air and air-to-ground. Crosses up. Can be used as an instant overhead (ie jump back+D).