Fatal Fury Special/Joe Higashi

Introduction

Blessed with some of the best zoning tools in the game and highly damaging close range combos, Joe in FFS is here to rock you like a hurricane. As long as you can do half-circle inputs and jab chains consistently, he's an easy character to pick up and start winning games with right away.

Pros	Cons
Hands down the best projectile in the game Easy anti-air moves Simple but deadly combos	Short range on most normals Slow startup on most specials Slow movement speed

Move List

General Hurtboxes

Standing/Walking	Crouching/Crawling	Jumping	Taunting
		54F (4+47+3) duration.

Close Standing Normals

c5A

c5A
Body Hook/ボディフック

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
8	2	Mid	3	3	4	9	+9	+10	Kara Cancel
Links into itself and far 5A. Joe's most damaging combos start with this move.

c5B

c5B
Middle Kick/ミドルキック

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
10	2	Mid	8	6	8	21	+2	+3	Kara Cancel
Would probably be a decent poke, but being a close normal you can't make use of its reach. Unremarkable.

c5C

c5C
Elbow Strike/肘打ち

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
18	4	Mid	10	9	10	28	+5	+4	Kara Cancel
Hits so high, it whiffs against most crouching characters. Just awful.

c5D

c5D
Knee Strike/膝蹴り

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
20	4	Mid	6	13	9	27	+2	+1	Kara Cancel
Much better than close C, but still doesn't lead to much damage on hit.

Far Standing Normals

f5A

f5A
Jab/ジャブ

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
6	2	Mid	3	3	4	9	+9	+10	Kara Cancel
Mostly used in combos. Links into itself, 2D, 5D and 5C.

f5B

f5B
High Kick /ハイキック

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
8	2	Mid	7	5+7	12	30	-8	-7	Kara Cancel
OK anti-air, but 5D is generally better. This one is cancelable, though.

f5C

f5C
Straight/ストレート

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
16	4	Mid	8	9	12	28	+2	+1	/
Doesn't see a lot of use. Can be used to finish a combo, but 2D is better for that purpose.

f5D

f5D
Spin Kick/後ろ回し蹴り

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
18	4	Mid	8	11	18	36	-6	-7	/
One of Joe's main anti-airs. Less risky than Tiger Kick. Use this against characters that can beat your slide AA.

Crouching Normals

2A

2A
Crouching Elbow Strike/しゃがみ肘打ち

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
6	2	Mid	3	4	4	10	+8	+9	Kara Cancel
Extremely fast and safe. Ideal for close range pressure. Functions as a combo starter, great against smaller characters like Jubei.

2B

2B
Crouching Front Kick/しゃがみ前蹴り

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
8	2	Low	4	5	6	12	+5	+6	Kara Cancel
Very hard to beat due to the tiny hurtbox. Use this often.

2C

2C
Crouching Straight/しゃがみストレート

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
16	4	Mid	8	8	8	23	+8	+7	Kara Cancel
Has more reach than 2A. Great poke, especially when cancelled into Hurricane Upper.

2D

2D
Sliding Kick/スライディングキック

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
14	4	Low	7	16	24	46	+21	-17	Upper-Body Invuln 7-22F, Head Invuln 1-6F, 23-29F
A veritable swiss army knife of a move that does just about everything: Extremely low profile and moves Joe forward, allowing you to easily beat most mid pokes. Excellent anti-air that only loses against a small number of jump-ins. Allows Joe to slide past any projectile that doesn't travel along the ground. Links from standing and crouching A and grants a knockdown on hit, so it's also your best combo ender. It does have a slow recovery though, so don't get too greedy with it.

Jumping Normals

jA

jA
Jump Elbow/ジャンプエルボー

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
8	2	Overhead	5	∞	-	-	-	-	-
Pitiful range. You don't need to use this.

jB

jB
Flying Knee Strike/跳び膝蹴り

Diagonal Jump

Neutral Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
Diagonal & Neutral Jump	10	2	Overhead	5	∞	-	-	-	-	-
Diagonal: Solid jump-in that can beat low profile anti-airs. Instant overhead against tall characters. Neutral: Good against Kim divekicks or rushing special moves, as long as it hits on the way down.

jC

jC
Jump Straight/ジャンプストレート

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
Diagonal Jump	18	4	Overhead	6	26	-	-	-	-	-
Decent air-to-air.
Neutral Jump	18	4	Overhead	6	17	-	-	-	-	-
Neutral jump D makes this redundant.

jD

jD
Joe Kick/ジョーキック

Diagonal Jump

Neutral Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
Diagonal Jump	20	4	Overhead	13	22	-	-	-	-	-
Slow startup, but has the best range out of all Joe jump-ins.
Neutral Jump	20	4	Overhead	5	17	-	-	-	-	-
Extremely strong air-to-air, and comes out fast to boot.

Universal Mechanics

Lane Blast (CD)

Lane Blast
C+D

Front Lane

Back Lane

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
Front Lane	22	5	Mid	18	6	10	35	KD (+87)	+3	Cancel
Joe's best long range poke. Works great especially when cancelled into Hurricane Upper on block.
Back Lane	22	5	Mid	12	7	18	36	KD (+80)	-6	Cancel, Lower-Body Invuln 12-26F
Much worse range. Can anti-air, but Joe already has more than enough moves to AA with, so try to stick to using the front lane as Joe. Recovery

Lane Attack

Lane Attack
A/B/C/D from opposite lane

Front Lane Punch

Front Lane Kick

Back Lane Punch

Back Lane Kick

Joe's punch and kick lane attacks have the same frame data but different hitboxes.

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
A/B	20	2	Overhead	9	-	4	-	-	-	-
C/D	20	4	Overhead	9	-	4	-	-	-	-

Dodge Attack

Dodge Attack
Sway Kick/スウェーキック
6A during proximity guard

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
11	5	Mid	15	8	18	40	Air Reset (+14)	-7	Kara Cancel, Upper-Body Invuln 1-22F
Above average dodge attack. Very good range.

Throws

Leg Throw (4/6C)

Leg Throw
close 4/6C

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
26	3	-	1	1	/	-	KD (+81)	/	-
Swaps sides.

Hiza Jigoku (4/6D)

Hiza Jigoku
close 4/6D

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
8~32 (4 x 2~8)	0	-	1	1	/	-	-21	/	-
Hold throw. Opponent can mash to reduce hits. Hit advantage is when the opponent mashes out.

Special Moves

Hurricane Upper (41236P)

Hurricane Upper
41236A/C

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
A	16 (4)	3	Mid	20	-	29	48	+4	+5	-
The best projectile in the game, bar none. Hard to avoid thanks to its huge size, and beats Dodge Attack attempts as the hitbox reaches all the way to the ground. Very spammable thanks to its compact frame data.
C	22 (5)	6	Mid	23	-	31	53	+10	-1	-
Travels faster than the light version, but has worse frame data and less knockback on block making it less safe to use up close.

Slash Kick (19K)

Slash Kick
19B/D

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
B	16 (4)	3	Mid	22	16	17	54	Air Reset	-15	-
Range is about 3/4 of the screen. Rather difficult to use due to the slow startup. Can combo from heavy buttons if you happen to land a back hit, but there are much better options available.
D	22 (5)	6	Mid	25	17	19	60	KD	-15	-
Travels the entire screen. Not too great on its own, but can be a decent tool for pressure and chip damage when used in combination with light Hurricane Upper.

Tiger Kick (2369K)

Tiger Kick
2369B/D

Block advantage is from the second hit.

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
B	14 (3)	3	Mid	15	7 (4) 8 (3)	30	66	KD	-28	-
Joe's invulnerable anti-air/reversal. Less useful than you'd think due to its slow startup, so most of the time you'll be using either 5D or 2D to anti-air instead of this. Still, having an invulnerable move can often come in handy.
D	20 (5)	6	Mid	21	11 (3) 6 (3) 3	32	78	KD	-29	-
Even slower startup. Don't use unless you're absolutely certain it'll hit.

Bakuretsuken (Mash P)

Bakuretsuken
Mash A/C

A version

A series of punches that don't combo together and leave Joe punishable on hit. Does OK chip damage, but this move is generally impractical.

Version	Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
A	8xN (2xN)	3	Mid	7	6+5+5 (5) 5 (5) 5+1...	0	43+	-1	+6	-
Elipses (...) indicate where the attack repeats if P continues to be mashed. Block advantage is from Terry blocking 4 hits.
C	12xN + 14 (3xN + 3x3)	6	Mid	6	5+4+4 (4) 4 (4) 4+4 (2+6) 3+8+4	29	90	KD (uppercut)	-26	-
Damage values after the + are the finishing uppercut. Block advantage is from Terry blocking 7 hits.

Super Move

Screw Upper (64123BC)

Screw Upper
When health is flashing
64123B+C

Damage	Stun	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Property
48 (12)	4	Mid	29	34	13	75	KD	-5	-
Big stationary projectile wall. The startup looks like a regular Hurricane Upper, so you can use it to trick and punish an opponent trying to jump over your projectiles.

Combos

• (2B), c5A x 3~6, f5A x 1~3, 2D - 64 damage

Hold 6 to microwalk between 5A's for more hits.

• 2A x 1~4, 2D - 33 damage

Hold 3 between 2A's.

• 41236A (from a distance) > 19D - 35 damage
• (back turned, in corner) Hurricane Upper (C), 2C > 19B

Extremely situational trick combo you can use if you feel like showing off.

Strategy

Matchups