The King of Fighters 2001/K9999

General Info

Stand	Crouch	Jump	Run

K9999 has a notoriously checkered history, gaining an imposter in his 20-year absence and having to sign up under an alias when he finally did return. He was designed as a perfect clone, but SNK had done too good of a job at this, forcing them to conceal the design in fear of him reflecting badly on their image. This was his first game, where his future didn't seem so bleak, but where his moveset, designed around the unique challenge of having only two special moves, did. He would gain a third special move, a hopping strike, in 2002, which added quite a bit to his pressure game, but here he has to do without.

K9999's ethos involves running a train on the opponent once he gets in, with active drilling attacks such as jump A, jump C and f+A keeping them stuck while he moves forward. He can also use hops and his unique crouch D to keep close and drill some more. However, his mobility is terrible, with his run not being too fast and none of his jumps moving very far forward, making it a struggle to get in. To counter this, he has tools such as f+A and crouch C which can serve as snappy punishes at range, he has dp+A which is a great anti-air and reversal and he has good anti-fireball tools such as crouch D, qcf+P and db,hcb,df+K. His supers are also quite unique. His two normal DMs, a reversal and the aforementioned anti-fireball tool, both feature pretzel motions, which can make them tricky to do especially in super cancels. His SDM, however, has a unique but simple input, but is very easy to combo into, with its anywhere juggle property and fullscreen reach letting it pick up conversions most other characters could only dream of. It's also not locked behind any sort of Maxmode like it is in 2002. K9999's useful supers lend him to anchor usage, but he is quite competent with building meter on his own, and his bad movement and poor light confirms mean he isn't the best at securing safe uses of meter.

Colors

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox			Notes
Standing Close
	3/3/10	0/-2	R,C,S,Su	HL				Reliable hop check.
	4/3/8	+2/0	R,C,S,Su	HL				Doesn't hit low.
	6/1+1+3/15	+3/+1	C,S,Su	HL				A lenient hit confirm tool which reaches high. Excellent as a meaty and for general offense.
	14/2(+2)+2+2/11	KD/0		H				An overhead which results in a hard knockdown. This move hits OTG, so you can actually do this twice for a combo. You cannot pick up with SDM after this move, however. Will high profile some moves.
Standing Far
	4/3/10	0/-2	R,C,S,Su	HL				Has slightly more range than cl.A but functions the exact same as a hop check.
	4/5/6	+2/0	S,Su	HL				Doesn't hit low either. One frame more active than in 2002.
	9/2+2+2+2+2+3/14	+3/+1		HL				A stationary poke dealing six hits of damage. You may get this by accident because close C's activation range isn't the best, but it is still decent as a punish. The difference between this and f+A is that K9999 doesn't move forward, and it doesn't knock down. Builds a lot of meter on hit, given all hits count as heavies.
	5/3/22	-4/-6		HL				A displaced poke with decent priority, but is slow to recover and doesn't move forward.
+	16/8/14	KD/+1	C,S,Su	HL				Less range than st.D and slower startup, but it is cancellable. Potentially useful as a meaty, but K9999 doesn't have his hop special in this game so his only option for pressure is qcf+P.
Crouching
	3/3/8	+2/0	R,C,S,Su	HL				Combos into f+A.
	4/2/8	+3/+1	R,C,S,Su	L				Has a tight rapid cancel window. Combos into f+A.
	8/2(+2)+2/15	KD/+2		HL				A mid-hitting sweep. The first hit is displaced from K9999's body, while the second hit has short range but knocks down. This is one of K9999's key pokes for its range and speed. K9999 will move forward after he recovers.
	6/14/14	+1/-1	C,S,Su	L				A short, low-hitting slide which doesn't knock down, but can be used to go under high fireballs. Curiously, this is treated as a special move, meaning you can cancel into it. K9999 is built around pressure, so spacing your cancels into this move is an effective way to keep close. Not cancellable by any means.
Jump
	15/[2(+2)]*n/-	-/-		H				K9999's main jump-in tool, drilling at a steep angle until he lands. This makes pressure and hit confirms a cinch, but also makes K9999 very easy to guard cancel against. You will want to commit to this move early given its poor startup.
	6/7/-	-/-		H				Believe it or not, but K9999 does have other air normals. Unfortunately, this one doesn't have the best reach.
	14/[3+3]*n/-	-/-		H				Same rules as jump A. Not as effective for pressure unless you are at a range where the opponent is further away.
	11/4/-	-/-		H				A jump-in which covers the area between jump A and jump C, but it's a boring single hit, meaning you can't stick it out for free pressure.
+	16/8/-	KD/-		HL				K9999 uses the force for a short but high-priority air-to-air which is also quite tall. Its bad horizontal range works against it in neutral but its priority can beat a decent amount of air-to-airs. Best used in pressure.
Neutral Jump
	15/[2(+2)]*n/-	-/-		H
	6/7/-	-/-		H
	14/[3+3]*n/-	-/-		H
	11/4/-	-/-		H
Hop
	12/[2(+2)]*n/-	-/-		H
	6/13/-	-/-		H
	13/[3(+3)]*n/-	-/-		H
	10/3/-	-/-		H
+	12/7/-	-/-		HL
Command Normals
f +	11/2+2+2+2+2+3/14	KD/+1	Su	HL				Shut Up! - f + A An important pressure tool. Moves forward, reaches pretty high, has good range and deals six hits, with the last causing a soft knockdown. It doesn't chip, however. These qualities make it a very easy tool to throw in pressure, and will force the opponent to sit still or else they'll be knocked down, and even if they block it K9999 is still at advantage. The first three hits are super cancellable but this requires some dexterity, especially given how both of his normal supers have pretzel inputs. This won't cost an extra stock unlike special moves which are super cancellable.
Special Moves
qcf +	11/2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2/4		Su	HL				Get Out of my Sight! - qcf + P One of only two special moves in K9999's arsenal. This is a slow static fireball which is prone to jump-ins, but can chew normal fireballs while being useful as a meaty. Only the startup will build any meter - none of the actual hits will. The heavy version is slower but travels a bit farther than the light version. All hits of this move are super cancellable. The gun super will not combo, but the others will.
qcf +	20/2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2(+2)+2/6		Su	HL
dp +	10/10/36	KD/-28	Su	HL				Split! - dp + P The second special move in K9999's kit is an anti-air. The light version is invincible until the hit and is one of K9999's best tools for its speed and range, but is prone to getting baited given his limited kit and disadvantages in neutral. The heavy version has invincibility but is slower and not invincible up to the hit. Though it launches, K9999 will only be able to juggle afterwards with e.g. the light version if the opponent was hit high enough. This move can also eat normal fireballs. Super cancellable. This can juggle into Moon... without a super cancel if the opponent was high enough when it hit.
dp +	12+8/7+3/37	KD/-29	Su	HL
DMs
db,hcb,df +	1 (+ 28) + 5 / 3 + 3 + 24 / 12 + 39	KD/-61		HL				Moon... - db hcb df + P A massive anti-air which covers both sides, reaches high and stays out for half a second, dealing a great amount of damage. It also destroys normal fireballs from the active period to part of the recovery. It is very unsafe whereas a Striker for the same meter isn't, but its range is also much more reliable than even a good reversal Striker such as Seth. If you have the dexterity then this and the other pretzel super can be used to end combos from f+A, although this is notoriously difficult.
db,hcb,df +	16 (+ 27 + 1) + 3 / 3 (+ 12) + 3 (+ 12) + 3 (+ 12) + 3 (+ 21) + 3 / 62			HL				You Get Lost Too! - db hcb df + K An anti-fireball super involving five shotgun blasts which marks two large spots on the screen, then targets wherever the opponent happens to be once it hits. There is a sweet spot where the opponent can get hit by both areas which is near fullscreen, which will make the first four shots deal twice the amount of hits. Given KOF's damage distribution rules this isn't the huge damage boost you may expect. Has invincible startup until the end of the super flash, but his other supers are far more reliable as reversals because their invulnerabity extends past the first hit. This move's visuals are censored in international versions but its properties remain the same.
SDM
d,f,df + + + +	8 (+ 28) + 8 / 2 (+ 2) + 2 + 1 (+ 4) + 2 (+ 2) + 2 + 2 (+ 4) + 2 (+ 2) + 2 + 2 (+ 4) + 2 (+ 2) + 2 + 2 (+ 4) + 2 (+ 2) + 2 + 2 (+ 4) + 2 (+ 2) + 1 + 2 / 48			HL				Power...Losing Control!...Yah! - d,f,df + ABCD A fullscreen super which also extends a bit behind K9999 and is active for just over a full second. This is an anywhere juggle, meaning it will juggle opponents in states where they can't usually be juggled, for instance while they're falling after getting hit by a jump CD. It can even hit OTG, though this is only guaranteed after a hard knockdown such as his back throw. However, these juggles miss out on quite a bit of damage, as the super doesn't trap the opponent after they get hit, instead letting them bounce off and fall back onto it. In addition to having generous startup invincibility this move will also destroy fireballs. To punish this move, guard cancel forward roll between the 12th and 16th hits and you can run up and punish him. Otherwise the pushback means that even with those 48 frames of recovery you'll be too far away for a punish.
Striker
BC	41/3/7			HL				K9999 jumps from the edge of the screen behind the player and dives down with jump C, which strictly hits in the middle of the screen. Upon a successful hit, he will knock the opponent away with stand CD, resulting in a wall bounce and an ensuing juggle. If it fails, K9999 will walk away slowly, where he doesn't have a hurtbox and thus can't absorb a hit for you. Not very useful given its spacing requirements.

Combos