The King of Fighters '98/Orochi Chris

Introduction

Orochi Chris aka Chris of the Flame of Destiny is actually Chris's older brother. He was always jealous of Chris's popularity and success through NAMBLA, especially even his broth didn't even have cool purple flame powers. O.Chris finally got his break, becoming the official spokesperson for the Zippo Manufacturing Company. Zippo's earnings went up tenfold, and O.Chris saw a big sum of that profit. He used this money to buy his way into the King of Fighters tournament.

Gameplay Overview

O.Chris is a fast, top-tier pressure/mixup/lockdown character with high priority air/ground moves and great combo damage. His mixup options are almost unparalleled; he has a high/low game either from short hop or from blocked attacks, he has a scary crossup game with j.D, and he has a proximity unblockable (ie un-whiffable command throw) that can be used for attack/throw games as well as combos. In top of that he has some of the highest priority moves in the game in j.CD, d/f+B, and cr.C. He has the fastest short hop in the game, and if you pick him in Extra mode, he has the fastest dash in the game as well. His run in Advanced mode is similar to Leona/Heidern's run, in that he can run under some of the higher traveling fireballs in the game (ie the old Art of Fighting team fireballs and Takuma's). He is a great character for a beginner, though he requires just a bit better execution than normal Chris because he gets his big damage from comboing into super rather than MAX mode.

Combos

• cr.B,cr.A,f+A xx Flame Throw (hcf+K)/A Orochinagi (qcb,hcf+A) (omit the cr.B if done from a front jump-in)

• cl.C/cr.C,f+A xx A Orochinagi (qcb,hcf+A)/Flame Swipe (qcb+P) (Flame Swipe hits on standing opponent only)

• cl.D xx Flame Throw (hcf+K)

• f+A xx A Orochinagi (qcb,hcf+A)/Flame Swipe (qcb+P) (to punish certain moves that require a fast, long range move)

• cr.C~d/f+B (whiff cancel timing in case it misses)

• cr.B,cr.B,cr.B,st.B

• Fire Balls (fireball) (qcf+P), f+A (optional) A Orochinagi (qcb,hcf+A)/Flame Swipe (qcb+P) (Flame Swipe hits on standing opponent only)

• cl.D xx hcf+AB

The first combo is really all you need. Anytime you land a Flame Throw, you have 2 options. Either cancel the last kick into A Dragon Punch (dp+A), or wait until it recovers and super jump + D. The dp+A does more damage and knocks down, while the sj.D does less and resets.

Anytime you land a fireball from close-ish range, Orochinagi is guaranteed. You can do other stuff like jump-in CD or jump-in combos, but Orochinagi is reliable and does great damage.

The last combo listed isn't really a combo, but an option select between fireball and command throw. If the cl.D hits, you will combo into his Flame Throw. If it gets blocked, you will cancel into the qcf+A fireball. You can still be hit between the cl.D and fireball, so this isn't the be-all-end-all of strings, but it's a nice tactic to be aware of.

O.Chris's combo ability gets much worse in MAX mode. He can only combo a command throw off of cl.D, and the sj.D is the only option afterwards. He can't combo into Orochinagi at all.

Generally all combos should lead into either his command throw or Orochinagi super.

In-depth Analysis

Normal Throws

b or f+C - Breakable, front knockdown, face forward, rollable.

b or f+D - Breakable, reverse knockdown, back turned, un-rollable.

D throw is preferred. Sets up a meaty qcf+A fireball, into so many mixups I lost count. Examples are short hop D -> whatever, empty short hop -> land cr.B, or hyper hop CD for blockstun and pressure.

Normal Moves

Standing A - Can be used as anti-air vs short hop.

Standing B - Nice speed/range mid poke. Similar to Kyo's standing B.

Standing C - Cancelable on 1st hit, one of the few cancelable far standing hard attacks. Connects on smaller crouching characters where cr.C doesn't. Has a slow recovery so please whiff cancel it. Relatively slow startup.

Standing D - You can use it as an early anti-air.

Close B - Cancelable move that will connect vs crouchers. Usable as a meaty 'tick' into dp+A to either tick or bait a CD counter if you don't feel like doing cr.A xx dp+A.

Close C - Fast, chainable into command normals and specials, used as a combo starter.

Close D - Cancelable into specials, but not command normals. More of use to O.Chris than normal Chris.

Crouching A - Use it to combo into f+A off jump-ins if you don't want to worry about not being close enough to hit cl.C. Links into cr.C.

Crouching B - Nice range on a cr.B and your main low tool in high/low short hop mixups.

Crouching C - 2 hits, cancelable on the first. Super fast startup and awesome priority on the first hit. Can be used as an anti-air or a ground poke to hit limbs. As an anti-air, try canceling it into a qcf+A fireball to put them in blockstun. This into hyper hop CD is a popular flowchart, but there are tons of mixups you can do, just like off of a meaty fireball. On the ground, try to whiff cancel it into something like d/f+B or fireball so you don't whiff the long recovery.

Crouching D - Very good sweep, makes Chris's hitbox shrink down. Can be used as anti-air or to beat some moves clean like Terry's Burn Knuckle, or to 'duck' under high fireballs.

Jumping B - Decent air-to-ground poke at long range or air-to-air if they are slightly below you.

Jumping D - Your main jump-in and crossup tool. The crossup hitbox is really chunky, and works well with Chris's short hop to cross up crouching opponents. You can go for a short hop D crossup after a blocked jump-in or a cr.B for example.

Jumping CD - The most infamous jumping move in KOF98. Comes out pretty fast for a CD, stays out for a long time, and covers a huge ass angle in front of Chris. Tons of blockstun like any CD attack. If it hits on counter, of course you get another juggle hit. Most use jumping C/D/CD.

Command Normals

f+A - Relatively fast and long range cancelable move. Other than being a combo filler, you can use it to punish some things, like incompleted Iori rekkas. Never ever end with this if your combo gets blocked, as it is very unsafe.

f+B - 2 hits, second is overhead. 2nd hit becomes cancelable and non-overhead when chained. Nice fast overhead poke to use at it's max range, and a great move to slow cancel (delay the chain a tiny bit from a cancelable attack to make the 2nd hit retain it's overhead properties). A common high/low mixup is to slow cancel into this or d/f+B from a cr.C.

d/f+B - Low slide attack. Ducks really low and can go under Athena/Kensou fireballs as well as higher ones. Really godly ground poke. Extremely safe even if done close.

Special Moves

Fire Balls (qcf+P) - A pseudo-fireball, it creates 3 flame spots that appear in sequence moving forward. A version creates them close together, C version spaces them further apart and reaches fullscreen. This is good for a lot of things; general zoning and blockstun, canceling off of cr.C as an anti-air, as a meaty wakeup, or just to simply cancel ground moves into (though you can be hit before the fireball executes so be careful). As noted above, any time it hits and you're in range, you can combo off of it.

Flaming Uppercut (dp+P) - Has upper body invincibility, but is nowhere near a true reversal. C version does lots of stupid hits and generally sucks, so stick to the A version if you're going to use it.

Flame Swipe (qcb+P) - C version is a little slower than A, but they combo from the same things. Won't combo at all on a crouching opponent, as it takes longer for the hitbox to reach low. Pretty much only for long-range punishing from f+A or comboing off of fireball from f+A when you have no meter.

Flame Throw (hcf+K) - Proximity unblockable. Chris's fast run/short hop makes this a very good asset in mixups. Also serves as his main meterless combo ender as explained above.

Desperation Moves

Orochinagi (qcb,hcf+P) - A version is faster and combos from hard hits; his source of damage when he has meter. C version doesn't combo, so don't use it. MAX mode version is even slower and does more damage.

Hamster Flame Ball (qcf,qcf+P) - Stupid who cares.

The King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest