The King of Fighters '98/Chizuru

Gameplay overview

Chizuru is a combination long-range poking/zoning character and pressure/mixup character. She can poke, gain meter, and keep the opponent at bay with her teleport pokes and high priority ground normals. If she gets in, her combo/pressure ability is high and can dizzy quickly. Not to mention both of her supers are some of the best in the game. The Seal super leaves the opponent limited to only normal attacks, and her Clone super forces the opponent into a low/high mixup for huge damage, and can blow through CD counters as well. While she is a very powerful top-tier character, she is also difficult to use. I would even argue that she is perhaps the most technical/complex character in KOF98. Requires very good and clean execution. Not a good choice for a beginner, obviously.

Combos

• cr.C/cl.C,f+A (optional) xx Seal Strike (qcb,hcf+P)/Ritz (hcb+P~P~qcb+P) (qcb+P followup close/in corner)

• corner cr.C/cl.C,f+A (optional) xx Ritz (hcb+P~P), Seal Strike (qcb,hcf+P)

• cr.B,cr.A xx Seal Strike (qcb,hcf+P)

• cl.D xx Windmill Clones (qcf,qcf+K)

• cr.C/cl.C,d/f+B

You can do either version of Ritz in the first and second combos. In the first, the qcb+P followups usually only connect in the corner, although it's possible midscreen if you're deep enough. For the close D xx Clones combo, you can buffer with qcf+D,qcf+K. After Clones connects, dashing cr.Cs or repeated st.Ds are your best bets for damage.

In-depth analysis

Normal Throws

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

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

Although they are breakable, both of Chizuru's throws don't have the blue grab 'effect' or the sound cue, which makes them a little harder to break on reaction. C throw is preferred technically, since you recover much faster. Otherwise, just use the direction which would benefit your position the most.

Normal Moves

Standing A - Good anti-air vs short hop, as you could expect.

Standing B - Even better anti-air. Higher hitbox.

Standing C - Kind of like crouching C, it has bigger hitboxes, but is slower and not cancelable.

Standing D - Good move to mash while Windmill Clones is hitting.

Close C - Fast, cancelable. Please note that this whiffs on smaller characters (Yuri, etc.), so you should stick to crouching C or close D.

Close D - Fast, cancelable. Good meaty attack, especially to cancel into Clones.

Crouching B - Nice range for a crouching B, chainable into cr.A and then Seal super.

Crouching C - Your main poke. Fast, cancelable. Some people think this move is god, but I think it is a little overrated. Still, it is the central attack to combo into things, poke, anti-air against some things, etc. Very similar to Chris's cr.C, but better.

Crouching D - Nice cancelable and meaty sweep. Use to cancel into Ritz or the d/f+B slide. If it hits, you can set up a wakeup crossup using the C version of Ritz to position yourself on either side.

Jumping A (straight, normal) - Very good hitbox on this, though it doesn't stay out for long. You won't see it used much, but I think it's worth noting.

Jumping B - Can be used as an instant overhead, which is nasty when someone is blocking the Windmill Clones super.

Jumping C - Your main jumping attack. really crazy hitbox, beats so much as long as it's done early enough. It does have less hit freeze than normal jumping attacks, so it will take some time to get use to combing off this as a jump-in. Get this down, beause this move is much better than jumping D.

Jumping D - Not bad at all, good as a jump-in or air-to-air, but jumping C has it beat clean.

Jumping CD - Good hitbox, as you'd expect from a jumping CD I guess. Similar to Mai's.

Command Normals

f+A - Reasonably fast overhead when done alone, faster, cancelable, and non-overhead when chained. It is punishable on hit if you don't cancel it, so be cautious using it as an overhead (maybe only to finish someone off). Good combo filler of course, and it has good range as well.