The King of Fighters '98/Athena

Gameplay Overview

Athena is a solid zoning / runaway character. Her fireball has nice recovery, which is nice both for pure zoning and to put pressure on your opponent by running up and poking. Her DP is not as good as you would expect from a zoning character, though. She also has great mobility with super backdashes, triangle jumps, teleports, etc. that allow for an annoying runaway game.

Combos

Athena isn't very combo friendly. She does have some stuff a good Athena player needs to do, though

• hcf + P, Shining Crystal Bit

• corner only c.C, f + B, Shining Crystal Bit / Phoenix Arrow / Psycho Sword

Doing a Shining Crystal Bit (SCB) after the command throw can take some time to master. If you are in the corner, just walk a tiny bit and do the DM. Outside of the corner it's more complicated; you have to jump towards the falling opponent and do a mid-air SCB. To make this easier, start doing uf during the throw animation, and do hcb x 2 from that position as soon as you see she's starting to jump.

In-depth Analysis

Normal Throws

b or f + C -

b or f + D -

b or f or d + C/D in air -

Normal Moves

Standing B -

Standing C -

Standing D -

Close C -

Close D -

Crouching A -

Crouching C -

Jumping C -

Jumping D -

Standing CD -

Jumping CD -

Command Normals

f + B -

In air, b + B -

Special Moves

Psycho Ball (qcb + P) - A version comes out faster and travels slowly, C is the opposite. You recover fast from the A version, which is ideal to keep an opponent in the corner and punish attempts to escape via air (Psycho Sword / Shining Crystal Bit), roll (Psycho Throw / Far Standing C) or retaliation (Far Standing C). You can also use it to gain positional advantage (running or teleporting) and push your opponent to the corner, the place where Athena becomes more dangerous.

Another great property of this move is that you can make it unblockable by doing hcf + P or the teleport just when your opponent is about to block it. After a knock down, this means free damage unless your opponent manages to reversal roll.

Phoenix Arrow (In air, qcb + K) -

Psychic Teleport (qcf + K) -

Psycho Sword (f,d,df + P) - A version has no invincibility, C version completely invincible on the first hit. Poor damage and startup hitboxes, but the last hitboxes have lots of vertical range and priority, making this move quite useful to keep the opponent zoned.

Use the A version for zoning, and the C version as a reversal.

Psycho Reflector (hcb + K) - B version is a Rugal-style reflector

Psychic Throw (hcf + P) - A command throw that puts the opponent in a 'launched' state. The fall is unrollable, and has invincibility at startup. The move itself only deals damage if you let the enemy touch the floor, which means that you can enter in MAX mode before he lands to get the damage bonus for it (and for the unblockable Psycho Ball that will follow).

Useful to mix-up, do run-up throws, reversal and to set up unblockable psycho ball loops (more on that in the strategy section). Activates the unblockable projectile bug. Can be comboed from light hits (you have to be at point-blank range, though).

Desperation Moves

Shining Crystal Bit (hcb,hcb + P, ABCD to cancel, qcb + P for Crystal Shoot) -

Phoenix Fang Arrow (In air, qcf,qcf + K) -

Strategy

Unblockable Psycho Ball loops

You can set up this after a Psychic Throw. While your opponent is falling down, get around half screen away and do a meaty A Psycho Ball. Then do the unblockable bug with a Psycho Teleport (B if in corner situations, D anywhere else), and Psycho Throw again while the opponent is still in hitstun.

Unless your rival reversal rolls the Psycho Ball, which is rather difficult (and will still leave him at a disadvantageous position), you can repeat this forever. The timing is tricky (especially when not in the corner), but it's a powerful tool.

The King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest