Street Fighter 6/Kimberly/Introduction

Introduction

Uninvited student to Guy, the 39th successor to Bushinryu. Kimberly had an ordinary upbringing, but she's a genuine prodigy who graduated college early...and now wants to be a ninja; Loves '80s pop culture.

Kimberly is a fast, tricky character who uses her plethora of unique movement options and unique setplay to get in and keep the opponent guessing.

Players to watch: TBW

Strengths

Weaknesses

High Mobility: Kimberly has many unique movement options. She has great forward walk speed, along with multiple ways to close the gap on her opponent including a command dash and teleport. She can change her jump arc, and has multiple means of getting past fireballs. Her level 3 super installs her with a permanent speed/damage buff; which puts her walkspeed in a league of its own. Spray Can Oki: With Genius at Play, Kimberly can use her spray cans to create mixups and strong frame traps off of a knockdown, especially in the corner. Her cans can also let her combo off of her throw in certain situations, an anomaly in Street Fighter. Good Links/Target Combos: Kimberly's jabs and her 2MP link into themselves, which can give her good hit confirms if she is close enough. She has target combos that can lead to juggles with meter as well as oki or a spray can setup. High Corner Carry: Many of Kimberly's combo routes have very high corner carry, and many of her combos end with her opponent much closer to the corner without sacrificing okizeme. Gimmicky: Kimberly has a lot of mobility options that she is able to act out of, which can be frustrating for an unprepared opponent. There are many reaction/knowledge checks that can be very rewarding for Kimberly if the opponent does not respond accordingly and she can be confusing to defend against.

Stubby Normals: Kimberly's normals have short reach relative to the rest of the cast, which can make her struggle in footsies. Some of her most rewarding normals are difficult to use because they have short reach or are outclassed by other pokes. Sometimes she is too far to link off of her lights or mediums when she gets a hit with them. She lacks a cancellable low poke, so she can't threaten a back walking opponent from outside point blank. Risky Offense: Kimberly does not have a safe special move that she can cancel into. This combined with the current game's overall high pushback on block and most normals being minus means that Kimberly often has to commit to her offense to start/maintain pressure unless the opponent is burnt out. Gimmicky: Some of Kimberly's tools are difficult to force knowledgeable opponents to respect. Tools such as her ninja run command grab and her teleport have slow startup and can be punished by an opponent who pays attention or knows the matchup. Her spray can high- low mixups are also able to be OS'd by parry. Some of her options can be "fake" on paper if the opponent is good with their mental stack. Low Base Damage: before her Level 3 Super buff, Kimberly's damage is notably lower than most other characters; the 11% damage boost from her Install brings her up to the level of the rest of the cast.