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| Health (at Ratio 2) | |
| 14400 | Above Average |
| Stun | |
| 70 | Average |
| Dash Length | |
| 17 Frames | Long |
| Dash Type | |
| Slide | Corpse Hop=No, Proj. Hop=No |
| Run Speed | |
| 8 | Average |
| Roll Distance | |
| 140 pixels | Long |
| Roll Duration | |
| 27f | Long |
| Wakeup Speed compared to Ryu | |
| 0f | Average |
Story
Joe Higashi is a champion Muay Thai fighter who's legend is just beginning. Born in Japan, Joe traveled to Thailand frequently to learn and improve at Muay Thai. Once he got skilled enough that he felt he was ready to start fighting others for real, he told his family he was leaving Japan for good. His grandmother gave him the headband he wears to always remember his homeland by. Immediately, Joe started making a name for himself. He became known as one of the most skilled Muay Thai fighters in the world. To further cement his reputation, he entered the first King of Fighters tournament in South Town, USA, ran by Geese Howard. There, he met the brothers Terry and Andy. Terry and Andy shared of their past involving Geese Howard, and Joe informed them about the tournament. The three together became fast friends after that, and Joe joined the brothers to help them make their revenge plot happen.
Joe stays in South Town, and travels with the Bogard brothers to compete in the various KOF tournaments with them. He still hasn't mellowed out, and swears one day to be the greatest fighter the world has ever seen. However, he seems more keen to just goof around with his buds and visit the bar sometimes.
Gameplay
When you hear "CvS2 Muay Thai based character with solid neutral, a good anti-air game, a good fireball, and damaging combos", Joe isn't the first character that comes to mind. However, don't let his overlapping fighting style with Sagat confuse you. Joe has a bunch of unique and fun tools to fight around with, using his solid pokes like 5HK, 5MK, 2MK, 2HP, and his useful 41236P Hurricane Upper's. Joe likes to play aggressive, tossing out his fast Hurricane Upper's, pressuring with his Bakuretsuken and the unique ability to cancel it for tons of plus frames, called Baku Cancelling. His 623K Tiger Kick DP is great, making consistent anti-airs, and his 41236K Slash Kick allows him to end combos with lots of corner carry.
What Joe has in great offense, he makes up for in zoning. Only the HP version of Hurricane Upper goes fullscreen, and despite how big they look, they can be jumped over quite easily. While he does have solid ways to anti-air and control the skies, he can't effectively make the opponent jump without being close enough to threaten a Baku Cancel or Hurricane Upper. Joe also lacks a bit in the mixup department, with no standing overheads and underwhelming grabs. Joe more or less punishes blocking by repeated Baku Cancels and Hurricane Upper pressure, which only really works in the corner, limiting him midscreen a ton.
Groove Selection
Best - A/K: A-Joe has basically everything a good A-Groove character needs. He has plenty of useful roll cancels, like RC Bakuretsuken, RC Hurricane Upper, and even RC Slash Kick. His Custom Combo is easy and does decent damage, and he has plenty of ways to use it, with a unique one being linking a CC activation after a Baku Cancel. His Alpha Counter is pretty solid as well. K-Joe is the exact opposite. K-Joe gets much better mixup potential with run and hop, and a solid offensive and defensive tool in Just Defend. Rage buffs his damage by a notable margin, and lets him access his great level 3 supers. The damage buff from Rage overall is just very useful, however he pays for all this by losing roll, which can be a pretty major sacrifice depending on how you look at Joe.
Useful - N/C/P: N-Joe is a bit of a more versatile K-Joe. He keeps the run and hop, but also gets roll for RC Baku and RC Uppers. He also gets another guard cancel to use if he needs it with Guard Cancel Roll. N-Joe sacrifices any high damage ceiling he could get though. C-Joe gets access to a lot of the things A-Joe does, plus airblock. Joe does get some flashy level 2 combos, especially in the corner with his triple Tiger Kick combo. However, the damage just doesn't match up, and Joe would rather just have a Custom Combo or a flat-out level 3 super. P-Joe is surprisingly useful, as Joe's meterless punishes can be surprisingly good using Slash Kick. One good parry gets P-Joe close to the corner, where Baku Cancel and Hurricane Upper pressure becomes much more useful. Hop makes his mix a bit scarier as well. P-Joe, like the other 3 Grooves here, sacrifices high damage potential. Without consistent access to supers, P-Joe just can't match up.
Worst - S: S-Joe has the benefit of not being entirely reliant on meter, which is always good for an S-Groove character. However, that's about where the positives end. S-Joe lacks a roll for RC Baku or RC Upper, lacks any realistic access to supers since he has to charge, and will almost never have a level 3. Desperation doesn't help a character with lackluster level 1 supers either, as none of Joe's level 1 supers do much damage or give any sort of vortex potential like the best S-Groove characters do. He gets run and hop, but so does K-Joe and N-Joe.
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Joe is a solid basic character with surprisingly good corner pressure using Hurricane Upper and his unique Baku Cancel ability. He can control neutral with great anti-airs and a decent close-range fireball, but struggles to zone opponents out or get high damage without meter. Joe is best in A-Groove or K-Groove. |
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| Pros | Cons |
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Joe has 3 supers:
Screw Upper - qcfX2 P: Joe throws a single tornado that rises to the top of the screen and travels almost all the way across the screen. This super is good for catching low jumpers.
Double Cyclone - qcbX2 P: Joe raises both arms and creates 2 giant cyclones above his head and around his body. This super does great damage and is great if someone is dumb enough to jump in. If for some reason you are going to wake up super, this is the one to go with.
Bakuretsu Hurricane Tiger Kakato - qcf, hcb, P: An auto combo super, Joe starts with hundred hands, throws a pair of tornados, raises the opponent with a tiger knee, and brings it down with a flip kick. I don't really use this super too often, so if anyone does, they can give you the goods.
Joe's specials:
TNT Punch - Any punch button X 5: Similar to E. Honda's hand slaps, this is probably Joe's best special. Mainly used if Baku-cancelled.
How to Baku cancel: The baku cancel basically cancels the hp version of the multiple punches and gives you a great frame advantage, allowing you to link previously unlinkable things, like the slide{down+hk} or trap the opponent in the corner forcing them to block. You must use the hp version of the move, and to cancel, you must hit the HP and LP buttons twice, after the first hit of the punches connects and before the second connects.
Cyclone Upper - Hcf, P: Joe's fireball, the lp version throws a single tornado that travels half screen, the mp throws 2 tornados half screen, and the hp throws 2, full screen. These are great, the lp recovers very quickly. Mix these up and try and get your opponent to jump over one and into you knee or super. Be careful, these are highly punishable.
Tiger Kick - Dp, K: Pretty good dp, the hk version has much invincibility. and the lk version is very fast, think of Ken's lp dp, but not quite that good.
Golden Heel - Qcb, K: Joe does a flip kick, eats opponents up in the air, but highly punishable on the ground. The mk version is a really bootleg crossup.
Slash Kick - Hcf, K: Use in combos or the short version to cover some ground.
Joe's best pokes:
S.Hk: Pretty good poke, long range.
S.Lk: Annoying and quick.
C.Lk: Good and fast.
C.Hk: The slide, great and fast, great range and is a good punisher.
C.Lp: I mash this when the opponent is waking up, they get hit by a couple of jabs and that combos into the hands. After the first couple of times, I stop so they try and dp me and than I can combo them when they land.
Joe should never jump really, but if for some reason if you do, use jumping mk.
Joe's combos
1. S.Lp, S.Hp (Yes. That's not a typo.) 2. J.Hk, S.Hk ~ Hk Slash Kick 3. S.Lp, S.Hk ~ Hk Slash Kick 4. S.Lp, S.Lp ~ Lk Slash Kick 5. C.Lk, S.Lk ~ Lk Tiger Kick 6. C.Lk, S.Lp, S.Lp ~ Hp TNT Punch 7. J.Hk, S.Mk ~ Double Cyclone 8. C.Lk, C.Lk, C.Lk ~ Bakuretsu Hurricane Tiger Kakato 9. C.Lk, C.Lp, C.Lp ~ Screw Upper
Joe's guard strings
1. C.Mk ~ Lk Tiger Kick (Not much, but does good chip.) 2. S.Lp, S.Lp, S.Mp ~ Lp Cyclone Upper, C.Hk* 3. C.Lk, S.Hk ~ Lp Cyclone Upper, S.Hk*
Asterisk = Use THAT normal sparingly.
Joe's main game:
Footsies are obviously Joe's style of choice. Mainly go poke for poke, once you get the opponent in the corner throw out safe cyclones (preferably the jab version) at almost half-screen to bait out jumps, rolls or to pick at their guard bar; try not to let them out. Tk their pokes and stay out of the air. The forward version of the Golden Heel is a good anti-air also the Baku cancel is very important. Joe's pretty underestimated, but that's my opinion.
