The King of Fighters 2002/Maxima

General Info

Crouch height: High

Colors

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox				Notes
Standing Close
	4/3/6	+3/+1	R,C,S,Su	HL
	10/8/9	-5/-7	C,S,Su	L
	5/2(1)7/13	0/-2	C,S,Su	HL					Guard point: Frames 2-5
	11/4/17	-1/-3	C,S	HL					Guard point: Frames 6-11
Standing Far
	5/3/11	-2/-4		HL
	11/4/10	-2/-4		HL
	15/6/22	-8/-10		HL					Guard point: Frames 5-10
	18/9/19	-8/-10		HL
+	23/3+5/19	KD/-5	S,Su	HL					Guard points: Frames 20-21,22-23
Crouching
	4/3/11	-2/-4	C,S,Su	HL
	7/3/17	-8/-10		L
	12/6/17	-8/-10	C,S,Su	HL					Guard point: Frames 4-9
	9/6/21	KD/-9		L
Jump
	6/15/-	-/-		H
	8/10/-	-/-		H
	6/10/-	-/-		H
	9/7/-	-/-		H
+	11/9/-	KD/-		HL
Neutral Jump
	5/5/-	-/-		H
	7/6/-	-/-		H
	12/9/-	-/-		H
	11/9/-	-/-		H
Hop
	5/5/-	-/-		H
	8/6/-	-/-		H
	9/9/-	-/-		H
	11/9/-	-/-		H
Command Normals
f+	23/9/28	-17/-19	Su	H
f+ (cancel)	18/5/28	-13/-15	S,Su	HL
df+	9/6/18	-4/-6	S,Su	HL					Juggles airborne opponent
df+ (cancel)	8/6/17	-3/-5	S,Su	HL
Special Moves
qcb+				HL					M4 Kata: Vapour Cannon - qcb+P Maxima does a strong punch forward that has good range and very good damage qcb+C hits a little bit further, does a little more damage but comes out a bit slower than qcb+A can negate projectiles hard knockdown counterwire free cancellable into
qcb+				HL
hcf+				Grab					M11 Kata: Dangerous Arch - hcf+K Maxima does a belly to belly supplex, slamming them down to the opposite side one frame instant throw hard knockdown
dp+				HL					M19 Kata: Blitz Cannon - dp+K Maxima jumps into the air, and grabs the opponent if they are in the air as well this is generally an anti-air for anticipated jump attacks and is punishable if you miss dp+D jumps further and higher than dp+B, and also does more damage hard knockdown free cancellable into
dp+				HL
qcf+			qcf+A	HL					Maxima Scramble - qcf+P Maxima punches once, at around mid-height qcf+C does twice as much damage as qcf+A, but comes out slower (not fast enough to combo after a weak attack) free cancellable into free cancellable out of
qcf+			qcf+C	HL
> qcf+			Su, qcf+A	HL					Double Bomber - qcf+P (after Maxima Scramble qcf+P) Maxima spins, hitting the opponent twice. This move has little recovery if blocked, but is still punishable supercancellable on the second hit free cancellable out of on both hits
> qcf+			Su, qcf+C	HL
>> qcf+				HL					Bulldog Press - qcf+P (after Double Bomber qcf+P) Maxima grabs the opponent and slams then down, having a lot of recovery if blocked hard knockdown
>> qcf+				HL
hcb+				Grab					System 3: Maxima Lift - hcb+K Maxima slides forward, doing an unblockable grab attack if the opponent is on the ground can be followed up by the Centoun Press f+K free cancellable into
> f+				-					Centoun Press - f+K (after hcb+K) Maxima does a forward flip that will hit the opponent on the ground if this move is done very early, the Maxima Lift hcb+K does no damage, and this move will whiff. If the opponent recovery rolls the hcb+K, then it is possible that this move will whiff if this move whiffs, Maxima is invincible to most attacks, including throws hard knockdown
DMs
f,hcf+				HL					M2 Kata: Maxima Beam - f,hcf+P Maxima opens up his chest and fires a beam of energy with fairly poor range comes out very slow and so is uncomboable does alot of damage if it manages to counterhit the opponent, about 50% can hit behind Maxima as well, so it is probably not a good idea for the opponent to roll behind Maxima when he executes this move
f,hcf+				HL
qcf,hcb+				HL,H					Bunker Buster - qcf hcb+P Maxima crouches, then blasts off vertically into the air, and falls to the ground qcf hcb+A makes him land very close to where he started from, while qcf hcb+C makes him land a full screen away Maxima has autoguard before he goes into the air, and for a little bit as he lands overhead on the last hit (when coming down) hard knockdown on the last hit
qcf,hcb+				HL,H
hcbx2+				Grab					Maxima Revenger - hcbx2+K instant one frame throw Maxima has alot of time to followup with a variety of mixups, including a jump C crossup hard knockdown
SDM
hcbx2++				Grab					Maxima Revenger - hcbx2+BD same properties as his DM version, but more damage he does not have enough time to followup with a mixup, because he taunts at the end of the move hard knockdown
HSDM
f, ,, f,				Grab					Arch Enemy - f B C f C Maxima guides across the screen similar to his hcb+K, but does a very damaging attack if it connects this move can be cancelled into from any normal at any time

Notes

• cancellable normals are close A, crouch A, close B, close C(1), crouch C, close D
• CD is cancellable into specials and DMs
• crouch C, close C, far C, far D, stand CD and qcf hcb+P have autoguard
• close B is a low attack

Combos

Anywhere:
1. Close C(1), f+A/df+C, qcb+A - 33%
2. Close AA, Crouch A, df+C, qcb+C - 30%
3. Close C(1), f+A/df+C, hcbx2+K - 45-50%
4. Close C(1), qcf+Cx3 - 35%
5. Close A, Crouch AA, qcf+Ax3 - 40%
6. Close C(1), qcf+Cx2, (S)hcbx2+K - 60%
7. Jump C(crossup), AA, Crouch A, qcf+Ax2, (S)hcbx2+K - 80%

Corner:
1. Close C(1), f+A, qcf+Ax2, (S)hcbx2+K/(S)qcf hcb+A - 70%

Maxmode:
1. f+A, BC, qcf+Ax2, (S)hcbx2+K/BD - 50%/75%
2. Jump C(crossup), A, df+C, BC, qcf+Ax2, (S)hcbx2+K/BD - 90%

Counterhit:
1. Close C(counter hit from jumpin, 1), df+C, dp+K - 40-45%
2. qcb+P(counterwire), df+C, dp+K/qcf hcb+P - 50%
3. df+C(counterhit), walk df+C(as late as possible), df+C(as early as possible), dp+D/qcf hcb+A - 50%/60% (Corner)

Strategies

- Maxima has an extremely good wakeup game, especially since most of his moves are hard knockdowns. His qcb+P vapour cannon is probably one of his best moves due to it's speed, decent range, and enormous damage (especially if it counterhits, as it causes a counterwire). Using this move alot on the opponent's wakeup will make them careful when blocking Thus, after forcing people to block on wakeup in fear of the vapour cannon, you can use run up and throw mixups.

His f+A is also a very good move to use on the opponent's wakeup, for a few reasons. It is an overhead and cancellable to his hcbx2+K DM. This move also has the tendency of easily stuffing many reversal wakeup moves. You can further mix this up with his close B, which is meaty, hits low and is cancellable. If this move is done fairly early on the opponent wakeup, you can link a crouch A after. crouch D, which has very good range and is fairly fast, is also a decent option.

Most of Maxima's moves are hard knockdowns. After landing an hcf+K, the opponent will have wakeup with their back turned. However, Maxima doesn't have enough time to create much of a mixup after this, except hitting the opponent with a meaty qcb+C on their wakeup, doing an hcb+K grab (which is risky if the opponent jumps), or simply waiting.

Maxima has the most options after landing an hcbx2+K DM. He recovers quickly while the opponent still hasn't hit the ground, and it is a hard knockdown. Maxima has more than enough time to use the close B or f+A mixup mentioned before, as well as block and throw, or crouch D, or run up and throw. He can also go for a jump C crossup into more mixups.

- Maxima has some decent mindgames when the opponent is not waking up as well. It is generally very risky to jump forward against Maxima, because of his df+C anti-air. df+C and dp+K both work for early anti-airs, but attempting to guess when the opponent will jump, using dp+K, can be suicidal, so it is more recommended to stick out df+C. Another reason to use df+C over dp+K is the fact that if you guess wrong and the opponent did not jump, you can cancel this move if it still made contact with the opponent on the ground. If it counterhits an opponent in the air, it shouldn't be cancelled. Instead, wait and followup with qcb+C or df+C, dp+D in the corner.

Throwing out vapour cannons is an important part of his game. It is recommended to use qcb+C rather than qcb+A, outside of combos, because the animation looks exactly the same, yet the hitbox of qcb+C extends further than the animation shows. Vapour cannon scares most opponents into blocking or backing away, since it can easily counterwire for huge damage. When the opponent is close though, their jump attacks can beat a vapour cannon while it's still in startup animation. Thus, if they do get close to Maxima, it is recommended to stop using vapour cannons and instead mixup df+C and far C and possibly hop D. You can also use his stand CD, which has long frames of autoguard, and covers a large amount of area around him.

Whiffing the CD into various attacks when the opponent is also useful from a distance. If the opponent does not happen to jump into the CD, you can whiff cancel it into an appropriate move. If they toss out a ground fireball, cancel to dp+B to hop over it, although this does not work if they use an air fireball such as a psychoball. If the CD is going to totally whiff, and the opponent stays on the ground, cancel it to qcb+P or hcb+K for mindgames. Either way, it is recommended to not use this when the opponent has fireballs, since it is difficult to react in time to the fast ones.

Maxima also has decent jump attacks at his disposal. If close enough, you can attempt a hyper jump crossup C. His jump D is a decent jump attack in the sense that it hits very low to the ground, but jumping high is generally a big risk unless the opponent is waking up. His hop D and vertical high jump D is fairly good for intercepting air attacks due to it's horizontal range, but his jump CD easily beats it in terms of priority. For starting some offense, it is probably best to use his hop C rather than other jump attacks.

For attack strings, his Close C(1), f+A, qcb+P is probably the most useful. However, it is possible to guard roll the Close C or f+A and punish him if he continued the attack string. If the opponent does use guard rolls to punish, then it is probably not a good idea to use this attack string unless they do not have meter. Abusing his crouch A jabs is also quite good, due to their priority and high damage. Cancelling them to qcf+A is generally safe, although some characters can punish that move with a crouch D.

- Maxima has limited options when waking up. He has no fast reversal attack, so using df+C to anti-air an opponent on wakeup as they are coming down isn't a very good idea. A more reliable anti-air in that situation would be abusing the autoguard on his close C. Cancel the first hit of his Close C to df+C, since it is very likely that the autoguard from his close C counterhit the opponent's jumpin, which will result in df+C comboing, and allowing you to followup with dp+K. If the opponent likes to use moves like Kyo's hop B on your wakeup, then the best option sadly, would be to just block it. The autoguard on the close C is not guaranteed especially against high priority fast jump attacks.

Using his qcf hcb+P Bunker Buster is generally not very good idea on wakeup, since it has some startup delay and is punishable on block. However, if you see the opponent do some attack that takes a while to execute on your wakeup, such as Andy's qcf+K(air), or hcf+K, then the autoguard on the Bunker Buster will beat those moves easily.

- Maxima has quite a few other tricks. It is possible to tick into his HSDM. The best way to do this is to a crouch B from far away such that it still makes contact with the opponent. Cancel it with BC, then do the HSDM immediately after. The shortcut for doing this is crouch B, f B BC f C. If done right, the HSDM will come out immediately after the BC cancel, and will grab the opponent even if they blocked the crouch B. The opponent has very few frames to react to this and will usually get grabbed by any attack he decided to do on the ground.

Another throw setup is doing a crossup jump C, then activating maxmode and doing the hcbx2+AC SDM immediately, instead of going for an attack string. This is completely unexpected and will catch most opponents blocking and wondering "what the hell happened?" If the opponent decided to attack immediately after they blocked the jump C, then it is likely that they would mess up their combo because of the maxmode activation pausing the game for a moment.

-use his far C just as a fireball is going to hit. The autoguard will absorb it, and hit the opponent if they are trying to do something after the fireball. It is very difficult to him Maxima out of his far C, and it is hard to jump over it.