Plasma Sword/Hayato

Introduction

Story

Hayato is a rebellious young Japanese intergalactic bounty hunter who fights with a Plasma Sword and has a strong sense of justice when battling against the forces of evil.

One year later from within the events of Plasma Sword (Star Gladiator 2), Hayato has become a successful bounty hunter and has settled down with June, spending his days peacefully in rebuilding the orphanage with the bounties he has earned. One day after coming back home from another successful bounty hunting mission, Hayato is shocked to hear and learn that June has suddenly disappeared and that his friends had told him on what had happened. Realizing that Bilstein, who had shockingly and surprisingly returned from his supposed "death" at the end of the Final Crusade, is behind the unexpected situation, Hayato sets out to find June and to finish things with Bilstein once and for all.

Overview

Hayato is secretly a grappler, one with decent movement and close-to-mid-range pokes. Hayato excels at whiff punishment and spending his meter off of big command grab reads. Both Hayato and B. Hayato are valid, well rounded picks. Normal Hayato's multi-slash rave super converts easily off any standing string, and B. Hayato's column super is an excellent high damage utility anti-air.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Well-rounded tools: Hayato has effective pokes and decent mixups for any range in any scenario, lacking only a projectile, allowing him to be played as both a rushdown and defensive character that can handle any situation. Close Range Mixup: If Hayato gets in your face, he has three very powerful tools: 4B, 5BA, and command grab. 4B is plus on block, 5BA is a hit confirm with slightly less frame advantage on block, and command grab, well... Combo command grab: Hayato's 64K is impossible to react to and packs good range, giving him access to juggle combos and ways to confirm into super. Reversals: Hayato's DP and 214 super allow him to challenge in many dangerous frame disadvantage situations other characters simply have no tool for. PLASMA SWORD: Hayato's titular Plasma Field allows him to combo after the install ends, meaning that, if the Hayato player routes correctly, he can build back some of the meter he spent. Massive range with setups: Hayato can extend his sword's range with his 222 special, Ashura. While only Hayato gets a second extension with 236AB, leading to absurd sword length, Bayato is able to use his supers without decreasing the sword's length. This strange gimmick is not totally vital to playing the character, due to its timer, but the range on your new normals might still sneak a little extra damage in on some new confirms like BAB.

Weak / Inconsistent hitboxes: A lot of Hayato's best pokes tend to start to whiff versus crouchers, and sometimes even standing opponents, if you aren't close enough. Considering most of Hayato's mileage is converting into super off either command grab or poke, this can be a really big deal in terms of missed opportunities. Weak Primary Specials: Hayato's specials are uniquely weak to labbing. QCF+B can be parried if opponents have 50% meter after blocking the first hit, and QCB+B can always be sidestepped in-between the second and third hit. While it is difficult to tell the two apart just off the first hit, it is nonetheless important to note that Hayato takes a big gamble everytime he does either of these moves, and he kind of has to use them due to their value as ranged whiff punishers and knockdown tools. Potentially meter hungry: Hayato can be meter hungry depending on your needs. If you play Hayato, you might burn meter for his sword extensions and for Bayato, a Shinryuken super that controls the air game. 214AB is also a good punish tool for both characters, especially Bayato. It's hard for Hayato score big damage like some other characters can without meter. Ashura Timer: The timer on Hayato's Ashura buff is quite short, making the new range buff largely trivial at best.

Default VS Mirror

There are a few differences between Hayato and B. Hayato's effectiveness, though both are valid characters fully capable of fighting the cast.

Hayato deals more damage off of super confirms that leave the opponent standing thanks to Ransetsu Zan (QCB+A+B), while B.Hayato's Guren Tenpa (QCF+A+B) gives him better damage off of juggles, such as his command grab and 3A.

As far as utility, Hayato's QCBA+B is invincible on the ground, making it a great reversal style super. B.Hayato's QCFA+B has a huge, unjumpable hitbox, making it a very easy go-to, high damage anti-air. If you're having difficulty vs. airborne opponents moreso than grounded, B. Hayato might be the difference maker.

Move List

Vertical Normals

5A

5A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-2	-2	-	Ground
Great speed, and occasionally a pretty good anti-air against further out jumps. Can be special cancelled into QCF+B/QCB+B for alright damage, but you have to be careful with the input, otherwise you might accidentally get DP. AB works consistently and safely, otherwise, but for less damage. 5A->QCB+B is a good AA conversion in certain matchups.

5A,A

5A,A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-11	-11	-	Ground
Confirm into special moves/super. Unfortunately, the second hit will whiff crouching/small opponents on both block and hit depending upon the range and matchup, so this tool, which otherwise would be your primary attack into specials/supers, is limited in its usefulness and more often than not just results in Hayato dropping combos. Make sure if you're using this that you know what situations the hit is consistent in.

5A,A

5A,A,A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-22	-7	-	Ground
As you can see from the hit advantage, you probably don't want to stop here. It is special cancelable, at least, and it leads to full combos on close hit vs. crouching opponents in specific matchups into super and special, but any distance or off-axis situation (or just small character) can cause the combo to drop. More of a liability than anything else. It does have huge pushout on block, however, and is pretty safe if it is blocked..

5A,A,A,A

5A,A,A,A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-12	-14	-	Overhead
A special cancelable overhead is a great tool, normally, and Hayato's consistently combos into QCF+B. However, the harder part is getting this to even remotely interact with the opponent, as the move in the string beforehand almost always pushes the opponent out of range. Luckily, so does this one if it's blocked.

5A,B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	X	-4	-	Ground
Safe knockdown tool. Not special cancelable. Though minus, it has massive pushout on block. Unfortunately, the distance it sends the opponent on hit means you can't reliabily run up and command grab/poke mixup if they tech immediately away, so prepare for that. Because 5A is i9, this is largely the cornerstone of your frame-tight pressure.

3A

3A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	-	18	-	-	62	X	-15	-	Ground
Hayato's launcher. Would almost certainly be better if it were either a little faster or a little safer, but since it's neither you probably won't use this much outside of whiff punishing, and even then it's probably better to just Poke->Super. There is a situation where this will net you good damage consistently, however: a well placed and deep-as-possible j.A

4A

4A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
7	-	26	-	-	-	+5	+4	-	Ground
Hayato's standing overhead. Doesn't do very much damage at all, but since it always has frame advantage, it has a place in his close range pressure.

2A

2A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
10	-	13	-	-	-	+4	+4	-	Low
Long range low poke with some frame advantage. Little damage, but very annoying to contend with at mid-range. You can kind of tell by the data the developers really wanted this move to be something important for him, but the linear nature and whiff recovery holds it back a bit. Still, you will find this to be one of your primary pokes in just about any situation.

While Running A

While Running A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
10	-	13	-	-	-	+2	+0	-	Low
Long range low poke with some frame advantage. The fact this slides forward with momentum is great, and the only thing that holds it back is its vulnerability to step/jump. Because of the pushout on a lot of Hayato's key pokes, you'll be using this a lot to get back in. If opponents start to jump, sidestep, or preemptively beat this, you've narrowed their options considerably. The whiff recovery on this isn't the worst, either.

Horizontal Normals

5B

5B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	-11	-11	-	Ground
An 11 frame horizontal attached to a safe knockdown string (5BB) is pretty decent overall. This also has the added bonus of being special cancelable. Unfortunately, it also whiffs crouching opponents everywhere except at point blank range, limiting its usefulness. Still, 5BB increases its value.

5BB

5BB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	X	-3	-	Ground
Despite being the same move as 5AB according to the chart, it actually recovers one frame faster on block. Given its massive pushout, this is a decent tool for setting up a Shiden whiff punish, and it keeps you from completely dying for doing 5B. Though, as a command grab character, it does mean you get pushed out to unideal ranges versus characters that outpoke or zone you.

5BA

5BA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	-14	+4 (see desc.)	-	Ground
Very interesting move! One of your most consistent close range ways to hit-confirm into special/super on a standing opponent. You do have to be a little fast with the special cancel input, but because the A in 5BA always hits crouchers, you can be assured that, at least, you can always force the opponent to block Shiden. The frame data on hit is unfortunate, as is its inconsistency at range, but that's kind of a running theme with Hayato. Your highest damage hit-confirm outside of 3A/3K, and it is far faster than both. 5BA being +4 on block is fascinating, but because it locks your buffer afterwards, it can be tough to utilize. It also has an odd input quirk where the "A" in 5BA must be input quickly, making it difficult to buffer after some frame traps.

5BAB or 5KAB

5BAB or 5KAB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	X	-7	-	Low
Probably one of Hayato's best strings. Safe on block, natural combo, special cancelable, and it hits low just to make sure the opponent is down-backing instead of backing. In the unlikely event you have the buff from Ashura, the first hit of Shiden combos off of this. For some reason, QCB moves--both his super and special--are not allowed to be cancelled from this until later than QCF moves.

3B

3B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	17	-	-	-	X	-13	-	Ground
Strange, slow horizontal low sweep. It's actually a few frames safer than 2B, and the knockdown is nice, but its poor recovery overall combined with its slow speed means it's probably not worth fishing for most of the time until you're comfortable with the situations its most likely to hit in. It does have an edge case use in oki situations, however, as it covers step in both directions and prevents opponents from trying to sidestep->plasma field on wakeup. Be careful in neutral, as it is slightly weaker to the side Hayato swings from in terms of hitbox, which means that certain timings and ranges might still miss sidestepping opponents.

2B

2B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	-14	-15	-	Low
Awful poke that you still need to use if you want to both lockdown step and not worry about someone crouching underneath your pokes. Mercifully it has some pushout, but if it whiffs you are probably getting hit. The awful recovery on this move really makes one wonder if this was special cancel-able at one point and they nerfed it without ever fixing the recovery data.

4B

4B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	16	-	-	-	+6	+6	-	Ground
An interesting containment tool. Short range, but it has frame advantage on both hit and block, is special cancelable, and allows you to setup tight pressure. For example, 5A cannot be stepped in the Hayato mirror at +6.

Running B

Running B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	10	-	-	-	-15	-14	-	Ground
A strange running horizontal that is minus on hit and block. Sometimes will randomly cause the camera to crossup before the second hit, but as far as current testing has been able to confirm, there is no consistent way to set this up.

Running BB

Running BB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	10	-	-	-	X	-11	-	Ground
A followup to Running B. Does not combo. At -11 it is not the most unsafe thing in the world, but it still can be punished by some attacks in the game. Especially useful against opponents that try to jump past you when you approach.

Kick Normals

5K

5K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	49	+0	+0	-	Ground
A high kick primarily used in juggles. Tends to whiff some crouchers and has short range. Has some funny gimmick strings on the ground attached to it, too, and it's one of Hayato's fastest moves.

5KK

5KK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-16	-17	-	Ground
Like the 5K before it, tends to whiff on the ground and has poor range, so it is limited to juggles. Given its awful data and the fact it rarely even interacts with people on the ground, you're generally better canceling this into something else or not doing it at all. It does, however, natural combo.

5KA

5KA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	-11	-12	-	Ground
Outclasses 5KK on the ground, but ground splats airborne opponents so you'll never use it in juggles. Cancels easily into specials/supers.

5KAA

5KAA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	9	-	-	-	X	-14	-	Ground
A launcher designed solely to frame trap mashers post 5KA. At -14 and with lots of pushout, this is safe versus many characters in the game, and landing it means you score a dash juggle into special/super of your choice. Reasonably strong in any matchup where you can't get punished on block for it.

2K

2K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	Low	15	-	-	49	-5	-7	-	Ground
Despite the disadvantage on hit, this can special cancel into 236B reliably and into 214A+B super. Can hit steppers to the side Hayato spins from, so it has some anti-step possibilities, too. Also low profiles in some key situations that Hayato otherwise can't, such as versus Cat 5A.

3K

3K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
12	-	20	-	-	67	X	-6	-	Low
Solely exists for 3KA launcher, which is one of Hayato's highest damage juggle starters. Because of it's slow speed, it is close to impossible to combo into 3K, but the safety on both it and its follow-up somewhat makeup for that. Generally difficult to use versus mobile opponents.

3KA

3KA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	20	-	-	67	X	-14	-	Ground
Launcher into reaction super/special cancel juggle. Pushes out on block nearly full screen.

Running K

Running K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	Overhead	11	-	-	-	X	-39	-	Overhead
Sneaky running jump overhead that knocks down. Very unsafe if blocked.

Jumping Normals

While Jumping A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

While Falling A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Special Moves

Shiden
236B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	20	-	-	-	X	-8	-	Ground
At -8 on block + the large range and pushout it has, this tool is a must for Hayato's hit confirms and mid range. However, it—like most of Hayato's tools—tends to not combo in weird off-axis situations even despite the fact it is considered a anti-step horizontal. Still, if you aren't using this, you're not really playing this character, so good luck at mid-range. A big plus for this move is that it causes an untechable knockdown, allowing for Hayato's most important poke/command grab mixup.

Shiden: Kai
214B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	20	-	-	-	X	+22	-	Ground
A higher damage version of Shiden used primarily as a mixup versus players that know to parry Shiden's second hit, or to score more damage in specific combos/juggle routes. The block advantage is impressive until you realize the last hit is duckable AND steppable, rendering it virtually useless. Still, Hayato recovers almost instantly once they touch the ground, making this safe pressure for those that don't know you can step/interrupt/duck between the second and third hits.

Byakko Hou
64K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Grab
The most important tool in your arsenal. Follow up with your juggle of choice into super. Generally the most consistent followup is 669A, 5KKxSuper.

623A/B
Guren

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-39	-	Ground
Rising sword uppercut. Both version are basically the same move, button determines distance traveled during DP. Has invincibility during startup, but can still be snuffed out by air normals sometimes due to its poor hitbox once active. A version is stronger vs grounded normals, but the reward off of going all in on this is pretty low, too. B version tends to not hit crouchers but fairs better vs. air attacks. Unfortunately, it does not have a hitbox all the way to the ground, so there's even some low profiling moves that will always go under both versions, such as Cat 3K.

Ashura
222

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Increases the range on all sword attacks for about two swings. Once first swing is active, you only have a about a second to swing again.

Gauge Moves

Engetsu (Hayato Only)

Engetsu
236AB (Hayato Only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	31 (2 pre flash, 29 post)	-	-	-	X	-58	-	Ground
Hayato's main juggle ender with meter. Useful off of any launcher or command grab, but generally worthless outside of those situations aside from doing chip damage. It's also considerably harder to combo into than B. Hayato's pillar due to slow startup.

Rasetsu Zan (Hayato Only)

Rasetsu Zan
214AB (Hayato Only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	17 (2 pre flash, 15 post)	-	-	-	-	-26	-	Ground
Hayato's main ground combo ender with meter, and also a useful panic button super with invincibility. Because it can't AA or full combo on airborne opponents, you have to be mindful of what you're using it against in neutral. It also loses its invincibility just before the attack comes out, so it can still lose in neutral, although it rarely does due to its speed/range/invincible startup. While it does limit get up options in the same way Shiden does, it unfourtantely is not advantageous enough to meaty instant get up or option select insta-getup and roll options.

Guren Tenpa (B. Hayato Only)

Guren Tenpa
236AB (B. Hayato Only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	14 (2 pre flash, 12 post.)	-	-	-	X	-80	-	Ground
aka "Pillar." B. Hayato's main juggle ender, and also a decent anti-air due to its massive hitbox going up to the sky. It also has true invincibility during its startup, making it a high risk/high reward reversal.

Kegon (B. Hayato Only)

Kegon
214AB (B. Hayato Only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	17 (2 pre flash, 15 post)	-	-	-	-	-28	-	Ground
B. Hayato's main ground combo ender with meter, and also a useful panic button super with invincibility. It is still unsafe, but the situation on block passes by pretty quickly and if the opponent isn't well practiced against it, they'll likely miss the chance to punish. This is fundamentally the same as Hayato's, only the damage is much worse.

Plasma Revenge
AM

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Plasma Reflect
BM

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	6	-	-	-	+34	-	-	Weapon Parry
Landing this parry leads to a free Byakko Hou or 3A. Not much else to say, other than anything that gives you a free command grab into full combo is something you generally want to take as Hayato.

Plasma Field - Plasma Sword

Plasma Field - Plasma Sword
BK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	21	-	-	-	-	-16	-	Ground
Starts the "Plasma Sword." Hayato is a character that has to deal with random room generation, but he should always be able to run and land his simplest combo regardless of room configuration with a 5A. Block stun data is for point blank block

Miscellaneous

Stand Throw

Stand Throw
5AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	+15 to Insta-Stand	-	-	Ground
Over the shoulder throw. While the damage is decent and the positioning is close, Hayato does not (yet) have anything in particular found that covers both of the major timings for getting up from the ground (roll and insta-stand.) Insta-stand can be covered reliably by instantly throwing/4Bing/3Bing, but all of these options lose to roll, which you can-kind- of cover by sidestepping first and doing something with decent range to meaty them, such as 2B. Jumping forward is actually unsafe to insta-stand Plasma Field, believe it or not, and the positioning is wrong for getting a crossup j.A. It might be better to just block or step and see what they do and feel it out from there.

Crouch Throw

Crouch Throw
5AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	+55 to Insta-Stand	-	-	Ground
Rolling backwards throw. Decent damage with awkwardly long down time. It's just not quite long enough to guarantee an OTG attack, and the jump distance makes his attacks whiff. Backdash->running A can frame trap insta-getup when timed right.

Strategy

General Gameplan

Hayato is a mid-range command grab character with many versatile small combo options, frame traps, and general access to all of the games fundamental tools. He is not particularly strong at one single thing and he has several odd quirks/limitations that keep him from being easy to pick up: winning with this character will take a lot of lab work and dedication to the game's mechanics and Hayato's matchups.

Generally, you have only two ranges you play in: point blank range, and close-mid range. Hayato's best box step pattern (to his back) allows him to dance in and out of mid range and potentially whiff punish with Shiden, which is also his primary combo ender from many of his cancelable pokes. Shiden is the key to this character, as it has a unique knockdown that cannot be instant tech rolled.

Outside of Shiden, Hayato's mid range options are jump late K, which has a long active hitbox, jump late A/B, which has a large arc, 2B and BB, big horizontals that maybe catch a stepping opponent off guard, and 5A, a wide swinging vertical with great speed that can wall out approaches both from the ground and sometimes the air. 2A also deserves a nod for its long, annoying range and surprising speed for a long range low. If Hayato chooses to play defensive, his 623B (Guren) is a decent anti-air versus most jump ins at this range. Either way, though, all of this is in support of getting to a Shiden knockdown, or getting into close range if your opponent freezes.

At close range, the character truly shines. 5BA, 5A, 4B, 4A, Throw, and his command grab "Byakko Hou" make up the economy of his best tools, as they either allow Hayato to maintain frame advantage or convert into either Shiden or Super, depending upon what the situation calls for.

Shiden Oki

Because of the number of get up options in this game, even Hayato's limited knockdown type is still quite complex. Let the below table serve less as a hard and fast rule and more as a guide for how you might structure your own offense post Shiden. The important take away here is that these are the knockdown options you'll be dealing with.

Here is an example of how Hayato might structure oki post Shiden hit versus another Hayato.

[future table of post Shiden options. Primary focus is Running A, Run 3B, PF, 5BA OS]

Matchups

Vs. Blood/Shaker (4.5:5.5) - This is basically a mirror match but you do everything worse than them. The only thing you have in your favor here is a i9 button and a slightly more threatening horziontal game with 3B, neither of which are matchup defining here.

Vs. Gerelt/Claire (5:5) - Since Hayato has a invincible i12 DP, he can blow up Gerelt's stand throw->jump oki, which is not something many characters can do. Gerelt's i12 super is pesky in the sense it blows up about half of Hayato's movelist on block, but that's a pretty specific and advanced knowledge check (and execution/reaction check) the Gerelt player has to demonstrate first. In general this is a even matchup between two well rounded characters just trying to outplay each other with their under-tuned movelists.

Vs. Gore- (5.5:4.5) Hayato should do well in this matchup, as his 236B can punish Gore's primary meterless combo ender (fireball) on hit at any range that leaves you close enough to connect with 236B. Gore is just as meter hungry as you are and has fairly similar issues with hitboxes, but his close up frame data is littered with far more frame traps than yours, with the trade off being that he has no high damage command grab. Focus on playing around his high damage Plasma Field, baiting his panic/AA black hole super, and whiff punishing 3K/Spinning Leg/Fireball. If you score a knockdown with Shinden and he has no meter, he's pretty helpless to stop your command grab/poke mixup. He generally out damages you big time if one of his big guesses pays off.

Vs. Rai-On (3.5:6.5) Possibly worse. There's no other way to say this: Rai-On's the sort of character that doesn't have to look at the screen when fighting you. He has plus frames for days and a checkmate block string on you if you ever happen to drop below 50% meter and also lose the life lead, and he doesn't need to know a thing about how Hayato works to enforce it. You cannot win this matchup if you don't know his frame data, when you can step/jump, and when he is forced to commit to minus frame options like 5BB. Your saving grace as Hayato is your range/neutral (2B, 2A, Run A, Run B), far superior damage output on Plasma Field/Combos, and invincible options (DP, 214 super). There is an argument that Pillar super for Bayato makes this matchup half a point better due to the chunks of damage it gives + anti-air and invincible utility, but ultimately, damage isn't the issue here, its patience. Be willing to disengage, force him to play at awkward ranges, and keep your meter up with whiffed normals. Also, make sure you have a consistent punish for blocked pinwheel super, as a semi-consistent problem in this matchup is the fact Rai-On can both miss hit confirms into it and, depending upon how wild the opponent is, may use it in neutral. In general, DP/Reversal super beats all post 5A options except Rai-On's 3K slide and blocking, and those get you out of block string pressure. If you can get Rai-On to even consider doing 3K/Nothing during his offense, you are ahead in the mental game. Also worth noting is that if you try to parry the block string infinite and he does 2K, 2KK will not combo on you.

Combos