The King of Fighters '95/System

From SuperCombo Wiki

Much of the following information is sourced and roughly translated from the excellent absolutekof95ism site for the benefit of the English-language playerbase. I don't read Japanese and am not great at the game so I only transcribe what I'm confident I can understand. All credit where it's due to its webmaster Beat Kitano (@DISM_VEGA on twitter) and collaborators for their efforts.

Basic Systems

  • Blocking - Hold 4 to block attacks that hit mid or overhead, hold 1 to block low-hitting attacks. Normals do not deal chip damage, while special moves deal exactly 1/4th of their intended damage as chip. Proximity guard takes effect anywhere on screen. KOF '95 does not have air blocking.
  • Jump - Holding 7/8/9 for more than 3 frames results in a normal jump. Jump speeds differ between characters. You can't hop in this game.
  • Superjump - Tapping 7/8/9 for 3 frames or less (very similar to the motion for hopping in later games) results in a super jump, which go faster and farther than regular jumps. Unlike in later KOF games, you can super jump straight upwards.
  • Dash/Backdash - 66 dashes forwards, and 44 dashes backwards. Neither dash has any invulnerability, though most are naturally evasive. Most dashes are an airborne hop, with the exceptions of Takuma, Eiji, Mai, and Iori, who all stay grounded during their forward dash. Chin stays grounded during both forward and backdash. Specials, but not command normals as in later games, are usable from a dash (e.g Robert can use his j.214B/D during his hop dashes, and Chin can use any of his specials during his grounded roll dashes).
  • Throw - Normal throws, 4/6C or 4/6D at close range, cannot be blocked and take 3f to execute. There is no throw teching or softening, 1P will always take priority if both players throw at the same time, though normal throws will always lose to command throws. Some characters have air throws, some characters have holds which can be mashed out of.
  • Avoiding/Avoid Attack - 5AB dodges, making the character completely invulnerable and intangible for 32 frames. Dodging has no recovery, so you can chain dodges together with good timing. Dodges lose only to throws. From frames 8-24 of dodge, pressing any button will perform an avoid attack, a unique special-cancellable normal with vulnerable startup and high hitstun.
  • Meter Charge - Tap or hold 5ABC to take a stance and charge the POW meter. After 2f or startup, meter will begin charging at a rate of 0.5px per frame. Charge rate does not accelerate with time held and the action has no recovery. Chainable light normals can cancel into charge (see advanced tech# charge cancelling).
  • Guard Cancel - After either blocking 6 contiguous hits or any hit while in MAX, you can execute any special move immediately out of block.
  • Desperation Move When under 20% life or in MAX, your character's desperation move is available.
  • MAX - When the POW meter reaches its limit, the character enters MAX. POW meter can be earned in the following ways: taking any single hit grants 3 pixels of meter, guarding any single hit grants 6 pixels of meter, and manually charging by holding A+B+C grants 0.5 pixels per frame spent charging after startup. The duration of MAX depends on how the meter finally "pops;" if the limit is reached by taking or blocking attacks it lasts 5 seconds, and if the limit is reached with a manual charge it lasts 15 seconds. There are no other known differences between defensive and offensive MAX activation. While MAX is active, your attributes change as follows:
    • (+)Damage dealt increases by 1.5x
    • (+)Unlimited access to guard canceling. Using GC does not affect remaining MAX time.
    • (+)Allows use of one Super Special Move, after which MAX will immediately empty, even if also in critical health. Supers executed while in MAX, flashing lifebar or not, are approx 1.25x as strong as supers used from flashing lifebar alone.
    • (+-)Pushback taken increased by 1.5x.
    • (+-)Pushback dealt increased by 1.5x.
    • (-)Damage taken increased by 1.125x
    • (-)Cannot charge, so cannot use charge cancelling.
  • Provocation - Pressing 5B+C will taunt, instantly draining 16 pixels of the opponent's meter. Regardless of how long the taunt animation is, any action except for another taunt can be taken after the 24th frame. Taunts can be repeated to counteract enemy charging by stance breaking with ABC or a slight movement.
  • Team Attack - When stunned or caught in a mashable hold and near your teammates in the background, pressing ABCD will cause one of them to jump out and hit the opponent. Billy is the only character with a significantly unique attack, dealing up to 9 hits instead of just one. Unlike with the mood system present in later games, anyone will help anyone save for the follwing restrictions:
    • Kyo and Iori will never assist each other
    • Saisyu will only assist Rugal
    • Rugal will never assist anyone
    • CPU Rugal has a cat. Cute!

Advanced Mechanics

  • Input Delay - KOF95 has exactly 3f input delay before any input takes effect.
  • Button Hold - For special moves only, holding the button after completing the motion will store the input for up to ~10 frames and initiate the special as soon as possible.
  • Alternate Guard - After blocking an attack, continually switching between 4 and 1 will keep you from becoming throwable, as in other KOF games.
  • Charge Cancelling - As previously mentioned, chainable lights can cancel into 5ABC. Due to a quirk in how inputs are handled, you can link otherwise impossible combos, somewhat analogous to CPS1 chains in SF2.
  • Linking into heavy punches (and light punches, albeit pointless) is the easiest - release ABC on the first frame of the charge and 5C will automatically come out (or cr.C if you're holding down). If it doesn't come out, just press C immediately after entering the charge and it will cancel out the charge. It takes some practice but is relatively intuitive.
  • Linking into heavy kick is not much different from linking into heavy punch. As with heavy punches, you are cancelling with holding ABC and letting go, followed by pressing the D button either standing or crouching. Almost always it is done crouching instead, since it links into sweep. The link for sweep is much more difficult so it will take some practice, but is still quite doable. If you're really bad at execution, you can also opt to hold ABC and then press D to immediately cancel the charge animation without letting go of charge and it will still link.
  • The best way to practice this is with Ryo on the 95 Special rom hack. For starters, you have a combo counter to tell you if it combos or not. On top of that, Ryo can do cr.B chains and link into cr.D. Start slow, do one cr.B, and then slowly work your way up as you cancel into charge and then cancel charge into sweep. Repeat this process and steadily get faster at it. As you progress, you can gradually stack more cr.Bs into the combo as such: cr.B x1-3, ABC cancel, cr.D. Again, you can hold ABC down and still get cr.D to come out by cancelling the charge, like so: cr.B [hold B] > hold A and C while still holding B > press D immediately after cancelling into charge.
  • [needs clarification to what "linking into other actions" is referring to]
  • Special Move Morphing - When using certain special moves with two different strengths, inputting the other strength of the move after the move starts will cause it to take on the second version's properties, often creating strange hybrids between the light and heavy versions. What this works with and whether it is useful varies wildly on a move by move basis. For example, take Kyo's 421K: 421B>421D results in the light version's initial kick followed up with the heavy version's final slamdown, though it will never hit because the initial kick lacks juggle property, thus being completely useless. On the other hand, 421D>421B performs the first two kicks of 421D but lacks the finisher, allowing juggles and being slightly quicker to fully execute. This is also how his BnBs and corner infinite work, as 236B>236D gives you the speed of the the light initial kick and the juggle properties of the heavy followup.
  • Note: This can also be performed as such - 421B > 236C, or vice versa - 421D > 236A. You can input qcf instead and press the punch button of the opposite strength to get the same effect.
  • Also note: Some cases, like Takuma's Hien Shippuu Kyaku, how early or how late you morph the special move will give one of two outcomes. In his case, a delayed morph allows for potential combo extensions.

Game Navigation

General
Controls
Notation
HUD
System
FAQ
Characters
Andy
Athena
Benimaru
Billy
Chang
Chin
Choi
Clark
Daimon
Eiji
Heidern
Iori
Joe
Kensou
Kim
King
Kyo
Mai
Omega Rugal
Ralf
Robert
Ryo
Saisyu
Takuma
Terry
Yuri