The King of Fighters '98/EX Kyo

Introduction

Kyo with his style from KOF '95.

In a nutshell

Essentially is style of Kyo is a mesh between Iori's zoning ability and Kyo's moveset. Kyo makes his best use of pressuring from far and mid-far screen using fireballs in a similar manner Iori does to zone and then controls approaches with hop Jumping D and Jumping B. 95-Era Kyo has a similar close game compared to default Kyo but lacks 114 Shiki: Aragami (default Kyo's + A) to control the ground and hop space effectively for pressure. 95-Era Kyo has 108 Shiki: Yami Barai (qcf + P) in lieu of 114 Shiki: Aragami and is very similar to Iori's fireball; but in application within the close range, it works like Iori's fireball in the sense it's a secondary and is susceptible to escapes via hops and jumps.

Overall, this is a weaker version of Kyo that excels in a more defensive neutral game than default Kyo but lacks the damage-output default Kyo is capable of from a low-hitting hitconfirm combo as well as the great rushdown that makes default Kyo one of the best characters in the game. Not only does 95-Era Kyo lack the damage-output from attacks in comparison but lacks the ability to get as much damage from a jump-in attack on an opponent from mid-screen. The amount of pluses that 95-Era Kyo have is incomparable to default Kyo, but nonetheless as a character, 95-Era Kyo is still a decent character and is still viable. It's just that Iori has a similar fireball game that 95-Era Kyo has but has better damage output and overall zoning combined with better mid-screen and corner pressure, options, and damage.

Colors

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox				Notes
Standing Close
	3/4/5	+3/+1		HL					Like most cl.A attacks, this hits mid and is cancelable. Can't really pressure or do much with this move due to the small activation range. Mainly this or st.A will combo after a cr.B and is used to hit-confirm into Final Showdown
	5/4/8	0/-2		L					Note that this is low and cancelable. Combos into cr.B and cr.A.
	2/3+9/9	-1/-3		HL					The best close-range poke in KOF98. Not only is it extremely fast, but it activates from very far away for a 'close' attack. This makes Kyo very hard to stop when he runs in, because he can usually attack earlier than most characters
	4/3/22	-5/-7		HL					Not nearly as useful or as fast as cl.C. Used more in specific frame-trap situations but overall not a frequently used move by any means
Standing Far
	3/4/5	+3/+1		HL					Great anti-air against short hop, and cancelable
	7/3/13	-5/-7		HL					Great long range poke
	12/2/17	+1/-1		HL					A slower version of far Standing A, not that useful as the risk isn't worth the reward but if need be this move could anti-air a hop and is cancelable
	14/5/12	+3/+1		HL					Can go over lows, but the range/hitbox speed is not what it is in CvS2, so don't think about using it like you would in that game. Still could be used in a block string such as cl.C > st.D > qcf + A
+	19/4/16	KD/+2		HL
Crouching
	3/4/5	+3/+1		HL					Standard cr.A attack. Mainly used to after a cr.B to cancel into Final Showdown or a command normal/special attack/command normal canceled into a special attack for block-stringing
	3/4/5	+3/+1		L					One of the best 'footsie' moves in the game. Beats a lot of moves at its max range. Use this when running in. Links into cl.C and can combo into C Rekka series or block string with qcf + A or f + B into qcf + A / qcf + C
	4/3+3/20	-6/-8		HL					One of the best normal anti-airs in the game (notice a trend?). Cancelable on the first part (when his arm isn't fully extended). Very fast and high-priority. Beware as it lacks much horizontal range compared to cl.C
	11/3/19	KD/-4		L					Slow, but easily whiff cancelable (preferably into qcf + A) if someone short hops it. Makes his hitbox shrink vertically, and he can use it to 'duck' under Takuma/old characters (O.Robert/O.Ryo/O.Yuri) fireballs completely
Jump
	5/8/-	-/-		H					An air-to-air attack but is greatly overshadowed by Kyo's other jumping normals
	5/9/-	-/-		H					The best jump-in in the game. Cuts through almost ever normal anti-air like a knife through something that can't stop a knife. Stays out long enough to do it relatively early (not XI early you scrub) and reaches low enough to be one of the harder to block short hop attacks around. Crosses up
	6/4/-	-/-		H					Usually no reason to use this over j.B, but it does cross up, mostly on bigger characters. Problem is that this move has a higher hitbox and tends to whiff where j.B wouldn't
	9/5/-	-/-		H					Long range and very good priority for air-to-air or long range air-to-ground. For example neutral h.D can beat Ralf's st.C clean from range. Great in conjunction with qcf + A in a blockstring.
+	17/4/-	KD/-		HL					Not bad, a lot of blockstun like all jumping CDs. Has pretty good priority even when messing up a safe-jump set up as it will eat most attacks
Neutral Jump
	5/8/-	-/-	S	H
	5/9/-	-/-		H
	6/4/-	-/-		H
	7/8/-	-/-		H
Command Normals
f +	11/7(3)7/18	-5/-7		HL,H					Ge Shiki: Goufu You - (f + B) - 2 hits, second hit is overhead if done alone. 2nd hit is not overhead but cancelable when chained from a normal, but will only fully combo if you're close enough for both hits to connect. The canceled into version is great for staggered blockstrings from Close C or Crouching A and frametraps relatively well and confirm into rekkas/fireball for a combo if staggered from light attacks
f + (cancel)	11/7(3)7/18	-5/-7	S,Su	HL
df +	2/3(12)4/24	-8/-10		L					88 Shiki - (df + D) - There are certain moves this thing can hit, like Ralf's st.C. Otherwise only use it in a combo
air d +	6/5/-	-/-		H					Ge Shiki: Naraku Otoshi - (air d + C) - A very good jump-in. Has long hit stun, so it can be performed early and still combo into things. Great as a crossup. Slams when used air-to-air. Since it is a command move, you can use it during a backdash and you will travel much further as well as decrease recovery. In Extra mode it can be done during a front dash, and can be comboed into itself this way as an infinite. If done on a crouching opponent or late, it will combo at best into a cr.A rather than be able to do a cr.B into cr.A and cl.C will whiff most of the time due to push back. This move tends to whiff on characters that could shrink their hitboxes by crouching or doing a crouching attack so keep that in mind
Special Moves
qcf +	10/36			HL					108 Shiki: Yami Barai - (qcf + P)
qcf +	11/36			HL
dp +	5/4+13/27			HL					100 Shiki: Oni Yaki - (dp + P)
dp +	5/4+22/27			HL
rdp +	9/7/30			HL					101 Shiki: Oboru Guruma - (rdp + K)
rdp +	11/42/33			HL
hcb +				HL					212 Shiki: Koto Tsuki-Yō - (hcb + K)
hcb +				HL
qcf +				HL					75 Shiki Kai - (qcf + K > K)
qcf +				HL
>				HL
>				HL
DM
qcb hcf +	20/16/28	KD/-15		HL					Ura 108 Shiki: Orochi Nagi - qcb hcf + P 28 frames of blockstun.
qcb hcf +	18/16/32	KD/-19		HL
qcb hcf +	2+0~90+17/36/16	KD/-15		HL

Combos

• cl.C / cr.C
  • DM qcb hcf + C
  • rdp + D
  • qcf + D > D, [junggler] (Very close)
  • hcb + D
  • df + D

• cr.B, cr.A / cl.A / cl.B / st.A >
  • rdp + D (??)
  • df + D
  • dp + A (Close)

• ... qcf + D > D,
  • SDM qcb hcf + P (Corner. Miss one hit. Timming required),
    • dp + C (Timming required.)
  • (S)DM qcb hcf + P
  • rdp + B, dp + C (Corner. Timming required)
  • rdp + D
  • hcf + D (Timming required)
  • j.CD
  • air d + C
  • j.C (Reset)

• cl.C > f + B (2 hits) >
  • DM qcb hcf + C
  • rdp + D
  • hcb + D

The f + B will only combo on some characters, normally only on the bigger/larger ones, but will work un some specific thin characters. Will work on Shermie.

• st. C >
  • DM qcb hcf + C
  • rdp + D (??)
  • hcb + B (if not too far)

• Point blank: cr.C / cl.C / cr.A / cl.B > SDM qcb hcf + P

Holp P to burn opponent while charging (otherwise it will not combo), then release to hit launched opponent in the air with the second part. Out of the corner the charging will do only one hit, and you need to release the charge immediately after hit, on the corner the charge can do 2-3 hits and you have to wait a few frames to release to get the full 3 hits of the second part. Does a lot of damage, specially in the corner.

Note that you can link close C from cr.B. It is a 1-frame link, but more if you perform the cr.B meaty.

Strategy Corner

• MAX: cl.C > + D

deals ??? than

• cl.C > + C

Keep this in mind, when you need to decide whether to trigger MAX or keep meter for a DM.