The King of Fighters '98/Mature

Introduction

Colors

Gameplay overview

Mature is a zoning/rushdown character. You can either get far away and (ab)use her powerful Ebony Tears to zone your opponent and punish attempts to evade them, or try to get in-close and mixup/force chip damage.

In-depth analysis

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox		Notes
Standing Close
	2/3/9	0/-2	C	HL			Mature's best close move cause fast, best close range attack and cancelable. Misses most crouching characters on the other hand.
	3/3(8)3/11	0/-2	-/C	L/HL			Low attack. 2 hits. Cancelable.
	2/3+4/22	-9/-11	C	HL			Fast, cancelable. Useful when you're really close to the opponent.
	8/3(15)3/18	-1/-3	-/C	HL/HL			More damage close move.
Standing Far
	1/3/9	0/-2	C	HL			Fast, decent range, cancellable. Misses most crouching characters.
	3/3(8)3/11	-2/-4	-/C	L/HL
	8/6/21	-7/-9	-	HL			Long range poke. Not cancelable.
	15/3/29	-12/-14	-	HL			Long range poke. Not cancelable.
+	17/5/21	KD/-4	S	HL
Crouching
	3/3/9	0/-2	C	HL			Fast, decent range, cancelable. Often used after a cr.B. 'Footsie' move.
	5/3/8	+1/-1	-	L			Main combo starter. Links into cl.B, cr.A
	3/2+3/22	-7/-9	C	HL			Mature's normal anti-air. Very fast and cancelable.
	8/5/25	KD/-12	C	L			Sweep. Cancelable.
Jump
	6/8	-/-	-	H
	3/2(5)5	-/-	-/-	H/H			Mature's main jump-in. 2 hits.
	6/4	-/-	-	H			Good vs air-to-air.
	9/4	-/-	-	H
+	18/4	KD/-	-	HL
Command Normals
f +	5/2(9)3/22	-5/-7	-/-	HL/HL			Like Vice's Standing B, but slower. Un-cancellable. Not very useful.
Special Moves
qcb +	10/2*3/34			HL			Death Row (qcb + P, up to 3 times) Your main combo move. Deals a lot (nine bits, three for each) of chip damage when blocked, so forcing your opponent to block it after a Standing or Crouching A can be useful way to get 'free' damage. Be aware of Guard Cancel Rolls if your opponent has stocks, though. It also builds a LOT of meter. A version is faster, and has less reach. C version moves you forward a bit more, so it's easier to combo.
qcb +	10/2*3/36			HL
> qcb +	10/2*3/31			HL
> qcb +	13/2*3/35			HL
>> qcb +	15/2*3/28			HL
>> qcb +	16/2*3/34			HL
qcb +	16/2+2+2/27			HL			Metal Massacre (qcb + K) A dashing slash that hits three times. You can use it to punish people rolling through your Ebony Tears if you don't have meter for a Heaven's Gate, to change from a zoning to a rush strategy aided by the hitstun of a blocked E. Tear, or to put pressure/chip cancelling it from a crouching D.
qcb +	23/2+2+2/34			HL
qcf +	18/3/29			HL			Despair (qcf + P) A leaping slash. Can go over low projectiles and I guess can be used as an (uber crappy) anti-air, but it's really slow and has huge recovery. Avoid using it.
qcf +	23/3/29			HL
hcf +	19/3/36			HL			Decide (hcf + K)
hcf +	21/3/38			HL
qcf hcb +	26/25			HL			Ebony Tears (qcf hcb + P) Awesome. A version will be the one you will be using the most; it travels very slowly and you recover from it fast, allowing you to either punish anyone trying to evade the Tear or gain positional advantage using the Tear's pushback (move forward so your opponent can keep getting pushed to the corner). You can also use a Metal Massacre to get in close (while dealing some extra chip damage) while your opponent is still in block stun. C version comes out slower, but travels very fast. You can throw one of these every now and then to catch people expecting a slow Tear off guard.
qcf hcb +	26/27			HL
dp +	5/36/20			HL			Sacrilege (dp + P)
dp +	8/36/28			HL
DMs
qcb hcf +	1+10/16/30			HL			Heaven's Gate (qcb hcf + K)
qcb hcf +	1+10/24/33			HL
qcb hcf + (SDM)	1+10/24/30			HL
qcf qcf +	1+4/2+14+2+14+2+15+2/30			HL			Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P)
qcf qcf +	1+6/2+14+2+14+2+15+2/34			HL
qcf qcf + (SDM)	1+4/2+14+2+14+2+15+3/30			HL

Normal Throws

• b or f + C - Breakable, forward knockdown, face forward, rollable.

• b or f + D - Breakable, reverse knockdown, back turned, un-rollable. No blue grab effect at startup.

Fastest Attacks

• 0F: C throw; D throw
• 1F: st.A
• 2F: cl.A; cl.C
• 3F: cl.B; st.B; cr.A; cr.C
• 4F: -
• 5F: cr.B; f + B; dp + A; DM qcf qcf + A; SDM qcf qcf + P
• 6F: -
• 7F: DM qcf qcf + C
• 8F: cl.D; st.C; cr.D; dp + C
• 9F: -
• 10F: qcb + P

Combos

Best jump-ins:

• j.B

• cr.B x 1+, (cr.A / st.A) x 1+ >
  • (S)DM Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P)
  • Death Row (qcb + C x 3)
  • dp + A
  • f + B

• cl.B (2 hits) >
  • (S)DM Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P)
  • Death Row (qcb + C x 3)
  • dp + A
  • f + B

On point blank you may do cr.B before cl.B.

• cl.C / cr.C / cl.D (2 hits) >
  • (S)DM Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P)
  • (S)DM Heaven's Gate (qcb hcf + K)
  • Death Row (qcb + C x 3)
  • qcb + D
  • dp + P
  • f + B

The SDM Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P) deals a little more damage than SDM Heaven's Gate (qcb hcf + K), but DM Nocturnal Lights (qcf qcf + P) and DM Heaven's Gate (qcb hcf + K) deals almost the same damage.

• Simple buffers:
  • cr.B, st.A / cl.A > (S)DM qcf qcf + P
    • cr.B, qcf + A > qcf + P (As cr.B is not cancelable, qcf + A will chain into a normal attack.)

Strategy Corner

• MAX: cr.B, cr.A > + C x 3

deals ??? than

• cr.B, cr.A > + P

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