The King of Fighters 2001/Ramon

General Info

Stand	Crouch	Jump	Run

Ramon has gotten a few new tools and a brand new set of sprites, but he is still an incomplete character in 2001. His jump C doesn't crossup well, he doesn't have a triangle jump, his dropkick misses low crouchers and his command grabs aren't even invincible. These work with his usual shortcomings against him hard in a game where infinites and neutral skips are plentiful. His ace in the hole is his microrun combo; though nerfed in damage from 2000, it is still an extremely high source of damage in one touch, and works well with his Feint Step pressure. You still have to be mindful of crouching opponents however, finding some other way to end the combo besides whiffing dropkick. His lack of meterless reversals can be made up for by being placed on anchor, where he has Strikers as reversals and to extend his combos even further, and where he can use Feint Step pressure to push opponents into blowing meter on guard cancels or reversal Strikers. However, it is better to place him first where he can build meter easily for characters who have more opportunities to spend it wisely.

This guide will draw comparisons between this iteration of Ramon and his 2002 version, which directly addressed the issues with the former while likely being one's point of reference with the character. Move names are taken from the English PS2 port.

Colors

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox		Notes
Standing Close
	1/3/6	+3/+1	R,C,S,Su	HL			A move with 1f startup sounds good on paper, but it's only used as a hop check just like the far version.
	2/3/7	+2/0	C,S,Su	L			Fastest close B in the game for what it's worth. Useful for small combos and for low/high shenanigans. Bad proximity range.
	5/7/23	-10/-12	C,S,Su	HL			Ramon's close heavy of choice for its speed and high reach. Its frame data is only an issue if you don't cancel it. Bad proximity range as well.
	7/7/13	0/-2	C,S,Su	HL			Better as a meaty than close C for its higher active frames, but slower to start and doesn't reach high. Decent proximity range, but it extends beyond where this move will actually reach.
Standing Far
	3/6/6	0/-2	C,S,Su	HL			This move has more active frames than in 02 but the total time taken is the same. This is a decent hop check and a button Ramon will often press to defend himself.
	3/5/9	-2/-4		HL			Quick poke which can be safely used in pressure to check prejumps.
	7/6/24	-10/-12		HL			You'll often get this move because close C's activation range is horrible. This is still an okay poke, and a decent punish if it's the best you can do.
	17/5/20	-5/-7		HL			Worse startup and recovery than in 02, but slightly more active.
+	19/5/51	KD/-33		HL			Worse startup and even worse recovery than in 02. Ramon also moves forward a bit after recovering which doesn't help matters much. Counter Wire
Crouching
	3/3/6	+3/+1	R,C,S,Su	HL			This move is useful for both mashing out of and safely applying pressure, and can even sometimes check hops. Safe, important normal.
	3/6/8	-2/-4	C,S,Su	L			This is not a good normal in any game, but here it doesn't chain into anything and is even negative on hit. It combos into command grabs and cancels into Rolling Sobat for a low-high string.
	9/4/22	-6/-8	C,S,Su	HL			A staple poke and pressure tool in Ramon's arsenal, being a long, cancellable normal. Burdened in neutral by its slow startup and low hitbox.
	17/5/15	KD/-2	C,S,Su	L			An already slow sweep made even slower by six frames. Still has very good range for moves of this type, but isn't suited for snappy punishes like most.
Jump
	4/9/-	-/-		H			Decent for pressure and for air-to-airs.
	5/10/-	-/-		H			Not as useful as jump A but its closer hitbox may be of use. This move is not a crossup.
	7/12/-	-/-		H			A very modest crossup in this game, which does not mesh well at all with Ramon's floaty jumps. If you are used to picking up crossups constantly with Ramon then prepare to be disappointed. It can still crossup if you space it well and it's still good for corner pressure, so overall it is an important normal.
	7/5/-	-/-		H			A deep jump-in. Can ambiguously crossup crouching opponents.
+	7/7/-	KD/-		HL			Don't worry, this move is still good. Great range and priority make it essential for air clashes.
Neutral Jump
	5/11/-	-/-		H
	4/7/-	-/-		H
	5/9/-	-/-		H
	7/5/-	-/-		H
Hop
	4/7/-	-/-		H
	5/9/-	-/-		H
	7/9/-	-/-		H
	7/6/-	-/-		H
+	8/5/-	KD/-		HL
Command Normals
df +	17/6/23	-1/-3	Su	L			Stealth Drop Kick - df + B Low-hitting command normal. It's slow so it's not very useful in neutral.
df + (cancel)	12/6/22	0/-2	S,Su	HL			Stealth Drop Kick - df + B The long reach of this move, crouch C and some of Ramon's specials mean he can pick up punishes and combos during pressure from a great distance. Can be cancelled from a whiffed crouch D to move forward a great distance but this is too slow to be anything more than a gimmick.
Special Moves
dp +	16/6/8+25			H			Rolling Sobat - dp + K An overhead. Has lower body invincibility from startup until part of the recovery. This can be cancelled into from lows such as close B and crouch D for a mixup. It can combo from close heavies but not from Stealth Drop Kick. The heavy version has the same forward movement and damage as the light version while having slower startup and worse recovery, so it's not very useful. Hard knockdown Counter Wire
dp +	23/4+4/9+26			H
> dp +	8+16+8/17/39			-			Flying Body Attack - dp + K (after dp + K) Input this during the hitstun of any Rolling Sobat and Ramon will lunge at them for an OTG. Hard knockdown
> d,d +		+1	Su	-			Set-It-Off Smack - d,d + P (after dp + K, dp + K) The first iteration of Ramon's restand. Unlike in 02, this uses his crouch C as its animation, and is +1 on hit as opposed to -10. You still have a brief window to super cancel this move even with the button hold trick, but you won't be punished if you miss it.
rdp +	13+(0~32)[run], 7+(0~24)[jump], 5[cancel], 4[wall], 8/-/38			H			Tiger Lord - rdp + K The first iteration of Tiger Road, with only one extra followup. Ramon runs to the wall behind him and leaps. You have five frames to input the followup or else Ramon will faceplant near the wall.
> + +	13/5/18		Su	H			Tiger Lord (Stop) - ABC (during run) Like 02, this move is super cancellable, but here it won't actually combo into his supers. Does a lot more damage than you would expect.
>	4[wall], 7/-/38			HL			Cross Chop - D (after rdp + K) No flying 'grab' in this game, just Cross Chop. This can be used as an anti-fireball tool if you are close to the corner, but is slow and punishable, thus rarely useful.
qcb +	2+3*[3+27+27]+15/11/13+33			HL			Feint Step - qcb + A A dropkick intended as a powerful combo ender, particularly when a microrun is involved. However, this has the nasty tendency of whiffing on low crouchers such as Lin and Athena, as the hitbox doesn't reach low enough to hit them. This was fixed in 02. Can be held, in which Ramon will sway back and forth up to three times before performing the attack. The entire startup has lower body invincibility, but between each additional cycle you have three frames of full invincibility. This is useful for avoiding pokes and guard cancels. Hard knockdown Counter Wire
qcb +	2+3*[3+27+27]/-/9			-			Feint Step - qcb + C Cancel any heavy or command normal into this move and Ramon gets an insane amount of plus frames to work with. This enables a unique pressure game where he can mixup the opponent with pokes, sweeps, hops and command grabs, all while they are stuck. Mastering Feint Step pressure is key to making the most out of this character. The same rules for holding the button with the dropkick version also apply here.
hcf +	4/0/41			Grab			Tiger Neck Chancellery - hcf + P Ramon's fast command grab, Tiger Neck Chancery, traditionally starts on frame 5 as opposed to instantly, with the tradeoff being that the startup is invincible to strikes. Here, this is not the case; under no circumstances is this move a reversal. The existence of Strikers somewhat makes up for this, but overall this severely limits Ramon's options on defense. This is still good for mixups, as its hard knockdown guarantees a safejump afterwards. Slower recovery on whiff than in 02, and doesn't do much damage.
hcf +	10/0-31/19[whiff], 2+4/35[hit]			Grab			Somersault - hcf + K Ramon's running grab. He runs fullscreen but stops if he is either vertically aligned with the opponent, which makes this move really bad if the opponent jumps, or if he stops it manually. This deals way more damage than you may expect, with the opponent taking extra damage after hitting the floor.
> + +	0/0/19						Somersault (Stop) - ABC (during run) Can be useful for footsies but be mindful that it takes a while to recover after stopping.
DM
qcb,hcf +	7(+28)+7/18/17+10			HL			El Diablo Amarillo Ramon - qcb,hcf + K Ramon's ranbu. Can combo from a microrun unlike in 2000. Both versions are two frames slower than their 02 iterations. Unfortunately, the opponent is launched fullscreen after it hits. Both versions are fully invincible up to the hit, making them still prone to trades. Very vulnerable to safejumps as reversal ranbus usually are. For some reason, the recovery on whiff for either version has lower body invincibility for the first portion of it.
qcb,hcf +	8(+28)+8/28/20+10			HL
hcbx2+	0/1(+28)/37			Grab			Tiger Spin - hcbx2+P An instant command grab. You only recover a little before the opponent after it hits, so not much time to press an advantage afterwards. In this game, this super actually deals less damage than the ranbu, which is usually not the case.
SDM
hcbx2+ +	0/1(+28)/40			Grab			Tiger Spin - hcbx2+AC Same reach as regular Tiger Spin, just a bit more recovery and a lot more damage.
Striker
+	29/27/15			HL			A four-hit ranbu for combo extensions and pressure. The key difference between this and Vanessa's Striker is that Ramon pauses before running in, rather than starting the move rushing forward with an active hitbox. On the plus side, he can actually juggle an airborne opponent a little, and the hitbox cannot be low profiled like Vanessa's. Overall, Vanessa's Striker is still better for general utility than Ramon's.

Combos

Basic Combos

Pretty much every 02 combo will work here except for combos ending in qcb+A against low crouchers.

Striker Combos

(BC) denotes when a Striker hits. A shortcut you can use for Striker combos is qcb+BC, which will call the Striker at the same time you cancel a move with Feint Step.

• Iori - clC df+B qcb+BC, walk/run crC df+B qcb+A, (BC), dp+B~dp+K~dd+P xx qcb,hcf+K
  • This is a sample combo which works if your opponent is near the corner of the screen. Even if you drop the microrun, Iori's fireball is still good for extending your blockstrings.
• King - clC df+B qcb+BC, walk stC, (BC), jCD
  • This combo works best when you are near the corner, as King won't have to slide as far to continue the combo.