General
What kind of game is KOF MIRA?
KOF MIRA can be a very strange experience for KOF players, feeling very similar to the mainline KOF series in many important ways, and yet very different in many others. While much of the general KOF gameplay formula still exists in MIRA in the form of its multiple different jumps and its varied defensive mechanics, the shift to the third dimension caused the game to borrow many elements from 3D fighting games, including some approximation of 3D fighting game attack strings and lateral movement. The result is a game that retains the KOF series’ trademark fast pace and strong balance of offense and defense, but spices up its mixup with just enough 3D fighting game design sensibility to create an experience wholly unlike any other game out there -- KOF or otherwise -- but no less interesting or rewarding.
What can I play this on?
Aside from its arcade version, the game also had a PS2 port, which in turn got a PS2 Classics digital release on the PS3. All three versions are Japan-exclusive, however.
Netplay?
Netplay builds of PCSX2 or even Parsec should work just fine. If you want to try and organise games with people, join our Discord.
Technical
What does the tier list look like?
Please bear in mind that this is a very underexplored game, so most available tier lists will be out of date or not be entirely reflective of more modern understandings of the game.
Youposition's Tier List
This tier list comes from youposition's Rakuten blog. This is a very early tier list from 2007 that reflects understandings of the Japanese community.
SS: Ash, Xiao Lon
S: Mizoguchi, Wild Wolf, Kula, Terry, Mai
A+: Billy, Lilly, Kim, Geese, K'
A: Kyo, Ryo, Lien, Jivatma, Kyo-C, Ninon, Athena, Seth, Rock, Luise, Mr Karate
A-: Blue Mary, Alba, Yuri, Maxima, Hanzo, Fio, Leona, Hyena, Chae Lim, Ralf, Nagase
B: Soiree, Clark, Iori, Duke, B.Jenet, Mignon, Richard
4649's Tier List
This tier list is a preliminary evaluation by 4649 of the Shoryuken forums. It represents another very early evaluation of the game's meta, and by the author's own recommendation: "PLEASE TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, the game is still really early and preliminary tiering is bound to have errors as the game has had no real major tournament showing yet."
S: Xiao Lon, Kyo, Wild Wolf, Luise, Mr Karate, Lien, Kim, Chae Lim, Richard, Soiree, Ash
A: Billy, Iori, Kula, Yuri, B.Jenet, Leona, Alba, Maxima, Mai, Ryo, Geese, Kyo-C, Mizoguchi
B: Lilly, Ralf, Duke, Jivatma, Nagase, Hanzo, Mignon, Ninon, Rock, Fio, Blue Mary
C: Athena, Hyena, Seth, K', Clark
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Old_V3's Tier List
S: Jivatma, Wild Wolf, Xiao Lon, Ash
A: Kyo, Terry, Kim, B.Jenet, Billy, Leona, Mai, Richard, Kula
B: Soiree, Lien, Rock, Athena, Alba, Geese, Iori, Ninon, Mizoguchi, Chae Lim
C: Duke, Ralf, Ryo, Maxima, Kyo-C, Mr Karate, Luise, K', Nagase, Hanzo, Blue Mary, Mignon
D: Yuri, Seth, Lilly, Fio, Clark, Hyena
1. Jivatma: S tier Pros: Lvl 1 and Lvl 2 supers and fireball kill any hopes of hyperhopping. New level 3 adds to his comboablility and damage. TOW has great mixups (especially with the throw that was added in MIRA), terrific keepaway game with just hyperhop CD, A, and C, can punish very well with his 2A,A,C,C string, longest reach in the game Cons: very slow (except for 2A,A,C,C string), besides in TOW he has no decent mixups. 2. Wild Wolf: S tier Pros: 2A, C, DP+K brake frametrap is nearly impossible to get away from when in a corner. High damage output with or without meter from nearly any string he does. Great mixup game. Brakes add to a new level of mindgames. Cons: High learning curve (especially with the brake combos), nearly useless on the defensive. No anti-air without meter 3. Xiao Lon: S tier Pros: High damage output, Excellent Mixup game from her three stances. Poison Kiss DM makes the opponents life go down very fast. Excels at all ranges, close, mid, and long Cons: Can be difficult to get used to her stances. 4. Ash: S-tier Pros: He has one of the fastest jabs in the game, easy to string stylish arts into each other. Can combo easier than most characters out of jump D, and also his qcb+D in the air links easily to his jab string. He can end stylish arts on block into his damaging fireball rather than [4]6+D which is unsafe on block and prevent from being sabaki. He has a good keepaway game because of the strength of his fireball. Fio can disipate it with her machine gun however. He can control space well. His basic combos do massive damage even with low bar, or if you have more bars you can add to his basic combo easily. He can control the clock well with his keepaway game and long combos. Cons: I don't know any cons about him so far. 5. Kyo: A tier Pros: Mixup king, can easily go from high to low in the blink of an eye. With meter can do alot of damage (but then who can't in this game). Hands down best wall juicer in the game. Can OTG very easily Cons: Alot of his combos can be a pain to consistently perform. Has trouble against long range characters (Jivatma, Ninon) 6. Terry: A tier Pros: Good mixups. Round wave is cancelable to any other special move. High damage output with or without meter. Cons: Somewhat high learning curve, not as high as Wild Wolf though. 7. Kim: A tier Pros: Best punisher in the game with a Lvl 1 super (A,A, C, dd+K SC Phoenix Kick), Haki Kyaku pressure is hard to interrupt. Stupidly good wall combo (only in MIRA) Cons: Not many defensive options without charge or meter. His damaging combos are hard to perform consistently. 8. B.Jenet: A tier Pros: 2B, C, QCF+P frametrap against the wall. High damage output. One of the best guard crushers in the game (not sure if this is still true in MIRA). Can milk the wall for all it's worth. Lvl 2 super is a good anti-air Harrier Bee D kicks are safe when blocked. Lvl 3 counter super makes people think twice about carelessly throwing out moves. Cons: Can't take damage very well. No defensive options without meter. 9. Billy: A tier Pros: Hands down easier hit-comfirm super in the game (F+C, C, Lvl 1/Lvl 2 super). 2nd longest reach in the game. Capable of doing massive damage off of every hit. Simple learning curve. Has counters to stop counterattacks. Cons: Since he's been top tier since day one, lot of people are finding ways to shut him down. DP+K is not a good idea since alot of characters can seriously hurt him for doing that. Beware of Billy-only back turned combos. 10. Leona: A-tier Pros: Good high/low mixups and overheads, 2nd best air game with Hyper Hop C, B, and A which can all combo into each other. Crazy OTG game with her level 3 super. Surprisingly fast. Good rushdown character. Good from close to mid range. Can link together strings for a better pressure game and for more damage (ex. D/F+A,C,C links to D+C,C,CD) Cons: Kinda weak on the defensive without charge. 11. Mai: A-tier Pros: Mix-up queen (only under Kyo). Down X2+P (Kagerou no Mai) shuts down any hyperhopping and is a good reversal move. Has a crazy OTG game. Cons: Without meter she can't do alot of damage and she can't take damage well. 12. Richard Meyer: A-tier Pros: Great mixup game and overheads, his QCF+K move can cross up ducking opponents. Running grab (HCF+K) is a good anti-air and is hard to punish on block. His lvl 3 super does massive damage so master it. Has a good OTG game with his lvl 2 super. DP+K is a good move to abuse, it can be an anti-air, used in combos, even stop Athena's Crystal Guardian and Duke's Autoguard BS. Hyperhop Bx2 is a good air move Cons: People finding out how to fight against him more. Has a little trouble against rushdown and long range characters. 13. Kula: A-tier Pros: Has simple combos capable of dealing massive damage. Frost Execution (hcbx2+P) is one of the most powerful supers in the game, plus she can combo into it without it scaling too much. Diamond Edge doesn't scale much in combos neither. Has probably the nastiest OTG combo in the game, for half-life. Good high-low mixups makes it easy for her to make you hit the ground for her OTG game. Cons: Can't take damage too well. Needs meter to do decent damage. 14. Soiree: B-tier Pros: Great high/low mixup game and overheads. His skateboard grab (HCF+K) can be used as an anti-air and is hard to punish. DP+K can be used as an anti-air and similar to how Richard Meyers is. All of his supers are good and can be used in his OTG game. Cons: People finding out how to fight against him and has trouble against rushdown character and long range characters. 15. Lien: B-tier Pros: Good high/low mixups, good air-to-ground attack. Unblockable combos from DP+P and laser combined. Deadly wall game with her lvl 1 super (QCB, D/B, F+K) Cons: No reliable anti-airs, reliant on meter to do max damage. 16. Rock: B-tier Pros: Double Reppuken Brake is a good keepaway move. Can easily crossup his oppenent with his Rage Run mixups. Has counters to stop predicatable strings. Raging Storm and Neo Raging Storm are good anti-airs, plus his counter can be used as an anti-air also Cons: Lacks good mix-ups, pretty much sabaki bait. 17. Athena: B-tier Pros: Crystal Guardian is one of the best supers in the game when used properly, Good mixup game, Shining Crystal Bit does massive damage near walls. Can play keepaway or rushdown at the blink of an eye. Cons: Crystal Guardian when used carelessly can and will be interrupted for a waste of meter. People finding out how to shut her down. Without meter, she's weak. 18. Alba: B-tier Pros: Simple learning curve. Easy combos dealing massive damage. Lvl 3 while doing alot of damage can be comboed after a wall hit for even more damage. Decent OTG game. Good/simple mixups Cons: Very repetitive and not safe on most of his moves. 19. Nightmare Geese: B-tier Pros: Superb keepaway with Hyperhop CD into Shippuken and Reppukens on the ground. Easy links into Rashomon. His high and mid counters give him a free OTG grab. Don't jump on him if he has meter (automatic Raging Storm for your efforts). Good overhead and high low mixups to guaranteed a combo to OTG throw. Cons: Can become predictable, without meter he's useless. 20. Iori: B-tier Pros: Simple character to use, pretty easy combos with decent damage. Has tons of options against hyperhoppers (DP+P, A fireball, Rage of the 8 Maidens, Bloom of the Wolf). Orochi Blood Rage mode has deadly combos, most of them are simple too. Lvl 3 super can be followed up with a combo. Cons: Without meter, he can't deal max damage. While in Blood Rage, he can't block and his life goes down over time, so don't get hit. 21. Ninon: B-tier Pros: The best keepaway character in the game. Her QCF+P, QCB+P energy ball explosion is stuff to get by without good timing and can be used in a ST Ryu type way (Energy ball, till the person jumps then DP+P). Hyperhop at your own risk against her, she has too many options to stop that (QCFx2+P, DP+P, HCB+P). Her command throw (HCF+K) can set-up the whole energy ball tactic all over again, very annoying to fight against. If her opponent does get in close for some reason, she can teleport away to get space. Cons: Very limited up close, very boring playstyle. 22. Mizoguchi: B-tier Pros: Good punisher, can deal massive damage. Combos ending wiith whiffed double-geta prevents you from getting sabaki'd when you continue to attack after knockdown. Cons: When his headband flashes, he takes extra damage (random though) and not very good on the defensive. 23. Chae Lim: B/C tier Pros: Tied for best punisher with Lvl 1 along with Kim, Haki Kyaku pressure similar to Kim's. Flamingo stance has alot of options, good high/low and overhead mixups, Back turned stance has some options and gains meter. TK QCF+K is a good instant overhead, follow up with DP+K, then D+K, or SC to Phoenix Kick if you have meter. Cons: Alot of her combos are hard to consistently do. Can't take damage very well. 24. Duke: C-tier Pros: Most his strings and specials have autoguard on them to prevent counterattacks. Does massive damage off of nearly everything he does. Lvl 1 super does alot of damage. Lvl 2 super confuses your opponents configuration, Lvl 3 super automatically guardbreaks and leaves them open for punishment. Very scary when has meter available. Good mixups and overheads. Cons: Very slow, most of his strings can be interrupted. Has trouble against fast characters. 25 Ralf: C-tier Pros: Does good damage off of his combos. His Lvl 2 and lvl 3 supers catch careless hoppers in the air. Ralf Tackle has autoguard on it. Has a 100% combo that's actually possible in a match. Decent mixup game Cons: Needs meter badly to be effective. 26. Ryo: C-tier Pros: Good overheads, nice damage off of his combos. Lvl 3 super is a good punisher. Command parries shut down long range projectiles and any predictable strings. Good anti-air options (Haoh Sho Ko Ken, DP+P, QCFx2+K) Cons: Lacks good mixups, alot of his best options are slow. 27. Maxima: C-tier Pros: Vapor Cannon is one of the best specials in the game with it being able to hit overhead in combos and it doesn't scale much at all and can be faked for mindgames. His command throw (HCF+K) can set-up for an OTG combo and you can follow up the combo with a SC lvl 3 Final Cannon for 75% of your opponents health gone. Bunker Buster is his ultimate anti-air. Has a decent mixup and overhead game. Cons: Vapor Cannon while good can be punished if carelessly abused. Can be predictable after a while. 28. Kyo Classic: C-tier Pros: Good high low mixup game. His running throw (HCF+K) can be SC'd to the Orochinagi for a decent amount of damage. His fireball can be used somewhat as a keepaway. Hyperhopping, as with normal Kyo, is a bad idea against him (DP+P, lvl 2 Orochinagi, Lvl 3 super). His New Wave Smash (QCF+K, K) can be delayed like the 2-D version of him so they can be made safe. Cons: Doesn't deal as much damage as normal Kyo and has to work alot harder in order to get damage. Kinda unsafe after alot of his moves, except New Wave Smash. 29. Mr. Karate: C-tier Pros: The King of Unblockables!!! Most of his strings end with an unblockable hit and if his opponents try to roll, his Sourankyaku (HCF+K) throw will grab them, if they jump the DP+P will catch them. His level 3 counter super will make opponents think twice about randomly throwing out moves or else they want 80% of their life gone. His QCB+P move has autoguard and automatically punches his opponent if they touch him. Cons: As with his alter-ego Ryo, he lacks good mixups and his unblockable strings are kinda slow to hit someone with and can be interrupted. 30. Luise: C-tier (As much as I don't like it, she not much higher than this) Pros: Good high/low mixups, Sentinal-like fly mode, instant overheads in fly mode. She has a ROM (Magneto fans rejoice). Completely shuts down any hopes of a hyperhop game (DP+P, Her counter, Lvl 1 super, lvl 3 super). Can be played rushdown or runaway. Lightsaber super can be used to punish whiffed attacks. Very hard to punish when opponents back is near a wall because she can cancel alot of unsafe strings to fly back and make the opponent whiff. Minuet of Damnation (f,b,f,d,u+P) is her most devasting option, master it Cons: Regardless of all I mentioned above, she has trouble against fast characters. Horrible at punishment on block (Her fastest move is 10-12 frames!!!), Doesn't deal enough damage and can't take alot of damage. Has to rely too much on whiff punishing which doesn't happen often in this game. 31. K': C-tier Pros: Has a good keepaway game on par with Nightmare Geese, with his Air Trigger. Has simple combos capable of massive damage (B, D, A, C, Heat Drive=1/3 meter gone). Crimson Starload is a good counter for people who like to guard cancel attack after getting sabakied. Capable of doing alot of damage off of throws. Cons: Poor mixups skills and has bad strings that are asking to be sabakied. 32. Nagase: C/D tier Pros: Great close/mid range character. Good high/low mixups. Very fast. Good against long range characters, due to her HCF+K moves. Flashy juggles plus her new slash move in MIRA can be SC'd to her lvl 2 (QCB, HCF+P) for half life damage. Lvl 1 counter supers have many different results, can be used to either poison her opponent, slash them, or humiliate them. Good post sabaki game. Her command throws can be used in juggles. Cons: Without meter she doesn't do alot of damage. Her combos are ridiculously hard to consistenly pull off,especially in MI2 due to the slowdown on some levels. 33. Hanzo: C/D tier Pros: Great fighter from all ranges. Good post sabaki game. Flashy juggles which can deal alot of damage. Good against long range characters due to his teleports. New running throw in MIRA can be used as an anti-air. Lvl 3 super can also be used as an anti-air. His Izuna Drop can be used for people who freeze up. Can avoid unneccesary damage by teleporting as he hits the floor. Cons: Without meter, he doesn't do alot of damage. His combos are ridiculously hard to consistently perform, especially in MI2 due to the slowdown onsome levels. 34. Mary: C/D-tier (thanks to Syxx) Pros : safe launching string, awesome reversals, can combo out of her mid/high reversal without having to super cancel, real counter avoids everything except throws, she can be a pain to fight if you're character doesn't have strings that start in duck (to avoid followups to real counter), followups to her moves available to her in escalation have air throw properties so they can be done after the combo counter resets for max damage without scaling, can mix up jump attacks with spider, easy wall game. Cons: not a lot of good SAs, hardly any mixup, high damage combos rely too much on straight slice, ranbu has no invincibility 35. Mignon: C/D tier Pros: Hyperhoppers beware, DP+P, HCB+P, and Lvl 1 super will eat you alive. Has the best level 1 super in the game (QCFx2+P) along with her sister Ninon, does nearly around 65% damage on counter hit. Pretty easy to use. HCF+K knocks her opponent away. Cons: Not enough mixups to be effective at close range. Lvl 1 super makes her fall down so make sure that it hits or be prepared for a world of hurt. 36: Yuri: D-tier Pros: Chou Knuckle loop does alot of damage, so master it. Has many ways of setting up the Chou Knuckle loop (strings, anti-airs). Bottle Breaker Chop (rdp+P) guardbreaks when charged. Air Haoh Sho Ko Ken adds to her air game in MIRA. Lvl 1,2 and 3 supers are all good for reversal attacks. Decent mixup game and overheads Cons: Other than the Chou Knuckle loop, she doesn't have a consist way of dealing damage. heavily reliant on the opponent giving the match away to her (jumping, standing next to her on wakeup). 37. Seth: D-tier Pros: Good rushdown character. Probably the best mid range attack and the only air-to-ground mixup attacks in the game. His counters and lvl 2 counter super makes people think twice about randomly attacking. His lvl 3 super switches around his opponents configuration. Lvl 1 super is pretty good also and can be used repetitively when opponent is in a corner. Cons: With and without meter, he does very little damage. Taken the ultimate fall from grace from MI 1. 38. Lilly: D-tier Pros: Low learning curve,Good high/mixups, DP+P move can make her stay in the air longer and gains meter, press P again to make her fall down fast to avoid getting hit. Easy hit confirms to her supers. Lvl 3 super makes people get nervous about attacking. Cons: Low damage compared to her brother Billy, can't take getting hit. Very unsafe on alot of moves. 39. Fio: D-tier Pros: One of the best keepaway characters in the game. TK grenades and molotovs are hard to get past consistently. Machine gun disintegrates all projectiles. Decent OTG game with her Running Grenade throw (HCF+K). Blue Ball and Machine Gun supers are good to make people keep their distance. Lvl 3 can connect after a Running Grenage throw for easy damage. Cons: Flat out horrible from close range, your only hope is to go into tonfa mode and even that doesn't help much. 40. Clark: D-tier Pros: Good damage without a meter. Gatling Attack feints can be used for mindgames and to land throws. Has a pickup attack after Flashing Elbow which setups up a mixup game between attack or another throw. Can easily make an opponent fear and duck which can setup for his Shining Wizard throw. Jumping is a bad idea since his Napalm Stretch and Spinning Powerbomb DM can grab you out the air. Only character who's actually better without a meter. Cons: Has to rely on the opponent making bad decisions to get most of his damage. 41.. Hyena: D-tier Pros: Decent high/low mixup game. Lvl 1 super can be used as a surprise attack (especially when used when his life is low), Cannot be hit while in his face down position. Lvl 3 punch super is hard to avoid and easily does 75% damage. Cons: Very gimmicky, has to rely on gimmicks the whole match in order to win. |