King Of Fighters '98-Yamazaki FAQ V. 1.1 last updated 1/29/2004 By Julian Blake (conczepts@yahoo.com) ============== Sections Covered: ============== -Intro -Why was this FAQ created? -Move Legend -Movelist -Combos -What are Yamazaki's strengths? -What are Yamazaki's weaknesses? -Strategies and Tactics -Credits -Revision history -Disclaimer -Contact Info -------------------------------------- =================== -Intro =================== Welcome to the KOF '98 Yamazaki FAQ. This FAQ is best viewed in Notepad maximized. I'm an avid KOF player and even though KOF '98 is over four years old now I'm still playing the game and learning everytime I play. The purpose of this FAQ is to explain Yamazaki to players new to using him, and to (hopefully) teach a player who's been using him for a while something new. I will include full moveslist and combos, but you will find that all of my FAQs will have more emphasis on strategy and tactics than many other fighting game character FAQs out there. If you know any strategies, combos, or any other Yamazaki-related material I missed, please contact me (info at the end of FAQ) to help me make the most complete FAQ possible. Thanks! -Why was this FAQ created? -------------------------------------- The biggest reason is because Gamefaqs didn't have a FAQ for Yamazaki in KOF '98. He's one of my favorite characters in KOF '98, and I was surprised that no one else had devoted a FAQ to him in the four years that KOF '98 has been out. Not a heck of a lot of people use Yama, and even fewer know how to use him WELL. So in a way this FAQ is to fill a void in KOF info available online. Another reason is because I think that while Yamazaki does have some rough matchups, he is underrated and can be extremely powerfull and damaging if used correctly. So, mostly for informational purposes. -Move Legend -------------------------------------- (For a full explanation of the KOF '98 basic gameplay engine, please check KaoMegura's KOF '98 FAQ, this FAQ assumes you know the basics of KOF '98 gameplay.) I will make up my own move legend to explain what the inputs on the movelist and combo sections mean. It will be as simple as possible so that you don't have to stumble over archaic jargon to understand what a motion should be. If you can read other KOF and SF FAQs with no problem you can skip this section because I don't make up any terms here. All things directions, and motions with the joystick will be done in undercase letters, and all buttons will be in upper case letters. So f+A means press the joystick forward, and press the A button at the same time. Button notation is in neo geo format since this FAQ is for the arcade/neo geo version of the game only, but you can translate A,B,C and D into Weak Punch, Weak Kick, Strong Punch, and Strong Kick if trying to use this FAQ with console ports of KOF '98. d: Down u: Up f: Forward towards the opponent b: Back away from the opponent /: Used for diagonal directions, for example diagonal down towards the opponent would be d/f +: Means two inputs are done at the same time, like st: While you're standing cr: While you're crouching qcf: Short for Quarter Circle Forward, done by pressing down, down/Forward, f hcf: Short for Half Circle forward, done by pressing b,b/d,d,d/f,f hcb: hcf with directions reversed dp: Dragon Punch motion, press f, d,d/f rdp:Dragon punch motion with directions revered. XX: A move cancelled into another move, the second move being done before the first move is completed. -Movelist -------------------------------------- Movelist is divided into three sections: Normal moves, Special Moves, and Super moves. For quick reference after each move in parenthesis will be a rating out of five points in terms of usefullness. A (1/5) means that the move is rarely, if ever usefull, there's absolutely no reason to use this move because there's always a better option. A (5/5) rating means that the move is exceptionally good, very safe to use and should be one of your main weapons with Yamazaki. -Normals: Command attacks: f+A(2/5)-The second hit is an overhead unless you cancel into it, decent against crouching opponents but use sparingly. hcb,f+P(4/5)-Yamazaki command throw. Does more damage than a normal throw and out-prioritizes more attacks. Obviously you have to be in throw range to pull it off or else Yamazaki will do a "whiff" animation and will take a few frames to recover. - A-Button Close standing A(1/5)- A very slow gut punch. Can combo into stuff but I don't really see why you would use it often. Far standing A(2.5/5)- A decent speed jab, not spectacular. Crouching A(3/5)- A decent poke that can combo into certain moves, fairly good. Jumping A(2.5/5)- Can out-prioritize a heavy jump attack if it has startup time, but there are better options. - B-Button Close standing B(3.5/5)-Pretty good move. A low shin kick, the animation is subtle and can be missed in the heat of battle, comboable and good priority, a good attack. Far standing B(2=1.5/5)-Kind of slow, doesn't combo, no real use. Crouching B(3/5)-Pretty fast for Yama being such a big guy, a good close range poke. Jumping B(2.5/5)-You have to press B late in the jump against grounded opponents and you have to press it as late as possible if you want to combo after it. Mediocre. - C-Button Close standing C(4/5)-Great move! Can combo into everything, quick, good damage. Far standing C(1.5/5)-Uh, slow and doesn't combo into anything, I don't see the point. Crouching C(3.5/5)-Yama rises up and backhands the opponent. Can combo into snakearm, the knife move (DP+P) and the QCF+P afterwards. Seems to snuff a decent amount of attacks including jump-ins. It's a bit too slow to rate any higher than 3.5. Jumping C (3.0/5)-Yama jumps and does an uppercut with his hand. The hit box for this move is weird, it's his whole arm including the armpit, not just the fist. You can use it as a jump-in to combo after. It's a better air-to-air attack than jumping D is, but against standing opponents you have to be closer to land it. - D-Button Close standing D(4.5/5)- Ryuji does a real leg roundhouse kick for two hits. This move is cancellable, you can do any of his specials, or his throw DM before the second hit of the roundhouse kick hits, and it will combo. Since Yamazaki has very long legs, unlike other close attacks, you don't have to be in throw-range to execute this move, you can actually be two steps distance from the opponent, and Close standing D will still come out instead of far standing D. Far Standing D(4/5)- Yamzaki turns and back kicks the opponent. This is good as a poke because of it's incredible reach, you can land a few of these in a match because of the reach it has, and the damage will add up. A bit slow startup and recovery though. Crouching D(2.5/5)- Has very long range, but is extremely punishable unlike some other characters with quick trips (Terry etc). Do as a change up to your high low game, and when your opponent makes a big mistake that you can get a free trip in. Very punishable! Jumping D(1.5/5)- Yamazaki in case you haven't noticed, has really crappy Jump-ins. This kick has a downward angle on it, and this move trades with most attacks, uh, don't use it much. - CD attacks: Standing- Yama rears back, then does a headbutt move. Will knock the opponent down, but has a few frames of startup, not sure which moves this beats. If you need a standing attack, use st. D instead for better priority, range, and recovery time. Jumping- He jumps in the air and locks both fists together and punches with them, if you time it properly you can use it as an air-to-air, you have to make sure his startup time is over by the time he meets the opponent in the air. ================ -Special Moves ================ The Snakearm (qcb+A,B, or C)-Actually is three seperate moves with different uses. On all snakearms, the button can be held down and the move will be executed when the button is released. Yamazaki can charge a snakearm by holding down the button used to execute for 6 seconds before he automatically goes back to his neutral stance. Uses: A Button(3.5/5)-Yamazaki snaps his arm upwards quickly. Decent anti-air from it's small startup time, but it trades hits with the opponent too often. B Button(4/5)-Yamazaki whips his arm horizontally. Great move because of it's great speed, and good reach. Use it to interrupt the opponent in the middle of moves. Has small recovery time afterwards. C Button(3/5)-Yamazaki whips his arm downwards. Seems about the same as B version with less horzontal range... not sure exactly what it's more usefull than B version snakearm. Interestingly, it pushes you back slightly less than the B version does, so against a cornered opponent C version might be usefull to keep the pressure on. All snakearms can be cancelled instantly by pressing D while while charging them. This is extremely usefull because when you are charging a snakearm you aren't committed to executing it. If you do a snakearm and cancel it quickly over and over again, you can build a quite a but of super meter relatively safely. This is only suggested for when you're winning by a good margin, and need meter however. - dp+P(4/5)-Yamazaki rushes forward and makes multiple knife slashes. The A version does 2 slashes, the C version does 4. I usually use the C version only because they're both punishable if blocked, so I might as well get the chip damage in that the C version does. A very good move. It does good damage, does good chip damage, and keeps pressure on. Also usefull for getting the opponent in the corner with it's horizontal movement. Use sparingly unless you combo into it from standing C or a cancelled close standing D because they're punishable if blocked. dp+B(4.5/5)-Yamazaki does an axe kick from above for two hits. The second hit has to be blocked high, if it hits a crouching opponent they will be knocked down. If they block the first hit (which can be blocked either high or low successfully) they can start blocking high inbetween hits to avoid a knockdown however. VERY usefull because of most player's habit of crouch blocking when they stand up after a knockdown. The first hit also seems to have decent anti-air properties. More uses for this move in the strategies section. dp+D (4/5)- Yamazaki kicks upwards, spraying dirt in the opponent's eye. On it's own it is punishable if blocked, but you can follow it up with a B version snakearm, which will push you out of the way of punishment if they block it. You can also combo it into a snakearm if it isn't blocked, a very usefull attack but harder to land than the DP+B. qcf+A (3.5/5) Yamazaki does an uppercut, can be used as an anti-air. Also if an opponent throws a fireball, you can absorb the FB with this move, and Yamazaki will take no damage and you will gain some meter. You have to time it well to use it against fireballs or else Yamazaki will take damage. qcf+C (4/5) Yamazaki does the same motion as above, with the same startup and recovery time. However instead of absorbing a fireball, if one hits yamazaki during certain frames of the move he will absorb it, then turn it into his own fireball (a red one that looks like blood) and reflect it back at the opponent! This is a GREAT move. The fireball that Yama sends back at the opponent is extremely fast, if not the fastest fireball in the game. Also the reflected fireball will go through any other non-DM fireballs. You have to time it correctly when you see the opponent do a fireball, but they will be surprised by the speed of this fireball quite a bit. His QCF+P moves both make it so that fireballs have very little effect on Yamazaki, in fact fireballing HELPS Yamazaki if you time it correctly. I use the C version more than the A version, the timing is the same on both. hcf+K(4/5) one of the better reversals in the game. Yamazaki goes into a taunting stance, and if hit (by certain attacks) he will counter the opponent with a dashing uppercut. What is so usefull about this move is that it can counter almost anything. Any standing or jumping attack, it will counter. It counters multi-hit dashing DMs such as Ryo's Ryuku Ranbuu. It can't counter fireballs (DM or normal FBs) or trips, and you can also be thrown out of it. One of Yamazaki's best anti-airs but you have to use as little as possible, otherwise a smart opponent will jump at you and not attack, and you will be taunting until the opponent throws or trips you. Note that the counter hits the opponent even if they attack you from behind! -Desperation Moves (DMs) qcfx2+P (4/5): Yamazaki rises into the air with an uppercut. If the opponent gets hit by the uppercut, then Yamazaki will grab then on the way down and drag them on the ground, ending with a kick for more damage. If you miss the upwards punch, while you're comming down if you touch them and they're not blocking you can still drag them on the ground for the second part of the DM (usefull for when an opponent is half a screen away from you and misses a DM). Unfortunately for some reason the super can hit someone on the way up and occasionally he won't catch them on the way down to drag them for more damage... sometimes the upward punch seems to knock the opponent too high for Yama to catch them. You seem to have better chances of success with it if you catch the opponent when they jump in deep, and when they're not high in a jump. Not the most reliable, but when you have meter it's Yamazaki's best anti-air attack. The SDM version of this move adds more kicks after you drag them on the ground for more damage. In close, hcb, hcb+P then press P rapidly(4/5): This is a DM throw, meaning you have to be in throw range to hit the opponent with it. Yamazaki grabs the opponent, then punches them up. While the opponent is in the air, Yama will hit the opponent a different number of times depending on how rapidly you pressed P while he is charging. The more times you press P after you grab the opponent, the more damage and hits you will do. The SDM version works the same way but does more hits and damage. Here is a chart listing first the number of times you pressed the P buttons, then the number of hits that will result from the DM and SDM. (Credit for the chart goes to KMegura's excellent KOF '98 FAQ/Movelist) DM Button presses/hits ------ 0-4/11 5-8/12 9-12/16 13+/27 SDM ------ 0-4/20 5-8/23 9-12/27 13+/43 -Combos ------- Yamazaki has quite a few combos in KOF '98, but some of them definately have few or no advantages over his main bread and butter combos. Most of these combos can be done after a jump in, that means that though no jump in is listed, you can add one to the beginning of the combo and the whole thing will chain together. st. B> st. B> st. B st. A> qcb+B or C st. A> Command throw st. C> dp+C st. C> qcb+B or qcb+ C st. C> dp+D st. C> dp+D>qcb+B or C st. C> Command throw st. D XX dp+D st. D XX qcb+B Combos into DM/SDM: St. D XX hcbx2+P St. C> hcbx2+P -What are Yamazaki's strengths? -------------------------------- Yamazaki has quite a few strengths. One of them is that he has extremely good mind-games. A properly played Yamazaki will always make the opponent guess whether to block high or low, whether to throw a fireball or not, whether to attack with a jump in, or if they should roll towards him. Another of his strengths is his excellent zoning ability. Yamazaki at the right distances can keep hitting a standing opponent while they cannot hit him back. Also Yama always has the opportunity to get an incredible amount of meter by canceling snakearms if the opponent gives him space at fullscreen. He also does quite a lot of damage. He is easy to combo with, and has tons of options which allow you to innovate on the fly. He is one of the most versatile characters in the game. He's not constantly trying to throw you like Clark (but he can), he's not trying to constantly chip you to death (but he can). His versatility allows him to have 3 distinct playstyles: be a surprisingly good pixie character with aggressive rushdown to get into the opponent's face after a knockdown to try to combo into another knockdown, or to trap into a command throw or DM- or he can also play a very nice passive, defensive character who tries to keep his distance from opponents. During this style he is constantly building meter, and prepares to attack the opponent if they get too close. Another playstyle that Yamazaki has is the one I think he is strongest in: A combination of pixie and Turtle that I call midscreen play. Yamazaki's snakearms, standing D's and his 3 counter moves all allow him to be at his ideal range (zoning), slightly less than half a screen's distance, which allows him to attack the opponent but not be at a lot of danger himself. He can play all three of those character architypes fairly well, when most characters are forced to play rushdown, or try to use a few small tricks over and over. -What are Yamazaki's weaknesses? -------------------------------- One of Yamazaki's weaknesses is his speed. Yamazaki is pretty damn slow. His running speed is slower than most, and his walking speed is INCREDIBLY slow. If you want to cover some distance with Yama, you're going to have to run there, unlike other characters that can walk at a decent speed, you have to run with Yama to cover any distance before the time runs out! Also he doesn't have a reliable anti-air. Kyo and Iori have much more reliable anti-airs for when an opponent jumps in. His best Anti-air being his qcfx2+P DM/SDM is not even guaranteed, and of course it requiring meter doesn't help it much. The very way Yamazaki is designed, you have to be paying about 10x more attention than your opponent does. His counter is an excellent move, but you can be tricked into using it if the opponent falls for it by jump-kicking you. Often times if this happens in a match, you can expect the opponent to jump at you, not attack, and then try to throw, command throw, trip, or DM you. This means that when the opponent jumps, you have to actually watch if they attack with a counterable move, and do the motion for the counter BEFORE the opponent can attack you with the jump in all in the space of a fraction of a second. This is much harder to do than Kyo players who see a jump in and just DP it. The timing for his fireball counters is somewhat picky, so you have to learn to time it so that the fireball hits Yama at the frames of the move where Yama will counter it. The opponent can change the timing of his fireballs from fast to slow and sit there chilling out hoping one will hit your or it will do block damage, while you're having to calculate the timing of the fireball and when you need to start the counter motion. If the fireball hits you because you messed up the timing, you can not only take damage, but you will take COUNTER DAMAGE for the fireball, which is more than a regular fireball. So the opponent is risking very little and not stressing his brain, while the Yama player is risking quite a bit and having to do complex timing. Also, Yamazaki does not have good crossup ability, and isn't strong in the air, so jumping with Yamazaki isn't a great idea most of the time. Mobility is definately Yama's biggest weakness, because you can't keep the threat of a jump in, or a crossup on your opponent. Because of bad mobility, Yamazaki is succeptible to grapplers. While Yamazaki does have quite a few weaknesses, proper, thoughtfull play can more than make up for most of them, particularly when you've got pressure on the opponent. -Strategies and Tactics ----------------------- -His walk is so slow that you need to use run more often than with other characters to cover distance. -At fullscreen, you can repeatedly cancel snakearms by pressing D to increase your meter quickly. This is a good idea at the start of a game to get a small advantage, or when you are far ahead in life. Just remember that having meter can't win a round for you. -Yamazaki benefits more than other characters from POWing up in terms of how much damage he causes. Unless you have a guaranteed SDM, stick with just using the POW for extra damage on combos because the difference between DM and SDM damage isn't incredibly obvious and you can do more with comboing than just one SDM after a POW. -Yama's dp+B is integral to his mindgames. You will find on many opponents that after you knock them down, they will crouch block as they rise. If they crouch block, try a dp+B to go for another knockdown. You can also time it while they are comming up (by dp+B'ing early) so that only the second hit (the overhead hit) will hit them, so that they can't crouchblock the first hit, then stand-block the second to avoid a knockdown. -After a corner knockdown Yamazaki has a ton of options to keep the opponent guessing: Time a meaty standing C so that if it lands you can combo into anything-(if blocked you can just quickly do dp+D>qcb+C for safe chip damage that can't be punished), Command throw them as they get up, do his throw DM, do his counter, trip, normal throw, Overhead with F+A, Overhead with dp+B, Jump in into DM, or low poke with cr. A and Cr. B. That is a wide variety of attacks which all have to be avoided in different ways, by crouch blocking, block while standing, tech the throw, roll forward, or jump to avoid the command throw. Since you're the one starting the guessing game, it should be to your advantage, and you should do it in a way that it's not punishable or predictable. -You can catch many rolls backwards with a qcfx2+P DM, you will miss the rising punch, but as you come down they will be in recovery period from the roll and you can catch them. You have to do the DM as soon as you see them rear rolling otherwise it will be too late and they can block it. -The most important thing to remember with Yama is not to be predictable. He can be punished for any of his tricks missing, but if you're constantly changing what you're trying to make the opponent do, then they will accidentally play into your hands. For example, if you counter a jump in with hcf+P, they will likely try to trick you into doing it again when they jump in, this time without attacking. Try doing a qcfx2+P DM, an A-button Snakearm, or doing the motion for the command throw so that when they land in front of you they will get thrown. Vary everything you do and don't over-use any of your moves. ======= -Credits ======= Yasakani- For hosting the KOF tournaments which made me start to play competitively. Dreike-Helped me with general Yamazaki stuff. Josh the FunkDOC-Always my fighting game think-tank. And all the oldskool Kaillera players who have actual skills that make the online KOF community as close-knit as it is. Hopefully one day in the U.S. gamers will realize that KOF is also a high-quality game and we can have some American nationals, or at least more local tournies and KOF support in American arcades. Until then, talented U.S. KOFers will have to make do with Netplay and console. -Revision History ----------------- (v.1.0): 8/22/02-Finally decided to finish this FAQ up and send it to gamefaqs instead of having it sit on my HD. (v.1.1): 1/29/04-Made some tweaks. -Disclaimer ----------- You can use this FAQ as long as you don't sell it and you give credit to me. If you're going to use it, please contact me first. This document Copyright 2002 Julian Blake -Contact Info ------------- If you have any comments on the FAQ, suggestions on how to make it better, or something I missed to contribute, please contact me! email: conczepts@yahoo.com AOL IM SN: Airthrow ICQ UIN: 333591706