Subject: Karin FAQ
From: [email protected] (Lord BBH)
Date: 02 Sep 1998 03:49:29 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.games.sf2


                     The Definitive Karin Kanzuki FAQ

                             Written by BBH

                              Version 1.00

                           September 2nd, 1998



 NOTE: All information presented in this FAQ is copyright 1998 Matt Hall.
 You may use the information provided in this FAQ in any non-profit
 publication 'FOR FREE!', but please give credit where credit is due, or
 else I'll start bitching at you. Capcom, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and
 other related things are copyrights of their respective trademarks.
 Karin Kanzuki, however, is an official BBH Character. (inside joke)



This FAQ can currently be found at:

http://members.aol.com/lordbbh/karin.txt
http://www.gamefaqs.com



    CONTENTS


 1. Introduction
 2. Notation
 3. Attacks
    3.1. Normal Attacks
    3.2. Command Attacks
    3.3. Throws
    3.4. Alpha Counters
    3.5. Super Attacks
 4. Combos
 5. Strategy
    5.1. Select your ISM
    5.2. Fun with Rekka-Kens
    5.3. Ticking
    5.4. Punishing Jumpers
    5.5. Bait and Super
    5.6. Vs. Strategy
 6. Miscellaneous Crap
    6.1. Outfit Colors
    6.2. Pre-Fight Animations
    6.3. Taunt
    6.4. Win Poses
    6.5. Win Quotes
    6.6. Pre-Fight Dialogues
    6.7. Ending
 7. Closing
    7.1. Stuff That's Missing
    7.2. Contacting Me
    7.3. Acknowledgments




 -1. INTRODUCTION-

Welcome to my FAQ for one of the coolest characters in Street Fighter
history... Karin Kanzuki! Back when I first played the beta version of
Street Fighter Alpha 3, I quickly became attached to Karin and made it my
goal to learn her, find some cool combos, and develop some winning
strategies with her. She has remained as my "main" character all this
time, and I'm still finding out new stuff with her. At first I didn't
intend on writing a FAQ for her, but after realizing that very few people
knew the true potential of her, and after receiving some encouragement on
IRC, I decided to ahead and do it. That and because there's another Karin
FAQ on GameFAQs that's nothing more than a simple movelist with a little
bit of analysis, and it didn't even have all the moves either  :P

Karin isn't your typical Street Fighter character. It will take a lot of
time to learn how and when to use her moves. She's not a top-tier character,
she's probably somewhere in the middle... she can hold her own and win a
lot of fights, but there are times when she just gets horribly mismatched.
Karin won't win any big tournies, but you can still have a lot of fun
against the competition. Hopefully this FAQ will help you to learn how to
use this marvelous character.




 -2. NOTATION-

P = Punch                              K = Kick
Jab = Weak Punch (1).                  Short = Weak Kick (4).
Strong = Medium Punch (2).             Forward = Medium Kick (5).
Fierce = Hard Punch (3).               Roundhouse = Hard Kick (6).

f = Toward        b = Back        u = Up              d = Down
uf = Up-Toward    ub = Up-Back    df = Down-Toward    db = Down-Back




 -3. ATTACKS-



3.1. NORMAL MOVES

Karin's standing moves are the same when close or far, and her jumping
attacks are identical if jumping vertically or at an angle.


Standing Jab - your average short-ranged jab that most characters can
duck. Nothing extraordinary, but they can be done rapidly so they're a good
weapon against roll/torpedo-happy Blanka/Hondas. Bufferable.

Standing Strong - gut-punch. Has fairly good range, and should be a part of
your poke games on the ground. The unique thing about this move is that it
recovers quickly after hitting, so you can use it for a few semi-useless
links if it hits (see Combos). Also, it's decent anti-air when done from a
distance (but there's really no reason to use it). Bufferable.

Standing Fierce - one of the most... umm... original attacks I've seen in
a while. She punches in both directions in a strange motion... if you
haven't seen the attack, forget my failure of a description. All you need
to know is that this is THE anti-air attack of choice. Very few air attacks
can trade hits with this, much less beat it entirely. It's also a
fantastic move to juggle with, since the horizontal range on this sucker
is greater than it seems. Other than its anti-air and juggle capabilities,
this move isn't too useful on the ground since it can be easily ducked and
it's not bufferable.

Standing Short - a weak, somewhat short-ranged, horizontal kick. This move
can easily be linked off a Crouching Jab or Crouching Short, but you can't
link anything afterwards. Bufferable, but you have to interrupt off it
FAST if you want anything to actually combo off it.

Standing Forward - front kick. Probably her best poke overall, it comes out
fast and has very good range. Priority on it is fairly good too. Note that
there are two different animations in which this attack can hit... when
far away, she hits with her out-stretched foot. When close, she hits with
her knee instead (which also has really good priority), but this is still
not a separate close standing attack. The knee is bufferable, but if it hits
when its outstretched it will not be interruptable.

Standing Roundhouse - slow kick with a little more range than Standing
Forward. Not too useful a poke due to its speed (or lack thereof), plus it
hits surprisingly low on the body (yet can be blocked high). This makes it
miss if they jump as you're doing the attack. Not bufferable.

Crouching Jab - low jab which can be done rapidly. Has a little less range
than her Crouching Short, which makes it somewhat useless to use this when
close. Bufferable.

Crouching Strong - a downward punch that hits around the ankle! Has crap
for range, but comes out really fast. This makes it more or less the best
move to use in combos if you're close enough. Bufferable.

Crouching Fierce - your standard anti-air uppercut punch. This moves her
horizontally a tiny bit, which means if they're close enough for a crossup
or they do some move which moves them forward in the air (like a shoto air
HK) it will miss. Has pretty good priority though. On the ground, this can
be a tricky move to use in combos since it doesn't come out anywhere close
to immediately. Using it after a jump-in will usually result in the opponent
blocking the rest of your "combo". If you think you can time it right go
for the extra damage, otherwise stick with Crouching Strong. Bufferable
when it hasn't reached its full height (like Ryukenakuma Crouching Fierce)

Crouching Short - low ground kick which can be done rapidly, and is usually
your best bet for starting a combo when you're close to an opponent. You can
link up to three in a row and still combo a Rekka-Ken. Bufferable (duh).

Crouching Forward - I've bitched and whined about this on alt.games.sf2 and
IRC a lot, and if you've somehow missed it then I'll tell you now. In the
"sample" beta version that was shipped all over the U.S. in July, Karin's
C. Forward was bufferable and made it a highly useful move. In the final
version (which you will find in 99.9% of arcades with SFA3), they removed its
interruptability (as well as Cammy's C. Forward too). Why did they do this?
Because Karin was dominating the game, of course. Legions of scrubs and
experts were racking up double-digit win streaks using nothing but her
overpowered C. Forward into Rekka-Ken or Super. Sissies like Rolento, Vega,
and Dhalsim just didn't stand a chance, and that's just not fair. Ok, in
all seriousness, I don't have any idea why they did this. Other than
maybe they thought they needed to remove ALL bufferable C. Forwards since
they had to remove Chun-Li's. But then, why leave in the shotokans' C.
Forward into fireball? Capcom never ceases to amaze me.
Alright, enough bitching. In this final version it's still a good poke with
good range and should be a part of your ground game, but it's a shame that
it could be even better.

Crouching Roundhouse - sweep. Has excellent range and comes out fast, plus
recovery time isn't so bad (I don't think I've ever been punished for a
blocked one, but I never use one when close up anyway). Not bufferable.

Jumping Jab - upward-angled punch. Worthless except for air-to-air I guess,
but even then it can be air-blocked.

Jumping Strong - same animation as Jumping Jab, just a little more powerful.
Still worthless.

Jumping Fierce - downward chop with her fist, kinda reminds me of Alex's
from SF3 but with much less range. It's really not all that useful since it
comes out rather slow and doesn't have much priority. Only use it when
you're guaranteed to get a jump attack in (like when they're dizzy or
something)

Jumping Short - weak kick at a steep downward angle. Although this isn't
the kind of attack you want to start combos with, it is still a VERY useful
move. It sets up a tick into her 360+K throw perfectly. Just doing that and
using this attack at the height of your jump can throw off people's anti-air
move timing. Not only that, if close up, you can jump back with it and use
it as a weak instant overhead, wheee  :P

Jumping Forward - all-around best jumping attack by far. Decent damage and
priority, sticks out for a while, comes out immediately. It's a great
way to start a combo as long as you do a C. Short or C. Strong when you hit
the ground, not a C. Fierce. You can even crossup with this, but it's kinda
hard. It's definitely not as easy to crossup with hers as it is compared
to, oh let's say Sakura or Ken's Jumping Forwards. Great air-to-air too,
will often register a counter so you can juggle with S. Fierce when you land.

Jumping Roundhouse - pretty slow. Great for when you're guaranteed a jump-in
(like J. Fierce), but priority isn't that hot. Seems to have less range than
J. Forward too.




3.2. COMMAND ATTACKS

f + Forward - hop kick overhead. Think Yun/Yang's f+Forward overhead from
SF3/2I, but with less range. This does come out pretty quickly though, which
means you'll catch a lot of turtles with this. Beware though, even though it
looks like she hops off the ground, she's still standing which means she
will take full damage if they bust a super on yo ass.




3.3. THROWS

f/b + PP - Karin grabs the opponent and takes them to the ground with her,
but drives her elbow into them as she falls. Good damage, and it leaves you
nearby the opponent when you recover, so you can do whatever you want as
they get up (I can't seem to time a crossup just right though...). One thing
that's worth trying is taking a step back, then grabbing them with 360+K as
they get up for a "Magic Throw".

f/b + KK - Karin grabs the opponent and starts kneeing them in the stomach.
Mash on the joystick and buttons for more hits, but they can also counter-
mash ro reduce damage. Most of the time you'll get about six hits or so.

(in air) f/b + KK - Same thing as her PP throw, except you can grab them in
the air. So why isn't it done with PP instead? Hell if I know...




3.4. ALPHA COUNTERS

f + same strength P + K (A-ism) - Equivalent of her Standing Fierce. Dunno
if it will hit crouching attacks, AC's suck ass in this game anyway. (just
the way they SHOULD be)

f + same strength P + K (V-ism) - Equivalent of Crouching Roundhouse.
Probably hits more often than A-ism's so it can deal that whopping 2% of
damage consistently.




3.5. SPECIAL MOVES


All special move listings are using this format (for now)

Special move name (proper)
Special move name (the one I use in the FAQ to make my life easier)
Joystick + Button motion




Kourenken
Rekka-Ken
d, df, f + P, [P], [finisher]


This move is crucial to playing Karin Kanzuki. More often than not THIS is
what you're going to be buffering and comboing off your normals. The thing
that makes this move so cool is the number of ways you can finish or delay
it to keep your opponent on his toes. Doing this move by itself will result
in one single palm hit that does piddly damage. The speed and horizontal
distance of this move is determined by the strength of the button pressed,
Jab goes the least distance while Fierce goes the farthest. After the first
hit, you can press P again for a second palm hit. Pressing P again results
in a HouShou, but you can also use any other finisher listed below as the
third hit. If for some reason you don't want the second palm hit, you can
also do a finisher after the first hit, but the only reason to do this is
to mess with your opponent's head and throw off their timing.

Most of her finishers are also available as normal moves, and they're
explained in greater detail below. See the Strategy section for more little
tricks you can do with the Rekka-Ken.



Kourenken - Hou Shou
Rekka-Ken - Palm Strike
d, df, f + P, [P], f+P (or just plain P on third hit)

Single palm strike that does decent damage and combos well, but if it's
blocked there's huge lag which will get you killed.



Kourenken - Ressen Chou
Rekka-Ken - Double Elbow
d, df, f + P, [P], df+P, P

Double elbow attack which comes out really slowly. To get this to combo
it's preferred that you use the Jab version, and you have to push the
buttons IMMEDIATELY as the Rekka-Ken hits. There are some tricks you can do
with the timing of it, see RessenChou's section below.



Kourenken - Mujin Kyaku
Rekka-Ken - Hop Kick
d, df, f + P, [P], K

Hop kick which sets up a lot of Karin's crazy juggle combos. This is what
you usually want to finish off a Rekka-Ken series with, especially when it
hits. If blocked, you're usually safe from retaliation but there are still
many normal and super moves that can hit you.



Kourenken - Daisoku Barai
Rekka-Ken - Slide Kick
d, df, f + P, [P], d+K

Slide kick which (you guessed it) must be blocked low. Great for catching
people who blocked the first two Rekka-Ken hits high. The lag is extremely
bad when blocked though and will always get you sweeped back. Note that this
attack finisher looks like her C. Roundhouse, but it's new animation... the
only Rekka-Ken finisher to not be an existing move.



Kourenken - Ressen Ha
Rekka-Ken - Overhead Hop Punch
d, df, f + P, [P], u+K

Hop punch that hits twice and acts as an overhead. Although there's quite a
bit of a delay when it comes out, it's great for making people wake up when
they instinctively block the Rekka-Ken attacks low.



Kourenken - Yasha Gaeshi (Uwadan)
Rekka-Ken - High Reversal
d, df, f + P, [P], b+P

High reversal. If your opponent likes to do standing attacks after blocking
Rekka-Ken series, try fooling him by doing this as the finisher.



Kourenken - Yasha Gaeshi (Gedan)
Rekka-Ken - Low Reversal
d, df, f+ P, [P], b+K

Low reversal. See above description, although you're much more likely to
land this since people tend to do sweeps or other similar attacks to punish
you.



Those are all of the Rekka-Ken finishers.



Hou Shou
Palm Strike
f, d, df + P

Single palm strike. IMO this is probably Karin's most worthless move. While
it comes out fairly quickly, the range on it is rather limited. It does
knock down but it only hits once, which means you only get one tick of
damage if blocked. And when it's blocked, you will be PUNISHED. Has ok
priority, but you can't even use it as a wake-up move.



Ressen Chou
Double Elbow
b, d, db + P, P

Double elbow attack. There's quite a bit of a delay before the first elbow
comes out, so be careful. The range and damage on these elbows are rather
weak, and you're screwed if they block. What you can do, however, is do the
first elbow, delay for a while, then do the second elbow if they try to
attack. Chances are you'll stuff their retaliation, unless they do a Super
or something (ouch).



Mujin Kyaku
Hop Kick
f, d, df + K

Hop kick. This attack hits twice, and launches them into the air. That means
it's juggle time, boyyyeeeeee! There's a variety of things you can juggle
with, all of which are explained in the Combos section. When blocked you get
two block ticks of damage and you're left fairly safe. Beware though,
depending on the distance you wind up from your opponent, you can be hit by
attacks like sweeps (the closer you are to your opponent the greater your
chances of getting hit). To prevent this, try launching with Short or
Forward instead of Roundhouse, since they don't move you forward as far.



Ressen Ha
Overhead Hop Punch
d, df, f, uf + K

Overhead hop punch. Although she telegraphs this a bit, many people still
get caught by this and block low, which knocks them down. This attack hits
twice, and it seems even safer when blocked then the Mujin Kyaku... I could
be wrong though. This is a good move to use to close the distance between
you and your opponent, but beware of projectiles... although it looks like
this move could be used to hop over them, her jump is pretty low to the
ground so it's not worth trying. The strength of the kick button that's
pressed determines her horizontal distance, don't use the Roundhouse one if
you're close to them because you'll end up flying over their head and you
WILL eat damage for that! Also, some people find the motion tricky... it's
not that hard really, just do a fireball but move the direction a little
more as if you were going to jump at the opponent, but press K at the same
time. And be sure to start the move at down, or else you may get overlap
with her 360+K.


Ara-kuma Inashi
360+K Grab
360 + K (technically, you only need to hit 6 directions on the joystick)

This looks a lot like her KK grab at first glance, but there's a difference:
she only does two knee strikes regardless of how hard you mash, and then
she flips the opponent by the arm over to the other side of her while saying
"Gomen!" This isn't that spectaular-looking a throw, so why make it a 360?
I have no idea. However, making it a 360 makes the move a bit better! The
throw has decent range... you can grab them from about a little less than
a half character width away... not much, but it sure beats the regular throw
range! Secondly, and more importantly, once you push K it's instant. What
this means is that if the opponent is nearby when Karin is getting up off
the ground you can use this as a wake-up move! You're guaranteed to beat
anything that doesn't have any invincibility frames as long as they're in
range! You can also use this in a cool little tick I found, see the
Strategy section for more. I didn't think too highly of this move when I
first started playing, but I've found that it adds a lot of diversity and
even turns her into a pseudo-grappler  :)



Yasha Gaeshi (Uwadan)
High Reversal
d, db, b + P

Ah, it's about time a Street Fighter character got a respectable Geese
Howard-style counterattack. Basically, almost any move that can be blocked
high can be "caught" by Karin and then reversed with her own attack. (Note
to the brain-dead: this is NOT an Alpha Counter. You do not interrupt
blockstun with this, instead you anticipate their attack and catch it when
they stick it out) Any move that must be blocked low will hit her, as well
as projectiles (how do you expect to reverse THOSE?), and unfortunately,
Supers. Everything else though... standing normal moves, jumping attacks,
even special moves like the Dragon Punch, can all be caught and reversed
by Miss Kanzuki! A word of warning though... there is a slight delay before
the animation comes out, so timing is everything. If you miss, there's quite
a bit of retracting animation too so you'll probably get damaged if you
guess wrong.
I'm not totally sure how much damage a reversal does... I think it has
something to do with the damage of the attack you actually reversed? But if
it's any consolation, you can juggle for more damage since she knocks them
up into the air when you reverse a move! Usually you can only juggle
something like Standing Strong or Standing Forward, but you can also use
her A-ism anti-air Kick super for more hits too! Beware though, the opponent
can always tech out and escape damage (although the Super will usually hit).



Yasha Gaeshi (Gedan)
Low Reversal
d, db, b + K

See above analysis on her Punch Reversal. This is the same thing, except you
can catch LOW attacks. This proves invaluable against shotoscrubs who just
love their C. Roundhouses, or people that poke a lot with crouching attacks
in general. You can also use it to reverse special attacks that must be
blocked low, like... uh, Guy's Bushin Run into Slide Kick.




SUPER MOVES

Note: this obviously doesn't apply to V-ism Karin. X-ism only gets one of
the supers, and only when the bar is fully charged up. A-ism gets both and
can use them at Level 1, 2, or 3.



Shinpikaibyaku
Punch Super
X-ism (Level 3), A-ism (Level 1, 2, 3)
d, df, f, d, df, f + P

Level 1 - Karin does four palm hits (basically the first two hits of her
Rekka-Ken, done twice), and then finishes it with a Palm Strike.
Level 2 - Karin does four palm hits, and then finishes with a Hop Kick.
Juggling is possible after this.
Level 3 - Karin does four palm hits, the double elbow, and then finishes
with a Palm Strike.

This is her "main" Super, and has many uses even at Level 1. The most
obvious use is for combos. If you're fast enough to buffer off a Crouching
Short or Crouching Strong, go ahead and do it when you know it's going to
hit! While Level 3 has the most invincibility on it, Level 1 will go through
just about any normal attack, most special moves, and even most Supers (!).
If Karin does her super at the same time as say, Ken does a Level 1
Shoryureppa, Karin will win. Heck, the only Level 1 Super I've seen that
beat hers was R. Mika's ground punch super. Knowing this, you can use her
Punch Super as an excellent wake-up move. If timed right you can even pass
through fireballs with this.
At Level 1 she finishes with the Palm Strike, and just like the other
versions of this move, you're screwed if they block it. Sigh. Don't throw
it out randomly, only counter moves that you KNOW they're going to attack
with...
Or you could just do her Level 2. She ends with the Hop Kick at Level 2,
and guess what? It leaves her pretty safe when blocked! And Hop Kick =
juggle, so you get more damage out of the Super! Is that cool or what?
Although Level 3 ends with a Palm Strike too, this one pushes her opponent
back so she can't be hit afterwards. That's great and all, but you'd think
the damage for a Level 3 super would be a little more than this. Even when
you use this in X-ism, you only take off about 33% of their life bar,
whereas most X-ism Supers take off like 50%! Oddly enough, you get more
damage in A-ism by doing Level 2 Punch Super, then juggling with C. Fierce
into Level 1 Kick Super.




Kououken
Kick Super
A-ism (Level 1, 2, 3)
d, df, f, d, df, f + K

Level 1 - Karin goes spinning into the air and does 3 hits in a flurry of
fists and feet. (looks like she's spazzing, eh?)
Level 2 - Same, only you get 6 hits.
Level 3 - Same, only you get 9 hits.

As if Karin didn't have enough ways to deal with jumpers... her Kick Super
is one of the best anti-air moves in the game! Even at Level 1, I've only
seen it trades hits a few times, and only once was it stuffed entirely
(mumble mumble friggin dhalsim mumble mumble). The only catch is that you
have to do it EARLY. If you do the Super when an opponent's almost landed
then Karin will go flying into the air past them, and your opponents gets
some time to decide how to combo you before you land (note: it's a
longshot, but if you do a 360+K as you land, you'll be able to grab them
should they mis-time their ground attack). Properly anticipate their jump
and make them pay! This Super is a great juggle finisher, plus you can even
juggle some attacks AFTER it as well! See Combos section for more...

-4. COMBOS-

You like-a the combos? Then Karin should be a favorite character of yours.
She's the Juggling Queen, but she also has some cool ground-based combos as
well. So without further ado, let's get to them...

Note: if a combo starts with "Jump-in" (And a lot of combos will), this
means that you should start it with a Jumping attack. There are three main
choices you have, Jumping Forward (best jumping attack), Jumping Fierce
(good for when you're guaranteed a combo), or Jumping Roundhouse (ditto).

Another Note: all of these combos work in A-ism mode. Any combo that doesn't
involve a non-level 3 Punch Super or Kick Super works in X-ism mode.
Obviously, any combo involving any Supers will not work in V-ism. I don't
have any good VC's down yet for Karin.

Final Note: This is not the end-all list of Karin combos! Many of these
combos by themselves are pretty similar, but a lot of them can be changed
by editing a move or two (like replacing a Standing/Crouching Strong with
two Crouching Shorts). And with SFA3's new Counter-hit juggle system, you
can make up new Karin combos on the fly. Example: Beat their air attack with
your own Jumping Forward, land and juggle Standing Fierce.


Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Palm Strike - 3 Hits
(you may also use one or two Crouching Shorts if you prefer)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Jab Double Elbow - 4 Hits
(you must interrupt into the Double Elbow IMMEDIATELY!)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Level 1/2/3 Punch Super - 7/8/9 Hits
(again, feel free to use Crouching/Standing Jabs or Shorts. You can do this
for just about any combo that has Standing/Crouching Strong in it, so I'll
shut up now)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Palm Strike -
 5 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Jab Double Elbow -
 6 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Slide Kick - 5 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Roundhouse Hop Kick, Standing Fierce -
 5 Hits
(the Standing Fierce is a juggle. Opponent can tech out and throw off your
timing on this, as well as many other Hop Kick combos)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Roundhouse Hop Kick, Standing Strong,
 Hop Kick - 6/7 Hits
(no, you can't continue to juggle after this. this works best in the corner)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Roundhouse Hop Kick, Level 1/2/3
 Kick Super - 7/10/13 Hits
(this works best in the corner)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Roundhouse Hop Kick, Crouching Fierce,
 Level 1/2/3 Kick Super - 8/11/14
(why do the combo without the C. Fierce when you can always get more damage
this way? Because the opponent can tech and make the C. Fierce whiff, but
even if they tech when you do the Kick Super by itself they'll still eat
damage. See Strategy section for more. Oh yeah, just like every other Hop
Kick juggle combo, this works best in the corner. Surprised?)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Roundhouse Hop Kick, Jumping KK throw -
 5 Hits
(that's right, juggle with an air throw! What is this, Street Fighter or
Marvel?)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick, Standing
 Fierce - 7 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick, Standing
 Strong, Hop Kick - 8/9 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick, Level
 1/2/3 Kick Super - 9/12/15 Hits
(as I recently discovered, you can continue to juggle after you get all the
hits of the Kick Super. With what though? I'm still figuring that out...
perhaps a simple Standing Fierce, or a Kick air throw if you time it right?
Most of the time I just juggle some Rekka-Kens afterward, but that's only
if they didn't tech out... almost everyone I play techs after they get hit
by the Super. This is still under investigation, I may do some updating
if I find anything cool out)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick,
 Crouching Fierce, Level 1/2/3 Kick Super - 10/13/16 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick, Jumping
 KK Throw - 7 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Level 2 Punch Super, Standing Fierce -
 9 Hits
(remember, Level 2 Punch Super ends in the Hop Kick...)

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Level 2 Punch Super, Standing Strong,
 Hop Kick - 10/11 Hits

Jump-in, Standing/Crouching Strong, Level 2 Punch Super, Crouching Fierce,
 Level 1 Kick Super - 12 Hits
(yeah, both her supers in one combo!!! Note that not every Hop Kick juggle
works when done after the Level 2 Punch Super. This is because it either
doesn't knock them as high up into the air, or there's a little more
recovery time. The only way to juggle the Kick Super is to do a C. Fierce,
unless they foolishly tech and bounce upwards)

High/Low Reversal (reverse move), Standing Strong, Level 1/2/3 Kick Super -
 5/8/11 Hits
(as explained before, you can use her Reversals to start some limited
juggles)

Overhead Hop Punch, Crouching Jab, Level 1/2/3 Kick Super - 6/9/12 Hits
(yes, you can juggle off the Overhead Hop Punch if you time it just right!
There's a very small window in which you can juggle, but it is indeed
possible. But it ONLY works in the corner.)

Crouching Fierce (hits as Counter-hit against jumping opponent, Level 1/2/3
 Kick Super - 4/7/10 Hits
(beat an opponent's jump attack with C. Fierce, and you can hit them with
the Kick Super before the hit ground. If you don't get the Counter, then
the Super will miss.)

Standing Strong, Standing Strong - 2 Hits
(this is a link. Do a Standing Strong, then hit the opponent with another
Standing Strong as the animation of the first one ends. You can even
interrupt into a special move (preferably Fierce Rekka-Ken))

Standing Strong, Crouching Strong - 2 Hits
(like above, this is a link, and can be buffered too)

Standing Strong, Crouching Forward - 2 Hits
(but unfortunately, this can not be buffered. D'oh.)



 -5. STRATEGY-


5.1. SELECT YOUR ISM


A-ism: IMO this is the preferred mode to play Karin in. Sure you get air-
blocking (which comes in handy at times) and Alpha Counters (which suck,
but at least they're there just in case), but more importantly you get
access to both of her Supers, and can do them at multiple levels. As has
been explained before, her Supers are a very crucial part of her game.
Just having Level 1 charged makes people think twice about sticking out
attacks when you're getting up off the ground. Having Level 2 lets you use
a rather safe version of her ground super, where even if you miss you're
not in deep trouble. With a full bar you can string together her double
Super combo, or can stick on a Level 3 Kick Super after you connect a Rekka-
Ken, Rekka-Ken, Hop Kick combo for big damage.

X-ism: No airblocking, no AC's, and only one Level 3 Punch Super. The loss
of her Kick Super and Level 1 and 2 Punch Supers hurt, it hurts bad. To make
things worse, her Level 3 Punch Super doesn't even do as much damage as
most other characters' X-Supers... usually they do about 50%, but Karin does
about 33%. Why bother? Everyone says that X-ism characters do more damage
with regular moves than they do in A-ism and V-ism but you know what? I
don't see ANY increase in damage in X-ism when I play her. Maybe it's just
me.
(BTW, here's another fun fact about the sample version: X-ism Karin had
a fast, low jump. This made X-ism kinda unique and increased her
aggressiveness. For whatever reason, this was removed from the final. Eh?)

V-ism: No Supers. That SUCKS. Do Karin's VC's make up for it? As far as
I can tell, no. I haven't been able to find anything that's overly effective
or damaging for V-ism Karin... I think the best thing I found was Activate
VC in corner, C. Short, Rekka-Ken, Rekka-Ken, Overhead Hop Punch. Right as
the overhead hits the Crouching Short kicks in too, so there's almost no way
for your opponent to block all of it, so they take some piddly damage and
get knocked down. And then you can do it again before time runs out, unless
they do some sort of wake-up move to nail you.
Anyway, if anyone has found some really good VC's, I'd be interested in
hearing them. Doing Rekka-Kens to continually juggle an opponent until time
runs out does NOT impress me, using your whole super bar for a 15-20% juggle
sucks.



5.2. FUN WITH REKKA-KENS

As mentioned before, using her Rekka-Kens is essential to victory. You've
got to be able to mix up your finishers and keep your opponent on his toes.
Normally the best finisher to use is the Hop Kick or Slide Kick if you hit,
and the Overhead Hop Punch or Hop Kick (again) if they block. If you connect
a Rekka-Ken from far away, sometimes the Hop Kick will only register one
hit, which won't launch them into the air. If you're far away from the
enemy, it's recommended that you use the Slide Kick instead. If you see
them blocking Rekka-Kens high, go for a Slide Kick, as it might knock them
off their feet. Otherwise, Hop Kick is usually a good no-brainer finisher,
since if it hits you get damage and a juggle, and if it's blocked then
you're left pretty safe. The same thing goes for the Overhead Hop Punch,
but you'll definitely want to end with one of those if they block an entire
Crouching Short/Strong into Rekka-Ken series.

So when are the other finishers useful? There's really no advantage to doing
a Palm Strike over a Slide Kick if you connect with Rekka-Kens. Usually a
Palm Strike accidentally comes out if you mash Punch too much during the
Rekka-Ken series, since a third button-press will result in it and end up
"punishing" you. Simliarly, the Double Elbow is not too useful due to the
fact that it comes out rather slowly and does hardly any damage at all.
There is one little trick you can do with it when blocked though... do the
first elbow and let that be blocked, pause for a second, then do the second
elbow. If they try to counterattack, they get smacked for a whopping 3% or
so. (hey, at least they get knocked down)

Finishing a series with a Reversal can come in handy too. Usually ending in
a High Reversal won't help you any, since most people tend to try to sweep
you to try to punish a blocked Hop Kick or Overhead Hop Punch. So instead,
you may want to try doing two blocked Rekka-Kens, pause for a second, then
do the Low Reversal. If they think you're vulnerable, they get smacked. Of
course, the problem with this is that they're looking for the familiar
Hop Kick or Overhead Hop Punch animation to punish you... so sometimes it's
worth doing two blocked Rekka-Kens, pause, do two more blocked Rekka-Kens,
pause, do two more blocked Rekka-Kens... by this time your opponent will
have caught on to what you've been doing, so THIS is the perfect time to end
with the Low Reversal. As you can see, sometimes no finisher can be the
preferred plan of action.

And as I just explained, varying the timing on blocked Rekka-Kens and
finishers will help out too. You can delay the next attack up to a full
second or so, but be careful not to do your series slowly if you CONNECT
with one!



5.3. TICKING

One thing many people overlook is the fact that Karin has a 360+Kick grab.
Let's face it, she's not the most likely candidate to receive one... it has
rather limited range, and only does about 1/6 of the bar, if not less.
Doesn't sound too great, right?

Well, there is one majorly good thing you can do with it. Do a Jumping
Short, as soon as you land do the 360+K once they come out of block/hit
stun. Why is this so good? Because you're almost guaranteed the grab if the
Jumping Short connects/is blocked. Jumping Short has a steep downward angle,
so to hit with it you have to land near their head. Once you land, doing the
360+K will eat up almost any attack that they try to do. Jumping tick throws
are a lot more effective in A3 since a person can't just hold back and
mindlessly tap Fierce to try to Option Select block/throw/standing attack
you.

The other thing that's great about the Jumping Short is that you can do it
near the top of your jump, still connect with it, land and immediately 360
them. When you do the Jumping Short super-early like that, you throw off
their timing if they were trying to use an anti-air attack on you. This is
especially useful against Shotokans, since many of them like to go for that
"deep" Dragon Punch.... most of the time you'll end up hitting them while
they either block or are in the middle of doing the motion... either way,
the advantage is yours!

Karin can also tick into her 360 on the ground off of a point-blank Standing
Short, but this isn't as useful. Play around with it a bit if you like, but
know that you must be EXTREMELY close to the opponent to pull this off.



5.4. PUNISHING JUMPERS

Oh boy... Karin has plenty of ways to hurt people who jump at her.

1. Standing Fierce. Your all-purpose anti-air attack. Stuffs almost anything
they stick out in the air from just about any distance, especially from far
away.
2. Crouching Fierce. Nice for people that are jumping in fairly close to
you, bad for people jumping in far away or going for crossups. Since Karin
moves horizontally forward upon doing this attack, you must be careful. Note
that if you get a Counter-hit with this, it's easy to juggle with a Kick
Super afterwards.
3. High Reversal. If you're sure they'll stick out an attack, then the
Reversal will catch anything they do, with a couple exceptions... crossups
(Karin will smack forwards and miss because the opponent is then behind
her), Akuma's air fireball (duh), etc. Even better, connecting a High
Reversal will give you a chance to do more damage (including Standing Fierce
or even a Kick Super)
4. Kick Super. When your Super's charged up, this is the best way to do
damage. Near unbeatable-priority, plus you can juggle afterwards for even
MORE damage! The only problem with this is that you have to anticipate your
opponent's jump and do the Super early.

This is great and all, but how exactly do you get an opponent to jump at you
anyway? If they don't have an opponent, just fight them on the ground for
a while. Corner them with some Rekka-Ken series, and then poke away with
Standing Strong, Standing Forward, Crouching Forward, and an occasional
Crouching Roundhouse. Keep them in the corner and eventually they'll get
frustrated and try to jump at you. Also, it seems that hitting someone with
her f+Forward overhead will provoke them to jump at you.



5.5. BAIT AND SUPER

With the incredible amount of invincibility on all of her Punch Supers,
Karin can easily "trick" an opponent by doing a Super after the opponent
blocks a move and tries to retaliate. There are three main instances in
which you can do a Super to blow through their attack:

1. After a blocked Hop Kick
2. After a blocked Overhead Hop Punch
3. After a blocked Level 2 Punch Super

All three of these moves leave Karin fairly safe when blocked, and you can
usually block whatever they try to hit you with. But why block when you
can counter their move? You will have to time your Super to come out
immediately when you come out of your attack, so if you're playing on an
unreliable stick you might end up getting hit yourself... but nonetheless,
sticking out a Punch Super after they block one of those moves is a great
way to discourage them from trying to attack you. After being hit by one,
they'll most likely catch on and won't attack with anything. This means that
you're free to keep the pressure on by doing a Standing Strong into
Rekka-Ken to keep ticking off GC/block damage and build another Super.


VS. STRATEGY

Vs. Ryu/Ken/Akuma - Unless you live in some paradise where Shotokans are
never picked, you'll have to get used to playing them. You can't jump in
mindlessly because of their DP's, but as explained before you can sometimes
throw off their timing with an early Jumping Short. What you can also do is
jump in from a distance, right outside of their DP. DON'T stick out a limb,
or else you'll get hit... let them go flying into the air. When they land
you get a free combo. On the ground, you'll have to fight patiently...
poke at them on the ground to annoy them, eventually they'll try to throw
a fireball at you, at which point you can jump over and combo them. Try to
stay out of the range of their Crouching Roundhouse, if you see it whiff
you can sweep them back with your own Crouching Roundhouse. Get in the
habit of using the Low Reversal against Ryu and Akuma, since most of their
best pokes are low attacks... against Ken you may have to resort to the
High one because of attacks like his f+Roundhouse.

Vs. Dhalsim - This is quite possibly Karin's hardest matchup, she loses...
BAD. The only attack that comes close to beating his Standing Jab is her
Jumping Short (sometimes trades, sometimes gets beaten). So how does Karin
advance on Dhalsim? You have to do blind Rekka-Kens and hope that you
end up stuffing his limbs so you can get closer to him. Don't even think
of trying to do Reversals against his limbs, Dhalsim can mix up high and
low attacks so it's a guessing game in his favor, especially if he fakes,
which results in Yoga Foot-up-the-ass. You can also try her Overhead Hop
Punch, but if he sticks out Standing Forward or Roundhouse you get smacked.
With Dhalsim's long-range limbs, unbeatable anti-air, great wake-up supers
(especially in X-ism), and projectile, there's only one answer for this
matchup... play another character.  :(

Vs. Zangief - Another tough matchup, especially against X-Zangief.
Attempting to tick any decent Zangief is a joke, as his SPD has far more
range than Karin's. And not only that, he has DAMAGE on his side. Do a
Rekka-Ken - Hop Kick - juggle combo on him, and he'll make the damage up in
a couple hits. Most Zangief players will jump in with a Fierce splash, which
has extreme priority... even Standing Fierce will trade hits with this, so
you're better off doing a High Reversal against Zangief's jump-ins (but
beware, Zangief can jump in without attacking and SPD you). Kick Super comes
in really handy here. You'll have to play the ground game against Zangief,
but don't end any Rekka-Ken series with Overhead Hop Punch... you're left
way too close and can be easily SPD'ed. A Short Hop Kick is usually
recommended since it leaves you fairly far away. And jumping in on Zangief
can be a bad, bad idea because of his Clothesline (especially if it
registers all three hits). This might be a job for early Jumping Short, but
as said before, beware of getting SPD'ed.

Vs. Vega - Vega players love to poke with Low Strong. Answer it with
Standing Forward, which beats it clean. Standing Fierce is good against his
jumping attacks, but you must do it early. Against V-Vega's corner trap BS,
try doing Crouching Jabs in-between rolls... if you're lucky you'll trade
hits with the roll and end up knocking him out of the VC. If your Kick
Super's charged, any Vega will quickly learn that jumping off the wall/fence
is a bad idea against Karin.

Vs. Rolento - Guess what? This is another bad match for Karin. Surprised?
With Rolento's fast jumps the only way to react to his jump-in attacks
is Standing Fierce... unless of course he bounces off the wall, which makes
it easy to nail him with a Kick Super. If Rolento goes into his dreaded
Jab-Jab-Jab BS, you have one of three options... try to High Reverse (very
hard), Punch Super if you're in A-ism (kinda hard), or activate a VC if
you're in V-ism (easy).

Vs. Sakura - Matchup of rivals! Sakura generally has more range on her
pokes, which is a problem. But since her anti-air isn't that great, feel
free to guess when she's about to throw a fireball and jump over it. If
she does a spin-kick, do a low Strong into Rekka-Ken.

Vs. Charlie - As long as you're not in X-ism, you can airblock Charlie's
flash kick and just jump in with no worries. Well, until he catches on and
starts using Crouching Fierce instead... then you need to go back to good
ol' Jumping Short. When you block a flash kick, using a Fierce Rekka-Ken
moves you forward far enough to combo him. Other than that, just keep
the pressure on his turtle ass... and if you want to play around with him,
back off once you're ahead on life. Jump straight up over Sonic Booms and
do a Jumping Forward on the way down, which will beat his backfist.

Vs. Gen - Another rather tough match for Karin. Gen has loads of priority
and nice pokes on the ground, and great anti-air moves as well... stay
aggressive and keep the fight on the ground, doing lots of blocked
Rekka-Kens into Hop Kicks. If you must jump, go for the early Jumping Short
into 360+K tick. If you get hit by the Touch of Death Super, do some Fierce
Rekka-Kens to get in close fast.... stop on the 2nd hit and then do an
overhead if he was blocking low, or a Crouching Forward if he was blocking
high.


More Vs. Strategy to come in a future version (maybe)



 -6. MISCELLANEOUS CRAP-


6.1. OUTFIT COLORS

SFA3 uses a rather lame system of distributing colors for each character:
you only get two for each mode (or ISM). So since all I play is A-ism Karin,
I only have the choice of picking red or blue. How fun.

There are two basic colors making up her outfit - the first one is the
color of her uniform, and is also the color of her "servant"'s apron. The
second is the color of the ribbon in her hair, the bow on her uniform,
and her panties.  :)

X-ism Punch: Purple outfit, pink bow
X-ism Kick: Gray outfit, red/pink bow
A-ism Punch: Red outfit, light blue bow
A-ism Kick: Dark blue outfit, light blue bow
V-ism Punch: Light blue outfit, orange bow
V-ism Kick: Lime green outfit, orange bow



6.2. PRE-FIGHT ANIMATIONS

As far as I know, there is no way to "select" which opening pose is used.

- Karin places one hand on her other hand's elbow, with her other hand's
palm facing the opponent. She then laughs from behind the palm.
- Karin's "servant" takes a fighting pose and prepares to fight HER
opponent, until a tray comes flying in from the side of the screen and hits
the servant. He scurries off the screen while Karin jumps in.
- Karin leaps out of a low-altitude helicopter, and crouches on the ground
until it takes off. (note: only the CPU gets this pre-fight animation, I
don't know why!)



6.3. TAUNT

The bitch-laugh explained above in her first Pre-Fight Animation. In case
you didn't know, you push the Start button to taunt, but you can only do it
once per round, and only in A-ism and V-ism.



6.4. WIN POSES

Hold down one of the corresponding buttons after you win a round to select
a win pose. If no button is held, one is chosen randomly.

Jab - That good ol' laugh. Ho ho ho ho...
Strong - Karin does a cool cross hand gesture and places one hand on her
cheek. Says something, but I don't know what the quote is.
Fierce - Karin turns to the side while her servant brings her a refreshing
cold drink on the tray.
Short - Karin turns to the side while her servant comes in with a first-aid
kit, and crouches next to the defeated opponent. He starts looking through
the kit to patch up the loser.
Forward - Karin turns to the side while her servant walks from the side of
the screen to the other, carrying the tray. Before he disappears off the
opposite side, a poodle comes running after him. (?!)
Roundhouse - Karin turns to the side. No servant.



6.5. WIN QUOTES

"'All you need is victory!' That's the motto of my family!"
"To defeat an opponent is to get to know them intimately..."
"Someone of your breeding could never stand a chance against me!"
"Would you like to be my servant? You may start right now!"



6.6. PRE-FIGHT DIALOGUES

Against the CPU there is a surprising amount of dialogue before and after
certain fights... as well as an "intro" explaining the character's motives
for fighting, kinda like Pocket Fighter. Everything I have here is more or
less paraphrased, the only way I could get everything word-for-word would
be to write everything down at the arcade (and no way I'm doing that,
especially since the text scrolls by too fast to write down).


Intro

Karin Kanzuki is the only daughter of a large corporation. She must live up
to her family motto, "Be the winner of everything." To do this, she must
seek out the one fighter who defeated her before... Sakura.


Karin vs. Blanka (5th Match)

Karin: Ah! A beast!
Blanka: (Come fight with me, girl!)
Karin: Oh, it's a fight you want? Then you'll fall prey to my fists, for
they are the King of Beasts!

Karin: Whew! I never knew such a creature existed!  ?!  Was someone just
watching me fight? Or was it just my imagination...?


Karin vs. Sakura (9th Match)

Karin: Sakura! I've finally found you!
Sakura: Karin! What the heck are you doing here?
Karin: Your last match helped me to train... please fight with me again!
Sakura: Okay! I can feel the fighting energy... it's exciting!

Karin: Ah, my mind feels refreshed! I won by chance, but you're really the
better fighter!
Sakura: Thanks, you're really great too!


Karin vs. Juni & Juli (10th Match)

Bison: Greetings girls. I observed your fight.
Karin: Who the heck are you?
Bison: I'll only tell you my name if you can defeat my dolls!

(note - during this dialogue, Sakura is standing behind Karin. After Bison
disappears, Sakura takes off and leaves Karin to be double-teamed by Juni
and Juli. Gee, what a pal.)


Karin vs. Shin Bison (11th Match)

Bison: You're a qualified fighter. My name is Bison of Shadowloo.
Karin: Bison!! You're less than a man! I'll use all of my energy to defeat
you!
Bison: <damn, I forgot what he said>



6.7. ENDING

Bison starts throwing a hissy fit "No! I can't lose! I simply won't accept
that!" and retreats to his base. "As long as I have the Psycho Drive, I'm
invincible!"  Sakura returns from her Ryu-stalking or whatever she was doing
while Karin fought Juni, Juli, and Bison and asks what Karin's going to do.
Karin whips out a cell phone and talks to someone at her zaibatsu (I think
his name was Shibazaki), and tells him it's time to do it like they planned.
After that, a satellite moves into place and positions itself over Bison's
base. A laser is fired down, and Bison and his base are destroyed.

The next day, Sakura is asking Karin if she saw the headlines in the paper.
Karin tells Sakura about how Bison threatened her zaibatsu, and then
underestimated them. Their killer satellite brought Bison down. Sakura seems
flabbergasted by the whole thing, and Karin starts laughing. "Some people
just don't know who they're dealing with! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!"



 -7. CLOSING-


7.1. STUFF THAT'S MISSING

Word-for-word descriptions of dialogue/ending
More combos
More strategy (especially Vs.)
Need to make some sections neater (especially Combos)
Anything that needs correcting

However, I have a track record of putting out FAQ's that need updates, but
I never get around to it. But since Karin is so badass, maybe I'll break
this "streak".



7.2. CONTACTING ME

Got something Karin-related to share with me? Want to boost my ego by
telling me "Nice FAQ"? Feel the need to tell me that Ryu is the HeLLa BeSt
ChAreCtOr iN tHe GaMe, d00dz?!?!?!

1. You can email me at [email protected]   Warning: I'm notoriously lazy when it
comes to responding to mail. If you don't get a response, don't be surprised.
2. Post to alt.games.sf2. I regularly read it.
3. Find me on IRC on EFnet #capcom. I'm usually there late at night.
4. IM me through AOL or AIM, I'm signed on as either LordBBH or Kensou.



7.3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Uhhh... the only thing that helped me with the creation of this FAQ was
Kao Megura's SFA3 FAQ, because I took all the proper special move names
from there. You can go check out the latest version at http://i.am/kao

Other than that... come on Karin players! Speak out! Make your voices heard,
because we shall soon rule the world!




That does it for this FAQ... hope you enjoyed reading it, and hope it helps
you to better play Karin. Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!



----
-Matt Hall
Fear the BBH CHARACTERS.

"I am an unskilled fighter." - Ryu, Sakura's SFA3 ending

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