-----------------------------
\ THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2003 /
\ /
\ ATHENA ASAMIYA FAQ /
\ /
\ BY GONROS /
\_________________/
This FAQ is Copyrighted Work 2004 by Gonzalo Ortin. That means you can't copy
it, sell it or anything without my permission (that's for all the FAQ or just a
part of it).
The King of Fighters 2003 is a trademark of SNK Playmore. Athena Asamiya, as
all the other characters, is copyright SNK Playmore.
=================
Table of contents
=================
1- Introduction:
1.1- Version history
1.2- Why choosing Athena
Well, this is my first FAQ. I chose Athena since she is my best character in
KOF 2003 (not my favourite, I prefer Kula, then Gato, then K' and finally,
Athena), but I play very good with her, I want to share what I know about her.
I recomend you to read everything, even when I descrived the moves, i put some
tips.
It's important to keep in mind I am not a natal English speaker, so sometimes
it's hard for me to explain some things, or I can make some silly mistakes, or i
can use the words in a bad way. Please be tolerant, I think everything can be
understand, but if you think something is terribly written, please contact me
(see section 7).
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1.1- Version History
--------------------
Well, Athena in KOF 2003 is not a Huge combo maker, you can make a combo with 3
or 4 different moves... and generally they don't hurt much (unless you combo
into her LDM) but her priority and speed make her terribly strong. She's one of
the fastest characters. Her basic moves have high priority and they are very
fast and have a very fast recovery in generall (every move but her crouching D
come out and then you are in normal stance terribly fast). She can grab in the
air. She can cancel a lot of her normals. All her command moves are cancelable.
There are some bugs related to her that allow you to make some extra damage.
Her Shining Crystal Bit DM is very usefull. Her LDM has 5 different finishes,
two of them cost an extra stock (making it a 3 stocks DM) but one is the most
damaging move in the wole game and the other one recovers life, making Athena
the only character that can recover some life.
=========================================
2- FAQ notation and power gaugage notes
=========================================
Notation:
f - Forward
b - Back
u - Up
d - Down
ub - Up and back (in the diagonal)
uf - Up and forward (in the diagonal)
db - Down and back (in the diagonal)
df - Down and forward (in the diagonal)
qcf - Quarter circle forward (d,df,f)
qcb - Quarter circle back (d,db,b)
hcf - Half circle forward (b,db,d,df,f)
hcb - Half circle back (f,df,d,db,b)
dp - Dragon punch motion (f, d, df)
A - Weak punch
B - Weak kick
C - Strong punch
D - Strong kick
P - Punch (A or C)
K - Kick (B or D)
DM - Desperation move
LDM - Leader desperation move
TMC - This move is cancelable
TMNC - This move is not cancelable
In the cancelable chart, the C means cancelable, and / not cancelable.
Power gaugage notes:
Athena's LDM cost 2 stocks as any LDM in the game, but 2 of its endings are DMs
("KISS * Psycho Bomber" and "Healing Athena"), so you need 3 stocks to make one
of those endings in the begining of the LDM or you won't be able to make them
(unless you make the random finish and one of those moves comes out, which is
possible but it happens sometimes).
Far A: Athena performes a fast and mid/short ranged punch that goes
horizontally. TMC.
Far B: Athena performes a fast, diagonal and mid ranged kick. TMC.
Far C: Athena performes an horizontal punch, that comes out very fast
and has very good range. You should abuse of this. When I
connect a far C, I like to make C, run, C, run, C, without
stopping (always making a far C, not a close C), most times,
your opponent will try to hit you and you will hit him before.
TMNC.
Far D: Athena does something like a small jump and throws an
Horizontal kick, with good range but it isn't as fast as the
other moves. Athena goes a bit forward after doing this move.
TMNC.
Close A: Very similar to far A, but she hits with her elbow. Very useful
because of it's speed. TMC
Close B: See far B. TMC
Close C: Athena raises her hands and hits her enemy with her elbows.
TMC.
Close D: Athena hits his enemy with her knee. TMC
Crouching A: Athena stays crouching very small and moves one arm punching
her opponent's knee. TMC.
Crouching B: Athena turns back amd slides her foot on the ground. Fast move
with good priority, a very good option to start a combo. TMC.
Crouching C: Athena stays crouching very small and hits her opponent's
knee with both hands. TMC.
Crouching D: Athena puts her arms on the floor, turns round and hits her
opponent's feet with her feet. TMNC.
Diagonal jump A: Athena puts her body diagonally to the floor and makes a small
punch forward to her. TMC.
Diagonal jump B: Athena makes a fast kick like her jumping D kick, but faster,
so it comes out faster but ends faster too. TMNC.
Diagonal jump C: Athena moves her arm making a circle. It doesn't have good
range, but it's a cool move since it's done in the air and can
be cancelled. TMC.
Diagonal jump D: Athena turns round and makes a kick with her leg in a diagonal
position like this "\" but she puts her body far from his kick,
so this is a very safe move and terribly good for jumping in.
TMNC.
Up jump A: Athena separates her hands in opposite directions, making a
punch in horizontal direction. TMC
Up jump B: Athena hits her enemy with her knee. This move is very fast,
you can miss it easily if you throw it not exactly next to your
opponent. TMNC.
Up jump C: Athena hits her enemy with her elbow. TMC
Up jump D: Athena puts her leg in horizontal position, stopping any
jumper. TMNC.
Table of cancelability:
A B C D
Far C C / /
Close Ci C C C
Crouching Ci Ci C /
D-Jump C / C /
U-Jump C / C /
Ci means they can be cancelled into itself.
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3.2- Throws
-----------
Psychic Throw: When close, b/f + C/D. Athena picks her enemy up with her hand
and throws him over her head. If you use C version you will
change sides with your enemy. If you use D version, you will
throw him forward.
Psychic Shoot: In the air, when close, b/db/d/df/f + C/D. Athena grabs her
opponent, makes something like a roll with him and throws him to
the ground.
Renkantai: f + B. Athena performes a small jump and makes 2 kicks. TMC into
aerial moves. Both hits are cancelable, but if you cancel a
strong normal into it, it becomes a cancelable 1-hit move, also
into aerial moves. This year, you can't combo this move so easily,
you can only combo it in corner.
Phoenix Bomb: In the air, d + B. Athena makes a fast but short move hitting her
enemy with her back. TMC (but it's not cancelable if you cancel
into it). This move knocks down even if cancelled into. If your
enemy blocks this move and you don't cancel it into something,
then you are open to recive any kind of hit...
Futtobashi: f + AC. This is her old CD attack, but it comes out faster
(terribly fast, i'd say). Athena moves forward in a strong pose,
hitting her enemy with his side. TMC (always) and it's also a
knockdown. If you make it countering your enemy, you can hit your
enemy again before he touches the floor. For example, your enemy
is in the corner, you make f+AC and it counters, so you cancel
into a phsycho ball and it will combo.
------------------
3.4- Special moves
------------------
Psycho Ball Attack: qcb + A/C. Athena's proyectile. This is one of her most
used moves. She throws a mid air ball of energy. A version
is slower than C version.
Psycho Sword: dp + A/C (can be done in the air). Athena goes up with
a psycho ball in her hand. A version hits up to 3 times, C
version up to 5. If you don't connect this move, then you
can start to pray, so be careful. This move is
supercancelable.
Psychic Teleport: qcf + B/D. Athena makes a twirl, then flashes and dashes
forward very fast. This move has some invencibility in the
beggining, but then you can be hurt. I like to use this
move (B version) when someone jumps at me (in the begging
of his jump), so he won't be able to hit me and I can do a
far C and mostly ever hit him. Or after making an A
psycho ball, when we are far away, so i use D version a
then try to throw my opponent.
Phoenix Arrow: In the air, qcb + B/D. Athena makes herself a ball and goes
down diagonally forward at 30 degree for B version and 45
degree for D version. D version has a finish were Athena
makes a kick standing on one arm. If your opponent is on the
ground you can use B version, so you'll keep safe and get
some cheap damage if its blocked. This move is
supercancelable, except for the kick part.
Psycho Reflector: qcb + B. Athena separates her arms and makes an arc of
energy, that arc can hit the enemy or reflect normal
proyectiles (but not DM proyectiles). This year it became
difficult to reflect proyectiles with this move.
Phoenix Fang Arrow: In the air, qcb,qcb + K. Athena makes 3 phoenix arrows
in a row at a 45 degree direction, then she makes a 4th
phoenix arrow at a 40 degree direction, so she can miss the
combo if her opponent is too far, so her opponent can
block the end of the move. This move makes very
little damage for being a DM, but it makes a lot of cheap
damage if blocked. Athena is vulnerable in the end of this
move, and if she connects all of her hits except for the
last one, her opponent isn't thrown far away, he keeps next
to Athena. I recomend you not to use it.
Shining Crystal Bit: hcb,hcb + P (can be done in the air). Two electricity
charged balls start surrounding Athena. The balls of the A
version move making crosses and C version in circles (I
recomend to use C version to stop an opponent jumping).
This move negates any kind of proyectile (even Ash's qcf,
qcf + P), but some moves like Dou Lon's dp + K or Gato's
qcb + K, A will hit her. In the end of this move, Athena is
vulnerable to any kind of attack, so you should make one of
her follow ups.
. Cancel: During Shining Crystal Bit, press ABCD. Athena makes the
two balls disappear. This option is very useful when you've
done the shining crystal bit near the corner and your enemy
would hit you if you make the crystal shoot because he is
cornered and he is very near to you.
. Crystal Shoot: During Shining Crystal Bit, qcb + P (can be held).
Athena raises one hand and moves the two balls to her hand,
making only one ball. If someone touches that ball while
it is being held or while it is being thrown, he will be
repeled and hurt. And after holding it, you can throw it
as a normal proyectile. If the shining crystal bit was
done in air, the crystal shoot will go only horyzontally,
but if the shining crystal bit was done in ground C
version will curve to the air and A version will go
horizontally. This proyectile negates proyectiles and
knockdowns your enemy.
Psychic 10: hcb,f + AC. Athena puts her 2001 costume and dashes
forward. If she crashes with her enemy she will start
to change her costumes and hitting her enemy one time
with each costume. During those 10 hits (or in the last
one) you should cancel into one of its continue moves
to make more damage. If you don't make anything she
will fall on the ground and she will be vulnerable to
any kind of attack. It's important to keep in mind that
while the red flash of the LDM is on the screen she is
invencible, so you can get throught any kind of hit,
even fireballs, but when she slides she is indefense.
. Sailor Punch: During Psychic 10, qcf + P. Athena puts on a sailor
costume and hits her opponent making good damage.
. Psycho Sword: During Psychic 10, dp + P. Athena puts on a bikini
and makes a psycho sword to her enemy causing some
damage. If you try to input this move making f, qcf+P
then sailor punch will come out, you have to be very
precise and finish with the arcade stick in the df
direction.
. Fire Sword: During Psychic 10, qcb + P. Athena dresses as a roman
soldier and uses her sword to burn his enemy throwing
him in the air and then cames to her normal costume.
You can juggle your opponent after this technique.
. Healing Athena: During Psychic 10, qcf + AB. Athena makes the fire
sword, then the sailor punch and finally the psycho
sword in a row (but causing very little damage). Then
she dresses as a godess and waits until her enemy
falls, so she makes a circle of hearts that surround
her, hit her enemy and when it makes smaller she
recovers some life. This move costs an extra stock.
. KISS * Psycho Bomber: During Psychic 10, qcb + CD. Athena makes the fire
sword, then the sailor punch and finally the psycho
sword in a row (but causing very little damage). Then
she teleports to a corner of the screen and appears
with her two fans, the three of them dressing like in
the west. Above them there's a huge psycho ball "made
of love", they throw it to her enemy causing huge
damage (this is the most damaging move in the wole
game).This move costs an extra stock.
. Random Finish: During Psychic 10, press ABCD. The machine chooses one
of 6 diferent endings: the 5 I've discribed above or no
finish at all, making athena fall on the ground and
cancelling the LDM, but if it selects the healing
athena or kiss * psycho bomber, it won't take any extra
stock.
==================
4- Bugs and combos
==================
As you should know, this game has MANY bugs (and you can take advantage of
them).
I know two bugs of Athena in this game, if you know about another, please tell
me.
*If you can make your opponent fall on the ground and he is very, very close to
the "wall" (I'll call wall at the end of the screen), for example, you are in
the corner and you make the psychic throw using C, you will be fronting the wall
and your opponent will be between you and the wall. If you jump forward and make
a phoenix arrow (with B or D, but not a phoenix fang arrow), Athena will go
between your opponent and the wall, so he has to stand up moving his joystick
forward instead of backwards if he wants to block your move, although he was as
close as he could to the wall. If you use D version correctly, your opponent
will be thrown to the corner again and you can repeat this "bug" over and over
again, until he realices he has to stand up with his joystick inputting forward.
*If you throw your enemy far away and while he is standing up you make a psycho
ball and then a psychic teleport, your psycho ball will become unblockeable. A
very easy way to make this bug is: f+AC, qcb+A, qcf+B. The only way to get
throught the psycho ball without been hit is using the roll escape (AB), but if
he uses it forward, you can hit him with a C or throw him, and if he makes a
backwards roll, the psycho ball will hit him.
All the ground combos can be started with any jumping hit. I won't post jumping
A/B/C/D in every combo, I'll just write the "important part".
"---" means cancel into.
"***" means supercancel into (remember supercancelling costs 1 stock).
A, B, C or D without direction are those standing moves.
Starting move(s) Comand move Special Move(s) DM or LDM
All the ground combos can be started with any jumping hit. I won't post jumping
A/B/C/D in every combo, I'll just write the "important part".
"---" means cancel into.
"***" means supercancel into (remember supercancelling costs 1 stock).
A, B, C or D without direction are those standing moves.
Starting move(s) Comand move Special Move(s) DM or LDM
And, in the corner, you have the option to start a combo with a comand move. If
you make f+A+C and it counters, you can concel into qcb+P or dp+P. Or you can
start a combo with f+B and follow it up like I've described above.
===============
5- Strategies
===============
Athena is very fast, her speed is her strenght, so you should always be running
or making a bacstep, jumping, moving!!! She isn't the best character in the air
(damn Malin) but she is one of the best as she have too many options, so if you
know her well, you can make good things in the air. Her air D is mainly her best
option, but against some players (like Iori or Clark) she will miss, so you can
use her B version of the phoenix arrow to stop advancing while your opponent's
hit ends and then you hit him.
Athena is a complete character, if you are against a character that plays far
away (like Billy or Yamazaki), you can keep far away because you have the loved
psycho ball attack, or if you want to reduce the distance you can make a psycho
ball with A button and then run after it. You may think "Yamazaki can negate
proyectiles and then throw one of his own", but if you make an A psycho ball,
believe me, reflecting it isn't a good idea since you can run after it and then
roll throught Yamazaki's proyectile or jump it.
I recomend you to abuse of her d+B, d+B, f+A+C, qcb+A, qcf+B combo. You can
start it jumping in or running (be carefull when you start it running because
you can make dp+P inintentionally). If your opponent blocks the combo, you
shouldn't make her qcb+B, but you've done some cheap damage and you accumulate
some hits to make a guardcrush. A variation of this combo is, when someone
blocks it, you don't make qcb+A, you cancel the f+A+C into qcb+B and then you
throw your opponent with f (or B) + C (or D).
When your opponent waits at you blocking (for example, an Ash player), you can
throw some psycho balls or run and make d+B (from a propper distance) or d+D is
another option (it isn't as fast as d+B but it is safer). Or you can run and
when you see he is going to make a move, you make your LDM (since it has a fast
and easy input), so he doesn't hit you when you make the flash because of your
invencibility (see section 3.6) and then you make GOOD damage.
This year, cancelling her shining crystal bit into the shining crystal shoot is
faster, so this DM became safer. And if you use C version, it will push
backwards your enemy enough to let you keep safe.
If your enemy has little energy, Athena has two options to make a lot of cheap
damage: her phoenix fan arrow (you can be shure you are making all the hits if
you make it after an air A or C), or if you knock down your enemy in the corner,
you can make her shining crystal bit next to your opponent using C button,
you'll see this second option HURTS.
About her LDM, you have many options to choose. If you have 3 stocks (or more) i
recomend you to make Kiss * psycho bomber, but if your enemy has very litle
energy and you have been hurt, you can choose Healing Athena (remember this move
makes very litle damage to your opponent). But if you want to make good damage
and you don't want to use one of those endings, fire sword is the best option
since you can make a psycho sword after it (if you want to make something cool,
you can make a shining crystal bit, C version). Sailor punch is a very good
option too, it makes less damage than fire sword, psycho sowrd, but it is very
fast, it's a good option when time is going to be up and you need to make good
damage. Psycho sword finish is the worst option of all.
A complete FAQ should have everything, shouldn't it?
----------------------------------
6.1- Athena's personal information
----------------------------------
Fighting Style: Psychic Powers & Kung Fu
Birthdate: March 14
Age: 18
Birthplace: Japan
Blood Type: B
Height: 1.63m
Weight: 49kg
Three Sizes: Bust 83, Waist 57, Hips 82
Hobbies: Creating home-pages, shopping by catalogue or online
Favorite Food: Maple leaf-shaped bean cakes, things with sesame flour
dissolved in milk
Best Sport: Lacrosse
Prized Things: A Peter Rabbit tea set
Dislikes: Grasshoppers
Other Info: None
Wnning quote: Master, are you watching? I'm battling like a goddess.
------------------------------
6.2- Athena's different colors
------------------------------
When you select a character with a diferent button, you are selecting it with
different custome colors, theese are Athena's options:
A Red dress & boots, light blue gloves
B Cyan dress & boots, light pink gloves
C Pink dress & boots, light pink gloves
D Green dress & boots, light green gloves
Remember the color you choose when you select her will be the same color her
costumes will be during her Psychic 10
--------------------------
6.3- Changes from KOF 2002
--------------------------
- Like in every year, she has a new outfit.
- Her stand A, far A, crouch B and far B are cancelable now.
- She still has her stand CD, performed with f + AC. It is cancelable, as a
normal command move.
- The C version of her Psycho Ball Attack uses the same animation as the A
version now.
- Her Phoenix Fang Arrow is now performed with qcb,qcb + B/D.
- The Crystal Shoot followup to her Shining Crystal Bit is now performed with
qcb + A/C.
- Her LDM is the Psychic 10, an evolution of the Psychic 9, with new command,
new motion and two new followups (besides the 3 old ones). You don't have to
input the commands for every hit of it anymore, and you can perform the
command for the follow-ups at anytime during the execution of the move.
- The Fire Sword followup to her Psychic 10 is now performed with qcb + A/C.
=============================
7- Credits and contact info
=============================
This FAQ couldn't be done without Moriya's help since I've used a lot of
information from his FAQ/Move List (in fact, all the information it says about
Athena). All the section 6 is practically his work. And he helped me with the
move names too... thanks a lot.
The rest, (all the descriptions and combos and everything) is my work, it took
me a lot of time to post it here, if you need something of it or you want to
help me in something (I'll give you propper credits), send me an e-mail to
< merobaronlacuenta > at < yahoo > dot < com > and put " KOF 2003, Athena FAQ "
as subject.
