N00b who hasn't played in 10+ years needs some advice...

[dante]

So I haven't played a KOF since around 98 on the Sega Saturn (I couldn't afford a Neo-Geo, not even the CD).  I also just discovered a new arcade near my home (Galloping Ghost, Brookfield Illinois) that has a KOF XIII.

Since I've played way back when I find myself a different person and would like some advice on character selection.

First, I play to have fun.  The ideal match for me would be pounding going back and forth so both health bars equally go down.  I may lose often but not by much; In fact I may lose most of the time - not being a "closer" - but still I am a good challenge and may even create "doubt" in a stronger player once in a while.

I've watched plenty of videos but I am still unsure of what characters to choose.

First off, I'm not big on remember long complex sequences of movements; I'm very chill.  I'm also not too big on "special" stuff.  I don't believe a game needs to be complex to be fun.  Also what may be a part of this decision making process is I don't have a ton of time to devote to this game.  Maybe a few hours a week.  Any more than that and I would likely burn out.

Also I'm not much for jumping around like a tick on a dog.  I'm more ground based.  Think Jujitsu rather that crazy Chinese kung-fu movies where everyone is up in the air.

I'm fairly certain I want to stick with these characters either on my perceptions or my opinions on how they flow; but please give any opinions/advice you have:

Kula / Athena: The first thing I like about them is that they have projectile weapons.  The next thing I like is that they can "bounce" incoming projectiles back to their owners.  I like this kind of play - more defensive.  Also specifically on Kula I really like the quality of the animation especially (although all characters have great animation) - hers specifically is interesting to me.

Mai: I played her back in the day.  For whatever reason I like the projectiles, and also for whatever reason her moves seem to be the easiest to learn for me.  They require very few key presses.

Unknowns:

For ground based fighting what do you think of Kensou, Kim, and Yuri?  I like the "energy" psychic powers of Kensou.  Kim and Yuri appeal to me for reasons unknown to me.

The "perfect" character for me would be someone with weak kicking but strong fast boxing and/or grappler, fast sidestep/teleport, ability to return projectiles, and very lean on the movements.  May not do a lot of damage but is annoying enough that an opponent might go "not this again."

[Mr Bakaboy]

I would go with K' who works well with a ground game but can work in the air but is better suited in calculated strikes when jumping around. Also his fireball is fun to mess with if you time right the 1st part of the fireball takes away the opponent's projectile and the 2nd part still throws your fireball out in essence giving your return projectile, has a fast dash (kinda teleport), and is mostly shoto movements .

Grappler you might try Raiden. He works good in different ranges nice anti air throw. As long as you can do the half circle motions he's pretty easy to work with.

If you're not really into jumping around I wouldn't pick Mai cause that's what most people do to start with. She has a nice ground game, but personally it took me a while to learn it cause she doesn't dish out lots of damage right away you have to know what you are doing to pick her up for ground.

Athena isn't bad but again she is more of a jumper with counters thrown in. More complex style if you want to get results with her.

Kula wouldn't be too bad, but personally I think K' is better suited cause he's easier to get into and works a little better in a longer range setup. (don't worry he does mixups at close range just fine just fireballs easier to work with). for a second character though she would work with what you want.

Kensou they made more complex starting in XII. Definitely not a chillax character to pick up right away.

Kim's not bad but he has no fireballs so most find the necessity to work in the air to get close to the character. You can do ground w/ Kim but a lot of players would rather want Kim to come to them or move around him to force a missed move cause of his flash kick move is so powerful and you don't have to worry about fireballs to goat you to get closer like Guile.

Yuri's a good character to try. she's got a lot working with her and most like to stay on the ground or work with precision jumping attacks, only thing I would say against is she doesn't take off loads of damage so she's not a good mixup type of ground game. Better for poking style (get in, hit, get out).

Terry is a good starting character. Good power. Gets across the screen fast with burn knuckle. Rising Tackle is a great anti air. Also using crack shoot instead of jumping works pretty well on a lot of people.

Last person I would recommend would be Shen Woo. Very simple to use, his main move is quite fast and has a lot of ground coverage (like Terry's burn knuckle) mostly ground game with enough air not to get punished deflects fireballs (though motion is a bit more complex and you are better off using ex form of main special that goes through fireballs) and is a great mixup character.

[dante]

I've considered everything you've said very carefully and I appreciate the information.

Even though the characters I want to use hasn't changed much I will eliminate Kensou from the roster due to complexity.

I think I will stick with Athena / Mai / Kula as my main team to initially get back into it.  I know you mentioned some of these are more complex and may take less damage but for whatever reason I don't have a problem spending more time on mastering basics on these characters.

I'm not really feeling any of the others.  For whatever reason I "click" with these characters.

I think I like Kensou somewhat due to the fact he sort of reminds me of Yakumo Fuji from 3x3 Eyes.

[Mr Bakaboy]

Have fun, I'm envious you live near Bookfield and maybe I'll play you online when it comes to the home systems.

[dante]

Have fun, I'm envious you live near Bookfield and maybe I'll play you online when it comes to the home systems.

Yes same here.  I've taken a "wait and see" approach to the home port.  I'm sure the game will be great but how quickly I buy it will depend on how good the net-code is.