Mai Shiranui (Arcade Version)

[Shiranui_ninja]

but yeah, ryuenbu is pretty safe, but only really safe if you space it right.

Does it work as anti-air?

[Gorehound]

I'm in japan actually.

but yeah, ryuenbu is pretty safe, but only really safe if you space it right.

That's good, when I tried it, it left me open for a second.

It doesn't work as an Anti-Air, only the EX-version works as an AA.

[Kane317]

Her Ryuenbu is all about distancing. If spaced correctly, her C version is pretty safe in my experience. Supposedly you should not use it in the corner if blocked but I didn't have a problem. (Best thing is to test it on Reynald or John, they'll punish you if it is punishable ). As for anti air her far C and D work well, even down C or down B on a bad jump in due to her being small. Don't forget to use her c.d~u+P as an escape strategy.

[4leaf]

C ver ryuenbu is punishable in the corner. A ver is safe in corner on block.

[yourmother]

Yeah C version hits sooner, A version recovers faster.  Neither of them is exactly easy to punish, but C version can be punished if you do it in the corner or right in their face against certain characters. It doesn't work as anti-air though, not even EX version in my experience.  You don't get any invincibility for the EX version or anything like that, so your best bet is just normals, imo.

[Kane317]

2nd, and lastly, a simple corner combo (1 meter, 0 drive, corner):
,  ,    , , air throw
333 dmg

To add to this: d.B, d.A, qcb+AC, qcb C, qcb C, air throw does 391 dmg

[Shiranui_ninja]

Looking her in the last vids, it looks like her Musasabi charge is an efective way to escape, and Ukihane looks pretty useful too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geQLRuJc67s

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

try it in XI... i'm pretty sure it was invisible on the way up... can she still up both ways on the screen? and can she do like other moves besides the dive?

[Kane317]

So I got to play a couple more of hours of straight Mai and I'm starting to get a feel for her, here are my thoughts and some of may have been mentioned before.  

I struggled with her initially because I didn't really "get" her.  She lost both her command attacks, her MaxCancel combo is by far the lowest shown in the technical references (due to damage scaling from her DM) and she even lost her anti-air.  I was about to chalk her off as fan-service.

Then I noticed her pokes; all of her ground pokes near and far are good.  Far C is fast and kinda acts as a pseudo anti air. Far D is meaty, has good range, and has a nice upward slant. Far B has good range and speed.  Far A is fast and cancelable. Next, I realized about her priority.  Sick.  I'll be the first to admit, her priority is pretty disgusting and I think it was designed that way to compensate for what she lacks (I beat Kyo's wake up DP both with her j.B and j.C on different occasions).  She has excellent air normals, in particular her j.CD is real fast and her crossups are good (j.C, j.B, and I think even j.D). Her air throw is extremely threatening when you factor in her sheer speed.  Everything combined makes her have good offensive pressure and helps make her the perfect battery character.

Now the bad.  Once again, I've only a couple hours under my belt with her but it feels like if you can't get your opponent in the corner you can't really do any real damage.  Mai's d.B, d.A/s.A, hcf+D combo is hard to hit confirm as well and we all know what happens if they block your hcf+K.  Her air.qcb+P is not safe either.  Her only mid screen combo that's decent is her jump attack of choice, d.B, d.A/s.A, Ex Ryuenbu, hcf+D (which is cool because you don't need a cancel).  If you do d.C --> C Ryuenbu (qcb+C) spaced even slightly apart, it'll not combo making you look like a super n00b.  Speaking of spacing, her jump arcs needs time getting used to because of her speed, making you miss the opponent when you go for jump-ins if you haven't quite adapted yet.  Other than that you just poke away or j.CD them and overall just zone them until they are in the corner.  Even when you get them in the corner, her Ex Ryuenbu >  C Ryuenbu > C Ryuenbu > air throw is so picky on timing that it's best off skipping the last C Ryuenbu and going for the air throw.  Much like Hwa Jai, she doesn't have much mid screen option but turns in to a monster in the corner (especially in HD).

I want to make special mention that her Ex Kachosen (qcf+P) is extremely fast and catches people off guard.  Even her C Kachosen is fast again (or at least in my memory her old ones were kinda slow), and somewhat abusable despite not having the traditional fireball-uppercut shenanigans. 

In hindsight, I think SNK did a good job taking an cookie-cutter character (jump attack > stand attack > command attack > special attack) and made her gameplay more interesting.  All in all, despite her lows, her highs compensates and I would play her in the mid tier section.

[Shiranui_ninja]

I'll be the first to admit as a user, her priority is pretty disgusting and I think it was designed that way to compensate for a lack of anti-air.

This part confuses me. So, does she good priority? why is disgusting?

[Kane317]

I'll be the first to admit as a user, her priority is pretty disgusting and I think it was designed that way to compensate for a lack of anti-air.

This part confuses me. So, does she good priority? why is disgusting?

Didn't finish writing lol and pushed post on accident.  Re-read it now.

[JTSNOW6]

So, Kane, you say that she is most effective in the corner.  Is there no way to combo the opponent in the corner (like Mature shenanigans of 1.0)??

[Kane317]

So, Kane, you say that she is most effective in the corner.  Is there no way to combo the opponent in the corner (like Mature shenanigans of 1.0)??

Well her pokes, speed, priority all do a great job getting them into the corner and her d.B, d.A, Ex qcb+P, hcf+D does push them far.  Even if you get her into the corner, without a command attack it's tricky to hit confirm her Ryuenbus and her C version is not safe if you're in the corner on block.

[Shiranui_ninja]

I didn't expect read this. I'm happy someone is getting closer to Mai's gameplay and read that she is good in corner and her pokes and priors are good. It's great for me. But read that her C KachouSen is good and fast (abusable) and her C RyuEnBu is unsafe is quite surprisingly. I read some time ago that her kachosen couldn't be compared to good fireballs like Venom strike, takuma's one, K's one, etc. And SNKP said they go for FFSpecial gameplay for her, which means good pokes and good Ryuenbus... Anyway, makes me happy someone treating Mai as a fighter, not as just fan-service, and read that she could be mid-tier, not low like everybody is saying :D

About placing her in the team order: How important are EX moves for Mai to combo? Does she have any good combo without EX moves? (I think in mid-screen she needs EX moves, but does she need them in corner too?) From what I see in Tech Ref, Mai needs a lot her EX moves to connect moves and perform combos. So maybe, to have a devasting Mai the best option is place her as third member. What about her Musasabi charge jump as escape tool? Does it work fine?

[Kane317]

About placing her in the team order: How important are EX moves for Mai to combo? Does she have any good combo without EX moves? (I think in mid-screen she needs EX moves, but does she need them in corner too?)

Somewhat important, although her pokes are damn good and help build meter. Come to think of it, her pokes remind me of '98 Yashiro not in how they look but in usefulness.  I suppose you could just use a cancel instead (d.B, d.A, hcf D[2hits], [DC] qcb C...).

From what I see in Tech Ref, Mai needs a lot her EX moves to connect moves and perform combos. So maybe, to have a devasting Mai the best option is place her as third member.

But she's a good battery character remember?   So she works well as first.

What about her Musasabi charge jump as escape tool? Does it work fine?

To a certain degree, yes.  You can't stop mid jump so they can jump attack you if they predict it. What you wanna do when they're waking up throw a slow Kachosen then Musasabi jump behind them to confuse them.  It's not as refined as Athena or Duo Lon's teleport but it adds to the pressure.


---
UPDATE: Big update to combos from first page with damages added.

cool!
do you know the damage for each combo?