I honestly think Billy might be best as an Anchor. Feel free to disagree though.
I whole-hardheartedly agree... He's great as point, and can build meter like a madman, but for me I personally feel he poses even more of a threat as anchor, since he has enough meter to do substantial damage. On top of that, whatever meter he lost gets built back just as fast.
On the "psychological" side of things, he's a very annoying zoning character with a good amount of tools to rushdown with, so you can always play with the opponent's head, kinda like how grapplers usually have that edge to them. You don't quite want Billy in your face (especially with EX dp+K as a trump card, and safe f+A's), but at the same time you don't want him to far from you unless you have something to trade his long range pokes with. Many characters do, but some of those moves are slower than his usual pokes. You damn sure don't want him to run the clock if ever... With this type of mindset, I'm glad he doesn't have his counter moves. It would be too unfair imo...
So ultimately, when the pressure is on, Billy can always take it up a notch. For me, I do have Mature or another battery as point, primarily for that sheer purpose... Plus, I feel that Billy can't quite clean up as quick as other characters, but with meter, it definitely allows him to. With him as anchor, again there's no need to worry about building meter, per sé since it's already there-- one less thing to worry about...
I've been anchoring Billy since 95 though... In some KOFs he's good as point, but I do feel he would serve best as anchor...
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I'm gonna post up some notes here. Some of this info might already be known, but it should at the very least help the young-blood who decide to learn Billy Kane... Here we go:
*Longest pokes (From longest to shortest) - j.C, b+A, CD, d.A, s.B, d.B
*d.A and b+A can only cancel into his mash P special (senpuukon). You can HD bypass to make other things cancel.
* mash P special (senpuukon) doesn't eat fireballs like it did in OG KOFs
* best HD bypass option from anything is dp+BC. Using b+A, s.C, s.D, or d.C will allow Billy to use the BD Bypass Technique. The HD Bypass also works with Senpuukon, but only with s.C, d.C, and b+A.
* speaking of HD Bypass, he has EX HD Bypasses using dp+KK and EX Senpuukon. dp+KK is easier to do, and serves better in combos if the player decides to use it for whatever reason. EX Senpuukon, however, isn't really worth the time, as it requires a trick to doing it, and you can't cancel out of it.
* best way to use b+A without sliding back (making it's hitbox useless in many cases) is to cancel it from either d.B or d.C
* if you cancel b+A from s.D, Billy will retreat backwards due to s.D's animation (Billy does a high kick, but he leans back enough.
* free canceling can only be done from qcb+C into any move except Senpuukon (tap A). You can free cancel into his super also.
* qcb+A is great to use in combos that start with a hard hit to f+B. From there you can dp+BD and combo accordingly...
* CD to hcf+C~qcf+C takes a good chunk of guard meter... Aside from f+A, this can be something that can help break that meter so you can land a combo in for free with the meter built...
* cr.C, f+B, qcb+A (DC), dp+BD, f+B, dp+B, qcf+A (DC), qcb+C (FC), qcb+A, dp+B, qcf,hcb+AC should work anywhere from my testing... By the 2nd f+B, you should have them in the corner to do the rest of the combo... 2 stocks and 1 full drive is require, but by the time you finish the actual combo, you will have built an additional stock...
* In HD mode, you can do connect Neomax from either hcf+C~qcf+C or just a regular hcf+C. The former does more damage obviously, but strangely enough, they do the same number of hits (11)...
* I'm wondering if there are any negative edge tricks with Billy that can be used for more difficult combos...