The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/Saisyu Kusanagi/Matchups

Matchups

Disclaimer: This page is about the discussion character matchups, and will inherently contain some writer bias. While the information is useful, it can be slightly inaccurate at times, so please do not take the writing this page as definite fact, unless it discusses frame data or genuine tech such as punishes. If you have any issues, or want to discuss matchups further, the '98 UMFE Discord server is open for discussions, and for Saisyu in particular, there is also the #saisyu-kusanagi channel. Thank you.

Eiji Kisaragi

• It's Eiji. This matchup will suck no matter who you play, and even worse if you're using dodge. Please, for the love of God, if your opponent plays Eiji, use roll, or switch to roll after the first game. This isn't even writer bias or anything, roll against Eiji is so, so, so, so, so much better than dodge.
• That being said, there is still some sort of saving grace when fighting this guy. You just have to be smart, which I know, is impossible, but it's the key to beating 98 UMFE's premier "tierwhore" pick.
• Rolling past his zoning specials leaves him open for punishes, dodging them simply gets rid of the chip damage and blockstun without moving you forwards.
• On the ground, you lose to Kikouhou (236P - Eiji's fireball) for most of the screen. It's quite minus on block, so you can use blocking it to get some space. If he uses it fullscreen, it will whiff, so you must use the recovery frames to run in. Rolling or dodging on reaction can also help with reducing chip damage and not being in blockstun. If Eiji jumps, he's most likely going to jump in with either j.D or j.CD, or throw out a Mukuronui (j.236P - kunai). Anti-air his jump-in on reaction by buffering DP, and evade his kunai with either dodge or roll. The kunai is very punishable on whiff, so make sure to make it whiff and make the most of making it whiff. However, if you use dodge, you're kinda screwed here, since it recovers slowly enough while also not moving forward at all for Eiji to land and begin zoning. So much for your "unreasonably strong" spot dodge.
• In the air, you lose to Kikouhou at hop height, and Kasumigiri (214P - the circular slash) at all heights. It's inadvisable to jump at Eiji in neutral unless you've got the definite read that he's going to throw out a Kikouhou or Zantetsuha (2363214P - the projectile super), as a full jump (Not a hop) will beat both of these options. The general advice is to not take risks jumping at Eiji unless the Eiji player is flowcharting (as a significant amount of Eijis do) and you have a read on what he is going to do next.
• As an aside on Zantetsuha, its speed and complete disregard for other fireballs means that you should NEVER throw a fireball against a metered Eiji in neutral.
• Dealing with his regular mobility also really, really, really sucks. He's fast enough to run away, and God forbid he's using step dash, because he walks backwards only slightly slower than you can run at him. It is actually fully recommended for you to throw out some sort of poke, even something as minor as f.A, when Eiji is holding back, so you can put him in proximity block and lock him down, which forces him to use his slower backdash to try and turn tail. For this, you mostly want to use a jump normal from a hyper hop so you move forward while Eiji is locked in place. However, this leaves you open to get swatted by all of Eiji's regular anti-airs. What a joyous character to fight. Thankfully, his jump angles are pretty standard. His crossups are easily stoppable with 2C on reaction, and his regular jumps all lose to DP as long as he's not doing back or neutral jump kunai.
• Ultra fast ninjas with ridiculous teleports. What's new? Eiji's teleport is ridiculous. Without a fireball already on the screen, Eiji can dart around the screen, straight through you, straight at you, behind you, or even just a short distance away from you, just so you whiff the poke you wanted to punish him with. A strong Eiji player will actually use his teleports really well, for offence and movement. It's painful to deal with. Eiji teleporting directly on top of you gives him access to a strike/throw, left/right mixup that is completely ambiguous if he goes for the left/right. Good luck on defence, and good luck trying to catch him if the Eiji knows just how good his teleport is.
• Eiji's offence is also really good, unsurprisingly. His cl.D is stupid good, giving him a completely free hitconfirm on the ground. His j.D works as an IOH from a backwards hop. Thankfully, outside of teleport crossups, which are extremely gimmicky when done outside of okizeme, and regular frametraps, Eiji's mix is almost entirely strike/throw with universal, very techable, throws. Another thing to be wary of is his okizeme, as if he times Koppagiri (63214K - the dashing slash) correctly, and hits it in its last few active frames, he has an incredible amount of plus frames. On the other hand, if he uses it in a blockstring, it's minus at best and punishable via heavy starter at worst, so take your turn back swiftly.
• Eiji with meter is the best character in the game. Quite literally, don't do anything in neutral if Eiji has meter, except walk forward. His Zantetsuha can punish anything and everything. Roll the level 1 version on reaction, but do NOT roll the SDM version. You will get hit by the second projectile he throws out, and you will cry.
• If you get in, you've basically won. Or have you? Yes, actually. Thankfully, SNK developed a conscience when they got around to porting his supers from '95, and thus, he has no meterless reversals. As long as you can react to reversal roll or reversal dodge, you should be completely fine against Eiji as long as you keep using lots of plus frames, and go for the mixup as soon as possible. Do NOT let him teleport away. Do NOT let him jump away. Do NOT let him get away under any circumstance. On top of this, you also have to worry about guard cancels. Bait the blowback with 63214D, and run at him as fast as possible if he GCRolls. Most Eijis will run Extra gauge, so he'll have a lot less meter to guard cancel with.
• Overall, this is the most painful matchup you will face as Saisyu, as is the case vs Eiji with a large portion of the cast. You will struggle, but you can still win. Stay patient, and make sure your offence is airtight. Please, don't complain about him on social media. Try your hardest, and overcome him.

Geese Howard

• You can use 623A/C, 236236C and 63214D in between the first and second hit of Double Reppuken to interrupt Geese.

EX King

• Surprise Rose is -2 on block when used point blank. This means that most other characters without a command grab or unbreakable mash throw cannot punish it. However, Saisyu's cl.C has 1f of startup. With perfect timing, you get a full punish.

Orochi Shermie

• Orochi Shermie's zoning and abare are incredibly potent against Saisyu, and so when you're not in her face with massive amounts of frame advantage you're going to have a hard time.
• Ideally, you should focus on going straight into tricky mixups to cash out on meter or hard knockdowns, or wait for O. Shermie to do something punishable and punish it. Her best abare options are usually punishable with the right move, so being patient during the rare chances you do get to establish pressure is paramount to avoid being put into electric kiss zoning.

Terry Bogard

• Lots of advancing mids and semi-decent pokes in neutral. Overcoming advancing specials such as Burn Knuckle using dodge or roll makes fighting Terry a lot easier.
• Regular Terry's Power Wave can actually stop hops, so be wary when approaching.
• Rising Tackle isn't the best DP, but it works. Make sure to be wary of it, and punish accordingly.
• Terry struggles to pressure or mix you up. Take advantage of this and get back on offence.

EX Terry Bogard

• Almost identical to regular Terry bar three changes: Power Wave, Round Wave and Fire Kick (Slide).
• Power Wave now goes fullscreen, but can be hopped over.
• Round Wave is cancelable, which allows for gimmicky pressure. Learn and punish the gaps.
• Fire Kick is a low profile slide with a cancelable first hit, often the most common choice for Round Wave pressure.
• Mostly the same matchup as regular Terry, but with the added risk of a low profile slide, and more notably, an Extra mode combo that does some insane damage.