Phosferrax
Original Liu Kang cop.
At a small promotional event in London last week, representatives from NRS were on hand to demo a more current playable build of the game. A tournament was also held, which our old friend PND Ketchup ultimately won. TYM's @Phosferrax attended the event and was able to spend some quality time with MKX's Kano -- the following are some of his thoughts and recollection regarding two of Kano's three variations:
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Hey guys, I've finally been given the go-ahead from Warner Bros. to talk about Commando Kano, as I know there is quite a bit of mystery surrounding him due to lack of coverage.
Commando
In the latest build that I got to play the other week, he had changed quite a bit from the early code that was made public at some conventions in Europe. He has 3 separate command grabs, and one at the end of a variation-unique string called 'Wood Chipper' (which is the first grab you see in the reveal trailer) and they are all blockable without meter. Choke is a high grab, which does about 11%-15%, Power Slam (Down-Back-Forward+4) is a mid that does 25% and reverses positions, and Rib Breaker (Down-Forward-Back+4) works like Power Slam but it does not reverse positions, so I think Commando will be a lot about cornering the opponent. By burning a bar a meter, all 3 command grabs become unblockable, and Rib Breaker and Power Slam have armour (I can't remember if choke has armour). So I can imagine in the corner you can knock them down and do a meaty command grab with armour to blow through any non-grab immune wake ups.
As we've seen previously, he has a high and a low parry; the high parry unfortunately does not work on jumping attacks. I'm a little confused about the parries, as they seem to not do much to help position Kano close to his opponent after he lands a parry. But combining his parries with his armoured command grabs, pressuring him will be very dangerous. I think a lot of characters have frame gaps in their best strings, so blowing through them could be a good part of Kano's game plan. His knives are good as I was still able to out-zone Kitana, but not as good as Cybernetic. His best footsies tool is forward+4, which is the advancing knee. The only problem is that choke was the only grab that combo'd from it, and his universal specials are all unsafe. This variation had virtually no big combo potential, so it will come down to dealing about 25% damage each time from Wood Chipper and the command grabs.
Cybernetic
This variation gives Kano more range, as he gets a couple of variation-unique strings. Back+2 is a normal that is different and it has HUGE range, but a frame gap between the next hit of the string. The strings end in a choice between grenade (2+4) or laser (1+3). The grenade pops up on meterburn, and is a hard knockdown normally. I'm unsure about what mb command laser does, but regular laser grab leaves Kano very plus and takes away the opponents wake up. Both grenade and laser grab were safe on block, so you can throw b232+4 out pretty liberally, as on block you are safe and on hit you get a combo, the only worry is the frame gaps. In the corner this means he can end a combo with laser grab and get a mixup between a throw or a low launcher. His knives travel faster, possibly start-up faster and recover faster. Mb knife toss becomes a multi-hitting mid attacks. His anti-air laser (Down-Back+3) is too slow to use on reaction, so I don't see the point in using it when you can just d2 or upball on reaction. This variation seems very much about space control; just chucking knives all day and then controlling footsies with b2, but a lack of the mixup potential that he has in Commando, and Commando seems to be the opposite of that.
His ground laser (Down-Back+1) acts as a meterless combo extender on grounded opponents, so on a punish you can get more damage or hit confirm strings into it. It is very unsafe, has small range and has a lot of recovery so you won't be just throwing this out there. I am unsure what the mb version does.
Universally his mb Kano ball has armour and can be cancelled for some possible gimmicks. I think Kano feels like a solid character, but he could always benefit from some less generic special moves which may flesh him out a bit. As far as Cybernetic being a 'zoning' variation, the only difference is that his knife toss is better, he has b2, and he has a risky anti-air laser. I feel like they missed the opportunity to make this a zoning heavy variation by giving him stryker-esque grenade specials and Zod-esque laser specials.
PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT NOTHING I EXPERIENCED IN THAT BUILD IS SET IN STONE, AND SOME OF THE THINGS IN THIS BREAKDOWN COULD CHANGE.
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Hey guys, I've finally been given the go-ahead from Warner Bros. to talk about Commando Kano, as I know there is quite a bit of mystery surrounding him due to lack of coverage.
Commando
In the latest build that I got to play the other week, he had changed quite a bit from the early code that was made public at some conventions in Europe. He has 3 separate command grabs, and one at the end of a variation-unique string called 'Wood Chipper' (which is the first grab you see in the reveal trailer) and they are all blockable without meter. Choke is a high grab, which does about 11%-15%, Power Slam (Down-Back-Forward+4) is a mid that does 25% and reverses positions, and Rib Breaker (Down-Forward-Back+4) works like Power Slam but it does not reverse positions, so I think Commando will be a lot about cornering the opponent. By burning a bar a meter, all 3 command grabs become unblockable, and Rib Breaker and Power Slam have armour (I can't remember if choke has armour). So I can imagine in the corner you can knock them down and do a meaty command grab with armour to blow through any non-grab immune wake ups.
As we've seen previously, he has a high and a low parry; the high parry unfortunately does not work on jumping attacks. I'm a little confused about the parries, as they seem to not do much to help position Kano close to his opponent after he lands a parry. But combining his parries with his armoured command grabs, pressuring him will be very dangerous. I think a lot of characters have frame gaps in their best strings, so blowing through them could be a good part of Kano's game plan. His knives are good as I was still able to out-zone Kitana, but not as good as Cybernetic. His best footsies tool is forward+4, which is the advancing knee. The only problem is that choke was the only grab that combo'd from it, and his universal specials are all unsafe. This variation had virtually no big combo potential, so it will come down to dealing about 25% damage each time from Wood Chipper and the command grabs.
Cybernetic
This variation gives Kano more range, as he gets a couple of variation-unique strings. Back+2 is a normal that is different and it has HUGE range, but a frame gap between the next hit of the string. The strings end in a choice between grenade (2+4) or laser (1+3). The grenade pops up on meterburn, and is a hard knockdown normally. I'm unsure about what mb command laser does, but regular laser grab leaves Kano very plus and takes away the opponents wake up. Both grenade and laser grab were safe on block, so you can throw b232+4 out pretty liberally, as on block you are safe and on hit you get a combo, the only worry is the frame gaps. In the corner this means he can end a combo with laser grab and get a mixup between a throw or a low launcher. His knives travel faster, possibly start-up faster and recover faster. Mb knife toss becomes a multi-hitting mid attacks. His anti-air laser (Down-Back+3) is too slow to use on reaction, so I don't see the point in using it when you can just d2 or upball on reaction. This variation seems very much about space control; just chucking knives all day and then controlling footsies with b2, but a lack of the mixup potential that he has in Commando, and Commando seems to be the opposite of that.
His ground laser (Down-Back+1) acts as a meterless combo extender on grounded opponents, so on a punish you can get more damage or hit confirm strings into it. It is very unsafe, has small range and has a lot of recovery so you won't be just throwing this out there. I am unsure what the mb version does.
Universally his mb Kano ball has armour and can be cancelled for some possible gimmicks. I think Kano feels like a solid character, but he could always benefit from some less generic special moves which may flesh him out a bit. As far as Cybernetic being a 'zoning' variation, the only difference is that his knife toss is better, he has b2, and he has a risky anti-air laser. I feel like they missed the opportunity to make this a zoning heavy variation by giving him stryker-esque grenade specials and Zod-esque laser specials.
PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT NOTHING I EXPERIENCED IN THAT BUILD IS SET IN STONE, AND SOME OF THE THINGS IN THIS BREAKDOWN COULD CHANGE.
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