Reiko (Incomplete info)
Fast and deadly, Reiko is top tier (not god) without a doubt. Why? His mixups and variety of options allow him to confuse many opponents. His throw game is also good. His air attacks all have high priority and are hard to Juggle, his special attacks are good too. His combos inflict good damage but you have to do the right combos in the right situations.
His normal attacks all range in the good and fast side, his Lk is a good deterrent for running foes and his Hk is a nice aa and can be followed by his flip kick for big damage. However his sweep is slow and can be easily punished by Liu, Sub Zero and Reiko himself.
His close combos are better started with Hp wherever is possible and his Hk combos have decent priority and can dish good damage from both options.
Examples:
HpHpHkHk, Flip Kick, R.Hp, J.HpHk 8 hits 43%
HkHk, Flip Kick, R.Hp, J.HpHk 6 hits 40%
His air attacks are all ok specially his j.Hk. His Hp starter is just like everyone else. What makes the difference is the damage done from the following combo. His early SUJK expands his possibilities and helps him to extend his combos perfectly.
In MK4 there isn´t many differences between the characters in the Hp/Lp departament so it can be said that all of them share the same properties.
Reiko can snuff some nasty combos from his aaHp´s. This is heavily based on where´s Reiko on the screen at the time. He is better at the center of the screen.
Example:
aaHp, Flip Kick, J.Hk, Teleport, SUJK, Flip Kick, aaHp, J.HpHk 8 hits 46%
From there he can also set up various grabs mixups, if you change the J.HpHk At the end for an J.Hk then Teleport and grab, there is a glitch that allows Reiko not to slam the foe with the tele-grab and he will be in an compromised position and the blocking becomes confusing.
On the corner, Reiko is simply deadly. One popup combo and you will be Juggled easily for +40% damage. The J.HpHk, Air Teleport, repeat is one of the easiest infinites in the game. Sometimes he will throw you even if you are blocking holding back with his Lk throw.
His Flip Kick is very useful. It can punish blocked sweeps and most blocked weapons attacks. It has a hit limit of 4.
If done close to the corner, Reiko will get pushed out of it. At the beginning of a round it can be a surprise hit but try not to be predictable. The Flip Kick is 100% safe if it doesnt hit an opponent. If blocked it has little recovery time but still can be punished. If timed well, you can stick it one Flip Kick out of range just to get in close (sort of a transpostation move).
His Throwing Star is good for zoning, it can be keep away move. If the Stara open in his full circle, it becomes difficult to jump at last moment. Its good to finish combos but isn´t very damaging. It has very little recovery if blocked and the foe must be very close to punish it. As a pressure move is good due to the aforementioned.
The Tele-Grab is a good move. Its a transportation move ONLY in combos and it also setups various traps. In the corner, it can be done infinitely or until the MAXDAM ruins it all… If blocked either the punch, kick or the grab, Reiko He will float defenseless airborne. It can be done in the air.
The side Teleport is useless, just dont use it.
Reiko with his Wpn is deadly, his B+H pis a very good aa and it punish almost all blocked attacks, being those Wpn or normals. Both Lp and Hp are show and are not necesary, the Hp version is a little faster though. B+Lp could be the longest reaching Wpn attack but is very slow. This is also the animation Reiko uses when he Drw Wpn in a combo and for some weird reason it doesnt combo! It also leaves him open to a counter. All of Reiko´s standing attacks can be punished by Liu, Sub and Reiko if blocked.
His Wpn jumping attacks are both good. His back jumping Hp is a good aa done on reaction and should be followed by an inmediate Air Tele- grab. His j.Lp as all of the Wnp J.Lp of the game, if blocked high can be punished by an aaHp.
If you have Wpn and manage to conect an HkHk, Flip Kick combo, do early jumping Hp, Air teleport, J.Hp. This is the easiest and one of the most damaging options from this combo start.
His throws are both good, his Lp grab does good damage and leaves the foe in disvantage. His Lk throw could be one of the best throws in the game, not only it allows you to keep rushing if you connect it but, it can also be followed by a combo. This is very hard and the combo is:
Lk Throw, R.Lp, Flip Kick,…
This is very hard and most of the time can be blockedif timed wrong. To know if it was done right, the foe will be Juggled by the Lp, something that normaly would not happen.
What could be one of Reiko´s weakness is that he doesnt always have available big damage combos at his disposal. Sure, he has many starter combo options (Flip Kick, any ground Chain, aaHp…)but the attacks that follows them needs correct placement on the stage. The Most damaging variation after the Flip Kick is J.Hk, Air Teleport, SUJK, Flip Kick,… Remember that the Flip Kick has a hit limit of 4. This variation (or BnB)becomes useles after we have moved out of the center of the stage. And in the corner it cannot be done because either the SUJK or the Flip Kick will push you out of the corner.
This can be somewhat fixed but the way is VERY hard. The thing is that if you started the combo with an aaHp followed by a Flip Kick you will pop your foe higher tan with a Flip Kick alone. After that you have to run a little distance and then jump with an early Hk. If done right you will cross up (or cross down because you switch sides from below him/her)your foe and he will bounce to the other side after taking the hit. After that J.Hk you have to Air teleport as fast as you can and do your normal BnB SUJK, Flip Kick combo. Remember that this is only if you KNOW that you are either far away from the corner and you are out of the BnB combo range.
This affects other Reiko combos as well. After HpHpHkHk, Flip Kick combo you have to choose quickly wich combo to do. At the center of the screen the Mohs damaging is. Early J.Hk, Air Teleport, SUJK, RH. For the RH to connect you have to do the SUJK a bit late. Its 50% so its worth. You can replace the RH for the throwing star if you dont feel confident for an still good 47%. If you are out of combo range, simply do aaHp, J.HpHk for 43%. You can Drw Wpn after the SUJK for 45% and have it on hand.
For corner combos the best option is after the Flip Kick, add 1 or 2 aaHp (depending how far you are of the corner) and do the J.HpHk, Air Teleport inf.
3D combos are flashy and damaging but requires special setups such as being in the middle of the stage and have Wpn in hand and critical timing.
Example:
Wpn, Flip Kick, early J.Hp, Air teleport, SUJK, Flip Kick, early J.Hp, Air teleport, xx
The xx means that at this point the next move will activate MAXDAM or not. It depends if you are playing on arcade or on any home version. If you are playing on ARCADE you can do SUJK then Throw WPN for about 45% (I forgot exactly how much dam it does
) and in any of the HOME VERSIONS do another J.Hp right off of the Teleport. This last combo will do about 43%.
I hope I can do a little combo vid just to explain better all this.
