King of the Iron Fist Tournament, Progress report

I still play Tekken between classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve attained competence with a new character. I may have mentioned that a Korean kid whipped my ass as Asuka, the kung-fu chick, and I’ve taken her up for several reasons.

1. Her combat style is very fluid. I’ve found several 3 hit combos, one 5 hit combo, and a way of substituting the 5^th hit of the combo known as “White Heroin Dance” (they made that name up not me, its one of the few listed ones) with a 3 hit combo I discovered which I called static rage (because you have to start it while not moving) and after static rage I can perform a 4 hit combo I discovered which I call “Earthbound Cyclone” (because the first 3 hits are spinning sweep kicks). If I do all of this properly I can actually defeat an enemy without ever giving them a chance to act, but it’s extremely hard to get the timing right that many times in a row.

2. Her combat style is a form of Shaolin Kung-Fu similar to the one practiced by Andrew Lewis, a friend of mine.

3. I know that she has great potential because I’ve been on the receiving end of said potential

I’ve only played as her once against a human opponent, and while I misjudged how well a human would be able to react to the opening maneuvers of the “Perfect Heroin Dance” 20-something hit combo, I found that substituting a few different moves leaves them open long enough to send them into the spinning pain of that chain-hit madness.