Kusoge Kings' @Urichinan Gets Hands-On with UNIEL's Nanase & Byakuya at EVO 2014


This past weekend one of Kusoge Kings' founding members, @Urichinan, got to take an early look at Under Nigh In-Birth Exe: Late's two newest console characters Byakuya and Nanase at Arc System Works' playable demo at Evolution 2014.


Though he was only able to play a minute amount of matches with the newcomers, he was able to gather enough information for a small breakdown of both characters' normals and specials, as well as a few basic strategies and combos.

Take a look at what he has to say:

"(Please keep in mind everything written here is based off of only 30-40 games of testing against real opponents over the course of a single weekend. All the information here is only from one single person, and a lot of info will be missing due to the nature of testing and time restrictions. Gameplay overviews and character strength details are based off only initial impressions from a small amount of playtime and are only my opinion gauged from the very little amount of games I was able to play during the EVO 2014 demo)

Byakuya:

Normals:

Byakuya has a pretty straight-forward set of normals. Most of them attack either directly in front of him, vertically, or in a circular motion. None of them carry any kind of odd properties, and they all cover a large amount of space.

Byakuya's normals do not reach as far as most other characters, such as Yuzuriha, Gordeau, or Merkava, but they are very large vertically and most of them have hitboxes that reach behind Byakuya. This makes it easy for him to cover lots of different directions at one time, such as directly in front of him, and above hit head, in one attack. This is fairly unique to him, as most characters who carry normals similar to his only cover a single angle.

While his larger reaching normals are a tad on the slow side, his jabs and quick, and his jumping normals are very fast.

5A: Stabs at the opponent with a knife from beneath his arm
2A: Swipes a knife horizontally.
j.A: Stabs downward with a knife. Reaches quite far for a jab.

5B: Lifts his arm and stabs in front of him with all his knives. The ones on the lower portion of his body reach more horizontally, while the ones on his upper body are angled a little vertically.
2B: Lifts three knives up above his head, and then slashes them down towards the floor. Hitbox is active from the the time they reach the top of his head until they hit the floor.
j.B: Makes a full circle out of his knives and attacks in every direction.
66B (While dashing B): Slides on the floor with his foot out, his knives cover his leg in a triangular shape.

5C: Large triangular attack. Starts off very wide at the base, and gradually gets skinnier near the end. It begins next to his body and travels about half-screen.
2C: Downward swipe with the knives. They dip down at the base and angle upward at the tip. Launches on ground hit.
3C: Large anti-air attack that hits slightly in front of and above his head. Kind of makes the shape of a crown. Pretty slow on startup, launches on ground hit.
j.C: Looks identical to 5C, just airborne. Instead of being completely horizontal, it is angled downward.
j.2C: Spins all his knives in various directions at an incredible speed. Hits about 6 times, can be charged, charged version seems to be untechable until they hit the floor. Appears to be his only chargeable normal.
66C (While dashing C): Throws his hands forward in a summoning type motion, then all his blades rapidly fire horizontally. Wallbounces on hit.

Throw (A+D): Lifts the opponent up in the air with his knives, then slams them on the floor. Has a followup unique to Byakuya that allows him to throw the opponent in the opposite direction after the initial throw by holding 4 (Back). The followup is merely him picking the opponent back up after slamming them and tossing them behind his back.

Specials:

Byakuya's special are mostly centered around screen control and movement. He has the ability to place various traps around the screen to lock the opponent down, or alternatively keep them away. He also has various specials that send him flying around the screen.

Force Function (B+C): Byakuya raises jumps backwards, lifts his arm, and summons his knives above the opponents head, then swipes them down. A web is visible behind the claw, and the pose seemed to look just like his Web Trap summon (Refer to the 214X/Web Traps section below for more info on Web Traps). It may hit overhead? Unsure about that one. Tapping the buttons makes it hit close to Byakuya, while holding it makes it release further away.

Rekkas:

Byakuya's 236X series of specials are classic rekkas. It's a three part special attack series ending in a hard knockdown on the last hit.

Aside from being a good combo ender, the rekka series didn't seem to serve much other purpose. The first rekka hit may be safe on block, but otherwise, I noticed no other immediate uses.

The first hit of a rekka can be canceled into Web Traps (Refer to the 214X/Web Traps section below for more info on Web Traps).

236A: Slides forward while attacking twice with his knives
236B: Slower startup than 236A, but slides further
1st Followup A (236X~236A): Jumps in the air and hits multiple times with his knives
1st Followup B (236X~236B): Slower startup than the 1st Followup A, but jumps higher and moves forward further.
2nd Followup A (236X~236X~236A): Swipes his hand horizontally and all the blades swipe down. Causes a hard knockdown on hit.
2nd Followup B (236X~236X~236B): Slower startup than 2nd Followup A, but raches higher and further.
EXS (236C): Does the first two parts of the rekka two times, then ends with the final down swipe.

Web Traps:

Byakuya's 214X series of specials are trap sets. He jumps into the air, lifts his arm, and places a floating web on the screen. If the opponent gets caught in a trap, they will be stuck in the web for a short period of time, allowing for easy hit-confirms and combo extensions.

After placing a trap, Byakuya will jump backwards towards the floor.

Web traps are one of Byakuya's strongest tools, and are the base of his design. Placing traps at different spots around the screen makes it difficult for the opponent to move around, and in turn, makes it easier for Byakuya himself to get where he wants to. These, combined with his long normals and great mobility, allow for great screen control.

Up to two air traps can be set at one time. Can be done while jumping. Traps can be broken by being hit.

214A: Close range web trap
214B: Mid-range web trap
214C: Far web trap

Trap Jump:

Like with his 236X series, Byakuya's web traps are also rekkas. Hitting a different button after placing a trap with 214X will result in a long, forward moving jump.

These jumps act as Byakuya's main movement tool, but from what I tested, it seemed he couldn't block during them. So while he can get around the screen at an extremely quick rate, he's wide open while doing so.

A: Moves the shortest distance and jumps the lowest
B: Moves a medium distance and jumps at a medium height
C: Moves the greatest distance and jump the highest

Trap Jump Followups:

The final portion of Byakuya's 214X rekka series. These unique attacks can only be done out of a Trap Jump, and each carry their own properties.

Trap Jump Followups can be done at any time during a trap jump, from the moment he begins the jump until the second before he touches the floor.

A: Kind of looks like a small j.C. Byakuya just aims his blades in front of him and slightly downward, has a really tiny hitbox. Causes a hard knockdown on air hit, and carries the momentum of the Trap Jump.
B: Very large vertical attack, stops all air movement and lifts Byakuya slightly higher. Causes a hard knockdown on hit, can be gatling canceled. Very large hitbox.
C: Circular attack that looks like his j.B. Slightly larger hitbox than Trap Jump Followup A, carries the momentum from Trap Jumps, wallbounces on hit.
D: Throws a ground trap to the floor from the air. Stops trap jump movement. (Refer to the 623X/Spider Crawl section below for more info on ground traps)

Spider Crawl:

Byakuya's 623X series of specials is a unique movement tool where he runs across the floor using his knives like spider legs.

Spider Crawl has a very slow startup, is very fast during the movement portion, and slow on recovery. He can be hit during the startup and recovery of the attack, but I believe he is invincible during the portion where he is crawling, I could be wrong though.

During the run Byakuya will turn invisible and place a ground trap flat on the floor. These traps seemed to only activate on standing and crouching opponents. I was unable to get them to activate on airborne opponents or on knocked down opponents during my testing.

The crawl itself has no attack hitbox. Only the trap can hit after it has been placed. Byakuya always moves a set distance during the attack, unless he reaches the corner. Byakuya will always pass through the opponent during this, if they are not past the distance he crawls.

Up to two ground traps can be set at one time. Traps can be broken by being hit.

A: Moves the shortest distance
B: Moves a longer distance, seemed to have more startup?
EXS (C): Has faster startup and recovery, moves the furthest. If the opponent gets trapped in the web from this version, they won't fall out for a set period of time, even if you hit them. Once they do fall out, they will be in a crumple state. You cannot hit them after they have fallen out of the trap.

Infinite Worth (41236C w/ 200% Meter): Creates a ring out of his knives on the floor that slowly spins around. Unblockable. If the opponent gets caught in the ring, they screen will flash white and Byakuya will appear floating up in the air. The opponent will be tangled up in a massive web that takes up most of the screen. Byakuya says a few lines, and then giant blades begin piercing through the web.
Infinite Worth EXS (A+B+C+D when below 30% health): Like with all other IV EXS', a beam of light surrounds Byakuya and if the opponent gets caught in it, the animation will activate. If they are hit, the screen will transition to a scene of green and black webs all over the place. Byakuya's win screen portrait appears in the distance as a silhouette, then fades away. Then his character select portrait appears up close, also as a silhouette, then fades away as well. The screen turns bright red after this, a Byakuya silhouette appears showing just his head and torso, then giant spider claws break out of his back, and stab towards the screen. (It's really awful looking)

Gameplay Overview:

Byakuya seems pretty basic on the outside, as he has a fairly small movelist and very basic properties on his attacks. But this is not entirely true, as he is full of very complex setups, screen management techniques, and requires very specific spacing for a lot of his combos.

Traps open up a whole world of crazy gimmicks and pressure/mixup options, as you can force the opponent to move to various places around the screen to avoid being caught by a trap. If the opponent attempts to break a trap, it leaves them wide open for punishment, as hitting a trap does not count as making contact with an object. Unless the attack used to break a trap comes into contact with Byakuya, or is safe on whiff, Byakuya can rush in and punish the opponent on whiff. This makes him very good at whiff punishing, and forcing the opponent into a defensive state.

Traps also allow for a very unique combo game, as you can followup attack which normally could not be followed up by knocking the opponent into an already placed trap. An example of this is by having the opponent get caught in a trap after a throw, or hitting them into a trap after the final hit of a rekka. This can be fairly hard to do consistently, as it requires very precise timing, positioning, and reactions. Sometimes a web will hit where you don't want it to, and you'll need to adapt accordingly, otherwise you can lose damage and sometimes even be punished for it.

Traps only catch the opponent one time per combo, any trap that activates after the first one will act only as a standard projectile, and the opponent can recovery directly after being hit by it. Sometimes you run into a situation where you begin your combo with a basic string into a trap rekka, and the opponent will then fall into another trap and can tech out because the untechable time is decreased. This can be a major pain when trying to preform BnB combos and setups, but it can also allow for some very nice combo extensions.

Byakuya's normals have a pretty large amount of untechable time on them, and also apply a lot of guard stun, so reverse canceling his B and C normals into 5A/2A whiff can open up a lot of pressure and mixup options. They also make poking a lot safer, and can help with his lock down game. Since the hitstun on them is so large, it also makes it easier to hit-confirm off them, and it also lets him place traps mid-combo.

Placing traps can be difficult in neutral, since it takes so long for them to startup, and the recovery is gigantic on them. Every time he places a trap, he will float up in the air, and then jump backwards a little ways. He can't block or move during this jump, so he's wide open the entire time. The only way to not have this happen is to use his trap jump followup, which is also very telegraphed and easy to anti-air. All of this combined with the fact that most characters have fairly long reaching normals, his traps being breakable, and the run speeds in the game being pretty fast, make it quite difficult to get his game going. If he does though, it's pretty difficult to stop.

Overall I think Byakuya is going to be one of the more dominate characters in the game. He can easily control large portions of the screen, his movement options are fantastic, traps open up a lot of hit-confirm, pressure, and mixup options, and damage his pretty high on top of all that. He's a lot of fun, but he's not very easy.

Combos:

These are all very, very basic and unoptimized combos I found while testing the game. None of these have damage values, only inputs. Most of them are going to be a lot of the same.

5A > 5B > 2B > 5C > 2C > Rekkas
5A > 5B > 2B > 2C > 5C > j.B > j.A > j.C > 5C > 236A~214A~B~B > j.A(w) > 2C > Rekkas
j.2[C] > 5C > j.B > j.A > j.C > 5C > 236A~214A~B~B > j.A(w) > 2C > Rekkas
(Air-to-Air) j.B > j.A > j.B > j.C > 5A > j.B > j.A > j.C > 5C > 236A~214A~B~B > j.A(w) > 2C > Rekkas
5C > Rekkas > CS > Dash 2C > 5C > j.B > j.A > j.C > 5C > 236A~214A~B~B > j.A(w) > 2C > Rekkas

Nanase:

I regret to inform everyone that my time with Nanase was rather limited over the course of the weekend. So I can only provide details on her specials, normals, and a few combos.

Normals:

5A: Swings her sword down vertically.
2A: Hits the opponent with the hilt of her sword.
j.A: Punches the opponent in front of her. (This may have been another sword hit, I honestly don't remember this one)

5B: Pushes spirals of wind out of her hand in front of her. Starts of skinny and gets increasingly wider.
2B: Swings her sword horizontally across the floor.
j.B: Swings her sword horizontally in the air, kind of goes up at the end.
j.B~B: Repeats the motion of the j.B hit.
66B (While dashing B): Runs towards the opponent, has a circular gust of wind come out from behind her, and then slides on the floor, kick the opponent with her feet. Causes a knockdown on hit. The animation is identical to 66C (While dashing C) up until the attack portion begins.

5C: Swings her sword horizontally directly in front of her. Reaches really far.
2C: Swipes the opponent's feet horizontally with her sword. Launches on ground hit.
3C: Does a handstand and donkey kicks the opponent with her feet. Launches on ground hit, reaches very high vertically.
j.C: Swings her sword down and forward. Sends the opponent flying towards the floor. Can be charged. Charged version extends the hitbox by having wind come out of her sword. Charged version also causes the opponent to spin on hit, and lifts Nanase higher into the air.
j.2C: Slams the sword down from above her head. Hits in a large circular motion, and causes a hard knockdown on air hit.
j.8C: Looks like j.2C but upward.
66C (While dashing C): Runs towards the opponent, has a circular gust of wind come out from behind her, then front flips into a downward sword swing. Causes a knockdown on hit. The animation is identical to 66B (While dashing B) up until the attack portion begins.

Throw (A+D): Grabs the opponent with one hand, then throws them into a tornado.

Specials:

Force Function (B+C): Appeared to be some type of super jump. A small gust of wind lifts Nanase high into the air. Didn't seem to have an attack hitbox, but did allow for air motions immediately after launching.

Sword Dash:

Nanase's 236X series of specials consists of her running at the opponent at extreme speeds with her sword aimed at the ground in front of her.

236A: Runs the shortest distance, but has the fastest startup.
236B: Has a little bit of startup, but runs across nearly the whole screen.
EXS (236C): Runs across the entire screen, when she makes contact with the opponent a large tornado launches them up into the air.

Sword Dash Followups:

Inputting 6 (Forward)+Any button after a Sword Dash will result in a unique followup attack.

6A: Stabs the opponent with her sword. On ground hit it causes a crumple state, on air hit it wallbounces.
6B: Jumps in the air and swings the sword down onto the opponents head. (Looks like j.2C)
6C: Slides through the opponent and launches them into the air with a gust of wind.

Tornado Uppercut:

Nanase's 623X series of specials consists of her launching herself into the air with a tornado, spinning around and uppercutting the opponent with her sword. Has invincibility on startup, mashing the button appears to increase the amount of hits and damage it does.

623A: Seemed to have the fastest startup, but the least amount of invincibility.
623B: Seemed to have slower startup, but more invincibility. Launches Nanase higher than the A version.
EXS (623C): Does a very large version of the regular uppercuts. Hits somewhere around 20 times? Seemed to be fully invincible on startup.

Tornado Launcher:

Nanase's 214X series of specials consists of her raising a bunch of tornadoes up from the floor. Each version of the attack goes in a different direction. Depending on what direction it is facing, Nanase will jump into it and push herself in the direction it is facing. A similar affect happens when the opponent gets hit by it, as they get sucked into the tornado and move in the direction Nanase is in.

214A: Lifts a tornado out of the ground facing behind her.
214B: Lifts a tornado out of the ground facing in front of her.
EXS (214C): Makes a giant tornado appear out of the floor, hits multiple times and raises the opponent high into the air. Seemed to be untechable until the opponent reaches the floor.

Tornado Launcher Followup Dive:

Hitting a button after using a Tornado Launcher (214X) will result in Nanase diving towards the floor with her sword. Knocks the opponent down on hit, and also has great crossup abilities.

A: Dives down at a slightly vertical angle.
B: Dives down at a more horizontal angle.
C: Dives down very far horizontally.

Air Cyclone:

Nanase's j.236X series of specials consists of her throwing a cyclone out of her sword. These are her only projectiles that travel forward, and they can only be used in the air. The B version of these act as her strongest approach and zoning tool.

j.236A: Throws a cyclone horizontally in the air.
j.236B: Throws a cyclone down to the floor, upon reaching the ground, the cyclone will spin around and travel across the entire screen.
EXS (j.236C): Throws one giant cyclone down towards the floor and completely across the screen.

Sadly, I was unable to land Nanase's Infinite Worth and Infinite Worth EXS, so I do not have details for them.

Combos:

These are all very, very basic and unoptimized combos I found while testing the game. None of these have damage values, only inputs. Most of them are going to be a lot of the same.

5A > 5B > 2B > 2C > 5C > j.B > j.A > j.C > 2C > 214B~B
2B > 5C > 2C > 236A~6C > j.[C] > j.B~B > j.2C > 2C > 214B~B
236A(w)~6A > 2C > 236A~6C > j.[C] > j.B~B > j.2C > 2C > 214B~B"

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late is set to release on July 24th, 2014 for Playstation 3 in Japan.

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