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Hishou Ken

Hishou Ken (飛翔拳（ひしょうけん）; Flying Soar Fist) is one of Andy Bogard's Special Moves from across the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series.

Input
FF (US Version) +
FF (JP Version), FF2 onwards, KOF series + or ( OK)

Description

With a strike of his right/dominant hand, Andy throws out a blue projectile. Throughout his appearances, his technique and its execution has always varied:

  • The original incarnation is a wound up palm thrust, hence generating ki from his tanden or center, and immediately following up in momentum with the palm thrust to launch the attack.
  • From King of Fighters '96 to King of Fighters XI, the attack is instead a stationary but ranged burst spark of ki; this is due to the former game's overall format modifying all projectiles to encourage more close encounter combat, and later games modifying Andy to be more close ranged and combo attacking.
  • In Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout 2: The Newcomers, Andy readies his body inwards and uses his left/passive hand to launch the projectile, akin to him tossing out a shuriken.

Starting with The King of Fighters XIII, Hishou Ken gained an EX Special Move variant, which not only does more damage, but travels faster.

Strategy

In its initial or common incarnations, Hishou Ken acts as the typical projectile move: to control space, setup for his Shouryuu Dan or Zan-ei Ken as a counter, and to poke or wear down his opponents with from afar. Due to the nature and performance of his other special attacks, it serves Andy well as they can be immediately followed up like aforementioned when the opportunity is right.

In Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout 2: The Newcomers, and Dominated Mind, his Hishou Ken will fade out upon 2/3rds of the screen. Though he loses range in these games, his Hishou Ken in Real Bout instead comes to act as a gauge to measure for his ma'ai or range interval game for his other special moves and combo setups, and to help condition the opponent's space to let them know of his potential striking distance.

In King of Fighters, from the late 1990s to XI, his shortened Hishou Ken comes to act the same as his Real Bout incarnations, and with it being at a shorter range, allows him to maintain a neutral game even amidst skirmishes and mindgames. Hishou Ken in KOF naturally also acts as a combo finisher due to its properties.

Gallery

Similar Moves