Hayate

In the hands of someone acquainted with his quirks, Hayate can be one of the most lethal characters in the game. Possessing adequate power, excellent speed, and some devious tricks, Hayate is well worth taking the time to learn. (Even if most people will probably never get all the way through his sparring exercises!)

Hayate's basic strength is in his movement skills; like most of the other ninja characters, he's quite quick, with a few moves that incorporate flips, such as the Tenbu-Byakko (quarter circle from d to b, P, P, P) or the Mugetsu-Shippu (u/b, P, f). Many of his more confusing actions come as a result of the Hayate-Gake movement (quarter circle d to f, F), which incorporates a bit of a feint. No damage comes as a result of that move, but you can add a punch, kick, or a throw to it and Hayate will cover the distance between him and his foe quite quickly and dish out the hurt. You can also double-tap forward to teleport behind your opponent, which is...well, it's pretty damn annoying, at least when you're playing against a good Hayate player online. You can also teleport out of the Mugetsu-Shippu move, as well; just start rapidly tapping forward on the d-pad while Hayate's in mid-air, and you'll hit warp speed and pop behind your foe. This teleportation is much easier to pull off than that of Kasumi, since you don't need to counter an attack to perform it, and is a bit quicker than Ryu's, although it can't be converted directly into an attack.

Another move that may be of interest is the Sharin-Tai-Renzan (d/f, F+K, K, P), which launches Hayate towards his opponent, knocks them off their feet with a leg sweep, then punches them through the air. This will penetrate anyone who's turtling up behind a high guard, and is difficult to counter due to the odd flip animation that precedes the blows. Give it a whirl!

Watching the demonstration of the Raijin is about as close as many of us will come to actually performing it.

Besides that, Hayate is perhaps most famous for possessing the most difficult maneuver in the game: the dreaded Raijin throw. We're not even going to try to transcribe it, and it wouldn't be of much use even if we did, since the only time you're going to be pulling it off is in sparring mode, if then. If you're absolutely dead set on performing the Raijin, then you'll need to find a way to perform the opening circle rotation without jumping. Some have suggested entering the circle while guarding, which will prevent you from jumping, but we personally have never been able to get this to work. A better suggestion is to throw a single punch just before starting the analog stick rotation. If you perform the first half of the rotation before the throw animation is done, then you won't jump, and you can hopefully get the first part of the throw off.

Even if you don't jump, though, you'll more likely than not perform some other kind of throw instead of the Raijin's first segment. A lot of practice will be required to just get this first segment down...and even when you can pull it off consistently, you'll still have to manage to quickly input two more difficult sequences into the controller before you can pull off the Raijin. Honestly speaking, the Raijin is something that's seemingly custom-made to throw you off your sparring exercises; you'll never see it actually performed by a human player in a match. (Although the AI, perfect as it is, will occasionally bust it out on you if you get Hayate in a late-round match during Story mode.) As such, it's probably best to just avoid the frustration and ignore Hayate's exercises, unless you really really want his system voice and the Tatami map.

Helena

Helena is somewhat difficult to unlock, or at least time-consuming to do so, requiring you to beat story mode with all 16 of the originally available characters before she becomes open for play. That said, if you manage to get her unlocked for online play, you should find her to be a unique fighter.

Helena is a fairly quick striker, somewhere on the same speed scale as Eliot, and somewhat slower than, say, Christie or Ayane. Her standard punch action is accompanied by an arm flourish animation that can be difficult to read for inexperienced players, and many of her standard combos do an excellent job of incorporating low attacks; she seems to have more low-height attacks than almost any other character. A good example of this is the Seiryu, Rensho-Sotai (P, P, d, K, K), which lets loose with a high punch, medium punch, then two low kicks to punish anyone who's attempting to block or counter the high blows.

Video Walk-through

Helena can juggle characters fairly easily when you learn her moves.

Watch It »

Like Brad, a good number of Helena's attacks are predicated on having your back facing your opponent. Again, this is a precarious situation in the best of times, but if you can transition to a rear-facing posture into an attack sequence quickly enough, you should be able to minimize your risk, especially if you can tell that you've stunned your opponent during the preceding combo. These combos can be wickedly difficult for your opponent to read, especially when you incorporate hesistations between the specific moves, which is possible with moves like the Horen-Toka-Sosho-Kyaku (b, P, P, d, P, P, K), which starts off medium and then shifts to a barrage of low attacks. If you’re wary about stringing together multiple low attacks, just let loose with the first punch, then unload a high kick to vary things up.

Helena's other primary ability revolves around her Bokuho stance, which sees her enter a crouch and attack from a hunched position. To enter the Bokuho, you can either hit (d, P+K) or (d/b, P+K). Our personal favorite moves from this position (and there are plenty of them) both let you open up to juggle combos. First off, her Tsuten-Sho throw (a simple F+P) will throw your opponent up into the air, allowing you to hit them as they come down. If you're standing in the open, your normal punch combo won't travel far enough to hit your opponent, but if you enter into a Kasetsu-Sho attack while you're still performing the throw animation (f, P, P), you should be able to connect with them as they drop. Just be sure that you start entering the move while you're still in the process of throwing, or it won't come out in time. If your opponent is up against a wall when you perform the Tsuten-Sho, you'll have a bit more opportunity to be creative, since they won't travel as far from you.

Secondly, if you enter into a Bokuho, you can perform a Teishitsu-Ryosho attack by hitting (P+K) again. This will cause Helena to launch an upward double-hand strike which will usually launch your opponent up into the air if it connects. They don't get quite as much air as they do with the Tsuten-Sho, but Helena will instantly revert into her back-to-the-enemy position, allowing you to bust out a long combo (such as the aforementioned Horen-Toka-Sosho-Kyaku) before they hit the ground. The air combos aren't incredibly damaging for the most part, but they can be a powerful psychological boost in online matches.