Street Fighter EX2 Plus (Arcade Version) - Kairi (Hard Difficulty)

This was a harrowing run, Kairi isn't really the greatest character and, in addition, I'm not anything special in this game either.

Initially I tried to play Kairi with basics, but you don't really get a lot of opportunities that way. His Excel combos are really lackluster in terms of utility because his horizontal reach is really poor compared to other characters. Once again, also worth noting is that I don't really have great skill when it comes to Excel combos in the first place.

I did start learning a few, but they were for Area and Nanase, sadly. Betraying Kairi for the Cute Mafia, look at me.

Kairi's dive kick follow up from Moryou Kassen feels extremely difficult for no reason. There's just something about the way cancels work where you really have to focus on when your hits connect, either on hit or block. One botched dive kick can put the AI in a pattern that just isn't really advantageous for you.

Jumping is really scary in this game unless you are very proficient with Excel, hence this puts Kairi in, again, another situation where he's unique and fun but not really well suited to EX2's system.

It makes me sad that they didn't use this version of Kairi as the template for Fighting EX Layer. That whole game makes me freaking sad, but whatever. Even if Kairi isn't that great, his dive kick out of rekka tatsu feels very fun, despite how oppressive it may seem. What a shame.