Kim Kaphwan balances the best of his kids in his Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves arrival

Kaphwan feels like he might have the best aerial offense of the Kim Taekwondo characters.

If I had to pick my favorite characters in Fatal Fury, Joe Higashi will always be first, it would probably be Raiden/Big Bear second, and then series’ original Taekwondo specialist and longtime leader of the King of Fighters Korea team, Kim Kaphwan. You may know Kim Dong Hwan and Jae Hoon, who are in the game already. Kaphwan is their father and a long-standing character in SNK fighting games since 1992’s Fatal Fury 2. Here in City of the Wolves, he balances out some of the best of Jae Hoon and Dong Hwan with a style that seems to provide the best aerial game of all of them, though he’ll take some practice on timing to get the most damage out of his kit.

The Patriarch of Classic Kim Kicks

As mentioned prior, Kim Kaphwan uses Taekwondo like his kids do. Just about everything he does is a kick, except for his short and long Light Punch. There are a few command combos in his arsenal. His long Heavy Kick can go into another kick that knocks them down and his close Light Kick can string into his Heavy Kick to launch them. On a counterattack, he can also chain his close Heavy Kick into his long Heavy Punch, leading into some of his most high-damage strings. Being that he’s almost all kicks, a lot of Kaphwan’s normals have good forward range. However, he’s a little limited on anti-air outside of his Low Angle attack.

For special moves, Kaphwan has a lot of his staples. His Hangatzu Zan forward split kick is as slick as ever, and if you hit a counter with the light one, it will float them for you to do a tremendous combo string. His Hien Zan summersault kick is also here and great for checking jump-ins. It’s even got a follow up kick on Heavy and REV versions. It is, however, a charge attack, so you’ll have to predict accordingly. Thankfully, the charge window is still short enough to let it into the middle of combos where it’s very effective for getting them ready for a super finish.

One of the more interesting things on Kim’s latest kit is the Haki Kyaku stomp, which leads into four follow-ups based on the forward attack button you use. He can do another stomp, dodge out and come back with a kick, do an overhead kick (that bounces them on the ground if they are in the air), or do a rising kick combo. The REV version of the rising kick combo (Kuusajin) is great for chaining into the Hien Zan summersault and lifting the enemy up into the blender that is Kaphwan’s aerial game.

Kaphwan has three air specials that have all sorts of utility to them. Hishou Kyaku is his downward flying stomp kick. The light version and REV version count as strike-throws on confirmed hit where the heavy version will kick at them until Kaphwan lands. Meanwhile, Kuusen Kyaku is an air-to-air special attack in which Kim hits a combo of kicks forward with light, heavy, and REV versions mostly just affecting damage there, but you can also hit a standing opponent with it on jump-up or landing. Finally, he has a super combo in the air that not only does big damage, but is invicible on start-up in its two-bar form, countering enemy offense.

You can combo out of the REV version of Hishou Kyaku’s last kick into a REV blow, or you can take it right into Kuusen Kyaku to launch the opponent. As far as I could tell, you can’t hit his air super there, but you will land in time to hit his ground super, which is his classic rushdown combo into a powerful summersault. You can also hit his Hidden Gear out of this set-up. The one thing I’d mention is be careful about how quick you are to knock your opponent into the air and follow them. Hien Zan is likely what you’ll do to take them there, but there’s a chance if you don’t time and space it right, then when you hit Hien Zan’s follow-up kick into Hishou Kyaku, you will miss and just land on the ground.

For the combo I show above, and all variants where you would go Heavy Hien Zan, brake, and then REV Hien Zan into Hishou Kyaku and Kuusen Kyaku, you should give the opponent enough time to just barely dip after the Hien Zan brake before hitting the REV version. This will let the opponent drift to the appropriate height you need to hit all of Hishou Kyaku and Kuusen Kyaku and avoid the risk of altogether whiffing Hishou Kyaku.

The heroic heart of Taekwondo

I know Jae Hoon and Dong Hwan do a lot of what Kaphwan does, but I still can’t help but be a little hyped to see him here. It’s hard to say if he does what they do better, or if it’s just a good mix of what they have going on. I do know I feel like he has the air game on lock in a way they don’t quite reach, and he looks great doing it. The rising phoenix in his final summersault will always be one of my favorite things in SNK fighters, and it’s back in all of its glory. Another good fighter to keep Season 3 going strong.

These impressions are based on an early PC version with the character unlocked. Kim Kaphwan is available in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves now.

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