When Terry Bogard landed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to make sure everyone was OK, The King of Fighters franchise was in a very different state after the sour taste KOF 14 left for fans. Fast forward to 2021 and KOF 15 trailers are becoming a commonplace sighting as the game gets ready for its release this year.
With Pyra and Mythra coming to Smash soon, Terry’s unique qualities and playstyle make him stand out even more than he did before among the plethora of anime sword fighters like Sephiroth and Byleth. This is after all a character that is meant to represent traditional fighting game values and fundamentals in Smash just like Street Fighter’s Ken and Ryu did before, so how exactly does one fight against Nintendo’s finest as Terry?
Gameplan
Unlike most of Smash Ultimate’s fighters which tend to benefit more from approaching enemies using aerial attacks, Terry is best suited to a more grounded playstyle, mainly because he is much faster on the ground that he is while in the air and his entire moveset seems to be designed around that specific quality.
Two more crucial aspects must be kept in mind when playing as Terry, his auto-turnaround mechanic and the fact that he uses command inputs. The first one means Terry will always face his opponent, regardless of how they move, so this can be exploited to hit opponents rolling behind Terry to easily hit them with down tilt attacks; as for his inputs, unlike Ryu and Ken, they are much more simple only utilizing “weak” and “strong” buttons, but it’s crucially important to memorize all of the motions for his commands.
Terry happens to strike quite hard, so he won’t have to hit his opponents too many times to get them close to 100% and take their stocks with his specials, or even a dash attack Power Charge at higher percents. When using Terry, players should try to walk, run or dash in and out of their opponents’ range in order to bait them into committing a mistake and look for an opening, ideally something leading into his signature “jab, jab, Power Dunk” combo.
Of course, that’s not the only way he can reach in to hit foes as for some reason Masahiro Sakurai decided to bless Terry with an intangible leg on his forward tilt, meaning Terry’s extended leg works pretty much like a sword during the move, probably due to the powers invested in him by his very 90’s (Levi's?) boot cut jeans. His aerial attacks are there to complement his kit, with neutral and forward air being the more useful options.
Special Attacks
Like most Smash characters his special attacks are what make Terry’s personality shine star with his Power Wave, which adds up to the list of attacks that let him close in on enemies, so it’s best to use the weak version since its slow travel conditions opponents to do something about it.
Also worth keeping in mind is his Crack Shoot, a backwards side special unique to Terry, which can also help in getting right on top of enemies faces as a really quick burst option to use when weaving in and out. Like with all of his special moves, using the “Strong” version by holding down the B button will result in Terry being more easy to hit in case the attack misses due to increased endlag.
As for Terry’s other specials, both his Power Dunk and Burning Knuckle are meant to be used as combo finishers and kill moves on the ground or in the air, so it’s best to avoid throwing them randomly even if Terry becomes momentarily invincible when using the input variants of the moves.
Terry’s Up B “Rising Tackle” pays homage to his fighting game roots as a part-time charge character. This means that Terry gets a boost in how far his Rising Tackle travels and also more invincibility, if the player holds the control stick down before executing the move, even if he's just crouching while moving around. In fact when thrown offstage or being juggled by opponents, Terry players should aim to use a mixture of his special moves given the unusual trajectories moves like Power Dunk and Crack Shoot use, all of which help Terry get back to safety.
Much like his two fighting game colleagues, Terry is able to take advantage of attack cancelling when using his B specials. What this means is that Terry can cut his normal attack animations faster than Gina Carano got axed from The Mandalorian, thus opening up his combo avenues.
It’s Go Time!
Since Terry’s aerial attacks have very little kill power and he can’t take stock using his grabs, in case he can’t close out games with his special attacks he’s treated to a couple of Super Special Moves once his over 100%. Given Terry is leaning on the heavier side, he’s not necessarily easy to kill, so once he gets “Go” he can really snowball other players with his brutally strong finishers.
Power Geyser is a huge move that demolishes anyone daring to stand in Terry’s way, it can be used to blow off incoming airborne opponents or to pressure them when they’re hanging on the ledge or jumping back on stage. Getting hit by a Power Geyser is practically a death sentence, but if Terry misses its likely judgment will be passed onto him.
Buster Wolf is faster and potentially more deadly than Power Geyser, however, even if Terry gets some invincibility at the start of the move, it’s not recommended to throw it out from afar as it can be easily shielded. Instead, Buster Wolf become a new combo finisher that will surely pocket a stock if hit successfully.
Conclusion
Terry is incredibly fun to play and his reduced number of inputs make him a more accessible option than Ryu in Fortnite, even for seasoned fighting game players. His “Go” comeback mechanic turns him into an intimidating powerhouse that will have players taunting their opponents to just hit them when they’re at 98%.
As if that weren’t enough Terry, Banjo and Byleth amiibo are on the way next March 26 and KOF 15 trailers continue to release, so that’s also a good excuse to play Terry right now.