If you hang around Tekken-heads long enough you’ll probably end up hearing the same conversation. You’ll hear about how good the same characters have been in various games, and why. You’ve got your Steves, your Bryans, your Mishimas… on and on. In those conversations, Asuka’s name will rarely get brought up, despite being a fairly popular character.
Part of this is because new players tend to overvalue some of Asuka’s more gimmicky tools. The truth is, there’s going to be a lot of moves in her set that are simply not viable in a high level setting. For example, her parry! It seems to last so long and defeat so much, but then you find out it loses to knee and elbow attacks. It’s also vulnerable to all launchers if you whiff it, and the reward she gets off of parry really doesn’t make up for eating a 30-50% combo. Her down-back 4 is a low string starter that’s free to low parries. She has many string enders that are very unsafe, in general.
And yet, Tekken 7: Fated Retribution has shown no shortage of Asuka play, both in arcade streams and tournament play. There’s power in those gloved fists, but you’re gonna have to train to harness it!
Namco Sugamo, an arcade/Tekken Museum, recently held a “Asuka Offline Party,” featuring Japanese players running Asuka Mirrors for over 4 hours. If you ever wanted or needed to sit down and take notes on the Kazam Style Practitioner, this is a great starting place. 10-frame knock down punishes, attack cancels, surprisingly safe combo starters, and excellent wakeup pressure are all on display here. There’s a lot of great tech to take away, and eventually you’ll wonder why you worried about the parry in the first place!
Source: SHUDY_JINLEE