A playthrough of the potential mid-boss Gai Tendo in the PS2 port of SNK’s The King of Fighters XI.

Gai is the protagonist of the obscure SNK title Buriki One. As I mentioned in the last video, Buriki One has a unique fighting system where the joystick actually controls the attack input. As a result, Gai has an extremely unique fighting style where he combos into attacks by first using a starter move (f+HP or f+HK), and then inputting a variety of directions to initiate his attacks and special moves. It’s incredibly unique and works extremely well, making him a damn fun character to utilise. He also has a lot of his abilities from Buriki One, such as his floor dive to uppercut ability he had there, as well as his dodge which could be followed up with a variety of counter techniques. His supers are rather unique; one is simply a powered-up state, while the other is a Deadly Rave type move where he follows up with numerous direction inputs after beginning, but I personally found it extremely difficult to execute properly. His LDM is especially interesting; he allows him to use his combo specials (such as his slide, his uppercut, his axe kick and so on) as regular special moves with regular inputs. It’s very unique, I have to say, and a ton of fun to boot as he has a really natural flow to how his character works. Which, of course, is exactly what you want in a close-quarters fighting game, and was one of the reasons why Buriki One was a great game, and so ahead of its time.

Gai is definitely a novelty of a character, which you’ll know if you play as him. The fact that he’s so reliant on combos makes him feel like he has a huge disadvantage compared to most characters, given that KOF characters typically tend to have projectiles and defensive moves and all sorts of things, and in combination with his unique moveset it definitely makes you feel like a fish out of water when playing as him, like he ended up in the tournament by accident or something. That said, he’s so uniquely designed that I’m glad they included him, if only as a bonus mid-boss. A really interesting character on the whole, regardless.

Up next, we revisit the boss from another obscure SNK title.

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