This stage is more or less a copy of Kenshiro’s chapter where he takes on Boss Fang. The layout is slightly different as Rei takes different paths compared to Kenshiro, but there’s really nothing of note that’s different here.
Rei can make use of unique walls to do some ninja-esque wall jumps and leap to the other side of them, allowing him to get to new areas Kenshiro never could. Except these are mandatory when playing as him more often than not, so it doesn’t really feel like you’re finding anything new from doing this.
You have have noticed by now, but Rei doesn’t fight in the same way that Kenshiro does. See, there are two main styles in this game. Hokuto and Nanto. Hokuto users all have movesets similar to Kenshiro that is more like your standard Warriors style of Charge attacks. Nanto users have an S-string and a single Triangle attack.
At first glance, this sounds awful. But landing that Triangle attack, or doing a counterattack when prompted, allows Nanto users to power up. This makes them hit harder and gain propertities as if they had activated Spirit Aura. It also changes their moveset quite a bit. The Triangle attack changes to a devastating wide range attack that can combo into a second attack once leveled up. It also allows the user to chain into a jump that pulls enemies into the air, allowing air combos.
In this state, Nanto users gain a full aerial S-string and powerful Triangle attacks just like on ground. This gives them the best combo potential in the game as they can chain long ground combos into air combos on helpless enemies. This mode also ignore defenses such as what the fat, large, and spike officers have.
It takes me a while to fully realize how to use Nanto style, but once I did, I had a lot of fun with it. Also, Rei’s R1 ability is a dash. Similar to Ken’s dodge roll, it gives him I-frames. Rei however can dash multiple times in a row for some easy manuvering. He also makes funny noises when he does so.
