First the bad stuff:
- His snake arms are definately unequivocally weaker than Normal Yamazaki's. Not only do they not combo off light attacks, but they only hit once and seem to trade with a lot stuff. In other words- slower, less damaging, lower priority.
- I couldn't perform the Headbutt with him either. I still think its possible that his Headbutt is in the game in some form or another since its appears on the Japanese scans which Tamayak forwarded to us. As of now, not having a command grab means he loses one entire offence/defence option though. Not good.
- His crouch B BnB, i.e., d.B> d.A>
Now the good:
- His A button Double Return (the one where he stores the fireball) is significantly improved from Normal Yama's. Being able to choose when to return the fireball means he doesn't need to worry about opponents throwing a fireball from full screen and then punishing his Double Return. His Double Return is also noticeably bigger than Normal Yamazaki's. Not sure if it moves faster though. Also, when you do choose to return the fireball the Double Return eats all normal fireballs for free.
So here's a typical scenario: Iori does Yamibarai. Ex-Yamazaki absorbs its. Iori does another Yamibarai. Ex-Yamazaki Double Returns and blows through the second Yamibarai to knock Iori down.
- His crouch B BnB does quite a bit more damage than Normal Yamazaki's. As much, I think as a Iori Aoi Hana combo.
- His OTG moves means he gets a bit of extra damage all around. You can do it for free after a Guillotine, for example. Whether you want to do the d, d+ K OTG move is a matter of tactics though, since you give up the chance to perform an attack on the waking up opponent
- His Knife Move is also, IMO superior. Faster, safer if rolled past. Decent poke.
- If you're in Extra mode and your life is low, you get to do his Level 5 for free. So he basically gets to do SDMs for free in Extra mode.



