Crimson Star Road

Crimson Star Road is K's MAX2 in The King of Fighters 2002, The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, and The King of Fighters Neowave. It also appears in the Maximum Impact series as his Level 3 Super.

Description
K' seemingly slips by his opponent with his forward dodging animation (which is unblockable), and once he connects upon them, suddenly reappears behind them, giving a thumbs down as they're suddenly struck by a mysterious presence akin to an explosion for multiple hits as they get launched away.

In the Maximum Impact games however, it is instead converted into a counter, with K' taunting the foe first and then slowly walking forward with pale afterimages trailing him. It's only if hit by a non-throw or projectile attack, the foe's attack is defected as K' automatically appears behind them with the same thumbs down burst of energy.

In 2002 UM however, this move's graphics have been notably revamped, to where K' upon connecting with his forward dodge animation, moves past his foe in slow-motion with only his eye glowing white (and as the entire screen is darkened). Once he reaches the other side and gives the thumbs down, an actual explosion is shown unlike the prior energy burst (K' is also colored black-and-white during this segment before the screen returns to normal).

Strategy
Crimson Star Road is an unblockable move that hits instantly if activated at about Crouch range but can be jumped away from after the super flash if used any further away than that. Unfortunately, it does pretty mediocre damage for a MAX2 (about 30%).

The input is also sort of tricky at first. After the motion, you have to piano from  to  very quickly. Can be used as a corner combo ender, but K's Chain Drive does almost the same damage.

Trivia

 * Crimson Star Road is named after an episode of the anime series Legend of Galactic Heroes.


 * In KOF 2002 UM, K' is shaded in black, grey and white during the move's explosion, which may reference the box art of the original KOF 2002.