Shatter Strike



Shatter Strike, also written as "Shatterstrike" is a new mechanic in The King of Fighters series, first introduced in The King of Fighters XV. It is likely a precursor to the Guard Break in The King of Fighters Neowave 's Guard Break Gauge Mode.

Description
The user performs a move similar to their Blow Back attack, but now surrounded by a purple-ish aura. When used on opponents, it will cause to crumple. When used on aerial opponents, they will be sent to the back wall, and will cause a wall bounce. Regardless of how it lands, it can lead to additional follow-ups or combos if successful.

The move also has guard points AKA autoguard starting from frame 4, making it an effective defensive tool should you have the meter to spare for it.

Using a Shatter Strike will cost one bar of the Power Gauge, but successfully landing the attack will grant you half a bar.

Trivia

 * After version 1.32, Athena, Krohnen, and Yuri are the only characters in the game whose Shatter Strike animations differ from their Blowback animations, due to the short range of their base versions.


 * This move is more or less the equivalent of Street Fighter's Focus Attack (introduced in Street Fighter IV) or Tekken's Power Crush (introduced in Tekken 7), a move that can be used for offensive or defensive purposes that allows the user to continue attacking the opponent while taking damage.
 * The Drive Impact in Street Fighter 6 also bears some resemblance to the Shatter Strike in its hit properties. Like KOF XV, if a Drive Impact hits a grounded opponent, they're left in a crumple state, whereas an airborne opponent is launched into a Screw state (as opposed to the Wall Bounce from KOF XV).


 * The move bears a passing resemblance to the Critical Counter seen in The King of Fighters XII, having a similar property and requiring meter, though unlike the latter, it is tied to the Power Gauge instead of its own resource.
 * As mentioned beforehand, the Guard Break attack from KOF Neowave's GB Mode is a likely precursor to this mechanic with notable differences:
 * The Guard Break's startup has the user glow yellow, while the Shatter Strike has the user glow purple.
 * The Guard Break's startup animation where they perform a taunt of sorts provides full-body invincibility (throws can bypass this), while the Shatter Strike provides autoguard instead while starting up much faster.
 * The Guard Break on-hit always inflicts a Counter Wire wallbounce, while the Shatter Strike has different hit states depending on if the victim was grounded or airborne.
 * The Guard Break true to its name, bypasses defenses via being completely unblockable, while the Shatter Strike can be guarded against normally.