Dan-Ku-Ga/FAQ
General
Wait, did you say Taito? wtf is this game, dude
For a history lesson on the development and legacy of Kaiser Knuckle/DKG, check out this superb article courtesy of Gaming Hell
So what kind of game is Dan-Ku-Ga?
The easiest comparison is to other SF2-inspired games of the time like Karnov's Revenge and Fatal Fury Special, though it has a plethora of unique mechanics that make such a comparison shallow. Air mobility and air buttons are generally better than in those titles, while anti-airs and ground buttons in general are still strong enough to maintain a solid ground game. You also can't air block, emphasizing air-to-airs and preventing certain clownfiestas you'd see in games like Double Dragon and Kizuna Encounter. Wall breaks make most stages functionally massive, often giving the player another chance before they're truly cornered. The strong throw protection, lack of grounded overheads and no chip on normals means you'll need clever jump-ins (complicated by the rejump and universal divekick mechanics) and footsies to open opponents up. However, each character still has their own gimmicks and grime to keep things interesting. Some more than others. See the mechanics page for more details.
Any VODs to look at?
Here's a playlist of our community tournaments. Japanese footage of Dan-Ku-Ga specifically is very limited, though there are myriad videos of Kaiser Knuckle from Mikado Arcade you can look at if you like. Many are The General Challenge, which we recommend watching anyway if you haven't, they're hilarious.
カイザーナックル is the Japanese name to search for Kaiser Knuckle, 断仇牙 for Dan-Ku-Ga.
How do you read frame data?
Frame data on this wiki separates startup and active frames. This means if a move has 3 startup, it hits on frame 4. Keep that in mind when looking at difficult to frame-perfect links, or punishes. Active frames are how long the attack can hit, and any gaps between hits are notated in brackets i.e. 2(4)3 means an attack has 2 hits that are active for 2 and 3 frames, with a 4 frame gap between them. Recovery is the point when you can't do anything, most importantly block.
Damage scales if there are multiple hits - it's not well understood, so full damage of individual hits is listed in parentheses.
Gameplay
How does air movement work?
Every character has a double jump that they can use after hitting an air normal. Even if blocked, you can double jump to relative safety.
After an air normal's recovery, you can throw out another move before hitting the ground, but only if you're not holding a direction. Not all normals recover before the jump ends, but heavies usually do.
Tier List
Note: Characters are unordered within tiers
S tier
Kazuya: A shoto who doesn't lose any matchups, Kazuya has everything except for a good juggle starter.
He's particularly good at hit confirms with n.5LK, n.5MK, and 2MP into 2MK xx Genroudan (214P, "grand viper"), which can be subbed for his Desperation, Gen'ei Koroudan (412343MP+HP).
Kazuya's fireball really solidifies his top spot, and he's the only character with a proper fireball game due to its fast startup and low recovery.
It's not impossible to get around with slides or low-profile specials, but most of these options carry more risk than reward and are hard to use on reaction.
As a bonus, landing on fireballs leads to more potential reward for Kazuya, since the flip out allows him to land another hit into knockdown.
His anti-airs are also more reliable than most characters, particularly 2HP, and Dankuuga (623K) is one of the harder-hitting reversals.
He even has the fastest divekick in the game, which combined with Genroudan/Gen'ei Koroudan make throwing fireballs or zoning him risky.
Liza: Liza is a hard-to-hit character with a reversal in Samba (mash K) that leads to stun on grounded hit against relevant characters like Kazuya, or as an anti-air in general.
She has the fastest jump and tools like Ester ([2]8P, "psycho crusher") to get in, so her limited poking game isn't much of an issue.
Against fireballs, you have several options including Samba, wall jump, Priego ([2]8K, "wall dive"), and her own projectiles.
If you want to pick out your opponent's habits, she can also stall with wall dive, which allows her to charge her projectiles while hanging on the wall.
Basically, Liza can outmaneuver any other character, and control the ground or air effectively.
Her low health and stun hurts somewhat, as does lack of range on air buttons.
A+ tier
Gekkou: Largely a theory top-tier pick, Gekkou can convert a variety of jump-in or air-to-air openings into a ToD thanks to air Jigokugoma (214K, "tatsu").
For a fast, frail ninja character, Gekkou has surprising range with moves like 5MK (also an anti-air), 2MP, and 2HP.
Gekkou can also play incredibly lame, thanks to a double jump he can use anywhere to redirect air tatsu by jumping backwards, coupled with a long-range backdash.
His main problem is low burst damage, as he doesn't have useful grounded combos outside of close-range cancels into tatsu, and Crush only affects the first hit of multi-hit moves.
Also, if you can knock him down, he has a hard time due to his only reversals being throws and backdash.
Lihua: The thing that keeps Lihua from being S tier is her lack of a safe special to throw out in neutral.
Mueikassatsu (412HP) is safe on block in addition to dealing several hits of chip, and juggles on hit, but you have to be close for it to be safe.
You can end combos in the corner or against the wall with Shinkuu Nage (214P, "tornado), dealing extra damage as an inescapable reset, so she gets amazing damage based on position.
Her special move motions also make hit confirming difficult, since her only link from light to medium is a 1-frame link (5LP/n.5LK/2LP/2LK into 2MP).
That said, she has a lot of utility pokes in addition to 412HP, like 6HK, which low crushes quickly and reliably, and 2HK, which low profiles and knocks down.
Lihua doesn't have major weaknesses, and in theory guard cancel Kasumi-giri (2146P) makes moves which would be safe against other characters unsafe against Lihua.
A tier
Barts: A character with a lot of medium-risk options, but not many low-risk ones outside of Thunder Knuckle ([4]6P).
Barts needs a lot of space to actually use his Aura Cannon ([2]8P, "sonic boom") due to high startup, and the input prevents him from walking back while charging, as does his Desperation, Final Spark ([1]346MP+HP).
He can follow it to get in or dissuade zoning from 3/4 to fullscreen with the HP double-fireball, and all the aforementioned moves are good sources of chip.
His anti-airs are underwhelming, n.5HP is great but he has to be in that range and worry about misinputting 6HP, and Moonsault Smash ([2]8K, "flash kick") is a weak reversal that is only invincible during startup.
Barts also has somewhat inconsistent damage, as you can take single hits from him and he doesn't get combos outside of big openings from jump-ins or his unique divekick, Rolling Smash (j.46K).
Instant Rolling Smash serves as a movement option or low crush (but is usually unsafe on block), and he has an extra-damaging HP throw to work with, so he's still a threat.
Wulong: Chip damage is an important element of Dan-Ku-Ga, and Wulong has plenty of good ways to apply chip and keep advantage with Ryuugekiken (41236P, "power wave"). A rushdown character equipped with some choice normals like a cancelable 2HK and one of the better slides in 3HK, Wulong can score a knockdown and threaten with crossups.
His divekick goes to the wall and becomes a steerable crossup, and he has Shouten Ryuubu (41236K, "chicken wing"), a slow-startup flip kick that hits 3-4 times, and can range from +3~+14 on block depending on spacing.
Wulong's DP is one of his strongest tools, difficult to punish due to the animation pushing him back, and if you have time for it, Nunchuck No Mai (63214P) is another huge, reliable anti-air.
His main problem is weak normals for playing footsies with, partially from lack of disjoint but also due to having no specials he can use in combos besides a short-range DP.
Still, he has plenty of effective range, with a fast walk speed, advancing normals like 5HP, 6MK and 6HK, and a Desperation, Gekisatsu Hiryuuken (46216HP+HK) that acts as a slower plus-on-block slide.
J. McCoy: As a charge character, McCoy has somewhat limited movement, but he's really strong up close due to his safe slide (2HK).
His jump is low, which has upsides and downsides, being easy to surprise and poke characters out of fireballs but hard to fight characters with good air-to-airs.
As one of few characters with a grounded overhead (6HP), McCoy boasts a mixup game that feeds into itself, as he can frame trap off even slightly meaty slide into 2MK.
His combo game is great as long as he has charge, since Boomerang Crush ([4]6P) is a quick 3-hit rush punch that juggles.
He has a good matchup against Liza due to the slide beating Samba outright, serving as an anti-air to boot.
McCoy still struggles with zoning, since 2HK is short range, but 3HK, Jet Upper ([4]6K) and Thunder Bolt ([2]8P) are very unsafe on block.
Gonzales: With the strongest throws in the game and high stun output, getting hit by Gonzales hurts.
As the character with the highest stun threshold and health, he can afford to take hits while working his way in.
His gameplan revolves around his command grabs' range, enabling him to wait out the throw protection and grab you if you freeze up.
Gonzales also has Zenpou Kaiten Ukemi (KKK, "roll") that goes through fireballs and pokes, which he can block at the end of, so he can be forced to eat a throw or chip damage.
He also has a really good set of air buttons, with j.LP and j.MP being among the best in the game, and the second-fastest divekick after Kazuya.
Ultimately, Gonzales relies on reads too heavily to be a top tier, but he's got perhaps the biggest comback factor in the game.
Azteca: Azteca plays a bit of a zoning game with active, safe buttons like 2MK (which knocks down) and 6HK (low crush).
While slow, Azteca has a lot of burst movement options, a high jump backed up by a large j.HP and j.HK and an odd divekick where he swings from the ceiling, beating grounded anti-airs.
He can use Air Mystic Buzzsaw (j.236P, "air ball") during a jump or after taking an air-to-air hit to quickly retaliate and knock down.
Air ball can also cross up, so Azteca has looping setplay he can start off any knockdown, but it doesn't deal very much damage.
In addition, Silent Spear (2146P, "hair whip") is a slow but greatly disjointed launcher that is plus on block, so it's can be thrown out to check fireballs and the like.
Azteca really only has trouble with characters who can deal with his air normals and 6HK effectively, and hair whip can be crouched so you can play around it safely.
He also has the worst guard cancel options in the game, with none of his specials being fast.
B tier
Boggy: Boggy has good pokes to work with, such as 5MK, 2HP, and 2HK, the latter allowing him to start oki by canceling into Risky Step (421K), a sort of divekick.
He lacks safe-on-block specials, and Hell Kiss (236P) is more of an anti-air than traditional fireball as everyone can crouch it except for Gonzales.
Combined with one of the slower walk speeds and a floaty jump, along with one of the worst divekicks, he's much stronger when you have to approach him.
His offense is really rewarding if he can get it started, including Blast Hurricane (28K, "upkick") working like Liza's Samba as a juggle-starting reversal.
If he can get one opening, he can repeatedly meaty n.5HP, link into 2HK xx 421K for another ambiguous-side meaty or cancel into Storm Dancer (41236K) for heavy stun.
As for getting around fireballs, he can use Risky Step or Wheel Spin (2147K), although the latter works at specific distances as it sometimes gets clipped on the way up.
Marco: Marco's mobility is his downfall since his sweet spot is midrange, with the slowest walk speed and floatiest jump.
Marco has a variety of mixups including an unreactable overhead in Crusher Punch (j.2PPP, "rocket punch") and lows like 2LK, which combos into itself or 2MK, which is cancelable.
His anti-air game is great as his mash move, Rampaging Tearing ("monster mash"), juggles for good damage and frame advantage on knockdown.
He does have big, safe pokes like 2MP and a cancelable 5MK, backed up by Hammer Punch (PPP), a general-purpose long range combo ender that can also be used to punish moves like Genroudan and other "safe" DPs.
However, he has blindspots on Hammer Punch and Crusher Punch, and his command grab Magic Hand (632146P) only works slightly past halfscreen, where characters like Wulong and Lihua aren't hit by instant Crusher Punch.
He also has the lowest stun threshold in the game (480, tied with Liza), meaning he doesn't like to trade and he's likely to get stunned in 1-2 bad exchanges in neutral.
Technical
Does unreleased mean unfinished? Any major issues from playing what's basically a beta?
Technically the game is unfinished, but the leaked version we play was used for location testing and thus is entirely playable, just not 100% polished for release. Gonzales and Azteca are missing their select screen portraits and the game only functions properly in Japan mode despite its predecessor being fully localized and released worldwide. There would likely have been further balance changes in a full release, but what we have is what we have. So far we haven't run into any significant bugs* let alone softlocks or freezes which is more than can be said for many higher-profile games that saw full release (much love to Samurai Shodown 3).
*guard cancelling may or may not be a bug, but if it is it's a cool one
Training?
So this game has an actual training mode in the arcade, an idea that wouldn't resurface until over 10 years later, the last option on the main menu after hitting Start. The first "round" gives you until timeout to whale on a motionless grey dummy whose only action is to block for one frame on wakeup, and in the second it'll move around and act as an infinite health CPU whose difficulty can be adjusted on the fly with the Start button (in the first round, Start resets to neutral positions). This is a massively forward thinking inclusion and is quite nice to have, but to test anything that requires P2 input (blocking, jumping, etc) as well as damage you'll still need to launch vs mode with savestates.
In both scenarios, mountainmanjed's training script is indispensable, affording infinite time, full hitboxes and hurtboxes, and meters displaying stun, throw protection, and distance. It also allows you to flood the background for screenshot purposes, though this only works properly in mame-rr.
How to play online?
Fightcade 2. Make sure to play on a wired connection!
Tilt?
The default button mappings include T mapped to Tilt, which is a button this game has, for some reason. Make sure to clear the mapping when setting your controls.
The game doesn't work on FC2 (unplayable stutter, low FPS, black screen, etc.)
First, make sure runahead is off, it seems to be completely incompatible. If it's still not working with runahead off, then ask around in the discord. Some computers just refuse to run the game properly online, and we're looking into solutions.
Miscellanea
Can you play as The General?
No, sadly. Even when played via cheats you can't use any of his special moves, not that you even need them anyway.
What's up with the doctor?
He runs up and gives a diagnosis, displayed under the points tally and emphasized with either a winning smile and thumbs-up or dejected shrug, presumably depending on your chances of survival. This doesn't do anything. Here's the english translations of them.
