The closest thing Sankuro has to a fast, high-reaching recoil cancel for calling out jumps is his 236A, which requires him to be close to the opponent or else it will miss. If you are advantageous enough then a meaty will suffice - however, here too are jump-ins an issue. Sankuro's anti-airs are not the best (only n5C and n2C reach particularly high, but they are slow and proximity-dependent), so he will often have to meet the opponent in the air with a jB or a pre-emptive jC instead. Because Goshichi is not able to anti-air the opponent, the opponent is able to jump out of Sankuro's assist pressure. This allows not only for frame traps between an assist and a poke/different assist but also a chance for you to buy yourself more space if needs be. These assists will appear after Sankuro finishes calling them, and furthermore Sankuro can call a different assist immediately after. Ippachi (214C) will slide from behind the opponent, occupying their corner for when 236C won't reach. Goshichi (214B) will fall down hitting high, though his hitbox isn't active until he's just about to hit the ground. Ofuyo (214A) will slide hitting low, covering your side of the floor. For this reason it is important to switch between these two strengths depending on the matchup.Īssists are an important way of controlling space. 236B's reach extends beyond your maximum poke range but its speed may prove to be an issue against characters who can outpoke Sankuro. 236A is the fastest shot but its range is shorter than that of your medium slashes, however it will still catch an extended hurtbox from an opponent attempting to punish, for instance, a blocked heavy slash. 236C is the slowest shot but also travels the farthest, therefore being effective as a far harassment tool, while 236A/B are more effective as recoil cancel options. His gun (236S) fires an invisible shot which travels a set distance determined by its strength, effectively creating a dead zone in that range for a split second. Sankuro may be considered a zoning variant of Genjuro, given his 5B has decent range and he retains Genjuro's slow-but-lengthy 5C for good pokes, but from those pokes his recoil options are not mixup-oriented but instead zoning-oriented. Additionally, a bomb toss and a command grab (which also happens to be how Sankuro goes about restoring health mid-round in this game) give him some mixup potential. His assists retain their usefulness at pestering the opponent, but can additionally lead to frame traps involving themselves and the rest of your ranged tools.
Gone is his unblockable gun super and ability to replenish health on demand, but instead he has the tools to play a relatively fundamental game.
Sankuro makes his return to Samurai Shodown in this iteration, somewhat reformed from his days as a midboss.