The King of Fighters '98/Daimon

Introduction

Goro Daimon was previously known as just "Daimon" before the King of Fighters tournament. The name means "Die, man".

Just before the first KOF tournament, he defeated Goro, prince of Shokan in hand-to-hand mortal combat, taking his namesake as a trophy.

Anyone who could defeat Goro is extremely strong, so as expected, Goro Daimon is a top tier character.

Gameplay Overview

Daimon does a ton of damage, has very high priority normals, and has very effective throw mixups. Even from an anti-air he can do 30% or so thanks to ground pound OTGs and juggles. He has very good defense (ie takes less damage than average) and is basically a wall of pain. His only disadvantage is that he has a very large sprite. He has combos/tactics that vary from requiring nearly no execution skill to requiring godly execution. He is a decent character for a beginner.

Combos

As I stated above, his combos range from easy to extremely difficult depending on what you're comboing into.

cl.C/D, d/f+C (optional) xx hcf+C/hcb,f+P/hcb,hcb+P

cr.B, hcb,f+P/hcb,hcb+P

anti-air d/f+C xx qcb+B/qcf+B/dp+K/f,hcb,f+P, dp+A

anti-air d/f+C (counter-hit) xx qcb+B, d/f+C xx hcf+A

The cr.B link into super is a good way to combo into it without having godly execution. Just perform it like f,d/f,d,d/b+B,b,hcb+P.

In-depth Analysis

Normal Throws

b or f+C - Unbreakable (mashable), forward knockdown, face forward, un-rollable.

b or f+D - Breakable, reverse knockdown, back turned, rollable.

b or f+C (just outside of normal throw range) - Breakable, forward knockdown, back turned, un-rollable.

Normal Moves

Standing A - Fast, really good anti-air against short hop.

Standing B - THE POKE! Fast, low, long range, cancelable. You can do repeated st.Bs, but if you think they will hit a button in between, cancel into hcf+C. You can also combo this into hcb,f+P if you're in range, which most people forget about.

Standing C - Nice and big, stays out a long time. Can stop short hops.

Standing D - Fast, high priority, one of the best anti-air normals in the game. It can also punish things like incompleted Iori rekkas. It will whiff over crouching characters, so watch that.

Standing CD - Big ass cancelable move. often used to cancel into his qcf+K counter and bait CD counters.

Close D - Best meaty, and if not too meaty or out in the open, you actually have a good amount of time to hit-check hcb,f+P off of it.

Crouching A - #1 poke if you're too close for standing B. Cancelable.

Crouching B - Good poke if you're too close for standing B as well. Links into super easily since it has a long animation/advantage.

Crouching C - Fast, good range. Probably better options though.

Crouching D - A sweep! Can be meatied pretty easily.

Jumping A - Pretty good air-to-air.

Jumping B - Stays out for a long time, can be used as a crossup if it's very meaty, or your opponent is close to the corner, or in the corner and you are player 2. Good setup for his grab mixups.

Jumping C - Crosses up, has a pretty hefty hitbox (what doesn't?).

Jumping D - Godly jump move. Good for jumping in, or air-to-air jumping back. Can be used as an instant overhead (short hop only).

Jumping CD - CD in the air!

Command Normals

f+A - Not overhead! Snuffs projectiles.

d/f+C - Great anti-air. It doesn't beat as much stuff as standing D, but it will trade with most things, enabling you to perform a ground pound combo. Remember if it trades, you will have to re-buffer your qcb+B/qcf+B afterwards so the ground pound will hit OTG.

Special Moves

Air throw that is not actually a throw (hcf+A) - Beats pretty much everything above the top half of the screen, his arm is not hittable. It can be air blocked if the opponent is jumping up or back, though.

Blockable throw (hcf+C) - Catches ground pokes, but is punishable by some fast long range things. Good to use as a combo ender if you aren't comfortable using hcb,f+P.

Command Throw (hcb,f+P) - Instant, long range, comboable throw.

Invincible Throw (dp+K) - Slower grab with invincibility. You can even use it to go through fireballs. This is his main weapon in attack/throw mixups. Set it up by doing it on your opponents, wakeup, after a sloppy jump-in, or whatever.

Ground pound (dp+P) - C version is a ground pound fake. It is 'blocked' by crouching, but there is no blockstun. You don't even need to hold d/b, just crouch. This can hit OTG (on the ground) after an anti-air d/f+C canceled into a non-blockable move (like a throw or utility move). It is also unblockable if done as a meaty attack, but the window is small and the setups vary from character to character.

Ground roll (qcb+K) - Invincible during the roll, but completely vulnerable at the end of the roll. Usually used for the ground pound combo bug or to gain meter after a knockdown. Can be canceled into to roll through some auto-guard moves or CD counters.

Counter (qcf+K) - Will counter any mid/high hitting normal attack or CD counter. Usually used to cancel into to make moves safeer (like standing CD) and to bait CD counters at the same time.

Desperation Moves

Super Throw (hcb,hcb+P) - Instant good range super throw. Does damage. MAX version does more damage.

Super Armor Throw (hcf,hcf+K~hcf+K~dp+K) - A slower throw that has super armor on startup (ie you will still take full damage from any hits). The followups switch sides every time, and are timed as the previous part hits. MAX version does more damage.