From the moment the first in-game footage of R was released, it became apparent that Kage had been severely nerfed. Quite a bit of time has passed, and I'm wondering if any videos have appeared that show the apex of Kage play in R. I have yet to see anything that really inspires awe. His damage potential seems to cap in the 60s for normal combos, 70s for counter hits and 90s for wall combos. Compared to just about every other character, that's incredibly low. Additionally, is that 67(?)damage TFT really his best?

So, anyone have any pleasant surprises for this old Kage fan?

Kage has never been a high damage character (except for 100% dmg combos on open and half wall stages, lol), what I've seen in R is probably the most damaging Kage yet. His "nerfs" really is about nerfing some his most op properties and make him more balanced out.

He can do 74 dmg from TFT now on all characters, but it involves DPOD so most players do the staple combo which does 69.

Senningiri and Jin both still play Kage and seems to do very well.

ive been looking around zoome and youtube and cant find much, it'd help if anyone knows the kanji for his name it'd be easier to search.

Kage was never the highest damage dealer, but he was also never the lowest. In R, he actually does seem to do lower damage than everyone else. I've watched quite a few R videos (probably in the 100s by now), and as of yet I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. A good player can pick up any character in VF and do well, but that's not really what I'm talking about. I want to see Kage used to his full potential; basically I want to see combos and Kage-specific strategies I haven't seen before in R. I would love for nothing more than for me to be dead wrong about his potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF_jcD42qBo

Jin vs Homestay,

I never see flashy stuff and 150 point combos, but in in this match kage seems to be his usual tricky and "killing you softly" self.

I don't know what kind of potential you think Kage has in R. But the matches you see is pretty much it. All about poking and mix-ups. Can't really say much more since none of us have played the game (very few have).

If you look at the list of move changes, etc...they are being represented on the matches you see.

Well he isn't that different from "poking and mixups" in VF5..

Yeah, in VF5R since he's been weakened more then he already is in vanilla it seems like more then ever you have to be tricky with Kage and it seems like he's all about the pokes more, but yes I agree with Manji Kage already is that type of character in vanilla to begin with but it's just more in R IMO.

Yeah I agree. So i don't know what potential he's referring to.

"Tricky" isn't a great description of a character's abilities. Either the character is fast, damaging, has special properties on a lot of moves, or has a lot of mix-ups that are hard differentiate from. If you're referring to that last category, I would disagree. Kage doesn't have many low attacks. His game has always been high/mid. Kage is fairly fast, but his damage potential is, relatively speaking, low. (Which is what matters by the way, pure numbers mean nothing) R Kage seems to be the lowest damaging Kage within memory. Kage has lost special properties on some moves and a few moves all together. I miss 9P+G.

I'm not asking to see some staged tutorial video where a 100+ damage wall combo is performed. I already know that's possible. I also already know that compared to other characters in a similar situation, a 100 damage wall combo isn't anything special. I just wanted to see some footage of good Kage play using strategies unique to the character. I've seen plenty of impressive Shun and Akira footage.

This wasn't intended to turn into a debate over the character. Objectively speaking, I think my notion isn't far-fetched. Kage probably isn't any higher than mid-tier in R. However, if he's higher or lower, that's fine. I really don't care at this point. I just wanted some links to some good Kage matches and I thought somebody would be able to oblige.

Thanks to MAtteoJHDY; that was a nice match up. Very defensive for the whole duration.