Chai

“

And I know it now... I don't need a guitar. I AM a rockstar.

„

“	Who cares? Did you think we wouldn't talk to you anymore? We got this far because of you. We're all here because of you. And I'm here fighting because of what you found, and what you're trying to stop.	„
	~ Chai to Peppermint

“	It only gives us a stronger reason to fight. As friends.	„
	~ Chai to Peppermint

“	You've got a killer track. But every song's gotta end.	„
	~ Chai to QA-1MIL

“	-Chai... is it? -Yup. -Profession... Rockstar? -FUTURE... rockstar.	„
	~ LU-C1LLE and Chai, from the introduction cutscene

“	CHAI A slacker with larger-than-life ambitions, Chai's life is turned upside down when a botched corporate experiment accidently gives him musical robot powers. Labeled a defect, Chai will have to rely on his pals, including his mechanical cat assistant 808, to fight back against the megacorp looking to "recall" him.	„
	~ Character profile on the Hi-Fi Rush website

“

And I know it now... I don't need a guitar. I AM a rockstar.

„

“	Who cares? Did you think we wouldn't talk to you anymore? We got this far because of you. We're all here because of you. And I'm here fighting because of what you found, and what you're trying to stop.	„
	~ Chai to Peppermint

“	It only gives us a stronger reason to fight. As friends.	„
	~ Chai to Peppermint

“	You've got a killer track. But every song's gotta end.	„
	~ Chai to QA-1MIL

“	-Chai... is it? -Yup. -Profession... Rockstar? -FUTURE... rockstar.	„
	~ LU-C1LLE and Chai, from the introduction cutscene

“	CHAI A slacker with larger-than-life ambitions, Chai's life is turned upside down when a botched corporate experiment accidently gives him musical robot powers. Labeled a defect, Chai will have to rely on his pals, including his mechanical cat assistant 808, to fight back against the megacorp looking to "recall" him.	„
	~ Character profile on the Hi-Fi Rush website

Background

Chai is the main playable protagonist of Hi-Fi Rush. One of the Heroes in the game, Chai is a college dropout that became a "defect" after a botched experiment from Project Armstrong, making him a target of Vandelay Technologies.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Chai’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Sometime after dropping out of college, Chai became interested in getting a robotic implant from Project Armstrong to replace his disabled right arm and to finally become a rockstar, but Vandelay's assessment of his profile would have landed him on simple garbage pickup duty. However, this ended up going sideways as his MP3 player that was tossed aside by Kale Vandelay himself (unknowingly) landed on his chest just as he was about to get his implant. This resulted in the MP3 player becoming embedded in his chest, giving him, in his own words, "musical robot powers".

General Information

Name: Chai

Origin: Hi-Fi Rush

Sex: Male

Age: 25 (Wrote down his age along with his profession during the beginning of the game)

Classification: Cyborg, "Defect", "Future Rockstar"

Species: Human

Occupation: Rockstar

Affiliations: 808, Peppermint, Macaron, Korsica (After her fight with Chai), CNMN

Enemies: Kale Vandelay, Rekka, Zanzo, Korsica (Formerly), Mimosa, Roquefort

Status: Alive

Alignment: Chaotic Good (Chai is apart of a rebellious group of hackers aiming to stop Vandelay's plan to use Spectra to mind control people)

Codex Statistics

Grade: S

Tier: 8-B

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: City Block level (Fought and defeated QA-1MIL, a robot of this size, towering this far. Fought and defeated wolf form Roquefort, a massively giant robotic wolf. Can cause craters with his attacks. Can harm those who can harm him)

Durability: City Block level (Tanked an explosion from the power gun, that resulted in this levels of energy. Tanked getting hit from the HG-OG bot, sending him through 6 thick concrete walls with a single strike. Tanked an explosion that launched him into glass hard enough to crack it. Tanked getting hit by wolf form Roquefort, sending him flying in a cracked safe and through a massive gold wall)

Striking Strength: City Block Class

Lifting Strength: Unknown

Travel Speed: Superhuman (Can move so fast that he creates afterimages from just dashing)

Attack Speed: Superhuman, can't be blitzed due to his music powers

Reaction Speed: Superhuman, can't be blitzed due to his music powers (The entire world moves to the beat, including objects in the background. With it even being further noted by Smidge that the whole world moves to Chai's beat. Due to the world moving to Chai's beat even objects far faster then him, such as lasers, must abide by his beat allowing him to easily parry them)

Stamina: Above Average (Has shown to clear entire stages while fighting in an underground magma fueled area without showing any real signs of tiring)

Range: Standard Melee, Extended Melee with Waste Remover, Tens of Meters through Summoning Korsica (Korsica's wind blast are capable of reaching this far) & Harmonic Beam (Shoots out a beam that reaches this far), Hundreds of Meters through Summoning Peppermint (Peppermint is issued with a PC-338 energy gun to help shoot long-ranged targets Chai can't hit), Universal with his music powers (The entire world moves to the beat, including objects in the background. With it even being further noted by Smidge that the whole world moves to Chai's beat. Learned how to perfectly parry attacks where the accuracy code was flawless)

Intelligence: Gifted Intelligence

Despite just learning of his powers to everything falling to the rhythm, Chai is able to use it effectively in combat to use various combos on his enemies. Spent an entire boss fight perfectly parrying all attacks from Korsica, a trained head of security whose a skilled wielder of both of her batons.

All of Chai's battles have to do with the song or beat playing in his mp3 player, initially, he struggles with the timing but as he progresses he is able to block attacks from things such as lasers where it was noted that the accuracy code was flawless yet Chai was able to perfect parry it, Chai is able to synchronize with the frequency of an object in order to completely destroy it.

Knowledge:

Novice level (Chai has shown to be, rather airheaded, being noted to be an idiot)

At least Master level ( His combos being able to effortlessly juggle several robots, mix in his teammates into combos while also using acrobatic flips and spatial coordination to fling his enemy around. Chai can also do this while being completely perfectly on beat)

At least Master level (All of Chai's battles have to do with the song or beat playing in his mp3 player, initially, he struggles with the timing but as he progresses he is able to block attacks from things such as lasers where it was noted that the accuracy code was flawless yet Chai was able to perfect parry it, Chai is able to synchronize with the frequency of an object in order to completely destroy it)

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Human Achievements (By the end of the game, became a skilled musician, with him even noting to Kale he wasn't winging it anymore), Acrobatics & Multiple Jumps (Even before receiving his cybernetic upgrades, Chai has shown to be an acrobatic person, and shown after his cybernetic upgrades to be capable of doing superhuman leaps. Chai is able to double jump), Weapon Mastery (Is equipped with a waste remover, that he can use the metals around him to form into a guitar that he uses in battle for various combos), Cyborgization (Partial; Was put into an experiment where his arm was replcaed with a cybernetic arm and a MP3 player embedded in his chest that allows him to feel the "beat of the world"), Accelerated Development (Other, Abilities; Chai can learn new attacks and special attacks from buying them in the shop), Stealth Mastery (Chai is able to hide from visual sight in combat through quickly going behind the enemy, giving them a hard time at finding him), Enhanced Senses (Able to fight just fine in dark rooms), Afterimage Creation (Can create multi-colored afterimages from dashing), Breaking the Fourth Wall & Plot Manipulation (Narrative Manipulation; Traditional; Defensive; Chai can directly direct himself to the audience. Chai and his friends are able to cause continuity errors being acknowledged as meta moments that the characters acknowledge, going further enough to go to areas that they couldn't even be there yet, along with activate cutscenes, Chai can use these continuity errors to also escape out of being imprisoned, it's also directly noted that the continuity errors aren't due to an 808 upgrade as Peppermint mentioned she can't teleport Chai back, and it's further noted all of these events are plot inconsistencies), Magnetism Manipulation & Metal Manipulation (Chai with his arm is meant for magnetic waste removal, which allows him to magnetically grab all metals around his weapon and form it into a guitar. Chai's magnetic arm allows him to perform a magnet grab, where he can reach far away places or quickly close in on enemies in battle. Dodging is able to pull items from far away to Chai), Reality Warping, Sound Manipulation, Broadway Force & Velocity Manipulation (Passive; Defensive & Offensive; As Chai's MP3 player is embedded into his chest, this allows him to feel the "beat of the world", and make everything sync with the beat, Chai's attacks will automatically sync up with the music and always land on the beat. The entire world moves to the beat, including objects in the background. With it even being further noted by Smidge that the whole world moves to Chai's beat), Precognition (Analytical Prediction; As everything moves to the beat, that includes enemies, as the security units are moving and acting to the same rhythm as Chai, which means he knows exactly when attacks will come and be able to avoid them), Statistics Amplification (The music player in his chest is powering up Chai's robot arm), Technology Manipulation (Can sync himself with other robotics), Damage Boost (Attacking enemies on the beat does more damage then his regular attacks), Absorption (His arm is able to absorb a lot of energy into him that he can let out to destroy things he previously couldn't break), Hacking (Can hack into robots in order to get items out of them), Electricity Manipulation (Can re-surge power into a busted generator through hitting it at the correct beat, causing eletric sparks), Perfect Guard & Attack Reflection (Can parry attacks to reflect attacks back and perfect guard all attacks), Air Manipulation (Seemingly caused a massive gust of wind after beating Mimosa in a beat off), Durability Negation (Chai is able to synchronize with the frequency of an object in order to completely destroy it, this includes even forcefields that he himself can't break through along with Peppermint and Macaron), One Hit KO (Through rhythm Parry Attacks, Chai can parry all attacks and take an enemy out in one hit, regardless of how hard they were to kill previously), Explosion Manipulation (With Echo Splash, the combo ends with an explosion), Energy Projection (With Harmonic Beam, shhots out a powerful energy beam), Healing (With Pick Me Up!, Chai busts out a reserve energy drink to give him a health boost mid battle), Aura (With Rip and Tear, Chai harnesses the energy of the beast, creating an aura of beastly claws that rip apart any enemies in front of Chai), Illusion Creation (Standard Illusions; With Holo-Chai, Chai creates a hologram to confuse the enemy and attack the wrong Chai), Time Manipulation (With Hibiki, Chai slows down time to use one of his hardest hitting attacks. Chai also slows down time with Overdrive Slash), Intangibility (Phasing; Can dodge through attacks through perfect dashing), Limited Transmutation (Can transform his waste remover into an actual guitar).

Resistance to Extreme Heats (Can travel through the R&D branch, an area deep blow the island that uses magma as a natural power source), Fire Manipulation (Can be set on fire and easily douse himself with no lasting injuries), Electricity Manipulation (Can tank getting eletrocuted with no lasting effects), Paralysis Inducement (Can take hits from Korsica's wind attacks, without being paralyzed/stunned), Information Analysis (Noted by CNMN that every time he tried to quantify Chai and put him into a calculation he kept getting an error, noting him as the human equivalent of dividing by zero)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Small Size (Small Animal Sized), Inorganic Physiology (Non-living Object; 808 is a robotic cat built by Peppermint, where robots are directly acknowledged of not having flesh), Acrobatics & Multiple Jumps (808 is capable of double jumping to dodge Kale's attacks), Flight & Transformation (Transformative Arsenal; Able to transform into a spherical object to float around Chai), Power Modification (808 is noted to be altering Chai's abilities to give him new abilities to use through the course of battle, such as summoning allies), Space-Time Manipulation & Summoning (Defensive; Due to 808, Chai is able to summon his allies which is noted to be done through temporal displacement, with this he can summon Peppermint, Macaron, and Korsica), Damage Boost (With 808 Chai has a new skill known as the Beat Hit, which is a timing based bonus attack), Shockwave Generation (Generates shockwaves after the end of a beat hit), Empathic Manipulation (With Steal the Show, 808 steals the enemies heart leaving them fluttering and open to attack, works even on robots).

Resistance to Extreme Heats (Robots are not programmed to feel heat)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence (Built her robotic cat, 808, who she can use to talk through to speak with Chai during missions. Through just using gears Peppermint can help Chai learn new attacks, learn special attacks, and give him permenant upgrades. Is able to sync up Chai's tech with 808, with Chai's music powers being completely new and unheard of before this point. Peppermint is able to modify Chai's energy source to micromange his abilities. Noted by Korsica that she's made amazing tech. Able to fix a broken down truck), Hacking (Peppermint is able to hack into high tech security organizations, getting rooms open even in the security section), Cyborgization (Partial; Has a cybernetic right leg), Weapon Mastery (A skilled user of her PC-338), Breaking the Fourth Wall & Plot Manipulation (Narrative Manipulation; Traditional; Defensive; Peppermint and her friends are able to cause continuity errors being acknowledged as meta moments that the characters acknowledge, going further enough to go to areas that they couldn't even be there yet, along with activate cutscenes, Chai has used these continuity errors to also escape out of being imprisoned, it's also directly noted that the continuity errors aren't due to an 808 upgrade as Peppermint mentioned she can't teleport Chai back, and it's further noted all of these events are plot inconsistencies), Energy Projection (With her PC-338, she can shoot out energy projectiles), Energy Projection (With her PC-338, she can shoot out energy projectiles), Curtain Fire (Can shoot out multiple projectiles at once hititng multiple enemies across an entire floor), Forcefield Negation (Peppermint is able to disable forcefields and barriers. Can overload enemy barriers, negaitng them), Power Modification (Peppermint is able to modify Chai's energy source to micromange his abilities), Transformation (Morphing; Peppermint can transform her blaster into an ultimate beam)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence (Noted that he used to be the head of R&D uder Roxanne Vandelay. Able to assist in chip enhancements just like Peppermint, with him being able to power up chips, and taking over for upgrades. Programmed CNMN (Consciouness Review Allocation Personnel), a psych robot, to analyze his creations. Macaron was the one who created Smidge, a friendly robot that helps and explains mechanics to Chai. Repaired CNMN's mostly destroyed body), Vehicular Usage (Able to drive the Vandelay van), Cyborgization (Partial; Macaron is noted to have robotic implants), Hacking (Able to hack the cameras to make Zanzo unable to see Chai. Made basic electric appliances unable to work, which is all revealed to be his doing), Breaking the Fourth Wall & Plot Manipulation (Narrative Manipulation; Traditional; Defensive; Macaron and his friends are able to cause continuity errors being acknowledged as meta moments that the characters acknowledge, going further enough to go to areas that they couldn't even be there yet, along with activate cutscenes, Chai has used these continuity errors to also escape out of being imprisoned, it's also directly noted that the continuity errors aren't due to an 808 upgrade as Peppermint mentioned she can't teleport Chai back, and it's further noted all of these events are plot inconsistencies), Forcefield Negation (Able to easily destroy shields made of Z-shielding and completely shatter enemy shielding), Forcefield Creation (With Barrier Wall, Macroon throws down a barrier for Chai to protect him from all attacks in front of him), Gravity Manipulation & Energy Manipulation (With Gravity Well, Macaron lets out a force of energy locking surrounding enemies in place)

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Weapon Mastery (Korsica utilizes two batons in combat, where she can use them separately or put them together to create a bo staff-like weapon), Cyborgization (Partial; After her injuries, she is outfited with cybernetic parts), Breaking the Fourth Wall & Plot Manipulation (Narrative Manipulation; Traditional; Defensive; Korsica and her friends are able to cause continuity errors being acknowledged as meta moments that the characters acknowledge, going further enough to go to areas that they couldn't even be there yet, along with activate cutscenes, Chai has shown to use these continuity errors to also escape out of being imprisoned, it's also directly noted that the continuity errors aren't due to an 808 upgrade as Peppermint mentioned she can't teleport Chai back, and it's further noted all of these events are plot inconsistencies), Healing (Seemingly healed herself back to higher health during her boss fight), Air Manipulation & Paralysis Inducement (Can fire out wind based projectiles, that stun enemies. Her gusts of winds are strong enough to blow out flamethrowers temporarily)

Information Analysis (With the enemy analyze chip, Chai is able to see the enemy's health), Extrasensory Perception (With Chip Sense, Chai will now detect Armstrong Chips with an exclamation mark appearing above his head when one's nearby), Power Modification (With Peppermint Compatibility, Macaron Compatibility, and Korsica Compability, decreases all three partners recharge tim to be summoned back into battle. With Health Kick, increases health recovery through health packs by 10%. With Battery Magnet, increases reverb gauge recovery through batteries by 10%. With Rhythm Meter Rush, increases "Rhythm Meter's" rise by 10%. With Rhythm Dodge Pull Plus, increases the distance of item pull after a rhythm dodge), Creation (With Parry Health and Parry Charge , adds a 20/30/40% rate of spawning health packs and batteries after a successful just-timed parry), Invulnerability (Physical Invulnerability; With invincible D-Parry, becomes invincible for 4/6/9 seconds after a successful directional parry), Attack Reflection (With Damage Rebound D-Parry, deflects 20 damage when performing a successful directional parry), Limited Power Nullification (With Rhythm Dodge Pull Cancel, removes the ability to pull items when dashing)

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Equipment

• Waste Remover: Chai possesses a modified Project Armstrong arm implant capable of containing a trash grabber, when combined, the arm attracts scraps of metal to the grabber, giving it a form reminiscent of a V-shaped guitar and allowing it to be used as a mace-like weapon. The grabber will sometimes transform into a real guitar when Chai finishes up a boss. Additionally, he can zip from Point A to Point B with his arm implant by using its magnetic properties.

• 808: 808 is one of the main characters in Hi-Fi Rush. Encountering Chai in the first stage, she assists the team in many ways such as providing Chai with Beat Hits and transporting his allies via Assists.

• Peppermint: Peppermint is one of the main protagonists in Hi-Fi Rush. She is the first hero that Chai meets, being the creator of 808. Peppermint is an ultra-computer literate and expert mechanic, using her skills to infiltrate and discover the truth behind Vandelay's actions. Following the second chapter, Peppermint joins Chai and can be summoned as an Assist, utilizing her guns from long ranges. After Korsica ultimately joined the hero side, Peppermint reveals herself to her allies that she was the youngest child of the Vandelay family prior to their company being compromised by her brother Kale, revealing her full name to be Peppermint Vandelay.

• Macaron: Macaron is one of the protagonists in Hi-Fi Rush. A former worker of Vandelay Technologies, Macaron joins Chai's team to stop their plans before its too late. Starting with Track 4, Macaron can be summoned as an Assist for close-range combat, utilizing his strength to break barriers.

• Korsica: Korsica is one of the central antagonists in Hi-Fi Rush. She is the head of security at Vandelay Technologies, and the youngest boss of the game's six main bosses. Following her boss encounter, she joins up with Chai and the others as a summonable Assist, being able to put out fires and stun enemies from mid-range.

Store - Items
Name	Cost (in Cogs)
Life Gauge	5,000*
Electric Reverb Core	10,000*
Health Tank	50,000*
Special Attack Slot Upgrade	40,000*

Store - Chips
Name	Level(s)	Effect	Cost
Peppermint Compatibility	3	Decreases Peppermint recharge time by 12.5% (x Chip Level).	* Free * 8,000 Cogs * 15,000 Cogs
Health Kick	3	Increases Health recovery through Health Packs by 10% (x Chip Level).	* 4,000 Cogs, 2 Broken Chips * 9,000 Cogs * 25,000 Cogs
Battery Magnet	3	Increases Reverb Gauge recovery through Batteries by 10% (x Chip Level).	* 7,500 Cogs, 2 Broken Chips * 15,000 Cogs * 22,000 Cogs
Rhythm Meter Rush	3	Increases 'Rhythm Meter's' rise by 10% (x Chip Level).	* Free * 10,000 Cogs * 15,000 Cogs
Parry Health	3	Adds a 20/30/40% (depending on Chip Level) rate of spawning Health Packs after a successful 'Just-timed' Parry.	* 5,000 Cogs, 4 Broken Chips * 11,000 Cogs * 20,000 Cogs
Parry Charge	3	Adds a 20/30/40% (depending on Chip Level) rate of spawning Batteries after a successful 'Just-timed' Parry.	* 6,000 Cogs, 4 Broken Chips * 15,000 Cogs * 23,000 Cogs
Invincible D-Parry	3	Become invincible for 4/6/9 seconds (depending on Chip Level) after a successful Directional Parry.	* 5,000 Cogs, 5 Broken Chips * 12,000 Cogs * 18,000 Cogs
Damage Rebound D-Parry	3	Deflects 20 (x Chip Level) damage when performing a successful Directional Parry.	* 6,000 Cogs, 5 Broken Chips * 17,000 Cogs * 23,000 Cogs
Combo Holder	3	Increases duration (in beats) of Combo by +3 (x Chip Level).	* 4,000 Cogs, 2 Broken Chips * 12,000 Cogs * 20,000 Cogs
Rhythm Dodge Pull Plus	3	Increases distance of item pull after a 'Rhythm Dodge' by +3 (x Chip Level).	* 3,500 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 8,000 Cogs * 12,000 Cogs
Rhythm Dodge Pull Cancel	1	Removes the ability to pull items when dashing.	3,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips
Instant Partner Recharge	1	Allows you to spend a Reverb Gague to instantly summon a Companion that's on cooldown.	7,500 Cogs, 4 Broken Chips
Peppermint Shock Advantage	3	Increases time of Peppermint's summon attack shock effect by +8/16/24 (depending on Chip Level). (Protected foes or those with a Stun Gauge are unaffected)	* 8,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 12,000 Cogs * 18,000 Cogs
Peppermint Shock Jump	3	Increases enemies hit by Peppermint's summon attack shock effect by 1 (x Chip Level). (Protected foes or those with a Stun Gauge are unaffected)	* 5,000 Cogs, 5 Broken Chips * 15,000 Cogs * 21,000 Cogs
<hidden>Macaron</hidden> Compatibility	3	Decreases <hidden>Macaron</hidden> recharge time by 12.5% (x Chip Level).	* 5,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 13,000 Cogs * 20,000 Cogs
<hidden>Macaron's</hidden> Lucky Punch	3	Increases the chance of <hidden>Macaron's</hidden> summon attack dealing double damage by +25% (x Chip Level).	* 4,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 15,000 Cogs * 30,000 Cogs
<hidden>Macaron's</hidden> Aftershock	3	Increases the range of <hidden>Macaron's</hidden> summon attack by +10% (x Chip Level).	* 5,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 11,000 Cogs * 18,000 Cogs
<hidden>Korsica</hidden> Compatibility	3	Decreases <hidden>Korsica</hidden> recharge time by 12.5% (x Chip Level).	* 3,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 10,000 Cogs * 20,000 Cogs
Super High Alert	3	Increases length of <hidden>Korsica's</hidden> 'High Alert' by 10 (x Chip Level) beats.	* 4,000 Cogs, 3 Broken Chips * 8,000 Cogs * 19,000 Cogs
<hidden>Korsica</hidden> Stun Extend	3	Increases time of <hidden>Korsica's</hidden> summon attack stun effect by 1 (x Chip Level) beats.	* 7,500 Cogs, 6 Broken Chips * 14,000 Cogs * 25,000 Cogs
Chip Sense	1	Chai will now detect Armstrong Chips, with an exclamation mark (!) appearing above his head when one's nearby.	50,000 Cogs, 2 Broken Chips

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Notable Techniques

• Magnetic Arm and Grabber: Chai possesses a modified Project Armstrong arm implant capable of containing a trash grabber, when combined, the arm attracts scraps of metal to the grabber, giving it a form reminiscent of a V-shaped guitar and allowing it to be used as a mace-like weapon. The grabber will sometimes transform into a real guitar when Chai finishes up a boss. Additionally, he can zip from Point A to Point B with his arm implant by using its magnetic properties.
• "Musical Robot Powers": With Chai's MP3 player embedded in his chest, he can feel the rhythm of the world. It somewhat acts as his "sixth sense", as he can feel the beat of his entire environment as if the world is a musical score, allowing him to time his movement when traversing through dangerous areas, read his opponents' movements and evade any of their attacks, parry said attacks, and more. Additionally, he can also create what it seems to be colorful shockwave blasts and guitar sounds per each attack.
• Temporal Displacement: Thanks to 808's configurations by Peppermint, Chai is able to call upon his friends to help him out during battle at any place and any time.
• Blunt Weapon Proficiency: Although it may look "ineffective" under normal conditions, Chai's possesses remarkable skills with his "scrap guitar", creating rhythmic swings and strikes, and even flamboyant attacks like throwing the weapon around him like a boomerang, attacking while airborne, and more.
• Enhanced Durability: Chai appears to have enhanced durability to a fairly high degree, crashing through several windows and falling from various heights without injury. He can also take a large amount of punishment from weapons such as the beam batons and swords wielded by the foot soldiers of Vandelay.

• Echo Splash: A ground combo that leads into an air combo. Landing the beat hit will send enemies in front of Chai into the air where they can be rushed to with a dash or magnet to further the combo.
• Tune Up: A rest combo that attacks an enemy directly in front of Chai, but finishes up with a wide area attack that can hit multiple enemies and send them flying.
• Stomp Box: Chai jumps up in the air and lands the beat hit to do a full 360 degree area attack.
• Arpeggio Stab: Begins as a ground combo, lifts the enemy in the air, and ends with a multiple hit slash. While lacking a Beat Hit finish, the enemy is left vulnerable to any other air combo.
• Pickup Crash: Chai builds up energy with his heavy attack to power his guitar up with extra garbage/magnetic items around him. This results in a powerful slash that sends all enemies flying back. Following up with a magnet grab can continue the combo and create a magnet link bonus.
• Harmonic Beam: A high-level air combo attack, combining weak and heavy attacks to send the enemies in the air and send them back into the ground to finish off with a powerful beam from above. This beam can also damage nearby enemies.
• Compressor Slam: A multiple hit air combo that ends with a smashing crash to the ground.
• Shred: After the second heavy attack, Chai unleashes a fury of quick attacks, landing the beat hit will pull out batteries from surrounding enemies. Raises the rhythm rank and charges the reverb gauge quickly.
• Staccato Launch: A special technique coming from holding down the light attack mid combo. After a single beat, releasing the light attack button causes a forward blast of damage.
• Gain Tornado: Holding down the heavy attack will charge up Chai's magnetic abilities and pull in metallic objects to create a far larger guitar, the full attack will unleash a multiple hit area attack.
• Quick Beat Hit: The Quick Beat hit immediately puts out a longer attack that only commits to a single hit, however it's the quickest way to connect into linked attacks like the jam combo.
• Steal Counter: A unique opportunity for a counter attack. After a successful parry, Chai will grab an enemy and throw them across the battlefield. This may cause the enemy to drop a special item as well.
• Magnet Backstab: Chai will use his magnet to magnet towards the enemy and then go behind the enemy, confusing them and leaving them open for attack.
• Air Parry: Chai is able to parry while in the air.
• Directional Parry: Chai is able to parry while moving towards the enemy, which adds stun gauge damage 1.5x, two beats of invicibility after the parry, and a score bonus.

• Switch Kicker: Calls in Peppermint while in the middle of a ground combo with a beat hit to perform a jam combo, Peppermint swings in and kicks into enemies, finishing with launching them in the air.
• Master Blaster: A jam combo where Chai and Peppermint team up to pull out a large energy gun on an airbone enemy. Peppermint will transform her blaster into an ultimate beam, doing multiple hits and huge damage.
• Cannon Spike: A charge up attack from Peppermint. Peppermint will hop on the battlefield and charge her blaster, letting out an area blast that can also destroy strong barriers quickly.
• Kick Shot: A counter from Peppermint, by calling her one beat after a successful parry, she will hop in and counter attack the enemy that attacked Chai. If the enemy has a barrier, she will do significantly more damage than normal. This can also be done if Chai dodge counters perfectly.

• Double Bass Drop: A Jam Combo with Macaron, calls in Macaron on the beat hit timing to smash into an enemy and send the weakened enemies spinning into the air.
• High Strung: Macaron teams up in the air with Chai to send the enemy crashing back into the ground. Once knocked into the ground the enemy will lay stunned for a few moments.
• Gravity Well: Macaron will charge up his robotics and let out a force of energy locking surrounding enemies in place and open to attacks. If the enemy resists it, they will still recieve more damage from this.
• Love Tap: Hit back at the enemy with a knockout punch from Macaron. When successfully payying an enemy, calls in Macaron one beat after will have him attack the enemy, if the enemy is shielded it will do significantly more damage, potentially even destroying their shields in one blow. This can also be done if Chai dodge counters perfectly.

• High Security Risk: A jam combo with Korsica that not only unleashes a flurry of hits, but also allows one to conitnue comboing the defeated enemy for an overkill bonus.
• Tornado Lift: Use Korsica's wind energy to keep an enemy in the air as Chai attacks the enemy from all sides, doing damage as well as significantly stunning them.
• Korsica Typhoon: Call in Korsica and charges her wind energy. Releasing it sends out tornados to catch enemies and leaves them open to attack and more open to stun damage.
• High Alert: Korsica comes in for a counter, knocking an enemy into the air with her baton. When performed successfully, it sets up Chai to fight back with an immediate air combo.

• Power Chord: Chai spins around and does repeated damage on the enemy, with the combo finishing off the enemy or dealing heavy damage.
• Guitar Ride: Chai rides his guitar around the battlefield, catching all enemies in his way and racking up a huge combo. Landing on the beat hit at the end will flip up the energy built up to cap off the slide.
• Pick me Up!: When Chai's in trouble, he will bust out a reserve energy drink to give him a health boost mid battle. Landing the beat hit when drinking will restore even more health.
• Pick Slide: Lets out a powerful riff that will build up the stun meter for any enemy in front of Chai. It's a quick way to knock back groups of enemies and quickly opens up heavy enemies for attacks.
• High Pitch Punch: Harnessing the power that Chai's arm holds, Chai unleashes a devastating uppercut sending him in the air, along with any enemy in close range.
• Air Guitar: The power chord used in the air. Finish off the enemies in an air combo with the special attack or does heavy damage to flying enemies.
• Rip and Tear: Chai harnesses the energy of the beast. It is unknown if it's an evil within Chai though an aura of beastly claws rip apart any enemies that are in front of Chai.
• Holo-Chai: Vandelay's technology harnessed to create a hologram of Chai. It is used to confuse enemies to attack the wrong Chai and leave the real Chai to focus on his enemy of choice.
• Hibiki!: One of Chai's hardest hitting attacks, spinning around and unleashing his inner rockstar with an epic blast. Chai slows down time to build up enough energy in rhythm to do the most damage and activates the beat hit at the end.
• Overdrive Slash: Chai builds up energy to the rhythm to unleash a series of slashes. Finishing the attack with a Beat Hit sends the resulting slashes forward. Chai also slows down time for this one.

• Double Riff: Chai teams up with Peppermint to blast away enemies. With Peppermint's arsenal and Chai's musical energy, a machine gun of damage is set forth damaging anything in the path. This attack is particuarly effective against barrier enemies and will do damage to armored enemies.

• Barrier Wall: Macaron senses danger and develops a barrier to protect Chai. Macaron's protective barrier wall can defend Chai against three hits before being destroyed.

• Twin Assault: Summons in Korsica to attack with her batons and finishing it off with a combo hit. As it has a wide range, it's likely to pull in multiple enemies.

• Steal the Show: 808 literally steals the enemies' hearts leaving them fluttering and open to attack. Even some of Vandelay's strongest robots cannot resist this attack.
• 808-Gigawatt Cat Attack: A team-up attack with 808, with Chai holding the cat out in front of him and letting it slash at his enemy. 808's claws surprisingly deal a massive amount of damage to foes.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Chai will use his musical powers to have one fight to his beat where he will incoporate various combos and summon allies into battle to help him.

Weaknesses: Chai is seemingly delusional at points viewing himself as being on a stage when learning new attacks, even though he's not actually there. Chai summoning allies takes a bit out of him, requiring him to recharge before he can summon an ally again.

Note: Despite some misconceptions, Chai is able to fight without his weapon, one of his special attacks has him uppercut an opponent with his robot arm.

Trivia

• Chai is voiced by Robbie Daymond in English, known for voicing Spider-Man in various Marvel TV shows and some Video Games.
  • Chai is also voiced by Hiro Shimono in Japanese, known for voicing Zenitsu Agatsuma in Shueisha and Aniplex's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Zephyr in Sega's Resonance of Fate, Dabi/Touya Todoroki in Shueisha's My Hero Academia, and the titular protagonist of Peter Grill and the Philosopher's Time.
• Before signing up to Project Armstrong, Chai was originally assigned to waste management as a garbage collector before becoming a defect, explaining why he has a grabber and magnetically collects nuts and bolts.
• His name means "Tea" in several languages. This follows the pattern of several characters being named after foods/drinks.
• Chai is scared of both regular spiders and robot spiders.
• Despite claiming that he's a 'future' rock star when joining the Armstrong program, he had never actually played any guitar at all prior as pointed out by Peppermint and Kale. A theory to why he never did was confirmed by the game's director, that Chai didn't have full function of his right arm and wasn't simply faking it with his scarf in the intro. It also explains why he signed up to the Armstrong program, to replace it and finally have a chance at his dream.

Gallery

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  Character profile image on the Hi-Fi Rush website

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  Character dossier from the Hi-Fi Rush Twitter account

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  Default costume wielding the Vandelay Custom Solution Crimson

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  Superhero Set

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  Superstar Set

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  Punk Set

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  Raging Sane Set

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  Player 2 Set

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  Popstar Set

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  Dapper Set

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  DJ Set

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  Ragtag Set

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  Shark Set

Battle Records

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