[Duke2go]

Since there are so many characters, I didn't put up a poll. I was just inspired b/c I was watching E3 gameplay for SF5 today and I was just thinking about how my favorite character has always been Ryu (and evil Ryu in the Alpha series). I always felt Akuma was a strong character too b/c he was a good balance for me between Ryu and Ken. While I've learned how to play other characters in the different games, I still find myself coming back to the Shotos when I want to really compete. Figured this would be a neat thread to get some interesting discussions. So please, feel free to share and discuss!

Edit: Technically, I guess the non-playable characters should be ruled out. So if you can't play as the character, they can't be included. And for this topic, please no Darkstalkers or MVC characters, just Street Fighters. Also, to avoid having to distinguish between the different versions of Balrog, Vega, and M.Bison, lets just stick to the American names so that we don't have to specify which one we mean 

(The American names edit was done on 7/3, so there are a few posts that have clarifications in them)

[Bregalad]

My favourite is Ken and Sakura (if she counts, only present in some games)

My least favourite is Chun Li. I really *H*A*T*E* her.

[FAST6191]

I seldom bother to take fighting games to the level where learning just one or two characters becomes the only manageable thing, and Street Fighter is not an exception to that mindset. I much prefer to be competent with all of them and allow whatever I have by way of reaction/timing to carry me through. Though beyond that I do not tend to enjoy fighting games, much less two player versus ones and would rather see the engine in a side scroller or general 3d game.

That said for street fighter I do seem to gravitate slightly towards Dhalsim when doing single player on the earlier ones, which are most of what I would care to play there.

[Duke2go]

My favourite is Ken and Sakura (if she counts, only present in some games)

My least favourite is Chun Li. I really *H*A*T*E* her.

Didn't put any limits on the game, as long as it was a Street Fighter character. Although I just edited to rule out NPCs. I didn't like Chun Li when I was fighting against her a lot of times. It seemed like she got overpowered at points. I always liked Sakura myself, and she was a cool diversion in a lot of the games. Personally, Ken became my nemesis in SF2 Arcade and I've just harbored a grudge against him since I was a teen. I remember sitting in my room playing SF2 Turbo for my SNES until I beat him perfect both rounds. I actually turned the game off then b/c I had just destroyed Ken that bad, and THAT was my accomplishment haha.

I seldom bother to take fighting games to the level where learning just one or two characters becomes the only manageable thing, and Street Fighter is not an exception to that mindset. I much prefer to be competent with all of them and allow whatever I have by way of reaction/timing to carry me through. Though beyond that I do not tend to enjoy fighting games, much less two player versus ones and would rather see the engine in a side scroller or general 3d game.

That said for street fighter I do seem to gravitate slightly towards Dhalsim when doing single player on the earlier ones, which are most of what I would care to play there.

I tend to agree with this statement with most games. Like, when MVC2 PS2 came out, I eventually learned how to play with most of the characters rather well, but it helped that I played the game with my roommate like EVERY day, so we tried a lot of different combinations of characters. I have eventually expanded to a lot of different SF characters, like Guile, Chun Li, Cammy, the Shotos, and some others. I just never cared for the charge characters (probably b/c I started with Ryu b/c he looked like me). It just seemed to me that pressing down then up without the 2 second charge would have been better (especially since the computer times the charge to the point that it doesn't appear to charge at all). When I play as Charlie in the Alpha games for example, I tend to "charge block" meaning I'm holding down and back so I can charge and wait for an opportunity to use either the sonic boom or flash kick. Dhalsim did become a lot cooler when they gave him the teleport, and kudos to you if you got good with him b/c he was too slow for me. Liking the responses to this so far, especially since it was supposed to just be a fun discussion.

[JCE3000GT]

Ken, Guile, Gouki (Akuma).  While the Zero/Alpha series is probably my overall favorite there is no substitute for the original Street Fighter II, no turbo, no Super, just Street Fighter II.    *edit* Oh and E. Honda is pretty badass too.

My least favorite characters are mostly females and only because I cannot stand their voices or moves.  Exception is Rose, she is awesome.  I also do not like T.Hawk, Guy, Dee Jay, Balrog/Vega, Street Fighter III in its intirerty, Rufus, and that El Fuetre guy in SF4. 

I would go in depth more but I'm only phone and tired or typing. 

[M-Tee]

Balrog (Boxer) in SVC: Chaos.

[MisterJones]

I tend to prefer hit and run melee characters, so Rolento and Vega for me. If for some reason CvS 2 counted, add Vice to the list.

[Duke2go]

Ken, Guile, Gouki (Akuma).  While the Zero/Alpha series is probably my overall favorite there is no substitute for the original Street Fighter II, no turbo, no Super, just Street Fighter II.    *edit* Oh and E. Honda is pretty badass too.

My least favorite characters are mostly females and only because I cannot stand their voices or moves.  Exception is Rose, she is awesome.  I also do not like T.Hawk, Guy, Dee Jay, Balrog/Vega, Street Fighter III in its intirerty, Rufus, and that El Fuetre guy in SF4. 

I would go in depth more but I'm only phone and tired or typing. 

We must have been long lost twins man hahaha. I particularly didn't like T.Hawk, although he telegraphed everything, he was just too unbalanced, and had problems fighting Dee Jay unless I just hurricane spammed him in the Super Turbo game for 3DO (anybody else have that gem?). I got good with pretty much the characters you listed too. Guile, Chun Li (even though she was annoying to fight), E. Honda, Vega (Spanish), Sagat, Balrog, Bison (Thai), Rose, and Akuma were all characters that I got pretty good with against the computer, but I rarely had anyone I could fight 2 player who was any good. I literally had to TRAIN my old roommate to play MVC 2 PS2 well enough to actually be a challenge. I used to beat the crap out of him on level 1 vs 5 damage when we first started. When I was doing 2 versus 3 he felt like he'd accomplished something. I've played SFIII here and there, and have it on my PSN games. I LOVED Alpha 2 and 3. I really felt like 3 was the epitome of a good Street Fighter Alpha game, and I didn't even mind the funny throws in that game. I bought that on PSN for PS1 too and wish that I could play that online with other people. Now THAT would be fun!!

Since I hadn't really specifically said it yet, WORST character IMO was SETH!!! Any freaking character that admittedly from the game's developers was fighting with knowledge through the CPU what buttons you were pushing is CHEAP!!! Even fighting that bastard on level 1 difficulty just to get a few extra color choices for characters that I didn't play much was a BITCH!!! That was one of the reasons I stopped playing 4, along with that damn MP + MK or whatever unblockable BS. 4 was such a good game, but its flaws IMO were VERY apparent. Especially fighting online. But I didn't start this as a rant about 4, so I will move on.

I tend to prefer hit and run melee characters, so Rolento and Vega for me. If for some reason CvS 2 counted, add Vice to the list.

Rolento is a good choice. Definitely not one that I was able to pick up easily, and didn't play much as because of that fact haha. I think Vice in that game was an SNK character if I'm not mistaken, but I could be wrong. I think I had that for PS2, and it was a fun game, especially IIRC the customize your character option. Made some cool fighter colors that way.

Been dropping in while I was working today just to see if anyone had been following this dumb little thread. I was watching the E3 footage of SF5 this morning, which was I think what got me inspired to even start the discussion. Feel free to continue 

[chillyfeez]

I sorta lost interest in Street fighter after Turbo... I don't remember what the one was that introduced the next set of characters... You know with the Bruce Lee knockoff and the British girl with the... Well, you know. Anyway I thought all of those new characters were super weak, so I think it kind of ruined it for me.
That being said, if it all ended with Turbo, then Vega (Spanish), no contest. In original SF (before the three bosses were playable), I loved Blanka, Guile and (sue me) Chun Li.
I could never get into the characters whose special moves required rolling the controller, so Ryu, Ken, Sagat, Dhalsim, Zangief were all right out for me.

[MisterJones]

full circle moves have always been a pain for me, although i can sort of do them more consistenty in newer games. Still not competitively.

[Duke2go]

I sorta lost interest in Street fighter after Turbo... I don't remember what the one was that introduced the next set of characters... You know with the Bruce Lee knockoff and the British girl with the... Well, you know. Anyway I thought all of those new characters were super weak, so I think it kind of ruined it for me.
That being said, if it all ended with Turbo, then Vega (Spanish), no contest. In original SF (before the three bosses were playable), I loved Blanka, Guile and (sue me) Chun Li.
I could never get into the characters whose special moves required rolling the controller, so Ryu, Ken, Sagat, Dhalsim, Zangief were all right out for me.

Comments like these are what I was hoping when I started this thread, to get to understand how different people play and why they play that way. Like I said earlier, characters who required charge moves were more difficult for me, and I tended to stay with the "rolling controller" moves like you described. But I understand where you're coming from, and you've given me some insight and understanding that something that I found easy was not for others.

I agree about the "New Challengers" being kind of lame (although as a 14-16 year old, Cammy being "nearly naked" did increase my like for her haha  ). However, I felt that Super Street Fighter II, and the resulting Turbo, were where the games started to get it right, at least for me. Although not related to gameplay, I really liked how those games gave you 6 different color options rather than that the previous games had offered. For example, while I LOVED Ryu's Champion color alternate, I HATED the baby blue from Turbo. Offering 6 colors gave you a much more "customizable" feel as a player, before customizing characters was really a thing.

full circle moves have always been a pain for me, although i can sort of do them more consistenty in newer games. Still not competitively.

Now THIS I completely agree with!!! Full-circle moves always seemed to result in me jumping, not performing the move. Even in games like MVC2, I still cannot accurately perform Zangief's spinning tornado (or whatever its called) because the controller movements were just so awkward (again, IMO). In MVC2 to turn Zangief into "Mecha", I would basically charge up to level three and then just roll my thumb around the d-pad over and over while pressing the PPP button I believe until he transformed (often resulting in me wasting at least 1 super level in the process) It always bothered me that while I couldn't really pull off the move because of what was required, the computer was able to use it seamlessly, and even utilize it in combos (resulting in often catastrophic damage). This (and the previously mentioned seeming lack of charging by the computer) really felt "cheap" IMO. I remember hurricane spamming Zangief in later games like I did with Dee Jay b/c if I got close enough, the computer would miraculously reach out and spinning piledriver me into the ground for like 1/3 of my life. I will say however that in the Alpha series, this was not as bad, although it did still happen.

Really enjoying the comments people are making, please continue 

[tryphon]

360 (and DP, FB, HK) are MUCH easier to perform with Genesis 6 buttons pad than with SNES or Playstation controllers.

Your claim about SSF2 being the first doing it right is highly debatable

My favourite char is Ken (on SF2, SF0 and SF4 ; unfortunately I didn't play SF3 a lot, which I regret), because he's fast, combo happy, and weak, so the games last longer (and you can combo more).

But the one which makes the game easiest has always been Honda for me, I don't know why. In VS mode, I used to have good results with Dhalsim too.

[Duke2go]

360 (and DP, FB, HK) are MUCH easier to perform with Genesis 6 buttons pad than with SNES or Playstation controllers.

Your claim about SSF2 being the first doing it right is highly debatable

My favourite char is Ken (on SF2, SF0 and SF4 ; unfortunately I didn't play SF3 a lot, which I regret), because he's fast, combo happy, and weak, so the games last longer (and you can combo more).

But the one which makes the game easiest has always been Honda for me, I don't know why. In VS mode, I used to have good results with Dhalsim too.

Was about to go back to work and saw a response (pardon me lurking haha). I actually agree with the Genesis 6 button controller being easier to use for input (at least as far as my 3DO was concerned). You're also right about the comment about SSF2 getting it right being debatable, (which was why I added "In My Opinion"  ) And I also agree that Ken seemed to get "weaker" as the games went on b/c it seemed, to me at least, that they tried to make him the "combo" Shoto, whereas Ryu remained a 1 hit takedown with most moves and didn't have the added combos like Ken did. They also seemed to change Ken so much to distinguish him from Ryu in later games (i.e. fireball that didn't go across the whole screen, upward angled hurricane kicks. I know these were additions of the versus series, but they were made to a SF character, so it seemed relevant to discuss). That was one of the reasons that I chose to primarily stick to Ryu and play with Ken when I wanted a more challenging experience. That was also why I liked Akuma, in the first few installments he was in especially, because he had a good combination of attacks that offered comb-ability, but predominately still worked as 1-hit takedown moves, rarely leaving the opponent standing if you missed with part of the attack. I did like playing with E. Honda on occasion because he was fun, and the Sumo Slam move he got in the Super games (again IMO) gave him maneuverability that he didn't so much have before those games.

Totally off topic though, I do remember being VERY satisfied when the developers gave Ryu a "Super Shoryuken" in SF3. It always seemed odd to me that Ryu's story involved him using a Shoryuken that was powerful enough to PERMANENTLY SCAR Sagat, but Ken was the one who got all of the "Super Shoryuken" moves until SF3 came out. Seemed that Ken should have gotten the Super Fireballs and Ryu the Super Shoryuken (although then Ryu's Shin-Hadoken in the versus series might not have been, and that move was SO COOL to me! Reminded me of Ryu doing a Kamehameha wave from DBZ).

Another off-topic before I go back to work. I made a pretty cool Mugen fighter a few years back and made a custom intro video. Its not great, and I feel like I could do better nowadays, but I thought it was a pretty cool amalgamation of a lot of different source material (and was a story about Akuma conquering multiple universes kind of like the DC stories about the multiverse). If anyone is interested, you can check it out at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xkoYVZ2IsM

Look forward to hopefully seeing some more comments later. Have a great day everyone! 

[tryphon]

IIRC, Honda got Sumo Slam in SF2 Turbo, before SSF2.

Other than that, I agree with you with everything. Gouki is one of my favourite especially in SF0, for the same reasons as Ken (and he can air combo, which is cool). He may be even weaker. Same for Ryu's weirdly basic DP.
t
And I don't think SSF2 is weak, but rather than the revolutionnary instllments of the game are The World Warriors (remember SF1) and Champion's Edition, who polished every great ideas the WW came with. In comparison, SSF2 didn't invent much (and new chars are lame. How Capcom could create 12 charismatics characters at once - say 8 if we consider Ryu, Ken, boxer and Sagat already existed - and since then can't create a decent one every 10 chars is beyond me).

[geishaboy]

I seem to kick the most ass with Chun Li

[Duke2go]

IIRC, Honda got Sumo Slam in SF2 Turbo, before SSF2.

Other than that, I agree with you with everything. Gouki is one of my favourite especially in SF0, for the same reasons as Ken (and he can air combo, which is cool). He may be even weaker. Same for Ryu's weirdly basic DP.
t
And I don't think SSF2 is weak, but rather than the revolutionnary instllments of the game are The World Warriors (remember SF1) and Champion's Edition, who polished every great ideas the WW came with. In comparison, SSF2 didn't invent much (and new chars are lame. How Capcom could create 12 charismatics characters at once - say 8 if we consider Ryu, Ken, boxer and Sagat already existed - and since then can't create a decent one every 10 chars is beyond me).

I think you're right about Honda's Sumo Slam being in Turbo and I'm probably wrong about that one. SSF2 didn't really invent much, but it did change many of the gameplay mechanics for some fighters (like Ken and Ryu's air-hurricane kicks arced, rather than progressing linearly across the top of the screen, like they would probably if such things were possible to be performed by humans), and a few different moves were given to different characters IIRC. I do remember in Super Turbo that a number of characters did get new moves (which was likely where my confusion about Honda's Sumo Slam came from). Also, I remember that Chun-Li's animations for her fireball changed in this game, or Super I don't remember (and she got that odd "butt pushed out" pose that struck me then as more of "fanboy service" than what she probably would posed like, although it is again my opinion haha). I have to credit SSF2T however specifically for innovation because that was the first use of Super Moves by Street Fighter characters to my recollection.

I seem to kick the most ass with Chun Li

I also got pretty good with Chun Li in the different games that she was in. Her Kiko-sho super move in MVC2 was one of my personal favs because it was good for trapping people who liked to jump and perform a lot of air moves.

I was kind of omitting a lot of SF1 b/c you can only play as Ryu and Ken, although many of the characters like Adon, Gen, and Birdy did get re-used in other games. Which raises a good point, Final Fight characters who were used in Street Fighter games I would consider as fair for these discussions too since Guy, Sodom, Cody, and Rolento were used in the Alpha/Zero series. If someone really wants to discuss Haggar, I guess that's ok since Zangief seems to be based upon him in many ways, and IMO he should have been included in the Alpha games since the other 2 main FF characters were, and the 2 bosses. I tried to put limitations to just SF characters because if we included every character from versus etc. we might start discussing obscure characters that people have never heard of (I am personally not familiar with a number of the vs games that came out like SVC Chaos. Although I have played it, I just don't remember it very well). And the inclusion of the Darkstalkers characters just seemed like it would expand out too far. Wasn't lurking this time, had come to RHDN to answer an email from my sound composer and just thought that I'd check for new replies to my posts while I was here  Will be working most of the day on the pc, so I will likely drop in a few times to answer and discuss. Hope everyone has a great day 

[Gemini]

Shin Akuma, he's an almighty beast in pretty much every incarnation.

[SCD]

My favorite Street Fighter character is Ryu, I've been using him in every single fighting game he was in since 1991 when I first played Street Fighter II at the arcades when it first came out. He was the very first SF character I selected when I first played the game. Every time I get a new fighting game that has him in it, he's always the first character I choose.

[Duke2go]

My favorite Street Fighter character is Ryu, I've been using him in every single fighting game he was in since 1991 when I first played Street Fighter II at the arcades when it first came out. He was the very first SF character I selected when I first played the game. Every time I get a new fighting game that has him in it, he's always the first character I choose.

I've pretty much felt just like me. I had the same features as Ryu, even my sister said that when she saw me playing Alpha actually haha, so I really associated with him. And I thought his abilities were cool. I mean, who wouldn't want to throw a blue fireball from their hand, spinning kick the hell out of someone, or rocket into the air sending their opponent flying. Ryu for me became what would probably be considered an avatar today now that I think about it. He was also very confident, calculating, and always strove to be better than he was. As I've gotten older, I think that the early desire to be like Ryu built a lot of my character and personality. Even reading the Udon comic series I was fully connected with that character, although I appreciated all of the others too.

Shin Akuma, he's an almighty beast in pretty much every incarnation.

ABSOLUTELY SECONDED!! Nuff said. 

[JCE3000GT]

I covet my 3DO and the few games I own for it--which includes SSF2T. 

I find the SNES, PS1, and 3DO controllers quite good for pulling off moves including 360 motions.  I cannot stand the 6-button Genesis controller or the Saturn controller for fighting games. 

The PS1 controller (non-dual shock) is great for the Zero/Alpha games.  I find it easy to pull off Gouki/Akuma's Raging Demon super with one.