SF - So why have you chosen your main?

Leprekaun · 15-01-2010 7:27pm #1

Thats right kids! its another one of those insightful Leprekaun threads!

So, the topic today is why have you chosen your character as your main?

I'll start off by saying that I'm not really sure if I have a main

. I'm currently alternating between Akuma, Gouken and Balrog.

I'll probably main Gouken properly for a while. Since I can sometimes have issues with combo execution with Akuma, I found Gouken can be an excellent character for simple one hit play and also the throw ultra setup. His tatsu is poor ofcourse and can only be linked off a medium but it does a fair amount of damage. He is also the strongest of the shotos so like Balrog, his combos are simple but powerful and ofcourse, the parry is gold (super cancel-able too). I'm not too pushed about the fact that he doesn't have an SRK since his HP fireball does the job just as good + juggle possibilities (ultra / super / MP/LP hadouken / HP Senkugoshoha / tatsu (although I'd have to check that again) that the other shotos don't have (without having to FADC) except Ryu who can EX fireball / Ultra juggle. The main thing that brings me back to Akuma though is that I can't rushdown with Gouken like with Akuma so I'm still indecisive about maining Gouken.

Balrog on the other hand would technically be my first proper charge character. I main him in ST now and have a fairly good win rate with him. I'd take him more seriously in SFIV but I'm having trouble executing the Dash Upper with the pad. Initially, I used the d-pad but the Dash Upper just wouldn't come out right so I switched to using the left stick but then I can't execute the Flying Headbutt + Ultra (if anyone can shed some light on how (I slide the stick from down to up as its the only way I feel I can maintain the back charge for the Ultra) so when I get a stick, I'll give him some serious thought as well.

For now, I main Gouken

Azza · 15-01-2010 8:23pm

I main Bison because he was the character I played the most in Street Fighter 2 and its who I feel most comfortable with.

His character design in ST is pretty much attack or die. Powerful offense coupled with a crap defense. A gamblers character if there every was one. He had some horrible problems getting out of corner traps but if landed just one good jump in he could kill you with one chance.

His SF IV character is different. Much more about zoning than his ST version. Weaker offensively and still weak defensively, he at least has a few reversals to get out of corner traps this time. His main problems in SF IV is his low damage output when punishing mistake and most of his special moves are rubbish. Still he can put up a fight with good footsies. Even though he is limited in his playstyle I'm not really arsed learning anyone else.

He's pretty much the most important character in the Street Fighter series from a story perspective as without him the events of SF Alpha (its not a tournament its just his plan for world domination and the others character efforts to stop him taking over the world), SF2 (he runs the tournament) and SF IV (he created Seth who runs the tournament) can't occur. He is the motavation for Cammy (& the Dolls), T.Hawk, Dhalsim, Guile and Chun-Li for entering the tournaments as well as creating Rose and Seth, and hiring Balrog and Vega (and Sagat for a time).

Imagine how bland it would be if he wasn't around. Street Fighters 2 cast of characters would of been Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, E.Honda, Dee-Jay, Fei-Long and thats it!

From a story perspective he is the most powerful character too when at full strength it usually means that he is match for anywhere between 2 and 5 other characters put together. The only one powerful enough to beat him is Rose who is actually the good half of Bison!

He also has the best stage, best theme and best quotes in all of the Street Fighter series including movie's and games.

Doctor DooM · 15-01-2010 8:26pm

I main Guile because I enjoy the mind games and the unusual set ups you can do with booms, air throws look cool and add a dynamic, and I love messing around with his corner trap.

K.O.Kiki · 15-01-2010 8:46pm

Abel because I enjoy his roll game, and TT is a disgustingly good throw.
I hate the way that, once knocked down, I'm pretty much FUBAR'd though; but that's the tradeoff.

And that Ultra...

chopperbyrne · 15-01-2010 8:56pm

Azza wrote: »

From a story perspective he is the most powerful character too when at full strength it usually means that he is match for anywhere between 2 and 5 other characters put together. The only one powerful enough to beat him is Rose who is actually the good half of Bison!

[GEEKMODE]Fairly certain Gill is considered the most powerful person in the SF world, with Alpha 3 Boss Bison coming in second.[/GEEKMODE]

lazlo · 15-01-2010 8:58pm

Azza wrote: »

I main Bison because he was the character I played the most in Street Fighter 2 and its who I feel most comfortable with.

His character design in ST is pretty much attack or die. Powerful offense coupled with a crap defense. A gamblers character if there every was one. He had some horrible problems getting out of corner traps but if landed just one good jump in he could kill you with one chance.

His SF IV character is different. Much more about zoning than his ST version. Weaker offensively and still weak defensively, he at least has a few reversals to get out of corner traps this time. His main problems in SF IV is his low damage output when punishing mistake and most of his special moves are rubbish. Still he can put up a fight with good footsies. Even though he is limited in his playstyle I'm not really arsed learning anyone else.

He's pretty much the most important character in the Street Fighter series from a story perspective as without him the events of SF Alpha (its not a tournament its just his plan for world domination and the others character efforts to stop him taking over the world), SF2 (he runs the tournament) and SF IV (he created Seth who runs the tournament) can't occur. He is the motavation for Cammy (& the Dolls), T.Hawk, Dhalsim, Guile and Chun-Li for entering the tournaments as well as creating Rose and Seth, and hiring Balrog and Vega (and Sagat for a time).

Imagine how bland it would be if he wasn't around. Street Fighters 2 cast of characters would of been Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, E.Honda, Dee-Jay, Fei-Long and thats it!

From a story perspective he is the most powerful character too when at full strength it usually means that he is match for anywhere between 2 and 5 other characters put together. The only one powerful enough to beat him is Rose who is actually the good half of Bison!

He also has the best stage, best theme and best quotes in all of the Street Fighter series including movie's and games.

Where did you get all this lore Azza? The SFIV anime sequences are more vague than a surrealist film

Ken B · 15-01-2010 9:03pm

I main Vega because he alone shares the pain of being too beautiful.....we're peas in a pod, he and I.....!!

Nah, it's because I can't be bothered learning how to play on a real character with combos and all that!!!

I honestly play Vega because I love the way that the whole screen is at his command he can reach any point within a split second and he is dead cool looking to boot!!!

Cunny-Funt · 15-01-2010 9:09pm

Wow azza really is a one hell of a bison fan

I'm just one of those boring bastards who loves shotos. I love the cancels, they super cancels, the tatsu's and the way they move.

In this game if I had 100% perfect execution, and akuma was as badass as he was in 3s (appearances, voice) I'd be maining him.

However I've traditionally played as ken from a very young age because well, everyone else played Ryu so I wanted to be 'different' ha ha ha. (you shoto haters will love that one

)

Was also cause as a kid I loved america, as thats where the turtles were from and all cool things would happen like explosions and gun fights and shit.:pac: Probably why when I talk to blindly patriotic american's these days they appear to me as silly 7 year old kids :rolleyes:

So when I started playing properly again I'd go back to ken, I also thought his character was pretty cool in Alpha and 3s and loved the white GI.

But in SFIV he comes off as annoying, he looks crappy imo. And plays very slow. I'm disappointed they're not evolving the character models a bit for Super.

I've always like Ryu, and out of all the shotos, he transitioned the best into 3d in terms of design. Although I don't like the stupid big red kick boxing gloves he has. They just look odd. His number 1 colour is my least fav one.

Anyway it was a good few months into the game before I made him my main, Ken was just far too slow. & ryu was closer to his 3s self then ken was to me.

In super I may switch back to Ken, or hell I may try and main ibuki, I'm gonna try and make her my second anyway.

lazlo · 15-01-2010 9:16pm

I mained Ryu in SF2 and also used both Bison and Blanka quite a bit. When I first got SF4 I got it on my PC and found the shoto moves to be a nightmare on the keyboard so I used both Bison and Blanka. By the time I got a pad I was much more used to their movement and zoning so Ryu got left out in the cold. I dispe6nsed with Blanka when I deemed his electricity to be 'too cheap' and have stuck with bison ever since. He's an interesting character to play and I'm quite happy with him

Azza · 15-01-2010 9:21pm

Actually the most powerful Bison is Bison II from the the non canon EX Series.
Most of his combo's did like 90% damage.

As for Gill being more powerful than Bison, he was actually beaten by Urien in at some stage in SF III proving that he isn't that powerful. Besides Gill is an imbalanced broken twat that no one gives a crap about it.

lazlo wrote:

Where did you get all this lore Azza? The SFIV anime sequences are more vague than a surrealist film

You can find it here. Although the but about Guile beating Bison at the end of SF 2 is just speculation. No one actually knows who offically won the SF 2 tournament.
http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/M._Bison

For along time the story was that Bison was killed by Akuma at the end of SF 2. But this may have been retcon or simply added to by the SF IV prologue trailer in which Bison is shown to battle Ryu, Ken, Cammy, Chun-Li and Guile at once before blowing himself up in a psycho explosion shortly after the events of SF 2.

Sairus · 15-01-2010 9:29pm

Azza wrote: »

The only one powerful enough to beat him is Rose

I think Azza said it best.

I started maining Rose to shut up one of my housemates.
Originally I mained Cammy after a long history in SF2, but the aforementioned housemate bitched so much about her being cheap and over-powered in SFIV that I moved to Sakura. Unfortunately Sakura was still too cheap for my illustrious friend, thus I switched over to Rose because we had unanimously decided she was terrible in this game, so he couldn't possibly bitch anymore. It took four monthes for him to finally decide she too was too powerful. :rolleyes:

I've since grown to love her because she has to play so differently and cautiously to my standard rush.
On an unrelated note, it was great going back to SFA3 and being able to play with her after maining Sakura and Cammy or so many years in it XD

Doctor DooM · 15-01-2010 9:34pm

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

as a kid I loved america, as thats where the turtles were from

It's funny because you're not talking about Guile.

Creature · 15-01-2010 10:16pm

In SSF2T I played Balrog Zangief and DeeJay mostly. I enjoy Balrog because I find his moves easy to do and he's very straightforward. No faffing around with fireballs, no prancing around with aerial mindgames, just get in there and keep hitting them! His strength and the high pressure nature of his specials, especially the awesome low dash straight

and godlike headbutt (R.I.P.) make up for my sheer inability to do even the most simplest of combos in that game. Also his Super move was one of the best and just hilariously demoralising for the opponent. OOARRGH! OOARRGH! OOARRGH! OOARRGH! dead. His specials aren't quite as effective in SF4 but thankfully combos are mostly piss to perform.
I like DeeJay because he has a great mixture of moves and some really great normals. He's like Balrog but isn't quite as strong but has more range in his options. You can sit back more and let your opponent make the first move. But you can play him like Balrog if you want. I'll definitely be picking him up in SSF4.
Finally, I dabbled quite a bit with Gief in SSF2T, not very seriously but he was fun to play. His lack of options and poor range of moves is balanced by his insane strength. There was nothing better in the old games than just beating someone using his normals and the odd lariat and with plenty of blocking

. Most of the time fear of SPD was worse than an SPD itself. I dropped him in SF4 as I just wanted to concentrate on one character.

Design wise, all three characters are kinda crappy but meh I'm not bothered. I always preferred the more basic realistic designs anyway.
Balrog is a hulking vicious thug who uses his fists to solve problem...and create them, what's not to like?

Owwmykneecap · 15-01-2010 10:28pm

I choose my main on the satisfaction I get from playing a character and nothing else.

In Super turbo I play Bison, Vega, Cammy and Zangief.

Although Bison is probably my 2nd main in IV in reality I havent put any time in with him in months. he's not awful, but he's not bison either.

Same with Ryu. In 3rd strike Alex and ryu are my go to guys, but I fundamentally don't like how ryu feels in IV.

Arctic Zombie · 15-01-2010 10:33pm

I only really like playing charge characters, and Bison was the only one who I found interesting in SF4 (and the majority of them suck). He's not the greatest of characters but whatever. I've started (as in, about 10 minutes ago) to play with Balrog for a bit now though. When Super comes out I'll be switching to Dee Jay for sure, unless they really mess him up or something (please fighting game gods, PLEASE!).

Xinkai · 15-01-2010 10:37pm

I play Ryu & Sakura... BECAUSE YOU TOUCH YOURSELVES AT NIGHT :mad:

pervs.

uberpixie · 15-01-2010 11:42pm

Picked Abel. He is not a shoto character!:pac:
Liked his mix of attacks and he is an all or nothing kind of character: I either do really well or really sh it :-)

I will be honest though: I do like sagat but do find him cheap, his range, power and 2lvl of fireballs is really a nasty combination.

Will prob use blanka and Zangief a bit more over the next while.

lazlo · 16-01-2010 12:03am

I just wish that the psycho crusher went the length of the screen for the HP version. Its misey to see Honda's headbutt be so far ahead of the Psycho Crusher

FoamyMushroom · 16-01-2010 12:05am

Main Akuma, well The first SF game I played was Alpha and when I picked em I jus stuck with him basically... I just kept learning his moves how to link his moves together n all..
and basically hes the only proper evil character

!
With Akuma theres just so, so many ways of linking up to the majority of his combos.. When akuma knocks down a person its a struggle to fight back cause when Akuma knocks someone down theres alot of different ways he can get more stuck in on wake up..

Plus most importnat Akuma has an "get outta jail for free" card

Other than Akuma I dont really main anyone else, But I have been playing alot of Ryu lately but he has his limits...

Jim · 16-01-2010 12:21am

Ass.

Creature · 16-01-2010 12:52am

Arctic Zombie wrote: »

I only really like playing charge characters, and Bison was the only one who I found interesting in SF4 (and the majority of them suck). He's not the greatest of characters but whatever. I've started (as in, about 10 minutes ago) to play with Balrog for a bit now though. When Super comes out I'll be switching to Dee Jay for sure, unless they really mess him up or something (please fighting game gods, PLEASE!).

Did you not play as El Fuerte at some stage? I swear I remember playing you in champ mode a few times and you were using Fuerte? Must be someone with a very similar name.

Horsefumbler · 16-01-2010 1:03am

i picked cammy coz her ultra look kewl:D

Red350 · 16-01-2010 1:12am

I use ryu because this was my first street fighter game, so who else was I gonna pick

Then I picked up chun due to not being able to do a god damn thing with ryu when I got my stick.

K.O.Kiki · 16-01-2010 1:19am

Jim wrote: »

Ass.

Xinkai · 16-01-2010 2:22am

Aight truthfully, when i started playing back in 06 on HF i liked Kens hair so i mained him for my career in HF, stuck with him in A3M, but migrated to Maki in CVS2 where i hold a pretty good record with her, so she became mained in A3. Then moved onto Ken & Akuma in 3s. Then i moved onto Cammy in HDR, she holds up well thanks to the control scheme there lol.

But then i seen Justin Wong playing as Sakura in arcade fights before SF4 was released, and i said i'd main her, and i did, but then i couldn't win matches, and i seen Daigo playing as Ryu, so i mained him and it stuck. So in total.

Ryu = SF4, HDR, CVS2 (2nd Pick)
Ken = HF
Cammy = HDR
Sakura = SF4, A3M, CVS2 (3rd Pick)
Maki (My Main Main Imo) = CVS2, A3M)

And since Guy in SSF4 has all of Makis moves i can bring his mix up game the way i used to play maki into SSF4, so he will be ANOTHER main lol. But if Maki was in SSF4, she'd be my main till death.

L31mr0d · 16-01-2010 2:44am

First experience with Akuma was in Alpha III on the GBA. He was the easiest character for me to mash out the ultra with, back when I never checked the move lists at all. (can't even play that game now, the controls are just so horrible)

He also always had the best quotes like "Fight for what you believe. Now die for it!"

As soon as he jumped in and said "My fists bleed death" in SFIV I knew he had become my main.

Cunny-Funt · 16-01-2010 3:53am

Doctor DooM wrote: »

It's funny because you're not talking about Guile.

But... but guiles not a shoto

The idea of pulling off charge moves with a mega drive/nes pad was daunting. Then the odd attempt at playing a charge character when I was a teenager playing Alpha 3 was ok but it seemed like the whole back 2secs forward back forward for a super was impossible.

It was only in 3s when I 1st tried a charge character properly. & that was Oro. Was only then I realised it was all about holding down a charge all the time.

I always used to wonder how the charge characters could fire off a sonic boom or whatever just at the very start of the round, I didnt realise you could hold back at all times and have it count. Thus hold back while the game is loading, press forward and p1 the second the announcer says 'fight'.

I didn't even know about holding down and back. Thus when HDR finally came out I played a lot of blanka and guile.

animaX · 16-01-2010 11:25am

I like characters with many ultra setups

Doctor DooM · 16-01-2010 11:35am

Azza wrote: »

Guile beating Bison at the end of SF 2 is just speculation. No one actually knows who offically won the SF 2 tournament.

I would say 'this time i'll send you straight to hell' settles that guile at least defeated bison at some point.

Jim · 16-01-2010 12:20pm

Character design is always what strikes me first. I generally like fast / nimble characters in almost every game so when SFIV came out I looked at Sakura, Viper and Cammy and eventually settled on Cammy.

Before that I almost exclusively played shoto's with a brief stint as Chun Li and Ibuki in 3s.

Scavenger XIII · 16-01-2010 2:34pm

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I would say 'this time I'll send you straight to hell' settles that guile at least defeated bison at some point.

Could also imply that Bison beat him last time they fought, but it definitely sounds more like Guile passed up a chance to finish him.

Anyhow, mains. I can't really say I have a main in SF4, I alternate between Guile, Bison, Cammy and Rose but nobody really clicks.

Guile was always my main man an SF2 though, picked him when I was 7 or 8 because "he's in the army, oooh yeah!" No idea how the hell I figured out his moves back then, no manual, no internet and the game was already old enough that it wasn't in magazines (not even any friends who'd played it).

Still lean towards Guile-esque setups but I always pick characters on their appearance and mannerisms and adapt to their play style. Style is everything!

Granted Guile himself doesn't really match my tastes these days but I still play him out of loyalty - and because he's oldschool!

SF - So why have you chosen your main?

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