I hope you can appreciate the sheer audacity of someone who can lose to a
basic throw applied ad nauseam has deciding that he’s got the credibility to
put together a character guide. My
chutzpah strokes the heavens themselves.
So yeah, I’m by no means an authority on the
subject of Street Fighter V, or
fighting games in general. But I’ve
played (and lost in) just enough of them to have a grasp of certain
concepts. By extension, I’ve been able
to glean a thing or two in my time with SFV. And seeing as how I had more than enough
content for a full post, I figured I should share. You know, just in case anyone wanted to
compare notes.
Okay?
Okay. Then let’s do this
lickety-split. Here we
gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (Off
Dead Man’s Curve.)
Ryu!!
A lot of people complained that Ryu was getting
nerfed into oblivion in the betas, and that he wasn’t evolving while everyone
else around him was (there sure are a lot of people out there that love his
“donkey kick”). But based on my
experience, it seems like the tireless wanderer has more than enough juice in
him. He hits like a runaway truck with
basic combos, let alone his lengthier ones; he’s still got the same three basic
moves, but SFV demonstrates that
those are the only three moves he needs.
The assumption with the game (which to be fair is
pretty true) is that there’s a de-emphasis on projectiles. But Ryu proves that you can still succeed in
spades with smart fireball usage, not
random plasma-chucking. They’re a tool
to be used wisely and opportunely -- like, say, clipping someone just outside
their attack range. That’s doubly true
once he pops his V-Trigger and can through souped-up fireballs. I haven’t used him enough to know if he’s got
some nasty Denjin setups, but my gut instinct tells me that he might have a trick
or two. If nothing else, his thunder
balls can put you in a bad spot on your wakeup.
He’s a reliable character that can beat anyone,
with or without his parry. Speaking
of? It’s not a guaranteed screw-you to
enemy attacks, but landing just one of them is a morale booster. I’d LOVE to see some hype tournament footage
with a parry sequence. Daigo, it’s all
you, baby.
Birdie!!
Basically the closest thing I have to a main right
now, and…I think this might be the character I was destined to play. Don’t think too hard on what that says about
me.
The dark days of crawling through the salt mines
as T. Hawk have ended -- well, in a sense.
Birdie isn’t a pure grappler, since his command grab is actually slower
than the others. But even so, he has one
of the most complete tool sets I’ve seen in a heavy character. Admittedly, some of them have a YOLO aspect
to them (his jumping grab, for one), but it feels like he can completely
control the pace of a match. His chain
grabs let him fight at range, he’s got some very good normals -- crouching
strong shuts down virtually ANY aerial approach -- and his V-Skill is so
versatile it’s practically cheating.
Respect the banana.
Also, Birdie’s
freakin’ strong. His damage output
is nuts for someone who can control space or close the gap so quickly (albeit
unsafely). Without his rolling cans or
banana peels on the field, he’s not exactly one for big combos. Then again, he doesn’t need them…although if
you can get off a combo into his Critical Art, then your foe might end up
kissing a good 60-70% of their life goodbye.
Part of me wonders if Capcom made him fat and ugly
on purpose to ward people off…and prevent them from discovering the secret best
character in the game. (Okay, he’s not
at the top of the tier lists, but still.)
Rashid!!
First off, I’m convinced that Rashid’s got the best theme
in the game, and it’s what made me gravitate towards him. Second, he scared me off upon reveal because
I thought he’d be a pure mobility fighter, and I can’t handle those. But Rashid has more in common with Ryu than,
say, El Fuerte. He just has some unique
twists.
Rashid can tack on the damage pretty fast, thanks
to some surprisingly hard-hitting attacks (his Eagle Spike) and his potential
pressure. I don’t know the frame data
intimately, but it feels like he can carry an unaware opponent into the corner for free with a well-placed Spinning
Mixer. In any case, the Turbulent Wind
has some real shenanigans to his name; he’s got a run more suited for King of Fighters than SF, with a flip and dodge roll that
allow for some sneaky moves. Assuming
you don’t just jump for the hell of it.
Jumping wildly is…ill-advised in
the SF series.
Truth be told, I’m not used to having this much
freedom and options when it comes to SF. But damn, Rashid’s so fun that I have to add
him to my rotation. I want to learn how
to do some nutty juggling stuff with him, even if mobility’s not my forte. I’d even argue that high mobility isn’t 100%
essential to every part of his game plan; he’s got some solid tools, and his
tornado V-Trigger can be used offensively or defensively…or just as a way to be
a coward and escape from corners.
He just might be my favorite of the newcomers so
far. But speaking of newcomers…
Necalli!!
Strap in, because things are about to get
hairy. Eh? Eh?
Anybody?
Given his sunny disposition, I think it’s safe to
say that Necalli is an offensive juggernaut.
He does big damage, he can get in quickly (though not always safely),
and he can put on the pressure with a slew of his moves. He’s a scary foe to fight against, especially
once he gets started. In my time with
him, I’ve found that some of his normals don’t exactly have the best range;
he’s got a couple, but his range is deceptively short for a man that’s
supposedly 6’3”. Maybe he can’t have
super-long range because otherwise he’d be able to pressure infinitely? Or -- and hear me out on this -- maybe I
don’t know what I’m talking about, and I need to learn his buttons’ ranges.
That seems to be the case. I’m under the impression that the key to
successful Necalli play is to make your opponent afraid of you; make use of his
frame traps and such, and then sneak in a command grab when they’re too afraid
to attack. If you can’t handle it, then
chances are high that your foe will disrespect you. Also, his V-Trigger -- turning into a “Super
Saiyan” -- is supposed to make him a better character and/or extend his
combos…but I haven’t practiced enough with him to work that into the rotation,
so I usually use it to make my opponents take pause. There’s nothing scarier than a shirtless man
with six feet of hair sticking straight up.
Dhalsim!!
I had an epiphany recently. I like zoning characters, but for whatever
reason I’d never managed to glom onto THE zoning character. And now I understand why: to me, everything about
Dhalsim is backwards.
That’s not to say he’s bad or anything, especially
since a number of pros have sung praises about him. But my feeble brain has trouble getting a
handle on him. Controlling space is
tough enough, but switching between ranges by using normals that make you hold back instead of forward? And that’s ignoring the fact that his Yoga
Flame takes a half circle backward motion.
And even then, I feel like I’ve got no business touching Dhalsim if I
don’t know how to do an instant air teleport.
But I want to anyway, because he’s so freakin’ cool. Especially now that he’s got a beard.
He’s got at least five different anti-airs. He can shift the flow of the match with one
well-placed V-Trigger, whether he uses it offensively or defensively. He’s just as good at controlling space as he
always was, but now he’s got some new shenanigans. There’s a big emphasis on attack and
aggression in this game, and even if the new yogi has a stronger lean toward
that, he can still manipulate a match from start to finish. A Dhalsim that knows what he’s doing is a
terror.
FANG!!
Officially, it’s F.A.N.G., but I’m not a fan of
typing out acronyms with periods in them (looking at you, Agents of SHIELD). Against
my better judgment, I picked FANG for the very first time to try and break a
losing streak against my brother and his relentless pressure. To my surprise, not only did I break the
streak, but I also built up a hefty streak of my own.
How good is FANG?
That’s hard to say, especially if we’re judging by raw damage output. But he’s good enough -- good enough to
utterly shut down foes that don’t know how to fight him (and even then…). His poison projectiles can stop opponents
cold, while also whittling away their health over time; they may be able to
clear it if they land a hit on FANG -- or wait it out -- but that means they have
to get in on a guy whose defenses make that a rough journey. To be fair, I’d think that if you can get in
on him, you can keep him from fighting at his fullest; on the other hand, he
has some tools that let him escape pressure -- though they’re not always a
guaranteed escape, but they’re more than good enough.
So in a nutshell?
FANG seems like a character designed
to make everyone -- including family and friends -- hate you.
Zangief!!
Not to go off on a tangent, but am I the only one
who actually likes Gief’s Critical Art?
His Final/Ultimate Atomic Buster is fine, but even if he only does one
suplex now, it’s one hell
of a suplex.
Zangief was touted as a wall moving towards you
prior to release, and I’ve got no problems believing that. He lost his Banishing Flat (aka Green Hand),
but he’s no less threatening for it.
Some of his new normals -- a grounded headbutt, a jumping knee, and more
-- compensate for the fact that he’s focused on landing some risky grabs. He’s got to work to get in, but once he does,
he can harass foes even without resorting to a quick SPD. Also, just seeing him walk towards you is menacing.
Also, his Iron Cyclone V-Trigger makes for a
fearsome trump card. If he sucks you in
and lands all those hits, and then combos
into an EX air SPD -- yeah, he’s got that now -- then the resultant damage is
arguably as high as some characters’ Critical Arts. And he can land it with just one misplaced
fireball. Muscle power, indeed.
Laura!!
Fighting against Laura served as a stark reminder
that I’m terrible at blocking (or even perceiving) overheads. I just thought I’d bring that up, because as
a character who can combo into an overhead attack off of a number of moves, the
elder Matsuda makes sure I have a bad time every time. Also, said overhead apparently makes for an
unexpected anti-air attack. Riveting.
She’s not a pure grappler like Zangief or T. Hawk,
but Laura’s command grabs are still a threat.
And she’s got tools that serve her purposes to a nightmarish degree; her
V-Skill lets her dash forward or backward quickly (on top of that overhead kick
of hers), so she can close the gap in an instant and catch unsuspecting foes in
a crushing hold. More pressingly,
Laura’s electric projectile functions on the same principle as Rashid’s
tornado: she can toss one out to lock foes down, and it gives her a few seconds
to open her foes’ defenses in any number of ways.
A Laura that gains momentum is a Laura destined to
win. She’ll overwhelm you if she gets
the chance, so don’t give her that
chance -- which to be fair is easier to do than expected. (Neutral jump if you can sniff out a grab in time.) Still, playing as her puts that power in your
hands -- and to be honest, I’m not opposed to it.
Ken!!
Well, I guess I’d better talk about the
underutilized, unrepresented fourth-stringer of the cast.
Ken is one of several characters with some kind of
rush-in/close the gap move, though he doesn’t have a command grab like
Laura. (If you can’t read it in time,
then his normal grab out of his run might as well be one.) As always, Ken has his fireball, dragon
punch, and hurricane kick, the latter of which has seen some big tweaks…while
the first of the three has apparently
gotten much worse. Ken can do some
big damage like his pal Ryu, but that’s partly because he can string so many of
his moves together. He’s got all sorts
of combo opportunities, and if you let a good player land a single attack,
you’ll lose some major chunks of your life.
If you can react in time, you can stop Ken’s
offense during his run. By the same
token, he can stop your offense with his sneaky tricks; he
can go into a low kick, an overhead, his step kick, or go for a grab thanks to
his run, which puts him in a good position to hassle you if you’re not
careful. You could say this about pretty
much everyone, but letting him gain momentum is NOT a smart move.
If you’ve got a Crush Counter combo on hand, bait
the crap out of his DP and punish at your leisure. Don’t be afraid to tear up his flowchart and
throw the pieces in his face.
R. Mika!!
Given the beatings I’ve taken from her so far, I’m
gonna give you a Voltech Pro Tip on dealing with Mika: don’t EVER let her
execute her drop kick, whether she hits with it or lands it. Even if you do manage to block a
fully-charged kick, she can do pretty much anything after it thanks to frame
advantage/block stun. (Invincible
reversals and fast-enough normals might
beat her out, if you’re quick enough; a Critical Art almost certainly will, at
least in Birdie’s case.) Failing
that? When she’s charging up her drop
kick, stick out a normal, neutral jump, or toss a projectile ASAP to knock her
out of the attack.
You DON’T want to let Mika do anything. She’s got deadly combos, but she’s got even
nastier tricks -- setups with her command grabs that can (and likely will)
leave you hurting, or worse yet, stuck in the corner. I’m not too concerned about her V-Skill, even
if it can boost her damage; she can still get thrown out of it easily, and it’s
likely not the safest move to throw out on a whim. But the real threat is her V-Trigger, which
lets her call in a tag team partner to attack in one of three different ways,
at a time of her choosing. Which way,
and at what time? You won’t know until
you’re getting your face pounded in and eating a combo the size of a
Thanksgiving feast.
Nash!!
Admittedly, this is the character I’ve had the
least experience going against, from the first beta down to release day (and I
don’t intend on using him, what with Guile on the way). But I have gotten in a couple of matches with
him -- although I expected way more at this point. Luck of the draw on my end? Did he suddenly become unpopular? Or was he ever popular to begin with? #illuminati
In any case, it seems like he’s got a slew of good
normals. Really, Nash in general seems
like a speedster; with his fast attacks and his teleporting shenanigans --
thankfully limited by his V-Gauge to prevent headaches and heartache -- players
behind the proverbial wheel will use that mobility to frustrate foes. Of course, he’s also pretty fast even without
his V-abilities; a Nash that wants to dash in or out of range is probably going
to do it.
What’s safe and what’s unsafe with this guy? Hard to say, and that won’t be immediately
obvious unless you’re willing to make the game-losing move. Well, except for his Moonsault; punishing the
actual attack isn’t always a breeze (especially in an online environment), but
you can knock him out of it by hitting him as he makes his aerial approach.
I’ll say this much, though: his Critical Art has got
to be one of the most brutal moves in a video game. If this was Mortal Kombat, there would be quite the mess to clean up.
Karin!!
The queen bee returns at long last, and she’s
definitely making up for lost time. While
she can’t do whatever she wants for free (some of her follow-ups are EXTREMELY
unsafe), a good Karin player only needs one or two moves to start an offensive
onslaught. Or, alternatively, she only
needs to press a couple of buttons to completely thwart everything you do
within a certain sphere of influence.
Seriously, there have been times where it felt like Karin’s got longer
legs than Birdie -- who, need I remind you, stands at 7’1”.
Karin’s combos and mixups mean that she can tack
on the damage at warp speed. And even if
she’s not landing hits, she can still pressure you fairly safely once you’re
within her attack range -- meaning that if you try to do something as naïve as playing the game, you’re risking an
extended combo that feeds directly into her Critical Art. Reportedly, a lot of her attacks aren’t true
block strings, so you could potentially blow through her offense with a
disrespectful reversal. Then again, are
you brave enough to risk it?
Vega!!
Real talk: the last four characters on this list
are basically my kryptonite. Whether
it’s SFIV or SFV, these characters consistently give me trouble -- so in a way,
they’re my Four Kings. And what better
way to start than with one of the official Kings?
I’ve always thought that Vega was kind of absurd,
in the sense that a narcissistic assassin should never deign to roll across the
ground for one of his default attacks.
But damn, he puts it to good use -- and that’s not all he’s got. As always, his claw-based attacks let him
poke from a relatively safe distance away; once he takes it off, he switches to
a style that lets him access more (and easier) combos. Notably, he can switch between the two styles
in an instant -- which is kind of a problem when he gains access to a command
grab while you’re cowering behind your guard.
Also, his V-Trigger lets him toss a rose projectile
at 1000 miles per hour to rush at distant foes.
And then he can get a free Critical Art off of it. Moral of the story: don’t let your guard
down, even if you’re on the other side of the screen. I learned that the hard way.
Cammy!!
The good thing about Cammy is that her Spiral
Arrow -- or at least versions of it -- isn’t safe on block. So she can’t use that to get in for free,
unless she wants to eat a combo supreme.
The bad thing about Cammy is that, setting aside the fact that she’s
still Cammy, it only takes a couple of seconds for you to go from “All right,
I’ve got a good handle on this match” to “Wait, where did all my life go?”
The properties on several of her moves have
changed, and she can use them to create situations where you have no idea which
way to block. Her Hooligan Combination
has always gotten the best of me, but now she can effectively use it to cross
you up -- if she wants to. The same goes
for her dive kick; just when you think you’ve got her pinned down, she’ll appear
on the side you didn’t expect, and…well, you get to sit there and watch as the
life melts away.
Chun-Li!!
I’ve never played seriously as Chun-Li, but I’ve
always thought she was one of the coolest World Warriors around. That hasn’t changed with SFV, but I wish it didn’t have to come at the expense of getting
kicked to death.
It always felt as if those who actually know how
to use their characters and/or play the game well can make it seem as if they
move three times faster than the average player. Chun-Li takes that up a whole step further by
virtue of her innate speed. Ignoring the
fact that her V-Skill is both a mobility tool and a launching attack, her
normals flow into each other at a dizzying pace. On top of that, she can go straight from her trademark
Lightning Legs into more normals -- or, alternatively, combo into her Spinning
Bird Kick. She’s more than competent
when she’s on the attack, but it’s her defense that might ensure my downfall
time after time; with her mighty legs, she can stop any approach cold.
But it’s fine.
Chun’s so cool that I’ll lose against her any day of the week. And I won’t even be salty about it…for long.
M. Bison!!
Confession time: every time I see that I’m about
to face a Bison, I can’t help but internally go “Oh, shit.” No matter the character, this is my absolute
WORST matchup. I mean, his Scissor Kicks
are supposed to be less safe this time around, and he doesn’t have the walk speed
of some other characters, but that usually doesn’t stop the Shadaloo boss from feeding
me my own ass. To wit: I fought a string
of SFV Bisons in a single session,
and I only beat one.
The most obvious “flaw” Bison has this time around
is his awful walk speed, but it’s not like he’s starved for movement
options. His dash is basically a
teleport, he’s still got his head stomp and Devil Reverse to frustrate from the
air, and now he’s picked up a couple of new tricks -- like his Psycho Inferno,
and by extension a nasty fireball. He’s
not only got the aggression factor, but also a couple of new moves that make
his offense even scarier; I wanted to cry after I got hit by what I’ve dubbed
his Psycho Bitch Slap, and watched as he moved directly into a brutal
combo.
Also, he’s one of the few characters (as far as I
know) whose Crush Counter can put you in a crumple state so he can go full
tilt. Also, also: he’s one of only two
characters who can activate his Critical Art from the air -- not that it’s
essential, because it makes for a punishing anti-air. Also, also, also: I hate all his big dumb
kicks and I wish Bison would go die.
And that’ll just about do it for now. Take this lickety-split rundown with a grain
of salt, since I’m nowhere near godlike with the game. But I hope I managed to offer something at
least a little interesting for you. Glom
onto the character you love, train hard, and win some matches. It’s what Diego Umejuarez would want.
God bless you, Diego.
No comments:
Post a Comment