Fog of War – Put the Past Behind You, Super Street Fighter 4

Originally, I was going to re-write one of my earlier articles for Michael Rousseau’s Fog of War challenge, but even my earliest articles met the requirements for the challenge.  Instead, I’ll compare the first draft of my work – the one I usually post on Bitmob’s article editor to ferment a little – with my Final Draft.

Also, please read both articles. Normally the first article would never reach the Mobfeed.

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Thanks to downloadable content, not even a release date can end the possibilities of new characters for Super Street Fighter 4. Recently, professional Street Fighter player Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez posted on his Twitter that he had a “strong source” who said Capcom was working on new characters for SSF4.

While someone’s Twitter isn’t the most-trustworthy news source, there have been interviews where the developers said DLC characters are possible, and the game does have an arcade release coming up.  If that’s the case, I do have a request: Don’t mine Street Fighter Alpha or Street Fighter 3 for more characters. They’ll be redundant, cause dissension, and be disappointing.

Redundancy

No two characters play alike, but a character should have a reason for being in the game.  Take Hugo, a character producer Yoshinori Ono mentioned in interviews as a possible character.  Hugo is a giant wrestler from the Street Fighter 3 series, and while showing up in SSF4 would be great for Hugo fans, there’s really no need for him with Zangief and T. Hawk already in the game.

Even with different moves, Hugo’s gameplan is the same “get close and destroy” as the other two, and he would have almost the same good and bad match ups.  This goes for a lot of possible characters as well.  Meanwhile, SF4’s completely new characters like C. Viper, Gouken, Juri, and Hakan have been very good at doing things other characters haven’t done before.      

Unpleaseable Fanbase

SSF4 added 10 new characters, a big feat for a fighting game released one year after the original.  The eight returning characters also made sense: Dee Jay and T. Hawk were the last of the Street Fighter 2 characters.  Guy and Cody have been popular since their Final Fight days.  Thai fighter Adon brought the speed people wanted from the Alpha games.  Dudley, Ibuki, and Makoto were some of the most popular characters from Street Fighter 3.

After that though the case for who should return gets murky.  Some want more Alpha characters, others want more from SF3.  Some want competitive favorites like Alpha’s Karin or SF3’s Urien.  Others want storyline favorites like Charlie and Alex. Even obscure characters like Birdie and Q have their supporters.  No matter who gets into the game, someone’s going to be disappointed, and it only increases the demand that these characters be near the top of the character rankings.

Unrealistic Expectations

“Honestly, Dudley has no real weaknesses.”

Seth Killian, EGM no. 238 pg. 54

Dudley was deemed to be the best new character in SSF4 before it even came out.  And he still may be, but after release there’s been a drop in hype for him.  Dudley has trouble matching up against fireball characters, and his defense isn’t as good as Ryu’s or Sagat’s.  What happened?

Street Fighter 4 is the opposite of SF3 and Alpha:  Fireballs are bigger factors in SF4, and you can’t defend attacks in the air.  With all the tools Dudley was getting, like an easy-to-hit Ultra Combo and above-average health, he seemed destined to be the new Sagat, the best character in the original SF4. 

In reality, Dudley was moving from Formula 1 to NASCAR, and needed those weapons to survive. That’s the big question mark when you’re porting any character from one gameplay system to another – what makes a character great in one game may make him or her average in another. 

Is a mobile character like Alpha’s Rolento going to thrive in a game with strong fireballs and anti-airs? Will Karin get the “custom combo” ability that made her dangerous in Street Fighter Alpha 3, and would it be effective with SF4’s physics and damage scaling? These characters are by design harder to use than Sagat or Ryu, but to be good competitively people expect a new character to have those fighter's tools.  

The New Breed

The best new-old candidate would probably be SF3’s stretchy Russian, Necro. More than a Dhalsim clone, Necro’s versatile moves have potential and would benefit from SF4’s mechanics and slower pace. But Necro is an unpopular freak whose design is often blamed for Street Fighter’s decline in the 90s.  And if Necro isn’t S-rank I’ll be mad I didn’t get a chance to send my capoeira girl Elena off to die against Sagat, and then blame it on a conspiracy to make the new characters worse than the old ones.

Juri and Hakan shows that Capcom still knows how to make interesting characters. I’d rather see a real new challenger instead of the ghosts of Street Fighters past.

Results

Flesch Reading Ease: 60.83 PASSED

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.49 PASSED

Gunning Fog Index: 13.49 FAILlED

Curses!  I use the word “character” way too much. In any case, I’m still not satisfied with the article. A lot of my arguments are not fully explained, use bad examples, or are too technical for the average reader. Let’s fix this one.

Thanks to downloadable content, not even a release date can end the possibilities of new characters for Super Street Fighter 4. Recently, professional Street Fighter player Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez posted a rumor on his Twitter that Capcom was working on DLC challengers for SSF4. While someone’s Twitter isn’t the best news source, there have been interviews where the developers said DLC characters were possible, and the game does have an arcade release coming up. 

If that’s the case, I have a request: Don’t mine Street Fighter Alpha or Street Fighter 3 for more characters. They won't add much to the game and won't satisfy fan's expectations.

Unnecessary Warriors

No two characters play alike, but there should be a reason for them to be in the game.  Take Hugo, a character producer Yoshinori Ono mentioned in an interview as a possible character.  Hugo is a giant wrestler from the Street Fighter 3 series, and while showing up in SSF4 would be great for Hugo fans, there’s really no need for him with Zangief and T. Hawk already in the roster.

Even with different moves, Hugo’s gameplan is the same as Zangief's: Work his way in, then crush opponents with throws.  And like Zangief, Hugo will be terrifying up close and bad far away with Hugo being bigger and slower than the Russian wrestler.  Even if adding characters didn't affect the game's balance, putting in too many similar characters is redundant.  Meanwhile, SF4 characters like C. Viper, Gouken, Juri, and Hakan have been very good at doing things other characters haven’t done before.    

Who to Please?

SSF4 added 10 new characters, a big deal for a game released one year after the original.  The characters from older Street Fighter games also filled in gaps from the original roster like a lack of fast, offensive characters and no representation from the SF3 or Final Fight corners of the series. 

With 35 fighters already in SSF4, who else should make the cut? Some want competitive favorites like Alpha’s Karin or SF3’s Urien.  Others want story-related characters like Charlie and Alex. Even obscure characters like R. Mika and Q have their fans. 

No matter who gets into the game, someone’s going to be disappointed. Charlie would work as an aggressive version of Guile, but there are more unique characters around. My horse in the DLC race is Elena from Street Fighter 3. However, my experience with the capoeira fighter is limited to casual play, so why should she be in other than she'll look nice in 3D?

High Expectations

Characters who were good in other games have a different problem. Check out this footage of high-level Street Fighter Alpha 2 play featuring Rolento, another oft-requested fighter (click here if it doesn't show up below).

[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RkjRGyvM_4 ]

The first thing you should notice is "Wow, that Rolento player is great!"  You should also notice that he's doing a lot of work to put pressure on Ken. Rolento uses a hit-and-run style similar to Vega and El Fuerte – in the match he didn't do a lot of damage outside of his flashing "custom combo" state, and he has to stay on offense.

Rolento will also have trouble using the same tactics in Street Fighter 4. Fireballs and anti-air attacks are stronger in this series than Alpha or SF3, which makes his playstyle more dangerous.  Worse, in SF4 every hit Rolento connects would also increase the opponent's Ultra meter, giving his foe the means to make a devastating comeback.  No one should expect using Rolento to be easy.

Going from Alpha or SF3 to Street Fighter 4 is a lot like going from Formula 1 to NASCAR.  Everything from move design to individual attack frames affects a character's effectiveness. For example, Makoto, a close-range powerhouse in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike who made it to Super Street Fighter 4, now has to deal with both strong fireball characters and a weaker version of the Karakusa throw that made her dangerous. One month of playtime is too short to count Makoto out, but people expecting her to be the same as in her earlier game were disappointed. 

The New Breed

The best new-old candidate for a DLC character? It would probably be SF3’s Necro. More than a Dhalsim clone, Necro has a unique move set and corner traps with cool Ultra Combo possibilities like a command grab and a high-stun projectile.  He would also benefit from SF4’s mechanics and slower pace, look great in the art style, and won't have to meet lofty expectations.

Then again, Necro is often touted as one of the "weird" designs that limited SF3's appeal.  Do you go with who people like or who would work in the game?  Maybe we should skip the ghosts of Street Fighters past and create a new World Warrior instead.

Results

Flesch Reading Ease: 58.61 PASSED

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.78 PASSED

Gunning Fog Index: 9.917 PASSED

The first two measurements are actually "worse" than my original, but not by much and still within the requirements.  Comparing the two articles, it does so that I make more than a few changes between Microsoft Word and the Mobfeed. The most helpful part of the challenge for me was the Gunning Fog Index, since it made me take a closer look at my word usage than I did before.