Something, something DARK SIDE... something, something COMPLETE

So, the Super Street Fighter IV line-up has now been completed.

Say hello to Hakan.



I've had some pictures for a while now and they made me chortle every time I looked at them, his ultra and super are amazing, particularly the across the shoulder shooting of his super and the slide to face plant of the ultra. I also love that his ultra is an anti-air move.


It is clear, at least to me, that this inclusion is a Dan for the grapplers amongst you. The pictures I have are seemingly stills from the video that Capcom have given to IGN to reveal (it could have been on us if we had as big a following) so I'll instead post the Famitsu scan so you can all try to improve your Kanji.


I don't think I have to tell you that his story will obviously have something to do with the children hanging around him and probably that barrel he picks up. Which grips me not in the least, but then who cares about the stories for any character in the Street Fighter canon?

From the video and the stills from it I can say that you should not expect him to play at all like the 'giefer. He has a Blanka style slide, a command grab that involves him dashing forward into the grab. From this we can already tell that he will not have the hit points that 'gief or Sagat do as he is a much quicker grappler, maybe more along the amount for Abel.
I have already mentioned Blanka, and I think this seems to be pretty much the starting point for him. Maybe a little quicker, but the game having been sped up and only having seen Blanka's Pikachu ultra I can't tell if they are actually the same.

It also seems that, like Dudley, Hakan has either a taunt that affects his play (makes him greasier), or its a special move that improves range on slide and dash etc. We have to wait to play him to see!

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Here's him in action



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How do you feel that the final character is a comedy character?
However you feel, what we now have is the finalised character select screen.



Details from Nakky's (developer) blog indicate that the cursor will remember the last character chosen after being turned off, if you so wish. There seems also to be an option to turn ON that god awful theme tune from 'vanilla' Street Fighter IV. There will also be an option to set the majority of the training room options so that you don't have to keep turning off the stupid freaking stun and turn on random/auto block (can you tell this is a pet peeve?)


Now that you have got hype, the next step is to get your game ready.
Youtube user mingtongzhi has provided some excellent videos of how to get more wins. Understanding how hitting your opponent works and what moves are safe is imperative to winning, as is knowing why mashing out an ultra or dragon punch when you get up is BAD.









See you in the training room!


[EDIT]

Here are character changes as of the final retail build. As posted by Mr Wizard on SRK. He played it and was allowed to talk to the press!

Ryu - Ryu's medium and hard dragon punches hit twice now. Damage is down on it, but if you FADC, you only get one hit from it, so damage is down even farther. Trades to ultra from DP are gone, and most trades into ultra from SF4 are gone, but not all. Puts you in a floaty state, and you cant combo afterwards.

Ken - He is not looking good. They didnt give him much. He cannot FADC to Ultra2 normally. He didnt get crazy kicks from previous SF games. They slightly improved his fireball.

Chun li - She got 'infinitely better'. U2 combos easily all day. The upkicks target combo goes into U2, as well as EX legs anywhere on the screen. Its very dangerous. U2 gets all 20 hits every time, if it whiffs for a while and you get hit by the very end of it, you still take the full damage.

Guile - He seems to have been given nothing. Sonic Hurricane, his U2 is not good. Super into U2 is the only known combo into it. Down+Taunt puts on glasses, but doesnt give him any buffs or advantages.

Zangief - Very similar. He could lariat trade into U2 in earlier builds, but he cannot anymore. Rufus and tall characters can block his lariat low and punish with a crouching RH.

Rose - She can juggle off soul reflect into air throw or U1 or ex fireball. U2 is very good. Can corner juggle into orbs. Each orb can hit once before it dissipates, including on block. They do about 20% damage each on full ultra. Wiz noted that he needs to check what happens when projectiles hit them. When the orbs activate, there is a delay before you can do special moves again, including throw. They delay felt like 3-4 seconds. Orbs cross up very easy. Rose seemed powerful.

Blanka - Seemed the same, new ultra isnt that great, can get thrown out of it.

Honda - Noticed no changes, cant jump on reaction to U2.

Dhalsim - He seemed the same. U2 hit box is prttty small. Super hard to hit.

Balrog - U2 jumpable on reaction to activation. His U2 is bad, it has terrible range. Seemed too hard to land to be worth giving up U1.

Vega - Seemed the same. His Claw stays on a lot longer now, though. Ex dive off the wall doesnt go through opponent anymore.

Sagat - He does marginal less damage overall. Scar-uppercut does double damage, nothing more. If you do scar move, you cant do it again until you uppercut, but you can store the powered up state the entire round if you want. forward + RH still juggle state.

Bison - J.Strong into U2 works. Its not a charge motion so its very handy. U2 is a blockable stomp attack, and it can crossup! It hits hard, too! No known nerfs.

Rufus - Ex messiah kick is not as good, but still good. A few frames less on invincibility, and less damage. EX snake strike damage is way down. U2 doesnt seem to combo well. U2 is good anticrossup or antiair, but thats about it. Has to work for wins now

Fuerte - Fuertes normals are all faster now. U2 is extremely good.

Viper - No notable changes. She can U2 off EX seismo if you are fast. The recovery from U2 is ok. Rumors of mp thunder nerf are untrue or reversed, if its slower its only a frame or two.

Abel - He has a faster c.hk. U2 cant combo but its fast and has armor if you hold the button, it looks to be very good.

Guy - Feels slow. Has cool chain combos into super. EX spin kick is vertical. EX shoulder is his best move, super fast.

Cammy - Cannon drill 'got a little better'. Uppercut damage nerfed pretty hard. U2 is terrible. U2 can be broken by using breaker.

Fei - Changes not apparent. Counter ultra can be broken by a breaker.

Gouken - No known nerfs. U2 still blockable, but backthrow into 5 hits of it into wallbounce into more fun works.

Sakura - Her crossup j.mk is back. Very good crossup. Makes her feel more like sakura again. U2 is the best choice. Its two ultras in one, okay damage, easy to combo, can aim it up or forward. EX hurricane to ultra is simple as hell.

Dan - Dan is secretly way better now, he got what he needed. Uppercut fadc U2 is strong. His fireball goes 60% of the screen now. The rest seems untouched, but this is 'all he needed' to be a contender.

Akuma - no known nerfs. Many of the nerfs from earlier builds were reverted. Infinite is gone, but you can still combo after s.hk. Jab cannot link to HK anymore, so you cant loop it. Lv2 focus into new ultra wiffs, but works from Lv3 focus. EX airfireball into U2 works.

Gen - Only nerfs found so far, no chain combos, no mk .kick to hands at all. ex wall dive lost some invincibility.

Seth - Everything is the same, except his focus attack takes longer to hit lv2 now. Its not very good. U2 can combo anywhere you could combo stomps and does good damage.

Juri - Kara throw is good with HP. Wiz could only find a 5 hit Custom Combo in U1 mode without FADC. U1 mode is really long in duration. EX wheelkick seems nearly instant startup. Hitpoints seemed close to Ibuki's, but it was hard to tell.

T.Hawk - Hawkdive is his armor breaker. Hawk Upper cannot be FADCed at all, ever, at any point. U2 is bad, very very hard to hit. Feels slower than Zangief but stronger. His normals are very good.

Adon - He seems very weak. Both ultras are hard to use. Jaguar Tooth and Jaguar Kick are both unsafe on block. Air Jag-kick might be safe. EX jag kick is safe. Has a very good overhead though, one of the best.

Deejay - He seems decent. Nothing too bad, nothing too good. Reminds you of ST in that way.

Cody - He can only FADC tornado on first hit and the tornado wont come out. He cannot combo ultra after it. Has 3 levels of charge on his Zonk Knuckle, and its really really good and annoying. He says BINGO everytime he does it. You can combo into Zonk. HK ruffian is good.

Dudley - Not much to add to JWong's video, but he is probably #1 in the game.

Makoto - EX grab has 1 hit of armor! Outside of this, nothing to add to JWong's video.

Ibuki - Slide does not go under fireballs, air knife doesnt cancel out fireballs.

Hakan - Seems OK at first. Looks like hellboy red and is kinda fat. Has spiky hair. Has a 360 move where he puts you in his arms and sqeezes you out with oil slicked body. you fly across the screen at a 45 degree angle. He can slide along the ground face first and hit punch during for a followup (only when oiled up). Has an air grab where he belly flops. DP+K puts on more oil.
He takes out both hands and dumps oil on himself and it looks funny. He then glows white. When he has oil, he is 200% better. putting oil on takes half a second, and its duration based. EX oil lasts a long time. In non-oil mode, he is like gief. When he is in Oil Mode, he can chain everything, like c.lk x4 into mp. Moves in oil mode have more range, including 360. Front and backdash are better in oil mode too. All of his pokes have neutral and toward versions. Has a 'trap' ultra, where he lays down, and if you step on him, he grabs you. You cannot touch him at all, even if not attacking. You slip on his stomach like its ice. Then he 69s you as you slide along the ground and you fly out his buttocks.

The 2nd ultra is comedy as well. 720 motion, throws you up in the air and you board the OIL COASTER. You ride him going around his body till you are ejected into a wall at the end.

His super is double fireball with kick. Its a leaping grab thats crouchable, like Alex DDT he leaps at you.




Clearly he will not have had much time to get COMPLETELY to grips with every character and the news about Gen does not in any way surprise me. It does depress the hell outta me though. I'm still gonna lay a beat down on all you overpowered Dudley players (that's the ones that get into the training room, muscle memory the crap out of all of his chain combos and get his 1-frame links like overhead--super down -- NOT the Dudley players who just mash out his uppercut and don't know what a chain is, I will still beat them) as well as everyone else.

With this information will you be changing your character? Will you wait and play with each?
If Gen really has been nerfed (Why? Because he was SO STRONG in the IV? Did you ever try to play as him - you had to work FREAKING hard to be able to do anything with him) to the point that it becomes no fun to play him I'll end up picking someone else. These are sad times my friends, sad times.
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