Seth Killian feels that most players will prefer the Super Street Fighter 4 versions of their favorite characters over their Street Fighter 4 counterparts, according to a recent post on the Unity Boards.Keno said you guys further weakened Gen and didn't make Guile strong enough in Super Street Fighter 4. Why?
Seth Killian: There's unfortunately a lot of shouting instead of a lot of thinking around this topic, but before the release of a highly anticipated game like this, things are often taken out of context or as being more significant than they actually are. I've seen this happen for DOZENS of fighting games over more than a decade, both before I worked at Capcom and since. Part of the reason is that it's a lot more exciting to go, "everything is ruined!" than it is to say, "I should probably wait until I have a chance to know what I'm talking about," so you get a lot of shouting about what's very small amounts of actual info (and sometimes even that info isn't accurate, or changes during development).
While I was there, Keno played the game for perhaps 15 minutes. He's a great player and a nice guy, but I'm sure he would tell you the same thing any sane person would tell you: 15 minutes is not enough to determine the balance of a new game, or even play more than a couple of characters. Adding to the issue is that he was not playing the final build of the game.
Balance tends to improve in Capcom games as they progress in a series and there's more experience with a given engine. Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition was a better game than Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 was better than Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact was better than Street Fighter 3, and I'm confident Super Street Fighter 4 will improve on Street Fighter 4 (which is already in pretty good shape according to the actual rankings charts, with fewer really bad matchups than almost any fighting game in Capcom history, or any other current game for that matter. Sure, Sagat is strong, but probably the weakest #1 character ever, which is a good thing).
As for Gen and Guile, if there were an "Anniversary Edition"-style game or Street Fighter 4 (where you could choose either the Street Fighter 4 or Super Street Fighter 4 versions of your characters), I suspect almost everyone would choose the SSF4 version of their character — including Gen and Guile.
When my opponent hits a button and the move animation begins, I predict this and Super/Ultra why is it that my opponent's punch or kick no longer animates and is allowed to go straight to blocking?
Seth: I don't have anything great to say about this, since there are different start-up times, etc. for different Ultras (and for different moves from the opponent). It's on a case-by-case basis, but of course there are quirks as well. The answer to this is as simple as it can be: if you're counter move isn't actually countering your correct predictions, you need to find a different counter move. Not all Ultra combos are a great counter for pokes, so even if you feel something "should" counter something else, while most moves are intuitive, intuition is far from a perfect guide to what works against what.
Why is my opponent able to break my combo with a reversal Shoryuken? This mostly happens online. Is there anyway to fix it?
Seth: Again, not so much to say here. It sounds like it has to do with variations in the connection quality. This is an issue that's a part of online play, and some strategies are more dangerous online than they are offline. I'm a big advocate for the best online experience possible, but if you "know" you did it right and you still got uppercut, then yeah, it was probably some variation in timing due to the connection.
Why weren't Sean, Alex and Rolento selected to be in Super Street Fighter 4?
Seth: Just for the record, the characters were selected via a combination of fan-feedback and our own thinking about who would be a good fit in terms of fighting style for the game. It was done on a case-by-case basis, but as was noted here, Shotos are already well-represented in SFIV, so characters like Sean (who are also less popular with most fans) were that much less likely to make the cut.
Will Capcom have a playable demo of Super Street Fighter 4 at Wondercon on April 2-4?
Seth: We will indeed be at WonderCon. Details of exactly what we're doing, and when, are to be determined but should be coming soon. I'd say there's a good chance we'll have some form of Super Street Fighter 4 at the show, but we'll share more specifics when we get things nailed down.
