A pre-GVN Winter Brawl 5 interview with Justin Wong is up on Evil Geniuses website. This mostly focuses on Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but also covers SSF4 Arcade Edition, and hits on some other subjects as well. Interesting stuff, here's a snip to get you going.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has been somewhat the big thing lately, almost to a point where it’s completely overshadowing SSF4. As a top fighting game player do you think that the game is close to surpassing SSF4’s popularity in the US? And did you expect this to happen as well?
Justin Wong: I don't think it will surpass SSF4's popularity but just add more hype, and more streams and tournaments to look forward to. I hope they both just get bigger and act like partners.
Now, the game has been receiving a number of criticism from well known players in the scene, with you not being a stranger to this with your infamous 7 stages-of-grief image, but you changed your mind fairly quickly after. What do you personally have to say about this?
Justin Wong: I still think the game is too cheap, but I do find the game is fun with the wacky teams I play. I like fighting cheap stuff.
Tip from DMG and an anonymous reader.
Dudes right, the game is too cheap. Im done with it until the netcode is fixed. SECOND!
The standard thing every top SSF4 player recently gets asked is: What do you think about SSF4 AE and also the new characters?
I love SSF4 AE just because its not defensive anymore. I always thought that SSF4 was way too balance and I prefer more action than waiting.
really ssf4 is to balance and now since is more of an offensive game you like it more
"Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has been somewhat the big thing lately, almost to a point where it’s completely overshadowing SSF4"
Based on what? *So* many people who play one play the other that I can't really understand this claim. Or did they expect people to talk about something other than MVC3 on MVC3's launch day?
Wong was right in his response: they are like partners.
So much overstatement in the FG community.
MvC3 JUST came out a week ago. Of course it's overshadowing SSF4 which came out almost a year ago. That doesn't mean SSF4 is anywhere near dead.
Especially after AE finds some way home...
Fighting games CAN coexist, people. They have for 20 years now.
@8
And he'd be right, he's definitely better than most.
I know this is stupid, but I am just saying this. If MvC3 were released before SF4 (original), MvC3 would have got more popularity than SF4. It's because people would still play MvC3 even when SF4 was released. I guess. =/
You know, for everyone complaining about Marvel, you could always play this nice little game called Tatsunoko vs Capcom which is a heck of a lot more balanced, is more complex, and takes more skill.
Just saying.
It is overshadowed. Just compare how easy is it to find new opponents online in MVC3 vs SSF4.
By cheep you mean easy for beginers (wow, I cannot spell, and I am too lazy to spell check) because that is definatly it, I felt I could ease myself in andget gradually better, but thats how I feel a fighting game should be, and in all honisty, MVC3 is pretty complex for newcomers, casuall or hardcore if they see it for the first time.
Think about this, would people say its on par with SSBB cheep? such as do people think that sentinal spam (I disagree with this btw) is on par with meta knight gayness or even how the game is cheep to begin with, X factor? projectile supers? I must know, even if people think ssb is a plague to "real" fighting games, it shares similaritys since I came from the SSBB scene myself and now into MVC3.
ENLIGHTEN ME PEOPLE!!!!
Can someone link me to this Justin Wong 7 stages-of-grief image they are referring to?
ShadowoftheDarkgod: "It is overshadowed. Just compare how easy is it to find new opponents online in MVC3 vs SSF4."
It's easy to find online opponents in either. As for total number of players, of course MVC3 has not sold nearly as many copies yet, so the total number of players for it is likely to be lower and could not be fairly compared until it has been out for a while.
The way I see it, the only thing that is cheap about the game is X-Factor, which is more "Controlled Chaos" than anything else. I mean, would you rather have a character who is mega cheap all the time, or who is only chap for 30 seconds after activating X-Factor. The balance is great, people are already using lots of characters, and THE GAME JUST CAME OUT, so its still early. I feel good things about this game, and I will totally be spending time and trying to be competitive in it.
Here you have it folks! J.Wong probably agrees with Ono thinking that 'too balanced' games are boring.
Interviewer: The standard thing every top SSF4 player recently gets asked is: What do you think about SSF4 AE and also the new characters?
J.Wong: I love SSF4 AE just because its not defensive anymore. I always thought that SSF4 was way too balance and I prefer more action than waiting.
@JIHADJOE:
So you're gonna bash a guy for having his preferences? I mean, I honestly prefer balanced games (as in every character has viability, which is almost impossible for a game - unless the game itself has really strong mechanics), but I respect his opinion. And I think Justin likes more fast-paced playing than turtling.
I say screw Guile and all the other turtle characters. It may be interesting to see someone trying to get close to a character that has really strong defense, but playing against them can be so boring (I'm a Fei player myself, and I usually love it because charge characters are a quite a challenge for me, but when I played Viper I felt so bored seeing the same stuff over and over).
Justin can like everything, because no amount of cheap overrides his skill level. None of you are where he is, you can't really think on the same level. When his She-Hulk rapes a sentinel and the other two members of a MvC3 team by herself....that speaks for itself.
Not bashing him at all, I'm actually quite a fan.
Just pointing it out because there's a TON of people complaining about the twins on AE, even bashing on Ono when he did that interview with Nintendo. I tend to think Ono and Jwong are right. Fighting games need strong characters to make things more interesting.
I think strong characters are kinda like a 'handicap' adjustment as well. Ever had a friend who you could never beat? Well how about playing Sagat vs Guilt in vanilla SF4? It makes things interesting, without having to adjust the handicap bar.
Contradicting himself as usual. He wonders why people don't like him but he's constantly talking out of his rear. He hates SSF4 because it's too defensive but he's admitted that he's a defensive player. Then he trashes MVC3 when it launched and then changes his mind. Now it's just a funny joke but the game is super cheap. Why do people continue taking this dude's opinion seriously? He should take an example from other people in the public eye and keep his mouth closed if he can't help sticking his foot in it.
@FroggyMan77
sadly while your completely right thats the reason why such few people play TvC, as an example, neither justin nor marn have ever put on more than the basic combos with theirs teams we need some tvc love here.
back on topic, mvc3, i dont care much, i know crapcom is gonna re-release the game with new character and more stuff, an sell it like another game just like that so i give mvc3 about 1 year from now until its re-release, however the game is a bit broken in some points but nothing you wont get used to, is fun yes is fun, street 4 is overrated an is only fun to play if you have someone to play with otherwise is not worth buying, marvel 3 is overhyped but the game is still good enough to make i a worth tittle is fun to stay in trainnig an try to get some cool combos but its better when you got someone to play with, so i give mvc3 and overall 7
Balanced games are boring It's all about variety. Every character can not have the same move set or a move set for any situation. That's nothing but a game who's roster is filled with penguins...Everyone is nearly identical. I have no problem with a character [or a few] being more developed than others. Because that's what makes the game fun and challenging trying to overcome those obstacles.
He likes fighting cheap stuff?