Here’s Ayano-san with another week of requests that came in from Japan. I read over the blog before I put it up and find it interesting to see how many similarities there were between the Japanese players and Western players. If you’re looking to hear what changes were requested on the Western side, tune in to Warrior Wednesdays and Challenge Capcom on Fridays at 4pm (PT) for details.

Hello everyone, Tomoaki Ayano here!

Here in Tokyo things are really heating up! Luckily the shade provides for a bit of relief…for now. I’m not outside much during the weekdays, but as I go out on the weekends I’m developing quite the tan!

Anyway, let’s keep the ball rolling with some of the character balance requests we’ve received from the Japanese fans! Check them out!

Ibuki

I’ve been playing SF4 since the original version. No matter how you look at it Ibuki just has too many opportunities to knock her opponent down and put them in a mixup – she can combo into Tsumuji with the low knockdown follow-up from a standing or crouching light punch, there’s forward and backwards throw, as well as her Neck Breaker. Not only that, but she can keep knocking them down and keep up the pressure on their wakeup for a loop-like attack (or as the pros call it, “vortex”) without even needing any meter. I understand maybe you can’t really change her concept as a character with strong wakeup pressure, but it’d be nice if you could make her a character that relied more on footsies to do damage. I think that if you slightly nerfed the top tiers (Seth, Fei Long, Cammy) just a bit this game would have great balance.

Ayano: For Ibuki most of the requests we’ve been getting have been to tweak her wakeup pressure game, make Tsujigoe more useful, and to nerf her Hammer Kick. In particular we’ve gotten a lot of requests to adjust the wakeup pressure involving the Kunai. Ibuki’s wakeup pressure options is certainly a hot topic, and we’ll look into balancing it together with the overall adjustments to the game.

 

T. Hawk

He’s been buffed quite a bit but he’s still a citizen of the bottom tier wasteland. I’d love to get even just one of the following buffs.

1. All of his special moves are performed with the punch button. That’s great for beginners, but could we at least get Condor Spire changed to kick input? That would stop mashing at least.

2. Blanka vs T. Hawk is, hands down, the worst matchup in the whole game. Can you do something to make it a bit more fair?

3. There’s no reason to use the MP version of Mexican Typhoon. If you could make it throw invincible that would help to expand our options.

4. Can we get some juggle properties on Tomahawk Buster? That would expand our combo options.

Ayano: In addition to the input change for Condor Spire we’ve also received requests for invincibility on Tomahawk Buster and to be able to do Condor Dive from a backwards jump. A lot of people feel that he’s on the weaker end of the scale and would like to see him buffed. As always we’ll take everything into careful consideration when balancing.

 

Makoto

Here’s my suggestions for Makoto –

1. Make her kick target combos come out a little faster.

2. Increase the hit stun on Hayate, and after hit have Makoto’s position be closer to the opponent.

3. Change the startup of crouch LK to 3 frames.

4. Increase the active frames on Karakusa.

5. Let her cancel the final frames of her backdash recovery into a jab/short, special move, or Focus Attack.

Now for some general adjustments…

6. Slight damage reduction on Abare Tosanami.

7. Slight damage reduction on Yamase.

Personally I feel like playing Makoto is not very fun in the SF4 system as she’s lacking in both the offensive and defensive departments. In a game where some characters can use DP FADC to get out of sticky situations, and put the opponent in a mix-up or even follow up with Ultra, strong mix-up options and good ways to get in are needed in order to fight these characters. Makoto already does a lot of damage, so if you could improve her footsies and her rush down to make her more fun I’d be really happy.

 

Ayano: The most visible requests for Makoto have been for a 3F light punch/kick, full invincibility on Oroshi, and for Abare Tosanami to be nerfed. As Makoto is a character designed for offensive rush down, we’ll keep this in mind when balancing her.

 

Oni

I’d like for him to be buffed, but keeping the balance with other characters in mind I won’t ask for too much.

— Would like to have his stun increased from 950 to 1000.

— Change the MP version of Zanku Hadosho from an overhead to a mid.

   (This will give him a good mid-attack on wakeup against characters with big sitting hitboxes.)

— Change the startup on EX Hadoken from 13F to 11F.

   (This will let him cancel from standing short into EX Hadoken at max distance for a combo. Will

   also help his mid-range footsie game.)

— Slightly extend the hitbox on the LK version of Rakan Dantojin.

   (Will let it reach the opponent from standing LP cancel at max distance).

Ayano: The most popular requests for Oni have been to allow him to Focus Cancel the first hit of his Goshoryuken, extend the range of Gouhadoken, increase his walk speed, and extend the reach of his Focus Attack. A lot of people have complained that even though he’s supposed to be a powered-up version of Akuma, in reality he’s not that powerful. Well, if we made his in-game strength match his story strength I’m afraid we’d break the game! But we’ll try to balance him accordingly, of course keeping in mind the overall game balance.

 

Hakan

— Make the input for Oil Rocket half-circle backwards. I wouldn’t even mind if you lowered the damage it does to compensate.

— Throw invincibility for EX Oil Rocket.

— Extend the hit invincibility of EX Oil Slide up to the attack’s active frames.

— Let him cancel from Guard Position into his Super Combo.

— Let him be able to Focus Cancel the follow-up after Oil Slide even after the input has been recorded.

— Change the recovery on crouch FP back to what it was before, or just make it better even if it starts up slow.

I’d be happy if you guys could take these into consideration. Whatever you do…just don’t delete him from the game!

Ayano: The most popular requests for Hakan have been to give him an anti-air move, change the command input for Oil Rocket, and for a throw-invincible move. The reason behind why people have been asking for the command input change for Oil Rocket is that many players go for Oil Slide and get Oil Rocket instead. We’ll look into making it more easy to use. But don’t worry, our oily friend isn’t going anywhere!

That’ll do it for this week. See you again next week!