Wow…Part 8 in this ongoing blog already? So many characters to cover, but we’re definitely getting through ’em. Continue reading below to see some of the requests Ayano-san received in regards to character balance for the SSF4 update.

Hello everyone, Tomoaki Ayano here!

Here in Tokyo rainy season has begun, which means stifling humidity. If it’d just pour rain we’d be done with it, but instead we get this weak little drizzle. Should I even carry an umbrella for that? I just get all damp anyway. Enough of this wishy-washy nonsense, c’mon downpour! …Wishing for heavy rainfall is just part of living here.

But enough about the weather! We’ve got the final balance requests from the Japanese fans, so let’s get right to it! Speaking of rain…

Rufus

He’s got plenty of attacks that rain down on the opponent—I feel this is his primary strength, and it makes him a very strong character. His downward-angled attacks are difficult to block and combo easily into his grounded moves. This gives him a lot of advantages, so I feel it’s only fair for him to have more recovery frames on block to give him more of a disadvantage and so even things out.

Ayano: The most popular requests we’ve gotten for Rufus are to nerf the Falcon Kick, nerf his U1 Space Opera Symphony, and to fix EX Messiah Kick so that some characters no longer drop out of it. In particular for Falcon Kick most of the requests are for a height restriction or more recovery on landing. As you know, Rufus is our nimble giant, so we’ll balance him and the game while keeping his character archetype in mind.

Crimson Viper

Viper has been toned down a bit in Ver. 2012 and I feel like this doesn’t really suit her. How about bringing back some of her damage with the trade-off that there is more risk in her moves? Here are my suggestions –

— Increase the damage on MP Thunder Knuckle to 120, but give her a -2F disadvantage on block.

— Increase the damage on Air Burning Kick to 100.

— Make LK Burning Kick whiff on crouching opponents.

This increases her damage output, but also increases her risk in trying to chip out or wear down opponents with MP Thunder Knuckle or LK Burning Kick.

Ayano: For Viper we get a lot of requests to increase her damage output, give EX Seismic Hammer throw invincibility, and to buff the hitboxes on her crouching medium kick. A lot of people want either the damage buff or the EX Seismic buff but not both. And there are some who feel that her tools are already strong enough and it’s up to the player to utilize them well. Viper has always been the most technical character in SF4, so it makes sense that the requests that come from Viper players are very specific and have a lot of thought behind them.

Abel

He has a lot of good moves and he’s a fun character to play. However, the one move that’s almost completely useless is EX Falling Sky. Hitting it feels so good…but due to its small grab area it’s very difficult to actually land in a match. Unlike the MP version of Falling Sky, which has the same startup, the EX version moves Abel slightly forward which causes it to miss more often than not. So please extend the grab range behind him as well as a little above! Abel’s major weakness is anti-air, so if you can’t give him a good anti-air tool without breaking the game, then at least increase the damage and stun to 200.

Ayano: Our major requests for Abel are to make his close standing heavy punch more easy to connect on crouching opponents after a dash cancel from his Forward Kick, to buff EX Falling Sky, and to buff close standing heavy punch and heavy kick. Y’know, we haven’t gotten a whole lot of requests for major Abel buffs. One interesting request we got was to give the poor guy some more clothes!

Dan

Dan is, of course, the taunt master! However, there isn’t much use for his crouch taunt or the jump taunt. At least make it so that he can’t be hit out of it. And how about an EX Taunt? Oh, and can you make it so that he stays grounded if his Koryuken trades, as happened in the golden age of Super SFIV? Thanks!

Ayano: The most popular requests for Dan are to make the hurtbox on his arm smaller for his Gadoken, get rid of the invincibility on Koryuken, and give him frame advantage on his jump and crouch taunts. Dan is a…very special character. Unlike all the other characters, we’ve gotten a lot of requests from fans saying he’s just too darned strong, and we gotta make him weaker. …Just how weak do you guys wanna make him?! We’ll balance him while making sure he retains all of his smooth Saikyo suave.

Well it’s taken eight parts but we’ve covered balance requests from Japanese players for all the characters. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

Actually the SSFIV team is still hard at work making adjustments, so give us a little bit more time and I’ll be happy to tell you all about the changes once they’re finished. Well, I’ll tell you about most of the changes…

That’s all for this week. See you again next week!