It was announced the other day but I'm going to remind you that Gouken is in the new Street Fighter.

He's not an April Fools joke anymore but an actual computer-controlled character with his own special moves. His power level and balance has yet to be determined.

Let's hope that Capcom does the right thing and makes him a very powerful, top-tier character, for the console release of the game. Most SF players will tell you that Gouki has never been a top-tier character. In canon and with "Shin" versions of the boss he is very powerful. However as a selectable character he is underpowered. Capcom did this for the sake of balancing the cast, if Gouki was as powerful as he is supposed to be then all the tournament players would be using him exclusively. I wouldn't mind seeing an all-powerful Gouki in the game, provided that his brother is in the game to balance him out. Even then Gouki and Gouken should be banned from competition, rather than dumbed down because they are so absurdly powerful.

Gouken might end up being the strongest character in the game as Gouki does not seem to be anything special in SF IV. The first video of Gouki in SF IV shows him getting beaten easily by Abel. It's quite insulting to see such an iconic character done in without much difficulty. Fans would have been in an uproar if it were Rufus serving Gouki easily. Gouki needs to become a real beast of a character and thusly Gouken should also be a very powerful character. In this way it would make the inclusion of Gouken all the more important. The brothers are the only ones that should be able to go toe-to-toe with one another. They are not great fighters but the peak of all the masters in the SF universe. They need to represent that in form and function. 

The importance of balancing out a powerful opponent, rather than watering him down for the console, goes back to the Frightful Symmetry of Street Fighter. Gouki and Gouken have that same frightful symmetry that all the iconic Street Fighters have. They shouldn't be dumbed down for the consoles but kept at absurdly high power levels. Having two strong bosses makes for more interesting tournament matchups and isn't an insult to the legacy (and symbolism) behind the characters. 

In other fighting game news, it seems SF IV news is always tempered by KOF news, and I don't even like KOF but I'll be damned if this isn't the approach Capcom should have taken for SF IV. Check out the new KOF trailer and weep.

Have a good day and let me know what you think!