This is part 15 in an extended series of articles from David Sirlin, detailing the changes we’ve made to the rebalanced mode of the new Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

This article runs through a variet y of updates made based on testing since the original articles detailing the changes to characters were published.

Part 15: Character Updates

Here’s an update on the Street Fighter HD Remix characters that I’ve already written articles about.

Ken
If you played the online beta test after we patched it, then you already saw the new Ken. His medium Dragon Punch was supposed to be a 2-hit juggle that could sometimes get a 3rd hit in some situations. A bug in Ken’s juggling system allowed his juggles to go beyond 3, but that’s now fixed. The fix only really affects the fierce Dragon Punch though, because I removed the juggle on the medium Dragon Punch entirely. It’s still invulnerable on the way up though, which gives it plenty of uses.

Meanwhile, the jab Dragon Punch is back to New Ken’s in ST. That means it does have some vulnerability around the head several frames after it starts. It turns out that an invulnerable, safe-on-block move that you can’t beat with any other move in the game is not so good for strategy.

Ken’s three Dragon Punches now have distinct uses:
    Jab: safest
    Strong: most invulnerable
    Fierce: least invulnerable but biggest arc and can hit on the first frame.

Finally, in order to reduce the ease of his comboing fierce Dragon Punch after roundhouse Hurricane Kick, I had to make the Hurricane Kick travel a bit slower than earlier versions (but still faster and farther than ST). It’s a long, boring technical story, so just take my word for it that we had do it.

Blanka
Blanka has turned out to be very strong. His generally safer roll really needed some compensating factor, so he now takes more damage when hit out of it, but not as much as he took in SF2: World Warrior.

Balrog
In earlier versions, it was possible to hit Balrog out of his super during the first hit. I always hated even if I knew that super was coming, I still couldn’t hit it ever, and then it’s completely safe on block, too. It turns out that no matter how we sliced it, more vulnerability on this move allowed you to hit him out of his super in too many ways that weren’t intended. His first hit is now totally invulnerable again.

Sagat
Sagat has also turned out very strong. The range of his super makes it very useful as both an anti-air attack and as a way to blow through the opponent’s ground attacks. I had to reduce the damage, especially on the advice of top player John Choi (who plays Sagat). Incidentally, internet forums seemed to think this super did a lot more damage than it ever actually did in the first place, but that’s moot now.

Also, Sagat’s Tiger Knee now does even less dizzy than before.

Cammy
Cammy has been on my “watchlist” for a long time due to how easy she is to play and how powerful she can be. Once you get the hang of how to properly space your pressure, it’s pretty scary. Cannon Drill, Cannon Drill, low forward (for spacing) Cannon Drill, low short, low forward, Cannon Drill, Cannon Drill. You get the idea. As soon as they hesitate, Hooligan Throw.

Former Evolution world champion Tokido said that Cammy worried him the most of any character. “Too easy” he said. When I asked what he suggested I do, he thought for a while and then said that increasing recovery on Cannon Drill would make her terrible again, so “maybe it’s ok to have an easy character after all.” A closer look at the move shows that you can actually Dragon Punch it during several points in that pressure sequence, but it is admittedly hard to hit otherwise. As a result, I lowered the priority in the front of the short version of the Cannon Drill.

Also, Cammy was very strong against Dhalsim in ST because of one move: jump strong. Dhalsim really has no answer to this move at all. What was a bad match before became a horrendous match in HD Remix. To address this I reduced the size of her hitbox on jumping strong (only towards/away, the straight up version remains the same). The change is microscopic. I think the impact on the game in general is negligible EXCEPT that tiny change allows Dhalsim's slide to hit her jump strong (well not the jump straight up version, but the jumping toward/away versions). This makes that match a lot closer to even, especially considering Cammy upgrades like Spinning Backfist going through fireballs.


Fei Long
Fei Long seems to have the largest disconnect between what the internet forums think and reality. His Flying Kicks, even with more recovery, are a staple move that I use constantly when I play him. Doing a Flame Kick after that move is so natural that I started to call it the “Flame Kick Tax.” I know I’m going to do it after Flying Kicks, you know, and you just have to wait and I just have to do it. It’s invulnerable, safe, and usually the best thing for me to do right there. This isn’t such a great strategic situation, so I added a little more recovery to the short version of the Flame Kick to force at least some strategy in this situation. In practice, it still seems to be safe in most situations, just not at point-blank range.

Before you go protesting over this, consider that Fei Long’s Flying Kicks are good, easy to do, lead to a juggle combo with Flame Kicks now that is practical in real gameplay, that his short Flying Kicks go through fireballs, that his super has longer range, that his Rekkas have longer range, and that he is generally a dominator. If you can’t win with him, consider retiring from Street Fighter.

T.Hawk
A character update wouldn’t be complete without some mention of T.Hawk. After months of seeing him bounce back out of range after his 360 command throw, he just seemed too weak. He now bounces back the same distance as in ST, so he is able to threaten to repeat his throw (but at least he has a throw whiff so no 100% guaranteed option-select nonsense—sorry for the jargon there!). T.Hawk is definitely a threat, but at least Guile and Honda keep him in check.