The
Super SFIV devs have been breaking with tradition a bit lately and dishing some great dirt on the ways your favorite characters have been adjusted in Super SFIV. The good news is that there's, well, good news--for everyone!
You can really see the "balance up" philosophy in action here, with great stuff on how Guile became more "Guile-like," Vega got helpful buffs, Dhalsim does more damage (!), M. Bison's psycho crusher has become a scary move again, and Sagat can still be a beast even without making you feel like you got robbed when he beats you. This game is really shaping up to be amazing, and although the internet has been doing a lot of griping about Guile, we may see the power of Guile in action sooner than you think... Muahaha!
Of course all thanks to
SRK's Azrael for the lightning quick translations!
-- Let's get right into it - please tell us about the adjustments for Guile.
Okada:
Since SFII, Guile has been a character who can't do his special moves instantly, but with plenty of good normal moves. Since we wanted to work on that area in S4, he's the only character in all of the game who we've made adjustments to his charging time, and we've also made some big revisions to his normal moves.
Sano:
We also worked on his offensive priority quite a bit.
Okada:
We've also changed the functionality of the Guile High Kick (DF+RH), which many people didn't quite know how to use. In IV we intended for it to be an anti-air for when Guile doesn't have charge, but in S4 we've added combo functionality to it.
-- Combo functionality...which means we can juggle after it?
Okada:
Yes. You can juggle after it with EX Flash Kick, etc, and you can use it in combos. We've also adjusted his Spinning Back Knuckle (backfist) so that you can combo it after a Sonic Boom. We've also made it so that his Reverse Spin Kick (Upside-down kick) makes low attacks miss more easily, and tried to make him more like his old self.
Tsukamoto:
We've also made some corrections to his combos.
Okada:
Yes, we have. The Guile players who gave it their all with his combos, they didn't really get enough reward for their efforts. That was the biggest thing about his combos, so in S4 we took that into consideration and we're adjusting the amount of damage his link combos do.
-- What about adjustments to his special moves?
Okada:
Guile is all about the Sonic Boom. But in IV, when getting into a fireball fight he ended up on the losing side. That's not really Guile. Even though SB is a charge move, he's supposed to be the one to win in a fireball fight. So in order to get closer to that idea, we've made some slight adjustments to the charge time for Sonic Boom to make it stronger.
-- What type of move is his new ultra, Sonic Hurricane?
Okada:
As the Sonic Hurricane is a move based on being grounded, you can use it to pressure your opponent, do chip damage, or just keep your opponent in front of you and stop them from moving. We've also made it so that it can be used in combos. So then because of that, it does a little less damage than his Somersault Explosion Ultra I. So if you want to take off big chunks of damage, use Somersault Explosion, but if you want an all-purpose attack plan with lots of variations, then you can use Sonic Hurricane.
-- Sounds like Guile's been buffed up.
Okada:
Yeah, I think he's risen up to the middle class at least. We've also given him a fun new move, so if you can use it when you have a chance I'd be happy about that.
Tsukamoto:
Ah, this was a bit of a secret topic during Hakan's reveal trailer. Guile's sunglasses.
Sano:
If you enter in the command, Guile puts on the sunglasses. Do it again, and he takes them off. ...And that's really all it does (laughs). We also wanted to make the sunglasses cancellable.
Okada:
Jump RH -> S.FP -> Sunglasses! (laughs) But this would just aggravate the player on the receiving end, so we gave up on it.
-- Next, tell us about Dhalsim's adjustments.
Okada:
The character who won the first national tournament. Dhalsim is a character where the players have found a lot of really interesting ways to use him, which surprised even us. But his overall damage output was kind of low, so the reward for reading your opponent wasn't that great. So if the player wasn't exceptionally skilled, there were many rough spots in using him. Although there was the thought that if we made him stronger in S4, those who were already good with him would just be even better, but as we wanted a wide range of Dhalsim players to be able to enjoy him more, we decided to give him some improvements.
Sano:
Isn't he the only character who hasn't has some kind of numerical reduction?
Okada:
Yeah, I think we talked about this the last time, but in order to increase the number of turns in a fight* we've reduced the damage output in general for all characters - all except for Dhalsim. His damage was low to begin with. Also, we've slightly increased his counter attacks. Since Dhalsim is a character who has difficult normals and trouble with footsies in close, we've improved his throw, and made his Drills better, which many people wanted. So for the Dhalsim players who felt like they lost once their opponent got in close, in S4 I think that will be a better fight for you.
(*Az: In the last blog they mentioned making the game so that if you read your opponent twice, you would probably win - they were adjusting S4 to increase this number, so "turns" probably refers to this.)
-- Many people wanted the his Yoga Fire to be sped up...
Okada:
We haven't changed the speed of Yoga Fire, but EX Yoga Fire now goes full-screen, so you can pressure people from areas you couldn't before now.
-- What type of move is his new ultra, Yoga Shangri-la?
Okada:
Yoga Shangri-la is a move that can be used during Dhalsim's unique jump arc. As its for grounded use, it won't throw an airborne opponent, but its really good when used with his teleport. To put it simply, Yoga Castastrophe is a move for starting an attack string, while Yoga Shangri-la is a move for ending one.
Sano:
The hitbox for Yoga Shangri-la is pretty big, and sort of similar to the headbutt Drill. So its difficult for an opponent to tell in an instant whether Yoga Shangri-la or Headbutt Drill is coming, and that adds some variation to his attack patterns.
-- Now then, please tell us about Balrog's adjustments.
Okada:
As Balrog was already a pretty strong character, I think he was pretty high up in the tiers in IV. So we wanted to keep his current playstyle intact, but make his freedom of use a bit better. Probably the biggest adjustment is that we've re-examined his input priority. In IV, his Dash Uppercut and Grand Dash Uppercut sometimes wouldn't come out, or would come out on their own, so we've adjusted this.
-- How about his new ultra, Dirty Bull?
Okada:
Dirty Bull is a throw type move that deals out massive stun. Balrog is a character who can make his opponents clam up and then deal out chip damage, or if he breaks their guard he can deal out big rushing damage. But if he has his opponent guarding, for the most part he can really only do chip damage. So now he has the Dirty Bull, which is another way of breaking his opponent's defenses. As was said before, the move does massive stun - so if you hit it after getting in a good rush attack, there's a high likelihood that your opponent will be stunned. For those looking to dish out big damage, you'll want to stick to Violent Buffalo, but if you want more ways to pressure your opponent, then I think Dirty Bull is a nice choice.
-- Now please tell us about Vega's adjustments.
Okada:
We've made Vega stronger! Probably the biggest thing is that we've given him more overheads. His Piece of Mercury (DF+MK) was a high attack, but in S4 it now hits overhead. Many people said it was hard to get knockdowns with Vega in IV, but with this attack hitting overhead now this should increase his attacking options. Also, we mentioned this before, but we've made his claw and mask more durable, so they don't come off so easily now. We're also adjusting his vitality even when he has the mask and claw, so I believe players will be able to use a stronger playstyle. We've also increased the invulnerability periods on all his special moves and made them stronger.
Sano:
To give some specific details, we've made his Scarlet Terror unthrowable, so it can be better used against Zangief's Screw Pile Driver. Also, his MP Rolling Crystal Flash will cause guard stun until the very end, so he doesn't have to worry about it being interrupted by an attack with invincibility, and can use it safely as a chip-damage move.
-- How about his ultras?
Okada:
First, we've vastly improved his Bloody High Claw. Now it hits on the way up, the same as his EX Flying Barcelona Attack, so there are more situations in which he can land it. Also, Splendid Claw reduces his hitbox and moves along very quickly. Bloody High Claw does good damage and is good for anti-air, while Splendid Claw is for grounded opponents. I think Splendid Claw is easier to use than Bloody High Claw, so that adds to his strength.
-- Many people feel that Vega isn't quite as agile as compared to his SFII version...?
Okada:
Really though, in IV Vega is one of the most agile characters in the game. It's just that he's tall and his legs have a particular movement to them, so if you look at the image it doesn't look like he's moving much at all.
-- There were also a lot of opinions that his claw throw-away move came out too easily.
Sano:
We have taken another look at the inputs for that. Except for those who do a lot of inputs from crouching position, it shouldn't really come out on its own anymore.