VF is not debatable. Game was HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE in Japan, it just started to dwindle with the 5 series.
Also ST really isn’t that balanced. LOADs of really lopsided matches.
Note: “Balance” was quoted. I’m not going to vouch ST is balanced at all, but compared to others like CvS2, 3S, and MvC2, it was very balanced.
I mentioned VF as debatable since I’m not entirely aware of how large it is outside of the States. I got into the game for about a month or two and put it aside. I will say that VF in the states was pretty much a flop, as far as I can tell, nothing more than mediocre attention at best.
VF is still going strong in japan and has been for years. Its doing well on arcade cause theres no home version.
I get you. But VF in japan was literally the BIGGEST thing for a long time.
Did not know that!
You can’t put balance and ST in the same sentence without putting isn’t in the middle of them. This was one of the only fighting game I have ever heard of that had to ban a character in competitive play.
It banned a hidden character. Are you talking about O.Gat? wtf is with people and o.Gat? Gat was “soft-banned” as some people put it. He’s not banned from play. He’s just looked down upon if you pick him. There’s VERY few good Gat players out there. He’s probably in the top 3 hardest to actually learn. Akuma was the only character that was actually banned.
As for “lopsided” matchups… yeah, Ryu/Honda… Blanka/Gief… Honda/Dic… Those are some really bad fights. 
Almost forgot Sim/Gat… That one sucks really bad.
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O.Sagat is the only character that comes to mind when you think of when you here Banned and ST? No one special in mind? One who’s the very example of Broken? Come on son.
akuma was never intended for serious play, he’s just there for shits and giggles.
as for lopsides matchups theres a whole bunch more. ST is by far my favorite game and I’m pretty competitive in it. But I don’t believe it’s all that balanced.
It’s definitely the most fun though 
edit oh ad my main character is blanka so plenty lopsided matches to deal with.
Assuming you read and skimmed over things…
I like how you even quoted that part.
@Fulanni: I agree with that. I still feel it’s more balanced than 3S or the other games that I mentioned.
you’re probably right about that. But I have to admit I never played 3s, cvs2 and marvel2. I’m relatively new to 2d fighting games (about 3 years).
i DID read that part. I was just assuring that I wasn’t talking about O.Sagat. Tbh, akuma should be automatic.
Akuma is still a banned character, whether or not he was intended for competitive play. Not debunking ST, as i do enjoy it from time to time.
Oh and I don’t exactly know HOW balanced ST or 3rd strike is, but i have seen low tiers take out top tiers in 3rd Strike. I have heard that though everything is generally considered unbalanced in 3rd strike, but people have said that the flexibility of the engine makes it possible for top tiers to be beaten by low tiers. I have no idea whether or not it is the same case in ST, but 3rd Strike IS balanced engine wise. (as people claim, and have proven from time to time.)
3S is a Mak/Yun/Ken show.
- once in a while, you’ll get a good Dudley, Urien, Chun, Akuma, etc.
CvS2 is A-Groove Blanka/Claw/Dic/Sakura in some way shape or form - Once in a while you’ll get some random teams, like Combofiend’s Rolento.
Marvel 2 is Storm/Sentinel/anti-air or Mag/Storm/Sent or Mag/Cable/Sent. Sometimes You’ll see a Cable/Sent/Commando in there. - You’ll occasionally see some random “other” team… Mixup’s MST made top 8, Duc won with Spiral/Cable/Sent, Clock makes top 8 with Strider/Sent/Doom, Yipes won with MSP… etc.
Well ya, in 3S there has been many times where 1 good parry wins you the game…anyway, why cant we just have a good time playin some FGs without petty disputes?
If ST is considered balance, it has to be because of how dangerous getting knocked down once can be for anyone by anyone. First knockdown, get mixed up. Successful mixup, get dizzed. Dead. Random dizzies and damage, 1 frame throws took like 1/4 or 1/3 of your life.
It’s fun knowing a match can shift completely out of your control at any moment. At least this is why I enjoy ST.
Can people stop talking about games they know little about? Especially you’re 3S section, Mak above Chun really?
uh
not the whole story at all. maybe in the usa?
its true when they said, that no one wants a good grappler
I’ve said this before about Chun. Every time I watch new videos Shend puts up, I see like 2 Chuns but a fuckton of Maks. I wasn’t going by tiers. Of course she’s higher in tiers… that doesn’t mean people still play as her, and the people that did… I don’t see much anymore. I just see Boss dominating everybody.
Over-generalized it. I didn’t mean that you’ll see teams made of only them. It’s just that most teams that I see have at least one of them on it. It’s like seeing Sentinel all day in Marvel. That’s all you see.
I was talking about what I’m seeing in tournament play. Not necessarily about who won with who five years ago, and DEFINITELY not talking about tiers.
Power Stone was pretty damn well balanced and it vanished real fast. And VF has almost no representation in the US, despite the fact that it’s probably one of the best balanced franchises ever.
What made SF popular is perceived lack of balance. It started as fireball wars and inability to close distance. People learned how to get in and then apply their fireball pressure. The world cried cheap as they were locked down by meaty jab fireball, fierce fireball “loops.” How do you even approach Guile? etc., etc.
The metagame evolved. People learned about the strength of neutral jump. They found the invulnerable moves that pass fireballs. Fireball traps weren’t as scary. If it weren’t for that “lack of balance” where would fighting games even be? There needs to be uphill battles. Without them you never truly learn how to conquer.
If that means a character has to suck in comparison to the rest, I’m fine with that. I’ve been playing Vega for years, and stuck with him in SF4 and was terrible with him. But that’s the hand I was dealt, and I learned to use what I can with him. Because I put in the time and learned the matchups, I do better just on the strength of positioning than I do with superior characters (not to say that I am overall a great player or anything–I’m pretty average). When I put in the time to learn Bison in SSF4, because of my practice with Vega, I believe I ended up better overall, because I was forced to think about playing the game in a very analytical way just to break even with Vega.
So, unless there’s a character that is so significantly broken that it destroys the metagame (ST Akuma or Gill), throw balance out the window. We need our Hakan players to help us get hype when they beat Yun.