So as I’m sure a lot of you know, Ono has made recent tweets teasing at the possibility of SSF4 AE 2013. A lot of people think it will happen eventually so I decided to make this thread to see what changes you would like to see for Boxer (Mike Bison/Balrog). I’m going to post the changes I would like to see but please keep in mind that these are just MY opinions and some of them may seem greedy or unreasonable but I’ll try my best to explain why I think those changes would make Balrog more fun and overall more effective character. I’ll list them in a numbered format so that it will be easier for you guys to tell me if that particular change would be good, fun, terrible, useless, too good, too cheap, whatever.
So overall, I feel Balrog is a very solid character but in high level he gets lamed out and ran from way too much and he has a hard time opening people up that just block all day. I personally don’t feel damage is his problem at all because he does great damage with pokes and combos but I do feel like his pressure and mixup should be buffed at the expense of damage nerfs. Basically, I want SF4 Balrog to be more like Super Turbo without so damage. Don’t worry I’ll throw in some nerfs too to make it “fair”
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Improve the recovery on LK rush upper so that cr. strong xx whiff rush upper is +2 on hit and -1 on block and make it so that you can perform the move by charging down back (or back) to down-forward so that he can maintain down-charge like in ST (this can be done by making it hit so that you have to hold the kick button down to get ground smash similar to how you have hold the punch to get overhead) . This would allow for the classic ST mixup of throw, safe headbutt, or do nothing after whiff rush upper.
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Improve the anti air hitbox and/or startup for all versions of rush upper. The move currently loses too often to most neutral jumps and backjumps and is too slow to activate which is why it gets counter hit before it even has a chance to anti air as it was designed to. This can come at the expense of a damage nerf. 80 damage for LK rush upper, 90 for MK rush upper, and 100 for HK rush upper. Basically improved utility at the expense of about 20% less damage.
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Change the properties of dash swing blow (overhead) so that the LP version has 17 frame startup but only does 65 damage and pushes them so far that he can’t combo from it at all. It can stay -5 but the pushback will make it safe from reversal DP’s. Make MP version 20 frame startup, but is only +5 on hit instead of +10, -4 on block and does 80 damage. The HP version can retain the 23 frame startup it currently has and it can still be +10 on hit but it should be safe at -2 on block with the damage lowered to 80. All versions can do 150 stun. EX version can stay exactly the same. Again this change is following the trend of improved utility at the expense of damage. The problem with overhead is not damage, its that it’s too slow and very risky if blocked.
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Improve the startup and recovery on all versions of Dashing Low rush to be more like Super Turbo. Currently the move is very slow and the LP version is -8 on block. They should make the LP version startup faster and only be -3 on block with damage lowered to 70 but the stun increased to 130. MP version startup faster and be -5 on block with the same current damage but 170 stun and HP version can also have faster startup, -7 on block with same current damage/stun. EX version can stay the same These changes follow the trend I would like to see of improved utility at the expense of damage.
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Change properties of super so that depending on the strength of button you press it has different properties. Light version (LP or LK) version can have 5 frame startup but only do 200 damage. Medium (MP or MK) version can have 7 frame startup, do 270 damage but be only -4 on block (similar to Super Turbo where his super was mostly safe). Heavy (HP or HK) can be exactly the same at is now.
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Change properties of headbutt so that only the LP version has the recovery from vanilla SF4 back so that he can navigate through projectiles while maintaining charge. Change MP headbutt so that it always hit crouchers, is full body invincible and -4 on block with enough pushback to make it safe from reversal DP’s but if it whiffs it can have even worse recovery than it currently has. Also since the MP version buff on block would be so good, nerf it so that on hit it, it won’t knock them into the air as high as the HP version and you can only juggle into the Light version of the super I mentioned above (which means he would need full meter and it would only do 320 total damage). This change would make him more like ST rog where he can use a safe headbutt for chip and pressure. HP and EX versions can stay exactly the same as they are now.
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Extend the hitbox on just the last launching uppercut for Ultra 1 so that it always connects. I’ve seen it happen too many times where a dash ultra’s last hit just whiffs completely and the Balrog player loses becauses of it. Since this would be a nice buff, make it impossible to combo into super after connecting with the grounded Ultra 1. Please fix this Capcom.
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Change the properties of TAP so that it is more like ST. Change the startup to 27 frames instead of 30 frames. Lower the damage from starting at 130 to starting at 110 but make it so that it will always be -2 no matter how long you charge it. TAP is completely useless at anything beyond level 1 charge. Make it so that the charge levels go up faster but the damage increments go up less. So level 2 TAP will be reached faster than it currently is but it will only do 120 damage on hit instead of 150. Final TAP will take 35 game seconds to reach but it will do 375 damage instead of 560 and be -2 on block. I feel this change will make the different levels of TAP actually usable and Final TAP can actually be used as a comeback instead of just Poongko trolling online randoms with it
The improved startup will allow Balrog to rushdown a lot more as well. As you’ve noticed, improved utility at the expense of damage.
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Ultra 2… oh ultra 2. Here’s what I think… it should do 850 stun at max ultra (around 570 stun at half charge), the animation after it should be completely removed becuase it looks terrible and the opponent should lay on the ground longer so that he can apply pressure (knockdown mixup a.k.a okizeme). It should only do 130 damage regardless of how much charge it has but it should have zero frame startup so that you can’t jump out of it. 130 damage doesn’t seem like much but the threat of it being inescapable and potentially stunning more often than not will add so much mixup possibility on offense that it will certainly be a stronger ultra overall than it is now.
** Another idea for Ultra 2 is to keep the 700 stun at max, lower the damage back to 299 at max but make it 10+0 startup and the ultra freeze won’t start until the 10th frame. So basically it will have 10 frame startup but once it activates, if you didn’t jump before the ultra freeze, it will grab you. The biggest problem with how it is currently is that the ultra freeze acts as a queue to jump out of it so it makes it very hard to land. -
Bring back his old ST win animation where he rips off his shirt but it will only happen if he kills you in less than 25 game seconds
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Make LP dash straight 0 on hit because it currently is -2 even on hit and he can’t continue pressure once it connects. Make it -2 on block.
Note that this wishlist is just my own personal ideas to spice up this bland character that we’ve been using for the past 4 years. A lot of the stuff may be too good and some of it may not be that good (even though I personally think these would be totally fair and overall more FUN)