When I first start a game I go by what character looks the most appealing. If I like how the character plays then I’ll stick with them, if not I choose a different character. And I refuse to use stupid looking characters (i.e. Honda, T. Hawk, Rufus, etc.)
EDIT: There’s a 99% chance I’ll be using a shoto if it’s a SF game.
i just play who doesnt suck and is cool/fun.
I pick characters that have a lot of interesting options. And I love throwing but not playing some grapplers who moves like a snail.
I normally choose characters based on the way I’m use to playing the game. For example, I love zoing/defensive characters, with good lock down abilities and emphasize patience. My mains in any game are usually Dhalsim/Guile and maybe a little Zangief or Chun-Li. Basically I like Dhalsim because of his ability to keep people out, and he has an answer to every situation in a given game. I like Guile/Charlie because of his lockdown abilities and more defensive play style. I like Chun-Li/Zangief because they normally have good tick throws. Basically in any game I like to slow down the pace of the match, get my opponent frustrated, and force them into making a mistake. So I love good punisher/defense oriented characters. I love to put the fear of God into rushers.
For other games I love to use Baiken, because she is much the same. Defensive, but good at capitalizing on your opponent’s mistakes.
In KOF, it’s weird because I love to rush in that game, the same with CVS2.
However I do love to use Santhrax/Matrix in Marvel, because these teams are more defense oriented than MSS/MSP/Combofiend.
I’m not a combo master, and most of execution comes from fast reaction time and counters. I’ll learn the BnBs and such, but my big thing is zoning, blocking, and defense.
Down/back all day.
Well I don’t know about picking mains. I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a character exclusively. and I think it’s kind of dumb to call a character a main before you’ve even played the game
but when I pick characters, like most it’s a combination of aesthetics and gameplay.
When picking up a new game, I think everyone just picks people from the roster from how they look or what they’ve seen of them. Then play them to see if they like them.
That’s how I start out anyways. If I really like the game I’ll probably watch matches online and do more research and try more characters after seeing them used in an entertaining/effective way. but for the most part I start by just picking different people and seeing who I like playing as
hmmmmmmmmmmmm…
Yeah really
I didn’t know so many people here picked characters based on which one gives them the biggest boner
I go with how comfortable I feel playing the character. It’s the reason I’ve dropped so many secondaries in GG; I wasn’t comfortable with them save for Ky and A.B.A.
Re-post
tier whoring is for pussies I always go with character design
Besides Ken (which I pick in every Capcom game), I choose based on cool character design and how easily I adapt to their movelist.
I pick the characters that i know suck, and i feel sorry for.
IE hugo
IE baiken picked her cause i was like damn bitch got one arm and one eye
American characters. ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.
What’s wrong with that? If that is what gets you to play the game, then by all means do so. I know personally when I pick up a game I do go with the most visually appealing character to me, whether it’s a hot chick or a badass looking dude depends on the art style and their combat style. For instance, in Melty Blood I play Kouma, who is a dude who stomps and makes fire. That sheer amount of awesomeness is hard for any other character to top. In AH I play Mei-Fang, because she has giant robot tits. I think she stores her extra oil there, the way they bounce around.
So that’s what it is for me, badassness or tits. It’s literally how I make my decision about character choice. And there is nothing wrong with that, if you enjoy playing that character then by all means do it. Maybe you’ll get lucky and said character will be top tier and you’ll win too.
do you play sol in guilty gear too?
from your avatar i woulda thought you played konoha in AH.
i usually start with character design. invariably i discover i cant win with the cool people and fall back team on TEAM EXECUTION EASY and use whatever the hell i can win with. for some reason i usually end up with some chick, the “zangief” of the game, or slayer. slayer isnt execution easy though so i dont know what happened there.
I play ninjas only however in World Heroes Perfect I pick a pirate because I’m bad at that game and don’t want to give the ninjas a bad name also I don’t play World Heroes Perfect but I thought I’d add something to this thread I don’t play Ibuki either but I’ll play Bang when I play BlazBlue which will probably be never.
Edit: I play whatever character is a bad-ass and at least mid-tier. Most characters that interest me tend to be high up anyway.
Looks sometimes makes me want to pick a main character, then followed by how the character plays.
In BlazBlue, I love picking Litchi, she looks awesome at first, and then I found out how she is a powerhouse character in the game. She was able to destroy Noel, Arakune, and Ragna players easily, her 41236+D~C and 623+D are GODLIKE. Don’t be surprise if she ends up being one of the Top Tier characters.
I tend to play who flows the right way for me, no tier list involved. Most games the character tends to be high or medium high tier for me by just coincidence. Other characters I just like the way they play (blanka in super turbo)
But don’t you play Abel in SFIV?
Rushdown characters that move really fast and can keep the pressure like Guy, Rolento etc…or some SRK type characters like Sagat, Ryu and the like…basically if you can turtle most likely i aint picking you…>_>;
…I also run into shit all the time 
For me, it’s aesthetics then play style then tier. I do typically avoid top-god tier characters (like Tekken 4 Jin) and most important to me is the way the character “flows.” They have to feel right.
My 3s journey went from Alex to Elena to Urien to Ryu to dabbling with everyone else except Ken, Yun, Sean, and 12 to Q and back to Alex as my main. Alex just “flows” well with me.
GG:XX was Jam from the start, I lucked out on my pick with her as I liked everything about her character.