I think Chun is really, really good. The biggest problem I see as far as evaluating her is the SF4 comparison. I actually don’t think she was very good in SF4. I know tournament performance isn’t the only barometer, but it says something to me that she never was a top 5 tourney character in any of the versions of SF4. Once people learned links and figured out the damage on characters like Ryu, Viper, etc, Chun’s limitations became really clear. She was a footsie character in a game based on damage, vortexes and wake up dominance.
On the other hand, all of the US is completely FREE to Wong’s Chun, and he hasn’t even CADC’d in a tourney yet.
Some key reasons, SFxT’s game engine makes Chun much better.
-Alpha Counters: you guys complain about anti airs, but a combination of st.MK, st.FP, backdash and her alpha counter make this much easier to deal with than in past games.
-Team Synergy: Chun is good in both positions. Her st.MP XX Legs is the most brain dead dominant thing in Chun history next to 3s st.FP and 3s cr.MKxxSuper. Not only does this attack do good chip, but you get a safe tag and if you hit you get a big combo. Need bar? Jump back Fierce. And of course having great pokes makes it that much easier to ABC out without having to use meter at all.
-Matchups: Right now, this is a grapple/shoto dominant game. She owns both. Of all the top tier characters right now, Rufus is the only one that seems like a flat out terrible matchup for Chun. That’s fine, because he seems to dominate everyone except for Ryu, who Chun is just FINE with. In fact, in the early going, just her matchup with Ryu/Ken/Hugo alone is enough to have her on the team.
-Backdash: Self explanatory!
-New inputs for legs and super. Cannot stress this enough. SF4 Chuns need to really sit back and think of all the possibilities with the new inputs. Walking forward into super has to count for something.
-One last note on Lightning Legs: Because it links, even if you DON’T links, there is enough frame advantage to just keep doing it from up close. To quote LI Joe,“Oh wait, so now I just gotta take this bitch’s legs in my face?” YUP. And again, when he had about 10% life up close and no meter. “I’m dead now, aren’t I?” YUP. Insane chip up close. Legs after legs and he just had to take it.
Very few characters in this game have anything like that. If she had a true high low game or invincible reversal, she’d just be broken.
Since the game is so new, we could all be wrong about anything, but her place on the Japanese tier lists, Justin Wong’s complete dominance(keep in mind, he has an Ogre and a Cammy and still considers Rufus/Chun his A squad), Chun’s good changes and the different battle system should at least make everyone pause before they react.
I think the Alpha Counters and Backdashes will show up a lot more as the game progresses. Right now people are a little starry eyed over using meter for exchanges, supers and team supers, but with a character like Chun, the alpha counter is huge. Sending a Hugo or Zangief back across the screen and making them fight aaallll the way back in is more than worth one bar, which Chun builds quickly anyway.
