There are many of the opinion that Dan is…a bit rubbish. But I thought it might be nice to clarify the good and bad things about Dan both for people thinking of giving him a go and also for myself as a Dan fan. I feel I must stick up for him a bit but I will also acknowledge his bad points.
GOOD:
His dragon punch is actually good. It has short horizontal range(but then, so does Ryu’s) but is good as an anti-air and close range move. Also, there is that 1 in 8 invincibility too.
The gale kick is useful. A hurricane kick is probably better overall but the gale kick has it’s uses. Not only practical uses, but it has individuality to it too.
Supers. These are good. And the “combo” one looks the business too.
Taunts. Yes indeed, the taunts are lovely to have. He is the only character who can taunt more than once per round(as much as you like) and in A-ISM he has two supers which are taunts. He even has rolling and jumping taunts. Nice!
Saikyo defence. This V-ISM-only move is useful for getting a pressurising opponent away from you.
BAD:
Range. When I play as Dan I find him to lack range overall. Some of his normal moves especially could have been done better to give more range.
His gadouken’s short range means he hasn’t as much of a projectile game as others.
One other thing I like about Dan ishis personality. The taunts are part of it, but also I like how he ranges from the comedic(and cute) thumbs up “Yayouse” to the fierce sounds he makes in his “combo” super. Even when X-ISM Sagat tiger uppercuts him off the screen when facing Ryu he manages to entertain.
Well, these things are just my opinion. If you have any more to add or agree/disagree with, I look forward to reading it. My main point is basically that Dan isn’t as bad as some people might make him out to be.
I cant talk about Alpha 3 because I dont like it, but since I play and love ALpha 2 I can talk about some of Dan on Alpha 2:
His soryuken is weak and can be stoped with regular kick or punch, even his deep shoryuken CAN be stoped with regular punch/kick, Dan regular adouken is a joke, his supers are WEAK, the only real priority that he has with supers are on level 3, his super level 1 upper (shoryuken) can be easy stoped with most special and regular opponent moves just like all of his level 1 super moves.
More: when he jumps he cant use his regular kick on air because its Slow, Short and has very weak priority (what the hell Capcom was thinking about??) in order to use a kick has air attack Dan can use his MK because his air HK is a stupid joke.
His QCF + k is slow and has no priority against most special and regular opponent moves.
More: dan special ans super moves got almost no range and weak priority, from all the shotos Dan is by far the weakest one (imo hes not even a real shoto…)
Im not sure if Dan moves (regulars, specials and supers) got more priority on Alpha 3 but on Alpha 2 Dan is for sure a very low tier character.
This is my opinion about Dan on Alpha 2 (my favorite SF game)
I have heard it said that dan is improved from alpha 2 IIRC but I’m not 100%. And I don’t have enough experience with alpha 2 to comment on it myself.
Once when I was playing computer Dan with Chun Li I did a spinning bird kick towards him. He gale kicked(QCB+K) and kicked Chun down. Intrigued, I did it again. He did the same thing and out prioritised the spinning bird kick. I’m not sure how much priority his most of his moves have in A3.
His supers aren’t weak in A3. While I haven’t paid attention to precise numbers, by the energy depletion on the bar, his level 3’s are at least average(I can’t remember for sure about the dragon punch one but the “combo” one is). Indeed, I have noticed that guy’s appear to be the weakest(but thats compensation from his speed and other moves I guess).
Jinrai, could you please tell me(or point to) those VC’s? I’m interested to find out more Dan VC’s.
Tell me besides the Deadly CC Zone what powerfull weapons Dan has on Alpha 2? and keep in mind about what I just posted of Dan on Alpha 2:
“His soryuken is weak and can be stoped with regular kick or punch, even his deep shoryuken CAN be stoped with regular punch/kick, Dan regular adouken is a joke, his supers are WEAK, the only real priority that he has with supers are on level 3, his super level 1 upper (shoryuken) can be easy stoped with most special and regular opponent moves just like all of his level 1 super moves.
More: when he jumps he cant use his regular kick on air because its Slow, Short and has very weak priority (what the hell Capcom was thinking about??) in order to use a kick has air attack Dan can use his MK because his air HK is a stupid joke.
His QCF + k is slow and has no priority against most special and regular opponent moves.”
I cant speak about Alpha 3 because I dont like it at all (imo sucks but like I said its imo) but I can talk about Alpha 2 because its a game that I still love to play.
Note that in order to have level 1 for CC on Alpha 2 Dan need to build his super bar and with his weak arsenal will not be easy if the opponent is a player that knows how to use characters like Ken or Akuma = Top Tiers characters on Alpha 2.
Dan’s jumping Short as well as his short Gale kick in the air are very useful. If you can get the timing down to be able to do his short gale kick just as you jump off the ground, it becomes much more useful. Tiger kneed gale kicks are also decent for meter building.
I just did a little testing. I did a Ryu/Dan comparison. Both were hitting training mode Dan, everyone A-ISM.
NORMALS:
Most of Dan’s normals on average did one point less than Ryu’s.
SPECIALS:
Ry’s dragon punch did two more damage(19 vs 17).
I couldn’t determine from the numbers whose fireball was stronger(due to testing normals first) but from the energy bar I think it was Ryu’s.
I forgot to test Ryu’s hurricane kick before supers, but note that Dan’s HK gale kick did not exceed his dragon punch’s damage(17).
SUPERS:
Dan’s Gadouken super did 45 damage…Sorry I don’t remember Ryu’s.
Ryu’s Hurricane super did 58 and his dragon elbow(at the right distance for the extra hits) did 59.
Dan’s dragon punch super did 65. His “combo” super did not exceed this.
Due to his lack of range, Dan seems to me to be better used defensively. V-ISM in particular has that saikyo defense move to push away opponents when needed. The short gale kick is lovely for hopping over projectiles and hitting opponents, and is also good for offense and custom combos. Basically a decent way to play is:
Let them come to you. If they won’t, taunts can help(not just for show heh). If they jump in you have the koryuken, the c.Fierce, and both the s.Roundhouse and the gale kick for those a bit further away. If they come on the ground, your short range moves/supers can come into play once they get close. The fierce gadouken can be good for holding them back if you want to try to force a jump-in. Of course you gadouken super has range should want a rangey super.
If it all goes belly up and you’re under more pressure than you want to put up with, just send them away with your saikyo style defense…handy move that. Not to mention pretty unique(juni is the only one I can think of who might have something similar).
short gale kick is an excellent jump-in move, beats so many anti-air pokes. yeah j.short is godly too.
I’d say Dan was best played rushdown style. Once you get to know his pokes, he’s deadly. he has high prioity and can counter so easily. he also inflicts massive guard damage (b+fierce for example) , so guard crushing people is relatively straight forward.
Dan has one of the best set of normal moves in the game.
I’m hoping Temujin spots this thread and explains Dan’s crouch cancel set-ups ^^ also whats a good way to start ground VC to counter pokes?
