It’s not so much about an absolute quality as it is a preference of the direction of the game.
Games that place a ton of emphasis on landing your supers are fine, but it’s not really what SF was all about for a long time, and it’s a different approach to limit the options that your super bar gives you, which is I think what Deviljin is talking about.
I like both directions, but I’d like to have different games that feature their own idea on the subject, which is why I like stuff like Marvel and TvC at the same time as liking SF4 and SF2, etc.
I remember an article I read in a martial arts mag back around the 90s. The guy they interviewed was a master of Sambo and he said that it is better to master a few good useful techniques for most people, then to overload yourself with to many options and choices. At higher levels of martial arts obviously knowing more is better, but for most people you will only need to know enough to save your butt if you get mugged or something. Even if you move into competitive martial arts you are better with a handful of solid techniques that you know work.
Translate this to a fighting game; too many options means too many wrong choices. On of the problems with Seth is that he has so many choices that overlap each other that unless you really master him you often pick the wrong move among the confusion.
Imagine every character was like this. Multiple supers available in a single fight. A lot of players will be confused by the overload of options.
There also happens to be the designed purpose and place in the game the character is meant. Too many extra Super moves available can take away from a character’s purpose and function and lessen the difference between one another.
Let us look at Guile for an instance. If at some point Capcom adds in Charlie (or Shadow) then likely he will get Sonic Blitz or Crossfire Blitz…if they gave him Somersault Justice it would make it a lot harder to make him much different from Guile…if they gave everybody multiple Super Moves it would make it much harder to make that difference.
You also wind up with situations where too many good choices make a character overpowered. Yes you will still get characters that stand out stronger than others anyways…but lets look at Ryu for a second. As strong as his Ultra is, his Super does still see use in competition. Imagine if he had more Supers for a moment. Suddenly a character who already has reason to have a full meter sometimes also has access to other options to expend it. I daresay he would be able to use a Super version of the Shinkuu Tatsumaki as a reversal even more effectively than the EX version, and have another option to Juggle into his Ultra.
Certainly it would be nice to be able to have a choice of what super to have available much the same as it is to pick an Ultra, but overall it is not a necessity.
Disagree. The more options you have the deeper the learning curve of the game is; and the game is not to blame for wrong choices, it’s the lack of user experience. No longer would you have “linear” situations, where you had only one super/ultra to do. No, with multiple supers situations and outcomes would be broader like: “I could do super1 and do the highest damage; or I could combo into super2 which does less damage but sets them up for a crossup afterwards; or I could do a combo into super3, which will put them in corner, which puts me in an advantageous position.” Basic example, but you get the idea. It’s not JUST the additional super, its the new situations the character can create, new chip options, new bait tactics, etc. Just all new doors of risk and reward man. So giving the characters additional supers is deeper than just seeing how much damage it takes when you land it.
Not all supers are created equal, contrary to your argument. Many of them are quite different. CvS2 an example I can think of this where each super had it’s distinct purpose, and every character was “different” (by your use of the word). Some characters had 3 useful supers, some characters didn’t. That’s part of the fun of being a PLAYER is that capcom gave us those moves to play with and figure out…it was for us to sort the the moves and learn what was supposed to be used when. Almost like a puzzle. I just think that with only 1 super (most players spend their super bars on ex moves) the game has less to explore, less to do, and thus less to learn.