Actually Gen I would say is as hard or harder than Viper.
There are different kinds of difficulties. Viper is hard to learn, but not for the same reasons that say Akuma is. In terms of execution and button pressing Viper is one of the hardest no doubt; however, execution is muscle memory and once you have that you find Viper’s game plan is simple and generally doesn’t change much from character to character.
To contrast this with Akuma, in terms of execution Akuma is generally simple to learn. His combos are easy and even the more advanced combos aren’t that bad. His difficulty comes from mastering his game plans and set ups as well as having solid fundamentals. In general Akuma’s tools will not dominate if used individually. Akuma’s zoning will lose to better zoning games like Ryu, his footsies will lose to better footsies like Chun or Bison, and his vortex doesn’t work against everyone. You have to learn how to play many different ways in several match ups.
I think Gen has a little of both which is why he is definitely up there in difficulty.
I agree with many that Gen is the most difficult. The problem with him is the different stances. You have to think differently with him. Sure you can change stances during interesting times, but it still adds an extra layer to his fighting technique. With practice I am sure he can be mastered, and actually from the time I have put in on him I would find it rewarding. He feels like you are playing a great song when you are playing him well. Also if you consider how changing attack patterns is really important for winning matches he has so many tools to change attack patterns he’s a beast. The sheer time it would take for me to master him is just more than I’m willing to invest at this point however.
For me Id say, Gen and Viper for execution. Theres also Dhalsim for being different.
I find Dhalsim difficult because of the floaty gravity feel to him and his low life. Plus the fact holding back does completely different moves to holding forward, so in a match your half of the time not blocking (which seems odd if your used to playing with Ryu).
Fuerte - RSF is hard
Gen - Execution
Cammy - Execution
Akuma - Too many setups and possibilities to learn
Viper - Insane execution
Blanka - Buffering jab into electricity is hard, must have good hit-confirms to avoid roll punishes
Honda - Buffering HHS from cr. jab, etc…
Chun-Li - Some difficult stuff to perform
Easy characters? M. Bison, Balrog, Ken, Ryu, Guile, Dhalsim, and Sagat. Dee-Jay also isn’t hard minus his EX MGU xx dash U2.
Hardest to learn: Claw, Seth, Viper, Gen -> that’s why Gen is my favourite character, hard to learn , cool-looking moves, and does not look like a goofball in a halloween costume like most of the cast lol
Hardest to use after learned: Viper, El Fuerte, Gouken, Makoto, Guy
i thnk difficulty can mean many things, i think viper has the hardest links and stuff but generally her game plan is the same for every match up so once you have it down its basically rinse and repeat, i find characters like ryu hardest because you have to be a god with your reflexes and approach every match up totally different, hes a easy char to pick but the hardest to master in my opinion because if your not 100% on your game you will get beat.
i disagree you have to be border line physic to play ryu at the top level, there is an interview with either poongko or gamerbee floating around somewhere where they describe how they used to play ryu but switched because he was to hard to play at a top level. i would find it but tbh i cant be bothered right now.
yeah but thats mostly because gen was generally regarded as one of the weaker characters, ryu was (and thankfully is again) good but he is all fundamentals if you win with ryu you outplayed your opponent no crutches no shenanigans just solid play and thats the hardest thing of all imo.
Yea because Ryu is the only fundamental based character…
Hate to tell you again, almost every character in the game except maybe Viper or Seth use fundamentals and many aren’t rewarded as well as Ryu. If you ain’t got footsies, zoning, or any other fundamental you ain’t winning with anyone.
You keep acting like Ryu is unique in this regard. He isn’t. The fact is I can pick up and play Ryu a lot faster than a Ryu main can pick up and play Akuma because I learn the same amount of fundamentals just trying to play Akuma correctly.
He isn’t that hard to pick up. He is in no way in the same breath as Viper, Gen, Akuma, or some of the other more technical characters.
can someone break down exactly whats hard about viper? spam fishing based characters wernt on my list of lame to learn.
people say “execution”. does that basically just mean placement and links? heh. cause tbh its just spamming mixups like anyone else. wiff based zero recovery characters dont interest me.