i pick my main based on looks only…even if that character is low tier, if they have a dp i’m fine 
cammy is my main and will probably always be…can’t say i win many games though…lol
I play anyone that has a fireball and a DP, except for Ryu cause he’s boring as fuck
Simply “EENIE, MINNIE, MINEY, MO.” Although to be serious, I find myself choosing the poster characters for Fighting games and have about done it to other fighter just because I’m lazy t pick a character because there good looking or something like that.
I got SF4 because I loved watching competitive SF4 even though I had never really played it, so I was browsing deep in the back catalog of Daigo matches and I saw this match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GYHbVsrvE
That made me really like Abel, so I went to frame-advantage.com and watched Abel players only pretty much for a while and ended up really like 801 Strider’s playstyle like quite a lot, so I picked Abel. I’m still pretty new, about a month in.
What I really like about top Abel players that I see in tournaments is that they have extremely different playstyles and signature setups- I feel like if I ever get up there that the roll and everything leaves a huge door open for slick mindgames and that hopefully I will carve my own playstyle niche, taking pieces from all of these great players like Juicebox, Shiro, and Strider that I watch
Started using Ryu in the summer of 2009. I seen how Daigo and Poongko were raping people left and right and decided to keep him as my main.
don’t worry Rose, I’ll pick you 
I never really have been able to since I started last year in April lol. The characters I would main just aren’t in this iteration of the game…so I bounce around all the time. You’d think out of 41 characters I’d have found one I truly do like…but nope lol, my main’s remain in 3rd strike lol…
Step 1: I have to be personally attracted to my characters. Not necessarily sexually attracted, just thinking they look cool or have great animations
Step 2: I must be able to pick up the play style in a few hours. Not the in’s and out’s but the basic idea of how to play the character and the priority of moves.
Step 3: Watch YouTube videos of high ranking players and tutorials to understand the BnB and Tricks that character may have.
Step 4: Pick a color and a costume that I like, possibly mod a color
Step 5: Practice, Practice, Practice.
Step 6: Play against the computer on Hardest setting. If I can get mostly A’s and B’s against the Hardest PC then I know I can do moderately well against a human.
There is a Step 7… but that’s NSFW lmao! “Come here Chunny… we have some practicing to do…” takes Chun Li doujin into the bathroom
On a side note, you don’t have to main one character right away. I like to find characters that play similar so I can carry over some moves and skills to other characters. It once you get the plan drawn out on how to play that character, then play it as your main.
Unfortunately…steps 1 & 2 don’t come together that well…at least that was the case for myself and Akuma. Loved the character design but I couldn’t win any matches due to the low health which made me stop maining him…lol. Rinse and repeat for Seth…Currently rinsing but not planning to quit with evil ryu. I have a bad knack for picking cool characters with low health in this game lol.
Edit* This kind of brings me to another sentiment…I feel the game doesn’t make the characters as user-friendly across the board as they should be. Which leaves a lot of casual players like my brother and I struggling to find success with anyone who’s not ryu or ken…and really we don’t want to use those guys since we like other characters designs a lot more. I don’t feel obligated to buy a fightstick or spend an excess of money or hours upon hours upon hours perfecting 1 frame links with other characters to do combos. I’m not trying to say Capcom should make the game easy-mode because that might ruin tournament play and whatever other stuff a lot of people relish. All I think is characters should all be as easy to learn and feel capable with for casual players the way Ryu is. Sure for a lot of people they’ll say that is the case already…but I know I’m not alone on this. Holla if you hear me.
Hola.
when ssfiv was released i decided to drop ken and pick something different but still familiar. Tried ibuki and guile a bit but didn’t really care for them so i just stuck with ken until i tried juri. After that i fell in love with juri’s play style and all the shenanigens i could pull off with feng shui engine; i love how technical the ultra is and all the different options i have with it.
He is a ninja who wears nikes /endofstory
The most important thing in a fighting game character to me is movement. I like characters that can just get everywhere, move around swiftly, or have different movement options. I also like really awkward characters that require a bit of work to be mobile.
can get everywhere on screen : Metaknight (SSBB)
move around swiftly: Marth (SSBM/SSBB)
movement options: Ibuki/Yang (SSF4/AE)
Awkward yet mobile: Doctor Doom (MvC3), Yoshimitsu (Tekken/ SC2), Makoto (SSF4AE)
Choosing a main for me was difficult. When vanilla first came out, I got recommendation on characters who would help me learn fundamentals. And I stuck with Bison (with a bit of Balrog). Near the end of Vanilla, I was also using Sakura a bit. But none of them felt right. In Super, I bought a stick soon after launch, so I dabbled with Sim and Cody, because they felt easiest to use. I got bored of Sim and dropped Cody altogether, and after a couple months, I fell in love with the grapple style. Hakan was silly, so I passed on him. And I REALLY liked Hawk’s normals over Zangief’s. So I went with T. Hawk, I fell in love, and I’ve been using him since.
Still searching for a second. Leaning toward Sim or Guile.
I saw Gootecks teach how to play Balrog and ever since Balrog has been my main.
I generally pick characters that flow with my play style or are usually not show cased by many of my friends. That is how I ended up maining Q in SF3 and Zappa in GG. In AE I am maining Cody as he is the only character besides Juri I feel work for me.
I saw videos of alpha 3 and Karin came up and I fell in love with her character and fighting style. I was saddened that she wasn’t in SSF4 and so the only other character I was interested in was Ibuki. Ibuki is a really good character but she doesn’t top Karin imo. I decided to have a sub and I picked Rose. I’ve always liked Rose because she looked cool when I saw good players use her in SF4.
Played Cammy/Juni in SFA3. Cammy was the obvious choice in SF4. Really hope we get to see Juni in the next SF. Chose Cammy in SFA3 because of GG’s Millia Rage. Similar features.
Meh. Who ever just looks cool to me.
Sagat, Rose, Viper, E Ryu.
Right after I saw how many ways you could combo into his ultra, I just fell in love with Rufus in Vanilla, and still main him.