Well…yeah.
I mean, it wouldn’t be if they’d stop making robots, alien blobs and lava Lincolns.
And in fact not only i don’t see as a problem (on contrary) that new characters are designed with classic SF style -and fuck new audience ftw- but i actually wish they gone further down in SF2 direction
SF2 had that nation+martial art rep core that majority of SFV mostly ignore
Ironically those that do it are some of the best newcomers: Kolin (ukraine/russia-Systema+sambo), Zeku (japan+ninjutsu) and Laura (Brazil+BJJ)
To some extent Fang sneak there too
These could fit the classic inter-styles tournament theme and as result are the ones that feel the most SF
Then we got heavy story ones, and the results starts to be less consistent
About 3 you mentioned:
Seth: yeah i dislike Seth, both SF4 and tranny one. Only one i liked was the SF4 concept one with clothes we never got.
Would still have been a fucking cyborg, but as Boss he get bit of free pass and at least design will have been good… and after all they loved that idea since SF2 (TAM version of the game literally had a rebel monitor cyborg, from wich Seth concept is born) and japs on general a have a boner for cyborg/robots as basically every main FG series got one
So at least we can’t blame it on modern design i guess
Necalli: i wish he was just an ancient aztec warrior with some kind of ki very similar to SnH, that somehow got stuck “frozen” for centuries till SFV.
I get why they dropped the idea of have him straight cannibal (not much SF) but they could have him having just a technique that steal/absorb other people vital energy (ki)… would have made an interessing villain, without need the whole alien blob bullshit
G: Tbh G make sense, in perspective
He travel world speaking to all nations and his style has been labelled as mix of arts and indeed you can recognize it there… boxing, wrestling, kung fu, karate etc, wich ironically is more legit than let’s say, Rashid’s parkour lol
The Lincoln gimmick IS silly but to some extent it can be justified by story IF/when they complete it (Rose and i guess possibly 5th char, if is “true G”)
My guess is G is clearly alienated by normal society and trying to communicate with it he found Lincoln’s imagery a powerful symbol and played that gimmick (as his true face/nature will be much more bizzarre ti normal people) to present himself to the world
In conclusion G to me can place easily as fg Boss, he have the whole thing to pull it… except -at the moment- he’s not
Most logic and effective way to develop and solidify G as char is just reveal his full story (and as hinted recently by devs, his connection with Q) and rip-off his mask, setting him story Boss of second half of SFV
Something that again, i think S5 may do
Oh I don’t see them as blasphemy. I think a drastic chance in the roster was quite necessary by that time, since people were already getting tired of all the SFII and SFA and SFEX games all them with the same SF characters over and over again.
SF3 definitely needed to be radically different to the others in order to stand out and feel fresh. Sadly, not even that could save the chapter since the exploitation had already been too much. But as we all know, in the long run those characters paid off…
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SF3 was blasphemy as the team was literally obsessed on try out-do SF2 in almost antagonistic way
SF3 was an open fuck you to SF2 (only to have Chun and Akuma in TS, plus rumor/interview? wanted Gief+Sagat for an hypothetic fourth*)
They end up missing something potentially much better combining their new innovative vibe with the treasure of already existing great characters, only to impose theyr vision
…and SF4 and SFV, returning praise SF2 legacy lol
And let’s be real, it’s not like SF3 gave only greatness cast wise, plus of course insane sprite recycle for a such small cast
*would have loved see it
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It wasn’t. It was following the tradition.
SF1 to SF2 replaced most of the cast, leaving only a few guys from the previous chapter, in order to evolve the concept. SF3 did the same to SF2.
Yeah, 4 and 5 broke the tradition because of the need of more popularity and sales, but that’s all.
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Found these from an artist that goes with the moniker funkymonkey, just a nice curiosity of placing the SF characters in MMA competitions.
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Real talk, nobody give a shit about SF1, SF2 ever been real deal
And with 3 exception, Alpha-EX-4-V all paid homage to that
I love Dudley/Elena/Alex/Ibuki/Yun/Urien etc, but let’s not pretend SF3 did’nt pulled that shit on purpose lol… “keep the tradition” my ass, even SF2 proportionally gave more recognization to SF1(wich definitely was’nt same big deal) than SF3 did with SF2
SF2 started with a 12 char cast and 4 were from SF1: Ryu, Ken, Sagat and Mike (Mike Bison, before the name bullshit started)
SF3 with a bigger final cast (20 vs 17) took it up to very last version to have 4 SF2ers, and one was the 4th recycled shoto sprite
Let’s be real lol
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The “real” thing here is that people were oversaturated of the World Warriors.
You could play Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun-Li, Akuma, Bison, Dhalsim, Cammy, etcetera, on SSF2T, Street Fighter Alpha, X-Men Vs Street Fighter, Street Fighter EX, etcetera.
They definitely NEEDED to do something very different with the roster in order to stand out.
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Source on that?
Just see how many games were being released around that time with the same characters, all with the same characters more or less.
Anyway, slight detour:
Not entirely happy with Thorgi’s idea for the DS4 roster.
There’s a couple good ideas there, like bringing back Marionette, but not a fan of so many guest characters.
For me, the launch roster should be:
- ALL 10 ORIGINAL DARSKTALKERS (Demitri, Morrigan, Felicia, Jon Talbain, Anakaris, Lord Raptor, Victor, Bishamon, Rikuo, Sasquatch)
- The 6 LATER CHARACTERS (Donovan, Hsien-Ko, Lillith, Baby Bonnie Hood, Q. Bee, Jedah)
- Marionette, Anita
- Tessa and probably Leo
- 3 TO 4 BRAND NEW CHARACTERS
- 1 NEW (unlockable) BOSS
DLC/LATER ARRIVAL CHARACTERS:
- The previous bosses: Pyron, Huitzil
- A couple guests like Firebrand and Son-Son
- A couple more Red Earth guys (Kenji is a must and you can also include Hydron or something)
- AT LEAST 3 more BRAND NEW characters.
Amingo OK, I would accept him, but definitely not in the immediate roster.
It’s just I think there must definitely be a lot of designers that have spent years or even decades thinking about new concepts for new Darkstalkers characters, I’d definitely be much more interested in seeing completely new and fresh ideas instead of a lot of guests and derivative/previously unplayable characters.
Clearly, they weren’t. Since SF3 tanked.
Well they certainly did that. They made the first SF to fail.
There’s literally ZERO reason for DS4 to not do “Everyone is here”. There’s only 18 DS characters total.
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It tanked because of the overstaturation Capcom itself created of Street Fighter fighting games, among other factors like the relative rarity of the machine, the advent of 3D fighting games and the late arrival to consoles.
I am all for the ‘Everyone is here’ approach. Just, let it be sort of: ‘Everyone is here… eventually’.
I’d rather prefer Q.Bee to be left out, for example, and give her launch slot to a brand new, more exciting character.
As for Pyron and Huitzil, they’re more legendary characters, since they were the bosses for the first game. Having to wait a little for them to arrive would be cool, it would give them an aura of mysticism.
“Everyone” + 4 newcomers is only 22 characters. Not unreasonable for a launch roster.
Personal wants for DS4:
I want them to establish that Darkstalkers, Ghosts N’ Goblins and Red Earth all take place in the same universe, just different time periods. So DS is modern day, GnG is medieval times, and RE is ancient history.
The story would be a time travel plot revolving around Firebrand using the Time Crest(from Demon’s Crest) to open a portal to the present, and he’s searching for the other Crests.
Launch Roster:
All previous DS characters except Lilith(who was absorbed into Morrigan, but still appears during Morrigan’s doppelganger attacks)
Ruby Heart
Arthur and Firebrand(looking like badasses like they do in X Zone instead of dorks like they do in MvC)
Harry Grimoire(yes, from the stupid cartoon, but instead of being a useless kid, Merlin’s descendant is a young wizard homage to Harry Potter)
One more newcomer(my personal preference is the spider lady from the design contest. Either that or a Medusa character)
Total launch roster: 22
At the end of the main game’s story, a new portal is opened to the ancient times and the first 12 DLC characters(2 seasons worth) are all the Red Earth characters.
I’d say Darkstalkers is a very special fighting game. The characters transform and attack with different objects all the time.
I can’t even imagine the amount of work it would need to create those kind of fantastical characters in 3D models and graphics, or if it is even possible.
I’d say 16 VERY SPECIAL characters with such amount of work should be more than enough to begin with.
You know what? I’m okay with that. Go ahead and push everyone back a season.
Street Fighter is a fighting game that about this major usable of characters not really the story.
Putting the name street fighter with bunch of unfamiliar character is just similar to the 90s trends that either failed, ignore or later considered a separate thing from the actual franchise.
Darkstalkers has good animation and character design but the problem is Capcom wouldn’t do a thing that would make their flagship franchise compete with their other brand that would cause division to the audiences.
There recurring appearance on those games isn’t a problem back then because they sell and they were popular and this is the problem with SF3 being lack of popular character.
SF3 tried to excel in animation and mechanics but still it isn’t enough.
What made the roster standout was SF ALPHA because it is diverse and compose with background characters, historical characters(SF1) and a crossover from another franchise which is final fight. That’s the solution on making the roster standout and not by dismissing iconic characters.
He doesn’t understand what he really claims to be, His just repeating words and terms he read and heard from someone else to alienate someone he has disagreement with and also to make him sound he knows something than average but he can’t but into details.
because in reality he doesn’t have clear distinction regarding what he dislike and like in modern times in terms on how he claim japanese and western style. Like I said he is a pseudo intellectual.
Last time his saying final fantasy 7 as japanese style in previous discussion while just saying how bad and terrible western style is always.
His not even referring japanese style to a anime style, eastern or sumi as something as japanese like art it’s just japanese but he has no clear or clarity on what it is. and also it’s not also being a japanese artist directing it…
What he can do is just saying SF or SNK titles being japanese style or classic style is what he wants but can’t even can’t come up with atleast 3 examples for both modern western style and modern japanese style that are 3D. because he doesn’t have real knowledge on the subject.
It speaks of the level of brainwashing we are submitted to when customers, who are supposed to try to get as much as possible for as little money as possible, are the one who negotiate to get less to begin with. Great job lowering the standard so that Capcom and other publishers can get away with their usual scam.
Parkour is not a fighting style, but it has martial roots.
But the problem with G is not the fighting style, the problem is how ridiculous he looks. Still leagues above Q so one could say that he is a good replacement, but also far from being a good design.
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First thing i thought when i seen Rashid was Banlieu13, a french action movie where a cop and guy team up to save -part of- the city, fighting people with parkour+random bunch of martial arts stuff 
Yeah, for SF standards Rashid’s martial background is not THAT bad, specially considering parkour is used in combination with wind techniques and he’s trained by Azam who’s a respected figure in SF world… but indeed, was to say that not everything of G is so absurd/weak, and some aspects of him are even more legit than some stuff loved characters got
Again G absolutely IS ridicolous in his current attire, but for SF standards i find it easily inside the range of what’s acceptable for SF’s standards… it’s not like we already did’nt got fuckton of funny or even serious ones being just as bizzarre.
Example stylistically i place G’s design around Dudley levels, and Dudley is maybe best SF3 design, top3 for sure
I take what we got over the first “president character” concept, despite it being much less bizzarre
Again, my problem is not much that he looks ridicolous, but the fact that so far story is still too incomplete to support it
As soon they remove his mask and portray him as part of something FAR from normal society (the fact Gill recognized the source of his power, and him keep talking about “Gaia”, the ancient greek name of earth’s deity should already hint it), his attire will gain much more sense as some sort of “disguise” he made up to communicate with people-of-the-world
I mean, concept wise when you imagine G considering various past historical admired figures and picking up the Lincoln gimmick, his design gain a motivation that under capcom’s world tone make perfect sense
Even the title of “President of the World” itself funny portray how he try to use a modern/political title (President) that he thinks people will easier accept over let’s say Emperor/King, without realize how it sound bizzarre anyway
On visual level only thing i dislike is how skinny he looks ingame (in particular in his neutral pose) , while he’s much more massive in all concept arts… still somehow lean figure by capcom standards, but different head/body proportion looking more wide
Sometimes he have flashes of that imposing look (forward walk is good example iirc) but on general he just looks a crazy, tall guy who’s somehow stronger than his frame suggest
It’s something SF2 made to SF1. So it’s not different to what the franchise considering the game had only had two sequels/spinoffs at that time (one where the roster was a “salad fighter” and other that almost completely ignored previous character). So I’d say it went with the history of the franchise.
Well, Alpha had already used SF1, SF2 and FF characters… so, what could Capcom had done to differentiate from that? Include Strider Hiryu or Mega Man or things like that?
I don’t think so. It’s just that way. Most 3D fighters are games like DOA, Tekken or VF, which are pretty realistic when it comes to characters and fighting styles.
They can’t manage crazy designs and transformations and such like what they did with the Darkstalkers sprites. It for sure would require much more work.
Exception is probably the newest Guilty Gear games, but that game has few characters at launch too.
It’s just ridiculous, there’s no way around.
I don’t know. Street Fighter has changed way too much.
The SF2 characters may be exotic but their outfits make sense at least in one context. Vega is just stylish, Dhalsim’s attire is weird but it takes cues from true aspects of the culture of one society… the only exception is Blanka but he’s SUPPOSED TO BE completely outwordly and seen like a circus freak or attraction, living in isolation and not blending in (and the chains on his ankles are not decoration, they’re literally chains).
SFA attires make sense in an anime world.
SF3 is where things got a little freaky, with weird hermits, mutants and robots and whatever is Q supposed to be. But hey, they ARE supposed to be weird hermits and mutants and robots and such, not regular people.
Others are a little different.
I mean, I can’t expect to see someone dressed like Alex in the street and not been seen like a complete freak. And the red stripes on his shoulders make absolutely zero sense. But he wears a different outfit in the cutscenes.
It’s when SF4 came that the designs just became stylish and stopped making sense under any context.
Like weird crazy purple-fitted Rita Repulsa wearing a bib.
Or this guy. He doesn’t take anything that makes sense within the Turkish culture, looks nothing like a real human being but he’s SUPPOSED to be a regular human being and he’s treated like that:
G is more in tone with Hakan. Just a complete freak that doesn’t look like any real human being could rock that look or make sense under any context. And he’s also SUPPOSED TO BE a regular human being and treated like that.
Have you seen that X-Men cartoon episode where Gambit goes to an airport and gets in the plane, all in his full regular superhero attire, and no one tells seem to notice or mind he’s wearing a full superhero attire? Well, it’s just like that. Absurd.
G only works in the context of a completely absurd cartoon. #NotMyStreetFighter 
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Again key is
“under capcom’s world tone make perfect sense”
I repeat Dudley’s example as Dudley is one of very very best SF3 designs (and could do the same for characters from any SF from SF2, i’m just picking easiest comparision)
Dude have anachronistic 800/early 900 imagery costume while throwing his garden roses, drink his tea with boxing gloves on, served by his anime butler
On pure design level, G does’nt fall that far from there
Unless we want be outraged at his top hat being too tall… in fucking SF
And again Blanka was purposely designed to stand out?
Same for G, he’s clearly hinted to NOT be what’s he’s pretending to be
Unless we want ignore multiple characters hinting there’s more, behind what he goofy pretend to be
And as much we can’t know if is going to have any relevance, concept did that lol
The idea he “dress up” as we see him, seems at least hinted