Sirlin did have some good reasons for not fully buffing Hondaâs j.Short tripguard. But I think in hindsight that it should have been a fullblown tripguard and not the one we currently have. Obviously Sirlin wanted to be careful not to make Honda too good, and I commend his conservatism, but Honda NEEDS this, especially vs fireballers. As it is now, the tripguard is only good vs Guileâs cr.Forward at any range and Ryu and Kenâs sweep at mid range. Everything else trips him: Ryu and Kenâs sweep at max range, DJâs slide and Dhalsimâs slide.
Making the tripguard good vs these attacks will not hurt those characters at all. Ryu and Ken have Shoryukens, Tatsus and jump attacks if Honda jumps from mid range. DJ has st.Roundhouse and jump attacks. Dhalsim has any limb he chooses to use. Guile already cannot beat the tripguard with a low poke, so he doesnât change. Sagatâs sweep Iâm not so sure of since I rarely use him, but he has his Uppercut, Knee, st.Fierce, st.Roundhouse and jump attacks, so I think heâll be fine too.
As for Honda vs low tiered non fireballers, I think an unsafe on block Torpedo would have been the best option. Before you hit the âreply with flamesâ button, hear me out. Iâm not talking about so unsafe on block that Ryuâs reversal Fierce Hadoken will catch him, or Sagatâs reversal Fierce/Roundhouse Tiger Shot either. Iâm talking about just safe enough on block to block those reversal attacks, since I donât want Honda any worse vs fireballers than he already is.
If you go character by character, the only attacks that I think wouldâve caught such an unsafe Torpedo, would have been Dictatorâs reversal Fierce Crusher, Boxerâs reversal Rush, Feiâs reversal Fierce Rekka and Blankaâs reversal Fierce H Roll. Basically everything that can punish a blocked Blanka Roll now wouldâve punished such an unsafe Torpedo.
Out of all those characters, the only one that gives me concern is Boxerâs Rush. But itâs not that Honda has such a difficult time vs Boxer anyway. In fact, that matchup is pretty close to even already, so I think thatâs acceptable IMO.
As for the rest of the low tiered non fireballers like Zangief, Cammy and Hawk who canât punish it, it will help them to get positioning vs Honda same as vs Blanka. That, plus an unstoreable Oichio wouldâve helped maybe not a lot, but better than what we currently have. I donât think any other nerfs to Honda wouldâve helped these characters while still keeping Honda strong vs fireballers.