Still perplexed by whatever logic was behind completely buffing the mid-tier characters (DeeJay, Dictator, Guile, Ken except for knee bash), yet changing fundamentals of how most of the bottom-tier play (Fei Long, Cammy, T.Hawk) instead. Gief was the one low-tier character who got a real quality treatment. Cammy and Fei Long now have more problems than before with getting through good fireball >> sweep/DP traps, despite other changes that benefited them.
T.Hawk, in particular, actually got worse in HDR from ST. How? His changes were mostly fixing issues that affected several members of the cast (though not his most obvious DP reversal bug, WTF). Everything that he used at his highest levels is effectively worse, except possibly his new dive on Dhalsim and unwary Dictators. Making his fierce DP connect fully more often doesn’t change anything about the positions you’d be in to use it in the first place. Couple this with the fact that many of his matches got much worse (Ken, Guile, Dictator in particular), and it’s evident that, though still potent, T.Hawk could have used some more juice in a few areas. It wasn’t a bad idea to make him less about being so necessary to get in yet impossible to shake; it’s just that, to compensate for this, he should have received better tools than merely easier inputs and global issue fixing to round him out. So here’s a synopsis:
Ground normals/pokes: Excellent except for the loss of the range N.Hawk had on st.rh. He should have his red hitbox extended all the way to his heel as before while keeping the ability to hit some crouching opponents low. Great for stuffing telegraphed fireballs and such, much better to punish many missed moves (psycho crusher, etc), still too slow and relatively low priority even after the increase compared to so many normals and specials that it would absolutely not be overpowered. (compare to Vega’s st.mk, now that move is sickness.) This would help to further differentiate him and Gief, giving Hawk better tools out to midrange. Gief, by the way, would still have his sweep and lariats to handle this effectively.
Air normals/safe jumps: So many cross-up possibilities, high priority options…very good here. Would be nice to see an ever-so-slight extension on j.rh, but otherwise wouldn’t consider changing a thing.
Throws: All good. Strong is good to get them to a corner fast. Roundhouse is so great for cross-up setups. Fierce…well, it does slightly more damage than roundhouse. Of course, his 360 is best, and should be used the most often.
Rising Hawk/DP: It’s balanced extremely well as-is. The invincibility frames are enough to go through faster fireballs, and even beat most reversals and later parts of supers when timed correctly. Good range without being ridiculous. Hitbox is solid; not overbearing against anyone who telegraphs it due to the move’s recovery. Recovery isn’t bad, though; easy to punish with sweeps, but fast enough to 360 someone off-guard when you land close. So basically it has plenty of invulnerability already, good range and recovery, and since it is the #1 easiest way to set up his BS without already being on top of your opponent, it really can’t be buffed outwardly (either by expanding red or reducing blue hitboxes). One idea would be to have his red hitbox go to the floor while he’s still squatting; the only characters it would really affect are the small ones like Cammy who beat him anyway, and even then only when they screw up and are trying to poke you from way too close (but not enough so to get 360ed). It wouldn’t change anything on any character who is blocking or even poking from proper distance. Oh…AND THE REVERSAL BUG CAN/MUST BE FIXED.
Condor Dive: The safe on block one sucks against fireballers far too often, as it lands on them even after a successful hit (wtf?). Even worse, now you have to worry about coming in from too high, as most characters can hit you back on block or hit, which wasn’t even a problem before! Couple all with his lack of range on his st.rh that N.Hawk had in ST, make him actually worse against several characters overall (though much more practical standing 360s help, they weren’t impossible before). One or two frames faster startup is about the only fair thing to allow him to better catch people off-guard and not get it just jabbed to death instantly, as well as to give him a slightly better chance of actually getting anywhere near Ken or Guile. It would be almost imperceptibly faster, but any more than that would be unfair since it?s safe on block, even when so many other moves cleanly beat this. He should also at the very least receive his old dive back as KKK (or mp+mk/hp+hk like Gief’s lariats). Ideally it could also be totally unsafe on block, but land closer than in ST. (And totally safe on hit, not counting direct trades.) The idea is that your opponent definitely wants to block this move, so you can mix in more of the new dive to chip away and stay decently close, or guess correctly and get in. To further aid/balance the move, it should have a different grunt, and possibly even hang longer in the air for 3-4 frames. This would make it very telegraphed to a patient opponent, but allow him to play some great mind games along with the other dive to them, baiting moves and such. Imagine playing against Honda and getting in the air over the top slightly in front of him. He could guess that you are going to dive and get ready to reversal headbutt. He sees you start the dive animation and responds…surprise! You hang in the air for a split second longer, just enough to avoid his invulnerable frames, and trade or even come down clean onto him. (Of course, if it had a different grunt, he should be listening for it instead of just watching for the animation, heh.) Since he’s not quite as scary when inside now (though still very much a powerhouse), this makes more sense, especially since both dives would have the same relatively weak hitboxes which still get beaten easily when reacted to properly.
Storm Hammer/360: If E.Honda were to lose stored Ochio, there would be no reason to add a single active grab frame to him. Pianoing the input allows Hawk to cancel from his whiff animation into a real throw just like Gief now, so he?s still got a solid throw setup game?just not as safe as before. Since Sirlin decided to balance Hawk to be less centered around getting in or losing, coupled with the fact that it?s already damned hard to get him out once he?s in, he really doesn?t need to be any better once he?s there. What he needs are better (yet fair) ways of getting in, and tools to allow him to have a decent game before he gets there (which he pretty much has already, fortunately).
Super: Perfection.
Whew! We’ve had plenty of time to play HDR to death, and I’m fortunate enough to be in Japan and get good matches in with some damned good players. Had plenty of time to put Hawk through the paces, so thank you to anyone reading this who has played some sets together with me (and tolerated the lag if you’re Stateside). I LOVE playing T.Hawk, but yeah, it’s definitely a real grind against you when your opponent knows how to play against him; you can definitely feel some of his shortcomings. Any feedback is welcomed and encouraged. But enough about that with T.Hawk. Regarding some of the things mentioned recently:
-Ken’s and Dhalsim’s respective holds got nerfed for two reasons.
- They were easy to mindlessly repeat when they already have a very solid game not dependent on them (shenanigans).
- Having holds with the same range as their other throws made the throws almost obsolete (poor design).
Boxer’s headbutt was also a victim of #1; too powerful for being so easy to repeat. Blanka’s wasn’t changed because it’s very much a part of his core game plan, and it’s harder to repeat. So these changes might not be something you’d agree with initially, but the reasoning behind them is sound. The most important reason to make changes is to further promote balance, right? (Just don’t ask Chunners about it.)