Guess I’ll throw my hat in the ring for this debate as well.
I’m fine if Ryu is the only actual shoto in SFV for now…yes, for Vanilla SFV. However, let’s face it, Ken is gonna make it in some fashion. This isn’t a crossover game where Ryu can “turn into” Ken a la MvC1, or be omitted but not missed a la MvC3. If Ryu is in, then Ken isn’t gonna be too far behind, or another shoto to take his place like Sean. Quite frankly, I’m okay if it’s Ryu and Sean, but no Ken…so long as Sean has “trained well” and is an actual contender now.
Going along with my belief that it’s time for some SF characters to take a rest, I agree that Akuma can stay out. If he’s gonna show, let it be later. If we finally get our wishes and Karin makes it, then Sakura may not make Vanilla SFV, but I’d bet we see her in an update. I’m fine with other “shoto-esque” characters taking a nap this series as well: like Dan and Sagat.
I know we are all concerned because the rumor is 16 characters (and I still say it should be 20 to start). If we get Ryu at the start in Vanilla, then maybe Sean, and later Ken and Sakura, I’d be okay with that – only 4 shotos for the entire SFV cast, updates and all.
People don’t think Sak’s style varies enough from a shoto to be included?
In games where she doesn’t have a real fireball especially ala CVS2, she doesn’t play ANYTHING like a shoto character would because she’s not even capable. In SF4 even calling her a shoto is a stretch.
She shares a lot of normal in terms of style as well as her specials being very similar. However the number of normals she shares with them is I think lower than the number she DOESN’T. Her jabs, shorts, and closeMK farMP and some of her jumping normals are very similar but otherwise they are dif I believe. However in terms of her specials, while they operate slightly differently they do have a lot in common. It’s still VERY much an SRK (more so than Poison even) in terms of how it looks as well as hitbox placement/size (though it’s not invincible) it’s still a tatsumaki both grounded and airborne, and it’s still a hadoken.
It’s fair to say she is heavily based on shotos even if her MO is different. She is more like Ken than Ryu or Akuma in terms of style. She is basically a shoto + Dan’s version of a shoto which is inspired by a shoto + ryo/robert from KOF as you well know.
I do agree her CvS2 incarnation is the most removed from a shoto.
The main thing is in my book, who would you say is more of a shoto: Sakura or Rolento/Eagle/Maki/Guy/Balrog/Dhalsim/Charlie/ect? If you say anything but Sakura you’re lying to yourself. She may be different from a shoto but there are characters MORE different from a shoto worth including. Personally I’d rather a whole new character than Sakura since it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t willing to evolve her design or let it grow and will keep her as a high school girl basically forever.
She can at least evolve into clothes that fit. I know it’s to show skin, but, she looks like a confused hobo got dressed in the dark. That shirt must be from when she was seven.
If the numbers of characters are really going to be limited this time around I rather Ken not be in the game, he can go be a family man. Same with Sakura though since she’s such a big fan of R. Mika and wrestling I thought they could make her have some sort of grappling moves, and that could be interesting. But if she’s still wearing her high school uniform then she can go home.
One thing I really liked about Alpha was that they were willing to take chances with some characters designs changing. Ken got his long hair with the loose tie at the end, Cody was dramatically changed from his Final Fight style but you could still some hints of it with the White/Blue color scheme of course, the SF1 chars of course were dramatically altered and improved, Sagat and Bison went from skinny to buff as hell (personally I prefer ST and CVS2 Bison though), they ditched Ryu’s trademark red bandana (though they still gave him a white one which was kind of weak), Chun Li got a whole new costume, and Cammy got a very similarly designed but still distinctly different costume.
In SF3 they adhered a bit closer to the ST designs but a bit more rugged. The only distinct change that comes to mind is having Akuma gain white streaks in his hair to show he has aged some which I thought was a nice touch and also looked good.
However in SF4 and from the looks of it SF5 they are going to be keeping the main designs pretty close to the classic stuff, though it’s interesting that on the flip side they are changing up the way attacks look on almost every attack more dramatically than previous SF games. I’d say maybe more than SF3 but that game did change a lot.
Your 2nd sentence is a reflection of your first one. Ryu and Ken in the Alpha series are still young, like in their 20s, and takes place right after SF1. That’s why Ryu’s hair is red/auburn, and Ken has his long hair with the red tie/bandana around it. In Ken’s Alpha 2 ending is where you see him give Ryu the red bandana from his hair that he wears to this day to remind Ryu of him losing to Ken – Ryu wears it in SF2 on up to now. In each subsequent main SF game, you can see where they’ve aged. Like you said, in SF3 Ryu and Ken look a lil’ older, Akuma has the grey streak in his hair. Since SF4 happens before SF3, that’s why they don’t look much different from how they look in SF2.
As for SFV, so far we just see Ryu and Chun-Li. I’m really interested to see how they’re gonna interpret Charlie and any other returning characters. If we do get R. Mika, Karin, Sakura, Sean, or any of the younger fighters, it will be cool to see how they’ve aged with any nuanced design changes for them, or any other returning fighter. But it all depends on when SFV takes place in the timeline.
The question still remains if SF5 takes place before or after SF3. Hasn’t been answered for sure yet. I do expect post SF3 like most people do but it’s always possible it’s post SF4 pre-SF3 and Capcom is further making the timeline confusing.
Do you guys think that the game will get an Arcade release ? I know SFxT didn’t but obviously a main series SF game is much more likely to get one. I am wondering when will we hear about that matter.
Im in doubt about that.
I dont know how big Sonys involvement is, but since they pump money into the game, they obviously want to see cash at some point, an arcade release probably isnt what they want. They want to sell Playstations (and the game). That said, I dont see an arcade release for SF5 to be honest
Lol her punch throw is kinda like this in alpha. If Sakura does happen to be in V, she needs to have her chokehold grab back. On top of it looking awesome, it set up some nasty mixups for her as well.
An arcade release raises the question if existing Taito X2 systems can actually shift SF5’s new engine.
I’m thinking it is unlikely, which means a lot of arcades that invested in SF4 cabs won’t be able to easily transition to SF5. Before SF5 was announced I felt that while it might handbrake a potential visual leap, Capcom might be wise to target Taito X2 hardware again purely to retain the established arcade following SFIV enjoys in Japan.
A new SF game that doesn’t have an arcade presence actually doesn’t sit well with me, I feel like it will definitely me missing that extra sauce. Still, who knows. Perhaps the successor to Taito X2 or perhaps even a whole new (or even existing) system will be capable of running SF5. The key to its success would be making it an affordable transition or drop-in upgrade to the myriad of Vewlix + Taito X2 already out there. Those units are no cheap investment.
So far though Capcom hasn’t spoken about an arcade release. As FeistyFree pointed out, Sony’s involvement might restrict their movements there also. However, it might be interesting to consider Sony partnering with arcade folks to put together drop-in PS4 units for existing Vewlix cabs. That way Sony’s game (SF5) gets wider distribution and they can shift refactored PS4 units in the process. Might be too much dicking around though.
This is my speculation, but in Alpha I believe Ryu uses a white Bandana because that was originally his bandana. The red bandana is actually Ken’s bandana that he gave to Ryu later on. I base this entirely off of the SFII Animated movie. I know the Capcom crew likes to pay a lot of homages to that movie.