Here’s a very detailed list of what changes Chun got, AND how they were implemented. It’s not that Sirlin’s list is wrong, but it explains things in broad terms (Chun’s super does less damage) without specifics (it was nerfed in THREE different ways).
So, here’s a FAQ I made for my own enlightenment on HOW the changes were made.
Chun Changes, and how!
- DF+Mk
a. Removed from the game.
- Lightning Legs
a. Made easier to perform, by necessitating only three inputs of K in the specified amount of time, as opposed to five.
b. Priority has been worsened by extending one of her blue hitboxes farther forward.
To help explain, here’s some information you need to know:
In SF2, Chun-Li’s standing position has three hitboxes: One on her head (which goes kind of far over and around her head as well), one encompassing her body, and one for her feet. The head and feet boxes are almost perfectly lined up vertically; however, the body hitbox is farther back (which assists her greatly in using her super to go through fireballs - this is also why it’s very hard to go through fireballs from a crouching position rather than a standing position).
In ST, when Chun-Li did Lightning Legs, the hitbox for her head moved slightly forward, and it shrank to encompass only the space occupied graphically by her head. In STHD, her body hitbox also moves forward, slightly past the hitbox for her feet. There are still no blue hitboxes on her legs during the animation, making it pretty unpunishable by almost anything.
The only notable difference of this change is that it’s now much more plausible to get hit out of Lightning Legs by specific moves (Psycho Crusher, Scissor Kicks, Vega’s normals).
c. Damage has been lowered, but I’m not sure by how much.
- Spinning Bird Kick (Ground Version)
a. The Ground SBK now juggles for a maximum of five hits, though it’s likely that you won’t be able to ever land more than three. As a result, you can now occasionally juggle Upkicks afterwards, and always juggle the super afterwards (although I wouldn’t do it!). You can also juggle an SBK for 1-3 hits after landing the super. The stipulation is that the super connects when the opponent is a about two character lengths out from the corner.
b. The Ground SBK now has a parabolic arc, as opposed to a horizontal arc. As a result, the move now has the potential to cross up (although you probably won’t be able to pull it off). The arc goes high enough to move over fireballs; however, the startup time has not increased, making it impossible to use on reaction.
c. Recovery time has been shortened dramatically.
d. The overall horizontal distance travelled has been severely shortened; all versions go about the same distance as her old Lk SBK (I think the Hk version travels the exact distance of her Lk version in ST). Each version travels a slightly different distance, but rather than the distance increasing proportionally with the strength of Kick used, the Mk version actually travels the shortest distance, and the Lk version travels the median distance.
e. The move is not as effective as the old Ground SBK when used as a wakeup reversal against crossups - the only (very situational, very limited use) of the old Ground SBK. There are two reasons for this:
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The parabolic arc causes Chun-Li’s active (red) hitbox to move out of the way, whereas before, it used to threaten an opponent as she moved away. In the end, Chun could still be hit by most characters; however, the old arc used to allow her to get farther away before her opponent could counter-attack, effectively preventing a second crossup if (when) she got knocked out of it.
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The shorter traveled distances leave her pretty unsafe from reversal dragon punch-type attacks.
f. Points of PURE SPECULATION:
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Has the startup time been shortened? It feels like either the startup time has been shortened, or new vulnerable (blue) hitboxes have been placed, because I find it harder than ever to use it for any evasive purposes. However, I haven’t found any mention of a reduced startup time anywhere, so maybe I’m just a wuss.
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Has the speed of her horizontal trajectory been slowed down, as well? That could be a big reason as to why crossup escapes are less effective. Again, pure speculation on my part.
- Spinning Bird Kick (Air Version)
a. The move can now also be performed by charging down, then pressing up+Kick while Chun-Li is in the air, like in Hyper Fighting and The New Challengers. Unlike the Hyper Fighting/The New Challengers version, Chun-Li can charge the move on the ground, like in ST.
b. There is no longer a minimum height requirement to execute this move. As an unintended effect of points ‘a’ and ‘b’, it’s possible to accidentally do the Air SBK when trying to execute Upkicks, or when trying to throw out a normal (kick) move at the beginning of a jump.
c. The Air SBK now moves in a horizontal arc, rather than simply changing the trajectory of her jump, a la Ryu and Ken. It also slowly arcs to the ground after a certain amount of time airborne, as opposed to ST, where the move could end in mid-air, even before hitting the arc of her jump. These property changes have a variety of effects on the move:
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Air SBK can now be used after her head stomp to avoid anti-air moves with varying (i.e low) levels of success.
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Due to there being no height requirement, Chun can now Air SBK over fireballs while moving toward her opponent. This is not an incredibly safe option, in my opinion, but it’s worth noting that if your opponent doesn’t know how to handle it, you can now use Air SBK to evade fireball and advance on your opponent while storing super. I still think that jumping in is safer, if you can believe that.
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Because her descent is now part of her move, Chun-Li always has a landing animation. As stated above, in ST, the Air SBK could finish well before Chun-Li reached the ground; in those instances, Chun would skip the landing animation of the SBK.
d. The move is not as effective as the old Air SBK for building meter in the corner during fireball traps - which was, in my opinion, the most important function of the old Air SBK. The new Air SBK can be used for this purpose, but you must be more cautious for a few reasons:
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Forced landing animation renders her unable to act immediately upon landing, as she was able to before.
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Fixed amount of time in the air makes the move very unsafe if done any higher than necessary; it almost makes the move very useless against Sagat, as his high fireball can always force her to execute the move higher than necessary.
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No minimum height requirement to execute the move means a possible risk of doing the Air SBK too low to the ground to jump over fireballs.
e. The landing animation of the Air SBK is now invincible like the ground version, as opposed to ST, where - if Chun performed the landing animation - the entire animation was vulnerable.
- Super
a. Super now does less damage. This is accomplished in a variety of ways:
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The third hit of the super (as opposed to the final hit) initiates a knockdown/juggle state, causing only 5/6 hits of the super to connect. Notable exceptions: Guile, Dhalsim, Sagat, and Fei Long, who will randomly take only 4/6 hits unless the super connects from almost max range; and Chun-Li, ironically the only character in the game who still gets hit by all six hits of the super.
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Because a juggle state is initiated on the third hit, and only two more hits of the super are landed afterwards, Chun-Li can only juggle Upkicks for one hit afterwards. It seems, however, that even in cases where Chun-Li only lands four hits instead of five, she still can not juggle Upkicks for two hits.
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The actual damage of each kick has been slightly lowered. Against Chun-Li, the only character in which the super still lands all hits, the max damage dealt is roughly the minimum damage dealt in ST. Against other characters, landing the usual 5/6 hits along with the Upkick juggle deals the same damage as hitting Chun with the super in STHD. (uhh, if you need more clarification on this, ask me. It’s a bit hard to explain)
b. Because of the new properties of the ground SBK, it is now possible to juggle an SBK for 1-3 hits after the super. The stipulation is that the super connects when the opponent is a about two character lengths out from the corner.
- DF+Hk
a. The move can no longer cross up or hit low in any situation. I think that this is mostly accomplished by having it not move as far forward, making it perhaps easier to reversal, as well.
