Because the tiers are pretty compressed. Any character can compete. And Ryu, who is #1, is not overpowered/retarded. HF is my favorite SF title, and I also, personally believe it is the most balanced.
HF seems pretty balanced to me in the sense that the gap between top tier and bottom tier is less significant than it is in most games. Dictator’s the worst character and has a bunch of bad matchups, but it seems to me he doesn’t have as many terrible matchups as ST Gief, for example.
I’ve stopped playing HF again, though. Seems like a lot of the wins in that game come from really stupid stuff, and that got on my nerves. Hurricane kicks are just too good (especially Ryu’s), Ken does way too much dizzy, Blanka’s upball is too hard to deal with, two fireballs/booms/tiger shots dizzy, and (as much as I like strong consequences in games) there are too many situations where a character is done just because of his position on the board (Gief corners Dictator/Boxer/Claw/Chun, Blanka gets upball going on a bunch of characters, Honda gets midscreen fierce grab on a bunch of characters, etc).
I thought Zangief was pretty good against Bison in CE? Well…as long as Zangief doesn’t get knocked down first. :lol:
I think your concept of balance is a little weird. You make a good point and I agree with you, but like the other two guys before me I think of balance as a game where I’m more likely to use characters who aren’t top, the gap between top and low is little. That game would be Hyper Fighting.
HF ryu is not even that scary, he’s just solid and has that hurricane kick. People in this thread say boxer counters him (I think that’s theory and it’s pretty hard to be in control in that matchup if ryu decides to play cheap)
Ken vs Ryu is like pretty much an equal matchup. Guile vs Ryu, depends on the user and how well they know the matchup. Sagat can give him trouble when he’s really patient and good at zoning. I think justin wong and some other australian guy won an HF tourney with sagat awhile back. Chun has footsies and isn’t as pressured by his fireballs to make a move or start guessing because her fireball isn’t a charge motion, and neither have to worry about their super bar since there is none.
I strongly disagree with the gamepro chart. Ryu is worse on Honda than Guile is, it’s easier to butt-smash over SBs than FBs. Chun Li is at least 6-4, she’s not as much as an even fight as Blanka is. Also Zhangief advantaged vs Honda?! What kinda of crack were they smoking? That match-up is at least 7-3 in favor of Honda.
I thought it was pretty clear the GamePro magazine was totally off. I could be wrong, but that is what I heard from the ST forums about HF.
Speaking of Honda v Gief - What is the gameplan for Gief? I am staring at this match and I have no idea what Gief can do to get in.
HF is a well balanced game. Ryu is good, but the crappier characters were given plenty of moves to help take him down. It’s my favorite SF game.
Alright, I just got NFba going. When do you guys usually play on Kaillera?
My #srkkaillera name is the same as my SRK nick btw. So hopefully I’ll see some of you online.
Keep an eye out for the names in the list in the first post, ill add yours in too.
& PM me too, I’ve been criminaly absent of late (distracted) so would be good to get some games in.
Crayfish.
Great thread. I played World Warrior and CE a lot when I was 11-13. I LOVED these games and I’ve always said that CE was the best game ever made. That was until I got HF on the xbox 360. I was surprised to find out that I like HF even more than CE. A few months ago I bought a HF arcade in an original dedicated Champion Edition cabinet (and I bought all new controls, buttons, and quick connects which I’ve had for the last week and a half and haven’t installed yet but should get around to doing this weekend). Needless to say I’m very into this game and I want to learn more about it. I’m not very good at this point (though I’m not terrible either). If there’s anything I can check for you guys (round duration, etc.), let me know, as I’m going to be checking this thread all the time for new info and the arcade is in the very next room (adolescent dream fulfilled!!!).
Oh yeah, I’m also looking for mellow, chilled out, die hard SF fans in the DC area for some games (I’ve only lived here for a year and a bit so I don’t know tons of people who love SF yet).
Thanks again for all the info, I was looking for a thread like this for a while before I found this gold mine.
Good to have you here Tessai 79, thanks for the offer, that may come in useful 
Few updates.
UberCyberBeast (maker of elite HF combovids) has compiled a playlist of all his Xbox360 online matches. Its already running 4pages and going strong, so chech out his awsome Gief in action right away…
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=248119680253290A
Infact the 360 scene has evolved in the way I hope the nFBA-PC scene eventualy will. Awsome levels of play getting better all the time. Just check out some of these matches courtesey of ‘xTheAWIx’
Blanka vs Honda/Gief:
[media=youtube]Muhq-8N0KS8[/media]
*Seems like someone’s been watching Decoy’s Blanka vids. Check the ‘Neckbreaker’ in the first match
& some highlights:
[media=youtube]bbePkbPXxCM[/media]
[media=youtube]nUvNOMSfEck[/media]
Poda PM’d me to let me know about.
http://www.2dfighter.com
HF is available to play there with reportedly excellent netcode. I’ve not had chance to check this out, so if anyone could report back on ‘emulation speed’ (see first post) etc would be a help
Crayfish.:china:
I finally got around to putting the new joysticks on the arcade. Woot! Woot! They’re awesome. IL Eurosticks.
Anyway, I know this isn’t a “tech” thead…
Ryu is my main character, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to stay that way but I’m trying to pick a second character to put some time into learning. I do like Ryu a lot based on his style but a lot of the reason I pick him is because he’s effective. For my secondary character I’m looking for someone based more on appeal than effectiveness but effectiveness is nice too. I think it’s going to be Zangief but I also like Balrog and Guile based on the way they look and their fighting styles. I don’t think I like charge characters though so I’m reluctant to pick 'Rog or Guile. Also, though I think Rog is super cool and I know he’s effective against shotos, I know he has a lot of really tough match-ups, right?
If anyone out there who has put a lot of time into Zangief can tell me if he’s fun to use I’d appreciate it. Is an advanced Gief just doing lariats and SPDs or does he have a varied and interesting set of attacks? How deep is Gief? Thanks.
I settled on Zangief and I’ve been practicing.
What are Zangief’s best normals, especially for air defense? What are his best combos? How good is the lariat for air defense? How you would rate each of his match-ups? Are his attacks and set-ups quite varied or do high level Gief players generally use a fairly limited bag of tricks?
Anything else HF Gief related you want to discuss would be cool too as would be any vids with HF Gief in action.
I’m not that experienced with Zangief, unfortunately. What I can tell you is the Turbo Lariat is great for closing ground for an SPD and his low kicks are surprisingly good as well as his straight up jump fierce.
I used to use some HF Gief when I played AE, for AA s.Roundhouse, and LATE P Lariat are pretty much it. Everything else is situational(neutral jump punches/MK, early j.Fierce/Roundhouse, can’t remember if j.Short was a dropkick or knees in this one).
I remember someone having a list of advanced Gief links(s.MP -> s.LK-> c.HK and stuff on that line) but I couldn’t tell you much other than try to get crossup splash and do c.LPx4->c.HK. lol
Thanks Dasrik and Saotome. That’s helpful. What is a c.HK? I know the “c” means crouching and the “K” probably means kick but yeah… I can’t figure out the rest 
Roundhouse, forward, short, or something completely different?
HK = Roundhouse
Thanks LeRaldo.
update for the 2 people that care, supposedly theres a hyper fighting tournament this weekend down here (independence day weekend for trinis) I’ll see how much vids I can get. I missed out a 13 HOUR session a few weeks ago with the OG trini players 
, thats a lot of vids…
Spoonz:
Where/when? E-mail me or call me (not until Thursday cause I’m in NY right now).