Sooooo…looking at these changes, I’m tempted to do a bit of theory fighter based on what we already know. I honestly don’t think these changes are going to make the game any worse than it is now. Just different. Different characters dominating, different kinds of BS than we were used to. It’s all good.
Ryu: He didn’t get changed much. His combos might be affected by the new falling speed. I reckon he’ll still be a threat at high level play.
Chun: No more infinite! This means that all the buffs she got were necessary to keep her a good character. I think she’ll be absolutely fine now. She can still triple jump and do long and damaging combos on her own which will continue to make her a solid and valuable character.
Jun: Some better combo options and a huge buff to her assist. Jun didn’t get changed much (though some report her to feel more ‘clunky’) she is still going to be a solid as she was before.
Alex: now that the throw mechanics in the game have been changed and his command grabs are stronger, Alex should be able to finally put his grappling skills to good use. Wall bounce and knockdown off the shoulder charges should help him a lot in order to create more damage. He might become once again as scary as he seemed back when the game was new.
Ken: Oh hello, I’m just going to go up here for a little while. You may follow if you can. Toodle-oo and pip pip! I’ll see you again once the timer reaches ten seconds remaining or something.
Rock Volnutt: he got nerfed it seems. Weapon changing has become laggier so a lot of his combo options may or may not still exist. At least he can still run away and spam stuff and his machinegun super still looks as fast as ever. I don’t think his effectiveness will change all that much.
Roll: Faster air dash and better ground combos. She can now go into air raves on her own and still has OTGs. This means she can now start a ground combo, launch, re-launch (if she has charge) then OTG. Roll + Casshan just got even better.
Casshan: Hasn’t changed much strangely enough. Should be as useful as a team player as ever. He now has the option of staggering with his B denkou punch which will no doubt be very useful for getting off unblockables.
Karas: No longer has the right to wear the Bastard Belt. He got hilariously nerfed. No more pressure since he can’t combo rekkas from 5C and doesn’t have an infinite any more yet still takes loads of damage. I think they went a bit overboard here, but in the same vein his rekkas were improved substantially. Too bad you can’t combo into them from his B&B ground chains! Karas still has range and attack speed to his advantage even if he isn’t so safe anymore, and is still going to be good at catching people by surprise because of this. I believe he can still be a useful character with a different style of play. Maybe learn to use his supers more or something.
Tekkaman: In some areas he got buffed, in some he got nerfed. Faster and still strong, I think it’s worth a hit in power to his voltekka beam. He’s probably going to be a monster.
PTX: now think of it this way: the giants weren’t a threat in the old game because there was usually some way that most characters could weedle them down without much risk and some characters like Karas or Tekkaman just outright destroyed them. Now the giants can no longer be trapped in infinites or even comboed as effectively as they used to. PTX is certainly no longer scared of Karas, and as for Tekkaman, his riot tackles now wallbounce no matter where they hit, meaning space lariat is going to be less safe against bulldoser tactics. He does more damage, can still pressure just fine with J.5C and such, and now has no reason not to use the chainsaw super (which has become a lot stronger). PTX is definately going to be a beast now. Sure the rockets got a nerf and megacrash grabs no longer work, but now that he has fewer natural predators I don’t think this is such a big deal. Saki is still going to cause some problem though.
Gold Lightan: Is Tekkaman abusing you with B version space lariat? Don’t worry. 22C now hits the full length of the screen and does more damage. Though I think having the jabs push the opponent away more is not really needed.
Viewtiful Joe: Minor changes shouldn’t really change his effectiveness I think. He’ll still be a good zoner and still annoying. Now with tick throws in the game, his J.5C assaults may become even more worrying.
Saki: the new owner of the Bastard Belt. If she isn’t top tier in Karas’s place, then she’ll be up there somewhere sipping tea with Ken or Tekkaman. As if she wasn’t good enough already she just was given better combo options which will make her a threat up close as well as full screen. At least she can’t lock people in the corner all day like Karas could in the old version so top tier or not she may still not be as bad. At least she doesn’t have an infinite…yet.
Ippatsuman: Ippatsuman was already really good and he got buffed! He never exactly stood out much compared to the top tiers in the old game. So I think it’s nice that he got these buffs. Perhaps he might even be able to do a pseudo Ken runaway too.
Doronjo: her combos got nerfed but her damage went up and her zoning tools improved. A fair traid I think considering how nasty she can be in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing. I think she’ll be just fine.
Yatterman No1: Got some small nerfs, both of which were a bit unnecessary. More recovery on 623A/B/C worries me more than the decrease in his 2C’s range. But videos show that he can still combo 2 kendama spins in an air rave so it can’t be all that bad. At least he’s still fast-ish.
Polimar: nothing but buffs. I see nothing wrong with this! Royalflush must be pretty happy that his trademark team has been all around improved by the looks of things.
Batsu: more info is needed on him. Fireballs not knocking down may be a bit of a problem but still a fair nerf since he IS rather good.
Soki: He’s faster and has better combo options. He really needed that boost in speed to make up for his lack of effective mixup. Oni mode was needlessly nerfed though and his counters still aren’t going to be very useful. I can see him being a bit more effective but not amazingly so.
Morrigan: buffs buffs buffs. More damage and better combos to compliment her already decent speed. I think she’ll become much more common once people start finding out more stuff with her, though it’s hard to say if she’ll jump up a tier or so.