Hi, I’m fairly new to the game and I want to be able to play at a high level. I’m just wondering who an easy character to learn is.
Everyone’s just going to say Ryu…
Rog?
If you don’t want to have to learn any links Gouken’s a pretty good choice.
CUZ HE DONT GOT NONE
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Still pertains to SSF4… Her combos are easy.
“Easy” characters (in terms of execution) include:
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Ryu. Don’t let the Shoto stigma scare you, Ryu is a solid character and he teaches you a lot more about the game beyond “spam Hadoken, mash DP”. Ryu can do a little bit of everything for any conceivable playstyle. Ryu is as fun as you make him out to be. Don’t feel compelled to play him as a beginner, but don’t be too hasty to say “I don’t want to play Ryu, he’s too boring.”
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Ken. Ken is basically Ryu with more work involved, because he generally has to work a lot harder to do damage than Ryu does, even in Super 4 with damage normalization. He’s really built for much more of an aggressive playstyle than Ryu; he has less to work with if you want/need to back off and turtle. He centers more around pressure with f + MK, kara throw, and aggressive poking.
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Balrog. Probably the easiest and most rewarding charge character to learn. Has easy Ultra combos, disgusting normals, easy and rewarding pressure patterns (good jump-ins, good jabs, good tick throw setups, hard-to-punish moves). He’s cheesy as fuck but he’s strong and easy to play nonetheless.
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Bison. Doesn’t have Balrog’s easy Ultra setups, and thus has to work harder for his damage, but has some really good normals, easy hit-confirm BnBs, safe pressure options, and a number of decent escape options (assuming you don’t get predictable with them). Struggles against footsie gods like Chun-Li and Guile (who own him in the air with good normals and/or air throw and force him to deal with slow-fireball-assisted poking pressure), but can give fireball characters a lot more trouble now with his Ultra 2. My personal favorite.
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Blanka. Where Bison gets by on easy combos and high mobility, Blanka basically thrives off shenanigans. He has few and generally low-damaging but easy combos, and generally centers around frustrating people with ground crossups, tick throws, and Blanka balls. He’s very much a hit-and-run character, so you have to learn how to get your damage when they blunder and then start making escape plans or trying to think ahead to how they’re going to attempt to pin you down.
Slightly more advanced picks would probably include:
- Rose. Rose is a character who really rewards good footsies. She has some very nice poking tools (df + MK slide, f + HK, close MK which avoids lows, c. MP, s. HP/s. MK/s.HK to name a few), and some decent anti-air (c. HP, Soul Throw mostly beats sloppy jumps), but she doesn’t really have anything she can do on autopilot. She doesn’t have anything for reversal besides the iffy EX Soul Spiral, and the weird spawn point of her fireball makes it difficult to space (and hard to use against fast aggressive characters like Rufus), but she can create some annoying frame traps if you learn how to space her normals.
Her main strength as a character is her ability to scare smart fireball users and exploit stupid ones by using her LP Soul Reflect. Rose builds a shitload of meter for absorbing fireballs with LP Soul Reflect, which will scare many players who know about this fact from throwing fireballs at Rose and allow you to get closer and poke at them. And when you do get a full super meter (very likely and desirable as a Rose player), Rose has a very lenient super-cancel from her Soul Spiral so that you can get big damage off her BnBs. Rose is all about footsies and meter management, with fairly low execution requirements attached.
- Rufus. Going through Rufus’s trial mode is highly advised, he is a strong character and he doesn’t require anything like a Viper-like level of mental/physical dexterity, but to really succeed as him you have to get very comfortable with how to recognize and exploit his myriad ways to set up a juggle state (and thereby a free Space Opera Symphony).
Good Rufus play is a lot more than divekick spam; learning his links into close HP xx Galactic Tornado/EX Galactic Tornado and how to hit-confirm his target combo with s. LK, s. LK link is crucial to being able to turn your offense starters into juggle starters (and therefore into Ultra juggles to make your opponent cry). If you’re willing to learn that, he’s a relatively low-intensity character as strategy goes, since he has so many ways to start juggles at so many ranges as you apply pressure/try to establish spacing. And against characters with poor/iffy anti-air, you have, well, divekick.
- Vega. Most of Vega’s links and BnBs are fairly easy, and he has some very strong pokes (particularly his c. MP), but his glass jaw and lack of reversal options mean you REALLY have to step your footsie/fundamental defense skill up in order not to die very fast off a knockdown. None of Vega’s EX or damaging special moves are truly invincible reversals, and his flips are very punishable if you panic and spam them whenever you smell trouble.
If you want to play Vega, you have to learn two very important things: (1) how to defend yourself with nothing but blocking, throw tech, and wakeup/reversal backdash, which is a very painful learning process when you first start, and (2) how to read your opponent’s movement/attack intentions very carefully so that you can avoid getting knocked down and/or cornered before it even happens. He is a low-execution character, but he demands a fairly advanced level of strategy against opponents who know the matchup.
Ryu will teach you pretty much everything about SF. Footsies, spacing, links, FADC combos, etc.
Starting out with a charge character is bad IMO because you won’t gain all the necessary execution.
Also, do as many as everyone’s trials as possible, on both side of the screen. This will help you more than you think.
I would also suggest picking up ryu, but then moving onto an easy charge character like guile, blanka, or balrog(boxer) Then you will have experience with 2 types of characters and then you can go on from there.
Ryu
Cody is a more risky Ryu if you’re one of those “but I dont waaaannna use Ryu cause eevverryonne used ryu waaaaaahh” cry babies
Hey hey hey
Codys 10x cooler than Ryu.
Ryu can teach you alot about footsies, and with charge characters Chun is the goddess of footsies.
Cody is solid too but he lacks that wakeup game that beginners need, but he can teach you to block and be patient on your wakeup.
But yeah Ryu has everything, don’t be afraid to use him for training wheels. Do the trials, until they get too hard and move on to the next character.
Maybe the OP should specify the *type *of character he’d like to learn and people can throw suggestions based on that.
i don’t recommend ryu since he doesn’t teach you how to block.
But this is SFIV we are talking about.
yes
it is
I fucking hate the amount of Ryu in the world, and I felt badass that day, so I picked Dan Hibiki. He’s pretty much just a bad version of Ryu. Alas, it’s worked out so far, yeah it’s harder to win, yeah it’s tougher to FADC into his U2 than it is for Ryu’s U1, yes I have no overheads, yes I’m at an extreme disadvantage.
Do I regret maining Dan? Not for a second.
a Balrog that uses alot of EX.
Pick Ryu, circle your stick while mashing a punch button. I bet you’ll win 50% of the time.
I swear, on this SAME thread page, theres an article with the SAME post in it, asking for the SAME advice with a starting character.
Jesus Christ people, This is Street Fighter 4, Not pokemon. Theres literally 35 characters to choose from -_-;;;;
Sorry for sounding like a dick.
In a quick response, Hakan is pretty easy to use, but thats my opinion. Maybe you should start with someone whose playstyle fits your personal comfort level, hmmm?
Pokemon has bout 35 characters that are tourney viable 