Why are you maining Hakan?

Bare with me guys. I know this is a touchy subject but I am curious about the regulars here and why you guys choose Hakan as your main. I got this thread idea from the T.Hawk Forums (Why do you play T.Hawk) and i was like, “why doesn’t this forum have that question?”

Honestly. I have so many reasons why I main Hakan. I’ll just start from the beginning. I’ve always played grapplers in Capcom fighting games. Always have, once the rumors came out of Hakan being a grappler, I told everybody I would main him.

Then when he came out… well…

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Then eventually I got a chance to play the oil king. I started to like him. Hakan (to me) was a fresh breath of air to a stale series. I played the whole cast for over 15 plus years. Playing with Hakan was new and exciting. Then when I got word of the tier list or better yet when the “5 gods” said HAKAN in unison (when asked who’s the worse character in SSFIV), I had my doubts. If it wasn’t for the emergence of Wildcat, I would’ve dropped him. However after seeing Wildcat and actually training with Hakan, I rekindled that fire in me to play with him. I can not tell you how many times I got bodied online or off however I just keep going on with it and going on with it. One of my down moments was when Wolfkrone and I had a first to five to prove who was worse; Hakan or Dan. I lost 5-3 and I was mad as hell, however I still keep playing with Hakan.

It wasnt till about 6 months ago, why I realized why I play this character. two main reasons.

#1 I’ve came from nothing. I mean nothing. The harshest neighborhood in Detroit, MI. I was labeled the worst, black sheep, what ever else you can think of. However I used that to motivate me to get out of the slums and now I am very successful in life. I can kinda relate that with Hakan. Dude is considered the worst character ever created in the Street Fighter universe, a waste of a slot, joke character, etc. etc. however I think Hakan players are now figuring out his potential (This was even evolving BEFORE the 2012 update rumors were even rumbling through the FGC) and the rest of the FGC started to catch on about 3 months ago.

I know that’s deep, but that’s just me.

2# In the west coast, they play chracters based on tiers. East coast counter picks (a lot). Mid west, especially South east Michigan, North west Ohio, we play who we like. Regardless of the tier list, I liked Hakan since day 12, so I stuck with him. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve dabbled with other characters in this game (C.Viper, guy, Cody) but Hakan just feels right to me. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve put so much work in him or just because. All I know is that, I’m playing him.

In a nutshell, I like the character and I play who I like. He’s so off the wall I love it. It also feels really rewarding to play with him since he’s such a tricky guy to use well.

For me its very easy. We both are turkish

the only grabler that can NOT be spaced out properly!

He makes me laugh.

Pretty simple. It started with that. Now I play him because his playstyle is exactly what I like in Street Fighter: grappling mixed with situational use of normals, and in general has a tool for almost every situation.

Oh, and his taunts make me laugh.

=D

SynKyller I’m confused. Do you main Hawk or Hakan? Or are you just planning to main Hakan fully at some point?

As for me, well I used to main Abel, but last year after SVB, I needed a change to make the game fun again. I needed a challenge. I have to say I was a little inspired by Wildcat…actually he WAS my inspiration for using Hakan.

So i started using him, did ok, posted some matches up. Kept plugging away. Chipping away at some of his perks. Eventually I started to see the potential in some of the shit he could do, there was so much scope and depth to the character that hardly anyone realised. So many layers to unravel. I invested a lot of time in the lab working this out, and now, almost exactly a year later, I’m still using him, and I think I’m doing alright. Never would have thought that a year ago.

I’m going to be honest here, before I started using Hakan, I thought he was absolute garbage, seriously, I was one of those guys. Until I started using him, not only was it a great challenge, but people were missing so much with this character, and what a great incentive it was to try and get good with him. This is what I mean when I say to people hating on him, you don’t know shit unless you invest some time with the guy.

Also, if you can get to a good place with Hakan, kudos to you, because that’s another great aspect to using him, he’s complex as hell.

I’ve made a lot of strides with Hakan, and now I just want to help others who are interested in learning the character. And improving myself as well. Hopefully we can get some good players coming through. We’ve got a great* community down here, and the Hakan forums are more lively than ever, lets keep it up!

*Great before the ‘Hakan SUXS jibes’ come in :wink:

I started playing around a little with Hakan at Super, but he wasn’t my main at first. In Vanilla I played Honda, but after a while it felt like my skill with him plateaued. Before AE got out is when I started playing Hakan more seriously and found out how much fun you can have when you’re playing as him. I tell you, playing Hakan made me a heck of a lot better at SF in general.

I main them both. I can play T.Hawk way better then I can Hakan, eventually I just want to main Hakan solely. Im going to make the transition to that after the 2012 patch (seeing how they S#!%& on T.Hawk yet again).

Because he’s the most non tradition grappler I’ve ever used. Hakan doesn’t play like ANY other Grappler that ever came before him, let alone other non grappler characters.

he’s also the closest thing SF has to a legitimate “hard mode” character. When Seth said “he’s a character for experts” he was serious. He requires extensive knowledge of not only how SFIV’s engine works, but also how it Doesn’t work, and how it can be broken. He isn’t hard because he’s designed to be sub par like Dan or Sean, and he’s not “Herp Derp Win” like [insert controversial top tier character], he’a hard because he’s not easy. simple as that. The only other characters that approach the level of skill and dedication that it takes to play Hakan on a high level are C. Viper and Gen (IMO).

to use him properly, you have to be prepared and trained in every way

Well… im the best, and i need a challenge.

For me, it’s the depth of his design, point-of-difference and truly fierce potential. I like that he has been considered(and still considered by some) a low tier or joke character. By now he clearly is not. tbh I have to say I think it’s actually a pre-requisite for me in terms of character choice. I’ll always admire the underdog, I guess it’s because the underdog stands to gain the most.

I just play him because I like the character. Yes he is hard to win with but win you win you know that you have the skills. I seen the trailer and I was like I am maining this guy here.

I use different characters mostly because I want to get better at the game as a whole rather than a single character. Once I’ve learned the game proper then I’ll invest time in one character in particular and I personally want this character to be Hakan.

I went back to Guy just to see if my hiatus from playing him (and mostly Rufus/Hakan) improved my game with him. Just with the fundamentals I learned while playing Hakan, my level with Guy went up faster than it would have been had I stuck to repeating his combos. To the point where I was beating another Guy that was clearly better than I am on every aspect other than fundamentals and knowledge.

Hakan taught me that. I figure I should do him a favor one day and try to do things with him more SERIOUSLY(!?). Needless to say though, nowadays, if I see Hakan online, I am fucking terrified.

If I had to choose to play a money match between a good Yun or a good Hakan, I’d choose the Yun player every time. Nothing’s more intimidating than seeing Hakan pop up on the other side of the character select screen, even if you’re playing him XD

because you just KNOW that hakan player knows their shit

I started out with the intention of maining T.Hawk or Fei Long, because those were my guys back in SSFII Turbo. I used to mess around with El Fuerte at my brother’s house a bit, too, prior to Super coming out. I would have loved to have had Alex, too. Ultimately, I got bored with T.Hawk and needed someone more complex. Hakan was extremely complex, and I learn fast. I started getting wins, because no one knew the battle well. Still, it was more that he was complex and others seemed perplexed by him; had a lot of appeal for my unusual brain. That, and he’s very original and entertaining to watch. I got a TON of complements early on with my Hakan.

I like 1. the underdog, 2. a masochistic challenge, 3. Greek/Turkish/Mediterranean history, 4. his unique and amusing design, and mostly just because I find him way more fun than any other.

I also like the challenge and discovery of something new, kind of figuring things out with the community as a whole, working with a metaphorical blank slate character and charting new territory, which I think Hakan has more of than the other new characters introduced in this series in part because of his oil-based mechanics.

Short Answer: My old mains are Fuerte, Zangief, and Juri. Hakan takes the wake up pressure of Fuerte, the strong grab game of Zangief, and the cross screen approaching that Juri has, and mixes it all into an oily mess.

I originally started using Hakan kind of as a joke, as back when I was using Juri, one of my friends (who is an Adon main) was complaining about me playing turtle characters (because as we all know, Gief is also turtly). Thus, I told him I’d start using a pure rushdown character, and jokingly started training Hakan so I could see how he’d respond.

However, once I started using him and practicing him on both 3DS and PC (360 was busted at the time), I realized he was a lot more fun than I expected. I didn’t understand him at all, but he was just…really different. He had some hilarious mindgames, such as LP slide whiff to ultra, which catches more people than it should, and his normals are amazingly good for a grappler. The problems I had mentally back when I started with him was I didn’t realize how important his oil was, as well as how to do EX Slide with distance. Now that I do, I’ll never stop maining Hakan.

This.

While I didn’t realize how complicated he was when I first picked him up, I quickly learned and it kept me on him.

He’s truly a gem, an interesting character in a boring game. He saved SF4 for me, in general…I don’t think I’d still be playing it if not for Hakan.

same actually. While i still love SF4, and would have continued to play it, I probably wouldnt play it nearly as much as I do now if Hakan wasnt in there

I have been threw 10 characters before i have gotten to hakan

I picked him because i was going to do C to shining C and i figured i would start with the hardest character to do it with who needed little practice.

I checked a small guide, i used mainly his normals thanx to the guide.

I loved poking people repeatedly while they mashed shit.

i stopped using him and went to my next character once i got him to C

I kept going back to him randomly just because i felt like it.

I also love how people see him and expect an easy win and when they get an easy loss they get mad and quit.