I’ve been playing Hakan for the past few weeks after a rather long hiatus from SFIV (and all fighting games, really). I really just love how complex he gets, how you can play him in so many different ways, how he has a lot of different tools that get better with the oil buff, and mainly just how…different he is. I was getting so bored with the same old characters, he’s a fantastic change of pace. I also love how dependent he is on normals, which I think eventually will help my fundamentals a lot more than the Sakura and Juri I used to play, where I was a lot more reckless and just threw stuff out haphazardly, because you just can’t do that with Hakan.
Now, don’t get it twisted, I’m awful with him, but I want to keep learning, keep grinding, keep sliding, especially with him getting better in AE 2012.
I played a moonkin in WoW. Kind of says it all, no?
Well, I don’t remember exactly when I started to take him seriously, but after maining Cammy and not really being able to combo well, I found Hakan was a natural fit for me. I only just got an arcade stick a week ago or so, so prior to that I found the grappler style to be easier than Cammy.
Most importantly, I find that Hakan is all about psychology. I often lose my first round gauging who my opponent is, but that allows me to understand their mentality and get into their heads (ideally). The trick with Hakan is to be in control of the tempo & flow of the match. It doesn’t matter so much if you turtle or rush down, but so long as you’re the one deciding to play those roles, not your opponent.
There’s also something fun about how matches tend to go from having a sliver of life left to a full out comeback. So many matches have me coming back from the skin of my teeth to pull off a victory. After awhile, I felt like I had control if I was behind in life. I’m sure other Hakans know what I mean.
Nothing give me more joy then to see a Akuma, yun, Yang, C.Viper & Seth player doing outragous 30 ~ 40 hit combos on me and I come back and kill them in 6 ~ 8 hits.
I play Hakan cause he’s fun… I sometimes do play Rufus for sanity sake if I go on a long losing streak. But Hakan is my #1. It doesnt hurt that hes getting buffed in 2012.
I play Hakan first and foremost because I like his character design. I always like the Thuggish Grappler characters. I was a Hugo player in 3S and Hakan plays similar in some ways. Then after playing him I discovered lots of tricks and how you can use the size of his hurtbox during certain moves to avoid attacks and grab. During AE although Hakan got buffed I started playing other characters because i felt was getting beaten too much but I always feel like he is my main character for this game. When I heard about 2012 buffs (especially the oil dive buff) I got really excited and already have a few ideas on a different way to play him.
I may not be amazing with Hakan and new to the forums, but I like to play him because how unique he is compare to other characters. He isn’t a standard slow moving grappler he can get in fast with his slide and has a grab that catches air opponents. He has a unique play-style to him with his slides and set ups. I believe his U2 is one of the best in the game as it can stuff out vortex characters like Ibuki and Akuma.
The problem I have is that it’s kind of hard to find information on him even on the forums without having to comb through pages to find the info I’m looking for other than the match-up thread.I think that the Hakan community should get together and work on a guide for any newer players that are thinking of picking him up in 2012. Although I don’t actually know how many that would be, but you never know.
I chose to play Hakan the day he was officially announced. I thought the character was hilarious in his release trailer and I knew he would be fun. I, like Samurai Drew, mained Abel in Vanilla and while I wasn’t great with him, the game did start to become a little less interesting. I’ve always loved off the wall characters, looking at you R. Mika <3, and Hakan is by far one of the most off the wall characters. He’s fun, he’s a grappler, and he even has the same frustrations I have. Miss a grab? SERIOUSLY?! No matter how many characters I try to explore, I always go back to my big, strong, oily man.
I played Tekken 1-5, never touched a Street Fighter. Hated street fighter because sitting back and throwing fireballs seemed to be the thing. Tried SF4. Kens shoryuken, and sagats Tiger shot made me swear never to play again. In fact I cursed all players who played this game. Then I saw Street Fighter x Tekken and saw my chance to repay every fireball throwing chump what I had been feeling. So I took what seemed to be the closest to a non aerial, non fireball, no link having character there was. (Tbh I should have taken dudley but I didn’t want a wake up) Grew to love the fatty oil. Then I started beating people I shouldn’t have been able to. After my lucky win on Gootecks show against that Filipinochamp guy or w/e I just decided to actually LEARN him. Still can’t FADC combo but meh. Sad part is I can’t use any other character on this game lol and I haven’t gone back to Tekken since. BUT DON’T WORRY JIN I STILL GOT LOVE FOR YOU AND MIGUEL! If Hakan does make it to the roster, doubt he will, he will be mained.
