On My Taste In Choosing Playable Characters

I've learned from playing fighting games with great seriousness that the abilities of a playable character in games can be scrutinized to a degree that I otherwise may not have realized. It's given me a much greater appreciation for game design in general, but the impetus behind this post is a question that often lingers in the back of my mind, only occasionally entertained.

"Why do I pick the characters I do?"

There are many reasons, of course. My tastes have changed with time, experience, and by whim. I thought that by making some posts about the topic I might unearth some deeply entrenched n information of great importance. Magnitudes of great wisdom for the world to behold!

Or maybe just the good, fun speculation typical of fandom.

I don't think I'll address the aforementioned reasons in any kind of order. But, the attribute which strikes me as being interesting tonight is "balance."

Ryu (Street Fighter III)

Balance seems to be a recurring theme for me. I can only tolerate the dabbling into of more extremes for a short time. I've found that characters which lean greatly to some extreme, be it speed, power, etc, are often saddled with some opposing weakness of equal extremity. When that weakness is exploited, I can't help but feel greatly frustrated at the feeling that I simply could not rise to the challenge. It's one thing to fail by way of poor execution and another entirely to fail by way of lack of tools.

"Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy."

 This quote from Sun Tzu always comes to mind when I consider character choice on the basis of balance. While it may not be possible to defend from all possible tactics, I highly value characters who have the ability to respond well to as many offensive tactics as possible. In many games, this often involves picking characters with answers to questions like the following:

• Can I deal with an opponent at a distance?

Hadoken

• Can I deal with an opponent who gets in close?

Shoryuken

• Can I deal with an opponent who is extremely fast?

Short

Crouching Short

Crouching Jab

Toss

• Can I survive mistakes without instant failure?

3rd Strike Stamina Rankings:

Hugo

1385

Urien

1285

Alex

1200

Dudley

1200

Ken

1200

Makoto

1200

Q

1200

Ryu

1120

Chun-Li

1120

Elena

1120

Necro

1120

Oro

1120

Remy

1120

Sean

1120

Twelve

1050

Ibuki

1035

Yang

1020

Yun

1020

Akuma

985

As you can see, and as you may have expected, Ryu really fits the bill when it comes to balance. He remains my favorite fighting game character to date.