So last night, after a few hours of practicing with my main Balrog and winning a bunch of matches, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I'm still mostly a noob with a head full of knowledge gleaned from the Shoryuken forums and YouTube videos and rusty fingers and reflexes that haven't seriously played a fighting game since the first X-Men vs. Street Fighter in the arcades, but it's beginning to come together. Still a long way to go to be sure, but at least I know what I'm doing wrong and what I need to work on, and why I'm losing, etc. but when I do exactly the right move to counter what the other guy did, or begin to run through the block strings without needing to think about every button press as I'm doing it, it feels great.
 
Anyway, as I sat back with a Heineken in my hand to watch the Haunt's HQ stream, I saw them playing quite a bit of Dudley as I was intrigued. He's a great looking character, with great animation, and he's so combo heavy with lots of hits, he seems like a ton of fun and very satisfying to play. Reading about him before the release, he sounded like a lot of fun and right up my alley as far as play style, but I didn't think I could be much good with him because his moves are all roll moves, with lots of half-circle motions, which tend to rely on fast reflexes and precise execution, which has never been my forte (usually I go for a shoryuken, it doesn't come out, I get punished hard, repeat).
 
I fired up training mode and a moves list and was really enjoying my time with him - but I still haven't mastered my main, Balrog! I can't take up a whole new character with a completely different move set, requiring a completely different skill set and a wealth of knowledge of all his possible combos and techniques. Not yet anyway. But he seems like so much fun! Dammit!
 
Don't go anywhere, Dudley. Give me some time, and I'll be ready to fight like a gentlemen.