I've played many fighting games since the first time I played Street Fighter II. In each of them there were a handful of characters I gravitated towards. Here I will try to recall and list them, and then think about what traits they share.
Where it all started for me. The Ryu/Ken friendly rivalry dynamic was great for brothers; in my case I took Ryu and he took Ken. Thousands of Ryu vs. Ken matches have taken place since. I learned the classic fireball and dragon punch inputs at the local Beckers' convenience store.
Ryu is vanilla. Ryu is balance. I play an aggressive and supermove-heavy Ryu.
One of my first branching out characters in the Alpha games. I got punished hard by my brother's Akuma and Cody, but I really liked the character and his moves. At length I improved. Rolento remains my SF4:AE holdout of choice.
Snap! Grenade! Baton Twirl! Hang a sucka from a wire by the neck!
Axl started as one of my brother's mains in GG, but along the way he stopped and I started with him. Great coverage with his angled normals, and his trap move could be deadly if you could anticipate your opponent.
I didn't play much KoF, but when I did I liked King. Great style. Played as her frequently in SF vs SNK. Hard-pressed at this point to remember many specifics.
Another early game. I started with the poster boy character before also picking up a few others.
I really dug this cat's style. I was nuts for samurai stuff when these games were big, and the draw/sheath style was baddical. If memory serves I got pretty good with him, but preferred the greater offence of Haohmaru and Genjiro.
Raw power.
F'yeah, Adon! I've played as him on the regs since his introduction. Very fast, very high pressure/rush down character. Bringing hard knees and axe kicks without waiting to turtle up.
A mainstay of my time with Guilty Gear. I got really sharp with her moves. The delayed energy disk and the diagonal jumping projectile, as well as her reaching normals set up lots of jump-in/range play.
Later in my time with GG I started playing more and more Bridget. Cross-over games and rush-down with the different bear attacks, and in/out mobility on the yoyo. Less direct damage than I usually like, but my brother's Testament and Slayer were getting pretty tight against my straight-forward Sol and Milia use.
I didn't play a whole lotta Soul Blade, but my main was Seung Mina. Cute design and the naganata was a good combination of quick pokes and slower big hits. I also played some Mitsurugi, but this was really more my brother's franchise.
Damn right. Sol is very much the kind of character I like to start a game with - big damage, big offence, good mobility, but low health and a bad defence game. Big hits, Napalm Death!
Jago was the character I used 96% of the time in the KI games. I learned some combos and whatnot. The verb 'to Jago' came to mean 'to blow a match by trying to end it with a specific move and failing in the attempt'. Jesus. What a relic of its time. Talk about aging poorly.
Never huge on MK. Played it like everybody else to revel in the blood, but the fighting system held no interest for me compared to Street Fighter. It is my intention to lay a metal-arm beat down on fools when the new game comes out next week.
Yay, kicking ass as a tomboy school girl. The transition from Ryu to Sakura is pretty obvious. My SF4 Sakura is not terrible on the whole, but its feast of famine on any given day.
Rekka Rekka Rekka. Dragon kick. Another glass cannon of offence and speed with a very aggressive balance. My favourite new world warrior, and a regular SF character of mine since.
A labour of love. I never played SF3, well not for more than like a dozen fights total it seems to me anyways. But I liked Makoto, and try to use her in SSF4. I like the karate style, but I agree with the popular consensus that she is broken. Maybe AE buffs will help. The move set looks great, but its hard to execute on anything - plus the game loves to read my inputs as DP motions when I don't want them, leaving her crazy vulnerable.
Must sleep. Finish list later maybe.
