Combat Cousins: Street Fighter

‍1. Inga

Let’s start off with the basic, well-balanced, beginner-friendly character that allows players to be effective at different ranges. In The Square Ring, that is the Boxer-Puncher Inga. 

‍Her analog is the SF poster boy, Ryu. He’s a beginner friendly, all-round character in terms of power, technique, and speed in basically every game within the Street Fighter franchise. Archetypically, he gave his name to the “Shoto” to describe the character with a projectile, a rising attack, and a pressuring forward attack.

2. Fredo‍

Our next character is Fredo, the In-fighter. The range on his attacks is the shortest in the game, but he can batter at that range and his footwork carries him forward. A classic, beginner-friendly pressure fighter. Fredo vs. Inga is the first match I recommend everyone try to get a bearing for the game mechanics.

‍Two characters fit this “Rushdown” bill. The first is one of the two boxing characters in the franchise, Dudley, and the other is Zeku. Dudley, unsurprisingly, does not have great ranged options. But what he lacks there, he makes up for with a powerful mix-up game at close range. He also has abilities that allow him to pass through projectiles and close the gap quickly. 
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Zeku has two stances, one of which is a rushdown character with a close-range moveset, but I would not call him “beginner-friendly” like Fredo. 

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3. Oscar

Next up we have our Brawler: Oscar. He has the most HP in the whole game. He hits ridiculously hard but slows down as the rounds progress. In the first round, he is a terror, but by the third, he is much less threatening (though his opponent’s must be nonetheless wary). 

‍With his HP and big attacks, Zangief sounds like a good fit here. There isn’t a direct way of showing exhaustion over rounds like The Square Ring, but like many large, lumbering characters, Zangief’s attacks have a long cooldown. After an attack there'll be a moment after it finishes and this would be the most opportune time to punish. His techniques are also not the easiest for newbies to pull-off consistently. But a Zangief master can cause massive amounts of damage in a startlingly short amount of time. 

4. Andrey

On the opposite end, we have our Outfighter. Andre has a really good jab and is very tricky at that long range. And then once someone gets in, he has to nullify with clinches. So his MO, ideally, looks like:

1. Poke and annoy
2. Smother the charging opponent in clinch 
3. Escape out the side door
4. Rinse and Repeat
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This is one of those cases where the archetypical Zoner suits well: Dhalsim. With his projectiles and long normals, he can keep most of his opponent’s at bay. When he is pressured, he can use Yoga Teleport to reset distance. Every now and then, he can have a “Bad Button” though.

‍What is a Bad Button, exactly?

In certain matchups, there are techniques or moves that are simply not viable. It’s heavily match up dependent and does not happen in every match, but Dhalsim is more prone to a Bad Button than other characters.

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To go down a rabbit hole briefly: Is there a heuristic that Zoners beat Grapplers, but that Grapplers beat Rushdown Characters, and Rushdown Characters beat Zoners? This would be basically a 1:1 translation of the boxing’s archetype triad: Outfighter < Infighter < Brawler < Outfighter.

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that there is a general "Rock - Paper - Scissors" mindset applied to said heuristic. But no, because the cycle spins both ways. It boils down to Power, Speed, and Technique.  

Power is always going to have an advantage over Speed due to the former's vastly superior damage output...But Speed can get over on Power due its tactical maneuverability. Technique can easily overcome both Speed & Power thanks to any number of variables its namesake can provide. The downside, however, is that Technique usually has an inherent, albeit slight, disadvantage woven in. 

For example, an advantageous technique might require resources that need to be acquired in battle or can only be utilized in a specific stance outside your natural/neutral position. As such, Power's damage output now becomes a serious problem because they can hit you (sometimes really hard) while you're either acquiring resources or adjusting your stance. In the same vein, Speed can constantly interrupt these processes and ultimately negate whatever benefits could be obtained. It's a precarious tightrope walk... and I'm only talking offense right now. The proverbial table gets flipped once you have to apply that heuristic defensively.

5. Roderik

Is there a character like Roderik, our Counterfighter? He’s looking to let the opponent initiate and land a crushing blow, but he has to be careful because most of his attacks have a Cooldown, meaning they can’t be used in the following exchange.

‍The first character that comes to mind is Karin. She’s good at punishing players, and she has to play a mix-up game and remain unpredictable because her techniques have a slow cooldown. Her HP is just slightly below average, just like The Square Ring’s Roderik.

That being said and speaking specifically to SF5, the ability to counter has become more ubiquitous; players have V-Trigger, Choice of V-Skill, and available CA meter, not to mention the RNG of a "Crush Counter" over a regular Counter

6. Nigel

Next, we have our pugilist character who has decent but predictable footwork, good ranged attacks, Stick-and-Move that allows him to combo, and interesting defenses against pressure, BUT he can get caught out and be out of place if he mistimes. 

‍This is a bit of a puzzle, but two from the original Street Fighter II roster seem to fit in some regards: Guile and Balrog.

Guile is a basic type of character that allows for a lot of freedom of creativity. He has a rising attack and a projectile and solid normals and grabs. And with that, were you to ask 10 people, same question: “How do I play Guile?” You might get 10 different answers. Guile has a special place in the SF roster. Tactically, if the opponent is able to make him whiff on his Flash Kick or Sonic Boom, he could be out of place to defend. 

The other, Balrog (known colloquially as ”Boxer”), is good at stringing combos due to the amount of hitstun most of his specials grant him. The downside is that, because he’s a traditional (albeit dirty) boxer, his offense can tend to be more linear than that of other characters whose style allows for a more varied approach.

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7. Awan

Awan is a procrastinating rushdown “Round Stealer”, with less HP than Fredo. She’s initially mediocre, but as the round progresses, she gets more powerful, to the point where she is actually quite terrifying.

‍The way it is being described, I can picture either G or Rainbow Mika being Awan’s incarnation in SF. G can shift the momentum of a match as he charges over the course of the round. While R. Mika has a “promo” ability, and once it is completed, her next technique is practically a OHKO (“One Hit Knockout”). 

8. Ellie

Now we’ll move on to our Roy Jones Jr. or Emmanuel Augustus homage, Ellie. She has great footwork and can prance around the opponent, but also has the lowest HP in the game. If she has space, she dances and that makes her stronger. So it behooves the opponent to try to get in her face and put pressure on her early and often. She is perhaps the most “advanced” of the characters.  Does Ellie have a counterpart in the Street Fighter universe?

If any character was more about placement and movement, that would be F.A.N.G. His whole game plan is "Poison, Keep away, Retreat" and he has many ways to evade his opponents. Even his Critical Art has him flying over from the opponent. Much like Ellie, he is a serious knowledge check; I wouldn't recommend him to a newcomer.

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