Are Street Fighter IV's cast of original fighters the most forgettable of the series?

[chaobreaker]

Street Fighter IV, Super SFIV, SSFIV Arcade Edition, and Ultra SFIV introduced 10 characters that made their playable debut in the series: Abel, C. Viper, El Fuerte, Rufus, Gouken, Seth, Hakan, Juri, Oni, and Decapre.

Out of these characters, only two returned in Street Fighter V. Neither characters were available in the base roster when the game came out in 2016.

Out of all these characters, only C. Viper has been playable in a Marvel vs. Capcom game.

And arguably the only characters that has managed to get elevated to iconic Capcom character status is Juri and maaaybe C. Viper on a good day.

I don't know about you all, but I never hear anyone clamoring for El Fuerte or Rufus to make their big return. When fighters were being added to the SFIV, there was definitely more excitement when fan favorites from SF Alpha & SFIII coming back. Even then, the game felt like more like the great return of the full cast from Street Fighter II. Not even SFV was immune from the World Warriors.

I don't know what kind of design philosophy Capcom had when they made these SFIV characters, but IMO they did not stand the test of time. A lot more misses than hits if you ask me.

Finally being able to play elevated April Fools joke Gouken while forever be a legendary moment though. Another playable Shadaloo Doll was a nice treat for the fans too.

It's been more than a decade since IV came out and it's starting to settle in but I don't care for most of these characters at all. When Street Fighter VI comes down the line, I won't be surprised to see most of these characters MIA.

 

[Imran]

I feel like they're only forgettable because Capcom forgot them.

I quite like several of them.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Yeah they're the worst in terms of playable newcomers. The overall worst are the SF1 characters though. So bland most of them never came back.

 

[Punchline]

I love Seth, C. Viper, Juri, and Hakan but yeah the rest are a tad forgettable. I think less people were clamoring for SFIV characters to return in SFV due to a bunch of fan favorites not returning back for SFIV though.

 

[nsilvias]

El fuerte and c viper aren't forgettable

 

[chaobreaker]

I feel like they're only forgettable because Capcom forgot them.

I quite like several of them.

Click to shrink...

I think most of them appeared in SFV's arcade endings.

 

[nachum00]

Hakan is the best one. Gouken, C Viper, and Abel are alright. I could live without Rufus, Fuerte, Juri, Seth, Oni, and Decapre though.

 

[NotLiquid]

Juri and C. Viper were cool.

That's about it.

 

[JazzmanZ]

Abel is so basic, but Rufus is hard to forget, El fuetre and Hakan probably the most forgotten

 

[hikarutilmitt]

The only ones who stuck with me were Hakan, Juri and maybe C.Viper. The rest were hot trash or awful and just didn't matter to me at all. Abel is super goddamned boring in every aspect, Fuerte was only notable for being a Luchador after all the other major FGs had a Luchador (even VF beat them to it) and Rufus was legit offensive. I legit forgot Gouken, Oni and Decapre were there until I read the OP. Seth is just whatever.

 

[super-famicom]

C.Viper is awesome.

 

[UnluckyKate]

C viper is peak chara design.

 

[Majadamus]

I'd like to see C. Viper return. The rest of the original can stay in Street Fighter IV

 

[Moara]

Definitely a lot of duds, that's for sure. Juri, C. Viper, and Hakan can stay. The rest can go.

SFV was a big step up in that regard.

 

[DTJAAAAM]

Are we counting the EX series? If so, most of the EX sequel newcomers like Area are pretty forgettable.

 

[Zomba13]

C. Viper should come back, she was the best.

Juri is in V so that's something, she's also cool.

El Fuerte needs to come back. I didn't really ever play as him but he's a fun character and masked wrestlers are always top tier.

 

[Korigama]

Juri and C. Viper were cool.

That's about it.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this.

 

[modoversus]

I feel like they're only forgettable because Capcom forgot them.

I quite like several of them.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, same here.

I always felt that C. Viper looks more like an SNK character than a Capcom character, which is not a bad thing. Juri is also good.

 

[Sesha]

C. Viper is abject trash, and only Hakan and Juri are good, and Rufus and Abel are decent. Seth was generic until 5 made him more interesting.

But the least memorable is probably SF1.

 

[jett]

Juri is really the only one that made an impact on the fanbase, who ended up being completely redesigned for SFV lol.

Yeah not particularly good times for these characters.

 

[demondance]

Juri and C. Viper were cool.

That's about it.

Click to shrink...

Yep. They didn't really hit it out of the park on these designs. SFV did way better on this front, there's a couple duds but the majority are characters you can immediately envision in future games and spinoffs. Nobody wants to see Abel again, nobody's clamoring for that. I guarantee people will vocally push for the bulk of the SFV newcomers to return.

 

[chaobreaker]

Are we counting the EX series? If so, most of the EX sequel newcomers like Area are pretty forgettable.

Click to shrink...

Arika owns the EX characters. I think they own most of those EX characters at least, which is why they made Fighting Layer EX.

 

[Bunty Hoven]

If we're to believe the story that each of the characters in WW were designed as if they were to be the 'main' character, we can't believe the same of the likes of Rufus, El Fuerte or Decapre even if we like them. They feel like roster-fillers because that's what they are.

Even Abel feels like this, which is astonishing considering he was the main character (or was he?). Hakan is weird because his concept screams barrel-scraping roster filler but he's awesome.

As people have said, there are some gems in there and I'm sure they'll get some appreciation two games down the line like SFIII newcomers did.

 

[thepenguin55]

Hakan, Viper, Juri and Gouken are the standouts and I'd absolutely love to see at least Hakan, Viper and Juri in SF6. Outside of those 3-4 characters I'd be 100% okay with never seeing those characters ever again. They were bad characters that weren't all that fun to play as. Say whatever about SFV, I think the new characters in that game were across the board more interesting and more fun to play as than the majority of SF4's new characters.
EDIT: Even SFV Seth was significantly better at least in visual design and gameplay than SF4 (character background is a different story).

 

[Man God]

Not when SF3 exists.

 

[NeonZ]

IV went way too heavily into joke characters for the completely new newcomers. Basically only Abel, C.Viper and Juri were both completely new (so excluding Gouken and Decapre, that already had non-playable appearances or Seth and Oni who are clearly derivative) and not jokes. But Abel was really bland anyway.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

I remember reading that when designing the SF4 newcomers Capcom decided on the country and the fighting style before actually deciding on the character itself. It's an interesting way of doing things but I don't think it worked given those were the characters we ended up getting.

 

[akilshohen]

They're obviously keeping C Viper around. She was probably gone be in MvC:I down the line.
I could take her, Juri, El Fuerte and Hakan, but the rest can go.

 

[DanteMenethil]

I like them all.

Yes even Rufus.

 

[Cantaim]

Nobody forgets Rufus

 

[kingslunk]

SPACE OPERA SYMPHONY *throws hands in the air at the tournament*

shit was def memorable

 

[spman2099]

Juri is good. C.Viper is a popular pick with many. Gouken is fine (but a little bland). Abel, Fuerte, and Decapre are extremely forgettable. Rufus and Seth are impossible to forget, as they are some of the worst characters to ever appear in a fighting game.

 

[Masterspeed]

Trust me when I say the internet has not forgotten Juri...

 

[RagingAvatar]

I love El Fuerte - IT'S SUPER DYNAMIC COOKING TIME!

 

[Forkball]

Juri stole their thunder. She's practically the face of SFIV newcomers.

 

[Moara]

Not when SF3 exists.

Click to shrink...

Makoto, Urien, Q, and Ibuki alone puts it way above SFIV. There's a reason why all those characters returned in some form or another.

 

[DanteMenethil]

SPACE OPERA SYMPHONY *throws hands in the air at the tournament*

shit was def memorable

Click to shrink...

GOODBYE

 

[IneptEMP]

Seems like there are a lot of varying definitions of "forgettable" in this thread. Some are equating the word to "unpopular" or "joke character"

 

[Aufdeel]

I would love to see Abel playable again in SF VI, but I know it will not happen =(

 

[808s & Villainy]

Juri and C.Viper are the only ones I can remember without checking

 

[MrT-Tar]

Juri was in not only V, but also both Project X Zone games - so that's something.

 

[Akainu]

Rufus still haunts me.

 

[Malverde]

I wanted El Fuerte back...

 

[Platy]

I once saw a thread about people saying which capcom characters look like SNK characters

not even THERE people remembered Remy existed, so my vote is no

 

[DevilPuncher]

I could never forget Rufus.

Spoiler

Love that guy.

 

[stn]

Hate Fuerte and Rufus, dig Abel, Juri, and C. Viper. Furte is fun to play as though since he's so frustrating to deal with.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Decapre is in SFV's story mode
Gouken, C.Viper and Abel are in character stories in SFV, and Gouken is in the tutorial

Who's to say they won't be in SFVI

 

[Fawz]

I liked Juri, Viper and Abel in design and gameplay and I think they were fairly popular. The rest aren't great but at least they add variety on multiple fronts

 

[Deleted member 1102]

I once saw a thread about people saying which capcom characters look like SNK characters

not even THERE people remembered Remy existed, so my vote is no

Click to shrink...

So the whole roster is more forgettable because of one character?

 

[iori9999]

The Ultra newcomers were better but I still think most of those stand out. Rufus was just a response to Cheng in Fatal Fury and they wanted their own Sammo Huang tribute character.