But I'm willing to be that person thinks they are, like most online streamers do.
Lol, Never watched his stuff but it was more about the sort of behaviour that seems common with online streamers or people who play a lot online.
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Why is Ken considered the "noob" pick? And how did he get here?
- Thread starter Jadow
- Start date
He got there because of noobs like me back in SFIV who wanted to get into a fighting game and learn a character, but not one of those weird charge people, and didn't just want to play as Ryu.
anything works against DSP. I used braindead Mika on him and beat him once in SF V.
Beyond the flaming shoryuken, Ken can be very oppressive in low rank play. He's a high risk high reward character that can easily and frustratingly punish players whom lack match up knowledge. Also, IMO with his invincible DP, quick confirmable combos, and strong throw game Ken online players can take advantage of Street Fighter 4/5's questionable net code/infrastructure. I feel like Ken is a very fair and challenging character to play locally, but his high pressure online persona earns him the title as a button mashy noob selection.
Back in my SFII arcade days it was because people didn't know how to counter throws, and heavy use of Ken's Hell Wheel would piss people off because it was so flashy.
Once hit a dude with it for a whole round and he was mad as hell.
Once hit a dude with it for a whole round and he was mad as hell.
Am I correct in assuming this was inspired by Brian_F's video today?
I'm the Ken player in the video and I think I can give some insight - I can't say this is the case in every Street Fighter game, but in newer installments the character is honestly designed for players who like Ryu's moves but want easier access to damage and approach. Ryu generally gets faster attacks, better ranged options and oftentimes higher damage, but Ken is given faster walkspeed, easier combos, and more options to make big guesses and get in.
In the video I'm playing pretty autopilot (I had no idea it was Brian and I was fishing for points by this point in the night lmao) but all of the insane risks it looks like I'm taking are honestly less nutty than they look. My only experience vs. Seth is against online Seth players, and two moves they do at random pretty often are the VS1 with the vaccuum effect and the spin kick that's advantageous on block at the cost of slow start-up - the heavy hurricane kicks you see me doing seemingly at "random" are honestly me underestimating the other player and trying to hit him. Is it a risk? Of course, but I'm eating a jab combo punish at worst and an anti-air at best! The same goes for Ken's EX divekicks which are similarly useful for clearing over projectiles or catching moves on the ground with slow start-up. Any character has the option to take similar risks by jumping in, but some of Ken's special moves, by design, let him mix up these approaches and get in "for free". Other characters have similar (and stronger) options in terms of movement and making big gambles but with other drawbacks - Cammy and Karin for example have lower health and you're not going to catch either of them throwing a hadouken.
Then you have other games like Smash where Ryu's Shoryuken kills earlier, but only if you land the sweetspot - Ken's kills later, but the attack has huge knockback no matter what angle it catches you from. They're both designed as entry-level characters (and don't get me wrong, seeing either of them played at top-level is as entertainingly Street Fighter as Street Fighter gets) but Ken is actively encouraged to play in a more high-risk way. In the wrong hands, the character ends up looking as scrubby as you would expect. Hope this was insightful!
I'm the Ken player in the video and I think I can give some insight - I can't say this is the case in every Street Fighter game, but in newer installments the character is honestly designed for players who like Ryu's moves but want easier access to damage and approach. Ryu generally gets faster attacks, better ranged options and oftentimes higher damage, but Ken is given faster walkspeed, easier combos, and more options to make big guesses and get in.
In the video I'm playing pretty autopilot (I had no idea it was Brian and I was fishing for points by this point in the night lmao) but all of the insane risks it looks like I'm taking are honestly less nutty than they look. My only experience vs. Seth is against online Seth players, and two moves they do at random pretty often are the VS1 with the vaccuum effect and the spin kick that's advantageous on block at the cost of slow start-up - the heavy hurricane kicks you see me doing seemingly at "random" are honestly me underestimating the other player and trying to hit him. Is it a risk? Of course, but I'm eating a jab combo punish at worst and an anti-air at best! The same goes for Ken's EX divekicks which are similarly useful for clearing over projectiles or catching moves on the ground with slow start-up. Any character has the option to take similar risks by jumping in, but some of Ken's special moves, by design, let him mix up these approaches and get in "for free". Other characters have similar (and stronger) options in terms of movement and making big gambles but with other drawbacks - Cammy and Karin for example have lower health and you're not going to catch either of them throwing a hadouken.
Then you have other games like Smash where Ryu's Shoryuken kills earlier, but only if you land the sweetspot - Ken's kills later, but the attack has huge knockback no matter what angle it catches you from. They're both designed as entry-level characters (and don't get me wrong, seeing either of them played at top-level is as entertainingly Street Fighter as Street Fighter gets) but Ken is actively encouraged to play in a more high-risk way. In the wrong hands, the character ends up looking as scrubby as you would expect. Hope this was insightful!
He's the only character I can use and not look like I've never played the game before. I'd imagine allot of people are the same.
I remember vanilla SF4 all too well
You mean Ken Fighter IV right?
Not going to lie - nothing that Ken character did was wrong.The person talking in that video is just a sore loser.
One of his better combos now is tatsu -light dp-ex dp..the game literally rewards you for mashing out 3 specials in a row! how can he not be loved by noobs??
Seriously. It's always the loudest people screaming "scrub/noob/etc!" that are barely above mediocre themselves.
Yeah, Ken can make quick work of people that don't make any attempt to block (i.e. the entire bronze tier). And you don't need much execution skill to get high damage output since his specials hit so hard.
Dhalsim is probably the real scrub killer though, since no one really consciously learns how to play in neutral until the high tiers. You don't need high damage if you don't get punished for fraudulent limbs.
Goes back to SFII. He was always Ryu But Extra. In World Warrior his back throw rolling your ass full screen for no reason was the cheapness people wanted.
If SF2, Ryu asks you, "ARE YOU KEN?" New players likely picked that up as the game suggesting you be Ken.
Yeah, if a player is unfamiliar with the match up, Dhalsim can clean up in the most frustrating way. Maybe the most puzzle box characters in the game? I remember hating to fight him when I was little since I wasn't able to grasp the importance of positioning and patience against a character like that (admittedly still frequently strike out against Sim now).
In SF2, light Shoryuken were insanely difficult to punish on top of being full invincible ^^
The regional terms people use for sf moves is always hilarious and interesting.
Hell wheel? Lol. Is that a tatsu?
Hell wheel? Lol. Is that a tatsu?
The guy from the video has pretty much made his whole career by being such a sore loser that people can't help but look.
Its the back throw. That name also made it into smash.
But my favorite name for a move is "I'D LIKE SOME POUND CAKE" which came about as a egoraptor joke about how fast they spit out Tatsumaki Senpukyaku
I was always a very casual SF player, never looked up tier lists, combos, etc. Always picked Ken. Then I saw that he's considered the "noob" pick, and thought "Yes, this makes sense." I figured somehow the SF community found out that I picked Ken, and decided he was the noob because of that.
He looks cool, is fairly simple to use and does not have any extra mechanics some other characters have. Fire uppercuts are stylish.
Ken has the reach with that dragon punch, people loved that since SF2 Turbo? Is that when it came in?
plus better stage music than Ryu imo
plus better stage music than Ryu imo
Nah, it was there since second version of SF2 I believe, as we never had Turbo in our local arcades
I think it really became the newb choice when they put the DP shortcut in. Because most new players can't do a DP straight out.
Really? Did we really go from champion edition to Super? You know what it was, all those nodded sf2 machines back in the day. Fireballs only mid air etc etc
Because the AI is programmed to DP every time. But if you have the right read, it's never a problem
Wait what's the dragon punch shortcut? All the movement ever was Forward - fireball motion basically. They over complicated it when they drew it out on the joystick map imo
His tatsu is barely punishable and you can bait for a dp right after, easy pressure and easy get out of tight situations with dp.
Basically you can go nuts with just two moves on a casual level. It's so funny that even his AI from old games 'till the new ones play like nuts just to bait you into a dp or super.
And yeah, shoryuken on fire.
Basically you can go nuts with just two moves on a casual level. It's so funny that even his AI from old games 'till the new ones play like nuts just to bait you into a dp or super.
And yeah, shoryuken on fire.
The "noob character" is usually just a character that makes it easy to do flashy shit early with. Ken's normals are easy to cancel into his specials without too much punishment, he has a couple mash friendly combos and shoryuken gets you out of a pinch while looking dope as fuck.
Ken is higher execution than Ryu in SFV. I think people feel drawn to him because of the fire and the animation for heavy tatsu is nice and can catch people off guard if used randomly.
Down forward, down, down forward