Tournament Play and Characters?
I assume that tournaments allow for you to play any character you want in any given match... so do most good players play a couple characters depending on who they're mached up against, or do all the top players have 1 main that they stick to no matter what?
Responses (3 total)
In Japan they usually stick to one character and are all very dedicated to that one character. In the U.S and the U.K (where I'm from) some people have alternative characters to deal with their main characters bad match-ups. For instance I main Viper, her worst match-ups are vs Honda, Balrog, Bison and Zangief. If I had a second character (which I don't) I could choose that character if I came across an opponent who uses one of Viper's bad match-up characters. A good choice would be Chun-Li but I just want to stick with Viper. Although I am learning Ibuki on the side, I only intend on using C.Viper in tournaments.
In an interview that was released about a month or two before Super Street Fighter IV was released, Uryo (Top Ranked C.Viper player in Japan) was asked about bad match-ups and he said that you shouldn't run away from a bad match-up as exploring that match can be very interesting. I agree with him and I just need to learn the intricacies of these bad match-ups which will in turn make me a better player. If you run away to another character, it begs the question...what did you learn? The answer is nothing.
However, I understand that Pro players play to win and I respect that they would learn multiple characters to cover their bases in tournament play. Some match-ups are just heavily lopsided and I get that.
I'm pretty sure in Japan they only let you play as one character but I'm not 100% on that. They tend to have single elimination Tournaments over there meaning one loss and you're out. In the U.S they mostly have Double Elimination meaning if you lose a match you don't exit the Tournament, you join the losers bracket and have the chance to come all the way through that bracket and still get to the finals. If you have learned a character besides your main character that can help you achieve what you want then I say go for it. Most Tournaments allow this in the U.S/UK
Obviously depends on the player. It doesnt matter iether way. Most of the time the only reason someone would switch in a tourney would be if the match was completely tipped.
all the pros will play all the characters not to tourny standard but to no the ins and outs of match ups and what that character struggles with against there main character,
just knowing a characters strengths and weaknesses can put you in a good position in a match and can sometimes help favour you especially when your opponent doesn't know the match as well as you do.
like Dan I only play my main in tournys even when I know I'm about to fight my hardest match-up against the best player around I wont switch, because one day I will beat that guy with my main and that day will be sweet
(until then i'll just be thinking about punching him in the head!!)
