Gouken, usable in tournaments?
Just wondering, because I heard speculation that he was not going to allowed, but then you have to ask yourself. IS there going to be an update where he will be available like I suspect he isn't. If not I'll just play Gouki. -.-'
Responses (2 total)
Outside of the first few weeks following release of vanilla there's been no discussion about banning him.
I don't see people tearing up majors with him, so I assume it's a non-issue. When I clicked this question I actually expected it to be more along the lines of "Is Gouken tournament viable?" meaning is he good enough to compete with.
When vanilla Street Fighter 4 first came out, there was some talk among players and tournament organizers about banning Gouken from tounaments. The main reason for this was that his throw (which launches you into the air) could be followed up into an Ultra (his Shin-Shoryuken) which seemed like an incredibly easy setup (Mike Ross even went so far as to call him "broken" in the early days of the game in the Street Fighter Podcast with gootecks).
However, after playing for a while, the startup on Gouken's throw is longer compared to other characters (five frames vs. three for most other characters, ~66% more) that it's relatively easy to tech.
That said, there's no good reason that Gouken should be banned from any tournaments, given the reasons above, and also because he hasn't been banned in any major tournaments in any iteration of the game to date (which would be Arcade Edition).
