EPTgeneral:
-saving attacks kinda blow for the most part, too slow for general use, okay in specific situations or to build revenge against fireballs via saving attack backdash cancel (SABDC), though mostly used for SA cancel or SA (front) dash cancel (SADC).
-throws are REALLY good. Beat out tons of stuff. Command grabs are especially crazy, especially EX command grabs.
-don't like that supers use your entire bar, and that you only get one super per character. EXs are too useful (for most characters) so a lot of times you don't even see supers getting used, which is unfortunate because you always see ultras going off even though those kinda suck for some characters. C.Viper in particular would benefit from being able to use her super while still having meter left for EX moves.
-jumps feel kinda floaty, seems too easy to anti-air people if you didn't like, throw a fireball right when they jumped.
-ST-ish combo rule where you can't cancel weak attacks that were chained into, though some light attacks just can't be canceled period- but you get lots of links off light attacks so whatever.
-CvS2-ish juggle rules. Juggle potential and such. Closer to CvS2 juggle rules than 3S juggle rules imo, though both are pretty similar.
-overall though, I mostly like the move back towards footsies/fireball games as opposed to hit-confirm vs. throw all day.
-you can still 1-frame super cancel moves after the KO, doesn't use bar.
-you can SA cancel moves after KO for free, depending on the move you might get to do something after a post-KO SADC- might get to do post-KO SADC taunt lol
-character specific impressions- (only for characters I played or played against extensively)
Ryu:
-fireballs are really good, EX fireballs aren't much better really (except they knockdown I guess). Come out fast, release pretty far in front of Ryu, recover pretty quickly (hard to jump on reaction to a fireball and punish, impossible for some characters).
-DP is pretty good, no airblock/air-parry means at worst you're trading which gives you a free juggle anyhow, generally you'll stuff whatever though. Anti-air jab DP, juggle with super/ultra is pretty buff. DP (trade hits), super/ultra/EX fireball. DP SADC, ultra/EX DP. Or blocked DP SADC, strike/throw mixup.
-poke are mostly as good as ever, c.fierce seems to trade with jump-ins a lot more often though. c.strong, c.forward XX fireball is a pretty good combo/poke string. c.forward in general is really good. Shoto c.RH doesn't cancel anymore, though.
-can't juggle j.strong into j.strong anymore. Might be able to EX DP/super/ultra off air-to-air j.strong though.
Ken:
-twd+forward stepkick is really nice, covers distance and hits quickly. Also gives him the best kara-throw in the game by far, HUGE range + normal throw priority. You can also do it pretty late compared to most kara-throws, or that's what it feels like.
-fierce DP is too good. Combos really well, 3 hits owns saving attacks, does good damage.
-fireball is pretty good, similar to Ryu's for the most part. Fireball/DP works pretty okay against a lot of characters.
-c.short, c.jab, fierce DP (all links), easy hit-confirm combo string. strong > fierce XX fierce DP, still in here, still easy to hit-confirm. Whatever to fierce DP (2 hits) SADC, EX DP does a bunch of damage- more than comboing his super, really. Kinda tricky to time DP SADC ultra.
-much more aggressive character than Ryu thanks to easy hit-confirms and crazy kara-throw. Still generally safer to play footsies and fireball/DP until you score a knockdown.
Chun-li:
-more ST-ish though she takes her Alpha/CvS s.strong along for the ride.
-EX SBK is still a good reversal
-fireball goes pretty far, almost fullscreen?
-combos are HARD and usually not worth it, but her pokes are pretty good (easy to stun someone if they keep eating far s.fierce lol).
-good walk speed + good throws = throw 'em
-lightning kick combos are pretty good, corner j.RH, close s.RH XX EX legs, EX SBK does a pretty good chunk of damage
-dunno what her AA is supposed to be, c.RH maybe?
-upkicks can only be done out of her b+forward > b+K > d,u+K string- does decent damage but you can't really combo into it except maybe off a lvl2 SA -> dash.
-ultra goes through fireballs. Might be able to combo it off the strangely difficult c.short, c.jab, c.forward.
Zangief:
-lariats TOO GOOD... except they don't really get around fireballs very well anymore since they keep going for so long and fireballs recover so quickly now, you pretty much gain no ground on them.
-green hand command is different? I couldn't get it to come out.
-SPD isn't instant anymore but range is still huge (especially jab version), EX SPD is really fast (1 frame probably), seems like jab range and fierce damage.
-walking grab is pretty obvious lol. EX might be quicker, didn't really use it.
-normals aren't as good as usual, though. c.RH in particular didn't seem too hot. c.strong anti-air is pretty good though.
-looks like you can jump out of FAB/ultra FAB on reaction to the superflash. wtf.
Balrog/Boxer:
-everything is slower, no more ST rawr rawr rawr THREE rawr silliness.
-speaking of THREE, TAP goes through fireballs again. Too bad you can't hold a TAP and throw/tech or SA.
-even though stuff is slower, it's still relatively safe. It looks a lot more painful now, too. Damage is still good though his combo options seem limited.
-headbutt kinda goes through fireballs? EX does for sure. Didn't really mess with it much since I just traded with fireballs in my favor with s.fierce or early rush punches.
-has an overhead rush punch now, you can combo after it IIRC.
-super and ultra can be done with punch or kick, changes what he does. Pretty decent even if they suffer from the general slow startup for supers/ultras (ie. lots of moves aren't super/ultra punishable on block).
Blanka:
-didn't play Blanka but played against him a lot
-hop mixups are pretty good, if easy to DP (lol). Good throws helps him a lot, though. Throw or (s.jab) electricity is pretty buff.
-electricity is GAY. Comes out fast, beats lots of stuff, tons of priority, hard to punish up close. Anti-airs extremely well. Loses to spaced out lows and low strongs and such, though.
-slide is pretty decent anti-fireball move, comes out really fast and can catch people off guard in footsies. Easy to SA punish though.
-horizontal ball is hella hard to punish (might not be able to with some characters?), EX goes through everything. They also do a LOT of chip damage for some reason. Regular ball can be punished if you do like, charge SA (ball hits) dash cancel into whatever... I guess.
-vertical ball can be really tricky, at some spacings it crosses up and at a very particular spacing it's pretty ambiguous. EX goes through stuff and can be controlled in mid-air. Pretty easy to punish on block for most people, dash into whatever really (though you might hit him out of the air if you're too hasty).
-ultra hits low, high (on the way down)... low? Pretty easy to block/punish, does a pretty okay amount of chip.
Vega/Claw:
-pokes are really good, though c.RH is pretty punishable
-roll is good for chip, safe as always. EX roll is even better! Pretty easy to combo it off his inexplicably cancelable c.fierce.
-good jump speed as always, owns predictable fireballs pretty hard and can reaction jump punish fireballs kinda reliably.
-HYUUUUU is ambiguous as always, stupid crossup dives. Grab out of walljump is still really good (thanks again to good throw priority). EX off-the-wall-punch goes through fireballs really well, knocks down, is really hard to punish (unpunishable? not sure) and hits 3 times so you can't even SA it.
-super isn't free like ST, superflash happens before he flies to the wall even, IIRC.
-ultra is pretty linear but it rapes fireballs for free.
Honda:
-EX Ochio. ugh.
-hands are good as usual. Didn't really mess with EX hands much (EX Ochio. ugh.)
-headbutts are as good as always. EX headbutt probably goes through fireballs, didn't really mess with it much since I was too busy EX Ochio-ing people. ugh.
-flying butt attack thing is the same as always.
-more or less the same old Honda, normals might be a bit weaker but EX Ochio. ugh.
Sagat:
-low Tiger Shot SA cancel combos. loool.
-Tiger Shots aren't O.Sagat-ish, maybe N.Sagat-ish. Still good, you can Tiger Tiger Tiger a bit more than you could in, say, CvS2.
-Tiger Uppercut is pretty good. 5 hit fierce version. Can probably do whatever DP SADC into EX, though fireball SADC combos seem more popular since you get more options.
-Tiger Knee is safe and gives a mixup, though you can get DP'd afterwards if you get too greedy. EX is invincible or something so it's a fairly safe wakeup... I think, I don't know if anybody really got meaty timings down just yet around here.
-ultra is slow and really easy to punish, maybe it's easy to combo?
didn't really play against Dhalsim or Bison/Dictator much (Dictator's ultra is slow as hell and sucks, though EX scissor kick is pretty sweet).
-new characters-
C.Viper:
-takes too much damage and doesn't deal enough, also doesn't have a knockdown combo without using bar. Pretty much you're playing a constant guessing game with your opponent where if you guess right, you do a bit of chip damage or like 10% damage and if you guess wrong, you take like 30-50% damage and lose all your momentum.
-Thunder Knuckle is safe on block/hit but probably has frame disadvantage or is even. TK, then TK again or poke XX TK if you think they'll block, or flamekick if you think they'll poke low works okay.
-fierce TK is an uppercut. Pretty good one, actually. Damage sucks but it has a lot of horizontal range. Unsafe as hell though.
-EX TK SUCKS BALLS.
-flamekick is pretty good. Air flamekick changes your trajectory for trickiness and if you space/time it right you'll beat DPs. Ground forward/RH flamekick are useful in rushdown to go over pokes, I guess. Flamekicks are safe on block and knockdown on hit. RH flamekick also gets use in her EX combo. EX flamekick doesn't seem that great to me, some other C.Viper player was using it a lot but he sucked so whatever.
-throw is good, both throws give good crossup options. forward/neutral throw, superjump then last second flamekick... RH crosses up, short hits in front. Back throw, wait, jump j.forward is pretty ambiguous, I don't even know what side I'm hitting half the time. Too bad she doesn't have a hit-confirmable knockdown combo off that.
-c.short, s.short, c.strong XX jab/strong TK. close s.strong, c.strong XX jab/strong TK. c.strong, c.strong XX jab/strong TK. None of those knock down or do particularly much damage.
-ground pound ("Seismo," I'm told) is like a slow, knockdown, superjump cancellable version of Twel(e)ve's N.D.L. attack. EX version is fast and hits a huge area in front of C.Viper, though, and combos off close s.fierce for her punishment combo of c.fierce XX EX Seismo SJC RH flamekick (has to be done pretty fast). If you're in the corner after that, juggle with fierce TK or ultra.
-you can SJC pretty much all of her cancellable moves, plus her (EX) Seismo. Doesn't really do much a lot of the time since her superjump is really floaty and uncontrollable. The one cool thing she can do with it, though, is that she can SA cancel her superjump startup frames. Since her superjump isn't an attack, it doesn't use meter to do so; so she can technically get free SADCs off a lot of moves. Not particularly useful for some things (most of her pokes don't have enough hit-stun to really make it count) but it could have some interesting applications with her Seismos and such.
-ultra sucks except in juggles, but it hits low?? Not like anybody will be like "I better block high after this crazy long super flash." Super is pretty okay and easy to combo (whatever into TK XX super) but it uses your whole bar. Not like you're using meter on EX TK or EX flamekick, and EX Seismo isn't something you spam either.
El Fuerte:
-sucks.
-okay maybe not. Has trouble scoring a knockdown or dealing with patient people, but once he gets a knockdown he has really good mixup options... but if they block/avoid it, then he's in trouble. Kinda like C.Viper in that regard, except his mixups actually lead to knockdown (but are less safe and don't usually give combo options).
-bodyslam attack is pretty good, hold down K or KK for 3 seconds to have it ready, if you hold it for like 10-15 seconds it does a lot more damage and a TON of stun. Probably has some crazy 90 second variation, who knows. Too bad short is needed for throws, forward gives him mixup stuff, and RH is his slide and one of his combo starters. I'd probably give up forward if I was going for the 10-15 second version, short if I was giving for the 3 second version.
-run mixups are kinda sucky outside of a knockdown.
-hard to catch runaway El Fuerte if he has a lead.
-close s.fierce XX run -> forward/RH (midkick/slide) is his no meter combo. With meter, close s.RH XX DP+K/KKK, or close s.fierce XX QCF+P > QCF+forward XX super (extra QCF to help with the super cancel).
-ultra is pretty good, it's like stun-gun headbutt in terms of its trajectory (which you can control with the stick), doesn't insta-stun though. Damage is okay, good to use when your opponent is on their way down from a jump.
-apparently close s.fierce XX run -> jab (stop), close s.fierce combos and is an infinite if you do it fast enough. Nobody has really confirmed this yet, though.
Rufus:
-retarded.
-divekick is controllable and can be done from whenever in your jump. "TK" divekick is a fast overhead. Retarded.
-spin does a lot of damage and is safe on block. Retarded.
-EX spin sucks in and is safe on block, good wakeup move. Retarded.
-j.twd+RH launches and gives free EX air punchy for like 30% damage. Retarded.
-c.fierce reaches like half screen. Retarded.
-easy target combo into hit-confirmed super/ultra. Retarded.
-what a retarded character.
Abel:
-rekkas are pretty good. Main string (QCF+P > f+P > f+P) combos and is overhead on second hit. Low or grab on the 3rd hit? I forget. EX version... dunno what it does. More damage? Faster (not that it has trouble comboing as it is)? Super armor (not that he does it outside a string anyhow)?
-second and third hit of rekkas have a non-comboing mixup variation- low for second hit, grab for third hit.
-flipkick has some invul and can go through fireballs if timed properly. Or you could EX and not have to time anything and beat everything that gets in your way (much like pretty much any good EX). Doesn't knock down or anything, except on air hit, but it gets Abel in for free.
-roll goes under crap really well and recovers pretty quickly. Good for baiting DPs I guess. Can lead to tricky oki crossups.
-anti-air grab (DP+P) is pretty decent. Funny combos with this move. EX version is probably the only good true anti-air, I mostly see this used in combos or after roll (opponent whiffs DP), then grab them to make them look silly. Mostly seems used for juggles.
-command grab is buff (as are all throws). EX is 1 frame or something silly. I beat lots of crap with wakeup EX grab.
-super is hilarious (he grabs them and runs to the corner with this hilarious expression then beats them down). Ultra is this big goes-through-fireballs punch into auto-combo. Pretty easy to hit-confirm them both.
-j.forward crosses up really well.
-c.jab, close s.strong XX rekkas. c.strong XX rekkas. c.fierce, super/ultra. c.fierce XX QCF+short, DP+P/PPP.
