As I may have mentioned, I’ve been playing a good bit of Street Fighter 4 of late. I’ve always enjoyed switching up characters, and always held a disdain for those who refuse to play any character other than Ken, Ryu, or maybe Akuma. Guile is arguably my best character, but I’ve always loved playing the characters who everyone else thinks stink, and getting good enough with them to win fights. Currently, I’m doing that quite a bit with Dhalsim and E.Honda. Although I’m by no means a master with either, I can now hold my own with them most of the time.

When I speak of the “original eight” characters, I’m talking about Ken, Ryu, E.Honda, Chun Li, Blanka, Guile, Zangief, and Dhalsim. In the original Street Fighter 2 game, they were the only playable characters. I still remember visiting Riverside Park in Agawam, Massachusetts where I first saw a Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition machine. “You can play as Sagat? Whoa!”

I think I’ve made my opinions on Ken and Ryu known by now. They were my go-to guys for years in the game when I couldn’t beat someone, but I’ve begun playing them less and less, mostly as a reaction to how many people play those damn characters. Mainstream equals uncool. I will say that whereas I used to think Ryu was cooler, it now seems that Ken is a more fun character to play.

Guile is probably overall my favorite character in the game, despite the fact that he talks like a robot in Street Fighter 4 and has serious posture problems. I just feel very comfortable playing Guile for some reason. And it seems that he’s kept his air throw. I really need to use that more.

I’ve just started to get better with Chun Li. I’m having a much harder time using her head stomp than I used to – maybe that’s because the people I’m fighting now have gotten better at anti-air. But Chun Li has gotten a lot of really fun new attacks. She has a double punch that she can use in the air or on the ground, she’s got a fairly easy single-button kick combo that ends with her vertical anti-air kick from Super Street Fighter 2. You can’t really use it as anti-air anymore, but fans of Chun Li should recognise the animation. She also has a forward-flipping split kick attack that’s very fast and has good range. They’ve taken out the split-second immunity she used to have when starting a spinning bird kick, but I think the other new moves make up for that.

Blanka is insane. I think I’d forgotten that until I started playing him recently. He rolls into a ball and flies all over the screen like a superball on crack. He has a move that lets him jump through you and attack from behind, he can duck or slide under fireballs, and you can change up the timing on his super and ultra attacks. Blanka is rated surprisingly high on the eventhubs character ranking page. I’m surprised that I don’t see more Blankas out there. Back in my arcade days, Blanka was considered “cheap”, and I made a habit of never playing him. But at least in my own mind, that characterization has faded. The dragon punch characters are the cheap ones now.

Zangief is ranked way higher than I’d have guessed, but he’s also the only one of the original eight characters I haven’t used at all yet. One of my favorite things about him back in Street Fighter 2 was that he had at least seven or eight throws – I’m not sure whether he still does. I’d love it if they left in the chest grab move. That one was hilarious when used against Chun Li.

Honda is another character I’ve found to be far more badass than in Street Fighter 2. His flying headbutt is amazingly effective, and his new buttslam throw does a lot of damage. He’s easy to trap with fireballs, but you don’t want to let Honda get you cornered. I beat the game with Honda practically on one virtual quarter.

I saved Dhalsim for last because I’ve had so much fun playing him. Dhalsim is slow and can be really difficult to play well. To me, the key to playing Dhalsim is knowing exactly where each of his punches and kicks go, and using them. His jumping fierce punch and medium kick go at a downward angle, and are very useful when used just before he lands, when most players think themselves safe. His standing hard kick has really good range and can knock characters out of the air when they’re still very far away. And his standing fierce punch has amazing range and does tons of damage. His jab fireballs move slowly enough so that you can throw one and then do other things, like walk up behind them. And his two-hit headbut is great for comboing into a yoga flame. The new Yoga Pillar move is awesome for avoiding low attacks, but I don’t use it nearly enough. That combined with his slides can get you past any fireball in the game. And for mobility, there’s nothing like his teleport. The fact that Dhalsim can now teleport from mid-air makes it a fantastic move for escape or surprise attack.

If you’re still reading, you’re likely a Street Fighter fan. If you’re playing Street Fighter 4 on the PC, look me up. My GFW Gamertag is ghowley.