-- Well then, now tell us about the adjustments to Sagat.
Okada:
Sagat was well known as a strong character, and we on the dev team felt so as well. This time around, we wanted to retain what he could do, so we went with reducing his damage output. Using the moves and combos he often utilized as a reference, we adjusted his attack power, and we also took another look at his jumping strong punch, which people felt was lopsidedly strong. Of course, you have to read your opponents movements in order to be able to hit them, but as his combo window for attacks was on the long side, we adjusted that as well.
Sano:
Basically, the situations where he can just throw something out and it will be okay - those have been reduced.
Okada:
Yes. If you look at him as a whole, the nerfed parts sort of stand out. But we thought that just nerfing him was kind of sad, so we've given him a new move. The "Angry Charge" uses up meter, but affects the functionality of his Tiger Uppercut. If Sagat hits Tiger Uppercut during Angry Charge, it does more damage, and it increases your chances of beating your opponent with an air combo. So this is something you should try to do when you have meter.
-- Sagat was called the strongest in IV - what do you think his position is in S4?
Okada:
Now, I feel like he's either 1st or 2nd. Its not that his position has changed, but our adjustments have allowed for the other characters to close the gap on him. So its not that we've just made him weaker, but we've made the other characters more competitive with him.
Sano:
So for the players who used Sagat before, instead of thinking that they won based on the character's ability, now they can think that Sagat is strong because the player is strong.
-- What type of move is his new ultra, Tiger Cannon?
Okada:
In contrast to Tiger Destruction, which moves him forward, Tiger Cannon is a powered-up version of his Tiger Shot. As Ryu is his rival in the story, we also figured that Tiger Cannon would be a nice accompaniment to Ryu's Metsu Hadouken. It doesn't have the destructive power of Tiger Destruction, but its a projectile move that can be used regardless of where the opponent is on screen, and I think it will be nice for those who want to improve their footsie game.
-- And finally, tell us about the improvements to Bison.
Okada:
I think there are a lot of skilled Bison players in IV, but Bison didn't really have a good go-to move. Bison's signature move is his Psycho Crusher, so for our adjustments we took another look at his usage of it.
-- The usage of Psycho Crusher?
Okada:
We've increased the functionality of Psycho Crusher to bring back the "Psycho Tail" image from back in the day. In the past, it would do chip damage even after he passed through the opponent, and trip people up, so we've made adjustments to bring that back. It was often said that the Psycho Crusher was useless in IV, but now you can use it on wakeup to give Bison an advantage.
-- Are there any other areas that have been changed?
Okada:
We've improved the EX Psycho Crusher's ability to negate fireballs. So now he can nullify a fireball and keep on with his attack.
-- What kind of move is his new ultra, Psycho Punisher?
Okada:
His ultra in IV, Nightmare Booster, was mainly meant for in-combos, and has high damage output. So his new ultra, Psycho Punisher, is a move to help Bison against projectile characters. He flies in a parabola, so in those times when projectile characters are zoning him out now he can use this ultra. Also, the biggest feature of Psycho Punisher is that its a command move. So you can use it without having to store a charge.
-- Do you have a message to everyone looking forward to playing the game?
Okada:
Of the characters we talked about this time around, I believe people were the most concerned about Vega and Sagat. We've improved Vega so that he finally feels like one of the strong four bosses (Four Kings ie the WW bosses), so to all the people who have stuck with Vega I really want to say thank you. As for Sagat, as Ryu's rival I don't think his position as changed, but he has a lot more openings than he did in IV. So for people fighting against Sagat, be sure to take advantage of those openings and take the fight to him, and I think it'll be a good match. For Sagat players, you may feel that he's really been nerfed, but he's got a new move, and his position as The King (or, the emperor) hasn't really changed, so please enjoy him in this game as well.
Tsukamoto:
Well everyone, did you enjoy today's entry? Sorry to those whose characters we haven't talked about yet. Please wait just a little while longer! Next time we'll be talking about the adjustments for El Fuerte, C.Viper, Abel, Rufus, Seth, Akuma, and Gouken.
See you next week!