What I've Learned

These are just a few things I've learned after a few months of playing Street Fighter IV on Xbox Live. I've managed to amass a fair amount of fights, wins and different opponents and have gathered some substantial, and subjective, data regarding the community. Most of these things are stupid but some are really interesting.

• -While Ken remains the easiest character to use, and by far the most popular selection, he is not the most annoying. In order to counteract the huge quantities of Ken's you have to play at any given moment you simply select another Ken. Everybody knows how to use them and those who don't can easily pick him up. He's also awfully powerful and his attacks have high priorities.
• -The most annoying character is by far Blanka. People who use him have a particular system which completely depends on being attacked first. They simply wait and shock you, and if you don't let them do that they do that annoyin roll attack. Blanka's attack are too weird to plan a proper strategy against, fortunately it's not easy to master him and most simply choose not to.
• -There are proper and improper ways of using Zangief. The proper way involves using his great defense and large mass to walk towards an opponent, grab him and suplex him. The improper way involves just standing there like a fuckin dumbass and perform his stupid spin attack which absorbs everything. I accept that Zangief is a badass and should be tough to beat because he manhandles you but you don't have to annoy me while doing it.
• -The four new players are about as popular as gonorrhea. Yes they have their hardcore users, especially Abel, but El Fuerte's speed, Rufus' girth and Viper's weakness are not draws for anybody. I tried to use Viper but she doesn't do any damage and takes way too much.
• -Gen isn't very popular either. Vega isn't very useful. Balrog has one attack and it consists of him charging and grunting at you. Rose is the best antidote against the faux badasses that use Akuma. Sagat is too powerful, Seth isn't cheap when you use him, Gouken is easy.
• -The toughest fuckers out there are the ones who really know how to use Chun Li. Jesus Christ, she has lots of possibilities: I've been kicked, combo'ed, short punched, focus attacked and Ultra Combo'd to death by the Chun Li users. At this point I simply select a random.
• -Speaking of which here's the code: if you set your selection at random and your opponent does the same then you both must select a random! it's happened way too much that we're both at the random icon and I pull the trigger and the moron I'm playing then moves one up and takes Ken. It is fuckin annoying.
• -Some personal statistics: The three characters I've selected the most are Honda, Fei Long and Sakura. I've never actually used Honda but my brother does and he uses my account. Fei Long is the character I've used the most and I'm getting pretty good with him. Sakura I don't use much anymore (I did when I first started playing), Ken I use a lot but only against other Ken's or Ryu's. I'm definitely not the only person that has Rufus at the bottom of their most used list but I'm probably one of the few that have Ryu second to last in said list.

So there it is. I didn't add links with pictures because everybody knows what these characters look like and what they consist of. For those who don't there's this handy guide. I fear my SFIV online days might be drawing an end since I'm getting Soul Calibur IV in the mail this week. Is SCIV as good as SFIV? Don't know, we'll find out.