Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition slid on in to the fighting game community just last month and we’ve already seen some major shakeups as to which characters reign supreme on top of the tier lists. Look at EVO Japan as an example, where Infiltration took the championship using what most considered a low tier character in Juri. Currently as of this writing Juri sits 27th out of 29 according to numerous tier lists.

Now why does this matter you ask? Because I have finally got the fire back to rejoin the fighting game community and Street Fighter is right at the top of my list. I can always jump back in and throw hadoukens with everyone else, but I needed someone I could dive deeper into the game with and use when I wanted to play my best. So, I decided to document my journey from the moment I popped in the disk to the moment I finally decided on my very first main!

How in the heck did I do this?

First off, I’m playing on the PlayStation 4 and using a HORI Real Arcade Pro N Hayabusa fight stick. I wanted to get better at the game with the fight stick as well as learn these characters on there as well. I attempted to spend equal amounts of time with each character over various modes including the ever so simple training mode. I watched video after video online going over each character’s strengths and weaknesses. I watched everything from newbies attempting the same thing I was doing to the professionals who play this game for a living at EVO championships. I wanted to get the full spectrum of skill. I even started to understand how the game worked at a deeper level when looking at things like frame data. Of course, there is no better way than finally diving in myself.

Starting with the Capcom poster child, Ryu, I plowed my way from one character to the next. Attempting their combos, challenges and using them in versus battles before trying my hand in an online match. You must also realize here that I am, admittedly, not very good at fighting games for the most part. I do have a history with them but also realize that I will not be the guy winning any competitions any time soon.

I firmly believe you must enjoy your main character and I admit, I did not enjoy each character in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. I wasn’t particularly a fan of slower characters like Zangief and Abigail but loved their power and grabs. My daredevil desire for speed led me to toy with characters like Cammy and Rashid; however, I also wanted my character to have some range so I enjoyed my time with characters like Guile, Dhalsim and Menat. Guile’s reliance on charge-based moves really wasn’t what I was looking for, which also eliminated Chun Li. Dhalsim was way too floaty for my liking and Menat and I just didn’t click.

When it came down to it I noticed that at this very early stage of my Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition journey, I wanted balance. Now when I say that I wanted balance, I didn’t necessarily want someone like Ryu, even though my familiarity with the character made my time with him felt right at home.

This had me going with characters like Nash, Ken, Akuma and Zeku. Each one I liked but one stuck out more than the other, and after hours of research and gameplay I think I had finally found my first main: Akuma!

Akuma gave me the more powered and balanced gameplay that I was looking for, as well as enough speed that I didn’t feel weighed down against quicker opponents. He doesn’t have the best range; however, Akuma balances that shortcoming by being faster than his counterparts, Ryu and Ken, which satisfied my need for a speedier character. He also has more power than the characters I had previously enjoyed using. I could throw out hadoukens and use those as decoys as I dashed toward my prey to land a shorter combo, because let’s be honest, I’m not landing big combos yet, but I’m still able to dish out plenty of damage. Also, being able to land a raging demon to end a match is extremely satisfying especially when its tied 1 to 1 or 2 to 2 and that’s the winning blow. Unfortunately, the only trade-off is that Akuma is about the middle of the road when it comes to health. While Akuma is dealing heavy damage, he doesn’t exactly have the most health. This sometimes kicked me in the butt when I would drop a combo.

With all of this said I just couldn’t get over the fact that Akuma and I just felt so right together. The familiarity of playing him was a pleasant feeling, but the adjustments made to the character in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition helped introduce me to the new and improved nuances of the game. While Akuma may be my main I also want to recognize that I really enjoyed Cammy, Ken, and Rashid. Who knows, maybe I’ll be playing them more in the near future!

I still have so much to learn and feel like I’ve come so far. I’m still not overly talented at the game and I have a sneaky suspicion that I will not have the same main as time goes on. I could fully see myself playing each of the characters I mentioned above and challenging myself to be better with ones I thought I was terrible at. All I can say is that I’ve enjoyed this crazy journey so far and I look forward to learning more as time comes. As we all know Capcom has revealed all six of the characters in the Season 3 pass so I’ll have more characters to try out in the near future… cough.cough.Sagat.cough.cough.

Now you’ve heard who and how I’ve picked my main in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, who is your main? How did you pick yours? Who will you be playing as season 3 trickles out? Let me know in the comments below and of course stay tuned to Nerd Bacon for all things Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition and video games!