Dissecting Street Fighter 4: Sagat

After the release of any fighting game, rabid players will session with the game for hours on end in an attempt to learn their character(s) playstyle and matchups inside out. Information is shared and learned amongst the community through casual and tournament play at all levels, and after a period of time, a tier list emerges. With Street Fighter 4 having been out on console for a month today and out in arcades since last Fall, the list has emerged.

S +
Sagat, Viper, Gouki, Zangief
S
Ryu, Boxer, Rufus, Blanka
A
Chun li, Dictator, Ken, Dhalsim, Abel, Honda, Fuerte
B
Claw, Guile

(Tougeki Damashii Magazine, Feb. 2009)

While still a relatively young game, and these lists can and will evolve, Sagat is for sure the best character. What makes Sagat high tier? What makes other characters not as good? Let's take a look at Sagat.

In every game Sagat has been in, his moves are relatively unchanged and is consistently an above average character. However, he's not always a strong pick for the same reasons. Old Sagat in Street Fighter 2: Super Turbo is a monster both because of how quick Tiger Shot is and how fast he recovers. Watch a Capcom vs. SNK 2 Sagat in tournament play, however, and you'll barely see Tiger Shots used. What makes Sagat so strong in CVS2 is his wild set of normals, helmed by the dreaded crouching Fierce punch. 

In Street Fighter 4, however, Sagat is a little bit of both. His rounds generally starts by dropping the opponent down to 70% health from afar before they even get in close to him as a result of Tiger Shot hit and chip damage (like ST Sagat). Up close, in addition to the threat of Tiger Uppercut, Sagat can chain many normals into Tiger Shot or Tiger Knee, the latter doing great chip as well as leaving both players in a neutral state. Sagat's Ultra is devastating, and is one of the lucky characters who can cancel their Uppercut into an Ultra. That alone practically makes him worth playing.

Sagat is at his most vulnerable at mid range, where his normals can't reach and his Tiger Shots can be jumped and punished. However, again Sagat possesses one of the best normals in the game; the standing Roundhouse (s.RH). Other characters have similar s.RH's like Dictator and Claw, but none of them have the reach or high angle of Sagat's, nor do they hit twice. The Sagat s.RH is just the right angle for anyone jumping at him at mid range, making a perfect anti-air in one of his weaker areas. Between Tiger uppercut/s.RH for anti air and Tiger Shots, s.LK, c.MK, Tiger Knee etc, it's extremely frustrating to approach Sagat. By the time you've knocked him down, most players likely have already taken good damage and spent a lot of effort getting there that they walk right into an Uppercut, and the positioning resets.

Sagat may be the leading man of SF4, but not every fighting game King (or Queen) is the best in the same way. In Guilty Gear, Eddie is the best because he commands space extremely well, and if he gets you to block an attack, chances are high you'll be taking 40% damage at minimum. However, he's a tall guy, so he's easy to combo and mix up, and he has no reversal attacks to escape pressure. In addition, he banks on having his shadow pet out to function, and it's possible to kill the pet and keep him from calling him out. In Hokuto No Ken, Toki is hard to catch, harder to block correctly, and even harder to get away from. He has suffocating pressure, and when he hits you, you're still stuck in it and one step closer to being Fatal KOd. 

Sagat doesn't have any special attributes that set him apart from the rest of the SF4 cast; he is the best because everything he has is good. Good specials and normals, good range game, good up close game, good damage, reversal, health, and ultra. Rufus has a lot of good going for him, but he has no game from range. Dhalsim has an excellent range game and can do some funny tricks up close, but Ultras can hit him for 70% damage, he's easy to dizzy, and his reversal is terrible when cornered. Sagat has it all, which raises the question; which is a better top tier character to have? The character that excels across the board, or the character who has a handful of incredible moves or mechanics? It's worth thinking about. 

Regardless, Sagat is not so good he cripples the game. Top 8 at Japan's National Tournament in mid January, consisting of the best 128 players in Japan, had two Sagats (RF and Vegakare) and one each of Rufus, Chun, Viper, Boxer, Dhalsim, and Dictator; RF took Sagat to the finals but lost to Dhalsim. At America's most recent major, Final Round XII in Atlanta, only Long Island Joe's Sagat made Top 8, while one Boxer, one Viper, three Rufus players and TWO Hondas got there. It's a good sign for Street Fighter 4's character balancing, especially set against the Chun/Yun fest that was Street Fighter 3.