Bad Balance: SF3 Third Strike Sean

The interview where Tomoshi Sadamoto confirms Sean was made bad on purpose: game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column-131163

[@ohuckabee]

"Pay no attention to Wimp Lo, we purposely trained him wrong... as a joke."

[@Odiousjimmy]

I rock and roll all day long sweet susiee

[@edwin3515]

"I'm bleeding - making me the victor."

[@miaouew]

Lol I love that movie

[@pepperachu]

I'm sure on other planets your style is impressive, but your weak link is......this is EARTH

[@templeshuford310]

I recently showed this movie to a friend. This comment is relevant in my part of the universe lol.

[@SSM24_]

9:15 - "it's only minus 1 on hit" I love when a special move _almost_ not putting you in disadvantage for landing it is considered a positive trait for that move.

[@dorkasaurus_rex]

It's absurdly entertaining to have someone very knowledgeable explain just how *busted* the S tier characters are and why, and how unbelievably shit the F tier characters are and why. Please keep it up, especially for other older games where the tier list and meta is mostly settled by this point.

[@EchidnaKida]

This game needed several balance patches. Ken does more meterless damage than most characters do with EX moves.

[@gordonfreeman5872]

@@EchidnaKida get gud

[@dorkasaurus_rex]

@@EchidnaKida chun li meter efficiency is dumb, stupid Yun is stupid in every game with stupid Ganaejin

[@xaviervega468]

@@gordonfreeman5872 "Get Gud" dosen't change the fact Chun-li, Yun and Ken were stupidly OP and that Remy, Twelve, and Sean were utter dogshit. 3rd Strike was a dumpster fire in terms of balance.

[@TheZeroDozer]

@@dorkasaurus_rex Gen'ei Jin, juggle game and massive priority in his attacks is a reason why I can't bring myself to like pro Yun players. And I know, Ken and Chun-Li are busted as fuck, but every time I see Boss fighting with Yun, I just get pessimistic once he activates the Gen'ei Jin. At least with Ken and Chun-Li you can feel the opponent has a fighting chance. This is a vibe Yun doesn't give. For the note, this is just a personal opinion and not a preference over which of the three is more broken or not. I am well aware of why Chun-Li is still ranked above Yun on Eventhubs.

[@FreezerKing]

Despite being awful, Sean (and Twelve, and Q) still have really fun animations with a lot of personality so they're interesting to watch even though they can't do much on a competitive level. It's those sorts of things that hook newbie players.

[@Ergeniz]

@@gordonfreeman5872 I don't see what makes Sean compelling at all. Everything about him is worse and gimped, even if he were buffed gameplay wise. Even Dan is more enjoyable to watch animation wise.

[@gordonfreeman5872]

@@Ergeniz I must've read it the other way around, sean is the laziest reskin in the series

[@mythosinfinite6736]

My favourite SF3 newcomers are Sean, Twelve, and Gill. My existence is hell.

[@Ryusuta]

I don't think Q should be lumped in with Twelve and Sean. He's not a good character, but he's far and away better than those two. It's not even a contest.

[@ngmajora6986]

@@Ergeniz I like him from a conceptual standpoint since he's basically Ken's Sakura equivalent the issue is he's awful from a gameplay perspective and Sakura isn't

[@stevphiericardo2790]

To those who don't know, Sean was top tier in 2nd Impact. They nerfed him so badly in 3rd Strike

[@bilalsalaam9625]

Facts

[@ivan-bl1ln]

this is like the first thing he says in the video but nice comment

[@TheZeroDozer]

Heard stories about it. I knew he was nerfed into bottom tier, I just didn't know *how bottom* it was.

[@hummus572]

No wonder he felt like garbage in sf3 third strike 🤦‍♂️

[@volcom05345]

I think at one point he was known as the "Ryu Killer" because he was that good and I think thats why they nerfed him.

[@slambat298]

it's pretty wild that sean's hitgrab is parryable when most of the others (oro, necro, alex back fierce) aren't

[@TheKnightguard1]

Wish I had known this before I tried to red parry Oro hit grab three times on fightcade

[@mAceOfHearts]

So his “Tatsu” literally makes itself punishable. That’s amazing. I would love to see one of these for Remy too.

[@naquan59]

I'll save you some time remy's down mid kick is -8 on hit! and doesn't super or specials cancel.

[@weabooheaboo1198]

Cold Blue Kick is actually pretty good it has a sweet spot too that can make it near unpunishable

[@millerwrightt]

Remy is bad in a really different way. Sean can succeed by taking advantage of the universal systems, while Remy is actively fighting against them. Overall Remy is still better since he does have access to good damage, and he can do some wild stuff with charge partitioning. Really strange character though, hard to image the devs could have expected a zoner like him to succeed in a game with parrys

[@joeschmoe4376]

Remy does low damage and his normals don't super make up for the cost of getting counterpoked He's super sick because he can charge partition, but if you're playing characters for that you should just play Urien and do what Cruise does

[@saltyluigi4011]

Ex tatsu -1 on hit, gigas breaker is a punish

[@Escalipse]

"Let's make this character intentionally unusable" is just one of those things I will never understand because I'm not a video game developer.

[@AdamTheRevJr]

From what Ive seen in interviews, it's partially because certain players like playing deliberately worse characters and partially because designers want to see how "good" the bad character can be.

[@shenloler]

I heard the character was designed this way so that good players could play with their friends that didn't play 3rd strike

[@BMBlasterMan]

In this case, part of the issue is that Sean was stupid good in Second Impact and they overcorrected

[@vanjagalovic3621]

Sean is cannonicaly inexperienced compared to other characters in 3rd Strike so it makes sense for him to be worse than both

[@Gne]

@@vanjagalovic3621 I don't want to be an SJW but I think it's kinda bad that the first non-freak brazilian character is not only a clone but an intentionally bad one. I know there is a lore reason, but still...

[@yargrobby5710]

Did you mention that his “hadoukens” are his taunt the basketball 🏀 is all we Got

[@thepassingstatic6268]

Theres always Hadou-Burst........its.....something

[@DiamondDust132]

Hadou-Burst being one hit is just extra hilarious.

[@kenjinuma]

@@DiamondDust132 One hit = One parry. Remember that...

[@sonicphoenix7]

its still a pretty annoying parry though because of how it accelerates

[@midnightgreen20]

You missed another pretty big flaw. Because of the bad startup of his normals, its extremely hard to do a jump in combo with Sean. You have to land the jump in normal way deeper than anyone else, and even then it is still hard to hit consistently.

[@Bafael]

Yeah, his air normals also have below average hitstun it seems, making it that much worse.

[@MFCORNBALL]

Or you wait to hit your standing attack and stop making the game buffer in so many inputs, played him for years and 3rdS as a whole till this day it ain't hard

[@rob0duck430]

​@@MFCORNBALLWhat does this even mean, waiting doesn't change the fact his hit stun on air normals is dogshit and you have to land jump ins deep

[@Eggs5232]

I love that this is becoming a consistent thing, these are super interesting. Could we see Alpha 3 Birdie at some point?

[@aus1317]

And sadom

[@adolphineatingchildren2641]

@@aus1317 isn't sodom good in alpha 3

[@Adan-ke4sx]

Sodom is top lol Also Birdie and Mika are some big disaster but idk if Baf cares too much about A3

[@Eggs5232]

Personally I think it's cool to look at busted characters too cause either way it's bad balance. Elena in USF4 is one I think would be cool to cover.

[@SomniaCE]

@@Eggs5232 Elena isn't that interesting. She just had a broken hitbox so certain combos would randomly drop on her and her Healing Ultra was just broken esp with the focus mechanic. Her kit wasn't bad or anything and even without Healing & a more consistent hitbox she would've been good but those two things are really the only thing that made the character what she ended up becoming. Putting Healing on Ultra in a game where Focus attack lets you earn Ultra for "free", was just a terrible, terrible idea.

[@Ash__Adler]

The forced stand on his tornado making it objectively worse was the real icing on top 🤣 At least he's got the most stylish taunt in the game 🏀

[@66ixty9ine]

And then being frame - on hit lmao

[@jonh4872]

In King of Fighters, Shingo was lore-wise meant to be a weak Kyo Kusanagi, but gameplay wise he was pretty strong and had his own gimmicks.

[@theraymunator]

You don't even have to look outside of Street Fighter to see a character with similar lore to Sean who isn't complete shit gameplay-wise: Sakura. Sakura literally isn't even formally trained in any kind of martial arts, all of her moves are imitations of Ryu's moveset, and yet, she's usually considered to be a better character than him in almost every game she appears in, because her footsie game is among the best designed and the fact that most of her specials hit multiple times and can be juggled just makes a lot to make her work. It's actually kinda disgusting how good Sakura is in Alpha 2 and 3, in my opinion she is much more fun to play than the other shotos besides maybe Akuma that it's not even funny. And yet Capcom never really nerfed her, yeah, she wasn't that good in early SF4 and for most of SF5, but she ended up being really good by the time both games ended their updates. Meanwhile, Sean only appeared in 3 games which are all just different versions of the same game, and he was absolutely bananas in 2nd Impact, but because of "muh lore" they nerfed him way too much in 3rd Strike to the point that fucking Dan feels more rewarding to play by comparison. To be fair, though, I think Sakura is canonically stronger than Sean as she has more potential and strong motivation just like Ryu, not to mention that by the time of SF5 she's already been practicing for years at that point. Sean, on the other hand, only just began practicing a few months before 2nd Impact and really just wants to imitate Ken's style more than seeking the answer in the heart of battle. I also kinda like Sean being so shit, because I've matched with people on Fightcade who use him to test how good I am as a player before switching to their main. I just think that the reason they nerfed him is really dumb when I remember Sakura exists, who is like my second or third favorite SF character after Ryu and Zangief.

[@gidofter_lukge]

Well, they're going against Daigo, so I'm not sure about their chances. Good luck to them, though!

[@thats_0riginal21]

i am currently on 0:00 and i demand more videos talking about balance i love these videos.

[@EX-Flashkick]

^^^

[@ivan9960]

absolutely, as a low rank player its fascinating to see a detail explanation with examples on why certain characters is bad or good instead of the typical "he is just bad", really learns a lot

[@oldschoolninamain9138]

@@ivan9960 Same! I discovered this gem of a game bc of my fiancee and have been playing it on and off for a year with Oro and I STILL suck lol. I mostly play Tekken but this game is just so gorgeous and has a special feeling to it. I hope he keeps the vids up they're fascinating

[@Shazam1414]

See, this is why I'd rather Ryu train me instead of Ken.

[@NSFSponsor]

Ken didn't train him though. That's why he's bad, ken refuses to train him.

[@Shazam1414]

@@NSFSponsor he took his online shit so close enough lmao

[@TheEmperorRaidou]

@@NSFSponsor thats not true lol

[@watersheep5535]

@@TheEmperorRaidou *no shit*

[@devilbuster20xx37]

@@Shazam1414 One of the items in SFV's survival mode is a online course created by Ken.

[@TheStrangeN]

His taunt isn't too bad. Similar to Dudley's in practice.

[@jessISaRicePrincess]

Dudley's much better though

[@Gurimoe]

@@jessISaRicePrincess this, and it gives him a slight damage boost to his next 8 hits iirc Though most importantly since dudley has much better tools, he actually gets to do combos (esp supers) that let him use it more often in a meaningful way. - and even in a situation where he can set up his taunt to do a high/low mixup, like bafael explained his overhead is fairly trash and doesn't get him anything. On the other hand, dudley can link his fHK overhead into both SA1 and SA3

[@TheStrangeN]

@@jessISaRicePrincess no doubt about that

[@servbot128]

It’s not but using a taunt as a regular projectile because the devs didn’t want him to have a hadoken sucks lol

[@pachicore]

Yeah but Dudley gets more use out of his taunt because he's functional

[@an3582]

Poor Sean, I always thought he was the coolest new character, but this video makes it sound like "Sean is TECHNICALLY a fighter, he is a playable character in a fighting game... Thats it."

[@nickkiller-0710]

He was high tier in 2nd Impact, at least

[@GuyParson]

Thats basically Sean in lore lol

[@spongeman3090]

@@GuyParson Poor Sean doesn't get the same level of respect as Sakura from the developers. Hopefully SF6 will finally do him justice (unless he's not in then oof)

[@zeywop]

@@spongeman3090he’s in the background of a piece of art and otherwise goes unmentioned.. rip the sean dream

[@spongeman3090]

@@zeywop You mean those arts that show what the other characters are doing while they're not in SF6?

[@TekkenShazam]

Was literally just telling my friend how I was hoping to find a documentary-style thing on varioues FGC aspects and history. Absolutely this! Looking forward to the next one!

[@ThusSpokeSpooky]

Rafeed Kahn I recommend the melee documentary, it is one of the most popular fighting game documentaries

[@yoshinpixels9924]

One tiny thing that wasn't mentioned Seans TC is actually one of the few, maybe the only to my knowledge, TC that works on an air connect. Dash cross under in to it legit works Not mega useful but it's worth noting. Loved this vid, would love to see more. An autopsy on 12 or Q would be great. Been playing Sean for years and even i didn't know the tackle and Tornado left him crouching. Explains a lot lol

[@Bafael]

I can confirm remy's extremely forgettable stand LP stand LK TC works on airborne opponents, but most people don't even know that TC exists. I can't think of another one. Edit: Oh wait, ibuki b+MP xx HP works on midair connect too.

[@danthewafflelord3059]

TC?

[@Bafael]

@@danthewafflelord3059 Target combo. A normal that cancels into a specific other normal. Example: Ken's close MP into close HP

[@yoshinpixels9924]

@@Bafael Ooh shit you're right Wait, Remys one is a TC?? I love 3s but what is this fuckin game XD

[@66ixty9ine]

@@danthewafflelord3059 target combo, normals that combo into specific other normals, some of them even have special effects, like sf alpha guy's lp lp mp hp close hk (gives him a unique heavy punch that only appears in that specific combo, also makes his heavy kick knock back)

[@WraxTV]

Making a character bad on purpose for lore reasons is some DBZ Budokai crap. I get that he terrorized 2nd Impact but jeez.

[@GattlingCombo]

Dan says hi? >.

[@BComet]

Well, in the lore, Sean akso comes from a family of Jiu Jitsu Fighters, so he shouldn't be that bad.

[@Lukmendes]

Budokai games weren't even accurate with power levels anyways, Cell was consistently one of the strongest characters, Goku was a mediocre mid tier in most games, Bardock was top 5 in Budokai 3, Yamcha was one of the top tiers in Infinite World... Omega Shenron being top tier in Budokai 3 is one of the closest "accurate" story wise power level tier list lol.

[@kongchho]

Yeah when I picked up 3rd strike like 10 years ago I was so confused. I played new generation and second impact but Sean felt so powerless in 3rd strike. It's like they didn't want people to play him.

[@LOSTGAM3R]

I want Sean AND Laura in the same game!!!!!

[@Polymathically]

The roll isn't _entirely_ useless. It's there to fake out overconfident opponents who try to parry all of Sean's predictable attacks. One of my guilty pleasures is trolling opponents via dodging attacks by rolling around the screen. It can throw them off and cause them to make mistakes. Roll behind -> Uppercut -> SA1 is hilarious. I'm pretty sure you can use it to escape Denjin as well. Edit: Speaking of which, you should do a video on Twelve. I've been playing him off and on for months, and he's pretty interesting. His SA1 is basically a counter against any projectile Super Arts due to it giving him upper body invincibility. Not only does it beat Denjin, but can go through Aegis as well. There's some other stuff, but I thought that was the coolest thing.

[@Toomnyusernae]

Twelve is like fighting with jabs, instant air pokes and throws right? That's the feel? His SAI is neat because it has some projectile breaking properties. A shame his invisibility doesn't last longer. During SAIII he gets more health but the reversion I'm sure you know he takes dumb dumb damage.

[@starsheep1140]

Theres a video called the bottom tier by a fella called leon massay that goes in depth on why twelve is as bad as he is, you should checl it out

[@JulieLamia]

Leon Massey has a good video on Twelve, called "THE Bottom Tier". He does make some oversights, but he's hilarious.

[@Deeznutzho]

Twelve's biggest problem is his damage. It's horrible. He has a very nice rush game with no real payoff. I think he's still counters Chun though since her Anti-air game is her weakest point.

[@Polymathically]

​@@Toomnyusernae The Shend posted an excellent tutorial video on Twelve all the way back in 2006. You should check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWSQgJZrZZiXh9U I actually did a write up on Twelve last year and posted it on TV Tropes and a few other KZbin videos. I'll put here, too: I've been messing around with Twelve for a little while now, just for the sake of curiosity and a change of pace. And while it's totally possible to win with him (most players aren't accustomed to fighting him), he should be at the very bottom of the list. Some notes: -He relies far too much on spacing; he only works well if he fakes out his opponent by changing direction or using low glides, which can cause them to make a mistake. The trade-off for his exceptional mobility is his pathetically small health bar. Only Akuma, Yun, Yang, and Ibuki have less health, but they all have better moves and defensive options. A competent, patient opponent can destroy him with a couple of decent combos in about 10 seconds. -He has only a handful of combos, most of which deal relatively little damage, connect only at close range, and are usually unsafe on block. He has only a couple of good cross-ups, but they rely on some questionable spacing and hit detection. They also have abysmal priority; Chun-Li can tear him apart despite having a severe range disadvantage. The few good moves he has can be easily parried by an experienced opponent. The EX versions don't do much more damage, and burn through too much meter to be practical. -His throw deals out a lot of damage, but sends the opponent flying to the other end of the screen, forcing you to work your way back in again. It's only really safe if you block first or parry into it as well. -His Super Arts aren't very good. XNDL needs to be comboed into; there are a few ways to do it, but it's obviously not as easy as just pressing low forward. If you do just throw it out, it'll be easy to parry. The angle and hit detection of XFLAT are finicky. Your opponent needs to be standing on the ground, too; if you connect in midair, the damage output is drastically reduced. There are only a couple of ways to combo into it. XCOPY is obviously the most popular one, even though XNDL does a lot of damage if it connects properly. Honestly, XCOPY kind of sucks. Sure, you have the option of playing as the character normally, or repeatedly taunting to gain stat boosts. But you can't use the mimicked character's EX moves or Super Arts. Also, the meter burns up too quickly (and using this Super Art makes utilizing Twelve's EX moves impractical); once it runs out, Twelve will enter that slow transformation sequence that leaves him wide open. By the way, if you ever find yourself in a Twelve mirror match, try using XCOPY just for laughs. That's the only time a Super Art will make a character weaker than they were before; not only can he not use EX moves, but even his taunt is disabled. -His aerial/guessing game tactics get really tedious. It's basically a slow, repetitive hit-and-run strategy. It eats up a lot of time, which means trouble when the clock is running out and your health is at a deficit. The attacks that deal the most damage - his aerial roundhouse and DRA in particular - are also the most predictable. The aerial roundhouse and EX DRA can be used as cross-ups, but the hitbox is very inconsistent. The latter is supposed to be two hits, but sometimes only connects once, bounces you against the opponent or goes though them, induces a knockdown or merely causes a glancing blow, etc. It's best used for catching an unsuspecting opponent who is jumping in. While it's harder to defend against, using it properly requires precision and a bit of dumb luck. -His ability of altering his jump trajectory should be game-breaking, but it's negated by its slow speed and the fact that _you can't parry while gliding._ If you could, Twelve would be far more dangerous. Chun-Li, Hugo, or anyone else with an air grab can utterly demolish him every time he tries gliding. Same goes with any fighter that has good juggling combos or at least one vertically or diagonally-aimed attack. So basically _every character in the game_ can easily counter him. -He can walk under fireballs. It's cool the first time, not so much after. Also, the ability to parry completely negates the need to ever walk under fireballs. The fact that you can only walk - dashing leaves you vulnerable - makes this technique practically useless in high level play. -The start up animation for his invisibility taunt is ridiculously slow, so you need to throw your opponent to the other end of the screen just to get enough distance between you. Otherwise, your opponent will simply dash up and combo you into oblivion. Also, it has no effect on AI opponents whatsoever; turning yourself invisible makes it even easier for them to win, as it's harder to parry when you can't see your character. After spending more time with Twelve, I realized he has 3 strengths: 1) His stun capability. While his play style is all about whittling down the opponent's health bar via hit and run tactics, his neutral medium kick - an awkward, close-range knee attack - quickly racks up a surprising amount of stun damage. It doesn't have the recovery time of Twelve's more prominent attacks, which makes spamming it easier. It can be linked into with a few of his aerial moves, and will combo into his X.N.D.L. and X.F.L.A.T. Super Arts. 2) His N.D.L. Twelve shoves his arms into the ground, and they resurface as spikes at different ranges depending on which button you've used. While this doesn't seem like much at first glance, it can be used to punish projectile spammers; the spikes go underneath the stage, which means they don't get nullified by projectiles and will hit before the opponent recovers. N.D.L. can also be used to punish jumping opponents if positioned correctly, but the light N.D.L. works perfectly as an anti-divekick tool. The EX version is also a homing weapon that will have the spikes surface at any location the target is, including crossups. This gives Twelve an effective weapon against Ken, who is one of his most dangerous matchups. There are other options, but very few players will expect this. It can also hit Akuma out of his KKZ animation if you're at the same range you'd need to be to parry it. 3) The X.N.D.L. Again, it's slow and easy to parry if you don't combo into it. However, it gives Twelve invincibility on his upper body. If timed well, it will let you dodge and counter projectile Super Arts like Ryu's Shinkuu and Denjin Hadoukens, Akuma's standing Messatsu Gou Hadou, Sean's Hadou Burst, etc. _It will also go through Urien's Aegis Reflector_ (!), Oro's Yagyou Dama, Chun-Li's Kikosho at certain distances, and beat out Necro's Electric Snake. It can also counter Remy's Light of Justice, but you need to be mid-range and trigger it before the second wave of projectiles come out. In short, it can be used as a counter Super Art in certain matchups. TLDR: Twelve still kinda sucks, but not badly as one would think.

[@SnackCannon]

From top tier to bottom tier in one iteration. 2nd Impact Sean is one of my favorite characters to play in a fighting game ever. His DP actually dunks! Oh, and that fierce punch ain't nothing to fuck with...

[@weeniebagel5100]

I feel it should have been worth mentioning that his target combo is safe in block and one of his better tools to generate meter and buffer parry/throws

[@keylimecookies]

I’ve been watching all your 3s content all morning and I wanted more, wish granted

[@coolkorsah1]

TIL you take increased damage when your character is crouching in this game.

[@Copperhell144]

You also take increased hitstun/blockstun

[@Bafael]

@@Copperhell144 And also chip damage, fun fact.

[@manzanito3652]

But why?

[@foursix32]

Increased damage/hitstun/blockstun/chip penalises holding down back as opposed to parrying or trying to block high/low accordingly. The least risky thing gives the least reward.

[@CacoPholey]

@@manzanito3652 low blocks are more potent on the ground since they block all non overhead normals, and jumps are generally punishable

[@animagamer2]

This series is really interesting! I'm not a huge fighting game player, but I still enjoy learning about where characters stood in the big titles and why they were there. Hope you do more of these!

[@toasterdudel8080]

This is the most exciting new series you started! Keep em coming and thanks for all you do!

[@Majkels]

I love that this doubles as a sean tutorial One cool thing he can do is cr.lk after cl.HK which makes that normal even better The general idea is to use rolls and tackle to condition your opponent to press buttons that can be parried Also you didnt talk about his PA

[@Bafael]

I didn't talk about his PA because it wasn't supposed to be a tutorial lol. Sean's PA isn't great but it's not notably bad. The only notable thing about it is its tracking hitbox.

[@Toomnyusernae]

@@Bafael It amps up his stun game. His normals are lousy and slow but he hits like a truck once he can get those hits in. In addition, I believe hitting his basketball gives you slightly more meter and it can only be struck as it bounces off from a parry / hit / block.

[@Zenondikar]

Get to setup gimmicky traps after hard knockdowns or occasionally off back throws too! Big part of his game (Sean main)

[@justingoers]

Bafael I think the PA should have been mentioned. It definitely factors in to anyone trying to take this character seriously. Amazing video. I love this series.

[@Bafael]

@@justingoers there are good chars with bad PAs lol, look at Chun Li.

[@cybermanwolf4316]

This is a really informative series looking forward to seeing more.

[@Kanzuki]

Sean got done dirty in 3rd Strike. Hopefully he's better if he ever becomes playable again

[@Ergeniz]

Nah, only the Japanese mary sue school girl gets to be the good shotoclone disciple character.

[@sirchris6047]

@@Ergeniz what about Sagat

[@falconeshield]

@@sirchris6047 Oh god Sean should've been Sagat's pupil, like a good Muy Thai character in SF

[@elfascisto6549]

​​@@Ergeniz she is the only shotoclone disciple character that's a good character, so it makes sense.

[@matheusaragao7640]

I just wanted to say: I love these kinds of analyses. Thank you for making them.

[@MCJdiz]

Always love a new 3rd Strike Vid! Thanks for all you do for the community, Baf.

[@Taziod]

"it's only -1 on hit" - never thought I'd hear that

[@bigejay100able]

Did anyone else look at the picture of Sean’s character portrait in the thumbnail and get confused when they saw what looked like Ryu with a different guys head in game

[@FreekyDeeky21]

It was a crime what they did to Sean in 3S. He was so much greater in Second Impact.

[@formerlymax]

I love your bad balance videos. They're some of the best online.

[@baileyayyy5085]

Pls never stop making third strike content best game of all time

[@Jallent21]

I love this video. I was such a huge Sean fan in 2nd Impact. I almost stopped playing SF3 because of it. Keep up the great work.

[@bungiesblueflames]

I love these type of vids. Please make more of them, they’re really interesting.

[@Zenondikar]

I hope this doesn't put people off picking up the arguably worst character in the game, I LOVE playing Sean and want to remind everybody that tiers rarely matter for the average player! Taunt is actually pretty usable if you can set up situations like backwards throw or off hard knockdowns with supers and CAN create almost decent meaties, Roll is the same but equally gimmicky and hilarious. Honestly his best feature is his dash forward and back throw does slightly more damage than other shotos. Great video Baf loving this series!

[@gordonfreeman5872]

Sean is just weaker version of other chars, with close to none combo potential. Arguably stronger than Q, but in comparison, terribly boring to play.

[@skipfuego6339]

@@gordonfreeman5872 There's good Q players who can give you that fight

[@frostywasp1743]

You took the words right out of my mouth with Sean's taunt. When your opponent is down, shoot the ball. Your opponent will block or parry if timed right, that gives you a strategic offensive option

[@cyanariesdw04]

Same here, also don’t forget that close roundhouse is the most damaging shoto normal, watch Magu’s Sean, he makes the character look kinda busted

[@frederickray27]

Well said

[@Toomnyusernae]

7:06 the ex flop kick can hit 3 times against those in the air. 12:45 SAI Hado Burst plows through projectiles ever since New Generation (NG). In the first game it would subtract 2 hits from multi-projectiles but back then there were no ex. Just super arts (SA). In 2nd Impact (2I) it got an upgrade to subtract 3 hits from multi-hitting projectiles. But 2 hit fireballs would negate it. What's more, if the first sub hit deals with a projectile, it loses its -3 property and becomes a regular projectile for the following hit. I think SAIII goes through projectiles? But due to the parry mechanic, projectiles are seldom thrown from far enough to punish accordingly. This video was a treat. I always liked this version of Sean because it was truer to how he has a ways to go. Back in NG and 2I he could hold left or right to whiff mediums or heavies to gain meter at 2x the speed. In NG his low jab could also destroy hadoukens and Oro's fireball. And just to show you I'm not bluffing . . . kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4LCenqCe8mfhtU

[@Toomnyusernae]

Ran a minor couple of tests. Interesting. Guess his SAIII on whiff has him crouch position as well so it gets punished harder. Necro SAIII also has him in a crouch low position. Gonna have to remember to test Twelve SAI and Q dash low punch. Ibuki neck snap slide? Doesn't count as low. Guess she would take too much damage.

[@personaworld]

You should really turn this into a series. I'm really enjoying it! :D

[@joeschmoe4376]

EX tatsu is also a free red parry on block, like no risk going for it and you get like 3 seconds to prep for the timing

[@Bafael]

Very good point, never thought about that.

[@onthedre]

Its a shame because his sound and character designs are so good.

[@TailsFiraga]

Being able to actually see demonstrations of what makes characters good or bad is so enlightening.

[@Sorrelhas]

I didn't even know that roll existed I've been watching Max play this game for over ten years, and I don't think he ever used it ONCE

[@oni5963]

This was awesome! I’d love to see you try some of these with characters that could be considered top tiers as well!

[@thejacquio771]

Thanks for posting the link to the article. It was very interesting!!!

[@okcomputer9117]

Do "Bad Balance: SF3 2nd Impact Sean" please

[@MrKennyWilliams]

But he's GOOD in 2I, Damn there GOD Tier.

[@Copperhell144]

Eh, Bad Balance so far has only been about bad characters, not good ones... but I sure wouldn't mind!

[@Bafael]

@@Copperhell144 Yeah, the name is deliberate, bad balance can refer to characters who are overpowered or underpowered.

[@Toomnyusernae]

@@Bafael SFIV Vanilla gat' as opposed to his downgrade into chocolate (SSFIV), mint chocolate (SSFIV AE), strawberry (Ultra SFIV), and finally neapolitan (Omega).

[@nochilinopity]

Would be interesting to see how he compares from this version to 2I

[@JasonALMS2010]

Pink Sean main, can’t explain the pain I’ve felt over the years

[@machineheadslump]

Really like your 3rd strike content, love to see this

[@oldschoolninamain9138]

Hey man love your work! I main Oro but mostly play Tekken. SF3 to me is the peak of Capcom. Your Oro is what I aspire to be like someday. I'll never forget the first time I got the chicken dance. LOVE these vids! Please keep them coming! I learn so much from you! I really would love to see some stuff on 3S Makoto.

[@BellowDGaming]

Sean - Don't call me Dan! SFIII 3rd Strike Sean - Sh*****t

[@albatross990]

What about Basketball!? It's like the closest thing to a fireball but eh... Good video and man I feel for the Sean mains out there!

[@sigmaklim2532]

Love these videos, Baf. You're incredibly good at cutting them.

[@VegaSlayer]

Bafael, you doing god damn priceless work, im very appriciated to have same passion to this game with people like u.

[@c0mplex_Ale]

damn characters like sean and twelve piss me off, who thought it was a good idea to make them this bad

[@murenorocha]

Always knew Sean was trash in SFIII Third strike, but never this much trash. That's ridiculous, even for SFIII balance standards.Thanks for sharing.

[@mischa3343]

Great work as always Baf

[@jonnyboy31120]

thanks for linking the interview :)

[@PaddyRoon7]

I love this series. I'd like to see some Good Balance spin offs too, talking about well designed characters.

[@rosiemymelody]

i just picked him up as a secondary it's not hard to realize how bad it is it's really fun tho, and a nice rest after so much makoto

[@alexlovehall7796]

I hope you keep this up and also explain the good characters as well

[@caboose05]

Props to Pachikasu for playing him anyway

[@Gu5A2]

I know this was high key a roast on my favorite character but I do appreciate the in detail analysis

[@Gurimoe]

Really interesting watch! Especially since its 3rd strike - like you beforehand I knew he was bad, but there's little footage of him, making it unclear what all his weaknesses really are. Honestly, but can double as your Sean video for your 3S character bnbs&notes series. Speaking of which, do you plan on continuing that at one point? Either way, looking forward to more of either such content!

[@goldengoldy0197]

Great video, although you forgot to mention close hk does indeed combo into Fierce DP against big body types like Urien, which is a pretty good upgrade to his meterless damage

[@ZarekxL]

Keep these videos coming!

[@user-qh9ib6xd2b]

his dragon smash in 2nd impact was lovely

[@insiderperson18279]

Wow, he did a video on Vega too? Let me find i- *scrolling through walls of Fire Emblem Three Houses streams* 😩💦

[@MrIronJustice]

I'm so glad you made this, and the other one about Sean in 2nd Impact. I played SF3 but lost interest in the series, and most fighting games in general, by the time 4 came out (although I have played it a little). I thought Sean was an interesting character, a shoto but more unique, so I really tried to make him work. His moves looked fun to use but it just seemed a complete gamble. Like you said, you can't really combo into them. I wish you mentioned the basketball though, that's Sean's best asset.

[@LukasRocks001]

These videos are great

[@NMRH258]

Look at how they did my boy Sean. 😭😭

[@KurohigeDTeach-yy3yk]

He's trash in 3rd strike but he was a god in 2nd impact

[@thedrunkronin4550]

Hey at least he isn't Dan

[@Ergeniz]

@@thedrunkronin4550 Yeah Dan is better both in gameplay and lore

[@gblaze609]

@@Ergeniz Probably because Dan has gotten more history and exposure than Sean (he's only in two games too)

[@maximilianor9]

Amaziing, more videos like this please

[@cesarcanete3402]

Sean is one of my favorite characters in the 3rd strike.

[@marjoken246]

I’ve always felt away about Capcom when they nerfed him horribly for the best of the Strike series. I wish two was three with the improvements

[@jerry4040]

So he is a worse fighter than Dan, that's kinda sad

[@nahomagnusjohansson5883]

Great video man

[@happyhappystimpy6017]

"Look at how they massacred my boy..."

[@mondayjoker]

Capcom has had a track record of purposefully breaking characters during rebalances.

[@shermablackwood3534]

I hope street fighter six is after street fighter 3rd strike

[@kujo4388]

Or during

[@CB66941]

One rather specific thing I noticed with Sean is when fighting Akuma in neutral grounded. If Akuma manages to hit a crouching Ken or Ryu with his cr.mk, he often needs to cancel to hadoken to get some reward from the cr.mk if they not close enough for a dp or heavy tatsu But for Sean, Akuma can cancel into light tatsu to launch him. I don't know if Sean's hurtbox is bigger but it makes crouching against Akuma more risky compared to other shotos

[@fluffdafire157]

I kinda feel bad for Sean he got screwed over by LORE

[@realchezboi]

hope he comes back strong fr in 6

[@kumaSOevl]

Can we get a video on 2nd impact Sean and why he was so good?

[@eika6814]

He has a basketball taunt tho

[@RigbyIsTheMan]

Fax

[@marveliciouscombos]

Great video Baf.

[@Bafael]

wtf hi acslayer

[@StelthTheBomber]

Yeeeaaahhh back on the 3S!

[@bluewolf8873]

I use Sean and love him...I love using Sean because it forces me to think of what I'm doing constantly. I see him as a very rewarding character and can really bring up your skill for other characters

[@jeromeigneous31]

Hey Bafael are you going to redo Deejay SF4 for bad balance?

[@Apemopo]

ouch. poor guy :[ really cool videom the vega one as well!

[@axelmiramontes409]

something i noticed about Sean is that his tornado has recovery and is very slow and your opponent always tries to grab you

[@yummygirlarcade4444]

You should definitely play against D'Shon's Sean on fightcade. He makes him look viable somehow

[@Ergeniz]

I mean, I don't see what your point is. People make twelve work too but that doesn't mean they're not handicapping themselves due to how the characters work. Kuroda got third place with Q one SBO but that's due to Kuroda and less Q. Even then remember he still lost to guess who....Chun and Yun.

[@ArcadeStriker]

Before watching this video: Sean can be good m8 After watching this video: *WHY THE FUCK KEN CAN DO SO MUCH DAMAGE WITHOUT ANY METER*

[@criticalf0ll0w16]

It would be cool if Sean combined what he previously had with what his older sister has (it's funny because she even hinted at it in her story)

[@blackholephoenix4207]

At least he had the flair and really cool battle cries

[@pedroflores008]

He may be a bad character but, to me he is really fun to play

[@darkgray1]

They ruined him and I hate capcom for this!!!!☠️☠️☠️

[@MoluskToeCheese]

Yesssss baf these are gold

[@tdefilio9132]

Sean was top tier in second impact. They decided to make him dan here