Esports
The caster waxes lyrical on his love for the kunoichi and what she’ll bring to the game this month.
Big news for Ibuki fans hit last week as Capcom showed off some more of the assassin’s abilities ahead of her joining Street Fighter V at the end of June. On a reveal stream during the Winner Stays On session, we caught a glimpse of the kunoichi’s moves (and a brief flash of her alternate costume) as casters Logan Sama and Femi “F-Word” Adeboye demoed the ninja.
It was a special moment for F-Word as his involvement with fighting games is closely tied with his love for Ibuki, so we got the man himself to wax lyrical about what she means for Street Fighter V, and for him personally.
You're a big fan of Ibuki, what does her SFV return mean to you as a player or a caster? The return of Ibuki, who coupled with Spiderman really inspired my desire to play competitively over 15 years ago, is a beautiful blast from the past. As a caster, I feel the game just got a whole lot more interesting, with only Laura truly rivalling the level of depth potential this character has. As a player, I'm definitely gonna be getting the PS4 and arcade stick out of the basement when she's playable!
From what you've seen, how well do you think SFIV mains will be able to adapt? IV mains have already adapted and transitioned across to V exceptionally well. It's no surprise really; IV required a hell of a lot more skill than people gave it credit for. People seem to forget that that game paved the way for what we are seeing today. Already, the usual suspects in from Europe, North America and Asia are making their mark as they did in IV. That's no surprise.
What is surprising however, is just how accessible V is for high level FGC competitors outside of the Street Fighter era. In South America we just saw some of the best King Of Fighters players in history really holding their own in this game. Likewise in Europe and America, players from various FGC backgrounds are picking this game up, it's extremely accessible. You don't need to be a Street Fighter vet to appreciate it and get involved. This was perhaps a downside in IV that V has definitely rectified.
Which characters have you been playing in her absence, and how do they differ? To be honest, without my beloved Ibuki I've hardly played! Ken and Laura have provided the basis for a good enough understanding so I can cast, but I'm not crazy about them. Laura is insanely exciting but I haven't put the time in at all. Seeing Krone and 2pac’s recent high-place finishes respectively inspired me to hit the lab again but just as I cleaned the cobwebs off my arcade stick, Ibuki was announced. Say no more, boy!
Laura is very different from Ibuki, she is arguably even more momentum based and weaker in neutral, but it's too early to say. Ken is something else at the moment, until people find a way to react to all of his offensive options at once he'll continue to leave even the most interesting of characters in the dust strength wise. Ibuki seems to have the ability to put her opponents in some very tricky situations but it's gonna take a lot of lab time and effort to fine tune how best to make these situations count. Whereas with Ken, you can just go ham at times and it can pay off.
Don't get me wrong, the player using him has to be exceptional, but my goodness is he a nightmare to play against in this game! I don't see Ibuki being as difficult to handle as her neutral lacks range and conversion and she doesn't get hardly any meaty pressure from 90 percent of her combo enders and throws.
Does Ibuki have the potential to pose a threat in the current meta? Absolutely! Her damage output is insane, and her V-Trigger potential is really good. My only concern at this stage is effort. It's gonna take a lot to figure out how to really make that V-Trigger count. And for all your efforts in the lab, who's to say you won't finally get your opponent in a situation only for them to v-reversal to safety?
I fear she can really get lamed out in this game, similar to a lot of characters in Marvel Vs Capcom 3. You could put in so much time and effort figuring things out with her only to get command grabbed in the corner to dead in just a few seconds. I feel there will only be a handful of Ibuki's really making it count a few months after she's released. She'll be a hell of a lot harder to win with than in SFIV. The neutral felt like she can really get dried out too, but it's very early days. Let's wait and see!
How did you end up as such an evangelist for Ibuki? Her momentum heavy open play reset game was what really excited me about her in Third Strike. She had a plethora of specials – more than anyone else in the game I believe – some more useful than others but nevertheless, I felt I could never get bored learning this character. Her normals also looked really cool, and Forward HK is still one of my favourite looking pokes in SF history. I used to use it just to see it in Third Strike at times.
She just had a plethora of both safe and unsafe options meaning you could be a lot more creative with her than you could with others. Jump arc changes with kunai, command dash for alternative movement options, corpse-hop-enabled forward dash, follow-ups after an ex Kazigiri up kick. Just an infinity of options. Hopefully she stays true to this version and not so much the SF4 version, which was also cool but not what attracted me.
