Community SSFIV Developer Blog: Makoto

By Crimson Relic — March 2, 2010
Tags: preview ps3 super-street-fighter-iv xbox-360

Time to find out what the deal is with Makoto in Super Street Fighter IV

Devs:

It's gotten quite warm lately. Seems like soon we're going to have to watch out for hay fever too, eh. Good day everyone. This is Tsukamoto.

I'd like to continue the introduction of the 3rd Strike characters we began last week.

This time we're going to talk to the Okada, the director and the 'battle-planner', Tamamura about Makoto.

Please tell us about the reasoning for including Makoto.

Okada:
Although Makoto was only introduced in Third Strike, her unique fighting style made her an interesting character that had quite a following. Even in tournaments there wasn't a shortage of Makoto players. When we decided on how many characters from 3rd Strike we wanted to include in Super Street Fighter 4 that played into the decision.

How did the development team react when it was decided that Makoto was going to be included?

Okada:
She was quite popular in the development department as well, so they welcomed the decision. Third Strike was a game the team originally played a lot anway, they played both the console as well as the arcade version endlessly.

Oh, for research purposes, of course!

Even then there were quite a few people on the staff who used Makoto so we thought about how things would turn out if we she were to be included in SSF4 even before we made the decision. The programmers also already thought of things they'd have to add for her to work properly at that time.

What do you think makes Makoto a fascinating character?

Tamamura:
I'd say it's her guessing game. She doesn't have a lot of big combos, so you have to think about how to make each of your blows hit. She also is a character that can put intense pressure on the opponent; it's great how you can scare them into not pushing any buttons as you close in. The big damage she does once she gets in also is part of her charm.

Okada:
I think most people will know this but there were 6 characters in 3rd Strike that people put into two groups: The "three strong" ones: Ken, Chun Li and Yun. Then the "three evil" ones: Urien, Dudley and Makoto. The last three were also called arashi (devastating / rush-down) characters, they were known to be pretty unpredictable.

What exactly do you think makes Makoto one of those "evil" characters?

Okada:
Since she is so powerful she can completely destroy an opponent if she makes the match go her pace for just a moment. Even though she looks like a little girl, since she has some of the best damage output in the game, being the karate-girl that she is, she has a surprising offense and some quite tricky moves.

There's the Karakusa (grab and choke), for example, which lets you get a free attack in after it connects. Since she can do a lot of stuff after she gets you with the Karakusa, thinking about how to grab you and how to follow up afterwards makes her a lot of fun.

Will those components of her play return in Super Street Fighter 4?

Okada:
Let's see. She doesn't play like her old version 1:1, but I feel we reproduced her play-style quite well. Apart from the guessing game and her damage output, there's also the factor of attacks using speed; none of those have changed.

Are you talking about her movement speed?

Okada:
Yes. Even though her normal walking speed is incredibly slow, she still has one of the fastest dashes in the game. In 3rd Strike she could change the pace of a match by getting in and landing a Karakusa, so that's something we wanted to redo properly.

Tamamura:
We also basically recreated her animations based on the sprites from 3rd Strike, she still got all her target combos as well.

Is there anything you want us to know about her moves in Super Street Fighter 4?

Tamamura:
We slightly changed the efficiency of her Fukiage (upwards punch), so you might want to take a look at that. In Third Strike she only took a step forward when using the EX-version but this time around the strong and fierce versions will also have that attribute. I think this'll allow for a wider variety of uses for this move.

The Tanden Renki was one of her three Super Arts in Third Strike, but this time it's her Super while the others are her Ultras.

Okada:
That's correct. We included Tanden Renki as her Super.

Tamamura:
In 3rd Strike it made her attack power go up while at the same time it didn't allow her to block. Since she could still parry, if you were really good at it you could rush your opponent down with increased damage without taking any yourself. So basically it was a super art for people confident in their skill who then could go on to turn a match around - as there's no parrying in SSF4 though, she wouldn't have any defense at all if we took blocking away from her. But we were worried that if she were allowed to block the move would become way too strong; that was something we talked a lot about with the staff.

Okada:
In the end we made her able to block but adjusted the balance while taking the matchups into account.

Tsukamoto:
The inclusion of the 3rd Strike-characters really gave a quite some trouble. From the beginning, Makoto was a character that was quite difficult to use and when used by a good player could wow you with her speedy and elegant movement. I feel that aspect is pretty much the same in this iteration, so I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with her.

Is there anything else to tell about the Tanden Renki?

Okada:
In Street Fighter 4 there weren't any moves with a time limit, neither were there any that upped the damage of all other moves, so there were some new rules we had to implement.

Tamamura:
Juri also has her timed feng-shui engine now, so we also thought about making Makoto's tanden an ultra-combo as well. We found that it wouldn't balance out that way and ended up having both timed ultras and supers in the game.

Apart from efficiency, how went you about to preserve the "Makoto-feeling"?

Okada:
We payed a lot of attention to her lines. One of her big special traits is her Tosa-dialect, so we also had the sound recording professionally supervised by an expert.

Tsukamoto:
Yes, yes. Makoto was the only character that did not only have to be translated into English, Spanish, French, etc. - but also into tosaben (laughs). Even though it's also Japanese, Kawasaki, the man in charge of the lines, had to pay a lot of attention. I feel the results were very good.

Okada:
Another trademark of Makoto is the long headband that she got wrapped around her neck like a scarf. In Third Strike we conveyed a feeling of trajectory and speed by the way that headband moved, so of course we had to do that in Street Fighter 4 as well. How it fluttered when she charged up her Hayate is an example of that.

Since there wasn't anything like that in Street Fighter 4, having just part of a character move like that, our programmers had to write new code specifically for that purpose.

Tamamura:
It's also called the "wind-making machine" (laughs).

What kind of player do you have to in order for Makoto to suit you?

Okada:
I don't think this character is intended for beginners. She has quite a hard time getting around fireballs.

Tamamura:
Since she hasn't got a lot of range, there will always be situations where she's at a disadvantage. She can't show her potential unless she closes in on her opponent, so you have to be good at that to play her well.

Okada:

Anyone who has played a Street Fighter game can do the basic motions and probably has quite a specific image about their speed in mind. Makoto's movement speed is extremely different and feels kind of like she were the only character that is moving in water. When we also take her very fast dash into account she is in the extreme on both accounts, which takes quite a bit of getting used to. When you're in that range where you can barely hit your opponent but he has a hard time hitting you, you might fall back into the pattern you're used to with your normal walking speed but with Makoto it's not that easy.

In other words, if you're used to Street Fighter, she might be a character that confuses you at first.

Okada:
That's how I feel. But as it was that way since 3rd Strike, people who have already grown accustomed to her have nothing to worry about.

Tsukamoto:
Yup. Because I like wild and strong female characters I'd like to get better with her but at the beginning it was a bit confusing.

Tamamura:
On the contrary, if you haven't played any fighters before and start out with Makoto, you actually might not find any problems with her.

So there probably isn't an existing character in Street Fighter 4 that resembles her.

Okada:
No, I don't think there's a similar character in the game. There are other characters with grappling moves, other character with dashing or other similar moves, but overall she plays very differently.

Who'd be an interesting opponent for Makoto?

Okada:
Seeing as it'd be an instant victory for either of the two, Akuma with his big and hard-hitting combos might be interesting. If Akuma gets the offense he can win very decisively and Makoto can destroy him just as quickly when she attacks because of his low health. So it'll be about whoever gets by his opponents defense first or is able to change the pace in his favor, which should make for an intense battle.

Sounds like the first hit might decide the winner already.

Okada:
Yes. The players won't wait each other out but attack and seal the deal instantly once they get in.

Tamamura:
I think fights against charge-characters will be quite interesting as well. They automatically guard when they want to charge a move, so you'll be able to get in right at that moment, which might make her quite a tough matchup for charge-characters such as Guile and Deejay.

So Makoto might become the natural enemy of chargers?

Tamamura:
No, not at all. Since Makoto is very weak against fireballs, both parties won't be able to attack carelessy but will have to really get into each others minds. That's as far as Guile and Deejay are concerned anyway. For other charge-characters like Boxer and Claw it looks like it'll become an intense spacing game. Since Makoto always wants a close fight and is at an disadvantage otherwise, she'll want to get in using Moves that move her forward as much as possible.

As a conclusion, say something to the players who are looking forward to Makoto.

Okada:
Her extreme offensive power as one of the "three evil" characters in 3rd Strike will be the same in Super Street Fighter 4, so to everyone who likes that exhilarating feeling of hers, please do try Super. There also are a lot of small differences to her previous version, so please take your time to explore and learn the new Makoto.

Tsukamoto:
The Third Strike characters really are very popular, we got an awful lot of questions this time. Seems like we'll have to keep answering them even after this character-corner is over.

Also, the preliminaries for the national tournament are very intense. Good job to everyone who took part in the Kansai preliminaries #2. It's only a short while now until the real tournament starts, so everyone go for it! I'm rooting for you!

Next week we'll talk about Dudley for a bit.

See you then!

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Community SSFIV Developer Blog: Makoto

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