MajinTenshinhan: Street Fighter 4 has been the main Street Fighter game since it was released in arcades back in 2008. How does it feel to have your hands on an entirely new Street Fighter game in 5, and do you like the changes that have been made?



FA|BigBird: Well, to be honest, it's kind of refreshing. We've been playing Street Fighter 4 for 8 years (in my case, it's 4 years). A lot of people got sick of the game, a few others moved to other fighting games, and it's nice to see them all come back for Street Fighter 5. It'll help grow the FGC even more than before.



As for the changes, what I liked the most about it was the removal of crouch teching. I have to say, it was kind of dumb, and at least now you have to commit to your grab, and if you miss it you'll get punished severely for it. I liked Street Fighter 4 a lot, but some of the things it had were pretty braindead, honestly. It's nice to see every character now will be forced to think about and commit to their options.



Now, if you play solid and get the right reads, you'll win. It feels more satisfying winning the honest way rather than robbing someone from just one knockdown, haha.

MajinTenshinhan: Your Guy was truly a sight to behold in Street Fighter 4, and honestly, your Ken in Street Fighter 5 looks just as lethal from the games you showed us at Cannes Winter Clash.



How do you feel about Ken as a character in SF5, and why do you think this type of offensive playstyle fits you so well?



FA|BigBird: Haha, thank you! Well, in the betas, I was mostly playing Ryu and got kind of worried that I won't find a character that fits me until later. I played Ken in the second beta and I liked him, but he got nerfed a little in the later betas, and I decided to drop him and go back to Ryu.



When I got the game, some people on Twitter were saying that Ken was actually strong, which is the complete opposite of what I used to think of him. Then, I saw a video of The Ken Howitzer, explaining the character and such, so I decided to give him another try and I haven't stopped playing him since then.



I have a thing for rushdown characters, which is why I picked Ken here and Guy in Street Fighter 4 - he's the in-your-face type of character. Street Fighter 5 Ken feels like the reincarnation of 3rd Strike Ken, which is pretty awesome. His dash is fast, his walkspeed is good which allows him to go for tons of shimmies and throw mixups (for now, at least), and he can punish hard on a lot of moves since his back medium punch is 4 frames.



However, he gets outfootsied by most of the characters since his normals araen't that good, but once he gets in on you, you have to guess right or lose half of your life in one go, haha. A lot of players told me that Ken might not suit my style when I told them that I'm playing him, but I disagreed and kept going with him. I'm happy that I made that choice. I would say that he's the closest character to Street Fighter 4 Guy in this game.



MajinTenshinhan: The scene in the United Arab Emirates, which you're a part of, is still relatively unknown compared to the scenes of a lot of other countries.



In Street Fighter 5, do you think more players from the UAE will travel to events and cause upsets like you, yourself, have been doing?



FA|BigBird: Well, in the late stages of Street Fighter 4, there were only 4-5 players who traveled to a few tournaments overseas, and I'm positive that they'd want to keep that up in Street Fighter 5 since the game is still in its early stages and experience will help you a lot to improve this early in the game.



I know that because after I traveled to Cannes Winter Clash and came back, I noticed I'd gotten a lot better than before. Playing with the Europe FGC really helped me. I'm not really sure about the other players, we'll have to wait and see, but for myself, I know that I'm definitely going to be traveling.



I have Red Bull Kumite in my plans, and possibly Stunfest for now, thanks to my sponsor, Falcon Arena. I love France, haha.



MajinTenshinhan: The Capcom Pro Tour has been changed quite a bit with the launch of Street Fighter 5, most notably focusing more on regional diversity instead of just having one general point leaderboard.



How do you feel this change will impact the eventual Capcom Cup at the end of the year?



FA|BigBird: One thing's for sure - it's going to have a positive impact. Regional leaderboards will allow a few representatives for each region. I like that idea. I'm interested in seeing how things turn out in the end.



But, since the Middle East didn't get our own Premier event, we're forced to travel to Europe and Asia now if we want to make it to the Capcom Pro Tour finals, which is totally fine by me. I'm not sure the other players here are of the same mindset as myself though, haha.



MajinTenshinhan: Are there any other games besides Street Fighter 5 you are currently playing seriously? Or perhaps any games you're interested in picking up?



FA|BigBird: Not currently, no. I'm just playing Street Fighter 5 and focusing on it. I want to do much better than I did back in Street Fighter 4, and getting top 8 in Cannes was a great start for me!



MajinTenshinhan: Are there any characters you hope to see as DLC in the future for Street Fighter 5?



FA|BigBird: Guy, of course, haha. Other than him, I'd also like to see C. Viper, Q, Cody, Makoto, Oro and Sakura make it.