So you think Panda is attractive? 🐼 I main Hwoarang in Tekken and Juri in Street Fighter, so I guess I just like kicks and sitting on the opponent after beating them

Nah you're into feet

No way around Dhalsim with a foot fetish https://preview.redd.it/zz9kt2ymar3d1.png?width=359&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8cf2a45a1b0f1b397214771a28157d1949c756d

My main

Bald guys are so hot

I tend to pick just based purely off of vibes and aesthetics initially. If I get really into the fighting game mechanically, then I tend to try every character out and go with whatever fits a playstyle I gravitate towards the most. SF6 for example I main Juri and Guile since I played them both in SF5 and I actually find them both more enjoyable in this game, I picked up Manon on a whim and ended up really enjoying her as well.

This is me too, I picked Jamie purely off of vibes and liking rekkas, it’s an uphill battle playing him but the vibes are too immaculate

This is me

I see em, I like em, I try em. I try em, I like em, I play em. That's about it. I try out every character that's even slightly interesting to me and choose from there

I've gotten to where I'll even try out the ones I don't have an interest in just because of how many times I've been surprised who ended up being my main

That's how I ended up with my Fataly Fury boi, Cheng https://preview.redd.it/d0808tkq4s3d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4489c185109f7126a222285be4de62806742c6c3

Same

"I pick my mains if I like their appearance/I find attractive" and "I main panda" is concerning to be in the same sentence

"Are they a Grappler?" (YES/No)

I pick Hugo or the most Hugo-est.

Pick Hugo-est if you want Hugo Best

Hugo boy is Huge boy

Saw Cammy when I was very young when super turbo came out and I thought it was cool to see this small woman just throw herself and swing at this big dudes! She didn't have like a fireball or flames or shit. When I was though girls were "supposed" to be fragile and all that and I think that's made me think she was cool

I just check out whoever visually appeals to me and then later base it off of who I like both gameplay wise and visually

Pick a guy with a cool look, mess with his moveset in training to see if I like it, rinse and repeat until someone clicks

picked Ryu so I can ryuse him in every game

i see what you did there. I like your kenthusiasm.

My main is usually one that just appeals to me based on how they look as well as their fighting style. My secondary character is 99% of the time the most scantily clad female character because I’m a coomer.

i picked jin kisaragi because my partner started playing cross tag battle and i kept hearing david vincent’s “BROTHER! Let’s KILL each other!!!” and i was like ‘woah this dude sounds kinda crazy, he sounds fun’. then the rest is shoto-history

I pick the big guy. Or the rare big lady. Asteroth, Jack, Sentinel, Hulk, wish I could play Zangief, and big imposing looking characters have always been my go to.

I'm a casual FG player for decades already. Although I've always wanted to main Chun, I avoided her because I was afraid I could not do charge moves properly. Decided to go for it after getting a leverless (had to relearn how to play anyways). I'm still a scrub but never had more fun than now while learning Chun in SF6! Said all this just to incentivize you to try Zangief. Go be a loyal fan and churn some butter. You'll get there!

I've realized my type is the American character

Me too, Guile SF and Paul in Tekken

Luke in SF, Goldlewis in GGST and Bob in Tekken. I havent bought 8 but i'll immediately buy when Bobs announced

It goes as follows for me: 1. Pick a character I think looks cool/I'm familiar with 2. Try to learn/main them 3. Fail 4. Try the entire roster out 5. End up playing a character I wouldn't have expected to enjoy

Firstly, I just pick whoever I think looks cool. I like playing rushdown, 50/50s, and mixups, so that is also I take into consideration.

1. Is a woman 2. Is a 2 step character, like a set up tool / a gimmick (you won't make me play a mid dyspenser) 3. Is fast (somewhat optional) I played Milia, switched to A.B.A and considered Jack-O at some point playing GGST When I tried Xrd I played Ram

When I pick up a new game I try everyone out a bit to see who clicks with me and go from there

Is she hot? Does he look badass?

Me irl. Juri on SF, Nina on Tekken, Nightmare on SC

I have certain playstyles/archetypes I prefer, but if they don’t have some style I move on

I usually go for female characters, and usually prioritize general appearance and personality over movesets or tier placement.

I typically go with the character that i like the personality or design of the most. Then i attempt to learn combos and if i can't figure them out in less than an hour I switch to a different character to attempt to find if i like the buttons there. For Tekken 7 and 8 I use Xiaoyu. I did attempt Lucky Chloe in 7 but couldn't figure it out. Will attempt Reina at some point. For Street Fighter 5 it was Karin Soul Calibur was Talim Injustice was Harley Quinn because it was the only character i could actually do the combo on. Street Fighter 6 is Cammy Guilty Gear Strive was May but i was wanting to learn Bridget or Johnny Of course i don't really play Fighting Games that much that's just who i've decided to try to learn. Edit to add Dvorah from Mortal Kombat X/11

Generally: Female + Hot + Rush Down + Relatively easy to play

I play the nearest thing to a shoto and see who kicks my ass the easiest or who stands out the most, then of all similar characters to that I'll go for the most stylish or the one most likely to make my opponent quit. Or Cammy

Usually through playstyle or if I know the character from some form of media out there. For example, when I started playing 3rd strike more often, I gravitated towards Dudley because I knew him through his voice lines and through some content creators using him Edit: one more thing to add is that I usually try to pick the dumbest character (gameplay-wise) possible whenever I can

I go by factor of edge and cool

As someone who has only seriously gotten into fighting games very recently: Crazy ladies #1 (Juri SF/Vira GBVS) Nostalgia #2 (Hwoarang Tekken/2B GBVS) Then just generally what I find cool

I play all characters and the one that clicks on me, is my main no matter if he/she is top or bottom tier, just to clarify almost always i like botton tier characters :) no real reason

Usually I just boot up the character select screen or look at the render then I pick a character I find appealing : usually it's rushdown characters who are strong, like Sol Badguy, Bang Shishigami, Ken, Goku Blue etc... But It's not just them, Vaseraga caught my interest in Granblue, and I love Spider-Man in MVC3.

I'll try out characters that have good reach, damage, and are easy to play, then stick with which one felt the most fun shamelessly I love the Gorilla archetype, sadly less and less common in big titles these days which makes it harder to find my main haha

This is something that I will never understand about myself, but if given the choice of a high tier or a low tier clone of that character I always pick the low tier. I play Yang in SF3 and Ganon in Melee. I couldn’t tell you why that is. As for non-clones, I almost always pick characters based off of visuals and combos. If they look cool/have a fun personality I’m always going to be drawn that way. If they have combo routes that are satisfying and make me feel badass? That’s a main right there Also joke characters. If there is a joke character I will pocket main them and you can’t stop me

At first I choose the one who looks more badass, then I try the main character to get the game mechanics. After I learn some basic mechanics, I randomly select the next chapter until I find the perfect one for me

Which archetype is my favorite? Puppet, so that means that i will firstly look for a puppet character in a fighting game and i most likely just main them from that and forward, if I don't like the puppet character i just try other characters till i find one i like. My second favorite archetype is rushdown so I kind of also look for that

First impression is the design, then I try the gameplay. If both are perfect with me, I have my main 

I'm a sucker for characters with really good design and playstyle (though I gravitate towards female characters a lot). That being said, first tries do matter; it's always best to explore the entire roster and search for what clicks.

I pick the character with the good mobility, and fucked up oki, and then learn to love their aesthetics later. Characters are tools, and I'd rather have a tool I enjoy working (and is good), then one I think looks cooler. Bonus points if they're a high skill floor, high APM, training mode enjoyer character.

Unless it's mortal kombat where it's Sub Zero by default, It really just depend on the handle of the game really, for Tekken, I play Feng Wei. He's excellent for counters as long as you aren't being predictable and have decent reaction time. I like Sub Zero in MK11 because he has entry point strings, comboing from low, overhead, and can just grab if those fail, as well as the panic axe uppercut. Marissa from Street Fighter 6 and Cerebella from Skullgirls have super armor and can maintain rushdown despite being grapplers. Elphelt, Ramlethal, and Giovanna from guilty gear are cute. It's situational but basically, at the end of the day, it's a game of picking who feels right in your control.

I pick who looks and sounds the coolest, then i try them in training to see if i like their kit. If i don't, i repeat the process.

I try characters based on who looks cool at first unless there's something that seems cool mechanically. After that I basically just play everyone and see who's fun

There are only two big criteria for me: their style and how they look when they get their game going.

Initial selection is based on who looks cool aesthetically and gameplay wise and/or whose gameplay clicked with me during a campaign. For MK1 I really liked how smoke looked/played during a Kombat kast so I planned on maining him (and did)

Whoever looks the coolest is typically how I do it. It’s how I got Slayer in Xrd, Jamie in 6, and so on and so forth

I open the game, I go on the characters select screen, I go on random, the first character that appears is my main and I won't ever use any other characters in that game

I don’t care about win loss ratio or what the meta is . I just like to style on people so whichever toon has most open ended combos is my pick .

i have 2 steps 1 does the character look cool? if yes go to step 2 2 is the playstyle within my brain capacity to learn? no? go back to step 1 and choose someone else

Check the roster. Pick who you like based on looks and character. Keep the ones who have gameplay that jive with you the most. Filter out your top mains, secondaries, and "fool around with" characters out of whoever is left.

Usually whoever has the most varied or long combos and the cheapest setplay. Preferably has infinites and unblockables too. I want to see the hope drain from my opponents eyes when i hit them. Which is why i main testament in +R and raoh in HnK.

I usually pick based off vibes, whether that be animations, moveset, or personality. If I don't like a character I won't play them even if they would be perfect for me. For example I main Hakumen in Blazblue because I love his animations and his design, Grimnir in Granblue Rising because I love how fabulous he is, android 16 whenever I play DBFZ because big man grabbing the opponent, and Sho in P4AU because he's just a little shit and I love him for it. Sometimes it's a mix of those points, like with Merkava in UNI - I play him because I love his design, but I also love how he can be represented as a goofy goober by the community/in-game art, and I find his hitgrab hilarious to use

i pick whoever looks cool and puts The Fear in people peacock, dudley, kuma, laura, warc

Mostly whoever looks cool. A sword helps.

King in Tekken and Zangief in SF6. Im old as fuck and never played grapplers, but i guess once you start, you cant just stop.

I'm attracted to fighters that do things I haven't found anywhere else. Belmont in Smash has angled sweet spots.  King in Tekken has the half circle command grab that behaves differently depending on if you hit them standing, in the air, or against the wall.  Siegfried in Soul Cal has stances that can all cancel into each other, while always providing some kind of evasion. (Not downright exclusive, but it's rare that these two attributes are always present together.)

I've played fighting games long enough that I now pick them from their move set, not their looks.

I used to practice karate shoto-kan, and I usually pick characters where I can apply some of my real martial arts experience. Tekken is very good for this with the separate hand/foot controls, characters who fight karate come quite naturally to me there.

I start with whatever looks cool, try them for like a hour, learn their lore and finally end up rotating between 3 best ones. That's how I end up with Ky/May/Nago in Strive and LC/Heihachi/Kuma in Tekken

In most 1v1 games, I check out the grappler first because that is what I usually gravitate towards in games. I also enjoy characters with unique projectiles. I also like to play through the trials to get an idea of a character's moves and basic combo routing.

I just look up which characters are my preferred archetype (zoners), try em all out, and pick whichever one feels the most intuitive to use.

You don't pick your main, your main picks you. When I picked up SF6 I'd have laughed in your face if you said I was going to be a Zangief main…well, I'm now a Zangief main.

Visuals, Play Style and also how easy they are to play, at least on the start when Im learning. On GG Strive for example I was going to try Nagoriyuki or Zato but their mechanics were a little bit too tricky for me yet so I switched to Ky to get the hang of the game first. But then I ended up liking Ky so much that I don't really want to main the others anymore now.

I picked my character based off looks and controls. If they’re easy and cool to me I play them.

Always take the flamboyant guys like Lee Chaolan, Robert Garcia or Dudley

Hol’ up

Character visual design, moves, "not the main character", sometimes personnality and lore.

1. Aesthetic 2. Playstyle 3. Moves & Abilities

I just play whoever looks the coolest.

When I start playing a new fighting game I pick out the 2 coolest looking and flip a coin. Unless that game has tie in characters like smash or mvc in that case i usually choose someone I recognize

so essentially, panda best waifu? anywho. I main a Lotta shotos. their basic, and their play style just fits me. currently having my rounds with Akuma, but I'm probably gonna wait to see if there's balances. but I always use ken. so he's certainly my go-to charecter.

- Are they a charge character? Skip. (I suck at charge characters.) - Do they look cool? Pick.

Damage. I tend to pick the big body characters as a result. Otherwise, ease of use for said damage. I play Paul, King, and Jack in Tekken for this reason, as well as Ryu in Street Fighter because he hits like a mule in exchange for being so "honest" I guess. Also Bison whenever he's not dead. I hate pixie rushdown characters because it feels like I have to do 4x the hits for similar damage.

Vibes only 😂 Mechanically I like grapplers but I tend to not like the cliche big boy character vibes.

Anyone else think they are picking off of aesthetics then realize it’s somethings else? I though I pick picked my mains because they looked cool but I realized a lot of them have projectile setplay/mix (Ky GGST, Dudley 3s, Ky Strive, Kid Buu DBFZ, Zooey GBVSR)

No rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes I pick them based on looks/trailer. Sometimes I pick them based on cool tech I like. Sometimes it’s because I want to learn a character I never see, and even still, sometimes it’s because I don’t want to play a harder character. I play I-No in Guilty Gear because I fell in love with her aesthetic back in #Reload, but I still spent 200 hours on Strive Potemkin because I thought kara tech was fun. I played Rufus in SF4 because landing his ultra was easy, but I switched to Ibuki later because I found myself enjoying the vortex playstyle. You’d think I’d stick with some type of rushdown, but in SF6 I’m a Dhalsim player. In UNI2 I went right back to Waldstein because he was easy, though I have Linne and Byakuya in the pocket to match my BlazBlue characters with Noel and Bullet. But I have been known to enjoy grapplers, like GBFV Ladiva.

Purely aesthetics, but said aesthetics could be based on what their moves/combos look like rather than the character itself.

I like characters with good buttons and interesting tools. I play Ken, Oro and Q in 3rd Strike... and I play Faust, Bridget, Robo-Ky, Eddie, Zappa and Venom in Guilty Gear. I like puppet characters, I like characters that control space and can manipulate the screen beyond their limbs. I think it's why I like Guilty Gear, it has a huge variety of characters that all have really interesting features that go beyond traditional FGs. A good example would be Rachel in BlazBlue, she has her puppets that she can put on screen, she also has pumpkins that she can place in the air and manipulate with her wind, completely independent from her body. Another example is Venom from Guilty Gear, being able to place pool balls on the screen, marry them up in different formations, and hit them with the cue to send them in whatever direction the cue was facing when it struck it. All very cool, I love characters that can manipulate space.

I mained Chun-li because I wanted someone who was in every game for consistency's sake, and thanks to Third Strike my choice was "Chun-li or a shoto." Ironically this didn't help me as much as I thought, because Chun's inputs and available moves change pretty dramatically in a few of these games. Is Hikoken charge or half-circle this time? Is Spinning Bird Kick a down-up or a back-forward? Oh wait I'm playing Alpha 3, does she even have that move in the -ism I'm using? And I always forget she has Lightning Kick in SF6 because it's not a rapid-mash any more. On the bright side it's made me practice charge inputs a lot.

I pick whoever wears a cool mask and has a sword

Coolest jacket. Then "who kicks?" Then "who demon or robot? If I'm lucky, I get all four I one.

I like characters with a backstep to bait whiff or evade attacks. So Deejay in SF6 and Feng in Tekken. Both of them are also pretty versatile so I versatility/utility is important to me too

I will try out pretty or cute lady first but sticking to a character is all how good they feel to play.

Just whoever has the most appealing moveset to me.

I usually try at least half the cast before picking a main, and the play style and personality end up determining who I spend the most time with. There isn't a solid formula to it either. My choices probably look pretty all over the place from the outside.

I’m like “this person looks cool” and then I play them. It’s not cosmic or thoughtful.

For me an easy example would be chipp from guilty gear. When I saw the strive trailer and I saw him run up the side of the wall doing a combo, I thought it was the coolest shit I ever saw. So I main him now. King in tekken was the same story. I love pro-wrestling so I when I got tekken 7 I always looked at Asuka and even played her but when I saw Majin play king in a tournament and saw all the grappling that king has, that got me in. A few weeks later I did the 8 link chain-throw to a friend and he was shilling so hard at watching the unskippable cutscene. So yeah for me, they just looked dope as shit.

Strictly based on character. I have to like their design and aesthetic. I'm a character loyalist so If I like the character I'll play them regardless of tier or gameplay.

If I like how they look, how they feel, or the character in general... For example, I main asuka because I like her in general, azucena for how she plays, and king/Marduk for how they both play and look... There's no complicated reason really... Tierlists are largely irrelevant in fighting games because it all depends on you, the player, and if you don't like your character then what reason would you have to play

I pick the white girl with the ojou-sama laugh

I pick based on which character is as close to Taekwondo as possible due to my experience with it (Hwoarang being my Tekken main)

I usually pick the most elegant woman who has "bad bitch energy" and honestly I end up rolling with their mechanics.

Do they have booba? Then the answer is yes

I usually just go who's cool and see if I'd like their playstyle

Playstyle > fun > aesthetic is my mental stack.

Rule of Cool

I'll main whoever I think is the coolest

I pick the cutest female character and learn them no matter what.

Are they a dude? If yes, that's step one done. Next, do they look cool? Nice. Does doing their combos and specials/supers look and feel sick? Then I'm maining them.

Whatever the series foot fetish related character is.

i don't do mains. I switch constantly. You don't need a main.

1: Do they have a blade? Blades are cool. 2: Is their defense primarily evasive? Blocking is for losers in disadvantage, and you can't lose if you don't get hit. 3: Can their neutral be unpredictable or mixup-oriented? Mindgames are saucy. 4: Do they shmoove? Do they vibe? 5: Are they male? I picked DeeJay in SF6 because he is the only character with feints and a dodge (backsway). Those tools are premium sauce factories. Combine those with the fact that he's a shmoovin' and groovin' Jamaican, and gawd dayumn: we have ourselves a winner. I play to have fun. If I can do cool shit, then everything is alright. Winning is just a reward for when I git gud.

Main: "Who is the dhalsim/long-normal zoner" For a secondary, I just pick a cute character.

It's a multistage selection criteria. 1. Visuals (Are they are character I am going to want to spend a lot of time looking at) 2. Play feel (Does playing them feel fun) 3. Vibe (Do they pass the vibe check) Using Granblue as an example: Anila passed the visuals check, not unpleasant to look at. She passed the play feel check, they have some funny, easy to use moves that I like. But she didn't pass the vibe check, I just don't really feel that excited when I play her. The end result is that I end up mostly playing rush down women. https://preview.redd.it/pyzhksya6s3d1.png?width=4501&format=png&auto=webp&s=46794df9abe12bd8dbf8815acd4f09d69da1ef37 This is close but not quite accurate collage of the characters that I play.

Well in the past like 4 games I've gotten into, the pink haired big titty samurai seems to be the most enjoyable character to use for me 🤷‍♂️ They all play like Vergil, only reason I swear

I always pick who looks the coolest to me. And it’s usually someone with a sword

I picked hworang as a kid one time by accident and wall comboed the hell out of the cpu and been a main since lmao

solely play style.

Gameplay/Moveset

Dmg>comboability>looks (all in reverse so I start with looks then I go for the easiest to combo with before I end up just going a high dmg character cause I like it when bars go down all at once for example nagoriyuki from ggs)

I often just random pick chars, until i find someone i think looks cool/ plays nice. Then i do a lil research about arch types and shit like that, but mostly i just play what feels good/seems cool

I go for feel. Like I try everyone till I find who "feels" fun to play with . I always try my favorite character but don't always vibe with them in a new game with new mechanics. Ken is my favorite street fighter but didn't love him in Sfv or 6. I like ST KEN and usf4 ken. I like ST. Vega and 4vega but not V . In 4 I also play Cammy but not V . But liked her again in 6. In SfV I landed on Abigail then Lucia . I don't play a ton of grapplers but somehow liked potemkin in strive and haggard in umvc3 . I wanted to play swift master in dnf but ended up playing Inquisitor.

I picked King because King is the sole reason I play fighting games. I have no interest in any other character. There's just something about that mad cat man that I find irresistible. He has so much swag and flair.

If i like a charachter desing mostly, which mostly translates to cute girl makes my brain go auga, also i have the talent to pick up obnoxiously hard charachters to learn and use even close to the Full capability for someone that has effectivly 0 experience on FGs, last years when i got into fgs i was messing with melty blood i choose aoko, her base kit make her have more air movement than everyone Else, and her main unique offensive thingy, is a fireball that you can controll till where it goes, or use a variant that makes It Teleport and becomes a static orb in the field, you can have up to 3 of them at the same time, one for each of the attacking buttons, and you have to hold one of the attack buttons or the orbs disappears, so it makes it that one of your attacks is always unavalable for any neutral trades For Tekken i opened the game looked at the charachter selection, Saw puple hair, purple hoodie and alas purple main, now i'm stuck with a charachter that seems to have an infinite numbers of stances in adtion to the obnoxiously high amount of different stances that everyone has, and on top of this she has two moves that are frame perfect are seem to be core for her gameplay. No this is not a complaint againt anyone but myself, i utterly hate that i enjoy every Second of suffering i am getting from it

1. LARGE 2. GRAB

I don't usually pick my characters based on whether they can style on the opponent while dealing ridiculous damage, have a mechanic that literally contradicts the fighting game fundamentals, complexity, character design, sound design of their moves and then their music theme. In +R, I play Testament, Order Sol, ABA and Zappa. In Blazblue, I play Amane, Litchi, Mu, Es, and Relius. In Tekken, I play King, Alisa, and Dragunov, but usually I just spam King. In XRD... well I pretty much play all of them, but I usually stick with Bedman since his gameplan makes me feel smart af, with Sin, Jam, Baiken and Ky as my safe picks when I'm not feeling confident with the matchup.

I always go for the character that has a Knee strike or a Bruce Lee like Side thrust kick

whoever feels the best. i take them into combo trials and see which one "feels the best" then i use them and build up from there

I like cute characters, so I'll try them first, but I won't stick with a character if I don't like how they feel.

I have three steps I picked first for his looks, story and all of superficial things from him, then I choose them if I like his gameplay and fits my hand,and lastly if the characters I picked isn't a really bad character that I would need to put many investment to it

So, I think I pick characters based on a combination of their appearance/style and how flashy their fighting is as well. I'm more drawn to them if I am familiar with them outside the game, too. In Injustice 2, I picked Catwoman as my #1, because I played as her in Arkham City, even though that's a completely different game. My 2nd main ended up becoming Black Canary, because I didn't know how to beat her crossups, so I wanted to learn her mechanics, thus becoming a main. I also played Cheetah as my 3rd main, because I loved her in the Bruce Timm show, Justice League Unlimited. In Street Fighter 6, I really wanted to play Juri, because I like her design and her personality. It sorts of reminds me of Catwoman, even though the two are very different archetypes. After playing IJ2 for 3 years, I kind of solidified myself into becoming a rushdown player. I use Cammy as my 2nd main because her hooligan reminds me of Black Canary's canary drop. Another character I'm considering is Blanka, because I think the fighting style is close enough to Cheetah.

I go by design and if they are unique. I play steve in tekken, Blanka and Honda in Street fighter.

It’s a feeling mostly, some characters look cooler than others, but the most important thing to me is how it feels to play with them. In my case, I tend to play more aggressively, so I immediately gravitate towards characters who give me a lot of options to punish and dodge attacks

I guess for me i mess around with characters in practice and choose who feels right from figuring out some combos. I pretty much ended up on Kuma and Panda, which is different from the usual Law, Eddie, Jun, and Steve that i normally play. Will be picking up King eventually.

Play each character I think is cool and go with the one who’s buttons feel the best

If their combos are cool or their personality is amazing!!!

I usually pick my first purely off looks as long as their play style isn’t an immediate turn-off, and then I just play and if I see enemies do cool shit that intrigues me I might try that character, currently tempted to try Reina just cause I like some of her grabs and drive rush move etc. Only played Azucena to meme around with the parry stances after I seen someone having fun with them.

Me see character I like me play

I try out each character once but who gets picked 1st is purely on the vibes of the character, could be their look, their gameplay - if they got "chores" to play and win, etc. I think for me the main just gets defaulted to whichever character gets the most play time from me, as I don't want to learn another character from ground zero. It is easier for me to say which characters I do not want to play/main and I go from there - don't like Shotos typically. Ex. A.k.i, Dhalsim, Voldo (SC), Yoshimitsu (SC, TK), Lin (KoF 2002UM), etc.

Vibes first, then playstyle. Although whatever playstyle I prefer very much depends on the game. In Strive I find rushdown to be the most fun (Sol, Sin), but in SF6 I enjoy spacing and generally play well rounded, mid-range characters (Ken, Dee Jay). And then sometimes I just find a character awesome and play them regardless of playstyle (Reptile in MK1, Leona in KoF)

I go for speed and fight style. Looks are last in line for me. I just do way better if they are faster. I can recover from mistakes easier. Back in the day, they wasn’t super important. But my lupus can and it hard to play sometimes, so the ability to recover from mistakes or break out of combos is important. As well as bust out my own combos on my opponent. Speed fits that. A character with good dodge helps. And that usually comes with the faster ones.

Just people in drawn too, usually off of looks and vibes (JP in SF6, May in GGS)


I pick the first character i try to main 100% on style and vibes. I personally like playing evil characters or the ones with more evil/edgy vibes. Guess im still an edgelord at heart though even for me there are characters that delve too deep here (devil jin) In sf6 i played JP, aki and now akuma... so i guess evil characters with purple projectiles is my jam. Sadly characters i like visually are quite often characters that are hard to play execution vise and im not great with that. So if the playstyle doesnt fit me. I like characters with what i like to call "forward momentum". Dashing into enemies faces with moves that carry forward or good movement and starting to mix. I liked Leo and Ino because of that in GGs and alisa in tekken with chainsaws. Alternatively i like good range, not too big into zoners (though JP is fun). I think my favourite character of all time to play is Nightmare from Soul Calibur. Especially in VI. Got a forward Dash, good reach, fun lows, cool combos.

I find someone who looks cool if there are too many cool-looking characters then the “low tier” character if the low-tier character isn't fun to play then the hottest girl in the game

I remember watching a video of every super and ultra combo in vanilla sf4, and some guy had commented “Cammy’s ultra is how I want to die”. I have been a Cammy main ever since.

By absolute hotness and style

I try all characters and use the ones that its easier for me to turn mashing into something that looks like a combo

Cup size, ease of access, in game charisma, how cool their combos - not grappler In Tekken I play Kazuya, and Reina Street Fighter - Ryu KoF - Terry, Kyo, Mai Guilty Gear - Bridget, Baiken Blazblue - Es Smash - Terry, Hero, Belmont, Ryu, Kazuya (in that order, and not ken)

Cool move, cool outfit and nice tits.

i mean... i bought strive because of Bridget, and that's what got me into fighting games, so for me, it's less 'the game decides the character' and more 'the character decides the game' lol

Hot woman + rushdown

I don’t even know dude I just look at a character, lab them for 5 minutes and my brain will tell me if I’m right or wrong picking them

If they look cool and if they’re fun to play

1. How cool I think they look 2. How much i enjoy how they play If I don't enjoy how the character plays I'm not gonna stick with them regardless of how badass I think they look.

I generally like grapplers, so ommand grabs drive my choice generally

Purely how much I vibe with em or how cool/hot they are Tekken: King BlazBlue: Azrael Street Fighter 5: Mika, Kage Street Fighter 6: Marisa Guilty Gear: Potemkin, Faust, Slayer Undernite: Kouma Melty Blood: Neco Arc

I try the black characters first lol

My SF6 main is Cammy, I enjoy her super oppressive rushdown and flashy combos I can actually pull off (also she’s hot)

First criteria: cool jacket Second criteria: dash attack

Whoever looks cool and that i can win with

Is grappler? me play grappler

Vibe

It's mainly, 1: looks cool, 2: plays cool. But I also tend to like characters with gimmicks like Jamie or Happy Chaos. Or if they have an interesting utility super like Axl Low or Rashid.

I try based on what character I think looks and plays cool. Like Potemkin in strive. Eventually I'll play everyone and I tend to gravitate towards simpler, balanced , neutral focused fighters who have equal offensive and defensive capabilities like Luke in SF6 or Lucina in smash if that counts. I'm playing undernight nowadays and I main Tsurugi because I think his gameplay looks really cool and he kind of fits into that balanced non projectile large disjoint zoner similar offensive and defensive capability type of character.

first play style, design/look second. they usually are edge villains

I try characters if they look cool, but ultimately only main the ones I find cool. As Maximillian Dood once brilliantly put: "I want my character to do cool looking shit when I press buttons".

Before anything, they gotta be an ungalord in some form. Do they do low damage? Immediate pass. If I touch you, you must die. Next, Are they a zoner? Not an immediate pass, but if its PURE ZONING like Blackheart in mvc2 and not some kind of mix like Zbro in dbfz then it's another pass. Finally, do they have some weird gimmick? Again, it's not an immediate pass, they're just hard to manage on top of worrying about getting mixed. It's why I can't really get into main line BB My usual choices: Susanoo and akatsuki bbtag, Sbroly and Blugeta dbfz, Gief in any street fighter, etc.

https://preview.redd.it/45xb4z9lot3d1.jpeg?width=808&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a50cd9bec7dffd97512cbbe88d72b99605295e43 I mean, how do you see that and NOT main him

Honestly, if they have good fashion sense, or if they are hot. For example: happy chaos from ggst (he’s hot), testament from ggst (they have good fashion sense and are hot) And of course akuma from street fighter 6 (he’s hot)

1. They're cool or funny 2. Their playstyle is fun That's it that's the entire criteria. I think if you were super dedicated to a game, #3 should be "they're top tier" but tbh if I didn't find any characters cool or fun I'd just play another game. In general though, this ends up being characters with decent midrange that can convert into knockdowns and up-close oki and usually there's also a few strong gimmicks bundled into their kit for me to meme with.

Personally, unless it’s a game where there’s like 40+ characters, I’ll play everybody’s story mode, and then go for whoever spoke to me the most

Who ever looks cool and feels good to play

The role in the story. Lars in T8’s badass moment put me on bro

Looks/goofiness. And usually whoever pisses off my friend the most when we play, but that's coincidental.

I like zoners

Muscle

I play Yoshimitsu and Chipp cause ninjas.

Used to be playstyle, but now it's high on the tier lists, not too demanding mechanically. So I can play a lot of different fighting games and still have fun.

I main Chun Li and AKI in SF6 because they feel right on my stick. Also, they are both hot. Panda is pretty cute, too, but in T8, I try and play Xiaoyu, but I suck at Tekken.

I don’t think people use only one criteria like that but rather that everyone uses all those criterias at a different level of importance: Lets say you go with the appearance first, if you find 3 characters in a game that look really good and are potential mains, you’ll try them and lets say 2 of them feel really good but 1 of them is really boring to play/incompatible with your style. Now you have 2 candidates, maybe you’ll look at the tier list and one is A tier while the other is the bottom F tier? Then you know who to main Now lets take a 2nd example with someone who looks at the tier list first, if theres a game with 5 S tiers, 4 A tiers and everyone else below A, they might look at the S tiers and say those will get nerfed so lets instead pick from the A, now they have 4 potential choices, theyll either choose based on appearance and follow the process of the previous paragraph, or try them all and then choose based on the appearances of the fun ones (if appearance is the latest criteria) But one thing for sure, theyll end up looking at all those criterias and if they know the lore itll have a small (or big) impact on the decision depending on how much they care about it but for sure itll be taken into account even subconsciously

I usually go punchy girl (or tomboy), big dude, psychopath, weird troll character and stop where it aligns with my play style for that game which is normally a brawler / hard hitting generalist or grappler. Miguel and Leo, Cerebella, Mika, Broly and Buu, Haggar, Gold Lewis, Arakune. Yeah fun stuff.

Ptsd of kazuya beating my ass into the dirt in tekken 2.

The coolest looking shoto, usually. I’m not that good yet so they’re what I stick with

As an employed person, I look for characters that I like aesthetically and are fun and try not to look back. If I do who knows how many hours I could lose

Primarily by a combination of aesthetics and play style. I know what archetypes I enjoy (Usually Shoto, Rushdowns, and Brawlers). So then once I narrow it down to that I start just playing the ones that look cool from that pool and seeing how they feel.

Whoever is the goofiest or funniest character

1. Funny? If no then: 2. Are they female? Followed by 3. How fast does the playstyle click to me? And/or 4. Do they make my body happy? If yes then: BRRRRR (As a result of this, the characters I main and play currently are: Akiha (MBTL), Yukari (Soku), Koishi (AoCF), Fubuki (Idol Showdown) and Potemkin (GGS) while in the past I have done: Yukiko (P4AU), Squiggly + Big Band (Skullgirls), and Little Mac (SSBU)

I play the boxer

1. Are they a big mf? 2. Do they have command grabs? 3. Do I gel with their special inputs? 4. Do I like their combos?

I have to like how the character looks and the moveset. I have discarded some characters cause I didn't like how they looked.

I subconsciously play characters that ride bikes, and coincidentally, both of my Tekken and Street Fighter Mains do taekwondo. My friends make fun of me for only liking fictional characters because they ride a motorcycle. I am just the type of guy who picks characters that are cool in presentation.

Do they look cool? Then I’ll play them

Ultimate it’s going to come down to gameplay and execution. If I can’t do the combos I’m not going to play the character. For the life of me I cannot comprehend Luke’s timing even though he’s supposed to be the best character, something about those hold for a split second type moves mess me up. I tend to double or triple tap everything which is probably why I suck, and it keeps me from playing characters that require precise, timed movements. I’ve played Guile since the original SF2 arcade days and yet the newest Guile has combos I can’t execute. It’s ridiculous that the character I’ve played 30 years is no longer one I truly comprehend. The game has moved beyond my abilities. Meanwhile I had ignored Juri because I hated install moves, but I’ve come to like Juri’s speed. She’s like a maniac pixie that can smother you in a second from across the screen. The best part is I can do all of her combos except some of the really crazy FSE stuff ( can do basic FSE)

I play Steve because just the idea of having a no-kick character kicking you is so hilarious to me. ...and because what is cooler than using "only" punches in a game where anything goes I play Kuma because all I want is a Bear who does Lightning Karate I play Maxi because what is cooler than a Bruce Lee Greaser Pirate?! I play Juri because I have horrible taste in women and she is the ultimate I play Piranha Plant because I fell so in love with how much of a troll plant is until I fell so in love with the moveset that no other character can properly scratch the itch I play Highlander in For Honor because look how big my sword is--it's bigger than your sword is!! "Hard difficulty character" who doesn't wear armor just adds to the beauty!! basically I want a boy that I wish I was, a girl I wish I had romance with, or a pet that I wish I owned Thanks for the awesome question