Thanks for the reports PeX. I'll bear them in mind for whenever I update the characters. I'll seize this opportunity to talk about my projects long term, since the state of my projects and the scope of updates changed quite a bit over time.
Let's talk about the updates.
My current standard is represented by Iori, Ryu, and Akira. These three characters are the result of years of getting better at coding MUGEN characters, understanding CvS2, and getting better at fighters in general. I made it my mission to keep them updated so in the future I don't have to deal with the problem I'm facing right now: most of the characters I made are far from the current standard that I set for myself.
This is a huge issue because in most cases the characters aren't an update or two away from being on par with my current releases. In fact, a lot of them need entire reworks. I'll split my characters in groups:
Characters that are salvable: Raiden, Gouken, Q, Rugal, Angel.
These 5 characters aren't that bad! In fact, most of the work they need is related to systemic updates that I made over time (things like fixing tick throws, correcting air movement, changing the way fireball supers interact with dampener).
Some of them have specific issues that need addressing. Angel for example was intended to be a high combo battery character with low damage due to bad super cancels... Turns out she doesn't need to use bar to do damage that expects my intentions:
https://streamable.com/ytvcf0
Rugal was supposed to have ridicolous damage but also a hard time hitconfirming... Turns out he can hitconfirm into God Slam (you know how strong the reward is if you played agaisnt my Rugal), and can neutral skip with easy by TKing the dive kick. I'm also not to thrilled regarding how the Omega Mode ended up feeling. Its ridicolously strong, but quite literally feels weird on my hands.
On the other hand, Raiden and Gouken are bit better, but need a bit of care in the presentation. Raiden doesn't have correct WinQuotes nor he has Color Separation implemented. Gouken has visual effects that clash a little bit, and could use a couple of animations to spice up his Intro/Win/Basic Movement portfolio.
Q is great altho a bit underpowered by nature. I want to explore his install super to make it feel like he's a real menace whenever he is on.
These characters are solid but do need a couple of weeks of focus to reach their true potential.
Characters that have significant problems: Haohmaru, Yun, Yang, Terry.
These characters are a byproduct of their time. Yun, Yang and Terry were made back when I haven't even discovered that the way we ported data was wrong. They also have some glaring balance issues; especially Terry who has brutal corner pressure and damage output thru the roof. The Twins are broken in other ways. With relentless dive kick pressure and installs that go way too far.
Haohmaru might have the correct movement implemented, but his frame data is a bit off, and his hitboxes were also made back when J and I didn't noticed the scale was wrong. He likely needs revisions on his sprites axis (!!!!) and color separation. I feel I nailed Rasetsumaru tho. He needs to be in pristine state because if he's not working correctly, a character in the next tier won't be also.
Characters that are lmao: Genjuro, Blanka, Rose
If you have these three in your roster its likely because there's no other version of the character out that its good enough. These characters are a mess. I have a lot of attachment to these three because they were my first time experimenting with different things: Genjuro was my first time making a character period; Blanka was my first time making a character datamining from CvS2, and Rose was my first character working with a character with custom sprites.
They kinda suck tho. Genjuro has SSVSP hitboxes because at that time I hadn't even seen how CvS2 hitboxes looked like. Blanka is cracked with his oppresive CvS2 neutral but actual great combos. Rose is as broken as Alpha 2 Rose, with brutal neutral, unintended safe supers, and cracked custom combos that you can cancel into and do like 60% on block. I know I'm all about respecting character's identity but I went too far by making her a mess.
Out of these three tiers, I feel that the last two are worth reworking entirely. While the second tier could use relentless updates to be on par with my current characters, having to re-rip that much data in almost all aspects makes me think that it'd be better to just make them from scratch.
If I had to pick a character from each tier to update/rework, I'd go with:
Angel/Haohmaru/Genjuro.
Angel needs balance changes mostly, and could benefit from lower potential power with higher consistency and accesibility.
Haohmaru and Genjuro would be great to redefine (yet again) what I want SamSho characters to be.
I'd also love to tackle Gouken, but I really want to wait for ben to sprite some extra anims that give him the extra push regarding presentation.
Now let's discuss upcoming projects. Once again this is gonna be long.
Characters that are next in line: Ash Crimson, Dudley, Kage Mode, SF6 Mode, Shin Mode, Secret Character?
First and foremost, I really want to get Ash out this year. Spritewise, he is like 4 anims away to have all the fluff I want in. I restarted progress on him recently, and I intend to make him count this time. I really want to push for a Dark Mode that cooks people on arcade runs, but honestly? The priority is to get the main mode out.
Second its Dudley. Not much to say about him other than it's very likely that I'll be collabing with a insanely talented spriter for the visuals to be on the next level.
Third is the last three Ryu Modes. I want to work them between releases, much like E. Ryu came out after I took a break and made Akira. I think its a great workflow. Next up is Kage or SF6 mode. Hopefully I can get Hashogeki sprited. Both present great challenges but I have huge expectations on them.
Fourth is a character that is no secret for people in the Discord Server, but I guess is not really public. Its nothing new nor groundbreaking, just a character that I've been working on whenever I wanted to do something fun and was a bit burnout.
Characters that I'll 100% make in the future: Birdie, K' Sasquatch, Wild Wolf, Tabasa
Nothing to say that I'll make these 4 for sure. We are in talks with Rabano for Birdie to have sprites for his SFV moveset to be possible. Wild Wolf will come out with Terry's update. The others will be made, eventually.
Other stuff:
On a Discord Talk I ended up making a tier list of the characters I'd tackle:
Spoiler: List (click to see content)
1 tier are charactes that I made.
2 tier are characters that I'll make.
3 tier are characters that I'd have fun working with, but their scope is wayy too big.
4 tier are characters that I'd be willing to make for specific reasons, but there are specific circumstances that prevent me from doing so. For example, 3rd Strike characters are a pain in the ass to make because assembling their .sff and capitalizing on their animations takes a lot of time. Another example is Claw, who would need for me to jump to IKEMEN GO to make him properly.
5 tier are characters that I'd like to make only while teaming up with Jmorphman (Dictator, Yamazaki) or JtheSaltyy (Chang, Sagat, Todoh). Dictator and Yamazaki are really cool characters that would be fun to make, but have some things that would be really annoying to tackle (Dictator's Aura and Yamazaki's multileveled Drill), and I think Jmorphman would make a better job than me approaching them giving his history tackling odd things that most would not dare to approach (butterflies, mutant palettes). I think JtheSaltyy would be a great parnet for Chang, Sagat, Todoh because of his deep knowledge on those characters; especially Chang, who is part of both of his 97 and CvS2 teams.
6 tier are characters that I would really love to make... With new sprites. Leona has been discussed on this thread. I also manifested my hate towards CvS Dan quite a bit on Discord. Take it as a wishlist tier.
7 tier is the dream. The unachiveable.
That's it for today. Feel free to discuss anything from this post, but for upcoming projects, considering I made a huge list with characters I'd make, limit the discussion around those.