Diving Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

Diving Attacks in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

This is a short comparative analysis of diving attacks, such as the Flying Body Spear, Diving Hawk, etc., in Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. This comparison begins with only to the special maneuver listed in the core book, in their original forms.

Here they are in summary format:

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Athletics
Air Smash	-	-1	+4	-1	Air, in-hex, straight
Beast Roll	W	+0	+3	-2/+2	Air, in-hex, away-hit-to-hit
Diving Hawk	W	+0	+5	+2	Air, in-hex
Flying Body Spear	W	+0	+3	+1	Air, straight
Flying Heel Stomp	W	+0	+1	+2	Air, Move-Hit-Move

The main rules are inconsistent here about straight line maneuvers—some of these are, others aren’t, and the only possible game balance issue that might be related is the difference between maneuvers that must be executed in the opponent’s hex. Even this is suspect, though, as most of these maneuvers have high enough movement that it shouldn’t matter. It is conceptually odd that T. Hawk can weave all over with Diving Hawk, not worrying about moving in straight lines at all while poor Dhalsim has to move in a straight line and hope you don’t step out of the way.

Flying Heel Stomp is a nice maneuver that makes it possible to hit your opponent but stay out of their reach. Beast Roll is weird, but could be useful in a group battle because it moves away at -2, hits anything there, then moves forward at +2, hitting anything there.

Added to this is the single new diving attack from Secrets of the Shadoloo.

Name	Cost	Spd	Dmg	Mv	Effects
Athletics
Flying Punch	W	-2	+2	+5	Dive, move 2 past then return to attack, vs. ½ Stamina (round down), -1 Honor

Overall, these special Athletics maneuvers rival Focus maneuvers for “weird effects.” They aren’t all easily summarized with a few “effects” descriptors, and they often include very specific instructions about how they move. Flying Punch continues this tradition. It has a fantastic movement, one of the highest in the game, offset by the fact that the fighter must move past the opponent and then return in order to execute the attack.