VF Popularity contest.

This comes up every so often both on the boards and on irc... which character is the most popular?

I don't have VF.net stats, but I gathered some statistics on my movie archive.
There are a million possible reasons why these stats are misleading and broken:

-I didn't bother noting which characters were in each movie for a long time. Out of 4,044 VF movies... 2,876 movies have characters named. The actual number is much lower, see the next point.

-There's overlap, I searched for chars by name so each movie can produce two hits (akira_vs_vanessa.avi)... but some movies (akira_vs_akira.avi) produce one.

-A few of my movies (like 2%) are from VF1/2/3. That means that some characters are getting artificially inflated over characters like goh or vanessa, who weren't in the earlier versions.

-Some movies have been deleted or may be misplaced or may have a character's name misspelled.

-The characters who get airtime just might not always be the ones who get filmed. Conversely, the guys who have digital cameras often film themselves... for example there are a ton of wolf clips courtesy of kcat, a bunch of lau clips from that punch-the-sempuu site, etc.

-There are a bunch of movies I don't have :B

I tried sorting the characters at the start by my best guess as to order-of-popularity. It was wrong in a few places ;-)

My guess <---> Actual
---------------------
1.<font color="#FF0000">Akira</font> --- <font color="#FF0000">Akira</font>
2.<font color="#DD0022">Kage</font> --- <font color="#EE0011">Jacky</font>
3.<font color="#CC0033">Lau</font> --- <font color="#DD0022">Kage</font>
4.<font color="#EE0011">Jacky</font> --- <font color="#CC0033">Lau</font>
5.<font color="#990066">Lion</font> --- <font color="#BB0044">Pai(?!)</font>
6.<font color="#880077">Lei</font> --- <font color="#AA0055">Wolf</font>
7.<font color="#AA0055">Wolf</font> --- <font color="#990066">Lion</font>
8.<font color="#2200DD">Shun</font> --- <font color="#880077">Lei</font>
9.<font color="#5500AA">Jeffry</font> --- <font color="#770088">Aoi</font>
10.<font color="#BB0044">Pai</font> --- <font color="#660099">Goh</font>
11.<font color="#770088">Aoi</font> --- <font color="#5500AA">Jeffry</font>
12.<font color="#3300CC">Vane</font> --- <font color="#4400BB">Sarah</font>
13.<font color="#4400BB">Sarah</font> --- <font color="#3300CC">Vane</font>
14.<font color="#660099">Goh</font> --- <font color="#2200DD">Shun</font>
15.<font color="#1100EE">Brad</font> --- <font color="#1100EE">Brad</font>
===========================================================================

akira -
wmv = 117
avi = 289
asf = 49
mpg/mpeg = 28
mov = 7
-----------------
490

kage -
wmv = 104
avi = 93
asf = 36
mpg/mpeg = 34
mov = 25
-----------------
292

lau -
wmv = 61
avi = 132
asf = 50
mpg/mpeg = 26
mov = 9
-----------------
278

jacky -
wmv = 98
avi = 154
asf = 51
mpg/mpeg = 22
mov = 11
-----------------
336

lion -
wmv = 57
avi = 81
asf = 15
mpg/mpeg = 14
mov = 5
-----------------
172

lei fei -
wmv = 34
avi = 98
asf = 14
mpg/mpeg = 10
mov = 0
-----------------
156

wolf -
wmv = 59
avi = 125
asf = 15
mpg/mpeg = 17
mov = 13
-----------------
229

4044

shun -
wmv = 29
avi = 46
asf = 11
mpg/mpeg = 11
mov = 1
-----------------
98

jeffry -
wmv = 27
avi = 69
asf = 8
mpg/mpeg = 22
mov = 4
-----------------
130

pai -
wmv = 87
avi = 130
asf = 34
mpg/mpeg = 14
mov = 5
-----------------
270

aoi -
wmv = 39
avi = 67
asf = 25
mpg/mpeg = 8
mov = 3
-----------------
142

vanessa -
wmv = 30
avi = 71
asf = 13
mpeg/mpeg = 5
mov = 0
-----------------
119

sarah -
wmv = 32
avi = 65
asf = 9
mpg/mpeg = 20
mov = 1
-----------------
127

goh -
wmv = 60
avi = 62
asf = 9
mpg/mpeg = 1
mov = 2
-----------------
134

brad -
wmv = 20
avi = 7
asf = 2
mpg/mpeg = 1
mov = 0
-----------------
30

 

Kind of a flawed way of getting those stats, honestly, but I don't think you were going for accuracy. The best way to get an idea of "hot or not" is to check out the usage stats at every arcade you hit (or on a bunch of machines if it's a huge VF spot like Nishi-spo.) You'll see a bunch of stats overlap, although you'll also likely see a couple of local places that seem "abnormal" (arcades in my area of Nagoya had extremely high Wolf and Kage rates due to the character choices of the locals who played the most.)

So, CreeDo's list:
[ QUOTE ]
My guess <---> Actual
---------------------
1.Akira --- Akira
2.Kage --- Jacky
3.Lau --- Kage
4.Jacky --- Lau
5.Lion --- Pai(?!)
6.Lei --- Wolf
7.Wolf --- Lion
8.Shun --- Lei
9.Jeffry --- Aoi
10.Pai --- Goh
11.Aoi --- Jeffry
12.Vane --- Sarah
13.Sarah --- Vane
14.Goh --- Shun
15.Brad --- Brad

[/ QUOTE ]

My list:
1. Akira
2. Jacky
3. Lau
4. Kage
5. Wolf
6. Pai (She's definitely more popular now than the days of ver. C, seeing as how she rocks and all)
7. Lion
8. Lei
9. Jeffry
10. Sarah
11. Aoi
12. Vane-chan (^_^
13. Goh
14. Shun
15. Brad (Honestly, it's a tossup between those last two. I fought again fewer Shuns than Brads myself.)

Like you said, though, it's pretty hard to judge without VF.net stats, and even then people keep a lot of extra character cards which may not see much use.

 

This'd be mine in the few places I go. I go less frequently these days, but:

1. Akira
2. Jacky
3: Wolf (if you can believe it)
4. Lau (actually a tie I'd say)
5. Kage
6. Sarah
7: Jeffry
8. Pai
9. Lion
10. Goh
11. Aoi
12. Lei
13. Vanessa
14. Shun
15. Brad

I went to Akihabara a few timse last month. Shun and Lion would've jumped up a few spots, Goh would've gone down a couple, Brad and Vanesas up maybe one, and Jeff down about two... something like that.

It really just depends on your local. Technically, it's a feasible stat to have on VF.net, as it's already on each machine. But, what do you do when a machine's data is set to default (it happens) and two Kage's play each other. Then that machine's got 100% Kage, and nobody else if nobody else plays for the next update. I guess the 'weighing' problems were too much for AM2 to bother with.