Poll: Fighting games, Initial character vs. Main?

[NeutralDrow]

A thought occurred to me the other day when my mind turned to fighting games, and I reminisced about the characters I started playing any specific game with, for pure nostalgia value. Then I started to think about where they conflated with or differed from the characters I primarily use in those games. So, either in accordance with the Scientific Method or directly flouting it, I set upon two possible hypotheses and tested it out.

1. The first character tried is a main, because Person A starting with them means that character is inherently the most familiar (both in gameplay consideration and aesthetics), and the one who's been used the longest.
2. The first character has only a bearing in introducing Person A to the game, nothing more.

Unfortunately, my results were somewhat inconclusive. Initial characters are first, paranthetical ones are main.

Street Fighter 2: Blanka (Chun Li)
Street Fighter 3: Makoto (Makoto, Yang)
Soul Calibur: Talim (Raphael)
Fate/Unlimited Codes: Rider (Assassin, Rider)
Arcana Heart: Kamui (Fiona)
Melty Blood: Shiki (Hisui & Kohaku)
Guilty Gear: Axl Low...technically Venom, but I hit the button too early (Axl Low)
Samurai Shodown: Ukyo (Ukyo)
Marvel Super Heroes: Shumagorath (Shumagorath)
Mortal Kombat: Scorpion (Scorpion)
Tekken: King (Xiaoyu, Armor King where applicable)

I could list more, but that would be missing the point. I'll just point to the poll question again...

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

Any fighting game that I enjoy I normally try to be pretty even with all of the characters. Except Dhalism, I can't do anything with him. Other than him, I need to switch it up all the time, otherwise it just gets boring. That is why all fighting games need a random character select, I'm looking at you Marvel vs. Capcom 2

 

[-Seraph-]

If I'm up to it, I will try every character on the roster. I don't really main that often as I could care less what character I am when playing against friends for fun. Although I will pull out my main if I do feel like winning.

 

[fenrizz]

Tekken: Jack 2 and King (Hwoarang [http://tekken.wikia.com/wiki/Hwoarang] and Jin Kazama [http://tekken.wikia.com/wiki/Jin_Kazama])

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

I tend to use as many characters as I can, although I have some preferred characters that I use.

For example, in Soul Calibur III, I can and do use all the characters, although I prefer to play as Kilik, Raphael or Siegfried.

On the other hand, I only have one or two mains in, say, the Tekken series - Jin, Hwoarang and Kazuya - so I suppose it all depends on the game.

At any rate, I don't just main with the first characters I play - I like to play all of them at some time, to get a feel for how the game is played with each character.