Tyrant explains how it happened
Street Fighter X Tekken turned out to not be as successful for Capcom as Street Fighter 4. However, Capcom would seemingly salvage this situation by updating Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (Version 2012) into Ultra Street Fighter 4, despite previously saying that Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition would be the final version of the game.
Ultra Street Fighter 4 added Elena, Rolento, Poison, and Hugo from Street Fighter X Tekken, as well as newcomer Decapre. Out of all these characters, it’s said that Elena was the one who “ruined” Ultra Street Fighter 4.
As pointed out by Tyrant in his recent video, all the characters added from Street Fighter X Tekken into Ultra Street Fighter 4 had a unique jank aspect to them. Simply put, their hitboxes and hurtboxes were comparatively different to that of the rest of the roster’s. This was especially true with Elena who had long-reaching lows that could lead to crazy confirms.
However, what really pushed Elena over the top was her Ultra 2, Healing. The fact that Elena was the only character with access to the ability to actually restore health and had this ability attached to either taking damage or absorbing attacks with her Focus Attack proved to be too powerful in Street Fighter 4’s meta, which emphasized defense.
It would’ve actually been interesting had Elena’s Healing been a Super Art instead, as it would’ve meant that a player would’ve had to take a risk that could potentially affect later rounds if they wanted to restore some of their lost stamina. Ultimately though, Elena was free to use her powerful EX specials as much as she wanted since the Ultra gauge was separated from the Super gauge.
Check out everything that Tyrant had to say about Elena in Ultra Street Fighter 4 in the video below: