Kotaku
Let me start by saying that my love of Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition comes not from the perspective of an aficionado, or someone paid to study each nuanced piece of minutia that comes out about a game as it makes its way from concept to arcade.
My experience with Street Fighter 2 CE was born entirely in my time first hanging out at arcades and then running one in the 90s in Maryland. I loved the game so much that my time spent playing it is what likely lead to me being fired from the job. I slathered more attention on our big-screen SF2 box than I did every other machine in the place, combined. I regularly replaced the cherry switches and springs on a weekly basis.
But I couldn't have told you who the game's producer was, what sort of lore was buried in the creating of such an indelible franchise or how they came about with the idea of the characters in the game.
That being said, read on.
The first thing I noticed when I saw the game, was the 2.5D effect of the graphics. Described on paper, it sounds immensely off-putting, but in action it manages to pull Street Fighter into the modern age without sullying the gameplay at all. This is done by essentially making both the background and characters 3D but forcing the characters to move on a 2D plane. What you're left with is the best of both worlds.
More importantly, the game's look seems to have returned to its origins. Sure the graphics pop, really pop, but they're very reminiscent of II and not as SNKey as I felt Street Fighter III had become. I know, blaspheme.
While the controls haven't entirely returned to the grandeur of Street Fighter II, they have mostly returned. The same can be said of the attacks. Sure you have to still use two buttons to throw (so annoying) and taunt (so unnecessary) and there are revenge, super and ultra moves, but at it's heart this is a game that strips away the unessentials and returns to what made the Street Fighter franchise so addictive: Timing.
This isn't just my opinion. When I spoke with producer Yoshinori Ono he said that there was a concerted effort to refocus the franchise with this title. Street Fighter had become too filled with moves and had lost its way, he essentially said. What the game was always about was timing, much like real martial arts, not flashy moves.
Playing the game, after years spent ignoring the increasingly annoying character-driven Street Fighter III spin-offs, was like returning to a childhood home to find that it was, in fact, larger, not smaller than you had remembered it.
The game's timing, which plays at about the speed of Street Fighter II Turbo, has been tweaked, deliberately, and I believe the hit boxes (which invisible surround the characters) shrunk, but that just gives me an excuse to relearn the game. There also seems to be a slightly longer delay after pulling off a move, or whiffing one.
In fact, I can honestly say that the only thing about this early build of Street Fighter IV that disappoints me, so far, is that it probably won't be showing up in arcades across America and that's because there aren't arcades across America anymore.
Comments
But how does it compare to Pac-Man CE?
The only place I can see getting a game like this near me in my local Gameworks in Seattle, WA...
PLEASE...
I really hope the addition of Alpha and 3 characters for home versions is true. I didn't spend all my time on Makoto just to have her disappear from the series entirely. Yes, Makoto is a challenge. That's why I like her.
Super Street Fighter 2 is better than CE. CE's got some major balancing issues. E. Honda's lightning-slap attack is so overpowering, as he can walk while performing it.
I could never go back to SF: CE after playing Hyper Fighter (Turbo) for the first time. CE was just too slow after that. So glad to hear that SFIV matches Hypers speed.
Wow, reading Brian's article....it really shows you how Capcom's plan in getting the super casual SF players back into it has worked.
"SNK-y"? SF3? Please explain, because I'm just not seeing it at all.
@dunetiger : apples are red: I agree with you there, I loved playing Makoto and I would love to see her in this. I personally think 3rd Strike is the best SF game there is, and I'd love to see more SF3 characters returning.
This sounds incredibly exciting.
Keeping my fingers crossed that a cabinet will make its way to Chicago, IL, either to Super Just Games in Northbrook or Cyberstation in Norridge.
The best thing about new SF games is the excuse to learn new characters. With the timing, hitbox, move, super, etc changes you might as well pick up a new character while you are at it.
I want more new characters, and less identical rehashes so the joy of learning, which is central to SF, can be accentuated.
I love the concept of this game (3D graphics, 2D gameplay) and the execution looks fantastic. I haven't been excited about a Street Fighter game since Super Street Fighter II. I really can't wait to play this with my old SF friends.
P.S. I think the art style is terrific.
@theswitcher: For the record there was nothing casual about the hours, literally, I spent playing the game daily. Remember I had keys to the machines AND the arcade's front door. Ugh.
Blaspheme is right. I don't like SNK games and I think SF3 is one of the best, if not the best fighting game ever. This is not just one thing, the character timing, music, design, fluidness. its all part the the glory that is 3. From what i see of 4, I'm just not seeing it. I hope to be proven wrong.
@Grave: Most of the character designs in SFIII drifted away from the memorial almost stereotypical designs SFII had. I guess that's what he meant by that statement.
Massachusetts is lucky to have Tokyo Game Action, an arcade dedicated to Japanese games and imports. They've got a full Bemani, Initial D, and fighting game arcade collection. 20$ gets you in for the whole day, free play.
Awesomeness.
@Brian Crecente:
Off topic but, did you run any arcades in Denver?
Yep.. SFIV gameplay is looking a lot like SFII.. the problem here is that SFII is not good for today's standards! It was indeed great when it came out, you can say that it almost invented the fighting genre. But fighting games have evolved! I loved SFII when I was a kid, but today, playing games like SFII Third Strike, Guilty Gear XX and KOF98 feel a lot better. IMO, CAPCOM is taking a step back with SFIV..
@Setzer IIDX: Wow, pretty cool.
On the other sad end of the spectrum, the Chinatown Arcade in NYC is closing its doors soon. Soon the hardest of the hardcore will no longer be able to gather and hone their skillz...
@Brian Crecente: What arcade did you run in MD during the 90s? I was there in early 91 and then back in 94-Present.
@Mr-Karate: In terms of design sensibility, I could perhaps see it, but it sounded like he was referring to in-game graphics... and SF3 was head and shoulders above anything anyone else was doing at the time. Impossible to mistake the resolution or detail for SNK's 2D stuff. Not only that, but SF3 was better animated than any 2D fighter before or since.
@jinpei05: Glad to hear SJG is still around! It's not owned by Capcom these days, is it? Do they still use nickels and have the nice section of older games on free play?
@Setzer IIDX: I wish they'd open a place in Boston so I could actually enjoy this stuff. No car = no TGA. :(
I remember the lost days working at my local arcade. We had the super screen too. Where the controls were four feet away from the sceen. I also remember the pirated editions of SF II that let you do the moves in mid air before they actually went ahead and added that into the actual gameplay.
@AkirasCrow: No, this was back in college. I ran the Champions in that mall just outside of Glen Burnie, it's name escapes me right now.
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I remember back in the day at the barber shop they had the illegal version of SFII:CE. First off, it was in turbo speed before turbo came out. It was the also the one where you could do multiple fireballs at a time (even mid-air), switch characters by pressing start, and guile had the handcuff trick. All for only 2 quarters!!!
the arcade in my mall was the namco cyberstation. It was super fun...
then out of no where the namco name was taken down and we were left with some shitty cyberstation that had no silly asian guy running it.
eventually the arcade got booted and is now tekken 5, silent scope 2 and 18 wheeler american pro trucker and spider stomp in some shitty little storage area next to the bathrooms.
@Grave: Organize a road trip with people, that's how we used to get around in the DDR days.
Go to TokyoGameAction.com or DDRFreak.com, get on the forums. Everyone's always planning road trips since nobody has cars.
@jinpei05: I'm personally hoping (and I think it's quite likely!) that GameWorks in Schaumburg will have it.
Ill have to patiently wait for this to arrive at the home consoles or PC. Hope it makes it to the porables, as well. My Sftreet Fighter 2 love began in the arcades but truly blossomed on the SNES. Those were, indeed, the days. A couple joypads, some friends, Street Fighter 2 and Super Mariokart, we spend entire afternoons in happy 16 bit heaven.
@Brian Crecente:
Just curious. I've lived in and around Denver for 32 years but enough of that, back to Street Fighter.
Keeping SF 2D is intergral. Blanka and E. Honda just wouldn't work right in 3D (nor the fireballs and Sonic Booms). It's odd but in some ways SF staying 2D makes it stand out. I don't want to say that through some strange post-retro reverse engineering it becomes innovative, but it is nonetheless unique. I love VF5 and Tekken (and to a lesser extent Soul Calibur) but the difference between the last few sequels seems nothing more than a paint job. And for the record, Tekken 4 does not exist. It just doesn't.
@Simkin-phd: To each their own. For me, SNK's 2D KoF series are waaaay better than anything out there, in all aspects. Thats probably coz it was the first fighting game series I really got into. Like I said, to each their own.
I'm pretty sure I was the only person on earth who was excited for this game since the first time they announced it.
That being said, I can't freakin wait to pwn everyone's face off with Crimson Viper XD
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Hey, just because there are no arcades, doesn't mean you won't see a SFIV machine. I saw SFII in many a wal-mart and local pizza shop. Hopefully, they will repeat this.
I'd love to see the KoF series get the SF4 treatment though...Capcom really ought to buy out SNK already...
@AkirasCrow: Shh, mentioning Tekken 4 only keeps it in your memory.
*shudder*
uh oh.. im afraid that although i'll like it, i wont be obssessed with it. maybe it had something to do with being 9 years old when ce arrived, but i never was that big of a fan of any of the sf II games. alpha came out when i was 12 years old, and thats when i started being a street fighter addict.
once III came out (well 2impact, i wasnt that big on new gen), i officially became a hardcore fan of the series. 3s only made it worse, thats possibly in my top 5 games of all time, at least top 10. with that being said, although im sure IV is going to rock my socks, it seems it might be in a more casual way as the alpha series did.
i never realized so many ppl didnt like III so much, i think the characters in that game were magical. ibuki, dudley, and elena were the first characters i spent time to learn that werent practicing ansatsuken. chun li has never been more perfect than she was in III, and ryu was finally the most competent fighter in the world. the game really is perfect in my eyes. well almost, if remy wasnt in the game, but we instead saw an older guile or maybe his daughter, someone to represent muay thai, like sagat or a more mature and less cocky adon, and a better boss than gill, more on par with bisons power, someone to continue shadaloo... then the game would have been perfect.
being someone thats big into the whole sf lore, im severely disappointed that this game is not progressing the story.
@Dauragon C. Mikado:
Forgive me.
@Grave: Actually, it's called Nickel City now. Last I checked, the name switch and Capcom's drop of support were the only major changes. Still two bucks for admission and Alien vs. Predator and Mega Man: The Power Battle are still on free play towards the back!!!
Do you live in Chicago?
@CockroachMan: I'm sorry, did you play the game at GDC last week or at the AOU Expo in Japan? If not, I don't see how your opinion is truly valid. Yes, Street Fighter IV is a love letter in many ways to Street Fighter II, but Ono seems to be very conscious of keeping the game at the forefront of both style and substance. I'm excited to try the new Revenge System and no parries puts the game back on a offensive-minded fighter, rather than 3rd Strike's parrying system, which made it more defensively minded.
I can't wait to read impressions from someone who prefers SF3 to SF2. Most people who are writing impressions have spent very little time with SF3 and dismiss it as a misstep in the franchise's history. But there are plenty of us who have played both SF2 and SF3 extensively, and who prefer SF3 by a wide margin.
No parrying isn't the end of the world, as long as the game maintains some of SF3's incredible combat system.
I really appreciate the point of view from someone who's a long-time SFII fan, but..
I'm still waiting to hear impressions from people who are either big 3S fans, or from people who are tournament-level players (Turbo, A2, 3S, whatever). All of these great impressions so far, on Kotaku as well as other gaming sites, have been from people who have been casual play-at-home fans of Street Fighter.
If someone like Cole, Daigo, Pyro, etc throws down in SFIV and says it's great, that's when I can start to get excited about the game.
@rentahero1: God, I hate that place.
Overcharged games, awful food, and lousy parking. I remember living out in Hoffman Estates, driving by, and praying it would burn down to the ground and I could piss on the ashes.
If you've lived out there for a while, do you remember Cyberzone?
@jinpei05: Speaking of overpriced, Cyberzone! Good lord, their $90+ import games... bankrupted me many times :(
Their parking does suck, but you know Thursday after 9pm is $10 unlimited play, right? It makes up for just about all of its other suckiness, in my opinion.
Actually, they used to have really great food when it opened, but it has gotten a lot worse lately.
Does it scare anyone that we don't have arcades across North America anymore? I'm in Montreal, and its similar here as well. I'm thinking the move from the arcade to the home console is killing a form of social gaming that barely lives on in Xbox Live or PSN..I certainly never had someone calling me a fag for no reason when I was playing X-men at the midway back in the day.
I admit my hopes are pretty high for this one (memories of Arika's SF haunt my dreams, however), but I think what I'm more excited about is that maybe, just maybe, we'll see a new Darkstalker/Vampire game using this intriguing graphics engine, especially if they base the models off of the original designs. Ooooh...
*so very ashamed*
cant wait til family fun arcade gets it in!! If yall are in San fernando valley, CA they are sure to have it soon
@rentahero1: Ha ha, yeah, Cyberzone was a huge moneysink for many gamers starved for import love. I was not at all surprised when that place closed without warning. My friend threatened to drive his minivan through the front window many a time after buying a game from there. He called the owner a shady gouging motherfucker more times than i can count.
Like I said, I would rather see GameWorks either go bankrupt or burn to the ground before I set foot inside their establishment. I know about unlimited play on Thursdays, but that still isn't enough to get me to go.
Oh, back in the day when my brother was in a bowling league, and when we got dropped off I got $5 to play the arcade machines once a week. And if I blew the quarters too fast, that was it. I savored the trip and how I could make 20 quarters last for an hour with no parent to watch over me. Bubble Bobble ate so many quarters...