There have been sightings of Street Fighter IV arcade cabinets popping up over the last week in North American cities. We received a few tips from people claiming the Chinatown Fair arcade in Manhattan got their very own cabinet, too. So since I never have anything to do on the weekend, I figured I’d take a stroll over there to see for myself. Well, sure enough, they did! It certainly wasn’t official looking, but nonetheless, it works and I got a chance to sit down and get a few rounds in. So how does it play? Let’s just say it’ll make your eyes orgasm.

It’s been a good 10 years since I last stepped foot in an arcade. The two I spent a lot of my time in during my youth had closed a long time ago. So when I walked into the Chinatown Fair arcade yesterday to check out Street Fighter IV for the first time in person, it was a bit of a sensory overload with all the machines lined up in a tight space. There were a surprisingly large amount of people there on a Sunday afternoon, and even most of the machines were all occupied, but of course the biggest crowd swarmed around the recently installed SFIV machines.

I walked up and wrote my name down on the list being passed around the group to organize when it was your turn. I had about four matches to go before it was mine, so I had some time to check out the gameplay a bit and study the move list someone printed out, but I knew I was still going to get my ass handed to me.

What first struck me visually about this game is the color and art style. Yeah, I’ve seen screenshots and movies just like everyone else, but when you see this game in person on a nice monitor, the color and animation really stand out. The little facial animations from fighters taking hits or performing combos is an amazing detail, and then there’s great lighting cast upon characters from a setting sun or torches in the background. It just looks really polished, and I think this game will still look amazing 10 years from now.
I also noticed a lot of subtle touches the game has, specifically going on the backgrounds of stages. One of stages is on a boat floating along a quiet river, with a bunch of small items lying on the deck, such as chairs and life preservers. So when Zangief does, say, his Spinning Piledriver, the boat shakes and all the items bounce in the air with some water splashing up when you come crashing to the ground. I also noticed a monkey fall into the water in the background of the jungle level, and you can see him struggle trying to swim. I thought he was going to drown, but he pulls himself up on the wooden walkway your fighting on and sits and watches the rest of the fight. The attention to detail is just insane, and it's fun looking for details like this while you wait for your turn.

So it was finally my turn. Here we go! Much to my dismay, it cost a $1.00 to play. A WHOLE DOLLAR! What happened to games being $.50? And I couldn’t use tokens, either. The machine would only take bills. No strip club for me tonight! Anyway, the setup was something unique to me. Each player got his or her own monitor and I even had a chair to sit in. I guess this is what they do in Japan? Looks like I need to order Ashcraft’s book after all.
I played it safe and picked Ryu; my opponent picked Ken. As soon as the first round started, I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t pull off any moves and my opponent was beating me mercilessly. I go down without getting many hits in at all. The second round I faired much better in. I got off a few Shoryukens and Hadoukens, but still lost. But hey, I got my opponent's life bar down about half way! Some random spectator jokingly said it best. "Dude, you looked like you were playing as if you were blindfolded!" I'll take that as a compliment.

It’s tough for me to say how the controls are simply because I don’t play many fighting games. I can say that everything seemed tight and responsive. The sticks they had were a bit small for my liking, but I think any concerns those of you had about the controls need not to worry.

So there you have it. Street Fighter IV in the arcade. I wish I had more time to sit down and play it like I would at a demo session. I didn’t get a chance to try out the new characters, and I never got a good run down on how the Focus Attacks work like Fahey did, either. But I still came away extremely impressed with this game. If you have an opportunity to play it at an arcade, I suggest you do so. I still think it's still the best atmosphere to play fighting games in since everyone respects each other (no trash-talking XBL idiots!) and you can learn techniques and styles from other players.

Event Hubs has been updating a list of arcades getting SFIV cabinets. Check out what they have so far below and look around at any of your local places to see if any came in. Also take a look at some other pictures I snapped if you feel so inclined.

United States

California

Super Arcade
1211 N. Grand Ave
Walnut, California 91748

Arcade in the Student Union
San Jose State University
1 Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192
(408) 924-1000‎
75 cents per game, KIT Machine, Happ sticks, side by side cabinet

San Francisco State University
Rack 'n Cue arcade (located on the bottom floor of the Student Center)
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California
(415) 338-1111‎
75 cents per play, two cabs, HD display, Happ joysticks

Family Fun Arcade
10363 Balboa Boulevard
Granada Hills, California, 91344
(818) 360-0419
$1 per play, 2 cabinets, HD monitors, American sticks with Japanese buttons.

New York

Chinatown Fair Video Arcade
8 Mott Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 964-1542
$1 dollar start and continue, Japanese style sit down cabinets with 32" HD monitors

Pennsylvania

University Pinball
4006-08 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
(215) 387-9523
$1 per play, p360 sticks, Japanese buttons

Texas

Planet Zero
12303 Westheimer Road
Houston, Texas 77077
(281) 531-9376

Arcade UFO
3101 Speedway
Austin, Texas 78705
$1 play/continue, 32" monitors, Japanese cabinets with Sanwa controls

Washington

Narrows Plaza Bowl
2200 Mildred Street West
University Place, Tacoma, Washington 98466
(253) 565-1007
$1 per play, two cabinets with 32" hi def LCD monitors

Canada

Toronto

Lovegety Station
505 Highway #7 East
Richmond Hill
Commerce Gate
Toronto, Canada
(905) 709-7910‎

Richmond, B.C.

E Spot Billiards & Arcade
7951 Alderbridge Way, Suite 160
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
(604) 232-9963‎

Burnaby, B.C.

CHQ Metrotown
4000 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Circus Circuit / Lesters
4247 Lougheed Highway
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
$2 a play, KIT cabinet, American Sticks

New Zealand

Auckland

Yifan's Arcade
Queen Street
Auckland, New Zealand

Australia

Brisbane

Replay Family Entertainment Centre‎
142 Albert Street
Brisbane, QLD, Australia
(07) 3221 3733‎
$2 per game (Aus), Japanese sticks/buttons.

Haymarket

Galaxy World Haymarket
Level 3 Market City, Quay Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000, Australia
(02) 9281 4543‎

Melbourne

Box Hill Timeout
609 Station Street
Box Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Bluehouse Arcade
Corner of Bourke and Russell Streets
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
$2 a play

Galactic Circus at Crown Casino
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank, Victoria, Australia
(03) 8646 4141
$2 a game, competitions every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Sydney

Galaxy World Family Fun Centres‎
624 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
(02) 9621 5133
HD monitor, dual screen cabinet

Korea

Seoul

Jungin Arcade
Noryangjin, Seoul, Korea

Unconfirmed Locations

The places listed below have not yet been confirmed, you should probably call in ahead of time to see if a machine is there.

Rocky's Replay
1121 State Road 436
Casselberry, Florida, 32707, U.S.A.
(407) 260-0043

Funhouse Family Entertainment Arcade in Sunnybank Plaza
Mains Road & McCullough Street
Sunnybank, QLD 4109
Brisbane, Australia
Phone: (07) 3344 6022

Eastdale Mall
1000 Eastdale Circle
Montgomery, Alabama 36117
(334) 277-7380
50 cents per game

Street Fighter 4 Arcade Machine Location Tracker

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