freespeech

It wasn't until January of this year that I discovered that you could run faster with forward.

...

Yeah. I felt more than a little bit dumb when I figured that out.

Grave

rentahero1

Dekabreak

Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt

supercrap

ben_farney

You can play CE for 2 weeks straight without sleep, and it won't really matter. You dismiss SFIII and all the monumental gameplay evolutions that came with it, then it's clear you haven't really "thought" about Street Fighter in a looooong time.

theswitcher

Dir_en_grey

Siye

dozogovi

Honestly, I have trouble really saying that CFJ is really "terrible" because it's certainly not the worst fighting game a major player has put out. What it is, though, is boring. It was lazily assembled and it most definitely shows. I'm bothered that it exists (especially in light of the cancellation of Capcom Fighting All Stars, which sucked by all accounts, but I still would like to have played it), but thankfully I don't think all that many people in the mainstream really have.

I can see the overcomplication issue in regard to a lot of fighting games on the market today. Guilty Gear scares a lot of new players, and I don't blame them for being a bit put off. However, I don't like how he implies that SF3 was overcomplicated, because its gameplay systems are no more so than the new stuff implemented in SF4 with this revenge/saving/focus/whatever attack nonsense. There's a solution to please the hardcore and the casuals somewhere in the middle... but I'm pretty sure that entirely rehashing SF2 isn't it.

Grave

@Grave: I have to agree with you, the more I hear, the less optimistic I feel, ESPECIALLY all the talk about "mainstreaming," "pick up and play" "going back to the roots" etc.

I'm frustrated by the fact that Capcom's taking such a "safe" approach with this game. It all seems to be relying a little too heavily on the nostalgia factor; I don't see the progression and evolution that I did from Street Fighter 2 to Street Fighter 3. Like Zyzex_Remix said, if I wanted to go play Super Turbo, I'd go play Super Turbo... so why is Capcom apparently so eager to create "Street Fighter 2 3D Remix?" Isn't another team at Capcom already doing the "Next-Gen Street Fighter 2," aka HD Remix?

Of course, I haven't played it yet...

interficium

If you want to diss Ono because of Fighting Jam, Fighting Jam's Producer was Sudou, the Producer of SF2 and CVS2, Director was Neo_G, who also was the Director of SF3 3rd Strike and the Planner of CVS2. You wanna diss SF2, 3rd Strike and CVS2 too? Because there were people more involved with Fighting Jam that also worked on those games.

Fighting Jam sucked because it was low budget, and the result of Capcom trying to milk the franchise. Although I don't like it personally, what Ono say is true, overcomplicated games are driving away casual gamers. I just hope SF4 is not "overly simple".

Anyway, I don't think Ono should be blamed for Fighting Jam.

Dir_en_grey

SFIII was a Huge Failure, Along with the Alpha Series. SFII was & is still the best Hardcore Fighter out. If you can't handle SFII CE you can button mash with SFIII. SF4 Will bring many SF2 Loyalist back.

Bluegun

Zyzex_Remix

But the world is probably filled with 90% scrubs and 10% hardcore fighting gamers, so...

I feel your pain though =)

Dir_en_grey

Just remember that Ono's the same guy that directed Capcom Fighting Jam/Evolution.

Grave

Now even the dev team of SFIV is saying SFIII was "too complicated" and had "too steep of a learning curve," and how they're returning to the roots of Street Fighter, ad nauseum, basically as if SFIII was a failure.

As a huge fan of fighting games and Third Strike particularly, this is pretty distressing talk.

interficium

ratba

StratfordX

If people want to play a game like SFII, why not just play SFII? I thought that what SFII HD was all about, since it will let you play online and all. I don't see why SF series has lost its way since most characters have only about 3 special moves. Guile only has 2!!! On top of that compaired to other fighting games, with a simpler system w/o run or air dash etc, there really not much room for you to be creative while you play.

Either way, a success of a fighting game and how good I would rate a fighting game comes down to it's character balance. Once people start to figure out that something is "broken" or the character tire list has spread out too drastically people will start to walk away. I think SFII was popular not because it was easy, it's because the game was balanced. Every character had a chance to win and top and bottom tire rankings are very close.

Overly complecated games like Guilty Gear or Virtua Fighter might push away crowds, but overly simple fighting system might also push away crowds after a while cuz people will just get bored.

Seems like SF3 dash is still in the game and hopefully Saving attacks will make the game even more fun than SFII to make people keep playing the game once they've tried it out. Being a SF fan, I really don't want to see SF4 fail...

Dir_en_grey

jinpei05

Great article, it made me really excited about this. No amount of money can buy advertising as effective as a true fan's praise.

wallapuctus

...but half of me also believes that Capcom is going to add just as many new/non-SFII characters to match!

sonofnone

EightBit

On SFIV, I just worry about the reliance on the old characters. It all looks exciting, but they seem to have been pleasing the old fans so far with the old characters rather than exciting the new with details of why the game will be cool regardless of the heritage.

superbabyproject

Grave

UmeShoryu

baked ham

Yeah, I still love me some AVP by Capcom. Playing as Lt. Kurosawa and her crazy-ass katana brings back fond memories. If any game deserves to see new life on XBox Live Arcade or Playstation Network, it's that one.

I dunno if Lucky & Wild is still there. I'll have to take a trip out there some time and see for nostalgia's sake...

On a related note, did you crack up when you picked up the flamethrower and the computer indicated it as "FLAMER?" I did! Many times!

jinpei05

rentahero1

sonofnone

K! S! K!

K! S! K!

K! S! K!

But yeah, I laughed when I saw your comment. I agree 100%.. it seems like everyone working on the game (and everyone playing the game) hates 3rd Strike. It would be great if they could get some big names in 3S to give the game a shot and help work on balancing.

I mean shit, they have Sirlin rebalancing HD Remix, they can't bring in some 3S players for SFIV?

akzidenzgrotesk

"tits"

Fixed!

no need to thank me.

Now Remy, REMY was the "SNKey" of the III bunch, everyone else wasn't plain enough to fit the description :p

I know, the cast wasn't as... errr, colorful, III was suppose "cool", it was saying "I can be hip" if you hadn't notice that way back when, and you know what, it WAS! By uncle George, it WAS!

Bando

Yeah, it's really sad isn't it? I too miss the ol' days where Arcades were everywhere.

dead_red_eyes

But yeah, I'm glad to hear SJG/Nickel City is still around and still has AvP on free play! I hope they still have that Lucky and Wild machine too. :D

Grave

Wow, we wrote ridiculously similar comments. I really want pro players from the US and Japan to give their impressions. If KSK, RX, Pyrolee and Frankie3s all spent some time with the game, it would be great to hear their feedback (and it might help Capcom tweak the game to appeal to fans of both SF2 and SF3).

Sascha

Malthius

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.

jinpei05

willnotlose728

*so very ashamed*

HJungle

wef

rentahero1

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

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.

akzidenzgrotesk

No parrying isn't the end of the world, as long as the game maintains some of SF3's incredible combat system.

Sascha

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.

jinpei05

Forgive me.

AkirasCrow

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.

shouryuuken

*shudder*

Dauragon C. Mikado

zany_ninja

Scott_L

AkirasCrow

That being said, I can't freakin wait to pwn everyone's face off with Crimson Viper XD

Dauragon C. Mikado

zany_ninja

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.

AkirasCrow

Shiryu

rentahero1

Go to TokyoGameAction.com or DDRFreak.com, get on the forums. Everyone's always planning road trips since nobody has cars.

Setzer IIDX

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.

ManjiKengo

cybereality

Brian Crecente

Brian Crecente

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

@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. :(

Grave

Jovericho

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...

jinpei05

CockroachMan

Off topic but, did you run any arcades in Denver?

AkirasCrow

Awesomeness.

Setzer IIDX

Mr. Karate

Simkin-phd

Brian Crecente

P.S. I think the art style is terrific.

AkirasCrow

I want more new characters, and less identical rehashes so the joy of learning, which is central to SF, can be accentuated.

Crom

jinpei05

Legion329

Sam Smith

Grave

theswitcher

J-Fro

RemyDuvalle

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

PLEASE...

exkon

Erwin