IV: Preview

This blog is about what has currently been revealed regarding Street Fighter IV. It's a pretty big deal because the Street Fighter series has some of the best entries in the fighting game genre. Its last entry into the series, that wasn't a remake or port, was Street Fighter III: Third Strike. This game is known for its excellence in technical and stylized fighting mechanics and is recognized by many fighting game experts, including myself, as one of the best fighting games ever. With that said, the expectations of the recently unveiled Street Fighter IV are firmly set. The Magic Box reported some information(most likely taken without credit from the January 2008 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, who had an exclusive on the story) and I shall repost:

Capcom revealed some new details of the arcade fighting game Street Fighter IV:

• The producer is Yoshinori Ono, who worked on Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter III and Capcom Fighting Revolution
• The game will have online modes
• The game will use toon-shaded graphics like in Street Fighter II
• The gameplay will be in 2D while graphics are in 3D, but the camera angle is fixed
• Capcom wants to bring as many characters back from Street Fighter II series as possible
• The story takes place between Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III
• The battle system will be more aggressive and focus more on attacking instead of defending
• A decision has not been made which platform the game will be on, the test version was build on PC
• Yoshinori Ono assumes the most suitable platforms to be PS2 or NDS
• Capcom is interested to bring the game to as many platforms as possible, no platform exclusivity

I am mostly pleased with how Street Fighter IV is graphically presented and I am very enthusiastic that Toshinori Ono is supervising the project, which is being developed internally by Capcom Japan. I have some concerns, which I have bolded up top. They bother me for quite a few reasons, and part of it goes along with my fear that this game will be something we've already played in a new package.

The story takes place between Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III

This game has a IV at the end, and is placed chronologically between II and III? How does that work? Why even call it IV? Maybe they should call it Street Fighter Omega since the Street Fighter Alpha series takes place in-between Street Fighter I and Street Fighter II(note: the Street Fighter Alpha series is called Street Fighter Zero in Japan). It doesn't really matter though, despite being a great game, Street Fighter III lacked any story or official explanation of why their “new generation” of fighters were in the game. We are in an age where storylines and character development are going to matter for any genre of game, and fighting games are no exception. Gamers are looking more for an emotional connection to the characters they play as, so it will be imperative for Street Fighter IV to have this. In Street Fighter II, the fall of Shadowloo occurred with the death of M. Bison(In Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, he was killed by Akuma) and in Street Fighter III, a group called the Illuminati appeared to take over the world with their supposed messiah Gill as the leader. What could happen in the "fourth" series is interesting to me, because every World Warrior tournament has been organized an insidious figurehead who desires conquest. It would be appropriate for a new sinister fighter to appear.

The battle system will be more aggressive and focus more on attacking instead of defending

What will happen with this, is that the parry system that was used and so popular in Street Fighter III has been dropped entirely. This is very unfortunate because of the advantages parrying presented when pulled off properly. You could deflect any move, be it low attacks, high attacks or throws(which typically are not blockable). A player’s ability to time and predict an opponent’s attacks is what makes parrying effective.

In place of parrying, is not a new defensive system, but an offensive one. Right now it's called "Saving" and it's something you do when you build up your revenge gauge. When a fighter gets hit, the gauge grows until you fill up the four sections that its divided into. For “Saving” to work you have at least 3/4 of that gauge charged and when you press Strong Punch and Strong Kick together, you will unleash an instant, and unblockable attack. You can also use the Revenge gauge for EX Specials like in Street Fighter III.

This is excellent and unfortunate at the same time. The offensive capabilities of Street Fighter have indeed gone up; the revenge gauge and the revenge system can be used to determine close matches or for making a comeback. EX Special moves can also be canceled and linked to other move types by experienced players. In contrast, the defensive aspect that the series built has been obliterated. There isn’t a way to counter moves and even blocking has lost some of its effectiveness. There needs to be something to counter this “Saving” system for the gameplay to be balanced.

Capcom will continue to have Super Moves/Combos/Arts/Whatever in the game but it hasn't been revealed how they will be used. Each Street Fighter series from SSFII Turbo on had their own implementation of how they were handled. Street Fighter IV has added "Ultra Moves" to take advantage of the 3D graphics engine. They sound like glorified Super Arts with cinematic affects. Whatever. that's cool I guess. Just don't make it lame and interfering like some licensed anime fighter(Believe It!).

The decision for a heavy focus of attacking bothers me because I played a certain Street Fighter series that way. I hardly ever blocked in it, I focused on closing in on the opponent and used quick and weaker attacks until I could be in range to throw them. Throws can’t be blocked and at the time they couldn't be parried, so they were the ultimate move in the game. What was that game? Street Fighter II: Turbo, and all the other games in the Street Fighter II series worked the same way. And that brings me to my final point:

Capcom wants to bring as many characters back from Street Fighter II series as possible

This is my defining feeling that this game will possibly be something we've played before in a new package. Street Fighter III presented, literally, a new generation of fighters that made up a roster primarily of characters who've never been in a Street Fighter or other Capcom game. It was controversial at the time but it also helped make the game interesting and those characters were fun to use. Hell some of those characters that had similar fighting styles to their Street Fighter II counter parts(Dudley vs Barlog, Hugo vs Zangief, Remy vs Guile) were superior to play as. Capcom really did an excellent job to make Street Fighter III not only different than Street Fighter II, but much more excellent as well.

To try to include as many SFII characters as possible just destroys the philosophy of Street Fighter III. I've played Street Fighter II and all of its incarnations for over fifteen years. I was eight years old when I first played the World Warrior machine in that movie theater and started kicking but with Ken. A lot of those characters are great, but after all that time you start to get sick of seeing some of them. Granted, some people probably feel out of the Street Fighter series and would see the return of these characters as nostalgic. However, Street fight II has been ported multiple times and is even experiencing and HD remake; they can go be nostalgic with that.

I'm okay with Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li being in the game for they are mainstays and I can tolerate Dhalsim because he's pretty cool(he can stretch, breathe fire, teleport and even give you a noogie!). After all these years, I'm sick of Barlog, Zangief, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Fei Long, E. Honda. The others are still cool but we can do without the aforementioned returning. Bison's dead, Blanka reunited with his mother and Guile followed his own advise to "Go Home and be a Family Man," so with that, there's not much left to pick out. Street Fighter VI needs yet another new generation of fighters.

But that's not going to happen. Capcom is likely hoping to use familiarity of established characters to draw in old and potentially new fans to the series. The concept of partially updated characters returning could grow on me, but not every one is going to fit into the game, or be an interesting return(NO T. HAWK PLEASE!). But there are some characters I'd like to see from the other games make it in the first installment of Street Fighter IV:

Sagat: In the first Street Fighter he was the champion that lost his title when Ryu scarred his chest with the Dragon Punch. He vowed revenge and even joined up with Shadowloo in an attempt to obtain it. Sagat has been depicted as a man of honor, especially in the Udon comic series, so why would he join up with a tyrant like Bison? Well Shadowloo is destroyed, and Bison is dead and I'm sure there was much for Sagat to reflect on afterwards and there is unfinished business between him and Ryu. I would love to see a post-Shadowloo Sagat return in IV.

Sakura: She hasn't been around since Street Fighter Alpha 3(which took place chronologically before the Street Fighter II series). Her goal was to become Ryu's disciple; however, Ryu felt he was not ready to take on a pupil at the time and went to go on another journey, leaving Sakura to find her own path as a fighter. Well, what was the result of that? Will Sakura ever meet Ryu again? I would like to see Sakura as an older, more refined fighter in Street Fighter IV, with a more original interpretation of Ryu and Ken’s fighting style.

Dudley: He was introduced in the first Street Fighter III as a gentleman boxer looking for his dad's auctioned-off car. Not much story and I feel there could be more done with his character. More importantly, he is one of the best western boxing style fighters in a video game and is way more awesome and fun to play as than that idiot meathead Barlog. Let's fight like Gentlemen!

Cammy: Cammy was the only one of The New Challengers who I think is worth a damn(sorry Dee Jay and Fei Long fans… and nobody likes T. Hawk). She was tiny and quick and has some crazy moves. At the end of SSFII: Turbo, her comrades in Delta Red are there for Cammy to help her realize that she doesn't need to be focused on her past as a killer for Shadowloo. With this she overcame her trials, and she's still an agent for the British Government. Certainly, some threatening force will be running the new World Warrior tournament and thus, a new challenge for her.

So that's it. That's just eight returning characters I want to see in Street Fighter IV. Everyone else should be new. There should still be returning characteristics to the series, what I consider to be parts of the mythos of Street Fighter:

The Tyrannical Leader and Final Boss: Every Street Fighter has some group and its evil leader behind the tournament, using it as a means of world conquest. The exception is the first one, but there are rumors of Shadowloo’s involvement in that. There needs to be some force for the fighter to work against(or with), and a reason for characters like Ryu to further their abilities. Whoever this force is, Ryu will be destined to fight them and gain something out of the experience. I challenge Capcom to be creative with this. Bison is dead, leave him be; furthermore, the Illuminati haven’t unveiled themselves yet. It will be important to have a new and interesting force for everyone to want to fight and dislike, whether it be man, woman, or Supreme Being.

Results of Tyranny: Street Fighter Alpha has the dolls, Street Fighter II has the bosses of Shadowloo, and Street Fighter III had fighters that were experimented on and a leader’s jealous brother. What combinations of horror, evil, and misguiding will result from this new power?

A Character from Final Fight: Final Fight always has a character or two thrown into Street Fighter when a new series emerges. We’ve seen Guy, Rolento, Sodom, Cody, Hugo and Maki make it in as playables and plenty of cameos along with them. Carlos, Dean or Haggar would be great choices that have not yet seen action in the Street Fighter series.

A Crazy Ninja: There’s always a new ninja in Street Fighter. We’ve had Geki, Guy, Vega and Ibuki represent the roster. And they are all weird in some way(except Geki, who is very a traditional and stereotypical ninja). One of them even wears sneakers when he fights! I would enjoy yet another crazy ninja in Street Fighter.

Someone who can do flash kicks and sonic booms: Pretty silly, however every Street Fighter series except the first one has a character to do this, even if Guile isn’t around. It’s pretty obvious to keep this tradition coming. I’m willing to bet Capcom will bring Guile back, but I think I’d rather see a new character take up the roll as a charge character, maybe even a chick! Watch out for the double sweep kick.

A fighter nobody likes: We’ve been either blessed or cursed with the likes of Dan, Sean and T. Hawk. Nobody likes them(except Sean has some fans) and I certainly don’t want to see any of them again. They tend to provide comic relief but are ultimately lame for the most part. Well, T. Hawk wasn’t funny and Sean has been proven as an effective fighter, but you get the point. We need a new lame character that will not be likeable no matter how hard he or she tries to be.

REALLY Big and Goofy Wrestler: Zangief can play janitor like in the collegehumor.com parody, Street Fighter: The Later Years. If IV was a sequel to III, I’d love to see Hugo back. Regardless, the ridiculously large and power wrestler that is easy to hit needs some representation. This requirement could be filled if they bring in Haggar.

I’ve covered all the bases of what I feel will make a proper Street Fighter game. It’s been almost ten years since the last one came out, and it’s time for a new challenge. I hope Capcom does good to bring in some new fighters and further pushes the fighting genre. I’d hate to wait all this time for a new Street Fighter only to be slapped in the face with something I’ve already been playing since I was a kid, regardless of how pretty it will look.

I’m glad that it will be in arcades, for too many fighting game series have ignored their roots. Moreover, it will be great for home versions of SFIV to be running at 60 frames per second with online play. Hopefully everything will be balanced, fresh and fun. As usual, Capcom needs to keep intact the international flavor that Street Fighter is known for, and for once try to have a series that starts off with more than one or two ladies; girls and women do actually play fighting games, I’ve seen it happen! Guys like to pretend to be chicks too. There will definitely be “updates” to IV. If anyone doesn’t see that coming then they are foolish. But I welcome that, because we wouldn’t have Third Strike if they only made Street Fighter III once.

There needs to be a balance to this “Saving” system Ono has spoken of. If this does not happen, then the defensive game stands no chance and Street Fighter IV might as well be broken upon arrival. This is no longer a world where Street Fight II is the only real fighting game in town. The fighting genre has grown in very incredible way since World Warrior came out, and now it’s time to see how much Street Fighter itself has grown.