Street Fighter IV First Look

In a large effort to build upon some of their classics, the crew at Capcom made a few announcements within the past several months, revealing the company's plans to reintroduce franchises such as Bionic Commando and, yes, the good old 2D fighting game, Street Fighter.

Get ready to be vaporized!

Feel my boot, Blanka!

There's a reason why all those Street Fighter games were popular in the past. For one thing, the game featured some of the most compelling characters ever seen in a 2D brawler, besides giving players a chance to experience a variety of fight styles. The series didn't really start to shine though, until the release of titles like Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and so on. As it started invading arcades all over the world, it soon became one of the most popular beat-'em-ups on the market. The series has, naturally, made it to different platforms - C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amiga CD32, 3DO, DOS, Dreamcast, Genesis, SNES, etc.

Street Fighter IV marks the first entry in almost eight years, after the generally well-received Street Fighter III Third Strike. Capcom remains hush-hush on several aspects of the project, so we don't know much about the storyline (as if that matters much in fighting game anyway) and we haven't received any confirmation regarding platforms, but the usual PS3/360 road is a good bet.

First thing's first. You'll notice that most of the game is played in 2D. As it happens, there's a very good reason they decided to stick with the 2D gameplay formula. According to Capcom, they went with 2D simply because it gives players the opportunity to read the moves of their adversary. Another obvious reason is that they really wanted to stay true to the core Street Fighter II game, which makes sense seeing as it was the most popular game in the series. Capcom wasn't shy about revealing some of the game's characters, most of which were taken from SF II.

Judging from the media released thus far, we'll see returning fighters such as Blanka (Brazil), Chun-Li (China), Dhalsim (India), E. Honda (Japan), Guile (U.S.), Ken (U.S.), Ryu (Japan) and Zagnief (Soviet Union).

Although the character similarities are pretty much in there (that's self-evident to anybody who played SF II), Capcom recently explained that the characters evolved greatly since their last outing. They also mentioned that the series has progressed visually. As far as we can tell, the game is neatly presented in semi-3D environment. However, the gameplay itself remains true to the traditional 2D mechanics, which means that the camera stays fixed throughout each battle without obstructing flow of the game. When you win or pull off a special move, the camera changes the view to offer a quick victory animation.

Each old character from SF II gained a serious makeover and was furnished with additional details, on top of featuring top-notch animation. Familiar characters retained some of their well-known characteristics. Great effort has been made to create the expressions on the fighters' faces, as they receive painful blows from their adversaries. You'll see the good old stretchy Dhalsim, as he delivers accurate blows with his elastic limbs. Blanka, the green-skinned killing machine, is back with his electric thunder and rolling attacks. This time though, they are offering a vast range of new moves, so there's going to be a new feel to each familiar fighter.

New characters have also been mentioned. Crimson Viper is an American female agent with a unique fighting style. She also prefers using various gadgets to help her execute deadlier attacks. Additionally, Viper often resorts to burning kicks and punches, as well as a powerful hammering move, which injures any adversary that gets caught in the shockwave. Abel, on the other hand, is a Frenchy and appears to be suffering from amnesia (we don't know his full story yet). (And neither does he, apparently. - Ed) That doesn't stop him from being a worthy opponent, who uses a mish-mash of different fighting styles.

In terms of combat, the game doesn't just refer to the elements from Street Fighter II. The controls, for instance, are fairly similar to those applied in SF III - that means three buttons are designated for kicks and three buttons for punches (again, this is for the arcade edition). Don't sweat it if you fall to the ground. The developers have also incorporated instant wakeups, which allow your fighter to get to his feat before the opponent takes advantage of the situation. To do this, you have to hold "down" on the controls when your characters is about to fall.

Dhalsim's morning yoga practice.

Cough up the chicken bone! You can do it, sonny!

The innovative element in the Street Fighter series comes in the form of the so-called Focus Attacks system and Ultra Combos. Focus Attacks (or saving attacks, if you will) provide an ideal defense mechanism, but also allow for more powerful blows. Using these attacks, your character assumes a defensive stance, as protection from oncoming enemy moves. At the same time, your character accumulates energy, eventually amounting to a devastating counter-attack that can take your foe by surprise. This technique, however, doesn't apply to every move in the game. Another cool new moment is the "revenge" meter, shown on the main screen during battle. It rises each time you take a hit, but as we understand it, this aspect of the game isn't tied to focus attacks, since you are able to perform revenge move before you even get hit. (This would make it a contradiction in terms, no? A preemptive strike then? - Ed)

Since we still don't know which platforms are planned for SF IV, there's not much talk about differences between each version. We don't have a specific release date either. Then again, they did announce that Street Fighter IV hits arcades in Japan this summer. Street Fighter IV was recently showcased at the AOU 2008 Amusement Expo, an arcade show, where the game was running on a PC-based arcade system - a Taito Type X2, with an Intel Q965 Chipset and Windows XP Embedded SP2. During the show, it was uncovered that SF IV will be the first fighting game in arcade history with an automated match-making system. Capcom refers to it as the link match system.

With hardcore SF fans currently divided on Street Fighter IV, the game's future seems a bit hazy at this point. There's a majority of gamers out there who still appreciate 2D-style gameplay mechanics and that's the sort of crowd Capcom is aiming at. The game does have a unique look, which is cool, although it remains to be seen if the stylish visuals and the retro gameplay will appeal to the average gamer, once the title hits the console market. And with more advanced 3D fighting games on the horizon (Soul Calibur IV and such), it's hard to say what the game's chances are on the modern-day gaming scene.