Gaze upon the rippling majesty that is Abel, a brand-new member of the Street Fighter IV family! Abel will be having his worldwide coming-out soiree this weekend at the AOU Show in Japan, which is sorta like the arcade version of Tokyo Game Show. Abel joins the original 8 World Warriors, as well as new bespectacled female fighter C. Viper. That brings the current known SFIV roster to 10 – how many characters do you think will end up being in the game? Isn’t the anticipation killing you? Seth and I already know the whole SFIV Who’s Who, but we’ve taken a vow to torture you for the next few months. More after the jump, including nice big screen shots!
If you’re a Street Fighter fan, you’ve probably been scouring the Interwebs for info, any info, you can get your hands on regarding Street Fighter IV. Heck, even casual gaming fans are devouring Street Fighter screenshots faster than Kobayashi downs hotdogs.
One of the best places on the net for interesting SF4 news is the official SF4 blog. I find myself on it constantly, mashing F5 as if it was the jab button, in hopes that on one of the page refreshes, I’ll suddenly and magically be able to understand Japanese.
To save you the trouble, from now on, we will be translating the entries from the Japanese SF4 blog and reposting them here, in English (For those that can only read Swahili, I’m sorry, but you’re outta luck!). To kick things off, here’s are the two most recent entries after the jump.
Kotaku (and several other web sources) have done some serious investigative digging on the intertubes, and have unearthed top secret footage of Street Fighter IV* in action. Well, we wanted to wait until later in the year to roll out the latest round of video from the game, but we bow to pressure and present… the 1993 version of Street Fighter IV, created for the NES by some band of wily intellectual property pirates.
* Captain Obvious would like to point out that this is not really Street Fighter IV.
Yeah, yeah, some of you internet scoundrels might have seen some leaked images, but Gamespot has the real Street Fighter IV hi-res goods for North America. There’s a short (too short, perhaps) interview on the site that accompanies the images, but the real story is that Capcom has confirmed that the eight original members of the Street Fighter II cast — Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Guile, Dhalsim, Zangief, E. Honda, Blanka — will all be included in the next version of everyone’s favorite punchfest. The original 8 are also joined by a new character, the mysterious Crimson Viper. Get in the know, now!
Next-gen digs deep with SFIV producer Ono-san in a new four-page interview. They talk about everything from art style, to Ono-san’s dedication to the series’ history, inspiration and pressures for the future, and even his thoughts on the differences between Americans and Europeans. Choice quotes include:
“You begin by looking at the foundations of the series, to try and create something inspired by the feel, the gameplay, the atmosphere and everything about that game,” insists Ono. Isn’t that a little dangerous? “Yes! I’m not aiming to create a game that will be better than SFII, but I suppose I am aiming to follow in its footsteps. SFII is like a bible – every time I play it, it inspires me to strive and try harder.”
“You Europeans are more reserved than Americans,” says Ono, before laughing. “Then again, Americans are quite vulgar!”
The article also calls out Sirlin’s articles about balancing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. If you missed them, check out the most recent one here, which contains links to the earlier articles as well–essential reading for any fans of the series!
It’s another fireside chat between the 1UP crew and SFIV producer Ono-san. This time they get down and dirty with discussions behind the mysterious (and soon to be renamed) “saving system” that replaces the parry from Street Fighter III, the Revenge system, game speed, balance, super moves, and how Street Fighter IV can draw in new players while giving the hardcore plenty of options.
If you’ve missed anything else from the heaps of SFIV goodness being released, head over to the 1UP.com hub to get the goods.
Maybe I’m not sure what a “wallpaper rodeo” is, but I am sure I would attend if given the chance. At any rate, there are a bunch of totally sweet fan-made wallpapers springing up. Check out this thread on the mighty shoryuken.com that rounds up someofthebest.
I had the singular pleasure of hanging out in the background while the 1up guys chatted with Ono-san for a few hours in Tokyo. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, but this discussion — about the nature of Street Fighter design and 2D versus 3D — proved to be the root of the discussion and provides keen insight into the thought process happening at Capcom in regards to SF IV.
1up continued their Street Fighter IV blitz today with a special 1up Show featuring, for the first time ever, actual gameplay footage from Street Fighter IV! In edition, the show also features an interview with Yoshinori Ono, the producer of Street Fighter IV. If you just can’t wait to see the gameplay, the first clip starts at around the 3:21 mark.
Here’s a view from one of the best in the business, the Wired Blog’s Chris Kohler. While I think he overstates the significance of the negative view of the hardcore (as the hardest of the hardcore SF fans for over 15 years, I can say that the hardcore are ALWAYS negative in advance, and relatively speaking I actually think people at SRK and beyond are hopeful overall and happy to see a new game), he has his finger on the pulse of a major motivation behind the game–bringing Street Fighter back to the streets.
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