Refurbished Warriors - Street Fighter 4

Seems Junker Woland’s unintentionally morphed into an anime and manga blog, so I think it’s about time I mixed things up a bit with a few barbs aimed at a reliable punching bag, Street Fighter IV.

Since this post evolved into a longer piece than planned, please hit the “Read More…” link to suck-down my devastating crossover combo.


Interview after interview, with each word Yoshinori Ono (SFIV’s producer) speaks, I’m reminded more of Konami’s Koji Igarashi, the man currently in charge of pumping-out annual Castlevania installments. Listen to either man talk and you’d almost think they invented their respected series, yet even through all the somewhat self-gratifying commentary, it’s apparent both creators clearly understands the mechanics behind their titles and have a good handle on the current fan landscape. They’re also similar in that neither so much seems entrusted with bringing their own creative visions to life, but rather were positioned for the sole purpose of molding preconceived corporate ideas into reality.

In Ono’s case, he’s been given the unenviable task of revitalizing the now spent and decrepit Street Fighter series, returning what arguably is the progenitor of modern-day fighting games to its once heralded glory. Ono’s burden, however, should not be confused with a plea to design a significant, meaningful game.

You see, Street Fighter III, especially in its final Third Strike iteration, was a significant fighting game—highly complex mechanics requiring players spend ample time learning the nuances of its systems, and arduously crafted sprite work, representing what at that time was the pinnacle of 2D graphics, combined together into a single meticulously crafted package. The game is like a present specially made for the 2D fighting game crowd, so much that you can almost feel the love poured into it by the development team.

But Street Fighter III wasn’t a gift even the hardcore 2D fighting fans wanted. They criticized it for having weird new characters, scoffed at it for not being flashy and fast like other brawlers of the day, and snickered over its hip-hop inspired soundtrack—this was not a Street Fighter they recognized, which is to say nothing of the fans who stopped playing fighting games around the same time their Super Nintendo consoles were put out to pasture.

I know myself, as much as all three version of SF III gripped me by the neck, holding me fast to the games’ arcade cabinets, it still took effort to wrap my head around the circus freaks populating its cast and the frustratingly-beautiful simplicity of the parry system. Time heals all wounds, as the saying goes. Eventually, the mass of people who initially spurned Street Fighter III—precipitated by a depressing dearth of new titles—discovered the captivatingly deep video game waiting just below the unsettling surface presentation, although by this time the 2D fighting game scene primarily existed on life-support powered by nostalgia.

One thing about Street Fighter III, it was never popular, at least not in the same fashion as its numbered predecessor. The game is too impenetrable and as a result intimidating for anyone who doesn’t regularly play fighting game, relegating the title to a familiar oddity many might only momentarily indulge out of curiosity.

Which is where Street Fighter IV comes in.

Street Fighter IV is a delicately fabricated reunion for those who haven’t seen Capcom’s perennial fighter since the days of beating-up shiny blue cars for bonus points; understand, reunions are disillusioning: no one likes thinking about their hot high school girlfriend as the overweight mother of three annoying children. So instead of aging Street Fighter once again, IV betrays its numerical branding, warping us back to some unspecified period between II and III—all your old friends are here (at least going by the current media, almost all of them) looking the same as they did in 1994.

Yoshinoro Ono, the man who at one point was bequeathed responsibility for creating the worthless Capcom Fighting Jam, flails excitedly during his interviews, speaking in rushed burst like a man barely able to contain a joyous disbelief that, yes, he really gets to make Street Fighter IV—not Street Fighter EX4, not Street Fighter Zero Remix, not another awful series-crossover fighting game, but honest-to-goodness Street Fighter mother-fucking IV.

He’ll then go on to say something like, “There are grand master chess players who play on ESPN2, but you could also have a grandfather and his granddaughter playing chess. You're in charge of playing at whatever level you're capable of. We give you the board and some pieces and rules;” or explain why shifting to a 3D graphical presentation instead of retaining 2D sprites causes certain portions of the game to move sluggishly; he may even let you know how location tests currently happening in Japan will help decide whether the final product features more returning characters or more new characters.

You see, Street Fighter IV is for everyone and no one. A recent article on Gametap referred to it as a compromise between old-retired players and those who’ve kept current with fighting games all these long years. Taking Ono’s many comments into consideration, I see this game more as a concession for the singular purpose of gouging money out of a group that couldn’t care less whether it was utterly broken from the second they placed the disc inside their Xbox 360 or Playstation 3—they just want entertainment that makes them feel nostalgic and good about themselves.

Sadly, this doesn’t even much bother me. Horribly jaded person that I am, I’d never expect a company like Capcom to truly return to such unprofitable roots as arcade 2D fighters; pride based on heritage will always force them into occasionally creating a few games, but they’ll never actively embrace these titles. The concept and visuals behind Street Fighter IV are clear indications of a product undertaken because it looks good on Capcom’s resume and currently has the potential to score big with a mainstream audience. This is what big businesses do, and with that I’m mostly fine.

What does considerably irk me is how the game is constantly lauded by video game media outlets for merely recycling 14 year old conventions. When Toyota makes a new car, no one praises them for give it four wheels; yet when Ryu is still able to throw a hadouken or spin with a tatsumaki senpuu kyaku, it’s seen as some form of noteworthy achievement. Too many game journalists seem utterly infatuated by this game purely because it reminds them of their childhood, which is exactly what the people making SF IV are aiming for.

If a straight-up 3D remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo had the potential to galvanize large swaths of gamers, then SF IV likely would not exist. So I give Capcom credit for being savvy enough to realize a remake—while it could possibly be well received by some—gains them little in the way of potential future earnings, as Street Fighter IV isn’t meant to be an interesting experiment, but rather a stab at recreating a profitable franchise in a familiar, mass-market friendly manner.

And guess what, that doesn’t mean SF IV will inherently be a bad game. After seventeen years, Capcom should be able to cobble together a new Street Fighter, bereft of any interesting, progressive ideas, that still doesn’t feel like some fan-made fantasy bullshit (or Capcom Fighting Jam for that matter). They just shouldn’t be overly praised for their ability to attain fundamental playability.

Some basics to remember: Street Fighter IV pushes no visual boundaries (it looks average at best), Capcom has a seventeen year hoard of collected reference material and data to build this game upon, making a 3D Street Fighter with 2D mechanics is not a novel idea (remember the EX series). It’d only be surprising if Capcom couldn’t alchemically brew all their resources and experience into a competent piece of software.

So where does this leave gamers? Street Fighter IV is ostensibly the franchise’s future—Capcom, internally, no longer employs the trained personnel needed to create completely new 2D fighting games and their pride will never allow this particular series to be farmed-out to other developers or transferred to the American branch for major projects. Should Street Fighter IV succeed, expect new works to continue along in the same vein; should it fail, expect revisions attempting to address any perceived shortcomings.

As I’ve already stated, this title is not some trivial experiment. It might not be pushing any hardware configurations or game design concepts, but it’s a major piece of software and should be treated as such. This means journalists shouldn’t spend their allotted page length splooging over how cool Ryu’s fireball looks, but rather give us some in-depth coverage on whether all those pesky particle effects the move generates cause any hit-detection issues. Leave the teenage boy at home and cover SF IV like you would any other triple-A game, competently.

Those of us not lucky enough to attend the Japanese location tests or graced with press passes to big-name industry conventions will ultimately have to wait our turn to test Capcom’s fledgling fighter. I imagine it’ll see little-to-no arcade presence here in the States before its home console release, so even with a prospective summer arcade date, most Americans might be waiting until the end of 2008 before they’ll really get a chance to sample Street Fighter IV.

In the interim, I just hope the media takes a break from its giddy, fanboy praising to discuss more than, yeah, Guile still has his flash kick, air blocking is out, and E. Honda’s loincloth continues to smell like balls.

Oh, and by the way, Chun-Li’s in-game model remains monkey-fuck horrid!