Streetfighter 4

[elder one]

Not many games inspire me these days. Unfortunately the general direction of gaming and increased sophistication of modern hardware has tranformed the hobby into something that is evolving beyond my understanding. But...every so often a jem will still materialize that floods me with dewey-eyed nostalgia and serve as a reminder that my generation has not been completely forgotten.
The gem in this instance is cut from arguably the most haloed franchise (exculding of course FF) in gaming antiquity - STREETFIGHTER!

Initially, the series got off to a pretty bad start Streetfighter 1 was, how can I put this delicately....I can't it really was a stinker (and anyone who tells you otherwise is either in need of a skilled denial counselor, or hasn't actually played the thing). The arcade version was famed for employing pressure-sensitive pads, the harder they were stuck, the stronger the on screen attack. A resonable concept but marred by the fact that there always seemed to be at least one testosterone-packed idiot in each arcade that would smash the controls into a state of disrepair. There were home versions too but with out the gimmick of their arcade parent what consumers were left with was a sub-standard fighting game with awkward controls and only two playable characters, Ryu and his red pallet-swap, Ken. In spite of this, it still enjoyed a reasonably successful run on the eight-bit home computers and is reguarded by some as a cult classic.

1991 was when it all began proper. Although SF1 was something of a mediocrity, Capcom still had faith in the overall idea and after much tinkering, tweeking and refining, a game rolled off of the assembly lines quite unlike any other before. Like it's predecessor, Streetfigher 2 the World Warrior was a one-on-one beat-em-up featuring Ryu and Ken, but that is where the similarilties ended. Gone were the insipid graphics and jerky controls of the original, in their stead were huge, vibrant characters rendered with breathtaking animation and eye-popping detail. The backdrops had also recieved a similar overhaul and comprised of twelve unique and sumptuously crafted locals ranging from the interior of an Indian temple to a Jungle Village. What made these all the more amazing was the inclusion of multi-layered parallax scrolling -meaning that the background and foreground now moved on an independent plane - which created a remarkable illusion of depth. I haven't even got around to the soundtrack yet which just happed to contained some of the most catchy and abiding tunes ever to grace a videogame! Of course, the above would mean ziltch if steps had not been taken to update the gameplay, fortunately in that department, Capcom excelled beyond anyones wildest expectations. Fluid, dynamic, responsive and awesome are just four of the words I can think of on the fly to describe the control scheme. A directional imput would make your character either advance, retreat, jump or crouch. There were also six attack buttons, three strengths of punch and three strengths of kick. Cleverly, a blocking stance was initiated by holding backwards on the arcade stick when a player was under attack and to add an extra tactical dimension to the gameplay, special character-specific moves could be accessed through semi-complex commands, such as Ryu's fireball.
Did I mention Ryu again? Well not only did he return alongside Ken, but was also accompanied by six further playable characters, including a leggy policewoman, a sumo wrestler, a military dude and a freaky contortionist wearing a necklace of skulls. All were strikingly unique both in terms of gameplay and appearance. Zangief the wrestler fro example specialized in close-quater combat where as freaky contortionist Dhalsim's forte was keeping the opponent at bay with his unnaturally long limbs. On top of that four non-playable bosses lay in wait near the end of the single player game.
The real joy though, came from duking it out with your mates and if you were prepared to take the time to master a character and pit yourself against an equal opponent, the scope for enjoyment and tactical mind games were nearly on a par with chess.

A few months after it had been released in the arcades, a tremendously faithful conversion made it's way to the fledgling SNES, becoming the consoles flagship title and selling millions of units worldwide. From that point on Streetfighter's popularity and reputation was consolidated, escalating into a cultural phenomena spawning countless updates, sequels, movies, t-shirts, figures, more sequels, more movies, more t shirts etc. It was a great time to be a gamer, and I'm so glad that Capcom have made this recent installment and urge anyone to whom it even remotely appeals, to go out and buy it right away.

[LunarHeart]

Bought the game and I love it! The controls are slick and the power in each punch and kick is tremendous... And unlike other Street Fighter games I am actually choosing to play with others than Ken... I now dig Cammy, Akuma, Gouken, Chun Li, Blanka!!, Dan ... Sagat, man this is the best Street Fighter yet!

[elder one]

Glad to hear it!

Sadly, I've only played it for about five minutes in gamestation but it looks like they really have brought the series back with a bang. The focus system is great and there seems to be a much, much greater margin for error when using specials.

[LunarHeart]

Indeed... I miss my special moves all the time... And if you miss, you're almost always open for a free hit. Very tactical. Oh, they added game add-ons now.. alternate costumes! Is that a first for street fighter? I can't recall any other SF games giving costumes.

[elder one]

Originally Posted by LunarHeart

Indeed... I miss my special moves all the time... And if you miss, you're almost always open for a free hit. Very tactical.

If your struggling with the specials, here's a snippet of information that might come in handy. There are two methods of inputting a special move and for arguments sake, I shall use Ryu's fireball as an example because it is one of the easiest moves to use.
1. The conventional way - throw a fireball by pressing down, downfoward, foward + punch.
2. The alternative - hold down a punch button then press down, down foward, foward and as soon as you reach foward, release the punch button(this also has the bonus property of allowing the move to come out a bit more quickly). Hope you find it useful.

Originally Posted by LunarHeart

Oh, they added game add-ons now.. alternate costumes! Is that a first for street fighter? I can't recall any other SF games giving costumes.

Technically no. The Streetfighter EX series was the first to include alternate costumes, but it was a feature that was confined to the characters who made their debut in that series (e.g Kairi). But Streetfighter 4, is the first game in which regulars like Ryu, Ken and Akuma have been given new outfits.

[elder one]

Yesterday, I actually got round to buying my own copy of Streetfighter 4 and here are my first impressions.

The presentation is outstanding. After a sizzling and highly stylized intro, which employs very unique calligraphic artwork, the in game graphics seem a slight comedown. This doesn't last long though. Before long, it becomes readily apparent that a huge amount of time, effort and, dare I venture, love have gone into creating the visuals. The characters themselves are almost comically buff but this works well and helps retain the cartoony charm the series has always had. Everything else - clothing, backgrounds, pyrotechnics, lighting and animation are all top draw. From a artistic point of view, this is probably one of the most visually appealing games to appear on either the 360 or PS3.
The BGM, on the other hand, is a bit tame, offering a selection of rather forgettable compostions although, the more I play it, the more I get the feeling that some of those tracks will grow on me. One very nice surprise comes towards the end of the arcade mode. In the penultimate battle, your character will square off against a 'destined' rival, during which a remix of a character-specific tune from SF2 will be played back. This is rather special and injects a massive dose of nostalgia into proceedings.
Above all, the gameplay is still pure Streetfighter, it doesn't do anything revolutionary or even try to. Instead the focus has been on seizing a beloved concept and dragging it into the 21st century with a pretty new coat of digital varnish. If you've played a SF game before, anything you've learnt from that can be applied to this. If you're a newcomer to the series, the learning curve is so smooth that it's nearly invisible - this really is one of the most accessable games you could ever hope to experience. If your a vet or a hardcore player, then there are plenty of technical refinements to get your teeth into (see gamefaqs). There is an enormous amount of fun to be had on any level. In fact I shall close with the following statement,there are two types of person on this planet. Those that love Streetfighter 4 and those who have yet to learn that they love Streetfighter 4 - and this is coming from a cynical thirtysomething that grew disillusioned with mainstream gaming many moons ago.

[elder one]

Whilst I've still got Street Fighter on the brain (which right now is 24/7) here's an associated track that some may not be familiar with.
Entitled "Itoshia to Setunasa to Kokoro Tsuyosa to", it is the Japanese theme to Street Fighter 2 the Animated Movie and is played back in the feature when Ryu & Ken face Bison.

YouTube - itoshisa to setsunasa to kokoro tsuyosa to

As a point of fact, an instrumental version of this was also played back in the 'dramatic battle' mode of Street Fighter Zero in Japanese arcades.

[elder one]

That's me done here folks, if nothing else at least whilst this site is still up and running, people will be able to view the legacy of my eccentric fondness for Street Fighter lol.

But seriously though, these gaming sites are for the young and as there clearly isn't a regular spread of slightly older gamers here, there's no valid reason for me to continue posting anymore. Father Time always seems to have an uncanny knack of catching up with us before we're quite ready.

Anyway thanks all, this is a very good site you've got going here.

EO