Super Street Fighter IV got a new DLC pack on June 7th, 2011. It will cost fifteen dollars on both PS3 and Xbox 360. Just in case you haven’t purchased Super Street Fighter IV in the past, the game will also come out as a full stand-alone disc released on June 24th in Europe, 28th in North America, and 30th in Japan, during 2010. A PC version followed in July. While all of this is pretty cool, the most shocking piece of info unveiled is that Arcade Edition will be the last Street Fighter IV edition produced. This is it, the end of the line, people. So, let’s take a look at what the players are getting in this brand-new version of the game.
Characters Reworked
Every character has been reworked, once again, to even the playing field. Some characters have had their move inputs changed (such as Balrog’s Ultra 2), while others have had their move properties changed (most hurricane kicks in the game have been changed so that they can’t be used to run away). Unfortunately, there are far too many characters to go over each individually. However, the changes have added a new challenge for players.
How the Game Has Changed
Here’s a general overview of how the game has changed. First of all, many pokes have been made less safe, giving characters opportunities to rush in after a poorly played game of footsies. Fireballs and projectiles in general are still useful but have become less of a primary means of attack, reducing instances of “fireball wars” where both characters stare at each other, chucking projectiles to build meters. This is partially because characters without projectiles have received major buffs both in their overall damage-dealing potential and projectile-evading ability. This has made characters like Makoto very good, and it has been theorized that non-projectile characters will dominate the top of the tier list.
Melee Attack Changes
Speaking of non-projectile characters, Yun and Yang from Street Fighter III have joined Arcade Edition’s cast. Both have dive kicks, both are combo monsters, and both are extremely aggressive and deal lots and lots of damage. The key differences lie in their super moves (Yun’s gives his moves new properties and makes them all cancelable while Yang’s gives him trailing custom combo shadows) and Ultras (which are both completely different).
However, in terms of basic toolsets, Yang seems slightly faster, while Yun seems slightly more powerful. They have all their Third Strike target combos and special moves, and Yang’s EX Fist Slash in particular seems to be one of the best moves in the game. Pro players figure many people will pick up Yang, and fewer will pick up Yun, even though both will be at the top of the tier list. Daigo Umehara, the king of Street Fighter himself, said he plans to use Yun, although recently it seems as if he has changed his mind and gone with one of the other new characters, Evil Ryu.
Arcade Edition Characters Changes
Yes, Evil Ryu and Oni are the other two new characters joining the Arcade Edition cast. Evil Ryu is sort of a combination of Ryu and Akuma that manages to play more aggressively than both of them combined. He has Akuma’s dive kick, overhead, health, stun, raging demon, and some of his normals as well. The rest are either Ryu’s moves or totally new moves. One totally new move is a command wheel kick that hits overhead and can be inserted into combos to make for a really powerful guessing game. His Ultra 1 is a chargeable version of Ryu’s Metsu Hadouken, while his Ultra 2 is the Messatsu Goshoryu, a Shoryureppa-type move more closely associated with Akuma but seen nowhere else in Street Fighter IV.
The Specifics
Oni, on the other hand, plays a lot more like Gouken. (If he plays like anyone, that is.) His moves are actually quite unique, and each of his normal attacks has an alternate version activated by holding forward while pressing the button. Some of these normals actually cancel out projectiles! He has Hadoukens, Shoryukens, and Hurricane Kicks just like all the other Shotos, but his new moves, a forward palm slice, and an overhead fist pound are actually some of his most important tools. Speaking of important tools, Oni is the first character in Street Fighter IV to have an air dash, which is phenomenal for getting inside opponents’ defenses and baiting out their attacks. His super is Raging Demon, which can be done in mid-air and is absolutely dirty to pull off after a baited air dash backward. His first ultra is another damaging fireball, although this one can be aimed upward or downward in the air. His second ultra is a shockwave that hits close to him and can be combined with many focus attack dash canceled moves. It does 525 damage on a clean hit, which makes it the second most damaging ultra in the game.
Outside of the new characters, there will be adjustments made to the replay channel as well. The new Replay Follower mode allows you to follow five players’ replays, delivering their greatest matches directly to your console. Reserve one of those slots for Daigo Umehara or Justin Wong. The new My Channel Advanced mode allows you to distribute your own replay data to up to fifty players. Just be sure to only send them to people who are interested. Finally, the most interesting new channel is the Elite Channel, which allows you to watch replay data only from players who have 3000 or more player points. It is an easy way to sort through all the junk out there to get straight to the good stuff.
Final Thoughts
At this point, Street Fighter IV has become as refined as it’s ever going to be. Yes, we are all a little disappointed that we never saw characters like Alex or Urien enter the roster, or even some other Street Fighter Alpha characters like Birdie or Rolento, but in the end, the game is quite complete at a phenomenal roster that stands 39 characters strong. It is balanced, interesting, and fun, and Capcom really can’t do much more to make it any better. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition is a great swan song for this fighter, which gave us tons of great matches and single-handedly helped to resurrect the fighting game scene. If you are a Street Fighter fan, you should get Arcade Edition as soon as you can. You won’t regret it.