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Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter IV Flyer Promotional flier for the arcade version of Street Fighter IV, featuring Ken (left) and Ryu
Developer(s)	Dimps/Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Yoshinori Ono (producer) Daigo Ikeno (character designer)
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release	Arcade
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Arcade system	Taito Type X2

Street Fighter IV is the latest installment in Capcom's long-running Street Fighter fighting game series. The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008 and was given a limited release in North American arcades in August. A home version is currently scheduled for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows-based personal computers.

Gameplay

Abel in a battle against Ryu

Street Fighter IV features fighters and backgrounds rendered in 3D, while the gameplay is on a traditional 2D plane. Producer Yoshinori Ono has stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II than its sequels, and as such the "parry system" from Street Fighter III has been dropped. A new system called "Focus Attacks" ("Saving Attack" for the Japanese version) has been introduced, as well as Ultra moves. The traditional six-button control scheme returns, with new features and special moves integrated into the input system, mixing classic gameplay with additional innovations.

The game has a very similar feel to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but also has several features from Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. Pressing both light attack buttons is still for throwing, and both heavy attack buttons are for the personal action or taunts. Both medium attack buttons are for the focus strike. Dashes and quick standing are also in the game. C.Viper is the only character who can perform a high jump.

It was intended that the car-smashing bonus rounds from earlier Street Fighter games would return. Ono later stated that the bonus stages would not be in the arcade game, but they may be in the console ports. He cited the reason being that the time players spend on bonus stages takes money from arcade operators.

Focus Attacks

Focus Attacks, known as "Saving System" in the Japanese version, is a new system that is being introduced in Street Fighter IV. The focus attack is a move that allows the player to absorb an attack and launch a counter attack, and it is performed by pressing the medium punch and kick buttons simultaneously. There are two phases to the attack. In the first phase, the player will shift into a new stance, at which point he is able to absorb one attack from the opponent. The second phase is the counter attack. The longer the player holds down the medium punch and kick buttons the more powerful the attack will be. If the buttons are held for long enough the attack will cause the opponent to crumple slowly to the ground, allowing the player to follow up with a free hit. If the buttons are held for longer still the focus attack will become unblockable. Attacks that were absorbed during the first phase of the focus attack still cause damage to the player; however, life lost from the opponent's attack will be gained back afterward. In addition, during the first phase of the focus attack the player may perform a dash either forward or backward to cancel the focus attack. Finally, at the cost of half the super combo gauge, many special moves can be canceled into a focus attack. By executing a focus attack during the special move, the animation of the move will be cut short and go instantly into the focus attack animation. This allows players with precise timing to cancel special moves into focus attacks, and in turn cancel focus attacks into the forward dash, resulting in new combo possibilities. If a special move is blocked by the opponent, the new system allows players to cancel the blocked move with a focus attack, and then cancel the focus attack by dashing backward safely away from the opponent.

Ono has stated that this system was incorporated in order to shift the emphasis away from combos and toward a more realistic system he has compared to boxing, in which "the skill is in reading your opponent's move before he starts moving ... We haven't forgotten about combos and linked moves, but focus makes it so that you have to read your opponent." The system aims to make ground attacks as viable a way of approaching opponents as jumping was in previous games. The focus system is a core part of Street Fighter IV's gameplay.

Ultra Combos

File:Street Fighter IV Viper Guile.jpg

Crimson Viper executing her Ultra Combo on Guile

"Super Combos", the powered-up special moves that has been a series' mainstay since Super Street Fighter II Turbo, return in Street Fighter IV. Similar to Super Turbo, each character has one set super move. The game also features "EX Moves", the powered-up versions of Special Moves from Street Fighter III 2nd Impact. In addition to Super Combos, the game also features "Ultra Combos". Ultra Combos are performed similarly to the character's Super Combo but are executed with three attack buttons (much like the Lv. 3 Super Combos in the original Street Fighter Alpha, most which required pressing the three attack buttons to perform). Ultra Combos are long and cinematic moves featuring a lengthy combination of punches, kicks and other moves. Just as there is a Super Combo meter, there is also an Ultra Combo meter (officially known as the "Revenge Gauge"), but whereas the Super Combo meter fills as the player hits an opponent, the Revenge Gauge fills when one takes damage from the opponent. Along with the Super Combo, Ultra Combos are one of the only times the camera breaks from its normal fixed position to show a more dynamic, cinematic view of the gameplay.

Story

Street Fighter IV takes place in between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III, making it an interquel, similar to Street Fighter Alpha, which took place between the first Street Fighter and Street Fighter II. Translated plot summary from a promotional flyer of the game is below:

"The year after the legendary World Warrior Championship (SF2) it silently begins. Suspicious incidents occur, and behind it a mystic organization is on the move in the shadows. Those chasing and being chased in the complicated middle of friendship and betrayal. Now, the curtain rises and a new fight begins."

Characters

The playable character roster of arcade version features all twelve characters from the original Street Fighter II, as well as four new characters. The first is Crimson Viper, a female American spy wearing sunglasses, leather gloves and a form-fitting suit. The second new character is a French martial artist named Abel. He is described as an amnesiac, a "man with no past" looking to defeat surviving members of Shadaloo. The third new character revealed is a luchador named El Fuerte ("El Fuerte" means "The Strong One" in Spanish). The fourth is Rufus, a fighter who has Kung Fu moves and a rotund appearance, who seeks to fight Ken Masters to prove himself as the best fighter of the United States.

The new boss character is named Seth. He is known as "The Puppet Master" and is the chief executive officer of S.I.N., the weapons division of Shadaloo. His body has been modified using advanced technology.

Recurring hidden character Akuma appears in the arcade version as a secret final boss in the single-player mode, as well as a secret time-release playable character available.

For the first time since the first Street Fighter, characters will now have English-language voice actors.

In the January 2008 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono stated "Let's just say that [jokes] that your magazine have reported in the past might find their way into the game as fan service". Executive editor Shane Bettenhausen took this to mean the appearance of their long-standing joke character Sheng Long in Street Fighter IV, though added that if the character did appear in the game, it would be Gouken. On April 1, 2008, Capcom posted a fake update to their blog heavily suggesting his presence in the game, but confirmed the very next day the character would not be present in Street Fighter IV. However, in an interview with GameVideos.com on June 6, 2008, Yoshinori Ono was asked if Gouken was going to be in the game to which he replied "Will he be in the game playable that particular character, well we probably wouldn't put a non-playable character in an animation like that and highlight him to that degree." The October 3 issue of Japanese video game magazine Weekly Famitsu confirmed Gouken is in the game as a secret challenger.

Returning characters

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Ryu	Hiroki Takahashi	Kyle Hebert
Ken	Yūji Kishi	Reuben Langdon
Chun-Li	Fumiko Orikasa	Laura Bailey
E. Honda	Yoshikazu Nagano
Blanka	Yūji Ueda
Zangief	Kenta Miyake
Guile	Hiroki Yasumoto	Travis Willingham
Dhalsim	Daisuke Egawa
Balrog (M. Bison in Japan)	Satoshi Tsuruoka
Vega (Balrog in Japan)	Junichi Suwabe
Sagat	Daisuke Endou
M. Bison (Vega in Japan)	Norio Wakamoto

New characters

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Abel	Kenji Takahashi
Crimson Viper	Mie Sonozaki	Michelle Ruff
Rufus	Wataru Hatano
El Fuerte	Daisuke Ono

Bosses and hidden characters

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Seth	Akio Ohtsuka
Akuma (Gouki in Japan)	Taketora
Gouken	Tōru Ōkawa

Home version additions

Fei-Long from Super Street Fighter II and Dan from Street Fighter Alpha are scheduled to be included in the upcoming home versions of Street Fighter IV. Sakura, from Street Fighter Alpha 2, has also been confirmed for the home versions in the October 10 issue of Weekly Famitsu. The same issue also confirmed that Seth, the CPU-only boss character from the arcade version, will be selectable in the home versions.

While Cammy was considered for the home version after the character won a popularity poll on Capcom's US site and was even featured in an animated teaser for the game, Ono has given conflicting statements on her presence, having confirmed her in an interview with 1UP.com then two months later stating "we still haven't decided on anything yet".

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Dan
Fei-Long
Sakura			Cammy (TBA)

Development

Before producer Yoshinori Ono pitched the idea to Capcom R&D head Keiji Inafune, the prevailing attitude around Capcom was that a new numeric entry to the Street Fighter series would not be made. There was initially a lot of resistance to Ono's pitching of a new Street Fighter game so many years after the original. However, in light of fan demand plus the positive reaction to Hyper Fighting on Xbox Live Arcade, Inafune eventually allowed the project to begin. This was Ono's first take on a new entry for the Street Fighter series as a producer, although he had previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike as a "sound management director" and previously produced Capcom Fighting Jam.

The game runs on the Taito Type X² arcade board inside a Taito Vewlix cabinet and takes advantage of the Type X²'s network capabilities and allows players in separate machines within the same LAN to fight each other. A demo version of the game was present at the Arcade Operators Union Amusement Expo on February 18, 2008, with all returning characters as well as Crimson Viper and Abel playable. Location tests were carried out in selected Japanese arcades leading up to the game's arcade release.

Graphics

The characters and environments are rendered as 3D models with polygons but use a stylized effect to give them, and the environments, a hand-drawn look. As in some of the trailers, during the fights certain attacks display ink sprays. Character designs aimed at staying true to the Street Fighter II style, although Akira Yasuda no longer works for Capcom. The art director and character designer for Street Fighter IV is Daigo Ikeno, who previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike.

Home versions

File:SFIVXboxUS.jpg

Proposed US cover artwork of the Xbox 360 version.

Street Fighter IV has been officially announced for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Microsoft Windows. A release date has not been announced, but it is expected to be released either late 2008 or early 2009. Ono has revealed that additional characters will be included in the home releases, and that the home versions will include online play.

The home versions will be available in standard packaging and in a Collector's Edition. The contents of the Collector's Edition are yet to be announced, but Capcom is currently administering a survey at the official site as to which collectible items fans would want to see in the Collector's Edition. The only launch promotion confirmed thus far is an Art of Street Fighter art book.

To promote the home versions, Capcom produced an animated teaser depicting a fight between Ryu and Akuma, which will be featured in the home versions of Street Fighter IV, along with other animated cut-scenes.

Online

The home versions of Street Fighter IV will feature an online multiplayer support. Like other games such as Virtua Fighter 5 or Tekken 6, Street Fighter IV will feature item collection and secondary costumes. Producer Yoshinori Ono is looking into using microtransactions for future downloadable content, including new characters and stages, but he said the final decision would be Capcom's.

External links

• Official English Website
• Official Japanese Website
• Official Japanese Blog