Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV Super Street Fighter IV Super Street Fighter IV - 3D Edition
Studio	Capcom
Publisher	Capcom
Erstveröffent- lichung	Arcade July 18, 2008 PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 February 12, 2009 February 17, 2009 February 20, 2009 Windows July 3, 2009 3DS February 26, 2011 March 25, 2011 March 27, 2011
platform	Microsoft Windows , Xbox 360 , Nintendo 3DS , PlayStation 3 , Taito TypeX²
genre	Fighting Game
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
Age rating	USK PEGI

The video game Street Fighter IV is a fighting game released in 2008 by the game manufacturer Capcom . Street Fighter IV is the first implementation of the Street Fighter series for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 . Further versions of the game were released for Windows PCs, smartphones and the handheld Nintendo 3DS . The game has sold over four million copies.

publication

The first official announcement of the title took place during the video game fair Gamer's Day in London on October 17, 2007. On July 18, 2008, the game was released as an arcade version in Japan . The home console versions for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 followed in February 2009 . In Europe, in addition to the simple version of the game, a Collector's Edition was also launched, which, in addition to the game DVD , includes two characters from Ryu and Crimson Viper , an artbook and a DVD with the official anime for Street Fighter IV, The ties that bind . "Bonds that bind"; Japanese Street Figher IV - Arata naru Kizuna ( ス ト リ ー ト フ ァ イ タ ー IV〜 新 た な な る 絆 〜 ), German “Street Figher IV - new ties / fetters”).

The Windows version of the game was released in July 2009.

Backstory

As in the previous games , the core of the background story is a tournament in which the best fighters in the world compete against each other. In the run-up to this tournament, numerous martial artists and the sponsor of the tournament disappear , the SIN company is said to be connected to Shadaloo , the criminal organization from the previous games.

The background story is shown in The ties that bind from the point of view of the characters Ryu , Ken and Sakura , as well as Cammy , Chun-Li , Guile and Crimson Viper in a parallel storyline. The two storylines unite towards the end and the characters fight against the main antagonist Seth , the boss of SIN and, as it turns out, employees of Shadaloo .

In the game, the background story serves as a red thread for the arcade mode : The player contests the tournament from the perspective of the respective characters. In cutscenes at the beginning and after the conclusion of the arcade mode , the role of the characters in the story and their motives for participating in the tournament are highlighted.

Game concepts

Like the rest of the series, Street Fighter IV is a classic fighting game. The player can choose between three game modes: In addition to the already mentioned arcade mode , in which you have to defeat several opponents in the course of the background story of the selected character, there is a versus mode in which the player competes against a human or computer opponent as well as one Challenge mode in which the player must complete tasks, such as performing certain combinations of blows or defeating as many opponents as possible within a time limit. There is also a training mode.

For the first time in the Street Fighter series , an online mode is also available, in which you can compete against human opponents via the Internet . At first this was only possible in individual duels; With a patch in April 2009, the so-called championship mode was subsequently submitted, which now also enables online tournaments.

technology

Contrary to the trend towards photo-realistic 3D graphics, Street Fighter IV remains true to the line of the series and offers a comic-like graphic style, which means that the characters continue to look like sprites . There are also approaches to cel shading in the graphic style . The game is still programmed in 3D, which can be seen in the background graphics and the animations of certain special attacks in which changing camera perspectives are used.

Characters

The arcade version of the game has 17 playable characters. These include the "classic" eight characters and four bosses who appeared in Street Fighter II in 1991 :

• Blanka
• Chun Li
• Dhalsim
• E. Honda

• Guile
• Ken
• Ryu
• Zangief

• Balrog
• M.Bison
• Sagat
• Vega

As in the previous versions, the names of the "classic" bosses in Street Fighter IV have been changed compared to the Japanese version: Balrog is called M.Bison in Japan , M.Bison Vega and Vega is called Balrog .

Four characters make their debut in the Street Fighter franchise:

• Abel
• Crimson Viper
• El Fuerte
• Rufus

With Akuma version arcade exists in a hidden playable character, which is already known from previous Street Fighter games. The regular boss Seth - another debutant - and the hidden boss Gouken - also known from earlier games - are not playable in the arcade version. In the console version, all three can be unlocked as playable characters; Gouken is playable for the first time in the Street Fighter series. In addition, six other characters known from earlier games have been integrated into the console version, but they must also be unlocked through success in the game:

• Cammy
• Dan
• Fei Long
• gene
• rose
• Sakura

The five new characters increase the total number of characters in the Street Fighter universe to 62 .

reception

Street Fighter IV was unanimously well received by the trade press: The Japanese video game magazine Famitsu rated the game with 34 out of 40 points, the US portal IGN with 9.3 out of 10 points and the German magazine M! Games with 92% (PS3) or 91% (Xbox 360). The website metacritic.com calculated an international rating average of 94%. The PC version of Street Fighter IV tested PC Games with 92% and GameStar with 90%. 4Players covered all three versions and gave u. a. the PC version also 90%. Street Fighter IV was rated 1.49 in ComputerBild magazine (PC, XBox 360, PS3)

In the first two weeks of sales, almost one million units of the two home console variants were sold worldwide. In Japan, the game sold out shortly after its release. As of April 2011, the Street Fighter 4 games had sold over 4 million times.

Super Street Fighter IV

On April 27, 2010, a variant with the addition Super appeared in North America . The innovations essentially consist of new game modes, including an online team fight with up to eight players. In addition, eight other characters from earlier games were integrated with T. Hawk , Dee Jay , Adon , Guy , Cody , Ibuki , Makoto and Dudley and the two new characters Juri and Hakan were introduced. It was released in Japan on April 28th and two days later in Europe. The title was sold from the start at a price below the usual price for new video games.

3DS version

A variant with the addition of 3D Edition appeared in 2011 for Nintendo 3DS , as one of the first games for the console. According to the publisher, it is the first 3DS game to hit retailers more than a million times.

Arcade Edition

Another rideration of the game under the name Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition was released in summer 2011, for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs. This adds another four figures to the figure set, so that the total number increases to 39.

Ultra Street Fighter IV

Ultra Street Fighter IV was released in mid-2014 . The main innovations are six additional stages and five more characters: Decapre , Rolento , Elena , Hugo and Poison

Cell phone versions

A version of Street Fighter IV for iPhone was released in March 2010 . A year later, under the name Street Fighter IV: Volt, a version with online multiplayer was released.

Web links

• Official Street Fighter website
• Street Fighter 4 Official Website (Japanese)
• Interview with producer Yoshinori Ono (German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Street Fighter 4 announced! ( Memento from March 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ gamespot.com: Street Fighter IV Review ( Memento from September 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ http://fs.finalfantasytr.com/search.asp?query=street+fighter+IV ( Memento from March 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ metacritic.com
5. ↑ pcgames.de
6. ↑ gamestar.de
7. ↑ 4players.de
8. ↑ eurogamer.de
9. ↑ gameswelt.de
10. ↑ eurogamer.net : message from April 12, 2011 (English, accessed May 15, 2012)
11. ↑ Computer and Video Games ( Memento from May 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ): Game review from March 1, 2011 (English, accessed May 15, 2012)
12. ↑ gamasutra.com : message from April 12, 2011 (English, accessed May 15, 2012)
13. ↑ worthplaying.com : Game review of the PC version from July 22, 2011 (English, accessed May 15, 2012)
14. ↑ ign.com ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ): Game review from March 12, 2010 (English, accessed on May 15, 2012)
15. ↑ edge-online.com ( Memento from June 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ): Game review from July 11, 2011 (English, accessed on May 15, 2012)