Street Fighter IV Hands-On From AOU 2008
Capcom shows off sequel to world-renowned fighting game.
Street Fighter IV adapts a similar control to SFIII. There are three buttons for punching and three buttons for kicking. Throwing is done by pressing both weak attacks (punch + kick) simultaneously. Personal actions (taunts) are executed by pressing both fierce attacks. Quick wake-up is also in the game, which can be done by holding down on the joystick when you're just about to hit the ground.
One thing that SFIV will not be inheriting is the parry system from SFIII. Although the decision has caused some debate, Capcom's developers believe that the system is too hardcore and not friendly to casual gamers. In place, there's a new system called the "saving attack," which can be done by pressing both middle attacks. The saving attack guards one hit from the opponent, regardless of whether it's a standing attack, jumping attack, or low attack. When you let go of the buttons, you do a counterattack. You can hold the two buttons for a while to level up your attack and change its effect. At level one, opponents will sway back when hit. At level two, opponents will fall on their knees, giving you a small time frame to bash in another attack. And at level three, your attack becomes unguardable.
The saving attack may not be as challenging as parrying, but it still requires some skill and timing to work effectively. It seems to be a good counter against single-hit moves, such as projectiles or distance fierce attacks, but it's a self-invitation to masochism against multihit moves such as E.Honda's hundred-hand slap or a flurry of weak kicks. We've seen some people using it as an antiair measure, but some players held down the buttons for too long, which let the opponent land on the ground and do a combo before the counter was released.
Based on what we've played, the power meter in SFIV can be used for three kinds of attacks. One is for super combos, which have been a part of the Street Fighter series since their appearance in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Attacking will gradually fill up the power meter at the bottom of the screen. Once it reaches maximum power, you can execute a super move that does heavier damage attacks. The AOU version of SFIV had a fixed super combo for each character, and they seem to be identical to those in SSF2T. Ryu had his shinku hadouken, Ken had his shouryu reppa, Chunli had her senretsu-kyaku, E.Honda had his oni-musou, and so on. Whether the final product will feature more super combos or some kind of a selectable system like in 3rd Strike remains to be seen. Like in 3rd Strike, you can do "super cancels," which is to cancel what a special move motion is to a super combo.
The second use of the power meter is for EX attacks, similar to those in 3rd Strike. By pressing two buttons instead of one when executing a special attack, you can do a buffed-up version of it. For example, using Ken and doing a hurricane kick with two kick buttons will let you hit the opponent more times than usual with just one button.
The third use for the power unit is somewhat interesting. While the saving attack in SFIV is normally meant for defensive measures, it can also be used in offence as part of a combo. By pressing middle punch and kick while in the motion of doing another attack, you can cancel the attack and connect it to the saving attack. Since it's not being used in the normal method, it depletes a bit of the power meter.
In addition to the power meter, SFIV features a new "revenge" meter at the side of each fighter's life bar. Whenever the fighter gets hit, the meter rises. Despite earlier reports, the revenge meter doesn't seem to be a requirement for the saving attacks. We were able to pull them off in the beginning of matches with no meter accumulated.
Ever since the first pictures of Street Fighter IV were released, we've been seeing screenshots where the game's camera is zoomed into Ryu as he powers up for a hadouken that looks a lot more powerful than usual. In those pictures, Ryu is actually doing an ultra combo, which is new to SFIV and has remained somewhat of a mystery until now. As we found out today, the ultra combo is like an EX version of the super combo, albeit more powerful and extremely flashy. It's done with the same controller command as super combos, except with two buttons instead of one.
Ultra combos can be done only under certain conditions, which unfortunately weren't disclosed at the AOU. We know that one of the conditions is to have enough of the revenge meter filled up. It also seems that you need to be losing a bit of life in order to pull them off.
The developers at Capcom seem to be trying to get the best out of the hardware capabilities of Taito's Type X2. For the first time in arcade fighting-game history, SFIV will feature an automated matchmaking system, which Capcom calls the "link match system." Though it's limited within the store, SFIV machines can be connected together via LAN so that a player entering for a game will automatically be matched up with another player within the arcade who's not fighting a human opponent at the time. This seems to be a nice concept for large-scale arcades, and we were able to try it out at the AOU show. Sometimes we were fighting against the person right next to us, while other times we weren't sure where in Capcom's booth our opponent was.
Street Fighter IV, at least in Japan, will also feature a networked ID card system that will let you customize your gaming experience. Details apparently aren't hammered out yet, but a few of the plans include name registration, guild registration, and battle point registration, which will show how strong you are in the game and let you join the nationwide rankings.
The question remains as to how long we'll have to wait before we get our hands on Street Fighter IV. In a sales leaflet given to arcade dealers and members of the press, Capcom confirmed that Street Fighter IV is on course for a summer release in Japan. Arcade operators purchasing the game board together with a Taito VEWLIX arcade cabinet will receive their orders in late July, while those purchasing the game board alone will receive their orders a bit later in mid-August.
For gamers unable to wait until the summer to try out Street Fighter IV, there will be two chances during this month to play it in Japan. The AOU show will be opened to the general public tomorrow, and next week from February 22-24 the game's first beta test will take place at Plaza Capcom in Tokyo. Of course, we'll be bringing you the latest SFIV news in the months ahead, so stay tuned.
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