Street Fighter 5 Dev Considered "Photorealistc" Graphics

Capcom's fighting game Street Fighter V didn't always have the "anime-esque" look that it ended up with. Producer Koichi Sugiyama says in a new interview that, at the start of the project, Capcom created a prototype of the game featuring "photorealistic" visuals. But this was short-lived.

"In the very early stages of development, we actually put together a build of Street Fighter V that was rendered in photorealistic graphics," he told Game Spark, as translated by EventHubs. "But when we did, we realized that it just wouldn't be Street Fighter without the bold, anime-esque look and feel to the game, so we decided to shelve the whole photorealism idea altogether."

"This time around we were working with Unreal Engine 4, which is known for being particularly good at rendering photorealistic visuals, we had to work really hard to try and recreate that same anime-esque look for the game," he added. "So once again we did a lot of experiments, before finally settling on adding 'oil painting-esque touches.'"

Capcom released some images of Street Fighter V's photorealistic graphics through a booklet that came with orders placed through Capcom's website. You can see one image of Ryu above, while even more are available at EventHubs.

Sugiyama explains: "At this point in time, Ryu had just gotten back from training in seclusion in the mountains, so he's grown a beard and is covered with all these cuts and bruises. The idea to make a 'Hot Ryu' battle costume came from this photorealistic build of Street Fighter V."

Street Fighter V launched on February 16 and faced a number of connectivity and matchmaking problems, most of which have now been fixed. More recently, Capcom said it plans to fix the game's rage-quitting problem.

For more on Street Fighter V, check out GameSpot's review and what other critics are saying.