Two Street Fighter-Tekken crossovers in development

SAN DIEGO--Capcom has certainly been well represented at this year's Comic-Con. Through the first two days, the publisher hosted no less than three panel sessions, covering such topics as Dead Rising 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Capcom also trotted out some of its big names, including Keiji Inafune and Hironobu Takeshita, to blow out a large part of its 2010 lineup, and in the process, it teased Mega Man Legends 3.

Into day three, and the publisher has returned to talk about its flagship fighting franchise, Street Fighter. In a panel titled "Street Fighter Mania!: SSFIV and Beyond," producer Yoshinori Ono is on hand to talk about, aptly enough, the future of the franchise.

With Super Street Fighter IV having been released in April, the imminent future involves Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which is due for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next year. Beyond that, online rumbling indicates that Capcom might be teaming with Namco Bandai to create a crossover fighting franchise involving the publishers' respective Street Fighter and Tekken fighting franchises.

So what does the future hold? That answer may soon come, as Capcom takes the Comic-Con stage.

[12:04] The room is packed for this panel, with Yoshinori Ono, Seth Killian, and David Crislip holding ready to start the show.

[12:04] The lights dim slightly and the crowd applauds the introductions for all.

[12:05] Killian is first to speak, welcoming the crowd (again, to loud applause).

[12:06] The applause gets even louder when Ono is introduced, still in his hotel bathrobe and slippers.

[12:07] Ono gives a heartfelt "Konichiwa" to the crowd and gets one right back.

[12:07] He plugs his Twitter account and acknowledges he's been using it to tease this event.

[12:08] "Let's start by talking a bit about Darkstalkers."

[12:08] And the crowd goes wild.

[12:08] "Just to reiterate, this is the Street Fighter panel, not the Darkstalkers panel. Sorry to disappoint," he jokes.

[12:08] He asks the crowd how many of them would like to see a Darkstalkers 4, which again draws huge applause.

[12:09] He asks the crowd to take money out of their wallets and wave it in the air so he can take a picture and show Capcom how many people are willing to pay for it.

[12:09] A sea of dollar bills is held aloft.

[12:11] Moving onto Street Fighter IV, Ono said shipments of SFIV and Super Street Fighter IV have now exceeded 4 million copies.

[12:15] Ono talked about the new tournament function added to Super Street Fighter IV and said Capcom will start holding official tournaments in the near future.

[12:15] The tournaments will have unique fighter tags as prizes for the winners.

[12:15] Ono also said Capcom is planning more downloadable costumes for SSFIV.

[12:16] Every character will soon receive another outfit, with Chun Li receiving an Alpha-style costume and Blanka getting an ornate aboriginal costume adorned with feathers.

[12:16] Ono moves to talk about Super Street Fighter IV for the 3DS.

[12:17] He shows off a few new screenshots of the game, including Ryu's cinematic super hadoken move and the impact shot of Zangief's spinning pile driver.

[12:19] SSFIV is also finally making its arcade debut. Location testing began in Tokyo just yesterday.

[12:19] The game has some blank slots in the character select screen, and Ono asks the audience members who they think it will be.

[12:20] Ono said he heard the names in the resulting din, but he won't say which ones they were. Perhaps they will be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show.

[12:21] Back to the topic at hand, Ono said he had several things to announce today, two of which he's already discussed.

[12:21] A trailer comes up that's just a looping bit of music from Street Fighter III, which draws huge applause.

[12:21] As for "The Future of III," Ono confirms that an Online Edition of the game is in the works.

[12:22] Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition: Fight for the Future.

[12:22] Ono has heard from a lot of fans eager to see III make a comeback.

[12:22] Ono said it won't come out in the immediate future, but he implored the crowd members to talk about it on their blogs and get the word out so everyone knows III is coming back.

[12:22] "Now that I've announced we're producing it, the company can't stop us. So we're going to take our time."

[12:24] The team will add new features to the game and will be taking fan feedback to help determine additional features.

[12:24] Now it's time to talk about the future of Street Fighter IV.

[12:24] Ono said he's been thinking a lot about what to do with IV from now on. He's heard a lot from fans about new characters and costumes they'd like to see.

[12:27] He asks the crowd members if there's anything they would like to see when the panel is interrupted by his counterpart from the Tekken series, Katsuhiro Harada.

[12:27] The Tekken series director takes the panel to a mix of cheers and playful boos. "A New Warrior has Entered the Ring," proclaims the screen at the front of the room.

[12:28] He says Ono hasn't really done anything since Third Strike came out about 10 years ago, which draws a lot of boos.

[12:28] Harada talks a little more trash, saying Tekken has always been seen as the bad guys in the rivalry with Street Fighter. People always ask who would win if the characters from the two franchises fought.

[12:30] Harada took exception to Ono telling people that Street Fighter would win with no hesitation and says today is a good day to find out who really is the strongest.

[12:31] "Let's do it," says Ono, then points to the screen.

[12:31] A trailer shows a butterfly in the SFIV ink-heavy style as it flies toward a meditating Ryu.

[12:31] Dan is thrown suddenly through the dojo door, followed by a menacing cloud.

[12:31] Within the cloud is the form of Tekken's Kazuya.

[12:31] He sprouts inky wings, and the crowd goes nuts.

[12:31] Then Mega Man chases a Pac-Man ghost across the screen, followed by Pac-Man chasing Mega Man back across the screen, calling to mind the Namco mascot's first cutscene.

[12:31] Ono says a new era in fighting games has begun.

[12:32] The game is set for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

[12:33] Ono says he's happy to announce Street Fighter x Tekken, pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken."

[12:33] Harada said it was a year ago when talks for the project first came together.

[12:34] Ono said he's known Harada for years, but they never had a chance to get together to try something like this before.

[12:35] Ono says the game has Tekken and Street Fighter characters in it, but the "real fans" will only play as Street Fighter characters.

[12:35] Harada said he knew Ono would say something like that, so he brought a bunch of Tekken 6 copies and gave them to the audience on the way in to create new Tekken fans.

[12:36] In mock outrage, Ono asks, ""Who are the traitors who took those games?!"

[12:36] Believe it or not, Ono says he has another big announcement.

[12:36] He asks if the crowd noticed the PS3 on the table up there.

[12:36] He has a Blu-ray disc in his hand.

[12:36] He asks if people want to know how far along the game is.

[12:37] But it's time for a demo of the game running on actual PS3 hardware, which draws a huge cheer.

[12:39] They're not playing a video; Ono and Harada are going to play a round live.

[12:40] It's Ryu vs. Kazuya, and the crowd goes nuts with every strike. There may be a fan boy or two in here.

[12:40] They trade signature moves, and then Ryu calls in an assist attack from Chun Li.

[12:44] That's the end of the battle, and Ono reiterated that he wanted to show the fans something special today because they saved his job and basically the genre.

[12:44] Namco has something to announce today as well.

[12:44] Harada says Street Fighter x Tekken is being developed by Ono, but he has a Tekken x Street Fighter game he'll develop at Namco.

[12:44] Nothing is shown of that project, unfortunately.

[12:44] Yoshi_OnoChin and Harada_Tekken are the two Twitter feeds to follow for more info, they say.

[12:45] Ono said naturally the next thing people are wondering is when the games are coming out.

[12:46] Release date? Not for a while, he says, asking people to enjoy Marvel vs. Capcom 3 while they wait.

[12:48] Harada suggested fans brush up on Tekken 1-6 while they wait instead.

[12:48] That brings the panel to an end, and the crowd lets loose with yet another massive ovation for Ono and Harada.

[12:49] And that's it! Keep checking GameSpot for all the latest happenings from Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego.