10 things you have to know about Super Street Fighter IV

Back for the first time in a decade is the classic Street Fighter car-wreckin’ bonus round. It’s still rubbish, of course, but Street Fighter IV never really felt like Street Fighter without it. You’ll play it and Street Fighter II’s old barrel-smashing bonus round in the middle of arcade mode, so dedicated online players will likely see both once and never again. In fact, you needn’t see it at all – if final code is like our preview build, every character in SFIV starts unlocked.

7) New costumes

Remember those extra costumes which cost you real dollars in the first game? They’re all free in Super Street Fighter IV. Hurrah! But now there are 35 new costumes to buy! Oh. New outfits include a SWAT Guile, Cammy in Bison’s hat and shinpads, Robo-Zangief, and a costume which makes Chun Li look like a big pink flan. New characters get only one extra costume as downloadable content.

8) New animated sequences

The sub-Pokemon two-frames-per-second children’s animation from Street Fighter IV has been re-done with 35 new animated intro and outro sequences, new voice acting and a whole new story. What’s more, the special edition of the game ships with an animated movie by Gonzo – the team behind Afro Samurai. The cutscenes aren’t the only presentation changes; there are new menus, new Rival Battles, and best of all – no IN-DES-TRUC-TI-BLE.

9) New replays

Imagine SFIV creator Yoshinori Ono here in a bathrobe, stroking a cat with one hand and sipping tea with the other – that’s where Capcom’s designers started with the Replay Channel. Fire it up and you can watch replays all day without even needing to touch the controller. Like Halo 3, every time you fight the battle is saved to your hard drive where it can be deleted or saved forever. Every replay from every player in the world can be browsed by key words, the fighter’s level, or by the number of consecutive wins. You can even queue up every replay saved by every player on your Friends list and watch them; perhaps while stroking a cat and drinking tea.

10) New moves

Every fighter has a second Ultra which can be chosen before the fight, and several characters even have new special moves to fill holes which needed plugging. Guile’s Sonic Hurricane Ultra instantly makes up for the weakness of his Flash Explosion, Zangief gets an Ultra air throw, Cammy has an Ultra 100% invincible counter which snaps arms and twists necks, and Ryu gets a Gouken-style Metsu Shoryuken – three hits of jaw-breaking brutality.

Mar 26, 2010