Category: News

You no longer have any excuse not to try the Street Fighter classics!

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection has arrived today, bringing twelve classic Street Fighter arcade titles to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. (If you pre-ordered online, you also received a digital version of Ultra Street Fighter IV, pretty much giving you the entire main Street Fighter series to date except for Street Fighter V.) This collection’s much-lauded goal: to celebrate 30 years of Street Fighter by bringing us “arcade perfect” versions of these games on modern platforms. And while they’re not truly arcade perfect, this collection is undeniably a celebration.

The compilation package covers the origin of Street Fighter itself — the 1987 arcade game of the same name — and follows the sequels through the Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, and Street Fighter III series. All twelve titles are playable in a literal Arcade mode that emulates the original cabinet gameplay, and a Versus mode for easier local one-on-one fighting; four titles that arguably represent the “high point” of each series are also equipped with online play and Training modes. These are:

• Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Being the final versions of their respective series, these titles are pretty much where the competitive scene for each game is centered, so it makes sense that they get the support over the others — with the exception being Street Fighter Alpha 2. Being so different than its sequel (and by many players, preferred) it’s a shame that Alpha 3 gets the online play and Training mode instead of this one. By all rights, SFA2 should also be on that list — but at the very least, Versus mode still allows for more practice options than the basic Arcade mode would.

But before we go further into that, let’s look at the overall package and presentation we’re getting here. (Note that our review copy from Capcom was the PlayStation 4 version, and there may be differences between platforms.)

A shrine to Street Fighter.

This compilation is a tribute to Street Fighter’s 30-year legacy, and it does a very good job of presenting and honoring its source material. The collection is divided into three sections: offline play, online play, and the extensive Museum. Before I discuss the games themselves, I want to point out how great the Museum mode is for anyone with an interest in Street Fighter development, lore, and history.

It’s deep, it’s detailed, and it’s easy and fun to explore all of the material included — and there’s plenty of material included. You can track the games and related media across a historical timeline, see concept and promotional artwork, listen to the games’ soundtracks, and even jump right over to the games themselves to play them without backing out of the Museum mode. You can read about each playable character’s background, and even look at animation frames of their iconic special moves. As a showcase for the games and their place in our culture, this is handled beautifully. Those that are interested in this part of the collection will find a lot to enjoy here.

Click to view slideshow.

The Grand Master (CPU) Challenge.

The Offline options include playing the Arcade modes of the titles, or going into Versus or Training (for the four games that support it). From the Arcade menu you can read details on the game you want to play (which includes trivia, and sometimes codes you can use to unlock hidden characters or features), or adjust limited gameplay settings for them before jumping in. Playing Arcade mode is going to be a blast from the past for any fans that haven’t had regular access to these games in their natural habitat for a while.

Click to view slideshow.

It warrants a mention that once 30th Anniversary Collection boots up, loading time is practically absent. Moving in between game modes — or between different titles on the compiliation — is quick and easy. A big plus. Arcade mode emulates the game running as if it was on its original cabinet, right down to display options that include cabinet art, and scan lines to get just the right “look” for the sprite-based visuals. You can customize your picture by removing the art, resizing the screen area, and removing the scan lines if desired — though the lines do somewhat help smooth the sprites’ jagged edges on an HD display. The picture options aren’t extensive, but they are adequate.

The marquee game, Street Fighter, certainly hasn’t aged that well — as charming as it is to see the beginnings of the series, it’s very rough around the edges compared to what we look for in gameplay today. The other titles hold up better — but I recommend playing through all of them if you haven’t before. Playing against the CPU in Arcade mode is a classic experience all its own — and those unfamiliar with the arcade origins of “modern” Street Fighter now can experience the psychic sadism of the notoriously difficult CPU opponents in Super Turbo. But the original arcade ladders contain a lot of the classic gameplay and storytelling experience that comprises these timeless games, and they’re worth some attention.

Versus mode delivers what it says on the box, and lets you play against a human opponent without having to join in during an arcade run. It also allows stage selection, so you can go to your favorite stages directly.

For the games that do have Training modes, you’ll be able to use somewhat simple but helpful training options to help you work on your gameplay — definitely not as extensive as modern titles, but you still get some basic state settings and a recording slot to work with.

The online frontier.

The collection’s future on the greater scale depends on how well it runs online — and that’s a bit difficult to tell at this early stage, as our review period has been before the wide release to the general public. What I can say so far: it’s a bit iffy.

The menu system is kinda clunky and non-intuitive; searching manually for Casual or Ranked matches always returns you to the game selection menu if you stop rematching. Thankfully, using the fight request-style function while playing Arcade mode gets around this. However: there doesn’t seem to be a means to control your matchmaking connection quality outside of searching for player lobbies manually. At the time I write this, the lobby system also seems outright broken, not enabling players to connect properly in private or public lounges — hopefully, this is only a result of the game’s early online structure setting up, and is not a continuing issue after wide release.

As for connection quality in the matches I played, it was literally 50/50 for me: my gameplay felt smooth enough that there were no noticeable issues mid-fight, or it was laggy to the point of unplayability. No middle ground! Time will tell, and your own mileage will vary, I expect.

Almost arcade perfect?

Now, a dose of realism — these are games that originally ran on entirely different hardware. These versions are really, really, really close — but they are not “arcade perfect”. They can’t be, not completely. Capcom should not be throwing that term around, and the only reason they are is that “arcade perfect” sounds much better as a marketing catchphrase than “as close to arcade perfect as is reasonably possible while considering the hardware differentiation and emulation process”.

These games run really well. They even include many of the glitches — both desired and undesired — from the arcade originals, spelling errors in text (“Get lose!”), you name it. But game-breaking bugs have been squashed, and as these versions are pushed more and more in heavy play by the community, we’re going to see that some things that work on the original boards just won’t seem to fly here. And that’s reasonable, because there are too many factors to guarantee that so-advertised perfection.

But: they come so close that, for the greatest percentage of the fanbase and players, they might as well be. These are certainly the best versions of these games that we’ve yet seen on home consoles. If arcade perfection is your only goal, you need to play the game on the original arcade hardware. That is not practical for many of the players out there, and what we’re getting in this collection is an excellent and enjoyable substitute.

Click to view slideshow.

 Who is this collection for?

Are you a newcomer to the franchise? This collection will catch you up on Street Fighter history very effectively. Are you an old-school fan? This collection will connect you to the games you love in the most convenient way we’ve had available for ages.

Are you a serious competitor, say, of the dedicated Super Turbo or 3rd Strike scenes? Well, this collection is not a replacement for your arcade hardware. But it offers two important things, even to you: it is close enough to the arcade original that it will allow you to play, practice, and enjoy your game when you don’t have immediate access to an arcade cabinet. And it is introducing your game to many new players that haven’t had easy access to it for ages — and those that love it as much as you do are going to be coming your way to play the “real thing” when they get the chance.

Care and respect for the games and the franchise are evident throughout the collection itself; the original programmers, developers, artists, and composers loved these games, and the love Capcom and Digital Eclipse have for these games is clear as soon as you start the compilation up. So basically, this collection is for anyone and everyone that loves — or has ever loved — Street Fighter.

Some more Street Fighter V characters are going pro.

More Premium costumes are coming to Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition tomorrow (May 29) after some server maintenance. This time, Karin, Vega, and Zeku are getting new outfits in the “Professional” category:

Though I would think that Zeku’s job was already made plain by his Story mode and costume (i.e. “ninjutsu instructor for hire”), looks like he freelances in some Kabuki theater as well. Vega working as a matador comes as no surprise, and it looks like Karin’s skill on the tennis court is as renowned as her fighting skill. As Premium costumes, expect these to run you the usual prices for DLC access, once SFV servers come back online tomorrow.

Source: Street Fighter (Twitter)

Expect to see the original Raging Demon appearing in your Ranked matches — or just use his power yourself…

Early copies of Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection have found their way out into the wild, and since the online servers are already open for those that have access to the title, something that many players have wondered about has now been confirmed: in online Ranked for Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma — the game’s hidden boss character, outright banned from tournament play — is indeed selectable.

Super Turbo, Online Ranked on #SF30th

Akuma…is…SELECTABLE! Via the old skool arcade code.

Thanks to man like @F4RHANN being the first scum bag to do it! @grandmaster_uk @2Old2Furious @nycfurby @KillrMillerTime @eltroubleSRK @RedditSF @GMCGolcarJack @FirstAttackBZH pic.twitter.com/WXc0uZjnGE

— dWo | Singho (@JassiSingho) May 25, 2018

You need to use the classic arcade code to unlock him — which is a bit tricky, but hardly much of a deterrent against using a character pretty much universally recognized as too broken for competitive play. Many Super Turbo enthusiasts will argue — with merit — that this will seriously damage the online balance for this title. Will Capcom take notice and make changes after launch? If he’s unlockable in this build so close to launch, odds are the developers don’t see much of an issue with Super Turbo’s Demon raging around online.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection launches tomorrow, May 29th!

Source: dWo|Singho (Twitter)

Though we’ve known that the Tekken World Tour‘s Global Finals would be taking place in Amsterdam later this year, for the longest time we haven’t had a specific date. Well, we now finally know when it’ll take place — December 1 and 2, 2018.

The announcement was made by non other than Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada (alongside translator Michael Murray) during the finals for Tekken 7 at Combo Breaker 2018. The two-day affair will take place on December 1 and 2, and will also include a last chance qualifier.

In addition to this, however, Harada and Murray also teased the fans a bit — stating that while they didn’t have anything else to announce, they still had things that they were “hiding”, and to look forward to news from them in the near future.

Source: Combo Breaker [stream]

Bringing knives and pipes to a fist fight — this is one mayor who fights dirty.

Hot on the heels of his reveal trailer, Capcom has now shared details of Cody’s moveset in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition over on Capcom-Unity. While the concept of an ex-convict becoming a mayor sounds like an American nightmare, Cody’s unique background means allows him to bring with him an interesting — if dirty — bag of tricks.

That said, getting elected into office did mean that one of his dirty tricks is no longer with us. Cody seems to have quit his hobby of throwing rocks at people (maybe he has a couple of young bucks in city hall do that for him). Instead, Cody can now use his new “Tornado Sweep” special to kick up a gust of wind that acts as a projectile. Aside from this, however, he still retains his “Zonk Knuckle” and “Ruffian Kick” special moves.

One old move that he does bring back — all the way from Final Fight — is his “Double Kick” V-Skill. Veterans should remember this as Cody’s Mega Crash from the Final Fight games, which was also turned into a special move, also called “Mega Crash”, in Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Omega Mode.

The move itself hits on both sides of Cody, making it an effective anti-air, even against cross ups, and even a combo ender.

As for Cody’s V-Triggers, these bring back a couple of weapons he used in previous games. V-Trigger I, “Sidearm”, pulls out his knife. As in previous games, this extends the range of his normals, while also making them safer on block. Also, he can once again throw his knife, this time by pressing both hard punch and hard kick buttons at the same time. Unlike before, he no longer has to pick his knife back up, he can just pull another one out of his pocket. In fact, the only way for Cody lose his knife is for his V-Trigger meter to end, and even then he still has to either throw it, or hit an opponent with it.

Another new thing he gains with his knife is the new “Rapid Fire” special move. We’ve already seen this in the trailer, with Cody rapidly slashing at his opponent with his knife.

Cody’s second V-Trigger is “Dirty Coach”. Here, he brings out the pipe last seen in his second Ultra Combo in Street Fighter IV, and more commonly picked up from the ground in Final Fight. With the pipe, the range on his fierce punch is greatly extended.

In addition to this, he can also use it as a baseball bat by pressing hard punch and hard kick again to activate “Gentle Swing”, or it’s anti-air version “Gentle Upper Swing”. Both of  these can be combined another move he gains in V-Trigger II, “Bean Ball”, which finally sees him throwing a rock. By timing either swing right, he can make the rock land in different positions, including up in the air (and back down on the opponent’s head), or just smashing straight through his opponent. The catch for all of this is that Cody loses access to his “Tornado Sweep” special. This means he’ll now be dependent on his rocks for hitting people from afar.

Finally, Cody’s Critical Art is his “Criminal Punisher”. The move is basically a really big version of his old “Criminal Upper” special move, with it now generating a much, much bigger tornado.

Cody will be available for purchase on June 26. However, for players looking to try him out before that, Capcom will be bringing a build of the game that includes him as a playable character to E3.

Source: Capcom-Unity