Capcom Europe Chats About Console Street Fighter IV

By Celeste . November 20, 2008 . 4:31pm

Following the interview with Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono by Spencer here at Siliconera in July, I tapped Capcom Europe’s PR representative Leo Tan to gain some details of the console version further into its development cycle. The picture Leo paints is one of accessibility for die-hard fans of the series, but will the lack of the ‘parry system’ from Street Fighter III cause its fans to parry this game? Leo explains Capcom’s stance… 

In our interview with Yoshinori Ono in July, he describes Street Fighter IV as a game partly designed for players who felt somewhat alienated from the series with the release of Street Fighter III. In light of this, how do you see fans of the third game responding to the ‘back to its roots’ style gameplay of Street Fighter IV? 

Leo Tan, PR Manager: I see them in real life, playing! I’m fortunate enough to have been able to put SFIV directly in front of the UK’s Street Fighter III community and seen them playing firsthand. At first, because they haven’t experienced any of the new things in the game, they played it in the same way they played Street Fighter II and even had some complaints about how it’s more of the same. That’s important to me, though, because we always wanted it to feel familiar, especially for those who haven’t touched Street Fighter for a decade.

As they’ve spent more time with it, though, and they’ve grown to understand how the new Focus attack works, the game has changed (sometimes dramatically) for them. The important thing with Street Fighter IV is, if you haven’t learned anything about fighting games and how they’ve changed since Street Fighter II, you can still play Street Fighter IV with your friends and have those same bouts, albeit in the most gorgeous fashion Street Fighter has ever known. If you’re still a hardcore player, though, there’s also plenty to learn.

And more importantly, a technical top-tier player will not be able to completely shut out a novice to the degree that parrying (Street Fighter III’s main innovation) allowed them to. Even I can play against the pros now! I don’t ever win, of course, but I’m involved in the game. Which is important. With Street Fighter III I couldn’t even understand what was happening to me when someone shut me down with parrying.

Are there going to be any balance changes to the gameplay for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions compared to the arcade version? 

The Street Fighter IV experience will be equal on all platforms, arcade included. That said, there will obviously be more content on the console versions, but that won’t affect the balance of play. If/when we do make a gameplay balance adjustment (more power to Ryu’s Sho Ryu Ken!), it will still be possible to effect that change on the arcade platform too, thanks to the networked nature of today’s arcade machines.

As Japan will be releasing the console games with the animated film Street Fighter IV - Aratanaru Kizuna for first-print copies, and the North American release will have a collector’s edition available, will Europe not be getting anything like this? 

Whilst we will have some form of special edition available at retail, I sorry to say I can’t announce the specifics just yet.

We know that characters are not going to be offered as downloadable content. Can you provide any specific details as to what form the DLC will take? We hear there may be accessory packs available for download. 

I think the thing we’re concentrating on the final release right now, and making sure what you get in the box is incredible. Personally, I think it’s hard to judge the value of DLC until you’ve seen what’s in the box, so even if I could announce our DLC strategy right now, I don’t think it would be particularly significant. It’s moot, though, as I’m not allowed to. Just yet. Soon! The main thing is, we’re committed to the retail release being a compelling experience without DLC.

Has it yet been decided whether there will be cross-platform online play for PC ad Xbox 360 players, so that PC players can play against Xbox 360 players and vice versa?

We have no announcements to make regarding cross-platform play between PC and 360 players at this time. 

Will there be cross-region online play?

Of course! Has there ever been a console game that locks people in to their physical location? Perhaps I’ve misunderstood the question here. If you’re referring to the PC sku alone, I believe that doesn’t happen outside of MMO circles, but I’m no expert in that field.

Do you think it is likely that Capcom will produce a Wii, PSP or PS2 version of the game in the future?

We have nothing to announce regarding additional platforms at this time. I do realize that earlier in the campaign we talked about putting it on every platform imaginable, including GBA if there was a demand.

Whilst a GBA version seems unlikely, the fighting system itself (not the graphics, obviously) could easily transfer to any system with six buttons and a dpad so nothing should be ruled out. Ever. If people shout loudly enough that they want something, they often get heard.

Is Tatsunoko vs. Capcom in the pipeline at all?

In Japan certainly. We haven’t got anything to announce regarding Tatsunoko vs Capcom for Europe (or even North America) at the moment. We sure do love it, though!

We noticed Rose from Street Fighter Alpha in a leaked screen shot. Can you confirm she will be a playable character in Street Fighter IV?

What screen shot?! I can’t confirm any characters that we’ve not announced yet, including Rose. We sure do love her, though!

Images courtesy of Capcom.

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