Sorry friends but I didn't get the memo.
I've had a few friends on 1UP ask if they missed my blog about the game. My take, a whole dissertation with the history of the franchise, supporting charts and whole-assed rants (I don't half-ass anything). I did not pick up SSFIITHDREMIX despite the positive and glowing reviews. I don't even have the slightest interest in it now. It's been too long a time in coming with too many concessions made to the "remix" element. In short this isn't SF II and I'm not playing a revisionist version of SF II. I think Capcom did better than it with SF Zero and SF III. Commercially they might not have been as big but in terms of content they were superior.
It might be a disappointment for some of you. It's like an arrogant politician doing something incredibly stupid in front of Dennis Leary and then waiting for Leary tear him a new one. Only to have Leary said walk away and not say something. The game is out and here's my chance to give you both the benefits and detriments to the game in a thorough fashion. Should a Final Fantasy remake be in the works I know I could turn to Andrew for his take. It is humbling that some of you consider me the "Street Fighter guy" but I have no plans on getting this game. Let alone spending more than this blog talking about it.
If you want to know who to turn to just read the other consistent 1UPpers. Fumes has giving us his take on it. And Marc's been doing some good deconstructions of the game. Marc's observations on the changes to the engine, control and music are the reason that I'm steering clear of this debacle.

I'm a visual learner. You all know that by now. My foot into the world of Street Fighter has always been and always will be through character design. The changes that Udon has made to the graphics are nice but a copy of a copy never preserves the fingerprint of the original artist. His intentions are distilled through the stylings of the new artist. In this case Alvin Lee is doing his best Sensei or Akiman but he is neither of those men. Like the rest of the Udon staff they fail to recreate accurately the Capcom-style. They are good at what they do, and come very close, but these are the understudies trying to copy the masters. They will never be 100% dead ringers and should instead focus on making the art their own. But then it wouldn't be Street Fighter, would it?
Maybe if it was labeled Remix we could let it slide.
I couldn't...
The changes made to the proportions of the characters, their range of attacks and damage modifiers have been done to balance out the tiers. I'm okay with that. When they begin changing the charge motions, tightening the controls to favor the shotoclones, turning 360 spins (in the case of Zangief to half-circles), then it begins to irk me. Those that were most interested in this game were familiar with the controls, why make concessions for those that don't know how to spin the joystick or charge for an attack? Was this done to level out the playing field? Was this something that Capcom USA assumed needed changing? I get the feeling that this dumbs down the control for an already dumbed-down level of competition in an already insipid fighting game crowd. Sure young fighting game aficionados can brag about how awesome they are at Soul Caliber or Smash Bros. but when you put them in front of a SF II game then their skills aren't very imposing. It is a steep learning curve, no matter how much tweaking and balancing Capcom does to it. Having to play a fighting game that is not dumbed down in the least is unnerving for those that assume one button press should equal a 10-hit combo. Forcing gamers to step up and meet the online challenge has turned some players into crybabies. GFW Ryan noticed this when gamers kept filing unfair reports on him, punishing him for playing well rather than admitting they were poor gamers.

Why would I want to go online with that type of crowd out there?
For my brothers and myself SF II was a warm memory from the past and that is how it should remain. It is the reason neither of them are remotely interested in SF IV. They want to see the future of fighting games, new and uncharted territories with the franchise, not another look to the past. I am not keen on the dreadlocked, hot dog armed, douchy-look of the new Bionic Commando but I will give it a try. It is consistent with Capcom's modus operandi. The reason for that is because Capcom isn't trying to sell us that this is the original BC remade, this is an indirect sequel instead. The folly of Capcom is in re-imaging a title and missing all of the elements that made it great to begin with. Such was the case for Final Fight Streetwise and especially for Street Fighter 2010. While SSFIITHDREMIX is not a travesty it is also not original. We've seen and played every version of SF II: SF II' Champion Edition, SF II' Hyper Fighting, Super SF II", Super SF II" Turbo and Hyper SF II". On multiple consoles, portable, downloads as well as the arcade. Why do I want to pay for the privilege of a 17-year-old fighter one more time? It is time for Street Fighter to move on and both SSFIITHDREMIX and SF IV fail to do that. In my opinion anyhow.
I feel that Capcom is not interested in my opinions. If 99 gamers buy SSFIITHDREMIX and love it why would they listen to the 1 guy that doesn't even want to buy it? A person that is consistently lambasting the decisions of HQ, or making snide remarks about Udon? Why should they listen to me?
Maybe it is because I'm one of the rare gamers that looks at the series with a critical eye rather than through rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia for the series is tempered with a sense that SF II was also the result of just a little dumb luck. A remade song, a poster of a classic character, a returning schoolgirl... These things mean nothing to me other than a sign that Capcom is catering to fan service rather than the series. Giving players what they want rather than what they need. I don't need another Street Fighter II. So please don't ask me to play it and tell you what I think. You should know by now.
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Any tips on San Diego Comic-con? I understand you've been there and I was hoping to get a few tips if possible as it will be my first time going in 2009.
Truest Strike01:36 AM CST