Ladies and gentlemen on the Capcom BBS, today we take a hard look at Street Fighter IV. There are people online opining about the game, praising its merits and decrying its foibles. People like myself have spoken to no end about it. However not many gamers from the west have actually played it. We are opining on second-hand accounts and guesses. Drawing conclusions from grainy video on YouTube and screenshots of half-finished levels. The blogosphere can be a glorious cauldron of unfounded news bits. Dividing the virtual public between a love and a hate of a game yet to gogold. Friends, today I will play the devil's advocate and explain why you, the gamer, have set the bar so high that no matter how Street Fighter IV turns out it will not be enough to make you happy. 

Join me for a trip, if you will, through time. We are going to examine the biggest misconception people have about the game. That there is a Street Fighter "team" at Capcom that cranks out the fighters. I am here to argue that it is not that simple. The actual team concept extends beyond the producer, beyond the artists, animators and programmers that put their reputation on the line. The team extends to people and influences no longer working at Capcom. These are the origin stories and influences we have to understand in order to explain why Street Fighter IV will fail in the eyes of some gamers.

Games define our culture. Our culture is a mirror reflection of the games we play. The immersion of the game experience is complete when the player has no recollection of when they began playing but only know that they enjoy playing. Certain titles and genres are our favorites but sometimes we don't know why. Street Fighter is a name that carries a legacy. It holds the title of greatest fighting game series ever invented. Part of the reason for that goes beyond the game, to a point where it forever influenced the global culture, not solely the game culture.

Culture is around us, it surrounds us, defines us and influences us from the day we're born. Musicians, artists, writers and directors interpret the world with their own unique voice. The challenge for them is to find a voice unique enough to hold our attention and make us understand how their voice is also ours. It is said that there are only about seven basic plot points but slightly more musical forms. Even game characters are hard to design without treading on older design. Culture has gotten to the point where we find it hard (but not impossible) to come up with "original ideas." Those that we perceive as truly inspired usually create great works as the result of their own external influences. After all George Lucas would not have given us Star Wars if he himself not been a great fan of Akira Kurosawa's films. 

In a similar way we would not have had the original Street Fighter without the legend of Mas Oyama, Yoshiji Soeno and other martial artists. The foundation for the game was based in part on real fighters. Despite the fantastic attacks featured in the game, many of the fighters themselves where caricatures of real styles. The rest of the game was "filled in" with design cues and influences from pop culture, other titles, manga and comic books. Years later we would not have Street Fighter II without the influence of Double Dragon,Master of the Flying Guillotine, Hokuto No Ken, Tiger Mask or many more things. These influences were themselves influenced by other things. We could chalk the characters and designs to coincidence or, like FightingStreet.com does, point out a large number of similarities between game characters, real people and animated ones. What is most important to the legacy of Street Fighter is what each of the contributors brought to the table. The producers and contributors to each game added their own vision. A vision influenced by many, many things.

The two men most responsible for the 1987 release of the original Street Fighter were Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. They set a basic game involving two fighters proving their worth on a global tour. Secret moves, bonus rounds and a colorful cast would help solidify the template for the series. These two wouldn't stay with Capcom forever, the paths they chose were unique. You might not even be aware of some of the titles these men would work on. Mr. Nishiyama worked on many, many titles but always seemed to stay close with fighters. He left Capcom and ended up working with the "competition" at SNK. He had a hand in several Fatal Fury games but his biggest success came with King of the Fighters. Takashi was able to create a worthy rival for Street Fighter by combining the cast from Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury and even Ikari Warriors. Mr. Matsumoto was more of a journeyman. He worked on a wide variety of titles including Silhouette Mirage and Sonic Advance. If there ever was a reason why Dragon Ball Z: Budokai was a good fighting game then chances are it was his involvement. Eventually Hiroshi returned to Capcom and ended up working on Dino Crisis 3 and Dead Rising.

In 1988 Yoshiki Okamoto was asked by Capcom to create a sequel. His release title Street Fighter 89 played nothing like the original as it revolved around three characters in a side-scrolling brawl. This game was Mr. Okamoto's version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge and would eventually be renamed Final Fight. He went back to the drawing board to give vendors what they really wanted. Senior programmers Akira Nishitani and Noritaka Funamizu have a hand in ensuring that the game has a broad cast of characters and is more or less balanced. Along with the help of Capcom artists Akiman, Bengus and Sensei, the game looks and plays like nothing before. Street Fighter II is released in 1991 and becomes a global phenomenon.

The reason that SF II became such a hit was not solely due to timing or design. Having Akira, Yoshiki and Noritaka working on the project, collaborating and revising was possibly the most important thing going into the development. It is something that most gamers fail to recognize, the team that put the game together. Each of these men brought with them their own experience, their influence and their own vision. Their favorite characters, art styles, cartoons, movies and games pushed them in a certain direction. They didn't come up with Street Fighter II by pure chance. When combined with one of the greatest art teams in videogame history the end result was something for the history books. After Street Fighter II each person individually was responsible for pushing the genre forward. 

Akira Nishitani left Capcom to start up developer ARIKA, one of his first titles was Street Fighter EX. He was the first person to push Street Fighter into 3D. He went on to work on other titles like Final Fight for the GBA and Endless Ocean but his largest mark in videogames was SF II and SF EX. Yoshiki Okamoto remained at Capcom until 2004. In that time he worked on many games. His fighting games alone account for a good portion of the genre including Street Fighter Alpha 3, Rival Schools: United by Fate, Pocket Fighter, Darkstalkers 3, Street Fighter III: Double Impact, SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium, SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Street Fighter EX 2 Plus. Of the original three big men Noritaka Funamizu created the most unique legacy.

Although he had the biggest hand in SF II, Mr. Funamizu found it difficult to work on SF III without his colleagues. Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto had moved on years before. Takashi's King of Fighters with their unique tag-team system and cast of fan favorites and new faces had become a true rival to Street Fighter. Akira Nishitani was unavailable to help with the development of SF III as he had also left Capcom. Noritaka seemed short on time and experience as only he and Yoshiki reamined at Capcom. Creating a true SF III required the input and vision of many, if he could not deliver a perfect game then it would be a strike to the series. It seemed as if Noritaka was between a rock and a hard place. That is when he realized that rather than go forward into uncertain territory, rather than push for a SF III without his colleagues he could instead take the series back in time and explore unique possibilities. He decided to set a game between the original and second SF titles. This game would also include visuals inspired by the highly-popular SF II Animated Movie. In addition to SF and SF II characters Noritaka even include characters from Final Fight as well as some new faces. He then presented the characters in a highly-stylized fashion by making the sprites appear just like the art of Capcom great Bengus. The mix of classic characters, large, beautifully animated sprites and well-balanced gameplay helped make Street Fighter Zero: Warriors Dreams a success. Noritaka made the impossible, possible, a successful follow-up to Street Fighter II without it being called III. He succeeded in the genre by making a love letter to the fans of the series. It was also an homage to his colleagues at Capcom and even those that no longer worked there. Mr. Funamizu's legacy had many stages yet to go. He would go on to make a sequel to Street Fighter Zero even better than the original. Then he moved on to various other types of fighters like X-Men vs Street Fighter, Rival Schools: United by Fate, Pocket Fighter, Darkstalkers 3, Star Gladiator, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Street Fighter III: Double Impact.

For a moment we shall overlook the Tomoshi Sadamoto produced Street Fighter III. It did not gel with audiences even though the mechanics, animation and control were light-years ahead of the competition. The best we can do isspeculate that cultural differences in the character designs and a failing US arcade industry were part of the reason why it was not as popular as SF II or SF Zero. What is important is to note that during this period the biggest movers in the genre were from outside of Capcom. Arc System Works, SNK, Namco, Konami, SegaSammy and Taito have all released fighters achieving a popular following and longevity in the arcade and consoles. In that time Capcom scaled back and eventually closed down their 2D wing and ignored fighting game titles. Gamers were critical of Capcom using the same sprites across several titles, showing a lack of innovation in the genre they defined. The cancelled game Capcom Fighting All-Stars and poorly received Capcom Fighting Jam / Fighting Evolution looked like the final nails in the coffin. By 2004 Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Funamizu had left Capcom. The last senior SF designers had left the building and Capcom believed the series was finished.

In an interview with EGM, Yoshinori Ono the producer of SF IV explained that he had to work hard to get Capcom interested in resurrecting the franchise. This was surprising as gamers all over the world very much still enjoyed the series. Mr. Ono also let the community know that the game would be rendered in 3D but take place strictly in a 2D battlefield. Since the announcement fans have devoured every bit of news there was. Many were surprised that it would take place before III and even that the original SF II cast would return. Since January 2008 Capcom has announced one new character to the lineup every month. The new characters caused some concern within the community because some looked out of place, not at all as timeless as previous SF designs. Fans began demanding that Capcom get it right. Unfortunately they, themselves fail to recognize how different the SF "team" is now compared to the one that created SF II. If a Halo FPS shooter was developed by Microsoft but not by Bungie, fans would know and be able to point out the nuances that makes Halo play like Halo. The developer of SF IV is still Capcom and the mechanics seems to be identical to previous SF games but the internal team is completely different.

Fans fail to recognize that Mr. Ono has no senior members of the SF, SF II or SF III team to turn to for advice. The multiple points of view, the unique perspective that al of the producers had contributed is now gone. Those men have moved on, taking with them their influences, direction and vision. Even though the art team at Capcom is more or less the same, they have to create characters that fill his vision and contemporary fighting game design. The influence that Mr. Ono and the rest of his team draws from is completely different than it was 15 years ago. The movies, music, animation and games are completely different than those of the original teams. Some argue that the "golden age" of fighters has passed and that fighters today are only recycling ideas from each other. Purists would argue that there hasn't been a truly original fighting game since SF II. Seeing the similarities between the newest characters added to the lineup; C. Viper, Abel, El Fuerte and Rufus and characters featured in King of Fighters, Virtua Fighter and Tekken would validate that claim. Some of the modern ideas may not be bad but the martial arts influence of the SF series and fighting game in general seems to be weaker now. The biggest influence these days seems to come from anime and street culture rather than modern warriors.

A critic can point to Mr. Ono's resume as proof that he is going to ruin the franchise. Mr. Ono has worked on Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes, Street Fighter III: Third Strike and Capcom Fighting Evolution. None of those games were as popular or successful as earlier SF titles. Marvel vs Capcom was very fantastic, over-the-top and not what fans expect in a SF game. Worse it was loosely balanced and featured sprites pulled from different titles, making it appear rushed to market. SF III Third Strike is considered the weakest in the SF III updates because it introduced many nonsensical characters into the engine. Mr. Ono was put in charge of the CFE project because the original producer left. Even though he was tasked to finish someone else's game his name was still attached to it. So when it debuted to harsh reviews he was the scapegoat. The man that has been associated with the weakest fighting games released by Capcom seems to be flubbing the development of SF IV. Or is it possible that players are putting too much stock into what he should be doing rather than is doing?

The truth is that Mr. Ono is one of the very few people in the industry actually pushing to keep the genre going. In Japan the arcade industry is still alive and fighting games are worth investing in. The west no longer has a strong arcade presence and seems to have moved on to sandbox and FPS titles exclusively. Even Capcom, who once cornered the market on fighting titles, no longer believed that it was worth their time or money to resurrect the franchise. Without the constant pushing from Mr. Ono then chances that a new Street Fighter game, in any form, would never have happened. We should be thankful that at least one person at Capcom still believed in the series and had the same hopes of long-time fans. Street Fighter IV may not be perfect when it is released but if history has taught us anything it is that no Street Fighter game is ever perfect out of the gate. It usually takes a revision or two before it actually hits its stride. We can be assured that there will be a SF IV Turbo or Hyper in the works right after the first sells a million units. From now until that time people should be mindful that Mr. Ono is just one man, well-meaning but not omnipotent. He does not have the luxury of working with three or four other people who have each produced a SF title. He can't pick their brains, bounce ideas off of them or see his title with a fresh pair of eyes. He is going to create a SF game that meets his expectations and influences. Like Noritaka before him, he dares not to go forward in time but instead tries to connect the events between two previous SF games. Giving fans the characters they know and like with an additional plot. That type of thinking worked once for Capcom and he is hoping it will work again. The least a gamer could do is cut him some slack. The most they could do is try to understand the dilemma he is in. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't give the people a new Street Fighter.

Welcome back friends. I bet you thought I was going soft, playing the devil's advocate and all. I should be doing that, should be more even-handed with my coverage of the news. But it turns out that only my friends read these rants so the best I can do is preach to the choir. The real movers and shakers in the online community are actually people that post on forums. That is something that I don't do very often because things can get out of hand quickly over there. Besides, the last time I checked I wasn't as much a ballyhooed journalist as I was an opinionated rant-type-guy. To ask me to tone down the one-sidedness and post more articles like the Devil's Advocate would be like asking my friend Adriel to stop slathering on the lard. It's impossible! Today I'm going to pick on the SF team again. Point out those odds and ends that they and gamers in general seem to miss.

It all started when SF IV project manager Natsumi Shiozawa mentioned on the Capcom blog that the team was busy at work bringing the characters to life. In order to really understand them they had to do their homework and go back through old material. Of course this also meant that Miss Shiozawa herself also had to learn as much about the games and characters as she could. She mentioned that some of the collection they turned to was rare and out-of-print. It is sad that Shinseisha, the publisher of many of the books went under, but sadder yet that the team had to turn to them for reference. Had their memory slipped that much or was it because they haven't produced a brand-new Street Fighter in such a long time? It makes me worry a little more about the team working on this title, it makes me worry about Yoshinori Ono. 

If you are working on a franchise title then you absolutely have to know as much about it as you can. You can't fake it and you can't cram that knowledge in over a weekend. You have to be aware of the subtleties of the characters, their control, timing and balance. Like Jai says you have to know the cultural relevance of the characters and the importance of great design. You have to keep an eye on new character development and be able to pick out what works for your game and what works for another. You have to know how the levels and music fit but most important you have to know what needs to be changed, combined or cut altogether. I'm not sure how Mr. Ono is approaching the task.

A few years ago I heard Eiji Aonuma speak at the GDC. He talked about his work for Nintendo and contributing on several Zelda games. He said that in order to achieve a Zelda-esque experience the team would have to suffer through the Shegeru Miyamoto test. Better known to the people inside Nintendo as "upending the tea table." The phrase itself came from an old Japanese idiom, that when the father of a household had reached his limit, his breaking point, he would show his dissatisfaction by flipping the table at home. He wouldn't give warning, he wouldn't say a word, he'd just flip that table over. From a cultural point of view it's unique to see how Japanese programmers approach the development cycle. We certainly wouldn't have a phrase that captures the same context as upending the tea table.

Mr. Aonuma said that Shigeru never actually flipped tables on his team but would do something comparable. Right as the team was nearing completion of the title Mr. Miyamoto would come in and completely change the direction of it. Just like the father figure, he wouldn't give warning, he'd just upend that table. It was then that the team had to learn their chops and figure out how to fix the game, where to make their cuts and what to add in order to make it a new game while still keeping the same classic themes. Mr. Aonuma knows that Miyamoto's approach to game design made him and everyone on the team all the better for it. The challenge of taking a character and game you know and love and making a new experience out of it is harder than it sounds. Mr. Aonuma said that he learned how to pile on the "trivial" production techniques to achieve the desired effect. At the same time he had to learn when to pile and when to take away. To establish a new theme in each game. This is something that he wanted all of the attendees to learn and be able to challenge themselves and their own teams with.

I appreciate that the new SF team is passionate about the game. Miss Shiozawa even painted her nails with SF characters for the AOU debut. It's great that they are referencing their legacy rather than making it up as they go along. At the same time I am a bit skeptical as to how they are approaching it. If they base their new game on notes from old game mooks then where is the evolution, where is the originality? During location tests they were surprised to see a number of foreign players showing up. In the surveys from those tests there were a large number of players in their late 20's and mid 30's. If they thought about the math they should have expected that type of turnout rather than be surprised by it. SF II came out 17 years ago, the original title 21 years ago. Those players, from all over the world, with fond memories of it are going to be over 30. You would think the SF team would have gone into production catering to a mature international crowd.

Mr. Aonuma started his career at Nintendo as a designer, a pixel designer. According to him he was not good at playing Zelda, he was better at text-based adventures. "The titles that didn't require skill." Thanks to his experience with Shegeru Miyamoto he learned many production techniques and ways to approach every title. I thought of Mr. Ono while remembering the lessons of Eiji and wondered how he was approaching Street Fighter IV. Was Mr. Ono flipping tables, was he collaborating or was he playing it safe and making a sequel "by the numbers." By bringing back the SF II cast and inserting popular character designs his title seemed to be very formulaic. Mr. Ono could be approaching this SF title in the way that every other studio would have, see where you've been and copy it.

Case in point. I said that Street Fighter needs a bad girl to balance Chun-Li. My friends here, the purists said Hokuto or Ibuki would work well in SF. But I decidedly said that the new girl has to be bad and the two choices I nominated were Poison or Dansu. These characters were way different than the Vice / Mature clone in SF IV. A designer with a more keen eye, somebody that doesn't just go for the obvious choice knows how to approach the cast. The "flipping the table" equation here is to put Dansu in the game (with some wardrobe changes) and let her represent Shadowlaw. A producer would let the fans rage about the choice online and in print. The thing they wouldn't see coming would be revealed after the game comes out. That is when it is revealed that Dansu is Poison. Poison was acting as a spy. The Madgear / Shadowlaw rivalry that was in SF Zero would return with this subtle turn. But I'm oversimplifying things. Just because I peg a character's look doesn't mean that her moves, balance and control have been figured out. That Dansu could bring back themes of Poison, with fancy backflips and knife slashes, while not being too obvious that it's her. Those are the things that separate a producer from a daydreamer. 

I defy you, the gamer, to invent a new SF character that fits all the conventions in the series. Think back to yesterday's rant. Think about all the influences that went into Street Fighter II. Surely there has to be a character floating out in the ether that would be a perfect fit for the cast. More important, would be a much-needed bad guy in the lineup. I sat and thought about it for a while. Then inspiration struck while thinking about the Capcom legacy, including that fat guy Rufus and how Sammo Hung was the template for fast, fat fighters. It wasn't the things that influenced SF, per say, but instead a shot that I had seen in Onimusha 3 that tied these things together. There is a part in the Onimusha trailer where the main characters engage in a sword fight. Samanosuke avoids three strikes by the boss by turning deftly. The swordplay in the footage at 2:57 reminded my very much of the fights in old kung fu films. As it turned out Donnie Yen choreographed the game cinema. Donnie as you may know is trained in kung fu and is also a big star in Hong Kong cinema. The Onimusha clip reminded me of an equally epic battle from an older Hong Kong film. The Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung movie "Project-A." It features an awesome battle against the villainous **** Wei. You can see it at about 4:19 into this clip. Very familiar to Onimusha wouldn't you say?

 

Imagine if you will if a character that looks just like San-Po were announced for SF IV. How would you have reacted to him? Even if you had never seen Project-A or known that the main actors were barely pulling any punches on the final battle, would he have left an impression with you? Would you have liked him more or less than the characters that have already been revealed? Would he make you think of characters that you've seen in the King of Fighters, Virtua Fighter or Tekken? Is his look a bit like Mortal Kombat or reserved enough that it isn't that hokey. Is it possible that you would have thought San-Po was too random to fit into SF? 

How can you create a character that really fits into the universe when all the great designs have been taken? 

The people that gave us SF II were way ahead of this blog. They saw the design of San-Po and a dozen other fighting films and broke it down to a basic level. The design team improved upon the look of the pirate by adding a mask and claws. They took the Chinese influence and mixed it with a Spanish matador. Bengus sealed the deal and gave the beautiful assassin claw-like fingernails, ornate gauntlets and a colorful paint job. These were the things that elevated him above a regular character, or someone pulled from a movie and instead made him memorable in the game universe. As great as San-Po would have looked in the lineup he wasn't perfect. But without San-Po chances are that the character Balrog (Vega in the US) would have just been a fighting paladin. I wonder if the new SF team is able to extrapolate characters in this way rather than just see what's trendy in arcade fighters and put them in SF IV.

I wonder if Mr. Ono and his team have thought that much about the series. Rather than just look through a bunch of old strategy guides have they spent time looking at the world that influenced SF II? Instead of pursuing a sequel on the superficial level are they approaching the game with a deeper understanding? When it comes to games that I really enjoy these are things that run through my mind. For me it's a daily habit. I may not write about it but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm thinking and obsessing about it. I know it's not normal behavior. It certainly can't be healthy but it's just the way I am. Now if you'll excuse me I have a table to upend. Let me know what you think in the comments section please.

As long as I'm making enemies I've decided to take apart that EGM exclusive this week as well take a good long look at Street Fighter. Check the local Best Buy if you can't find an issue for yourself because what I have to say is not kind. 

This is not Street Fighter IV. The pictures that you see here have nothing to do with Street Fighter IV. Don't let the title of the EGM exclusive fool you. What you are looking at is not a true sequel. It is a new Street Fighter game yes, but it is NOT a sequel. 

Yoshinori Ono spoke at great length about the game he is working on. EGM / 1UP's very own Shane broke the project down with great eloquence and gave us a reason to buy the wafer-thin magazine. There are many reactions that I have with the game, believe it or not the majority are good, however that name is sticking with me.

This is not Street Fighter IV.

Mr. Ono doesn't have much experience with the franchise. He only worked on latter SF Alpha and III releases. His resume also includes the cancelledCapcom Fighting All Stars, featuring such Street Fighter luminaries as the "Rebellion Feather" Rook, the "Eternal Ray" Ingrid and the "Crimson Thunder" D.D.

Yeah, if you don't remember them then don't worry. They were as forgettable as the game he was stuck with next. Capcom Fighting Jam. Ugh. The good news is that Mr. Ono holds the Street Fighter series in high regards, he doesn't want this game to fail in the eyes of fans both casual and hardcore. But as Shane says in his article "Ono's goal is simple: He wants it to be the second coming of Street Fighter II."

This is the thing that worries me, it is where Shane believes that audiences were lost with sequels because of "convoluted gameplay systems and unfamiliar characters." There is some truth to that but by focusing the energies of the team at Capcom into making the alleged SF IV, they are sticking too close to their best seller. So close in fact that this is almost a summation of fan service for SF II afficionados. When presented with the question of why go to 3D if the entire game is still presented on a 2D plane he says "The thought of making SF IV fully 2D did cross my mind, as it would preserve the traditional gameplay... Guilty Gear does a good job holding the torch for for traditional 2D fighters, and Capcom's upcoming high-def remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo has it covered for us... I don't want to brag, but if you look at Street Fighter III, we've pretty much done all that is possible with animated sprites... There's simply not much for us to learn from doing another 2D game."

Ouch. 

If that was the case then why go to all the trouble of creating brand new high-res sprites and rebalancing the entire engine for SF II HD? If it was a perfect game then it wouldn't need as much work. If he were confident in the series then he wouldn't be making his game so much like it. "As a nod to the fans, we're trying to get as many of the original SF II characters in the game as possible... SF III was a very great game, but we have our regrets about having a whole new roster of characters... We feel that we may have betrayed the audience we built up with SF II." Ono says of the characters "We really want to preserve the look from Super Street Fighter II Turbo but to also bring them up to date with modern times."

Shane does say that it seems like a revisionist history, since this game takes place between SF II and III. Despite the roman numeral and the 3D makeover, this game sounds more and more like another SF II redux. Or as I call it, SF II.5. Capcom knows a good thing when it sees it. SF IV may be on the label (for now) but this game is fanservice for SF II.

Can you tell me any other game out there that confuses sequel with remake? Even Final Fantasy can move on with whole new casts and entire new universes. Fans are never in an uproar because Cid acts like the contemporary to Ken and Ryu. He or she is the constant, the familiar name that weaves every FF together. Even with fans clamoring on and on about Final Fantasy VII, Square-Enix hasn't gone out of their way to revisit that game many times. We've seen at least 10 trips to SF II-land from Capcom. Not including the various sprite-rips used in VS titles. Add the forever-postponed SF II HD remix and now IV to the list of SF II do-overs. 

This is shameful.

Progression is the name of the game, or should be. There is a chance that SF IV is only the working title. Street Fighter Legends was the original title for SF Zero and before the game was Final Fight, it was called Street Fighter 89. If anything the game featured in EGM is the second-coming of Alpha and not a true IV. It is revisiting characters from II, III and possibly Alpha and is mixing up the controls for more balance. I'm saying it now, this is NOT Street Fighter IV, so don't get used to the number.

IV comes after III, the characters have grown a lot by then. But telling you what has happened in the universe would better be saved for another blog. For now I'd like to tell you what I think sounds great in this SF remake. 

Mr. Ono is approaching the game seeking more balance for both beginners and veterans. The new "Revenge" system isn't entirely that new of a concept for SF games. IN SF IV the Revenge move is an unblockable attack that can unleashed if your character takes a lot of hits during the game. About 10 years ago the 3D SF EX series also featured an unblockable strike as well that could dizzy your opponent. In SF III powered up special moves were also called EX attacks. Now the concept of the original EX game returns with the Revenge system. Mr. Ono then takes it a step further as expert gamers can use the Revenge meter, separate from the Super meter, to juggle opponents with SF III-like EX attacks. Beginning gamers wont be at the mercy of experts as they can also use the Revenge attack to counter an assault. 

Another thing that I respect Mr. Ono for is that although this game is slated to be online, he doesn't think it should feature the same wacky customization of Tekken or Virtua Fighter games. "The characters in this series are quite iconic, and everyone has a lot of respect for them... the idea of Ryu wearing a girl's sailor suit and a funny hat would kind of crush the SF memory we all know and love." Good for you Mr. Ono!

Right now the biggest sticking point for most fans are the graphics. Most people are talking about how ugly and unimpressive the graphics look. Even Shane says they weren't blown away by the graphics when they first saw them. He did notice that the characters had bulked up quite a lot. I'm not sure if I like the idea of seeing a beefier Dhalsim but it does harken back to the original Bengus drawings of the characters. They were always supposed to be very strong it's just the in-game muscles weren't as exaggerated as the drawings. It seems now they are. 

Mr. Ono has finally pushed Capcom to take Street Fighter into 3D. Yes, it will never be the same as the classics, but in this ay we can expect to see more timely updates as 3D models can be put together, animated and balanced much faster than a sprite.

What's more is that the game is very, very, very early in development. The only level for EGM to play on was the Chun-Li one. Mr. Ono said that level was only 50% done. There were many more details he wanted to add. Ken and Ryu were shaping out, Dhalsim was still lacking moves and Chun-Li was a sprite. It's what Mr. Ono said that gave me hope. According to him the game is only 2% done overall. If it plays as well as Shane says this early in development then the other 98% is going to be phenomenal.

You can expect the developers to keep going back and forth with the graphics, tweaking the filters until they find the right balance to achieve the graphics they want. Right now the game only looks slightly painterly, not quite like the teaser trailer and not like Okami at all. But given time they will find the balance between detail and style.

After a decade I think audiences can wait for Capcom to get this game right. Speaking of waiting, I'm writing this series so I can have some time to devote myself to the new NiGHTS. You can expect a review next week, once this series is over. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the beautiful mistake. How Capcom managed to create a legacy of memorable characters despite themselves. After all, Capcom is not infallible. They've laid a few bad eggs over the years ...

Timeless design is hard to come by, almost impossible, it is what all great games hope to incorporate and very few actually do. A classic character will live on long after their creator has passed away. It doesn't take 25 years to establish a legacy, some characters are classics from the get-go. Pac Man, Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog are examples of a character that nailed it early in their career. Today we're going to talk about the most classic of all fighting game characters, the cast from Street Fighter. 

Before most gamers even had a favorite Street Fighter the cast had gone through a long process. Some characters with many revisions, some lost forever to the scrap pile and some perfect from the first brushstroke. Most people think that the designers at Capcom are gifted, that the Street Fighters have always been dead-on fantastic characters. The truth is that some of the original designs were really quite bad. 

Thankfully the people at Capcom kept right on working until they were able to scrap together a handful of fighters. Just about the smallest balanced cast that could ever be assembled, each representing different styles and countries. The actual story behind the characters was the stuff of legend, whether players were aware of it or not. Some of the characters inspired by popular culture, animation or manga. Some simply drawn from thin air. In the end Capcom created something unique. It's a formula imitated dozens of times but never duplicated, not even by other Japanese studios. The most important thing to know, to commit to memory, is the way in which the programmers approached the fighters. 

Japanese culture, as many cultures in the East have a long and storied history with the martial arts. These arts go back thousands of years, many are based on real people many just legends connected to a myth, a sort of Asian equivalent to Beowulf. The martial arts are ingrained into their culture. It is in the music, the movies, the manga and anime of Japan. Like football and basketball can define some of US culture, so too does karate and judo hold sway in Japan. This is one of the things that many Western designers fail to grasp. Those in the west do not have the same connection to the martial arts, they have not been learning about them since childhood. They do not have legendary swordsmen from a feudal era to inspire them. No poems about warlords or sonnets based on bare-knuckled brawlers are in our libraries. At best a gunfighter would be our comparable archetypes. People like Doc Holiday and Billy the Kid would be the closest we would get to martial heroes and villains. Lord knows I would love to make a gun-fighting game as a contemporary to Street Fighter, but I digress. The best fighting games come from Japan for a reason, they are the cradle of modern martial arts.

As influential as SF II was, it itself was influenced by manga, anime and cinema, but most important by actual martial artists. The character we associate closest with SF, Ryu, is based on a real man Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama. Everything in the life of Mas was something from a comic book, he lived and worked harder than any martial artist before. His techniques were and are considered extreme and psychotic. Things like 100-man fighting tournaments, isolating himself in the mountains and training under icy waterfalls. His path was destined for martial arts immortality as he was a legend while still alive. 

A Korean immigrant, Mas Oyama studied various forms of martial arts and Karate in Japan, travelled abroad in search of new challengers and spent his life trying to master the fighting arts. By the same template, Ryu is one of mysterious origins (where are his parents? is he really Japanese or a Japanese-Korean?), travels the world seeking new challanges and learning from the best. In the original Street Fighter, Ryu would put on breaking demonstrations not unlike the kind Mas Oyama did. Mas was said to have incredible strength and conditioning. He could slice the necks off of bottles, knock out opponents and kill bulls with a single punch. Thus earning him the nickname "Godhand." The name Ryu translates to dragon in Japanese, thus a mythological character as well. Both Mas and Ryu represent the physical, mental and spiritual peaks of their form of karate. To think that Ryu is too well-rounded as a fighter, or too exaggerated and muscular to be an actual karateka would be an insult to how massive Mr. Oyama was as a young man.

Of course this is where the legend of the martial arts begins to spill over and influence the direction of the entire Street Fighter cast. Ryu wanders the path of a warrior, always seeking a new challenge because somewhere out in the world is a warrior greater than he. Perhaps a style that he can learn from and a master willing to teach. This relates to Mas as he recounts the time he was humbled by an old Taiji master. Ryu faces one such fighter in the original Street Fighter, his name is Gen and the character returns several times in the mythology of the series. Gen is a great kung-fu master suffering from tuberculosis. He is said to have taught some forms of kung fu to other Chinese SF characters Chun Li, Yun and Yang. Gen was inspired by Huo Yuanjia a man who suffered from the same condition and was immortalized in the Jet Li movie Fearless and Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury / the Chinese Connection. Huo, Mas and others like Bruce Lee are the foundation for the modern legends of the martial arts. They have influenced the development of Street Fighter more than any mythological character.

There have been many films with legendary masters and tournaments from around the world. The one where we can easily identify a majority of fighters and styles that ended up in the SF mythos would have to be the Master of the Flying Guillotine. This movie featured the best fighters from around the world competing in a secretive trounament. Most of the archetypes were there. The female Chinese master who was as good as any man (Chun-Li), an arrogant Muay Thai fighter (Adon), a super strong wrestler (Zangief) and even amystical Indian with the odd ability to stretch his limbs (Dhalsim). This movie was so influential that it undoubtedly inspired Mortal Kombat as well. The team at Capcom figured out which archetypes worked best and how they could achieve greater balance by adding more unique (or slightly racist) charactersand combining them into a plot with more drama than just a fighting tournament.

With all the information available on Street Fighter, it amazes me how ignorant many die-hard players are on the origins and inspiration. When Capcom seeks feedback for a project like SF II HD or even Street Fighter IV, there are hundreds of gamers trying to put in their own imaginary character designs and plot points. Gamers in forums try to push for a daughter of Ryu versus nephew of Sagat or Violent Ken or Evil Mel (son of Ken). As you can imagine, many of these ideas come from fan fiction, misinformation or plots lifted from the Star Wars trilogy. 

Ryu had to face his own evil self in the Alpha series of games, not unlike Luke Skywalker had to battle his dark self in the Star Wars movies. Therefore most western gamers assume that every character in the series has an evil half they must defeat lest they become servants of the "dark side." A majority of these gamers expect Capcom to make these imagined characters real, to connect these invented plot points. Worse yet, some do not equate the martial arts history with the characters they represent. Yoga, kung fu, karate and boxing are not disciplines as much as the characters themselves have some sort of super power. A good number of gamers think of the Street Fighters like mutants or super heroes, they were born with magical abilities. They don't imagine people like Ryu actually existing at one time, training in the mountains and taking on challengers from over the world. How the "fireball" is symbolic of the fighters inner strength or "chi" made manifest as a form of visible energy. Many programmers just assume that a fighting game character needs projectile attacks without ever questioning how chi is energy that can turn a punch into a killing blow. This is where the philosophy and history behind the martial arts is lost on a culture that has no native martial arts tradition.

My message to those gamers is "don't make the mistake of throwing plots and invented characters of Capcom." If you do not know your history, where a character comes from, how the character fits into the world, what style they represent or even the foundations of good writing and mythology then STFU. You can't just think up random characters and throw them in to see what happens, SF will become just like every other game if they approach the design in that careless way. Capcom has made enough mistakes already, they don't need any help screwing up their games. As wonderful and universally accepted as the Street Fighter II cast was, the Street Fighter III characters failed to make an impact with audiences. Why was this and what were the lessons learned? 

When I started this series I mentioned how hard it was to create timeless designs, near impossible. The majority of game characters are easily forgotten and they really have to stand out if they want to last. Street Fighter II got many things right, some by sheer luck, others by timing. So what happened with Street Fighter III? Why didn't the cast gel as great as the previous lineup?

Just like the previous game, there were a lot of characters that were horrible. Take a good look at the designs above. The only one that was really fleshed out was the twisted up guy, he eventually became Necro. But the rest were quite bad. Even if Bengus did pencil many of the designs they were destined for the scrap pile. It seemed that for every good design there were four lousy ones. Imagine how had it must have been to try and guess what the global fan reactions would be if one character got in over another?

Characters do not exist in a vaccum. They have to come from somewhere and have to impact the world they are created in. These were the problems with latter SF III designs, characters had less time in the incubator. Overly Japanese-influenced characters made their way into the series and detracted from its global appeal. Previous Street Fighter characters were more or less neutral in terms of design. Latter characters were based on Japanese pop culture, if you didn't "get" where they came from then those characters seemed odd and out of place. Suffice to say contemporary characters spoiled the legacy. 

Many of the characters in SF III did have some classic styling and they didn't seem out of place at all. Dudley, Alex, Yun & Yang were characters had that same universally accepted feel and design of the characters in SF II. Anyone could tell we had a boxer, a wrestler and two kung fu fighters. Most gamers call these designs "playing it safe" but they have to for a reason.

Remy, Makoto, Q and Necro were characters that didn't seem to be fully thought-out when they were added to the SF universe. At first Makoto does seem traditional, however her look and move selection seem heavily borrowed from Akane' a character from the Ranma 1/2 game on the Super Famicom. The uppercut and dash punch animations are presented in comparison below. Those that remember the game notice some striking similarities with the characters. Of course you had to have known something of the anime to pick up on the gag.

Street Fighter II featured a good cross section of styles and characters that didn't lean in one direction or another, Street Fighter III was saturated with Japanese pop culture. Remy did not look like a fighter at all. Yes he had a certain cool-factor, but his design was very J-pop / metrosexual, he seemed better suited for King of Fighters games rather than Street Fighter. Remember when I mentioned in the last blog that designers in fighting games have a tendency to give projectile moves to characters just because rather than as a sign that they have martial arts training? How was a skinny guy with long hair supposed to have the same moves as the military strongman Guile? 

Q made no sense at all, was he a cyborg or perhaps a super-powerful man in a suit? In case you didn't know, Q was heavily inspired by Japanese science fiction heroes (Henshin) as old as those featured in the original 1960 Astro Boy series. Television characters like robot detective Keiji and as recent as Ginrei "The Mysterious Iron Mask" from the Giant Robo anime' series look very similar. If you didn't grow up with these shows then you'd have no idea what Q is about. Only Japanese gamers know for sure, other gamers aren't so sure. Whereas a gamer anywhere in the world would recognize that Zangief and Birdie were heavy hitters because they looked the part. There was no cultural bias there, massive characters with muscles don't need translation.

There were three releases of SF III, known collectively as the World Impact series. Aside from the problems with character design there was also not as much emphasis on global archetypes, or real world warriors. SF III had a very heavy Brazilian theme, and while Brazil is unique and possesses a native martial art, the majority of martial arts do not come from this continent. Sean is from Brazil but has moves inspired by Ken and Ryu. In case you don't get the "inside joke" here's a heads-up. The special uppercut move is literally translated as "Rising Dragon Fist" in Japanese it is pronounced Shoryuken. Ryu and Ken are the main characters and one translates to fist and the other dragon, all they were missing was a character named Sho, err, rather Sean. SeanRyuKen... pretty clever eh? 

Didn't think so.

Elena is an African that uses capoeira. Capoeira is a form of fighting invented by Brazilian slaves hundreds of years ago. Elena's move selection and animation did not represent the style to its full potential, nor did it work in the context of Street Fighter III. There were plans to have a capoeira character in SF II but that character was cut. Perhaps designers should have studied more of the move selection and styles of capoeira before they crafted Elena. Zumbi, pictured below right, is one of the characters featured in the game Capoeira Fighter. While not as fluid a player has a better sense of the uniqueness of capoeira in CF.

It is not known if the characters Oro and Yun were an homage or a parody of real persons. Oro, a Brazilian, is most likely inspired by Brazilian Helio Gracie. Helio is the founding father of the Gracie form of Jujitsu, known the world over by its precise locks and trapping techniques. Although he no longer competes in tournaments, the elderly Helio can always be spotted leading the procession of Gracie fighters in global competitions.

Yun is most likely based on longtime pro skater Kien Lieu, formerly with Dynasty skateboards. Yun's long ponytail, skateboard, cap and even Puma sneakers can be linked directly to Kien. Yun was given a brother that used inline skates. It is highly unlikely that SF III designers really knew enough about skate culture as to mix those forms of "action sports" but rather did so simply to ride the pop trend. It is well documented that skateboarding has traditionally had a bias against inline skating.

As if there wasn't already a cultural bias and a geographical emphasis weighing down SF III there were also redundant characters hurting the title. Sean follows the popular Shotoclone Ken and Ryu model. We have seen this model as the basis for Gouki, Dan and Sakura in previous games. The game hardly needed another character with the same moves. With the rubbery Necro in the game why add the shape-shifter 12? The boss Gill was very unique, however odd-looking he was. There was a reduced need for the Urien character. 

Fighting game aficionados would say that the redundant characters have a place in the universe because they play uniquely, employ different strategies and there are other noticeable differences aside from appearance. Serious competitive players they know the idiosyncrasies of these characters and would rank top-tier characters accordingly. They might argue that what I see as redundant is rather a character designed for competitive players or die-hard fans looking to breath new life into the aging franchise. At the same time, this type of dedicated mentality scared off many casual gamers as none of the characters was truly unique or understandable.

Street Fighter III had many obstacles to overcome if it was going to be as successful as SF II. In addition to decidedly Japanese character designs and complicated play mechanics, the plot itself seemed borrowed from a weaker fighting game franchise. It can be argued that the character Gill and the premise of a diety trying to take over the world was lifted from the World Heroes series by ADK. In that game, a powerful-alien character named Geegus would challenge the player that had managed to defeat the greatest fighters in history. Geegus was superior to the player in every way, he was humanoid whose final stage would raise the themes of the ragnarok / armageddon. This character also had a contemporary in the series named Dio. Think of the relationship and similarities between Gill and Urien. 

Geegus, and Neo Dio from World Heroes 2, were introduced in 1993 and 94 respectively. Street Fighter III came out in 1997. The plot of SF III and the character of Gill share several things in common with the World Heroes plot and their boss characters. There are enough similarities with the overall presentation that tie the characters Dio and Gill together. 

In all fairness it is difficult to pen a completely original plot or design a completely original character. Classic characters, plots and themes are thousands of years old. Millions of games, books, comic books, manga, anime and movies have come out depicting every shape and size of a hero and villain. Mythologies exist in every continent and any similarities in games can be coincidence. 

However the designers at Capcom should have taken a good look at the other fighting games and tried to figure out what they could incorporate into SF III to make it stand apart. A heavy Brazil context, overtly Japanese pop-culture character designs, tricky parry system, boss reminiscent of Dio and redundant characters were many things that prevented SF III from being as successful as SF II. I'm not even talking about how the US arcade industry was on the decline and the CPS-3 system was laborious to program on.

When it was announced that there would be a Street Fighter IV the battle lines were drawn immediately. Die-hard tournament players had their list of demands, casual gamers wondered if the control scheme would be as confusing as SF III, fanboys wanted a million characters with VS-style combo pornography, veterans wanted a return to the basics, tight control and a handful of characters. There was no way Capcom was going to appease everybody. The main argument being what do we want versus what do we need? A want and a need are two distinct things. We all want Street Fighter to remind us of the good old days, what we really need is a fantastic genre-defining game that raises the bar. This is the battle between fanservice and originality. Which would Street Fighter IV cater to? Is there a balance?

"Is there a balance between fanservice and originality?"

Interestingly enough there is! If you need a prime example then look no further than Street Fighter Zero / Alpha. Many of you might be thinking "hey wait a minute, didn't you say that contemporary Japanese design killed Street Fighter? SF Alpha looks more Japanese than any SF ever!"

You would only be half right.

The presentation of Alpha is more anime than any previous title, but take a good look. There was not a game before that approached the fighters in such a stylized manner or presented the characters in the exact look of the Bengus concept art. The look was definitely anime but the game was not cartoonish or pretentious. It did not pretend to incorporate a Brazilian theme or kitschy Japanese-retro characters and call itself the global impact. Even better the characters were all universal and the mechanics were better than any SF title at the time. 

Very few of the characters in the game were original, the majority of the cast was pulled from previous SF games and even Final Fight, how's that for fanservice? The producer could not have created SF III knowing full well that many members of the original team had left for SNK and ARIKA. Instead he gave fans a game that tied SF, SF II and Final Fight together. It connected the loose ends and created many more possibilities. The game itself was very tight and the balance was amazing. SF Alpha works because it catered to our needs as much as our wants. There was a character for everyone and all fell within that classic design that I've been harping on about for three days plus it had all the moves and evolution we've come to expect from Street Fighter. What Alpha did not claim to be was a true sequel to SF II. It was never meant to be III but rather an interim game to appease fans while the third was being worked on. Unfortunately this would go on to curse the franchise. After Alpha fans demanded fan service on every sequel rather than new characters. This was a reason why SF III received a lukewarm reception and eventually Chun-Li returned to appease fans. One of the hardest parts of the equation is designing a new cast that will go over with fans as much as the SF II or Alpha lineup. 

In the past 15 years there has been only three non-Capcom games to get the classic design of SF down perfectly and almost match the game mechanics. These games even featured a cast of characters that were interchangeable with the SF universe. If you don't remember they were Buriki One and Garou Mark of the Wolves by SNK and Street Fighter EX by ARIKA. None of the games mentioned got the control and balance exactly like the SF series but their character design was spot-on. I dare say these games had a more diverse and appealing cast than SF III's original lineup. We can start with Garou MotW because it was the first fighting game unlike traditional SNK fighters. 

The SNK style of fighter is the super-powered metrosexual that I abhor. If you're not a feathery-haired pretty boy in tight leather pants then you can't be in an SNK game. Simple as that. Garou MotW broke tradition by taking a page from Capcom, SF Alpha to be precise. It's sprites were large and bold, designed in an exaggerated Bengus-like style with disproportionate hands and feet and large muscles. The characters were a good cross section of styles and martial artists with diverse backgrounds. Remember that Blanka and Dhalsim were also unique fighters that didn't fit the traditional mold but worked in the SF universe? In Garou there was a SWAT officer, masked wrestler and a modern-day pirate that were odd-but-believable fighters. By taking cues from Capcom, Garou helped set itself apart from other SNK games and become a little-known classic. But it was a rare 3D SNK game that came even closer to designing modern Street Fighter characters better than Capcom.

I said previously that many of the SF III characters were universally designed, "safe" as many people call them. However they were lacking a certain je ne sei quois. SNK had a 3D title set in a fictional fighting tournament called Buriki One. There was a good cross-section of styles, something that most players had already seen in a dozen other titles. However what worked here, what none of the other games got quite right, was the caricatures of the practitioners and their styles. 

When I started this series I mentioned how Mas Oyama was the template for Ryu. But the world had grown a lot since the 50's. We'd seen the rise of several generations of martial arts legends both on the screen and in the ring. Names like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris proved there could be crossover success. Just between the first Street Fighter and the most recent the world had become aware of the phenomenon known as mixed martial arts. Pride, K-1 and UFC were showcasing modern gladiator combat and forever changing the mind of the world. The back-alley secretive tournaments that SF was based on now seemed the stuff of comic books. The world was eager to see how a SF-type game would work with characters inspired by the modern fighters.

Buriki One was set deep within the SNK universe as Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting / King of Fighters fame appeared. Ryo was a little older and wiser from his previous games and had assumed the moniker of "Mr. Karate" previously given his father. The cast was inspired by modern fighters, the title character was named Gai Tendo. Gai was a flamboyant fighter, colored hair, bright shorts and a unique grappling style. He was not the reserved type or traditional fighter that you'd normally see headlining a game. He definitely wasn't Ryu, but he did represent a whole new generation of fighter.

Gai Tendo was most likely based on Kazushi Sakuraba. A fighter with a flair for the dramatic that has built his reputation by humbling the famous Gracie family. Incidentally, rather than create a Gai clone to balance him out SNK, like Ken is to Ryu, they created a Royce Gracie-like grappler named Jacques Ducalis... does he look familiar?

Over in the USA wrestling had reached its peak in popularity. Bald bad**** were en vogue. The Buriki version of Bill Goldberg was named Patrick Von Hayting.

For actual Olympic wrestling there was a Russian strongman named Ivan Sokolov. Undoubtedly inspired by the best pound-for-pound wrestler ever,Alexander Karelin. The boxer of the game, Rob Python had tons of attitude and most likely based on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. These were the archetypes that current audiences could identify with. Classic SF designs now seemed very passe by comparison. However there were many problems with Buriki One. The graphics were horrid, featuring large and clumsy polygonswhen other 3D fighters at the time were very polished. The Neo Geo has never been a good system for 3D games but Buriki was just miserable in that format. A shame too because there was some great potential in the gameplay and superb character designs. 

What Street Fighter IV could use, the actual sequel not the II.5 version they are showing off in EGM, is to take a page from what worked in rival games and make them better. Find the things that worked in the previous SF games and make them better. It could start by finding the characters that most people identify with and building from there. Gamers in general are forgiving on the mechanics as long as the characters belong and are balanced. The Garou and Buriki designs were amazing and could have worked in the SF universe with some more tweaks. These characters were designed very closely to a real style and person. Of course there are a handful of people out there who'd want to see a SF version of Fedor Emelianenko / Butter Bean / Kimbo Slice / Tank Abbot as much as any Buriki fighter. Careful attention has to be taken to remove any identifiable features from the characters before they are included in a game else we'd end up in the M. Bison / Mike Tyson debacle in SF II.

In order to make them work for SF they would have to become even more exaggerated, bigger, stronger, faster versions of the styles they represent. For some this comes in the way they are presented. For example by wrapping a story around them. Take Guile, he is a brawler but with military training. This makes him more dangerous than a street thug. It doesn't matter if you were born in Japan, the US or Europe, just by looking at his flag tattoo, camouflage pants and combat boots, you knew a lot about him. Of course it would be blasphemy to incorporate characters from Buriki or Garou into Street Fighter. Which brings me to the crux of the designs that got it right. This is none other than ARIKA's Street Fighter EX. I'm going to cheese off a lot of fans by saying that Capcom should bury the hatchet and include EX characters in future versions of Street Fighter including this upcoming one. 

ARIKA was founded by a SF II designer and programmer Akira Nishitani. However there was, and I assume still is, some bad blood between Capcom and ARIKA. Getting the SF EX games produced was an uphill battle as many within the studio and management preferred to keep things in 2D, this meant they had to petition the powers that be to get the license to do characters in 3D. Not only that but there were many senior SF II Capcom employees working on the title in addition to those that jumped ship for ARIKA. Capcom thought there might be more temptation to leave if the game became a hit. Even after SF EX was released there were legal stipulations that prevented the characters from turning up in any other title, with the exception of Fighting Layer. Neither studio could lay claim to the other's characters and hence sequels could not be made without reaching a new agreement. Needless to say Capcom and ARIKA never reached a new agreement.

Another reason for the bad blood was that ARIKA's game had perfect dopplegangers of the SF universe. Remember that Capcom is not keen on copycat games? Just like SF II there was some real martial arts inspiration here. Allen Snider was the "Ken" character but his styling was inspired in part by both Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. In addition to their own Ken and Ryu-clones, SF EX also had their own Zangief in Darun Mister and a Chun Li called Pullum Puruna. They also included their own military agent, D. Dark, their own oddball, Skullomania and even their own maniacal tyrant, Shadow Geist and Gouki-like demon, Garuda. Of course the moves assigned to each was a unique take of classic SF II moves but with the forethought of how they would look in 3D. They were a breath of fresh air for players and didn't stray too far from the classic SF II formula without it being... SF II. 

Sadly the game was slow and unbalanced. Latter versions began to lean toward the same character design problems that plagued SF III, they began to borrow too much from Japanese pop culture. For example take Skullomania's henshin, Kamen Rider roots. EX would get passed on by the majority of gamers. At the same time Capcom seemed like a petty tyrant for trying to control the development of a game that in the end would treat like a bastard stepchild. The saving grace of the title was it being the first to put SF in 3D, the EX stun hit, , cancel out of supers, cancel out of combos, multiple-level supers and great character designs. If you read the EGM exclusive then these things all sound familiar. The seeds for SF IV were planted in EX.

But is that all Capcom needs to learn about their franchise? Just take a bunch of EX characters and mechanics and stick them in SF IV?

It's just one possibility but Capcom needs to be more aware of their own history. They do not have to keep reinventing the wheel or grasping for straws when a new SF is announced. If they need wrestlers in the next SF-legacy game then they need to look no further than Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters, which featured wrestlers as diverse as the original SF II lineup. If Capcom needs to introduce the next generation of fighters to the world then include characters from Rival Schools, who pretty much were the second coming of Ryu and company. Final Fight has a massive library to pick from and best of all, the three series' mentioned all fall within Capcom IP and the SF universe

This is where we as gamers must make the distinction. Do we want to see a new numbered Street Fighter or do we want to see an Alpha type game? Judging by what I've seen on forums the majority demand a lot of fanservice. Most gamers, casual or otherwise want an Alpha-type game. Hardcore gamers want to see an actual numbered sequel with not many familiar faces aside from Ken and Ryu. Now reread the EGM exclusive of SF IV, what type of SF game does this look like to you? Which gamer do you think Capcom is listening to?

This is not Street Fighter IV, this is the second coming of Alpha.

This is not a bad thing, just my observation. I don't doubt for one second that it will sell faster than any fighting game in recent history. I've already put my quarter on the cabinet, I'm already planning to buy a console for this title if I don't already own it. If Capcom were to put the one, unfinished level of SF IV that EGM played, with Ken and Ryu on Xbox live for $5 they would recoup the cost of development and then some. It would hold fans over for months as they learned all the intricacies of the new Revenge system. Fans would be appeased and that monkey would be off of Capcom's back... but this still doesn't make it IV.

When the real Street Fighter IV is finished, perhaps five years from now, we'll all be ready for it. Until then let's hope they get this one right.

Let's jump into the topic at hand, the newest Street Fighter character Rufus, where he came from and when is he leaving? Okay, so maybe Capcom wants him to be around for a while longer but let's take a good look at chubbo and figure out his design cues...

I've been on a kick these last few months drawing comparisons between the new characters in SF IV and how they look just like characters from other fighting games, most notably the competition. Granted I've also said that it's near impossible to design a completely original character, especially for a fighting game because all of the templates have been used already. At their peak the design team at Capcom could not be beat, competitors were sometimes subtly or blatantly stealing designs. It seems now that the shoe is on the other foot. The best Capcom can do now is design a character that doesn't step on too many toes all while trying to reboot their franchise. They haven't managed to do that as gamers are likening the new characters to what we've seen in King of Fighters, Virtua Fighter and now Tekken.

But to argue C. Viper is Mature, El Fuerte is El Blaze and Rufus is Bob would be ignorant of gaming history. Rufus (such an awful name!) is part of a legacy of morbidly obese fighting game characters that were nimble. He might have been based on a long line of fat bald guys with long braids like Wong Who, Won Won and Wong from the Final Fight series. These characters, some based on Chinese mythology, have been in games since the days of Buchu in Yie Ar Kung Fu. This precedence doesn't excuse the character Rufus or Capcom for their poor showing of new characters.

As much fantasy as the SF series has so too does it have a certain level of realism. The main problem with Rufus, as with Bob from Tekken, is that they both break our suspension of disbelief. It was part of my argument when I was deconstructing Abel that Capcom has to carefully balance what the characters can and can't do and animate that accordingly. Bob and Rufus have great girth but seem to have no mass behind it, as if they were made of jello. Rufus bounces all over the screen with the speed and dexterity of Chun-Li. A living Gummi Bear seemingly with no skeleton and no muscle, just jello. When was the last time you saw anybody as large moving as fast? How about ever? Bob and Rufus seem like pure oddball characters and not in a good way like Skullomania or Blanka. Bob and Rufus might exist exclusively for the sake of being silly. But if they were the new joke character, the new Dan, then why are we not laughing? Mr. Ono and his team keep putting funny visuals into SF IV but they are not getting to the punchline... So I'm here to call them on it.

Rufus, like many obese fighting game characters is inspired by the old kung-fu legends but also by pop culture. Conversely the look of those fat characters in anime and manga were actually inspired in part by living people. Rufus for example has some of the design cues from King Heart. King Heart was a villain in the Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star comic series. The character of King Heart has come up several times in videogame form. As you may know the Hokuto No Ken books did influence the development of Street Fighter and illustrator Tetsuo Hara even designed characters for the Capcom wrestling series Muscle Bomber. Tetsuo created a morbidly obese but very strong wrestler with Jumbo "Flapjack" aka Kimala the Bouncer. Kimala was a sort of King Heart for the SF universe. Why Capcom didn't put Kimala in SF IV rather than Rufus is beyond me. But if you follow your design notes carefully, if you know your wrestling history even, then you would find out where Rufus came from, where Tetsuo got Kimala from and even where Data East got Karnov from. 

There is a 70-80's hardcore wrestling legend known as Abdullah the Butcher. His grossly scarred forehead, obese frame, genie pants and ability to beat up opponents is the stuff of legend on multiple continents. He is a character that has such a powerful gimmick that it would be foolish for the Japanese not to create fighters inspired by him. As it turns out though Abdullah is a big and strong guy but unfortunately his also a slow fighter. There's no way that Abdullah could do any of the things that we see Bob or Rufus do. So where did this incredible speed associated with men-of-girth come from? As with many SF characters it's usually based on an old martial arts legend, or most recently by an actor in cinema.

Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung built a reputation by showing that fat actors can fight well. His comedic presence, strong charismatic figure, amazing dexterity and memorable battles are the reason why the fat fighter hasn't waned in popularity (at least in Japan). Sammo has been in the business a long time, he's even shown that age hasn't slowed him down much. He is the template for which many overweight SNK characters come from. What the Japanese game designers do is take a cue from both Abdullah and Sammo and combine them. Make the character very obese and yet able to fight with amazing quickness. This is something that I find very unique from a cultural perspective. In Japan characters like Bob or Rufus might go over well but in the West we cannot separate the fat from the ability. In our minds the suspension of disbelief is broken when a fat guy can even jump. Take a look at our obese fighting game characters which are more gross and less dynamicwhen compared to Japanese characters. 

From a cultural perspective it is difficult for Mr. Ono to get anything less than anegative reaction when we see Rufus in the lineup. He seems to be joining a cast of characters "ripped from the headlines." This doesn't make us any better or worse to the designs, just culturally biased. The reaction to the other side of the Pacific is something that Mr. Ono should be mindful of. We are responsible for a large chunk of the commercial success of Street Fighter. The way the West perceives characters can help or hinder the potential for success. What happens when word of mouth gets out? "I was going to buy SF IV but then they started adding all these silly characters." Our cultural biases are part of the reason why our weekly sales charts and those featured in Famitsu don't match. Mr. Ono has to listen to how the world reacts to his character, not just Japan and make changes accordingly.

But I digress.

There is always room for a fat guy in the lineup provided he doesn't break the consistency of the series. Take for example some of SNK's biggest brawlers. Jack and Raiden, on the far left and right are respectively from the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury. They have some realism in their designs, be they back street brawlers or chubby pro wrestlers. They have powerful attacks which can bowl over smaller opponents but in general are much slower than the other characters in the series. Once AoF and FF had laid out what big people could and couldn't do it was easy to mix characters from both games into the King of Fighters. On the extreme side of things is Earthquake, pictured center. The title he appears in, Samurai Showdown, is based more on fantasy. Despite being one of the largest characters ever featured in a fighting game he was extremely nimble and quick. As gamers we accept this because he was a ninja. He wasn't just a gigantic fat dude with a weapon but an actual ninja. Even though the US doesn't have a ninja tradition we learned enough from comics and cartoons that ninjas are masters of deception. They are highly-trained assassins that can run on water, disappear in a puff of smoke, jump over walls and throw daggers with pinpoint precision. Earthquake's size is part of his deception, our mind tells us big and slow when in reality he is fleet of foot. This gives Earthquake a certain charm which also frustrates gamers that can't get over his size. However a character like Earthquake doesn't work well in the KOF series because the parameters of his game are different from the parameters of the other fighters. Fanservice be damned, the fantasy characters of SS and the realistic characters in AoF should never meet in anything other than a Mugen because they are impossible to balance. We can apply a similar eye to Rufus' inclusion in SF IV. Unless the game is built around ninjas, jedi or super-heroes we as gamers accept the big and slow rule as canon. If SF gets a new character then they have to fall within those parameters. 

The SF series has years setting the precedent as to what the characters can and can't do. The larger the character the slower they are, starting with E. Honda and going all the way up to Hugo. The same thing can be said for its 3D contemporary Virtua Fighter. The largest of the realistic athletes, sumo wrestlers E. Honda and Taka-Arashi can manhandle opponents in the digital world as they could in real life. Sumo wrestlers are not just fat dudes that push each other around. They condition themselves by lifting weights and training with other equally-massive men. If you look closely at the design of E. Honda you will notice that his arms aren't massive because he is fat but because he has a lot of muscle. In fact most of his upper torso and legs are well defined and muscular. Now take a look at how "soft" and cartoony Rufus is. The comparisons between him and Strong Sad are warranted.

This is where Rufus fails the legacy; there is no way one morbidly obese character is going to rewrite the history books. Even E. Honda, who has a mountain of muscle underneath his fat, cannot move with as much agility as Rufus. Like other large men he is instead slower and more pronounced with his attacks. So how is it that Rufus with absolutely no muscle definition, stumpy legs and arms even remotely do what he does? Unlike Abel and El Fuerte whose fighting style, athletic ability and background is more obvious, Rufus sticks out like a sore thumb. He is just a fat guy in a fighting game for the sake of being a fat guy in a fighting game. I haven't played as the character yet and most likely wont if he even makes it to the final build of the game.

Rufus is clearly not one of the Chinese villains from the Final Fight universe. He doesn't have the charm of Sammo or the brutality of Abdullah. His brightly colored uniform and odd ponytail are better suited for a Karnov or Double Dragon game. His girth doesn't even make sense as other SF character to-date have all been athletes, military or martial artists. I can find some redeeming quality in every new character introduced so far except for Rufus. I sincerely hope that Mr. Ono takes him back to the drawing board. I am a firm believer that if they return to basics then they should be okay. Don't just look at what everyone else is doing and go with the program. Capcom used to be the studio to beat, Street Fighter used to have the greatest fighting game characters ever. I know that Capcom still has the ability to introduce great characters into the series but part of that means never having to settle for the first character that comes to mind. Let's say that the designers are having a hard time coming up with new designs as timeless as the SF II cast. What are they to do then?

I've said it before and I'll say it again Capcom is sitting on an incredible IP legacy. Between the Street Fighter, Final Fight, Muscle Bomber and Rival Schools titles there are almost 200 characters to choose from. Why create Rufus when Wong Who or some other Mad Gear character could have filled that slot? This is something that is frustrating older gamers like myself to no end. There has been one new character announced for SF IV every month since January. None of the four shown have generated tremendous buzz. Will this trend continue through until the game is released? How many new lackluster characters do we have to wade through before we see a familiar face? Mr. Ono said that he wants to include as many SF characters as he can in IV. Although we have seen video of Sagat and M. Bison nothing official has been said by Capcom. Fans are wondering why Cammy and friends haven't been announced while we're instead staring at four new faces. Do you like what you see? If so yes, if not why not? If you have something to say you could post it in the comments section.

Now I have nothing against fat people, I'm a fat guy. I also don't have a problem with fat fighting game characters. In fact, I'd like to see more of them, provided that they are consistent with what has already been established in the series. Just the other day a new character was introduced for the boxing game Ready2Rumbe 3 Facebreaker. He's a fat boxing master named Steve Talking Head. The game is supposed to be cartoonish and over-the-top, so he makes sense in that lineup... Make of him what you will.

I've already spoken at length about the subject with my origins of Rufus blog. In case you don't want to read old news I'll sum up some of my gripes. A character like Bob from Tekken moves too quickly for a man of his girth. It's as if they did some motion capture moves and thought it would be funny if the animations were stuck on a fat character. It seems that Rufus is even larger than Bob yet seems to move faster. Maybe Rufus was inspired by strongman Gene Rychlak. He's also a big guy with wild hair and a trucker mustache that bench pressed a thousand pounds. Sure he's strong, but can he move fast? Is he flexible? I doubt it.

While thinking about this character I began wondering what it is that I don't like about Rufus. Smashbro mentioned that it could be the way obese people are demonized in US culture. But my issues are more about his speed, lack of muscle definition and seemingly weightless mass, not any bias against fat people. Marc lamented that he seems to be the only one on 1UP willing to try this game. I never said that I wouldn't play SF IV or that I wouldn't try out this character. In fact if there is a location test anywhere in the southland then I'll be there, getting in line and trying each character at least once. I'm also thinking about which console to pick up based on which will have a better joystick for the game. To think that I'll pass on a SF IV after waiting so long after III is absurd. Remember that I got the Wii for NiGHTS? Or the Xbox for Jet Set Radio Future? 

I've said that large characters tend to move slower in SF games, Rufus is contrary to that. Smashbro mentioned that the Japanese tradition of sumo might explain why they created him and seem to be more accepting of this large character than the US is. The US demonizes obesity yet has a large population that is overweight. My biases might be based from a cultural P.O.V. I began thinking about who Rufus reminded me of, aside from Gene Rychlak and where his place could be in the Street Fighter universe. I began thinking about large characters from cartoons, movies and even real life. Who were the ones that worked and why? As far as fighting games go, the fat guys in Final Fight worked, King Heart in Fist of the North Star worked and Karnov from Fighter's History Dynamite worked as well. 

Heck, Karnov could even inflate himself and become even more massive than Rufus, yet he worked in the game because he also had an assortment of mystical properties. Karnov could breath fire, teleport and float, he was a fat doppleganger of Dhalsim. In the context of his game these things worked, but this is a different game. The issues that I have with Rufus and the other new characters are because I feel that Capcom is betraying their own design legacy. Actually part of the problem is that DIMPS is developing this game and their approach to character design is different than the classic Capcom formula. I'll talk about it more tomorrow but I strongly feel that Rufus is just a more complete vision of the character Boyd that DIMPS had put in their 2.5D fighter Rumble Fish.

I couldn't just leave it at that. Like a scab I have to keep picking at the design until it starts bleeding. Where did Rufus come from? What was it about his costume that works or doesn't? Yellow jumpsuit, unzipped to his belly with built-in pads? What about that ponytail and facial hair? Looking at Rufus' trucker mustache I was reminded of the larger-than-life character of Bull Hurley from the movie Over the Top. 

I noticed that even though Bull, as played by the late character actor Rick Zumwalt was massive, he wasn't obese. I began wondering how "fat" a character could get and still be valid in the SF universe. I began wondering how big a person could be and still remain a valid fighter. Here is where the distinction between what "fits" in the real world and what "fits" in SF has to be made. We are willing to suspend our disbelief up to a point. If the point is crossed then that character becomes redundant, broken or laughable. At some point something has to be done with the character and design to make him or her fit into the game. This is the part that I think Capcom and DIMPS is missing with Rufus. They are not separating his purpose from his moves. The reason for my thinking of that actually goes back to the character of Bull and the movie he was in. The real arm wrestling legend at the time, Cleve Dean, makes a few cameos but isn't the last person that Stallone faces. According to the Wiki page the filmmakers didn't think that audiences would believe that Stallone could beat Dean. 

Wait a minute. We could believe that Stallone could beat Bull but not Dean? How much more massive and imposing was Dean over Hurley?

At his peak in the late 70's / early 80's Cleve Dean was a multiple time world champion. He simply dominated his opponents. The reason for this was because of his tremendous size and strength. He was about 6'