Devious you say?  From a classic family fun game like Uno?  Well, let me explain.  Available sometime next month will be a Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix themed card deck for the already top selling Uno for XBLA.  This deck will feature:

- HD background of Sagat's stage from HD Remix

- Sagat's classic level music.

- Portrait art of characters on all the cards.

- Animation of Street Fighter moves on special cards.

But let me get to the devious part now.  The game will play just like the normal Uno you know any love; there's blocks, jumps, wilds, and reverses.  Added to the game is a new command card, the Hadoken.  Here's how it works, when a someone plays the Hadoken card, they can pick whoever it's played against, and that player must draw cards until they pick up a block or jump card.  

Doesn't sound too bad, but check out what happened to me.  I'm sitting here, playing a friendly game against the AI and BAM!  Mr. Orange player here plays a Hadoken card on me:

As stated above, you have to draw until you pick up a block or jump card.  That can be 2 cards later, or in this case, 20!! cards later:

But, as you can see, I also picked up a Hadoken card of my own.  I played it my very next turn on Mr. Orange there.....and he only drew 4 cards until he picked up a block card!  

So you see...that Hadoken card brings a whole new level of game changing dynamic to Uno.  Think of it as using a super when playing Street Fighter, just when you think you're going to win, BAM!, you get hit with that card.  Thank you Mr. Street Fighter, you've just turned Uno into a fierce, teeth gritting, high competition game.

 

The funniest thing I've seen all day.

Since we’ve had the Gamespot Tournament featuring HD Remix and SFIV, there’s been a lot of speculation on exactly what the changes are in HD Remix.  Some folks that made it to the tournament have been sharing what they’ve been seeing, but just so we’re all on the same page, I’ve decided to list exactly what the changes are.  You can see one of the new additions in the screenshot above of Bison’s fake slide. 

 

We’ll keep the design reasoning for another day, but hopefully this post will answer some of your questions.  I know it might raise more, but these are only the specific changes that were made to the game.  Some of them create other behavior, but I’ll stick to the main changes that were made and I’ll let you guys figure out the rest when you finally get your hands on it.

 

Be on the lookout in the near future for a ton of media coming out.  I saw the 1^st draft of one of the videos and all I can say is it’s full of 80’s awesomeness.

 

Ryu

• New move: fake fireball. qcf+short.
  

 

Ken

• Strong dragon punch is invulnerable on the way up, exactly like Old Ken's, and also always knocks down. It's now a 1-hit move, not 2-hit.
  
• Fierce dp has bigger arc, always knocks down, juggles against jump-ins, but no additional invulnerability.
  
• Short helicopter has shorter duration
  
• Medium helicopter kick goes slightly farther
  
• Roundhouse helicopter kick goes farther and faster.
  
• Roundhouse helicopter kick does less dizzy
  
• Air roundhouse helicopter goes slightly farther
  
• "Crazy kicks" have simplified joystick motions. New motions: 1) qcf+short, 2) qcf+forward, 3) qcf+roundhouse.
  
• Damage lowered on first hit of knee bash hold.
  
• Range of knee bash hold reduced by a small amount.
  
• Super can now be used as a reversal.
  

 

Guile

• Roundhouse flash kick now travels forward rather than straight up.
• Super has easier motion: charge db, d, df, f, uf+ kick. (Old motion still works.)
• Super does slightly less damage.
• Uspide down kick is an overhead
• Upside down kick slowed down slightly
• Upside down kick can be performed at any range, not just close range, by holding towards+roundhouse.
• Upside down kick is more vulnerable, allowing Sagat's low tiger shots and other moves to hit it.

 

Honda

• Jump short has higher priority, can hit sweeps.
• Floating fierce move (jump straight up + fierce) can be steered farther left/right.
• Hundred hands easier to execute
• Strong and fierce versions of hundred hands have lower priority and all versions do a little less damage
• Ochio throw now bounces off the other way, preventing Honda from repeating it in the corner
• Ochio throw now deals the same dizzy points as other throws rather than twice as much.
• Jab torpedo can destroy fireballs.
• Jab torpedo travels shorter distance
• Super travels slower before first hit, but travels faster after first hit.
• Super now knocks down and juggles.

 

Blanka

• Horizontal ball has safer recovery.
• Horizontal ball with jab and strong have same sound effect and same spinning speed as fierce version.
• Horizontal ball with jab and strong travel slightly shorter distance so whiffed roll into bite is a little more effective.
• Diagonal ball has faster startup and safer recovery.
• Hop move has new command: hold stick left or right then jab+short OR strong+forward OR fierce+rh. (Old motion of kkk still works).
• Hop back builds much less super meter.
• Forward version of hop has slightly more foot-invulnerability at startup.
• Electricity easier to execute (mash punches)
• Super move has faster startup, faster recovery, and always knocks down if it hits.

 

Zangief

• Green hand command changed to qcf+p
• Green hand has slightly faster recovery.
• SPD command easier: hcb,f+p OR hcf,b+p. (Original 360 command still works)
• Super command easier, hcb,hcb,f+p OR hcf,hcf+p.
• Running Grab (and double suplex) command is now hcb+k OR hcf+k.
• Running Grab runs faster.
• Kick lariat can now be done with jab+short as well as original KKK command.
• Punch lariat can now be done with strong+forward or fierce+roundhouse as well as original PPP command.
• Kick lariat has invulnerable feet during Zangief's first rotation, but vulnerable feet after that.
• Kick lariat has a different sound effect on startup than punch lariat.
• Punch lariat's initial hitframe now extends down to the floor so it can hit Dhalsim's low fierce or sometimes Guile's low forward. As before, this hitbox is only active for 6 frames out of the entire lariat.
• Hop move can only be done with towards + fierce. No longer possible with back+fierce, back+strong, or towards+strong.
• Hop travels farther forward, slightly higher, and has slightly better recovery.
• Jumping (forward/away) strong has hitbox that reaches slightly farther forward.
• Low fierce has slightly higher hit box, mainly to hit Vega's off-the-wall attacks.

 

Chun Li

• Removed df+medium kick move.
• df+roundhouse (the "neckbreaker") no longer crosses up, removing the loop of repeated knockdowns.
• Lighting legs easier to execute (mash kicks)
• Lighting legs do less damage and have a little worse priority in Chun Li's stomach area.
• Aerial spinning bird kick can be done with charge down, up+kick, so that you can do it after a headstomp.
• Aerial spinning bird kick travels more straight now, then falls in an arc at the end
• Ground spinning bird kick has a new parabolic arc. It can also air-juggle and deals a fair amount of dizzy.
• Super does slightly less damage.

 

 

Dhalsim

• Teleport command requires only 2 punch or 2 kick buttons rather than 3.
• Teleport recovery is not longer, but has more vulnerable frames at the end.
• Yoga flame changed to qcb+p so it doesn't overlap fireball command.
• Upward yoga flame changed to qcb+k to match other yoga flame.
• Upward yoga flame now travels way up the screen with roundhouse version.
• Super changed to hcb,hcb+p to match yoga flame command.
• Super has more forgiving timing window.
• Super is now more vulnerable around Dhalsim's head and throwable from behind.
• Super can now be used as a reversal.
• Noogie hold has shorter range.
• Ducking ranged punches no longer cleanly go under Guile's Sonic Booms

 

Balrog

• Turn punch and headbutt award less super meter.
• Small and medium headbutts travel slightly farther and are less safe.
• Throw range decreased.
• First hit of throw does less damage.
• Turn Punch can be performed by holding 2 punches or 2 kicks, rather than all 3
• Super does a little less damage

 

Vega

• Defensive backflip command changed to jab+short for small version; strong+forward OR fierce+roundhouse for double flip version (old commands of kkk and ppp still work)
• Offensive backflip can no longer be charged straight back (must be charged down/back).
• Off-the-wall attack no longer knocks down
• Off-the-wall attack has additional recovery, to prevent combos after hitting with it
• New Wall Dive Fake: After going off the wall (charge down, then up+k), you can press kick again to drop without attacking.

 

Sagat

• Super has more range, and always knocks down if it hits.
• Fireball recovery is better than New Sagat but worse than Old Sagat
• Some normal moves are from Old Sagat
• Stand strong can be cancelled into special moves, second hit of stand forward and short cannot
• Tiger knee always knocks down and juggles (but NOT into super)
• Tiger knee damage reduced because of new juggle property

 

Bison

• Devil's reverse (charge down, up+punch) has 1 frame of invulnerability at startup
• Stand jab has better priority, can stop honda's torpedo and blanka's roll
• New move: df+roundhouse is a fake slide.
• Jump straight up + strong now juggles the same as jump toward/away + strong

 

Cammy

• Hooligan throw motion changed to qcf+p
• Spinning Backfist motion changed to qcb+p
• Spinning Backfist is invulnerable to fireballs during startup (all versions)
• Spinning Backfist's hitbox on 2nd hit is bigger so that it doesn't fail to get 2nd hit if the 1st hit connects
• Cannon drill has better recovery
• Cannon Spike is usually not safe on block anymore.

 

Fei Long

• Flying Kick motion changed to qcf+k
• Short version of flying kicks have additional frames of partial invulnerability, allowing them to go through fireballs at the start
• Flying kicks have lower priority on first hit, allowing them to be countered air-to-air a little more easily.
• Flying kicks have 5 additional frames of recovery
• Medium and roundhouse flame kicks always knock down and can juggle
• Short flame kick is no longer safe on block from point-blank range.
• Rekka Punches travel a little farther
• Rekka punch motion is a little more forgiving, so it's not as hard to get all 3 in the series.
• Super travels farther
• Fei Long's head is vulnerable during 4th and 5th hits of the super (and can't go through fireballs during that, but still can during first 3 hits).
• The super causes a different angle of knockdown so that comboing after it is difficult/impossible.
• Super meter gains slightly reduced on flame kick and flying kicks.

 

Dee Jay

• Machine Gun Punch, much easier to get all the hits
• Machine Gun Punch destroys fireballs
• Machine Gun Punch does less dizzy and less damage than before.
• Medium and Roundhouse Dread Kicks, 2nd hit sped up so that it almost always hits if the first hit connects.
• Medium and Roundhouse Dread Kicks have a few frames of foot-invulnerability at startup
• Medium and Roundhouse Dread Kicks have reduced damage because of improved ability to combo

 

 

 

T.Hawk

• Hawk dive command changed to jab+short OR strong+forward OR fierce+roundhouse while in air (old command ppp still works)
• Hawk dive's bounce changed so it ends with T.Hawk close to enemy and safe on block or hit.
• Hawk dive does not knock down
• Special throw command easier: hcb,f+p OR hcf,b+p, and you can actually start in down/back or down/forward (Original 360 command also still works.)
• Special throw now has a whiff animation if you miss.
• Super command easier: hcb,hcb,f+p OR hcf,hcf+p.
• Several of T.Hawk's normal moves are from Old T.Hawk, such as stand roundhouse and low roundhouse.
• Fierce dragon punch now always knocks down and juggles
• Fixed a bug where a stray hitbox on low strong could be hit from very far away.

 

Akuma

• Super meter added and new super move: Raging Demon. Command is jab, jab, towards, short, fierce.
• Super travels slower and farther than the secret version of Akuma
• Super has additional start up frames.
• Super is not able to grab an opponent out of jump start-up.
• Air fireball has new downward angle and causes Akuma to hang in the air slightly when thrown.
• Air fireball can now be done lower to the ground, allowing instant air fireball using "tiger knee" motion.
• Akuma takes more damage than other characters.
• Akuma can now be dizzied.
• Teleport command requires only 2 punch or 2 kick rather than 3.
• Blue fireballs have more startup and recovery. Now same startup as Ryu's fireball and only slightly shorter recovery than Ryu's.
• Fierce blue fireball only has the huge knockback effect from very close range.
• Red fireballs have more startup.
• Helicopter kick has much less invulnerability.
• Akuma's leg is no longer invulnerable during his ducking kicks.

 

 

 

Just want to let you guys know that I did an interview for our buddy at The Street Fighter Blog.  Read up about it here: http://streetfighterblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/street-fighter-blog-interviews-rey.html

Hey guys. I've been looking around our board and other boards for reaction on the patch. Some of it is good and some of it it not so good. For those whose experience has seemed to degraded, I wanted to let you guys know what's going on and hopefully it will alleviate some of your fears.

Many of you guys have indicated that it now seems a bit more jittery and possibly laggy now that the patch is applied. There were 3 issues that we knew were still going to be in the game, but unfortunately, they were too "risky" to fix in time. By risky, we mean that the changes were deep enough in the code were it presented a risk to fix due to potential to create other bugs and require a ton more QA. As we wanted to get the patch out soon, we decided go keep the issues in the game for now, to be fixed for when the game was released. The issues are:

- The background will jitter around a bit. This is actually occuring more in the real world than in our testing, but we do know about it and have a fix. This is being caused by the camera position adjusting when the "smoothing" frames are being played back.

- When throwing an opponent, the character being thrown seems to be lagging behind. This is an issue we know about and will be fixed.

- Sometimes when throwing a hadoken, the fireball isn't seen until many frames later.

These 3 issues are all related to the "smoothing" that was put into the game. The character frames are actually playing much better than before, but the background jittering is making is seem like there is lag when there isn't. As this was a new feature, we wanted to make sure it could be turned off if need be.

To turn off smoothing, just hold LT, RT, RB, and LB. While holding them, press start and you should heara tone indicating it has turned off.

There are still other netcode improvements that have been implemented that should improve the gameplay, but for some, it seems the smoothing is making the game feel laggy when it isn't.

Please give it a shot and let me know what you guys think, and keep up the good bug reporting!