Hey folks! I wanted to make a general blog entry of my playtime with Street Fighter 4, and the community surrounding the game. I've been to three different events, all with the opprutinity to play SF4 that included 'Fight Club:Downtown LA', 'ComicCon 08', and the 'Sneaker Pimps Concert' in Hollywood. Essentially, if there is anything SF4 related and happening in the greater Southern California area...I'll be there! I will also highlight some aspects of SF4 that have changed, along with the new focus attack system. Lets start with the first event, at Fight Club on July 18th.

Fight Club

 

As I have mentioned before, Fight Club was perhaps one of the coolest marketing/viral experiences I have ever been too. The gritty streets of downtown LA in a barren middle of nowhere warehouse, meeting capcom staff as well as hundreds of die-hard SF fans is something I won't soon forget.

 

 

 

You can see me at 1:17 in red, pumped as hell to play.

Granted from my avatar, I've been primarily a Ken player since my near 8 years playing experience with Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. I went into the event playing Ken like his 3rd Strike counterpart, and luckily enough he resembles his Street Fighter 3 character more than any other Ken depiction. Command kicks, the same. Short-Strong-Shoryuken(or hadoken) target combo, the same. As well as special move cancelling, also a SF3 highlight. First going on an 8 win streak right in the door, then later a 19 game win streak...I had some significant time to mess with the new focus attack(which gets the crowd really rowdy).

Focus Attack

The heart of Street Fighter 4's combat system can be described in one simple input... Mp+Mk(medium punch and medium kick at the same time). If you played SF3, this is also the command for the universal overhead attack that every character had. The 3 levels of focus attack are spread over the time you hold those buttons down, 1-weak, 2-rough(knockdown crumple), and 3(unblockable, knockdown crumple). The animation during the attack will absorb one hit, making you temporarily invunerable. Example: Ryu is knocked down, Ken approaches and begins focus attack. Ryu does Shoryuken on wake-up(1 hit). Shoryu gets eaten through Kens focus attack, then hits ryu for an unblockable hit. There is a mean setup against characters who don't have decent wake up attacks, where you can hit them with a well timed focus attack right as they get up. It looks sweet as all hell, and is really fun to execute. This takes no meter whatsoever.

The focus attack that does take half your meter is attack cancels. In the middle of any move, you can cancel its animation by once again pressing MP+MK, then while holding those buttons-press ->->(dash) or <-<-(dash back). This allows you to continue your combo after the dash, with a multitude of options.

 

 

 

 

Here at :29, famous player Daigo, cancelling a shoryuken into dash, then into Ultra.

The focus attack can best be described as a mix(sort of) from roman cancelling in GGXX, and Just Defending from SNK styles (CVS2 K-Groove). But all in all, SF4 to me felt like SF3, Super Turbo, and Rival Schools all combined. Everyone from the event seemed to be extremely impressed and excited to play a new Street Fighter. Oh, and did I mention that the game is gorgeous? While internet videos and screenshots do NO justice untill you see it in person. Don't believe me? Every video you watch of SF4 online runs at 30 frames per second or less. The game itself runs at a fluid and uninterupted 60 unique fps live. Any complaints heard from people bickering about the game looking 'jittery' or 'poorly animated' have obviously not seen SF4 in person.

San Diego ComicCon 08

Luckily enough, I bought SDCC08 tickets for Sunday only...just in time before they sold out. My fiance joined me as well to take some footage. All of which can be seen on my youtube page. The event was fantastic, with Seth hosting tournament matches, and Sven answering some questions about the SF franchise and its progression. I quickly was able to get into a tournament, and progressed 3 tiers in before falling to another Ken. I was very happy with the playtime I had, and just wanted to experience the game once more before waiting for an arcade/console release. I attempted to show off a bit of the Focus Attack system, without falling in the tournament early on. One of the best highlights of the trip was this....

Signed SF4 Ono poster. Pic taken by me with my fiance.

We both we're extremely gratefull to meet Ono, as nice as he was. Ono reminds me of traditional greats...Miyazaki does for animation, what Ono did for Street Fighter. If it wasent for him, the Street Fighter franchise would have ended with Fighting Evolution(terrible game).

Sneaker Pimps Concert

I learned of this event the day of its taking place. I snagged tickets at $40 a piece, for me and my fiance with the hope of getting more playtime with SF4. Being the first SF fans, we quickly jumped into the single cabinet they had playable. I got nearly 30 matches of playtime at this event, and the Capcom representatives there we're Emily, Grant, and Matt D(you on community yet?). The event was very hectic and furious with people wanting to play the single cabinet, yet these three composed everything very will amongst the ear-piercing concert so that everyone could get their hands on the game. There was a couple scenarios early on where I began a larger than 10 game winstreak with a bunch of people waiting to play, and willingly gave up my winning position to let other get their well deserved time with this amazing game. As much as I enjoy playing SF4, sitting close to the cabinet starring at the character models, facial expressions, and amazing effects leaves me picking my jaw up off the floor.

Nice enough to let us get a shot before we left. Those shirts rock!

If Capcom's marketing team keeps this up, the Street Fighter franchise will have a bright future. Among all the playtime my fiance shot nearly 22 good quality videos from the event, with a bunch of Ken Footage....

 

 

 

 

You can see the individual videos once again, on My Youtube Page.

In conclusion, with all 3 events complied together...I had a total of nearly 100 matches of SF4(and hurting for more). There is talk of local arcades recieving SF4 Japanese cabinets soon, and I can only hope so. Once that time comes, I'll have more videos, and more information to come at a later date. If you have any system(focus attack) related questions, or Ken(character questions) questions, feel free to ask via reply/message.

Take care folks, thanks for the read.

-max