The Misadventures of José Faxner

As tough as it is to wrap one’s head around, Street Fighter IV is indeed on the horizon. The game has been shrouded in complete mystery up until this point. Who’s developing it? What characters will it feature? Will there be an arcade release? What will it look like? Will it be in 2D? Well, today the first few answers have started to trickle in as Capcom and 1up unveiled this:

So now we know that SF4 will use polygonal graphics - good looking graphics, at that - but retain classic 2D gameplay. Part of me really wanted to see traditional 2D pixel art, but realistically this is the only way things were going to happen. With the knowledge that the game will use 3D graphics, I am now left hoping it will be the first to succeed where others (Rival Schools, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, Battle Fantasia, et al) have failed, and create a 2D fighter with 3D graphics that actually looks better than its contemporary 2D counterparts.

Judging from the screenshot I’d say things are looking pretty good - Ryu’s design is clearly influenced by Akiman’s art, and hopefully that can give an idea of where they’re going with the art direction and character designs in general. I suppose visuals based more on Kinu Nishimura, Ikeno or Bengus’s work would’ve lead to a game that looked more like SF Zero or SF3 - something much more desirable by certain fans - but I like Akiman’s art as well and it’s about time we see it translated into in-game graphics. On the technical side, SF4 has an advantage over the previously mentioned games in that it doesn’t look decidely last-gen. As far as I’m concerned it looks good enough to compete with Tekken 6, Virtua Fighter 5 or Soul Calibur 4 on reasonably even ground. As long as the game is well animated and looks as good in motion as it does in that screenshot, I have little to fear regarding the game’s visuals.

The screenshot was followed by a press release from Capcom, confirming aside from classic 2-dimensional six-button gamplay, the presence of classic fighters Chun-Li and Dhalsim, but little else. It is however clear that 1up will release more exclusive pictures, news and video footage over the coming weeks, and that its print cousin EGM will have a big SF4 article in its January issue hitting newsstands December 18th.
The tiny sneak peek we’ve gotten today really brings with it at least as many questions as it has answered, but it has undeniably set things in motion and the hype machine is most definitely running at full steam. I don’t like to speculate, so until now I haven’t given SF4 very much thought. With the first look at the game, along with promises of more information in the pipeline though, I guess things just seem a lot more solid, as all of a sudden I’ve found myself incredibly excited about the game, to the point where I have difficulty taking my mind off it. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a new game. But then, what could possibly be as monumental as Street Fighter Four?