Here Comes A New Challenger!!
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsuu features an article on Street Fighter IV, marking the first time the game has been shown in Japanese gaming media. The article seemed to mostly cover stuff already known from overseas media coverage, but did offer one major revelation - the announcement of the game’s first new character: Crimson Viper.
So far we’ve only seen in-game footage of Ryu and Ken, and while series stalwarts Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Zangief and E. Honda are all but confirmed, this is the first we’ve seen or heard of any characters new to the franchise. So what can be said about Crimson Viper? So far, not a whole lot, really.
I’ll offer my two cents though. At first, I didn’t know what to make of her - I like the design, no doubt, but it doesn’t necessarily feel very Street Fightery. It’s a very typical modern Japanese design (but by no means a bad one), and if the plan was to make a game that would strike a chord with old fans of SF2 Turbo, I couldn’t get a good feeling of how she’d fit in. After having a day or so to let it sink in though, I’m starting to warm up to her appearing in SF4. And of course, it’s possible to tell from one picture how she’ll move, what her fighting style is like, and not least how well she’ll fit in with the rest of the roster. I can already say I like her better than the likes of Rose , T. Hawk and most of the misfits from the Street Fighter EX games, so who knows? She might be considered a classic SF character before you know it.
The article had a few other interesting details as well - for example, the game has been confirmed to get a 2008 arcade release! The chances of me getting to play the arcade version are slim to none, but it still excites me, as a console-only release would really have been a devastating blow to the game’s credibility.
To round things up, here’s a couple of screenshots. It’s shaping up pretty nicely, isn’t it?
For more pictures, a trailer and more, check out the Official site, and while you’re at it you might as well take a look at the Official blog. Not much there at the moment, but I’m sure it’ll be quite interesting in the coming months!