Dec 11, 2007

"Now you'll finally see guys wincing in pain and cheeks being deformed by fists in real-time," says Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono of Capcom's beat-'em-up sequel. Boy, we like the sound of that!

Ono recently gave an interview to US magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly in which he explained Street Fighter IV’s aggressive new style. "I hope that we can include some sort of visible reactions from the characters based on how much damage they receive when they are hit.

"We'd like to add details such as if a character gets hit in the shoulder multiple times, perhaps his shoulder hangs a little lower, or perhaps his animations are affected."

Ono goes on to say that Capcom wants it to feel like a homecoming for fans of the series, and to this end promises that the first time we play the game, we'll be able to pull off the signature moves we remember "without thinking too deeply."

He explains that the “aggressive” slant comes from the game’s shift to attack over defense. However the decision to stick with 2D for Street Fighter IV was deliberate because Capcom wanted "to preserve the strategic nature of SF2 and SF3, where matches unfold almost like a chess game."

A key strategic feature is Saving moves, which in a nutshell allows players to 'store' up points - or segments on a bar - and use these for temporary powerful boosts in combat and to cancel and feint.

Apparently the game already runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, and in terms of Street Fighter chronology, it’s set between Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III. The plan is to get as many of the original SF2 characters into the game as possible.

Ono adds that online play for Street Fighter 4 is an "absolute necessity" and explains that post-release downloadable content is very much under consideration. He also has interesting stuff to say about the differing art styles of the Street Fighter IV teaser trailer and the actual game:

"We're aiming for an art style that looks like moving paintings rather than a hyper-realistic look...

"But I'm not terribly worried about users being disappointed that the final game doesn't look like the teaser trailer... We do feel that if we made a fighting game entirely in the style of the teaser, it might be too impractical and too hard to play."

Capcom still has yet to confirm platforms for Street Fighter IV, and Ono has said it may not be till 2009/10 that we see it.

Courtesy of CVG.