Will Street Fighter IV look like Okami?

Oct 18, 2007

Irresponsible speculation and much hypothesizing have been running rampant in our office since the Street Fighter IV trailer was unleashed across the Internet last night. The most striking thing about this video is its art style, which might foreshadow a huge change in how the actual game looks.

Since the trailer doesn't show any gameplay, it's too soon to come to any conclusions, but this wouldn't be the first time that the series has received a visual makeover. Street Fighter Alpha replaced the grittier look of the Street Fighter II games with a more anime influenced style, while Street Fighter EX introduced a more polygonal approach to depicting our favorite street scrappers with the third dimension.

Below: Be prepared. This trailer oozes awesomeness

And don't forget Puzzle Fighter and the lesser known Japanese import,Pocket Fighter(or Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix for those lucky enough to snag a North American copy), which kicked Alpha's anime-ish look up a notch by shrinking fighters down to super deformed size.

It's been quite a while since we've seen a new Street Fighter game, so it seems like the time is right for Capcom to give the game a totally brand new look, and the video's aesthetics looks a lot like Okami to us.

What do you think? Will Ryu and Ken be bleeding super stylized water color over drippyWaking Life-like backgrounds? Or are we simply reading too much into this 120 second sneak peak? Watch the trailer again and share your thoughts in ourforum.

Irresponsible speculation and much hypothesizing have been running rampant in our office since the Street Fighter IV trailer was unleashed across the Internet last night. The most striking thing about this video is its art style, which might foreshadow a huge change in how the actual game looks.

Since the trailer doesn't show any gameplay, it's too soon to come to any conclusions, but this wouldn't be the first time that the series has received a visual makeover. Street Fighter Alpha replaced the grittier look of the Street Fighter II games with a more anime influenced style, while Street Fighter EX introduced a more polygonal approach to depicting our favorite street scrappers with the third dimension.

Below: Be prepared. This trailer oozes awesomeness

And don't forget Puzzle Fighter and the lesser known Japanese import,Pocket Fighter(or Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix for those lucky enough to snag a North American copy), which kicked Alpha's anime-ish look up a notch by shrinking fighters down to super deformed size.

It's been quite a while since we've seen a new Street Fighter game, so it seems like the time is right for Capcom to give the game a totally brand new look, and the video's aesthetics looks a lot like Okami to us.

What do you think? Will Ryu and Ken be bleeding super stylized water color over drippyWaking Life-like backgrounds? Or are we simply reading too much into this 120 second sneak peak? Watch the trailer again and share your thoughts in ourforum.

GamesRadarTylerNagata