New Street Fighter x Tekken art and screens show gem system in action

Capcom has released a stack of new images for Street Fighter x Tekken, split in fairly equal parts between in-engine glimpses of the game's fighters and artwork that someone's obviously had a lot of fun with. The new pictures round off with a series of in-fight shots of Ryu and Kazuya, showing plenty of that new gem system that's got everyone all in a tizzy. Or if you don't care for menu screens, you can cycle through them really fast and pretend you're playing SFxT on the world's laggiest connection.

Above: This bearly* changes our opinion of the game

Friend of yours and ours, Capcom Unity's Brett Elston, has posted a blog going into greater detail on the game's gem system. This way you can understand what you're looking at a little better (unless you're looking at concept art, in which case good luck).

As hinted in our most recent preview, the game's gems break down into Boost and Assist types - think of these like triggered spells versus constant-effect enchantments in one of those pointy-hat fantasy games you like. Gems can be slotted to customize your character for stronger triggered attacks, or constant boosts to attributes such as boost or speed. In fact, here is a list is every single gem and the things those gems can do.

If we told you that this was a high-profile game being released in 2012, what might you expect it to include? Doubtless your guesses were very amusing, but the answer is “store-specific pre-order bonus gems.” GameStop, Amazon and Best Buy all have different pre-order gem supplements, all focusing on different attributes – and all of which you'll get with the Special Edition. Special Edition pre-orders also come with a further bonus pack, offering a total of 36 supplementary gems with which to punish fools who thought they'd just trot down to the store on launch day. You must diligently review your purchasing options to stand a chance!

*Get it?