When Capcom announced a new version of Street Fighter IV seven months after the game came out I had visions of the confusion created in me by the multitude of Street Fighter II games that seem to exist without any discernable differences (to my highly untrained eye, of course). That is to say, I imagined a game the same as Street Fighter IV with two new characters and some slight variations to colour palettes. But I was wrong, shamefully wrong. As more information came out it was clear that this wasn’t a minor upgrade but a full game in its own right. And then Capcom said it would be sold at a cheaper price (R500 in South Africa), so whether you own the original or not, this is the fighter to get. Only, if you do, please invest in a fight pad or stick (and more than one if you want to play with friends) – the Xbox 360 controller simply cannot do the game justice.

The core gameplay of Street Fighter IV hasn’t been messed with too much, which is a good thing since I thought the original was (and is) the best fighter of the generation. I don’t think excessive discussion of the fighting mechanics themselves is necessary here because you can read our original Street Fighter IV review, but I will quickly confirm that the fighting is as fun as ever with its tight timing and instantaneous response. I still prefer Street Fighter IV’s mechanics to any of the other fighters I’ve played in the past few years. It’s worth noting that I’m not at all a great player of these games, so I can only discuss the things I find fun, not the intricate details of the quality of the fighting engine.

Lots of tweaks and improvements

Capcom have tweaked the original a bit to make it fresh: each character now has two different Ultra Combos, but only one can be used in each battle – as you select your character and colour you also select the Ultra Combo you want to use. The Ultra Combos were some of the most satisfying eye-candy of the original, so a whole new set of them is very welcome. Also included are the bonus stages from Street Fighter II, the one where you destroy the car and the one where you destroy the barrels. These are a fun break from all that Super Street Fighting, but you can also toggle them off if you just want non-stop fights.

Other tweaks have been made, like having all characters available as soon as you start the game up – no unlocking procedures necessary. The excellent trial system has been overhauled to make it a little more forgiving. Instead of having to complete a sequence of moves one after another to finish a trial you simply have to do one move (or combo), and you can skip to the next one without passing the one you’re on. This is an even better system for learning the moves and combos than before, as it allows you to leave out a combo you really struggle with and still learn the other combos.

The online system has been improved dramatically, and now includes the ability to record replays and view replays of recent matches, which is a great way to learn how the good players play. There are a number of new modes for online play too, such as Endless Battle, where a pool of up to eight players battle, with the winner staying on for the next battle and the loser going back into line.

Loads of new characters!

While all these changes are welcome, the best part of Super Street Fighter IV is the 10 new characters, bringing the roster up to 35 characters. If you’re an old-time Street Fighter fan you’re likely to find an old character you like as there are eight characters from old games – T. Hawk and Dee Jay from Super Street Fighter II, Dudley, Ibuki and Makoto from Street Fighter III, Adon from Street Fighter and Cody and Guy from Final Fight. If you’re relatively new to the scene, these fighters are generally interesting characters and many have unique fighting styles.

Then there are the two brand new characters – Juri and Hakan. Juri fights using Taekwondo, which seems to be a discipline where you even punch with your feet. She’s lightning fast and also has some sort of technological special powers similar to C. Viper. Hakan is hilarious. He’s a Turkish oil wrestler and one of his special moves is to pour a barrel of oil over himself to increase his oiliness. Said oiliness is used to great comedic effect, such as in his Oil Rocket, where he squeezes his opponent until they shoot out of his arms like a rocket, or his Ultra, the Oil Coaster, where his opponent goes flying over and around his oily body like a roller-coaster.

I expected the stories of each returning character to be the same as before, but they each got new stories in Super Street Fighter IV. They’re not animated this time, and they’re as random as always, but at least they’re new. That’s really indicative of the amount of effort Capcom have put into Super Street Fighter IV – this is very much not a rerelease of the original with a just few changes. Rather, it feels like a big upgrade to the game.

There are new characters (even brand new ones like the awesome Hakan), stages (like the great Solar Eclipse one located in Africa), an overhauled online mode including new modes and a fantastic replay mode, an additional Ultra Combo for every character in the game, bonus stages, and an improved trial mode. The only bits that have been removed are the time trial and survival challenge modes, but I don’t personally miss those and much preferred the arcade mode anyway. I am forced by the sheer quality of Super Street Fighter IV to give my highest recommendation. Splendid.

(Please note: the 5 star rating for this game only, and I repeat, only, applies if you are playing with a fight stick or pad. Playing this game with the Xbox 360 controller makes many moves and combos much harder to perform and is going to frustrate you after a while. Do yourself a favour and get an official stick or pad, preferably the Tournament Edition FightStick – this is a game you will get enough value out of to warrant it.)

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