and suddenly our blog name makes sense...

Hi, I'm Brian Tasch. I'm a Steet Fighter fanboy. I have Ryu tattooed on my arm. I own just about every Street Fighter game released in the US, as well as a few imports. I will buy anything SF related...comics, clothes, manga, posters, action figures, anime, controllers, and yes, the 1998 JCVD Street Fighter movie. I love Street Fighter more than a person should love a game. If the disc for SF4 had a bigger hole in the middle, I would probably try to fuck it. So I'm sure you can imagine my excitement at the official announcement of Super Street Fighter 4.

First off, let me say that anybody who didn't expect Capcom to release another version of SF4 is a fool. Either that or they've never played a Japanese fighting game before. Every Street Fighter has at least 3 upgrades/sequels...even the shitty EX series. Hell nearly every fighting game in general has at least 1 or 2 incremental upgrades. Depending on the franchise, a lot of these games don't get released in America...but that still doesn't change the fact that truly competitive fighters are designed to be tweaked and rebalanced. I honestly don't understand why people are so up in arms about SSF4. Why would you NOT want more characters, backgrounds, ultras, and moves? Why would you not want shitty characters to get better or overpowered characters/moves to be nerfed? How many of you would honestly choose Street Fighter 3: New Generation over Street Fighter 3 Third Strike? Probably none of you. So for all the complaining people are doing, I don't really see the downside to having another Street Fighter game be released.

People are going to find a way to complain about anything they can, but let's be honest: Super Street Fighter 4 is probably the best direct upgrade to a numbered SF game...ever. It took 4 versions of SF2 to add 8 characters and we're getting at least 8 in the very first sequel. There are going to be 33 characters in SSF4...that's INSANE. Alpha 3 is the only SF game with more characters on it's roster with 36 fighters, but it still took Capcom 3 years and 3 versions of the game to get there. Add to that necessary balance tweaks (which believe it or not, ALL fighters need), new moves and ultras, new backgrounds and music, better online, bonus stages, and new challenges and you've got an amazing retail upgrade to one of the best fighters ever made. How can you possibly complain?

Obviously nothing is official in terms of pricing yet, but we have been promised that it will not go for the full $60. Realistically I see the game retailing for $30 to $40...and I'm definitely leaning toward $40. Brian mentions that he wants to see it go for $20 and cited recent GTA expansions as a price model. GTA isn't made in Japan though. Plus we're getting all new intro and ending movies for all the characters. This seems like a much more expensive expansion. The cost to not only add all the new content, but to localize the game must be taken into account as well. I'm not saying I wouldn't love to pay $20 for this game, but I would expect to pay at least $30. Also, don't think for a second that Capcom wouldn't charge you the same amount of money for a retail package SSF4 as they would if they were somehow able to make this DLC by the spring. They're trying to make money. It would cost more for Capcom to patch SF4 than it would be for them to simply add to SF4 and re-release it. The more Capcom makes off of this, the more fighters we're gonna see from them. The fact that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is even being released in the US is a testament to that.

But you know what the best part about Super Street Fighter 4 is? Do you know what's better than new characters, new ultras, balance tweaks, bonus stages, etc? What really makes it worth it to go out and buy a brand new hard copy of this game? We will never have to listen to "Indestructible" again.

Super Street Fighter 4 is a long way away (spring 2010) so you can rest assured I'll be discussing it quite a bit as new information becomes available. For now I just wanted to tell everybody to chill out! We should be stoked for an upgrade to an already amazing game, not nitpicking and complaining. The fighting community is the biggest it has been in years and it's almost entirely because of Street Fighter 4, like it or not. Keep playing Street Fighter 4 and then go out and buy Super Street Fighter 4. And fight me and Brian. Our PSN IDs/Gamertags are along the sidebar. Do note though that I think I have a fairly annoying Bison.