Last week during Tokyo Game Show, it was announced that Capcom would be releasing another Street Fighter 4, appropriately Japanese in its title Super Street Fighter 4. I’m no fighting game aficionado, but I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Didn’t SF4 just come out or something?
I did a little research, and sure enough, SF4 was released for the consoles on February 12th of 2009, which this new “incremental” sequel has been slated for the spring of 2010.
Where is my throng of angry gamer nerds, filled with righteous indignation over large video game developers sticking it to ‘em? I’m looking around and I haven’t seen a single raised torch or pitchfork held on high. There are no 40,000 strong Facebook “We Hate Capcom” groups or internet petitions of people swearing not to buy the game (knowing damn well that they’re going to buy the game anyway).
I guess they’re all busy still burning Valve CEO Gabe Newell in effigy over the announcement of full price Left 4 Dead 2’s release less than a year from the original.
Yes, I’ve heard they’re adding up to 10 characters to the playlist. And they’re possibly fixing the broken network code to get people into online matches easier. And yes, there is a lesser price tag to the whole thing, but it can’t be that much less if it’s the full SF4 plus now another gaggle o’ fighters.
Oh, and here’s a selling point: they claim that they actually listened to user feedback and have made improvements changes to the game based on gamers’ feedback. Well, no kidding. Don’t hurt your arm trying to pat yourself on the back for doing something that you’re supposed to already do.
You can’t just slap “incremental” in front of the word sequel then blast it out the gates ten months later for 90% of the price and not giggle maniacally like an evil supervillian when you wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror.
I just don’t get it. Maybe there’s more to it, but when you hold a game like Street Fighter 4 up against Left 4 Dead, doesn’t it seem like more would go into re-skinning for a full on action game sequel like L4D? I mean, I guess there’s a great deal of tweaking involved between the characters to make sure that there are no overpowered characters or fight exploits for SF4. But for Valve to completely reskin their game, come up with new 3D settings, new characters, new Infected, new weapons, new mechanics…it just seems like a metric ass ton more work, and I can see justifying their upcoming full retail release of Left 4 Dead 2 a year after the first one dropped.
Oh, and here’s a question: will the people with the original game be able to play with the people without it? I mean, will the old disc recognize the new characters across the network? If I want to play as T. Hawk and you only have the older disc, can we not play together? What if I want to play as Ryu and you have the old disc? Hmm..thought provoking questions!
Are Street Fighter fans just used to this kind of treatment? I mean, Street Fighter 2 went through the same sequel after sequel after sequel, but back in the day, Capcom had the decency to wait three years before tacking the word “Super” on the front of it and blasting it back out as a new game. Are people just used to Capcom and its slew of endless remakes and sequels of its own titles? Mega Man 9 anyone? Typically, they at least wait awhile before hammering out another clone of the same game and slapping a new number on it. But this seems to be a direct slap in the face for those early adopters who bought the retail game less than a year ago are now being asked to again drop a large chunk of change on what seems to be generally the same game.
I just haven’t heard of anyone flipping out of the announcement, and it seems like you’re getting so much less bang for your buck than L4D2. Am I wrong here? Doesn’t it just seem strange? Are fighting game people that dumb or lulled into such fanboy-ism where they must have the next iteration of the game (I’m looking at you, Halo fanboys)?
Sharpen your pitchforks and set your torches alight, people who enjoy fighting games: you’re being screwed.
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well i’m already annoyed at capcom for making an “altered version” of resident evil 5 just some time after it’s release though to be fair they have been asking us if we want it released as DLC or a dsic (ask a stupid question get a stupid answer capcom)
But this is just stupid, are all games companies secretly bond villians? In fact that would be funny bobby kotick wth an eye patch laughing at james bond annocing “Soon Mr.bond overpriced versions of modern warfare 2 will take gamers for all the money they have and there isn’t anything you or MI6 can do to stop me!” while stroking a kitty wearing soap mctavish’s miltery armour
meh.
they’ll probably add the extra fighters as dlc and send patches so that people with the old disc can still fight those with the new disc…. I guess the hook being that people with the old disc can’t select the dlc characters without purchase… you’re right now that I think about it.. it is evil.
The part that shocks me is that no one seems to really give a crap. Personally, I don’t get into fighters, but I’m just surprised the people that bought the original nine months ago are fine to drop another $40 on it.
And no, this is a full stand-alone retail title. This is not DLC.
maybe people didn’t even realise this was out. I didn’t know there was a super street fighter intill now.
Shanghai…sorry to tell you thins, but this is Step 1 from Page 1 of Capcom’s operating manual for Street Fighter games….but if you WERE into fighters, you would know this….here’s the history with this game and Capcom:
Street Fighter 2 was released in 1991
Super Street Fighter 2 in 1993
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo in 1994
Now we have Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
This is WHAT they do…they release a game, then release a modified version of it the next year or some months later…(see Street Fighter Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 3, Alpha Anthology, and Alpha: Warrior’s Dreams and Street Fighter EX, EX2 and EX3)
To NOT do this would have been the surprise…
We’ll see Super Street Fighter 4 Turbo next….
and that makes it alright?! Just becasue they’ve done it before dosen’t change anything, tons of people break the law but that dosen’t mean it’s ok to do so.
This game shouldn’t be released if they waited longer it would work out better for capcom as they could improve on it more and more people would buy it.
Yea I agree. Might as well just skip this one and wait for Super Street Fighter 4 Ultra Turbo Mega Alpha Championship “Alternate” Edition that’s also coming in a couple of months after.
I remember reading an article somewhere with the writer being pissed off because people were unhappy about this. I forget the site, but apparently the game has a bunch of new content and is being reworked in terms of balancing and the like, and that’s worth $60 to hardcore fans.
Like has been said, though, it probably has something to do with SF fans just being used to the cycle.
If I can remember right, at first Capcom community managers said that new characters would come to SFIV one of them being T Hawk. I’m personally getting sick of Capcom trying to nickle and dime their customers, they did it this year with the costumes in SFIV and RE5’s multiplayer. I already spent $80 on the SFIV collectors edition for them to think I’ll spend another $40 is pure BS!
Oh did Street Fighter 4 come out? I must have blocked it from my mind the moment BlazBlue came out.
Matt, that’s exactly the point of the article. Why aren’t people rioting in the streets over this? Are fighting fans so zombified at the fighting genre’s quick turn around of sequels that it becomes just “what they’re accustomed to”?
I’m sure that Tina Turner got “accustomed” to getting beaten by Ike every day, but does that make it right?
That’s right, a Tina Turner reference. And they said it couldn’t be done on a gaming website.
I don’t like and I won’t put up with it! I’m only one person, but I refuse to buy the game.
I already paid $80 for the game plus another $15 for some of the DLC.
I am a Street Fighter Fan and I will miss not having the classic extra characters. But I’m also not a mindless “Gimme” Idiot who will do whatever Capcom says too.
Jesus, I didn’t realize SF4 had DLC as well. Man, they are bleeding you fighting game fans dry!
And good for you Pacroid. Take it to the man.
To people bitching that you paid $80 for the game is ridiculous. You paid $50 for the game, $10 for microsoft/sony tax and $20 for some over priced crap. If you bought the DLC, also your problem. The costumes, while pretty shitty, do nothing to alter gameplay.
The people who are playing SF4 still (myself included) are excited for the new update. Adding 10 new fighters too an already large roster plus tweaking ALL the fighters is probably something too large for standard DLC. From what I’ve read, there is a lot of new things they are adding and changing, aside from the new fighters. People who already own SF4 are said to be getting a bonus when they purchase SSF4 and that is cool. That plus the lower price point makes the SF4 fan in me happy. If you don’t already own SF4, this new version with the lower price point might be a good reason to get in.
That bonus you get sounds a lot like a bribe to not complain about SSF4.
Maybe because SF4 was a full game and L4D wasn’t? Maybe because SSF4 is not being released at full price and L4D2 is? Maybe because SSF4 is bringing plenty of new gameplay to the table and L4D2 is just adding melee weapons?
Emulsifier:
How was the original L4D NOT a full game? No single player? I’ve made my money back on that game in spades with the time and enjoyment I’ve played it.
And new gameplay to a fighter? What kind of gameplay changes are there? I’m seriously asking.
Royale; definitely agree with you. If I was a little into fighting games, this would be a perfect inexpensive way to get into it.
8 new fighters, additional moves for every fighter, balance tweaks for every fighter. For a person who loves fighting games, that’s nearly a full game right there. Add in better multiplayer, more stages, more challenges, and sell it at an expansion pack price and you aren’t going to piss off many fans.
If L4D2 had actual new gameplay, and I’m not talking new campaigns because those are just more of the same gameplay, I would be more interested in it. Instead it feels like 90% L4D 10% new stuff. I already paid $50 for L4D so why should I pay full price again for barely anything more?
I keep hearing the “balance tweaks” answer from several different podcasts, followed shortly by, “If they did that, I could see buying it.”
I guess I will just never understand it, but thanks for trying to enlighten me.