Street Fighter IV - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

produced by Capcom

Capcom

is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

. It is the first numbered Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...

game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August. The console versions for the PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3

The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

and Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

were released in Japan on February 12, 2009, and were sold in North American stores as early as February 16, with a February 18 intended release date. The official European release was on February 20. A Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

version was released on July 2, 2009 in Japan, July 3, 2009 in Europe and July 7, 2009 in the US. A version for iOS was released on March 10, 2010. By March 31, 2009, Street Fighter IV had sold over 3 million copies worldwide. An updated version, Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...

, was released as a standalone title in April 2010. As of March 2011, Street Fighter IV has sold 3.1 million units and Super Street Fighter IV has sold 1.6 million units, while Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is a fighting video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. It was released as a launch game in all continents, but in Japan first on 26 February 2011...

has sold an additional 1 million copies as of April 2011.

Gameplay

While Street Fighter IV features models and backgrounds rendered in 3D, the gameplay remains on a traditional 2D plane, with the camera having freedom to move in 3D at certain times during fights, for dramatic effect.
Producer Yoshinori Ono has stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II. A new system called Focus Attacks (Saving Attack for the Japanese version) has been introduced, as well as Ultra Moves. The traditional six-button control scheme returns, with new features and Special Moves integrated into the input system, mixing classic gameplay with additional innovations.

Stephen Kleckner of 1UP.com

1UP.com

1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....

has stated the game has a similar feel to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but also has a few features from Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. As in Street Fighter III, throwing is performed by pressing both light attack buttons, while pressing both heavy attack buttons performs the character's personal action or taunt. Pressing both medium attack buttons performs a character's Focus Attack. Dashes and quick standing are also in the game. C. Viper and Dan (with the air taunt) are the only characters who can perform a high jump.

It was intended that bonus rounds such as the car-smashing stage from earlier Street Fighter games would return. Ono later stated that the bonus stages would not be in the arcade game, citing the reason to be that the time players spend on bonus stages is time during which they have no chance of losing, which ultimately takes money from arcade operators.

Visuals

All the characters and environments in Street Fighter IV are rendered as 3D models with polygons, similar to the Street Fighter EX
Street Fighter EX
Street Fighter EX is a head-to-head fighting game with 3D graphics, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN hardware in . It is a spin-off of the Street Fighter series co-produced by Capcom with Arika and was the first game in the series to feature polygon graphics...

series Capcom produced with Arika. However, there are a couple of key differences. Art director and character designer Daigo Ikeno, who previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, opted for non-photorealistic rendering

Non-photorealistic rendering

Non-Photorealistic rendering is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for digital art. In contrast to traditional computer graphics, which has focused on photorealism, NPR is inspired by artistic styles such as painting, drawing, technical...

to give them a hand-drawn look, with visual effects accented in calligraphic

East Asian calligraphy

East Asian calligraphy is a form of calligraphy widely practised and revered in the Sinosphere. This most often includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The East Asian calligraphic tradition originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of...

strokes, ink smudges and ink sprays during the fights.

Focus Attacks

Focus Attacks, known as Saving Attack in the Japanese version, is a new system introduced in Street Fighter IV. The Focus Attack is a move that allows the player to absorb an attack and launch a counterattack, and it is performed by pressing the medium punch and medium kick buttons simultaneously. There are two phases to the attack. In the first phase, the player will shift into a new stance, at which point he or she is able to absorb a single hit from the opponent. The second phase is the counterattack. The longer the player holds down the medium punch and kick buttons, the more powerful the attack will be. If the buttons are held for long enough the attack will be unblockable and cause the opponent to crumple slowly to the ground, allowing the player to follow up with a free hit. Attacks that were absorbed during the first phase of a Focus Attack still cause damage to the player; however, life lost from the opponent's attack will be quickly regenerated afterward. In addition, during the first phase of the Focus Attack, the player may perform a dash either forward or backward to cancel the Focus Attack. Finally, at the cost of two bars of the Super Combo gauge, many Special Moves can be canceled into a Focus Attack. By executing a Focus Attack during the Special Move, the animation of the move will be cut short and go instantly into the Focus Attack animation. This allows players with precise timing to cancel Special Moves into Focus Attacks, and in turn cancel Focus Attacks into the forward dash, resulting in new combo possibilities. If a Special Move is blocked by the opponent, the new system allows players to cancel the blocked move with a Focus Attack, and then cancel the Focus Attack by dashing backward safely away from the opponent.

Ono has stated that this system was incorporated in order to shift the emphasis away from combos and toward a more realistic system he has compared to boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, in which "the skill is in reading your opponent's move before he or she starts moving ... We haven't forgotten about combos and linked moves, but focus makes it so that you have to read your opponent." The system aims to make ground attacks as viable a way of approaching opponents as jumping was in previous games. The focus system is a core part of Street Fighter IV's gameplay.

Ultra Combos

In addition to the powered-up versions of Special Moves introduced in previous Street Fighter games such as Super Combos and EX Special Moves, the game also introduces a new type of powered-up Special Move officially dubbed the Ultra Combo. Ultra Combos are long and cinematic moves featuring a lengthy combination of punches, kicks and other fighting techniques. Just as there is a Super Combo gauge, there is also an Ultra Combo gauge (officially known as the Revenge Gauge or Revenge Meter), but whereas the Super Combo gauge fills up when the player hits their opponent or performs a Special Move, the Revenge Gauge fills when one takes damage from their opponent (similar to the K Groove featured in Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, known as Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, is a sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. This game was released on NAOMI hardware in the arcade...

). Along with the Super Combos, Ultra Combos are one of the only times (besides Zangief, E. Honda and Abel's command throws) the camera breaks from its normal fixed position to show a more dynamic, cinematic view of the gameplay.

Characters

Chronologically set between the Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...

series and the Street Fighter III series, the playable character roster of the arcade version includes the cast of the original Street Fighter II (all twelve characters, including the four Shadaloo Grand Masters) and four new characters. Akuma

Akuma (Street Fighter)

Akuma known in Japan as , is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu and Ken's...

from Super Street Fighter II Turbo also appears as a hidden playable character, as well as a secret opponent, for a total 17 playable characters. Additionally, the game includes two more secret characters: Seth as the game's standard final boss, and Gouken

Gouken

is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series. He is the martial arts master who trained Ryu and Ken, as well as the elder brother and former training partner of Akuma. Gouken is usually depicted as a bearded man who wears Mala prayer beads on his neck and a karate gi with the kanji mu , or...

as a secret opponent, which makes for a total of 19 characters.

New characters

Abel, a French fighter who utilizes Russian Combat Sambo
Sambo (martial art)
Sambo is a Russian martial art and combat sport. The word "SAMBO" is an acronym for SAMooborona Bez Oruzhiya, which literally translates as "self-defense without weapons". Sambo is relatively modern since its development began in the early 1920s by the Soviet Red Army to improve their hand to hand...

to defeat opponents (note his kurtka). He is described as an amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...

c, a "man with no past" looking to defeat surviving members of Shadaloo. He is later revealed to be a prototype of Seth's model.
Crimson Viper, a female American spy wearing sunglasses, leather gloves and a form-fitting suit with weapons she entered the tournament in order to "test".
Rufus
Rufus (Street Fighter)
is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series of video games. Designed by Daigo Ikeno for Capcom's development team, he first appeared in the arcade version of Street Fighter IV and later in related promotions and media for the title. A very large, overweight martial artist, Rufus seeks to...

, an overweight Kung Fu fighter, who seeks to fight Ken to prove himself as the best fighter in the United States.
El Fuerte (Spanish for "The Strong One"), a Mexican luchador and aspiring gourmet chef.
Seth, also known as "The Puppet Master", is the new boss character. He is the Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

of S.I.N., the weapons division of Shadaloo. His body has been modified using advanced technology. His Special Moves are techniques used by other characters.
Gouken
Gouken
is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series. He is the martial arts master who trained Ryu and Ken, as well as the elder brother and former training partner of Akuma. Gouken is usually depicted as a bearded man who wears Mala prayer beads on his neck and a karate gi with the kanji mu , or...

, the elder brother of Akuma, and Ryu
Ryu (Street Fighter)
is a video game player character created by Capcom, the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken Masters participating in the Street Fighter tournament...

and Kens master, appears in the arcade version as a secret computer-controlled challenger in the end of the single-player mode, making his debut as a fighter in the Street Fighter series.

Returning characters

Ryu
Ryu (Street Fighter)
is a video game player character created by Capcom, the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken Masters participating in the Street Fighter tournament...
Ken
Chun-Li
Chun-Li
is a video game character produced by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II, she has since appeared as a player character in nearly all subsequent games....
E. Honda
Blanka
Blanka
is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Blanka is depicted as a feral savage, with green skin and long orange hair, resembling a monster more than a human...
Zangief
Zangief
is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series of video games. Created by Akira Yasuda for Capcom, Zangief first appeared in Street Fighter II, later appearing in other games, media, and promotions related to the Street Fighter franchise...
Guile
Guile (Street Fighter)
is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games.-Street Fighter series:Guile made his first appearance in Street Fighter II as one of the eight selectable characters featured in the first release of the game...
Dhalsim
Dhalsim
, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games.Dhalsim made his debut in the original Street Fighter II as one of the games original eight main characters. In his backstory, Dhalsim is characterized as a pacifist who goes against his beliefs by entering the World...
Balrog
Balrog (Street Fighter)
Balrog is a character from the Street Fighter fighting game series.Balrog is depicted as an African American boxer wearing blue trunks with white trim and a torn white shirt under a blue tank top. He wears red boxing gloves and boxing shoes...
Vega
Vega (Street Fighter)
Vega is a fictional character from the Street Fighter fighting game series. Vega is a masked, claw-wielding warrior from Spain who uses a personal fighting style combining Japanese Ninjutsu and Bullfighting, earning him the nickname the "Spanish Ninja".Vega first appears in the original Street...
Sagat
Sagat (Street Fighter)
is a boss character from the early editions of Capcom's Street Fighter fighting game series. He was later turned into a regular, playable character. Sagat is depicted as a well-renowned Muay Thai expert fighter known for his incredible power. He is often called the "Emperor of Muay Thai" in his...
M. Bison
M. Bison
M. Bison, known in Japan as Vega, is a video game character created by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, he is a recurring character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games, acting as the final boss and primary antagonist of the Street Fighter II and Street...
Akuma
Akuma (Street Fighter)
Akuma known in Japan as , is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu and Ken's...

Development

Before producer Yoshinori Ono pitched the idea to Capcom R&D head Keiji Inafune

Keiji Inafune

is a video game producer and illustrator. He was the former head of Research & Development and Online Business and Global Head of Production at Capcom, best known as the illustrator and co-designer of the character Mega Man, as well as the producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising video game series...

, the prevailing attitude around Capcom was that a new numeric entry to the Street Fighter series would not be made. Initially, there was much resistance to Ono's pitch for a new Street Fighter game so many years after the original. The gap from 2000 to 2008, since Street Fighter EX3
Street Fighter EX3
Street Fighter EX3 is the third console installment in the Street Fighter EX series developed by Arika and published by Capcom. The game was released in 2000 for PlayStation 2 in Japan and North America, and subsequently released in Europe in 2001....

, the last Street Fighter game, represented the longest time the series had gone without a sequel. However, in light of fan demand plus the positive reception to Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting on Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...

, Inafune eventually allowed the project to begin. This was Ono's first take on a new entry for the Street Fighter series as a producer, although he had previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike as a "sound management director" and previously produced Capcom Fighting Jam
Capcom Fighting Jam
, released in North America as Capcom Fighting Evolution, is a head-to-head fighting game from Capcom. It was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Namco System 246 hardware and ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox...

. The experience provided by Super Street Fighter II Turbo became the main influence for the Street Fighter IV development team.

The game runs on the Taito Type X² arcade board inside a Taito Vewlix cabinet and takes advantage of the Type X²'s network capabilities and allows players in separate machines within the same LAN to fight each other.

Home versions

Street Fighter IV was also released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

, featuring additional playable characters and features not found in the arcade game. Capcom later released an iOS version on March 10, 2010.

Additional characters

The notable addition in the home versions of Street Fighter IV are eight unlockable and playable characters not available in the arcade version. Seth and Gouken, computer-played characters in the arcade, and six characters from other Street Fighter games were added, to a total of 25 characters, all of them playable. The introduced characters are Dan

Dan Hibiki

is a video game character from Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. Introduced in Street Fighter Alpha, Dan is consistently portrayed as an arrogant, overconfident, yet utterly feeble character.-Concept and creation:...

, Fei-Long, Sakura, Cammy, Gen, and Rose.

Additional features

Home versions also feature online play, downloadable content, a Challenge Mode that acts as a training module for players, requiring them to reproduce indicated moves or combos with successive levels of increasing complexity, as well as selectable English or Japanese voices

Voice acting

Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...

for the characters (similar to the voice option settings in the Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur
is a 3D, weapons-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and produced by Namco. It is the second game in the Soul series, preceeded by Soul Edge. It was released in arcades in 1998, and it ran on the Namco System 12 hardware. In 1999 it was ported to the Dreamcast with improved graphics and...

games), making Street Fighter IV the first game in the series since the original Street Fighter to feature English voice acting for all the characters.

The game also offers a new opening cinematic scene featuring the song "The Next Door", by Exile, in both Japanese and English (depending on language settings), and animated opening and ending sequences for each character.

The iOS version allows for bluetooth-based multiplayer between devices, but features only eight of the console version's characters and stages. The characters consist of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Dhaslim, Blanka, Abel and M. Bison. In an update two more characters were added: Zangief and Cammy. The most recent update features Sagat and an unlockable character, Dee Jay.

Windows version additions

The Windows version of Street Fighter IV includes all the features found in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and some extras, that Capcom representatives say could make it "the definitive version" of the game. The game features online play via Games for Windows - LIVE, with built-in voice chat and PC-exclusive achievements, but no cross-platform playability would be available with Xbox 360 players. Also, the game features higher resolutions, and three new freely selectable visual styles, named "Ink", "Watercolor

Watercolor painting

Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...

" and "Posterize

Posterization

Posterization of an image entails conversion of a continuous gradation of tone to several regions of fewer tones, with abrupt changes from one tone to another. This was originally done with photographic processes to create posters...

". There are also two bundles of the game: regular (game only, $39.99) and a bundle that includes the Mad Catz FightPad (with the Ryu design) that is currently sold separately for the Xbox 360 version. Those who pre-ordered the game at Best Buy received a DVD with an Eagle One animated comic (this is not the same as The Ties That Bind that comes in the collector's editions of the console versions). Additionally, Svensson has stated on the Capcom Unity forums that the retail version uses disc-based SecuROM

SecuROM

SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection and digital rights management product developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM aims to resist home media duplication devices, professional duplicators, and attempts at reverse engineering software. It is most often used for commercial computer games running under the...

as its main form of copy protection for the North American release.

The specifications for the game were released on May 15, 2009, and are considered relatively modest.

Marketing

For Western markets, three different packages for the game were prepared — the European release, the North American standard package, and the North American Collector's Edition. The contents of the Collector's Edition are nearly identical to those featured in the European version, and are the following:

A comic book style mini strategy guide by Prima
Prima Games
Prima Games, a division of Random House, is the largest publishing company of video game strategy guides in the United States. It is an imprint of the Random House Information Group, based in Roseville, California...

(which also published a full strategy guide for the game in the U.S.), featuring artwork by UDON
UDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...

.
A disc including the 65 minutes animated film
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

titled , produced by Studio 4°C
Studio 4°C
is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense.-History:STUDIO4°C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film titles include; Memories , Spriggan and Princess Arete...

as a prologue for the game, and a selection of the game's trailers (a Blu-ray disc for the PS3 version and game disc with the movie in 720p for the Xbox 360).
A soundtrack CD (not in Europe).
Crimson Viper and Ryu figurines (in the US release, PS3 owners will get a Ryu figurine, while Xbox 360 owners get a Crimson Viper figure. In Europe, PS3 and Xbox 360 owners got both figurines in place of a soundtrack CD.)
Five downloadable character costumes, which is known as the Brawler Pack that includes alternate costumes for: Zangief, E. Honda, Rufus, El Fuerte, and Abel.

Mad Catz

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...

produced six controllers for the game, two Arcade sticks and a game pad each for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. These products include a basic model joystick, the "Street Fighter IV FightStick"; a heavier and sturdier stick, the "Street Fighter IV FightStick Tournament Edition'; and a six-button game pad, the "Street Fighter IV FightPad". Meanwhile peripheral manufacturer Hori also produced two joysticks for the game for the Japanese/Asian markets based on previous joystick models produced by the company.

iOS version

An iOS version of the game was released on March 10, 2010. This version retains many of the console version's features, but contains a simplified combo system. The game was released with eight playable characters, though more have been added through free updates. The game also includes Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...

multiplayer and Game Center achievements. Additionally, a version called Street Fighter IV Volt was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch on June 30, 2011, which enables online play.

Downloadable content

The console versions of Street Fighter IV support downloadable content, made available for download via Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace

Xbox Live Marketplace

The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...

and Sony's PlayStation Network.

The first expansion pack, titled "Championship Mode", was released free of charge on April 24, 2009. It provides players with a replay mode, a new points system and an enhanced tournament matching system. Championship mode is a game mode where a series of players compete against each other for ranking points. The higher the ranking, the harder the contest the player will participate in. The PS3 version of the download allows the player to vote on the parts of the recorded match they thought were "funny", "awesome", and "beautiful". The Xbox 360 version allows the player to download their recorded fights to the console.

In addition, five alternate costume packs are available for purchase. These costume packs include the alternate costumes already seen in the arcade version, and were released on separate dates following the game's launch.

February 17, 2009 (North America); February 20, 2009 (Europe): Brawler Pack including alternate costumes for: Zangief, E. Honda, Rufus, El Fuerte, and Abel.
February 24, 2009 (North America); February 27, 2009 (Europe): Femme Fatale Pack including alternate costumes for: Chun-Li, Cammy, Sakura, Rose, and C.Viper.
March 3, 2009 (North America); March 6, 2009 (Europe): Shoryuken Pack including alternate costumes for: Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Gouken, and Dan.
March 10, 2009 (North America); March 13, 2009 (Europe): Shadaloo Pack including alternate costumes for: Seth, M. Bison, Sagat, Balrog, and Vega.
March 17, 2009 (North America); March 20, 2009 (Europe): Classic Pack including alternate costumes for: Guile, Dhalsim, Fei-Long, Blanka, and Gen.

A single package called the "Complete Alternate Costume Pack", containing alternate costumes for all 25 characters was made available for download on May 5, 2009 in North America, and May 8, 2009 in Europe.

Although initially Capcom stated that there were no plans to add any additional characters to the game, wanting to focus on core gameplay values, Yoshinori Ono later revealed that unfinished versions of Dee Jay

Dee Jay

is a character from Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. He is a Jamaican kickboxer who also works as a recording artist and breakdancer...

and T. Hawk (the only two missing characters from SSF2T) had been made, and given sufficient fan request for them, they could eventually get added into the game. These characters eventually found their way into Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...

.

There was an update for the iOS version that added Zangief and Cammy to the roster. A second update added C. Viper and E. Honda whilst a third added Sagat and Dee Jay - the latter having to be unlocked. DLC is also available. So far Ryu and Chun-Li each have one new costume each for $.99 and 'Street Fighter II Arranged BGM' can also be purchased to provide alternate in-game audio.

Anime

Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind is an animated

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

movie directed by Jirō Kanai that was featured in a bonus disc included in the Collector's Edition of Street Fighter IV for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The plot, which takes place before the events of Street Fighter IV, begins with Cammy's Team Delta Red task force who are investigating an energy anomaly. Chun-Li

Chun-Li

is a video game character produced by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II, she has since appeared as a player character in nearly all subsequent games....

and Guile

Guile (Street Fighter)

is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games.-Street Fighter series:Guile made his first appearance in Street Fighter II as one of the eight selectable characters featured in the first release of the game...

investigate the disappearance of well known martial artists in which they find Abel, a new mixed martial arts fighter. Crimson Viper is sent to capture Ryu on orders from Seth, who knows about Ryu's Satsui no Hadou and desires it for himself. Additionally, five promotional anime shorts featuring characters from the game were released via the Capcom website.

Comic

In addition to the The Ties That Bind animated film included with the collectors edition of the game, UDON

UDON

UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...

also published a 4-issue comic mini-series based on Street Fighter IV, with the first issue being released February 18, 2009. The comic focuses on the new characters (Abel, Viper, El Fuerte, and Rufus) and their interactions with many of the series' mainstays.

PlayStation Home

In the PlayStation 3's online community-based service PlayStation Home

PlayStation Home

PlayStation Home is a virtual 3D social gaming network developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network . It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar under PlayStation Network. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN...

, Capcom has released a Street Fighter IV themed game space. The space is called "S.I.N.'s Secret Base from Street Fighter IV". It has such features as Challenge Opponent which lets users do an action based on their fighting level in Street Fighter IV, as well as a shop with themed costumes and ornaments of all the characters from Street Fighter IV. This space was released in the Japanese version on July 30, 2009, in the Asian version on September 24, 2009, in the European version on October 9, 2009, and in the North American version on October 23, 2009.

In addition to the game space, costumes, and ornaments, Street Fighter IV also fully supports Game Launching in PlayStation Home which lets users set up multi-player games in Home, with advanced options, and launch into the game from Home. This feature was added on April 23, 2009.

Some trophies in Street Fighter IV also reward Home rewards.

Reception

Both the arcade and home versions of Street Fighter IV have received universal critical acclaim. The game received an aggregated score of 94 from Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

for its PlayStation 3 version, 93 for its Xbox 360 version, and 91 for its PC version.

The arcade version of Street Fighter IV was voted Best Game of 2008 in Japan by the editorial staff of Arcadia magazine in the February 2009 issue of the publication. The game also won in the categories of "Best Graphics", "Best Production", and the "Reader's Choice Award". The character Ryu took the No. 1 spot in the magazine's "Top 20 Characters of 2008" in the same issue. The February 2009 issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine has rated the game 5/5, while the February 2009 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has given Street Fighter IV a score of 9.5/10. IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

gave the game a 9.3/10, calling it an "irrevocably deep fighting game", but said that the anime cutscenes are "so poorly animated and tell you almost nothing about the story or the context for each character's participation in the tournament." GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

gave it the best Fighting Game of 2009 in the Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice areas. Additionally, GameTrailers

GameTrailers

GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...

named the title as the Best Fighting Game of 2009. Street Fighter IV also won "Fighting Game of the Year" at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards.

Giant Bomb

Giant Bomb

Giant Bomb is an American video game website and wiki that includes gaming news, reviews, commentary, and video, created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis in collaboration with Whiskey Media...

gave the game 5 out of 5 stars stating that "Street Fighter IV combines old and new in powerful ways, resulting in a game familiar enough to bring retired fans back into the fold while being different enough to appeal to the players who have stuck with the genre since day one." Eurogamer

Eurogamer

Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...

gave the game 10/10 stating that "after over a month of playing Street Fighter IV almost daily, what has become quite clear is that it manages to appeal to a huge range of abilities and tastes without ever compromising its fidelity". Planet Xbox 360 was similar in its praise for the game, awarding it 9.1/10 and only finding fault with the Xbox 360's controller. Strategy Informer gave the game 9/10 saying "[Street Fighter IV] is truly one spectacular fighting game that proves Capcom's focal point — Street Fighter is back!", and has resulted in a large fan base with live-action reproductions.

The iOS version has been critically acclaimed as well. Gameplayershub.com gave the game a 97% score, indicating that the game had such polish it should lead the way for future games on the platform.

Super Street Fighter IV

Released on April 27, 2010, Super Street Fighter IV is the followup to Street Fighter IV.
Super Street Fighter IV includes several new online game modes and ten additional characters, as well as tweaks and changes to the existing ones, such as new Ultra Combos and additional costumes. Among the added characters are returners T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Adon, Guy, Cody, Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley. The newly introduced characters are Juri, a Korean Tae Kwon Do fighter who works as a spy for Seth's organization, S.I.N., and Hakan, a Turkish oil wrestler

Yagli güres

Oil wrestling , also called grease wrestling, is the Turkish national sport. It is so called because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. It is related to the Uzbeki kurash, Tuvan khuresh and Tatar köräş...

.

An arcade version of Super Street Fighter IV was released by Capcom titled Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition in December 2010. Arcade Edition added Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu and Oni to the roster and addressed some balance issues with the older characters. The Arcade Edition will be released as both a disc based version and as downloadable content.

A 3D version of Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is a fighting video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. It was released as a launch game in all continents, but in Japan first on 26 February 2011...

was released in 2011 as a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.