On the 17th of April, ESC-Games held a preview event for Capcom's up-coming fighter Super Street Fighter IV. Tournaments were held, with prizes available for the taking including Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 arcade sticks and signed Street Fighter collectibles! A member of Gamezplay.org was able to spend time with the game, getting to know the new 9 characters exclusive to Super, and testing new Ultras for previously available characters.
It's safe to say that Capcom have pulled out all of the stops this time, with a total of 35 characters, all available to play from the start. As a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike enthusiast, I headed straight for Dudley and Makoto, having learnt both prior to playing SSFIV. With Dudley, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that he still has all of his target combos and basic setups. His crouching roundhouse can still be used to juggle into combos, standing roundhouse still combos into EX Machine-gun Blow, etc. After a couple of rounds of adapting, he felt natural to play and I was highly impressed.
With Makoto however, she seemed to feel a lot stiffer than in Street Fighter III, and didn't seem to carry as much combo/mix-up potential. Her Karakusa command grab is still incredibly useful, providing an easy way of combo'ing into her Ultra, but her Hayate seems to have a far slower start-up animation, meaning that high/low mix-ups aren't as easy to get away with unpunished. All things considered though, Makoto seems like a solid character, with fairly high damage output, some decent mix-ups, and the ability to combo into and out of her Ultras.
Besides the characters I had the opportunity to play, the event successfully proved that Super Street Fighter is great fun to play both competitively and casually, with the gameplay mechanics and short-cuts accommodating any level of player. Balance issues from Street Fighter IV have been addressed, with a distinct lack of ground-to-air trades into Ultras. Characters like Guile and Rose have been buffed, whilst high/top-tiers such as Sagat and Akuma have suffered from the update.
The competition at the event was high, with the level of play particularly impressive, especially since the players were new to the game and the tournaments were only Super Street Fighter IV exclusive characters. The Scottish scene didn't fail to impress, with the players eager to learn new tricks, make jokes, and create a pleasant atmosphere all round!
With just a few more days to go before Super Street Fighter IV's release, hype regarding the game is high, with many players are anxious to get online and start showing the world just how good they are. Are you up for the challenge? If so, feel free to share your XBox LIVE gamertag of PlayStation Network username as a comment below.
Videos from ESC's 'Pure Belter' SSFIV event can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/escgames#g/c/250C23D201DE55CE