Game Review: Street Fighter V

I didn't get a chance to participate in the Beta for Street Fighter V, but I think that may have been more of a benefit as the "final" product seems quite different than what some reported during the beta.
Street Fighter launched February 16, I didn't get it till April, the reason I held out was because of all the negative feedback I was reading regarding the complete absence of single player content as well as the connectivity issues.
So I've been on vacation for 2 weeks and put in some serious time with the game since I got it and yes the single player content offerings are abysmal but Street Fighter is at it's core a competitive 2 player game. And I'm willing to give SFV the benefit of the doubt with this new approach of incremental updates. Alex was the first DLC character made available from March 30th, Guile Just became available on April 29th along with his  stage....I say his stage because that was one thing myself and many others asked for in SFIV, character specific stages! And It certainly looks as though Capcom listened! Guiles Stage looks fantastic! I spent FM for it as well as Guile's Alt (no longer his primary outfit). This brings me to my next point FM (fight money) and the yet to be implemented Zenny ( in game currency purchased via real money). I am disgusted by the games that "offer" purchase-able upgrades in games, mostly mobile games otherwise know as PTW. It is the most blatant display of greed and disrespect for gamers and is detrimental to the gaming industry in my opinion, but I will give Capcom a pass on this as you the player have the choice to grind out the FM thru ranked matches, Survival, Trials and Story Mode. I had 330k FM when Guile became available, his stage cost 70K FM. Now winning ranked matches only nets you 50 FM a match so the game really needs the Daily challenges implemented soon! I am willing to use my FM on stages, and characters as they become available as long as I can earn adequate FM thru ranked matches as well as single player content. I fully intend to get Guile and Ibuki!

As far as the how the game plays, I'm pleased, I'm still trying to unlearn what I learned from SFIV, the basics feel close to SFII, what I mean is once everyone learns their characters inside out it will take more than a new game mechanic like Parry's/Focus/ V-skill to abuse to win you'll actually need to beat the other player....what's the tag line for Survivor? Outwit, Outplay, Outlast? You can't just throw out hard kick or a wakeup Shoryuken because the damage output is HIGH on punishes!
The V-skill system adds another layer to the game play, it's like if/when Akuma becomes avail, his V-trigger would transform him into Oni....gameplay wise. Although he might change visually also like Necalli, that would be cool.
Getting back to gameplay, it's Street Fighter the gameplay is tight and every current character feels balanced enough at this point to be competitive, some a little better than others....ahem Chun Li.
I have main'd Chun Li since 1992 SFII World Warriors so of course I'm extremely pleased with her in SFV but on the flip side of the coin I actually preferred the challenge of winning against Vanilla Sagat in SFIV.....now I understand the frustration of losing with such a powerful character.
Chun will always be my main but I'm currently focusing on Karin and Guile as potential secondary's. In fact this time around I intend to give each character some quality time (aprox 1 month) LP be damned so to get a broader feel for all the cast, which hopefully will assist me in the long run in matches....."to defeat your enemy you must understand your enemy".
Here are some matches I've had that I really enjoyed,


There were many people saying the game looks like SFIV 2.0 graphically it's more than that, I do have issues with Ken's face and Alex also....they did do a great job however with Guile, Karin, Vega, Bison, Rashid, Chun Li (I preferred original ver.), Necalli, Laura Matsuda, and R. Mika. I miss SFA Birdie but I'll deal with the change for changes sake with him and Nashenstien.
I'm sad we didn't get such an amazing intro song as SFIV's Indestructible but we'll have to do without I suppose....just kidding. The sound track is ok the tracks just don't seem to have the same impact as SFII did, although I'm digging Guile remixed theme!

I got PS+ specifically for this game, and I think it's way too soon to say whether Street Fighter V will go the way of SFIII or SFII & IV.....there seems to be a pattern.
All I can say is I'm enjoying the game, it has a solid foundation and I'm excited to see how the game evolves through 2016 and beyond!
8/10

Coloring Perception by BigMex

Back in February 2009 I wrote a blog post a day titled Memorable Black Characters In Video Games. My way of showing my appreciation for the month and for industry I've grown up with, it was actually a bit more difficult to find black video game characters that represented the values of Black History Month.
I've read a few of Big Mex's blog posts over on Capcom Unity and 1Up and this 18 part blog series was so amazing I couldn't stop reading it! Even if you're not a fan of fighting games I really recommend taking the time and reading this series! And if you are a member of the FGC this series will really be a gem of a read!

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AquaPazza: Console Release Trailer

I've played a decent amount of fighting games in my life from Yae Ar Kung Fu to Time Killers and have pretty much stuck with Street Fighter throughout the years. Ive actually been interested in AquaPazza for about a year and I was happily surprised the other night when I was on the PS Store and saw that it had finally come stateside for $29.99!
I'd be lying if I said I knew anything about any of the characters but from past trailers 2 look like Ranka and Cheryl Nome from Macross Frontier...good enough for me. Plus having a Siberian tiger fight along side you!!! C'mon that's a heluva lot better than T Hawks lame ass eagle!
Maybe AquaPazza will make it to EVO2014...

New USFIV trailer from CJ

New USFIV trailer from Capcom Japan!
So the mystery 5th character....who is it.
At first I thought it was gonna be Asura, Ono confirmed it wasn't Asura.
The info that we know is:

• It will be a character from the SF universe or at least fit into the SF universe
• It is a character that isn't on anyone's radar
•  It's an existing Capcom Character
• It hasn't been "playable" in a Street Fighter or any other fighting game before
• It's Not Haggar from FF confirmed by Ono

So based on that
Here's my 3 guesses on who the mystery character is!

1. Kevin Straker (Ken)  from Street Fighter 2010
2. Guile's Daughter
3. Goutetsu

Ultra Street Fighter IV

So it wasn't Super Street Fighter IV AE ver 2013/2014, it wasn't Hyper Street Fighter IV, it was much more obvious than that!
For those who are slightly disapointed with the Ctrl C, ctrl V job...lets remember SFIV came out in 2009! There is no other game this generation that has had the longevity and support tat this game has! Obviously they didn't have to make USFIV, but I appreciate the fact that they did...I'm fairly certain most SFIV resources have been reallocated to next gen projects, so thank you Capcom.
As a fan of the franchise since the original SF I'm looking forward to Ultra Street Fighter IV and eventually SF V!
The one thing I was hoping along with the USFIV announcement was some news on the Street Fighter Assasins Fist project...alas nothing.

Also maybe it was just me but the stream died on my phone last night during the UMVC3 grand finals between Justin Wong and EMP Flocker during the second set when it was 2-1 Flocker! I lost it and ran to the computer that the wife was on and jumped onto the stream only to see Alex Vaille getting a commemorative trophy FFFFFFFFFUUUUU!!!!!!
Can someone tell me what happened?
I stayed up to watch the trailer for USFIV then passed out....getting up for work at 4:45 am SUCKS!
Kinda pissed I didn't get to watch any of the SSFIV finals!
Updates on that would also be much appreciated!....Mike I'm looking at you ;)
So you got Sonia to watch EVO!? Very cool!
D was like your all NERDS!
Can't wait till EVO gets televised on ESPN or some shit one day!
C'mon they have poker tourney and billiards! ESports is coming folks! Mark my words.

EVO 2013 July 12th-14th

Evo 2013 happens in 17 days, July 12-14! There will be 9 games at this years EVO!

• Super Street Fighter IV AE 2012
• Ultimate MVC3
• Street Fighter X Tekken
• Mortal Kombat 
• Tekken Tag Tournament2
• King of the Fighters XIII
• Persona 4 Arena
• Super Smash Bros Melee 
• Injustice Gods Among Us

Good to see so many fighting games at Evo this year, I'm looking forward to seeing the AE2013 update and I'm also hoping we get some news on Street Fighter Assassins Fist series!
I'm also really hoping for a Daigo/Infiltration rematch!

EVO 2K12 SSFIVAE Finals

I totally missed EVO this year while on vacation but here's the full SSFIV AE 2012 EVO 2K12 Finals. I'm shocked how Infiltration totally shut down Daigo's Ryu! 
Daigo seemed disconnected before the match even began, but Infiltratration's Akuma was top notch and he obviously studied Daigo's Ryu intently to be able to read Diago's game so well.
Grats to Gamerbee and his Adon, that was a great match between him and Xiao Hai's Cammy! And congratulations to Infiltration on the EVO 2012 SSFIV AE championship!

Winter Brawl 6 trailer

I almost went to this....A guy I spar with from Capcom Unity/SRK almost convinced me to go but my delusions of grandeur fizzled away once I looked at my 2 year old son. Back in the day I thought about entering a Street Fighter competition but that was waaay back before EVO existed and it was called B3 (Battle By the Bay). If I ever go to a fighting game tournament it'll be to watch my son compete in the future....
Anyway good luck Doc Shadow rep Unity well!
For more info check out the WB6 on iplaywinner.com

Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition

Wow 12 years have passed since Third Strike was released in the arcades here in the States. I admit I had never put the time in with Street Fighter III, like I did with Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV...but I know I'm not the only one. I only started playing Street Fighter III when I bought the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for PS2, I wasn't to keen on the game back then but with my reignited fighting spirit ,thanks to SFIV, I truly want to sink my teeth into SFIII3SOE! I've met many players that insist 3S is the pinnacle of the series and I want to see if I judged SFIII3S prematurely.
I wanted to buy this on day 1 but due to the PS3 being unusable for a couple months (long story short...angry wife) I had to wait till November to get SFIII3SOE.
From everything I was reading on Capcom Unity regarding the issues at launch I'm kinda glad I waited.
Before we get to the review of the game itself  there were issues with the game in the PS Store! The Store had the Demo and Full game mixed up, in other words if someone wanted to DL the demo they would actually DL the full game...not a big deal but still, cmon!
Graphically SFIII3SOE is gorgeous with the HD filters running.

Aquapazza New 2D Anime fighter

After seeing Skullgirls at EVO 2K11 and being utterly unimpressed, I've just stumbled upon this lil jem from the land of the rising sun. With Street Fighter IV single handedly resurrecting the fighting game genre and all the familiar franchises rising from the ashes it's great to see some new IP's sprouting up, Character animation looks solid, hit detection looks tight, specials and "finishers" look great, stages look great and I like the 2D sprites...brings me back to 1991 in the arcades. I swear while watching this video I saw Sheryl Nome, Ranka and Alto from Macross Frontier!
 I hope this makes it's way over here!
aquapazza website

UMVC3 Full cinematic trailer

The full cinematic intro for UMVC3 was just released by Capcom, again it's pretty awesome with the whole Matrix thing going on and all. Poor Pheonix Wright you're barely noticeable.
If you're a fan of this series I'm sure you're gonna get it...me I'll stick with Street Fighter...and if you think Capcom won't be releasing an UMVC3 AE or something like it you're only lieing to yourself...and now if you'll excuse me I need to count the days to the SSFIVAE 2012 balance patch.  

Screw Attack's Death Match! Chun Li Vs Mai Shiranui

I love fighting game rivalries especially cross franchise ones like Proxicide's Street Fighter Vs Mortal Kombat one a few years back!
Screw Attack has done a bunch of Death Matches with video game characters, I wanted to put this one up because I love this matchup! Not for the immature reasons but because I main Chun Li and never had a worthwhile match against a Mai player in CVS2...but if I had I think the outcome would be a little different than this match.

You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance...so that's what Ryu was talking about!

Navigating the uncharted regions of the interwebs is treacherous and somes you come across things that just cannot be explained or unseen...this is one of those things!

This just more evidence to coroborate the long running rumor that Ryu's been tappin' the strongest woman in the world since 1992!

As further proof I give this! This is why fanfic is an abomination from the deepest pits of hell!

SDCC10: Street Fighter X Tekken rumor control

Yoshinori Ono just wrapped up the Street Fighter and Beyond Presentation at Comic Con and the rumor of a collabrative effort between Capcom and Namco to make a brand new cross platform fighter has been confirmed!
Capcom will be making Street Fighter X Tekken and Namco will be making Tekken X Street Fighter!
2010 has been an insane year for the fighting game genre!

G4 EVO 2010

Just a friendly reminder fighting game fans, G4's EVO 2010 live stream begins in 15 mins!

http://g4tv.com/EVO

Game Review: Super Street Fighter IV

The Street Fighter series is notorious for version updates...
Street Fighter II: World Warriors-> SFII Champion Edition->SFII Turbo: Hyper Fighting->Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers -> Super Street Fighter II Turbo
With each of those revisions to the SFII series we got a few game play tweaks or roster updates.
With the success of Street Fighter IV it was only a matter of time before we got an  update. Unlike previous version updates this one's a doozy! 10 "new" characters, 5 new stages, 3 new modes, the return of bonus stages and the replay channel, a second Ultra for all characters, new alt outfits for the entire roster!
You'll notice I put new in parenthesis  in regards to the 10 new characters in actuality only 2 are totally new.

Juri: an agent of S.I.N. Korean taekwondo practitioner, who lost her parents and one eye to Shadaloo. Her damaged left eye is replaced by SIN tech (Feng Shui Engine).

Hakan is a Turkish oil wrestler who enters the tournament to prove his fighting style is the best....meh.

Guy: Returns from SFA  and FF

Cody: Returns from SFA and FF

Dudley: Returns from SFIII

Makoto: Returns from SFIII

Ibuki: Returns from SFIII

Dee Jay: Returns from SSFII and SFA










T-Hawk: Returns from SSFII and SFA

Adon: Return's from SF1 and SFA











The new stages are a VERY welcome addition as the few we got with the original were adequate but I'm one of those who thinks every character needs to have their own distinctive stage.
The new modes are great Endless being my favorite as I can now play against all my friends from Capcom Unity, I also like the revamped Tournament Mode, I will probably never get to a real Street Fighter Tournament so this will do.
I'm a creature of habit and when I discovered the bonus stages weren't in the single player mode of Street Fighter IV it bugged me, the bonus stages are an integral part of what makes Street Fighter, Street Fighter.
This is an amazing update to an already great game....absolutely worth the price!

9/10

Midway to ressurect Mortal Kombat Series

With Capcom's success with Street Fighter IV and the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV, Midway has announced their return to the Mortal Kombat series.
All I can say is check out the in game footage and judge for yourself !
Sweet...Epic Fatality!

Street Fighter IV: Here Comes a New Challenger

Those familiar with Street Fighter Lore the Shoto clones Ryu and Ken learned their martial art style from Gouken. Gouken and Gouki (Akuma) were taught by Goutetsu. The art was named Ansatsuken and Goutetsu refused to teach the full art but Gouki was determined to master the full power of Ansatsuken and it's power consumed him. He challenged Goutetsu and murdered him with his own art form. Gouki disappeared and years later returned and Gouken and Gouki fought each other, as the fight went on Ryu and Ken witnessed Gouki kill Gouken...that's the legend as I remember it anyway.

There have been plenty of rumors of Gouken being in Street Fighter all the back to the glory days of Street Fighter II, with EGM's Sheng Long april fools joke. From that april fools joke Akuma was born, his first appearance in Super Street Fighter II turbo, when Street Fighter 3 was announced the rumor resurfaced but it was again a joke.

Even in the Alpha series Gouken was not introduced, which would be the most fitting time in Street Fighter continuity.

With Street Fighter IV rapidly approaching release the mysterious legend who learned from Goutetsu along side Gouki has returned! Here is the first pics of Gouken in Famitsu.

Street Fighter IV: New Anime footage from ComicCon 08

New footage of the Street Fighter IV anime!
Let the video load up then skip to 2:58. Nice to see Cammy, I wonder if this is more confirmation that she's gonna make it on the console version of Street Fighter IV. For those fans of Street Fighter you'll also catch the fact that the outfit Chun Li is wearing in the begining of the vid is the same as her outfit at the end of Street Fighter II. LMAO at Guile's wife, he's leaving AGAIN!? I just know that Guile's ending for Street Fighter IV is gonna have him return home to an empty house and find divorce papers under the door!

Street Fighter IV: Here Comes a New Outfit

In previous incarnations of the Street Fighter franchise begining with Street Fighter II Champion Ed. players were able to choose alternate colors to differenciate two players choosing the same character, with Street Fighter IV players will now be able choose alternate outfits for their character! Each characters alternate outfit is unique and some give a glimpse into their background...El Fuerte's alt outfit comes to mind. A few have been revealed, Chun Li so far IMO has the best alternate outfit. Akuma's isn't too bad either LMAO!