Hands on impressions: Super Street Fighter 4

During the Pax East 2010 event, Capcom had a playable version of Super Street Fighter 4. We had the opportunity to test drive it before its April release date. Super Street Fighter 4 plays identical to the original with plenty of additions. First is the addition to a second ultra combo, when choosing your character one of the two can be selected in the beginning. The character models look slightly more defined, moves very fluid and the enviroments also receive a graphical boost.

All the characters from the SF4 return with new characters ranging in Street Fighter games. Guy, Cody and Adon from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Makoto, Ibuki and Dudley from the Street Fighter III series. Dee Jay and T.Hawk from the Super Street fighter 2 game. Lastly, Juri and Hankan are the 2 orginal characters. All the new characters fit right into this game but since added for the first time will have two ultra combos unseen. Hankan the Turkish wrestler was the newest character announced on the roster and while he had a very odd approach of poring oil on himself, he did have some of the best combination of moves we’ve seen.

Some ultras are devastating, while others are rather silly. Animation for some characters have been slightly altered to keep a better balance. An example is Akuma’s double spinning roundhouse kick was given a frame of delay to keep from being abused and repeated often. These tweaked animations and newer ultra combos add more to the shear depth and strategy of SSF4.

So far Super Street Fighter 4 is shaping up well to be a classic in todays generation of fighters. Old and new characters feel fresh in this one which will keep everyone from using only the added fighters. With a plethora of characters, deep fighting mechanics and everyone having a second ultra, Super Street fighter 4 got our attention and we can’t wait to play it later this month.

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