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The fun to play and actually decent, despite not being misunderstood and not that loved Street Fighter III series got a lot of love from me. I own all 3 in the series on the ill fated, but still awesome Dreamcast. I’m easily swayed and was instantly drawn in by how Ryu’s clothes seem to move all over the place as he lobbed fireballs. But once I sat down with the game I fell for it and commended Capcom’s decision to just start afresh with a bevy of new faces, an all new piece of hardware on which to run the game and also a fresh sounding soundtrack.

The New generation and 2nd impact had cool soundtracks, but 3rd strike’s was kick ass. The little catchy jingles went out of the window in the place of full on dance, trance and drum ‘n bass fuelled compositions. The brilliant thing about 3rd strike’s soundtrack was that every stage had 3 versions of the same theme: 1 version for each progressive round, with the mix getting more and more intense.

Makoto’s theme stuck out for me instantly because it was cool, quirky and downright funky. You also don’t expect the track to progress and the beats to drop as they do as the rounds progress. “Spunky” is easily one of my fave tracks from the 3rd strike soundtrack. The whole of 3rd strike’s soundtrack was awesome because it was such a departure for Capcom and the composers didn’t care so much about trying to re-create classic themes. They just wanted to make good music that you could lob fireballs and combo suckers to.

The version of “Spunky” below is versions A, B and C all mixed together.

Listen: Spunky

Street Fighter III: 3rd strike
© 1999 Capcom entertainment Japan

Wired.com reports that a capcom.com poll held previously to decide which characters will be added to the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 versions of Street Fighter IV. The winner has been chosen, and producer Yoshinori Ono has announced her identity: Cammy, originally from Super Street Fighter II:The New Challengers. He also hinted the possibility of the infamous Sheng Long’s inclusion.

Wired.com

GameDaily reports that the console version of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV will launch in the US in March of 2009, to coincide with the late February release date of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-li. Producor Patrick Aiello seems a little confused, as he believes this to also be the series’ 20th anniversary, which came and went last year. I suppose it would be the 20th anniversary of Final Fight, the Street Fighter-based beat-em-up, but that seems a bit esoteric.

This is just the first in a line of Street Fighter “collections” from clothing line Triumvir, and the rest of the line will follow in late 2008. The cap and t-shirt come together as a package, and are based off of M. Bison’s Shadaloo crime organization.

I bet most of you are thinking the red ensemble looks a lot sharper (and more Bison-like). Turns out the producers though the same thing—it will only be available at Comic Con this year. Only 200 pieces will be available worldwide (!), so the competition to snag them will be fierce.

[highsnobiety via / Kotaku]

Alongside the initial four (Ryu, Chun-Li, Casshern and Gatchaman) we now have Tekkaman: The space knight and Rival schools’ Batsu thrown into the mix!

I’m all for Batsu’s inclusion, as I was a big Rival schools fan. I’m hoping he has a super attack whereby he calls on classmates Hinata and Kyosuke to beatdown the opposition. Tekkaman looks really cool, but I’m hoping the final Tatsunoko roster are more varied in appearance. The 3 we’ve seen so far all have a penchant for white spandex and could easily be mistaken for coming from the same show. I guess that’s Japanese daytime anime’s from the 1980’s for you though. White spandex and visors were all the rage for heroes in those days.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom looks like it’s shaping up to be a great game. I can’t wait to see which Capcom characters make the cut and how big the final roster will end up. If Capcom’s recent string of original and successful titles are anything to go by, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom should be one to look out for. If this gets a console release, with some online play - I’ll be buying for sure.

I just love how Capcom’s throwing it back and having the classic beat ‘em up make a comeback.

[Famitsu]

This just released new trailer for Street Fighter 4 is pretty amazing. Starting with an ode to the great 2D classics and then showing us some gameplay clips, it frankly makes me feel like searching for the nearest arcade in the middle of the night.

Also I simply love the song! Its so damn heroic, like out of a Rocky soundtrack. I must have it, anyone know the name?

On Saturday Capcom released the first shot of its upcoming Street Fighter movie, in it we see Kristin Kreuk in the role of Chun Li for the first time… kind of.

The photo shows a very disheveled Chun Li, in fact that disheveled might not be it. She looks like she just got done sweeping the ground with her face.That’s not to say she looks bad as making Miss Kreuk look bad would require more than a little bit of dirt. It’s a bit of a disappointed that the first image to come out doesn’t show any thunder thighs but it does get my mind thinking. The only way for her to look like the Chun Li we all know and love all it would take is a little help from Mr. Soap over here.

Yes, that’s right dear readers! Am I the only one getting flashbacks of the infamous shower scene from the Street Fighter anime movie? It sure makes the mind wonder huh?

[Just Press Play]

I’ve decided that every other Saturday I’ll post a piece of video game music that I dig and feel like sharing; in something I’m going to call Sound test Saturday. (If you can think of a better name, please…share it with me).

Today’s VGM is from Street Fighter EX+ alpha. The EX series may have slumped into suckyville with the second and third titles; but the PlayStation release of the first EX game was pretty solid and the soundtrack was awesome. The music comprised of really funky numbers which featured live instrumentations and gave the sound this really cool edge. It was a nice break from the tinny MIDI’fied numbers that many Capcom and Street Fighter related soundtracks had sported up until the point EX+ alpha came along.

There are many highlights of the EX+ alpha soundtrack, but the one I’m going to share with you this evening is Hokuto’s theme: “Sakura mankai”. This shit sounded like your life was in danger and that you were going to get stabbed underneath a cherry blossom tree at night by some crack head ninja. I loved it! Damn funky, well arranged and mood setting.

Listen: Sakura mankai

Street Fighter EX OST
© 1997 Capcom / Arika

Thanks to the joined efforts of 1up.com and GameVideos, we get to finally see how Street Fighter IV looks like before the New Year comes.

Oh, wait. My bad. Bet you got a kick out of that old video of the U.S Street Fighter cartoon, eh? No? Sourpusses. Here’s the real deal:

Looks just fucking amazing. This will bring a tear to an old school fighter’s eye. Nothing smarmy coming out of my mouth: this will bring blisters and cramps to my own two hands.

Technorati : capcom, cartoon, sheng long, shoryuken, street fighter

See that! That’s Ryu in-game in Street Fighter IV. Not too shabby huh?! The shot isn’t much to go on, but the character model looks decent. Ryu’s foot has always been massive, but it looks especially chunky now. Look at it!! There is no 6 inch Timberland boot or Air Force one big enough to hold that foot. It’s no wonder he never wears anything on his feet but the odd Geta sandal.

If the Street Fighter stereotypes are as strong as they were 10 years ago, then I’m pretty certain that stage in the shot above is Chun-Li’s. And speaking of Chun-Li, she is set to return in this game along with Dhalsim, Blanka and of course, Ken. I’m certain Capcom won’t do a Street Fighter III and that we’ll see a majority of the Street Fighter II cast return, along with some new faces.

As for the playing style, Street Fighter IV will be in complete 3D, but will have it’s action kept on a 2D plane. I’m going to try and be optimistic about this, as I’m currently having flashbacks of Street Fighter EX. A series that wasn’t all that bad but was far too slow, got worse with every sequel and played and sounded like it was made in the 1980’s.

Capcom are set to release new footage of this game any day now, so stay tuned.

[1UP.com]

With all the commotion on every little detail us intertubers can get before everyone else regarding videogames or movies, the word spread quickly and now we know that the remake for Street Fighter II HD is going to have a rebalanced version of itself. David Sirlin, the person who has been helping maintain balance to the Street Fighter Franchise, is now in the task of improver (does that job exists?!) for the new and hopefully improved version of this over-re-hashed Street Fighter.

From his very words, the main objectives are:

1) Make the game easier to play�more inclusive rather than exclusive
2) Make the game even more balanced for tournament play
3) Add fun as long as it doesn�t interfere with #2.

Well, there you have it, expect Sagat, Ryu, Ken, and every projectile-casting character to be nerfed up. I’m happy for that, finally I’m going to be able to use Zangief without remorse! A win forr me izz a win forr my Countrry, a win forr the Grreat RUSSIA!  (Lariats all over the place.)

Oh, and why did I put that picture? I just love how they put Guilty Gear in comparison, always gives me a chuckle.

[Joystiq]  

If you’ve been around the web this week, you might have heard of a certain “Megaton Announcement” from Capcom. And we get not one, but TWO old-school franchises being developed. One involved Nazis and SuperJoe, while the other paved the road of quarter-circles and lots of quarters being fed to machines back in 1992. Yes, Bionic Commando and Street Fighter IV are confirmed to be coming out hopefully by next year or so. Check out the teasers if you think I’m making this up.

Street Fighter IV: I’ll need actual game footage in the next year if I were to make a tiny bit of judgement. Bionic Commando remake? His arm is about as subtle as a 4-ton sledgehammer. Still, nice to hear from you, old favorites of mine. Also, here’s an in-game video of the first level of Contra 4, developed by Wayforward Games and published by Konami. Mmm…pixel explosions. Good.

Technorati : about time, capcom, contra, dark diamond, konami, street fighter

Variety follows up on last year’s news that a new Street Fighter movie was in the works. This time announcing that Andrzej Bartkowiak is going to direct the film. This are bittersweet news, on the one hand Andrzej directed Romeo Must Die, which had sweet fighting scenes, on the other hand he directed DOOM, which… you know, sucked hard.

Personally, I’m happy the film wont have Van Damme but helplessly sad that it also wont have the best Bison ever, Raul Julia.

Officially it’s Monday, so here’s some Retro Video for you guys!

This time our feature presentation is very special, a game that pioneered into what has become the standard in most games of its genre. Universal movements like the “Fireball” or the “Uppercut” originated from this game and, if you still don’t know what game I’m talking about (without reading the Title), you’ve got a lot of Retro Homework to do, baby!

Street Fighter is the name of one of Capcom’s most famous franchises for many things. For starters, the first time Street Fighter II appeared on the arcades, the smooth commands for special attacks like Down, Down-Right, Front + Punch made it almost intuitive for the player to make a relation between the joystick and his / her hand. Graphics were pretty sweet, and most special attacks had “voice” like “Hadoken” (that sounded more like “Aboooget”) or the famous Sonic Boom (which sounded a lot like “Alex Boom”) so we’re talking technology and gameplay here.

This video is from the Champion Edition of SFII, and the main difference is that in this one you can select the bosses of the game: Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M.Bison. It features Ken playing the last part of the Championship.

If you noticed the frequent repetition of combos and and the poor AI then you are OK. And one reason I put this video is to ask you to think about what you’re really playing and why are you playing it. It might just be me, but I love to vary on fighting styles with the same chars, practice different combos, trying new stuff, or simply making the difficulty greater so I can savour the victory that cost me what it did. So please, if you’re gonna always play like this, well. . .your call. Just don’t expect to sit next to me at lunch time.

Trivia question: Did you know that in the original Street Fighter II the pitch of the characters’ voices would go up depending on what button you used for an attack (Light, Medium, or Fierce)?

Remember how I said every Street Fighter parody is fun? Well, this video doesn’t break this statement. Well, this one is more of a. . . tribute? A couple dressed as Ryu and Chun-li (genre unswapped) make their choreography on the Korea Salsa Competition. I love how our love for these iconic characters goes on and on.

Best moment: Ryu’s Hadoken. I’d give them 10 just for the cosplay.

[Kotaku]