I wasn’t 100% sold on this game before, but after having watching that trailer, I’m now a believer and REALLY want to play this game. Having Ryu’s classic theme kick in towards the end just brought it all home. It would be cool if we got cool revamps of the classic Street Fighter II themes. Sure, they’re as old as hell and have been overplayed to absolute death. But none of the new themes Capcom have given the Street Fighter II crew in the past have ever stuck like their classic themes – despite being funky and not that bad.

As awesome as that trailer was, it didn’t show us everything and there is more. Every character will have their own set of anime style animated sequences!!

So this means the death static JPEG’s of character sliding across the screen for intro’s and endings!! Capcom should’ve been doing this from yonks ago. I think they were possibly one of the only beat ‘em up developers who weren’t putting animated intro’s and endings in their games. But I guess it’s better late than never. The screen shots look really cool. And even though the Street Fighter cast don’t have the richest and most compelling back stories – the animated sequences definitely look as though they’ll be bringing something interesting to the table.

Between the hot graphics, the awesome looking gameplay, the return of classic characters, animated sequences and online play – Street Fighter IV is shaping up to be a must own for fans. If we get an EX+ alpha style Training mode, and Alpha 3’s World tour and Dramatic battle modes – then this game could be the explosive return to form that many have been waiting for.

Street Fighter IV is slated for a tentative July release in arcades, with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions set for release in February 2009.