ZEN Studios announced yesterday that they are working alongside Capcom to release a Street Fighter II themed table for Pinball FX, available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. While at first this downloadable table (decked out a la Super Street Fighter II Turbo) may seem like a great way to get your fix while you wait for Street Fighter II Turbo HD and/or Street Fighter IV, but upon closer inspection it would appear that this is the equivalent of Capcom leasing out their IP to make a pair of Street Fighter Velcro shoes; its a quick cash in that is riding the on the wake of the Good Ship Street Fighter IV. All aboard? Toot, toot!

Hit the jump to read more and to check out some screens from the Super Street Fighter II Turbo Pinball FX table.

It is both interesting and exciting to think about some of the possible layouts and obstacles that a pinball table using the Street Fighter II license could feature: bashing through flaming oil barrels and busting up a car to rake up point multipliers, a Sonic Boom spinning board that could send your pinball flying in a random direction when activated, or how about a Psycho Crusher power trap that when triggered would summon M Bison who would strafe across the board and could potentially leech points from your score when hit? The possibilities are near infinite.

However, from looking at this licensed board I can’t help but feel that little effort went into creating a fun and memorable experience. The board looks uninspired and derived of anything creative or new to pinball, even when stacked up against some of the machines of yesteryear. However, amongst all of the cool features contained on my SFII pinball table wish list, ZEN Studios did manage to retain the classic sound effects and soundtrack from Street Fighter II. Well at least that’s one Hadouken in the right direction. Here’s to hoping that they have what it takes to takes to Spinning Bird Kick their way to about a dozen more. We will just have to wait and see when the Super Street Fighter II Turbo pinball table hits XboX LIVE on November 12th.

What are your thoughts? What would you add or subtract from your dream SF II pinball table? Leave a comment below and let your voice be heard.

Some “where’s the beef” screens: