"I don't care WHAT the critics say, violence is a beautiful thing!"—Announcer
Street Fighter IV is the sixth series in the
Street Fighter franchise (counting the sole original, and the
Alpha and
EX games). It consist of two main installments so far:
Street Fighter IV and
Super Street Fighter IV.
The namesake game,
Street Fighter IV, was announced in late 2007, and the game was released in 2008 for arcades and in early 2009 for home consoles. Having been almost 11 years since the last numerical title's initial announcement, very few fans saw this coming, and jokes are still making the rounds about Hell's temperature having dropped to
-3º Kelvin.
The title is 3D in graphic style, but continues the traditional staple of playing on a 2D frame. The producer Yoshinori Ono notes in interviews that he deliberately kept the game closer in style to
Street Fighter II than its sequels.
The original twelve characters from the original
Street Fighter II and Akuma returned, along with six new warriors: American spy Crimson Viper, French martial artist Abel, Mexican luchador El Fuerte, American
Acrofatic Rufus,
Ryu and Ken's master and Akuma's brother Gouken, and the
Big Bad Seth. The home console versions additionally included more returning characters from
Super Street Fighter II (Cammy and Fei Long) and
Alpha, (namely Gen, Dan, Sakura, and Rose) along with the bosses being made playable. Gouken, Ryu and Ken's mysterious master, finally appears on-screen for the first time in the series.
In April 24, 2009, Capcom released an update for the game known as the "Power Pack" (a.k.a. the Champion Edition patch), which introduced the ability to save and upload replays to the
Xbox Live or
Play Station Network leaderboards, and a brand-new online-exclusive "Championship Mode," which allows players to participate in tournament battles.
In September 28, 2009, Capcom announced an update called
Super Street Fighter IV (formerly
Street Fighter IV Dash). The updated game features ten additional characters: T. Hawk and Dee Jay (from
Super Street Fighter II, completing the
Super Street Fighter II Turbo roster), Adon (from the original
Street Fighter but based on his
Street Fighter Alpha incarnation). Cody and Guy (from
Final Fight, and also based on their
Alpha appearances), Dudley, Ibuki, and Makoto (from the
Street Fighter III series), and two new characters: Juri, a South Korean Taekwondo practitioner who works for S.I.N.; and Hakan, a red-skinned Turkish corporate heavyweight who specializes in yağlı güreş or "Turkish oil wrestling."
The gameplay and character balance has also been tweaked. It was released as a standalone title for Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3 in late April 2010 as well as for Japanese arcades later, during the summer. The console release comes at a lower price than its predecessor, and there was a promise of "special features" for those who own the original
Street Fighter IV. The "special features" turned out to be two alternate colors; a "heavy ink outline" color and a "sketch" color pattern both based on each characters' default color.
In addition, a port to the
Nintendo 3DS titled
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition was released at the same time as the system; it contains the same roster as the console version of
Super in addition to several features that take advantage of many of the device's new features.
Another port, this time to
iOS, was released in March 2010, featuring a reduced character list which grew steadily with several updates, as well as a simplified control system that removed the light/medium/heavy attacks, replacing them with a four button system of punch, kick, focus and special. A followup named
Street Fighter IV Volt was released in June 2011, further expanding the character roster and adding online play over Wi-fi.
An arcade version of the game, aptly named
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, was released in late 2010; it features several balance tweaks and four new characters: brothers Yang and Yun from
Street Fighter III (who originally had a cameo in Chun-Li's intro cutscene for the original version and her ending in
Super),
Evil Ryu, and
Oni. These four characters — plus numerous new features — have been released as a DLC update for the console version on June 7, 2011. A PC version of
AE was released in 2011; as the PC did not get a regular release of
Super, it marks the first time PC gamers will be able to get their hands on all of the new fighters. In December of 2011,
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 was released as a free patch, updating the balance of the game even further. On January 23, 2013, Ono himself teased a possibility for a new version, and on March 22 said new version was officially green-lit by Capcom. They are now taking suggestions from the community on balance changes for each character, as well as system changes.
Tropes Distinct To, Or Introduced In, This Game:
- Adaptation Expansion:
- To make for the half-year delay between the original coin-op release and the console ports, Capcom added six extra characters specifically for the console port (Cammy, Fei Long, Rose, Dan, Gen and Sakura).
- Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition for the 3DS, in order to make up for some lost stuff, also has new features that take advantage of several of the console's unique capabilities, such as a new camera angle that shows off the 3D effect and the trophy collecting minigame based around wireless console-to-console interactions.
- Until the DLC version was announced, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition had four extra characters (Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu and Oni).
- Ascended Glitch: The Kara Throws were imported from Street Fighter III.
- Attack Backfire: Zangief gets a victory quote against Blanka informing him that his electric blasts helped relieve his back pain.
- Attract Mode
- Boss Banter: The "Rival Battles," where you fight a character who, in most cases, has some significant ties to the story of your character. During the fight, both combatants converse, ranging from taunts to more friendly words of advice and support. The soundbites for Supers and Ultras are also changed to something pertaining to the battle at hand. Usually, these matches give you a pretty good look at the dynamics between certain characters.
- Bootstrapped Theme: For the first time in the series' history, this trope is mostly averted. All of the 8 new fighters in IV have themes made specifically for them, not the stage you fight them on. For the rest of the cast, however, this trope is played straight as they are stuck with their iconic themes, but with new arrangements for everyone.
- Cel Shading
- Comeback Mechanic: The Revenge Meter fills up the more damage one takes. Once it's filled halfway, an Ultra Move becomes possible and when filled all the way, the Ultra does more damage. Like Super Moves in Street Fighter II, Ultra only lasts one round.
- The game also has a very subtle mechanic in that characters receive less damage depending on how much life they have left. With less than half their life remaining, they take slightly less damage from each attack. With less than a quarter of their life remaining, they take significantly less damage from each attack.
- Convection Schmonvection: The "Volcanic Rim" stage takes place in the shadow of an erupting volcano; the fighters are standing on solidified lava while lava bursts out in the background behind them. Many of them even barefoot.
- Country Switch: If you try to play the Japanese version of the game on an American PS3, the game will switch M. Bison, Balrog and Vega's name around so that it matches the North American version of the game.
- Death Cry Echo: Everyone gets one, each ranging from fairly generic to downright hilarious.
- The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: The Small Airfield stage is a secret Shadaloo/S.I.N. base in South Africa. During the match, a black S.I.N. plane will land and its door will open, revealing Balrog (Boxer) watching the combatants from afar. If Balrog himself is present, Vega (Claw) will instead appear in Balrog's place. In a Balrog vs. Vega match, Bison (Dictator) shows up in the plane in their stead.
- If there's a Cody Mirror Match, only one of the two can pick up his knife. The loser displays a shocked expression when the other Cody retrieves it.
- In AE, the boss incarnations of Evil Ryu and Oni also have specific intros for every member of the cast, including themselves.
- Diner Brawl: One of the stages is a 1950s diner.
- Downloadable Content: The Arcade Edition DLC pack for Super. Adds all of the features that AE introduced, including the expanded online services, the four new characters, and the rebalancing of every other character. Also, the many costume packs released for both versions of the game.
- Everything's Better with Spinning: Outright overkilled by Super Street Fighter IV's new Ultra moves.
- Fan Disservice: Seth's Shower Scene in his animated intro.
Him being a Creator's Pet and the Big Bad isn't what makes this a disservice, but his metallic skin tone and how he is, well, waaaaaay too muscled for some fans's comfort. - Floating Timeline: The birthdates of the returning characters no longer give their years of birth and while plotwise the IV series is set between II (1991-1993) and III (1997-1999), ideally placing it between 1994-1996, the characters are seen using laptops and cellphones that wouldn't have existed until the mid-to-late 2000s.
- Gets more hairy when characters from the late-'80s/early-'90s era Alpha series can co-mingle with those from the late-'90s era III series but with no visible signs of aging (or lack thereof) between any of them (the main culprit being Sakura, who still wears her high school uniform even though she should be in her twenties by this point). IV has a very hazy place in the overall timeline, almost to the point of being in its own continuity (the only other game with more continuity snarls being Alpha 3).
- Game Mod: A mod for the PC version of the game called Street Fighter IV Koryu pays homage to the infamous Rainbow Edition mod of SFII.
- And for the PC version of Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, we have SSFIVAE Remix, which aims to make the game faster paced... whilst also making most of the moves and characters balls-out insane. Ryu's Metsu Hadouken Ultra, for one thing, is... much different.
- Iconic Outfit: Many of the alternate costumes in IV fall into this category. Some are nods to a character and/or the franchise's history (e.g. Cammy having a M. Bison/Dictator outfit, Cody having an updated version of his original Final Fight clothes, Blanka having Dan's outfit, Zangief having both Mike Haggar's outfit and his "Mecha Zangief" form from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom), while others are nods to celebrities (e.g., all of Fei Long's outfits come from Bruce Lee's works, Dudley has an outfit playing tribute to Freddie Mercury's legendary 1986 Wembley Stadium concert outfit).
- Immune To Flinching: Every character has a Focus Attack, which allows them to endure one hit without flinching while it is charging; they will also recover the damage taken during the charge if they don't receive another.
- Lag Cancel: Certain special moves can be cancelled with the IV series' ubiquitous Focus Attacks, these then can be cancelled by dashing forward or backwards at the cost of some meter. These "Focus Attack Dash Cancels" are an important part of high level play.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The Super Street Fighter IV trailers imply that the majority of new characters will have fast-paced techno remixes of their theme songs, especially for the Final Fight and 3rd Strike characters...
- The first trailer for Super implied that Cody (the vigilante former hero of Metro City) would be facing Chun-Li (Interpol agent). Later trailers instead showed him and his somewhat-estranged best bud Guy.
- The trailers and the videos showing all of the cast's Ultras could fall under this. The Ultra videos implied that all the fighters would be getting a new rival in Super. When the game came out, only a select few (Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, Cammy, C. Viper, and Seth) received a second Rival Battle, and some of ones shown in the trailers ended up in different locales.
- Off Model: Some characters use their Street Fighter II designs in the animated cutscenes from the home console versions, rather than the updated designs they use in actual gameplay. This is most noticeable with Dhalsim (his shorts have completely different designs in cutscenes and gameplay), Sagat (the label on his trunks is conspicuously blank in cutscenes but says "TIGER" in gameplay), and E. Honda (his mawashi has a gap in the front in gameplay but not cutscenes).
- Oh Crap: Ultra Combos in IV begin with a short animation, during which the opponent's expression changes to pure terror.
- Rashomon Style: Four sets of rival battles in IV; namely, Ryu/Sagat, Guile/Abel, Ken/Rufus and Chun-Li/C. Viper.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Rival matches begin with a dramatic piece of music combined with some Ominous Latin Chanting. This goes for EVERY Rival match, even those that aren't serious (Dee Jay vs. Rufus, Ibuki vs. Sakura, etc.)
- Theme Music Power-Up: Played straight and subverted in IV. The rival battles may or may not use the theme music of the character you're using.
- Played fully straight in Super. Whoever you're fighting as, that's the character whose theme you're gonna hear. Especially good since everyone has their distinctive themes, unlike in IV. Unless you're playing online, in which case you will always hear the theme music of whoever you are fighting. You'll be hearing their music while they will be hearing yours. You only ever hear your own theme music if you fight against yourself or watch your character on the replay channels.
- Still subverted in the case of Akuma and Gouken; during their Rival Battles or when playing against them online, their respective themes when faced as a boss are instead swapped out for a remix of Ryu's theme (Ryu serves as their rival in Arcade Mode).
- Third Is 3D: Sort of; the third revision of the home console version is Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition for the Nintendo 3DS.
- Unblockable Attack/Invulnerable Attack: Focused Attacks, which become the former upon reaching their third and final level of charge. To balance out the latter, each character has at least one move with Armor Break properties (denoted by a lightning bolt in their command list).
- Vaporware: For many years after Street Fighter III, the idea of another Street Fighter game was seen as a joke. But when it was announced...
- Variable Mix: Each stage features both an "Ultra" and "Heavy Damage" (i.e. near-K.O.) variant for the BGM.
- Video Game 3D Leap: Street Fighter IV experienced a presentation upgrade with a graphical switch to 3D but gameplay that mostly remained on a 2D plane.
- A Winner Is You: In the iPhone version of SFIV, winning the tournament results in a stylized picture of your character and the word "Congratulations!" And an advertising movie for SSFIV. Which isn't available on the iPhone anyway.
- This is mitigated in Volt in which winning nets you a short video of your character, along with achievements.
- You Are Number Six: The Super Soldiers engineered by the Shadaloo Intimidation Network (S.I.N.). There's at least twenty-six of them, with Seth being #15 note in Seth's Arcade Mode, he instead faces #21.
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