First Look at Street Fighter IV at Preview Event

Jason Wong • Jan 18, 2009 • Comments ()

I was lucky enough to finagle an invite to the Street Fighter Club in San Francisco and got a hands-on preview of the new Street Fighter IV, a month before its release. True to the description on the Capcom-Unity page, the event was located down a dark, nondescript alley that took me way longer to find than you'd expect for such a big game. But for a title of this caliber, you need not more than mention its name to grab attention from even a layman, so keeping it hush-hush was a necessary measure to keep things under control.

First off, I hate SF. Driving is frustrating when you're met with one way streets when all you want to do is turn. Plus, it's a real hassle to find parking, but I made do at a spot in front of a construction site -- not sure if this was legal or not but driving around and not finding that elusive street sign I wanted was getting on my nerves. I just needed to follow a hunch and walk around a bit to hunt for the place. There was no visible signage so I wasn't sure if I was at the right place at first, but I went down a promising alley. Normally this behavior would lead you to more trouble than it's worth, especially at night in a big city. But I gotta admit, walking down some unknown path hidden in the nooks of old town SF did build up the anticipation of stumbling upon something secretive and exciting. I could feel the thrill well up in me as I saw more and more passerby's. I knew I had hit the jackpot when I saw a cloister of guys in their mid-20s, gathered round a simple door, guarded by a bouncer. I had arrived.

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The bouncer had a checklist and on it were names of the invitees. You weren't on the list, you don't get in. I wasn't on the list. The night didn't start out too well for me. I got lost. My car was illegally parked. And now here was this guy with his clipboard. He threw his hands up as an apology and I swear I could hear him in my head saying SOL. It looked like game over for me, a mere step away from Street Fighter glory, as he motioned for me to step aside. But then I reached deep down inside, got religious real quick, and pulled out some names my Capcom contact gave me just in case this happened. And then I was in.

I headed down the staircase. The walls were plastered with event promo posters with the words SIN writ large. I thought what better descriptor for this kind of fun, as I descended into the dark warehouse basement . I emerged into a large room that was booming with loud music from a live DJ. Wall scrolls with Street Fighter character portraits draped between pillars. Just as promised, the place was packed with arcade machines and wall-to-wall flat screens hooked up to PS3s galore. If a PS3 wasn't attached to the soon-to-be legendary MadCatz Tournament Edition sticks, it was fitted with HRAPs or joypads. It felt like I was back in the fighting scene heyday at my home town arcade, when everyone would rush out to Golfland after school just to see what new fighter came out that week. Being here felt glorious.

I tried my hand at a couple of the new characters, Crimson Viper and Gouken. It was fun. There were 25 characters at the select screen, each with a multitude of costume choices. Each character had their own short intros and anime cut scenes as well, but I didn't get to see much of them. It was all about the action, and it was surprisingly fast for a 3D game. The 2D gameplay and freneticism of SFII Turbo had survived the transition to the 21st century. The ink wash style really worked well to add another dimension to the already stunning graphics and special attack effects. Character animations were fluid and expressive. Charge bar position was customizable. Focus attacks were cool to pull off and added a different layer of stratagem. Things were looking good, and SFIV might be the worthy successor we all have wished for. I really can't wait to play this over PSN and LIVE.

You know, there's too much pessimism in the world. Even though it was a rough start, it turned out to be a good night afterall. I left the event feeling genuinely happy, until I saw the tow truck.

Here's some event pictures to immortalize the good memories and bury the bad ones: