Street Fighter IV producer: Console-specific characters 'not very fair'

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 26th 2008 at 3:30PM }

Street Fighter IV is unlikely to have exclusive console-specific characters (like Soul Calibur IV) when it releases next year, the game's producer tells Videogamer. Yoshinori Ono believes the idea of exclusive characters is unfair -- and that extends to "downloadable characters" as well.

Yoshinori expresses that this is only his "policy," however, so we won't rule out the influence of the Capcom overlords. SF IV is expected on consoles around the time the Street Fighter movie releases in early 2009.

Gallery: Street Fighter IV

Tags: capcom, sf-iv, soul-calibur, soul-calibur-4, soul-calibur-iv, street-fighter-4, street-fighter-iv

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jack of No Trades 85 @ Aug 26th 2008 3:38PM

After punching my contoller into the table last night because of the same unbalanced move spanning assholes in Soul Calibur 4 I am wanting this game even more.

Man I was so mad lol That game makes me violent.

elpmis @ Aug 26th 2008 3:42PM

Hello my friend, the word you seek is "spamming".

Also, if street fighter 4 is like 2 you will contend against many dhalsim spammers and they are the WORST spammers of all time. *shudder*

Fenix @ Aug 26th 2008 3:48PM

I rented SC4 and damn, it IS unbalanced. I stuck with offline modes only =/ Glad I didn't buy it. Also, I suck.

SF is a diff beast though, DO WAAAAAAAAAAAANT!

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Aug 26th 2008 3:55PM

Yes, because move spamming of cheap attacks NEVER happens on Street Fighter, or any Capcom game. And Cable is a perfectly balanced character.

Seriously though, want to know how to avoid attack spammers? Boot them, simple enough. Tell them if they don't stop, you're kicking them. When they do it again, kick them. Same thing if someone picks the same character five times in a row in player matches.

ice~ @ Aug 26th 2008 3:56PM

SAME FOR ME!! I broke 2 controllers cause that game was so frustrating, I was forced to stop playing it, even though I love it, idk if I'll get this though, I never played street fighter b4 0_o

IslandLife @ Aug 26th 2008 4:30PM

Ohh man, that reminds of a friend who would always use this really cheap hopping jab move by Ganryu in Tekken Tag. It was so cheap, yet so very funny to watch (if you weren't the opponent). He did it against one guy who got so pissed, he slammed down the controller and punched a hole in the wall!

Jimiisama @ Aug 27th 2008 1:48AM

Don't call things cheap and boot people because of that; first, it's poor sportsmanship, and second, it hinders the development of advanced tactics. It may seem broken or unbalanced now, but maybe you haven't learned to deal with it? I don't know much about Soul Calibur, but in MVC2 Cable has a really easy combo that most scrubs learning the game can do (AHVB); that doesn't really make him broken because once you get better, you learn to fight Cable and find out he's not the best character--just the best beginner's character. If anything, you should hate the game for allowing move spamming, not the player; if it's available, people should use it.

ulovemikeroch @ Aug 29th 2008 10:33PM

I agree with Jim, don't boot him just cause he spams moves, if anything you should boot yourself because you suck. Have you ever played Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, with a little annoying fucker named Original Sagat? Watch videos, it's all "Tiger" "Tiger", because he can cancel his kick into a fierce tiger shot. But guess what, doing this WINS. And after all, all that matters is the victory, and if you truly are "better", then you would find ways around the spamming and beat the spammer. Not saying that once you spam alot that means you're a spammer, not at all. Sometimes it's just how the character is used the best.
But, Cable is NOT a beginners best character. He's top 4 overall in MVC2 for a reason, Your opponent isn't going to just stand there and let him AHVB you. Overall cable needs learning just like any other character to use him when you CAN'T AHVB. Such as timing the AHVB against a HSF, when you don't have meter and still have to fight the opponent, or simply when there isn't an opening to use AHVB. In fact, despite how easy AHVB is to execute itself, "Good" cable players are pretty hard to find. The only ones that really come to mind are, Duc Do, Rowtron, Justin Wong and MAYBE cable guy.

Marty @ Aug 26th 2008 3:40PM

I guess he doesn't prescribe to the same "gotta catch 'em all" attitude as Namco's Soul Caliber crew.

deaftly @ Aug 26th 2008 3:46PM

Just make sure Cammy is in the game and all will be well.

SoulBlade @ Aug 26th 2008 3:55PM

I think you're good man.

http://play.tm/story/20752

OHHH YEAAA!

ComicShaman @ Aug 26th 2008 3:47PM

"Yoshinori Ono believes the idea of exclusive characters is unfair..."

Yeah, especially when you're talking about Yoda on SCIV. I mean, that cheap little muppet is the very definition of unfair.

Maybe that's not what he meant.

Skunk Ape @ Aug 26th 2008 3:47PM

I have to politely disagree. PS3 should get exclusive Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Chun Li and Cammie. Xbox can have exclusive Vega.

Emophia @ Aug 26th 2008 4:01PM

No dude.

Vega is my favorite character, PS3 needs him, and Cammy.

Deekman @ Aug 26th 2008 3:55PM

I totally agree but what a cash cow!

SoulBlade @ Aug 26th 2008 3:56PM

I agree with him. Screw the exclusive characters per console - it's lame. Characters as DLC I can live with as long as all consoles get them.

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Aug 26th 2008 3:56PM

As long as I get a Sakura confirmation, I'm cool.

NukeAssault @ Aug 26th 2008 4:03PM

Definitely! =D

Roto13 @ Aug 26th 2008 3:58PM

I wouldn't mind console-specific characters if they were 1st party characters that were impossible to license on different consoles. This Star Wars thing is dumb, though.

Mr Khan @ Aug 26th 2008 4:32PM

Agree

The way Soul Calibur 2 did it worked out well enough, and should have been emulated for Soul Calibur IV

Kratos and Master Chief (hey, MC makes as much sense as Vader/Yoda, and Kratos seems like a natural fit)

bobartig @ Aug 26th 2008 4:15PM

It really depends on how important game balance is to you. If you want a high-competition game, then you have to have a level playing field for all players, regardless of console.

If your game is more casual/group/party related, then balance may not be as large of a concern. You can have a very fun, well designed game that is not based as much on balance if the "swingyness" does not stagnate gameplay, and adds fun as opposed to frustration.

Street Fighter carries the distinction of being one of the highest level competition fighting games. They can't ignore their core customers who are looking for the highest level of game balance deliverable. I would expect them to make every version of SF IV as identical as possible.

Jimiisama @ Aug 27th 2008 2:04AM

For the most part, console-only and console-specific characters are banned in competitive play for any game (whether they're broken or not). Most tourneys try to be as close to the arcade version as possible--this goes for port selection and character-banning.

pathie @ Aug 26th 2008 9:29PM

I know it's not the easiest technique, but isn't Guard Impacts meant to counter spamming in the Soul Calibur games? They've got a much smaller window of opportunity than, say, counters in DOA, but a GIed opponent is very vulnerable, especially someone too accustomed to spamming. You can set them up for some serious punishment. :)

seakae @ Aug 26th 2008 4:32PM

And this is why I'll be buying Street Fighter 4 and not Soul Caliber. That and this looks like actual fun.

LaughingTarget @ Aug 26th 2008 4:45PM

You'd think they'd want all those exclusive characters in the arcades to attract more people to paying those rip-off prices. Having the same characters and more, cheaper prices and a host of online matches to play in, why pump $1 into a machine for what amounts to you getting your ass kicked in 15 seconds when you start to surpass that benefit after the 60th ass kicking on the console?

Jimiisama @ Aug 27th 2008 1:54AM

There are many benefits to playing in the arcade
-Social setting
-Crowd watching
-Face-to-face with opponent
-Opponent less likely to be a douche when face-to-face
-No lag
-I play Third Strike online for Xbox, and the average quality of players isn't that good.

Of course, instead of arcades you can always check SRK and find a group near you that plays regularly, possibly in a lan center or someone's house. If you live in an area with active arcades though, those are the best places to find good competition; online play does not really compare. As for lag, anything above 17ms (1 frame) has the possibility to affect gameplay; think of all the traps in SF2 that require 1 frame chance to escape.

Deuce @ Aug 26th 2008 5:02PM

I remember when, once upon a time, self-respecting "journalists" actually knew the English language, and didn't just parrot it, based off of what they saw on the internet.

Snowblind @ Aug 26th 2008 5:49PM

I have no problem with extra characters as DLC. Having characters like Sakura being added later would be fine, in my opinion. (as long as they aren't being held back from release just to sell)

But yeah, giving each console an exclusive character is very unfair, and just makes both versions feel incomplete.

ZippyDSMlee @ Aug 26th 2008 6:30PM

WEAK!!!!!!
try providing them as buyable downloads for 4$ a shot, the konsole kiddies will eat it up!.

Jimiisama @ Aug 27th 2008 2:01AM

Adding characters as DLC for SF4 would be kinda lame; I would always hope Capcom wouldn't work that way. Although, as far as DLC goes, I would like the next iterations of SF4 to be available as patches online--possibly including new characters--for a fee of course--needs more m-dash. That would be great, so I wouldn't have to buy SF4 every time they make a new version. SF2 has 5 iterations (not including the console-only versions or HSF2), and SF3 has 3; who knows how many times I will have to re-buy SF4?