Ultimate fighting

A lot of Street Fighter fans have been excited for the release of Super Street Fighter IV ever since it was announced last year.

With everything that made the original Street Fighter IV so great (solid, expertly-tuned fighting and a diverse cast of characters playable across multiple modes) and the addition of new modes, new fighters and a slew of online options, there’s a lot here to get your blood pumping.

But these aren’t the reasons I was excited about the game. My reason? Bonus levels. Yeah, that’s right, you heard me. Remember the bonus levels in Street Fighter II that tasked you with beating the living hell out of a car, or breaking as many barrels as possible in a certain amount of time? Well, their absence was sorely missed in the original SFIV.

But, Capcom being Capcom (bless them), decided after listening to fan reaction to put these wonderfully superfluous mini-games back into the standard arcade mode for SSFIV. And really, it’s pretty endemic of the entire experience you’ll have with this new, souped-up version of the game.

To put it bluntly, your copy of Street Fighter IV, if you have one, is now officially obsolete.

Not only does SSFIV have the same great core game and mechanics (the focus system, which serves as an unblockable charge attack as well as a defensive absorption tactic, the revenge meter, which builds as you take damage, plus your standard super gauge for combos and chains) but its original 25-character roster has survived intact and expanded by 10 (best of all, everyone is unlocked from the beginning).

Aside from the new fighters, which are a variety of old, new and somewhat forgotten faces (plus the bonus stages), the game has seemingly been retuned slightly, making arcade mode’s final boss, Seth, seem a hell of a lot less cheap than he was in SFIV.

I’m amazed I didn’t suffer any broken controllers after fighting Seth in IV, where a novice player could literally spend hours sparring with the bastard before winning the match (it sure as hell wasn’t easy for me, and I’m a decent enough player). In SSFIV, I was able to take him down in one match—an astounding change of pace.

The game’s deep training mode has also survived the transition to its Super incarnation, and the challenge mode offers a chance to really get to know the ins and outs of your favorite fighter,

But the biggest new change about SSFIV is its online mode, which Capcom has completely overhauled with new endless and team battle modes, as well as the awesome new replay channel, which allows you to view recorded matches from other players online, slow down the video, turn on damage stats and other things to really allow you analyze what each player is doing. For an SF fanatic, this is pretty awesome.

SSFIV might be a “hardcore” fighting game, but its core mechanics are easy enough that anyone can jump in and play while still offering enough challenge and nuance for the expert players (and if you’ve ever seen them play, it’s like watching an entirely different game).

If you like fighting games and haven’t already done so, go get this one—it’ll be more than enough to tide you over until Capcom’s sure-to-be amazing Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.