With that out of the way, it’s time to look at what Capcom’s bringing in the way of extras. Aside from extended singleplayer, the main point of interest is the expanded roster. So far announced are Dan Hibiki, Rose, Cammy, Gen, Fei Long and Sakura – as well as Gouken and Seth, who were present in the arcade, but CPU-controlled.
The first four aren’t playable in Capcom’s latest demo code, but Gouken and Sakura demonstrate the distinctive touch SFIV is bringing to the shotokan fighters. This designation describes any character’s style that roughly mirrors that of Ken and Ryu, with fireballs, dragon punches, hurricane kicks and variants thereof. Street Fighter Alpha in particular suffered from an overabundance of indistinguishable shotokan fighters, but here each exponent has a definite style.
Gouken’s fireballs can shoot at three angles, while his hurricane kick is a lethal five- or six-hitter up close that leaves him terribly exposed if it’s missed. Sakura’s fireball is as limp as ever, but her dragon punch travels a great distance, landing multiple hits, while her hurricane kick is angled, making it trickier to defend against. It’s in the little differences between Street Fighter’s most overwhelming characteristics that you can see the depth of this game’s attention to detail.
The good news is that this is every bit the equal of the arcade original. The bad news? No, there is no bad news.