Retro|Spective 127R: Street Fighter

[Asura]

That Ken blocking drawing above is so horribly janky.

I find it looks better in motion (in some respects). Part of the task with art in Street Fighter, which EX didn't do all that well but IV did better, was that the characters are quite elastic. Their legs/arms change length and their fists/feet change size to accentuate the moves and impacts, which was originally to help mark out the moves given the relatively low-res sprite art. That means the characters are frequently "off-model", which somehow is fine for sprites but not so fine for the HD comic-style art.

[Dogg Thang]

That means the characters are frequently "off-model", which somehow is fine for sprites but not so fine for the HD comic-style art.

The reasons it's not fine for the style here are very apparent. The first is an obvious one - with good pixel art, detail is implied because there aren't enough pixels to actually render them. So a carefully chosen pixel can make all the difference. Whereas in the HD look, nothing is implied. It's there for you to see and it either works or it doesn't. And so the big flaw in how they approached this was that they just sort of filled in details over that original pixel art, regardless of whether it worked or not. No attempt was made to solve those detail challenges that would come in the translation and then again no attempt to make them work well across the animation.

In one way, you could argue that it was an admirable approach in that they clearly wanted to stay true to the original pixel art frame by frame. But it's a flawed approach and the results could have been so much better had the artists taken the approach of reinterpreting the art to work with the strengths of the HD look and taken the opportunity to view it all as pieces of animation rather than a bunch of individual drawings.

[Asura]

In one way, you could argue that it was an admirable approach in that they clearly wanted to stay true to the original pixel art frame by frame. But it's a flawed approach and the results could have been so much better had the artists taken the approach of reinterpreting the art to work with the strengths of the HD look and taken the opportunity to view it all as pieces of animation rather than a bunch of individual drawings.

Yeah, but had they done that, it wouldn't really be SF2 - it'd be a new game. The point where you start remaking bounding boxes and collision volumes is sort-of the point where it becomes a new fighter.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, but had they done that, it wouldn't really be SF2 - it'd be a new game. The point where you start remaking bounding boxes and collision volumes is sort-of the point where it becomes a new fighter.

Not really. There are many, many ways of improving this artwork and animation within the basic framework of the original sprites, without being slave to the details like toes and janky ankles. This is not as good as it could get. Not even close.

[Neon Ignition]

Thanks to the price I never even approached this one. Well, the price and that it was a rework of Remix.... well, and that it was on the Switch where the controller isn't suited... basically Capcom wasted their time with this effort

[Nu-Eclipse]

USFII is what HDR probably should've been at the first time of asking. But, as already mentioned, the premium price point for what was perceived to be a reheated version of HDR really undermined it at release.

SF 30th Anniversary came out not long after that, unless I'm mistaken, and really killed USFII with far superior value for money.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 10 - Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams
An expanded Super Combo system alongside new visuals, a prequel to SF2 setting and new fighters brought us the Alpha series. The game also notably featured a Dramatic Battle mode allowing two players to take on Bison together in a nod to the Manga movie. The game was a success and saw itself ported to PC and consoles in addition to being squeezed onto the GBA.








A step forward?

[Dogg Thang]

Alpha is an odd one in that some of it is very simplistic and it didn't have a big roster and, even with that small roster, didn't even have unique backgrounds for all the characters. So in some ways, it felt unfinished to me.

And yet I absolutely loved it. I think it looks fantastic, it sounds great and I actually loved how it played - feeling slightly simpler and having those basic chain combos really worked for me. I felt I could get to grips with more characters easier. And some of those characters were incredibly fun to play as, with Guy, Rose and Birdie being real highlights for me.

I love the visual style of the sprites too.

[Neon Ignition]

That's exactly ho I found it. When it was first revealed I wanted to play it but it would be a while later having stumbled across a Japanese arcade unit in a seaside arcade in Skegness.

The visual style is perfect but the game reeks of either being unfinished or Capcom having very little budget and faith in it, like the post-SF2 nerves were too much.

Despite its obvious limitations the game played so good, better than SF2 as a casual player so still felt like a step in the right direction

[Nu-Eclipse]

My personal favourite of the Alpha/Zero trilogy, despite the mechanics and gameplay improving sequel-on-sequel.

The less-is-more minimalist presentation definitely does have a charm to it, and it was excellent to see the Final Fight (Street Fighter '89! ) universe incorporated into the SF universe with the likes of Guy and Sodom being fully recognised, as well as Final Fight music being incorporated into the soundtrack to go with it.

Being able to chain combo with ease is excellent but it verged on OP in expert player hands so it was easy to see why Capcom pulled back on it considerably with the sequels.

Still the Alpha/Zero game that I play the most today, despite Alpha/Zero 2 having far better presentation/fanservice and Alpha/Zero 3 having far more comprehensive gameplay mechanics.

[Asura]

I've actually never played the original Alpha. Mainly because I had a Saturn at the time and was all about the 3D. That being said, years later, I had the Game Boy Color version and that was fantastic.

[Atticus]

My interest in Street Fighter was waning when Alpha arrived. For me it put some much-needed personality back into it and it gave me the good feels straight away. Absolutely loved it. Me and my mates played the hell out of it.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I've actually never played the original Alpha. Mainly because I had a Saturn at the time and was all about the 3D.

With the greatest of respect...none of that makes any sense!

Capcom's prime 2D fighters of the day are/were THE reason to have a Saturn, not the sub-par 3D efforts that were on it!!

I had the Game Boy Color version and that was fantastic.

RIP Crawfish Interactive (an absolute sh1thouse move from Capcom).

[Asura]

With the greatest of respect...none of that makes any sense!

Capcom's prime 2D fighters of the day are/were THE reason to have a Saturn, not the sub-par 3D efforts that were on it!!

I'll save the story for when SFA2 hits the thread, but that was the first 2D fighter of which I was a big fan, and after 2, there didn't seem a lot of reason to go back to 1.

RIP Crawfish Interactive (an absolute sh1thouse move from Capcom).

Yep, sad story and Capcom were dicks about it.

[Baseley09]

Another vote for the OG Alpha/Zero my fave of the 3. Surprised to see it appear in arcades one day, loved the new characters, bg's and some excellent music. Had some of my best ever gaming moments on the 2 player dramatic battle - Playstation version, pretty great. Got the Saturn version these days some ace arranged musics.