Enemy Down

The Way of the Surging Fist

‘Hadoken!’ (An Experience of Street Fighter 4)

Posted by Dekko on Jan 31st 2009 18:02

I’ve never seen a weasel go pop but I know that the rumours must be true, there’s no smoke without fire after all.

(This must be a mute point I think as I can’t hear it).

I did once try to poach an egg but in the end I didn’t have the guts to trespass on Royal land.
However, I have seen an elephant fly………on the red eye from Chicago to Memphis, he ordered the fish.

 All of this Satanic babble pales into nothingness when your eye ball squeezes in the spectacle of a morbidly obese gentleman in a barely fitting wrestlers unitard jumping two feet in the air while simultaneously spinning and landing repeated punches on a petit yet big legged Chinese woman.

I have seen this. Not only that; I was that man!

Yes, my little sugar dumplings, your dear Uncle Dekko has braved the fierce winds & free candy floss, Sega dross and rabid Booth Bunnies of the ATEI in the deepest, darkest heart of Earls Court to be able to bring you a hands on with Capcoms ‘classic in waiting’ Street Fighter 4.

Capcom themselves had no stand advertising their varied wares, no, instead the hardened throng were gathered about a small booth which was tucked out of the way to one side of the arena and it belonged to an arcade stick company who had been resourceful enough to demo their product using Street Fighter 4 and Tekken 5. I didn’t get as far as Tekken; no-one did.

A couple of low cabinets were placed side by side which allowed players to face each other in a classic beat ‘em up stand off, people gathered to see the game in motion and a buzz was about the place, a good air floated between the scent of coffee, popcorn & stale farts.

The cabinets were fitted with an American style arcade stick (thin, one piece stick tapering out to a fatter end) which I had not used in years, I have always preferred the Japanese style stick anyway (short stick with a bulbous round top) and thus was absolutely pants the whole time I played (this is my excuse and I will stick to it under pain of, well pain).

I began as Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. His flowing, manly blonde locks have never looked better than in the 2D+1 graphics that employ 3D techniques in a 2D world, which truly do look better in motion than on the printed page. They have a bright, distinctive cel shaded look, a touch 'new Prince of Persia' with the animations going right down to the smooth pixel & easy going 'hi how are ya' frame rate, things never look muddied.

The style is Street Fighter 2 with the added bonus of depth, such as the animation seen in facial expressions when performing Ultra Moves.

The sound of the game was sadly lost in the unrelenting din of the games show.

It handles as perfectly as you remember Street Fighter 2, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo to be precise but I had trouble with the arcade stick, not being used to it I was reliably informed that I was trying to do moves too fast, I had to be slower and plot moves more determinedly.

I managed to get out a good few hado-ken with the blue ‘ki’ energy looking particularly good and giving the move an added air of power but doing a Dragon Punch eluded me.

I worry that the 360 controller just won’t be up to the game so buying a stick is on the agenda.

The trend setter that I was playing had taken to using the new character El Fuerte (Spanish for ‘the strong one’) the Mexican luchador wrestler, distinctive in his Nacho Libre face mask and tricky to fight against to boot. He was too quick for me; his mastery of the player’s moves was already starting to take shape.

I was severely whupped like the n00b I am at Street Fighter, my playing of the game being mainly on the SNES release and arcade way back when (1991).

However, my good trend setting opponent was gracious enough to give me another shot at the title, so (perhaps foolishly) I chose the ever popular Ryu, considering how bad I’d done with Ken maybe not a wise choice.

At first it seemed OK as I managed to win a round, my Hurricane Kick catching him unawares and my stray uppercut actually landing as I’d intended. Alas it was not to be as in the next two rounds he went to school on my poor Japanese character.

Enough was enough, I was going to throw caution to the wind & throw my lot in with one of the new characters; why not Rufus? He didn’t look like the type of character I’d usually pick, he looked big & slow and vulnerable to long range attacks, also his unitard looked like it chaffed his crutch an awful lot. But I picked him none the less and he was surprisingly nimble.

Rufus, with his handlebar bikers moustache, could jump quite well and lunge himself at his opponent. I only managed one special move, a kind of ‘Spinning Bird Kick’ but using his fists instead of tootsies.

This seemed to be the foil against my fellow Big Daddy admirer, the might of Rufus locking well with the trickery & device of El Fuerte (or at least the trickery of the dude using him) as I had him against the ropes for two rounds.

Alas (again) it was not to be as the trend setter came back & won the next two rounds, eventually winning the decider. Sad times for Rufus and I (which sounds like a dire love movie staring Jessica Alba and Bland Handsome Dude No. 5).

The trend setter graciously said his farewells after this round, exiting into the mass humanity of Earls Court, our battle over for the day.

His departure allowed me a brief spell against the computer and finally I started kicking ass!
Rufus and I were thrown in against Zangief, I believe it was & I came out flying! Rufus was jumping and spin punching and uppercutting as if he were the kung-fu Baryshnikov.

Then, seeing a chance of a seat, a man sat his young toddler down beside me on the empty chair, recently vacated by the trend setter & allowed the child to take the controls and thus the most embarrassing publicly viewed gaming moment of my life began.

I had a dilemma; do I properly fight or do I allow the three year old to beat me up? Should the kid learn a lesson about life and take a kicking or should this small human’s idea of humanity as inherently good be cherished and remain intact?

I decided to go out all guns blazing and put this kid down! The father had selected Chun Li, that buxom minx who likes hanging around the streets with chickens. I was still Rufus, the character choice carried over from my last fight.

I threw Rufus in the air and started slapping the child Chun Li into next week; a feeling of ‘what the Hell are you doing?’ crept over me as the kid was more interested in climbing on the chair than witnessing the humiliation of defeat but then the tide turned and not in your Uncle Dekko’s favour.

The kid sat down and started tapping at the controls so I got back into it, doing some weak punches just to look like I was trying before walloping the rug rat.

Alas (again) things did not go to plan. This kid was some kind of child prodigy I tells ya! He (or she, I didn’t look that hard) was tapping at the buttons and waggling the stick with no cares in the world and he/she was also kicking my ass.

Rufus started taking a beating and I thought ‘oh sh*t, this kid is beating me in front of a crowd of die hard Street Fighter players; I’ll never live it down!’ and I had to start working the character and getting into the fight.

Sadly, when I started making a comeback the father picked the toddler up and wandered off into the mist.

Oh dear.

The crowd thinned as I maintained my position in front of the screen. I’d been nearly beaten by a there year old, I couldn’t sink any lower so what else was there for them to see?

I took a final go with Rufus, the booth holders were getting nervous at my presence and my poor playing skill was scarring off their potential customers.

But I think this emphasises the playability of the game; the novices and beginners can have a go and find their own game along with the pros.

The thirty odd minutes I played of the game were great, proper entertaining beat ‘em up fun, they type we have needed on the 360 in an age and I hope the port over to the console will be a good one.

The game feels instantly accessible with its old school feel yet the depth which the many varied special and ultra moves contain means hours of practise and perfecting lay ahead.
If you loved or even had a passing interest in Street Fighter 2 then you’ll want to grab this game as soon as possible or if you feel adventurous why not head to your nearest arcade (which admittedly may be a long way away today) and try it out, I’m sure the Trocadero in Piccadilly will have the cabinet in by 2012.

Anyone with a love of fighters won't need it pointing out; Street Fighter 4 is the one to wait for.

Coming soon? Can't come soon enough more like.