Saturday, December 18, 2010

Day 1 Hands-On Impressions of SSF4 Arcade Edition



Yesterday, SoCal was the first of the United States that got Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and I just had to play it for most of the day at Super Arcade in Walnut. At is core, it is still SSF4, but it is the new additions (two new characters) and the numerous changes that make the game different from what we have on consoles. SoCal's best showed up at both Super and Family Fun Arcade over at the San Fernando Valley to get as much time with the game trying stuff out and seeing the changes to their main for themselves. As a Bison main for an example, he does not any significant changes to his core game other than his Psycho Punisher ultra (ultra 2) being a charge command now and his standing roundhouse damage is dependent on where it hits as it is nerfed from a range from what I experienced, but his priorities are still the same as that's good news for me. Other characters I messed around with are Guile, Chun-Li, Ken, Honda, Rufus, and Dee Jay. I will be definitely playing Dee Jay a little more since it is a better character since he sucked in consoles. A lot of characters such as Cammy, Seth, and Honda though got the unlucky end of the nerf hammer to the point they completely suck now or you have to come up with a new playstyle. Some characters like Vega, Dudley, Makoto, Gouken, and Hakan (Seeing Ultradavid mess around his new buffs is good stuff) definitely got better with their new move properties at their disposal.

The other big addition to Arcade Edition is two new characters, which are Yun and Yang. A lot of people messed around with the twins and they have potential to be top-tier characters with how they played especially when they get in close. They made the transition well from 3rd Strike even though some combos work and don't work from that game. Plus, they're still dive kick characters and of course it is nice to have a dive kick in a game like this. Personally, I didn't play as them and after watching a lot of the sheninegans they can throw out especially the palm, they are indeed fun to use. Yun, for example, can combo EX dash punch to ultra 1 if timed right and his palm is just godly beating many things. Also, Genei Jin as a super still has its uses as you can do easy high damage combos within the limited time. If Yang can keep going on rekka pressure, he is definitely one of the better characters in the game.

After a few hours on its first day, I had a good time with SSF4 Arcade Edition experiencing the changes to the characters, chatting it up with other players about them, and seeing the potential with Yun and Yang. It is too early to tell how the changes (nerfs/buffs) matter right now as most of the players still need more time with the game to mess with stuff in certain situations. I say give it a month or two and we'll see how people really think of it then. Plus, with a limited release at certain spots of the United States such as California, Texas with Arcade UFO, and New York City, it might be a little hard to take seriously now especially with tournaments for the current console version happening every week. It is still nice to have the game out here even though Capcom has not yet announced plans for the Arcade Edition update to come to consoles. In the meantime, I still wanna play more, so if I have anything new to talk about, expect it here.



If you want more details on certain changes of the characters in Arcade Edition, check Shoryuken and iPlayWinner for that.

UPDATE - Here's my Dee Jay (keep in mind I didn't use him that much in Super) vs. Hugo101's Bison (well another Bison main) from yesterday. Thanks to WonderChef for more footage from Super Arcade.