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Akuma's Street Fighter II HD makeover
Last week we got our first look at Ken from the upcoming 1080p remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and today Udon Comics has given us a look at SFII badass, Akuma. Just like Ken before him, Akuma's HD treatment looks absolutely amazing and sports an incredible amount of detail. The artists at Udon have really done an awesome job at updating the geriatric sprites -- these new shots look almost too good to be true. According to the post on the Capcom blog site though, the images are straight from the game with the backgrounds removed, which bodes fantastically for the final product. Luckily, SSFIITHDR is coming out later this year so we don't have long to wait until we get our high-def Hyduken on.%Gallery-3777%[Via High-Score]
Ken's looking good for new HD Street Fighter II
This is Ken, you may recognize him from such games as ... well, almost every version of Street Fighter ever. Capcom released this image of how Ken will look in the upcoming Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN. Anybody who purchased the other Street Fighter II game on XBLA feel ripped off? Yeah, us too.The new look is thanks to Udon Comics and we can't wait to see this thing in motion. Capcom will be releasing new images of the re-drawn sprites over time leading up to the release of SFIITHDR at some indeterminate point in the future. We have no doubt that this game is going to be gorgeous, we're just hoping the controls feel "right" using the Xbox 360 and PS3 controller.[Via Xbox360Fanboy, Thanks Jared]
Udon Comics redraws Street Fighter II for the HD era
Click image for higher resolution. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (please Capcom, can you make this title longer?) is shaping up to be the single best retro revival ... ever. Their upcoming downloadable title puts Sony Online Entertainment's 1080p envisionings of Midway classics look downright lazy, to say the least. Capcom is showing PS3 gamers what real high definition is all about: instead of simply reusing and resampling the same assets from the original title, SSFIITHDR will feature brand-new high-resolution sprites hand-drawn by the amazing folks at Udon Comics.The new HD sprites, as found on Capcom's forums, make the originals look as antiquated as they truly are. These sprites dwarf their nearest competitor, Guilty Gear, as shown in this "confidential" Capcom presentation slide. We thoroughly applaud Capcom's endeavor in avoiding a lazy re-release of this title -- now if only all retro games on the PlayStation Store would feature the same kind of effort.
New SFII HD Remix sprite revealed, it's Ken!
The image you see above, ladies and gents, is a sprite from the upcoming Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for Xbox Live Arcade. In fact, it's actually a little smaller than it should be thanks to our formatting. Now, we've seen a sprite from (deep breath) SFIITHDR before, but this is the first official image released by Capcom. As Capcom's Brian Dunn puts it, "this is what it will look like (if you paused the game and took out the background)." Damn. If you like what you see, then you're in luck, as Capcom will soon be opening a blog that will feature new art, news, and other goodies about their upcoming downloadable games. For those of you that have forgotten, those games include SFIITHDR and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (easily abbreviated SPFIITHDR), Rocketman: Axis of Evil (RAoE) and Talisman (T).If Capcom's other downloadable games are going to look this good, you can count us excited.[Thanks, Jared]
Rumor: Jessica Biel as Chun-Li in Street Fighter flick
Say what?! LatinoReview.com claims to have a casting scoop that pits Jessica Biel as Chun-Li in the upcoming film adaptation of Street Fighter. Since the film will apparently focus on the Chinese-born Interpol agent turned 'World Warrior' contestant, the creators are after a star that can deliver a roundhouse kick -- and look sexy while doing it. (CGI will handle the ol' Hyakuretsukyaku.) It appears that the casting department didn't bother to sift through Hollywood's stagnant pool of Chinese -- or even passable as Chinese -- actresses; so no, Ming-Na will not be reprising the role. Although Keira Knightley and Jessica Alba were alleged targets, both turned down the potentially career-damaging part. Now Hyde Park Entertainment and Fox are supposedly after Biel.As rumors go this one is absurd. But that's better than if the claim was true ... 'cause then it would be offensive. What's next? Sam Jackson as Ryu? Capcom, please keep this project in check and hush these awful lies. They are lies, right...?
Chalkboard fighters return with stop-motion video
A couple of years ago, a group of students released a set of images depicting a Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat-esque fight sequence in front of a chalkboard. Now the team has released a stop-motion video utilizing over 3,000 photos and several hours of post-production effects. No chalk this time around, but the video game-meets-Dragonball Z-meets-real life theme is all there. Check out the video after the break.[Via Insert Credit]
2D sprites get massive for the HD generation
While the arrival of HDTV has generally been a boon to the game industry, it's definitely caused headaches for at least one shrinking but still important sector of the industry -- 2D sprite artists. As the above illustration of the Ryu sprite for the upcoming Street Fighter II HD Remix shows, drawing good-looking 2D characters in HD requires a lot more attention to detail than the old standard-resolution sprites.This problem is not exclusive to Capcom. Castlevania designer Koji Igarishi remarked at GDC on the labor involved in creating high resolution 2D art and SNK President Ben Herman lamented in an IGN interview that bringing the company's fighters to the 360 and PS3 would require artists to "re-draw every single older game."The extra work leads to extra benefits, though, as the sleek new Ryu above clearly demonstrates. Still, the proof will be seeing these beautiful high-def drawings come to life. All the graphical fidelity in the world doesn't matter if the animation is on par with Star Wars Adventures.
Capcom's four new XBLA titles
Yesterday, Capcom announced four new games that will be coming the XBLA later this year. Street Fighter fans will be happy (and turbo excited) to know that both Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II Turbo will grace us with their downloadable presence and get an HD makeover. In both games the characters and backgrounds will be redrawn by artists from Udon Comics, who also did all the art for the Street Fighter comic books. Capcom also announced that both Rocketmen: Axis of Evil and Talisman will release to the Arcade later this year. So, anyone excited and loving the Street Fighter happiness coming to the XBLA?[Via Live Gamer]
Capcom brings Super Street Fighter II and more to PSN
At Capcom Gamer's Day, Capcom revealed three new downloadable titles for the PlayStation Network. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake of the classic 16-bit fighting game. The entire game is being redrawn, from the character select, all the way through to backgrounds and endings, most likely to take advantage of your shiny HDTV.Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is a intensely action-oriented approach on the constructible strategy game of the same name. Like Cash Guns Chaos, the game will have players blasting enemies in a colorful, cel-shaded world. For images of the game, check out the gallery at Joystiq.Talisman is based off yet another strategy game, but unlike Rocketmen, it'll stay true to its original gameplay. This downloadable title will be a digital recreation of the game, and will be playable offline and on.Finally, Puzzle Fighter II HD will also be making an appearance on the Network. This lovable puzzle game will also get a glorious high-definition makeover. See a video of the game, after the cut.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN announced
With 13 years of competitive play under its belt and counting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo is widely considered to be 2-D fighting perfected. A high octane, extremely offense-minded fighter, how is it that Capcom plans to improve upon perfection? By bringing in the comic masterminds at UDON to redraw the entire game, pixel-for-pixel.Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (wow again) for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN mirrors the same tactic Capcom utilized with their Hyper Fighting release - the goods you remember, only with online play. This time, however, Capcom is taking care of business in-house and utilizing the insight that 13 years of worldwide, top-tier competition has brought to the game. While SSF2T HD is a pixel-for-pixel recreation of the game, they aren't ruling out making slight changes to the game. It will be lost on the average player, but when the faithful get a load of the slight but sexy frame tweaks, they'll freak out. And they will love it. Capcom didn't have anything to show on the project, but they did say that the entirety of the game is being redrawn, from the character select, all the way through to backgrounds and endings. While it would be heaven in a download if they could also work in the original SSF2T, it is something they are currently considering. Capcom is aiming for a release this Fall.[Update - If you were interested in seeing just how super this remix is, the folks at GameKult snapped a picture of the presentation slide during the announcement. Capcom to Sammy: "In yo face!"]
Today's franchise face-offiest game video: Bauer versus Riker
It's Riker versus Bauer in tonight's video pick. (What, you thought we'd post about that other video again?) Through the magic of editing -- and a rocking soundtrack -- these two leaders face off in a game of Street Fighter. Bauer uses his ability to multitask to get Gamefaqs tips, while beardless Riker has only his grimace and guile. This YTMND mash-up loops soon after it starts, but the quick editing is dense with detail; we laughed through several repetitions.The video isn't embedable, so you'll have to venture into the dangerous tubes beyond Joystiq. But be sure to come back to tell us what you think.
Final Fight and Street Fighter II Turbo coming to Virtual Console
Capcom will be bringing two more of their vintage SNES titles to the Virtual Console sometime soon as Final Fight and Street Fighter II Turbo have popped up on the ESRB list of recently cleared titles. As Super Nintendo games, both of these arcade classics are classically gimped -- the technical term used for when something is downgraded. The SNES edition of Final Fight, while technically impressive for its time, goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to killing the magic. Not only did Final Fight on the SNES drop the two-player action that made it a hit in the first place, but also the red-clothed karate champ, Guy. Sure, you're playing it for Haggar anyways, but do you really want to be stuck with Cody? You also get a dose of censorship as everyone's favorite video game transsexual, Poison, is nowhere to be found.Street Fighter II Turbo (or Hyper Fighting as us humans call it) isn't that bad, but smaller sprites, a lack of online play and limited controller options on the Wii make it a hard sell. We love us some Zangief, but we don't see us pulling off our favorite combos on the classic controller. [Via Wii Fanboy]
DS Daily: Arcade on the go
We've talked a bit about classic remakes before, but today we want to focus the discussion on ports. Specifically, arcade games. Arcade fans demand faithful translations of their games, which is why we applaud Konami's effort to preserve the original aspect ratio of the arcade Contra even as we wonder how to play it. But the display is only part of the arcade experience.Crazy arcade types tend to build custom joysticks to play their fighting games. Obviously we aren't going to do that with the DS (but if you have, let us know!), and the controls on the DS are not exactly identical to those found on your average arcade cabinet. But do they get the job done for most arcade games? The touch screen can simulate dial and trackball controllers okay, but what about a joystick? We want to hear your two tokens. Are there any classic arcade games that you'd like to see on the DS, other than the obvious Punch-Out!!? And would a D-pad and four face buttons compromise the experience?
Here come two new VC challengers from Capcom
Two superb Capcom fighting games are headed to the Virtual Console. Final Fight and the inevitable Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting have been spotted on the ESRB's list of rated Wii games. The SNES version of Final Fight lacks co-op play and Guy, but has plenty of "Oh! My car" to satisfy us. Street Fighter II Turbo is just like Street Fighter II, but sped-up, with more moves, more characters, and some bizarre changes made to the color scheme. We aren't sure why we're explaining this, because everyone in the world has played enough Street Fighter II to know the different versions.Oh, also new on the list was Tecmo's Mighty Bomb Jack. As obscure game advocates, we feel like we should be most excited about this one, but ... yeah, Final Fight is really, really awesome.[Via Siliconera]
Dev tells all: Street Fighter The Movie (The Game)
Over on the Shoryuken forums, Alan Noon, who contributed various elements to Street Fighter: The Movie (the arcade game), has been posting an entertaining tell-all about the ill-fated project, while graciously fielding any and all questions. He writes, "It's true. I am certainly not proud of this fact, but I am one of the people responsible for one of the most loathed games in fighting game history. I apologize."Noon's recollections of the forgettable fighter offer a little seen glimpse into game development and reveal some titillating insider lore: "We were to pull out all of the stops and make the greatest Street Fighter ever. More characters! Digitized graphics! New combo system! The works! We set about writing up all kinds of great stuff to include in the final product. One of those things was even Sheng Long." Indeed, the infamous EGM creation was to appear in SF:TM. Noon even helped to digitize and design the character's animations, which are supposedly floating around on a misplaced CD...[Via Press The Buttons]
Import game releases for the week of 01/21/07
Your PSP plays import games and every week we let you know what's coming out from Japan. This week's game amount is huge, so without further delay, here's this week's list: Continued after the jump ...
Nintendo holds key to franchise longevity, profitability
As noted earlier, a list published by UK newspaper The Independent reveals what many already assume; Nintendo's Mario is the best-selling franchise of all time. Coupled with the second best-selling franchise Pokémon (also a Nintendo property), the two series, which have sold a combined 348 million games worldwide, account for nearly 34% of the total sales of the top-twenty best-selling franchises; which include two additional Nintendo IPs ranked in the top ten, Donkey Kong and Zelda. So what's Nintendo's secret?Cross-culture appeal, spin-offs (e.g., racers, sports titles, puzzlers), brand saturation (e.g., apparel, card games, TV shows), and E-ratings all appear part of a profitable formula built for the long haul.
Street Fighter's Blanka: an electrical oompa loompa
This and other gems are what you get out of the third installment of Street Fighter: The Later Years. It's a brilliant ongoing series at CollegeHumor.com that follows the lives of everyone's favorite Street Fighter characters, years after the game has come and gone. This is the sort of thing we'd like to see on G4, or any sort of video gaming channel. Toss in this, some Red vs. Blue, some in-game feed, game guides, This Spartan Life, a World of Warcraft show, and some Major League Gaming, and you've got yourself something people will watch.Of course, we need to cram a Joystiq show in there somewhere. Video is after the jump. Give it a whirl, and brace yourself for Christmas. Note, if the video isn't embedded for some reason, like CollegeHumor.com's code not being up to snuff, then click the image above or here for the vid.
VC Christmas: Super Mario, four more, no hand outs [update 1]
[Update: The original post erroneously listed the price for R-Type at 600 points. More here.]Nintendo has confirmed five titles for the Christmas Day Virtual Console update, and it's quite an impressive release. Just as we thought, Nintendo is not giving away any titles. Instead, they are uploading five major titles to increase their profit margin. The titles are: Super Mario Bros. (NES, 500 points): Nintendo's flagship title is sure to sell like hotcakes despite already racking up 40 million in sales since its 1985 release. How many times can we repurchase the game? Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES, 800 points): Compared to the Xbox Live version, it's your choice whether you want online play or would rather pocket $2.00 in exchange rate difference (800 Nintendo points vs. 800 MS points). Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 800 points): One of the best in the series. Easily the best Castlevania title on the SNES, though it only had one other iteration (Castlevania Dracula X) to compete against. Toe Jam & Earl (Genesis, 800 points): Strong two-player action title, worth the price based on style alone. R-Type (TurboGrafx16, 800 points): One of the classic space shooters. We're excited by the list, even if our wallets aren't. Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has talked about strategically releasing VC titles when there's a drought of first-party Wii titles. With all these delays recently announced, might we be seeing more great VC Mondays forthcoming? And when are we going to see Square Enix games or any Nintendo 64 goodies?Keep up on: Virtual Console Mondays
Street Fighter II headed to Virtual Console?
1UP is stating that Street Fighter II: The World Warrior will soon be available via the Wii's Virtual Console service, allowing players to toss hadoukens and smash grills with flash kicks on the new system. 1UP believes this based on a recent ESRB rating approval, which you can view here, causing us to believe that it could be possible for us to get our hands on the game as early as this coming Monday.If this turns out to be true, the game would more-than-likely cost 800 Wii Points ($8 USD) and offer no online play, widescreen support or new game modes. Obviously, this causes one to compare and contrast the Street Fighter offering on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, but at least we can say playing it on the Wii won't be as tough as it is to use that d-pad on the Xbox 360.[Via Joystiq]
