How Street Fighter IV Could Rescue Its Genre

Write-happy as I am, I've dared to dig deeper into the upcoming release of SFIV a bit and thought about what this could mean for the fighting games scenes. Especially the new Trial Mode seems to be promising enough to open up new possibilities for attracting beginners to the beat 'em up genre again.

The article is available on GamersGlobal (http://www.gamersglobal.com/news/1590), and, probably later, on my Goh blog as well.

A preview:

 

Well the reason for the hype for SFIV is because is being marketed right. And because CAPCOM USA owns the rights to the series, basically, they give a damn, compare to CAPCOM of Japan(Besides Ono)Who didn't believe in the project. Is good they brougt back the Command trail mode from the EX series. As for saving the genre? I think that already happen with the great service call XBOXLIVE.

 

SFIV will be to FG's, what Starcraft 2 will be to RTS, and WoW iss to MMO's.

A big success, but also potentially the 800-lb gorilla that squashes other games, and won't help its competitors.

 

Tekken characters has more moves then VF and is still more popular. More popular then SF4 too...

 

Somehow I doubt this. Although people are playing it in japan, i've yet to see people going ape shit over SF4 like the fighting games heyday for sf2, vf2 and vf3. I think after the national tourney this weekend, Capcom is gonna need to release an upgrade quickly to keep people interested and it seems like clockwork that after every itteration, players become disillusioned. In my opinion, the main reason SF4 has gotten the response it has so far is because it's been nearly 10 years since the last street fighter game, Third Strike. If you give the fans that much time to build enthusiasm for a new game, the interest will be there.

 

Starcraft 2 is how many years after Starcraft 1?

As for SFIV, I'm thinking America, not Japan.

 

I just don't think its gonna happen. The game isn't revolutionary enough. Just my opinion so it doesn't mean I am right.

 

THIS. The fighting genre is NOT the mainstream darling like the FPS genre.

 

I almost prefer fighting games as being a niche market. If it ever got mainstream popular, we'd get so many clones and people being afraid of messing with established formulas (i.e. FPS's) that the whole genre would water itself down.

I saw this happen to Dance Dance Revolution, a game I played heavily for three years. Now the American market for the game is just home versions with a myriad of licensed songs and less actual emphasis on giving the veterans anything hard to play.

 

thats a good point..
fighting games shud probably be a relatively niche genre. its fun comes from competition, not having to play 12414 newbs constantly that just mash the same move over and over..

and i have a feeling eventually the hype will die down for sf4 and the normal-core players will leave because they arent willing to invest the time it takes to train and beat good players.

FPS and rpg games are just way to ez to get into... fighters will never have that... and probably shouldnt.