Like I was saying earlier; that new system looks out of this world! LOVING the way you can turn defence into attack, adding the ability to dash-cancel out of those Focus attacks is a stroke of genius.

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

I went down to another NeoEmpire run Tournament on the weekend. They had tournaments to send players to Evo2008 in Vegas as well as having playable versions of Street Fighter IV, SCIV and a new build of HD RMX.

Impressions of the event posted here, tried to post it here but the thumbnail codes is wrecked and I can't sort it out. Too many pics and work to go back and rehost anywhere else where the code will work. Papercut?

Battle of Destiny 2008: http://www.greenhillzone.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=11067&view=findpost&p=219753

Street Fighter IV Impressions! (sorry about the large pics, but it's these or none. :/)

I am now fully converted to the fact that Street Fighter IV will not be shit! I had my doubts about it for months based on screens, characters and early videos, but the last couple of months it really looked like it was all coming togeather.

After playing it, all I want to do is get the chance to play it over and over again and learn a new Street Fighter with everyone else and have next to none catch up period!

General Gameplay Impressions

The game feels alot more slower paced then 3rd Strike. It has elements of 3rd Strike in it such as dashing, 2 button throws, EX moves etc, but overall the game feels alot more closer to Super Turbo. That maybe because 3/4s of the Super Turbo cast are in there, but just executing moves and the general flow of matches felt more at home with Super Turbo play.

I was poking or trying to zone characters with distancing with my character's abilities and the opponent's weakneses exactly like in ST. I tried to do some 3rd Strike rush down but I was getting punished pretty badly when someone would retaliate against me once they blocked. Scared me into playing it safe as I didn't want to get off'd the machine and have to stand in line again.

Characters also had a lot more animation or spent longer getting up or during certain throw animations. Guile's suplex move for example, as soon as it hit on the old games you would be readying yourself with a series of follow up attacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK7vWDbMB7c

But the animation for the suplex was long and it threw me off my normal rythem when I was playing with him. This isn't a bad thing, was just different to what I was used to. After a while I just decided to play it safe and unleash a slow sonic boom into them as they got up.

Throwing is done via LP+LK like in 3rd Strike, and I was basically trying to play this game with Ryu as I would 3rd Strike. Dashing in, pokes and skanking into a throw, but connecting the throw was'nt as gauranteed as in 3rd Strike. I was talking to someone else and they said that theres a timer which doesn't allow you to throw for a certain period if you've missed or thrown an opponent. Not sure how true this statment was, but...

Yup, I couldn't do Dhalsim's slide and throw trap at all! It worked the first time and then when I tried it again I got Super'd in the mouth for my troubles! The throw didn't connect.

As with Super Turbo, alot of the inputs and the commands for Supers and Cancelling seemed alot more
stricter and harder to do. I couldn't do a short, short super with Ryu regardless of how many times I tried to dash in and force one out! Infact, I don't even think I managed to link a super on the end of a single normal attack while I was there. ;\/ I think that might be my shitness though. ;/

The "Focus Attack", AKA "Saving Attack"

The Focus Attack was a mystery to me for almost all of the times I played it. Few matches in I realised that the longer you hold the saving attack buttons (MP+MK), the more it powers up. At first I was just tapping the buttons and when the opponent hit my Focus Attack animation, my character would hit them but without them crumpling into a heap at all. Played some more and I just held the buttons and fluked a hit on someone where they crumpled. I did this a few times but as it's a new thing, it was such a surprise to land one that when it happens I thought...

"Oh...SHIT! Ermm, combo HIM, COMBO HIM...fuck it, sweep! lol"

I was playing this player who was using El Fuerte and he murdered my Guile with some focus attacks. When he hit with one, as Guile hunched over in pain, he would do a move which would launch my character from my crumpled state and then follow up with an EX mid air throw. Similar to Alex's d,df,f +K throw. This did some crazy damage. I tried to do Guile's Super when I landed it, but I was too slow to pull of the execution.

It felt a bit random and dangerous to use in a match unlike say parries where you could possibly be at advantage 90% of the time if you landed a succesfull one and reacted and executed a move on time. The Focus Attack is easier to do, but catching someone and punishing after it is alot harder. More extended play can only see if this worth doing.

I also don't think you need any bars or meters to succesfully pull off a Focus attack though. I saw some people absorbing multiple fireballs with a quick execution of the Focus Attack, so I'm not sure. Maybe the unblockable attack and the crumple animation attack only kick in when you've got some meter.

Super Moves and Ultra Moves

The other thing added into SFIV was the powered up Supers called Ultras. These moves are executed by doing the Super Motion and hitting all 3 attack buttons corresponding to the move. The camera will zoom up and give you a more cinematic look at the move. All of the ones I saw were really impressive and deadly when they hit. But they were not unstoppable.

If you got hit with a super or ultra while reeling from a normal attack, you were fucked just like in ST and 3rd Strike. But things like Ryu's Ultra fireball could be jumped over easily if you didn't want to take the block damage, Guile's flash kick got pwnt by a falling M Bison's glowy fist and I managed to burn Balrog boxer to a crisp with Dhalsim when I decided to risk an Ultra Motion during the last barrage of his punching attacks! I was laughing when it hit, I thought I was dead for realz! XD The way it zoomed up on Dhalsim and all you could see was in the corner of the screen was Balrog's angry head slowly advancing. Pwnt!

Character Impressions

The characters I used on the day were...

Dhalsim: I deffo couldn't play him like I do in Super Turbo, but as this was my first character I used on this game, it's also where I made most of my mistakes. Stupidly I was so hesitant playing as Dhalsim I kept holding back on the stick as I was pressing one of the punch or kick buttons, this made Dhalsim's long range attacks not come out. So I basically fucked up using Dhalsim the way I was supposed to!

When I got destroyed for doing this, I decided to go all out with rapid mid air drill attack which on ST I would spam a few times to put the fear of GOD into anyone deciding to try throw or get some close attacks on the Simster. This kinda worked, but the other character would recoil a bit too far after blocking a drill, so when I went for skanky short slide into throw, Dhalsim would come up short and get punched in the nose!

Decided to leg it and keep them at a distance with fireballs but it was too late. Got in an ace Ultra as described above, but it didn't do enough damage for me to win the match. Got head butted by Balrog and it was all over.

Verdict: I fucked up, want to use him again.

Guile: Very easy to play like how you normally would. Harrassign people with cr.Mk and Sonic booms when you are close, and his throw was easy to get in when you dashed in with him. Guile with a dash! XD The other ace thing that I did with Guile was dash\walk INSIDE the sonic boom. So as someone was jumping or running back, I would be inside the sonic boom trying do decide whether to take to the air or wait for the Sonic Boom to hit and decide what to do when it does.

Sonic Boom and Flash Kick zoning was still effective. Only thing that threw me off was the amount of time Guile spent doing his throw.

Verdict: Guile, still a bastard.

Ryu: As you would expect, easy to use, alot of his old combos and pressure tactics were still in. I just went full out with Ryu, trying to chip away at damage using his EX fireball or rushing in and unleashing his EX Hurricane Kick.

His Ultra Move looks great. Zooms up on him as his charges the fireball, lots of stuff whizzing into the hadoken before it's unleashed. Hits multiple times if blocked or not.

Verdict: It's Ryu! ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_AOezqMYUQ

Other Characters

As the line to play was so long, and it was winner stays on, these were the characters I used. I played against various other characters and saw them being played. The most powerfull characters at the event seemed to be E.Honda, Blanka and Vega (Claw).

E Honda was just as crazy as he is in Super Turbo. His head butt does mad damage, and his 360 throw caught me out multiple times when I blocked an aerial attack. His Super would also rape tons of life off you.

Vega claw had some insane reach and damage on him too. I saw someone just rip the other player apart close range by ducking and hitting MP, as well as some kind of barrage of attacks too.

El Fuerte though was fucking dangerous! I got off'd by an El Fuerte player and he really does seem dangerous. Most of his moves start with a running dash, similar probably to how Guy in SFZ3 or Maki in CVS2. From this he could do running cross ups, slides and high throws.

The craziest thing about El Fuerte was his Ultra and Super. I saw the same guy land a Super and a Super almost immedidtley after eachother! As soon as the opponent was knocked down, when they were getting up he would activate it. El Fuerte would jump towards them really quickly and catch them as they stood up. People in line were shouting "TEEEF!"

Didn't see no one be succesfull with Sagat though. I think his fireball spamming and Crouching Low Punch days are over!

I saw one player using Rufus, I was about to but the machines were going to get switched off so I ran back to Guile. What I did hear in line that loads of people think Rufus "How could they put that guy in a Street Fighter game? He looks so stupid!"

and with that...Rufus will be one of my mains when this comes out officially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h87j2Ge9m4g

LOOK AT THE SIZE OF BOTH OF THEM!

It was also this video that I saw the other day which made me really stop and think..."Shit, this really does look good!"

Rufus supplying the CHICKAN for my ORO'S CHICKAN DANCE. (When I execute it, which is once in a blue moon these days. )

As said in the news thread. The screens do this game no justice. The goofy faces and poses on their own look rediculous, but when it's all in motion, you can understand that they have tried to make the characters big, bold and colourfull enough so it harks back to the older games, and it really is quite stunning to look at. The cabinets and screens they were being played on just made everything look that much better.

I really hope Capcom promote the crap out of this game, and I really hope it becomes a hit. They are playing it safe going with the SFII characters but after the reception of the 3rd Strike cast and years before it was fully accepted properly, I'm not surprised.

I love Street Fighter, it's easily one of my favourite series in gaming. Although...this really has a lot to live up to for me to give up 3rd Strike for it. But first impressions of it are really good.

It's different enough not to bore veterans and entice new players who found 3rd Strike to hard to play. But there is deffo the chance of players taking it to a further level within the gameplay system with practice I bet, just like the other games.

So yeah, in a nutshell, it was good innit. :/

Look how awesome Gief still is in this game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpozbvsiTg&NR=1

Not only is the man BEAST, he still has some of the old school stuff regarding his SPD. The reach on the thing if executed is still massive, you can scam one at the end of a banishing fist (glowy hand move) whethere it's blocked or missed and the best one...you can use the saving attack and tag one on at the end of it!

I'm also guessing that you can get some extra reach on the distance of that saving attack if needs be by dashing during the move. Will no doubt be a surprise for anyone already weary of Gief's dangeerous SPD throw capture range.

Thanks a lot for all the impressions man - everyone I've spoken to about SF4 has told me it's class, proper can't wait to play it myself.

Love the Zangief in that vid, it's proper sick the way you can play the game almost like Super Turbo and then layer all the new tricks on top of what you already know.

Nice one for the matches on SSF2 HD - THAT game is SO bought as soon as possible!

Also that mauling I gave you on Calibur; don't feel bad - it's natural.

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

Finally dragged myself over to Capcom and had some games on this, honestly it's fucking brilliant!

On my first go every fear I had before of this game smelling like the EX series was laid to rest, it feels great - infact it feels just like Super Turbo. It's fast and dynamic, everything connects just as it should do in a 2D beat em up and it's damn SOLID. I haven't got to grips with the new system yet, I see that the (first few frames?) of the Focus Attack (mp+mk) act as a parry for a single hit and I was told the last frames do the same thing too. Didn't exploit the way you can hold the buttons down to make the attack unblockable, but I do understand the way that the opponent can parry the unblockable attack if you try to connect it while he's getting up.

Only played with Guile, he's GRIME. One next brer there from France who I've heard of online was there too and he was DISGUSTING with Zangief, who himself is now even more of a monster than before!

The game is running on the Taito Type-X hardware and is just a PC inside a cab (you can even install new games/revisions) via memory stick). This best come out soon - it's really laid the foundations for a sick new series of games. I bet by the time SF4 gets revised to the equivalent of SF3 3rd Strike it will be the stuff dreams are made of.

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

There's a couple of good vids on YouTube at last - this game is so mint! ^^

Abel VS Sagat
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRwOt3IKMEc&fmt=18

Abel VS Gouki
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=zh49GZhtzGA&fmt=18

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

Excellent - nice to see some good quality vids at last instead of blur-o-vision.

Looking good indeed - there's no chance I'll get to try this out in an arcade, so here's hoping that console versions come quickly

A good Ryu vs Ken here;

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=piCFKpEdieg&fmt=18

Should be easier to see how the new system works watching this one. You can cancel specials with Focus, then cancel Focus with a dash - this is how they're stinging together such crazy combos when the stagger occurs.

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

Right - this is The One, they do the works here. If you want to see how sweet the new system is watch this match;

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=vjv7OG_kAkw&fmt=18

- Parrying is now the opening frame(s) of the "Focus Attack" (MP+MK)
- The "Focus Attack" can be charged up by holding (MP+MK), this ultimately makes it unblockable with stagger properties.
- "Focus Attack" can be cancelled with dash (44 or 66), this is how the players execute the little "fake-outs".
- EX Specials can also be cancelled with dash, notice the cancelled EX Dragon into Super Dragon finish? GHETTO!!!

Not too long to wait until this comes out in the home, I just wish we had a scene here

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

There are a couple of long-ish vids here -

http://blog.livedoor.jp/game_sakura/

Now I know sod all about fighting games of course, but I've read that the 'dash cancelling' displayed in these vids is the business. It's very exciting & looks like it should be a top notch scrapper

I feel weak...I can't blow up anymore today...

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=uZKwKWEBzTU&fmt=18

When her theme kicked in - my head popped...

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- "Your hair looks like shit."