Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition contains all the content from the original game plus a handful of new characters and gameplay tweaks. Like past Street Fighter games, this colorful and hard-hitting fighting game puts you toe-to-toe against other skilled combatants as you clash for victory. Generally speaking, Street Fighter has always been a game more popular in arcades than on home consoles. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition provides console players with all the up-to-date gameplay balancing and character options found in the arcade version. With some exceptionally cool new fighters and more well-rounded combat, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition is a nice update for fans of the series.

Main Game Features:

• 39 unique playable characters
• Updated fighter moves
• Improved character balancing

Story

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition picks up a few months after Street Fighter II, with a new tournament between the world's best fighters on display. Created by the S.I.N corporations, dozens of talented fighters from across the globe meet up to engage in fierce one-on-one fights. As the fighters compete in these violent fights, the S.I.N corporation collects precious data as they attempt to finish a secretive project known as BLECE. Although this serves as the primary focus of the game, each fighter has a personal story and motivation, which is explored in the Arcade mode. Like other classic fighting games, the story in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition isn't the most interesting or compelling tale, but it's one that provides an interesting setting for some fun fights.

Gameplay

There are a variety of modes to try out in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, including standard Arcade mode, online and local multiplayer, and more. Arcade mode lets you challenge a preset list of fighters as you uncover the backstory behind each fighter in the roster. Local and online multiplayer let you test your fighting abilities against other human opponents, and is a staple of the Street Fighter community. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition includes additional modes not found in the original game, including Team Battle, Endless Battle, a Replay Channel, and retro Bonus Stages. These extra modes help keep the action fresh, as the straightforward fighting can grow repetitive after some time.

The most notable additions in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition are the four new fighters. Players can now step into the shoes of twin brothers Yun and Yang, first seen in Street Fighter III. Both brothers have distinct fighting styles that are flashy and technical, with lots of room for improvisational combos. There are also two characters that were previously included as hidden bosses, but are now fully playable from the start. This includes Evil Ryu and Oni, two mega-powerful fighters that are both intimidating and super fun to play as. While the main focus is on these four new characters, the rest of the roster has also received several updates, including new attacks and general balancing.

Conclusion

Although Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition doesn't add as much content as the original Super Street Fighter IV did, it's still a worthwhile entry for fans to try. The four new characters add plenty of hours of gameplay, as each is fun to experiment with and master. If you're a competitive player, you'll also greatly appreciate the fine-tuning to the rest of the roster, which makes some characters feel fairer to fight against.

Pros:

• Highly addictive fighting
• Great roster of characters
• New characters are fun to use

Cons:

• Not enough new content
• No new stages
• Balancing tweaks feel minor