BADCP - GPOW Tribute

Virtue Signals

DATE:
25 YEARS AGO

GPOW 25TH
A N N I V E R S A R Y



PLAYSTATION 4	BAD	STREET FIGHTER V


			Now that Street Fighter V Arcade Edition is out, how was Street Fighter V in retrospect? Did the long-awaited sequel have the impact that Street Fighter IV did? I see Street Fighter V in the lens I see Street Fighter II, and that's not a bad thing at all. Why? Many reasons. There are so many parallells between SFV and SFII. Its lack of refinement, small character selection, mysterious non-playable characters, populated locales, simple design, and lop-sided balance. These things are all fine for an entry-level SF game starting a new chapter in the series. One could even cite how they were both bound to exclusive consoles (SNES, PS4). SFVAE is to SFV what SFIICE is to SFII; refined, character unlocks, flashier design, new balance. Arcades were packed for battle and lines were out the door and into the parking lot. Players lined up quarters to play each other with SFII's eight main characters, but the unplayable "Final Four" or "Grand Masters" the real showstoppers.

SFII is seemingly-simplistic now, but it was full of mystery and intrigue back then. The bosses were only in single-player, and their stages were fair-game for match locales, but they themselves were not playable. Seeing anyone play against the bosses was rare because everyone was usually playing against each other. My earliest memories of them were when I saw Balrog and Vega in EGM, someone at 7-Eleven fighting Sagat in his shuffling palm tree stage, and at a bowling alley arcade where I spied M. Bison throwing off his cape as we left. SFV brought this feeling back, it was just ill-executed and went entirely unnoticed by the oppressive games media that controls what everyone likes. Street Fighter V is similar to Street Fighter II - The World Warrior in this regard because there are several unplayable characters in the game, yet they are rarely seen. Even players who are familiar with the game don't really seem to know or mention who SFV's unplayable characters even are. I don't think I've seen a single review or article that actually acknowledges the existence of SFV's (quite stellar) unplayable cast.

	01
	SFIIT RYU
	Ryu's iconic Street Fighter II Turbo look is back!

	02
	NEXT OF KEN
	Is Ken's look more SFIIT or SFA?

	03
	NPC CRUSH
	Yes, that is a non-playable character in SFV.

	04
	DIVEKICK DUDE
	Yes, there is more than one non-playable character in SFV.

	05
	A...COP?
	Before law-upholding police were deemed offensive.

This happens for the same reason mentioned earlier; because people are so busy playing each other that they rarely play single-player. Many of Street Fighter V's critics haven't even discovered the mysterious unplayable characters in Street Fighter V, which is why they think it's boring and lacking. Many of these critics like Street Fighter II, and took the time to discover it in its entirety back in the day, but don't give Street Fighter V the same dedication and discovery in the present day. The first prerequisite was to actually play the game. The second was to play the game's Story Mode, which is where all the game's mystery and intrigue was hidden. SFV had its intruiging mysteries like SFII did, but nobody bothered to try its comprehensive Story Mode to discover them. The Story Mode in SFV was basically its Arcade Mode. There were times it really reminded me of Street Fighter Alpha 3's story-heavy Arcade Mode, but Capcom made some questionable decisions with it...

	06
	BEFORE GILL
	These guys seemed to work for M. Bison.

Capcom separated the Story Mode into two parts; an all-encompassing one that ties all fighters into the game's new story, and a smaller, character-specific one. The actual story of SFV, its telling, and direction were all polished and further the depth of the series while respecting its iconic canon. Capcom has consistently improved cinematic production over the years, and even though it went virtually-unnoticed, Street Fighter IV was a testament to this. Street Fighter IV's cinematic sequences were short but sweet, and noticeably more natural than its predecessors. Building on that, Capcom put a lot of care into the production of SFV's cinematics, with intricately-planned camera angles, action sequences, and dialogue. You could play though it all more than once and still catch new things each time you play. SFV's Story Mode is truly monstrous, with plenty to discover and appreciate. Its concept and direction was great; its just that its execution was flawed.