is a 2008 fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom. It was the first original main entry in the Street Fighter series since Street Fighter III in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. Designed for the Taito Type X2 arcade hardware, it was ported with additional features in 2009 to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows, along with mobile versions later on.
The game features 3D models, but the gameplay and its mechanics otherwise remain in the traditional 2D style the series is known for. Street Fighter IV received universal critical acclaim; receiving universally high scores from many gaming websites and magazines, it has often been cited as one of the greatest games of all time. It was followed by an updated version for consoles in 2010 called Super Street Fighter IV, itself followed by an arcade update called Arcade Edition which was then ported to consoles in 2011, and later in 2014, Ultra Street Fighter IV. All versions of Street Fighter IV have sold over 9 million units across all platforms. Street Fighter IV was succeeded by Street Fighter V in 2016.
Gameplay
Producer Yoshinori Ono stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II. The battles in SFIV begin with a short pre-fight intro, a small cinematic dialogue sequence which varies depending on the player's chosen character. A new system called Focus Attacks (Saving Attack for the Japanese version) has been introduced, as well as Ultra Moves. The traditional six-button control scheme returns, with new features and Special Moves integrated into the input system, mixing classic gameplay with additional innovations.
The game arguably has a similar feel to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but also includes a few features from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. As in Street Fighter III, throwing is performed by pressing both light attack buttons, while pressing both heavy attack buttons performs the character's personal action or taunt. Pressing both medium attack buttons performs a character's Focus Attack. Dashes and quick standing are also in the game. C. Viper and Dan (with the air taunt) are the only characters who can perform a high jump.
It was intended that bonus rounds such as the car-smashing stage from earlier Street Fighter games would return. Ono later stated that the bonus stages would not be in the arcade game, citing the reason to be that the time players spend on bonus stages is a time during which they have no chance of losing, which ultimately takes money from arcade operators. The bonus stages were later added in Super Street Fighter IV. There are also Rival Battles which have a cutscene between two characters (which depends on who they are) before the battle starts.
Focus Attacks, known as Saving Attack in the Japanese version, is a new system introduced in Street Fighter IV. The Focus Attack is a move that allows the player to absorb an attack and launch a counterattack, and it is performed by holding the medium punch and medium kick buttons simultaneously. There are two phases to the attack. In the first phase, the player will shift into a new stance, at which point they are able to absorb a single hit from the opponent. The second phase is the counterattack. The longer the player holds down the medium punch and kick buttons, the more powerful the attack will be. There are three stages to the charge.
If the Focus Attack is held for a brief moment, no unique effects occur when attacking. If held for slightly longer, the character charging the Focus Attack will flash white, indicating that it will crumple the opponent (if they are on the ground). When fully charged, the attack will also ignore blocking.
Attacks that were absorbed during the first phase of a Focus Attack still cause damage to the player; however, life lost from the opponent's attack will be quickly regenerated afterward. In addition, during the first and second phase of the Focus Attack, the player may perform a dash either forward or backward to cancel the Focus Attack. Finally, at the cost of two bars of the Super Combo gauge, many Special Moves can be canceled into a Focus Attack. By executing a Focus Attack during the Special Move, the animation of the move will be cut short and go instantly into the Focus Attack animation. This allows players with precise timing to cancel Special Moves into Focus Attacks, and in turn cancel Focus Attacks into the forward dash, resulting in new combo possibilities. If a Special Move is blocked by the opponent, the new system allows players to cancel the blocked move with a Focus Attack, and then cancel the Focus Attack by dashing backward safely away from the opponent. Ono has stated that this system was incorporated in order to shift the emphasis away from combos and toward a more realistic system he has compared to boxing, in which "the skill is in reading your opponent's move before [they start] moving ... We haven't forgotten about combos and linked moves, but focus makes it so that you have to read your opponent." The system aims to make ground attacks as viable a way of approaching opponents as jumping was in previous games. The focus system is a core part of Street Fighter IV's gameplay.
In addition to the powered-up versions of Special Moves introduced in previous Street Fighter games such as Super Combos and EX Special Moves, the game also introduces a new type of powered-up Special Move officially dubbed the Ultra Combo. Ultra Combos are long and cinematic moves featuring a lengthy combination of punches, kicks and other fighting techniques. Just as there is a Super Combo gauge, there is also an Ultra Combo gauge (officially known as the Revenge Gauge or Revenge Meter), but whereas the Super Combo gauge fills up when the player hits their opponent or performs a Special Move, the Revenge Gauge fills when one takes damage from their opponent (similar to the K Groove featured in Capcom vs. SNK 2). Along with the Super Combos, Ultra Combos are one of the only times (besides Zangief, E. Honda, Seth and Abel's command throws) the camera breaks from its normal fixed position to show a more dynamic, cinematic view of the gameplay.
Plot Street Fighter IV takes place several months after the events of Street Fighter II and before the events of Street Fighter V (thus is chronologically set before Street Fighter III which takes place four years in the future of the late-1990s).
After M. Bison's survival following his encounter with Akuma, the S.I.N. corporation began another fighting tournament in order to draw out the most powerful street fighters on Earth to complete the BLECE project. Each World Warrior has their own reasons for entering this tournament, but S.I.N.'s real desire is to lure Ryu to them in order to analyze the Satsui no Hado, believed to be the last piece of data needed to complete BLECE.
Gouken, having recently awakened from a coma after surviving an attack by Akuma which occurred between the events of Street Fighter and Street Fighter Alpha about seven years before, knowing of SIN's interest in Ryu, starts looking for him to instruct to stop his Satsui no Hado development. He instructs Ryu and shows him a power known as the Mu no Ken (or Power of Nothingness), which is essentially the opposite of Satsui no Hado, where calm and tranquility transcend human powers.
Akuma, knowing what Gouken has done to Ryu, has become driven with fury and has a fight to the death with Gouken once again, releasing everything from his Satsui no Hado against all the power of Gouken's Mu no Ken.
It is revealed that Crimson Viper was a double agent, and she betrayed Seth, in addition to Juri who also wanted to see Shadaloo's total downfall, and set up the fight between M. Bison and Seth. Although Seth took over SIN, M. Bison managed to take on the consciousness of another clone thanks to the scientists at Shadaloo, and ends up with Seth.
M. Bison is behind the SIN, letting the plans go, while everyone thinks he is dead, and the Seth that the players find at the end of the game is revealed to be a clone, as the real Seth was killed by M. Bison.
Abel, who is a fighter with no memory, supposedly was saved by Charlie Nash and joins Chun-Li and Guile to destroy the SIN headquarters, so they manage to end this organization.
Characters
Chronologically set between the Street Fighter II series and the Street Fighter III series, the playable character roster of the arcade version includes the cast of the original Street Fighter II (all 12 characters, including the four Shadaloo Grand Masters) and four new characters. Akuma from Super Street Fighter II Turbo also appears as a hidden playable character, as well as a special opponent, for a total of 17 playable characters. Additionally, the game includes two more computer-controlled characters: Seth as the game's standard final boss, and Gouken as one of special opponent, which makes for a total of 19 characters. The console version makes these two characters playable and includes 6 more characters to the roster, making for a total of 25. The returning characters are: Cammy, Dan, Fei Long, Gen, Rose and Sakura.
Newcomers: Abel, a French fighter who utilizes full-contact karate, Judo and Russian combat sambo to defeat opponents (note his kurtka). He is described as an amnesiac, a "man with no past" looking to defeat surviving members of Shadaloo. He is later revealed to be a prototype for the game's antagonist, Seth. Crimson Viper (stylized as C. Viper), a female American spy wearing sunglasses, leather gloves and a form-fitting suit with weapons she entered the tournament in order to "test" her skills. Juri Han, a South Korean Taekwondo fighter employed by S.I.N. and an underling to Seth. Rufus, an obese kung fu fighter, who seeks to fight Ken to prove himself as the best fighter in the United States. El Fuerte (Spanish for "The Strong One"), a Mexican luchador and aspiring gourmet chef. Seth, also known as "The Puppet Master", is the new boss character. He is the CEO of S.I.N., the weapons division of Shadaloo. His body has been modified using advanced technology. His Special Moves are techniques used by other characters. Gouken, the elder brother of Akuma, and Ryu and Ken's master, appears in the arcade version as a secret computer-controlled challenger at the end of the single-player mode, making his debut as a fighter in the Street Fighter series. Hakan, a tall oil wrestler from Turkey. His fighting style is based on Yağlı güreş and involves him coating himself in oil to make his body slippery. The president of his own company, Hakan seeks to create the perfect olive oil. Decapre, an imperfect clone of series antagonist M. Bison who resembles Cammy. She goes on a murderous rampage after escaping Shadaloo, but is rescued by Cammy and given a new lease on life.
Development Before producer Yoshinori Ono pitched the idea to Capcom R&D head Keiji Inafune, the prevailing attitude around Capcom was that a new numeric entry to the Street Fighter series would not be made. Initially, there was much resistance to Ono's pitch for a new Street Fighter game so many years after the original. The gap from 2000 to 2008, since Street Fighter EX3, the latest Street Fighter game at that point, represented the longest time the series had gone without a sequel. However, in light of fan demand plus the positive reception to Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting on Xbox Live Arcade, Inafune eventually allowed the project to begin. This was Ono's first take on a new entry for the Street Fighter series as a producer, although he had previously worked on Street Fighter III 3rd Strike as a "sound management director" and previously produced Capcom Fighting Jam. The experience provided by Super Street Fighter II Turbo became the main influence for the Street Fighter IV development team.