Ultra Street Fighter II Final Challengers: Nintendo Switch

CiDeRmAn

So,
USF2 has been announced for the Nintendo Switch.
Any thoughts on it here?
Would it bo something that people would buy a whole console to play?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6_hdFYeU9w

I know Hori have a stick on the way for it, specifically for fighters I can safely assume, seems the same as the RAP4 stick they have for other formats, and costs the same too, €150

K.O.Kiki

Those new SFX and new announcer can F*CK RIGHT OFF.

CiDeRmAn

Not quite the overwhelming positive response I expected :eek:

Azza

Don't mind Kiki's opinion, few here around these parts do!
I don't foresee it having a huge impact on the Irish Fighting Game Community in general even if the game turns out not to be a Switch exclusive.
Street Fighter II has its fans among the IFGC and in particular Super Turbo but its a small subsection of the community, a niche within a niche so to speak.

I'm one of those fans but I wouldn't be interested in buying a Switch just for it alone and I would imagine few others in the community would unless they were intending to pick a Switch to play other games anyway.
The community here also has access to CPS-2 Supergun and a Japanese ST board, as well as the ability to play ST online through FightCade for free. Its most likely the more hardcore players here will opt to stick to those options, unless Ultra SF II is (A) unexpectedly really good and (B) gains widespread appeal in the fighting game community globally .

Even if you were to pick up a switch, you will need to fork out more money for a classic controller or one of the Hori sticks you linked to, because playing fighting games with analog sticks is a pretty horrible experience.
I'm sure the Hori sticks will be out of the top drawer in terms of build quaility, they always are.

Anyway if the release it on Steam I will pick it up on PC for sure.

As for my actual thoughts on the game.
Like Kiki I'm not a fan or the new sound effects or the announcer (but the announcer is a minor thing to me). I'd hope the original sound affects can be played.
In clips the character themes have also been changed but I need to hear them all and more clearly to say if I prefer them or not.
I like the use of the artwork from Super Turbo, which has been modified to look smoother and given a slightly shaded look.
The stage select showing the stages is a nice small touch for newcomers to the game. Its better than the arcade version of ST where stages were not select-able at all and would only properly rotate to the character you picked after everyone of the arcade characters was beaten. For nostalgic reasons I would preferred selecting a flag on a map and a little playing flying to the stage country
Also kudos for being able to cycle through colors and not have to remember a specific button.
The two player vs A.I "Buddy Battle" look pretty gimmicky to me and its not going to be available online.
I prefer the old sprites and stages over the HD sprites and stages and am glad you can choose between them.

Gameplay wise, Evil Ryu and Violent Ken are shoto clones with some new moves created by recycling assets. No real interest in playing them myself.
I'm more interested in balance changes to the rest of the cast, the games balance is not based on Super Turbo or HDR so it will be interested in seeing what changes the characters got and how balance is overall.
The most significant change is the ability to tech throws. I don't know how I feel about that, its something I'll need to play and experience before I'll know if I like it or not. It could really change the effectiveness of some characters. I'm also hearing the execution barrier for combo's has been lowered. A good thing IMO but that will probably be frowned on by the hardcore ST players globally who believe master dexterity is as important as strategy and decision making.

Another significant possible change is will Akuma will finally be made a balanced character and not instantly tournament banned after 23 years and HDR's failed attempt to balance him?

One important aspect is will the game feature a classic ST mode?
There has still never been an arcade perfect release of Super Turbo, almost 23 years after the game was released. That alone would make the game a collectors item. If the game doesn't have a classic ST arcade perfect ST mode the game will be likely be dismissed by many of old guard ST players who similarly give HDR a rough time.

Anyway, I would like to hear more about it. But really the game needs to come out on other formats to have a chance at succeeding and not solely on what looks to be another Nintendo dust magnet machine sent into the market to die.

Doctor DooM

I'd basically echo everything Azza has said.

I think USF2 is a very direct attempt from Capcom to get families playing Street Fighter, and good for it. Several people my age had said they look forward to playing their kids to me before Ayano said that was the intention anyway. The competitive scene should be welcoming to everyone showing an interest in it. There's no real negative to it.

You will hear some extremely negative people ranting about it despite us knowing very little about it, but that's Street Fighter. SFIV was the worst game ever until SFV came out, now it's a balanced classic, don'tchaknow!

The change from throw softening to throw teching is a fairly major one. A lot of SSF2T's competitive game is built around throwing (you really don't want to get grabbed by boxer for one).

I'd love to play it, but 500-ish to play a new version of SF is pushing even the high level of fandom you'll find in the hardcore.

chopperbyrne

I'll get it when I get a Switch, which will likely be the second Christmas after release.

If it gets released on another system before then, I'll get it for that.

Azza

One of the issues with SF II particularly Hyper Fighting and Super Turbo was the dexterity requirement which stops people playing the game at a high level.

For example reversals have a window of 1 frame or 1/60 of a second as opposed to 5 in SF IV and V. Combo's generally require very strict timing as well, and charge characters also require precise timing on building charge as well. Even jump in combo's require you to hit your opponent very late because hit and block stun is so low on jump's in's often you will find yourself hitting an opponent and when you land they throw you because they already have recovered and throws have instant start up.

Even neutral jumping a fireball is considerably harder than in later games.

The game also's use a frame skipping algorithm to speed up the gameplay which can cause people to miss combo's even if they time it right themselves.

If the make execution easier more people will be able to enjoy the game. But if they do that and say make reversals easier, they are going to change the balance making characters with invincible reversals much stronger, because the difficulty in executing a reversal attack makes meaty attacks very viable currently.

The ability to tech throw's is huge, as several characters have very powerful and abuseable throw/hold loops, like Dhalsim, Boxer and Ken, loosing that ability will significantly reduce there effectiveness, although in Dhalsim's and Boxer's case that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Azza

According to translations from Japanese websites, Capcom are looking to price it at around $40.00 which is nuts considering its effectively a port of a 23 year old games and HDR only cost €14.99 on release.

A few people have pointed out it may just be the price of the physical release in Japan and they tend to be quite expensive, so it may not reflect the actual release price over here.

Doctor DooM

Azza wrote: »

According to translations from Japanese websites, Capcom are looking to price it at around $40.00 which is nuts considering its effectively a port of a 23 year old games and HDR only cost €14.99 on release.

A few people have pointed out it may just be the price of the physical release in Japan and they tend to be quite expensive, so it may not reflect the actual release price over here.

Unless there's huge announcements to come about new modes etc, 40 is not a figure I can see it selling at.

I suspect you're correct that and it's only a limited physical price.

chopperbyrne

Never underestimate the cost of software on a Nintendo machine.

Doctor DooM

New trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjBKXC2Fo4