Retronauts Episode 555: Street Fighter IV

This is going to end in VIOLENCE

After Street Fighter II came to define what a “fighting game” even is for millions of players, developers, and casual onlookers around the world, the much-anticipated Street Fighter III struggled out of the gate for attention, eventually finding an audience but never ever reliving the hype and love experienced by its predecessor. The whole experience clearly left franchise owner Capcom with a bad aftertaste and the company responded by putting the brand—and the genre as a whole—on ice for almost a decade.

Of course, in the world of video games, there’s always an option to continue. In 2008 Capcom released Street Fighter IV in Japanese arcades and quickly brought it to home consoles the following year. Fans, both dedicated fighting buffs and less-committed folks who just fondly remembered Street Fighter II, responded with a collective thumbs up.

Bringing six thumbs to the podcast this week are host Diamond Feit and returning guests Shivam Bhatt and John Learned. They go over the impact SFIV had on the dormant franchise, break down the complete roster of Capcom’s return to one-on-one fighting games, and sort out the many revisions that necessarily sprung up once the company realized people did indeed need more Street Fighter in their lives.

Description: Kick! Punch! It’s all in the minds of Diamond Feit, Shivam Bhatt, and John Learned as they Focus on Capcom’s franchise-reviving Street Fighter IV.

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Artwork for this episode by John Pading and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.