When Capcom decides to finally pick up and move Street Fighter into the future, it's always good news. Especially after that six year gap after Street Fighter II that saw countless Championship, Super, Turbo, and Alpha additions instead of a proper Street Fighter 3. But that's another story altogether.
After announcing Ultra Street Fighter 4 earlier this week (not really a full game, just a DLC for Super Street Fighter 4), various Street Fighter head honchos are slowly but surely revealing more information about how you can play it, and what it will have to offer.
First off, keep in mind that Ultra will be available sometime in 2014. For those of you keeping track, that's shortly after both Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One arrive. Does this mean Capcom is planning on a next-gen release? Don't count on it. A fan asked Street Fighter series producer Yoshinori Oro the same question via Twitter, where Ono confirmed that the pack is planned for current-gen only, saying, "PS3/360/PC at this moment."
What's more, we know that five new fighters will be making an appearance in the add-on, four of whom we've seen in various other Street Fighter titles: Rolento, Poison, Hugo, Elena, and someone else that's yet to be identified. Poison was technically playable before in both Final Fight Revenge, as well as Street Fighter X Tekken, but this will be the first time she'll be playable in a straight up Street Fighter title, and not a crossover. However, according to Capcom's senior product manager Matt Dahlgren, this new mysterious fighter is brand spanking new to the Street Fighter universe.
"This character [has] never been featured in a Street Fighter game up until now," Capcom senior product manager Matt Dahlgren told the Jace Hall Show, or any other fighter for that matter. As Dahlgren notes, Ultra Street Fighter 4 "will be the first time he (or she) makes their fighting game debut." That would rule out a great number of Capcom's other characters who've appeared in countless cross over games, like X-Men Vs Capcom, Marvel Vs Capcom, etc.
So while it's entirely possible that it's a brand new character, the chances are also good the character could be a familiar face (fingers crossed for someone from the beat 'em ups Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, or Alien vs. Predator, if only for the chance it could mean a possible port for either game on PSN or Xbox Live). We'll just have to wait and see.
Ultra Street Fighter 4 will release in two forms, with the player picking whichever they like:
1. As a $15 DLC upgrade - choose this route if you already have a copy of Street Fighter 4. With the price breakdown, it means you get each new character at $3 each.
2. As an all-new physical release, on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Besides the new characters, players will also get six new stages, all of which featured in Street Fighter X Tekken: Cosmic Elevator, Mad Gear Hideout, Jurassic Era Research Facility, Blast Furnace, and Pitstop 109.