Xbox 360 Review: Super Street Fighter IV

What’s so super about this version of Street Fighter IV?

The original Street Fighter IV was one heck of a game, breathing fresh new life into the series while teaching the competition how it’s meant to be done. Just over a year later and we have a “Super” edition of the game that ranked high both with gamers and critics. So, what exactly is new with this version?

Well, besides containing the original fighters…the game comes with 10 more challengers, ultra combos, new moves, new online modes and bonus stages return. Just purely on face value, this is the ultimate version of the game…although I wouldn’t be surprised if a Super Ultimate Extreme version comes out next year or the year after. I would prefer they worked on SSFV as opposed to a Super version of SSFIV, but alas it isn’t all bad.

In fact, this Super edition makes the original look quite limited. The 10 new fighters are well chosen and some will be remembered by long-time fans of the series who can recall the likes of T. Hawk. Each fighter is still extremely well balanced, although newcomers may find it hard to control the likes of the new characters when pitted against those who are perhaps too familiar to the old fighters.

Some might feel that Capcom is trying to squeeze you for extra cash, but actually they make the package extremely good value for money. It may appear to be nothing more than a more refined version with a bit of new content, but there’s more to it than that. It trounces all over the original with what it has to offer. They’ve gone back to the drawing board, fixed what didn’t work and improved what did. It is essentially one for the fans, while still being accessible to newbies.

The one area that they didn’t seem to improve is the visuals. They look more or less the same as they did a year ago, but that isn’t too bad since they were pretty impressive back then. Music has had a bit of a makeover, which is nice. It’s also good to see that the game comes up as a separate achievement list instead of simply adding a whole new bunch of achievements to the original game, a minor detail…but worth mentioning.

The Verdict

Super Street Fighter IV shows why the series still holds the crown for the genre. There have been contenders who have tried to take it, but none have really come close…and now this Super version of the original makes it even further out of reach. This is definitely worth every penny, both for veterans and newcomers alike.