Street Fighter IV Comes to the iPhone, to the Wii Next?

Share on Facebook posted 02-16-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

Recently, Capcom revealed that its iconic fighter Street Fighter IV, would be getting ported to, of all things, the iPhone. Apple’s trendy little smart phone gizmo has been trying to paint itself as a serious platform for handheld gaming for some time now, but aside from some cool looking distractions that make decent use of the iPhone’s tilt sensors and touch screen, no iPhone game has warranted much mention. Street Fighter IV, however, will be one of the first fully implemented hardcore titles to come to the iPhone platform.

… and when we say fully implemented we mean fully implemented. The graphics on the iPhone port are actually the same next gen graphics that you see on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Sure they are a little bit fuzzy due to the iPhone’s lower resolution, but on the whole the character models are the same we have seen before, but scaled down, with all the important animations and graphics transferring intact, even the outrageous Ultra Combo animations.

To make up for the lack of a true controller interface, Capcom has developed a “virtual pad” which players will control the game by. The directional stick and buttons themselves will be overlaid directly on the game screen. Players will be able to customize the size, location, transparency, and layout of the virtual pad to their own liking. Supposedly, the virtual pad is responsive enough to mimic the split second responsive gameplay you would get from an arcade stick.

Capcom has said that every character in the iPhone version of Street Fighter IV will be ported over with their entire move list intact, however, contrary to this statement, images of Capcom’s virtual pad has only been shown with a four button layout, as opposed to the six button layout arcade pads and even home controllers take advantage of. The buttons shown have been P, K, S, and SP, which we can only assume means Punch, Kick, Special, and Super. Having a one button shortcut for special and super moves would be useful in an iPhone game, but it would be a far cry from the true Street Fighter IV experience.

As for game modes, the iPhone version will feature single player arcade modes, training and dojo modes, and two player versus support over Bluetooth. Rumors have been circulating about possible online play, however Capcom has not confirmed or denied them. It seems as if it would be foolish not to include such a capability, as the iPhone’s hardware would allow you to setup competitive online multiplayer matches anywhere you can get cell-phone reception, which would be a gigantic leap forward for portable gaming.

Reactions to this announcement have been mixed. The currently released images show the virtual pad routinely overlapping with character’s bodies, which would mean that your fingers would be blocking the gameplay half of the time. The revenge gauge and super gauge have been moved to the top of the screen for this reason, but that doesn’t seem to fix the issue of fingers overlapping with the character’s themselves. In addition, a simplified four button layout, while working to make the game more playable on the iPhone platform, would inevitably remove key parts of a character’s move roster, most likely some of their normal weak, medium, and strong punches and kicks. In addition, Capcom has confirmed that Ryu and Ken will be playable, but have kept the rest of the roster a secret. They have said that the roster will feature both Street Fighter classics and new characters, but the fact that the roster is currently being hidden, implies that the full roster of Street Fighter IV won’t be coming to the port. This means there is a very good chance that your favorite character won’t see play. Dan Hibiki fans, start crying now.

However, regardless of the quality of the iPhone port itself, fans are excited that this may pave the way for ports to other consoles. In 2008 Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono was interviewed at the Leipzig Games Convention by 1up.com. In the interview, Ono discussed the possibilities for ports of Street Fighter IV to other systems. He, and other Capcom representatives, have admitted that demand for a Wii port is quite high, and that the Wii hardware is certainly capable of running Street Fighter IV’s software. He made it clear that a port is doable, and should a Wii port be done, it would be a full Street Fighter IV experience, once again with every character and move left intact. The only question lies in whether or not a Wii port will sell.

At that point Ono said that there were no formal plans for a Street Fighter IV Wii port, but that Street Fighter IV will most likely sell well on any platform that could support it. He closed the interview by pulling out his iPhone and said that Street Fighter IV might even find its way to Apple’s handy gizmo. Now two years later, many Capcom reps have made statements both confirming that Street Fighter IV would most likely sell well on the Wii and denying any formal plans to create a Wii port. However, since Ono’s vague prediction of a Street Fighter IV iPhone port has come true, Wii fans are hoping that his vague prediction of a Wii port will come true as well.

Oddly enough, there has been no discussion of a port of Street Fighter IV to the PSP, which seems to be the console handheld gamers most want to see a Street Fighter IV port come to. Being that Street Fighter IV was released to the PSP’s home console counter-part, fans are left wondering why Capcom has made no progress toward a port that is arguably the most powerful handheld system. The PSP is more powerful than the DS, is a more dedicated handheld system than the iPhone, and has a button setup that could easily allow for an arcade based six button layout. Still, there is not even a vague prediction of a Street Fighter IV PSP port, and forums everywhere show PSP fans taking the iPhone port as a smack in the face.

Regardless of Capcom’s other plans for other ports, the Street Fighter IV iPhone port is the first instance of a mainstream hardcore competitive gaming title to make the jump to the iPhone platform. Apple has repeatedly said that iPhones and iPods could easily take the role of a next-gen handheld system that could easily compete with both the DS and the PSP. The Street Fighter IV port, may just prove them right. The port will be launched in March via iPhone the App store. [IGN]