Most of the gaming world is familiar with this ubiquitous fighting series, so an explanation as to the format of Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition is barely necessary. For those among you who enjoy learning copious button combinations and stick movements, performing hugely satisfying ultra and super combos, and beating the living daylights out of people, then this is a pretty comprehensive package.

This is Ryu having a bad day

Capcom’s cashcow has been wheeled out again on both the PS3 and 360, the latest offering available both as DLC and a full-blown release. Suffice to say, should you already own one of the previous editions, think carefully about whether to part with more of your hard-earned cash as the new content is fairly subtle.

It speaks volumes that the latest release offers only a few minor tweaks, proving just how solid the title was when it first came out a few years ago. This time round, the most notable aspect is the inclusion of four new fighters tagged onto the extensive roster. It brings the total number of pugilists to a healthy 39 – all available from the start with no unlocking necessary!

Evil Ryu makes yet another appearance after his debut in Street Fighter Alpha 2. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he’s a less cuddly version of the traditional Ryu, complete with steely red eyes, flames covering his form and a bad ass attitude to boot – he’s a kind of cross between Ryu and Akuma. Oh, and he’s got a big hole through his chest too! As you’d expect, he’s all about the fireballs and kicks – with new ultra and super combos thrown in for good measure. If you can pull off the stick movements and button presses, the full screen animations are mightily impressive.
Oni follows in the same vein as Evil Ryu – another guy with severe issues. Blue, bad and blessed with funky hair, Oni is a powerful demon-type beast who’s all about energy moves and smashing his opponent to pieces. His air dash move is particularly impressive, and combined with his various fireballs and smashes, he’s perhaps the most formidable new character.
Finally, Yang (the one with the spiky hair and rollerblades) and Yun (the one with the cap and skateboard) are the Lee brothers – both extremely agile guys who can traverse the screen quickly before unleashing a series of kicks and punches to devastating effect. On the face of it, these two characters are perhaps the least exciting of the four new additions – perhaps because they’re not on fire(!) – but they remain firm favourites with the die-hard Street Fighter gamers. Master them and the screen quickly becomes a blur as you deliver a flurry of seemingly unstoppable punches.

Hair style aside, Yang is a pretty good character

Beyond these new faces, Capcom has also been bigging up some balancing changes that have been made but again, only the most fanatical of players will probably notice – or care about – these.

One interesting addition, however, is the revamped replay mode that makes it easier to check out the abilities of some of the elite players and track their fighting prowess. The enhanced Replay Channel allows you to “follow” five other players and their replays, show off your own fight replays to up to 50 players, and tap into the Elite Channel where you can watch the greatest matchups of those who have earned a rating of at least 3000 PP. It’s a nice feature, especially if you want to see what the game and the characters are capable of.

Oni is a powerful fighter with some great combos

Ultimately, SSFIV AE is a cracking title with loads of fighters, an array of moves and screen-busting combos, and some super fluid animations. Newbies should definitely grab a copy – as should the SF fanatics out there who scrabble for every scrap of content… and for that reason, this deserves a hearty score of 8. For the more casual gamers among us who already own a previous edition, perhaps a couple of points should be knocked off the overall score. It’s a great game but there’s not a whole lot of new content for the money.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.