More Street Fighter HD Remix Reviews and Response to the Press
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 3:01PM More reviews are in, and it looks like everyone loves the game.
- A+ - 1up
- 100 - Games Radar
- 5/5 - Giant Bomb
- 9.3 - Gamer 2.0
- 9 - Official Xbox Magazine
- 9 - VideoGamer
- 9 - GameStyle
- 9 - GameDaily
- 9 - Team Xbox
- 4.5/5 - GamePro
So first of all thanks for those reviews. But second, it's kind of strange to even think about a score when the real test of the game is whether it falls apart or holds up for years. Also, fighting games are notoriously misunderstood by the press (just look at reviews for Guilty Gear, one of the greatest fighting games series ever). But hey, I won't look a gift-horse in the mouth, so thanks again to the world of game reviewers.
Next though, I read some press on other sites saying how much of a struggle it was for me to make SF HD Remix. Yeah it was. But it was also a struggle for a lot of other people. And when I saw a site go so far as to say "I didn't get much help" in making the game, I feel I should say something on behalf of everyone else who worked on the game. Yes, I did have to fight for a lot of things and a lot of struggles were harder than they should have been, but EVERYONE helped on this game, from Backbone to Capcom to Udon to the fans.
Backbone's lead programmer deserves a lot more praise then he's getting. Again and again he delivered what he said he could even though he set the bar very high for himself. Another programmer helped me with gameplay changes and there would be no fake fireball, no Akuma super, no easier Zangief SPD motion without him. We actually had three producers and I managed to outlast all three of them as they left the company at various points, but the last one hardly slept as she made sure the latest builds were always ready for Capcom and that Capcom's issues were all addressed. Our tech director wrote much of the low level networking code himself. The UI team made awesome menus. Udon's Herculean effort involved them flying around the world to personally oversee and train the art contractors. Capcom coordinated the whole OCRemix effort for new music, not to mention publishing the game.
So even though it was a struggle and even though I had to fight for a lot of things (that probably made me pretty unpopular...), please know that of course I had help. Everyone sacrificed and suffered.
And I shouldn't leave out the players, either. It's not possible to design a game like this in a vacuum, and players contributed many ideas for balance and many hours of playtesting. Keep in mind that lots of players flew across the country on their own dime to help with balancing. Their help is why T.Hawk's dive doesn't knock down anymore, why Vega's Fake Wall Dive doesn't lead to infinite running away anymore, and why Cammy vs. Dhalsim is not a 9-1 match, just to name a few.
Constant struggle or help from all sides, I guess it's just how you look at it.
--Sirlin
Reader Comments (16)
Thanks for the props Sirlin!
-1st of the Three Producers.
Hey I'm glad to hear the reviews are good. But don't short-change yourself! It's no gift horse-- it's much deserved praise for the ridiculous percentage of your soul that you poured into this game!
For any one interested, I just discovered that there is a VERY active message board dedicated to this game at GameFAQs, under the Xbox360 boards. There are about 250 threads that all display today's date in the "Last Post" box , if that gives you an idea of what I mean by "very active".
You're the man now dog!
I think it's great that the new game is getting rave reviews. It's not hard to imagine reviewers skimming the surface and saying "New graphics and music aside, did we need ANOTHER Street Fighter II?"
Good job making a game solid enough to avoid that criticism... good job to ALL the parties involved.
I love this game and I hope Capcom took notes on your Fei Long and Cammy when they designed them for SFIV for consoles because this is the first time either of them have been playable. EVER.
dude congratz on remaking the best fighting game ever made through all the struggles you pulled of a great game. online especily great job to all the team that worked on the game as well.
Yo michael, don't go to gamefaqs for any fighting game strategies (if that's what you're saying, I may be wrong), go to shoryuken.com
Hey Sirlin,
I just ran into a bug in the game where my rating is constantly showing as zero, putting me at the bottom of the leaderboards. It had been ~2000 last night, but all of a sudden reset while I was playing today. It stays at zero even though I've won a few more games. Have you heard anything about this?
Will the bugs with health bars going solid red and not updating, and full win counter icons be fixed?
I bought this but I've hardly played it. It's pretty much unplayable on a 4 button 360 pad. I've seen pictures of 6 button Street Fighter 4 themed pads, any idea when these are going to be available? I would have thought the release of SF ST HD Remix would have been a good time to get the controllers out there.
You truly did an excellent job. They BETTER use your net code for SF4 too! The online multiplayer on XBL is amazing, just amazing. No lag. So many props to you.
You developed the online, vs fighting game, net code of the future man. I hope everyone follows suit and mimics how well you did the online for 360!
I didn't know where to post this so I'll drop it here. Some people at SRK are concerned about Akuma, and they think he's still too overpowered even after the toning downs it received in Remix, and propose banning him. Your input on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=170255&page=1
Thanks for everything Sirlin!
But it seems that nobody likes the "new" Chun-Li. She is easily the most nerfed character in Remix. This is so sad.. oh wel...
We want SFA2 DASH HD remix next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But try to get the animations right next time. Game is a dream to play; but an eyesore all round.
I understand is a reimagining of the characters; but man it's heavy on the eyes.
SFA3 would be best with the full PSone roster.