More reviews are in, and it looks like everyone loves the game.
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