Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom for the arcades since 1999. The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008 with North American arcades importing the machines by August. The console versions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are currently scheduled to be released on February 12, 2009 in Japan, February 17 in North America, and February 20 in Europe. A Windows version will follow during the second quarter of 2009.
While Street Fighter IV features models and backgrounds rendered in 3D, the gameplay remains on a traditional 2D plane. Producer Yoshinori Ono has stated that he wanted to keep the game closer to Street Fighter II. A new system called "Focus Attacks" ("Saving Attack" for the Japanese version) has been introduced, as well as Ultra moves. The traditional six-button control scheme returns, with new features and special moves integrated into the input system, mixing classic gameplay with additional innovations.
The game has a very similar feel to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but also has several features from Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. Pressing both light attack buttons is still for throwing, and both heavy attack buttons are for the personal action or taunts. Both medium attack buttons are for the focus strike. Dashes and quick standing are also in the game. C.Viper is the only character who can perform a high jump.
It was intended that bonus rounds such as the car-smashing stage from earlier Street Fighter games would return. Ono later stated that the bonus stages would not be in the arcade game, citing the reason to be that the time players spend on bonus stages takes money from arcade operators.
