TOGA TALK — Reviewing Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
When Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition was announced in the Fall of 2017, there was immense pressure for Capcom to deliver. Many players and fans, including yours truly, were already growing tired of a seemingly failed product that was supposed to be the benchmark for fighting games in esports. At the end of Capcom Cup 2017, Capcom managed to create the biggest buzz that the Street Fighter franchise has had in a long time.
Disappointment was felt by seemingly many fans and pro players throughout the first two seasons of Street Fighter V. Overwhelming nerfs to Season 1’s top tier characters, a mystery cast for Season 2’s DLC, bad matchmaking and netcode in online play, sub-par single-player story mode that simply failed to deliver, and a mid-season balance patch that seemed more of an admission of failure to fans. Sakura’s character reveal trailer and the full introduction trailer for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition depicted a very different feeling than seasons past. Capcom has seemingly embraced the wishes of the Street Fighter fan base. Now that January 16th has come and gone, how does the game feel after a week?
As a fan of the series, there’s never been a more amazing time to jump into any Street Fighter series. Arcade Edition caters to what fans have been asking for since the game’s release in February 2016. Arcade Mode finally brings a single player mode for the non-competitive player with collectible rewards geared specifically for the fans of the game. Scores are recorded online for even more in-game rewards for players to collect. Team Battle provides a fun environment for playing offline with friends. Extra Battle also provides one of the more unique experiences in Street Fighter — the first of which (still on-going) is challenging a boss character from a previous game modified to fit the current game engine. Logik’s SFV coach Frabisaur has posted a strategy video on how to defeat Shin Akuma, Extra Battle’s first boss, with his (and my) signature character Nash, below.
From a competitor’s standpoint, SFV Arcade Edition is a breath of fresh air. After 2.5 Seasons, the competitive game had become very stale. The addition of V-Trigger II’s gives more depth to each character, and for some, will change the approach on how to play the game altogether. Sakura, is also a welcome addition to the cast and is proving once again to be more than just a Ryu knockoff. Many Sakura players from previous Street Fighter games have been overall pleased with her game-play and are willing to put in the time to learn. Training mode’s enhancements to include frame data may prove to be a fantastic tool to help anyone who is on the fence about entering competitive play to finally take that step. Playing offline has been overall great: the addition of Player Two post-match options will eliminate the need for those awkward “thumbs up” moments. Season 3 Character balance and overall game mechanical changes also seems to have shifted towards rewarding more fundamentally sound players for their play. Previous seasons have rewarded offensive-minded players who take more “risks” over defensive-minded players.
Where Arcade Edition continues to struggle is, unfortunately, online. With regards to the online points system: prior to release, Capcom announced a new online rank of Grand Master for those players who’ve reached 35000 League Points online. Most players received this news as a joke as the majority of previously online ranked Master players had long eclipsed this mark. Matchmaking is still also very hit or miss, as nothing seems to have changed in that aspect either. Setting your search parameters for online games still yields mixed results in terms of connection quality with an opponent. Online, the game feels slower compared to past seasons, and simple things like whiff punishing can be difficult at times. Though it seems to be happening less frequently than Season 2, many players are also still queuing well beyond their win percentage and rank in ranked matches. With rumors rampant of a point reset during the off season, Capcom has also failed to capitalize on the marketing push that a regular online ladder reset provides - failing to build an audience outside of streamed Capcom Pro Tour Ranking and Premier Events or national televised events such as ELEAGUE on TBS and Evolution Championship Series on ESPN.
Overall, it feels like Capcom has made significant strides towards a better game. Can Street Fighter V live up to the promise that fighting game fans felt when Arcade Edition’s full trailer was revealed at Capcom Cup 2017? With Sakura’s overall reception being good, will other returning characters Blanka, Cody, and Sagat also live up to player’s expectations? Evolution Championship Series Japan will be it’s first real test this weekend. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing high-level play from many of the top pros traveling to compete in EVO’s first tournament in Japan. All the action can be seen on twitch.tv/capcomfighters.
How do you feel about Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition? Let me know in the comments below!
togashiazrael
Street Fighter V streamer, competitor, analyst and commentator.
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Twitter @togashiazrael
