Best of the Decade: Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV 

Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Windows

Release Date: February 17, 2009 (PS3 and 360)

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Dimps/Capcom

For a great many years, my heart belonged only to Soulcalibur. I dabbled with other fighting games from time to time, but I could never gather up the motivation to stick with any of them long enough to get past that initial awkward button-mashing phase that’s inherent to trying any new series in this genre.

Most of all I was mystified by the Street Fighter phenomenon. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Mortal Kombat, which is to say I hate the fighting but love the cheesy characters and world they inhabit, but the appeal of the series is clear enough: cheesy B-movie aesthetic and plenty of gore. Dead or Alive isn’t my thing, but it has lots of anime-inspired girls with giant floppy breasts in it so its success is easy to understand. 

But when I looked at Street Fighter I was never able to grasp the appeal. Everything looked too simple and too repetitive. And, as fighting games aren’t exactly known for their ability to ease in newcomers, every time I’d try to pick it up I’d get stomped on and write it off. I had no street fighting friends to convince me to stick with it. 

When Street Fighter IV came out, something clicked.

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Best of the Decade - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Platforms: Windows, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Release Date: March 20, 2006 (Windows and 360 versions)

Publisher: 2K Games; Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Most of the games on this list were carefully chosen as modern experiences that still hold up as such. I have previously discussed my modernist mindset when it comes to gaming, a mindset that makes it difficult to enjoy certain older titles. In the fast-moving gaming industry, a game doesn’t actually have to be that old to feel aged. A glance at many PS2-era titles is proof enough of this. Even in just 10 years, games have come a long way indeed.

Oblivion is a good example of this. It wasn’t the first of its kind, as one need only look at its predecessor, Morrowind, to see where it came from. But Oblivion did represent a huge leap forward from anything that had come before. When it was released, it was definitively a “next-gen” open-world RPG. It was gorgeous, stunningly large, and complex. Perhaps it feels dated in some respects now, but Oblivion raised the bar when it was released and it’s telling that, even after all this time, few games attempt the sheer scale and depth it delivered. 

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Street Fighter IV iPhone Review

Street Fighter on the iPhone is something that by all rights should not even exist, much less in any form that actually resembles what a normal human being would consider a playable game. It should be a cheap cash in. It should be an abomination. It should have no redeeming value whatsoever.

I mean, come on. It's Street Fighter! On the iPhone! We are talking about a fighting game that represents the ultimate in precision controls, precise timing, and skillful input. Slapping a game like that onto a portable device with no physical buttons should be nothing short of blasphemous.

But yet, here we are. Street Fighter has been released for Apple's touchscreen device, and it doesn't suck. Color me surprised.

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The 2009 List of Shame

The games below are not necessarily the outright worst games of the year. In fact, two of the three certainly are not. Frankly, I don't have the time, money, or incentive as a lone blogger to play what are actually the worst games put on shelves. Instead, these are the games that, for various reasons, made me very sad. And being a sad gamer isn't a fun thing to be.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (DLC)

The Lost and Damned wasn’t a bad game. From all accounts it was a well-constructed addition to the GTA IV universe, with an interesting storyline, new gameplay, and all that other jazz.

None of that is why the add-on made the List of Shame.

It was through playing The Lost and Damned that I realized I don’t have any desire whatsoever to play GTA IV anymore, and this made me sad.

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Best of 2009 - Street Fighter IV

Some games have gotten recognition from me on this rather insignificant list because of how individually spectacular they are. There was something amazing or addictive or original about many of the games discussed so far that put them on a level above other products released this year.

Street Fighter IV gets the nod for another reason. Sure it’s a terrifically crafted, well-polished game, but the real reason it stood out to me in 2009 is because it marked the first time any fighting game other than my beloved Soulcalibur series had ever managed to truly hook me.

That’s quite an accomplishment.

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