Re-balancing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
by Andrew Yoon 
{ May 12th 2008 at 9:00PM }
Heresy! Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will rebalance a few of the characters from the original game, and many fans have been angry that such a classic is being altered. In an interview with GameCyte, Backbone Entertainment's David Sirlin explains why they're rebalancing the game, and how he hopes not to disappoint the hardcore by doing so. He doesn't want to change how the game plays. Rather, he wants matches between certain characters to be more evenly balanced. Will he succeed? He better, or else a mob of angry Street Fighter fans are going to spin kick him to oblivion.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
usagi704 @ May 12th 2008 9:13PM
This is old. I heard about this late last year and from what I remember, I'm pretty sure they are going to have the old balance and the new balance as selectable modes.
Vincent @ May 12th 2008 9:36PM
Yeah you are correct. I saw a video interview about this earlier this year.
Al @ May 12th 2008 9:14PM
Just wonder how they're coming to their 'balancing' conclusions. If it ends up that it's NOT so balanced will Capcom issue a patch?
RatBoy @ May 13th 2008 12:10AM
If you check out Capcom's blog David has been doing an EXTREMELY in depth article series on how they've come to the decisions for how to rebalance each of the characters. The long and the short of it is a lot of conversations with top level tournament players and extensive playtesting both internally in with said top level players. As for a patch, I seriously doubt it unless there was a game-breaking issue.
Alex @ May 13th 2008 12:13AM
i've seen some complaints about the tweaking of this "classic" gameplay.
however, i welcome the change as i considered Street Fighter II overall to be a broken game. okay, that may not be fair to say. plus, i'll be no doubt drawing the flames of hardcore players of ST. but when i watch this game and how it's played, i dun see the fun and rarely (there are definitely times of exception) the skill. could it be that the nostalgia factor for SFII overall is what makes people refuse to see the game as a dated relic of fighting games past?
then again, i'm just a foreigner to this game anyway since i've only played it here and there (not for long though, i will be downloading it when it comes out). i still argue that Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike reigns as the greatest fighting game to date just because of Parries... which i consider the great equalizer.
in ST matches... all i ever saw were projectile capable players... well, throwing projectiles because that was enough to get them the win.
true enough, do what you must to win. but make it look good too.
*apologies to ST enthusiasts, but an opinion is just an opinion, not fact*
MaD HuNGaRiaN @ May 13th 2008 12:12AM
Who cares? I didn't make it 30 seconds in...I couldn't get passed this dude's pretentious ego. "Shortly after graduating from MIT" followed by the gem "I worked with all kinds of game companies, some bad....and now I'm at CapCom!" Whoopdie Freaking Doo!
While we all loved those classics, I'd just as soon they stay in the history book.
Mike @ May 13th 2008 1:00AM
f this im not wastin harddrive space im waiting for SF4
RatBoy @ May 13th 2008 12:16AM
I'm really intrigued by your response. One of the major points that they have been stressing about SF4 is that it keeps the 2D fighting style and most of the major combo's of SFII. Theoretically these games should play very similarly. So what is it that makes SF4 so far superior that this game isn't worth owning?
Mike @ May 13th 2008 1:19AM
because 1. Sf4 will have a better feel towards it 2. this is the same game being released with HD and new balance system. Sf4 will be balanced better and will feel like dead or alive in my IMO and that is far better then this. FYI SF4 is 3d not 2d watch the gameplay vid
AshStampede @ May 13th 2008 8:31AM
SF4 is 2d in the plane of movement, yes the character are 3d, the world they are in is 3d, they do not move in 3d. This game will not be like tekken or DOA. That isnt to say there may be a step forward, step back where the character moves briefly in the positive Z or negative Z dirrection and then return to the centre plane. But SF4 main type of movement is in the X and Y plane, ie right to left and up and down; Like SF2: HD remix. For the record I will be getting both.
RatBoy @ May 13th 2008 8:33AM
Makes sense. For me the HD upgrade is more than enough to justify the cost because this game was so important to my life as a gamer. It was one of the first games I bought with my own money, and I played it all the time. But I understand the desire for something new, rather than a repackageing of an already existing game.
Also to clarify about SF4, which I am super excited for too. it does have 3D graphics but the gameplay is stricktly 2D. There is no side stepping or 8-way running or anything like that.
Thomas @ May 12th 2008 11:35PM
Get rid of the damn glitches... and cheap moves. that's all I'm asking for.
Paul (PSN: heypaul) @ May 12th 2008 11:51PM
If you think there is such a thing as "cheap moves," you are not playing this game on a level to talk balance.
Ghaleon @ May 13th 2008 9:54AM
High-level ST has all kinds of BS (YouTube Vega's wall climb 50/50). But please don't talk about "cheap stuff" in "Street Fighter" if you don't know anything about tourney play though. For the average gamer you won't notice or care about what's being changed for ST:HD.
The game is being made to AGAIN repackage SF to the mainstream, but Sirlin is tweaking it soley for the tournament scene.
stargateheaven @ May 13th 2008 10:26AM
So he's balancing ALL the characters? they aren't meant to be all even. Each character had an advantage and disadvantage. now he's just making them all even.. bleh..
Shahryar @ May 13th 2008 11:19AM
I don't mind. They gave you the option of going with the new rebalanced mode with puzzle fighter and I liked that. I don't think it'll be too big a deal here. Just when the hell is it coming out, I'm getting sick of waiting. I Want to put my 2 Hori fighting sticks to use:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/25/hori-ps3-fighting-stick-get-your-virtua-fighter-on-in-style/
LeChuck @ May 13th 2008 1:56PM
Strange. I'm not a SF hardcore player by any means, I played it some on Genesis and that's about it. But I'd think the hardcore players would be the main ones to support a rebalanced mode for the simple fact they could have all the fun of mastering the game again. And since the original play mode is there too they can still have their epic "I know this game inside and out" battles. But so many people have kneejerk reactions to change before they ever get to see how much better or worse it'll actually be. They just jump straight on the wah-mbulance.