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EXCLUSIVE: Extensive SSF4 Interview with Seth Killian!
51 Comments | Posted by strugler in Super Street Fighter IV
Haven’t you guys complained that this week was a slow one in terms SSF4 goodness, especially after last week’s reveal of the 3s characters? Well fear not, as your friendly neighborhood strugler is here to the rescue you!
I had the opportunity to interview Seth “the man” Killian and asked him all kinds of SSF4 questions i had, ranging from netcode to boxart passing by dudley’s Voice over and character balance. Check out he long interview and i hope you will enjoy it:
First of all thank you for this great opportunity seth, i know you are a very busy man.
1- My first question will be about the state of SSF4 right now, how complete is the game at this stage?
Development on SSFIV has recently been completed.
2- How much did the game change since the latest fight club ?
Of course the three new SFIII fighters are big, but otherwise tweaks to the entire cast were ongoing up until the final build. There aren’t radical changes to the characters you’ve seen already, although even small changes can be significant. Just as an example, Juri’s dodge (QCF away + P) causes her to fly in one of 3 directions if you attack her during the move. In the builds we’ve shown so far, she absorbed the damage from the hit (as in a Focus Attack, or like Gouken’s counter move) before dodging. This has been changed to allow her to dodge the hit without taking damage from the first hit. That doesn’t make her a totally different character, but it does make the move a lot more viable, and changes her strategy a lot in certain situations. Every change in the game has an impact.
3- You guys have recently announced the 3s characters, a move that certainly pleased the sf3 purist, what was the reason behind including sf3 characters and what made you guys decide which 3 ?
The 3S characters were added based on a combination of their popularity with fans and their contributions to a diversity in fighting style. Ibuki and Makoto have a pretty unique style, and while you could say “Dudley is also a boxer,” his playstyle is totally different from Balrog’s, so we were excited to add him as well. He’s just cool.
4- was it difficult to include these characters since they came from a game with a different play system?
I certainly thought it would be. Integrating them turned out to be more a matter of subtle tweaks than a need to reinvent them, so I’m happy to say that their personalities came through very clearly. 3S fans should feel right at home, and they’ll probably rack up a lot of wins—Dudley, Makoto, and Ibuki are beasts.
5- A lot of people complained about Dudley’s english VA in ssf4, what does Capcom think about this?
I’m not involved with any of the voice recording work, and while 3S Dudley certainly has some of the games most memorable lines, all of the new voices in SSFIV grew on me pretty quickly. After you’ve been playing it for a while, the characters just sound like themselves. I find myself saying the new lines like “Keep it classy” a lot in casual conversation, even though pretty much nobody knows what I’m talking about.
6- What can you tell us about the old SF4 characters, how different are they from sf4 in terms of balance?
The addition of 10 new characters, new moves, and two Ultras for everyone obviously has a giant impact on the overall balance, so in a lot of ways it’s apples and oranges. There will definitely be some shakeups in the overall rankings from SFIV.
7- Does that mean that all characters have been rebalanced or just some?
Every character in the game was rebalanced over the course of development. You can’t think about balancing in terms of just some characters, as changes to any one affect their matchups against the entire cast. In the end, some have wound up being very close to their SFIV incarnations, while others are pretty different, and some (like Chun Li) can play in a very different style just because of their new Ultra combo. So while Chun Li didn’t get a ton of specific changes to her moves, if you’re up against a Chun Li playing Ultra #2 (Kikkosho), you have to play in a totally different way.
8- So Sagat is not going to be as dominating as he is now in sf4?
Sagat is still powerful—his techniques all still work, but I would say he’s going to face a lot of stiff competition from the returning cast and the newcomers. While he has more options in Super SFIV than he did in Super, he also has more tough matchups, and his ability for massive comebacks isn’t as strong. In SFIV, he could be essentially dominated for the entire match, and then make a huge comeback from one hit or even a trade. In Super SFIV, he’ll need to play well the entire match to win consistently.
9- Are all characters receiving new moves in ssf4 or just a few ?
Apart from the new Ultra combos for everyone and the new characters, just a few returning characters got other new moves. That said, changes to existing moves can also create a brand new role for an old move. It’s easy to understand this just by looking at SFIV Ryu—he didn’t get any moves you haven’t seen in previous SF games, but you’d get killed if you tried to play him the same way you had in earlier games.
10- One major complain i see online is about the motions shortcuts and how they mess up some of the inputs and timing. Does SSF4 still has the input shortcuts and if so can we disable them in an option maybe?
We’ve discussed a change, but nothing has been altered yet. We do know that input shortcuts have bothered a particular range of traditionalist players (which would include me) in some specific situations. The intention with shortcuts was to make some of the difficult motions more accessible, so a good effect of the shortcuts is to help newbs and help to get more people playing, and it’s definitely easier to pull off these moves than it was in the older games. On the other end of the spectrum, the very best players are able to play around the shortcuts and not let it affect their game. For some people in between those guys, who have been playing for a long time and can pull off a shoryuken in their sleep, the shortcuts can sometimes cause trouble. The fate of shortcuts is still TBD.
11- What is the possibility of SSF4 getting a patch balance post release?
We’re confident in the balancing work, but of course the competitive community of players will have the last word on the results. A patch is possible, but we’re not planning on one apart from the free Tournament Mode DLC update.
12- One area that has not been discussed yet is the netcode. does SSF4 has the same netcode as sf4 or is a completely different code?
The backend has been reworked extensively, primarily to accommodate all the new online modes (player lobbies, tournaments, etc.), but it will function along the same core principles. We have added a greater degree of control in your matchmaking preferences, so it’s easier to find the best quality connections when you’re online, and I think that will also make an important difference. I don’t play online yet regularly (outside of our tests), but the reports from the press who have review copies (and play each other online) are that it’s gotten even better.
13- SSF4 has only 4 new different stages, and while they are all a welcomed addiiton to the game, i can’t help but feel that 4 stages are a low number. Could SSF4 be getting additional stages via DLC ? and is it technically possible?
There’s also a new version of Seth’s stage, so I’d put the number closer to 5, but I hear you. I understand that players always want more of a good thing, but keep in mind that the team has been working extremely hard to complete the game on schedule. Stages are important, but with all of the new modes, characters, balance, bonus stages, and more, there’s a lot to get done in order to make the Super SFIV package as great as we can make it. Many of the core group rarely even leave their desks—the team has been working extremely hard so please understand that. I’d also add that the new stages aren’t just new–they’re pretty great. The African eclipse is my favorite SFIV stage ever.
There are no plans for DLC stages right now, although we have tried to create the backend hooks to make changes.
14- speaking of DLC is capcom planning more DLC contents besides the announced free tournament mode and Alt Costumes?
The costumes and the free tournament mode are the only plans for additional content right now.
15- One thing we have heard from Ono san, is that SF4 was not built to receive online updates and expansions and that was one reason why ssf4 is a stand alone game. Is SSF4 being built the same way or will it be possible for the title to be updated later on to become ssf4 hyper turbo remix via an online expansion 
?
This should be technically possible, though there are currently no plans for anything like that.
16- A welcomed addition to SSF4 is the re-done animated prologues and endings by studio gonzo. will the old animated sequences done by studio 4C for sf4 still be included on the ssf4 disc ?
All the animated sequences have been redone. It’s a new story, so the SFIV sequences are meant for the SFIV story, and the new SSFIV sequences tell the Super story.
17- Will there be an option this time around to play all prologues and endings in a sequence rather than clicking on each one by itself?
Interesting idea. I’ve actually been playing the game itself so much that I don’t know off-hand, but not that I recall.
18- Xbox 360 owners in Japan will be treated to a downloadable SSF4 anime movie focusing on Juri, will we get that same movie in NA and EU, and if so, is it going to be exclusive to xbox 360 as well?
The X360 exclusivity is only for the Japanese territory. There hasn’t been a decision made yet on how the anime movie will be used outside of Japan.
19- Since the box art for SSF4 has been revealed, a large number of fans (including me) have requested the boxart to be changed and match the excellent Japanese boxart. Knowing that this happened with sf4, can we expect Capcom to listen to us fanboys one more time ?
The marketing department certainly spent a lot of time looking at all the feedback. We’ll see shortly which direction they take as a result, but rest assured that they’re aware of the reaction.
20- SF4 will be making its way to the portable realm by having an iphone port. what are the chances of a future sf4 or ssf4 psp version ?
If it were solely up to the team, I’m sure SFIV would be on every platform imaginable. Those kinds of decisions are made by the strategy group, however, which has to take into account the port dev costs and time investment vs likely profits.
21- Last question, we were told on several occasions that people who kept their sf4 copy will be treated to a bonus when they purchase SSF4, can we get a hint on what this bonus might be?
The marketing team would probably kill me for letting that out of the bag, but I’ll say it looks pretty cool.
Thank you Seth.
51 Comments for EXCLUSIVE: Extensive SSF4 Interview with Seth Killian!
SHEISTER PRO | February 26, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Fire Tisane | February 26, 2010 at 2:31 pm
whahahahaha, this is why this website rocks. Excellent questions, good commentary and, yet again, we actually get some solid answers to many questions. Not every question was answered, but that’s okay. Thanks Seth for all the feedback! It always feels like you give us some honest answers.
Polo1 | February 26, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Great interview…2 more months, and its on!
~P
SteadiestShark | February 26, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Great interview!
I enjoyed learning about some things.
However, development is finished? End of April release and it’s not even March yet.
They better bet fine-tuning things until then, although it seems like they might not be touching balance any further (which is nuts when they have this much spare time!)
They should really start taking the HDR remix approach with regards to fighters and let the world class pros play with the games in order to work on the balance…
Lonny | February 26, 2010 at 3:46 pm
When I saw the “it looks pretty cool”, I thought, he’d better not be the one who thought the *shudders* “thumb fighters” looked cool.
Shin Roflcopter | February 26, 2010 at 3:48 pm
SPELLCHECKS MAN!!!!!!!!!!
Joppula | February 26, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Great interview by Strugler and thanks to S-kill! Fantastic! Could the free bonus redeem the “Thumb Warmers”?!? I hope so. I’m excited again lol!
And I hope the movie is coming home too!
JoontheBaboon | February 26, 2010 at 4:36 pm
No word on Ken?
Heavy Hitter | February 26, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Nice interview, I really can’t wait to know what that bonus thing is for keeping the original SFIV disc.
One complaint though about it, could who ever posted it please read over it themselves before posting?
I mean there were many spelling mistakes and there wasn’t much consistency (for example you would do sf4 then SSF4, then SF4 then ssf4); also you need capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, you’re not a child, you should have been taught this stuff.
Gouki?? | February 26, 2010 at 5:18 pm
no word on changin akumas 2nd ultra ITS LAME!!!!!!!!!
Fire Tisane | February 26, 2010 at 5:26 pm
lmao @ grammar Nazis. Hahaha, the written word truly is dieing. Death, a chance to sleep. To sleep, a chance to dream. The future is f***ed when the Texting generation takes over. “Spell ‘Later’” “Later. L-8-r. Later”
@ Steadiest Shark
When you consider that they need to burn and package everything (on top of that, they’re still figuring out what they’re going to do as far as CE stuff, if any, or they’re already working on it and just not ready to announce anything yet) then about two months time is sort of what they need to get everything done on the physical side. I doubt there’s anything that can be done at this point to drastically change things, barring a push back on the release date because of something game breaking. This is the final stretch people! April 27 2010 isn’t that far away at all.
Seth Killian Interview « A Vicarious Demon | February 26, 2010 at 5:52 pm
[...] Seth Killian Interview February 26, 2010 Gamogo Leave a comment Go to comments A very interesting interview about Super SFIV has been held with Seth Killian by the guys at Hadoken.net. Check it out here. [...]
Mister Cotton | February 26, 2010 at 5:55 pm
What I want to know is, will there be a extensive list of some kind to let us know what was SPECIFICALLY changed about the characters in terms of balance. I dunno about anyone else, but I main Gouken and I am infuriated that his j.MP cant cant combo into a Tatsumaki or a full Shin Shoryuken.
Hadoken.Net Exclusive SSFIV Interview « The Lone Gamer | February 26, 2010 at 7:11 pm
[...] Hadoken.Net Exclusive SSFIV Interview Dedicated Streetfighter site Hadoken.Net just posted an exclusive interview they conducted recently with Capcom’s Seth Killian on the upcoming Super Streetfighter IV. The good news? The interview is pretty long with a lot of good info… particularly the simple fact that the game is DONE. Yep, development has finished, so there’s really no point in any more ‘I wish Yun/Alex/Geki/Eagle/Jun Kazama were in it’ thoughts… heheh. Anyway, it’s been pretty slow recently in SSFIV stuff ever since the lovely reveal of the 3rd Strike fighters, so this should be a nice bit for anyone waiting for this latest SF. Check out the whole interview here. [...]
Nando | February 26, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Great interview, dude. I’m liking this game a lot. Can’t wait to play it online.
Mike | February 26, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Good interview! But please ask him next times what are the plans for a future SSFIV PC version…
Daniel | February 26, 2010 at 8:59 pm
No questions about the counter ultras and the overwhelming negative feedback from Cammy and Feilong players?
Of course all the Shoto and Sagat users will tell everyone they’re fine, to wait until you try to complain about them, etc, etc, but so far there hasn’t been ONE Cammy/Fei Long player who welcomed their new ultras.
And quite frankly, that was the only one question I’d like to see asked.
Joppula | February 26, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Counter Ultra vs Wake up game = Awsome IMO. It’s a cool twist that I think has a ton of potential to really mess ppl up. Almost like a Parry into a SuperArts.
And if you don’t like it that much there’s always the first Ultra. Even though Fei’s isn’t that great lol.
Kelly | February 26, 2010 at 9:43 pm
PLEASE BRING THE MOVIE AND THE COLLECTORS EDITION OUT OVER HERE IN THE US PLEASE ALONG WITH EVERYTHING THAT WAZ CREATED FOR THIS GAME I WILL DEFINITELY GET THE BEST EDITION YOU HAVE TO OFFER ESSPECIALLY WITH THE MOVIE BLUE RAY DISK FOR THE PS3 CAMPCOM I NEEDS IT ALL LOL. THINK ABOUT IT LIKE THIS ….. MORE MONEY WILL GO BACK TO CAPCOM FOR GIVING THE WHOLE SHA-BANG! PS3 OWNERS ALL OVER AND XBOX 360 OWNERS ALL OVER WHO LOVE SF HAVE A HIGH DEMAND FOR EVERYTHING BEING OFFERED INCLUDING THE MOVIE. oh im sorry, i had caps on and didnt relize it.But, yes we all will appricate all the content being made. So, I will be purchasing the best edition. so please bring it out in the us also. it will sale like everyones favorite food. also alot more people will be purchasing it simply because the new characters also.
Joppula | February 26, 2010 at 9:46 pm
And if “Counter Ultras” Auto Correct on CrossUps peoplel are in a lot of trouble!
Kelly | February 26, 2010 at 9:47 pm
oh no i had a typo i put campcom im sorry its CAPCOM I got mad respect for the company didnt mean to put that and im so sorry about that typo.
spellcheck is for school | February 26, 2010 at 10:30 pm
hey heavy hitter this isnt a fucking english class. stop crying about typos that dont matter at all. its a comment board not a final thesis you jackass.
Fuego | February 26, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I want to drop a note about the shortcuts making things more accessible. My execution is awful. The shortcuts actually seriously punish my bad execution. Doing a dp motion is simple, but often, trying to do an ultra on reaction makes an ex dp come out. This means I’ve lost an ex meter and have gone soaring into the air, to be murdered on the return trip 
Really, if I screw up this motion, a punch should just come out. This is very frustrating, and I really think it serves the opposite purpose of what capcom was shooting for…
verymilky | February 26, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I wonder when could we have a raining stage, just like in SF3..
arlington Cruz | February 27, 2010 at 1:09 am
Great Interview Struggler. And thanks to Seth Killian for the great honest answers. I would be really glad if they do give us the Japanese Boxart.
Gouki?? | February 28, 2010 at 1:56 am
ROFLCOPTER?????? still in or no…cause i hope not
cheap generic cialis | February 28, 2010 at 2:40 am
In truth, immediately i didn’t understand the essence. But after re-reading all at once became clear.
Jonny Modlin | February 28, 2010 at 9:44 am
What are backend hooks?
Jonny
arlington Cruz | February 28, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@Jonny Modlin: It’s a Hypothetical way of saying that in case they need to expand the game Further and add more stuff to it. They made sure that the game Code is “expandable.” In other words, the game is made ready for additional content.
Mister Cotton | February 28, 2010 at 11:58 pm
@Verymilky
Damn right. I want a simple but beautiful stage like that again. Real Kung Fu movie type stages. Not always so busy.
Bishop | March 1, 2010 at 3:01 am
Looks like there will be no “Shadow” in the game… I miss Charlie.. So does Guile. I can’t wait for this!! Another #1 fighting game released by Capcom!!!
Gorbachop | March 1, 2010 at 7:38 am
Great interview. My only question though, will there be a PC release and is there at least some vague idea of when it will be released?
I’ve got SF4 for PC and would really like to have this new improved game as well 
Cheers, and thank you Capcom for a great franchise.
VICXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | March 1, 2010 at 11:52 am
Thanks Capcom for everything! I JUST CANT WAIT TO USE JURI TO BEAT UP SETH AND M. BISON!!! My only wish is that, can you add a stage where there is a lot of thunder and lighting in the dark woods? Thanks again Capcom! CANT WAIT!!!!!!
Nick Marino | March 1, 2010 at 1:14 pm
very awesome… i just wish they added Oro instead of Dudley!!!!!!!
Dan | March 1, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I hate seth. he is like the George bush of the campcom world
Tandenengine! | March 1, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Great stuff strugler, Seth thanks again for all the time you give the fans.
Just a thought, I am very excited to be getting a new game and so soon. I am confident that the team at Capcom are working on satisfying the fans as a whole.
So when I read comments like “oh! Wtf!? No movie!? No balance for MY favorite character!? Then I’m not buying it!”
Too funny. Street Fighter at its core is a GAME, not a value pack in ur local walmart bargain bin.
So realize how silly some of you sound, you like the GAME buy it.
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Mr Sparkle…
Superb article, great writing style, content, and blog theme….
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