Street Fighter IV

Unseen at Captivate, but announced while we're on the plane to Vegas, the console versions of SF IV (and a PC version) are currently being assembled at Dimps, Capcom's development partner on the SF IV project, back in Japan, and the subject obviously comes up. Online play has been touted, and Ono says "a lot of time and energy" is going into it. Asked how the team plans to combat lag, Ono says that there's simply no way to eliminate it completely, but there are ways to disguise it, and the developers are exploring prediction code and other ideas.

A key area of focus at the time of writing though is console controls on PS3 and 360. Ono points out that Capcom has done Street Fighter games for previous PlayStation consoles, which gives him an advantage when it comes to designing for that pad. "We know what kind of sensitivity adjustments need to be made and people can very easily control fighting games on the PlayStation controller, so we're very confident there - we think it's pretty well-suited to a game like this," he says.

Xbox 360, though, isn't as simple. "The 360 provides a bit of a unique challenge because the placement of the d-pad and the analogue stick is more suited for 3D games," Ono points out. "In a fighting game like this, an analogue stick is not necessarily the way to go - it would certainly make spinning pile-drivers easier to do if you're a Zangief player, but it's not going to do much else for other characters. So basically what we're trying to do now is figure out a way to make the d-pad work really well with Street Fighter IV.

"Given the controller is what it is, what we're going to do on the software side, we're looking to see what kind of sensitivity and timing adjustments we need to do - what we can do on the software side to make a controller that's not necessarily designed for fighting games work really well in a fighting game. We're confident we can do that," he reassures us. Expect this subject to dominate discussion of the game when Capcom gives us the chance to play the game on consoles rather than with the arcade controls.

What's most apparent throughout our discussion with Ono, and during the several hours we get to spend playing the game, is that it's a project very close to his heart. Although he says the popularity of the Xbox Live Arcade release of Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting was critical to Capcom giving the SF IV project the green light, development master Keiji Inafune is also said to have been swayed by Ono's passion and ideas.

At times that passion crosses over into fandom, too, as Ono himself admits when we ask about his recent statement that he wants to restore the car- and barrel-smashing side levels that broke up the fighting in SF II. "When I say things like that you have to remember I'm speaking as the fan Yoshi and not the producer Yoshi," he laughs. "At recent interviews, people really seem to want that to feature. As soon as I get back to Japan I'll be going to the dev-team and begging them on my hands and knees to try and free up some time to do something like that."

There's a lot left to do, even though the arcade versions shown at Captivate 08 are virtually complete. Based on what we've seen, played and heard, though, the series in good hands. "This is not simply a remake," Ono says. "It's definitely deserving of the IV attached to it." We believe him.