Posted on: August 24, 2020 Posted by: Aaron_George Comments: 0

Street Fighter is a good old fighting video game franchise that is developed by Capcom. It has a long history of being on the market. The first game was developed back in 1987 and since then the game has been more or less regularly released. Today we are going to be reviewing the latest addition to the game Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition.

Before we get into the details it is worth noting that initially, the launch of the game was interesting, to say the least. It was botched to no end, however, Capcom did not give up on the title. Although when it first came out it was a terrible mess. It had only 16 characters, which is less than first home releases of previous games, and was immediately followed up with a paid DLC fighters that most probably were a part of the main game but cut out in the end to make some extra buck. This idea isn’t far away from reality due to the simple fact that all of them are present in the story mode. Strangely enough, the story mode itself was also a DLC addition. Without these DLCs, the game was just a random grind of training sessions. What’s even worse is that it took a whole year and a half (that’s 18 months of wait) to get a proper arcade mode where you keep fighting different opponents. Fortunately, this last one was a free update called Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition. which brought up a question of the century – what was the point of buying the main game in the first place?

Even in the face of this “terrific” start (and I am being as sarcastic with this word as humanly possible), Capcom did not give up though. They decided that slowly and steadily they would improve the experience and come out with a fully working product. It has been 4 years since the initial release and boy Capcom came a long way. Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition is the latest update to the series released on the 13th of February 2020. The year has been a turmoil for people with the novel coronavirus outbreak ruining almost all the possible outdoor activities that we enjoy and love. A perfect time to sit home and enjoy a good game or two of your favorite fighting game. Ironically, despite all the setbacks, it is also the best time to actually start playing SF5.

The condition this game was released in cannot even be called an unfinished game. It was not a game at all. However, Capcom did pull some honor out of nowhere and stack by its mistake. Boy, they made a comeback. This may not be something of the same level as No Man’s Sky, but still, it is a considerable achievement considering the fact that a lot of other studios would just give up on the iteration and start developing a new one. The last update, in my humble opinion, did put a nail in the discussion if the game is worth it or not. During this time Street Fighter 5 became quite a decent game with a huge fan base following. Something to be expected of such a respected title. Although SF5 is not the first weird release from Capcom. For example, NetEnt was contracted to develop a game for their platform. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Slot was an addition to the new NetEnt online casinos franchise. They have managed to transform one of the best-selling arcade games in the history of video gaming into something slot fans would enjoy. It was quite well-received from the interested community. This is attributed to a huge effort that the company put into this particular iteration of the game. Bryan Upton, NetEnt Director of Games has stated in an interview that the authenticity was one of the critical factors of the game design for him and his team as they were trying to implement all of the iconic sound effects and art style present in the arcade versions of the game.

What Has Changed?

The Champion Edition upgrade is something very worthwhile for people who want to enjoy additional content. The game now has 40 different characters, 34 unique stages, and over 200 new costumes for the fighters. Apart from this, you are getting yourself some beautiful music tracks and in addition to this, the Champion Edition includes every upgrade that has come before. This means there is a full arcade mode, a fighting chance, cinematic story, missions, challenges, individual character stories, etc. This basically deals with the lack of content that previous editions were criticized for.

While there are some high-level players who are expressly discussing the SF5 vs previous iterations like SF3 and SF4, for us normal users the latest version is presenting itself quite well. Providing all of those interesting and edge-of-the-sit moments that we all come and love when playing with our friends. We can freely say that the game is quite balanced at this point. We can go as far as saying that this is the most balanced this game has ever been after it’s botched release in 2016. The new tempo and style presented is quite a beautiful and enjoyable experience for all the players who like this style of games.

The updates have added some of the most interesting things during this time. Arcade Edition came out with a second V-Trigger, which now is a special move that can be utilized to gain an advantage during the fight even multiple times if you’re skillful enough. Champion’s Edition has added a second V-Skill that is actually a much quicker version of the other attack and also builds a meter that is used to execute the first one. With this V system, the characters are actually distinguishable between each other with different play styles. Overall, it makes the game that much more enjoyable.

Character screen is a place where you would notice the biggest difference between now and what it used to be. It was just a blue filter splashed on some weird images that were so hard to differentiate only a microscope would help. Now you are greeted with a much beautiful interface, a lot of things to pick out from like characters, their costumes, V-skill, and V-trigger making the preparation much more involving and interesting. The loading times have also been reduced significantly. At the very start, the game was terribly optimized and terrifyingly slow to load.

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