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What a week for the Virtual Console, eh? We've got some classic 2D rumblin' and one of the greatest games ever made. Can you guess how I feel about Secret of Mana yet? Well, if you're looking for a clue, hit up the video above, then cruise past the break for more on this week's Virtual Console releases.

If you read our hands-on impressions of Street Fighter IV from GDC, you know the game bears more than a passing resemblance to Capcom's classic Street Fighter II (with admittedly updated graphics). Well, the folks at GamesRadar wanted to see just how far that similarity went, and found that many classic combos from the original game work exactly the same way in the new one.

The video evidence (also available below the jump) highlights the cosmetic differences in the two games while at the same time showing how seemingly identical the basic gameplay is. We can't say this is necessarily a bad thing -- Street Fighter II is a classic for a reason -- but that classic is already available as a Virtual Console download, an upcoming HD remix, and even a PS2 Anniversary collection. Why are we supposed to trudge out to the arcade for a dressed up version of a 15-year-old experience that we can get at home?

Before the latest issue of Famitsu (via IGN), we knew Ryu and Ken were back for the "fourth" (and we use that term lightly) Street Fighter title. Now we have a confirmation that Chun-Li, Blanka, E. Honda, Zangief, Dhalsim and Guile are all returning. Street Fighter IV is now officially a 17-year reunion for the SFII lineup. Be careful, we suspect Zangief might try to spike the punch.

The magazine also provided an illustration for how the new Saving Attack system will work: Ryu blocks Ken's fireball and immediately counters, causing Ken to fall down. Street Fighter IV is expected to be playable at the Japanese Amusement Expo on February 15.

Today's Virtual Console releases, scheduled to go live at 9AM PST, are all about pushing the pedal to the metal in our quest to satisfy the need for speed and finally outrun the terrible writing clichés and racing game references pursuing us. Europe's 100th Virtual Console game, F-Zero X, has you hurtling about futuristic tracks at absurd speeds, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting has you hurting Chun Li even quicker than before and China Warrior has... uh... released much faster than we expected! Yeah, let's go with that.

• F-Zero X (N64, 1-4 players, 1000 Wii Points): The N64's hover-car racer pushed the series forward in the best way that was possible at the time -- it added a prominent "X" to the title. It wasn't until later that we learned that adding a "GX" was the ultimate masterstroke.
• Street Fighter II Turbo Edition: Hyper Fighting (SNES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): With mention of both the words "Turbo" and "Hyper" in the title, it becomes clear that this game is indeed a bit faster than The World Warriors. Enjoy it before those fancy HD characters start punching your eyeballs.
• China Warrior (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): A side-scrolling action game depicting either gaming's most fragile hero ever, or just some tough guy in China.

Capcom has released another batch of images from the upcoming SFII HD remake and this time they're featuring hair-enthusiast Guile. Like the other images these ones look absolutely fantastic; it's really going to be incredible to see them in motion and with the backgrounds.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (also known as SSFIITHDR) will be available later this year for download from the PlayStation store. Until then, check out the gallery below!

The image you see above, ladies and gents, is a sprite from the upcoming Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for Xbox Live Arcade. In fact, it's actually a little smaller than it should be thanks to our formatting. Now, we've seen a sprite from (deep breath) SFIITHDR before, but this is the first official image released by Capcom. As Capcom's Brian Dunn puts it, "this is what it will look like (if you paused the game and took out the background)." Damn. If you like what you see, then you're in luck, as Capcom will soon be opening a blog that will feature new art, news, and other goodies about their upcoming downloadable games. For those of you that have forgotten, those games include SFIITHDR and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (easily abbreviated SPFIITHDR), Rocketman: Axis of Evil (RAoE) and Talisman (T).

If Capcom's other downloadable games are going to look this good, you can count us excited.

[Thanks, Jared]

It was recently announced by Capcom that they would be releasing a new version of Street Fighter II on Xbox Live arcade. Not only is Capcom bringing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix to XBLA, but it is also giving the entire game an HD makeover (hence the "HD Remix" in the title). Racket Boy has gone into great detail analyzing a slide that came from the Capcom press conference discussing the game. In the image above you can see several iterations of Street Fighter sprites. On the left is the original Ryu sprite from SFII. Next to that is a sprite from Guilty Gear, the current standard bearer for high resolution 2D fighters. Next to that is a Ryu sprite from Street Fighter III, the highest resolution entry in the series. Now, you've seen what was, so what is Capcom doing for the remake?

New technology seems to have rekindled old rivalries. No doubt burned by the success of Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting on Xbox Live Arcade, SNK is bringing Fatal Fury Special to the service as well. It's like arcades in the 1990s all over again. Who will win, Capcom or SNK? Maybe someday they'll put SNK characters and Capcom characters in the same game. That would be kuh-razy. Expect more information during the Tokyo Game Show next month.

In the meantime, rest assured that there's one thing Street Fighter will never have, and that's Mai.

[Thanks, Lorul2]

Do you love Street Fighter II? Tired of getting owned by noobs because of crappy D-pads? Are you also rich? Well, then we have the arcade stick for you! Brought to you by GoPodular, these massive beasts were ripped straight from the arcade cabinets of yore. Made from the same sturdy materials, GoPodular promises an unparalleled gaming experience. Even better, the sticks support almost any available system, including the 360.

So, anything this good will have a catch, of course. These suckers weigh in at US $225 before you plunk down another $75 for the 360 adapter cart. Ouch Town, population you, buddy. Unless you have a serious jones for true fighting game control, we suggest you wait for the cheaper -- and more well-known -- X-Arcade stick to come out with a 360 adapter (presumably coming soon). Then again, we'd love to be proven wrong. Your move, GoPodular.

[Update: The GoPodular guys cleared up some confusion in the comments. The standard PC cart can be switched with the 360 cart, thus making the actual cost $245. Still pretty steep, but much better overall. Also check out the comments for some clarification on the differences between X-Arcade and GoPodular.]

For those of you who missed it on Joystiq, the Official Xbox Magazine (UK) revealed the next batch of games for Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays. The list reads thusly:

• Aug. 16: Texas Hold 'em
• Aug. 23: Time Pilot
• Aug. 30: Scramble
• Sept 6: Lumines Live!

Hmm...two (arguably) obscure retro arcade titles sandwiched by Texas Hold 'em and Lumines Live! Not bad at all. While few will doubt the appeal of card games or the wonderfully addictive Lumines, one must wonder how well Time Pilot and Scramble will do. Any fans of these retro classics out there?

Bonus points for anyone that can point out the connection between Konami's Time Pilot and Capcom's XBLA smash hit, Street Fighter II.

[Via Joystiq]

Timeout problems, E. Honda spammers, impossible d-pads, lag, all of these things combined could do nothing to stop the momentum of the Live Arcade juggernaut known as Street Fighter II. Within the first 24 hours of its release, SFII became the fastest selling Arcade title ever. Behold:

"Capcom® today [Aug 4th] announced that Street Fighter® II' Hyper Fighting, the company's first title for Xbox Live® Arcade for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, has seen a phenomenal record of downloads since it's debut on August 2. Within the first 24 hours of it's unveiling, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting has become the fastest selling Xbox Live Arcade title to date with hundreds of matches being played every hour."

Great news for Capcom sure, but it also means that we can pretty much kiss five dollar XBLA games goodbye. 360 Fanboy would love to complain, but then we'd have to stop playing. (And by the way, since you've all gotten your Street Fighter fix, give Cloning Clyde a try.)

The results from last Sunday's poll are in and it was a major upset to say the least. In a come-from-behind victory that nobody was expecting even in their wildest of wild dreams, Street Fighter II -- the plucky underdog that nobody believed in -- has come out on top with an astonishing 32% of the poll totalling 763 votes.

Now, with the sarcastic statement of the obvious out of the way, let's look at the results. It seems SFII has a monopoly on gamer nostalgia, as the other retro classics, Galaga, Pac-Man, and Frogger gather a paltry 11% of the vote with 242 votes combined. It should be noted that Galaga seems to be the favored retro hit outside of SFII, though.

By far the most interesing aspect of this poll is the performance of Lumines Live, Small Arms, and Texas Hold 'em, with a combined 47% of the vote. This is evidence that the real strength of Live Arcade is its ability to bring us original content (just as Cloning Clyde project lead, John Nielson told us earlier this week). No doubt had titles like Castle Crashers and RoboBlitz been on the poll, they would have shown a strong performance as well.

So, to wrap up, Capcom is the king of selling us our youth, and people want to see more games that you can't get anywhere else. Here's to the 360 for making Wednesdays a little brighter. Cheers.

The video above shows off some of the arcade titles coming out within the next month. Cloning Clyde in particular looks like a lot of fun. Frankly, I'm a little puzzled as to why Namco insists on releasing Pac-Man when Ms. Pac-Man is clearly superior. And how the hell does E. Honda beat Ryu anyway?

After the break is another video. This one is Greg Canessa, Group Manager for Xbox Live Arcade, being interviewed by 1UP's Luke Smith -- wearing his best Peter Jackson costume by the look of it. The interview reveals a few nice tidbits, the biggest of which is that there are around thirty new arcade titles to be released by the end of the year. When asked if Bungie is working on any Arcade titles, Canessa gives a titillating "Stay tuned." Check out the interview after the break.

Remember when Björk went all Chun-Li on that reporter? If not, we'll refresh your memory. In 1996, upon arriving at the Bangkok International Airport after finishing her Asian tour, and due to some perceived transgression, Björk grabbed reporter Julie Kaufman by the hair and proceeded to give her what for. Out of such misery comes ... a Street Fighter II spoof. See Björk reprise her role in the video, embedded after the break.

See also:
Street Fighter 2 skit; no fireballs!
Ryu vs. Scorpion flash movie...wow

[Via Waxy]

Thanks to the folks at the Gamerscore Blog, we've learned that the next Xbox back compat update "should be out in the next few weeks."

In his earlier blast against BC, Peter Moore proclaimed that nobody is concerned about it anymore, but thankfully the gentler Gamerscore peeps have set the record straight, stating: "We know for a fact that there are lots of people who continue to care about backwards compatibility, including the 'Emulation Ninjas' who are working full time on the updates. And those of us posting on this blog. And, of course, many of you."

We suppose quarterly updates to the BC list aren't TOO bad (hey, they sure beat semiannual dashboard updates), but getting more than a dozen titles to work each time would definitely help a lot more for those with original Xbox favorites they'd prefer to play on their new machines. Personally, this blogger would like to see the following titles added to the list: Dead or Alive Ultimate, Doom 3, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, LEGO Star Wars, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Soul Calibur II, and Capcom Classics Collection. It may not be realistic to expect Street Fighter support when Hyper Fighting is set to hit Live Arcade sometime in the near future, but one can (vainly) hope.

[Via Major Nelson's blog]

See also:

• Xbox BC not a priority, says Moore
• No Black on 360 till MS makes it so... or a sequel comes out
• US 360 backward-compatibility list shrinks
• A video tour of the Xbox Live Spring update
• SFII on Xbox Live: what's taking so long?