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Destructoid interview: SSFII Turbo HD Remix producer, Rey Jimenez photo

There are few remakes that gets the blood boiling quite like Capcom's upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. While the game is essentially a fancier version of the game we've all come to know and love, it happens to be a fancier version of arguably one of the best 2D fighters ... ever. 

Not too long ago, Destructoid community member Bluewolf72 hinted that he wanted to see a SSFIITHDR related interview. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but we pay attention around here; we have a crush on our community, so to speak.

Hit the jump for a short interview with Capcom's Rey Jimenez, producer of the upcoming PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade title.

 

Destructoid: So just so we're 100% clear: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is, at its core, a "remake" of Super Street Fighter Turbo II, correct? You're actually using the original game code, and since you're not programming from the ground up, how does something like that work? I'd imagine you'd run into a few challenges.

Rey Jimenez: Some of the biggest challenges with the title are “decoding” the old code.  The original games are written in an old code format that are not common today and were also mainly written by the same guy or team.  They took a lot of genius shortcuts and workarounds that took a lot of time to figure out. 

In looking at the code for Super Turbo, you can see the layers of code for the previous Street Fighter II games as they evolved and moved from the CPS1 arcade board to the CPS2.  As a result, the programmers have had many challenges learning how the old arcade games were developed and how to use this with today’s hardware.

You've maintained that the game should play the same, and that the team is dedicated to keeping the original feel ... still, I'd imagine tweaks will have to be made. What are some of the expectations players should or shouldn't have?

Players should expect the gameplay they know and love from the original game.  Great pains are being made to make it so.  Any tweaks we decide to make with the gameplay should be practically invisible to most gamers.

How has it been working with UDON Comics on a project like this? What kind of stylistic changes, if any, might need to be made to their character designs?

One of the first things we needed to collaborate on was finding a style suitable for animation.  It had to be easily reproducible through thousands of frames, but still detailed enough for an HD Street Fighter game.  Udon has done a great job in coming up with that style.  They have many artists, and some had different -- and arguably better -- styles, but again, we needed to make sure it would work right for animation.

You guys took a bit of flak for certain aspects of the Guile sprite you guys revealed. You've mentioned you'll be making some changes based on feedback, and that's great that you're listening to the fans. But at what point do you say -- and this applies to any game -- "We hear your concerns, but we've made a decision and we know what's best for the game"? 

That’s a bit tricky.  Sometimes you need to step away from a project to get perspective on it.  Feedback on the blog has helped a lot on that.  There is no real line on what we should and shouldn’t change based on the blog feedback, it just has to be from our best judgment.  If I hear feedback that the rest of the team and I agree on -- and given many factors, including where we are in the development stage -- a suggestion may be implemented. 

At the same time, we cannot address every issue that comes up from the blog because we’ll never finish at that point.  Plus, you just can’t please everyone.



The online play in Street Fighter II for XBLA was spotty, and that's putting it politely. Can you give me any insight as to what happened there and how you're going to avoid that with the release of SSFIITHDR?

For one, we are using a totally different developer for this.  Also, we are using that title as a learning experience on how to fix a lot of the issues that came up.  It was one of the first things I did to start this project -- I asked the producer for Hyper Fighting on XBLA for his post mortem on the project, and a list of every issue that came up.

Are you going to run into any issues with the 250 meg XBLA size limit? (and) Will the lack of this limit on the PSN benefit that version in any way?

We are not currently anticipating any issues.  Gamers on both systems should be able to fully enjoy the game.

You've also said you're on schedule. So you're scheduled to release the game when exactly?

We don’t have an exact date set yet, but I can say that we’re shooting for a release this winter.

The Xbox 360 d-pad is for the birds, and arcade purists demand only the best -- any plans for a licensed arcade stick for the true arcade experience, or should 360 owners start shaving down their d-pads now?

I’ve talked to the appropriate people about that and told them that there’s an interest for a licensed stick for the game from the fans.  As of yet, I haven’t heard of one being announced yet.  

I'm bracing myself for a no comment but ... pricing?  


We have not yet released an official price for the game.

Is this game just the beginning? How about a Final Fight HD Remix? Or better yet, I hear a small, but vicious crowd chanting for an updated Saturday Night Slam Masters.


If they buy it (Super Turbo HD), it could (possibly) come (someday).

------

Thanks to Capcom and Rey Jiminez for their time! 


Continue: More Street Fighter stories





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26 comments | showing # 1 to 26

Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain's Avatar
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain at 07/26/2007 17:39
That's a damn interesting interview. Too bad he didn't spill the beans on an arcade stick or a price.

Why does he keep calling it Super Turbo HD throughout the interview? Why not the Remake?
Altair78's Avatar
Altair78 at 07/26/2007 17:41
Looks pretty cool, and Street Fighter I believe is the 2nd best.

I'm a little more in love with the King of Fighters series. Again, don't get me wrong... I love the fuck outta SF. Ken is the shit, I'd tap ChunLi any day of the fucking year, and Bison is beyond badass... with Akuma being badasser. But since I'm a storyline kinda guy, I always believed KoF had the much better storyline and characters with much more... character.

But, I guess this may be my opinion. Figured I'd toss my 1 cent in. Go, street fighter, GO!!
Spykron's Avatar
Spykron at 07/26/2007 17:43
oh street fighter II, you have such a huuuuge......name! take me, TAKE ME NOW!
Tron Knotts's Avatar
Tron Knotts at 07/26/2007 17:52
I have high hopes but low expectations on this one.

If it sells, maybe Capcom will actually make a completely original 2D HD game with it's own characters, not this Devil Basura nonsense.
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar
deiga-the-semivaliant at 07/26/2007 18:03
Go home and be a family man.
Zanch's Avatar
Zanch at 07/26/2007 18:03
I wish they'd stop dicking us around and show us some gameplay footage or screenshots already.
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 07/26/2007 18:06
Good interview, great questioning. I'll patiently wait for it to come out. Now.... the community demands an interview with Jade! With piiiiiics! How could she say no?
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain's Avatar
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain at 07/26/2007 18:17
The community demands an interview with Uwe Boll. Remember, his name is pronounced "Oo-weh".
zardoz's Avatar
zardoz at 07/26/2007 18:20
The art direction is a step backward, every Street Fighter fan knows that SF3 Third Strike was the peak of the series, in terms of gameplay and visual presentation. Why Capcom have chosen to go back and use that awful mid 90's comic book style is beyond me. It's as if Rob Liefield is in charge of the project, and that's a crime against humanity.

The design brief should have been simple: SF3 quality animation, character design and art direction in beautiful HD. But no, they had to try and be clever and end up looking like a fucking GI Joe comic, those amateurish lines everywhere on what are supposed to be muscles, will look like a blurry mess in motion. Whoever drew these latest versions can't actually draw, they don't understand anything about stylised anatomy.

Nice idea, badly executed. Suprising from Capcom.
Pangloss's Avatar
Pangloss at 07/26/2007 18:24
@Agent: Don't you remember? Jim already landed that interview for us.
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain's Avatar
Copyright 2008 Agent Chieftain at 07/26/2007 18:31
Fuck, I forgot.
branflakesinmilk's Avatar
branflakesinmilk at 07/26/2007 18:49
zardoz sure sounds like a pro.
Bethla Garrison's Avatar
Bethla Garrison at 07/26/2007 18:52
I've been a really vocal critic of the game so far on their blog - mostly due to the art direction they've taken and the quality of the sprites that have been shown so far.

According to them and what they've spun so far, the game is an HD version of Turbo, redrawn by Udon artists.

In truth, Udon isn't doing any of the actual spritework.

Udon has been responsible for doing concept work for each character (this could be anything from rough concept sketches to detailed turnarounds, I'd guess it's closer to the former) and that's where their involvement ends.

After Capcom USA gets those, they're handing them off to a production team called Backbone Entertainment that they've used for Capcom Classics games and previous XBLA titles. Most recently, they did work for Yie Ar Kung Fu on Live Arcade.

While Backbone does a fine job of jazzing up and redrawing old 8-bit spritework for an HD audience, by no means are they qualified artists or animators.

This is the reason why, Ken and Ryu have triple-jointed thumbs, T-Hawk's awkward misproportioned head is just a trace of an old Edaman drawing, Akuma has no mouth, Sagat has mutated muscle groups, and so on.

This game is, essentially, a quick cash grab by Capcom. It's dirt-cheap production on a game that they know everyone will buy. They'll make a ton of money off of it, the same way they worked Capcom Fighting Jam.

I would've loved to see some stuff about this in the interview. I love you, DToid, but those were some softball questions.
Aerox's Avatar
Aerox at 07/26/2007 18:58
I wish they would fix T-Hawk's retarded fighting stance.
Creamsnake's Avatar
Creamsnake at 07/26/2007 19:07
Saturday Night Slam Masters, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Saturday Night Slam Masters!!!
Nick Chester's Avatar
Nick Chester at 07/26/2007 19:10
@ bethla:

OUCH. :D

@ Professor Pew:

I'd be more than happy to interview Jade Raymond. Unfortunately (and I'm not even kidding), I've sent e-mails to and left messages with Ubisoft's internal PR and have yet to receive a response. This is just for anything Ubi in general, BTW.

Anyone from Ubi reading this? A few people read this site, guys.
Lowtax's Avatar
Lowtax at 07/26/2007 19:21
Yes............Yes...........I have seen the top of the mountain....and it is good......This is amazing. Akuma...in HD @_@
zardoz's Avatar
zardoz at 07/26/2007 20:38
@Bethla

Yeah, I have to agree, those questions were a bit soft, a missed opportunity.

So it's a combination of Udon artists and Backbone? Oh dear. I have no confidence in American artists recreating japanese characters, I have no problem with American artists at all, but there are some things which western artists are not good at, attempting anime/manga is definitely one of them.

It's strange how Capcom artists nailed Marvel characters in Marvel versus Capcom, plus Konami artists perfectly recreated that old school American comic look in Viewtiful Joe. Never works when western artists try their hand with anime/manga.

The first time I saw these HD sprites I thought it was dodgy fan art, now everything you've said confirmed my fears - Capcom are just lazily cashing in - I really hope the indie game scene picks up, I so badly want these big developers to get embarassed by some unknown developer that makes a genuine effort.
Bethla Garrison's Avatar
Bethla Garrison at 07/26/2007 21:23
@Zardoz

Yeah, I would love to see that happen with the indie scene too. But I feel like fighting games are out of the reach of indie developers (Mugen aside, but Mugen sucks anyways). There's so much tweaking that needs to happen, and then you have to have a talented group of fighting gamers that are willing to test it out.. I don't know. I'd love to see it just as much as anyone, but I don't know.
Tron Knotts's Avatar
Tron Knotts at 07/26/2007 22:10
Bethla and Zardoz- You guys don't like Ashley Wood's work on the MGS comic?



Or some of the better issues of the Udon SF comic?


Or Mad's take on SF characters?




I agree that this game so far is not looking too hot, but I don't think ALL American artist's take on Japanese characters flops. Only 90%.

And Zardoz, after SF3 and Warzard failed financially, I knew I would never see Capcom put their all (money or talent) into a 2D fighting game again. SF3 will likely remain the greatest looking 2D fighting game of all time.

I never expected this game to reach those levels, or even the levels of a Guilty Gear game.

But it is looking even crappier than I expected.

zardoz's Avatar
zardoz at 07/26/2007 23:14
@Tron

Just my opinions - Yeah, Ashley Wood is pretty cool, I do like his MGS work and his recent take on Tank Girl seems to work too. Udon are awful though, it's the Rob Liefield school of bad art, if you were to take away the colour artists, the inkers, the background artists, all you have left is bad pencil work, it's a real crass caricature of manga, and the forementioned do their best to hide the bad art with dazzling colouring skills etc. You never see an Udon comic which features the fully exposed pencil work of the artist where there is nowhere to hide.

Take Hiroaki Samura's beautiful yet hyper violent "Blade Of The Immortal" for example, the absolute antithesis of Udon, beautiful loose sketchy art using only ink and screen tone, he doesn't need to hide his art under busy superficial surface detail.

Joe Mad is technically impressive but he lacks subtlety and can't create characters of different tone, he can't compose or create narrative either, it's just pages and pages of visual porn, he's just showing off his technical abilities at the sacrifice of the story and the character development. He is technically impressive though, unfortunately he's spawned loads of immitators who always get it wrong. Udon being the worst culprit.

I didn't know SF3 and Warzard bombed, that explains a lot. Oh well.
BlueWolf72's Avatar
BlueWolf72 at 07/26/2007 23:30
Thanks for listening Nick. You sir deserve a DToid Wallpaper!

http://pix.nofrag.com/d4/3f/a89cd03b32836fd495ce4eca337a.html
A New Challenger's Avatar
A New Challenger at 07/26/2007 23:39
I got a pretty sweet Dan Hibiki sketch from Omar Dogan last year, anyone have the SF Legends: Sakura comic he drew?

I already have 3 copies of Super Turbo, and I'll have one more if I ever get Capcom Classics 2. Also I have a Wii, so it's moot to me.
Bethla Garrison's Avatar
Bethla Garrison at 07/27/2007 02:49
@Tron

Personally, I have no problem with the way that Udon's artists draw the SF series.

I have a problem with the fact that Udon isn't doing any of the actual artwork for the game - that's all being left up to Backbone, who are shit artists.

If the art for HD Remix looked anything like the Udon comics, I'd be ecstatic.
Brandon Undead's Avatar
Brandon Undead at 07/27/2007 08:13
Okay, my original comment ceased to exist?

I just want to know does shaving the 360 dpad down make it really not suck, or is this like the extraneous GH guitar mod that fixed the whammy but not really?
pootnannies's Avatar
pootnannies at 08/07/2007 17:30
@ zardoz

i don't agree with you that udon are shitty artists that hide behind their coloring. there are many examples of their pencil work on their deviantArt gallery. here's some:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/46203469/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51268538/

and this alot more on their deviantArt site here:
http://udoncrew.deviantart.com/

please don't confuse long vo with udon. long is not a very good artist and he's the one who's doing all the sprite work for super turbo hd unfortunately.
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