Out With the New, In With the Old

GameSpy: Part of the message that you're trying to convey is that this isn't really a sequel to Street Fighter III, but more like you're bringing back Street Fighter II for the fans. But there's a new system called focus attacks in Street Fighter IV. Can you explain it and how it's going to avoid pushing away the old-school Street Fighter II fans?
Yoshinori Ono: When we were first thinking of putting a new gameplay element in the system and in this title, we had a lot of options on the table, but the thing we knew out of the gate was that we absolutely had to have something that anyone could immediately execute deliberately, and immediately see the results.

If you look at something like the parry system, you often do it by accident, or you can try it and maybe it works, but it just flashes blue for a split-second and you may not even notice that it happened. We wanted to make it very obvious to the player, like, "I just did something, and I did it on purpose."

That was the key. If we couldn't do that, if we failed at making a system like that, our plan was just to say, screw it, we're just going to make a pretty Street Fighter II. Luckily we were able to come up with a system that is really easy to use, and still has the depth that the hardcore users may look for.
How Deep is Too Deep?

GameSpy: Can you go into detail on the level of depth in the focus attack system? Will this expanded audience that you're trying to bring back to Street Fighter be able to fully master the system if there's such depth to it?
Yoshinori Ono: It's a good question, and I don't think that everyone will necessarily be able to completely master it. But it's important to note that I don't think it's necessary for them to.

I've said this in a lot of interviews, but I consider Street Fighter to be a lot like chess. You have the ground rules, but there's a lot of levels and ways to play and enjoy the game. You have everything from a grandfather and a little kid in the backyard playing with plastic pieces on a cardboard, and they may barely know the rules and not know anything fancy like King's Gambit. But they're having fun. Then you have the televised Russia vs. America matches, the greatest levels of play and masters of the game. It's still the same game.

So the figurative grandpa in the backyard will be satisfied with hitting these two buttons, they'll see the result, and they can use it when they play. Then you have the top Street Fighter players, and they'll be pushing the buttons, cancelling out of things and dashing in and out. They have a whole different level of enjoying it, but it's the same saving attack system. Everyone's having fun playing chess, everyone's having fun playing Street Fighter IV. Can everyone master it? Probably not, but they don't have to, and can enjoy it on a basic level as well.
April Fools!

GameSpy: During the presentation, you alluded to the inclusion of Sheng Long, Ryu's master. He played a prominent role in your animated trailer, and was the subject of a famous EGM April Fool's joke. The Shotokan karate fighters are very popular, from Ken and Ryu to guys like Dan and Akuma. Is Sheng Long going to be playable in Street Fighter IV?
Yoshinori Ono: Good question, I wish I could answer it. As I mentioned earlier, you'll just have to keep watching that trailer over and over, keep your emotions in check, and wait for further announcements. You'll definitely see and hear more on that character soon enough.

And of course, maybe next April we'll tell you the whole thing was a joke anyway. Nobody's saying for sure! (laughs)