More characters for console SFIV

Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono has suggested to Wired.com the console versions of Street Fighter IV will have more characters.

Speaking at GDC last week, he said couch-based gamers need more content to keep us going.

"If and when there are console versions, we could see someone like Sakura-chan [Street Fighter Alpha] or Ibuki [Street Fighter III]," Ono told Wired. "For a home version, you can sit and practice the characters as long as you want to before you take them online. So there will probably be a move to add even more characters.

"Of course we know that there are people who want Alpha characters, who want [Street Fighter] III characters, or who want all-new characters," he continued. "We get emails, we read the message boards. We're listening to all of those voices. We have to respect those users as well, they're terribly important."

Street Fighter IV is yet to be confirmed for consoles but is considered a sure thing by just about everybody.

Ono is keen to take the latest instalment back to the heady days of old too, with slower-paced battles that are less off-putting for newcomers, although they will still be deep enough for those of you who dream of super-cancels.

"Street Fighter III was kind of an exclusive club where if you didn't know what you were doing, there was no reason to even try and play it," added Ono. "This time, we're trying to re-open the fighting genre to people who haven't played it in a while."

"It's going to be a lot like chess," he says. "There are grand master chess players who play on ESPN2, but you could also have a grandfather and his granddaughter playing chess. You're in charge of playing at whatever level you're capable of. We give you the board and some pieces and rules."

Ono is also an avid supporter of the Nintendo Wii philosophy, which he sums up by using Miyamoto's argument that more powerful consoles don't necessarily amount to more fun - evolution of technology is independent to fun.

A Wii version is a possibility, then?

"Street Fighter IV, as it stands now, would be well-suited for the higher-level platforms. But the game doesn't have to have these visuals in order to be fun," continued Ono. "We could go, potentially, to the Wii. We could make it on Game Boy, for all we know right now.

"As long as the rules are the same, that can be independent of the visuals. So we're not going to be limited by any hardware specs; we're going to aim as wide as possible.

He concluded: "You could have a gold-inlaid board, knights with diamonds in their eyes. Or you could just draw a grid on a piece of paper and use cheap plastic pieces. And you're having the same amount of fun."

Not with our artistic talents you're not.