Street Fighter X Tekken just came out last week, so I’ll do what I’ll usually do with fighters and list all the crazy characters you can play as! We’ll split this up into two blogs. Capcom’s cast of Street Fighters will be first, since I know a little more about them. Then in a few days, I’ll post another blog about the Tekken side.

Mini Review

But first a mini-review and overview of the game. This is basically Super Street Fighter 4 with some Tekken characters thrown in. There is a bit of the Vs. Fighter series feel, too, as you can switch between two brawlers. And it also reminds me of a little bit of Pocket Fighter/Gem Fighter as you can equip gems that give you special stats, but I’m not totally sure how it works just yet. And that’s basically it. Oh yeah, the story in Arcade mode is that a cube called Pandora’s Box fell from space and all the characters are battling for it because it’s powerful or something. Yeah, pretty dumb. The box looks like a Weighted Companion Cube. I think the story should’ve been “Once upon a time, Street Fighter and Tekken characters ate some spinach and decided to beat each other up. The End.”

Namco X Capcom

But you know, this isn’t the first time Capcom and Namco characters teamed up for a game. Back on the PS2 in Japan, there was a game called Namco X Capcom. It was a strategy game with action elements that played very similar to the Super Robot Wars series (in fact it was made by the same people). But all the characters were from various Namco and Capcom titles. Some of the characters included Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Hsien-Ko, Arthur, Morrigan, Tron Bonne, and many more. And on the Namco side we had Valkyrie, Wonder Momo, Bravoman, Taki, King, Stahn & Rutee, Gil and Ki, Klonoa, among others. Characters could even team up for powerful attacks, like ninjas Taki and Guy! Even Dig Dug (Taizo Hori) was in the game, and they made him look all realistic! While it was fun to see your favorite Namco and Capcom characters in the same game, and the music and theme songs for everyone were fantastic (I think even Yuzo Koshiro did some of the music), unfortunately the game just wasn’t very fun overall. Which is probably why it never made it to the US. I guess it’s just as well. I played an import copy of it a few years ago and I can understand why it wasn’t released here. Although, deep down inside, my inner Namco fanboy still wishes for an English version of this game, maybe as a downloadable title or something.

Team Capcom

Ok now let’s look at who you can fight as on the Street Fighter side of SF X Tekken!

Ryu

This guy is so boring. I don’t know why he’s still the SF mascot main character. He’s just a karate guy who can poop out fireballs. Yawn.

Ken

He’s slightly less boring than Ryu since he wears red. But other than that, he’s just the same as boring old Ryu.

Chun-Li

She’s pretty cool, what with her big legs and all. At least she looks like she can fight stuff.

Cammy

She is one of my favorite Street Fighter characters of all time. Probably even one of my favorite female video game characters period. She has a cool red hat and I can sort of play as her fairly well. When Super Street Fighter 2 first came out, which was Cammy’s debut, I picked her and beat my friend with her. And I could NEVER beat my friend at fighters. So I decided right then and there that she was my favorite.

Guile

This army guy has some crazy hair. You could land airplanes on his flattop. That should be one of his attacks, to launch little airplanes from his hair!

Abel

This new guy from SF4 is pretty boring to me. And he has way too many muscles. He ate TOO much spinach.

Dhalsim

This stretchy yoga guy is good for beginners because of his long distance attack, I guess. Everyone in the game thinks he’s an alien. I think he’s Stretch Armstrong’s brother. It’s weird how he stands on one tall leg in the intro to his fight.

Sagat

He’s a big guy with an eye patch and a big scar on his chest and has been in all the games. And that’s all I can say about this guy.

Rolento

He was actually a boss in Final Fight. He has a hat like Cammy’s. Final Fight is awesome. I think it’s aged very well.

Ibuki

Not sure why she is teamed up with Rolento in the game. She’s a neat ninja girl with cool hair. Only problem with her is she also fits the stereotype of the annoying teenage girl character, and I am so tired of that.

Poison

Remember when I said I liked Final Fight? Poison is one of the enemies in that game. I know she showed up in one of the Alpha games, but I think this is the first time she is playable. Normally, Poison would be a favorite character of mine, as she has a cool hat and pink hair. But here’s the problem. According to Final Fight character notes, Poison is supposed to be a guy dressed in drag. Ew, that’s gross! Especially since Poison looks more like a woman than some of the other female characters! Maybe Capcom retreaded that part of the story, I don’t know. Also, Poison has handcuffs and that’s scary, too. If Poison was really a lady and was nicer instead of being all mean, she’d be one of my favorites, too.

Hugo

I think they should’ve called him “Andore” like what he’s named as in Final Fight. He’s another enemy from that game, a big brute who can take a lot of hits and dish a lot of pain. He was designed to make you put more quarters in the machine. He’s also not too smart. He’s friends with Poison and I think he was playable in one of the Alpha games.

Rufus

Nobody likes Rufus but I think he’s funny. Just a big fat blob of goo who talks too much. He cracks me up.

Zangief

Yeah he’s the Russian wrestler guy. I bet his rival is Kuma. His face is creepy in this game, his eyes look like they’re about to pop out of his head.

Vega

He’s the guy with the mask and claws. Not much else interesting about him, really.

Balrog

He’s the boxer guy who was supposed to be named M. Bison as a parody of Mike Tyson. But Capcom switched the names all around in the US for some reason.

M. Bison

One of the main bad guys in the SF series. He has a big ol’ creepy smile but I do like his hat. He’s pretty scary and tough!

Juri

She has a cool glowing purple eye and funny hair and neat attacks. This Super SF4 newbie would be a favorite character of mine except she’s too mean! I wish that in the Street Fighter X Tekken storyline, she would stop being mean, learn her lesson, and be good from now on. Then she’d be one of my favorites.

Akuma

He’s just a really scary Ryu. Sometimes he’s the last boss on the arcade mode of Street Fighter X Tekken, but I’m not sure why. He cracks me up in Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo because all he says is “MMMMM!” Like he just at a really good bowl of macaroni and cheese or something.

Bad Box Art Mega Man

First of all, I have to say that while I think putting the version of Mega Man that appears on the famous US box art is hilarious in the game, it just slightly doesn’t ‘smell’ right. Due to Capcom’s recent treatment of Mega Man lately, it kind of feels in poor taste. But you know what? It’s just a game and it’s still funny, so that’s all I’m going to complain about that.

I also don’t understand why we had to wait a week to download Mega Man and Pac-Man (on PS3). Yeah, it was free to download them, but their boxes were just darkened out last week, so why make us wait until this week to download them? I don’t get it.

I’m glad they actually gave Bad Box Art Mega Man a storyline in Arcade mode, though. Roll is now a sexy woman with a cheesy voice, and Mega Man is a complete dolt. When he tries to absorb the light from Pandora’s Box to use as a weapon, the light just goes through his hand and he says, “I…don’t understand…” His moves in the game make reference to the original Mega Man title, too. Such as the Ice Slasher weapon that freezes enemies. Even his throw move is called Guts Throw. Speaking of which, I do like how they play Guts Man’s theme during his story sections. And Pac-Man is his rival. It’s funny because Mega Man is terrified of Pac-Man! Overall, Bad Box Art Mega Man reminds me of a goofy comic book hero.

DLC Characters

The controversy with the DLC characters is that they are already on the disc, and you just unlock them by buying them when they are available. While I don’t think this is right, I’m not going to get all in a tizzy about it. I guess the only way I can really voice my opinion is just to not buy them. Which is a shame because some of them look really cool. But oh well. I guess it’s still bad that I bought the game in the first place. But you know what? I don’t buy games to support a company or principle. I buy games to have fun with them. And I thought playing as some of the characters in Street Fighter X Tekken would be fun. And I also thought it would be fun to write about the game, too! I guess that makes me a horrible video game martyr. So if you have a problem with me because of that, sorry! Anyway, here are the six characters on the Capcom side that will be DLC later.

Sakura

Normally I like silly characters, but I’m just so tired of the stereotypical annoying teenage schoolgirl character.

Blanka

He’s the big green animal guy. I like the fact that Dan is the only one who can understand him.

Guy

He’s the ninja guy from Final Fight. My friend would always pick him and I’d pick Haggar.

Cody

I bet they’ll use the prisoner version of Cody for this game instead of his regular form from Final Fight.

Elena

It’s too bad this pretty lady from the Alpha games is a DLC character. I think it would be neat to see how she plays here.

Dudley

It’s another boxer, but unlike Balrog, Dudley is all fancy and proper with a handlebar moustache. In Super SF4, he even wears his boxing gloves while drinking tea! How does he hold the mug?

Capcom Cameos

Other Street Fighter characters make cameos in Street Fighter X Tekken, too! In Tutorial Mode, Dan is your teacher, which I think is hilarious. Too bad he’s not playable. Some of the stages make reference to Capcom games, too. I love the Mad Gears Hideout arena, although I don’t know why it has Final Fight characters on a Kabuki type stage. When you win, Haggar busts through and they all run. I love this stage because it has a few remixes of Final Fight songs. Too bad the game doesn’t have a sound test. Other stages have a guy hiding under a Servebot head, and another stage has a poster of that Mexican wrestler chef’s restaurant. I really like the stage that has the dinosaurs fighting in the background. I wonder if that’s making reference to Dino Crisis. That’s one game I’d like to try, as dinosaurs are neat and the main character looks cool, too.

Capcom Conclusions

And that’s all I feel like talking about the Street Fighter side of the game! Next time we’ll look at the Tekken cast! In the comments section, let me know YOUR favorite Street Fighter characters, and try to guess mine! (Should be easy). Later!

Tags: Game Reviews