Round 3. FIGHT.

I’ve been a fan of Sirlin ever since I stumbled upon his Playing to Win website years ago. His experience and insight into tournament play Street Fighter went a long way to making me a better player of games in general, and especially at Street Fighter (which I felt I was already pretty good at). His articles have always been a good read, and a good design read, so I was especially excited to hear that not only was he heading up the new Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (SSF2THDR, even the short version is a mouthful), but he has been blogging about it.

The third installment was just published on Capcom’s blog, and it really sounds like they’re making a huge effort to re-tool the characters who were once deemed “weak” and therefore went unplayed. He says T. Hawk feels like a whole new character now, which is exciting as I never really cared for him much. I was looking forward to the HD Remix ever since I saw the first teaser art for it, and now that I know Sirlin’s in charge of making the game remix part of it (don’t worry, the original version of the game with the new graphics only is still intact), I want it that much more.

I have to say I’m heartened to see what I feel is a “great experiment” going forward over at Capcom. This is an unabashed re-skinning of an old classic, which, frankly, was due, and it answers a question I’ve been wondering to myself for awhile: would I play old games if someone just made the art pretty enough to look at again given today’s modern sensibilities? The answer, it seems at least in this case, is a resounding yes. The original game balance was so good it’s worth playing. It’s just tough to look at. The gameplay itself stands the test of time, and you can’t say that about a lot of games out there. Factoring in the new gameplay/balance improvements on top of all that makes me giddy.

I honestly don’t know what I’m more excited to see: the new HD sprites, or Sirlin’s rebalancing.

Okay, I do know. Gameplay. Because let’s face it: graphics are pretty, but gameplay, especially carefully balanced gameplay, is king.

Round 1 and Round 2 of Sirlin’s game balancing at the listed links there. Also, he has a FAQ on the SSF2THDR.