You can now go grab the Ultra Challengers Pack 2 download for Super Street Fighter IV. This download includes new costumes for Juri, Cody, Adon, Ibuki and T. Hawk. The pack will set you back about 400 Microsoft points or $4.00 on PSN.

Gotta love how Capcom is getting us for these costumes. Just imagine how much money you have spent if you have bought every single costume pack since Vanilla Street Fighter IV!

Way back when UDON first announced that it was doing a Ibuki miniseries, I gotta admit I was a bit perplexed. What would make them want to do a story on such an obscure character? When the series was announced Ibuki had only appeared in Street Fighter III and Pocket Fighter. Not exactly a full resume. After thinking about it I came to two conclusions. First, UDON probably had knowledge of Ibuki’s appearance in Super Street Fighter IV long before the rest of us did. Secondly, UDON was looking to tell the story of a character that was not burdened by the restrictions of established canon. What may or may not have been a move to take advantage of the new characters added to Super Street Fighter IV turned out to be a fun ride with with a handful of characters that fans have not had much time with in the past. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with this series.

Though he may be getting a lot of attention with his new Skullkickers series, Jim Zubkavich was unproven as a writer at the start of the Ibuki series. At the series’ end you get the feeling that he has every right to be penning Street Fighter comics and he really does “get it”. He managed to take Ibuki, Makoto and Elena, three characters that you may not picture as friends and creates an interesting group dynamic. Though I would have liked to have seen a few more cameos such as the other Street Fighter ninjas Vega and Guy, It is enjoyable seeing Ibuki interact with these other characters.

Issue #4 wraps up the series with a bang. A complaint with other issues in the series is that they were too heavy on the talking and very skimpy on the fighting. Not the case here. Omar Dogan Brings to life so much action in this issue it is almost like sensory overload, in a good way. His art has always been great and this is no different. He draws every character perfectly and draws the action in a way where it looks very natural.

I don’t want to spoil the end of the series but it will leave you with a smile on your face. Do I recommend this comic? Of course I do. I also recommend buying the trade paperback the day it comes out just to have the entire series plus any extra goodies UDON might be nice enough to throw in there.

Just wanted to give everyone a reminder that Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki #4 should now be available at your local comic book store. Below is the release info and some preview pages. Check for my review a bit later today.

STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS: IBUKI #4
Story by Jim Zubkavich, Art by Omar Dogan
Final issue! The ninja schoolgirl adventures of Ibuki come to a roaring conclusion with and all out shuriken-flinging, claw-slicing, fist-throwing ninja war! The residents of the Glade of Ninjas cross blades with the deadly Geki Clan, with Ibuki, Makoto and Elena caught in the middle. Plus, the identity of the mysterious blue ninja is revealed!

Featuring covers by Omar Dogan and Jo Chen!

So here is the new alternate costumes for C. Viper, Rose, Makoto and Ibuki. Our lil teenage ninja gets some street clothes. C. Viper gets a S.I.N. lab coat with a Doll sweater to go underneath. Rose seems to have some sort of ball gown on. Makoto gets the school girl treat which seems to be given to every teenage Street Fighter female. What do you guys think of these? I actually like both of them.

As you may already know UDON is right smack in the middle of a Ibuki mini series. The writer, Jim Zubkavich, has been doing the fans a huge service by providing commentary of each issue on his blog. Here’s a snippit from his most recent on issue #3 …

PAGE 1: Another big opening page that Omar delivered the goods on. The background here is Ibuki’s stage from the SF3: Third Strike video game.

PAGE 2: Omar’s storytelling is stronger than ever here. A beautifully paneled action page.

PAGE 3: Having narration carrying over from the night before when Ibuki was told about Oro helps connect it clearly to the mission and allows us to move things forward and impart information without just having talking heads for art. We get a relevant action scene while simultaneously getting the reader up to speed. At the same time, we show the stressful things Ibuki is thinking about and the effect it has on her performance.

PAGE 4: The post-fight sleeplessness and school scene next day show time flying by and also kicks in to gear how much the impending battle is hampering Ibuki’s day-to-day activities.

Makoto does a call-back to the Oro back-up story from Street Fighter II Turbo #9, confirming, what many fans suspected, that the martial arts master who challenged Oro in that story was Makoto’s father.

PAGE 5: I wanted to make sure Ibuki’s breaking point was built up quickly at the start of this issue. Juggling school, social expectations, ninja training and her post-secondary ninja exam all at once takes her right to the edge.

PAGE 6: When I wrote this page I tried to carefully balance her teenage emotional state without losing track of the fact that she’s also a capable ninja. No matter how professional and confident she wants to be, like a young Olympic athlete before a Gold medal performance, she’s vulnerable.

PAGE 7: Another incredibly difficult page that Omar did a fantastic job at pulling off. If this scene didn’t work, the whole issue would have way less impact and one of the themes I wanted the mini-series to have would be totally lost.

PAGE 8: Another call back, this time with the Geki ninja Ibuki kicked the crap out of in issue #1.

The Edgeworth comment is, of course, a little in-joke from Capcom’s Phoenix Wright franchise.

PAGE 9: The ninja conversation about “the girl” is left purposefully vague. All will be revealed in issue #4.

To read the rest just head over to his blog. Also if you haven’t already check out the exclusive interview I did with Zub a while back.

Capcom has just dropped some more alternate costumes. These ones are for Juri, Adon, Ibuki, T. Hawk and Cody. For the fee of $3.99 on PSN, or 320 points on XBox Live they can be yours. As usual, I’d suggest holding off until they release the pack that includes all 35 costumes. But if you just can’t wait, go for it.

If you are a comic book reader and/or a Street Fighter fan then you are likely familiar with the great Street Fighter comics put out by UDON. I actually recently had the privilege of asking UDON’s Jim Zubkavich, the writer of Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki, a few questions about the the creative process of bringing Capcom’s World Warriors to life on panel.

Can you talk a little bit about the company culture and work environment at UDON? What’s it like when a bunch of artists and creative minds who love video games and anime get together every day?

In a creative environment like UDON, it’s always a bit of an adventure. Everyone has their own schedules, their own work habits and methodology, so it’s not a typical office. Constantly seeing work coming in from everyone on various projects tends to keep everyone’s drive up, producing healthy competition as we all try to bring our A-game to each new thing that comes in the door, whether that’s for client work or our own internal publishing projects. That variety of challenges is our lifeblood.

Convention season is when the UDON crew really gets to cut loose though. Meeting fans, interacting and travelling together – the cons are where the UDON crew really reinvigorates that energy and inspiration in what we do as a company.

You’ve been at UDON for quite some time. Why is this the first time we’ve seem you do any major writing?

It’s true that I’ve been with the company since 2003 and haven’t formally contributed to writing Street Fighter until now. Ken Siu-Chong’s been our guiding hand on the writing and done a fantastic job of weaving together the many Street Fighter games in to a cohesive whole. Erik, Matt and I have always thrown ideas in to the mix but Ken’s been the chef who’s cooked up those ingredients in to a final dish.

With Ken finishing the SF4 mini-series, completing SF2 Turbo and doing the Darkstalkers mini-series at the same time, it was the most he’d ever written simultaneously. Omar had just wrapped up Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li and was looking forward to tackling another Legends series and Ken had too much on his plate to write that as well. As we were discussing it, I brought up a story idea I had for Ibuki. The fact that she and Makoto would be appearing in the SSFIV game around the same time helped give it extra momentum and we rolled from there, pitching it to Ono-san and going in to production.

Why even do an Ibuki series? The Street Fighter universe seems to have an abundance of female teenage fighters. What makes Ibuki deserving of her own title?

At UDON we’re always trying to balance our desires as fans with a level-headed business approach to creating content. Ideally we find stories we want to tell and make sure they’re commercially viable at the same time. In this case, it fulfilled both aspects.

Omar and I are big fans of Ibuki and her appearance in SSFIV gave us the chance to try out something we’d wanted to do by piggybacking it on her increased exposure from the game release. The Sakura mini-series was a fun and energetic ride our fans responded to well and I felt Ibuki could have a similar effect without retreading the same type of story.

The Ibuki mini-series is a bit of an experiment for us – Can we get people on board with a lesser known character? Will fans try out something different? As the issues and trade paperback come out, we’ll see the results.

Though she certainly has her fans, Ibuki isn’t nearly as well known as a Ryu or Chun Li. When doing a series starring a less established character, do you find yourself free to mold the character as you like or are you fighting against what fans may have created in their minds about that character?

All of the new characters who were introduced in the Street Fighter III games are pretty light on back story. Ibuki’s personality has been limited to game endings and oh-so brief lines of dialogue from her victory quotes, so expanding upon those with this focused story is an honour and a challenge. Having open space to fill in motivations/back story and connect the dots with material already there is a thrill.

We do our best to use the material that exists as the foundation for what we’ve come up with, always trying to add material that jives with what’s been officially stated in the canon.

Obviously I have my own ideas about who Ibuki is and how she thinks. The fact that there’s room within the canon for that interpretation makes it all work.

As you mentioned, you’ve included characters and mannerisms associated with Ibuki that have only been touched on in opening animations before her fights or in the background of her stage. Can you please walk us through the process of researching the Ibuki series? What all did you have to look at to compile who this character really is?

Well, first of all I focused on all of the Ibuki material Capcom has put together – the game endings, victory quotes and the “All About Street Fighter” and “Eternal Challenge” Japanese books that cover character history canon and what-not. I needed to know exactly what’s been written down about her and what aspects of her story were “set”. Then it was about looking at the character animation in Street Fighter III and trying to get a sense of her overall attitude and personality.

From there it was really about filling in the gaps – defining her motivation to go to University and break away from Ninja training, creating valid antagonists and building up conflicts and resolutions that make sense with the material Capcom already had set out; Adding to what was there without contradicting any of it.

After that, I wrote up those ideas in to a cohesive issue-by-issue breakdown that was submitted to Capcom and Ono-san (the Street Fighter IV Producer) for their feedback and approval.

In my mind Ibuki has fantastic duality, juggling her school and ninja lives in the same way a superhero has their secret identity and super self. It creates instant tension and answering that question of what is more important, the teenager or the ninja, is what makes it engaging.

How do you feel Ibuki’s portrayal in Super Street Fighter IV, as being quite a bit “boy crazy”, fits with how you’ve shown her to be in her comic series?

The Ibuki I’m writing is less “boy crazed”, but that’s because she’s focused on a lot of heavy stuff – final exams, ninja tests and her self confidence. Ibuki in Super Street Fighter IV is at a different point in time where those concerns aren’t as pressing so she can cut loose and focus on hunting for a boyfriend.

I feel that Ibuki is a well rounded character who can be many things. I assume she, like everyone, has times where she’s kooky about love and other times when she’s focused on her missions and other goals.

The Street Fighter Legends Series has been great in giving fans a look into some of the background storylines of the Street Fighter Universe. Are there plans for the title to continue going into the future and if so what characters might star?

It’s an ongoing discussion in terms of doing the Legends books and who may be next for the “Legends treatment”. We’ve talked a lot about which characters would work well in terms of our enthusiasm for them and the commercial viability of it. Serious ones like Akuma or Gouken have come up, as well as ridiculous joke options like Street Fighter Losers: Dan or Super Stretchy Team-Up: Dhalsim & Necro. It really depends on artist availability and scheduling as well as the stories we feel strongest about.

At this point in time I can’t really say too much beyond that. Hopefully we’ll have more to announce soon.

What is the future of Street Fighter comics overall? The main series is supposed to move into Street Fighter III territory and it seems like you guys covered Street Fighter IV side by side with Street Fighter II. So, with there not being any other main games in the series to cover are you guys at risk of running out of source material sometime soon?

Developing the tournament storyline and covering as much of the game material as we could to take us through that arc has been a blast. There’s a satisfying build up and pay off as we see the growth of main characters in that story – Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile and Cammy, in particular.

We’re in ongoing discussions with Capcom about what comes next. What we’ve been discussing with them is the idea of moving in to the Street Fighter III timeline, but showcasing everyone in the Street Fighter universe of characters. For example, we know what Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li are doing in SFIII, but how have Guile or Vega changed? What’s happening elsewhere as Gill puts his plans in to action?

If we get to move in that direction, I think it’s a really exciting evolution of our comics. We’ve done everything we can to take the canon material and stay true to the Street Fighter game storylines. Now, being able to move that forward and generate new stories that take us beyond the established material is a real testament to the strength of those characters and their longevity.

Readers have generally been pleased with how UDON portrays the Street Fighter characters with respect to how they are in the game but if there is one thing that UDON has done that has ruffled some feathers is having Geki be a whole clan of ninja instead of just one fighter. Why make that sort of change?

In the concept of Street Fighter as a game, every character is important. For that reason it’s difficult to create the dramatic feeling of a fighter taking on an army of other martial artists, which is a satisfying visual and dramatic battle that doesn’t happen in a one-on-one focused fighting game. You don’t want to show “named” fighters getting their butts kicked constantly (unless they’re Dan. ).

Daredevil fights the Hand, the TMNT fight the Foot, Han Solo shoots down Stormtroopers, the Fantastic Four fight an army of Skrulls… it’s a visceral thrill having that “few against many” type of conflict. In a story like Street Fighter where martial artists are the key, having an entire ninja clan as a foil seems the perfect fit and gives the characters something more than just Shadaloo to fight against.

Introducing the Geki as a clan of ninjas gave us that kind of awesome threat and didn’t conflict with any established story material Capcom had set out. The original “Geki” character still exists in Street Fighter I continuity, as part of the clan or as a solo assassin, and we were able to generate a new group of antagonists for other Street Fighter characters to fight against. In the Ibuki mini-series it ties together SF1 and SF3 a bit tighter and generates the big climactic battle of the final issue. I hope people like the way we evolve things a bit.

I know your site is focused on dedicated fans so I’m trying to be as honest as possible about our motivations. If people are bent out of shape about this relatively small adjustment to a character from SF1 who has never shown up in any other game and has practically no back story to speak of, I’m a bit surprised. The masked and mysterious nature of him as a ninja gave us flexibility to interpret it and Capcom gave us the go ahead so we could have more story options.

Lastly, If you didn’t have to worry about stuff like potential sales, what Street Fighter character would you most like to write a series for?

As corny as it may sound, I’d love to write more Ibuki adventures. I think she’s a fun character who balances her “regular” and “fantastic” life in an entertaining way much like Spider-Man or Buffy. On top of that – ninjas! Ninjas have gone full circle from cool to cheesy and back to being retro awesome so they’re definitely fun to work with.

Makoto has been very fun to write. Her surface brash confidence and intensity is a blast to portray. It’s so clearly a defensive reaction to the momentous task she’s put ahead of herself – defeating every martial arts school to prove the superiority of her father’s techniques. I don’t know if four issues of that would wear out its welcome, but I’d be intrigued to try that out.

Beyond Ibuki or Makoto, it would be a hoot to write a mini-series on Karin. I loved the short Karin-centric stories that Nakahira wrote in the Sakura Gabaru manga where Karin’s own family is trying to kill her and she keeps evading their best attempts. Karin’s ridiculous confidence and capabilities make her far too entertaining. You know deep down you should dislike her because she’s so cocky but you end up being too amused to ever really hate her.

Juri’s story is dark and complex, which could be good fodder for a Legends mini-series. It would be neat to delve deeper in to what makes her black heart tick.

Hmmm… it sounds like I’ve got a thing for the female fighters here. There are no guys in that list at all.

All in all, almost every Street Fighter character has some spark of a story within them that could be expanded with the right motivation. Capcom’s excellent design sense helps these stories germinate and we do our best to help them grow.

Once again it has been a privilege to have Jim answer some of my questions and I thank him.

In case you didn’t already know isuues #1 and #2 of the Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki series are already available and #3 will be available in June. For more information on UDON’s various Capcom related books, go to www.udoncomics.com.

On a side note make sure you also check out some of the artwork for the upcoming issue of Street fighter Legends: Ibuki here

The Good: First let me start off by saying I’m enjoying this series so far. Jim Zubkavich and Omar Dogan are creating something that is not only interesting but youthful. Jim Zubkavich takes a very lighthearted approach to Ibuki and Omar Dogan art follows suite in a way that goes very well together. Issue #2 deals with Ibuki‘s internal struggle between the responsibilities of being a ninja and the desire to just be a normal high school girl. She’s almost like Street Fighter’s version of Spider-man and it’s cool to see her juggle those two lives. I also love how Jim skillfully brings Ibuki’s world into the rest of the Street Fighter universe since Street Fighter 3 has always seemed like the oddball game since the characters generally had no connection to other Street Fighter characters. Jim makes her fit in without forcing anything. The artwork of course is top notch as Omar is a beast.

The Bad: This can be seen as a good and bad but In #2 we also get to understand what makes Makoto tick. It almost creates a problem in this issue as we are given such a entertaining Makoto that it’s easy to find yourself wanting to hurry through the Ibuki stuff just to get to the pages with Makoto. She basically outshines the series’ main character. Also in this issue we are introduced to Elena whose personality is a bit different than one might expect. She comes across overly happy and naive. In Jim’s defense Elena’s personality has never been fleshed out in the past so there was little for him to base her on from the games. I guess I expected happy but not that happy. Omar adds to the extra happiness but having Elena smile so much and so hard that her eyes are actually closed in almost every panel she appears in. In addition to all that, the series seems to lack a real villain. Yeh we have the Geki but there is no Green Goblin to Ibuki’s Spider-man so to speak.

The Other: Elena is a monster! I knew she was tall but she comes across like a giant in this series. It’s interesting as it adds to her character and at the same time makes her seem outof place amongst the other female characters. Also this issue lacks much fighting. There’s nothing wrong with that as we get some excellent character word play but someone new to the series may find that odd since, you know, the comic is called Street Fighter.

Overall: Overall the issue is good and seems to move the storyline forward. Much in the way the Sakura mini did, this series is showing readers that the Street Fighter universe isn’t all about seriousness, it can be fun too. I’d recommend checking it out even if it’s only to be properly prepared for issues #3 and #4 where the series will likely really pick up steam.

Manufacturer: MegaHouse
Height: 13″
Released: Jul 2008
Retail Price: US $84.99
Some Assembly Required

For more information just check out the link below.

[Comic Attack]

I’ll be waiting for the TBP as I like to read the whole story at once but for those of you who just can’t wait, Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki #1 is in stores tomorrow March 10th 2010.

Synopsis:
All Ibuki wants is a normal Japanese high school experience, but her secret ninja life follows her everywhere she goes! With relentless ninja trainers, deadly Geki assassins, and a crazy karate girl named Makoto all on her case, she’ll be lucky if she even makes it to lunch hour in one piece! Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki is one part ninja action, one part high school antics, and 100% non-stop excitement!

Written by Jim Zubkavich, with art by Omar Dogan
Covers by Omar Dogan and Jay Axer!

GameTrailers managed to get US Street Fighter IV champion Justin Wong to give walkthroughs with the “Third Strikers” Dudley, Makoto and Ibuki. He shows off some of the combos and techniques that make these characters stand out.

Hello everyone. This is Tsukamoto.

The SF3 characters have finally been announced! This week, of the 3 new characters, I’d like to focus on Ibuki.

I’m sure everyone would like to hear more about her moves and what it took to get her in SFIV, so director Okada as well as the main battle planner will be joining me this time around.

So now let’s meet the battle planner.

Sano:
Hello, I’m the planner Sano. I’m the type of old guy who wakes up early, goes to work, works until late, and then gets up early the very next morning (laughs). For the development of SSFIV, I’m particularly working on things relating to the battle, and character adjustments. Since I’m an old guy, you’ll find rice crackers on top of my desk. Just give me rice crackers and tea and I’m in paradise.

– First off, tell us the details of how Ibuki was added to the game.

Okada:
We’ve mentioned this several times before, but a basis of the SFIV series has been to celebrate 20 years of Street Fighter, by having a reunion of sorts. We were able to get Alpha characters in SFIV, so this time we wanted to give SF3 fans something, and as Ibuki was the most popular of the female characters she was decided on.

– What do you think is Ibuki’s charm?

Okada:
First, I think its her appearance. In other games we have cyber-ninjas, or ninjas in regular clothes – there are a lot of ninjas, but always with sort of a twist. Ibuki has the mask and the ninja outfit, so you know immediately that she’s a ninja, and I think a lot of players really got in tune with that. Also, while she has this old-time ninja look, she herself is in the middle of her youth and is a girl of the current times, so that contrast is also appealing.

– How do you bring out the feel of Ibuki in SSFIV?

Sano:
For Ibuki’s moves, we didn’t want players who used her in SF3 to feel that something was off, so we’re making her playstyle as close to SF3 Ibuki as possible. Also, as Okada said, she’s an orthodox ninja at first glance, but her character is one of a normal girl, so we are trying to bring out her feminine side in her lines and dialogue as well as in her proportions.

(The text says “Oh, the sailor school uniform is nice! I’d like to try it on once myself.”)

– What has been retained from SF3?

Okada:
The most important thing is her playstyle and feel.

Sano:
Even though they are the same series, the systems of SFIV and SF3 are pretty different. So with the game’s speed and timing, there are certain things that just have to change. But, for the players who have been playing since SF3, I think they have a natural feel for when to do a punch, kick, or special move – its ingrained into them. So we’re making adjustments to try and preserve that feeling as much as possible.

Okada:
So we’ve given Ibuki a super jump. In SFIV, the only character who could super jump was C.Viper. It was necessary for putting together many of her combos, and I felt that was interesting. So for Ibuki, same as Viper, we’re making adjustments for Ibuki to have combos that utilize the super jump.

– Were there any difficulties in making Ibuki?

Sano:
She has the Kasumi Gake and the Tsuijigoe…The Kasumi Gake closes in on the opponent in an instant from afar, and the Tsuijigoe flies over their heads. But unlike other special moves, these moves don’t actually attack. In SF3, if Ibuki used the Kasumi Gake or Tsuijigoe to get in close, afterwards if you could read what she was going to do you could fend it off with parry. But since there’s no parry in SFIV, if Ibuki suddenly went from being full screen to in your face, that was a little hard to deal with. And with her target combos, if you ate a jab then you were going to be eating a lot of moves after that.

*Parry is a function that allows you to deflect your opponent’s attacks by moving the stick from neutral to a forward position right before the attack hits.
*If you enter in the commands for specific normal attacks very quickly and in succession, you will be able to cancel the normals together into a combo.

– That’d be pretty scary to fight against…

Sano:
At the beginning of development, we put in her target combos almost the same as they were in SF3. What happened is that if she got in close once, the match was pretty much over (laughs). So first off, we did a thorough tweaking of the distances of her moves like Kasumi Gake and Tsuijigoe. We re-did it over and over again, so we were really a lot of trouble for the motion director.

Tsukamoto:
No no, its because of things like that that the games becomes interesting, so they are necessary. There are plenty of areas where if one thing works then another won’t. Achieving balance within the system also works this way.

Okada:
In SFIV we have the Focus Attack, which is sort of similar to parries, but as Focus only absorbs one hit, it loses badly to target combos. So for this game, finding a balance between target combos and the Focus system was our biggest worry.

– How did you deal with target combos?

Sano:
There were a lot of things to worry about, but we eventually made them along the reasoning that they’re not so much a combo as they are a special move. For example, for the Shoryuken in this game, with one command you get two hits, not withstanding whether it actually connects on the opponent. For Ibuki’s target combo, in order to get the second hit you have to push the button a second time – that’s the easiest way to think of it I believe. The damage of one hit is fairly small, but if you land the entire target combo you get the damage of a special move.

Okada:
Just from that, target combos might sound kind of weak. But unlike regular special moves, you can stop the target combo in the middle. So if your opponent has blocked up to the 2nd hit, you can not throw out the 3rd, look for an opening, and then start attacking again. This kind of usage will give you an advantage I think.

– Were there any details put into her appearance?

Sano:
For appearance, it would have to be the “zanzou” (afterimage). For 3S characters, when they start moving quickly they leave an afterimage behind. In order to get this in SFIV our programmers and designers worked really hard.

Okada:
At the beginning of development, when we said we think we can make the afterimage happen, the staff was skeptical, wondering if it would make the processing too heavy. When you have a bunch of 3D models on the screen at once, it makes the processing burden really heavy and then things start to drop.

Sano:
We gave a lot of thought about how to make our ideal afterimages without putting too much burden on the game. The result is that in SSFIV, to get that ninja-like afterimage we’ve used effects. Our lead effects designer did his best to make it look like an afterimage without any feeling of it being odd, and I think it came out pretty good.

– What’s the move where we can get the best look at the afterimage?

Sano:
That would be the Kasumi Gake. We poured our blood and sweat into creating it, so if everyone can use this move a lot I’d be really happy (laughs).

– Is there anything else you’d like us to pay attention to?

Okada:
Although her face is usually concealed by the mask, she really does show a lot of facial expressions, so if everyone would notice them I’d be really happy. Since you can’t see all of her face, we tried to make it so that you could understand her faces of pain or joy just from the areas you can see above the mask. For other characters, if you could only see half their face you might not understand their expressions, but for Ibuki that area really needs to be feminine, especially from the side. So for the designers, she was probably the most difficult character to make.

Sano:
For the demos of Ibuki, even if we zoom in on her all we can see of her expressions is her eyes, so the facial adjustments for her took longer than the other characters. If I think about it now, I think the facial adjustment time was about the same amount of time as we needed to adjust her moves (laughs). The designer would say “How about this?” and we’d look at it and say “Change this area!”. We went back and forth like that up until the final deadlines.

Okada:
When she says her move names, you can’t see her mouth, but her entire facial area is properly animated.

Sano:
Yes, we didn’t slack off just because you don’t get to see it. She has plenty of expressions, the same as the other characters!

– What type of player do you think Ibuki is best suited for?

Okada:
Well, she’s a character where you’ll be plenty busy with inputs, so maybe I can recommend her to players who liked using C.Viper in SFIV, where execution is essential, or for those players who like characters with lots of options.

Sano:
For me, I think Ibuki is suited to those who want to get the most out of a single character – would you call it an inquiring mind? The more you use her, the more you’ll find combos, and that’s necessary for her. I think that aspect is fairly interesting.

– Would you say she’s more of an advanced character than one for beginners?

Sano:
Beginners can use her too, but if I had to pick I’d say she’s suited for intermediate. The more you improve with her the more fun she becomes, and you also get stronger as well.

Okada:
The target combo requires rapid inputs, but the commands are simple enough to execute, so I don’t think she’s a character that beginners will hate. Even if you just give her a first try you can get some dynamic movements out of her, and before you know it you’ll have her moving like a pro.

– Do you have any tips for using Ibuki?

Okada:
As Ibuki is fast, you can use small movements to throw off your opponent and then attack them from there. Ibuki’s strength lies in close quarters, so rush your opponent down without giving them the chance to attack back – I think that’ll be what decides victory.

Sano:
From there, Ibuki’s strength will lie in her target combos, so skillful use of those will make for a strong Ibuki. For example, take the infamous Sagat LOL Combo (Tiger Uppercut, FADC, F+RH, Ultra) – for opponents who are just looking to land that, it’ll be easy to start reading their patterns. But for Ibuki, she has many different target combos, and she can say “Well, this this combo won’t work then I’ll go this route!”. So she can dish out a lot of different target combos, and her opponents won’t be able to read her as easily.

– What characters would you like to see Ibuki match up against?

Sano:
If we’re talking about movements, that would have to be Ibuki vs C.Viper. For both, their specials and execution are essential, so both will have to show off some tricky play. You thought you were going to pressure your opponent from the air but now you are on the receiving end – I feel like it would become a fiery battle like that.

Tsukamoto:
C.Viper has the Seismo Hammer, right? She has a lot of setups for it, getting you just at the right distance. So I wonder if this will be a difficult battle for Ibuki.

– Do you have any thoughts for the players looking forward to Ibuki?

Sano:
First, please give Ibuki a try. I’d like for everyone to get an idea of how nice it is to use her. As was said before she’s somewhat close to C.Viper, but more than Viper you get a more direct feel of her moves, so I hope you enjoy it.

Okada:
Ibuki is cute even at a first glance, so that might be what you focus on, but we’ve also put a lot of effort into her motions and her design, so please pay attention to her whole production. Please realize her charm, even behind the mask, while playing her.

Tsukamoto:
As this was a character that many people were waiting for, I tried to include a lot of images. Ibuki fans, did you enjoy it?

For various reasons, we couldn’t show more skin around her pelvic bone, but I rather like the look of her costume. Her flowing hair is also a nice impression. So I hope you all use her at least here and there.

Next week we’ll be talking about Makoto. See you then!

Whose do you like best?

Of course credit goes to Azrael for the translation.

Hello everyone! Today, I have three huge announcements for you all – new characters, iPhone/iPod Touch SFIV, and details about the National Tournament!

I think many of you may already know about this from this week’s Weekly Famitsu, but we have characters from the SF3 Series joining the fight!

Ibuki!

Her rival opponent is Sakura!

Makoto!

Her rival opponent is Fei Long!

And, Dudley!

(Az’s Note: The text in the picture says “What an incredibly rude thing to say.”

His rival is Balrog!

Maaaan, it took some courage to get these characters in the game. Mostly because they come from a game system that featured parries. They are very popular with everyone, and our development staff also wanted to give them a spin in the world of SFIV! I don’t have to tell you though that adjusting them…yeah, vomiting blood levels.

And we also have a character promotional video! Go to the Trailers section on the official site to see their moves in action!

So, that kunai I’ve been teasing you with all along…of course that was Ibuki’s!

This is her Ultra II, where she showers you in a rain of kunai.

And for all of you who used Dudley in SF3, I gotta tell you – you can throw the rose in SSFIV as well!

The move’s name is “Rose of Victory”. While it doesn’t do any damage, when it hits it causes the opponent to pause briefly, giving you a change to get in there and attack.

And last we have a little bit about Makoto. While this has nothing to do with her moves…for her voice recording and her alternate costume, Makoto was the hardest out of all the characters, by far.

Especially her voice recording. From 3S, Makoto has used a very country dialect. So this time around, we got a professional in country dialect to help us, and it took us an unprecedented number of takes, but we got it done. Also, her VA is the same from 3S, Ms. Makoto Tsumura! She did great work for us without complaining even once.

These guy’s Ultra I, Ultra II, and sample voices are all on the official site under Characters, so go check em out and have fun training with them in your head!

Well then, let’s get to today’s second news point. I think there are a lot of people who already know about this as well! Our development staff has secretly worked on a version of SFIV for the iPhone/iPod Touch, and we’re finally pulling the curtains back on it!

Unfortunately, there will be no arcade stick for this, but with Capcom’s virtual pad, once you get used to it you’ll be pulling off commands in no time!

And of course, you’ll be able to enjoy random battles! With Bluetooth, you can take on those stronger than you at any time!

For those who know SFII but are unfamiliar with SFIV, we have an original mode The Dojo to help you become stronger!

This is the Trial Menu for the iPhone/iPod Touch version. Use this dojo to perfect your skills!

Sale date is planned for March. While you won’t be able to use all characters from SFIV, we will have more detailed info about the available characters released in the coming days, so stay tuned for that!

So everyone, put SFIV on your iPhone/iPod Touch and enjoy heated battles around town, at work, or at school!

And for today’s last announcement, with the Qualifiers entering into the final half, I’d like to announce details about the SFIV National Tournament!

First up is the brackets. This time, we have 9 regional qualifiers, 2 spots for the dream team, and 2 spots for last-chance qualifiers. That leaves one mystery spot, for a total of 14 finalists to challenge for the title of strongest in Japan!

Yep, 2 last-chance spots. This won’t be a lottery, we’ll have a tournament for it. So if you want to participate, get a team together and wait for further details. Right now we are still deciding on the meeting time and what not!

And now, about the next stage. At last year’s tournament, we had as special guests Ryu’s VA Hiroki Takahashi, Ken’s VA Yuji Kishi, and Sakura’s VA Misato Fukuen. This time around, our special guests will be Guile’s VA Hiroki Yasumoto, Viper’s VA Mie Sonozaki, and Juri’s VA Eri Kitamura!

And we’ll also have Lil Ono up there as well…just what kind of crazy stories will they share?! Its a special stage that’s sure to be a lot of fun. To enjoy it together with us, please come to the tournament!

Yep, come out to the tournament! And for those of you who want to see high-level fighting with your own eyes, we have extra-special seats prepared ust for you! This is a special seat that gives you a great view of both the fighting, as well as the special stage. And there’s only 100 of them.

Those 100 seats aren’t first-come, first-serve. If they were…we’d have some real fights on our hands! So! We are taking applicants for them on our Official Site’s National Tournament Page! After a strict lottery, 100 lucky fans will be chosen!

The application period is from now until March 3rd (Wednesday). Read the Rules of Entry, get pumped up and please enter! We’re waiting for your entry!

Even if you don’t get the special seats, of course we have standing room available for you to view the action.

We also have other important information about the National Tournament Event on the information page, so be sure to read it at least once.

Well, that’s about it for today’s news announcements, right?

…Whoops, got one more! The Collectors Package is currently under development!

This is the character soundtrack collection plus all-promotional video collection! The Chun-Li and Juri label is pretty nice, isn’t it?

But making this label actually took quite a bit of work. Please take a look at these three images.

You may not understand well, but these three images are slightly different. Take a look at the one on the far right. Its not that its a bad picture or bad lighting. If we just put the illustration of Juri on top of the label, this is what happens. But its not very pretty, is it?

So then, we put white paper under the illustration, and the labels in the center and the left are the result. For the one in the middle, the white is at 50%. That means we put the illustration on top of semi-transparent white paper. The one on the left is 100% white – we put the illustration on top of the fully white paper.

You can see the illustration most clearly on the 100% white, but it looks too much like a toy. You won’t really appreciate the hatching touch of the picture. So that’s why we’ll be manufacturing it on the 50% white version!

You may not care about such small details, but everyone here has put our heads together to come up with something we can, in good confidence, say is the best, even for these little things. So we hope you have high expectations for us!

Well then, that’s all for today’s news. I’m worried it might have been a little too much, but right now we’re in the middle of getting the most pumped up for SSFIV we can get!

Thanks for sticking with me until you were almost out of breath! See you again next week!

After watching this I really look forward to picking back up Ibuki. Makoto is looking goo too but Ibuki is a beast! Super Street Fighter IV can’t get here fast enough.

Behold Ibuki Vs. Makoto

UPDATE: Added a Dudley gameplay video also. Enjoy

This almost surreal. Part of me believed that Capcom was never going to touch the Street Fighter III characters again. They were just too odd. Didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the established fighters from the franchise. I’m glad to to see I was wrong because now I’m sitting here looking at this beautiful new trailer for Super Street Fighter IV featuring Ibuki, Dudley and Makoto. Life is good.

[Gamer's Lounge]

(click to make larger)

If there is one thing that is driving fans waiting for Super Street Fighter IV crazy its the fact that we still have not seen the four remaining fighters. Though it is pretty certain that the characters yet to be revealed are Ibuki, Dudley, Makoto and a new guy, Hakan. When we ever will see them is the question.

Now Event Hubs is saying that they have heard from a reliable source that we are gonna find out the new character are for sure sometime between Feb. 18 – March 11, 2010.

Now Event Hubs is saying they can trust their source but we will see. If it does turn out to be true I hope that that date is closer to February 18th and not March 11th.

[Event Hubs via Golgotron]