I love Street Fighter. It has been a huge part of my life ever since I first played Street Fighter 2 back when I was 13 (1991). Although SF2 will probably always be my favorite entry in the series, I always look forward to every new iteration. Street Fighter V was released a few months before we scrapped the original PlayStation Haven website in favor of this one but before we changed over, I had the pleasure of excitedly reviewing SFV. I gave it a 4.5/10. Street Fighter V plays great so what would make me give the newest game in one of my favorite franchises such a low score? It is because to me, after three solid days of playing non-stop, the game felt rushed and unfinished. The fact that many of the menu items on the mode select screen where locked pending their eventual release further cemented that notion for me and I found it unforgiveable that the game shipped with no arcade mode.

The game was initially released in February 2016 but many features were locked until March 2016 at launch. Why not wait the extra few weeks to release the game so that it felt more complete? While I was happy to see a proper numbered sequel and not Ultimate Hyper Street Fighter IV Turbo: Extended Melee Decepticon Edition +, I would have gladly waited on its release for a more complete product. I would not however be ok with the exclusion of Arcade mode. I have had some argue with me that Arcade mode was not needed and that Online and Survival modes were the future. Not for me, and not for a lot of fans that grew up playing the game in the arcades. While Story mode (a feature that was not fully integrated into the game until June 2016) are great especially in fighters like Mortal Kombat, I actually gained a greater understanding of each of Street Fighter 2’s characters from the brief endings after each of their arcade ladders. I am not living under a rock, I know that online is big and allows you to recreate that feeling of taking on others in an arcade in the comfort of your own room with players all over the world. I get it. I have embraced it fully but even when playing in the arcade and proving you were the best, there were times where you did not want to play anyone and you just wanted to take on the AI and get that ending without using any continues.

So now that the Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition has been announced everything has come full circle and I was excited to hear about it when Capcom announced it a couple of days ago. I mean as a Street Fighter fan what is there not to be excited about? Then I remembered my excitement at the original launch of the game and I was just like…meh. I remembered that Capcom shipped out what should have been a $20-$30 game based on included content for $60 back in 2016. The Arcade Edition ships in January 2018 so in just under two years Street Fighter V will finally be complete and DLC was used the entire time to fill in the gaps. Now I am not like a lot of you today. I am not against DLC, especially free DLC such as what was used to complete SFV. Hell, even the Arcade Edition is free if you already own SFV ($40 if you do not but will include all characters if you purchase it) and the modes that were locked for a month a launch were added for free. I am against microtransactions especially when they require that you spend more real money on in game currency than is needed for an item ***cough*** Bethesda, ***cough*** Bungie. I do not oppose DLC that adds new content to a game after a while BUT only if said game as a decent amount of included/unlockable content available to warrant paying money for additional items. Capcom however shipped a game in 2016 that retailed for $60 that did not have $60 worth of content in it all on the promise that more was coming and it would be good. In the end it was just OK and never felt like it was worth full retail price.

So, will I now shell out another $40 for the Arcade Edition since I have long since traded in my copy of Street Fighter V? Nah. If anything, I’ll pick up a bargain bin used copy of SFV for $10 and download the new add on for free. I am honestly hoping that this is the last iteration of SFV and that we will get a fully fleshed out package with Street Fighter 6 when Capcom decides to dish out another sequel. Hopefully by then Capcom will take note not to rush the game to shelves and add all of the base content first and not rely on updates (free or otherwise) to give us the complete launch experience.