Street Fighter IV is out today for the iPhone and iPod touch.  It’s selling for $9.99, and it’s IMO one of the deepest and certainly most beautiful games ever released for iphone. 

The video up above is me playing the game about an hour after I got it (you can record and save your matches!).  Yes, it’s that easy to pull off the moves, even if you have gigantic, rock-crushing hands like mine. 

For anyone that hasn’t really played a lot of SFIV, it’s literally never been easier.  You can throw hadoken’s with the press of one button–no thumbs required!  A shoryuken is down+special, and a hurricane kick is away+special.  The hardcore are still free to bust out the motions the OG way, but the control scheme is really elegant, allowing anyone to pull of interesting combos with a few presses and a little timing, and not a lot of fuss in the thumb department!  The way normal moves work with only one punch and one kick button is also elegant–you get a ton of different moves with very low effort.  

For anyone that HAS played a lot of SFIV, you’ll find that this game is a love-letter to the core fans, with an amazingly faithful recreation of the full product.  The chains, the timing, the special cancels, invincible backdashes, throw techs, even focus cancels–exactly the kind of stuff you could easily have gotten away with NOT putting in–but it’s all here. 

A quick example:  focus canceling Ken’s fierce dragon punch into Ultra requires you to FADC on the second of the three shoryuken hits–it’s the same on the iphone.  And if you’re early with the Ultra, it will hit but not go into full animation.  On SFIV iphone?  The same thing!  🙂

Can you tell I like this game a little bit?  Anyway don’t take my word for it, read some reviews: 

Ars Tecnica , Touch Arcade , Fonehome? , iLounge , and GamesRadar

Hit the jump for the full press release! 

CAPCOM’S® STREET FIGHTER® IV FOR THE IPHONE AND IPOD TOUCH IS NOW AVAILABLE ON APPLE’S APP STORE

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 10, 2010 – Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today released Street Fighter® IV for the iPhone and iPod touch onto Apple’s App Store. The hotly anticipated fighting game has been rebuilt from the ground up to take full advantage of the iPhone platform while still remaining true to the legendary series’ high-action arcade roots.

Featuring eight classic characters from the console blockbuster including Ryu, Chun Li, Able, Blanka, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken as well as seven environments, Street Fighter IV offers players the most advanced fighting experience on the platform. Veteran players will instantly recognize Street Fighter IV‘s robust move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, Focus Attacks, Super Combos and Ultra Combos. Newcomers to the series can get on the path to becoming a world warrior by completing the game’s new “Dojo” mode which provides simple to advanced lessons on dominating the game.

No fighting game is complete without multiplayer and Street Fighter IV doesn’t disappoint. Players can battle head-to-head in “Versus” mode via Bluetooth bringing the excitement of the arcade to the palm of their hand.

The controls in Street Fighter IV are managed using a unique “Visual Pad” system created specifically for the iPhone. By activating “SP Move Assist” players can trigger their character’s Special Moves with a tap of a button and a directional input. Hardcore players can disable the feature and enter the complete command manually if they so choose. Additionally, players can fully customize the interface by repositioning controls anywhere on the screen as well as setting the level of transparency.

For more information, visit the Capcom official press site at press.capcom.com.

About Capcom
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Korea, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site,www.capcom.com.

Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc. Capcom, the Capcom logo, Resident Evil, Mega Man and Devil May Cry are registered trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. “PlayStation” and “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

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Capcom, Mega Man, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. and/or Capcom Interactive, Inc., in the U.S. or other countries. Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective holders.