Ayano-san held another location test for Ultra Street Fighter IV last weekend in Japan at Plaza Capcom Kichijoji and received a lot of valuable feedback from fans. Check out the full report in his latest blog below!

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Hey everyone, Tomoaki Ayano here.

Last week we successfully held a location test at Plaza Capcom Kichijoji. A big thank you to everyone who came out and to all those who gave us feedback!

From today, Dec 6, to Sunday Dec 8, we’ll be holding an Alpha location test at Plaza Capcom Yokosuka! There were a lot of people in that region who wanted us to come out there, so I’m really happy that we’re able to go out there and answer that demand.

The limited edition NESiCA sticker cards are also a big hit!

Anyway, in today’s blog I’d like to share the data we got from the Alpha location test held at Plaza Capcom Kichijoji from Nov 29 to Dec 1.

â– Please give us your overall impression of this Alpha location test.

Those are the results. We’re going to work extra hard to make sure more people come away from these tests feeling satisfied!

At this test, just like at many of the other tests, there were many players who played the game repeatedly. There were also quite a few famous players who came out to play. Looking at the feedback, I was surprised to see lots of players with high PP! Really, thank you everyone for your co-operation.

â– Please give us your overall impression of the new characters Rolento, Poison, Hugo, and Elena.

Rolento

Poison

Elena

Hugo

Compared to the other tests, at this test we got more feedback about the characters than we did about the systems. I noticed a lot of people coming together as a group and filling out the questionnaires together while talking about what to write. So we were able to get quite a bit of criticism regarding the new characters.

Many players used Poison and Rolento. In the feedback many were concerned that for Hugo it was too difficult to get in, and his moves didn’t have enough priority. Many people also felt   that Elena’s healing wouldn’t be functional. The balancing effort is still a work in progress, but we definitely hear your concerns. Your feedback is important not only for game balance, but also for the character’s personality and individual functionality as well.

â– Please give us your overall impression of the new battle systems.

Ultra Combo Double

Red Focus Attack

Delayed Wakeup

In contrast to the players at the location tests held in the six previous cities, the players at this test had a better understanding of the new systems thanks to the info obtained from the previous tests. There were many players who spent time just testing out the new systems.

The results this time are a bit rough… We got a lot of detailed feedback about delayed wakeup. While it seems like a small thing, we do realize that it has the potential to greatly change the character dynamic.

As for characters, the feedback we got the most was that Ken and Sagat are way too strong! Don’t worry, this isn’t the final version and we still have adjustments to make. We will take all of the data we’ve obtained in these tests, analyze it, and use it to balance and improve not just the characters, but also the game systems.

In Kichijoji the players were divided up into the casual and hardcore crowds, and as such we got a wide range of feedback in the questionnaires. I’m looking forward to seeing the feedback we get from the Plaza Capcom Yokosuka location test, and I’ll be sure to share that with you next week!

But before I head off to Yokosuka for the next test, I have another announcement.

Thanks to our partnership with Mad Catz, we’ll be holding another Alpha location test on Dec 13 at the Taipei Game Show! Everyone who participates will also receive a limited edition NESiCA sticker sheet.

For those who can’t make it out to Taipei, the event will be broadcast live! Mr. Sugiyama and I will also be in attendance.

Well, that’s all for this week. See you next week!