Initially, franchise producer Yoshinori Ono thought the next iteration of Street Fighter, landing just a year after the release of Street Fighter IV, should get a new number. Maybe not five, but perhaps 4.9.

But Capcom thought that might be too confusing and instead slapped the game with a Super, hop-frogging over Championship and Hyper Fighting editions, said Capcom Community Manager Seth Killian.

While the new game, due out early next year, will include a host of back-end improvements, about eight new characters, new stages, moves and gameplay modes, Capcom is still debating whether to sell the game for the traditional price of console titles or a lower price, Killian said.

Like its inevitable price, the changes and upgrades brought with Super Street Fighter IV are very fan driven.

“This is the most fan-responsive game in Capcom’s history,” Killian said.

Changes to the game will include balancing tweaks, but at least one famously irritating character won’t be made easier to take on, he’ll be made harder.

“Seth will be even cheaper and more irritating,” Killian said.

And end-boss Seth won’t be the only one to get some tweaks, some of the existing characters will get new moves. Killian mentioned Ken as one character who will have something new in Super, though he said it wouldn’t be as radical as introducing new techniques like parries.

While Killian wouldn’t go into the details of the new online modes that will be introduced with Super Street Fighter IV, he did say that Capcom is very aware of the complaint gamers have about not being able to hang-out in online rooms watching people play one another online.

“That is one of the things we will try to address,” he said.

Super will also include a new set of stories for each of the characters, both the original 25 and the eight new characters. This time round the animation will not be done by Studio 4°C, he said.

Capcom declined to let me play the game, though I was able to watch Killian play and he showed off some of the signature moves of the new characters, including returning fighter T. Hawk.

From what I saw the character’s animation, including their focus attacks, blended nicely with the existing game’s aesthetic.

“So, unfortunately, I’m sorry to say to arcade fans out there: there won’t be an arcade version of this,” Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono told website GamesReactor. I think a lot of people were kind of requesting an arcade update. I know that, in some parts of the world, it doesn’t really matter if there’s an arcade version or not,” he told GamesReactor.

“But certainly in Japan and the rest of Asia and some parts of the Oceania, there’s still a lot of people playing in arcades. So, I’m sorry to disappoint them but this time its going to be Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 only affair.”

That’s a shame. A damn shame.

Ono Interview [GamesReactor via http://www.examiner.com/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m9d29-No-arcade-version-for-Super-Street-Fighter-IV">Examiner via Gamer Center]

Street Fighter IV has a big cast of characters. The Capcom fighting game has old favourites like Ryu and Chun-Li as well as new characters like El Fuerte and Abel.

The home console versions brings characters like Cammy, Sakura, Fei-Long and even “joke” character Dan. The game doesn’t get Super Street Fighter II characters T. Hawk and Dee Jay. Or does it?

Regarding T. Hawk or Dee Jay, SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono told Famitsu, “The development team said, “We want them in!” Honestly, we did the modelling up to the pre-texturing. We made the fight settings for T. Hawk in Street Fighter IV… If user’s make their voices known this prep work is something we can revive at anytime.”

Capcom’s always prepared. It’s like a big blue and yellow boy scout. Ono also says he’d like to make Street Fighter IV: Championship Edition. Once again, this depends on the reaction from gamers.

『ストリートファイターIV』開発者インタビュー [Famitsu]

Obviously lag will be a huge problem for online play. We’re working on it. Compared to other games such as Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur, they’ve got replay functions and so forth. It’s quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment.

In order to prevent the lag we’re thinking about trying to balance it up at user interface level and input timing by using joystick or something like that. We still haven’t got a complete plan as yet. We’re still working on it. That’s all we can say at the moment.

Here’s hoping they figure something out.

Street Fighter IV interview [OXM via Joystiq]

That means it won’t be coming home with console-exclusive fighters a la Yoda and Darth Vader (or Link, Spawn and Heihachi). Instead, each version is planned to include the same roster, the arcade line-up plus whatever new additions the SFIV team sees fit. We have a fairly good idea that Cammy is one of those new additions, but hope we’ll get much more than just her.

Any requests?

Ono seems to like it better, too. Just look at how happy he is!

「メインポスター完成！」　プロジェクトマネージャー：塩沢夏希 [SFIV Publicity Blog via Kramez's Blog]

As Ono and crew already specified, the Street Fighter IV home conversion with feature characters not seen in the arcade version as well as online internet play. Ono stressed that the two characters not in the final arcade version who showed up in preliminary art form, Dan Hibiki and Fei Long, are not yet confirmed to appear in the console version. He told us that the team simply hasn’t decided yet who will be added to the roster and that SFIV artist Daigo Ikeno “is still working on many designs.”