The Game Everyone Wanted is Here - Street Fighter V Arcade Edition

Throughout the years and the many fighting games that come and go Street Fighter will forever be at the heart of every fighting game fan out there. This started the trend that is the fighting game genre. Although its not perfect and has its up and down and some would argue it has lost its appeal to a lot of fighting gamer its still at its core a good fighting game one could go into and just have fun with. Now on its initial fifth game in the core game (not counting Zero and the Special Edition) Street Fighter V has received mixed reactions from fans and newcomers alike with its somewhat lacking Arcade Mode and other features that was missing in its first release back in 2016.

Now with the new updates Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is loaded with free content for all SF V players. Something that should have been present in the original release two years ago. The new updates will fix a lot of issues in the game as well as drop a ton load of new content that almost everyone will surely love.

By simply downloading the update those that bought the game early will now receive a better Arcade Mode, Team Battle Mode, Extra Battle Mode and a completely redesigned user interface. It feels like an entirely new game in itself.

Arcade mode is pretty much essential to every fighting game since this is where most players get to try the characters for the first time back in the day. When Street Fighter came out we didn't know the characters and we learn them by fighting in arcade against computer AI getting better as we go through each computer controlled opponent. A sort of Practice mode for new players before we take on veteran players via versus mode in a time where there was no Practice mode.

And this is where Capcom shined the most. Not only did we get a fully furnished Arcade mode for Street Fighter V but the arcade mode is based out of the six core Street Fighter games. So you can play through the first Street Fighter, Street Fighter II and fight character that are in Street Fighter V that had appeared in that respective game unlocking a custom one page comic ending of that particular mode.

Thats a lot of endings to unlock. A whole lot of content in any Street Fighter game to date. I'm guessing Capcom is trying to make things up to players for their lack of an arcade mode in the initial release of Street Fighter V. And who doesn't want more content in their games.

Other additional tools to the Tournament Mode of the game is the Team Battles. Its rather new to Street Fighter franchise but if you played games like King of Fighters or any game with a three on three and five on five battle you'll get an idea on what it is.

Practice mode is also improved as theres certain features that players can use to get the feel of their characters such frame data and hit boxes and the likes.

The game is better balanced so players who spam certain moves and abuse certain tactics can now be countered by seasoned players. Its a virtual mind game of bait, attack and counter in a split second that can make or break a match. Sure there will always be better characters and weak characters but the gap isnt all that far as top tier characters arent all that perfect and low tier ones arent exactly weak either. In a whole this game is probably the most balanced in the franchise.

Each character has their own fighting style that it really depends on the players game style. So a rush down frame trap character can be taken on by a turtle back footsie and vice versa. In the end it all boils down to reading your opponent and doing the proper attack and counter.

The second update will also feature a second V-Trigger for all 28 characters, although it doesn't change much in terms of play styles its nice to play fun and experiment on this.  If you already bought the game the Arcade Edition is already a free update with all the content and a new menu interface to boot. If you don’t already have the game, buying Arcade Edition gets you all of that plus all 12 DLC characters from seasons 1 and 2.

All of the DLC characters are now attainable in-game for free as well. The player just need to gather enough Fight Money which is the game in-game currency to unlock them. Unlockables also include costumes which the players can get again through Fight Money or completing a certain task. Lets just hope its not going to be a chore to unlock all of them.

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition (PC, PS4) 
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release: January 16, 2018