Hiya!

When Street Fighter V was launched over a year ago, Capcom promised fans that this would be the definitive version of the game. They weren’t going to keep on relaunching the game under different monikers. You wouldn’t need to buy several new iterations of the game so you can get the new characters, updated balance changes and all that good stuff. Fans loved that Capcom heard us and how we were sick and tired of having to purchase a brand new version each and every year.

That was over a year ago. Now, there are fans that, let’s face it, have some major problems with Street Fighter V and how Capcom has been handling the franchise and the actual game itself. So much so that there apparently is a rumor spreading that Capcom is going to go back on their promise and will “rebrand” the current version as “Super Street Fighter V.” Although I was one of the people that applauded Capcom for promising that they’d stop making updated versions, I actually think it would be a great idea to do right now because of the circumstances.

Right now, Street Fighter V has a bit of a PR problem. Although true fans ate the game up, the casual audience and most reviewers didn’t like the game. Capcom released the game in a rather unfinished state. Yes, there was a solid online component to the game so you can test your might against other players all around the world. There were even a few combo trials, a survival mode and a really in-depth tutorial function. These were fine but fans hoisted a lot of complains about the lack of content the game had at launch.

The biggest complaint fans hated about Street Fighter V was there wasn’t all that much to do because of the lack of any significant single player experience. They promised a full-fledged story mode but that didn’t come out until much later. There was no arcade mode to speak of and, even until now, Street Fighter V lacks something as basic as a full-fledged arcade mode even today! I mean, the original game had this. Heck, the original game was an arcade mode!

This lack of a one-player experience in Street Fighter V has plagued the game early on and Capcom has ironed out most of these issues. The Story Mode, A Shadow Falls, has already been released. They’ve done a few balance changes for some of the characters, making some of them more viable. They’ve added more challenges and trials. There are also more ways to earn Fight Money so you can buy some new stuff like costumes. And, as of the latest major patch, the matchmaking and the online component works much better now.

A lot of casual fans have given up on Street Fighter V because of the poor reviews it got during launch. The game does feel vastly different that when it was a year ago. Things have gotten much better since then but these same fans who saw the initial reviews will never know this because the reviews the game got more than a year ago hasn’t and will never change. First impressions last, so to speak. However, if Capcom goes about releasing a “Super” Street Fighter V version, well, gaming news sites will report on it and will most certainly have to review this upgraded version like they did with Street Fighter IV and its newer updated versions. And that would be a great way to get the word out on how much the game has changed.

With that being said, I don’t really want Super Street Fighter V to be a totally new version of the base game. Instead, it would be much better if Capcom just added the “Super” prefix when Season 3 rolls around. After all, they did promise that you would only need this one version of Street Fighter V and, if it’s just a free update, then Capcom would technically not be going back on their word. The guys and gals (that’s means me) who got the game on Day 1 wouldn’t feel screwed over because, hey! It’s just going to be Season 3 for us but a totally new and fresh experience for others.

While it would be a great way to get new fans and actually grow the entire Street Fighter V community, Capcom should try to make Super Street Fighter V, AKA Street Fighter V Season 3, seem like an upgrade. Like I said, gaming news sites will be reviewing the game so the content will need to be there. So Capcom should really work on adding new stuff for it. Of course, it goes without saying that Season 3 should finally get an arcade mode. It’s the thing that most casual fans and even some hardcore fans want and need.

Focusing on just the hardcore audience like what they did with the “first” version of the game is the biggest reason why the game didn’t sell as well as Capcom would’ve wanted. Adding an arcade mode would sate the casual fans’ appetite for a single player experience. But Capcom shouldn’t do a slapdash job. They can’t just add more matches to the character story mode. No, they have to really work on it by adding all new animated intros and endings as well as sprinkling some hidden bosses. I mean, a Necalli, M. Bison or Akuma who starts out in V-Trigger and it doesn’t fade out would be a bang up final boss character!

Capcom should also make the game a little more appealing to newcomers. It would be controversial but I say they give people who purchase a “new” copy of Super Street Fighter V a bunch of Fight Money to pad out their account early. In fact, I would even go as far as suggest to Capcom to give them enough Fight Money to buy each and every extra Season 1 and 2 DLC character! I know a lot of Day 1 fans would cry that this would be unfair since they had to grind through the other modes just to get these characters for free. Or, if you’re as impatient like me, purchased the Season Pass using real money to unlock them. But you have to remember that Capcom has to find ways to actually entice them to get the game! I don’t think the casual audience will have the patience to work hard to earn enough Fight Money themselves. Besides, there’s still the Season 3 roster they’ll have to pay for.

Speaking of the Season 3 roster, I actually hope that they add more returning characters. I think it was a huge misstep that the majority of the Season 2 DLC characters, besides Akuma, are all new characters. Name recognition is a big reason why some casual fans purchase a game. They wouldn’t care if Kolin, Gill’s secretary who has control over ice, or Ed, Balrog’s protoge who can control Psycho Power, have been added to the game.

Super Street Fighter V can lure some older Street Fighter fan by teasing the return of some major fan favorites and a few oddball characters returning from the previous games. I would definitely love to see Sakura who is strangely missing from the game, especially because Karin, her self-purported rival, is part of the original roster. I would also be happy if guys like Sagat, E. Honda and Blanka return. Oh, and throw in guys like Oro, C. Viper, Hakan and even Q in because they would also make fabulous additions to the roster. Oh, and the new guys would now have to earn that Fight Money the hard way to get them!

I know Capcom promised that Street Fighter V is the only version of the game. But the game badly needs a way to reinvent itself or, at the very least, find a way to make another first impression, so to speak. Making Season 3 a Super Street Fighter V would be a “super” way to do this.

Do you think Super Street Fighter V is a good idea? Let me know in the comments section below!