Super Street Fighter IV - CVG vs Readers

By Ryan King for computerandvideogames.com

The scent of battle. The fear of defeat. The agony of last-gasp finishes. And the exasperated swearing by CVG when caught in a combo that we could have avoided if only we were that little bit better, little bit faster, little bit smarter. Such was our fate when we took on the readers at Super Street Fighter IV.

Even though Super Street Fighter IV had only been out for a few days when we took on the readers, there were plenty of skills on display. We had decided nippy Juri would be our main character, while also jumping back to old hands such as Cammy and Honda while also busting out Turkish oil wrestler Hakan on occasion. With over 30 contenders to get through, we decided switching things up would keep things interesting, especially if we were losing...

The Juri matches went well for us. Really well, in fact, as we only lost one match with the eccentric Korean brawler. Using her trick of storing fireballs and unleashing them during combos or quiet moments of the match when opponents are tempted into jumping, her unfamiliarity saved our hide. Using her fast speed and stored fireballs to keep on top of opponents, we were able to beat the likes of Jabroni91, II JDIZZLE II, Evilsmevil0 and others.

Not that the night went perfectly though. Our Juri was stomped by HilryClintun (who else?), which forced us to change characters to Cammy while he switched to Akuma. After a frantic back and forth, we just about managed to scrape a 2-1 win. No such luck against Boss Man IV, who took our E.Honda to pieces with his El Fuerte as he secured a 2-1 victory in the last round of the last match. Yet the most impressive performance of the night was easily Demon Grim, who picked our Hakan apart from solid spacing, precise combos and razor-sharp reactions.

It was a great night that showed lots of play and variety, from wild Vegas to turtling Guiles to rushdown Codys, with everyone who entered proving to be a good sport and showing us plenty of new tricks with their character of choice.

We've put up some of the best matches below so you can check out some of the opponents we were up against - thanks everyone for taking part, excuse us while we head off to Training Mode...