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VideoGamer.com: Despite the net code...

DS: Yeah I know. It had all these things against it really and then it became impossible to ignore. What are you guys afraid of? That it's going to cost too much when this other project that's so inferior to what we're talking about was the number one selling game? So from that point on, I don't know what happened over there at Capcom or why they decided to agree with that but one way or another they did.

So we eventually did start talking about new version of an old Street Fighter and they weren't really sure even which one. I specifically pushed for Super Turbo and I told them that. Super Turbo, there's just several reasons why you should choose that one. One is that it's lasted the longest. It's still played in tournaments today even though it's so old, so it's a real testament to how good of a game it is. Also, it bridges a gap between new and old Street Fighters, or new and old fighting games in general. It has juggles but not really that many, and it has a super meter but not a complicated one. It's right in the sweet spot of appealing to a lot of people. In addition to that it seemed like this could be a whole set of products, not just one and they could do many of these revisions of old games. Starting with Super Turbo it would mean that you could then go in the progression that they were actually released in. After that I suggested they go to Street Fighter Alpha 2. I'm a multiple time national champion in that one so I know all about it! I'm one of the top three in the US, definitely! So I really wanted that one to be a later attempt because I had a lot of ideas on how to fix the balance on that game. Also if we had all of the art from Super Turbo I thought we could leverage that in Alpha.

Capcom really wanted Alpha 3. That's not seen as a good tournament game. And also even if you wanted to do Alpha 3 the number of characters are so large that it's an even bigger project. Alpha 2 characters are sub set so it just makes sense to do Alpha 2 first and then do Alpha 3 second, if you really wanted to get to Alpha 3. They also wanted to do 3rd Strike but 3rd Strike has a lot of animation. It has maybe three times as much and you saw how much of a struggle it was to even finish HD Remix.

VideoGamer.com: So why did Capcom want to do Alpha 3?

DS: They just really liked Alpha 3! It has all these different versions, and it's been ported to PSP, and Anniversary Collection, every time they add some new features to it and add some new characters to it. I don't know, I guess they think it sells well. Maybe the really casual crowd likes that game but it's mostly rejected by the hardcore crowd. So anyway there's all these different possibilities of what to do. I said my advice is to start with Super Turbo because it's the first in a progression, it's a good game and I know a lot about it so I'm going to be the most effective on that one. And they did.

VideoGamer.com: So when were you told you had the green light from Capcom?

DS: I really don't remember. It would have been a few months before we first announced Puzzle Fighter (April 2007).

VideoGamer.com: Why were Udon called upon to do the new art?

DS: Udon was brought up from the very beginning. Even before Street Fighter HD Remix when we were talking about some other Street Fighter game Capcom kind of assumed that Udon would be involved. Udon is really the only source of Capcom art that is approved by Capcom Japan and US. Their style is already signed off on.

VideoGamer.com: So they were on board from the beginning. What were the challenges there? I understand they provided art at the beginning of the project that was way too ambitious.

DS: Udon only ever oversaw the art. It's not like they drew every frame. The initial plan was that they would draw every frame and they said, 'it will take this long and it will cost this much'. Capcom said, 'no no that's totally unacceptable. It's got to cost way less and be faster'. It really has nothing to do with them being ambitious at all.

VideoGamer.com: Some fans think the initial art that was showcased is better than the actual art that's made it into the game.

DS: Yeah I've heard that too. I think maybe something is lost in the translation there. I don't know exactly what they're referring to. There was art that was leaked by some bad person, is that what this is about?

VideoGamer.com: I think that that's what some of the fans have seen.

DS: The confusing thing is that there was art that was leaked that really shouldn't have been, then there was also officially released art by Udon and Capcom before they changed the style. So if they're referring to the second one, the officially released art, then I understand what they're saying. That art, it had more shading, it was more of the style of Street Fighter 2's shading, as opposed to the Apha series' simpler shading. Udon wanted to do that kind of shading, but by that time, well that art that got leaked I hope demonstrated that the people who were working on it were not the right people. And so there was a change in who was doing a lot of the work. And so it was just taking so long that Capcom said, 'we've got to take some measures to make sure the game really comes out'. Changing the shading style to a simpler one at that point in the project was something that, maybe it was necessary to even get to the end.

VideoGamer.com: The game seemed to be put back and put back. Was it mainly down to the art or were there other issues?

DS: Yeah it was the art. I've read a couple of people speculating that me tinkering with balance took a long time. No no, that never delayed the project even one day. It was just the art. So they started like I was hinting at, on some trajectory with Udon overseeing a set of artists that did most of the work and it wasn't working out at all. It took a long time to change paths and get Udon to oversee a different set of artists, that is what you see in the final game. So, that had a lot to do with why it took so long.

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