| Street Fighter EX | |
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Poster for the arcade version. |
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| Developer(s) | Arika |
| Publisher(s) | Arika / Capcom |
| Designer(s) | Junichi Ono, Akira Nishitani, Noritaka Funamizu, Kazuko Kawanaka, Masashi Tanaka |
| Composer(s) | Takayuki Aihara, Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation Network |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
(Plus) PlayStation (Plus α) |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Arcade system | ZN-1 |
| Display | Raster, 640 x 480 pixels (Horizontal), 65536 colors |
Street Fighter EX is a head-to-head fighting game with 3D graphics, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN hardware in 1996. It is a spin-off of the Street Fighter series co-produced by Capcom with Arika and was the first game in the series to feature polygon graphics. It was followed by an updated arcade version titled Street Fighter EX Plus, as well as a PlayStation-exclusive home version titled Street Fighter EX Plus α, both released in 1997.
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The Street Fighter EX fighting system uses fighting systems of the Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha series. In many ways, EX still plays like a 2D fighting game, but the linear plane in which characters fight often changes along a 3D battleground. The game uses special moves and super combos familiar or similar to previous games in the series. Like in Alpha and Darkstalkers, the super combo gauge, used to do Super Combos and other moves, was divided into three levels. The game introduces various new features to enhance the player's combat choices.
Aside from throwing the opponent or wearing away their life by using special moves to drain it, another way to fight blocking is the "Guard Break". The Guard Break is a move that, if it connects with the blocking opponent, breaks the block and makes the opponent dizzy. The Guard Break can be used at any time with one level of the Super Combo gauge.
A Special Move can be done after a Regular Move or another Special Move, this is called "Canceling". In the process of doing a Super Combo, another Super Combo can be performed. This is called "Super Canceling" and can be done with Super Combos.
With a total of 18 new characters in the three games of the Street Fighter EX series, this represents the largest original set of characters introduced in a single Street Fighter series.
A few months after the original version of Street Fighter EX was distributed to the arcades, an upgraded version titled Street Fighter EX Plus was released to the arcades on March 1997. In this version, all the hidden time-released characters are available by default, as well as Garuda and Bison, who were exclusively computer-controlled characters in the original game. This version also adds four new hidden characters, Evil Ryu from Street Fighter Alpha 2, an alternate version of Hokuto named "Bloody Hokuto" and two cyborgs named Cycloid β and Cycloid γ.
A PlayStation version of the game, titled Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha and promoted as Street Fighter EX plus α was released on July 17, 1997. All the characters from the arcade version of EX Plus are featured, along with two characters exclusive to this version: Dhalsim from Street Fighter II and Sakura from Street Fighter Alpha 2. In addition, there was a hidden bonus stage where the player had to smash the barrels from Street Fighter II.
The PlayStation version also includes several game modes in addition to the standard Arcade mode: a dedicated two-player Versus mode, a Team Battle mode, a Survival mode, a Practice mode, Time Attack and a Watch mode where the player gets to witness a match between two computer controlled characters. The PlayStation version also includes Arranged BGM and CG animated endings for all the characters.
The Japanese versions of both EX and EX Plus contain text-only epilogues which are displayed on-screen after the player defeats Bison in the single-player mode. The PlayStation version features new epilogues (different from the ones featured in the arcade versions) in addition to FMV endings.
The themes are predominantly jazz, with rock and electronic dance music elements. Entitled Street Fighter EX－SCITRON 1500 SERIES, the complete 20-track CD album was released on 21 February 1997 by Pony Canyon, complete with 19-track voice collection. The 13 track live band CD Street Fighter EX Arrange Sound Trax was released on 5 March 1997, with a drama CD released on 21 March of the same year.
A sequel to Street Fighter EX was released for the arcades titled Street Fighter EX2. It was also followed by an upgraded version titled Street Fighter EX2 Plus, which was released for the arcades and ported to the PlayStation. A third console game in the series, Street Fighter EX3, was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2. The Street Fighter EX games all run at a vertical resolution of 480 lines, which makes them the only Street Fighter games to run at a definition above 256 lines until the release of Street Fighter IV in 2008.
The game received very positive reviews. GameSpot gave the game 8.3/10, and stated "In the video and audio departments, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha is pretty solid. Its old characters closely resemble their 2D predecessors", and that "taken as a whole, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha is a fun game with great gameplay, better than average aesthetics, and a large number of characters." They summarized as "a 3D Street Fighter game worthy of its heritage"[1]
N4G gave the game 7/10, praising the new features and the music, and adding "although a little sluggish compared to the 2-D incarnations, it’s still pretty fun."[2]
Electric Playground scored the game 9.5/10, with PSX Nation giving the game 90%, Video Gamers First awarding 8.9/10, and Absolute PlayStation with 88%.[3]
Edge magazine commended the "multitude of console-only extras". and gave the game 80%, while GamePro gave it 90% and proclaimed it a "worldwide fight-night favorite".[4] IGN gave the game 83%, stating "this is one of the best Street Fighters I've ever played, and I think it's a good switch. It's still a 2D fighter, but it looks a whole lot better"[5]
GameRankings listed the game as the 10th best PlayStation game of 1997,[6] while official magazine PSM said it was the 9th best game of all time[7]
Characters Skullomania and Jack were both featured in UGO's list of Top 50 Street Fighter Characters,[8] while V. Rosso was featured in their list of The 25 Most Memorable Italians in Video Games.[9] In 2010, Blair and Pullum were listed at 4th and 3rd positions of ScrewAttack's Top 10 Street Fighter characters.[10] In the same year, Tekken 5 champion Ryan Hart listed Hokuto, Darun, Allen and Kairi in his top 20 Street Fighter characters[11]
The game sold over 400,000 total copies worldwide after its first year on sale.[12]
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