David Sirlin on Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix’s development

David Sirlin, the man responsible for remaking one of the most popular fighting games of all times, talks about the development and the various difficulties encountered with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. He mentions that the classic title, made available through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade services, was something that would appeal to both new players and veteran gamers alike.

Read more about the interview after the jump!

VideoGamer.com took the time to talk with David Sirlin, the man behind the the new look of Capcom‘s Super Street Fighter II. He had his hands full doing all the visual and gameplay balances to please both new players as well as the hardcore veterans of one of the most popular fighting game series.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix brought about a new look for the series as it was released on the next-gen consoles as a downloadable title for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade services.

One of the biggest challenges Sirlin faced was trying to make the game enjoyable for beginners while still convincing the older fans that the “dumbed down” system wasn’t a turn for the worse in this HD remake.

Sirlin received a lot of flak for the amount of balances done to some of the more godly characters in the original game. However, he explained that the tweaks done to most of the characters was done in the spirit of game balance, something which can appeal to both new players and old.

He further explained it by saying:

[…] I really wanted to set things right. Seeing the inaccurate claims of “dumbing down” also spurred me to action. The message that the game is friendlier to beginners really overwhelmed the internet gaming news, maybe because it’s hard to imagine that something can be better for beginners AND better for experts. That’s why I started to reveal the balanced changes one by one to show that the game is intended for (and tested by) the hardest of the hardcore players in the world, as well as beginners.

Other difficulties encountered while making the remake was the fact that the Xbox 360’s download limit didn’t leave a lot of space to include all the of the HD features on the XBLA version of the game. However, they did their best to include everything that they could considering the space limit on the system.

He also gave a nod in the direction of other fighting game series like Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter. Sirlin mentioned that 2D games like the Street Fighter series can learn a lot from 3D fighters in terms of some its more fluid features and the time to execute your moves.

Sirlin also complimented the series for the fact that it was something gamers can pick up and play and have the satisfaction of completing the game with minimal fuss. He mentioned that the more “mainstream” games these days can take a page off the Street Fighter series as a good game someone can get into right away with “no barriers”.

Read the full interview by clicking on the Via link below.