Ono says Street Fighter should be a lot like Football

Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono has stated in a recent interview about his beloved fighting series and what his ultimate goal is for the series when he spoke with  The Guardian.

“You said that Street Fighter IV 3D is a stepping stone. Where do you want to take Street Fighter?
Until very recently fighting games have been a niche. In order to play you needed to understand all the rules, you had to know exactly what to do in every situation. The genre has been isolating itself from non-hardcore gamers. But I want Street Fighter to be a tool, like playing cards or a chess board – you just need the pieces and everyone can play, not just the elite. It will take a few more generations to get to that utopian point, but what the 3DS has done is enable me to take the first step toward my grand scheme.

Is it difficult to move toward the mainstream without alienating those hardcore fans?
A quick metaphor: think of the Premier League. When Manchester United play Chelsea, you have the most professional, skilful players taking part, so any kid just out of school can’t join that team. However, just because not everyone can play for Manchester United doesn’t mean no one plays football. Until recently, we only ever aimed Street Fighter at the high end, we’ve been neglecting people who want to play at their own level. So what we’ve done with Super Street Fighter IV 3D is, we’ve retained the hardcore elements, but we’ve lowered the entry barrier, so people can play in the way they want to play, rather than having to aspire to be hardcore. We’ve established a very important milestone here.”

Continue reading the interview at The Guardian.