And I’m like, “Well, don’t you want to complain about…no? Nothing?” And so the element that they’ve complained about most had been the HUD and that the life bars were not clearly visible because they’re orange but a different kind of orange and then ringed in orange flame. I was like, “Touché.” We took that back to the dev team and they’ve already made adjustments there to try and clear that up. But I was like, “This is really the worst thing you guys have to say? Because I don’t believe that for a second.” We’re going to hear about it.
So, for me, it’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like everybody is setting me up with, “Oh, it’s great. It’s great. It’s great.” And right before it comes out, I’ll get hammered with, “Oh, this is horrible.” But, as of right now, it’s been unadulterated love which is a little eerie.
But the game has a long way to go yet, with a lot more surprises. Not only in terms of characters, either. The other thing we’ve been doing almost every show, is showing a new, big mechanic. Like Tag Super Moves, or bringing in both characters to play at the same time which leads to a lot of zaniness. We’re going to keep doing that right up until launch. So, the game has a lot of surprises in store. I’m sure we can derail the happy train that most people are on. Give us a chance.
In terms of this partnership crossover with Namco Bandai, you guys are coming out first. What do you think the big challenge for them is going to be in executing their Tekken x Street Fighter game?
We’ve had a lot of interesting challenges and they’ve been fun for us to try to make those Tekken characters play in that franchise’s signature style with a clear Street Fighter flavor over the whole thing. The Tekken guys, they are going to have a much harder road to hoe.
They’ve got to make that 2D stuff seem viable in 3D.
Indeed. And trying to make fireballs do something that they can’t, for example. I’d just laugh if someone tried to throw a fireball at me in Tekken. Seems like it would be too slow up close and across the screen you would be like, “You got to be kidding me. That’s never going to hit.” So you got stuff like that. And, also, I think about like Ryu’s hurricane kick and how it’d pretty much kick the butt of every Tekken character…”Oh, you’re trying to sidestep? Hurricane kick.” Because Tekken’s all about using that 3D space but a move like the Hurricane Kick should still be able to hit a character trying to rotate around it. How do you solve that problem and not have it feel cheap if you’re a Tekken developer?
It’s fun for me because we’ve had our own challenges on the Street Fighter x Tekken title. But now we can throw it back and go like, “You guys figure it out. What have you got? Don’t screw it up.” We’ve seen them show a little bit what they’re doing. It’s very early and only in wireframe models. So, I think they’re quite a ways away yet. But I’m really looking forward to see what they’re going to do. And then I’ll be posting anonymously on the Internet complaining if they don’t have the hurricane kick right or fireballs.
So, if you see people trolling the Tekken x Street Fighter YouTube videos, Seth Killian is your first suspect, guys.
No, no, no. Those guys are going to do a great job. I have a lot of confidence in them and I think there’s lots of great fighting still to come over the next few years.
(MORE: Capcom Announces Street Fighter X Tekken)
Evan Narcisse is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @EvNarc or on Facebook at Facebook/Evan.Narcisse. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.