Street Fighter IV Trial Mode Explained

While I've been doing this whole video-game-writing thing for coming up on a decade now (Jesus, has it really been that long?) my life hasn't always revolved so completely around pixels. I had a NES and a Game Boy in grade school, but right around the time the SNES came out and arcade games started costing 50 cents per play, I was pretty much out of the loop on console games until the PlayStation/N64 era. As such, I've got some pretty significant blind spots in my video-game repertoire, particularly when it comes to fighting games. I played an unhealthy amount of Tekken 2 and 3, but other than making Scorpion shout “Get over here!” and throwing Ryu's fireball, I'm basically useless in games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

It's something that hasn't been much of an issue, though since the recent fighting-game resurgence with stuff like Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Street Fighter IV, I've felt like the odd man out. While Brad, Jeff, and Vinny were soaking up all the SFIV arcade goodness during our trip to TGS, all I could do was awkwardly stand around smoky arcades, sipping the occasional Tommy Lee Jones-endorsed coffee drinks. It's like working in an office full of sports nuts, only worse, because this is something that should really be within my area of expertise.

Thankfully, it sounds like Capcom is looking to accommodate first-time Street Fighter-ers with the upcoming console versions of Street Fighter IV, which will feature a Trial Mode that promises to help scrubs like me get up to speed. Practice modes are nothing new to console fighting games, though in a recent chat with Giant Bomb friend Jared Rea over at The Escapist, Capcom's Seth Killian explained that the Trial Mode will go much deeper.

I want to make it clear that it starts you with actual basics.

It begins with normal moves, then it goes on to specials, supers, ultras, two-in-one combos, chains into specials, links into specials and then finally, how to put it all together. We teach you what the pros refer to as 'bread-and-butter' combos, as well as focus cancel techniques that are useful to your particular character. So in that way, it's definitely challenging, but in my opinion its a rewarding challenge. You're not just beating your head against the wall, and if you can come out the other side, you'll find that you're really on the path to becoming great at the game.

Killian goes on to say that, at its higher levels, the Trial Mode will also be of use to experienced players as well, though Capcom refrained from including anything that he himself couldn't “perform in less than ten tries.”

I mean, it's doable, of course, but you'll see like a cross-up into chain into link into focus cancel and EX attack into ultra combo -- stuff like that.

I have no idea what any of that stuff means, though if everything works as promised, some time in the Trial mode should fix that in a jiffy. Anyone else out there feeling a little less intimidated by Street Fighter IV now?