Super Street Fighter 4 is a game I love and hate. Love to hate. Hate to love. Certainly, at least one of those.
 
Before 2009 I could never have been branded a fighting-game fan. Despite being exposed to Soul Calibur, SFA3, Super Smash Bros. Melee, I never properly understood them, and understanding is an essential factor in brawlers.  
 
Understanding not only in the sense of what the hell is going on, but also of the fundamental requirements necessary for a better appreciation of the genre. Mind-games, single-frame timing, perfect spacing: this is the life-blood of the series.  
 
Street Fighter 4 refined and revived not only the SF franchise, but the genre. By allowing it to be accessible to those without an already firm grasp of the technicalities involved (SF3, despite its splendour, was highly inaccessible and an abject failure on that front), it attracted a whole new generation of players; the actual game-mechanics were simple yet hid depth only obvious to those willing to put in their time and patience. 
 
Giantbomb wasn't free from its seductive charms, either. Never before have I been part of a gaming community, and now I can gladly say I have been. The SSF4 forums on GB are some of the friendliest around, and it is a reflection of the game's qualities that it can bring people together in such a positive way. The players are multi-national, of varying skill and, without fail, lovely. Even Pessh.
 
Then, in late-April of this year, its follow-up, SSF4, was released. This update added a further 10 characters to the roster and tweaked the game to near perfection. Needless to say, the switch-over was painless.
 
There comes a time, though, when enough is enough. Anything can become tiresome in large doses, and there is a point at which 99-second rounds can begin to feel a little familiar. Despite taking breaks of months at a time, I always return. Eventually. A fresh perspective provides surprisingly positive results: any agitation I had, of which there was plenty, dissipates rapidly, and I find myself looking at each match with a new sense of clarity.
 
Almost 2 years later, and with 900 hours played (I have literally played 900 hours. This is unfathomable.), I'd say I have a reasonable grasp of the game at this point; if not, I at least have a respect for it. No other game has ever grabbed me the way (Super) Street Fighter 4 has, and I doubt another ever will. 
 
Game of the year. Game of the decade. Game of my life. 
 
Love.

Probably a rambling, incoherent mess. Still...

Still even you ramble a bit. it is pretty understandable. Great pick!

My Game of the year too.

I have to agree with you on this one. Before SFIV and SSFIV If you had asked me if fighting games were any good I probably would have said "hell no". But after learning the game inside and out and getting to know it's hardcore community. I simply can't turn back. It's ignited in me a deep love not only for Street fighter, but for fighting games in general.

game of the decade? 
 
 
i love SSF4 but thats ridiculous 

I'd put SSF4 in my Top 10 for 2010, but definitely not my GOTY. The more I played the game the more I've begun to absolutely hate it, and start looking forward to 2011's offering of fighting games.

Maybe if I were better at the game I'd feel the same, but to each his own.

I disagree with everything you've just said, on principle.
 
Still Game of the Year.
 
Or at least in my own personal Top 4.

	1. Mass Effect 2
	2. Super Street Fighter IV
	3. Demon's Souls Came out in 2010 in Europe, so it counts.
	4. Bayonetta

" game of the decade?   i love SSF4 but thats ridiculous  "

Great game even tho I suck badly at it, good blog.

I will never be able to enjoy that game

I love watching Street Fighter matches, but don't really like playing the actual game. I've tried, but its just not really for me. 
I'll stick to BlazBlue for now, which actually takes the time to introduce me to the finer mechanics of fighting games. 
 
Good write-up though.

My game of the year too, and to think I had never really touched any fighting games before Super. Not even the original SF4. Now I'm hooked fo' life!

i think by now i've played a combined 200hours of SF4 and Super, and still feel terrible at it, even though I have wayyy more appreciation for the game and mechanics than I did starting out playing. I think i'm like you since before SF4 all i did was mash, and I didn't know how to block... yeah..
 
Similarly I've spent over 900 hours playing Team Fortress 2, and I am so sick of it sometimes (i can give you so many reason why the game sucks and why I hate it), yet I keep going back to play it.

" Giantbomb's community wasn't free from its seductive charms, either. Never before have I been part of a gaming community, and now I can gladly say I have been. The SSF4 forums on GB are some of the friendliest around, and it is a reflection of the game's qualities that it can bring people together in such a positive way. The players are multi-national, of varying skill and, without fail, lovely. Even Pessh. "

" @GetEveryone: I absolutely and completely, totally and utterly agree with everything you wrote.  ....Well almost everything. GOTD for me is a toss up between this and CS:S which I played with equal mania for longer than I've played this so far.  BLOG APPROVED! "

900 hours? Madness!
 I think the only game I've pumped more hours into would be my beloved Timesplitters: Future Perfect, though around 400 of those hours would be map editing.

...and in a single session all the goodwill has evaporated.  
 
ME2 is my game of the year. 
 
Hate.

" ...and in a single session all the goodwill has evaporated.   ME2 is my game of the year.  Hate. "

" @mubress: You play CS:S? Hit up my steam! "

Yes................ That is all.  :)