The latest in a series of interviews on videogame audio that I'm conducting for GameSetWatch was posted today.  This time the subject is Street Fighter IV, and the guests are the game's sound director and composer. 

The article is called 'The One-Two Punch of Street Fighter IV's Audio' and goes into such topics as the use of regional instruments for the original themes and the adaptation of Street Fighter II melodies for the new soundtrack.

Awesome interview!  Sounds like Endou and Fukasawa have a close working relationship.  Hearing about the regional instrument choices and direction of the new character themes is interesting.  As for the project's overall aim, I snickered at Fukasawa's comment: "In all honesty, my goal in joining this project was to avoid getting beaten up by fans for having mangled their favorite themes." As well as this one: "I listened to the previous arrangements, too. Honestly, my first thought was that in the face of this towering stack of cool remixes, I didn't stand a chance." 

I get the feeling that everyone involved in the development of SFIV kind of had this same underlying mantra; trying to desperately honor (and even surpass) the legacy of the original SFII. :)

It was surprising to me to hear just how long the game had been in production.  Apparently Capcom was working on the project for close to two years before Endou and Fukasawa started work on the sound design. 

The audio team appeared interested in going into depth on the Russian theme, which a lot of people seem to count among their favorites in the game.  It turned out that a Russian-language website was collaborating with us on the Castlevania Judgment interview with Noisycroak while working on this interview, and they are currently planning a version for the site Game-OST.ru.