by Gamatroid
A new warrior has entered the ring!
STREET FIGHTER IV CE
- RELEASE DATE: 4/22/25
- MSRP: Included with Netflix Subscription (or $4.99 on AppStore)
- DEVELOPER: Capcom/FINE
- PUBLISHER: Capcom
- PLATFORMS: iOS, Android
- PLAYED ON: iOS (iPhone 14 Pro)
Street Fighter IV Champion Edition was recently added to Netflix Gaming, and while it isn't a new release per se, it wasn't available as part of a gaming subscription service until now, so anyone who wanted it previously had to pony up $4.99 (like I did).
Now you may think that playing Street Fighter on a mobile device isn't exactly the best way to play, and you'd be right, but it is one of the most accessible ways to play, and this version on iOS does a damn fine job of making the game as accessible and playable as possible.
RETRO ROOTS
As Street Fighter IV CE on mobile is just a mobile-friendly port of an existing game, the mobile version takes its influence from the same place as the console version: the long-running Street Fighter game series.
Street Fighter II
While it's true that the Street Fighter series originally began with the very first game in the arcade, the truth is that game was pretty awful and without the introduction of the incredible and legendary Street Fighter II, the series probably would have fizzled out after the first one.
Street Fighter II not only reinvigorated the series, but it set a new standard for fighting games and really created the entire fighting game craze of the 90s, which would spawn Mortal Kombat, all of SNK's fighting games, and a bunch of lesser clones that vary widely in quality. It's hard to underscore just how vital Street Fighter II was to the evolution of fighting games, and how we play them today.
Even the idea of a "Champion Edition" was started in the Street Fighter II series, when Capcom released an updated version of their game where you could play as the same character (because in the first one you couldn't), which introduced the concept of color palette swaps (which again was a first), and also introduced the idea of being able to play as boss characters. Truly revolutionary, and it had a direct influence on Street Fighter IV CE.
REVIEW
Gameplay & Mechanics
Street Fighter IV Champion Edition is a mobile-first Street Fighter and its touch controls are truly excellent. Now, keep in mind that everything is relative, but in a world where SNK's fighters are practically unplayable with their touch controls, SFIVCE plays like a dream.
It even has touch screen enhancements like being able to touch on the super meters when charged to instantly execute those moves. You don't have to do it that way, and if you want to input the button combos to do so, you certainly can, but I really enjoy the one-tap nature of the move execution.
Overall gameplay is really enjoyable, and this is one of the best fighters I've ever played on mobile with touch controls.
Now, the only negative in this area is SFIVCE doesn't appear to work with Backbone or mobile controllers at all. At first I thought it was just me, and Backbone does list it as compatible, but it doesn't work. Maybe that will be fixed in an update, but for now the touch controls are your only option.
Street Fighter IV Champion Edition was first released in 2018, for phones that were significantly under-powered compared to the monsters in our pockets today. This means SFIVCE runs great, but its graphics could certainly be better in 2025 running on the latest hardware. The characters are pixelized-rendered versions of the 3D characters found in the console versions of SFIV, and the backgrounds are completely static images of the 3D backgrounds in the console version. While the characters still look pretty good, the backgrounds look rough. Granted, this game is simply a rerelease of a seven year old game, so you can't expect as much as you would from a recent release, but still its a bit underwhelming in its graphical presentation.
Audio & Music
Even though the visuals might not have kept pace with the newest games, there is nothing wrong with the audio. SFIVCE uses the same announcers, music and style as the console version, and frankly it sounds great. No notes.
The story of SFIVCE is in line with the other Street Fighter games. It certainly won't win any Oscars, but the backstory and motivation of each fighter is interesting enough to help populate the victory screens and ending sequences. Nothing wrong with it, but not necessarily noteworthy either.
Technical Performance
Given this game was designed to be playable on seven-year-old hardware, if you have a recent gen device, you won't have any issues. Heck, I played it back when it first released, and I think it played great back then too.
Innovation & Originality
Seeing a fighting game play so well with touch-controls is pretty damn innovative. It may not seem like a big thing, but if you've tried to play as many "console emulated" fighting games on mobile as I have, you would know just how special the touch controls in this game are. It's like what Christian Whitehead did for Sonic on mobile, Capcom has somehow achieved for Street Fighter IV.
Value
Even the original Street Fighter IV CE was a great deal at $4.99 for a fully fledged fighting game on mobile. Now that it comes complimentary with any Netflix subscription, you'd be hard pressed to find a better value.
OVERALL SCORE: 8
Street Fighter IV CE is great. Frankly, if the graphics weren't so dated at this point, I would have scored it much higher. I do realize it's simply a port of a seven-year-old game, but I think it's still necessary to take into account what the experience will be like for a gamer in 2025. Also, the lack of controller support at the moment is a negative, but given how good the touch controls are, this is only a slight negative. Most of the time I'm not carrying my Backbone around, so the fact that it works almost flawlessly with just on-screen touch controls is frankly amazing. Really fun game, and given it is included with any Netflix subscription is incredible. If you like Street Fighter and have Netflix, you definitely need to give this a try.
CRITIC'S CORNER
In looking at other critic reviews and user ratings, the scores for Street Fighter IV CE are generally high, with the exception of Pocket Gamer UK for the original 2018 release.
(EG's score compared to other publications - raw score quoted then followed by normalized score out of 10, if applicable)
- Gamatroid: 8/10
- Touch Arcade: 4.5/5 (9/10)
- Pocket Gamer UK: 2.5/5 (5/10)
- iOS AppStore: 4.8/5 (9.6/10)
- Google Play: 4.7/5 (9.4/10)
You can check out my (almost) complete playthrough with Ken in the video below: