Is this really balanced?

After the modifications, the original control buttons had become a layout with one joystick and four large buttons.

After just one round, Sam was utterly won over.

"Seriously, dude, what the hell? Why does this feel so good?"

Sam had never felt anything like this before.

He controlled every move the character made in real time, personally directing even the slightest movement.

That sense of control brought unparalleled immersion and impact.

Even through a screen, even with nothing but a few little pixel figures without animations or textures, it was the same.

"Shooting!"

Carried away, Sam couldn't help shouting.

He gripped the joystick, quickly rolled it forward in a half-circle, and slapped a button at the same time.

An equally untextured ball of light shot toward Lin Lixin.

Whenever Lin Lixin tried to advance, Sam fired off consecutive projectiles to keep him pinned down, and if Lin Lixin stayed still, he stayed still too.

Unfortunately, the game was still unfinished, so finer maneuvers like crouching under mid-level projectiles or jumping in weren't available yet.

Lin Lixin could only crouch at the edge of the screen and keep blocking, his expression growing darker and darker.

"How did I never notice what an animal you were?"

"What's that supposed to mean? You designed these projectiles yourself. I think they're pretty fun. Shooting!"

Developing Street Fighter took more work than any of their previous games.

Even more than Metal Gear, with its full two hundred stages.

The reason, naturally, lay in the art.

Every character included several sets of complex animations.

Even drawing directly from the video footage, frame for frame, and with an outsourced studio helping, it still took nearly two months to finish the game's test build.

Besides Fei Long and Guile, the launch roster included several characters representing martial arts styles from different regions.

Ryu, a practitioner of Hadou-Style Karate from Japan.

The Russians' proudest world-class wrestler, floor-plan demonstration expert, and gleaming mass of muscle-Zangief.

An enhanced special-agent soldier who also supplied the good looks, Cammy White.

And Chun-Li, whom Lin Lixin had personally designed after setting aside a whole day to study art.

Chun-Li could be called the most iconic Chinese character in the Street Fighter series, and the one best known beyond its fanbase.

Twin buns, a blue qipao, and, of course, a pair of strong, beautiful thighs.

As for Chun-Li's motion footage, Brandon Lee and Vivian had actually filmed separate portions, with each assigned what suited their abilities.

On the day of the playtest, Lin Lixin specifically invited Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger, who had served as models for the character designs.

Looking at the arcade machine before him, especially its control panel, which was utterly unlike any he had seen before, Brandon Lee's intense curiosity was written all over his face.

As Street Fighter's martial arts consultant, he was probably the person with the deepest understanding of the moves that would appear in the game.

His curiosity grew all the stronger when he recalled Lin Lixin's impossible demands, such as the Reverse Whirlwind and Whirlwind Kick, moves that completely defied martial arts logic.

He really did want to see what those moves, flights of fancy in reality, would look like in a video game.

As for Schwarzenegger, he had simply come to join the fun.

Since Lin Lixin had invited him, he had to show at least some support.

Brandon Lee glanced at the control panel. The four buttons were labeled "light punch, light kick, heavy punch, heavy kick."

It looked like every character had four moves. That was pretty interesting.

The character selection screen had a very interesting design, with several national flags marked on a pixel-art map.

As the two selected different characters, the map displayed each character's identity.

Their eventual choices held no surprises: Brandon Lee chose Fei Long, while Schwarzenegger chose Guile.

"This is my first time seeing a joystick like this. What does it do?"

Schwarzenegger tried moving it in a circle, and Guile moved along with it.

"All I can say is, wait and see."

Lin Lixin deliberately kept him in suspense.

A game's most enjoyable moments often came when players first picked it up and explored.

He had no intention of spoiling that wonderful moment in advance.

As a member of the development team, Sam had naturally playtested it early on too.

He was nowhere near as good at controlling his expression as Lin Lixin, and had already pulled up a stool in front of them, ready to watch a good show.

There was no denying that fighting games had an extremely low skill floor and an extremely high skill ceiling.

Even newcomers who knew nothing about combos or strategies could put up a decent-looking fight by mashing once they grew familiar with the controls.

Soon, Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger figured out how to play and began tentatively attacking each other.

Brandon Lee had learned martial arts from his father, and brought that same spirit into video games.

Rather than rushing to attack, he carefully maintained the distance between them.

"Holy crap, he already knows neutral?"

Lin Lixin was secretly astonished, and couldn't help marveling at how martial arts really did let one grasp other things by extension.

Schwarzenegger had no such concerns. Just look at Guile's sturdy muscles! Being cautious with a build like that would disgrace his lineage!

Attack!

Schwarzenegger had already taken Guile for a powerful offensive character.

But Guile was a charge character to begin with, and Fei Long decidedly outclassed him in mobility.

Apart from his first attack, which landed thanks to their unfamiliarity with the reach of punches and kicks, every subsequent attack was handled with ease.

Brandon Lee even figured out the blocking mechanic on his own in the process, becoming steadier still.

Finally, after another round of attacks from Schwarzenegger, Brandon Lee keenly caught an opening in his recovery and threw out a crouching heavy kick.

What greeted Schwarzenegger next was a furious assault like driving wind and torrential rain.

Schwarzenegger hadn't figured out blocking the way Brandon Lee had, and soon exposed several openings, retreating under one blow after another.

But Brandon Lee wasn't impatient either. After every few hits, he swiftly pulled back to a precise distance, taking the concepts of neutral and footsies to their utmost.

The outcome held no suspense. Without understanding the spirit of Guile's turtle play or knowing any advanced techniques, Schwarzenegger naturally lost in short order.

He scratched his head, clearly not having enjoyed the game much. He hadn't had a particularly good time.

"Mr. Lin... I can understand you admiring Bruce Lee as a fellow Chinese man, but I think a character this unbalanced will only make the game boring."

Although he didn't understand video games, he could clearly feel that Fei Long was far faster than his Guile in every respect.

"Mr. Arnold!" Sam called out excitedly. "If you trust me, I can play for you! Guile's my favorite character. He's really strong!"

"Can technique make up for moves that slow?" Schwarzenegger was skeptical, but obediently gave up his seat and let Sam take over.

"Shooting! Sonic! Shooting! Shooting!..."

Brandon Lee crouched helplessly at the edge of the screen, watching Sam fire projectile after projectile, unsure whether to be annoyed or amused.

But both he and Schwarzenegger were a little surprised.

Neither of them had seen this move at all while they were playing.

Brandon Lee tried several times, but couldn't get past Sam's turtling projectile blockade, and could only helplessly give up resisting.

"Guohao, mind if I take care of him?"

Lin Lixin chuckled and gently patted Brandon Lee on the shoulder.