It's been a long time coming, but finally Capcom's Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting has been released to the media via a preview build. We don't yet have an exact date on when the game will hit the Xbox Live Marketplace, but we do know that Capcom will be continually tweaking the game from now until it finally goes go live. That also means that we'll be keeping you updated on the changes made as the game progresses from beta to final.

If you're unaware with the many Street Fighter titles Capcom has released over the last 15 years, Hyper Fighting is basically the arcade version of Street Fighter II Turbo. That means that you'll be able to select from the default eight characters (Ryu, Ken, E. Honda, Blanka, Guile, Chun Li, Zangief, and Dhalsim) as well as the four primary boss characters (Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison). Now we know a lot of SF fans out there would have preferred Super Street Fight II Turbo, which includes Cammy, Fei Long, Deejay and T. Hawk, and is still played in tournaments today, but this is not about which Street Fighter you want to see. This is about the Street Fighter that will soon be available to you and how well it plays.

When you first download Hyper Fighting, you'll have two gameplay options available to you: Arcade Mode and Xbox Live Game. If you select Arcade Mode you'll then be able to choose from standard Arcade where you play against the eight world warriors and four boss characters on your way to beating the game. You can play Versus Mode against a friend, or you can enter the Training Mode. In the Training Mode you can select from Normal Mode or Recording Mode (where you can record a combo or any other action), and set the computer to stand, crouch or jump.

If you choose an Xbox Live Game, you'll be given three more choices: My Ranked Stats, Ranked Match and Player Match. Selecting the My Ranked Stats option will display all of the stats associated with the gamertag that's currently signed in. The stats listed include: Overall Rank, Overall Skill Rating (default is 1200), Average Opponent Rating, Total Points Scored, Total Matches Played, and Total Wins, Losses and Draws. Selecting Ranked Match allows you to choose from Quick Match where you play the first available opponent, or Custom Match where you can dictate the match settings you want. You can also create your own match here as well.

Choosing Player Match will display two more options: Traditional Match and Quarter Match. Both match types will give you the same options as you get from the Ranked Match screen. However, selecting Quarter Match provides the real meat and potatoes of Hyper Fighting.

If you played Dead or Alive Ultimate or Dead or Alive 4, you should already have an idea of how Quarter Match is played out. Two players will battle it out, while three others wait in line and watch the match. The loser goes to the end of the line, while the next person is line steps up to face the champion. In the beta version that we currently have available to us, the only downfall of the Quarter Match setup is the fact that you can't see the match currently in progress when you join. Instead you'll have to wait until the match is over and the game returns to the lobby before you can view a match. Hopefully this will change before the final release, since DOA4 allows you to view the match as soon as you enter the room.

Playing Hyper Fighting offline is almost exactly like it was back in the day at the arcades. We tested out the standard Xbox 360 pad (known for its horrid d-pad) as well as the Hori DOA4 arcade stick. To our surprise, the standard d-pad worked quite well, and allowed us to easily pull off fireball and dragon punch motions. We even tested the analog stick and found it to be relatively easy to play with, and at times easier than the d-pad. However, the real way to play is using the Hori DOA4 arcade stick. With a six button layout just like the arcade, this is the only way to truly play Hyper Fighting.

Some of the other options available to us were three different button layouts that can be customized and saved. This made it very easy for us to switch between the arcade stick and the standard Xbox 360 controller. You can also select your preferred side, so if you prefer playing on the left hand, player one side, you'll default there in all of the offline gameplay modes.

Our first experience with Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting was a relatively positive one, but there was one issue. When we hopped online to play against other people, the latency was very hard to deal with. The game seemed to run smooth enough, but the real issue was in the button delay. Pulling off a fireball motion was virtually impossible, and even the charge attacks (i.e. hold back for two seconds, then press forward and an attack) came out a second or two after inputting the notation. To Capcom's credit, the game is still under heavy beta testing, and we could not tell where the other people we were playing were located at. It's very possible that this issue will be solved when the final version hits marketplace.

Beyond the issue of latency during online play, Hyper Fighting looks to have everything a Street Fighter fan could want. The game is currently listed for 800 points ($10), but don't count that as the final pricing until we get the official word from Capcom. We'll have more on Hyper Fighting as new versions are released and the game draws closer to its final release date.