Back when Street Fighter IV was first announced, the game's producer, Yoshinori Ono, stated in countless interviews that he would like to see the game release on as many platforms as possible. Using an intricate analogy, Ono specifically stated that the Wii was a viable console for Street Fighter IV:
"Street Fighter IV, as it stands now, would be well-suited for the higher-level platforms. But the game doesn't have to have these visuals in order to be fun. We could go, potentially, to the Wii. We could make it on Game Boy, for all we know right now. As long as the rules are the same, that can be independent of the visuals. So we're not going to be limited by any hardware specs; we're going to aim as wide as possible. You could have a gold-inlaid board, knights with diamonds in their eyes. Or you could just draw a grid on a piece of paper and use cheap plastic pieces. And you're having the same amount of fun."
Although the Game Boy option was probably just to further his example, many took his mentioning of a Wii version to heart - even more so than a casually mentioned PlayStation 2 version in another interview. After all, aside from the Virtual Console, there has not been a Street Fighter game released on a Nintendo home console since Super Street Fighter II on the Super NES back in 1994. Every major home console released since then, that was not Nintendo-branded, had some sort of release of Street Fighter; Hell, there was even one in development for the Mattel Hyper Scan! Despite Capcom's fondness for porting PlayStation games to the Nintendo 64 (Resident Evil 2, MegaMan Legends), not one Capcom versus fighter was released for that console. The closest thing Nintendo console gamers have gotten since SSFII was Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO on the Gamecube, which was a crossover game, not a proper entry to the Street Fighter series.
So imagine the disappointment when Ono's words were diffused upon Capcom's announcement of the game's release only on systems that are more powerful than Jesus with a hand grenade. Why go through that entire analogy if nothing is to come of it?
Fortunately, with the advent of Capcom porting games to the Wii from all over the place (Resident Evil 4, Okami, Dead Rising), there may be hope. However, since this was the exact practice that was taking place back in the N64 days, I would not hold my breath....
Please, Capcom, just make Street Fighter IV on the Wii. There is an army of people just waiting to give you money for it.
