When it comes to fighting games, speed and precision is the name of the game. You have to know exactly when to block an incoming punch, as well as the precise moment to strike once your opponent shows an opening. Unfortunately, smooth gameplay is presenting a challenge to the Street Fighter 4 developers, as they are struggling mightily with online lag on the console versions, and not even Ryu’s Dragon Uppercut is enough to keep it at bay.

According to producer Yoshinori Ono, the team is hard at work, but they’re still far from having the issues resolved:

"Obviously lag will be a huge problem for online play. We’re working on it. Compared to other games such as Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur, they’ve got replay functions and so forth. It’s quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment... We still haven’t got a complete plan as yet. We’re still working on it. That’s all we can say at the moment."

The good news is that Ono and friends still have some time to work things out, as the console versions of Street Fighter 4 aren’t due until early 2009. Still, hopefully they can work something out, as being to see every individual attack in E. Honda’s 100-Hand Slap due to tremendous lag might not be as cool as it sounds.