Super Street Fighter IV ships 1 million, series ships 29 million

Super Street Fighter IV launched in North America on Tuesday, in Japan Wednesday, and the UK and Europe today. And while it's early days yet, Capcom is confident the game's glowing reviews will make it a best seller along the lines of 2009's Street Fighter IV, which shipped over 2 million copies within a week of its launch. That game helped the Japanese publisher hit nearly $1 billion in annual sales during its last fiscal year.

In preparation, Capcom today announced it has already shipped 1 million units of Super Street Fighter IV to retailers worldwide. The figure puts lifetime shipment figures for console Street Fighter games at 29 million units internationally, since, as of March 31, the series had already shipped 28 million units, according to Capcom. The series started in 1987 with the arcade original and will continue with the arcade version of Super Street Fighter IV, which was just announced for the Japanese market.

Much like Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter IV takes a preexisting game, in this case Street Fighter IV, and remixes it primarily by adding new characters. Super II veterans T. Hawk and Dee Jay make their return to the series and Korean tae kwon do expert Juri appear for the first time. Other familiar faces include Cody, Guy, and Adon from the Street Fighter Alpha series (and Final Fight, in the case of Cody and Guy).

In addition to extra fighters, Capcom's newest double dip will feature new ultracombos for every character, enhanced online play, balancing tweaks, and more. For more on Super Street Fighter IV, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.