Capcom took a moment this week to reminds us all that the U.S. arcade market is as dead as a doornail by announcing that there would be no local arcade version of Street Fighter IV.

There’s arcades out there that have imported Japanese versions, but like arcades themselves, they’re few and far between. Even if you do find one, it might be a Frankenstein. Technically, importing one from Japan is against the law.

Americans play their games at home on consoles these days. What’s left of the arcades is skewed heavily towards ticket redemption machines like the ones often associated with Chuck E Cheese or Dave & Buster’s. A whack-a-mole game is fine and all, but an arcade it isn’t.

It’s funny to see how arcades have fallen out as a cultural force. The Last Dragon came on cable the other night, with the protagonist fighting an evil video game arcade owner. If you watched that back-to-back with Tron, you’d think that starting an Aladdin’s Castle would be the fast track to money, women and power instead of a great way to lose money on a huge up-front investment of expensive hardware. Seriously, have you seen the prices on some of these things?

So, for all you American fighting game fans, it looks like your only options for curleh mustache tauntings will be in the privacy of your own home.

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