>i know IV will get more balanced as the sub-series evolves,
>but i wanna get first impressions.

For me, Alpha 3 (actually 2 Gold, but i'm saying), IV, Super Turbo, Third Strike.

If HD:R is in discussion, that would probably be tied with IV right now. The look, feel and online options even it up for the wild stuff you can do with IV (like comparing driving a Bentley with an Elise). I never could get with SFIII, but loved the SFA series. I still play the SFA Anthology on a semi-regular basis.