Retro Game of the Month: Street Fighter II

Here it is, the first thread in the new Retro Game of the Month.

Before we begin, I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a moment to read the information in this post and maybe give your thoughts on the whole idea there. I'd like to keep this thread for discussion of the actual game.

Right, I'll just throw out the first game to get things rolling. I've tried to choose something lots of people will have played and an idea that was bandied around for the last Retro Game of the Month:

STREET FIGHTER II

First Released: 1991

Original System(s): Arcade

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Alright here's my take on the game.

First Impressions

Street Fighter II was one of the first SNES games I ever played and as such it does hold a special place in my heart. The graphics were just so much more advanced from the NES games I was used to, and of course there wasn't really any one-on-one fighters on the NES, so it was all new to me.

Why Is It Great?

Now, I'm not a huge fan of fighting games, but I know a good one when I play it. I'm pretty sure Street Fighter II was instrumental in popularising the fighting genre in the early 90s. It did everything to near perfection: slick controls, the cool characters, the combos and excellent graphics. Some fighting games can be very off-putting to newcomers, yet I never felt overwhelmed by Street Fighter II. I loved it because it made me feel less like an idiot than Mortal Kombat!

Best Moment

For me, Chun-Li doing her lightning kick. As a girl, I feel obligated to choose the female character in these sort of games – and why not?  She's the best.  Even Jackie Chan thought so when he dressed up as Chun-Li for the movie City Hunter.  That's just weird!

Best Version

There's an awful lot of versions of Street Fighter II out there, easily half a dozen in the arcades alone. Most of these were ported to the home consoles and computers of the time, so there's plenty of versions to choose from. I'm going to have to plump for the two SNES versions that I've played: the original Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo, although the Mega Drive Special Championship Edition was good too. Turbo was just plain awesome if you ramped up the speed to the top setting. Sadly, I never played any of the arcade versions.

Further Play

The only other Street Fighter game I've played is Street Fighter IV on 360, and then only for a few hours at a friend's house. I did like it and was glad it kept some of the feel of the old games. The visuals are sublime and the gameplay has retained the 'easy to pick up' nature of Street Fighter II.

CIassic Game? You Must Be Joking!

Well, I don't need to write anything here because I reckon it's a true cIassic. I've just left the header there so you can use my post as a template if you want to. There's no not-well-formed HTML or anything, promise!

So there's what I reckon.  Go nuts: tell us what Street Fighter II means to you.  You don't have to do anything structured like I have, it's just an idea.

First Impression=

I had heard that the arcade game was a smash hit, and I wanted to try it out for myself, but my family lived too far from an arcade that may have had the game. The closest arcade had games that were always a year or two behind the really big nice ones you find in bigger cities. Anyways, I got my first hands on with Street Fighter 2 on the Super Nintendo. I was a lot younger then, but I remember I did play it A LOT. Where as it was NOWHERE near the top of the list of my favorite SNES fighters, Street Fighter 2 Turbo is in the top 5!!! The original just seemed to slow and tedious where as for some reason with the extra speed and added effects of SF2T just felt right in just about every way. I heard that SF2 was actually better on the genesis then it was on the SNES, but I didn't own a genesis when I was younger. I did get my chance to play the game on the genesis though, and other then some added animations I strongly disagree and feel that the gameplay on the SNES is better mostly due to the fact that I absolutely HATE the genesis controller.

What I remember the most looking back=

When I was growing up, it was all about the SNES fighting games for me, the list is large! I played them all for so many countless hours that one could have questioned my mental sanity.... lol... jk. Street Fighter 2 and Street fighter 2 Turbo were right up there near the top. Although turbo got a TON more playing time mostly due to the faster gameplay customizable features and a slightly larger cast of characters. I would always have a neighborhood friend or one of the other kids my mom used to watch during the day to play games with. Now, dont get me wrong I was also very active with baseball, basketball, trail hiking, tree climbing etc. etc, but my fighting games were kind of a guilty pleasure... sigh... see, back in the day I thought that playing games made you a geek or nerd in other peoples eyes, so I kind of hid it from most my sports buddies and some of my other friends. You know, now days gaming is a normal household thing that everybody plays and is very open about it... Hmm.. I dont want to get all scientific/pyschological here, but this might explain why I hoard and collect games the way I do now. LOL. It is my way of showing people that I changed and I dont care what anybody thinks, even though now people think its cool. I was gaming before it was cool.

Anyways..... lol

Overall Street Fighter 2 gets a 8/10 from me

gameplay= 7/10

sound effects= 8/10

replay= 8/10

nostalgia= 10/10

Looking back, even though I played and have great memories of many games, Street Fighter 2 is one of the closest to my heart :)

~_*HADOKEN*_~

Just wanted to say that I love this Retro Game of the Month idea and will participate when I can. Alas, this last game is one that I haven't found so I had no way to play it. Hoping the next one is one I have. :)

Just wanted to say that I love this Retro Game of the Month idea and will participate when I can. Alas, this last game is one that I haven't found so I had no way to play it. Hoping the next one is one I have. :)

 

TwarBlackshire

This has now changed and I now own 2 versions of this game! I'll give them a good try and post my thoughts.