Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting for 360 is overall just a fun experience.
- Ported perfectly onto arcade without losing the amazingly fun, classic gameplay -
- Great online modes make it easy to jump straight into a game and set it apart from older versions of the game -
- Very responsive controls, and when using the Hori 360 Arcade Stick, it makes the experience that much better -
- You can't put a price on this game, but for 10 bucks, it's definitely a must-buy -
Cons:
- Sometimes laggy online play can ruin the experience -
- Controls can sometimes feel inprecise when using the controller, making it difficult to pull off moves -
- Very difficult single-player without much variety when changing the difficulty settings - When Street Fighter 2 was released back in the day, it was truly an amazing achievement for arcade games. It truly changed the way fighting games were made and how we played them. Although I had just been born, I can still respect what Capcom did. They made a game that would last 15 years (and still running strong), and it hasn't lost any of it's fun. When I downloaded this game, I had high expectations. After all, one of the greatest fighting games of all time now with online play? It all sounded too good to be true. But in the end, it wasn't a let-down. Hyper Fighting is a classic 1-on-1 2D fighting game. Fans of the original will not be disappointed as it has all 12 classic, unique characters in all of their glory. Newcomers to the game will enjoy the diverse fighting styles all of the characters bring to the table as well. The game has all the usual modes you would expect out of this game. It has the classic Arcade mode of course, in which you take a character around the world to battle all the characters in their home countries and on their unique stage. The difficulty rises as you beat more characters and you eventually make it to the usual boss, M. Bison. If you do happen to beat him, you will see the unique storyline for which the character you won with. Along with Arcade mode, there is a VS-CPU mode where you can fight a single against a computer opponent. You probably will not spend too much time with this mode, although it can be good for practice. Speaking of practice, there is a Practice mode in which you can make the computer do what you want, such as stand, crouch, jump, etc. New modes added to the game in this port are the online modes. You have the normal Ranked matches, in which you play competitively in matches with random people in which will add to your ranked stats. For ranked stats there are Wins, Losses, Rating, etc. Rating is based on your wins and losses and how good the people that you play are. In addition to Ranked, there are normal player matches which are like Ranked, but you can play with your friends and they do not count for or against your rank. Perhaps the mode that stands out the most for online though
is Quarter matches. In this mode, you join or create a room of 3-4 people in which 2 people fight at a time. While these people are dueling it out, the other players in the room watch and wait their turn in line. When their time comes, they will put their virtual "quarter" up and challenge the winner of the last match. In this case, they are circles with your character of choice on them, not quarters. This is perhaps the most fun mode if you have 3-4 friends ready to play. This game does not go without its negatives though. With the online play, if you or an opponent has a bad connection, the game might lag, making it difficult to pull off moves and combos. This can ultimately ruin the online experience, although it might only happen every once in a while. Going back to single-player, it is definitely not for the faint of heart. Even on the default difficulty or lower, it can be grueling difficult. This difficulty can make some achivements almost impossible to get, although it might make you want to play more and more, making your money worth it. The
controls on this game are very responsive, although kind of clunky. Using the controller's D-Pad, it is very hard to pull off special moves. Although the analog stick helps a little, it still feels a bit off. This is why I recommend buying the Hori Arcade Stick for the 360. This is a nice, quality arcade stick for around 30 dollars, and definitely worth the money. This enhances the experience so much and although a bit pricey for a 10 dollar game, is worth it because it can be used for any fighting game on the 360 and any other classic arcade game such as Pac-Man or Galaga. Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting for 360 is overall just a fun experience. It feels so familiar for veterans of the game and welcomes newcomers to the game alike. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the Street Fighter series or likes classic arcade fighting games. This is definitely a must-have for your arcade collection.