Street Fighter II

SNES

Capcom -

Street fighter II. What can I say? There was a time when this game was the god of gods, the one, the chosen game, the game among games, the answer to “What shall I do this month” and the reason to mow the lawn endlessly and BEG your parents to PLEASE take you to a game store so you might have the ecstasy of gazing upon its glossy packaging. Now? God is this game annoying.

The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the fact that the game is CHEAP. The computer is cheap and you’d BETTER be cheap if you have any real hope of winning in the higher difficulties. For example: sometimes a character, say Dhalsim, will throw a kick only to have his FOOT punched by Ryu, resulting in full damage. Sometimes such things happen, sometimes they don’t. It’s hard to tell exactly when an attack will result in damage or if it will be pre-empted by another move.

The game is also slow. With the slowness comes a feeling of reduced control (“LAND! Will you LAND! Kick now!!! Curses!). Street Fighter II puts you in the position of throwing a bad move and having a good half- second to reflect on it. (“ok, throw a Fireball then . . . he’s jumping over it, but there’s not a damn thing I can do . . .”) While some might find the slower speed comforting and easy to keep up with, it bores others.

All things considered though, one must give Street Fighter II credit for inspiring a slew of fighting games (both good and bad - Think of DOA2 on one end and Mace on the other), creating a gaming franchise encompassing multiple platforms, inspiring multiple anime adaptions and birthing one terrible (Oh, Raul Julia! WHY was your final role M. Bison?!) live action movie the stink of which persists to this day.

Street Fighter has many faults, but it is not without merit. It brings an important commodity to the table: difficulty. SURE it works funny, SURE it’s hard, but these are just obstacles that any self- respecting gamer can overcome. When you get right down to it, a lot of the game is figuring out what works and what doesn’t. It’s all about formulating a strategy for defeating your opponent, because if you just try to kick the crap out of him or her, you may succeed for a while, but eventually Vega’s outstretched loafer will find (and stomp) your button pushing face again and again until you are forced to bandage your sore thumbs and “continue” the right way. Also, the feeling of satisfaction that you get from subjecting M. Bison to a speech about how he will never defeat your dragon punch is incredibly satisfying.

Ultimately, however, I must question my own ability to review this game. Can I truly be even a little objective? For example: Replay value seems high to me, but this game has been with me for so many years that it’s tough to tell. I literally grew up playing it. But I set these concerns aside for a while.

What liked: Difficulty, ultimate satisfaction

What disliked: Quirky hit detection, slow speed

What to expect: the word “Continue”

What not to expect: Instant success, Dan

Ratings on:

Control: 8 (“I could SWEAR I threw that punch before him!”, yet still very intuitive)

Graphics: 6 (for the time, exceptional, but it’s getting old)

Sound: 7 (“HADOKEN!!” I still get all tingly)

Style: 9 (father of many games)

Ratings on:

1st hour: 8 (I am getting my ASS kicked. Wait, what does “Difficulty 3” mean?)

5th hour: 5 (If I have to fight this Vega Jerk one more time, I’m gonna kill, like, a country)

1st week: 9 (Ryu is SO much cooler than Ken.)

2nd week: 8 (I’ll show YOU “Tiger!” . . . for charity . . .)

1st month 6 (“Do I dare play on ‘4’ difficulty?”)

#1 reason why I hate this game: “AWW DAMN IT ALL!! I HIT HIM! (In the distance we hear a faint ‘aaaaah’) . . . well, just ONCE more . . .”

by Freeohio

Special note: this game was NOT reviewed from a ROM, but even if it was, I’d still be with your mom tonight . . . hehehe.