Why I love Street Fighter 2!
My first experience playing Street Fighter 2 wasn’t on the SNES or in arcades. No, it was on the Mega Drive (the Champion Edition). For a solid year after its release on the SNES, I never played it. It was a blast, especially being a Master System owner and an avid Sega Power reader.
The ad was amazing, I still have this image of Blanka receding in my mind that still makes me smile (his mom wouldn’t be impressed…). I saw it being played in arcades (no entry allowed) and on TV shows like Gamesmaster. I couldn’t believe that such a thing could be had at home that wasn’t inexplicably expensive (like the Neo Geo). Sega Power initially reported that the Mega Drive could not handle SF2. It took a 24 Megabit cartridge and the invention of a Mega Drive six-button joypad to make it happen, but oh my, it was worth the wait! A friend of mine from elementary school got it and I immediately went over there to check it out. Even loaded with a normal control pad and having to press select to switch between punch and kick, it was awesome. I think I spent the whole day there, my friend’s brother brought us some Fruit Tella for sustenance.
The evolution of SF2 is a strange and wonderful thing. I have never known a solo game (forget sequels) that has so many incarnations and so many fans. Thousands still download it on the Microsoft and Nintendo networks to play on next-gen consoles. I think I’ve been exposed to about ten versions and except for the NES version, they’ve all been great. That includes the Master System version!
The original arcade incarnation was “The World Warrior” and was credited with launching a host of titles in the same genre. I can name Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Virtua Fighter. Just as the title was going to the SNES and various home computers, Capcom released the Champion Edition, which lets you play as all four bosses. Wow. I’ve gone crazy with the SNES version, but one I didn’t expect to be good was the Amiga version that runs on an A500+ (that’s 1MB of RAM) and without the plugins that are possible with a cartridge, but wow! it’s great! Since it’s a lot less colorful than the SNES version and you only have one kick and one punch button (possibly more with keyboard use? I forgot…), but it’s just as fluid and playable. Capcom’s versatility across platforms can’t be understated, and while certain third parties have helped out (TecToy and, er, Yoko Soft), SF2’s integrity remains intact.
By the time Champion Edition arrived on the Mega Drive, Capcom had already released the Hyper Edition (Champion plus additional speeds) for the SNES, which proved so popular that it actually came as a bundled title with the console for a while. Capcom then packed the “Hyper” section into the same Mega Drive cart, great! So MD owners got to enjoy a port of the original Champ Edition and the faster Hyper Edition (set your own speed), phwooaaaar. Fatal Fury’s release on the MD should have been something to celebrate (I think it’s great), but SF2, and the hype surrounding it, ruled.
And then there was Super Street Fighter 2, which I didn’t buy but was a solid extension of the SF2 license in arcades and in 16-bit.
What made SF2 so special? There’s a ton of stuff, but for me, the ability to collect joy (yes, I just made that word up) made it hard to put away. Button mashers and more calculated gamers were able to pick it up, enjoy it for a while, and then put it down again. Then pick it up again. With the Hyper Edition, it’s twelve different approaches and twelve different ways to win the game, choosing different characters when you see fit. You might not get along with Guile one day, so why not try crushing him (literally) with E Honda the next? This subtle variation in special moves also pleased different types of players. With Ryu and Ken, players can be more reactive as their moves can be performed quickly and effortlessly. Whereas with Guile and Blanka, you’ll need to think a few moves ahead (more like a chess player) as their moves (mostly) need to charge up for a few seconds. For button smashers Vega or Chun Li are perfect, many times I’ve wanted to strangle a friend who beat me just by bouncing as fast as he can and making annoying slide moves. The more I think about it, the more obvious the appeal of SF2 becomes. And I haven’t even mentioned the bonus stages yet, don’t think I’ll ever get tired of trashing that car.
Ryu and Ken are great, end of story. Memories of a graphic novel, possibly a comic, vaguely come to mind, but regardless, these two characters are the epitome of cool. Ken in his striking red Ferrari-esque red Gi and Ryu in his classic understated white – muscles rippling with a look of death. Also. Cool. For. School. I think Capcom screwed it up in later SF4, their tiny heads on ridiculous bodies make them look like the goombas from the Super Mario movie. Ryu or Ken? Ken for me, mainly because I like Ferrari red. I have never known a game that makes two sets of identical characters (save for the difference in their strong casts, they are identical) work as well as two different characters. Though Midway has tried it in the Mortal Kombat series with varying degrees of success (camp bot, anyone?). There are myths that Ken is faster and Ryu hits harder, but we’ve done extensive testing here at AA (love a good test we do) and they’re the same. I can’t explain the Ryu mythos, but Ken’s quickness could be explained by the Gi’s brighter colors and less detail, which creates a kind of optical illusion. Anyway, since every kid in school has a favorite soccer team, every boy (or girl) also has her favorite character. Which leads me very well to…
Street Fighter 2 cosplay is also great as it cuts across the genders. Although the high school girls didn’t say it out loud (loudly?), there are bound to be some female SF2 fans in there. On a recent trip to Tokyo (which you can read about here) I saw some magazines/posters advertising cosplay events. Guys, we all wanted to meet Chun Li in the 90s, yes? Google “Street Fighter 2 cosplay” and thank me later as there were clearly girls in the 90s who wanted to be Chun Li. Wow, she kicked some of the proverbial. Dozens of Japanese girls still play SF2 and its derivatives, when you can find them among all RPG and Rhythm games.
Capcom discovered gold and (justifiably) flushed it for all it was worth. You can still find the original arcade machines now. I found an interesting version of the Champion edition earlier this year, where you could only play as the third (I think) color of the character. Brown Guile (oo er) was a delight to control with the original left stick and right button combination, though I think I got to fight three before I ran out of 50p coins. What I wouldn’t give to have one of those machines! Er, replicas are £1400 and originals over £5000 if anyone wants to get us an early Christmas present…
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