Street Fighter II

"The grandaddy of 'em all"

If you haven't heard of Street Fighter II than you must have been living under a rock for the past 10 years. SF II was a game released by Capcom to an unsuspecting arcade comunity in 1991. Little did they know that they would almost single handedly create a whole new genre of game. A little while later, the Snes version of this mega-hit was released, and people finally were able to play this game at home! This game single handedly sold thousands of Snes's and was, like the arcade game, an instant smash.

Before the Alphas and the Turbos of the Street Fighter universe there was this game. And it was good. Two people competed in brutal combat in a winner take all, best 2 out of 3 round brawl. The concept is so simple, but Capcom's execution is what made this game great. By pushing buttons along with joystick movements, you could do "special" moves, wich allowed you to flash kick, throw a fireball or more great things. This was extremely original at the time, and it really made the game popular.

If I showed you pictures of the Snes and the arcade version of this game, you'd have a hard time telling them apart. Especially considering how new the Snes was when this game came out, it had surprisingly good graphics and sound. The challenge was there too, in fact, if it was in the arcade, it was in the cart.

If you had a friend and this game, you were in heaven (at the time of its release of course). Two people could beat up on eachother for hours on end, and never get tired of it! Two player mode is what made the game great, and it's why this game's still fun if you play it today.

This game isn't perfect however, and it released many updates, two of which made it to the Snes platform. You couldn't select the same character in the original (but you could in vs. mode with a code), and you couldn't be the boss characters either. Both of these were fixed in the first Snes update: Street Fighter II: Turbo.

If you like fighting games, you owe your love to this game, and this game only. If not for this game, we would have no Tekken 3, nor Super Smash Bros. It was this kind of revolutionary thinking that made Capcom such a successful company. However, if you want to buy or rent this game, the updated versions improve on the original in almost every way, so, they'd be a better bet.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 08/07/01