Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting

"Classic Reborn"

Ah yes, Street Fighter, whether you like it or not, you are most likely to know exactly what Street Fighter is. There really isn't much to say, except that it is a 2-D sprite fighting game that really evolutionized how fighting games were played. This version is not the SNES or Sega Genesis version, this is a direct port from the arcade, because of this the difficulty is actually pretty high, but what's a game without a challenge?

Sound 8
I love the old school whooshes as you punch and kick. The music is obviously very old, but still is very catchy. All the sounds you once knew and loved... or hated are intact.

Graphics 7
This game shows it's age with it's sprite work, it's not as smooth as I once remembered it to be. For it's time however the animations were spectacular. They still do look good though. Just like they should. In my opinion, the characters didn't really look all that good until Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.

Gameplay 9
Here is the meat of it. The game is addicting, and still very fast paced. To date, my favorite Street Fighter is Third Strike. I like how you have to think on what you do, unlike the button smashers (though still fun as hell) of Marvel Vs this and Xmen vs that, Third Strike's gameplay was based off of this. Hyper Fighting is slower paced then the current ones, well, obviously it's pretty old, but it still holds it's own really strongly. I did find my self trying to parry in vain just to have that hadokun hit me right in my face. Also, the highest combo you will most likely see will be up to maybe 7. Again, it's an old game, meant to rekindle our love for the classics and make money for Capcom.

Control 6
The ABXY and triggers feel okay, yes, only okay. Though they are layed out just like the SNES and PS2 controller, they still felt ackward, I had to really get use to it, but that wasn't really bad at all though, it was the analogue and d-pad. The d-pad feels clunky and unresponsive. Also my thumb kept hitting the analogue stick and kept making me loose focus of the matches. Because of this, I prefer the stick, which makes for great errors. I can tell right now I will have to be doing alot of practice to master this horrible stick.

Replay 10
The main arcade style vs. computer is there, left untouched just like the Arcade was, and just as difficult. You have acheivement points to motivate you to do a few things different with the Arcade mode. Got bored of that already? Not to worry, you have Ranked and player matches. Ranked are matches that tally up how many losses and wins you have.

Player Matches you can either just do battle between one another OR, you can select Quarter fights... at least I think that is what it is called. Basically the you can have up to a maximum of 4 people in a room, and two fight at a time, the ones not fighting can watch the match and wait for their turn. Multiplayer is what ate up quarters back then, and the multiplayer is what is going to have you coming back here.

Overall 7/10
Great classic experience and in my opinion the best game out on Xbox Live Arcade. The problem is, newcomers to this game will probrobly not like it. I already have been matched with a couple who knew nothing of what they were doing and cussed me out because I beat them. Especially those who never played the old ones like this one and has been use to playing the Capcom VS games and what not.

Recommend you download the trial first, I mean, why not it's free, and if you like it just purchase it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/06