(Stories, poems, reviews, football analysis, and much more...)
Sunday, 27 March 2022
STREET FIGHTER II REVIEW
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Series: Street Fighter Release date: February 6, 1991 Platforms: Arcade, SEGA Genesis, Super Nintendo/SNES and a fuck ton of others Genres and Modes: Single player or Multiplayer Fighting
In my previous review, which talked about Street Fighter, I pointed out in the end that despite being considered a decent game upon release, it was also criticized for its terrible controls, awful soundtrack (the arcade version), and the lack of selectable characters. Only two of them were playable. Or hardly playable, since left player was always Ryu, and right player was always Ken. The controls, as mentioned before, were, are and will forever remain awful. A huge delay between normal attacks and movement, and weird input for special moves made people dislike the game A LOT. So how, or better yet, what made Capcom think a sequel to a game that flopped hard would deserve a sequel?
The answer for that question is rather complicated. They just thought the game deserved a sequel. They started working hard and good to make sure the game is actually playable. And was it all worth it? Let's see all of that in the following review, which will start with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
The iconic flyer for the arcade version of the game...
Followed by the iconic intro, for a game that changed gaming forever...
Plot
Before I start commenting on the gameplay, I have to start with the game's plot. Yes, the game, just like it predecessor, has a story. Shadaloo, Earth's most dangerous criminal organization, is keen on world domination. Knowing that starting a war would be pointless, the leader of the organization, M.Bison (or Vega in Japanese... I'll explain the names in the trivia section of the review later on) decides to host a fighting tournament. World's greatest fighters, competing against one another in an all action packed and explosive tournament. Winner gets to be crowned as "The World Warrior", and the best fighter ever (or maybe end up being a subject for Shadaloo's evil plans for world conquest).
Unlike Street Fighter, once a player inserts coins in the arcade machine and then presses start, is greeted with a selection of characters. YES!!! YOU READ THAT RIGHT!!! YOU CAN PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE OTHER THAN RYU AND FUCKING KEN!!!
These other fighters come from various countries in the world. Street Fighter II stars 8 playable characters:
- Ryu: The face of the game, the series and the reigning champion of the first tournament. He competes in the next one to test his skills against worthy opponents and his best friend (and palette swap) Ken
- Ken: Ryu's best friend and the "Player 2" of Street Fighter. Just like his friend Ryu, Ken just wants to duke it out against other fighters and his best friend.
- Chun-Li: The first newcomer of the series AND the first ever playable female fighter in the history of video games. She is a master of King Fu whose lightning speed kicks will make sure the opponent never gets up. Aside from that, she's an agent of Interpol and enters the tournament to avenge the death of her father at the hands of M.Bison.
- E.Honda: Edmond Honda is a Japanese sumo wrestler who just enters to show everyone why sumo is the best martial art in the world
- Blanka: A mysterious man-beast from Brazil who is in search of his long lost mother and enters the tournament for that reason.
- Dhalsim: A practitioner of Yoga, this Indian hermit enters the competition to put an end to Shadaloo's evil plans, just like Chun-Li. And another character as well. That one being...
- Guile: Colonel of the US Airforce Military, is on a vendetta hunt against M.Bison. Reason being is that his superior, Charlie, was murdered in a fight against the evil dictator. With that objective in mind, he's going to stop at nothing to reach Bison's ass and kill him.
- Zangief: A wrestler from the USSR/Russia, who participates in the tournament on behalf of the president of the Motherland. He's just there to show the power of the Motherland and represent his country and fighting style.
Wow! 8 playable characters. How awesome is that? But these 8 characters, while entering for their own reasons, cannot challenge the devious, brutal and sadistic M.Bison once they beat the others. They have to deal with the 4 Heavenly Kings, 3 of them guard Bison like there's no tomorrow:
- Balrog (Mike Bison in Japan): A violent boxer from the USA, he uses his brute force and sheer strength to win any fight. Loves women and money, and isn't afraid to get dirty to win a fight.
- Vega (Balrog in Japan): A Spanish matador who is also a ninjutsu master. EXTREMELY handsome and agile, with the desire to kill anything that is not beautiful, Vega can be one tough son of a bitch to defeat.
- Sagat: The final boss from Street Fighter returns, and he's just as scary as he was in the previous tournament. Having a scar on his chest (thank Ryu for that), his Muay Thai wants one thing and one thing only: to settle the score with the man that humiliated him in the first tournament.
And then there's M.Bison (Vega in Japan). The organizer of the tournament, and the most dangerous opponent the fighters (and the player) will face when playing this game. He uses some strange fighting style which focuses on disintegrating the opponent, should they ever come close or lay a finger on his body.
Lengthy part for the plot, eh? Let's jump into the gameplay part of the review, shall we?
These iconic characters defined a generation (not as great as the New Generation, but still)...
Gameplay
The game is a 1-on-1 fighter. You get to play either against a friend or the computer.
The controls of the game are NEAR PERFECTION. Moving your character has never felt better. On top of amazing movement, you have a dedicated six button lay out (3 buttons for a wide range of punches and 3 buttons for kicks). Each button corresponds with the following actions: Light, Medium and Heavy. All these 3 types of normal attacks are bound to each attack button. You can also do throws as well, and pulling off a special move is no longer a chore. In fact, there are more ways to pull off a special move other than just doing quarter circles, 180s or doing a zig zag (literally the motion is a Z + attack). You can CHARGE the super move, or do a COMMAND GRAB. What are these new ways of performing a move, you ask?
It's simple:
- CHARGE: Holding the joystick at a certain direction for one second and then following that up with another movement input + an attack button will result in a CHARGE SPECIAL MOVE (Example: Hold ← for 1 second, then follow that with → + any of the punch buttons) - COMMAND GRAB: A special move that grabs an opponent and deals massive damage. The difference between a grab and a COMMAND GRAB is that a grab can be done by standing next to the opponent, and pressing any of the attack buttons + direction. COMMAND GRAB on the other hand, requires the player to input a special motion + an attack button (Example: full 360 motion on the controller + any punch button)
These 2 new ways of performing special moves, alongside the standard ones that I mentioned earlier would become the dominant ways of performing special moves in 2D fighting games for the rest of time.
But the thing that made SF2 a massive hit, was the combo system.
Combo is basically the cancelation of one move into another one. The funniest part about combos is that this was not part of the main core gameplay, but rather a bug. Once players discovered this, they began experimenting with the characters, to see which character will deal the most damage, which moves connect with one another... This, alongside its cast, stages and special moves, made SF2 a WORLD WIDE SENSATION. Even today, people still find this game to be one of the greatest video games ever made, and still pop quarters (through emulations of course), just to fight against The World Warriors, or against a friend, or a foe, or their sibling, or parent, or whoever the fuck they fight...
RIP Ken. Was not able to do anything against Guile's infamous Flash Kick...
No way! The Muay Thai champion on the verge of losing?
Ken does not like Spinning Pile Drivers at all, which explains why he Shoryuken'd Zangief...
Sumo or King fu? Which one will win in the end?
Updates
For gamers, seeing games receiving new versions is nothing new. It's rather mundane and stupid if you ask me. But back in the 90s, this was something new and exciting. So imagine everyone's shock when they found out that Street Fighter 2 received TWO gigantic updates in the next year:
- Champion Edition (March 18, 1992)
- Hyper Fighting (December 10, 1992)
Champion Edition
Why is M.Bison in the background, smiling so... Sinister?
This version of the game made some small tweaks to the gameplay and made the 4 final bosses playable. AND BOY WERE ALL 4 BOSS CHARACTERS BROKEN BEYOND BELIEF WHEN USED IN THE RIGHT HANDS!!!
Hyper Fighting
Perhaps the best way to play Street Fighter 2 nowadays...
Released near the end of 1992, this version of SF2 is regarded by many to be the best version of the game. Increased speed, insane gameplay tweaks, new colors for all fighters (except M.Bison) and NEW special moves for all combatants. It literally lives up to the titles of TURBO and HYPER FIGHTING...
Videos for gameplay
Gameplay by: arcadegamesfreak
Same as above: arcadegamesfreak
Gameplay by: TurkishBullet19
What you've read so far is pretty cool, right? A sequel that pretty much blows the original game out of the water with its insane new improvements in the gameplay, selectable characters, and a simple, yet interesting storyline that not everyone cares about. Not everyone is there to stop Shadaloo. Some just want to participate for other things.
On top of all of this, I forgot to mention the fantastic backgrounds and music for each stage. Funny enough, the music during the fights was meant to represent the stage itself, and not the characters. People just didn't notice this nor cared about it enough, so the soundtrack for this game will always be associated with the characters of the games, and not their stages.
And I think it's time to stop talking about the base game and talk about the SUPER version that came out 1 year after Hyper Fighting...
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Series: Street Fighter Release date: Autumn 1993 Platforms: Arcade, SEGA Genesis, Super Nintendo/SNES and a fuck ton of others (like SF2) Genres and Modes: Single player or Multiplayer Fighting
That's right! Capcom couldn't hold it in any longer and just said "FUCK IT! WE'RE UPDATING THE GAME YET AGAIN!" Only this time, the update was SUPER huge, SUPER massive and SUPER important for the series and fighting games.
Running on a completely new hardware for the time, something I forgot to mention during the SF2 portion of my review, the game whilst looking similar to the original versions, it also plays and feels different. The new hardware that was used for the game, named CPSII (Short for CP System 2), gives the game a fresh new coat of paint. Literally a new coat of paint. More colors, ability for more detailed backgrounds to be made, re-arrangement for the soundtrack to make it sound different from before, and best of all, the ability to add new characters. The previous version of the CPS hardware, named CPS1, was very limited in terms of hardware capabilities. But I won't go into too much detail on the technical aspects of the game, because we need to see what has changed since Hyper Fighting.
New faces. New stages. New everything. SUPER, innit?
This intro right here... May be the best one yet!
Plot is pretty much the same. It's just an updated version of the game with a fancy new look. But the subtitle for Super Street Fighter II is no joke. As it adds 4 new different playable characters, 2 of which will become extremely popular amongst the fans and people outside of the Street Fighter circuit:
- Cammy White: An English beauty who is working as an MI6 operative for the British government. Her iconic bikini looking military outfit, coupled with her deadly moves, make her a dangerous foe to fight, and a young man's wet dream.
- Fei Long: Another Kung Fu practitioner, only this time, he doesn't hail from China like Chin-Li. He hails from Hong Kong. And the dude is basically an homage to the legendary Bruce Lee.
- Thunder Hawk (T.Hawk for short): A Native American coming from Mexico. Enters the tournament to fight off Bison's minions from ruining his lands and his people.
- Dee Jay: Jamaican kickboxer who is also a part time reggae singer and rapper. Enters to find inspiration for his music. He has a goofy smile, but don't let that fool you. His kicks and punches are like machine guns: fast and deadly.
The 4 new challengers enter the ring to make the total number of participants 12 (actually it's 13)...
In terms of gameplay, the game has a flaw. A flaw that ruins the experience in a very SUPER way (I'll stop with the super puns... For now). The speed of which the game moves has been decreased.
Returning to play more like vanilla SF2, many players found the lack of fast paced action infuriating and troublesome. While the game looked, felt and played amazing, the lack of increased speed was a huge disappointment for a lot of players. So naturally, Capcom decided to do yet ANOTHER FUCKING UPDATE!!!!
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
The final update for SF2, and with a character that would change the series' history forever...
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (or Super Turbo) is the final update for the long running series of Street Fighter 2. And marked an end of an era for the time being. Released on February 23rd, 1994, Super Street Fighter II Turbo updated the base version of Super to the point where the game no longer felt like a normal and casual experience. In fact, the game introduced a lot of tiny new gameplay features that change the core fighting of the game itself. New animations for all characters, new ways to combo normals into specials, and best of all: The introduction to SUPER COMBOS.
SUPER COMBOS - A special combo move that all characters posses (minus the dude above. I'll talk about him after this). The game features a "Super" meter that gets filled the more damage you deal to your opponent. Once it's full, the player has an option to do the super or not. It depletes upon finishing a round, which means the next one can be refilled again (Example on how to pull off a super combo move: 2 quarter circles + any punch attack; a 720 motion (that'd be 2 360s) + any punch button; charging ← for a second, then follow that with → ← → + any kick button).
Speaking of characters, the guy on the cover for the game seems pretty scary. And he is.
Master of the Fist. Knows no equal on the battlefield. Lives for one thing only: Fighting!
He is... Akuma...
Akuma (悪魔) or Gouki (豪鬼), is a martial arts master who is a secret character in the game. He can be fought in place of M.Bison, should the player beat every other fighter without using a continue. By the looks of it, he is a clone of Ryu and Ken. BUT MAN DO I LOVE HIM AND HIS WAY OF USING HIS MARTIAL ARTS!!!
He has his typical Shoryukens, Hadokens and all that. But what really sets him apart from the duo is his gameplay. Ryu's fighting style focuses more on concentration and precise power, whereas Ken's is about hitting your opponent multiple times and setting them on fire, Akuma is a mix of both. Focusing on juggling his opponent on the ground and in the air with the strength of Ryu and the fanciness of Ken's multiple hits. The guys is a demon that is so good, he is still banned from tournaments, due to his power.
And he also has a Shin (真) version of himself. Shin in Japanese means "true"; and once Akuma evolves into Shin Akuma/Shin Gouki, he just doesn't pulls any punches, deals double the amount of damage, is fast as fuck, teleports like crazy, and can kill you with a mere thought.
The only downside of him is his lack of Super Combo. Console ports of the game allow him to have one, but not in the arcade version.
Why so serious, mon? Smile! It's good for you!
Damn it, Ken! Stop getting destroyed already...
All hope is not lost, as Fei Long unleashes his Super Combo on Zangief...
THE KING DOES NOT LOSE TO ANYONE!!!
Akuma's introduction to Street Fighter. Destroying Bison with ease, he's ready to face the finalist in a fight to the death...
Videos
Courtesy of: Jan Doedel
Courtesy of: TheInnocentSinful
And yes, Akuma can be played through hacks or inputting a secret code
Final words
Street Fighter II will go down in history as one of the best video games ever made. Not only did it revive a game that was near extinction, but also gave birth to the competitive fighting game genre as well. The slick combo moves, stages, music and characters; all of them have made a massive impact on gaming and culture that is still praised, 31 years after the game's original release.
But how did these characters fare before SF2? What happened to them before all of this?
We have to start from Zero to find the missing link to all of this...
Trivia
- Balrog, Vega and M.Bison in Japan are named (in order): Mike Bison, Balrog and Vega. The reason for the name change is that the character Mike Bison was inspired by Mike Tyson, who in 1991 was involved in a rape scandal. To avoid lawsuits, Capcom changed the names overseas. In the competitive scene, they're known as Boxer, Claw and Dictator.
- Akuma's name change is also a strange one, since in Japanese, both words Akuma & Gouki mean demon. In Japan, he's Gouki. Overseas, it's Akuma.
- The combos just sort of happened, and Capcom decided to roll with it. Good thing they did, cause it's awesome.
-The SNES port of Street Fighter II The World Warrior is one of the best selling SNES games of all time, with 6.3 million copies sold. Hyper Fighting is behind it with 4.3 million copies sold.
- Dee Jay is the only character that was created from the USA division of Capcom. Rest are all from the Japanese division.
- Alongside selectable speeds, Super II Turbo also allows players to play as previous versions of characters. Each version has its perks, but they lack super combos. Maybe it's for the best to not have a super combo all the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment