The Street Fighter thread

[AndyKurosaki]

Still remember the first time I saw Street Fighter 2 in the arcades. It was the first fighting game I'd noticed, and it really stood out. Several pound coins later, I was hooked. Picked up the SNES version when that came out.
The iconic characters, the brilliant music, and the combat system combined to make one hell of a good game.

My favourite session of it would have to be in an arcade in Akhihabara, Japan, about 6 years ago. Amongst all the latest fighting games, they had several SF2 machines. Rather than the usual cabinet, you played sat down, with your (real life) opponent sat at the machine in front of you. I'll gladly admit I've never been a 30 hit ultra combo master, but I can throw a few moves together. By now me and my 2 friends thought "we're experienced with SF2, we should do ok". Couldn't have been more wrong. Each of our opponents took us to school, barely giving us chance to get a hit in. When you did get one, then they upped their game even more. On defeat, we all thanked our opponents and said the equivalent of "good game", and they thanked us back. Was a fun experience.

[RoboticMonk3y]

Street fighter on the snes, spending ages trying to put in the code in to increase the speed even more.
Then proceeding to have a ken vs ryu fireball battle until there was a quarter circle blister on my thumb.

Also on the snes, there was always someone who got themselves a turbo controller and hundred hand slapped their way across the screen.
Ah happy memories of early gaming

[DomsBeard]

Ha ha yes turbo pads were banned when we played with friends

[RoboticMonk3y]

Thinking on it the capcom splash screen sound going into the street fighter music is probably one of the strongest gaming nostalgia triggers I can think of.

[DomsBeard]

Yeah the calm before the storm. Did anyone else used to have or still have the CD they gave away with a mag (mean machines or ONM) in the mid to late 90's? It had every stage music plus everyone's sound effects through to the announcer saying round and then one through to about 9. I lost mine.

[ratsoalbion]

I remember it and think this would have been around 1993, but I don't have a copy to hand.

[mikeleddy83]

It's the game entirely responsible for why videogames are such a significant hobby of mine. If Street Fighter II had never existed I'm fairly sure there would have been another door down the road but in all honesty what a door to choose!

If there's a version of Street Fighter II that I haven't owned then I'd love to know about it but like many nothing ever beats that first impression of playing the game in the arcade.

There's simply nothing about the game that I view as a negative, being extremely picky I could say the gameboy version was poor. The music is so high up my list of favourites that barely any other games get a mention, the graphics remain timeless to me, the animations and general details to the stages can be vividly recreated by just closing my eyes, the character design left not a single dud in its ever expanding roster until possibly Super and even then they've grown on me since. The original version of SFII with a smaller roster made me want to know the story's of the characters inside out and the design was sublime, seeing Eliza pop up on the screen or the Russian president arrive by helicopter and experiencing brilliant additional music was the tip of the iceberg.

All the while it's been a roller coaster for multiplayer, I have friends that sadly have no interest in games anymore picking up the newer systems just to play a game online and recreate those matches where thanks to the internet we no longer have black and bruised arms from winning too many times at the game!

Sadly there is a bleak spot in my history with the games, it's the one time I played on maximum difficulty and spent 3 hours against Bison only to get so irritated I threw my snes controller at the screen so hard it's impossible to know that nothing was damaged. It's the single time I've ever done such a stupid thing and probably indicative in it's own strange way of what this game means to me.

Perfect!

[Flabyo]

If there's a version of Street Fighter II that I haven't owned then I'd love to know about it

There were some truly horrendous versions of it around. The Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 versions being particular low points.

[ratsoalbion]

I have no memory of there being an Atari 2600 version?!

[mikeleddy83]

Sorry mate, was speaking iteratively in terms of the series but strangely enough I did own the c64 version for a short while whilst hunting down the original Street Fighter (a huge disappointment sadly).

I'd love to hear impressions of the 3DO version of SSF2T though, I picked up the PC version of that first and gradually got around to picking up the PS2 version (which pretty much covers all bases I'd guess) but besides a small demo in a shop which looked impressive I've never touched that one.

[Flabyo]

The 3DO one seemed to get favourable reviews at the time if I'm remembering correctly.

[DomsBeard]

I think I might have played that it had fast loading times if I remember.

Got Poison up to a D+ finally last night after taking out a C+ Ryu and The Hawk back to back.

Got destroyed by my first run in with Elena last night. She doesn't seem to be my cup of tea but I'll have a look none the less.

Still not ran into another Poison yet, has anyone seen many online?.

I can get knifed/tea bagged in any game but losing to Ryu/Ken etc makes me go into a complete rage. It's the fact that they can fuck up yet manage to worm they way out most times with a dragon punch.

I love this game!

[ratsoalbion]

Still not ran into another Poison yet, has anyone seen many online?.
I love this game!

I've played against at least one Poison and took her down with my Blanka.
I love this game too - have you accepted my friend request yet?

[DomsBeard]

Oh no! I forgot about that I'll sort that out when I get in!

[Jinkkai]

I'll try to keep this short, but this is about Street Fighter so it's anyone's guess.


A bit young to be speaking of the first one, so like a lot people my experience with the SF franchise started with two.

Street Fighter 2 was something I'd heard my friends talking about long before I'd seen/played it. Evidently it was this crazy game with electric people and somebody who could stretch his limbs across the whole screen!
Like any young boy at the time would think, this sounded great. Luckily the corner Seven-Eleven had the cabinet of it so when I finally got a decent wad of change, a group of us went there to play. The first match you play in Street fighter ( no matter the game) is something you tend to remember for a long time. Waggling the joystick every which way while smashing buttons just to try and replicate what your friends jamming had done spurred on many rematches. With me anyway the first character I tried is the one I've stuck with since, or at least every game Ken has appeared in.

SF2 is also responsible for the only game related crime I've committed. My uncle, visiting from down state brought the SNES version along. After many sleepless night of trying to finish it with everyone to see those amazing ending screens, I was heartbroken to part with it when it came time for him to go. I still remember rifling through his bags filled with panic to find that grey cart and stuff it under my bed until he gave up and left.

After that it's become a life-long series for me. I never thought I would care enough about a game to count frames or know what a Renda Kara cancel was, but Street Fighter 2 and 3 impressed themselves on me that much.

From local tournaments to late nights spent with friends, SF series has some of my best gaming memories attached to it.

I'm still not that good at the game, but it's something I'll always come back to. No matter the iteration. There's something about the way SF feels that no other fighting game has. After playing many other fighting games, SF2 and 4 especially are games I'll always come back to.

I'd heartily recommend all but the first even today. SF2 might be a little slow by todays standards but still worth the price you'll pay. SF: Third Strike looks amazing in both cabinet and home conversions, and it's a technical players dream. SF4 is a culmination of the series for me though, it combines new player friendliness with the deeper systems to keep the higher echelon players happy. All in all, I'd say it's well worth owning the whole series if you're able.

[ratsoalbion]

Great post! I would have loved to include in the podcast but unfortunately we recorded yesterday.
Lovely memories nonetheless, thanks for sharing.

[DomsBeard]

Nearly smashed a controller the other day. I was in the final round against a B rank Rolento and I had the chance to finish him with an ultra and I messed it up and he finished me off. I did the full bite the controller smack it on the sofa maneuver

I'll upload it to YouTube at some point

[Flabyo]

I managed to break my stick the other day... I got so ragey that I smacked the top surface with my fist, and the connector cable inside that connects the stick PCB to the main PCB fell out.

(It's one I modded myself, so the connector isn't glued in place like it was with the original crappy stick that was in it)

[ratsoalbion]

shoryuken.com are offering a free, downloadable beginners guide to fighting games:
http://shoryuken.com/2014/07/07/learn-h ... ide-ebook/

What’s in the book?

One of the reasons it’s hard to learn how to play fighting games is because there isn’t really a set curriculum or lesson plan. The Primer is basically my way of doing that, and I spend most of the book teaching you how to play a specific character in a specific game: Ryu in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Street Fighter II Ryu is the Adam of fighting games; learn how to play him, and you’ll learn a set of basic skills that you can adapt to any other fighting game. Here’s a chapter listing:

Why You Should Learn How To Play Street Fighter
Everything You Need to Know About Fighting Games
Beginner Execution
Simplifying Street Fighter
Intro to Combos
Eleven Tips for Not Sucking at Street Fighter
Don’t Want No Scrubs
Introducing Street Fighter IV
The Warrior’s Path

[Flabyo]

That could well be worth a read.

Also a reminder that it's EVO this weekend (Friday through Sunday), and that there are nearly 3000 people enter ing Street Fighter 4 alone...

I can definitely recommend staying up very late and watching all of finals day on Sunday, I shall be.