Street Fighter 2

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What is Street Fighter 2

Street Fighter II is the legendary fighting game created by Capcom, which is still popular to this day.

This is the iconic fighting game with perhaps more sequels and variations than any other title ever made. It has spawned a host of imitators and has acquired a legion of devoted fans. By 1993, it is said to have grossed over a billion dollars in revenue through arcades as well as sales of the Super Nintendo and Genesis cartridges.

The game involves two opponents fighting in hand-to-hand combat in a best two-out-of-three competition. Each character in the game has their own set of moves, which are executed through a series of button presses. Certain moves, such as Ryu's "Hadouken" fireball or dragon punch, are burned into the brains of gamers worldwide.

The controls utilize a joystick and six buttons. The joystick handles jumping, blocking and movement. Three of the buttons are for punch variations of various strength. The other three buttons are for kicks. Throws are executed with a combination of moving forward and a timed button press. The special moves are executed through a special combination of moves and presses, either learned through practice or from a guide.

In single-player mode, the player must fight their way through a tournament. The player is able to choose one of the eight main characters. After a few fights, there is a mini-game where the player must destroy a car or shatter barrels. Once the player progresses through the tournament, he or she must then face off against the boxer Balrog (based on the likeness of Mike Tyson, who originally was named "Mike Bison"), Vega, Sagat (scarred enemy of Ryu) and against M. Bison (famously portrayed in the Street Fighter movie by Raul Julia).

The game also revolutionized the concept of head-to-head play. Players could each pick a favorite character and face off to see who was the better player. The popularity of this feature greatly extended the popularity of the game and actually spawned real-life tournaments. The game's incredibly deep system of blocking, timing and execution of button combinations made for rewarding study and mastery of each character.

This PC version of the original looks good. The colors are bright and the sounds are just like the original. The combat speed in this is a bit slower than the more modern versions of the game, which may actually be helpful. This game includes all the original characters and yes, the commands are customizable. This is a classic that every self-respecting gamer must master.

Pros:

One of the great games of all time

Beating M. Bison is one of the great achievements in gaming

Chun Li's spinning kick

Cons:

Can be difficult to set up

Runs a little slow in comparison to newer versions

Head-to-head gaming tricky on a PC