Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Round 2


In my last post, I talked about the first 3 "Street Fighter II" (SF2) games that were released in the arcades- SF2: The World Warrior (1991), SF2: Champion Edition (1992), and SF2: Hyper Fighting (1993). This time I'll be talking about the 3 remaining arcade games in the SF2 series.



Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers came out during the latter part of 1993. The game featured a new graphics engine, but still had that familiar SF2 look. All characters have multiple color costumes depending on what button is pressed when selected (at least 6 color schemes for each character, as the SF2 series uses a 6-button layout). Another new aspect was the scoring system which kept track of combos, first attacks, etc. However, the faster game speed that was introduced in Hyper Fighting was changed back to the normal speed similar to Champion Edition.


The 12 original World Warriors are back, along with 4 New Challengers

You can still play as any of the 12 characters from the previous games, but this time there are 4 new characters added into the lineup - Cammy (from England), Dee Jay (from Jamaica), Fei Long (from Hong Kong), and T. Hawk (from Mexico). This brings the total number of playable characters to 16.


Cammy is the only other female character (aside from Chun-Li) in the SF2 series


Dee Jay- the Jamaican kickboxer


Fei Long (or Bruce Lee, same thing)



T. Hawk- a giant Native American

The next game in the series came out in 1994- Super Street Fighter II Turbo (SSF2 Turbo). All 16 characters from the previous game were back and the faster game speed was back as well. The obligatory improved graphics, sound, and artwork were present too, making it the best looking SF2 game at the time. The major change for this version was the introduction of the "Super Combo" for each character. There is a "super combo gauge" at the bottom of the screen which fills up as players attack their opponents. Once it is filled, the player is able to perform a "super move" that makes multiple hits and does major damage to the opponent.


The "super combo gauges" are at the bottom left and right of the screen for each character

SSF2 Turbo was also the first Street Fighter game to have a hidden character- Akuma (also known as Gouki in Japan). Players are able to fight him at the end of the game, but only if certain requirements are met (no losses and no continues). There is also a code that enables the player to play as Akuma. He has the same moves as Ryu and Ken, but is stronger and faster. He also has additional moves such as an air fireball and teleportation. He doesn't have a "super combo gauge" but his strength and speed compensate for that. He is one of the most powerful (and cheapest) characters in the SF2 series.


The mysterious Akuma

Akuma is also seen in SSF2 Turbo's flyer

Akuma appears as the final boss when certain requirements are met by the player

Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition came out in the arcades in limited quantities around 2004. I remember going into an arcade, being surprised, and getting excited seeing another version of SF2. I didn't know at the time, but it was originally released as a PlayStation 2 (PS2) game to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Street Fighter series. It uses the same engine as SSF2 Turbo and gives players a choice to play as any version of the SF2 characters from the previous 5 games, as each character has slightly different abilities for each version of the game.


A new SF2 game in 2004...kind of


The "PL-TYPE" lets the player choose which version of the character to use 

The Street Fighter II games are some of the best fighting games ever made. They have inspired other exceptional fighting games such as the Mortal Kombat series and the crossover titles from Capcom and Namco (VS. and X series). Street Fighter's legacy lives on with more recent games such  as the 2008 remake of SSF2 Turbo- Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (that's a mouthful) and the awesome Street Fighter IV.

That's all for now, and always remember- the game is never over.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Fight!


I thought I'd talk about one of my most favorite games. It's a one-on-one fighting game released in the arcades in 1991. The game I'm talking about is Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SF2) which was developed by Capcom.


The early 90's was an important period for arcades. SF2 was the most well-known arcade game at the time, and it popularized the fighting game genre. This prompted other developers to make their own fighting games as well. However, none would ever come close to SF2's fighting perfection. 

The game's goal is simple- face each fighter and beat them up. Win 2 out of 3 rounds to advance, then face the next fighter until you get to the final boss. Don't get me wrong though, the game isn't easy. It's quite challenging, but also fun if you know what you're doing. 
 
 
Character select screen in SF2
Top row (left to right): Ryu, E. Honda, Blanka, Guile
Bottom row (left to right): Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief, Dhalsim

SF2 games came in a number of different versions. The original (SF2: The World Warrior) gave you a choice to play as 1 of 8 characters, or "World Warriors" as the title implies. Each comes from a different country, and each have their own distinct fighting style. Although 2 of them share the same moves- Ryu (from Japan) and Ken (from the U.S.).


Ryu (left) and Ken (right) were both trained by the same Master

The other 6 playable characters are: Blanka (from Brazil), Chun-Li (from China), Dhalsim (from India), E. Honda (from Japan), Guile (from the U.S.), and Zangief (from Russia). 


Guile is my favorite Street Fighter character

Chun-Li is the only female character in Street Fighter II

Blanka is the only non-human character in the game. As a little boy, he and his mother were on a plane that crash landed into the rain forests of Brazil. He got separated from his mother and was exposed to some form of electricity (from the plane or eels), which mutated him and gave him electrical powers. He was then raised in the wild which eventually changed his appearance as well. It's a silly story, but fighting games aren't about the story anyway.


Blanka

All 8 characters have their own storyline, but their main goal is to defeat the evil dictator M. Bison from taking over the world (of course!). You face him at the end of the game after you beat the 3 other bosses- Balrog, Vega, and Sagat.


M. Bison- you know he's evil, just look at him

All in all, there are 8 playable characters and 4 non-playable bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, M. Bison) in SF2. This changed in the next version of the game- Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, which came out in 1992. It had slightly improved graphics and alternate color costumes for all characters. The main change for this version is the ability to play as any of the 12 characters, as well as the ability to fight against the same character (i.e.- Ryu vs. Ryu). This isn't a big deal nowadays, but it was an interesting feature back then.


All 12 SF2 characters are playable in Champion Edition

The 4 bosses in the original SF2 are added into the character select screen in Champion Edition

Another version came out in 1993 called Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, also known as "Street Fighter II Turbo". You can still play as any of the 12 characters, and they all have new color costumes again. The main feature of the game however, is that the overall speed of the game has been made faster, which made the game even more exciting and challenging.


Ken vs. Ryu- classic match-up

There were 3 more versions of the game that came out in the arcades (Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Hyper Street Fighter II). I will probably talk about those games in a future post.

That's all for now, and always remember- the game is never over.