Street Fighter 2 - Arcade

Street Fighter 2 is one of the most respected games that has ever been created. Since it's arcade introduction in 1991, no other game can claim to have popularised the fighter genre in the way this title has. As God told capcom, if you make it, they will play it. Many years have passed since the historic launch, and Capcom can boast more than 20 million Street Fighter units sold worldwide. Ha-do-ken.

Capcom went to town with the balance and depth of this game. To be good you need to fully understand the timing of all of the character animations and their respective move priorities. This is crucial to the gameplay, and is what makes Street Fighter a game of skill. A newbie wouldn't stand a chance mashing the buttons against an experienced player. You need to continually adapt your gameplan, repetitive moves will soon be countered and beaten. That's when the panic sets in, you can't jump in because a dragon punch or flash kick will be waiting. You need to force your opponent into making mistakes and then capitalise on them. Winning a close battle feels great and grants full bragging rights.

Two of the most significant features Street Fighter 2 introduced were special moves and combination attacks. Although the original Street Fighter game created the 'special move', it's game engine was not complex enought to interpret the commands properly, they worked, but not well. SF2 was the game that taught millions of gamers to throw fireballs and sonic booms. Combination attacks are when you land another consecutive blow before your opponent can recover from their reel animation. A jump in fierce kick, a crouching fierce punch, buffered into a dragon punch. Dizzy. Combos allow you to land blows that your opponent cannot recover from and they can only watch the drain on the damage meter. Admittedly cross-ups were a programming glitch, but changed the way 2D fighters are made and played to this day.

Playing against the computer is a good challenge especially when using low-tier characters. It's an ideal way to develop the skills required for the all important two-player matches. Learning what moves work, where and when is all part of your training. But chances are if you haven't been playing for at least a few years you'll get taken apart by someone that has. Buckle down, don't succumb to the pressure and enjoy it.

This is where it all started, the cause of many mis-spent youths, you must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance. more