SNES

Street Fighter II

What surely must be the greatest ever arcade machine has become the greatest ever arcade-to-console conversion. It truly is mind-bogglingly good! Apart from a few minuscule differences - none of which affect the gameplay in the slightest - this IS Street Fighter II. The sound, sprites, animated backgrounds and gameplay are all spot-on, so much so that once you're used to playing with the Super Nintendo control pads (which doesn't take long since you can select which buttons do what) you actually think you're playing the arcade game! All your favourite tactics work, everything reacts in the same way, all the moves are present...everything is perfect! Incredibly, Capcom have also added some new features not present in the arcade machine - a new bonus screen and a whole load of options which allow you to handicap yourself or other players, select the background and change the difficulty settings.

It wasn't all about flashy graphics and 100-hit combo throws by sweaty buff men in tiger masks, either. Zangief (or as I call him, "The Gief") would own King any day of the week. His sculpted chest hair and red Speedo are unstoppable! SFII requires a lot of skill to be able to stand your own ground among the SF elite. Picking up the controller and mashing buttons make you look like a complete tool while your skilled friend ( i.e., me) brings the pain from all directions with Sonic Booms, Yoga Flames, Hundred Hand Slaps & Hurricane Kicks.

By the way, SFII on the SNES is truly a great game and one of the classics for the console (Just in case you didn't quite get that from the above story).

Although this versions imperfection’s have been exposed in the recent Street Fighter and Capcom Compilations and even it’s SNES sequels, there will always be a special spot reserved on my shelf for this first Super Nintendo incarnation. Despite it’s flaw’s, It was the first time I felt like I was actual playing an arcade machine at home. Hurling fireballs and sonic booms would never be the same. Street Fighter II for Super Nintendo is a landmark release in gaming history.

Easy to learn but difficult to master, Street Fighter 2's basic gameplay and control scheme became the fighting game standard, copied by endless clones. Harder kicks and punches inflict more damage, but are tougher to land. With numerous special attacks and the ability to block (by holding the joystick away from your opponent), the gameplay is remarkably deep. The meticulously detailed backgrounds are fascinating, and the theme songs are some of the best ever composed for a video game. This cartridge also provides the ability to customize your control scheme, and it annoyed me to no end how each of my friends always had modify their settings before every bout. Street Fighter 2 stands as one of the all-time classics, right up there with Pac-Man and Space Invaders. It led to many sequels, each of which offered minor enhancements but no significant changes to the gameplay itself.