For my first game review, I decided to talk about a true classic of the 90's arcade gaming scene, Street Fighter 2. Back in the day, I had been to many, many arcades and not once have I seen one that didn't have some version of this game running. There were places where more than 5 different machines were running this game, usually with a crowd of people around each one of them. In addition to all its success and popularity, Street Fighter 2 is among the first games I played in an arcade, which makes this game that much more important to me.
I remember seeing this game for the first time in an arcade close to my school. I didn't know at the time, but the game was running on an original Street Fighter 2 cabinet there, with pictures of various characters on the side. I realized this after I have seen the game running on generic arcade machines in other places, some of them didn't even have 6 buttons, which meant you could not perform all of the special moves in those machines. I haven't seen an original Street Fighter 2 machine anywhere else by the way.
I think it was the special moves such as Ryu and Ken's "Hadouken" or Guile's "Sonic Boom" that caught my attention. I have never been a big fan of fighting games, but this game was an exception (Mortal Kombat another one). I usually played this game against some friend, because I couldn't get past the third opponent when I played against computer. I also could never get the hang of Ryu or Ken's "Shoryuken" move, no matter how hard I tried. However, after some 10 years, I started playing this game on my computer using emulators and not only I mastered the "Shoryuken" move, I can now win the game in the hardest difficulty without ever losing a round.
Here's a video of me playing with blue Ken:
Street Fighter 2 has many different editions, the pictures and the video above are from the so called "Champion Edition" which came out in 1992. There is also an earlier edition called "The World Warrior" which came out in 1991 and there are later editions such as "Hyper Fighting", "Super Street Fighter 2" and "Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo". There are also a number of bootleg versions of this game.
In closing, here's a list of special moves that can be performed with various characters: (Tested in Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition, F = Forward, B = Back, U = Up, D = Down)
| Character | Moves |
|---|---|
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Hadouken: D, F + Any Punch Shoryuken: F, D, DF + Any Puch Hurricane Kick: D, B + Any Kick |
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Hundred Hand Slap: Tap Any Punch Sumo Headbutt: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch |
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Electricity: Tap Any Punch Rolling Attack: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch |
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Sonic Boom: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch Flash Kick: Hold D for 2 Seconds, U + Any Kick Air Toss: (in air, close) B or F + Medium or High Punch |
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Hadouken: D, F + Any Punch Shoryuken: F, D, DF + Any Puch Hurricane Kick: D, B + Any Kick |
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Lightning Kick: Tap Any Kick Spinning Bird Kick: Hold D for 2 Seconds, U + Any Kick Air Toss: (in air, close) B or F + Medium or High Punch |
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Spinning Piledriver: (close) F, D, B, U + Any Punch Spinning Clothesline: Press All Three Punches Heel Toss: (close) DF + High Punch Shoulder Throw: (close) DF + Medium Punch |
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Yoga Fire: D, F + Any Punch Yoga Flame: B, D, F + Any Punch Drill Kick: (in air) D + High Kick Head Spear: (in air) D + High Punch |
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Turn Punch: Hold All Punches for 3 Seconds Dash Punch: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch Dash Uppercut: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Kick |
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Backflip: B, B (fast) Tumbling Claw: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch Wall Jump: Hold D for 2 Seconds, U + Any Kick Dive Claw: Do Wall Jump, then Any Punch Air Drop: Do Wall Jump, then F + Any Punch |
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Tiger Shot: D, F + Any Punch Low Tiger Shot: D, F + Any Kick Tiger Uppercut: F, D, DF + Any Punch Tiger Knee:D, F, U + Any Kick |
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Psycho Crusher: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Punch Scissor Knee: Hold B for 2 Seconds, F + Any Kick Head Stomp: Hold D for 2 Seconds, U + Any Kick Somersault Skull Driver: Press Any Punch after Head Stomp |