I was 4 years old in the late 80's when I first played Street Fighter,
and I remember I absolutely loved it... it was one of my top favorite games to play at the
arcades (my parents took me to mall arcades quite a lot). This game was actually
part of the reason I became interested in Karate... I was dressing up in karate
uniforms before I officially became a student at 7 years old.
I loved the characters, the vibrant graphics, and believe it or not... the music.
It was also one of the hardest games I had ever played, and being a "self-proclaimed"
video game master at the age of 4 (I was pretty good);
finding a game that could actually "beat me" was quite a motivation for
me to keep on playing... and for the record, I was never able to beat the game back
then.
After Stage 5 or 6, my quarters started to run out. lol.
When the sequel, Street
Fighter 2 came out, it abruptly became one of my biggest video game
obsessions... and little did I know at the time, I certainly wasn't the only
one. The sequel to Street Fighter redefined the idea of "fighting
game". ~TFG
Webmaster
REVIEW:
Street
Fighter debuted at the arcades in 1987, laying the framework for the
fighting genre we know and love today. The player takes control of
a lone martial artist named Ryu who
competes in a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning five different
countries (United States, Japan, China, England and Thailand). Ryu fights against
ten different opponents in a specific order (two per country).
These graphics were epic
in 1987.... Epic.
Players can perform 3 basic types of punches and kicks
which vary between
speed and strength. There are a total 6 attack buttons and 3 special attacks
(the Fireball, Rising Dragon Punch and Hurricane Kick) that could be performed
only by executing specific motions. A second player can join in any time
and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken, during competitive matches and play
the rest of the game as Ken if they won.
At the time, some of the best
animation to come from a video game.
The original Street Fighter has been noted by fans of the series for
its considerable
difficulty in executing special moves in comparison to its more well known sequels. The original
arcade cabinet also used "pressure-sensitive" pads to measure the three strengths of attack
used in the game. The harder the player would hit the pad, the stronger the attack
was. Alas, the pads quickly became damaged causing arcade owners to have to
replace them (and they weren't cheap)... so Capcom wisely dropped this
"innovation" and
went back to using traditional arcade buttons for the game.
Who the hell is Bill
Cravens anyway?
There's no denying Street
Fighter's impact on the arcade scene. There was simply nothing else like it at the
time, and it was definitely one of the best looking and most eye-catching video games in 1987.
As someone who personally played on a mint Street Fighter cabinet in the
late 80's quite frequently, I can vouch. This little game paved the way for one of the most recognizable video game franchises
of all time... and inspired many other companies to venture into the realm of
fighting.
After Stage 5 or 6, my quarters started to run out. lol.
