Street Fighter has to be the most recognizable franchise of all time. I still remember as a child of 11, getting fleeting glances of what Street Fighter was all about in smoky dark arcades in town. Of course we weren't allowed to enter those arcades because back then such entertainment was only available to those of 18 years old and beyond. Some of us were lucky enough to had an older brother who would sneak them in, or came across an arcade with less stringent policies about school uniforms and 'underage' gaming. So we circled around these fortunate ones and listen to their stories about the most orgasmic experience 20 cents could buy you those days.
Since this week's latest release is Super Street Fighter IV, I thought it would be nice to go down memory lane, and recap what an amazing game this was, and is.
The first Street Fighter game I've ever played was Street Fighter II. I found out a few years later that the version I played was doctored by a bunch of genius third party programmers who thought 'fireballing' with no delays was a good idea. Therefore, my first experiences weren't kind. I dismissed the game as barbaric and immature. It was designed for button mashers with no class or guile (see how I did that?). The stupid unwinable Guile's freezing whatever it was was a constant pain in the arse.
So I almost decided that Street Fighter, after all the stories I've heard from my so called 'learned' peers, was a shallow, meaningless game.
I was to be proven wrong. A friend of mine asked me to take a trip down to Kuala Pilah one fine weekend where a Street Fighter machine is to be found. And that it was an original code, no tampering by some 'genius' from Taiwan and it was in a video game shop, which meant, we could play it legally! So we went on that 1 hour bus ride from Jelebu to reach the sacred place. I was disapointed at first because it wasn't actually a real machine. It was Super Famicom rigged to a big screen and wooden slab joystick for two players. We didn't have to use 20 cents coins but paid for a whole hour. I believe it was 5 ringgit for an hour. We paid for two. We figured that since we made that long trip to Kuala Pilah, we might as well enjoy it to the fullest. That was probably the best day three of us have ever had. For KL folks, Arcade games like this is probably littered everywhere in shopping complexes back then. So it might be hard to imagine how ecstatic we were then, playing the game for hours (two in fact) for the first time, without a care in the world.
When I got my first Street Fighter on the MegaDrive, it was called Super Street Fighter II. The main difference between the code on the megadrive and the one on the SNES was that the MegaDrive was faster, so Turbo actually meant speed whilst on the SNES it was like turning off the AC in your Kancil to make it go a bit faster. However, the Megadrive couldn't make the SFX that the SNES could so voices were muffled and sounded a bit, shrill. But by then, I've had some practice due to my frequent visit to Kuala Pilah with my two best friends at the time. My parents were even suspecting me of taking drugs. So that by the time I arrived in England, I was the best Street Fighting Asian boy in the town of Loughborough, Leicester. Over in England, it was a common sight to see game shops with arcade games inside them. Most of the English boys were very bullish and their ego were crushed beneath my mighty quarter circling hands. I was pretty handy with Samurai Spirit too (Samurai Shodown in Japan) and pretty much cleaned house every evening after school. I have even been cornered at various places in school by boys who wanted me to play them; but by then I've already got myself a few bodyguards. My posse who protected my dainty Asian hands wherever I went.
But I was only good because they were very poor. Super Street Fighter II Turbo came out and by that time, everybody was playing the game and bringing out Akuma like it was second nature to them. This also meant that my popularity started to wane. But no matter, I enjoyed the fame while it lasted, for sure.
Since then, various versions of the great game had been released, Alpha (Zero), Alpha II, Puzzle, the successful versus series, Street Fighter III (which was good, but didn't push any boundaries), and the dreadful EX (Well, I hated it. It was clunky). Honestly though, I can't say that I've ever been as excited about a game as I had been when SF4 was released last year. It brought back what we love about the game. The colours, the frustrations and the fun you could have playing with your best friends over a beat up SNES somewhere in Kuala Pilah.
This is a great little game with miles of legs ahead. I might even consider keeping it as a permanent collection.
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