Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES)

[NE146]

I took that skill to the arcade and would play the game for fun trying to do it without a round lost, but also I got annoyed at showoffs who would smirk and slam down quarters to kick me(or others) off the thing. It didn't take but a week or two until I could just utterly destroy anyone who attempted there and the quarters just stopped until I left.

 

I thought the same thing that playing SF2 on the SNES would make me a better player on the arcade machine.. and it definitely DID as I could complete the arcade game on several characters relatively easily. But I had one issue with playing other players: my local arcade at the time was Golfland in Sunnyvale (a early hotbed of SF2 competition), and the arcades of Akihabara (whenever I travelled home through Japan during summer & christmas breaks) and let me tell you I was no slouch but I almost NEVER could win a friggin game playing against those crazy Golfland players and crazy japs who played all day. I probably averaged winning maybe a single game out of 20 at best. Geeze

 

On another note it was kind of cool actually as Capcom was local to the area as well and would test stuff at the Golfland location. Then I would fly home to Guam for the summer or something and drop by an arcade in japan and one time totally caught Capcom wheeling in SF2: New Challengers into an arcade for testing, have the locals play for a couple of hours, then wheel the machine back out. So I saw it on both ends of the Pacific. Fun times

Edited February 8, 2018 by NE146

[Tanooki]

Hell of a story. Rare to find someone who has had that chance outside of a native of the area in those years.

[pablum]

I was super into Street Fighter II at the time and got the SNES version on the first day of release.

 

Played the hell out of it too. Mostly with my brother. Even though you couldn't play as the bosses as you could with the arcade Champion Edition, it was great fun.

 

Then I got Turbo the next year to play as the bosses and the faster speed. Again great stuff.

 

I still have both carts and the boxes and manuals in pristine condition (I started collecting stuff and keeping it safe around that time).

 

After that I sort-of got sick of Street Fighter and did not bother much with Super. Played it some in the arcades but the four new characters and the wonky new voices for the old characters and the announcer just put me off.

 

I did get into Street Fighter Alpha a year or two later and Alpha 2, but never SFA3. Never got into Street Fighter 3 until it became playable on MAME. Too different so I didn't care at the time. Only saw it once in an arcade anyway. Got SFIV but none of the expansions. Never got into SFV. Also played the first couple EX games for the PS1, but never seriously.

At this point I mostly play SF3 Third Strike if I ever play any SF now because its so different, but not that often.

Edited February 10, 2018 by pablum

[MaximRecoil]

After that I sort-of got sick of Street Fighter and did not bother much with Super. Played it some in the arcades but the four new characters and the wonky new voices for the old characters and the announcer just put me off.

 

I hated the new voices and sound effects. The CPS-1 versions had a powerful "KSHHH" sound for the heavy punch and a very different dull thud sound for the heavy kick. Super Street Fighter II has a pathetic-sounding version of the "KSHHH" sound for the heavy punch and the heavy kick sounds almost identical to it. The original announcer had a normal sounding voice while the SSFII announcer had an irritating high-pitch voice.

 

I did get into Street Fighter Alpha a year or two later and Alpha 2, but never SFA3.

 

I hated that they changed how you throw someone in SFA3. 7 years and 7 someodd sequels in and they change something as fundamental as how you throw? That's like changing how you block or remapping the standard 6-button layout. Ridiculous and pointless.

 

Never got into Street Fighter 3 until it became playable on MAME. Too different so I didn't care at the time. Only saw it once in an arcade anyway. Got SFIV but none of the expansions. Never got into SFV. Also played the first couple EX games for the PS1, but never seriously.

At this point I mostly play SF3 Third Strike if I ever play any SF now because its so different, but not that often.

 

I have SFIII: Third Strike for the Sega Dreamcast (which I got for free), and I can't tell any difference between it and the arcade version (which I've only played in MAME). They changed how you throw yet again (absurd), and for no apparent reason there's some "street" sounding guy in the background on the character selection screen saying stupid random things like "Yeah, I got the picture" and doing some sort of weird "rap". The style of the graphics is an improvement over, though similar to, the Alpha series. I never liked that anime look that Alpha introduced though; I've always liked the classic graphics of the original CPS-1 versions the best. I dislike the 3D models of IV and V even more than the Alpha and SFIII anime look. I play the newer versions sometimes as a novelty, but it doesn't take me long before I'm wishing that I was playing vanilla SFII instead.

Edited February 10, 2018 by MaximRecoil

[BillyHW]

 

I hated the new voices and sound effects. The CPS-1 versions had a powerful "KSHHH" sound for the heavy punch and a very different dull thud sound for the heavy kick. Super Street Fighter II has a pathetic-sounding version of the "KSHHH" sound for the heavy punch and the heavy kick sounds almost identical to it. The original announcer had a normal sounding voice while the SSFII announcer had an irritating high-pitch voice.

 

 

I hated that they changed how you throw someone in SFA3. 7 years and 7 someodd sequels in and they change something as fundamental as how you throw? That's like changing how you block or remapping the standard 6-button layout. Ridiculous and pointless.

 

 

I have SFIII: Third Strike for the Sega Dreamcast (which I got for free), and I can't tell any difference between it and the arcade version (which I've only played in MAME). They changed how you throw yet again (absurd), and for no apparent reason there's some "street" sounding guy in the background on the character selection screen saying stupid random things like "Yeah, I got the picture" and doing some sort of weird "rap". The style of the graphics is an improvement over, though similar to, the Alpha series. I never liked that anime look that Alpha introduced though; I've always liked the classic graphics of the original CPS-1 versions the best. I dislike the 3D models of IV and V even more than the Alpha and SFIII anime look. I play the newer versions sometimes as a novelty, but it doesn't take me long before I'm wishing that I was playing vanilla SFII instead.

 

My childhood ended when I first saw "Super" show up in the arcades. It was like Winnie Cooper breaking up with me.

[Tanooki]

I detested SFAlpha 3 when that rolled around with its overly bloated roster, convoluted changes to many mechanics, and then the added styles doing some sad me-too ripoff of what SNK did better before them. SFA2 was the height of that style. Super SF2 I was ok on but didn't love it, the newbs just felt kind of cheap and unbalanced compared to the original roster in some cases though Cammy was excellent as was Fei Long. SF3 I got into only because of the Dreamcast and it was solid, but it went off the rails on the asinine boss which seemed to rage out in super difficulty over the rest and almost at times felt like it knew what you were up to but at least it was not a total wall of infuriating bs. That was SF4 which put me off the franchise so horribly I still haven't touched #5. SF4 is just horrible with some mind reading bullshit mechanics where it seem to after a few fights in read what you're dialing in and have the AI mid-setup bitchslap you into a nasty fall. I thought it was a difficulty setting so I started trying it on max or on default and I'd get the same distance into the game before having problems which confused me big time. I got fed up with it and that was it and I hadn't bought another game in the franchise over it until that Switch release last year.

[Zap!]

At one time I thought I was the best player in the world with Chun Li on that version. I got it fresh out of high school when I had no job, and played and played and played. I remember at my peak getting about 16 perfects, on hard of course. There were multiple endings, the best known was never losing a round. I never could get all perfects though (I believe that would be 24). I always wondered if there was an uber ending if it had been accomplished though.

[leods]

So I played SFII, SFII Turbo and SSFII back to back yesterday, and at the end I do have to say I like Turbo and Super better. SFII is still fun with it's raw feeling, but the AI is quite broken and easy to exploit. Also, many characters have a hard time going around fireballs, so Ryu can easily hado/shouryuuken his way into victory with pretty braindead tactics.

 

I guess what some people dislike about the more modern SF games is the depth added by certain mechanics that makes it much harder to have simple yet effective strategies. SFIV being a good example where the basic fireball/dragon punch really won't take you far, because every character has very consistent ways of punishing poorly spaced fireeballs that they will use.

 

Still, the only game in the series so far that gives me serious trouble is Super Turbo. The AI in that game is a cheating bitch even on lower difficulty levels. Don't you also have the same experience of being destroyed by the AI (ignore the SSFIIT HD remix or the new switch release based on it, that game is completely different.)

[LS_Dracon]

I bought a SNES in xmas 92 just because this game. Played everyday for like 2 years, but never was a good player. My Snes is long gone, but I still have the cart here.

I remember trying to finish the game at difficulty Level 3 for watch the ending scene, lower than that, you have only text.

Good memories.

[Emehr]

I totally bought SF2:The World Warrior from the hype alone. EGM talked about how it was the biggest game since Pac-Man so I knew I should probably pick it up. The only fighting game I'd played at that point that came anywhere close to SF2 game mechanics was Karate Champ for the NES. I remember paying $70 for it at the mall, taking it home, and enjoying the hell out of it with my brother.

 

I still prefer the original SF2 to Turbo. I do like the mid-air moves in Turbo as well as some of the reworked character portraits but that's about it. The visuals look flat to me, especially in the background activity and people. Playing as the bosses isn't all that fun and the turbo speed does nothing for me personally. It makes a good counterpart but the original is best.

[Gabriel]

The Street Fighter 2 craze seemed a bit manufactured to me at the time. I regularly went to the arcades back then. There was never any local excitement over the original SF2. I recall lines going outside the arcade to play Steel Talons. I remember huge crowds mobbing the 6 player X-Men machine. I even recall how the arcade would be packed with people watching someone play Time Traveller (bonus points if you even remember that one). Street Fighter 2 was that machine that sat over on the left wall of the arcade that no one ever played.

When my friend told me he rented Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior for his SNES, I thought he was talking about Fatal Fury. He played Fatal Fury at the local 7-11 all the time. When I played his rental with him, I wondered who all these people in the game were? Where was jacket and hat dude? Where was spiky hair kickboxer? Truth to tell, I didn't really like SF2. Yet, there was something that kept me coming back to it. I suppose I felt the game was taunting me for not being able to do the special moves. Plus, the multiple characters and play against friends kept some interest level going.

It was only after my friend bought the game and Champion Edition was announced for the home systems that I started to see some genuine signs of SF2 mania. People started playing that lonely machine in the arcade. The arcade bought another machine, and another, and another. Crowds started to form around the arcade machine. Within a year, the arcade was almost entirely fighting games. The giant arcade machines like Steel Talons, X-Men, or Ninja Warriors were replaced by giant coin pushers. It stopped being worth going to the arcade because there was no variety, and it was more fun to play fighting games at home than pay 50 cents for each play.

Anyway, I got caught up in the Champion Edition hype, which became Turbo hype. I wanted to play those bosses, dammit! I remember buying SF2 Turbo edition for the SNES. The game was $85 on my McWage, so it hurt. Then I wanted some control sticks. I bought these two multi-platform SF2 branded sticks which were $80 each. They were AWFUL. Yeah, I spent a lot of money on a game series I didn't really like all that much. My friends and I played a fair amount of Turbo, though.

I remember I read about the picture you get if you beat the game on difficulty 8. For some stupid reason, I decided I was going to beat the game and see that picture. Keep in mind that I'm a total scrub and I was even worse back then. Still, I brute forced my way through, and finally beat M. Bison to see the picture. After I did it, I wondered why I had ever bothered wasting my time to see a digitized version of a promo picture which was plastered everywhere in relation to the game. Still, I can say I did it, I guess.

I didn't go to the main arcade anymore. As I mentioned earlier, it was nothing but fighting games and coin pushers at that point. Instead I went to an arcade next to a movie theater which was nearby. They didn't have a lot of variety either, but I could at least play a shmup or Battlezone if I didn't want to play a fighter. One day they had Super Street Fighter II in! The machine was empty so I decided to play. I was doing OK for me when a little kid about 12 comes up and drops a quarter in (another reason why I went to this arcade: games were just 25 instead of 50 cents). I get ready to play and HE COMPLETELY ANNIHLATES ME. I stuck my tail between my legs and went off to play Battlzone.

In terms of home ports it's been all SNES so far. I hadn't ever bothered with Champion Edition for the Genesis, my preferred console. I did pick up Super Street Fighter II for my Genny, though. SSF2 was probably the home port I played the most. I liked the ASCII SG-6 sticks I had for my Genesis best, so that was the SF2 variant I made everyone play at my place. After I got the equivalent sticks for the SNES, I had to admit that Turbo was a somewhat better game. So SNES Turbo is probably my preferred port while Genesis Super is my nostalgic port.

Really, my friends and I were more Mortal Kombat fans. MK was what really got me and my friends hyped. We played a ludicrous amount of MK1 and 2 on the Genny, and then MK3 and Trilogy on the Playstation. I always liked the look and lore of MK over SF2.

Back to SF2. I lost interest in the game with Super SF2. I rolled my eyes at SSF2 Turbo. My impression is that a lot of people did. I didn't bother with the 3DO SSF2 Turbo port even though I had a 3DO. SSF2 on the Genny was good enough for me. Like most people I didn't care at all for SF3, and that was how the Street Fighter glory days ended for me.

[MaximRecoil]

 

The Street Fighter 2 craze seemed a bit manufactured to me at the time. I regularly went to the arcades back then. There was never any local excitement over the original SF2. I recall lines going outside the arcade to play Steel Talons. I remember huge crowds mobbing the 6 player X-Men machine. I even recall how the arcade would be packed with people watching someone play Time Traveller (bonus points if you even remember that one). Street Fighter 2 was that machine that sat over on the left wall of the arcade that no one ever played.

 

I didn't know anything about Street Fighter II (I'd never even heard of it) or any hype surrounding it when I first started playing it. The time frame was late 1991, not long before CE was release in the arcades (which was March of 1992 according to Wikipedia). I was 16, almost 17, and had just gotten my driver's license. At the time I had a weekend job behind the counter at a laundromat/drycleaner place which was located in a plaza. In that same plaza was a LaVerdiere's Super Drug Store, which had a room in the back that they called "Action Family Arcade". Hardly anyone was ever in there. They had maybe a dozen arcade machines in there, including a Street Fighter II: The World Warrior machine in a Dynamo HS-5 cabinet.

 

When Wendell McCoon showed up that night, that was the first time I played a human opponent, and the first time I realized that the game could be taken to a skill level that I hadn't been aware of. Also, he told me that a new version of the game had just come out, which he had been playing at Space Port in the Bangor Mall, called "Champion Edition".

 

Not long after that I drove to Bangor to check out Champion Edition, and there were several CE machines lined up, front and center. They were also in Dynamo HS-5 cabinets, which was one of the three types of "dedicated" cabinets that Capcom used for them (the other two being 3-KOAM Z-back and Capcom "Big Blue"). I had improved significantly in the short time since I'd played Wendell, by applying the methods I saw him use against me. The only game I remember specifically playing in Bangor that first time was against some guy who used Dhalsim. He beat me several times in a row before I figured him out, and I didn't lose to him again.

 

 

Really, my friends and I were more Mortal Kombat fans. MK was what really got me and my friends hyped. We played a ludicrous amount of MK1 and 2 on the Genny, and then MK3 and Trilogy on the Playstation. I always liked the look and lore of MK over SF2.

 

I vividly remember the first time I played Mortal Kombat. It was at the Dover-Foxcroft bowling alley and I was with my friends Ian and Corey. I had mixed feeling about it. I loved the graphics and the sound effects, but I didn't care for the gameplay mechanics. I especially hated that you had to press a button to block, which, being an SFII player, seemed very awkward. Also, throwing didn't work the same way as in SFII. My friend Ian was just mashing buttons and kept throwing me, but I didn't want to mash buttons; I wanted to know what the correct input and timing was so that I could throw when I wanted to. Technically it was the same as in SFII, i.e., when close enough push left or right in the direction you want to throw and press a punch button, but it still wasn't implemented in the same way (different distances or timing windows or something), and I could rarely get it to work intentionally, whereas throwing in SFII is as easy as falling off a log and as reliable as the sunrise. I also didn't like that you took damage from normal punches and kicks even if you blocked. This was not only at odds with SFII, but also at odds with other arcade games I'd played a lot of, such as Punch-Out, Super Punch-Out, and Karate Champ.

 

On top of all that, I didn't like the price: 50 cents to start and to continue. All the SFII machines I'd played were 50 cents to start and 25 cents to continue. The 50 cents to start in SFII was bad enough; it was the first game I ever played regularly that was more than 25 cents. The first 50-cent game I ever saw was Dragon's Lair when it was new, but I didn't play it, and fortunately the 50-cent pricing didn't catch on with other games, not until SFII came out many years later anyway.

Edited February 12, 2018 by MaximRecoil

[Tanooki]

Same here I've never much adapted to the block button in MK1. I learned to be a sledge hammer against the AI or people to keep up with the pack and win much of the time at the original, but since the sequel didn't change it I didn't push as hard, and with the added run button and hyper bitchslapping mechanics added in 3 I quit.

[schuwalker]

My first encounter w/ Street Fighter actually began at a pizza place that housed it's own arcade. They had a Street Fighter (the original one) standup. Unfortunately, it was a conversion - not the dedicated one. The latter cab is incredible looking! Anywho, I think I played it once or twice... let's just say 'very forgettable'.

 

Street Fighter II: I first seen one of these at a Walmart. This particular Walmart was one of the older styles. You know... the ones not affiliated w/ "Super" in the title. They had a breezeway in front that always had vending machines. One of these was an arcade standup. Before Streetfighter II, they had a Final Fight - which I also loved. Back to Streetfighter II, I do recall playing each time we visited that Walmart even though I had no idea what the hell to do. I'll never forget that attract mode on that game w elephants roaring on Dhalsim's stage, and this operator had the audio cranked up.

 

Not sure on the timeline on the release here... my local arcade finally got their Streetfighter II in a Dynamo style cab. This one was the Champion Edition before they included the turbo/hyperfighting edition. That's when I really got sucked in.

 

I did get the SNES version shortly after it's debut at my local Babbages store. I have to look at the timeline when this came out and the Champion Edition was released in the arcades. It must have been before the C.E. release since I had practiced other fighters moved I usually didn't pick. I snagged the SNES Turbo version (my favorite) later at a Target when that debuted.

 

Others mentioned SSFII on this thread. That was one I initially got into for a month or so but quickly lost it's appeal. Don't know if I at this point was burned out on the series or was swayed by the MK series. Seems like that one is either a love or meh relationship.

[Tanooki]

Reading all these posts and thinking about them and my own, it seems it's more or less a universal among Capcom fighting game lovers that SF2WW got it right, and depending after it went further and further off the rails in how they were handled and played until the players were selectively if not entirely turned off by how they worked.

 

It makes you wonder given how wooden and stiff early SNK games were and how they rapidly changed around the time of SS2/SS3 and after with the KOF games that perhaps they caught onto what was going wrong there and it help fit that crave people had for something that was more substance over style, more set in its ways than trying to live off unnecessary change and fluff. Something surely went wrong if you think about it, SF after SF all geared back to in many cases to SF2 and it got stale to where you went for over a decade without a release between SF3 and 4 and then 4 was largely a turn off to more classic players due to the dumb way it handled too and SF5 Capcom nearly begged people to come back saying it would be more like SF2 and not like SF4 despite them milking it for a few revisions. Yet sometimes I think they don't even care much given how badly SF5 was released entirely unfinished and what a year to get 1P mode proper? Yet you see a reborn SNK cranking out some amazing re-releases of their library with Hamster/ACA and also popping up new games headlined by KOF13/14.

[MaximRecoil]

I just played the Genesis "Special Champion Edition" port for the first time on a real console (previously I'd only played it in an emulator). I played on the hardest difficulty level and beat the game with two losses on my first try (one to E. Honda and one to Vega):

 

1. On my 32" CRT TV from 8 feet away, using composite video, the graphics aren't noticeably better or worse than the SNES versions, though the colors are a bit different.

 

2. The sound is hard on the ears, especially on Dhalsim's stage with those elephants that won't shut up. Those elephants are bad enough in the original arcade versions which have good sound quality, but they are downright torturous on the Genesis port. The SNES TWW port eliminates the elephant sounds altogether, which is the best approach in my opinion. In the SNES Turbo version, you only hear the elephants at the end of a round, which isn't bad either.

 

3. The OEM 6-button Genesis controller has the ideal layout for SFII, which is nice. I've never cared much for the Genesis D-pad though; it is loose and has lots of travel compared to the SNES D-pad. It's plenty responsive though, and works well enough in this game.

 

4. I've heard people claim that the Genesis version plays better than the SNES version. That's not true in my opinion. For the most part, they play the same, however, the Genesis version sometimes has hit detection issues, which is bizarre. For example, Balrog is particularly susceptible to foot sweeps; you can often knock him down with a heavy foot sweep a few times in a row if you time it to connect just as he's getting up. In the Genesis port it would sometimes ignore the foot sweep. Balrog was absolutely in range of the foot sweep, and he should have had to block it or take the hit, but instead he just stood there while my foot went through his with it doing absolutely nothing. I don't know if it happens with other opponents or not because I mostly only use that strategy against Balrog. I have never had that happen on the arcade or SNES versions.

 

So, in my opinion, the only thing the Genesis version has over the SNES versions is a better controller layout (the SNES shoulder buttons are awkward for SFII), but even the controller is a mixed bag because I prefer the SNES's D-pad. In every other category, the Genesis version is either the ~same or worse than the SNES version.

Edited February 13, 2018 by MaximRecoil

[number six]

The Street Fighter 2 craze seemed a bit manufactured to me at the time. I regularly went to the arcades back then. There was never any local excitement over the original SF2. I recall lines going outside the arcade to play Steel Talons. I remember huge crowds mobbing the 6 player X-Men machine. I even recall how the arcade would be packed with people watching someone play Time Traveller (bonus points if you even remember that one). Street Fighter 2 was that machine that sat over on the left wall of the arcade that no one ever played.

 

I don't know where your arcades were but it was night and day opposite around my area.

 

When Street Fighter II hit people went crazy. It wasn't long before it was -the- game at the arcade. Most arcades quickly added a 2nd machine just to keep up.

 

People would line up to play.. something we hadn't seen since the arcade boom in the early 80s. The winner stays/loser pays mechanic made every game count. So many people were crowding around the machine at one arcade they mounted a 2nd monitor above it so people could watch easier.

 

SF2 on the SNES was also a big deal. I had one friend who had it (I didn't have a SNES yet) and would go over to play it. I was stuck with the closest thing on the Genesis at the time.. the port of Fatal Fury. Not horrible but nowhere near as good as Street Fighter 2.

[BillyHW]

 

I don't know where your arcades were but it was night and day opposite around my area.

 

When Street Fighter II hit people went crazy. It wasn't long before it was -the- game at the arcade. Most arcades quickly added a 2nd machine just to keep up.

 

People would line up to play.. something we hadn't seen since the arcade boom in the early 80s. The winner stays/loser pays mechanic made every game count. So many people were crowding around the machine at one arcade they mounted a 2nd monitor above it so people could watch easier.

 

SF2 on the SNES was also a big deal. I had one friend who had it (I didn't have a SNES yet) and would go over to play it. I was stuck with the closest thing on the Genesis at the time.. the port of Fatal Fury. Not horrible but nowhere near as good as Street Fighter 2.

 

Good point: Winner Stays/Loser Pays was brilliant. As was 2 quarters to start and 1 to continue...kept people playing and playing.

[NE146]

Yep.. SF2 craze was totally organic from my vantage point. When it came out, one single machine was put into my college cafeteria game room, and I, being interested in the arcade would be there every night. It was a gradual process over weeks and months of people starting to discover and then become fanatical about playing the game. It took me a while longer to even try the game but eventually I did purely by the obvious buzz over it.

Edited February 14, 2018 by NE146