MAKER: NEC HOME ELECTRONICS / CAPCOM
RELEASE DATE: 12 JUNE 1993
STYLE: ACTION / BEAT 'EM UP
FORMAT: HUCARD
RATING:
Overview Very faithful conversion of Capcom's classic arcade beat 'em up.
You say... If you've never heard of Street Fighter II, you must have been living inside a rock for the past 25 years. It's the game that redefined and popularised the 1 on 1 fighting genre, thanks to it's huge sprites, a wide range of characters, and a combo system that in some ways was a fluke. In the early 90's, some arcade owners were literally buying houses on the back of the earnings from Streetfighter cabs, and the debut on the Super Nintendo was so eagerly awaited that it sold consoles. At the sniff of a new version of the game, covers were dedicated to magazines, and pages upon pages were dedicated to artwork and speculation. It was a phenomenon.
The beauty of the game came from the variance, yet balance of the characters. At a high level, they didn't always get it exactly right, but the replay value is tremendous, and players quickly found some deadly, but hard to perform combos. The game also introduced special moves, performed with deft movements, or by charging a timed directional pull. It really was competitive gaming at its finest - in fact the game continues to be played competitively today. Champion Edition spruces up the graphics slightly, and enables the selection of the four "boss" characters, the final 4 fighters from the original game. The HuCard is necessarily one of the biggest, and had to perform some fancy mapping to get enough ROM on the card. Perhaps the only argument that can be made against this stunning conversion, is that you need to buy a 6 button pad to get the most from it, but aside from that, it's pretty much flawless. Arguments have been raging for decades on the subtle nuances between versions, but whatever your take, the PC Engine version of Street Fighter II CE is a work of art. soop
