In the hallowed halls of the Street Fighter series, there's really only one stinker — one game that's just not fun to play — and that's the original Street Fighter. It's a damn shame, cause the character designs are pretty cool (outside of a couple of generic muscle-men like Joe), and the graphics are really quite attractive for the time (Lee and Eagle's backgrounds are pretty spectacular actually.) But the actual gameplay... well, it's disastrous. You can only choose Ryu or Ken, they both control like your commands are mere suggestions, special moves are near-impossible to pull off, and enemy attacks seem to do vast amounts of damage randomly determined on a per-occasion basis. It's a pretty startling swing and miss for the normally infallible late-'80s Capcom, and though it was a decent-sized hit at the time (big enough, anyway, to warrant a markedly improved sequel) it's pretty much a historical curiosity at this point. But because the graphics are cool and the characters are classic (and because it's the first game in a truly legendary series), I've always wanted someone to make a revamped version that was actually playable.
Well, someone has.
Using the MUGEN engine, the SF diehards over at Capcommunications have rebuilt Street Fighter from the ground up, and it's fun to play now. In their Street Fighter One, you can choose any of the characters, everyone has their own ending, and most importantly, you can actually move the bastards around finally.
As a Street Fighter nerd, I have a couple of quibbles with this remake. Some of the background graphics are blurred out; it might've been an attempt to modernize, but the backgrounds lose their beautiful late-'80s sharpness. The AI is unremittingly punishing, often comboing for a dozen hits. And this may be picky, but I think it's too bad Capcommunications added super moves to the game — as a much-later addition to the series, they don't really seem at home in any version of the original Street Fighter. That said, this is on the whole a really nice piece of work, making a silk purse from a notorious sow's ear. And it even has a perfectly chosen secret character. If you like Street Fighter, make sure to check out Street Fighter One post-haste.
Previous For Love of the Games:
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