Street Fighter 2

When Street Fighter 2 was in the arcades, people would put quarters or tokens in the machine to fight each other and show their skills. You had to be good to challenge someone in the arcade because if you were not, your opponent would win each round in a matter of minutes. To get better in the arcades, you had to use a lot of quarters or tokens to keep playing and learning your favorite characters' moves. There were also some strategy guides to teach you how to pull the moves off, but without actually trying it out in the arcades, it really didn't help much. The Street Fighter 2 game stayed packed with people playing it and everyone would stand around the machine watching the matches.

Once the Super Nintendo was released, a Street Fighter 2 game debuted and everyone enjoyed this arcade hit from their home. Now people can choose their favorite fighters and improve their skills, or just play for fun. This port is almost identical to the arcade game and all the characters have their same moves and levels. Street Fighter 2 for the Super Nintendo does have one minor difference, its controller. The home game's system controller is flat and the arcade machine has a stick. There is an optional controller that you can buy to play this game just like in the arcade. Everything else is awesome about this game and by playing at home you can finally test out all characters without having to spend lots of tokens.

Street fighter has some interesting characters and when you play this game you will probably find someone who suits your play style. The most popular and maybe the easiest characters to start out with is either Ken or Ryu. These two have identical move sets, so choosing who you want depends on if you like Ken's coolness, or Ryu for always being serious. Another popular character is Chun Li; she is fairly easy to control if you're new to the game. Chun Li also has a move that makes her leg kick at a high speed, just by pressing one button repeatedly. There is also an unusual character called Blanka; he is an animal-like creature with green skin and orange hair. His most popular move is an electric current that comes from his body also by pressing one button rapidly. For the sumo fans, there is a sumo wrestler in this game named E. Honda and he fights mainly using his hands. There are many more fighters, so picking the right one depends on your style of play and the character you like.

Each fighter has their own stage or home town in which they fight; stages range from a great variety of indoor and outdoor levels. Ken is from the USA and his stage is near a ship in the ocean, while Guile, also from the US, is an army man; his level is by a parked military jet. Chun Li is from china; her stage is in a town filled with people in the background watching the fight. Every stage is unique to each character and the music that plays suits the fighter. When you play through the story mode, your fighter visits each character in their own town or stage. Playing against a friend is a bit different; before the start of the match you get to choose whose level you want to fight in.

Street Fighter 2 is a classic game that is worth playing; the learning curve is not that tough and with some practice you can beat your friends every time.