My Video Game Library: Street Fighter II/Alpha

    When Street Fighter II came out for the arcades, its success was phenomenal. I mean, the original game had its fans, but the follow-up was just huge. While I never played it in arcades, I did know about it from magazines. Mostly, from Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) and the infamous April Fool's Day prank about how to fight a hidden boss. (More on that in a later post.) Now, I didn't like fighting games, but there was just something about following trends that led me to ask for one of the later versions of the game for my SNES for Christmas. Probably the one after they added the new 'World Warriors' and the new boss. Akuma. Yes, he was technically based on the back story that led to the fake boss above, but it was still cool and amazing. Now, I wouldn't say that I was any more obsessed with this game than any other, but I did occasionally get blisters on my fingers from playing too much.  The SNES controller just wasn't designed for the smooth motions required for fighting games. I think I did beat the game for at least one character though. Or close to it. 

    I was glad when one of the updates finally came out for my PS1. My mom couldn't find that version in stores in time for Christmas. So, I had to settle for the SNES version.  I would get the other version later. I can't remember if it was for my birthday or later. Anyway, that game became to only one that I bought for two different systems.

    The game may or may not have been a version of Street Fighter Alpha. This was technically a prequel to the entire Street Fighter series, with elements from both previous games and my other Capcom fighting games.  It's just been so long since I played it, that I can't remember enough to give more details. However, it was a running joke that it was just a stopgap measure until Capcom could figure out how to count to three for the official sequel to II.

    Like some other fans, I did not like the 3D update to the new game. Of course, I never played it the arcade. Didn't even think about getting for any game system, although I might not even have been playing much by the time it was ported over to home consoles. I just wish I could remember more about the games I had. I know I got more than two or three different games, and that I beat some of them with at least one character, but that's about it. One of the games had a story challenge mode that I got about halfway through with Ryu, I think, but I just gave up trying to progress after a while. 

    I really liked the games, but not enough to want to play them any more.