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    Street Fighter II skills... Is age a factor?

    With the release of Street Fighter II HD Remix coming, me and a friend at work got talking all nostalgic about Street Fighter II.

    I happened to mention that Chun-Li's spinning bird kick took too long to execute... Little did I know at this point, believe it or not, that there were 'charge' moves in Street Fighter II. I honestly thought you needed to wait three seconds stationary everytime.

    I got given the 'noob' treatment for a while until we began to break down and think as to why I might think that.

    My friend at work is 28, a good 6 years older than myself. SFII came out in '91 on the arcades and '92 on the SNES (correct?), meaning at the time I was 5ish and he was 11ish.
    At this point in time, he owned both a SNES and a Megadrive, lived in London near a local arcade or two and had various friends to compete with. Surely at the grand age of 11, something like SFII must have been one of the most desirable games...

    Myself however, my family could only afford an Amiga with the odd 'dodgy car boot disk' everynow and then, with no local arcades (nor would I really be able to enter or reach the sticks!) and not many gaming friends. At that age I liked SFII, however it didnt stand out as much as other games to me.

    Playing SFII on an Amiga was bloody hard. I remember getting so frustrated with the lack of buttons. Occasionaly through random waggling and button bashing, id see a glimpse of fire and wonder how the hell I did that. Most of the time though, I found myself incredibly frustrated as it was too hard for my 5 year old self and ended up back on Rainbow Islands or Superfrog.

    My friend on the other hand at this point in time was apparently spending countless days on the game, finding out moves from friends and arcade rats, constantly battling friends and challenging randomers at the local Pizza takeaway. With the arcade buttons and SNES joypad, it cant have taken too long to get to grips with it in this scenario.

    Fast forward to now. I still look back on SFII with fond memories, however i never really touched the game much after 94ish. The occasional quick go suited me fine. However recently, with the new release its got me wanting to go back and conquer the challenge I was meant to have taken 17 years ago...
    Being 5 at the time in the centre of the country, I feel I missed out on alot of gaming culture in the golden age of gaming.

    So, with all the points mentioned above, does age and what console you owned really change how good you are at such a game?
    Did the arcade have an impact on your gaming skill?
    Are any of you younger than myself and kick ass at SFII?
    Is the Amiga port even worthy of the disks its on due to its limitations?

    And most importantly, where should I start if I want to brush up on my skills?

    #2
    Cauterize, you were simply too young and didn't have a snes or local arcade near you. You missed the chance to embrace a great time in gaming history.

    If you had been older, with a snes at hand, I bet you would have been learning and pulling off all the moves with ease.

    SF2 was a phenomenon. Magazines were full of guides and tips. If you liked fighting games, it was natural to lap up every morsel of info. Competing with my friends was a joy I haven't experienced to the same level since.

    The reason SF2 was sooo fantastic, was because each character was expertly designed. The way each one is distinctive and interesting; the way each has moves worth learning; and the fact that each feels good to play as.

    Capcom got the feel of the game spot on - and the six-button controls enabled depth to the fighting. The reason the Amiga version is crap, is because the animation was severely cut down, hampering the feel of the experience, and one button was never going to work right.

    The snes version got the most acclaim, because it was excellent, but the Mega Drive edition is also very good, and the PC-Engine version is very impressive.

    SF2Turbo for the snes is still a brilliant fighting game. I also really like SuperStreetFighter2Turbo, which I had on my ntsc 3DO. I never did play it on the snes, but I hear mixed opinions, with most people saying SF2Turbo is the daddy.

    Some people say all the SF2 games are relics, but. for me, they still deliver fun in multiplayer. The original edition is too slow, but Turbo is where it's at, or SuperTurbo.

    The Zero/Alpha games are also worth playing.

    Comment


      #3
      Agree with Mr ahoy! on this one. I'm the same age as your mate and remember seaside SF2 CE tournaments and all that malarkey. Also consider that SF2: the World Warrior was one of the first titles dubbed as 'arcade perfect' on the super famicom, or thereabouts. Even though there was the elephant fiasco, smaller sprites etc. etc. etc. It is also one of the earliest titles I remember to have SO MUCH hype surrounding it with regards to 'being the bosses' and fighting sheng-long etc. etc.

      Regarding versions, I used to love ' Hyper Fighting and would champion it to death but after a recent bought on Live! marketplace I'm thinking the Zero series is where it's at, although prefer the simplicity of the older titles. I'm not hugely fanatical about the Remix version while I enjoyed it for a week or so I remember why I wasn't keen on the arcade first time around. I also think it's a tough starting point due to it being (well the japanese version anyhow) the 'Grandmaster Challenge'.

      I guess nostalgia plays a large part, but hey it's still a f'kin great game.
      3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

      Comment


        #4
        suppose it could be as you need time to practise amd nowadays the older we get the less time we have on our hands

        when it first came out on the SNES i was pretty good at it, could normally complete it fairly easily above 5+ stars

        nowadays i just suck at it

        Comment


          #5
          If you want to get better, competitive play is what it's all about. Seen as SSF2T is the best version, you should get the HD remix on PS3/360.

          People who played SF2 back in the day will only have an advantage if they carried on playing through the years... I know plenty of people who used to play the SFC version but never went on to the Zero/SF3 games.

          The Amiga version is completely worthless. I borrowed it from a friend to compare to the SFC version and found it laughable. I completed the game by selecting E Honda and turning on autofire on my joystick to hundred hand slap everyone to death.

          Comment


            #6
            Young wippersnappers! I was at Uni when SF2 was out. We had a cab in the student bar and I'd spend at least an hour a day on it. I never got too brilliant though as there was no real competition and the sticks were a bit knackered so pulling of DPs was too hard so I always went for Guile.

            Comment


              #7
              the sticks were a bit knackered so pulling of DPs was too hard so I always went for Guile.
              The curse of the SFcabs! I remember in Hayling Island they had two machines, one wih knackered sticks, the other...with the dreaded 3 buttons! Bloody lazy arcade owners - hook up the kick harnes damn you!!!
              3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

              Comment


                #8
                Age isn't so much a factor but practice against human opponents is. If they are better than yourself then even better as playing against better players will improve your skills lots. That's what was brilliant about the arcades back in the day as it gave you lots of competition.

                Get HD remix on 360/ps3 or 2DF on your pc.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I also agree that playing against others is the best way to improve, its also the most fun. The real shame though is that its much better playing against someone next to you as opposed to online, so its a shame this countries arcade infrastrucure has disapeared, i recently played SFIV on a cab against people and it was way more fun and intense than anything online, just like the old days.

                  Thats also the thing though, SF2 is about nostalgia, its hard to describe how big it was back in the day. I was 15 when SF2 came out in the arcades and by the time SSF2 was out i was regularly going to London to play in the arcades, it was an amazing time. The trocadero for example had way more than 10 machines at one point, and they were always busy. Everyone i knew around my age played it, to varying degrees, but they all played it, it was THE game but unlike any before and since.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Agree about the time available to practice making the difference. As a university student I could complete it unbeaten with Ken, Honda and Chun Li (SNES SF II Turbo) on 8 stars nearly every time. Now I'm lucky if I can complete it on the default setting.

                    It really was a great game. The specials were just hard enough that you have to learn them without the whole game dissolving into a ****ty memory test, that so many games seem to be now.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I was in sixth form at school when it came out, so a mate of mine Dibs and myself were down the local arcade almost every lunch time playing some games. We would usually learn and brush up our skills against the CPU and then if it looked like we would lose the fight, the other person would enter for a two player challenge. Winner stayed on and carried on against the CPU.

                      We would often take trips at weekends into London and visit "Las Vegas" down Wardour Street to see some of the best in the country play and compete against them (and I have to say, I held my own pretty well back then!). 7 credits for a quid, you can't get much better than that. We would spend hours upon hours in two player matches, finding new tricks, watching other people to see how they did things, learning and refining techniques, sucking up all the information we could.

                      It still holds me well. Even on my early games of SF4 I was holding my own against some of the more experienced players. Experience and tactics really do still count even now. I look forward to getting a 360, an arcade stick and seeing how it all hangs together in the HD remix version of SF2 now available...

                      Oh and as further proof of my insanity back then, I could complete both SF2 and SF2 Turbo on the SFC with all characters at the highest difficulty level without losing a round. Yes even Dhalsim and Zangief. Mad I was, mad I tell ye heh...
                      Last edited by Mayhem; 24-12-2008, 14:18.
                      Lie with passion and be forever damned...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        What a great thread, it's getting my retro juices flowing (oo-er).

                        I have little of value to add, although I especially agree with Stroppy. Back in the day I was good. When I now fire it up on the SNES, I'm crap. Also, the specials were perfect, not too complicated. I remember my friends at uni raving about Tekken 2 but when I saw the heartless combos, I knew it wasn't for me, and I never did get into any 3D fighters.

                        So, what is the best previous-gen port for those of us who don't have a 360 or PS3? I have it on the SNES but the joypad, whilst okay, isn't that authentic with the shoulder buttons, and my official Nintendo SNES "Score Master" stick sucks. Crappy base, crappy buttons, and crappy stick.

                        Dreamcast is only SF3 and Alpha, as far as I remember. Which pretty much leaves me with the PS2 Anniversary Collection. Or the Mega Drive SF2, with a 6-button pad. I have a 6-button pad somewhere but no Mega Drive.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          You didn't need to live in London near an arcade to play arcades in those days. Arcades were in all kinds of different shops all over the place like newsagents, fish & chip shops, snooker halls, leisure centers etc. And there were often players to challenge too. It's nothing like that now of course.

                          Interesting Tekken 2 was mentioned. That was the game that really got me away from 2d fighters. I'd been after a fighter game that could more closely resemble a flashy martial arts film and Tekken 2 was that game. I'd gotten a bit fed up with jumping around throwing fireballs and having a small moveset. I loved the way the Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu and Muay Thai styles looked.
                          Last edited by Shoju; 24-12-2008, 20:06.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Shoju View Post
                            You didn't need to live in London near an arcade to play arcades in those days. Arcades were in all kinds of different shops all over the place like newsagents, fish & chip shops, snooker halls, leisure centers etc. And there were often players to challenge too. It's nothing like that now of course.
                            Thats totally true, in my local town when SF2 was popular there was a machine in one of the video shops one in a cafe and another in a chinese takeaway, it meant there were plenty of places to go to at lunch, to challenge the kids from other schools.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Shoju View Post
                              Interesting Tekken 2 was mentioned. That was the game that really got me away from 2d fighters. I'd been after a fighter game that could more closely resemble a martial arts film and Tekken 2 was that game. I'd gotten a bit fed up with jumping around throwing fireballs and having a small moveset. I loved the way the Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu and Muay Thai styles looked.
                              i was shift working in an office when that was was released and normally on night watches we would have a Tekken 2 tournament amongst the staff

                              we all got pretty decent at it, i was pretty cheeky with Kazuya, Paul and Nina. I could do all of Nina's limb breaks and smashes and one of the other guys had mastered King's 5 or 6 throw combo

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