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[ongoing project] Playing all versus fighters - chronologically!

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    [ongoing project] Playing all versus fighters - chronologically!

    So here’s the thing: I love fighting games! I’m not very good at them and have no idea about guard cancels and dream counters and whatnot, but I love them. The characters, the gameplay, and most of all, the backgrounds! Particularly the pixel artworks of yesteryear.

    There are sooo many games, though, and everything would start to blur together if I just played one title today and another one tomorrow. So this idea was born:

    A few likeminded people and I meet up once a month and play two NEW games and a couple of the ones we already played in previous meetings. This way we get to know each game at least a little bit and we can appreciate it for what it is. At first the idea was to only focus on SNK and Capcom, the masters of pixel art (especially the former), but we expanded to titles from other companies just for diversity’s sake, and we also included 3D fighting games because hey, why not.

    However, we are going about it somewhat chronologically. No, we’re not looking up release dates on Wikipedia, but there’s a rough timeline we’re following. This means we started with „Street Fighter 1“, or rather „Fighting Street“, and we are planning to work our way up to current gen. And yes, this will take a couple o’ years. We usually play one „important“ new games every time, i.e. something from SNK or Capcom, and one „lesser“ game, which doesn’t mean that that one cannot be excellent. It can!

    There’s a small catch, though: No ports or emulation are allowed. Only real game cartridges/ discs on original hardware. If I don’t have the game acquired yet which we are about to play according to our game plan, we cannot continue until I do. There's no jumping ahead. Luckily it will be some time until that happens so I still have a chance to get everything we need.

    In this thread I want to tell you about what we played and what we thought of it, and most of all I would really love to hear your opinions about those games. This is is journey through the history and evolution of fighting games, from 8-/16-Bit until today!
    EDIT: To clarify, I don't really mean EVERY fighting game ever made...just a lot of them.

    This „club“ has been going on for a while now but now we have enough games under our collective belt that I can start writing about it, I think.

    So let’s go!
    Last edited by Samuray; 20-04-2018, 23:25.

    #2
    Street Fighter / Fighting Street (PC ENGINE)


    We start off on the PC Engine, with the first CD ROM game ever made: „Street Fighter“ or rather, „Fighting Street“! The versus mode is rather lacking in this game so we just took turns to play against the CPU to see some of the stages.

    Yeah, it plays really clunky, and it takes a while to realize you have to hold down a button, make a special move and THEN let go to make it happen. It’s by no means an awesome game, but you have to appreciate what it did for genre! Basically it took things to a new level and paved the way for everything that was to come after!

    Anyway, some fun can be had with this one, regardless of lackluster gameplay. We cheered each other on when fights were won and there was a lot of screaming and yelling when we were beat down into the dust unfairly. The animations are not much to look at but the characters themselves are interesting enough, and some stages are really nice! My personal favorites are USA 1 (train yard) and England 1 (inner city).

    Special mention must go to the music which makes impressive use of the CD medium…..and stands in stark contrast to those digitized voice samples that were definitely recorded through a tin watering can filled with wadding. It’s hilarious every single time!

    Well, the game itself has not aged all too well, of course, and disregarding it’s historical significance most of us only gave it

    1 of out 5 kitties.
    Yes, kitties. We love cats and since I have four, at least one or two are always present at those meetings.

    Last edited by Samuray; 22-04-2018, 21:22.

    Comment


      #3
      Is this project open or closed? Would be great to join in... maybe it could turn into a vs fighting club?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by samanosuke View Post
        Is this project open or closed? Would be great to join in... maybe it could turn into a vs fighting club?
        How do you mean, open or closed? It's ongoing, we only started about 18 months ago or so, so there's a lot of ground to cover.

        Or are you asking if you can participate? Of course! It is my greatest hope that people here will comment on the games simply because it's a fun topic to talk about! We could be the online extension of "The Versus Club" (that's our name).

        Of course everyone feel free to play emulation or whatever way you like....the more people can comment on the games, the better!

        I'm gonna post the next entry soon, just wanted to give a bit of time to see if anyone wants to say something of SF1.

        Comment


          #5
          You should really be starting with Karate Champ
          Lie with passion and be forever damned...

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
            You should really be starting with Karate Champ
            You're right, of course, but in the end this originated as a personal "quest" of mine and my starting point as a kid were the two "Street Fighters".

            Which brings me to....

            Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES)

            The classic fighting game. Not a lot that needs to be said about it, I believe.

            We are using the US cart on a US system, both from my childhood, and SFII has proven itself to be really timeless. Sure, there have been more impressive SNES games from a technical standpoint, and once you’ve played Neo Geo stuff it’s hard to be too awe-struck by this, but man, it’s just a ridiculous amount of fun every time you put it in!

            The characters seemed perfectly balanced and complement each other very well, the music is iconic, and visually it’s a nice blend of gritty and colorful comic-style graphics.

            Of the eight „standard character“ stages there isn’t one I am totally in love with….they’re all pretty good, particularly China, but graphics-wise none of them can take on one of the boss stages for my taste, but those we will cover in the game’s next iteration.

            We were and still are confused by Japan 2, E.Honda’s stage. What the hell is going on there once the fight is over? It’s a bath house, right? Not a night club? It sticks out so much because the rest of the „world“ that was built here is so down-to-earth and realistic (...apart from dem fireballs, ya know)

            We all judged it between 3 and 4 Kitties, because it’s certainly great but what’s to come is so much better, and most of us have played it a little bit TOO much back in the day. These scores are not supposed to be objective but just reflect our personal feelings.

            Last edited by Samuray; 22-04-2018, 21:21.

            Comment


              #7
              Amazing idea

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Samuray View Post
                Sure, there have been more impressive SNES games from a technical standpoint, and once you’ve played Neo Geo stuff it’s hard to be too awe-struck by this, but man, it’s just a ridiculous amount of fun every time you put it in!
                When this hit the SFami the Neo•Geo was still a mythical beast that only your mate’s rich cousin that lived far, far away owned... and the early SNK fighters are a little janky anyway.

                I really think that getting this this game running on a stock SNES is one of the most important moments in gaming history. Sure, it wasn’t arcade perfect, but it was close enough and impressive looking enough that everyone was happy. I still remember the day my mate’s Japanese import copy arrived (for £120), there was about 12 of us in an 8-foot square bedroom, illuminated by the glow of a 14” telly and a US SNES with two controllers.

                Comment


                  #9
                  This is going to be a fun one to follow. One thing I'm curious about, are you using any particular criteria in selecting which port version you play or is it down to whatever hardware is most conveniently to hand?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Samuray View Post
                    Or are you asking if you can participate?
                    Yeah, as in where do you all meet up and is it an open invite? I’m a fighting game fan and would love to explore lesser known titles but my circle of real life friends only play 3S - even KoF games are off the menu for them.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Samuray View Post
                      The characters seemed perfectly balanced and complement each other very well
                      I seem to recall in the original SFII that Guile was really powerful, and had to be toned back in the updates. Though I don't know if that happened before any of the home conversions.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by charlesr View Post
                        Amazing idea
                        Thanks! It's been loads of fun so far! As I said, we've been at it for a while now, and I will be talking about all the games we've played so far. But once I have caught up to our current titles my updates will have to slow down, of course, as we only meet once a month.


                        Originally posted by _SD_ View Post
                        When this hit the SFami the Neo•Geo was still a mythical beast that only your mate’s rich cousin that lived far, far away owned... and the early SNK fighters are a little janky anyway.

                        I certainly was no rich cousin but I did have a Neo, and still use it today. But SFII came first, of course....didn't get the Neo Geo until Christmas of '93, or was it '92? Probably the latter.

                        The early games may be janky in comparison to what was to come, but initially they blew my mind anyway. More about that in a short while.


                        Originally posted by _SD_ View Post
                        I really think that getting this this game running on a stock SNES is one of the most important moments in gaming history. Sure, it wasn’t arcade perfect, but it was close enough and impressive looking enough that everyone was happy. I still remember the day my mate’s Japanese import copy arrived (for £120), there was about 12 of us in an 8-foot square bedroom, illuminated by the glow of a 14” telly and a US SNES with two controllers.
                        What a great memory! And yes, having this on SNES was amazing through and through.


                        Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
                        This is going to be a fun one to follow. One thing I'm curious about, are you using any particular criteria in selecting which port version you play or is it down to whatever hardware is most conveniently to hand?
                        We try to avoid ports as much as possible, but we won't be using any arcade pcbs. Capcom games will usually be played on Saturn and Dreamcast, while others may be played on PlayStation if they are supposed to be superior on there, technically. When it's an option I like to use exotic systems (like Jaguar for "Double Dragon V" or 3DO for "Rise of the Robots") if I somehow attribute the game to the system. And I'll try to get "Mortal Kombat 4" for the Nintendo 64 because that feels kinda bat**** crazy.

                        Bit apart from that the choice of hardware is usually pretty straight forward: The "important" games on SNK and usually Sega hardware and the side dishes on whatever they came out on.


                        Originally posted by samanosuke View Post
                        Yeah, as in where do you all meet up and is it an open invite? I’m a fighting game fan and would love to explore lesser known titles but my circle of real life friends only play 3S - even KoF games are off the menu for them.
                        Oh, alright, I thought you meant you wanted to play along and share your thoughts in here!

                        Well, it's an open invite as long as the person contacts me first....my game room is not large enough to house 20 people that suddenly show up at my door.
                        But I'm in Germany, near Hamburg....I take it you're from UK? You'd be most welcome though!


                        Originally posted by Asura View Post
                        I seem to recall in the original SFII that Guile was really powerful, and had to be toned back in the updates. Though I don't know if that happened before any of the home conversions.
                        Oh, we're way too lousy at fighting games to notice stuff like that! We just play for fun and probably wouldn't notice stuff like that. At least not yet.
                        Last edited by Samuray; 15-04-2018, 10:18.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Asura View Post
                          I seem to recall in the original SFII that Guile was really powerful
                          I'm really not sure about that, tbh.

                          While he had the classic four-hit instant stun combo and the handcuffs/freeze glitches, Guile was actually weak in SFII: The World Warrior. All aerial attacks had priority over his somersault kick to the point that he could be kicked out of it, making it ridiculously easy to dizzy him. The CPU Guile could also always be easily baited into jumping to set up damaging attacks, no matter the difficulty level. From SFII: Champion Edition onwards was when that changed as his somersault kick was given Dragon Punch-level invincibility on start-up and in the air along with the double-hit up close if executed with Heavy Kick.

                          If anything, Guile got stronger as SFII got updated.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I agree that it was a wonder for Street Fighter 2 to be ported to the SNES but have to say it was even more impressive when it eventually came to the Megadrive since the MD didn't have the SNES's mode 7 capabilities.

                            It's been mentioned that the conversions weren't arcade perfect but what ticked me off were the later releases on PSX and Saturn in the Street fighter collection and Capcom Generations releases and even the PS2 Anniversary and Dreamcast SSF2X that there were so many frames of animation missing compared to the arcade. You can tell just by performing Guile's throws.

                            Guile was great besides Ken he was my favourite you could really relentlessly press the opposing player with Guile. I liked the Guile glitches in World Warrior but never figured out how to get out of the handcuffs. I remember SF2 fondly especially going to play it in the arcades after school every day.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Nu-Eclipse View Post
                              If anything, Guile got stronger as SFII got updated.
                              Maybe it was that. I mean this is me trying to remember what was printed in mags 20 years ago!

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