I remember the first time I played Street Fighter II. I was 15, visiting family from out of state, and I went with a younger cousin to an arcade. I was playing a bunch of different games – NARC and Double Dragon II: The Revenge were my favorites – but my cousin Mitchell plunked all of his quarters into Street Fighter II.
I didn’t love the game on my first quarter, but once Mitchell explained how to perform a fireball – and I pulled one off for myself – I was hooked. We went to the arcades every remaining day of that vacation, and when I got home, I had to seek a machine out. I found one at the local bowling alley, and there was always a line to play. As my skill gradually improved, and I was able to stay on through two or three rounds before being booted, I felt like I had joined a club. Opponents would become allies, showing me how a dragon punch was done (MAN was that hard to learn). They’d teach me etiquette – No throwing, no endless thousand hand slaps. They’d tell me where else I could find arcade machines, too. Matches would spring up in the foyer of Denny’s, at 7 Eleven, and at the Plitt Theater down the street. During the weekend, I’d head with friends to the bigger arcades – Galaxy World and Enchanted Castle. There, you’d find rows of Street Fighter II cabinets, and you’d be able to watch guys who REALLY knew how to throw down.
I remember very clearly the first time I saw screenshots of the SNES version in EGM. There it was, nearly arcade perfect. I was a Genesis guy at the time, but those screenshots convinced to get an SNES. On launch day, I was working at a Software, ETC., and we had a line 100 people strong in front of the store, eager to pick the game up. I had never seen anything like that. Friends of mine cut down on prom plans to make sure they could afford to buy it. Several of us bought SNES Advantage joysticks for a more authentic arcade experience. Every weekend afternoon, my friends and I would get together and play for hours on end, trying to up our skills for some evening play time at the arcades.
The SFII arcade updates kept us interested to a point, but it took WAY too long for Capcom to get around to getting Street Fighter III in arcades. By that time, I was in my last year of college, and the friends that had enjoyed learning SFII with me were no longer living nearby. The SFIII in my local arcade had a cabinet that simply – and pretentiously – called the game “Three”. I tried to get into it. It looked great, but I was annoyed that all of my favorite characters (except Ken and Ryu) were removed, replaced with a bunch of b-listers. I didn’t ‘get’ the parry system, and I didn’t really want to learn it.
For the home edition, I excitedly picked up an import version of the Dreamcast version the week it was available. I was happy to have it, but none of my friends were remotely interested in putting in the time to learn how to play as Alex, Dudley, or anyone else… so I wound up mostly playing solo as Ken or Ryu. This was not how I had thought playing SFIII for the first time at home would feel like.
Even when it was released domestically, nobody cared. Street Fighter III was a Dreamcast exclusive for a long while, but it didn’t move the needle for the system. It was not a killer app by any stretch. Where were the lines at stores? The excited talk between friends? The desire to improve your game for arcade play?
And so, it is a pleasure and a relief to see people so amped for Street Fighter IV. Finally, it’s an important series again, and it’s getting the fanfare it deserves. I LOVE playing the game, and can’t imagine any other game capturing my attention so strongly in 2009. Oh, and for the record… Phil is better than he claimed to be, and quite possibly, Greg Ford and I have been overstating our skill for the past several years. But any way you cut it, our day of Street Fighting revelry was fun, fun, fun. This Friday: the Chun Li movie, whatever the hell it’s actually called. It’s gonna be terrible – I can’t wait.
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