brewery33

Give Me 5 Good Reasons

Top 5 reasons Street Fighter 2 is the greatest game of all time.

• 5. Racial Stereotypes
  
  Street Fighter 2 danced on the line of political correctness with its over the top representation of each characters ethnic and persona stereotype. While the game play is the standard at which makes a game great, the depth of the characters make the game timeless.


• 4. Game play was simple yet still sophisticated
  
  Street Fighter 2 was the first game that incorporated character specific special moves in a fighting game, to my knowledge. While Street Fighter 2 paved the way for the one on one fighter, its special moves that were individual to each character are the standard of perfect sophistication that outshines the manic button mashing of its “special” spawn fighting game Tekken and the extreme example of requiring a PhD in order to complete a fatality in the gore fest fighter Mortal Kombat.


• 3. Rivalry between friends was heightened at the arcade by the entrance of this game
  
  In the age of physical arcades where kids had to leave their homes to play their favorite game, Street Fighter 2 was first game to have someone actually kick the ass of someone else on the screen, hence decapitating the high score standard. Head to head gaming emerged, adding a characteristic of swagger and trash talk during the game, to the once individualistic nature of the classic arcade game.


• 2. Individual endings for each character
  
  On many levels the detail of individuality permeated the game play of Street Fighter 2, but none more so than a personalized ending for each character. Not only did this mathematically substantiate the 69.99 price tag of the 16 bit SNES game cartridge by encouraging you to beat the game with each character, but it also sparked the revolution of taking a picture of the ending screen to prove to your friends at school that not only are you a nerd, but an accomplished video game nerd.


• 1. Bonus games
  
  The mini game was a button mashing break from the action that paid homage to the high score and best time standard of its predecessors. Breaking what looked like a Subaru apart on a dock, or smashing barrels on a conveyor belt provided the foundation for a future of sophisticated gaming by dangling the proverbial hidden features carrot with diverse layers of game play.

I know it’s against the rules but here is a little extra that didn’t make it into the Top 5, but is more of a testament to the depth in which Street Fighter 2 permeated the video game world. Capcom rode this pony until the wheels literally fell off.

Edit to satisfy ruling of Interweb judges 3-23-10 1245p Pacific

Bonus: Only game to have sequels that chronologically stopped at 2.

The game’s name was so important to the franchise that it merely added a different description rather than an iteration. EX: Street Fighter 2: Tournament Edition, Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers (see we have more racial stereotypes to exploit), and Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.

And we have a fan club. Game Over.