by Alex “SupaSlick” Shaw

(Note: This will be the first of a 3 part series.)

The game was called Street Fighter 2, and as far as I’m concerned, it put fighting games on the map. I remember guys standing around, waiting for their turn, who freaked when they figured out their first “Ha-Do-Ken” (fireball). Quarter circle and “charging” joystick/pad movements in games would never be the same.

Mortal Kombat and MK2 also generated their own brand of excitement, especially when you figured out how to do a fatality, and refused to tell anyone! Games like those were so good for their time. I feel like they were the ones that started the whole “line of quarters” thing back in the good old arcade days.

Then SF2 came out for the SNES, and the home consoles exploded. For the first time I could stay home and play a game that was, for all intents and purposes, IDENTICAL to what I was walking down the street to play for a quarter a pop. In fact, I remember my mother got me the game just so I’d stop going there so often.

Fighting games back then were built to last. If you wanted to play, you had to LEARN techniques. Button mashing didn’t do squat. Friends would have Street Fighter tournaments, talk about what characters they liked to play, even what buttons they liked for “high punch.”

When was the last time you got that excited about a fighting game? To this day, I still say SF Alpha 3 is one of the best fighters ever made.

What are your fondest fighting game memories? What fighting games from the past do you still play today? What games would you like to see make a comeback?

Tell us on our forums, and stay tuned for Part 2!

Take a moment, join the Sarcastic Gamer forums, and speak your mind!
Already a member? Discuss this topic now.