Fighting Street

Long before Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Tekken and Tobal ... there was the original Street Fighter, a terrible playing arcade game from Capcom. While most people consider Street Fighter II: The World Warriors to be the grandfather of fighting games, it's this original Street Fighter (known as Fighting Street on the TurboGrafx-CD) that should get all the credit. But it doesn't and for one very good reason.

Because this game sucks. Looking back on it now this original Street Fighter just wasn't very good, it has severe control issues and is not a whole lot of fun to play. In the arcade the game featured large buttons that were too difficult to manage, here the buttons are smaller and more manageable, but the game is no easier to play. Compared to the more popular sequel, this original Street Fighter is just painful to watch and play.

When NEC brought it home on CD they were extremely faithful to the arcade game. The characters are all the same, the backgrounds are all here, and best yet, all the sounds were arcade perfect! The only difference? The name!

Well, that wasn't the only difference ... arcade purists might complain that the graphics aren't nearly arcade-perfect. For the era they are good, but the game is missing that arcade polish that Capcom was so good at. But no matter, you didn't come to this game looking for great graphics; you came hoping for a good fight. Looks like we're all losers this time around.

The problems that plagued the arcade game were also brought to life in the home system. The game is so extremely slow and there is no joy in the two player mode. Trust me, I have played the Street Fighter series for years, I can pull off all Ryu and Ken's moves ... but there is no way I can pull these moves when needed. The moves seem to work at random, something that becomes real jarring the closer you get to the end (where you have to defeat Sagat).

The two player mode consists of Ryu (player 1) and Ken (player 2), of course, Ken is Ryu with red clothes and different colored hair. They play the same, dull and boring. All this adds up to one of the most irritating two-player experiences you can have. It's games like Fighting Street that make you happy NEC only gave you one controller port.

The game is just no fun, which is one of the major reasons it was never popular. It was also an extremely expensive arcade game to get, since the big buttons seem to cost more money. The game was never rolled out for release on any other platforms (or even releasing in one of those the Street Fighter collection discs). Perhaps Capcom is doing everything they can to get people to forget about this fighting game forefather.