Fighting games are a divisive genre in video games. Many people directly avoid them because of the learning curve or sometimes toxic communities. I used to feel this way about the genre. That being said, one day I saw the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection on sale and decided to pick it up. I had started to become a Capcom fanboy at the time, and Street Fighter was somewhat inevitable thing I had to experience. I thought it would be fun!
This game was so, so hard for me. I always say that I'm mediocre at fighting games, but when I started this game up I was absolutely awful. I didn't know how to do inputs correctly, I didn't understand many basics of fighting games, I basically just winged it and pressed buttons. It was pathetic, and I even thought it was just the game being harder then it actually was. But, eventually, I started to figure things out. Street Fighter became my hyperfixation, with my obsession becoming a joke within my online friend group. It was a fun summer.
Yeah, this game is great. Movement is fluid, it's easy and fun to experiment with move cancelling and seeing the variety of combos to play with. The hidden custom combo system is an entire extra level of complexity to the game and it's absolutely broken in many ways. I love the roster, graphics, music, everything. It's always stuck with me.
Sakura Kasugano was the first character I ever picked when playing this game, and it's stayed that way since. She's remained my fighting game comfort character, because what isn't there to love? She's an upbeat, peppy highschooler who reaches out to challenge and learn from her personal idol. She's a fan favorite for a reason, her energetic and adorable animations and voice clips are timeless and memorable.
I love playing this game with friends, even with our different skill levels it's just such a blast. With the matches being so engaging and short I can never tire of it. If anything, losing is just a learning experience for me to improve slowly to become a World Warrior myself. And that's just an appeal of fighting games for me. You aren't gonna start out great, but dedicating the time to master your abilities feels great to earn. I've even considered learning this game competitively, it's that fun.
This game is what started my interest in fighting games. It's still one of THE most important video games in my life, as cliche as that may sound. Whenever I see that opening start up with Akuma in the flames, man I just know I'm in it for the time of my life. I may prefer KOF in a lot of ways to Street Fighter, but I don't think this game will ever be forgotten by me.
It's fun, it's charming, it's memorable, it's fantastical.

It's Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Reviewed on Aug 16, 2022


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