I know, last week’s game was a bit of fluff, but now I’m back from vacation and bringing an all-out brawl. Any self-respecting quarter-lifers are familiar with the Street Fighter franchise (hopefully not from the Van Damme movie), and Street Fighter II still sits as the quintessential iteration.
I’ll be the first to admit that the recently released (relatively speaking) Street Fighter IV looks pretty cool but there’s no doubting that it’s merely an update to the original and brilliant fighting game. Before Mortal Kombat bloodied things up and future games took fighting into the third dimension, Street Fighter drew crowds at arcades and later saved quarters but added the ability to obsess in private on the Super Nintendo.
And now it’s free to play online (you can thank Capcom later). The game has some slowdown issues, but not much more than the original. Pick a character (I was always a Zangief man) and start jet-setting around the globe from one fight to another.
Click here to play. If you need tips, might I recommend this instructional video.
Enjoy.
This article appears in July 10 • 2009.
